Caribbean Times International

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

ISSUE NO. 146

CANADA EDITION

FREE DISTRIBUTION

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

The Caribbean Children Foundation donates Cdn$50,000 in support of The Herbie Fund See story on page 2

CPL could help jumpstart Regional economy Page 6

… study reveals US$24.5M injection from last year’s tourney

Trinidad spends Page 15 TT$5m to buyout leave of senior cops

From left to right the mother and child (partially hidden) presently treated at SickKids. Also in the picture from left to right, Ms. Jankie Doloram (Vice President TCCF), Mr. Doodie Ross, Mr. Jay Brijpaul (President of TCCF), Mr. Raymond King (Director at SickKids) CItyTV anchor Gord Martineau

JIS confirms site attacked by ‘hacktivists’

Page 8

2

NEWS

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

The Caribbean Children TT attorney says nothing wrong Foundation donates Cdn$50,000 with corporal punishment in support of The Herbie Fund

T

ORONTO, CANADA: Last Friday, The Caribbean Children Foundation (TCCF) not only participated in this year’s Herbie Day but also donated Cdn$50,00 towards the Herbie Fund at this event.

The Herbie Fund works in collaboration with SickKids Hospital to provide the highest quality life-saving or life – altering surgeries to children who do not have access to such services in their home countries. Very similar to the TCCF’s mandate, the Herbie Fund has helped over 702 children in over 105 countries around the world.

The Donation was presented by TCCF

President Jay Brijpaul, of the Brij Real Estate team at Remax West.

Since TCCF was started in 2000, over 69 children were helped to get the care they need. To date, the charity has raised and paid out over Cdn$1.3 million towards this cause.

Their primary health care partner is the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, but theIr charter allows them to seek care for the children we help at other institutions. In the past, we’ve worked with a number of hospitals in Toronto, the USA and even Trinidad and Tobago to get children to the care they require.

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Veteran attorney Subhas Panday, who on Tuesday represented a woman charged with beating her ten-year-old stepdaughter, told the court that he found nothing wrong with corporal punishment (licks) saying he got licks as a child.

Panday said that even when he was attending college, his rear end was “warmed” by the leather strap of a principal. And on making something with his life and giving back to society as an attorney, Panday said he cannot support the banning of corporal punishment.

He made these comments while appearing as counsel for the accused woman in the San Fernando Magistrates’

Court. The woman is charged with beating her ten-year-old stepdaughter after she became unruly. Panday reiterated to the magistrate that nothing was wrong with licks.

Panday, in seeking bail for his client Narisa Ellis, 25, condemned her arrest after she allegedly used a belt to beat the ten-year-old child on the calf area of her legs. Panday said that as a college student he too was beaten, “until smoke came out of my pants!”

On Tuesday, Ellis stood before Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington in the First Court after she was handcuffed and escorted to the courthouse by two female police officers.

The woman smiled as she made her way into the buillding. (TT Newsday)

Guyana: PPP/C cleared to file 'Dudus' was a threat to J’ca elections petition …after seeking leave from High Court

G

E O R G E T O W N , GUYANA: Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has granted leave for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) to file an elections petition after an ex-parte application was submitted by the Party to the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, PPP/C Member Ganga Persaud submitted an ‘ex-parte application for leave to file an elections petition’.

Legal procedure dictates that before the elections petition can actually be filed, the Party must seek permission from the Court to file the petition.

By submitting an ex-parte application, the Party is submitting an application for leave/permission to be granted to move forthwith filing the elections petition.

According to PPP/C Executive Member Anil Nandlall, now that leave is granted, the elections petition will definitely be filed before the week is over.

In the application for leave, which was by way of an affidavit, Persaud identified Anil Nandlall, former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister; Priya Manickchand, former Education Minister; Bibi Shaddick, Pro Chancellor of the University of Guyana; Adrian Anamayah; Charles Ramson Jr; Latchmi Rahamat and Euclin Gomes as the Attorneys to represent him in this cause.

The elections results disclosed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) show that the PPP/C gained 202,694 votes while the A Partnership

for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) gained 207, 200.

Meanwhile, amid these allegations of rigged elections, the international community, elections observers and other stakeholders have accepted the results, with some having conceded that the elections were free and fair.

Despite the negative atmosphere in which the PPP/C dwells with calls from all sections to quit its mantra of rigged elections, the Party is still holding out and maintaining that Guyanese were robbed of their right to a free and fair democratic process and that Guyana is now being governed by a “de facto” Administration. (Guyana Times)

national security – JDF ex-boss

Retired Major General Stewart Saunders (file photo)

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Major General Stewart Saunders, former chief of defence staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), on Tuesday testified that Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was a threat to national security and that he had been under surveillance since 2009.

Saunders said that Coke was involved in local and trans-national illicit activities, and that it was public knowledge.

"Did you on August 24, 2009 make the assessment that Coke is a threat to national security in 2009?" attorneyat-law Michael Williams, who is representing the Tivoli Committee, asked.

"Based upon his antecedent, yes," Saunders replied.

Meanwhile, the former head of the JDF tes-

tified that the May 2010 operation was a success.

"Despite the massive loss of life, you would say the operation was successful?" Williams asked.

"Yes it was a successful operation," Saunders maintained.

C o m m i s s i o n Chairman David Simmons uttered that the operation was successful, but the patient died.

The former JDF chief also testified that the JDF, through its resources and information being received, along with the police, apprehended Coke on his way to the United States Embassy on June 22, 2010.

Approximately 74 civilians and one member of the Jamaica Defence Force were killed in the operations that were aimed at arresting Coke.

(Jamaica Observer)

3

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

4

Views

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com |

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

To contact: Caribbean Times International Unit 12, 680 Rexdale Blvd., Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario M9WOB5 Advertising: 647 990 7438/416 450 1672 Email: news@caribbeantimesinternational.com caribtimes@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Caricom needs a ‘reset’

I

n view of the inability of the institution to address the challenges facing the Caribbean, as was the case with its predecessor integrative mechanism, the WI Federation, voices are being raised in Jamaica about Caricom’s very existence.

We cannot just ignore such sentiments and maybe it would be useful to remind our people why the institution was launched in 1973. There were specific commitments – which, between states are embodied in institutions – made by the founding fathers of Caricom and these were accepted by the later members.

In its latest formulation, the objectives of Caricom were described as: to improve standards of living and work; the full employment of labour and other factors of production; accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence; expansion of trade and economic relations with third States; enhanced levels of international competitiveness; organisation for increased production and productivity; achievement of a greater measure of economic leverage; effectiveness of member states in dealing with third states, groups of states and entities of any description; and the enhanced coordination of member states’ foreign and foreign economic policies and enhanced functional cooperation.”

But impressive offices, grand meetings and laudable goals are not the test of whether an international institution is successful.

The test is whether member countries are ready to make genuine commitments to each other and that means, ultimately, whether they are prepared to follow the rules embodied in the institution to deliver the stated objectives.

Without that, the institution lacks any real purpose. And this is why, on the cusp of its 42th anniversary, Caricom is on ‘pause’.

Caricom needs a ‘reset’.

To defend the need for a Caribbean integrative mechanism to accomplish the objectives of Caricom is not to defend any specific institution – defined as a set of rules that must be followed by the organisation.

These must be judged – and reformed or discarded – on their merits. As the world changes, institutions sometime do not keep in step with those changes and this is the problem with Caricom.

However, the organisations, defined as the personnel in place to work within the rules to deliver the objectives, almost invariably become set in their ways. They develop an inertia that needs to be overcome to make them more attuned to the new world that the institution must cope with.

The challenge for us is to find a role for Caricom, relevant to present circumstances and to decide on the operational capabilities and instruments which that role demands.

Holding meetings and issuing communiqués are not enough.

It is worth re-evaluating the nature of the challenge: the specific commitments made in 1973 may no longer be relevant.

And this is why many Caribbean citizens feel Caricom is useless.

Failure to reform the institution will condemn it to irrelevance and obscurity. But nothing would be more damaging to our prospects of joining the developed world alike than the abandonment of further integration.

Piecemeal reforms are unlikely to work. Caricom should focus on those specific areas where we need to tackle problems collectively.

We will then have to ensure that the commitments the member countries enter into are clear.

The job of institutions is to support those commitments. In many cases, like an umpire, their job will be to uphold them. That will only be possible if the players – countries – are very clear about the agreed rules of the game. Without that, any further tinkering is pointless.

We will then have to provide Caricom with the necessary tools to enforce the commitments of its member states.

For instance, we cannot avoid appointing a governing council with the authority and responsibility to implement the necessary decisions. If this generation fails then the work of those who were “present at the creation” will have been undone. It is our duty to reformulate the institutional framework we inherited.

Caricom cannot be allowed to simply muddle on.

Trinidadian Teocah Arieal Anika Dove was among 60 young leaders from across the British Commonwealth to be awarded with The Queen’s Young Leader Award. Dove is also one of the first female recipients of this honour. (Photo :The British Monarchy)

STEM push for women P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: In the last few decades there has been a positive shift in attitudes towards women in the science and technology industry, but women remain unrepresented in the industry resulting in a greater push across countries to lure young women. “It’s important that we encourage young girls to embrace tech,” says computer engineer Sabrina Samuel- Poole.

Since migrating from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States close to two decades ago, Samuel-Poole has had a successful career progression as a woman in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). She graduated from the University of Maryland with an undergraduate and advanced degree in computer science and later started her own tech company, SERDI (Systems Engineering Research Development Institute).

She believes that enough is not being done to empower young women in technology, especially in the Caribbean region, but praised the small steps being taken in some countries including TT to shift attitudes.

“Science and technology is one of those industries where women are not that visible. For years I was the only woman in my class and at forums, but this is changing and we have to keep pushing to ensure that we flood the industry,” SamuelPoole said recently during a recent Skype interview with the TT media.

Samuel-Poole, who grew up in Carapichaima, was not just the only woman sitting in those classes when she went to pursue her studies, she was also the only non-white woman.

While she was cognizant of this fact, she was more concerned about the responsibility on her shoulders to confront inequali-

ty in the industry.

Having worked with Boeing building airplanes and other tech companies before moving on to starting her small business, Samuel-Poole has made her mark in the industry. Now her focus is on encouraging young women to enrol in STEM programmes and “flood the tech industries.”

Samuel-Poole is planning a trip to TT later this year to meet with the relevant authorities and discuss how she could help in designing STEM programmes for young women in Trinidad and Tobago. At present, she is on the ground working in Ghana to encourage more women to join the technology industry.

In October last year Samuel-Poole founded the “Go Help Africa”charity to help young people in the African nation. Her initial focus was on economic and social assistance, but this has since expanded to include work in the technology field.

Samuel-Poole has only been active in Ghana for a few months, but her reach has been tremendous. As a result, she was recently nominated for a Ghana Woman Award - the ceremony is to be held later this year.

“The recognition is wonderful, but I have been blessed to go to Ghana and meet people who are interested in self- development and in building up their communities. If I win the award it would be shared with them,” she said. She singled out ambassadors for the charity such as Sherifa Gunu and Samuel Asante for their commitment.

Samuel-Poole’s organised a book drive and has worked with orphanages, schools and churches in Ghana since setting up the charity. The initiatives were all self-funded, but as the objectives of the charity expanded she was forced to

design a project-plan aimed to generating funds for the charity.

Ghana’s agricultural sector seemed ripe for investments and as a result, Samuel-Poole and her team in the country decided to invest funds for cocoa, rice and butternut production.

She is working with women on the outskirts of Accra, the capital city, to set up the project.

Samuel-Poole explained that 50 percent of the revenue from the agriculture investments would go directly back to the charity and the remainder towards expansion. The ultimate goal, she said, is to build a school for young women in Ghana that focuses on STEM programmes. But in the interim, the charity will fund training programmes and also provide economic assistance to the communities.

When asked about what motivates her and why the interest in Ghana, Samuel-Poole said she believes that women must empower their daughters because men empower their sons. She also pointed to her childhood saying that her mother was disinherited from the family’s wealth after she married a man of another ethnicity (Samuel-Poole is of mixed race).

Samuel-Poole also revealed that she was near death after suffering a brain aneurysm years ago. “ I was pronounced dead and the doctors told my husband I wasn’t going to make it, but I survived the surgery and I am still here ten years later,” she added.

Over the next few years Samuel-Poole has plans to write a book, return home to Trinidad and Tobago and work on STEM programmes for young women, and to build up her charity.

“There is so much to do... I’m healthy and God has given me the strength so the work continues,” she said. (TT Newsday)

News Big potential for Jamaican mangoes and patties in US market - Moreno

K

I N G S T O N , J A M A I C A : Jamaica's potential to increase exports to the United States is getting serious attention from the American Embassy in Kingston, according to Ambassador Luis Moreno.

The US ambassador, who started his tour of duty in Jamaica only six months ago, said he and his team are actively pushing Jamaican exports as the volume, he believes, can be "much more" than the approximately 40 per cent at which it now stands.

"We think that there's [US]$5 billion worth of money that comes to Jamaica from the US from remittances, from the toursts who come here, from trade, but that could be much more," Ambassador Moreno told the Jamaican media in a recent interview.

Moreno pointed to mangoes and beef patties as two items from Jamaica that could do well in the US market.

"Mangoes grow everywhere in Jamaica," he noted, adding that exports of the fruit would need an irradiation treatment that would meet United States Food and Drug

US Ambassador to Jamaica Luis Moreno

Administration (USFDA) requirements.

"We've brought experts here to explain to the Ministry of Agriculture what needs to be done, and if they can follow those simple steps you can be exporting a tremendous amount of mangoes to the US," Moreno told the media.

He said his embassy has also been making efforts to get Jamaican beef patties to meet US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) standards, as the product, along with others, would get into that market duty-free.

On Tuesday, Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA)

President Brian Pengelley pointed out that the effort to get patties exported to the US has been ongoing for some time.

"We don't have a USFDA-approved lab in Jamaica... so certainly we would very much support any help that they can give to that [effort]," said Pengelley, whose four-year term as JMA persident ends today.

"I know that mango export has great potential in the United States," he added.

He agreed with Ambassador Moreno that Jamaica could increase exports and pointed to the JMA's linkages programme as an avenue to get local products into overseas markets.

Under the programme, the association's members' products are promoted to the tourism industry and meetings are organised between buyers and suppliers.

According to the Economic and Social Survey. Jamaica's total exports for the year 2014 were valued at US$1.4 billion, compared to US$1.5 billion in 2013 and US$1.7 billion in 2012. (Jamaica Observer)

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

5

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

6 News CPL could help jumpstart TT PM, Hardeen lash Jack Regional economy … study reveals US$24.5M injection from last P year’s tourney G www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: Amid a slowdown following the long election campaign season and its aftermath, the recently launched third edition of the Caribbean Premier League is seen as a the right fillip to help jumpstart the economy.

According to an independent Economic Impact study on the tournament last year, it revealed that Guyana’s economy cashed in on some US$24.5 million from the overall US$166 million that was injected into the Region’s economy during the 2014 tournament – a significant increase of 58 per cent on 2013.

Meanwhile, asked for a comment on the reported slowing down of the economy, Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin said: “I don’t have the data to support the notion that the business is on a downhill” although saying that there is “some indication, however, that this is the

case.”

Asked whether CPL is just the right fillips at this time to help jumpstart the economy, Gaskin said “generally, any major sporting event that excites Guyanese and brings people to Guyana has the potential to possibly impact the economy… I do believe that the CPL games may increase the economic activities,” he offered.

According to the study conducted by SMG-Insight/YouGov, one of the world’s leading sports measurement, research and analysis companies, showed a breakout across each of the eight markets as follows: Antigua and Barbuda – US$13.8 million; Barbados – US$28.7 million; Grenada – US$13.3 million; Guyana – US$24.5 million; Jamaica – US$25.1 million; St Kitts and Nevis – US$26.3 million; St Lucia – US$13.9 million and Trinidad and Tobago – US$21.1 mil-

lion. With an investment of over US$25 million to date, the CPL is the world’s second biggest T20 cricket tournament – behind the Indian Premier League – and is set to continue growing in 2015 and beyond.The study also revealed that last year host country for the finals, St Kitts and Nevis, reaped significant benefits with a whopping US$25.1 million invested in the local economy – second only to Barbados with US$28.7 million.

Key findings in the report show: incremental spending by regional and international fans totalled US$47.4 million (excluding accommodation and airfares); an estimated 217,176 regional and international spectators watched CPL 2014 live; the international TV audience increased to 65 million in 2014 from 36 million in 2013, with 29 broadcasters from around the world airing the games live; over 21,500 international visitors (ap-

proximately 10 per cent of total spectators), attended CPL 2014, spending US$7.9 million; thousands of new jobs were created in tourism and travel across the Region

by CPL and more than 156,000 jobs positively impacted and the tournament’s high profile international broadcast media campaign (which encouraged tourism in the Region) generated US$4.47 million in advertising value.

CPL’s CEO, Damien O’Donohoe had said that “These results are fantastic and are a testament to CPL’s significance as an economic driver in the Region.

While we have always said that the Caribbean is without doubt the natural home of T20 cricket, we are very proud to say that CPL is now a truly international event – appealing to fans and players from around the world – and one that the people of the Caribbean should be very proud of.”

(Guyana Times)

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Immediate dismissals from Jitnarine Hardeen and the Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar.

That’s what embattled Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner received on Tuesday following his latest tapes, alleged to be former minister Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh’s former driver Hardeen doing a wide-ranging “expose” on alleged People’s Partnership intrigue and corruption, including involving the Prime Minister.

During a news conference at the Normandie, St Ann’s, Warner played the tapes, focusing on the Kristyan Gokool matter, again claiming he had to warn TT about the Prime Minister, since she was “unfit for office.”

“The Prime Minister says Kristyan Gokool is her neighbour I’m saying they are more than neighbourly,” Warner claimed.

However, when contacted on Warner’s tapes later, an angry sounding Hardeen said: “That is

not my voice on any tape!

It is a total fabrication.

“There will be a response from me on this very soon, That’s all I have to say for now.”

Hardeen added on what action he would take against Warner.

Persad-Bissessar, in an immediate response to Warner’s various claims, also dismissed the allegation, saying last night they are “more delusional claims which my lawyers will deal with.

“He (Warner) has to answer to the US Attorney General and the FBI for his racketeering, money laundering and fraudulent wire transfers, so he seeks to come out of his box with these delusional claims.”

On the alleged “Hardeen tape,” Warner claimed Hardeen detailed allegations in a taped session at Warner’s office in Arouca on August 8, 2013, where the police officer came “of his own volition.”

Warner resigned from Government in April 2013 under fire for alleged corruption after Concacaf probe. (TT Guardian)

7 US-based couple robbed on arrival in Guyana News

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

BY BHISHAM MOHAMED

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: Two men are now in Police custody after they were nabbed

by Police ranks in D Division (West Bank Demerara/East Bank Essequibo) moments after robbing an overseasbased Guyanese and his family at Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara (WBD) in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Alex Roberts, 35, of Lot 324 Goed Fortuin, Squatting Area, WBD and his wife arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at about 00:30h and after clearing immigration, the couple left the airport and arrived home at about 02:00h. Reports reaching Guyana Times indicate that Roberts and his wife, were collected at the airport

by his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and upon their arrival home, he exited the car to open the gate. It was there that he was confronted by three men armed with handguns. The men relived the family of US$140, Gy$55,000, jewellery, four mobile phones and travel document, along with two bags.

From all indications, it appears that the perpetrators trailed the family from the CJIA, since records at the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) proved that Roberts’ vehicle crossed the bridge at 01:47h and the vehicle the perpetrators was travelling in, bearing registration number PSS 9566 crossed at 01:48h.

When Guyana Times contacted Roberts on Sunday afternoon, he was on his way to the Leonora Police Station to meet

Hemispheric human rights body concerned about TT

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: The InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is calling on TT to initiate legislative reform to abolish the mandatory death penalty and to address weaknesses in its equal opportunity legislation. In its report on the 154th General Session hosted in Washington DC last March, released Friday, the Commission mentions TT and Barbados as two Caribbean countries “whose laws still contemplate the mandatory death penalty.”

“Among other troubling aspects,” the report says, is that “participating organisations reported that while the death penalty has not been carried out in this region since 2008, a number of states are still opposed to abolishing it.” Both the People’s Partnership (PP) administration and opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) support the death penalty. In 1998, TT withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights, citing the inability of the IACHR to expeditiously deal with petitions from Death Row prisoners.

The report notes that Suriname abolished the death penalty on March 3 and Barbados “has made a commitment to abolish capital punishment. It is worth noting that ten countries in the region have abolished the mandatory death penalty in compliance with decisions of the inter-American human rights system,” the report says.

“The IACHR reiterates the need to move forward with legislative reforms in the countries of the Greater Caribbean, so as to abolish capital punishment throughout the region or, failing that, to impose a moratorium on its application,” it adds.

The Board of the Commission is headed by its president, TT law tutor and attorney RoseMarie Belle Antoine, and includes Jamaican human rights

with the Commander. He explained that earlier in the day he was asked to report to the Wales Police Station where he positively identified two of the bandits during an identification parade. The other two – the getaway driver and another bandit – are still at large.

Roberts told this publication that upon reaching home on Sunday morning, he exited the car to open the gate when he was held at gunpoint by three men with guns. They were not wearing masks but had topes over their heads. As they demanded the money and valuables, they gun butted him twice thus causing injuries to his head.

One of them then turned his attention to the occupants of the car and upon seeing his wife, they threatened to shoot her if she did not hand over

attorney, Tracy Robinson, and four other commissioners from the United States, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay.

The report also expresses disappointment that the government of TT, which prepared a written response to claims made, did not participate in a special hearing earlier this year which entertained concerns about the country’s Equal Opportunity Act. Colin Robinson, who leads the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (Caiso) and attended the March hearing, noted that both Guyana and the Bahamas sent their foreign ministers. He described the occasion as “a moment of acute embarrassment” for the country.

A March 23 statement from the EOC had indicated that proposals for reform had actually been initiated by the Commission since 2010. A submission to “reformulate” the proposals was also made in February 2014. On October 15 that year, the EOC further proposed that “the ground of sexual orientation be included for protection.”

It says the organisations which made submissions to the hearing “further indicated that people with HIV should be considered a separate group and not included in the disability category.”

The “Paris Principles” relate to a 1993 resolution of the United Nations General Assembly which, among other things, calls for the establishment of “a national institution… vested with competence to promote and protect human rights.”

“The IACHR expresses its concern regarding the lack of compliance with the Equal Opportunity Commission’s recommendations, and requests that the state include the categories of age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV status as grounds on which to ban discrimination,” the report says.

(TT Guardian)

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

the jewellery she was wearing.

She also received some injuries during a scuffle with the bandit.

During the ordeal, he pleaded with them not to hurt anyone and agreed to cooperate. The men took away the money, jewellery, cellphones and two bags containing travel documents and clothing.

Soon after, they jumped into the getaway car and drove off the scene. The traumatised family immediately contacted the Police but they took some time to arrive on the scene.

Nevertheless, they managed to activate the emergency response unit and the car was intercepted in Georgetown but with only two occupants. The car was brought to the Wales Police Station where the two occupants, as well as the car were positively identified by

Roberts.

He thanked the Police for their quick response. However, he claimed that as they travelled from Timehri to the West Bank of Demerara, he did not observe anyone following him and it was quite strange that bandits pulled up seconds after the family arrived home.

A Police source told Guyana Times that the men might have been working in collusion with others who might have contacted them with the vehicle’s number while they waited at the Demerara Harbour Bridge.

Investigators are expected to review the surveillance footage from the DHB as they continue their investigations.

He also confirmed that two men were arrested in Georgetown. The men and the car are at the Wales Police Station. (Guyana Times)

J’can teachers benefit from diaspora Day of Service

Principal of Sam Sharpe Teachers' College, in Granville, St. James, Dr. Asburn Pinnock (seated, left) and Chairman of the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force, Mr. Leo Gilling (seated, centre), with other participants at the Diaspora 'Day of Service', held at the college on June 18. The event included interactive workshops and lectures, held under the theme: 'Strengthening capacity for improved learning outcomes’

K

I N G S T O N , JAMAICA: More than 130 persons, including students of Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, members of the Early Childhood Commission and the National Education Trust, were hosted by the Jamaica Diaspora Biennial Conference at its Day of Service, held at the college, in Granville, St. James.

The event focused on a number of topics affecting parishes across Jamaica, one of which was Early Childhood Development, under the theme: ‘Strengthening capacities for improved learning outcomes’.

Several interactive workshops and lectures were conducted, aimed at assisting teachers and supporting members of the Early Childhood education landscape. Topics covered included: ‘Skills for effective parent

engagement’, ‘Trauma and young children’ and ‘Early Childhood education career choices’.

Principal of Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, Dr. Asburn Pinnock, told the media that the workshops were “very successful” and practising teachers as well as students in training were visibly motivated, as they look forward to the start of the new school year in September.

“We all have benefited from the workshops and I believe that these kinds of interactive workshops and the kind of knowledge, interaction and experience are priceless. I don’t think we can ever put a dollar figure on these. We got the chance to share knowledge and we got a diversity of information and strategies that can assist us in our training here at the college,” he said.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Early Childhood Commission, Dr. Joan Reid, said the education system at the Early Childhood level desperately needs “this type of collaborative effort,” as this is what is going to take the country into the future.

“With our partners coming from abroad enthused as they are, we encourage them because this is exactly what we need, for them to collaborate with us in order for us to do more for our children,” Dr. Reid said.

For his part, Chairman of the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force, Leo Gilling, told the Jamaican media that the group was pleased with the outcome of the Diaspora Day of Service, as it was a “fitting closure to the successful five-day conference” held in Montego Bay.(JIS)

8

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

JIS confirms site attacked by ‘hacktivists’

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) has confirmed that its website was on Monday attacked by “hacktivists”.

The government agency said in a statement on Monday that despite the attack, their system was not breached and sensitive data was intact.

"We can confirm that our site has been attacked by ‘hacktivists’ or persons masquerading as such; however, the aggressor's attempts at breaching our system did not result in access to sensitive data but was constrained to ‘surface

defacement’. Our security team is undertaking recovery and reinforcement procedures as we speak and the JIS website will resume normal function in short order," the statement said.

Probable Islamic State militants hacked into the website on Monday, forcing a shutdown of the site.

Up to 10:00 pm Monday, people who visited the site came upon a message which read: “Hacked by Team System Dz: I am Muslim & I love jihad. I love Islamic state <3” The message also stated: “Message to all the peoples of the world

and especially to governments, Islamic State List to restore the rights of Muslims who have been killed by your governments savage and unjust, Islamic state will restore dignity for Muslims. Will purge the land of the Muslims from the hypocrites infidels. It intervenes you will equip you to dwell in cemeteries. Op USA & Israel. Hackers Islamic State/.2015” Facebook”.

By 10:00 pm, the landing page for the website was blank, except for a message stating “hacked by holako”.

The website has since been restored. (Jamaica Observer)

Pregnant teen attempts suicide to kill unborn child in Guyana

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: A 15-year-old of Onderneeming Housing Scheme, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) was hospitalised and later discharged from the Suddie Public Hospital after she attempted to end her life. The teenager is said to be five months pregnant.

According to re-

ports, she was rushed on Saturday to the Public Hospital after she stabbed herself in the stomach with a knife, trying to kill the unborn. The knife was then taken away by relatives. She was said to be under pressure to reveal how she got pregnant. The teen had dropped out of secondary school some months

ago after she reportedly got pregnant.

Residents have called on counsellors to visit the teen and offer words of advice.

Several pastors have visited the teen. Senior School Welfare Officer for Region Two, Haimraj Hamandeo said that an investigation will be launched into the matter. (Guyana Times)

99-year-old Guyanese pensioner beaten, robbed in Litchfield

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : James Layne, 99 years old of Lot 9 Litchfield Village, West Coast Berbice was, on Friday, evening terrorised and robbed of an undisclosed sum of cash by a known character in the village.

The elderly man is currently nursing several bodily injuries which were inflicted by the bandit who gained entry into his house through a window on the upper flat. According to information received, the alleged bandit has been arrested and is at the Fort Wellington Police Station, where he is expected to be charged.

Layne, who was in pain on Saturday, told the Guyana Times during a telephone conversation that on the night of the incident, he was listening to the 20:00h newscast but nature called. He got up and went to the washroom.

As he was heading back to his room, he was confronted by the bandit, who he claims was not wearing a mask.

The bandit, he not-

ed had already ransacked another room and was probably leaving the house when they met eye to eye.

The elderly man stated that the burglar demanded that hand over his money, however after he told him that he did not have any, he received several blows to his body including his head. Layne was taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was treated and sent away.

The 99-year-old man stated that the ordeal lasted for several minutes and, due to his fear, he was unable to alert his neighbours.

During the incident, he was pushed to the floor and ordered not to move or he would be killed.

The bandit then went into the man’s room where he searched and found several sets of monies stashed in various places.

The man recalled that after collecting his pension and the monies his daughter sends from overseas, he would hide them in familiar places so that he could remember. In a feeble voice,

the man stated, “Is till when I went and check for the money under my pillow, I know that it missing… I normally hide one set in a shirt which I keep under my pillow.”

As the bandit left, Layne raised an alarm which saw neighbours running to assist. This was not the first time the man’s house has been burglarised. He recalled that every month, whenever he collects his pension and NIS (National Insurance Scheme) benefits, his house would be invaded. “If they do not get money, they pick up what they can and leave,” he stated.

The house has electricity and the windows are barred leaving investigators and members of the community puzzled as to how the man gained entry into the house, where Layne alone lives since the passing of his wife eight years ago. The Police have since dusted the man’s home for finger prints as they continue their investigations.

(Guyana Times)

TT President Carmona to make Integrity appointments

Caribbean vows to step up action on chronic diseases P

B

RIDGETOWN, BARBADOS : The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments have vowed to step up action in addressing chronic diseases.

On Wednesday, representatives of Caricom governments ended a high-level meeting in Barbados by declaring that non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, are the greatest health and development threat facing the Caribbean.

They urged steppedup efforts using all-ofgovernment and all-ofsociety approaches to tackle NCDs, calling for

greater investments in health systems to reverse what they termed a "tsunami" that threatens economic and social development throughout the region.

"The truth is that our people are dying, our people are being disabled by chronic diseases," said Dr Carissa F Etienne, PAHO's Dominican-born director.

PAHO said about three of every four deaths in the Caribbean are currently from NCDs. PAHO said NCDs place a heavy burden on individuals, families and societies due to suffering and deaths, as well as high costs from treatment and care, lost productivity, and displaced resources from other sec-

tors of the economy.

Delegates said that NCDs are overwhelming Caribbean countries' health services and challenging their sustainability, and, at the same time, are impeding progress toward universal health coverage and universal access, according to PAHO. The meeting concluded with Caribbean leaders renewing their commitment to the principles set out in Caricom's 2007 Port-ofSpain Declaration, as well as in the 2011 political declaration of the United Nations' highlevel meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and the formal 2014 UN review of progress on NCDs. Delegates called for particular focus on strengthening of health systems, prioritised investment in primary health care, and strengthening of surveillance and data collection systems, including through bilateral and regional cooperation.

(CMC)

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: President Anthony Carmona will reportedly proceed with the appointment of two persons to the Integrity Commission.

According to the TT media, the President had given Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley until Monday to review information regarding these persons and provide his responses. The report said, “Those recommendations will now be considered before the appointments are made.”

However there was no official confirmation last night from the Office of the President as to if the nominees were approved and were to be sworn in as commissioners. Efforts to contact Rowley on Monday to find out whether he sent his recommendations to the President, were unsuccessful.

However Rowley has publicly stated that the current Commission should be dissolved and a new Commission be constituted.

Officials at President House on Sunday indicated that once Carmona

TT’s President Anthony Carmona (TT Guardian file photo)

received correspondence from Rowley consideration will be given as to the next step.

Under Section 4 (4) of the Integrity in Public Life Act, the President consults with the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader regarding appointments to the Commission.

However in this case, the President has the discretion to make appointments to the Commission, regardless of whether the Prime

Minister or Opposition Leader agree or disagree with the persons he chooses.

On May 21, retired Justice Sebastian Ventour resigned as the Commission’s deputy chairman on May 21 after accusing the Commission of misleading the public on the emailgate affair.

One day earlier, Dr Shelly Anne Lalchan resigned as a member of the Commission. (TT Newsday)

News WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

UTech J'ca advancing ganja research with 'revolutionary' cannabis testing machine G EORGETOWN, GUYANA: The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) has further advanced research efforts to examine the scientific and medicinal properties and potential of the cannabis (marijuana) plant with the acquisition of a cannabis testing machine known as QuantaCann2.

The analytical machine donated by Steep Hill Labs, Inc, USA -- a California-based medical cannabis laboratory with which the UTech signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year -- is the only such analytical machine in Jamaica.

The QuantaCann2 machine uses revolutionary cannabis-testing technology to analyse cannabis, providing data about cannabinoid potency levels, moisture content, and other components of the plant within seconds.

The system is designed for use at medicinal cannabis access points, and is used in the USA as a point of sale support.

Steep Hill has trained lecturers in the College of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Sport at UTech to operate the machine.

Initially, dried flowers and stalks are being tested.

Subsequently, UTech will be able to test concentrates. Ganja growers, manufacturers, and students at UTech and other tertiary institutions who are engaged in basic ganja research can use the

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Business flat, consumer confidence weak in Guyana … Dookhoo hopeful of rebound, awaits Guyana Govt initiatives

By Gomatie Gangadin

G

EORGETOWN,

Associate Professor and Dean, College of Health Sciences Dr Ellen CampbellGrizzle, discuss the QunataCann2TM instant annabis analysis machine (pictured) recently donated to UTech by Steep Hill Labs Inc, USA. Looking on at left is Dr Donald Land, Chief Scientist, Steep Hill Labs Inc

QuantaCann2 for quick and easy investigation of plant characteristics.

"Testing for pharmaceutical purposes will require the use of other additional equipment that we also have here at UTech in the Natural Products Laboratory," said Dr Ellen CampbellGrizzle, dean of College of Health Sciences.

She noted further that the QuantaCann2 provides the opportunity for a first important step for UTech into the formalised cannabis economy.

"If you can test your sample, you have a good idea of the potency that you have. Then you can decide how best to formulate what you have for medicinal purposes," she said.

The Memorandum of Understanding between UTech and Steep

Hill Labs Inc paves the way for the exploration of mutual opportunities for research and development of medicinal by-products using cannabis. It facilitates the sharing of information between both institutions on laboratory testing, multidisciplinary research, entrepreneurship and innovation regarding culture, science and technology in cannabis.

The collaboration will also facilitate student electives and continuing education programmes, joint publications and student internships. Both institutions will collaborate to analyse the current ecosystem for the Jamaican cannabis market, including, but not limited to the areas of law, regulation, testing, taxation, overall economics,

supply chain (from seed to sale), cannabis in the food sciences and tourism, as well as its social impact.

So far the partnership has yielded a road map for the Jamaica Cannabis Ecosystem and the formation of a Steep Hill UTech Ecosystem (SHUTE).

Additionally, this collaboration has led to the sharing of technology and training for UTech staff and over 300 Jamaican pharmacists.

More training events and expanded services are planned.

The Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell on May 14, 2015 presented UTech with a licence authorising it to cultivate marijuana for scientific research. (Jamaica Observer)

Destra to perform at Pride Toronto

P

9

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Soca star Destra Garcia will make history as the first soca artiste to perform at Toronto Pride this Sunday. Garcia will be performing at the Blockorama stage as well as participate in the event’s Pride Parade. The annual LGBTTI2QQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, intersex, twospirited, queer and questioning) festival is held in June each year.

This year’s festival began last Friday and ends Sunday. The festival is considered to be one of the largest gay pride festivals in the world and is more than 25 years old, according to Wikipedia.

Garcia asked on Monday if she had any concerns about performing at Toronto Pride, since it was an LGBT event and given the perceptions of homosexuality in TT,

said, “No none whatsoever. I have a lot of fans across the board. I don’t see colour, creed or sexuality.” Garcia is expected to deliver a one hour performance at the event.

Garcia said she was shocked when she was asked to perform at the festival. “Cyndi Lauper will be there. I was like, ‘you sure you want Destra?’” she said with a slight chuckle.

Garcia said she is a very openminded person. A lot of people, she said, think that TT is not advanced as it is but, “I don’t think we have a major problem with sexuality.” She cited that there were discussions on the radio about Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) and that the public seemed largely nonchalant about the trans-gender debate. She said while there would always be reli-

gious and homophobic groups she focused on her business and fans.

Garcia added that when she performs on stage her audience is multi-sexual.

Zuberi, the organiser of Blockorama (founded 17 years ago), said Garcia was approached after she first saw her at her February 11 House of Bakanal concert. She admits she was surprised that Garcia had said yes to the request. Zuberi came to Trinidad for Carnival and was, “struck by the longevity and endurance of her performance.”

Zuberi said Blockorama, which started in 1998, was conceived because as an African, Caribbean, Trini lesbian she wanted to see representation of herself in Pride.

The festival, she said, was mainly a white event and it was a culturally white festival. (TT Newsday)

GUYANA: Amid a slowdown in business during the pre and post election period, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) is hopeful that business would soon speed up but reasoned that the rate at which this change occurs will depend largely on the new A Partnership For National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition Government.

Former PSC Chairman Ramesh Dookhoo, speaking to Guyana Times, stated that the slowdown in business activity which developed before, and during the May 11 election period, is yet to end.

Dookhoo is the current Trade and Investment Chairman of the PSC. “My own assessment is that there was a down period before and after the election.

As predicted, we are still getting slow business on the commercial side.

If you draw the line a little longer and examine the trend, you probably will see it going upwards again commercially,” Dookhoo said.

Prior to the May 11 polls, Dookhoo had made headlines when he said “the Private Sector hates elections. We do no business before elections and we do no business after elections, so we hate elections.” He had said then that the business community was in a “stand and wait” mode as it awaited the completion of the election. The tension just after the closely contested polls had forced several businesses to remain closed as Guyanese waited for the declaration of official results from the Guyana Elections Commission.

Turning his attention to fears being expressed that the economy was likely to face a contraction, Dookhoo said it was too early to make such a determination. The new Administration has only been in Government for 30 days. To this end, Dookhoo said it was hard to make an assessment of the new Government’s economic policy, although it was laid out to a large extent in its election manifesto.

While efforts to reach Lance Hinds, President

Clinton Urling

of the GCCI proved futile, in the meantime, former President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and proprietor of the German’s Restaurant, Clinton Urling, told Guyana Times that he was in full agreement with the concerns which were raised by the PSC official.

Urling said that he is still searching for answers as to why the economy remains stagnant, even with the end to the election period.

“The economy right now is practically at a standstill. The retail sales are moving at a snail’s pace.

I would have thought that given the fact that the elections are over and we have a new Government that consumers’ confidence would have been restored but business, especially for the retail stores is really slow. I don’t understand and I don’t have an explanation as to why,” Urling told this publication.

According to the businessman, while it was expected during the election period, he has not seen such a significant drop in business transactions over the past years. He, however, alluded to the troubled gold industry and the non presentation of Budget 2015 as two reasons why the economy is in the state it is currently in.

“I really haven’t seen anything like this in years but I guess with the gold industry not doing so well right now and the fact that the 2015 Budget has not yet been presented are factors that could have led to this. We will just have to wait and see what will happen in the budget and that will give us a clear indication of what is taking place and what will happen,” Urling intoned. (Guyana Times)

10

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com |

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

New political party in TT to contest 41 seats P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: TT’s newest political party—the Youths, Organisations, Unification and Reformation (Your) party- says it intends to contest all 41 seats in the 2015 polls but candidates will have to fund their own campaign.

In an interview, the party’s deputy political leader Wahid Ogeer said they will unveil the party’s manifesto next month. He said they have already registered with the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and their symbol is a slice of watermelon.

Ogeer said his party had the solution to crime.

He said its crime plan was given to former national security minister

Gary Griffith but it was never implemented.

“We have too many people suffering because of domestic violence. We have too many men not paying child support. It is time that we put a new system in place,” Ogeer

said.

He said that crime is preventative and the only way to tackle the scourge was through a change in legislation.

Ogeer said that Your’s main focus was to change the antiquated laws of

TT which favours criminals over law abiding citizens.

Under existing laws, Ogeer said if a man steals or kills someone, instead of being made to work, he is sent to jail where he is fed at the expense of the

taxpayers.

“The new law will force the wrong doer to pay back every cent that he stole. He will be required to work in an agricultural plantation for eight hours per day for five days of the week. He will be paid a minimum wage and half of his salary will be used to buy his food while the other half will be used for expenses,” Ogeer said.

Inviting people from all political parties including the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), United National Congress (UNC) and People’s National Movement (PNM) to join with them, Ogeer said he was hoping that the new political entity get a special majority in Parliament and win the

2015 general elections.

Once nominations are open within the next two weeks, Ogeer said screening would be held and the party would unveil its slate of candidates.

Asked whether the party was increasing in membership since its launch on May 16, Ogeer said they were not concerned with membership.

“We have gone around to many people to share our ideas. I have spoken to 4,000 people and we want everybody to support this,” he said.

The party’s political leader Dennis Ramdahin has gone to the United States to get funding for the campaign, he said.

Asked when they expected to begin campaigning, Ogeer said he did not know. (TT Guardian)

Nicholson: Jamaica Court empowered to will not support Dom grant recount of Guyana Rep Caricom bid elections – Nandlall

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Jamaica seems set to withhold any support of the Dominican Republic joining the Caribbean Community (Caricom) if that country fails to appropriately resolve attempts to denationalise hundreds of thousands of its own people who are of Haitian descent.

The Government's position was articulated

by Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator AJ Nicholson during his Senate address Friday.

"For some time there has been discussion as to whether the DR should become a part of Caricom," he said. "[But], let Jamaica say at this stage, that if this Dominican Republic/ Haiti matter is not resolved in the spirit of full adherence to human rights, and adherence to acknowledged international norms, Jamaica will not support the Dominican Republic."

Despite Caricom's strong condemnation of the denationalisation and deportation plans, the regional body has not been able to sway the Dominican Republic on the matter, as, according to international reports, these activities could begin as early as this week.

In a statement on Jamaica's participation in the recently concluded summit of the EU/ Community of Latin American and Caribbean

G

Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator AJ Nicholson

States, Nicholson said that after lengthy discussions at a CARIFORUMEuropean Union highlevel meeting, "both sides agreed on the importance of the principles of the status of citizenship and the presumption that persons shall not be rendered stateless".

He said too that the meeting also agreed that "consideration would be given to proposals for appropriate benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms" to be presented

by CARIFORUM. The Dominican Republic is the only non-Caricom member of CARIFORUM, which comprises African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

For decades, Haitians in search of a better life have gone to the Dominican Republic, with which their country share the island of Hispaniola, many of

them remaining and expanding, or starting families. But after a series of legislative changes to immigration policies, the Dominican Republic has revoked the citizenship of over 200,000 persons with Haitian roots, and in September 2013 denationalised this group of Dominicans.

Following international pressure, the Government established a mechanism to allow denationalised Dominicans to register as foreigners for two years, after which they could reapply for citizenship. Haitian migrants living there were also allowed to apply for legal residency.

With the mid-June deadline now passed, Dominican authorities seem set on expelling hundreds of thousands of those people who have not registered, irrespective of their nationality.

(Jamaica Observer)

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Former Attorney General and Central Committee Member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Anil Nandlall said the party, which is challenging the results of the May 11 General and Regional Elections, has debunked claims made by former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, that the High Court cannot grant a recount to the party.

Speaking to Guyana Times on Sunday afternoon, the PPP/C Central Committee Member said he does not share the view of Ramkarran that the High Court of the Supreme of Judicature, which is constitutionally empowered to hear and determine and election petition, suffers from such a disability. “While I will concede that a recount is not one of the final remedies which the Representation of the People’s Act speaks of, if a Judge is persuaded that a recount of the votes cast will assist the court in determining whether the number of valid votes cast for any list of Candidates differ from the votes upon which seats in the National Assembly were allocated to that list, I know of no principle of law or any statute which would prevent a court from making an order for a recount. In

other words, it will have to be an ancillary relief which the court can grant in order to better place the court in a position to make the final order which is nullification of the elections,” Nandlall told this publication.

His comments come on the heels of Ramkarran’s article on his Conversation Tree blog which stated that if a political party feels aggrieved, it can file an election petition to the High Court under article 163 of the Constitution. This article, he said, provides for claims based on two limbs.

Ramkarran said that if an election petition is filed on the basis of the second limb, the Guyana High Court would have jurisdiction to determine the issues only on the basis of the evidence which is presented by the petitioner who has to show by that evidence which is presented that the election result was or may have been affected by the unlawful acts or omissions which are proved. “It is not the function, duty or business of the court to seek out its own evidence to aid the petitioner in proving its case by ordering an opening of the ballot boxes and the counting of the votes.

In any event, the court has no power to do. In other words, the petitioner would not be permitted to present

a scintilla of evidence showing suspicious circumstances in relation to a limited number of Statements of Poll and then call on the court to order a recounting of the votes, based on that suspicion, so that it can verify whether or not its suspicions are justified,” Ramkarran had said.

To this end however, the former Attorney General related that it is not a question of the court aiding the petitioner in presenting evidence but if it is that the evidence of irregularities are in the ballot boxes and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has custody of those ballot boxes, and if a recount of the votes cast is integral in establishing these irregularities then the petitioner is not in a position to present those to the court. If a recount is considered by the court necessary then it is GECOM or some other authority appointed by the court that will have to conduct that recount.

He further noted that there is no reason why the High Court is impotent to make such an order if the justice of the case demands it.

The PPP/C since the declaration of election results for 2015, has been registering its concerns over the results of the May 11 polls and has signalled its intentions of filing an election petition in the High Court. (Guyana Times)

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

News

11

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Guyana: PPP/C ups calls for replacement of Ram, Goolsarran

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Former Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall said he would in no way object to the presence of independent international auditors to ensure transparency and fairness is in place of the “hand picked” auditors chosen by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government to carry out its forensic audits on State agencies.

Nandlall was speaking directly to Government’s decision to use Attorney Christopher Ram and former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran to audit some 30 odd State agencies.

The former Minister and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic

(PPP/C) have been objecting to the move, claiming that the duo is closely aligned to the Government. On Monday, PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee said the absence of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has cheated the system.

According to Rohee, APNU/AFC in its manifesto, had promised to establish the Public Procurement Commission and has not been able to deliver.

He noted that the Guyanese public has not been told what procurement process was followed to secure the service of Goolsarran and Ram and how much they are being paid.

Government recently announced that it had contracted private inde-

Former Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall

pendent firms such as Ram and McRae, Hinds and Associates, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, among others, to begin the audits into the operations and transactions of 30 plus agencies.

Both Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran are

staunch critics of the previous Administration and had publicly commented on the financial status of a number of the agencies being audited.

Rohee said while Government had promised that it will seek to establish a PPC during the first 100 days of its reign, it moved ahead and appointed Ram and Goolsarran without due process. It was brought to Rohee’s attention, however, that in order for the Procurement Commission to be set up, there must a twothird majority in the Parliament. This is not the case since the party has refused to attend Parliament.

Meanwhile, Nandlall again questioned the process, saying “Was there a procurement exercise

and did they win the bid to audit?” He said since the inventory is aimed at achieving transparency, it is expected that the process itself illustrate some amount of transparency.

Nandlall had said his party remains cognisant of the undermining of the integrity of the forensic investigations with the retention of the two known supporters. He further stated that the personnel chosen to do the audits are members of the party.

This act, he stressed, will dwindle the objectivity of the audits. He said he did not think that any reasonable mind could be persuaded that the auditors Christopher Ram of Ram and McRae and former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran could

bring an “objective mind to bear on the process”.

Nandlall said the PPP/C has taken a position that the forensic audits are processes that are “polluted” with bias.

He said the auditors have made their conclusions known “ad nauseam” that there was corruption under the PPP/C Administration. Putting them at the helm of the audits, he said, was like a judge making a pronouncement before the commencement of a trial. “That is the unfortunate thing regarding the forensic audit as well as the posture of [Guyana Elections Commission] GECOM to our request for the information that we consider very important to the credibility to the electoral process.”

(Guyana Times)

Petrotrin TT withstands falling oil prices

Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: State-owned Petrotrin has recorded positive results for the first half of fiscal 2015, which the company said has helped it to withstand the increasing pressures brought on by reduced global crude oil prices.

Among these positive results noted in its midyear update on Monday, Petrotrin said it has increased oil production and is moving to stabilise its short-term cash position.

Just last year the company recorded losses of TT$346 million and said then it barely broke even in the year before that.

Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali said on Monday the company generated approximately TT$1.66 billion in benefits to its shareholder, which is the Government.

Of this figure, he noted, Petrotrin made TT$960 million in direct taxes and fees and an additional TT$704 million in indirect benefits and taxes.

“We are proud that Petrotrin is the driving force behind the low energy prices enjoyed by the nation and fuels numer-

ous other industry related entities that together drive early 50 per cent of overall GDP and economic output,” Hassanali said Petrotrin said it has stepped up its drilling programme, with two onshore drilling rigs and one offshore jack-up drilling rig currently in operation while there are approximately 17 onshore workover rigs and two offshore workover rigs in operation.

“Petrotrin’s total average production for the past seven months of the current fiscal year has been 48,238 barrels of oil per day and 148.12 mmscfd of natural gas. Of this total, Petrotrin operated oil production has averaged 34,586 barrels per day as at April 2015,” the company stated.

“Petrotrin’s non-operated interests have also seen an average oil production for this fiscal year of 13,653 barrels per day onshore,” it added.

In terms of its refinery operations, the stateowned company confirmed that all refinery units are available for operation and that mechanical availability has improved and averaged 90 per cent over the past three months.

It said in a report to investors vice president of refining Jonathan Barden noted that despite reductions in absolute oil prices, refining margins in 2014 and 2015 have been similar.

The company said it is conducting a thorough analysis of all potential weak points and are putting plans in place to address them. It said work has also started on im-

proving the integrity of tanks and the tank farm areas.

Petrotrin went on to

note that its board of directors has approved a TT$3.2 billion three-anda-half year revolving debt

facility which will be put in place to deal with the company’s short term cash shortfall created by

the inventory losses in October 2014 through December 2014. (TT Express)

12

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

TT refugees and asylumseekers seek help

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Some 200 refugees and asylum-seekers, including children, are currently in Trinidad and Tobago seeking the assistance of the non-governmental organisation, Living Water Community’s (LWC) Ministry for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, to have them resettled.

Programme Coordinator of the Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Rochelle Nakhid, told TT media on Monday that the refugees and asylum-seekers in TT are mainly from Syria, Colombia, Cuba, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

The numbers have grown from one to two to about 200 at present over the past two decades.

Nakhid spoke with the media on the occasion of World Refugee Day observed on June 20, and in advance of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, to be observed July 26.

To mark both occasions, the LWC has partnered with the Trinidad Theatre Workshop to screen for the first time in TT, the film The Good Lie, telling the story of Sudanese Lost Boys (refugees) who survived the war, and were settled in the USA. The event is being supported by the United Nations agencies and United States Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.

Nakhid, who has worked with refugees in the US, noted that the locally-based Refugee and Asylum Seekers was an offshoot

CARICOM urged to speak out for Haitians facing deportation in Dominican Republic

S

African drumming is showcased by Belmont Freetown Cultural Arts and Folk Performing Company at the launch of the Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series, Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain last Saturday as part of observances leading to Emancipation Day on August 1

of the work the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began with LWC, to assist a person or two to resettle in the United States of America (USA) over two decades ago.

Over the years the numbers of refugees continuously increased, Nakhid said, and a Caribbean UNHCR Unit was formed in Washington DC. The LWC works in partnership with other local stakeholders, including the Emancipation Support Committee and international stakeholders like the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

TT has no refugee law in place, but Nakhid noted that

Government has created a Refugee Unit pending legislation. Much of the work involves advocacy with other stakeholders, including the IOM and US Government, to regularise the status of the refugees who enter the country “illegally” and are undocumented. Regularisation includes proving them with an order of supervision, and resettling into the community, or resettled in a third country.

Nine were resettled in the US last year, and another batch is expected to be resettled this year.

The US accommodates between 70,000 to 80,000 refugees a year, but takes only a few from the Caribbean. (TT Newsday)

A N T O DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Outrage is growing over the Dominican Republic’s move to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants and Haitians born in that Spanishspeaking country, with warnings that it will lead to a humanitarian crisis and calls for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to advocate on behalf of those affected by the policy.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says refusing citizenship to people in the Dominican Republic and subjecting them to deportation is a “stain” on Caribbean civilization.

“What is happening in the Dominican Republic is simply unacceptable,” he said. “It is unacceptable to have a public policy in relation to citizenship, grounded in ethnicity or your national origins.”

Gonsalves made the

comments to the media in St. Vincent on his return from the EU–CELAC Summit in Brussels where the matter was discussed.

Up until 2010, anyone born on Dominican Republic soil was automatically given citizenship, but a change to the constitution has denied citizenship to children born of undocumented parents. Then, in September 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Tribunal handed down a ruling denying citizenship to anyone born in the country since 1929, if his or her parents had been “in transit”, affecting not only short-term visitors but long-term, undocumented workers as well.

The government recently launched a programme offering legal residency to Haitians born in the Dominican Republic but the deadline for applications ended last week with thousands still unable to register. (Caribbean360)

13 PPP/C to continue boycott of Parliament in Guyana News

Opposition urges J;can PM, ministers to take pay cut

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Leader of the Opposition Andrew Holness says that the Government should show "moral leadership" and take a pay cut in solidarity with the plight of its employees.

"Asking the public sector workers to accept a wage increase that is less than the inflation over the past five years requires that the Government themselves share the burden," Holness told his Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Area Council One meeting at the Donald Quarrie High School in Harbour View on Sunday.

"The prime minister should lead the process, just as Bruce Golding did in 2009, by taking a 15 per cent pay cut, while his fellow Government MPs (members of Parliament) took a 10 per cent cut," Holness added.

In April 2009, in solidarity with the harsh economic measures introduced by his Government, Golding took a 15 per cent cut in salary, plus foregoing a seven per cent increase, which would have been due to him effective April 1.

Other JLP MPs took a 10 per cent cut.

In announcing the decision in a public broadcast, Golding told the country that "those in the lead will have to lead by example".

However, then Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller refused to take a cut, and her fellow Opposition MPs supported her stand. (Jamaica Observer)

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

…still to announce leader, MPs

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Uncertainty continues to hover over the participation of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the first few sittings of the 11th Parliament, particularly who will represent and lead the political unit in the ensuing days.

General Secretary Clement Rohee, while declaring that the Party would not be attending the second sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday, June 25, said executives were still determining who would take up the leadership role of the Party. He said too that he was unsure whether the Party would be available to participate in the sittings before the end of the 100-day period.

The Party has been crying “foul” after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) declared the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition the winner of the General and Regional Elections, which took place on May 11, claiming that the electoral process was rigged.

At Thursday’s sitting, APNU+AFC Members of

Parliament (MPs) are expected to debate the speech delivered by President Granger at the opening of the 11th Parliament on June 10.

The PPP/C said it viewed the debate as a “charade” by the “GECOM engineered parliamentary majority to lend legitimacy to the creation of an ambience of cooperation in Parliament, at a time when PPP/C leadership and members and supporters are under daily attacks and made to suffer deprivation of their basic human, political and civil rights”, Rohee told reporters. The General Secretary said while debates on presidential speeches have indeed taken place in the National Assembly, Thursday’s debate would take place against the backdrop of a ‘GECOM rigged’ elections and a composition of a Parliament which did not reflect the will of the Guyanese electorate. He added that in any event, a cursory perusal of the speech delivered by President Granger would show that it was “replete and backsliding” on the parties’ promises made in the Cummingsburg Accord.

Meanwhile, pressed on the identity of the Party’s leader in the face of rumours former President Bharrat

Jagdeo had accepted the top position, Rohee said that information would be relayed when the Party showed up in Parliament. He stressed that the name of the Party’s leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Speaker and Members of Parliament would all be revealed at that time.

“We have our own agenda.

Not so much the Opposition Leader, but what will be required of the Party in the next few months and years ahead.

We will have to go in there in fighting force in a combative way within the confines of the Standing Orders, defending the policies and programmes of the PPP/C Administration, exposing the Government in all their shortcomings and showing supporters and the general Guyanese public that we have an interest in following our modus operandi in Parliament that we are a force to be reckoned with inside and outside of Parliament, because we are committed to parliamentary as well as extra-parliamentary struggle,” Rohee said.

Granger, during his address to MPs, said the pieces of legislation he wanted to introduce included the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, to add certain enti-

ties, such as the Service Commissions and GECOM that ought to enjoy financial autonomy as constitutional agencies; the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly Bill, to establish an independent office of the Clerk of the National Assembly that would allow greater independence in the appointment of all staff of the Parliament Office; the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Bill, to ensure that certain entities enjoy financial independence, to free them from executive interference with their budgetary allocations; the former Presidents’ (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill to cap benefits, including taxfree concessions and to specify some conditions under which the benefits are to be enjoyed; the Constitutional Offices Commission Bill to periodically review salaries, pensions and other conditions for persons appointed to constitutional offices, including Members of the National Assembly and the Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bill, to allow equal treatment to all investors in this sector and to ensure better service to consumers. (Guyana Times)

14

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

Corruption highlighted as 2 Guyanese Police Officers get bail

G

Sergeant Collin Bailey and Detective Constable Ruel Paddy

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Two Police Officers were granted bail on Monday when they appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on charges of corruption.

The officers – Detective Constable Ruel Paddy and Sergeant Colin Bailey – of the Vigilance Police Station, on the East Coast of Demerara, are both being challenged by a civilian for receiving bribes.

Paddy and Bailey appeared in Court One where Chief Magistrate Priya SewnarineBeharry presided. The Magistrate made it known to the court that the men are charged for corruptly obtaining Gy$300,000 on May 7, as inducement from Kissoondat Preimsook, also known as “Dave”; a licensed firearm holder, for his release.

Sergeant Paddy is also charged with fraudulently obtain-

ing Gy$50,000 from Preimsook as an inducement so that charges would not be laid against him on June 15.

The men pleaded not guilty to the charges against them The attorney stated that the accused have been employed by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for over a decade and there has never been a complaint against their integrity as officers until this point.

Police Prosecutor, Corporal Bharat Mangru indicated his willingness to acquiesce with bail but only monetary bail.

With these proposals, Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry granted the defendants Gy$100,000 bail for each of the charges against the duo and ordered that their passports be lodged with the Prosecution.

She also ordered them to return to the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court on July 10 where their case will be tried.

(Guyana Times)

J’can Gov’t ministries sign MOU to enhance trade environment K INGSTON, JAMAICA: The Government has signaled its commitment to further enhance the trade environment in Jamaica with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by eight ministries on Monday at the Cabinet Office.

The Trade Facilitation (TF) MoU was signed by Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and other representatives of the Ministries of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Health; Agriculture and Fisheries; Science, Technology, Energy and Mining; National Security; Transport, Works and Housing; Finance and Planning; and the Cabinet Office.

In his remarks, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator AJ Nicholson said the MoU will ensure the implementation of transparent, consistent and predictable procedures at Jamaica’s borders, aimed at reducing transaction costs and improving the national trading environment.

“Given the current thrust towards establishing Jamaica as a global logistics hub, trade facilitation, will of course, play a key transformative role in improving Jamaica’s trading environment and international competitiveness.

This is primarily through the establishment of improved and more efficient processes at the borders to facilitate international trade in goods that are entering Jamaica,” he said.

In addition, he noted that the MoU represents another step in Jamaica’s

Ministers of Government sign the Trade Facilitation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 22, at the Cabinet Office in Kingston. Seated (from left) are: Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson; Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton; and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator AJ Nicholson.

Overseeing the process (standing, from left) are: Trade Administrator, Trade Board Limited Victor Cummings; Co-Chair, Trade Facilitation Task Force, Major (Ret’d) Richard Reese; and Chairperson, Trade Facilitation Task Force Patricia Francis

preparatory work to implement the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TF), when it comes into effect.

The TF Agreement was adopted by WTO members in December 2013, at the 9th Session of the Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia. The Agreement will enter into force, once two-thirds of members have completed their domestic ratification process.

It contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. It further contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this area.

For Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton, the MoU signifies the Government’s continued work to deepen the

business environment reform process to ensure measureable achievements in trade facilitation and performance.

“It signifies the next stage of reforms… and is not just a formality to satisfy treaty obligations, but to address the root causes of impediments to trade,” he noted.

Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson for his part, said the MoU “represents best practice in relation to joined-up government and whole of Government approach to developing our country and more so, in looking at what is needed most at this time for economic growth”.

The MoU is expected to remove obstacles in order to facilitate ease of movement of goods and services through the ports for the benefit of business persons, in particular importers and exporters, and Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

It identifies the roles and responsibilities of the parties toward improving the environment for trade

facilitation in Jamaica, which is expected to result in greater accountability, reduce the cost and complexity of doing business and improve access to statistical data.

The agreement also seeks to adopt internationally accepted norms, standards and best practices for the import, export, transit and transshipment of goods while taking into account Jamaica’s development objectives.

In addition, it will ensure that trade is facilitated and conducted in a safe and secure environment utilising Information and Communications Technology (ICT), modern institutional structures and adequate resources with ISO 9001 Quality Management System Standards.

The MoU came to fruition through the work of the Trade Facilitation Task Force, the body responsible for promoting and coordinating trade facilitation measures in Jamaica. It is housed at the Trade Board.(JIS)

News

15

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Clive Thomas appointed adviser on sustainable development in Guyana

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Executive and renowned economist, Professor Clive Thomas has been appointed Presidential Adviser on sustainable development.

Professor Thomas will assume responsibility for economic matters and the State Asset Recovery Programme, a statement from the Government Information Agency (GINA) has said.

Professor Thomas joins former Guyana Defence Force Chief-of-Staff, Rear Admiral Gary Best, who was appointed as Adviser on the Environment; Brigadier Edward Collins as Adviser on National Security, and former People’s National Congress (PNC) General Secretary Aubrey Norton as Adviser on Youth Empowerment who were recently appointed by President David Granger.

Thomas is a distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Guyana. He has held Visiting Professorships in Africa (University of Dar-es Salaam); Canada

(Visiting Distinguished Professor at the Norman Patterson School of International Relations); United States (Leonard O’Connor Professor, Colgate University); and the West Indies (George Beckford Professor in Political Economy). He has authored/co-authored 30 books/research monographs/papers (including: “Guyana: Countering the Risks of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Arms Proliferation” (With Addendum) IDS Working Paper 12/13, December 2013.

He has also published over 154 academic articles and contributions to books/research monographs, and presented invited papers to a similar number of academic conferences, symposia, and seminars. His major fields of research interests and publications include: Development Economics, with special emphasis on the following areas: growth; trade; finance; agriculture (sugar); environment; natural resources (gold, bauxite, forestry); institutional development and political economy. (Guyana Times)

Trinidad spends TT$5m to buyout leave of senior cops P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: The Government is expected to spend over TT$5 million to buy out the leave of senior police officers.

Sources told the media on Monday a list is being finalised to hand over to National Security Minister Carl Alfonso to facilitate the purchase of leave of Senior Supt Johnny Abraham, Senior Supt David Abraham, Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenn Hackett, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ann Marie Alleyne-Daly and Assistant Supt Oswald Davis and others.

Contacted for a comment on Monday, Alfonso confirmed he has been having talks with acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams.

“We have discussed it. I don't know who all the officers are, I know at least two. The list is not complete yet and I haven't gone to Cabinet yet,” he said.

Numerous efforts to contact Williams on Monday were unsuccessful as all calls to his cellphone went unanswered.

Last year, following a decision by the Government to rescind its decision to blank the purchase of the leave of Assistant Commissioner of Police Wayne Dick, Williams had told the media in an interview on May 13 that he won't be recommending buying

TT’s Minister of National Security: Carl Alfonso

out officers' leave.

Dick headed the Homicide Bureau then and was overseeing the murder investigation of attorney Dana Seetahal SC. His involvement in that case as well as other high-profile cases had prompted a note to Cabinet

by Labour Minister Errol McLeod that his leave be bought out.

This decision was made without Williams and, following the expose, Dick was sent on leave rather than his leave being bought out.

Following this, Williams gave the undertaking that no officer would have their leave bought.

Williams: I won't be making any request.

In the May 13 interview, the media had contacted Williams asking him to comment on information that businesses in the Central Division were clamouring for the leave of Abraham to be

bought.

At that time, Williams said: “I will say I don't believe anything like that will be before Cabinet.

Because I have not submitted anything to the ministry or to any minister for the buying out of leave for Johnny Abraham or David Abraham.

The media had also contacted Abraham (Johnny) who said, “I have said from time and time again. If I have strength in my body and the people want me to stay in the Police Service and I am allowed to stay, I would do so willingly.”

Senior police sources said they remained confused as to the rationale behind the purchasing of leave of First Division officers ((Assistant Supt of Police to the Commissioner of Police) and not that of Second Division officers (rank of constable to inspector).

They added that, in 2013, the leave of Special Branch officers attached to the Prime Minister's detail was bought out and that Williams gave an undertaking and he needed to stand by his initial decision.

Sources further told media operatives that Daly will soon head the Child Protection Task Force Unit, which falls under the Children's Authority and officials at the authority preferred that a police officer be in charge of this unit.(TT Express)

16 News CGX plugs Gy$1.5m into flood prevention project G www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Canadian oil and gas exploration company, CGX Energy Inc, has plugged over one million dollars into a project to alleviate flooding along the New Market Street, Georgetown, area.

This announcement was made by Co-Chairman of CGX Guyana, Professor Suresh Narine on Monday. According to Professor Narine, New Market Street is prone to flooding very easily and becomes inundated faster than the other parallel streets. He noted that this street is home to a lot of businesses, including the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and when it floods, not only does the water takes a while to recede but also

Government Engineer Walter Willis and Contractor Komal Singh looking at the alleyway between Camp and Thomas Streets

affect the operations of these businesses.

As a result, the CGX Chairman said that, they hired Gaico Construction Inc to have a study done to determine how this issue can be alleviated.

He explained that the study found that there

are several alleys running from Church to Lamaha Streets between every block and these are clogged, hence preventing the water from draining into the Lamaha Canal, thus causing floods.

The contracting

firm recommended that these alleys be cleared as well as the parallel drains along New Market Street, as such, CGX took it upon themselves to clean and clear two blocks on New Market Street, between Waterloo and Camp Streets then between Camp and Thomas Streets. The works are expected to be done this coming weekend. The works will include desilting the drains, debushing the allies and removal of excessive materials from site.

Professor Narine outlined that in addition to financing the project, the company will also be providing manpower to work along with the contractor so that the work can be done expeditiously. Furthermore, CGX

Energy Inc also committed to maintaining the drainage for the next six months.

The project is being carried out by the Canadian company in collaborations with the Public Infrastructure Ministry.

Technical Adviser of the Ministry, Walter Willis, said collaborations with corporate Guyana on projects that will enhance the country’s infrastructures are always welcomed.

He highlighted that as we are in the May/ June rainy season, the low-lying parts of the City such as New Market Street are often flooded.

He noted that this initiative by the Canadian company comes on the heels of the Ministry placing advertisements for bids to have the

Lamaha Street outfall cleaned so that the water can run smoothly from the alleys into the canal.

“If we do all this cleaning of the alleyways, drains and roadside drains that go into Lamaha Street, if the collection and conveyance by the Lamaha Street Canal and the final disposal through the sluice is not done then all this work would be in vain,” he disclosed.

Owner of Gaico Construction Inc, Komal Singh said in addition to working on the two blocks with CGX, he will also be working along with the Infrastructure Ministry to see what can be done to address flooding at Georgetown Public Hospital block and sections of Middle Street.

(Guyana Times)

Drill ships in TT waters pose no environmental threat P ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Trade and Industry Minister Vasant Bharath and officials from InvestTT on Monday assured that the arrival of four Transocean International drill ships into TT waters will not pose an environmental threat.

Transocean, the company responsible for the large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has been granted permission to park the drill ships in TT waters after reportedly being turned away by United States and Curacao authorities.

Bharath and InvestTT vice-president, Shyamal Chandradathsingh, who both confirmed to the TT media approval was given for the mooring of the drill ships in TT waters, said the move will bring jobs and economic benefits to this country. Concern had been raised about the arrival of the vessels by a source who said: “Parking them in TT waters poses an environmental

risk. Our waters are already polluted with derelict ships dumped here by US offshore company, Tidewater Marine.”

The source claimed director of Maritime Services Beverly Phillip did not initially grant approval to Transocean, an international drill shipping company with offices in the US and Switzerland, but was influenced by Bharath and Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz to reverse her decision.

The source said businessman, Philip Buxo, former TT high commissioner to Canada, was the one who got Bharath and Cadiz to secure approval for Transocean. Buxo reportedly owns 50 per cent of an offshore logistics company, Peterson Integrated Logistics.

Contacted on Monday on the matter, Bharath said Buxo did indicate that Transocean was interested in parking some drilling ships in TT waters. “I understand they wanted to move their operations,”

he said. Bharath said the company will pay the Government for a lease rental of seabed space and has promised to hire nationals when the oil sector is resuscitated with higher prices.

He recalled that when he was Minister of Land and Marine Resources, he granted a company called Oldendorf permission to park in TT waters. “They had a huge tanker that was unable to go to Brazil for iron ore and it was moored seven miles off the coast. “They had small ships bringing the iron ore and cranes planted on the seabed took the material from them and transferred it to the big tanker. It then went to China.”

Bharath said 100 Trinidadian nationals got work with Oldendorf. “I suspect the same thing is happening here. Buxo promised there would be jobs for the local oil rig sector,” he told the TT media. As for claims that

the drill ships were “obsolete,” the minister said: “I assumed they were in good order. I believe due diligence would have been done.”

Chandradathsingh said standard monitoring procedures were done by the Maritime Services Division and, as far as he knew, the drill ships were “not at all” outdated. “We would have done our due diligence and found the ships fairly new. They are all active and in service.”

Chandradathsingh explained how InvestTT came into contact with Transocean.

Chandradathsingh said Transocean said it would be looking for work in the region, including in TT, Guyana and Suriname and will be setting up a TT office. He said “about four or five” ships are expected to arrive in TT within the next 20 days and will have to adhere to the standard procedure for cold stacking.

Buxo, who was spending

TT’s Trade and Industry Minister Vasant Bharath

Father’s Day on Sunday on the beach with his family, said his only role in the whole matter was to introduce Transocean to InvestTT. “When someone says they want to invest in this country, that’s where you send them. I suggested to Transocean they get in touch with InvestTT. That is my role.”

Buxo said he believes it was a good investment opportunity for TT. Calls to Cadiz’ cell phone on Sunday were not answered. (TT Guardian)

J’can Parliament to host regional arms trade conference

K Guns and ammunition seized by the Jamaican police.

Jamaica is among countries of the Caribbean Community that has been struggling to stem the flow of illegal arms into the country, especially from the United States

INGSTON, JAMAICA: The Houses of Parliament will this week host an inter-parliamentary conference aimed at combating the illegal weapons trade in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Conference is being held June 25-26, 2015, at the Jamaica Pegasus, New Kingston, under the theme “Enhance ATT and UNPoA Implementation by South-South Parliamentary Exchange and Cooperation” and will see participation from parliamentarians from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The conference has been organised by the Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and will discuss the

Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the 2001 United Nations Programme of Action (UNPOA) to combat, prevent and eradicate the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.

These are considered complimentary and mutually reinforcing initiatives, aimed at stopping the uncontrolled proliferation of arms.

Jamaica ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, in June 2014.

At the end of the conference, participants are expected to affirm a declaration of their commitment to the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to ensure the comprehensive implementation of the UNPoA. (Jamaica Observer)

17 Nomination Day in TT likely for August 17 News

Rohee calls for complete revamp of GECOM … renews calls for Surujbally to go

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is now calling for a complete overhaul of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) before the body moves ahead with the holding of the long overdue local government elections.

President David Granger had recently announced that Guyanese will once again go to the polls sometime later this year to elect leaders of their respective communities. But the People’s Progressive Party recently disclosed that it may not participate in the electoral process, particularly if the Chairman of the governing body responsible for the rolling out of the elections – GECOM – remains at the helm.

On Monday, the party added that there must be a complete overhaul of the agency before this important election is held.

“It is precisely for these reasons that the PPP recognises and urges the public to support the party’s call for local government elections to be held only after a complete overhaul of GECOM’s machinery in-

cluding its staff compliment, its modus operandi, the law governing the conduct of local government election as well as the responsibilities of the returning and deputy returning officers and above all, GECOM’s top brass must experience fundamental personnel changes before local government elections are held”, General Secretary of the PPP/C Clement Rohee said.

Last week, Rohee said the party will not participate in Local Government Elections now scheduled for later this year, if GECOM Chariman, Dr Steve Surujbally remains at its helm.

Since the announcement of the results of the 2015 General and Regional Elections, the party has been calling for the immediate resignation of Surujbally. The call was mounted particularly because of his failure to acquiesce to the party’s request for a total recount of the ballots, as it contended that the election was rigged.

Dr Surujbally had maintained that he will resign his post when he feels it is necessary. (Guyana Times)

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

TT’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Environment Minister Ganga Singh celebrate the end of Tenth Parliament with a high-five as Local Government Minister Marlene Coudray, left, Arts and Multicultural Minister Dr Lincoln Douglas and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran also in the Chamber at the final sitting on June 12. Parliament was officially dissolved on June 17

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Nomination Day for all candidates seeking to contest the September 7 general elections is August 17. However the announcement of this date on Monday was not contained in a statement issued by the Office of the President. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in response to a question from the media as to when Nomination Day is.

According to the statement, Acting President Raziah Ahmed issued the proclamation to dissolve Parliament at 1 pm on June 17 which took effect at midnight that day.

Parliament was dissolved five years from the date of the first parliamentary sitting on June 18, 2010, following the People’s Partnership coalition’s victory in the May 24, 2010 general election.

The Office of the President indicated that the proclamation states in part, “I Raziah Ahmed, Acting President as aforesaid, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, in exercise of the powers conferred on me

by Section 68 of the said Constitution, do hereby dissolve Parliament with effect from midnight on Wednesday the 17th day of June 2015.”

Indicating the proclamation was issued following receipt of official correspondence that Parliament had been dissolved, the Office of the President said the proclamation was accordingly gazetted.

The statement indicated that Ahmed was acting for President Anthony Carmona who left the country on June 12 to address the 2015 Summit of 54 African leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Carmona, the statement concluded,

returned home on June 17 at approximately 4.30 pm.

However the statement did not indicate when Nomination Day is.

Responding to a question from the media at 6.14 pm on Monday, PersadBissessar said, “In accordance with law. Nomination Day is August 17.”

When she announced September 7 as election day at the final sitting of the House of Representatives on June 12, Persad-Bissessar did not name a date for Nomination Day. Prior to the Prime Minister’s response, TT media also contacted Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal who replied at 6.04 pm, “I thought it (Nomination Day) was August 17.”

Constitutional expert Kenneth Lalla SC said while Persad-Bissessar has operated within the parameters set by the Constitution and the Representation of the People’s Act regarding the calling of general elections, “the Prime Minister ought not to hold the country in such suspense.”

Lalla believed it was in the public’s interest that the quicker the relevant dates pertaining to the election are known, the better.

To date, the PNM has chosen all 41 of its candidates. The United National Congress (UNC), which is led by Persad-Bissessar, closes nominations for candidates on Friday. The Congress of the People (COP), closes its nominations for candidates on July 3. The ruling coalition comprises the UNC, COP, Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) and the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC). (TT Newsday)

18

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

Ram vs Jagdeo court case …escapes censure after apologising

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Magistrate Charlyn Artiga on Monday rebuked Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram for making contact with her via telephone in relation to the issues arising from the private politically motivated criminal charge he made against former President Bharrat Jagdeo for remarks made at Babu Jaan, Port Mourant earlier this year.

One respected Attorney told Guyana Times that Ram was lucky to escape with just a warning for initiating an ex-parte communication with the Magistrate.

The prohibition against ex-parte communications with the court is designed to protect the opposing party’s right to a fair hearing and, ultimately, the impartiality and integrity of the courts.

Communications are commonly understood to be ex-parte if made by one party outside the record without giving the other party notice or an opportunity to respond.

Besides in-person contact, the rule covers communication by telephone, letter, e-mail and any other modes.

The case was called again at the Whim Magistrate’s Court on Monday, but was ad-

journed until July 13 owing to Jagdeo’s ill health.

Jagdeo was represented by Attorneys-atLaw Mursaline Bacchus, Adrian Anamayah and Perry Gossai who submitted a medical report explaining his absence.

The medical report was accepted and the presiding Magistrate adjourned the matter until July 13.

Bacchus explained to the court that a letter was submitted a few days back stating that Jagdeo was unwell.

Further, the Attorneys made an application for statements and a transcript from the recording to be made available.

Magistrate Artiga made it clear that she would not permit anyone (Complainant or Defendant) to contact her personally on matters regarding the case.

She made this statement after Ram had sought to contact her via the telephone regarding issues he had.

She said any contact should be made through the court, either through the clerk or the office and both parties should be present.

Ram, through his lawyer, Charrandass Persaud, apologised to the Magistrate for making contact with her, the apology was accepted.

Monday’s hearing

Magistrate Charlyn Artiga

was relatively quiet with no protesters.

The private politically motivated charge was filed under Section 139 D1A of the Representation of the People Act by Ram regarding remarks made

by Jagdeo on March 8 at Babu Jaan, Port Mourant.

Under the said act, if found guilty, a person can face a fine of Gy$100,000 together with two years’ imprisonment. (Guyana Times)

CARICOM states urged to give CCJ 10th anniversary gift of 'full accession'

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), in April, celebrated 10 years of existence as the regional court for the Caribbean.

President of the CCJ, Sir Dennis Byron, in a statement issued to mark the milestone, called on all CARICOM member states to give the CCJ the 10th anniversary gift of “full accession” to the court.

While the CCJ, in its original jurisdiction, is the court of the 15-member CARICOM, only four countries have signed on to its appellate jurisdiction. They are Barbados, Guyana, Belize, and Dominica, which joined in March.

In its original jurisdiction, the CCJ serves as an international tri-

bunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which governs CARICOM. Jamaica is moving to join the list of countries that have replaced the United Kingdom (UK)based Privy Council with the CCJ, as their final appellate court.

The required pieces of legislation were passed in the House of Representatives on May 12, and were tabled in the Senate on May 22.

The Bills are: • An Act to Amend the Judicature (Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, which seeks to amend the Judicature (Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, to repeal provisions for appeals to the Privy Council, and exclude any appeals to the Privy Council instituted prior

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller emphasises a point shortly before the historic vote on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Bills in the House of Representatives on May 12. The members voted 42 to 21 in favour of the CCJ replacing the United Kingdom-based Privy Council as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

to implementation of the CCJ; • An Act to Amend the Constitution of Jamaica, to amend Section 110 of the Constitution to repeal provisions relating to appeals to the Privy Council and replace them with provisions establishing the CCJ as Jamaica’s final court; and • An Act to make provisions for the implementation of the agreement establishing the CCJ as both a court of original jurisdiction, to determine cases involving the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and International treaties, as well as a superior court of record with appellate jurisdiction.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in the debate on the CCJ Bills last November, said joining the court, in its appellate jurisdiction, will ensure access to justice for all Jamaicans.

She noted that the Privy Council is fundamentally inaccessible to the vast majority of Jamaicans.

“Litigants and their Jamaican lawyers need visas to travel to the UK. Visas are not available or granted as a right.

Jamaicans are the only people in the entire global structure, who are obliged to seek and obtain visas to access one of the courts,” she noted.

She further argued that the costs of retain-

ing UK lawyers for representation in appeals are too high for the vast majority of Jamaicans.

The CCJ, on the other hand, is so designed that it travels to its member countries to hear cases on home soil.

Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding said that after more than 50 years of independence, the time has come to fully embrace the CCJ as the country’s final court of appeal.

"It is time for us to embrace the regional institution, which has the potential to be a fantastic institution. The judges are excellent and their rulings have been illuminating and sound," the minister said. (JIS)

Snr Supt Gould sent on leave - probe into ganja find at TT PM's house

P

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: As the police investigation into allegations of marijuana being found on the compound of the Prime Minister's private Phillipine home continues, the man who was in charge of her security detail, Special Branch head Snr Supt Gary Gould, has retired.

Speaking with the TT media on Monday, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams said Gould has proceeded on retirement.

Sources, however, say Gould was expected to leave the Police Service on August 15 but was asked to leave earlier.

Sources say the decision to ask Gould to commence his retirement

earlier came following last week's conflicting information given to the public by Williams over the alleged find at the Prime Minister's residence.

Details surrounding the alleged find was disclosed in a signed statement by former national security minister Jack Warner who said he (Warner), along with former DCP Mervyn Richardson and Housing Minister Dr Roodlal Moonilal were part of a plan to cover up the find and that the then PM's security adviser, Gary Griffith, knew about it.

Speaking with the media last Monday, Williams said having checked, there was no report of any marijuana find. One day later, a news release was issued

by the Police Service which stated: “Today, Tuesday 16th June, 2015, the Commissioner of Police was presented with a signed report from Snr Supt Gould which confirmed the discovery of 5 (five) grammes of a 'plant-like material' resembling that of marijuana, contained in a plastic bag in the male washroom of a gazebo, on the western end of the Prime Minister's private residence at Phillipines.”

The report, which was submitted to Williams, stated the discovery was made on Friday, April 19, 2013, around 8.50 a.m. by a member of Special Branch.

Following this disclosure, Williams mandated acting ACP Ainsley Garrick to probe the matter. (TT Express)

news

19

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Guyana Govt still to deliver on key promises in 100-day plan – Ramjattan claims coalition will deliver

By Michael Younge

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: The A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition is still to deliver on key aspects of its 100-day plan which was unveiled in the lead-up to the 2015 General and Regional Elections, even though it has been occupying Government for some 37 days now.

In the 100 day plan, which was used to score political points before the elections, the new Government said it would reduce the Berbice River Bridge toll, significantly increase the salaries of Government and Public Sector employees, return the television station to Linden and set a date for Local

Government Elections.

The coalition Government also promised that it would significantly increase old age pension and the establishment of a long term economic plan to realise the vast potential of the country.

The plan, which the now oppositional People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) dubbed “unrealistic”, “fanciful” and “rooted in deceit”, also promises a reduction on the benefits and pension of Heads of States and former Presidents, wavering of taxes on duties and fuel for small scale miners and the liberalisation of the telecommunications and information communication technology sector.

The promised estab-

lishment of an investigative commission on corruption also appears to be in limbo, despite countless pronouncements from Minister of State Joseph Harmon that there have been various audits and investigations ongoing into the alleged or perceived wrong doings by the PPP/C while in office.

Efforts to contact Minister of State Harmon and President Granger on Saturday proved futile as calls to their mobile phone went unanswered.

A source close to the ruling APNU/AFC Government told the this newspaper that most of the Ministers have been busy getting up to scratch with their new portfolios and understanding how

Government works. “I do not think they recognised that it is a ball game when you are in Government as opposed to being in Opposition.

I think they now realise that with the limitations that exist in the Government and the economic impact, some of the things they want to do will have…to take some time and analyse on how to move forward,” the source said.

The source also confirmed that no real meeting that has taken place to focus specifically on the implementation of the 100-day plan or some of the core promises in the coalition’s 2015 manifesto, but decisions are being made at the Cabinet whenever the opportunity arises on others. “They need more

time…100 days is not enough…,” the source said while insisting that he preferred not to be identified.

The coalition’s 100day also includes plans to axe the value added tax and to establish a public procurement commission, as well as pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill. These appear more achievable as the subject ministers responsible have already indicated that attempts will be made to honour these commitments.

However, Political Commentator Dr Henry Jeffrey, during an invited comment, said that all of the things outlined in the plan could not be achieved in such a short time. He, however, re-

Khemraj Ramjattan, Vice President

mained optimistic that the new Government will deliver during the last half of the month of the entire 100-day time frame set out in the plan.

Dr Jeffrey appeared to understand the hold up in the delivery of core aspects of plan, stating that the new Government just got into office and is settling down, but that does not mean that it is not consciously working on implementing it. (Guyana Times)

PM launches system to Shake-up in TT Sports Ministry detect anti-social behaviour in Jamaican students

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller greets students of the Cockburn Gardens Primary and Junior High School, following the launch of the Achenbach Systems of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) Behaviour Modification Programme last Friday. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on Friday urged parents with children attending the Cockburn Gardens Primary and Junior High School to have the youngsters participate in the institution's behaviourmodification programme which is aimed at addressing anti-social tendencies in students.

The prime minister made the call while launching the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) Behaviour Modification Programme at the Hagley Park Road St Andrew institution last Friday.

"The success of the ASEBA will require the involvement of everyone," she said. "I am urging parents to co-operate with the school and

to express an interest in having their child analysed. In this way, parents can bring about a positive change. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men and women."

The prime minister said the programme will have far-reaching impact in improving the well-being of students.

Simpson Miller, citing statistics from the Ministry of National Security, noted that 3,671 students were recorded to have displayed anti-social behaviour of varying degrees during the 2012/13 academic year.

In light of this, she said, the Government through the Education Ministry was moved to develop a behaviour modification programme to address disruptive behaviour. She said ASEBA

was supportive of the Government's own behaviour modification programme that is aimed at addressing the performance and development of well-rounded students island wide so that they will be able to adhere to wholesome values and attitudes.

The ASEBA is an intervention programme designed to proactively identify students with behaviour problems and recommend intervention to effectively deal with the respective issues. ASEBA is being undertaken by a UKbased social work company, ONE Step Forward Consultancy, to implement projects to enhance the lives of Jamaican children through its Every Child Matters project.

Meanwhile, Patricia Findley, acting principal of the Cockburn Gardens Primary and Junior High School, expressed appreciation for the partnership with ASEBA, saying: "Educating young minds is our business. We accept the challenges that are present and move forward accepting any resources that are available to allow us to ensure mastery of these tasks."

The one-year programme is slated to begin in September with the training of the staff to guarantee smooth implementation and longterm success. (Jamaica Observer)

TT’s Sports Minister Brent Sancho with his wife Suzanne and their children Ylana Rose, left, and Jayden during the Tobago Automotive Sport Association TTASA Caribbean Championship Racing at Wallerfield, on Sunday. (Photo: Abraham Diaz)

P

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: Cabinet has given approval for major changes at the Ministry of Sport, including replacing Permanent Secretary Richard Oliver with Gillian Mc Intyre and transferring some departments to the Ministry of Education.

The Physical Education and Sport Division, with all its all coaches and sport officers has been transferred to the Ministry of Education, while facilities, indoor arenas, pools and district offices will now be under the purview of the Sport Company of TT (SporTT).

Staff at the ministry told the TT media they are baffled at the changes. “The entire ministry is in a mess because staff from the other sections have no idea as to what they are supposed to do.

The major department

that they support is no longer a part of the ministry,” a member of staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Cabinet subsequently agreed to the transfer with immediate effect of a director of Physical Education and Sport, an assistant director, a physical education and sport officer II; seven physical education and sport officers I, two games coaches and several other members of staff.

Cabinet also agreed that the Ministry of Sport be the sole source for disbursement of grant funds to national sporting organisations, sport serving bodies and individuals. All requests for financial assistance for overseas travel in respect to sporting events must be submitted for the approval of Cabinet.

The Ministry of Sport will be responsible for payment of salaries and

related costs for permanent, temporary, and contract staff transferred to the Ministry of Education and the SporTT for the remainder of the 2014/2015 financial year. A framework of rules to guide the decision making of the Grant Fund Committee is being finalised and will be presented to Cabinet in the revised National Sports Policy Contacted on Sunday for comment, Minister of Sport Brent Sancho said the changes, although approved by Cabinet, are currently on hold.

“We are going to head there but we will need to have proper dialogue because we are looking to revamp and relook at sport policies and structure. We are still sculpting what the ministry will look like. We have to find a way to generate an income through sports as well,” he said.

(TT Guardian)

20

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Caring for Others, Inc. (CFO) is a human services organisation, established in November 2001, which provides meaningful improvement in quality of life and economic opportunity for low-income individuals and families.

Founded by Eslene Richmond-Shockley,

from Nabaclis on the East Coast of Demerara, the organisation is on a mission to help eradicate poverty around the world by feeding, educating, clothing and housing one family at a time.

Richmond-Shockley was motivated to start such an organisation to help those in need because of her personal experiences growing up in

poverty as a child. As a result, she wanted to give back and restore hope to others.

Through the organisation, the philanthropist has mobilised prominent individuals and leading American Corporations to assist the needy in many countries – including Guyana. CFO has also provided distributions

Volunteers handing out boxes of shoes

in Belize, Antigua, the Philippines, Nigeria and small gifts to Jamaica and Dominican Republic, as well as throughout the United States.

Last year in Guyana, Caring for Others completed a large distribution with the United Nations Association of Guyana and with former Chief Justice Donald Trotman at Enmore, Haslington, Golden Grove, Nabaclis and Coven John. This was the first large distribution CFO has done in Guyana. The organisation aims to carry out more projects like these in Guyana.

CFO seeks progressive solutions across the entirety of its platform, including developing a unique and more sustainable business model with ‘Care Mart’ – a store that generates income through the sale of

discounted items such as furniture, clothing and other household goods.

Offering an advanced model for human services, CFO strives to prevent the familiar cycle of poverty many people face today. The organisation helps stabilise lives by meeting immediate basic needs of food and clothing, and then provide support to help clients become more selfsufficient. Additionally, it provides personal and financial support during turbulent times including individual counselling, money management training, job retention and job placement services.

Initially focusing on communities within Atlanta, US, in recent years, Caring for Others has expanded its reach of hope and dignity by developing partnerships with over 110 agencies in

Caring For Others' CEO and founder, Eslene Richmond-Shockley

the US. With their assistance, CFO provides services to the economically disadvantaged in rural communities.

Caring for Others maintains: “We do not work for ourselves or even for one another; we work for the greater good.”

For more information, visit Caring for Others on Facebook.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: American R&B artiste Ginuwine is excited to return to Jamaica to perform at Sweatfest, set for The Aqueduct along the Rose Hall main road in Montego Bay, next Saturday.

The artiste, who is best known for his break-out single Pony in 1996, told the media that it has been too long since he was last in Jamaica for a performance.

And, as such, he definitely wants to come back to the island.

"I just love the island and the people and the way they receive my music, so I most definitely can't wait to be back... it's been a while. Furthermore, I will be on stage with some of my very good friends so that is always great," he said.

Ginuwine, whose real given name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, shares billing at Sweatfest with the likes of Joe, Dru Hill, Teddy Riley, Tank, 112, SWV, Silk and the show's conceptualiser Keith Sweat during the second night of the three-day event.

The opening event will be a comedy roast set for the Secrets Resort on Friday, June 26, while a listening party for Keith Sweat's album Dressed to Impress, to be held at the Seawind Beach Club on Sunday June 28.

Ginuwine said his audience can look forward to a performance that will remind people why they first started to listen to his music.

"For the ladies in particular, I am bringing that same love and that high energy that you have all come to know and love...

Ginuwine

I have been doing it for the past 20 years and that's what you can look forward to. I write songs about things that people can identify with. It is that connection that people have with my music which helps them to realise that other people are going through the same thing and have similar thoughts," said Ginuwine.

He admitted that although the industry, particularly the business side, has changed much since he first started out, the production of good music remains at the core.

"Music is music and so once you put your heart and soul into what you are doing you can't go wrong. That is why I have waited to get focused before going back into the studio for my next album. I needed to get the right direction and be on a path to produce the songs like [the ones] I am known for. We have started working on a few songs, so let's see what happens."

Ginuwine was first brought to the attention of producers Missy Elliot and Timbaland back in the early 1990s by DeVante Swing, a founding member of the R&B group Jodeci.

And like he said: "the rest is history". (Jamaica Observer)

feature

21

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

US-based Guyanese is hairstylist to Hollywood’s biggest stars

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: Born in Georgetown, Guyana, and raised in California’s Silicon Valley, U.S., hairstylist Marcia Hamilton is known for her ability to mesh old school beauty with up to the minute trends and techniques.

She discovered her passion for art and style at an early age, but against her mother’s predictions, Hamilton had ambitions of becoming an auto mechanic. After a series of life changing events, destiny led her to the inevitable path of a career in hair care.

Hamilton began her hair care education under strict training from the Pivot Point Academy Program in the U.S. and later continued her advanced education at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, Redken International and Toni & Guy Academy. From there,

she moved to Los Angeles and began assisting various celebrity hairstylists.

She forged a name for herself while collaborating with stylists by applying her knowledge and skill in hair colour to create unique styles for international stars like Brandy, Eve, Kelly Roland and Serena Williams. With fierce determination and a curiosity for the unknown, Hamilton started venturing to New York where she was mentored by hair industry giants Orlando Pita, Guido Palau, and Teddy Charles.

The hairstylist has worked on numerous fashion shows for Oscar De La Renta, Tom Ford, Caroline Herrera, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs and Dian Von Furstenburg.

She draws her inspiration from these experiences, which is evident in her uninhibited approach when creating

Hamilton and the work she done on the famous Smith's family were featured in an international magazine

Ladies with an Attitude

US-based Guyanese hairstylist Marcia Hamilton

iconic looks for clients and innovative projects.

When Hamilton is not coiffing in her private studio, at the Juan Juan Center in Beverly Hills, she can be found on sets, creating magic from Los Angeles to New York.

She divides her time between cities working in beauty, print, film, music video, runway and advertising. Her artistic creations frequently appear in publications like Teen Vogue, Nylon, Shape, Essence, Vanity Fair and W magazines.

Hamilton has created the looks for epic music videos like Willow Smith’s (actor Will Smith’s daughter) “Whip My Hair” and Usher’s “OMG”. She has also coined iconic looks for major celebs, advertising campaigns and hit television shows. Her list of collaborators includes Pink, Jada PinkettSmith, Cindy Crawford, Zoe Kravitz, Target, Pravana, Macadamia Oil, Disney, TNT and many more.

For more information on Marcia Hamilton, visit www.marciahamilton.com (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

K

Hope Wade Black Lives Matter

I N G S T O N ,JAMAICA: USbased Jamaican designer Hope Wade

raised awareness for the of-the-moment "Black Lives Matter" campaign with the phrase

splashed across burlap fabric designs which featured gilded embroidery and laser-cut garments at last Saturday's Caribbean Fashion Week sequel.

Rock designer Ashley Martin orchestrated another show-stopping performance on Sunday night, comprising sequins and intricate beading, velvet, jewels and bold tropical prints.

(Photographers: Lionel Rookwood & Antonio Graham)(Jamaica Observer)

Ashley Martin Attitude

-TT Designer to unveil new textile jewelry line

P

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: She not only dares to dream, but more than that Cheryl Stoddard courageously sets out to transform her visions into reality. This is not always easy, but her determination, faith in God, natural talent and willingness to work hard brings her aspirations to fruition.

Thus far the hair technician turned fashion designer has established herself as being exceptionally skilled in both those fields, but that is not enough for her. The ever-evolving creative Stoddard is now seeking to carve a niche in the jewelry design are-

na with her quite unique items.

Stoddard has created a line of textile jewelry, which she will unveil at a launch next Saturday at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Manic Street, Saith Park, Chaguanas from 3 p.m.

Titled “Colour by Nature” this event will feature a showcase of Stoddard's new line of textile jewelry along with other fashion items created by her. This is a “by invitation” event where the patrons will have the opportunity to be the first to own the unique items that will be available.

Stoddard was born in San Fernando, grew up

in Cunupia and attended Chaguanas Senior Secondary. Since her childhood, she had a liking for fashion and highlighting one's beauty.

She studied to become a licensed hair technician and owned a beauty salon for some 13 years.

She eventually closed that business and pursued fashion design as well as a professional make-up course under the direction of Yvonne Popplewell.

“I could always sew.

It came naturally to me and I always wanted to treat the woman from her head to her toe rather than only be able to do one part, like her hair or facials. After the salon and then having done

the make-up course and starting on the clothing, I decided that everything has to come together and I will bring all my skills together.”

One day Stoddard saw a friend wearing a piece of jewelry that not only caught her eye, but actually captivated her.

She asked the friend where she had got it and was told it was purchased in Britain.

Stoddard went searching to see if she could find anything like that piece and did not.

She was initially disappointed, but then it dawned on her that she could make it herself.

The jewelry that Stoddard creates are what can be defined as

A model displays an ensemble by Cheryl Stoddard.

statement pieces that stand out and can be combined with one's clothing and other more conventional jewelry and accessories. She says that one will not find these in the jewelry section of any clothing store

or at a jewelry store, at least not yet.

Although the event is by invitation anyone interested can contact Stoddard for the invitations and additional information at 868 7605585. (TT Express)

22

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

G

EORGETOWN ,GUYANA: Sandra Brewster is an artist of contemporary life; her visual practice exemplifies a commitment to be socially and politically involved, as well as exploratory, pushing to experiment within the genres of portraiture and pictorial conventions related to the figure.

Comprising drawings, paintings and mixed-media montages, her imagery is inspired by overlooked narratives (both individual and societal) related to the diasporic experience of African/Caribbean populations and their migration to metropolitan centres.

Brewster’s immediate family migrated from Guyana to Canada in the 1960s, settling in Toronto, where she currently lives and works.

A multi-media artist, Brewster enjoys creating work that engages issues of race, identity, repre-

Sandra Brewster

sentation and memory.

She is particularly interested in the generation of folk of the African descent who arrived from the Caribbean during the migration influx of the 1960s and 70s.

The artist holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from York University and is a recipient of grants from the Toronto, Ontario and Canada art councils. Her work has been published in Of Note Magazine, The Walrus, Small Axe,

Chimurenga Magazine, Mix Magazine and NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art. Brewster's practice also includes work as an arts educator/community arts practitioner. For the past three years, she hosted Open House, an exhibition and gathering place making event, held in her home, offering a space where culturally diverse communities of the contemporary arts may engage.

In September 2015,Brewster will be attending the University of Toronto to pursue a Masters of Visual Studies in Studio Art. Her current exhibition, aptly titled From Life, is being hosted in the Onyx building's distinctive downtown gallery/events space, Toronto, Canada. The display will feature a new series of works in the artist's continuing series called Smith. The Smith series interrogates and reviews the notion of

a monolithic Black community, while deftly affirming the every-day lives and unique characteristics of the subjects encountered in various locales within Toronto and beyond.

Of this work, she explains: “The gestures and people depicted allude to the influences of, sources of inspirations for, general perceptions of, and feelings toward the environments in which I live and have lived... [A] fondness for the past instils a sense of urgency within me to depict moments,

especially the people in them, before their memory or their impression disappears.”

Dynamic and celebratory, these evocative images bring to light complex notions of representation and identi-

ty made evident though Brewster's clever formal experiments and handling which includes erasure, cropping and abstracted realism. (Photos credit: http://sandrabrewster.com) (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

"Bourda Market". Mixed media on mood (2009)

"Guyana Girl 1"

‘Moon’ shines brightly

- a rare opportunity for audiences to experience classic Caribbean drama

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: After the Proscenium Theatre Company’s production of Errol John’s ‘Moon on a Rainbow Shawl’ at The Little Carib, it’s not difficult to see why the play won John England’s prestigious Observer Best New Playwright Award in 1957.

Written in 1953 and first performed in 1958, 'Moon' was also hailed as “a breakthrough in black-British writing”—although whoever came up with this particular accolade overlooked the salient facts that Errol John was a Trinidadian (son of the famous fast bowler George and brother to George, Caribbean journalist par excellence and one time PR man for Eric Williams) and that the play is set in a barrack yard in Port-of-Spain.

What is harder to swallow however, is that the Proscenium production, was an extremely rare opportunity for local audiences to experience a classic Caribbean drama.

With a medium size cast and a fixed set, this is not an expensive play to produce.

Thematically and with its age range of characters, it would make ideal material for school drama festivals or community productions, as would Walcott’s Ti-Jean.

But then support for indigenous theatre has never been a priority in kanaval bacchanal land, as the plight of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, now having to beg for funds to

buy its own home amply demonstrates.

But the play’s the thing, and I only wish it had had a longer run. Having read it and taught it on many occasions, the live performance forcibly drove home just how well constructed the play is, most probably because it was written by an actor, and how “it transcends race and place.”

Set in the aftermath of the Second World War, in the Trinidad of Sparrow’s Jean and Dinah, which has been transformed from staunch British crown colony by the American military presence and which is now contemplating its future, whether federal, national, or simply personal, Moon focuses narrowly on the hopes—either lost or yet to be realised, of the lower middle class tenants of a dilapidated barrack yard in town.

It’s ironic from our postmodern position to hear one character wistfully dreaming of a little house in Laventille with a garden—her version of upward mobility!

The barrack yard has been a trope of Trinidadian literature since the days of the Beacon group in the 1920s and 30s.

Alfred Mendes and CLR James (notably in his 1927 short story Triumph and his only novel Minty Alley) both visited the yard, but with more of a political interest than John.

Moon is more social realism than socialist realism but what distinguishes the play from mundane “kitchen sink

drama” is, as the title suggests, dreams and possibilities— or as the young protagonist Ephraim advises the family Adams’ newborn son “Dream your dreams little man.”

Besides veterans like Cecelia Salazar (the long-suffering Sophie Adams) and Glenn Davis (the lecherous, miserly landlord Old Mack) 'Moon' introduced welcome new bloods to the local stage, all of whom performed creditably: Jordan Penco Marshall (as the high school scholarship winning Esther Adams), Karian Forde (vulnerable young Rosa straight out of the orphanage) and Andrew Hall, as the callous young trolleybus driver Ephraim, whose ambition to escape the shame of his past and Trinidad itself won’t allow him to fall for “the trap” of Rosa’s unwanted pregnancy.

Stefan Simmons, as Charlie Adams, superbly conveyed the quiet wounded pride of a cricket hero, robbed of international success on grounds of race, emasculated by his sharptongued wife yet still a loyal caring father and Triston Wallace as the wet-behind the ears policeman proved you don’t have to be a major character to shine onstage.

While all the characters and their motivations are mundane, John presents us with a spectacle of the human condition –“people living like fowl” in cramped circumstances where privacy is impossible— applicable anywhere, anytime, hence the play’s local and uni-

Barrack yard jammette Mavis (Kemlon Nero), left, clashes with Sophie Adams (Cecilia Salazar) in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl. (Photo: Stefan Simmons)

versal appeal.

His acting experience and writing become evident in the pairings and shifting balance among characters.

There is young Ephraim, who spurns promotion from trolleybus driver to inspector (“Trinidad have nothing for me”) in favour of shipping out to England and Old Mack the lecherous landlord who woos the impressionable Rosa with the kind of bling and lyrics Ephraim also spurns offering her, along with any offer of marriage or a future.

After a shaky start Kemlon Nero filled her role as yard jamette Mavis admirably; flirtatious, skanky, opportunistic and amoral—the perfect foil for both fiercely family-oriented Sophia Adams’ moral outrage and Rosa’s naivety.

Adding to the “yard fowl” tensions are Ephraim’s admiration, tinged with envy, for the opportunity Esther’s scholarship offers; Mavis’ local lover Prince (a role expertly executed by Gervon Abraham) tangling with her Yankee clients and former cricket hero

Charlie Adams’ rash attempt to inject cash into the family income with a bungled robbery of Old Mack’s café.

Will Ephraim abandon pregnant Rosa? Will Charlie Adams go to jail? Did Sophie Adams “trap” Charlie with a pregnancy he was not responsible for? Will Old Mack get his wicked way with Rosa?

These are all questions which can only be answered by the next production of 'Moon on a Rainbow Shawl'.

For those who missed Proscenium’s production there are hints in Sophy’s: “I see things opening up here for young people” as much as in Ephraim’s defiant response “No blasted woman will keep me in this stinking yard.”

Proscenium and director Mervyn de Goeas deserve much credit for bringing the 'Moon' back to Trinidad and reminding us that good-working old things still have relevance in the madness of postmodern TT, where our small world is a daily stage, though mostly devoted to melodrama and tragicomedy. (TT Guardian)

feature

23

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com Tommy Lee Sparta

K

I N G S T O N , JAMAICA: Dancehall entertainer Tommy Lee Sparta's legal team is currently preparing documents to submit to the Dominican Government for an "out of court settlement" following the artiste's deportation from that country in February.

According to Bert Samuels, the attorney representing Tommy Lee Sparta, the sourcing of documentation is what is causing the delay.

"We are the ones that the Dominican Government is

waiting on, as we are going all over the place getting the relevant documents together," Samuels told the Jamaican media.

According to the attorney, among the documents needed is a medical report.

"The condition in which he was being held was not suitable and he had to sleep on the cold floor. Bear in mind he was suffering from an injury (sustained in a motor vehicle accident) at the time," said Samuels.

Tommy Lee Sparta (given

name is Leroy Russell), along with three members of his team -- Tiasha Oralie Russell, Junior Fraser and Mario Christopher Wallace -- were deported from that Caribbean territory a day after their arrival.

The entertainer and his team had journeyed to Dominica to perform at a concert in Portsmouth. They were, however, denied entry and placed in custody before being deported.

Samuels said that he and his team are still examining

the loss of income from contractual arrangements due to the artiste's deportation. As a result, he was unable to state the amount of the settlement being sought.

In a letter dated March 3, 2015, Dr Kathy-Ann Brown, Jamaica's deputy solicitor general and Director --

International Affairs Division, indicated her Dominican counterpart expressed a desire for a friendly resolution to the matter.

Tommy Lee Sparta is known for tracks including Spartan Soldier, Psycho and Nuh Fear Dem. (Jamaica Observer)

TT’s Crichlow Tracy Douglas: I am an artist stands on Living Ground Kindred Spirits

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: I paint, I sing, I dance, I love, I laugh (a lot), I cry (sometimes), I am an artist.

Everything I do is a creation process. It allows me to be present in everything so I can fully enjoy the experience.

We miss out on so much because we are anticipating what is to come or we think we will forget so we are trying to remember or document the experience.

When I create, I am fully present in the process because I want this

The artwork of Tracy Douglas

energy to transcend into the piece I am constructing. One of my patrons said when she needs a hug she puts on one of my designs.

I have been an artist my whole life. I didn’t wait for anyone to tell me or endorse me, that didn’t make sense to me, I just started to create, and the universe made a way for me to receive income from my work.

Recently I was honoured at the United Nations with nine other women as outstanding entrepreneurs and

humbled to be recognized by the Guyanese Girls Rock Association.

Our business (my husband Warren and myself) is grounded in cocreation.

This means that in everything we do, we co-create with God. This also means that there is no room for fear. When you embrace the knowing that God (or however you choose to refer to your higher power) and you are making all the decisions, how can you be stagnant in any wayyou must move forward and be successful.

I make everything, so you really are receiving my energy from start to finish. I love to sit down and sew a variety of shapes that transform into wearable shapes and then add layers of texture and colour creating wearable art.

My artistic expression expands to many different mediums including, but not limited, to sculpture, painting, jewellery making, culinary and body care products (Black Water soaps, repellents and sugar scrubs).

I live and create in the forest with my husband Warren at Pandama Retreat, Winery and Centre for the Creative Arts. We have created a simple life where we get to create wine, art, food and a safe, sacred space for souls to reconnect with nature.

Two souls, Sigrid Sandker and Nicholas Young, came to the forest to meet with me, and we created a special bond…Kindred Spirits.

June 25 through July 2, 2015, we will be exhibiting at Moray House Trust at the corner of Camp and Quamina Streets.

In addition to exhibiting, we have added Art Talk, June 26, July 2 and June 30th from 12-1pm, when each of us will share our process. We invite the public, especially students, to bring lunch and come with lots of questions.

Saturday June 27, 2015 from 12-2pm we would like to encourage all artists to come out, bring lunch, for an informal conversation focusing on “The Way Forward, An Artist’s Perspective”.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

P

Ken Crichlow's Love, longing, silence.

(Photo : Ronnie Joseph)

O R T- O F - S PA I N , TRINIAD: Kenwyn Crichlow’s latest solo show LIVING GROUND: paintings of Light, Circumstance and Experience, opens at Y Art Gallery on June 29.

“Painting is the pathway, a processual to the secret landscape of the mind, the chalice space in which paint material emerges as the ‘living ground’,” the artist said in a statement issued by the gallery.

“These paintings operate through the multiple frames of a picture plane, my studio, and the exhibition site to propose a history of improvisations around the square. Each is intended to be technically challenging, arising from the relations between the dimensions of 24x24 inches and a proportional balanced response to an evolving, progressive history of personal change.

“They reflect some of my ethical and spiritual concerns with symmetry, asymmetry, pleasure and the well making of that which needs to be seen.”

Crichlow, a senior lecturer at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI, St

Augustine, had his last solo show at the same gallery in 2013. He has shown locally and internationally during his long and celebrated career.

“Collectively, the paintings take an optimistic view of a cultural question: Can art exist for itself without the outward reflection of specific everyday imagery?”

Crichlow asks in the statement.

“And while I narrow perspectives to the paint material, I want each to emit a sense of well-being.

To uncover the longing and the yearning for a deeper, more emotional connection to this moment. More expansively, I want these paintings to contribute to a rewriting of the narrative of art and our aesthetic conversations too often rooted in pejorative speculation, stereotypes, and cultural misperception.”

After the opening reception at the gallery, 26 Taylor Street, Woodbrook, from 6.30 pm on June 29, the exhibition will continue until July 11. Gallery hours are Monday- Friday 9 am5 pm, and Saturday 9 am- 2 pm. (TT Guardian)

24

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

- Gladsstone name linked with indentureship in Guyana

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: John Gladstone played a major role in the colonial history of Guyana and the West Indies. His name is particularly forever linked with indentureship, particularly in Guyana, then British Guiana.

Gladstone was born John Gladstones on Dec. 11, 1764 in Leith, Scotland, to a merchant father and a mother who was the daughter of a merchant.

At 13, he left school to serve a 10-year apprenticeship in a “rope and sailcloth” business.

Gladstone later workedin his father’s grain and its associated products’ shop,before moving to Liverpool in 1786 to workas clerk with Edgar Corrie, a British brewer and grain merchant.

In Liverpool, he dropped the last ‘s’ of his surname to become John Gladstone, and after remarrying in 1800, had six children with his second wife. His first wife died childless.

Corrie and Gladstone had set up a partnership in 1787 that lasted until 1801 when things went sour between them and the partnership was dissolved.

Gladstone had already made a fortune from his partnership with Corrie, but later increased his wealth trad-

Sir John Gladstone (1764 - 1851) (National Portrait Gallery, London)

He became involved in four Jamaican estates, and plantations Success, Wales, Vreed-en hoop, Met-en-Meerzorg and Vreedenstein in British Guiana. It is said he also owned Hampton Court, Waller’s Delight and Covenden.

The latter two were coffee estates.

Gladstone had acquired half-share in Success plantation in 1812 through mortgage default and acquired the remaining half four years later.

When the slave trade was abolished in 1807, he would convert the coffee plantations to sugar, and, according to the

Despite increasing anti-slavery sentiment, by the 1820s, Gladstone continued his plantation empire in the West Indies. As such, he was a vociferous defender of West Indian planter interests so that after slavery was abolished, he was chiefly involved in ensuring planters were handsomely compensated, and in introducing indentured labour in the region.

The Gladstone family received one of the biggest slave compensation awards from Britain to the modern equivalent of£83m (close to GYD27 billion) for the 2,508

The Success plantation of absentee owner John Gladstone was involved in the Demerara Slave rebellion of Aug 18, 1823. His suggestion in a letter to authorities for deportation rather than execution of the rebellion’s leader, a slave named Jack Gladstone, was accepted

ing corn with the U.S.A and cotton in Brazil.

Additionally, he invested in shipping insurance, ship-owning and real estate - - both residential and commercial.

Gladstone entered the business of owning coffee and sugar plantations,along with their slaves and later indentured labourers in Jamaica and British Guiana, when he began his sugar and cotton trading with the region in 1803.

book “Mrs Catherine Gladstone: 'A Woman Not Quite of Her Time'” by Janet Hilderley, “breed his slaves inhouse”.

Gladstone, she writes, once explained in a pamphlet to Sir Robert Peel,(who twice served as UK prime minister) his belief that “divine Providence” had placed Africans “under the dominance of the white man” : “…who was he [Gladstone] to “question the will …”?”

slaves owned across the nine West Indian plantations. His sons received the compensation for his Jamaica estates, according to “Legacies of British Slave-ownership”

by Catherine Hall, Keith McClelland et al.

After slavery was abolished, Gladstone looked to indentured labour to ensure his plantations remain viable.

He had already experienced India, and had good contacts there and in Malta. He lobbied the

British government and was very bitter to those who opposed his idea, calling them “anti-slavery fools” and “Quaker scourges”.

After 100 indentured Maltese adults and children arrived to settle on Vreedenstein and Vreeden-hoop estates, his was the first ship to sail to Calcutta to collect Indian indentured labourers.

Forever looking to make a profit, he also cast his eyes toward Chinese indentured labour.

John Gladstone never visited the West Indies, according to S. G. Checkland’s “The Gladstones: a Family Biography, 1764-1851”.

Nevertheless, because he financed planters in the region, which led to their coffee, sugar, and rum industries pledged as security for mortgages, he would often become plantation owner and use his attorney in the colony to hire managers and generally supervise his estates.

By the 1830s, Gladstone moved back to Scotland and began philanthropic work in his hometown of Leith; in 1846, outgoing Prime Minister Robert Peel made him ‘Sir John Gladstone 1st Baronet’.

By 1849, he had sold off his British Guiana estates due to their labour problems, neglect and unprofitability.

According to historians and biographers, Gladstone was especially conscious of his own lack of education and class.

He was particularly despondent of his daughter Helen who suffered from depression and became an opium addict.

However, while John Gladstone’s most famous legacy is his son William Gladstone, who four times became UK prime minister, and two other sons who became British MPs, today his most infamous are his racist sentiments and willing participation and profit in the notorious West Indian slavery system and indentureship scheme. He is also vilified for his slave compensation award.

Gladstone died in Scotland Dec 7, 1851 aged 86, at Fasque House,on which he had purchased the Fasque Estate, and was buried at St Andrew's Episcopal Church at Fasque, Kincardineshire.

In 1909,a plaque was erected at Leith commemorating the site of his birthplace. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

Criticism

By Narine Dat Sookram

C

riticism is certainly not an easy take, but the thing is we have to accept that none of us are perfect. We are surely fooling ourselves if we think that nothing will go wrong when we begin any task. In fact we all will make mistakes, there is no exception.

However the key pioint is to learn from them so that we do not continue making the same mistake over and over again.

In the first place we should never take any positive criticism personally. For example, If someone criticism us, we have to keep reminding ourselves that it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t’ like us, it could be that they are trying their best to make sure that we do our very best.

I really encourage listen carefully to criticism, because if we ignore important comments, there is that chance we’ll repeat the same mistakes again.

Taking notes and continually remind ourselves how to fix any problem will only benefit us. This is surely not an easy thing to do, because we will first have to admit that we are not perfect and then find ways to make improvement.

As human beings we tend to disagree with any sort of criticism been given to us. It’s probably better to accept at least a piece of it, because when we ignore the whole thing, it doesn’t solve any problem and we lose the opportunity to learn something from the situation. We can only learn though when we become open.

Having said that, keep in mind that we do not have to agree with everything, but even listening and agreeing to just a small piece can ensure we create a sense of teamwork.

Once we get to this point, then we can change the focus on how we can work together to solve a problem, that way we wouldn’t feel as if we are being attacked.

Taking the time to analyse what we have heard is a good thing, because we will sure need time to process everything we have heard. That way we can determine if it’s something worth investing in and decide from there what we intend to do to make any correction to fix the problem.

The worse thing we can do in a situation as such is to hold a grudge, because the thing is, when we remain angry about any sort of criticism, it can surely affect us from moving on into the future.

The idea is to remove all the negatives we have heard and focus on doing the best job possible as we move forward.

One of the best ways to put it is that we have to accept the fact that others may see something that we cannot. And though we may not agree with their criticism, there might be others who may see something that we are not quite aware of.

I also think that things do happen for a reason.

So keep an open mind and things will fall in place, as long as whatever we do is the best from our side, because for those of us who have difficulty accepting criticism will have a more challenging time to succeed in their profession of choice.

For questions, comments, or feedback, send them to mcnarine@rogers.com

Bollywood

25

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Arshad Warsi and Amit Sadh to stay together for two months to build chemistry

A

ctors Arshad Warsi and Amit Sadh spent two months together to build chemistry for their forthcoming film 'Guddu Rangeela'. The duo was made to rehearse together, spend as much time together for a period of

two months by director Subhash Kapoor to build a chemistry like that of brothers for their roles.

'Guddu Rangeela' is all about sticking together. It was crucial for Guddu and Rangeela to have chemistry and bonding. I asked both of

them to spend time together, they partied together, spent a lot of time and even went on a bike ride in Himachal Pradesh," Kapoor said in a statement.

The 'Jolly LLB' director told his team that in case one person was unavailable for rehearsal, then the session was to be cancelled. The film is about two criminals who run an orchestra party.

They take on a villain, who is way stronger than themselves which lands them in a soup.

The film, releasing on July 3, also features Aditi Rao Hydari and Ronit Roy.(TOI)

'Dilwale': Look who is posing with SRK in Bulgaria

J

ohn Abraham has packed up a busy schedule as he will start shooting for two of his upcoming films soon. The actor-producer will begin shooting for 'Dishoom' in July and then immerse himself in the world of 'Force 2' in August.

"My next film is Welcome Back and after that I've got Rocky Handsome, which re-

leases sometime in October. I start shooting for Dishoom with Varun Dhawan around July and Force 2 around August with Abhinay Deo," John told IANS. Force 2 is a sequel to the 2011 movie Force and will have an original script and will be directed by Deo. The actor shared his work schedule at JOHNNIE WALKER

BLUE LABEL #DATEWITHDAD campaign event last week.

John, who was the face of the campaign, said that he has always followed his father's word of advice - stay true to your roots.

"He always said 'Son, always keep your feet on the ground and remember where you come from' and that is exactly what I have always done," said the 42-yearold.

The Madras Cafe star noted that his father Abraham John has always remained his icon and he wants to spend more time with him.

"I admire my father for who he is - I am proud to say he has shaped me into the man I am today. Time is a rare gift that I'd like to give him and my family," he said.

(TOI)

Madhuri Dixit, Aamir Khan starrer 'Dil' turns 25

I

D

irector Rohit Shetty and his Dilwale team are busy shooting for the film in Bulgaria.

Starring SRK, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, the film has already generated a lot of curiosity. Recently, pictures of the King Khan sporting a moustache for the film, were circulating on social networking sites. Adding to the excitement, SRK has shared another picture from the sets of the film.

The baadshah of Bollywood is posing with none other than yesteryear heartthrob, Vinod Khanna, in the picture. Vinod is looking dapper in a jacket. He, too, sports a stubble. In fact, King Khan had recently tweeted, "The 'Man' is in da Dilwale house. Welcome Khanna Sahib." [sic] 'Dilwale' has generated a lot of buzz even before the film releases in December this year.(TOI)

Abhishek Bachchan thinks about Aaradhya before signing a film

F

rom accompanying mother Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to Cannes Film Festival to being an apple of father, Abhishek's eye, Aaradhya seems to have her parents captivated by her charm. In an interview with DNAindia.com, Abhishek Bachchan has revealed that he now selects his films keeping his daughter Aaradhya in mind.

The actor was quoted in the report as saying that he would not like to be a part of a film which his daughter won't be comfortable watching or would question him as to why had he done something like that.

His opinion might change in the future but at the moment he prefers choosing films taking Aaradhya into consideration. Abhishek further added that he is not talking about sex comedies in particular, but insists that when he chooses a film, it should be something that even his

ndra Kumar's directorial 'Dil' has completed 25 years and its actors Madhuri Dixit and Anupam Kher are cherishing the moments they had while filming the romantic drama, which also starred Aamir Khan. The film, which released on June 22, 1990, revolves around a man who wants his son to marry the daughter of a millionaire.

The 48-year-old actress took to micro-blogging website Twitter to share her excitement.

"Hum pyaar karne waale... Can't believe it's #25yearsofDil. Feels like yesterday! Loved working on this movie," Madhuri tweeted on

Monday night.

She also thanked the film's director and Aamir. She wrote: "Got me my first Filmfare award... Thanks to @ aamir_khan, Indra Kumar and Baba Aazmi & Ashok Thakeria."

Anupam, who played the role of Aamir's character's father in the film,

Shahid Kapoor invites SaifKareena to his wedding

S

daughter can watch. However, at the moment, Aaradhya isn't into films and is busy reading fairytale books and nursery rhymes, adds Abhishek. (TOI)

said the film is one of his favourites. "'Dil' will always remain one of my favourote films. I loved doing the role of Hazari Prasad," he tweeted.

'Dil' was remade in Telugu in 1993 under the title 'Tholi Muddhu', starring Divya Bharti and Prashanth in leading roles. (TOI)

hahid Kapoor's big, fat Indian wedding is round the corner and invitations are being sent out. What is rather amusing is that the first invitation was for Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, if a report on Bollywoodlife.com is to be believed. Given the fact that Shahid and Saif are working together on 'Rangoon', it is only natural that Saif was the first one to be invited to the wedding.

Shahid-Mira's wedding guest list will feature the who's who of the film industry. However, Shahid is lucky enough to be blessed by his three mothers.

(TOI)

26

hollywood

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

Ryan Gosling pens letter to stop selling eggs from caged chickens

S

A

ctors Bradley Cooper, Kevin Hart, Michael Keaton and director Quentin Tarantino are among the inductees that will receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year.

LL Cool J and Adam Levine will also be feted in the recording category along with fellow musicians Cyndi Lauper and Bruno Mars, reported Variety.

The list also includes Steve Carell and Kurt Russell in the motion pictures category, while Kathy Bates, Tracy Morgan and Rob Lowe

will be honored for their accomplishments in TV. Musician and Walk of Famer Dave Koz announced the new honorees alongside Leron Gubler, president and

CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and Maureen Schultz, chair of the Walk of Fame selection committee for 2014-2015 at a press conference on Monday.(TOI)

P

Thorne's love interest in the upcoming movie 'Midnight Sun', which was based on a Japanese film of the same name.

Bella and Patrick were linked romantically earlier this year. ( TOI)

Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine in 'X-Men: Apocalypse'

A

ctor Hugh Jackman may be seen essaying his memorable character Wolverine one last time in 'X-Men: Apocalypse'.

Ever since Jackman announced that he will play Wolverine one last time, speculations started swirling around the movie in which he will been seen playing the clawed mutant. However, a custom leather goods company KikaNY, has confirmed news about his presence in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Production on the fol-

low up of X-Men: Days of Future Past started last April. However, there is no official confirmation yet that Wolverine will make an appearance in the movie.

KikaNY posted on its Instagram a photograph of a design for a leather backpack. They have been asked to make a custom duffel bag for Jackman which he may use on the Apocalypse set. Another thing that can be inferred from the caption is that Jackman is currently in Montreal for the movie filming, re-

ports aceshowbiz.com.

"We were just asked to make a special duffle backpack for Hugh Jackman who is filming the new X MEN movie in Montreal," the company captioned the image.

"We started sketching - The bag will be ready next week- we will keep you posted! #hughjackman #Xmen #movie #backpack #special," they continued. However, it is unclear if the backpack is for Jackman's personal use or will be used as the property in the movie. (TOI)

Marc Forster to direct film on Stanley Kubrick's screenplay

S

tanley Kubrick's 1956 screenplay The Downslope is all set to become a trilogy with World War Z director Marc Forster attached to direct and produced the first movie.

Forster will produce the trilogy along with Lauren Selig, Barry Levine and Renee Wolfe.

Selig initiated the project with producers/rights holders Phil Hobbs and Steve Lanning, who are also serving as producers. The Kubrick family is supporting the project.

The succeeding stories will expand upon

Kubrick's original Civil War story, reported Variety.

Kubrick wrote the script following the release of his anti-war film 'Fear' and 'Desire' and before directing 'World War I drama Paths of Glory'.

gust, citing video footage of "rows upon rows of birds confined in filthladen cages with the mummified corpses of their cage-mates ? eat-

ing, sleeping, defecating, and laying eggs on top of dead birds."

Gosling went on to write about potentially misleading packaging from the nation's fifthlargest retailer.

"It is appalling that Costco has been selling these eggs with deceptive labeling on cartons featuring graphics of birds living out in a green pasture," wrote Gosling.

"You've already eliminated cages for veal calves and pigs ? don't you feel that chickens also deserve the same mercy?" (TOI)

Directing bug not bitten me yet, says Charlize Theron

C

Patrick Schwarzenegger cast in 'Midnight Sun'

a t r i c k Schwarzenegger is following in his father Arnold's footsteps, as he has landed his first film role.

Patrick, 21, will be seen as actress Bella

uperstar Ryan Gosling has called upon the bosses at American wholesale store Costco to stop selling eggs from caged chickens.

The 34-year-old penned a strongly worded letter to Craig Jelinek, CEO of the retail giant, after an undercover investigation by the Humane Society revealed extreme animal mistreatment at one of Costco's major egg suppliers, reported the New York Post.

The Notebook actor did little to hide his dis-

The Downslope revolves around a series of Civil War battles in the Shenandoah Valley between Union General George Armstrong Custer and Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, known as the Gray Ghost for his stealth and elusiveness.

His cavalrymen, known as Mosby's Rangers, continually outsmarted the much larger enemy forces in a sequence of raids, which enraged Custer and created a cycle of revenge between the two men.

(TOI)

harlize Theron has no desire to step behind the camera â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at least not any time soon. She claimed she enjoys not having to take on the full responsibility of directing.

"I have no interest in doing that [directing]," Theron told a US news channel, adding, "That bug has not bitten me yet." The actress further explained that she is interested in any role, including producing and developing, but that directing is not for her. Theron produced the 2008 film Sleepwalking, in which she also starred.

"I love producing. I love developing.

But I like having a director around so I have somebody to blame. If I'm the boss than I'd have to blame myself." If

Theron does decide to turn her attention to directing, she will be in good company. Actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Jodie Foster, Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Aniston have all directed films and television series. (TOI)

Richard Gere to get Lifetime honour at Karlovy Vary Festival

V

eteran actor Richard Gere will be conferred with the lifetime honour next month at the 50th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

Gere, 65, will present the festival's opening film, Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind, a psychological drama that sees him play a homeless man seeking to reach his estranged daughter, played by The Hunger Games actor Jenna Malone.

The Runaway Bride star will receive the festival's Crystal Globe for 'Outstanding Contribution to World

Cinema.'

The festival will also screen Andrew Renzi's drama Franny, in which Gere stars as a philanthropist whose troubled past pushes him to get involved in helping a young married couple.

Gere, who is known for films like 'Looking for Mr Goodbar', 'Days of Heaven', 'American Gigolo' and 'An Officer and a Gentleman' has also been involved with wide range of social issues, including human rights in Tibet and AIDS. (TOI)

Arnold Schwarzenegger lends voice to satellite navigation app

A

ction star Arnold Schwarzenegger has lent his voice to a satellite navigation app Waze.

"From the first time I used Waze, I have wanted to lend my voice to it. The Terminator is the perfect machine to guide Wazers (users) to their destinations. Every single day on social media fans ask me to record my movie lines, so now I get to bring this classic role and my charming Austrian accent into their cars," he said.

Users of the app can be guided by The Terminator for free and the system will also provide directions to cinemas showing Schwarzenegger's new movie. (TOI)

feature

27

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Hawksbill turtle leaving for the ocean

By Suresh V. Kandaswamy

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: If you are looking for a one of a kind travel experience in Guyana, Almond Beach should definitely be on your travel agenda.

The coastline along north-west Guyana in Region One is dotted with beaches made of shells. The broken down and pulverized shells look almost like sand.

While many beaches are inaccessible, one of the accessible beaches, and a destination for visitors, is Almond Beach.

Almond Beach is often also referred to simply as Shell Beach. It is about six km from Waini River mouth, close to the Venezuela border, and stretches for about four km. Due to forces of nature, many of the beaches undergo a cycle

of erosion and shell accumulation. The shells at Almond Beach have been around for about 25 years now but are showing signs of erosion at the beach.

Almond Beach is now part of the Shell Beach Protected Area.

Shell Beach Protected Area, along with the famous Kaieteur National Park, where the world famous Kaieteur Falls is located, and Kanuku Mountains is managed by the Protected Areas Commission.

Guyana’s other protected area, the Iwokrama Forest Reserve, is run by the Iwokrama International Centre, which is governed by an International Board of Trustees. Together they form Guyana’s National Protected Areas System.

Shell Beach Protected Area extends for 120 km from the Moruca river

Swamps behind the beach

mouth to the Waini River mouth along the Atlantic coast in Region One. Inland, it is bound by the rivers Moruca, BaraBara, Biara, Baramanni, and Waini.

The protected area covers approx 123,055 h. It is considered exceptional because of its extensive mangrove forests, the longest remaining stretch in Guyana, and the four species of endangered marine turtles that nest from February to August each year.

These include the Leatherback, Green Turtle, Hawksbill, and Olive Ridley. The area is also important for birds such as the scarlet ibis, which roost within and nearby the protected area.

Almond Beach is a small Amerindian community with about seven families living along the beach. They earn their living through fishing, picking and selling coconuts, and working on the marine turtle monitoring project.

Each year from February to July or August, rangers from the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS), who are mainly local residents, in collaboration with the PAC and the WWF Guyana, monitor and record marine turtle sightings on Almond Beach.

The Green Turtles

start arriving mid-February and Leatherbacks in late March or April.

The Olive Ridley and Hawksbill are rare, but are known to arrive in small numbers late in the season: June, July and August. The Leatherback is the largest of the turtles, with the Green Turtle coming to a close second. The Olive Ridley is the smallest of the four.

Many visitors make their way to Almond Beach just for the turtle

from the time a turtle crawls ashore to the time it leaves for the ocean.

It is well worth the wait though.

The turtle crawls ashore, finds a place it thinks is a good spot to lay eggs, and digs a little pit in the shells using its front flippers to rest its body. It then uses its back flippers to dig a hole the length of its flipper, lays its eggs, which can number about a 100, and covers its nest with shells. Finally, it uses its

beach and return after a decade or more to the same beach is difficult to imagine. If a new turtle is seen on the beach, often determined by a lack of a tag, you know it has been out at sea for a very long time and it has survived against all odds.

Only one in a thousand survives to adulthood.

This long maturity period is also the reason conservation efforts must be an on-going effort. The PAC, WWF Guianas, and GMTCS are working to

Children watching a Leatherback turtle nesting

watching experience. It is a unique experience.

It requires patience, a fair bit of walking mostly at night, and some luck.

Turtles show up at their convenience. Some days they arrive in numbers and other days they decide to stay out at sea.

There is, however, a high likelihood visitors will see turtles during their visit to Almond Beach. It is rare to see them during the day but it occurs occasionally.

Peak season for turtles is May and June.

One needs patience to experience the entire turtle nesting process. It can take an hour or two

front and rear flippers alternately to move shells around to camouflage the nest. Once satisfied, it makes its way back to the ocean.

Turtles take a long time to achieve sexual maturity. Leatherbacks take between 9 and 15 years; Green Turtles 25 to 40 years, Hawksbill 15 to 30 years, and Olive Ridley about 7 to 15 years. To nest, adult marine turtles are known to come back to the general vicinity of the beach at which they were born.

Instinctively they know where to go. Incredible!

Given that they leave as hatchlings from a

ensure turtles are protected now and for future generations.

For more information on Shell Beach Protected Area or other protected areas, you can also contact the Protected Areas Commission at the National Park, Thomas Lands in Georgetown, or by calling 592-2271888. You can also follow the Protected Areas Commission on their Facebook page for latest information and happenings.

For more information on Almond Beach, visit www.sureshvk.com (Photos by Suresh V. Kandaswamy)

Shalimar puts focus on career building in TT

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Shalimar Student Centre will host a career day signalling the launch of the centre’s community outreach programme for the St Benedict’s RC School.

“Building your Career: How to make it happen” is the theme of the event.

The centre, located near the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, operates under Projects in Education Limited (PROED) - a registered not-for-profit and nongovernmental organisation.

PROED’s programmes are run by professional women

and serve young and mature women in TT with a special emphasis on social, educational, personal, moral and professional development.

Since 2004, Shalimar Student Centre’s programmes and activities continue to serve a wider cross-section of girls and young women in communities throughout the nation, said a media release from the centre. The centre trains students who volunteer from the UWI and from secondary schools in the targeted areas to be mentors for its weekly mentorship programme, Summon. These measures have benefited nu-

merous stakeholders in some of the eastern and southern communities.

Through the career day, the centre introduces the participants to some of the community outreach activities at Shalimar. Specifically, it will give the participants an opportunity to hear from and speak with established young female professionals in different careers (law, medicine, the arts, fashion, etc) in an informal setting that will build a candid rapport between participants and speakers, the release said. Through Shalimar’s initiatives over the last decade, some of the youths

have gone on to make positive changes in their lives, decided to pursue a university education or technical training, exploring their own philanthropic ventures and becoming volunteers for the centre’s mentorship programme.

In fact, many university students have gone on to make mentorship part of their calling in their place of work and communities, the release said.

The true mission of the centre is represented by the university students who volunteer at Shalimar as they discover the joy of serving others and develop their own leadership potential through virtu-

ous character building. The UWI recognised Summon’s contribution to school communities by awarding the programme the 2012 Award of Excellence in UWI Life.

Shalimar’s personnel are committed to women’s development, the institution of the family, and community building It’s that time of the year when graduates are thinking about their next step.

Whether you’re a secondary school student, university student or trying to determine your future plans, check out Shalimar’s career day on Saturday, between10 am - 5 pm. (TT Newsday)

28

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

The Dharm Shala House

G

EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : When visiting the Dharm Shala in Albouystown, Georgetown, it is difficult to miss the colonial wooden structure on the

opposite side of the road.

A quaint folk Victorian style house, characterised by its two and a half storeys, shuttered stained glass windows, gothic carpentry details and square symmetri-

St Francis Chapel next to the house

cal shape, it is a white and brown residential property that has been standing for more than 80 years.

Built in 1932 by humanitarian Pandit Ramsaroop Maraj, the building has been in the family for three generations and counting; it has remained the same with no structural alterations during its 83 years of existence.

However, planks of wood have been replaced over the years for the maintenance and preservation of the structure, Stella Ramsaroop, Maraj’s granddaughter who currently resides on the property, explained to Guyana Times Sunday Magazine.

According to Ramsaroop, they have had good luck over the years because renovations were not “necessary very often” because the building was built

with “excellent wood cured for many years”.

Built with planks of Mora, the family sprays the house quarterly for wood-destroying pests, and regularly cleans it to keep it in the best shape possible.

With what is described as ‘two and onehalf’ storeys by modern architecture, the first two floors have a square symmetrical shape. The smaller top flat, found just above an eave (an edge roof projecting beyond the building for both practical and decorative functions), has a front gable (a triangular formed sloping roof) with carpenter gothic details (gingerbread trim/intricate wooden designs).

Such houses, folk Victorian, are often characterised by aligned horizontally and vertically symmetrical windows in rows, which can

The late Harisaran Ramsaroop

The late humanitarian, Pandit Ramsaroop Maraj

also be clearly seen on the house along with the added colonial features of stained glass and wooden shutters.

Even around the yard, one can find antiquities. There is a towering tank, presumably a vacuum pan, acquired

by Maraj from a sugar estate (used as a water tank to this day), a small Lord Shiva mandir, and the St Francis Chapel (an old Anglican church); all present since the construction of the building.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

David Stopps for Int’l Reggae Day

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Intellectual property specialist David Stopps is the special guest presenter at the International Reggae Day (IRD) Conference set for the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew on July 1.

Stopps -- a consultant, artiste manager and music promoter -- will be the main presenter at the event which will be produced in two sessions: Securing Jamaica's Competitive Advantage in the Global Market and Jamaica's Sound System Movement and Creative Economy.

According to IRD organiser Andrea Davis, the conference will focus on a wide range of related topics including the Resurgence of Vinyl, The Future of Mobile and Broadcast Media and Is Jamaica Still the Capital of Reggae Music?

Davis, who is director of Copyright and Related Rights for the Music Managers Forum UK, noted that Stopps is no stranger to Jamaica having previously presented at two World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)/ Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) workshops in 2008-2009, and he is familiar with the unique landscape of the country's music industry and excited about the added opportunity to share his insights and experience.

David Stopps

Stopps is also a member of the British Copyright Council and from 2002 - 2010 was the United Nations representative for The International Music Managers Forum at WIPO in Geneva. At WIPO, he represented all featured artistes worldwide concerning new international treaty negotiation in the field of copyright and related rights. He is the author of the book How to make a Living from Music which is published by the United Nations.

Cities including New York, Honolulu, Fort Lauderdale/Miami, London, Santiago and Mumbai will be joining in the IRD celebration.

The 24-hour media festival will be complimented by a network of official events between June 30July 4, including lifestyle parties, dances, yoga sessions, pop up shops, exhibits and film screening hosted by Kingston - the home of Jamaican music.

(Jamaica Observer)

sport

29

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Jamaican Boyz take heart from defeat to 'tough' Argentina

V

INA DEL MAR, CHILE: Jamaica's combatants in the 0-1 loss to Argentina inside Estadio Sausalito on Saturday night were emphatic in their post-mortem that it was very difficult to contain the two-time World Cup champions.

Such was the dominance of the South Americans that they repeatedly forced Jamaican goalkeeper Dwayne Miller into action in the first half, particularly through Manchester United winger Angel di Maria and the incomparable Lionel Messi.

"It was a difficult game coming up against players like Messi, di Maria, Tevez (Carlos).

We all realised that the game would be difficult, but we had a plan and we stuck to it. Unfortunately

things didn't go totally our way, but it is something we can grow on," explained Miller, who was easily Jamaica's man of the match.

Adrian Mariappa, the right back who had the job of containing di Maria, expressed similar sentiments.

"Definitely, we are playing against some of the best players and the best player in the world, so it was always going to be tough, but to come away (only 0-1)... I thought we put them under a lot of pressure as well, had some opportunities and on another day we might have scored a goal," he said.

Veteran 33-year-old Jobi McAnuff simply paid tribute to the 14-time champion, whose pressure on the ball forced the Reggae Boyz deep

Jamaica Captain Rodolph Austin (left) gets the better of Argentina’s Erik Lamela during their final Group B match of Copa America in Vina Del Mar, Chile, on Saturday. Argentina won 1-0. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

into their half in the first period, though they gave a much better account of themselves in the second half.

"I'm not going to say we are slow out the blocks, we were playing tonight (Saturday) against a quality team, and from our point of view we needed to make

it as difficult as we could.

You are not going to open up the game too much and concede too early 'cause then it becomes a real difficult night, and it was a tough night, but everybody worked hard for each other and at 1-0 you are always in the game and you can go for it a little bit more in the

second half.

For Je-Vaughn Watson, who played in the key midfield area, the Boyz might have been timid and overwhelmed with the high-quality they were up against.

Still, he believes that the Caribbean champions performed very well under the circumstances, to put pressure on their opponents, especially in the last 20 minutes.

Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain scored the all-important goal in minute 11 to condemn the Boyz to their third consecutive 0-1 loss, following their result against Uruguay and Paraguay inside Estadio Regional Calvo y Bascunan on June 13 and 16.

But McAnuff was particularly pleased with the defensive scheme set up to deny Messi and com-

pany many goal-scoring chances.

And when the partisan Argentine crowd showed its appreciation for the effort of the Boyz late in the game, McAnuff said it lifted their collective spirits.

"Definitely man, I think it was a bit different in the other two games where it wasn't so overwhelming in terms of the fan base. But it's predominantly Argentineans in here tonight, and to get that support for us is just an indication that they appreciated the effort that we put in, which was a massive one from everybody, and that we were having a go at the end of the game even against their own team. So, yeah that gives you a lot of heart and we will take a lot of positives from this."

(Jamaica Observer)

Hero CPL…

Guyana Amazon Warriors fall to Barbados Tridents in opening match

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: The Hero Caribbean Premier League 2015 got under way with a rematch of last year’s final as the current champions Barbados Tridents took on the Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Tridents ran out winners thanks primarily to a brilliant all round performance from their captain, Kieron Pollard. His innings of 48 and two wickets were the difference between the sides and even a stunning spell of bowling from Sunil Narine was not enough to stop the current holders of the CPL title getting off to a winning start.

The Amazon Warriors began the game brilliantly. Having lost the toss and being asked to field Marchant De Lange got the game underway with a maiden. This was followed by another tight over from Veerasammy Permaul who conceded just three runs off the second over.

The big hitting began at the start of the third over when Dwayne Smith pulled a glorious six off a short ball from de Lange.

Dilshan Munaweera also went aerial off de Lange, hitting a lofted drive for four. The Sri Lankan opener did not last much longer, bowled

by Permaul for just six when he tried to cut a ball that was too close to his body for the shot.

Smith looked to be well set and looking to accelerate when he edged the ball to fine leg

Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Captain Denesh Ramdin watches as Kieron Pollard smashes a huge six in his match winning innings of 48

and set off for a single that was always risky.

It looked an even worse decision to set off for the run when Smith slipped and fell in the middle of the pitch and Shivnarine Chanderpaul threw down the stumps to run him out.

Those two early wickets really slowed the Tridents down as they made it to just 30 off the six over Powerplay.

Jonathan Carter got the innings moving again with two sixes in the seventh over which was bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan. Carter could have been caught off the first of those Hero maximums, de Lange making a valiant effort to take a diving catch at long off.

Carter’s aggressive innings got him to 25 off 20 balls before he attempted to hit Narine straight down the ground only to be well caught at long off

by Christopher Barnwell.

While the wicket was cause for celebration it brought Kieron Pollard to the crease.

Pollard was brutal against every Guyana bowler apart from Narine who once again put together a parsimonious spell, conceding 22 runs off his four overs.

While Pollard was drawing all the attention with his aggression at the other end Shoaib Malik carried on where he had left off last season for the Tridents. His 39 off 35 balls held this Barbados batting performance together after the early wickets.

Pollard was going brilliantly until he was run out attempting a second run that always looked optimistic. His 48 runs came in just 26 balls and was full of the powerful strokes that we have come to expect from

the Tridents captain.

The Tridents could have had the best possible start to their defence of 158 when Lendl Simmons skied a ball from Jason Holder but was dropped by Robin Peterson. Simmons had yet to get off the mark at that point and as the leading run scoring in last year’s event his dismissal could have been vital. As it was it did not prove too costly because he was brilliantly run out in the second over thanks to a direct hit from Holder.

Holder could not be kept out of the game as he played a part

in the dismissals of both Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin, picking up the wicket of the former and catching the latter.

At the end of the Amazon Warriors Powerplay they were 29-3 but the hugely experienced pair of Dilshan and Brad Hodge were at the crease but neither man could get going. The required rate had reached 10 an over at the half way stage of the Guyana innings and eventually the pressure told when Dilshan pulled a Pollard slower ball to Akeal Hosein at deep midwicket.

When Hodge was dismissed LBW by Peterson it was the beginning of the end for the visitors.

At 61-5 with just over 10 overs left it was always going to be hard to keep the rate under control.

When Peterson went on to pick up the wickets of Barnwell and Narine in the same over the Amazon Warriors were left needing 74 runs to win off 30 balls with only tail end batsmen left.

Some decent late order hitting from de Lange and Permaul got the Amazon Warriors past 100 but the Tridents were worthy winners.

(CPL Release)

30

sport

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

US, Canadian starlets among 6 new additions to CPL squads – Windies u-19s join Taylor, Dutta at “Biggest Party in Sport”

G

EORGETOWN, GUYANA: Six up-and-coming young cricketers, including USA international, Steven Taylor, and Canadian, Nikhil Dutta, will have the chance to play with and against some of the biggest names in world cricket after being added to the Hero CPL squads after impressing in training camp.

Each franchise welcomed four local under-19 players, and one young player from ICC Americas Associate nations, for training camp, with the incentive of a full CPL contract for

one lucky player from each team. Amongst the players joining wicketkeeper-batsman, Taylor (Barbados Tridents), and off-spinner, Dutta (Zouks) are West Indies Under-19 player of the year, Shimron Hetmeyer (Guyana Amazon Warriors), and former West Indies Under-19 captain, Ramaal Lewis (Jamaica Tallawahs).

The six players that have been selected are: Barbados Tridents: Steven Taylor – USA Guyana Amazon Warriors: Shimron Hetmeyer, Guyana Jamaica Tallawahs:

Ramaal Lewis, Jamaica St Kitts & Nevis Patriots: Nikhil Dutta, Canada St Lucia Zouks: Gidron Pope, St Vincent Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel: Mark Deyal, Trinidad Tom Moody, CPL Director of Cricket, said: “Competition for a place in the CPL squads has been fierce. The coaches have been very impressed with the quality of young players on show, so it was hard to narrow it down to one player per squad.

These six guys have a fantastic opportunity to make a name for them-

Knaggs, Wilson are TT national squash champs

selves on the big stage, and we wish them all the best for CPL 2015.”

The Biggest Party in Sport kicked off on Saturday with defending champions, Barbados Tridents, defeating Guyana Amazon Warriors at Kensington Oval in a repeat of last year’s final. At the Hero CPL, global superstars including Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis and Shahid Afridi will join the Caribbean’s finest cricketers, like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, and exciting up-and-coming local talent.

Fans have been given an even greater reason to be at the games this year with the CPL’s recently announced ‘Catch a Million’ competition, the biggest ever sports promotion in the Caribbean.

The first fan at every match who catches a six, one-handed, will earn US $1000 on the spot, as well as the chance to go to Trinidad for the final.

If they catch another six, one-handed, in the final, they will be presented with US$1 million!

CPL 2015 runs from 20th June to 26th July.

Last year’s tournament attracted a global audi-

Shimron Hetmyer

ence in excess of 65 million and this year is set to be even higher as fans across the world continue to be drawn to the high quality action on the pitch and the unique party atmosphere off it. (CPL Release)

Hero CPL Scorecard

P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Last year’s national under-19 champion Nku Patrick gave top seed Kale Wilson all he could handle for close to an hour before suffering a heart-breaking defeat in the final of the National Squash Championships Saturday night at Cascadia Squash Club, St Ann’s.

With the sudden and immediate retirement of defending and eight-time champion Colin Ramasra, the Canadabased Wilson, ranked 216th in the world, was expected to run through the field.

But the unseeded Patrick, who had sent third-seeded former champ Paul Jerome De Verteuil packing in the quarterfinals, and other ideas and made the 22-year-old former Caribbean under-19 champ pull out all the stops to capture his first national crown 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-13, 22-20.

National under-19 champ Chad Salandy, the conqueror of No. 2 seed Brandon De Montichard in the quarters, failed in his bid to finish third when he was beaten 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 by fourth-seeded Chayse McQuan.

Second National Title: Charlotte Knaggs

Rhea Khan attempted to capture the women’s crown for an unbelievable 19th time, but she was not expected to and the top seed Charlotte Knaggs, home on vacation from studies in the United States, prevailed 11-5, 11-8, 116.

It was the second crown for the 19-year-old, who is a two-time Caribbean under-17 and 19 champ.

National under-19 champ Faith Gillezeau was an 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 winner over national under-17 champ Marie Claire Barcant for third place in the three-day tournament. (TT Express)

Source: cplt20.com

sport

31

WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

By Ravendra Madholall

T

O R O N T O , C A N A D A : Several softball and soccer players produced outstanding performances to highlight the annual Guyana Festival Day’s event last Saturday at Littles ground in Scarborough as part of the country’s 49th Independence Anniversary celebrations.

In attendance was Guyana’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Harrynarine Nawbatt and who started off the action by bowling the first ball and encouraged the players to be good and disciplined athletes.

Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) team Kaieteur XI emerged as the top side beating their own counterpart Jaguars in the final while Ghetto Youth

Kaieteur’s skipper Shiv Persaud, left, receives the winning softball trophy from Harrynarine Nawbatt while other executives of the OSCL from the left Terry Mathura, Kim Sue, Albert Ramcharran, Vish Jadunauth and Sawh share the moment

United (GYU) defeated GT All-stars 4-3 to lift the soccer match trophy.

“I (am) delighted to be part of the opening proceedings here and wished all the participating teams in both the cricket and soccer matches good luck; I am confident you guys will have a wonderful tournament,” Nawbatt declared.

At the presentation ceremony that took

Washout!

Fletcher, Pietersen sparkle but rain has final say

G

ROS ISLET, ST LUCIA: Rain ruined what was shaping up to be an enthralling contest, forcing a washout and leaving St Lucia Zouks and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel to share honours in game two of the Caribbean Premier League at the Beausejour Cricket Stadium Sunday.

With Red Steel chasing 180 for victory, Jacques Kallis blasted a four and a six off the first five deliveries of the innings from speedster Shannon Gabriel, before the heavens opened to bring a premature end to the contest.

Red Steel had reached ten without loss.

Earlier, Zouks were propelled to 179 for six off their 20 overs by a top-score of 57 from opener Andre Fletcher and England strokemaker Kevin Pietersen, who made 42 off 26 balls.

Sent in, Zouks prospered through a 45-run opening stand off 28 balls between Fletcher and Johnson Charles who made 16 from nine balls.

Fletcher faced 49 balls and counted five fours and two sixes while Charles, the West Indies limited overs batsman, hit two fours and a six.

The right-handed Charles had taken two fours off the fifth over bowled by Kallis when he perished in search of an-

other, flicking to Johan Botha at mid-wicket.

Fletcher then combined with Pietersen to add 70 for the second wicket in an entertaining stand which powered the Zouks innings.

Pietersen was the more aggressive of the two, smashing three fours and three sixes.

Both batsmen gathered a six each off Botha's off-spin in the tenth over which cost 15 runs, and Fletcher reached his half-century off 40 balls in the next over with a single off left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn.

Pietersen swatted the next delivery over long on for six and smacked leg-spinner Samuel Badree over long on for another maximum a couple overs later before falling in the same over, caught at mid-wicket

by Australian Cameron Delport.

Fletcher followed in the next over, holing out to Botha at long on off Kallis but South African Henry Davids then controlled the momentum of the lower order, cracking 27 off 16 balls with two fours and two sixes.

He put on 32 for the fourth wicket with captain Darren Sammy who struck 15 from nine balls, and another 29 for the fifth wicket with Barbadian Kyle Mayers who hit 19 from 10 balls, before perishing off the penultimate delivery of the innings. (CMC)

place the following day at Raddison Suite Hotel Park also in Scarborough, Nawbatt congratulated the winner and thanked the sides for their participation.

In the softball matches that took place on Saturday, Kaieteur XI beat a Canadian Softball Cricket Association XI while Jaguars got the better of an Ontario Round Aram Cricket League XI. On Sunday’s final, Kaieteur XI beat Jaguars by five wickets in a tight 10-over contest. Jaguars scored 67-6 from the allotment of 10-overs while

the victorious side, in response, surpassed the target with five balls to spare with a healthy 36 extras.

Richard Mahase of Kaieteur XI hit blistering 64 to come out as the Most Valubale Player of the two-day tournament while Mark Mooosai and Orin O’Neal of Jaguars were named MVP for various performances throughout the two-day tournament.

At the opening and closing ceremony, president of the OSCL, Albert Ramcharran mentioned that his League was more

than happy to run off another Guyana Festival Day event with the softball matches.

He said that last year’s event was called off but this year the cricketers were extremely pleased to come out and showcase their talent. Over the years, teams from his League have been participating on a regular basis and the players will be rewarded for their display this year.

In the soccer fixture, Randy Washington won the MVP prize having scored two goals for the winner while Guyanese-

born Mark Fanfair, who organised the soccer game, stated that the players were excited to take part in the tournament and promised a bigger showdown in 2016.

Meanwhile, during the day’s activities on Sunday at Raddison Suite, fans won prizes to Guyana. Shiv Persaud, former Guyana fastbowler Trevon Garraway and Hemraj Heralall won return trips to Guyana, compliments of Caribbean Airlines who were also sponsors of the jerseys for the teams.

Fazil Rasool won a weekend stay at the recently-opened at Guyana’s Marriot Hotel to be among the winners too.

Notably, Sawh disclosed that plans are in place to host the Guyana Pan Am Games contingent prior to the commencement of next month’s Games in Toronto. She however, pointed out that the date for the function is still in limbo but it is likely to be July 9.

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

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

INTERNATIONAL WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2015

By Ravendra Madholall

T

O R O N T O , C A N A D A : Former Guyana and West Indies cricketer Keith Semple has thrown his support behind the Guyana Amazon Warriors to emerge as champion this time as the 2015 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 bowled off last Saturday at the Kensington Oval, Barbados.

Since the inauguration of the tournament in 2013, the Warriors featured in both finals but failed to cross the finishing line having begun their quest for supremacy against defending champion Barbados Tridents.

“Even though I have not followed the buildup to this year’s CPL T20 tournament very closely, I think Guyana can win it.

I think it’s a great

move to have Carl Hooper involved as coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has been involved with the West Indies Academy for a few years now so isn’t new to coaching.

Having played for Guyana and West Indies for a number of years, Carl is very experienced, understands the conditions very well and knows what is required to win games around the region. Also, having lived, played and coached a bit in Australia I’m sure he would be able to instill some of that mental toughness the Australians are known for, to the young players,” Semple stated.

The other teams participating are: Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steels, St. Lucia Zouks and new-comer St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots. As usual many international stars

Carl Hooper

will be on show including South African Jacques Kallis, New Zealander Daniel Vettori, Martin Guptill, Pakistani Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Englishman Kevin Pietersen, Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan, Australian Brad Hodge and the local boys Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Lendl

Simmons, Andre Russel, Shivnarine Chanderpaul among others.

With ex-West Indies skipper Carl Hooper being the new coach, Semple believes his vast experience to inspire the side on this occasion.

Despite losing their opening encounter against Barbados, Semple still feels

the guys will bounce back. Guyana Amazon Warriors will be up against St. Lucia Zouks at Beausejour cricket stadium in St. Lucia on Friday under lights again.

Semple, who now resides permanently in Canada, also reasons that the foreign players are important for the general development of West Indies’ cricket.

“Yes, I think they will continue to make an impact. The players I mentioned before, Dilshan and Hodge, plus Thisara Perera, are all proven T20 players who have been plying their trade in T20 competitions around the world so I expect them to continue making an impact both on and off the field.

There has been a lot of debate recently about the impact of T20 and what role it has played in the decline of West

Indies cricket,” Semple related.

“In my opinion the CPL T20 can have more of a positive than negative impact on West Indian cricket. It provides an excellent opportunity to rekindle the passion for the game in the region by creating excitement and attracting more young players and spectators while bringing in revenue for the development of the game.”

He continued: “Our young players can benefit a great deal from being in a professional environment - training, playing and interacting with the foreign players, most of whom are very experienced and knowledgeable in the game. One specific area in which they can benefit is learning how to handle high pressure situations especially when playing in front of large crowds.”

Ready, set go... all roads lead to TT Stadium P O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: The National Championships will occur this weekend with a lot at stake, not least of which will be selection for the World Championships in Beijing.

Also there will be the small matter of bragging rights for yet another year for these very competitive athletes.

These are the best athletes in the country, some of whom have been training for a long time, showing their ability and most importantly proving themselves.

For all the months of training, everything will need to be in place, including the need for positive energy. Therefore it is not surprising that some of the top athletes use their experience to ensure that they have a noisy support cast in the

Keshorn Walcott...improving with every throw

crowd, which can not only give them momentum, but also mentally upset their opponents.

It is the equivalent of home crowd advantage in football. I am hoping that everyone can travel to the Stadium this weekend from 2pm, each day to enjoy tons of excitement and loads of

peace of mind, at a time when such relaxation is difficult to find anywhere else.

As we look towards Brazil Olympics, the World Championships will be the greatest form guide, and for the majority of athletes it is critical that a message be sent to competi-

tors and sponsors about their respective fitness and ability.

Lest all of us forget the obvious, a lot of sports are played in the mind and so for all of the natural talent that TT citizens suggest we have, the need to strengthen our resolve by pushing our mind is

important.

“Bad Mind” is not a joke, but should be compulsory thinking for anyone involved in sports.

Among the incentives to attend this weekend’s events, will be the opportunity to watch Olympic gold medalist Keshorn Walcott in the javelin, where in the last few months he has on two separate occasions not only exceeded his Olympic winning distance but also set national distance records.

The women’s 100 metres appears to also be a two-person contest with injury prone Michele Lee-Ahye throwing down the gauntlet to the wily and experienced Kelly Ann Baptiste. It is a test of the old master against the young challenger, which, even if neither admits, is a battle for more than just a title but really to be the

number one female 100 metre runner in TT. However, the main attraction has to be the men’s 400 metres, where the men with the second and third best times in the world are expected to clash in Machel Cedeno and Deon Lendore respectively.

However, both have struggled of late through a combination of injury and form and Olympic bronze medalist La Londe Gordon will have other ideas.

Given that defending champion Renny Quow will be out to surprise with his late run and the consistent Jarrin Solomon, who runs with his heart on the sleeve at every juncture. This is an event that should not be missed, as the tactics and strategy will be important in setting the tone for the final result. (TT Guardian)

Caribbean Times International - (Canada Office) Unit 12, 680 Rexdale Blvd., Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario M9WOB5 email: news@caribbeantimesinternational.com, marketing@caribbeantimesinternational.com, caribtimes@gmail.com