Guyana Times July 24 2017

11 Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 3281

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Monday, July 24, 2017

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Jagdeo says too much P2 “gyaff” about Sovereign Wealth Fund

Page 11

Sophia teen chopped to death after rescuing girlfriend P14 Buxton, other communities benefit from US$3.81M P14 grant

Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme launched Page 12

British High Commissioner Greg Quinn and some of the mentees at the launch of the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme on Friday evening at the British High Commissioner’s Residence

Minister Broomes visits miner injured during interior robbery Duo Teen escapee arrested found hiding with illegal in barrel at gun, ammo Agricola in Berbice Page 12

Page 2

Page 7

Businessman shot during armed P8 robbery

Tourism earns US$1.46B for Jamaica in 6 months P16

2 news

monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.co

Oil and gas sector

Jagdeo says too much “gyaff” about Sovereign Wealth Fund T

he slow pace at which Government is moving to set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) for the oil and gas sector has not gone unnoticed. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has said that two years are more than enough time for the coalition Government to have already set up this fund.

Jagdeo feels the administration is making the issue very complex when in fact it is nothing close to that. “If they give me one lawyer -or they don’t even need to do that -- I could create a model of an SWF within a month, with some of the strongest principles for separation (of the fund) from political people; (for) investment decisions (in regard to) the fund; and (for) access to the fund,” he has expressed.

The former Guyanese

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

Head of State affirmed that his model of a SWF would work well for Guyana because it would not allow for

any loopholes that could possibly destroy other sectors.

“There is too much gyaff…,” he said at a recent

press conference, adding that the infrastructure being created for the Petroleum Commission is being done in a manner that would give its control to a minister of Government.

A Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment fund that is made up of surpluses from official foreign currency operations, proceeds of privatisations, governmental transfer payments, fiscal surpluses, and/ or receipts resulting from resource exports. Money from the SWF can be used for investment purposes, to benefit the country’s economy and citizens.

Guyana’s SWF Bill was drafted by the Commonwealth Secretariat with input from the Government, and was presented to Natural Resources

Minister Raphael Trotman last December.

Meanwhile, some legal minds have recently expressed concern over the fact that Guyana’s Judiciary may not be prepared to handle complex matters relating to this new sector. Jagdeo has acknowledged that it may be difficult for the local judiciary to handle many matters in relation to oil, but said if plans are put in place to build capacity now, this may no longer pose a challenge in 2020.

“So we have to build capacity there. I would hope (that) eventually (we) will have a more specialised court, like a commercial court, that can deal in a swifter manner with some of these cases; and (that we) will have a couple of judges who will build capacity to deal with the issues with oil and gas,” he added.

Jagdeo has also challenged statements about the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration not setting a solid groundwork for the oil and gas sector. He said that during the PPP/C leadership of the country, several challenges were faced in relation to the oil and gas sector, one of which was the border controversy between Guyana and Suriname, which was brought to international spotlight.

He said, “We lost almost 10 years of exploration and

drilling because we had to invoke this clause in the compulsory arbitration on the International Convention on the Law of the Sea. We had to go to court and we spent lots of money, but the outcome was good for Guyana.”

The Opposition Leader has said that while the PPP/C Administration was prepared to make quick decisions based on the oil sector, it was not prepared to repeat what had been done at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), where a hydro power unit was set up but never functioned fully. “A hydro power division was created and a lot of people were hired, and we never produced a single kilowatt, except for Moco-Moco. We didn’t want to do that again -- build a large petroleum unit over there and then sit around and wait for oil to be found, (when) you never knew that would happen,” he explained.

One well, drilled in October 2016, has been described by ExxonMobil as a world-class resource discovery, with potential expressed to be in excess of one billion oil-equivalent barrels. This find could earn Guyana billions of dollars in tax revenues.

In preparation for oil production by 2020, Government has been drafting new legislation and updating existing legislation to govern the oil and gas sector.

Duo arrested with illegal gun, ammo in Berbice

The unlicensed .38 revolver and five live matching rounds

P

olice in B Division (Berbice) have arrested two persons after they were found in possession of an illegal firearm along with matching ammunition.

According to Police reports, ranks on patrol duty on Sunday morning around 01:30h, stopped and searched a motor car on the Crabwood Creek

Public Road.

During the search, the Police Officers discovered an unlicensed .38 revolver and five live matching rounds.

The two occupants of the vehicle, one of whom is a Caribbean national, were subsequently arrested and taken into Police custody.

They are currently being processed for court.

news

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Monday, July 24 – 05:00h-06:30h and Tuesday, July 25 – 05:00h-06:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Monday, July 24 – 17:00h-18:30h and Tuesday, July 25 – 05:15h-06:45h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Weather: Thundery showers in the morning followed by heavy rain showers in the afternoon can be expected, with thundery showers returning in the evening.

Temperatures are expected to range between 24 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Ranging between Easterly and South-easterly from 2.23 metres to 3.57 metres.

High Tide: 04:58h and 17:27h reaching maximum heights of 2.79 metres and 2.67 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 10:59h and 23:15h reaching minimum heights of 0.43 metre and 0.55 metre.

GECOM chairmanship

GBA’s hope of presidential conformity with CJ ruling premature – AG Chambers

O

ne day after the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) issued a statement urging the State to abide by the ruling of acting Chief Justice Roxane George on the appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the Attorney General (AG) Chambers has responded, saying that the GBA’s expectation of presidential conformity with the ruling was “premature”.

The AG Chambers’ statement comes against the backdrop of public statements made by the applicant, Marcel Gaskin, and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who, according to the Chambers , have shown public dissatisfaction and signalled their intention to appeal the matter, if a particular matter had been ruled on without any submissions being made on that precise issue.

Recalling a statement made by Gaskin following the ruling, the AG Chambers said specific mention was made about addressing the proviso to Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, which deals with

the appointment of a GECOM chairman but only applies if the Opposition Leader fails to submit a list.

“This was never an issue for us since the Leader of the Opposition submitted not only one but two lists of persons for nomination as Chairman of GECOM,” the AG Chambers said in a statement on Sunday.

Based on the statements made by both Jagdeo and Gaskin, the AG Chambers believes it would not have been prudent for the GBA to call on the Chambers to conform with the acting CJ’s ruling, rather than directing its message to President David Granger who, according to the Chambers, has not expressed any public dissatisfaction with the judgment or stated any intention to appeal it.

This is in particular reference to the ruling that the President is not obliged to select a person from the six names on the list unless he has determined positively that the persons thereon are not unacceptable as fit and proper persons for appointment, which was described as “non sequitur”.

Attorney General Basil Williams

The statement also made reference to Attorney General Basil Williams’s initial comments on the ruling, saying that the acting CJ’s decision confirms it is the President who must determine that the list is acceptable.

Acting Chief Justice George also confirmed that it was the President acting in his own deliberate judgment who must determine whether a person is fit and proper, the AG has said.

“The Chief Justice also advised that there is no legal requirement for the President to

Witness poisoning

Lab results expected today

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

he results of several toxicology tests done on Friday to determine what the 16-year-old key witness in the case involving Marcus Bisram, alleged mastermind behind the reputed murder of Faiyaz Narinedatt, had consumed are expected to be available today.

The teenager was last Thursday rushed to the Skeldon Hospital, five days after it was suspected that he had ingested poison. According to his mother, the Saturday before he was rushed to hospital, he had allegedly been given food mixed with poison.

The woman told this publication that the teenager, a resident of Number 70 Village, Corentyne, and a member of Bisram's family circle who has family ties with the teenager had gone into the backdam on Saturday; and on his return, she had realised that something was amiss.

His condition had eventually worsened to the extent that he could not walk, thus he was taken to hospital on Thursday.

The teen’s family members have expressed concern over the apparent slothfulness of medical personnel at the health facility after it was suggest-

ed that the teenager had been poisoned. Added to that, concern was also expressed that at the hospital he was visited by an officer from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Springlands Police Station who was reportedly reluctant to act on information in regard to Narinedatt’s alleged murder.

That officer had reportedly been provided with information on the carpenter’s death, including the names of those present and details of the events which had led to Narinedatt’s death. He had also been provided with details on the subsequent staging of the crime scene, including the registration number of the car which was used to make it appear like Narinedatt had been victim of a hit-and-run accident.

state reasons for rejecting a list, though modern thinking suggests that he should. The Chief Justice further advised that the President is not obligated to select a person from the six names on the list unless he has determined positively that the persons thereon are unacceptable (sic) as fit and proper persons for appointment.”

The AG had said too that the acting Chief Justice advised that each person must be considered by the President unless the President provided the Leader of the Opposition with guidelines of who is unacceptable.

The AG Chambers said that President Granger did provide the Opposition Leader with a list of criteria for a person to be qualified for the position of Chairman of GECOM. The Opposition Leader did not object to those criteria and submitted a second list. The AG Chambers said that the President did not have to receive a second list and could have gone ahead and appointed a chairman having rejected the first list.

Narinedatt was allegedly murdered between October 31 and November 1, 2016. His body was discovered along the Number 70 Village Corentyne Highway. However, one street away, where Bisram lives, the clothes which the carpenter was earlier seen wearing was discovered on the parapet.

Meanwhile, officers from Eve Leary visited the ailing boy at a private hospital in the city on Saturday to take statements from him.

The teenager was a frequent visitor to Bisram's home when he was in Guyana, and is said to have witnessed firsthand the events leading up to Narinedat's alleged murder and the plans to stage a hitand-run scene. The teenager is also familiar with the car which allegedly had been driven over Narinedatt’s body when it was placed on the Number 70 Village Corentyne Highway.

(Andrew Carmichael)

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monDAY, july 24, 2017

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

What are our prisons for?

T

he Camp Street Prison had been built in 1885, but twenty-five years before, in a swirling debate on “crime and punishment”, someone had asked in The Times of England: “Do we lock up a man to make him better, or prevent his getting worse - to keep him from doing more mischief, or solely as a retribution for the mischief he has done? On these points, there would be no securing any unanimity of purpose."

But, here in Guyana, more than a century later, we still have not debated what we expect from our prisons -- even as our government rushes to show it is doing “something” by extending all three prisons, including the torched Camp Street one.

“Prisons”, as we know them, had evolved from the “poor houses” that had been built to accommodate the large number of people dispossessed during early capitalism’s “primitive accumulation” phase -- those who would have turned to petty crime. Before that, wrongdoers were kept in jails merely to hold them until they were flogged or executed for their crimes.

The “eye for an eye” principle that undergirded vengeance and retribution was the guiding principle of prisons. By the middle of the 18th century, the humanitarian impulses of the Roman era were brought to bear on the pitiable situation by one Cesare Beccaria in his pamphlet “Crimes and Punishments”.

Beccaria followed his contemporary Jeremy Bentham’s “utilitarian” view of morality, in which actions were to be judged by the pain or pleasure created. Criminal actions under this scheme could be countered by imposing on the wrongdoer a penalty that outweighed the pleasures he would have contemplated in committing the act. The jails encouraged isolation wherein wrongdoers could reflect on their deeds; that is, be “penitent” - hence the name “penitentiaries”.

As a matter of fact, Bentham spent most of the last decade of his life designing a prison in which the appropriate punishment could be doled out in the most effective manner.

His design, called the “Panopticon” -- in which the guards were on duty in a structure in the centre of radiating, spokelike rows of cells -- was imitated across the empire. The prisoners could not know if they were being observed, and so presumably would always be on their best behaviour.

But by the time the Camp Street Prison was being built, the authorities were already having second thoughts about the purposes of imprisonment under what had become the “classical school of penology”. They decided there might be very different impulses behind even the same crime, and modified the punishment regime to suit the individual circumstances. There might be, for instance, mitigating circumstances such as insanity.

By the end of the 19th century, another perspective on the purposes of prisons was enunciated under the influence of the burgeoning scientific investigations into human psychology. This was dubbed the “positive school”, which posited that criminals were impelled by their inherited traits to criminal careers, and were therefore not totally responsible. But while society had to protect itself against criminals, it should punish each prisoner as if he were a free moral agent. The prison was to sequester the criminal from society.

During the 20th century, the immutability of the inherited criminal traits was questioned, and precipitated a change of philosophy towards incarceration of criminals towards their rehabilitation. In fact, during this period, which lasted until the 1980s, prisons were now called “reformatories”, and innovations such as probation, medical treatment, and education aimed at “curing” the wrongdoer were introduced.

Additionally, during the 20th century, there was a growing body of thought that concluded that imprisonment was futile without addressing social problems such as unemployment, homelessness, poverty, discrimination, inadequate health care, and unequal education, which might have “socially constructed” the criminal.

On the other hand, in the US at least, the ‘rehabilitation” approach is being increasing abandoned in favour of incarceration of targeted “criminal sub-groups”.

Should we not interrogate our specific position on prisons in Guyana before extending them?

Guyana Times Journalist Indrawattie Natram (left) placed two awards Saturday night at the Guyana Press Association’s 2017 Media Awards held at Herdmanston Lodge. She was awarded third spot in the ‘Young Journalist of the Year’ and “Coverage of Agriculture Issues” categories

Why is such a huge investment in the Guyana economy being made to eventually fail?

Dear Editor, I am a firm believer that the private sector in every country must be the engine of growth and development, and this must be facilitated by an enabling environment created for the most part by governments. Guyana is no exception.

I am currently in Guyana, and was on Saturday given a tour of the Sleep Inn hotel and casino on Church Street

by Mr Clifton Bacchus, the owner. I had never met Mr Bacchus before, nor was I aware of the principal(s) in the Sleep Inn investment.

However, during the tour, Mr Bacchus lamented that he has been waiting almost a year for the casino licence which he applied for based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) he signed with the Government of Guyana prior to May 2015.

According to Mr Bacchus, US$18 million have been invested in the Church Street hotel and casino. The tour revealed to me some 150 nicely-appointed rooms, some elegant suites with contemporary upscale furnishing, a state-of-the-art casino with facilities for topclass restaurants, gift shop, and stage for nightly entertainment.

Most important in my view is that, when operational, the casino and its attendant facilities would create employment for some 300 people, 80 of whom are

currently on the payroll, having undergone specialised training for employment in a casino.

These workers are being paid although the casino is not open for business, because the training is expensive and Mr Bacchus does not want to have to retrain new people if he lets go of the current crop of trained workers. But for how much longer can he sustain this, not having the slightest clue when, if at all, his company would be granted a licence?

He says his first application was turned down on the basis of some financial requirements, which have since been met, and a second application was submitted last October.

Bacchus’s business partner in the casino, a foreign national, is contemplating removing the state-of-the art casino machines and equipment, since he is unsure if and when a licence will be granted. In the meantime, however, Bacchus is moving ahead with upgrades to the hotel and casino complex, currently installing some 300 solar panels that will eventually supply electricity to the complex.

I saw some of the panels.

He indicated that he had just paid $279,000 in duty to access the panels from the wharf. I thought investment in Guyana, whether local or foreign, attracted duty-free concessions, especially when it comes to “greening” the

economy. Most countries offer incentives such as duty-free concessions and tax holidays for genuine job-creating investments.

Against the backdrop of the foregoing, and Mr. Bacchus having submitted his application over eight months now, I am perplexed as to why he has not been told whether a licence will be granted, and if so when; or whether there is still other criteria he is required to meet. This is a major investment by a Guyanese. Why is it taking so long to give the man an answer? The governments of Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines are encouraging him to invest in those countries. In fact, I was at the opening of the new airport in St. Vincent on Valentine’s Day, when Prime Minister Gonsalves mentioned Sleep Inn of Guyana as a potential investor.

I asked Mr. Bacchus what he thought was causing the delay. He claimed not to know. “Are you a drug dealer?” I asked. He said, “No.” “Are you a criminal?”

I asked next, and the answer was again, “No.” “Are you among those denied a US visa?” I asked. Again, the answer was, “No.” So why is such a huge investment in the Guyana economy being made to eventually fail? The purpose of this letter is to ask the foregoing question. I hope the relevant authorities

would publicly advise what factors are delaying a response to this application. If there are legitimate reasons for delaying, or even denying, the licence, then let the man know.

And having invested so much into this project on the basis of an MoU with the Government of Guyana, and given that 300-plus jobs will be generated, I can see no reason for denying him a licence, although there may be other requirements that need to be met before a licence is granted.

At the end of the tour, someone whispered to me that Bacchus is a good friend of former President Donald Ramotar, and that that could be the reason for the frustration Bacchus is being made to endure. I would hate to believe that this is the reason. The APNU/AFC Coalition government promised good governance, and this would certainly be evidence to the contrary, if this were true.

I hold no brief for Bacchus, I met the man just on Saturday; but his licence application deserves a response and favourable consideration, once he has met all the requirements. Three hundred jobs should not be denied young Guyanese. I hope the relevant authorities would respond to my letter.

Sincerely, Wesley Kirton

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History repeating itself Something else is afoot once more in Guyana Dear Editor, No proper historian can doubt that the most difficult economic years for the ordinary man in post-independence Guyana were during the last years of Forbes Burnham, during the period 1984 to 1985.

Unfortunately for Desmond Hoyte, he was given the unenviable task of leading the turnaround of the economy post-1985. Significantly, he chose the “Economic Recovery Program” as his tool to assert his leadership, and eventually, by 1991, did turn around the economy. We have to remember that the economy did not grow at all during the last three years under Burnham. It went backward by negative 13%, negative 7% and negative 5% respectively.

Fast forward to the Granger Presidency and we can find that he came into office on a foundation wherein the economy had grown by approximately positive 5%, positive 5% and positive 4% in the three years prior to his arrival. So why is he sitting on top of an economy that is regressing incrementally? The growth rate for 2015 and 2016 averaged 3% and is expected to do worse in 2017.

Let me be absolutely clear: Hoyte got a mess, and made something good of it; so it clearly shows that the PNC did have talent. On the other hand, Granger got a stable economy and is making a mess

of it. To divert the people’s attention from the gross mismanagement of the economy under Granger, his team continues to mislead the people into believing that this mess will be cleared up when the oil money flows. It is a downright untruth, since Guyana does not have the systems in place to manage this oil money; and if you observe the operations of this Granger Government, it has Burnhamist economic strategic-thinking all over it, and Burnham was a hot mess at economic leadership.

Under Burnham’s rule, he did everything policy wise during the 1980s to shrink the opportunities to the wider population at large, and while he was drinking whiskey on a commandeered aircraft en route to Africa, the ordinary folk were drinking “rice-maar” for dinner.

Today, if you carefully observe this student of Burnham (Mr. Granger), his policy closely resembles those of Burnham’s from 1984, with all these vanity projects that are built at great cost to the Treasury but offer little economic usefulness towards lifting our people out of poverty.

So while the lead Government spokesperson -- morning, noon and night -- parrots delusional comments like “the majority of the population is happy with the Coalition Government’s performance”, the reality is very different. Today we have

a raw-commodity-driven economy that excludes the majority of the people from sharing in the wealth of the nation, while the Executives in the Government are travelling the world on a billion-dollar budget and paying themselves a total package that adds up to more than G$600 million a year.

Further, within 6 months, some 10,000 more Guyanese directly and about 50,000 indirectly in rural Guyana will feel the impact of these state-sponsored social depriving public policies as the retrenchment continues in the sugar industry. Clearly, these are policies that continue to exclude the people.

So, as history repeats itself once more in Guyana, the conclusion is that we are back to the attitudes of 1984 in the Executive branch of the Government. In 1984, the Burnham government stole the dreams of the majority of Guyanese people, and history is repeating itself in 2017 under this Granger regime.

Regards, Sase Singh

Dear Editor, The Office of the Presidency (the "Office") is being mischievous in its release issued on July 22, 2017, and titled, "President’s comments complement and do not contradict acting CJ’s ruling."

In that release, the Office states: "While the President believes that the Constitution was crafted the way it was to give preference to the appointment of ‘a person who holds or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge’, he has never disagreed with the acting Chief Justice’s ruling in that the Constitution clearly states that ‘any other fit and proper person’ can be appointed.

President Granger’s comments complement and do not contradict that ruling."

Firstly, the release did not include everything the President is alleged to have said in response to the acting CJ's ruling. Specifically, the statement which the President allegedly made on or about July 13, 2017, which the Office sneakily omitted is: "The Chief Justice gave an interpretation based on her percep-

tion of the Law and I will continue to act in accordance with my perception of the Constitution; that is to say I will not appoint somebody who I do not consider fit and proper.”

The public has taken notice of this statement. Let us not try to hide it. The President knows well that it is the job of the Chief Justice to give "an interpretation based on her perception of the Law" on an issue before the court; and it is his job to abide by what the Chief Justice says, until it is overruled or the law changes.

But the President and his Attorney General are of the opinion that they are masters of the court, and their "perception" is superior to that of the court itself.

It begs the question as to why he appointed the acting CJ in the first place, since he seems to think he knows more than the acting CJ. Frankly, whether we like it or not and as a matter of law, a republic is not interested in a President's perception of a law when a court in the republic makes a legal decision or offers a declaratory judgment on that law.

All this small talk of believing in the separation of powers is just that, idle talk. Indeed, for the President to say that "I will continue to act in ac-

cordance with my perception of the Constitution" is to suggest, at the very least, that the President objects to what the court declared.

His comment does not complement what the acting CJ said.

The issue here is not about "fit and proper"; it is about the "perception" of the President (executive) overriding or subtly dismissing the "perception" of the court/acting CJ (legislative).

And, incidentally, no one is disputing that a chairman ought to have integrity and demonstrate independence and be impartial.

That was never in dispute so why is the President so obsessed with these words or qualities, unless he is trying to divert the public's attention from the real issue?

It is not going to happen. The people are aware that the President and his Attorney General, neither of whom is a wordsmith, are attempting to play games with words and they are losing. Too many persons are aware that something else is afoot. The President should cease playing games with words and instruct his staff that in the future, include all material facts in their press releases.

Sincerely, Rakesh Rampertab

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By Peter Gray, PhD

E

very summer we hear from educators about the “summer slide” in academic learning. The claim is that children lose much of what they gained from school during the summer break, so time is lost catching up when school reopens. Some even argue that school should continue through the summer, so as to prevent that loss! Here are a few questions and thoughts that come to my mind whenever I hear about the summer slide: If children lose academic skills over the few weeks of summer, then did they really ever learn those skills? It must have been pretty shallow learning.

If the skills taught in school are lost so easily, then what happens when people finally finish school and go on to life outside of it? Won’t the skills be lost then? If we’re going to force children to stay in school all summer so they don’t lose skills, then maybe we should force all of us to stay in school our whole lives, so we don’t lose skills!

Very often people writing about the summer slide seem to assume that the only learning that is important is learning that occurs in school and is measured on school tests. It’s amazing to me how often this assumption goes unchallenged. As I’ve argued in my book and

guyanatimesgy.com

Foundation

about the so-called “Summer Slide”

– do children really learn less during summer vacation? Less of what? in many essays in this series, the most important lessons of life cannot be taught and can only be learnt in real life. In real life, we learn how to make our own decisions, how to create our own activities, how to actually DO things as opposed to memorise things.

For schoolchildren, summer is a time for immersion in real life. School, at best, prepares children for more school. Real life prepares

children for real life.

The claims about the summer slide led me to be curious about the data.

What does the research actually reveal concerning a loss of school learning over the summer? I spent a couple days digging into the re-

search literature, and what I found suggests that much of what we hear about the summer slide is myth.

Research relevant to the summer slide has been going on for about 100 years. Most of the studies referred to by advocates of school through the summer were conducted decades ago (for a review, see Cooper et al., 1996); so I went back and looked at those studies. All in all, the research indicates that, as

measured by standard academic achievement tests, there is at least as much academic gain during the summer vacation as there is loss. . Most of the studies have focused on reading and Mathematics abilities.

Although the results are

somewhat inconsistent from study to study, most studies show either no significant change or an increase in reading ability over the summer. The concern seems to be with Mathematics, where quite a few studies show a significant decline. That got me curious. Are all kinds of Maths abilities lost or only some?

The Maths skill of calculation declines but reasoning increases

I found three research studies in which students were tested just before and just after summer vacation with Maths achievement tests that separated calculation ability from Maths reasoning ability, and they all showed that calculation ability declined a bit over the summer, but Maths reasoning increased quite substantially! To me, this is no surprise.

Calculation tests assess the ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide without error (without a calculator). A typical easy question might be: What is 58 plus 44? A harder question might be: What is 5.291 times 8.3?

Students in school generally learn the procedures for doing such calculations by rote, without necessarily understanding why you do it that way.

Material learned by rote is pretty easily lost when it isn’t rehearsed. Today, of course, hardly anyone does

such calculations outside of school; we all have calculators or computers.

Reasoning tests assess students’ understanding of Maths concepts and their ability to use those concepts to solve problems. This, of course, requires much deeper knowledge than the rote memory needed for calculations. A typical easy question might be: How do you determine the area of a rectangle? Or, a harder question might be, If a gallon of paint covers 200 square feet, how much paint do you need to cover all four walls of a room that is 20 ft long, 15 ft wide, and 9 ft high? This question does require some calculation, but first you have to figure out what it is you need to calculate.

Which is more important, the ability to perform calculations accurately by hand (which nobody in the real world does any more) or the ability to understand the meanings of mathematical concepts and to apply them to real problems?

The former ability increases more rapidly during the school year than during the summer; the latter increases more rapidly during the

summer than during the school year.

So, take away summer, and we will produce lots of graduates who know how to do calculations, but have no idea why anyone would do them other than to pass a test. But then, of course, they will forget how to do the calculations by a few weeks after graduation, as that is what is lost when not in school.

Maybe instead of expanding the school year to reduce a summer slide in calculation, we should expand summer vacation to reduce the school-year-slide in reasoning.

Before closing this essay, however, I must acknowledge that much of the concern about the summer slide has to do with the gap between economically impoverished students and others.

It turns out that students from poor families gain less and lose more over the summer, on tests, than do those from families that are more well-off. That’s a serious problem, because it is one of the reasons why young people from poor families are derailed from careers that require higher education.

(Excerpt from psychologytoday.com)

Why brilliant girls tend to favour nonSTEM careers

By Lee Jussim, PhD

D

o girls avoid STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) fields because of ongoing, widespread discrimination?

Or do girls with the skill sets that would give them entrance to STEM fields prefer fields that involve working with people over fields that involve working with things?

The go-to explanation for the gender gap in STEM is bias. Old fashioned sexism, “implicit” (or unconscious) sexism, “obstacles,” stereotypes, and the like.

There are many problems with such explanations, including but not restricted to: 1. Much of the “evidence” cited in support of discrimination does not actually demonstrate discrimination. For example, some gender gaps in funding and in graduate admissions have been conclusively shown to result, not from discrimination, but from the fact that women disproportionately apply in more competitive fields.

2. Some of the “evidence” is correlational (e.g., correlating beliefs with some gap), and is interpreted as causal, without any evidence of causality.

3. Those making “gaps (do, probably do, likely do) reflect discrimination occurring right now” arguments rarely consider the vast literature identifying alternative explanations for such gaps. Instead, they tell “compelling narratives” based on historical evidence of discrimination, anecdotes, and cherry-picked studies that actually do demonstrate bias, and they argue (or imply by omission) that those, and only those, studies apply to understanding the gap in question (as if large bodies of literature contesting either the generalisability or even validity of those studies, or putting forward strong evidence for alternative explanations, simply do not exist).

The purpose of this article is not to evaluate whether discrimination against women and girls “exists,” because it surely does under some conditions and in some contexts. Instead, the purpose is to explore two questions: Is it possible that something other than discrimination is a main source of gender gaps in STEM? And is it possible that scientists cherry-pick evidence to support narratives of bias?

(Excerpt from psychologytoday.com)

To be continued

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Teen escapee found hiding Mangrove restoration project underway for Region 2 in barrel at Agricola

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E

ighteen-year-old Marlon Jeffery, an Agricola resident who escaped from police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) on Wednesday last, was recaptured on Sunday morning, reportedly hiding in a barrel at a house in Brutus Street in that East Bank Demerara community.

Police Public Relations Officer Jairam Ramlakhan told Guyana Times that four other persons found in the home, two of whom are females, were also taken into police custody.

Jeffery, also called “Melvor Jeffery” and “Buck”, of Lot 120 Agricola, EBD, was sometime last week apprehended by police allegedly for possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, and to answer two counts of discharging a loaded firearm.

In the police’s efforts to arrest Jeffery, the teenager had reportedly opened fire on the law-enforcement officials, and in that exchange of gunfire, the teen had sustained a gunshot injury to his back, thus he was hospitalised under police guard at the GPHC.

Recaptured: Melvor Jeffery

The teenager was, reportedly for some time, planning his escape from lawful custody, since pieces of female clothing and a wig were found in the vicinity of his hospital bed.

He had also left a short trail of blood after he had pulled out the tubes at-

tached to the back of his hand in order to escape.

The rank tasked with guarding Jeffery has since been placed under close arrest, after he allegedly had left his guarding post to go sleep, thus giving the suspect an opportunity to escape.

he Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), Dr Oudho Homenauth recently revealed that two other structures have been incorporated for the mangrove restoration project in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), which will be positioned at Land of Plenty/Three Friends and Reliance.

The CEO spoke to the Department of Public Information (DPI) and revealed that the decision was based on research executed on the use of the spartina grass, particularly given advanced support to the mangrove restoration project it received.

“Studies would have shown that once you have these structures…They can lead to restoration exercises like we would have seen currently in Lima on the Essequibo Coast where the structure that we have there, over the last year or two, would have shown that mangroves, you can actually not necessarily plant them but you get natural regeneration,” Dr Homenauth elucidated.

While recognising that spartina grass was not native, he pointed out that it

CEO of NAREI, Dr Oudho Homenauth

was suitable for such environments. Spartina, commonly known as cordgrass or cord-grass, is a genus of plants in the grass family, frequently found in coastal salt marshes. It is renowned for its capability to act as an environmental engineer.

This plant grows out into the water at the seaward edge of a salt marsh, and accumulates sediment thereby enabling other habitat-engineering species to settle. The accumulation of sediment and other substrate-building species gradually build up the level of the land at the seaward edge, and other, higher-marsh species move onto the new land.

According to Dr

Homenauth, the vision proposed earlier this year by the Agriculture Ministry will be recognised within the next quarter (October).

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder in his 2017 budget speech had applauded the performance of the mangrove management/ restoration project of 2016, while recognising that it has contributed tremendously to the overall performance of the agriculture sector, and was optimistic as to the continuation in 2017.

Over $40 million was allotted towards the management and restoration of mangroves and NAREI intends to use the funds for planting, monitoring and creating structures.

8 news

monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Businessman shot during armed robbery

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58-year-old businessman is now hospitalised at a private medical facility after he was shot during a robbery under arms committed at his home in North Success, East Coast Demerara.

Based on information received, the incident took place around 03:00h on Sunday.

Investigations revealed that the man and his wife arrived home after an outing in their motor car, PLL 1392.

As they were in the process of entering the house, two

males pounced on them. One was reportedly armed with a handgun, and the other with a cutlass.

During a brief scuf-

fle with the businessman, the gunman reportedly discharged a round, injuring him while the second bandit bashed him over the head

with the cutlass.

The bandits then dragged the victims into the house and demanded cash and valuables. They also ransacked the home as they sought to take everything of value.

Guyana Times understands that the men then fled the scene with an undisclosed sum of loot as well as the 58-year-old’s Toyota Rav4 vehicle.

Presently, no one is in Police custody for the armed robbery. Investigations are ongoing.

Goed Fortuin fatal accident

Causing death by dangerous driving trial continues

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he trial of Ravindra Ramkissoon continued on Thursday last at the Wales Magistrate’s Court.

The man stands accused of causing the death by dangerous driving of 58-yearold Albert Shivdyal, a pedal cyclist who was killed on October 22, 2016 at the Goed Fortuin Public Road when the accused driver of PNN 7289 slammed into him.

At the trial on Thursday, Police Lance Corporal

Glenroy Holder testified to taking the crime scene photographs. The Police witness recalled taking a photograph of the spot where Shivdyal was lying when he was allegedly hit by the motor car. Lance Corporal Holder identified the 10 photos that were later admitted into evidence.

Under cross-examination

by Ramkissoon’s Attorney, Pamela De Santos, the Police witness stated that he was not aware that the

defendant’s motor car was involved in an accident while being towed away to the Police station. Lance Corporal Holder maintained further that he was not aware that it was a construction truck that slammed into the motor car.

Back in 2016, it was reported that around 22:00h on the day in question, the speeding car had collided with a bicycle which resulted in Shivdyal’s death.

Police had disclosed that the car “was proceeding north along the western driveway at a fast rate, while the cyclist was proceeding in the said direction but on the eastern side of the road”.

Eyewitnesses had noted

that the cyclist was struck after he had crossed the road from east to west into the path of the speeding vehicle.

Shivdyal was picked up by ranks of a Police patrol and had been rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police had further noted that the breathalyser test which was conducted on the driver of the car found no trace of blood alcohol. However, investigations had revealed that a braking distance of 126 feet from the point of impact was observed.

The trial continues before Senior Magistrate Clive Nurse.

Conclave…

T …of coalition comrades

he long-awaited meeting of the Executive Council of APNU finally met for the first time in TWO years – in effect, the first time since they slid into office. Your Eyewitness wondered who were invited to this conclave of the much-touted “terrific ten” that had launched their “coalition” back in 2011. There would’ve been, of course, the PNC, the WPA, the National Front Alliance (NFA), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the Justice for All Party (JFAP).

But were the other five political parties and civil society groups that brought their membership to ten invited? Such as the Guyana People’s Partnership (GPP); Guyana National Congress (GNC) and the Guyana Association of Local Authorities (GALA) respectively.

Your Eyewitness couldn’t even remember the other two names or find them on his trusted browser. But apart from the WPA, what can the other “partners” in APNU say? They’re just happy to get a squeeze – especially now that Prezzie’s confirmed that each of the five “parties” mentioned gets a Ministry. Can, say, Keith Scott even get a watchman’s work at the Ministry of Labour on his own?

Then there’s the question of what might’ve been discussed. While the WPA has gotten quite a lot of stick about its street cred following its miserable performance back in 1992, its brain trust did take common positions on issues confronting Guyanese even though they were mostly scattered in the developed economies. (Well, for those of you, Dear Readers, who just had a snide thought, please remember that it took millions to keep Gandhi in poverty!) And they HAVE tried valiantly to remind the PNC – ever so gently – about their commitment to racial and political unity in dear, old mudland.

But the Roopnaraine caper is quite interesting for any number of reasons. Was it discussed at the conclave that even though the man is sick, Prezzie hasn’t allowed him to fade gracefully into the sunset? Why isn’t any other executive capable of replacing him? Is it because he was the chief architect of APNU along with Robert Corbin. Or perchance, even before, with Desmond Hoyte?

After all, he was quoted back in 2012 that APNU actually was hatched back a decade earlier – in 2002. Isn’t that strange? At that time, Hoyte’s strategy of “mo’ fyaah, slow fyaah” was unfolding; the Mash Day breakout had been executed; the five Freedom Fighters for Africans were settling down in Buxton and had chased out Eusi Kwayana. A number of WPA stalwarts had written a famous letter “Not in our name”, denouncing the Buxtonbased bandits’ attacks on innocent Indian citizens.

Who from the WPA was setting the stage for APNU? Roopnaraine?

…and constitutional interpretation

The Bar Association had joined the petition to the High Court – as a “friend of the court’ – to interpret Article 161 (2) of the Constitution on the GECOM Chair fiasco. Having received the Judgment, they’ve just announced they “expect” Prezzie to accept the ruling.

Your Eyewitness isn’t so complacent.

After all, he was pretty clear in his response: “The Chief Justice gave an appointment based on her perception of the law and I will continue to act based on my perception of the Constitution…”. But that’s the whole point of the CJ’s decision, isn’t it? Prezzie, or no one else can’t just act in whatever way they PERCEIVE the Constitution to be interpreted. So, can you interpret Article 149A: “Everyone has the right to work”, to mean you can start working at anybody’s place of business and sue the owner when he doesn’t pay you?

Sure you can – but it’s the Court that’ll have the last word if you’ll get a penny. Prezzie doesn’t seem to accept that!

…of accomplices

A wounded bandit from Grove who’d escaped from the GPHC was found hiding in a barrel at a house in Agricola. Why Agricola? If your Eyewitness “tell it like it is”, he’ll be “profiling”!

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

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Govt must protect Consolidated Marudi Mining Agreement Fund from abuse – Gaskin Small miners, Region

...calls for amending legislation before oil money arrives

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ven as Guyana builds its systemic capacity to handle the revenues that would come from the oil and gas sector, Economist Ramon Gaskin, a former presidential advisor and current political commentator, is warning that failure to amend and strengthen legislation governing the Consolidated Fund may have dire consequences.

Noting that the Consolidated Fund has a history of being abused, Gaskin has called for legislative changes to be made to ensure that sums of money put therein are indeed used for the purposes set out by the law.

“Article 216 of the Constitution says that all money coming into Guyana must be (deposited) into the Consolidated Fund (to prevent it being) spent, or lost, or stolen,” Gaskin declared in a recent interview.

Advocating a five-point system of expenditure aimed at rectifying Guyana’s fiscal position, he noted the importance of slashing the national debt, accumulating reserves, investment in longterm projects, creating a price stabiliser fund, and reducing deficits in the national budget.

“So we must make some kind of amendment to the Constitution, to make sure that this money goes into this special fund and is spent (appropriately),” he said.

Consolidated Fund

Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana states, “All revenues or other (sums of) money raised or received by Guyana (not being revenues or other sums of money payable by or under an Act of Parliament into some other fund established for any specific purpose; or that may, by or under such an Act, be retained by the authority that received them for the purpose of defray-

Economist Ramon Gaskin

ing the expenses of that authority) shall be paid into and from one Consolidated Fund.”

Article 217 stipulates that money cannot be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except: “(a) to meet expenditure that is charged upon the Fund by this Constitution or by any Act of Parliament; or (b) where the issue of those (sums of) money has been authorised by an Appropriation Act; or (c) where the issue of those (sums of) money has been authorised under Article 219.”

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

Auditor General Deodat Sharma declared in his 2015 Audit Report that Government had kept more than $500M, rather than deposit same into the Consolidated Fund.

That report, made public in October 2016, had spoken of the millions of dollars used on the D’Urban Park construction, Mashramani celebrations, and $51.5M being spent on ‘music’.

At present, there is a Petroleum Commission Bill -- sent to the Special Select Committee for review -that provides for the estab-

lishment and functioning of the Petroleum Commission of Guyana, which will be the regulatory agency for Guyana’s oil industry.

The bill has 51 sections which cover areas such as establishment and incorporation of the Petroleum Commission; functions and duties of the Commission; and financing, among others.

The Petroleum Commission Bill makes provision for the establishment of a Petroleum Commission to serve as a regulatory agency for Guyana’s oil and gas industry.

It was sent to the committee after the parliamentary opposition had made certain objections to the bill, stating that the bill gives too much power to the Minister of Natural Resources, currently Minister Raphael Trotman.

The opposition has argued that, with the amount of power being given to the Natural Resources Minister, the commission would not be an independent one.

According to section 8 of the bill, the Minister is allowed not only to provide policy guidance, but to also give direction to the commission regarding a number of other issues, including the size of the establishment; the employment of staff, and the terms and conditions of employment; the provision of equipment, and use of funds; reorganisation, or such works of development as to involve a substantial outlay on capital account; training, education and research; the disposal of capital assets; and the application of the proceeds of such disposals.

Passage of the bill is to be delayed, however, until the committee completes its report.

At present, Government is slated to receive help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to build Guyana’s capacity to manage the utilisation of oil revenues accrued from the oil and gas industry.

9 residents, cry foul …bash Natural Resources Ministers for lack of action

By Lakhram Bhagirat

A

pproximately 15 months after signing an agreement with Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd, resolving issues surrounding mining in the Marudi Mountain area, the Rupununi Miners Association of Lethem, Central Rupununi; the Women Miners Organization, and the Amerindian villages of South Rupununi are contending that they have been given the bad end of the bargain.

They contend that Romanex is yet to begin activity in the Marudi Mountain area, and that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is preventing them from engaging in mining activities there.

Moreover, they are also lambasting Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman for ignoring their calls for help.

Minister Trotman had, in April 2016, initiated a mediation process involving the Amerindian villages of Aishalton, Awariwaunau, Karaudanawa, Achiwuib, Shulinab, Maruranau, Shea and Potarinau; the miners, and Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd, following which an agreement outlining solutions to the dispute was signed by the overseas mining company, toshaos of the Amerindian villages, the Rupununi Miners Association, and the Guyana Women Miners Organisation.

One of the agreed terms

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman and Junior Minister Simona Broomes

of this agreement is that the company, on commencement of exploration and mining activities, would accommodate miners seeking to mine in the area, provided that they abide by the rules of the company and the laws of Guyana, including the non-use of mercury in their gold-recovery processes.

Trotman had, in September, formally ordered reactivation of the mining licence of Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd., thus paving the way for that company to undertake exploration and mining activities in the Marudi Mountain area, Rupununi.

However, according to the more-that-300 miners operating in the area, the company, allegedly financially strapped, is yet to undertake mining in the area.

According to miner Robert Murray, at the time this agreement was signed, there were 483 miners and 70 operations active in the Marudi area. After the agreement had been signed,

GGMC Mines Officers went into the area and ordered all miners to cease operating.

“At a meeting held in Lethem with the Minister of Natural Resources and miners, Mr. Trotman told (miners) that they would be given some stockpile gravel so that they could put food on their tables for Christmas.

That was last year, and this was not done,” he related.

“Mr. Trotman came to Marudi and held a meeting with Romanex and miners.

The miners told…their problems and Mr. Trotman said that he would be sending a facilitator to Marudi. The miners asked that the facilitator meet with miners in Georgetown; Mr. Trotman told them, ‘No, let him meet with miners in Marudi’,” Murray added.

He said the miners were invited to Aishalton, and then Lethem, for a meeting with the facilitator; but they could get no satisfaction. He added that miners are yet to commence work in the Marudi area. TURN TO PAGE 14

10 news

mondAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Security at remaining prisons beefed up – Prison Chief

…situational risk assessment constantly being done

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ollowing the devastating fire at the Camp Street Prison that razed most of the buildings and resulted in a number of prisoners escaping, steps have been taken to boost up the security at other penitentiaries such as

oners.

It is understood that since the fire, over 400 prisoners have been transferred to penitentiaries in Mazaruni, New Amsterdam and Timehri. Samuels gave assurances that the Joint Services were continuing

“We are also constantly assessing those situations and additional staff will be deployed as necessary,” the Prison Chief added.

Concerns have been expressed about the level of security at prisons such as Mazaruni. During a recent

Security at prisons such as the Mazaruni Prison has been beefed up with Joint Services ranks

the Mazaruni Prison, where a complement of prisoners were moved.

This is according to the acting Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, who was recently asked what measures the Prison Service has put in place to secure the remaining prisons, even as offenders are being moved to help accommodate all pris-

their collaboration and risk assessments were being done.

“The Guyana Prison Service deployed officers,” he related. “At the Joint Services level, we have put systems in place to have the prison staff complemented by members of the Guyana Defence Force, Fire Service and the Police Force.”

interview with members of the media, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Security Liaison, Captain (retd) Gerry Gouveia, had spoken about the need to hike security.

Gouveia had expressed support for the suggestion that the stone section at the Camp Street Prison, the lone surviving building

after the July 9 prison fire, be used for remand purposes. However, he recommended that more security measures – including dogs and surveillance equipment – be utilised at the Mazaruni facility, where a multimillion-dollar extension was under construction.

“I’ve always believed that the Mazaruni Prison certainly (has) the potential to be a high-security prison,” Gouveia had said. “But in planning and doing it, they have to understand that the Mazaruni Prison is vulnerable, not only to breaking-outs, but breaking-ins. If you have high-profile prisoners in that prison, that prison becomes very vulnerable.”

Describing ways in which the Prison might be exposed to break-outs and break-ins, Gouveia had reminded that it was situated on the mainland and not on an island.

He also identified specific vulnerable areas.

“And so they have to ensure the security system has dogs; cameras; ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) and drones. And then, of course, the Mazaruni Prison is in the middle of one of our tourism regions — in the Bartica area. So we have to be very thoughtful when we’re doing

Prison Chief (ag) Gladwin Samuels

these things, because tourism is going to be one of (the) major economic pillars of our development,” Gouveia said.

Records

Meanwhile, it was related that all is not lost in retrieving prisoners’ records that went up in flames.

Samuels revealed that there were records that were entered into an Inmate Management Information System.

“I must say that we do not have much work to do,” Samuels related. “Because most of the current records were entered into the Inmate Management Information System and fortunately for

us, the hard drive is secure.”

“So we will be able to retrieve from that almost all of the information from the Prison,” the Prison Chief said in defending the efficiency of the system, noting that “inputting of information is done Monday to Friday by a special team”.

Government was forced to relocate a number of prisoners from the Camp Street Prison on short notice because of the fire. Hundreds were moved to a fenced pasture at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara; 83 were removed to the Mazaruni Prison; 90 were removed to the New Amsterdam Prison; 48 were moved to Timehri Prison.

In addition, the early release of 57 inmates was granted by Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan; while, through the efforts of the Magistrates who descended on the Lusignan Prison to grant bail en masse for lesser offences to reduce the numbers incarcerated, 26 prisoners were placed on self-bail.

As of Friday, only 90 prisoners who were referred to by Ramjattan as the “real bad ones” remained in the fenced pasture. The remainder had been moved to a specially prepared area.

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Harmon defends Govt’s anticorruption efforts

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

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l t h o u g h Transparency International said in its 2016 Corruption Perception Index Report that Guyana still struggled with “serious corruption problems”, despite moving one place up over the previous year’s ranking, Government has maintained that it has been doing everything possible to stamp the practice out.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon was quick to defend the coalition Government when asked recently about corruption remaining a major issue in Guyana. He said the team responsible for writing these reports, depending on who is writing it, would have a different view based on where they were from.

“But from where we are, the people who are here in this country I am sure, that the majority, if not all, believe we are doing a good job in so far as making this country a better place and a more accountable place for all Guyanese,” Harmon told media operatives on Thursday.

Harmon argued that the report, which was published earlier this year, did not state that Guyana was more corrupt than it was years gone by and, according to him, all of the indicators from that report pointed to Guyana having a better administration than previously.

“All of the indices that are there. Secondly, the perception of corruption: we put out the facts to deal with it, but sometimes there is a big gap between perception and reality. And that’s depending on where you stand; your perception becomes a reality,” he opined.

The Minister has reassured the public that the Government was doing its best to make sure that certain processes remained clean from corruption and emphasis continued to be placed on transparency. Whenever corruption is found, Harmon said, Government will take action against it also.

“We have actually done so much in this adminis-

tration that has moved us up the ladder, that I can say to you that if there is a perception, it was there before and we are now trying our best to work ourselves out of it. When the previous Administration was in, our ranking was far lower.”

In fact, Harmon claimed that for the first time in years, the coalition Government presented in the National Assembly a half-year report on the state of the economy, which he promised would happen again. The Minister also claimed that the various Commissions of Inquiry being conducted were all meant to ensure that any corruption or any perception of corruption could be corrected.

The Opposition has long been critical of several Government policies, and has stated that corruption and scandals were more than the present Government had accused it – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – of committing.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had lashed out at anti-corruption advocates and civil society bodies over their silence on what he called “blatant corruption and excesses”, exhibited by the coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.

Jagdeo has repeatedly spoken about the controversial $605 million drug purchase single sourced from ANSA McAL as well as the infamous ‘pharma-gate’ scandal costing taxpayers $174 million annually.

Jagdeo has also spoken out against Government agencies making out cheques in large amounts and accounting officers holding billions of dollars in cheques that are then used in any kind of fashion.

Out of 176 nations that were assessed for perception of corruption last year, Guyana came in at the 108th position with a score of 34 out of 100. Guyana shares its spot at 108 with several countries, including Egypt, Algeria.

Neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago is just above Guyana.

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme launched – 14 young Guyanese to benefit from pilot

T

he Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme first pilot scheme was officially launched Friday evening at the British High Commissioner’s Residence.

This programme was

“How can change be sustainable or beneficial if half of the world’s population is excluded?” He spoke of his childhood, and how women played a vital role in his life: his sister and mother. The High Commissioner reiterat-

Perreira, Lisa Hussain, Sara Henry, Leanna Kalicharan, Kadija Murray, Shivanie Rampersaud, Saunssey Profit, Satwanti Baburam, and Loeta King.

Dr Joy Wilson, Elon McCurdy, Evie Kanhai and

tors, one medical student and a psychologist. They conduct interactive sessions on abortions, prevention of adolescent pregnancy, family planning, and other related issues. They have also recently launched an awareness campaign for the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

British High Commissioner Greg Quinn speaking at the launch of the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme

and looks forward to sharing her experiences.

are willing to commit their time and experience share

British High Commissioner Greg Quinn and some of the mentees at the launch of the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme

conceptualised at the Commonwealth Women Leaders’ Summit in 2016. The scheme is delivered by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Commonwealth Youth Council; the Commonwealth Youth, Gender and Equality Network and the Rotary in Canada and the Caribbean.

Approximately 70 persons will benefit from the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship Scheme. Of that number, 14 aspiring young women from Guyana will be matched with experienced professionals in 14 fields.

Commenting on the programme, organiser Angelique Pouponneau, Vice Chair of the Commonwealth Youth Council, said that mentorship was essential for boosting the economic position of women. “As a young woman myself, I understand the importance of having someone to provide guidance and advice….to progress in your career.”

British High Commissioner Greg Quinn questioned the gathering in his opening remarks,

ed Britain’s commitment to “further the cause of equality and to advocate for this in Guyana.”

He said he would “continue to condemn domestic violence which is prevalent in this society. So, gender discrimination is just as unacceptable as physical or emotional abuse.”

He added that men must be educated, but women too; it should be reinforced that “there should be no barriers to what they can achieve”.

The mentoring project starts with a six-month pilot in the Caribbean and the Americas, and will include a small number of participants from Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. It was opened to Commonwealth citizens between 18 and 29 who have demonstrated leadership and drive in their careers or in community projects.

Both the mentees and mentors were urged by High Commissioner Quinn to “gain as much” from the programme. Some of the mentees are Elon Alonzo, Devina Roopnarine, Chevaunne

Sharon Patterson also spoke at the launch.

Dr Patricee Douglas, a mentee of the programme, explained that her volunteer group, SRHR Adventures seeks to raise awareness of sexual and reproductive health and human rights, with a special focus on family planning and contraception in Guyana.

She stressed that “you do not have to be rich, or have lots of money to make a difference”. Her organisation is self-funded, with the aid of a grant that she won last year (120 Under 40 family planning competition). It was while doing a ‘Women Deliver Young Leader Programme’ that Douglas uncovered the statistics of unplanned pregnancy, and became passionate to alleviate this issue. “Guyana has the second highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in the Caribbean and South America; 97 out of every 1000 young ladies ages 15 to 19 become pregnant yearly,” Dr Douglas stated.

The SRHR Adventures consists of seven young doc-

One of the mentors, Elizabeth Cox, said it was important to “ensure that the next generation is prepared to take on the new challenges that our world will face, they can benefit from our mistakes”. She has committed to aiding the mentees towards becoming successful entrepreneurs,

Dr Patricee Douglas, mentee of the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship programme

This mentorship programme has been designed to ensure that the wealth of people within the Commonwealth, who

their knowledge with the younger generation towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 202, Pouponneau said.

Minister Broomes visits miner injured during interior robbery

M

inister within the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes on Saturday visited the injured miner whose mining camp was attacked by armed men on July 19.

Joel Paton, 22, sustained serious injuries during the shooting, but was listed as in stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Minister Broomes said she visited the miner to wish him well and get a first-hand ac-

count of the incident.

“Miners’ lives are so at risk, it is so dangerous, I mean what he endured – the travel-

were shooting indiscriminately. Three of Paton’s co-workers died during the shooting.

Police investigations are on-

Minister within the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes talking with injured miner Joel Paton

ling and terrain to get medical attention. But I just thank God that he is alive and he can tell this story,” Minister Broomes said.

According to the Police, Paton’s mining camp, located in the Imataka backdam three miles outside of Guyana in neighbouring Venezuela, was attacked by gunmen who

going.

Minister Broomes, according to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, encouraged miners working in the interior, both in and out of Guyana, to take necessary precautions to ensure their safety. “Don’t allow gold to trap you to your death,” the Minister cautioned.

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monDAY, july 24, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Region 1 road woes

Barabina access road worsens – Toshao …Port Kaituma residents still complaining about roads

T

he residents of Barabina, Region One (Barima-Waini) are renewing their pleas for the construction of a new access road to the community, noting that the road’s current state made it impossible to traverse. The road is reportedly under approximately five feet of water affecting the more than 300 residents in the Amerindian community.

“Our major problem is the road issue. Our road issue is that the access to Barabina is in a very terrible state, no transportation can traverse on that road because it is four to five feet in water. It is that way over 20 years,” Toshao Roxanne

in the Mabaruma sub-region has been in the forefront for a long time, with both the past and present Administrations attempting to fix it. Apart from the Barabina road, several other road networks are in a deplorable state in Region One. In May of 2016, the Public Infrastructure Ministry rehabilitated the road following a visit by Junior Minister Annette Ferguson.

In June 2016, a technical assessment team from the Public Infrastructure Ministry was scheduled to visit the community to look at the Barabina-Matarkai road with the intent of rehabilitation.

which began in 2011, could not remedy the situation.

The responsibility for the roadway was handed over to the Ministry in 2012 and a contract to the tune of $21 million was awarded to Joshi Construction Company to rebuild the roadway in January 2013.

However, works fell behind schedule and in 2014, the contractor ran out of money to complete the project that was approximately 70 per cent completed after expending approximately $15 million on the project.

The contractor was subsequently fired and the roadway was left in its flooded state until the Regional Administration recomThe Barabina access road under water

The One Mile, Port Kaituma road

Skeete said.

Skeete explained that the villagers were exhausted since they would have made several reports to the Regional Administration as well as the other authorities, but to no avail. She explained that the road has been under water since the beginning of the May-June rainy season and as a result, services and goods were limited and affecting the daily lives of the villagers.

In the past, millions were expended on the roadway, which provides a critical link between Barabina Hill and other communities in the area, including the administrative capital of Mabaruma. The affected section lies at the bottom of the hilly community.

The village leader said the roadway was being flooded by the overtopping of a nearby creek, which connects to the neighbouring business community of Kumaka.

The Barabina Road

Flashback: Part of the collapsed Port Kaituma Road

Senior Hinterland Engineer at the Public Infrastructure Ministry, Naeem Mohamed had explained that the report would highlight three areas. “First, it will look at the use of a hydrologist to study the water flow to see whether there is a way to find alternative route to divert the water from Barabina itself.

Next, it will look at doing a geotechnical report within the area and lastly, it will be looking at the feasibility of an alternative route to Barabina itself,” he said.

Based on those three areas, the team was supposed to determine if additional works on the road would be necessary or if an alternative route to Barabina would be created. However, it is unclear if the team was actually dispatched since no work was subsequently done.

The landscape near the roadway has been flooded for years and works by the Regional Administration,

menced work.

Port Kaituma Road

Port Kaituma residents, particularly in the One Mile

area, are also complaining that the road network in their community was in need of urgent repairs.

Regional Chairman Brentol Ashley said the authorities

were aware of the state of the roads and have ordered that they be repaired.

Ashley said that the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) was aware of the situation in the One Mile area and it would have instructed Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Chairman Margaret Lambert to utilise parts of the subvention to carry out emergency remedial works.

The Regional Chairman said several road networks in the Region needed emergency repairs and they had to work with “whatever little resources” they had.

However, he indicated that steps would be taken to remedy the situation at Port Kaituma when the weather becomes favourable.

In the 2017 National Budget, a sum of $18 million was budgeted for road repairs and maintenance at Barabina Hill (DBST Road); Bunbury Road; Kumaka District Hospital Road; Manawarin Road; Mabaruma Airstrip; and Moruca Road all in Region One. However, no monies were budgeted for the Port Kaituma road in the 2017

National Budget.

In March of this year, Junior Infrastructure Minister Ferguson said that six lots in the Port Kaituma and Mabaruma areas would benefit from upgrades.

The Central Kaituma Wharf road to old road junction, Port Kaituma will be rehabilitated under Lot One. Under Lot Two, phase two, the Port Kaituma to Matthews Ridge section will be repaired. Lot Three will cater for Central Kaituma Catwalk road to Oronoque, Port Kaituma, while under Lot Four, the Port Kaituma road from airstrip to Fitsburg Housing Scheme will be done. The Kumaka junction to the waterfront by the market road area in Mabaruma will be done under Lot Five while the Mabaruma main township road to airstrip road will be rehabilitated under Lot Six. The Minister had explained that these roads were expected to be completed by the end of 2017. She added that some challenges such as heavy rainfall might delay works, which could see the project being completed in 2018.

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monDAY, july 24, 2017

News

Agricultural land development

Buxton, other communities benefit from US$3.81M grant

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griculture Minister Noel Holder has provided an update on the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica-Berbice) villages that are benefitting from a US$3.81 million grant, which was awarded late last year to facilitate infrastructural improvement in targeted smallscale farming communities.

Guyana Times was told of some “60 acres” of land that was being cleared in the Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD) backlands to facilitate farming.

In an interview with this publication on Saturday, the Agriculture Minister related that the first phase of the agricultural land development project was underway in the specified villages of: Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara (EBD); Beterverwagting (BV)/Triumph, and Buxton, ECD, and Ithaca, West Coast Berbice (WCB).

These were seen as having been “neglected” over time.

“Things are going ahead...the [lands] are being prepared, the bids have been awarded, the first of the funds have come down, it’s on stream,” Minister Holder told this newspaper.

He noted that the project would span four years and 2500 acres of land in the villages would benefit.

While not directly com-

Finance Minister Winston Jordan and CDF’s CEO Rodinald Soomer after signing the loan and grant agreements as Agriculture Minister Noel Holder looks on

menting on how these lands would be allocated when the question was posed, Minister Holder did remark that several sub-agencies of the Ministry were working together to assist some 1200 farmers from the various communities.

“NAREI (National Agricultural Research and Extension institute) is involved helping with extension services. Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) is involved from the

point of view of what can be marketed; GLDA (Guyana Livestock Development Authority) is also involved and farmers,” he stated.

Minister Holder further explained that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) was assisting the communities to ensure that pump stations were operational. He also indicated that while the majority of the funding would come from the multimillion-dollar grant, some 20 per cent of public funds

would be sourced to facilitate such services as local staffing.

“Normally, [such projects] use a small amount of public funds. About 80 per cent of the money is acquired from foreign funds,” the Agriculture Minister highlighted.

The overall multimillion-dollar programme is aimed at reviving the communities’ agricultural production to supply local and Caribbean markets. In December 2016,

the Caricom Development Fund (CDF) approved the overall US$6.63 million loan and the US$3.81 million grant. At the signing of the two agreements which were done at the Finance Ministry last year, CDF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rodinald Soomer had explained that the programme would see significant improvements in the agricultural infrastructure of the communities, which, according to him, were “left un-cultivated, under-cultivated and under-developed due to inadequate access and poor drainage and irrigation”.

He noted that the money was a concessional assistance to Guyana for “… the purchase of farming equipment that will remain resident in identified communities, to finance land clearing; to restore and upgrade drainage and irrigation canals and install a pump in the specified farming communities, as well as provide technical support for targeted farmers.”

Finance Minister Winston Jordan had outlined that the “neglected” villages had a combined total of 1200 farmers and it was expected that some 35,000 persons would benefit from the programme.

The Agriculture Minister had pointed out that the communities would develop agricultur-

ally and economically.

“It is anticipated that with the improved drainage systems and access, the new farmlands will be brought under cultivation with a variety of crops and fruits being targets for production to meet the needs of the community and surrounding villages, nationally and with an eye on exports. More importantly, this intervention will result in increased income and reduced unemployment in the targeted communities,” Holder posited.

This project comes under the Guyana Country Assistance Programme presented to the CDF and was approved within the regional organisation’s thematic priority of improving existing infrastructure and promoting investment.

Guyana had previously benefited from US$11.8 million financing from the CDF for the upgrading of farm access roads in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Four and Five (MahaicaBerbice). The CDF provides technical assistance to countries, regions and sectors in Caricom to enhance their prospects for successful competition within the Community, and to redress any negative impact of the establishment of the Caricom Single Market and Economy.

Sophia teen chopped Small miners, Region... to death after rescuing girlfriend

from page 9

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n 18-year-old sawmill operator is now dead following an altercation with another man over the weekend at 38 Miles, Mabura Trail, Upper Demerara, Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice).

Dead is Devon Murray of Lot 1331 B Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

The incidents leading up to the young man’s demise reportedly took place

between 20:30h on Friday and 05:30h on Saturday.

Based on information received, the now dead man was involved in a dispute with the suspect after he reportedly made sexual advances towards Murray’s girlfriend.

Guyana Times understands that the two men were involved in a physical scuffle for some time before the suspect whipped out a cutlass and struck

Murray once to the neck after which, he fled the scene.

Murray’s body is presently at the Mackenzie Hospital Mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination. The murder weapon has not yet been retrieved.

Efforts made by this publication to contact the now deceased man’s family proved futile.

Investigations are ongoing.

“We have some miners we call ‘Baymen,’ (they are) from the 483 miners, and Romanex is saying that they have no place for them in Marudi. These are the same miners who started work in Marudi since in the 1940s, and about 98% of these Baymen are Amerindians living in Region 9. Mr. Trotman and GGMC told the shops in Marudi that they have to remove from where they are and go to another location, and they agreed. GGMC promised to put drinking water and toilets, this was not done, and GGMC is coming with force to break down the said shops,” the man revealed.

“Two workers of Romanex told us that they (have) not (been) paid their salaries for months. Romanex wants to put two gates on the road, preventing miners from coming into Marudi. A company who come into Marudi some years ago did put up two gates, and were told by the Police and the Mines Officers to take them down; which they did.

“Mr. Marshall (facilitator) told the last facilitation

meeting that he does not want any miners in Marudi,” the man further stated.

The miners explained that they would have made several complaints to the Natural Resources Ministry and Minister Trotman, but definitive action is yet to be taken by either the Ministry or the Minister.

Region 9 residents have, since July of 2016, been complaining that the signed agreement is being breached.

They have raised their concerns with Minister within the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes, during one of her outreaches to the South Rupununi.

Having met with 200 residents of the community, Minister Broomes had said she had been informed that the situation had worsened since the agreement had been signed with Romanex to resolve the issues.

“The Amerindians are complaining that they are not benefiting anything from Marudi (mining operations),” Minister Broomes had said.

The residents have also indicated that aside from the

agreement being breached, illicit activities such as trafficking in persons and the proliferation of narcotic drugs have increased in intensity. Government is allegedly yet to take any corrective step to remedy the situation.

The residents say they are being forced to close down their shops and other businesses, since there are little business opportunities available to them.

Just last month, Canadaheadquartered gold mining company Guyana Goldstrike Inc. reported success with local partners at Marudi, Region 9. According to the company, some 910 ounces of gold have been mined and recovered by local smallscale alluvial miners on the Marudi Gold Project, an area that is about 230 kilometres from Lethem.

However, the miner Robert Murray has said the only company operating in the Marudi area is Romanex.

The Marudi Gold Project is a permitted mining licence consisting of approximately 13,500 hectares.

MONDAY, july 24, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

15

News Bandits terrorise, rob Better Hope family A

Better Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) family has been left traumatised after they were terrorised by a group of bandits late Saturday night.

The incident occurred some time after 23:30h.

Guyana Times understands that the family had a small birthday party at their Lot 55 Zohora Street, Better Hope residence, and were cleaning up afterwards when three masked men – including one armed with a gun and another with a cutlass – scaled their fence and ran up into the house, where they beat and terrorised the occupants before making off with a quantity of cosmetic jewellery.

Speaking with this publication, Christine Ramnarain related that it was her 38th birthday and she hosted a small social for a few relatives and close friends. The woman said that her daughter and a few relatives were on the veranda sitting while she and her aunt were in the house.

“I decided to lie on the chair and rest when these three men just run through the door. They come straight to me and start beating me in the head. Then, the one with the gun went in one of

Christine Ramnarain’s battered hand after she was severely beaten by the bandits

the (two) rooms and the other who didn’t had any weapon go in the other room and they ransack it,” she recalled, noting that the one with the cutlass remained with her.

The woman added that shortly after, the gunman returned saying that there was nothing valuable in the room and continued hitting her.

“He put the gun to my head – you could see his hand trembling – and he said “how you ain’t get money and your husband working…” but like he was frighten, so the one with the cutlass push him away. He start lash me, saying ‘don’t make a sound’,” the trauma-

tised woman recounted to this newspaper.

According to Ramnarain, all this was happening while her cousins and daughter on the veranda were unaware of what was transpiring inside. Her husband was asleep in the downstairs apartment, along with her four other children. She continued that after about 30 strokes to her head, she could not take the pain anymore and started to scream.

This alerted the others.

“The pain get overbearing, so I decided to scream to let them children know to lock up and hide. Now after my cousins them hear, they get up from the veranda to come see what happened,

but the cutlass bandit run out to them and tell them don’t say a word,” the woman related.

The gunman then joined his accomplice out on the veranda while the unarmed bandit remained with her.

She added that shortly after the two armed men left and scaled the fence, leaving the third accomplice behind in the house. However, as he made his way down the stairs, Ramnarain’s husband was coming upstairs to check on his wife, but after seeing the bandit, he ran back inside the downstairs apartment and secured him-

self with the children inside.

The bandit then made good his escape.

The ordeal lasted for less than 10 minutes, but left not only the family members living there traumatised but their visitors as well.

Ramnarain said they could not sleep the entire night and her younger children were up all night crying.

Meanwhile, her eldest daughter related to Guyana Times that when the bandits confronted them on the veranda, they demanded all their valuables. However, most of the guests were wearing cosmetic jewellery

that appeared to be gold and so they handed them over to the men. The cutlass-wielding bandit then struck two bottles that were on a table, shattering them and in the process, ended up broadsiding one of the guests on her hand and head.

This publication was told that when the men scaled the fence and ran up the stairs, they were seen by a neighbour, who contacted the Police. However, the ranks and the Community Policing Group (CPG) members in the area arrived about 10 minutes after the bandits left.

Guyana to take on eco-friendly waste disposal system

Mentally-ill man sets house on fire Waste disposal at the Haags Bosch Landfill

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Smoke emanating from Oyo’s property after it was set on fire for a second time

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ixty-four-year-old Oslyn Marcus, known as ‘Oyo’, reportedly of unsound mind and known for wandering in the village of Meten-meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, reportedly set alight his house in the village on Saturday at about 11:00hrs, and steadfastly refused entreaties to vacate the burning building.

According to reports reaching <<Guyana Times>> , residents became alarmed after observing smoke emanating from Oyo’s house at Lot 107 Meten-meer- Zorg, and they soon noticed that a section of the building was on fire.

Prompt response from

the Guyana Fire Service prevented extensive damage to the property, and the man was taken into Police custody.

But residents contend that the man was released mere hours after his arrest, and smoke was again noticed emanating from the building. Investigations revealed that the man had again set fire to his house.

Alarmed, neighbours again summoned the Fire Service, which again was able to prevent the house from being razed. Oyo was, however, able to evade the Police this time; and up to press time, he could not be found.

Speaking with this publication, one neighbour who desired anonymity revealed that Oyo has for years been acting insanely, and would usually be seen walking around the village talking to himself.

The neighbour disclosed that the man’s premises are currently in a deplorable state, as no weeding has been done there for years.

Expressing fear for the safety of her home if Oyo succeeds in his endeavour to burn down his house, this woman, like other villagers, is calling on the relevant authorities to have Oyo institutionalised for treatment of his condition.

uring a site visit to the Haags Bosch Landfill at Eccles, East Bank Demerara on Friday last, the Communities Ministry, along with the administration of the city dumpsite, indicated that Guyana would soon take on a more eco-friendly waste disposal system.

The new approach is aimed at ensuring better management of waste coming from Georgetown and its environs while providing an environmentally friendly approach, especially in reducing the space used at the disposal site.

The introduction of this new system will mirror that which already exists in North America and other developed countries, comprising garbage separation at the source, systematic transportation and handling as well as composting and other organic approaches once the waste has been offloaded at the dumpsites.

This announcement was made by Minister within the Communities Ministry, Dawn Hastings, while accompanying a team on the visit on Friday. Hastings said the Government has adapted a “Green generation Guyana vision”, which primarily incorporates educating the younger generation with regard to separation of waste within their

homes, schools, and communities. This is in accordance with her “Stop, think and store,” campaign.

As such, the Minister pointed out, “We have to think about what happens after we store that garbage.

We can’t just have one garbage truck come into these homes because we’re encouraging you to separate your garbage at home.”

On that note, the environmental activist went on to say, “Maybe we’ll have to come up with two separate trucks; one to collect the organic waste and another to follow or we may need to come up with another system where we collect the scrap system twice a week or twice a month. But we have to find and put systems in place.”

Adding to the recommendations relayed by the Minister was the Site Supervisor of the Haags Bosch Landfill, Lloyd Stanton, who also underlined that his team was working towards enhancing the operations currently existing at the East Bank Demerara facility.

“Ultimately, we want to restore this site to a sanitary landfill state, where we will have composting, proper waste separation; we’re looking at separation at source, and then we are hoping to get the leaching treat-

ment on board. The leaching treatment facility is currently in construction,” Stanton posited. Adding to the incorporation of the composting and leaching system, the site’s management is working towards heightening the ongoing efforts, such as shredding and recycling.

With the implementation of these eco-friendly measures, the waste density at the Haags Bosch landfill will reduce by 40 per cent, increasing the capacity of the dumpsite, which allows for disposal operations up to twice the number of years initially intended.

As such, the Communities Ministry and the administration of Haags Bosch are calling on citizens to get in line with waste separation within their homes and communities, which will assist in the plans to enhance the disposal systems, taking on a more eco-friendly approach. This simply involves the separation of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste products, which is set to be disposed of through the employment of different methods.

While an exact timeline was not presented for the commencement of this initiative, works continue at the Haags Bosch Landfill to prepare for “green generation” waste disposal and management system.

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guyanatimesgy.com

monDAY, july 24, 2017

Regional

Rio de Janeiro: Police protest over rising Brazil violence

R

elatives of Policemen caught up in Brazil’s soaring levels of violence have protested in Rio de Janeiro hours after the death of an officer during an operation at a nearby shantytown.

They said officers lacked resources in their fight against the city’s criminal organisations.

Hundreds gathered along the seafront in Copacabana to demand more support from the authorities and the population.

Ninety-one Policemen have been killed in Rio state this year.

That is more than the total of deaths registered in the whole of 2016.

“I am desperate because I know my husband could be the next one,” said Rogeria

Every 54 hours, an officer is killed in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Quaresma at the march in Rio. “We see families being destroyed every day. And I don’t accept becoming the next widow,” she told O Globo newspaper.

In the latest incident, Sergeant Hudson Araujo was killed at the Vidigal favela in the early hours of

Private Sector divide in Barbados over protest march with unions

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hile the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) is joining trade unions in the country in a call for citizens to set work aside and join a protest march today, it appears the entire Private Sector is not on board.

After the BPSA Chairman Charles Herbert and President Anne Reid met with trade unions last Friday, the Association sent out an email, signed by Reid, to all Private Sector organisations, urging them to support the joint effort to show their dissatisfaction with Government’s refusal to return to the negotiating table in response to their calls to review the July 1 controversial increase in the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL) from two to ten per cent.

“The purpose of this march is to show massive support for our call for immediate meaningful dialogue of the Social Partnership. It is critical that this march have

full support if we are to avoid prolonged union action,” the email stated in part.

“We ask that all members do their utmost to ensure full support of this march. As such, where possible, we ask that you close your businesses to allow employees to attend.”

But the move by the umbrella agency of Private Sector organisations does not seem to have the full support of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), according to an emailed response to Reid’s correspondence, published by the Nation newspaper.

It indicated that Reid’s communication would be circulated to the BCCI membership, but President Carlos Wharton stated that “while the BCCI’s council is in agreement that dialogue with the other social partners is important, we do not believe that this march should have been the first course of action taken”. (Excerpt

Sunday.

The Brazilian Government announced last week it would send an extra 1000 federal agents to support local police.

Violence has been on the rise in Brazil – and particularly in Rio de Janeiro – since the end of the Olympics and Paralympics nearly a year

ago.

Brazil is now going through the worst recession in its history. The finances of many states, including Rio, have collapsed and there is no prospect of a solution for Brazil’s serious political crisis.

The families of Police Officers say their loved ones are paying a heavy price for trying to fight crime without the resources and equipment required.

Police Officers have been fighting for changes in the penal code so that the killings of Police Officers are treated as heinous crimes.

They complain that the hard work of honest Policemen is not given the same media coverage as alleged human rights abuses in security operations. (Excerpt

from BBC News)

Mexico’s ruling party well behind upstart leftist in voter poll

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exico’s ruling party is running in third place with less than a year to go before the next presidential election, well behind the new party of leftist hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.

Excluding undecided voters, support for President Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) stood at 17 per cent, 11 percentage points behind the top choice, Lopez Obrador’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), with 28 per cent, the poll by newspaper Reforma showed.

The second most popular option with 23 per cent support was the centre-right opposition National Action Party, or PAN, which held

the presidency between 2000 and 2012.

Backing for the centrist PRI has gradually crumbled since Pena Nieto took office in December 2012 because of anger over corruption, resurgent gang violence and tepid economic growth.

Various scenarios for the presidential race showed Lopez Obrador ahead of his rivals, polling between 30 and 33 per cent of the vote.

Political analysts say that may be enough to win the July 2018 contest with the electorate increasingly divided.

Lopez Obrador’s closest rival in the match-ups, trailing by between two and five points, was PAN hopeful Margarita Zavala, the wife of Mexico’s previous president Felipe Calderon. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Venezuela congress going ahead despite ‘imperial’ threat – Maduro

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efying pressure from abroad and at home, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said on Sunday that a controversial election would go ahead next weekend for a new congress his foes fear will institutionalise dictatorship.

“The imperial right wing believes it can give orders to Venezuela, the only ones who give orders here are the people,” Maduro said in reference to a threat from US President Donald Trump to impose economic sanctions if the vote is not aborted.

“This time next week Venezuelans will vote for a Constituent Assembly,” the leftist leader added in his weekly TV programme.

Venezuela’s Opposition has been protesting in the streets since April against

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro gestures as he arrives for an event with supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, July 20, 2017

the unpopular Maduro whom they accuse of wrecking the nation’s economy and crushing democracy.

Opponents are boycotting the Constituent Assembly vote, which they

see as a farce designed to ensure a majority for a government with minority popular support, and demanding instead conventional free elections including for a new president.

The European Union and major Latin American nations have also stated their opposition to the constituent body, which will have power to rewrite Venezuela’s 1999 constitution and override other institutions.

“We need the support of other democracies to avoid turning into another Cuba,” said Julio Borges, who leads the Opposition-led National Assembly legislature that officials say will be replaced

by Maduro’s new constituent body.

Opposition leaders are planning a week of protests, including a two-day national strike on Wednesday and Thursday, to try to force Maduro’s hand. He says they are “terrorists” working for Washington to try to control Venezuela’s oil. (Excerpt

from Reuters)

Tourism earns US$1.46B for French officials seize largest Jamaica in 6 months ever illegal shipment of from Caribbean360)

turtle shells from Haiti

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irport officials in France seized nearly half a tonne of tortoise shells from the endangered Hawksbill sea turtles, found in cargo from Haiti.

The shells, from an estimated 380 turtles weighed 496 kilograms have a total street value of more than US$350,000.

According to police reports, the illegal cargo was discovered packed inside 15 cartons sent by air freight from Haiti to Vietnam, in transit through Charles De Gaulle airport.

“Tortoise shell traffic is up 16.5 per cent,” said the customers service in announcing

the seizure of the contraband last week.

“In the long term, looting poses risks to the survival of the species – these scales are especially used in the crafts and to embellish furniture,” the French Government said in a release.

Authorities say the tortoise shells are used to make jewellery sold on the black market.

The capture and trade of Hawksbill sea turtles, as well as products derived from them, is outlawed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

(CMC)

J

amaica generated US$1.46 billion in tourism earnings during the first six months of the 2017 calendar year to record an impressive 7.5 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2016.

Additionally, the country welcomed 2,165,330 visitors up to the end of June this year, which was 3.9 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2016.

These included 1,186,646 stopover visitors and 978,684 cruise passengers.

Those figures were announced by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett,

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett

who also said that a record 104,098 stopover visitors

arrived during the first two weeks of July – a 14.9 per

cent increase over the corresponding period last year.

The Minister said all this indicated that the industry was, at the end of last month, ahead of the Government’s projected growth targets, aimed at increasing visitor arrivals to five million and generating US$5 billion in five years.

Bartlett said based on the support anticipated for upcoming events, such as the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference in Kingston and Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, growth for the overall four-month period between April and July will average over 10 per cent. (Caribbean360)

monDAY, july 24, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

17

Around the World

Palestinian hospitals White House uncertain on fresh sanctions against Russia stretched with influx of wounded

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hite House officials have given differing messages after US Congress agreed on legislation allowing fresh sanctions against Russia.

The laws would also curb President Donald Trump’s ability to lift any sanctions.

He has resisted the move.

The new White House Communications Director said the President was yet to decide whether to sign the bill.

But the Trump Administration’s Press Secretary says the White House supports the legislation.

The bill is intended as punishment for alleged Russian meddling in the US election.

Trump’s presidency has been dogged by allegations of collusion with Russia during the campaign. Russia has denied interfering and Trump says there was no collusion.

Republican and

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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently held talks at the G20 summit in Germany

Democrat leaders reached agreement on the legislation on Saturday, in what is seen as a sign of determination in Congress to maintain a firm line against Russia, whatever Trump’s view.

He has argued he needs leeway against Russia and his officials have been lobbying against the bill, which effectively stifles his ability

to conduct foreign policy.

The legislation would allow new sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea as well as for its alleged meddling in the US election.

The bill also covers the possibility of further sanctions against Iran and North Korea. It has already passed the Senate and the House is

due to vote on it on Tuesday.

The President could veto the bill, but in doing so would fuel suspicion that he is too supportive of the Kremlin, correspondents say.

On the other hand, if he signs it he would be imposing legislation that his Administration has opposed.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

San Antonio: 8 found dead in truck in Walmart car park

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ight suspected illegal immigrants have been found dead inside a trailer truck parked outside a Walmart store in the US state of Texas, authorities say.

Twenty others were in critical condition, some suffering from heatstroke or dehydration, and taken to hospital in the city of San Antonio.

Police did not say where the vehicle came from, but said the driver has been arrested and would be charged.

They are investigating a possible people-smuggling offence.

The US immigration department is trying to establish the victims’ status.

San Antonio is a few hours’ drive from the border with Mexico.

Police Chief William

The truck is towed away from the scene, hours after the grisly discovery

McManus said in a press briefing that the bodies were discovered after a call from a Walmart employee, who had been approached by someone from the truck asking

for water.

“We’re looking at a human trafficking crime this evening,” he added.

Several others may have managed to escape on foot

into the woods nearby.

Local fire chief Charles Hood said they had arrived at the scene just after midnight to find eight people dead in the back of the trailer truck, which had no functioning air conditioning and no signs of water inside.

The survivors had heart rates of over 130 beats per minute and were very hot to touch. In addition to the 20 people in a critical condition, eight others were taken to hospital in a less severe state.

The fire chief confirmed at least two of the victims were school-age children.

Their condition is not clear.

“We’re very fortunate that there weren’t 38 of these people who were all locked inside this vehicle dead,” he added. (Excerpt from BBC

News)

ore than 900 Palestinians have been injured in confrontations with Israeli forces in the last 10 days over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Palestinian hospitals, already overstretched, fear a large influx of injured if tensions, which erupted on July 14 after Israel closed the sensitive site in occupied East Jerusalem, continue.

They also highlighted that most of the injuries inflicted by the Israeli forces were from steel coated rubber bullets.

International human rights groups have long condemned Israel’s use of such bullets.

The clashes with the Israeli forces that started with the closure of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound have continued since its reopening as Israel introduced metal detectors as a security measure at the entrances of the site.

The Palestinians see the move an attempt by Israel to expand its control at the Muslim-administered compound.

P

Cairn India’s oilfield in Rajasthan

“The company suspected something fishy was happening and

complained to us, and during investigations we found this was an

from Al Jazeera)

Taiwan’s Taoists protest against curbs on incense and firecrackers

M

ore than 10,000 people have marched in the Taiwanese capital against Government attempts to limit the burning of incense and paper money during religious ceremonies.

The Government has been pushing to end the practices, along with the lighting of firecrackers, to fight pollution.

The risks include raised levels of PM2.5, benzene and methylbenzene.

The protesters were followers of the Taoist religion.

They say the practices are a crucial element of their ritu-

Racketeers smuggle oil in water tanks

olice in India have broken up a criminal network accused of using water tankers to steal millions of litres of crude oil from the country’s biggest onshore field in Rajasthan.

The investigation centres on the Cairn India oilfield in Barmer district and 25 people have been arrested.

Fifty million litres of oil were stolen over a six-year period and sold to two local factories, according to police.

Estimates suggest the crude taken could be worth more than $7 million.

District Police Chief Gangandeep Singla told AFP news agency that dozens more arrests could follow.

On Sunday, Israel installed new security cameras at the site which also angered the protesters.

Hussein Da’na, a 76-year-old Palestinian, told Al Jazeera that he “rejects” the cameras because they disadvantage Palestinians further.

“These cameras are made to identify the faces of people who are barred from entering al-Aqsa Mosque,” Da’na said.

Major General Yoav Mordechai, who heads the Israeli defence body for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Israel was open to alternatives to lower the tensions.

“The only thing we want is to ensure no one can enter with weapons again and carry out another attack,” he said. “We’re willing to examine alternatives to the metal detectors as long as the solution of alternative ensures the prevention of the next attack.”

Meanwhile, a Jordanian was killed on Sunday and an Israeli seriously wounded at Israel’s embassy in Amman, a security source said. (Excerpt

organised ring,” he said.

Tankers are used to take waste water from the oilfield. But those involved in the theft were filling two of the five compartments in each tanker with crude, the Hindustan Times reports.

Thirty-nine tankers were used for the theft and 33 have been seized, the paper quotes Police as saying. The local factories are alleged to have sold the oil on across India for diesel production and road construction.

Police are looking into allegations that some local staff co-operated with the network.

Cairn India merged last April with Vedanta Resources, a British mining giant.

(BBC News)

als.

The centre of Taipei was filled with the sounds of clashing cymbals on Sunday as people from about 100 temples took part in the demonstration.

A 59-year-old man, who had travelled from the south of the country and gave his surname as Cheng, told the news agency AFP: “It is very important. Our religion is upheld by the burning of incense.”

Joyce Wu, 34, said: “Gods can only feel our worship if we burn incense.

“I grew up in a rural village, how come I’m healthy and not sick? I think cars and factories cause more of a pollution problem.”

Last year during a Taoist pilgrimage, Government monitors found levels of harmful PM2.5 – particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter – had reached more than 60 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended limit.

The Government issued a statement saying it did not wish to ban the practice, but it called on religious groups to “take appropriate measures to reduce potential pollution”.

One temple has stopped burning incense, while another has started playing recordings of the sound of firecrackers. (BBC News)

18

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monDAY, july 24, 2017

ARCHIE

You’ll excel if you take action. A strong sense of disci(March 21- pline will ensure that you do April 19) the best job possible. Don’t worry about jealous competitors. Live in the moment and strive to achieve.

ARIES

You’ll take one step forTAURUS ward and two steps back.

(April 20- Don’t get frustrated by what’s May 20) going on around you. Learn from the experience and turn a negative into a positive.

dilbert

Strive for perfection and GEMINI (May 21- p resent what you have to ofJune 20) fer. You’ll dazzle onlookers and gain support and popularity. Put your best foot forward and aim to please. You’ll do just fine.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

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LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Calvin and Hobbes

WORD GAME

Keep your life simple, within reason and within budget. Overdoing it in any way will lead to regret. Make wise choices and don’t fear doing your own thing or being different.

Engage in whatever interests you. Check the job market for something that will allow you to use your skills in new and exciting ways.

Challenge yourself to do better.

Don’t trust anyone with VIRGO (Aug. 23- your personal affairs. You’ll Sept. 22) prosper if you are willing to actively initiate and take part in networking events. Don’t let an emotional matter hold you back.

Be open about the way LIBRA you feel. Share your opinions (Sept. 23and make things happen. You Oct. 23) can make a difference that will boost your reputation.

Personal gains and growth are highlighted.

SUDOKU

Watch out for anyone actSCORPIO ing peculiar or being obstruc(Oct. 24tive. Stay focused on whatNov. 22) ever responsibility or job you are given and avoid getting into a senseless argument or no-win situation.

A little excitement will SAGITTARIUS get you going and help you (Nov. 23- bring about positive change.

Dec. 21) Stretch your skills, knowledge and physical attributes to reach whatever goal you wish to achieve.

SATURDAY’S WORD -- SQUIRMING

solution for Last Published Puzzle

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” is not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed. To contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe, write to Word Game, Kathleen Saxe, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Copyright 2015, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS

Look at every aspect of CAPRICORN a deal someone offers you.

(Dec. 22- Whether you are purchasing Jan. 19) a big-ticket item or considering an investment that has some risk involved, practicality must be applied.

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Concentrate on your proPISCES fessional goals. Discipline (Feb. 20March 20) and hard work will help you overcome any distractions you face. Don’t let emotional matters slow you down or hold you back.

monDAY, july 24, 2017

19

World Championships 2017

IAAF President cannot Women’s 50km race guarantee clean World walk added to ensure championships gender equality I A AAF president Lord Coe says he cannot guarantee next month’s World Athletics Championships will be drug free.

Russia’s athletics federation is banned from the event in London, having been suspended by the sport’s global governing body in 2015 amid allegations of state-sponsored doping.

“It’s a very utopian view, people will always seek to cheat,” said Coe, speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show.

Coe, however, added the

system for detecting cheats “is a lot safer”.

“We have the technology that allows us to be very much more specific about

IAAF President Lord Coe

what we are looking for,” he said.

“I would love to tell you that we will have a drug-free sport in future. Everything

we are doing is engaged in trying to achieve that but we know a few people will cheat.

“What we do have in place now is an independent athlete integrity unit, we have independent sanctioning and discipline and we will be able to be a lot tougher and speed up the process.”

Russia was barred from international athletics after last year’s McLaren report claimed more than 1,000 athletes benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015.

Coe said in April he was “disappointed” by the lack of progress made by Russia in anti-doping reforms. (BBC)

women’s 50km race walk will feature at the London 2017 world athletics championships for the first time in order to ensure gender equality, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said on Sunday.

Previously, women only competed in a 20km race walk in the competition and the Olympic Games, while men competed over the same distance and in a 50km event. The women’s 50km race walk was only recognised by the IAAF as an official event from January of this year.

In a statement on the IAAF website (www.iaaf. org), president Sebastian Coe said that the decision had come about due to pressure from a small group of athletes. “(The) IAAF Council’s decision to create a new 50km race walk competition for women with sepa-

rate results and prize money at the world championships in London follows the 2016 IAAF Race Walking Team Championships in Rome, where one female athlete from the USA joined her four male team mates,” said Coe.

troduction of financial rewards in the early 1990s and this decision brings gender equality in terms of competition opportunity too.”

Athletes will have to achieve an entry standard time of 4 hours, 30 minutes

by July 25 in order to com-

“There has been equal prize money for men and women at the IAAF world championships since the in-

pete in the event, which will take place at the same time as the men’s race on Aug. 13. (Reuters)

Near perfect Froome claims 4th Tour de France C hris Froome put on a near-perfect performance to claim his fourth Tour de France and move within one title of cycling’s greatest on Sunday as Team Sky tightened their grip on the classic race.

The Briton suffered a few hiccups but was always in control over the three-week race thanks to his excellent team mates who sheltered him when it mattered, leaving the lanky rider to make the difference in the time trials.

Sky, who have the biggest budget of the peloton, have now snatched five of the last six titles and came within a whisker of placing two riders on the podium as Spain’s Mikel Landa missed out on the top three by one second, according to provisional timings.

Froome is now one title behind Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spain’s Miguel Indurain and French duo Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

Chris Froome

He is the first to win three consecutive titles since Indurain, who prevailed from 199195. The disgraced Lance Armstrong’s seven titles since then have been

erased from the record book.

Colombian Rigoberto Uran finished second overall, 54 seconds behind, and France’s Romain Bardet, runner-up last year, was

third, 2:20 off the pace after both riders lost time to Froome in Saturday’s final time trial.

Sunday’s largely processional stage from Montgeron -- where the

first Tour started in 1903 -- to the Champs Elysees in Paris was won by Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen in a bunch sprint.

The 103-km ride was the occasion for Froome to sip rose Champagne with his team mates as the race began only when the peloton, who went through the Grand Palais, reached the Champs Elysees.

Froome suffered two mechanical problems at key points in the race but his rivals failed to take full advantage of the failures.

In the ninth stage, they waited for him after Fabio Aru attacked near the top of the final climb, and his main rivals did not go for the throat a week later after the Briton broke a spoke in his rear wheel and found himself trailing by 45 seconds.

He was beaten in a brutal uphill finish in Peyragudes as the 26-yearold Bardet won the stage, showing he has the potential to win the Tour.

Bardet and the other overall contenders were too weak in the time trials however. Froome was well aware of that and he took few risks, knowing he would settle the score on the penultimate day in Marseille.

France had a great Tour with five stage wins, including a double by Warren Barguil, who won the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification and emerged as a popular figure, bringing back memories of Richard Virenque.

Australian Michael Matthews’s versatility earned him the green jersey for the points classification, helped by the fact that world champion Peter Sagan was kicked out of the race after elbowing Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.

Britain’s Simon Yates won the white jersey for the best under-25 rider after finishing seventh overall, one year after his twin brother Adam achieved the same feat. (Reuters)

20

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mondAY, july 23, 2017

Shrubsole's 6-for snatches World Cup for England Anya Shrubsole’s six-for secured the trophy Getty Images

E

ngland rescued victory from the jaws of defeat in a dramatic Women’s World Cup final after India were in control at Lord’s.

Anya Shrubsole inspired England to what appeared to be such an unlikely fourth ICC Women’s World Cup triumph as India suffered an almighty collapse to lose by nine runs at a sold-out Lord’s.

India looked to be cruising to a first World Cup triumph on Sunday when they were 191-3 in reply to the hosts’ 228-7, but they capitulated and were left heartbroken after losing in the penultimate over.

Shrubsole came to England’s rescue, taking 6-46 – including the key wicket of top scorer Punam Raut – to become the first woman to claim a five-wicket haul in a World Cup final as India fell to pieces under pressure.

Natalie Sciver (51) and

A

thrilling conclusion to The Open saw Jordan Spieth recover from an abysmal stretch of holes to ultimately claim the Claret Jug in style.

Jordan Spieth found top gear when it mattered most to dramatically beat Matt Kuchar to victory in the 146th Open Championship, having earlier stuttered badly in one of the most extraordinary final rounds in the tournament’s illustrious history. At Royal Troon 12 months ago, Henrik Stenson edged out Phil Mickelson in a thrilling final-round duel that saw both men hit rare heights, the Swede carding 63 to secure the Claret Jug. It was a very different story for much of Sunday at Royal Birkdale as Spieth, three clear of Kuchar overnight, turned in a largely abysmal performance for the first two-thirds of his round that evoked memories of his famous back-nine collapse in the 2016 Masters.

However, the Texan regained his form in the most sensational fashion upon rescuing an unlikely bogey on the 13th, where he ultimately took a drop from an unplayable lie on the nearby practice ground after his drive had landed in heavy rough to the right of the fairway.

Having done well to fall just one behind Kuchar, Spieth duly picked up five

Sarah Taylor (45) put on 83 for the fourth wicket after England had been reduced to 63-3 before Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn (25) chipped in down the order, Jhulan Goswami (3-23) the pick of the India bowlers.

India were in command thanks to composed knocks from Raut (86), semi-final centurion Harmanpreet Kaur (52) and Veda

SCOREBOARD

Krishnamurthy (35), but they fell to pieces with so much at stake in front of a full house.

Shrubsole rose to the occasion and sealed a dramatic victory by bowl-

ing Rajeshwari Gayakwad the ball after Gunn put down a simple catch to leave some of the India players in tears and spark frenzied celebrations from England players and supporters. (Sportsmax)

England T Beaumont c Goswami b Poonam Yadav 23 S Taylor † c †Verma b Goswami 45 H Knight (c) lbw b Poonam Yadav 1 N Sciver lbw b Goswami 51 F Wilson lbw b Goswami K Brunt run out (Sharma) 34 J Gunn not out 25 L Marsh not out 14 Extras 11 (w 7, nb 1, lb 3) Total 228/7 (50 Overs) Did not bat: A Shrubsole, A Hartley FoW: 1-47 (L Winfield, 11.1 ov), 2-60 (TT Beaumont, 14.3 ov), 3-63 (HC Knight, 16.1 ov), 4-146 (SJ Taylor, 32.4 ov), 5-146 (FC Wilson, 32.5 ov), 6-164 (NR Sciver, 37.1 ov), 7-196 (KH Brunt, 45.6 ov) Bowling: Goswami 103-23-3, Pandey 7-0-530, Gayakwad 10-1-491, Sharma 9-0-39-0, Poonam Yadav 10-0-362, Kaur 4-0-25-0 India (target 229 from 50 overs) P Raut lbw b Shrubsole 86

El Salvador’s

England lifted their fourth World Cup title

shots over the next four holes to regain control of the tournament - birdies at the 14th, 16th and 17th coming either side of a mammoth eagle putt finding its target at 15.

Spieth duly completed a round of 69 to finish on 12 under, once more three ahead of Kuchar, who could only rue a failure to fully capitalise on his rival’s initial woes.

Li Haotong carded a 63 on the final day to finish third, six off the pace, with Rory McIlroy and Rafael Cabrera-Bello a shot further back.

Spieth will now head to next month’s US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow with the chance to become only the sixth man in history - and the youngest - to complete golf’s Grand Slam by winning all four majors. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods make up the current members of that elite club, with Woods achieving the feat almost seven months on from his 24th birthday. Spieth turns 24 on Thursday.

The 2017 Open champion is also the youngest winner of the event since the great Seve Ballesteros, who was 22 when he triumphed in 1979 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. If Spieth’s front nine performance, which saw him turn in 37 to Kuchar’s 34 af-

M Mandhana b Shrubsole 0 M Raj run out (Sciver) 17 H Kaur c Beaumont b Hartley 51 V Krishnamurthy c 35 Sciver b Shrubsole S Devi b Hartley 0 D Sharma c Sciver b Shrubsole 14 0 J Goswami b Shrubsole S Pandey run out (Shrubsole) 4 1 P Yadav not out R Gayakwad b Shrubsole 0 Extras 1nb 7w 0b 3lb 11 Total 219 all out (48.4 Overs) FoW:1-5 (S Mandhana, 1.4 ov), 2-43 (M Raj, 12.1 ov), 3-138 (H Kaur, 33.3 ov), 4-191 (PG Raut, 42.5 ov), 5-196 (S Verma, 43.3 ov), 6-200 (V Krishnamurthy, 44.4 ov), 7-201 (J Goswami, 44.6 ov), 8-218 (S Pandey, 47.3 ov), 9-218 (DB Sharma, 48.1 ov), 10-219 (RS Gayakwad, 48.4 ov) Bowling: Brunt 6-0-22-0, Shrubsole 9.4-0-46-6, Sciver 5.0-1-26-0, Gunn 7-2-17-0, Marsh 10-0-1-4010-0-00, Hartley 58-2, Knight 1-0-7-0

Romero banned for

biting Altidore

Jordan Spieth rallied to hold off Matt Kuchar in Birkdale thriller

ter bogeys at three of the first four holes, was unconvincing, the wheels certainly appeared to have come off when a wild drive at 13 prompted him to raise his hands to his head in despair.

Astonishing scenes followed, Spieth eventually taking a penalty drop in the most unusual of territory on the practice ground after prolonged deliberation with rules officials.

Yet he somehow found the strength to limit the damage and duly rose from the depths of despair to almost ace the 14th before converting a short birdie

putt to regain a share of the lead.

If that represented an impressive regathering of composure, Spieth’s next act was truly outrageous. An enormous eagle putt from the front of the 15th green bettered Kuchar’s birdie from the sand and the longtime leader was suddenly back in control.

Further birdies followed at 16 and 17 as Spieth charged to the winning post, his outstanding performance over the closing holes all the more remarkable for the torturous struggles that preceded it. (Sportsmax)

H

United States’ Jozy Altidore (27) and El Salvador’s Henry Romero (4)

enry Romero and Darwin Ceren have each received bans for biting following El Salvador’s loss to United States.

El Salvador defender Henry Romero has been banned for six games for biting Jozy Altidore during the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final defeat to United States.

Romero also appeared to pinch striker Altidore’s nipple in the USA’s 2-0 victory.

His actions drew the anger of Altidore’s girlfriend, with the Toronto FC forward telling reporters after that

game: “My girl’s mad at me.

She’s mad at me. She’s mad at Romero, because she’s like: ‘Only I can bite you, only I can grab your nipples.’”

Midfielder Darwin Ceren has also been banned, receiving a three-match suspension for biting USA defender Omar Gonzalez.

The CONCACAF disciplinary committee announced the suspensions before the USA’s 2-0 win over Costa Rica in Saturday’s semi-final.

It said the ban was for “anti-sporting behaviour” and will only apply for official matches. (Sportsmax)

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sports

Guyana to host historic Pan-Am Hockey in October G

uyana will, on October 14th 2017, host its first even Pan American level hockey championships. Called the “Indoor Pan American Cups”, the tournament will feature two simultaneous competitions for men and women, and serves as the Pan American Continental Qualifier for FIH Indoor Hockey World Cups, scheduled for February 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

The 2017 Indoor Pan American Cups will take place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) in Georgetown, Guyana.

This hall has been reno-

ey, and was the first venue used when Guyana began its Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival back in 2004. The festival was able to fill the venue to near its 3,000-spectator capacity, and launched Guyana on the map as being one of the top regional hosts for indoor hockey.

The competition this year will be one of the biggest ever in its history, which dates back to 2002. There will be eight nations contesting the women’s competition and seven contesting the men’s, with each tournament being represented by participation from North,

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Guyana’s men will compete in October for a chance to qualify for the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup

vated in preparation for the Caribbean Basketball Under-16 Championships held one year ago. The CASH used to be a regular home for local indoor hock-

Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

Only the 2010 competition, held in Venezuela, was larger, and by just one team.

The tournament will

see the return to competition of all four semi-finalists for both genders from 2014, and promises to be one of the most highly contested events. In the men’s competition, the Canadian side, which boasts the most first-place finishes – four -will comprise of some players not entirely unfamiliar with Guyana and the CASH. Several of these players have, over the years, participated in the annual Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival, and have already established their own following among the local supporters.

Trinidad, similarly, is likely to have several players in the ranks who have competed in Guyana, as the island has, throughout the years, supported the local hockey festival with the greatest attendance of foreign players. The mighty Argentina and USA have both been finalists in the past, with the USA winning the championships against then hosts, Argentina, back in 2008.

Barbados rounds out the participation from the Caribbean, and although not known particularly for its indoor game, always produces players with tremendous skill, while Mexico returns to the competition for the third time as the lone Central American entrant.

Guyana has competed on three occasions in this competition, resulting in a 4th place finish in 2005, fifth place in 2010 and their best showing, 3rd place, in the last competition held in 2014 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The seven teams of the men’s competition: Guyana, Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA, are all strong contenders for the gold, although

Guyana’s women will compete in October for a chance to qualify for the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup

Canada remains favourite, having won the competition a record four times out of six.

The same seven nations will compete in the women’s competition, with the addition of Uruguay, which has been the surprise of Pan American hockey over the past few years. Uruguay has been the biggest mover on the world rankings, and had even qualified for the Indoor World Cup back in 2010.

Argentina and Canada both have recorded a presence on the winner’s podium twice, while Trinidad won the inaugural women’s Indoor Pan American Cup back in 2002.

The Guyanese women, who have competed creditably over the past 10 years in the outdoor version of the game, will taste their first international indoor hockey competition this year as the competition’s least ex-

perienced side. Most of the Guyanese players, however, would have had the experience of competing in the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Festival over the past several years, and will be familiar with the conditions and the vociferous home support.

Apart from the usual strong spectator support for the competition and those accompanying the visiting teams, the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) has plans to have all matches streamed live. Viewership throughout the Americas is expected to be in the tens of thousands, and the GHB intends to use the opportunity to showcase Guyana as a sports and recreational destination, especially to the many viewers who may not have heard much about this beautiful country.

Bishoo-sponsored Albion Academy commences today

Contact our

Circulation Department

S

on Phone: 223-7230 EXT: 35

cores of children will from today be exposed to various skill areas in the sport of cricket as the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club commences its 2017 Cricket Academy at the Albion Community Development Centre Ground in East Berbice/Corentyne.

More than 75 young cricketers between the ages of eight and 18 years are expected to participate in this week-long academy, which will conclude on July 29.

The aim of the academy is to expose young cricketers to the rudiments of cricket, so as to enhance their development.

Sessions will commence at 08:00h and conclude at 16:45h daily, with the youngsters being exposed to lectures on topics such as discipline, public speaking, importance of education, importance of fitness, and the laws of the game, among other topics, in addition to cricket coaching.

Current Guyana first class cricketers from Albion, Gudakesh Motie and Anthony Bramble, will be part of the coaching staff.

The Albion Community Centre Cricket Club wishes to express its profound gratitude to West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for exclusively sponsoring this year’s academy.

Bishoo is a product of the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club.

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mondAY, july 24, 2017

Digicel Senior National Squash Championships…

Arjoon’s reign continues T

he Digicel Senior National Squash Championships concluded on Saturday evening with Alex Arjoon retaining his men’s title; Nicolette Fernandes dethroning defending champion Ashley Khalil, to again recapture the women’s title; and Joe Mekdeci winning both the Veterans 35-49 and Over-50 titles.

On a night wherein squash of the highest quality was displayed in all of the matches, Alex Arjoon and Richard Chin provided a men’s final of the highest standard, with both players pushing themselves to the limit. Alex won a long first game 12-10, and then won an even longer second game by the same score: 12-10.

But with years of experience under his belt, Chin fought back to win the third game 11-6.

Although these three games had obviously taken their toll on both players, no quarter was conceded by either player. Arjoon progressed to an early 4-love lead in the fourth game; and at 8- 4, the proverbial fat lady had appeared ready to sing, but Chin was in no mood to listen to her music. He staged a remarkable comeback to get to 7-8; and when Arjoon reached match ball at 10-8, Chin again dug deeply into his experience

‒ Fernandes humbles Khalil

The respective prize winners pose with their accolades after a gruelling 5-day competition

to win the next two points and tie the score at 10-all.

But Arjoon was not to be denied, and he closed out the match by winning the next two points and the game at 12-10.

In the ladies final, Nicolette Fernandes, who had not played in the last two national open tourneys, saw the first game of her final go back-and-forth, with Khalil holding her own against this world-rated player.

At 9-7, Khalil was two points away from taking the crucial first game when Fernandes dropped gear in

a manner of speaking and won the next four points and the first game 11-9. The second game was also close, but Nicolette always seemed in control, and won by an 11-8 score.

The loss of these two games seemed to empty the fight from Ashley, and Nicolette easily won the third game at 11-1, losing just one point in the process.

In the men’s third-place playoff, Nyron Joseph and Kristian Jeffrey fought it out for five hard games before Nyron won the first game 13-11. But Kristian bounced back to take the

second game 11-5, and the third at 12-10.

The win of this third game seemed to sap all of Kristian’s energy, and he lost the fourth game 0-11.

And then, after leading 4-2 in the fifth game, lost the next nine points to concede victory to Nyron with the score at 11- 4.

In the women’s thirdplace match, former national champion Mary FungA-Fat secured the victory against Caribbean Under-19 champion Taylor Fernandes.

Taylor won the first game 11-8, and then had game ball 11-10 to take a two

GTT Tape Ball KO tourney…

Village Rams tame Eccles Rockers

T

eams from Georgetown were yesterday engaged in serious rivalry at the National Culture Centre Tarmac as the second leg of action in the GTT Tape Ball Competition for city teams continued.

Emerging winners after the action were Village Rams, CJIA B, Eccles All Stars, GT Strikers, PSI Legends, Ruimveldt SC, Shell Road, and Queenstown B teams.

The high-scoring encounter between Village Rams, fresh off winning a major tape ball tournament earlier this month, and Eccles Rockers was the most intense of the day. In that clash, Village Rams blasted their way to 86-1 from their quota of five overs; while Eccles Rockers were on course for most of their chase, until a few hiccups caused them to fall short of the target by 14 runs, as they finished on 72-4.

In the other matches, GT Strikers, 60-3, de-

games-to-love lead; but she just could not win the next point, and Mary won the game 14-12.

The loss of this second game seemed to deflate Taylor, and Mary always seemed in control after that, winning the third game 11-4 and the fourth 11-5.

In the first classic plate playoff, Jason Ray Khalil was matched up against Nicolette Fernandes, who was playing in the men’s category for competition experience, but was not being ranked. Nicolette had just defeated Jason Ray’s sister, Ashley, in the ladies’ fi-

nal in the previous match on court, and it looked like a case of revenge when Jason easily won the first game 11-4. But the very experienced Nicolette resurged to win the second game 12-10.

Jason then won the third game 11-7, and then the match with an 11-6 win in the fourth game.

In the next classic plate playoff, Shomari Wiltshire was matched against Jean Claude Jeffrey. Jean Claude easily won the first game 114, but then dropped a close second game 8-11. Jean Claude again went one game up when he won the third game 11-5, but Shomari rebounded to win the fourth game 11-9. The fifth game went right down to the wire, with Shomari eventually winning the game 11-9.

In the Men’s Plate final, Ben Mekdeci had a straightset win against Nicholas Narain. Scores were 114, 11-2, 11-2; while Steven Xavier beat Javed Rahaman 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 to finish third.

In the Veterans 35-49 game, Joe Mekdeci captured this category when he beat Allan Downes in straight games 11-4, 11-8, 11-8. A national team will now be selected for participation in the Caribbean Senior Championships, which will be held in St Vincent in August.

Social cohesion domino set for July 28

‒ 6 West Side teams progress

Action in the clash between CJIA ‘B’ and Queenstown ‘A’

feated Tarmac 59-3; Eccles All Stars, 59-5, defeated Hadfield United 48-5; PSI Legends, 53-1; defeated Republic Bank 51-4; Ruimveldt SC, 64-1, defeated V Net Vipers 58-3; Shell Road, 39-1, defeated CJIA 37-5; CJIA ‘B’, 44-1, defeated Queenstown ‘A’ 41-5; and Queenstown ‘B’, 70-2, defeated Super ‘7’, who ended on 61-1.

Six teams from West Demerara have advanced to the next round after competing on Saturday at the Uitvlugt Community Development Ground.

Those teams are Invaders,

Specialist, Rising Stars ‘B’, South Side, West Dem 08, and Spartan. They were all involved in a two-over-perside affair. Rising Stars ‘B’ drew a bye and was thus fortunate to move on without playing in that round.

The outcomes of those match were as follows: Invaders, 25-1, defeated Progressive Youths; Specialists, 18-0, defeated Windsor Forest 17-2; South Side, 15-2, defeated Tornado All Stars 14-2; ‘West Dem 08’, 25-3, defeated Ocean View 15-3; and Spartans, 19-4, defeated All Youths All Stars.

The teams are competing for more than $350,000, with the winners set to walk away with $200,000, a trophy and 10 tickets for the CPL opener in Guyana -between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Jamaica Tallawahs.

The runners-up will walk away with $100,000 and a trophy, while the thirdplaced team will take home $50,000. Additionally, there will be other prizes for outstanding performances.

The final is slated for July 30th at a venue yet to be confirmed.

S

ports organizer James ‘Uprising” Lewis and the C.O.I Team will collaboratively be hosting a pre-Emancipation social cohesion knockout domino competition on Friday, July 28, on the premises of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission at Durban Backlands, Georgetown.

Action is set to commence at 16:30h, and teams from the private and public sectors will test each other’s mettle in what is expected to be an afternoon of attrition.

The following teams have already registered for this baptism of

fire: Lands and Surveys Commission; Guyoil; the ministries of Communities, Business, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and the Presidency; EPA; Presidential Security; Housing and Planning; IPED; Caricom; and the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

There will be cash incentives, trophies and medals up for the taking.

Interested teams can contact the organizer on telephone numbers 6281656, 672-6179, or 666-5857 for information.

guyanatimesgy.com

monDAY, july 24, 2017

Digicel Schools Football Championships

23

Annai steamroll Bush Lot to book quarter-final spot

By Akeem Greene

A

nnai Secondary sent a stern warning to opposing teams by comprehensively defeating Berbice’s Bush Lot Secondary 5-2 in the Regional play-offs of the Digicel Schools Football Championships on Sunday at the Ministry of Education Ground in Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.

The Region Nine unit quite surprisingly had the larger crowd support, which saw cousins Naidison and Orville Daniels helping themselves to a brace each in the dominant performance.

Naidison was the first to open his account, collecting in the 11th minute a cross from the right, then heading the ball over a rushing goal-keeper. Nine minutes later, Ntini August executed a splendid right-foot volley to level the score and bring some amount of anxiety to Annai’s opponents.

Naidison Daniels about to dribble his way to score one of his two amazing goals The pendulum kept Orville’s menacing runs 40 minute, ending half time 60th minute. swinging both ways with Bush Lot’s woes continneither side seeming to be down the left flank brought with the score 3-2.

The first clear-cut at- ued when, in the 72nd mincrumbling under the pres- success, as he out-foxed two sure, until Naidison swiv- defenders and squared the tempt on goal by Annai’s ute, Orville unleashed a powelled his way through the ball on goal, happily to see it Sherral Daniels was simply a erful shot that stunned the backline then neatly slotted deflected into goal by Bush master class. He skipped his custodian and ended Bush Lot defender Terry Gordon way through the mid-field, Lot’s chances of progressing. into the low right. in the 38th minute. then made a needle-eye pass Annai will now clash with The rattled Berbice unit to Orville on the edge of the Vryman’s Erven Secondary quickly reigned their compo- box, who then had the easi- in the quarter-finals, to sure as Tryone Milles slunk est of jobs in shooting it past be played on Tuesday at a shot from the left in the an immobilised keeper in the Burnham Park in New

Amsterdam from 15:30 hrs.

The semi-final and final games are slated for Thursday and Sunday respectively at the National Track and Field Facility, Leonora.

The schools are vying for the top prize of one million dollars, to go towards a school project of their choice; while second place finisher will play for $700,000, third $400,000, and fourth $350,000 – all of which will go towards a school project of their choice.

The top regional teams have been awarded $100,000 each.

The defending champions are Chase’s Academic Foundation, and other winners are the Christianburg/ Wismar Secondary (20122015) and Government Technical Institute (2011).

Shoulder Commonwealth Youth Games 2017 surgery puts Lynn’s CPL stint Boxer Allicock claims Guyana’s 1st medal in jeopardy

B

L-R: Commonwealth Youth Games Boxing Silver Medallist Keevin Allicock, Coach Seabert Blake, Boxer Christopher Moore

Chris Lynn has injured his left shoulder thrice in the last two years© BCCI

A

ustralia batsman Chris Lynn will have surgery on his troublesome left shoulder on Monday, according to a report in the Courier Mail. As a consequence, he is likely to be out of action till the end of the year, the paper reported, missing the T20 leagues in the West Indies and Bangladesh, and Australia’s proposed ODI tour of India in September-October.

“I have been battling through each tournament and umming and arr-ing at training but the time has come to get it done,’’ Lynn told the paper. “I was getting sorer and sorer after training. I am pretty confident I will be back for the Big Bash.

“I was supposed to play in the Caribbean Premier League on Wednesday so I have had to give them the bad news.”

Lynn injured the same

shoulder for the third time in less than two years during this year’s IPL, and missed a month of that tournament and later Australia’s Champions Trophy campaign as a result. He said he was not sure if surgery could fix all the issues he has had with the shoulder, but would be grateful to have any significant improvement.

“They are pretty confident they can get it right but there is obviously no certainty,” he said. “If you hurt something once you are never going to be 100% but I would like to be somewhere near 100%. Right now it is about 50% and declining. If I can get it up to around 90% I would be real happy with that.

“It is so frustrating. You get a roll on but it ends up being two steps forward and three steps back. It is a big decision but the right decision.” (Cricinfo)

oxer Allicock lands Guyana’s 1st medal Guyana’s first medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games 2017 being held in the Bahamas came courtesy of Boxer Keevin Allicock, who copped silver in his Boys’ 52Kg Flyweight category.

Allicock missed out on the gold medal when we was defeated by England’s David James, who won the three-round contest by 5 points to nil.

After defeating Canadian Jordan Mathieu in his semi-final on Saturday, Allicock was guaranteed of winning at least silver, with a chance to cop gold.

Allicock’s way to the final was fairly smooth, as he defeated Irishman Kian Bittles by winning 4 points to Bittles’s 1.

In the semi-final contest, Allicock, who fights out of the Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym, notched up 5 straight points again Mathieu to go through to the finals.

Merlano, Hyles successful at darts tournament L

uis Ramirez Merlano and Shondell Hyles emerged champions when the Darts Singles’ tournament was staged last Friday evening at the Malteenoes Sports Club Pavilion at Thomas Lands, Georgetown.

Merlano came out undefeated in the Men’s Singles category of the tourney, sponsored by Amy’s Taxi Services.

He defeated Hunter 2/0 in the semi-final playoff, and went on to play Colin France, who had defeated Marvin Yaw in the other semi-final playoff.

Luis crushed Colin France, who was no match for him, 3/0 in the finals.

Singles champions: Shondell Hyles and Luis Ramirez Merlano

In the Female Singles, sponsored by Sheik Yaseen, Shondell Hyles won against Melisa Smartt 2/1 in the finals.

Earlier, in the ‘Luck of the Draw’ doubles, Marvin Yaw and Melisa Smartt got the better of Mary Correia and Dr. Terence Joseph in the semi-final playoffs, while Adrian Damon and Shondell Hyles won against Ramirez and Bryan James.

Team Yaw and Smartt defeated Damon and Hyles in the finals, while Ramirez and James emerged third place winners.

MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017

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

guyanatimesgy.com

Digicel Schools Football Championships

Annai steamroll Bush Lot to book quarter-final spot

Pg 23

Annai Secondary Captain Nestan Newton (with ball) was the strength in his team’s defence

Commonwealth Youth Games 2017

GTT Tape Ball KO tourney…

Pg 22 Pg 23

Boxer Allicock lands Guyana’s 1st medal Boy’s 52kg Silver Medallist Keevin Allicock and teammate Christopher Moore

Action in the clash between CJIA ‘B’ and Queenstown ‘A’

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