Guyana Times - Tuesday, June 11, 2019

P15 New Horizons medical team conducted 39 gynaecological surgeries

– as hospital records 1st laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 3951

THE BEACON OF TRUTH tuesday, june 11, 2019

CCJ sets June 18 as ‘tentative’ date for ruling on no-confidence cases – ruling on GECOM unilateral appointment case also expected See story on page 3

– as lawyer responds to adduced Charrandas Persaud evidence

Harmon confirms arbitrary firing of PSM staff

See story on page 9

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WHAT'S INSIDE: Cricket bat murder

Accused sentenced to 25 years for killing man in P10 2016

Albouystown goldsmith P8 charged for 2013 murder

– termination letters rescinded; investigation launched

Works commence P12 to rectify damaged GPL submarine cable

GPSU Head P11 implicitly criticises PNC under Granger's leadership Sixty-five students from primary and secondary schools across Linden were given the opportunity to participate in a leadership workshop led by two recently commissioned Second Lieutenants from the US Air Force Academy. The leadership workshop taught them project management skills, teamwork, and volunteerism to improve their communities (US Embassy photo)

MoE moves to nix special audit ...AG’s Office will proceed into UG’s spending with audit – AG Sharma 1 dead after fight at Psychiatric Hospital Page 7

Page 11

15-year-old crushed by skidder after losing balance Page 2

Canje continues to cry after closure of Rose Hall Sugar P13 Estate

2 news

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

15-year-old crushed by Pedal cyclist struck by intoxicated skidder after losing balance GDF rank still unconscious

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teenager employed by T Bovell Concessions lost his life on Sunday afternoon after he allegedly slipped off the side of a truck and fell between the wheels of a skidder machine.

The dead youth has been identified as 15-yearold Delroy Welchman, who is said to have been working as a labourer for the abovementioned mining company.

Based on reports received, on Sunday about 17:30h at 16 Km Bisarooni Backdam, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), Welchman was in the company of a driver and a porter, all employed by the mining company when the

accident took place.

Reports are that the young man was tasked with recordkeeping and was returning with his two workmates after loading the truck with lumber when the incident occurred.

According to the Police, the driver used the skidder to leave the backdam, and on the way out, the skidder hit a bump causing the teen who was reportedly standing on the left side of the machine to lose his balance and fall.

Guyana Times understands that the operator immediately brought the skidder to a halt and in doing so, it ran over the teen.

The driver and the por-

ter rushed the injured young man who was still conscious at the time to the Kwakwani Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Police noted that the 15-year-old’s body was examined and it was observed that it had bruises to both temples, swelling of the face and eyelids, a bruise to the left forearm, and bruises on the upper left side of the back.

Welchman’s body is presently at the Kwakwani Burial Ground on ice, awaiting a post-mortem.

Meanwhile, the operator of the machine, along with the porter, is being questioned about the fatal accident.

Bandits terrorise, rob Canje women

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wo women were on Monday afternoon attacked and robbed by two masked bandits at their Cumberland, East Canje, Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) home.

Reports are that about 14:00h, the two masked men who were armed with cutlasses entered the lower flat of the house.

At the time, Bibi Sankar, 59, a housewife and her 28-year-old daughter, Razia Sankar, were at home along with two children.

Based on reports received, upon gaining entry to the house, the bandits instructed the women not to raise an alarm. They proceeded to demand cash and jewellery. The two women were subsequently bound as the men ransacked the house. After the women refused to cooperate, they were severely beaten.

Upon searching the house, the men found several pieces of gold jewellery and $500,000 in cash. As they were leaving, they also collected a

Samsung tablet that belonged to one of the children.

After the men left, the women managed to untie themselves and raised an alarm. The Police responded quickly and started a manhunt for the perpetrators.

The two women, who were found covered in blood, were subsequently taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital and were treated. Police, acting on information received, have arrested two persons in connection with the robbery.

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ifty-seven-yearold pedal cyclist Ramlackhan who was struck down by an intoxicated Corporal attached to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) recently underwent surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital, but has not regained consciousness.

This was confirmed by C Division (East Coast Demerara) Commander Calvin Brutus on Monday when he related that at presently, the Police were awaiting the return of a file from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) so that charges can be laid.

“Dangerous driving is subject to the individual.

So, we have already started the preliminary work in relation to the advice for the Driving Under the Influence (DUI). But not the accident in general … given the present state of the victim,” he related.

On May 25, Ramlackhan was struck down along the Vryheid’s Lust Railway Embankment Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) by motor car PRR 7815 allegedly being driven by the soldier. The severe-

C Division Commander Calvin Brutus

ly injured man is said to hail from Lot 346 Martyrs’ Ville, Mon Repos, ECD. At the time of the accident, Ramlackhan was towing another friend, who is reportedly from 6th Street, Success, ECD. His friend suffered minor injuries.

Reports are that, on the day in question, the duo were riding along the roadway when they were knocked off the bicycle by the vehicle being driven by the GDF rank, who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol.

Ramlackhan was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was admitted a patient.

A breathalyser test was conducted on the driver of the vehicle, and it was discovered that his alcohol intake was above the legal limit. Investigations into the matter continue, as Ramlackhan remains in a coma at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Commander Brutus had previously explained that the soldier who was allegedly driving the car involved in the accident was released into the custody of the Army.

“The Joint Services Protocol dictates that we hand him over to his superiors pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). With regard to Police having custody of Joint Services ranks, it is dependent on the category of crime.

For instance, if it is murder or so, they will stay in our (GPF) custody. If it is a lesser category, we hand them over to their respective agency and they will take responsibility to bring them back whenever is needed; or if advice is to charge, they will make them available and bring them so,” he had recently stated.

Woman remanded for cannabis trafficking

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haffen Donette was remanded to prison when she appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged with the possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

The 35-year-old resident of Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to her by acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus.

The charge stated that on June 8, 2019 at Three Miles, Mahdia, she had 220 grams of cannabis in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Prosecutor Shellon Daniels told the court that on the day in question, Donette was a passenger in a minibus when it was stopped and searched by Police.

Prosecutor Daniels further stated that upon searching Donette’s be-

longings, the ranks found seven transparent packages suspected to be cannabis hidden inside of a Kotex Panty liner box which she had in her handbag.

A closer inspection revealed a quantity of seeds, leaves and stem.

Donette was told of the offence and arrested. She will make her next court appearance on July 15, 2019.

First Lady Mrs Sandra Granger, second from left, is seated among facilitators Hazel Halley-Burnett, Ismay Griffith and Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Smith at the Regency Suites on Hadfield Street, Georgetown following the opening of the second component of the Care for the Elderly workshop.

The participants will undergo two weeks of theoretical training, with one day in each week designated for practical training. Each participant will, on that day, be placed at an elderly care institution to implement what they have learnt

news

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TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

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

Tuesday, June 11 – 12:00h-13:30h and Wednesday, June 12 – 01:00h and 13:00h-14:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Tuesday, June 11 – 11:00h-12:30h and Wednesday, June 12 – 12:15h-13:45h.

CCJ sets June 18 as ‘tentative’ date for ruling on no-confidence cases ― ruling on GECOM unilateral appointment case also expected ― as lawyer responds to adduced Charrandas Persaud evidence

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

WEATHER TODAY Cloudy conditions are expected to be followed by light rain showers, which will prevail for the rest of the day and evening hours. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-easterly to North-easterly between 2.23 metres and 4.02 metres.

High Tide: 11:35h reaching a maximum height of 2.34 metres.

Low Tide: 17:35h reaching a minimum height of 0.84 metre.

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Lawyer for Charrandas Persaud, Sanjeev Datadin

The Caribbean Court of Justice

fter some delay, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has finally set a date, albeit a tentative one, for ruling on the three no-nonfidence notion related cases before it, as well as the challenge to the unilateral appointment of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman.

This is according to notices sent out by the court to the parties involved in the proceedings, as well as information from various lawyers involved in the cases. In a brief interview, Attorney for former Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charrandas Persaud, Sanjeev Datadin informed this publication that the CCJ intends to rule on the consolidated NCM cases on June 18.

When contacted by this publication, Attorney General Basil Williams also revealed that the CCJ is looking to rule in the GECOM case on June 18. The AG also confirmed that the court has accepted the new evidence he submitted in relation to Charrandass Persaud.

The “new evidence” has to do with comments made by the former AFC MP Charrandas Persaud during a recent Globespan live show, which Government is alleging purports to show he knew that as a dual citizen he ought not to be in the parliamentary chambers.

Persaud had crossed over to vote in favour of the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against the coalition Government. The application was filed on the grounds that, among other things, there was no direct evidence of whether Persaud knew that he was unqualified to be a candidate and disqualified from sitting in the National Assembly.

However, Datadin has since submitted a response on behalf of his client, in which it is argued that this new evidence does not reflect the full context of what Persaud actually said on the Globespan show. The affidavit filed by Datadin carried the full transcript.

In the full transcript, Persaud recounts a conversation he had with Minister of Public Security and AFC politician Khemraj Ramjattan, in which the Minister himself sought to allay Persaud’s concerns about his dual citizen status by pointing out that other persons in Parliament held passports from other countries.

As it turns out, at least four politicians have since re-

signed from Parliament due to them also holding dual citizenship at the time Persaud crossed the floor. They are Dominic Gaskin (former Minister of Business), Carl Greenidge (former Foreign Affairs Minister), Dr Rupert Roopnaraine (former Public Service Minister) and Joseph Harmon (former Minister of State).

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The cases

Following the December 21, 2018, passage of the no-confidence motion against the Government, the coalition Government challenged the validity of the motion and after failing to get the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland, to reverse it, Government approached the High Court.

However, acting Chief Justice Roxane George in January upheld the passage of the motion, ruling that it was validly passed with the 33 majority. This decision was then appealed by Government at the Appeal Court, which in March ruled via a 2-1 majority that an absolute majority of 34 votes was needed to successfully pass the motion.

Attorney Williams

As a last resort, the CCJ was asked to finally determine these matters, with the cases being heard. The three no-confidence motion cases deal with Christopher Ram v the Attorney General of Guyana, the Leader of the Opposition and Joseph Harmon; Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo v the Attorney General of Guyana, Dr Barton Scotland and Joseph Harmon; and Charrandas Persaud v Compton Herbert Reid, Dr Barton Scotland, Bharrat Jagdeo and Joseph Harmon; the last of which deals with Persaud’s eligibility to vote in the House.

Meanwhile, the unilateral appointment case the CCJ heard on May 8 was brought

General

Basil

by the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) Executive Secretary Zulfikar Mustapha, challenging the appointment of current GECOM Chairman, retired Justice James Patterson.

Patterson was appointed to the position of Chairman of GECOM in 2017 after President Granger had rejected three lists comprising 18 names submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for the post of GECOM Chairman.

Last year, Chief Justice (acting) Roxane George had ruled that the Constitution of Guyana, in fact, allows for the President to unilaterally appoint someone to fill the position of Chairman of GECOM.

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guyanatimesgy.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019

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

Pushing tourism

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ew Business Minister Haimraj Rajkumar, who also has responsibility for the tourism sector, recently met with industry stakeholders as part of familiarising himself with the portfolio, and to meet with, and listen to, the views of key players in the field. During his remarks, he underlined the point that for Guyana to be successfully marketed abroad, there is need for the country to be promoted locally in a more aggressive manner. He pointed out that quite a lot of Guyanese choose to go abroad for vacation, as against enjoying what obtains locally.

This is indeed a fact, and this may be so for various reasons, including cost, standard of services locally etc. On this basis, the minister stated that much more needs to be done by local stakeholders to make citizens begin to understand and appreciate more of what Guyana has to offer, so that they, in turn, can become “ambassadors of tourism”.

The minister was indeed correct in his assessment of the present situation and what needs to be done. However, many were expecting to hear more from him regarding his vision for the sector, and what policy intervention would be made by his government to address some of the very challenges he raised.

Our tourism potential is huge; the challenge is for stakeholders, including Government and the private sector, to pool their talents and resources and create a package that would be affordable and attractive to both Guyanese and foreigners.

We had stated before that there is need for more collaboration between all stakeholders in an effort to capitalise on opportunities available in the tourism sector. Guyana is considered one of the most attractive and unique tourism destinations in the world. Unlike our Caribbean counterparts, whose fare is typically sun, sand and sea, Guyana has a different type of tourism product with our irresistible combination of fascinating and breathtaking natural beauty, pristine Amazonian rainforests, immense waterfalls, amazing wildlife, vibrant Indigenous culture, and rich cultural heritage.

The Tourism Ministry, the Guyana Tourism Authority and other partners must continue to explore ways in which they can capitalise on opportunities to aggressively market this unique product abroad.

That said, over the years, Guyana has expended a considerable amount of resources to develop new and innovative eco-friendly tourism products, and we are now seeing some of those initiatives bearing fruit. For example, a few months ago, Guyana’s tourism product received a major boost when this country was named the world’s best ecotourist destination.

Certainly, there is still much more work to be done, as there are some impediments that pose a threat to the development of a thriving tourism sector. Issues such as expensive air travel, lack of trained personnel in the tourism and other related sectors etc, continue to pose challenges. These are issues that must remain on the front burner to be addressed, as they have a direct impact on the quality and affordability of the tourism package we offer.

With the oil sector about to take off, more persons -- both Guyanese in the diaspora and foreign citizens -- will be coming here either to work, visit, or for academic purposes. The focus should be on putting in place systems aimed at projecting a positive image of our country. To begin with, there is need for citizens to start cleaning up their surroundings, especially those living in the capital city, towns, and major centres, where tourists traverse. The capital city is a main centre of attraction for visitors, but on any regular day, a walk around the city streets and surrounding areas would leave one sick at the huge pile-up of garbage and other refuse languishing at certain points.

It has been observed that ‘school talks’ was one of those initiatives undertaken by the Ministry and others as part of activities to mark Tourism Awareness Month. This should certainly continue throughout the year, and maybe the Ministry can engage students and teachers in different projects which could help spread awareness about tourism and its importance to the economy and the country as a whole.

A thriving tourism sector would benefit all Guyanese, as more persons would be able to secure employment, our country’s revenue would be boosted, and many other related industries would prosper, among other benefits.

Japan’s office chair grand prix: Founded 10 years ago and inspired by Formula One and Le Mans endurance racing, the race, the ISU1 Hanyu Grand Prix, sees teams of three battle it out on ordinary office furniture across two gruelling hours to see who can complete the most laps of the 656-foot course (Reuters/Issei Kato)

Venezuela’s gold fever fuels gangs and insecurity: “There will be anarchy” P uerto Ordaz was once Venezuela’s industrial hub, a modernist dream of broad boulevards and ranks of factories and gateway to a belt of rich oilfields that funded Government largesse for decades.

As the economy has crumbled though, the modern city of steel and aluminium has been swallowed by its past, transformed into little more than an outpost of the gold mines a few hours’ drive away in the fringes of the Amazon.

There, in swampy, malariaridden pits controlled by criminal gangs, men labour away much as they would have done centuries ago. The lumps of yellow metal they extract through backbreaking work now power the city; gold has become so pervasive that medievalstyle barter is replacing hard currency across the city.

Gold also increasingly pays the bills for the national government in distant Caracas. With oil revenues dwindling and US sanctions biting, the President, Nicolás Maduro, has been relying on wealth from the mines to keep the Government afloat during a months-long standoff with the Opposition Leader, Juan Guaidó.

So the Government has allowed the illegal industry and the armed groups that run them to flourish, spawning an epidemic of violence, disease and environmental devastation, and drawing in much of the remaining population of Puerto Ordaz.

“More than half our clients want to pay in gold,” said one estate agent in Puerto Ordaz, who described a recent nerve-racking drive through the increasingly lawless city to broker a deal, following buyers carrying an apartment’s worth of precious metal.

“The client said ‘come in our car’, but I said: ‘No, we are travelling behind you.’ With the insecurity you don’t know who knows you have gold,” added the agent, who is still struggling with the new norms of doing business, and asked not to be named for her safety.

Even the universities have been swept up in the gold rush. “In November, one of the girls who is studying here told me: ‘A degree is not expensive, because it’s only 2.5g of gold [for a semester],’” said Arturo Peraza, rector of the city’s influential Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

“It was the first time I learned the value of a university education in grams of gold. I could not have imagined it.”

Shopping malls have been taken over by metal dealers, who sit idly in rows of shops that once sold electronics or clothes, waiting

A mining crew at work at the illegal ‘Cuatro Muertos’ mine outside Las Claritas (Meridith Kohut/New York Times/Redux/Eyevine photograph)

for miners to arrive with crumbs of yellow to exchange for cash. Men with wary eyes and barely concealed guns stand near the main exits.

They are the most discreet public face of an epidemic of violence nurtured in the mines, but already spilling beyond them. Gold fever has fuelled a proliferation of armed gangs; drawn in a Colombian guerrilla group, the ELN; fostered corruption in the national security forces, and insecurity in Puerto Ordaz.

Disease has also festered in the mines then followed gold and miners to Puerto Ordaz, reviving malaria in a region where it was once stamped out.

Troubles in the country’s remote east usually make fewer headlines than crises along the western border with Colombia, the main route for millions of migrants trying to escape Venezuela’s misery. But locals say the lawlessness brewing in the remote mining camps is an underestimated risk.

“Here in Bolívar state, we have the conditions to finance chaos, because we have gold,” said Peraza.

“In Caracas, they don’t know what is going on here. They are so focused on the question of oil, because it’s been the economic heart of the country for 100 years.

But the oil has dried up and no one has realised how reality changed.”

Gold is far easier to transport, and less complex to extract, if you have a workforce desperate enough to do the dangerous, dirty work by hand.

The men who dig for gold – and it is all men, women only work as cooks or in brothels at the mines – include professionals whose jobs were engulfed by the crisis or whose salaries have been eroded by hyperinflation to levels that will buy them a few loaves of bread, or perhaps a bag of rice.

Some never return from the brutal pits, whatever deaths they

met there not registered, their bodies never officially buried. Among the missing are photographer Wilmer González, who both chronicled the mines and worked in them.

In the region, many who are not directly digging for gold are dependent on the gold economy to survive. Every day a steady stream of passenger cars head to the mines loaded with jerrycans of diesel, many driven by white-collar workers.

“I have no choice if we want to eat – I haven’t been paid for months,” said Lucia, a primary school teacher who twice a week makes the 18-hour round trip with her husband and two small children, risking malaria and violence for a small mark-up that will keep a roof over their heads, and the most basic of meals on the table. She asked not to use her real name for fear of losing her job.

Once a supporter of Hugo Chávez, she lost faith in the Government as the economy collapsed around her once-prosperous family, destroying her husband’s blue collar factory job and turning her teaching post into a voluntary one.

“This has led us to do things we could never have imagined, selling cheese, dealing hard currency. Then when we didn’t have any other way to make money we decided we had to sell diesel [to the mines],” she said.

The lure of the gold buried under the forests of eastern Venezuela is centuries old. Walter Raleigh sailed up the Orinoco River past the current-day site of Puerto Ordaz in search of the mythical El Dorado, city of gold, which was never found but lent its name to an undistinguished town on the road to Brazil.

In recent decades, as Venezuela swam in the easy profits from oil, the gold mines seemed more like historic curiosity than going concern.

The town of Callao, a regional hub and popular tourist spot, was known mostly for its carnival festivities.

Visitors strolled down quiet

colonial streets, where shops sold handmade gold jewellery, and one firm had a concession to run a large, modern mine. Today no one would visit for fun.

It become an unruly and dangerous jumping-off point for the reinvigorated mines, its streets lined with gold dealers and packed with miners. The crowds occasionally part for a luxury SUV with blacked-out windows and an armed escort, the closest most in the area will get to seeing the power behind the money.

The workers come thinking they will only stay a short time, then leave with a small fortune, but most make a pittance and spend much of it locally, on food and drink or in brothels. In the area there is a saying: “What the mine gives, the mine takes away”.

Those who reaps most profits are largely invisible. Perhaps the most remote, connected through a tangled chain of intermediaries, is the Government itself, after it discovered in the mines a way to turn fast-devaluing bank notes into pure gold.

The trade is funding Maduro’s Government as petrodollars dry up.

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but the industry has crumbled under the weight of corruption and mismanagement.

The State-owned firm PDVsA, once a cash cow for Caracas, can now barely pay its bills.

“I only accept PDVSA jobs where they pay me upfront, otherwise I don’t get paid” said one executive at an oil services firm in Puerto Ordaz.

But the Government’s need for funds has not diminished with oil production, and so every month trucks trundle through Puerto Ordaz carrying boxes of bank notes heading for the mines. Paper money has been abandoned for digital payments in most of Venezuela, but in mines beyond the reach of cellphone coverage and without power supply, hard cash still reigns supreme.

It is exchanged for gold, which is then shipped overseas, including to Turkey, earning hard currency for the government, an investigation by Reuters found. That makes the area particularly valuable, and particularly tense.

Guaidó has alarmed even his allies by flirting with the idea of a US intervention, which in the east would fatally disrupt the delicate power balance between local gangs, guerrillas and the corrupt arms of the state security forces.

“At the moment we have a pax mafioso,” said Peraza. But as soon as you have a confrontation – as soon as you break the pact – there will be anarchy. This is what would happen with an invasion.” (Excerpt from The Guardian)

guyanatimesgy.com

TUESAY, JUNE 11, 2019

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

The purported Charrandas “confession” Dear Editor, There is the submission to the CCJ by Guyana’s Attorney General Basil Williams of a purported confession statement made by defector Charrandas Persaud that he knew beforehand that he was an illegal occupant of Parliament, being a dual citizen. That late submission, according to him, is the proverbial smoking gun which should cause the CCJ to rule in his favour.

Now, if we are to take Williams’ argument for what it is worth, then it meant that the Government side was aware of Charrandas’ as well as its other members’ dual citizenship and did nothing

about it, only holding them there for “yes men” or rubber stamp purposes.

That situation only became a real problem when Charrandas voted against his own party’s coalition. Had it not been for Charrandas voting with the Opposition, then this matter of dual citizenship would not have been an issue.

The supposed confession statement when taken in context is saying here you have two top Government officials discussing their possible voting options at the NoConfidence Motion and one is weighing in on his option in voting but instead of fixing the glaring anomalies in their House, he is pointing to the

Opposition instead, that they are guilty, because they have dual citizens also. In essence, what Ramjattan was telling Charrandas is that the law only applies to the Opposition and not to the Government.

And that has been my main concern with this Government. They believe that the law should be one of convenience, crafted and suited to their own choices, whenever and wherever it seems fit.

That is not how the law runs, the law is there as a blanket statement for all governments and oppositions alike. If it is good for the goose, certainly it is good for the gander.

Here is where the doctrine of clean hands come into

play, you cannot now feign ignorance of the law when Charrandas was a legal entity all along. What suddenly made him illegal on December 21? For over three-plus years, he voted for bills and other major matters, which were legally passed in the House by his one vote. Why is his vote shunned and disregarded now? These are questions that the Government needs to answer. You cannot cherry pick when it comes to legal issues, that is not how the law works. Charrandas was legal all along, which makes him just as legal on December 21, period, end of discussion!

So, let’s for discussion purposes say that the CCJ buys

into that asinine reason that Charrandas was an illegal occupant on December 21, hence his vote was null and void, then here is the real case scenario; then, the Government has to go back and change all bills and decisions where Charrandas’ vote merited passage through the House. It means that all decisions in the House involving Charrandas has to be revoked, that’s the law. Since courts cannot make retroactive rulings, the original High Court ruling stands.

The summary of all of this is you cannot pick and choose how the law should apply, what is good for one is good all, you cannot arbitrarily make decisions like that.

Basil

Williams is just trying another delaying tactic by stalling things at the CCJ and I am of the opinion that the court should not have entertained this latest ploy. It shows how this court can be insensitive to the Guyana situation by entertaining such a ludicrous argument.

As someone rightly said, it seems that the CCJ is about to throw the Guyana Constitution out of the window and grant Williams his request. I am not one to come to a hasty conclusion, however, I am somewhat concerned as to the inordinate delay.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

Elections in Guyana! Top Cop has shifted paradigm in crime-fighting strategies and tactics

Dear Editor, A sense of nervous apprehension has imbued the general atmosphere across Guyana as the entire nation awaits the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The imminent pronouncement of the decision relates to the NoConfidence Motion (NCM) laid in the National Assembly by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, which the House subsequently debated and the Speaker ruled as carried on December 21, 2018.

The constitutional consequences of the passed NCM signals that the Government has fallen. In every democracy, it is imperative for the incumbent leader, under such circumstance, to adhere strictly with the constitutional mechanisms for the resolution of the obvious impasse. This, stubbornly, has not been the situation with the APNU/AFC coalition Government in Guyana.

After initially accepting the decision of the Parliament, the fallen Government has abusively feigned interpretations of every precedent, judicial and normal procedure to cling to a clearly unwelcomed stay in power.

The resulting reverberations across the political landscape of the country are definitive, and in the eyes of the majority, is no longer tenable as a position of normalcy before becoming catastrophic.

At the time of writing, almost thirty days have passed since the hearing of the matter by the CCJ, even though all indications had been towards an expedient and definitive ruling. While the CCJ ponderously deliberate, our nation continues to wait anxiously as angst and frustration build to an intolerable crescendo.

In context, the recent reopening of the matter raises national tensions given the clearly demonstrated and strengthened national support of the political Opposition under the astute leadership of Bharrat Jagdeo, presidential candidate Irfaan Alli and the winning PPP/C team.

Given the notions and clearly biased incantations led by the coalition’s Commissioners and supported

by President Granger’s unilaterally selected Chairman, the implications for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are obvious. Indeed, under this clear imbalance at the Commission, GECOM policies have reflected deliberate power extension approaches, by this quartet adopting measures to effectively delay elections. The CCJ’s rulings will be binding on GECOM as a party to the case, and enforce impartiality within the intent of the Constitution; extraordinarily slighted by Justice (retired) James Patterson After Local Government Elections in December 2018,

and contrary to the always-required state of readiness as a mandate of the institution, there is suddenly need to clean the List of Electors by the method of house-to-house registration. PNC/R GECOM Commissioner Charles Corbin recently said that GECOM aims to have a clean list by October 31. He went on to say that whatever method GECOM takes, house-tohouse or otherwise, GECOM will be able to reach a deadline of October 31.

Contrastingly, GECOM’s handpicked Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Meyers, said that GECOM Secretariat would need nine months to complete the house-to-house exercises in preparation of the new List of Electors. She stated that “even if we take on more men this child will not be born when the PNC ready for the birth”. Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and the Public Relations Officer Ms Yolanda Ward also previously stated that GECOM is ready for National and Regional Elections. The conflicting reports and announcements by GECOM’s senior staff are very worrying.

These ‘blind’ dates of affairs are very serious matters which cements uncertainty, and it suggests that the PNC/ APNU wants to start a houseto-house registration process just to commit the Opposition to such an unacceptable activity and extend further delays.

Further, although the matter is part of the case at the CCJ, the defiance by the cabal quartet continues as they forge ahead in the sinister delaying approach. The Judges at the CCJ must be cognisant that adherence to the Constitution is pivotal to our democracy and in preventing further damages to our country. This is an illegal APNU/AFC Government, and we must have Regional and National Elections now.

Notably, the GECOM Secretariat is not responsible for the employment of staff at GECOM. Hence, it is not acceptable for this nation to accept their hiring of enumerators. Sadly, too many things taking place under the current approval of this Elections Commission at GECOM is illegal or highly questionable.

Corbin also said that GECOM has serious problems with the procurement of certain materials to conduct the registration exercise.

Procurement of materials for GECOM is under serious scrutiny but there is need for the Secretariat to declare to the Commission what they have in stock, and the Commission must be satisfied with good auditing of the stocks.

While Commissioner Corbin complains bitterly about the procurement proce-

Dear Editor, It was a real pleasure to see Commissioner of Police, Leslie James and some members of his Executive Leadership Team literally pounding the police beat at Stabroek Market Square. It was so nice to observe so many boots of various sizes and quality on the ground at a crime hot spot.

Hot spots are specific locations with high crime rates.

A hot spot can be a single address, a cluster of addresses, part of a block, an entire block or two or an entire intersection.

Although the police may tell us that according to their figures on reported crimes at the Market Square, crime is not high and that there is a reduction of crime in that area as compared to the previous year, the reality is that crime is committed regularly there during the day and night. Most of the crimes are not reported to the police for diverse reasons, particularly by victims living outside of Georgetown.

The police should stop depending too heavily on their crime statistics to measure how well they are doing in the fight against crime. In his maiden address to the Police Officers’ Annual Conference, President David Granger urged, “Stop boasting about

how many cases you made, find out how many causes you are able to discover, and let us stomp out the causes, you stomp out the cause, then you stomp out the crime. If you don’t know the cause then crime will continue to repeat over and over again.”

I can recall the Head of the City Constabulary bemoaning the high incidents of reported crimes at that popular Square and being bemused how to deal with that sad state of affairs. Perhaps, the managing by walking about tactics adopted by the Commissioner and team and his subsequent interaction with the Head of the City Constabulary has generated some amount of actionable intelligence which will promote some intelligence-led policing to bring about peace and tranquillity to that hot spot. I cannot wait for such an activity to be conceptualised, designed, developed, implemented and evaluated.

Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activities Theory forms the basis for what is known as The Crime Triangle.

According to them, there are three elements required for a crime to occur - a motivated suspect, suitable victim and adequate location.

They posited that law enforcement officers must focus

dures, the difficulties in obtaining the materials for conducting the registration exercise is utter nonsense, since there is no need for the conduct of the exercise in the first place. The situation highlights the high state of inefficacy taking place at the Secretariat, not to mention the lawlessness led by the imbalanced Commission.

It cannot be denied, however, that corruption is so prevalent at GECOM that nobody or organisation wants to be in-

volved with them. Herein, involves the real need for cleansing!

It is the transparency of procedures to support GECOM’s continuous readiness to hold elections at short notice which is ideal and required. Let us have free and fair elections following the CCJ’s rulings.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

on all three sides of the triangle - the suspect, the victim and the location in order to reduce crime and the fear of crime. They argued that if the focus on any side of the triangle is removed or neutralized, crime will not be suppressed. However, in most cases, law enforcement officers spend most of their efforts on the victims and suspects while the locations are left untouched. In many instances political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) issues and concerns are not properly addressed, thereby enabling crime to flourish at those locations. Police will dismantle one criminal gang and almost overnight, another one will emerge.

Braiden (1988) suggests another way to view the significance of locations - “ the hunt and the habitat” : “I can’t think of two special-interest groups more philosophically opposed to each other than hunters and animal rights activists, yet there are two things they totally agreed upon: the species will survive the hunt; it will not survive the loss of the habitat.

How can policing learn from this basic principle of nature?

Well, if the ultimate goal is to eliminate the criminal species forever, surely the best way

to do that is to eliminate the habitat that spawns and sustains that species. Structured as it is, the criminal justice system puts 95 per cent of its resources into the hunt while the habitat is left almost untouched. We can never win working that way because the habitat never stops supplying new customers for the hunt.”

In a subsequent article, I will address another triangle – the government, the police and the communities as it relates to crime fighting.

It would appear as though Commissioner Leslie James has shifted the paradigm in relation to crime-fighting strategies and tactics. At Stabroek Market Square, he took a Tarzan swing in the right direction. However, more such visits to other hot spots, working in unison with the various stakeholders and taking condign actions against criminals as well as deviant members of the GPF are useful tools which are required to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

Such actions must be encouraged. Sustainability is the watchword.

Yours faithfully, Clinton Conway Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired)

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TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019

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Foundation

Take a look at cooking E

ver wonder how your mom or dad puts dinner together with no problem? Or how a chef on TV can make something delicious without getting the food all over the place?

If you want to grow up to be a star in the kitchen, start now by learning some basics about cooking.

Always get an adult’s permission before you use the kitchen. If your recipe uses the stove, oven, a knife, or other kitchen appliances, you will need an adult assistant.

Before you start, read the recipe from beginning to end. It helps to read it more than once, so you’re sure you understand it. If you’re not sure, ask an adult.

Do you have the right ingredients? Utensils, like measuring spoons or a whisk? Appliances, like an electric mixer?

Check the clock and make sure you have enough time to make the recipe. Consider the time you’ll need to set up, mix your ingredients, cook or bake your recipe, and clean up.

Before you start, put your ingredients in one place.

Some chefs like to measure out each ingredient ahead of time before cooking.

Pull out the utensils, measuring cups, and spoons you’ll be using and keep them handy so you won’t need to run all over the kitchen.

Make sure you understand kitchen safety. Cooking is no fun if someone gets hurt or sick.

How to read a recipe

R

eading a recipe isn’t like reading a book. It’s a set of instructions for preparing a food or drink. Once you know how to follow a recipe, you can get cooking!

Recipe name The recipe name tells you what you’ll be making. Some recipes also give a few words of description about the food or drink. For example, it might say, “Tropical Fruit Smoothie — a healthy and refreshing summer drink.”

Some recipes also include a picture or drawing to show you what the food or drink will look like when it’s done.

Where to find recipes If you’re looking for recipes, consider these sources: kids’ cookbooks kids’ magazines food packages (the packaging or label may have a recipe that uses the food inside the package) your friends your family websites or cooking apps

Creative kids in the kitchen Once you’ve tried some kid-friendly recipes, you might want to: Try some grown-up recipes that aren’t too hard.

Start slow: Remember to check out your recipe and get help if you need it.

Learn to use herbs and spices like parsley. You can even grow your own.

Get artistic. You might use vegetables to turn your pizza into a smiley face or learn to decorate a cake.

Focus on a favourite food and become really good The best kinds of recipes at it. You could be the master of muffins or the queen When you’re thinking about what to make, of zucchini. remember that simple recipes are the best. That’s why Find recipes that introduce you to new foods or you might want to start with recipes just for kids. new ways to prepare old favourites.

Recipes for kids should: Try recipes from different cultures or ethnicities. be clear and easy to follow Where would you like to go? Make a dish from that contain ingredients that are easy to find part of the world. give you an idea of how long it will take Invent your own recipes and trying them out on make a small number of servings (portions of the family and friends. Maybe you’ll come up with a worldfood you’re making) class recipe of your own! (kidshealth.org) be something that you want to eat

Servings The number of servings is important because you probably want to know how much the recipe will make. For instance, will you have enough muffins for the whole class?

Most kids’ recipes make just a few servings because it’s easier for kids to work with smaller amounts of food. But it’s easy to make more (a double or triple batch) or to make less (cut the recipe in half). Ask an adult to help you figure out how much of each ingredient you’ll need.

Nutritional analysis Some people look at the nutritional analysis (say: noo-TRISHuh-nul uh-NAL-uh-sis) of a recipe before deciding to make it. This tells you how many calories one serving of the recipe contains. It also might list: fat carbohydrates fibre minerals (such as calcium or iron) vitamins (such as vitamin C) This information can be especially important for kids and adults who must follow special diets to stay healthy.

Time Time tells you about how long it will take to prepare the recipe.

This is good to know because then you’ll know how much time you’ll need. And, if you’re making dinner, you’ll know how early you’ll have to start making it.

Most recipes for kids don’t take a lot of time to prepare. Some recipes will have the time divided into two parts: prep time and cooking time. Prep (short for “preparation”) time is when you’ll be busy in the kitchen. You’ll be mixing, mashing, stirring, and doing whatever else the recipe’s instructions say to do.

Cooking time is when the food is actually in the oven or on the stove top. (Remember that when a recipe uses the oven or stove top, you’ll need your adult assistant.) With some recipes, you don’t need to do anything during the cooking time. You can hang out nearby, do homework, or set the table. But with other recipes, you might need to stir or check on something every so often.

Ingredients This is a list of all the items you’ll need to make the recipe. Most ingredient lists in kids’ recipes are easy to follow. Some even have drawings, so there might be a picture showing exactly how many cups of flour or eggs you will need.

Sometimes a recipe will also include special ingredient information like: optional ingredients, which aren’t critical for the recipe, but can be used for added flavour or to make the recipe a little bit different ingredients without a specific measurement. It might say, “Salt, to taste.” This means you can add as much or little as you like to the recipe. A little usually goes a long way. And if it’s not enough, you can always add more. You can’t, however, take it back if you put in too much.

Some ingredient lists may tell you what you need to do before you even get to the directions. For example, “one cucumber, thinly sliced” or “one egg, beaten”.

Finally, some recipes may suggest ways that you can change the recipe by using different ingredients. This can be helpful if you’re out of a certain ingredient or you’re allergic to an ingredient (a kid who is allergic to nuts can make cookies with raisins in them instead, for example).

Directions

The directions tell you the steps you need to take to make the recipe. Always read the directions first, from start to finish. Doing this will tell you: if you need your adult assistant’s help if there’s anything you don’t understand Preheating the oven is an important first step and you’ll need an adult to help you. In many recipes, the directions are numbered or written on separate lines to make them easier to understand and follow. Some kids’ recipes will have drawings here, too. For example, these drawings may show you how to roll out dough, grease a pan, or mix batter.

Serving suggestions

Some recipes suggest ways of serving the dish you are making or other foods to serve alongside it. For example, a homemade salsa recipe might say, “Serve with whole-grain tortilla chips for dipping.”

A grilled chicken recipe might say, “Serve with brown rice”.

But you are the chef, so you can decide how you want to serve your creation. Good luck and bon appétit — that’s French for “enjoy your food”! (kidshealth.org)

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TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

Audit of Lotto Fund

Finance Ministry still to provide missing financial statements

1 dead after fight at Psychiatric Hospital

― despite Govt being called out for unverified spending in 2017 audit report

present their accounts for audit,” Sharma said.

In his 2017 report, the AG wrote that “the last set of audited accounts was for the year 2013 and at the time of this report, the Audit Office was awaiting the signed financial statement for the year 2014 to finalise the audit.

However, financial statements were not presented for audit for the years 2015 to 2017”.

He had also stated that “in the absence of audited

In his 2015 report, the AG had listed some $36.5 million in lotto funds being used for rehabilitative works.

Ali had stated that these requests were in relation to follow-ups from the findings that had been included in the AG’s 2015 Report. In his 2015 report, the Auditor General had said that following checks on the accounts, it was found that while Government transferred $1 billion of the lotto money to the Consolidated Fund in 2015, it held onto just over half a billion dollars to remain under the control of the Ministry of the Presidency and it spent $305 million on various activities.

But the audit into the D’Urban Park Project has always been hindered by a lack of access to pertinent information, with the Audit Office being forced to write to the Public Infrastructure Ministry requesting documents.

The controversy surrounding the D’Urban

financial statements for the years 2015 to 2017 it was not possible to verify the completeness, accuracy and validity of the revenue and expenditure for the Guyana Lottery Commission for those years”.

Money from the funds has found its way as far as the controversial D’Urban Park Project, for which Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Irfaan Ali, had previously requested that further probing be done by the Auditor General.

Park Project exploded when it was revealed to the public that now Public Service Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine sat as a Director of a secret company, which was established to collect funds from private companies to develop the Jubilee Park.

This information was initially omitted by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson when he was being drilled by Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) in the National Assembly in 2016.

The Audit Office of Guyana

I

t has been over a year since the Audit Office of Guyana reported in its 2017 report that millions of dollars from the Guyana Lottery Fund could not be properly accounted for given the absence of crucial financial information.

Fast forward to 2019 and according to Auditor General Deodat Sharma, such information has still not been presented by the Ministry of Finance.

“I had said the financial statements were not presented for the years 2015 to 2017. We are still awaiting those statements,” the Auditor General said in a brief interview with this publication on Monday.

According to Sharma, the responsibility to submit those statements lies with the Ministry of Finance’s Accountant General’s office, where a committee was supposed to prepare the statements.

“At present, I’m still awaiting a response in terms of the arrears. But there was a special investigation being done but my thing is they should

The Finance Ministry

The gates were locked to keep the media out Dead: Stephon Francis By: Andrew Carmichael

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fight at the National Psychiatric Hospital in Berbice on Monday has left one man dead and another facing a murder charge. The dead man has been identified as 28-year-old Stephon Francis of Kitty, Georgetown.

Based on information received, the fight reportedly took place shortly before midnight on Sunday after the suspect and other inmates attempted to take away some items belonging to the now dead man.

Francis reportedly celebrated his birthday on Sunday and his mother travelled to Berbice to take snacks and other eatables. However, it was while protecting his belongings that he fell and hit his head.

He was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Director of Regional Health Services Jevaughn Stevens confirmed that there was a fight during which Francis fell and hit his head.

"We at Regional regret this incident very much and we will work close with the police and other staff to find out why an incident of this nature did occur and to ensure that this is a onetime thing and does not happen again," the Director said.

He noted that Francis was a substance abuse patient and not a patient who has mental health issues.

"It is unfortunate that these cases are sent to us on a regular basis. Forty per cent of our patients are substance abuse

Chalet Four at the National Psychiatric Hospital where the incident occurred

patients and another high percentage of them are persons coming through the court system and have remand dates but we have to take care of them because the Court Order states that they must be sent to the National Psychiatric Hospital.

All together it poses a challenge to our healthcare service. In most cases, we find that these persons who come through the court system and the substance abusers have a tendency of becoming violent," Stephens added. However, he could not say whether Francis was a violent patient.

The Health Service Director noted that many of the patients that come through the court system would form themselves into gangs thus resulting in many fights.

“I think this aided in what happened last evening. We do regret what happened and we are awaiting on the police to give us a thorough report.”

Meanwhile, Administrator of the National Psychiatric Hospital Luann Sulker instructed the guards on duty to ask the media to leave the compound af-

ter which the gates were locked.

Addressing the matter, the Health Services Director admitted that the National Psychiatric Hospital is a public facility and the media should not have been locked out.

“I want to apologise to the members of the media. All our services are public services and we are opened to the media at any time. I personally have an open-door policy when it comes to the media and I will ensure that my staff and even the guard company is reminded of that."

Meanwhile, the suspect was taken into custody as Police continue to investigate. The suspect is also said to be a substance abuse patient and was taken to the institution about a week ago.

Information coming out of the National Psychiatric Hospital indicate that it was not the first time that Francis or the suspect were involved in fights at the institution. Several reports were lodged at the New Amsterdam Police Station pertaining to fights involving the now dead man and the suspect.

8 News

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

IN THE COURTS Albouystown goldsmith charged for 2013 murder

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uammar Jabbar, also known as Christopher Haynes, on Monday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged for the 2013 murder of Tolasicy Marshall of James St, Albouystown, Georgetown.

Jabbar, who had been on the run from Police and wreaking havoc in Berbice, appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus and was not required to plead to the charge. The Police stated that on August 20, 2013 at James Street, Albouystown, he murdered Marshall.

The court heard that Jabbar, a father of two, was charged in Berbice for his involvement in a spate of

Muammar Jabbar

armed robberies in that region and was arrested while on remand for that charge under the name ‘Christopher

Haynes’.

Prosecutor Daniels requested an adjournment in the matter since the Police

May 25, 2019, at Smyth and Leopold Streets, while in the company of others and armed with guns, Williams robbed LaToya Lowenfield of a $170,000 cellphone.

It is further alleged that Williams, along with his accomplices, robbed Odwin Lowenfield of a cellphone and cash totalling $91,000.

Police Prosecutor Adduni Innis objected to bail on the grounds that Williams was no stranger to the court since he has served an 11-month sentence for similar charges and was released from pris-

on in May. She further indicated to the court that the accused had other charges before another court.

According to court documents, on the day in question, the victims were walking along Smyth and Leopold, Streets when they were confronted by Williams and his accomplices, who were armed with guns and relieved the victims of their valuables before making good their escape.

A report was made and Police ranks later arrested Williams. He was positive-

Convicted robber slapped with armed robbery charge

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Leopold Street, Georgetown resident, who is known to the law and was released from prison on May 24, 2019, found himself before the court once again for armed robbery.

Twenty-seven-yearold Omalo Williams, a father of two, stood before acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Monday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and pleaded not guilty to two counts of armed robbery.

The Police stated that on

file was still incomplete. As such, Jabbar who was remanded to prison will make another court appearance on June 24, 2019.

It was reported that in August 2013, Jabbar stabbed Marshall twice during an argument over jewellery.

It was stated that Marshall paid Jabbar to make a quantity of jewellery for him, but the man failed to deliver same. Marshall was able to retrieve a gold chain from Jabbar. This reportedly triggered an argument and it was then Marshall was attacked and stabbed.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Ever since, the suspect has been on the run.

Omalo Williams

ly identified by the victims during an ID parade.

Williams was remanded to prison, and his next court appearance was scheduled for June 24, 2019.

Man granted bail for stabbing woman during drinking spree

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Hillary George

48-year-old father of eight was granted $150,000 bail on Monday when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on a malicious wounding charge.

Hillary George, of Port Kaituma, North West,

Region One (Barima-Waini) stood before acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel IsaacsMarcus to answer to a charge which stated that on June 8, 2019, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Julian James so as to cause her actual bodily harm.

He initially pleaded

guilty to the charge, but Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf after listening to the man’s explanation.

On the day in question, it is alleged that the defendant’s wife was at home and his stepdaughter invited James to the residence to consume alcohol.

However, the defendant reportedly started to “hustle” James thus resulting in an argument between him and his wife.

He subsequently became annoyed and broke a bottle, after which he dealt James several stabs about her body.

The woman was rushed to the Port Kaituma Hospital, where she was examined by a doctor; however, owing to the severity of her injuries, she was transferred to the Georgetown

Public Hospital for treatment.

A report was made to Police, and the defendant was subsequently arrested and admitted to investigators that he committed the act.

The defendant told the court that “she told my wife I hustle she and is nah like that. Is my wife son she want. She want break up our home. I went and drink and she lash me behind my head”.

The defendant’s head was examined by a Police Officer present in court, who confirmed that a laceration was visible on the man’s scalp.

The matter was transferred to the Matthews Ridge Magistrate’s Court, where George is slated to make his next court appearance on August 16, 2019.

Doppelganger…

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…of Ghana n addition to our similar-sounding name, we’ve got so many things in common with Ghana – whose President is visiting – you’d think we’re “doppelgangers” – you know, real-life doubles. As your Eyewitness mentioned yesterday, the resemblance goes as old and deep as our geological formation, 140 million years ago – including giving us oil today. During the colonial period, Ghana was known as the “Gold Coast” and we were the “Mosquito Coast” – but with El Dorado in our interior!!

Starting with Cuffy/Kofi/Coffy, our 1763 revolutionary slave, scads of us are descended from the Akan people of Ghana. While the first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, was a decade older than our first Prime Minister Cheddi Jagan, both of them were students in the US at the same time…and both were radicalised by their experience to become Marxists. Both were removed from office by CIA machinations in the sixties as victims of the “Cold War” (!) between the USA and USSR!!

Jagan was succeeded by Burnham and his PNC dictatorship which lasted till 1992 while Nkrumah was succeeded by a series of military-dominated, one-party governments that were changed through coups, and putsches till 1992. During those years, while both countries were filled to the brim with “potential”, their people barely eked out a living. Democratic “free and fair” elections to choose governments then returned in 1992 and have remained so since then – even though the PNC here looks like it’s planning on changing that record. There will be elections in both countries next year.

Ghana struck oil in 2007 – their Jubilee Anniversary year – while we did so in 2015, a year ahead of our Jubilee Anniversary year. In both instances, great expectations were engendered in their long-suffering populace about improving their miserable lot. But with Ghana a decade ahead of us in oil production maybe their doppelganger experience can offer us a clue of what’s ahead? Their first oil contracts were negotiated by some expatriate Ghanaians with a US oil company, but the incoming administration later accused them of corruption and reexamined the contracts.

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation formed to oversee the nation’s oil interests is regularly overshadowed by the Energy Ministry – especially when oil contracts are to be signed!! Contracts are regularly doled out to politically connected persons, but because the Government changes with regularity between the two major parties, there’s a continuous disruption of sustained development.

The one major positive development, as mentioned yesterday, has been the creation of an urban swing vote bloc which undermines ethnic control of the government – even though ethnicity still plays a big role in politics.

Sadly, then, Ghana still hasn’t fulfilled its potential. Will Guyana? …protests in Hong Kong Last week was the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, when thousands of Chinese civilians were literally mowed down by Chinese Army tanks for demanding democratic reforms. Some say the West was behind the protests – to replicate the “colour revolutions” that toppled Communist Governments all across Eastern Europe. China, however, imperturbably moved on and with their incredible economic gains which dragged half-a-billion persons out of poverty, not many have questioned their institutions of governance. Tiananmen was erased from the national memory.

Hong Kong had been a British colony like us and developing institutions patterned on Liberal British values.

However, it reverted to China in 1997 – with agreement that certain institutions weren’t to be touched. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Chinese Government decided to change the law to allow the extradition of some charged persons to mainland China.

In scenes reminiscent of Tiananmen Square, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers, distrustful of the Chinese legal system, have come out into the streets to protest the proposal.

Will China send in the tanks? …in GPSU Patrick Yarde says Public Servants never had it so good than under the PNC. Yet, his doppelganger head of the GPSU had allowed their real wages to fall 75 per cent between 1980 and 1990 under the PNC! He wants a repeat?

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

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TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

Harmon confirms arbitrary firing of PSM staff – termination letters rescinded; investigation launched

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ne week after Government denied firing the personnel staff and chief accountant of the Public Service Ministry, Director General of the Ministry of Presidency, Joseph Harmon on Monday confirmed that indeed, the workers were sent home while adding that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

The workers were sent packing by newly appointed Minister of Public Service, Tabitha SaraboHalley on May 31.

Harmon, however, told Guyana Times during a telephone interview that the termination letters were rescinded and that the workers are now on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

“In fact, it is known that that Minister did in fact purported have fired these persons. As of now, I think that decision is in abeyance pending an inquiry which will be conducted in a short time to determine whether in fact there were any breaches, grounds for dismissals, but certainly, an enquiry is going to be held into that.

They are presently on administrative leave rather than dismissed.”

Public Service Minister Tabitha Sarabo-Halley

Political activist David Hinds

He maintained that at this point, the staff in question are still employees of the Government as the decision by Minister SaraboHalley to terminate their services has been halted.

Following the revelation, Deputy Director of Press Affairs at the Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP), Ariana Gordon told sections of the media that while allegations have been levelled against the public service employees, they were not dismissed.

However, shortly after a document seen by this publication proved otherwise. A “Determination of Contract” letter signed by the Minister in question

was addressed to a staff member stating that his services will no longer be required.

“Pursuant to the aforesaid contract of employment, your services are hereby terminated with immediate effect”, the letter stated.

Several staff members were said to have also received similar letters.

Employees who have been removed were called PPP “moles” by political activist David Hinds, who is said to have a close relation with the subject Minister.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, at his press conference last week alluded to the fact that those work-

ers were initially targeted and arbitrarily dismissed

by Minister Sarabo-Halley after he blew the whistle on transactions at the Ministry of the Presidency which he claims saw the children of a Government Minister receiving payments amounting to over $20 million in the last two years.

Jagdeo noted that the staff at the PSM were sent packing shortly after his first disclosure because the Government believed that those workers had leaked information to the Opposition about corrupt actions by the Administration.

“That is what their response is, information that we should know about, it is not their money and there is no secrecy about how you spend our money – taxpayers’. But they fired all the staff of the personnel department and they fired the accountant, and clearly, they are worried that within that department you have many more secrets, many more secrets, and they thought that those people released the information and they did not. They just unfairly dismissed them using some spurious excuse of restructuring,” Jagdeo said.

He stated that the

Ministry of the Presidency’s Director General Joseph Harmon

workers were unfairly dismissed. In recent days, the Opposition has been revealing information about alleged corrupt practices within the Government.

One of those revelations is that the children of a senior Minister allegedly received over US$86,000 in 2018, monies that were transferred from the Department of Public Service. Then again, this year, another transfer of millions reportedly took place.

“In 2019, another child of that Minister got transferred from the same Office of the President, the Ministry of the Presidency, Public Service Division, $2,510,575. So combined, over $20 million because the other one was over $17

million – over $20 million… this is taxpayers’ money and clearly, we need an explanation, let the country decide if the explanation is a plausible one. So, we have been asking for an explanation and guess what?

Silence from the Ministry of the Presidency and silence from the Minister, a person who is very, very vocal on other matters, it’s silence.”

According to the Opposition Leader, the Public Service Minister rushed to illegally fire all the staff in the department that had access to this information, since the Government believes that those fired workers had sent information to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

10 news

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

“Hot Skull”, “Rambo” before High Court Cricket Bat murder Accused sentenced for murder of Brazilian gold miner

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s the High Court trial into the 2016 murder of Mario Pozzer, a Brazilian gold miner commenced on Monday, several witnesses are expected to take the stand to offer evidence into the matter in which Roberto Miggins and Quasi Benjamin are the accused.

Miggins, called “Hot Skull”, and Benjamin, also called “Rambo”, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that between October 12 and October 13, 2016, they murdered Pozzer, also called “Gaucho”, in the course of, or furtherance of a robbery.

Respectively, Attorneys Adrian Thompson and Ashley Henry in association with Nigel Hughes are representing the accused persons in the matter while the State’s case is led by Prosecutor Sarah Martin in association with Teriq Mohammed and Tuanna Hardy.

Testifying at Monday’s court hearing was Gavin Campbell, a former employee of the now dead man, who recalled that on October 12, 2016 around 12:00h, they had washed down production and taken a break for lunch.

Campbell told court that he was the General

Murder accused: Roberto Miggins (left) and Quasi Benjamin

Manager at the time and further recalled his co-workers being paid individually, and after some time his boss left the mining location, with gold in his possession, on an AllTerrain Vehicle (ATV), to travel to Port Kaituma, Region One (BarimaWaini).

According to Campbell, the now dead man did not return the following day, which prompted him to

make several phone calls to enquire of his whereabouts.

Upon receiving a subsequent call, Campbell, without hesitation, left the mining camp with other workers and headed in the direction Pozzer took.

The court was told that while walking, Campbell and his co-workers discovered the now dead man lying face down with a wound to his head, alongside his body was the ATV, but the

bag of gold was missing.

Campbell disclosed that the Police were contacted and the man’s body was later removed; a few days after, Campbell was taken to identify the body for a post-mortem to be conducted.

Under cross-examination by Benjamin’s Attorney (Nigel Hughes), the witness admitted that he was aware that Pozzer carried a shotgun in his possession for protection, but further denied knowledge of observing the deceased with same on the day in question, since he (Pozzer) would normally hide it.

When asked how he knew the weapon was hidden, Campbell responded that a search conducted at the mining camp by Police ranks unearthed the weapon as he was present.

Meanwhile, Edwin Ali – another former employee – in his testimony, recalled being in the company of Campbell when the body of their employer was discovered lying on the road. Ali stated that the body bore a wound to the head, further stating that he was present when the post-mortem examination was conducted.

The trial is set to continue today, with the remaining witnesses.

Trial into “Bread Man” murder to commence soon

Dead: Andre Alexander

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he High Court trial for the 2017 murder of Andre Alexander, also known as “Bread Man”, is expected to commence on June 12, 2019, as a 12-member jury was on Monday empanelled before Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court.

Facing the indictment for the capital offence of murder are 22-year-old Shaquille Grant, called “Soldier Man” of Lot 345 B Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown and his alleged accomplice, Neville Ford.

The charge read to them detailed that on May 5, 2017 in the county of Demerara, they murdered Alexander in furtherance

Accused: Neville Ford

of a robbery.

The two accused denied the charge and are being represented by Attorney Nigel Hughes in association with Ashley Henry and Adrian Thompson respectively.

The State’s case is being led by Prosecutor Teriq Mohammed, in association with Sarah Martin and Tuanna Hardy.

According to media reports at the time, Alexander, of Lot 394 C Field, Sophia, and his wife were at their bread stand when two men on a CG motorcycle rode up and ordered three loaves of bread, paying with a $5000 note.

The now dead man was reportedly in the process of

22-year-old Shaquille Grant

making change when the pillion rider whipped out a gun and demanded that the father of two hand over his cash.

Alexander reportedly put up a fight and in retaliation, the suspect discharged two rounds, one of which struck the vendor to the chest.

The bandits then relieved the injured man of an undisclosed sum of cash and bread before making good their escape.

Residents rushed to the scene and found the man lying in a pool of blood. He was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed while receiving medical attention.

to 25 years for killing man in 2016

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Jonathan Budhan

pproximately three weeks after a 12-member High Court jury found him guilty of manslaughter, 22-yearold Jonathan Budhan of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara (WCD), was on Monday slapped with a 25-year jail sentence. The man was accused of killing 40-year-old Deonarine Manbodh in October of 2016.

The sentence was handed down to Budhan, who was very emotional when given the opportunity to speak.

The convict, in tears, apologised to the family members of the deceased who were present in court. He also informed the court that he regrets his actions and begs for mercy.

Budhan’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, in his plea of mitigation told the Judge that his client is remorseful, since according to the probation report, Budhan was described as a peaceful character, a hardworking and quiet person.

Justice Navindra Singh, however, told the young man that he sees the jury’s verdict as merciful since according to the evidence, he was prepared to injure Manbodh, relying on the fact that after the first hit, he continuously fired blows to the now dead man even though he was on the ground.

Furthermore, Justice Singh noted that he does not

want to be the one to have young people incarcerated, as he considered the probation report and the years the convict spent on remand, thus sentencing him to 25 years’ imprisonment.

Budhan had been initially charged for the capital offence of murder but a 12-member jury in a 10-2 proportion delivered a guilty verdict of manslaughter. The charge faced stated that on October 25, 2016, in the county of Demerara, he killed Deonarine Manbodh.

During the trial, it was revealed that the accused, formerly of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, armed with a bat, dealt Manbodh a lash to the head after he was embarrassed and assaulted by the now dead man.

The accused retaliated due to the deceased’s actions.

The convicted man had reportedly disapproved of the relationship between his niece and the now dead man.

Reports indicate that on October 20, 2016, Manbodh was beaten to his head with a bat by the accused.

Manbodh was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where he was admitted and died five days later.

The accused, who evaded Police apprehension after committing the act, later turned himself in at the Leonora Police Station and was charged for the offence.

11 MoE moves to nix special audit into UG’s spending news

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

...AG’s Office will proceed with audit – AG Sharma

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Auditor General of Guyana, Deodat Sharma

he Education Ministry has formally withdrawn its request to the Auditor General’s Office to have a special audit conducted into the operations and affairs of the University of Guyana (UG).

This special audit was initially requested in light of several complaints raised by representatives of UG’s Workers Union (UGWU) and UG’s Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) revolving around that educational institution.

However, although the Education Ministry has formally withdrawn the call for the audit, Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma, during an interview with Guyana Times on Monday posited that his organisation is still forging ahead to have the audit completed.

“The Permanent Secretary (PS) had withdrawn the request but we are still going ahead with my auditors to look at it because there was a concern.

So that is the issue right now. It is ongoing…it is one of the audits that has been contracted out.”

He stated that the accounts at that tertiary education institution have not been “up to date” and the reports for the accounts for the year 2015 are only now being made available.

This will have an effect on the length of time it will take to have the audit completed but nonetheless, according to AG Sharma, the

University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus

Audit Office will continue to execute its duties and conduct this much-needed audit.

Just three weeks ago, Presidents of the two UG Unions were calling for the swift commencement of this audit, after alleging that the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith and Pro-Chancellor, Joe Singh, who heads the institution’s council, were practically running same to fit

their own desire The University is presently low on funds and is unsure as to how it will keep in operation until the end of 2019.

AG Sharma, in April last, had noted that the PS of the Education Ministry had officially written to him, requesting this special audit, but before his office could have begun its work, the necessary meeting had to take place.

“Meetings were held with the Education Ministry officials, of course, they had to be held first so that we could be briefed. Then there were meetings with the Unions from UG but I am not at liberty to discuss what transpired in those meetings.

However, what I can say is that I am hoping to go into UG to start the special audit within two weeks from now” Sharma had informed on April 20, 2019.

GPSU Head implicitly criticises PNC under Granger’s leadership A s the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) reflected on its 96 years of existence, it has praised the strides it made under the Burnham-led People’s National Congress (PNC) Government while noting its concerns about the inadequate remuneration being paid to public servants under the present Administration.

GPSU President Patrick Yarde had stated that under the leadership of Linden Forbes Burnham, all the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions which protected trade union rights and workers’ rights were ratified, adding the local Constitution was also amended to make all collective agreements legally binding.

In the GPSU statement to the media, while reflecting on the challenging years it faced and the battles it encountered during the period, it is still concerned about the challenges affecting public service workers under the present Administration.

High on the list of concerns was inadequate remuneration for workers in the public sector.

Only last September, teachers were forced to take to the streets to demand better wages and working conditions after failed talks with the Education Ministry.

Against this backdrop, the GPSU pointed to the need for a restoration of a collective bargaining process even as it called for health insurance for its members.

Another major bugbear for the Union is the sweeper-cleaners’ contract, which it believes should be made permanent for those workers to be treated as full-time employees. Sweeper-cleaners too had found themselves

on the streets protesting the conditions under which they work, back in 2018.

The Education Ministry later disclosed that approval was granted for sweeper-cleaners to be paid the minimum hourly wage of $312 each hour they work; guaranteed 12 months’ pay with their working hours not exceeding eight hours per

GPSU President Patrick Yarde

day and five days per week, and be allowed to work at least 20 days per month for the entire calendar year.

The sweepers-cleaners were granted at least 12 working days annually as paid annual leave, which would be utilised during school breaks. Prior to the decision, the sweeper-cleaners were paid $24,740

monthly and worked four to six hours per day.

A GPSU representative, Maurice Butters, had explained that while he was happy with the decision, the circular is vague and does not specify when or how the system of regularisation would be implemented.

On another note, the GPSU also pointed out that it would like to see the payment of full gratuity for employees on maternity leave and moreover, child/daycare centres be set up for public service workers.

The Union would also like to see the age of retire-

ment increase, among other recommendations. It said it believed there was a tendency to impose conditions of service on public servants rather than negotiate, which is an obstruction to workers’ trade union rights and due process.

“For us, it is most disturbing that after all the sacrifices, effort and suffering we have endured in the interest of good governance and for our members to be entitled to fair treatment, this has not materialised. It is also appalling that promises that were repeated to us are not being fulfilled. We

have been very patient and restrained, but it is now obvious to us what we are up against. Looking ahead, we must move on with confidence and peace, faith in our abilities to demand fair treatment, respect and value for our contributions,” the Union said in its missive.

In November last year, Union President Yarde expressed great disgust over the current salaries and benefits public servants are receiving. In Yarde’s view, public servants are receiving “poverty payments” for salaries. turn to page 14

12 News

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

Ghana’s President to receive Guyana’s highest national award

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resident of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will be conferred with Guyana’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence – which is reserved for the most distinguished of persons who made sterling contributions to the country.

The Ghanaian President arrived in Guyana at 23:00h last night for his very first state visit.

He was accompanied by a 43-member delegation, who were greeted by Guyana’s President David Granger and most of the members of his Cabinet at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).

A 21-gun salute and the unfurling of the vibrant Ghanaian flag marked the arrival of the high-level team who will today be visiting various places and meeting a host of individuals, including Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

President Akufo-Addo will first participate in wreath-laying ceremonies at the Company Path Gardens and then at Square of the Revolution. He will then be escorted to State House where he will interact with President Granger

in a discussion slated to last an hour.

Thereafter, he will be escorted to the Umana Yana for a state luncheon, where the Order of Excellence will be conferred.

Afterwards, President Akufo-Addo will meet the Opposition Leader for a scheduled 15 minutes.

He will then continue his tour of Guyana, first at the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and then at Banks DIH Limited – the country’s two leading beverage manufacturing companies.

Later in the day, the Ghanaian President is slated to interact with the Ghana diaspora in Guyana and representatives from the country’s African Group Organisations. The next day, the President and his delegation will depart Guyana.

The state visit was announced by President David Granger two weeks ago when he accredited the new Ghanaian High Commissioner to Guyana.

The Guyanese Head of State had disclosed that he met President AkufoAddo twice – first, at the Commonwealth Heads of

President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Government Conference last year and again this year, in Cuba, where the African Leader accepted an invitation to visit Georgetown.

The visit is aimed at “deepening and strengthening the cordial relationship” the two countries have built over the past 40 years.

President Granger had previously noted that his Ghanaian counterpart’s visit will result in practi-

cal measures aimed at enhancing relations and cooperation between our two states, particularly in the fields of agriculture, culture, energy, environment, investment, petroleum production, Private Sector cooperation, tourism and transportation.

This state visit comes on the heels of a recent visit by a large Ghanaian delegation two weeks ago to engage local stakeholders

on areas of mutual interest in the oil and gas sector, among others.

The more than 15-member team, led by Ghana’s Energy Minister and Deputy Minister (Petroleum) Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, had met with a number of Government Ministers and officials including those from the Department of Energy.

Ghana investors are also said to be interested in buying Guyana’s Rose Hall Sugar Estate.

Additionally, the Governments of Guyana and Ghana have already inked a commitment to work to develop the air bridge between the two countries.

This was done last year at a high-level ICAO meeting in Guyana.

Although Guyana officially established diplomatic relations with Ghana on May 14, 1979, Guyana’s Independence movement was greatly influenced by Pan-Africanist and first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. During the celebration of Ghana’s Independence in March 1957, Guyana’s political leaders, Dr Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham trav-

elled to the West African State to attend the festivities. Throughout their years of leadership, both Presidents Jagan and Burnham maintained good relations with Ghana.

Guyana has long shared common interests with those of the Republic of Ghana. In fact, President Granger and many Guyanese historians have documented the contributions of Africans in Guyana, highlighting specifically the contributions of the “Maroon people”.

This African group, who came to Guyana through the Atlantic slave trade, originated in West Africa as a part of the group of Asante people who lived in a region of what is now modern-day Ghana.

As the diplomatic relationship between Guyana and Ghana continues to flourish, so does Ghana’s cultural stamp on Guyana.

Earlier this year, on March 3, Guyana celebrated its 9th annual Ghana Day, organised by the Ghana Day Organisation. The Ghana Day festivities this year focused on the resuscitation of African culture among African-Guyanese.

Works commence to rectify damaged GPL submarine cable T he first damaged submarine cable which was laid on the riverbed along the channel of the Demerara River and connects to the Vreed-enHoop and Kingston Power Stations is currently undergoing repairs and mariners are being cautioned to exercise extra care in the area.

In a notice published in

the daily newspapers by the Maritime Department, it was revealed that these works commenced on June 8.

It will see the submarine cables being laid as well as “pile driving activities across the Demerara River from Princes Street Outfall, Georgetown, to Vreed-en-Hoop Ferry Stelling”.

These works are expected to last for a seven-day period and should be completed by Saturday if all goes well.

This operation will be conducted using the vessels M/T Mindy Lynn, M/T Red Dawn and D/B Marine.

“During this period, four wooden piles would be installed within this restricted area and would

be fitted with lights showing the characteristic FL Q Y (Quick Flashing Yellow Light),” Maritime said.

Moreover, it warned that these vessels will remain on site for the duration of the project so mariners are warned to navigate with caution when in the area.

The 69kV subma-

from its Kingston operations.

Officials from the China Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) were a part of GPL’s efforts to retrieve and examine the submarine cable.

In the interim, the utility company is continuing to engage MARAD in identifying an alternative route

maritime accident that occurred four days after the disruption of the 69kV submarine cable.

This 13.8kV submarine cable, which rests along the upper Demerara River within proximity of Craig, East Bank Demerara, was dislodged by a barge sailing along the Demerara River.

As a result of this inci-

A vessel that disrupted the second GPL submarine cable

rine cable on the riverbed along the channel of the Demerara River, and connecting it’s Vreed-enHoop and Kingston Power Stations was the first cable to be damaged.

A recent examination revealed no further damage on the cable.

As previously reported, investigations conducted on Wednesday, June 5, revealed a compromised section of the cable approximately 0.7 km offshore

to lay a 13.8kV submarine cable along the Demerara River, in an effort to reconnect the Vreed-en-Hoop operations to the eastern sections of the DemeraraBerbice Interconnected System. Both entities are also engaged in discussions regarding establishing improved maritime conduct within proximity of the submarine cables.

The second GPL submarine cable was disrupted on Thursday due to another

dent, West Demerara customers from Vriesland to La Retraite were without electricity while efforts were underway to alternatively power these customers from the Vreed-enHoop Substation.

According to a release from GPL, the dislodged cable was located on Thursday afternoon by deep-water divers, and efforts are being made to hoist and examine it for damages.

news

13

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

Ex-staff of Fly Jamaica Canje continues to cry after meet with Labour closure of Rose Hall Sugar Estate to Department today – hopeful for owed salaries, potential O job alternatives M

By Brandon Corlette

ne wish that every Canje resident has is the reopening of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate.

Guyana Times visited the Canje area, where feedback was given about the negative impact the Sugar Estate’s closure has had on the residents.

A first glance at the entire Canje area will give you the impression that it is an official ‘ghost town’.

During a visit on Monday to the Ancient County, this publication spoke with a number of sacked sugar workers, business personnel and other civilians, including the young population. They have all expressed similar sentiments.

A specific gentleman who was among all the other residents who refused to give their name and desig-

The Rose Hall, Canje Estate

nation told this publication that the people were literally suffering.

“We don’t have money to send our children to school, since jobs are limited,” the resident detailed.

A stop at a supermar-

A furious Canje resident stands in disappointment

ket revealed that the owners are sitting waiting for hours for their next customer to enter the premises. It is now a rare sight in Canje to see persons frequently visiting the supermarkets as money in the Canje area has diminished since the closure of the estate.

The owner of the business told this newspaper that he could not even afford to pay his employees as a result of the lack of finances. He added that the present A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has evidently forgotten the Ancient County of Berbice and further forgotten their role as a government.

Since the closure of the Estate back in 2017, the state of the area has continued to worsen. Guyana Times also visited a local car wash in the area, where the owner revealed how slow business has become.

Working on the Sis publication also visited a local wash-bay in the area were the owner has revealed how slow business have been. emieses. ugar Estate had been the main source of income and although some of the workers have been transferred to the functioning Albion Estate, vendors who usually ply their trade are out of work.

The citizens of the Rose Hall, Canje area remain

hopeful of the reopening of the Estate, since the present Government has now been tasked to revive interest in the estates by prospective buyers.

Guygulf International Trading Development Industrial and Financial LLC (a parent company of Nand Persaud &Co Ltd), has shown intentions of acquiring the Skeldon and Rose Hall Estates.

The negative impact has continued to influence business personnel and former sugar workers, but the young people have also expressed their disappointment in the closure of the Estate. A young individual who completed the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and was successful also felt the heat of unemployment from the Sugar Estate that served as the main source of employment.

The hub for shopping – the New Amsterdam area has also been affected by the closure of the Rose Hall Estate.

The main market has also suffered the consequences as vendors lack support from the Canje population who has seen a drastic decline in income.

The furious residents are calling for this matter to quickly resolve as things will only get worse in the Canje area.

Minister Felix warns Suriname travellers against flouting immigration laws

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itizenship Minister Winston Felix has urged members of the public travelling to and from Suriname to present themselves to immigration officers for processing.

Minister Felix said the absence of the MV Canawaima from regular service did not preclude persons from observing the law.

“Persons arriving must first ensure that they check with the immigration [office] on departing Suriname

and report to the immigration on arrival in Guyana.

Failure to do so, if caught, will expose you to prosecution,” he said.

Immigration processing in Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) is currently being done at immigration offices located at Republic Square, Springlands or Port Moleson Creek.

“Section 10 (3) and Section 7 (2) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 14:02, respectively states: (a) “Where a person desires

Citizenship Minister Winston Felix

to depart from Guyana by crossing a land frontier, he shall before depart, present himself to the nearest immigration officer,” a release from the Ministry stated.

In addition, the release noted: “Where a person enters Guyana by crossing a land frontier of Guyana, he shall forthwith present himself to the nearest immigration officer”.

As such, the Minister is calling on the public to observe the law.

ore than seven months after financial constraints had caused Fly Jamaica to pull out of the Guyana market, Government’s Department of Labour is expected to meet with the affected staffers to address the matter of salaries owed to them and explore the possibility of job alternatives.

The Department will today (Tuesday) engage the ex-staffers at its Lot 82 Upper Brickdam, Georgetown Boardroom at 11:45h.

A former flight attendant of the airline, which had crash- landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in November 2018, has said she is looking forward to the issue of owed salaries being discussed at today’s meeting, and is also hoping to get back to work soon, as she has been at home since the airline has had that tragic accident.

Disclosing that she is owed more than $700,000 for the period November 2018 through March 2019, she argued that passengers would have booked their flights in advance with Fly Jamaica, yet the airline is

contract ended on March 3rd for the new batch. So we were still active employees,” she reasoned.

Besides owing scores of workers, the embattled airline also owes passengers, who have found themselves in a dilemma similar to the workers’, with Fly Jamaica still trying to refund affected passengers, some of whom were left stranded following the crash.

The Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC) was forced to intervene in the situation following several complaints filed by angry passengers. The airline has promised to refund affected passengers by July 1.

Some 46 complaints have so far been received by the CCAC, and claims therein are valued at about $8,316,504, the Commission said back in May. Initially, the airline had promised the Commission to begin payments in March, but has been unable to do so due to lack of funds.

Subsequent to that announcement, Fly Jamaica had made its staff redundant at the end of March.

This was announced by

The crashed Boeing 757 aircraft

making excuses instead of paying its staffers following the accident.

“I am not sure about the old employees, but for the new batch, our last salary we received was in October, so we are owed from November through March,” she disclosed.

This ex-staffer further claims she is owed two weeks’ severance pay. “If I am calculating my salary (correctly), for the last five months, it would be approximately $765,000 without our severance pay,” she revealed.

She told of how she had struggled to balance herself financially through this waiting phase, and reminded that workers attached to the airline are most likely the only ones who had not sued for damages, although they are owed salaries for several months.

“While we weren’t doing anything (following the crash), they are obligated to pay us. They never issued a letter until March 31st. Our

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Ronald Reece in a letter to employees on Friday, March 29, 2019.

It has been reported that the Jamaica-based airline had employed some 400 persons; and Reece had assured employees that the compensation they are owned from November to date would be paid, but he pleaded for time to fulfil this commitment.

Of the 120 passengers and eight crew members who had been on board the Boeing 757 at time of the crash on November 9, 2018, at least six had sustained injuries during the crash-landing. An 86-yearold woman died as a result of brain swelling one week after the incident.

The flight had left the CJIA for Toronto at about 02:10h on November 9, 2018, but had reportedly encountered hydraulic issues, and the pilot had returned to the CJIA, where the aircraft had crash-landed at about 02:53h.

14 news Linden-Lethem road Mahdia residents furious Bus operators strike over illegal gold trading TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

– claim GGMC encouraging same

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esidents of Mahdia are complaining of major health risks associated with the operations of unlicensed gold traders in their town. They are contending that these gold dealers are unlicensed and performing smelting operations without having extractors to filter mercury.

As a result, the residents are calling on the authorities to intervene and bring a halt to the illegal operations in the mining district.

The residents are alleging that the operations are known to officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), however, they continue to allow the illegal operations.

According to residents, the illegal operators are paying the GGMC officials and even giving them gold in order to continue their trade.

A few of the residents reached out to Guyana Times on Monday stating that the issue has been ongoing for a long time and several reports were made to GGMC officials in the town but nothing is being done about it.

“We complained to GGMC officers that are right here and they know exactly who these illegal

operators are. They visited the people and supposedly instructed them to cease operations and closed the location, however, as soon as the officers left they reopened as normal and have remained open since. What does this tell you?” a resident asked.

“Mahdia is a small place and everybody knows what is going on. There’s no way that you can get instruction to close and you still operating and the GGMC officers that are right here won’t know. Everyone knows that

they accepting pay from these people. These people handling mercury without any proper extraction and it’s not safe for us,” the resident further stated.

Mahdia is a hotspot for the trading of raw gold and as a result, persons flock the area for the purchasing of gold.

There are several licensed operators that carry out their trade with all the precautionary methods as stipulated by GGMC, however, as of recent, there has been an upsurge in illegal traders who are non-compliant to the health and safety standards and necessary license for such operations.

It was also related that officials from the Guyana Gold Board are also purchasing gold from the illicit traders.

A licensed operator who wished to remain anonymous told this publication on Monday that one such illegal trader operates next door to him and after concerns were raised, GGMC officials closed the business but after a while, it was back in operation.

“Imagine the GGMC workers went to these people, they couldn’t produce license and they didn’t meet the requirements for safe-

ty and they still operating.

The officers claimed they told them to close but that can never be true because they couldn’t be operating if these people instruct them to close. They taking pay all the time up here. People giving them big gold chain and thing and they good.

They forget people put them there to do a job which they are being paid for. They know of the dangers this kind of thing poses and they just don’t care. They only care about the bribe they taking,” he said.

The furious residents called for a full investigation into the allegations and are hopeful for an urgent intervention from the relevant authorities in bringing an end to the problem.

On Sunday last, a video surfaced on social media showing gold traders smelting gold in the mining town and no extractors were being used to filter mercury and fumes are being released in the business and residential locations where residents work and dwell.

The Guyana Bold Board in March last, announced that it will commence mobile purchasing of gold in various communities as it seeks to not only maximise its gold declarations by year end but also ensure compliance with the country’s anti-money laundering laws.

The first stop of this mobile gold purchasing initiative was the town of Mahdia.

Guyana Gold Board Public Affairs and Communications Officer, Johann Earle had said that the exercise is in no way meant to encroach on the business of the authorised gold dealers. However, the initiative was necessary as many small miners found it challenging to travel to the Guyana Gold Board

locations in Georgetown and Bartica to sell small amounts of gold.

With regard to mercury concerns, Earle had assured that the Board has taken steps to ensure that there is no threat of mercury emissions during the gold purchasing exercises.

For the purpose of the mobile buying exercise, the Guyana Gold Board fabricated a miniature mercury abatement system. This system had been tested and is functioning as it was designed to, he said.

as condition worsens

The present condition of the Linden to Lethem road, which bus operators are forced to traverse seeking their daily bread

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ome minibus operators who ply the Mahdia and Lethem routes were forced to halt their services until the weather pattern and the state of the road improves.

The road, according to the operators, is almost impassible as a result of the persistent heavy rainfalls.

On Monday, minibus owner Calvin Drakes told Guyana Times that his driver was forced to park the bus because the road had become worse over the past few days.

“The truth is, he can’t make a trip for now at all… if you see what is going on the trail. It’s terrifying and ridiculous at the same time.

I just hoping and praying for some improvement in the weather so that we can make a trip soon because we both depend on this for our livelihood,” he said.

This was the case with at least four other operators who said they cannot continue to operate given the circumstances.

In an invited comment on the issue Monday, Mayor of Mahdia David Adams said there have been no improvements in the condition of the road and although the rehabilitation of the road does not fall under his council, no works can be done due to the persistent rainfall.

Adams last week ex-

plained that during the rainy season, some attention needed to be paid to the trail between Mahdia and Mabura which is in dire need of repair works.

He noted, however, that there are no plans in place for such rehabilitation works by the council.

“Getting in is very difficult and some works have to be done in the short term to offer relief to those traversing,” he had said.

The minibus operators since last week have complained bitterly of the deteriorating condition of the trail which they are forced to use to transport passengers and goods as a means of earning their daily bread.

The bus operators who had reached out to this publication described the trail as a “death trap” and bashed the Public Infrastructure Ministry for paying zero interest in conducting long-term repairs to that trail which is the only access to those areas.

The trail has been in a deteriorated state for years and worsens during the rainy seasons after which minor substandard repairs are done on certain patches and the problem continues to recur.

Route 72 minibus drivers said that they were forced to park their buses

due to the condition of the road since the risk of making a trip is way more than its gains.

They called on the Government to put measures in place for urgent and long-term repairs and maintenance of the road.

The drivers said they are suffering since they were forced to use the road in the present state as best as they can in getting passengers into and out of Mahdia just for an income to take care of their needs.

They described the situation as unacceptable and called on Government through the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to come up with a plan to commence repairs to the road soon.

Meanwhile, it was recently announced by the Public Infrastructure Ministry that sections of the damaged road in Mahdia were being repaired after the recent flash flooding. The bridge at Red and White, which had been washed away, was replaced by wooden planks until those works are executed.

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson had told this publication that the pathway was opened for vehicular traffic on both lanes. Efforts to obtain a comment from him on Monday on this issue proved futile.

GPSU Head implicitly Salaries

A few days later, the Government announced a 0.5 to seven per cent increase in wages for public servants.

According to a circular seen by Guyana Times, persons earning less than $100,000 a month will receive a seven per cent increase.

Those earning between $100,000 and $299,999 will get an increase of 6.5

per cent, while those in the $300,000 to $499,999 range will get a five per cent increase. Those with a paycheque of between $500,000 and $699,999 a month will have their salaries increased by three per cent.

Meanwhile, those in the $700,000 to $799,999 range will be eligible for an increase of two per cent, while those earning $800,000 to $999,999 will get one per cent in increases and those

From Page 11

with a salary of $1 million and above will get a 0.5 per cent increase.

The circular makes it clear that the increases do not apply for teachers, University of Guyana employees, Government Ministers and Members of Parliament.

It does, however, apply to the Disciplined Services, including the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force.

news

15

TuesDAY, JUNE 11, 2019 | guyanatimesgy.com

New Horizons medical team conducted 39 successful gynaecological surgeries in Linden – as hospital records 1st laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery

By Utamu Belle

T

he United States (US) New Horizons medical team has conducted 39 successful gynaecological surgeries at Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) as the hospital also recorded its first laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery.

The medical team, which is currently on a mission to Guyana, was honoured at an appreciation and farewell ceremony hosted at the Watooka Complex in Linden on Friday evening.

The team, which conducted advanced methods of surgeries over several days, was ably assisted by medical staff attached to the hospital. Delivering opening remarks at the ceremony, LHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Farouk Riyasat alluded that it took over a year of intense planning and preparation between the stakeholders involved to successfully achieve the desired results.

He reported that during the period of May 22 to 26, female patients from Regions Three, Four, Six and 10 were screened and scheduled for surgeries.

From May 27 to June 6, the CEO reported that major gynaecology operations were conducted on 39 patients.

During this period also, Dr Riyasat said a total of 26 abdominal, three vaginal and six ovarian hysterectomies were conducted in addition to the first laparoscopic bilateral tubal ligation at the hospital.

“By the way, the bilateral laparoscopic ligation by way of laparoscopic method, it’s the first time we’re doing that at the Linden Hospital

Complex. And thanks to the training we will continue doing so...”, the CEO boasted as his revelation was met with loud applause from the gathering.

Dr Riyasat also alluded to the other surgeries which were conducted as he noted that a total of 55 patients were screened, however, 16 were referred for medical management while 39 received surgical intervention.

He noted that seven of these patients were from Region Three, two from Region Four, five from Region Six and 25 from Region 10.

This, Dr Riyasat related, shows that the Region 10 hospital has the capacity to facilitate more patients from across Guyana.

He further related that the post-operative care which the patients received saw a one hundred per cent recovery rate with zero post-operative surgical site infections in addition to excellent prognoses.

He added that the New Horizons team also received full support from the hospital’s doctors, nurses and other medical staff, as he commended the team for its commitment and hard work.

In his remarks, team leader of the Linden mission, Lieutenant Colonel Jason Massengill conveyed heartfelt thanks to the Public Health Ministry, leadership and medical staff of the hospital and members of the New Horizons medical team.

Massengill, who is also the mission’s lead gynaecological and reconstructive surgeon, explained that this was his third mission. He noted that this was one of

LHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Farouk Riyasat

Members of the medical mission posing with John Adams and Dr Pansy Armstrong

the most rewarding opportunities he has had so far as he referred to it as one of the most successful missions. Massengill said this could not have been successful without the people on the ground.

While 39 surgeries were conducted, Massengill related that over 129 different procedures were performed, which he referred to as “incredible”. He said this also provided great training opportunities for several members of the medical team. What would usually take 4 years minimum for some trainees, he noted, was achieved in just 9 days.

“This is also one of the most successful trips we’ve ever done...Linden Hospital, by far is one of the best hospitals that we’ve been to in South America...This is a training exercise for us...We did over 129 different procedures on patients...”, the team leader boasted.

He added that the team has felt truly welcomed in Guyana and has enjoyed every opportunity.

Personal Assistant to Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, John Adams in delivering remarks on behalf of the Minister expressed gratitude to the medical team for a job well done as he extended wishes for continued success.

He noted that while the surgeries are available in Guyana, the team was able to speed up the process over the timeframe to ease the burdens on the affected women.

He also thanked Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Pansy Armstrong, whom he noted has been the Ministry’s link to the regional mission as he noted that the Ministry looks forward to continued cooperation with the team.

Meanwhile, Chairman of LHC Management Committee Mortimer Mingo told the gathering that the committee was grateful for having the medical team, as he noted that its presence and intervention would have assisted greatly in the delivery of quality and effective healthcare which is in keeping with the hospital’s mandate.

He said he was appreciative that persons from other parts of the country would have also sought medical assistance at the hospital and as such the team would have assisted in building capacity at the medical institution.

In addition, Regional Chairman Renis Morian expressed gratitude on behalf

of the region as he alluded to the significant impacts made by the team which he noted has been extended to the lives of the patients who benefited.

“Without the surgeries, we would have lost a number of persons...so, the work that you have done would have had tremendous impact, not only on this region but the other regions where the other persons came from...We are indeed grateful...and truly we see you as heroes...You’ve not only made persons well but you’ve imparted skills to our doctors and nurses and professionals in the health sector to follow...”, Morian said.

Several medical practitioners attached to the team and the hospital were also

awarded for their services provided. Also present were members of the Guyana Defence Force, Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell, members of the LHC Management Committee and Chinese and Cuban specialists.

Meanwhile, a total of two staff physicians, four trainees, three anesthesia providers, three nurses and four technicians were deployed to perform surgeries at the LHC. The mission was made possible through the collaborative effort between the New Horizons team, LHC, Public Health Ministry, Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC).

16

guyanatimesgy.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019

Regional

Strike paralyses Haiti as protesters Mexico given 45 days to curb migrant flow to US demand President resign

The strike came a day after thousands of protesters clashed with Police [Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters]

O

pposition Leaders in Haiti have launched a two-day strike, paralysing the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, as protesters demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise over corruption allegations.

Schools, businesses and Government offices were closed on Monday as groups of protesters blocked roads and set piles of tyres ablaze across Port-au-Prince.

Some protesters burned cars belonging to a local radio station and accused the news media of working for

the Government.

Public transportation was suspended, and officials postponed a Parliament session.

The strike came a day after thousands of protesters clashed with Police, with two people reported killed and five injured in Port-auPrince.

Similar protests were held in the Haitian cities of Jacmel, Cap-Haitien, SaintMarc and Gonaives.

Demonstrators came from a wide cross-section of society, including political parties, religious groups,

and community organisations.

Protesters were demanding further investigation into the fate of funds that resulted from subsidised oil shipments from Venezuela under the PetroCaribe programme, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption since its establishment in 2008.

"We demand that all those squandering [public] funds be tried and punished, their assets seized and turned over to the State for serious development projects, and that the President resign and turn himself in," Velina Charlier, a protest leader, said on Sunday.

The Judges of the High Court of Auditors said in a report last week that Moise was at the centre of an "embezzlement scheme" that had siphoned off Venezuelan aid money intended for road repairs.

The Judges' report laid out a litany of examples of corruption and mismanagement. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Brazil's Lula convicted to keep him from 2018 election – report

B

razil's Justice Minister and Prosecutors collaborated to convict leftwing icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on corruption charges to prevent him from contesting the 2018 election, an investigative news outlet has reported.

The Intercept said on Sunday an anonymous source provided material, including private chats, audio recordings, videos and photos, that show "serious wrongdoing, unethical behaviour, and systematic deceit".

"Secret documents reveal that Brazil's most powerful Prosecutors ... plotted to prevent the Workers' Party [PT] from winning the 2018 presidential election by blocking or weakening a pre-election interview with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva," said the news re-

port.

Among the explosive claims, The Intercept said prosecutors in a massive, years-long anti-corruption probe known as "Car Wash" had expressed "serious doubts whether there was sufficient evidence to establish Lula's guilt".

Justice Minister Sergio Moro was the anti-corruption Judge who handed Lula his first conviction in 2017, which prevented him from running in a presidential election he was widely expected to win.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who said during his campaign that he hoped Lula would "rot in prison", later made Moro part of his Cabinet.

Glenn Greenwald, a cofounder of The Intercept and member of the team that first interviewed Edward Snowden in 2013, said on Twitter the leak

Ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is serving a reduced jail term of eight years and 10 months after being convicted of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe [File: Victor Moriyama/Getty Images]

was "one of the largest & most important in years".

In response to The Intercept's stories, Moro defended his actions as a judge in the ongoing Car Wash probe, and said the material obtained through the "criminal invasion of prosecutors' cellphones" had been "taken out of context". (Excerpt from Reuters)

No official functions during mourning period for Seaga

N

o public social functions or official events should be held during the four-day period of mourning in honour of the life and service of late former Prime Minister Edward Seaga.

The period will be observed from the morning of

Wednesday, June 19, to the evening of Saturday, June 22.

According to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, it is customary during an official period of mourning to curtail activities of a flamboyant or celebratory nature

and restrict engagements deemed noisy, until the period has concluded. This usually coincides with the end of the burial ceremony.

Additionally, throughout the period, the national flag is to be flown at halfmast on all public buildings. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

T

he United States has given Mexico 45 days to reduce the number of migrants crossing its territory on their way to the US. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Monday gave details of a deal reached with the US to avert the imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.

Even though no specific target has been set, the measures taken by Mexico to curb the migrant flow will be evaluated in mid-July, Ebrard said.

If the number was not down by then, a regional solution would be sought.

Ebrard said the agreement reached on Friday after days of "most difficult negotiation" bought Mexico time to show it could succeed in driving down the number of migrants.

He said that US negotiators had wanted Mexico to commit to "zero migrants" crossing its territory, but according to Ebrard, that was "mission impossible".

Ebrard said the US side also wanted to designate Mexico as a "safe third country", which would have required Mexico to take in asylum seekers heading for the US and process their claims on its own soil.

The Foreign Minister said that he had averted that measure for the time being: "We told them – I think it was the most important achievement of the negotiations – 'let's set a time period to see if what Mexico is proposing will work, and if not, we'll sit down and see what additional measures are needed'".

Mexico said it would deploy its National Guard throughout the country from Monday with 6000 additional troops being sent to its southern border with Guatemala. (Excerpt from BBC News)

ter widely disputed elections — something that is allowed under the country's Constitution.

When he arrived to meet supporters at an event in Valencia about two hours’ drive from Caracas, it was a free-forall as Journalists and photographers jostled with fans seeking handshakes and selfies.

Dressed in a sharp blue suit, Guaidó through it with his trademark grin intact and then sat for two hours on stage as speaker after speaker listed the litany of issues affecting the country.

We've spent a week trying to catch up with him.

Security concerns mean he's been skipping from safe house to safe house,

and despite his groomed appearance, apparently bathing out of a bucket. He changes his office location regularly too, and his team is reluctant to telegraph his movements, even to the press, for fear he'll be arrested, or worse.

Guaidó and his loose opposition coalition want Maduro out, and despite a failed attempt at an uprising to eject him in April, he said they are not giving up.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed concern that the fragmented Opposition alliance might fall apart, but the young politician is certain he can hold it together.

"No doubt," he said.

Venezuela's Guaidó promises fresh elections as humanitarian crisis worsens

T

hey call him "Presidente" and he is greeted like a rock star, but in truth, Juan Guaidó has a big task ahead of him.

The charismatic 35-year-old with the enormous smile is taking on Nicolás Maduro, and the incumbent Venezuelan President is not inclined to make it easy for the young usurper.

A former student politician, Guaidó was elected as a legislator in 2015 and only became the head of the Opposition-held National Assembly last year.

Just days into his new post, he launched his challenge to Maduro, declaring himself President of Venezuela in January af-

(Excerpt from ABC)

Former AG Maharaj threatens public campaign to stop FOIA amendment

C

ontending that democracy is now under threat, former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj has threatened to mount a public campaign to stop the Trinidad Government from amending the Freedom of Information Act without public consultation.

During a press conference at his office in San Fernando, Maharaj said the proposed amendments were not in the public interest and will hinder people from accessing the Act to get Government-held information.

The press conference took place simultaneously while the Government debated the Miscellaneous Provisions (Tax, Amnesty, Pensions, Freedom of

Information, National Insurance, Central Bank and Non-Profit Organisations) Bill 2019 in Parliament with the aim of amending Sections 15, 21 and 22 of the Freedom of Information Act. Saying "information was the oxygen of democracy", Maharaj said such amendments were dangerous to democracy and will seek to deny the public and the press the right to hold the Government accountable.

Under the existing Freedom of Information Act of 1999 Section 15, the Court can compel the Government to release Government records.

"Section 15 of the Act imposes a 30-day limit for the public authority to no-

Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj speaks at a news conference in San Fernando on Monday

tify the applicant if a request is denied.” However, under the proposed amendment, Maharaj says a person will now have to wait six months to find out whether their request for information “was denied or not". (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

guyanatimesgy.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019

17

Around the World

Hong Kong pushes bill allowing extraditions to Kathua child rape and murder: China despite biggest protest since handover 3 men given life sentence

Riot Police Officers stand guard outside the Legislative Council during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China in Hong Kong, China, early June 10, 2019

H

ong Kong leader Carrie Lam vowed on Monday to push ahead with amendments to laws allowing suspects to be extradited to mainland China a day after the city’s biggest protest since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

“I don’t think it is (an) appropriate decision for us now to pull out of this bill because of the very important objectives that this bill is intended to achieve,” a sombre Lam told reporters

while flanked by security and justice chiefs.

The rendition bill has generated unusually broad opposition, from normally pro-establishment businesspeople and lawyers to students, pro-democracy figures and religious groups who fear further erosion of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy and the difficulty of ensuring even basic judicial protections in mainland China.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China under a “one country, two systems”

formula with guarantees that its autonomy and freedoms, including an independent justice system, would be protected.

But many accuse China of extensive meddling in many sectors, denying democratic reforms and squeezing freedoms, interfering with local elections and the disappearances of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders. All later appeared in detention in China, and some appeared in apparent forced confessions broadcast in Hong Kong.

The proposed changes provide for case-by-case extraditions to jurisdictions, including mainland China, beyond the 20 states with which Hong Kong already has treaties.

It gives the chief executive power to approve an extradition after it has been cleared by Hong Kong’s courts and appeal system.

T

hree men have been jailed for life for the rape, torture and murder of an eight-yearold Muslim girl in Indianadministered Kashmir.

Three police officers were found guilty of destroying evidence and sentenced to five years in prison.

The victim, who belonged to a Muslim nomadic tribe, was found in a forest near Kathua city in January 2018.

The case sparked widespread anger and made headlines when Hindu rightwing groups protested over the men’s arrest.

Eight people, including a former Government official,

four policemen and a minor, were charged in connection with the crime. One of them has been acquitted and the minor is set to be tried separately.

All of them had pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The case became one among many high-profile ones that prompted India to pass a new law which introduced the death penalty for anyone convicted of raping a child under 12.

The eight-year-old girl went missing in the new year of 2018 and her battered body was discovered almost three weeks later.

Scores killed in attack on central Mali village

Dogon villages often follow a traditional way of life

A

t least 95 people have been killed in an overnight attack on an ethnic Dogon village in central Mali, local officials have said, in the latest bout of violence to hit the region.

Nineteen others were missing since unknown armed men attacked the village of Sobane-Kou in the Mopti region in the early hours of Monday, the Government said in a statement.

The attackers also killed animals and burned down houses, the Government said, adding that an investigation was underway.

A Malian security source at the site of the massacre said, “A Dogon village has been virtually wiped out.”

A survivor who gave his name as Amadou Togo told the AFP news agency that “about 50 heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pickups.

Iran said last month that it would quadruple its production of lowenriched uranium

B

oris Johnson, the leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as Britain’s next Prime Minister, said he would withhold a previously agreed 39 billion pound ($50 billion) Brexit payment until the European Union gives Britain better exit terms.

The EU has repeatedly said it will not reopen discussion of the Brexit transition deal it reached with May last year, which British lawmakers have rejected three times, prompting May to announce her resignation

T

named by local media as Tim McCormack.

He was the only person aboard the Agusta A109E helicopter, said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The incident happened at around 14:00h (18:00GMT) on a rainy and foggy Monday on Seventh Avenue.

Governor Cuomo said preliminary reports indicate there was no indication of foul play.

No debris was visible on the pavement or road below the scene of the AXA Equitable building, which is about 750ft (229m) high.

According to Mayor Bill

de Blasio, there is no helicopter landing pad on the roof of the tower at 787 Seventh Avenue.

New York Commissioner James O’Neill said its reason for flying in such poor weather will be “part of the investigation”.

“There is no indication at this time that this was an act of terror and there is no ongoing threat to New York City,” added the mayor.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident. (Excerpt from BBC News)

earlier this month.

Britain is due to leave the EU on October 31. If Parliament does not approve a deal - and the Government does not ask the EU for another delay - there risks being major economic disruption from a disorderly departure.

The 39 billion pounds represents outstanding British liabilities to the EU, which would be paid over a number of years according to the withdrawal agreement negotiated by May. Johnson also said border

arrangements with Ireland should be settled only as part of a long-term agreement, rejecting a “backstop” which would avoid checks on Northern Ireland’s border but which Conservative lawmakers fear is a backdoor way of requiring Britain to continue to follow EU rules after Brexit.

Separatel, one of Johnson’s rivals, Environment Minister Michael Gove, said he would scrap the value-added tax (VAT) levied on most goods and services and replace it with a lower US-style sales tax.

VAT is one of Britain’s main taxes, which the Government expects to raise 137 billion pounds this year.

Another leadership contender, Sajid Javid, said he was willing to pay Ireland hundreds of millions of pounds towards the cost of new border arrangements to facilitate a Brexit deal. (Excerpt

from Reuters)

Pakistan ex-President Zardari arrested over corruption charges

1 dead in helicopter crash on NYC skyscraper he pilot of a helicopter died after it crash-landed on top of a skyscraper in Manhattan, fire officials say.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the 54-storey office building close to Times Square shook from the impact.

Governor Cuomo said the crash sparked a rooftop fire, which was brought under control. Some were evacuated from the tower, but none were hurt.

He said New Yorkers have “a level of PTSD from 9/11” when they hear news of an aircraft crash in Manhattan.

The pilot has been

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Iran has accelerated enrichment of uranium, IAEA says

(Excerpt from Reuters)

“They first surrounded the village and then attacked - anyone who tried to escape was killed,” Togo said.

“Some people had their throats cut or were disembowelled, grain stores and cattle were torched. No one was spared - women, children, elderly people.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but tensions have been rising since an ethnic Dogon militia was accused of carrying out a massacre in an ethnic Fulani village in March.

The village had about 300 inhabitants, according to an official who spoke to the AFP on condition of anonymity.

In Monday’s statement, the Malian Government expressed its condolences and said: “every measure will be taken to arrest and punish those responsible for this bloodshed.” (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

According to investigators, the child was confined to a local temple for several days and given sedatives that kept her unconscious.

The charge sheet alleged that she was “raped for days, tortured and then finally murdered”.

They added that the child was targeted because the men wished to terrorise the tribe - known as Gujjars into leaving.

A child is sexually abused every 15 minutes in India, according to government crime figures up to 2016, and there has been a steady rise in offences against children.

The former President denies allegations that he laundered millions of dollars through suspect bank accounts and companies

F

ormer Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has been arrested after his bail application was rejected in connection with a high-profile money laundering case that saw vast sums of money allegedly siphoned out of the country.

Zardari, the husband of assassinated ex-Prime

Minister Benazir Bhutto, served as President from 2008 until 2013. He has long been the subject of corruption allegations, and is widely known in Pakistan as “Mr Ten Percent”.

Small scuffles erupted on Monday between police and supporters of Zardari’s opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) outside his family’s residence in Islamabad as he was taken into custody. A senior PPP official confirmed the arrest.

The former President and Talpur have always denied any wrongdoing linked to those cases, which have been described by the PPP as politically motivated.

Last year, Pakistani authorities discovered several accounts in the name of poor people that had been flooded with cash before being suddenly emptied. In September, Pakistan’s Supreme Court

established a commission in September to investigate the case and found that at least $400 million had passed through “thousands of false accounts”.

Zardari has repeatedly dismissed allegations he had a hand in the scheme, calling the Government an instrument of the powerful military and labelling Prime Minister Imran Khan the army’s “blue-eyed boy”.

After his arrest on Monday, Zardari was seen leaving his house in Islamabad with his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the current leader of the PPP in which Zardari still wields vast influence.

The arrest comes as the economy continues to spiral and discontent simmers in Pakistan following repeated devaluations of the rupee, soaring inflation, and rising utility prices. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

18

guyanatimesgy.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2019

ARCHIE

ARIES (March 21April 19)

TAURUS (April 20May 20)

dilbert

GEMINI (May 21June 20)

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Peanuts

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Calvin and Hobbes

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

SUDOKU

Evaluating your current situation will help you find a way to lead a better life.

Love who you are and follow your heart.

You’ll have a change of heart once you are given the facts and have had time to assess a situation. Keep an open mind and refrain from abrupt action.

Challenge your physical abilities and see what you can achieve. More significant opportunities will come your way if you set the pace and standard moving forward. Let others see what you can do.

Sharing too much information about your personal life or feelings will lead to trouble. Be observant and base what you say and do on what you see and hear.

Help is on the way. If you offer your time or services, you will get high returns. Be careful while dealing with anyone in a position of authority or while traveling.

You’ll experience a change of attitude if you get a close view of what’s going on around you. Talk to experienced individuals and help bring about reform. The connections you make will be surprising.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Put your time and energy into self-improvement, learning and making physical changes that help build confidence and strength. Romance is highlighted. Muster the courage to follow your dreams.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

You can help others, but don’t feel you have to pay for someone else’s mistake.

Offer suggestions and move on to pursuits that will help you get ahead. Knowledge is power.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23Dec. 21)

Listen to your intuition, not to what someone is trying to lead you to believe.

Look for partnerships that are rich in opportunity.

Personal improvements will be complimented. Romance is encouraged.

Stick to your plan, regardless of what others do or say. A domestic change will lead to a welcome lifestyle improvement. Keep your emotions under control.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

solution for LAST PUBLISHED puzzle AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19)

PISCES (Feb. 20March 20)

Alter your life for the right reasons. Don’t run away from controversy.

You must deal with problems swiftly if you want to gain the freedom to move forward without interference.

A productive attitude will be necessary. Refuse to let poor influences disrupt your day or cause you to miss an opportunity. Be smart and avoid discord.

tuesday, june 11, 2019

I

ndia’s swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh announced his decision to retire from all forms of cricket on Monday (June 10). In nearly two decades at the highest level, since his ODI debut against Kenya in 2000, Yuvraj featured in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is, while also playing a pivotal role in India’s two big triumphs - the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup. In a press conference in Mumbai, the 37-year-old made the announcement, saying: “It’s was great rollercoaster ride and beautiful story but it has to come to an end. It was the right time to go.”

Yuvraj was a product on the U-19 set up, impressing with 203 runs in the World Cup in 2000 and making his way to the senior side in less than a year. Though he turned heads with an 80-ball 84 in just his second ODI - against Australia, it wasn’t until the run chase in the NatWest series final at the Lord’s that made him a household name. A 63-ball 69 after a top-order collapse in chase of 327 made him an overnight hero, and in less than a year since, he represented the senior side in the World Cup.

Yuvraj earned his Test debut in 2003, but it turned out to be a format that he couldn’t quite get a hold of as evidenced by the meagre 40 Test caps he received. In ODIs, however, he walks off as one of the finest batsman to have played for India. The middle-order batsman finished with 8701 runs at an average of 38, that included 14 hundreds and 52 fifties.

Yuvraj proved to be an asset in the shortest format as well, finishing with a career strike rate of 136.38 in the 58 T20I he played for India. He also famously pulled off the feat of smashing six sixes in a single over - against Stuart Broad in the 2007 World T20 - which is yet to be matched in the format in international cricket.

Intriguingly though, by his lofty standards, his IPL numbers - 2750 runs at an average of 24.77 in 132 matches - are a tad underwhelming.

Yet, he has twice been the top draw in the tournament - fetching bids of INR 14 crore and 16 crore in two successive auctions.

Yuvraj’s finest hour came in the 2011 50-over World Cup, where he orchestrated India’s knockout punch on three-time champions Australia in the quarterfinal. Yuvraj amassed

362 runs in that tournament - hitting four fifties and a century - while also coming into his own as more than just a part-time bowler - picking 15 wickets, the second-best tally for an Indian in that edition of the World Cup. In ODIs overall, he finished with 111 wickets.

In his emotional address, Yuvraj recounted his best memories through his career, while also spelling out his worst.

“I would say I am extremely lucky to play 400-plus games for India. I would’ve not imagined doing this when I started my career as a cricket.

Through this journey, some matches that remain in my memory are - the 2002 NatWest series final, my first Test hundred in Lahore in 2004, the 2007 Test series in England, of course the six sixes and the 2007 T20 World Cup. And then the most memorable one was the 2011 World Cup finals.”

“And then, probably the worst day in my career, was the 2014 World T20 final against Sri Lanka where I scored 11 off 21 balls. It was so shattering that I felt my career was over,” Yuvraj said.

A battle with cancer kept him out of the game for a while, and though he

Buttler battles to be fit for England against West Indies

Jos Buttler (Reuters)

returned for a second wind, he wa s n ’ t the same player as before. He still fought on and kept his spot in the side until 2013, but then faced an uncertain future.

After a fouryear lay-off Yuvraj Singh was the Man of the Tournament in India’s title-winning 2011 World Cup campaign (Getty Images) between 2013 and 2017, Yuvraj made He smashed his career-best ODI score another comeback this time in the home series against - 150 - in the Cuttack ODI in that England in 2017 in Virat Kohli’s first series and strode into the squad for as full-time captain. He was roped in the Champions Trophy in the same with the intention of adding stability year. But he couldn’t carry that form and experience to the troubled No. into the multi-team event.

Yuvraj got picked for the away 4 spot that Manish Pandey couldn’t tour of West Indies right after the make his own at that point.

There was also a suggestion that Champions Trophy in 2017, where MS Dhoni would take the batting he ended up playing his last ODI position at two-drop and Yuvraj at 5 for India. Since then, he has made would be a link to the lower-order occasional domestic appearances for comprising then-inexperienced duo Punjab and has been a squad player in the last two seasons of the IPL. of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya. (cricbuzz)

Manchester United

Boston Red Sox still want Leicester star shot City defender in back in Dominican H Republic

J

os Buttler is “responding well to treatment” on a heavily bruised right hip and while he remains a doubt for England’s World Cup match against West Indies on Friday, the 28-year-old is expected to be fit for selection.

Buttler sustained the injury while batting in England’s victory against Bangladesh on Saturday, visibly hobbling after launching one of four sixes during a lively cameo of 64.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was in discomfort for the remainder of his innings and did not re-emerge after the break. Jonny Bairstow deputised with the gloves and would happily do so again should Buttler not be passed fit for the fourth group game, while James Vince or Moeen Ali would vie for his place in the XI. The England and Wales Cricket Board offered a cautiously optimistic update on Buttler’s fitness but fell short of confirming his availability for England’s fourth group game, in Southampton.

“Jos sustained heavy bruising on his right hip. He is responding well to treatment and will be reassessed later this week,” a statement from the ECB read. “We anticipate he will train with the rest of the squad at the Hampshire Bowl on Wednesday.”

Eoin Morgan, the England one-day captain, suggested after the result in Cardiff that there would be no temptation to gamble with Buttler’s fitness. “We’ll use every day as much as we can to get try to get him back on the park, but if he is a risk going into the next game it might not be worth it,” he said.

Should Buttler miss the match it would be a major loss to England. He has scored 185 runs in 136 balls in his three World Cup knocks, including a century against Pakistan.

Vince would be the closest call for a like-for-like replacement given his role as the squad’s spare batsman but England could also choose to retain their bowling attack en bloc and recall the all-rounder Moeen Ali. (The Guardian)

19

B

oston Red Sox legend David Ortiz was shot in the back in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, police say.

The three-time World Series champion, 43, is recovering after surgery, the Red Sox said in a statement.

“David’s family has confirmed that he sustained a gunshot wound to the lower back/ abdominal region,” it added.

“We have offered David’s family all available resources to aid in his recovery and will continue to keep them in our hearts.”

Dominican National Police spokesman Felix

David Ortiz won three World Series titles with Boston Red Sox

Duran Mejia told CNN the incident occurred at the Dial Discotheque in Santo Domingo, where he was born.

Ortiz, a designated hitter and first baseman, ended his 20-year Major League Baseball career in 2016, when he earned the last of his 10 All-Star appearances.

He helped Boston win a first World Series title in 86 years 2004, as well as championships in 2007 and 2013.

“Anxiously waiting for more news. In the meantime, only prayers for David, Tiffany and their family,” said former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez on Twitter. (BBC Sport)

arry Maguire scored the first penalty in England’s Nations League shootout win over Switzerland on Sunday Manchester United are continuing to show interest in Leicester’s England defender Harry Maguire, even though the Foxes have no wish to sell the player.

United backed away from talks last summer as they felt the 26-year-old’s £70m price-tag was excessive.

However, with United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keen to bolster his central defensive options this summer, Maguire remains on the club’s radar.

Leicester are in a strong bargaining position though.

The defender signed a five-year contract last September and new manager Brendan Rodgers made it clear at the end of the season he feels Maguire can develop even more if he remains at the King Power.

The England centre-half is not the only defender United are keen on.

Solskjaer also retains an interest in Crystal Palace’s England Under-21 full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

The 21-year-old was named Palace’s player of the year this season, the first full campaign of his senior career.

United would have to pay a fee well in excess of £40m if they were to try to push forward with a deal for the youngster. (BBC Sport)

Harry Maguire (Getty Images)

20

GUYANATIMESgy.COM

tuesday, june 11, 2019

and could play for another two years, he felt this was the right time to walk away.

“A lot of different stuff ultimately led me to this decision,” Parker said. “But, at the end of the day, I was like, if I can’t be Tony Parker anymore and I can’t play for a championship, I don’t want to play basketball anymore.”

A native of France, Parker starred during his time in San Antonio and became part of a legendary power trio that included Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, who have both retired too. After his 17th season in San Antonio, Parker joined the Hornets and averaged 9.5 points per game in a reserve role. He revealed it was at the end of the 201819 term that

F

ourtime NBA champion Tony Parker is retiring after 18 seasons. The 37-year-old point guard announced on Monday that this past campaign was his last.

He spent 17 years with the San Antonio Spurs before joining the Charlotte Hornets for one final season. “I’m going to retire,” Parker told The Undefeated. “I decided that I’m not going to play basketball anymore.”

While Parker insisted he feels healthy

he came to the decision.

Despite saying throughout his career that he wanted to play for 20 seasons, joining the Hornets changed Parker’s perspective. “For 17 years, every year that I started with the Spurs, I really thought that we had a good chance to win the championship,” he said.

“And so it was very weird to arrive to a team and you’re like, ‘There is no way we’re going to win the championship’. “And even if I had a great time - and the Charlotte players, they were great with me and they were great guys - at the end of the day I play basketball to win something, and it’s been like that with the [French] national team when we try to compete for a gold medal or with the Spurs to win a championship.

“And if I don’t play for a championship, I feel like, why are we playing? And so that’s why it was very different for me mentally to focus and get motivated to play a game that I love, because I want to win something.”

A six-time All-Star, Parker ends his career

with averages of 15.5 points, 5.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game.

He was selected 28th overall in the 2001 NBA draft by the Spurs and quickly helped the team capture its second NBA title in 2003 under coach Gregg Popovich. Along with Ginobili and Duncan, San Antonio went on to capture three more titles in 2005, 2007 and 2014.

Now that he will not have to worry about NBA practices and games, Parker said he was going to stay in San Antonio, which he considers home, and travel more to France and other parts of the world.

When asked why he did not have a farewell tour like Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade, Parker explained it was because he already said goodbye to the Spurs.

“It was kind of different because I was in there with Charlotte, so I didn’t feel like the need of having a goodbye,” he said. “For me, the goodbye will be when my jersey will be retired [in San Antonio] or I make the Hall of Fame.” (NBA)

US national team finalises Net bowler struck by David Warner drive ‘finally’ training camp roster walking again

S

USA won the 2014 FIBA World Cup title

ix NBA players were added to the training camp roster for the 2019-20 USA National team that will participate in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Newcomers to the 20-man camp, to be held Aug. 5-9 in Las Vegas, are Kyle Kuzma (Los Angeles Lakers), Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks), Paul Millsap (Denver Nuggets), Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) and P.J. Tucker (Houston Rockets).

They join 14 others who have been confirmed to attend: Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans), Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons), Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets), James Harden (Houston Rockets), Tobias Harris (Philadelphia 76ers), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers), Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors), CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers), Khris Middleton

(Milwaukee Bucks), Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers) and Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets).

“We’re pleased with the players who will be attending the 2019 USA Basketball National Team training camp, and we feel we will be able to select a strong team for the 2019 FIBA World Cup,” national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said in a release. “The majority of these players possess prior USA Basketball experience, and we know all of them are committed to representing their country and doing so in the manner expected by USA Basketball.”

The 12-man U.S. national team will be announced August 17. The World Cup, featuring 32 teams, will be held August 31-September 15 in China.

The United States defeated Serbia in the final of the most recent World Cup, played in 2014. (Reuters)

Australia batsman David Warner was left shaken by the incident

T

he net bowler hit on the head by a powerful drive from Australia batsman David Warner says he has walked for the first time since the incident.

Jaykishan Plaha has been in hospital after the accident at The Oval on Saturday and was monitored for delayed signs of concussion, but a CT scan cleared him of any major damage.

Warner was visibly upset and “shaken up” as Plaha was treated at the ground.

“Finally got my first walk in - on the road to recovery,” Plaha said.

Writing on social media on Monday he added: “Glad to be recovering well so far.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, thank you for all the prays [sic] around the world, means a lot to me.”

Praha was among a handful of local cricketers helping the Australians prepare for their third match of the World Cup in London, which they lost to India by 36 runs.

In 2014 Warner, 32, was playing for New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield game when his Australia team-mate and close friend Philip Hughes

Semenya named in SA’s preliminary squad for World Championships

O

lympic 800m champion Caster Semenya has been named in South Africa’s preliminary squad for the World Championships in Qatar later this year.

Her participation depends on the outcome of her appeal to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court (SFT) against an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruling restricting testosterone levels in female runners.

Last week the SFT suspended the IAAF’s ruling, allowing the double Olympic champion to temporarily compete without taking testosterone-reducing medicine. The IAAF says it will seek a “swift reversal” of the SFT’s decision.

The court’s “superprovisional order” will also

only apply until 25 June - the date by which the IAAF must respond to the court on Semenya’s case. The World Championships will take place in Doha from 28 September to 6 October.

Last month, Semenya filed the appeal after failing to have new IAAF rules overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The new IAAF rules state that Semenya and other athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) - must either take medication in order to compete in track events from 400m to the mile, or change to another distance.

In April, the three-time world champion won 5,000m gold at the South African Athletics Championships - a new distance that would

not require her to lower her testosterone levels. Semenya is set to race over 2,000m in Paris o n Tuesday, and in the 3,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California on 30 June. But she has only been entered in the 800m for the worlds.

South Africa have also included Olympic 400m champion and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk, who is set to return almost two years after injuring his knee ligaments in a charity touch rugby game in October 2017. (BBC Sport)

Caster Semenya has won the Olympic 800m title twice and the world title three times

was fatally struck on the head by a ball while batting for South Australia.

Warner returned to playing international cricket in April after a year-long ban for balltampering. (BBC Sport)

tuesday, june 11, 2019

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guyanatimesgy.com

West Indies ready

21

for Archer test, says Reifer

W

est Indies head coach Floyd Reifer insists his batsmen are up for the challenge of taming England’s electric pace bowler Jofra Archer in their World Cup clash on Friday.

Archer was born in Barbados to a British father and played for West Indies Under-19s before declaring his allegiance to England earlier this year.

The 24-year-old qualified for England in March and the match against the West Indies in Southampton will be just his seventh one-day international appearance.

In that short time, Archer has already established himself as one of the sport’s most explosive bowlers, with three-wicket hauls against both South Africa and Bangladesh in the World Cup underlining his quality.

Finding a way to subdue Archer

will be one of the West Indies’ main tasks as they look to beat hosts England.

And Reifer, speaking after Monday’s match against South Africa was abandoned due to rain, is confident they have a game-plan to combat his threat.

“I’m sure Jofra will be chomping at the bit to come at us and we will be ready for him,” Reifer told reporters.

“To be honest, we knew Jofra for a long time. He is from Barbados, where we are from. We knew him from the U15, U17, U19 so he is not new to us.

“Yes, he’s bowling quickly, but there’s nothing that we are not accustomed to. We are looking forward to the challenge. So we will see how it goes on Friday.”

Asked if he was disappointed that Archer didn’t chose to play for the West Indies, Reifer said point-

edly: “He made his choice.

“I actually played club cricket against him as a young guy.

So Jofra is a tremendous talent, we all know t h a t .

Like I said, we are looking forward to the game on Friday.

“He obviously had the pace. He had a few injuries as a young guy. But I’m guessing though he’s fully over those injuries and he is bowling very well for England.”

(AFP)

Jofra Archer

Chandrika hits 82 in Canada

F

ormer West Indies opening batsman Rajendra Chandrika hit an impressive 82 runs to spur Vikings Cricket Club to a comfortable five-wicket win over Toronto Cricket Club when action in the 2019 Toronto District and Cricket Association Super9 limited overs tournament got cracking recently.

In that match, played at King City on Saturday, the right-handed Chandrika stroked six fours as his team safely reached 169-5 in the 42nd over in replying to Toronto

Rajendra Chandrika

Cricket Club’s 168 all out, made in the penultimate over.

Chandrika, who had featured in 5 tests, also shared a responsible 104-run second-wicket stand with opener Rayyankhan Pathan, who contributed a useful 43. Akash Shah made 22 not out to help bring home the victory.

In Toronto Cricket Club’s innings, Riyazkhan Pathan made 49 not out; while Canada batsman Bhavindu Adhihetty scored 36 and Nitish Kumar, another Canada internation-

al player, chipped in with 27.

Off-spinner Shah produced a clinical bowling performance to claim 4-36 from 10 overs, and 13-yearold Raqib Shamsudeen bagged two wickets for 19 runs from seven testing overs.

Former Guyana and West Indies batsman Royston Crandon captained the successful team, while Guyanese cricketers Jeremy Gordon and Mark Montfort represented the Vikings. The competition continues on Sunday.

French Open 2019:

Here’s why Nadal won’t target Federer’s Grand Slam record

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afael Nadal insists he is not obsessed with beating Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slams, claiming “you can’t be frustrated all the time because your neighbour has a bigger house than you or a bigger TV or better garden”.

Nadal swept to an historic 12th Roland Garros title with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Austria’s Dominic Thiem on Sunday.

That took him to 18 majors, just two behind Federer.

At 33, Nadal is the best part of five years younger than the Swiss veteran but with a career blighted by injuries, he refuses to target the all-time record.

“That’s not the way that I see the life,” said the Spaniard.

“It’s a motivation, yes, but it’s not my obsession.

“It’s not what makes me get up every morning or go and train and play.”

Nadal’s caution is well-founded.

By his own estimates, his careerlong battles against knee and wrist injuries have cost him “around 15 or even more Grand Slams”.

In the aftermath of his latest Roland Garros triumph, he admitted that after an injury-hit start to 2019, he felt “down mentally and physically” and questioned his love for the sport.

‘Not enjoying it’ “I was not enjoying it too much, I was worried about my health. I was down mentally and physically after Indian Wells,” said Nadal.

“I was too negative.

After Madrid and Barcelona, I was

thinking about what I needed to do. I could stop for a while and recover or change my attitude and recover.”

After a loss in the Australian Open final to N o va k

Djokovic, where he won just eight games, a second round exit in Acapulco was followed by a withdrawal from the semi-finals in Indian Wells, when a knee injury meant that an eagerly-awaited clash with Federer was shelved.

His return in the clay court season saw semi-finals losses in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid before a much

needed title triumph in Rome.

“In 2018, I played nine events and finished just seven of them,” Nadal added.

“I had issues with my knee and surgery on my foot, so many issues in the last 18 months that have made the last few weeks very special.”

Nadal revealed that in Barcelona, he had even locked himself away, questioning where his season was heading.

“Mentally, I lost a little bit of energy, because I had t o o

m a n y issues in a row. It is tough when you receive one after another, and then sometimes you are groggy,” he explained.

“In Barcelona, I was able to stay alone for a couple of hours in the room and think about what’s going on, what I need to do.

“One possibility was to stop for a while and recover my body.

And the other was change drastically my attitude and my mentality to play the next couple of weeks.

“Thinking a lot, finally I think I was able to change a n d was able to fight back for every small improvement.”

On Sunday,

Nadal took his Roland Garros record to an astonishing 93 wins and just two losses having previously won the title in 2005-2008, 2010-2014, 2017 and 2018.

It also gave him an 82nd career title and 950th match win.

“All the things that I went through probably give me that extra passion when I am playing, because I know I will not be here forever.

“So I just try to be positive, to be intense, and to be

passionate about what I am doing.”

Next up for Nadal is his latest assault on Wimbledon, where he has twice been champion, in 2008 and 2010.

However, the All England Club has also been the site of some spectacular lows.

He lost four years in succession to players outside the top 100 -- Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown -- from 2012-2015.

In 2017, he was knocked out in the last 16 by Gilles Muller, 15-13 in the final set.

Last year, he lost a marathon semifinal to Novak Djokovic by dropping the last set 10-8.

“I played a great event last year. I have been able to be very close to win another title there. As everybody knows, I love to play on grass,” said Nadal who added he will not play a warm-up event before Wimbledon. (AFP)

22 Allicock scheduled to travel to Ecuador for training tuesday, june 11, 2019

GUYANATIMESgy.COM

Dhanpaul’s all-round performance pushes WCWCC to victory

…boxer’s sanctions lifted

I

t is often said that “the best apology is changed behaviour”, and this seems to have been the endeavour of one of Guyana’s most promising young boxers, Keevin Allicock, over the past two weeks.

Consequently, sanctions imposed on him in terms of overseas training and receipt of a monthly stipend from the Guyana Olympic Association have been lifted by recommendation of Guyana Amateur Boxing Association President, Steve Ninvalle.

Allicock has now been afforded opportunity, accompanied by his training coach, to attend a top notch training camp to be held in Ecuador from June 16 to July 6. The pugilist will there improve his preparation for the Pan American Games to be held in July as he trains with the best of the best boxers from Cuba, Chile and the host nation.

It would appear that a figurative ‘slap on the wrist’ was all

that Allicock needed to get him to realise the importance of his local training regimen ahead of one of his biggest international engagements. Two weeks ago, Allicock had found himself proverbially between a rock and a hard place after he was sanctioned for missing more than 50 per cent of his training sessions with Cuban Coach Francisco Roldan.

However, his attitude has since changed, and this was revealed in a letter dispatched by the GABA to K.A Juman-Yassin, President of the Guyana Olympic Association. In that letter, it was disclosed that, since May 26, Allicock has not missed a training session, and “has assumed the role of a focused athlete cognisant of the task at hand”.

“Mr Puig (Cuba Boxing Association president) has extended an invitation to Guyana to have Allicock train with the Senior Cuba side that is preparing for the Pan Am Games. I have

also had detailed discussion with the president of the Ecuador Boxing Association, Alex Gonzales, who has assured that the altitude in Ecuador and training at his country’s high performance centre will enhance Mr Allicock’s training and preparation for the Pan Am Games,” Ninvalle detailed in the letter mentioned above.

The GABA has extended gratitude to the Guyana Olympic Association for their assistance and support in handling the issue.

Two weeks ago, a letter to the GOA from GABA President Ninvalle had suggested that Allicock’s international training and stipend be withheld owing to the boxer’s lackadaisical approach to training. (Jemima Holmes)

Keevin Allicock

GKC impressed by performances in National Championships

H

Yutesh Avi Dhanpaul receiving his Man of the Match award for scoring 117 runs and taking three wickets for 22 runs

aving successfully represented the Zeeburg Cricket Club in 2018 and 2019, two of its most senior players, Yutesh Dhanpaul and Balbiner Shivpersaud, have been drafted into the Commonwealth League currently being played in New York.

In that league, Dhanpaul and Shivpersaud both represent the West Coast Warriors Cricket Club (WCWCC). In the Warriors’ second match - a 30-over affair against the in-form New York (NY) Eagles played at the Hecksher State Park -the Guyanese duo dominated play from the first ball bowed in the encounter.

Batting first, the WCWCC got off to a flying start, with Dhanpaul leading from the front. After the first wicket was lost, Shivpersaud came to the

off 56 balls and including 13 classy boundaries and 6 maximums.

Dhanpaul and Shivpersaud’s efforts had laid the platform for the Warriors to continue their aggressive assault on the Eagles’ bowling, and the remaining overs saw quickfire scores coming from Rajin Rahaman and Cornelius Jaisingh, both of whom remained unbeaten, on 30 and 26 respectively, when the Warriors’ 30-over innings ended on 330-7.

Bowling for the Eagles, leg-spinner Rasool Shabaz took 3-18.

Needing 331 runs for victory at a net run rate of 11 runs per over, the Eagles started their chase in an aggressive manner.

Despite losing early wickets, they continued to press on. However, with the scoreboard pressure building,

Some of the martial arts students alongside Sensei Wong and Sensei Lawrence Lowe

By Timothy Jaikarran

T

he Guyana Karate Federation (GKF) hosted its 2019 National Junior Karate Championships on Sunday June 2, 2019 in celebration of the 53rd Independence anniversary of the Republic of Guyana.

With action taking place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue, the tournament saw the “best female contestant” accolade going to Anya Insanally, and Shamar Francis being adjudged the “best male contestant”.

For females, the 9-11 years’ kata top-three placement was as follows: Anya Insanally, Amara Nandan and Chelsea Benjamin in that order. Insanally also prevailed in the kumite exercise, while Anaaya Jain and Oshana Quamina placed sec-

ond and third respectively.

In the male 12-14 years’ kata exercise, Shamar Francis, Luke Seabra and Rohit Isri dominated; while the 45kg kumite exercise was dominated by Shamar Francis, Jamar Pile and Nakshatra Persaud.

Head of the Guyana Karate College (GKC), Sensei Jeffery Wong, in an interview with Guyana Times Sport, said, “We from the Guyana Karate College and Sensei Lawrence, who is a family dojo under the GKC, have combined to host the tournament under (auspices of) the Guyana Karate Federation (GKF). I must say that we are both proud of the 68 participating students, as this is the first time they have gone into any national karate competition. That was a good opportunity for them, and that is preparing them for the Caribbean Cup

Championship in August.”

Top female performer Anya Insanally, invited to comment after her performance, declared herself very proud of her achievements and ecstatic about the competition in August, wherein she is optimistic of emerging victorious.

Also offering comment was Sensei Lawrence Lowe, who said that while he is proud of the participating students, there is always room for improvement. He opined that the tournament offers excellent opportunity for young students to participate.

Balbinder Shivpersaud receiving a trophy for his 50

Anya Insanally was adjudged the best female contestant for the 9-11 years’ kata and kumite exercises

crease, and the Guyanese pair put together a second-wicket partnership of 114 as they frustrated the Eagles’ bowlers.

Eventually Shivpersaud fell for a well-played 54, which included 9 boundaries and one maximum; but Dhanpaul continued his aerial assault on the Eagles’ bowling, in the process forming small but aggressive partnerships.

He was finally bowled for a well-played 117, made

they were able to accumulate only 213-9 in their allotted overs.

Top scoring in a losing cause, Jerry and Sharaz Khan registered 67 and 38 respectively, the Eagles being decimated by Dhanpaul and Anil Sookdeo who each returned figures of 3-22.

Dhanpaul was adjudged man of the match for his allround performance of 117 runs scored and 3 wickets being taken for 22 runs.

guyanatimesgy.com

tuesday, june 11, 2019

MACORP

23

Golden Jags

to support LGC as they construct driving range

to play friendly against Haiti today

The Golden Jaguars’ goalkeepers’ session being conducted at the first practice in Costa Rica

A

MACORP CEO Guillermo Escarraga

By Jemima Holmes

A

corporate entity is to be admired for forging a partnership with any sport or association in order to improve the lot of that association; and a company that sticks by its partners throughout whatever hardships either party faces, even as it continuously implements ways to improve its partner’s facilities and attract persons to its partner’s sporting discipline, is entirely worthy of fulsome admiration.

Such accolades should readily be given to the Machinery Corporation of Guyana Limited (MACORP), which continues to be a linchpin for the Lusignan Golf Club (LGC).

Time there was when heavy rainfall would shut down all activities at the Lusignan Golf Course, rendering the greens unplayable during the earlier months of the year.

At one point the course was under sixteen inches of water, and the LCG management had nobody to turn to.

During the period December 2017 to January 2018, MACORP, then under the stewardship of former CEO Jorge Medina, undertook the Herculean task of improving the drainage at the LCG while bettering the grounds. Thus several pieces of machinery and a Caterpillar Excavator were dedicated by MACORP to this task.

MACORP has since hosted several major tournaments at the LCG, and the next collaborative venture between the entities will ensure that younger players are attracted to the course, while the more experienced campaigners are given a better facility in which to practice.

“We’re working right now on a driving range. This is a facility for people to come and practice; and that’s going

to be a really big boost to the golf course, because we’re going to have people coming in to learn the game and to be able to do so in an appropriate environment,” MACORP CEO Guillermo Escarraga has disclosed to Guyana Times Sport.

A driving range is an area separate from the 9-hole course; it if often used as a place to teach the game, or even as a facility wherein experienced players can practise their strokes. With such a facility, the quality of the LGC would not only be improved, but – as per the hope of MACORP -- the facility would be used as a tool to attract and train young golfers from schools and universities.

“We want to see golf grow in Guyana. It’s a great game, and it’s a great way to grow and develop; and we want more youngsters to come and enjoy the golf course,” Escarraga said as he signalled the intention to attract younger players to the sport.

According to the MACORP CEO, one can expect to see the project being implemented in the near future.

“Before, we didn’t have that facility, and we’re looking at putting that together very soon,” Escarraga stated.

The partnership between the LGC and MACORP is one fraught with the potential to transform the 9-hole course to a state-of-the-art facility that each member of the family can enjoy, from senior adult to the youngest child.

“You’re going to see some development already in place; and, going forward, we want to add more facilities to the golf course. We want it to be a family place, where people can come with their kids and have a good time,” Escarraga revealed, hinting at continued partnerships with the Lusignan Golf Club.

week ahead of their CONCACAF Gold Cup debut, Guyana’s senior football team, the ‘Golden Jaguars’, have arrived in Costa Rica to play their second and final friendly international match – which is intended to fine-tune their preparations ahead of their historic appearance at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the USA next Tuesday.

Led by Head Coach Michael Johnson and his Technical staff, the Golden Jaguars commenced an important period of encampment, designed to ensure the team is properly prepared and peaking in time for its ‘Group D’ matches against the USA, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

Team bonding has been getting better by the minute, and following their first match against Bermuda, on Thursday last in Bermuda, Team Guyana made a long journey to Costa Rica, arriving in the wee hours of

Sunday.

The first training session was held on Sunday afternoon at the CAR Turrucares Playfield in San Jose.

Johnson informed that despite just getting a few hours’ rest, everyone is fit and well, and the session was satisfactory. “We had to do something today. We knew the lads were tired, but we knew we had to do something, bearing in mind that we have a game in 48 hours. So yes, it was a long journey; but we got some good work in, a bit on how we want to play defensively without the ball. So it was a good session, all in all. Players have enjoyed it, and now we are looking forward to the other training sessions,” Johnson detailed.

Touching a bit on team bonding, Johnson said it is getting better as the days go by.

“I think the most important thing we see in camp is the unity. I’m not

with all this local-based and international-based; what I’ve seen over the last week coming together is a unified group, a group that interacts well no matter where they’re from. We all pull on the same shirt to play for one common cause, and that’s for Guyana,” he declared.

Come the Haiti game, Johnson said, they are looking to see improvements on a collective scale. He reminded that it is not about the result at this juncture of preparations.

“If it were about the result, I’d play the strongest team; I’d play everybody where they should be playing. But for us it‘s about learning, and trying to keep something back and just making sure that the players are taking on board all the information we are giving them. The journey continues!” he said.

The friendly is expected to kickoff at 12:00hrs or 10:00hrs, Costa Rica time.

South Africa, West Indies

split points after abandonment

S

outh Africa took on West Indies in Southampton, but three games, while South Africa finally have a point it was rain that prevailed, with the match beto their name, having lost three games on the trot ing abandoned at 4:15 pm, heading in to this encounter. It is still theoretinearly six hours after rain cally possible for South Africa to resurrect their had first arrived. Only World Cup campaign, but it would be a mirac7.3 overs of play ulous comeback. were possible in They may, perhaps, take some heart from the South history: Pakistan’s cup-winning campaign in Africa’s 1992 started in similarly disastrous circuminnings. stances, with three losses and a no-result in B o t h their first five games. If South Africa can win t e a m s their next match, against Afghanistan in picked up Cardiff on Saturday, they will be in exacta point each. ly the same position Pakistan were West Indies in back in 1992. As they look had put South Africa in for this remarkable turnto bat under leaden skies, and around, South Africa will at - as has been the case in their previhave one of their premier ous two outings - it didn’t take long for bowlers back, with Faf du West Indies to strike with the new ball.

Plessis saying that Lungi Bowling a bruising length, Sheldon Ngidi is in contention for Cottrell got Hashim Amla to glove one their next game against to Chris Gayle at first slip in his second Afghanistan. over and then strangled Aiden Markram West Indies will stay down the leg side - again flicking the in Southampton for their glove - in the seventh over. next match, against South Africa were wobbling precarithe hosts England on ously at 28 for 2, but almost immediateFriday. Despite a midly afterwards the heavens opened and dling position on the the players were forced off from the field. points table they, too, Despite the Hover Cover over the pitch and have a couple of inSuper Soppers patrolling the square, condijury worries, with tions never improved enough to allow play Andre Russell havto resume. ing sat this game out That means that West Indies are now with sore knees. (ESPN cricinfo) Sheldon Cottrell provided the early fifth on the table, with three points from breakthrough for West Indies

tuesday, june 11, 2019

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

guyanatimesgy.com

Golden Jags to play friendly against Haiti today

Page 23

South Africa, West Indies

split points after

abandonment

MACORP to support LGC as they construct driving range Page 23

LGC President Aleem Hussain making a point in the presence of MACORP CEO Guillermo Escarraga

Page 23 Sheldon Cottrell provided the early breakthrough for West Indies

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