Guyana Times International

INTERNATIONAL

Result of CPL final should be declared “null and void” – Neil Kumar

Page 51

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

for FRee distribution guyanatimesinternational.com

You can also read Guyana Times daily edition online at www.guyanatimesgy.com ISSUE NO. 205

week ending August 24, 2014

“Attack on Chinese investors extremely worrying” – President Ramotar See story on page 5

Guyana Amazon Warriors dispute outcome of CPL final Page 52

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with other officials, leading the Federation Of Indian Associations’ India Day Parade in Manhattan on August 16, 2014

Guyanese ‘mas band’ to hit Parkway in NYC parade

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Captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors team Denesh Ramdin

Adrian Dutchin cops Folk Festival Award in NY

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

14 Guyanese held in TT for suspected labour trafficking

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ourteen Guyanese nationals were arrested in Trinidad and Tobago last Thursday suspected of being victims of labour trafficking, the Trinidad Express has reported.

The Guyanese were rounded up by members of the Counter Trafficking Unit (CTU) at a business place in Central Trinidad.

According to the Express, the CTU led a team of officers from the Labour Ministry’s labour inspectorate, Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) and National Operations Centre (NOC) air division to several locations in Chase Village, Chaguanas, last Thursday.

The officers found 14 Guyanese nationals, who were taken for screening to determine whether they were victims of labour trafficking. A National Security Ministry release stated several documents were seized from the business place.

Further enquiries revealed that four of

the Guyanese nationals were illegal immigrants. The illegal immigrants were handed over to the Immigration Division for further processing.

“CTU, in conjunction with the labour inspectorate, identified several labour violations, including the absence of work permits, lack of payment of overtime wages and an inadequate wage register,” the release stated. The release added that the CTU continues to work closely with local and international partners to counter human trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago.

“At a recent convening of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons several ministers of Government agreed to support the provision of all the necessary resources and staffing required by the unit for the most appropriate victim care and assistance and for effective investigation of human trafficking,” the ministry stated.

Uncertainty ends over UG student loans − Govt clears funding for increased tuition

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overnment has approved additional funds for the University of Guyana Student Loan Fund to facilitate the increase in tuition fees that will take full effect with the commencement of the new academic year 2014/2015.

During the 2014 Budget presentation in March, Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh disclosed that Gy$450 million was budgeted for the Student Loan Fund but

by April, this sum was reduced to zero after the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) signalled their collective disapproval.

The Opposition had taken this course of action after the Student Loan Fund was lumped with items it had deemed objectionable.

Their decision, however, was made before the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi announced the hike in tuition fees.

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh

UG Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi

Estimates

Cabinet concluded deliberations on the matter, having examined it exhaustively.

As a result of the decision, Minister Singh has given directives for the Student Loan Agency to commence the processing of loan applications immediately for the 2014/2015 Academic Year.

In July, the U n i v e r s i t y ’ s Administration Council adjusted fees applying to both new and continuing students who are pursuing programmes which previ-

By June, the Finance Minister had moved to the House with a Statement of Excess on the Current and Capital Estimates totalling Gy$4.5 billion for the period ended June 16.

This sum included Gy$225 million for the Student Loan Fund.

On Wednesday, Minister Singh disclosed that the Government has taken a decision to provide additional funds to cater for the increase in tuition fees.

His announcement came one day after

ously attracted a fee of Gy$127,000.

Students are now required to pay an incremental increase beginning with Gy$130,000 in 2014, Gy$145,000 in 2015 and Gy$160,000 in 2016, in addition to the Gy$50,000 Facilities Fee. The new Guyanese students who will be commencing study from September will be required to pay Gy$210,000, inclusive of the Facilities Fee for most programmes.

In 2013, approximately 40 per cent of the student population acquired loans; however with the increase in tuition, this figure is expected to skyrocket.

Finance Minister, Dr Singh however made it clear that the loans granted to finance tuition fees will not include the new Facilities Fee which totals Gy$50,000 per year. The Facilities Fee replaces the Miscellaneous Fee which was historically paid by students outside of the student loan arrangement.

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INTERNATIONAL To contact: Guyana Times International

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Tel no: (592) 227-0704, 227-0709.

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EDITORIAL

Matching talk with money

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mong the highlights of the Caricom-Japan Summit which was recently held in Trinidad and Tobago is an initiative which entails a US$15 million grant to boost the Region’s capacity to overcome the impacts of natural disasters. This project will enable countries in the Caribbean, including Guyana, Suriname and Belize, to enhance their adaptive capacity to climate change and natural disasters.

Caribbean countries share common vulnerabilities, ranging from debt and excessive dependence on international trade to climate change and rising sea levels. For example, most of Jamaica was left without electricity, and public infrastructure suffered damage valued at hundreds of millions of dollars following the passage of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In Grenada, Hurricane Ivan left damage worth 203 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and St Lucia lost 365 per cent of its GDP following Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Most of us in Guyana would also recall the massive floods in 2005 which resulted in severe damage to agricultural crops and livestock. In addition to significant damage to property, several Guyanese lost their lives.

The Caribbean needs help in fighting climate change. Most of the economies of the Region are small and national governments are occupied trying to find jobs and creating more opportunities for their citizens. They do not have the necessary resources which amount to millions of US dollars to make the kind of investments in mitigation and adaptation projects.

We therefore welcome this new Japan-Caribbean-UNDP Partnership as it will boost national policies and plans to cope with climate change-related adversity, among them, being aiming to reduce dependency on fossil fuel imports, setting the Region on a low-emission path and improving access to sustainable energy.

There has been much talk by the big players such as the European Union and the US. While they have all expressed how concerned they are, they are not matching their talk with the massive level of investments needed to help poorer countries put systems in place to adequately deal with the impacts of climate change.

Countries which are the biggest producers of carbon emissions are some of the slowest when it comes to implementing meaningful measures against climate change. The Caribbean countries are perhaps among the lowest polluters in the world, yet they are the ones who are facing (and will continue to face) the brunt of the impact of climate change.

The world has committed to finalising a legally binding climate agreement by 2015 and that is now only a few months away.

Former Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo who has been a global advocate on climate change issues had said that if we are to have a chance at winning this battle, urgent and necessary action will need to be taken at the highest level of world governments and international bodies.

Jagdeo had also warned that there are practical interventions which could be taken now to minimise the effects of climate change, these include: building hurricane-proof hospitals and schools; making agriculture and other economic activities more resilient to climate events; and creating new financial mechanisms that make clean energy more attractive.

These are practical solutions that can be delivered today. Jagdeo had argued: “Not only do they make moral and economic sense, but they are indispensable to building trust within the international community that the world is serious about addressing climate change.”

Climate change and rising sea levels no doubt pose severe threats to countries such as Guyana considering we are below sea level and much our people live on the coastland and depend on agriculture for a living. The big question is how do we move forward.

There is general agreement that industrialised countries have a moral obligation to do more in terms of helping poorer countries avert the catastrophic effects of the climate change phenomenon.

Japan and Norway are among the countries that have matched their talk with money, others should follow suit.

Exterior work on the Marriott Hotel is far advanced as workers try to meet the reported year-end completion deadline (Carl Croker photo)

Regional CSEC performance continues upward trend

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he overall performance for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) May/June 2014 examination continued the gradual upward trend started in 2012.

This year, 66 percent of entries achieved acceptable grades, Grades One to Three.

This compares favourably with 65 percent in 2013 and 62 percent in 2012.

Of the subjects offered, performance improved in 12, declined in 19 and remained constant in five.

Physical Education and Sport was the subject with the best overall performance.

Ninety-nine percent of the 10,000 entries achieved Grades One to Three, compared with 94 percent last year. Theatre Arts had the next best results; 94 percent of the 17,000 entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 93 percent in 2013. Food and Nutrition caps off the top three best performing subjects with 91 percent of entries achieving acceptable grades.

English and Mathematics

Performance in the English and Mathematics offerings also continued the positive trend from last year, except English B, which had a marginal decline. This year, English A saw a one percent improvement over last year’s performance.

Fifty-nine percent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 58 percent last year and 47 percent in 2012.

Seventy-two percent of entries for English B achieved acceptable grades compared with 73 percent in 2013 and 68 percent in 2012.

Mathematics saw the most improved performance of all subjects offered in 2014 compared with 2013. Forty-nine percent of entries achieved Grades One to Three, which is a 14 percent improvement over 2013 when 35 percent of entries achieved similar grades; and 16 percent improvement over 2012.

The Subject Awards Committee attributed the improved performance to improvement in most areas on the examination with the exception of trigonometry and geometry.

Additional Mathematics, in its third year, recorded an improved performance over the two previous sittings. Seventysix percent of entries achieved Grades One to Three this year compared with 70 percent last year and 58 percent in 2012.

Of the science subjects, performance improved in Chemistry and Physics and declined in Biology, Agricultural Science Double Award (DA), Agricultural Science Single Award (SA), and Human and Social Biology. Sixty-eight percent of entries for Chemistry achieved Grades One to Three compared with 62 percent in 2013, while for Physics there was a 10 percent improvement with 77 percent of entries achieving Grades One to Three compared with 67 percent in 2013.

Both Agricultural Science DA and Agricultural Science SA saw significant declines in performance this year. For the Double Award, the percentage of entries achieving acceptable grades fell from 96 in 2013 to 75 this year, while for the Single Award, the percentage fell from 93 percent in 2013 to 78 percent this year. For Biology and Human and Social Biology, there was a two-percentage point decline; Biology dipped to 72 percent, from 74 percent last year and Human and Social Biology dipped to 62 percent, down from 64 percent last year.

Business

All the subjects in the business cluster recorded declining performances of varying degrees. Seventy percent of entries for Economics achieved Grades One to Three, compared with 81 percent in 2013. The Subject Awards Committee noted that questions relating to the business

environment, exchange rates, economic integration and balance of payments posed challenges to candidates.

For Principles of Accounts, 68 percent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 75 percent in 2013.

Principles of Business had a four percent decline year on year with 75 percent of entries achieving acceptable grades compared with 79 percent in 2013.

Office Administration had a five percent decline with 73 percent of entries achieving acceptable grades this year compared with 78 percent in 2013.

Performance in Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPD) remained the same as last year’s–86 percent of the entries achieved acceptable grades.

The subjects in the expressive arts cluster with the exception of Visual Arts recorded improved performances when compared with 2013. Ninetynine percent of the entries for Physical Education and Sport achieved acceptable grades, compared with 94 percent in 2013.

Technical and Vocational

There were mixed performances in the technical and vocational subjects.

Performance in Home Economics Management and Technical Drawing improved by seven percent and three percent respectively. Ninety percent of entries for Home Economics Management achieved acceptable grades this year, while 83 percent achieved similar grades in 2013. For Technical Drawing, 77 percent achieved acceptable grades this year and 74 percent achieved similar grades last year.

The number of candidate and subject entries declined this year. Candidate entries fell from 149,311 in 2013 to 142,884 this year, while subject entries moved from 616,447 in 2013 to 603, 383 this year.

(Caribbean News Now)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

City Hall, Govt Ministries Guyanese ‘mas band’ to hit pledge support for Parkway in NYC parade clean-up campaign

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From left: Public Works Minister Robeson Benn, Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker, Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud and acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba briefing the media following their meeting on Wednesday

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atural Resources Minister Robert Persaud, Public Works Minster Robeson Benn and acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba have pledged to pool their resources to ensure the effective countrywide implementation of the “Cleanup my country campaign”.

They gave their support to the programme during a meeting with Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker and the “Clean-Up My Country” Programme Implementation Committee on Wednesday.

At the meeting, which was held at the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry, Minister Persaud embraced the need for such a programme.

He emphasised the importance for sustainability which can be done through volunteerism of community groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); enforcement of the Anti-Littering

Law by Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and civil servants; and utilisation of private enterprises and citizens of the communities to monitor their community works.

He stated that this is an opportunity for a synergetic approach to get the job done.

On the other end, Minister Benn cemented his continuous support for the programme by providing the team with the technical guidance and skills as in the case of engineers.

One factor which he stated that can hinder the pace of the clearing of parapets is the infestation of foreign species of vegetation. He stated that the species are rapidly spreading across the country, and from observation, they are harder to cut.

Enforcement

He pointed out that failure of effective solid waste removal systems will defeat the nature and objective of this programme. Minister Benn also emphasised that improving the environ-

ment has to do with the conscience of the people. The Public Works Ministry also noted that a clean environment can be sustained through enforcement of public health officers.

Also present at the meeting were the City Engineer and Solid Waste Director, all of whom are seated on the Implementation Committee. The municipality representatives’ role is to provide the team with the issuance of notices to persons who are seen as encumbrances to the programme.

In addition, the Council has agreed to collaborate with the Ministry to implement a schedule in communities to remove bulk waste.

Minister Norman Whittaker in his address to the team and colleagues expressed concern and the need for sustainability. He urged everyone, both civil and statutory, to have an obligation to maintain a clean and unpolluted environment.

Grenada Casino Bill passes first hurdle

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T.GEORGE’S, GRENADA: The Grenada Parliament last Thursday, approved legislation to allow casino gambling.

The Bill, known as the Casino and Gaming Act 2014, next goes to the Senate for debate.

The legislation provides for the owners of hotels with more than 300 rooms to apply for a licence to operate a casino on the property.

The Bill was piloted by Planning and Economic Affairs Minister Oliver Joseph, who said that the legislation was drafted following a review of the impact of casino gambling on other Caricom countries.

Tourism Minister Alexandria Otway-Noel said that Grenada stands

The Bill, known as the Casino and Gaming Act 2014, next goes to the Senate for debate

to benefit significantly from the passage of the legislation, noting that it would enhance the island's tourism product.

Joseph told legislators the intention of the legislation is to provide casino entertainment to satisfy the demands of visitors and that the legislation is clear in that all casino facilities must be attached to an operating hotel.

"The casino must be on the premises. You cannot have the hotel in one location like St George and the casino in St David," he told legislators.

"No person under 18 or locals will be able to go into a casino to participate in the activities," he added.

Government legislator Tobias Clement is against the ban on locals, saying the measure is a contravention of the rights of nationals.

Under the Bill, Grenadians would be fined EC$10,000 for gambling at a local casino. The same fine applies to underage persons.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell had objected to the original fine of EC$100,000, saying "this is ridiculously too high". (Caribbean News)

n becoming the first Guyanese ‘mas band’ to hit the Parkway, ‘One Destiny’ says it is portraying the Caribbean Community (Caricom) member state’s Coat of Arms in making a difference.

“This year, One Destiny is portraying the national motto, along with the meaning of the Guyana flag,” said band leader Zeelema Verwayne in a Caribbean Life interview.

“This year’s portrayal is based on the fact that this year is going to be the first year after so long for the Guyanese community to have a truck on the Parkway,” added the Georgetown, Guyana-born native, who is also producing mas for the very first time.

“We decided to execute this idea because it has been talked about by many to have representation of our country on the road, but never taken seriously; and we’ve made it a ‘living reality,’” Verwayne continued.

“I hope that, after this year on the Parkway, we open an eye for the rest of our community – that shows that we, as Guyanese, can come together in unity and make things happen, where it is all about fun and laughter,” she said.

Verwayne said most of the masqueraders, who are Guyanese, will play in five sections: Essence, Raw Purity, Endurance, Passion and Unity. Each section comprises 30-40 masquerad-

Monifah Alexander (Nelson A King photo)

ers.

“I just want us to have clean fun and represent for Guyana what we haven’t seen on the Parkway in years,” Verwayne stressed.

“I love the idea of having a truck on the Parkway and seeing nothing but Guyanese following behind it,” she added. “It’ll be a fun and joyous experience, and I think that it will bring our community closer together.”

Verwayne also disclosed that Guyanese artistes Adrian Dutchin and Jomo Primo will be among others on the float.

Masqueraders will also sway to sever-

al Guyanese deejays – Kado, from Unity Family; First Class Sound; Uprising Star; Samuel Top Ranking; Kash; and GT Hi Five.

“I just want to say thank you to all in advance, who are taking the time to join and make our first year a successful one,” Verwayne said.

“One Destiny” mas camp is located at 4807 Church Avenue, between 48th and 49th streets in Brooklyn.

Verwayne can be reached on Facebook at “wearefamilyandfriendsofguyana”; email at familyandfriendsofguyana@gmail.com; or call (347) 384-0497 or (347) 383-8718.

Trinidad upgrading prison system

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O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: The technical team established by TT’s Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar to implement decisions from the special Prisons Committee, on Monday, delivered an update on steps to be taken to improve the prison system.

According to the report issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, bullet and stab proof vests will be handed over to prison officers in October as well as firearm user’s licenses and emergency housing in instances where their lives are at risk.

The report also noted that the use of force policy and training will continue and yearly refresher courses will be implemented. To date, approximately 400 prison officers have benefit-

Bullet and stab proof vests will be handed over to prison officers in October

ted from this training programme.

It added that the Commissioner of Prisons confirmed the installation of beds, toilets and other structural upgrades.

The use of the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) is also being explored to provide relief from overcrowding for persons in the prison system.

Concerning the construction of a new remand facility, the report

noted that the Ministry of Justice is seeking to purchase the property at a cost of TT $230M million, to which the owner agreed.

The Chief State Solicitor is finalising the required legal document.

The report was released following a meeting with Chairman of the Technical Team, Emmanuel George, Minister of Justice, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and others at the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday.

Earlier this year Persad-Bissessar appointed a nine-member committee to investigate the state of the prisons.

This was in an attempt to address growing unrest from an incident in which a prison officer was killed in November last year. (Caribbean News)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

TT$1.8 billion hospital Guyana on high alert for Ebola for Arima in Trinidad

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O R T - O F - S P A I N , TRINIDAD: The Trinidadian Cabinet has approved a budget of TT$1.8 billion for the planned Arima hospital, Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan stated.

The minister also recently announced a sum of TT$68 million would be spent on an extension of facilities at the Sangre Grande hospital and a new TT$172 million diagnostic centre is expected.

Khan stated that about two dozen nurses are expected from St. Lucia amid ongoing shortages in that sector; and disclosed that an audit of the system of pharmacies falling under regional health authorities is underway in light of complaints of shortages of state-subsidised drugs.

The minister further related that while there had been “a little delay” with the planned National Oncology Centre, the unspecified issue has been “ironed out” and the centre is expected to open in April 2015.

Addressing a Cabinet media briefing held last week at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Khan reported that the Arima facility will contain 150 beds, and the old Arima Health Facility developed. He said he hoped to turn the sod in September for the project, the contractor of which was previously announced as China Railway Construction Corporation.

In relation to Sangre Grande hospital, Khan indicated that there had been 70 percent and 20 percent increases in demand for orthopaedic services and oncology respectively.

The TT$65 million extension

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud

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TT’s Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan (TT Newsday file photo)

would involve 32 additional beds, including 16 in oncology, 16 in orthopaedic services, treatment rooms and a digital X-Ray room.

The new diagnostic centre would seek to address the concern that there are 800,000 patients served annually, yet only one CT or MRI machine at some facilities.

In relation to the shortage of drugs, he noted there has been a “break-down of communication” in relation to the system used to manage the process.

However, he insisted regional health authorities have long been told that where there are shortages, they are authorised to replenish stocks directly. (TT Newsday)

port authorities to all the airlines asking them to strengthen their sanitary controls of flights,” the CMO said.

This means that airlines have to prepare a general declaration for each arriving flight, a significant part of which, will relate to health. It will include the identification of any passenger on any flight who may be showing symptoms of Ebola.

Passengers who have passed through or are coming from West Africa (based on their passports and travel itineraries) will be properly screened.

Dr Persaud said that “when we identify those persons, we would hold

and organ failure. The CMO assured that once these signs are detected, the Ministry has measures in place to ensure that the disease, which is spread through direct contact, is contained.

There is a port health office at the CJIA; however, the Ministry is working to establish an area that could be identified as an isolation area where additional measures can be put in place.

Health workers are a high-risk group as they will be tasked with caring for persons affected by the disease. As such, they were trained on the use of personal protective equipment.

Moreover, personnel at most hospitals were administered

he Health Ministry is on high alert and has instituted a number of measures in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The Ministry has been conducting awareness sessions with various personnel at the Cheddi Jagan International airport (CJIA) including port health workers, customs, and immigration and airline staff.

Guyana was alerted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the The Health Ministry says it is on high alert and has instituted a Ebola out- number of measures in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa break that commenced late last year, and which has hit West an interview with them training on how to propAfrican countries such as to ensure that they are erly outfit themselves in the protective gear.

Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, symptom-free”.

Ebola is described as “Ebola is spread by and Sierra Leone. a very aggressive disdirect contact so perChief Medical Officer ease, whereby sympsonal hygiene is criti(CMO), Dr Shamdeo toms manifest in a matcal… we are focused on Persaud said that ter of days.

In the initial training health workers while there are no reported Ebola cases in stage, these symptoms on the safer handling of South America and the may include high fever, body fluids such as blood, Caribbean, any instance excessive muscle aches, sweat, urine and spuweakness, tum,” the CMO said. of this disease at this sweating, headaches, sore throat, Advisories point in time would be as and hoarseness.

In the Additionally, precaua result of travellers. second phase, affected tionary advisories will be Sanitary controls persons may experience distributed to travellers “We are looking at tell-tale signs such as who are going to or will beefing up additional vomiting, diarrhoea and be passing through counport health officers on skin rash. tries in West Africa. This duty so that all incomMeanwhile, the lat- will be done through ing flights would be monter stage includes symp- travel agents and at the itored. We have already toms such as bleeding airport. written through the air-

Relatives of murdered Guyanese national in French Guiana await answers

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Guyanese man was on Monday evening shot and killed in French Guiana reportedly by someone with whom he had a long-standing dispute.

Dead is 36-year-old Hazley Greenidge, a father of two. According to information reaching Guyana Times International, on Monday evening there was a confrontation be-

tween Greenidge and another person with whom he had an old grievance.

However, he subsequently left the scene of the quarrel and was heading home when he was shot several times about his body. A cousin in Guyana disclosed that the man’s wife died a few months ago and so he took his two children and went to the neighbouring country where another

child of his resides.

Relatives in Guyana are still unsure of what exactly transpired and are waiting for the mother of the man’s child to return to Guyana so they can get more details.

The cousin explained that Greenidge had an issue with his attacker since the previous time he was in French Guiana, but they do not have details of the incident.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Bulkan is uninformed about Guyana’s forestry sector Dear Editor, Permit me to respond to Janette Bulkan’s recent letter, “Why is the GFC not monitoring the export of high-value logs by Asian companies?”

Zero marks to some sections of the media for the publication of misleading, unsubstantiated, irresponsible and unprofessional information regarding the Bai Shan Lin (BSL) logging company, which forms the basis for Bulkan’s letter after her emergence from oblivion.

Bulkan in her letter has given Kaieteur News full marks for the publication of wicked and erroneous information to the public about BSL, which is a Chinese logging company investing in our forest sector.

But this is not surprising, since both the Kaieteur News and Bulkan are known antigovernment people who do not want to see Guyana’s development through foreign investments.

It is publicly known that

they are fighting a losing battle, hence they are only wasting their time writing and publishing misleading and bogus claims about the Government, its ministers, and state agencies where the sustainable management of Guyana’s forestry sector is concerned.

Bulkan wants to know why the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) is not monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) the haemorrhage of high-value logs by

Bai Shan Lin and other Asian log traders. This is simply an example of one of Bulkan’s claims in her letter and more so that she is absolutely uninformed about Guyana’s forest situation which is effectively and sustainably managed by the GFC. In this regard, the use of the word “haemorrhage” by Bulkan is totally not relevant and is therefore misleading.

But for Bulkan’s information Guyana’s MRV system is currently in progress, according

to its road map for Guyana’s forest assessments.

Bulkan’s offering as usual is saturated with lies and assumptions in relation to Guyana’s forest sector and its management. I will not deal with these bogus claims.

James Singh, Forest Export and Commissioner of Forests of the GFC has already adequately, competently and professionally dealt with them in the media.

Yours sincerely, Peter Persaud

NACTA Poll shows overwhelming support for DEA Office, AML Bill and LEAD Project Dear Editor, An opinion poll conducted by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) in July found overwhelming support for; the establishment of a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Office, passage of the AntiMoney Laundering (AML) Bill and implementation of the revamped US Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) project.

Voters are very pleased that the US and Guyana came to an understanding in imple-

menting the LEAD project to help strengthen democracy and working together to fight drug trafficking.

However, some voters complained about US arrogance and bullyism to get its way on the project. The poll also revealed that crime and economic issues (high cost of living) are the leading problems impacting the nation.

The poll was conducted to determine peoples’ views on issues related to national development. The survey interviewed 580 voters to yield a demographical-

ly representative sample (43 per cent Indians, 31 per cent Africans, 16 per cent Mixed, nine per cent Amerindians, and one per cent other races) of the population.

The poll was conducted in face-to-face interviews by several polltakers and was coordinated

by Vishnu Bisram. The results of the poll were analysed at a 95 per cent significance level and a statistical sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points was found. Sampling results based on subgroups (such as Indians or Africans

alone) have a larger sampling error.

NACTA, a New Yorkbased group, was founded

by Dr Latchman Narain, Vassan Ramracha and other educators – all of whom were involved in the struggle for free and fair election in Guyana.

NACTA has no affiliation with any political party.

Several NACTA members were involved in polling in Guyana prior to the 1992 elections and subsequently throughout the Caribbean. Messrs Bisram and Ramracha, for example, have been conducting surveys inter-

nationally for 25 years.

Asked whether they support the establishment of a DEA Office in Guyana, 81 per cent said yes, eight per cent said no, and 11 per cent offered no response.

Asked if they support the proposed anti-money laundering bill, almost everyone answered in the affirmative with only 14 per cent saying no. A large majority of the respondents (63 per cent) feels the opposition parties should pass the bill with 20 per cent saying no, and 17 per cent not offering an opinion. Many

say failure to pass the legislation would impact negatively on the economy.

Asked what is the most important problem facing the nation, 29 per cent said crime, 19 per cent high cost of living, 17 per cent poor governance issues and corruption, and six per cent drug trafficking and the remainder said other issues like health, ethnic relations, education, infrastructure, power sharing, lack of cooperation among the parties, etc.

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

Attack on Chinese is an attack on all Guyanese Dear Editor, The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has noted with grave concern the sustained and calculated attacks by the Opposition and two media houses, namely the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, perpetrated on foreign investors, especially those of Chinese origin.

The party is convinced that these targeted attacks are directed at the Chinese people in spite of their industrious predisposition, which is evident throughout the world.

This industrious nature of the Chinese people has redounded beneficially to the economies of many nations and has impacted positively on the lives of many.

Our party wishes to remind the Opposition, the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News that we live in a multi-ethnic society with our peoples cohabiting in harmony, sharing and celebrating each other’s cultures and traditions.

This is evident through all of our national festivals, everyday way of life and events that serve to bring our people together.

The Chinese remain an integral part of

Guyana country’s identity, sharing common bonds of indenturehip with other ethnic groups.

Their contributions to our nation since setting foot on these shores, like all others, have been immeasurable and invaluable.

As we are all aware, the Chinese who have made this land their home are Guyanese first and foremost. Those Chinese who have demonstrated confidence and the will to contribute to the development of Guyana must be encouraged and must not be victims of hostile political and media propaganda, bordering on xenophobia.

Our party believes that an attack on one ethnic group is an attack on all Guyanese. We call for an immediate halt to such unwarranted attacks which run counter to the hospitable characteristic our nation and can only damage and disgrace our motto of “One People, One Nation, One Destiny”.

Moreover, these attacks are in blatant contradiction to the call for investments. There must be no discrimination against Chinese investors. The Opposition, the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News have persistently accused the

PPP/C Administration of not doing enough to encourage foreign investors which according to them is badly needed to create jobs and bolster the economy.

During the last election campaign, the Opposition spared no effort to convince Guyanese that foreign investors would be welcomed were they to be elected to office and that the PPP/C Government has not done enough to make Guyana an investment hub.

True to their nature and attempts at hoodwinking the nation, the Opposition has not only endeavoured to discourage and chase away foreign investors, they have whipped up media frenzy and a conduit for such attacks. The Kaieteur News willingly agreed to be the hand maiden of the political Opposition’s campaign.

Guyanese must remain cognisant of the numerous attempts by the Opposition pre- and post“mo-fyah, slow fire” era to destabilise this nation, stymie business enthusiasm and bring harm to the economy.

As regards the Bai Shan Lin issue, the Opposition and Kaieteur News’ constant attacks, the PPP/C stands guided

by the pronouncements of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), which reiterated that the company has not exceeded its harvest level and that their operations confirm to guidelines based on international best practices and conservative extraction.

In this context, we call on the Kaieteur News’ and the Opposition’s un-

founded, unwarranted and profit circulation oriented attacks on Bai Shan Lin to work toward encouraging foreign investments to invest in our country so that all our people would benefit from the related economic prosperity.

In this now global competitive environment, our country can afford nothing less than all

hands on deck in an effort to create and secure a brighter future for all.

Our party remains committed to this cause and urge Guyanese to reject all attempts to disparage any ethnic group and to deter much needed foreign investments for our country.

Submitted by, PPP/C, Freedom House

8

news

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Hundreds attend Guyana Day celebration in Toronto said that they will continue to hold different shows and have more singers participate with the musical entertainment adding to the excitement.

Meanwhile, one of the dancers, Niomi Singh, told this publication that she was very impressed with this year’s activity and the support shown by the crowd. She thoroughly enjoyed the day and promised to be part of it again.

A section of the crowd at the Guyana Day celebration

By Ravendra Madholall

T

O R O N T O , C A N A D A : Hundreds attended the 17th annual Guyana Day celebration at Scarborough Civic Centre on Sunday, as the Guyanese Canadian Cultural Association (GCCA) ran off another successful event.

Guest speaker Dr. Raymond Cho of Toronto City Council Ward 42, who graced the occasion for the first time, congratulated the association for organising the day of activities. He said that he was very delighted to be part of the celebration, which unified the Guyanese diaspora in Toronto and by extension

Canada.

“I [am] very delighted to be here today and to share the day with you guys. I think the association has done a commendable job to have such a yearly activity, so hearty congratulations to them,” Cho declared.

The day included a variety of Guyanese cultural activities featuring their traditional food, clothing among other things while on stage several chutney singers and dancers produced entertaining performances.

“What is happening here certainly demonstrate the things the Guyanese people love and always want to remember….their culture back home and bringing out

the food, arts and crafts, singers and dancers are also fantastic,” Cho mentioned.

Promoter and organiser Mike Harris, in an invited comment, said he too was happy with the turnout and again rated the event a huge success. He also thanked the various sponsors for their contributions.

“I have been here since the inception and it is always a pleasure. It is about enjoyment and having the Canada-based Guyanese people coming out and have some fun,” Harris said.

He further noted that the venue is always suitable for the patrons, and will have it again at the same location in 2015. He

Guyanese arts and crafts on display

Jamaican bank approves Ja$2.3 billion in loans to local businesses

Director General, Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Colin Bullock (second left) conversing with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer (second right) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. Others (from left) are: Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Strategies Limited, Aubyn Hill; and General Manager of Strategic Services, Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), Claudine Tracey (Jamaica Observer photo)

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) has approved over 9,700 loan applications, valued at Ja$2.3 billion for the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) sector during the last fiscal year.

This was disclosed

by General Manager of Strategic Services at DBJ, Claudine Tracey, during the launch of the Financial Information and Real-time Matchmaking (FIRM) expo last week at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

"We actually have a target of Ja$3 billion this year and I'm happy to say that we are on track

to achieve that target," she said.

She added that the DBJ's three main strategies as it relates to developing the MSME sector are: the provision of development financing to drive growth, development and employment, strengthening the capacity of the MSMEs to actually access that pool of funds so that they can borrow, invest and expand; and the creation of opportunities for private equity and venture capital.

She informed that the DBJ staged its first ever venture capital conference last year, to “share information and to test the appetite for venture capital and private equi-

ty in Jamaica.”

The DBJ also facilitated a national business model competition and created an investor panel to evaluate and invest in businesses, which make proposals for venture capital funding.

"There are a number of funds that the venture capital programme wants to establish that can invest in high potential MSMEs in the country. Not every idea, every business is appropriate for credit, some need equity financing and it is important that the environment was built and that actually financing was put in place for the MSMEs to access that,” Tracey indicated.

(Jamaica Observer)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Shaik Baksh is the man for the “We have been doing all job, says Minister Ramsammy we can to support Rodney

I

n response to criticisms in some sections of the media over the appointment of Shaik Baksh as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy said “time will tell”.

During an interview with Guyana Times International on Wednesday, the Agriculture Minister said Baksh has proven himself worthy of heading the sugar industry.

“We believe that he

GuySuCo Chairman Shaik Baksh

could do the job,” he said.

According to Minister Ramsammy, had the President appointed an-

other individual, there would have still been criticisms. “We have to do what is best for the industry.”

In addition to chairing the GuySuCo Board of Directors, Baksh remains Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI); a position he has held since October 2012.

Baksh had served as Housing and Water Minister from 1998 to 2006 before being appointed Education Minister after the 2006 General and Regional Elections.

US$4 million system to speed up Jamaica’s operations at ports

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INGSTON, JAMAICA: Jamaica Customs Agency has launched a major, technologydriven system, aimed at streamlining and reducing the processes involved in the import, export, and trans-shipment of goods.

The Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), which is being implemented at a cost of US$4 million, is expected to speed up operations at the ports by fully automating export and import transactions. It allows for realtime updates on new tax regulations to minimise errors and delays in the computation of port taxes and also guarantees transparency, uniformity/standardisation and consistency of Customs procedures.

It is expected to significantly reduce the cost of importation and doing business, to local and foreign investors.

Speaking at the launch at the

Jamaica Pegasus in New Kingston last week, Jamaica’s Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips, welcomed the system, noting that “the country needs the additional revenues which can flow from this”.

He said that the application of the computerised platform in other jurisdictions, have realised a 10 to 20 percent increase in revenues through improved compliance and shorter processing times.

The minister stated that “smoothing out and speeding up the processing time in Customs is essential to raising the overall productivity of the country in today’s modern, global environment”.

This is important, he indicated, in light of the fact that manufacturers often do not produce a complete item, and need to import and export multiple times before achieving the final product. (Jamaica Observer)

Murdered Trinidadian attorney’s estate to be distributed soon

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ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Assets reportedly worth millions held by murdered Trinidadian State prosecutor, Dana Seetahal, 58, are being readied for distribution to the beneficiaries of her Will 104 days after her death.

Her very close friend, attorney and former government minister, Christine Sahadeo, has been named executor and she has made applications to the Registrar of the Supreme Court for the grant of probate of the Will.

The formal notice to that effect recently appeared in local newspapers.

The application for the grant of probate, or letters of administration in the case of someone who dies without making a Will, is usually made public to facilitate any challenges to the process. Any queries over the Will must be done within 21 days of the public notice.

TT media reported that among the assets Seetahal left behind are two agri-

Trinidadian State prosecutor Dana Seetahal was shot dead on May 4 in Trinidad (TT Newsday file photo)

cultural estates in Mayaro and Tamana, a luxurious apartment at One Woodbrook Place, her El Dorado Law Chambers at St Vincent Street, Port-ofSpain, a Volkswagen vehicle as well as cash in the bank along with other investments.

Sources revealed that the apartment owned

by Seetahal at One Woodbrook Place is valued at more than one million dollars with millions more accruing from the two agricultural estates in addition to cash in the bank and

earnings from other investments.

Relatives of Seetahal are expected to be beneficiaries of the assets.

One source stated that Seetahal, born on July 8, 1955, had her Will drawn up in 2010 after she confided in a close friend that she was nearing 60 and did not know what the future held for her. She said then she wanted to make sure that if anything happened to her including sudden death or major illness, she would have had her affairs in order so that her loved ones could benefit from the fruits of her success.

Seetahal was shot dead on May 4, while driving her Volkswagen vehicle along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook. She was shot five times about the body and police believe there were at least two shooters involved. Police probing the murder have been working closely with officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to bring closure to this investigation. (TT Newsday)

CoI” - GDF Chief-of-Staff

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hief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Mark Phillips has refuted claims that the military was deliberately seeking to stymie the work of the ongoing Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) by failing to provide pertinent documents to the Commission.

The Army Chief noted that it was against his “policy”, to be involved in such a practice, pointing out that the organisation has been doing all it can to assist the work of the Tribunal.

During his cross examination at the fourth sitting of the Walter Rodney CoI earlier this month, lawyer representing the interest of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Christopher Ram had accused the GDF of tampering with the investigation into the death of Dr Rodney, in an effort to hide pertinent information which could corroborate allegations that it had a hand in aiding former member and accused assassin William “Gregory” Smith, out of the jurisdiction on June 14, 1980.

But Phillips in responding to that allegation reiterated that the Army had already pledged its support to the Commission. “You will recall that when the Commission was established, one of the first organisations that commissioners contacted was the GDF when they made a courtesy call to the organisation, since then we have indicated that we will cooperate fully with the Rodney Commission of Inquiry”.

Brigadier Phillips said the Army has since been doing so and has provided all of the documents that have been requested by the Commission.

Asked about the missing documents, Phillips said he could not say because all the documents in the possession of the Army have been handed over.

“I am not aware of any covering up.

It’s not my policy to cover-up in this regard as it pertains to the Commission”, he told reporters on Tuesday.

The Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, probing the circumstances

Walter Rodney

surrounding the death of the Working People’s Alliance Leader, Dr Walter Anthony Rodney, had requested from the military, information that would assist it in determining whether or not “Gregory” Smith was indeed whisked away to Kwakwani in one of its aircraft, a few hours after Dr Rodney was assassinated. But Colonel Cargill Kyte, former head of the Air Corps, informed the Commission that the records requested could not be found.

He said too that searches were carried out at the Air Corps for documents relating to the flights carried out on June 14, 1980, but again none was found.

The Commission had also sought information which would assist it in confirming that Smith was employed by the organsaition. While a pay sheet with the name “William Smith” was presented to the Commission, Officerin-Charge of the GDF Personnel Department, Lieutenant Colonel West told the Commission that he did not find a “Gregory” Smith.

U.S., Canadian investors talk petroleum ventures with Guyana

Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud in meeting with Canadian officials

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EORGETOWN, G U Y A N A : Nexen Energy ULC, headquartered in Calgary, Canada and ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Limited have expressed an interest in opportunities for petroleum ventures in Guyana.

This was commu-

nicated to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud during a meeting last Friday.

The U.S. and Canadian investors also have on their agenda, meetings with key agencies and commercial sector stakeholders as they seek to become acquaint-

ed with the various aspects of policy and the business landscape in Guyana.

Meanwhile, ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Limited are operators for the Stabroek Blocks offshore Guyana, where exploration activities are being undertaken.

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NEWS

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

East Bank four-lane to be fully completed in 2015 – Works Ministry

By Vahnu Manikchand

D

espite efforts to have the East Bank Four-lane Extension Project completed by the end of this year, the project has now been set to be fully completed in the first quarter of next year.

Project delays have become a disgusting and frustrating phenomenon in Guyana; however, according to the Works Ministry’s Roads and Bridges Department Manager Ron Rahaman, two of the lots will be completed by this year, but the other will not be finished until the first quarter of 2015.

In an interview with Guyana Times International, Rahaman explained that work in Lot One cannot be completed by year-end as was initially projected.

He disclosed that Lot One, awarded to Dipcon Engineering, is only 40 per cent completed.

Works on Lots Two and Three are 64 and 40 per cent completed respectively.

The Engineer noted that Lots Two and Three, with the exception of

President Donald Ramotar and other Government officials inspecting works on the second lane in Lot Three

Diamond High Bridge, are scheduled to be completed by December. The High Bridge, he stated, will not be completed as work has recently begun. Currently, the contractors are working on driving up the piles on the western side of the bridge.

The entire bridge is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year, along with Lot One. Rahaman went on to explain that work on the second lot, being done by GuySuCo, is progress-

ing well with the second two-lane also complete.

He pointed out that the split-road design was done because of efficiency rather than filling the trench.

Meanwhile, an InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) funded feasibility study is currently being conducted from Grove to Timehri to expand and upgrade the two-lane highway. The intention of the Ministry is to widen the road to include parking and a sidewalk, creating more space and convenience.

In May 2011, Cabinet

had given its no-objec-

tion to the US$1.6 million contract to improve the access road leading to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Government had subsequently obtained US$20 million from the IDB for the East Bank Road Extension Project.

The main objectives of the project are to enhance urban and sub-urban mobility and safety by lowering transport costs and reducing accident rates via the expansion of the East Bank Demerara Main Road between Providence and Diamond from two lanes to four lanes.

Drains being dug on the eastern carriage way on the East Bank roads

Guyana to participate in international Qaseeda competition

G

uyana will be represented at this year’s 12th International Qaseeda Mehfil, which will be hosted by the Hedayatul Islam in Paramaribo, Suriname on August 29 and 30.

Guyana’s participation will be through

the Guyana United Sadr Islamic Anjuman (GUSIA) and the Anna Catherina Islamic Complex (ACIC).

The country will be represented in all categories – Male and Female, Junior and Senior and in addition to the participants, a large delegation

will travel from Guyana for the event.

The event in Suriname follows Trinidad and Tobago’s hosting of the annual event in April last and will also see participation from Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Pakistan, Canada

and Holland; and according to the Hedayatul Islam, plans are already underway to make this event unique and memorable.

Guyana’s contingent will be representing this country under telecommunication giant, Guyana Telephone

Leader of the Suriname Delegation, Al Haj Basheer Khodabux making brief remarks

and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and will be led by ACIC President General Hakeem Khan.

Trinidad and Tobago’s International Qaseeda Committee Chairman Al Haj Imam Ahmad Hussain will lead his country’s delegation to the event.

Suriname’s main committee is headed by President of the Hedayatul Islam, Al Haj Basheer Khodabux and Hadji Sarafat Ali. The two-day event is expected to be attended by thousands of Surinamese.

Qaseeda is the singing of songs in praise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and in Guyana, GUSIA was the first organisation to have organised such competitions in the past.

Thereafter, other organisations also followed with similarly activities.

Next year’s event will be hosted in Guyana in August. The 3rd annual “Late Zaid Ali Award” for the Most Improved Qaseeda Singer in the host country at the international Mehfil will also be presented.

news St. Vincent gov't denies swapping parrots for German aid

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INGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT: The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government has denied that it is engaged in trading a number of the endangered local Amazona guildingii parrots for vehicles from Germany.

Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar dismissed the allegations made by Lauron Baptiste, a candidate for the Opposition New Democratic Party, (NDP) in the next general elections, saying the government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Berlin-based Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP) so as to ensure the survival of the parrots in case of a natural disaster.

Baptiste had announced during the Opposition-led protest march in the capital last month that the Ministry of Agriculture had already received three vehicles as part of the arrangement.

"There are three vehicles right now for three officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, they 'fraid to clear them.

You know why? Because they were supposed to trade off our parrots again for three vehicles...," said Baptiste, a former employee at the ministry.

"Thirteen pairs of parrots were supposed to go to Germany again and the vehicles are at the wharf for three officials, and they have been sitting there for quite a while. You will hear more about this," Baptiste said, adding that he would like the media to investigate the allegation.

But Caesar told Caribbean media that the government had an agreement with the Berlin-based ACTP "just in case we have a very bad natural disaster, where the wildlife is significantly impacted in a negative way. Pursuant to the agreement, they are to work with the conservation of the National Bird....

They are contributing by giving technical assistance and equipment to protect the parrot in the wild and also to protect those in captivity."

He added: "those three jeeps, I was advised by the Forestry Department, will be soon handed over to the Forestry Division for them to continue their surveillance work in the forest and to ensure that our National Bird and the heritage of it is properly protected."

Caesar confirmed that there are about 35 local parrots at the German conservatory. (Caribbean News)

US$20 million loan to make TT regional ICT hub

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O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: A US$20 million loan from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) will help develop TT as an ICT hub in the region, said Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Minister of Planning and Development.

“We have signed an agreement with the IDB for loan support to develop a global services platform in TT. The idea is that TT will be a hub in the world for global provision for information technology-enabled services (ITeS), which will mean increased investments, increased exports

and employment in the sector,” he said.

Tewarie was speaking Monday at a media conference at the Ministry of Planning, Eric Williams Financial Complex, Port-of-Spain.

He said the IDB facilitated a meeting between the Ministry of Planning and ZonaAmerica, the largest and most successful export services hub in Uruguay and in Latin America. Before the media briefing, they held a meeting at the Ministry of Planning and there are plans to meet with the local private sector and look at areas in the country where it can be

TT’s Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie

set up.

Tewarie said this hub has the capacity to provide “thousands of jobs.”

(TT Guardian)

Son of confessed Jamaican drug lord charged with money laundering

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INGSTON, JAMAICA: The police in Jamaica have charged a fifth person for money laundering in connection with the dealings of confessed Jamaican drug dealer, Andrew Hamilton.

The Major Organised Crime and AntiCorruption Agency says Hamilton's son, 20-yearold Andre Paul Hamilton, has been charged with breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act. Four women including attorney-at-law, Dawn Satterswaite are already before the courts on money laundering

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

“Attack on Chinese investors is extremely worrying” – President Ramotar

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There are about 35 local parrots at the German conservatory, St. Vincent’s Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar has confirmed

20-year-old Andre Paul Hamilton has been charged with breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act

charges in connection with the Hamilton probe.

The other three accused are Paulette Higgins, Janet Ramsay and Ann Marie Cleary, who are all related to Hamilton.

Hamilton, a former

postal employee and a former policeman, has pleaded guilty in the U.S. state of California to drugs, money laundering and firearm-related charges and is to be sentenced next February.

(Jamaica Gleaner)

11

he Government of Guyana has been spending huge sums of money to create a country with a highly improved infrastructure base, to propel rapid economic growth and a better life for its citizens.

At the same time, it has been putting in other services to attract both foreign and direct investment which aid in economic development and wealth creation and job opportunities.

But while the country has been experiencing year after year of economic growth, there seems to be a pattern emerging; a coordinated attack on investments in the country.

President Donald Ramotar, in a recent interview with the National Communications Network, said, “That pattern has been shown from the beginning of last year; it’s not a oneoff act. How do you explain the non-support of the Amalia Falls, the Specialty Hospital, the expansion of the CJIA (Cheddi Jagan International Airport)?”

Citing as another “clear pattern of attack” the many attempts to villify any investment plan involving the Chinese, President Ramotar said: “This is extremely worrying, because China has proven to be a very reliable developmental partner, not only to us in Guyana, but to the Caribbean.”

In some instances, he said, Opposition politicians initially supported some of the projects, only to withdraw their support along with the requisite funding. “Is it intended to put us in an awkward position to lose a lot of money? Because your voting for these things in the past has allowed us to have contractual arrangements in many areas; and now voting against them.”

As the President was at pains to explain, whenever queries arise about any investment, the government and investors are, and remain, prepared to provide answers to those enquires.

And the fact that comprehensive measures were taken by government to provide details,

some of which were highly confidential, to Opposition politicians, who still decided to oppose the investments, raises the issue of the true purpose of their actions.

But in spite of all the aggravation, Guyana still remains open to investment, foreign or local, President Ramotar said, once interested companies abide by the country’s rules and regulations.

“You are welcome to invest in our economy and our society,” he urged whoever may be thinking seriously about investing in Guyana, in spite of the two main Opposition parties’ obvious anti-developmental agenda.

He said that the Government still remains open to dialogue, at any time, with other Parliamentary political parties, he said, adding that he hopes good sense will prevail as efforts continue to have Guyana further advance on the path of development that it has taken over the last two decades.

12 news Jamaica seeks to acquire fever-detecting devices WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

- to guard against Ebola

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INGSTON, JAMAICA: Jamaica’s Health Ministry says that it will be moving to acquire fever-detecting devices to use at the island's ports as part of efforts to boost the country's defence against the deadly Ebola and other viruses.

According to Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, his ministry has begun to carry out checks about the device following a recommendation made at a meeting last Thursday between health officials and a team from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"We have been working with the WHO relative to Ebola and

Chikungunya and where we are now, when we met last Thursday, the point was raised about the machine," indicated the minister.

He noted that since the meeting, the ministry had started discussions and was also checking the cost of the machine with a view to acquiring some of the devices.

"If it represents best practice and it is recommended, I can assure you that Jamaica will be fully on board," reported Ferguson.

He said that different countries within the Caricom were at different stages of development and he was of the view that Jamaica was one of the most experienced

in the Region relative to emergency responses to communicable diseases or natural disasters.

As such, he stated that he was determined to do what was necessary to keep the country on par with developments across the world.

The minister made the comment last Wednesday during a Food For the Poor (FFP) presentation of approximately 16,000 units of intravenous fluid to the ministry.

The event was held at the Food For the Poor Chapel, Spanish Town, St Catherine.

"This donation is significant and is valued at over US$15,600 and will go a far way in adding to our present resources in

Jamaica’s Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson (second left) inspects some of the approximately 16,000 units of intravenous fluid donated to the Ministry of Health by FFP last week (Jamaica Observer photo)

this area," said Minister Ferguson.

Andrew Mahfood, FFP board chairman, said not only was the organisation happy to make the contribution

but was also looking forward to working with the ministry to provide help wherever it was needed.

Health officials report that the Ebola virus is one of the most virulent microbes known to man, killing up to 90 percent of

those infected.

According to the WHO, the current epidemic in West Africa is the largest to date and has now killed over 1,000 people. (Jamaica Observer)

PPP/C heartened by economic progress report

T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) said it is heartened at the recent pronouncement

by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, that the country is well on course to record its ninth year of consecutive economic growth.

Dr. Singh announced that for the first half of the year the economy grew by 3.2%, with the non-sugar Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 2%. “We are pleasantly heartened at what seems to be a recovery of the sugar industry, which saw a first-crop production of 312,283 tonnes, 18.3 percent over last year’s first crop.

This is a testimony to government’s confidence in the industry and its perseverance in ensuring recovery at a time when many naysayers are calling for the industry to be closed,” the PPP/C said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We also take note of the increased production in rice and growth in the construction, financial, export and other sectors. This is testimony to the prudence with which successive PPP/C governments have been managing the economy and good governance.”

According to the party, it is under the PPP/C government that there have been eight years of continued economic growth, accompanied by a sudden surge in foreign and local investments.

“These are all signs of confidence in our economy, confidence in our

country and confidence in our government and people.

“We in the PPP/C believe, however, our economic performance could have been much better, had we had a constructive opposition, which is willing to put Guyana and its people first and support the many investments and transformational projects initiated by the PPP/C government,” the party said.

The party said it is opportune to recall when “we took over this country in 1992 Guyana was economically bankrupted and crippled with dilapidated infrastructure, a broken social sector, empty treasury, a US$2.1B external debt, absence of democracy and a de-motivated population.

“The rebirth of democracy in 1992 brought with it renewed hope to the nation and we promised then that we will ensure this country flourishes again. Today, while he have not reached our optimum as a country we have been fulfilling that promise and our brothers and sisters can live in this country with pride, and renewed sense of hope.

“But we must be wary of those deceitful, unethical, unprincipled, immoral, and unscrupulous ones who pose as guardians of the economy, but are out to slow our economic prosperity, destroy our economy, scare away investors and return this country to the dark days of the PNC,” the statement said.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Kamla calls for Caricom US helping Guyana airport officials with fraud detection meeting on Ebola and Chikungunya

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rinidad and Tobago has called for a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to discuss a coordinated response to the public health threats posed by the Ebola and Chikungunya viruses.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, responding to an advisory issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) said Port of Spain would be willing to host the meeting.

“My advice to colleague Heads of Government in the Caribbean is to take preemptive measures to ensure the safety, health and well-being of millions of citizens of the Caribbean region. While our risk is low, our actions must further diminish the risks to our citizens. And I am confident that nations across CARICOM will respond favourably,” she said.

“The meeting will feature discussions geared towards orchestrating a plan of action in response to the increasing number of cases of Chikungunya in the Caribbean and the prevention of the Ebola virus disease,” according to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, adding that it would also “be instrumental in CARICOM’s stance, together with the rest of the global community in the fight against these life threatening viruses.

It said furthermore, CARICOM must address international decisions

Prime Minister of T&T Kamla Persad Bissessar

made which will undoubtedly affect the region’s tourism industry.

So far, the Caribbean has not recorded any cases of the Ebola virus that has caused a number of deaths in Africa, but many regional countries have reported cases of the mosquito borne Chikungunya virus.

“As Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, my approach to regional matters is similar to my approach here at home, we must not wait for a crisis to act”. The statement said that the meeting will also act as a direct response to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) which has been calling for CARICOM member states “to adequately prepare for potential cases to implement the necessary steps to protect health care facilities, patients, health care workers and communities”.

The statement noted that Jamaica is already moving to acquire feverdetecting devices to use at its ports as part of ef-

forts to boost the country’s defence against the deadly Ebola and other viruses.

The Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/ WHO) has urged the countries of the Americas to be vigilant and prepared for a potential introduction of the Ebola virus in the Region. The recommendation comes following a statement by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan that the outbreak in West Africa constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).

The current Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013. This outbreak now involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. As of 6 August 2014, countries have reported 1,779 cases, including 961 deaths.

This is currently the largest EVD outbreak ever recorded.

The PHEIC determination was made by Chan based on recommendations from WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee, which suggested temporary measures to reduce the international spread of the virus for three different groups of WHO Member States: those with Ebola transmission; those with a potential or confirmed Ebola case, and unaffected States with land borders with affected countries; and all States.

T

A CBP official conducting training with staff of the CJIA

he United States Government, through the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), provided Carrier Liaison Programme (CLP) training in Georgetown from August 11-15, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

The programme provided standardised training and assistance to international air carriers related to admissibility and fraudulent document detection in order to encourage carrier compliance with US Immigration Laws, the US Embassy in Georgetown said in a release.

Approximately 100 employees from local airlines and security companies includ-

ing Caribbean Airlines, Fly Jamaica, Roraima Airways, TravelSpan Inc, New Timehri Handing Service Inc, and Suriname Airways were trained with the aim of enhancing border security by increasing commercial carrier effectiveness in identifying improperly documented passengers destined for the United States. CLP allows participants to engage in hands-on instruction in fraudulent document identification, passenger assessment, impostor identification and United States entry requirements.

The CLP team has developed innovative training products, including sample travel documents that allow participants to examine

dozens of common security features. The general audience for this training is airline checkin personnel, boarding agents, and security company staff. The CLP reduces carrier penalties and costs associated with improperly documented customers travelling to the United States for airports who have received this training.

CLP training is delivered at US ports of entry and at airports abroad by experienced CLP officers and is customised to meet the needs of specific carriers or locations based on performance analysis or emergent circumstances. CLP officers also assist carriers to develop and implement strategies to reduce travel document abuse.

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Stakeholders force out TCL directors in Trinidad P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: The might of shareholders forced the board of Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) to quit, paving the way for the immediate installation of new directors.

This followed a twoday legal battle by TCL to stop the shareholders’ ac-

tion.

A majority of shareholders unanimously voted in a new board at a Special Compulsory Meeting of Shareholders held at the Radisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

The meeting was called by shareholder Kamal Ali after the direc-

tors refused a requisition for the meeting delivered on June 24, 2014. That requisition was backed by shareholders controlling 54.7 percent of the company’s shares. However, by the time Tuesday afternoon’s meeting was convened, the organisers said they had the support of shareholders represent-

Newly-installed TCL director Glenn Hamel-Smith, second from right, raises his hand in support of TCL's new board during the company's special compulsory shareholders meeting at the Radisson Hotel, Port-of-Spain, Tuesday (TT Guardian photo)

ing more than 70 percent of the company’s shares.

A major part of the business of the meeting was the removal of six directors—chairman Andy Bhajan, Dr Rollin Bertrand, TCL chief executive officer who had a seat on the board, Bevon Francis, Carlos David Hee Houng, Leonard Nurse and Brian William Young.

However, as the meet-

ing began it was announced that the directors had resigned following the loss of their appeal against Monday’s High Court ruling allowing the Special Compulsory Shareholders meeting to go ahead.

That left the meeting with only one item of business—to elect seven new directors to replace the outgoing board.

The shareholders vot-

ed unanimously to elect as directors businessman Wilfred Espinet; retired public servant and former permanent secretary, Allison Lewis; Jamaican businessman Christopher Dehring; attorney Michael Hamel-Smith; engineer Francisco Aguilera; another engineer, Carlos Alberto Palero and businessman Nigel Edwards.

(TT Newsday)

APNU urges fortifying of borders in wake of narco-sub find

F

ollowing the discovery of the selfpropelled semisubmersible (SPSS) craft in Region One on Thursday last, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Security Spokesperson Winston Felix is calling on Government to strengthen the presence of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) at the country’s borders.

Speaking with Guyana Times International on

APNU Member of Parliament Winston Felix

Monday, Felix said such a vessel points to the presence of international drug mafias in the country. He said Government needs to strengthen border security.

“The GDF [Guyana Defence Force] should have been deployed there, but they weren’t, so there was a gap available and enough space for these people to engage in such illegal activities,” he stated.

The former Police Commissioner pointed out that Government should have recognised that the North West District is probably the country’s most vulnerable area; hence, they should implement systems to have GDF presence there, along with the necessary resources to strengthen their operations.

“Government needs to pay attention to the porous borders,” he said.

Felix opined that such a submersible vessel is only used to conceal the shipment of narcotics, particularly cocaine around the region. He lauded the organisations for their diligent work in intercepting the vessel; however, he noted that there is no telling of how long the illegal activity has been going on there or whether any such craft was built before.

The APNU Member of Parliament (MP) said since the interception of the cocaine in coconut milk by Malaysian authorities, his party had maintained that there are high profile drug trafficking activities in Guyana and added that the discovery of this vessel only confirms this.

“The submersible vessel means the bad company is still with us…”

The Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) in a release last week said that the craft found in Region One was blue and was already fitted with a diesel engine and steering wheel, navigation and other machinery to deem it serviceable.

However, no contraband was onboard the SPSS. CANU, along with Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Special Forces, Coast Guard and Air Corps, acting on intelligence from an ongoing investigation, conducted an operation along the Waini River.

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GDF inks Gy$1B military aid package with China

T

he Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has benefited from over Gy$1 billion donated by the Chinese military as part of a nonlethal military aid package.

Heads of the GDF and Chinese military met to conduct the annual bilateral staff conference and as part of the conference, the two armies signed a military-aid package to assist in enhancing the service of the local Army.

The package was signed by GDF Chief-ofStaff, Brigadier Mark Phillips and Major General Kong Li, of the People’s Liberation Amy at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, on Tuesday.

According to the Chief-of-Staff, since 1970, the Chinese Army has been providing military assistance to the GDF. He noted that the ties between the two countries have been con-

Chief-of-Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips and Major General Kong Li with senior officers at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal

solidated with frequent cooperation in political, economic, diplomatic and cultural affairs.

He added that many GDF ranks have also benefited from tactical, operational and strategic levels of training from China over the years.

“The GDF remains heartened and greatly appreciative of the continued military assistance as we work collectively towards strengthening the mutual relationship between the two nationals and military forces,” he noted.

Trinidad gov’t says it won’t stop Constitution Bill

TT’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

P

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: There will be no backing down on TT’s Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014.

In fact, the People’s Partnership government led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar herself had been part of community outreaches this week seeking to educate the people and clear the fears and doubts with respect to the runoff provision of the Bill.

Speaking at the UNC Monday Night Forum in Gasparillo, she dismissed as “mass hysteria” that passing the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014 will cause riots or turn the country into “the Gaza Strip”.

“More power to the people. These are what the reforms are about,” she indicated, adding: “in this country leaders want to hold on to power until you have to drag them screaming and

kicking out the door.”

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014, which was passed in the Lower House last Tuesday, provides for two term limits for Prime Ministers, right of recall for MPs and a runoff election if a candidate does not win more than 50 percent of the vote in a constituency.

COP Ministers Winston Dookeran and Carolyn SeepersadBachan voted against the Bill whilst Social Integration Minister Rodger Samuel, a COP member, abstained. The debate on the Bill in the Senate is carded to take place on August 26 where the vote of at least one independent senator is needed for its passage.

Acting Attorney General and Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said earlier this week that the government will show the people how the Bill seeks to strengthen democracy and will listen to the feedback.

The Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, led by Seenath Jairam SC, last Saturday called for the debate in the Senate to be stopped and for the people to be consulted on its provisions.

However, Moonilal said that as of now, there is no debate in the Senate on the Bill thereby allowing further discussions on its provisions.

Brigadier Philips disclosed that based on the agreement, the money will be used to acquire only non-lethal materials such as equipment, medical supplies and military kits along with building structures.

Meanwhile, Major General Li of the People’s Liberation Amy said that his visit to Guyana is to

implement and sign the package that was agreed upon by the heads of the two military bodies.

He added that during the discussions, he will also be listening to the perspective of the local Army, focusing particularly on what materials and supplies it will need from China.

Li maintained that

this arrangement does not have any political affiliations and is solely an arrangement between the two military bodies.

During the conference, presentations were made by both the Guyana Defence Force and the People’s Liberation Army after which discussions were held on military issues.

The GDF delegation at the conference was headed by the Chief-ofStaff Brigadier Phillips accompanied by Deputy Chief-of-Staff Khemraj Persaud, Commander of the Coast Guard Gray Beaton, and Commanding Officer of Air Corps, Major Courtney Bryne, along with others.

While the PLA’s delegation comprised Major General Li along with Chinese Ambassador to Guyana Zhang Li Min, military medical expert Colonel Zhang Ye from the PLA’s General Logistics Department, Senior Colonel Zhang Jin coordinator of the logistics materials and supplies and Senior Colonel Wang Wei from the General Equipment Department.

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17 Cuyuni tragedy: Body of 5-year-old recovered T news

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

he body of fiveyear-old Beesham Munilall, who went missing on Monday after the boat in which he was travelling crashed into a rock in the vicinity of the Dukwarri River, Cuyuni, has been recovered.

The child, who lived with his father Beesham Munilall Snr, mother and six-year-old sister at the Venezuelan border was reportedly with his father when the accident occurred. The father, according to reports was devastated by the unfortunate news.

Jane Babulall, the grandmother of the dead child when contacted on Wednesday morning told Guyana Times International that she

received a telephone call from her son about 07:00h, informing her that the lad’s body has been recovered.

She added that the body has been taken to the Bartica Hospital and was subsequently moved to the Lyken’s Funeral Home. While the woman is aware of the accident, she is not too certain what occurred on the day.

“I got a call from someone telling me that my grandson missing after a boat collided with a rock… I don’t know where they were going… but meh son cannot take it.”

The distraught woman added that her son made one telephone call to her and he was brief.

OECS resumes talks aimed at developing marine-managed areas

The OECS Commission has started a series of meetings aimed at further developing and sustaining marine-managed areas in the sub-region

T

he St Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission has started a series of meetings aimed at further developing and sustaining marine-managed areas and their associated livelihoods in the sub-region.

The meetings, which began in St Vincent and the Grenadines last Thursday, are being facilitated through the Eastern Caribbean Marine Managed Areas Network (ECMMAN) project, in collaboration with the German Government and coordinated by The Nature Conservancy.

An OECS statement said that the meetings are to assess the status of the socio-economic and management-effectiveness of the targeted Marine Managed Areas of The Tobago Cays Marine Park and South Coast areas in St Vincent, the Point Sables area in St Lucia, The North East area in Antigua, specific areas of Barbuda and marine managed areas of interest in Grenada.

An official of the OECS Commission, Joan Norville, said the updates on the “Socio Economic and Management E f f e c t i v e n e s s Assessments” will guide

the implementation of selected projects to further preserve the targeted marine managed areas and associated livelihoods.

She told the meeting that enhanced marine managed areas contributes to sustained livelihoods, provision of community and family needs as well as economic development.

Meanwhile, a Livelihoods Support Fund (LSF) has been established under the ECMMAN Project.

“The LSF is a small grants facility aimed at assisting coastal communities to undertake actions in support of sustainable livelihood programmes and enterprises. Priority will be given to livelihood activities that will impact positively on the identified marine managed areas,” the OECS Commission said.

It said the fund would also consider applications from individuals, small and micro-businesses, and groups and that the “small grants fund is to finance interventions that will successfully demonstrate innovative and sustainable livelihood opportunities within coastal communities, and impact positively on the coastal resources”.

Dead: Bisham Monilall

“All he said was mom he missing… he dead,” she said, in a faint voice.

She said that her son would move around in the region to look for work

and might have been doing so when the accident occurred.

Her son, she added, lives at the Venezuelan border with his family and hardly comes out to visit her, but she would hear from them from time to time.

According to a release from the Guyana Police Force, Munilall, five, and Jose Henriqu Salvao De Souza, 66, of Junior Rose Landing were passengers “on a boat travelling along a river at Dukwarri, Cuyuni when the vessel struck a rock and several passengers were thrown overboard”.

Many of the passengers managed to make their way back to the safety of the boat except for the five-year-old and the Brazilian national. A search party was established which led to the discovery of the Brazilian national, but up to late Tuesday afternoon, there were no signs of Munilall.

Earlier in the month, Leon D’Aguiar, 20, of Mahaica Village, East Bank Demerara and Junior Williams, 19, formerly of 1275 Spurwing Place, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown and Lot 31 Broad Street, Georgetown met their demise af-

ter falling into a creek at Aranka Backdam, Cuyuni River, Region Seven.

It was reported that the men were crossing a creek in Aranka Backdam when D’Aguiar reportedly slipped into the water and Williams attempted to rescue him, but was pulled overboard.

D’Aguiar, according to reports was not a good swimmer; hence, his friend went to save him.

After the incident, several search parties were formed, and their bodies were recovered a short distance away from each other two days after.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Caribbean Press launches 16 volumes – Guyanese writers highlighted

“T

oday is the writer’s day” was one of the opening statements that were made by Professor David Dabydeen, and Guyana’s Ambassador to China at the Caribbean Press Book Launch at the Umana

Yana last Friday.

Apart from praising the writers for their dedication in bringing their writings to life, Dabydeen also encouraged other writers to take full advantage of this opportunity that was given to

them by the Caribbean Press Publication (CPP) to have their works published and shared with the rest of the world, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

Dozens of writers and members of many other Professor David Dabydeen (centre) with some of the writers posing with their publications

organisations were in attendance to celebrate this achievement by Guyanese writers. There were several readings from the publications launched.

Al Creighton, who is the Chairman of the CPP, said the idea to create the press stemmed from a discussion that had taken place at the 2008 Carifesta that was held in Guyana, by then President Bharrat Jagdeo with Dabydeen and many leading Caribbean writers, including Derrick Walcott, Earl Lovelace and Austin Clark to address the problem of publications in the Caribbean and particularly in Guyana.

The idea of the CPP was thereafter formed.

Dabydeen and Ian Mc Donald have been editors, getting the titles of the Guyana Classics going.

“David has been the ac-

tual electricity behind the series of publications coming out of the Caribbean Press,” Creighton said.

“From time to time there have been launchings of books done by the press; the Guyana Classics series has made available to the reading public many important titles, titles that are fundamental to Guyanese literature and history which would otherwise have gone out of print are now available through the publication of the Guyana Classics,” Creighton stated.

He added that new writings by mostly Guyanese writers are now being publicised through the Caribbean Press. The event showcased 13 titles and 16 volumes of writing that are fundamental to Guyana’s literature and history. These are The Hinterlands by Stanley

Niamatali; Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham OE, SC National Assembly Speeches, Volumes II & III; Heads and Tails, by Pearl Lewis; Twentyfive Poems, Guyanese Children Volume I by Reverend Gideon Cecil; My Father’s Wish by Andrew DO Hutson; Collected Poems – 19371989 by A F Seymour; The Idyll and the Warrior (Recollections of Edgar Mittelholzer) by Jacqueline Mittelholzer; Bitter; Portia Dodson; Beacons of Excellence

by Edgar Mittelholzer; Memorial Lectures – Volumes I, II & III; Duenne, Paloma Mohamed; Anthology of Contemporary Guyana Verse Volume I by Petamber Persaud (ed) and “The Dumb and the Brave” by Churaumanie Bissundyal.

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NEWS

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DDL’s mid-year profit stands at Gy$804M D

espite sales reduction in one of its biggest markets, the Demerara Distillers Limited and Subsidiaries (DDL) was able to make some Gy$804 million for the first half of the 2014 financial year.

According to the company’s Chairman Komal Samaroo in the Interim Report 2014, DDL’s profit before taxation stood at Gy$1.6 billion, representing 20.11 per cent increase compared to the same period last year when Gy$971 million was recorded.

Samaroo credited the increase to continuous

implementation of costreduction measures and improved operational margins.

He pointed out that the gross revenue saw a marginal increase as domestic sales grew modestly. Additionally, exports to the North America and the Caribbean also reflected “encouraging growth,” the Chairman said.

However, these positive trends were adversely affected by a decline in European sales, but Samaroo is adamant that the company is poised to regain its lost sales in that market, one of the biggest ones, during the second

DDL Chairman Komal Samaroo

half of the year.

“We anticipate that economies in the developed countries will contin-

ue to improve in 2014 and hope that the local business environment will benefit from political and national consensus on issues which will ultimately advance our economy,” the Chairman stated.

With the company’s continued exemplary performance, Samaroo anticipated this year will be another positive and profitable one for DDL. The company recorded a 19 per cent increase at the end of financial year 2013, with a Gy$1.569 billion profit after tax. Most of the operating entities within the group have registered improvement

in their performance during the year. The group’s turnover increased by 11 per cent to Gy$17.5 billion and the profit before tax was increased by 15 per cent from Gy$1.569 billion to Gy$2.205 billion, which reflected improved margins from cost-reduction initiatives and efficiency drives undertaken by management.

There was a 14 per cent increase in profit before tax of Gy$1.462 billion, while turnover recorded an eight per cent increase of Gy$11.5 billion when compared to the previous year.

DDL’s El Dorado Rum

continues to be the people’s choice around the world, winning a number of prizes and awards in various spirit competitions.

The El Dorado 8-YearOld was adjudged the Best Rum and trophy winner in 2013 at the International Wines and Spirits Competition held annually in London.

The El Dorado 21, 15 and 12-Year-Old rums all won gold medals, while the five and three-yearold rums won silver medals. DDL was also named Distiller-of-the-Year for the Americas and the Caribbean.

3 more in Guyana crash-landing to sue CAL

A

n attempt by Caribbean Airlines Limited to prevent three more persons from suing for personal injuries arising from the crashlanding of Caribbean Airlines Flight BW 523 in Guyana three years ago, was denied by a US district court judge last Wednesday in Brooklyn, New York.

In a multi-district litigation, numerous plaintiffs brought suit against defendant Caribbean Airlines Limited for personal injuries arising from the crash-landing of

granted plaintiffs leave to amend their complaints.

The caption of the Opinion and Order stated that it applied to the claims of plaintiffs Rajendra Persaud, 64, and Prampatie Persaud, 64, from Florida; and Shanti Persaud, 34, and her two children, ages 10 and seven, from Guyana.

Both plaintiffs Rajendra and Prampatie Persaud have since settled their claims against Caribbean Airlines. The claims of Shanti Persaud and her two children, however, remain active.

A ruling from a US District Court has allowed three more passengers in the Caribbean Airlines plane that crash-landed in Guyana on July 30, 2011 to proceed with claims against the airline

Caribbean Airlines Flight BW 523 in Guyana on July 30, 2011. Plaintiffs were travelling from Florida to Georgetown, and while landing in Georgetown, Flight BW 523 overshot the runway, and plaintiffs sustained personal injuries.

Caribbean Airlines brought a motion “to dismiss” in several of the cases, asserting that the Warsaw Convention governed those plaintiffs’ claims and that the treaty’s forum provision deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction.

On May 16, the court issued an “Opinion and Order” holding that the Warsaw Convention does not govern these claims because Guyana is not a party to the Convention.

Accordingly, the court denied Caribbean Airline’s motion to dismiss, and

Caribbean Airlines had requested that the Opinion and Order be amended to apply as well to three similarly situated plaintiffs Abdool Latif, Maylene Persaud and Ernest Scott, whose claims remain active.

At a press conference before Magistrate Judge Joan M Azrack on September 24, 2013, attorneys for the remaining three plaintiffs (Latif, Maylene Persaud and Scott) consented to inclusion in the then-pending motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

They were inadvertently omitted from the caption in the May 16 Opinion and Order, and the Opinion and Order was then amended to apply to them.

On June 27, this year, Caribbean Airlines re-

quested that the court certify an “interlocutory ap-

peal” from the Opinion and Order’s ruling that

the Warsaw Convention does not govern plain-

tiffs’ claims.

Guardian)

(Trinidad

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

BK’s JAGS Aviation unveils Guyana seriously exploring ways to revive coconut industry – Ramsammy new Cessna Caravan

G

H

The brand new Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX at the Ogle International Airport

istory was created within the private sector in Guyana and the Caribbean when a brand-new Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX landed at the Ogle International Airport.

The aircraft is the property of JAGS Aviation, a subsidiary of BK International Group of Companies, owned by Brian Tiwarie. It is the first time in the history of the aviation sector in Guyana and across the Region, that a private company has been able to purchase a new aircraft directly from the manufacturer.

It was a spectacular event as special invitees and members of the local aviation sector, along with employees and wellwishers were finally able to catch a glimpse of the shining new aircraft.

The caravan, which was expected to land at the airport sometime around 05:00h on Sunday afternoon, received a unique kind of welcome from the Guyana Fire

Service, a few minutes after 18:00h, due to a minor delay in Antigua.

But the delay did not mar the impression created by the skilled, talented pilot, Captain Joshua Simms and his two co-pilots, Captains Miguel Benjamin and Damon Woodruff, whose awesome manoeuvre created a breathtaking spectacle in the faded blue sky, much to the amazement of the waiting crowd.

The aircraft flew out of Kansas, US on Sunday, was in-transit in Antigua, before heading to Guyana. Standing at a cost of close to US$3 million, the 2014 CESSNA Caravan has a seating capacity of 13, excluding the pilot’s seat. It is equipped with state-ofthe art technology and is fully air-conditioned.

Jags Aviation Manager Brionnie Tiwarie said the aviation sector in today’s world exists to assist people in their various endeavours. She said as much as her family is

thrilled with the arrival of the new caravan, they are even more excited at what it will do for Guyana’s aviation sector and “basic communication and travel in support of tourism and mining and other economic activities in Guyana’s hinterland region”, she said.

She said the aviation arm of BK International operating through the recent acquisition, JAGS Aviation Inc also represents the energy, vision and effort of the Tiwarie family.

Labour Minister, Dr Nanda Gopaul congratulated the company, noting that it has taken a step in the right direction.

“They believe that Guyana has a place where a local company can operate, where the sky is the limit.”

The purchase of the new aircraft, he boasted, is an additional investment to JAGS Aviation Company, and Government welcomes the initiative.

uyana is preparing to host a conference with coconut specialists from Mexico in early September as steps are being made to revive the industry.

This was announced by Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who was at the time speaking at a press conference on Saturday. He said that this venture will be pivotal in the “reinvigorating” of Guyana’s coconut industry.

He pointed out that presently, coconut farmers are not fully knowledgeable about the different varieties of coconut and their benefits. But he said the delegation from Mexico will be engaging them in that capacity.

“We just grow coconut… if you want coconut water, they are special varieties, if you want virgin coconut oil, and coconut water, there are special varieties,” said Minister Ramsammy.

He pointed out that as of recent, the demand for coconut water and virgin coconut oil has skyrocketed and this will be the two major projects once things get going in the sector.

The Minister noted too that when the industry is developed, there will be some major changes and a lot of attention will be placed on reducing the damage to the environment.

“We are developing the coconut industry that takes into consideration the environmental issues as the industry grows so will the environmental issues.”

The coconut industry in Guyana has been identified as one of the sectors with huge potential for further development. Coconut already exists in Guyana as one of the key non-traditional crops and its production relies on Guyana’s comparative advantages in terms of land, water and labour.

Coconut delivers a very wide variety of products, including coconut water, coconut oil, coconut milk and dried coconut, which are all in demand regionally and internationally.

Guyana, at the beginning of this year

Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

had produced between 90 and 100 million coconuts per year, which approximates to some 70,000 tonnes and the world export market for coconut products, is about US$6 billion, while Guyana exports nearly US$3 million in coconut products.

In many of the major coconutgrowing countries, coconut is known for its diverse uses including mature coconuts for production of dried copra for coconut oil, while fresh copra for virgin oil besides production of byproducts such as desiccated coconut powder, spray dried milk powder, coconut milk, etc.

Immature, tender coconuts are familiarly called as nature’s packaged drinking water is a preferred refreshing healthy drink, which has many medicinal and nutritional properties.

Other potential by-products of coconut are husk for production of coir fibre and its several products, shell for production of shell charcoal, shell powder, activated carbon and many ornaments.

Coconut wood is being utilised for making furniture items and building materials such as doors, staircases, etc.

Guyana, Panama sign agreement on Agricultural trade, research

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uyana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Panama for collaboration in the development of agriculture and trade between the two countries, one; an agriculture giant in Caricom, and the other; a trade and economic hub in Central America.

The MoU includes close collaboration in building the potential of the rice industries of both countries.

According to Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, one of the first outcomes from the MoU is that Guyana on August 14 signed contracts with the Panama Government to supply rice on a monthly basis for the rest of 2014.

Partnership

The MoU is intended to facilitate a partnership between the two countries for scientists and agricultural research institutions to work collaboratively to enhance agriculture

July 2.

Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy (left) and Panama’s Agriculture Minister, Dr Esteban Giron, congratulate each other in the presence of President Juan Carlos Varela after signing the agreement

and trade between the countries and with other Caricom and Central American countries.

The areas identified for the collaboration include, but are not limited to, rice, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish and other areas related to agriculture.

The activities and programmes of cooperation will be achieved through exchange of del-

egations of experts, scientists and technicians, seed crops and animal breeds, information and technical documents, trade in agricultural products, joint organisation of technical seminars, workshops and conferences, coordination of research projects of interest to both countries, among others.

Dr Ramsammy said the MoU gives effect to

the intention of President Donald Ramotar and President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama to develop stronger ties between Guyana and Panama and between Caricom and Central America.

The two leaders met as Presidents for the first time in Colombia on August 6. President Varela was sworn in as President of Panama on

Trade in rice

As a consequence of the meeting in Colombia between the two Presidents, a team led by Dr Ramsammy, Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) General Manager Jagnarine Singh and Rice producers Association General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj, concluded successful meetings with officials of the Government of Panama that resulted in Guyana being given meaningful access to the Panamanian market.

The Agriculture Ministry team was able to secure a contract that will see a monthly export of about 5,000 tonnes per month, beginning in September and taking the contract period to the end of 2014. New contracts for 2015 are to be negotiated on satisfactory conclusion of these initial contracts.

The contracts to export rice to Panama in September and monthly

to the end of 2014 were signed at the Office of the Agriculture Minister in Panama City on August 14.

Final terms for the contract were agreed after negotiation between Guyana’s team of Dr Ramsammy, Seeraj and Singh and the team from the Agriculture Ministry of Panama, led by the Vice Minister of Agriculture, Dr Esteban Giron.

The signing of the new contracts to supply rice to Panama in a Government-toGovernment arrangement ensures that Guyana’s rice market continues to expand, even as production has increased significantly.

The Government of Guyana, through the Agriculture Ministry and the GRDB, and in collaboration with the RPA, has been working diligently to expand demand for Guyana’s rice and paddy to overseas markets.

news WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014

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| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Corentyne woman PAHO urges Caribbean scores a century not-out to prepare for Ebola

C

aroline Marline Benn of Nurney Village, Corentyne, last Saturday celebrated her 100th birthday, and to honour the occasion, family, friends and villagers hosted a grand birthday celebration at the Kildonan Community Centre.

Benn, who is fondly called “Aunty Malyne,” was born August 16, 1914 in Nurney Village, a place she holds close to her heart.

She is the mother of three children, two of whom are alive. At a century, she is still vibrant, healthy and well-spoken. Aunty Malyne told this newspaper that she feels blessed on reaching the major milestone.

Growing up, she worked at various jobs in and around her community, but disclosed she mostly enjoyed farming and fishing.

The centenarian recalled her younger days, saying it was fun. She said she loved fishing and would go to the trenches to catch fish using her hands and a seine. Even today, she takes a few trips once in a while to catch fish with her grand-children; however, she uses a hook now, she chuckled.

When asked what was her secret to reaching 100, “Auntie Malyne” replied good health, good foods and prayers.

“I would eat a lot of cassava, plantain, eddo and fruits; my favourite is cassava.”

The centenarian not-

T

Vice Chairman Bhupaul Jagroop hands over a present to Caroline Benn

ed the importance of praying and serving God. She advised others to eat healthy, worship God and honour their parents, because it is God’s will that allowed her to live to 100.

She also urges everyone to try and observe the 10 Commandments.

The woman, who was in high spirits and was amazingly very active, told this publication that she does not suffer from high pressure, cholesterol or diabetes.

According to Eulaie Mendonza, 78, Benn’s daughter with whom she resides, her mother is caring, loving and blessed with a wealth of experience. While there is not an exact count, she is the grandmother and great-grandmother of many.

She was described as the “Village Mother” as anyone could go to her for advice.

When quizzed about

the youths of today versus those of her time, she said while they appear to be smarter today because of technology, they are lacking in morals and seem to get ill more often.

“People in my time did not get computers and stuff, we were not as smart, but we were well brought up, we could not pass an elder without saying good morning or good day, now you see kids barely out of their diapers and they cursing in the streets; we would have gotten a good thrashing.”

Present at her birthday celebrations were members of the Region Six, Regional Democratic Council, Members of the Opposition and Government and numerous well-wishers. They all showered praises and congratulated her. At one point, Auntie Malyne even rose to her feet to join in the singing.

he Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/ WHO) is urging the countries of the Americas to be vigilant and prepared for a potential introduction of the Ebola virus in the Region.

The recommendation comes following a statement

by WHO DirectorGeneral Margaret Chan that the outbreak in West Africa constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC). The current Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013. This outbreak now involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. As of 6 August 2014, countries have reported 1,779 cases, including 961 deaths.

This is currently the largest EVD outbreak ever recorded.

The PHEIC determination was made by Chan based on recommendations from WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee, which suggested temporary measures to reduce the international spread of the virus for three different groups of WHO Member States: those with Ebola transmission; those with a potential or confirmed Ebola case, and unaffected States with land borders

with affected countries; and all States.

Within this context, the following recommendations by the WHO IHR Emergency Committee apply to the countries

tional airports or major land crossing points with unexplained febrile illness; the general public should be provided with accurate and relevant information on the Ebola

of the Americas: there should be no general ban on international travel or trade; although the restrictions outlined in these recommendations regarding the travel of EVD cases and contacts should be implemented; WHO Member States should provide travelers to Ebola-affected and at-risk areas with relevant information on risks, measures to minimize those risks, and advice for managing a potential exposure; States should be prepared to detect, investigate, and manage Ebola cases; this should include assured access to a qualified diagnostic laboratory for EVD and, where appropriate, the capacity to manage travelers originating from known Ebola-infected areas who arrive at interna-

outbreak and measures to reduce the risk of exposure and states should be prepared to facilitate the evacuation and repatriation of nationals (e.g. health workers) who have been exposed to Ebola.

“At this time, all actions in the Americas should be oriented toward preventing the establishment of local transmission before the introduction of a possible imported case,” noted Marcos Espinal, Director of PAHO/ WHO’s Department of Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis.

Within this framework, national authorities of the countries of the Region should put into practice the capacities that have been developed as part of the IHR’s implementation.

Persaud urges miners to rid sector of prostitution

BY JOMO PAUL

N

atural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud has urged miners to rid the sector of the prostitution tag it carries and work to preserve the environment even as they pursue their fortunes.

He was at the time addressing the opening of a Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) mining permit lottery at the Bartica Community Centre ground.

Prostitution and allegations of human trafficking is rampant in the mining community.

Delivering the feature address at the opening of the lottery at the Bartica Community Centre, the Minister said it was important that miners remain cognisant of the ecological effects of mining in the pursuit of riches.

He also pointed to the stigma of prostitution and trafficking in persons (TIP) that

Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud addressing the gathering at the lottery in Bartica

is predominantly attached to the mining sector, and urged that miners take this into account and work to eliminate the stigma attached to mining.

The Minister said: “I want you to recognise your envi-

ronment and social responsibilities… we want to encourage you as much as we want to support you to be engaged in environmentally responsible mining. The utilisation of our natural resource could be done in a way that takes into

account the possible impact it could have on environmental degradation, the impact it could have on the long-term viability of our eco-system.”

The Minister pointed out that each miner has a committed responsibility to see

that the eco-system is protected when mining and illegal activities are at a minimum in the industry. This way, he highlighted, the industry will be moving from strength to strength on the social and ecological front.

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News

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Narco-sub was built to fetch tons of cocaine

– Home Affairs Ministry

T

he Home Affairs Ministry in Guyana has commended the security forces for the discovery of a blue Self-Propelled SemiSubmersible (SPSS) vessel in a creek along the Waini River, North West District last Thursday, contending that the vessel was built to transport tonnes of cocaine.

The blue Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible was found by the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Special Forces, Coast Guard and Air Corps The Ministry in a release, said this was the first time a SPSS was found in Guyana, and was built to trans-ship tonnes of narcotics/contraband, smuggled into the country, possibly for onward

The semi-submersible craft that was found in a creek off the Waini River in the North-West

movement through the north-west coast onto the Trans-Atlantic route.

“The Ministry applauds the work of the security operatives and reaffirms its commitment to regional and international cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect in the fight

against the world drug problem,” the release said.

The semi-submersible craft is believed to have links with a Colombian drug cartel.

The Colombian drug dealers are known to use this innovative technology to ship narcotics across the Caribbean and the

US. CANU Director James Singh, who headed the search operations that led to the discovery of the vessel, could not confirm whether there is indeed a connection.

He told Guyana Times International that investigations are currently on-

going and no more information can be disclosed to the public at this time.

According to CANU, the craft was already fitted with a diesel engine and steering wheel, navigation and other machinery to deem it serviceable.

However, no contraband was on board the SPSS.

CANU, along with the GDF, acting on intelligence from an ongoing investigation conducted an operation along the Waini River.

During a search of one of the creeks branching off from the Waini, the vessel was discovered about two miles in, along with a camp consisting of three structures – accommodation, workshop area and generator. The accommodation had the capacity to sleep approximately 12 persons.

In addition, there was also a kitchen area located within the accommodation. The workshop consisted of pulleys, power tools, paint, and several fibre-glass materials.

Based on the items present, it is believed that the SPSS found in the creek was built in the area.

Soyini Fraser crowned Miss Jamzone International

I

n a night of fulfilled promises, spectacular dances, laughter, music and an exquisite fashion display, Guyana’s Soyini Fraser was crowned Miss Jamzone International 2014 at the National Cultural Centre on Friday evening.

Elegance, intelligence, grace and poise were all features that Fraser epitomised as she took to the stage last evening and won the coveted title and US$10,000, which has been elusive to Guyana since the pageant expanded to include Caribbean countries quite a number of years ago.

Miss Barbados, Dannyelle Leslie and Miss Bahamas Lexi Wilson were named first and second runners-up respectively. Meanwhile, Miss Trinidad and

Soyini Fraser being crowned Miss Jamzone 2014

Tobago Yaya Henry and Miss Jamaica placed fourth and fifth respectively.

Miss USA Kadian Collins and Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines Aphesha Matthews were eliminated before the final stage of the contest.

In addition to the top prize, Fraser also copped

the prizes for Best National Costume and Best Fantasy Swimwear.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Miss Henry took home the prizes for Best Smile and Best General Swimwear.

In addition, the People’s Choice Award and Best Gown went to Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The contest got off to an excellent start with each contestant being tasked to showcase their respective countries.

It was in this segment that the winner, Miss Guyana, said to the other contestants that the crown was staying home this year.

With a few jokes and an entertaining performance, she took the crowd through the sights and scenes of Guyana, all in five minutes. Her interactive display in this segment was certainly critical in her copping the title.

It must be noted too that some of the other contestants did very well in this segment and those included Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines, who delivered a funny and informative performance.

Miss Barbados and Bahamas also delivered

very well. However, it is unclear whether her demeanour was a part of her presentation, but Miss Jamaica appeared to be a bit high during the delivery of a giggly school-girl like performance.

Miss St Lucia failed miserably in this segment as she could not arouse the interest of the audience during her performance. Miss Trinidad Yaya Henry came off as a bit nervous as she raced through her speech, leaving the audience baffled as to what she was saying.

Next on the agenda was the Fantasy Swimwear Segment, in which Miss Bahamas suffered a major wardrobe malfunction.

Interestingly enough, Miss St Vincent appeared in a stunning pink swimwear which

was a sure crowd favourite.

In the Evening Gown Segment, Miss Jamaica came out in a red dress that was a sight to behold, taking the stage with much grace and poise. Miss St Vincent however had a misstep and nearly fell. She too had a wardrobe malfunction as her dress straps slipped off from one side of her shoulder.

When it was time for the Question and Answer segment, it was a tight competition as almost all the island beauties answered the question presented to them without much difficulty.

However, Miss Trinidad was once again nervous and fumbled, as she spoke too quickly for the audience to comprehend what she was saying.

CGX ties up helicopter deal for drilling in October

C

anadian oil exploration company, CGX Energy has entered into a definitive agreement for the provision of helicopter services for use in the drilling of its first commitment well on its Corentyne Block.

Under the terms of the agreement, the company has procured the services of Bristow Helicopters (International) Limited, a corporation organised and acting under the laws of England and having its registered office in England.

Additionally, the CGX has completed a shallow hazard sur-

vey in order to acquire seabed conditions and drilling hazard information surrounding the location of its first commitment well on the Corentyne Block.

The survey, performed by the MV Sea Surveyor of Guardline Marine Sciences (South America) Limited, comprised an area of 3.5km X 4.5km. Soil boring samples will be taken in October 2014 to predict leg penetration for the HAKURYU-12 jack-up drilling rig.

CGX Energy is a Canadianbased oil and gas exploration company focused on the ex-

ploration of oil in the GuyanaSuriname Basin. Bristow Group Inc, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of helicopter services to the worldwide offshore energy industry based on the number of aircraft operated, and one of two helicopter service providers to the offshore energy industry with global operations.

Bristow has proudly served the offshore oil transport industry in major exploration and production arenas for more than 50 years and has been responsible for many industry-leading technological innovations.

Canadian oil exploration company, CGX Energy has entered into a definitive agreement for the provision of helicopter services for use in the drilling of its first commitment well on its Corentyne Block

News Man accused of killing stepfather remanded

Inderjeet Sewdan has been charged for killing his step-father

T

wenty-year-old Inderjeet Sewdan of Free Yard Port Mourant, Corentyne was on Monday remanded to prison when he made his first court appearance before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Whim Magistrates’ Court to answer the charge of murder.

Sewdan, a labourer, is accused of killing his 48-year-old step-father Deochand Singh on August 13 at Free Yard, Port Mourant. He was unrepresented in court.

A post-mortem examination conducted on the body of Singh by Dr, Vivekanand Brijmohan at the New Amsterdam hospital revealed that the man died from multiple injuries. He reportedly suf-

fered 18 stab wounds, 14 around his neck, a wound to his head and lacerations about his body.

According to reports, the gruesome crime stemmed from a family feud which began when Singh allegedly impregnated the accused’s sister, who was 15 at the time.

This reportedly occurred five years ago in Venezuela while they were living there.

Singh allegedly fled to Guyana after the incident and moved in with the suspect’s mother, who bore two children for him.

The woman also has three older children, one daughter and two sons. The stepsons were allegedly upset at Singh for impregnating their under-aged sister.

On the day of the murder, Singh reportedly returned home from a wake and was entering his residence when the step-son, who was allegedly armed with a cutlass, knife and a piece of wood, attacked him. It is understood that the attacker and other individuals then threw Singh’s body in a pond and tried to dispose of the weapons.

However, the cutlass was later recovered by authorities. Sewdan is expected to make his next court appearance on September 15.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

PPP/C calls on citizens to expose discrepancies found on Voters List

T

he People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) is calling on all Guyanese to expose any type of discrepancies that may surface during the current Claims and Objections period in order to ensure there is a clean, accurate and credible Voters List.

The party in a statement said the first ingredient for the holding of free and fair elections is a Voters List that is aboveboard.

“We call on all Guyana to support the PPP/C’s concerns with respect to discrepancies arising out of the registration process and the production of a Preliminary List of Electors (PLE). GECOM should be reminded that political parties were given copies of the Preliminary Voters List to scrutinise. Further, it is the prerogative of political parties to monitor the current Claims and Objections exercise and to report its findings of malpractices to GECOM for their corrective action.

“It is GECOM’s responsibility to inform the public that political parties are currently carry-

The PPP/C says the first ingredient for the holding of free and fair elections is a Voters List that is above board

ing out house to house work to check for discrepancies on the PLE 2014.

This exercise of house to house checking of the list by political parties is a right that parties have over the years.”

Given a mandate by the electorate to represent almost half of the country’s population, the PPP/C intends to ensure that there is complete transparency during the registration process and at GECOM itself. The party had cause to write GECOM last week after its field operatives found 18 persons on the PLE with the same Georgetown address.

At the said address,

they found one of the 18 people with a prepared list of the 18 that were listed. “The PPP/C find this very unusual; while it may be possible that these 18 persons are living at that address, we call on GECOM to physically verify these persons' existence and their place of residence. The PPP/C has been submitting irregularities to GECOM on an ongoing basis rather than wait until the Claims and Objections period concludes since this period lasts for only 28 days and we are only 10 days away from its conclusion,” the party said.

The PPP/C is calling

on GECOM to explain in clear terms: The drastic increase in new registrants (over 78,000) when the average annual increase of New Registrants is usually just over 11,000; what quality control mechanism was used for inputting data from the NRRD into the PLE and who did it?; why weren’t critical vacancies including those yet to be filled at the IT Department not filled and was only acted upon after questions were raised by the PPP/C?; and when will GECOM put an International Monitoring Unit (IMU) or Joint International Technical Assistance (JITA) in place to over look the inputting of critical and important data and the evaluation of such data as well?”

Lack of preparation

The PPP/C said it remains convinced that GECOM is better prepared for General Elections and not Local Government Elections, especially since GECOM’s total lack of preparations for the holding of Local Government Elections under the new electoral system.

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NEWS

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Texila American University in massive expansion drive in Guyana – building US$12M Medical Campus at Providence; Specialty Hospital in pipeline specialty hospital. This, he said would be in keeping with Government’s drive to make Guyana a medical tourism destination.

The Texila American University is owned by a group of businessmen based in Hong Kong, of whom Saju Bhaskar, an Indian national, is one of the majority shareholders.

BY TAJERAM MOHABAIR

W

ith a vision to establish itself as the best medical school in the Caribbean, the Texila American University which established operations in Guyana in 2010, will soon be building a state-of-the-art campus at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Speaking to Guyana Times International via Skype from the university’s offices in New Jersey, USA, Director for International Operations Ashok Kumar said the design for the building has been completed and is in the process of being approved.

He is hoping that the process will be completed within three months, pointing out that construction will commence soon after.

Construction of the university will be done in two phases—the actual construction of the building, followed by technical work on the science facilities.

According to Kumar, when completed, the new

Programmes offered

A model of the Texila American University Campus to be built at Providence, East Bank Demerara (Carl Croker photo)

US$12 million campus, outfitted with all modern facilities, will have the capacity to accommodate 1000 students from across the world.

The Providence facility will complement and prevent overcrowding at the Goedverwagting, Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara campus.

The East Coast Demerara campus currently has over 350 students from 35 countries,

and would be matriculating another 120 in the new academic year.

The majority of the students are from India and African countries, with some from the US and Canada.

Hospital

On completion of the Providence project, the university will embark on another physical infrastructure programme — the construction of a hospital for students

to do their clinical rotations.

Currently, some students at the university do their clinical rotations at the Georgetown Public Hospital and others at hospitals in the US and the Philippines.

According to Kumar, the hospital which is expected to be built in the next three to five years will be a general hospital at first, but would gradually move to become a

Some of the programmes offered by the university include the Doctor of Medicine Programme (MD) (four years for students with 90 college level credits), the Pre-med Programme + MD Programmes (in a total of 5.5 years for high school graduates), the Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (four years) and the RN-BSN (two years) Advanced Standing Nursing Programmes.

Kumar also pointed out that students studying the MD Programme can do their last two years of clinical rotations in the wide network of hospitals with reputed physicians in the US and The Philippines.

The hospitals in the US include DeKalb Medical, Atlanta and the Louis A Weiss Memorial Hospital and Masonic Medical Centre, Chicago.

Kumar also noted that students from other reputable universities, for example the University of the West Indies (UWI), who wish to do their clinical rotations in the US can register and become accredited to do so at any of the university’s network of hospitals there.

He disclosed too that the university’s tuition fees are designed to attract local students, explaining that the cost for foreign students to study for the medical or nursing degree programmes ranges from US$40,000 to US$45,000, while local students pay half the amount.

This offer, the Operations Manager said, is part of the university’s corporate social responsibility to Guyana, contending that sums paid by foreign students, help to subsidise the tuition cost for local students.

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guyanatimeSinternational.com

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Feature

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Indrawattie Natram

D

anielstown village, situated between Sparta and Coffee Grove, approximately 12 miles from Charity, Essequibo, is a village with a rich history bought by freed slaves in 1840.

The village is 174 years old and is presently celebrating its 7th Homecoming. The community has a special organisation called the Concerned Citizens of Danielstown Inc, which promotes as well as plan activities to bring the people of the village, and elsewhere, together. The Concerned Citizens of Danielstown Inc, whose parent body is located in the US, is an organisation that operates with-

Danielstown Anglican Church, which stands since 1880 (Photo by Marco Basir)

in the La Belle Alliance/ Windsor Castle community. The president of the local chapter is Prince Shepherd.

The fast developing community of Danielstown, with ap-

Danielstown Post Office

proximately 2000 residents, is today a business hub for many entrepreneurs who have played a major role in the development of the education, cultural and business sectors of the community.

Residents related that, in its initial years, an English man named Daniel, who was the owner of the sugar factory in Sparta, was very instrumental in the development of the village.

As such, the village was named after him.

The village, as it has always been, is home to people of all ethnicities.

According to the oldest resident of the community, Shemroy Britton, Saturday nights were

special. The local shops remained opened until 11:00pm. The village of Danielstown was illuminated with bottle lamps (flambo) on the road from one end to the other.

Britton, who is in his late 80s, said mu-

sic blared in the drinking shops. He noted there were three popular shops, namely: the Corner Shop, Sardar Mohamed and Sonny Teerie.

The elder recalled children could not wait to get on the road Saturday nights to get their special treats, as vendors lined off to sell traditional dishes such as black and white pudding.

Additionally, persons eagerly anticipated the Christmas and Easter celebrations in the village, which were happy occasions shared with everyone.

Recently, the Concerned Citizens of Danielstown Inc planned several activities to coincide with its 14th anniversary and 7th Homecoming aimed at

Shemroy Britton the oldest person in Danielstown

showcasing the predominantly African communities of Danielstown, La Belle Alliance and Windsor Castle - all on the Essequibo Coast.

The homecoming is being held under the theme, “Together we will achieve�. This celebration is an annual one.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

The age-old rice mill, dating back to when the village was founded, still stands

Arts & Culture

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

B

orn in Guyana, artist Siddiq Khan’s family moved to Canada where he grew up. His artistic career began at an early age when he convinced his parents to buy him a paint-by-numbers kit. By 12 years of age he got a permit to sell his works at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in order to buy more kits. Before arriving in Santa Fe in the US 12 years ago, Siddiq spent time in the interior of British Columbia and Austin, TX. In addition to mixed media works, Siddiq is also a sculptor and teaches a ceramics class at St. John’s College. He enjoys teaching because it allows him to observe and become more aware of his own process by having to verbalize techniques. Initially he took a ceramics class to get more physical with his work and to see how far he could push the medium. He utilizes ceramics in order to create a combination of painting and sculpture. The ceramic works are constructed on their sides so he never knows where their balancing points will be until they are completed. For him the process is much like drawing –

of themselves are wonderful. But they are not studies for larger works, nor are they completed works themselves.

They become part of the fabric of Siddiq’s larger works on canvas. He tears these drawings up, deconstructing the body into separate entities that are sometimes barely discernable.

Though he does not

have a regular routine for working, he estimates that he works in 2-3 hour stints with periodic breaks every day.

It is a way of life and he loves the organic process and the chance elements that occur as a result.

For him the most important thing is to keep doing the work. He is not trying to create something in order to sell it.

He has been successful and had a market for his works because he is a wonderful person and is very interesting to talk to. He loves meeting people, and if they are gallerists or collectors – that is great, but building relationships with people is really what is important to Siddiq. (Information from www.accessibleartny.com)

Guyanese artist Siddiq Khan and his son

but in clay. He has loose ideas about what he will make but by moving line around, the works come together organically, especially because he completes them all in one day. They take about one month to dry and then he fires them three or four times, adding colour and lines with each subsequent fire. It has taken him six to seven years to get to where he wants to be. He has moved from

table top works to larger scale pieces made of wood. He uses the wood in the same manner in which he uses slabs of clay.

Siddiq’s mixed media works are also explorations in line. He begins by attending a live model drawing class once a week. Using charcoal, oil pastel and conté crayon, he draws overlapping images and figures.

These drawings in and

Live model drawing

Siddiq's ceramic artworks

Mixed media

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FEATURE

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

The Shaping of Guyanese Literature

By Petamber Persaud

Sankofa

Part One

E

xtract of an interview with Eric M Phillips on his book, “Know Thyself A – Z”, March 2014, Georgetown, Guyana.

Phillips is a civil rights and cultural activist who has visited over 40 African countries. He is preparing to release two collections of poetry.

PP: There are various approaches to a book. For this book, “Know Thyself A to Z”

by Eric Phillips, I would like start at the end, and you Eric, would understand why I am doing this. Let’s go all the way to Timbuktu, a place that was misrepresent-

Sankofa can mean either the word in the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to “reach back and get it” or the Asante Adinkra symbols of a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back, or of a stylised heart shape. It is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates, “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.”

ed in various ways for a long, long time.

What attracted me to Timbuktu was what is written in this book about that place. And I’d like to quote from page 50: “In its Golden Age, the town’s numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade.”

Further down the page, the historian, Leo Africanus said: “There is a great demand for books, and more profit is made from the trade in books than in any other line of business.”

What a statement!

What a Golden Age for learning and books!

Now let’s talk about your book, “Know Thyself A –Z” - this one is the first in a series of four books. In

the foreword, you introduced the book by saying this book is dedicated to “self-knowledge and self-healing, seeking truth, seeking understanding… seeking justice” - quite a lot you are attempting. But let’s go back to Timbuktu and remove the dark scales from our eyes in order that we see the issue from A to Z. EP: When we were growing up, if someone said you were from Timbuktu, it was an insult; it meant that you were from some nevernever land…

PP: …Behind God’s back…

EP: Yes, and a land which was mythical and horrible but in reality Timbuktu which really exists in Mala, West Africa, was a centre of learning for a long period of time and indeed there are over 700,000 manuscripts written in Arabic in all types of subjects – science, math, law, etc. - but we were taught that Timbuktu was a bad thing and a bad place when in reality it was the centre of learning, it was the centre of Islamic learning and when you go through the history of Timbuktu, you would be fascinated. For example, one of the Kings, Mansa Musa, when he went to Egypt, he had 60,000 labourers, each carrying three kilograms of gold – the largest shipment of gold. But the real story was about the culture of learning, universities existed there, scholars were attracted from all over the world to come to Timbuktu, that centre of learning, and learning

'Know Thyself A-Z' by Eric Phillips

then was currency. And as you just quoted trading in books was more profitable than trading in other valuable commodities like salt and gold.

PP: So now we have dispelled some of the dark clouds hanging over Timbuktu by use of this book which is why such publications are important, bringing elucidation and questioning the text. Years ago, we

knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Why we need to be grounded?

EP: If we don’t know who we are, if we don’t have knowledge of our past, our culture, we can’t really love ourselves because we are misinformed and if you can’t love yourself you can’t love others and you can’t appreciate other cultures.

Eric M Phillips

grew up accepting what was written, what was peddled to us, but new findings are causing us to rethink our position on many things. Just the other day Prof Clem Seecharan declared that he is in a position now to add disclaimers to many things he had written, he is in the position to rewrite his opinions on many issues because of new findings.

EP: Yes, lots of new things are being unearthed; they were there, existing, but buried. Now due to new technologies and scholars’ quest for knowledge, new things are coming to light and people are rethinking previous beliefs.

PP: Back to your book again where you quoted Marcus Garvey: “A people without the

PP: I hear you…

EP: So if you understand yourself, if you are so grounded, you will have better self-esteem therefore you could look at other peoples’ culture, other peoples’ achievements and say this is humanity – we are the same.

PP: But something happened and changed all of that – it is called slavery…

EP: Yes, there was a purposeful attempt to make Africans seem inhuman, that they had no real culture, that they needed to be saved.

So during slavery, there was a period of misinformation…

To be continued Responses to this author telephone (592) 2260065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Growing pains

Simply the Truth

Robin Williams: Suicide R

W

By Anu Dev

hen my own CSEC results came out in 2011, I’d been vacationing with my family in Suriname. I learnt about it, in what is now the old fashioned way — via the newspapers.

This year, the Education Minister broke new ground – she personally streamed the results of the top 52 performers who’d secured 11 or more passes with Grade Ones.

My family were avid viewers over in New York, where we were vacationing: my brother Abhimanyu had written 17 subjects at the age of 14 and “anxious” was not the word for us!!. Maybe me more than my kid brother! Abhi had always been special – and precocious. You know the saying, “You have to creep before you walk”? Well, he just dragged along on his (pampered) rump for a while and then blithely stood up and walked one day.

He started to read at the age of two and when he entered primary school at the age of six – he had to be placed in Grade Three. As his classmate Saskia Khalil recently reminisced on his Facebook wall after the CSEC results were announced, Abhi was already writing his notes in cursive at that time!

For him to enter school and skip Grades One and Two, he had to be evaluated by several officials in the Education Ministry. When he later placed 4th in the NGSA at the age of nine, the Chief Education Officer Genevieve Whyte-Nedd confessed that she’d opposed his entry – she hadn’t thought he’d be able to compete.

So Abhi, went on to Queens, and against the advice of his teachers and our parents, he decided to write 17 subjects. It’s possible he wanted to top me – who’d done 15. I’ve heard about these “sibling impulses”!!

Like me, he didn’t do any lessons, except for Spanish. But unlike me, he absolutely refused to seek assistance from our father – who I still learn from even now I’m in medical school. Forget about ME helping!! That was, and is, Abhi – fiercely independent and marching to his own drummer.

So Minister Manickchand announced the 11plus achievers– and Abhi wasn’t on the list. We could see he was bitterly disappointed. When he was finally able to access his grades– he’d gotten 9 ones and 8 twos. Now I personally think this result was incredible – not only in absolute terms – (any 14-year-old securing 17 subjects has to be special), but because I knew Abhi didn’t really study. For sure not like how I did, three years ago.

And this is really what I want to talk about today.

We hear a lot about boys not performing as well as girls and this year’s results prove that in aces – at least at Queens where the top 100 NGSA performers end up.

Among the 20 Queens students who secured 11 or more Grade Ones – not a single one of them was a boy!!! While I only have access to the Fifth Form friends who shared their Grades on Abhi’s Facebook page, it appears that he was the top performing boy this year at Queens. What is going on??

I can only report from what I saw with Abhi and his friends. Even though all of the friends went to lessons – the latter was seen as mostly a place to hang out. Then there were the other extracurricular activities – cricket, computer games – and in Abhi’s case, reading every book under the sun (and then some), but his schoolbooks. Whether it is a case of our method of imparting education is geared more towards girls (who are socialised to be more passive), or because we mature earlier – I wouldn’t be able to say definitively.

But I do know that Abhi finally buckled down during the three months his exams lasted. And I say – congratulations for doing what he did in that time!!

Imagine what he and the rest of the boys could do if they hit the books like we girls did!

obin Williams, the fine comedic actor, died on August 11. He committed suicide by hanging.

This was a man who brought ‘belly laughs’ to the world as an actor and stand-up comedian.

He came in some pretty good movies like, “Dead Poets’ Society”, “Mrs Doubtfire”, “Good Morning Vietnam”, “Patch Adams”, “Hook”, and so on.

One has to be aware that many of these comedians are manic depressives, a disease that lurks just beneath the laughter and apparent ease with which they deal with people. The generation of laughter in others is brought about by the mask they wear.

The great comedians, including Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, the three stooges, Lou Costello (of Bud and Lou), John Baluchi, Jackie Gleason, Sammy Davis Jnr, John Candy, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and especially Richard Pryor were all afflicted.

We know that suicide has assumed epidemic proportions in Berbice. We are very aware. As usual, however, no real worthwhile has been done to examine and therefore solve this epidemic.

On February 12 of

Professor Daizal Samad

this year, there were two big workshops on suicide in Berbice. One was in Port Mourant and the other in New Amsterdam. On the same day. As if it was some kind of competition.

I chaired the daylong workshop in New Amsterdam. My cochair was Shazeena Seetayah. The event was sponsored and organised by the Regional Health Authority under Dr Vishwa Mahadeo.

It was well attended, and many good suggestions were put forward by concerned people and professionals. There was much good work done and no amount of thanks is enough for those who

put their hearts and minds forward.

In the midst of it, there were constant warnings that this should not be like most other workshops on different things. I agreed with these warnings by saying: “If all of this comes to nothing, then we have all failed.”

I did not need to scream or screech this.

Sadly, as it turned out, it was just another futile exercise with no concrete outcomes.

I had promised to submit a detailed report on this day-long workshop, and my co-chair and I worked assiduously for two weeks to gather up the material and then another week to make it all coherent

and easily readable.

I delivered on my promise! I still have that report, if anyone is interested. It was never picked up from my rented place. I suspect that the other workshop in Port Mourant suffered the same fate of futility.

And people, especially our young and out females, continue to take their own lives.

And we still have no effective systems in place to counsel the survivors of suicides. And we still have no programmes or systems in place to train first responders (medical and police professionals) to deal with such things.

So it continues. But we have this report in “soft” copy in case anyone is seriously interested. I know for a fact that many of the participants in New Amsterdam, were very serious. They were willing to give of what expertise they commanded, and give of their time and resources.

The report is entitled: “Suicide and SelfHarm Intervention Initiative.” It contains some really good, implementable corrective measures. Meanwhile, people keep taking their lives and families are left bereft.

If anyone wants to take a look, email me at daizal@gmial.com.

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Feature

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Indrawattie Natram

E

ven at the age of 102 and a proud recipient of a Medal of Service, Ramjohn Mohamed Khan remembers to read his Holy Quran daily, thanking God for his existence. This staunch and active Muslim, and one of Guyana’s oldest citizens, noted that he has never forget God and “always shower praises to Allah” daily.

Sharing his secrets to a long, meaningful and productive life with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, Khan, of Aurora Public Road on the Essequibo Coast, pointed out that “one must eat healthy and pray daily asking God for guidance”. Khan celebrated his 102 birth anniversary on August 16.

Khan was born on August 16 1912 in the quiet community of Aurora Estate to Faqueerbuksh Mohamed Khan and Bibi Woulfath.

Khan attended the Aurora Church of Scotland for approximately four years, and the Kitty and Christ Church schools for a few months.

He reminisced about his father, who he said was lured to Guyana on the Whitby ship to work as an indentured labourer on a plantation in 1898.

Full of vigour, Khan mentioned that it is vital for the body to get adequate rest and feed it with lots of vegetables in order to live a long life.

“I eat lots of green vegetables, which are organically grown on cow manure. I eat meat in small quantities,” Khan disclosed.

Despite his age, Khan

S

Ramjohn Mohamed Khan

still manages to hold a cutlass to weed and sweep his yard whenever he feels he has the energy to do so.

Achieving this monumental age, Khan’s family planned a religious

vast knowledge about the Holy Scriptures. When asked about his experience in Islam, Khan revealed he dedicated all his life to the teaching of Islam. He has served 43 years as an Imam.

The 102-year-old remembered at the age of 12 he worked on plantation Sophia with “older men”. He was also responsible for the welfare of his younger siblings.

At the age of 24, Khan married his second wife, Mabel, also known as Betty. From this union, they had 12 children. Khan also has two children from a previous marriage. The doting father of 14 has 41

younger years and other significant life events.

He quoted his favourite adage: “It is better to live than to die, no matter what may be your condition you still have a chance to worship your Creator and ask for forgiveness.”

Khan is the recipient of awards from the legislators of the provincial Parliament of Ontario, Canada, for being a Canadian citizen who attained the age of 100. He was recognised by Roxanne James (MP), and also from the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Notably, the

Khan (center row fourth from left) with his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren

function and family gettogether at his Aurora residence. The function featured religious songs and reading of verses from the Holy Quran by his immediate family members.

Khan, who is still active and serves as main adviser to his home circle and community, is versed in the recitation of the Holy Quran, and has

atiricus was livid. He’d just read this letter in the Stabber. Here was this fella Ah-Gun-Seh maligning the fair name of the Founder-Leader again. Claiming that the great Kabaka was not “sin-less”!!!

“Oooooh!!” Satiricus shrieked, “When will this persecution cease?”

Had the magnificent Odo not fulfilled every demand of the prophecy?? He was not as other sinful humans. What else did these people want??Was he not born under a star in a barrack in the village of Titty?? How could people like Ah-Gun-Seh tell people it was not really a star but the light from the Lighthouse over in Kington??

“This was blasphemy!” fumed Satiricus. And later in life had not the Anointed One rode into the town of Hope on a donkey?? But here again those who were jealous would lie and say he actually rode on a horse!

And rather than blessing the arrogant workers who were learning some

grandchildren, 57 greatgrandchildren and 59 great-great grandchildren.

The respected Imam is fluent in speaking Urdu, Hindi, English and Arabic.

On a daily basis, Khan’s day is spent reading the Holy Quran.

Even at the age of 102, he still remembers interesting stories about his

102-year-old was also bestowed a national award under the Forbes Burnham presidency for his efforts in managing the Co-op Society in Essequibo. Khan is the oldest Essequibian and Essequibo is very much proud of him!

Khan’s desire is to live many more years.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

The one without sin humility, the Comrade Leader actually was cursing them!!!

“A curse would never cross those blessed lips of He Who Was The Greatest Intellect Of The Age,” murmured Satiricus. But Satiricus knew why this Ah-Gun-Seh refused to accept the Immaculate Conception of the Great Leader, who now rested in 15 Ponds. Ah-Gun-Seh wanted to exalt his own leader Rod-Knee. And that was why he claimed that The Greatest Orator Of The Age was jealous of puny, little Rod-Knee.

“What nonsense!” shouted Satiricus – at which his wife looked at him funnylike. How could the “Greatest Intellect Of The Age” be jealous on a man, when he had praised the same man as a great high-jumper??”

And as a lawyer, did not the “Bolshevik And Not A Menshevik” advise Rod-Knee to “make his will”?

Was this not eminently sound advice??

And more to the point, the Statesman

Of The Age hadn’t even charged a fee for that legal advice. Which other lawyer would do that?? Oooooh! What a saint! By now Satiricus was snivelling something piteous.

It was clear that Ah-Gun-Seh was the one who was jealous. When the Greatest Legal Luminary had passed away, his body had been taken to all parts of the world for people to have his blessing and then a monument had been created in 15 Ponds. The body had ascended into the Great Beyond.

Rod-Knee, on the other hand, had been dumped in Le Repentier. And his followers had the nerve to say The Most Powerful Man On Earth was not sinless??! Satiricus knew that when he returned to Earth, The Immortal One would exact vengeance.

Or then again, it might be his Representative – who was just rigged into Office – who might take care of that. Ah-Gun-Seh better not accept any Walkie-Talkies!!

Robbery… …in CPL final This Eyewitness never made it a secret that he’s an avid (even a rabid) fan of the Guyana Amazon Warriors – henceforth the “Warriors”. So when he screams “we wuz robbed!!!!” in the CPL finals, he knows there’ll be the issue of being an “interested party”. But he’ll preface his statements with this caution that’s guided him since he was a stripling. It’s from Dr No. When a thing happened the first time it’s “happenstance”; a second time, “coincidence” but when for the third time – its “enemy action”. So can you blame this Eyewitness – when after seeing the same blatant injustice being meted out a DOZEN times to the Warriors in the match against the Tridents – not conclude we were bloodily well robbed?? And “miffed” is not the word he’s feeling right now. How about “pissed”??

But just in case, you dear reader didn’t see the match – maybe you were on the rocket heading to Mars? – let me not only count the ways in which the dirty was done to us – but also “how”.

The television replays conclusively showed that when it came to calling “wides”, umpire Gregory Braithwaite clearly used a different metric of measurement for the Warriors than the Tridents – IN EVERY INSTANCE, FAVOURING THE BARBADOS TRIDENTS. Was it coincidence that Braithwaite is a Bajan?? Even the commentators were flummoxed at the inconsistencies of Braithwaite’s “wide” calls.

Then there was the first ball dismissal (if one went by the replays) of Trident Shoab Malik by Santokie – but given “not out” by Braithwaite. The 55 runs he went on to score should’ve been awarded to Braithwaite – who should’ve also gotten Malik’s “man of the match” gift.

On the other hand. Warriors Neesham – its big hitter – was given out by Braithwaite on a “catch” when repeated replays could show no contact. It wouldn’t have helped if they could’ve gone to the television umpire, Leslie Reifer. Totally coincidentally he’s also Bajan!

But all of this monkey-business pales into insignificance with the FARCE that was perpetrated at the end of the game. Needing 46 runs with 25 balls with two big-hitting Warriors at the crease – Ramdin and Barnwell, the rains returned. During the Tridents innings there’d been three rain interruptions – so after the covers were removed at worse one thought the overs would’ve been reduced if time was a constraint.

The CPL Facebook page announced that the full game would be played…and it very well could’ve been, while all waited. The commentators all expected this.

But suddenly, the Tridents were running on the field… grinning from ear to ear.

Somebody – not the rules of cricket – had declared them “winners”. Disgraceful!! …and crime fight boosted?

The Home Affairs Ministry said it’s going to increase the Guyana Police Force (GPF) from 3410 to 4956 – an increase of 45 per cent. Now that’s a massive undertaking, if nothing else. It was interesting that the Opposition leader, David Granger – fresh from being “confirmed as leader of the PNC through “fiddled” arrangements – said that while this is welcome, it should be more “holistic”.

Expanding on his notion of “holistic”, Granger quoted from the Disciplined Forces Commission Report (DFCR) of 2003, of which he was a member.

Unfortunately, of the 71 recommendations from the report, Granger cited only three. Number 19, about establishing more Police stations; number 21, that the numbers of Police should be increased and number 26, on increases in salaries.

Granger studiously avoided the elephant in the room and in the report – indeed the raison d’être for the entire DFCR: that the “composition of the GPF should reflect the composition of the population of Guyana”.

We wonder why?? …on high seas averted?

Now that our crime-fighting forces have nabbed the narco-sub that would’ve surreptitiously smuggled drugs across the seas, they should immediately deploy it against the pirates preying on our fisher-folk in Corentyne.

Times Notebook

35

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Something’s not right T

he country is buzzing with the likelihood of an impending General Election because we now know that the AFC has submitted a No-Confidence Motion to Parliament and the Speaker has indicated that the submission, in the name of Moses Nagamootoo, is in order.

The Leader of the Opposition and APNU indicated they will support the motion. When that happens, there will necessarily be an election almost two years before the time for the next General Election. As unfair as this may seem to some people, it is part of the laws of Guyana.

A No-Confidence Motion against a President and his Government is no trivial matter and the movers and supporters must demonstrate that they embarked on such a

path only after careful consideration and because the country needs to be protected from a Government that is leading it into a downward trajectory and destruction.

The movers must state in writing what motivated them into choosing such an option, particularly since Guyana stands out as a rarity in Caricom for the longest sustained period of economic and social growth and as a country recognised for its embrace of democracy.

A no-confidence motion to end a Government’s term is a rare event. It occurs when there is clear evidence of mismanagement of the country’s welfare and is necessary to end the term to protect the welfare of the people. It has nothing to do with how popular or how unpopular the

This riggnin thing gone too far

W

hen de Pee-N-C party decide to change dem name, de first time dem put on just a “R”. People wasn’t sure why dem do that.

At first, dem seh it mean “reform”, but de only ting dem was reformin was how to get re-elected all de time by thiefin de elections from de Pee-P-P and from de people.

But thankfully, eventually every body realise that the “R” was fuh “riggin”, although it was since in Burnt Ham time that de Pee-N-C was involved in big time riggin by diggin. That is, diggin up dead people name and puttin dem pun de voters’ list.

Well, de Heights man come pun de scene, he become a even bigger rigger than Burnt Ham. Leff, right and centre was sheer riggin. In fact, if de Heights man had live a lil longer, wid de rate at which he was goin, de whole of Guyana woulda been votin fuh he.

That is, accordin to de riggin rate whah he had start up wid right after Burnt Ham dead. Some body seh de other day at de Pee-N-C Con Gress that if de Heights man hadn’t join Burnt Ham down below, de voters woulda even out number de whole population by now. That was how high de Heights man coulda reach.

So now here come de Harmy man Green Jah pun de scene. By this time de Pee-N-C was even doin trainin fuh show people how to rig. And Rum Jhaat and de Nagga man was de first two to attend de full programme.

At least Green Jah hands was tied because he coulda never get he hands on de big prize. So he do de next best ting by riggin he own elections and diggin out Linden and Plaisance from de whole ting.

Even de wise man Solo man couldn’ta find word fuh describe whah happen.

Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie! Well, wid de CPL final over de weekend, people now wonderin if Green Jah also do any trainin fuh de Bajan vampire who umpire de game.

This riggin ting gone very far!

Government is.

In America now, almost two-thirds of the people think President Obama is allowing the country to decline, but the politicians do not dare move to end the President’s term. The people see that as their duty at mandated election time.

A no-confidence motion must clearly present the reasons for resolving to end the term of Government before the constitutional deadline. The motion moved

by Mr Nagamootoo is a single sentence that merely resolved that the Opposition has no confidence in the Government. It states no reason for doing so.

Normally a motion has a preamble with “whereas

clauses” stating clearly why the mover resolves to take the actions as stated in the motion.

What is mind-blowing is that the AFC had indicated for months that they were drafting the motion. After months, the AFC with the media taking pictures from the signing of the Motion at the AFC office to the presentation to the clerk of the National Assembly finally showed us what they submitted to the Parliament.

The whole presentation and its elevation into a media event with smiling AFC members made the whole thing into a joke. It confirms that the AFC thinks that the welfare of our country is a high stake

… with this NoConfidence Motion

game and political theatrics.

Serious people were waiting eagerly to scrutinise the reasons why the AFC have no confidence in the Government. The AFC’s motion must be one of the rare exceptions when a motion in Parliament anywhere is presented only as a onesentence resolve clause.

We suppose the AFC and the Speaker, who is also a member of the AFC, will claim that the arguments will be orally presented in Parliament. But what was it that they were drafting for so many months? This seems like a joke, except it is a mighty travesty and an insult to the citizens.

To add insult to injury, APNU had also said

it was waiting for the draft from the AFC for months. After waiting for months, they got the draft motion in the form of a single sentence.

They completed the circle of comedy by stating that they needed time to study and to amend the draft. Could persons who needed months to draft a single-sentence motion be trusted with the reign of Government?

The motion stands as an insult to all reasonable Guyanese and to the tradition of our Parliament. Were it not so injurious, it would be the Guyanese joke of the century!

Readers are invited to send their comments by email or Facebook to times.notebook@gmail. com.

36

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

This week's Crossword

J k es DIY vegetables

My wife asked me to buy organic vegetables from the market. I went and looked around and couldn't find any.

So I grabbed an old, tired looking employee and said, "These vegetables are for my wife.

Have they been sprayed with any poisonous chemicals?"

The produce guy looked at me and said, "No. You'll have to do that yourself."

Not my tooth

A man and his wife entered the dentist's office.

"I want a tooth pulled", the man said. "We are in a big hurry, so let us not fool around with gas or Novocain or any of that stuff."

"You are a very brave man," remarked the dentist. "Which tooth is it?"

"Show him your bad tooth, honey," the man turned to his wife and said.

The perfect shot

A guy stood over his tee shot for what seemed an eternity, looking up, looking down; measuring the distance, figuring the wind direction and speed – driving his partner crazy.

Finally his exasperated partner says, "What is taking so long? Hit the ball!"

The guy answers, "My wife is up there watching me from the clubhouse. I want to make this a perfect shot."

"Give me a break! You don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of hitting her from here."

ID please!

A young guy went into a bank to withdraw some money.

For security purposes the cashier asked him if he could identify himself.

He opened his wallet and took out a small mirror, looked into it and said, "Yes, it's me all right."

This week's Puzzle

see solution on page 46

The game

A lawyer and a pretty girl are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer leans over to her and asks if she would like to play a fun game.

The girl just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.

The lawyer persists and explains that the game is really easy and a lot of fun. He explains" I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and vice-versa."

Again, she politely declines and tries to get some sleep.

The lawyer, figuring that he will easily win the game, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500!"

This catches the girl’s attention and she agrees to the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?"

The girl doesn't say a word, reaches in to her purse, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the lawyer.

Now, it's her turn. She asks the lawyer: "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"

The lawyer looks at her with a puzzled look.

He takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references. He taps into the Airphone with his modem and searches the Net and the Library of Congress.

Frustrated, he sends E-mails to all his coworkers and friends; all to no avail.

After over an hour, he wakes the girl and hands her $500. She politely takes the $500 and turns away to get back to sleep.

The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes her up again and asks, "Well, so what IS the answer!?"

Without a word, the girl reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5, and goes back to sleep.

travel & Tourism

Lethem

T

37

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

he expanding town of Lethem lies on the Takutu River, which forms the border with Brazil, opposite the Brazilian town of Bonfim. It is the main commercial centre of the Rupununi in Region Nine. It is also the largest town and the administrative centre of the Rupununi region, and includes a hospital, a police station, an army camp, a telecommunications station, schools, guesthouses, restaurants and stores. The indigenous population comprises mainly Macushi and Wapishana tribes.

Taking a bus from Georgetown to

Lethem can be rough but adventurous. Along the way you may be lucky to see a jaguar. It takes approximately fourteen to sixteen hours to arrive in Lethem via bus but it is definitely worth the travel. Stops along the way include Mabura Hill, the Kurupukari pontoon crossing, the Iwokrama Rainforest with its Canopy Walkway and Annai. At Lethem you can enjoy observing the skills of rounding up cattle by the vaqueros, or cowboys, on the ranches, hike or relax at the different welcoming accommodations available.

(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

Takutu River bridge

Scenic view of Lethem's outskirt

Serene view on Lethem's road

Lethem market

Thatch roof home

38

Feature

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Why business leaders support a price on carbon T

he companies we turn to every day for electricity, transportation, consumer goods, and even electronics face risks from climate change. Most need reliable water for production processes and products. Extreme weather and temperatures can hurt their productivity and damage their supply chains and assets.

Business leaders understand that climate change can have real economic impact, and that their current business models may not be profitable in a 4-degree warmer world. They also see opportunity in innovating for a cleaner future.

Several global companies, including Google, Walmart, and Shell, have started using an internal “shadow price” on carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, in their investment planning to help avoid risks and find opportunities that can increase energy and resource efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, and give them a competitive edge.

A few industries internally pricing emissions won’t move an en-

Residential streets are submerged after a river overflowed its banks in Kumamoto on Japan's southern island of Kyushu

tire industry to better practices, though; a sector- or economy-wide price on emissions can.

In about 40 countries and more than 20 cities, states and provinces, these companies and others also work with a formal price on emissions that is set or planned for entire sectors or economies through carbon taxes or carbon markets.

That price on carbon, as it frequently referred to, sends a consistent economic signal that investing in cleaner, low-carbon growth can pay off for everyone.

Pricing policies

Business leaders are

increasingly speaking out in favor of expanding those carbon pricing policies.

More than 250 companies have already joined a statement that is being organized by the World Bank Group and partners including the World Economic Forum, UN Global Compact, and the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group encouraging governments to explore carbon pricing methods and set their own predictable price on carbon.

The energy giant GDF Suez, sees carbon pricing as a cost-effective way of addressing

climate change while letting businesses choose how they lower their emissions.

The France-based multinational operates on five continents in about 70 countries – some of which have carbon pricing systems in place. In positioning itself for the future, the company is aggressively developing renewable energy resources to reduce its carbon footprint, a move that has put it at the cutting edge of the energy sector.

“We at GDF Suez support carbon pricing because we believe there is a need to address risks

linked to climate change, and we support action to address emissions reductions cost effectively. We are in favor of marketbased approaches and emissions trading which allow business the flexibility to reduce when and where it makes the most business sense,” the company wrote in adding its name to the public statement encouraging governments worldwide to put a price on carbon.

KDF Energy of Romania, another supporter of the carbon pricing statement, writes that “carbon pricing improves the efficiency of the economy, and it is a signal for investment in low-carbon and resilient economic growth.”

Software company Microsoft, which uses shadow carbon pricing, describes similar benefits from its internal carbon fee model. It says the internal pricing mechanism provides justification to prioritize efficiency at every level of the organization.

“We’ve found over time that the more we can integrate sustainability goals across the business, the better position we are in to respond to changing economic, social and environmen-

tal conditions. Our carbon fee model supports a culture of innovation and efficiency,” Microsoft told CDP for a recent report on internal carbon pricing.

For investors, transparency and sustainability are important. A price on carbon helps bring to light the risk of stranded assets and connects the damages caused by burning fossil fuels to their sources, costs that are rarely reflected in stock prices today.

“In addition to encouraging investment in low-carbon generation, a carbon price also provides investors an incentive to pursue other low-carbon activities, such as tilting portfolios away from high-carbon investments, as they have a clearer view of the economic cost of holding high-carbon assets,” four investor groups from Europe, Asia, Australia and North America wrote in a recent online article. “The continued improvement and expansion of carbon pricing is crucial to a low-carbon energy future.”

The French public service pension fund ERAFP proposes that companies report their continued on page 40

news

39

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

P

Adrian Dutchin

O

ne of Guyana’s most versatile singing sensations, and a member of the X2 band was recently listed as the recipient of the 2014 Guyana Cultural Association Folk Festival Award in Brooklyn, New York.

Adrian Dutchin was duly recognised for his accomplishments in the performing arts that are representative of the inspiration derived from Guyana’s rich cultural heritage.

His span of appearances in the Guyanese and Caribbean diaspora with a cross section of top artistes has been impressive over the years, and this has led to him being a recipient of the award.

The Guyana Cultural Association Folk Festival Award ceremony is an annual event in Brooklyn, NY. On August 27, the committee will present awards to individuals

for their work that represents meaningful contributions to the improvement of inter-ethnic dialogue and feelings of trust in Guyanese society at home and in the diaspora.

In an interview with Guyanese media, Dutchin thanked the committee for considering him for the award.

He said that the award serves as a motivation to aim for bigger things. He is currently on that track since he is expected to release two singles shortly.

He dedicated the award to his fans for their support over the years and more so, his family. The proud father of two is also the recipient of the West Indian Music Award (WIMA) for Best Performer of the Year which he won for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013).

Dutchin also received the award for the Best Soca Song in 2013 with “Jook”.

ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Boys and girls from all over Trinidad and Tobago went head to head in a culinary challenge to see who has what it takes to be the next Junior Chef Champion.

Showcasing tremendous creativity and skill, some competitors were able to fight off the nerves and present dishes that could probably grace the cover of any popular food magazine while others buckled under the pressure. For one competitor the competition almost proved to be too much as she fought her way through the tears to present an incomplete dish to the judges.

Hosted by Courtyard Marriott Hotel, the competitors came out as early as 9 a.m. last Saturday. They were given one hour to come up with a dish with ingredients from a mystery basket. The mystery ingredients included: chicken/fish, potatoes, parsley and pineapple.

The pantry was also open to the challengers to get additional ingredients if they needed; to help compose their dish.

John Paul Grimes (TT Express photo)

John Paul Grimes seemed quite relaxed as he prepared his dish comprising a fritta muffin, pan-seared chicken served with mashed potatoes and chick peas sauce.

He said, “I always had a passion for cooking.

I felt pretty confident with my dish and I think it turned out great.”

Eleven year old, Alysa-Marie Hepburn another competitor in the competition also seemed to be having fun in the kitchen.

“I have been cooking since the age of five. I wanted to enter this competition for the experience and the training. I hope one day to be a chef and I also wanted to see if I was able to do it and see what the lifestyle of a chef is like,” she related.

The competitors were judged on presentation, portion size and nutritional balance, menu accuracy, creativity, taste, texture and flavour balance.

The finalists for the competition were selected via a video cooking demo. Children age 10-12 were invited to participate in a culinary video competition. From there the top ten were selected and invited to participate in a week of culinary training under the guidance of captain of the Trinidad and Tobago Culinary team and Marriott’s head chef, Raymond Joseph.

For one week, the finalists were trained in technique, preparation and presentation.

Touching on several areas in culinary management, the children learnt safety and sanitation, culinary terms, knife techniques and types of cuts, preparing pasta and rice and cooking methods to name a few.

Finalists for the competition included: Chaela Wooding, Jessica Aguilera, John Paul Grimes, Shaniah Rudden, Jadden James, AlysaMarie Hepburn, Mekhai Small, Johnathan Ward, Zaria Ramatally and Azizah Rivers.

This is the third annual Junior Chef competition and the winner will be announced later this week. (TT Express)

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Why business leaders support a price on... carbon footprint as a proxy to assess how businesses are preparing to deal with climate change.

“Assuming that, as a result, it would be in the interest of any company to gross the highest revenue possible for the least carbon footprint, pressure would increase for a subsequent overhaul in corporate business models,” ERAFP writes in supporting the price on carbon statement. “We will never stress enough the importance of being transparent.”

Small businesses

Small businesses are also concerned about climate change; they have fewer resources to endure extreme weather events, recover or adapt. The American Sustainable Business Council works with small businesses and sees value in properly pricing the burning of fossil fuels and using the proceeds to reduce taxes elsewhere.

“By returning some of the revenues to the lowest income earners, a price on carbon actually benefits small businesses that serve this segment of consumers,” the ASBC writes.

“Addressing the climate crisis will not just avert economic catastrophe, it can serve as a wellspring of innovation, job creation, and produce economic and international competitive benefits.”

A similar model has been used in British Columbia since 2008. The Canadian province set a tax on emissions from fossil fuels – paid at the pump and in an energy bills – but then cut business taxes and personal taxes and added a low-income tax credit to protect the poor. The revenueneutral approach led to one of the lowest income tax rates in Canada and lowered the province’s emissions.

Private sector

The World Bank Group has

The Kaieteur National Park in Guyana. The rainforest in Guyana is a biodiverse environment because of the large number of species that live in relatively close proximity. Researchers have found that rare species, including the Guyanan tree Pouteria maxima, are fundamental to maintaining balance in biodiverse ecosystems

been working with business leaders to increase investment in clean energy and low-carbon development, and it recognizes the value of a price on carbon in encouraging that shift.

The private sector’s involvement is critical. Climate

change threatens to roll back decades of development progress in countries around the world and puts the poorest and most vulnerable at greatest risk. Public money alone will not be enough to shift the world to low-carbon growth

from page 38

than can reduce missions to safer levels.

Nearly two-thirds of finance for projects today that help mitigate climate change, such as renewable energy development and expansion of energy efficiency, comes from the private sector, and the combined total is far short of the investment needed.

Solving the challenges of climate change will take both public sector and private sector leadership. Global consumer products company Unilever described the connection and the impact on consumer goods companies in joining the carbon pricing statement: “Many of the impacts of our operations fall outside our direct control, so we need to engage governments to create an environment that is supportive to meeting the big sustainability challenges the world faces.” (Story reprinted from the World Bank)

Star of the Week

D

escribing herself as enthusiastic, daring, determined, ingenious and radiant, crowned Miss United Nations International, first Guyanese to win the title, Soyini Asanti Fraser believes it is more important to “stand out than to fit in”. Born on May 8 1990 to Lynden and Deborah Fraser, Soyini has evolved from just a simple and promising Guyanese girl into a beauty queen, model, an aspiring Christian Child-Psychologist, a dancer, TV hostess, role model and a true Guyanese! Coming from a family that is strict on academics, Soyini attended West Ruimveldt Primary moving to Queen’s College and later completing her tertiary education at Life Christian University. Throughout her school life, Soyini has been a member of every school’s athletic body; an active athlete in both track and field events, where she has gained several titles; member of the Pilgrim House and the school’s Steel Pan Orchestra from first to sixth form at Queen’s College. Presently, the beauty keeps active as a company member at the Classique Dance Company, as they travel the Caribbean and US. In the pageant arena, Soyini was the first to be crowned Miss Earth Guyana in 2010, and the first Guyanese woman to represent her country at Miss Earth. The following year, she was in the line-up for Miss World Guyana, gaining the first runner-up spot and the title Miss Princess of the World 2011. In Czech Republic, she won Miss Best National Costume Princess of the World with “Guyana’s Dream” by Guyanese designer Olympia SmallSonaram. Recently, she was crowned Miss Jamzone Guyana 2014. Soyini credits the exemplary person she is today to a sound Christian and educational background with the morals her parents embedded in her as a child to use later on in life as a vehicle to success. Soyini lives by the credo by Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Her advice to young girls is: “Don’t change you to fit anyone. Be you. Make sure your educational background is strong. Also have a spiritual side because you need the faith to endure the pressures of life... Make sure you’re comfortable in your own skin. The industry is always changing what beauty is and so on. Never lose your identity. My advice to young girls who want to get into pageantry is to always represent your country; it’s your identity – something you should never lose sight of.” Soyini’s goal is to continue to be an ambassador for her country and putting it on the world map.

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Professor Mervyn Morris making his presentation in Washington, DC, recently (JIS photo)

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ASHINGTON DC., USA: Jamaica's Poet Laureate Professor Mervyn Morris gave a special presentation on late cultural icon Louise Bennett Coverely, at an Independence celebration held recently at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC. More than 100 members of the diaspora and friends of Jamaica attended the event held in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) Alumni Association of Washington, DC. Professor Morris, referring to aspects of his latest book: ‘Miss Lou: Louise Bennett and Jamaican Culture’, presented an outstanding assessment of Miss Lou's contribution to Jamaica's literary tradition.

Among other things, the poet laureate noted Miss Lou's use of the Jamaican

language, her skilful interweaving of Jamaican life into her poetry, the presentation of her views through "Aunty Roachy", her contribution to the development of the Jamaican pantomime, and her talent promotion through Ring Ding and other initiatives.

After a lively questionand-answer session, the audience received an additional treat when Professor Morris read some of his own poetry. Among the poems presented to the appreciative audience were: ‘The Pond’, ‘The Day My Father Died’, and works from ‘I Been There, Sort Of’, and ‘Case History, Jamaica’.

Jamaica's ambassador to the United States Professor Stephen Vasciannie gave the welcome, while Malene Alleyne offered remarks on behalf of the UWI Alumni Association. (JIS)

O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: When Bruce Paddington produced and directed ‘Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution’, a film about the Grenada Revolution and the circumstances surrounding the execution of Maurice Bishop and his colleagues, he was acting on a burning desire to create a comprehensive record of the key events of the revolution, having been impressed with what he saw on his visit to the island during the revolutionary period.

But he hadn’t catered for the overwhelming response that the film has received to date.

Having been screened in ten countries in only nine months, ‘Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution’, which is often followed by a postscreening discussion, has generated a buzz of activity worldwide, among analysts of the Grenada revolution, filmmakers and of course the Grenadian diaspora.

And those who are old enough to remember are not the only ones

Bruce Paddington in front of the poster for the showing of his film in St. Lucia (TT Guardian photo)

who flock to ‘Forward Ever’.

“What I also find compelling is the interest that young people—people who might not have even been born when the revolution took place— have in the film,” said Paddington.

The film has also gained critical acclaim.

In St. Lucia, the veteran journalist Earl Bousquet praised the film as a work of art that “allows images to tell stories, accompanying still photos with explanatory narratives while allowing those who were there to tell their unvarnished stories.”

Les Slater of

Caribbean Life News believes, “a huge debt is owed to the filmmaker Bruce Paddington for the very important document he assembled for the Caribbean archives.”

John Green of the Morning Star newspaper in the United Kingdom argues, “Paddington’s documentary is a gripping and revealing account of the Grenada revolution as never seen before.”

This year, the film has been screened in London at the British Library and at the British Film Institute on Southbank as part of its African Odysseys programme.

It made its New York City debut in June, with former head of the Transport Workers Union, Roger Toussaint, a Trinidadian, with the Caribbean Awareness group, as a collaborator.

Also supporting the film was Michelle Materre, the director of Creatively Speaking, an organisation which highlights important films which feature people of colour and their histories. (TT Guardian)

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O R T - O F S P A I N , TRINIDAD: Trinidadian anti-bullying activist Jeromy Rodriguez may soon add another title to his already impressive list of accolades–that of television presenter.

Plans are stream for Rodriguez, 12, to host a three-minute fitness segment for young people on television sometime in September in an attempt to reduce bullying in the nation’s schools.

Rodriguez said the programme will mostly target overweight teens, whom he believes are more susceptible to bullying in the school system.

Titled ‘Three Minutes To Get Fit’, Rodriguez said the programme, which is expected to run for 13 episodes around 5 pm on weekdays, will encourage youngsters to eat healthy and exercise regularly.

The reigning Junior National Soca Monarch, Rodriguez was bestowed with the prestigious

K

Youth activist Jeromy Rodriguez receives his award from TT’s Youth Minister Clifton de Couteau (TT Newsday photo)

Minister’s Award during the 14th instalment of the National Youth Awards function at the Queen’s Hall in St Ann’s, last Tuesday night.

The soon-to-be Form

Two Cowen Hamilton Secondary School student was among 40 young people honoured by the Ministry continued on page 43

‘Nesta's Rock’ is an original musical inspired by Marley's childhood’ (Jamaica Observer photo)

INGSTON, JAMAICA: If the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company (JMTC) and Tuff Gong International have their way, a musical based on the life of reggae king Bob Marley could be hitting international stages in the near future.

The two entities are partnering to mount ‘Nesta's Rock’ next year, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Marley's birth.

‘Nesta's Rock’ is an original musical inspired by Marley's childhood and follows a young boy, Ness, who grows up in Kingston

with big dreams. Those dreams are ridiculed by his friends and he soon finds himself on a magical journey, transported to the whimsical farming village of Nine Miles.

According to producer at the JMTC Danielle Stiebel, 'Nesta's Rock' reflects the company's thrust to introduce more Jamaican aspects into their productions.

"Over the past two years we at the JMTC have really been working on taking Brand Jamaica to an international audience through our productions. We have been adding Jamaican elements to our performances. The decision by Tuff Gong to

come to us regarding this production is just perfect timing, and together we are looking to get Broadway's attention with Nesta's Rock," she explained.

The musical is cowritten by Jamaicans Samantha Chin Yee and Jodi Ho Lung, both members of the JMTC. Choreography is by artistic director of The Company Dance Theatre, Tony Wilson.

The production will also see the remake of popular Bob Marley tracks, such as ‘Trench Town Rock’, ‘Redemption Song’ and ‘Could You Be Loved’.

(Jamaica Observer)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

from page 42

of Gender, Youth and Child Development for excellence in their respective fields.

They were among close to 150 youths who were nominated for outstanding work in their communities.

Rodriguez, who was honoured specifically for his anti-bullying campaigns and community work, also received a cheque for TT$3,000, a portrait and certificate in recognition of his contribution.

Of the award, the effervescent youngster said, “I feel excited and glad that I won the minister’s award. I work very hard and it really paid off. It is a big honour that shows that the minister respects me and I respect him.”

Rodriguez shot to the national spotlight last year when he won the National Junior Soca Monarch title and later established the AntiBullying Association of Trinidad and Tobago– the first of its kind in the Caribbean–to address

what at that time had become a worrying trend in the country.

He had taken note of the devastating effects of bullying on the lives of young children after his own sister, Vicky, was confronted with it at the Moruga Secondary School.

This led him to write the song ‘Hear My Cry’, which was quickly followed up by three more anti-bullying offerings, ‘Mr Bully’, ‘No Bad Boy Thing For Me’ and ‘Unheard Cries’.

Rodriguez also has claimed the International Junior Soca Caribbean Champion award and was crowned the young soca artiste of the year during the International Soca Awards 2013.

On August 27, the young artiste will leave local shores for seven days to perform at Labour Day celebrations in New York, United States. There, he is expected to perform at four major events. (TT Newsday)

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ORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD: In a new book about Nelson Mandela, the late South African president’s most trusted aide, Zelda la Grange, mentions Mandela’s travel to Trinidad.

‘Good Morning Mr Mandela’ is Grange’s intimate account of Mandela’s life while being his typist and secretary for 20 years after he was released from jail. In the book launched two months ago, Grange writes how a very tired Mandela made the decision to travel to Trinidad, to lobby for the country’s support for South Africa’s bid to stage the 2010 FIFA football World Cup. La Grange, a white South African, became Mandela’s constant companion, travelling with him to different parts of the world after he was released from jail in apartheid South Africa and became that country’s president. ‘Good Morning Mr Mandela’ is listed on Amazon.com as a best seller in United States and Europe. The book was released on June 24.

‘Good Morning Mr Mandela’ tells the extraordinary story of how an awkward young typist in her late 20’s, came to spend most of her adult working life traveling with, supporting and caring for the man she called “Kulu” or “grandfather”.

Grange became Mandela’s

most trusted aide and writes on page 216 of her book that in April 2004, Tokyo Sexwale, who was the former premier of Gauteng Province (one of nine provinces in South Africa), visited Mandela in 2004 as one of the members of the FIFA bid committee, to decide which country should stage the World Cup. Grange wrote, “Tokyo announced that they wanted Mandiba (Mandela) to go to Trinidad and Tobago to help in the lobbying. Mandiba was tired

and didn’t feel like travelling.

At first he said ‘No’.”

Grange went on to write that Tokyo persisted in requesting Mandela travel to Trinidad.

Grange wrote, “Tokyo didn’t let go and two nights later, we were on our way to Trinidad and Tobago. We were unable, as his advisers, to maintain the consistency of implementing his decisions.”

Grange continued to write that when they landed at Piarco, she looked through the airplane window and saw that the TT government had put out a full guard of honour for Mandiba’s arrival, “when we had asked them not to”.

About the guard of honour which comprised TT’s national security detail in full regalia, Grange writes in her book that she asked Tokyo to intervene.

Grange writes that Tokyo telephoned former FIFA vice president Jack Warner from the airplane.

Describing Warner as the man who wielded power in TT as the FIFA representative, Grange states Tokyo invited Warner into the airplane.

Grange states, “We were told that the guard of honour at the airport was simply a receiving line and Mandiba would be free to depart from the airport immediately.”

Grange describes Mandela’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago as a “battle”. (TT Newsday)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Joe does talk before he think

J

oe de Hard Mouth fella ain’t only gotta hard mouth. He gotta big mouth too. Very big, if yuh ask dem folks down by Church Street, not too far from de National Library, right wheh people does go and pray. But Hard Mouth does ignore that de name “Church Street” is fuh a reason.

It gotta lotta other words to describe Joe mouth.

But it might be a too big mouthful fuh this column alone to print. De Hard Mouth man is always de one who always talkin some ting. Even when he ain’t talkin, some people does seh he talkin.

Not too long ago a reporter expose de whole plot. One newspaper seh Hard Mouth seh and when de reporter call, Hard Mouth seh he never seh. De newspaper man had fuhget to call Hard Mouth ahead of time, or Hard Mouth had fuhget that he was supposed to seh that he seh whah ever de newspaper seh.

It ain’t got no need to even bother to ask whah de newspaper name. If any body wanna hear whah Hard Mouth seh, or what he ain’t seh, just pick up that same paper and it gon seh whah Hard Mouth seh or supposed to seh.

And somehow Hard Mouth can talk bout any ting under de sun. If is finance, Hard Mouth bound to talk. If is roads, Hard Mouth gon seh some ting. If is garbage, Hard Mouth done seh something.

Most people does tink before dem talk, but Hard Mouth is a back to front man, so he does talk then tink. Old people does call that puttin de cart before de horse, although in this case it ain’t got nutten to do wid cart or horse.

Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie! After all, is only de other day Hard Mouth open he mouth and tek on a challenge to a debate.

It was only after that, that he start to beg fuh de relevant information…but long before that he had done come to a conclusion!

K

INGSTON, JAMAICA: Jamaica Youth Theatre (JYT) has won a worldwide video challenge aimed at preventing violence against women.

News of the triumph came Sunday from Global Dialogues, a United Kingdomregistered charity that says it promotes "global public health and societal well-being through integrated, youth-driven solutions fuelled by creativity and multidisciplinary partnership".

The JYT's winning short film, titled ‘Stop Violence Against Women’, was directed by Akeem Mignott from a concept by Danar Royal and featured Petrina Williams, Brian Johnson, Kellesia Ebanks and Mignott.

Sunday, Global Dialogues explained that its video challenges "are an innovative, intercreative approach to making short YouTube films on global social issues".

Essentially, Global Dialogues produces the beginning of a short film and posts it to YouTube after which young people

Jamaica Youth Theatre members (from left) Brian Johnson, Kellesia Ebanks, Petrina Williams and Akeem Mignott who won the Global Dialogues Video Challenge

across the world compete by creating and uploading videos that continue and finish the story.

Participants are asked to make videos that reflect their vision of a better world, helping characters in the film to find positive solutions to the problems they face.

Reacting to the JYT's victory Mignott said the group joins in the chorus of voices calling for an end to the violence that affects an estimated one in three women in her lifetime.

"Violence against

women must not be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstance. There can be no exceptions, no excuses and no delay," he was quoted in a news release.

Ebanks, in her response, said: "Our participation in this Global Dialogues Video Challenge has stimulated discussion and debates in our local communities on the issue of eliminating violence against women, especially in Jamaica, which may require shifting traditions, attitudes, stereotypes and roles as we

know them."

Jamaica Youth Theatre was founded in 2004 and comprises young people with a burning passion for theatre.

The group says it recruits members from the annual Secondary Schools' Drama Festival and creates cutting-edge popular theatre targeting young people as a means of social change, with a commitment to using Jamaican indigenous forms and popular culture to engage its audience. (Jamaica Observer)

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History of Central High School C

entral High School was founded around 1928.

However, it is likely that its founder, Joseph Clement Luck or J C Luck as he has come to be known, had been experimenting with the idea for some years previously.

J C attended Queen’s College during the early beginnings of that fine secondary institution and, in 1947, earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from London.

Following graduation, he became an entrepreneur who tried his hand at farming, shop keeping, gold digging and rice milling but success did not come until he decided to start his own high school.

Many of us born after the 1920's had little idea of what constituted an education for the masses at the beginning of the twentieth century in Guyana. The churches took the lead in establishing primary schools in the areas where they

Original wooden school built on the same land where it stands today

had established congregations in the three counties and primary education became available to all.

Secondary education was a different matter.

It was available only to the privileged who could afford the cost of attending a high school. Later, some scholarships made it possible for a few of the brightest of the bright to gain a secondary education.

In the early years only the capital city, Georgetown, had sec-

ondary schools. The government established Queen’s College for boys and the Roman Catholic Church followed with St. Stanislaus College for boys, and two convents, which admitted girls, while the Anglican congregation founded the Bishop's High School for girls.

To that point in history, Demerara county was taken care of. However, because of the distances between counties, the population in Berbice and Essequibo were dis-

advantaged and had no secondary schools.

Children had to be sent to Georgetown if they qualified for access to one of the high schools there. Eventually, the Presbyterian Mission in Berbice established the Berbice High, a co-ed school in New Amsterdam, the capital of Berbice County.

Essequibo on the other hand, was without secondary education for many years.

As time went on, the above-mentioned schools

Bourda Market, Georgetown, British Guiana (n.d.)

Central High today

could not accommodate the increasing demand for a secondary education. It should be remembered that graduation from high school with a senior Cambridge certificate was the key to a civil service job. That provided the opportunity for the establishment of privately operated post-primary schools. The challenge that such schools faced was to provide a sound education at a cost that the majority of working parents could afford. That meant that the founders had to bear the capital costs of buildings and equipment, staff salaries, and other incidentals. Their only source of revenue being tuition fees which had to be low enough so that parents could pay.

From available accounts, as founder and headmaster of Central High School, J C started with 35 students and built his school with the help of those students.

Those who took part in the project earned tuition free spaces in return for their work making benches, desks, blackboards, etc. That concept of a work-study education was perhaps unheard of in those days. Many students also gained free tuition if they showed promise of having outstanding scholastic ability. Central encouraged extra-curricular activities such as shorthand, typing and adult educa-

tion. Recreational activities for its students included cricket, football and table tennis.

The school grew to become the largest private educational in Guyana with a few hundred students and providing both

J C Luck, founder of Central High School

primary and secondary education. Those were the circumstances under which Central High was born.

Central High, first built and operated under private management, is proud of its contribution to Guyana and salutes its many graduates and attendees who have served not only their mother country but given their service in many parts of the world.

The Luck family has always been at the forefront of education in Guyana and in subsequent years, his children have gone on to head the institution, most notably son Rudy and daughter Stella (Low). (www. chaagtoronto.com)

CROSSWORD SOLUTION

Water Street looking south, Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana, circa 1910

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Colonial Homes of Georgetown I

n the ever changing landscape of Guyana, especially in the district of Georgetown, some striking old traditional wooden buildings can still be found. In the conservation of our wooden built heritage, strategies had to be adopted to make the use of historic buildings current so that they can survive for the benefit of future generations. This is so since the original use of the building may not have been sustainable enough to safeguard the future of the building.

The term “adaptive reuse” is common among conservation enthusiasts. It is the act of changing the original function of the building or site in an attempt to ensure the survival of the historic building.

This change is usually designed for the benefit of the public and in an effort to garner revenue to aid maintenance.

In adaptive reuse, the aim is to retain the aesthetics of the original building especially the facades. In many such projects, the internal areas of the building will be altered to accommodate the new functions of the building.

In this article, a number of historic buildings will be featured, most of which now serve various functions from what they were originally built for, that is, private dwellings. Some still retain their original purpose such as Austin House.

Brazilian Ambassador’s Residence

This residence, located on the corner of Peter Rose and Anira Streets in Queenstown,

A team from Charlestown Sawmills led by one “Harry” was responsible for the erection of the house, all timber and materials having been procured from this establishment. Its ‘Brazilian connection’ was initiated through the association of Mrs Baldwin (nee De Freitas) who acted as liaison for Cruzeiro Airlines, a Brazilian airline that was operating in British Guiana in July 1971 upon retirement of the Baldwins to England.

Woodbine House – now Cara Lodge

The building is located at 294 Quamina Street. It was built in the 1840s and was called the Woodbine House and was home to several influential owners. Now a heritage hotel, this building constitutes a variety of architectural features stemming mainly from colonial influences including the prominent Demerara shutters, turned timber balusters and English brick columns. It also has Portuguese ceramic floor tiles and the railing and gate bear the crest of Woodbine House.

This heritage hotel has successfully merged the beauty of traditional architecture with contemporary luxury and comfort.

Dargan House – now UNESCO office

This traditionally designed building is located on the corner of Robb and Oronoque Streets. It was named after its first and most influential owner Patrick Dargan (18501908), a lawyer and politician. It was purportedly built circa 1880.

Sharples House, now Duke Lodge

the office of the Guyana National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Austin House

Home of the Anglican Bishops of Guyana, Austin House is named after Bishop William Piercy Austin (18071892) who lived in the original building on the site. Opened in 1842 as the Bishop’s residence, the original building was U-shaped, and was known as Kingston House. Kingston House, in disrepair, was demolished in early July 1894 and construction of a new structure started later in the month.

This second building, handed over on October 5 1894, is the structure we know today as Austin House, which is located on High Street, Kingston.

The 1894 structure is credited to the construction company capability of John Bradshaw Sharples (possibly John Bradshaw) and is typical of the colonial structures of the day with steep roofs, Demerara windows and six-paned Georgian windows.

During the tenure of Bishop Swaby (up to

Cara Lodge, now a hotel, was known as Woodbine House

was built in 1939-40 by the De Freitas brothers for their sister, Aurelia De Freitas on the occasion of her marriage to Andrew Baldwin. He was a British school teacher who was once employed

by Queen’s College.

This elegant two-storey wooden building features a unique grand staircase constructed of local wood and is a splendid example of traditional colonial architecture.

It was purchased by the Government of Guyana in 1975. It now houses

1899) the building was known as Bishop’s Court.

In the 1930s, the ground floor was enclosed to provide more space for offices and in the 1950s the stained glass windows over the main entrance were added. In 2012, major restor-

ative works were done by architect Rawle Jordon.

Sharples House – now Duke Lodge

Sharples House, located on the northern portion of Lot 93 Duke Street, Kingston, on the western side of the street, was constructed circa 1890. Kingston was the first area of settlement of the British in Georgetown and this particular part of the street, north of Barrack Street, boasts a fine ensemble of 19th century historic wooden colonial homes.

A distinctive feature of this building is the centrally placed open entrance porch with its classical entablature (horizontal roof beam resting

on the columns) with a cornice (the top slightly projecting part of the roof beam) and a combined frieze/architrave (the lower part) with running panels of figures – one female, one animal and one male (left to right).

This building is now an apartment building in conjunction with the Duke Lodge Hotel.

GO-INVEST office

Located on the corner of Camp and Church Streets, this impressive colonial style structure was designed by H O Durham and constructed circa 1925.

The imposing facade of push-out jalousie windows on the top floor and with glass windows

running the full length of the gallery below join with arches and stairways and high wall within to create a warmth and comfort and security that is almost tangible. The southern tower anchors the building firmly carrying a special feature known as a window’s walk.

Upon construction, the building was then purchased by E Kidman and was later sold to a Dr Browne. In the 1940s, the property was acquired by Dr Frederick M Kerry and became the Kerry family home until 1979 when Mrs Eleanor Kerry sold the property to the Government of Guyana.

The property was then converted to commercial use and became the offices of Design and Graphics – the government-owned advertising agency at the time.

Today it houses the offices of GO-INVEST, the Guyana Office for Investment.

(National Trust of Guyana) For further information on monuments and other historic sites in Guyana, contact National Trust of Guyana on 2255071. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

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Blake Lively wants to start family soon

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ctress-model Kelly Brook says she prefers her fiancé David McIntosh when he smells "sweaty" from the gym.

She prefers her partner's "natural" scent than the aftershaves he uses, reports femalefirst. co.uk.

"I like him just coming back from the gym.

I like the sweat smell to be honest. I think that's

the best smell on a man---natural," she said.

She goes on to say that McIntosh likes to splash out on expensive perfumes for her.

She said: "I've never bought expensive perfume. David bought me some really expensive perfume from Harrods recently. He's obsessed with fragrance so he always buys me really high end perfume." (TOI)

Jason Statham named as UK's celebrity manliest man

J

ason Statham has been named as the UK's celebrity manliest man beating likes of David Beckham and Gerard Butler for the title.

The 'Transporter' star topped the national survey by getting 24 percent votes, whereas Ray Winstone slipped into second spot with 18 percent votes, Contactmusic reported.

Tom Hardy grabbed the third spot in the survey with 10 percent votes in his kitty.

Butler and Beckham secured their fourth position with 8 percent votes.

(TOI)

A

ctress Blake Lively wants to "get started" on having children with her husband Ryan Reynolds.

The 26-year-old, who married the 37-year-old actor in a secret ceremony in September 2012, says they want a "litter of kids", reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I gotta get started. If I could spit out a litter of

kids, I would," she said.

Lively loves children and has a strong

bond with her nieces and nephews.

She said: "My mom and my dad, my sisters, my brothers, my family is a huge source of inspiration to me, and not just my siblings and my parents, but I look to the children in my family, the purity with which they look at the world, the excitement that they have.” (TOI)

Gisele Bundchen globally top-earning model

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razilian beauty Gisele Bundchen has topped Forbes magazine's list of the highest earning models for the eighth consecutive year.

The 34-year-old is said to have earned $47 million last year, courtesy her contracts with Chanel, H&M, Carolina Herrera and her deal with shoemaker Grendene, for whom she designed a range of jelly shoes, reports contact-

music.com.

Adriana Lima and Doutzen Kroes share the second place on the list with around $8 million of earning each, while the oldest model on the list, Kate Moss, 40, came in third place, along with Miranda Kerr, Kate Upton and Liu Wen, who all took home around $7 million each.

Hilary Rhoda and Alessandra Ambrosio are on the fourth spot with $5 million. (TOI)

Sylvester Stallone prepping for 'Rambo 5' Robin Williams hoped to have

H

ollywood action star Sylvester Stallone has revealed that he is preparing himself to begin shooting for 'Rambo 5'.

The 68-year-old 'Expendables' ringleader says he's starting to work out to get ready for his return as John Rambo in the fifth film.

The last 'Rambo' film came out in 2008, re-

ported Ace Showbiz.

"I'm getting ready for 'Rambo 5'. I'm starting to work out. I'm going to be appropriately vicious and all that stuff, but intellectual. A killer with a heart. Smart, yet stupid. Tall, yet short. Broad, but thin.

You know what I mean.

We're going to try to cover all the boundaries," Stallone said. (TOI)

Scarlett Johansson satisfies pregnancy cravings with ice cream

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ctress Scarlett Johansson satisfied her pregnancy craving before a movie date with fiancé Romain Dauriac by indulging in ice cream.

Eonline.com reports that the 29-year-old mom-to-be looked casual, chic and comfortable while wearing a chambray shirt, leggings,

sneakers and sunglasses as she and Dauriac strolled through New York City Sunday.

While Johansson was having ice cream, Dauriac was seen holding a packet.

Johansson hasn't spoken publicly about her pregnancy, but her baby bump speaks for itself. (TOI)

Kate Moss parties with Madonna

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odel Kate Moss partied with singer Madonna at her 1920sthemed birthday party organised over the weekend.

The ‘Frozen’ hitmaker turned 56 on

Aug 16.

Moss joined Madonna in celebrating her birthday at a lavish party at a private villa, where the two were pictured cosying up together, reports contactmusic.com.

Madonna posted the photo of herself wearing a beaded black dress next to the model, who was clad in a strappy black gown, on her Instagram account Sunday.

She captioned the image: "Bow down Bitches! #whatitfeelslikeforagirl. (sic)" Her children--Lourdes, 17, Rocco, 14, David, 8, and Mercy, 8--also attended the birthday bash. (TOI)

kids with wife before suicide

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obin Williams and his third wife, Susan Schneider, had been hoping to start a family with the comedic genius before his sudden suicide, it has been revealed.

According to sources, it was Schneider's dream to start a family with the 'Dead Poets Society' star and it would have been nearly impossible for Susan to get preg-

nant because of her age, 50, but that didn't stop

her from hoping it could happen. They could have used a surrogate or adopted, Radar Online reported.

The insiders claimed that even before Williams' death at age 63, he was very hesitant to have another child, as he was already a father of three and there was also major hesitation because of his history of depression. (TOI)

Demi Moore gifts gun-shaped birthday cake to daughter

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f Rumer Willis' Instagram post is anything to go by, her mom and actress Demi Moore presented her a gun-shaped birthday cake.

Rumer, who turned 26, last Saturday, posted a photo of the cake on Instagram and captioned it "Best birthday cake ever. Thank you mama...," reports people.com.

She also posted a selfie with a heartfelt birthday message: "I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me get here...I thank you all because

I would not be the woman I am today without all of you. I can't wait to see what adventures await me." (TOI)

Denzel Washington 'detoxes' post month of partying

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enzel Washington has completed his two-week session of cleansing in lavish Orange County, Los Angeles, after he spent four weeks drinking and partying.

A source told TMZ.com, that it was an "overall" rinsing of toxins for the 59-year-old actor, who was vacationing on a luxury yacht with his wife Pauletta, and that he had taken help from professionals, which included a

nutritionist, a trainer and a chef, to get the job done well. (TOI)

bollywood

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Alia Bhatt attempts to get over dark room phobia

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hough she shares the same surname with Priyanka and Parineeti, bagging a role in Bollywood was not easy for Miss India 2009 winner Pooja Chopra.

The sexy lass, who made her debut with a special appearance in Madhur Bhandarkar's ‘Fashion’, in 2008, had to wait for four-long years before bagging a lead role in ‘Commando’. In Ranchi, for the promotions of an apparel brand she endorses, the model-actress talked about her injury, her upcoming movies, life, career and so on. Excerpts: So, how's your Bollywood career shaping up?

It was a good start for me in Bollywood, with ‘Commando’, but then I injured my leg and everything went for a toss. However, my life is back on track now.

Don't you think that a Miss India title is a sure-shot ticket to Bollywood?

N

ot the one to sleep without a dim light aglow in her room, Alia Bhatt is now trying to sleep without one.

"But I still sleep with a curtain slightly open," she says. Apparently, her fear from darkness stems from childhood when her sister would keep her locked up in a dark room. "I'd keep crying to get me out of the room. I think my fear for dark rooms began since then." (TOI)

Everyone thinks so. But then it is not the reality. Of course, the Miss India title makes you a celebrity overnight. You get to meet everyone and everyone is willing to meet you. However, the fact is, Miss India or no Miss India, you'll bag a role only if you are suitable for a certain character and can work hard on it. (TOI)

H

rithik Roshan continues to remain a favourite with Sussanne Khan's family.

Not only is he an integral part of birthday and festival celebrations in his estranged wife's home; on his part, he makes it a point to wish each of Sussanne's siblings, her cousins and her parents on their birthdays.

Just recently, he was confirming whether it was Sussanne's first cousin Laila Khan Furniturewala's birthday so that he could send her flowers on the occasion. (TOI)

Bipasha Basu: Wearing bikini not a big deal for me

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ctress Bipasha Basu says that donning a bikini for a role is okay if you are fit and confident that you would look good in it.

"Wearing a bikini is not a big deal for me. If you are fit, you are going to look good. If it's a glamorous film, it will add to your glamour," said Bipasha in an interview.

The actress was seen in the twopiece in ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Players’.

"It is not a big deal for me anymore because the first time when I wore it, I was petrified. During ‘Dhoom 2’ I was getting into fitness. After that I am very critical about the (bikini) body because I am so much into fitness that I feel you have to look correct and you

can't look cheesy.

"I have worn it in ‘Players’ also in 'Humshakals' they wanted us to wear it...I don't think much about it," she said. (TOI)

Sonam Nair to direct sex comedy

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onam Nair, who made her directorial debut with 'Gippi', will now helm a sex comedy under Dharma Productions.

After making Gippi, a film based on an overweight teenager and her life's problems, Nair is set to direct a sex comedy.

"I am directing a sex comedy which will go on floors by end of this year. It will be produced

by Dharma. The film is written and directed by me," Nair told media.

When asked how easy or difficult it was to convince Karan Johar of

Dharma Productions, she said: "I gave him the script. He said okay, go ahead with it. I am quite excited about the film."

Talking about the cast, she said: "We will have newcomers and some known faces in the film." (TOI)

Arjun Kapoor: My professional life helped me sort out my personal life

A

t the time of his debut in 2012, Arjun Kapoor was staring at an emotional nadir, with the death of his mother coinciding with the release of his first film.

Two years down the line, the young star is the calmest he has ever been in his personal life and is ready to expand his acting repertoire with HomiAdajania's ‘Finding Fanny’, which, he says has helped him in the process of self-discovery.

"Earlier, I was working to fill the void in my life, but I realised I can't fill it with work.

Everyone doesn't get everything but work helps,

meeting new people helps, doing films like ‘Finding Fanny’ helps— it took me away from the monotony of a typical film and took my mind away from other things.

I got time to transform into Savio, my character, and that time, I got to be with myself. It's a dichotomy, but my professional life helped me sort out my personal life. For me, ‘Finding Fanny’ was an exit from the film world into a fictional world that Homi had created," says Arjun. (TOI)

Arpita Khan and beau Aayush ink each other’s names

S

alman Khan's sister Arpita, who is all set to tie the knot with her Delhi-based boyfriend Aayush Sharma in January next year, has got her beau's name inked on her forearm.

She uploaded her tattoo's picture on a photo-sharing website recently, captioning it "Soon to be Mrs Aayush Sharma." The bride-to-be also shared a picture of the tattoo that Aayush sports on his wrist, which reads her name and thanked him for the gesture.

She already has a star-shaped tattoo on her forearm, with names of almost all the Khan family members written around it. (TOI)

Shah Rukh Khan: Creativity is a lone process

S

hah Rukh Khan says his life may be seen like an open book, but there is part about his personality that no one knows about.

"My life is like an open book, everywhere I go people see my picture, Twitter...everything...I am very happy that people think they know everything about me. But there is a side of me which people do not know about," said Shah Rukh during a group interview.

Explaining his point, he said: "Business of entertainment is about being aware of what people like...The creativity is a very solo thing, it's very lone and it is done behind the closed doors.

My creativity is very lonely, which nobody understands...I don't discuss the process." (TOI)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

40 and still roaring!

– Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s international career may be nearing its end, but his appetite for runs is stronger than when he started out two decades ago

on his career at 41 years, 129 days, was the oldest Guyanese to do so, while the inspirational Captain Clive Lloyd of the Land of Many Waters played 124 days after his 40th birthday.

Without a doubt, Headley, Gibbs and Lloyd are not just giants of West Indies cricket, but are also names that would feature in any conversation on the game across the globe.

Chanderpaul can also lay claim to such monumental recognition, given his exemplary achievements and proof of longevity through two decades of brilliance at the pinnacle of the game.

A stranger to controversy, the “Tiger”, as he is affectionately known, has quietly gone about his business like a shrewd tactician, demonstrating a high level of consistency that has placed him alongside the modern day greats.

The promising 19-year-old who walked out at Bourda on March 17, 1994, and announced himself to the world with a classy 62 on debut against England, has evolved into one of the most reliable batsmen of world cricket, achieving

it is left to be seen if Chanderpaul will get the opportunity to add to his 268 One Day Internationals, 8778 runs, 11 centuries and 59 half-centuries.

West Indies have failed to consistently last 50 overs, yet Chanderpaul, by far the most productive batsman of the current generation, has found himself on the sidelines during the 50-over format.

Appearing in the most Test matches by a West Indian, the former captain has amassed 11,414 runs from 156 games, including 29 hundreds and 63 fifties.

An average of 51.88 is a clear indication of his consistency.

The Bangladesh series will provide an opportunity for the “Tiger” to leapfrog long-time teammate, batting partner and that mystical genius from Trinidad and Tobago, Brian Lara, who is the leading West Indian runscorer with 11,953.

At the rate Chanderpaul has been scoring over the last decade, overhauling Lara’s aggregate is just a matter of time, unless his

By Avenash Ramzan

M

ilestones are nothing new to Shivnarine Chanderpaul. They have come aplenty in a glittering career that any young cricketer can draw inspiration from.

Just last Saturday, the indomitable, dogged and diminutive West Indies left-handed middle-order batsman celebrated his 40th birth anniversary, and quite fittingly observed the milestone in the land of his birth.

With the West Indies/ Bangladesh series looming, Chanderpaul, who has been limited to being a Test specialist ever since Coach Ottis Gibson unceremoniously went on a crusade against the “senior players” after the 2011 50-over World Cup, is destined to be the ninth West Indian and third Guyanese to play international cricket beyond age 40.

The incomparable Jamaican George Headley was the oldest West Indian to have played the game, ending a 24-year career at the age of 44. The legendary spinner Lance Gibbs, who called time

numerous records during an illustrious career.

Twenty years after his entry to international cricket, the left-hander from Unity village on the East Coast of Demerara, has appeared

in 446 games, scoring over 20,500 runs with 40 hundreds and 122 scores over 50.

With Lloyd being the new Convenor of Selectors of the West Indies Cricket Board,

Test career suffers a similar fate as the one that has befallen him in ODIs. Statistically the greatest Guyanese batsman, Chanderpaul is all too aware of the operations of West Indies cricket and what obtains in the hierarchy of the game in this part of the globe, hence extending his purple patch since the exit of Lara in 2007 would be the only sure way of securing his place in the side.

It’s the type of situation that has given the “Tiger” an insatiable appetite for runs, one that seems even stronger than when he started out two decades ago.

It is anyone’s guess how long Chanderpaul will carry on before he lifts the bails on his career. What is for certain, the name Chanderpaul will continue to grace the gentleman’s game as young Tagenarine is keen on following in his father’s footsteps.

Tagenarine’s youth career concluded last Friday, and judging from his sound technique, huge appetite for runs and willingness to learn, there is no respite for bowlers anytime soon.

Fortune departs for Masters Athletic Championships in Costa Rica

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ormer sprint champion Alicia Fortune departed Guyana on Tuesday for the North, Central American and Caribbean World Masters Athletic Championships (NCCWMA) which began on Wednesday in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Fortune will compete in the 35-39 age category and will contest the 100, 200 and 400 metres track events.

Speaking with Guyana Times International Sport prior to her departure on Tuesday, Fortune expressed optimism of returning good results as she is well prepared and in high spirits, despite being uncertain of travelling at the last minute since sponsorship was slow in coming.

“Fortunately I am ready to go and by God’s grace I will go and do Guyana proud and come back with gold.

“I am well prepared despite it being very tough in the last week, since I was running around for sponsorship, but I definitely feel great about being able to go and represent my country.”

Alicia Fortune

Fortune’s trip is also receiving the blessings of the Guyana Masters Athletics Association (GMAA) and, according to Secretary Silas Brummel, it is the first time in more than 10 years that the GMAA is sending an athlete to compete at the NCCWMA. “We are very happy to get her to participate with a view of exposing her to international competition at the masters level. We think that she will do well at the championships.”

Brummel also not-

ed the inputs of several corporate entities that made Fortune’s trip possible, including The National Sports Commission, Ming’s Products and Services, Sanjay’s Jewellery, Mohamed’s Enterprise, Giftland OfficeMax and Millennia Travel Agency.

The GMAA Secretary added that the association will also be hoping to have Fortune and others participate in the South American Masters Championships in Medellin, Colombia in November.

SPort

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Result of CPL final should be declared “null and void” – Neil Kumar

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irector of Sport Neil Kumar has issued the following statement in the aftermath of the decision to award the Caribbean Premeir League (CPL) title to the Barbados Tridents: I wish to comment on the controversial outcome of the second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, played between the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Barbados Tridents on August 16 in St Kitts and Nevis.

It is incumbent upon me to highlight a few sections of the playing conditions, or rules, of the tournament.

I have copied and pasted those sections below, verbatim, which may apply given the circumstances that obtained before, during and after the game, not only for the fans of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, but also for anyone who follows the game of cricket.

12.4 Length of Innings 1 2 . 4 . 1 Uninterrupted Matches. a) Each team shall bat for 20 overs unless all out earlier. b) If the team fielding first fails to bowl the required number of overs by the scheduled time for cessation of the first innings, play shall continue until the required number of overs has been bowled.

The length of the interval shall be reduced as per clause 15.1 (minimum 10 minutes) and the second session shall begin at the scheduled time or ten minutes after the end of the first innings (whichever is later). The team batting second shall receive its full quota of 20 overs ir-

The Guyana Amazon Warriors were on course to win the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, but were denied by slow over rate and poor umpiring

respective of the number of overs it bowled in the scheduled time for the cessation of the first innings. c) If the team batting first is dismissed in less than 20 overs, the team batting second shall be entitled to bat for 20 overs. d) If the team fielding second fails to bowl 20 overs by the scheduled cessation time, the hours of play shall be extended until the required number of overs has been bowled or a result is achieved. e) Penalties shall apply for slow over rates (refer to the Code of Conduct).

12.4.2 Delayed or Interrupted Matches a) Delay or Interruption to the Innings of the team batting first (see Appendix 2) i) When playing time

has been lost the revised number of overs to be bowled in the match shall be based on a rate of 15 overs per hour in the total remaining time available for play. vi) Penalties shall apply for slow over rates (refer to the Code of Conduct). b) Delay or Interruption to the innings of the team batting second (see Appendix 3) i) When playing time has been lost and, as a result, it is not possible for the team batting second to have the opportunity of receiving its allocated, or revised allocation of overs in the playing time available, the number of overs shall be reduced at a rate of 15 overs per hour in respect of the lost playing time.

Should the calculations result in a fraction of an

Lendl Simmons was named Man-of-the-Tournament

over the fraction shall be ignored. ii) In addition, should the innings of the team batting first have been completed prior to the scheduled, or re-scheduled time for the commencement of the interval, then any calculation relating to the revision of overs shall not be effective until an amount of time equivalent to that by which the second innings started early has elapsed.

iii) To constitute a match, a minimum of 5 overs have to be bowled to the team batting second subject to a result not being achieved earlier. iv) The team batting second shall not bat for a greater number of overs than the first team unless the latter completed its innings in less than its allocated overs. v) A fixed time will be specified for the close of play by applying a rate of 15 overs per hour. The timing and duration of all relative delays, extensions in playing hours and interruptions in play, will be taken into consideration in specifying this time. vi) If the team fielding second fails to bowl the revised overs by the scheduled or re-scheduled close of play, the hours of play shall be extended until the overs have been bowled or a result achieved. vii) Penalties shall apply for slow over rates (refer to the Code of Conduct).

12.5 Extra Time Where the start of play is delayed or play is suspended for whatever reason, up to one (1) hour of extra time may be added.

As regards slow over rate, the Guyana Amazon Warriors bowled 20 overs in 95 minutes, while the

Barbados Tridents bowled 15.5 overs in 93 minutes. This clearly shows that the Tridents deliberately dragged on the game, while the umpires continued to smile.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), the Cricket Committee of CPL and the International Cricket Council (ICC) must explain their role in the CPL tournament.

Further, the Amazon Warriors Management must diligently pursue their appeal of the decision to award the game to Barbados Tridents to the ICC. The Caribbean people are expressing total disgust at the outcome.

Is the sponsor of the Tridents team guilty of something? Who owns the Tridents? Who owns the CPL? In view of how the game was conducted, I call on the WICB, the Cricket Committee of CPL and the ICC to reverse the decision taken on the final and that the match be declared null and void, or a no result.

I also feel compelled to attach, as part of this statement, a complete copy of the “Playing Conditions of the Caribbean Premier League 2014” for your own perusal.

I thank all cricket fans for their continued support of the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

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Guyana Amazon Warriors dispute outcome of CPL final

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he Management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team has taken a decision to contest the outcome of the second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final played between the Amazon Warriors and the Barbados Tridents on August 16 at Warner Park, St Kitts and Nevis.

This decision was taken following a review of the sequence of events that took place during the game, which started at 16:03h (4:03 p.m.) under overcast conditions.

During the Barbados Tridents innings, there were two rain interruptions – one at the end of 7 overs and the other at 11.2 overs. By the end of the Tridents innings of 20 overs, they had scored 152 runs for 6 wickets.

At the start of the Guyana Amazon Warriors innings, the Duckworth/Lewis calculation sheet was provided as per norm. During the course of the Amazon Warriors innings, rain interrupted the game at 15.5 overs with the Amazon Warriors score at 107 runs for 4 wickets.

After the rain interruption, the covers were removed, mopping up took place, and the stumps were back in position, with the field and pitch ready for play to resume. This entire process was conducted under the supervision of the Fourth Umpire, who also indicated the restart of the game.

Both Match Umpires then went on the field when the stumps were up and subsequently went back off the field without communicating anything to the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team on the position of the game.

It was clear at that stage that the umpires did not know the new Duckworth/Lewis calculations, which caused a further delay of more than 30 minutes within the stipulated match time.

At this point, an enquiry was made by the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team Manager with regard to the restart of the game. He was told that information will be provided in two minutes.

After approximately 10 minutes, with no information forthcoming, the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team Manager again approached the umpires and was told that the game will restart at 20:40h (8:40 p.m.) with the full quota of overs to be bowled.

At that stage, CPL even went on to update the fans via social media that the game will continue in full. This update can be viewed on www.facebook.com/ CarnivalT20.

Suddenly, the Match Umpires at this late stage said that they were consulting with the CPL Technical Committee, which is strange in cricket, since the sole decision makers are the Umpires and the Match Referee.

At this stage, the Barbados Tridents Captain and Coach were called and advised about the restart of the game at 20:40h (8:40 p.m.), and both the Barbados Captain and Coach objected to the decision.

Further consultations took place between the Umpires, the Match Referee and the CPL Technical Committee.

After a few minutes, the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team was informed by the Match Referee that the match was ended and Barbados were declared winners based on the Duckworth/ Lewis calculations.

It is important to note that the Management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team had raised this important issue with CPL officials with regard to the appointment of Umpires and Match Officials for the semi-finals and final of the tournament.

Another key conflicting matter to take note of is the fact that based on the Match Referee’s Game Breakdown Report, the second innings of the match should have been completed by 19:52h (7:52 p.m.).

But when the rain came and stopped play at 19:54h (7:54 p.m.), only 15.5 overs were completed. This demonstrates that there was a slow over rate by the Barbados Tridents and this was not dealt with by the umpires.

Subsequent to the biased final match, the Management of Guyana Amazon Warriors wrote CPL specifically with regard to the decision taken at the match and intends to vigorously pursue the arguments outlined above.

Meanwhile, the Management of the Guyana Amazon Warriors has expressed deep appreciation for the support demonstrated by the fans throughout the tournament and will keep members of the public updated.

GCB mulling youth teams in senior Inter-County tournament

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The national Under-19 team could compete in the senior Inter-County competition this year

ith a view to developing the next generation of cricketers, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is mulling the idea of the country’s youth teams participating in the annual Inter-County competition.

This could effectively mean that the successful national Under-19 team, which won the “double” for the first time in the history of regional youth cricket, could be competing in the senior Inter-

County competition starting soon.

A senior official of the GCB told this publication that having the youth teams compete as a unit in the Inter-County competition is currently being discussed.

He pointed out that all the national youth teams have done well in the regional competitions this year and the aim is to keep these players together to assist with their development.

Apart from the

Under-19s, the national Under-15 team led by Bhaskar Yadram won the regional tournament in Jamaica this year, while the Under-17 team finished fourth in the regional competition in Tobago.

In the Under-19 tournament hosted by Guyana, Brian Sattaur became the first captain to win both the three-day and 50-over titles in the same year.

The batting was led by openers Shimron Hetmyer and Tagenarine

Chanderpaul, who both scored hundreds in both formats, as well as the supremely talented Kemo Paul, who followed his two 50s in the three-day tournament with four half-centuries in six innings in the 50-over version.

The bowling was centred on spinners Sharaz Ramcharran, Balchand Baldeo, Steven Sankar and Daimon Waldron, who consistently combined to bowl out the opposition.

Ramdin, Simmons fined for dissent

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uyana Amazon Warriors skipper Denesh Ramdin and team-mate Lendl Simmons have been fined by the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for dissent shown in the controversial final with Barbados Tridents on August 16 in St Kitts and Nevis.

According to information reaching Guyana Times International Sport, Ramdin was fined for dissent shown following the dismissal of allrounder James Neesham in the 13th over of the Amazon Warriors’ innings.

The Neesham dismissal brought a furious reaction from Ramdin at the non-striker’s end.

Neesham was ruled caught behind off Jason Holder, although video footage appeared to show that the ball had not touched the gloves.

The Amazon Warriors skipper slammed his bat and gloves down into the ground immediately what seemed to be another glaring umpiring decision gone against his team during the game.

Earlier, in the Tridents’ innings, Dwayne Smith had sur-

Dwayne Smith survived an LBW appeal that television replays showed should have been given out

vived a very close LBW appeal that television replays clearly showed should have been given out.

After the appeal was turned down, Simmons signalled for a review by the third umpire, although the umpiring decision review system was not in place for the CPL tournament.

The game, which the

Tridents controversially won on the Duckworth/ Lewis method, was marred by several questionable umpiring decisions by Barbadian umpire Gregory Braithwaite.

The Tridents’ Shoaib Malik was given the benefit of the doubt in a leg before wicket decision to the first ball he faced from Krishmar

Santokie. Television replays showed that the ball would have clearly gone on to hit the stumps.

Malik went on to make 55 not out and was later named Man-of-theMatch.

All-rounder Navin Stewart was also on the receiving end of a few dubious wide calls in the game, which has still left a bitter taste in the mouths of the many Amazon Warriors supporters worldwide, many of whom have been letting their sentiments known on the internet, including social media.

Meanwhile, it is interesting to see if the Tridents will be penalised for their slow over rate, which cricketing pundits argue should have been taken into consideration before a decision was made to stop the game and deny the Amazon Warriors to bat their full quota of overs.

The Amazon Warriors bowled 20 overs in 95 minutes, while the Tridents had bowled 15.5 overs in 93 minutes when the game controversially ended.

Sport

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Battle of the Contenders shifted to September

Yaw makes it to ‘B’ final of 400 metres – Gaskin unable to progress in 50 metres Butterfly

2

T

Dexter Marques

Sakima Mullings

he Guyana Boxing Board of Control’s Battle of the Contenders card has been shifted to September 13 and will now be held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The event was originally scheduled for August 30 in open air at the Banks DIH ground, Thirst Park, but the concerns over the weather have forced organisers to make the switch.

Sakima Mullings of Jamaica will take on Guyanese Dereck Richmond in a Junior Middleweight eightround clash, while Iwan Azore and Dexter Gonsalves will meet in a Junior Welterweight eight-round contest.

Two other fights are carded for the night with Richard Williamson looking for revenge against

Dexter Marques in a Super Bantamweight six-rounder rematch, and Jamaican Kemahl Russell taking on Guyanese Winston Pompey in a six-round Middleweight bout.

Mullings is fresh off winning the Wray and Nephew Contender Series in Jamaica and will be bubbling with confidence when he enters the ring against Richmond, who also participated in that series, but failed to make the final.

Mullings is on a 12bout winning streak and will no doubt look to extend his winning ways after notching up 16 wins (10 KOs) and one loss from 17 bouts.

Richmond is coming off a loss in his last encounter, which was his first defeat to go with three wins and a draw.

013 Carifta bronze medallist Jason Yaw returned a below-par performance at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing China on Wednesday as he ran way below his Personal Best (PB) and failed to qualify for the ‘A’ final of the Boys’ 400 metres.

Heading into the meet with a PB of 47.43, Yaw was able to clock only 49.41 for sixth in his heat, which was won

by Jamaica’s Martin Manley in 47.14secs.

Second was Denmark’s Benjamin Lobo Vedel in 47. 27, while third was Spain’s Jesus Serrano in 48.13.

The ‘B’ final will be contested on August 23 and Yaw, who has the best PB in that line-up, could emerge the winner if he could replicate the form that brought him his PB. He will be up against Australia’s Michael Mullet, Trinidad and Tobago’s Kashief King, Puerto Rico’s Ezequiel Suarez, Thailand’s Vitsanu Phosri, United States of America’s Andrew James and

Chelsea Edghill Jason Yaw (right) and Britany Van Lange prior to their departure for the Youth Olympics

Republic of Korea’s Mingi Choi.

Meanwhile, swimmer Hannibal Gaskin was second in his heat on Wednesday, but his time was not fast enough to gain him a place in the semi-finals of the 50 metres Butterfly.

Gaskin swam 28.11secs to finish behind winner Berk Ozkul of Turkey who clocked 25.52. Third was the United Republic of Tanzania’s Shabbir Ammaar Ghadiyali in

28.41.

The Guyanese will now compete in the 100 metres Freestyle today (Thursday).

Table tennis player Chelsea Edghill has already crashed out of the Youth Olympics after failing to win a game in the group stage of the Women’s Singles table tennis tournament.

Competing in the Women’s Singles in Group ‘F’ on Sunday, Edghill lost in three sets, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 to

Natalia Bajor of Polana during the morning session. Returning in the afternoon to play her second group game, the Guyanese fell 3-0 to Karoline Mischek of Austria, 11-7, 11-7, 116. On Monday she lost her final group game 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 to Rea Rakovac of Croatia.

Swimmer Britany Van Lange competed in the Girls’ 100 metres Freestyle but failed to make a qualifying time.

She will hope for better results in the 50 metres Butterfly on Thursday.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24, 2014 | guyanatimeSinternational.com