Guyana Times International

INTERNATIONAL THE BEACON OF TRUTH

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You can also read Guyana Times daily edition online at www.guyanatimesgy.com ISSUE NO. 312

‘We were tricked into agreeing to the Parking Meter Contract’ - Councillor

See story on page 23

WEEK ENDING september 25, 2016

Blankenburg accident: Step-father further hospitalised after hearing news of children’s death Page 3

Mark Halley and Michell Miguel

Minister of Legal Affairs, AG Basil Williams hosted a cocktail reception for all delegates participating in the Commonwealth Magistrates' & Judges' Association (CMJA) Conference 2016 being held in Guyana. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, President of Trinidad & Tobago, His Excellency Anthony Carmona, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, Ministers of Government & other judicial stalwarts from across the Commonwealth were among those attending.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS 3

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Blankenburg accident: Step-father further hospitalised after hearing news of children’s death

By Ramona Luthi

T

he mother and step-father who were involved in the recent accident which claimed the lives of 10-month-old Marvin Miguel and 7-year-old Tina Miguel, were only yesterday made aware that their children were dead.

This resulted in the

children’s step-father, Mark Halley’s medical condition taking a turn for the worse as he is said to have developed a serious heart problem due to the shocking news.

A source close to the investigation told this newspaper earlier on Thursday that post mortems were conducted on the two children which revealed that the

10-month-old boy died from a fractured skull, while his sister succumbed due to multiple wounds.

Meanwhile, the mother of the dead children, Michell Miguel was on Thursday, discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital.

A source told this publication that once Halley is out of hospital

Mark Halley and Michell Miguel

Dead: 10-month-old Marvin Miguel and 7-year-old Tina Miguel

he will face the necessary charges.

In the wee hours of September, 13, 2016, the family of four in the company of a friend – who is also a member of the Guyana Police Force- identified only as

“Carter”, were reportedly travelling to Parika, East Bank Essequibo, to pick up goods, when they slammed into two parked vehicles on the public road at Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara.

There are reports

that Haley, who was the driver of the vehicle, swerved from a dog which resulted in him losing control of the vehicle. It is also alleged that he may have been speeding at the time of the accident.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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EDITORIAL

US elections and American Exceptionalism

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ontrary to what most of the political pundits outside US borders thought would be the case by now, Donald Trump is still setting the agenda for the US presidential race against Hillary Clinton. With their elections less than two months away and the polls indicating Trump is trailing Clinton by a whisker, it seems that with the capacity to outspend Clinton in advertisements and commercials during that time, Trump is well on his way to becoming the next president of the United States – as this paper proposed back in March even before Trump secured the Republican nomination.

The force driving Trump forwards and over Clinton is he is representing some very deep fears in huge swathes of Americans who have seen the boast of “American Exceptionalism” (AE) exposed as being just a hollow boast. Clinton, as part of the old politics, is blamed for allowing America to become “ordinary” and be subjected to all the ailments and challenges that only other nations were supposed to face – such as depending on “foreigners” to offer it credit to maintain its standard of living.

American exceptionalism arose from three strands of thought, the first of which sprouted in the circumstance of their formation as the first nation to have become independent through a revolution. This revolution was not confined to defeating the colonial power Britain on the battlefield, but spread to instituting new ideas in governance, constitutionalism, individualism and business. Very early on, the US leaders also undertook a mission to export their vision of what the world ought to look like through doctrines such as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and its wars to “make the world safe for democracy” into the present. And finally, there is the firm conviction that because of their “exceptionalism”, the US is superior to other nations.

After WWII, US was challenged by the USSR in the Cold War between the two nations, but by 1989, America emerged as the lone superpower standing as the USSR disintegrated. But even then, the seeds had already been set by economic forces that would witness the emergence of other nations such as Japan, China and India that would command enough resources to become quite independent of the US hegemony.

Interestingly, the growth of those nations was facilitated by US-based global corporations that felt impelled to seek greater profits through first licensing their technology to foreign countries with cheaper labour costs and then to actually “outsource” production and operations there. American manufacturing prowess atrophied and their well-paid bluecollar work force atrophied. Trump is exploiting the resentment of the millions that have been adversely affected by this move by promising he would reverse it through “macho” unilateral actions that evoke “American Exceptionalism”. In trying to be more nuanced and acknowledging the limits of modern American power, Clinton is seen as “weak”.

Simultaneously with the “outsourcing” of American production and services, illegal immigrants – generally nonWhite – were allowed in to perform the menial jobs that the Americans would not accept at the rates offered. At the other end of the spectrum, skilled workers – most of them also non-whites from India and China – were also encouraged in to perform high-paying jobs in the STEM areas. This created a backlash of “nativism” – that Trump has also exploited through threats of mass deportations and building a wall on the border with Mexico – against which, Clinton, as part of the old order, cannot compete.

Finally, while both Trump and Clinton have committed to “defending democracy” abroad, Trump has placed more emphasis on other countries accepting greater responsibility for defending themselves. While this may appear to be a diminution of the American Exceptionalism commitment to “bear any burden” to defend “democracy”, Trump, much more effectively than Clinton, has struck just the right note of bellicosity towards the US traditional allies to be defended, which masks the retreat.

Fields of Gold, Essequibo Coast Guyana. (Girendra Persaud photo)

Guarding against Cyber-attacks A report by US-based Inter-American Development Bank and the Organisation of American States has revealed that Latin America and the Caribbean are highly vulnerable to potentially devastating cyber-attacks.

The report said that four out of five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean do not have a strategy to prevent cyber-attacks.

The report added that nations such as Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Chile have an intermediate level of preparedness, but remain far from advanced nations like the United States, Estonia and Israel.

When we hear about data breaches in the news, it’s usually the big names in countries that are thousands of miles away. We hardly stop to think about our own vulnerabilities and examine ways we can protect ourselves. However, as many countries and large corporations invest in ramping up security, hackers are turning their sights elsewhere, to targets that may not have the resources to fend off their attacks.

The international institutes have called on regional governments to step up cybersecurity, saying that two out of three countries do not have a command and control centre for cybersecurity.

The question is how can persons protect themselves, organisations and employees? We need to understand why the issue of cybersecurity is important in the first place. In this hightech era, cybersecurity is more important than ever. Most of our daily transactions are being conducted via digital technology, from socialising to e-commerce. It is true that we may be lagging behind most countries in this regard, but we are well on our way.

Quite recently, Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes revealed great plans for Guyana’s e-governance system which are aimed at decentralising Government’s services, providing telemedicine services, distance education and the submission and marking of examination materials even at the level of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), among other things. They pointed to the establishment of an interconnected digital platform that can provide Government services to citizens in an efficient, cost-saving and efficient manner.

To make this a reality, the Administration has consulted with the Chinese telecommunications giant, Huawei, to assess the feasibility of expanding the coastal fibreoptic network to include other areas of the country.

Sections of the media reported that Government’s announcement comes at a time when US security experts have cautioned major telecommunications companies like AT&T against using Huawei’s services because of fears of espionage.

Amid the uncertainty about this partner-

ship, the Telecommunications Minister assured that Guyana has been placing great emphasis on cybersecurity and Guyana has been sending officials overseas to conferences “so that we can be up to date about mechanisms that could be put in place to protect the integrity of national data”.

Officials also assured that every conceivable step was being taken to protect data, largely with support from the Organisation of American States of which the United States is a major supporter.

Whether there is genuine cause for concern is left to be seen; however, we need to take the possibility of a cyber-threat seriously.

Experts recommend simple steps that can be taken to prevent hacks and protect information. Many in today’s workforce do not realise how easy it is to be fooled by innocent-looking attachments and links within malicious emails.

Viruses, ransomware, and malware can invade your system with just one click. Once the trap is sprung, all of a person business’ sensitive data becomes a free-for-all for cybercriminals.

Ensuring that employees are aware of the risks is crucial.

Persons also need to ensure the company hired to host its website has a good reputation and utilises proven security practices such as encryption. There are many other small, albeit crucial measures that can be taken to safeguard ourselves. These include but are not limited to securing our websites with SSL encryption, using a Secure Hosted Shopping Cart; persons have to be able to trust e-commerce platforms (online shopping is becoming increasingly popular in Guyana), protecting themselves and business with Web Application Firewalls and certainly, by no means least, changing passwords regularly.

No matter what preventive measures a person take, there will always continue to be more advanced hackers trying to get at personal or company data, persons simply need to ensure that they are doing all that they can to guard against cyber-attacks.

NEWS 5

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

SARA Bill found to be in violation of Guyana’s Constitution …legal opinion recommends consultations be halted

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he proposed bill legislating the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) is not only dangerous and disingenuous in its current construct but it has been found to be in violation of numerous sections of Guyana’s supreme law – the Constitution – and there has since been a call made for a halt of further consultation until Government can more clearly outline its desired objectives.

This is according to a legal opinion sought by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) that has reviewed the Bill and has since also recommend that Government set up a small team, “possessing and having access to relevant skills and expertise, to consider how best to achieve the objectives.”

It was suggested that, “In this regard, Hong Kong adopted an informed model, including a study and publication done in Hong Kong in 2006, entitled Civil Forfeiture for Hong Kong? A Discussion Paper of the Hong Kong Civil Forfeiture Project.”

The PSC’s legal team has since also suggested that the State use existing mechanisms, includ-

ing the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Double Taxation Treaties (Canada, UK and Caricom) and the Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the USA, to pursue suspected acts of illicit enrichment misfeasance and other violations using both the civil and criminal avenues.

Unconstitutional

On the matter of aspects of the SARA Bill being unconstitutional, the PSC’s legal opinion sought to point to the fact that Article 187 of the Constitution of Guyana confers on the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) “exclusive powers to institute, undertake and discontinue criminal proceedings against any person before any court.”

It was pointed out that the Constitution provides that in the exercise of these powers, the Director shall be subject to the direction or control of no other person or authority.

The mandatory requirements proposed in the SARA Bill, however, seeks to direct the DPP to inform the Director of any criminal investigation or criminal proceeding involving State property which may become

SARA head, Professor Clive Thomas

subject to forfeiture, confiscation or civil recovery.

The PSC’s lawyers have since concluded that this provision seems to be in violation of the Constitution.

Another of the requirements the SARA Bill seeks to impose on the DPP is the disclosure of information relating to any unlawful conduct, tax or financial impropriety of any person.

The lawyers have since said that this too “seems similarly unconstitutional.”

Proposals in the SARA Bill that seeks to give directives to the Commissioner of Police are also being described as contrary to the Constitution.

It was found that

one of the mandatory requirementsof the SARA Bill is that the Commissioner of Police inform the Director of any criminal investigation or criminal proceeding involving State property which may become subject to forfeiture, confiscation or civil recovery.

It was observed that this provision “seems to remove any exercise of judgment in connection with investigations being carried by the Police.”

It was suggested that when all the powers and functions of the SARA Director are taken as a whole, together with the status of corporation sole, the Director has more powers and is subject to fewer restrictions, than the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner General and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Pointing to many of the concerns with the application of the Bill as proposed by Government, the legal opinion sought by the PSC said “the model for the SARA Bill is an extreme form of asset forfeiture in which the presumption of innocence is at least, reversed.”

It further charges that the bill, if enacted

into law, will empower the Director to include, as part of the civil recovery application, “property, other than State property.”

In fact, according to the legal opinion sought by the PSC, while the draft legislation proposes to deal with the recovery of State assets, there is no actual definition for State asset in the bill neither is there a definition for State Property – another term used liberally throughout the proposed piece of legislation.

On the matter of the far reaching powers of the SARA Director, the PSC’s legal opinion has actually called some “frightening.”

Under the proposed law, the Director can do “anything” which he considers appropriate, incidental to the discharge of his function.

This effectively means that the “Director can assume functions of Commissioner General, the Commissioner of Police as well as the Director of Public Prosecutions.”

According to the legal opinion sought, “most frighteningly, the Director can actually contract out the power, functions, and duties

conferred on him.” The PSC’s legal opinion had observed too that the Bill contains some striking similarities with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 of the UK – that Act has been a major failure and has been effectively abolished.

It was concluded that the Bill is seriously and conceptually flawed and it appears that the drafter was not sufficiently familiar with Guyana’s Constitution, its statutes and certain applicable legal principles.

“The powers given to a single person, with no reporting obligation other than an annual report to the National Assembly, free to conduct any operation he chooses and the manner in which the operation is executed, with the power to delegate his almost limitless powers to any person, makes for a very dangerous scenario.”

The legal opinion also found that there are overlaps with several main pieces of legislation and functions and that the possibility of Special Organised Crime Unit, other investigative branches of the Police, SARA and the DPP engaging in simultaneous exercises is real.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Will Moses and Khemraj change course in the Coalition Govt and advocate for better treatment of their constituents?

Dear Editor, Guyanese who worked with and know Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, and Charandass Persaud are at a loss to understand why these illustrious sons “would betray their own” – their words. They noted that if anyone had told them a few years back that Moses or Khemraj or Charandass would “sell them out and go into bed with the PNC” for selfperks, they would have hurt that person. So why this turn against Moses, Khemraj, Charandass and other ‘AFCites’?

Everywhere I go in Guyana or NY, there is the oft-repeated comment, “Moses and Khemraj sell out their supporters”. But did Moses and Khemraj really betray the PPP or was it the other way around? If the PPP had not ill-treated them or if the PPP had allowed democratic decision-making within the party, or a democratic process to choose the 2011 Presidential candidate, would Moses have abandoned the PPP? The political behaviour of Moses, Khemraj, Charandass and Veerasammy Rammayah (popularly called Edgar) is to say the least disappointing.

People never thought that Moses, who many saw as a hero to be emulated for his struggle against Burnhamism, and his buddies Khemraj and Charandass would go into bed with the PNC given what PNC did (the extent of the brutality and humiliation) to them and to so many others during the ethnic dictatorship.

I know Moses and Khemraj well and worked with them in the struggle against the PNC dictatorship for the restoration of democracy. Few in Guyana have put in more time than Moses in fighting the racist PNC dictatorship. But these two former patriotic sons of the PPP were treated very badly by the post-Jagan PPP leadership and perhaps had/have justifiable reasons for turning their guns against some elements in the PPP. But they have no justifiable reasons for betraying or hurting PPP supporters and those who put faith in them to advocate for their interests in the coalition arrangement.

Their fans now look at these once heroes as worse than neemakharams; they are viewed the way

Burnhamites were in the non-PNC supported communities. People cannot understand why Moses, Khemraj, Charandass, and Rammayah have not spoken out against the ethnic marginalisation, discrimination and cleansing being perpetrated against Amerindians, Chinese, Indians and other groups.

It is noted, for example, that in the governing coalition arrangement, both PNC or APNU and AFC would agree on policy-making and decision making-consensus between the two sides; APNU or PNC would not dominate the government and resources would be shared equitably around the nation to reflect the ethnic diversity of the nation.

All these agreements have been violated and the AFC leadership of Moses and Khemraj have not complained or sought redress.

In my recent exchanges with Afro-nationalists, hardly any of them express any respect for Moses or Khemraj or Charandass.

These AFC Indians are not trusted by proud PNC supporters who see them as traitors to their own people just like how Afros affiliated with the then ruling PPP regime were viewed as traitors by their own. The PNC supporters mock and laugh at Moses, Khemraj and Charandass for being silent to what passes as governance (racism) under the coalition regime.

Is there any hope for Moses, Khemraj and Charandass to regain the adulation people had for them? Will they consider changing course in the coalition and begin to advocate for equity on behalf of their constituents?

Will they direct the PNC to pursue power sharing with the various parties including PPP? Will they give thought to demanding the 40% (of resources and appointments) promised to their supporters in exchange for the votes that propelled the PNC into the corridors of power?

Or will they continue to remain silent and allow the continuation of injustices being perpetrated on the population?

Or will they continue to trade their silence for the perks of office?

Yours faithfully, Vishnu Bisram

UG should address concerns being raised about its online programmes Dear Editor, Please permit some space in your newspaper to highlight some issues currently faced with the University of Guyana Online programme.

Everything happens online these days. A quick search of the internet will deliver thousands of results of universities offering their programmes through an online platform. This has proven very useful for those universities as they can cater for more students without having to cater classroom space for them.

However, it is not just the universities which have benefitted but the students as well, they no longer have to go through what has become known as the formal schooling setting – where students have to be present physically in a classroom with a teacher or lecturer. They can now be wherever they want as long as they have an internet connection. This probably is the way many will get their tertiary and other education in the future.

Our own University of Guyana decided several years ago to go down this path offering very robust content filled courses online.

When I saw the opportunity, I decided that this was for me, as I work and travel frequently. I was excited about the prospects of finally getting a degree from UG as I was not able to do in the past because of my work and other factors which prevented me from doing full-time courses at the Turkeyen campus. I applied and was successful which saw me enrolling for the online programme.

That is where my nightmare started; this semester should have been the beginning of my third year at the university, however due to the many delays on the delivery of my courses I and others are still to write our final examinations for our second year.

Hopefully, this will happen in the last week of November.

It must be noted that I have kept my commitment to the uni-

versity. I pay my tuition in cash to the university expecting that services provided to be of an exceptional standard. However, it seems that the online programme does not carry equal weight like the “regular” programmes offered

by UG and as such we are discriminated against.

If it does carry equal weight, then this is not evident as the programme is treated with disregard and callousness.

The programme has been plagued from the beginning; I understand that any new programme will have teething problems, however eventually it gets resolved.

There seems to be very slow progress in fixing the problems with this programme. There is no effective coordination; the redtapes to get things done; the uncertainty about where next as there is a lack of information from the university to the students; the lack of tutors to take the courses; and the list goes on.

Only recently a meeting was called to meet with the students of the online programme, even this seems not to have been organised properly.

Notices were sent out late to students and tutors who were supposed to have turned up for a session with students in the afternoon session failed to show up except for a few which can be counted on one

hand.

A check at the university will reveal the high number of students dropped out of the programme as a result of the many issues plaguing it. A few of us who believe that the programme can work has remained and have tried to work with the university to ensure that we complete our degrees. We continue to make sacrifices; however it seems like the university has no regard for us and demonstrates this in the way we are treated: Second class!

There are many other students who are quite frustrated with the programme and hope the university can really get its act together. In the past I attempted to have some of the issues addressed by writing an email to a council representative who forwarded it to the ViceChancellor who then sent in to the coordinator of the online programme at the time.

I visited her office and did not meet her as she was engaged in some other activity. A promise was made that I will be contacted; this never happened. It is my hope that through this medium, the plight of the online students of the University of Guyana will be highlighted and the administrators can look to having the many issues resolved as soon as possible.

Sincerely, Student

The time has come to set up an Afro-Guyanese bank Dear Editor, A bank is the life blood of a community. Moreover, a bank that caters to its community in ways that cares and respects the indigenousness of that community becomes more than a centre of finance.

It is no secret that the afro-Guyanese approach to finance and banking is infused with a sense of upbringing that is ethnically different from the other citizen groups. There is nothing racist about setting up an afro-Guyanese bank to lend more money to small businesses, potential homeowners and others to reinvest back into the community they know and love. It is time the debate shift to financial empowerment for afro-Guyanese ie economic self-awareness.

Let me be clear an afro-Guy-

anese bank will serve all people of Guyana, but its mission is to empower afro-Guyanese economically by underwriting loans with the added understanding of its primary customers. Moreover, it is in the interest of afro-Guyanese to support such an entity as an investment into building their future by cyclically compounding wealth.

What “form” should such a bank take to accomplish its primary mission? For starters it should have its headquarters in a predominantly afro-Guyanese locale, for instance Hopetown in West Berbice.

Next, there should be a marketing campaign with emphasis on the unique services and products offered to its primary customers. Products such as loans structured to clients with spe-

cial atomisation and terms that are reflective of income streams such those drive from operation of minibuses and taxis, seasonal and contractual labour arrangements.

For example, 30-year mortgages, reverse mortgages, asset back lending including, inventory of market stalls, gold and other precious metals. Other forms of lending should include non-traditional guarantees such as churches, savings clubs, farming clubs, pension accounts, contract awards, and insurance awards and annuities.

This idea is not new and if implemented will serve as another symbol of pride for the afro-Guyanese community.

Yours sincerely, Keith Bernard

news 7

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Massive changes could be made at PPP/C’s year-end Congress P

reparations are underway for the upcoming Congress of the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) with anticipation growing amongst its supporters of the return of Bharrat Jagdeo to the helm of the party’s structure and his possible candidature as the person who could lead the opposition force to a resounding victory at the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Though Jagdeo has not given any firm indication that he will accept the mounting calls to serve a third term, he has not said definitely that he has not had a change of heart in his earlier position that he is “not interested in serving a third term”.

The party’s Congress will be held under the theme “Strengthen the Party; Defend Democracy; Onwards to Victory” in Essequibo.

Already party groups and organs are readying themselves to be part of the event which will be

the first Congress to be held for the party after its exit of the Executive Branch of Government following its 23-year tenure.

Part of the process involves these organs selecting delegates for the Congress who will in turn cast their ballots secretly and in some cases openly for persons who would have been nominated to serve in various capacities within the party’s structure and on its 35-seat Central Executive body.

Sources close to the party say that Jagdeo, a former president and highly popular personality within the rank and file of the party, is likely to receive the most votes from the delegates to serve. Former President Donald Ramotar is also likely to secure a large portion of the votes as he did during the last Congress.

“There are other strong contenders from within the party’s rank and file that could cause an upset at the Congress

PPP/C candidates on stage at the previous political rally

and assume more authority within its structures. These persons include Irfaan Ali who is favoured amongst the youths and seen as a shining light…Priya Manickchand, Gail Teixeira, Clement Rohee and Anil Nandlall…It seems also that a new breed of party leaders not linked to the traditional dynasty will emerge”, a senior party functionary told this newspaper.

The Congress is to be

Minister Hughes touts telemedicine and E-learning possibilities for Guyana

I

n an effort to create a green, smart, information-based Guyana, Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes is touting tele-medicine and E-learning as possible initiatives that can be embarked upon with the development of an inter-connected digital platform.

“Here we are talking about establishing an inter-connected digital platform that can provide Government services systems to citizens in an efficient cost-effective and timely manner.

It is about establishing links that can manage both Government and Private Sector data in a safe and secure manner,” Hughes said at a recent press conference.

She highlighted that Guyana has to explore directions and implement strategies that can foster a more technologically advanced country.

“Inter-connectivity is the foundation of the platform that we can build and of course, it is an integrated cross-sectoral programme. It offers citizens the benefits of tele-medicine: having a doctor in Georgetown

Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes

connecting with a patient in Mabaruma,” she explained, adding that a lesson taught in Georgetown can be received in far-flung hinterland regions where subject teachers are limited and, of course, this can be done in an informed format.

She said the digital platform could also create a pathway where the use of E-books can be utilised to reduce the imbalance of those who cannot purchase hard copy or photocopy text books.

“The technology exists today for us to really make the change. So, we have to change the focus and identify our own priorities as a nation.

It is time for Guyana to think big, but act small,”

she said. “It is about implementing a strategy to bridge the digital technological economic gap we face today.”

Hughes stated that during her trip to China with the Huawei technology giant, the Ministry and the E-Government Unit were able to explore new directions and create new strategies that can propel the development of a green, smart, information-driven Guyana.

“It is clear to me today, that we cannot solve Guyana’s problems in the traditional way.

What’s exciting is that with the use of existing technologies, we have the capacity and many opportunities to truly connect, transform and innovate,” said Hughes.

She added that it was also critical for the establishment of a 21st Century system that can manage all Government and Private Sector data in a safe and secure manner. “No more collecting and disposal of mountains of paper after a flood, no more loss of important information that was only available on paper.”

defined by discussions surrounding the PPP/C’s style of politics while in opposition and the steps that it must take to secure an outright victory at the upcoming 2020 elections.

Focus will be placed too on the shortcomings of the new A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government with emphasis being placed on their policies and the continued impact it has on the masses and the socio-economic strength of the country.

“We will discuss ev-

erything. From our own shortcomings to reorganisation of our rank and file within the party to become more effective…We must leave that Congress united around a group of leaders with Jagdeo presumably at the helm in order to regain the reins of Government”, the source remarked.

The source contended that “without disrespect to other leaders and top ranking persons in our party…the people want Jagdeo as they believe in him”.

It is likely that several of the old faces that dom-

inated the party structure over the past decade will not be returned and a set of bright new personalities will emerge to serve with more females dominating senior roles.

The party so far has engaged in a series of fund raising exercises in the lead up to its Congress and a number of outreaches aimed at creating cohesiveness and unity within its ranks to ward off any divisions, uprisings and serious bouts of discontent at its congress scheduled for the Cotton Field Primary School during December 17 to 19.

8 NEWS

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Gunmen terrorise, Dataram, reputed wife rob Canje family fled country – source F

ive armed bandits assaulted a young couple after breaking into their East Canje, Berbice home, carting off cash, jewellery and other valuables in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Navindra Singh, also called ‘Surish’, said it was the third attempt to get into his Bristol Street home over the past four days.

Of the five masked men, one was armed with a gun and three with cutlasses.

The men gained entry through a window situated in the washroom.

At the time Singh, his wife and a baby were at home.

Singh, speaking with Guyana Times International, he explained that one of the men entered through the window and then opened the back door for the others.

Singh said as soon as he realised that bandits had gained entry to the house, he alerted neighbours.

“One jump on the chair and push a gun in from over the wall and

Meanwhile, Singh explained that neighbours had called the Police and the fifth man who stood at the door alerted the others that they had to leave as he grew suspicious of the Police arriving.

They hurriedly left the premises by scaling the back fence.

The homeowner told this publication that the persons who broke into his home seem to be very familiar with the layout of the building.

Navindra Singh He noted that the tell me to be quiet or he house was previously ocgon shoot. Two of them cupied by questionable kick and kick and brake characters, leading him open the bedroom door,” to believe that they may he related. be behind the crime.

The bandits manMeanwhile, Singh aged to steal two cellu- suspected that the banlar phones, an electron- dits attempted to break ic tablet and a laptop into his house previouscomputer, along with ly.

G$270,000 worth in jewHe told this publicaellery and G$40,000 in tion that on Saturday cash. night he heard strange During the eight min- sounds coming from the ute ordeal, Singh ob- yard and his dog was served that two of the continuously barking. bandits had a small row He also noted that on over the money collected Sunday morning he disfrom the wardrobe. covered that one part of He noted too that one a window had been reof the bandits identified moved but he had rehim by his calling name. placed it during the day. That night, he said he heard someone on the roof of the house and raised an alarm.

Singh said neighbours came out and they noticed movement in a clump of bushes behind his house. The Police were called but never showed up.

An investigation has been launched into the The window through which one of the bandits entered the home incident.

A

l t h o u g h Magistrate Judy Latchman issued arrest warrants for both Barry Dataram and his reputed wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, a source close to the family confirmed that the duo has fled the country.

Guyana Times Internationalwas told that the self-confessed drug trafficker and his reputed wife, who were due to appear at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday, absconded sometime over the weekend. The duo, along with Komal Charran and Trevor Gouveia, was expected to be present for the court’s ruling on a cocaine trafficking charge.

The four were on trial for allegedly being in possession of 129.230 kilograms of cocaine. The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) reported that the narcotics were found in shrimp on April 16, 2015, at Dataram’s residence, located at Lot 661 Silver Dam, Fourth Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara.

Self-confessed drug lord Barry Dataram

The family source claimed that the couple’s two children were left with relatives, noting that the couple left for neighbouring Suriname.

Dataram, who was once wanted by US authorities for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and cocaine trafficking, had accused CANU ranks of facilitating the shipment of cocaine out of Guyana.

Following the revelation, CANU’s Head, James Singh said Dataram’s “savagery” against CANU may be as a result of his uneasiness owing to the commencement of his trial.

However, President David Granger had ordered an inquest into the allegations against the CANU officers.

The inquest was conducted by Brigadier Bruce Lovell over a two-month period. After completing the inquest, Lovell stated that he was positive that the Government would find favour with the recommendations, as well as the conclusions and take the appropriate actions.

During the trial, a CANU rank testified that 428 parcels of plastic wrapped cocaine were seized from Dataram’s home at Diamond. He added that the parcels were in a white fridge.

On Tuesday, Magistrate Latchman cautioned that if Charran and Gouveia failed to return to court on September 23, arrest warrants would also be issued and she would not recall the case. The Magistrate is expected to deliver her verdict in the case on Friday. If found guilty, both Dataram and his reputed wife can be sentenced in their absence.

Cops reviewing footage of Sleep In Hotel robbery

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hree armed bandits carried out a brazen robbery on Tuesday evening at the Sleep In Hotel located at 151 Church Street, Georgetown, carting off G$100,000 in cash.

The incident reportedly occurred around 19:30h.

Surveillance footage showed that one Clifton Bacchus

of the men, who arrived at the hotel in a silver Toyota Allion motor car, entered and made inquiries at the front desk. He then took out his cellphone and sent a text, at which time, another man barged in and pointed a gun at the receptionist and another male employee, forcing the man to face the wall. The male employee was told that if he did not comply, he would be shot.

The first bandit then attacked the receptionist and ordered her to hand over the money, and she complied. After receiving the money, they then casually walked out the front entrance, entered the parked car, and made good their escape.

Speaking with this publication, the male

employee relayed what occurred: “The first man came in and he asked how much for five nights at the hotel and the receptionist told him and then he was on his phone and he pressed the buzzer and pretended to go outside and as he was about to go through the door, the other man came in, pulled out a gun and said ‘don’t move’,” he said.

Clifton Bacchus, the owner of Sleep In, said that he had just left the hotel when he received a call detailing what had transpired.

He said he was told that two men entered the hotel, held up the receptionist and took the money before escaping.

Surveillance footage provided to this publication showed that the robbery took less than five minutes.

The matter was reported to the Police and an investigation has been launched. When this publication arrived on the scene, one hour after the incident transpired, the Police were yet to arrive. They subsequently arrived and took images off the surveillance footage.

NEWS 9

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Attorneys suggest establishment Woman shot in crossfire as Police of industrial court to hear labour-related issues chase bandit

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woman was admitted to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after she was accidentally shot in the back.

The injured woman, who has been identified as Jean Rodrigues, of Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara, is said to be in her fifties.

According to reports reaching Guyana Times, Rodrigues, along with her husband, Anthony Persaud, their three children and grandchild were all headed to a wake in Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) around 17:30h when the incident occurred.

The family was in the vicinity of the Timehri bus park when they heard screams coming from a Police Officer.

When they looked up, they saw the Officer (name given) in pursuit of a man.

In an attempt to catch the man, the Officer discharged a round, which allegedly hit the woman.

“We were all standing and this man run past us and then the Policeman that was chasing him fire off shots and miss the man, but hit my wife,” Persaud said as he recounted what happened.

The distraught man relayed that his grandson was in the spot where his wife was shot, just a few

…in light of public servants wage standoff

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Shot: Jean Rodrigues

seconds before.

Rodrigues was picked up and rushed to the hospital’s emergency room by the Policeman.

There are reports that the Police Officer told the family that he did not shoot the mother of 10, but rather it was the bandit he was pursuing.

However, the family members said they saw what had occurred and claimed that the Officer was trying to “cover up the matter”.

The family said that since Rodrigues was taken to the hospital around 17:30h, they have been unable to see her or to get an update on her condition.

The matter was reported to the Police Outpost at the hospital. The Officer has been placed under arrest, and an investigation has been launched to ascertain what transpired.

Berbice woman jailed, fined for narco trafficking

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he woman who was nabbed with 9.5kg of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) will be spending the next three years behind bars after she was jailed on Wednesday.

Tricia Elizabeth Loo, of 651 Fort Ordinance, East Canje, Berbice, was jailed and fined

by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The 44-year-old woman admitted that on September 20, 2016, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, she had in her possession 9.5kg of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

In addition to the threeyear jail sentence, she was also fined G$25.6 million.

On the day of the in-

Tricia Elizabeth Loo

cident, the businesswoman was to board a flight for New York when she was questioned by Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) ranks. An examination of her suitcase revealed the illicit substance, which was concealed in false walls of the suitcases that she was carrying.

She was arrested and subsequently charged with the offence.

he establishment of an industrial court to hear matters on workers’ grievances and other labour issues is necessary, Attorney Nigel Hughes told Guyana Times International in a recent interview.

Similar views were expressed by Member of Parliament and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who also made the call during an interview with this newspaper.

Both Attorneys pointed out that there were many cases of ongoing grievances and work-related issues plaguing employees, who sometimes received no justice. The most recent is the deadlock between the Government and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), who had proposed a “living wage” for workers.

Hughes stated that it would be good to have the specialised court established because cases would be dealt with in a timely manner with little to no backlog. However, he proposed that before the court was built, the Administration needed to bring the existing judicial institutions up to an acceptable level, whereby there was no backlog of cases.

Also, he said it was important for the Administration to consider if the country had the capacity to build another court.

“Although adding another layer to the system is good, it might create more frustration for us,”

Attorney Nigel Hughes

he said.

The People United and General Workers Union (PU&GWU) had circulated a letter to the media, requesting the coalition Government and the Opposition to move to Parliament to establish an Industrial Court, with the status of the High Court, to hear and determine disputes relating to employment and labour relations.

The Union stated that it was pushing the parties for consent since both of them, in power and on the campaign trail, as well as at Labour Day rallies and marches, promised the working class and their trade unions a good and strong labour sector.

In the letter, the Union stated, “Due to the number of unsolved and unsettled cases, lack of enforcement of existing labour laws, failure of Guyana signing on to more international labour laws and International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Maritime Organisation labour con-

ventions/laws and lack of addressing ongoing grievances and general work-related issues affecting the working class, the People United and General Workers Union (PU&GWU) strongly believes that the way to address these matters and to establish a strong, effective and improved labour sector in Guyana, and also to address workers, their trade unions, and their general grievances in a timely manner, thus the Government of Guyana needs to urgently establish an Industrial Court.”

Currently, labour matters are handled by the Social Protection Ministry’s Labour Department and, in some cases, these matters would be taken to the High Court – under the previous Administration, there was a dedicated Labour Ministry.

Nandlall stated that an Industrial Court would prevent this from occurring, since in some cases, employees would not have the money to hire a lawyer to represent them. He said that an established court would have specialised lawyers and judges to deliver a better quality of justice in a faster manner.

“The concept of a specialised court to deal with these matters is a good one,” he opined, recalling that under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration, specialised courts were established to deal with particular issues which would have otherwise

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall

fallen into the hands of the High Court or the Magistrates’ Courts.

He stated that the formation of such an institution would have its advantages, particularly in the hearing of cases immediately rather than having to join the “long backlog of unrelated cases”.

However, he indicated that the establishment of an Industrial Court would be dependent on whether there were a significant number of disputes to engage a tribunal.

Presently, the Government and the GPSU are at a standstill on salary increase negotiations.

While Government maintains that it will not budge from its 10 per cent offer, the GPSU has been holding out and has even suggested that the two parties meet again for more talks. President David Granger has, however, said that there was nothing more that could be offered at this time.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25 , 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25 , 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS 11

Govt likely to renew Barama Jagdeo commences series agreement of engagements in the US

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Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman (left) toured the Barama Company Limited facility earlier this year

he Malaysian-owned Barama Company Limited will likely be granted approval to continue its operations in Guyana when its 25-year Investment Development Agreement comes to an end in October.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, on Tuesday confirmed to Guyana Times Internationalthat Government will be moving ahead with the renewal of the agreement.

He said Government already dispatched a draft agreement to the logging company and is awaiting its comments on the proposal before wrapping up the deal.

“The Barama agreement is still being finalised and a draft has been shared with the company for its review and comments,” he stated.

He refrained from providing further information on the matter until a definite decision has been taken.

“Until we agree, I won’t want to get into specifics, except to say that we are proceeding and getting nearer to a conclusion,” Trotman stated.

In a recent statement, the Natural Resources Ministry explained that a Task Force was established to examine the Company’s request for a continuation of its contract.

Cabinet had recommended the convening of a Task Force to examine the request given the rapacious activities of some foreign companies operating in the forests of Guyana.

The Government had noted too

that some negative observations had also been expressed at the operations spearheaded by Barama.

The Task Force met on several occasions and visited Barama’s operations at Buckhall, Essequibo, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

A legal consultant subsequently began reviewing the existing contract, forest concessions and tax incentives, previously enjoyed by the Company, while other members of the team examined critical issues, such as workers’ rights, value added operations and environmental management practices, to name a few.

General Manager of Barama Guyana, Mohindra Chand, emphasised the Company’s commitment to continue its operations in Guyana, stating that while it was faced with many challenges, it has no intention to shut down its operations.

Barama has invested in excess of US$43 billion in its local operations since its establishment in 1991.

Barama’s operations consist of forest management, timber harvesting and manufacturing of various woodbased products, such as plywood, sawn timber and flooring products.

It is one of Guyana’s biggest employers, employing approximately 1000 Guyanese.

It has been allocated some 1.6 million hectares of the State production forest and has been operating the largest forest concession in Guyana.

Top Cop shuts down stripsearch allegations

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cting Police Commissioner (APC) David Ramnarine, on Sunday released a statement shutting down claims that 65 female students of Region One (BarimaWaini), were stripsearched in the presence of male officers.

This statement came in response to an article titled, “Region One education officials investigate strip-searching of female students” published in the Guyana Stabroek newspaper on Sunday.

The article alleges that female students of the Santa Rosa Secondary School were strip-searched in the presence of male officers, after a report was made to the Acquero Police Station of missing money at the school.

According to the article, the Police Station was contacted by the school’s Welfare Officer who al-

leged that G$55,000 was stolen from the school’s dorm mother.

Reports revealed that the woman claimed that she locked her room and left the key hanging on a wall.

However, she returned and later discovered the money missing which prompted her to report the matter to the Welfare Officer who then contacted the Police.

The article related that orders were given by the Police Station to strip-search the students. This was done in the presence of two male officers, the dorm mother and the Welfare Officer of the school. The money was not found, however it was also noted that male students somehow managed to witness the strip-search which angered the female students.

In the statement, the APC said that according to the reports he re-

ceived, the officers who reported to the school were present when the students’ bags was searched, however when the Welfare Officer suggested that a search be conducted on each child, the Subordinate Officer objected and indicated that it would be improper in the circumstance for the Police to sanction this, and he and the Constable left the school.

The Subordinate Officer later reported that he learned that the children were searched by the Welfare Officer.

This story surfaced on Friday last when an affected female student confided in a resident of the area as to what had transpired.

The Regional Executive Officer, who also received reports of this incident, seemingly without investigating, called the alleged act by the officers “greatly inappropriate”.

Meanwhile, Jagdeo is slated to commence a series of engagements in the USA. After attending the CGI, Jagdeo moved to a further set of meetings in New York, focused on international plans to address climate change.

According to a statement from his Office, the Paris Climate Agreement is likely to become Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo shares a light moment international law in with former US President Bill Clinton on the sidelines of the coming months the 12th Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting after it is ratified by the requisite number pon the invita- issues – things like climate of countries, so global leadtion of former US change, global migration, President Bill terrorism, stagnating eco- ers are now consulting on Clinton, Opposition Leader nomic growth and youth how its provisions can be Bharrat Jagdeo trav- un-employment. As we lis- strengthened and global elled to the United States ten to each other, we hear ambition to combat climate to deliver a keynote ad- again and again about how change can be increased.

Jagdeo will then travdress at the 12th Clinton societies all around the el to the state of Florida, Global Initiative’s Annual world suffer when leadwhere he has been asked to Meeting which commenced ers move away from evibe the guest speaker at the dence-based policy, and inon Tuesday.

Eric Williams Memorial The event addresses a stead forge policy through at Florida series of global issues, in- prejudice. In developed Lecture University in Miami. cluding how the interna- and developing countries, Dr Eric Williams was tional community can build we are seeing how intelthe first Prime Minister of from last year’s historic lectually-weak policies are Trinidad and Tobago, and combining with the rise Paris Climate Agreement.

President Clinton and of populist politicians to the Memorial Lecture in the Clinton Foundation put development into re- his honour has seen many have been highly sup- verse. The answer to these world personalities speak, former US portive of Guyana’s Low threats is the reassertion of including Secretary of State, Colin Carbon Development progressive politics across Powell; former President Strategy (LCDS), with the world,” he stated.

Zambia, Kenneth The Annual Meeting of a team from the Clinton Kaunda; and former Prime Foundation working with opened with public discusMinister of Jamaica, PJ the Guyana Forestry sions, including between Patterson.

Last year’s Commission (GFC) and former President Clinton, the Office of the President Italian Prime Minister speaker was St Vincent during Jagdeo’s presiden- Matteo Renzi, Argentinean and the Grenadines Head Prime Minister Mauricio of Government, Dr Ralph cy.

Jagdeo praised the Macri and the recent- Gonsalves.

Following the engageMayor of Clinton Foundation for ly-elected ment at Florida University, assisting Guyana, saying London, Sadiq Khan. the Foundation was an exPrime Minister Renzi Jagdeo will meet with ample of modern forms of made a passionate call for groups of university stuglobal partnership which Europe to respond positive- dents in Florida, and he seek to solve big problems. ly to changes in the world, will also be meeting with “The conversations and the Mayor of London members of the Guyanese here today are focused on spoke of how “progressive community in both New York and Florida. the world’s most pressing politics works.”

U

12 NEWS

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyanese man deported UG boss confident of Medical from Barbados over School’s reaccreditation incident with schoolgirl T

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Guyanese national was handed over to immigration officials on Tuesday after appearing in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on an assault charge, the online news agency, Barbados Today, has reported.

The 48-year-old farmer of Apartment #1 Arrindell, Government Hill, St Michael, who only goes by the name Mankad, pleaded guilty to the offence, which occurred on September 17.

According to the facts read by police prosecutor Sergeant Neville Watson, Mankad was sitting on a bus next to a teenaged girl when he placed his hand on her thigh and caressed it.

The teenager reportedly pushed his hand away and moved to a different section on the bus before taking a picture and alerting her mother about the situation.

It was the girl’s mother who contacted police.

The teen later pointed out the accused man, who was in Speightstown at the time, to police.

However, Mankad, who said he only has vision in his right eye and was on his way to sell hammocks when the incident occurred, told Magistrate Douglas Frederick that he did not mean the girl any harm, according to Barbados Today.

He admitted to touching the young lady, but

said the mistake occurred when the bus turned and he was left struggling to hold on to “three big bags”.

The magistrate then called the virtual complainant to the stand, accompanied by her parents, and explained what Mankad had said before the Guyanese man offered an apology.

“I am sorry . . . I just come to make a dollar, I didn’t mean to do no harm to you,” Mankad said, to which Frederick replied: “As a young girl she did what was right and her parents took the necessary action.”

Mankad was reprimanded and discharged before he was handed over to immigration.

T&T mom, baby die in childbirth

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Shevana Laura Sookram

regnant Shevana Laura Sookram was on Tuesday posting photographs and showing off her baby-bump to friends. On Wednesday, her friends were posting condolences.

Sookram and her baby girl died at the Sangre Grande District Hospital.

The Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) recently issued a media release stating that an investigation has been launched into the death of the baby and mother.

The release read: “The Eastern Regional Health Authority offers its deep condolences to the Sookram family on the untimely passing of Shevana Sookram and her unborn child. The Authority has launched a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths. In the interim, the Authority has been in continuous contact with the family to provide information and counselling and will continue to do so for as long as is required in this situation”.(Trinidad Express)

he Medical School of the University of Guyana (UG) still has a far way to go before it regains accreditation, but Vice Chancellor, DrIvelaw Griffith is quite confident that things will fall into place.

The Medical School has been struggling to have its programme reaccredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine (CAAEM), since it was lost back in 2014.

Dr Griffith said he was positive that things would get back on track, especially after a site visit by the accreditation body in November of this year. The reaccreditation process, Dr Griffith explained, is a journey and not an event. A journey that will allow the University to meet some of the “conditionalities” that were not previously met which caused the School to lose its accreditation in the first place.

“I am very confident that we have met some of those conditionalities.

We are working towards improving the physical facilities. We hit a snag and we made a public notice about it, that we had an electrical fire in the Health Faculty and because of that fire, we had to relocate classrooms, faculty and administrative staff,” the Vice Chancellor outlined.

He said too that the University was moving

UG Vice Chancellor, Dr Ivelaw Griffith

progressively to organise and deliver better on the curriculum, which was one of the concerns of the accreditors. He said the school was working to ensure that it tightened the clinical arrangements between the University and maybe the Georgetown Public Hospital and the other clinical engagements.

Part of the journey, he emphasised, is to have full-time lecturers in every area.

“So, I would say that we are well along the journey to reaccreditation. I know that we are not comfortable, I am not comfortable that we have met all those milestones, but I think we have sufficient evidence of not only institutional intent to support, but we have a plan how to get overtime,” he said.

The UG School of Medicine lost its accreditation in April 2014, and

was served with provisional accreditation until 2015 by CAAEM. The Medical School was offered accreditation for the periods 2008 to 2009, 2009 to 2012 and 2014 to 2015. The medical school lost its full accreditation after a visit from the CAAEM revealed that a number of recommendations to improve the institution were not adhered to.

Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, Dr Emmanuel Cummings had told Guyana TimesInternational earlier that the School of Medicine had received some G$33 million from Government through the Education Ministry, to be used to upgrade the medical laboratories, as this was among the deficiencies highlighted by the accreditation body.

As efforts continue to regain accreditation, the academic year 2016-2017 for the Medical School will see refurbished laboratories and upgraded classrooms for the students.

According to Dr Cummings, “so far as I know, the Ministry is at the stage of procuring equipment that we will definitely have in place for September and we are currently evaluating the physical facilities.”

Dr Cummings noted that all relevant documents have been submitted and the curriculum was currently being reviewed.

6-month maternity leave soon to be part of Guyana’s legislation …Health Minister announces

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ublic Health Minister, Dr George Norton has announced that sixmonth maternity leave would soon be part of Guyana’s legislation.

Minister Norton made this pronouncement while addressing the audience at the National Symposium held at the National Cultural Centre on Monday, which focused on addressing the protection, promotion and support of exclusive breastfeeding. This event was held as part of activities in observance of National Breastfeeding Week, which began on September 18.

Norton said “breastfeeding is everybody’s business”, hence the new legislation, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release informed.

Dr William AduKrow, Pan American

Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/ WHO) Country representative, said the Organisations would continue to play their role in the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding.

Dr Adu-Krow also advocated for at least six weeks paternity leave for fathers to assist and to further support exclusive breastfeeding.

The PAHO/WHO representative supported six-month maternity leave for mothers and said through the strengthening of health information systems, workplaces would be able to better support this implementation.

WHO regards breastfeeding as the normal way of providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.

Virtually all mothers can breastfeed, provided that they

have accurate information and the support of their family, the health care system and society at large.

The theme of this year’s National Breastfeeding Week is “Breastfeeding: a key to sustainable development”. It speaks to breastfeeding being the key element in recreating the way people think about valuing well-being from the start of life. The theme also shows the links between breastfeeding and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that Guyana, along with other countries, signed on to in 2015.

These goals focus on ecology, the economy and equity worldwide. It has been noted that Guyana expects to achieve a 50 per cent exclusive breastfeeding rate by 2025; therefore, health officials strongly

Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton, PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr William Adu-Krow and another official after the unveiling of a breastfeeding message at the symposium on breastfeeding

recommended exclusive breastfeeding from birth until six months.

The expansion of exclusive breastfeeding awareness is currently being facilitated through accreditation of a number of hospitals to ‘baby friendly status’. Eleven hospitals attained baby friendly hospital status under the Public Health Ministry’s Baby Friendly

Hospitals Initiative (BHFI). This initiative, in collaboration with the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), seeks to recognise health institutions adhering to the breastfeeding policy.

Twenty-nine other local hospitals are expected to attain baby friendly status after their evaluation. It has been noted

that only 38 per cent of babies across the world are exclusively breastfed.

A large billboard, highlighting the Ministry’s full support of exclusive breastfeeding, will be erected during this week at the playfield, east of the Public Health Ministry, on Brickdam.

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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14 NEWS

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Any attempt to desensitise rape must be strongly condemned – Manickchand

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t is both disturbing and dangerous when the agency responsible for helping victims of rape refers to this horrendous act as “deflowering” – a term which does not encompass everything that is rape.

This was expressed by former Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand, who posited that “rape is rape” and any attempt to desensitise this horrific crime must be strongly condemned.

The Social Protection Ministry, headed by the Volda Lawrence, in more than one public statement, urged the end to the “deflowering of children”.

As a matter of fact, even after receiving im-

Former Human Services Minister, Priya Manickchand

mense public backlash over the use of the word deflowering to describe rape, the Ministry issued a second statement, again referring to rape as deflowering in its Child Protection Week announcement.

Strikingly, this is on the heels of the Minister being accused of protecting a child molester during the campaigning season of the Local Government Elections (LGE).

Manickchand, in a post on social media, highlighted that it sets a worrying precedence when the Minister responsible for the protection of children and the care of rape victims, seems to be unaware of the difference between the two terms.

“Rape is rape, Minister. There is no need, and it is in fact dangerous, to dress it up and speak gently about it. Deflowering has traditionally been used to indicate the loss of virginity and purity in girls and women. To use this word to address the sex abuse, rape and incest of our children is foolish and backward,” she stated.

Manickchand explained that the use of a lighter word in the place of rape reminds her of when it was still taboo to openly use the words “penis” and “vagina” in sensitisation. Moreover, she questioned the Minister’s comprehension of the definition of the two terms as she pointed out that a child can be raped and not deflowered.

“So once the deflowering stops, is it okay for someone to just rape the babies? We do know that rape is defined much more widely than penetration of the vagina by the penis, don’t we Minister? We should know by now that rape means in Guyana the insertion of any body part into another body part without consent and under certain ages. So a

child can be raped and not “deflowered” by being made to put into his/ her mouth a penis. A boy child can be raped without being deflowered by being anally penetrated. Don’t we know these things by now?” expressed Manickchand, who is also a parliamentarian.

Manickchand outlined that the softening of such a brutal crime contributes to the rape culture, and when the country’s chief champion against abuse fails to make clear her position in addressing these issues, it is a matter of grave concern.

However, she noted that perhaps this posture demonstrated by the Minister should come as no surprise given her previous stance on a matter of similar nature.

“But then again, this is the Minister who thought a woman whose child was raped by her uncle and who was repeatedly making complaints about same to those in authority should have dealt differently with the matter, should have hushed it up! It was after all, she said ‘a family matter!’” Manickchand stated.

Earlier this year, Lawrence came in for much criticism after she made some unfortunate remarks and had a casual approach in defence of a man who was charged for sexual molestation. In her defence, the Minister was quoted by another section of the media as saying, “This is a family issue that has been going on and on and on and on for whatever reason, I can’t tell you, because if I had a brother, even if there was an accusation, this is not how I would go about helping him.”

Additionally, it is alleged that the molester’s sister further alleged that she told the Minister that her brother needed to be jailed for his involvement, but Lawrence asked her not to pursue such actions.

Coupled with her use of the word ‘deflowering’ to define rape, many more are beginning to question Lawrence’s capability to effectively manage the affairs of the Social Protection Ministry.

Already, several rights activists, led by human rights group Red Thread, had conducted a series of picketing exercises demanding the resignation of Lawrence following her callous statements on the accused child molester.

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Broadcasting Authority seeking to regularise cable broadcasters …investigation launched into corruption allegations against two board members

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he Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) is seeking to regularise all cable broadcasters and to have them take necessary steps to become fully compliant with the existing legal framework.

This is according to GNBA Chairman Leonard Craig, who in a statement on Wednesday said that one necessary step for full compliance is for all cable broadcasters to enter into a settlement agreement with the GNBA to pay all required fees with respect to the period during which they were unregularised.

“It was agreed that the Chairman of the Legal, Fees and Other Matters Committee led a meeting with unregularised cable broadcasters on the Essequibo Coast to arrive at a negotiated settlement only with respect to payment of fees up to the end of 2016,” Craig said.

These operators, he said, are expected to (re) apply for licences to operate in 2017 and beyond.

The GNBA Chairman said separate meetings were held with both entities that were currently operating on the Essequibo Coast and following the rounds of meetings, Charles, a cable broadcaster, asked for a meeting with him.

GNBA slothfulness

Meanwhile, Craig also used the opportunity to respond to criticism about the “slothfulness” of the Board.

According to Craig, “I wish to admit that our work is not as advanced as I had envisaged it should have been at this juncture.”

He, however, sought to explain, saying that this state of affairs was attributable to the fact that when “we assumed office, the Authority was a far cry from what a regulator of this nature should be”.

“As much as there was a regulator in place, the broadcasting landscape remained largely unregulated; weak administrative and compliance structures existed… As such, through its various committees, we set out to build an Authority literally from scratch.”

Craig added that he understood the impa-

GNBA Chairman, Leonard Craig

tience of those who have applied to become broadcasters, but wished to assure those applicants and the general public that he shared this burden and was working hard to guide the Board in the direction of reviewing all existing licences and grant new ones in time for January 2017.

Investigations

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Craig, in a public statement said the GNBA has launched an investigation into an allegation that two members of the Board attempted to persuade, Kenwin Charles of Northwest TV Inc into selling his operations.

According to Craig, Charles pointed out that the two members attempted to improperly force him out of doing business on the Essequibo Coast where he had made significant capital investments.

He has since confirmed too that at the meeting with Charles, he indicated that he met with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and a similar complaint was lodged.

“I gave him every assurance that his matter will be given urgent consideration and that I will address this matter with the Board as soon as he makes a formal written complaint.”

According to Craig, “If indeed his allegations can be substantiated, it will constitute a major blow on the integrity of those members concerned.”

“I will carry out a complete investigation of the facts relating to matters raised by Mr Charles, I will review the reports of the meetings, elicit a response from the members concerned and will release an official statement in the coming days,” he said.

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Bahamian charged with murder of Guyanese teacher

Dead: Marisha Bowen

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Bahamian man was on Tuesday charged by Police for the murder of Guyanese school teacher, 34-year-old Marisha Bowen and is expected to make his appearance in the Supreme Court during the week.

The accused, 30-yearold Alister Williams, would not be allowed to plea until he is formally arraigned for the brutal murder.

At the time the woman was killed, she was pregnant. She was found in a lifeless state with her throat slit in her Summer Street, Nassau

Village, Bahamas apartment just over a week ago.

However, the accused will return to the Magistrate’s Court on October 24 for a presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment, which will facilitate the transfer of the case to the higher court.

Before he was remanded to prison to await trial, his lawyer Nathan Smith made allegations that his client allegedly suffered significant injuries while in Police custody and as such, Chief Magistrate Forbes ordered that Williams be seen by a physician at the prison.

It was reported that Bowen, who taught at the Charles Saunders High School, appeared to have been stabbed multiple times. At the time of the discovery, all the apartment doors were reportedly locked.

Further investigations revealed that Bowen, who has a 16-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, may have been slain

Murder suspect Alister Williams

shortly after 07:00h on September 9 since it was at around this time that “loud screams were heard in the community from the complex, after what was thought to be a domestic dispute inside.

According to the report, no one called the Police. The Police went to check on the woman after she failed to show up at work. The owner of the apartment assisted the Police in gaining access to the locked premises and it was then, the discovery was made. The suspect was later apprehended.

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Soyini Fraser cops Miss Universe Guyana title

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t was a night of elegance, charm, sophistication and intense competition as the curtains came down on the Miss Universe Guyana 2016, with Soyini Fraser walking away with the coveted title.

The Hits and Jams Entertainment employee outshone the 13 other delegates when the finals of the highly anticipated event was held in the well illuminated and decorated grand ballroom of the Marriott Hotel.

Fraser was undoubtedly one of the front runners from the inception; she however sealed the deal in the question and answer segment on Saturday evening.

On point, pure perfection and intelligent are words to describe the 28-year-old as she answered the questions thrown at her. Her six years pageant experience definitely contributed to her confidence and the way she presented herself as a confident, beautiful young woman.

The Miss Universe Guyana title has now been added to her long list of accolades and titles which also include, Miss Grand International, Miss Earth, Miss Jamzone International, and Miss

Newly crowned Miss Universe Guyana Soyini Fraser flanked by first runner-up, Rafieya Husain (second from left), second runner-up, Ariella Basdeo (second from right), third runnerup Ashley John (right) and fourth runner-up Ayana Whitehead (Dexter Ceres photo)

United Nations.

She will head to the Philippines to represent Guyana on the international stage with one goal in mind – to be crowned Miss Universe – when the competition is held on January 1, 2017.

The pageant, though spectacular, started at least 90 minutes behind schedule with the Guyana Police Force steel orchestra performing the National Anthem.

This was immediately followed by the introduction segment which was accompanied by thunderous applause as the audience rooted for

their favourite delegate.

Dressed in simple cream coloured gowns the delegates gracefully walked the stage and eloquently introduced themselves.

The final ten was then announced by the emcees – deputy mayor of Georgetown, Sherrod Duncan and radio personality, Alana Bose.

Making the top ten were Ashley John, Rafieya Husain, Ayana Whitehead, Soyini Fraser, Melissa DeFretias, Ariella Basdeo, Denisha Rogers, Iman Jaisingh, Odessa Grogan and Xamiera Kippens.

As the night pro-

gressed, the top delegates then reappeared on stage for the swimsuit segment. For this, they were decked out in twopiece swimwear in three colors – blue, pink and red. It was this segment that provided the opportunity for the beauties to flaunt their curves and grooves.

After an amazing display of grace, poise and physique, the top ten delegates went back to prepare for the highlight of the evening – the Evening Gown segment.

This segment was classy and mesmerising.

Although there was no award for best gown,

the audience felt that Ashley John, Soyini Fraser and Melissa DeFretias wore it best.

Although Husain’s was unique, it was not a popular style.

After the evening gown segment, the judges took some time to tabulate their scores to be able to reveal the final five. After some time the names of five delegates were announced.

They were Soyini Fraser, Rafieya Husain, Ashley John, Ariella Basdeo and Ayana Whitehead.

After the disappointing response to the final questions by some of the

delegates, it all boiled down to Fraser who wowed the judges and the audience with her intelligence and knowledge of current affairs.

In addition to the crown, Fraser was given the prize for the best talent.

Coming in as first runnerup was Rafieya Husain who would have also secured the award for best interview, while the second runnerup position went to Ariella Basdeo who copped the prize for beautiful heart.

Ashley John who was awarded the prizes for elegance and popularity was adjudged the third runnerup and Ayana Whitehead was adjudged the fourth runnerup position.

In addition, the Miss Congeniality prize went to Malika Russell, while the fitness model prize was won by Xamiera Kippens.

The elegant event was graced with the presence of Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes, Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green and other dignitaries including the Diplomatic Corp.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyanese company sidelined GECOM’s radio sets in school juice contract fiasco: Surujbally prefers …despite being lowest bidder to await findings of audit

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DDL’s Topco Plant has to now shift its focus to different markets

ocal beverage giant, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) has been overlooked as Government announced that the contract for the supply and delivery of boxed juices was awarded to Suriname’s Rudisa Beverages and Juices Company.

This announcement was made despite DDL being the lowest bidder at the recent bid for the contract. After milk was replaced as the preferred beverage to offer students along with biscuits and a snack in schools, DDL had supplied Topco juices to Government’s National School Feeding programme since 2010.

However, on Saturday Government stated that it was guided by the National Procurement and Tender Board Administration’s recommendation that the contract should be awarded to the third highest bidder.

Government further justified its decision noting that Rudisa met the requisite administrative as well as technical requirements.

In a brief comment, a DDL official said on Monday that the company will make a public statement soon on the is-

sue.

Meanwhile, Opposition Member of Parliament and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall commenting on the issue on Monday said that while Caricom (Caribbean Community) has obligations which may allow for a level playing field for competitive companies, the benefits a local company can offer Guyana outweighs that of a foreign company. He added that the deal sends the wrong message to local manufactures, pointing out that other Caricom member states make provisions for their local companies to thrive.

The former Attorney General likened the decision to terminate the company’s juice contract as move against job creation, something Nandlall reminded was promised in the coalition’s 100 day plan.

Nandlall also referenced company Barama which recently laid off nearly 200 employees due to the non-renewal of their licenses. The former Attorney General surmised that Government is “contributing to unemployment” in the country.

Ali questions Govt’s slothfulness in appointing procurement commission members

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aving vowed to move swiftly to establish the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in the first hundred days once elected to office, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/ AFC) Government, led

by President David Granger is now being questioned over its seeming slothfulness to appoint the members of the PPC, despite the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament unanimously agreeing on the nominee and the National Assembly subsequently approving those nominees.

Chairman of the PAC, Irfaan Ali, an opposition legislator in the National Assembly on Monday questioned President David Granger’s delay in swearing-in the members so they can commence working.

Ali told Guyana

Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Irfaan Ali

Times International that the committee would have fulfilled its responsibility as it relates to selection and agreement on the nominees and it is now President Granger who needs to officially appoint the commissioners. Ali questioned the President’s motive behind the delayed swearing-in.

“This issue is now

solely at the feet of the President and it is very strange that the members of the Public Procurement Commission to date have not been sworn in. This is something that the government said they were keen on, so I can’t understand what is causing the delay in the swearing-in of the members, these members have all been agreed on unanimously by the Parliament and it is solely at the feet of the president,” Ali stated as he issued a strong call for the President to fulfil his obligation with the appointment of the Public Procurement Commissioners.

“We are calling on the President to move in an assiduous manner to ensure that the members of the Public Procurement Commission are sworn in and the commission commences its works,” the opposition legislator continued on page 22

r Steve Surujbally, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which is currently being accused of deep-rooted corruption, is dodging questions regarding issues of financial irregularities plaguing the electoral body involving the procurement of 50 High Frequency (HF) Communication Radios and stationery from a Water Street businessman.

State auditors earlier this month launched a major probe after the Audit Office of Guyana reportedly noticed discrepancies with the purchasing of 50 VHF communication radios by GECOM for close to G$100 million, prior to the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections, raising concerns over the extraordinarily high cost of the equipment.

When contacted Monday, Dr Surujbally said he prefers to await the findings of state auditors currently perusing the books of the commission: “We are awaiting the result of the audit; let the auditors tell us that has happened or that has not happened.

Let us be clear on a matter. I cannot pronounce on a matter that is still being investigated.”

He went on to attempt to exonerate himself from the fiasco by stating that he is not responsible for the financial affairs of the Commission, but rather the Chief Elections Officer, making particular reference to the 2011 General and Regional Elections from whence some of the fraud allegations stemmed.

“In 2015 when we had the elections, the accounting officer is the Chief Elections Officer,”

Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield

Dr Surujbally highlighted.

In March 2014, Keith Lowenfield was appointed Chief Elections Officer and continues to serve in that capacity.

Lowenfield could not be contacted Monday for a comment as calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.

The radio sets were reportedly purchased for use during the 2015 General and Regional Elections, particularly in the outlying regions; however, they were never put into use after it was discovered many of them were outdated and non-functional.

GECOM reportedly sought quotations from several suppliers, both local and international, but handed the contract for the supply of the equipment to Mobile Authority, a company owned by a Water Street, Georgetown, businessman.

There were reports that some of the equipment purchased were obsolete and therefore not covered by warranty.

As a matter of fact, sections of the Guyanese media reported that the Australian-based manufacturer, Barrett Communications, distanced itself from the purchase, making it clear that while it had tendered through the Advanced Office Systems

for the supply of new radio equipment for the 2015 elections; GECOM subsequently cancelled the order.

Further, the company revealed that it had ceased to produce the equipment more than five years ago.

Many questions are being raised as to why GECOM would choose to purchase such expensive equipment from a small company here and totally ignoring the manufacturer or authorised distributor of the equipment, which have implications for warranty.

Meanwhile, more questionable procurements by the body surfaced at the weekend with fresh reports that the Commission doled out close to another G$100 million to M-Tech Business Solutions, another company owned by the same Water Street businessman, this time for the supply of toners used for photocopiers and printers, office furniture and equipment, photo paper and scanners, printing accessories, and even Duracell batteries.

According to reports, based on records available, GECOM may have been involved in some amount of contract splitting.

Already the political Opposition issued a call for a full public disclosure of the final audit report.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo’s office in a statement, said that it noted with “deep concern” the allegations of irregularity and the implications of corruption in the procurement of the communication equipment and the “the corresponding silence” of both Dr Surujbally, and Lowenfield.

Pregnant Jamaican remanded on narco trafficking charge

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three-month pregnant Jamaican woman was on Monday afternoon remanded to prison when she appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Marleen Grant pleaded guilty with explanation when she was arraigned before Magistrate Judy Latchman on a narcotics trafficking charge.

It is alleged that on September 17, 2016 at Essequibo, she had in her possession 629 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

However, a not-guilty plea was entered after her explanation was made directly to the Magistrate.

The prosecution objected to bail, stating that the defendant was a Jamaican, which made her a flight

Marleen Grant

risk. Bail was denied and the defendant was remanded. She will next appear in court on September 26, 2016.

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President Granger satisfied with UN efforts to resolve border controversy

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resident David Granger said that he is satisfied with the efforts of United Nations (UN) SecretaryGeneral, Ban Ki-moon, in trying to resolve the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.

He said that while the Government had hoped that the process of ending the 50-year-long controversy would have been further advanced, it is not due to lack of effort by the Secretary-General’s Office, but rather the slothful pace at which the Venezuelan Government is moving.

The President made these remarks on Monday at a press briefing held on the margins of the 71st Regular Session of the UN General Assembly, currently underway in New York. He was joined by Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Rudolph Michael Ten-Pow and Sir Shridath Ramphal, a former Commonwealth Secretary-General who has been assisting with legal and other issues relating to the controversy.

“I am satisfied with what the SecretaryGeneral has done; I am not satisfied that the Bolivarian Republic has

from page 21

Ali questions Govt’s slothfulness in appointing... urged.

Administrative mechanism

From left: Sir Shridath Ramphal, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, President David Granger and Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Rudolph Michael Ten-Pow

acted in good faith. It is clear that much more needs to be done by Venezuela if this matter is to be resolved… In my experience over the last 50 years I have not seen a Secretary-General so engaged in this matter, he has done everything possible over the last year since first meeting in Bridgetown. I am convinced of his sincerity in trying to bring this matter to closure,” the President declared.

He explained that since the signing of the Geneva Agreement in February 1966, Guyana has abided by all of its provisions. This agreement has given the Secretary-General specific responsibilities in the absence of Guyana and Venezuela reaching a mutually accepted position.

The Head of State further outlined that the

Secretary-General is required to choose a course for the peaceful resolution of the controversy.

At this point however, all other courses of action have been exhausted, including the Good Officer’s process, which is why Guyana has recommended that the SecretaryGeneral refer the matter for juridical settlement, which is the only remaining option.

“We waited for 50 years and Guyana’s approach now is to ask the Secretary-General to take the matter forward for a juridical settlement so that we don’t have to wait for 50 more years for a settlement… I am very hopeful that this Secretary-General, given his engagement over the last year or more, is going to do something which is going to lead to a favourable outcome,” he said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Minister Greenidge who affirmed that Guyana is not prepared to accept anything other than a move to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to bring a permanent resolution to this matter.

He recognised however, that though a clear pronunciation on the course of action to be taken may not come out of this meeting, Guyana fully acknowledges the work of the SecretaryGeneral’s Office in working with both parties to take steps to resolve the matter.

Additionally, Minister Greenidge disclosed that Guyana will join other Caricom territories to hold talks with countries like the United States and Japan on issues such as regional security and corresponding banking.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was quoted by the Government-run Guyana Chronicle as saying that PPC will soon be established as “the process is now awaiting some administrative procedures, including finalising the remuneration packages.”

But Ali said this is not preventing the swearing-in of the commissioners. He went on to explain that the PAC will soon move to put in place the administrative support mechanism for the Commission.

“The PAC after the Parliament comes out of recess, would be moving to have this issue as a priority on its agenda in setting out the administrative mechanism to support the work of the Public Procurement Commission, so there is nothing that is stopping the President from swearing-in the members of the Public Procurement Commission,” Ali reasoned.

Nominees approved

At the end of July 2016, The Ali-led PAC agreed on the names of the nominees for the PPC and that list was subsequently approved by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly on August 8.

The nominees are Attorney Emily Dodson, Carol Corbin, University of Guyana lecturer, Sukrishnalall Pasha, Educator Ivor English and former Labour Minister, Nanda Gopaul.

The list of the nominees was sent to President Granger, who under provisions of the Constitution could only appoint members of the PPC after their nomination has been approved in the House, and by a two-thirds majority.

The PPC has been a contributing factor that predated the holding of the General and Regional Elections in May 2015, as the then opposition had insisted that Cabinet should cease the practice of giving ‘no objection’ to contracts for state projects and services, in favour of appeals by aggrieved contractors to the PPC.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Fourth suspect charged for Corentyne triple murder

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he fourth suspect in the Corentyne triple murder case, RakeshKaramchand known as ‘Go- ToFront’ of Sheet Anchor, Canje, Berbice on Thursday appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court to answer to the charge of murder.

The man was not required to plea to the indictable offence.

Karamchand, 27, is accused of murdering three fishermen between July 21, 2016 and July 22, 2016 at Kookcrite Creek, Savannah Black Bush Polder.

He was remanded to prison and is expected to return to court on October 4, 2016.

On Friday, July 23, 2016, the bodies of PawanChandradeo, also called “Surish”, 37, of Black Bush Polder; his son JaikarranChandradeo, also called “Kevin”, 15 and his brother-inlaw, NarishRooplall,

also called “Mice”, 33, of Number 73 Village, Corentyne were discovered lying next to each other on a dam at Cookrite Savannah, Black Bush Polder, with gunshot wounds.

Police in a release said each body bore a single gunshot wound.

The discovery of the bodies was made shortly after daybreak by a rice farmer. The bodies were lying on a dam about three miles into the savannah, a short distance away from “King’s Camp”.

The men had gone on a fishing expedition and were expected back about 03:00h the following morning.

During the probe, investigators detained several persons and after intense questioning, four of them succumbed to the pressure and eventually confessed to the crime.

A farmer, Carlton “Lyman” Chetram; his wife; their son, 19-yearold JairamChetram and an employee,

TameshwarTajmohan confessed to the killing and revealed that another man was involved.

Based on information received, on the night in question, Chetram, who owns rice land in the area, along with his family and two employees, was breaking the padlock to gain access to the fuel tanks on another farmer’s rice cultivation when they were seen by the trio who were fishing nearby. It was reported that out of fear of being caught, the farmer, his son and his employee killed the three men.

The man’s son was said to be the trigger man.

The farmer is a licensed firearm holder and the suspected murder weapon, his shotgun, was subsequently sent for ballistic testing following autopsies on the victims’ bodies.

The men were subsequently charged and were remanded.

Investigations ongoing into illegal aircraft found in Guyana - residents say aircraft was seen circling the area days before discovery

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s local investigations continue into the illegal aircraft found at the Yupukari Airstrip, Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), residents have told investigators that the aircraft was seen circling the community days before it

(CANU) and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) was deployed from Georgetown to conduct investigations.

A statement from the Ministry of Presidency disclosed that over the past three days investigators have been conducting assessment of

tank. This, investigators believe, may have caused the aircraft to land in Guyana.

However, during interviews with nearby residents, investigators were told that the abandoned aircraft had been sighted circling the area on numerous occasions.

was found abandoned.

Based on reports from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the discovery was made following information received by a joint service patrol, including ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), on September 13.

The following day, ranks from the GDF and GPF visited the area and conducted a search, during which the twin engine Cessna Aircraft was discovered.

Subsequently, a team of investigators from the GDF, GPF, the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit

the abandoned aircraft to gather evidence that will assist in uncovering the circumstances under which the aircraft came to be abandoned at that location.

In fact, a team of high level officials visited the area on Saturday led by Head of CANU, James Singh, and GCAA officials. The team ventured into the area to further assess the aircraft for damages and capabilities to make recommendations on what should be done with it. INews was told that a leak was discovered in the fuel

Moreover, the residents, a number of whom shared information they deemed ‘suspicious activity’, further reported the presence of motorcycles frequently at midnight in the area. To this end, CANU officials are seeking to determine whether the aircraft may have any links to the narcotics trade. Additionally during a search of the aircraft, several pieces of communication equipment were discovered and have been confiscated to be further examined for any potential leads.

‘We were tricked into agreeing to the Parking Meter Contract’ - Councillor

By Ramona Luthi

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s we await the implementation of the “approved” Parking Meters to be installed along the streets of Georgetown, the lone People’s Progressive Party Councillor on the Georgetown City Council is alleging that the Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green has “fooled” the Councillors into agreeing to the amendments made to the contract.

The Councillor, Bishram Kuppen told this newspaper earlier today, that at the time that the Councilors’ “approvals” were given, even the Deputy Mayor asked Chase-Green to be more specific with her question. Kuppen stated that even at this call, she refused.

After the amendments were discussed at the statutory meeting last month, Kuppen said that the Mayor asked the Councilors “Do you support the city having a Parking Meter System to raise money?”

To this, the councilors unanimously agreed.

However, Kuppen is contending that this agreement was not towards the implementation of the Parking Meters, nor towards the amendments.

“She pretty much tricked us into agreeing to the Parking Meter Contract.

Then she went ahead and told the media that there was an overwhelming

Bishram Kuppen

and full council approval,” he said.

All efforts to get a response pertaining to this from the Mayor have proven futile.

Additionally, another member of the Council, Salima Bacchus-Hinds took to Facebook sometime last month to criticise the Parking Meter Contract and the way in which the initiative is being handled.

“All these shady contracts, secret meetings, secret deals. Guyana is a land of opportunity in my opinion… but your opportunity should not come at the detriment to the citizens and national development,” she related in her post.

On September 1, 2016 she resigned from her position as a councilor within the Mayor and City Council.

INTERPOL to assist with TIP in Guyana T

he International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) will assist in training members of the judicial sector to deal with Trafficking in Persons (TIP).

Acting Coordinator of the TIP Ministerial Task Force, Oliver Profitt, has revealed that members of the prosecutorial section and the magistracy are expected to be trained in victim support among other aspects, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release stated. The training will be held in October and November, and will be facilitated by INTERPOL. “The idea now is for them to be able to come back with the knowledge they gain from this training and be able to re-train or to pass it on to members of the Task Force and also to others that work in their fields,” Profitt explained.

Training of Government officials and related persons in identification, prevention and prosecution as it relates to TIP is an essential part of the TIP Action Plan.

The two-year (2016-

2017) strategy will be released to the public later this year; however, Profitt explained that the Ministerial Task Force has begun undertaking activities outlined in the comprehensive document.

One such activity will be the local training of trainers in TIP, earmarked for October.

The Counter Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Unit of the Social Protection Ministry is expected to facilitate this session.

“That will enable us to have a wider base as well of persons that can administer training or go and do awareness sessions elsewhere instead of us having a few of us around the table trying to cover the whole country,” Profitt told GINA. Since the Ministerial Task Force on TIP re-convened earlier this year, officers from the Immigration Department, the Guyana Police Force’s Intelligence Unit and Criminal Investigation Department, along with the C-TIP Unit, benefited from INTERPOL training.

Profitt further explained that INTERPOL had conducted a needs as-

sessment prior to the training. “They (INTERPOL) were in a number of countries and they wanted to assess the needs of each country, and also to have regional training, so when they get this assessment done, they can tailor the training to meet the needs of each country,” he added.

INTERPOL also had input in the compilation of the TIP Action Plan. The Plan is divided into the four pillars used in the TIP fight: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.

The TIP Ministerial Task Force meets monthly, and is chaired by Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan. The Task Force is mandated by the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act No 2 of 2005, to ensure there is public awareness on TIP, and training for law enforcement and other officials among other things.

The Task Force comprises a mixture of governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations working together to combat TIP.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Independent judiciary is the bedrock of a nation’s stability, says PM Nagamootoo

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rime Minister (PM) Moses Nagamootoo on Monday reaffirmed Government’s commitment to the smooth functioning of the judiciary, noting that its independence is the bedrock of the nation’s stability.

Nagamootoo, who is acting in the capacity of Head of State, made the comments as he delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA) Conference at the Marriott International Hotel.

According to the PM, Government has been making a conscious and determined effort at giving recognition and meaning to the Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, which reaffirmed that human rights, the rule of law and

democracy are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, and they belong to the universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations.

“Government is conscious of the distinction that must be made between ‘rule by law’ whereby Government erroneously places itself above the law, and the ‘rule of law’, which implies that everyone in society, including the Government, is bound by the law,” he said.

“It is on the latter that Government has rested its structure, recognising that constitutional limits on the exercise of governmental authority, which is a key feature of any democracy, require adherence to the rule of law.”

According to the PM, in recent times, constitutional reformers and law-makers in Guyana have adopt-

Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh

ed liberal concepts in their approach to governance.

“Our recognition is that an independent judiciary is the strongest guarantee for the protection of the rights of our citizens. We believe that an independent judiciary is the bedrock of the stability of our nation. We believe that only an independent judiciary could be the guarantors of the rule of law,” he told the room of legal minds.

He said not only did the judiciary enjoy independence when it decided issues between citizen and citizen or between citizen and the State, it also had control over its administrative machinery, its registries and their personnel.

Meanwhile, also delivering remarks at the ceremony, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, placed a mandate on Judges to be bold, outspo-

ken and fearless.

“Judges who are weak are less likely to be effective guarantors of the rule of law,” Justice Singh told the gathering. He said most Commonwealth States with written constitutions have an established constitution matrix, which establishes the three pillars of the state structures; the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of Government.

As it relates to the judiciary, Justice Singh said the Constitution provided that all courts and persons presiding over the courts exercise their functions independently of the control and direction of any other person or authority and shall be free and independent from political, execu-

tive or any other form of direction and control.

“The independence of the judiciary is buttressed by the provision of the Constitution, but equally important is the readiness of Judges to assert and protect that independence.

Judicial independence may also be discerned from the structure, circumstances and conditions under which we function.”

He said, “In Guyana, we can proudly lay claim of having complete independence in the adjudicatory process of the courts and institutional and financial independence.”

The CMJA is a unique international association, which brings together judicial officers from over 68 jurisdictions in the Commonwealth and beyond.

It provides a unique network for judicial officers in Commonwealth countries in order to assist them to advance the administration of justice. Its aims are to promote the independence of the judiciary and to advance education in the law, the administration of justice, the treatment of offenders, and the prevention of crime.

Guyanese bandit killed in Suriname ID’d as taxi driver

Dead: Rodwell Wiggins

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he Guyanese who was killed by Surinamese law enforcement on Saturday, was identified as Rodwell Wiggins, 34, a former taxi driver attached to the Oasis Taxi Service.

Reports are that Wiggins was among four persons killed by Surinamese lawmen during a shootout moments after they carried out a brazen daylight robbery on a supermarket.

Another man has been identified as Furgel Grant, 31, of Suriname.

Grant had escaped from prison four years ago. He was convicted of a series of armed robberies and only spent one of the five years he received at theHazard Prison before escaping. The third dead man is yet to be identified but is said to have

been a Jamaican.

This publication understands that the four men, two of whom were masked, entered a supermarket and held the proprietor and his partner at gunpoint and demanded cash.

One of the workers managed to raise an alarm and the Police were summoned. Upon seeing the Police vehicle, the gunmen opened fire, shattering the windscreen. In retaliation, the Police returned fire, fatally wounding three of them.

One was subsequently arrested and taken to a hospital where he is receiving medical attention under guard.

When contacted, local Crime Chief Hugh Jessemy told this newspaper that he is not in direct contact with his counterparts in Suriname, but confirmed that the Guyana Police Force was apprised of the situation.

When contacts were made with the taxi service, his ex-colleagues refused to provide any information and even denied he worked at the taxi service.

Suriname police are continuing their investigations.

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Govt on track for 2017 Budget presentation in December – Finance Minister

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inance Minister Winston Jordan has assured that the Ministry is on stream in presenting its Annual Budget for 2017 come December 5, but shied away from any specific details regarding any increases in taxes or fees to be paid by stakeholders.

“It’s going to be a lovely budget, don’t worry,” he quipped.

Minister Jordan was at the time engaging members of the local media corps on Friday last at the Finance Ministry’s boardroom.

Asked specifically about any increased payments to be made by taxpayers or those seeking to access Government services, Minister Jordan said: “I cannot speak to anything beyond what has already been done earlier in the year, as it relates to the raising of fees, and so on and so forth this year.”

He suggested that stakeholders wait for the details, saying “The upcoming budget, we’ll wait on it, in a couple more months. It’s going to be a lovely budget, don’t worry.”

Meanwhile, re-

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

sponding to reported criticisms on the lack of adequate consultations by Government in preparation of the Budget by sections of the Private Sector, namely the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Minister Jordan denied being in receipt of any formal complaint of displeasure from that body.

The Minister reminded that he had met with representatives of the Private Sector Commission earlier this year “where I reiterated to them that at the last consultation

I had said to them, we can meet every quarter”.

He told media operatives that representatives of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) had admitted to him their tardiness in meeting with Government on the annual budget preparations.

The Minister did seek to assure stakeholders; however, “We are on track for the Budget for December 5.”

He said the relevant personnel were currently assessing the various submissions by Budget Agencies, “to get an understanding of how they were put together and whether they are consistent with what they are looking for”.

Since the coalition Government’s ascension to office, two National Budgets were presented early by the Finance Minister.

By law, the National Budget should be debated and approved by the National Assembly and approved for assent by the President no later than April 30 of each year.

Jagdeo urges NICIL to come clean on missing GT&T shares’ money

C

oncerns are mounting as to what really happened with the missing US$5 million for Government’s GT&T shares, as responsibility for the disclosure of a report on the findings continues to shift from person to person.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, in a brief telephone interview from New York, questioned why the report has not yet been made public, stating that “it is clear as day that either NICIL [National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited] or (Joseph) Harmon can release the findings”.

“I don’t understand why they don’t release the information,” he said, urging Government to make the disclosure quickly.

NICIL sold the Government’s shares in GT&T for US$30 million, of which US$25 million was received at the signing of the agreement.

However, the outstanding money, which should have been paid by the end of December 2015, has not been found.

When the US$25 million was paid, it was made by international wire, from one bank to another. The payment into NICIL’s bank account would have been easy to trace.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, who spoke

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

NICIL Chairman, Dr Maurice Odle

on Government’s behalf, had disclosed that Harmon, the Minister of State, was able to recover documents, which revealed that the monies were paid. But NICIL quickly slapped it down, stating that Guyana’s former Ambassador to China, David Dabydeen, had facilitated the US$5 million debt waiver with Datang, the Chinese company, on the grounds that it was not granted the same minority protection rights enjoyed by NICIL (that is, two, instead of one, representatives on the GT&T Board of Directors).

However, NICIL’s Chairman, Dr Maurice Odle, when contacted, pointedly refused to comment on the findings of the report, saying, “I’m not prepared to answer any questions.”

He stated that the matter was currently “in the hands of international lawyers”.

The Minister of State told Guyana Times International that he had submitted his report to NICIL and it was up to the State holding company to determine if it wanted to disclose the findings of that report.

Odle subsequently told this newspaper to write to NICIL for a comment on the issue.

Only last week, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran had publicly stated that the sale of shares was a case of a lack of transparency. He stated that NICIL should be pressed to come clean on the matter.

“The issue is one of transparency. The sale of the shares should have been advertised. All future agreements of this nature should also be tabled in the National Assembly for scrutiny by legislators and the public at large,” Goolsarran contended.

feature 29

Making a business work WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Lexton Williams has come a long way from his early crafting years, but he is the first to admit that business isn’t easy and he’s learned a lot over the years

F

Lexton Williams, owner of LW Designs

ashion accessory designer and leatherworker Lexton Williams of LW Designs, a local company whose designs and manufacture include wallets and clutch purses,declared in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine, that his major life’s lesson“is that I failed so many times at trying to do business I’ve lost alot, but the real truth is that while I've failed, I learned, and what I've lost, I've gained more, and my joys of winning are still greater that my fears of failure.”

Born Nov. 6, 1988, he grew up in Grove, East Bank Demerara with his single parent mother and his sister. His mother died when he was 12 and Lexton went to live with his aunt.

He was transferred from Friendship Secondary on the East Bank Demerara, toAlleyne's High School, at the time on Regent Street in Georgetown.

“When you're 12 years old and you lost your mom, there is no one that

would really give you the attention and direction you need,” he recalled of those school years, “and while there were persons that really desired my good, that daily contact with direction wasn't there.”

However, he stuck it out in school for several more years and discovered leather working when he was given his first wallet when he was “about 13 or 14”.

“I had an uncle that was leaving the country and he give me his wallet – it was made with synthetic materials – that was my first wallet,” he said. “After using it I realized it was tearing, so I got a piece of leatherette from the store owner around the corner from school, and I did a repair to the wallet and after I saw that it was good I went on to making one just like it, sewing with my hand. My lunch money sometimes would be spent on buying half and quarter-yard leatherette or thread or needles.

It's like I was obsessed with this new discovery

of creativity and it consumed me.After that I began sewing pencil cases for my school mates, and paste on their names on them. After my mom died, money to go to school didn't come by easy, some days I had none, so I sold my pencil cases.”

His early years of crafting were a time of experimentation.

“I would try different things to see how they will work; they were rough and hand sewn, and by today's standards, ugly, but it was a labour of newfound love.

My big hit was passport cases, and at lunch time I would leave school and walk down Regent Street and market those to people nearby,” he revealed.

He dropped out of high school at the end of his fourth year.His mother’s death still had a strong impact upon him, and unfortunately he saw his life becoming directionless. “… it was up to me to take charge if I wanted to make it in life, and I knew I wanted to be somebody and not just another sad story,” he related.

“After I dropped out of school I was pushed in other career areas, but I was already touched and turned by my creative products and ideas I already knew, or had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to do, and that was to start my own business designing and creating products for people to enjoy using,” he added.

The 27-year-old displays much grit and gusto despite the pitfalls of doing business in Guyana, saying of his business plans then and reality today, “Heck! I thought by now I would be a billionaire! I thought by now I I'd have a big factory employing a thousand persons – but I’m not a billionaire yet

and don't employ a thousand persons yet – but I'm well on my way to living my dreams!”

His satisfaction with his work is also unflagging: “Knowing how and where I started, and how the products have evolved, and how my life has been enriched by doing something that I love – and getting paid for it

on how it's done to better fulfil my ultimate goals.

Business for me is about balancing the personalities that makes a phenomenal entrepreneur.

Business for me now is investing in any business idea that will not chain me to the “doing” of the work but to further enrich my experiences...

ed to learn everything before I started, I don't know what I would have done. There are somethings you'll never learn until you start.

“When I started my business, I had not the slightest clue what I was in for …yet I live without regrets because I learned from my mistakes and was determined to get it

Slingbags designed and produced by LW Designs

– I can still say I'm satisfied with the decision I made to start 12 years ago.”

Today he has a family and says his outlook has changed, “My perspective on life is much more fantastic and way more realistic than it was before, so my plans for our future is to live life as fully and as wonderfully as we can; to create the circumstances we want, and use our businesses as the vehicle to take us where we want to go.”

His business perspective has also undergone some transformation.

“Gone are the days,” he noted, “when business for me was just making pencil cases and wallets and selling them.

Business for me now is more than being emotional about what I do – but greater focus is now

“My advice is to educate yourself; start; be persistent and have some faith. All I knew then was that if I make a couple wallets and I sold it I'll be good. It wasn't that simple. A lot of heartaches could have been avoided if I had really understood what a business was and how it works, or if I knew what to expect instead of winging it… or if I understood what was the difference between owning a business and being self-employed – or even what I wanted my business to look like when it's finished. Everything starts with an idea; get as much education as possible about what you want to invest in and then start. Education is good, "great even" but starting is just as important.For if I had wait-

right, and it mattered not how many times I failed miserably, I was persistent and it always pays off – sometimes it looks like “that's it, you're finished”, and something happens just then, and the music begins to play and the dancing starts and how it all worked out marvels you beyond comprehension and it motivates you to keep going… there are many things that you'll have to try on your own. It's hard sometimes for others to see your dreams and help you. We live in a country that is crowded with people that can't see beyond their nose; for them nothing will ever work.

Stay away from that kinda vibe and have faith in your ideas, believe in yourself first and then you'll find the people to believe in you.”

Williams’s clutch purses

Wallets by LW Designs

30 feature

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Indigenous Heritage Month 2016

Part 1

M

any of the age-old indigenous postnatal customs are fading due to new technologies and urbanization. However, research done on these customs still make for a good read, and may even encourage youths of today to learn more about their heritage.

Phyllis Jordan’s “Amerindians customs after birth”, a chapter in the book “Focus on Amerindians” (May 1980), highlights some of these customs; the following are excerpts from her text.

Indigenous postnatal customs include practices by both the mother and the father of the newborn infant. Europeans have labelled these customs couvade or "male child-bed". Couvade comes from a French word couver meaning “to brood on the nest”.

Some European researchers found it strange for the man to be so intimately involved in the birth of his child, and failed to note that the woman is also similarly involved. Hence the name “male child-bed” came about.

Indigenous people, of course, make no such distinction since the woman is equally responsible, or possibly even more so in some nations, for the health of her child during the postnatal period.

These practices are rooted in a belief of all indigenous people that the soul of a child is dependent upon its parents for some

time; dependent to such an extent that at times the soul of the child even follows the parents around. It is during these times that the soul may be harmed by evil spirits, should the parents not take certain precautions.

These precautions vary among indigenous nations, and may be divided into two types: dietary and non-dietary.

For dietary restrictions, the young mother of the Akawaio, Arekuna, Patamona and Makushi nations may eat no sweet foods for it is believed that this will cause postnatal bleeding to continue much longer than is normal. She is also advised to use only warm liquids, usually a cassava drink known as ekikumazak in the Arekuna language and eegii iik'tosak in the Akawaio language. Pepper is forbidden. These restrictions continue for roughly a week.

It seems that all Amerindian women with young children are

forbidden to eat large species of fish and game. They should only eat the smaller varieties of fish, animals and birds. The Warau woman may eat neither unscaled fish nor pirai (perai, piranha). It is felt that should the mother eat the large species, the spirits of these will crush the soul of the child, which is not yet strong enough to defend itself.

The dietary restrictions seem to be less stringent for the fathers of young children. The Arekuna man, for example, is subject to no dietary restrictions at all. However, when there are restrictions, they are fewer and of a shorter duration than those for women.

The non-dietary restrictions dictate that all indigenous women go through a period of confinement. The length of this period varies from nation to nation.

The Waiwai mother, who has just given birth to a male child, may not spin cotton or weave

aprons, since this will cause baby boys’ genitals to be bound up, thug causing difficulty in urinating.

Arekuna and Akawaio women, do not bathe their babies until they are one month old. After this, they bathe the baby constantly during the day and night for eight months. This bathing is believed to increase the growth rate of the child.

A one-month period of solitude for the mother is also observed, during which time she is allowed to speak and to be spoken to only very softly. This is to ensure that the baby grows into an obedient, well-tempered person. During this time, also, the infant's faeces are collected in the house to avoid it being eaten by lizards. Should it be eaten, the infant may develop the bad habit of sticking out his tongue the way a lizard does.

Cariban, as well as Warau, women with newborn infants

must cover their heads when going into the open. The Cariban women believe this head covering will prevent evil spirits from seeing them, whereas the Warau women believe this prevents the baby from contracting a cold. Cariban women also believe that young mothers should at all times use footwear of some sort so that they do not step on evil spirits with their bare feet.

During the first few weeks after giving birth, the mother may not go to the farm. This period varies from two weeks to one month. However, the Arawakan mother spends a distinctly longer period, nearly one year, at home with the baby, since in the Arawak's belief, plant spirits are supposed to be harmful to the child's health, in the same way that animal spirits are harmful in the Cariban belief.

The indigenous father of a young child, particularly if he is of a Cariban nation, suffers severe restrictions in hunting and fishing. It is believed that the former activity will cause the child to be exhausted, since the father exhausts himself when out hunting. Moreover, the spirits of the large game he kills will inevitably overpower the spirit of his young child and cause it to fall ill and die.

Fishing, it is believed, will cause the child to have convulsions in the same manner that the fish does when pulled out of the water. (TO BE CONTINUED)

feature 31

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

G

irendra Persaud always wanted to be involved in a field that was exciting, challenging and creative.“I was always fascinated with technology and I love to discover how things work.

My parents always had problems with me taking the toys apart in my efforts to see the inside,” he reveals in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine.

With a degree in Computer Science and an MBA; owner and founder of web development company GxMedia, university lecturer and hobbyist photographer who has made his hobby into a business,it may be safe to say he has found several such fields.

Persaud was born in Georgetown in January 1980, the only child of his parents. He wasn’t very keen on his early academic studies however.

“At the beginning I was not too good at school,”he confesses, “but in 1994 my life changed when a teacher invited me to return to school and to attend his Math lessons.

I felt that he perhaps

saw something that I didn’t see and I decided to pay attention.

A few ‘distinctions’ at the CXC level followed, and in 2001 I graduated “Best Graduating Student” in the field of Computer Science at the University of Guyana. Forever I am thankful to my teachers, especially Sir Danny Persaud (Aka Beard Man). I believe that their efforts to impart knowledge is directly responsible for who I am today.”

It is this sense of appreciation that led him to choose to lecture at the university’s Department of Computer Science. “I became a lecturer in 2006 and I am committed to my work only because I want to carry forward my experience and make a positive difference,” he states of his motivation behind 10 years of teaching.

His passion for photography though, seems innate.

“As long as I can remember, I always had a passion for the camera,” he reminisces, “In early 2000 I acquired my first digital camera and I began a se-

Photo of a couple travelling in a canoe

A downtown night scene

Girendra Persaud

ries of upgrades over the years from pointand-shoot to now professional DSLRs.The spark, I guess, would be that photography allows you to preserve the moment.”

His online portfolio, which he says he isin the process of populating, states, “The simple joy of preserving a moment is what makes photography so exciting. My intention is to let my pieces speak the likes of love, joy, success, intelligence, peace, happiness, excitement and bliss.”

It is perhaps his intention to let others share his experience through the camera that made his hobby into a business.

“After a while I started to receive requests for my images,” he recollects, “and at first I was literally giving copies to whoever asked, but then I decided to charge a fee to help pay for the hobby. Today you can find my work in books (book covers), magazines, websites, calendars etc.”

On his online port-

A dragonfly’s close-up

folio (http://girendrapersaud.zenfolio.com) which, he notes, you can “find a healthy selection of images on the website”, you can also purchase prints, download, order greeting cards, apparel and speciality items, among others. His photos are suitable forcommercial/ editorialuse, and also feature nature/wildlife and landscape images.

“Good photography depends more on the artistic mental facet of the person behind the camera. You can have a good camera but if you don’t know where to point it then your images won’t be good,” he maintains.

The 36-year-old believes“you have to like what you are doing and have a true passion for it. If there are any other motives then it [the business] is not going to bloom naturally – it would be a steep uphill climb.”

Hi company GxMedia (http://www. gxmediagy.com), established July 2007, offers Website Design/ Development, IT Consultancy, eMarketing and IT Training services. His clients

are many and include GTT, Jags Aviation and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

“In early 2007 I saw rapid growth in my computer repairs business and a few of my close clients started to request website design services. As a computer scientist, it was easy for me to now focus energy in this area. We started by doing websites for small businesses but then the larger companies came on-board.

Website design/development became more lucrative than computer repairs so eventually that service was phased out. In 2014 I acquired my Master’s Degree in Business Administration and as a result, more focus in now placed in offering complete web marketing solutions to my clients,” he says.

He finds his hobby and businesses very satisfying and rewarding.“I enjoy very much what I am doing and perhaps that is a critical ingredient for our successes,” he says, and plans to “keep loving what I am doing, and traveling.”

A flower’s close-up

Vivid colours and contrasts stand out in this photo of a rustic church building

32 news

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana a reliable partner in the fight against climate change - President Granger N

ew York, United States – Guyana’s ‘green agenda’, the Venezuela border controversy and security are at the top of the agenda for a series bilateral engagements being conducted by President David Granger on the sidelines of the United Nations’ 71st General

Assembly.

Even as the Head of State represents Guyana’s cause with regard to the 50-year-old threat to Guyana’s sovereignty, the push to transform Guyana into a ‘green’ state has also resonated in meetings with President Hage Geingob of Namibia, President John Dramani

Mahama of Ghana, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama of Fiji and Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Anelay.

“The message of Guyana has been consistent in all of these bilateral [meetings] and we

feel that the visit so far to the United Nations’ General Assembly has served Guyana’s national interest and has given Guyana an image, in the international community, as a reliable partner on the entire green agenda and on the climate change agenda,” President Granger said in an invited comment.

President David Granger

The President noted that Guyana’s ‘green agenda’ policy comes at an opportune time as the world has begun to recognise the serious nature of the effects of climate change and the signing of the historic signing of the Paris Agreement at COP 21 has created the international will to act to mitigate impact. He said, “I discussed Guyana’s ability

to fulfil its obligations under the Agreement.

So the [Sustainable Development Goals] SDGs are central to our development and we have extracted from the SDGs, the green elements, which in my view can satisfy Guyana’s need for economic development, for energy, for environmental protection and also for the continued on page 35

feature 33

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

B

ritish Guiana was the earliest and longest commercial producer of balata among the Guianas.

According to “Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield: Ancient Forests in a Modern World”, edited by D. S. Hammond, almost 28,000 t was produced between 1893 and 1988,though commercial production of balata ceased in 1982.

While indigenous populations had long used balata to make balls for playing games, temporary tooth fillings and for carving decorative art work such as figurines, the discovery of a“rubber tree” boosted the economic activity in British Guiana as worldwide demand for rubber intensified for machinery belting; to cover submarine telegraph cables, as well as for the newly invented motor industry.

Balata is obtained from the latex of the South American tree manilkara bidentate,

known popularly as the bulletwood tree. Balata is also known as wild rubber or natural latex. Incisions are made on the trees and the trees are then “bled” or “milked” for the sap.

This is known as balata bleeding. The persons who carry out this activity are commonly called “balata bleeders”.

According to some accounts, early balata bleeding was carried out in Pomeroon in the North West District but this quickly declined as the trees were illicitly cut down rather than bled by incisions.

Most of the balata bleeding in Guyana took place in the foothills of the Kanuku Mountains in the Rupununi. It is estimated that nearly half of the indigenous male population of the Rupununi district was employed in balata bleeding by 1930.

K a r a n a m b u (Karanambo) in Rupununi, is said to

have been founded as a balata gum collection station in 1927 by Edward “Tiny” McTurk.

A Mr D. Melville of Berbice, in his correspondence with the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, stated that in Berbice balata is found in abundance on the low, swampy reefs of Canje.

According to Melville’s correspondence, the Berbice “Bully - tree”, from which the gum was obtained, produces a greater amount of sap during the rainy season; the best time to “tap” for the milk was early morning or a day or two after the full moon.

From 1863 – 1865, balata shipments in Berbice amounted to just over 40,000 lbs.

At the peak of the industry’s earnings from 1890 - 1920, balata revenues accounted for some 80 per cent of total annual government forest product revenue be-

Main Road, South New Amsterdam (No date)

Roman Catholic Cathedral 1870-1931

tween 1900 and 1925.

After 1925, as world demand dropped, this was reduced to 43 per cent; by the 1950s it had amounted to just 2 -3 per cent.

As commercial wireless telegraphy and eventually phone services became widespread, demand for the rubber was curbed, leading to the beginning of the end of the rubber boom. By the 1950s, as synthetic rubber was developed cheaper than natural latex, natural rubber from golf balls to shoes was replaced and the rubber industry buckled.

In British Guiana,by 1919, balata companies were already feeling the squeeze of the drastic depreciation of rubber prices. A.F. White, of Consolidated Rubber and Balata Estates Limited operating on the colony, once requested substantial assistance from the Crown to aid the industry.

However, in the

Bleeding a balata tree in British Guiana (No date)

London Gazette of July 1922 notice was published of an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Consolidated Rubber and Balata Estates Ltd. to be held for the purpose of officially liquidating the company which could not, “by reasons of its liabilities… continue its business…”

In “Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield: Ancient Forests in a Modern World” it is noted that commercial bleeding of the balata tree led to some 900,000 to 4.8 million trees being killed across the major producing regions of the country during its 125-year-old history of balata production.

A Certificate for 50 shares of 1£ (London 1920) for the Consolidated Rubber and Balata Estates Ltd.

Balata bleeders leaving Sprostons’ stelling at Rockstone, British Guiana (No date)

34 feature

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

The Shaping of Guyanese Literature

By Petamber Persaud

A

school is not four walls; an outstanding school is not made up of four walls only.

A good school is made up of people and stories: Of the people, some which can be placed in broad categories: good, bad or indifferent.

Of the stories, some which may be good, bad or shocking. This seems to be the main but not the only approach taken by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh in his book, “Accolades to Berbice High School on its Centenary Anniversary”, prepared especially to mark the centenary of that institution during September 2016.

The book is a tribute to the school over that hundred-year span, told from the position of the author’s years spent at the school as a student (1960 – 1967); teacher, active alumnus (1993 – 2001); member of alumni association (2001 – 2016), and benefactor.

Of course, Dr Singh puts all of the above in context by giving a background of the institution in its varied manifestations – from birth to its growing pains to its clashes with religious and political directives; its highs

Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh

and lows. So we would find this up-to-date story of the school educational, entertaining and inspiring.

Berbice High School was founded in September 1916 by the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, which was the evangelical arm of the Presbyterian Council Mission of Canada.

According to the book, there were many challenges even from the outset: “Money was always in short supply…recruiting teaching staff in Canada for British Guiana must have been dif-

ficult, even if money was not a problem. Then there were the wars. World War One …1916 to 1919…and World War Two 1939 to 1945…on top of that was the high rate of serious illnesses that the appointees incurred once they were on location in British Guiana.”

“Accolades to Berbice High School” pays tribute mainly the outstanding head teachers, teachers and students, by, in many instances, sharing detail biographies of those individuals. One of the outstanding

heads of the school during the writer’s season was Basil Beharry,and pages of text and images are devoted to the teacher’s support to the author and contribution to the school and education on the whole.

An excellent feature of the book is that the biographies of many of the residents are completed up to the time of writing, allowing you to trace the journeys, sometimes concurrent, sometimes concurrent then diverging, of students and teachers from a little known place to the top of their game or to top postings around the world.

Dr Singh has written about “more than a hundred, and mentioned two hundred alumni of Berbice High School…that’s only a fraction of the thousands of exceptional and highly educated people that our alma mater has sent out into the world.”

‘Accolades’ is designed in a way that lends itself to easy reading and easy referencing, all of which underline its importance to the unfolding story of education in this country and the unfolding history of Guyana.

What’s more important is the tribute paid to the unsung heroes in education and the role they played in moulding and preparing receptive minds and willing bodies in service to their homeland, the region and the wider world community.

The author is somewhat a modest man who is justly proud of his contribution.

But most of all, Dr Singh is proud of his writing prowess which started way back when he was at Berbice High School. Writing for Dr

Book cover

Singh comes easily as he was well read and well respected for his essay writing, some of which won local prizes and regional recognition. Further, his love for reading and writing manifested itself when he resuscitated a literary magazine that is celebrating its centenary, giving Dr Singh double satisfaction in the area of literacy.

Each one of us will claim that our season, our school, to be the best but in this book, that claim belongs to Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh whose story is not only of a local boy made good story but also of a local boy who made good by going beyond the call of duty by extended his story in the service of others especially in service to his alma mater.

“Each of us can claim with equal certitude that ‘our years’ were the school’s finest! That’s the beauty of

it. We each felt special and that ‘our years’ were indeed the best.”

And that’s the way it has been over the first 100 years of Berbice High School. Viewed from this angle, it is easy to appreciate why the school is noted for its many achievements.

Apart from being the first high school in Berbice, its patrons are justly proud that the institution has been able to maintain and retain its original name.

This is based on the school’s ability to withstand and surmount its many challenges for 100 years. And, according to Dr Singh, “[i] t is a testament to the fortitude of those who conceived, executed and persevered that Berbice High School survived.”

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

news 35

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Out to lunch…

I

…on the economy

t’s clear Finance Minister Winston Jordan still doesn’t get it about why his insistence on stressing increased gold production in keeping the economy on its growth trajectory isn’t cutting any ice with anyone. So why isn’t he giving the Public Servants their promised “substantial” raise if the economy’s doing so well.

Most recently he was challenged

by PPP’s shadow finance maven Irfaan Ali when he blurted we should consider ourselves “lucky” for the role of gold. Is this guy for real? So this is what’s supposed to be taking care of the economy…luck? There’s two things wrong with Jordan’s cockamamie ebullience on gold. First and foremost – as was pointed out by Ali – how much of the proceeds of gold are available to us since the major portion of the gold proceeds are sent overseas by the expatriate two largest producers in the sector?

He should share that figure with the Guyanese populace, who will then know who’s getting the gold and who’s left with the hole! The second thing wrong with Jordan bigging up gold – is he’s seemingly oblivious to the consequent distortion of our economy. Gold’s very volatile since its price has nothing to do with supply and demand and everything to do with totally exogenous factors. Such as the strength of the dollar which is the world’s de facto reserve currency; inflation, interest rates, volatile markets in commodities or stocks etc etc…

So we can’t depend on gold or (any non-renewable resource) to generate sustainable growth – much less development. And this would be true even if ALL of the proceeds from gold were being ploughed back into our economy. The situation’s akin to what has been called “Dutch Disease” – contracted when that country “threw back” and allowed its traditional industries to wither when oil money from North Sea oil started to flow.

And when the oil was gone…the Dutch was left holding “wood” or what former president Donald Ramotar quaintly called “larwah”. It ain’t pretty!

For a man as old as Jordan, has he forgotten the discussion from back in the day about “development” being the goal of those placed at the helm of the Finance Ministry and not just “growth”? Growth is necessary – but not sufficient for development.

So let’s make this simple for Jordan. He has to either come up with plans to resuscitate the traditional “six sisters” – or create new industries to get money into the pockets of the populace. If the increased gold production were employing the entire Guyanese work force, there would’ve been no problem – in the near term.

But since it’s not we’re screwed twice over… …on an ego kick Your Eyewitness had heard this fella Goolsarran was an egomaniac.

But then, back in his days in the bureaucracy during the Burnhamite regime, most professionals had fled (from Burnham on horseback during Hope Estate “reorientation”, among other things) and it was easy to be “king in blind man country”.

Returning to Guyana from a stint at the World Bank (on the bona fides of the GoG) he was livid that some who were his juniors were now in the top tier – far beyond what he’d previously ingratiated himself into.

From his vicious attacks on them in the press he showed when it came to “hell and fury” women had nothing on bookkeepers!!

Thrown a few “audit” bones (without much marrow, to his consternation!), he threw a hissy fit when none of his advice – more like “getting even” – was taken by the government.

So he’s returned to singing for his supper. Most recently by claiming the Sanata dyeing and finishing operation – which used a million gallons of water daily – wouldn’t own its own well! …on sugar The Stabber waxed quite indignant about the government and GuySuCo not consulting sugar workers – first on the closure and now on its diversification into sugar.

When did the PNC ever consider sugar workers as “people”?

Guyana a reliable partner in the fight against climate... from page 32

employment of young people. It is the right time because the United Nations has thrown its weight behind that programme and the adoption by Guyana of the ‘green agenda’ coincides absolutely with what the United Nations is doing.”

Guyana, the President believes, is set to receive more international support from those countries, which generate a lot of greenhouse gases.

“Because the line we have taken is that our forests actually help the earth to breathe…

Guyana is an asset to Mother Earth and being part of the Guiana Shield gives us greater leverage in making that argument,” he said.

Security

During the meeting with Baroness Anelay, President Granger iterated the importance of the advancement of the Security Sector Reform Action Plan even as she indicated that the United Kingdom, under new Prime Minister Theresa May, even with the BREXIT vote, remains committed to Guyana and CARICOM as a whole.

Following that meet-

ing, President Granger disclosed that the implementation phase of the Action Plan is imminent. “We are now on the brink of receiving a team; a team came to do the scoping and another team is going to come to actually do the implementation of the first phase. So I would say that in the last 16 months we have covered a lot of ground to restore the Security Sector Reform Action Plan, as fast as we could and within weeks it is going to be happening,” he said.

The Head of State emphasised the importance of reform in the security sector, noting that Guyana has extensive borders and hinterland areas that are difficult to police. He added that the police force needs to be well equipped and trained and this Action Plan is part of what is needed to ensure security.

Referencing the discovery of an aircraft in the Rupununi, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region, President Granger said, “Guyana still does not have the capability to protect its long borders and its vast hinterland

from being penetrated by illegal aviators and this emphasises the need for security sector reform… I would like to see a better equipped police force; I’d like to see policemen better paid and I want to see police units with boats, with all-terrain vehicles and with aircraft. We are obviously losing a lot by not being able to protect our hinterland.

We know that there is not only illegal migration but there is also the smuggling of narcotics; there is also contraband; there is also gun running; there is also trafficking in persons and these offences, these crimes are going to be stamped out with a more efficient police force.”

During bilateral meets, President Granger also used the opportunity to update the Heads on the status of the Venezuela border controversy and iterated Guyana’s call for a juridical settlement.

The President also expressed his appreciation for the level of engagement demonstrated

by Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon. Meetings are expected to continue this week. (MOTP)

36

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

This week's Crossword

This week's Puzzle

see solution on page 47

Three-card monte…

Y

…at City Hall

our Eyewitness has heard about “the other foot” falling to confirm what had been suspected in shady deals, but needed further confirmation. But on this Georgetown Parking Meter abomination that’s been shoved down the throats of Guyanese, so many feet have been falling, it’s clear a centipede has been let loose in our midst!

And we know who’s that centipede, don’t we?! But yet nothing’s being done by those above to rein in on the Town Clerk and Mayor who reign over us like Stalin executing one his more notorious purges.

The latest foot to drop is the confirmation that Kamau Cush was just a front man for foreign interests to get their teeth into Guyana and suck our blood for forty years. Yep… after all, the outrage and protests about the contract, the meters are gonna be rolled out any day now. The Panama Papers was a preview of how these fellas operate – hiding behind a welter of paper corporations to pull off their three card monte or shell game. Now you see it, now you don’t!!

You’ve seen them at fairs haven’t you? Look at the three cards… You’re shown each of them as they’re flicked and then placed on the table and then interchanged in front of your eyes. You think you’re following the last movement and that’s where you’re being challenged. But that’s not it. When the cards were originally flicked and placed on the table that’s when the switch was made. What you thought was the second card being placed face downwards – wasn’t!

So in the parking meter scam, the switcheroo wasn’t the terms of the contract or the price or any of that jazz… those were just misdirection. The switch was way up front – who was really behind the contract. Was it Smart City Solution (SMS), who installs Parking metres? Was it National Parking Solutions (NPS)? Or was it Amir Oren, who we’re now told is the “major investor” behind the two named companies?

One wonders whether Kamau Cush collected a cushy “small piece” for delivering a contract for making money so outrageous, it makes the Royal Mint look like a cane juice stand. He’s still insisting he’s a “director” of the companies executing the deal – but the new head honcho didn’t even bring him up to date with the hiring of his new shill – Kit Nascimento. Your Eyewitness hopes Cush will get what he deserve in the days to come.

The new spinner – who’s even better than Sunil Narine – revealed: “we (meaning himself and Oren) were brought on after the contract was baked.”

It was a Freudian slip – he obviously meant “when the contract was cooked up”!! …in Region 6 AFC Whatever you may think about Ramayya out in Region 6 – and your Eyewitness confesses the fella wasn’t on his hit parade during the last elections!

– he’s now looking like a prophet! Imagine Moses Nagamootoo has the testicular perspicacity to think he’s insulting Ramayya when he says his fellow villager never agreed to AFC’s merger with the PNC… oops! – APNU! Insult? That’s the highest accolade that can come from the AFC camp. If Ramayya needed anything to guarantee himself a bright future in Berbice, all he has to do henceforth is to play a recording of Nagamootoo’s remark! Berbicians, after all, want to know what the marriage – which was consummated in front of all of them at Whim – has given them.

They know Nagamootoo got “Larwah” and seemed quite comfortable with that… but what about them?

And if Nagamootoo claims Ramayya’s holdout was “racist”, what about Ramjattan’s “dead meat” prediction that was also just as prophetic.

Accepting Ramjattan ate his words for a mess of pottage! Thus his sour mein! …with WI Cricket The WICB ruined WI cricket and needs radical surgery according to the committee headed by Jamaican Statesman, PJ Patterson, a decade ago.

But nothing has or will happen. Parochialism will kill reform as with PM Mitchell’s resignation.

feature 37

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Despite the ups and downs, crafter not giving up on her passion

L

awanda Pillay has always been artistic but, for a while in her life, she says in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine, her focus on art drifted. Life got in the way. Even after successful CXC results in 2005, she couldn’t get a job; most business places were telling her she was too young.

Born in May, 1988 in Georgetown, Lawanda had attended Saint Stanislaus College where she wrote CXC. Unsuccessful at job hunting at 17, she took her first job as a seamstress, but after a year she left to begin working at the University of Guyana where she remained for six years.

While working at the university she studied Interior Design at the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE), and graduated with a distinction.

She would resign her post as personal assistant to the University Librarian to work at Madewini Villas designing for the homes there – a turn in her career made possible by her interior design studies. She has also attended the Adult Education Association for a course in Curtain Making.

It was from this foray into her creative side that, after a few months,

she branched off on her own. But life isn’t always that simple.

“I was home for a period of time and, with nothing to do most days, majority of my time was spent on my laptop just browsing the internet,” she recalls, “I came across a site named Pinterest. com, which is a web and mobile application company that operates a photo sharing website... It is known as the world's catalogue of ideas. I was fascinated by all the amazing craft and decor on the site and would log in everyday to see what new projects would pop up. I then started trying out projects and creating samples of my own...

I became addicted and tried out something new every day. This renewed the artistic side of me and sparked the whole of idea of turning it into a business.”

Then along came Roraima's Wedding Expo in March 2015, and, says Lawanda “[I]saw it as a chance to start marketing myself, so I decided to participate in the event...The on-spot re-

Pop up Father’s Day card

the remainder of that year I only got about five small jobs, which were craft related,” she reveals.

Then the Christmas season approached and she decided to make and advertise greetings

Custom made baby shower invitation

sponse was great, everyone was amazed with the decor of my booth and loved my handmade creations. This landed me my first job, which was to decorate the Guyana Marriott Hotel's Ballroom for their opening in April 2015.”

But again, it wasn’t enough for a steady income.

“Even though I gained a lot of attention at the Expo, business didn't exactly 'kick off for me', it was really slow.

I spent most days wondering when I would get my next customer. For

cards.“The responses,” she describes, “were great.I always get positive feedback from my customers. They are always amazed by my work and make sure they contact me to let me know how pleased they were, and congratulate me on a job well done.

I've never had a single negative comment since I started my business and I'm proud of that.”

But business is never consistent. “Sometimes I have a lot to do, other times I get no work at all – but I guess that's how it goes with business,” she considers. “I find that work comes in mostly on general occasions, such as Valentine's, Mother's and Father's Day, Christmas etc. but overall, this year has been way better than last year.”

“I still have a far way to go…” she muses.

Currently working from her home, her biggest desire is to have her own store/business place.Something she plans to work towards.

Her company, Hats Off Custom Décor, provides craft and decor services for Home, Office, Parties

Lawanda Pillay of Hats Off

and Weddings.

“I'm also considering studying Event Planning to combine the two aspects, so not only would I provide great decor for my customers but also plan amazing events for them,” she adds.

The second child of her parents, who are separated, Lawanda also has an 8-year-old son.“I always felt like something was missing… that I needed to do more with myself…I realised this was it, it’s what I love. I also needed a means of income and I had grown tired of working for others,” she recalls of her decision to get into business.

Her interests besides crafting, include researching new ways on how to improve her business and products, karaoke and “most importantly, spending time alone... I'm sort of an introvert so this is the best time for me,” she declares.

“I would advise [persons] to just go for it.

Think about what you want to do, set your goals and work towards them. It wouldn't be an easy road, but with persistence and determination, you will get there,” she concludes. (Cover photo: ‘Thank you’ boxes for baby shower made by Lawanda)

One of her handmade Mother’s Day cards’ design

Custom made “Happy Hiking” card for someone who enjoys the outdoors

38 arts & culture

“Reflection in a raindrop”

F

or indigenous Guyanese Genevieve Cox, whose hand- embroidered artwork depicts her indigenous cultures, her embroidery is being used as art to showcase what she calls, “the natural world, stories and customs of the Atorad (Atorai), Wapishana and Arawak” nations.

According to Cox, “Embroidery is not a native craft but it is the medium closest to weaving, and has its roots in basket making, mat making and sewing.” Embroidery was introduced by Guyana’s British colonial rule.

While hand-made em-

broidery has a rich history dating back to the 5th century BC, over the years,following its European enforcement in the 19th – early 20th century as a “feminine”, “civilized” activity for “proper young ladies”, it had become synonymous with female restrictions, social class,and colonialism.

However, the feminine revolution of the mid-20th century has since seen hand-made embroidery as a voice for women in contemporary society, though as a craft it still struggles for its right to be an art form.

“The slow ritual of creation is very impor-

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

tant, as is texture, as the work slowly emerges. The works are hand stitched using the satin stitch technique. One piece of work may take 200 hours to complete.

The making of the embroidery is as important as the final result,” Cox states of her work.

Genevieve Cox was born with a rich Atorad, Wapishana and Arawak cultural heritage: her mother was Arawak and her father Atorad and Wapishana. Her embroidery depicts her celebration of and concerns for her heritage in today’s world. It also illustrates traditional stories.

“Stories have been passed orally down through the generations, she notes, “I feel the need to document these stories or they could be lost.

Customs are changing as the Amerindians move into the contemporary western culture, and they too will be lost and forgotten if we do not preserve them.”

Cox has exhibited in the Caribbean and internationally, and she has also been the recipient of numerous awards over her more than 30 years of embroidery experience.

Her work can also be found on book covers, including the 1996 edition of “The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories”

by Penguin Books.

According to Angie Kordic in “Embroidery Art: More and more common in contemporary expression”, today, we can talk about embroidery as a full-on method of expression, involving skills and strong social and political messages.

Genevieve Cox

Cox is one of those women who finds expression through her embroidery. “I have a fundamental concern for the destruction of the rain forest, through logging, mining and road building. I would like people to see the

beauty and fragility o f the eco system and the need to preserve it,” she states of her work, which blends tradition, history and contemporary expression into painstaking and beautiful embroidery that can only be considered works of art.

“Fishing party” “Capybaras”

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana’s real “third force” T

By Ryhaan S hah

he idea of a “third force” that would act as a balance of power between the two major political parties, the PPP and PNC, is still being floated as the best way to help us transcend ethnic politics and graduate to a national issue-based agenda. The feeling is that this would introduce the kind of political maturity needed for progress.

However, despite the appearance of several new political parties over the years and the emergence of two coalition governments formed by the PNC with one respective “third force”, the UF and now the AFC, the “third force” idea has failed to deliver.

The Burnham Government’s coalition with the UF lasted little over two years and, despite all the protestations from the AFC leadership, it is evident that the current coalition is in tatters.

In both instances, it appears that the PNC simply used the “third force” to leverage itself into power.

The emergence of the WPA under the leadership of Dr Walter Rodney did present a formidable third force alternative to the Burnham dictatorship and what was seen as an ineffectual PPP opposition and we all know how tragically that story ended.

The unresolved issues arising from Guyana’s recent political history continue to paralyse the electorate into the tried and true patterns of ethnic voting, so, while third force parties come and go, the two behemoths are still standing.

Notwithstanding the continued efforts to break this mould, there has always been a third force at work in Guyana’s politics. We know them as the ABC countries: America, Britain and Canada.

Canada might not have much standing as a world power but they have a keen interest in Guyana’s domestic affairs since they provide much aid to the country and continue to welcome Guyanese immigrants to their shores.

More than any political group, it is this third force that continues to determine Guyana’s political fate. In every sense, colonialism never ended; it just changed colours to suit our supposedly independent

status. Our dependence on aid and the goodwill of the world powers make us vulnerable to their interests. We are hardly in charge of our destiny.

The story of how Premier Cheddi Jagan was ousted from office in the 1960s through CIA-funded violence is well documented as is the resultant destruction from near three decades of a PNC dictatorship.

But that was just so much collateral damage in the West’s Cold War with Russia.

The US did invest much in restoring democracy to Guyana in 1992 after the Cold War ended and we must hope that America and its allies would not want to squander that investment and the gains made by having Guyana slide back into economic stagnation and even more political turmoil.

It is no secret that the US and its allies helped forge the current alliance between the PNC and AFC. That they worked to create the partnership certainly gave them a vested interest in the Coalition’s success at the polls and many still hold the results of the last general elections suspect.

However, the diplomatic community must be disappointed, as is every single Guyanese, with the conduct of the Coalition Government as we all watch the serial corruptions unfold and the economy grind to a halt. They cannot be at all happy with this outcome.

The PPP/C in its 23-year reign did, however, give everyone good reason to want change. They had become arrogant and were seen as corrupt, and it was probably out of a bloated sense of inviolability that they felt untouchable. Their infamous “feral blast” probably sealed their fate.

For the sake of their future success, the PPP/C must throw off the gauche and even uncouth behaviour that marred their past efforts at diplomacy and seek some guidance in gaining good diplomatic skills.

Practising the art of diplomacy is not weakness and any good government must be able to walk the fine line between honouring Guyana’s sovereignty and being cognizant of the interests of the diplomatic community especially if Guyana is to benefit from both Western and Asian investments.

In Guyana’s racially divided state, it is probably good to have a third force in effect that would help check the excesses of power of any one side.

Whereas the ABC countries were openly critical of the PPP/C Administration, the Granger Government’s continued bumbling incompetence and wanton wastage of state funds have drawn no fire although any assurances of their continuance in government would surely have been reassessed by now.

Given this scenario, the PPP/C must be aware that their diplomatic skills – or lack thereof – could well determine their future.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Representation of interests

A

fter the Forum of African Guyanese

by Cuffy 250, some Guyanese expressed alarm at the frank speech on expectations in an ethnically divided society. They insist that only “multiracial” politics can work for Guyana.

But what is a “multiracial” party? Is it one in which the leaders are drawn from all or most of the various racial/ ethnic blocs that constitute our polity? Is it one that has members drawn from all the various groups? Do the proportions have to roughly mirror the population or will any assorted agglomeration do like with APNU/AFC? Or does it mean that the interests of all the groups must be expressly articulated and represented? Should those interests be subsumed under some notion of a “national” interest? Who defines that “national” interest? And so on.

In Guyana, all of the parties before ROAR claimed that they were “multi-racial”.

They took special pains to have individuals from all the major race groups in their executive and courted votes from across the spectrum. They constructed “national” manifestos. Yet when it came to elections, the majority of the people invariably voted for one of the two major parties, which were firmly identified with specific ethnic blocs – the PPP with Indians and the PNC with Africans. Some assert that the WPA was the only authentic multiracial party. This, of course, begs the question posed above as to what is an “authentic multi-racial” party.

The question harks back to the roots of what constitutes “representation” in our “representative democracy”. The favoured approach, from both the old Liberal and Marxist ideologies was the “representation of ideas”. That is, once the interests of the group are articulated, then anyone could “speak” for the group. By constructing “national” platforms in personnel and content, both the PPP and the PNC claimed to be capable of speaking for “all”. Yet, based on the results of election after election, it is obvious that there was some way the people were getting signals as to which party better represented their interests – which turned out

to be racial/ethnic every time.

These ethnic signals were encapsulated in the ethnic identity of the top leader of the party and conveyed during the “bottom house” meetings and by the use of code words that the people understood. Our insertion into Guyanese politics occurred in the immediate pre-1992 years, by that time the Indians saw the PPP as capable of winning on its own in a “free and fair” election and the Africans had no faith that a possible vengeful PPP would protect their interests. Both sides returned to huddling under their own perceived tent. And here we have remained – with some cracks last year.

In 1992, as articulated in our 1990 paper, “For a New Political Culture”, we proposed “Shared Governance” and eventually, Federalism, to share power in the country equitably. Our theory predicted ethnic violence, which unfortunately came to pass, with its increased polarisation.

So, how do we arrive at “multi-racial” politics that can involve all the groups to their satisfaction?

We thought it was self-evident that the parties that the various groups selected via their votes should come together and work on a programme that combined their several platforms. We still believe that this is the way to begin and then work towards a federal approach, which would need the trust engendered during a period of working together. But there remains the evident distaste by the major political parties to acknowledge that they are “ethnic” parties.

The greatest irony is that this acknowledgement, coupled with the acceptance to work together, would result in the formation of a “multi-racial” government, which, after all, is what the goal of all their politics is supposedly all about. The “multiracial” party was supposed to only be a way-station to the “multi-racial” government, wasn’t it?

But the distaste for acknowledging that one has an ethnic party goes deeper than mere opportunism in some. A multiracial/multi-ethnic party must explicitly articulate the interests of the several constituent groups it purports to represent. This is done,

By Ravi Dev as in the Democratic Party in the US, by having specific “caucuses” for African and Hispanic voters. It is now conceded that in addition to the old “representation of ideas”, there is the need for “representation by presence” especially for those who have been excluded or have experienced unique situations.

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Ethno-trans-Caribbean identity

By Lomarsh Roopnarine

O

ver the past month or so I have been analysing Caribbean Indian identity, namely ethno-local and ethno-national. In this column, I will move on and analyse the third of the multipartite model of Indian identity – ethno-trans-Caribbean.

An ethno-trans-Caribbean identity is when an individual does not identify or see him or herself in relation to a specific country in the Caribbean but identifies with other countries across the Caribbean. Put differently, individual as well as collective thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are associated with other countries in the Caribbean rather than be restricted to one specific country.

When asked, for example, who are you, where are you from, the general reply is that I am a Caribbean

person. However, this form of identity is restricted within Caribbean countries that share somewhat similar cultural characteristics.

Spanish-speaking individuals or Hispanics in the Caribbean tend to identify with Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and so when they say they are from the Caribbean they are implicitly referring to an insular trans-Caribbean identity in the northern Caribbean.

Similar sentiments of identity are found amongst African Caribbeans, although these sentiments are further separated according to language and religious affiliations. Rastafarians share a typical transCaribbean identity but French Caribbean Africans may not identify with English-speaking Africans, for example.

The legacy of colonialism is mainly responsible for this insular identity but there are efforts to ad-

dress this colonial sin through various Pan AfricanCaribbean movements.

As far as Indians are concerned, they share an ethno-trans-Caribbean identity with Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname, countries with large Indian populations, rather than with Antigua, St Kitts, Puerto Rico, or Cuba with small populations of Indians and a different sense of identity.

An ethno-trans-Caribbean identity is not common among Indians but it is an alternative form of identity that cannot be easily dismissed. This form of identity is religiously-oriented in the form of Hinduism and Islam to provide a sense of security and stability for trans-Caribbean Indians. It is expressed through the assertive Indian Council for Culture (ICC), Arya Samaj, Santan Dharma, as well as other Islamic and continued on page 47

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

43

44 Feature

T

he Georgetown to Lethem road is the only overland route from the coast to the vast Rupununi interior. It’s not for the faint of heart.

This main artery through the middle of the country is unpaved and sometimes more of a mud trail than road, but if you want your adventure into the Rupununi region to begin soon enough, then a trip through the road to any of the major southern Guyana destinations will fulfil your wish (rainy or dry season).

However, whether heaving along the winding road, over precarious bridges, through

swampy trailsor sailing across the Kurupukari River by barge, the scenery is often remarkable.

If you are lucky enough you may even see wildlife, especially when driving through the Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve, through which the road passes.

So if your vehicle gets bogged down on the way, hope that it is along a stretch of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country, or a jaguar choses that moment to cross in front of you...

(Cover photo: New meaning to “vehicle comes fully loaded” along the Georgetown-Lethem road (Photo courtesy Girendra Persaud, Gxmedia))

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

At 58 Miles, (popularly referred to as “58-mile”) a small village along Mabura Road – 58 miles from Linden is a stopover for travellers along the Georgetown-Lethem road (Photo courtesy Girendra Persaud, Gxmedia)

Passing ancient rocks along the Kurupukari River crossing (Photo courtesy Girendra Persaud, Gxmedia)

Jaguar crossingthe road inthe Iwokrama reserve (http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/ jaguar-in-iwokrama-guyana-19-january-2012)

The road rises and falls through the heart of the country (http://newbohemians.net/ georgetown-guyana-and-other-thoughts)

The road passes through villages and vast expanses of savannah (httphalinasguyanablog.blogspot.com201204plane-ridiculous.html)

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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46 fashion

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

S S

idney L. Francois of Francois Designs marched onto the Guyanese fashion scene in 2010 when the gown he designed for Miss Guyana Universe eventual winner Tamika Henry won the “Best Gown” prize of the pageant.

He hasn’t looked back since, as his unique and amazing designs have led to greater recognition as one of Guyana’s leading designers and more prestigious accolades, including being hon-

oured in July 2016 at the 7th Annual Caribbean Style & Culture Awards & Fashion Showcase held in Maryland, USA with the Karib Nation Inc. Award of Excellence in Fashion Innovation.

The E.R. Burrowes School of Art alumna presented his latest collection, the 2016 Garden City Collection, for Guyana’s 50th Jubilee independence anniversary, which he said was inspired by, of course, Guyana.

016 Garden City Collection (Photographer Cyril Cromwell. Model Meleesa Payne)

Hollywood glamour

harmilla Persaud is a Guyaneseborn designer who teamed up with her best friend Arianna Brooke to launch Millianna (a combination of their names) in 2010, a U.S designer fashion jewellery company.

They met while Sharmilla was working in the design department of BCBG Max Azria, in the USA,and Arianna in marketing. Sharmilla now leads the design, while Arianna oversees production of their own Spokane, Washington-based business.

According to the millianna website, each piece is intricately handmade by skilled artisans in the U.S.,where many of the artisans who work with the company are immigrant women who arrived in Spokane with the World Relief Organization.

Her jewellery has been described as classic, contemporary, casual and dressy; edgy, feminine and statement-making

Sharmilla’s love for fashion began from an early age in Guyana with her awe for her mother’s colourful saris and jewellery,and blossomed into a full-fledged passion as she moved to New York where, during her teenage years, she was known for her unique outfits.

She pursued her love of fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology and earned a degree in Design. Max Azria hired her as designer at BCBG after her graduation.

Millianna pieces have been featured in magazines such as Oprah and Women’s Health, on celebrities such as Miranda Lambert and Elizabeth Rohm, and in the wardrobes of stars in movies.

Téa Leoni as “Madam Secretary” in her favourite accessory, a Millianna 1" Micro Cuff in Antique Silver

2016 Garden City Collection (Photo by Satori Vsion Studio NY Make-Up by fabfacebyaigner) 2016 Garden City Collection

Millianna's founders Sharmilla Persaud, left, and Arianna Brooke

Designer Sidney L. Francois

Tie-dye prints of an early 2016 “Reaction Line"

A model presents a bib necklace piece similar to one worn in an episode of TV show “Reign”

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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

The 5 R’s of motivation and alcohol abuse Elections Communication

S

atiricus was smirking like a cat that’d just lapped up a bucket of milk. Cappo looked at him but didn’t say anything and continued chugging his beer. The Back Street Bar was quieter than usual since several of the regulars were off to the dominoes competition in the neighbouring village. The two friends were both dismissive about dominoes being called a “sport” and hadn’t gone on that principle.

Cappo knew Satiricus would have to break down sooner rather than later.

“Have you read about the fuss some folks are making about the high-end radio sets bought

by Gee-Con?” Satiricus suddenly blurted out, validating Cappo’s assessment.

“Budday!!$100M fuh jus’ 50 “raid-yo”?!”Cappo exclaimed. “Like dem bin wan’ fuh talk to people pan Mars or wha’?”

“Cappo, you’re making the same mistake like the news people,” Satiricus said with a satisfied smile. “These are special radios.”

“Dem musseebettadan special!” said Cappo, who couldn’t contain his amazement. “$2M a-piece jus’ fuh talk to people in de inteer-ya about dem vote!!”

“But that is the mistake everybody’s making, Cappo,” said Satiricus in a conspiratorial tone, as he leaned forward suddenly.

“Wha’ mistake?” demanded Cappo, while pulling his beer away in a defensive move.

“The mistake is these radios were to communicate WITHIN Gee-Con, not outside,” continued Satiricus in hushed tones. “$2M “raid-yo” a-piece fuh talk inside??!!”Cappo was outraged and the volume of his reply signalled as much.

“Cappo you just didn’t “talk” with these radios,” said Satiricus. “When you spoke into them, it could add, subtract and multiply numbers of votes that were fed into them by voice.”

“Wha’ mekdemwaan’ fuh do da?” Cappo demanded.

“Cappo, it’s you and your party that complained how long it took for Gee-Con to deliver election results,” answered Satiricus. “The $100M was spent to speed up the count.”

“But de result still tek five days!” said Cappo indignantly. “Me bite me finga-nail to de bone when me bin a wait!” “Well, the radios did have a problem with the local Guyanese accent,” confessed Satiricus. “They were programmed in America to understand THEIR accent.”

“Wha’ mek?” said Cappo truculently.

“Well, after they helped us to “vote like a boss,” Satiricus confided, “they had to make sure GeeCon counted like a boss.”

CROSSWORD SOLUTION

I

Anu Dev

n school, we’re taught that an important aspect of taking a patient’s history is asking about whether they smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. And then we’re expected to quantify the person’s cigarette or alcohol use. How much?

How often? When did you first start? And invariably most people try to lowball their usage. It’s only after a bit of careful prodding that the truth comes out – or at least something close enough to the truth.

While the legality of alcohol in our culture might not suggest it – cigarettes and alcohol are two of the most potent psychoactive substances.

So not surprisingly, we’ve been taught about our role as doctors in counselling patients to quit smoking or to reduce their alcohol intake.

This past rotation in family medicine, we learnt about the five A’s of intervention and the five R’s of motivation. I am sure that each of us, even if we are not doctors, will encounter persons who abuse alcohol and this approach can prove useful.

In trying to motivate a patient to make a change in their behaviour, it’s important to explain to them how the change is relevant to them

“Alcoholism is a devastating, potentially fatal disease.

The primary symptom of having it is telling everyone – including yourself – that you are not an alcoholic.” – Herbert L Gravitz& Julie D Bowden personally, to talk about the risks of their current behaviour, to educate the patient about the potential rewards of change, and to address possible roadblocks they might encounter while trying to change. And the final R is repetition – doctors should try to respectfully repeat the five R’s each visit to try to motivate their patient to make the changes to live a healthier life.

Let’s take alcohol abuse as an example where the five R’s can be used to motivate a person to cut down on their drinking.

In terms of relevancy to the person, there should be a discussion about how cutting down their alcohol consumption would directly impact their life – it could save them money, improve their quality of life, and if they’re pregnant, it would increase their chances of having a healthy baby.

Each person is different, and there will be different issues that are relevant to them and it is important for their doctor to discuss those issues with them in a respectful, non-confrontational manner. Maybe friends can be more casual… but certainly not confrontational!

In terms of risks, there are long-term and short-term risks of

alcohol abuse. In the short-term, risks include disruption of sleep, blackouts and a whole host of others. In the long-term, all that assault on your liver can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and eventually death.

Alcohol abuse is one of the most common causes of pancreatitis which comes along with its own range of complications.

And then there are all of the emotional risks that come along with alcohol abuse. Long-term overconsumption of alcohol can significantly increase your risk for depression.

And I’m sure by now, especially in a country with one of the highest suicide-rates in the world, we’re well aware of the link between depression and suicide.

The discussion of risks isn’t meant to be a scaretactic, it’s supposed to be a frank discussion where the abuser is made aware of the risks and where their perception of those risks is explored.

In terms of rewards, there are all of the health rewards – add on more than a couple of years to your lifespan. And of course, then there’s all of that money that you can save. And for each patient, there are specific areas where their alcohol abuse is causing a problem, so there should be a discussion about how

Ethno-trans-Caribbea...

Christian organisations, although the latter may comprise other ethnic groups like Africans in the Christian Baptist religion.

These religious organisations have pushed for Indian empowerment, recognition, and revitalisation in a Creolized Caribbean. See the works of Morton Klass (1996) for Indian revitalisation movement in Trinidad and Van der Veer and Vertovec (1991) for Brahmanism across the Caribbean.

The establishment of a private Hindu school in 2002 in Guyana by Swami Aksharananda represents not only a need for the revitalisation of Hinduism in Guyana but also in Trinidad and Suriname. I understand that the Swami plans to build a dormitory for teachers and researchers as well as a Hindu university to attract Indians from across the Caribbean and further afield.

Muslims in Guyana have also intensified and broadened their external contacts, not only with India and Pakistan, but also with countries in the region – Trinidad and Suriname – and with the Arab

those problems might be ameliorated by cutting down the drinking.

And of course, change is never easy – if it was, they probably wouldn’t have had to come up with five R’s to motivate people. But that brings us to the fourth R: roadblocks. There should be a discussion with the person about possible hurdles they’ll have to face on the road to change and the patient and doctor should come up with strategies on how to handle those problems when they arise. They may suffer withdrawal symptoms, or they may live in an environment that encourages their alcohol abuse.

The final R is repetition. As I mentioned before, doctors should try to respectfully repeat the 5 R’s each visit to try to motivate their patient to make then changes to live a healthier life.

Concerned friends and family members should also do the same.

Alcohol abuse is a problem in our country.

With alcohol, and I suppose most things in life, moderation is key.

Our health professionals have a duty to their patients to motivate them to make the changes towards moderation.

And so do we as ordinary citizens.

from page 42

world. What has happened in the process is the formation of an ethno-trans-Caribbean identity, creating a common space where Muslims meet and mingle through regular visits.

Interestingly, an ethno-transCaribbean identity is not restricted to the insular Caribbean but it is also noticeable and vocal in the Indian North American and European diaspora. This is possible because, as Benedict Anderson (1991) suggests elsewhere, a trans-Caribbean identity can be imagined. Even though Indians in the diaspora have no personal knowledge of each other, they share a civic nation in which similar values, interests, images of camaraderie, citizenship, and community are expressed.

It is in New York, Toronto, and London, for example, where the images of a civic trans-Caribbean identity are expressed. To feel connected with their trans-Caribbean identity in these new societies that discriminate, Indian Caribbean immigrants have formed associations like the Ontario Society for

Services to the Indo-Caribbean Community (OSSICC) to deal with the everyday challenges of North American society and to practice segmented assimilation patterns, that is, maintaining contact with the Caribbean while integrating selectively into North American society.

These Indians express a transCaribbean identity through their trans-national lifestyle. They are in Canada but their Caribbean past is highlighted, their achievements in Canada are appreciated, and their differences from Canada are valued. Some of this is expressed in associations, religious domains, clubs, newspapers, and radio stations.

For some, a search for or an expression of ethno-trans-Caribbean identity is genuine, while for others it is an excuse for claims and counter-claims in a foreign land.

In consequence, misplaced and misguided feelings may prevail (send comments to: lomarsh. roopnarine@jsums.edu).

48 Bollywood

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

‘Pink’ becoming a movement, Premam trailer: Naga Chaitanya surprises fans, Amitabh Bachchan critics with his performance

T

he much-expected Telugu trailer of Premam is out and it looks promising. The film is a Telugu remake of the 2015 Malayalam super hit by the same name.

The Telugu remake has Naga Chaitanya in the lead role, which was originally played by Nivin Pauly in Malayalam. The first trailer coupled with a melodious tune introduces all major characters in the film.

The film has Anupama Parameswaran, Shruti Haasan and Madonna Sebastian as its female leads. It revolves around Chaitanya’s character Vikram and his relationship with three different women at various stages of his life.

Unlike its Malayalam counterpart, the 1.42-second trailer is not raw.

It is fine tuned to fit the tastes of the audience. The title has also got a tagline with its Telugu version, which reads thus: “Love stories end. Feelings don’t…” And this pretty much sums up the film.

Although, the storyline is not something unheard of, the way it was told and the performances of the actors in the film clicked with the Malayalam audience. The film became a blockbuster and broke previous collection records set by other leading stars of Hollywood.

So, the success of the Telugu version will boil down to two important points: one, engaging storytelling and two, performances by the actors. Going by the trailer, all the leading actors seemed to have tried to deliver variation in expressions. However, drawing a parallel between the Malayalam and Telugu versions is inevitable.

Ever since the first look and the video of a song from Premam was released, there has been a lot of debate on the internet. Shruti Haasan and Naga Chaitanya have been at the receiving end from the fans of the Malayalam version. We hope that the actors will silence their critics with their performances in the film. (Indian Express)

Sajid Nadiadwala’s French honour well deserved: Jacqueline Fernandez

J

a c q u e l i n e Fernandez congratulated filmmaker SajidNadiadwala after the latter was honoured with French distinction, Chevalier dansl’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by Alexandre Ziegler, the Ambassador of France to India at a glittering ceremony in Mumbai.

Speaking about Sajid, Jacqueline said, “It’s a very well deserved. He has been in the industry for a long time and has made many blockbuster hits. His hit ratio is so high. For me, as someone who has known and worked in his films, it’s a

proud feeling. Whenever we work with Sajid, it feels we are working with a friend and spontaneously our best comes out in his films.”

Speaking about the reason behind Hindi films being appreciated in France and other European countries, Jacqueline said, “It’s a combination of so many things. Our way of storytelling is unique. Music is an essential part of our films and our song and dance sequences are unique and enjoyable.

Also, I feel through Hindi films prop also get to see the culture of India, the traditions and the fusion of both old and modern

India.”

Speaking about France and her memories in the romantic capital of the world Paris, Jacqueline said, “I love Paris. I celebrated my birthday recently there.”

When we asked if she had anyone special accompanying her to Paris, the actress said with a hint of disappointing, “I went with my friend only. There is no one special.”

On the professional front, Jacqueline will start shooting for the sequel of Bang Bang from next week with costar Sidharth Malhotra.

(Indian Express)

M

egastar Amitabh Bachchan said “Pink” has already become a movement providing women with the opportunity to speak out. “‘Pink’ is no longer perhaps a colour.

Pink no more connotes the favourite colour of a young girl and her Barbie doll.

Pink means you have the freedom and liberty to walk at night. Women got the opportunity to speak out through this film,” Bachchan told a press conference here.

Turning to “Pink” actress Taapsee Pannu, who was sitting by his side, Bachchan said, “You know what experiences she went through while travelling in DTC buses but she did not muster the courage to protest. The film will now teach girls like her to go to police

station and lodge protest. This is the victory of ‘Pink’.”

Bachchan, who also described the stabbing of a woman in full public view in New Delhi as “despicable”, said people lacked the courage to come the aid of victims fearing harassment at police stations and courts.

But Pink talks about the rights of women to lodge protest during day and night hours.

“Some things are common everywhere. A Swedish girl wanted to take the film (Pink) to her country.

Pink has given rise to such a movement,” Bachchan said adding in real life in such a situation, he would have mouthed the same lines like Pink’s crusader lawyer enacted by him. (Indian Express)

Sonakshi Sinha feels gender pay gap is reducing in Bollywood

A

ctress Sonakshi Sinha says now is the best time to be in the Hindi film industry, as she feels female actors are not only getting meatier roles but are also being given their due in terms of pay.

“I think now is the best time to be in this industry for an actress as there are wonderful roles written for women, films centre around the female protagonist like ‘Akira’,” Sonakshi told PTI. “The pay disparity is also decreasing.

Actresses are getting their due today be it awards or accolades for their work,” the 29-yearold actress said.

Her recently released film “Akira”, directed by A R Murugadoss, has apparently garnered ap-

proximately Rs 30 crore and Sonakshi is happy with the box office response.

“I am thrilled with the response to ‘Akira’.

The film was resting on my shoulders and the box office collection has been great. I think the film was in plus (refer-

ring to profit),” she said.

“Other than the numbers, the appreciation that I am getting for my role and performance is tremendous. It is very encouraging. I want to continue doing films like ‘Akira’,” Sonakshi added.

(Indian Express)

It’s human nature to judge: Sunny Leone

N

o matter how good celebrities look but they do get judged on the basis of their fashion, feels actress Sunny Leone. She says that it’s human nature to judge people on the basis of appearance.

Asked if she feels celebrities are judged on the basis of their fashion, Sunny told IANS in an e-mail interaction: “Yes, but that is human nature, we all judge and we all look at what others are wearing. I am always interested to know what people find interesting in fashion.”

For the “EkPaheliLeela” star fashion is very important.

“It (fashion) is very important to me to express myself exactly how I feel that day. I am not preaching to anyone

that they should be a certain way other than being themselves. That is the biggest statement you can ever make,” added the “One Night Stand” star.

Is it important for an actor to look good always?

“Yes, because the whole world is always watching so that just means make yourself presentable,” the 35-year-old actress said.

But the “Jism 2” star added that it doesn’t mean that a person has “to wear expensive clothes.” Just make yourself feel good and you will look great,” she said.

On the work front, Sunny will soon be seen in the upcoming film Beiimaan Love. (Indian Express)

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Daniel Radcliffe’s embarrassing selfie moment

“H

arry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe has never forgotten the moment he thought a fan was asking him for a photograph, when she was actually wanted to get past him.

Radcliffe, 27, said he wanted to “crawl into a hole” when he mistaken-

ly thought a fan was asking for a photo with him, reported Female First.

“I had one of the most awful, embarrassing moments, one of those when you just want to crawl in a hole. I’d gone to see a play, it was a very crowded bar and my friend was standing at the bar and I’d just been talking to

him and I was working my way out through the crowd.

“And as I was working my way out through the crowd, I came face to face, very close to this girl who started making a face and going, ‘Oh, oh would you mind? Would it be possible if?’ and I was like, “I’m really, really sorry, I’m just on my way out right now.” She just went, ‘No, I’m just trying to get past you’.

I was like, ‘Oh God.’ I was 17. I thought I won’t make that mistake again.” (Indian Express)

Paul was instrumental in my segue into fatherhood - Vin Diesel

A

ction star Vin Diesel says his “Fast & Furious” costar and friend Paul Walker persuaded him to have children.

The 49-year-old actor said his late co-star was instrumental in encouraging him to start a family, reported Female First.

“He must’ve been

God-sent because he put me on the right path.

He set me up. And when we did the first ‘Fast & Furious’, I was already 30 years old or something, but he was a father.

“When we were in the cars in between takes, he would tell me, ‘Hey, Vin, it’s not a scary thing to become a father’ [and]

give me all the good advice. Next thing I know, I am a dad …

(He) is why I named my daughter Pauline because of the credit that Paul Walker deserves in my personal life,” Diesel said.

The “xXx” star said it was Paul who told him to go to hospital and be there for the birth of Pauline, now 18 months.

“Paul was very instrumental in my segue into fatherhood. He was the one that told me to go to the hospital.

“He’s the one that told me to cut the umbilical cord. He told me to cut the umbilical cord!

(He was) the only person, in California, that knew I was about to have a child.” (Indian Express)

Hollywood 49

Madame Tussauds separate Jolie-Pitt wax figures post split

M

adame Tussauds has separated the wax statues of Hollywood’s former power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt after the actress filed for divorce.

The museum posted a picture of the statues placed apart on their official Twitter page.

“Following the news that has shocked celebrity watchers worldwide, we can confirm we have separated Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s figures,” the post read.

The couple’s wax figures were launched in 2013.

Following the split, Jolie’s wax figure is placed next to actress Nicole Kidman’s statue, and Pitt’s figure is positioned close to Morgan Freeman’s.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt on Monday, September 19, citing irreconcilable differences.

The couple had been together for 10 years before tying the knot in 2014.

Sources said Jolie took the decision because she wasn’t happy with Pitt’s parenting ways.

According to sources, Jolie filed for a divorce on Monday by submitting legal documents in the court for the same.

It is also heard that Jolie has asked for the physical custody of all their six children, with Pitt only getting visitation rights and a joint legal custody.

This hints at the fact that Jolie was allegedly unhappy with the way Pitt was discharging his parental duties, hence, the major reason for conflict cited is their kids.

Earlier, there were reports that the couple was contemplating a divorce due to a ‘third person’ in their relationship.

Many were holding Pitt’s rumored affair with actress Marion Cotillard as the cause of the potential split. A few days back, there were also reports about Pitt’s increasing interest in actress Gwyneth Paltrow, which turned out to be false. We also hear that Jolie has asked for no spousal support. In the papers, she has allegedly written date of separation as ‘15 September 2016′. (Indian Express)

I’m evil and mean in Baywatch, says Priyanka Chopra

‘Sound of Music’ actress Charmian Carr dies at 73

P

C

harmian Carr, the actress best known for portraying the eldest von Trapp daughter in Rogers & Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 73. Carr’s spokesman Harlan Boll says she died Saturday

of complications from a rare form of dementia in Los Angeles.

The actress portrayed Liesl von Trapp in the 1965 musical “The Sound of Music” and famously performed the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.” Carr wrote

a pair of books about her experiences: “Forever Liesl” and “Letters to Liesl.” She later went on to star with Anthony Perkins in the Stephen Sondheim television musical “Evening Primrose.”

(Indian Express)

riyanka Chopra says her character in her Hollywood feature film debut Baywatch is evil and mean. The 34-years-old Quantico star, who is playing the role of antagonist Victoria Leeds in the movie adaptation of popular TV series of the 90s, said people will hate her in the film, reported ET online.

The movie also stars Dwayne Johnson and ZacEfron. “I’m so bad and so mean and patronizing and evil.

I don’t know, America’s going to hate me. “I’m serious. Zac and The Rock?

I’m so mean to them and they’re like the people’s champion and the people’s prince and… it’s not going to be fun!,” Priyanka said.

She also teased the upcoming season of Quantico.”I just saw the first episode a couple of days ago and it’s explosive. By the end of the episode, people are going to be like, ‘Wait for what?’ but

that’s what we do. I’m very excited.”

Meanwhile, if reports are to be believed Tom Hiddleston and Priyanka, who presented a trophy together at the 68th annual Emmy Primetime Awards ceremony on Sunday night, were reportedly flirting with each other at the ceremony’s after-party. Priyanka and Hiddleston shared the stage to give away the Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special award to The Night Manager director Susanne Bier.

Dressed in an understated Jason Wu one-shouldered all-red chiffon gown, the actress was her confident self on the 68th Emmy Awards red carpet.

The 34-year-old Quantico actress enjoyed every moment at the red carpet as she happily posed, twirled and spun around, showing off the delicate layers of her gown. (Indian Express)

50 sport

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Providence pitch 50% complete – Xavier F

ollowing the decision to completely remake the four pitches at Guyana’s only international cricket venue, the Guyana National Stadium located at Providence, East Bank Demerara, Stadium Manager, Anthony Xavier has indicated that the works are 50% completed.

Presently, the four pitches located on the square of the cricket field have been relayed and is in a setting phase.

Since the inaugu-

ral game, back in March 2007 when the stadium featured a World Cup match between Sri Lanka and South Africa, the pitch was the topic of much criticism on its slowness and lowness.

When this Guyana Times International Sportvisited the Stadium, the recently laid dirt was being heavily soaked.

This comes after the old pitches were dug up and a fresh bed of stone and other materials were placed as part of the

The next stage for the Providence square is the planting of grass (Romario Samaroo photo)

preparation process.

The overall outcome is to have a pitch that mirrors the practice pitches which provide a better bounce and slower deterioration rate when compared to its previous state.

It is no secret that while Guyana has a slow and low pitch, the outfield is one of the fastest drying in the world and if the works done on the pitch are to exceed expectations Guyana has the potential to be one of the most sought

The repainted exit stairways in the red stand

after grounds in the Caribbean.

Additionally, the works are expected to produce a consistent bounce and carry much to liking of both batsmen and bowlers.

According to Xavier there is no rush to hurry the works, but rather time is treated wisely to produce a world class product.

Xavier indicated, however, that the project is heading into one of the more tender stages, as the laying of the grass is

a delicate and technical procedure but is confident that the project will be completed in October.

Additionally, finishing touches are also being done to the already 95 percent complete paint job to the external stairways of the stands.

The project is expected to be completed in time to facilitate Guyana’s hosting of West Indies Cricket Board’s Professional Cricket League Regional Four Day matches which begins in November.

Windies not weakened by Gayle’s absence, says Sarfraz

Uncapped West Indians hungry to make their mark

UBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC) — Pakistan are not assuming the absence of batting superstar Chris Gayle to mean West Indies will be a weakened unit for their three-match Twenty20 International series starting here Saturday.

“I don’t think that there is much of an advantage when it comes to T20 cricket when players have changed,” Captain Sarfraz Ahmed said.

“True, they don’t have Chris Gayle, but they do have some other good players. Our focus is to do well on the field.

We finished on a good note in Manchester (against England earlier this month) and I hope we start on a good note here.”

Gayle, one of the most destructive batsmen in the game’s shortest formats, was not available for selection after also missing the two-match series against India in Fort Lauderdale, United States, last month.

He was joined by Lendl Simmons, who was also unavailable because of medical reason, while dynamic allrounder Andre Russell pulled out of the squad last week for “personal reasons”.

West Indies have been installed as heavy favourites, especially after lifting an unprecedented second T20 World Cup title in India last April. They are currently ranked number three, with Pakistan four places lower in seventh.

Despite the absence of

ast bowler Kesrick Williams, allrounder Rovman Powell and wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran, the uncapped players in West Indies' T20 squad for the three-match series against Pakistan in the UAE, have spoken of their desire to make their mark in international cricket.

"It is really fantastic to be called up for the West Indies team; something every young man would dream about, to play international cricket," Williams said on the eve of the first T20I. "The determination is there, I am just ready to go, execute, and put my name out there in international cricket."

Pooran was excited at the prospect of playing with World T20 winners such as his captain Carlos Brathwaite. "It's a dream come true," he said.

"I always thought I will play for West Indies when I was 21. I am 20 at the moment.

While I was a youngster, I watched these guys win two World Cups. It's an amazing achievement for me. Just trying to take the opportunity and make the full use of it."

Powell also said representing West Indies was a "dream". "Getting the call from Courtney Browne was one of the happiest days of my life," he said. "Representing West Indies at any level is something that I dream about.

The dream has come to a reality."

While Williams did not bat

D

Chris Gayle

Gayle, Simmons and Russell, West Indies boast the likes of all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, along with leg-spinner Samuel Badree and off-spinner Sunil Narine.

But Sarfraz said while there was no doubt about the quality of the Caribbean side, Pakistan would not be daunted.

“They are the best T20 team in the world and won the Twenty20 World Cup,” he noted.

“We are also a good team and when we played against England, we didn’t think that we were playing the T20 World Cup finalists and that they are one of the best T20 teams in the world. Our focus was mainly on that we should play well and play good cricket.

“That is the same focus here.

Our aim is to play good cricket and play a good brand of cricket and beat them.”

F

Rovman Powell made 228 runs in 12 innings for Jamaica Tallawahs at the CPL (Photo: CPL/Sportsfile)

or bowl in the warm-up match against an Emirates Cricket Board XI on Tuesday, Powell and Pooran staked their claim for spots in the opening T20I. They overcame a top-order wobble with a 52-run partnership for the fifth wicket at a run rate of 10.40. Pooran was the leader, scoring seven boundaries, of which two sailed out of the ground.

"That innings was needed by me for my self-confidence and for the team," Pooran said. "It [The sixes] was satisfying. I am a bit disappointed that I didn't get more. I will take it at the end of the day."

Powell said that having clarity was key to that stand.

"The thought process was simple, just get used to the conditions in Dubai," he said. "I just stuck to the basics, when the ball comes in my area, I get a

start and expand my range."

Pooran had come into the spotlight when he played the innings of the Under-19 World Cup at the same venue in 2014. He struck 143 off 160 balls, which lifted West Indies 70 for 8 to 208. Of the 23 boundaries in West Indies' innings, Pooran hit 20.

"I have good memories of Dubai. I expect to do something special again here. I am looking forward to the challenge," he said.

Powell, who has also been selected in the West Indies A squad for the List A matches in Sri Lanka, was wary of high expectations. "When you set targets and set expectations, sometimes you set up for failures," he said. "What I do is try to play the conditions."

sport 51

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com

PM Mitchell quits Caricom 17 shortlisted for cricket committee training for Beach Soccer

G

Grenada’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell

renada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell said he resigned as Chairman of Caricom’s subcommittee on cricket governance because he was angered by the behaviour of “a couple of our leaders in the region”.

Prime Minister Mitchell did not call out the names of his regional counterparts but accused them of undermining Caricom’s position by making “divisive” public statements after agreements would have been reached at the heads of government level.

In an interview with Grenada sports, Prime Minister Mitchell said he has suggested Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St.Vincent and the Grenadines take up the role.

“I gave it up because I felt angered by the behaviour of a couple of our leaders in the region and the way they behaved when we took a decision and I felt that they undermined the authority of the chairman of the sub-committee at the time and therefore I did not feel I could continue in that position,” the Grenadian leader explained.

“I spoke to Ralph and in fact I sent a message to him because I hold that position of recognizing his leadership seriously. So and I told him that I was going to issue a statement as the Prime Minister of Grenada and he knows my

position as a cricket lover”.

In June, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne “categorically rejected “the call for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), putting him at odds with the Grenadian leader.

“Today, I categorically reject the call for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board and I do so in my capacity as chairman of the Caricom Cricket Committee governing West Indies cricket,” Prime Minister Browne said to an audience which included WICB president Dave Cameron.

“I believe firmly that to dissolve the West Indies Cricket Board would be to plunge West Indies cricket into further chaos and confusion”.

Dr. Mitchell has been at the forefront of spearheading efforts to restructure the WICB and has endorsed the recent Barriteau Report, which last year recommended “the immediate dissolution” of the embattled WICB. He stressed that if regional leaders refuse to speak with one voice the WICB would continue to operate without being made to account for their actions.

“We have to speak with one voice.

The problem is when you have some of us going in different directions especially when we make decisions at Caricom level and then one or two of us go off on our own and making opposite statements and claiming that we are not part of the decision,” Prime Minister Mitchell pointed out.

“I think that becomes divisive and unhelpful and it gives those who wish to continue to do as they want the opportunity to do so and I think that’s unfortunate because the region is the one that is losing”.

The Barriteau Report was commissioned by Caricom, with agreement from the WICB, and authored

by UWI Cave Hill Principal Professor EudineBarriteau, but the WICB rejected the findings.(CMC)

GLTA hosts successful tennis programme in New Amsterdam

I

Participants of the workshop executing a drill

n an effort to expand Lawn Tennis throughout the country the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) has decided to host grassroots tennis programs to equip physical edu-

cation teachers with the basic knowledge of the sport.

On Saturday September 17 at the Guyana Teachers’ Union Hall, New Amsterdam, the GLTA started its first pro-

gram in district 15 of the Guyana Teachers Union sporting district which is the New Amsterdam/ Canje area.

According to the district sports representacontinued on page 52

World Cup Qualifiers

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he Guyana Beach Football Association (GBFA) technical squad led by designated Head Coach, Abdullah Hamid, have released a 17-member squad following trials on Sunday, September 18, 2016 as they commence preparation for this year’s Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers 2017.

The squad will commence week-

Soccer Association, Rollin Tappin, this is a great opportunity to raise the profile of Beach soccer in Guyana and he expects Guyana to do well. “We’re using some players who have already had international exposure. Once we roll out preparations according to plan, Guyana will be making a good

The trials were conducted at Bay Rock Beach Soccer Facility, Linden over a two-week period from September 11, 2016 and saw players from various clubs including High Stars Attention Family, Cool Runnings Kurukururu Warriors, Royal Youths, Silver Bullets, Sparta Boss and Alexander Village FC. Guyana is one of 16 countries vying f o r

The Bayrock Beach Soccer Facility in Linden was a hive of activity as players were vying for places

ly training on Sundays in preparation for the competition scheduled for the January 29 to the February 5, 2017 on Miami Beach, USA and will have as its Assistant Coach, Dillon Roberts while a Team Manager is to be announced.

This squad, which will be further shortlisted to 15 by the end of October, was drawn from the recently-concluded National Beach Soccer League that was held from January – April, 2016 in KuruKururu Village and Linden.

According to President of the Beach

representation for itself; it augurs well for Beach soccer. It will give Beach soccer the boost it needs as it’s no longer a part-time sport. With Guyana’s geography and sand, it will definitely give us a boost going forward in our development.”

Two officials from Guyana – Rollin Tappin and Abdullah Hamid – will participate in a workshop in Miami on October 17 and 18 aimed at sensitizing participating member associations of the tournament as well as participate in the official draw.

two spots in the competition within CONCACAF; only three will qualify and this is the country’s first time participating in this tournament.

Those shortlisted are; Travis Bess (Goalkeeper), Deon Tyrell (GK), Kellon Major (GK), Ethan Spartan (GK), Jermaine Grandison, Marvin Sullivan, Kenard Simon, Tshekederi Whitehead, Gishawn Moore, Trevorn Archibald, Deshawn Joseph, Cordell Johnson, Rodwyn Fraser, Michael Wilson, Keon Sears, Jamal Haynes and Tony Gilbert.

CARICOM proud of Paralympic athletes – Secretary-General

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he Caribbean C o m m u n i t y (CARICOM) is proud of the achievements regional athletes recorded at the Paralympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this month.

In a congratulatory message, CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque singled out world record setting gold medal winner Akeem Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago for special praise.

The SecretaryGeneral said that CARICOM will continue to “seek ways to ensure a better life for all our differently-abled citizens in the on-going effort to build a Community for all”.

Following is the full statement issued by the Secretary General: The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is very proud of the achievements of its

Akeem Stewart celebrates his gold medal at the Rio Paralympics

athletes at the Rio Paralympics 2016.

We are especially proud of the world record setting gold medal winner Akeem Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago.

His performances were the highlight of the Region’s participation in these Games and epitomised the determination of our differently-abled citizens to compete with the rest of the world and be the best at their chosen field.

Their example of com-

mitment and excellence, in the face of the challenges they encounter, serve as an inspiration to us all as we strive to build a viable and prosperous society.

On behalf of the Community, I extend congratulations to all our medallists and finalists.

CARICOM will continue to seek ways to ensure a better life for all our differently-abled citizens in the on-going effort to build a Community for all.

52 sport

WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Massive turnout expected GLTA hosts for “Drag Warz 2” successful tennis...

By Akeem Greene

from page 51

T

he smoke and tyre burn will return to the tracks at the South Dakota Circuit come October 2 for the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC) International Meet “Drag Warz 2” and President of the GMR&SC Raj Boodhoo is expecting a massive crowd turnout.

Speaking with Guyana Times International Sport Boodhoo said, “The stage is set for a massage turnout, we won in Guyana when the Surinamese came and we went over to Suriname and won three of the major titles and now we are here; for sure we will have fantastic racing”.

Boodhoo, who himself is an avid drag racing fan revealed that preparations are in top gear for this meet and more so, they will be improved seating arrangements for the spectators.

“We are actually doing pretty good preparing for the drags race, we will have better viewing for spectators by installing mounds”, the GMR&SC President said.

The quarter mile will be a hive of activity once more when local drag racers invade the South Dakota Circuit come October 2 (Marceano Narine Photo)

He added, “Fans follow the drag racing a lot in Guyana, it has its own fans who like the trills of the short races and then there are those who like circuit racing”.

The drag racing phenomenon has gripped the attention of many Guyanese fans and the President wants to increase the amount of meets per year.

“We are hoping we can have three to four drags per year, we are looking to update the track and get a launch pad”, the Boodhoo stated.

Despite the Surinamese will not be venturing to these shores

for this meet, Boodhoo posited that “the local racers are still hyped and eager to showcase the capability of their machines”.

The Daby siblings Rondel and Peter, Sanjay Persaud, Anand Ramchand and Shawn Persaud will be among the competitors aiming to walk away with bragging rights for the season-end meet.

In May, at South Dakota, Azurdeen Mohammed stole the show in his “Godzilla” Nissan Skyline GTR. Mohamed recorded the fastest time of the day, dipping below the nine second barrier in the

A-class unlimited category.

Among the categories to be contested on the quarter-mile strip are the F Class – 14 Seconds Bracket, E Class – 13 Seconds Bracket, D Class – 12 Seconds Bracket, C Class – 11 Seconds Bracket, B Class – 10 Seconds Bracket, A Class – 9 and 8 Seconds Bracket. The Porta Tree Timing System which is equipped with specialized starting lights and allows quarter mile speeds to be recorded will be used during the day’s proceedings.

tive, Heathcliff Peters, fourteen teachers from the primary and secondary level attended the workshop which was fruitful and worthwhile.

“There they learnt both the theory and practical facets of the game.”

Peters said the knowledge that the teachers would have gained from the program it is expected that they would return to their schools and implement the basic so the children would be ready for competition in November.

Meanwhile, Grace McCalman former GLTA President and current chairman of junior development participation, said it was a successful event. “It was a successful event, the teachers who attended were excited to start mini tennis again knowing that New Amsterdam is known for producing some of Guyana’s

top tennis players like, Carol Humprey, who was the ladies champion, Godfrey Lowden, Reigning men’s over 35 champion and six time men’s double champion Jason Andrews.”

According to McCalman it is just the first of many such teachers’ workshop across the nation as GLTA seeks to once again expand its grassroots program for children 7-10 and for national school’s championship.

The GLTA’s main objective is to introduce tennis to children 7-10yrs old in school in a dynamic and fun learning environment while developing good technique and to organize competitions for identification of talent.

Saturday’s program was facilitated by Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan, National Junior Tennis Coordinator. At the end of it the teachers were handed certificate for their participation.

Russell anti-doping hearing pushed to September 28

A

Andre Russell

ndre Russell's anti-doping hearing, looking into the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission's (JADCO) claim that the West Indies allrounder had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, resulting in a whereabouts-clause violation, has been adjourned to September 28.

According to the WADA code, three missed tests amount to a failed dope test and the athlete could face a ban of up to two years. Russell was present at the hearing in Kingston, having skipped the three-T20I series against Pakistan in the UAE, citing "personal reasons".

On September 19, Russell's lawyer, Patrick Forster, argued in front of the independent anti-doping disciplinary commission that the burden of proof was on JADCO to show Russell was negligent in fulfilling his whereaboutsclause obligations on January 1, July 1 and July 25, 2015, when he was supposed to undergo out-of-competition dope tests.

"The thrust of our case is that the doping authority, JADCO, must prove negligence that has to emerge in the

context of the evidence as it is given, so that is, essentially, our position. The burden of proof is on JADCO," Forster told the Jamaica Gleaner. "I don't want to comment too much on the details of the evidence in the midst of cross-examining the witness, but a good portion of the cross-examination relates to the July to September quarter, where JADCO recorded two filing failures, so in cross-examination, I am just questioning the basis which they arrived at two filing failures for the same quarter."

After preliminary hearings in late July, the independent panel comprising Hugh Faulkner (chairman), Dr Marjorie Vassell, and former Jamaica cricketer Dixeth Palmer, was supposed to carry out a two-day hearing starting Monday. However, it was curtailed because a second key witness, Carey Brown, the JADCO's executive director, could not be present as he was recovering from an accident.

Monday's hearing began with JADCO's legal counsel, attorney Lackston Johnson, explaining to the panel how Russell had failed to respond despite being sent reminders three times.

Forster cross-examined the first witness Nadia Vassell, the whereabouts officer and director of technical services at JADCO. According to the Jamaica Observer, Vassell told Forster that a first reminder was sent to Russell through a letter on July 6, 2015. An extension was given to Russell to file his whereabouts by July 13, 2015. On July 20, Vassell sent another email to Russell asking him to file his whereabouts by July 24.

According to the Observer the panel was likely to dispose of the case by October 7. (ESPNcricinfo)

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