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Opposition ups call for AG Williams to apologise to Justice Holder ISSUE NO. 341

WEEK ENDING April 16, 2017

See story on page 3

‌during debate on controversial SARA Bill

Staff members of the One Guyana Media Group, and (little Sarah), participated in the company's Easter Hat and Fashion Show on Thursday.

The event was held at the company's Headquarters at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown

NY-based Guyanese Arya Samaj observes Foundation Day Page 42

Biggest Party in Sport returns to USA Page 51

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Opposition ups call for AG Williams to apologise to Justice Holder …as debate on controversial SARA Bill commences

K

icking off the debate on the controversial State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Bill, in the National Assembly on Thursday, was Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams.

However, on standing to speak, the AG faced calls by Opposition Parliamentarians for him to apologise to Justice Franklin Holder – the judge involved in Williams’ latest public debacle.

“Apologise to Holder!

Apologise to Holder! were the chants from the Opposition benches.

The Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had previously suggested that Williams be removed from his post or shuffled off to another Ministry for his inappropriate remarks against a High Court Judge.

“If the President’s in-

vestigations find that he [AG] did make those comments to a judge then it’s the President that has to discipline him. The President can do so by removing him from office, by doing what they have done before -to send, to reshuffle to another ministry – maybe the Ministry of Social Cohesion,” Jagdeo had said.

Williams’ incident occurred during the ongoing trial of Carvil Duncan, who had moved to the court to block the work of a presidential tribunal that was set up to determine whether he should be removed from his post as Chairman of the Public Service Commission in light of his criminal charges.

Representing Duncan was Attorney-at-law and former Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, while the current AG Williams was represent-

Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams

ing the state.

Following an exchange between the Attorney General and the High Court Judge on March 23, Justice Franklyn Holder stormed out of the courtroom without adjourning the matter before him.

The AG was quoted as having said, “I could say what I want to say and however I want to say it, I have always been like that” and “…The last

Magistrate who did that to me was later found dead.”

Williams has since said among other things that his statements were taken out of context and blamed Nandlall- who had issued a statement detailing his outburstfor what happened in court.

“Nandlall was the one who caused the problem…we can’t allow Nandlall to create this problem and leave it unresolved. The Judge and I will resolve this issue,” Williams insisted.

In fact, the Attorney General defended his actions and his statements.

“Everything I dealt with in that short time was to disabuse the learned Judge’s mind that his interpretation was not (so),” he stated.

Williams believed that the Judge fell prey to “transferred frustration” as a result of

Nandlall’s “barracking” of nearly three hours.

Justice holder in a letter of complaint to the Chancellor (ag) however, laid blame squarely at the feet of Williams whose behaviour he said was “insulting, disrespectful and calculated to scandalise and lower the authority of the Court in the face of the Court.”

The High Court Judge said he “took umbrage to his [Williams’] tone and what he was insinuating, which was in effect that the court was being selective in recording the evidence”.

The Judge said Williams responded by saying that the last person who told him what he should not say was a Magistrate and he was now dead.

According to Justice Holder “Mr. William’s behavior was highly contemptuous and deserving of him being cited

for contempt in the face of the Court. Instead of doing so at that moment, I chose to leave the Bench.”

He continued “however, it does not mean that Mr. Williams’ behavior should go unattended.

He is not only a Senior Counsel, he is also the Attorney General and leader of the Bar. His behaviour begs the question, whether he is respectful and aware of the functions and duties that attend these offices.”

Williams when questioned as to whether he would make an apology, told media operatives “I don’t know about apology.”

Justice Holder had formally complained to the Chancellor of the Judiciary that he abruptly walked out of the courtroom last Thursday as a result of statements made by the Attorney General.

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EDITORIAL

The national discourse on Constitutional reform

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ith a national discourse hopefully opening up on constitutional reform in Guyana, against a background of accusations of subversion of our Judiciary for political ends by the Executive, the mechanism of “separation of powers” needs to be relooked at in general, and in reference to the Judiciary, in particular.

While the doctrine was first enunciated in the middle of the 18th Century by the Frenchman Montesquieu, it was given life in the first written Constitution of a nation – that of the 13 colonies that rebelled against the tyranny of British rule and established the United States of America. The gist of the concept is simple but profound in its implications. Since the powers of the Leviathan state can be abused when it is controlled by one person or a group, Montesquieu proposed that power could be functionally divided among Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the government. This allocation of powers would be described in the Constitution – the supreme law of the land.

The Executive would be responsible for running the government, the Legislature to enact laws and the Judiciary to ensure those laws are not transgressed by the citizenry and the Constitution not violated by the other two co-equal branches.

Because “men are not angels”, in the words of one of the framers of the American Constitution, incumbents always try to increase their powers especially where the lines between the branches of government are not watertight.

For instance, since the Judiciary is the arbiter of the Constitution and, therefore, the guardians of the boundaries of power in the other two branches, citizens have to be very vigilant to ensure that neither of those branches hobble or control the Judiciary when they exercise their power of judicial review. It is for this purpose that, for instance, the salaries of the Judiciary must be independent of Executive control: even judicial mouths may be muzzled by the hands that feed them.

Another way in which the Executive may try to influence judicial decisions is by ensuring the Bench is packed with individuals who they are comfortable with. To lessen this eventuality, in Guyana, Judges are supposed to be nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and then appointed by the President. If, however, the President has some concerns about the nominees, he can return the list to the JSC for reconsideration, but if it returns the list, the President has to either approve the nominees or sit on the list. In the latter case, as is presently the case in Guyana, a crisis can develop in the Judiciary since their ranks can become decimated to such an extent that justice cannot be served in the courts.

In the case of the top two judicial officers – the Chancellor and the Chief Justice, there has to be agreement between the President and the Opposition Leader. If, however, there is no such agreement – as has been the case in Guyana for more than a decade – the President can make “acting appointments” of persons who satisfy his inclinations or criteria. This situation is not very healthy for the Judiciary since citizens may see the incumbents as being compromised because their position is totally dependent on the President.

Another tack has been a growing tendency for the Executive to create administrative tribunals that are courts in all but name – but do not answer to judicial authority excepting in some instances where judicial review may be available. Even though there are several devices to strengthen independence of tribunals, in reality, the latter is rarely achieved.

Another challenge is raised when a legislature, as in Guyana, is a creature of the Executive since the party controlling the two branches are the same. A strong and independent Judiciary is even more vital here. Such legislatures may also violate the separation of powers doctrine when they enact very narrowly crafted legislation that seeks to penalise specific groups of persons. It is with good reason these are dubbed “ad hominum” laws. SARU?

These models came out to participate in the 'Afternoon Delight - Tea Party and Fashion Show' which was held at the new New Thriving Restaurant at Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD). (Carl Croker photo)

Child rights activist calls for child sexual abuse cases to be expedited C

ommissioner on the Child Rights Commission, Nicole Cole wants to see child abuse cases move expeditiously through the justice system.

Cole told Guyana Times International in an exclusive interview on Sunday that cases concerning a child complainant in sexual abuse matters particularly, should be heard within a reasonable time.

“When these cases are delayed, often for years, those children are re-victimised by not being able to put the matter behind them, and by having to rehash the facts many years later,” she insisted.

Cole pointed out that there were cases where young children were sexually abused by adults and after subsequent adjournments and years passing, these minors were unable to give the necessary details, or agree not to give evidence, which often times resulted in these matters being dismissed.

Cole pointed to a recent case involving a pastor, who was convicted in April 2017 for raping a six-year-old girl. The incident took place between June 1 and June 30, 2007.

That matter took almost 10 years before a verdict was reached.

The child rights activist said too that many cases involving children who die as a result of sexual abuse have been dismissed for various reasons and this was chiefly because of lack of education and resources.

Cole pointed specifically to another case where a teen was found not guilty of sodomising and murdering his two-year-old niece nearly three years ago at Haslington, East Coast Demerara.

The then 15-year-old had been arrested by the Police after it was established that the dead toddler had been in his sole care for about an hour before her death.

According to a post-mortem examination, the child died as a result of haemorrhage and shock from multiple abdominal injuries and was subjected to anal penetration. The abdominal trauma was a result of the anal penetration, which caused massive internal injuries to the spleen, liver and anus.

“I am calling for a Kimani Law, which will see the expedition of child sexual abuse cases….case of child sexual abuse is taking too long in the system. These are children, who are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, and they have to wait five to 10 years,” she lamented.

While explaining that the Social Protection Ministry has moved to establish a Sexual and Domestic Violence Unit, and reconstituted the Sexual Violence Task Force, Cole said one of the bugbears in the fight

Nicole Cole

against child sexual abuse remained the lack of resources.

She told this publication that the Police must also make optimum use of the forensic laboratory and all hospitals should keep a stock of rape kits at all times.

“There is a massive need to have education across the board. And this is not just education whereby you have PowerPoint and a screen. Educating children also to tell when they are touched inappropriately, so that steps could be taken to prevent sexual abuse.”

Under the previous sexual offences legislation, a preliminary inquiry would be held in the magistrates’ court, followed by a trial by judge and jury in the High Court if the Magistrate found that there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. This process took one to five years and was one of the compelling reasons for enactment of a new legislation in 2010.

Several years later, many sexual assault victims are still waiting to have their preliminary inquiries completed. In some cases, preliminary inquiries that were almost completed had to be re-started as presiding Magistrates were transferred to another court, resigned or otherwise left the bench.

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Conflict arises over SARU’s role in Armed bandits rob paint company high-profile tax-related investigations employees T

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wo employees attached to Automotive Arts on Croal Street, Georgetown were on Wednesday relieved of a bag containing close to G$1 million in cash by two armed men. The incident occurred just after 13:00h.

The workers, according to reports, had just returned from a commercial bank and as they exited their motor car, a black car pulled up alongside them and stopped. As the black car came to a halt, one man who was carrying a hand gun exited and grabbed the bag that contained the money.

The gunman then reportedly discharged a round into the air and hurriedly entered the waiting motor car, which fled the scene. By this time, several persons from within the

building rushed out and immediately summoned the Police.

An official of the paint company told media operatives that two workers went to the bank to collect “change money” and confirmed that it was less than G$1 million. A Police source told this newspaper that they were up to late Wednesday evening reviewing the surveillance footage captured by the business place.

He noted that the man who exited the getaway car was not wearing a mask and the Police would check their database to see if there was a match.

The manager of the company was happy no one was hurt during the robbery, but related that the two employees were traumatised.

he State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) has been accused of taking over the functions of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) with its ongoing moves to carry out investigations into the tax operations of businesses in the city.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday had said that the Unit, which was yet to have its bill passed in the National Assembly, has been acting illegally as it has sent a list of names of persons building high-rise structures in the country to the GRA. But questioned about this on Wednesday, SARU’s Head, Dr Clive Thomas denied that the Unit has been utilising the services of the GRA. He said SARU itself has been carrying out its own investigations in the city. He, however, noted that the body could not do anything until the SARU Bill was passed in the National Assembly.

“We have gone around the city to identify possible irregular activities of money laundering activities for which we might be able to recover taxes that people might not have paid because their reporting might not have indicated any income at the level to warrant the purchase of these buildings.

We have not moved any further action on it, because we need a bill before the action,” he told Guyana Times International in an invited comment on Wednesday.

Additionally, it was previously reported that SARU Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aubrey Heath-Retemyer had said that

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

Head of SARU, Professor Clive Thomas

SARU was seeking to have the Deeds Registry hand over records to determine the owners of lands and business registration.

“We repeatedly went to the Deeds Registry regarding a particularly mysterious high-rise building in the city of Georgetown and they were pathetic, they just couldn’t tell us anything much.

We had to end up using a different approach,” Heath-Retemyer was quoted as saying.

The Opposition Leader said the SARU was targeting the owners of the more than 100 high-rise buildings it has on record in the city. He said a list has been sent to the GRA. Back in January, Professor Thomas had indicated that the agency was in the process of mapping all the high-rise buildings, with the aim of investigating their owners for tax evasion and money laundering.

Thomas reportedly wanted to ensure that the money used to construct the buildings was clean, that the buildings were not shell companies, that the owners were paying their taxes, that the buildings were not being used as a conduit for corrupt activities, and even that the land was lawfully obtained.

Dr Thomas has contended that there was an underground economy in Guyana, and Government is hell-bent on identifying the individuals involved.

He said once SARU got its legal framework, it would spare no time in going after these individuals.

Jagdeo had, however, said that there was no logic for such actions by the Unit.

“What’s the logic? Let’s assume you have one five-storey building and ancontinued on page 8 other

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Drug shortages should not be Education is now looked at as a political problem significantly more Dear Editor, The shortage of drugs and medical supplies is a matter of life and death, and not just a political problem, as some may want to believe. (Earlier this week), we at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition were confronted with this reality in a very direct way.

Two children, juvenile diabetics (Type 1, diabetics who have been on insulin all their lives, and who will always be on insulin) travelled with their mother from Lima Sands, Essequibo Coast to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), only to be told that no insulin was available. They turned for help at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, and requested that we highlight their case.

They further explained that, while at the hospital, they were informed by staff of the GPHC that insulin would be available in another four weeks (by May 8th 2017), their next clinic date.

Herein lies the problem: After a G$605 million purchase of drugs and medical supplies by the GPHC, and the ensuing scandal of this award going to ANSA McAL without any proper procurement process, a vital drug like 70/30 insulin, needed to ensure the health of our citizens, is not available at our foremost health institution in Guyana.

We sought to verify, through different sources, the state of affairs, and we have concrete evidence to substantiate this claim. There was no insulin in the pharmacy or at the hospital’s bond.

We can further confirm that there was no insulin at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, the West Demerara Regional Hospital, or any of the hospitals in the county of Berbice.

Thankfully, public-spirited citizens who were present at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition financially supported the purchase

of this essential drug for the children, going the extra mile by searching various private pharmacies in Georgetown to make the purchase (this was not a case of a beggar trying to dupe people or get money, so no excuses will be accepted).

The question is: What will happen to the hundreds — if not thousands — of Guyanese who suffer from this chronic non-communicable disease that requires daily supply of insulin and other medications?

The Ministers of Public Health should stop making excuses, finding scapegoats and blaming their predecessors and other junior staff for this prevailing incompetence.

Penalising staff, such as sending them on administrative leave, having police investigate for theft, and conducting a robust public relations stunt are insufficient actions, and will not deflect the nation’s attention away from the major

drug shortage that exists in our health care system. What a Shame!

The APNU/AFC promised the Guyanese people the ‘good life’. Is this the ‘good life’ — causing this family to expend scarce resources to travel from the Essequibo Coast to Georgetown to obtain this service which should have been provided in the county of Essequibo itself? This speaks volumes to the level of maladministration that is taking place in our country.

It is our sincere hope that by highlighting the plight of this family, action will be taken to ensure that the nation gets value for money. Is it unreasonable to conclude that after spending G$605 million dollars, we perhaps only got G$250 million worth of drugs and medical supplies? Answers are urgently needed.

Yours faithfully, Bishop Juan Edghill

A guideline for Minister Gaskin Dear Editor, The recent article “No guidelines in place to avoid abuse – Gaskin” illustrates a lot of the problems that the Coalition Government has gotten itself and Guyana into with the fantasies it promulgated to the public about billions of dollars of corruption in the way Guyana had been grown and developed and jobs created during the twenty-three years of PPP/C in office.

Minister Gaskin recognizes an important role for “Public-PrivatePartnerships” but laments that there are no guidelines to avoid abuse.

Were it not for he and his Government’s propaganda abuse of the PPP/C Administration, he might have recognized guidelines, concerns and achievements in three P-P-P projects: the fully completed Berbice River Bridge, the not fully complete Marriott Hotel, and the ready-to-go Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project which they vetoed.

If the Minister and his colleagues were to give themselves

to earnest study, rather than having their imaginations run amok in fantasies of corruption, they could learn a lot, including the important essential role of the much aligned Mr W. Brassington and PU/NICIL in the growth and development which we managed to achieve.

PU/NICIL continually sought to find ways to put together old, unused, no longer profitable Government-owned properties and other resources (including people -released past employees) with other non-government resources − money, new technologies and capabilities, expert and experienced persons, markets — to create a new enterprise that has a great likelihood to pay its way.

Yes, not everything turns out right/successful. Indeed, I read that it would be a good score when 10 out of every 100 projects, initially earnestly pursued, studied, reappraised, and reconsidered in stages in greater and greater depth to eventual implementation, were to be successful.

Yes, knowledge of what we

should know is never complete.

We try to minimize personal judgments. In any case, no one knows how things would be in the future.

Minister Gaskin and his colleagues have tied their own hands in their fantasy charges of billions of dollars of annual corruption against us, PPP/C. There is an old Guyanese proverb that says, “Little pig ask mama pig how come she mouth so long, and mama pig replied, ‘You will find out’.”

Minster Gaskin and his colleagues are finding out that they could get little done without opening themselves to the same fantasy charges with which they have been smearing us. They have paralyzed themselves, the private sector – local, diaspora and foreign, and our economy. It is for them to free themselves and our economy, and in doing so, ensure that there are no actions that present real charges of corruption. They have not been doing so well.

Yours truly, Samuel A A Hinds Former Prime Minister and Former President

expensive and harder to access in Guyana

Dear Editor, I am appalled to learn that the tuition fees for University of Guyana (UG) students will increase by 35 per cent over the coming three years. This is yet another assault on education.

Since the beginning of the Governments’ term, there has been an unrelenting attack on education in Guyana. In less than two years, education is now significantly more expensive and harder to access. This goes against the utterances of promotion of education and, instead, aims at reducing the country’s already limited human capital.

This assault has its genesis upon the coalition Government’s ascent to public office, when the initiative which provided cash grants for student across the country were eliminated. Through the elimination of this subsidy, the Government has increased the burdens on parents and this has possibly forced some to drop out of school.

Unlike the Ministers of Government who earn exorbitantly and gave themselves a humungous increase, ten thousand dollars mean a lot for many families in the country. If the Government was aware of the reality, they would understand.

After the cash grants were discontinued, the next and most vicious assault to date came in the form of VAT on education .

This is the assault that has consumed the news since the petty bourgeoisie was most affected. The middle class generally gets what it wants but if the middle class had been as affected by the loss of the cash grants as the lower classes were, the outcome would have been significantly different.

However, it’s not just middle class people that

are affected. Many families in Guyana make significant effort for their children to receive a better education, as highlighted by a private school operator; some students arrive in BMWs while many others arrive on foot.

Then came the latest attack on education, a 35 per cent fee raise on UG over the coming three years. As it stands, many students already find it difficult to amass the current tuition fee.

The 35 per cent increase will surely cripple them.

There are many students at UG who are from rural areas in the country. This has the effect of added burdens on the parents of these students who would have sacrificed meals and basic amenities in a concerted effort just to see their children pursue higher education; how can one justify this unconscionable act?

We are faced with a Government that is making education access and affordability considerably more expensive at every possible opportunity. And Guyana is a country that is in dire need of education. As such, it should be the reverse with government subsidising the sector more. Fees at the University of Guyana should be used as a tool to rectify the imbalance between social and natural science at UG. More than two-thirds of students at UG are in the social sciences; the reverse should hold whereby the fees should be used to correct this misallocation of human resources rather than to crowd out the poor. We plead with the Government to reverse these policies and let education be a human right and not a luxury for the wealthy, or a distant dream for the proletariat.

Sincerely, Stephen Kissoon

The judiciary is supposed to be an independent arm of the State Dear Editor, It is ironic that the conduct of the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs in Justice Holder’s Court took place during the hearing of the suspension of the holder of an independent constitutional office by the President

acting on the advice of his next in command, Prime Minister Moses Nagamoottoo.

It is public knowledge that the President allegedly called in Carvil Duncan, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, a member of the Judicial Service Commission

and the Police Service Commission. He admitted demanding his resignation from these commissions, asserting at the same time that he did not want blood spilled upon his carpet.

It is unknown if Justice Holder’s Court is fitted with carpet

but the accusations/ complaints made by him and the AttorneyGeneral and Minister of Legal Affairs seems to have left one of them with a bloodied nose.

Seeking the intervention of the President has certainly exposed the Judiciary as a whole

as a cowering arm of the State in violation of the concept of the separation of powers.

The judiciary is supposed to be an independent arm of the State and the suspension of an office Holder, i.e. Duncan, may explain justly the action of the Chancellor (ag).

She may be excused for thinking that if he can be suspended she can suffer the same fate if the judges were to sanction the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.

Sincerely, Dr Roger Luncheon

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

“It was a waste of time”

…Ram says of meeting with Govt officials regarding VAT on private education

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ocial activist and Attorney-atLaw Christopher Ram has accused the Government of giving parents a raw deal on the recent Value Added Tax (VAT) on education consultation, and it was a total waste of time. Ram, who joined stakeholders in another protest held outside the Education Ministry’s Brickdam office on Wednesday, said the people who attended felt disrespected.

The outspoken lawyer told Guyana Times International that he had no hope that the Government would make any changes even though it promised to review the policy in 2018.

Reflecting on what took place at the consultation held at the

National Cultural Centre on Friday, April 7, Ram said that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo came with a prepared speech and a final decision. “It was an abuse and an insult to the parents, and everybody who attended there and felt that…look we were invited to a genuine consultation. That we would be listened to and that the matter would be discussed dispassionately at Cabinet,” he opined.

Ram maintains that the Government was too quick to implement VAT on education without researching the impact and addressing the many concerns of those likely to be affected.

“This is seen as a political thing. We can’t afford to be seen as weak.

That’s the test for this Government and that is regrettable. This is about children’s education. This should not be about political strength and political image,” he added.

Meanwhile, Director of Nations Incorporated, Dr Brian O’Toole told this newspaper his institution has already seen cases where students have dropped out primarily because of the increases caused by VAT. Dr O’Toole claims that 10 per cent of students pursuing studies under the Association of Business Executives (ABE) programmes have dropped out because they could not afford the increase.

“And what will happen to them? They are

Stakeholders has vowed to continue their protest

Social activist and Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram and Director of Nations Incorporated, Dr Brian O’Toole holding up placards at Wednesday’s protest

going to add to the ranks of the unemployed of Guyana. What a wonderful victory that is. Is that a victory?” he asserted.

The Nations Director also took issue with Nagamootoo’s prepared speech. O’Toole said that was the main reason people decided to walk out during his speech, because they were convinced that a decision against their favour was already made.

A student who attends Nation’s Sixth Form College, Othneil Lewis told this publication that while he has not dropped out of school yet, he did see that becoming a reality soon.

He spoke about the need

for Government to reconsider their policy, because Lewis claimed that his parents may no longer be able to afford to pay the extra school fees.

Lewis alluded to the fact that he was not the only one affected by this, because many parents continued to make sacrifices to send their children to a private educational institution, where the teaching and training were of a higher standard.

Private education became subject to VAT on February 1 as a measure of the 2017 National Budget. However, there has been public outcry against the measure, including protests organ-

ised by private schools.

A petition which garnered close to 2000 signatures was also sent to Government.

Opposition Leader and former President Bharrat Jagdeo has condemned this approach by the Government, noting that it was a demonstration that the Administration lacked clear vision on the education sector.

Many other people and institutions have come out criticising Government over its decision to charge VAT on education – a policy that is not practised anywhere else in the world which strives for economic betterment.

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Opposition says willing to participate in discussion on replacement for Carter Formula

Jimmy Carter

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n wake of suggestions that the Carter Formula has outlived its usefulness, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said he was willing to participate in meaningful discussions to develop a replacement.

A former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of Jamaica compiled a report on the need for Guyana to redraft and modernise its electoral laws.

In that report, he argued that the Carter Formula was outdated and there was need for a new process.

Prompted for his views on such a contention, Jagdeo told reporters that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was open to partaking in discussions to bring about reforms.

Jagdeo added that any such changes would require constitutional reform, but given Government’s approach, such a process seemed far from becoming a reality.

“In this climate, it seems very difficult to predict that we will have those any time before the next elections,” Jagdeo observed.

Carter Formula

Guyana’s 1980 Constitution was amended to incorporate the Carter Formula, which was proposed by the Carter Centre,

for the fair selection of the Chairman and Commissioners of GECOM. The Formula outlined that the Opposition Leader submit a list of six nominees for the President’s consideration for the post of GECOM Chair.

The qualifications of the Chairman were also expanded to include “any other fit and proper person” in addition to ‘Judge-type’ individuals.

After the 1992 elections, this temporary amendment to the Constitution lapsed.

However, for the Local Government Elections in 1994, the Constitution was then again temporarily amended, incorporating the Carter Formula for the purposes of the Local Government Elections, with one addendum: the list of names must not be “unacceptable” to the President.

The amended Carter Formula was used again in the 1997 elections, with the Constitution again being amended in 1995, capturing the Formula.

During the 19992001 constitutional reform process, the Carter Formula was eventually incorporated permanently into Article 161 of the Constitution by Act Number Two of 2000.

The

Change

report,

ti-

tled “Final Report on Redrafting and Modernising the Electoral Laws of Guyana”, said the erosion of confidence in GECOM is in part due to the failure of the CarterPrice Formula to enable decisions to be taken on a timely basis and with a measure of consensus.

The report proposed the adaptation of an independent Electoral Management Body (EMB), which would fix all the issues which the Carter-Price Formula fails to address.

The report said that the EMB approach avoided party nominees as Commissioners, and instead used a participatory format that entailed three levels of screening before the names of independent individuals were submitted to the President for formal appointment.

Constitutional reform

Although the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) campaigned vociferously on the need for constitutional reform, it has seemingly lost interest in this process.

At least, this is according to former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, who penned his views in his weekly blog, “The Conversation Tree”.

The coalition had committed to the establishment of a Constitution Reform Committee with a mandate to complete consultations, draft amendments and present same to the National Assembly for approval within nine months.

So far, Government has appointed a committee headed by Attorney and former AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes to examine the process for constitutional reform. While the committee presented its report to Government almost a year ago, no progress has since been seen.

Conflict arises over SARU’s role in high-profile tax-related... from page 5

person have 50 one-storey building… he’s going to map the one five-storey building and you’re subjected to investigation and another person has 50 properties around the city, but you won’t be going after that person. What’s the logic?” he highlighted.

He continued, “These loose-mouthed people are damaging our economy”, referring to Dr Thomas. “The business community and ordinary people operate on Government signals. If the entire Government speaks as if it hates investment and investors,

and if you put up a building, you’ll be subjected to a whole range of scrutiny by the Government, then investors are just going to withdraw; no one will want to invest,” Jagdeo explained. The ordinary man also will respond in accordance – by withholding their money.

Enmore NDC threatens legal action if seized computers not returned

The Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) office at Enmore, East Coast Demerara

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ttorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall, who has been detained by the Enmore Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), wrote the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) on Tuesday requesting that the agency return several computer systems that were confiscated last week.

It was reported that on Thursday last, a group of agents attached to SARU went down to the Enmore NDC and took away 15 desktop computers and eight backup power packs without informing officials there.

However, when contacted that evening, SARU Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Major (Rtd) Aubrey HeathRetemyer explained to Guyana Times International that his agency had merely gone to render assistance to the E-Governance Department, which went to retrieve the computer systems after it was informed by SARU that the NDC wanted to “get rid” of them.

“We got information that these computers were there and that they were not in use and that some people on the NDC were about to get rid of them…We simply alert-

ed E-Governance who asked for us to accompany them, so some people went from my unit with E-Governance, collect the computers and give them to E-Governance, who has them,” the SARU Head stated.

However, Enmore NDC Vice Chairman Iqbal Dawud in a subsequent statement the following day denied that there was any “such plot”, adding that “nothing clandestine or unlawful was intended”.

He went on to explain that the computers, which were the property of the NDC, were outdated and most of them were malfunctioning; as such, a decision was taken by the Council to have the computers sold, if possible, and replaced with a new complement of systems so that the community can continue to benefit from their use.

“This decision was made at a public statutory meeting of the NDC and recorded in the minutes. Therefore, there was nothing sinister, secretive or illegal about it as has been suggested by the Government,” Dawud had pointed out.

To this end, the NDC retained Attorney Nandlall to act on its behalf in the matter.

Nandlall outlined in the legal letter addressed to SARU’s CEO that the actions of the SARU officers were “unlawful”.

“I have noted that in the press you have admitted knowledge of and responsibility for this operation and, therefore, I afflict you with knowledge of the current location of these equipment. I am to inform you that the aforesaid actions of your subordinates are not only authoritarian but are unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional and amount to misfeasance in public office,” the Attorney said in the letter.

In the circumstances, Nandlall warned that legal action would be taken if SARU failed to return the computer systems to the NDC. “I hereby demand that you return the aforementioned equipment to my client at the location from which they were taken, within seven days from the date hereof; if you fail to do so, my client will be advised to institute legal proceedings against the State and possibly, private criminal charges against each of the officers who were part of the aforementioned unlawful and criminal exercise,” the lawyer detailed in the letter to the SARU Head.

Furthermore, Nandlall reminded Heath-Retemyer in the letter of his (Nandlall’s) constant public condemnation of the pretention

by SARU officers to be law enforcement officers of the State, pretending to exercise law enforcement powers. This continued masquerade, he said, is utterly unlawful.

Guyana bauxite review report to be completed by May

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he review of the bauxite industry, which was commissioned last year in observance of its centennial, is set to end soon.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, during a recent outreach in Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice), said the report on the review was expected to be completed before the end of May. “We are currently reviewing the industry to see where our reserves are and the future of the industry,” the Minister said. The review also “includes a decision as to whether or not we should have another alumina plant in the country”.

Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman

Minister Trotman said the review was being conducted by Lance Carberry and Sylvester Carmichael, two veterans within the industry.

The Government is already considering fuelling the alumina plant

with the natural gas that has been found, along with oil, in the Stabroek Block offshore Essequibo.

Guyana celebrated 100 years of bauxite mining in October 2016.

There are two bauxite-producing companies in Guyana, Bosai and Rusal.

The decreased world demand for the mineral prompted the Government to carry out the review of the industry. According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, the review is also a manifesto promise of the Administration. It will help to determine the future plans for the industry.

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Berbice man in Several issues affecting Linden jealous rage sets Hospital Complex …Parliamentary Sectoral Committee hears during visit home on fire – wife, 3 children homeless

Sarita Sewindra

Seenarine Cyril

fire believed to be an act of arson committed by a husband in a jealous rage destroyed a house at Rose Hall Town, Berbice on Monday evening.

Five persons are now homeless, including the man’s wife and three children.

Reports are that the fisherman was seen going into the house moments before flames were seen coming from the building at Lot 232 Mangrove Street, Reef, Rose Hall Town, Berbice.

Speaking with Guyana Times International, Sarita Sewindra, 26, said on Monday afternoon she lent a neighbour the family bicycle and about 15:30h her husband,

Seenarine Cyril, 36, wanted to use the bicycle. Upon realising that the bike had been lent to a villager, the man accused his wife of lending it to her male ‘friend’.

Reports are that Cyril accused his wife of infidelity and made several threats. According to Sewindra, she became afraid and took her three children – aged four, six and seven – out of the house to her mother who lives a street away.

Neighbours related that it was while the rest of the family were away that Cyril was seen going into the house, moments before flames were seen.

One unit from the Rose Hall Fire Service, along with a unit from

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continued on page 11

Canada, TT firms in lowincome housing drive, 120,000 houses to be built

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he signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Canada-based Wylde Orchid Design and Management Ltd and local firm Prime US International Ltd to construct 120,000 homes in T&T, is being seen as a solution to solving the 100,000-plus Housing Development Corporation (HDC) applicant waiting list.

Once constructed, the prices of these two and three bedroom homes will range from $650,000 to $2.5 million and cater specifically to 20,000 single parents and 10,000 senior citizens, while 50,000 will be used for the government distribution programme. The remaining 40,000 homes will be sold as high-end properties.

Construction of the first housing stock is expected to begin next February with distribution by year’s end.

The details of the MOU were revealed yesterday at a joint press conference by companies at Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s.

President and CEO of Wylde Orchid Designs and Management, Aneil Singh, said the MOA will be signed between both firms to kick start the housing developments in September.

Prime US International CEO Stephanie BonapartePrimus said they undertook a housing survey which showed senior citizens and single parents did not qualify for homes, while people who fell in the age bracket 18-25 were seldom provided funding to purchase a home.

“In looking at these problems, we decided to develop a housing programme to assist,” she said.

Giving details about the joint partnership, continued on page 21

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visit by the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services to the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) on Tuesday revealed several appalling issues, including drug shortages, a dysfunctional ECG machine, shortage of cutting edge needles, insufficient monitors, issues with sections of the roof, cracks in some parts of the building and the need for more dental staff.

The Committee – consisting of Opposition Members of Parliament Dr Vindhya Persaud, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo, and Indranie Chandarpal as well as Minister within the Communities Ministry Valerie Patterson and others – visited all sections of the medical institution to get a first-hand look at the conditions under which patients receive care and some of the challenges faced by staff.

LHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Farouk Riyasat and Medical Superintendent, Dr Steve Mark facilitated the tour of various wards. Over at the Hospital’s treatment bay, staff complained of a shortage of drugs and injectables, noting that patients have also complained of a lack of insulin as well as the unavailability and cost of some medications. At the pharmacy, the Chief Pharmacist pointed out that sometimes medications ordered were not received.

“Sometimes, you order and you don’t get what you order,” she told the Parliamentary Committee.

She added that the Hospital was promised an “emergency order” which was expected to be facilitated on Wednesday. According to the pharmacist, 89 types of drugs were said to be on the pharmacy’s mailing list. Of that number, 19 are critical medication. However, the chief pharmacist explained that in-house patients were the only ones who would benefit from the present supplies.

It was noted by Regional Health Officer Pansy Armstrong that only about G$8 million to G$11 million in emergency drugs money was allocated annually.

Some members of the Committee agreed that it was a small amount,

Dr Vindhya Persaud and the LHC CEO, Dr Farouk Riyasat in conversation at the facility

which may have contributed to the other hospitals in the Region being affected. At the Hospital’s laboratory, Senior Medical Technologist Melanie Sinclair stressed the need for the Microbial Department to be functional, as she noted that no cultures were being done. She said there was a room to facilitate this activity, but pointed to the absence of relevant staff. The staffer also stressed the need for microbiologists and technologists.

The CEO noted that Cuban microbiologists were expected, while others expressed an interest also in having local trained staff. According to Sinclair, the Department is more populated with medical technicians.

“We have equipment, but we don’t have any person who is trained to do it…We have few technologists,” she said.

In response, Dr Mahadeo said given the level of emergency cases, more staff was needed. The need for a backup biochemical machine was also highlighted, since it was noted that only one was present.

Additionally, the Committee was told of insufficient blood supplies despite blood drives at the Hospital.

Presently, Sinclair said there was a demand for O positive blood in Linden. Dr Mahadeo suggested that the LHC moved towards securing a blood coordinator.

At the X- ray department, staff asked for an ECG machine. Members of the Committee also made recommendations for a CT scan machine, owing to the available space and

staff. A local doctor also stressed the need for a printer and computerised system to enhance patients’ records.

Following the tour of the Hospital, Dr Persaud noted that the issue of drug shortages seemed to be chronic across the country, while indicating that there were issues which were peculiar to the LHC. She said that while some issues may not require major input, others may.

“In the areas where there were deficiencies and inadequacies like in terms of medication, equipment or any other area that was raised, it would be very good if the Parliament Office can have substantiating documentation…because at the end of the day, what we hope is that you would benefit more,” she said.

Dr Persaud said parliamentary staff would be writing to the institution soon and a draft report would be prepared. She also noted the similarities at hospitals visited. “There are certain medications that are consistently absent in the system. Diabetic and hypertensive medication in particular and those are the largest populations we have to deal with. So it’s challenging and a bit frustrating for people in the system.” Meanwhile, Dr Mahadeo said so far the LHC was the best kept of the three hospitals visited so far.

CEO Riyasat also pointed out plans to expand and include new services such as dialysis and chemotherapy services for this year, noting that currently dialysis patients are referred to Georgetown Public Hospital. (Utamu Belle)

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UG students brace for increased tuition fees

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The fees’ hike, which took students completely by surprise, has already been greeted with protests

ollowing the decision to raise tuition fees at the University of Guyana over the next three years, the UG Student Society (UGSS) is rallying to the challenges that will be faced by students who will have to deal with the tuition fee increases.

The fees’ hike, which took students completely by surprise, has already been greeted with protests In a phone interview with this publication, UGSS President Ron Glasgow revealed that the next three weeks would see the students’ representative body consulting and soliciting feedback from the student population on the best way forward.

He said the initial fee hike of 15 per cent would take effect in September of this year, so there was some leeway in terms of time.

UG’s Council had approved the 15 per cent increase in fees, as the first step in its move to see an overall 35 per cent tuition increase over a three-year period, at a March 30 extraordinary meeting of the Council. That meeting was picketed by students of the institution.

The meeting, which was chaired by Chancellor Eon Nigel Harris, made

the decision following an examination of the University’s projected budget deficit, the pressing needs of the institution, and projected alternative income streams.

The University had stated that even with the “unavoidable adjustments”, fees at the institution would still be comparatively lower than regional counterparts.

According to UG, the Council’s decision will be applied to tuition fees for all programmes and for both continuing students and new students in the 2017-2018 academic year.

However, it said input from the UGSS was considered, leading to an incremental rollout, where continuing students would now pay an increase of 15 per cent (about G$2500 a month), and new students an increase of 18 per cent (about G$3000 a month).

The decision to raise fees has not been a popular one, with several observers raising concerns about the financial challenges many students and their families already face. When asked about the increases on Friday, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had downplayed the concerns.

The Minister said it was irrelevant what the per capita income was (the

average amount of money being earned per person).

He also noted that if students wanted quality education, they would have to pay for it.

Meanwhile, while the decision to increase tuition has been made, the University is still battling with its senior staff with regard to negotiations for their salary increase.

At the same meeting, the Council also authorised the UG Administration to commence negotiations with the two unions at the tertiary institution for remuneration packages based on what the University could afford.

The Council said it also received clarification from the Finance Ministry that the claim by the unions that the Government of Guyana had provided a fixed sum of money for salaries, which would amount to a 15 per cent salary increase, was inaccurate.

In this context, the UG Administration will continue to analyse the University’s budget to determine the fullest possible extent of affordability.

It also was stressed that staff performance would be a key factor in determining salaries and benefits, whether monetary or non-monetary.

First Lady urges teens to seek counselling, other services

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First Lady Sandra Granger poses with some Grade Nine students enrolled at the Agricola Practical Instruction Centre

irst Lady, Sandra Granger encouraged teenage boys and girls and teenage parents to seek out the sexual health, reproductive and other services offered at the Agricola Health Centre Community Parenting Support Group, at the launch of the clinic at the Agricola Health Centre, East Bank Demerara.

The First Lady was invited to the launch because of her advocacy for education and support services for youth, especially women and girls. At the opening ceremony, she said, “I do not think we can overemphasise how important maternal child health is, especially for our teen mothers and the support that we give them.”

The First Lady spoke about the importance of health and nutrition during pregnancy and encouraged the teenagers to capitalise on the opportunity to continue their education, both during and after their pregnancies as an educated mother will better be able to meet her child’s needs.

“The second thing that I discovered, a few days ago, was the importance of early childhood development and the provision of a nurturing environment for better adults. These are scientific studies – the British Medical Association launched a series, The Lancet Series … [which] have proven that if your baby has a nurturing environment from birth to three years, as an adult, that child will be 25 times more active mentally and more productive than a child who is subject to want,

who is not properly fed, who is abused and beaten,” the First Lady said.

She then urged the teenagers, who have access to the Centre, to capitalise on the opportunity to seek sound medical advice, care and counselling about sex and sexuality, which will inform them about a wide range of topics in this regard, and preclude them from engaging in risky sexual behaviours.

Dr Travis Freeman, resident doctor at the Sophia Health Centre Teenage Pregnancy Support Group, echoed this view. He said that the initiative, which was first launched several years ago to address the high incidences of teenage pregnancy, was revised and relaunched nationally in October 2017 at the Sophia Health Centre.

The programme, which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Health, in collaboration with the Ministries of Social Protection and Education, now aims to provide more comprehensive care aimed at ensuring that young persons have access to health services. He too urged teenagers to access the services to become “educated, to learn more about your body, to learn more about your sexuality that is what this initiative is about… we want to empower our young people, we want to empower our young ladies.”

The Centre is managed by two doctors, five nurses and a clinic attendant and serves approximately 11,000 persons within the borders of Meadwobank and Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Overpayment of contractors, drug shortages among problems experienced in Regions …PAC hears

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everal critical issues were discussed during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting in Parliament Chambers on Monday, including the overpayment of contractors and shortages of drugs.

Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Regional Executive Officer (REO) Gavin Clarke told the PAC meeting that resources in the national budget for the procurement of drugs for the Region were not meant to be spent.

However, it was brought to the attention of the Committee, that there were severe shortages of drugs in the Region and the money set aside for drug purchases had already been utilised.

PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali

The REO was also cautioned about information he presented to the PAC, as he was in the habit of withdrawing answers when quizzed on occupation of Government quarters by members of the PAC. The REO was further cautioned by PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali about his responses.

Region 8 REO, Rafel Downes

Meanwhile, REO for Region Eight (PotaroSiparuni), Rafel Downes was questioned about overpayment to contractors and could not provide answers as to the measures being taken to address the situation.

Ali said the Region was not only faced with continued on page 16

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

workers register strong opposition to Berbice man in Sugar planned closure of East Demerara Estate jealous rage... I from page 9

The fire completely gutted the house

GuySuCo’s Albion State, responded to reports of the fire. The firefighters were able to contain the blaze, preventing it from spreading to other buildings, but not before it completely destroyed the one-flat house.

When the blaze was put out, Cyril was nowhere to be found.

The couple have been together for 10 years.

Two years ago, Sewindra joined her husband as a fish vendor at the Rose Hall Market, but operated her own business.

The woman said it was not the first attempt by her husband to burn the house down.

According to her, he made attempts to do so twice in December of last year.

She also said that on six occasions, he attempted to take his life,

the most recent being in February.

According to the fish vendor, Cyril recently threatened to kill her and give their three children poison to drink and then take his own life.

This, she said, was reported to the Police who went to arrest him. In an attempt to avoid being arrested, the fish vendor tried to end his life.

According to the woman, last Thursday, Cyril took his identification card and other documents belonging to him and gave them to his mother. She said he also stopped giving her money from his daily sales.

“He start taking his money and give it to his mother,” she explained.

Police have launched a manhunt for the suspect.

n protest at the possible closure of the Enmore sugar factory, workers attached to that East Demerara Estate on Monday marched four miles along the East Coast Demerara highway, close to the village of Enmore, in a move reportedly intended to register their strong opposition to any move to close that estate, and to highlight their plight if this intended action is carried out.

The Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU), which organised the march, said in a statement, “At this time, while the Government has not announced formally its position on closure, all indications are that the closure process has begun. For some weeks now, cane planting at the estate has been stopped, which portends that no plans are being made for crops beyond this year.”

Enmore Estate, currently the only remaining estate on the East Coast of Demerara, employs some 2,222 persons and is a major source of livelihood for

East Demerara Estate (Enmore Estate)

people living in many rural communities on the Demerara East Coast. GAWU is therefore again calling on the Government to conduct an assessment, as recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to determine the social and economic consequences that would flow from the decision to close this estate.

“In replacing sugar cultivation, the Administration and the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) have identified the implementation of non-sugar ventures such as orchard crops, legumes, rice, livestock, dairy cattle, aquaculture, among other things,” the union

stated. Similar ventures were to be established at the recently-closed Wales Estate, the union has said, but they are nowhere close to being fructified at this time.

“Our Union’s examination of the documentation produced by the Corporation in this regard has revealed there are more questions than answers.” The union feels that this new venture will not yield any success, and should not be pursued at this time. GAWU is of the firm view that the East Demerara Estate occupies an important place in the sugar industry, especially since it possesses the larger of the industry’s two (2) sugar packaging plants.

“It is recalled that

the Corporation receives its highest return on packaged sugar. Moreover, the Estate’s mechanisation programme is far advanced, and many of its field operations can be done mechanically,” the GAWU statement outlines. The operations of the LBI Estate were, in 2016, amalgamated with those of the Enmore Estate in a move which was slated to save the cane operations, according to GuySuCo. “Our Union stands in solidarity with the workers and residents (who would be affected by the closure) and is also strongly against the closure and sell-out of any sugar estates,” the GAWU statement read.

Government has said the Wales Estate was closed after billions of dollars were accrued in losses over the years. At high-level sugar consultations held last year between GuySuCo, the Union and the Opposition, Government had disclosed that only three estates would be kept functional.

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St Lucia PM defends Jagdeo roasts Govt for not having effective plan to generate investments position on Citizenship

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f the Government were serious about developing the economy, it could have already entered into approximately 50 public/private partnerships as it inches closer to its third year in office. This is according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

Business Minister Dominic Gaskin has admitted that Government has no investment projects to offer to anyone who has the least bit of interest in investing in Guyana. “Investors generally want to know what specific projects we have for them to invest in, and we have none; and therefore we tend to lose the interest of the investor, because there are other countries competing for those limited investment funds that have tangible investment projects to offer,” he disclosed recently at the Heads of Missions Conference held at the Pegasus Hotel.

The minister also admitted that Government is only now looking to develop a portfolio of investment projects. This as the Administration approaches its third year in office.

The Opposition Leader was shocked to learn that, after so many months in office, Government has not yet developed a proper

where they need a PPP. They would develop a prospectus, the prospectus would estimate the cost of the project,” he said.

According to Jagdeo, the prospectus would also state conditions under which each side would participate, and the benefits to private sectors involved, whether it is guaranteed rate of return or special tax breaks; and then those conditions would be advertised.

“They could have done 50 of those by now Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

plan to generate investments in the local economy. “Gaskin is absolutely right, and I thank him for being honest. They have no investment projects to offer to anyone. So it’s not the illegal economy of the past and drug monies of the past….,” Jagdeo noted.

Jagdeo reiterated that the economy is sluggish, and he said it is not because of the absence of drug money, as some may claim, but as per Government’s own admission, the lack of investors in the country.

“People are being laid off because sales have collapsed, and that is because Government is reducing aggregate de-

mand by reducing disposal income from people,” he contended.

Jagdeo also highlighted that there is a huge demand for public/private partnerships (PPPs) as he chided Government’s slothfulness in capitalising on this opportunity.

Gaskin recently said Government has not entered any PPP because there is no framework in place to ensure value for money and that any form of abuse is prevented. The former President is contending that there is no need for a fixed framework.

“If the minister is serious, he’d look at an investment opportunity

Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin

if they are seriously involved in PPP. It’s a simple thing to be done. It’s just ordinary work to pursue PPP,” he stated.

Elderly man perishes in Berbice fire

Dead: Rudolph Samuel Alphanso Ross

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ighty-two-yearold Rudolph Samuel Alphanso Ross, also called ‘Bruce’, was on Monday burnt to death in an early morning fire at Kildonan, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne). Police have since arrested the dead man’s son after he turned up at the scene carrying a bag containing his and his father’s important documents.

According to reports, the dead man and his son had occupied a two-storey concrete building, from which the elder Ross was heard screaming for help at about 03:00h. A neighbour told this publication that the elderly man was seen at

a bedroom window appealing for assistance as a large portion of the upper flat of his home became engulfed in flames.

Ross is said to have been in a bedroom in the front of the building while the blaze was initially seen in the back part of the house. However, villagers’ efforts to get the man out of the burning building were futile, as the fire quickly engulfed the house.

“He was calling out to me for help because his son was not at home, so me and my cousin and her husband try to save him, but it was too much of heat and smoke, so we couldn’t have saved him,” one of the first responders told this publication.

Reports reaching Guyana Times International indicate that a ladder was employed in rescuers’ efforts to get to the windows of the upper flat of the burning building, but when the windows were smashed open, a gush of heat made it too risky for anyone to attempt to rescue the elderly man.

The burnt house “We couldn’t en-

The burnt house

ter from the door, so we tried the bedroom window where he was, but we couldn’t make it,” responders detailed.

The fire unit that arrived on the scene from the Rose Hall Fire Station had to focus its attention on preventing the fire from spreading. Residents say the fire-fighters arrived close to one hour after the fire had initially started. “The fire spread so quickly that even if they had come from Rose Hall as soon as we see the fire, they would not have been able to save him,” one resident said.

This newspaper understands that when the man’s body was eventually retrieved, all four limbs had been burnt to

ash. The skull was, however, recognisable.

Ross had formerly been an executive officer of the Bush Lot/ Adventure Village Council. He leaves to mourn six children. Six of his ten siblings are still alive. The eldest, Ivor, who celebrated his 85 birthday on Sunday, referred to the now dead man as being one whom persons looked up to in the community.

He referred to his brother as being an intelligent man in his younger days; one who had always been “well spoken.”

Police are initially treating this incident as a fire of unknown origin, but await a report from the forensic fire investigators.

by Investment Programme

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rime Minister Allen Chastanet says he was “uncomfortable” with the wording of an opposition motion regarding the controversial Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).

The opposition legislators last week stormed out of the Parliament after the decision of the Speaker, Leonne Theodore-John, not to allow for the debate explaining that the motion would be deferred for a subsequent sitting of the Parliament.

But she told legislators that she had written to the Member of Parliament for the Castries South constituency, Dr Ernest Hilaire on the issue.

But an infuriated Hilaire complained that he only learnt of the change when he arrived at the Parliament building last Tuesday and it was improper for a motion, which was circulated to members to be altered at short notice.

Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, Prime Minister Chastanet told reporters with regards to the incident in the House last week, the Speaker was very clear.

“At the right time the motion will come back before the House for debate, but from my perspective I don’t know how you debate a motion which is based on something that is not factual.

“The wording of the motion in my mind was uncomfortable, it didn’t feel good going into the debate. Now those are things they want to bring up in the debate, they are free to bring it up in the debate but they can’t be written in a motion. The motion says whereas which suggests it is the fact.

“There is no fact that suggests because we lower the price that the programme has jeopardised the reputation or undermined the security of this country,” Chastanet said.

Chastanet told reporters that he would like to hear the positions of former prime ministers Dr Kenny Anthony and Professor Vaughan Lewis as to whether or not they support the position adopted by the opposition party on the CIP. Chastant said that he was surprised at the position adopted by the opposition St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) on the CIP when the programme

Prime Minister Allen Chastanet

was started under its administration.

“The Labour Party is attempting to suggest that because we lowered the prices that somehow this is going to make the country less secure.

None of the regulations as it pertains to background checks has been changed.

“In fact if anything they have been strengthened by new relationships we have gained through the regional security forces. So I want to assure everybody that’s the case. So I don’t understand the arguments they are making,” he told reporters.

Last week, following the walkout, Opposition Leader Phillip J Pierre told reporters that “we believe that the government simply does not wish any debate on the Citizenship by Investment Programme and has refused to provide any information on the CIP as required by law.

“The SLP believes that this latest move by the government is testimony to the vindictiveness and undemocratic nature of the UWP (United Workers Party) government and its desire to stifle free speech,” Pierre said.

“We intend to continue to show the people of St Lucia that this government is vindictive, is dictatorial, it abuses power. If it can do that after less than one year in office, we can imagine what can happen when they are in power for a longer period,” Pierre said.

St Lucia is among several Caribbean countries that have introduced a CIP aimed at luring foreign investors to the region. Under the programme, the foreign investor is granted citizenship if he or she makes a substantial investment to the socio-economic development of the island.

(CMC)

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Finance Ministry denies having tax records T he Finance Ministry has distanced itself from comments made by Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine about the tax records of private schools, noting that the subject Minister could not have accessed such from the Finance Ministry.

In fact, the Ministry said it did not have any records of any such taxpayers in its system.

In a release to the media on Monday, the Finance Ministry, referring to an article carried in Guyana Times, said it did not have any such information on hand.

The Ministry explained that during its efforts to broaden the tax base, in the context of reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate and providing relief in other areas, it had, during the Budget

Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine

2017 exercise, required data on various sectors, activities and institutions, including private schools.

“The data in respect of the private schools were limited to the number of them registered in the system and their earnings. The clear intent was to examine

the amount of additional revenue that could be garnered from the imposition of the VAT on this source,” the Ministry said in a statement.

It continued, “The Ministry of Finance wishes to reassure citizens that the confidentiality and integrity of their tax information are zealously guarded by the Guyana Revenue Authority, unlike a period not so long ago when taxpayers’ information was being shared with individuals associated with the Opposition party.”

Last Friday, during the consultation on VAT on private education between Government and stakeholders, Accountant and Attorney-at-law Christopher Ram had said that it was unprincipled for the GRA

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

to be sharing information on tax records to anyone, whether to private or Government.

He was in fact responding to remarks made by the Education Minister, who relayed at the very consultation, that information at the Finance Ministry showed that some private schools

were not up-to-date with their taxes.

“The records from the Ministry of Finance demonstrate that the schools are able to absorb the VAT. Of the private schools that are operating in Guyana, 57 per cent of them are currently registered with the GRA,” Roopnaraine said, before providing more statistics on the taxation status of private institutions in the country.

But Ram challenged the Minister’s presentation and contended that neither he nor any Government official should be privy to tax records of taxpayers.

“I’m not aware that the Ministry of Finance is in any way a regulator of schools in Guyana and the situation was compounded when he said the Government has information on the schools that are not paying taxes. That’s a very serious statement to make, only the GRA has that information and the GRA and its officers are under a statutory duty of secrecy and confidentiality when it comes to information on any taxpayer,” he stated.

Ram further told this publication the following day during a telephone interview that he found the statement “disturbing” and it would be best for the Minister to “clarify what he meant”.

“I think it’s in the interest of the integrity of the GRA that that statement be clarified because the GRA has a rule that it ought not to be giving out information on tax-

payers,” he posited.

The Education Minister had also disclosed that 10 per cent of private institutions were registered as non-profit organisations, and 14 per cent as profit-making entities.

He also revealed that most private schools make over G$300,000 in tuition fees per year per person, depending on the level of studies.

Dr Roopnaraine said the revenues generated by the top private schools exceeded G$2 billion annually.

According to the Education Minister, the estimate does not include extra charges by the institutions for additional services.

He further announced that there was a high level of non-compliance of the timely submission of the required income, property and corporation returns and the payment of taxes.

He said in some cases, teachers were treated as contract employees and employers were not deducting the appropriate NIS and PAYE from their salaries.

Dr Roopnaraine said too that there were incidents of under declaration and inflated expenditure so as to avoid paying taxes. “Payments are made to individuals other than institutions to facilitate these under declarations,” he noted.

In this regard, the Minister had argued that “it is clear” that private institutions could absorb VAT without passing it on to the students.

Overpayment of contractors, drug shortages...

from page 10

that issue, highlighting that the office has also been faced with financial mismanagement over the past two years.

Downes was advised to issue the defaulting contractors with letters from the Region’s attorney in an effort to recover the monies owed.

One PAC member also highlighted the fact that at least five of the 11 delinquent contractors tendered and signed additional contract documents at the REO’s office, but did not repay what was owed.

Ali said it was unacceptable, because the Region continued to drag its feet on the issue.

The meeting was subsequently suspended, and the REO was advised to implement all outstanding recommen-

dations.

The REO was then instructed to get the information requested and provide answers to the Finance Secretary of the Finance Ministry, the Accountant General and the Auditor General’s Office.

Recommendations were also made to have measures put in place to ensure that regional officials are fully equipped and prepared to appear before the PAC. The PAC will be making several recommendations for swift action when it submits a report to the National Assembly that includes taking action against the REO. A meeting between regional officials and the PAC is due in all 10 administrative regions.

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Senior prison official held over Berbice hit-and-run

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senior Prison official is now in hot water after he reportedly failed to render assistance to a young man whom he had allegedly struck down at Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice (WCB) on Tuesday afternoon.

The young man, 16-year-old Luke John of Lot 208 Waterloo, Bath Settlement, WCB later succumbed to his injuries.

Reports are the teenager had visited his sister at Cotton Tree and was standing on the roadway to get public transportation when he was struck down by motor car PMM 3802, driven by Kirt Joseph of Charlestown, Georgetown.

Joseph was attempting to overtake a vehicle and upon realising

Dead: Luke John

that another vehicle was coming from the opposite direction, allegedly swerved to avoid a headon collision and struck the youngster, who was standing on the road shoulder.

Upon impact, the teenager was tossed into the air and landed in a clump of bushes. After some time passed, he was picked up and tak-

en to the Fort Wellington Hospital and was later transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he succumbed.

The driver was subsequently arrested and was assisting with the investigations. An eyewitness told this publication that the driver of the car was speeding and after hitting the young man, he stopped his vehicle some distance away, but failed to take the young man to seek medical attention.

He is expected to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving and failing to render assistance. The young man was the youngest of three siblings. His body is at the New Amsterdam Hospital Mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.

Canada, TT firms in...

from page 9

Chief executive officer, Prime US Internation Ltd., Stephanie Bonaparte-Primus , left ,poses for a photo with president and chief executive officer of Wylde Orchid Designs and Management Co. Ltd (Canada) during a joint press conference, Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s yesterday.

Bonaparte-Primus said they had set a target to build 110,000 houses in Trinidad over a 15 to 20-year period. Tobago, she said, would benefit from 10,000 units.

She said construction of these homes would bring a “solution” for the 100,000-plus HDC applicants waiting for shelter.

“Right now, based on how many houses are produced, it is not enough for the amount of people. We will cater for that crowd. We know for the next ten to 15 years that crowd should be able to get a home. This housing project would be able to have adequate buyers.”

Bonaparte-Primus said the $650,000 homes will be targeted primarily for low income earners. She said one bank has already assessed “the monthly mortgage rate for a $650,000 home at $2,000 over a 30-year period.” She said following a meeting they had with T&T

Mortgage Finance, it was disclosed that 110,000 people had requested homes at the price of $850,000.

“So there is no shortage of buyers,” she said.

The businesswoman said while local contractors would benefit from these projects, 12,000 unskilled and skilled jobs are also likely to be created in the construction sector. She could not, however, give the estimated cost of the overall project since this would be based on each client’s wants and needs.

As for the land on which the homes are to be built, BonapartePrimus said they have been working with several local real estate companies that had already sourced land which had the necessary approvals.

“One of the main things is that we do not want to leave anyone out in this whole construction arena. All the various areas of

Trinidad, we have been able to source property that persons are willing to sell to us. “ She said several major companies have already given a commitment to supply whatever building materials they need.

“We would be cutting our contracts based on the full scope and not on a part-by-part assumption,” she said.

She also admitted they have received letters of support from Royal Bank, Republic Bank, JMMB, First Citizen’s and Eastern Credit Union, while they have approached private international funding agencies, which she would reveal in the coming months.

Asked if they had approached the HDC to partner with them on this initiative, Bonaparte-Primus said they did not get an opportunity since they were engaged in talks with Wylde Orchid for support and financing in the last few months.

“So we missed that time frame. So on account of that, this is the reason why we are making the request now that someone from the ministry… can after September… when we have direct specifics on where we building, what projects, what housing…that we sit with them and negotiate with them to supply them with homes.”

Apart from housing, Bonaparte-Primus said they would also undertake an agriculture and trading initiative which would create a downstream affect and boost T&T’s flagging economy.

(Trinidad Guardian)

GuySuCo maintains hopes of starting Skeldon crop by August – CEO

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ith operations for the first sugar crop of 2017 halted at Skeldon Factory over safety concerns, Skeldon Energy Inc (SEI) is working towards an August deadline to complete enough repairs on the equipment to make it operable.

This is according to Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Chief Executive Officer Errol Hanoman. In a recent interview with Guyana Times International, Hanoman was asked about sugar production at the facility.

“SEI has indicated they are hoping to complete enough work to make it safe to operate by late August,” he said. “So we’re hoping to start Skeldon’s crop by late August.”

“We’ve had to defer the start of production at Skeldon, because SEI informed us it was unsafe to operate the co-generation plant. So we had to take their advice and once we can’t operate the cogeneration plant, we can’t operate the factory.”

When it was first revealed that grinding would be halted, concerns were raised about whether GuySuCo even had the resources to start the second crop if the repairs were completed.

In February 2017, SEI

had informed GuySuCo that the co-generation plant was unsafe to operate. It had advised that the first crop of 2017 should no longer take place since approximately seven months were required to address the problem.

According to GuySuCo, the co-generation plant has been deteriorating over the years. The Corporation stated that the plant became progressively unreliable, adversely affecting the operations of the sugar factory and causing reduced sugar production.

The Corporation had said that overtures were being made to external engineers and boiler manufacturers to determine the extent and cost of repairs required to sustain the efficiency and safety of the boiler operations.

“Due to the above, it is with great regret that the Corporation announces that sugar production at the Skeldon Estate is suspended. Every effort will be made by SEI to have the co-generation plant back in operation by late August.”

“The Corporation is currently examining a number of options for meaningful engagement of the Skeldon Estate employees during the period of the first crop. In the meanwhile, meetings have been scheduled with the

GuySuCo CEO Errol Hanoman

Unions and cane farmers … to brief them on the situation,” GuySuCo had said.

The Estate is valued over US$200 million.

The Skeldon co-generation plant is outfitted with Wärtsilä engines and a steam plant powered by bagasse.

There have been plans to sell the operations.

Last year, Government, through the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with D Rampersad and Company Limited (DRCL) to undertake a feasibility study to determine the success of taking over the estate.

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder had told media operatives that Government received a number of Expressions of Interest from parties desirous of taking over the operations.

President hails vast agricultural potential in Region 2

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t the inaugural Essequibo Agro and Trade Fair exposition, which opened in a moonlight atmosphere last Friday at the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground, President David Granger dubbed Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), as the most productive area in the country, and hailed its vast agricultural potential. This is even as Region Two grapples with the deteriorating rice industry.

The theme for this exposition is “Essequibo means Business”, and the President noted that the region contributes significantly to Guyana’s food security. He said that while the region is still beset with many challenges, there is great potential for economic development to take place there.

President Granger called on the Regional Administration, the Anna Regina Town Council, and other stakeholders to partner with Central Government in working towards economic development.

Speaking to the exhibitors, residents and regional officials gathered for the occasion, he said that with its vast agricultural output, Region Two continues to be a “model” region.

The President said the region’s economic activities not only generate wealth, but create jobs for Guyanese. Noting that the region has historically done well with the production of primary agricultural products, President Granger said the regional economy can be made more resilient through diversification into areas such as agro-processing and manufacturing.

“Unless you start adding value; unless you start refining; unless you start manu-

facturing, we will not be able to overcome the problems of poverty, or make that breakthrough into prosperity,” he said.

Challenges

The President said that Government is aware of the challenges faced by the region, but he called on stakeholders (Regional Democratic Council, Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Anna Regina Town Council, Amerindian communities and the business community) to work in close collaboration with each other towards achieving a common goal. Some of the challenges that exist within the region, he said, are political collaboration, social cohesion and geographical differences (coast and land).

Business Minister Dominic Gaskin, who also addressed the gathering, said the various business expos taking place across Guyana are providing the platform for towns and regions to showcase their capabilities. Gaskin said these events create opportunities for the private and public sectors to reach up and socialise. He said the expo complements the efforts of the Business Ministry to develop and promote local sectors and services.

Minister Gaskin suggested that the region could indulge in diversification, value added production and tourism as avenues to drive economic development.

And Deleep Singh, President of the Essequibo Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ECCI), said the Agro and Trade Fair expo was held to propel the local economy to a high level, and to give businesses the opportunity to meet, socialise and network among themselves, thereby fostering partnerships and generating business ideas.

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Dead child ‘dropped off’ at GPHC was electrocuted

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he dead child that was dropped off at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Tuesday evening last has been identified as threeyear-old Stephan Glen of 7th Street, Paradise Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara; and it has been determined that his death was due to electrocution.

Based on what was reported to this publication, the Nabaclis Nursery School student had come into contact with a live extension cord while seeking a hiding spot under his bed as he played “hide and seek” with his siblings.

Beverly Glen, the toddler’s grandmother, related that her grandchildren were playing “hide and seek” inside the house while she was occupied in the kitchen preparing dinner when the incident occurred. Glen explained that she immediately became alarmed when the sister of the now deceased child yelled, “Run nah, Stephan! Like yuh dead!” She bolted into the room and discovered her grandson in a motionless position after he became entangled in the live cord while crawling under the bed.

Glen said the toddler was still breathing

Guyana in support of further dialogue on Venezuela crisis

G

Stephan Glen

at the time, and a decision was made to rush him to the Georgetown Public Hospital after attempts made to contact emergency medical assistance had proved futile, as no ambulance was available within the area. Eventually, the child succumbed to his injuries.

Mitzy Campbell, Public Relations Officer of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, confirmed on Monday that Stephan Glen was actually the unidentified child who was dropped off dead at GPHC last week. This newspaper was informed that when the doctors who examined the dead child began looking for his mother, she had already left in search of the child’s father.

Given the complexity of the matter, an investigation has been launched to further determine the details.

uyana’s 17th Heads of Missions Conference (HOMC) has drawn to a close. A number of topical issues pertaining to Guyana’s representation abroad were discussed during this conference, and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge has said the exercise may very well become an annual one.

The issue of Venezuela was also a topic of discussion. Venezuela has staunchly been against Guyana exploring for oil in the Stabroek Block, where multiple oil deposits have been found

by ExxonMobil. Last month, Venezuela’s National Assembly approved an agreement to reject those oil exploration activities.

Following attempts by a March 28 Permanent Council meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) to advance discussions on the mounting internal problems afflicting Venezuela, Minister Greenidge also affirmed Guyana’s support for the OAS attempts to engage in discussion about Venezuela.

“We are aware, and (Guyana’s) Mission in Washington has been closely engaged in that

exercise. Indeed, within the OAS, Ambassador Riyad Insanally chairs the Caribbean Group. So we are very close to that,” Greenidge stated during a press conference on Friday to mark the conclusion of the HOMC. “Our views are that, as a member of the OAS, one has to accept that (when) you’re in a position where a matter affecting the fundamental principles the OAS Charter contains, (it) is a legitimate matter for discussion at the OAS,” Minister Greenidge said.

“So we are in support of the appropriateness for important and sensitive matters to be discussed by the OAS Grouping itself, and for countries to be in a position to give their views on this matter. That is the position of Guyana,” Greenidge explained.

For his part, Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Dr Riyad Insanally, reported a division within the OAS States. He noted that countries such as Guyana approached the matter based on principles of respect for sovereignty, human rights and the democratic process.

“The essential problem is how to try and

Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge

get the Venezuelan Government to accept that the desired solution is one based on dialogue.

We’re trying to take a measured approach to the situation, which will take some time,” he explained. “Unfortunately, the reports coming out of Caracas are that the situation is getting tenser politically, and this is something we will continue to watch closely,” he added.

While Dr Insanally noted that the premise of the OAS was to resolve disputes like this one through dialogue, he added that the OAS was also supposed to be all-inclusive in its approach.

“And if (Venezuela is) not at the table, it’s very difficult to arrive at a solution. So the situation is a very delicate one.”

Insanally said Venezuela was staunchly against efforts to have the country’s internal conflict discussed at a

subsequent meeting.

HOMC

Commenting on the premise of the HOMC, Greenidge noted that while all the heads of missions were well equipped academically and had experience in their respective fields, only three were experienced in Guyana’s Foreign Service; hence it was important for meetings to ensure the team was on the same page.

“The programme has been an extensive one.

Part of our challenge and the reason for this exercise is to engineer team-building in foreign policy. We’ve covered a range of issues; they started off with foreign economic policy, the national interest, bilateral US, UK, China; as well as the multilateral forum. We also did some work on institutional arrangements,” he declared.

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Frequent bouts of blackouts plague Diamond drug bond …could pose health risk to patients

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he improper storage of pharmaceuticals at the Diamond drug bond could not only lead to millions of dollars in losses owing to spoilage but a major health risk to patients.

It was recently revealed by the warehouse manager, Silhouette Craig, that the East Bank Demerara facility currently had a malfunctioning refrigerator and was faced with frequent bouts of unstable electricity.

Back in 2016, the Government opted to rent what was basically a house on Sussex Street, Charlestown, Georgetown owned by a party affiliate to store the country’s pharmaceuticals at an exorbitant rate of G$12.5 million per month.

While the facility is less than 10,000 square feet, the NEW GPC INC drug storage bond, which was used prior to the new rental, was 70,000 square feet and provid-

Government Ministers undertaking a tour of the Diamond drug bond along with senior members of the Public Health Ministry

ed cold storage free of cost using its walk-in cold room to the Public Health Ministry.

The primary electricity supply for the NEW GPC is a generator, since the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc is unreliable and there is a second backup generator, providing redundancy,

in the event the primary fails.

Craig told sections of the media that the Diamond walk-in fridge was not filled because there was always a constant need to relocate drugs between the Diamond bond and the Sussex Street bond.

It has been recognised

that once an item has gone off the cold chain for a certain amount of time, it should be rejected on account of the detrimental health risks it poses to patients.

With the current issues facing the Diamond bond, the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD)

has the authority to reject or seize all items that have been exposed to higher than prescribed temperatures immediately and prevent them from entering the health system.

Some may argue that there is no point in sending such items for testing since it is a difficult and expensive scientific endeavour.

However, the risk to patients in using a cold chain item which was improperly stored is enormous, as it can cause serious injuries or even death.

All of this could have been avoided if the Public Health Ministry had continued to utilise NEW GPC’s cold room facilities.

The use of fridges, like in the case of Diamond, is not ideal, since they are still subjected to blackouts and each would have to be monitored and logged separately to ensure the cold chain remains intact.

In December 2016, the GA-FDD had seized thousands of kidney drugs, after it was found that the drugs were being stored at temperatures between 17 and 25 degrees Celsius and not the 2 to 8 degrees Celsius recommended by the manufacturers.

The cold chain begins with the manufacturer and ends with the patient. Products that have not been handled according to the conditions set by the manufacturer are considered to be unsafe for use as quality and effectiveness may have been compromised.

Safe temperature and humidity ranges for products vary according to the conditions required to ensure their continued quality. All temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical and biologic products are at risk of damage if handled improperly. The conditions for the transportation and storage of drug products by wholesalers are set by the GA-FDD.

Hicken lauds better Amerindian groups reject relations between President’s CoI on land titling Police, community M C ore than 800 Amerindians, from more than 13 villages, on Sunday unanimously passed a motion at the Mabaruma SubRegion District Conference of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) condemning the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) by President David Granger, “to examine all issues and uncertainties surrounding the claims of Amerindian land titling”.

The Amerindians joined with the PPP; the National Toshaos Council (NTC); the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA); the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples; the Amerindian Action Movement; the South Central Peoples Development Association, and the National Amerindian Development Foundation in condemning the coalition Government’s ploy to set up the land CoI. The delegates and observers at Sunday’s conference view the establishment of this CoI as “an ex-

A section of the gathering at the Mabaruma Sub-Region District Conference

pression of gross disrespect to the Amerindian People of Guyana and indeed, Indigenous people everywhere”.

“They view this initiative as a vulgar and divisive device to distort our history, deny Amerindians their rightful place as the first people of this land and to deprive them of their ancestral legal entitlements to traditional lands recognised long before independence and which successive PPP Governments committed bil-

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo greeted by one of the supporters at the conference

lions of dollars towards ensuring that land titles were issued to the Amerindians for these lands,” the PPP said in a statement.

“This Commission, the delegates and observers feel, was established without any consultations whatsoever to further polarise our people along racial lines in a failing economy, which the Government is plainly incompetent to revitalise,” the Party added.

It said the delegates and observers unanimously resolved not to recognise this Commission and are calling upon the President and the Government of Guyana to rescind it immediately.

“They made it clear that Amerindian entitlements to traditional land must not be, and cannot be, confused with the rights of any other ethnic groups. They are separate issues and must remain so,” the PPP stated.

In attendance at the Mabaruma Sub-Region District Conference were Opposition Leader and PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo; and PPP Members of Parliament Anil Nandlall, Pauline Sukhai and Colin Croal.

o m m a n d e r of A Division (Georgetown, East Bank Demerara), Clifton Hicken, has lauded the strengthened relations between the Police Force and the public, noting that the benefit of this is seen in successful crime-fighting efforts.

At the annual A Division Career Fair held on Saturday, Commander Hicken pointed out to reporters that his Division now has some 18 youth groups under the Social Crime Prevention Programme and in those communities there has been a reduction in crime.

Another pattern that the Commander said is evident is the passage of intelligence from the public to the Police, which he noted is critical to solving crimes.

Other than the youth initiatives, Hicken added that a new policing phenomenon has been realised, namely ‘team policing’. This concept, he said, seeks to identify vulnerable areas within the community such as lack of illumination where there is large vegetation; abandoned houses; elders living alone; and mentally ill persons on the road who pose threats, following which preventative actions can be taken.

“Coming out of the re-

view from the team policing, intel-led policing would be realised so we know exactly where we are going to execute search warrants as against inconveniencing the masses. So it’s a collecting of new initiatives into a structured way and I think that is developing for us,” the Commander noted.

In fact, he disclosed that based on information received through the strengthened relations, an exercise was recently conducted at the Golden Grove, EBD, sea dam area during which four suspects were arrested.

“We broke that ring and we now have four persons in custody, and they will have four to five charges of break and enter and larceny. Similar exercises were done in Georgetown in the Tiger Bay area, where we recovered a set of stolen articles and so they too will be placed before the courts. We’ve also partnered with Leopold Street and Central Georgetown and again managed to make some arrests; in fact, one of the persons that were arrested was identified as a suspect in three robberies,” Hicken noted.

This type of community involvement, the Commander added, continued on page 24

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Three school admins reprimanded over Missionary visits to public schools

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ollowing a probe by the Education Ministry into the recent visit of the Faithful World Baptist Church (FWBC) Missionary to several public schools, which caused widespread public outrage, the administrations of these schools have been sanctioned.

The missionary’s visit to these schools back in March was heavily criticised with Hindu Organisations and Temples of Guyana publishing a joint statement in local newspapers, calling for the government to uphold the sacred boundary of “Church and State” outlined in the country’s Constitution.

“We are extremely concerned over Pastor (Steven) Anderson’s subtle and overt attacks on Hindus and Hinduism as

we reflect on the emotional hurt and psychological damage done to Hindu students who had to ensure Pastor Anderson’s tirade against their faith,” the organisations detailed while reminding that Guyanese diverse cultures and religions are the country’s strength.

Acknowledging the outrage the visits caused, the Ministry of Education in a statement on Wednesday said a thorough investigation was conducted into scope of the incident. It was noted that the missionary visits to schools were brought to Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine’s attention on March 16 and he subsequently order Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson, to look into the issue.

During the probe, the Ministry found that the Missionary visited three public schools in total and in each case, permission was granted via the individual school administrations without any sanction from the Ministry.

“The Department of Education had no previous knowledge of the school visits by FWBC, nor did it in any way facilitate the visits. The church took advantage of a lack of familiarity with regard to documented external visitor policy and the misplaced goodwill of administrative staff on what they believed to be an innocuous intervention, as well as a general ignorance of the church’s reputation,” the statement from the Ministry noted.

According to the pub-

lic missive, prior to the conclusion of the investigations by the Ministry, a circular was sent out

by Principal Education Officer, Immanuel Bridgewater, on March 24, to all principals and head teachers of nursery, primary and secondary schools underlining the need for strict adherence to the established principle of seeking permission from the Department of Education before any external actors are allowed into the school system to conduct activities involving students.

“All administrative involved were reprimanded for the lapse,” following the probe, the Ministry outlined.

Nevertheless, the Education Ministry, under which the Departments of Culture and Youths fall, point-

Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine’s

ed out that the issue brought to the fore critical concerns regarding the concept of separation of church and state in general; the constitutionally mandated right of students within the public education system to not be subject to religious instruction without consent; and issue of cultural equity in the state machinery.

“Whatever the context, this incident was unfortunate as it was offensive. There is absolutely no place for proselytizing – whether supposedly benign or overtly extremist – in the public education sector. Moving forward, it is the commitment of the

Ministry of Education to establish clear guidelines against such incidents in the future,” the statement further detailed.

To this end, the Ministry further resolved to ensure that those guidelines are based upon three key foundations; including the Constitution of Guyana, which guarantees freedom of conscience as well as freedom from religious instruction within the public education system.

Another foundation is in the form of a National Cultural Policy, which is currently in draft but will be open to public consultation within the coming months. This policy speaks explicitly to the issue of respect for all religions and the equitable inclusion of the concerns of the religious community into public policy formulation and implementation processes.

The final foundation is the revised Education Bill, which will also take into account constitutional stipulations on religion in the education system.

from page 23

Hicken lauds better relations between ...

Commander Clifton Hicken

could only develop trust.

He further pointed out that the Force is also looking at balancing its prevention and detection capacity.

Hicken went on to outline that last year’s 19.2 per cent reduction in serious crime in A Division was as a result of strengthened relations with communities, stemming from the youth development initiatives.

“Parents are now more receptive. I think they’re seeing what we’re doing as a good [thing] and there are now coming on board with us, which is overwhelmingly good for us,” he posited.

The Divisional

Commander further stated that with last year’s crime reduction being high, with continued collaborations with the communities A Division is projected to record yet another significant decrease in criminal activities.

Over the past three years, the Guyana Police Force has embarked on a Social Crime Prevention Programme, the brainchild of Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud.

The highly successful initiative aims at regaining public trust by engaging persons in skills training, sports and cultural activities.

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Jagdeo hoping to finalise 2nd GECOM list in two weeks

President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo during one of their engagements

E

ight persons have so far been shortlisted as Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo prepares to submit to President David Granger, in two weeks’ time, his second list of nominees for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.

The Opposition Leader told Guyana Times International on Saturday, during a telephone interview, that he hopes to finalise the list within the next two weeks, so he can submit the fresh list for consideration.

He reminded that it is a challenging task to compile a list of candidates in accordance with the requirements stipulated by the Head of State.

Jagdeo has expressed hope that the President would accept this second list of nominees, because, he said, the pool of qualified persons keeps getting smaller with every rejection.

Businessman Marcel Gaskin has moved to the courts to challenge the constitutionality of President Granger’s rejection of the first list of candidates, but Jagdeo, himself a former President, has expressed hope that those legal proceedings would not setback any progress in appointing a new GECOM Chairman.

Jagdeo had previously nominated Attorney Christopher Ram, conflict resolution specialist Lawrence Lachmansingh, retired Major General Norman Mc Lean, business executive Ramesh Dookhoo, Indian rights activist Rhyaan Shah, and History Professor James Rose, but the President had declared that that list was not acceptable on the basis that it did not include anyone who was qualified to be a judge.

The issue has sparked a national debate on the interpreta-

tion of Article 161 of the Constitution of Guyana, with some contending that the President was right while others insist that he had erred.

Article 161 (2) states: “…the Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth, or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court, or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge, or any other fit and proper person…”

Legal luminaries have argued that the Constitution, which incorporated the Carter Formula, provided for the inclusion of any other qualified person outside the field of law by including the phrase “any other fit and proper person”, but Granger has initially maintained that everyone must fall in the legal sphere of being judge-like.

Following meetings with the Opposition Leader after weeks of impasse on the matter, Granger provided a list of criteria to be used for the selection of a new list of nominees.

However, representatives of civil society with whom Jagdeo consulted have found it challenging to find persons who meet the President’s criteria. His conditions disqualify anyone engaged in any form of activism — gender, racial or religious; and persons affiliating with political parties. Some persons have questioned the legality of the President’s requirement, while others deem it an imposition on the Constitution.

The search for a new Chairman of GECOM began following the resignation of Dr Steve Surujbally, a veterinarian by profession, from the post in November 2016.

Feature 29

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Carmen Jarvis

F

ormer SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and veteran educator, Carmen Jarvis, C.C.H, A.A, who died last week, was a distinguished Guyanese who lived a life of excellence and service to her country.

In her years of teaching, Jarvis was employed at Queen’s College before being appointed as Headmistress of Bishop’s High School, where she served for 27 years.

In 1979, she was offered the post of SecretaryGeneral of the Guyana National Commission of UNESCO, which she ac-

cepted. During her tenure there, she attended and participated in every General Conference between 1980 and 2003 and has made meaningful interventions in every Commission, even in cases where she was the sole delegate from Guyana. She was one of the longest serving and most respected individuals to hold the post of Secretary-General and was awarded the Aristotle Medal by UNESCO. Jarvis was also responsible for Guyana being elected on the Executive Board of UNESCO twice, from 1983 to 1987 and from 1993 to 1997. She played an integral role in Guyana once being elected to the Man and

the Biosphere International Council and several times to the Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

In 1983, she was appointed the first woman Chairman of the National Library Committee. She

also served the Council of the University of Guyana for some 14 years. In 1981, she was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement for long and outstanding service in Education and Social Work.

In 1998, Jarvis was awarded a second national award,

this time, the Cacique’s Crown of Honour for her outstanding service in education and social work.

In October 2016, an autobiography entitled “From Seedtime to Harvest” was launched at the Georgetown Club for the 91-year-old.

The book’s title was adopted from the lyrics of Bishop’s High School’s song.

Today, her home-going service was held at First Congregational Church, Atlanta, US. Her remains will be cremated and returned to Guyana.

30

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

art & culture 31

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Artist Walter Gobin

A

ward-winning, overseas-based Guyanese artist Walter Gobin is inspired by “people in everyday walk of life”.

Gobin hails from Grove on the East Bank of Demerara and lived in Mahaica, East Coast of Demerara, for a number of years.

He taught art in Guyana at Bartica, Buxton, Mahaicony, Mahaica, and then in the Bahamas. His career as an art teacher took him to Bahamas, where he lived and painted for two decades before finally settling in Canada. Although now retired from teaching, Gobin divides his time with photography, drawing, painting sceneries and portraits. He also actively participates in exhibitions in

Canada, Guyana and The Bahamas.

“The spark was lit for art at Central High School in Sixth Form by Mr. John Criswick, who also nurtured some well-known Guyanese artists such as Angold Thompson.

Art was my main area of study at Teachers’ Training College. I then continued with practicing art on my own and reading every art book I could find,” he recalled in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine.

After refining his artistic talent, Gobin took part in several national exhibitions, and self-produced a series of colouring books on Guyana, which are also printed and sold locally.

Some of the artist’s exhibitions include a oneman show in Freeport, Bahamas (2011); he has participated in annual group shows in Freeport for the past 15 years. Also, the Bahamas National Exhibition; in Canada at Guyana Day sponsored

by Guyana Consulate, Brampton's Beaux Arts; Newcomers Award in Guyana while in college, and at several national

Omar Nooredeen achieves Allstate’s ‘Claims Certified’designation

T

he Nooredeen Allstate Agency Incorporated located in South Ozone Park recently achieved Allstate’s “Claims Certified” designation, available to a select group of agencies in New York State, a release from the company has stated.

By completing a special series of claimseducation requirements, agency owner Omar Nooredeen and his staff furthered their commitment to supporting customers before, during, and after the claim process.

“As a local Allstate agency, our job is to not only ensure customers are prepared for the unexpected with our insurance offerings, but to also build trusting relationships, so they know we are here when they have to file a claim,” saidNooredeen.

“When a customer experiences a loss, I take great pride in the fact that my agency is the first call they make. Now, by becoming Claims Certified,our agency has achieved the highest level of education to deliver upon the Allstate promise,”Nooredeen added.

“Omar’s agency’s role in the claims process begins long before a customer calls in their moment of need,” said Allstate’s

New York Regional Sales Leader Don Rubbo. “By investing in this specialized certification, Omar and his entire team can bring the same level of comfort they offer during a routine interaction, to a customer’s moment of need.

We’re proud to haveOmarbringthis caliber of service to customers in New York.”

Nooredeen’s agency is located at 13508 Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Parkand can be reached at 718-323-3800.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life’s uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass and Answer Financial brand names.

Now celebrating its 85th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is widely known through the slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®.” Allstate agencies are in virtually every local community in America. In 2015, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $36 million to support local communities.

exhibitions in Guyana, even while in high school.

Notably, Gobin has won several awards, including gold medals for entries in the National Drawing Competition 2008 and 2015.

Now he hopes that his retirement will give him the chance to pursue several art projects.

He would like to “reboot” his colouring books; paint and draw using a variety of media (oil paints, oil pastels, chalk pastels, pencils, pen and ink, charcoal, scratchboard); invest more in his photography; work on doing an exhibition at Castellani House (Guyana); cartooning; continue with volleyball, table tennis and tai chi; and continue to build/add on his resource materials.

“I love to paint people with fascinating range of

"Parika by the River"

colours on their faces and people in everyday walk of life. Also, I like to capture the beauty of various sceneries (where I can add or delete), places and nature. I get my inspiration from everything: people in their daily goings-on, sceneries, nature, shapes, colours, light, reflections, shadows – they all give me a perspective on my

art,” the artist expressed.

Gobin believes that talent plays a major role in being an artist, but that the artist still needs to work diligently and practice constantly in order to hone his/her talent.

His advice to young artists is to “work to improve your skills, attend art classes and practice regularly.

Experiment

with various materials and ideas. Build your resource materials from early on. Enter competitions and not be afraid of ‘hard knocks’. Visit exhibitions. Perseverance and hard work can payoff in this tough art market”.

For more info on the artist, visit http://waltergobin.weebly.com

art & culture 31

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Artist Walter Gobin

A

ward-winning, overseas-based Guyanese artist Walter Gobin is inspired by “people in everyday walk of life”.

Gobin hails from Grove on the East Bank of Demerara and lived in Mahaica, East Coast of Demerara, for a number of years.

He taught art in Guyana at Bartica, Buxton, Mahaicony, Mahaica, and then in the Bahamas. His career as an art teacher took him to Bahamas, where he lived and painted for two decades before finally settling in Canada. Although now retired from teaching, Gobin divides his time with photography, drawing, painting sceneries and portraits. He also actively participates in exhibitions in

Canada, Guyana and The Bahamas.

“The spark was lit for art at Central High School in Sixth Form by Mr. John Criswick, who also nurtured some well-known Guyanese artists such as Angold Thompson.

Art was my main area of study at Teachers’ Training College. I then continued with practicing art on my own and reading every art book I could find,” he recalled in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine.

After refining his artistic talent, Gobin took part in several national exhibitions, and self-produced a series of colouring books on Guyana, which are also printed and sold locally.

Some of the artist’s exhibitions include a oneman show in Freeport, Bahamas (2011); he has participated in annual group shows in Freeport for the past 15 years. Also, the Bahamas National Exhibition; in Canada at Guyana Day sponsored

by Guyana Consulate, Brampton's Beaux Arts; Newcomers Award in Guyana while in college, and at several national

Omar Nooredeen achieves Allstate’s ‘Claims Certified’designation

T

he Nooredeen Allstate Agency Incorporated located in South Ozone Park recently achieved Allstate’s “Claims Certified” designation, available to a select group of agencies in New York State, a release from the company has stated.

By completing a special series of claimseducation requirements, agency owner Omar Nooredeen and his staff furthered their commitment to supporting customers before, during, and after the claim process.

“As a local Allstate agency, our job is to not only ensure customers are prepared for the unexpected with our insurance offerings, but to also build trusting relationships, so they know we are here when they have to file a claim,” saidNooredeen.

“When a customer experiences a loss, I take great pride in the fact that my agency is the first call they make. Now, by becoming Claims Certified,our agency has achieved the highest level of education to deliver upon the Allstate promise,”Nooredeen added.

“Omar’s agency’s role in the claims process begins long before a customer calls in their moment of need,” said Allstate’s

New York Regional Sales Leader Don Rubbo. “By investing in this specialized certification, Omar and his entire team can bring the same level of comfort they offer during a routine interaction, to a customer’s moment of need.

We’re proud to haveOmarbringthis caliber of service to customers in New York.”

Nooredeen’s agency is located at 13508 Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Parkand can be reached at 718-323-3800.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life’s uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass and Answer Financial brand names.

Now celebrating its 85th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is widely known through the slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®.” Allstate agencies are in virtually every local community in America. In 2015, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $36 million to support local communities.

exhibitions in Guyana, even while in high school.

Notably, Gobin has won several awards, including gold medals for entries in the National Drawing Competition 2008 and 2015.

Now he hopes that his retirement will give him the chance to pursue several art projects.

He would like to “reboot” his colouring books; paint and draw using a variety of media (oil paints, oil pastels, chalk pastels, pencils, pen and ink, charcoal, scratchboard); invest more in his photography; work on doing an exhibition at Castellani House (Guyana); cartooning; continue with volleyball, table tennis and tai chi; and continue to build/add on his resource materials.

“I love to paint people with fascinating range of

"Parika by the River"

colours on their faces and people in everyday walk of life. Also, I like to capture the beauty of various sceneries (where I can add or delete), places and nature. I get my inspiration from everything: people in their daily goings-on, sceneries, nature, shapes, colours, light, reflections, shadows – they all give me a perspective on my

art,” the artist expressed.

Gobin believes that talent plays a major role in being an artist, but that the artist still needs to work diligently and practice constantly in order to hone his/her talent.

His advice to young artists is to “work to improve your skills, attend art classes and practice regularly.

Experiment

with various materials and ideas. Build your resource materials from early on. Enter competitions and not be afraid of ‘hard knocks’. Visit exhibitions. Perseverance and hard work can payoff in this tough art market”.

For more info on the artist, visit http://waltergobin.weebly.com

feature 33

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Ashraf Dabie

O

ver the years, sports have been limited to activities involving physical exertion and skill, but the field is now being revolutionised thanks to a dynamic group of sports enthusiasts called The Xercise.

Business, academics and social cohesion are just a few aspects of life that can now be encompassed under the umbrella of what once was exclusively the battle of the fittest. To celebrate these developments, the United Nation designated April 6 as the day to highlight the achievements of sport, particularly acknowledging the contributions made by the games, as well as the players, towards the accomplishment of the much talked about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The United Nation recognises sport as a vehicle for change, given that it has proven to be a cost effective and flexible tool in promoting peace and development objectives.

Since the inception of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, sport has played a vital role in enhancing each of the eight goals, a fact which has been recognised in numerous resolutions of the UN General Assembly.

In the Declaration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, sport's role in social progress is further acknowledged: “Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.”

This year, Guyana joined in the celebration of International Day of Sport for Development and

Peace with organisations partnering to improve the efforts undertaken in previous years.

The Xercise, a local sport organisation, celebrated International Day of Sport by hosting an entire day of activities on April 6. The non-governmental organisation started the day off by celebrating sport and its role in social cohesion by visiting three schools across Georgetown.

Students of Queen’s College, St. Stanislaus College and Stella Maris Primary benefited from interactive sessions where the various aspects of sport were highlighted, as well as the ways in which the variety of games contribute to peace across the world.

Founder of The Xercise and former national youth cricketer, Royston Alkins, was at the forefront of the day’s activities as he led the school sessions as well as the other events throughout the day.

During the sessions, Alkins highlighted the connection between sport and social development, pointing out its various contributions to society, which are often overlooked. The roles of sport in accomplishing the SDGs, as well as ways in which peace can be achieved, were all underlined. Sport and health as a mode of expression, an avenue for employment, a means of exercising collaboration, leadership and team work, as well as method of developing young minds, both on and off the fields, were all emphasised in the former cricketer’s address.

Representing the National Sport Commission was the Assistant Director of Sport, Brian Smith, who pointed out the importance of sports in Guyana and addressed avenues that are available within the field.

“We recognise that it is important for young athletes/students to be in tuned with understanding that sport is integral to their development and

Students of Queen's College support the activities of The Xercise

not just going down the academic line, but there are avenues that exists in sport as well,” Smith noted.

Sport psychology, medicine and biomechanics are just some of the opportunities existing in sports, but, according to the Assistant Director, they are “underexposed and persons should definitely take advantage of these new prospects”.

Also participating in the activities was reigning Miss World Guyana, Nuriyyih Gerrard, along with renowned local squash player, Nicolette Fernandes.

The beauty queen used the opportunity to explain the wide horizons available through sport, alluding to her platform mental health, to which she remains dedicated. On the other hand, Fernandes shared her journey and experience as a sports ambassador of Guyana, pointing out that academics and sports can be adequately paired.

Fernandes, in an emotional revelation, revisited the obstacles which stood in the way of realising her dream of being a professional squash player. Restrictions from parents and reservations from teachers were some of the hurdles she overcame by what Fernandes deemed the effective cliché, “hard

Members of The Xercise with honourees

work and dedication”.

Moreover, the squash champion pointed out that expertise is gradually developed and not achieved overnight. With that, she urged the students to chase after their goals by applying the necessary strategies and methods needed to be successful in whatever field they choose to pursue.

The Xercise continued the commemoration of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace by hosting a T20 cricket match later in the day. The match fea-

tured The Xercise XI and Demerara Cricket Club XI at the Demerara Cricket Club, during which the host team emerged victorious. The sports organisation also honoured local sportsmen in a brief presentation ceremony for their significant contributions to sport and social development. The list of honourees includes Hilbert Foster (cricket), Stanely Ming (motor racing), Gordon Brathwaithe (football), Lavern Frazer (netball) and Fizal Khan (football).

The day of activi-

ties, themed “Giving athletes a say, peace in play”, along with the other initiatives undertaken by The Xercise, are all in keeping with the UN mission towards the accomplishment of Sustainable Development by 2030.

The Xercise is a nonprofitable initiative that seeks to enhance the involvement of Guyanese athletes in multi-tiered activism within society. The organisation, which has been in existence for two years, is aimed at developing the capacity of athletes both on and off the field.

With students of Stella Maris school

34 feature

By Dmitri Allicock

T

he town of Linden is synonymous with bauxite where the discovery of bauxite in Demerara shaped every aspect of life. The community grew from a small and sparsely populated one to become the second largest town in Guyana.

History of Bauxite

Bauxite was found at Christianburg and discussed as early as 1860 before its full potential was realized. Interest in this ore peaked as aluminium became of age. In 1897, Sir Henry Harrison collected samples of the ore at Christianburg and Akyma, and had it ana-

lyzed in Georgetown.

Once the facts were established, mining companies began to show interest. 1n 1913, Geologist George Bain Mackenzie was visiting the area and collected samples of the ore for testing. In 1914, he bought lands for Alcoa in the area now known as Mackenzie.

In 1916, The Demerara Bauxite Company was incorporated and registered in Georgetown, and started operations on the lands bought by Mackenzie.

1n 1917, bauxite mining started at Maria Elizabeth and nearby Akyma. Both areas are south of Mackenzie, about 8 miles upriver from the city.

The area was brief-

Current bauxite mine, Linden

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Bauxite barge on Berbice River

ly called Mackenzie City but the ‘City’ was dropped later. The bauxite plant on the east bank of the

Demerara River was soon built. The mining community would soon follow.

Bauxite mining

The first part of bauxite operations was the search by the prospecting teams. This team was made up by people that were familiar with the terrain and life of the area.

When the signs were favourable for bauxite, the land would be cleared enough to get samples by drilling. After analysis of the sample promised rich bauxite and full scale mining was justified, then the work begin. The jungle would be cleared. Salvageable wood would be taken then the area cleansed by fire.

The next objective is to get to the buried bauxite. Many times hundreds of feet of silica sand have to be removed. Powerful water jet monitors were used to wash away the top layers of overburden in some cases. This process is called hydraulic stripping. Other primary stripping was done by drag lines and bulldozers.

Today, bauxite is blasted. Holes are drilled and dynamite placed to blast the topsoil off to get the ore. The traditional daily booms of blasting still ring in my ears from early childhood.

The broken chunks of hard, reddish bauxite was dug by massive draglines and loaded onto trains.

Each mine was connected by rail to the plant. This was Guyana’s second in-

land railroad. The train ran until the 1970s when they were retired for the very massive dump trucks.

When the ore reached the Mackenzie Plant, it was crushed and washed clean of sand and clay.

The second process is that of heat. The heat application was dependent of whether the ore was being exported as a dry product or as a calcined product.

Demba produced several kinds of bauxite.

The world-famous type called ‘RASC’ (Refractory A- Grade Supercalcined) bauxite was produced by the plant at Mackenzie.

Guyana’s RASC is still the standard by which others are judged. The Berbice operation was the primary source of abrasive and chemical grade bauxite.

Guyana, China and now Brazil hold the distinction as the world supplier of RASC bauxite.

Bauxite today

What has changed is that the bauxite industry has drastically declined from what it was.

I can hardly write about bauxite and Linden and skip over some significant events that occurred with the bauxite industry and Guyana.

Guyana gained independence from Britain in 1966, and the journey to political maturity was complex and difficult. We would, sadly, spiral down into that tragic abyss that is so typical of most.

Guyana entered a stormy

night of inner struggles and serious mistakes that lead to a disastrous decline all over Guyana, including in the bauxite industry.

Nationalization without deep forethought on future sale and market of bauxite, strikes, corruption, mismanagements and a long series of events from the 1970s saw this downward turn and failure of this industry.

The ruins of the multimillion dollar Alumina Plant was a shocking site in 2010. I stood outside its broken gates and witnessed the jungle taking over. Large sections being cannibalized and salvaged for scrap iron.

The industry was already in the red as early as 1976 with a negative cash flow, according to Prime Minister and former Minister of Energy and Mines, Sam Hinds.

For the many thousands who left the area, bauxite will no longer play any significant part in their lives. For those at home the relationship will continue. The final chapter on bauxite is yet to be written and optimistically it will be a good one. Painful lessons were hopefully learnt and will improve understanding and actions.

The story of bauxite and its relationship with the people of Upper Demerara for one hundred years must be told and not forgotten, because it is a story of the people of Guyana.

Transporting bauxite ore

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Petamber Persaud

E

xtract of interview with Ian Randle of Ian Randle Publishers who has been awarded the Order of Distinction [Jamaica] and has received the Prince Claus Award [the Netherlands] and an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the University of the West Indies for his contribution to Caribbean publishing.

IR: …As publishers we have to adapt – not to see technology as a threat, and even in our own business we have used technology to our advantage.

PP: Share with us how you have used technology to your advantage.

IR: Technology has helped us to make books faster, cheaper and more accessible.

PP: …better publicity and marketing.

IR: Yes. But what it hasn’t done is to encourage people to read more and that is the challenge we face these days.

Recent reports coming out of the UK and especially the one coming out just before the London Book Fair, which is happening right now, is a very encouraging one; it says, for the second year running the sale of printed text books is starting to rise again.

PP: …that would give you a good feeling.

IR: Oh yes, while the sale of e-readers is declining. One explanation is that, and this is the really encouraging part, parents of children who think their children are spending too much time on the screen are now buying them books and children are once again

The Shaping of Guyanese Literature being introduced to print at an early stage. That is one of the most encouraging things I’ve heard in a very long time.

PP: This is giving me goosebumps! This March 2017 marks 15 years since I’ve launched out with various efforts/projects (including the first and only show ‘Literature On Television’ on local airwaves) to encourage reading, put the joy back into reading, and more importantly to read our own literature.

And you said earlier that the best persons to write about the Caribbean are the people of the Caribbean, which brings to mind something that Eric Williams said eons ago; he said that we are the best persons to write our history.

IR: If we don’t write about ourselves, then we would have other people interpreting, defining…

PP: …defining, limiting.

IR: …defining and limiting who we are. And one of the themes I am going to strike in my talk later is that I think that there had been, since colonial times, a deliberate conspiracy to consign us as colonials or ex-colonials to the permanent position of hewers of wood and drawers of water; that we are not seen as capable of having an intellect, an intellectual tradition, capable of having creative and intellectual thought.

PP: How far have we come!

IR: And I am talking here now of how the developed world sees us and their attempts in very practical terms to control who has knowledge, who creates knowl-

The big question is: “Why?”

T

here used to be this fella, MFK, who hosted a TV talk show called “The Big Question is why”. Some used to snicker at the fella’s homespun approach, but your Eyewitness thought it was a bold and brave attempt to answer that most important question: “Why?” Some may ask: “Why was MFK’s own life snuffed out so tragically?” We still don’t know; and his has become a “cold case”. Why? As we go through life, we encounter all sorts of baffling situations. Shouldn’t we be asking “Why?” more often?

Take this tragic death of a ten-year-old child after she was kicked in the stomach by another kid in school. It seems it wasn’t a one-off instance – the child had been bullied on other occasions by the same “kicker,” and the

Ian Randle

edge, who publishes knowledge and shares knowledge. That is one area no matter what advances we have made in other fields – we could have been more successful as scientists, researchers, even sending people up into space – the one area the ex-colonial powers have kept to themselves is to ensure they control the production of knowledge. And we know in the 21st century that knowledge is power and that is why I hold the publishing of our people’s writings and the creation of books as absolutely vital. And that’s the message I’m bringing late in life.

PP: Not too late; it’s never too late.Book publishing is not smooth sailing on the Caribbean seas; there have been highs and lows. Where do you want to start?

IR: The lows, I’d say.

And the lows include the disappointment of not having or unable to increase the readership in this region. In Jamaica, where I came from, I use to say that the average readership for a new book is whether it is a novel or whatever is 750 (copies), and I’m sure that hasn’t changed much, certainly not up-

wards.

We have built our business on selling outside the region of the Caribbean. The kinds of books we are producing – scholarly books, mainly – had we relied on the Caribbean market, we would have gone busted years ago. Basically this is our mantra: when we say Ian Randle Publishers, we say from the Caribbean to the world.

So that would be the lows that we don’t have many more people reading.

PP: In Guyana, it is difficult to distribute 300 copies of one title, even though I have had better successes with my books.

IR: This is typical right across the region, except in Cuba – that is a different story, a different environment altogether.

PP: In Cuba, it is books and more books in every nook and cranny, literally every nook and cranny.

Now for the highs?

IR: The highs have to do with the recognition, the recognition that one has made a breakthrough and I think I can say without fear of contradiction that we are now probably the leading publisher of books about the Caribbean, anywhere in the world.

We might not be doing it at the pace that we would like to do it, but when you think about books for and about the Caribbean, your first thought would be Ian Randle Publishers.

PP: Talking about pace – the scholarly works you handle are not things you could rush.

IR: That’s one way

parents had even gone into the school to complain to the authorities. Why didn’t the Head Teacher take some kind of action? There’s a great awareness programme about stopping violence on kids, but it’s all against adults inflicting the violence. Why aren’t we also trying to prevent kid-on-kid violence? From your Eyewitness’s own (bitter) experience, this is just as prevalent as the adult-on-kid violence.

Then the parents of the kicked child did the right thing and took her to the GHPC – a tertiary hospital with the highest level of care in the country. Now, your Eyewitness is no doctor, but he’d like to know why the serious effects of the kick weren’t picked up by the medical staff, seeing they have the best diagnostic equipment in Guyana at their disposal? Why’s the autopsy only saying “cause of death” is “blood poisoning”? Why didn’t the ultrasound pick up whether there was any rupture of the stomach?

Wouldn’t a blood test show there were elevated white blood cells in her blood, indicating the child was fighting off bacteria?

Why weren’t the parents told to return? Why isn’t there an SOP for these sorts of things at GPHC? Why does a child of ten have to die like this? Your Eyewitness has seen protests over dogs being mistreated by some upstanding citizens. Why don’t some of these citizens protest over the death of this child? It wasn’t as if this was the first such death of a child. Just a year ago, another child died in identical circumstances. How many more children must die like this before we take action?

Why is it that some of you, dear readers, are mentally muttering about: Why is it your Eyewitness is going on

feature 35

Randle (left) and Ivelaw Griffith, Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Guyana, sign the agreement to establish the University of Guyana Press

in which the technology has helped, certainly in the front end processes.

Editing obviously that cannot be speeded up all that much because all the techniques and skills needed to edit books are the same as there were 500 years ago.

What has changed is the business of formatting, typesetting, design and layout - which can be done very quickly now. Also with print on demand, which is one of the most advantageous things happening in the last 10 to 15 years, is now you can produce large books in small numbers and small quantities and literally print on demand, and that has changed the whole face of publishing. Further, what electronic publishing has also done is to get rid of the burden and problem of cross-border trading.

So the whole business of shipping - say shipping a book to Australia or to England,which takes time and then problems at customs - we can now eliminate all of those things by simply uploading a file to a printer in England, which will print in real time. In other words, you could upload/download the file overnight and it can be

delivered the next day.

In fact, there is something call an espresso book machine.

PP: Whoa, slow down.

IR: I know! There is so much happening.

PP: ...lots of innovations. So the book is alive and kicking.

IR: The book is alive and kicking. The latest statistics show that more books are being produced in smaller numbers for each title, and each title may be selling less but hasn’t slowed down the pace of new titles being produced!

PP: What’s next for Ian Randle Publishers?

IR: The most exciting thing happening is that we are entering a partnership with University of Guyana where we would create an imprint within the structure of Ian Randle Publishers to create a University of Guyana Press.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 2260065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com What’s Happening: It’s here, “Guyanese Writers of Indian Ancestry”. Look out for the launch date. Please make contact at the above number or email for additional information.

and on about “just one child”? Well, if we don’t care about “one child”, how can we care about children?

The big question is: “Why?” …on why submit a new GECOM list?

The Opposition Leader announced he’ll be submitting a new list for the new GECOM Chairman. After backing off his initial rejection of the first list, since the nominees weren’t judges or ex-judges, Pressie then announced: “The individual must not be an activist of any form — gender, racial, religious, etc; (or have) any political affiliation; and…should have the general characteristics of honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and diligence.”

Talk about giving basket to fetch water!! But hold it!! Doesn’t that first-list fella Lawrence Latchmansingh fit those criteria? He’s no activist, and with his lifelong commitment to the “do-gooder” causes of the UNDP etc., he hasn’t blotted his copy book; has he? But there’s hope for a settlement. In Guyana, the award of house lots — and now the award of G$50B worth of houses — isn’t much less contentious than counting votes. Yet the Govt just appointed a pastor from Albouystown to be its head.

So Jagdeo can submit priests? What about pandits and moulvis? Do they have integrity? …on Sugar workers Minister Trotman says Govt will build a US$500M “oil support” facility on Crab Island for the incipient mega oil industry.

Can he commit that “redundant” sugar workers from nearby Rose Hall will have first dibs on the jobs?

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Let’s talk…

This week's Crossword W

This week's Puzzle

see solution on page 47

…about (sugar) depression

orld Health Day this year was commemorated under the theme “Let’s talk” as one way to deal with depression.

Your Eyewitness was struck by the studied refusal by Government officials to deal with concrete drivers of depression. And more to the point what they could do about it. The way the new Minister of Health carried on in her ad in the newspapers, you’d think she was “talking” about a problem on Mars!

For instance, how can she ignore the depression into which the closing of the Wales Sugar Estate has plunged the entire West Bank of Demerara?? Does she know what losing a job means to one person who has no transferrable skill – and in an economy that’s already in a depression? Try 1700 persons.

Try the four persons in each of those 1700 families.

Try the 60,000 persons the spill-off from the Wales economic input into the local economy will affect.

Does she know why even humourless fellas like economists talk about an economy being in a “depression”??

It’s human beings we’re talking about. So, can we talk? Well, if a tree falls in the middle of the forest, but there’s no one there to hear the sound of the crash, did it fall? So sure, WE can talk – but not those folks from the West Bank. Have you noticed the amount of coverage the parking meter protests brought out in Georgetown? Have you noticed the VAT on education coverage in the media – in Georgetown? That’s a clue as to why Wales can’t talk – there’s no one to listen.

In any other country in the world, the news of 1700 persons thrown into the streets with no jobs in sight and no safety net to tide them over – would’ve been big news. But not when it concerns sugar workers. They are still doing slave and indentured work – so of course they don’t matter. And we return to their depression – and depression it will be.

Expect alcohol consumption to skyrocket as folks who were already socialised to “drown their sorrows” in liquor, now have sorrows multiplied a hundredfold. Expect domestic violence to explode and jobless men take out their frustrations on their spouses and their children – who still expect to eat.

Expect crime to rise as those men and children use whatever means necessary to survive. Expect their depression to precipitate more suicides as those who can’t externalise their frustration take it out on themselves.

Let’s talk, all right. But not about the depression that’s washing over Wales like a tsunami. …about the warehouse The Minister of Health mentioned above got her job because her predecessor messed up big time on the (in) famous rental of that pharma warehouse in Albouystown. And it seems that arrangement just keeps popping up like the proverbial bad penny.

Excepting, of course, it’s actually costing the nation a pretty penny! G$150 million annually, to be exact!

The latest episode in the sordid tale came out of a tour the warehouse’s officials arranged for reporters. Now, as background, you have to remember the reason our Prime Minister offered when asked why a warehouse was needed in the city – when the Government already had one at Diamond. He said when the GPHC runs out of drugs, they could be rushed right over and avoid the traffic jam on the East Bank Highway. Fair enough.

Well, we now discover from the warehouse supervisor when GPHC needs drugs, she has to ship them to the Diamond warehouse and then they’re dispatched from there!!!

It’s enough to make you depressed!! …about a fishy story The CEO of GuySuCo said fish (tilapia to be exact) will be substituted for sugar on its lands.

The 300-acre pilot hasn’t even been launched, but diversification head Tony Vieira says US$5.2 billion is expected from GuySuCo 120,000 acres!!

Counting our fingerlings before they’re hatched, eh Tony? Remember, that’s why you went bankrupt.

Twice!

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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news 39

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Jealous husband charged for attempted murder Azore was Leeland Marco. The charge stated that on April 8, 2017 at Campbelltown, with intent to murder, he grievously wounded Virtual Complainant (VC), Terrence Lindo.

Prosecutor Stephen Telford told the court that on the day of the incident, the accused was taking a stroll with his wife when the intoxicat-

Accused: Leeland Marco

A

2 5 - y e a r old miner of Campbelltown, Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), who in a jealous rage allegedly stabbed a rival, who attempted to woo his wife, was on Tuesday afternoon hauled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and remanded to prison for attempted murder.

Appearing before Magistrate Fabayo

ed VC interfered with his spouse. This led to an altercation during which Marco allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the VC. The miner’s Attorney, however, related that his facts differed from the Prosecution’s. He told the court that the two parties had a scuffle and his client in selfdefence pushed Lindo

into a drain in close proximity to a construction site. He asserted that the injuries received by the VC were caused by steel rods and several sharp objects in the drain.

Marco entered a not-guilty plea and was remanded to prison after the bail application was denied.

The miner’s Attorney

was advised to make another submission today when his client will appear before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

An injured Lindo is currently nursing injuries to his upper left abdomen at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

40 news

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Crime Chief decries lack of DNA testing capability at Forensic Lab

H

ead of the C r i m i n a l Investigation Department (CID), Wendell Blanhum has stated that the lack of DNA testing at the Forensic Laboratory located in Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, is a “sore problem” affecting the work of his de-

The Forensic Lab

partment.

“They lack the capability to do DNA testing, so this is a sore problem, it’s a sore issue and we still have to rely on (overseas partners). Of recent, we have been engaging the Brazilian authorities,” the Crime Chief said on Tuesday during the “Hot Seat” – a local radio programme.

According to Blanhum, only on Monday he contacted the Brazilian officials regarding the testing of samples from the decomposed remains, believed to be those of 39-yearold Lilwantie Balack, called “Darling”, that were found in the backyard of Lot 117 Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder home she shared with her 45-year-old husband, Sunildat Balack, called “Redman”.

“I spoke with the liaison officer and we are making arrangements to have the samples sent to Brazil to analyse,” the Crime Chief noted.

Nevertheless, Blanhum pointed out that as the Force was able to use the local Forensic Lab for drug analysis, he was confident that it would soon be able to do the same with DNA testing.

“I think very shortly, we will have that capability. I spoke with the Director of the Forensic Lab and I basically expressed my concern to him and he has assured me that very soon, they will be going down that avenue to do DNA testing.

“But it’s a very costly exercise and at the end of the day, I think it will do us great justice, particularly the relatives of those victims, so that they can have the results in a very timely manner,” the Crime Chief said.

Over the years, the Guyana Police Force has had to resort to using overseas laboratories to conduct DNA testing for several highprofile cases, including the murders of Babita Sarjou; British teen Dominic Bernard; for-

mer Demerara Bank employee Sheema Mangar, and MFK Trading owner Mohamed F Khan.

This is due to the fact that the Forensic Lab is yet to be outfitted with the necessary instruments to conduct basic DNA and gun residue testing which are internationally recognised.

However, back in February, Government had approved some US$32,524 to honour outstanding payments to a Barbados security firm, IED, for the completion of works that will see the Laboratory equipped to provide these services.

The firm was responsible for installing the security system at the Laboratory by way of a contract in 2012 and providing consultation oversight in 2013, during phase one of the project, but this never materialised because of the outstanding payments owed by Government.

The firm will, therefore, be required to complete its work on the Laboratory, along with completing the training of persons who are going to operate the facility.

The technical and electrical issues that were discovered a while back will also be rectified as soon as the contractors return to work.

The Public Security Ministry last year commenced building the capacity of the Forensic Lab to prepare the facility for DNA and gun residue testing.

Additionally, discussions were held for the procurement of rapid DNA and gun residue testing devices.

Improving the Forensic Laboratory’s effectiveness towards preventing and conducting criminal investigations is the second component of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP).

This component is being funded at a cost of US$5.5 million through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

For a new Constitution

By Ravi Dev

R

eturning to Guyana in 1989, I was a member of an activist group called the “Jaguar Committee for Democracy” (JCD), that published a monthly newsletter, “Jaguar”.

One of our idèe fixe was to stress the need for “constitutional change” and I wrote a paper on this subject: “Towards the Second Republic: For a new Constitution”, which was released May 5, 1991. David De Caires, publisher of the Stabroek News, became interested and asked to have the piece run as a series of articles in his newspaper.

In the first article published in July 1991, I wrote: “Recently in Guyana, there have been widespread calls for the present Constitution to be either extensively revised or completely abolished. Both the PPP (SN11/18/90) and the WPA (12/2/90) have stated that following free and fair elections, they would recommend the National Assembly be constituted into a “constituent assembly” to draft a new Constitution. Even Desmond Hoyte, leader of the PNC – and one of the architects of the 1980 Constitution – has conceded that at least one of its aspects, its socialist orientation should be changed. He would like the Constitution to be ‘neutral’.

“Substantively, there is much in the Constitution, with which we disagree: the dictatorial presidency, the social ethos, the lack of accountability, etc.

However, there will always be citizens who differ with aspects of their country’s legal institutions, including their Constitutions and this private right must be balanced against the public need for continuity, predictability and stability in the affairs of the state.

Constitutions cannot be altered capriciously. It is for this reason they specify fairly elaborate and rigorous procedures to compel reflection before amendments can be enacted. Cognisant of this caution, we yet support calls for the repeal of the 1980 Constitution for the following reasons.

“Under the 1966 Independence Constitution, certain sections were most rigorously “entrenched” and could

only be amended by a national referendum in accordance with stipulations in the Amending Clause (Article 73(1)).

This amending clause was itself so entrenched.

In 1978, the PNC decided to introduce a new Constitution, which of course, is the ultimate amendment involving all clauses. Since the Government law was still the 1966 Constitution, and entrenched clauses would be changed, the PNC realised they would have to submit the new Constitution to the Guyanese people for ratification in a referendum.

This they were unwilling to do. They instead decided to hold a referendum to amend the Amending Clause so as not to require the subsequent ratification of the new Constitution. This referendum was boycotted by the Opposition parties, yet the PNC claimed a 97 per cent approval. Independent observers, however, maintained that not more than 15 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote.

“Using its greater than 2/3 majority in the National Assembly obtained in the rigged 1973 elections, the PNC extended the life of Parliament on 7/10/78 and the Assembly was transformed into a “Constituent Assembly”.

The PNC submitted its Draft Constitution in December the same year and ostentatiously invited other organisations to join the Assembly.

Illustrating the nature of the invitation, the TUC complained later that “not one iota” of its recommendations were accepted and the PNC only wanted labour to rubber stamp its draft.

This draft was passed on 2/14/1980 almost unchanged and was assented to by President Arthur Chung six days later.

“This is the 1980 Constitution, which is still in force: drafted by a minority party, passed by an illegal Assembly and never ratified by the Guyanese people. It thus violates the most fundamental requirement of a Constitution – that it reflect “the will of the people”.

“As a postscript to this sordid episode in Guyana’s history, to add insult to injury, the PNC reintroduced the need for a national referendum to amend certain

By Ravi Dev entrenched clauses. The PNC arrogantly demonstrated it simply had never wanted to put its Constitution before the people.”

After the PPP acceded to office, their fervour for constitutional change waned for some inexplicable reason. David De Caires decided to rerun the series calling for a new Constitution in 1993.

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42 feature

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

T

he eight delegates who are vying for the crown in the 2017 Bartica Regatta Pageant visited First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger, at her office at State House where they discussed, among other things, their plans to use the pageant to bring awareness on environmental issues.

This year, in keeping with President David Granger’s push to make Bartica a ‘green’ model town, the delegates have been tasked by the Bartica Regatta Committee with promoting projects aimed at helping to transform the town into an environmentally friendly place.

The delegates,

Delegates of the 2017 Bartica Regatta Pageant with First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger (centre)

during the meeting, told the First Lady about their projects and also discussed their platforms, which range from suicide to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Mrs Granger used the opportunity to speak to the young girls on the importance of self-confidence, education and using their platform to be role models to young girls in their community.

G a b r i e l a Chapman, one of the delegates, in an invited comment, said that all of the delegates are thankful for the advice provided by the First Lady and noted that they are leaving the meeting feeling even more empowered in their journey.

NY-based Guyanese Arya Samaj observes Foundation Day

By Vishnu Bisram

T

he NYbased

Guyanese A r y a Samajists observed Foundation day last Sunday in Jamaica.

It was a perfect day for an outdoor religious event. The sun was shining in all its glory with a cool soft breeze blowing across a holy site. Hundreds showed up at 94 Avenue at 150th Street for the outdoor Havan, one of the largest ritual celebrations as each family conducted their own ceremony assisted by Guru Dr Satish Prakash.

The Arya Samsj Gurukula is located there, surrounded by a diversity of small industries and the railroad. Guyanese Samajists transformed the area with their temple and religious service.

That unique location of the multi-kundhavan was transformed into a spiritual rendezvous. The constant crackling sounds generated at the industrial site on a workday was absent. There was instead an ordered chorus of Hindu mantras in praise to the Almighty.

Hundreds of men, women and children, gathered to participate in this ceremonial multikundhavan. The avenue was closed by the City for several hours to allow devotees of the Gurukula

and others to pay tribute to the Arya Samaj’s 142nd Foundation Anniversary observance. There were over 25 separate havankund with groups consisting on average of 8 devotees, performing the requisite traditional rituals. Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj movement on April 10, 1875 in Bombay (now Mumbai).

The weekend was chosen for the ceremony because of convenience.

Periodically, the officiating priest Vyakaranacharya Satish Prakash, the Maharishi Dayananda Gurukula’s Spiritual Leader, paused to make the program ‘personal’ by recognizing devotees who have been celebrating their birthdays, their wedding anniversaries, or those who had recently lost loved ones.

Goodwill messages were delivered by representatives of various organizations.

Dr Satish Prakash issued periodic messages on morality and goodness.

Dr Satish Prakash expressed gratitude to all the participants and guests and sponsors.

42 feature

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

T

he eight delegates who are vying for the crown in the 2017 Bartica Regatta Pageant visited First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger, at her office at State House where they discussed, among other things, their plans to use the pageant to bring awareness on environmental issues.

This year, in keeping with President David Granger’s push to make Bartica a ‘green’ model town, the delegates have been tasked by the Bartica Regatta Committee with promoting projects aimed at helping to transform the town into an environmentally friendly place.

The delegates,

Delegates of the 2017 Bartica Regatta Pageant with First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger (centre)

during the meeting, told the First Lady about their projects and also discussed their platforms, which range from suicide to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Mrs Granger used the opportunity to speak to the young girls on the importance of self-confidence, education and using their platform to be role models to young girls in their community.

G a b r i e l a Chapman, one of the delegates, in an invited comment, said that all of the delegates are thankful for the advice provided by the First Lady and noted that they are leaving the meeting feeling even more empowered in their journey.

NY-based Guyanese Arya Samaj observes Foundation Day

By Vishnu Bisram

T

he NYbased

Guyanese A r y a Samajists observed Foundation day last Sunday in Jamaica.

It was a perfect day for an outdoor religious event. The sun was shining in all its glory with a cool soft breeze blowing across a holy site. Hundreds showed up at 94 Avenue at 150th Street for the outdoor Havan, one of the largest ritual celebrations as each family conducted their own ceremony assisted by Guru Dr Satish Prakash.

The Arya Samsj Gurukula is located there, surrounded by a diversity of small industries and the railroad. Guyanese Samajists transformed the area with their temple and religious service.

That unique location of the multi-kundhavan was transformed into a spiritual rendezvous. The constant crackling sounds generated at the industrial site on a workday was absent. There was instead an ordered chorus of Hindu mantras in praise to the Almighty.

Hundreds of men, women and children, gathered to participate in this ceremonial multikundhavan. The avenue was closed by the City for several hours to allow devotees of the Gurukula

and others to pay tribute to the Arya Samaj’s 142nd Foundation Anniversary observance. There were over 25 separate havankund with groups consisting on average of 8 devotees, performing the requisite traditional rituals. Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj movement on April 10, 1875 in Bombay (now Mumbai).

The weekend was chosen for the ceremony because of convenience.

Periodically, the officiating priest Vyakaranacharya Satish Prakash, the Maharishi Dayananda Gurukula’s Spiritual Leader, paused to make the program ‘personal’ by recognizing devotees who have been celebrating their birthdays, their wedding anniversaries, or those who had recently lost loved ones.

Goodwill messages were delivered by representatives of various organizations.

Dr Satish Prakash issued periodic messages on morality and goodness.

Dr Satish Prakash expressed gratitude to all the participants and guests and sponsors.

44 Travel & Tourism

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Boat landing on the Potaro River near Waratuk Falls in Guyana

B

elow Kaieteur Falls lies the lustrous Waratuk Falls, along the Potaro River, where the Kaieteur National Park begins.

Journeying to Waratuk Falls includes travelling upstream to Amatuk Falls, where tourists can take a quick dip in refreshing river water

and enjoy the sound of water gushing down the falls.

The adventure continues as a scenic boat ride takes you further on the river journey to the campsite at Waratuk Falls.

At Waratuk, tourists get to relax in the fresh, flowing waters while enjoying nature at its best.

Ranger's station at Waratuk (Photo by Nicholas Laughlin)

Scenic landscape in the vicinity of Waratuk

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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46 feature

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

The Beginning of the Gold Industry in Guyana

Gold digging, British Guiana

'Gold offices station, River Waini, British Guiana'

By Odeen Ishmael

B

etween 1849 and 1857 reports of gold discoveries in Essequibo were circulating in British Guiana, now Guyana. Then in 1860 the Superintendent of Rivers and Creeks declared that gold could be found on the beds of some rivers in Essequibo. Not too long after, the owner of a Georgetown jewellery establishment, B. V. Abraham, received permission from the Government to prospect for gold in the Cuyuni River.

Abraham set up machinery at Waririe on the right bank of Cuyuni and managed to gather small quantities of gold, but the gold company, which he established with a capital of $75,000, could not maintain itself since only small quantities being found. Mining operations were halted and Abraham, on behalf of the company, asked the Court of Policy for financial relief claiming that over $65,000 was spent without obtaining any profit.

This request was refused.

Abraham was convinced that gold existed

in large quantities, but more capital investment was necessary. He travelled to England to convince business persons there to subscribe capital to his company so that he could continue the mining operations. However, investors in England were discouraged by the report of the geologists Brown and Sawkins, who stated that Guyana was unlikely to produce large quantities of gold. Further, the British Government at that period declared that there should be no mining in the area where gold was found in that region

because it had an agreement with Venezuela that due to existing territorial claims, neither country should occupy it.

Abraham returned to Guyana where he established a business association with D'Amil, a Portuguese woodcutter, and they secretly mined for gold; both men became very wealthy.

In 1863, a quartz crushing operation was started in the Cuyuni, but the low quantity of gold obtained forced it to close down.

In 1879, after information circulated that gold was found in other parts of Essequibo, many individuals left the coastal region and became independent gold miners in various tributaries of the Essequibo River.

In October of that same year, one African gold miner, Jules Caman, us-

age investors interested in gold mining.

This state of affairs changed in 1889 when the new Governor Viscount Gormanston announced in the Combined Court that the British Government would no longer recognise any Venezuelan claim east of the Schomburgk Line. He declared also that the territory near the Orinoco, where gold was also found, would become a separate administrative area known as the North West District.

The dismissal of the Venezuelan claim encouraged gold miners to rush back to the Essequibo region, particularly to the Potaro where large gold discoveries were made.

The Essequibo Gold Mining Company was established and it operated mainly in the Potaro River area where it made rich finds and earned

these men and they singly or on groups departed for the interior districts in search of gold. Most of these miners operated independently or in small partnerships as soon as they staked mining claims in the interior areas where they "panned" for gold in the rivers. Since much of their diet consisted of salted pork, they began to be referred to as "porkknockers". The settlement of Bartica, the gateway to the interior, became a busy service centre, growing rapidly in size and officially becoming a township in 1887.

As gold production grew, the sugar estates continued to face a serious threat of losing many of its skilled workers. The Government in 1896 published its ‘Mining Regulations’, which placed a number of demands on gold min-

'Washing' for gold in the Mazaruni circa 1908

Rice harvesting, British Guiana (no date)

Roadside on a sugar plantation, British Guiana (no date)

ing a place-washing system, found relatively large quantities in the Akaiwanna Creek and the Konawaruk Creek, two of the smaller tributaries of the Essequibo River.

Gold was also found in areas near the source of the Demerara River.

The Venezuelan claim to most of Essequibo at first hampered the development of the gold industry in that area. As late as March 1887, the Officer Administering the Government (or acting Governor) of British Guiana, Charles Bruce, issued a public notice that licenses issued for gold mining were subjected to a subsequent settlement of the border dispute with Venezuela. This notice did not help at all to encour-

large profits for its investors.

Gold mining had a serious effect on labour on the coastal areas, especially in the sugar industry. This was because many of the male African workers departed for the gold fields with the hope of earning quick riches. In an effort to stem the drain of labour, the Government in 1880 imposed a royalty on would-be gold miners of two percent. But this did not halt the flow especially since sugar was fetching a low price in Europe. Earnings were never sufficient and hundreds of African men in the villages found great difficulty in finding employment in the estates and in the towns. Gold mining became a lure for

ers, possibly with an intention of discouraging them from moving to the gold fields. Prospectors, in addition to the royalty they had to pay, now had to fill out lengthy forms to obtain licenses for which fees were charged. In addition, they had to submit themselves to a body search when they were departing from the gold fields. Nevertheless, these actions did not deter more and more persons from becoming gold miners, some of whom branched out into digging up the gravel banks of the river to search for diamonds after those gems were discovered in Mazaruni. (Text from “The Guyana Story: From Earliest Times to Independence” by Odeen Ishmael)

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

The small man will be the real man

S

atiricus couldn’t wait to get to the Back Street Bar. He’d just ploughed through this long letter from someone who had to’ve been in the know, who advised Guyana “should return to Burnham’s development model”. Satiricus was a bit fuzzy – as he was on most things – and wanted to hear what Hari and Bungi had to say. They were the fellas who knew what went down back in the day.

“Listen, fellas,” said Satiricus excitedly as he sidled into his seat at the table where Hari and Bungi were already ensconced. “You read that letter about Burnham having all the answers to our problems?”

“Yes!” they both answered in unison as they passed him the beer the waitress just dropped off.

“Well?” he asked impatiently. “You know we’re in deep doo doo. What do you think of Burnham’s plans?”

“Sato, me boy,” said Hari expansively.

“Burnham was full of a lot of plans – among other things! – but I guess you want to talk becoming self-sufficient in food?”

“An’ how de small man guh be de real man, na?” laughed Bungi.

“Well, yes,” replied Satiricus.

“Leh me start fuss,” said Bungi. “Budday!

Wha mek yuh t’ink dem yout’ man wan’ fuh wuk pan de lan’ fuh produce food?”

“Well, yes, I do!” replied Satiricus. “They will make money!”

“Sato, ole fr’en’,” asked Bungi. “Abee cyan get cane cutta in all dem estate! An’ dem seh abee a get de hig’es pay in Guyana! Wha’ mek dem guh plant food?”

“But in addition to that,” said Hari. “Isn’t rice food? But the small rice farmer hasn’t become the real man yet!”

“So what is the answer?” asked Satiricus in disappointment.

“Budday, de Pee an See gat fuh stap counting business people money,” advised Bungi. “Wid all dem tax dem clap pan abee, nobady can buy anyt’ing and nobady can grow anyt’ing!”

“In other words, Sato,” said Hari. “The small man will only become the real man when he’s allowed to become a rich man!!”

CROSSWORD SOLUTION

L

Anu Dev

ast Friday, April 7th, was World Health Day 2017. The theme was “Depression: Let’s talk”. I quite liked this theme, it was direct, succinct and therapeutic: we really do need to talk about depression, and to depressed people.

I spent two months rotating through psychiatry at the tail-end of my fourth year. Right off the bat, our first couple of classes revolved around depression. One of the issues that kept coming up was the stigma against depression and other mental illnesses.

Unfortunately, since depression isn’t something as visible as, say, a bleeding head wound, it’s trivialized by many. Saying “Just cheer up” to someone with depression is really quite pointless. If we were given a choice in how we felt, won’t we all choose to be mind-numbingly happy all of the time?

Life is full of ups and

SIG E. CAPS = Depression downs. Everyone has those times when they feel completely and absolutely miserable. But for some people, those downs last much longer. For people suffering from depression, those downs, those feelings, interfere with their everyday lives; interfere with their relationships; interfere with the way they treat the people around them; prevent them from enjoying things they normally would have.

One thing one of the doctors teaching us kept emphasising to us was that in order to make a diagnosis of a mental disorder, there must be characteristic symptoms, those symptoms must last for at least a certain duration of time, and must cause impairment. We learnt a little mnemonic for remembering the symptoms of major depression, SIG E. CAPS – changes in Sleep patterns, loss of Interest in pleasurable activities, excessive Guilt, loss of Energy, poor Concentration, change in Appetite, Psychomotor activity (restlessness or slowness), and Suicidal ideation.

Impairment refers

to impaired functioning, like an impaired ability to function at work, an impaired ability to function socially. For most people, it causes them to isolate themselves, and their performance at work suffers.

Everyone can suffer from depression – even children. But somehow, in Guyana, even though there have been several campaigns to alert people to its insidious and pernicious effects, we just dismiss its prevalence here.

And one of the more serious aspects of a person being depressed is that they think of committing suicide, some plan out their suicide, and might even attempt to commit suicide.

Here, at home in Guyana, we’re no strangers to suicide. In fact, we have the highest suicide rate in the world.

Most of the patients I saw in the hospital were there after they had attempted suicide, or they were brought to the hospital by a concerned family member or coworker. If someone you care about is suffering from depression, you should offer them emotional

47

support: talk to them and listen to them; actually listen to what they’re saying. Try to remove your preconceived notions and judgement and actually listen to what the person in front of you is trying to say. And offer to help them get the profession help they need, because most people don’t go out on their own and seek the help they need.

And why don’t they?

Because we practise a culture that labels persons suffering from mental illnesses as ‘mad people’ and call a psychiatric hospital ‘Berbice Madhouse’. Who’d admit to having a problem, lest they be labelled ‘mad’?

So, if you’re someone who likes making light of someone else’s mental illness, you need to check that bad attitude at the door.

Be observant, be supportive.

If you’ve noticed someone close to you having a change in their mood, talk to them.

Sometimes it might be something, sometimes it might be nothing, but there at least needs to be a conversation.

Depression: let’s talk.

Giving them…

N

…bread and circus

owadays, the IMF tends to be a tad more diplomatic than back in the day when that entity could just come into a country and take over its treasury, like the US did with Haiti back in the 19th century. Maybe it has to do with the fact that when the IMF was done with imposing its “conditionalities” on its loans, the countries all resembled Haiti!! Case in point, of course, being Guyana and its ERP. But today, the IMF’s become “kinder and gentler”, since it had to intervene in Europe in the last decade.

Its officials couldn’t very well treat Europeans like they did Third World natives, could they? And it’d be too obvious for the IMF to go back to its old ways now that China has a toe on its Board. Be that as it may, the IMF team that closed its eyes to gold propping up GDP purely nominally, without doing squat for the people of Guyana, at least had the grace to rap Guyana (and the rest of the Caribbean) for wasting its money on frivolities.

Team members cautioned these countries to spend “better”, not “more” — more specifically on infrastructure, and not on boondoggles. But why should the PNC-led APNU/AFC government need a bevy of third-rate economists from the IMF (you think they send down fellas like Joseph Stiglitz down here??!) to tell them that? Hadn’t the World Bank pointed a decade ago to the need for countries that wanted to pull themselves out of poverty to “band their bellies” and develop infrastructure??

Hadn’t the World Bank given “chapter and verse” to illustrate its recommendation with the success of the Far East?? But why even go that far? Right here in Guyana, the PPP government had succeeded in fostering consistent, balanced growth rates by focusing on infrastructure. And the PPP had left a flurry of projects in the pipelines — the CJIA expansion, the West Demerara Highway, the Brazil-Berbice Highway,

etc, etc.

But what did this government do the moment it came in?? Why?? Bread and Circuses, of course!!

If you can’t beat them in performance, dazzle them with BS!! Big Independence bash followed by a bigger Jubilee bash complete with a billion-dollar circus stadium that’s already half-eaten by wood ants! Then a big Mash Bash! The biggest infrastructural project of all – Amaila Falls Hydro – was dropped faster than a hot potato. Why? Well, the Govt said it was because GPL would’ve had to pay US$130 million annually for the electricity. They forgot to mention that in any case GPL pays this amount for oil for its generators — which it wouldn’t have to run!!

But not to worry. When the country is bankrupt again by the PNC, the PPP will have to bail it out again! …hogwash If your Eyewitness wanted proof of the length the Government would go to mamaguy their supporters, it was delivered by the banner headline in their edition of yesterday: “GOLDFIELDS EXPANDING … scores of jobs to be created”. Imagine boasting about “scores” of jobs!! Whatever happened to the 100,000 jobs that they would’ve created when they staunched the “siphoning of billions and billions” by the dastardly PPP?? Oh how low have the mighty (job creation) fallen!! Or has the “siphoning” intensified?

But it gets worse. The goldfield “expansion” is by Aurora Mines – the expatriate company that siphons off 95% of the foreign exchange it earns on its gold production. At this time, that amounts to 150,000 ozs, so we’re talking about more than US$150,000,000 “repatriated” to foreign climes. And what do we get?

A measly 5% in royalties and “scores” of jobs!!

And yet this Government would boast about the economy “growing” from gold!!

What actually grew was the BS!! …alternative facts On the announcement in the Chronic mentioned above, your Eyewitness would like the PM’s shill to pronounce on whether Bulkan vetted it.

The shill reports to the PM, but Bulkan reports to Pressie himself! Stand down, water boy!!

48 Bollywood

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Parineeti Chopra aka Nargis Fakhri: Acting ‘Bindu’ turns into hot sailor is not my only aim

P

arineeti Chopra is the new muse for photographers in the glamour world.

The actor, who is making a comeback with Meri Pyaari Bindu post her weight loss, is turning heads wherever she goes, not just because of her new avatar but also because of her new found confidence. Now, the actor has become a hot sailor for a magazine, and we cannot go quiet about it.

In every frame, Parineeti is looking dreamy, and we are sure every guy is drooling over her.

The 28-year-old actor has become the face for Cosmopolitan India magazine’s April issue in which she has spo-

ken at length about her eating habits, weight loss and much more.

However, her photoshoot has turned her into a hot sailor, making us want to wrap our work and head for a cruise and become a water baby.

On the work front, Parineeti has started the promotions of Meri Pyaari Bindu. She plays the titular character who is an aspiring singer. With this film, Parineeti has also begun her new musical journey. Following the footsteps of her elder sister Priyanka Chopra, Parineeti has debuted as a singer crooning the film’s song “Mana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin.”

The film, which is scheduled for May 19 release, is directed by Akash Roy and directed by Maneesh Sharma. It revolves around the love story between Abhimanyu Roy (played by Ayushmann Khurrana) and Bindu.

In an interview, Pari spoke about how she never planned to be an actor.

“Being an actor or acting was never my dream but I knew I was living my dream when my first film released, and I saw thousands of people go out there, watch my films, love me and then mob me on the road.” Parineeti is also one of the few outspoken celebrities who never minces their words when it comes to tackling a social issue.

She also gave her view on the entire Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover controversy, saying that the show will not be affected because of one actor’s exit. After Meri Pyaari Bindu, Parineeti will be seen in Golmaal Again, directed

by Rohit Shetty. (Indian Express)

N

argis Fakhri says being in films is not her only aim in life and she wants to pursue other things as well. The 37-year-old actress says she wants to meet new people and learn new things.

“Acting is not the only thing…I want to do a lot in life. When you are on sets you are always acting you are not interacting with people in life and not learning anything new. There is so much more to learn and do different things in life. I want to balance things by doing acting and other things,” Nargis told PTI. The actress says she enjoys being a public figure but travelling and exploring different places is her passion. “I am a different person. I like to cook, plant flowers and travel. I like to live life.

I want to explore other things but not related to cinema as such. I would want to be a public personality on television or do something different,” she adds.

After doing back to back films like Azhar, Housefull 3 and Banjo last year, the actress has now decided to go slow. “Last year I did four films and it’s damn tiring. I will never do that again. I will go slow from now on. One film a year will be amazing.”

Nargis, who launched

her own app last evening, says there are both pros and cons of being on various social media platforms.

“The positive side is you see you are so popular. I did not know I was so popular. I felt I am like a regular person and nobody likes me. But when I see social media and the good comments and when I go out and people talk sweet things to me, I feel overwhelmed. There is a negative side as well.”

(Indian Express)

Vicky Kaushal sheds his chocolate boy image, bares it all in this racy photoshoot

Kangana Ranaut: No discussion on Fashions’ sequel with Madhur Bhandarkar

K

angana Ranaut has refuted reports of being approached by filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar to star in the sequel of Fashion. There were reports that the director approached Kangana to star in the sequel of the 2008 film, which featured her alongside actress Priyanka Chopra. “There is no such thing. There are so many rumours floating around.

Madhur sir last called me for his house warming party and that was it. Our conversation was only regarding that and nothing else,” Kangana told PTI. Incidentally, Kangana bagged her first National

Award for “Fashion” post which she went on to feature in commercial and critically successful films like “Once Upon a Time in Mumbai”, “Tanu Weds Manu” and the gamechanger “Queen”.

Her last release, the much-ambitious Vishal Bhardwaj directed Rangoon failed to make a mark at the box office and the actress says the team could not come up with a film which would strike a chord with the audience. “Nothing can stop a film from being a hit if the audience loves it. I have worked with several first time directors who went on to make great films so

I believe if the film is good, you’ll get the love. Maybe we somewhere lacked (referring to “Rangoon”) in what we presented,” she says.

The 31-year-old actress, however, says the saddest part about Rangoon not working was that her performance in the film went unnoticed as not many people saw the period- drama.

“Most critics said that was my best work so far.

I just felt sad that the film couldn’t reach as many people as it could have. It’s heartbreaking,” she says.

“My only grudge from the film is that not many people saw it. My work didn’t reach to people and I felt really bad about it. But failure is inevitable; you’ve got to have setbacks. It’s all part of the business,” the actress says.

She is currently preparing for her role in the Rani Laxmibai biopic titled Manikarnika directed

by Krish. (Indian Express)

V

icky Kaushal has so far been the boy-next-door in all his films.

The amazing actor has given some power packed performances and had even scared the audience to the hilt playing a drug-addict in Raman Raghav 2.0. But now, Vicky has ditched his regular image and turned drooling hot. The actor has done a photo shoot done in which he is flaunting his chiseled body. As far as we know, this could be his look for his next a rom-com titled Love Per Square Foot.

Earlier, Vicky had spoken about this project in an interview and called it a total Bollywood masala film, with all commercial aspects. He said, “It is a break from all the serious roles that I have done till now.”

The film is being directed by Anand Tiwari, who earlier directed Y-Films’ web-series – Bang Baaja Baaraat.

However, before breaking his established onscreen image, the 28-year-old

actor will appear in Sanjay Dutt’s biopic, in which he plays his close friend.

For Vicky, the biopic it is nothing but a dream come through. The film has been directed by Rajkumar Hirani and written by Abhijat Joshi. In fact, Vicky lauds Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Sanjay in the film, for his transformation and guarantees that the audience would be amazed to see him on screen.

“It was really hard for me to believe that I will be working with him.

It was one of the best narrations I have ever been through,” Vicky said in one of his earlier interviews while speaking about working on Sanjay Dutt’s biopic.

Before making a mark in the industry as an actor, Vicky was an assistant director on Anurag Kashyap’s film Gangs of Wasseypur. In an interview, Vicky said that whenever he is around Anurag, he still feels like his assistant.

(Indian Express)

Amitabh Bachchan calls Ranbir Kapoor ‘superstar’

H

ow does it feel when a legend, who is a phenomenon in Indian cinema, calls a much junior actor, a superstar? And if the legend happens to be Amitabh Bachchan, it surely is beyond a dream come true. To know what such a feeling is, you need to check Big B’s tweet which he shared for Ranbir Kapoor. The

Piku actor is in awe of the junior Kapoor who was last seen romancing the Bachchan bahu Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

According to reports, senior Bachchan was not very happy with the steamy chemistry between Aishwarya and Ranbir in the movie and wanted Karan to short-

en their love-making scenes. Later, Amitabh shut the haters by praising Saba, the character played by Aishwarya in the movie.

In the throwback picture which Amitabh Bachchan shared on his Twitter handle, we see Ranbir Kapoor with his sister Riddhima Kapoor Sahni. The brother-sister duo is holding their

mother Neetu Kapoor’s hands and their uncle Shashi Kapoor is in the same frame too. The text on the picture suggests that it is from the sets of a film starring Amitabh.

“And that wide-eyed little fellow is the Superstar of the day today ! Ranbir Kapoor .. !! what an actor !!” Amitabh wrote along with the picture.

The compliment

might have come in the wake of Ranbir Kapoor being honoured as the outstanding entertainer at the Lokmat Awards

in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Apart from Ranbir, Alia Bhatt also won big at the event. (Indian Express)

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

50 and Fabulous: Cindy Crawford slays with her topless photoshoot

S

ome people never go out of style and if anyone is determined to prove it, that would be the American model Cindy Crawford.

Even at 51 she looked as fetching as ever when she posed topless on the beach and posted the images on Instagram.

Cindy Crawford made mommy jeans look cool when she posed for a popular magazine. This comes a month after the mother of two showed off her bikini-perfect body while enjoying in a pool when she was on a vacation in St Barts. If anything, she still knows

how to heat things up while posing for the camera.

“Forever in Denim.

Thanks @ VogueMagazine! #momjeans,” she captioned her picture while posing near the beach.

When the model had announced plans to retire in February, people were simply unable to handle that they were about to witness the end of an era in the world of glamour. “Every year, I tell my kids I’m retiring. It’s a running joke in our family. And yet every year, opportunities pop up that really excite me.

While it’s true that I’m eager to shift my focus a bit to concentrate on my businesses, friends and family — I’m not making any final statements (not all headlines tell the whole story!). I have loved being part of the fashion industry for the past 30 years — and if that time has taught me anything, it’s this: never say never. Thanks for all the support, I’m so excited for what 2016 holds! xo Cindy ,” she had said on an Instagram post last year.

She had been one of the top models since the 80’s and had posed on multiple covers for magazines. Cindy Crawford went on to become one of the brand ambassadors of various popular products like OMEGA watches, Pepsi etc. Her 1992 Pepsi commercial is still a treat to watch. (Indian Express)

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ dominates Olivier Awards

H

arry Potter and the Cursed Child emerged as a big winner at the 2017 Olivier Awards, with wins in nine categories.

The two-part play – a follow-up to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of books – won in nine of the 11 categories it was nominated in at the ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Cursed Child won Best New Play, Best Actor (Jamie Parker), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Anthony Boyle), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Noma Dumezweni) and Best Director (John Tiffany). It also won in the Best Lighting Design, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Design and Best Set Design categories. Kenneth Branagh won the Special Award, for his outstanding contribution to British theatre and gave an inspiring speech in which he encouraged people to keep dreaming.

“People sometimes

Hollywood 49

‘The Fate of the Furious’ premiere: Vin Diesel remembers Paul Walker

T

he cast of The Fate of the Furious remembered their most favourite co-star Paul Walker at the New York premiere of the movie. Actor Vin Diesel introduced the film by telling the audience that every scene was shot with Paul Walker in mind.

Also, present at the screening were the actor’s (Paul Walker), mother and daughter.

“We like to say the last one is for Paul and this one is from Paul.

We wanted to make the best movie possible,” one of the cast members Ludacris told the audience, reported Hollywood reporter.

Paul Walker, who died in a tragic car crash in November 2013, was one of the Universal franchise’s original actors.

Vin Diesel who recently starred with Deepika Padukone, in her Hollywood debut, xXx: Return of Xander

Cage, had earlier said at Comic Con, that a part of Paul Walker’s legacy has lived through every frame that they had shot. The audience will be reminded of Paul Walker, whom he often referred to as an angel, and said he had always been integral to the concept of brotherhood.

“There’s something beautiful about that.

There’s something celebratory about that…. I always feel like he’s looking down on us so we didn’t want to let him down,” he had said at Comic Con back then.

In 2015, Vin Diesel honoured his friend-

ship with Paul Walker by naming his daughter Pauline. The actor had died at the age of 40 following a fearsome singlecar crash in California.

“There’s no other person that I was thinking about as I was cutting this umbilical cord.

I knew he was there and it felt like, you know, a way to keep his memory a part of my family and a part of my world,” he had added back then.

Vin Diesel always seems to remember his dear pal almost at every event of The Fate of the Furious. (Indian Express)

Bradley Cooper, Irina Shayk welcome their first baby ask me how I do it, and here’s the answer – we do it. I was inspired to dream and my advice to everyone is: dream big.

There are no mistakes only lessons.

“We can help to change the world just a little bit. I’ve seen the evidence. Shakespeare was right: we are such stuff that dreams are made of.

Keep making stuff keep dreaming,” Branagh said.

Actress Judi Dench praised the actor-director saying, “I am so glad you are getting this award.

And please employ me again”, while Mark Rylance introduced the actor and director with the words: “He makes it

seem as easy. I know he has grave doubts, full of fears like any of us, and yet he turns up.”

Other winners included Billie Piper for Best Actress for her role in Yerma, which also won Best Revival.

Groundhog Day won Best New Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for Andy Karl, while Glee actress Amber Riley won Best Actress in a Musical for Dreamgirls.

Presenters at the ceremony included LinManuel Miranda, John Boyega, Nathan Lane, Denise Gough, Andrew Garfield and Maureen Lipman.

(Indian Express)

O

scar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper and his girlfriend of two years, model Irina Shayk, welcomed their first baby together. The baby is said to have born two weeks ago. The baby is the first child for the Russian supermodel, 31, and the Silver Linings Playbook

star, 42, who have been dating since spring 2015.

The news of the couple being pregnant first came out in February when the model’s baby bump was clearly visible under an all-black ensemble during a trip to Disneyland, where she sported a Minnie Mouseears headband. While

that’s not going to happen.’ It was very creepy the way he chose to say it, even though he wasn’t going to murder us, he made it seem like he might. I started screaming, ‘I’m not going to be killed today! I will not be

killed today!’…’No! You cannot kill us! No!” The actress said the two then jumped out of the car.

They contacted Uber after the ride, but didn’t call the police, aceshowbiz.com reported. “I don’t feel like the police would

Cooper was not seen with Shayk on that day, sources told People Magazine that he is more protective of his girlfriend due to her pregnancy. Shayk, who is active on photosharing site Instagram, has stayed quiet about the baby’s birth over the past two weeks and chose to keep her social media posts on her friends and editorial work she has done.

“He has been spotted dropping her off at the airport with kisses as she is about to take off for another job. They are just a very sweet couple,” a source told the magazine. (Indian Express)

Busy Philipps talks about her horrifying Uber experience on Instagram

B

usy Philipps who has been popular for her role in Cougar Town, Freaks and Geeks, Dawson Creeks opened up about a bizarre experience that she and her husband Marc Silverstein had after they decided to take an Uber. Philipps said she tried to call for a taxi and when they got in the

car, things took a weird turn.

Busy Philipps said she was almost “murdered” by a stranger during an Uber ride with husband Marc Silverstein. The actress described the incident on Instagram in a series of almost 50 videos.

Phillips said that they called a single Uber, not

a shared ride. She said a driver pulled ahead of where they were standing. She said she immediately felt uncomfortable.

“I say (to Marc), ‘What’s going on, are we about to get murdered?’

A man that we didn’t know existed in the back seat pops up… and he was like, ‘I promise

have been helpful,” she said.

According to a source, Uber said that it was a violation of the rules, and they are looking into the incident. (Indian Express)

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WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Infantino turns sod for FIFA Forward project site

F

IFA President Giovanni “Gianni” Infantino on Tuesday made a historic visit to Guyana and was given a full overview into

what was happening in football locally.

Although Infantino’s visit was short, he managed to squeeze in a number of important

The visiting delegation, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, made a stop at the Academy Training Centre and saw the grassroots programme in action

GFF President Wayne Forde, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Minister within the Education Ministry Nicolette Henry turn the sod at the FIFA Forward project site, Providence (Romario Samaroo photo)

activities. After he arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), he was immediately shuttled to the site of the FIFA Forward project located at Providence, East Bank Demerara, where he participated in the turning of the sod.

Infantino, along with Minister within

the Education Ministry with responsibility for sport, Nicolette Henry and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde, spoke briefly on the potential of a project like this, indicating that Guyana was heading in the right direction when it came to football.

Forde informed those

in attendance of the historic moment that the event was. The FIFA project “is expected to commence in a matter of months or weeks”.

Meanwhile, Infantino highlighted that “this project will change the landscape of football in the county, but not only football but society because we hope that some of our values can be adopted”.

The Head of the international football body went on to commend Forde, saying that “Wayne is doing a good

job with his team; they are thinking big, they are dreaming big, but what is most important is that they are putting it in practice, they are acting and that is important for the Region and that is why we are proud to be here and be helping.”

Speaking on behalf of the Government of Guyana, Minister Henry noted that it was a memorable moment to have the distinguished FIFA Head visit Guyana and commended the GFF for making it possible.

Jeffrey stuns opponents at Bakers’ Memorial

F

resh off his return from the United States, Pharmco’s Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey stunned the crowd and his rivals in the 6th installment of the Bakers’ Memorial held in the mining town of Linden.

Having recently excelled in the Sunshine Grand Prix in Florida, Jeffrey finished the three-lap, 60-mile journey in a time of two hours, 25 minutes and 31 seconds. The lap entailed a 20-mile distance beginning at the GTT junction in front of the Bakers’ residence and going through the town of Linden on to the highway and back.

Jeffrey was followed

by Alanzo Ambrose, riding for Team Alanis and enjoying relatively good success for the 2017 season. Team Coco’s Jamual John finished third, while We Stand United’s Andrew Hicks came in fourth position.

Rounding off the top six were Coco’s Hamzah Eastman in fifth and Team Evolution’s Paul DeNobrega in sixth.

Speaking to Guyana Times International Sport after the race, the ‘Obeah Man’ said he was unclear as to what to expect, having been out of the country and not knowing who was fit and who to look out for. But by about one mile out, he

Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey

and five others had broken away from the pack and maintained that distance until the last of the three-lap race, when he crossed the finishing line solo.

In the female race, Nazeema Bharrat dominated the action, with Abigail Jeffrey finishing second and Bianka Barker completing the podium position.

Meanwhile, in the Juniors’ division, Briton John rode away from the pack to secure the win from Jason Cameron and Adealie Hodge, who took second and third respectively.

The veteran Over50 race was won by Andrew Spencer, while G. Lorrimer and Andrew Kellman were second and third in that order.

In the Under-50 veterans’ race, Junior Niles once again took the honours, as Lear Nunes trailed in second and Warren McKay in third.

sport 51

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017| guyanatimeSinternational.com

FIFA President commends efforts of GFF

T

he President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino concluded his visit to Guyana by hosting a conference at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, where he commended the efforts of President of Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde and his team for their efforts to develop the sport.

The two football heads fielded questions from the media, while Infantino assessed what he had seen.

“I notice that this country has a lot of passion for football and I know that cricket is popular here, but you know it is just a question of time until football is clearly the number one sport,” the Swiss national said.

It is because of this that he noted that FIFA is now seriously investing more into football in Guyana, not only financially but to be here and witness first-hand the kick-off of the developmental project which he termed “a concrete step”.

Infantino, who was elected to office in 2016, indicated that Guyana, like the rest of the Region, has natural footballing talent, and it was only a matter of putting the right environment in place to see some solid re-

GFF Public Relations Officer Debra Frances (left), FIFA President Gianni Infantino and GFF President Wayne Ford

sults.

Forde indicated that over the past 17 months, their focus has been on football, pointing out that we now have a “robust youth development programme that is only going to get better with time”.

The GFF Head went on to caution those paying attention to the programme’s growth that it would not happen overnight, as it was “a long arduous and painstaking process in developing football and excellent footballers”.

However, he praised FIFA and the President of the body, who were noticing the work the GFF was doing and setting out bold initiatives in funding and projects.

Forde used the op-

portunity to reassure the FIFA boss and the football family that the executive committee of the GFF has the responsibility to better the image of football, noting that they were committed and working diligently every day.

By virtue of this, the man at the helm of local football administration added that the level of accountability and transparency they were building not only at the federation level, but also the demands and conditions they would be setting out for the associations as well, were consistent with what was required to reform football.

FIFA President Infantino later departed Guyana for Suriname.

Biggest Party in Sport returns to USA

F

our Caribbean Premier League games will be played in the USA this year, as Florida's Central Broward Regional Park has been approved by the ICC to host the T20 league's matches. The stadium in Lauderhill, which remains the USA's only ground to have ODI and T20I certification by the ICC, will host two matches fewer than last year's tally of six.

CPL officials announced the development after receiving permission from the ICC - who is the approving authority while USACA remains suspended - to host the event in Lauderhill. The 2017 edition of the tournament will be held from August 4 to September 10.

A source at the Central Broward Regional Park has told ESPNcricinfo that the CPL has reserved Saturday, August 5, and Sunday, August 6, to play two double-headers beginning at 10am and 2pm each day. However, after the Thursday and Friday matches in 2016 struggled to break 50% capacity, with 10,000 tickets allowed for each game, there are no matches scheduled for weekdays this time around.

In contrast, the two weekend double-headers that followed on July 30 and 31 were played in front of virtu-

al sellout crowds as an overwhelming number of out of town fans came to Lauderhill, particularly from New York and Toronto. The stadium source also told ESPNcricinfo that only four CPL teams will be coming to Florida this summer, rather than all six as was the case last year. It is as yet unknown which two teams will skip the USA leg.

The time slots for the Saturday and Sunday double-headers have also been pushed forward by two hours the weekend matches in 2016 began at 12pm and 4pm local time - ostensibly in an effort to better capitalise on TV audiences in the Asian subcontinent where the first game would air at 7.30 pm in India and 7pm in Pakistan. This would be similar to the 10am start that the India-West Indies T20I series in Lauderhill followed.

Earlier, ESPNcricinfo had reported that CPL officials had asked Broward County Parks for two sets of weeklong time frames to be blocked off in August for possible use for the tournament. The matches in 2016, played in July, were the first revenue-generating cricket to come to the ground in four years and increased interest in the India-West Indies T20I match in the following month.

52 sport

WEEK ENDING APRIL 16 , 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Chris Lynn's IPL prospects not looking good K

olkata Knight Riders opener Chris Lynn appears increasingly likely to miss the remainder of the IPL after he hurt his shoulder while fielding against Mumbai Indians.

KKR mentor Jacques Kallis said the injury would need a "substantial" period to heal.

"We are awaiting the results of the scans to Chris Lynn's shoulder which he dislocated on the field," Kallis wrote in his column for Times of India. "It is a notoriously difficult area of the body to heal, so these are nervous times. He will undoubtedly need a substantial period of rest, and may even miss the rest of the tournament,

Chris Lynn of KKR plays a shot during match 3 of the Vivo 2017 Indian Premier League between the Gujarat Lions and the Kolkata Knight Riders held at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, India on the 7th April 2017 (Photo by Rahul Gulati – IPL – Sportzpic)

which would be desperately disappointing for

him and our fans after seeing what he is capable

of doing during the first two games."

The latest injury was the third time Lynn had done the same shoulder in the last two years. He fell hard while diving to try and catch Jos Buttler near the long-off boundary, having run back at speed from mid-off. Lynn got on his knees and immediately clutched his shoulder and was attended to by the KKR physio Andrew Leipus. Later, he was seen in the dressing room wearing strapping and an ice pack on his shoulder.

KKR had said on Monday - Lynn's 27th birthday - that he had undergone an MRI scan and the results were due in two days' time.

Brisbane Heat, Lynn's team in the Big

Bash League, said they were monitoring the situation. "We'll stay in close contact through this initial process as we get an idea of what the extent of the injury is and what the options are for him," Heat manager Andrew McShea said. "It's unfortunate for Chris to sustain another injury to the shoulder that has troubled him in the past.

It's not the sort of birthday you would wish for, and the best wishes of the club and our fans go out to him."

Lynn had made an impressive start to the IPL, having made 93 off 41 balls against Gujarat Lions and 32 off 24 against Mumbai.

(ESPNCricinfo)

Exciting futsal finals on the horizon — it’s going to be epic – Mendonca

C

o - d i r e c t o r of the Petra Organisation, Troy Mendonca is predicting a thrilling final in the GT Beer in partnership with NAMILCO and Star Party Rentals Futsal Championship on Saturday at the National Gymnasium, Georgetown.

The colossal match pits giant killers Back Circle against inaugural finalist Sparta Boss and the buzz surrounds

the match since during the group stages Back Circle inflicted a stunning come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Sparta.

“I will be honest, I think it is going to be the most epic, energetic and worthwhile final to watch,” Mendonca confidently stated.

His enthusiasm stems from the fact that both teams have in their arsenal some talented players who have the skill to produce the nec-

essary fireworks for the massive crowd that is expected to invade the venue.

Mendonca felt that the overwhelming support for the tournament is as a result of reputation teams have built for themselves over the years and which has seen their communities responding handsomely.

The organiser also revealed that he met with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that securi-

ty will be in place to safeguard fans and players with the aim of providing a comfortable viewing experience for the games.

Back Circle and Sparta Boss could provide the most trilling finish to the exciting tournament on Saturday at the National Gymnasium and will see the winner pocket G$400,000 and the championship trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers

Co-Director of Petra Organisation Troy Mendonca

will collect G$200,000, G$100,000 and G$50,000 respectively and the correspondingly accolade.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the championship will pock-

et G$50,000 and a trophy, while the Highest Goal Scorer and Best Goalkeeper will walkway with G$25,000 each and the respective accolades.

'Caribbean cricket hijacked by small clique' - Dr Rowley

C

ricket in the Caribbean has been "hijacked by a small clique" of people. That is the assertion of Dr Keith Rowley, the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, who is part of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

that has been highly critical of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

The CARICOM has blamed the WICB for West Indies' slump in the ICC's Test and ODI rankings for more than a decade.

The CARICOM's op-

position to the WICB coincided with the rise of Dave Cameron, who was unanimously re-elected for a third successive term as board president.

Last year Cameron rejected the CARICOM cricket review panel's recommendation to dis-

solve the WICB. According to Cameron, the CARICOM panel had ignored the "sweeping" changes brought in by the WICB since 2002 in its governance structure and had also failed to consult territorial boards and WICB directors before listing its findings.

The defiant attitude of Cameron and the WICB, according to Rowley, had only distracted from the real question of who owns Caribbean cricket.

The CARICOM, he said, believes cricket is a public product that belongs to the people and not to the WICB. "Caribbean cricket has been hijacked by a small clique of people who are hell bent on destroying Caribbean cricket," Rowley told the Trinidad-based TV station CNC3 TV on Wednesday. "And this is my position that unless the question is answered as to who owns that asset we spinning top in mud."

The WICB, Rowley said, had told him the board was not accountable to the CARICOM any more, considering it was now a business enti-

ty and had become West Indies Inc. In the media release it sent out following Cameron's re-election, the WICB had spoken of its efforts to rebrand itself.

"In moving forward, the President and the team will have the new strategic plan which will facilitate improved performances at the regional and international level and explore a more robust governance system," the WICB said.

"The strategy revolves around the rebranding of Cricket West Indies; the development of our commercial arm WindiesInc; and the creation of a development foundation to finance cricket development in the region".

Rowley has questioned the basis for the change.

"I was told to my face, me and my colleague the Prime Minister of Grenada, that you all have no say in this. This is West Indies Cricket Inc. West Indies Cricket Incorporated. And it is their shareholders that they have to please.

I don't know who the shareholders are, but

what I do know [is] unless there are drastic changes to the current arrangements West Indies cricket will never get back to where it is expected to be."

For Rowley, in addition to the decline in West Indies cricket, the most "painful" thing was the fans moving away from the game. He gave the example of driving past Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain and being bewildered by the silence inside when a match was on.

"You know how painful it is for me. In this country lining up outside the [Queen's Park] Oval from 6'0 clock in the morning to get in.

That's how cricket used to be. Barbados is playing Trinidad & Tobago and the Oval is full because you got to beat them Bajans, ha! And now, you are passing outside the Oval and you ask, "what's happening in there?" You know how painful that is."(ESPNCricinfo) Nagraj Gollapudi is a senior assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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