Guyana Times - 17 November, 2018

American Airlines will boost P12 Guyana’s tourism – GCAA Director

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Issue No. 3749

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Parliamentary sitting cancelled without notice Page 3

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

3 Berbicians P11 robbed after arriving from US

Businesses P13 support local content policy – GMSA President …Govt claims it needed more time to contemplate no-confidence motion

LGE 2018 voter turnout only 36% – GECOM …data shows PPP wins majority of Buxton/Foulis NDC US Ambassador to Guyana bids farewell

…says they “could be vulnerable” during oil exploration

Region 2 RDC calls for audit of Essequibo Night funds P9

CH&PA ups service with GIS, drone imagery P11

A farewell toast: American Ambassador Perry Holloway and wife, Rosaura Holloway, share a farewell toast with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, his wife Sita Nagamootoo; Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge; and US Deputy Chief of Mission, Terry Steers-Gonzales on Friday evening. Holloway is also retiring, having served almost 30 years with the US State Department (Dexter Ceres photo)

Communities Minister blamed for low voter turnout GPA blasts APNU/AFC for condoning disrespect at press conferences Page 7

NA HospitalPage 7 CEO on leave after serving 1 day on job

Page 10

$28.8M nursery school for P15 Schoonord, La Parfaite Harmonie

Injured woman in Fly Jamaica crash-landing dies P11

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news

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Saturday, November 17 – five-hour retraction from 22:00h-03:00h and Sunday, November 18 – a night retraction from 01:30h and a day retraction from 13:30h-15:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Saturday, November 17 – 12:10h-13:40h and Sunday, November 18 – 13:00h-14:30h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Thundery showers are expected throughout most of the day, followed by light cloudy skies in the later afternoon hours. Light cloudy skies with light rain showers are expected in the evening, with temperatures ranging between 22 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Ranging from Easterly to East North-easterly and North-easterly between 2.23 metres and 4.91 metres.

High Tide: 12:10h reaching a maximum height of 2.16 metres.

Low Tide: 05:31h and 18:06h reaching minimum heights of 1.04 metres and 1.08 metres respectively.

Parliamentary sitting cancelled without notice …Govt claims it needed more time to contemplate no-confidence motion

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ne day after the Opposition – Peoples Progressive Party – filed a no-confidence motion against the Government, the 99th Sitting of the National Assembly was on Friday cancelled without notice.

Opposition Members of Parliament, who turned up at the National Assembly on Friday were shocked to be greeted with an empty chamber. Government MPs had not shown up, and Opposition MPs were informed that the sitting was postponed.

When questioned, Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, related that Government had requested the postponement.

The request, he said, was filtered through Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr

the National Assembly has meanwhile been rescheduled for Monday.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had announced the no-confidence motion during a press briefing on Thursday. At the half-empty Parliament Chambers, the Opposition Leader reiterated some of his expectations regarding the motion.

“We have already succeeded, by filing this motion and getting this Government to sit up and notice these issues we are dissatisfied with. And we believe this will force them, if the PPP fails to secure the majority in the House, to take cognisance of the reasons why we are filing the no-confidence motion; and it will force them to bring a better bud-

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs

es, and reverse the increases in land fees for the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) farmers -- increases the farmers have still been unable to meet.

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Opposition MPs in the Parliament Chambers on Friday

Barton Scotland.

Asked if a reason for the request had been proffered, he noted that this was not the case. It was, however, subsequently revealed that the postponement was requested so that Government MPs could have been briefed on the no-confidence motion filed by the PPP. In fact, the Government’s side had gathered on Friday afternoon for a meeting chaired by Prime Minister and Acting President, Moses Nagamootoo, to discuss the move. The sitting of

get.

“We’d like to see the restoration of the children’s grant. The same money they’ve increased food in Government by, they can give the children the $10,000 grant. It’s a matter of priorities. They should restore water subsidies for pensioners.

Reverse the VAT on electricity, water, medical supplies, food, and machinery,” he adumbrated.

Jagdeo noted that some other measures he wants the Government to take are to reduce excise tax-

2014

When it comes to justification for the no- confidence motion, the former President noted, the parliamentary Opposition have even more reasons to bring the motion than the then Opposition had in 2014.

Jagdeo noted that constitutional agencies have highlighted the very discrepancies they will hold the Government to account for.

“Unlike the allegations of the past, when the PPP was there, we have had constitutional bodies pronouncing on

the corruption. The Public Procurement Commission has pronounced on the ANSA McAL contract,” he said.

“They’ve done so with the Demerara Harbour Bridge, the feasibility study. The Auditor General has made it clear that money is missing from the D’Urban Park project…the ‘bonds gate’ scandal. These are documented cases,” Jagdeo stressed.

Guyana Times contacted Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, to garner more insight into the processes regarding the hearing of such a motion. The PPP executive explained that there are no definitive timelines for the no-confidence motion to be heard in the National Assembly. However, she noted that Government hearing the matter before the presentation of the 2019 Budget is a matter of parliamentary ethics.

“Unlike normal motions that have a 12-day [timeline] for the Opposition, no-confidence motions are not governed by that. So the normal principle is that the Government would allow for it to be heard as early as possible,” Teixeira pointed out.

Though the Clerk of the National Assembly has certain powers over the business of the National Assembly, Guyana Times understands that the final decision on hearing the motion does not rest with him.

The Budget should be presented on November 26, and according to Teixeira, it should be heard before that presentation.

“The Government should accede to it being debated relatively early. Certainly on a moral and ethically issue, it should be debated before we go to the Budget, because if you have a no-confidence motion and your budget is being presented, it should be heard before the Budget,” the Opposition Chief Whip posited.

The PPP/C currently holds 32 seats in the National Assembly, while the APNU/AFC coalition Government hold 33 seats.

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018

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

Alcoholism

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he issue of alcohol and the massive damaging effects it is having on individuals and communities has once again been brought to the fore. It was reported in the media that, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), alcohol kills a whopping three million people worldwide each year — more than AIDS, violence and road accidents combined. It was stated that men are particularly at risk.

WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health 2018, published recently, presents a comprehensive picture of alcohol consumption and the disease burden attributable to alcohol worldwide. It also describes what countries are doing to reduce this burden. And for those that are lagging, it explains what could be done to discourage the use of alcohol and possibly reduce the huge negative impact it is having on countries.

According to the WHO, alcohol causes more than one in 20 deaths globally each year, including drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse and a multitude of diseases and disorders. Men account for more than three quarters of alcohol-related deaths.

The report explains that alcohol drinking is linked to more than 200 health conditions, including liver cirrhosis and some cancers. Alcohol abuse also makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia.

For young people, the numbers are even more alarming, with a full 13.5 per cent of all deaths among 20-29-yearolds considered to be alcohol-related, the study found. In comparison, HIV/AIDS was responsible for 1.8 per cent of global deaths in 2016, road injuries accounted for 2.5 per cent and violence for 0.8 per cent. Globally, an estimated 237 million men and 46 million women suffer from alcohol use disorders, WHO said.

Here in Guyana, there are many social ills affecting citizens, and alcohol abuse is seen one of the contributing factors. According to the WHO, the alcohol death rate for Guyana is 5.95 per 100,000 (globally ranked 70). This is still quite high and urgent action must be taken to further reduce this figure.

Due to poor lifestyle choices such as; alcohol abuse, tobacco use, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity, NCDs have resulted in large numbers of our young people dying. Another significant number have also fallen ill and therefore cannot contribute to their families or the development of their communities in any way.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted in the media as saying that far too many people, their families and communities suffer the consequences of the harmful use of alcohol through violence, injuries, mental health problems and diseases like cancer and stroke.

According to The Caribbean Voice, an organisation that has been engaged in research etc in this field, alcohol is a trigger for abuse, especially gender based, child and sexual abuse. It explains that some abusers rely on substance use (and abuse) as an excuse for becoming violent – alcohol allows the abuser to justify his abusive behaviour as a result of the alcohol. Alcohol affects the user’s ability to perceive, integrate and process information. Further, the organisation points to other substantial costs to society include property damage, job loss and health service costs.

WHO is urging countries to do more to counter harmful drinking and to reach a goal of cutting global consumption by 10 percent between 2010 and 2025. It is also urging countries to tax alcohol and ban advertising of such beverages to reduce consumption. However, this is not enough, there is need to push for a change in attitude and lifestyle changes in general, especially amongst the younger segment of our population.

While the Government must play a crucial role in designing the relevant programmes and policies and putting in place the necessary legislative framework and other support mechanisms aimed at addressing the harmful use of alcohol, this burden must also be shared by other stakeholders too; such as religious groups, the private sector and other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) etc.

It is hoped that the Government here, international development partners and other stakeholders will use this most recent WHO report on alcohol as a wakeup call to take urgent action aimed at addressing the harmful use of alcohol in this country.

A traditional dancer from the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea waits for Chinese President Xi Jinping to arrive ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (Reuters)

Khashoggi family receives condolences after Riyadh proffers murder culprits

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ourners paid their respects on Friday to the family of Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi writer murdered by agents of his own Government, after the authorities said they had identified the culprits and cleared the crown prince of any involvement.

Two of Khashoggi's brothers and one of his sons received a few hundred men in the coastal city of Jeddah a day after the Saudi public prosecutor said it would seek the death penalty for five unnamed suspects in the killing inside the country's Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018.

Earlier on Friday, tens of thousands of worshippers prayed for the deceased in Mecca and Medina, Khashoggi's hometown, though the imams did not name him.

In rainy Istanbul, mourners listened to Koranic recitations. Friends eulogised the 59-year-old royal insider-turned-critic, and politicians who knew him denounced Riyadh's investigation as biased.

Saudi authorities say the operation that led to Khashoggi's death was meant to repatriate him alive, but their shifting accounts – including initial denials – have been met with scepticism and furore abroad.

Two officials allegedly behind the plan are close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkey and some Western allies, including US President Donald Trump, have said ultimate responsibility lies with Prince Mohammed as the country's de facto ruler.

People attend a prayer for the murdered Saudi journalist at the Fatih mosque in Istanbul

Riyadh says he had nothing to do with the murder.

In an unusual measure against an important security and economic partner, the US Treasury on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudis, including Saud al-Qahtani, the crown prince's former top adviser.

The decision to hold prayer services in the absence of a body suggests the family does not expect it to be recovered. Despite entreaties, Saudi authorities have not revealed its whereabouts, saying only that it was dismembered and removed from the consulate.

Islamic tradition places great importance on the proper handling of the dead, mandating quick burial, so the mistreatment of the body is particularly disturbing.

Khashoggi's son, Salah, told CNN last week that he wanted to bury his father in Medina with the rest of the family, saying "We just need to make sure that he rests in peace."

Salah had previously met the king and crown prince in Riyadh to receive condolences, then departed for Washington after a travel ban was lifted but has

since returned.

In the presence of the Lord

The reception attracted a who's who of the country's relatively cosmopolitan Hejaz region, including veteran Saudi journalists and former senior officials who had worked with Khashoggi.

There were several businessmen – like Saleh Kamel and his sons – who had been detained in a corruption purge last year ordered by Prince Mohammed.

Senior US and British diplomats attended. A senior cleric with ministerial rank also came, but no top royals appeared.

Incense filled the hall as mourners paid their respects to the family with a few words and a hand on the shoulder or a hug. A relative recited a Koranic verse saying, "Don't think of those killed in God's service as dead, for they are alive and find sustenance in the presence of the Lord."

Sipping small cups of Arabic coffee, some chatted about the scandal that has engulfed Saudi Arabia for the past six weeks. "It has turned from a crime into a political matter," one said.

Another just kept repeating

the word, "Unbelievable."

Khashoggi's Turkish fiancée, who had waited outside the consulate for hours on the day he was killed, on Thursday tweeted a selfie of him, writing: "Dear Jamal... rest in peace. We will meet in heaven inshallah (God willing)..!"

The pair had met at a conference in Istanbul in May and soon decided to wed. He had entered the consulate that day to obtain documents proving an earlier marriage had ended.

They purchased an apartment in Istanbul and Khashoggi was planning to live between there and Washington, where he moved 18 months earlier fearing reprisals for his views. He obtained US residency and wrote for the Washington Post, becoming familiar to many American policymakers.

"I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison," he wrote in September 2017, referring to intellectuals, activists and clerics arrested under Prince Mohammed.

His murder has provoked the biggest political crisis in a generation for Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a supporter of Washington's plans to contain Iranian influence across the Middle East.

It has also tarnished the image of Prince Mohammed, who has pushed social and economic reforms while cracking down on dissent, upending the delicate balance inside the ruling family, and leading the country into messy conflicts in Yemen and Qatar. (Yahoo! News)

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

The Whim referendum - total rejection, repudiation of Nagamootoo and AFC Dear Editor, Webster's Dictionary has chosen TOXIC as the 2018 Word of the Year.

Local Government Elections (LGE) 2018 dramatically pronounced the AFC and its leaders TOXIC everywhere in Guyana. Not only did the AFC do badly in the overall LGE 2018, they were toxic even in the towns and villages where their leaders were born and grew up. Nowhere were the results more alarming for the AFC than in Region 6, which had become a sort of bastion for the AFC and is the region, where most of the visible leaders of the AFC were born and grew up.

In this region, the AFC secured less than 0.1 per cent of the votes. In Port Mourant, where the AFC had a pocket of support in 2015, they barely secured 0.3 per cent, even less than an independent candidate who beat them in this constituency. In Whim, the AFC and its pompous "elder Statesman", Moses Nagamootoo, was totally rejected and repudiated, just as they were across Guyana.

The AFC made Whim a referendum, insisting that Whim wants the AFC, and not the PPP to represent them. Moses Nagamootoo's vanity transformed the Whim LGE into a referendum for Whim to choose between him and Bharat Jagdeo. Moses went to Whim the night before the election, holding a rally, emphasizing the AFC's claim of supremacy and laying his claim of being Whim's choice, not Bharat Jagdeo. But Whim unequivocally used the power of the X to overwhelmingly reject the AFC and to repudiate Nagamootoo. In stark contrast, Whim showed its unreserved support and love for the PPP and Bharat

Jagdeo.

Nagamootoo descended on Whim on Sunday, November 11, with a convoy of security and assistants, totaling 13 vehicles; spent more than an hour attacking Bharat Jagdeo, Leslie Ramsammy, Zulphikar Mustapha and Dr Ramaya. He listed major achievements of the APNU/ AFC - first "Seeta went to Auchlyne School and the children wanted a water dispenser and Seeta gave them an electric water dispenser with hot and cold water" and, second, "Seeta went to Auchlyne School and the children wanted a copying machine and Seeta gave them a copying machine". Sad, after three and a half years this was the sum total of his Government's achievement, according to Nagamootoo's speech.

Only a raging narcissist would risk his reputation by making any election a referendum on himself. The siren-blazing Prime Minister completely ignored the many things that worry people in Whim and across Guyana.

He ignored the threat of his government for dramatic increases in property taxes, the poor health services, the GPL blackouts, the increasing taxes, the closure of sugar estates and loss of employment, non-payment of severance for sugar workers, the increasing cost of living, spiraling crime, crippling illicit drugs in the communities, etc. He ignored the obnoxious growth of corruption and the rise of dictatorship.

Instead, for Nagamootoo, the most important LGE 2018 issue for Whim and the country was his coronation, over Bharat Jagdeo. His obsession over Jagdeo, his hate for people he deems Jagdeo's acolytes, made him come

to Whim instructing people to use their X to prove he is number 1.

Whim-Bloomfield used the power of their X and unequivocally rejected and repudiated both Nagamootoo and the AFC. It is a total rejection when even the people you claimed signed as backers for your party did not vote for you. None of the individual candidates for the AFC in the various constituencies in WhIm-Bloomfield even garner enough votes to equal the number of backers they needed to become candidates in the elections. The Whim voters proved the police, a Judge and GECOM wrong the AFC did fraudulently use people's names as backers.

The AFC did not win a single constituency or a single PR seat in Whim-Bloomfield.

It was a total annihilation for the AFC and Nagamootoo in Whim. His own relatives and the people he grew up with rejected him.

It is a devastating blow to Nagamootoo. The man who once walked with Cheddi surrendered his advantage of being a home-village hero when he betrayed the people and joined the PNC in fighting Cheddi's party, the PPP. For the people of Whim, Nagamootoo was not a home-village son of renown, but a man who betrayed them, who is a traitor. They saw a man who was only interested in himself, they saw his pomposity and his burning ambition to be President, even if he has to betray them.

Whim nailed the political coffin of Nagamootoo by resoundingly voting against him and the AFC, using their X to serenade the PPP and Jagdeo.

Sincerely, Zulfikar Mustapha

AFC and the ‘fisherman’s wife’ tale Dear Editor, As a child I was extremely fond of reading fairy tales, especially those by Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm, but I learnt a lot from the theme of such stories. One such story is the ‘Fisherman and His Wife’. The theme of "The Fisherman and his wife", is to not be greedy and be happy if you get rewarded in any way for a good deed. The ‘fisher man and his wife’ tells us about when the fisher man went out to catch some fish but caught a prince fish. He was granted some wishes which made him extremely wealthy, but his wife was not satisfied and wanted Divine qualities. This made the fish angry and they were once again cast into their poverty-stricken days. The tale of the Alliance for Change makes me vividly recall this story!

The Cummingsburg Accord signed on Lover’s Day 2015, gave the Alliance for Change 40 per cent of the number of seats in Parliament and ministries in government. It was seen that just one month after assuming office in 2015 the AFC wanted to re-examine the Accord and as Moses Nagamootoo had suggested, ‘the accord itself is not something that is cast in stone.

Things are going to be dynamic as we go along, and we will have to look at the dynamics of the situation’. However, the Accord was indeed ‘cast in stone’ since from that date until now it has remained inviolable even though Moses never chaired Cabinet. It was also seen that despite the fact that the AFC received the 40 per cent share, it was devoid of any real power since their ministers became mere figureheads or constitutional ‘nobodies’! They only agree or disagree as the situation demands. This may have been the primary reason why the AFC feels that they should be getting more than 40 per cent

Investigation should be carried out on issues at GECOM Dear Editor, Well folks, at last we managed to have a meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission after last Tuesday’s statutory meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. Commissioners Alexander and Corbin were both unavailable, so the Chairman invoked Article 226 (5) of the Constitution, which provides for the meeting to be held on the Thursday following the adjourned Tuesday meeting, and for decisions to be made with or without a quorum.

This week, however, there was a quorum, with only Commissioner Alexander being absent, so the meeting was finally held after a hiatus of two weeks, during which there was D-day and E-day, a very packed two weeks for GECOM. One would then expect that there would be full reports of the activities of the last two weeks, but with GECOM, expectations are not always, in fact, met.

What we were able to get after much to-ing and fro-ing,

was, what the CEO calls the Preliminary results of the Local Government Elections, for all 80 Local Authority Areas. The CEO admitted that all 80 Returning Officers had made their declarations of the results of all the individual elections, and these were put on a broadsheet by the secretariat. My argument, was that the results having been declared by the Returning Officers had to be final, not preliminary, but that was still not admitted by the CEO. Nevertheless, each Commissioner was given a hard copy of the ‘preliminary’ results as compiled by GECOM’s secretariat. I was assured that the RO of the Municipality of Mabaruma had made his declaration of the results, contrary to what was reported in the press.

I also raised the issue that a person named Gavin Sparman of the APNU, had been declared the winner of a constituency in the La Grange-Nismes NDC, and that I had been given information that the said Gavin Sparman was closely related

to Andrea Sparman, who was GECOM’s Supervisor for the said LAA. I asked the CEO if he was aware, and pointed out that if the information was true, the Supervisor should have been re-assigned to another district. The CEO did not admit or deny knowledge of such a relationship, but Commissioner Desmond Corbin was of the opinion that the supervisor had nothing to do with the actual running of the elections, and since the RO was the person in charge, there was no conflict to be avoided! I asked that his comments be put in full and kept for future reference, for an occasion when the shoe is on another foot!

Commissioner Trotman’s remarks were centered around an issue with tally sheets, which was resolved by the Operations Subcommittee, of which he is a member but seems to want a Commission of Inquiry into the work of the IT department and its Manager. I myself, like Commissioners Sase Gunraj, Charles Corbin and Robeson Benn, agreed that an inves-

tigation should be carried out on that as well as many other issues, by the Secretariat and Operations Sub- committee then brought to the full Commission with their recommendations, for discussions and decisions which would help in future conduct of future elections. Commissioner Trotman grudgingly acquiesced, although I got the distinct impression, which I voiced, that he had his heart set on a full-scale Commission of Inquiry, not unlike so many we have had recently, with recommendations for some punitive actions against certain staff members.

The chairman disallowed Commissioner Benn from making any remarks during that agenda item, and again disallowed him from raising his issues under ‘any other business’! The Chairman seems bent on shutting Commissioner Benn up completely!

Sincerely, Bibi S Shadick Commissioner – GECOM

of the spoils and wanted badly to review the Cummingsburg Accord. They wanted real power!

Therefore, the AFC ceaselessly clamored for a review.

In November 2017, they demanded a review by February 14th, 2018, and Granger had agreed to that review.

However, in 2018, the AFC missed its own deadline for the review, and Granger dropped the bombshell on February 15th 2018 that he saw no need to review the Accord. But Granger went further and challenged the AFC to prove their intrinsic value to the Coalition. They were asked to contest the Local Government Elections solo!

The ‘fisherman’s wife’ wanted control. However, this insane obstinacy and greed for absolute power led to the AFC’s downfall, and exposed the fact that they are now ‘dead meat’ and of nominal value to the APNU. The ‘fit and proppa’ hype, the hallucinated and delusional boast, the extravagant waste of State resources, the lies, the deceits and the frauds serve only to expose and confirm the corrupt nature of the Alliance for Change! The voters had the final say on November 12th 2018, and the curse of the ‘fish prince’ was completed.

However, the AFC predicament has now become worse than that of the ‘fisher man’s wife’. They could only eke two seats in the entire Region 6 and one APNU dominated area-New Amsterdam.

Nagamootoo, the man who made four ‘sirened State’ visits to Whim, utilized the Government’s resources for AFC’s campaigning purposes; temporarily transferred his Office at Port Mourant to Whim for two months to whip up support; misled and misused students of Auchlyne Primary School and their par-

ents for electioneering purposes; gave his blessings to the fraud, trickery and deceit unleashed on his ‘own people’ at Whim and the personal attack and framing of a PPP candidate for alleged arson followed by his ‘terrorists’ attacked on the PPP, miserably failed in his bid to have some semblance of relevance in the place where he claimed his ‘navel string juk’. He could only muster one PR seat from the ‘left over’ votes. The man who loves to compare himself with the Biblical Moses was totally rejected by the people of Whim/Bloomfield! He was soundly kicked out of the ‘promised land’!

The same fate was met by his counterpart Khemraj Ramjattan, who made weekly ‘sirened’ trips to his place of birth, bought drinks for his cronies, doled out State resources, made threats of ‘fixing’ PPP supporters and also gave his blessing to the devious and illegal tactics used by the AFC to get backers and to sideline even their own member, resulted in complete rejection by the people. In his now famous parlance, he was told in no uncertain terms to ‘haul his ass’! The entire AFC could only get 944 votes in the whole of Region 6!

I have written extensively on the corruption and cronyism in the AFC since 2011, and I have been ridiculed and was branded a liar and a ‘rogue’ councilor by the AFC. This was followed by an unceremonious expulsion, but I persevered and knew that one day the truth would come to light, and it has.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that, ‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win’.

The curse of the ‘fisherman’s wife’ is now complete!

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

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s a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. When parents and families are involved in their children’s schools, the children do better and have better feelings about going to school. In fact, many studies show that what the family does is more important to a child’s school success than how much money the family makes or how much education the parents have. There are many ways that parents can support their children’s learning at home and throughout the school year.

Here are some ideas to get you started!

Develop a partnership with your child’s teachers and school staff

1. Meet your child’s teacher. As soon as the school year starts, try to find a way to meet your child’s teacher. Let the teacher know you want to help your child learn.

Make it clear that you want the teacher to contact you if any problems develop with your child. Talk with your child’s teacher offers some great tips for developing a partnership with your child’s teacher.

If you feel uncomfortable speaking English, don’t let a language barrier stop you. What you have to say is more important than the language you say it in! Ask the school to find someone who can interpret for you. There may be a teacher or parent liaison who can help. Or you can bring a bilingual friend or relative with you.

2. Get to know who’s who at your child’s school. There are many people at your child’s school who are there to help your child learn, grow socially and emotionally, and navigate the school environment. Each school is different but this article will offer a general introduction to personnel of your child’s school.

3. Attend parent-teacher conferences and keep in touch with your child’s teacher.

Schools usually have one or two parentteacher conferences each year. You can bring a friend to interpret for you or ask the school to provide an interpreter. You can also ask to meet with your child’s teacher any time during the year. If you have a concern and can’t meet face-to-face, send the teacher a short note or set up a time to talk on the phone.

Support your child academically

4. Find out how your child is doing. Ask the teacher how well your child is doing in

Foundation class compared to other students. If your child is not keeping up, especially when it comes to reading, ask what you or the school can do to help. It’s important to act early before your child gets too far behind.

Also be sure to review your child’s report card each time it comes out.

5. Apply for special services if you think your child may need it. If your child is having problems with learning, ask the school to evaluate your child in his or her strongest language. The teacher might be able to provide accommodations for your child in class. If the school finds out your child has a learning disability, he can receive extra help

can help by showing that you are interested, helping your child get organised, providing the necessary materials, asking your child about daily assignments, monitoring work to make sure that it is completed, and praising all of your child’s efforts. Remember that doing your child’s homework for him won’t help him in the long run.

7. Find homework help for your child if needed. If it is difficult for you to help your child with homework or school projects, see if you can find someone else who can help.

Contact the school, tutoring groups, after school programmes, churches, and libraries.

Or see if an older student, neighbour, or friend can help.

8. Help your child prepare for tests.

Tests play an important role in determining a student’s grade. Your child may also take one or more standardized tests during the school year, and your child’s teacher may spend class time on test preparation throughout the year. As a parent, there are a number of ways that you can support your child before and after taking a standardised test, as well as a number of ways you can support your child’s learning habits on a daily basis that will help her be more prepared when it’s time to be tested.

Get involved with your child’s school

at no cost.

6. Make sure that your child gets homework done. Let your child know that you think education is important and that homework needs to be done each day. You can help your child with homework by setting aside a special place to study, establishing a regular time for homework, and removing distractions such as the television and social phone calls during homework time.

If you are reluctant to help your child with homework because you feel that you don’t know the subject well enough or because you don’t speak or read English, you

9. Learn what the school offers. Read the information the school sends home, and ask to receive information in your native language if necessary. Talk to other parents to find out what programmes the school offers. Maybe there’s a music programme, after-school activity, sports team, or tutoring programme your child would enjoy. Remember to keep track of events throughout the school year.

10. Volunteer at your child’s school and/ or join your school’s parent-teacher group.

Teachers appreciate it when parents help out at the school! There are many ways you can contribute. You can volunteer in your child’s class or in the school library. You can make food for a school event. If you work during the day, you can attend “parents’ night” activities or your child’s performances. At most schools, a group of parents meets regularly to talk about the school. This group is usually called the PTA or PTO. The meetings give you a good chance to talk with other parents and to work together to improve the school. (www.colorincolorado.org) TO BE CONTINUED

Continued from Friday

By Brian D Johnson, PhD, and Laurie Berdahl, MD

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en tips to help your children avoid perfectionism or challenge it when it rears its ugly head: Even if you don’t suspect the problem, talk about the pitfalls of perfectionism. You could say, “No one is perfect and achieves everything they want, and trying to be perfect is exhausting, feels bad, and makes it harder to do things well. Some people only feel good about themselves when they do things very well, but that isn’t healthy. How well you perform doesn’t affect how good a person or how valuable you are.” You can use real-life examples to kick off the conversation, such as when a sports figure plays poorly, or a show character makes a regrettable mistake.

Let children achieve through their own efforts as long as it is good enough, even if they could have done better with your help.

Keep your expectations realistic and focused on their character, work effort, and coping skills.

Let kids make mistakes and learn from them, instead of attempting to prevent mistakes by sheltering and doing things they should be doing themselves.

After you make a mistake, share it along with what you’ll do differently next time to avoid making the same mistake again. Own your mistake by not blaming others, but learning from it and moving on instead of wallowing in it. You can say, “Everyone makes mistakes and it doesn’t change how I feel about myself. I’m still learning, which is smart.”

When kids experience disappointment, failure, or make a mistake, observe their responses and challenge overreactions. Say, “Making a mistake (or losing) doesn’t make you stupid or worthless. That’s an exaggeration that isn’t helpful.” Guide them to change approaches for better results as needed.

If they seek activity recognition with awards, lead parts, and officer positions, ask how your kids’ feel about these achievements (or lack of), what it costs them, and what they gain from them.

Regardless of achievement level, don’t be fooled by smiling faces—ask your kids about pressures they and other kids face today and how they cope. Be on the lookout for signs of struggle and talk often if they say they are just fine and don’t have any pressures or problems—it’s tough growing up in our broken world, especially with today’s unlimited media access.

Praise children for who they are and what they are doing to become good people more than their achievements. Praise them just for being yours, not for what they do (“I’m so lucky I have you in my life”). Praise effort, persistence, learning, and enjoyment more than achievements. Compliment when they admit and learn from mistakes, are kind, talk about feelings, share disappointments, show self-compassion (talk nicely to themselves and about themselves like they would to a friend), support other people’s desires ahead of their own, set goals and work toward them, and seem okay with not being perfect, but good enough.

Show them “good enough” acceptance of yourself. No one is perfect and that is perfectly OK. One doesn’t need to get what they want or be brilliant, excellent, or beautiful to be happy.

Achievements can lead to temporary pleasure, but perfectionists aren’t happy for long as they continue struggling to be best at most everything they try or for the next win. So we can also help by letting kids watch how we treat non-achievement-oriented things linked to lasting happiness as most valued in life, such as fulfilling relationships, doing things we love, having fun, working in healthy ways toward goals, being spiritual, taking care of ourselves, and helping others. (Excerpt from psychologytoday.com)

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Communities Minister blamed for low voter turnout …GECOM says more rigid voter education initiative needed

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hief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield on Friday said that the Communities Ministry must take the blame for the low voters turn out at the recently concluded Local Government Elections.

Lowenfield at a press briefing said that Communities Ministry shares responsibility for voter education. His comments came minutes after the Guyana

Elections Commission announced that the LGE 2018 save a 36 per cent voters turn out.

Besides the Ministry, Lowenfield said the political parties and candidates had a role to play in making sure that the voters were properly educated on the elections.

“The constitution says we are responsible for the conduct of elections,” he said. “There is another de-

NA Hospital CEO on leave after serving 1 day on job

Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, Dr Samantha Kennedy

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r Samantha Kennedy has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Amsterdam Hospital, but after serving in that capacity for only one day, she has proceeded on annual leave.

Then CEO of the Hospital, Colin Bynoe, had proceeded on leave due to him in July, but when he returned at the end of September, the Ministry did not renew his contract.

From the time Bynoe had proceeded on annual leave, Focal Point Advisor to the Public Health Minister, Alex Foster, had been overseeing the daily operations of the New Amsterdam Hospital, but Dr Kennedy was appointed CEO with effect from November 5.

The announcement was made at a press conference two Mondays ago, but Dr Kennedy was not present at that media engagement.

Chairman of the Regional Health Committee, Zamal Hussain, says the situation is worrying.

“We are very upset because the services to the people of Region Six, and moreso the people of New Amsterdam, (are) not being given, because there is so much of deficiency in the health sector, especially at the New Amsterdam Hospital; and if the CEO is not there, then the burden goes down to the Medical Superintendent, who should be focusing on the doctors and patients,”

Hussain explained.

Dr Kennedy initially worked with the New Amsterdam Hospital, but left to take up an appointment as an advisor to Minister within the Public Health Ministry, Dr Karen Cummings.

After her three-year stint as a medical practitioner at the New Amsterdam Hospital, she worked at the Georgetown Hospital for three years before becoming the technical advisor to the Minister. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Warden University.

According to Hussain, it is an injustice to the institution to grant her leave only days after her appointment.

“It is an injustice to the institution, because we were looking forward for her to do the day-to-day running of the hospital,” he said.

At the last Region Six Council meeting, the issue of the appointment of a CEO for the New Amsterdam Hospital was raised. It was highlighted that the institution needs proper day-today management.

As head of the Region Six Health Committee, Hussain is urging the Public Health Minister to pay attention to the New Amsterdam Hospital. He says it is incumbent on the Director of Regional Health Services to ensure that anyone who is appointed to serve in the sector be on duty.

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan

partment of government that is responsible for local government administration. And I think the education starts there, no

doubt an all-round year process to keep the electorate offay with what is local government and what it offers,” he said.

Meanwhile, also on Friday, during a joint press conference hosted by APNU and AFC components of the Government, both factions defended Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan.

The Government officials lashed back at GECOM claiming that the low turnout at the polls was as a result of LGE not being held in years under the previous administration.

Saying that Government is cognisant of the low voter turnout at the recent polls this year, Social Protection Minister Amna Ally ex-

plained that the administration is now seeking to re-educate citizens on the process, as they were not part of LGE for 22 years.

“This coalition Government reintroduced it (LGE) in 2016.

The people of this country have not yet grown accustomed to Local Government Elections.

It is a hard task for us, because it’s not…it’s a long time, 22 years versus three years to break in to the electorate (the fact) that this local democracy will benefit them,” Ally stated.

Ally further argued that no blame should be cast on Minister Bulkhan, as the Government “did what they had to do” in regard to voter education across

Guyana.

According to her, the Minister did not need to go to the various Local Authority Areas (LAAs), as a number of persons were trained to spread the message on LGE. Infrastructure Minister David Patterson also defended his colleague by saying that voters’ education was an “ongoing process”.

He added that voters’ education is not the responsibility of one ministry.

The last LGE was held in 2016, when a 47 per cent voter turnout was recorded. This year’s LGE saw a mere 36 per cent documented attendance.

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Narco charge lands shopkeeper on remand

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shop owner of Lot ‘E’ Hardina Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown was on Friday hauled before the courts after she was allegedly busted with a quantity of cannabis in her possession.

Roslyn Barclay appeared

before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where she was required to plead to the charge.

Barclay denied the charge, which alleged that on November 15, 2018 at her Lot ‘E’ Hardina Street,

Wortmanville home, she had in her possession 650 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

According to the facts presented by Police Prosecutor Richard Harris, a search was conducted at the defendant’s home and shop, when

a black plastic bag containing the drugs was unearthed from a heap of wood within the yard. The defendant was later arrested and charged.

Magistrate Daly remanded Barclay to prison.

The case will continue on December 14.

Accused battery thief on $40,000 bail

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31-year-old labourer of Lot 56 Norton Street, Georgetown on Friday found himself before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly after being accused of committing simple

larceny.

Kevin McLean appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and denied the charge, which stated that on November 13, 2018 at Camp Street,

South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, he stole two canter batteries valued $60,000, property of Clifton Douglas.

Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones made no objection to

bail being granted to the defendant.

Magistrate Daly placed McLean on $40,000 bail.

The case will continue on December 14.

Linden woman slapped with fraud charge

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41-year-old Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) woman was slapped with fraud and damage to property charges before being taken to the Linden Magistrate’s Court.

Latoya Light of 36 Stewart Path,

Christianburg, Wismar, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman on charges which stated that she obtained two payments of $40,000 from Denny Neblet in October 2018 by pretending that she was in a position to sell a plot of land to him.

The second charge stated that she damaged the VC's chain-link fence valued $5000. However, the self-employed single mother denied the charges. She was represented by Attorney Leslyn Charles, who made an application for reasonable bail. The Attorney not-

ed that her client has been cooperating with the Police since the charges were instituted. The Magistrate set bail for the charge of damage to property in the sum of $20,000 and on obtaining monies under false pretense to $40,000. The cases will continue on December 19.

Rattling…

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…the APNU/AFC coalition he way they jumped for cover, Opposition Leader Bharat Jagdeo might as well have lobbed a grenade amongst the members of the PNC-led APNU/AFC coalition when he lodged a motion of “no confidence” against them. Or did he let loose a cat amongst the government’s plump pigeons? Jagdeo’s press Conference to announce his intention had barely finished when “the leaders of the coalition” – as described by the state’s Chronic – huddled in one of their private houses.

But while the Chronic took pains to give all the attendees, who “affirmed their unity”, their full party and Governmental titles - Carl Greenidge and Khemraj Ramjattan, Volda Lawrence, PNCR, Amna Ally, Joseph Harmon and David Patterson, Moses Nagamootoo, who was also present, was only described as “Prime Minister”, and not “Acting President”.

Now this is very significant. It shows clearly that even at a moment of crisis for their survival as a government, the PNC top guns are unwilling to concede any “primus inter pares” – first among equals – to Nagamootoo. But while the President is out of the jurisdiction – and it’s now clear he will unfortunately be out for some time – Nagamootoo IS President (ag). There’s no ifs or buts about this – and it’s not just because of the increased number of outriders he’s been tooling around Georgetown with!

It’s covered by the Constitution in Article 96!!

This fact, of course, is very crucial in the upcoming “no confidence” vote, since if the PNC hierarchy keeps dissing Nagamootoo, he might just insist he’s PRESIDENT and not to show up to give his “aye” in the National Assembly! After all, he can’t stage a State House putsch by firing the Cabinet or appoint a new due to Article 96 (2) forbidding this move, so an abstention might be the best way for PNCites not recognising his importance!

But your Eyewitness doesn’t think Jagdeo laid the no-confidence motion on a wing and a prayer or Nagamootoo’s petulance – that not his style. It’s clear to yours truly that the overwhelming support for the PPP at the LGE must’ve made several coalition MP’s fearful of their future after 2020, and signalled to the Opposition Leader that they’re willing to fall sick on the day of the critical vote! They can also abstain during the vote since the Representative of the List – by the Recall Legislation of 2007 – would’ve had to know who’d be “finking” and submit the recall notice IN WRITING to the Speaker!

The bottom line, dear readers, is we are living in very interesting times. It’ll be poetic justice for Nagamootoo who moved the no confidence motion against the PPP in 2015.

He’ll now lose his “Presidency” by the same route!! …Pandora’s Box There was an interesting reaction by the Guyana Transgender Union (GTU) – NOT to be confused with the GTU that’s the acronym of the Guyana Teachers Union - to the CCJ’s ruling that Guyana’s Cross-Dressing laws have to be struck down. To prevent confusion, your Eyewitness will refer to the former as GTU2. Anyhow, the Director of GTU2 interestingly made what has to be a Freudian slip when she declared: “What it (the CCJ’s ruling) means for us is a Pandora box has just been opened”.

Your Eyewitness would’ve thought this would be the reaction of all those rabid homophobic fundamentalists out there who see the ruling as the return of Sodom and Gomorrah! After all, the phrase “to open Pandora’s box” nowadays means, according to Wiki, “Any source of great and unexpected troubles", or alternatively "A present which seems valuable but which in reality is a curse".

But not to worry. If those T20 women could wear the same uniform as the men, why can’t some biological “men” wear the same outfits as women tennis players?

It’s a brave new world! …the shakedown box The government claims the police are investigating the firemen who looted the Air Jamaica crashed jet’s passengers’ luggage.

Isn’t this having the cat investigating the mice who ate the cheese?

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

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saturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

APNU/AFC says “bring it on” to no-confidence motion

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he A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government on Friday said it is ready to challenge the no-confidence motion that was filed against them by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

The statement was made at a joint press conference held at Congress Place, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

Chairperson of APNU and Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence said the Government is not scared of the motion. Her sentiments were endorsed by the acting President and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo.

“There will be no surrender,” he said, while explaining that the Speaker of the National Assembly will be required to rule on the admissibility of the motion at a time where budgetary talks will be in progress.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge also chimed in on the matter, noting that the no-confidence motion filed by the Opposition, “Is trying to take advantage of a situation.”

The Government currently occupies 33 seats in Parliament while the Opposition has 32. For the no-confidence motion to be

Members of the head table at Friday’s press conference

effective against the coalition party, one vote is required for the motion to pass.

The acting President has made it clear that the minority should not assume that it will be successful in this move, as the Members of Parliament will not “sell out”.

He further pointed out that although he is functioning as the President, he will be allowed to vote in Parliament as he was an elected parliamentarian and it remains his constitutional right.

Motion

The Opposition Leader on Thursday announced that the Party will file a no-confidence motion against the ruling Administration.

The former President listed several things to sup-

port this contention, including the loss of 30,000 jobs; the decimation of the sugar sector; massive increases in the cost of living; and the imposition of hardships on the Guyanese people, via Government policies, such as $60 billion in increased taxes per annum.

The hiding of the US$18 million signing bonus from ExxonMobil in a separate account, when the monies should have been transferred into the Consolidated Fund, was another example cited.

In August 2014, then AFC parliamentarian, Moses Nagamootoo, had filed a no-confidence motion against the PPP/Civic Government, led by then President Donald Ramotar.

Parliament was then prorogued, and Guyana headed into snap elections.

Region 2 RDC calls for audit of Essequibo Night funds

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he Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) is calling for an audit of funds garnered from the Essequibo Night Agricultural Exhibition.

According to Regional Chairman Davanand Ramdatt, who chairs the RDC, he had written Regional Executive Officer (REO) Rupert Hopkinson on the matter, seeking a report on the last Essequibo Night

funds, but has not received any acknowledgement of the correspondence.

This has led to councillors of the RDC demanding an urgent audit of the funds, since, according to them, the monies are being misused.

Ramdatt, on Friday, said that at the 2019 Regional Budget Consultations, residents requested to have a cultural centre and a gymnasium built in the region, and that monies coming out of Essequibo Night can be used

to facilitate the people's request. He said a preliminary examination of the RDC economic accounts reveals the misuse of funds and several cases of financial malpractice. He also said the RDC strongly condemns the abuse of public funds and lavish spending on parks which are not utilised. He added that the matter will be closely examined and forwarded to the relevant ministries and the Auditor General for their attention.

Jagdeo explained that the APNU and AFC had proffered several reasons for their move to file a no-confidence motion against the then PPP/C Government.

Among them were the restoration of monies cut from the budget for the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF), hinterland airports, the University of Guyana student loan programme, vouchers for public school students, and the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project.

Another reason was the non-transfer of monies to the Consolidated Fund, which was held, legally, by semi-autonomous agencies.

A third claim was a procedural breach in the $4 billion transferred to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the allegation of corruption. “They have not proven any of these issues so far,” he said.

Jagdeo charged that the country is “drifting” be-

cause of a lack of vision of the APNU/AFC coalition Government. According to him, the no-confidence motion is intended to protect Guyanese and Guyana from

the excessive borrowing, taxing and wasteful spending of the current Administration.

According to the Opposition Leader, the results of the 2018 LGEs sent a clear message to the coalition Government, relative to the dissatisfaction of Guyanese with the policies of the coalition Government.

He added that a no-confidence motion reinforces this message. “We will have a chance to say to them that their policies are wrong… they are damaging prospects for the future and the wellbeing of our people,” he said.

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

GPA blasts APNU/AFC for condoning disrespect at press conferences

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oments after attending a press conference hosted by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government on Friday, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) called out the administration for condoning disrespect meted out to members of the media.

At that press conference, hosted at Congress Place, Sophia, a number of supporters of the APNU/ AFC Administration were seated, and heckled reporters as the GPA

A section of the APNU/AFC supporters at the press conference

asked questions of members of the head table.

This behaviour was condoned by the Government Parliamentarians, who allowed their supporters to

continue heckling.

Media workers were boldly asked by the supporters there: “What stupid questions are you asking?” and in some cases

were even asked if those were questions. All the while, the Government officials sat quietly without addressing the disrespect.

However, the GPA did

not mince words with the Government when it issued a statement shortly after the press briefing, reminding the Government that media workers have the right to conduct their duties without fear of intimidation. The GPA noted that it would not hesitate to call on media workers and media houses to boycott press events if this “unacceptable behaviour continues.”

“We can only assume that this behaviour is a feature endorsed by the party and its leaders, since it happened during to-

day's (Friday) event with PNC Chairperson Volda Lawrence and senior APNU members and the party's last press conference held by PNC Leader, President David Granger,” the GPA stated. Among the senior Government officials present at the press briefing were Acting President Moses Nagamootoo; Acting Prime Minister Carl Greenidge; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Social Protection Minister Amna Ally, and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.

Code of Practice inked for restaurants …implementation to enable better services for consumers

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he Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) have inked a new agreement which will improve the quality of services that are offered to customers at restaurants.

These entities have stated that Tourism Month 2018 will play a concrete role in the promotion and implementation of the new document, the National Standard for Restaurants: Code of practice for quality and management in the restaurant service.

“Through the implementation of the Standard, it is anticipated that restaurants

and other food establishments would generally improve the quality of service offered to consumers”, they have said.

Additionally, Head of the Marketing and Communication Department of the GNBS, Syeid Ibrahim, highlighted that the GNBS will be embarking on a ‘corporate marketing venture’ with the two partnering organisations to endorse the Standard. According to him, this will be done in a phased manner that would include reviewing the Standard to fill any possible shortfalls and making the Standard available to all sizes and categories of establishment.

Technical support to establishments will also be provided, based on stipulated re-

quirements and evaluation. A certification of compliance will most likely be issued.

Ibrahim admitted that this initiative will take some time for establishments to get accustomed to the required Standards, but he said it is necessary for economic revolution.

President of THAG, Mitra Ramkumar, applauded the GNBS for the new code of practice, and believes that it would yield the level of conformity businesses need in order to offer the best quality of service.

Ramkumar also believes that compliant restaurants would benefit significantly when the oil and gas industry develops further.

Commenting on behalf of the GTA, Licensing and

THAG Director Mitra Ramkumar (second from left) along with representatives of the GNBS and GTA

Training Manager, Davina Layne, specified that having quality tourism offerings is critical for customers to have value for their money.

She said quality is key for any visitor to a food establishment, and having a Standard which was specifically developed to enhance the quality of

services offered by restaurants would give guidance on how they should consistently deliver in terms of experience and products.

“By adapting to best practices and following quality control measures, restaurants will be able to gain customers’ confidence, realise return visits by customers, grow revenues, increase efficiency and productivity, and reduce overhead costs,” she said. The GNBS will be offering the Restaurant Standard for sale at a reduced cost, so as to encourage all categories of restaurants to get on board with the initiative. It is expected that by the end of 2019, a majority of these establishments will be in conformity.

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

3 Berbicians robbed Injured woman in Fly after arriving from US Jamaica crash-landing dies T T hree Berbicians were robbed of cash, jewellery and other valuables in excess of $3 million, shortly after arriving in Georgetown, having travelled from the United States.

Reports are the three travelled from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and went to a Chinese restaurant on Albert Street, Alberttown, Georgetown, at about 12:00h on Wednesday.

Guyana Times was told that the three were among persons whose luggage were delayed which forced them to wait at the airport to collect their belongings.

This newspaper was told that while dining, the items were left in a minibus which the trio used to transport the items from the airport.

The trio spend about 20 minutes in the restaurant and to their dismay, when they returned to the vehicle, it was discovered that one of the windows were forced opened.

Upon further investi-

gation, two passports were seen on the seat of the bus and three bags containing the valuables were missing.

Fereeza Ramberly, 29, who was returning with her husband and brother-inlaw, explained that she had three diamond rings and a pair of diamond earrings in her hand bag which was missing along with other gold jewellery. She said the diamond jewellery is worth more than $1.6 million.

The bag, which valued US$120, also had items she bought as gifts for relatives which were worth in excess of US$500. Five cellular phones including an iphone 10 and a Samsung Galaxy Edge were among the items in her handbag.

Meanwhile, her husband, Vicky, 33, had a large quantity of jewellery in his haversack which was also stolen. Ramberly’s brotherin-law, who also had a haversack in the bus, lost his medication and US$1000.

After an alarm was raised, persons in the area

CH&PA ups service with GIS, drone imagery

Some of the drones on display at the University of Guyana’s observation of Geographic Information Systems Day

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he Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) says it has been improving the delivery of its services with the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The entity’s GIS analyst, Malini Jaikarran said the use of this service will help to improve the development, manage operations and update policies and decision-making processes.

Jaikarran was delivering a presentation on Wednesday at a ceremony to observe Geographic Information Systems Day, hosted by the University of Guyana.

According to Jaikarran, the application of drone imagery and GIS is being utilised in the spatial planning and monitoring of CH&PA’s hinterland housing project. It is also used for planning control and detecting breaches to site development standards within communities. It also helps the

CH&PA to identify boundary disputes.

“With regards to monitoring our sustainable hinterland housing programme, it was deployed in Regions One, Nine and Seven. The CH&PA was able to monitor the progress of infrastructural work in the region.

The drone imagery provides data that does not otherwise exist,” she is quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying.

According to Jaikarran, the CH&PA has collected drone imagery for a number of areas, including the housing developments in Sophia, Greater Georgetown; La Parfaite Harmonie on the West Bank Demerara; and the East Bank Demerara, spanning from Eccles to Grove.

Jaikarran said the CH&PA will also use the spatial planning to address the regularisation of squatter settlements.

went to the trio’s aid and assisted them with surveillance footage, which showed a lone man entering the bus and spending less than two minutes before exiting.

During that time, the man who was wearing a hood, went through the bags.

Despite a search of the area, Ramberly’s permanent resident card and passport were not found.

However, sometime after, a car passed the scene and a passenger threw something out the window. Upon checking, the green card and a boarding pass were discovered on the parapet. Police were called and have since arrested a man fitting the description seen on the surveillance footage. Members of the group told this publication that the investigators told them that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Andrew Carmichael).

he 85-year-old woman who was injured in the crash-landing of a Fly Jamaica flight at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) succumbed to her injuries on Friday afternoon.

Guyana Times understands that Rookhia Kalloo died while receiving treatment at a private medical facility.

Kalloo was among the 118 adults, two infants and eight crew members on flight OJ256, destined for Toronto, Canada. The aircraft took off from CJIA at about 02:10h on November 9, 2018, but after some time, encountered hydraulic problems, and as such returned to Timehri where it crash-landed.

Meanwhile, following last week’s incident, investigators will finally be able to fully assess what exactly went wrong as the Fly

Data Recorder (Black Box) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (Pink Box) have been sent to the United States to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

NTSB is an independent US Government agency that overlooks investigations into air transportation accidents. The flight, OJ256, left Guyana for Toronto, Canada, at about 02:10h on Friday last, but after reportedly encountering hydraulic issues, the pilot acted quickly and returned to the CJIA where it crash-landed at about 02:53h.

On Saturday last, the NTSB investigator arrived in Guyana and worked with GCAA and other stakeholders at the crash site on Monday and Tuesday as the investigation was carried out.

Although the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was the first responder to the crash

site, several fire fighters caused embarrassment to themselves and the GFS for their alleged acts of theft. At least 14 of the fire fighters who were implicated in removing several devices belonging to the crew and passengers were believed to have taken the items as they had exclusive access to the crashed plane.

One of the firemen had reportedly returned some of the stolen items while some were found at the Timehri Fire Service. The airline had opened their call centres around the clock and was contacting passengers with flight reservations through November 14, 2018.

Arrangements were made with Caribbean Airlines to have the passengers transported to their destinations.

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

American Airlines will boost Guyana’s tourism – GCAA Director …as inaugural flight lands at CJIA

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merican Airlines commenced operations in Guyana with its first flight on Friday morning, and it has sparked sentiments that air transport will improve in the region.

With strengthening the country’s connectivity to several destinations, an inauguration ceremony was held at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in the company of Acting Prime Minister Carl Greenidge; American Airlines Managing Director of Regulatory and International Affairs, Robert Wirick; Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Egbert Field; Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson and United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway.

During his remarks, the Director General of the GCAA noted that the carrier would advance Guyana’s tourism industry and increase the flight count to North America. For him, bridging those gaps is essential for the country and its economy.

“We welcome them, because the kind of connection they bring to Guyana would surely enhance not only tourism but also trade in Guyana…The connectivity is needed in Guyana. We

American Airlines aircraft at the CJIA on Friday during its inaugural flight to Guyana

certainly know that the ridership will increase, and the uplift out of Guyana will certainly welcome the increased flights out of North America,” Field said.

Meanwhile, Acting Prime Minister Carl Greenidge noted that development of the country’s air services is looming. He is of the belief that the quality of services will improve as trade progresses.

“This occasion itself symbolises the importance attached by both Guyana and the United States of America to the integration of our peoples and economies through the improvement of air transport linkages. We view the presence of one of the

largest US airline companies as a very positive step towards the development of air services in Guyana, services that are currently lacking and services which are importantly requisite,” Greenidge ascertained.

Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson used her platform to relate that the operation of this carrier is “good news” for the aviation sector. Ferguson is optimistic that there will be a new record for the total international passenger traffic this year.

“American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, with well over 1000 aircraft in their fleet, with

over 6000 daily flights serving over 350 destinations worldwide in over 55 countries. To have them operating here in Guyana four times per week is good news for the aviation sector, and by extension the economy,” Ferguson said.

She continued, “Last year, the total international passenger traffic to Guyana was 664,624: the highest passenger movement in the history of Guyana. I am confident that that number will increase even more in 2018 with the arrival of American Airlines,” she said.

On behalf of the com-

pany, Managing Director of Regulatory and International Affairs, Robert Wirick, stated it is the airline’s 19th destination in South America.

“We have become the only US carrier to offer service to and from the country…

We hope to strengthen our presence in the country for many years to come. We’re committed to this market,” Robert Wirick said.

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway, also shared similar sentiments, as he cited improved relations between the two countries.

Junior Public Infrastructure Minister, Annette Ferguson, at the ribbon cutting ceremony in the presence of Acting Prime Minister Carl Greenidge, US Ambassador Perry Halloway and other officials

news

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SaturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

Businesses support local content policy – GMSA President …says they “could be vulnerable” during oil exploration

S

mall businesses have shared their concerns on the impending oil and gas industry, acknowledging that while it might be beneficial, they are likely to be at risk from not benefiting from the value chain.

This was shared by the President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association Limited (GMSA), Shyam Nokta. He suggested that some of these local establishments are in favour of the local content policy so as to enhance their profits.

“Guyana continues to receive international attention, and there is the movement of investors looking for opportunities here. This is good for business and good for Guyana. We need to benefit from those who have experience and expertise in oil and gas,” Nokta said.

He, however, mentioned that there are concerns within the local business community that, in this new sector, local businesses could be vulnerable; or, worse yet, not be part of the value chain in a meaningful way. This, he added, has fuelled the discussion on local content, with some advocating for legislation to ensure Guyanese businesses benefit.

The GMSA is under the impression that the local

Energy Department Head, Dr Mark Bynoe

content legislation should be crafted at the soonest, and Government should implement stringent implementation strategies.

“The GMSA share the concerns that we need to have a strong local content framework in place sooner (rather) than later, and with Government playing its part in ensuring local content plans are implemented,” Nokta added.

Nokta said the GMSA is of the belief that after the framework is finalised, local establishments should be prepared to provide quality services. The document should also be adjusted to ensure that there is mutuality between international and local establishments.

“However, we also believe there is the need to adopt a systematic ap-

proach, and not be too prescriptive too early. Even as we push to ensure there is a framework to facilitate mutually beneficial partnering, and joint ventures between foreign and local businesses, we, as Guyanese businesses, also need to raise the bar in terms of our preparedness for this new sector,” he posited.

In terms of preparedness, the GMSA President signalled that the Centre for Local Business Development has made remarkable improvements in aiding businesses to increase their professionalism. “In this regard, the Centre for Local Business Development need to be recognised for the work they are doing. Many GMSA members have been taking advantage of the orientation and training offered, (and) we would like to urge more businesses to take up this opportunity.

We also recommend that the Centre’s programmes expand and be rolled out in other parts of Guyana,” he said.

In the business sector, “critical” components, such as local content policy and legislation for a Petroleum Commission and a Sovereign Wealth Fund continue to be “discussed and debated”.

Amid criticisms over the establishment of the Policy,

GMSA President Shyam Nokta

the Energy Department had assured that the piece

of legislation will be available before the first oil, which is due to come in less than two years.

The local content policy will defend the country against local companies being bypassed for contracts and services in favour of foreign companies and workers. Energy Department Head Dr Mark Bynoe was quoted as saying that a second draft policy will be finalised before yearend. This is after collaborating with the Private Sector, a section of the economy which stands

to gain wide-ranging benefits from a favourable local content policy. He, meanwhile, updated the press that once all is settled and ironed out, a ‘white paper’ while be presented to the National Assembly to be debated upon. The draft local content policy was criticised for lacking provisions which would guard against exploitation by companies.

It had been reported that the document fails to cater for issues such as how to avoid procurement fraud, conflict of interest, and favouritism.

14 news

saturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

LGE 2018 voter turnout just 36% – GECOM ...data shows PPP wins majority of Buxton/Foulis NDC

T

he Guyana Elections Commission has released the official results of the Local Government Elections, and it shows that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has turned in significant improvements over its 2016 performance. What has also been revealed is that the elections were held with a voter turnout of just 36 per cent of the electorate.

According to statistics

total of seven seats versus four for APNU and one from the Alliance For Change (AFC). In Annandale, there were five constituencies in which there were no contests. PPP also won Good Hope with 8 seats in the PR component, and Wakenaam.

An area that has excited much discussion over the past few days is the Buxton/ Foulis Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

At a recent press confer-

A polling station in Middle Walk, Buxton

released, the PPP made major gains in several Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and Municipalities.

For instance, the party won 5 out of 10 towns. These are Mabaruma, Anna Regina, Rose Hall, Corriverton and Lethem.

In Georgetown, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) secured a definitive victory. APNU also had success in municipalities like Mahdia, where they secured a total of five seats to the PPP’s one.

The PPP won cleanly in Port Kaituma, picking up a

ence, PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo revealed that his party won this area for the first time ever.

APNU subsequently rebutted this in a statement that focused on the Buxton/Friendship constituencies. However, the data shows that the PPP won five seats in the Proportional Representation, compared to four seats for APNU. In First Past the Post (FPTP) system, PPP candidates Jackdeep Singh (Bladen Hall/Strathspey), Shameer Ahmad (Vigilance North), Neipaul Purai

(Vigilance South), Bhoowal Chaitu (Enterprise) and Chandrawattie Singh (Paradise) won seats on the 18-member council.

Only four APNU candidates: Cheryl McPherson (Bacherlor’s Adventure), Alison Telford (Enterprise), William Oswald (Friendship) and Bairdharris Jewel (Buxton) gained seats on the council by FPTP. This means that the PPP will have 10 members on the council compared to APNU’s eight councillors. The AFC did not gain any seats.

Another controversial area was Bloomfield/ Whim, the birthplace of Alliance for Change executive, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

Controversy erupted when PPP supporters claimed they were tricked into signing an AFC backers’ list. After a Police investigation and the filing of a court case, the names were mysteriously removed.

The PPP may have lost the court case, but it won a resounding victory in the area at LGE. Data shows the PPP sweeping the area, attaining 13 seats on the NDC versus one seat attained through the PR system by the AFC. In Mon Repos/La Reconnaissance, all but two of the nine constituencies were a no- contest. The council will be one dominated by the PPP, as APNU managed to get only one seat through the PR system.

Turnout At a Friday press conference, GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield announced that

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield

there were three instances of ties. The ties were in the Hague/Blankenburg, Soesdyke/Coverden and a Kwakwani Neighbourhood Democratic Council. He noted, however, that GECOM is in the process of resolving the ties.

the result of voter apathy, but he was still hopeful that things would improve.

“I would like to note the apparent apathy of the electorate. I find it very disturbing – and, no doubt, questions will be asked of GECOM, and you will get

“I suppose we will get accustomed to Local Government Elections with the passage of time… I trust and believe that this apathy will end with the last elections; and that, as citizens, we will begin to exercise our franchise in future elections to come,” he said.

Meanwhile, the GECOM Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, shifted blame from GECOM by noting that the Communities Ministry shares responsibility for voter education. Besides the Ministry, Lowenfield said, the political parties and candidates had a role to play in making sure that the voters were properly educated on the elections.

The data shows that out of 572,531 persons registered to vote, only 208,534

A differently-abled man came on crutches to cast his ballot in Enmore

Meanwhile, GECOM Chairman, Justice (retired) James Patterson, described the voter turnout as disturbing. He posited that this is

the appropriate response.

But (speaking for) myself, I can say that the apparent apostasy of the electorate is not the norm,” he declared.

actually went out to vote.

This is a turnout of 36 per cent. When LGE were last held in 2016, the turnout was 47 per cent.

news

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saturdAY, November 17, 2018 | guyanatimesgy.com

$28.8M nursery school for Schoonord, La Parfaite Harmonie

T

wo of the fast-growing housing schemes on the West Bank of Demerara, Schoonord and La Parfaite Harmony, will now benefit from easy access to nursery education with the construction of a $28.8 million nursery school.

Since the two communities are adjacent to each other, the school, which is built in Schoonord, can easily be accessed by residents in La Parfaite Harmonie.

Built to the tune of $28.8 million and features seven classrooms, the school,

The new nursery school

which caters for over 100 students within its catchment area, has seven classrooms, a sizable kitchen, modernised sickbay, a spacious staff room

among other necessary rooms.

The contract was awarded to KP Engineering and signed at the Communities Ministry back in June of this

Father of 3 charged for unlawful wounding

A

31-year-old resident of Fair's Rust, Mackenzie, Linden, was released on $50,000 bail after he denied a charge of unlawful wounding when he appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.

Teon Allen denied that

on October 28, 2018, he unlawfully and maliciously wounding Norbert Beckles with intent to disable, disfigure or cause him grievous bodily harm.

The incident allegedly occurred at Victory Valley, Wismar, Linden. The defendant was represented by

Attorney Yondessa Welcome who requested reasonable bail for her client. In her bail application, Welcome told the court that her client is a father of three. The prosecution did not object to bail.

The case will continue on December 19.

31 women trained in early childhood development

Graduates of the Early Childhood Development Workshop proudly display their certificates at State House. Also in photo are Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO, Patrice LaFleur and Secretary General of the Guyana Red Cross Society, Dorothy Fraser

T

hirty-one women on Friday graduated from First Lady Sandra Granger’s Early Childhood Development Workshop, at a simple ceremony hosted in the Baridi Benab at State House. The workshop, the second and final one of its kind for 2018, drew participants from the Buxton Day Care Centre, the Central Islamic Organisation, the St John Bosco’s Orphanage, Women Across Differences (WAD), the Office of the First Lady and from as far as Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara).

Secretary General of the National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Patrice La Fleur, who delivered the feature remarks, lauded the First Lady for starting the initiative. “We are quite aware that many parents, mothers and fathers are unaware of the importance of the early stages of development of children, hence there is now education for parents, childcare workers etc, providing information of its importance and what parents, teachers and other caregivers must address in their interaction with children,” she said.

Secretary General of the Guyana Red Cross Society

(GRCS), Dorothy Fraser AA, expressed similar sentiments, noting that the First Lady has done tremendous work to foster the development of women and girls in Guyana. “She continues to give support and guidance and seeks to helps find ways to increase knowledge and experience and development of our women… She really has gone all the way to make sure young women are able to develop and grow and do a great job in moving forward,” Fraser said.

Meanwhile, the graduates said they were overjoyed to have completed the intense programme. Anecia Austin, who hails from Boerasirie, West Coast Demerara, said the workshop has helped her to recommit to her goal of becoming a physiologist.

To date, over 150 women have graduated from the Early Childhood Development Workshop, which is a joint collaboration between the Office of the First Lady and the Social Protection Ministry. This is the fifth workshop held from the inception of the programme. Graduates must complete all components of the three-week long programme, which includes two modules of Early Childhood Development training and one module of First Aid, which is conducted at the GRCS.

year. Regional Executive Officer Denis Jaikaran noted that through consultation, the

building of the school was envisioned.

“We held consultative sessions across this entire region and found that this project was most important for the people of Schoonord and La Parfaite Harmonie and more so it is in keeping with Government’s policy of providing resources to our communities for an improved society through education,” Jaikaran is quoted as saying by the Department of Public Information.

He further noted that over 5000 residents live in the communities and will receive direct benefit from the school when it begins to function.

Regional Education Officer Annesta Douglas when asked about the opening of the school noted that preparatory works are currently ongoing which includes auxiliary and administrative staffing and provision of other necessary resources. She hinted that a January start-up is envisaged.

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guyanatimesgy.com

saturdAY, november 17, 2018

Regional

‘Sad surprise’: Amazon fish contaminated by plastic particles

S

cientists have found the first evidence of plastic contamination in freshwater fish in the Amazon, highlighting the extent to which bags, bottles and other waste dumped in rivers is affecting the world’s wildlife.

Tests on the stomach contents of fish in Brazil’s Xingu River, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon, revealed plastic particles in more than 80 per cent of the species examined, including the omnivorous parrot pacu, herbivorous redhook silver dollar, and meat-eating red-bellied piranha.

The researchers focused on fish in the Xingu because of their rich diversity and breadth of feeding habits.

The fish ranged from 4cm to

The red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) is one species from the Xingu River found to have been contaminated by plastics

nearly a foot in length, and weighed from 2g to nearly a kilogram.

Analysis of the fishes’ stomach contents identified a dozen distinct polymers used to manufacture plastic items, including bags, bot-

tles, and fishing gear. Most pieces were black, red, blue, white or translucent and varied from 1mm-sized particles to flakes measuring 15mm in width.

The scientists picked through the stomach con-

tents of 172 fish belonging to 16 species. Writing in the journal Environmental Pollution, the scientists describe how 13 of the species had consumed plastics, regardless of whether they were herbivores that fed on river plants, carnivores that survived primarily on other fish, or omnivores. The herbivores may mistake pieces of plastic for seeds, fruits and leaves, while the omnivores are likely to ingest plastics caught in the feathery river plants, called macrophytes, which make up much of their diet.

Meanwhile, carnivores such as piranha are likely to consume plastics when they eat contaminated prey.

Overall, 96 pieces of plastic were recovered from

stomachs of 46 fish. Tests showed more than a quarter were polyethylene, a material used in fishing gear that is often discarded in rivers and oceans. Others were identified as PVC, polyamide, polypropylene, rayon and other polymers used to make bags, bottles, food packaging and more.

Rivers are responsible

for up to a fifth of the plastic waste found in the oceans.

Much of the pollution is caused by poor waste management or by rubbish intentionally being dumped in water courses. Over 90 per cent of the plastic debris that reaches open water comes from 10 rivers, eight in Asia and two in Africa.

(Excerpt from The Guardian)

More Cubans protest outside UN

W

hile their compatriots are being processed at the Belmont Police Station to be taken to court after being arrested on Friday morning, another group of Cuban nationals are now continuing their protest for asylum outside the UN Building in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Police moved in on a group of about 75 Cubans this morning, arresting them and taking them to the Belmont station. They were charged with obstructing the free passageway of the public, among other things.

However, another group who were not around then has since arrived outside the UN Building and are continuing their symbolic protest. The group tied themselves to the fence around the building with black garbage bags and also placed bags around their mouths,

symbolic of them being muzzled from speaking.

One spokesman for the new group outside the UN Building said they had I fact gone to use restroom facilities at the time Police moved in this morning. However, he said they would continue their protest because they have nowhere else to go, even if it meant they too would be arrested.

The group of Cubans have been protesting for the last two weeks. They are seeking refugee status in another country and want the UN to facilitate it. However, while they have had a meeting with UN officials they say it was no a positive one as they have been told they cannot do anything for them.

Guardian Media understands the detained group have agreed to be processed

by Immigration officials.

(Trinidad Guardian)

FBI, Aruba Police probing Royal Princess cruise ship death

T

he FBI and authorities in Aruba are investigating whether the tragic death of an American woman on a Caribbean cruise was an accident or a crime.

The Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess cruise ship was in the Caribbean early Tuesday when the victim, a 52-year-old woman who has not been publicly identified, plunged from an upper deck onto a lifeboat below, according to authorities.

When the ship arrived at port in Aruba, local authorities launched an investigation.

Aruba news outlet Diario reported that witnesses saw the victim engaged in an altercation with another passenger prior to her death.

Authorities have yet to confirm that report.

In an interview with USA Today, Aruba Public

Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Ann Angela said investigators are trying to determine whether the woman’s death is an accident or a crime.

Angela said the victim’s husband, who has not been named a suspect or person of interest in his wife’s death, is still on the island. The FBI has since joined the investigation.

The Aruba Public Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost. The 3600-passenger ship left Florida’s Port Everglades on November 9, 2018, for a seven-day round-trip southern Caribbean cruise. The ship, which was traveling between the islands of Curacao and Aruba at the time of the woman’s death, is due back in Florida on Saturday [today], officials said. (Excerpt from Yahoo! News)

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saturdAY, november 17, 2018

guyanatimesgy.com

Around the World

PM May appoints Stephen Barclay as UK's latest Brexit Minister

B

ritish Prime Minister Theresa May appointed Stephen Barclay, a junior Health Minister who voted to leave the European Union in a 2016 referendum, as her new Brexit Secretary on Friday.

May herself will personally oversee the last 10 days of negotiations with the EU on the future framework of relations, while Barclay will focus on the domestic readiness for Brexit and getting May's draft withdrawal agreement through Parliament.

"He will be doing the domestic role," May's spokesman said. Barclay replaced Dominic Raab who quit as

In this file photo dated Wednesday, November 22, 2017, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay poses outside 11 Downing Street in London. Barclay on Friday November 16, 2018, has been promoted to Brexit Secretary

Brexit Minister on Thursday over the draft plan for leaving the EU. Elsewhere, former Interior Minister Amber Rudd was appointed as Work and Pensions Minister, replacing Esther McVey who also resigned over the plan.

Barclay, a 46-year-old former banker, was previously a Financial Services Minister.

He qualified as a solicitor before working in financial regulation and then financial crime prevention. He was director of regulatory affairs and then head of anti-money laundering and sanctions at Barclays bank. (MSN)

Chilli paste, books and chairs thrown in Sri Lanka Parliament

Politicians supporting Rajapksa threw a chair towards Police Officers escorting the Speaker inside Parliament

S

ri Lanka's Parliament has descended into chaos for a second day as legislators supporting disputed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa threw books,

furniture and chilli paste at rivals in a bid to block a second no-confidence motion against him.

The pandemonium on Friday began when the pro-Rajapaksa politicians

poured on to the floor of Parliament and prevented Speaker Karu Jayasuriya from taking his chair.

After more than an hour, Jayasuriya managed to finally enter the red-carpeted chamber under the protection of dozens of unarmed officers and parliamentary staff.

Rioting legislators then took away the ceremonial chair, but staff carried in an ordinary office chair as a makeshift replacement.

However, rioters grabbed that chair too, breaking it into pieces that were then used as projectiles to attack rivals and Police Officers.

The Police held boards

around the Speaker to protect him from being hit by the angry politicians as he conducted a voice vote on a revised no-confidence motion against the disputed Prime Minister.

After the motion passed, Jayasuriya adjourned the house until Monday.

In a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena later on Friday, the speaker said 122 legislators in the 225-member House voted against Rajapaksa, a controversial former President whose appointment as Prime Minister on October 26 plunged the Indian Ocean nation into a protracted political crisis.

A

and an adjacent field in Chico, a dozen miles away from the ashes.

At vast shelter parking lot, evacuees from California's deadliest fire wonder if they still have homes, if their neighbours are still alive – and where they will go when their place of refuge

shuts down in a matter of days.

The Northern California fire that began a week earlier obliterated the town of Paradise and caused such carnage that searchers continued to pull bodies out of incinerated homes and cremated cars. The toll had reached 63 dead and 9800

A

federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore the press credentials of Jim Acosta of CNN, handing the cable network an early win in its lawsuit against the president and members of his administration.

Presiding over one of the first major tests of press rights under President Trump, Judge Timothy J Kelly of United States District Court in Washington ruled that the White House had behaved inappropriately in stripping Acosta of his press badge shortly after a testy exchange at a news conference last week.

The administration’s process for barring the correspondent “is still so shrouded in mystery that the Government could not tell me” who made the decision, Judge Kelly said from the bench. Taking away the pass that gave Acosta access to the White House amounted to a violation of his right to a fair and transparent process, the judge ruled.

Soon after the ruling, Trump said the White House would tighten its rules for how journalists must com-

Journalist Jim Acosta

port themselves at the White House.

“People have to behave,” the president said in the Oval Office. “If they don’t listen to the rules and regulations, we’ll end up back in court, and we will win.”

The ruling was a significant victory for CNN and Acosta, but Judge Kelly declined to say whether the denial of the White House press pass had amounted to a First Amendment issue.

The legal battle is expected to continue: Judge Kelly ruled only on the network’s emergency request for a temporary restoration of Acosta’s credentials. Hearings on other issues in the case are expected to resume next week.

(NY Times)

Zimbabwe bus: At least 42 killed in suspected gas explosion

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Fire death toll hits 63; sheriff says hundreds still missing t least 63 are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the missing after the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century.

The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and didn't realise they had been reported missing, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He added that he was making the list public so people could see if they were on it and let authorities know they were safe.

"The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary," Honea said of the early crisis hours last week. "Now we're trying to go back out and make sure that we're accounting for everyone."

Some 52,000 people were displaced to shelters, the homes of friends and relatives, to motels – and to a Walmart parking lot

Judge orders Trump Govt to restore CNN reporter’s press credentials

homes destroyed.

The fire was 40 percent contained, but there was no timeline for allowing evacuees to return because of the danger.

Power lines are still down, roads closed, and fire fighters are still dousing embers, authorities said. (Excerpt from MSN)

A

The bus was completely destroyed in the fire

t least 42 people are confirmed to have died in a fire aboard a bus in Zimbabwe late on Thursday. The bus was near travelling near Beitbridge, close to the border with South Africa, when the blaze began.

The company that owned the vehicle, Brooklyn Buses, said it believed that a gas canister brought on board by a passenger may have caused the incident.

Many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition and more than 20 survivors have been taken to hospital.

The driver, who survived the fire, said that he pulled over to the side of the road after detecting a "strange smell", a Police spokeswoman told AFP news agency. When he turned on the lights to investigate, the bus burst into flames, she added.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was "devastated" to hear of the incident, which comes a week after 47 people were killed in a bus collision in the east of the country.

He urged drivers to take extra care while on the roads. (BBC News)

US prepares criminal case against WikiLeaks' Assange

U

S prosecutors are preparing to pursue a criminal case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, escalating a long battle targeting his anti-secrecy group even as he remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Prosecutors have obtained a sealed indictment against Assange, something that emerged in a Thursday

filing in an unrelated criminal case in a Virginia federal court. Because the indictment was sealed, the nature of any charges against Assange has not been made public at this point.

Thursday’s filing had also been sealed, but it was made public for reasons that were unclear, according to a person familiar with the matter. Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for

the US attorney’s office in Alexandria, Virginia, said the filing was made in error.

WikiLeaks said in a Twitter post it was an “apparent cut-and-paste error.”

Criminal charges in the United States could pressure Britain to extradite Assange, an Australian national. U.S. officials have acknowledged that federal prosecutors have been conducting a lengthy crimi-

nal probe into Assange and WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks became known over the last decade for publishing documents that were not previously public. In a recent high profile instance, during the 2016 US presidential campaign the group published some of a trove of Democratic emails that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded were hacked by

Russia.

Intelligence agencies said Russia used hacking and other tactics to try to tilt the election in favour of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Moscow has denied this.

Lawyers for Assange and others have said his work with WikiLeaks was critical to a free press and was protected speech. (Excerpt

from Reuters)

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guyanatimesgy.com

saturdAY, november 17, 2018

ARCHIE

ARIES (March 21April 19)

TAURUS (April 20May 20)

dilbert

GEMINI (May 21June 20)

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Peanuts

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Calvin and Hobbes

Don’t let a change of plans ruin your day.

Prioritize your needs and do something uplifting. A makeover, spa day or romantic evening would be the way to go.

Live in the moment and learn all you can. The people you encounter and the possibilities that develop will help you make an important decision regarding an important relationship.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Listen carefully, but don’t be too eager to believe everything you hear. Take care of matters that can affect your personal finances, taxes or health.

You’ll learn through observation. Attend functions that will give you a bird’s-eye view of the way others conduct themselves. Listen and look for misrepresentation and ulterior motives to avoid making a mistake.

Focus on personal changes that will improve your life and help you reach long-term goals. A romantic gesture will encourage a change to your current living conditions.

Listen and consider what’s being said, but don’t feel you have to react to it.

Getting involved in someone else’s personal matters will not turn out well for you.

Challenge yourself, not someone else.

Take care of domestic reLIBRA (Sept. 23- sponsibilities first. You’ll enOct. 23) joy some relaxation or an outing you planned much more if you are free and clear of unfinished business.

WORD GAME TODAY’S WORD — CATTIER (CATTIER: KAT-ee-er: More subtly cruel or malicious.)

SUDOKU

Time limit 30 minutes Can you find 33 or more words in CATTIER? The list will be published tomorrow.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

THURSDAY’S WORD — ROBOTICS bistro

tiro

scoot

robot

boor

torso

soot

roost

boost

trio

sorb

root

boot

cist

sort

obit

boric

coir

stir

oboist

bort

coot

stoic

orbit

brio

cost

otic

bris

crib

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

Copyright 2015, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS

Make your home a safe place where you feel comfortable and at ease. Keep your distance from anyone who is untrustworthy or causes you stress. Avoid excess and indulgence.

Think before you act or SAGITTARIUS say something that may get (Nov. 23- you into trouble. An emotionDec. 21) al situation will spin out of control if you or someone else overreacts or isn’t truthful.

Average mark 25 words

riot

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

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

PISCES (Feb. 20March 20)

Don’t worry about what others do. Stay on track and see matters through to the end. Follow your intuition and let your charm and expertise lead the way.

Put more time and effort into personal matters.

Taking better care of your money, health and responsibilities will help you avoid a setback. Romance should be on the agenda.

It will be three steps forward and two steps back today. Don’t let the little things get to you. Think for yourself and refuse to let anyone talk you into something you don’t want.

saturdAY, november 17, 2018

19

Dwayne Bravo opens up on 2014 India tour pull-out O

n October 17, 2014, India and West Indies played the fourth ODI of a five-match series, in the hill town of Dharamsala. Halfway through the match, news emerged that the West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) had decided to call off the rest of the tour. The WICB communicated to the BCCI that it was left with no choice after a contracts fallout with the players.

Dwayne Bravo was West Indies' captain for that series. He would never again play an ODI. Bravo, who retired from international cricket late last month, has pointed to the dispute as the main reason for this. Bravo spoke recently to i955fm, a Trinidad-based radio station, chronicling the sequence of events that led to the India tour being abandoned.

Looking back the events that transpired in India, would you do anything differently?

The only thing I would do differently is tape everyone. Record everyone who was in there. I'm the only player that really paid for what happened in India. The only one who never get the opportunity to play one-day cricket again. I made a stand, as the captain, as the leader of the team, for the best interest of my players, and by extension the players who have come and played for West Indies cricket. At the end of the day, it wasn't fair on our bosses to send us on tour and cut the guys' contract by 75 percent. It was just really unfair.

Was it unanimous?

Collectively as a team, we decided what to do. I listened to every single player. Apart from one player, everyone signed on a piece of paper, that they were all in support of leaving the tour.

But we did not just decide to walk away from the tour. There were different times when we tried to reach out to both our WIPA president [Wavell Hinds] and the cricket president [Dave Cameron, Cricket West Indies president]. So we threatened [to pull out] from the first

game, but we played. We threatened for the second game, but we played.

The [fourth] game we went out (the whole team accompanied Bravo to the toss), so it was just a message and a signal, trying to let them know that we are not happy with whatever is going on.

I remember fully well before we said we weren't going to play the first game, 3 am in the morning, I get a message from the BCCI boss, the old one, Mr [N] Srinivasan, that "please take the field." I listened to him - and woke up at 6 am to tell the team that we have to play. And everyone was against playing. Everyone thought that I panicked and chickened out and all these things.

But I was more concerned about the players' future more than anything else, because it was a serious decision to not play and walk away from the tour. All of us could have been banned for life. So by taking the opportunity and listening to the bosses of BCCI, that was one way to ensure that we are protected.

After that first game what happened?

We played the first game, we beat India, then we traveled to Delhi. At that time the president [Cameron] was in Dubai, which is few hours away from Delhi. He said he is still not going to come and meet us.

Where was WIPA president [Hinds] all this time?

In Jamaica. They [Hinds and Cameron] were scheduled to come, I think, two weeks after the ODI series, by when most of us would have left.

Only the Test team would be there. We play the second game, we lose, then the third game rained out, so we stayed in Delhi for an extra week. Again the president [Cameron] refused to come.

Then we went to Dharamsala, up in the hills, that's where we play the last game.

Did anyone from BCCI still try to influence you all to continue to play?

After we played three of the games,

players. After, before we play our first game (first ODI), that we had a Skype call with Wavell Hinds.

You should've recorded that?

The West Indies team stood behind Dwayne Bravo at the toss

we decided we're going to see how far we reach. Hopefully someone from the West Indies board come and assist us.

I remember talking to Mr Lloyd (Clive Lloyd, chairman of selectors at the time), pleading to him basically that he can actually make a difference in this situation because at the end of the day he's Clive Lloyd. "If you pick up the phone, call the president [Cameron] and said sort this out, he (the president) has to listen." It's Clive Lloyd, one of the biggest names in world cricket. I guess that call was never made and at the end of the day Dwayne Bravo and to a lesser extent [Kieron] Pollard - who got a bit of the blame - but it was all on my shoulders.

For people to really understand that one of the reasons we even had that fallout between players and the board as far as the contracts is concerned, in January of 2014 we had a WIPA general meeting. The WIPA president Mr Hinds said that we have a proposal - we want to implement a professional league system and in order for that to take place, they asked the West Indies men's senior team to take a salary cut.

So, the senior players who were in the meeting - myself, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan,

[Shivnarine] Chanderpaul - we all agree.

We said okay, yes we can take a salary cut, let's discuss figures. The president [Hinds] said that there are no figures yet. They wanted to know whether or not the players would be willing to take a salary cut and when at the end of that meeting our answer was yes, we can take a salary cut, let us know the percentage.

The next time we hear from WIPA, or see anything about our contract or new figures, was in October, when the team was already in India. When the team arrived in India - I was already there playing Champions League for Chennai Super Kings - couple of the players message me, "skipper, did you see the new contract?" I said, no. When you look at it, you see, straight across the board, the players' salary was cut by 75 percent. That's where it really, really happened, where everything break down. I straightaway get on to Wavell Hinds. He says, "Bravo, tell the players do not sign the contract, it's not still cast in stone, do not sign the contract."

Wavell Hinds told you not to sign the contracts?

Yes, which I relayed that to the

As I said that is the only regret I have, that I did not record these things.

We said to him "who gave you the rights to negotiate our new contracts without discussing it with any player?" He said he talk to some players. We said, "who you talk to?" He said he talk to Denesh Ramdin and Darren Bravo. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin both stand up and say, "Wavell, that's a lie. That never took place." Wavell Hinds had nothing to say.

Then, his next excuse was he sent the information to Samuel Badree months ago and it was Samuel Badree's responsibility to relay the message to the players. Samuel Badree said to him, in his face, "Wavell Hinds I am a cricketer. It is your job [and] that's why we elect you as president." You can't send a player who is on tour, playing cricket, a 90-page contract, saying to go through it [and] relay the message to the players. That's where it all break down, where it all went wrong.

After that tour the BCCI said it was owed by the CWI about USD 40-plus million because the players left the tour?

It was a big damage. Obviously a hefty bill. To me my concern was players and our contracts.

Do you think the BCCI was on the side of the Windies players? Or they understood the players?

Yeah, they understood, of course.

Because they were very supportive of all of us. Actually they even offered to pay us whatever we were losing.

We was like, "we don't want you to pay us. We need our board to sort out our contracts." The BCCI was very, very supportive and that is one of the reasons why most of us were still able to continue playing without any serious, serious problems taking place.

(ESPNcricinfo)

ATP Finals‌

Zverev beats Isner to set up Federer semi-final G

ermany's Alexander Zverev sealed his place in the ATP Finals semi-finals with a straight-set win which knocked his American opponent John Isner out of the season-ending event.

Both men dominated their service games, but Zverev nicked the first-set tie-break before breaking at the end of the second to win 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in London.

Third seed Zverev will play Roger Federer in the semi-finals on Saturday. Zverev's win means Novak Djokovic is through as group winner.

The Serbian world number one, who meets Marin Cilic in his final match on Friday, will play South Africa's Kevin Anderson in the last four on Saturday.

With the 'big four' of Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray all in their 30s,

Zverev has long been identified as the young player most likely to fill the void when they retire. The 21-year-old is yet to make a meaningful impact in the Grand Slams but, after adding eight-time major champion Ivan Lendl to his team, has reached the last four at the O2 for the first time. Now, with Federer and possibly Djokovic standing in his way, back-to-back victories over the weekend would announce his arrival to a wider audience. After showing mental resilience to edge past Cilic in his opening match, Zverev knew any victory against Isner would guarantee his place in the last four, despite being outclassed by Djokovic in his second. As with the Cilic match, he delivered on the big points against the American to win a match in which there was little between the two play-

ers.

Zverev delivered an 143mph ace to wipe out a set point at 6-5 - the only break point of the first set - and went on to earn a hold which took the opener into a tiebreak and ultimately proved pivotal. Isner knew he had to win to stay in the tournament, with a two-set victory his only hope of reaching the semi-finals, but mistimed a forehand into the net on Zverev's second set point.

The 6ft 10in American's game is unsurprisingly built around his massive serve but he was outgunned by Zverev, who had a faster serve speed, higher first-serve percentage and more aces. And, after Zverev took his first break point at 4-4 in the second, victory was quickly wrapped up with a hold to love and allowed him to start thinking about facing Federer. "I'm

Alexander Zverev seals semi-final place with victory over John Isner

unbelievably happy to be in the semi-finals," Zverev said.

"I've had such a good run over the last year. "John was such a tough opponent and the

last two matches could have gone either way for him. The first set was unbelievably tight. It's always one or two points against him. "I came

up with some great shots in the tie-break as well and that helped because don't want to be down with him serving for the set." (BBC Sport)

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saturdAY, november 17, 2018

Stand-alone Women’s World T20 tournament…

Shrubsole’s hat-trick stuns SA as England march on nership, with Wyatt being the first batter to get out, when she had scored 24.

South Africa’s captain, van Niekerk, attempted to bowl her team back into the contest, and picked up two wickets with her leg-spin. With a strike rate of 100, Wyatt was removed for 27

By Brandon Corlette

E

ngland administered a seven-wicket whipping on South Africa in a much anticipated contest played at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia.

Batting first, South Africa recorded 85 runs at the end of their overs; and on the back of Anya Shrubsole’s hat trick and Natalie Sciver’s impressive three-wicket haul, England cruised to victory with 35 balls remaining. Significantly, England’s opening batters had set the tone with useful cameos.

The English bowlers were right on target, picking up

England celebrate the wicket of Lizelle Lee

SCOREBOARD

South Africa Women Innings (20 overs maximum) L Lee lbw b Sciver 12 L Wolvaardt c †Jones b Smith 4 M Kapp c Dunkley b Gordon 9 D van Niekerk (c) run out (Gordon) 1 M du Preez c Sciver b Gordon 16 CL Tryon c Ecclestone b Sciver 27 F Tunnicliffe † c Winfield b Sciver 4 S Ismail b Shrubsole 1 Y Fourie b Shrubsole 4 M Klaas c Beaumont b Shrubsole 0 M Daniels not out 0 Extras (lb 3, w 4) 7 TOTAL all out (19.3 Overs, RR: 4.35) 85 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (L Wolvaardt, 2.4 ov), 2-27 (L Lee, 7.1 ov), 3-29 (M Kapp, 8.2 ov), 4-30 (D van Niekerk, 8.5 ov), 5-55 (M du Preez, 14.3 ov), 6-79 (CL Tryon, 17.2 ov), 7-79 (F Tunnicliffe, 17.5 ov), 8-85 (S Ismail, 19.1

Amy Jones were the unbeaten batters who sealing the victory in the fifteenth over. Jones hit the winning runs with a fine four, lofting the ball over midon.

England have a formidable net-run rate of +2.269, and will play their final group match

ov), 9-85 (M Klaas, 19.2 ov), 10-85 (Y Fourie, 19.3 ov) BOWLING: NR Sciver (4-1-4-3), A Shrubsole (3.3-1-11-3), LCN Smith (4-0-26-1), S Ecclestone (4-0-23-0), KL Gordon (4-0-18-2) England Women Innings (target: 86 runs from 20 overs) DN Wyatt b van Niekerk 27 TT Beaumont c Klaas b van Niekerk 24 NR Sciver b Daniels 2 HC Knight (c) not out 14 AE Jones † not out 14 Extras (b 5, w 1) 6 TOTAL (14.1 Overs, RR: 6.14) 87-3 Did not bat: L Winfield, A Shrubsole, SIR Dunkley, S Ecclestone, LCN Smith, KL Gordon Fall of wickets: 1-55 (DN Wyatt, 8.1 ov), 2-58 (NR Sciver, 9.2 ov), 3-60 (TT Beaumont, 10.2 ov) BOWLING: M Kapp (2-0-100), S Ismail (3-0-32-0), M Klaas (2-0-14-0), M Daniels (4-0-131), D van Niekerk (3.1-0-13-2)

Laura Wolvaardt in the third over with only seven runs on the board. Lizelle Lee who occupied the batting crease scored a 26-ball-12, which included one maximum.

The South Africans batters struggled to time the cricket ball as England bowlers continued to make inroads.

Chloe Tyron was the only batter to look comfortable, as she charged down the wicket on various occasions to smoke the ball into the stands. Tyron topscored with 27 off 28 balls, hitting two maximums and one four.

The final five South African batters scored only nine runs combined, as they put up one of their worst batting performances.

In Anya Shrubsole’s unforgettable over – the 20th -she removed Ismail with the first ball, and Klass was sent back the very next delivery.

Shrubsole found herself on a hat trick, and she maintained a straight length delivery to

rattle the stumps of Fourie to complete a memorable moment in World T20 tournaments.

However, it was Natalie Sciver who started the demolition process by picking up three wickets for four runs from four impeccable overs, as England completed a brilliant bowling performance.

Having to chase 86 runs for victory, England openers Danielle Wyatt and Tammy Beamont rode a wave of confidence, starting proceedings with fearless cricket strokes.

The attacking openers added 55 runs for the opening part-

Amy Shrubsole picked up a hat-trick

runs, but England had already had their sights on picking up two points in this match.

Sciever was bowled all ends up for two, but reliable captain Heather Knight and

against the defending champions, West Indies, on Sunday, November 18, in St Lucia. The match is scheduled for 16:00 hours.

Dutch ends France 15game unbeaten run to relegate Germany

T

Memphis Depay made France pay from the penalty spot

he Netherlands deservedly beat France in the Uefa Nations League to end the world champions' 15-game unbeaten run and relegate Germany.

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum struck from close range after Hugo Lloris parried a Ryan Babel shot.

Lloris made a host of top saves to stop a thrashing - but Memphis Depay's dinked penalty in injury time made sure of the win.

A Dutch draw in Germany on Monday would

see them win the group.

That would take Ronald Koeman's side into next June's Nations League finals - at the expense of France, who had only needed a point in Rotterdam to seal top spot.

The winners of each group are also guaranteed a Euro 2020 play-off place if they fail to progress from qualification next year.

France can still win the group if the Germans, who will be in the Nations League second tier in 2020, beat the Dutch.

Elsewhere, Gibraltar's

Euro 2020 dream is almost certainly over after a 6-2 hammering by Armenia.

The minnows led through teenager Tjay de Barr but Yura Movsisyan scored four times for the visitors.

Macedonia remain top of that group - and are 90 minutes away from the playoffs - thanks to a 2-0 win in Liechstenstein.

Wales' promotion bid is over after a 2-1 defeat

by Denmark - who win the group and a place in the 2020 top flight. That result relegates the Republic of Ireland. (BBC Sport)

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The Windies Women huddles have proved to be quite successful so far in their title defence

n the first stand-alone T20 World Cup for women, there were questions about what the crowd would be like.

The Windies lined up against South Africa on Wednesday in St Lucia and after what transpired, they needn’t have been a worry.

The crowd, which came to support the home team and defending champions of the competition, got what they were looking for, as the Windies ran out 31-run win-

ners after a low-scoring affair.

“It’s fantastic to see this crowd,” said Windies skipper Stafanie Taylor.

“I was surprised to see this crowd and looking back at CPL, it wasn’t so much, so we are quite happy that the crowd turned out for us,” said Taylor.

The impact of the crowd wasn’t only felt by Taylor, who grabbed career-best figures, 4-12, in the win, and her team, but also by South

African skipper, Dane van Niekerk.

“We didn’t play just eleven of them on the field,” said van Niekerk.

“We played against the home crowd which was brilliant to see,” she said.

“They came out to support and that was great to see, made it tough to play against them,” she said.

The Windies, sent into bat, scored a paltry 107 and could have been dead in the water but for a brilliant

bowling and fielding performance that restricted the South African batsmen to just 76.

Van Niekerk was not amused.

“What can you say when you put up a batting display like that,” said van Nieker, “I can’t fault the bowlers at the moment. To restrict a very good West Indies batting line up to just 107, I couldn’t ask for more,” said van Niekerk. (Sportsmax)

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s action continued in the 2018 Rainforest Water/ Malta Supreme/Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) League on Wednesday at the Burnham Hard Court, what was produced was the shock of a lifetime: the Pacesetters struck gold and claimed victories in the First Division and Under 23 division.

In the first matchup of the night, Pacesetters up-

Part of the ongoing action in the GABA League

set the Plaisance Guardians 70-54. Scoring for the Pacesetters were Nathan Saul, who led with 12; T. Daly, who chipped in with 11 points; and Michael Turner, who played the supporting role with 10.

For the Guardians, the in-form Nikkolai Smith scored 12 points, and was ably supported by Malcolm Dundar with 10. No other player made it to double figures.

Gunning for a spot in the quarterfinals, the Pacesetters led the entire game.

The match that headlined the evening took an unexpected turn, as the Pacesetters managed to defeat one of the tougher teams of the league with ease in the Under-23 division.

Facing the UG Trojans, the Pacesetters won 56-42.

Top-scoring for the

Pacesetters was C. Liverpool with 10, supported by every other member of his team; thus was the low-scoring matchup won.

Despite Trojans Damani Thomas’s 13, Pacesetters still managed to keep the opposition at bay for the win.

The action continues this evening with the Guardians facing the Vikings and the Trojans clashing with the Eagles in the Second and First Divisions respectively.

22

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GAPLF Senior National Championships for December 2 A

s the clock winds down for the 2018 Powerlifting season, two weeks remain before Powerlifting enthusiasts converge at the St Stanislaus College for the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation’s (GAPLF’s) Senior National Championships scheduled for Sunday, December 2.

Guyana’s top male and female lifters are expected to turn out for the event, which is the catalyst for selection for the 2019 National Team.

The event will see the maiden battle in the Women’s 84+kg category as those ladies vie for the title of Best Female Lifter.

Best female lifters in the 2018 Intermediates and 2018 Raw Nationals, Runita White and Natoya

Carlos Peterson

Robinson respectively, are likely to headline the division.

Participating athletes for ‘Flight A’ are required to be at the venue for 08:00hrs sharp for the weigh-in, which will last for 90 minutes.Athletes competing in ‘Flight B’ will be weighed in from 11:30 hrs.

Athletes interested in competing are required to download their application forms from the GAPLF’s official Facebook page, for submission along with the required competition fees.

Other athletes set to compete are 2018 NAPF Overall Champion Carlos Peterson; Vijai Rahim; 2018 Novices Overall champ, Timothy Bagla; and Noel Cummings, the nation’s oldest competing athlete.

A l l regis-

tration forms and monies should be submitted to GAPLF Committee Member Martin Webster.

Alternatively, payment for this competition can be made directly to the GAPLF’s Republic Bank Account, #6552194, with a confirming screenshot of the completed registration form along with the confirming banking deposit slip being electronically submitted to Webster.

Tickets cost $1,000, and can be purchased directly from GAPLF executive members, or from Buddy’s Gym. The entrance fee at the gate will be $1,500.

Entities on board thus far are Buddy’s Gym, Fitness Express, Trophy Stall and Dyna’s Embroidery.

Sunrisers release Brathwaite, KXIP retain Gayle for IPL

W

indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite is one of two players released by Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the IPL 12 auction.

The 28 -year-old all-rounder endured a difficult season with the Sunrisers last season, after being left on the bench for the first half of the campaign. In total, Brathwaite tallied 75 runs and grabbed 5 wickets in four matches.

Prior to that, the West Indian featured sparsely for the Delhi Daredevils for whom he played only

Chris Gayle

10 matches across two IPL seasons (eight in 2016 and two in 2017). In addition to Brathwaite, the team also Wriddhiman Saha.

Yuvraj Singh was on Thursday released by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the Indian Premier League auction next month while Rajasthan Royals let go leftarm pacer Jaydev Unadkat after paying a whopping Rs 11.5 crore for his services earlier this year.

Delhi Daredevils expectedly released Gautam

Carlos Brathwaite

Gambhir, who stepped down as the team's in the middle of the 2018 season after a poor run of form. Yuvraj, who last played for India in June 2017, was bought by KXIP at a base price of Rs 2 crore at the mega-auction held in January.

Chris Gayle, who too was lapped up by KXIP at his base price of Rs 2 crore, has been expectedly retained after a productive run in the 2018 edition. The deadline to retain players ended on Thursday. (Sportsmax)

guyanatimesgy.com

saturdAY, november 17, 2018

Stand-alone Women’s World T20 tournament…

23

Prolific Windies crush Sri Lanka to storm into semis – magnificent Matthews shines

By Brandon Corlette

I

t was total carnage at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia as the West Indies ended Sri Lanka’s World T20 campaign with a comprehensive win, bowling out Sri Lanka for 104 inside 18 overs to achieve

West Indies captain, Taylor, had the first sign of winning when she won the coin toss and opted to bat first.

The batters were given an opportunity to make things right, and they cashed in; Dottin and Matthews getting off to a flyer towards breaking records.

the opening partnership, but was trapped in front as she missed out on a well-deserved half-century, falling for 49, which included eight timely boundaries.

Taylor continued her brilliant tournament by building an innings that she timed to perfection, scoring four expres-

Destructive duo; Matthews and Dottin

a comfortable 83-run win.

Batting first, West Indies posted their highest T20 International total, 1875, which was also the third highest in the Women’s T20 International.

The West Indies batters finally clicked in this tournament, as the top three batters scored 152 runs out of 187.

Magnificent Hayley Matthews was the star of the show, hitting a superb 62 and returning with the ball to pick up 3-16. Deandra Dottin hit 49 and Stafanie Taylor added the sprinkle to the ice-cream with 41.

After the power-play (six overs mandatory) West Indies had scored 72; their most runs in power-plays without losing a wicket.

The twenty-year-old Matthews batted with finesse, stroking eight boundaries and two maximums. She reached her astonishing fourth T20 International half-century in 25 balls, but was out caught

by Perera in fearless style, losing her wicket in the tenth over with the score on 94.

The dangerous Deandra Dottin then took up the mantle to score the runs after playing the supporting role in

sive boundaries and two huge sixes in her masterful innings.

Taylor arguably hit the shot of the match when she gave herself room and timed a six over the extra-cover region.

She continued her six-hitting, but that led to her demise when she tried to hit Siriwardene in the final over and was caught.

Britney Cooper then came in and finished off the carnage when she hit the final ball of the West Indies innings for a six.

Prabodhani, Ranasinghe and Siriwardene picked up one wicket each in an ordinary

Farfan & Mendes Junior Skill Level Squash Tournament…

Grant Fernandes sweeps Category F 0

The Farfan & Mendes Junior Skill Level Tournament continued on Thursday night at the Georgetown Club Courts with matches in eight of the nine categories being contested.

In ‘Category A’, Michael Alphonso continued his impressive run with another straight set victory, this time over Gianni Carpenter,

winning 11-3, 11-9, 114; while in ‘Category B’, Nicholas Verwey was equally impressive, as he disposed of Abosaide Cadogan with relative ease in scores of 114, 11-6, 11-6.

Also in ‘Category B’, Kirsten Gomes had a much tougher time, needing four games to eventually beat Mohyryan Baksh 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.

In ‘Category F’, Grant Fernandes remained unbeaten, defeating Matthew Spooner 11-3, 11-8, and Noah Rahaman 11-3, 11-4.

He was crowned champion in this category.

Matches continue today from 11:00 hrs, and continue again at 18:00 hrs, with the finals scheduled to be held on Sunday from 11:00 hrs.

display of bowling.

Sri Lanka batters faced an uphill task when the required run rate was more than nine runs per over. The ever-dependable captain Chamari Athapaththu and Hasini Perera were the Sri Lankan openers who were tasked with providing a quick-fire start in the power-play overs.

However, the crowd was behind the West Indies, and Sri Lanka felt as if they were playing the entire Caribbean nation.

Shakera Selman, who bowls like a steaming train, picked up the first wicket in the third over with the score on 14. Selman rattled Perera’s stumps for 10 as Athapaththu watched her teammates fall in clusters. Guyanese Shemaine Campbell was involved in some brilliant ground work when 17-year-old Dilhari was run out for 5.

The defending champions continued to play as a unit, and the bowlers continued their onslaught, with Sri Lankan batters failing to answer the constant questions being ask by the Caribbean attack.

Athapaththu was the only Sri Lankan who looked comfortable combating the fiery West Indies bowling unit. She scored 44 from 35 balls. The second highest runs scored by a batter in Sri Lanka’s innings was 11, scored by Nilakshi

de Silva; the Asian side was bowled out for a below-par 104.

Matthews bowled her gentle off-spin and picked up

3-16; while Selman, Dottin, Henry and Fletcher chipped in with one wicket each to register a crushing victory for the hosts.

3

SCOREBOARD

West Indies Women Innings (20 overs maximum) HK Matthews c Perera b Ranasinghe 62 DJS Dottin lbw b Prabodhani 49 SR Taylor (c) c Kanchana b Siriwardene 41 NY McLean run out (Kanchana) 17 Kycia A Knight † run out (Jayangani) 3 B Cooper not out 6 CA Henry not out 0 Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 1, w 2) 9 TOTAL (20 Overs, RR: 9.35) 187-5 Did not bat: SA Campbelle, ASS Fletcher, SC Selman, SS Connell Fall of wickets: 1-94 (HK Matthews, 9.4 ov), 2-127 (DJS Dottin, 12.3 ov), 3-146 (NY McLean, 15.2 ov), 4-162 (Kycia A Knight, 18.4 ov), 5-181 (SR Taylor, 19.5 ov) BOWLING: KDU Prabodhani (4-0-37-1), OU Ranasinghe (40-21-1), HASD Siriwardene (4-0-46-1), AC Jayangani (30-33-0), WK Dilhari (1-0-140), BMSM Kumari (4-0-30-0) Sri Lanka Women Innings (target: 188 runs from 20 overs) GWHM Perera b Selman 10 AC Jayangani (c) c Matthews b Henry 44

WK Dilhari run out (Campbelle/ Taylor) 5 HASD Siriwardene c Henry b Taylor 6 LE Kaushalya b Dottin 8 NND de Silva c † Knight b Matthews 11 KADA Kanchana c † Knight b Matthews 0 MADD Surangika † not out 8 OU Ranasinghe c † Knight b Matthews 1 BMSM Kumari run out (Connell) 0 KDU Prabodhani c † Knight b Fletcher 7 Extras (w 4) 4 TOTAL (17.4 Overs, RR: 5.88) 104 Fall of wickets: 1-14 (GWHM Perera, 2.6 ov), 2-33 (WK Dilhari, 5.5 ov), 3-45 (HASD Siriwardene, 7.1 ov), 4-56 (LE Kaushalya, 8.6 ov), 5-88 (NND de Silva, 12.5 ov), 6-88 (KADA Kanchana, 12.6 ov), 7-88 (AC Jayangani, 13.2 ov), 8-95 (OU Ranasinghe, 14.4 ov), 9-95 (BMSM Kumari, 14.5 ov), 10104 (KDU Prabodhani, 17.4 ov) BOWLING: SC Selman (4-0-241), SS Connell (2-0-16-0), SR Taylor (2-0-14-1), DJS Dottin (2-0-13-1), CA Henry (3-015-1), HK Matthews (3-0-163), ASS Fletcher (1.4-0-6-1)

5th Smalta Girls’ Football tournament commences today

T

he fifth annual edition of the Smalta Girls’ PeeWee Football tournament is set for four weeks of anticipated rivalry after it kicks off today at the Ministry of Education Ground (MoE) on Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.

The event is set to conclude on December 8th, before which 11 primary schools will be hunting to dethrone defending champions South Ruimveldt.

In the 2017 edition of this tournament, South Ruimveldt dethroned the 2016 champions, St Angela’s, 2-0. Third place went to West Ruimveldt, who defeated Saint Pius 2-1 in a penalty shootout.

The three-group, 12-team tournament has

St Stephens, Genesis Harmony, South Ruimveldt and Mae’s in ‘Group A’, while ‘Group B’ consists of North Georgetown, St Margaret’s, Smith’s Memorial and St Pius.

‘Group C’ is comprised of FE Pollard, West Ruimveldt, Enterprise and Tucville.

A total of six matches will be contested today, being held simultaneously by twos.

The winning team will receive $200,000 while the runner-up will claim $100,000; third place occupier will get $75,000 and fourth placer $50,000. All prizes go towards a school project of the winners’ choice.

This event is sponsored by ANSA McAL through their Smalta brand.

Results of the other matches: ‘Category C’

Shiloh Asregado defeated Chad De Abreu 11 -1, 11-6, 11-6 Louis Da Silva defeated Osmond Mack 11-5, 11-4, 11-3

‘Category D’

Joshua Verwey defeated Beau Fernandes 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 Lajuan Munroe beat Nathan Rahaman 9-11, 11-1, 11-1, 11-5

‘Category E’

Dhiren Persaud beat Aram Chan 11-1, 11-6 Aishani Persaud defeated Angel Rahaman 11-3, 11-13, 11-4

‘Category F’

Grant Fernandes beat Matthew Spooner 11 -3, 11-8 Christiana Fernandes beat Safirah Sumner 11-5, 11-9 Grant Fernandes beat Noah Rahaman 11-3, 11-4

‘Category G’

Romero Muniram beat Matthew Daly 11-9, 11-3 Tristan Seereeram beat Tiana Gomes 6-11, 11-6, 11-6

Part of last year’s action in the Smalta girls’ peewee football tournament

Match #

Teams

Time

1

St Stephens vs Mae’s

13:00h

2

Genesis Harmony vs South Ruimveldt

13:00h

3

North G/T vs Smith’s Memorial

13:50h

4

St Margret’s vs St Pius

13:50h

5

FE Pollard vs Enterprise

14:40h

6

West Ruimveldt vs Tucville

14:40h

SATURdAY, november 17, 2018

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

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Stand-alone Women’s World T20 tournament…

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– magnificent Matthews shines

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Page 19

Pacesetters strike wins in both divisions

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