Guyana Times Daily 31st Oct 2013

Saraswatie Vidya Niketan CXC top student meets president P17

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana Issue No. 1938 guyanatimesgy.com

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

CAL subsidy drove out U.S. carriers Thursday, October 31, 2013

See story on page 3

Fire ravages Comfort Sleep, Payless bonds See story on page 15

Fire on Wednesday evening ripped through the storage bonds of mattress manufacturing giant Comfort Sleep and Payless Variety Store located in Industrial Site, Eccles, East Bank Demerara (Carl Croker photo)

Glenn Lall, Youths snapping up “Lalloo” Ram still to pay up! house lots See story on page 14

See story on page 7

PRICE

$60 vat included

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Prohibited P8 items found in NA jail GECOM to meet on shortlisting of CEO P10 applicants soon

St Maarten govt knocks blog report on Guyana's consular service P11 Labourer's P11 body pulled from Crabwood Creek trench Slain biker’s alleged killer appears in court

P19

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thursday, october 31, 2013 | guyanatimeSGY.com

News

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Thursday, October 31 from 14:30h to 16:00h.

The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Thursday, October 31 from 14:20h to 15:50h.

WEATHER TODAY

Waves: Moderate reaching about 2.0 metres in open waters.

Winds: North-easterly to easterly at 0 to 12 metres per second, gusting at times over some areas.

High Tide: 14:04h reaching a maximum height of 2.80 metres.

Low Tide: 07:39h reaching a minimum height of 0.98 metres.

wednesday, october 30, 2013

LOTTERY NUMBERS C 11 13 15 19 21 26 08 FREE TICKET

Daily Millions

04 11 19 21 24 LUCKY 3

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Draw De Line 04

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thursday, october 31, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

CAL subsidy drove out U.S. carriers – will return once there is level playing field, says ambassador

BY SVETLANA MARSHALL

Country wide: Partly sunny conditions can be expected becoming cloudy to overcast with showers over some coastal and inland location. Outburst of thunder is expected over some coastal and near inland locations. Temperatures are expected to range between 24 degrees and 28 degrees Celsius.

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

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U

nited States Ambassador to Guyana, D Brent Hardt said several U.S. airlines have expressed interest in the Guyana market, but they are concerned about the subsidy being granted to at least one regional carrier and the small size of the Cheddi Jagan Airport.

Ambassador Hardt made the disclosure during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times earlier this week. “There has been a concern that Caribbean Airlines fuel is being subsidised, making it harder for American carriers to compete in Guyana,” he explained. His comments come approximately five months after North American carrier Delta Airlines abandoned Guyana’s market.

In May, Delta Airlines wrapped up operations in the country to concentrate on other business deals.

The inability to full their planes to the built capacity and drug trafficking at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) were among other concerns expressed by Delta.

But Ambassador Hardt said although Delta Airlines has left Guyana’s market on the basis of profitability, he maintained that other American carriers have vested interest, but are demanding a level playing field.

“I understand that some would be interested if the CJIA had a longer airport because that would allow them to bring in different types of plane that require a longer runway.”

However, regarding the subsidy to CAL, the Trinidad and Tobago government back in September announced that it was removing government-subsidised fuel effective on October 1 from the airline. The subsidy for the Tobago air bridge will, however, remain. In his budget presentation in the parliament on September 8, Finance Minister Larry Howai said the debt-ridden state airline must move towards the adoption of a fi-

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana D Brent Hardt

nancially-sound business model for positioning the airline in targeted segments of the global tourism market. The fuel subsidy for CAL was estimated to be TT$300 million.

Direct flight ban

Meanwhile, clearing up what he said were misconceptions surrounding the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent move to deny Caribbean

a licensed Jamaican carrier and CAL; a Trinidadian licensed carrier were requesting to fly directly between Guyana and the U.S. The U.S. ambassador posited that permission is rarely granted under Seventh Freedom Right; however, the United States Department of Transportation made its decision following consultations in the U.S. with affiliates in the aviation industry who objected to the application, Hardt said.

On the other hand, the opened skies agreement which was signed between Guyana and the U.S. in March has liberalised aviation relationship between the two countries that permits unrestricted air services by their airlines. This replaces the 1946 agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and the U.S. that had been in effect since 1966 when Guyana gained Independence.

“The open skies agreement explicitly defines a national carrier as one that is

A Delta aircraft in Guyana prior to the airline's exit in May

Airlines (CAL) and Fly Jamaica permission to have direct flights between Guyana and the U.S., Ambassador Hardt said the two carriers made their applications under the Seventh Freedom Right, which is different from the open skies agreement, Washington and Georgetown signed earlier this year. The Seventh Freedom Right alludes to the right of a country’s aircraft to conduct flights between two foreign countries while not offering flights to one’s own country. In this case, Fly Jamaica which is

Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali

headquartered in a country and is majority owned by citizens of that country; now, neither fly Jamaica nor Caribbean Airlines meets that requirement under the agreement.”

According to the U.S. ambassador, the objection was also made on the basis that the U.S. can still tap into the local market with increased tourism and trade.

“The open skies agreements will certainly in time help to open the Guyanese market for other carriers... we think there are a lot of opportunities here, but again they want to be sure that the field is level for American carriers, free and opened market is the best way to attract carriers.”

Currently, Caribbean Airlines, Fly Jamaica and Surinam Airways are the only air carriers offering international flights out of Guyana. turn to page 8

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guyanatimesgy.com

thursday, october 31, 2013

Views Editor: Nigel Williams Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134 Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Right on rice

T

he news that our rice farmers have crossed the 500,000 tonne landmark in rice production is cause for celebration. Kudos to the farmers for sticking to their task, kudos to the authorities for creating the enabling conditions and kudos for the weather for not “acting up”.

The point is that it takes a great deal of effort from a wide number of “stakeholders” when goals such as that achieved by the rice industry are achieved. When everything does fall into place, cognisance must be taken of the variables that must be controlled if we are to maintain and indeed surpass the present achievement in rice.

The number one asset we have in rice production are our rice farmers. Trinidad and Tobago recently moved out of sugar and thousands of acres of arable land have been made available for rice as a replacement. But they have been singularly unsuccessful on a large scale because they do not have farmers with the requisite knowledge and the willingness to get their “toes in the mud”. Whatever rice they produce is generally because of Guyanese farmers who have migrated there.

We must institute systems to ensure the labour travails in the sugar industry do not occur with rice. Young farmers must be given incentives to remain with rice. While exhortations are not to be scorned, the most powerful incentive would be to ensure that the rice industry can provide a decent living for its farmers. It is not widely appreciated that the majority of rice farmers cultivate less that 10 acres each, which can barely sustain their families throughout the year.

The children of such rice farmers will not consider subsistence farming as an option when there are so many opportunities in the new and developing economy. Some might say that if there are less small farms, the average size of farms will rise and this may lead to gains from increasing economies of scale.

While this might be true, it is not the answer for Guyana’s further development of its rice industry, which must strive to reach and then surpass the one million tonnes production mark. At that point we will move from being price takers to being price setters. We must open up new lands for rice production to increase the absolute number of acres under rice cultivation which would allow young farmers as well as the older ones to cultivate ever larger acreages.

In Essequibo, for instance, farmers have been stuck at a maximum acreage of 33,000 acres for four decades or more.

While this has pushed them into adopting better husbandry practices, which have delivered the best yields in the country, the latter could now be expanded if the additional 10,000 acres that were promised could be brought under the plough.

The government, to its credit has performed a yeoman task with the drainage and irrigation infrastructural works.

With our “wet rice” cultivation, absolute control of water is the sine qua non of better yields.

There have been several announcements that lands on the West Demerara estates, notably at Uitvlugt, are being pulled out of sugar. These lands are fully drained and irrigated. A study should be undertaken to compute the gains that would accrue to the country in general, and rice farmers in particular, if these lands were to be switched into rice. This move would go a far way to get us to that 1 million tonne mark.

Another variable that must be addressed is crop insurance for farmers. All business is a matter of taking risks and the role of governments in the modern age is to act to help minimise those risks. Insurance is one way to accomplish this in rice.

Lastly, the government has already begun to assist with the last variable – inputs. The fertiliser shipment from Venezuela is a bold experiment that must be expanded with all the other inputs in the industry.

Let’s continue to be right on rice.

His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar holds aloft the original FIFA World Cup trophy following the conclusion of a gala ceremony at Banks DIH Limited's Sports Club at Thirst Park on Wednesday evening. The solid gold trophy – football's most coveted prize – was on a one-day visit to Guyana as part of a nine-month, 89-country tour across the globe (Avenash Ramzan photo)

Questions APNU needs to answer

Dear Editor, I read with deep shock a statement attributed to the Leader of the Opposition David Granger, that his party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), intends to cut the 2014 budget.

The acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has already ruled that the opposition has no power in law and under the Constitution, to cut the budget and that the cuts inflicted on the 2012 Budget are unconstitutional. As far as

I am aware, this ruling of the chief justice has neither been set aside nor stayed by another court.

What powers, therefore, does APNU intend to use to cut the 2014 Budget; will they violate the laws and the Constitution, again? Is it their policy that, again, they will refuse to recognise a ruling from the court?

Are they now above the law? Is that the example they are setting for the ordinary man to emulate? Should every person

who has court matters and against whom court decisions have been made, do the same and ignore them?

These are questions that the APNU must be called upon to answer.

Does this issue of lawlessness and the expressed intention to flout a court ruling not concern the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Women Lawyer’s Association, and the Berbice Bar Association?

Will they continue to remain silent on this issue as

well, as they did with the jury tampering allegations made against Nigel Hughes?

What about the other persons who write in the newspapers, as crusaders of the law, including Freddie Kissoon, Christopher Ram, Lincoln Lewis and Bryn Pollard, among others?

Have they all fallen asleep or do they only write to criticise the government and defend the opposition?

Sincerely, Faruk Mohamed

Another first for Guyana Dear Editor, Local car washes have often been labelled as traffic hazards for quite some time now as a result of their close proximity to active roadways.

Additionally, the increase in the number of cars in Guyana often results in a buildup of customers around the wash bay and further becomes a time consuming errand.

Many times, these small car washes are not properly equipped with the necessary car cleaning gear and products.

For quite some time now Guyanese have anticipat-

ed the opening of a drive through car wash. Clean Cars Complex, Guyana’s first automatic carwash service is expected to be launched this week. The establishment of this hands-free wash bay can certainly be expected to spawn other such similar ventures.

This new facility will unquestionably be well utilised, and therefore stems the concern of backlogged traffic and further congestion of Guyana’s roads.

The establishment of parking lots in Guyana is a much needed investment.

The city’s already congested streets often make driving and finding parking an extremely exhausting task. The existence of this car wash will surely add to traffic congestion.

As it relates to the numerous small wash bays around the country, there is need for some attention to be given to them.

Often badly located, these wash bays are also in the habit of employing under aged individuals. The relevant authorities need to investigate these matters to ensure that there is no severe breaching of envi-

ronment and labour laws.

The launching of the drive-through car wash is a highly anticipated experience. The new state-ofthe-art wash bay will allow cars to enter and exit the complex on Croal Street, while trucks will enter from Croal Street, but exit only via Brickdam.

The opening hours have been scheduled in such a way that it caters for individuals who are unable to find time during regular office hours.

Sincerely, Albert Lancaster

guyanatimesgy.com

thursday, october 31, 2013

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You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Second languages should be mandatory in schools Dear Editor, I am very enthused that Portuguese will now be a part of the curriculum in Guyana’s top five high schools. This is an initial gesture that will eventually develop over time. However, it is important that we maintain also the teaching of Spanish and French in schools.

At one time, English Literature was made mandatory in schools. This subject encouraged children of all ages to read. Reading was then and still is the key source of knowledge. It improves vocabulary and increases analytical thinking.

The introduction of Portuguese in the school’s curriculum has prompted the Education Ministry to provide a fundamental text-

book, along

with CDs to aid in teaching and understanding the subject.

Key individuals are expected to visit the schools on a fortnightly basis to observe and manage the teachers at work. Additionally, examination papers are expected to be prepared and adminis-

tered to all five schools in order to ensure parity.

The introduction of teaching Portuguese is a commendable one. However, schools should take the initiative to also promote learning the native languages including Arawak and even Creoles.

Recently, a study suggested that languages should be taught as early as possible in a child’s life.

In fact, continuous research has shown that a child’s natural ability to learn a language decreases around the age of four to five years old. Realistically, the longer one waits to learn a new language, the harder it will be.

Yours faithfully, Simone DeFreitas

Guyana and the regional CXC/CSEC awards Dear Editor, In this year’s Caribbean Secondary Examinations Council (CSEC) regional awards, Guyana managed to secure five of the eight awards offered. The CSEC awards currently offered manages to cover the principal aspects of every school’s curriculum.

This year’s CSEC awardees included Yogetta Persaud, Rafeena Mohammed, Cecil Cox, Sasha Woodroffe and Zimeena Rasheed. These significant individuals should be awarded and acclaimed for their outstanding efforts and performance in the academic world. They stand to offer empowerment and inspiration to other young individuals’ countrywide.

The efforts of teachers and parents also need to be acknowledged and praised. Many students can testify that the support of their teachers and parents play a major role in their success. I applaud the Education Ministry for promoting the existence of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA).

I must commend the efforts that both our children and their mentors have been

demonstrating over the years. For quite some time now, Guyana has been attaining many CSEC awards.

Matter of fact, Guyana has been awarded with the Overall Outstanding Achievement Award for al-

most a decade now. It is imperative that we continue to maintain these remarkable levels of achievement.

Yours truly, Jacquelyn Thom

Discrimination at Supenaam Stelling Dear Editor, I wish to bring to your attention an issue that has resulted in the violation of human rights at the Supenaam Stelling. Over weight individuals are currently being discriminated against by speedboat operators and it is time for this matter to be brought to the attention, and addressed, by the subject minister.

On another note, I must commend the turn system in place at the Supenaam and Parika stellings.

Additionally, most times boat captains and their assistants are often quite helpful in the loading and offloading of the passengers and their luggage.

The recent accusa-

tion took me by surprise, but nevertheless should it be true, this probing issue needs to be addressed.

Where the minibus situation is concerned, I see discrimination all the time.

Particularly during rush hour, it is evident that the elderly are often given last preference.

As obvious as it is, bus drivers and conductors take control at the park.

I dare say had there been an enforced turn system, there would be little or no occurrence of discrimination. Additionally, there is need for the presence of a police officer to monitor the system.

Just recently, I was about to disembark a mini-

bus and encountered great difficulty in doing so as a result of it being rush hour.

The park was filled and overflowing with commuters hustling to get into buses. The conductor of course found it best to instantly double his fare.

This goes to show that indeed much more has to be done where transportation is concerned. Maybe it is time to reconsider the use of big buses.

As it relates to the issue of discrimination at the Supenaam Stelling, it is important that this matter be addressed immediately.

Sincerely, Ronald Stoutt

Cricket is on the rise again

Dear Editor, The former national wicketkeeper and batsman Sheik Mohamed has over the years continued to maintain his involvement in cricket. He was a prominent player during the late 198090s.

Mohamed was recently appointed captain of the Upper East Coast Tigers squad, which is expected to participate in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)/Raj Singh Insurance Brokers/ Trophy Stall over-40 T20 competitions.

Though Mohamed has

not professionally played cricket for some time now, he has still managed to keep himself in good shape. He has spent a lot of his time investing in cricket and encourages and supports talent wherever he sees it.

Additionally, Mohamed has played a key role in the resurgence of cricket in Enmore.

Cricket fever is in the air and it has been evident that Demerara and Berbice have been promoting the sport.

I may not be aware of any other former cricketers that currently reside in Guyana.

However what I can say is that I urge them to come forth and maintain their involvement in the sport.

Their presence will certainly contribute to the well-being of young cricketers.

I must applaud those individuals including, Mohamed, who are doing all that they can to raise the bar where cricket is concerned.

Hopefully these individuals can play a more active role at cricket camps and training sessions.

Yours sincerely, Latif Hassan

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THURSday, october 31, 2013

Page

Foundation

Signs your child could be precocious – part two

(CONTINUED FROM WEDNESDAY)

BY CHRIS WELLER

What’s inside the box of crayons?

Researchers have tried to better understand the mechanisms of the False-Belief Test through other methods known as “appearancereality tasks.” The skeleton of the study doesn’t change, but the implications of its results point in a slightly different direction.

Experimenters will present a child with a box of crayons. They ask the child, “What’s inside this box?” to which the child – and other trusting people – will reply, “Crayons.” But when the experimenter opens the box, out roll several pieces of chalk. The experimenter then re-closes the box and asks the child what she thinks another person, who hasn’t seen the chalk, would think is inside the box. If the child says “Chalk,” she fails the appearance-reality task, but if she says “Crayons,” she passes.

Psychologists Alison Gopnik and Janet Astington first devised this experiment in 1988. It, like the false belief test, has since spurred numerous offshoots investigating the role that cognitive deficiencies play in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Certain research has found adults with Asperger’s syndrome continue to exhibit the same behaviour when confronted with eye-track-

guyanatimesgy.com

ing tasks. Failure to gauge a person’s intent through eye movements has come to be known as “mindblindness,” and it’s another potential sign a child may be in the early stages of autism.

“We showed that, like infants, neurotypical adults’ eye movements anticipated an actor’s behaviour on the basis of her false belief. This was not the case for individuals with Asperger syndrome,” states one report from a 2009 study. “Thus, these individuals do not attribute mental states spontaneously, but they may be able to do so in explicit tasks through compensatory learning.”

Curious children become intuitive learners

Several years down the road, children begin to grow curious, ask questions, and connect the dots of their environment, but only the more advanced individuals show particular traits. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget called this the “Intuitive Thought Substage,” and at its most basic it’s the period in a child’s life where he realises he has vast amounts of knowledge, without knowing how he acquired it.

There are two basic measures for intuitive understanding: conservation and centration.

Conservation involves a child knowing that changing an object’s appearance

doesn’t change its basic properties. Centration involves concentrating fully on one aspect of a situation and

Several years down the road, children begin to grow curious, ask questions, and connect the dots of their environment, but only the more advanced individuals show particular traits. ignoring all others. Children in the intuitive thought substage typically are unable to understand conservation, and instead display centration.

A simple example involves two beakers of varying shapes. Both are the same volume, yet one is short and squat while the other is tall and skinny.

Due to their varying sizes, a quantity of liquid in the tall beaker will necessarily rise to a higher level than in the other. But if an experimenter pours the liquid into the short beaker, children in Intuitive Thought Stage will now say there is less liquid overall, because what they see is height, not volume.

If A>B… and other logic

A milestone in cogni-

tive development rests in a child’s acquisition of logic and reason. Limited inference skills once caused her to believe a phone ringing and a falling dish to be causally related because they happened close together, but now she understands time is not the only thing that ties actions together. Abstract problem-solving is still difficult, but concrete tasks pose less of a threat.

A child may know for instance, that certain objects are heavier because they weigh more, not because they happen to be different colours. But if she were told A>B and B>C, she would have trouble deducing that A>C. Now, however, they are able to grapple with conservation.

They can also create a fuller picture of a problem, sort items correctly, and pass the False-Belief Test and Appearance-Reality Task with flying colours.

From there, the only remaining cognitive abilities a child must sort out are symbolic formulations of concrete objects.

They learn about ideas larger than themselves, about concepts and theories, and about diverse ideologies, all the while forming a conception of the world so that they, too, may one day become anxiety-stricken parents wondering if their child should be talking by now. (Yahoo! Health)

A window on baby’s brain (CONTINUED FROM WEDNESDAY)

BY ANNA LACEY

Peekaboo

As a result of having experienced so little, small children are for the most part quite content to accept the absurd as completely plausible.

Dr Addyman, who sports a crop of bright blue hair, sees this regularly with his young volunteers.

“Young babies would never laugh at my hair. But older children realise there’s something wrong and that makes it funny.”

The ability of children to suddenly see the funny side, Dr Addyman believes, acts to highlight much more profound developments going on deep inside their brains.

The Baby Laughter Project, which has surveyed parents from more than 20 countries, has shown that games like peekaboo are perfect for showing one such fundamental development – object permanence.

The term describes the understanding that an object still exists, even if you can’t see it. Very young children don’t know this, which is why babies under around six months can look shocked and startled at peekaboo.

They think that not being able to see mum or dad’s

face means that they’ve actually disappeared, making their sudden reappearance come as quite a surprise.

However once a child understands (at around six to eight months old) that their parent is just hiding, then peekaboo becomes all about the anticipation of when they’re going to come back.

Laughing as conversation

“Peekaboo is all the best things. It’s mummy reappearing, but it’s also about shared communication,” says Dr Addyman. A potential link between laughter and language development suggests we’ve thus far underestimated babies’ sense of humour.

Joking requires an element of taking turns as well as other skills needed for advanced interaction, like imitation and eye-contact. “Children can pick up the rhythms of conversation through joking and playing games,” says Dr Addyman.

In fact, smiles and laughter could be important communication tools for infants before they develop language. Even primates seem to use laughter as a way of regulating social interaction.

“Laughter in chimps is predominantly used in play and it tends to be the youngest members of the group who have time for playing,” says Dr Katie Slocombe, a primate cognition specialist at the University of York.

“It’s been shown in chimps that laughter facilitates extended play, and we can’t rule out that it has some sort of role in social bonding. When a chimp laughs, it seems to encourage their play partner to continue tickling or chasing them – just like a baby keeping an adult’s attention for longer,” she told the BBC. So should we try harder to interpret the deeper meaning in those burbles and titters? Dr Addyman suggests a certain level of caution. “Historically, we’ve certainly been guilty of projecting adult interpretations about what babies are laughing at, and it’s a constant danger when doing this kind of research,” he says.

“You really have to look at this scientifically and at a range of ages to really start to understand what’s going on in their heads.”

(BBC News)

news

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thursday, october 31, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

Glenn Lall, “Lalloo” Ram still to pay up!

– M&CC does not pay for press releases, says City Hall official sued on October 11, Ram claimed that discussions on the matter go back to the 1990s when agreement was reached to have balances due for services rendered to the M&CC offset the millions of dollars he owes in rates and taxes.

He claimed that the issue is an administrative one that could be settled out of court.

A total of 11 persons

Another garbage pile in the city. Are piles like these the consequence of people like Glenn Lall and “Lalloo” Ram not payin their taxes?

A

senior spokersperson for the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has told Guyana Times that City Hall “does not pay for publishing press releases” in the wake of the claim by Kaieteur News owner and publisher Mohan Lall, aka Glenn Lall, that the council owes the newspaper money for advertising services.

In a Kaieteur News report on October 11, Lall claimed that the millions of dollars in outstanding

Jennifer Basdeo Green, is also before the court for owing more than $10 million in taxes.

Lall was represented in court on October 24 by attorney and leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan, who requested time to file a defence. Lall and his wife are accused of owing the M&CC more than $5.6 million in taxes for a property at 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.

Meanwhile, it has also surfaced that Lall and his

Mohan Lall, aka Glenn Lall

Lallbachan “Lalloo” Christopher Ram

taxes, for which he and his wife Bhena Lall have been hauled before the court, should be offset by advertising services provided by the newspaper. The City Hall official said these have mainly been press releases which the Kaieteur News converted into advertisements without prior permission.

In a subsequent article, Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green and M&CC Public Relations Officer Royston King spoke in interviews with Kaieteur News in what appears to be a public relartions exercise and a show of support for the Lalls.

The wife of the mayor, Dr

best friend Tony Yassin owe M&CC another $156.7 million, plus interest of $91.1 million, for rates and taxes for six properties. Lall and Yassin also owe the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) $354 million in taxes.

In addition, bookkeeper and opposition adviser Lallbachan “Lalloo” Christopher Ram has three matters before the court, and his attorney, Neil Boston, has filed a defence for the complainant and requested the particulars of each claim. Ram reportedly owes more than $11.3 million in taxes for properties on Waterloo Street, Georgetown.

In a press release is-

have been summoned to appear on charges of not paying rates and taxes on properties, but Ram and Lall are the only two who have publicly challenged the claim, although court proceedings are underway.

In law, once a statutory body is owed, payment must be made on the dates that are prescribed in law.

Failure to do so is subject

to penalties, which are also clearly prescribed in law.

This has always been the way business and other legal transactions are carried out anywhere in the world. GRA and other revenue collection agencies, in particular, operate in the same manner.

If someone overpays the GRA in 2011 and then owes for 2012, the GRA

expects that person to pay in full for 2012 by the prescribed deadline, while treating the possibility of a refund for 2011 as a separate matter.

Offsets, therefore, are generally not allowed on the same taxes, or taxes owed by or to the same person, much less printing on advertising costs and consultancy fees, as Ram and Lall have purported.

8 news

thursday, october 31, 2013| guyanatimesGY.com

Prohibited items found in NA jail E ight cellular phones were among the items found in various sections of the New Amsterdam Prison during a search of the correctional institution on Tuesday.

The search was con-

ducted between 16:20h and 17:45h by a party of policemen and officers from the New Amsterdam Prison.

The other items discovered were three cellular phone batteries, four nail clips, one pair of scissors,

CAL subsidy drove...

Only recently, acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali urged all businesses to petition the United States Department of Transportation to allow Fly Jamaica to operate direct flights between Guyana and New York. In a statement, Minister Ali reiterated the need for all stakeholders, including the business community, to rally in support of the new airline. “We believe that there must be fair and open competition and if the fact remains that there is no American carrier in the market, then we view this as a regressive step.

“The decision to deny the

application for direct flights is one that does not fit into our business interest and it is something that I think we have to fight and respond to as a country. At present, there is no American carrier in the market and Fly Jamaica will face a very burdensome position of flying through Jamaica,” Ali said.

He said the decision by the U.S. will only increase the operational cost of the airline, which will undoubtedly affect ticket prices. “The government has been working hard to build and maintain capacity in the air transport sector and we acknowledge that Fly Jamaica’s operations in Guyana will aid in signifi-

two eating forks, three tablespoons, six packs of cigarettes, 13 smoking utensils, and two cigarette lighters. The items were found mainly in cells in the female section and in the bath area. The po-

lice have since questioned several persons about the find, but no one has been arrested.

This is the second such activity conducted at the facility over the past three months.

from page 3

cantly boosting the capacity in the local air transportation sector; we know too that a significant per cent of the Guyanese diaspora live in or near New York, and this decision has also left Guyanese without a direct flight option to New York.”

Prominent aviator and businessman, Captain Gerry Gouveia, had also weighed in on the matter, saying the decision is a “serious blow” to the Guyanese economy.

Gouveia said the refusal to grant the airlines the privilege was unjustifiable, given that there was no airline providing direct flights for that route.

Newly-appointed Tourism

and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) President Kit Nascimento also labelled the situation as “unfortunate and unfair”. As such, he said every effort should be made to appeal the decision taken. “As far as tourism is concerned, as president of THAG, I feel that the position taken is wrong.”

He said there was every good reason that the airlines should be permitted to fly directly from Guyana to New York and vice versa.

Nascimento added that he would seek to initiate a petition to persuade THAG members to object to the decision, making way for it to be appealed.

Eyew tness

Selective... ...hearing ome people “hard ears” – they don’t listen to anybody.

They like to do whatever their “minds tell them” to do. Very quickly, however, they discover that’s not the smartest way in the world to go about your business. At the very least, they learn to their cost that sooner rather than later, all smart flies end up on the cows’ excretory orifices. Then there are people who hear only what they want to hear. These are soon exposed as the double-dealing scoundrels they really are.

And so we come to the unfolding drama of the opposition and the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill. When a couple of months ago, the Western ambassadors jumped into the local government elections issue, the opposition fell over themselves praising the exhortations to have those elections ASAP. These ambassadors were hailed as the exemplars par excellence of democratic action.

They had hundreds of years of experience with democratic governance and how dare the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government not heed the received wisdom?

The government was given a good beating with that stick!

But here we are...those same ambassadors, those same paragons of the democratic way, have just announced that it would be best for the opposition to approve the AMLCFT – with amendments or whatever. But what does the opposition do? Stick their middle finger at them!!

Sounds crude, but the vulgarity of their response must be reflected in the description of it. What those ambassadors and everyone who wants to be called a democrat know, is that humans aren’t omniscient. And we’re back from right where we started, no? In accepting this tenet of the boundlessness of knowledge, we can’t insist that things have to be “our way or the highway”.

In other words, we listen to others and if what they say makes sense, we agree and go forward.

Or if we don’t, we suggest what our position is and try to arrive at a consensus. And this is all the ambassadors, the government of Guyana, the business community and every concerned Guyanese have been telling the opposition.

We’ll soon see if the opposition really wants to go down in history as the blackguards that sunk Guyana.

And make no bones about it – if the AMLCFT doesn’t go though, it’ll make the destruction wrought by the 28 years of People’s National Congress (PNC) misrule look like playing “dolly house”.

S

...recollection Dr Henry Jeffrey’s last column was confusing. He starts out by pillorying Jaya Manickchand – a young attorney and as we all know by now courtesy of the letters’ column – the younger sister of our Education Minister Priya Manickchand.

All the younger Manickchand did was to announce that when it comes to crime, she’s of the “hang ‘em high” school.

None of that mollycoddling and agonising about “messed up childhoods”. She isn’t the first of this persuasion...in fact the Old Testament is redolent of this position.

But then Jeffrey announces suddenly: “The PPP/C is involved in a permanent struggle against evil and dangerous forces, particularly A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the traitorous Alliance For Change (AFC)!!” Lest you think the non-sequitur is completely sarcastic (there is the exclamation point), Jeffrey then makes it clear that “this position is not without some amount of truth”.

As a former teacher Jeffrey would know that his point would’ve been much stronger if he’d illustrated his contention with some concrete examples. For instance, he could’ve talked about Desmond Hoyte’s “mo fyaah...slow fyaah” or of the Freedom Five that moved from Camp Street, Georgetown to Buxton, East Coast Demerara in 2002.

Jeffrey was a Cabinet minister and would’ve been fully briefed with what was going down. And might recur in the present. ...self-determination Looks like the secession movement in Region 10 is growing. The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of Linden once again defied the central government on the Kara Kara Toll booth. But the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) is still collecting subventions.

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News

Commuters frustrated: Too few GeorgetownMook Lall and Grove/Craig buses de hooligans tek C

ommuters who use Route 42 minibuses that ply the Georgetown to Grove/Craig, East Bank Demerara route are expressing frustration over the lack of public transportation for that particular route.

The situation has become overbearing for some, and they are calling on the relevant authorities to take immediate action. Minibuses plying the Georgetown-Diamond route are insufficient to accommodate members of the travelling public living or working in the terminuses.

They have attributed this situation to bus operators’ desire to get more money from passengers. After government warned operators that they were not to increase bus fares without permission, they have been finding underhand ways to earn more.

Government intervention

Upon receiving these complaints, this newspaper visited the route 42 bus park and had some insight into what some citizens are forced to deal with on a daily basis.

Guyana Times caught up with a number of commuters on the Diamond/

freeness too far

G

The Route 42 minibus park

Grove bus park, who indicated their frustration over the matter, and pleaded with government to intervene.

“Soon’s you reach on the park, all them conductors hollering is Diamond inside, Diamond inside. Like all de money in de Diamond inside route,” one passenger from Grove, who identified himself as Damien Singh, said.

Commuters wanting to travel to Grove and Craig are made to wait for hours

before they get a bus going in their direction.

He added, “When you knock off from work, all you want to do is get home and most times, we got to stand here ‘till the place get dark and then you have to fight to get a squeeze in the bus them… we really need some help.”

Nanda Ramsammy, also from Grove, explained, “This thing happening since last year, but before that we never had this problem.

Now we got to walk ‘till at

the back of the park and wait for hours before we could get a bus or come off short with a Diamond bus, then catch another bus just to meet where we going.”

For the newly-established “Diamond inside” route, which was instituted by the minibus operators, passengers are being charged $160, whether they "stop short" or go the entire distance. Efforts to contact Transport Minister Robeson Benn on this issue proved futile.

uyana is a free country. This country so free that Burnt Ham used to rig elections and people still find a way to survive all dem rough and tough years. Wid a new guvament, de people get more free because dem get real freedom. But some people tek freeness too far and start behavin like hooligans. A hooligan is a lawless person or a hoodlum, aka thug or gangster, or a ruffian who belong to a gang. Is people who wrang and want to play strang, accordin to old people.

When a man can refuse to hold AGM fuh he company whah got hundreds of shareholders, pun top of that, don’t do any kinda reports, and don’t pay out not even a penny to de shareholders, that got to be de height of hooliganism.

When that same man can get way with hundreds of millions of dollars from de same company, put all in suitcases, and pun top of that, call it allowance and accommodation fees, it got to be that he and de hooligans dem, who he share out de money to, stayin at a hotel whah more expensive than de Marriott. Unless he does pay special price to Robbin Badal at de Peg Ass Hot Hell.

When that same man – or so he does try to look – can turn round and tek a loan from he best friend and partner in crime, who also own de company, and pay more interest than whah de Chinese banks does charge, that is hooliganism multipy by two – that is, by de two a dem who thief out de money.

And to cap it all off, when that same man can talk bout corruption in de country, it musbe that Guyana is a free country, and he tink he squeaky clean just because dem boys whah seh dem is boys does wash he bamzee with Squeezy when dem done wid he.

Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie!

Well, de police gon soon look fuh de bookkeeper who been tekkin millions fuh cookin de books. But dem don’t know whah name to put pun he jail cell yet, because he shame of he own name!

GECOM to meet on shortlisting of CEO applicants soon

GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally

T

he Guyana Elections C o m m i s s i o n (GECOM) will soon commence shortlisting applications received for the post of chief elections officer (CEO).

GECOM Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally told Guyana Times on Tuesday that the entire team met on Monday to have a preliminary discussion aimed at finalising the short list for the candidates who have applied for the position of CEO. Dr Surujbally said based on the criteria prescribed in

the job description for the post; the team has been able to point out certain critical areas which they will use to select successful applications.

“The commission felt that at least 10 of the applications did not attain the standards expected of applicants and therefore, such applications would not be worthy of pursuance,” he stated.

However, pertaining to other applicants, Dr Surujbally said the commission felt that it must agree on critical areas in which

the short listed candidates would be evaluated. “In addition, it was decided a specific matrix possibly with the help of professionals in the areas could be constructed and developed and be used to further strengthen the evaluation of the candidates.”

Deputy Chief Elections Officer Calvin Benn and his assistant Keith Lowenfield are among the 14 persons who applied to become GECOM’s chief elections officer. The post of CEO became vacant after GECOM declined to renew the contract of then Chief Elections Officer Gocool Boodoo.

Dr Surujbally maintained that GECOM’s functionality and efficient administration has not been impaired following the departure of Boodoo. He said the commission has been functioning as it ought to.

Currently, the staff is focused on the continuous registration process. The GECOM chairman has again expressed hope that the process for the selection of a new CEO remains free from political interference.

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St Maarten govt knocks Labourer’s body pulled from blog report on Guyana’s Crabwood Creek trench consular service T

T

he government of St Maarten has flayed a blog report in that country which made numerous damning allegations about the consular services being provided by Guyana to its citizens living on the island.

In a statement, the St Maarten government said it had taken note of a press release from the government of Guyana expressing concern over allegations in a news blog discrediting both the consul general to Barbados, Michael Brotherson, and the interim director of the Department of Foreign Relations for St Maarten.

According to the St Maarten’s government, in the absence of a consular representative, Brotherson was given full authorisation by the Guyana Foreign Affairs Ministry to conduct consular duties, representing the interest of the Guyanese residents on St Maarten. “All necessary protocols with regard to accreditation were followed including due process by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana and the Directorate of Foreign Relations of Country St Maarten,” the St Maarten statement said.

The island government regrets that Guyana’s “name is being tarnished by irresponsible blogging.

Consul General to Barbados, Michael Brotherson

The consular activities by Mr Brotherson were executed in total conformity with the applicable procedures on the basis of a request by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana.

As a country, St Maarten is obliged to treat consular officials of other countries with courtesies and protection afforded to all such personnel on the basis of the Vienna Convention.”

Due process followed

According to the St Maarten government, the falsehoods contained in the story on the blog site, could have seriously jeopardised the relationship between Guyana and St Maarten, based on articles of the Vienna Convention on consular relations.

The government of Guyana has also stated that

it will issue a letter of warning to the blogger and legal action could result if no heed is taken.

Noting that a breach of the Vienna Convention is a serious issue, the government of St Maarten said it will not accept any individual or group compromising the name of St Maarten for personal reasons.

“The government of St Maarten again stresses that due diligence was followed in the matter related to consular activities of Guyana on St Maarten.”

The local Foreign Affairs Ministry has issued a statement that all consular fees, as fixed by itself, were processed in accordance with the financial regulations of the government, with the required government receipts issued.

“The government of St Maarten is concerned with these incidents of false “news” stories, baseless allegations, and unfounded damaging reports, which circulate on this so-called news blog. While the government of St Maarten is all for ensuring and respecting the freedom of the press and appreciates the role the media plays in informing the public, the media, too, has to operate within the framework of professional and ethical journalism and respect for the rights of others.”

hree days after leaving his Line Path, Skeldon home under the influence of alcohol, a labourer was on Tuesday morning found dead in the Crabwood Creek sideline trench at Grant 1802, suspected to have drowned.

The man was identified by his 18-year-old daughter as Balwant “Kamesh” Singh, 45, of Lot 35 Line Path E, Corriverton, Berbice. He was last seen on Sunday about 14:30h on but his body was found at about 06:00h on Tuesday.

Reshma Davi Singh, also

called “Priya”, reportedly told investigators that on Sunday around 13:00h her father was at home drinking “white rum” and he left about 14:30h, never to return.

The teenager said despite them searching for her father, there were no signs of him. She explained that her now dead father was a heavy drinker, and he would normally leave home when he was “high” but would return home when it got dark.

After days elapsed, she said, her relatives formed a search party but were unsuc-

cessful in locating her father until Tuesday. Singh’s body was discovered by Ray Davi, called “Shark” of Lot 22 Grant 1802 Crabwood Creek, who went to the sideline trench to collect his boat.

As he boarded his boat, he saw Singh’s body floating in the water face down. The deceased was wearing black jeans and one black boot.

The police were summoned, and the body was pulled out of the trench and taken to the Skeldon Public Hospital Mortuary to await a post-mortem examination.

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thursday, october 31, 2013 | guyanatimeSGY.com

No conflict of interest in Bai Shan Caribbean Lin’s parking lot gesture – GRA unemployment rate could fall B to 6.2 per cent

ai Shan Lin has partnered with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to develop a portion of the railway embankment immediately east of Camp Street into a parking facility for use by GRA’s staff and customers.

GRA Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur said such a partnership initiative is worthy of emulation as it augurs well for development, the tax body reported on Tuesday.

Sattaur said given the nightmarish plight GRA faces to find parking for staff and customers at its headquarters on Camp Street, Bai Shan Lin has seized the opportunity to demonstrate its corporate social responsibility by constructing a parking area on the portion of the reserve granted to the GRA for such use by the government.

As such, the GRA will not have to bear the total heavy cost of constructing the facility. “The work is being carried out by equipment owned by the company. As such, no government funds are being disbursed as the facility is not built on transported land but rather government reserve,” Sattaur said. He said the

gesture is also one in recognition of the government of Guyana’s benevolence to the company in allowing it to engage in many economic ventures that have mutual benefit to country, particularly in economically depressed Region 10.

Similar initiative

Sattaur said the initiative is similar to what obtained many years ago when former Stabroek News editor and owner David De Caires decided to beautify Camp Street, Georgetown as a place of interest and national heritage.

“This company wants to be known as having a caring and good corporate image. It does not only want to be seen as receiving from the state benefits in terms of millions of dollars in concessions in forestry equipment, but in honouring it’s social and moral obligation to the community and country that it serves,” the commissioner general said.

He further stated that the organisation welcomes similar economic or social ventures that result in rendering some form of benefit to the citizens of this country through a state agency.

“The GRA does not con-

GRA Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur

sider such demonstrations of social legitimacy by businesses a conflict of interest, as the organisation maintains a professional relationship with all the businesses it contracts to undertake various works.

Economic relationship

From time to time, we contract out services worth large sums to different businesses and these persons are still obligated to pay their taxes, except they are exempt or a concession has been granted,” Sattaur said. He said the GRA will soon enter into an economic relationship that would result in payment

being made over a period of time for such facilities to be rented for a number of years at a nominal fee.

This is in order to meet the high demand for parking that the business community has placed on the agency at its new location at the CLICO building.

Sattaur noted that the organisation’s headquarters currently house 841 staff, of which approximately 235 require parking.

Additionally, at the very least, there are 996 taxpayers who frequent the office on a daily basis, of which it is presumed that approximately 300 have vehicles.

This means that over 500 persons would require parking on a daily basis.

These persons currently compete with schools and other businesses in the area for the available sidewalk.

The parking facility should be considered a positive venture that would benefit both internal and external stakeholders.

Berbice businesswoman robbed of over $1M in cash, jewellery

P

olice have launched an investigation into an alleged break and enter and larceny committed on the home of Ticerie Victor, 48, a businesswoman of Lot 274 Jerlin Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, which occurred on Monday last.

On the day in question, between 18:00h and 19:00h, the burglars carted off three pairs of gold bangles valued $250,000, one gold band valued $190,000, one gold chain valued $60,000, one anklet valued $45,000, one gold ring valued $40,000, and $488,000 in cash.

According to reports, the articles were secured in the woman’s bedroom located on the upper flat of her twostorey wooden and concrete home.

Investigations revealed that during the date and time mentioned, Victor secured her home, leaving the articles intact and went out to close her business place and on her return, she observed a window on the lower flat, prized opened.

Upon seeing this, the woman searched her home and discovered that the articles mentioned were missing. The police were summoned and launched an investigation. The scene was dusted for fingerprints, and three prints were uplifted.

Police, acting on information received, made checks for “Kevin”, but without success. Investigations are continuing.

T

he Latin American and Caribbean region could end the year with an urban unemployment rate of between 6.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent, which would be slightly lower than 6.4 per cent recorded in 2012, according to the latest projections from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

According to the document, the employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean – Number Nine, “the first half of 2013 was not plain sailing for Latin America and the Caribbean”, due to a sluggish world economy, increased financial market volatility and weakened internal demand. In the first six months of the year, the regional economy only grew by 2.5 per cent, compared with the same period in 2012.

The slowdown in the region’s economic growth in the first half of 2013 resulted in lower demand for labour.

More specifically, this took the form of lower generation of wage employment.

While the latter grew by 3.1 per cent at the regional level in 2012, in the first half of 2013, estimated growth is just 1.6 per cent (based on 10 countries with data available). Having said that, the proportion of wage employment within total employment did increase, in most countries.

Lower dynamism in job creation did not mean higher unemployment, as the first six months of 2013 saw a reversal in the relatively strong increase in the labour participation rate from 2012. In the 10 countries with information available, this rate stopped growing in the first six months.

Downward trend

One of the aspects highlighted in the report is the continued downward trend in the unemployment rate that began in 2004, albeit in the form of very modest reductions. For the 10 countries with information available, the average urban unemployment rate went from 6.7 per cent in the first half of 2012 to 6.6 per cent in the same period of 2013 (although there was an increase in Argentina, Jamaica, Mexico and Uruguay). With the exception of Jamaica, the increases were small (of less than half a percentage point).

In addition, the gaps between men and women in terms of labour participation, employment and unem-

ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena

ployment continued to narrow – although there were differences among countries. In terms of real wages, most countries saw a continued rise during the first half of the year, although rates were slower than the average for 2012.

Transformations, new challenges

The second section of the document produced by ECLAC and ILO analyses the transformations in national vocational training systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, which face new challenges as the region’s economic, productive and technological changes give rise to more diversified demand.

In this context, a series of innovations has been introduced in terms of the content, methods, technologies, institutions and coordination of vocational training.

In the foreword of the publication, ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena and ILO Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Director Elizabeth Tinoco said “national vocational training systems need to play a role in reducing the inequalities typical of the labour markets in the region.

This is one of the challenges they should take up”.

To this end, these systems must be integrated with other labour-market policy instruments and must develop effective ways of integrating into the labour market those groups now facing specific obstacles.

According to both institutions, a labour force with the skills, competencies and knowledge that suit the demands of formal enterprises and the informal sector, and that meet the needs and preferences of the population, is key to reducing external and internal productivity gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to advancing towards sustainable development in the region.

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News

Clive Bacchus new head of regional media body S

t Kitts and Nevisbased Guyanese journalist Clive Bacchus is the new president of the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers (ACM).

Bacchus was elected at the seventh biennial general assembly of the organisation in Port of Spain, Trinidad on October 26, the association said in a release. He will be supported by First Vice President Peter Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, and Second Vice President Dr Canute James of Jamaica.

Former President Wesley Gibbings will serve as general secretary, and the assistant general secretary is Martina Johnson of Antigua and Barbuda. The new floor members are Onel SanfordBelle of St Lucia and Jabari Fraser of Trinidad and Tobago.

Meanwhile, a leading Caribbean economist said “a robust regional media organisation is vital to the development of the Caribbean region”. Zhivargo Laing congratulated the new executive of the ACM, adding that “it is the fourth estate that strengthens democracy by informing and educating the public about local, regional,

Youths snapping up house lots – another 1600 allotted during One Stop Shop

The new executive of the ACM pose for a photo following the election

and international developments”.

Laing, the former Bahamian finance minister, congratulated Bacchus, a respected veteran journalist and general manager of WINN FM, on his election as president of the ACM.

Protecting freedom of expression

The ACM, through the leadership of its outgoing president, has played a leadership role, along with other

media organisations, in protecting freedom of expression and information, Laing informed.

“Unfortunately, many of us take these freedoms for granted and some of us in leadership trample on them.

But there is no question, we need an enlightened and informed media to hold stakeholders in the public, private, and non-government sectors accountable,” Laing stated.

The media is a partner in development and greater engagement with editors and reporters is important “to open unfettered lines of communication on all issues affecting the Caribbean”, he believes.

The economist and entrepreneur showered further congratulations on the first vice president, second vice president, and assistant general secretary on their election.

President Donald Ramotar holds a bag while a first-time landowner pulls her houselot number

BY SABATINI DANIELS

H

ousing Minister Irfaan Ali said there has been a significant shift in the average age of landowners in Guyana due to the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s (CH&PA) one stop shops.

Speaking at the seventh One Stop Shop for the year at the Guyana National Stadium on Wednesday, where in excess of 1600 house lots were distributed to Farm Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara. The minister stated that years ago persons in their 50s and 60s retired without owning their own homes, or lands, describing the one stop shops as a “life transformational activity”.

Average landowner

“I am very happy to say today that the situation has changed to such the extent that the average landowner or homeowner is well below 35 years old, you have persons who are 23, 24 and 25 who already own their own home and land… this is a tremendous accomplishment.”

He stated that the previous investment policy did not target home and land ownership as important elements of social transformation, noting that this is the reason government has spent a tremendous amount of time and resources in ensuring the social sector was renovated.

“We have shown our commitment and, or effectiveness in delivering housing and living solutions for families and people all across this country.” Moving to Farm Housing Scheme, Ali disclosed that government will invest in excess $1.6 billion for infrastructural works and electricity in the area which will create 1695 new house lots and will benefit almost 7000 persons directly.

This means that for every person living in a household, government will be investing on their behalf $220,000.

“There are a lot of people who say when government sell this land, they are making a big surplus, that is not the case, the total revenue that will be derived from the sales of all these lots would be $838 million as against an investment of $1.6 billion… the government will subsidise the scheme by almost 45 per cent.”

Agreement of sale

Ali also reminded persons that there is a clause in the agreement of sale which states that, if any person is discovered to have misrepresented any information on his/her application, monies paid will be forfeited and no house lot will be granted.

President Donald Ramotar noted that government has also halted the taxes it receives from banks so that Guyanese can enjoy cheaper mortgage rates.

He said there are many issues in society which can affect all the measures the government has put in place to benefit homes owners, noting that the administration will need everyone’s support. Subsequently, he made reference to the passage of the money laundering bill as one of these issues which needs to be tackled.

“This bill is to bring our legislation at the same level as the rest of the Caribbean legislation to fight against money laundering and drug trafficking… to close all the loopholes where people are getting illicit funds.”

He stated that failure to pass the bill will result in many banks having serious problems in doing business in Guyana and will have a “snowballing” effect on the economy as a whole.(sabatinid@guyanatimesgy.com)

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thursday, october 31, 2013

Fire ravages Comfort Sleep, Payless bonds

Two of the 30 firefighters who were battling to keep the raging fire under control as the Payless and Comfort Sleep bonds were destroyed

Comfort Sleep Manager Deodat Narine explaining what he heard transpired

BY SVETLANA MARSHALL AND WHITNEY PERSAUD

I

t was an emotional scene at Eccles, East Bank Demerara Wednesday evening as fire ravaged Comfort Sleep and Payless bonds at their Industrial Site location.

The inferno started around 18:35h. Scores of persons flocked the scene as firefighters earnestly tried to prevent the blaze from spreading to other nearby buildings.

In tears, Comfort Sleep Manager Deodat Narine told media operatives that he had just closed off operations at the factory, when he received a call from the security guard on duty that the bond was on fire.

The bond, which was used to store chemicals used to make foam and other raw materials, was situated in close proximity of the factory.

Narine told media operatives that the fire started at the neighbouring Payless bond. According to him, Comfort Sleep and Payless sub-let the Eccles compound. He posited that the fire has caused tremendous loss, noting that millions of dollars in materials were consumed in the blaze. However, he said that none of the 35 workers attached to Comfort Sleep will lose their jobs.

“Nobody will be out of a job; everybody will remain having a job at Comfort Sleep.”

Narine expressed gratitude to the Guyana Fire Services for preventing the fire from spreading to the neighbouring factory.

Another employee of Comfort Sleep Amanda Chung said she got the news a few minutes after leaving the factory for home. “It was like 06:45h when I got the news that the bond was on fire, so I drop what I was doing and rush down here, but the bond was already gutted,” she said while weeping.

“All our raw materials, all our chemicals to make the

A supervisor of the Payless bond

foam... all gone.” She told reporters that there was no one in the two bonds at the time the fire started.

Loud explosions

Meanwhile, the security guard who was on duty at the Comfort Sleep factory in the neighbouring compound, said he heard a loud explosion at 18:35h. “I heard a big explosion, when I watch, I see a big ball of fire come out from that building there (Payless Bond) and it drop on the ground,” the guard who wished to remain anonymous recalled.

Subsequently, he said, the back of the building was engulfed in fire, before spreading to the Comfort Sleep bond, in which it fed on the chemicals, fuelling the fury of the raging inferno. “I ran and alert the neighbouring businesses, and call the fire service and then the managers.”

He told Guyana Times that the fire comes one day after Payless cleared the now burnt bond of all of its belongings. According to him, the stocks where moved to a newly-constructed bond, a short distance away.

Payless

A supervisor attached to the Payless Store bond, who was on the scene approximately one hour after the fire started, told Guyana Times that he was working just around the corner where the store’s new bond is now located when he caught sight of the blaze.

“We were working at the new bond at the time of the fire. When we discovered it had like smoke in the air, we watch, we see red and we come around, but the place was already on fire,” the supervisor said, adding: “It was at the back of the building... so when we come around to gain access to the building, we could not… it was already consumed with fire.”

Denial

He stated that items were still in the building that was on fire at the time.“We have stuff in the bond… its normal things that we would sell in the store. The value of losses I can’t stay,” he said.

Onlookers at the fire scene on Wednesday

In an invited comment while his charges were battling the blaze, Deputy Fire Chief Winston McGregor said the Comfort Sleep bond was already destroyed, and firefighters were doing all they could to save what was left of the Payless building. “We are inside this one here now, and we have it under control and the one there has already been destroyed. So at present, the fire cannot spread, it is under control,” McGregor said. The deputy fire chief said that there were some 30 firefighters battling the blaze, with

four fighter trucks at the scene working energetically to control the blaze.

Former Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Manzoor Nadir, who lives two corners away from the incident, visited the scene of the fire to comfort owners of the two businesses. “Comfort Sleep is a business I know almost all my life because the owner and I grew up in James Street, Albouystown, so Denis Charan, the owner of Comfort Sleep, we go back a long way; it has been two decades of hard work that he has put in to building

this business,” Nadir said.

He recalled that Charan had for many years expressed concerns about storing the chemicals used to make the foam away from the factory.

“Seeing what has happened today, his fears, yes, they have materialised, but on the other side because he took the bold step to separate the storage of the chemicals from the factory ...he was able to save the main production facilities,” Nadir said. (svetlanam@guyanatimesgy.com,whitneyp@guyanatimesgy.com)

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Africa Caribbean Fort Augusta in Jamaica development priced at over J$23B Regional integration drives inclusive growth in Africa

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he price tag for the Fort Augusta port development is estimated at over J$23 billion.

The plan for the project, which is aimed at dredging the harbour to accommodate much larger vessels and reclaim, or build 50 hectares of land for container storage, presently calls for construction to take place between next January and April 2015.

Indeed, after China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) made public that it would not pro-

ceed with plans to establish a new trans-shipment port at the peninsula, now home to female prisoners, the timeline for development may be pushed back.

But the idea is to improve Kingston Container Terminal’s competitive advantage and enable the port to serve as a trans-shipment hub for draught-restricted ports of the U.S. East and Gulf Coast, following the completion of the Panama Canal expansion.

“The project could cost

in the region of US$160 million (J$16.8 billion) depending on the condition of the material to be dredged,” said an environmental impact assessment report prepared for Mott MacDonald and Port Authority of Jamaica. “The land reclamation will create 50 hectares of land on which a container terminal will be developed. It is anticipated that this container terminal will have a capacity of approximately two million 20foot equivalents (TEUs).”

(Jamaica Observer)

North America

Facebook tops analyst revenue targets as mobile ads surge

F

acebook Inc topped Wall Street’s revenue targets on Wednesday, as robust growth in its mobile advertising business drove a 60 per cent increase in revenue.

Shares of Facebook, the world’s number one online social network, rose 15 per cent to US$56.45 in after-hours trading.

Revenue from mobile ads, which appear on smartphones, represented 49 per cent of Facebook’s total ad-

vertising revenue in the third quarter, or roughly US$988 million. Mobile ads generated roughly US$150 million

in the year-ago period, when Facebook was just beginning to develop its mobile ad busi-

ness.

Facebook’s total revenue in the third quarter was US$2.016 billion, ahead of the average analyst expectation of US$1.911 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Facebook said it earned net income of US$425 million, or 17 cents a share, in the three months ended September 30, compared with a net loss of US$59 million, or two cents a share in the yearago period. (Reuters)

Europe

European banks under fire in global forex probe M

ore light has been shed on a global probe into the possible manipulation of the US$5.3 trillion-a-day currency market, as three major European banks confirmed they are being examined by regulators.

In the past two days, UBS, Deutsche Bank (DB) and Barclays (BCBAY) have issued statements acknowledging requests from authorities and are co-operating with their investigations.

Barclays and UBS also

said they are conducting internal reviews of their forex trading businesses. A fourth bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), says it is “considering processes around the benchmark service.”

This group represents some of the biggest participants in the international foreign exchange market.

London is the world’s largest currency trading hub.

Authorities in Europe and Asia revealed earlier this month they are on

Market statistics

the hunt for evidence that banks may have tried to rig exchange rates. The global sweep includes European Union regulators, as well as counterparts in the U.K., Switzerland and Hong Kong.

In the U.S., the Justice Department has “an active, ongoing investigation into possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said. The push is part of a wider crackdown into financial industry misconduct. (CNN)

Gold Prices – Guyana Gold Board

Cambio Rates

Fixed as at July 24, 2013 Calculated at 94% purity

Bank of Guyana Cur

Buying

Selling

GBP

$329.06

$333.19

CAN

$196.11

$198.37

USD

$204.99

$207.43

U.S.

$1335.00

Cambio

$202.67

Gross

$254,331

Net

$236,527

Selling

$262,426

Indicators as on October 30, 2013 USD Per Once

Indicators

Bid/Ask

Live Spot Gold $1342.90

$1343.90

Crude Oil

Low/High

$1334.20

$1360.80

-1.40

Change

-0.10

USD GBP EUR

AM

PM

1349.50 840.23 980.81

1354.75 843.56 984.06

AM

PM

Oct 29

Change %

+0.77

$109.86

USD per Ounce

Change %

22.74 $1470.00

Last: 15618.76

1349.25 838.62 977.08 Changes: -61.59

Open: 15683.69

High: 15721.00

% Change: -0.39 Low: 15574.52

% YTD: +19.19

52Wk Hi: 15709.58

52 Wk Lo: 12471.49

USD GBP EUR

1346.75 837.06 978.81

Silver

Platinum

London Gold Fix

Oct 30

Price

US$ per barrel

+0.22 +10.00

R

egional integration is still the driver of inclusive growth in Africa. This was the opinion of the panellists during the session on “Leveraging regional integration for inclusive and sustainable growth in Africa”. It was organised on Monday, October 28 in Johannesburg as part of the eighth African Economic Conference (AEC).

The low level of intraregional trade, shortage of good quality infrastructure and lack of qualified workers are among the obstacles cited by the panellists to ex-

Asia

plain the difficulties that the continent is experiencing in accelerating integration.

Africa has a huge market for all kinds of products.

However, the panellists regretted the fact that the continent is still having difficulty in using that opportunity to consolidate its growth for the benefit of its populations.

Abebe Shimeles, Division Manager at the African Development Bank (AfDB), particularly stressed that, in his opinion, developing infrastructure in Africa was a prerequisite to full integra-

tion of the continent.

Shimeles said that many African agricultural producers still have difficulty selling their products on account of the desperate shortage of means of access to sub-regional markets.

He believed that this situation exacerbated exclusion and poverty at different social levels. Speaking during the plenary, Paulina Elago, Country Director for Trade Mark East Africa (Tanzania), drew particular attention to the problems of the free movement of qualified workers. (allAfrica)

India isn’t in danger of crisis – RBI Governor Rajan

T

he new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, told the BBC in his first international interview that India has enough foreign-exchange reserves to safeguard against a repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis.

Rajan said that India has enough money to pay for all of its short-term debts tomorrow if it needed to, as it has reserves that are equal to 15 per cent of GDP. This is a key difference from two decades ago

when the country was rescued by the IMF. He said that a country with US$280 billion (£175 billion) in reserves can finance itself, and points out that India’s external debt is about 22 per cent of GDP. He said that very few countries with such low level of debt has had an external crisis.

Rajan was also adamant about anyone who suggests that India should seek IMF assistance should know that there will be “no IMF, it’s not going to happen”. And that India is a

creditor to the IMF. He also points out that the current account and fiscal deficits are falling, which are the sources of concern and why some investors had left the country. It had resulted in the rupee hitting an all-time low shortly before Rajan took office in early September. Since then, markets have risen strongly and the rupee has strengthened and is now approaching 60 rupees to the U.S. dollar, leading what’s been dubbed the Rajan rally. (BBC News)

Middle East

Dubai Holding says unit to repay US$1B bond

T

he flagship company in the ruler of Dubai’s personal business empire, Dubai Holding, will repay a €750 million (US$1.04 billion) bond maturing in January 2014 from available funds, Dubai Holding said in a statement on Wednesday.

Following the repayment, the unit, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG), will only have one bond outstand-

ing, a £500 million (US$805 million) issue maturing in 2017, the statement issued to Nasdaq Dubai said.

DHCOG was hit hard

by Dubai’s property market crash and corporate debt troubles of 2008-2010, but the local economy has been recovering since then and the company’s 2012 profit surged to AED1.2 billion (US$327 million) from AED204 million in 2011.

It incorporates hotels

Investors' guide

group Jumeirah, business park TECOM Investments and Emirates International Telecommunications aside from a real estate division, Dubai Properties Group.

Earlier on Wednesday, Jumeirah Group said it had raised a US$1.4 billion unsecured syndicated loan due in 2019 that would help fund its expansion and also be used in part for the general corporate purposes of DHCOG. (Arabianbusiness)

How to find an accountant

A

number of good reasons exist to find an accountant to assist you. For example, you might want to find an accountant to help you prepare a tax return or create a tax programme to help minimise the future taxes you might have to pay.

Others might want to find an accountant to assist them or their business with bookkeeping matters or to watch out for their interests during a tax audit or tax collection process.

Identify the type of accounting professional you need Several different types of accounting professionals specialise in handling particular accounting and tax issues, so you will want to select the correct type for your needs. The basic types include:

Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) These are professional accountants that need to be registered with your state. They can help with business accounting mat-

ters, audits and might also be able to consult with you on other key business matters, such as starting a new business.

Bookkeepers These individuals do not have to be registered and are typically hired by a business to keep its accounting books. They might do this manually or using computer spreadsheets or specialised accounting software. (Business Dictionary)

Business concept – Cooperative

Firm owned, controlled, and operated by a group of users for their own benefit. Each member contributes equity capital, and shares in the control of the firm on the basis of one-member, onevote principle (and not in proportion to his or her equity contribution).

news

17

thursday, october 31, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

Govt banking on APNU to Saraswatie Vidya Niketan CXC top student meets president amend procurement act – insists that it must retain oversight role

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overnment has confirmed that it will be moving soon to table an amendment to the Procurement Act to allow the administration to retain its “no objection” power over contracts. And it is banking on the main opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity to get this done, asserting that it sees no need why the coalition would not support the amendment.

The move will certainly irk the opposition that has been clamouring for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to be set up according to the act, removing government’s oversight.

Effective commission

Government’s chief spokesman, Dr Roger Luncheon made this disclosure on Wednesday during his post-Cabinet press briefing, stating that it will be done to the benefit of all stakeholders involved.

He said there was no reason to believe and to expect that APNU’s support for Cabinet’s role in the procurement process would not be forthcoming.

“It is in that context that we intend to soon table an appropriately-worded amendment to the procurement act. We undertook to identify government’s nominees for parliamentary consideration to sit on the public procurement commission subsequent to the enactment of the amendment,” he said.

The government’s spokesman said while there was no indication as to when the administration hoped to move ahead with the amendment for the procurement

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon

act, it could be very soon.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has been calling on government to comply with constitutional requirements which stipulate that there should be a PPC. The party in its quest to secure an effective commission has decided to withhold its support for amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act until such time that the commission is established.

On Wednesday, the AFC maintained that it was absolutely convinced that, owing to the absence of the procurement commission for the past decade, money laundering has reigned supreme in “our financial landscape.” The party said launderers have had a field day, and they continue to make hay while the sun shines.

Strict legislation

The AFC added that while anti-money laundering measures are needed, passing the bill without having the procurement commission in place would be akin to locking the barn door while the fattest pig

ASL gets licence for fuel operations at Ogle O gle Airport Inc (OAI) and Air Services Limited (ASL) announced on Wednesday that they have agreed that the aviation company would be licensed as a commercial fuel handling agent at the airport.

ASL will be operating its fuel farm under terms and conditions no less favourable than Caribbean Aviation Management Services Limited (CAMSL).

This $100 million facility is expected to raise the standards of fuel handling

at Ogle and offer aircraft operators an alternative fuel supplier, breaking the fuel monopoly there.

Earlier this month, ASL General Manager Annette Arjoon-Martins announced that the approval for commercial operations of the company’s fuel farm was likely to be given following an emergency meeting with Transport Minister Robeson Benn.

ASL and OAI had clashed on two occasions when the airline decided to purchase fuel outside of the CAMSL agreement.

was still out in the yard. “In direct and indirect ways, the absence of the PPC has resulted in why so much substandard infrastructure work has been done regionally and nationally, why public servants and workers generally cannot have better wages and salaries, and why a sultanate of extremely rich persons has been created.”

The party alluded to a speech in the National Assembly of the Ninth Parliament by President Donald Ramotar, then a member of parliament, who had said the delay in appointing the commission was due to the People’s National Congress/Reform’s insistence on unanimity.

Not a priority

“Now that Mr Ramotar has become president, it is his government that is blocking the setting up of the commission and has even gone further to say that the appointment of the Public Procurement Commission is not a priority,” the AFC contended. “It is for this reason that the AFC sees support for even a more perfected AML [anti-money laundering] Bill as depending on the setting up and running of the PPC. So whilst this approach may see some businessmen shedding a tear or two in explaining their transactions, our workers and the poor for over 10 years now have been crying blood in a riotously corrupt procurement landscape.

The AFC will maintain its position that Guyanese are entitled to and must have both the Public Procurement Commission and anti-money laundering legislation. One is not enough.”

President Donald Ramotar greets CXC top performer Rafena Mustapha from the Saraswatie Vidya Niketan in the presence of Principal Swami Aksharananda

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afena Mustapha, one of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) top performers, whose 15 distinctions earned her the Caribbean award in humanities, was honoured to meet President Donald Ramotar. The student was as astonished at that meeting as she was upon hearing of her performance.

The Saraswatie Vidya Niketan student met the head of state in the company of her principal, Swami Aksharananda and mother, Shamwattie Monilall and recounted the sacrifices she made to accomplish her goals.

“I spent many nights, slept late, it was hard work… I would give credit to the teachers, they are a very hardworking bunch of people, they are dedicated.

They do more than what is required of them for the students,” Mustapha

said in a comment to the Government Information Agency (GINA).

She joins the list of brilliant students that the Saraswatie Vidya Niketan has produced over the years. Swami Aksharananda regards her performance and those of the other students that have done remarkably well at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams as an indication of the positive direction in which education is headed in Guyana.

“The middle group is also moving up. A good indication of that is what’s happening at Anna Regina, if 54 per cent of their students matriculated, getting five subjects and more with English and maths, and if that same pattern is happening across the country, it’s really exciting,” Swami Aksharananda said.

Zimeena Rasheed’s re-

cord 20 passes and Yogeeta Persaud’s 18 grade ones coupled with the other impressive performances have made Guyana the envy of the Caribbean. Recently, it was announced that the country copped five of the eight CXC awards.

Both students hail from Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast. They follow Sarah Hack from Abraham’s Zuil who copped 16 grade ones in 2012.

Mustapha was described by Swami Aksharananda as a “specially dedicated” student who was diligent and never allowed Facebook or cellphones and other devices to distract her.

Saraswatie Vidya Niketan, which is nearing completion of its expansion project, hosted a recent graduation ceremony for 53 of its students, 45 of whom passed with 10 or more subjects, including English and mathematics.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

Thursday, october 31, 2013

thursDAY, march 11, 2010 | guyanatimesGY.com

archie

By Bernice Bede Osol

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19) Take pride in what you do, and you will be given the opportunity to take on more responsibility. It’s a good day to attend to business, sign deals or firm up on an agreement.

dilbert

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19) Expect to receive plenty of suggestions from well-meaning individuals, but when it comes down to making a decision, you will be best served by taking a chance and doing things your way.

Calvin and Hobbes

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) You’ve got what it takes to get what you want. Don’t wait for someone else to step in and take over.

Broaden your plans and expect to raise your standard of living.

Peanuts ARIES (March 21-April 19)

SUDOKU

You’ll thrive on change.

Share your emotions and don’t be afraid to stand up to anyone acting pushy.

Someone from a different background will spark your interest.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Discuss your plans and get started on them.

The more energy you put behind whatever you do, the more interest you will gather. A partnership will increase your chance to excel.

CANCER (June 21July 22) He who hesitates is lost. Don’t let an emotional situation ruin your plans or your fun. Getting involved in an event, activity or social gathering will be to your benefit.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22) Someone is likely to face off against you. You will have to make an instant decision followed by a fast move if you want to maintain what you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22) Bend a little, and you will get whatever you want. Conversations will help you gain respect and the support you need to achieve your goals. Good fortune will come from helping others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23) Don’t second-guess yourself. If you don’t understand, ask. Once you have a clear picture regarding what you are supposed to do, you will be able to add your own touch.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22) Put more muscle and elbow grease behind any job you’re asked to do. By taking on more responsibility, you will encourage others to look to you for answers. Take control of your life.

Wednesday's solution GEMINI (May 21June 20) Work relentlessly and put your signature on whatever you do if you want to receive star treatment. Compliments will encourage you to make an important move.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23Dec. 21) Don’t give in too easily today. Do what you can to help others, but keep personal information a secret.

Sharing a good time is one thing, but divulging your feelings is something else.

news 19

YELLOW PAGES

thursDay, october 31, 2013

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

EDUCATION SAT/AP/CXC/IGCSE English classes, personalized tutoring. Phone: 6124821 after 4pm, 274-0437 after 7pm.

flowers Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (opposite St George’s Cathedral). Tel: 227-3553/225-3315

FOR SALE Spare parts for 1-2-3-4 and 6 cylinder diesel engines for Lister, Pieter, Kobota, Perkins, Veutz, Fiat, John Deer, Case IH, Cummings, Bedford and Leyland Daf . Phone 619-4483, 601-7883, 226-6325 Machinery 2 wheel and 4-wheel drive tractors; Massey Ferguson, Ford, John Deer and New Holland. Also available open air or super silence generators.

Phone 619-4483, 601-7883, 226-6325 Tibertian terrior pups phone: 6196086, 699-7077.

Mercury in large quantity, 99.9999% purity. Call: 219-4535/693-5004/ 6791985

GOLDSMITH R.Sookraj & Gift Shop for the best in hand made jewellery ,(made to order) Phone: 612-2125/223-6156

health Are you suffering from abnormal behaviors, addictions, stresses, or psychosomatic sickness? Feeling suicidal, low self-esteem, loneliness, unloved, anger, conflicts and relationship problems?

For appointments call 592-621-0552.

12:00pm -6:00pm, Email: healthworldhc@gmail.com

immigration Immigration & Visa Services We handle all Canadian, USA and UK immigration and visa matters. Self sponsorships, holiday/ visitor’s visas, work permits, students visas, family, class, immigration forms, embassy enquiries, appeals for refused cases, US green card lottery, business class waivers, pardons, etc.

Get your visa approved. High success rate. Balwant Persaud & Associates.

Certified Immigration Consultants, 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings & Lights Sts) Tel: 225-1540, 622-8308, 655-3105.

Email: balwantpersaud@yahoo.ca U.S. Green Card Lottery 2013. We are now accepting entries for the Annual Green Card Lottery sponsored by the U.S. Government. Enter now for a chance to become a permanent resident of the USA. Closing date November 2, 2013. Contact Balwant Persaud Immigration and Visa Services 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings and Light Sts.) Tel: 2251540, 655-3105, 622-8308

MEDITATION Learn transcendental meditation and reduce stress and anxiety, develop full brain potential, increase focus and memory, be healthier & happier, increase energy, vitality and longevity, enjoy more success in life, improve relationships and develop higher states of consciousness. A technique that works for everyone. For next introductory lecture on October 10, contact Ashoke (certified TM teacher) Phone: 233-6921, 609-3701. Email kashokejp_68@yahoo.com askgeneration optician

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

Two-bedroom self contained apt.

Caneville, Grove. PHONE: 669-1954 Two modern apartments at Campbellville, hot & cold water etc.

Call: 219-4535 Recently constructed bond with house and office space on the same lot, centrally located in Broad Street, ideal for business or manufacturing.

Phone: 623-0425, 609-2876

VACANCIES One customs clerk with at least three subjects CXC including English Language, mathematics. Applicant must be computer literate. Please submit application before the October 11, 2013 to email: windsortechhomes@gmail.com or call 669-6874 or 682-3481

property for sale 1 property at reasonable price, located in Bareroot, East Coast Demerara. Phone: 612-6417.

One two storey house at lot 93 Atlantic Gardens, ECD; upperflat-3 bedrooms, kitchen and bath; lower flat-2 bedrooms, kitchen and bath.

Call 592-619-4483, 592-656-7471 EXECUTIVE TWO STOREY BUILDING 3 BEDROOMS WITH ALL MODERN CONVIENCES, MEADOW BROOK GARDENS, MR NARAINE. PHONE: 696-8230 Gas station land. Size: over one acre Phone Ms Liverpool on 625-7582, 681-9293.

1 three-building centrally located downtown in Thomas Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, recently renovated, fully air conditioned, ideal for office with spaces for boardroom, or any other business. Immediate possession. Phone: 609-2876.

services Dutch healing and upliftment, for clearing of land, dredging and ground work (strictly interior operation).

Phone: 662-1247.

spirituality Suriname astrology palmist and Djuka healer. The most powerful spiritualist in the world. Are you suffering from the following problems? (any religions) love, marriage, family, health, business, husband and wife relationships, property, court, children, promotion, visa, pregnancy, education, depression, job, sexual, jealousy, enemy, money, drinking, also you can have all evil forces destroyed such as black magic, witchcraft, voodoo, obeyah, etc, and gives powerful protection. Private and confidential. Phone: 674-2112.

Cleansing of spiritual problems of all kinds. Powerful Ifá protection against evil. Get help to overcome problems with love, relationship, legal, sexual, pregnancy, business, sickness, jobs, enemies, work, money. Call 10am - 4pm. Tel: 592-6901824. Email: anew-life@live.com Dutch Spiritual work. Unite lovers, get rid of evil, enhance prosperity, good luck baths and charm bowu guards, etc. Phone: 220-0708, 6126417, 687-5653

VEHICLES FOR SALE Titan (hardly driven) $3.5M neg.

Phone: 691-9984 JUST ARRIVED: TOP QUALITY RECONDITIONED VEHICLES; TOYOTA PREMIO; TOYOTA ALLION; TOYOTA COROLLA AXIO; TOYOTA NOAH; SUZUKI SWIFT; MERCEDES BENZ C200 COMPRESSOR; BMW 318i; COROLLA AE100 WAGON; HONDA CRV; LAND CRUISER (FULLY LOADED); MAZDA PROCEED; TOYOTA HILUX 4WD EXTRA CAB PICKUPS - 3RZ, 5L, SOLID DIFFERENTIAL; MITSUBISHI CANTER TRUCKS 3, 3.5 TONS OPEN TRAY; 2 TONS 4WD; 3 TON DUMP TRUCK; NISSAN ATLAS 2-TON TRUCK.PRE-ORDER YOUR UNITS EARLY AND GET THE BEST PRICES. FULL AFTER SALES SERVICE AND FINANCING AVAILABLE. DEO MARAJ AUTO SALES, 2 CHIMNEY ROAD, CHATEAU MARGOT, ECD. 624-0762, 220-5177. A NAME AND A SERVICE YOU CAN TRUST. One 450 Honda ATV. Phone: 626-3817 Toyota Hilux 172 diesel extra-cab pick-up, 4x4 manual (5-speed transmission) a/c, p/s p/w p/l, winch, off road front bumper, KC lights, side baranka bars, bush-ready, Old Man Emu, rear leaf springs, lifted Old Man Emu shocks, snorkel, bed liner.

Phone: 623-0425, 609-2876

WANTED Urgently needed! One plot of land in Parfaite Harmonie, Herstelling and Eccles. Phone: 675-7292 One female babysitter, between 40 & 45 years, must be from Georgetown, be able to work flexible hours and some weekends, applicant with a sound secondary education may apply. Phone: 614-5711, 9am- 3pm

TO let

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

Get your extra key today.

House at Lamaha Gardens. Hot & cold water, AC, etc. Phone: 219-4535.

Two modern apartments at Campbellville, hot & cold water, etc Phone: 219-4535 One house located in Lamaha Gardens, hot and cold water. Call 219-4535

lAND FOR SALE Promising gold and diamond mining land for sale in different areas.

Phone:699-3992.

EXECUTIVE TWO STOREY BUILDING 3 BEDROOMS WITH ALL MODERN CONVENIENCES FURNISHED/ UNFURNISHED, MEADOW BROOK GARDENS, MR NARAINE. PHONE: 6968230

Classified Ads $5+VAT per word

Call: 226-9921

Slain biker’s alleged killer appears in court

A

lmost two months after the death of well known biker, Kirk Davis, his alleged killer and friend, made his first court appearance before Chief Magistrate Priya SewnarineBeharry on Wednesday where he was slapped with a murder charge.

Randy Jagdeo, 28, of Lot 159 Third Street, Alexander Village, Georgetown, arrived at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts shortly after 13:00h clad in a white tshirt and army coloured trousers. He was immediately taken inside the courthouse.

Jagdeo was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on September 3 at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, he murdered Davis. Reports stated that the biker was shot 15 times.

According to the prosecution’s facts, Davis was allegedly seen kissing the neck of Jagdeo’s wife at Palm Court one evening before he left to go home.

Jagdeo, along with his wife arrived in front of the late biker’s home in a silver vehicle. Davis entered the backseat after which the accused was seen exiting the car with a gun and approached the back seat, opened the door and discharged several rounds at his friend.

The accused then pulled Davis’s body out of the vehicle and made his escape.

Randy Jagdeo entering the courthouse on Wednesday

Davis was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Jagdeo returned home from Holland on October 23 and turned himself in at the Criminal Investigative Department just after lunch on October 28 in the company of his lawyers. He also gave a written statement to the police in connection with the shooting and made contact with the relatives of the deceased, expressing remorse over what transpired.

Guyana Times understands that when Jagdeo returned to Guyana, he was encouraged by his father to

turn himself in and was supposed to do so since Thursday last but waited until Monday for reasons unknown.

It was reported that prior to the execution of Davis, the businessman reportedly found out that more than $32 million was missing from a secured safe in the house to which his wife and his father have the secret code. Jagdeo believed his wife had given the money to Davis to open a business.

Investigations in the matter are not yet complete, and as such, Jagdeo was remanded to prison and is set to make another court appearance on November 21.

Mechanic fined for threatening to hang ex-lover

O

n Wednesday, a 37-year-old mechanic was fined after he appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charge of threatening language.

Lawrence Moore of Lot 2535 Layou Street, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, pleaded guilty to the charge which stated that on September 30 at Clifford Avenue, Lamaha Springs, Georgetown, he made use of threatening language to Natasha Yearwood where a breach of the peace was occasioned.

According to the facts, the two have a child together and

shared a relationship for a year. On the day in question, Moore called Yearwood and asked to speak to his daughter.

Yearwood hung up the phone which resulted in the defendant calling back. He told her that if he does not get to speak to his child, he will hang her.

Yearwood became afraid for her life and the matter was reported and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

Attorney Paul Fung-A-Fat entered an appearance for the defendant and stated that a protection order was taken out

by Yearwood and that his client has always respected that order.

He went on say that the child is always happy to see her father and on the day in question, he got a bit frustrated, resulting in him using some harsh words.

He also asked for non-custodial sentencing to be imposed since his client has never been convicted nor has he had any run-ins with the law before.

Moore apologised to the court for his actions, stating that it will never happen again.

He also told the court that he would like to have more communication with his daughter.

Magistrate Azore fined Moore $25,000 or an alternative of three months imprisonment.

Woman remanded for stealing embalming machine

A

25-year-old woman was on Wednesday placed on bail after she appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charge of simple larceny.

Coleen Davis of 979 B Field, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, was not required to plead to the charge which stated that between October 25 and 27, at Lot 18 Norton Street, Newburg, Georgetown, she stole an

embalming machine valued $600,000, property of Gorden Lyken.

According to the facts, Davis is employed at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlor as a porter. On the day in question, she reported for work on what should have been her day off and volunteered to do some cleaning without pay.

The owner gave Davis the key to the building which he had secured earlier, leaving everything intact. After she was finished, she returned the

key and left. When Mr Lyken went to embalm a body, he discovered his machine missing. The matter was reported and the accused was subsequently arrested and charged.

Prosecutor Ramsahoye Rambaju objected to bail, stating that if Davis is granted her pretrial liberty, she will not return to court.

However, Magistrate Azore granted bail in the sum of $150,000 and the matter was transferred to Court Two for November 8.

20

guyanatimesGY.com

thursday, OCTOber 31, 2013

Africa pull off Kohli, Dhawan gun down 350 again South one-run heist

Champion of the chase! Virat Kohli now has 11 hundreds in 69 chases (BCCI)

P

ush the boundaries, shift the goalposts, change vocabularies. Three hundred and fifty no longer inspires awe. Not when Indian batsmen batting on flat Indian pitches surrounded by quick outfields with only four fielders outside the circle and two new balls to kill any chance of reverse swing.

With Shikhar Dhawan’s assured century at the top, and Virat Kohli’s 61-ball one at No 3 – the third-fastest by an Indian, challenging his own record of 52 balls – India became the first team to have chased down 350 or more twice, both of them in this series, and both without much frenzy.

The belief and the absolute absence of any slogging was remarkable once again, but India did face some nerves this time around on Wednesday. The match was doing a pretty fine job of retelling the Jaipur ODI story – Dhawan was dropped early, there was a big opening partnership, and Kohli was bursting through the target – when Dhawan played a rare lowpercentage shot and exposed Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. Mitchell Johnson duly removed them, and 62 off 48 required became 35 off 18 at one point.

Kohli, though, pulled out some of the most incredible shots of his innings, driving chest-high balls for fours wide of long-off, to take India through with three balls to spare. With this result the series remained alive, and George Bailey, who might have had reason to believe

he had booked his Ashes spot with a 114-ball 156, will have to put in the drawer possible plans of going home early for Ashes preparation.

Luck

Alongside Bailey, adding 168 for the third wicket, was another Ashes candidate, Shane Watson, who scored a century. The two did seem to be struggling against spin, with Australia 89 for 2 after 22 overs, but Watson did enjoy some luck as Ravindra Jadeja overstepped when he edged a slog-sweep to point.

Once Bailey started taking on the spinners, the wheels came off, India began to bowl poorly, and a colossal 261 runs came in the last 28 overs.

As the hitherto respectable figures of all the bowlers took a beating, Bailey reached a host of landmarks.

He beat the records for most runs in a bilateral series by an Australian or a captain,

becoming the second-fastest man to 1500 runs, and overtaking Misbah-ul-Haq as the leading run-getter this year.

In the end, he was left with a rueful smile, half marvelling at the quality of the batting, half resigned to the playing conditions and the pitch and the outfield.

MS Dhoni, although he won, shared the views about the lopsided nature of the contest, but at one level you can not take away from the composure Kohli, Dhawan and Rohit showed for a majority of the massive chase. It was as if they didn’t acknowledge the enormity of the task of maintaining a run rate of seven an over for 50 overs.

There was no anxiety, no need to hit out, even if Rohit – for example – struggled to find the gaps early in the innings.

Glenn Maxwell, who later took a diving catch at point off a free hit, will rue dropping an easy offering from Dhawan when the batsman was 19 off 22. Crisp shots and lovely placement remained the feature of the rest of the 178-run partnership as Rohit made up for a slow start with two sixes off Glenn Maxwell in the 29th over. He picked out deep midwicket off a long hop, but that only hastened the chase with Kohli’s entry.

From the moment Kohli drove the fifth ball he faced for four through extra cover, he knew he was good for an encore of Jaipur. A few blinks later, the partnership for the second wicket was worth 50 runs, out of which Dhawan had scored just nine runs.

Kohli was 40 off 26 then.

Dhawan, who was cramping by the time he reached his hundred, walked across next ball, and was bowled, giving Australia an opening. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD Australia innings P Hughes c Kohli b Kumar 13 A Finch b Ashwin 20 S Watson b Mohammed Shami 102 G Bailey* c Kohli b Jadeja 156 G Maxwell c Kumar b Ashwin 9 A Voges not out 44 M Johnson c Dhawan b Jadeja 0 B Haddin† not out 0 Extras: (w 3, nb 3) 6 Total: (6 wkts, 50 overs) 350 Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-45, 3-213, 4-224, 5-344, 6-346 Bowling: B Kumar 8-0-42-1, Mohammed Shami 8-1-66-1, R Jadeja 10-0-68-2, R Ashwin 100-64-2, A Mishra 10-0-78-0, V Kohli 2-0-15-0, S Raina 2-0-17-0

India innings R Sharma c Faulkner b Finch 79 S Dhawan b Faulkner 100 V Kohli not out 115 S Raina c †Haddin b Johnson 16 Yuvraj Singh b Johnson 0 MS Dhoni*† not out 25 Extras: (lb 8, w 7, nb 1) 16 Total: (4 wkts, 49.3 overs) 351 Fall of wickets: 1-178, 2-234, 3-290, 4-290 Bowling: M Johnson 10-0-722, C McKay 7-0-47-0, J Faulkner 9.3-0-73-1, X Doherty 6-0-40-0, S Watson 6-0-51-0, G Maxwell 7-0-40-0, A Finch 4-0-20-1

W

ith 19 runs needed off 55 balls and six wickets in hand, the match seemed safe, even by Pakistan’s standards.

But as if allergic to cricket without high-drama, Pakistan conspired a dispiriting collapse as the pitch deteriorated in Sharjah on Wednesday, while Imran Tahir, playing his first ODI in twoand-a-half years, led South Africa to a one-run win.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe began the slide when he dismissed the well-set Umar Amin at the end of the 41st over, and Tahir struck immediately after, taking three wickets in his next 11 balls. Pakistan’s last batting pair – Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Irfan – needed to score seven to win, together, and were doing it in leg byes and inside edges, with plenty of close calls in between.

With three to get for victory, Ajmal took a single, exposing the clueless Irfan to Morne Morkel, and the bowler needed only two balls to secure the win. He hit the top of off stump, beating Irfan’s lazy prod, sparking wild celebrations on the field, as a stunned crowd looked

Imran Tahir’s three late wickets turned the game around for South Africa (Associated Press)

on in disbelief.

For a team that veers so wildly between genius and calamity, Pakistan played prudently and professionally for 90 overs of the series-opener, in Sharjah.

Irfan had set the tone for the bowlers with a hostile, yet disciplined spell after Pakistan were asked to bowl, while Sohail Tanvir

SCOREBOARD South Africa innings C Ingram c †U Akmal b M Irfan 0 G Smith st †U Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 20 JP Duminy c U Amin b Sohail Tanvir 20 F du Plessis lbw b Saeed Ajmal 12 AB de Villiers*† c & b Saeed Ajmal 4 D Miller c & b Shahid Afridi 37 R McLaren c & b Shahid Afridi 8 W Parnell c A Shehzad b Saeed Ajmal 56 M Morkel lbw b Shahid Afridi 4 L Tsotsobe not out 16 Imran Tahir c W Riaz b Sohail Tanvir 1 Extras: (lb 1, w 4) 5 Total: (all out, 49.5 overs) 183 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-38, 3-48, 4-54, 5-63, 6-86, 7-125, 8-129, 9-181, 10-183 Bowling: M Irfan 10-1-35-1, Sohail Tanvir 9.5-1-33-2, Saeed Ajmal 10-2-30-4, Wahab Riaz 6-0-24-0, M Hafeez 5-0-230, Shahid Afridi 9-1-37-3

Pakistan innings Nasir Jamshed c Miller b Morkel 0 Ahmed Shehzad c Smith b Parnell 58 Mohammad Hafeez c †de Villiers b Parnell 28 Misbah-ul-Haq* c du Plessis b Parnell 31 Umar Amin c †de Villiers b Tsotsobe 20 Umar Akmal† lbw b Imran Tahir 18 Shahid Afridi c Miller b Imran Tahir 9 Sohail Tanvir c †de Villiers b Tsotsobe 2 Wahab Riaz lbw b Imran Tahir 0 Saeed Ajmal not out 1 Mohammad Irfan b Morkel 2 Extras: (lb 4, w 9) 13 Total: (all out, 46.3 overs) 182 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-75, 3-107, 4-135, 5-165, 6-165, 7-174, 8-176, 9-177, 10-182 Bowling: M Morkel 9.3-3-232, L Tsotsobe 10-3-28-2, W Parnell 8-1-41-3, Imran Tahir 10-1-45-3, R McLaren 8-034-0, JP Duminy 1-0-7-0

provided tight, intelligent support. The spinners ruthlessly exploited South Africa’s frailty against spin, on a turning track, and remained collected in the face of Wayne Parnell’s late surge.

The chase was measured, sometimes dour – even boring. Needing less than four an over, Pakistan travelled at a steady pace; taking few risks, biding their time. The only surprise was Misbah-ul-Haq throwing away his wicket to a wide half-volley on 31. Reasoning that he ought to have remained there, Misbah will probably blame himself for what happened late in the match. No doubt many others will as well.

If this was a tough defeat for Pakistan to swallow, it was almost as hard for the spectators to get their head around. Tahir was not getting any more turn than Ajmal had managed earlier in the day, it was just that balls had now begun keeping low – but not unpredictably so.

Umar Akmal got himself into a tangle playing the first ball of the 42nd over, shaping to paddle-sweep, then deciding against it, then playing all around a slow straight one. And all of a sudden, panic erupted.

Surely not, you thought, but there was Tanvir edging a wide Tsotsobe ball to the keeper, leaving Pakistan seven down, 10 runs still to get. Shahid Afridi had whacked a four off a longhop in Tahir’s previous over, and then when you felt even he could not be as irresponsible as to throw his wicket away, he got himself caught on the midwicket boundary, trying to hit another long hop for six. (Cricinfo)

thursday, OCTOber 31, 2013

guyanatimesGY.com

21

Miami Heat collect NBA rings, Ramdeen’s ton, Beharry’s beat Derrick Rose’s Bulls NBS Second Division 40-Over Cricket Competition…

haul propel Young Warriors to playoff

quarter. But the Heat outscored the Bulls 13-3 in Rose’s stint on the bench.

Elsewhere, the Indiana Pacers got 24 points from Paul George and 16 rebounds and seven blocks from Roy Hibbert to defeat the Orlando Magic 97-87.

The two-man tandem looked every bit as dominant in the season opener as they did leading the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals in the playoffs last season.

George’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave Indiana a 69-64 lead and sparked the decisive 17-4 run to open the fourth.

… Wiruni Conquerors also through

Kevin Ramdeen

Anil Beharry

oung Warriors defeated Police in their final Zone F preliminary match to complete a clean sweep of that zone, earning them a place in the last-16 of the New Building Society Second Division 40-Over cricket competition in Berbice.

Leading them to victory were former Berbice Under-19 all-rounder Kevin Ramdeen who slammed 101 (7x4, 3x6), and former Guyana all-rounder, Hubern Evans, who scored 42, helping the Warriors past 242 for 5 in 40 overs.

When Police replied, former Berbice all-rounder, Anil Beharry, picked up four for 12 from seven overs to restrict them to 132 all out in 35.3 overs.

Also advancing to the playoffs were Wiruni Conquerors who just held their noses above water to edge out Ibini Ranch Raiders by a mere four runs to end up as winners of the Berbice River Zone, Zone D. Colvin Sam scored 54 and took four for 40 for Sisters but Tameshwar Ramdeen and Jerome Andrews scored half centuries and Gurudat Prakash took four for four to help Edinburg defeat them by 89 runs.

Other half centuries were scored by Harrinarine

Chattergoon of Port Mourant and Derick Cadogan of Hopetown United.

Y

Scores from matches played: Young Warriors beat Police by 110 runs. Young Warriors, 242 for five in 40 overs with Kevin Ramdeen 101, Hubern Evans 42, Anil Beharry 34 and Michael Campbell 2 for 12. Police 132 in 35.3 overs with Michael Campbell 41, Clifton Lindee 37, Anil Beharry four for 12 and Kassim Khan 2 for 23.

At Ibini Stock Farm, Wiruni Conquerors beat Ibini Ranch Raiders by four runs.

Wiruni Conquerors 120 in 24.4 overs with Andrew King 33. Ibini Ranch Raiders 116 in 26.4 overs with John Leacock 26.

At Edinburg, Edinburg beat Sisters by 89 runs.

Edinburg 221 for eight in 35 overs with Tameshwar Ramdeen 57, Jerome Andrews 55, Gurudat Prakash 33, Calvin Sam four for 40 and Laikram Balkumar two for 39. Sisters 132 in 23.5 overs with Colvin Sam 54, Gurudat Prakash four for four, Tameshwar Ramdeen three for 24 and Deonarine Seepersaud two for eight.

At Letterkenny, Port Mourant beat Letterkenny

Young Star by 91 runs. Port Mourant 229 for eight in 35 overs with Harrinarine Chattergoon 89, Vijai Seonarine 37, Sunil Narinedat 34 and Jaipersaud Baijnauth two for 39. Letterkenny Young Star 138 in 33 overs with Parasram Tilkuram 29 and Balram Persaud three for 25.

At Bush Lot in West Berbice, Hopetown United beat Bush Lot Challengers by 18 runs. Hopetown United 205 for eight in 30 overs with Derick Cadogan 85 and Delon Wayne 36. Bush Lot Challengers 187 in 28 overs with Rajbance Hemraj 41, Kelwyn Bennett four for 20, Emerson Benjamin three for 19 and Carwyn Wayne three for 26.

At Sisters, Kortheberaadt Seventh Day Adventist beat Overwinning Bible Church by eight wickets.

Overwinning Bible Church 102 in 16.5 overs with Richard Henry 26, Travis Campbell four for 18 and Osmond Gilead two for 28.

Kortheberaadt Seventh Day Adventist 104 for two in 10.3 overs with Desmond Duncan 36 not out.

At number five, Shieldstown beat number five by 35 runs. Shieldstown 117 in 28 overs with Heeralall Bridgelall 39 and Travis Perry three for 21.

Number five 82 in 23.4 overs with Reaz Imam four for 18, Mark Anthony three for 20 and Aftar Gani two for eight.

At Albion, Fyrish beat Albion Community Centre by two wickets. Albion Community Centre 93 for five in 30 overs with David Latchaya 32 and Kevin Subramanie two for 21.

Fyrish 94 for eight in 29.3 overs with Saif Latchana two for five, David Latchaya two for 13 and Sharaz Ramcharran two for 16.

GCC honours Ramnauth for 25 years of service

G

Secretary of GCC Jameel Baksh (left) presents the accolade to Jailall Ramnauth

eorgetown Cricket Club (GCC) on Saturday evening honored Jailall Ramnauth for his 25 years of service to the

club. At a ceremony held at the club’s pavilion, Secretary Jameel Baksh presented a plaque to Ramnauth.

Baksh thanked him for

his service while Ramnauth, in an invited comment, said that he is happy the club recognises his contribution and thanked the members.

LeBron James

T

he Miami Heat collected their NBA championship rings and then spoiled the return from injury of the last man to be named league MVP not called LeBron James on Tuesday night.

James scored 17 points and Shane Battier made all four of his three-point attempts as the Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 107-95 in the season-opener for both teams.

Derrick Rose, the 2011 NBA MVP, finished with 12 points in 34 minutes in his first game since a knee injury sidelined him in April 2012.

The LA Lakers overcame Staples Centre rival Clippers 116-103. The game was close for three quarters until the Lakers went on a fourth quarter run, winning the final stanza 41-24 Chris Bosh scored 16 points, Battier finished with 14 and Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each scored

Paul George

13 for the Heat, who got their 2013 NBA championship rings and raised their title banner in a pregame ceremony. Carlos Boozer had 31 points and seven rebounds for Chicago, who fell behind by 21 points at halftime but got within eight points in the final minutes.

Rose’s start was promising early, with two early drives for impressive scores. The Bulls led 15-10 when Rose checked out for the first time with 3:36 left in the opening

Hibbert nearly matched his career-high for rebounds (17) in the first half. He had eight points but left the game midway through the fourth quarter after injuring his knee in a spill underneath his own basket. Team officials said it was not serious and he could have returned.

Victor Oladipo, the number two overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft, had 12 points and three turnovers for the Magic. (The Guardian)

22

guyanatimesGY.com

thursday, OCTOber 31, 2013

Golden moment!

The special charter aircraft that brought the trophy from Suriname

FIFA and Coca Cola representatives greet Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony and other officials of the local delegation

From left: GFF President Christopher Matthias, Banks DIH Sales and Marketing Director Carlton Joao, Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony, Banks DIH Co-Managing Director George McDonald and Banks DIH Communications Manager Troy Peters share a light moment as they await the arrival of the trophy

Local media operatives were out in their numbers to capture images of the iconic trophy Photos by Avenash Ramzan From back page

“And that goes to show that passion here in Guyana. We know that cricket is probably the first love in this part of the world, but over the years you have been a developing country and your reward was obviously beating Trinidad and Tobago,” the Brand Ambassador highlighted.

He added, “But on a serious note, I’m sure that with the trophy being in this country it will encourage young people to continue to progress in the world of football and bring people together because football

is such a global sport. As a Brand Ambassador, I’m very privileged by the fact that I was given the opportunity to represent not just my country Trinidad but the whole of the Caribbean.”

Dr Anthony, in his remarks, said all Guyanese should be proud to be part of this “history making” event, as he reflected on the trophy’s journey since it started in 2014 World Cup host country Brazil.

He also pointed to the fact that the trophy will travel more than three times the circumference of the earth, covering a dis-

tance of 149,576.78 kilomentres or 92,942.702 miles.

Matthias said he is hopeful the partnership by FIFA and Coca Cola will help to “touch lives”, as he delivered remarks on behalf of the local football fraternity.

“It is indeed fitting to commend Coca Cola- a corporate giant- for this initiative for partnering with FIFA and bringing to 89 football-loving nations a tangible part of football so that the many who are unable to attend the World Cup can be made to feel

Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony gets up close and personal with the solid gold trophy

FIFA Ambassador and former Trinidad and Tobago, Manchester United and Aston Villa player, Dwight Yorke, is all smiles as he touches down at the CJIA

FIFA Ambassador Dwight Yorke (third from left) is flanked by senior executives of the GFF and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony

part and parcel of the institution of football,” the GFF head pointed out.

McDonald said FIFA and Coca Cola have shared a strong alliance and his company is proud to share in the historic moment where Guyanese can be afforded an opportunity to view the trophy in its true form.

After the formal proceedings at the airport, the trophy headed to Thirst Park where staff of Banks DIH Limited and members of the security services were given a chance to take photographs with the trophy.

Thereafter, special invi-

tees were allowed to view the magnificent piece of gold and take photographs during a four-hour programme at the Sports Club.

On the ground itself, young footballers were involved in novelty activities to mark the historic occasion – the maiden tour to these shores.

Longest tour

This is the third time that the original FIFA World Cup trophy is going on tour around the world.

Following tours in 2006 and 2010, the 2013/2014

tour will visit 89 countries during its 267-day duration.

It was developed through an exclusive partnership between FIFA and Coca-Cola, one of FIFA’s longest-standing corporate partners.

The tour began its journey in Rio de Janeiro on September 12, 2013.

Departing from the famous Christ the Redeemer statue, the FIFA World Cup Trophy will travel around the world for nine months before returning to the country that will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, neighbouring Brazil.

thursday, OCTOber 31, 2013

guyanatimesGY.com

Sachin won’t L get an inch – Richardson

23

Upper Corentyne through to semi-finals of Namilco/Bakewell 20/20 tourney eft arm spinner Neeam Yacoob of Guytrac Upper Corentyne spun web around the Edinburg batsmen to take 5-16 off four overs to help his team defend a modest 115 when the Namilco/Bakewell 20/20 Berbice cricket tournament commenced on Saturday at three venues.

The opening round saw Rose Hall Town Gismos and Gadgets, Guytrac Upper Corentyne, Universal DVD Bermine, Young Warriors, Police and West Berbice recording wins to move to the next round of the knockout competition.

At Number 66 Upper Corentyne won the toss and batted in the match that was reduced to 15 oversa-side and were dismissed for 115 off the last against Edinburg.

Bowling for Edinburg Afaz Khan took 3-23 and Riaz Ally, 3-23. In reply Edinburgwere bundled out for 98. Yacoob was being the principal destroyer, taking 5-16; he received support from L. Latchman with 2-15.

Ravi Rampaul had dismissed Sachin Tendulkar on 94 the last time India and West Indies played in Mumbai (AFP)

K

OLKATA: A big slice of Richie Richardson’s early career in cricket would have been spent in the afterglow of the ‘Sunil Gavaskar effect’ in the Caribbean.

It was not surprising that it should be a reference point when the former West Indies batting great paid tribute to Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday.

“People in the Caribbean have worshipped Sunil Gavaskar.

He has earned their respect for the tremendous skills and fearlessness he displayed while batting.

And now Tendulkar has a huge fan following there.

To grab a share of the popularity that was reserved for Gavaskar is a tremendous achievement and a measure of the greatness of Tendulkar,” said Richardson, who is here as the manager of the West Indies team.

Richardson and coach Ottis Gibson were on a recent mission at the Jadavpur University’s campus ground, where the Caribbeans play a three-day warm-up match against Uttar Pradesh XI from Thursday.

The opening Test, which will be Sachin’s penultimate international match, begins at the Eden Gardens on November 6.

“The 1992 World Cup in Australia was where I had my first glimpse of Tendulkar. I realised there that here’s a special one who could be compared with Brian Lara,” Richardson remembered, adding that the entire team is happy that they

Richie Richardson

will be part of this series.

“We have thought of giving a fitting tribute to Tendulkar at his final Test in Mumbai.

It’ll be a big surprise for him,” he added but made it amply clear what the team’s priority was when it came to the Little Master.

“We have come here with a mission to win the series, we’re here to stop him from scoring. We will not give him an inch... he has to earn every run,” said the Antiguan, who had followed in the footsteps of the great Vivian Richards to emerge as a great batsman in his own right in the eighties.

Richardson wouldn’t get into any comparisons between Sachin and Lara beyond saying “both are great players”, and went back to the team goal.

“Winning a series in the sub-continent is a big challenge for every team. It’s a big opportunity for us to make a mark,” he said. (First published in the Times Of India)

In the second match Rose Hall Town Gismos and Gadgets crushed Skeldon by 68 runs. Batting first RTHGG made 179-6. West Indies ODI batsman and RHTGG captain Royston Crandon hit a breezy 68 not out. Clinton Pestano scored 33 and Parmanand Narine, 31. In reply Guytrac Upper Corentyne were bundled out for 111 all out.

Guytrac Upper Corentyne have advanced to the quarterfinals and will meet Universal DVD Bermine who defeated Port Morant at Cumberland on Sunday. Scores: Bermine 128 all out in 19.3 overs with Eugene LaFleur scoring 53 (3x6, 2x4). Bowling for Port Mourant, Yugendra Harrinarine had 3-30 and Manouge Looknauth, 3-27.

In reply Port Mourant were restricted to 116-6 when the allotted overs expired.

LaFleur returned to take 2-13 off three overs.

Young Warriors beat Blairmont Community Centre by 19 runs. Winning the toss and batting first,

Eugene LaFleur

Young Warriors chalked up 125-6 in 20 overs. In reply Blairmont made only 106 all out in 20 overs with Krisonday Bissondyal hit a topscore of 57. Bowling for Young Warriors Devishwari Persaud grabbed 2-12.

On Sunday, Krishndat Ramoo took 4-17 off four overs at Bush Lot ground to help restrict D’Edward to 102 all out off their allotted 20 overs against West Berbice.

For D’Edward, Jaipaul Herilall topscored with

32 while Devendra Lalsa chipped in with 26. In reply, West Berbice made 103-7 in 19 overs.

At Bush Lot, the home team lost to Police by six wickets. Batting first in a match that was reduced to 12 overs, Bush Lot could only muster 66-7. Asif Khan topscored with 22. Quasi Mokell had 2-16 and Michael Newland, 2-17, bowling for Police. In reply Police reached 70-4 off 10 overs with Martin Singh making 30.

Meanwhile, Rose Hall Town Gismos and Gadgets have drawn the bye and will advance to the semi-finals.

The competition continues on Saturday with three matches with Albion taking on Police at Albion from 13:30h while Young Warriors will do battle with West Berbice from 09:00h. Bermine and Upper Corentyne will meet at the Cumberland ground from 09:00h.

At stake is $200,000 and a trophy for the winner while second place will pocket $100,000 (Andrew Carmichael)

thursday, october 31, 2013

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

Golden moment!

TOP SCORES

India 351-4 (Kohli 115*, Dhawan 100, Rohit 79) beat Australia 350-6 (Bailey 156, Watson 102) by six wickets; South Africa 183 beat Pakistan 182 by one run

– FIFA World Cup trophy lands in Guyana

By Avenash Ramzan

S

tanding 36 centimetres tall and weighing six kilogrammes, the original 18-carat gold FIFA World Cup trophy arrived in Guyana on Wednesday, creating a frenzy among those privileged to get up close and personal with the iconic sculpture of football.

Onboard a specially chartered aircraft, the sparkling trophy, football’s most coveted prize, landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport precisely at 09:00h after a 20-minute flight from Suriname, one of its 22 stops on the Caribbean tour.

Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony, Guyana Football Federation president Christopher Matthias and Banks DIH executives Co-Managing Director George McDonald, Sales and Marketing Director Carlton Joao and Communications Manager Troy Peters- had the disINSIDE TODAY’S SPORT

Sachin won’t get an inch – Richardson P23

tinct privilege of being the first group of Guyanese to view the trophy since they were allowed onto the aircraft for a brief tour.

As CJIA staffers, local journalists and curious onlookers waited patiently to get a glimpse of the most sought-after football accolade, an aged and bald gentleman, donning a pair of white gloves, emerged from the aircraft carrying the Italian Silvio Gaszzaniga’s designed gold trophy, carefully concealed in a black suitcase.

Immediately after, a press conference was convened in the Arrival Lounge of the airport, following which the solid gold trophy was unveiled by Anthony to rapturous applause.

The trophy, which has the names of the World Cup winners inscribed on the base, remained in a display case throughout the day. It is understood that touching the trophy is a right only bestowed on the

Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony was given the honour of unveiling the trophy at the CJIA

Head of States of any given country and the World Cup winners.

Caribbean connection

The trophy is on penultimate leg of Caribbean tour, which end today in Trinidad Tobago.

its the will and

Former Trinidad and Tobago, Manchester United and Aston Villa forward, Dwight Eversley Yorke, in his capacity as a FIFA Brand Ambassador, said: “It’s a privilege to be here in Guyana as a Brand Ambassador of FIFA. Of course our major sponsor in

Coca Cola making this possible.

“Touring around the Caribbean and seeing the looks on people’s faces over the past few days tells me a lot. This is a special day because it’s in Guyanaa developing nation in the world of football,” the

41-year-old Yorke said.

The Soca Warriors captain during the 2006 World Cup campaign noted that Guyana is a young football nation, even as he reflected on the Golden Jaguars’ success over his fellow countrymen in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. turn to page 22

ECCB and GCA mull contempt of court proceedings

By Rajiv Bisnauth

S

ix members of the Raj Singh faction of the Demerara Cricket Board may face contempt of court proceedings as the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) and East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB), have started the process of filing motions.

Guyana Times received a document from one of its sources that outlined some top brass members may have these motions filed against them, especially since the source contended that the current body continues to flout an earlier court order that debarred them from functioning in their respective capacities.

This publication understands that the six contempt motions will be filed sometime in November.

The newspaper was also informed that efforts are being made to obtain the names of

Rajendra Singh

the other members acting on behalf of the DCB. According to an executive member of the ECCB, once the remaining names are obtained contempt of court motions will also be filed against those individuals.

Meanwhile, based on the document seen by this publication, the applicants will

be seeking to have the respondents committed to the Georgetown Prison for contempt of court for holding Annual General Meeting, elections and attending meetings, organising competitions, selecting teams, and/or holding themselves out to be and/ or acting as members of the Demerara Cricket Board or authorizing and instructing the same to be done, in complete disrespect, disobedience and disregard of an injunction granted by the Honourable Justice Diane Insanally (in Chambers) on January 25.

That injunction was granted to plaintiffs Roger Harper and Davteerth Anandjit and the defendants named in that court document were Rajendra Singh, Lalta Digamber, Anand Sanasie, Alfred Mentore, Anand Kalladeen, Ravindranauth Persaud, Ronald Sarjoo, Nazimul Drepaul, Colin Europe, Ray Persaud, Krishnchand

Mangal, Chetram Singh, Lionel Jaikaran, Ramsey Ali, Fizul Bacchus, Drubahadur, Troy Mendonca, Terrence Holder and Rayon Griffith.

The interim injunction had restrained the defendants “by themselves, their servants and or agents acting collectively or individually…from convening or causing to be convened or holding an Annual General Meeting of the Demerara Cricket Board on January 25, 2013 or any other date for the purpose of the election of office bearers to the Executive Committee of the Demerara Cricket Board for the period 2013 to 2015 term of office.”

Subsequently, the Raj Singh faction of the DCB held elections on January 25.

However, apart from the names mentioned in the application, a cloud of doubt continues to hover over the remaining members of the DCB. The board’s head Raj

Singh had told this publication recently that the decision not to release the names of the DCB is not a clandestine move to keep the public in the dark, but rather it is linked to several pending court cases.

The Raj Singh-led board has faced severe criticism about the non-disclosure of its elected officials. Observers have maintained that the elections were held so as to ensure that there was some amount of validity to Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections that were held two days after, and that there would have been a quorum to facilitate the local governing body’s elections.

The East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) and Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) were not part of the DCB elections and have since pulled out of any commitments to the current DCB set-up that draws its support from the East and West Bank Demerara sub-associations.

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