Guyana Times October 21, 2018

LOOK INSIDE !

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana Issue No. 3723

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Govt slashes $2B from constitutional agencies budget requests guyanatimesgy.com

PRICE

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Govt stifling economic drivers in P10 Regions 5, 6 – Nandlall …says BBCI toll increase a clear “political gimmick”

Page 3

…Audit Office, GECOM, Procurement Commission on chopping block

Ogle Shaheed Orphanage destroyed by fire Page 9

Consolidated Fund overdraft doubled since 2015 Page 9

Page 6

Armed bandit killed by security Page guard 7

Months after IMC takes charge

$120 vat included

Company gets contract to carry out work at Credit Union Page 7

– company Director is GECOM official; reported to be on IMC

'Tantalising' ends with 1 critical, 1 in custody P16 Top Cop calls on ranks to uphold professionalism during LGE P17

Kwakwani Hospital in need P11 of urgent expansion – Dr Inniss

“LGE is about P9 fixing local problems” – President

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SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

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SUnDAY, October 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Sunday, October 21 – a night retraction at 03:00h and a day retraction from 14:30h-16:00h and Monday, October 22 – a night retraction at 03:30h and a day retraction from 14:30h-16:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, October 21 – 14:20h-15:50h and Monday, October 22 – 14:55h-16:25h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Sunny to light cloudy skies can be expected in the morning, with sunny intervals in the afternoon. Clear skies can be expected in the evening. Temperatures will range between 21 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Govt cuts almost $2B out constitutional agencies budget requests …Audit Office, GECOM, Procurement Commission on chopping block

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ixteen constitutional agencies submitted requests for monies out of the upcoming 2019 Budget, amounting to $13.2 billion. However, by the time the Finance Ministry was finished cutting them, only $11.4 billion remained from the sum.

Among the agencies on the chopping block was the Audit Office of Guyana, which ful-

truck that, according to the Commission, would have been used by staff to carry out investigations and monitoring of procurement agencies throughout the 10 administrative regions.

A sum of $8 million was also being sought by the PPC to acquire procurement monitoring software. The PPC, which notably did a report recently implicating Public

Winds: South-easterly to Easterly and East North-easterly between 2.23 metres and 5.36 metres.

GECOM

High Tide: 14:36h reaching a maximum height of 2.44 metres.

Low Tide: 08:07h and 20:29h reaching minimum heights of 0.80 metres and 0.77 metres respectively.

Guyana Elections Commission

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2018

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

fils the vital purpose of oversight on Government spending. It requested $894.2 million, including $876.8 million for current expenditure and $17.3 million for capital spending.

Instead, the Finance Ministry amended the total figure to $872 million.

While it left the capital sum requested by the audit office intact, it reduced the current expenditure figure that would cater for operational expenses, to $854.6 million.

In similar fashion, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) had requested $276.7 million. This includes $22.2 million for capital funding and $254.4 million for current spending. But noting in the financial paper that the PPC got $62.1 million back in 2017 as supplementary funding, the Ministry cut almost $45 million from the current sum requested and $12.8 million from its capital request.

The constitutional agencies budget estimates detail what these entities sought the monies to do. For instance, the PPC requested the capital allocation to buy a $9.4 million pick-up

Infrastructure Minister David Patterson in breaches of procurement law, wanted the software to facilitate electronic submission of information from procuring entities.

Meanwhile, the Police and Public Service Commissions were not spared. The Commissions had sought $155.5 million, which included a current sum of $134.7 million and $20.8 million in capital funding. The Ministry left the current sum untouched, but then cut $9.2 million from the capital sum.

The Commissions had sought the capital sum to purchase critical office supplies that included a photocopying machine, printers, a quantity of furniture and an off-road land cruiser worth $17 million that Commission said would have been used to transport Commission members and staff into Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara), Five (Demerara-Mahaica), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice) to conduct their duties.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) also came under the big chop, with its request for a total of $6.3 billion being amended to $5.3 billion. Its current sum request of $5.3 billion was cut by $500 million, while the capital request of $975 billion was cut by almost the same amount.

Under its capital estimates, a number of construction projects were on the agenda. This includes the construction of registration offices at Crane, Region Three ($25 million); Diamond, East Bank Demerara ($30 million); and Kamarang, Region Seven ($25 million). In each of these cases, GECOM was previously renting a building.

Besides these and other construction projects across the country, GECOM also had plans for acquiring cameras, fingerprint readers and pads, computers, a $4.2 million satellite dish and carrying out upgrades to the hardware and software for the ID production systems, estimated to cost $315 million.

Meanwhile, funding requests from the Supreme Court and the Parliament Office were also cut. In its comments when making these cuts, the Finance Ministry noted that “the recommended allocation takes into account the economic outlook for 2019 for revenue, expenditure, growth in the economy, consideration of the agency’s request within national development priorities and annualisation of salaries.”

Last year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan

was soundly criticised by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for cuts to constitutional agency budgets. The parliamentary Opposition had argued that to deny these agencies part of their funding is to compromise their independence.

Article 222 (A) of the Constitution of Guyana states; “In order to assure the independence of entities listed in the Third Schedule… (a) The expenditure of each of these entities shall be financed as a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund, determined as a lump sum by way of an annual subvention approved by the National Assembly after review and approval of the entity’s annual budget as a part of the process of the determination of the national budget.”

These entities are the Ethnic Relations Commission; the Human Rights Commission; the Women and Gender Equality Commission; the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission; the Rights and Child Commission; the Judiciary; and the Office of the Auditor General.

Amendments were later brought to include the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Judicial Service Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Teaching Service Commission, the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, the Public Procurement Commission, Office of the Ombudsman and the Guyana Elections Commission in this list of entities.

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guyanatimesgy.com

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

GECOM decision: Darkness at Noon

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arkness at Noon is a 1940 novel by Arthur Koesler about the consolidation of the Soviet dictatorship

by Stalin. The title is thought to be an allusion to the unnatural darkness that occurred at midday in the story of Christ’s crucifixion. After months of clear sunshine in Guyana, there were prophetic dark clouds over Georgetown last Thursday when the Appellate Court affirmed President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of the GECOM Chairman, in the absence of the “consensus” with the Opposition Leader, which each of the three Justices conceded, was demanded by the constitutional clauses they were interpreting.

Against the background of a slew of other unilateral actions by the President that fly in the face of other constitutional stipulations were enacted to curb the inordinate powers of the presidency conferred by the Burnhamite 1980 Constitution, it would appear that the Appellate Court is oblivious to the need to contextualise their interpretations historically, to appreciate the “intent of the framers”, which they insisted formed the basis of their decisions.

For instance, one Justice repeated Granger’s obdurate contention on the need for a Judge to be appointed to the GECOM chair by claiming it was “envisaged that a Judge would be impartial” even though Article 162 (2) was explicitly amended to widen the field of nominees. The historical context was that the rigging, which started in 1968, had been facilitated by ex-Justice Sir Donald Jackson, a former Chief Justice, who was the chair of the Guyana Elections Commission up to the 1978 referendum. His successor, Sir Harold Bollers, another former Chief Justice, oversaw the rigged 1980 and 1985 elections. It was not surprising that among the changes to ensure ‘free and fair” elections, the Carter Centre proposed and was accepted by amending Article 162 (2) to broaden the extant “judicial” criterion for appointing the GECOM chair to include, “any other fit and proper person”.

But more pertinently, according to Article 162 (2), the person was to “be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly. Provided that if the Leader of the Opposition fails to submit a list as provided for, the President shall appoint a person who holds or has held office as a Judge”. In 1992, a former diplomat, Rudy Collins was appointed Chairman of GECOM in accordance to Article 162 (2) from the People’s National Congress Opposition list, the “fit and proper” criterion, as was all succeeding Chairs.

The rationale for the Opposition Leader to have a meaningful input in the selection of the GECOM chair in reaching a “consensus” with the President, thus goes to the heart of the need for the electoral process in an intensely divided polity to be legitimised by the competing parties.

The endorsement by the Appellate Court of President Granger’s unilateral action to choose his own candidate will only encourage further authoritarian anti-democratic actions.

The same Justice opined that the President could not be directed to choose from a list submitted by the Opposition Leader because that could lead to an “unreasonable fettering of his discretion”. But Article 162 (2) was amended precisely to “fetter” the President’s previous unilateral choice. He could only act unilaterally if no lost was submitted. The Judge ignored that intent of the framers by suggesting: “That could possibly lend itself to politicking, abuse by one… Again such an interpretation may also attempt to elevate the Leader of the Opposition to a position over and above the norms associated with his authority.”

By granting the President “unfettered” power in this crucial appointment over the gatekeeper of the process to select governments and the President, the court is going not only against the spirit of the post 1992 constitutional changes to “fetter” the previous Imperial Presidential regime, but also against their letter.

“Consensus” means “a general agreement”, which is absent without the Opposition Leader’s input via his list.

Thousands turning up for GTT’s Pinktober 5k/10k run/walk which is aimed at raising funds for several cancer-related organisations, including the Guyana Cancer Foundation. In photo, persons are seen crossing the finish line on Saturday

US, Europeans call Saudi account of Khashoggi death incomplete

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S President Donald Trump joined European leaders on Saturday in pushing Saudi Arabia for more answers about Jamal Khashoggi after Riyadh changed its story and acknowledged that the journalist died over two weeks ago at its consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi Arabia said early on Saturday that Khashoggi, a critic of the country’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had died in a fight inside the building.

Germany called that explanation “inadequate” and questioned whether countries should sell arms to Saudi Arabia, while France and the European Union urged an in-depth investigation to find out what happened to the Washington Post columnist after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2 for documents for his marriage.

Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, a Saudi national and U.S. resident, was killed inside the consulate by a team of Saudi agents and his body cut up.

The Khashoggi case has caused an international outrage and frayed political and business ties between Western powers and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, the world’s No.1 oil exporter.

Asked during a trip to Nevada if he was satisfied that Saudi officials had been fired over Khashoggi’s death, Trump said: “No, I am not satisfied until we find the answer. But it was a big first step, it was a good first step. But I want to get to the answer.”

Trump’s comments about the Khashoggi incident in recent days have ranged from threatening Saudi Arabia with “very severe” consequences and warning of economic sanctions, to more conciliatory remarks in which he has played up the country’s role as a US ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of U.S. arms.

He had earlier called the Saudi narrative of what happened to Khashoggi credible.

Riyadh provided no evidence on Saturday to support its account and made no mention of what had become of Khashoggi’s body.

Dead journalist: Jamal Khashoggi

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a full investigation and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a joint statement with her foreign minister, said the Saudi account was not enough.

“We expect transparency from Saudi Arabia about the circumstances of his death ... The information available about events in the Istanbul consulate is inadequate,” the Germans said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called into question the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.

Trump said it was possible that Prince Mohammed had been unaware of the circumstances around the death of Khashoggi, 59. Trump said he would speak with the prince.

For Western allies, a main question in the Khashoggi affair will be whether they believe that the prince, who has painted himself as a reformer, has any culpability. King Salman, 82, had handed the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to him.

Trump, who has forged close ties with Saudi Arabia and the crown prince, said he was concerned that it was unclear where the journalist’s body is.

Turkish investigators are likely to find out what happened to the body “before long”, a senior Turkish official said earlier on Saturday.

Officials told Reuters in Turkey on

Thursday that Khashoggi’s remains may have been dumped in Belgrad Forest adjacent to Istanbul, and at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 90 km (55 miles) south of Istanbul, Turkish sources say the authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate. Pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, citing the audio, said his torturers cut off his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded him.

Trump said no one from his administration has seen video or a transcript of what happened inside the consulate.

A group of 15 Saudi nationals arrived in Istanbul in two planes and entered the consulate on the same day Khashoggi was there and later left the country, a Turkish security source told Reuters.

Saudi Arabia had until now strenuously denied that Khashoggi had died in the consulate.

But the Saudi public prosecutor said on Saturday that a fight broke out between Khashoggi and people who met him in the building, leading to his death. Eighteen Saudi nationals had been arrested, the prosecutor said.

A Saudi official told Reuters separately: “A group of Saudis had a physical altercation and Jamal died as a result of the chokehold. They were trying to keep him quiet.”

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted in Arabic: “They have taken your body from this world, but your beautiful smile will stay in my world forever.”

Saudi state media said King Salman had ordered the dismissal of five officials, including Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court adviser seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri.

The crisis prompted the king to intervene, five sources with links to the Saudi royal family told Reuters.

The king also ordered a restructuring of the intelligence service, to be led

by Prince Mohammed, suggesting the prince still retained wide-ranging authority. (Reuters)

guyanatimesgy.com

SunDAY, october 21, 2018

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

PPP engaged BBCI in 2014 and had win-win solutions Dear Editor, Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) has held both the PPP and APNU responsible for not honoring increases in tolls pursuant to the Berbice Bridge Act and the Concession Agreement.

The Berbice Bridge is a PPP project which has been heavily criticized by APNU/AFC. In fact, in 2013 even before the tolls were scheduled to change, APNU sought to politically sabotage the Berbice Bridge by proposing a motion in Parliament to reduce tolls. This motion was passed in May of 2014 and proposed reducing tolls by over half. APNU actions scared investors in the bridge,

the PPP to the APNU-AFC Government, APNU-AFC inherited a problem of their own making.

In 2014, when I was President, we met with the Berbice Bridge Board with the objective of finding ways to avoid a toll increase while at the same time ensuring that the Berbice Bridge was able to honor its obligations.

We viewed the toll levels like the way GPL handled its tariffs to maintain a constant level of tariffs, despite rising and falling oil prices. Our solution was simple— given that tolls were only going up to secure cash to reduce debt, Government would sup-

who became concerned both about their existing investment and about reinvesting funds back into the bridge.

By 2015, when a larger toll increase was needed, elections deferred all decisions.

In the resulting change, from

port investors, reinvesting some monies at a lower interest rate, and have this repaid in the last few years of the bridge concession. Under this scenario, tolls would not go up, but it would also not go down as quickly as projected.

Other solutions included increasing the life of the concession, but this was viewed as less preferable than solutions possible over the remaining life of the concession.

In 2006, every investor received a financial model that contained a toll index. I have no doubt that the PPP has no objection to this model being made public. The financial model showed that tolls would remain constant until 2014.

In 2014, tolls were scheduled to increase 6.4% and again in 2015 by 17.3%. Thereafter tolls would start dropping.

The table below shows the toll index and the % change in tolls from the prior year. The last column shows how much a vehicle would pay based on this toll index and using the tolls in existence since the start of the bridge. Despite the modest increase in 2014 and 2015, it fell in the follow years, such that by 2019, tolls were projected to be lower than that in 2008 when the bridge opened.

The key reason tolls were scheduled to go up from 2014, was that debt repayment started in 2014. Prior to 2014, only interest was being paid.

But as debt was repaid, less money was needed for interest expense. By 2019 tolls were lower than 2008, and by 2021, tolls were projected to be substantially below where it was in 2008 falling over 40% over 2020. In 2026, the bridge would be handed back to Government at no cost, and fully repaid. By that time, tolls would be almost negligible.

The ‘orphaned’ sugar workers Dear Editor, In December 2017, I read an emotionally moving article in the Department of Public Information (DPI) publication.

President Granger had visited an orphanage for baby elephants in Nairobi, Kenya, and he had even taken the time to capture a photographic moment with one on these orphaned elephants. I am sure that it should have been a heart-changing moment, since if one can care so much for an orphaned elephant then we can expect far greater commitment to give the Guyanese people, especially our droves of dismissed workers, our unemployed youths and impoverished children, the ‘good life’ as is promised day after day and year after year.

Unfortunately, during this same time in 2017, the dismissed Wales sugar workers were subjected to dire poverty barely eking out a living and unable to send their children to school. Compliments of the Granger Administration!

There were numerous articles which gave graphic accounts of the hardships faced by these workers and their families. We read headlines such as, ‘Wales feeling the squeeze…’, ‘Closure of Wales Estate now taking its toll…’,’Closure of Wales Estate a strategy to suffocate…’ and numerous letters highlighting the plight of these workers.

However, like the Pharaoh of Moses times, these did nothing to soften the hearts of Granger and his Administration. The next year they callously closed the Enmore, Rose Hall and

Skeldon estates and flung another 6000 workers and their families into grave poverty. Not to mention the negative ripple effect to the surrounding communities and businesses.

Let us now fast forward to October 18, 2018, nearly one year after the Nairobi visit. There was a massive picketing demonstration outside of Parliament which includes the dismissed Wales Sugar workers and their families who since the closure of the estate are still to receive their severance pay.

That is nearly two years ago.

The orphaned baby elephant must now be quite grown up and must be fending for itself, whilst the ‘orphaned’ sugar workers and their families are still suffering from hunger and poverty directly caused by the deliberately myopic policies of Granger and his Administration. But that’s not all! The Granger Administration unleashed its thugs to harass these impoverished sugar workers. The message is clear. The People’s National Congress’ thuggery and bullyism days are back!

Now the President is quite sympathetic to the Venezuelans refugees and this is not a problem. We are obligated to help our neighbours. Already a homestead development was proposed and now $19.2 million is allocated towards providing relief to these refugees.

However, there is an old adage which says that ‘charity begins at home’, but this Government tends to be more sympathetic in gaining international accolades than looking after its starving

people at home. At the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) level for the past months, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillors have been tirelessly agitating for a bus to be purchased by the Government to assist in transporting the dismissed sugar workers’ children at Rose Hall and even though it was passed at the RDC level, nothing is done by this ‘caring’ Government. They are simply not good enough. I would love to see the Presidents posing with one of these poor children!

Furthermore, why are the dismissed sugar workers at Wales not getting their severance pay? It is a grave trav-

Some persons have argued that the Berbice Bridge financial model was flawed.

We in the PPP believe the opposite. The bridge has performed largely as projected.

In fact, as the following table (based on audited financial statements of BBCI) shows, in every year, toll revenue was greater than projected.

The table shows that as the Berbice Bridge repaid debt, its interest expense started to reduce. In fact, during the 20092017 period, actual revenue was G$2 B more than projected revenue. During the same period, the BBCI repaid over $2.3 B in debt. Annual interest expense which peaked in 2013 at $789 M, was reduced to $636 m in 2017, a reduction of $150 M. This trend would continue as debt is repaid.

As debt is reduced, interest expense is reduced, allowing more of the bridge revenue to go to debt reduction.

Using 2017, as an example, with total revenue of $1.37 B, interest expense was $636 M, leaving $634 M left over for operating expenses and debt repayment. In 2017, G$591 M was used to reduce debt.

Had APNU not sought to sabotage the Berbice Bridge project by its opposition and Parliamentary motion, solutions to resolve the timing of debt repayment would easily have been agreed by the PPP and the BBCI to avoid toll increases.

But we all know that the APNU motion sabotaged this and held the BBCI hostage.

The bridge financing made sense. It did not have a Government guarantee and truly attracted a broad range of private sector interests.

Today the pending default can

esty and a national disgrace to see these workers standing in the sweltering heat protesting for what they are legally entitled to. Should they not be treated as humans? Why is this Government prolonging their misery? It is already devastating to lose one’s job but it is more devastating to be denied the right to survival and this is exactly what this ‘good life’ government is doing. Why did they not pay the sugar workers their full severances immediately upon being severed? That is the law! But instead they are treated as criminals!

But what is even worse is the fact that the President and

threaten major financial institutions. Despite the PPP having a record of honoring contracts, such as GTT, Omai, Barama, and Aroaima, APNU seems bent on dis-honoring contracts or failing to negotiate acceptable compromises to both sides. Our entire financial sector is now exposed.

And so, the current impasse could have been avoided. Solutions were readily

available if APNU/AFC only showed the will. But political stubbornness and vindictiveness against the PPP, now leaves the BBCI facing debt repayments without the resources to pay these.

Is APNU pushing BBCI into bankruptcy?

his ministers completely ignored these workers in front of Parliament, the place where elected representatives must serve all Guyanese. In fact, they proudly strutted away from the victims of their deliberate and calculated attack leaving them in the hands of their thugs.

They had destroyed their livelihoods perceiving them to be supporters of the PPP and not

citizens of this country whose rights have been trampled upon. It is a clear message that these ‘orphaned’ sugar workers have been totally abandoned by this ‘soucouyant’ Government.

Donald Ramotar Former President

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf RDC Councillor, Region Six

6 news

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

Cancer survivor breaking glass ceilings …says women are resilient despite stereotypes

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t is considered a ‘man’s world’ but there are several women who continue to champion this field and they are doing it in a sustainable way. The field, is the mining sector.

Belina Charlie has built a livelihood through mining.

She has been in the field for 18 years. It was sometime in 2006, while working as a receptionist at a local guest house in the city that she met a Brazilian, who would later become her partner.

“He was just like me, we were just the same level, we had nothing but, he was into mining before, he came to Guyana. So, he wanted to work here,” Belina said.

She took a week off from work to travel into the interior. That week marked her entrance into the mining industry. However, the first week in the interior, according to Belina, was “really rough”. Along with her partner, Belina said, they opened a taxi service and also purchased a dragger (gold mining equipment), sometime later. In 2012, Belina was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The diagnosis and illness curtailed her movements between the interior and the coast where she lives. Belina would commence treatment for the cancer.

“I did my first session here in Guyana then I went abroad, I went to Brazil to do the other chemo, I wasn’t finding medication because I have to buy my own medication. And I run everywhere, every pharmacy, every hospital to see, if I could get, even public, they didn’t had chemo, I had to

Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO) is willing to assists in the process.

Belina and some of her workers underwent a number of mining related training programmes relative to sustainable mining. This is an area that her operation adheres to.

Along the way she has received support from the GWMO and her partner.

In 2017, Belina was sponsored by Rio Tinto Group, an Anglo-Australian multinational and one of the world's largest metals

Belina Charlie

and mining corporations to be a part of the International Women in Resources Mentorship Programme that was organised by the International Women in Mining.

Balancing work and family life has its challenges but Belina does it all well.

She is hopeful though, that one day she can become a rancher and get into farming. She also remains an active member of the GWMO. (Michael Younge)

Thousands support GTT’s Pinktober Walk go to Brazil. After the chemo…..I….I lost my memory, even my sight, I lost. I couldn’t (watch) television, I wasn’t seeing (the) television, it was blurred, I didn’t remember that I had family, I didn’t even know where I came from but the only thing I know was that I was right here”.

She added that if she was never diagnosed with cancer, things would have been different. Belina is most passionate about the production aspect of her business. She reiterated that to be a miner, one has to be strong.

Belina is a mother of one; a son, and does not want him to take up a career in mining because according to her, it’s really hard work. Her son is in Miami, USA, at the moment, pursuing studies in the aeronautical field. “……I want him to go higher, that is my dream for

my son. Not because I got sick or I run brucks, I just want my son to stay away but I tell him to go. I told him you do not worry about what happening here, you worry about what you have to achieve,” she said.

She had battles with at least one Indigenous community. She had 72 legal river claims that were being challenged in the courts by the community.

Going back to mining, Belina noted that as a woman, she has faced discrimination, but noted that, “as a woman, you don’t have to bother with what people say about you, you have to go on and you have to be strong”.

Presently, in a male-dominated field, she has between 30 and 40 men working with her and so far, she has earned her respect in that field.

For women wanting to get into mining, Belina advises that, the

Attendees participating in the fitness workouts at D’Urban Park, Georgetown

T

housands of breast cancer awareness supporters braved the weather and turned up in a sea of pink on Saturday as they participated in GTT’s Pinktober Walk through the streets of Georgetown.

With matching bandanas, caps and T-shirts, the gathering assembled at D’Urban Park where they

commenced their stride towards the Kitty roundabout and then back again to the initial meeting point.

Among the walkers in the crowd were persons who are battling the disease, survivors and others who simply welcomed the inventiveness of this event to broaden awareness on the impact of cancer on society.

During the walk, Guyana Times spoke to Tiffany Douglas who stated, “This walk has inspired many of us. For me, I had an aunt who died from breast cancer and she was a fighter for years.”

For her, the most effective way of combating any type of cancer is early detection since treatment can be provided at an early stage to eliminate the disease, thus saving more lives.

“Early detection. Go to the nearest hospital and do a yearly checkup because cancer is a silent killer; when it hits us, it really hits us. I have had more than one person in my family tree with breast cancer.”

For many partnering organisations, the colossal turnout of both the young and old gives them the motivation to continue this venture in the coming years, with the expectation that it will be even grander.

ANSA McAL’s non-alcoholic portfolio head, Errol Nelson reassured, “The turnout was very resounding with all the supporters that came out. We all know someone in Guyana that has been struggling with

this disease that has been plaguing our society so we have to play our part and help to raise funds to let them know that we support them.”

On the healthier side of things, Live Proactive was among the fitness-conscious groups that participated in the Pinktober activities.

Founder of the organisation, Keba Murray, noted that persons were given the chance to participate in zumba, tai-chi, yoga, self defence, martial arts and karate.

“We advocate for holistic wellness so we’re not only looking at nutrition and exercise but environmental wellness and all the others,” said Murray.

According to Justin Nedd, Chief Executive Officer of GTT, “making Guyana healthier” is one of the underlying agendas of the walk which is backed by several activities that were hosted during the month of October.

Nedd advocated, “We really need to raise awareness and what this event is about is raising awareness, raising money for treatment and to get the message out there.

We really need a health society and this is about making Guyana healthier.”

He added, “As a country, we are heading in the right direction and GTT is really proud to be leading that so I would expect in the coming years, this will be better and we will be raising more funds to take care of society.”

NEWS

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2018 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Months after IMC takes charge

Armed bandit Company gets contract to killed by security carry out work at Credit Union guard ...Director is GECOM official; reported to be on IMC

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ore trouble is brewing at the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU), which had an Interim Management Committee installed to administer its affairs. Sources have disclosed to Guyana Times that the change has not brought more accountability to the Union.

According to sources, a construction project is currently ongoing at the Credit Union. The contractor working on the project in question is Caribbean Construction, Consultancy and International Supplies.

Checks by Guyana Times on the company records show that the firm, which was incorporated in 2015, has on its Board of Directors a senior administrative official of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

That official, sources indicate, is also a member of the as yet unnamed Interim Management Committee of the Credit Union. This publication was unable to ascertain whether the contract for works to be done on the union building was ever put through a competitive bidding process.

Displeasure

Members of the Union have communicated their displeasure at recent

Public Service Cooperative Credit Union

moves to appoint a Human Resource Consultant for a fee reported to be thousands of US dollars.

According to one member of the Union, this is exorbitant and unnecessary, considering the Union has less than 30 staff.

Earlier this year, Government installed a Chief Cooperative Development Officer, and Commissioner Perlina Gifth was barred from assuming control of the Union until July 3, 2018 when the substantive case was expected to be heard at the High Court.

In late May, then Chairman of the GPSCCUL, Patricia Went vented her frustrations when it was revealed that Government installed the interim committee. “The Committee of Management objects to the actions of the purported Chief

Cooperatives Development Officer since there was no investigation into the affairs of the Credit Union to support the published conclusion and accusation of unsatisfactory performance,” she had said.

She had explained that the matter was rooted in the demand by the Department of Cooperatives for an undue payment to the Audit and Supervision Fund for years 2002-2013 of an alleged balance of $49,691,682.00.

She however had argued that the Department of Cooperatives’ claim to outstanding payments towards the Audit and Supervision Fund could not be justified since the already audited Accounts of the Credit Union for the years 2002 to 2010 reflected no such balance, as was claimed.

Chief Cooperatives

Development Officer, Perlina Gifth, according to her, also failed to acknowledge the waivers, which were approved and granted by the previous Labour Minister, which to date is still in effect. The former Chairman said she considers the Social Protection Ministry’s action as a threat to “grab the funds of the Credit Union.”

At one point, the doors on the Credit Union’s building were locked as several documents were retained for assessment.

High Court Judge, Gino Persaud had also granted an injunction halting the work of an interim management committee while auditors did their assessment of the GPSCCUL’S finances.

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knife-wielding bandit was in the wee hours of Saturday morning shot dead by a security guard on duty at a service station at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), after he was alerted by neighbours that someone was attempting to break into a poultry farm which was in close proximity of the fuel station.

Dead is Jarrel “Dumb Boy” Nobel, 22, unemployed of Lot 12 Tuschen, EBE, who died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) as a result of the gunshot wounds he sustained.

Investigations revealed that at 04:30h on Saturday morning, the guard was alerted that someone was seen in a yard that housed a poultry farm, at Line Top, Vergenoegen. The guard responded and together with the poultry farmer, who ob-

served the intruder at the premises via Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

The Police were called but before they arrived, the two men went inside the building, also located on the premises, but Noel realising that they were there, emerged from a room armed with a knife and attacked the security who discharged two rounds, which struck him. The Police arrived just after the shooting and rushed the injured bandit to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was treated and transferred to the GPHC and later succumbed to his injuries.

The security guard is in custody assisting with the investigation. The firearm – a licensed shotgun – is lodged with the Police.

The dead man was previously charged for breaking and entering and larceny.

8 news South Ruimveldt man charged for assault, simple larceny SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

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36-year-old man of Lot 288 South Ruimveldt Gardens, Georgetown, was hauled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after he was slapped with charges of assault and simple larceny.

The man appeared before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman last week.

Wendell Leonard faced the charges, which read that on October 13, 2018, at South Ruimveldt Gardens, he stole $50,000; the prop-

erty of Sarah Chance.

Another charge stated that on the said date and location, he made use of threatening language towards Chance.

Leonard denied the simple larceny charge but admitted to the threatening language charge after it was read to him.

According to the facts presented in court, on the day in questioned, the VC discovered her money missing and confronted

Leonard. The court heard that Leonard later told the VC to move out of the house whilst he threatened to kill her if she reported the matter to the Police. The VC nonetheless reported the matter and Leonard was arrested and charged.

Police Prosecutor Quinn Harris made no objections to bail being granted.

Leonard, who was unrepresented, in an effort to defend himself told Magistrate Latchman that

he did not steal the cash neither did he threaten to kill the VC. He further stated that he wanted her to move out since she was the one who threatened to kill him.

Magistrate Latchman after listening to the defendant’s explanation entered a not guilty plea on his behalf for the threatening language charge and placed him on $20,000 bail for both charges. The case will continue on November 7.

It’s a wild and wacky Guyana…

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…in the courts he phrase “the law is an ass” was coined by Charles Dickens who put it in the mouth of one of his characters: if the workings of the law leads to patently absurd decisions, then “the law is an ass”. The phrase immediately came to your Eyewitness’ mind when he read the snippets of the judgement by the Appellate Court, which affirmed President Granger’s UNILATERAL appointment of the GECOM chair.

Now this appointment is governed by Art 162 (2) of the Constitution which states (very clearly, your Eyewitness thought) that the individual would be “appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President” submitted by the Opposition Leader. Now, this procedure worked for the 1992 elections when Rudy Collins was accepted by Desmond Hoyte from the PPP’s list, and then in 1997 when Doodnauth Singh was selected for the 1997 elections from the PNC’s list and again in 2001 when Steve Surujbally took over. David Granger was even on two of the PNC’s list!!

But in approving Granger’s unilateralism, one Judge, for instance, threw all of that out of the window!! It’s not just required that the Opposition Leader submit a “list of six”…no siree Bob!...there must now be consultations between him and the President!! “The submission of a list, never mind 18 names and three lists, but without the engagement on their acceptability, separate from the choice, could not have led to a consensual candidate”!!

Why? She pronounced that “the manner in which the lists were submitted was not reasonable”!!!

Imagine that!! Consensus was reached three times from submission of lists by the Opposition Leader, but suddenly there has to be “engagement”? Well, there has been “engagement” on the appointment of the Chancellor and Chief Justice between the President and the Opposition Leader, but no consensus. What now? It’s OK for the President to unilaterally appoint his choices?

Well, for what it’s worth, your Eyewitness thinks this is exactly what Granger will now be doing – because the law has been shown to be an ass!!

The present Acting Chancellor’s decision was also inexplicable. Rejecting the President’s expressed position that all six of the OL’s nominees should be “acceptable”, she however said that if more than half of the names are acceptable by the “reasonable man’s test” then the President should pick from the list. Well, shouldn’t this be the “reasonable President” would have acted under the circumstances?

And if all three Presidents before Granger picked FROM the names on the OL’s list isn’t that the reasonable thing to do?

But then such reasoning assumed the law isn’t an ass, doesn’t it? …with procurement corruption October’s supposed to be “Agriculture Month”, but with the Auditor General’s Report released in this month, over the last three years, it’s become “Corruption Month”!! For a Government that rode into power promising a “clean” Government after accusing its predecessor, the PPP regime, of “siphoning off billions and billions”, the PNC is certainly sticking its hands into the cookie jar! And being caught!! Shameless!!

This year’s AG Report is so chock-full of scandals, your Eyewitness just doesn’t know where to begin!! The contractor for the Port Kaituma Doctors’ quarters who received $45 million (72 per cent) of the contract price since 2016 but has only done 28 per cent of the work? So what if the doctors are sleeping in hammocks under trees!!

No accounting for the $550 million given to HDI – the “private company” with Roopnaraine – for D’Urban Park?

The $112 million in advance payments for works never done in Region 10??

We could go on and on…but what’s the point?? How long has the D’Urban Park boondoggle been in the public?

What about the $600 million Ansa Pharma scam?

Corruption is power; and absolution is now absolute power!! …showing mercy to the Attorney General Is it possible the Appellate Court’s GECOM chair’s decision was to save Basil Williams who’d lost eight cases in a row?

Naah! The court threw out his arguments and made up their own!!

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

9 Consolidated Fund overdraft doubled since 2015 W news

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

hen it came to power in 2015, the coalition Government reached a Consolidated Fund that had an overdraft of less than $50 billion. Three years later, that number has more than doubled, with the Auditor General Deodat Sharma, red flagging the state of the fund in the office’s 2017 report.

According to the AG report, the Consolidated Fund had an overdraft of $89.9 billion as of December 31, 2017.

In addition, the cash book had an overdraft of $109 billion and a difference of $19 billion.

This, the report states, is because of a deposit of over $2 billion and debit advances of $1.6 billion that were not debited to the cash book; deposits of $5.3 billion not credited to the bank account and unpresented cheques of $23.5 billion.

The AG noted that at the end of 2016, the overdraft state of the Consolidated Fund was $67.5 billion. Thus, 2017’s figures are a 33 per cent increase of $22.3 billion. And when one considers 2015’s figures, the overdraft has increased by $47.2 billion over the course of a few years.

In its response to the AG’s findings, the Finance Ministry noted that Section 60 of the Financial Management and Accountability (FMA) Act 2003 allows for the Finance Minister to overdraw the Consolidated Fund.

Quoting Section 60 (1) of the FMA Act, the Ministry noted that “The Minister may approve the use of advances in the form of an overdraft on an official bank account to meet cash shortfalls during the execution of the annual budget.”

Conspicuously, however, the Ministry stops short of

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

Auditor General Deodat Sharma

reading the next paragraph, which states “The Minister shall repay in full all advances in the form of an overdraft on an official bank account on or before the end of the fiscal year during which that overdraft was drawn.”

In addition, the Ministry

explained that the fluctuation in payments sometimes forces the Government to use the overdraft of the Consolidated Fund. It noted that use of overdraft by accounting officers in Ministries, departments and regions is prohibited.

Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana states, “All revenues or other (sums of) money raised or received by Guyana (not being revenues or other sums of money payable by or under an Act of Parliament into some other fund established for any specific purpose; or that may, by or under such an Act, be retained by the authority that received them for the purpose of defraying the expenses of that authority) shall be paid into and from one Consolidated Fund.”

Article 217 stipulates that money cannot be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except: “(a) to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this Constitution or by any Act of Parliament; or (b) where the issue of those (sums of) money has been authorised by an Appropriation Act; or (c) where the issue of those (sums of) money has

been authorised under Article 219.”

Despite this regime of stipulations, however, Government has been red flagged by the Auditor General’s office time and time again for not using the Consolidated Fund in the rightful manner.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma had declared in his 2015 Audit Report that Government had kept more than $500 million, rather than deposit same into the Consolidated Fund. That report had spoken of the millions of dollars used on the D’Urban Park construction, Mashramani celebrations, and $51.5 million being spent on ‘music’.

Financial experts have called on tougher laws to be implemented when it comes to using the Consolidated Fund, given its important purpose and history of abuse.

“LGE is about fixing local problems” – President

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ocal Government Elections (LGE) is about empowering citizens to fix local problems, President David Granger said on Friday, even as he encouraged residents to exercise their right to elect leaders who will serve, in his address at a community meeting held at the Indigenous Peoples’ Conference Hall, Central Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

“Local Government Elections is about you and about your rights, your entitlement to choose the people who you want to represent you; that is what it is all about,” the President said, even as he called on the residents to “trust [their] own judgement; trust the people you know,” Granger said.

The Head of State said while the A Partnership for National Unity did not win at the last LGE, his Administration is giving citizens the right to make choices.

“Since then, we

President David Granger addressing the Lethem, Region Nine meeting

have been strengthening the Local Government system. In three years, we have created four towns,” he said, adding that he envisions that one-day Lethem will become a city.

The President also noted that several changes have occurred since the return of local democracy in 2016, stressing that Guyana can only be developed from the roots. “There are three levels of government, the municipality is one level, the Indigenous communities have their own village councils, the Regional Democratic Council is at the second level, and the Central Government

is at the third level. All three levels have to work together,” he said, emphasising the need for cooperation among all the parties.

“We came together to empower you... if the candidates don’t work, people will remember them,” he told the gathering, while deeming the LGE as an apprenticeship or school house where candidates will learn to serve their constituents.

“You have to serve if you want to lead,” President Granger said, noting that it is through Local Government that democracy is exercised as all stakeholders sit around a table and

decide what’s best for the respective communities.

The President explained that Lethem’s development is a work in progress but pointed to improvements made to the town since Government took office in May 2015. “It

may seem small but if you know Lethem 20 or 30 years ago, you would see the changes… We need to be driven by an idea that this is not about simply winning and sharing out seats, it is about improving the municipality of

Lethem,” the President said.

Meanwhile, some 50 children of Lethem and neighbouring communities received bicycles from the President through the Public Education Transport Service (PETS). During a brief interaction with the recipients, President Granger urged the school aged children to make good use of the bicycles.

Additionally, the President commissioned a new ‘David G’ bus and handed it over to the Regional Democratic Council. Twentyeight buses and 1354 bicycles have been handed over across the country to assist children to attend school.

10 news

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Govt stifling economic drivers in Regions 5, 6 – Nandlall

…says BBCI toll increase a clear “political gimmick”

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ormer Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall believes the actions of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration has negatively impacted the two major economic activities in Berbice, which in turn has significantly reduced spending power and may even be the reasons behind the Berbice River Bridge not earning revenues.

Following previously failed talks with Government, the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated (BBCI) last week went ahead and announced new toll increases. These include $8040 for cars and minibuses; $14,600 for pickups, small trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles; $27,720 for medium trucks; $49,600 for large trucks; $116,680 for Art trucks; $1680 for freight, and

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall

$401,040 for boats passing through the bridge.

The new tolls are to take effect from November 12 and according to Chairman of the Bridge Company, Dr Surendra Persaud, who is a close associate of AFC, it has nothing to do with the impending Local Government

Elections (LGE) which will be held on the same day. He explained that the Bridge Company has incurred losses in excess of GY$2.8 billion, and has never paid dividends to its ordinary shareholders.

However, Nandlall has posited that the blame of the Bridge Company experiencing huge losses squarely lies at the feet of Government for destroying the economy of Regions Five (MahaicaBerbice) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

“The driving economic forces of Regions Five and Six are the sugar and rice sectors. The Government is closing down the sugar sector and is killing the rice sector by imposing VAT (ValueAdded Tax) on agricultural equipment and increasing the rates and rents for rice lands by several hundred per cent,” he stated.

According to the former Attorney General, the

Mahaica/Mahaicony/AbaryAgriculture Development Authority (MMA-ADA) is unable to maintain the infrastructural dams in the rice cultivation areas while the Drainage and Irrigation Authority, along with MMA, have completed neglected the drainage system in the rice industry.

“All of this culminates in economic stagnation in these two regions so there is no money circulating and this obviously will have a negative impact on the revenue generated by the bridge. In short, people simply are travelling less so we go right back to the Government being responsible,” Nandlall contended.

He went on to call the proposed toll increases a “political gimmick” and an “electoral stunt” being engineered by the coalition Administration, noting that a number of factors can support this reality. continued on page 11

Patta Sin in

S

atiricus was girding up his loins for battle. And “battle” he knew it would be when he got to the Back Street Bar where he was headed. The Appellate Court’s decision to go along with Grain Ja’s Burnt Ham-like decision to appoint the GECOM chair would definitely be the topic de jour! And because his leaders Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat, were in the Government, he knew he was in for it.

“Budday!! Wha’ abee deh pan?” asked Bungi, the moment he espied Satiricus. “Wha’ ayu wan’ fuh do wid abee?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Satiricus in feigned ignorance, as he slowly took his seat.

“Na play schupid, Sato!” said Cappo firmly, as he handed Satiricus a beer. “Yuh blasted well know wha’ Bungi a talk about!”

“But just in case you were at Hubu Backdam for the last week,” interjected Hari, “he’s talking about the Court supporting Granger’s GECOM appointment.”

“Oh that?’ said Satiricus, innocently. “But Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat said they weren’t consulted on the decision!”

“Na gi’e me da!” said Bungi. “Na ayuh leada Trat Man bin wid Grain Ja w’en ‘e tell Jagdesh ‘e pick Patta Sin?” “Na only da,” said Cappo. “Afta Granija pick Patta Sin, na Nagga Man seh how PPCEE a bring in “race”?

But PPCEE neva’ talk ‘bout de man race!!”

“That’s why Jagdesh called Nagga Man “spineless, a jellyfish, a worm, a sycophant, a parasite, and a slime-bag” at his press conference right after!” grinned Hari.

“I don’t know all of that about my fearless leader, said Satiricus. “He was just giving his opinion.”

“Suh how come, afta’ he and Rum Jhaat lie dat dem na know, wan email show dat Rum Jhaat tell Grain Ja fuh pick who ‘e want!” pointed out Bungi.

“Me bin fu’get ‘bout da email!” said Cappo as he turned to Hari. “Wha’ Jagdesh bin call Nagga Man, again?”

“Spineless, a jellyfish, a worm, a sycophant, a parasite, and a slime-bag,” repeated Hari with glee.

“Rum Jhaat a da too!!” said Cappo, as Satiricus sipped his beer quietly.

11 Kwakwani Hospital in need of urgent expansion – Dr Inniss news

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

By Lakhram Bhagirat

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wakwani, one of Guyana’s premier logging communities, has been on the cusp of rapid development for a number of years, but it seems as though its only health care facility is yet to be bitten by the developmental bug. And according to the doctor in charge of the institution, Kwakwani Hospital Complex is in dire need of urgent expansion.

Dr Delisa Inniss was posted as the doctor in charge of the Upper Berbice River area in April of 2018, and she has been advocating for better service delivery as well as improved facilities for the more than 600 residents of Kwakwani, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

During an interview with Guyana Times, Dr Inniss said the issue of expansion of the Kwakwani Hospital Complex was recently raised with Public Health Ministry officials.

“We are a small hospital, a district hospital, but we have need for expansion, because our unit is small in terms of space, and it is very

The Kwakwani Hospital Complex

cramped. Our Emergency Department can only hold two beds, and the space to manoeuvre around is very limited; so sometimes you will find when we have accidents (that) we cannot deal with more than two patients at a time, and we have to pick and choose and really triage who to deal with first and what’s not,” she related.

The doctor informed that accidents in the area occur more than often, because of the fact that it is a logging community; and therefore the hospital’s capacity is very limited when it comes to deal-

Govt stifling...

Political gimmick

Nandlall stressed that there was no way Government, through its Infrastructure Ministry, did not know about the increases when the subject Minister, David Patterson, and the BBCI Chairman are executive members of the AFC party.

“When the announcement was made by Dr Persaud, Minister Patterson came out with a statement that he is unaware [of the toll increases]. One has to be extraordinarily gullible to believe that Dr Persaud would not have communicated his decision to his party colleague before making it public. So when Minister Patterson came out claiming ignorance, it was laughable,” Nandlall stated.

He further posited that it is also a strain on the intellect of the average Guyanese to accept that the bridge company sought and obtained legal advice from a reputable senior counsel to raise the tolls when only the minister can levy an increase in the toll.

Furthermore, the Opposition parliamentarian outlined that it cannot be coincidence that the proposed increases are scheduled to take effect on the same day Local Government polls will be held.

“Is it that no other date could have been chosen? And simultaneously, it cannot be a coincidence that there is a plethora of comments both from the Government and the paid PR personnel, both in the press and social media, blaming the People’s Progressive Party for the increase,” he continued.

This entire fiasco, Nandlall noted, was staged

from page 10

to drive fear into the people of Berbice with this mammoth increase.

“Then we will see the Government stepping in like a knight in shining amour and quash the increases, and take credit for it so as to garner votes especially from these two regions because they sense that they would be soundly thrashed at the Local Government Elections,” he stated.

The proposed toll increases have been the subject of much criticisms with Government saying that it would not accept.

However, outspoken political activist and former Presidential Advisor Ramon Gaskin is suggesting a total buyout of the bridge company by Government so as to resolve the issue.

The BBCI, in which the National Insurance Scheme has majority voting rights on the Board of Directors, was forced to push for the increase in tolls in order to protect its investment. To this end, Gaskin suggested that an alternative can be for Government and the NIS to solely own the bridge, thus buying the shares from all the other shareholders.

On the other hand, one of the shareholders told this newspaper that it recognises that BBCI is in serious financial jeopardy, given that debts have reached maturity and few options are available to stave off bankruptcy.

Another noted that if an agreement cannot be reached, them it is recommended that the Government buy back the bridge and compensate investors in keeping with the financial model and other investment documents.

(Vahnu Manikchand)

ing with the patients.

Presently, along with Dr Inniss, another junior doctor, who is on four months’ rotation, along with a resident Dental Surgeon, service the residents in the area.

Dr Inniss said the medical institution has ample support staff, which makes the work of the doctors a lot easier.

However, she explained that the needs of the hospital far outweigh the services it can offer at this time.

The hospital is equipped

with a fully functioning X-ray machine, but there is no technician to man the equipment, and there also is no ultrasound machine or technician. Several requests have already been made for technicians, particularly the ultrasound machine and technician, she said; but despite promises, that is yet to be fulfilled.

Dr Inniss explained that the medical institution has had to transport pregnant mothers through rough ter-

rain to the Linden Hospital Complex every time they need to get an ultrasound done to monitor the health and development of the foetus. In the case of X-rays, she noted that the institution would have to transport patients to Linden to confirm fractures and other things. “…our antenatal mothers we have (had) to put… through that, just to get an ultrasound to ensure that the baby is okay; and some of them are high risk mothers, and having to go through that is not easy. Sometimes it can put them through preterm labour, so it is a risk. So we have need for some of the things here,” she said.

“Even some of the mothers who are elective cesarean, that could be done here, and it could be easier; because we find that most of the areas (the hospital services) are poor areas and they always complain that they don’t have money to go, and they have nowhere to stay in Linden.

So they have to go and come back, and that is a real sore

point here,” Dr Inniss highlighted while identifying the need for a General Surgeon to be stationed at the hospital.

In terms of the building expansion, Dr Inniss said Minister Volda Lawrence would have committed to that, along with the construction of an operating theatre.

Additionally, the doctor said, the delivery room is in need of expansion as well.

“Our Delivery Room is even smaller. There is one delivery bed, so only one delivery could be in progress at a time. And sometimes you get cases where somebody is in labour and another one comes, and we have to use another bed. So we have need for that,” she identified.

The doctor also said new vehicles are needed to transport patients, since the ones they currently have would sometimes break down in the trail, and they would have to wait hours for assistance. She said that in some cases they were forced to do emergency deliveries in the vehicles on the trail.

12 news Ogle orphanage destroyed by fire E SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

ighteen orphans of the Shaheed’s Girls Orphanage were awakened after an early morning fire at the Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) residence on Saturday.

Reports are the fire

started at about 06:45h in the upper flat of the wooden and concrete building, which is located at Lots 7 and 8 Oleander Gardens, Ogle, ECD. Guyana Times was told that one of the two caretakers, 59-year-old Shantie

Pooram, was alerted by one of the children, who noticed the dense smoke emerging from a room on the western end of the building.

An alarm was raised and the children were rushed out of the building.

The Guyana Fire Service

The upper flat of the Shaheed’s Girls Orphanage engulfed in flames

(GFS) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) were also alerted about the fire.

When this publication arrived at the scene, an employee of a neighbouring building who identified himself only as “Wendell” explained that the response time from the fire fighters was swift but by the time they had arrived, the upper flat of the orphanage was completely burnt out.

“It was a big, big blaze.

I working here a good while and I never see no fire or anything. When I watch, you could see is the current cause the lady (caretaker) don’t get nothing burning,” Wendell related.

Apart from the three tenders that were on site, water was also sourced from a neighbouring swimming pool. He noted that a bucket brigade was also formed to contain the

The aftermath of the fire

blaze, which advanced to the outside of the premises, scorching a vehicle and ravaging adjacent vegetation.

“He take too long to move the car cause we take out the battery so by the time we realise, the fire come over the fence, burn the grass and burn the car,” he told this publication.

Guyana Times understands that the inferno would have caused damages in excess of $50 million and it is even more devastating since the building was uninsured. While the upper flat was completed gutted, only the concrete structure on the lower flat remained intact, covered with the charred debris.

Fire Prevention Officer of the Fire Service, Andrew Holder told this publication that an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire since officers were still collecting information at the scene.

“We are doing an investigation because officers are at the scene. Eighteen girls were living there and the caretaker. The building you can say was completely destroyed and investigations are ongoing,” said Holder.

Meanwhile, the orphanage representative has assured that all of the children are safe with no injuries and were relocated to the Shaheed’s Boys Orphanage in Kitty, Georgetown.

news

13

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Floodwaters rising across T&T

... looting widespread

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Guyana’s tragedy

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he GECOM decision has once again raised political temperatures in Guyana. The Mahabharat is rather unique among Hindu texts in dealing very extensively with the world of politics and, as I wrote a decade ago, I am once again struck by parallels in that ancient conflict and ours in Guyana. The Mahabharata is about the way we humans deceive ourselves, how we are false to others, how we oppress fellow human beings, and how deeply unjust we are to each other in our day-to-day lives. And all the while holding fast to the belief that our position is “just” and that of others, “unjust”.

But there are no “pure” heroes in the Mahabharata: unlike what is conventionally depicted, the conflict between the two sides is not a battle between “right and wrong”, much less between “good and evil”.

The Pandavas, the nominal “good guys”, are not perfect, and several who fight for the Kauravas, the “bad guys” are truly noble.

The potential for “good” or “bad” lies in every human being.

Ravi Dev In Guyana, our history has conspired to create a tragic situation. Not “tragic” in the sense of terrible things happening – even though we’ve had more that our fair share of those – but in the way that Hegel interpreted Greek tragedy. His famous interpretation of Antigone as the paradigmatic Greek tragedy might be particularly apt to our situation. He shows in that narrative, both “sides” are morally right: the conflict is not between good and evil but between “goods” on which each is making exclusive claim.

The “sides” I refer to in our country are, of course, the descendants of the Africans who were brought as slaves and those of Indians brought as indentured servants – both to labour on the sugar plantations. Those African slaves were dragged against their wills across the Atlantic to work as chattel, under conditions of mind-numbing cruelty.

“Emancipation” had to be bitter pill to swallow when Indentured labourers (Portuguese, freed West Indians, Africans, Indians and Chinese) were brought in as “scabs” to undercut their demand for higher living wages. It was only to be the beginning of many manoeuvres to deny justice to Africans; but it set the tone of what was to follow.

The indentureds, dominated by Indians, countered that they were unwitting pawns in the British game of “divide and rule”. They could, and did, point to the increasingly meagre wages they were forced to work for under pressures by new fellow Indian immigrants on the plantations in the subsequent century. Their demonstrated capacity to produce “two blades of grass where there was but one” under the severest pressures, however, formed the basis of their moral claim to justice and equality.

As in the Mahabharat, both sides were promised that if they played by the rules, the “kingdom” would eventually be theirs. While we may rail against the Kaurava Durjodhan (and Burnham) for their overweening ambition, no one can deny that they were leaders of groups who had legitimate moral claims to power. Similarly, the gambling away of the Pandava’s inheritance by Yudhishthira (at dice) and Jagan (with Kennedy and Duncan Sandys) cannot be glossed over, but does not vitiate the similar moral claims of their supporters.

That the two groups coexisted without major conflicts until the sixties was not coincidental. It was the majoritarian system of choosing who would “inherit” the kingdom in 1957 – as was the Emperor-making ceremony in the Mahabharat – that precipitated the internecine warfare that continues to the present. It was not surprising that the manipulator (the US/British here, Duryodhan’s uncle in Mahabharat) would inveigle one side to try to grab the entire pie. The “rules”, after all, made an exclusive claim to rule by each group “right”.

But we must concede that those rules do not necessarily make this exclusivity moral. If we accept that, as citizens of this land we are all equal, we must arrange the rules of selecting the rulers in such a manner so that both sides (and indeed all “sides”) feel involved in governance. Our common history of suffering, if nothing else, demands this outcome for the sake of morality. Before any future elections all parties should commit themselves to such an arrangement through constitutional change. The opposite, I fear, is the war of the Mahabharat, which let us not forget, destroyed almost all sides – including the group backed by God himself.

War, we are taught, has no winners.

he Trinidad and Tobago Government on Saturday said teams were working to rescue people trapped by floods and landslides caused by heavy rains over the past 48 hours and that the full extent of the damage caused will be revealed as the water subsides in the coming days.

“This is a national disaster, the flooding is quite widespread and quite severe and it is going to cost a lot of money to bring relief to people who have been affected. Notwithstanding whatever shortages we are experiencing, we will have to find the resources to help,” Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley said after touring some of the affected areas.

The Met Office said an active ITCZ continues to produce periods of rain/ showers and thunderstorm activity which can lead to flash or riverine flooding as well as landslides/landslips in areas so prone. Gusty winds can be experienced in the vicinity of heavy downpours.

Many parts of the country were flooded and there have been widespread reports of landslides and road blocks caused as a result.

While there have so far been no reports of deaths or injuries, the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service has issued a “Red Riverine Flood Alert”,

An aerial image of flooding in Debe, Trinidad and Tobago

warning persons to take all precautions to protect life and property.

“Riverine flooding occurs when water levels in a river over-top its banks and spills into surrounding areas. This type of flooding is more widespread and usually lasts for several days,” the Met office said, adding that currently river levels have exceeded threshold levels and some have already over spilled their banks.

In a statement early Saturday, Prime Minister Rowley said he had been receiving “timely updates” from the relevant Government agencies responsible for spearheading the ongoing rescue operations, as well as those coordinating relief efforts in the communities affected by severe flooding.

Rowley said members of the Coast Guard and Defence Force are working to rescue those who are trapped, adding “for those of you who are still stranded I know that patience may be running thin but help is on the way”.

Rowley said that National Security Minister Stuart Young is mobilising with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to conduct an aerial reconnaissance “so that we can better ascertain the scope of the intervention required.

The ODPM said that the adverse weather situation will continue until today and urged motorists to seek alternative routes where possible and be extremely vigilant of rising flood waters. (CMC)

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SUnDAY, october 21, 2018| guyanatimesgy.com

Unfixed employee issue to be resolved soon – City Hall’s HR tells CoI

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he ongoing feud by retired and current employees against the Mayor and City Council for an unfixed agenda of working without any benefits will be resolved in the near future.

This is the statement made by the Human Resources Manager, Paula Braithwaite, who told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that the process of working for 10 additional years minus benefits is a fair practice.

However, Legal Assistant Sherwin Benjamin posed the thought as to how the process is fair, since many persons would have worked their entire life at the Council and received no money at the end of their service. He explained that this is indeed an “unfair employment regime”.

“Imagine you have persons who work all their work lives and would leave without having pension. Is

City Hall

that fair?” he questioned.

Braithwaite then told the Commission that officials of the Guyana Labour Union and City Hall would have discussed the issue and it was agreed upon that the persons would be placed under the fixed agenda after working for over seven years.

“If it’s seven years and over, all of them would be placed on the fixed establishment and will receive

benefits accordingly and persons seven years and under, they will remain on the unfixed agenda,” said the Human Resources Manager.

This generally means that they would work until the age of 55 and retire with a severance package and insurance; as opposed to working until the age of 65 with no benefits.

For many years, persons have been subjected to this

condition of work and there have been numerous complaints that were submitted to the Commission. The only shocking situation behind this decision is that the Union did not mention this and nor did the respective staffers of the Council.

Over the past week, President of the Guyana Local Government Officers Union, Wendy DeCunha also voiced her disagreement with the Council, calling for all employees to receive their benefits.

DeCunha noted that during her witness statement, the Union tried to engage City Hall, but the relationship has been “confrontational”.

Kenrick Hamilton is one such employee, who achieved no benefits after serving over 20 years. At the current age of 55, he is hoping that the system can be rectified so that other employees can retire with a pension package.

Environmental education

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hildren are the most vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of climate change and changes in the natural environment. Given this, it is especially important that children are aware of climate change and other environmental concerns, how they can be affected and what they can do.

Environmental education (EE) is a holistic approach to learning in order to achieve an ecologically and socially sustainable future.

Its primary purpose is to enhance an individual's knowledge, attitudes, skills, values and motivation to improve the quality of the environment. Environmental education takes a cradle-tograve approach as a means to achieve sustainable development.

Infusing environmental curricula in the schools The EPA recognises the importance of environmental education and engaging students and teachers in topics related to the environment. The Agency is committed to training teachers to infuse environmental education in the various subject areas.

Encouraging the infusion model approach, enables teachers to provide environmental education across a range of disciplines.

This method of engagement creates holistic thinking, greater understanding and critical self-awareness among students upon their values. For example, a Maths teacher can design a lesson around electricity where students calculate how much electricity their family uses and compare it to other students.

Environmental education goes beyond the purview of Science and can be incorporated in any subject, which include, Art, Language, Social Studies, Poetry and Comprehension.

Workshop targeting Social Studies teachers In light of this, the Environmental Protection Agency was invited by the Social Studies Department at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) to conduct a training session on the importance of environmental education, more specifically infusing environmental education into Social Studies. The training was part of a two-day workshop for Grade Six teachers from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice). The workshop which benefited approximately 35 teachers provided practical applications using various topics in the Social Studies curriculum on how children can be stewards of the environment.

Teachers also learned about the EPA, the importance of environmental education, ways to infuse it in their classrooms and current environmental issues both global and local.

Participants were tasked with incorporating an environmental issue into an existing Social Studies lesson. Working in groups, they presented lessons on land pollution, waste management and natural disasters.

Teachers were encouraged to be creative in their approach to environmental education such as, utilising the natural environment as a classroom, incorporating simple games like environmental bingo and scavenger hunts to make concepts more concrete.

When it comes to environmental education, students must be given the space to explore and think critically. Environmental education helps students understand how their decisions affect the environment and builds the knowledge and skills necessary to address complex environmental issues.

Awareness is the first step to making informed choices.

Environmental education is important as students grow up in a world that faces the threats of climate change. Although students did not create the issues caused by climate change such as sea level rise, deforestation and species lost, they inherit an earth that faces these concerns and therefore must be equipped with the tools to address them. The EPA is committed to continuing to engage students and teachers on different ways they can get involved. The workshop with NCERD was instrumental and necessary towards this end and both organisations have committed to working closely on future workshops.

In November, the EPA will be hosting its ninth Teachers Training Camp in Environmental Education. Teachers currently enrolled at the various centres of the Cyril Potter College of Education can look forward to an engaging three-day nature camp, focused on infusing environmental education into various subject areas. Interested individuals can check with the Administrative department of their centre for more information.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O ECEA Programme, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@ gmail.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

LGE 2018

Preparations underway for Disciplined Services vote

A proposed financing model for the new Demerara Bridge: in the context of the Berbice Bridge Debacle

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t was recently reported in sections of the media that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is moving ahead with construction of the [much needed and long overdue] new Demerara Harbour Bridge this year, with actual work slated to commence next year. According to the report, the cost for the new bridge is estimated at some US$250 million (Gy$51.6 billion).

It was also noted that, through the Ministry of Finance, the project will be financed by way of a public/private partnership model. Further, the report highlighted that there will be capping of tolls, so that there will be no hikes in charges to cross the bridge. In response to that debacle with the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated, the Government has assured that it would not make the mistakes which were made in the Berbice Bridge financial model, and has noted that the Berbice Bridge was also financed by way of a public-private partnership arrangement.

The problem with this model -- as was cited by Dr. Anand Goolsarran in his Accountability Watch column featured on July 16, 2018 -- is that it constituted too much debt financing. This analyst is in full concurrence with Dr. Goolsarran’s analysis, based upon the information he revealed therein with respect to the financing structure, wherein the debt-toequity ratio was 84:16. That is, 84 per cent debt financing and 16 per cent equity financing. The total financing of the Berbice Bridge was close to some $10 billion Guyanese dollars. Therefore, definitely, the excessive debt financing is primarily the causation for the current financial difficulties of that entity.

Public-Private Partnerships Turning now to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in advancing economic development, this ever-increasing, sought-after economic development model, like anything else, has its fair amount of advantages and disadvantages. Governments worldwide have increasingly turned to the private sector to provide infrastructure services in energy and power, communication, transport and water sectors that were once delivered by the public sector. This seemingly growing collaboration with the private sector in these respects is being driven by several factors, such as: * Increased efficiency in project delivery and operation management * Availability of additional resources to meet the growing needs of investment in the sector * Access to advanced technologies (both hardware and software).

Often times, lack of Government funding has been the main reason for considering a PPP option for the implementation of a project. PPP models are viewed attractive to governments as an off-budget mechanism for infrastructure development, as: * They can enhance the supply of much-needed infrastructure services * They may not require any immediate cash spending * They provide relief from the burden of the costs of design and construction * They allow transfer of money project risks to the private sector * They promise better project design, choice of technology, construction, operation, and service delivery.

Models of PPPs There are five broad categories of the PPP models in order of generally (but not always) increased involvement and assumption of risks by the private sector, namely (UNESCAP, 2011): * Supply and management contracts * Turnkey contracts * Affermage/lease * Concessions * Private finance initiatives (PFI) and private ownership.

Limitations of PPPs Before the approval of PPPs by governments, there are many crucial aspects that need to be carefully assessed, such as: economic, social, political, legal and administrative aspects. There are various limitations in PPPs as well, of which some of the major limitations include (UNESCAP, 2011): * Not all projects are feasible (for various reasons: political, legal, commercial viability etc.) * The private sector may not take interest in a project due to perceived high risks or lack of technical, financial or managerial capacity to implement the project * A PPP project may be more costly, unless the higher costs can be offset through efficiency gains * Change in operation and management control of an infrastructure asset through a PPP may not be sufficient to improve its economic performance, unless other necessary conditions are met.

These conditions may include appropriate sector and market reform, and change in operational and management practices of infrastructure operation.

Recommendations/Conclusion

In hindsight, the lessons that are currently unfolding with the Berbice Bridge imply that Guyana is perhaps not ready to maximise the full benefits from PPPs. While the model in itself is good to advance infrastructure development in particular, within a developing economy’s context, it is the inherent political risk(s) of the PPP model that are the probable cause that makes it problematic.

Notwithstanding that, some time ago, the Minister of Finance had signed onto an agreement with the Islamic Development Bank, wherein a US$900 million line of credit facility was approved for Guyana; which is accessible for utilisation between now and 2020/2021. As such, because of the unique nature of Islamic financing in general, it would be by far much economically wiser and more prudent to finance the new Demerara Harbour Bridge through the Islamic Development Bank’s financing which is available to Guyana, with the Government of Guyana injecting some amount of equity as well.

(In next week’s article, the author shall present an in-depth discussion on how Islamic financing works, and some other projects for which this type of financing can be used.)

(For comments, questions and responses on articles featured in this column, readers can reach the author at jbinsights@outlook.com).

…more intense meetings planned for upcoming week

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reparations are underway for members of the Disciplined Forces to cast their ballots on November 2, 2018, ahead of the rest of electors, who are scheduled to go to the polls 10 days after when Guyana decides who to elect to several Local Authority Areas, after the staging of its constitutionally due Local Government Elections.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Saturday afternoon, Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Warde, confirmed that all preparatory works are on track for the members of the Disciplined Services to cast their vote early.

“We are on schedule with respect to all of the processes. We have had several engagements over the last few weeks with the heads and leadership of all of the bodies which constitute the Disciplined Services to discuss the plans for the upcoming LGE,” Warde explained.

She said the leadership of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Prison Service would have been adequately briefed so as to ensure that there is no confusion or misinformation about critical aspects of the preparations and systems to be followed before, during and after the members of their body cast their ballots.

The PRO, when questioned by this newspaper as to whether there was a special voter education programme that would be rolled for the Disciplined Services members, responded in the negative. She explained that apart from the general work being undertaken by GECOM, it was the Commission’s expectation that the top brass of the Disciplined Services would then pass on critical portions of information to the supervisory and lower levels.

“They are adequately appraised,” Warde insisted, before confirming that all of the information requested by the three-part body has been divulged accordingly. She also stated that more meetings and follow up engagements are scheduled in the coming days.

Warde’s comments come on the heels of criticisms from Chief Commissioner for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at GECOM, Bibi Shadick, who had argued that there is an information blackout generally at the Commission about a number of issues including the preparations being undertaken for the Disciplined Services vote.

Shadick had stated that the PPP and its Commissioners were still awaiting information on the sites to be used by the Commission to facilitate the November 2 vote. That aside, she was adamant that if the PPP nominated Commissioners do not request specific pieces of in-

formation then they will not be told willingly unless it is something being discussed that emanated in the press.

Approximately 7500 or more individuals are likely to vote in this year’s LGE. This figure represents an increase from those that voted back in 2016. Those registered to vote in 2016 included 4693 from the Guyana Police Force (GPF); 357 from the Guyana Prison Service (GPS); and 1928 from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

Ballot stations for the Disciplined Services ranks are located at their places of duty or deployment. These include 19 locations for the GDF, five locations for the GPS and four for the GPF. After arrival in Guyana on March 1, 2016, the ballots were extracted, sorted and enveloped in accordance to schedule.

Traditionally, each ballot sheet for a member of the Disciplined Forces is placed into two envelopes. The out-

er envelope bears the elector’s name along with the District and Local Authority Area in which he/she is required to vote. The inner envelope bears the District, Local Authority Area and the Constituency in which he/she is required to vote.

Ballot boxes will be returned to the GECOM after voting, and kept in the secured custody of the Chief Elections Officer under guard by members of the GPF. The ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Forces will be sorted by the Local Authority and Constituency to be dispatched to the respective Returning Officers for intermixing on Election Day, November 12. The polling stations identified for the intermixing of the Disciplined Forces ballots will be gazetted. (Michael Younge)

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SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesGY.com

‘Tantalising’ ends with 1 critical, 1 in custody for attempted murder

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olice are investigating the circumstances surrounding an altercation, which has left one teen critical after he was reportedly struck to the head with a plank by a 17-yearold youth.

Reports are Peter Liverstone, 18, is in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

According to information reaching Guyana Times, the teens are known to each other but were not on speaking terms because of a previous incident.

However, it was related that the altercation stemmed from the two teasing each other at about 20:00h on Friday evening at La Retraite, West Bank Demerara (WBD).

This newspaper was told that the victim reportedly picked up the piece of wood and hit the suspect on the left side of his shoulder after he reportedly became annoyed over the tantalising.

The teen of Old Road, La Retraite, WBD, grabbed the wood from Liverstone and dealt him a blow to his head

causing him to collapse.

Realising that Liverstone was unconscious, he was picked up and rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was examined by a doctor.

He was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

A report was made to the Police who visited the scene.

Police were unable to locate the plank that was used to hit Liverstone.

Several persons in the area were questioned, which led to the arrest of the teen.

Teen facing gun charge to spend more jail time

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17-year-old Charlestown, Georgetown resident, who was arraigned with two-gun related charges by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, will be spending more time behind bars as he was further remanded to prison after reappearing in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Colin Denny of Charles and Howes Street, Charlestown, was charged after he was allegedly found with a .32 pistol along with one matching round of ammunition without being the holder of a firearm licence on June 13, 2018. He later denied those allegations when it was read to him on his first appearance.

However, Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield told the court that the weapon was concealed in Denny’s pants crotch. As such, bail was denied and he was remanded to prison.

In court last week, the youth was further remanded to prison after no special reasons were given for him to be granted his pretrial liberty. He was ordered to return on November 19.

The unlicensed .32 pistol with a live round

Defence lawyer Keshia Chase in her bail application had told the court that on the day in question, her client was in the company of six other males when Police visited the area.

She noted that upon seeing the officers, the other males scattered leaving Denny.

Chase further told the court that the weapon was not found on her client’s person but rather in Howes Street, Georgetown.

Neighbourhood row lands trio in court

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wenty-three-yearold Denisha Anthony of Lot 131 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was last week slapped with several charges, including assault and damage to property. Anthony appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The allegations against Anthony stated that on October 2, 2018, at D’Urban Street, Georgetown, she in-

flicted grievous bodily harm on the Virtual Complainant (VC), Nicola Bacchus. Two other charges stated that on the same date at the same location, she damaged a pair of spectacles, valued $181,269; the property of the said VC, while she also assaulted Dorothy Bacchus.

Anthony denied the three charges. The VC Nichola Bacchus and her husband Reginal Bacchus also faced

a charge of assault, which stated that on October 2, 2018 at D’Urban Street, Georgetown they both assaulted Denisha Anthony.

Both parties pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Police prosecutor made no objections to bail.

Magistrate Daly placed the defendant on $70,000 bail while the Bacchus’s were each placed on $10,000 bail.

The cases will continue on November 9.

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SUnDAY, october 21, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Top Cop calls on ranks to uphold professionalism during LGE

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olice Commissioner Leslie James has issued a call for officers to remain steadfast and maintain professionalism in both the lead-up and the days preceding Local Government Elections (LGE).

The Commissioner made this call on Friday while visiting Central Police Station in New Amsterdam, where he inspected ranks of ‘B’ Division.

“In your daily operations, the public must be seen as first. As Police officers, you should not judge persons on their physical appearance.

They must be treated with

respect,” he told ranks representing all of the Police stations in the Division.

Commissioner James, who was on his first visit to the Division since becoming Top Cop, took with him the entire administration: Deputy Commissioner Lyndon Alves, who has responsibilities for crime and law enforcement; Deputy Commissioner Maxine Graham, who is in charge of operations; Deputy Commissioner Nigel Hoppie, who is in charge of intelligence; Deputy Commissioner Paul Williams, who has responsibilities for Police admin-

By Kizzy Coleman

was noticed by many strangers, who assisted her.

From a young age, she developed a love for the NBC hit series Law and Order, which focuses on the apprehension and prosecution of criminals.

Edwards relayed: “Growing up, I always watched Law and Order. I always admired how the lawyers would dress and go to court; and one time, my grandmother told me, I was sleeping and in my sleep I was yelling, ‘Objections, Your Honour!’ So, from a young age, I always wanted to become a lawyer,” Edwards detailed.

After completing her secondary education, Edwards knew that she wanted a career in the judicial field; however, her financial circumstances were such that would prevent her from pursuing same, so for a little while Edwards contemplated teaching, but later questioned that decision.

“Sometimes you have so many dreams, but you also know that your family would not have the financial means to

istration; and Superintendent Michael Sutton, who is In charge of finance.

The Commissioner said the team is serious about taking the GPF forward. He urged officers to pay attention in providing accurate information while reporting.

“If this is not done, misleading information could be given to the nation. It is better to say that you did not get the information than to provide misleading information.

Police officers are supposed to be truthful people,” he admonished.

Commissioner James

called on ranks attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and those who operate at inquiries offices at Police Stations to be impartial in their investigations.

He noted that many of the nation’s courts are being bombarded with matters which are not being properly investigated.

“And then what happens?

The cases are thrown out.

Our citizens may be shortchanged; persons may be injured, or even killed; and property might be damaged.

Those persons are depending on us to do what is right,” the

Commissioner said.

He added that each station must have the phrase, ‘listen to the other person’, “So that when persons come to the Station they will recognize that the Force is serious about administering justice.”

Following the inspection of ranks, two Constables were promoted on the spot to the rank of lance corporal.

Lance Corporal Lelitia Cummings is in charge of the office of the Officer in Charge of the Springlands Police Station, while Lance Corporal Randy Clarkson had to wait 14 years on the promotion.

Clarkson is the officer in charge of the Anti-Crime Motorbike Patrol. Clarkson was once shot in Rose Hall Town when he tried to apprehend a man who was in possession of an illegal firearm. Earlier this year, he was stabbed several times while arresting a teenager in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

The Commissioner said the promotions were based on performances during the inspection parade. He was later told that Clarkson was one of the leading crime fighters in the division. (Andrew Carmichael)

with the belief that God would bless her efforts; and bless her efforts He did.

Reflecting now on her achievement, Edwards commended herself for taking the leap and hoping for the best possible outcome to her journey.

“You ask yourself, ‘How am I going to find $6 million to pay for law school?’ I still needed to live, I still needed to eat. I applied for a scholarship and I got through, and I knew that that was the grace of God. And I’m here today. Hugh Wooding was two of the best years of my life.

I met folks that I would keep forever. I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything in this world,” the attorney said.

Further, Edwards expressed her gratitude towards her family and friends who, according to her, made it possible for her. And, as such, she shares her accomplishments with them.

Her journey, she hopes, acts as a testimony to encourage young persons in Guyana with a fire in their hearts for something great to keep pushing after their dreams.

Justice George encouraged Edwards thus: “Legal Aid collaborates with Rights of the Child…I’m happy that you have started there. Expect to keep the high standard of work, and always overcome obstacles. Be assured that that part of your journey has ended, but similar assiduous is needed.”

She added, “Be careful, and be frank with clients. Earn your reputation. Start from day one.

Command the respect of the court and your colleagues; and do yourself, family, and whoever you may work for proud.”

Nikita Edwards: Linden’s newest attorney

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n a simple but significant ceremony held at the High Court last week, Nikita Edwards was admitted to the Bar Association of Guyana.

Her words after taking her oath before Chief Justice Roxanne George were, “Don’t let anybody tell you that you cannot do it, and do not let any situation tell you that you cannot do it. If you want it, fight for it.”

And a fight it was for the 30-year-old Edwards, who hails from the mining town of Linden. Born as one of four children to parents whose occupations were cook and baker respectively, this vibrant young woman knew at an early age that any dream of hers had to be attained through diligent efforts.

Edwards was taken under the wings of an aunt and a grandmother who provided for her, but she yet faced many financial challenges. Fortunately for her, though, her potential

Attorney Nikita Edwards assist you. And for some people, you throw away your dreams because you also know that, and the reality is you don’t have it. But I was encouraged to keep pressing. Like I said, I contemplated teaching, but then how can I be a teacher and tell children that they could be the best that they could be when I myself wasn’t even trying to be the best that I could be?” Edwards reasoned.

Nevertheless, she commenced her studies at the University of Guyana in 2009

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sunDAY, october 21, 2018

International 6 triumph in Shew Birth Anniversary Dominoes

Manniram Shew (left) presents the winning trophy to Barbados’ Anderson Layne. Next to Layne is Charmaine Durant, Vice President of the Barbados Dominoes Association

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fter a fiercely contested six sittings, it took fives to decide the winners of last Sunday’s Manniram “Packer” Shew Birth Anniversary Feature Dominoes game, played at Ernest Shop at Canal Number One Polder, West Bank Demerara.

In the end, International 6 with four fives bested 246 (Barbados) with two fives, after the two teams were deadlocked on 73 games and with six sixes each, while Canal Six trailed on 68.

246 (Barbados) had the better of the early exchanges, but International 6 took a decisive two-game lead heading into the final sitting with the scores reading International 6 on 63; 246 (Barbados) two games behind on 61; and Canal Six still in contention with 57.

Veteran Hilbert “Bumpy” Ali, in a superb

display, registered the maximum 18 games for the winners, in the process sharing the lone love. Skipper Shew supported with 16.

For 246 (Barbados), Leroy Hope and Anderson Layne scored 15 and 14 games respectively. The top markers for Canal Six were M. Samjeewan (15) and Ramroop “Spoon” Sukhai (14).

BCB DDL 50 Overs First Division

Lightning fast Smith bags 7for in losing effort

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n an encounter between two of the best teams in New Amsterdam Canje, Young Warriors and Tucber Park clashed at Cumberland Canje. On a brilliant day for exhilarating cricket, Tucber Park batting first was bundle out for 149.

The openers Hakeem Hinds and Steve Deonarine failed to deliver as both batsmen was removed by former Guyana under 19 left arm spinner, Kasim Khan. The youth sensation Garfield Benjamin scored 21 but it was the number seven batsman Kwesi Mickle and number 8 Nial Smith who offered some resistance to the Young Warriors bowling attack. Mickle top scored with a composed 43 while former National youth player Nial Smith contributed with a useful 41. Berbice under 19 left arm spinner Trevon Stanislaus captured 5-25 as he spun webs all over the Tucber Park batting line up. University Trojan off-spinner Linden Austin supported with 2 wickets.

In reply Young Warriors lost Guyana under 19 batsman Alex Algoo to the lively Nial Smith for 8 runs but his opening partner Mohabir batted along beautifully with Linden Austin. The 150 looked out of reach for Young Warriors but they crawled to victory. However in pursuit of the target they lost 9 wickets with the speedster Nial Smith snaring seven wickets. The lively fast bowler had an outstanding all round performance but it was in vain as his team Tucber Park suffered another defeat in the BCB DDL 50 overs First Division.

(Brandon Corlette)

P Ramdial from Canal suffered a love

Trophies were awarded to the winning and first runners-up teams, and top player Hilbert Ali. As a kind gesture to the visiting Barbadians, some of whom were here for the staging of the World Council Dominoes Federation (WCDF), Shew donated the winning trophy to captain Anderson Layne.

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he Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) has officially launched the Guyana Softball Cup 8, set to be played 28 under floodlights in Georgetown and on the East Coast of Demerara from October 26th to 28.

Deemed one of the biggest softball tournaments in the world, the tournament is being touted to be bigger than the Orlando Cup, the Fort Lauderhill Cup, the New York Cup and the Canadian Cup. The tournament will feature teams from New York and Florida, Guyana and Canada.

The registration fee for competing in the Open category will remain at US$400, with the prize money set at US$4000; while the cost for registration to compete in the Masters (Over-45 and Over50) is set at US$700. The prize moneys for the Masters’ categories are yet to be determined.

Clear Waters, Rubis Gas, the Survival Group of Companies and Steve’s Jewellery are all set to continue their commitment to sponsorship of this tournament.

Over the years, the sponsors have been integral in making this tournament the great sporting event that it is. Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, a representative of Clear Waters said, “For eight years now, we have been on board (in sponsoring this tournament), and we are more than happy to be on board. It is a great pleasure to work with the Organising Committee of the Guyana Cup. It

has paid dividends for us as an initiative, and we can commit to having a future with this organisation”.

Steve’s Jewellery would also be presenting the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the three categories of the tournament with brand new gold and diamond pendants made of the finest Guyanese gold and diamonds; and the Survival Group of Companies would also be giving three lucky couples a chance to win a trip to Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls.

Some of the sponsors on board thus far are ANSA McAL under its Lucozade, Stag and iCool Water brands; Mike’s Pharmacy; Rubis Guyana; Trophy Stall; Survival Group of Companies; A and R Jewanram Printery; Rohan Auto Spares; Steve’s Jewellery; Ramchand’s Auto Spares; Clear Waters; Busta; WJ Enterprise, and Nand Persaud & Company Limited. (Timothy Jaikarran)

sports

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A

fter the dust has settled in the 2018 PanCaribbean Martial Arts Championships, participant and instructor Troy Bobb revealed that he has received a greater gift than his gold medals.

When Bobb participated in the competition hosted by the Caribbean National Martial Arts Alliance last weekend, he took along 12-year-old Niquann Fevrier to Barbados, giving him a shot at meaningful exposure.

There the young man proved himself to be a great student, capturing a gold in weapon form competition and a silver in open form competition. His performance has also shown that he has a great teacher.

Sensei Bobb also copped three gold medals, respectively in self-defence, weapon, and open form competition.

Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, Bobb not-

Troy Bobb and Niquann Fevrier display their gold medals as they meet Cynthia Rothrock

ed that participating in the Caribbean championships is always important to him, since he has been doing so for countless years.

“For me, competing since the age of six in martial arts until 45 this year, it’s a big achievement for me. All the years I’ve been involved, but I’m always trying to get youths involved and try as

much to maintain the discipline in the sport,” Bobb stated.

However, the Sensei went on to disclose that what was more meaningful than his continued participation is the opportunity to gift students with a platform to showcase their skill. He noted that taking Fevrier to the championships and seeing him excel

has been a highlight of his tenure. He disclosed that he now wants to continue in this path. “…as to ensure the youths have reached the stage that I’m at right now, and still I’m always willing to share,” Bobb said.

He will soon be given this opportunity, since he was quickly approached, after Fevrier’s success, with an invitation to participate at another Martial Arts competition in Barbados, from November 24.

Bobb revealed that he is looking to take along a bigger national team to that upcoming competition.

While in Barbados, Bobb and Fevrier got the golden opportunity of meeting martial arts movie star and grand master Cynthia Rothrock. In other positives coming out of the tournament, Bobb was upgraded to Junior Master Fifth Degree Blackbelt.

GSCL/Prime Minister’s T20 Cup II...

T

he Prime Minister’s T20 Softball Cup reaped good success last year in its first edition, but the tournament is set to reap even better success this year in its 2nd edition, as teams battled it out in the Semifinals of the Masters’ and All-Stars’ categories yesterday at the Everest Cricket ground and at various venues across Georgetown.

After the teams were drawn and placed into several groups, each captain knew that, even though they were friends, they would have to put friendship aside and battle it out on the field. In the first Semifinals -- the Masters Semifinal 1 -- Parika Defenders took on Regal Masters, the defending champions; but the Masters were too much for the Defenders, and masterfully outfoxed them by restricting them to 86/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

The only substantial score for the Defenders came from Kabesh Persaud, who scored 17 as the Masters’ David Harper bagged 3-18 with support from Laurie Singh on 2-14. Mohendra Arjune also chipped in with 1-14, Parsram Persaud 1-14, and Throy Kippins 1-19.

With 87 to chase for victory, the Masters devoured the target in 7.2 overs, making 89/0 with Eion Abel making a commanding 47* (2x6, 4x4) and Eric Thomas playing a supporting role with 31*(4x4) winning by 10 wickets.

In Semifinal 2 of the Masters category, Wellman Masters took on Fishermen Masters, the game being reduced to 16 overs per side due to light at Eve Leary.

The encounter saw Wellman post a commanding score of 132/4 in their 16 overs, with Jagdish Persaud 34 (4x6s), Ravi Latchman 33

(1x6; 4x4), and Wayne Jones 27* (2x6; 1x4), who struck a few lusty blows at the back end of the innings. Bowling for the Fishermen were Stanley Mohabir who bagged 3-29 and Ramo Malone with 1-21. The second half of the game saw Fishermen crumble to a 27-run defeat as they could muster only 105/7, with Hemraj Pillay offering resistance with 37 (3x6; 1x4), Baldeo Persaud 17* (1x6), and Dennis Mangroo 17 (1x6; 1x4). The pick of the Wellman bowlers was Ramesh Narine, with 2-22.

In the All-star semifinals, semifinal 1 saw Regal AllStars taking on defending champions Ariel Speedboat at Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground. Batting first, Regal posted a challenging total of 161 all out in their 20 overs.

The innings saw Sachin Singh lead with 39 (23b; 2x6; 3x4), Marvin Babb, 29, (26b; 1x6; 2x4), and Sewchan Budhu, 29 (17b; 2x6; 2x4).

The pick of the Speedboat bowlers was Greg Singh with 3-31, and Shazim Hussain with 2-27. With a now mammoth total of 162 to win, the defending champions made light work of the total, as they made 164/4 in 18.1 overs.

Anil Bharat took the lead with his 52 (2x6; 4x4). He was well supported by Wazeer Hussain, 47 (3x6; 3x4), only Dairam Ramnauth for Regal was the pick of the bowlers with his 1-20. Ariel Speed boat then stormed to their second consecutive finals with ease. In semifinal 2, Boots All Stars clashed with DS18, but this match was reduced to 15 overs per side due to bad light at Eve Leary. Batting first, DS18 were able only to muster 109 all out in 13.1 overs, with E Joseph making 22 (2x6; 1x4) and chief tormen-

tor A Wallace bagging 3-14.

With a small total to book their spot in the finals, Boots chased the total down in 12.2 overs as they made 111/ 5.

Leading them to victory was Balram Samaroo on 33 (1X6; 4X4) as he thwarted the bowling efforts of R. Poloram, who grabbed 3-18.

The All-Star champions will receive $700,000 and a Hero motor cycle for the most valuable player, (MVP) while the Master’s champions will

receive $600,000 and a 55 inch smart TV for the MVP. The Masters finals will feature defending champions Regal Masters clashing it out with Wellman Masters at Everest from 09:30h, and defending champions Ariel Speed Boat duking it out with Boots All Stars at13:00h at Everest in the All-Star category. This tournament is organised by the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc (GSCL). (Timothy Jaikarran)

22

guyanatimesgy.com

SUnDAY, october 21, 2018

Pee Wee Football

St Agnes, St Pius look threatening as competition heats up T

he list of matches to be played are becoming shorter in the Pee Wee Under 11 football tournament, however, the same cannot be said for the level of competition as Primary schools teams dig deep to churn out excellent performances on the field.

Those performances are becoming more important than ever as the competition goes further into the knockouts.

The intense football action was present even from the first minute of the Round of 16 as the unbeaten St. Agnes Primary sought to defend their streak against the potential filled Colaaco side.

However, Colaaco didn’t stand a chance as St. Agnes continue to show that they are strong contenders for the championship this year.

St. Agnes’ highest goal scorer thus far, Justin Alcindor, struck six mighty goals to power his team to the quarterfinal round. Added to his six, his teammate Shamar Murray contributed two whilst Darius Chester netted one to bring the tally to 9.

It was one intense matchup after the other as Tucville and Maes Primary took to the field next. Having won all three round robin games, Maes were seen as a strong team, however, Tucville Primary showed that they are truly the underdogs by upsetting Maes and by extension sending them home. It was a collective team effort of scoring and defense from Tucville, which saw Carlos Negus, John Harry and Emmanuel Tinch netting one each for Tucville’s 3-0 win.

The shocks and upsets for the day were

not over. Golden Grove Primary and Marian Academy were featured in the following match. Last year’s runner, Marian Academy seemed to be in control of the encounter but were unable to connect with the net when the opportunity came. With the game locked nil all for most of the regulated time, Bryan Wharton was the golden boy of the day after he netted two late goals to secure Golden Grove’s quarterfinal spot.

Unlike the runner ups, last year’s champions had their game plan and stuck to it, as they edged past St. John’s Boscoe (Plaisance). The 2-1 encounter saw West Ruimveldt’s Jonathan Andries scoring two goals whilst Jude Daniels’ one was not enough for Plaisance.

Continuing in excellent form, St. Pius

recorded another win, this time against Soesdyke Primary, taking their streak to 4. Kaden Wellington continues to shine for his school team as he contributed four to St. Pius’ tally, which was helped by Kieron Garraway’s two. By the ende of regulation time, it was a 6-0 win for St. Pius.

Another batch of underdogs who triumphed were Mocha Arcadia. Giving a glimpse of what they are capable of last week, Mocha returned with spirits high, hunting the win. Whilst Jadon Ceres netted

Bragging Rights stuns as 16 teams compete

W

Participants engaged in the Pinktober Walk/Race

G

uyana’s largest telecommunication services provider, GTT, on Saturday hosted their annual Pinktober 5K Walk/Run and Cycle Race to bring attention to Breast Cancer.

This event commenced at D’Urban Park at 4:00am, and individuals supported in their numbers as GTT continued their month-long awareness campaign with the goal of raising funds for the fight against Breast Cancer. The large number of participants who were engaged in the various categories of races were rewarded for their outstanding performances.

Glendon Aaron dominated the 10k Run, which required a huge amount of strength and endurance.

He copped the 1st place prize, while the exceptional Pauline Murphy and Nicketa Wilson came in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Jonathan Fagardil was the standout performer in the 5K Run, finishing 1st.

Quacy Mc Ryan came in 2nd while Dexter Alexander finished in 3rd position. The youngest participant was seven-year-old Silvia Paraso, while Anthony Thom was the youngest cyclist.

The well-known GTT

Pinktober Walk concluded the calendar activities planned. GTT representative Devi Sukhdeo presented the participants with their respective awards, while Gizmos and Gadgets Guyana, along with Shoe Heaven, handed out vouchers to the women who participated in the GTT Pinktober Walk/Race.

Additionally, the Pinktober event received support from the Mexican Suarez Brothers Circus, Republic Bank, ExxonMobil, 93.1 Real FM, and other agencies.

one for Timehri, Jiheam Lewis with two and Isaiah Lindon and Mathew Murry with one apiece propelled Mocha Arcadia to a 4-1 win.

In a hair raising encounter, the pendulum looked like it could swing either way between St. Ambrose and South Ruimveldt.

Joseph Henry netted an early goal for St. Ambrose, but South Ruimveldt’s reply soon came from Colin Saul. Playign at one all for quite a while, Jacon Rodney of St. Ambrose found the formula for a goal, sealing his team’s 2-1 win.

In the final game of the day Enterprise and North Georgetown Primary took to the field to play for their shot at the quarterfinal. While Ronaldo Veira netted an early goal, an own goal by Enterprise soon after gave North Georgetown the upperhand. Khy Alkinson found a reply for Enterprise but it was not enough as Ronaldo Veira returned for his second, resulting in North Georgetown’s 3-1 victory.

The quarterfinal round will kick off next Saturday at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta Avenue with the Primary school teams looking to advance to the semifinals.

hat was deemed as one of the biggest football tournaments to ever hit the Marriott Beach front lived up to its expectation on Friday night, as 16 teams competed for $500,000 and bragging rights in the five-a-side Bragging Rights Football tournament.

Before the tournament began, the rules were explained by the emcee, who stated that each team would play two preliminary matches, and would play the other two matches on Saturday, and whoever has the highest points would qualify for the semifinals and finals on Sunday.

The matches were fourteen minutes long, with half-time being at seven minutes; and if teams were unable to score in the allotted 14 minutes, the match was then taken into sudden death penalty.

The first match of the night saw Uprising battling Avocado Ballers. The tension was there, and the nerves were clearly evident in the demeanour of the players. After the first minute, the score was 0-0 as both teams attacked from every end.

Eventually half-time came, and the score remained the same. But the game was not over, as one minute after half-time Uprising slipped one in, and held on to that lead as they defeated the mighty Avocado Ballers in the first game.

In the second game, Bent Street took on

Part of the ongoing action in the Bragging Rights 5-a-side football tournament

Hardball. Bent Street received many opportunities to score, as the ball hit the goal post six times, but they were unable to score, or make any conversion.

Hardball, on the other hand, came back just before half time and scored a goal, leaving the total at 1-0, with Bent Street searching for a goal. As time progressed, Bent Street continued to press on, but Hardball’s defence was too much for Bent Street to handle, and they lost the game 0-1 at full time.

In the third match, the youthful Silver Star took on Back Circle. Silver Star took control of the match, scoring the first goal within minutes of play, and maintaining the lead after half time.

But with one minute remaining in the match, Back Circle miraculously scored a goal, equalising the scores and thus taking the match to a penalty shootout, which they lost 2-1.

Another of the matches played on the night saw Old School Ballers vs Gold is Money. The event was a back-and-forth match until the Ballers scored a goal before close of play.

Sparta Boss could not find their rhythm, and lost their two preliminary matches of the night to penalties, leaving some disappointed fans and players. The action continues tonight. (Timothy Jaikarran)

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2018

23

Regional Super 50 Tournament

Springer takes 5 as Pride crush Scorpions - Carter strokes superb half century

L

ed by outstanding performances from Shamar Springer and Jonathan Carter, the Barbados Pride crushed the Jamaica Scorpions by 39 runs.

Home team Barbados Pride won the toss and opted to bat on the lively Kensington Oval pitch. Pride openers Mosely and Boucher put on 47 runs for the first wicket, before the elegant left-handed Mosely lost his wicket to left-arm spinner Christopher Lamont in the 13th over.

Boucher, who continued to stroke the ball nicely, was joined by Barbados Pride captain Brooks. The pair added 70 cautious runs for the second wicket partnership. Jamaican opening fast bowlers Taylor and Leverage bowled brilliant opening spells, with medium fast bowler Green along with spinners Lamont and captain Miller conceding only 16 fours and 3 sixes to complete a disciplined bowling effort. After Brooks lost his batting partner Boucher, Jonathan Carter entered the crease looking in sublime form. Brooks, who brought up his half-century in 64 balls, batted along nicely with Carter.

The Barbados senior batsmen looked comfortable, until Brooks lost his wicket to pace ace Jerome Taylor for a well composed 60. Jonathan Carter continued to display his exceptional form in the Super 50 Tournament by stroking his fourth half-century this season. Carter was the most aggressive Pride batsman, taking it to

Scorpions’ fast bowlers in the last 10 overs of the innings. Stoute joined Carter, and they consolidated, with the latter dominating the 3rd wicket partnership. In the final over of the innings, Carter was unlucky to be run out for a superb 82 from 69 balls. The classy left-hander hit 7 elegant fours and 2 out of the three maximums scored in the Barbados Pride innings.

The former West Indies Under-19 fast bowler Shamar Springer and fellow fast bowler Dominic Drakes were both not out on two runs as the Pride managed to compile a respectable 246-5 in their allocation of 50 overs.

The Jamaican left arm spinners Lamont and the veteran Nikita Miller bowled economically, with 75 runs being conceded in the 20 overs of spin bowled in the first innings. Taylor, Leverage, Green and Lamont picked up one wicket each.

In pursuit of the 247 required by the Scorpions in their quota of 50 overs, they lost the classy Campbell in the second over to the lively 21-year-old Bajan fast bowler Keon Harding.

Wickets continued to tumble in the power play, as Chadwick Walton’s batting struggles continued this year with him man-

Antilles 3x3 Basketball gets underway T he Cliff Anderson Sports Hall was yesterday filled with adrenaline as Under 18 basketball players from 9 Caribbean countries gathered to prove that they are the best at 3 on 3.

The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and International Basketball Foundation organized event got off to a grand start, as members of several international bodies were present at the occasion.

Project Associate of the International Basketball Foundation (IBF), Theren Bullock used his speech to focus on the capacity building seminar that was incorporated into the event.

“We hope that within the youth leadership workshop that you really take the time to think about everything that you’re learning, all the skills that are being taught to you and the tools that you’re able to use so that you can go back within your communities to lead,” the project associate noted.

Also addressing the gathering was FIBA’s Governance commission member Patrick Haynes who highlighted the importance of 3 on 3 basketball, disclosing that the format will be one of six addition in the 2020 world cup.

“In the 2020 Olympics, Basketball will have six additional medals, with the 3 on 3 basketball being added to this category. And 3 on 3 basketball is my passion,” he disclosed.

The Caribbean Basketball Confederation member also

went on to sing praises for those parties who are continually involved in the hosting of the tournament.

“I must congratulate the GABF, the IBF, the change foundation and the staff for working tirelessly to create this platform for the Caribbean region,” Haynes said.

On a different note, President of the GABF Nigel Hinds, had nothing but words of encouragement for the 9 participating countries as they prepared to head into competition.

“So I ask you to be competitive, play hard, represent your flag, your country and yourself as best as you could.

But the whole purpose of the endeavor is to learn and benefit and develop from the process,” Hinds stated.

The competition began subsequently after and will continue today from 2pm with the knockout and final games being played.

Guyana’s female team comprising of Annalisa Barclay, Saffiya Greene, Lydia Roberts and Roschelle Campbell will battle out of Group A with Barbados, St Lucia and Aruba. Group B of the female category will feature Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda and Martinique.

Meanwhile, he Male Group A consist of Barbados, St Lucia, Guadeloupe and Aruba. Akeem Crandon, Andrew Johnson, Nigel Bowen and Shamar France of Guyana will play in Group B against Martinique, French Guiana and Dominica.

aging to score only 17. Walton lost his wicket via the run out method in the 7th over, as Springer completed the run out. With both Scorpion openers back in the hut, one of the year’s Super 50 century makers, Jermaine Blackwood, and Andre McCarthy were at the crease. Harding continued displaying his wicket taking abilities in the power play when he captured the prize scalp of Blackwood in the final power play over.

Blackwood, who had looked set for a big score, hit 4 enterprising boundaries in his 23.

McCarthy continued to bat Scorpions closer to the target, but right-hander Brandon King fell cheaply for eight to the tall left arm spinner Benn. Bonner was out for a wellmade 41, but Andre McCarthy top scored with 83. Shamar Springer was introduced late in the bowling attack, but he turned the game in the Pride’s favour by snaring 5 wickets for 28 runs, as Scorpions failed to reach the Pride’s target.

Meanwhile, in the other encounter between USA and CCC Marooners, the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled in Barbados. (Brandon Corlette)

SCOREBOARD Barbados Innings (50 overs maximum) S Mosely c Leverage b Lamont 27 L Boucher c Bonner b Green 46 S Brooks c McCarthy b Taylor 60 J Carter run out (John Campbell) 82 K Stoute c Lamont b Leveridge 16 S Springer not out 2 D Drakes not out 2 Extras 11) b 0, lb 4, w 6, nb 1) Total 246-5 Fall of Wickets: 1-47 (S Mosely 13.5 ov), 2-117 (L Boucher 31.4 ov), 3-162 (S Brooks 40.5 ov), 4-222 (K Stoute 47.2 ov), 5 -244 (J Carter 49.5 ov) Bowling J Taylor (10-0-54-1) R Leverage (10-0-61-1) D Green (10-0-52-1) C Lamont (10-0-36-1) N Miller (10-0-39-0)

Walton run out (Springer) 17 Blackwood c Walsh b Harding 23 McCarthy c Brooks b Springer 83 King c Walcott b Benn 8 Bonner lbw Springer 41 D Green c Carter b Springer 2 N Miller lbw Harding 0 J Taylor c Harding b Springer 9 CLamont b Springer 4 R Leverage not out 0 Extras) b, lb, w, nb) Total 207-10 Fall of Wickets: 1-13 (Campbell 1.2ov), 2-38 (Walton 7.2ov), 3-53 (Blackwood 9.3ov), 4-74 (King 13.2ov), 5-183 (Bonner 35.3ov), 6-191 (Green 37.6 ov), 7-193 (McCharty 39.2ov), 8-201 (Miller40.4ov), 9-203 (Taylor 41.2 ov) 10207 (Lamont 41.4ov) Bowling D Drakes (5-0-27-0) K Harding (10-0-58-3) Jamaica Scorpions Innings J Warrican (10-1-34-1) (50 overs maximum) S Benn (7-0-40-1) Campbell c Walcott b S Springer (7.4-2-28-5) Harding 6 K Stoute (2-0-16-0)

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

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2018

guyanatimesgy.com

Antilles 3x3 Basketball gets underway Pg 23

Regional Super 50 Tournament

Springer takes 5 as Pride crush Scorpions – Carter strokes superb half century Pg 23

Shamar Springer

Members of all the participating countries pose for a group photo with GABF President Nigel Hinds

GSCL/Prime Minister’s T20 Cup II...

Pee Wee Football

St Agnes, St Pius look threatening as competition heats up Pg 22

Speed Boat, Regal Masters chasing 2nd consecutive titles

Pg 21

The captains of the Masters and All-Stars stand around the trophies

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October 21, 2018

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2 Sunday Times Magazine

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

“T

wo packs sausage fuh $500.”

“Come get yuh bora, fresh garden bora.”

“I got nice tops fuh yuh

wife, bai; come buy two.”

These are some of the words one would hear on passing through what was once the busiest

place on the West Bank of Demerara on Friday.

That place was the Wales Market, but now the oncebusy area is a ghost town

A section of the almost abandoned market

with very few vendors on a Friday.

“Right now, what I can tell you, this market is a dead place. Almost everybody stop coming to sell, since the estate close

down, because it was mostly the estate workers who used to buy and now them people nah got money, so they got to economise and business too bad to still sell deh,” former vendor Hemraj Mangru said. But how did the once-busy market become a virtual ghost town?

The answer presents itself right before you: the closure, in 2016, of the Wales Estate, the largest employer on the West Bank of Demerara. It has been almost two years since the closure, and former workers are still trying to find employment, while the economy of the village and those further afield are still grappling with the economic shock.

Businesses are continuing to see a decline in sales, since most of the people are economising – cutting back on spending not because they want to, but because they are forced to. Many of the workers who lost their jobs at the estate are high school dropouts or those who never went to school thus making the task of finding employment ten times harder.

When the Administration decided to close the estate, it did not come up with an alternative plan to cushion the effect of the massive shock to the economy. Apart from offering some of the workers employment at the Uitvlugt Estate, West Coast Demerara, there was no contingency plan and the workers were virtually given no options as to how to go about getting jobs.

Most of them attempted to join the fisheries sector, applying to vari-

ous fish/seafood processing plants, but very few were successful. Those who know to read and write a bit were given employment with various security services, but those employed by Sentinel Security Service had to protest for their salaries, since they were forced to go unpaid for months.

“When you do get your pay, then it short and them does bring some ‘Jim cock bring ram goat’ story and tell you how hours short and all kind of thing, but we can’t say nothing because we need the money. We punishing, budday; this life nah easy at all,” one of the former estate workers, now a security officer, said.

Not underplaying the struggles of the retrenched workers, but back to the issue of the dying institution that is the Wales Market. The vendors said that after the closure of the estate, they attempted to continue vending there, but it was not the same and over time they were forced to pack up shop and look for alternative markets, since the income of most residents has all but vanished.

Now on a Friday, the streets are virtually clear and there is no shouting of bargains to entice customers. There is no competition because there are no estate workers with their week’s earnings to spend. The vendors are suffering, the former workers are suffering, the community of Wales is suffering, and, by extension, the entire West Bank of Demerara is suffering.

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine

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Feature

By Lakhram Bhagirat

O

ne of the most painful decisions for parents is the dreaded one of parting with their children, but more often than we realise circumstances force parents to part with their children for various reasons, and Nakeshia Best is still coming to terms with that decision she was forced to make.

The single mother from Skeldon, Berbice in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) took the fateful decision to send two of her three children to live with their maternal grandmother after she could no longer afford to provide financially for them. You see, Best was one of the thousands of workers who were unsympathetically handed redundancy letters when Government decided to shut up shop at the Skeldon Estate at the beginning of this year.

“The last day I worked was December 29 (2017) and since then I looking for work. I was a part of the fertiliser gang for over five years and that money I used to use to take care of the children and after I stop working I just can’t afford it anymore. It just hard,” Best tells me.

All adults, particularly those with a family, set out certain goals and have dreams that they work towards and Best had those same dreams, but all she could do now is try to survive and not get kicked out of the apartment she rents. She said that during her short tenure as a part of Guyana’s largest workforce, she initiated the process of acquiring her own land but then tragedy

Nakeshia Best and her youngest child

struck.

“I had a big dream and a lot of dreams of getting my own land and building my own house and afterwards estate close down and everything just washed away.”

Now she barely works for $2000 per week as a domestic help. Best related that she would launder clothes for a family every Wednesday and Saturday and that is all the income she has been getting ever since the beginning of the year.

To provide more insight into the reasons that forced her to part ways with her two eldest children who are only eight and 14 years old, Best tells me that her rent is $10,000 per month and she earns about $8000 per month. Apart from meeting her monthly rent, she would have to buy food and ensure that the children attend school as well as meet the demands of her threeyear-old.

“Life changed completely and because some days the children them going to school and some days they can’t and till eventually the two big one I had to send them by my mother in Georgetown and get a transfer and so for them because it is really hard for me up this side,” the 29-year-old tells me.

She said that employment opportunities were scarce in her area and even further afield thus making earning any money harder. Best has applied for a number of jobs, since her unfortunate and abrupt termination, but has received no response as yet.

“Since June I applied for a Special Constabulary Officer position and until now them didn’t even call and say yes that we have the job or no we don’t. That is how the whole Berbice is and we can’t do nothing about it at all. We just have to go with the flow and see where life takes us, but all I can say is that things hard. It really hard here and we need to get a break because we suffering here and nobody coming up with no plan to help,” she says.

Best would have received all of her severance pay from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), but it was so meagre that she utilised it all paying bills, rent; shopping for groceries and sending her children to school. Now she has zero savings and as the breadwinner of her family, she is struggling to keep the roof over her head and that of her three-year-old.

She says now all she can do is be strong and persevere because she believes that bad phases do not last for long and she is strong enough to weather this storm and come out with minimal damage.

“I may feel broken now, but I will find a way to put the pieces back together. I will get back to a state where I can take care of my children again and we all can be under one roof. I miss them a lot and because of the money situation I can’t even see them when I like, but very soon, very soon,” she said optimistically.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

he was planting and rearing what he eats in order to make up for his lack of income. Farook utilises the small space at the back of his home for a kitchen garden, and to rear some broiler chickens and goats.

“I do do some agriculture at the back because you got to eat. I does plant lil’ baigan and so and we does pick from there and cook. It does help

save some money.”

He said because of his lack of income, he would delve into his savings which include the half of his severance package that he received from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

“If you go about this community, everybody will tell you the same thing and that is business slow back.

Deonauth Bisnauth

T

he old saying “put some aside for the rainy days” comes to mind when one thinks of the plight of retrenched sugar workers, since most of them are suffering because their “rainy days” cookie jar is empty. Among those are 54-year-old Mohamed Farook and 47-yearold Deonauth Bisnauth of Enmore, East Coast Demerara.

Farook was employed at the Enmore Estate for 37 years as a cane transporter.

His daily job entailed transporting cane from the fields to the factory in order for them to be processed. He, like many of his colleagues, vividly remembers being handed his redundancy letter. He said that he was close to retiring and then

Mohamed Farook

came the bad news, so now all the benefits he would have worked for over the past 37 years disappeared with a single letter.

Since he was handed his letter, Farook has been trying to gain employment since he has a 12-year-old daughter who recently started secondary school.

“I have to close my eyes from many things, because there is no income from anywhere. Seeking employment is hard because I send out application to everywhere and when you go for interview, them does tell you that age is the problem. I have to work, but I can’t get no work and it is hard for us here, because Enmore is dead and nothing nah happen here,” he said.

He said that for now

Mohamed Farook and his daughter

This entire community and Enterprise was dependent on the estate and because of that things nah happen here. Even construction wuk hard to find, because money is not circulating,” Farook says.

For now Farook goes about his days tending to his

goats and kitchen garden as well as checking the community and further afield for employment. He still has hope of being gainfully employed so that he can retire with enough savings to cover his expenses and that of his wife.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Enmore is Bisnauth, who is still struggling to make ends meet as he seeks to take care of his wife and two children. He was employed at the estate since he was 15 years old. He had accumulated 30 years of service prior to being handed his redundancy letter.

“Me was part of the first set of people that them pay off. When them give me the letter, me get stupidy because me nah know what fuh do. But then them say that we gon get wuk and so, but on to now me ah wait fuh a proper wuk to get money,” he said.

Bisnauth said that since his service was terminated, he has been doing odd jobs around the community for people since he cannot find steady employment because of his inability to read and write.

“I can’t read or write and when you go fuh security wuk, them ah tell you that you got to know fuh read and write and me nah get wuk.

Me does ketch me hand with the NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council] for four days cleaning the trench, but that is that. The money does can’t pay because me got to take care of the whole house and pay all the bills and so. Things rough bad, bai; what me go tell you?”

Bisnauth said plaintively.

He said that the severance payout he received was used to build a house for his family and now he has to work towards maintaining that house.

“All this years I work GuySuCo, and me just had couple years more before me retired and them man gone and do this. And we nah get wuk nowhere, bai, and everything ah raise. Next couple months me nah know what we go do in this place,” the dejected man said.

For now he continues to ride his bicycle around the village looking for odd jobs to supplement the $2300 he earns daily by cleaning the trenches in the area.

Part of Farook’s garden

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 5

Feature

By Lakhram Bhagirat

I

f you met Royston Garnett a few years ago and told him that he would have been unemployed for 10- plus months and struggling to make ends meet, he would have certainly given you a few taps on your head to check to see if everything was in place, but today all he can do is worry about where the next dollar will come from, since he practically is as broke as a church mouse.

I know a lot of you will say that ‘we all go through financial hardships, but it is just a phase and work harder, search harder and make the sacrifices and watch the fruits of your labour develop’.

But that is not the case for Garnett, since he has been pushing himself harder, he has been making the sacrifices and he tries to diversify but is limited by his circumstances. He is limited by the fact that he is both mother and father to his three children, two of whom are in secondary school. He is limited by the fact that he lives in a county that has a virtually dead economy caused by the retrenchment of its largest workforce.

Garnett was employed at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Skeldon Estate for the past 20 years in the shovel gang.

Royston Garnett

But like thousands of persons, he was handed the dreaded redundancy letter in December of 2017 and according to the 44-year-old, his entire world shattered.

He remembers collecting his letter and the hot tears that started to roll down his cheeks making their way to his toes. His entire body was numb. He didn’t cry for himself, rather he cried for the hardships his children would have to face. Yes, he was pessimistic from the beginning, because he knew that there was only so much he could do for a number of reasons.

Garnett now spends his days going around in search of employment, only to be told that there are not any jobs available for him owing to a number of factors, particularly his age as well as the fact that “business bad”.

“Life is hard right now, because I am not working

at the present moment. You barely getting a two-day mason work and that is what you have to cope with. Businesses also crying out, because the sawmills them telling you that they laying off workers because business bad, so the market people them crying out. If people nah get money, they can’t buy. Skeldon is a ghost town. Work ain’t doing and everybody just crying out, wondering to know when estate starting, when estate starting back,” he said.

He added that they were told to standby because once the Skeldon Estate became operational once again, they would be rehired, but they were yet to get word as to when exactly that would be.

Garnett says that he has his 13-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter who are both in secondary school, adding that the expenses associated with their education

are sometimes beyond his reach. However, he makes the sacrifices to ensure that every assignment is completed on time, every text book is purchased and every exam paid for.

“I have to make the sacrifices because education is important. My daughter because she is in Form Four, she always have an assignment and sometimes the money don’t come to get it done but I does have to make the sacrifice because is she education. The boy is only in Form Two and he does get one, one assignment, but not so much like the girl,” he explained.

Just last week, his daughter needed an Integrated Science textbook which was valued around $1500 and he was heartbroken that he could not have afforded to purchase it immediately for her. However, he scraped and found the money to get her the book.

During the course of his time working with GuySuCo, Garnett acquired a plot of land in the Number 76 Village Housing Scheme and took a loan to construct a house for himself and his children to live in. He said while he was still paying, the dreaded thought of repossession loomed over his head every time he failed to make his weekly payments.

Thus far, Garnett has

received half of his severance payout to the tune of $372,000 and he would have utilised a portion to pay six months of his mortgage and the other portion went to managing his household

problem. I ain’t getting work and that is problem,” he said.

“It rough because I ain’t working and when I used to work and it cut out, I used to make much because I still get something to use and right

Royston’s two youngest children

and sending his children to school.

“People might think you get a big sum of money but to me that is still underpaid but we accept and bless because it better than nothing. Mine is finished, because I got a loan at the bank and I paid some down…I don’t have nothing in bank and I owe them for last week and this week and that is S10, 000. I got to try (pay that) before it build up more because that is

now I ain’t getting nothing and that make it more hard. I got to find that money to pay the bank and that building up and when I build up, them gon send and call me because they reminded me of it already and I don’t want that,” Garnett added.

Now he spends his days running around trying to find a stable job so that he could provide for his family and give them the life they deserve.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Feature

F

ollowing the closure of four sugar factories last year, and the displacing of almost 5000 workers, the workers have been fighting for their jobs and severance packages. Last year, 1851 workers were sacked from the Skeldon Sugar Estate, 1181 from the Rose Hall Estate, 1480 from the East Demerara Sugar Estate and 251 from the Wales Sugar Estate. Just Friday we saw former Wales Estate workers protesting the National Assembly calling for their severance packages and the government also owes a number of other works the remaining 50 percent of their severance.

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21 , 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 7

Literary Corner

by

Petamber Persaud

Preserving our literary heritage

(Extract of an interview with Scott Ting-AKee, Georgetown, Guyana, August 2018.

Ting-AKee won the prize for the ‘Best Graduating Student in Literature’ from the University of Guyana, and the first prize in The Guyana Annual open poetry competition. ‘Red Hibiscus’ is his first novel.)

Synopsis Of Red Hibiscus

Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren share a grand destiny as the greatest diviners of all time. They are blessed or cursed with clairvoyance and decide to try to change the future. Their very existence and abilities are beyond what the Heavens should allow. The clairvoyant trio records their shared visions and dreams in the form of poetry hoping that it may be passed down as a warning to future generations.

Yoaguai and gods attack Chu hua, Zhaohui and Ren to silence them and to prevent them from changing the future they see for China and the world.

The emperor feels threatened and is not sure if he should exploit their mystic powers or kill them out of fear of them.

Outcasts who rose to legendary destinies now have to work together to save China from a future they do not quite understand while fighting for their own lives.

PP One of your interests is interdisciplinary study of literature and comparative literature of the East and West; let’s talk about the literature of the East and the West.

ST The literature of the West is heavily influenced by Colonialist ideas, Eurocentric ideas while the literature of the East celebrates their religion, their culture, their view of the world and their gods.

At UG, I did a paper where I compared the Gothic elements in one of Mark McWatt’s stories to the Gothic tenets of Japanese literature where they were similar and also different and that was the paper that opened my eyes as to how radically different the literature of the East and the West is, not only in terms of the culture it examines but in terms of how the stories are told, and what perspective they are told from. For example in the Western Gothic tradition, if a character is feeling depressed, wanting to commit suicide, it is perceived as something bad because from a Christian perspective that is something bad but with the Japanese Gothic tradition especially with some samurais, those

feelings of depression are seen as something good, it is also seen as a person entering a new state of enlightenment – so committing suicide is seen as something positive rather than negative which is something I found very shocking when I did the research revealing that I know a lot about Greek and Roman mythology but not a lot about myths of the East – China, Japan, Korea – propelling me to do more research and then it got more and more interesting.

PP You talk about differences, what about similarities between it East and the West in literature?

ST One similarity you would find in both is binary opposites are the key – much of this whole idea

of good and evil, right and wrong…

PP Yang and yin …

ST Yes – Yang and Yin. But in the Eastern literature it is more common to find an ambiguity or a vague ending whereby good doesn’t win or the evil, but there is some sort of compromise where they coexist…

PP Between and betwixt ….

ST Yes but with the Western, it is black or white for the most part …

PP Kind of finite …

ST Yes but what I find with post colonial Caribbean writers – the modernist, the visionary writers like Wilson Harris and those writers who grew up in the tradition of Wilson Harris would explore in in-

between spaces more now but that exploration of the in-between is something that Japanese and Chinese have explored for centuries.

PP Scott, your first book, a novel, a novel with a twist, a novel with a difference – how would like for us to view this book, through Western eyes or Eastern eyes?

ST I would like to think I wrote it with enough ambiguity at certain points so the reader can take it whichever way it goes.

Pauline Melville when she visited UG in 2013, she mentioned when it comes to books, the writer does fifty percent of the work but it doesn’t really become a book and the reader does the other fifty percent of the work because they see the value of it. I agree with that so I wouldn’t lead the reader to look at it through Eastern or Western eyes. Let them shock me – even show me things that I didn’t know I put in there. However, I intended for it to be a post-colonial work although it is set in ancient China; at its very core, underneath it all, it goes back to the Caribbean and the Caribbean experience. And in my attempt to celebrate, explore and reconnect with Chinese heritage and Chinese tradition, it also points out, on the other hand, what the Chinese descendants in the Caribbean might have lost through colonialism.

PP [Reading from the book] ‘Who can find native gods/In a strange land?..

Are we destined to be slaves? And our gods/What can they do in a strange land?’- is this the connection between east and west?

ST Right.

PP In the author’s note, you stated this Red Hibiscus is ‘a literary experimentation with myth

Notice to Readers

creation and flash forward.

I wrote this book in defiance of long dead Kipling who wrote that East and West would never meet’. Talk to us about Red Hibiscus.

ST Red Hibiscus is heavily steeped in history and mythology so I look at the major gods, the popular ones like Chang'e, the moon goddess, Hou Yi, the great archer, Gong Gong, the water god – they are all in there but in retelling their stories, from my perspective, and the thing is my perspective of these gods is actually influenced by a book I read over and over as a child called Old Tales Retold by Lu Hsun and in that book he took ten of the more popular Chinese myths and folklore and wrote them as short stories so my conception of how a god acted and lived is heavily influenced by his creation of them rather than the established myths….

Now with the myth creation, Chu hua, Zhaohui and Murasaki Ren, the three clairvoyants who are the protagonists of the tale – they of themselves become mythical characters, heroes or villains, depending how you look at them – in addition to them, there is Lady Xiao Li, the flower goddess, she does not exist in the actual myth, I created her…

PP Wow – some experiment this!

Scott, so whose truth are we reading?

ST That’s an excellent question. The best answer I can give: we are reading the truth of the hybrid; it is not completely Western, it is not completely Eastern because at the end of the book, the goddess admits that she knows everything that is going to happen but she can’t do anything about it. Why? Because everything, colonialism included, has to go according to a divine order.

So I am not celebrating colonialism, in this book, at the same time, I am not completely bashing it – it had to happen and as the result of it happening cultural hybrids, racial hybrids exist.

At the same time, the beauty of the diverse Caribbean region would not have been created.

PP Another connection to the West, the West Indies…any other?

ST The title of the book, Red Hibiscus – the red hibiscus is the connection, a flower that grows in China and also in the Caribbean.

In Caribbean literature that is a flower that is used constantly even as far back as Wide Sargasso Sea as a symbol of the Caribbean, of Caribbean-ness…

PP What’s next for Scott Ting-A-Kee?..........

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com

It is the first day of the year again, this time in the quiet absence of Portlandia, we have our own quiet way of entering the spaces between the seconds of life, where time fades.

The fire makes a noise, inside here where ice and snow make the earth frozen, press us to guess what weather will do now as weather becomes a matter of climate with no divination.

I listen to your napping, air going inside to fill you with warmth from the fireplace, air going out to let your soul teach the world what it is to make the journey to the heart.

So this first poem the day a golden retriever wallowed in the sunrise over frozen snow, then sat up to grin the silly grin of its kind, as if to say, the light is there if you only wait.

We wait together for the first man to enter this house we are leaving for another house, as you say it is me, I am the man to bless the heart, its mystery of fire and the light.

Afaa Michael Weaver, 1951

If you have a poem and/or short story you would like to publish on our Literary Corner page, please email to timessundaymag@gmail.com. Kindly include your correct name and a contact number in your email. If you have any questions, please call 223-7230 or 223-7231.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 11

Home & Cooking

If you’re tired of walking into your dated bathroom and dream of a change, we’ve got bathroom decorating ideas for you that are inexpensive and simple to do.

• breast • • • • •

Ingredients

1 boneless, skinless chicken Chicken broth to cover 1 bay leaf ½ an onion 1 cup orange juice Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1. Place chicken breast in a pot with enough chicken stock to cover, bay leaf and half an onion and boil.

2. Cook until the chicken is easy to shred, about 35 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Shred chicken and then set aside.

3. Combine orange juice, lime juice,

• • • • • • • •

1 tsp salt 1 black pepper 6 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tsp oregano ½ tsp cumin 1 tsp olive oil 1 onion sliced 1 bell pepper sliced (optional)

Paint

Paint your walls with the perfect shade you selected. It’s no longer necessary to choose gloss in a bathroom to combat moisture, ask the paint shop to add an additive to matte paint to keep it from mildewing. Don’t just paint the walls — purchase an eggshell or semi-gloss paint and paint the cabinets, too.

salt, black pepper, garlic, oregano, cumin and olive oil.

4. Place a large frying pan over high heat. Add shredded chicken and mojo sauce and cook until the sauce has evaporated. Add sliced onions and bell pepper and fry until chicken is crispy about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm. (Jehann Can Cook)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar • 3 eggs • 1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk • 1-12oz can evaporated milk • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a heavy bottom pot over medium low heat, melt the sugar until it becomes a golden brown color. Do not stir, this will cause the sugar crystallize, instead move the pot in a circular motion.

Once the sugar has completely liquefied pour into a 9 inch baking dish.

3. In a large bowl beat eggs.

Mix in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Slowly pour the mixture through a strainer and into the prepared pan with the caramel.

4. Place in 13×9 baking dish and place into oven (it is easier to pour the water while the pan is on the oven rack, this prevents spilling). Pour warm water into the large baking dish until the water is about half way up the sides of the pan with the custard. Place into a preheated oven and bake for 1 hour.

5. Carefully remove from the water and allow to cool for at least 4 hours before serving.

6. To serve, invert custard onto a plate. (Jehann Can Cook)

Lighting Fixture Replacement

There’s a great variety of affordable lighting fixtures available. Replace outdated lighting fixtures with new ones from your home improvement store. Electrical projects are best left to professionals, but with some guidance, switching out lighting fixtures shouldn’t be difficult for a DIY-er. Be original when upgrading lighting. Bathroom lighting trends include hanging pendants and light bars that diffuse light in a room.

Select LED lighting fixtures since they’re the most energy efficient and don’t heat your bathroom up.

Bathroom Works of Art

There’s no need to stare at unadorned walls in your bathroom.

Treated canvas prints are water resistant and affordable. Go for oversized proportions for the best visual impact. For a unique look, have a local printer blow up a favorite photo into customized wall art. Nowadays, custom printers can create canvas prints and even laminate them for water resistance.

When thinking of bathroom decorating ideas for art, think beyond a canvas print. A wall gallery of favorite objects like starfish or baskets can be another way to decorate your bathroom walls.

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

Puzzles

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ACROSS Gave a fig Gets one's feet wet Mil. officers Lose it (2 wds.)

Arch with a point Shake off Fall behind Candle or legion Does dock work Hull's bottom Fishing net Windy City airport Premiered Actress -- Close BPOE members Escort Curbed Calligraphy fluids Mining hazard B'way posting of yore Helped, with "over" QB awards Waited awhile Pool lengths Actor -- Beatty Equal Name meaning "truth" Ten-percenters Talismans Basted Green shade Put on the block Tune Oil drilling platforms College credits New Zealand parrot Cherbourg shes Bites Nest builders Flotsam and -Carbondale sch.

Mooches "Beowulf" et al.

Monkey havens Pine "anchors" Meted out Blossomed, as corn Vintners' casks Where Asia begins Poison "Xanadu" rockers Mean and nasty Purse closers Ocean fish Radius companions Me, to Maurice Spats Goose liver delicacy Middle of MGM's motto Sets a price Aerie hatchling

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Chops down Position in a poll Deli breads Apply gold leaf Egg portion Checkers piece Gen. Robert -- -Stadium levels Camel's-eye view?

Viennese dessert Ginza money Taoism (abbr.)

Use force Insulation purchase Poplar Turkey's neighbor Knitter's needs "Sure!" (2 wds.)

Add a lane Old water wheel -- voce Tooth filling Boom-box issue Grain for grinding Jacket choice Racing shell Prized viol.

"Hey there!" (hyph.)

God of thunder The ones here Hue, but not cry Slack-jawed Carnival attractions Big occasion Karakum, for one Place to surf Straightened Blunted Sidled past In full view Ave. crossers Euclid and Pericles Lobster orders Kitchen appliance Pheasant kin Expresses pleasure Calcutta nannies Kitchen gadget January, in Jalisco 1950s musical (2 wds.)

Small and delicate Phileas Fogg player Bad day for Caesar Radio's PBS Marvin Lee -Alleys Flexible bands AMA members Least convincing Aviator -- Earhart Stop the car (hyph.)

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY'S WORD -- WHIMSICAL DEVIANT: DEE-vee-ent: Differing from the accepted standards.)

Average mark 29 words Time limit 40 minutes Can you find 38 or more words in DEVIANT?

date dative davit dean dent detain diet dine dint

diva divan dive edit vain vane vein vend vent

vied vine vita idea invade adit aide ante anti

avid naive native nave neat tend tide tied tine

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

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Nutritious legume Lily maid of Astolat Two tablets, say Famished

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40-cup brewer

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Mach 1 exceeder Curved molding Nectar, finally

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guyanatimesgy.com

october 21 , 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 13

14 Sunday Times Magazine

OCTOBER 21, 2018

guyanatimesgy.com

Bollywood/Hollywood

T

here has been immense buzz surrounding his coming wedding with actress Deepika Padukone, but Bollywood star Ranveer Singh says his focus in life right now is acting and films.

“Right now, I am focussed on the work that I am doing in films. I am doing back-to-back films. I’ve been very blessed to have some really amazing projects at hand and I tremen-

dously value these opportunities,” Ranveer told IANS in an email interview.

“I want to do my bit to contribute towards the filmmaking process and to try and make the best films possible. So, my focus in life right now is acting and films,” added the actor, who has been named as the brand ambassador of a nutritional supplement.

Ranveer walked into Bollywood in 2010 as a raw

Delhi boy with Band Baaja Baaraat. Since then he has essayed varied roles to perfection. There are projects like Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, Lootera, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Gunday, Dil Dhadakne Do, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat in his film portfolio. At the moment, he is working on Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, Rohit Shetty’s Simmba and Kabir Khan’s 83. Ranveer says finding a place in Bollywood was a tough task.

“Trying to get a break in a very insulated mainstream Hindi film industry was a great and big challenge. Then to try and shoulder big films and largerthan-life characters in parts that have... myriad layered emotions to play... some requiring a level of maturity and evolution. Those are some significant challenges that I have faced,” he said, responding to a question on the challenges he faced while making a name for himself. (Hindustan Times)

I

n very happy news, Kensington Palace has officially confirmed that the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant and has all but cleared her diary to ensure she rests as much as possible. The news comes after it was revealed that Meghan gave her first major ‘sit-down’ interview since joining the royal family.

However, organisers for Prince Harry’s upcoming Invictus Games are most excited to welcome the couple who are expected at the event.

According to reports ‘the palace was talking in riddles without stating the obvious' before the royal tour to Australia and New Zealand before 'she was given the three-month all clear.’

On August 20, it was an-

nounced that David Beckham had signed up as an ambassador to the Invictus Games and will be present throughout the event. It’s now understood the former sportsman is a lastminute back-up to cover for Harry, whose presence may be significantly scaled back due to the pending arrival of the new royal baby.

Crossword Solution

“ABC and Invictus have been informed Harry may not be at the closing ceremony due to personal reasons, so they need to be prepared for this. It’s left them shellshocked as he always opens and closes the Games,” adds the insider.

Despite shying away from public appearances, Meghan has had a busy summer. She has given a lengthy interview to the team behind a new documentary series Queen Of The World, about the role of Queen Elizabeth.

She and Harry adopted a new puppy, thought to be a labrador, and the former Suits star spent much of the UK summer visiting friends, and no doubt sharing her baby news and gathering advice on her impending motherhood.

After she and Harry visited Amal and George Clooney – who are tipped to be the couple’s first choice as godparents – in Lake Como, Meghan took a solo trip to Toronto where she caught up with best friend Jessica Mulroney, then travelled on to Los Angeles to see her mother, Doria Ragland.

B

ollywood superstar Salman Khan, who became a part of a celebration for 20 years of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, says the film’s director Karan Johar is the “busiest man” in the Hindi film industry today.

The actor has urged the filmmaker to work with him again.

Salman was addressing the media through video conferencing at the grand celebration here on Tuesday. Karan had approached many established actors to play the part of Aman Mehta in his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but eventually Salman gave the nod to play the part.

Talking about how he got agreed to do Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Salman said, “Karan Johar met my sister Alvira and he told her that ‘It’s my first film and I have signed Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan. There is a small but important role for which I am looking for a star but I am not finding any star to play that part’.

“So my sister Alvira told me that ‘He is a really good guy. It’s his first film and you should help him in his first film’. After that, Karan Johar met me at party that time, I told him that I will do it for my sister, Yash (Johar) uncle, Hiroo (Johar) aunty, Karan Johar and Shah Rukh, and that’s how I became a part of the film.”

Salman said he had even liked the script of the romantic drama, which was about love and friendship. “I was pretty impressed with

I

t is never easy for celebs to open up about their personal lives. Just sometimes, comes a person, who can make them do so. One such person is Neha Dhupia. The popular host, whose interview-based podcast series is now in its third season, spoke to Kajol who had some interesting details to share.

One of most revealing details about her life that she spoke about was her marriage to Ajay Devgn. She explained how nobody wanted the two to marry, not even her father.

Speaking about it, she said: “Nobody wanted us to get married besides his family and my family. My family also was iffy. My dad didn’t talk to me for a week when I told him I wanted to get married. It was because I wanted to get married. He was just like why do you want to get married, you’re so young and your career is doing so well and I was like but I want to get married. Ajay and I were very different people, so lots of people

Karan’s writing. Karan was very clear in his head at that time and he made really good film.

“It was a different kind of film and it had its signature style and after that, he established different kind of cinema. Today, he is one of the most successful director and producer that we have in the industry. He does hosting, writing and acting too, so, I think Karan Johar is the busiest man in the film fraternity.”

Salman also wished Karan and Shah Rukh for their future endeavours, saying, “I am very happy for Karan and I am happy to be part of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I wish this film remains an inspiration to all the young filmmakers. I wish the best of luck to Shah Rukh and Karan. I wish they keep on doing their best work.” In the end, Salman took a jibe at Karan saying, “Someday yaar... someday, work with me again.”

The celebration was attended by a slew of celebrities including Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Manish Malhotra, Neelam Kothari, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Sanjay Kapoor, Maheep Kapoor, Shashank Khaitan, Jatin-Lalit, Twinkle Khanna, Ananya Pandey, Bhavna Pandey, Tara Sutaria, Shakun Batra, Ayan Mukerji, Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Sana Saeed, Hiroo Johar, Sidharth Malhotra, Badshah, Varun Dhawan, Farida Jalal and Archana Puran Singh.

had reservations as to what we would be like as a couple and we were not very social even then. Not a lot of people had met us together or knew what we were like together.”

Kajol went on to explain that if the two have survived this long (and they have been married for 19 years), it is because they “have worked through it together”. “We have survived because both of us have worked through it together and we have two kids.

It’s almost like we have become like one person who have these two children like their arms.”

She also revealed that both her children don’t like her movies. “According to them, I cry too much in my movies. I should do more films like Golmaal.”

Kajol and Ajay’s wedding is one of the most stable marriages of Bollywood. They married in 1999 and have two children, Nysa and Yug, together. Kajol recently appeared in her home production called Helicopter Eela, where she played a single mother to a college-going son. Being a mother to a teenaged daughter and young son, she said that she has tried her best to keep her children as normal as was possible. Speaking at NDTV’s special youth conclave, YUVA, some time back she had said that it is she who plays the bad cop at home while Ajay is the good cop. “I’m a Hitler mother... I’m a bad cop, Ajay’s a good cop... But the percentage of the good cop has dropped in him. He has realised that it is necessary to be a bad cop sometimes. That he can’t always look at the mother to say ‘no’. I’m 30 per cent bad cop, 70 per cent good cop.”

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Sunday Times Magazine 15

16 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

OCTOBER 21, 2018

Fun Times

Archie

ARIES (March 21April 19)

Keep your personal business a secret. Someone will be eager to pry into your affairs if you are too chatty or eager to share. Focus on self-improvement and personal growth.

If you look for change, TAURUS you'll find it. An important re(April 20- lationship will take a positive May 20) turn if you share plans that will bring you closer together.

Make a romantic gesture.

Help yourself before you GEMINI offer to help others. It's time (MAY 28to put yourself first and make June 20) changes and improvements that will boost your confidence and help you get ahead.

Getting together with people you find interesting will (June 21- spark ideas and encourage July 22) you to make positive changes to your life. Romance is highlighted.

CANCER

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

Peanuts

Refuse to get all worked up over trivial matters. If someone is looking for an argument, walk away and find better things to do with your time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Plan to have some fun.

You can be productive and still enjoy the company you keep and the challenges that come with taking on something new or unprecedented.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

A physical activity will help you put your mind at ease and your life in perspective. A realistic approach to what's possible will encourage you to make a positive personal change.

Take part in something SCORPIO different or hang out with (Oct. 24- someone who comes from a Nov. 22) different background. You'll discover that you can differ from someone and still enjoy spending time together.

SAGITTARIUS An emotional matter will (Nov. 23- surface if you or someone Dec. 21) close to you isn't completely honest. Don't lead someone on or make assumptions based on what is being told to you.

Calvin and Hobbes

Consider what you can do CAPRICORN to improve your home life. A (Dec. 22- change at work may be reJan. 19) quired if you are losing touch with a loved one because you are working long hours.

Let others do as they AQUARIUS please. Stay focused on (Jan. 20- what's important and how Feb. 19) to best handle your personal money or health matters.

Don't feel you must follow someone else.

PISCES You will come up with an (Feb. 20- interesting idea that could Mar. 20) bring in some extra income.

A lifestyle change will make room for a new endeavor.