Guyanatimes

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Issue No. 2941

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Monday, August 8, 2016

Controversial container fee slashed from $25,000 to $5000 – M&CC

Nismes accident leaves 1 dead, 1 injured Page 2

“We are interested in efficiency” – Granger

$80 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Govt to set up Lands Commission to address anomalies with communal P11 lands

Page 7

– drivers complaining bitterly

Wales Estate closure

Page 3

Investigations ongoing into controversial GPL email – Crime Chief

Bridges, potholes in Region 2 roads not yet fixed

The bridge leading to Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast is in a deplorable state. Inset is one of the potholed roads in Region Two

PRICE

Guyanese unaware of potential income oil will generate – Ramkarran Page 10

Reparations for slavery

P2 Guyana, Caribbean will continue to press Europe for apology, compensation – Granger Unsolved murder of taxi driver

Family disappointed by slow pace of investigation

Lawrence says UNICEF report on P12 child marriage misleading … 6% of Guyanese girls are wedded before 15 – report

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NEWS

MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016 | GUYANA-TIMES.COM

Reparations for slavery

Guyana, Caribbean will continue to press Europe for apology, compensation – Granger

P

resident David Granger on Sunday reassured local African leaders that Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean will continue to fight tooth and nail to get Europe to apologise to People of African descent for enslaving their foreparents, as he emphasised that the battle for compensation from Europe will continue unabated.

In 2013, Caribbean Community Heads of Government established the Caricom Reparations Commission (CRC) with a mandate to prepare the case for reparatory justice for the Region’s indigenous and African descendant communities who are victims of Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) in the forms of genocide, slavery, slave trading and racial apartheid.

In March 2014, the leaders endorsed a Ten-point Action Plan for Reparatory Justice which is being used as the basis for discussions on reparations.

Addressing the opening of Cuffy250’s 4th Annual State of the African Guyanese Forum at the Critchlow Labour College Sunday morning, President Granger said while Britain has apologised to the Mao Maos for torture, and Germany to the Jews for the Holocaust, Guyana and other Caribbean countries would continue to press for Europe to apologise and compensate people of African descent for slavery.

“This is a hard thing and the Caribbean governments

President David Granger

are insisting on an apology because a crime has been committed and they must say we are sorry,” he said.

The Guyanese leader, a trained historian also reminded that the United Nations-designated International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) creates the ideal opportunity more than ever for Guyana and its Caribbean counterparts to take the fight for repatriation head on. However, he warned that “the clock is ticking” with already 20 months lost since the UN declaration. The President therefore urged that the remaining 100 months be utilised wisely.

The Decade is expected to be used by former colonies to press Europe for an apology and compensation from for the inhumane and criminal act of slavery, provision of education, provision of jobs and the promotion of equality, and an end to discrimination.

“We have to make the decade work for the people of African descent,” the President declared, adding

that, “We have an obligation just as our illiterate foreparents 178 years ago saw the benefits of education, we their educated descendants, then to ensure that every single child goes to school and stays in school.”

He also urged the African leaders to mobilise themselves to achieve specific, measurable targets.

“I ask that some forum be created so that nobody will be left out, everyone could feel involved, everyone could be consulted if we are to achieve the objectives of this International Decade (of People of African Descent),” he said.

Then UK Prime Minister David Cameron who visited Jamaica earlier this year had declared that he does not believe reparations or apologies for slavery are the right approach.

However his successor Theresa May has not yet made her position known on this particular issue.

Turning his attention to home, Granger said ethnic discrimination and lack of equal access to public services contribute to inequality, adding that people of African descent have in the past alleged such acts of discrimination in the public and private sectors.

“There is evidence that there was discrimination.

We must now correct that situation because discrimination against anyone promotes insecurity and social exclusion and that can lead to disorder,” the president said.

Referee remains unconscious after 14 days at GPHC

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national referee returning home on Monday, June 25, 2016 after refereeing a game in Bartica is still unconscious at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after being involved in an accident on West Coast Berbice.

Collin Bowry, 31, of Smythfield, New Amsterdam, was first transferred from the Fort Wellington Hospital to the New Amsterdam Hospital and then to GPH, all within the same day.

It was reported that the victim was travelling in a car with his wife and two-yearold son along with the driver when they collided with another vehicle that is said to be a Prado cruiser. The driver, wife and child all suffered minor bruises.

Mother of the referee Stephanie Bowry speaking to this publication disclosed that her son has not regained consciousness since the accident. She said the doctors communicated to her that it can take weeks, months or

Collin Bowry

possibly years.

Despite Collin’s condition, the doctors have notified his parents that he will be discharged at the end of this week to receive home care because the hospital cannot accommodate him any longer.

His mother noted her anxiety and reservations of him being discharged without being in a stable condi-

tion: “I do not know if the hospital is going to send nurses to look after him or they will show us how to use the tubes.” Collin who was unable to breathe independently is now able to do so after several days.

Mother Bowry added that Collin breathing on his own is his only improvement, however she remains optimistic: “all things are possible with Jesus Christ.”

She continued that her son was selected to referee a number of football matches in Miami: “He was selected to go to Miami Monday (today) for a tournament. He has his boots and clothes already neatly prepared to travel.”

The details of the drivers of both vehicles remain sketchy. The relatives of the referee are unaware if any of the drivers were detained.

The mother added that her son’s life is far more important than to take time out of her busy schedule of visitation to her son to enquire about any legal details.

Nismes accident leaves 1 dead, 1 injured

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n early morning collision between a minibus and a motorcycle has left one man dead and

Dead: Timothy Emanuel Assing

one woman injured.

Dead is 27-year-old Timothy Emanuel Assing of Old Road, La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD).

Reports indicate that at approximately 01:30h on Sunday, the minibus was

travelling south on the eastern carriageway of Nismes Public Road, WBD, while Assing was travelling north on the motorcycle, in the company of a pillion rider, Shellon Glasgow.

It is alleged that Assing was blinded by the headlights of the oncoming minibus and veered into its path on the eastern carriageway, resulting in the head-on collision which sent the minibus into the trench on the eastern side of the public road.

Assing and Glasgow were rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where Assing was pronounced dead on arrival and Glasgow received treatment for injuries to her mouth.

She was subsequently discharged.

The driver of the minibus, who was taken into custody, is assisting Police with their investigations.

news

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MONDAY, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, August 8 – 08:30h-10:00h and Tuesday, August 9 – 09:00h-10:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, August 8 – 07:10h-08:40h and Tuesday, August 9 – 07:50h-09:20h.

Controversial container fee slashed from $25,000 to $5000 - M&CC

T

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY Heavy rain showers will prevail throughout the day with sunny conditions expected in the early morning hours. Partly cloudy conditions can be expected in the evening, with temperatures ranging between 24 degrees and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Southerly to East North-easterly between 0.89 metre and 3.12 metres.

High Tide: 07:47h and 20:06h reaching maximum heights of 2.50 metres and 2.45 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 13:41 reaching a minimum height of 0.76 metre.

he controversial $25,000 container fee was slashed to $5000 as an interim measure following discussions last Friday between Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Private Sector Commission (PSC).

Town Clerk Royston King said in a statement that discussions and deliberations on the issue concluded with those in attendance proposing that the Council reduce the container fee to $5000 as an interim measure.

“It will be collected at the source, at the various Ports and Wharves, effective 1st of August, 2016,” King said.

He said that the meeting, held in an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation, also examined other issues.

On July 19, the M&CC blocked several streets in Georgetown and its environs, demanding that a $25,000 fee be paid for each container to traverse the city streets.

The management staff of John Fernandes Terminal had told Guyana Times that they were approached

The blocked entrance of John Fernandes Wharf after fee standoff

leaving the location unless the $25,000 fee was paid.

While there, Deputy Town Clerk Jerrick told the media that the City Council was merely invoking Numbers 273 and 274 of its by-laws with respect to the use of its roads by vehicles of a “certain weight”.

However, the Council was

of Motion, the SAG through Attorneys Sase Gunraj and Christopher Ram, sought to have an Order or Rule Nisi of Certiorari directed to Royston King, Town Clerk of the City of Georgetown, quashing the decision made on July 19, 2016 to block and/ or impede access of vehicles transporting shipping con-

forced to abandon the demand after Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) moved to the High Court challenging the M&CC’s decision to impose the new fee.

The SAG in its court documents filed, emphasised that the Municipal and Municipal District Councils Act, Ch 28:01 and by-laws does not provide for the imposition of such a tax.

According to the Notice

tainers on streets within the City of Georgetown unless a fee of $25,000 per container is paid.

This application was made on the grounds that the decision is contrary to and in violation of Municipal and Municipal District Councils Act, Ch 28:01 and by-laws made there under, is biased, without jurisdiction, made in bad faith, is unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, mala

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by Deputy Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick on behalf of the M&CC and were informed that all laden container trucks must pay a fee of $25,000 to traverse the city streets or be blocked at the wharves.

M&CC officials were also present outside the Muneshwer’s Wharf, where they also prevented container trucks from entering or

fide, malicious, vindictive, unlawful, ultra vires, null, void and of no legal effect.

The SAG is seeking for Town Clerk Royston King to show some cause as to why the said Order or Rule Nisi of Certiorari should not be made absolute. The PSC in an earlier statement had said that it was increasingly concerned at the approach of the M&CC to make such decisions to raise revenue, which negatively impacts the business community and the citizens of Georgetown, without any public consultation and without due process within the law.

It went on to say too that it is cognisant of the city requiring sufficient revenue to be run efficiently; however, the Council should take an inclusive approach by engaging stakeholders in the decision-making process, which will serve the interest of all parties.

Nevertheless, the PSC Commission said it was looking forward to further discussions on the matter with the hope it results in a sensible and professional resolution reflecting the mutual interests of the business community, the citizens and the municipality.

It appears that the most recent meetings and discussions between the PSC and M&CC were reflective of such.

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guyana-times.com

mondAY, august 8, 2016

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 2310544, 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, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Race matters

W

hile in New York towards the end of July at a reunion of overseas Guyanese from Skeldon, referring to the situation “back home”, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo was reported to have said, “There is an assault on our democracy. There is an assault on people of Indian origin. There is an assault on supporters of the PPP. What we thought would never return to Guyana, in just one short year has returned with full force, and even worse in some regards than the Burnham era.”

Honing in on the section that referred to “an assault on people of Indian origin”, a statement issued through the offices of the Prime Minister and Presidency “condemn(ed), in the strongest possible terms, the irresponsible, hateful race baiting and malicious fabrications and falsehoods uttered by Opposition Leader Mr Bharrat Jagdeo”. In the following days, a sharp debate has erupted on the claims and counter claims that, unfortunately, followed the lines of cleavage where race and politics coincide in Guyana.

Those that supported him in the press and social media pointed out that what he stated in New York was in no way different from what he and other members of the PPP had said in Guyana. They pointed out, for instance, the dismissal of a wide swathe of Indians from the Public Sector and Government corporations. The abrupt announcement of the closure of Wales Estate was cited as affecting mostly Indian Guyanese workers, as did the Government’s contention that it was not responsible for finding markets for rice, even after it refused to renegotiate with Venezuela to resuscitate the lucrative “Oil-for-Rice” Petro-Caribe deal.

What the debate confirms is that matters of race still elicit strong emotions in Guyana and the country cannot sweep the issue under the carpet. The platitudes about “not exploiting” race will not solve anything. As in the present brouhaha, who determines what is “exploitation” of race and what is not? Several commentators have asserted that the Government’s response to Jagdeo’s New York statement was opportunistic and could also be tagged as “race baiting”.

What is most depressing about the episode is after claims of “race baiting” by politicians have bedevilled Guyana for half a century, an Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) was constitutionally mandated in 2000 to deal with this and other contingencies that may arise out of our racial/ethnic cleavages. The ERC emanated from the Herdmanston Accord which Caricom brokered between the PPP and the PNC after the latter launched street protests following the December 1997 elections that resulted in ethnic riots in Georgetown.

Article 212 (d) of the Constitution outlines 24 functions of the ERC, among which are to (3) “Discourage and prohibit persons, institutions, political parties and associates from indulging in, advocating or promoting discriminatory practices on the ground of ethnicity; (4) Foster a sense of security among all ethnic groups by encouraging and promoting the understanding, acceptance and tolerance of diversity in all aspects of national life and promoting full participation by all ethnic groups in the social, economic, cultural and political life of the people.”

While the Government identified the need for “social cohesion” as one of its primary goals after the elections of May 2015, and launched a Ministry that is supposed to bring about that happy state, they have been accused of using this vehicle, which is totally an Executive creature, to sideline the ERC which is composed of representatives of a wide cross-section of Guyanese institutions, including ethnic ones.

The methodology of the Ministry of Social Cohesion to craft its Five Year Strategic Plan has served to confirm the suspicions of its critics that a process that is totally under the control of one “side” to the racial/ethnic cleavage would lack wide legitimacy. While the Government must go ahead with its efforts to increase social cohesion, the ERC must be constituted forthwith to directly address contentions related to race.

Olympic moments: Masashi Ebinuma of Japan and Ma Duanbin of China compete in the judo competition (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

Burnham’s Legacy

Dear Editor, This month marks the 31st anniversary of the death of Comrade Linden Forbes Samson Burnham, the salutation being that by which I am sure he would prefer to be remembered.

In commemoration of LFS Burnham’s life and contribution to Guyana, it would be remiss of me to not first acknowledge that Burnham’s brilliance as an orator had earned him prominence as a well-respected statesman in the international arena. He dedicated his life to advancing Guyana’s agenda for social and economic development and forging one nation for our six peoples by initiating the process of crafting the security and equality of our races into law.

Burnham’s efforts were unfortunately caught up in the international politics of capitalism and socialism of the time, the oil crisis of the 70s, the racial tensions that resulted from his split with the People’s Progressive Party, and state of economic thinking that prevailed.

Much has transpired since. The world has advanced through technology and globalisation, and the paths to economic and social development are much clearer.

Advanced countries are now much more involved in advancing the cause of development in the countries to which they provide aid, and it is becoming a virtual impossibility for politicians to escape the network of technology and financial

tracking systems for rooting out corruption How could Burnham best be remembered?

I would proffer that Forbes Burnham could be best remembered if we delivered on the legacy of his vision for our country. Burnham would have first wanted us to overcome our ignorance and fears of each other’s religious beliefs and recognise the oneness of the Supreme Being who recreated us and the love He expects us of each other.

He would have wanted us to put aside our racial and ethnic insecurities, and overcome our stereotypical thinking of each other by actively seeking to understand, appreciate and embrace our diverse cultures.

In this rapidly changing global technological, economic and social environment, Burnham would have wanted us to aggressively adapt and adopt the new technologies, ideas, systems and approaches to economic and social progress.

The solutions to our problems today are now no more a mystery than the transition of day to night.

Our history is for instruction. The time is now for the present and the future.

Let us utilise our skills, talents and resources to deliver on Burnham’s dreams for us in this country of ours, our land of One People, One Nation, One Destiny.

Yours faithfully, Craig Sylvester

Professor Bishnodat Persaud was given a royal send-off in the UK Dear Editor, Professor Bishnodat Persaud was given a royal send off in the UK in a unique ceremony containing Hindu, Christian and secular elements which was attended by hundreds including two knights Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary General, and Sir Vince Cable former Business Secretary in the British Government.

Professor Persaud’s body was cremated on Friday ten days after his passing. He had a distinguished career and played a significant role in encouraging the future

Finance\minister and later Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, along the path.

Persuasive but always modest, his ideas found their way to high level commissions of which he was part, such as the UN Secretary General’s High Level Committee on Development Policy as Chief Economic Advisor to Sir Shridath Ramphal, Commissioner to the Brandt, Bruntland and South Commissions.

Professor Persaud insisted that his wife Lakshmi Persaud, his sons, Raj, Avinash and daugh-

ter Sharda received their PhD degrees. His sister Maharanie also holds a PhD degree. He received the highest national honour from the government of Barbados two years ago and his wife who was born in Trinidad and Tobago received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies in 2014.

In his tribute, Sir Shridath said that he was born in New Amsterdam, five miles from where Persaud was born and added that the two Berbice boys did a marvellous job for the Commonwealth Secretariat

and the world.

Scores of persons from the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean journeyed to London for the funeral. Among the attendees were Dr Hughley Hanoman, Professor Clem Seecharran, Dr Krishna Persaud, lawyers Tom Kharran, David Singh, Edward Rooney, journalist John Meir and others.

His ashes will be flown to Guyana to be thrown in the Canje Creek, a hundred yards from where the Professor was born.

Yours truly, Oscar Ramjeet

guyana-times.com

monDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016

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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

Govt should ban Alkaline and similar singers from coming to perform here

Dear Editor, I saw on most of our TV stations that the dance hall singer Alkaline is coming to Guyana to sing. These TV promoters are promoting this Jamaica singer as if he is some sort of a messiah coming to Guyana to create a revival for our nation.

I am no fan of Alkaline and many of his contemporaries but I can differentiate what is a song from ‘’loud cussing’’ on a video.

I took some time to listen to Alkaline songs and in his songs he used the F words

and tons of expletives and profanities. For example, his famous songs are ‘’Fleek, Wining down, Ride on Me, Side Gyal, One more time, City and a long list of songs loaded with cuss words degrading women.

In his music video Fleek he has tons of cash in his hands as he smoked drugs and has a woman practically naked wining up on a pole. In the music video ‘Side Gyal’’ he and a girl having sex explicitly and he sings his sex song to her explicitly depicting sex in a real immoral

Dear Editor, I do have a very serious problem with GPL Corriverton (Springlands) which I have been trying to resolve for some seven months now. I am an overseas Guyanese from the United Kingdom, I have invested a great deal of money in the upper Corentyne area of our country over the past 10 years.

In January 2016, some mindless person scaled the fence and went into my yard and damaged our electric meter while we were out for a few hours. After we teturned we discovered the damage.

My brother went to Corriverton and filed a complaint at the office. My brother was told we will have to pay for the broken meter; he agreed and paid for the broken meter, and he was given a receipt which is in his possession.

He was also told by GPL that they no longer supply prepaid meters any longer, so we will have to pay for a monthly meter, to which he has agreed and paid for. My brother was told the meter will be installed in about two weeks.

GPL have not kept to their words; they have been giving him the royal run around. GPL should be ashamed to have employees running their company in this manner.

In June 2016, I travelled to Guyana for six weeks and I took up the matter with GPL Springlands, I was then referred to the Meter Dept in New Amsterdam.

The guy from the meter section came and said he could not connect the meter because he was getting shocked, he will have to get the Transformer Department to call and check out the Transformer.

I then went back to GPL Springlands and I was told by the supervisor that she will arrange for both the Meter Department and the Transformer Department to be at the same time to resolve the problem, which never materialised.

We are still waiting. It is eight months now and still waiting, I have spent eight weeks of my time and these people could not care if my meter was fixed and current restored. Their behaviour is beyond human decency and contempt. In disgust I came back to the UK. I would like you to let it be known, they invite overseas Guyanese to come and invest in our country, then treat them so badly it is such a shameful way, and disgusting way for people to behave.

Royal run-around being given by GPL Corriverton

Yours truly, Abdul Samad

manner. He starts his next music video ‘’City’’ with tons of F words.

My concerns about this Jamaican Dance Hall singer are many? Why would promoters want to bring this immoral singer to our country?

Who is responsible for bringing him? Are they aware of what he sings?

The lyrics of his songs are obnoxious and very degrading to women and young people.

Songs by Alkaline, Vibez Kartel, Mavado, Popcaan, Konshens, are very vulgar and many of our Guyanese singers joining this vulgar crew. A very careful view of these music videos and one would see that it is musical pornography invading our society.

I am calling on the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Education and the Minister of State to ban Alkaline from coming to perform here. We must also remember that Kartel is currently serving a prison sentence in Jamaica for murder.

Our government should ban all the songs of these dance hall singers from entering Guyana so as to create a clean society. I challenge our ministers including our President and Prime Minister to listen to Alkaline songs, I bet they won’t hear it for five minutes. Our young people have fallen morally, spiritually, and academical-

ly because of all these filthy music entering our nation.

I have taken time off to view some of the shows which are replayed on TV. What I have seen and listened to is very immoral and disturbing to my soul. Songs from the Trinidad group by the Hit Man and our own Terry Gajraj and Adrian Dutchin promote rum drinking, and we are fully aware that rum is the cause of family breakups and domestic violence in our society.

Many of these songs have sexual overtones, and promote violence against women yet they are given a stage in Guyana. Some of our own singers join them by singing songs that promote vulgarity of the highest nature.

Another song I viewed is called ‘All Night’; the message of the song really promotes sex, but does that really help our nation while we battle against AIDS? Are these singers and entertainers really helping our nation morally? Are they helping our young people spiritually and academically? While some of our singers and artists are very talented they can do better by singing cleaner songs with meaning like those of Bob Marley and Eddy Grant.

I also observed that lots of singers today are performing very scantily dressed, from lady GaGa, Britney Spears, Niki Minaj, Beyonce,

Madonna, and including many of our own singers.

Most of the females in these music videos are in their underwear gyrating and ‘wining.’

We have fallen from grace as a nation in this fast moving world of lawless and ignorant singers who became millionaires by promoting sex in their songs because sex sells in various forms.

It seems to me that those who are bringing Alkaline here don’t care about the harm they are doing this nation but their major concern is to make money.

God admonishes us in Holy Scripture that: ‘’ For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’’ 1 Timothy 6:10 I discovered that people in this world can do anything for money even if many people have to die for them to get rich. I call on our present administration to ban all these immoral singers from Jamaica, Trinidad, and from the USA too, from coming here to perform their filth.

When I talk about great singers I can call a few here like: Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Paul Anka, Mohamed Rafi, Sono Nigam, Whitney Houston, Celene Dion, Shania Twain,

Marc Anthony, The Marley Brothers, etc. To hear just a few of these singers can transform your soul when you hear them sing.

William Shakespeare wrote: ‘’If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.’’

What is the Ministry of Culture doing about these immoral shows that are invading our country? Can we really define our culture or do we have what it takes to comprehend the meaning of the word ‘culture.’

We also need to take another look at the vulgarity of Mashramani and ask ourselves if these events are helping the moral and intellectual fabric of our society.

It’s about time our citizens stopped supporting these shows because these entertainers are getting rich from our nation, which is poor. We can only value our nation by what we have produced and achieved over the years, and we have not arrived as yet.

As VS Naipaul wrote: “We have produced nothing in the Caribbean.” What we have produced is Carnival and vile music that gives us more poverty, illiteracy, immorality and misery.

Yours faithfully, Rev Gideon Cecil

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monday, august 8, 2016

Page

Foundation

The cognitive cost of

By E Paul Zehr, PhD – or, please concentrate on driving, not on using a cell phone

M

ost of us think we’re pretty good at paying attention. Lots of us think that’s

while listening to someone, preparing to speak to them, and then actually speaking we are constantly trying to figure out where the person is.

In the background we are trying to form a kind of mental image of where the

Removing the motor act of holding the phone makes it marginally better, but it still doesn’t address the issue of attention and our abilities to concentrate on different kinds of tasks.

Recently Patrik

Just listening to background music or talking to someone in the same vehicle does not cause the same distraction as trying to have a conversation with someone on a cell phone. This applies to hands-free phones too true even while doing multiple things at the same time. Like when we drive.

Each us has a story where we’ve been driving and found ourselves stopped at a light with an advanced green signal flashing. Those drivers who are paying attention realise that the advance green signal means they get to turn left. However, in these stories the driver ahead fails to notice the signal and is instead talking on a cell phone and not really paying attention to what is happening. S/he doesn’t even respond to the semi-polite honking of the car horns.

Part of the answer to this has to do with the cognitive demands of speech and “inattention blindness”. Speaking and talking are motor acts, but they also involve listening and attention. Listening has lower cognitive demand than does speaking and getting ready to speak, but

guyana-times.com

person actually is and maintaining this takes up a lot of the processing power in our

brains.

It is almost like the ancient part of our brain is constantly searching for who we are talking to but we cannot “see” them.

Because of this, just listening to background music or talking to someone in the same vehicle does not cause the same distraction as trying to have a conversation with someone on a cell phone. This applies to hands-free phones too.

Sorqvist and his colleagues in Sweden used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activity and “distractibil-

i t y ” .

Their paper, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, looked at whether cognitive load in a visual task suppresses task-irrelevant auditory processing in other brain areas. They wanted to know if making a visual task more difficult (and requiring more attention) would actually affect the ability to

pay attention (and thus be distracted) by task. an auditory The really interesting result of their study was that higher cognitive load while concentrating on a task decreased the ability to process information that wasn’t related to that task. Linking back to our driver example above, this explains why the concentration involved in talking on a cell phone kept our annoying driver from having attention resources to notice the green light or to hear the car horn.

The important point is that our brains help us allocate attention so that we can concentrate on aspects of what we are doing that we consider relevant while ignoring stuff that is irrelevant.

All of which underlines why it’s so dangerous to combine cognitive task with a complicated motor act such as texting and driving. jurisdictions Many now ban hand held cell phone use (and texting of course) while driving.

Distraction during multitasking with technology even as “simple” as an automobile and a phone don’t mix. No matter what we may think of our prowess at multitasking, concentrating, and allocating our attention.(psychologytoday.com)

Is it normal to have trouble paying attention?

– the lens of ADHD has changed our perceptions of ourselves and our children

By Jessica Grogan, PhD

S

ince 1990, the number of children on medication for ADHD has risen precipitously. Dr Keith Connors, one of the early advocates of the legitimacy of the diagnosis, recently expressed grave concerns about current rates of diagnosis, calling the epidemic numbers a “disaster of dangerous proportions”.

An article which appeared this week in the New York Times, focuses on the drug companies’ role in perpetuating the diagnosis and, essentially, in fabricating new cases through suggestion, manipulation, and (more to my interest) the implication that normal behaviour is abnormal (Schwarz, 2013).

Stimulant advertisers lump carelessness, impatience, and

the unwillingness to t a k e out t h e trash w i t h o t h e r ADHD “ s y m p toms”. But even diagnostic criteria used by doctors include all kinds of normal child behaviour that falls into the category.

Symptoms include not listening when directly spoken to, disliking or avoiding homework, losing things, talking a lot, having trouble waiting for a turn, and fidgeting (DSM-V, 2013).

These symptoms alone describe, well, every young child I’ve ever met.

There’s a real problem with overdiagnosis and overmedication, clearly.

For one, there’s no way to get a medically accurate diagnosis, no identifiable biomedical markers of the condition. For another, we don’t have adequate data on the effects of these drugs on developing brains in the long-term. And, overdiagnosis threatens to delegitimise the experience of people who are really suffering and are really helped by medication.

But even beyond these problems, our very ideas about our children and ourselves are threatened.

We’ve come to expect that even young kids will be able to sit still for long periods of time, focusing

single-mindedly and tuning out distractions. We expect them to listen and be organised. We expect them to tread perfectly the line between “active” and “hyperactive” (though we’ve lost track of where that line even is). We expect the same things from ourselves, which is why it’s particularly traumatic when certain phases of our lives strain our concentration. Stress, for example, is known to eat up our concentrating resources, as are major life events, hormonal changes, lack of sleep. When my first child was born, I was easily diagnosable. I could barely have an adult conversation; I didn’t ever k n o w where m y k e y s were or where my car w a s parked; I couldn’t read novels.

One big problem with this loss of perspective on normal attention deficits is that it comes at a cultural moment least amenable to concentration.

Richard DeGrandpre (2000) characterises contemporary Americans as always in a rush, indulgent of boredom, and addicted to speed and stimulation. He describes our culture as a “hyperculture,” in which we’re “strung out on excitement,” always wanting something new and easily frustrated. He defines ADHD as a “culture-induced brain dysfunction that results from our growing addiction to speed” (DeGrandpre, p 16).

Just imagine if he’d written his book AFTER we all became addicted to our smart phones.

As of 2000, Americans consumed 80 to 90 per cent of the world’s Ritalin (DeGrandpre, 2000), a trend which has continued to present. This phenomenon is evidence that the ADHD “disorder” is culturally-bound. It also suggests that we need to do more to unpack the connections between the definitions of illness we are being offered, the ways of being that technology is promoting, and the way we view ourselves and our loved ones. (psychology-

today.com)

news

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monday, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Wales Estate closure

“We are interested in efficiency” – Granger E

ven as feasibility studies into the use of cane-lands at Wales, West Bank Demerara, continues, Government is assuring that the move to diversify the West Demerara estate will see not only the sugar industry benefitting but the workers there as well.

Speaking on the weekly televised programme, The Public Interest, President David Granger pointed out that the closure of estates has been dated back to over a century-and-a-half ago. He noted that unproductive factories have been shut down and there have been amalgamations.

“This is a normal economic function, this is not punitive,” the Head of State remarked while adding that government is pushing to have an efficient sugar industry. He went on to say that it was against this backdrop that the decision was made to have the entire West Demerara amalgamated and similarly the East Coast Demerara.

“We are not interested in putting sugar workers on the streets, we are interested in efficiency and we are looking to amalgamation. So if something is not function-

Wales, West Demerara Estate Factory

ing efficiently, it will be considered for shutting down or modification but we want to save workers’ jobs, we want to save the sugar industry.

That’s what we want to do,” President Granger declared.

Despite mounting concerns and criticisms over the closure of the estates, government is going ahead with its decision. To this end, several feasibility studies are being conducted at Wales to determine the future of the estate lands.

One of the companies conducting the studies is AquaSol Inc, a United

States-based aquaculture consulting company which offers expert opinions, technology transfer, and aquaculture project management services to new and existing aquaculture projects worldwide.

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder told Guyana Times on Sunday that the studies are on track and the findings will be ready for its August monthend deadline.

Previously, the Minister had stated that research thus far indicates that the cane-lands are suitable for the cultivation of orchard

Investigations ongoing into controversial GPL email – Crime Chief P

olice investigators are currently probing the highly controversial email purportedly sent from an address in the name of former Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO), Ash Deonarine, to a current employee of the utility.

The document which surfaced in the public domain last month contains damning allegations against several former and current employees of the utility company. The lengthy email suggests that former GPL acting CEO, Collin Welch, was allegedly framed so that he could be removed from the post. It also outlined instructions to conceal evidence of a massive meter racket within the company.

Head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum recently told Guyana Times that investigations are ongoing.

Investigators are trying to determine the authenticity of the email address and the contents of the mail.

However, Minister of State Joseph Harmon had previously declared the pre-

Senior Superintendent and CID Head Wendell Blanhum

liminary investigations done by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure revealed the email address is fake.

“Some preliminary investigations had been done and … the sense that we got from the brief was that it seems that the email address had been fake, made up,” Harmon had stated at a post-Cabinet briefing last month.

Nevertheless, the Minister of State had pointed out that the contents of the document are of concern to government.

“…the content of the email included matters for which as a government we have to have some concern so the police have been given the documents, as I understand from the report given

by Minister Patterson, and they are investigating the authenticity of it and any concomitant issues which arises out of that document,” he told reporters.

GPL has been in the limelight for close to a year now after Deonarine was sent on administrative leave in August last year following the discovery that he allegedly transferred some $27.8 million to his personal account without the approval of the board of directors.

He is also being accused of paying former board member Carvil Duncan a sum of $948,000 that was not authorised.

This information was unearthed when the Coalition administration found that close to $142 million of the PetroCaribe Fund was plugged into the operations of the state-owned GPL after it met an empty PetroCaribe fund when it took office and later launched an investigation.

and citrus crops, while other parts can be used for aquaculture and dairy farming.

Nevertheless, Holder had posited that whatever decision is taken by government on the estate it will be done with the 17,000 workers and private cane farmers in mind.

In this regard, he explained that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is also exploring leasing some of the lands to members of the community, particularly those who will not be accommodated at Uitvlugt, in order to get

them more involved in agricultural activities.

Meanwhile, there have been many calls from stakeholders for government to reverse its decision to close the estates. In fact back in May, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) filed a court case against GuySuCo and an interim injunction was subsequently granted in favour of the unions, barring the sugar company and/or their servants/agents, from proceeding to implement the decision to sever the employment of workers from the Wales Estate, unless consultations with the workers were held.

With many of the workers being against the move to transfer to Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, they opted for severance packages instead. However, using the injunction as its justification, GuySuCo said it was unable to pay the 105 Wales sugar workers their severance packages even though the workers on March 22 received letters that stated they would have been paid on May 4.

GAWU has however re-

jected the sugar corporation’s stance, noting that the agreement between the workers and GuySuCo was reached before the May 6 injunction was granted.

Moreover, Guyana Times was told in June that the workers have petitioned the Wales Estate manager for payment in lieu of work for the time they have been unemployed. Some 99 workers were involved in that petition.

This newspaper understands the workers are contending that their severance packages were approved since March 22, 2016, and as such, are requesting that they be paid from April 22 up to the point at which they will be paid their redundancy allowance. The petition, along with letters sent to the estate’s manager, was seen by this publication.

“I hereby request that I be paid my redundancy allowance and payment in lieu of work from April 22, 2016 up to the point of the payment of my redundancy allowance in keeping with Clause 6(2)(i) of the Collective Labour Agreement between my Union, GAWU, and the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc,” one of the letters stated.

8 news

monDAY, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

IN THE COURTS Clerk charged for stealing millions in fuel, gold

A

clerk was on Friday made to stand before City Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charge of stealing $10M worth of items from his employer.

Rondell Sahadeo, 28, of Campbellville, Georgetown, was not required to plea to the offence when it was read to him.

The charge stated that between May 29 and June 4, 2016, at Omai, Essequibo River, while being a clerk

for Paul Garvy, he stole 710 grams of raw gold valued $5.7M and 80 drums of diesel valued $4M, property of Paul Garvy.

Police Prosecutor Kerry Bostwick had no objections when the bail application was made.

Bail was set in at $1M and Sahadeo was ordered to return to court on September 6.

As a condition of bail, the defendant was also ordered to lodge his passport at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Something's rotten...

Y ...in the state of our oil

Rondell Sahadeo

Lindener on bail for obtaining money by false pretence

A

Lindener who appeared before Magistrate Christel Lambert at the Linden Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday was granted bail in the sum of $60,000, after pleading not guilty to three separate charges of

obtaining money by false pretence.

It is alleged that the defendant Damion Jacobis, 36, on three separate occasions obtained $75,000 from virtual complainants (VCs) Lashan McDonald, Shemeca Bullen and

Quianna Welcome, with the intent to commit fraud.

The court heard that the defendant allegedly obtained money from the VCs while pretending that he was in a position to purchase land for them.

The incidents are al-

leged to have occurred on Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden on Saturday April 16.

The defendant was granted $20,000 bail for each offence and is scheduled to make his next court appearance on August 24.

Hururu resident sentenced to 6 months for robbery

J

oshton Walker, 24, was sentenced to six months by Magistrate Christel Lambert on Wednesday on a charge of robbery with violence following his appearance at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.

The court heard that the

defendant, a saw operator and father of three robbed Paul Sarmonto, of $270,000 in cash and an Alcatel cell phone valued $7000.

The court also heard that the defendant used personal violence against Sarmonto during the course

Eyew tness

of the robbery, which occurred on Thursday, July 28 at Hururu Mission, Upper Berbice.

Facts on the matter presented to the court indicated that Walker is known to the defendant since they are in-laws.

On the day of the incident the two were consuming alcohol when the defendant choked and relieved Walker of his belongings including the cash.

During the ordeal Walker was said to have lost consciousness.

our Eyewitness smelled a rat – a dead rat – the moment Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman allowed as to how he was going to reopen the contract with Exxon on drilling for oil in our waters. At the most mundane level, how could a fella who was so clueless about business and finance as to've suggested Exxon would make "advance payments" for oil (which wouldn't be flowing for at least half a decade) be negotiating with a company with such deep pockets??

Exxon's big-time lawyers have been able to tie up prosecutors of half a dozen states – including NY – on their charges the oil giant hid pollution data. Trotman should just google ExxonMobil – their legal department has over 159 full-time lawyers who earn an average of US$209,000 each. Not to mention they often hire outside lawyers like the ones that won Exxon's case against NJ and raked in last year US$50M – in fees!

Anyhow, the other foot – or claw in this Case of the Dead Rat – just dropped. Trotman announced that because of a "confidentiality clause" with Exxon, he can't tell the Guyanese people what the negotiation's all about!! And this from a fella and a party and a government that've hung the PPP out to dry on THEIR claims of such clauses in the forestry sector!!

There's been some talk about Guyana joining this international organisation – Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) – that pushes for "transparency" in exploiting natural resources so the funds don't end up in private pockets. Seems like we'd better join up before Trotman starts "negotiating".

But this Eyewitness's betting we won't – for the simple reason that guess who has to submit the application for admission to EITI? That's right....Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Mr Trotman!! After more than a year of being advised by the World Bank, the Trinidad chapter of EITI, and a symposium of local "stakeholders", Trotman says the application MIGHT be ready by November.

Don't be holding your breath now!

There are two sets of concerns about our coming "oil boom". One about the distribution of wealth flowing from the oil wells through new jobs/businesses created will only be directed at one or the other ethnic groups on the coast and leave the Amerindians out in the cold once again. It could be a repetition of the bauxite saga which saw only African Guyanese being recruited in the mines and factory.

Then there're the fears of corruption as in which Billions are siphoned off into private foreign bank accounts of politicians.

But these will just be the crumbs left after the "renegotiation" with Exxon! Transparency now!!

...in WI Cricket

How much longer are we going to put up with the authoritarian behaviour of the WICB when it is so painfully obvious they're killing our cricket? The WICB's latest sticking of their finger into the eyes of us long-suffering fans is their sacking of Sammy as captain of the WI T20 team. Why? Just because he spoke his mind about the bungling of the WICB in handling arrangements for the ICC T20 World Cup. Which he won and made us the current World Champs in this format!

And who'd they replace Sammy with? The untested and inexperienced youth Kraigg Braithwaite. The WICB insists in following the practice of the old colonial boards that treated local "Creole" players like dirt and were expected to be thankful just to be serving the Board.

And here your Eyewitness thought Massa day was done!!

...in Parliament

Your Eyewitness's heard about there being "no honour among thieves". But politicians? PM Nagamootoo was pretty exhaustive when he perorated in Parliament that without "evidence", he couldn't say whether Burnham, the army, the police, imperialists, or rogue elements assassinated Rodney.

But he didn't contradict Basil Williams who said, "the PPP done it!" Does this mean Nagamootoo was shown THIS "evidence"?

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

NEWS

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MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016 | GUYANA-TIMES.COM

Neither UG nor Govt can hold past students accountable to pay loans – Lincoln Lewis S

tudents who signed an agreement for loans at the University of Guyana during the period when public education was “constitutionally free” cannot be held accountable for defaulting on payment, says General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis.

Lewis, in a letter, stated that the Constitution of Guyana had within it free public education from nursery to university, but this was excised with constitutional reform during the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) time in office. He stated that neither the University of Guyana nor the Government could hold these persons accountable for an act “which was clearly in violation of the supreme law”.

“The Constitution is explicit that any act that contravenes it is null and void,” he said, reiterating that the Constitution was the nation’s supreme law and every government official, more so the “elected representatives”, should take time to acquaint themselves with it.

The Government is wrestling with manoeuvres to recoup loans provided by the University's Student Loan Agency. One strategy,

Veteran trade unionist Lincoln Lewis

as highlighted by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, was to restrict the graduates from travelling outside Guyana until they made arrangements to settle their debts.

On the flip side, Citizenship Minister Winston Felix and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge have openly stated that they were unaware of any such plan. President David Granger had also come out to say any restriction would be against the law and his Administration would not implement such a measure.

“The APNU/AFC Administration has to be mindful it does not continue sending the signal that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing or decisions are being

made without due diligence,” Lewis said, opining that the business of government is managed by “timehonoured principles, established rules and laws, not gut feelings,” and so to entertain the idea of barring persons’ freedom of movement, without examining the legal implications, should not have happened.

He stated that any repayment approach must also factor in that the Government has failed to build the enabling environment to keep its people, and provide employment and economic opportunities for them. He noted that it should consider examining the fees being paid in kind in various forms of national service.

Considering that 85 per cent of Guyana’s tertiary

graduates migrate and approximately 40 per cent of its young people are unemployed, coupled with a national unemployment rate of 21 per cent, Lewis stated, Guyana has a serious problem on its hands.

Thus, outside of ensuring that the “Constitution is not violated, in its present form and considering when student loans were introduced, the Government has to look at this matter through holistic and sober lens”. This, he said, must include recognition of the

ment seems elusive.

Meanwhile, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall has stated that in the Constitution there were enforceable and unenforceable provisions – free tertiary education being one of the unenforceable ones.

He stated that there were ideal goals that a country would aspire to achieve in terms of free education from nursery to university, but it did not mean that these provisions would be enforced.

He stated that every

of the exceptions provided for by the Constitution itself, would be in contravention of the citizen’s constitutional right of movement.

“Failure to pay one’s debt is not one of the exceptions provided for by the Constitution as an exception to freedom of movement.

Therefore, the imposition of a travel ban for the non-payment of student loans would amount to a deprivation of that student’s freedom of movement as is guaranteed by

reality that among the student population are those who in accessing advanced education did so because they saw it as a stepping stone for better, yet better-

citizen enjoyed the right to freedom of movement, which included the right to enter and leave Guyana and so a ban imposed on any citizen, unless it falls into one

the Constitution,” Nandlall stated, adding that the same Constitution provided for the establishment of private schools, where fees are chargeable.

Bridges, potholes in Region 2 roads not yet fixed – drivers complaining bitterly

By Indrawattie Natram

D

rivers traversing various roads and bridges along the Essequibo Coast are complaining bitterly of the huge potholes and gaps in them that are causing damage to their vehicles and despite numerous complaints made to regional officials, no repairs have been done.

Approximately one month ago, Guyana Times had reported on the huge potholes in several streets leading to medical institutions and schools, and to date no maintenance crew or anyone has visited those areas.

The potholes have since deteriorated further and this is creating an extra burden on vehicle owners. At Golden Fleece, the bridge leading to the community with a population of over 800 and some of the streets have eroded and drivers have been complaining of damage caused to their tyres. The rice harvest is approaching and many rice farmers have to use the said bridge to get to a miller.

In various communities, such as Suddie, Zorg, Anna Regina, Dartmouth, Charity, Supenaam,

Post-mortem today for teen who accidentally shot self

A

One of the pot hole roads in Region Two

Reliance and Cotton Field, there is evidence of road erosion. Most of the residents living in these communities said reports were made to the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Rupert Hopkinson and the engineer and to date, nothing has been done.

Persons are of the view if the roads are not properly maintained, more money will have to be expended from the region’s capital programme to re-do most of

them.

At the recent statutory meeting of the Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) Regional Democratic Council (RDC), coalition Councillor Naitram also reported same. As such, he called on the REO to form a maintenance crew to repair and maintain the roads. He said that reports were made several months ago in relation to the condition of the roads, but to date nothing has been done.

Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt had also reported that several bridges and streets were in deplorable condition and, in some instances, were sinking. This, he said, had engaged the attention of the REO several months ago and nothing has been done.

Ramdatt said residents have been complaining to him about the issue on numerous occasions and he has informed the relevant authorities of same.

post-mortem examination will be conducted today on the body of Handel Daniels, 17, of Caracas Village, West Canje, Berbice, who was killed on Thursday evening after the gun he was carrying accidently went off at a farming camp in Canje Creek, Berbice.

This was told to Guyana Times by B Division Commander Ian Amsterdaam on Sunday.

The commander further stated that the police recovered a firearm believed to be the one that killed the teenager: “We are not sure if it is the same firearm so we are waiting for the postmortem to be conducted to see if the fragment recovered from the body matches the gun.”

He further explained that the firearm was recovered in a paddle boat that was used to transport the injured teen from the camp to another point, where he was then transferred onto an engine boat.

According to reports, the teenager was in the company of others but left to use

the lavatory and as he made his way down the farming camp, the steps collapsed.

From reports the young man was carrying a gun and it went off, hitting him once to the abdomen. This occurred sometime around 18:30h on Thursday.

Commander Amsterdam had previously told this newspaper after the teen was shot, that he was picked up with the intention of seeking medical attention at the New Amsterdam Hospital but was first treated at Baracara Health Centre. The teen reportedly succumbed on his way to New Amsterdam.

This newspaper was told that persons who accompanied the teenager for medical attention, could not give an accurate account of the shooting but related what was told to them by the injured lad before he died.

The men were detained and questioned but were later released. At the time of initial investigations, the gun had not been recovered.

Meanwhile, the Police are continuing their investigations.

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guyana-times.com

monDAY, august 8, 2016

News

Guyanese unaware of potential income oil will generate − Ramkarran —“biggest challenge would be to avoid corruption”

F

ormer PPP stalwart Ralph Ramkarran has stated that Guyanese are “blissfully” unaware of the potential income oil production will generate and what it would entail for the country, something which government has given no indication.

In his blog, “The Conversation Tree” Ramkarran projected that with increased exploration activities, if anything close to the lower figure of 15 billion barrels is discovered, for most Guyanese the future would be beyond consideration. He indicated that with reserves of only between 800 million and 1.4 billion barrels, poverty would be wiped out in a short time and Guyana’s per capita income of US$3600 would rise quickly.

Recently, American company ExxonMobil discovered that the second exploration well in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana has a recoverable resource of between 800 million and 1.4 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The US Geological Surveys has long estimated that Guyana’s offshore reserves are between 15 and 30 billion barrels. Forbes has predicted that production might begin in another five to seven years. More wells are expected to be drilled by ExxonMobil in

Ralph Ramkarran

the future and the amount to oil ii finds is unknown.

Ramkarran stated that if Guyana’s production is in the vicinity of 500,000 barrels a day—at a value of about US$80 per barrel— to which the price should eventually rise in five years, it will bring in US$14.6 billion of which Guyana’s take at the usual 40 per cent will be US$5.5 billion a year.

“Guyana’s per capita will move to about US$14,000 in the early 2020s. The Guyanese people are blissfully unaware of this potential income and what it would mean. The Government has given no indication,” he said.

He stated that while government is studying the experiences of oil countries, proposals should be laid for public scrutiny.

He added that the pop-

ulation needs to be educated and engaged on decisions made by government, while downsides such as in neighbouring Venezuela and Trinidad, need to be avoided.

One of the biggest challenges, he highlighted, would be to avoid corruption and oil dependency and to resourcefully use the income from oil to ensure that the economy is diversified.

“Maybe this is the opportunity for Guyana to finally realise its much-touted potential as the breadbasket of the Caribbean by investing in agriculture,” he said, adding that if Guyana is able to capture even a small portion of the Caribbean food market of US$7 billion a year, it would infinitely enhance the economy.

He noted that with the income from oil providing

the capital to invest in infrastructure for agricultural development it would be a reality.

The existing economy On the other hand, he stated that the existing industries could be improved, especially investments in sugar, which could return to profitability.

He said further that incentives for small- and medium-scale miners, would increase gold and mineral production and Guyana would be able to severely restrict log export and ensure foreign investors engage in value-added production.

“Measures to increase

productivity in the rice industry could be undertaken by additional funding for research. Infrastructure investments in depressed communities, such as Linden, and numerous villages depending on subsistence agriculture, would create an enabling environment for investment in economic activity. Economic activities would diversify and expand,” he added.

Also, education, health and social services would see an enormous improvement in expenditure since additional funds would increase, thereby “providing a more educated and healthy population and a

wider safety net for the less fortunate,” he said.

Professor Suresh Narine recently stated that Guyana should not forget its other industries when oil production comes on stream. He indicated that when the oil is used up, it is those same industries that Guyana will have to rely on. Thus, he posited that the country should invest in these sectors while educating the population on oil.

He said that while the oil find is exciting, if Guyana does not harness its revenues effectively, then development would be stifled and corruption would run rampant.

ExxonMobil deepwater oil exploration rig

Guyanese selected for Obama’s youth leadership programme

T

wo young Guyanese entrepreneurs are among 259 participants selected for the 2016 Obama’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) projects.

Dason Anthony, the owner of Guyana’s premier online clothing store, FIVE92 Dresses, and Abbigale Loncke, a healthcare consultant for Community Care, were selected from 4000 entrepreneurs in 36 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean to partake in the conference this November in Washington, DC. The programme was piloted by US President Barack Obama in 2014 as a strategy to build networks between leaders across the hemisphere. It is a signature part of the US Government’s plans to increase affiliations with future leaders to support economic growth and fortify nations.

The projects endeavour to empower Latin American and

Abbigale Loncke

Caribbean businesses and entrepreneurs to change their societies and donate more fully to economic development, human rights and good governance in their hemisphere.

The YLAI network is a vivacious community of young entrepreneurs from Latin America and the Caribbean who are devoted to economic development, security, human rights and good governance in the hemisphere.

Loncke, when contacted by Guyana Times, stated that it was a great opportunity for her to learn from the best in the healthcare industry. “President Obama has given us a chance to network, learn and be mentored by people who have established businesses,” she said, adding that the programme will help her re-examine her business on a larger scale. She stated that through the YLAI conference in November, she sees her business becoming one of the leading home-care provider not only in Guyana but also in the Caribbean. Loncke is presently away in Grenada networking with entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector. The YLAI projects hopes to generate US$1 billion for emerging businesses and social entrepreneurs by the end of 2017 by helping business people attract new investments and in-kind resources for their businesses or organisations each year.

monDAY, august 8, 2016

guyana-times.com

11

News

Govt to set up Lands Commission to address anomalies with communal lands

President David Granger delivering the keynote address at the Fourth Annual State of the African Guyanese Forum held at Critchlow Labour College

P

resident David Granger announced that his Government will establish a Lands Commission which will be tasked with rectifying the existing anomalies, and resolve the controversies surrounding thousands of hectares of communal lands across the country.

He was at the time ad-

Cuffy250 Committee to pay closer attention to what is happening at the level of the villages.

Creating opportunities to foster the growth of village economies is one of the five objectives which he outlined as part of Guyana’s plan of action for the United Nations-designated International Decade for

of the ‘International Decade’ have already elapsed and as such, there needs to be, now, an organisation and a plan to ensure the implementation of the programme. The main objective of the ‘International Year’ was to raise awareness of the challenges facing People of African descent with the view of fostering discussions

ucation is protected under the Constitution, it does not prevent more than 4000 Guyanese children from dropping-out of school each year.

“Just as our illiterate foreparents 178 years ago, saw the benefits of education, we their educated descendants, can do no better than to ensure that every single child goes to school and stay in school… This is what the boats, bicycles, and buses programme is all about. It is about getting children to school and keeping them in school,” the Head of State said.

Achieving equality and eliminating ethnic discrimination is another objective which the President said Guyanese should endeavour to fulfil: “Discrimination against anyone promotes in-

A section of the gathering

President David Granger shares a light moment with Dr David Hinds and Vincent Alexander (extreme right)

dressing a large gathering at the Fourth Annual State of the African Guyanese Forum held at the Critchlow Labour College on Sunday.

The forum, which was organised by the Cuffy250 Committee, was held under the theme, “African Guyanese self-realisation: Challenges for the next 50 years.

The President said that these communal villages are the cradles of the free economy and of local democracy as a whole. He called on the

People of African Descent.

“We have to walk on two legs, not only looking at the economy but also looking at the way those villages are governed. The villages were the homes of our households, homes of our schools, homes of our churches, homes of our farms… So the plan of action which I ask you to contemplate today should aim at revitalising village economies,” President Granger said.

The Head of State pointed out that twenty months

that could generate proposals for solutions to tackle these challenges.

He assured that his Government will work with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which represent people of African descent in fulfilling the objectives of the decade, another of which includes education.

The President said that education remains the way out of poverty and inequality. He pointed out that while the right to free primary ed-

security and social exclusion and that could lead to disorder.”

He also spoke about employment and said that the government is aware of the plight faced by many schoolleavers to find jobs.

“The Plan of Action must aim at reducing the high incidence of unemployment in the economy and aim at creating an entrepreneurship programme to assist young Guyanese to establish and manage their businesses,” he said.

“August 2016 obliges us not only to look back at the contributions of those who helped to build Guyana but also to look forward to the type of country we wish to bequeath to our children and grandchildren. All Guyanese are entitled to share equitably in the patri-

mony of this great country,” the President said.

He called on AfricanGuyanese organisations to get more involved and consult among themselves so that the main objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent as well as other specific measurable targets, can be achieved.

The Cuffy250 Committee is made up of a group of Guyanese in the United States and Guyana who came together in 2013 to observe the 250th anniversary of the Berbice Revolt, led by Cuffy against the slave system. It is dedicated to encouraging socioeconomic and cultural revitalisation within the African-Guyanese community and the fostering of ethnic and racial equality in Guyana.

12 news

monDay, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Lawrence says UNICEF report on child marriage misleading

… 6% of Guyanese girls are wedded before 15 – report

By Jeanna Pearson

S

ocial Protection Minister Volda Lawrence has stated that because of cultural differences in Guyana, there is a clause in the Sexual Offences Act which allows for a child under the age of 15 to be married.

Her statement comes on the heels of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, “The state of the world’s children 2016: A fair chance for every child”, which indicated that six per cent of children in Guyana were married by the age of 15, while 23 per cent are married by the age of 18.

Lawrence expressed shock over the report and stated that while she has not seen it, the figures were misleading taking into consideration the provision in the Sexual Offences Act. “We don’t have child marriage,” she responded, further explaining that there was a clause in the Sexual Offences Act which allowed for a parent to carry their child to the court and ask for consent for him/her to be married.

Director of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) Patricia Bisnauth, in an interview with Guyana Times, stated that “culture” was one of the major factors why child marriages occurred.

“It is because we believe that the ultimate goal of a girl is to get married and so by marrying young, you prevent pregnancy before marriage, but what we are doing is enslaving our girls,” she said pointedly, asserting that at 15 years old a girl is not in a physical or emotional state to raise a family.

“And this worries us because they are not ready for marriage or equal partnership,” she said.

The report revealed these percentages were calculated for the years 2008 to 2014. It also stated that 10 per cent of men and 10 per cent of females justified wife beating for the period of 2010 to 2015.

It indicated that two of the major factors for child marriage, which accounted for some 15 million girls being married globally every year, were poverty and children with little to no education. It stated that girls with educational constraints were up to six times more likely to be married than girls who have a secondary education.

Past reports by the international organisations had stated that Amerindian and East Indian women were more likely to be married before age 18 when compared to African women. It highlighted that these women were usually 10 or more years younger than their

Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence

husbands.

The situation had deteriorated to a point where Guyana was ranked alongside Trinidad and Tobago as countries where adolescent marriages were prevalent.

In Guyana, a teen can be legally married at the age of 16 with the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

However, the UNICEF report insists that adolescent marriage violates a child’s right to an education and a normal childhood. It stated that these girls are subordinate to their husbands and families, and as such, have become more vulnerable to domestic violence, and are not in a position to make decisions about safe sex and family planning – which inevitably puts them at higher risk of sexually

Patricia Sheerattan Bisnauth

transmitted infections, including HIV, high-risk pregnancy and childbearing before their bodies are fully mature.

It expounded that mothers who are still children are at higher risk of potentially disabling complications, like obstetric fistula (complication caused by prolonged obstructed labour), and both they and their babies are more likely to die.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2013 report, titled “Motherhood In Childhood: Facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”, the Caribbean ranks second only to continental Africa in the number of adolescent girls under 18 years old becoming pregnant annually. Approximately 20 per cent of young girls across the Region reported having their first pregnancy as adolescents.

Meanwhile, UNICEF affirmed that while child marriage may seem to be an

intractable problem, it occurred because societies often placed a lesser value on girls.

However, it indicated that there are tested strategies that can change girls’ lives, preserve their childhoods and empower them to make better futures for themselves and their societies.

“These involve increasing girls’ access to education, empowering girls with knowledge and skills, educating parents and communities, increasing economic incentives and supporting families, and strengthening and enforcing laws and policies that set the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both girls and boys,” the report stated, adding that education was one of the most crucial factors.

It stated that focused investments to reach and empower poor and marginalised girls through health, education, social protection and other systems can create alternative pathways for girls and their families. No less critical is the slow, patient work of changing social norms.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelique Kidjo stated that when a girl’s education was cut short, she lost the chance to gain the skills and knowledge to secure a good job and provide for herself and her family.

“They are socially isolated. As I observed among my former schoolmates who were forced to get married, the consciousness of their isolation is in itself painful.

By robbing girls of their potential, child marriage robs

families, communities and nations of the contributions these girls might have made as women,” she said, adding that the phenomenon hampered countries’ efforts to improve the health of mothers and children, fight malnutrition and keep children in school.

“When girls are married as children, they cannot help but pass on poverty, low education and poor health – into which they themselves have been trapped – to the next generation,” she affirmed.

Earlier this year, a pregnant 14-year-old girl was found dead in a house with her common-law husband.

The couple were together since she was 12 years old; the man was 20 years old.

There are many other cases of teenage girls involved in relationships with older men. Bisnauth stated that such incidents should be worrisome to the population, because “our young girls are being robbed at a very young age of their childhood and their innocence”.

She stated that the six per cent, although it was small, it was one too many.

She stated that in most of these cases, the girls would not have completed their secondary school education and/ or would have been pressured by their families to stay in the unhealthy relationship.

Bisnauth added that she was in accord with the report that child marriage contributed significantly to impoverishment, not only in the child’s family but in the nation in its entirety.

Unsolved murder of taxi driver

Family disappointed by slow pace of investigation

D

espite the many recent breakthroughs in several unsolved murder cases by the Guyana Police Force, relatives of Roopchand Darshan, a taxi driver from Enmore, East Coast Demerara, who was murdered in 2014, expressed disappointment at what they deemed a “slowpaced” investigation in finding Darshan’s murderer.

In March of 2014, 24-yearold Darshan was found slouched over the steering wheel of his car along the Railway Embankment at the Strathspey, East Coast Demerara.

According to the dead man’s family, in the more than two years since his demise, they have never received any information from the Police pertaining to the case. Darshan’s mother said that it has proved to be added stress as she was rest-

Roopchand Darshan

lessly awaiting justice for her son.

The woman stated that she was still hurting from the memory of the night that she found her son dead in his car. She also highlighted that since his death she has had many sleepless nights

knowing that his killer was out there walking free while her son was “six feet under”.

It was reported that Darshan was working late that night when two young men, who had exited a minibus, requested that he take them into the Enmore New Scheme.

Darshan was last seen alive exiting the scheme by another driver later that night. Around 10:50h on March 29, 2014, he was found in his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head.

There was speculation that his killing might have been the result of an argument he had several days before with another man at a gas station.

His mother stated that when he was discovered in his car, nothing was noticed to be missing, adding that the car was purchased a few weeks prior to the incident.

NEWS

13

monday, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Brazen WBD armed robberies

Police closely pursuing suspects

Parents call for qualified teachers at Kwakwani Primary ... threaten protests if teachers are not removed

By Utamu Belle

R

I

The Murphy Street business where the delivery truck was reportedly robbed on Wednesday

n light of the two brazen robberies carried out by gunmen on two West Bank Demerara (WBD) businesses in a 24hour span on Wednesday last, Police ranks are following their leads to close in on the prime suspects.

While it is unclear if both attacks were directly linked; on Saturday, Guyana Times was informed that one of the suspects being pursued by the Police was the main perpetrator behind the crime.

Reports had indicated that the first robbery was committed at Murphy’s Shop in Murphy Street, Good Intent Village, when Massy delivery workers were reportedly held at

gunpoint and robbed by a lone gunman.

This attack was said to have occurred around 14:00h when the proprietor’s daughter and niece were about to receive goods from the delivery truck.

The proprietor of the shop had related that her business was well secured which prevented the gunman from making off with anything from the shop.

However, this publication was told that the gunman carted off not only the personal belongings of the delivery truck workers but money and property of Massy.

Meanwhile, reports further indicated that the second robbery had oc-

curred around 21:10h that Wednesday when two gunmen stormed a Sisters Village roadside shop and bar, and reportedly forced several persons to lie face down while they were relieved of their belongings.

A male victim of the attack told this newspaper that he was purchasing phone cards when the bandits arrived; they whipped out a hand gun, forced him to the ground and made off with his mobile phone and money.

Guyana Times had also been informed that as one of the gunmen held up persons in the shop; the other had ransacked the home of the shop’s owner.

US visa rush in Jamaica – Embassy scheduling 1000 appointments daily

T

he United States Embassy in Kingston has confirmed that all interview dates for non-immigrant visas have been exhausted for the rest of the year.

In fact, the Embassy said the demand for visas was so heavy that it was scheduling 1000 appointments daily.

A non-immigrant visa by definition is one issued to persons who live outside the US, but who have a desire to visit the US temporarily for various reasons, among them vacation, studying or on business.

Scores of Jamaicans had been telling the Jamaica Observer since last month that they were facing challenges in getting interview dates for the remaining four months of this year, due to what travel agents told them was the unusually high number of requests that have been made of the US Embassy.

Applicants can apply directly online to the US Embassy, but many have opted to use the services of travel agencies to secure interview dates for them, for a fee.

Now, there is concern

in some quarters, as many Jamaicans are now forced to shelve plans to visit the US later this year, to attend various events, including Thanksgiving celebrations on Thursday, November 24, and spend time with family and friends.

Joshua Polacheck, Counsellor for public affairs at the US Embassy in Kingston, told the Sunday Observer that the increase in applications had, in effect, put a strain on the system at the Embassy. He admitted that all the existing dates for interviews had expired for 2016, but insisted that the Embassy was willing to consider applicants who had “urgent” matters to deal with in the US. “The US Embassy is currently processing an unprecedented number of non-immigrant visa cases,” Polacheck said in an email response to the Sunday Observer.

“From fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2016, the number of applications has gone up from approximately 85,000 per year to 185,000 per year. In order to accommodate this demand we have scheduled as many as 1000 appointments a day;

the number on any particular day is based on the number of consular officers available to conduct interviews.

“Those appointments we have opened for the remainder of the year are currently filled, but we will be adjusting the appointment capacity as our staff numbers change. These continual adjustments explain why applicants on any given day may find a different range of dates available than applicants find on the next day,” Polacheck said.

The US Embassy official emphasised that certain categories of travellers would not be facing the same challenges as persons seeking non-immigrant visas.

“It is important to note that special visa categories such as students (F1 and J1), crew members (C1/D), and temporary workers (H2A, H2B) have separate appointment queues with much shorter wait times.

As we move into ‘back-toschool’ mode, we know that students need to get to school, agricultural workers need to get to the fall crops, and workers need to get to their jobs. (Excerpt from

Jamaica Observer)

egion 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice) Vice Chairman Elroy Adolph has made an appeal on behalf of some parents of the Kwakwani Primary School, who are calling for the removal of unqualified teachers to be replaced by qualified ones.

In delivering his monthly report before the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) statutory meeting last Thursday, the vice chairman related that he had been summoned to a meeting of parents of students of the Kwakwani Primary School, who stated that they are fed up with the way the school is being run.

He reported that so serious are those parents over the issue, that they have threatened to protest if the situation is not remedied by the first week of the new school term.

“They’re saying that they have some teachers that were sent to the Berbice River but somehow they stopped at Kwakwani and they were there for almost five years now.

And those teachers failed the CPCE (Cyril Potter College of Education) exams and for the past four years they have been writing

Region 10 Vice Chairman Elroy Adolph

the same tests over and over and they (parents) are tired” Adolph related.

According to the vice chairman, the parents are “asking that those teachers be removed and qualified teachers to take their place.

Failing to remove them by the first week when school opens, there will be a protest, stopping them (the teachers) from entering into the compound or (the parents are saying) the children will not be going to school because they cannot have the teachers who are writing one subject for the past four years.

And the sad part about

it is that the teachers have to leave Kwakwani to come out at least once or twice a week and (whenever this happens) it means that class would be out of a teacher.”

Adolph went on to state that while the situation is one for the Department of Education, it is also a concern of the RDC, being that the community forms part of Sub-Region 2.

He stated also that parents have expressed dissatisfaction over the last National Grade 6 Assessment (NGSA) results which they blame on the absence of qualified teachers at the school.

14

guyana-times.com

monday, AUGUSt 8, 2016

Regional

Cuba blames US for surge Tropical Storm Earl kills 38 in Mexico in ‘unsafe’ migration

C

Almost 1300 Cubans are stranded in Colombia [Al Jazeera]

uba has blamed the United States for encouraging illegal and unsafe immigration by tens of thousands of Cubans who have left the country in the past two years.

Havana released a statement on Sunday saying Cubans leaving the country illegally were the “victims of the politicisation of the migration issue by the US Government which stimulates illegal and unsafe immigration”, Reuters news agency reported.

The US policy of welcoming Cubans without visas

contradicted normalisation efforts between Havana and Washington, the statement added.

More than 46,500 Cubans arrived and were admitted to the US without visas during the first 10 months of the US Government’s fiscal year 2016, according to the Pew Research Centre. That figure compares with more than 43,000 Cubans in 2015 and just over 24,000 in 2014.

Unlike citizens of other countries, Cubans who make it to US borders have

special entry privileges under the Cold War-era Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives Cuban citizens special welfare benefits and allows them to apply for permanent residency after 366 days in the country.

Under the act, Cubans who set foot on US territory are treated as legal immigrants, while people from any other country are considered illegal.

The large increase in the number of Cubans attempting to reach the US, particularly by overland routes through South and Central America, coincides with the restoration of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

There are fears among ordinary Cubans that diplomatic normalisation between Havana and Washington will mean they lose their privileged entry status to the US. Regional governments have also responded to the increase in Cubans travelling overland to the US by closing down border routes.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Houses in Veracruz state were buried in landslides caused by heavy rains from Storm Earl

T

hirty-eight people died in eastern Mexico when their homes were buried under landslides and in flooding caused by heavy rain in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Earl.

The dead included a married couple and their oneyear-old son, officials said.

It happened on Saturday in Veracruz state, and there are warnings that rivers may flood in the neighbouring state of Puebla.

They were not Storm

Earl’s first victims. At least nine people died on Monday as it gathered in the Caribbean.

Six of the victims were passengers on board a bus that caught fire in the Dominican town of Nagua when it was hit by tumbling power lines.

Three people drowned in Haiti when their tour boat capsized.

Earl moved westward and struck Belize as a Category One hurricane on Thursday.

The hurricane then weakened to a tropical storm and passed over Guatemala and parts of Mexico.

It has now been downgraded from a storm to a tropical depression and wind speeds dropped to 30mph (48kmh) by Saturday, but the effects of the large amounts of rainfall it unleashed are continuing.

Some villages in Mexico have been cut off as bridges have been torn up by swollen rivers.

The town of Coscomatepec, where the young family died, has been hit by a similar tragedy before. In 2013, a landslide took the lives of 13 people, including eight children and six members of one family.

Local media (in Spanish) reported that some families had predicted that there might be another landslide and asked the Government for help relocating away from the base of hills and building defence walls.

The official response was reportedly that there was no money to re-house them.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

T&T Govt to meet Muslims on Celebrated Brazil plastic surgeon ISIS; 120 nationals in group Ivo Pitanguy dies at 93

W

hy exactly are they going to ISIS? That’s the question Government is giving priority attention to, along with ongoing moves to tighten overall security, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon has said.

In seeking to examine the factors luring people to leave T&T to join the terror group, Dillon said Government will engage the Muslim community to “dialogue on this and, together, examine root causes.”

Dillon was contacted after the T&T Guardian was able to ascertain last Thursday from the securi-

ty sector that the number of T&T nationals – fighters as well as family members – who have gone to ISIS zones from late 2012 to date is now estimated at close to 120, an increase over previous figures.

Most recently, nine T&T nationals were detained in Turkey, on July 27. They were held with a Syrian man who was taking them via truck to Syria for recruitment by ISIS, Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported. They are now at Turkey’s Adana Migration Centre. Government is awaiting a report on the circumstances of their presence there from Turkish

authorities.

Dillon said there had been a lull in the number of people ISIS-bound in the latter half of last year, but confirmed the security sector has been “seeing activity”.

“In light of what has happened (nine in Turkey) although we’re still uncertain if they were really going to ISIS, we’re examining what factors are luring people to leave T&T to go there; what’s happening locally with that. So we’ll be engaging the Muslim community to dialogue on this and together examine root causes,” Dillon said. (Excerpt

from Trinidad Guardian)

Olympic athletes are Jamaica’s greatest ambassadors, says PM

P

rime Minister Andrew Holness, used Saturday’s staging of the Independence Day grand gala to rally support for Jamaica’s athletes competing in the Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Addressing a packed National Stadium, Holness called for a “big Jamaican cheer” for the athletes, who were tuning in to a live feed of the proceedings, to which the crowd responded with screams, the blaring of vuvuzelas and the waving of flags.

He said he believes the energy generated by the crowd was resonating to the

63 Jamaicans participating in the Games.

“They are our greatest ambassadors. They represent us to the world and I know that we are all praying for them, willing them on and I want to say to them, good luck,” the Prime Minister said.

He expressed confidence that the team will work hard to “bring home gold and glory for Jamaica”.

Some 1000 performers participated in the grand gala in celebration of the country’s 54th year of Independence under the theme: “Let’s get together and feel alright”.

The event, staged under the theme: “Youth Arising”, showcased the energy and dynamism of Jamaica’s young people, with segments on youth in education, youth in technology, and youth as creators of cultural expressions.

Among the acts were Kevin Downswell, Kamelia Isaacs, Capleton, Gyptian, G-Whizz, Nesbeth and the Dragonaires.

The grand gala was organised by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), which is an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

(Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

C

elebrated Brazilian plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy has died at the age of 93, a day after passing the Olympic torch for the Rio Games.

He died of a heart attack at home in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, a spokeswoman said.

On Friday, he had held the torch in the Rio neighbourhood of Gavea, on the final leg of the Olympic relay.

He cemented Brazil’s place as a destination for plastic surgery, giving the world the “Brazilian butt lift”.

But he first earned the respect of his fellow citizens by providing his skills free of charge to victims of a disaster.

After a huge circus tent burned hundreds of spectators in the Brazilian city of Niteroi in 1961, Pitanguy tended to disfigured victims.

“Ivo Pitanguy dedicated his life to helping people live better,” Brazilian interim President Michel Temer said in a statement.

“He will be missed.”

“I saw the importance of saving lives and saving functions, but it seemed that nobody gave importance to the stigma of deformity and how people suffered with that,” Pitanguy told the Guardian newspaper in an interview in 2014.

Trained in Paris and London, he became

Brazilian plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy

a pioneer of plastic surgery in Brazil and a “cultural icon” in the “beauty-obsessed” country, Reuters writes.

Yet he still offered his staff and services free of charge to less well-off patients one day a week, the news agency adds.

Salvador Dali painted him and in 1999 he received one of the highest honours in Rio when a samba school used him as their theme: “The Universe of Beauty – Master Pitanguy.” (Excerpt from BBC News)

Antigua: Public Safety Minister pledges to put into law steps to improve carnival safety

P

ublic Safety Minister Steadroy Cutie Benjamin has pledged to put into law long-proposed steps to improve carnival safety.

The National Office of Disaster Services (NODS) has for years been pushing for the adopting of a carnival mass emergency plan

He said this week he called a meeting with the Culture Minister, NODs Director Philmore Mullin and members of the EMS, Police Force and Defence Force.

Benjamin added that it was not enough to adopt the 2009 plan as policy, but wanted it put into law before

the 60th anniversary of carnival in 2017.

Meanwhile, he said it was far too early to report on any preliminary results of the investigations into numerous allegations of tear gas being used following the tragic incident in which a young woman died at carnival on Tuesday. (Antigua Observer)

MONday, august 8, 2016

guyana-times.com

15

Around the World

Thailand referendum: New President Erdogan and Opposition unite Constitution approved in Turkey rally T

Aside from Istanbul, similar rallies were simultaneously held across the country on Sunday [Reuters]

A

pro-democracy rally in response to Turkey’s failed coup attempt was held in Istanbul, uniting the President, the Prime Minister and two Opposition Leaders on the same platform for the first time in years.

More than a million people, many waving the Turkish flag, attended the Sunday afternoon rally in Yenikapi square.

“The world is looking at you now,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the demonstrators as he opened his speech. “You should be proud of yourselves. Each and every one of you fought for freedom and democracy. All of you

are heroes.”

Erdogan said that on July 15, the Turkish people have proven that “we are mighty enough to foil any coup”, condemning those behind the coup plot as a “terrorist organisation”.

The President also said that had the coup attempt succeeded, “We would have lost our homeland, and offered it to our enemy in a silver platter.”

Al Jazeera’s Ayse Karabat, reporting from Istanbul, described the event as “the biggest, most crowded political meeting, in Turkish political history.”

As part of its anti-coup campaign, Ankara has been encouraging nightly rallies

throughout the country, culminating in Sunday’s grand finale.

The “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” is meant to represent the unity of the country, and Erdogan had urged attendees to bring only the Turkish flag, instead of party banners.

Around 13,000 people, in addition to Police Officers, were on duty to run the event.

Helicopters, ambulances and over 700 medical personnel were also on duty.

Similar rallies were held simultaneously across the country, according to officials from ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Macedonia storm: Deadly freak floods hit Skopje

A

high as five feet (1.5 metres) in some of the affected areas, reports said.

“Everything was a mess.

Televisions, the fridge, the sofa, everything was floating... it was a nightmare,” said Baze Spriovski, a 43-year-old from Singelic in the outskirts of Skopje.

Many homes remain flooded and without electricity; some are reported to have collapsed.

The authorities have declared a crisis situation in Skopje and Tetovo for the next 15 days, the Macedonian Information Agency said.

The Mayor of Skopje, Kove Trajanovski, said: “This

count had been completed.

Voter turnout was just over 50 per cent.

“In any normal situation, or course, you would say, well that’s democracy and that’s how things work, a turnout of over 50 per cent is a fairly clear margin – case closed,” Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay, reporting from Bangkok, said.

“But, of course, this was not a normal situation.

“In the lead-up to this referendum there were some very harsh laws put in place by the military government preventing, banning any public debates or criticism of the referendum or the Constitution... Indeed many

people were arrested,” Hay said.

“So to a certain extent, for Opposition figures, for critics of the military, there was something of a climate of fear leading up to this. So it certainly wasn’t a normal situation.”

Critics, including Thailand’s major political parties, have said the Constitution is undemocratic.

The vote now paves the way for a general election promised by the military government in 2017, but the newly-adopted Constitution requires future governments to rule on the military’s terms. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

South Korea presidential office says China “out-of-place” on THAAD

S

outh Korea’s presidential office rebuked on Sunday China’s criticism of its decision to deploy an advanced anti-missile defence, urging Beijing to instead play a stronger role against North Korea’s provocations on the peninsula.

The statement by President Park Geun-hye’s office marked an escalation of diplomatic tensions between South Korea and China, which has sharply criticised Seoul’s move to host a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit with the US military.

Park’s senior press secretary, Kim Sung-woo, said in the statement recent commentary carried

by China’s State media was “out of place” in blaming South Korea for raising tension on the Korean peninsula with the move to deploy a THAAD unit.

“Rather than taking issue with our purely defensive action, China should

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo

raise issue in a stronger manner with North Korea which is breaking peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and Northeast by conducting four nuclear tests and, just this year, launching more than 10 ballistic missiles,” it said.

South Korea and the United States began discussions to deploy a THAAD unit in the South

after the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in defiance of UN sanctions.

South Korea has said the move was purely to counter growing missile threats from the North and was not intended to target China, but Beijing has protested it would destabilise regional security balance.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Several killed as Ethiopia Police clash with protesters

Some people died in their cars during the floods

t least 21 people have died in floods that hit the Macedonian capital, Skopje, following torrential rain.

The victims’ bodies were found on Sunday morning after the storm passed. Several people are still missing.

Some of the victims drowned in their cars. Parts of the city’s ring road were swept away in the floods, dragging cars into nearby fields.

Three-and-a-half inches (93mm) of rain fell in Skopje in the storm – more than the average for the whole of August.

The water level reached as

hailand has voted to accept a militarybacked constitution, according to preliminary results, despite claims by opponents it will entrench the military’s power and deepen divisions.

With 94 per cent of the vote counted on Sunday, results from the Election Commission showed 61.4 per cent of the country had voted for the charter, while 37.9 per cent rejected it. Full results are due on Wednesday.

“The gap is wide enough not to change the result,” Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, Chairman of the Commission, told reporters after 90 per cent of the vote

is a disaster. We have never experienced such a thing.”

“There were thunderbolts with lightning almost every second. It was really horrific,” said Biljana Joneska, 62, in Skopje.

Local media reported that ambulances were called out 65 times across the city, more than 20 people were treated in hospital, and the army was called in to help.

Three villages in the north-east of the country were cut off because of landslides.

Police said about 70 vehicles were stuck because of one such incident between the villages of Stajkovci and Radisani. (Excerpt from BBC News)

S

everal people are feared dead in clashes in north-western Ethiopia between Police and anti-Government protesters, amid a wave of unrest.

On Friday, Police arrested dozens of demonstrators during massive rallies in the capital, Addis Ababa.

The Government has been facing protests from the two largest ethnic communities over alleged human rights abuses and other issues.

Authorities have banned demonstrations and blocked social media.

Despite the ban, people took to the streets in several parts of the country for

a third consecutive day on Sunday, Emmanuel Igunza reports from Addis Ababa.

The worst violence took place in the north-western city of Bahir Dar in the Amhara region – the homeland of the Amhara people.

Police used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse thousands of people who had blocked roads and chanted anti-Government slogans.

Unconfirmed reports say several people were killed.

One resident told the BBC he had seen a friend being shot in the head by security forces.

Overnight protests continued in the Oromia region,

which surrounds Addis Ababa, with Police arresting dozens of people.

The unrest was sparked last November by a plan to expand the capital into Oromia. This led to fears farmers from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, would be displaced.

The plan was later dropped but protests continued, highlighting issues such as marginalisation and human rights.

Oromo activists say Police have killed hundreds and arrested thousands of people from their community in recent months. (Excerpt from BBC News)

16 news

monDAY, august 8, 2016 | guyana-times.com

VOX POPULI

What the people say

I SAY...

What are your views on the recent influx of Venezuelans to Guyana, and how do you think those coming in illegally should be dealt with? Do you agree with Govt’s decision to deport the 14 who recently appeared in court, and accept those who come legally?

Andrew Brasse - West Coast Demerara

“Alright firstly, our current Government should devise a plan and ask themselves: why

Sven (only name given) - Georgetown

“It is important to note that while the human aspect

are the Venezuelans coming?

Allowing them in is one thing but to allow them to settle and take away our job opportunities that our own people cannot get is quite unfair.

So before allowing them in they would best try to understand why they are coming, but don’t get me wrong, if they’re here to vacation, that’s fine. The Venezuelans that are entering our country illegally should be interrogated as to why they choose to do so.

Why aren’t they coming legally? So before deporting them, the Government first needs to understand their intentions for our country and our people.”

Troy Parboo - Georgetown

“I see them coming here as no problem since they have

of a person might compel them to say “let them in”, as a Government, the law must be upheld and if any national is found illegal in the country, then we as law abiding citizens cannot be angered when the law is upheld.

I think that once any national presents themselves with necessary documents or make a plea to the Government for refugee status, it should be granted once the grounds or conditions are met.

That is to say it’s common knowledge that there is a crisis in Venezuela and I firmly believe we should do as much as we can to help.”

Laddy Peneux - Berbice

“If they come in the right procedure, passport and what have you, then they could stay, but if they are illegal immigrants then the authorities in Guyana should look at their condition and if it is they want to live here allow them to be regularised.”

“They should be given an opportunity to stay, as a

“I don’t think that they should be permitted to enter Guyana due to my belief that there could be a possible plot to overthrow the Government of Guyana and our country.

Maybe I’m just thinking out loud here but I think there was a little feud between Guyana and Venezuela a while back, so that kind of ruined their chances of entering and attaining assistance. But should

Stanley Collins - Linden

“I personally believe that if they come in the country legally, they shouldn’t deport them. But if they come illegally

I ain’t got no problem with deporting them, because if we go into any country illegal, they would deport we. I ain’t got a problem with fining them and all these things because you’re not supposed to enter a country without the proper documentation.

Realising that if you go to Trinidad, Barbados and these other countries and they find you illegal in their country they will deport you and I think we got the same right to do the same thing. I ain’t got no problem with the deportation if they’re illegal but if they legal I don’t think they should deport them, but if they overstay their time and they don’t get an extension then they’re in the country illegally and they’re supposed to be deported.”

we help them? Of course we should lend a helping hand and you shall be rewarded.

Maybe we may face a nationwide crisis where we’ll need the help of a few countries and Venezuela is one of our neighbouring countries so we should take that into consideration or if allowed in Guyana, they should be watched attentively so as to prevent any chaos. And once they have the necessary requirements to enter Guyana, then they should, why not? But an interview of the immigrant is necessary so as to acquire their reason(s) for entry…because a person possessing the legal documents to enter a country can be a malicious killer. Interview the person and get some information from them. If found with firearm, they should be incarcerated, because by setting punishments, one who plans to break the law may think twice of doing so, securing our homeland.”

Kenisha Nelson

“I have no problem with the Venezuelans entering Guyana.

If we were in a crisis like they are experiencing we would have wanted somebody to render us assistance, too. The Government’s recent decision to deport the 14 Venezuelans was sad and harsh knowing the people’s condition in their country.”

“They are only coming because of the crises occurring in their country.

I think whether they are coming legally or illegally, they should be accepted.

I have to disagree with the Government’s recent decision to deport the 14 Venezuelans; that was uncalled for, knowing their reason for being in Guyana.”

Dirk Alleyne

Lloyd Douglas - Berbice

Yanick Austin - Georgetown

Alleema Shahabudeen

“Those persons that are entering the country illegally should definitely be deported; they entering the country illegal also signal a crime wave.

I believe the Government is doing a good job by receiving the Venezuelans the legal way. The recent decision to deport the 14 Venezuelans was the right and legal thing to do despite their circumstances of entry.”

matter of fact they are our neighbours; we depend on a friendly mutual coexistence between the two countries. On that score the court should be more lenient in making some compromise and allow them to get some legal documents and put themselves in order and to stay and catch themselves up because they are seeking to survive. The condition over there is very tight for them and Guyana is much more conducive, so they come across here for a daily bread… this Government should allow them to stay, as long as they are behaving in a friendly, peaceful, non-violent manner.

Give them the opportunity.”

troubling issues in their country and I can see it as a positive thing that they chose us.

For the Venezuelans coming in Guyana illegally, it goes for both sides of the fence because there might have good ones that just don’t have the capacity to come legally due to lack of documents, etc but they should be screened and if there are any doubts as to their ambitious nature, they should be sent back.

Venezuelans coming legally should be welcomed and be screened before granted citizenship.”

Owen DeSouza - Linden

“Concerning those illegal immigrants, I think the Government is doing a fantastic job, a very good job. Deport these people that come in the country, especially those that breaking

the law because it doesn’t happen in other parts of the world. I think the Government should come down with the full penalty and be real radical with those illegal immigrants in our country, because you never know what disease and what illegal business they enter into or their intentions. I think you have to get some bad intention to enter illegally, so I think the Government doing a very good job with those people that enter the country illegally. I think they should not only deport them but have them pay a fine and also work them. We should have somewhere where we can put them to work, at least three months as part of the punishment if they don’t have the fee. I think that’s the way forward.”

Renaudra Cameron

“If they are coming into the country illegally they should be dealt with according to the law because when Guyanese appear in any other country they have to abide by their laws and when they don’t they are deported. Yes, I do agree with the Government’s decision to keep them if they are entering legal. They came illegally so they had to be deported. We have to maintain our laws and not be sympathetic, not forgetting the same country that wanted to instigate war for our own land.”

17

Feature

MONday, AUGUST 8, 2016 | guyanatimesGY.com

place is always awesome, which Lethem poses no exception. The road trip to Lethem may be bumpy and long but, if you are travelling with

Rennella Bourne

The nature-oriented and breathtaking town located in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo River, Region Nine, Lethem is the

ed.

Clearly, their pride and joy are not in the things they hang i n

father, mother, were all there at the ground cheering for their beloved team,

ents riding

runs through Lethem separates Guyana

f r o m Brazil. Visitors to this region are able to enjoy a taste of the savannahs and Brazil since there is a bridge (established in 2013) that links the two countries.

The neighbouring Brazil provides another way of life for the people/

Resid

Aerial view

n of Lethem

of a sectio

destination for nature lovers who are looking to have sun baths while being surrounded by hospitable people.

The town that is located next to Brazil the powerhouse of South America provides a range of options to visitors. One can

the right crew, you never feel a minute of the long hours travelling.

The roads of Lethem are not tarred and painted as the City’s roads but the feeling of being on the mud road and being surrounded by the lush green forest is liberating

their houses or the garments they place on their bodies but the peace they exude, seemingly, from within. It is amazing to see so much unity within a town; one can only gather that the encouragement and upliftment they pro-

whether they were hopping with a stick or pushing their babies in a stroller, not one of them appeared to enjoy the game less.

Each time the Annai Team looked as they were headed to goal, the Sports Complex became silent with

f o r shopping and din-

ing.

Just as any other town, Lethem possesses nursery, primary and secondary schools. The region has one hospital that was commissioned in 2009. Religious sanctuaries are also present withi n

cuol football

dary Scho

n Annai Seco

plex

Sports Com

St Ignatius

gear their taste buds to the local cuisine of Lethem, in addition to sampling the exquisite meats and other delicacies from neighbouring Brazil.

The road trip to the town takes approximately 11 hours, while an aircraft

and can strike a sudden interest of discovery into anyone.

The people of Lethem are mainly indigenous (First Peoples) who are warm and hospitable to each other and their visitors. Their disposition is vastly different from the folk in

vide to each other are subliminal.

Only recently, at a Digicel’s school football tournament in Lethem, the St Ignatius Sports Complex came alive with residents, far more than the facility could have accommodated, who

m u lative willpower as if they were all playing, while their faces became effulgent with pride every time their home team scored goal.

Lethem, with its surprisingly modern amenities, also offers many services for tourists to partake in, such as the well

orses Police on h

spital

Lethem Ho

w i l l take just around an hour.

An aerial view of any

Georgetown and their humbleness and contentment with life is something that should truly be emulat-

were there to watch Chase Academy play the home team Annai Secondary School.

Baby, child, woman, father, grandmother, grand-

known a n d much talked about Rodeo.

There are also a host of commercial establishments to cater to the needs of the locals and tourists alike.

The Takatu River that

team

tourists who travel to that country; even for those who return within minutes.

Visitors are able to visit Bon Fin from Lethem without travel restrictions but if you are interested in venturing deeper into Brazil, you will need your passport and a

card to show that you have been vaccinated against yellow fever.

A few hours by taxi from the Guyana/Brazil border is Boa Vista, is a more upscale town than both Lethem and Bon Fin. Visitors go there

the town.

The region was named after Sir Gordon James Lethem, who was the Governor of British Guiana from 1941 to 1947.

Lethem is the capital of Region 9 and is a hub linking many surrounding villages.

The main activity in this region is farming

a n d mineral extraction.

There are a number of luxurious hotels located there that are geared to make your stay enjoyable with arranged tour to the captivating savannahs and neighbouring Brazil.

18

guyana-times.com

monday, august 8, 2016

ARCHIE

ARIES

Your instinct will be to act

(March 21- fast, but if you take a moment April 19)

to think matters through and plan carefully, you will spare yourself a lot of grief.

You should participate in TAURUS any group conversation or (April 20- prospect that looks interestMay 20) ing. A take-charge attitude will help position you for advancement. Love and romance are in the stars.

dilbert

A practical approach to GEMINI whatever you do will help you (May 21stick to a budget and alleviate June 20) stress. Listen to an offer and ask questions. Avoid getting involved in an unstable situation.

Don’t give in to demands CANCER or ultimatums. Deal with (June 21- matters swiftly in order to July 22) have time to enjoy a few hours with someone who makes you feel good about yourself.

Peanuts

Reconnect with old friends LEO and colleagues. Visiting an (July 23- old hangout will help resolve Aug. 22) an emotional matter that has been holding you back.

An investment or vocational change will help your financial situation.

Discuss your plans with VIRGO anyone affected by your deci(Aug. 23Sept. 22) sions. Anger will solve nothing, but incorporating others’ suggestions will help you avoid opposition. Offer incentives and rewards.

Calvin and Hobbes

Try something different, LIBRA (Sept. 23- new and exciting. It will give Oct. 23) you the pick-me-up you need, and will provide some ideas that will encourage personal or professional changes.

WORD GAME

SUDOKU

Consider every angle beSCORPIO fore you start something new.

(Oct. 24A partnership with someone Nov. 22) who has as much to bring to the table as you looks rewarding. Romance is encouraged.

As soon as you deviate SAGITTARIUS from what you promised to (Nov. 23- do, you will be put in an awkDec. 21) ward position. Avoid a run-in with someone with the power to make your life miserable.

saturday's word

solution for Last Published Puzzle

Don’t let your emotions CAPRICORN take the reins. A balanced (Dec. 22Jan. 19) attitude will help you get the most out of what you do.

Make suggestions, but don’t let anyone lean on you emotionally or financially.

Resolve pending issues or AQUARIUS try for a position that you feel (Jan. 20suits your skill set. Do your Feb. 19) best to bring about positive change. Go after exactly what you want.

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

PISCES Step up your game and (Feb. 20- take care of business before March 20) someone else takes charge.

You will be ridiculed if you don’t do your share, but rewarded for your effort.

monDAY, august 8, 2016

19

Outrage over Sammy’s sacking as local fans mull boycott D

arren Sammy’s apparent axing as West Indies Twenty20 captain has sparked outrage among West Indies cricket fans across the Caribbean, with several taking to online social media platform, Facebook, to express disgust and to call for a boycott of the upcoming third Test against India starting here Tuesday.

Ironically, the Test is scheduled for the Darren Sammy National Stadium ? formerly the Beausejour Cricket Stadium ? which was renamed in the player’s honour after he led West Indies to their capture of the Twenty20 World Cup in India four months ago.

Through various posts on Facebook in recent days, fans blasted the West Indies Cricket Board and the selec-

tors for their treatment of Sammy, with several contending the all-rounder had been victimised.

Well known Jamaican dancehall artiste, Mr Vegas, in a highly charged video posted on his Facebook page, argued that Sammy had been axed because he “spoke his mind and spoke the truth” ? in a reference to Sammy’s public criticism of the WICB following the T20 World Cup final.

Describing himself as an avid cricket fan, Mr Vegas said Sammy’s removal was “disgraceful” and blamed the board and selectors for the Windies team’s decline in recent years.

Claudius Francis, former president of the Senate here, posted an open letter to Sammy on his Facebook page, where he praised the

Darren Sammy

32-year-old all-rounder for his leadership and for representing the region with “dignity, class … and pride.

However, while Francis was critical of the WICB and chief selector, Courtney Browne, he reserved some

of his ire for regional nation grouping, CARICOM, who he said had done little to effect change in the direction of West Indies cricket.

“Still, much as I think Cameron et al are to be blamed, there can be no es-

caping the role ? or lack thereof ? of the region’s political leaders,” Francis argued.

“Almost daily we heard from them at the CARICOM level of how the WICB was destroying cricket and needed to be replaced yet they did nothing at their individual local level to ensure that change took place.”

Other fans went as far as to call for a boycott of the upcoming Test as a means of protesting the selectors’ decision and making a statement to the WICB. “To all fans in St Lucia and Trinidad who genuinely love West Indies cricket and who are concerned about the state of its administration and the future of the game, if you feel as though you have had enough of the WICB contempt and arro-

gance, then stay away from the upcoming Test matches as a demonstration of your rejection of the WICB,” one fan posted.

The fourth and final Test of the series is carded for Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain from August 18-22.

On Sunday, the St Lucia News Online reported that a protest by a group of fans was being planned for the opening day of the Test match here, and that many St Lucians were seemingly willing to consider boycotting the game.

Sammy took to social media on Friday to announce that he had been sacked as captain and dropped from the West Indies T20 side, after being informed by new chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne, in a brief phone call. (CMC)

Russian athletes banned Cherebin survives goggles mishap on disappointing day for Caribbean after doping scandal R

ussian athletes have been banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Paralympics following the country’s doping scandal.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had opened suspension proceedings following the MCLaren report, and has now confirmed the ban.

That report, published last month, detailed a state-sponsored doping programme operated by Russia.

The Russian Paralympic Committee will reportedly appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In contrast to the IPC, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose not hand Russia a blanket ban from the Olympic Games.

The Rio 2016 Paralympics begin in 31 days’ time, on 7 September, and 267 Russian athletes across 18 sports will now miss the Games.

“The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised,” said IPC president Sir Philip Craven at a news conference on Sunday.

“The Russian Paralympic Committee are unable to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the IPC anti-doping code and the world anti-doping code within their own national jurisdiction and they cannot fulfil its fundamental obligation as an IPC member.

“As a result, the Russian Paralympic Committee is suspended with immediate effect.”

Canadian law professor Richard McLaren’s report found that Russia’s sports ministry manipulated urine samples provided by its athletes between 2011 and 2015.

The report identified 27 samples relating to eight para-sports, five of which are summer sports, including some governed by the IPC. The IPC has also found evidence that samples were swapped during the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games and it planned to reanalyse every Russian sample from Sochi.

The IPC allowed the Russian Paralympic Committee to present its case before it decided on the ban. (BBC).

Jamaica’s Atkinson through to 100m breaststroke semi-finals

J

amaica swimmer Alia Atkinson is through to the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke after finishing second in Heat 5 of the event on Sunday.

Atkinson clocked 1:06.72 in a relaxed swim, which saw her finish behind controversy plagued Russian

swimmer Yulia Efimova who claimed the event in 1:05.79.

The 2015 World Champion Efimova was re-added to the event having originally being banned from the meet due to a doping controversy.

Also making it safely to the semi-finals of

the event was top seeded American Lilly King, who boasts the best time in the event this year with a mark of 1:05.20. King finished first in Heat 6 with a time of 1:05.78, ahead of 2012 Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte who was second in 1:06.35.

T

here was disappointment for the Caribbean on the opening day of swimming competition at the 2016 Olympic Games on Saturday as none of the five swimmers in the opening session advanced to the next phase of competition.

Oreoluwa Cherebin of Grenada escaped disqualification after her goggles snapped on the starting blocks and swam heat one of the women’s 100 metres butterfly ‘blindly’ to finish second in one minute, 10.40 seconds.

Yusra Mardini of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) won the opening preliminary in 1:09.21.

“I was ready to go and while on the starting blocks the strap snapped and

Oreoluwa Cherebin

[there was] no time for me to get a replacement,” said Cherebin. “I was lucky to

swim and even without the goggles gave it my best effort.”

Geoffrey Butler of the Cayman Islands and Alex Sobers of Barbados also failed to advance in the men’s 400m freestyle which was won by American Conor Dwyer (3:43.42).

Butler won heat one in 4:07.87 while Sobers was fourth in heat two in 3:59.97.

Corey Ollivierre of Grenada and Dustin Tynes of the Bahamas were no match for the experienced swimmers in the men’s 100m breaststroke which saw Briton Peaty Adam setting a new world record of 57.55 seconds.

Ollivierre was sixth in heat one in 1:08.68 while Tynes finished in the last spot in heat two in 1:03.71.

(CMC)

Great Britain reach women’s team gymnastics final

E

llie Downie recovered from hurting her neck in a bad fall to help Great Britain reach the women’s team gymnastics final at the Rio Olympics.

Downie, 17, was completing a somersault on the floor when she landed awkwardly.

She was assessed by medical staff and returned to compete on the vault.

Britain finished with

a total of 174.064 and are currently fourth in qualifying behind Russia, China and defending champions USA, who lead by almost 10 points.

There are three teams left to compete in qualifying, with the top eight progressing to Tuesday’s team final.

Downie, meanwhile, is currently 18th in the allaround qualification and Claudia Fragapane 23rd.

The top 24 gymnasts advance to Thursday’s allaround final.

“I crunched my neck,” Downie said. “It sounds pretty gross but I just felt dizzy before my last tumble.

“They put me in a wheelchair and I was like, ‘I don’t need a wheelchair.’

“I was better than I thought so I came back out and vaulted.” (BBC)

20

guyana-times.com

monDAY, august 8, 2016

England vs Pakistan, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, 5th day...

England surge to 141-run victory A

n afternoon of outstanding reverseswing bowling conjured England a memorable come-from-behind 141-run victory at Edgbaston.

Pakistan crumbled to 201 all out, at one stage losing 4 for 1 in a 23-ball spell between Steven Finn and Chris Woakes before tea, having been sitting reasonably comfortably at lunch with a draw well within their compass.

However, having been set 343 in 84 overs, Pakistan subsided over the final two sessions. Moeen Ali picked the lock when he removed Azhar Ali then the quick bowlers bulldozed through the door. Sami Aslam played his second classy innings of the match, but when he shouldered arms at Finn shortly before tea saving the game was always likely to be too much for Pakistan’s lower order James Anderson and Stuart Broad each struck quickly after tea, but England were frustrated by a 50-run stand for the final wicket in 11 overs, a partnership which showed the pitch contained no demons. Saving the game remained a long way off for Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali, and England had four overs with the second new ball up their sleeve. There was just a bit if twitchiness emerging when Sohail slammed a return catch back to Moeen who, having twice contributed crucial innings, played a crucial role in the victory.

It will be a tough defeat to take for Pakistan who were dominant over the first

Aslam’s performance was in sharp contrast to that of his opening partner.

England’s one success in the morning could hardly have come more gift-wrapped if Mohammad Hafeez had come out with a bow on his head. He managed to avoid the pair, but then helped a short delivery down to

Woakes at long leg as he appeared to want to hit the ball in the air. There was only one fielder he could pick out - he did it with precision. Broad’s expression was as much surprise as delight. For a while, Pakistan responded well to the early setback. Then it all went badly awry. ( Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD Steven Finn was pumped when he ended his wicket drought by claiming Misbah-ul-Haq© Getty Images

two days of the game before losing their way over the two second innings. Conversely, England’s resilience to fight back makes this one of their finest wins in recent times they are excellent frontrunners in a game, but questions have sometimes been asked about their ability to claw back.

Anderson’s six-over post lunch burst was where the game really changed after Moeen had been rewarded for his best spell of the series by drawing Azhar into loose drive which found Cook at second slip. Anderson had a grumpy match - removed from the attack in the first innings for running on the pitch - but this was him at his best: getting the old ball to talk with immaculate control of line and length.

It was not massive swing, but enough to create uncertainty which forced Younis Khan to poke outside off, Jonny Bairstow taking a

good catch in front of first slip. Younis looked no closer to regaining his form.

The most electrifying period of play, though, was when Finn and Woakes burst through the middle order - two bowlers who have had contrasting summers. Finn’s wicket less run had reached 429 balls when he brought an edge from Misbah, a wicket that brought a primeval roar, a moment of raw emotion, from the pace bowler who has toiled without luck in recent outings.

More was to follow as another bowling change paid dividends - Cook had an excellent day in the field - with Woakes nipping a delivery into Asad Shafiq’s pads to trap him lbw for a pair and give another first-over wicket. Then he found Sarfraz Ahmed’s outside edge which was well held, low at second slip, by Joe Root amid a heady atmosphere. The

ground was far from full, but those in cheered every moment. For a second Woakes had a third when Yasir Shah was given lbw but he had got an inside edge; the reprieve was temporary.

Aslam continued to fight having reached his fifty from 124 balls with a slog-sweep off Moeen over midwicket.

He became just the fourth Pakistan opener to hit two fifties in a Test in England, a magnificent effort for a player with such little cricket leading into the match.

Maybe it was the effect of having Misbah for company for a period, but he suddenly wanted to become more expansive against Moeen.

However, the clatter of wickets - and pace from both ends - forced him back into his shell and his dismissal, ironically to the non-stroke he had played so well during the match, left a weak lower order with a task beyond them.

England 1st Innings 297 Pakistan 1st Innings 400 England 2nd innings A Cook* c Yasir Shah b Sohail Khan 66 A Hales c Younis Khan b Mohammad Amir 54 J Root c Mohammad Hafeez b Yasir Shah 62 J Vince c Younis Khan b Mohammad Amir 42 G Ballance c Asad Shafiq b Yasir Shah 28 J Bairstow† lbw b Sohail Khan 83 M Ali not out 86 C Woakes not out 3 12 Extras: b 4, lb 7, w 2, nb 8) 21 Total: (6 wickets dec; 129 overs) 445 Did not bat: SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, ST Finn Fall of wickets: 1-126 (Cook, 38.1 ov), 2-126 (Hales, 39.3 ov), 3-221 (Root, 75.1 ov), 4-257 (Vince, 84.1 ov), 5-282 (Ballance, 97.3 ov), 6-434 (Bairstow, 126.2 ov) Bowling: Mohammad Amir 31-8-75-2, Sohail Khan 293-111-2 (1w), Rahat Ali 218-54-0, Yasir Shah 43-4172-2, Azhar Ali 5-0-22-0

Pakistan 2nd innings (target: 343 runs) Mohammad Hafeez c Woakes b Broad 2 Sami Aslam b Finn 70 38 Azhar Ali c Cook b Ali Younis Khan c †Bairstow b Anderson 4 Misbah-ul-Haq* c †Bairstow b Finn 10 Asad Shafiq lbw b Woakes 0 Sarfraz Ahmed† c Root b Woak es 0 Yasir Shah c Hales b Anderson 7 Mohammad Amir c Woakes b Broad 16 Sohail Khan c & b Ali 36 15 Rahat Ali not out Total: (all out; 70.5 overs) 201 Fall of wickets: 1-6(Mohammad Hafeez, 5.5 ov), 2-79 (Azhar Ali, 30.3 ov), 3-92 (Younis Khan, 37.4 ov), 4-124 (Misbah-ulHaq, 47.5 ov), 5-125 (Asad Shafiq, 48.6 ov), 6-125 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 50.5 ov), 7-125 (Sami Aslam, 51.3 ov), 8-149 (Yasir Shah, 56.5 ov), 9-151 (Mohammad Amir, 59.4 ov), 10-201 (Sohail Khan, 70.5 ov) Bowling: Anderson 13-3-312, Broad 15-7-24-2, Woakes 11-2-53-2, Finn 13-5-38-2, Ali 17.5-4-49-2, Root 1-0-4-0

Zimbabwe v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Bulawayo, 2nd day...

New Zealand pile up 582 to take charge

A

nother day of Test cricket in Bulawayo belonged to New Zealand as they piled on the runs on Zimbabwe with three batsmen scoring centuries and two notching half-centuries in their firstinnings total of 582 for 4.

New Zealand batted for two entire sessions before declaring during the tea break in a bid to take a few wickets in the last session but Zimbabwe’s opening stand stood unbroken after 30 overs.

Tino Mawoyo and Chamu Chibhabha saw through the new ball, a short-ball barrage and 11 overs of spin to end the day on a respectable 55 for 0. While Mawoyo, who came in for Brian Chari, was more resolute, Chibhabha offered a few more shots to finish the day on 31 off 89 balls, compared to Mawoyo’s 20 off 91 balls. Once New Zealand saw there was no swing on offer for the first five overs, which were all maidens, the slip cordon was trimmed and

the leg-side field was packed as Tim Southee and Trent Boult switched to a shortball strategy. When that did not work either, Kane Williamson brought on the spinners and Neil Wagner but the openers’ tactics did not waver to head towards the half-century stand.

Earlier, Ross Taylor became the third centurion of the innings after Tom Latham on day one and Williamson early on day two as New Zealand showed no mercy to Zimbabwe’s wearing attack. Taylor and Latham have scored centuries in both matches of this series but it may be the other hundred that grabs the headlines.

The New Zealand captain became the first from his country, the 13th overall and only the second after Younis Khan among the current crop of internationals to score a century against all nine other Test nations.

Continuing from 95 overnight, he whipped the eighth

ball he faced this morning to the square-leg boundary to bring up the landmark.

He did not hang around for long though, giving Zimbabwe a rare moment of celebration when he edged Michael Chinouya to gully but their joy was shortlived. After Williamson’s dismissal, Taylor continued the grind and surpassed his mentor Martin Crowe’s tally of 5444 runs to become the third-highest run-scorer in New Zealand’s Test history.

All that meant Zimbabwe were subjected to more toil on a surface that offered no assistance. The only indication the bowlers would make any impression on New Zealand’s batsmen came early in the day with the second new ball when Chinouya and Donald Tiripano, the pace duo, found some movement. Chinouya beat Taylor twice, but with the pace in upper 120s and no slips in place, they had to work within their limitations.

The quicks bowled sev-

en-over spells each before Graeme Cremer brought himself on and immediately found the drift that was lacking on the first day. He struck off his fifth ball when Henry Nicholls was trapped in front while attempting a sweep. With two wickets for 20 runs, Zimbabwe may have seen an opportunity to claw their way back in, but Taylor and BJ Watling shut them out.

Cremer and offspinner John Nyumbu tried everything to stem the run flow, switching angles from over to around the wicket, and keeping fielders close in but nothing worked. In fact, Craig Ervine, who was stationed under the helmet at short leg, was hit three times by the batsmen as they whipped Cremer away.

Watling’s footwork and Taylor’s deft touches were a slow burn on Zimbabwe’s energy reserves and Cremer turned to the part-timers to buy time. Sean Williams was punished but Prince

Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s overnight batsman, raised his 14th Test century and joined an elite group of batsmen with a century against all the Test-playing nations© AFP

Masvaure produced the only chance of the afternoon session when he tempted Taylor into reaching for a short and wide ball but debutant wicketkeeper Peter Moor could not hold on to the edge. Six balls later, Taylor drove Williams to long-off to bring up his hundred.

Zimbabwe’s disciplines

deserted them as the tea break approached and they offered the New Zealand pair several short deliveries which were put away.

Almost without trying, the Taylor-Watling stand grew to 193 and the score approached 600 before tea was called and New Zealand decided to declare. (Cricinfo)

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21

sports

West Indies must find the right formula!

Says Delvon McEwan

J

udging from the draw in the second match of their ongoing Test series against India it is obvious that the West Indies team possesses the potential to evolve on the international scene in the longest format of the game, but it is a matter of getting the formula right.

That excludes the option of having season cricketers like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell involved to complete the task done.

In the second Test West Indies batsmen, led by rookie Roston Chase pulled out some sterling performances to secure an improbable draw for the Caribbean side after they slide to 48-4 on the penultimate day of the match and an innings defeat insight.

Chase marked his presence in the Test cricket arena with a spectacular maiden unbeaten century (137) in just his second test match and received invaluable support from Jermaine Blackwood, Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder, all of whom made hard fought fifties in a difficult situation.

Prior to that match, Chase made his debut in the previous match which West Indies loss by an innings and 92 runs. There were lots of speculations of him being played in front of Leon Johnson and little was known of him.

However, he proved the critics wrong with a top all-round performance which included a century and a five wicket match haul. The first time in 50 years the feat was done by a West Indian, emulating Garfield Sobers the last West Indian to do it.

The lofty right handed batsman, Chase, was selected based on his performance in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) 2015-16 Professional Cricket League where he finished as the fourth leading run scorer with 710 runs at an average of 59.16. His ability to bowled effective off spin would have probably been a surplus for him gaining the nod over players like Vishaul Singh, Johnson and Shamarh Brooks.

However, cricket is no individual sport and even Chase’s brilliance could not have saved West Indies from another humiliating defeat. It required a team effort and it would always be that way, so the West Indies needs to come up with the right formula to achieve success in the future.

Although it would be impossible for the selectors to immediately get the right composition to start being successful, they can get the ideal unit which can emerge into a reckoning force. The panel led by Chairman, Courtney Brown, should be praised for the selection of both Chase and Dowrich in the current team. Though their performance did not take West Indies to victory it was very important for them to not lose the match. Not losing helps in so many ways, especially with the players’ confidence and

Jason Holder

it drives resurgence. Besides Chase and Dowrich involvement, the selectors stuck with Blackwood, who failed to score in both innings of the first Test but rediscovered form to register two important half centuries in the second Test.

Indeed the selectors have gotten it correct in a few areas but the West Indies still seems distance away of returning to its glory days. They (selectors) are now placed with the task of getting the ideal composition that can win Test matches.

Looking back at the first Test in Antigua, the West Indies team that played that match did not possess the right balance to even compete in that match much less to win it. The opening pair was one that has failed in Australia but was given another opportunity and the bowling was extremely weak, especially against a batting lineup like India’s.

In the second test the opening pair failed for a fourth time in the series while the bowling department for a second time seemed extremely weak and was unable to dismiss the Indians. Due to this the selectors face an uphill task of getting the balance right, they have opted for Shai Hope, who was tried before, to replace Rajendra Chandrika heading into the third test while they have included emerging fast bowler Alzarri Joseph prior to the second test.

Hope is expected to be given the nudge over Johnson, to open with fellow Barbadian Kraigg Braithwaite, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Blackwood, Chase, and Dowrich in that order are predicted to bat in positions from 3-7. However there are some issues that need to be addressed.

Braithwaite is known for his patient knocks, but to date has subdued to opponents much to the disappointment of the Caribbean fans. He made 74 in the first Test but has failed in three other innings. There are already gossips about Chandrika’s replacements and questions are being asked. Is he the best choice? Or is he the only other option? Only Hope could answer those questions by letting his bat talk.

In recent times Hope has excelled at the first class level, he even scored a century in the first warm-up match against

the Indians just over three weeks ago, but he has failed miserably on the international stage. These two openers, Hope and Braithwaite need to adjust quickly to give the West Indies good start that the middle and lower order can carry on from.

Arguably Bravo and Samuels are the most talented of the West Indies batsmen but they are both inconsistent. However, watching them bat is some spectacle to the eyes and their contributions are of value to the team.

In this third Test they must return substantial scores or adjustments must be made by the selectors especially in Samuels’ case. To date in the current test series their added aggregate reads 129 runs from eight innings.

These two batsmen along with the others need to be consistent.

There should be a switch between Chase and Blackwood, with the former being promoted to five because of his batsmanship and temperament. Looking at Blackwood in his short career there are flaws evident in his techniques however, he has still managed satisfactory returns.

He is a natural attacking batsman, who scores freely when he is on the attack, as in his last innings he scored 63 at faster than a run-a-ball and according to the skipper Jason Holder in a post-match briefing; Blackwood was told to play his game.

In that case he should bat at six to pounce on the bowlers when they would have been exhausted and to keep pressure on the opposition skipper’s plan. That switch would also give Chase ample time at the crease and if he is there when Blackwood arrives, their compatibility could be good for the team’s scoring rate.

To complete the team’s batting would be Dowrich, who has been impactful since his debut last year while Holder is arguably the best number eight in world cricket at the moment.

Based on the West Indies squad the final three could be three pacers, or a spinner and two pacers like were used in the second Test. Or they could return to the ineffective state of playing a second all-rounder, a spinner and a pacer. In my perspective the option is opened to either of the first two.

According to my analysis the team for the third Test which starts on Tuesday in St. Lucia should read, Braithwaite, Hope, Bravo, Samuels, Chase, Blackwood, Dowrich, Holder, Miguel Cummings, Shannon Gabriel and Joseph.

It should have been the team playing since the second Test due to the nature of the pitch in Jamaica. However, since St. Lucia’s pitch is not too far off from Jamaica and the Indians dislike for pace, entering the match with three quickies, a medium fast allrounder and three part-time off spinners should be a good option for the West Indies.

22

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

monDAY, august 8, 2016

Police take time off to Milerock hammer Top XX celebrate anniversary GFF/NAMILCO National U-17 Football...

4-1 in Linden’s opener M ilerock defeated Top XX 4-1 on the opening day of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the National Milling Company of Guyana (NAMILCO) National Under-17 Thunderbolt Flour Power in the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA).

Playing at the Wisburd Secondary School Ground

on Saturday, Tyrese Lewis scored two goals, while Joel Dow and Lorenzo Miller scored a goal each; Carlon Jones was the lone scorer for TOPPXX. In the second game the UDFA U-17 defending Champions Eagles United made light of Silver Shattas FC, easing to a 2-0 win, as Javier Smith and Jamal Allicock taking their team to victory with a goal apiece.

Matches will continue on Wednesday, where Amelias Ward Panthers come against Eagles United and Milrock play Botafago at the Wisburg Ground.

Some of the participating teams present at the colourful launch

Prior to the matches, the launching of the League took place, with President of GFF Wayne Forde, NAMILCO Marketing Consultant Afeez Khan , President of the UDFA Sharma Solomon and PRO Vanessa Kissoon.

Forde in his remarks urged the players to perform their best, as the league is seen as the building block for the country’s future stars. He added that the league will allow for players from all across Guyana to get a chance to showcase talent worthy enough of being on the National Team.

Solomon in his remarks, voiced that it was important

and necessary for a sponsor in the form of NAMILCO sees it fit to invest in the prime assets of the sport, the youths.

Meanwhile in the Essequibo Coast / Pomeroon Football Association, both Queenstown and Super 11 won via walkover via their respective opponents Good Hope and Henrietta.

Unfortunately, in the other associations, overnight rain, hampered any matches being played.

The Thunderbolt Tournament spans throughout the football associations of Guyana and has the majority of its match days slated for weekends at the various community grounds.

The Milling Company has been in existence since 1969 and produces several heath oriented products such as Maid Marian Harvest High Fibre Whole Wheat Flour, Maid Marian Wheat-Up Breakfast Porridge, and Maid Marian Multigrain Flour among many other products.

A

s part of the 177thanniversary celebrations on Guyana Police Force, ranks of ‘B’ Division took time off to join with youths from police clubs and compete in both sport and fun games.

Sub-division 3, West Berbice dominated the oneday event which took place at All Saints Ground on Princess Elizabeth Road in New Amsterdam.

West Berbice surge to the top of the field in ath-

Devita Jackson (right) powering her way to win the female 80m from Reiva Grant

Inspector Cynthia Kelly presenting Titus Webster with the prize for winning the male 80m race

letics and football while Sub-division 2 (Corentyne) dominated at cricket; Subdivision 1 (New Amsterdam/ Canje/East Bank) took the march pass.

In the female 80-meter dash Devita Jackson won

from Reiva Grant as West Berbice dominate the event as they also did when the males raced over the same distance. Titus Webster won from Disu-D Morris.

In the girls U-8, 60-meter Okeish Jones finished first ahead of Shay Roberts both of West Berbice while

in the boy’s race Cody Sam of West Berbice came in ahead of Yuanton Crandon of Corentyne.

In the 11-a-side five over softball cricket competition, Sub-division 2 had two teams in the final and they were declared joint winners.

Meanwhile, in the dominoes events, Gold of New Amsterdam chalked up 87 games to claim the top spot with Massive of West Berbice 79, Unruly of Ne Amsterdam 78 and Royalty of West Berbice 77. The police women’s team CPG played a good host and finished in cellar on 62 games.

The two teams received trophies and cash incentives donated by the Commander Ian Amsterdam while the third placed team received a trophy.

At the end of the day’s activities, Amsterdam presented Inspector Cynthia Kelly of the Fort Wellington Police, West Berbice with the over winning trophy.

(Andrew Carmichael)

Plaisance edge West Ruimveldt WICB Regional U-19…

Trinidad and Tobago 3-day Champs B to win U-13 tourney − Guyana finish last

T

Plaisance Captain and tourney MVP Azandee King collecting the championship trophy from Banks DIH Limited Malts Brand Manager Clayton McKenzie while other members of the team and the tourney coordinators look on

P

laisance won the inaugural Banks DIH Limited/Alex Bunbury Sports and Academics Academy U-13 football champions after edging West Ruimveldt-B on sudden death penalty kicks yesterday at the Parade Ground on Saturday.

With the score locked at 0-0 at full time, the East Coast unit prevailed over their counterparts by a 4-3 score line.

Due to the victory, Plaisance walked away with the championship trophy and

the winners’ medals while West Ruimveldt-B pocketed the second place accolade and the respective medals.

In the third-place play-off Tigerbay downed Eastville also by a 4-3 score line after regulation time ended 0-0.

For their effort, Tigerbay walked away with the respective trophy and medals.

Azandee King of Plaisance was awarded the event’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) while Kevon Mullings of Tigerbay copped the Highest Goal Scorer accolade.

In the semi-final rounds,

the East Coast of Demerara unit sealed their berth to the final after edging Tigerbay 4-3 whilst West Ruimveldt-B progressed to the finale 10-9 via sudden death kicks after normal time ended scoreless in their match with Eastville.

Other sponsors of the event include the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Samuel Bunbury, James Paul (USA), Puran Brothers Disposal Incorporated, the Petra Organisation, Donna Shop, Frontline Hardware Store (Plaisance) and Trophy Stall.

rinidad and Tobago are the new champions of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional U-19 three-day competition after winning the title on the final day of their third match against previous champions Guyana in St. Vincent.

On Saturday the winners thrashed Guyana by an innings and 48 runs to put the final nail in the coffin.

The Twin Island Republic finished on 37 points coming from one

win and two draws which they won first innings from. The new champs ended on 37 points and were followed in a close second by Leewards on 36.8 points after winning two games and losing one.

Jamaica came in third on 36.4 points followed by Barbados 30.1, Windwards 19.2 and Guyana 10.1.

Trinidad was the only team to play unbeaten while former champions Guyana was the only team to play winless.

Leewards started the final round as leaders but suffered a mammoth 148 run loss to Jamaica in their final round match.

With that victory Jamaica leapfrogged Barbados to end in third place.

Meanwhile Barbados and Windwards played to a thrilling draw in the other final round match which saw the former ending within 12 runs of achieving a come from behind victory with one wicket in hand.

guyana-times.com

mondAY, august 8, 2016

23

Hero Caribbean Premier League 2016…

Tallawahs beat Warriors to lift 2nd title

BY JOHN RAMSINGH TA WARNER PARK, BASSETERRE

T

he Jamaica Tallawahs became the first team to win

ter making it to the finals on two other occasions but it was not to be as the Tallawahs proved that they wanted the title more.

Asked to make 94 from all of 20 overs the

Sohail Tanvir hits 4 during the Hero Caribbean Premier League Final at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts (Photo by: Randy Brooks/ Sportsfile)

two titles with a nine-wicket drubbing of the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final of the Hero Caribbean Premier League 2016 at a packed Warner Park in sweet St. Kitts and Nevis on Sunday night.

The Warriors were looking for their first title af-

from 27 balls with six towering maximums and three fours with a strike rate of 200 runs per 100 balls.

Walton was contented to be a witness of the Gayle storm from the non-strikers end to end on 25 from 36 balls with two fours while Kumar Sangakkara hit the winning runs to end on 12 from 15 balls with the final delivery of the tournament ending up in the third man boundary.

Rayad Emrit who was desperately looking for wickets to win the maiden title for the Warriors used five bowlers to try to stop the Gayle force but was unable to do so. Emrit himself was the lone wicket taker after Gayle was snapped up by Steven Jacobs.

Rayad Emrit (L) of Guyana Amazon Warriors stumped by Kumar Sangakkara (R) of Jamaica Tallawahs (Photo by: Randy Brooks/Sportsfile)

The Biggest Party in Sport concluded with a massive crowd in attendance

Tallawahs raced to their target and their second title in four years with 43 balls to spare. The run chase was set up nicely by openers Chris Gayle and Chadwick Walton who put on 79 in just under 10 overs. Gayle played a typically aggressive innings to get to 54

SCOREBOARD

Guyana Amazon Warriors innings (20 overs maximum)

D Smith c Powell 17 b Thomas N Maddinson c †Sangakkara b Russell 0 C Lynn c Foo b Shakib Al Has an 7 Sohail Tanvir c Foo b Williams 42 J Mohammed lbw b Shakib Al Hasan 0 C Barnwell c Gayle b Imad Wasim 10 A Bramble† b Imad Wasim 0 R REmrit* st †Sangakkara b Imad Wasim 0 S Jacobs b Williams V Permaul not out 0 A Zampa run out (Williams/†S angakkara) 2 Extras: (lb 2, w 5, nb 1) 8 Total: (all out; 16.1 overs) 93 Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Maddinson, 0.4 ov), 2-9 (Lynn, 2.1 ov), 3-50 (Smith, 7.5 ov), 4-53 (Mohammed, 8.4 ov),

5-70 (Barnwell, 12.4 ov), 6-70 (Bramble, 12.6 ov), 7-83 (Emrit, 13.6 ov), 8-91 (Sohail Tanvir, 15.4 ov), 9-91 (Jacobs, 15.5 ov), 10-93 (Zampa, 16.1 ov) Bowling : Russell 2.1-05-1, Imad Wasim 4-0-21-3 (1w), Shakib Al Hasan 4-025-2 (1w), Williams 2-0-12-2 , Thomas 4-0-28-1(1nb, 3w)

Jamaica Tallawahs innings (target: 94 runs from 20 overs) C Walton not out 25 36 C Gayle* c Jacobs b Emrit 54 K Sangakkara† not out 12 Extras: (w 3, nb 1) 4 Total: (1 wicket; 12.5 overs) 95 Did not bat: R Powell, Shakib Al Hasan, AD Russell, JA Foo, Imad Wasim, O Thomas, GE Mathurin, KOK Williams Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Gayle, 9.4 ov) Bowling: Sohail Tanvir 4-0-17-0 (1w), Jacobs 3-033-0, A Zampa 1-0-18-0 (1w), Emrit 3-0-13 (1nb), V Permaul 1.5-0-14-0 (1w)

Kesrick Williams (L) and Jonathan Foo (R) of Jamaica Tallawahs jump in celebration of Guyana Amazon Warrior Steven Jacobs’ dismissal (Photo by: Randy Brooks/Sportsfile)

Emrit ended with figures of 3-0-13-1. However, the Tallawahs victory was set up by their bowlers who did a wonderful job in restricting the consistent Warriors to under 100 in good conditions for cricket.

The Warriors were sent in after the Tallawahs Captain; Chris Gayle thought it will be best to switch things up on the Warriors who won all eight of their matches by chasing. The decision immediately paid off when Nic Maddinson edged the fourth delivery of the match behind to Kumar Sangakkara for a first ball duck. Warriors were immediately on the back foot at 1/1. The tournament’s leading run scorer, Chris Lynn walked out to join Dwayne Smith but he didn’t last long. After hitting a sweetly timed cover drive off Imad Wasim, next over he offered a simple catch to Jonathan Foo at cover off of Shakib Al-Hassan’s first delivery of the match. The Warriors wanted a good start from the top order but it was not to be as the Tallawahs left arm spinners were all over them.

The Amazon Warriors marque player Sohail Tanvir joined the party and showed his class with the

bat in hitting the top score of 42 (37 balls; 6x4) and was looking to rebuild the innings but wasn’t getting the support. He added 41 with Dwayne Smith in just under six overs and once they were separated the rest of the batting fell away cheaply. Smith offered a dolly of a catch to Rovman Powell at long on for a patient 17 from 22 balls with a solitary four and a six.

During the partnership the Warriors 50 came up half way through the eight over after being at 34/2 at the end of the Power Play.

However, the last eight Warriors batsmen fell for 43 runs in eight overs to be all out for 93 from 16.1 overs and committing a major sin of not batting the full 20 overs.

The consistent Jason Mohammed was sent back leg before wicket to Shakib for a first ball duck in the ninth over after which Christopher Barnwell (10; 16 balls; 1x6) stuck around a little on the uncharacteristically slow Warner Park track but after hitting Wasim for a maximum over midwicket he gave Gayle a simple catch next ball to keep the slide going for the Warriors 70-5 in the 13th over. Next ball Anthony Bramble survived a confident appeal for leg before wicket then followed it up with a wild swipe and was bowled. The Warriors were wounded at 70-6 at the end of the 13th over.

Captain Rayad Emrit became the fourth batsman not to trouble the scorers when he wandered out of his crease and was stumped off a wide delivery from Wasim at the start of the 15th over. Tanvir was eight out after Kesrick Williams (2-12) cleaned up the tail.

Imad Wasim was the best bowler for new champions with three for 24 while Shakib had two wickets for 25 from four tight overs.

mondAY, august 8, 2016

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

Hero Caribbean Premier League 2016…

Tallawahs beat Warriors to lift 2nd title

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyana-times.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, News Hotliine: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 SALES AND MARKETING - lezas@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.