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Issue No. 1860

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Essequibo student cops 20 subjects at CSEC

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WHAT'S INSIDE: P3 APNU’s statement on non-support of Amaila factually wrong – govt

See story on page 16

Zimeena Rasheed

No increase in minibus fares – ministry P7

Bandits rob owner of P9 Corentyne gas station Tain residents P10 call for investigation of complaints about university

CSEC highflyers credit success to extra studies, hard work See story on page 13

From left to right in front row, Chief Education Officer Olato Sam, CSEC top student Zimeena Rasheed, Education Minister Priya Manickchand, Yogeeta Persaud who placed second and other top performing students of the Anna Regina Multilateral School following the announcement of the country’s results on Tuesday

Nigel Hughes in conflict of interest mix – was lawyer for foreman in Lusignan Massacre trial

See story on page 19

PC student tops CAPE – Anu Dev tied at number two with five ones

See story on page 17

LIAT warns of further disruption P14 while challenges addressed

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wednesday, august 14, 2013 | guyanatimeSGY.com

News

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, August 14 from 09:30h to 11:00h.

The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, August 14 from 08:50h to 10:20h.

WEATHER TODAY Countrywide: Thundery showers are expected during the day, with clear skies in the evening over coastal regions and near inland locations.

Temperatures are expected to range between 24 and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Easterly at 2.23 to 2.68 metres per second.

High Tide: 09:37h and 22:03h reaching maximum heights of 2.36 metres and 2.40 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 03:05h and 15:30h reaching minimum heights of 0.75 metre and 0.90 metre respectively.

wednesday, august 14, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

APNU’s statement on non-support of Amaila factually wrong – govt

G

overnment has refuted claims in an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) statement on Monday, in which the coalition definitively put on record why it continues to oppose the Amaila project.

Previously, the APNU said in a statement it was not being consulted properly, but now it seems that the APNU has decided that this is no longer a defensible strategy, the government said in a release.

According to the APNU statement, their non-support is grounded in three overarching reasons.

Firstly, the coalition said, the financial structure of the project “is likely to condemn Guyanese to excessive indebtedness”.

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However, the government said this is simply not true.

“No government borrowing is taking place under the Amaila Falls project. Government is not taking out any debt or directly guaranteeing any capital in the project. Under the project, the government, as owner of GPL, is merely guaranteeing that GPL will make its annual payments for purchasing the power from the hydro.

“The total cost to the taxpayer is US$100 million in equity. None of this is debt. US$15 million has already been spent, and most (US$80 million) of the remainder is already deposited in the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund and awaiting transfer.”

Moreover, the government said after Amaila is operational, the total sav-

President Donald Ramotar

ings to the taxpayer because of the removal of GPL’s subsidy will be at least US$30 million per year, or US$600 million over 20 years – far in excess of the US$100 million provided by the taxpayer in equity.

Secondly, the APNU contended that government has not provided concrete information on the expected savings on tariffs from the project.

Unfounded

On this matter, the government said the claim is unfounded, noting that it has been explained repeatedly, over the coming years, the consumer tariff will come down because of Amaila Falls and a separate project to modernise GPL (as correctly acknowledged in APNU’s statement).

“Today, GPL’s biggest cost by far is its cost of electricity generation, which is currently at the level of US19 cents per kwh. With the Amaila Falls project, GPL’s cost of electricity will be dramatically reduced, to US11

cents per kwh in the first 12 years, 40 per cent less than today; US5.6 cents per kwh in the next eight years, 71 per cent less than today; and US1.8 cents per kwh for the following eighty years, 91 per cent less than today.”

The government release said the combination of the above savings and the removal of GPL’s subsidy (to save the taxpayer six billion dollars per year) mean that the end user tariff will come down by 20 per cent within two years of Amaila’s commercial operation.

The APNU has also said they were not presented with a comprehensive document describing the project.

Falsehood

The government said it begs to differ, pointing out that it has provided comprehensive information on the project to the opposition in the past 18 months, including three comprehensive presentations on the project; all three significant initialled project agreements: the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the Receivables Agreement (RA) and the Implementation Agreement (IA); and two market/economic assessments prepared by one of the world’s leading independent firms concerned with economic assessments for the energy sector, Mercados Eneregiticos.

A representative table of contents for the three presentations made by government to the APNU is as follows: Amaila Falls project overview; environmental and social safe-

guards and standards; equity sponsors background; technical consultants; project structure; estimated project sources and uses; project cost history comparison; key external factors; interest during construction and political risk insurance; Sithe Global development; Shareholder: Amaila Falls hydro; benefits of GRIF investment in Amaila hydro; legal overview: performance guarantee; key project documents; primary project risks and mitigants; key project dates; GPL overview: GPL sales, generation costs and growth, GPL snapshot: GPL financial snapshot, GPL historical production costs, GPL fuel challenge, GPL generation cost; and projected GPL tariffs, GPL reform plans, IDB support in GPL’s on-going reform.

The government said in addition to documents provided, the project’s sponsor, Sithe Global, has publicly posted a number of documents on the project’s website, including environmental and social impact assessment documentation, consultation reports and public presentations.

“So in sum: APNU is destroying the Amaila Falls project because they say it will burden Guyana with debt (even though it won’t), that it will not deliver significant savings to the consumer (even though it will), and because they did not have all the documentation (even though they did).

“Every single person in this country will suffer because of their mistake,” the government statement concluded.

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guyanatimesgy.com

WEDNESday, august 14, 2013

Views

God’s canvas Editor: Nigel Williams Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134 Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Local govt elections W

e are indeed pleased that, after all the political manoeuvrings in the National Assembly, the local government bills key to the holding of local government elections were passed.

The Fiscal Transfers Bill 2012; the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2012; the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2012; and the Local Government Commission Bill were passed unanimously in Parliament last week with the support of all political parties. The passage of the bills will now await the assent of President Donald Ramotar before local government elections could be held.

It is this kind of approach that citizens want to see replicated in other areas of national development by our leaders. As expected in any competitive political environment, there will be efforts by parties to gain political points. Everyone wants to come out looking good. What is important is that at the end of the day, political leaders should put their differences aside and work in the national interest.

It is this sort of mature behaviour citizens were expecting to see in the debates on the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project (AFHEP). Citizens wanted to see intelligent and serious discussions on the project itself and the benefits that could be derived from it. For example, how each consumer would benefit and how the national economy would be impacted in general.

In all fairness to the government, while they have made every effort to provide the opposition with answers to their questions, they (opposition parties) were bent on looking at the issue from a partisan perspective, and from all indications, are not willing to budge from their previous position.

While it is not our intention to rehash the numerous benefits of the AFHEP to ordinary consumers as they were already detailed in various media publications, and the justification for such a project, we cannot help noticing the short-sightedness of the A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) or as some may put it, their lack of vision in terms of what is good for Guyana.

However, back to the substantive point – with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) now saying that the elections machinery is oiled and ready to run off these elections, nothing should hold the nation back from engaging in this democratic process.

There is certainly no valid justification in further delays and the nation expects that all stakeholders, especially political parties, will support GECOM in carrying out its work with the highest level of professionalism and transparency.

Certainly, we cannot boast of being a democracy and not have local government elections in almost 20 years. Citizens are crying out for better services. They want to see drains dug and trenches and canals cleaned. They want safer and more prosperous communities.

They want to have more facilities for sports in their communities, and they want their views to be well represented at the national level, so that central government would become aware of the issues, which need to be addressed. In essence, many communities have been left to deteriorate due to a lack of competent elected representatives at the local level to get the job done.

As we had stated some time ago, we believe that effective and efficient public administration coupled with healthy local governance can drive development efforts. Local government institutions bring government closer to the people, fostering greater inclusion, civic responsibility, empowerment, and participation.

In fact, local government offers one of the most important avenues for women and other groups typically underrepresented to participate in the development of their communities and influence decision-making processes that directly affect their lives.

That being said, the public awareness and education campaigns should kick off in communities across Guyana. This is a key element for successfully holding these elections. If persons are not fully informed about the process and what it means or how it will impact them and the development of their own communities, they will not participate in the process.

Guyana has made great strides in almost every aspect of national development, and citizens are enjoying a higher quality of life, but the continued absence of democratically elected and effective local government remains a crucial issue which must be addressed forthwith.

Only when people have transparent and accountable institutions at all levels of government – national, regional and local, will they have confidence in their future. Put simply, local government elections are a key element of democracy.

Yes, we had a hard time believing that this insane mountain formation was actually real, because we haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole. But, believe it or not, this technicolour range actually exists. The mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China. Layers of different coloured sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates, according to the Telegraph (Huffington Post)

Near-death experience explained A surge of electrical activity in the brain could be responsible for the vivid experiences described by near-death survivors, scientists report.

A study carried out on dying rats found high levels of brainwaves at the point of the animals’ demise.

U.S. researchers said that in humans this could give rise to a heightened state of consciousness.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The lead author of the study, Dr Jimo Borjigin, of the University of Michigan, said: “A lot of people thought that the brain after clinical death was inactive or hypoactive, with less activity than the waking state, and we show that is definitely not the case.

“If anything, it is much more active during the dying process than even the waking state.”

From bright white lights to out-of-body sensations and feelings of life flashing before their eyes, the experiences reported by people who have come close to death but survived are common the world over.

However, studying this

in humans is a challenge, and these visions are little understood.

To find out more, scientists at the University of Michigan monitored nine rats as they were dying.

In the 30-second period after the animal’s hearts stopped beating, they measured a sharp increase in high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations.

These pulses are one of the neuronal features that are thought to underpin consciousness in humans, especially when they help to “link” information from different parts of the brain.

In the rats, these electrical pulses were found at even higher levels just after the cardiac arrest than when animals were awake and well.

Dr Borjigin said it was feasible that the same thing would happen in the human brain, and that an elevated level of brain activity and consciousness could give rise to near-death visions.

“This can give us a framework to begin to explain these. The fact they see light perhaps indicates the visual cortex in the brain is highly activated – and we have evidence to suggest this might be the case, because we

have seen increased gamma in area of the brain that is right on top of the visual cortex,” she said.

“We have seen increased coupling between the lower-frequency waves and the gamma that has been shown to be a feature of visual awareness and visual sensation.”

However, she said that to confirm the findings a study would have to be carried out on humans who have experienced clinical death and have been revived.

Commenting on the research, Dr Jason Braithwaite, of the University of Birmingham, said the phenomenon appeared to be the brain’s “last hurrah”.

“This is a very neat demonstration of an idea that’s been around for a long time: that under certain unfamiliar and confusing circumstances – like near-death – the brain becomes overstimulated and hyperexcited,” he said.

Striking

“Like ‘fire raging through the brain’, activity can surge through brain areas involved in conscious experience, furnishing all resultant perceptions with realer-than-real

feelings and emotions.”

But he added: “One limitation is that we do not know when, in time, the near-death experience really occurs. Perhaps it was before patients had anaesthesia, or at some safe point during an operation long before cardiac arrest.

“However, for those instances where experiences may occur around the time of cardiac arrest - or beyond it – these new findings provide further meat to the bones of the idea that the brain drives these fascinating and striking experiences” Dr Chris Chambers, of Cardiff University, said: “This is an interesting and well-conducted piece of research. We know precious little about brain activity during death, let alone conscious brain activity.

These findings open the door to further studies in humans. “[But] we should be extremely cautious before drawing any conclusions about human near-death experiences: it is one thing to measure brain activity in rats during cardiac arrest, and quite another to relate that to human experience.”

(BBC News)

guyanatimesgy.com

WEDNESday, august 14, 2013

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You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

The hypocrisy of Freddie Kissoon has no limit Dear Editor, In his usual daily rants, Freddie Kissoon wrote, “Two fantastic Guyanese I met and have nothing but love for them are Nigel Hughes and Khemraj Ramjattan. They are extraordinary political activists in my book and for now I will continue to see them as I have always done” (Kaieteur News, August 11).

When former president Bharrat Jagdeo questioned the credibility of Hughes at a 2011 People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) rally, Kissoon labelled this as a “naked and unbridled assault on the character of attorney Hughes”. He wrote then, “The vicious attack on the integrity of Hughes at the Lusignan PPP/C rally on October 23, 2011

by Jagdeo will not dent the huge credibility of this brilliant lawyer” (Kaieteur News, October 27, 2011).

The former president was at the time commenting on the 2003 murder of 35-year-old Buxtonian Brian Hamilton, who was shot and killed by one or more gunmen as he sat in the office of his Buxton Public Road gas station, in which he said, “They had a camera and he (Hughes) took away the tape… the police never got hold of that tape and I am saying it here publicly tonight because it’s the truth, why did he take away the tape of how this guy was killed?”

By his own admission in an earlier article, “Jagdeo attacks Nigel Hughes”, Hughes admitted that he turned up shortly after the murder, and, with the help of the deceased’s father, removed the surveillance tape from the crime scene, and returned it a few days later to Police Headquarters at Eve Leary.

However, Kissoon’s opinion of Hughes and his memory of this event differ drastically now from a letter he wrote to Stabroek News which was published on April 12, 2003, in which he called for Hughes to “resign his leadership role in the Guyana Bar Association”.

In that letter, “Did Hughes commit an offence?”, Frederick Kissoon

wrote, “I believe a lawyer can argue that it has to be proven under the Criminal Act that Hughes meant to defeat the course of justice. But the law is no fool. Anyone could be allowed to take away evidence and innocently claim that they were acting in the best interest of the murdered victim.

Surely the law cannot be that stupid to assume that persons can take away evidence from a crime scene with good intentions.”

He continued, “The fact that Hughes kept the tape for three days, he opens himself to diverse types of suspicion. It is reasonable for a curious mind to ask if the tape was tampered with. Two senior policemen and a well placed journalist told me that the tape was altered.”

He then concluded, “Now what is my opinion?

I have read the Criminal Law Act (Offences) and it is clear to me that Ch, 8:01 applies to what Hughes did at the gas station.

Here are the relevant passages: 329 – Anyone who conspires with any person to obstruct, prevent, pervert, or defeat the course of justice shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for two years.

330 – Anyone who wilfully attempts in any way, though not otherwise criminal, to obstruct, prevent, pervert, or default the course of justice or the administration of the law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for one year.

It is obvious that Kissoon, in April of 2003, thought Hughes broke the law, and was unfit to be in any leadership role in the Guyana Bar Association.

Yet then, he chastised the former president for saying Hughes will never be appointed senior counsel under his watch.

No doubt, Hughes is a brilliant lawyer. He has to be brilliant to successfully defend one of the accused gunmen charged with the brutal murders of 11 innocent parents and children during the 2008 Lusignan massacre.

But how does Kissoon justify calling for Hughes’ resignation then, and referring to him now as a

lawyer “who has shown phenomenal ability in jurisprudence”, “a fine Guyanese lawyer”, and using adjectives like “integrity” and “huge credibility” to describe this man he said should resign his leadership position in the Guyana Bar Association?

Obviously, Kissoon did not always “love” Hughes, neither did he “always” see him the same way as he makes his readers believe.

It would appear that the hypocrisy of Kissoon has no limit.

There is a popular saying among Guyanese that, “A liar should have a good memory”. Kissoon’s memory is obviously very short, if not, he has perfected the art of lying to his readers.

Yours truly, Harry Gill

Talking about conflict of interest Dear Editor, Just over a year ago the political opposition and its mouth pieces, the Kaieteur News, Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran, just to name a few, were expounding to the public about conflict of interest. Their targets were Geetangli Singh, wife of Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and Jonathan Brassington, brother of Winston Brassington, head of the Privatisation Unit.

Singh was confirmed as deputy auditor general by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in a position she has acted in for a number of years. She has been working at the Auditor General’s Office long before her husband was appointed minister of finance, and maybe even before they were married. She successfully moved up the ladder and the issue of conflict of interest was never a concern to any member of the very committee that confirmed her appointment as deputy auditor general.

Jonathan legitimately and, in strict confirmation with all applicable laws and regulations, purchased shares in a company privatised by government. Yet Winston was accused by the opposition’s mouth pieces of conflict of interest.

Fast forward to August 2013, and a most prominent opposition leader is forced

into disclosing his association, both financial and professional, with the company contracted by the government of Guyana to execute the most important of projects for the survival and development of Guyana – a project strongly opposed to by the entire political opposition camp.

That’s correct, Hughes, chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), was forced into disclosing that he is and has been the company secretary of Amaila Falls Hydropower Inc (AFHI) since 2009.

Hughes is, therefore, company secretary to the company contracted to execute the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, AFHI, a project that his party has been fighting tooth and nail against.

Imagine Hughes, who is supposed to act in the best interest of AFHI is chairman of a major political party, which is not only opposed to the project, but has effectively accused its main financer, Sithe Global, of ripping off Guyana and its citizens by way of overpricing. What is even worse is that even the leader of the AFC, Kkhemraj Ramjattan, publically admitted that he had knowledge of Hughes’ association with AFHI. In a bid for damage control and a public relations stunt, Hughes offered his resignation as chairman of the AFC. The AFC is reported to have rejected his resignation.

Interestingly enough, a few days later, Sithe Global reported that it is pulling out of the Amaila Project. In fact, it boggles my mind as to why Ramjattan, would not accept the resignation of his main rival for leadership of the AFC, or is he not in control?

In a similar vein, Cathy Hughes, wife of Nigel and AFC Member of Parliament, was the public relations consultant for Sithe Global and AFHI. This information was made public by the attorney general.

There are, therefore, lingering questions to be answered by the Hughes' and for that matter the entire leadership of the AFC. Why did the AFC reject Hughes’ resignation? After all, Hughes as company secretary of AFHI, and his wife as public relations consultant, must have been pretty sure that Sithe Global will pull out of the project if there is no parliamentary consensus.

The AFC certainly knew that there would be no consensus since the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) made its position clear. Did his colleagues in the leadership of the AFC know this when they rejected his resignation as party chairman? Do we need better examples of conflict of interest?

Yours sincerely, Stephen Kissoon

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WEDNESday, auGust 14, 2013

guyanatimesgy.com

Page Foundation Summertime and the learning is easy

T

he summer is a time to unwind and relax for parents and children alike, but learning should not come to a halt.

By focusing on your child’s interests, involving the family, and setting goals, you can motivate even the most reluctant learners If you’re like most parents at this time of year, you’re relishing the days of summer. No more homework struggles, standardised tests, or jam-packed afternoons of carting your children to and from extracurricular activities. The summer is a time to unwind and relax for parents and children alike, but learning should not come to a halt.

According to the foundation Reading is Fundamental, children who do not read over the summer experience a loss of reading fluency and comprehension skills.

Students who engage in summertime reading actually gain skills. Research also shows that students who have not engaged in summer learning score lower on standardised tests at the end of summer break than they do on the exact same test at the end of the previous school year. In math, students lose approximately 2.6 years of grade level equivalency over the summer if they are not stimu-

lated.

Sally Shaywitz, author of Overcoming Dyslexia, reports that children who score in the top 10th percentile on standardised tests read more than 20 minutes per day after school. Over a school year, that translates to 1.8 million words read! Students who read only five minutes for pleasure score near the 50th percentile.

Sadly, students who read a minute or less on a daily basis after school hours read a mere 8000 words per year and score in the lowest 10 per cent. It is easy to understand why engaging in some type of instruction, whether it be structured or unstructured, is an integral part of continued academic growth. Parents can play an important role in encouraging learning throughout the summer months even if their child is a reluctant learner.

Make reading a priority

One of the most important gifts you can give your child this summer is the ability to enjoy reading.

Some children are naturally eager readers; however, others would never associate “reading” and “fun”. For those children, we must pull

out all the stops to foster a love of reading. It is imperative to develop structure while also giving children a choice in their reading material. * The key to motivating reluctant readers is to find the right series of books

that will pique their interests. As a parent, you know your child best. What does he love? If it’s sports, subscribe to Sports Illustrated for Kids. Perhaps your child would enjoy a sportsrelated book in the Matt Christopher series. Does he want to be a veterinarian?

Go to the library and check out books on animals. If your child will only read a certain series of books, that’s okay; at least he’s reading. Don’t

turn up your nose at your child’s choice of books; it can discourage reading. * It’s perfectly acceptable for your child to read books he’s already read. In fact, one of the fastest ways to build reading fluency is to read a book slightly be-

low grade level, three times.

Not sure if a book is too difficult? Use the five finger rule.

If your child mispronounces five or more words on a page, the book is too hard for him. * Magazines are often the way to get reluctant readers on the page. Even magazines about video games require reading! Subscribe to publications like American Girl, Boys’ Quest, National Geographic World, Nickelodeon, or Ranger Rick

and put the subscription in your child’s name. * Most children love comic books and they are a great way to ease into reading more traditional books.

Many novels now come in comic book form and children love them! No wonder books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid are more popular than ever. * Consider books on tape. Learning Ally (formerly Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic) provides access to the nation’s largest audiobook library of textbooks and literature titles. You may want to monitor your child while he is listening to a book to know that he isn’t just staring into space. Children can develop fluency and a better sight word vocabulary if they are tracking the words along with the reader’s voice. * Sign up for the summer reading programme through your local library, book store, or online through Scholastic; click on “Read for the World Record”. These programmes provide structure, accountability, and incentives. Find out how many books your child is expected to read and set goals. If it’s four books, then set attainable goals, such as 25 pages per week or one chapter per

day. * Children love computers, so use “screen time” to your advantage. Enrol your child in a structured, online reading programme that’s fun, engaging, and helps to improve reading decoding, fluency, and comprehension.

Don’t forget writing

As with reading, there are some easy ways to keep children writing over the summer as well. * Purchase a journal to place by your child’s bedside. You can use it two ways. The first is simply for the child to record his daily thoughts. By doing so nightly in a relaxed environment, he’s associating writing with pleasure. Another way is to dialogue back and forth with your child by writing a note such as, “I loved the way you listened to the coach at lacrosse practice today.

What’s your favourite part of lacrosse?” Take five minutes to write a note at some point during the day so that your child can respond at night. * Encourage your child to create a scrapbook of summer events using photos, postcards, and other memorabilia. Have him write a caption below each entry telling who, what, when, where, and why the event was special. This is a great way to keep him writing and to have a wonderful keepsake from the summer. * The summer is also an excellent time to hone keyboarding skills. Children as young as seven can begin getting familiar with the home row keys. Good keyboarding skills are a must for children with handwriting difficulties. It allows them to get their thoughts down on paper quickly with much less struggle. Students can usually edit their mistakes more efficiently when they can see their ideas in an organised fashion on a computer screen as opposed to messy handwriting on paper.

Incorporate math and science

Math is often an overlooked part of summer learning, but one that can be easily enhanced. In order to be successful in math, students must have number sense.

That means that they need to develop an understanding of mathematical concepts and the relationship between numbers, not just rote memory for facts. However, it is crucial for children to master the basics before going on to more advanced material. Fortunately, there are many fun and engaging math games that can get almost any learner hooked, even the most reluctant one. (readingrockets.org)

NEWS

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Hydro project gets support IAC congratulates CSEC from the man in the street and CAPE top students T A s President Donald Ramotar lobbies international investors to support the US$840 million Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project, more citizens are stepping forward to endorse the initiative, saying it will transform Guyana’s economic landscape and enhance the lives of all Guyanese through the provision of cheaper electricity.

Newspaper vendor Etheleena Cummings said the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) should swiftly buy in to the project, noting that the party’s non-support can be detrimental to the country’s development.

“Once it has to do with the reduction of the rates of electricity, I think that will be good for us. However, we have to weigh the pros and cons of the Amaila Falls project, but I think it would be good for the country,” she explained.

Cummings supported the idea that cheaper electricity will attract a wide cross-section of investors into Guyana, thereby transforming the economic landscape of the country.

Good for country

Taxi driver William Johnnie expressed similar sentiments, positing that the benefits to derive from the construction and operations of the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project would be tremendous. “I think it will be very good for the people in Guyana. I think the cost of our electricity bills will be reduced and that is one step in the right direction.”

While signalling their support for the Amaila Falls project, Dawn Smith, a

An artist's impression of the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project

Bourda Market vendor, and Steven Rogers, a Linden resident, said the APNU; Alliance For Change (AFC); and the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) should work collectively to revise the project, putting the interest of Guyanese first.

“As Guyanese, we can do with cheap electricity, so I think that hydro would be good for our country, whether it be Amaila Falls or any other. But from listening to the arguments put forward by the APNU, Christopher Ram and even the government, I think we should reexamine the Amaila Falls,” Smith said during an interview with Guyana Times.

The vendor said the hydropower project reminds her of the Berbice Bridge which was commissioned in December 2008.

She said all parties should compromise to see the completion and effective utilisation of the hydro project.

While supporting the concept of hydropower in Guyana, Rogers called for the revision of the Amaila Falls project, also alluding

to the Berbice River Bridge.

On Monday, President Ramotar said he will continue to explore all avenues to ensure the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project.

Recently, the project developer Sithe Global withdrew its services, citing a lack of concensus on the part of the three major political parties.

Government has said that the total cost to the taxpayer is US$100 million in equity, of which US$15 million has already been spent and US$80 million is already deposited into Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) and is awaiting transfer.

The future cost to the taxpayer is limited to the outstanding amount needed for the access road.

The total savings to the taxpayer because of the removal of the Guyana Power and Light’s subsidy will be at least US$30 million per year, or US$600 million over 20 years – far in excess of the US$100 million provided by the taxpayer in equity, the president explained.

he Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) congratulated the students who excelled at the 2013 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). The IAC said in a statement that it was heartened at these sustained outstanding performances, for they augur well for the future of our nation.

“The IAC would also like to make special mention of Anna Regina Secondary School student, Zimeena Rasheed, who has been declared the country’s top student with 18 grade ones and two grade twos. This is in-

deed an outstanding achievement of which all Guyanese must feel proud. In addition, Yogeeta Persaud, of the same school, came in second with 18 grade ones.

These successes serve as inspiration to others, here in Guyana and across the region, who would be writing similar examinations in the future.”

The IAC also recognised and commended the efforts of all the teachers who would have worked tirelessly in guiding the thousands of students across the country during their time in preparation for the examinations. Special congratulations were extended to the teachers of the Anna Regina

Secondary School for producing the country’s top two students and many more within the top 65.

The IAC also congratulated Shalita Appadu, of President’s College, for topping the CAPE with six grade ones and one grade two and all the others who would have attained five grade ones. “The IAC believes these results, which continue to set the trend in the region, are a clear indication that all Guyanese children are taking advantage of the easy access to education and the related opportunities now afforded to them. The IAC extends best wishes for their future endeavours.”

No increase in minibus fares – ministry

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here will be no increase in minibus fares, the Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Ministry said.

For the past two weeks, a document with the ministry’s stamp has been in circulation indicating a $40 increase on all minibus fares.

Routes 32, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 63A, 63, 72 and 94 were listed as the affected routes. The date 2013-08-06 along with a signature was affixed on the sheet of paper.

However on Tuesday, the ministry distanced itself from the circular.

“The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce wishes to advise that there is no minibus fare increase.

Any document in circulation which suggests an increase is unauthorised and must be ignored,” the release said.

United Minibus Union President Eon Andrews expressed appreciation for the ministry’s attempt to bring clarity to the matter. Based on investigations, Andrews said the person who is re-

ing discussed, but never materialised because passengers had objected. However, someone of recent replicated the old document and affixed a new date. He condemned the move, noting that passengers should not pay an increase.

United Minibus Union President Eon Andrews

sponsible for the illegal circulation used an old document which was available back in 2008. He said at the time the increase was be-

8 NEWS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

APNU never raised issues when given opportunity – finance minister

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inance Minister Dr Ashni Singh on Tuesday described the issues now being raised by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in relation to the Amaila Falls project as excuses and a mere fig leaf to attempt to justify and disguise the jeopardy in which that party has placed the project by opposing it in Parliament.

Minister Singh pointed out that since March last year, President Ramotar met with the opposition leader David Granger and his team, gave them a detailed presentation on the

project, and invited them to go away and study the information, consult their technical advisers, and return any questions they may have. To date, the APNU has not taken up the president’s invitation to ask questions.

Instead, more than one year and several additional presentations later, they have proceeded to attempt to torpedo the project and throw up spurious reasons to justify their negative vote.

The irrefutable fact of the matter is that Amaila is good for Guyana, the

APNU refused to avail itself meaningfully of government’s numerous efforts to consult and engage them on the project and then, for purely political reasons, they attempted to sabotage the project, knowing full well the consequences of their vote on July 18 and last Thursday.

In summary, should Amaila fail to materialise, the APNU will have to shoulder responsibility for this and for the tremendous setback that would be inflicted on Guyana’s development prospects as a result.

Ministries collaborating to expand road infrastructure in Port Kaituma

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he Natural Resources and the Environment Ministry through the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is collaborating with the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry to rehabilitate and further upgrade the roads within Port Kaituma, Region One, to support mining and other activities.

According to a release from the Natural Resources Ministry, rehabilitation

work was previously awarded to a contractor who failed to commence work and due diligence saw the quick termination of that contract and rebidding.

The intended work will be done in two phases.

Phase one aims at restoring the road to its original lateritic finish, while phase two aims at providing an asphaltic surface layer as the wear course.

The GGMC has already received bids for phase one

and the evaluation has started. Additionally, the GGMC is inviting bids for phase two, following which an evaluation will be done and construction work will start after phase one is complete.

Meanwhile, the ministry through the GGMC will continue to lend support to the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry in recognition of the importance of mining and its contribution to the economy.

Eyew tness Where does it end? ...with these CSEC numbers?? hen asked why he insisted on attempting to climb Mt Everest (this was in the early 1920s), George Mallory replied simply, “Because it’s there!” We guess maybe this is what’s motivating the present bunch of high school students to write such humongous numbers of subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

But the question that remains is what are the students going to do with all these subjects??

Maybe it might be morbid to remind these kids that Mallory unfortunately disappeared in what turned out to be his last attempt at Everest in 1924. His body was finally recovered in 1999, and no one knows if he died going up – or coming down after reaching the peak. In the present matter of writing all these subjects, we want to raise the question of “burnout”.

Writing 18 and 20 subjects!!! What kind of life did these 16- and 17-year-old kids have during the last year or so? Especially the last few months before and during the exams.

Did they even have a life? Coming back to Mallory, since the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) offers them, we’re going to have some kids doing 31 subjects at CSEC just because “they’re there”??

We have to reinstitute some kind of order to this madness. Let’s examine what’s really going on here. There are two motivators to this mega-subject writing business – either ego or the scholarships from government, from CXC/Guyana – or both. But how exactly does writing 20 subjects at CSEC move us forward?

What we think ought to be done on the scholarships is to revert to the old system where “country scholarships” were awarded for outstanding performances at advanced levels – now Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). At CAPE, you can’t write these ridiculous numbers of subjects – just four or so plus the two new one-credit compulsory courses.

The depth and breadth of the subject matter at this level ensures that the student

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sticks to subjects in which he or she will specialise.

The scholarships for CAPE can even be refined to steer students into areas that are consonant with the developmental goals of the specific country or region. On writing the subjects just for ego – we won’t ever be able to curb that. But if the kids can write 20 and pass 20 subjects at CAPE, then he or she will definitely be able to climb the ‘Mt Everest’ of anything!! ...with Caribbean Airlines?

If there was any need to illustrate the dangers of allowing monopolies in business, then our present treatment by Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) would be an object lesson.

With the departure of EZjet and Delta airlines from our skies, CAL didn’t just hike its fares to Guyanese – it sent them up into the stratosphere! Imagine in the days of competition we could have a return flight to Trinidad for US$125 or so. Today, you’re talking about three times that number.

As for New York...like they say, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. Let’s just say, for that price, you might as well buy a car and drive to the U.S. via Brazil and Mexico.

And let’s not talk about the arrogance with which Guyanese are treated at Piarco.

It doesn’t even matter if you have a U.S. passport. They probably see “Guyanese” as an ineradicable disease or something.

But what takes the cake is we’ve finally discovered the reason why Delta pulled out from the Guyana-New York route: it didn’t feel the subsidy from the Trinidad and Tobago government to CAL was fair. Will our government – a member of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) – bring this matter up? ...with Limacol CPL cricket?

The way we see it, there’s no end to where the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) Twenty-20 tournament can go. The sky’s the limit. But for the Guyana Amazon Warriors this season, it has to end in Trinidad where they’ll take it all!! Go Warriors!!

NEWS

9

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Region Two chairman lauds CSEC top students

Education Minister Priya Manickchand with the top five students of the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary at the CSEC examinations.

Also in photo are Region Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud (right) and ARMS Headmaster Lalljeet Rooplall (left)

By Indrawattie Natram

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egion Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud has congratulated the country’s top two performers at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Educations Certificate (CSEC) examinations, both hailing from the region he oversees as the administrative head.

Zimeena Rasheed and Yogeeta Persaud topped the country with 20 and 18 subjects respectively. Rasheed gained 18 ones and two twos, while Persaud obtained 18 ones. They both attended the Anna Regina Multilateral School (ARMS) on the Essequibo Coast.

The chairman said he is very proud of Region Two’s

achievements at the examinations and congratulated the students, teachers and education personnel in the region. Persaud said over the years, the region has managed to secure the top performers at the examinations and lauded the efforts of teachers and officers of the Education Ministry.

Persaud said Rasheed and Persaud have continued from Sarah Hakh’s achievement, putting Region Two on top of Guyana and the Caribbean.

He said the announcement was historic, not only because it happened in the region, but also because it was the first time someone locally attempted to write 20 subjects at one sitting.

Education Minister

Bandits rob owner of Corentyne gas station

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andits continue their plunder in Berbice, this time robbing and terrorising a gas station owner of Springlands, Corentyne, Berbice on Monday night.

The robbery was committed about 18:00h, minutes after the owner, a businesswoman, drove in from her driveway. She was confronted by two bandits who were unarmed and without mask.

The businesswoman, Oreita Devi Sukraj, 53, of Lot 3 Skeldon, Corriverton was relieved of three gold and diamond finger rings valued $890,000, one manager’s cheque for Guyoil in the sum of $3.4 million, three personal cheques written for a total of $1,157,000, two bank cards, along with G$50,000 and US$360.

The bandits also took away the driver’s licences belonging to Ishwari Sukraj, Meena Devi Sukraj, Cavita Sukraj and Oreita Sukraj.

Information gathered revealed that the victim owns and operates a service station at Lot 1 and 2 Springlands, Corriverton

and about 17:45h, she left the business place and proceeded home in her motorcar PNN 1201.

Additional information received revealed that upon arrival, she stopped her car on her bridge and as she attempted to get out, the robbers pounced on her, grabbing her by the neck.

They then proceeded to pull her out of her motorcar.

One of the men then jumped into the back seat of the car while the other drove the vehicle away. Sukhraj was reportedly thrown to the ground and the men fled in the direction of Springlands.

Sukhraj, who was in pain, managed to raise an alarm and public-spirited citizens went after the getaway car, but their efforts to catch it proved futile.

The car was reportedly found abandoned at Number 78 Village, Corriverton, but without the articles mentioned above. The articles were reportedly in the victim’s handbag. The police are continuing their investigations.

Priya Manickchand was on the Essequibo Coast to make the announcement.

It is the second consecutive years Region Two has managed to secure the top positions in Guyana at the

CSEC examinations.

The chairman said he is proud of the students’ performances and congratulated the region’s top five performers Rasheed, Yogeeta, Tickram Singh, Bibi Latiff

Education Minister Priya Manickchand and Region Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud congratulate Zimeena Rasheed on her excellent performance at the CSEC examinations

and Reshma Ramdahin, all from Region Two. The chairman said the education standard in the region has been on the rise with the construction of several dormitories and

new schools. Persaud said plans are in the pipeline for the construction of a new Abram Zuil Secondary School, and noted that all schools have child-friendly learning environments.

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guyanatimesgy.com

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013

News

Tain residents call for investigation of complaints about university

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oncerned Berbice citizens, including parents and students of the Tain University Campus are calling on government, the Turkeyen leadership, and other stakeholders to re-evaluate the positive benefits of an autonomous type structure of the campus, and make appropriate decisions in the interest of all parties involved.

Since the resignation of Tain director, Professor Daizal Samad, there has been public outcry from several sections of society, including former students, members of academia and colleagues.

Samad’s resignation is effective in early October and cites authoritarian policies, an overreliance on the parent Turkeyen Campus and tumultuous relations with new University of Guyana Vice Chancellor Dr Jacob Opadeyi, among the reasons for his reluctant departure from the university.

One civic group on Friday launched a petition to convince Samad to rescind his resignation which was tendered to Pro-Chancellor Dr Prem Misir.

Professor Samad’s supporters are urging the relevant authorities to investigate accusations of dictatorial policies toward staff and the institution as a whole.

According to Professor Samad, the level of autonomy which existed at Tain has been removed from the Berbice campus since Dr Opadeyi’s appointment to office.

Professor Daizal Samad Several benefits have been outlined in support of Professor Samad’s call for autonomy, including the aligning of the university’s goals with that of the needs of the local community, a highly-effective faculty and reduction of long distance management as this negatively impacts financial and human resources.

An analysis of public higher educational institutions across the world reveals that given the lack of time, resources and expertise in relation to each campus, there is often the result of inappropriate programmes, wasted funds and other scarce resources.

Political neutrality

Professor Samad, who has been director of Tain Campus for the last four years, has been stoic in maintaining his political neutrality.

While government allocates more than $200 million annually to the Berbice campus, the facility is operating

at a deficit, with all decision on spending coming from the Turkeyen administration.

Professor Samad claimed that he has been subject to abuse, obscene phone calls and his dignity has been trampled. Berbicians have referred to the entire fiasco as pettiness and micro-management, stating that Samad left his family in the United States to offer his services at the Corentyne-based institute.

They have also questioned the rationale behind the problem-plagued Turkeyen Campus managing the thriving Berbice Campus, pointing out that the reason for the latter now running at a deficit is no secret.

Samad has already outlined a plan for the Berbice Campus to be managed as a business without the likelihood of increasing tuition, including the introduction of petroleum engineering and police management as additional courses.

“The government will give us the same subvention and after eight years, we shall tell the government that we no longer need your subvention and that money can be taken and given to schools to prepare better children to come to this university,” Samad said.

The professor had also introduced an annual reading programme for primary and secondary-aged students. The budget for this programme as well as the annual Berbice expo was not approved this year.

Guyana patriot act

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atiricus was moved. If the truth was told (and it must be told), Satiricus was very, very moved. Nowadays, very few people step up to the wicket to bat for their country. Everything was about me, me, me.

No wonder people talked about the “me generation”. But in one fell swoop, here was Duvid GrainJa showing one and all that he, at least, was one man who could rise about self and act for his country.

Everybody and their uncle had come out for this Waterfalls Power. But heck, that was easy. The Waterfalls Power would make all sorts of businesses come to Guyana. People would be bringing in the big bucks, they would have life in London. Power would be so cheap Satiricus and the rest of the country could have air conditioning and fans running all day long like the people in Linden. No more sweating.

We would be like Miami: running around in nice white pants and jackets, with no worry about sweat marks under one’s armpits. Come to think of it (and Satiricus thought long and hard about it) this would be like heaven, no?

But while everyone thought about their own comfort and happiness, it took Duvid GrainJa to think about country. Like the little boy who had asked the stark naked emperor about his trousers, GrainJa asked, “But what would all this do for the country?”

GrainJa reminded us that we were really a simple people. We had allowed ourselves to be corrupted by people from the North who drove around in Mercedes Benz and

drank cappuccino all day. Our country was unspoiled.

Weren’t we happier when we used to ride on donkey carts and drink creek water?

What was so great about electric lamps when we could read with flambeaus? And we would not be spoiling the beauty of our great country if we left the waterfalls just the way Sir Walter Raleigh found them. Let those who want to have air conditioning all day long go to Miami. Didn’t they know what that led to? Why else did they name that popular show, “Miami Vice”? Did they want that vice to come to Guyana? And so GrainJa killed the waterfalls power.

And as GrainJa spoke, Satiricus realised that he has been so selfish all along. “Ask not what your country can do for you,” John F Kennedy had said.

“Ask what you can do for your country.”

GrainJa shouldn’t stop with just stopping waterfalls power. And so it was that Satiricus decided to seek out GrainJa and join him in this quest to leave his dear land of Guyana unspoiled.

He would tell GrainJa to leave his airconditioned mansion and together they could take their flambeaus and walk from village to village, barefoot and hatless, to spread the message.

Satiricus thought of the greatness of the founder leader who had sent GrainJa abroad as a young man to be trained at great expense by this country to think only of the country. Who else could be such a great patriot?

11 Feature

guyanatimesgy.com

WEDNESday, august 14, 2013

An open letter to Christopher Ram, Ramon Gaskin, Anand Goolsaran, and Dr Clive Thomas

By Captain Gerry Gouveia

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o it seems that the construction of Amaila Falls Hydropower Project will not start in January 2014 as planned, and it will not be generating electricity for the people of Guyana in 2017. I hope I am wrong, and that media reports that President Donald Ramotar is fighting to save the project are accurate.

If so, I hope that the president is successful in his fight. However, it seems that the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has made their final position clear, and that this will sound the death knell for this project, since Blackstone needed total political consensus.

Supporters and detractors of the project have all identified four people as the driving force behind the collapse of the Amaila Falls initiative. Some see them as bitter and uninformed proponents of progress. Others see them as courageous champions of the truth. But all see them as the ones who provided the analysis that killed the project.

Given that generations of Guyanese will either suffer from their destruction, or benefit from their analysis, I respectfully request them to answer four clear questions for me: 1. Under their analysis, what is the total public debt that would have been incurred

by Guyana for Amaila Falls?

2. Under their analysis, what would Amaila, once operational, have saved the taxpayer every year through the removal of the annual subsidy to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL)?

3. Under their analysis, what is their projection for the consumer tariff that would have been paid after Amaila became operational?

4. What would have been the annual national savings as a result of the reduced dependency on fossil fuel to operate GPL generators?

In providing me with the answers, can they please reference the following statements, all of which have been used to justify the collapse of the Amaila Falls project?

Captain Gerry Gouveia

Christopher Ram

Public debt

1. Ram said: “We are not sure who the borrower is….” Then: “Guyana will have to pay back US$2.2 billion.”

2. Gaskin said: “Guyana will have to pay back US$2.4 billion” and “The government of Guyana is guaranteeing 82 per cent of US$840 million.”

3. Goolsaran said: “The government will be responsible for financing US$688 million.”

4. Dr Thomas said: “Amaila Falls instantly raises Guyana’s contingent external liability by US$750 million, or about 30 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

5. The government of Guyana said: “It is very important to emphasise that no more money will be paid by the taxpayer for Amaila Falls, and that no government borrowing is taking place.

To emphasise and repeat: approximately US$100 million is the total bill to the taxpayer, not…

US$2.3 billion, or any of the other figures that have recently been quoted. The exact figure will be finalised at financial close, but it will not change significantly.

Only one of these five statements can be true.

Which one?

Taxpayer subsidy for GPL

In my research, I did not find any reference where any of the aforementioned gentlemen ever referred to the issue of how Amaila Falls would save the nation hundreds of millions of dollars because of the removal of the need for a subsidy from the taxpayer to GPL

Ramon Gaskin

Anand Goolsaran

Dr Clive Thomas

or any reference to the savings, which would have resulted from the reduced dependency on fossil fuel.

However, the government said: “The total savings to the taxpayer because of the removal of GPL’s subsidy will be at least US$30 million per year, or US$600 million over 20 years – far in excess of the US$100 million provided by the taxpayer in equity.”

Why did the four gentlemen never acknowledge these savings? Is the government’s statement wrong?

cent for the eight years after that, and by 90 per cent for the 80 years after that, based on current fuel price projections. Therefore, the total consumer tariff will decrease significantly because of Amaila Falls. The reduction in consumer tariffs will be at least 20 per cent in 2017, and considerably more in years ahead.”

Only one of these four statements can be true.

Which one?

while recognising that currency fluctuations might make that price go up or down slightly before financial close – which was to have been in October/ November 2013.

The government states that approximately US$100 million of that US$858 million is being invested by Guyana – with the rest being sourced in the global capital markets. Of Guyana’s investment, they say that US$15 million is already spent, and that the bulk of $80 million is sitting in the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) waiting to be transferred.

Therefore, by simple maths, my analysis is that the outstanding Amaila bill to Guyana is US$5 million, whereas savings from the removal of subsidy alone will be six times that in the first year of operation.

If the four gentlemen

Consumer tariff

1. Ram said: “Based on my calculations, the tariff will be increased by 23.6 per cent.”

2. Gaskin said: “This project will not lead to a reduction in tariffs, and in all probability, rates will have to go up.”

3. Dr Thomas said: “Independent analysts predict a higher price than presently prevails.”

4. The government said: “Amaila will address the biggest input cost (to the consumer tariff) by far – GPL’s cost of electricity generation.

“With Amaila, GPL’s cost of electricity generation will come down in stages – by 40 per cent in the first 12 years; by 71 per

Focusing on Amaila, and Amaila alone

I hope that in providing me with answers, the four gentlemen will focus on the Amaila Falls project, and not on the separate project to modernise GPL, which was due to advance in 2014. Both projects are needed, but Amaila Falls would have the biggest impact by far –which I assume is the reason it was prioritised.

The government said that even if GPL was not modernised, Amaila would see a reduction in consumer tariffs of 20 per cent by 2017 (as well as the removal of subsidy). This would be even more with the modernisation of GPL.

Price tag for Amaila Falls

The government has clearly stated that its statements are based on a US$858 million price tag for the Amaila project (including plant, transmission lines and access road),

still do not accept this price tag and its constitution – that is, an overall price of US$858 million, with US$100 million from Guyana, and US$758 million from global capital markets – could they please explain clearly why this is so?

This is particularly important – because all parties to the transaction publicly stated that the price has settled, apart from minor positive or negative currency fluctuations in the next couple of months.

I do not doubt that the four gentlemen are all of strong intellect, so I hope that if they conclude that they may have been mistaken in some of their comments, they will also acknowledge this.

Given that history will rightly record these gentlemen as the ones who killed Guyana’s best chance of hydroelectric power in 50 years, I also respectfully request that they will be clear and concise in their communications with me and the Guyanese public when they provide their answers.

12 NEWS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Laparkan in partnership deal with Jamaican money service

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partnership agreement between the Jamaican remittance company JN Money Services Limited (JNMS) and Guyanese-owned Laparkan Financial Services has enabled the expansion of JNMS’ global JN Money Transfer network to four more Caribbean countries.

According to a release

by Laparkan, JN Money Transfer, which already has operations in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, St Vincent and Dominica, now has payout operations in Guyana, Trinidad, Antigua and Barbados through a partnership agreement with Laparkan Financial Services.

Laparkan Financial Services, a subsidiary of one of the Laparkan Group of Companies, has nine payout locations in Guyana.

The Bank of Guyana in a notice recently had said that approval has been granted to Laparkan Financial Services Limited (LFSL) to voluntarily cease conducting business for which it was licensed under the Financial Institutions Act 1995.

After-tax profits

Therefore, it said that the licence issued to LFSL is revoked pursuant to Section 11 (One) (b) of the Financial Institutions Act. LPSL had also reported a significant net reduction in after-tax profits for the financial year 2009/2010.The company had also reported a reduction in its income over the year ended January 31, 2010.

“The agreement has deepened JN Money Transfer’s ties in the Caribbean and strengthens its position as the leading Caribbean-owned remittance entity,” JNMS

General Manager Leesa Kow stated. She revealed that the partnership began in March through Laparkan’s eight payout locations in Guyana, which may soon be increased to 50 through post office locations across Guyana. In June, the partners strengthened their agreement and included Laparakan’s six payout locations across Trinidad, Barbados and Antigua.

Affordable service

Glen Khan, chairman of the Laparkan Group of Companies, which owns Laparkan Financial Services, said the agreement with JNMS will enhance the remittance experience for customers. He pointed out that it provides “access to an affordable Caribbean remittance service that understands their needs”.

The partnership with Laparkan follows the addition of more than 8000 locations to the JN Money Transfer network through another partnership with the Philippines-based G-xchange (GXI) in March, up from 350 JN Money Transfer agents and branches at the start of the year. GXI is the owner of the Philippines money transfer brand, GCASH REMIT. Kow said: “Our customer base encompasses Caribbean people living outside of the region; as well as, people who have migrated to the Atlantic region from other parts of the world, and require remittance services that are quick, reliable and convenient.”

And, she also underscored that the partnerships were a testament to the global strength of the JN Money Transfer brand. This current initiative is a part of the company’s ongoing expansion, which picked up speed in

JN Money Services Limited General Manager Leesa Kow

2010, when JNMS acquired the assets of the Caymanbased remitter, QuikCash, to become the main remitter along the Cayman to Jamaica corridor. Following that acquisition, JNMS also added new branches and agent locations to its operations in the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom, while solidifying its agent partnership in Ghana in 2011, increasing its JN Money Transfer network, at the time, to more than 350 agents and branches.

Kow also explained that the Philippines-based, GCASH REMIT partnership will be very important to the company’s U.S. and Canada markets, as well as Cayman Islands operations. The U.S. is home to about 3.4 million Filipinos, while over 400,000 live in Canada. Filipinos are also the second largest group of migrants in the Cayman Islands.

Strengthened position

“The partnership with GCASH has certainly strengthened our position in the USA and Canada, and particularly in the Cayman

Islands, where we are fully poised to become the ‘remitter of choice’ for migrant workers there, who send funds to their relatives and friends in the Philippines,” Kow explained.

JN Money Transfer has some 76 branches and agents across the U.S., which includes major cities such as New York and Florida; and 42 agents and branches across Canada.

“The GCASH partnership also positions us to strengthen our business in the UK where about 200,000 Filipinos reside in areas, such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester where JN Money Transfer has a very strong network of branches and agents,” Kow maintained.

Excellent partnerships

She said the agreements with Laparkan and GCASH are excellent partnerships, which will bolster JN Money Transfer’s global strength, commitment to quality customer service and its thrust to develop sustainable linkages around the globe.

GXI President Paolo Baltao said “This partnership with JNMS has created a valuable opportunity for both our companies to explore and develop products to meet the evolving needs of the customers, especially in The Cayman Islands, where many Filipinos have expressed a need for remittance services to their home in the Philippines.”

He added, “With GCASH REMIT, senders are assured that their hard earned money is claimed securely and instantly by their beneficiaries without any hassle. Also, beneficiaries receive the remittance without any deductions through 8000 GCASH outlets across the Philippines.”

New IMC installed at Rosignol/ Zee Lust NDC

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unior Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker recently installed a new Interim Management Committee (IMC) to oversee the affairs of the defunct Rosignol/ Zee Lust Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

Padmani Jagnandan was elected chairperson of the IMC. She was nominated by Andre Karim; a nomination which was seconded by Samuel Jagnandan. There was no other nomination for the position of chairperson.

Before the 11 councillors were sworn in at the Rosignol NDC office on Friday, Whittaker emphasised the role, responsibilities and functions of the councillors, admonishing them to put the interest of residents first.

Jagnandan will be backed by Randy Mc Pearson, who was elected as the vice chairman of the IMC. Mc Pearson was also nominated by Karim and seconded by Jagnandan.

The Rosignol/Zee Lust NDC was installed several years ago, but experienced depletion in the number of members. A shortage of councillors posed several challenges with the council being unable to effectively executive its

duties. The election of a new chairperson and vice chairman is expected to open up avenues for residents to benefit from developmental activities.

To date, the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry, in accordance with the Local Government Act, Chapter 2802, has installed more than 29 IMCs within eight of the 10 administrative regions of Guyana.

According to the Local Government Ministry, the move to install IMCs came after a nationwide analysis revealed that some NDCs were still dysfunctional and stymied progress within the respective communities.

It was explained that the last local government election was held since 1994, stating that many of the councillors who were elected at the time have died or demitted office.

With limited councillors, the NDCs over the years had struggled to effectively execute their duties and gradually became counterproductive.

Additionally, there was evidence of misappropriation of funds given to the NDCs in the form of a yearly subvention to the tune of $3 million and a number of other irregularities.

FROM PAGE 10

news

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wednesday, august 14, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

CSEC highflyers credit success to extra studies, hard work

By Indrawattie Natram

“I

am satisfied with my grades. I knew I was going to gain excellent grades – the news of topping the country made me feel elated, I just couldn’t do this by myself, my parents and teachers supported alot.”

These were the words of Zamina Rasheed, a future structural engineer, who came out with 20 subject, 18 of which are grade ones, at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Though acknowledging that some of the examinations were challenging, the Anna Regina Multilateral School (ARMS) student said she had done all the hard work and was expecting to perform well.

Success

Rasheed’s 18 ones and two twos beat her county girl Sarah Hakh of Abram Zuil Secondary who gained 16 grade one passes last year. The 16-year-old credited her success to her parents and teachers, who supported her throughout her studies.

Speaking about her tutelage at the ARMS, Rasheed said the school teaches beyond ordinary curriculum.

“ARMS is a really excellent school, the teachers are friendly, the classrooms are conducive for learning, the school teaches every student integrity, self-preservation, religion, sports; way beyond ordinary curriculum, when a child achieves an education at ARMS, he\she is a well-

rounded individual.”

Holding back tears of joy, Rasheed told Guyana Times that studying for CSEC was very challenging, as she had to make a lot of sacrifices, and remained steadfast throughout. The young lady said sometimes she was called a nerd, but that did not deter her.

A top performer at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Rasheed said by the time she got into fifth form, she had already developed a love for books. She said she love technical drawing and has a passion for tall buildings.

The top student for Guyana said she plans to continue her education at the University of Guyana, and has already been accepted at the institution.

Rasheed, a youth ambassador, thanked her parents and teachers for the support she received during her studies.

Her mother, Verna Rasheed could not hold back tears of joy during an interview with Guyana Times.

“I am so happy about my daughter success, she has always been an educated individual; I knew she was going to do well, but not this well.”

Rasheed is the second child for her parents.

Stay focused

Meanwhile, runner-up to Rasheed is another ARMS student, Yogeeta Persaud, who gained 18 ones. She is encouraging upcoming CSEC students to stay focused. The 16-year-old said she wants to become a doctor. Persaud credited her successes to her

Case against duelling couple dismissed

A

couple had a cross charge of assault dismissed when they were brought before Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

It was alleged that on August 5,, at Camp Street and South Road, Carrie Clarke assaulted her husband, Rawle Hughes, causing him actual bodily harm, and behaved disorderly. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.

It was further alleged that on the same day and location, Hughes made use of threatening language to Clarke. He pleaded not guilty to the charge read against him.

Attorney Paul FungA-Fat, who represented Clarke, stated that his client is the wife of Hughes and is 19 years old. He added that Clarke, a clerk at Demerara Bank, is seven and a half months preg-

nant for Hughes.

Hughes, who was unrepresented, told the court that he is 34 years old and is self-employed.

Attorney Fung-A-Fat said the situation was just a misunderstanding and the parties did not wish to give evidence against each other. Magistrate McLennan then asked them individually if this was so.

Clarke said she did not want to go ahead with the matter, but would like Hughes to leave her alone.

Hughes said he did not want to offer any evidence against his wife,explaining that he still wants the marriage to work out and she is pregnant.

Magistrate McLennan dismissed the case, but placed both parties on a bond to keep the peace for 12 months. If they break the bond, they will spend six months in prison.

her favourite subject is biology. Tikram Singh, 17, also of ARMS, secured the fifth position in Guyana. Singh attained 14 ones and one two. He also said extra lessons also helped him to excel at the examinations.

Singh said he is proud to be one of the products of ARMS and thanked all his teachers for his success. He said also thanked his parents for the support given to him during his studies.

Supervision

Yogeeta Persaud

Zamina Rasheed

extra lesson and research on the Internet. Persaud said leading up to the examinations, she spent long hours on the Internet researching and finding out about new topics. Persaud, who is the

only child for her parents, said she has not yet decided if she will pursue studies at the University of Guyana in September.

She thanked her parents and teachers, noting that

ARMS Headteacher Lalljeet Rooplall when asked what makes his school different from the others, said “supervision”. He said teachers at his school closely monitor students and their performance. Rooplall, in congratulating all the top performers of his school and Guyana, said he is hap-

py ARMS has done Guyana proud at this year’s CSEC. The headteacher said monitoring students is important and he always admonished his teachers to sit with students and discuss difficult subject areas. Rooplall said too that the Roraima Learning Trust (RLT) project which was introduced to his school via the One Laptop per Family Programme helped prepare the students for the examinations.

He said the programme, which was introduced through the OLPF, provided multiple choice questions in the core subjects areas for the students. The top five performers for ARMS are Rasheed, Persaud, Singh, Bibi Latiff and Reshma Ramdahin.

Some 94 students from ARMS obtained five subjects and more, with passes in mathematics and English.

14

wednesday, august 14, 2013

guyanatimesgy.com

News

warns of further Murders follow maths law LIAT disruption while in Brazil, scientists say challenges addressed

A

mathematical formula could predict how many murders will occur as the population in Brazil increases, say scientists.

The formula can also be applied to other factors such as unemployment and literacy, they claim.

Brazil is known to have extremely high murder rates, which the team argues could now be better anticipated.

The scientists say their work, published in journal Plos One, could one day help prevent crime.

Gang and drug violence are among the factors accounting for many of Brazil’s cities being classed as the most violent in the world.

Now a team has analysed data from Brazilian cities from the year 2000 and found that mathematical laws emerge when looking at how several factors

T

The team says its approach describes how crime and poverty increase as the population grows

-- what they refer to as “urban metrics” -- relate to each other. Criminologists are less convinced and say statistics and formulas are too far removed from the social issues that affect crime.

“We have shown that

Censorship of Venezuelan papers brings IAPA rebuke

T

he Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has condemned the censorship of Venezuelan newspapers El Nacional and Tal Cual. The censorship was materialised through a fine applied retroactively over a photo published in 2010 in which bodies were seen piled up in a morgue in the Venezuelan capital.

According to a release, the amount of the fine, ordered by a female judge from the Protection of Children and Adolescents’ Court, is equivalent to one per cent of the newspapers’ 2009 gross revenue.

The original sentence was handed down in August 2010 by the lower tribunal of the Protection of Children

and Adolescents’ Court.

At that time, the country’s print media were prohibited from publishing images that were “violent, bloody, grotesque” that could potentially disturb children and teenagers.

IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Chairman Claudio Paolillo criticised the fact that financial pressure was still being used today as means to damage the media.

He called the action “an act of censorship from this new stage of harassment of freedom of expression, whose objective is to financially strangle critical and independent media to silence the voices that do not agree with the official line”.

most of the indicators that we use to characterise cities -- such as GDP, the number of illiterate, the number of unemployed -- are closely related with the population of the cities,” said Haroldo Ribeiro, from the State

University of Maringa, Brazil, one of the co-authors of the study.

“Usually, the indicators increase with the population size, following a well-defined mathematical law.” (Excerpt from

BBC News)

Jamaicans cautioned about willy nilly solar installation on homes

T

he Jamaica Licensed E l e c t r i c i a n s Association (JLEA) is warning Jamaicans who plan to install solar panels on their premises that approval must first be granted by regulatory bodies.

“Firstly, you must get approval from the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation).

The OUR will give you the necessary approval and it must be done by a certified engineer before you can actually start the work. Then it must be inspected and the necessary certification given by the Government Electrical Inspectorate,” Ewart Foster, a represent-

ative of the JLEA, told reporters and editors during Monday’s weekly Observer Monday Exchange.

Thomas was peeved that most persons are taking a willy nilly approach to installing solar systems and other equipment and are compromising their safety and that of others.

“What is happening now, people are doing the thing the opposite way. They don’t use the right material and don’t do the work to the correct standard and might not be inspected and you find persons spending billions of dollars and it might go up in smoke,” he said. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Mexico opens oil sector to private sector investment

M

exico plans to open up its state run oil industry to private investment.

A source of national pride, Mexico’s oil industry has been protected from private involvement for 75 years.

President Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed reforms that will encourage foreign and domestic investment in the industry.

Mexico’s oil industry is dominated by the state oil firm Pemex, but it needs investment and expertise

Oil revenues make up a third of Mexico’s national budget

to develop new oil and gas fields.

Currently, private companies can be awarded service contracts within the oil industry.

Under the president’s plan that would go much further, allowing private companies to share the risks and profits of developing new fields.

If the reforms go through, analysts say the liberalisation of the oil sector could double foreign investment in Mexico, giving the economy the biggest

boost since the country joined North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 20 years ago.

Mexico’s political leaders stressed that the reforms do not constitute privatisation, because no oil concessions will be sold off.

However, even that is a step too far for Mexico’s leftist political parties, who oppose the reforms.

BBC correspondent in Mexico, Will Grant said: “The reform won’t be simple to get through congress.”

(Excerpt from BBC News)

he regional airline LIAT on Monday warned passengers to brace for more travelling woes this week after one of its new aircraft was grounded “as a result of a technical issue”.

In a statement, the airline told passengers that “its operations continue to be affected by numerous challenges throughout its network” and that despite the re-fleeting exercise, LIAT continues to operate its scheduled passenger and cargo service and carry out scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on its entire fleet of aircraft, including the Dash 8 and new ATR 72.

“LIAT is also responding to traditionally high de-

mand during the summer peak. This combination of factors has resulted in significant challenges for the company exacerbated by the grounding of one of the company’s new ATR aircraft in Barbados Sunday as a result of a technical issue.”

The airline said the French-made aircraft “is likely to remain out of service for the remainder of this week as the matter is being addressed.

“The technical issue concerns a higher than normal oil consumption. The safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance, and as such, the aircraft will only be returned to service after the issue is resolved.”

(Excerpt from Caribbean360)

TT: Warner accused of being colour blind

Jack Warner

I

ndependent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner might possibly be “colour blind”. This was the assumption on Monday of several People’s National Movement (PNM) and United National Congress (UNC) parliamentarians, as they disclaimed Warner’s recent declaration that their respective constituencies have flipped their support to his new party and “gone green”.

Warner made the claim on the platform last Saturday that La Brea, Point Fortin, Princes Town, San Fernando and Sangre Grande had “gone green”.

Asked by the TT Guardian how the ILP had determined people from the various constituencies had “gone green”, ILP Chairman Robin Montano said: “While there’s no scientific study, we are gauging the extent

of the ILP’s reach by the many applications we have been receiving from many of these constituencies.

“The membership application form states where the person is from so this is how we know how many people from each area are applying to join us.

“While a lot of applications do come from UNC members in UNC stronghold areas, we are also receiving applications from persons across the board and recently this has caused a spike in membership to over 100,000.”

However, PNM Point Fortin parliamentarian Paula Gopee-Scoon on Monday struck down the ILP claims, saying: “Pt Fortin gone green? Absolutely not!

Maybe Mr Warner has a problem and he is colour blind.”

15 Around the world

guyanatimesgy.com

wednesday, august 14, 2013

Egyptian police break up Girl, seven, raped in India pro-Morsi march in Cairo A

Opposing sides threw stones and bottles at each other, as police fired tear gas

E

gyptian police have fired tear gas to disperse crowds of supporters of detained ex-leader Mohammed Morsi during a march in central Cairo.

Morsi supporters went to a government compound to protest at the appointment of army officers as local governors.

Local residents then clashed with the pro-Morsi crowds and both sides threw bottles and stones at each other, before security forces moved in.

The army deposed Morsi in July and put in place an

interim government.

Supporters of Morsi, an Islamist leader who came from the Muslim Brotherhood movement, refuse to accept the new government and insist he must be reinstated.

They say the military overthrew a democraticallyelected government and is now attempting to entrench its power.

Opponents of Morsi say he used his year in power to dismantle secular, democratic institutions in order to increase the influence of Islam.

Tuesday’s trouble began when crowds of Morsi’s supporters marched to an area of Cairo that houses several government buildings, and is also home to many people who oppose the Muslim Brotherhood.

The protesters were angry because at least 15 former military officers have been sworn in as local governors.

The demonstrators tried to get into a government compound, but were forced out and then clashed with local residents and police.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Palestinian prisoner release on track after court ruling

I

srael was set to free 26 Palestinian prisoners within hours to help underpin renewed peace talks, after its High Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal against their release by relatives of some of the Israelis they killed.

Authorities planned to transport the group from jail in the dead of night in the early hours of Wednesday. The men, arrested between 1985 and 2001, were to return

to homes in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli official said they would be taken in vehicles with sealed windows to prevent a repetition of scenes in which released Palestinian prisoners have stretched out their hands in V-forVictory signs.

Disdain for the prisoners is strong in Israel, whose media have featured detailed accounts of

their attacks on Israelis since a release roster was published two days ago.

Palestinians regard the men as heroes in a struggle for statehood.

The three-justice High Court panel ruled the government had been within its purview to free them, although Chief Justice Asher Grunis wrote in the decision that “our hearts are with the families, who are victims of terror”. (Excerpt

from Reuters)

seven-year-old girl was raped in a train’s toilet compartment in central India over the weekend, police said Tuesday.

The incident comes amid widespread outrage in recent months over sex crimes across India.

The child was lured away from her mother and her friend by a man in a park in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state, on Friday, railway Police Superintendent KC Agrawal told CNN. Police suspect that man then took her on board a train and sexually assaulted her in the toilet compartment of a carriage sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.

The suspect “was apparently known to the friend of the child’s mother,” Agrawal said.

An Indian activist gets his head shaven in protest against the Dehli gang-rape in New Delhi in January

The alleged attacker, around age 40, remains at large.

Police teams, Agrawal said, have fanned out to capture the suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed.

The victim, who was found on Saturday morning at a train station, is under

treatment at a hospital, and her condition is stable, police said.

A robust public dialogue on sex crimes in India emerged in December after the gang rape of a 23-yearold woman in a bus in New Delhi. The student died in a Singapore hospital. (Excerpt from

CNN)

Mobile-tracking bins slammed

by UK officials

O

fficials demanded Monday that an advertising firm stop using a network of hightech trash cans to track people walking through London’s financial district.

The Renew ad firm has been using technology embedded in the hulking receptacles to measure the Wi-Fi signals emitted by smartphones, and suggested that it would apply the concept of “cookies” – tracking files that follow Internet users across the Web – to the physical world.

“We will cookie the street,” Renew Chief Executive Kaveh Memari said in June.

But the City of London Corporation insisted that Renew pull the plug on the programme, which captures smartphones’ serial numbers and analyses signal

UK officials have called on an advertising company to stop tracking Londoners using a Wi-Fi network embedded in high-tech dustbins

strength to follow people up and down the street. Renew did not immediately return a call seeking comment on whether it would comply with the authorities’ demand.

The trash cans join a

host of everyday objects from televisions to toilets that are being manufactured with the ability to send and receive data, opening up new potential for interaction and surveillance. (Excerpt from France24)

16 news

wednesday, august 14, 2013| guyanatimesGY.com

QC, SVN dominate top 10 at CSEC Essequibo

student cops 20 subjects at CSEC

By Leana Bradshaw

A Phillipe Walker

Akeila Wiltshire

Cecil Cox

Akash Jairam

Sharmila Ramlall

Shahrazaad Khan

Crystol Nelson

Parmeshivanie Seodat

By Vahnu Manikchand, Uma Bux, Anara Khan

not find the examinations to be that difficult, noting that some of the subjects she liked were maths, biology and Spanish. “I paced myself and strive for the best,” she explained, advising others to do the same but not overwork themselves as they continue to study hard. The excited young lady disclosed that she plans to study for her Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) at QC.

teachers and everyone else who have worked with him throughout the years.

The next spot was taken by Sharmila Ramlall, who found out that she got 15 grade ones and two grade twos online. She told Guyana Times that she felt happy, since she was very tense about her results.

“The exams felt like an extended version of the exams you will write in schools, but only difference is that we are writing with the entire Caribbean,” she explained.

Ramlall added that she put her best foot forward, and anyone can do the same as long as they study hard.

“Most of the exams were reasonable, but had their own turning points.” She too intends to return to QC to continue her CAPE studies.

to school from Timehri and also take extra lessons; however, on Saturdays she made time to attend church. The young lady said that she is considering going to sixth form, but that may be moot if she receives a scholarship to study at a university.

S

tudents from Queen’s College and the Saraswati Vidya Niketan have outshone their fellow candidates at the 2013 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Six QC students and two from SVN were among those placed in the top 10. The country’s top 10 performers comprise those with the highest grades who wrote 15 or more subjects. Anna Regina Multilateral School (ARMS) student Zimeena Rasheed topped the country with 20 subjects – 18 grade one and two grade two passes. Coming in second was another ARMS student – Yogeeta Persaud with 18 grade ones.

Guyana Times caught up with the top performers to get their thoughts on their accomplishments (see related story on page 13).

Sharing third place are QC students Phillipe Walker and Akeila Wiltshire.

Walker, who attained 16 grade ones and one grade two, told this newspaper that he felt overjoyed when he first received the news. “I was excited and humbled after finding out about my results.”

Fairly easy

When asked about the examinations, Walker noted that most of the subjects were fairly easy, but physics proved a bit challenging.

He credited his success to his teachers and parents. “I have not decided as yet what I want to do next, but I know now that hard work does pay off,” he noted.

Wiltshire, who also obtained 16 grade ones and one grade two, said she found out about her results from a friend’s mother and was elated. She said she did

Quite pleased

Next in line was another QC student, Cecil Cox, who got 16 grade ones. He related to this publication that he went online to check his grades and when he saw his results, he was “quite pleased”. “I found the examinations to be particularly well-balanced and the maths exam quite creative with two of the questions.” Cox pointed out that he worked and studied very hard and during the examinations he answered all the questions appropriately. “All of the subjects were well-planned and structured.”

Akash Jairam, also a QC student, acquired 15 grade ones, two grade twos and one grade three. He said when he found out about his results on the Education Ministry’s Facebook page, he felt happy but thought he could have done better.

“I did all my School Based Assessments by myself and it was all done honestly in a dignified manner on my part,” he noted. Jairam disclosed that he is contemplating going back to Queen’s College to complete his CAPE studies and then possibly attend Harvard University. “I urge others students not to get distracted by parties and teenage love, to always have a good relationship with your teachers.” The young man owes his success to all his

Elated

Next were QC’s Shahrazaad Khan and St Rose’s High’s Crystol Nelson, both of whom obtained 15 grade ones and one grade two. Khan said she was elated when she found out about her results. The young woman thanked Allah, her teachers, parents, and grandparents for their constant support and guidance. “Some of the exams were difficult, especially physics and math, but I worked and study hard for all of the exams.” Khan disclosed that she would be furthering her studies in forensic science.

Nelson related that she was “quite ecstatic” with her results because her hard work and prayers to God to take control paid off. “I wrote what I know and answered every question to the best of my abilities without leaving any question out.” She said her favourite exams were biology and maths, but the others were fair. Nelson reflected that in preparing for her exams, she had to travel every day

SVN duo

The final places were taken by SVN duo Parmeshivanie Seodat and Rafena Mustapha, who both acquired 15 grade ones.

Seodat told Guyana Times that prior to exams, she did a lot of studying and encountered some difficulties in some of her experiments, but in the end, it all worked out. She stated that they were given many past papers to work and went to school almost every weekend to study together. Seodat said on Tuesday morning, her best friend broke the news to her and when she checked it out online, she was shocked at first and felt overwhelmed afterwards. She also disclosed that she wants to pursue studies in medicine.

Mustapha stated that she was happy and overwhelmed by her accomplishments, while noting that she was expecting to do well but not this well. She said she was asleep Monday night when her mother, who checked for the results online, woke her up with the good news. The young lady revealed that some of the subjects were challenging, and she was a bit “jittery” about those. She said she did not make any plans for her future, since it depended on how she did at her exams; however, now that her results are out, she will be looking to further her studies. She disclosed that she has an interest in psychology and will most likely steer her tertiary studies towards that field.

nna Regina Multilateral Secondary (ARMS) student Zimeena Rasheed topped this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations with 20 subjects − 18 grade ones and two grade twos.

Coming in second was Yogeeta Persaud, also a student of the ARMS, with 18 grade ones.

Announcing the results at the ARMS on Tuesday, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said there has been an overall improvement in the number of students gaining grade ones in Guyana at this year’s examinations, but acknowledged the continuous poor performance in mathematics and English.

Students’ performance in mathematics worsen from an overall pass rate of 29 per cent, grades one to three in 2012 to 28 per cent in 2013. And in English A, though a 45 per cent pass rate was recorded, a decent improvement from the 37 per cent obtained last year, it translates to 55 per cent of students who sat the examinations failed.

“Mathematics... we haven’t seen the kind of results that I would like to see; 29 per cent passing mathematics is nowhere near acceptable for us. It has to change.

How we make that change would be something we really have to go back to the drawing table and pay attention to. The region has done poorly in mathematics also and English, although Guyana has done better this year,” Manickchand stated.

She added that: “These are subject areas that the world is struggling with and we have to find ways of making sure our children grasp these concepts better so that they can matriculate at higher rates.”

Manickchand said the ministry needs to analyse what is being done at the primary level and the teachers’ training college in order to address the debacle in these two subject areas.From this year’s examinations, a total of 231 students gained eight or more grade ones, compared to 175 last year.

This year, Region Two, for the second consecutive year, produced the country’s top student at the CSEC examinations.

CSEC top student Zimeena Rasheed

The ARMS produced 21 students who gained eight or more grade ones, but was not enough to dethrone Queen’s College, which produced the majority of the top students at the examinations.

Manickchand noted that the number of students sitting the examinations decreased from 13878 in 2012 to 13654 this year. Females continue to outnumber males sitting the examinations.

This year, 8649 females sat the examinations compared to 5005 males.

Students’ overall performance counting grades one to three inched from 58.69 per cent last year to 59.31 per cent this year, a distance away from the 64 per cent achieved in 2011, 63 per cent in 2010 and 68 per cent in 2009.

“Like everything else, there’s room for improvement in many areas and we have to look at those and fix those, and I am extremely pleased to see the results here today,” the minister declared.

This year’s top performers include students from the Hinterland Scholarship Programme.

“If a government delivers services equitably, then people will benefit equitably and their lives will improve proportionately and equitably, and that’s what we’re seeing here,” Manickchand said.

Meanwhile, rounding out the country’s top five performers aside from Rasheed and Persaud are Phillipe Walker and Akeila Wiltshire, each with 16 grade ones and one grade two and Cecil Cox with 16 grade ones, all of Queen’s College.

Last year, Sarah Hakh of Abrams Zuil Secondary School, Region Two emerged as CSEC top student with 16 grade ones. (leanab@guyanatimesgy. com)

news

17

WEDNESday, august 14, 2013 | guyanatimesGY.com

PC student tops CAPE VSP to launch volunteer – Anu Dev tied at number two with five ones

By Whitney Persaud

P

resident’s College student Shalita Appadu came out on top in this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination with six grade ones and one grade two.

In 2011 Appadu who attended the New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School attained 15 grade Ones at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination coming in second in the country after Anuradha Dev. Tying for the second position are: Melodie Lowe, Kaleshwar Singh, Prashant Shivdas, Deowattie Narine, Anuradha Dev and Benedict Sukra, all of Queen’s College with five grade ones each.

Preparation

Meanwhile, speaking to Guyana Times, the erudite Dev said preparation for the examination was a challenge as she did not attend any lessons. According to the young lady, she studied with the help of her father and her teachers who again contributed to her success. “Well first of all, I didn’t take any lessons; I did a lot of work at home with my dad by using the CAPE syllabus,” she disclosed.

Dev, who was ordained head prefect at her school, said the opportunity gave her the opportunity to become more organised for CAPE Unit Two as she had to prioritise her work.

Elaborating on her home studies, Dev said she and her dad would do online studies and research, but this was a challenge since she had to choose specifically what to study based on the makeup of the CAPE syllabus.According to the young scholar, she was not aiming to top the country, but worked to secure grade ones in the five subjects

Shalita Appadu secured six grade ones at this year's CAPE

she sat. “Well I was aiming to get five ones, had no idea or was I aiming to be on the top but just to pass the five subjects that I did… this is combined with grades from Unit One and Unit Two,” she stated.

Dev wrote biology, chemistry, physics, pure math (all Unit Two) and Caribbean studies this year, and in 2012 in Lower Six Form, she wrote biology, chemistry, physics, pure math and communications studies (all Unit One). Her next step is to move on to Trinidad, where she will pursue her medical studies. Dev was the Caribbean top student when she wrote the CSEC examinations.

Intention

The young woman said her intention is to wait until internship to choose a specialty area; however, she is more inclined to become a paediatrician.

She thanked her teachers, families and friends for their support during her studies, and is advising students sitting next year’s exam to break the habit of procrastination and to manage their time wisely.

“Choose subjects that will mean something to you in future work within your ability,” she said.

Guyanese students have this year contrib-

Anuradha Dev

uted to an approximately three percent increase in passes at examination, Education Minister Priya Manickchand revealed on Tuesday. This year 748 students wrote the examinations, eight more than last year. The pass rate has been recorded as 89.19, as compared to last year’s 86.2.

This year candidates were offered units in 23 subject areas, with each unit comprising three Modules equivalent to 150 credit hours. The Single Unit subjects offered were Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies.

The overall pass rate in 2013 is 86.6 per cent. This is an increase from 2011 when a pass rate of 82.5 per cent was attained and a marginal increase over the 86.2 per cent pass rate in 2012.

In relation to gender, females have outweighed the number of males sitting the exams and have also dominated in recording pass marks. Meanwhile, Queen’s College students account for the majority of the country’s top students in the CAPE exams, producing 11 such students. Completing the remainder in the top five performers are Malinie Tulsie with four grade ones, one grade two and one grade three, Amrita Milling with four grade ones and one grade two and Andy Sattan with four grade ones and one grade two. (leanab@ guyanatimesgy.com)

Case against battling couple dismissed

A

fter declining to offer evidence against each other, a couple who landed in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday on a cross charge of assault were released on a bond to keep the peace for 12 months.

It was alleged on August 8, at John Street, Lodge, Maria Paul,31, damaged one black jersey valued $5000 and one car trunk valued $40,000, property of Tajeeve Kumar Greer, her husband. It was also alleged on the same day, she unlawfully assaulted Greer, who was, in turn, accused of un-

lawfully assaulting Paul.

They both pleaded guilty.

According to Prosecutor Deniro Jones, the parties are husband and wife. On the day in question, they had an exchange of words, which resulted in a scuffle. Paul then took a piece of wood and hit the trunk of Greer’s car and tore his shirt. The matter was reported and they were subsequently charged and brought before the court.

Both parties were unrepresented. Paul told the court that she resides at 35 John Street, and is a seamstress, while Greer said he is a 41-year-old taxi driver, who

has a fixed place of abode at 111 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.

The prosecutor noted that the couple are now living together again.

Both parties told Magistrate McLennan that they would like to offer no evidence, since they have reconciled. They added that they had apologised and hoped the incident would not occur again.

Magistrate Ann McLennan dismissed the matter and placed the couple on a bond, with a sentence of four months in prison if in default.

fair, website

T

he Volunteerism Support Platform (VSP), in an effort to spread awareness of the benefits of volunteerism, will be launching its new website and volunteer fair.

Project Officer Pere DeRoy said the event will take place on Thursday, August 15 at the Umana Yana, Kingston from 13:00h to 16:00h.

To be featured are a cross-section of international and local organisations that provide services in the areas of health, environment, disability, education, community development, youth, arts, and sport, and engage volunteers and civil society to execute their mandate.

The primary objectives of the website launch and volunteer fair are to sensitise attendees on the work of the VSP and the value of volunteerism, to demonstrate to attendees the purpose of the new website, to provide an opportunity for organisations and volunteers to link with each other for voluntary activities, and to provide organisations and individuals the opportunity to register with the VSP. “More so, the event will give individuals the opportunity to learn about existing volunteer opportunities and give organisations the opportunity to promote voluntary opportunities and recruit volunteers,” DeRoy mentioned.

She said one of the reasons for highlighting and

promoting volunteering is to encourage employers to recognise the contributions which volunteers and voluntary organisations make to service sector development.

DeRoy noted that it can also serve the purpose of getting employees to accept that voluntary service is a form of work experience.

“It is important for us to think of volunteering not as an alternative to employment, but as a mechanism to actively participate in community and personal development,” the project officer stated.

She pointed out that volunteering is a powerful tool to help transform lives and communities, and every volunteer action counts.

DeRoy quoted American anthropologist Margaret Mead who said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Why volunteer?

DeRoy disclosed that voluntary services have played a significant role in the history of Guyana’s development, as well as the personal and professional development of individuals.

She pointed out that most individuals and organisations who volunteer believe that it is a way of addressing certain social issues of particular importance to them.

“They believe that they

Project Officer Pere DeRoy

can be part of bridging the gaps that may exist, in particular service provision, and most importantly, they believe in being counted as a valuable resource in their communities. They want to be part of creating solutions, transferring information, and learning about their communities.”

DeRoy related that some people volunteer in the interest of furthering their career, others join because of an interest in the area of work, and some because they believe it is a way to become involved in addressing problems in their community or country.

Whatever the reasons motivating individuals to volunteer, DeRoy shares the view that such individuals possess or have developed a sense of ownership in community and personal development.

Teen charged for killing schoolgirl

T

he 18-year-old young man who hacked his teenage girlfriend to death last Thursday was on Tuesday charged with murder at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.

He was arraigned before Magistrate Leron Daly.

Joshua Baveghems of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, was not required to plead to the indictable charge when it was read to him. The charge alleged that on August 8 at Diamond, he murdered his 17-year-old girlfriend, Angela Tamika Mc Allister, of Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara.

In a packed courtroom, the young man stood in the dock dressed in a shirt and pants as the magistrate read the charge to him.

During this, he was expressionless and for the entire time he was in the courtroom, he appeared to be in a daze. Baveghems was unrepresented by an attorney. Relatives of both the accused and the deceased were present in court and when the charge was being read, the relatives of Mc Allister broke down in tears in the courtroom. Even the

Joshua Baveghems

mother of the accused appeared to be in a sad state.

Police Corporal Bharat Mangru was the prosecutor in the matter. Baveghems was remanded to prison and will make his next court appearance on October 7.

According to reports, on the day in question, the 17-year-old Mc Allister was reportedly called to the accused’s home in Diamond and she left home around 11:30h with the understanding that she had to return by 17:00h.

While at her boyfriend’s residence, the two reportedly had an argument some-

time around 14:30h during which Baveghems began hitting the teenage girl.

His sister and mother who were present tried to stop the young man, but to no avail. Baveghems reportedly then dragged his girlfriend into the yard where he chopped her behind her neck. The young woman was subsequently taken to the East Demerara Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. After committing the act, the young man sat in the yard until the police came and arrested him.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ARCHIE

By Bernice Bede Osol

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19) Stick to what you know and steer clear of impulsive or erratic people. You can achieve stellar results if you have the facts and figures to back your actions.

DILBERT

(June 21July 22) A vacation that encourages thought, inspiration and motivation would pay for itself. Talk to people who can shed light on an idea or situation for enhanced insight.

AQUARIUS

LEO

(Jan. 20Feb. 19)

(July 23Aug. 22)

Limitations are likely, but they mustn’t be allowed to get in the way of your goals. If you look for ways to overcome obstacles, you will impress onlookers with your resourcefulness.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

CANCER

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) There is money to be made if you have a mind to it. An old idea can be recycled to suit the current consumer climate. Love is looking positive, and time should be set aside for romance.

Think before you speak. Problems will develop between you and someone you care about if you aren’t diplomatic. Listen carefully, and strive to find a workable solution.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22) Share your talents, offer your services and, most of all, you should enjoy interacting with the people you encounter along the way. New friendships will lead to interesting and unusual opportunities.

PEANUTS ARIES (March 21-April 19)

SUDOKU

Don’t share too much information with others until you are sure that your plan will work.

Refrain from being impulsive or taking on more than you can handle.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Problems with partners, children or money will surface if you haven’t budgeted wisely. Get your priorities straight and do what’s necessary.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23) Devote time and effort to getting ahead. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, the extra attention to detail will pay off as long as you don’t bite off more than you can chew.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22) Let your emotions lead the way. You can expand your awareness as well as your interests if you follow your heart. Connecting with people from different backgrounds will lead to valuable opportunities.

Tuesday's solution GEMINI (May 21June 20)

SAGITTARIUS

Offer suggestions but don’t do the work that someone else is responsible for. Focus on home and how you can make your surroundings more complementary to your changing lifestyle.

Express your ideas and plans in clear, concise language. Listen to the suggestions of others.

Success can be yours as long as you are realistic regarding your capabilities.

(Nov. 23Dec. 21)

news 19

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Nigel Hughes in conflict of interest mix

WEDNesday, august 14, 2013

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By Vahnu Manikchand

T

he foreman who sat on the panel in the Lusignan Massacre trial two weeks ago, was on Tuesday banned from juryduty by Justice Navindra Singh after it was disclosed that he was once a client of Attorney Nigel Hughes, who had represented one of the accused in the matter.

The man, Vernon Griffith of Lot 1455 Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, was the foreman on the panel of jurors that was selected for the trial which began on July 17 and concluded on August 2.

Justice Singh on Tuesday called up Griffith in court and enquired from him whether he has any matter in court and who his attorney was.

He hesitantly responded that he had a matter in the High Court and was represented by two attorneys from the Hughes, Fields & Stoby law firm, one was a female and the other was Hughes. The judge informed the man that he was in possession of the case that he (Griffith) had and Hughes is on record as his attorney.

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Justice Navindra Singh

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The judge then asked the man why he did not step forward when he (the judge) had asked the panel whether they knew any of the defence attorneys or prosecutors at the time of the empanelment.

Griffith’s response was that he did not know the attorney personally. Justice Singh told the man that what he did was “highly improper” and so close to getting him in serious trouble.

Judge Singh noted that even though he wants to, he cannot hold him in contempt of court because of the procedures to be followed. Hence, the judge informed Griffith that he is banning him from jury-duty for life. Griffith,

who previously sat on a panel in 2011, was told that he can no longer serve as a juror and if, due to a slip in the system, should he be selected for a panel, he should remove himself from the proceedings. The judge further cautioned Griffith that he should inform the registry if he changes his address while adding that an investigation into the matter will be conducted. Griffith, a former employee of the National Bank of Industry and Commerce Limited (NBIC), had sued the bank after he was dismissed in October 2002. He sued the bank in December of that year and the matter had engaged the court for six years during which Hughes was his attorney.

Mini-trial

On July 16, when the jury panel was being selected for the Lusignan Massacre trial, Hughes had requested a mini-trial to be held so that each of the intended jurors was questioned about their knowledge and position on the massacre before they were finally selected for the panel. This was the first time in Guyana that such a procedure, which the U.S. uses, was undertaken and in voir dire, several persons were grilled by the defence attorneys and prosecution. After several hours, the panel was finally selected and Griffith opted to be the foreman.

On August 2 after retiring sometime around 11:30h, the panel took some seven hours before finally returning around 18:30h, finding both accused not guilty of 11 counts of murder and not guilty also of the lesser count of manslaughter. The first accused, Mark Royden Williams called “Smallie” ,was further remanded to prison because he has five other matters pending in court while James Anthony Hyles called “Sally”, who was represented by Hughes, was granted $1.1 million bail after the prosecution served a notice of appeal before he was released.

Appeal

Meanwhile, the prosecutor in the massacre trial, Senior State Counsel Judith Mursalin on Tuesday filed an appeal at the High Court against the verdict. The appeal, which was filed on behalf of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and named Williams and Hyles as the respondents, mostly cited grounds based on this discovery. In the legal document, the first ground was “mate-

Nigel Hughes

rial irregularity”, which was broken down in nine parts.

The DPP claims that the nondisclosure by Hughes and Griffith about their fiduciary relationship is “material” and significant given the fact that at the commencement of the trial... before the jury was selected and empanelled, the learned trial judge specifically called out the names of all the attorneys involved in the case and told the entire panel that if they know or are associated with any of the attorneys, they ought to so indicate and would be excused”.

The appeal further stated that both Hughes and Griffith remained silent about their association and it was until the verdict was delivered on the night of August 2, that it was revealed by the chief justice’s clerk and court orderly that Griffith was once Hughes client.

Error

Also mentioned in the appeal, is that the judge erred when he acceded to the application by Hughes for a voir dire to be held and further the fact that the judge failed to conduct an inquiry to ascertain whether there was a connection/relationship between the number 12 juror and the accused, Hyles, after it was observed by the prosecutor that the juror had shown the father of the said accused a “thumbs up”.

The second ground cited for appeal is that the judge erred when “he excluded material evidence sought to be adduced by the prosecution, to wit, 76 photographs, depicting the locus in quo and the victims, on the ground that they would evoke emotional response in the jury”.

According to the legal document, other grounds may be added after a written record of the summing-up of evidence which was done by the judge is presented. (vahnum@guyanatimesgy.com)

Miner remanded for possession of pistol

A

miner was remanded to prison for illegal possession of a pistol after he appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’

Courts on Tuesday.

On August 10, in Georgetown, 24-year-old David Alexander, of 61 Hadfield Street, Lodge, had in his possession a pistol while he was not the

holder of a firearm licence.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge read against him.

The matter was transferred to Court One for September 13.

20

guyanatimesGY.com

wednesday, august 14, 2013

Nine charged for corruption in BPL N

ine individuals have been charged with various offences allegedly committed in violation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code during the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League, the ICC and the BCB announced on Tuesday.

The charges, which followed an investigation carried out by the ICC’s AntiCorruption and Security Unit (ACSU), relate to an alleged conspiracy within the Dhaka Gladiators franchise to engage in match-fixing and spot-fixing during the tournament, as well as failures by individuals to report approaches made to them to be involved in the conspiracy.

The identities of the nine individuals charged will not be disclosed until the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings.

Of the nine, seven have been charged for fixing-related offences, while the remaining two have been charged for failing to report corrupt approaches. Those facing the more serious fixing-related charges have been provisionally suspended and have been immediately barred from participating in all cricket activities organised or recognised by

Dave Richardson

the BCB, the ICC or of the ICC’s member associations, till the disciplinary proceedings brought against them are resolved.

Those who plead guilty or who deny the charges but are later found guilty by an anti-corruption tribunal, which will be put together by the Bangladesh board, would be subject to the sanctions under article 6 of the

BCB’s anti-corruption code, which includes a suspension of: (a) between five years up to a lifetime for the fixing offences, and (b) between one to five years for any failure to report a corrupt approach.

Those charged now have 14 days to indicate whether they wish to plead guilty or to defend themselves in a full hearing, which would take place before the anti-

corruption tribunal.

“Considering the limited resources available to the ACSU and the limitations that apply to its ability to uncover sufficient evidence to disrupt conspiracies of this kind, I am pleased that this investigation has led us to this outcome,” ICC chief Dave Richardson said.

“While we have charged some individuals with failing to report corrupt approaches that were made to them, it is important to stress that this investigation has also been built upon, among other things, evidence gathered from other individuals who not only rejected corrupt approaches made to them, but then did what they were supposed to do, and reported them to the ACSU.” The BCB president, Nazmul Hassan, said that those found guilty will be dealt with severely. “The BCB is committed to doing everything possible to defend it [Bangladesh cricket] against the very small group of people who are willing to compromise the values of the overwhelming majority for personal greed and, in so doing, bring disgrace upon themselves and their associates, as well as tarnishing the image of the game,” he said. (Cricinfo)

Results vindicate captain Cook – winning the Ashes is another impressive marker in Alastair Cook’s fledgling captaincy and Andy Flower is keen to ensure he receives due credit

I

f captaincy is about tactical ingenuity, about surprising opponents with novel field positions and bold declarations, then Alastair Cook is, at this stage of his career, an alsoran.

But if captaincy is more about remaining calm under pressure, if it is about uniting a disparate group of individuals into a team with common goals and shared beliefs, if it instilling a clear purpose and providing consistent messages through example and communication, then Cook is developing into a fine leader. A leader very much in the image of Andrew Strauss, the man he succeeded in the role.

Cook’s captaincy has attracted striking criticism in recent times. Shane Warne, who continues to sledge England from behind a microphone and in the pages of newspapers, may not recall but it is worth reflecting on the situation that Cook inherited when he was appointed 12 months ago.

England were a divided, defeated group of individuals. The fall-out from the Kevin Pietersen debacle had exposed cliques within the dressing room and defeats against Pakistan and South Africa had brought their period as the No. 1-ranked team to an abrupt halt. The tour to India loomed menac-

Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook

ingly.

Yet, despite a thumping loss in his first game in command, Cook has led England to a series victory in India and retained the Ashes in the minimum number of Tests possible. England are now unbeaten in 12 Tests and came a panic away from winning the Champions Trophy. The team are now

working together productively and have the opportunity not just to become the first England side to win four Ashes Tests in a home series, but to move back to No. 2 in the Test rankings.

No reasonable judge could have asked for more from Cook.

So it should not have been surprising that Andy

Flower, the England team director, used his first press conferences after England won the series against Australia, to praise Cook for his contribution to their success.

Flower is not a fellow to speak carelessly. He is not a man to do anything carelessly. In each press conference, while he arranges the dictaphones in front of him neatly (you get the impression he would like to catalogue them alphabetically in a binder), he ensures he conveys the message he wants and nothing more. And when he spoke to the media on Tuesday, he wanted to ensure Cook received the credit he deserved.

“One of the keys to our success has been the couple of outstanding captains we have had,” Andy Flower said as he reflected on England’s success in Durham. “A captain in a cricket team is a very important position.

They are making constant decisions out in the middle. When they speak in the dressing room they have to be stirring and clear, sometimes showing empathy, sometimes showing real strength or even stubbornness. In Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook I think English cricket has been very lucky to have had, and still have in Cook, two outstanding leaders. (Cricinfo)

Careers are on the line – Lehmann

Steven Smith hooked a bouncer onto his stumps

D

arren Lehmann, the Australia coach, has said that some members of the squad could be playing for their careers during the final Investec Ashes Test at The Oval next week.

Lehmann said the loss at Chester-le-Street on Monday was “bloody hard” and that Australia should have won “quite comfortably” given the strong platform set by the openers Chris Rogers and David Warner, who contributed to a start of 147 for 1 in a chase of 299.

But the loss of No.3 Usman Khawaja, lbw to Graeme Swann, then Michael Clarke to a ripper from Stuart Broad, Steven Smith hooking a bouncer down onto his stumps, and Shane Watson and Brad Haddin walking across their stumps to be lbw meant a collapse of 6 for 34, leaving far too much work for the tail.

Lehmann said the continued failure of the Australians to stand up at the big moments meant there was much on the line at The Oval.

“Yep. There is nothing wrong with that. I’m happy for you to write whatever you write there,” Lehmann said when asked if players could be playing for their careers. “To play for Australia, you have to perform to a level that’s acceptable to everyone in our team, and also the Australian public and the media, and at the moment we’re not doing that.

“I think they’ve fought really hard and they’ve shown glimpses of challenging a really good side obviously, but we haven’t done that consistently enough. So we’ll back them as we have and we will continue to back them, but at the end of the day performances count.

“From our point of view the blokes have got to learn.

If they don’t learn we will find blokes that will ... If they’re not, and making the same mistakes, then we’ve got to change, and that’s a simple fact of cricket and results.”

The manner in which several of the Australians

got themselves out during the chase was especially frustrating to Lehmann, who simply wanted his men to play straight. England’s bowlers, Stuart Broad in particular, bowled well after tea and dried up the runs, but Lehmann said several of the Australian batsmen had contributed just as much to their downfall.

“Blokes are missing straight ones. That doesn’t help,” Lehmann said. “I thought Warner got a good ball, to be fair, Clarke got a ripper and probably Rogers got a decent ball. The rest should have played a lot straighter and they know that.”

The one silver lining for Australia on the fourth day was the 109-run opening stand between Warner and Rogers, Australia’s best opening partnership in a Test chase since 1995.

Warner played a mature innings that mixed defence with a desire to score, and Rogers added to his first-innings 110 with a tenacious 49, leaving them locked in as the opening combination for the time being.

“The way they played today, yes,” Lehmann said when asked if Warner and Rogers could stay at the top for the next year or so.

“Warner was very good today (Monday). I was very impressed with him today (Monday) and Rogers has been probably the find of the tour for us, the way he has gone about it, and his demeanour off the field and what he brings to the playing group as an experienced player. So I have been really impressed with both of them.”

So much so that when Lehmann was asked if Watson would be considered at The Oval if he was unable to bowl due to his hip/groin injury, he responded that “no-one’s guaranteed, apart from Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers, I would think”.

The Australians travel to Northampton this week for a two-day tour match ahead of the final Test. (Cricinfo)

wednesday, august 14, 2013

guyanatimesGY.com

21

Isinbayeva misses out on world record …Merritt storms to 400m title, James fades to seventh

Y

elena Isinbayeva missed out on a world record but claimed her third pole vault world title in a thrilling final.

Before the biggest crowd of the Moscow championships, the Russian cleared 4.89m to claim victory but was unable to set a new world best of 5.07m.

The 31-year-old helped create a magical atmosphere and celebrated wildly with the enthusiastic crowd.

America’s LaShawn Merritt also reclaimed his 400m world title with a commanding performance.

It was expected to be a close race between Grenada’s defending champion Kirani James, the reigning Olympic champion, and the American, but the battle never materialised as 2008 Olympic gold medallist Merritt won comfortably in 43.74 seconds.

James, 20, trailed 2009 champion Merritt by a distance coming off the bend and slipped into reverse as he meekly crossed the line in seventh in a time of 44.99.

United States’ Tony McQuay took silver and Domican Republic’s

LaShawn Merritt

Kirani James

Yelena Isinbayeva

Luguelin Santos bronze.

“I was really hungry for this title and probably the hungriest man on that track,” said Merritt, who served a 21-month drugs ban in 2009, was runner-up to James in 2011 and failed to qualify for the London 2012 final because of injury.

“In fact, I was starving because of the disappointment two years ago and in London last year,” he added.

“I was mentally and physically in the zone, out to prove that I am still a force in the event at this level. I lost a lot when I was banned but I never lost my will to

win.”

James said: “It just didn’t work out for me. It is back to the drawing board, see what’s going on. I didn’t come into the Worlds expecting this, but you just move forward.”

But the evening belonged to one athlete, the poster girl of Russian athletics and the greatest female pole vaulter in history.

Isinbayeva had said that she would retire after these World Championships but recently reversed that decision, claiming she would return to competition after having started a family.

Upon learning that she had won gold ahead of America’s Jennifer Suhr and Cuba’s Yarisley Silva, Isinbayeva sprinted into the stands to be embraced by the spectators.

The London 2012 bronze medallist eventually made her way back to the track to attempt to beat her own world record but the evening was not to end with a 29th world record for the Russian.

It mattered little, however, as the overjoyed Russian fans serenaded their favourite on a lap of honour at the Luzhniki Stadium in

Moscow, with the two-time Olympic champion returning the favour by shouting “thank you” to her fans.

“I have plenty of emotions, they will only increase, not disappear,” she said. “I didn’t jump the world record - no biggie. The record is a bonus.

“I started jumping and screaming after 4.82m, after 4.89m I let all my emotions come out.

“By 5.07m I was just tired, but technically the attempts were good. I have two more competitions this season so I will try to break the record again.

“Now I’m happy. I’m the pole vault queen, the crown is mine.”

In the men’s discus final, Germany’s Robert Harting picked up his third World Championship gold, to go with his London 2012 Olympic title.

Harting’s fourth attempt of 69.11m was enough to see off Polish rival Piotr Malachowski, who could only manage a best of 68.36m.

Estonia’s Gerd Kanter took bronze with his throw of 65.19m.

The men’s 800m final did not feature any of the London 2012 medallists and Mohammad Aman took advantage.

The 19-year-old ran down American Nick Symmonds over the final 50m to claim Ethiopia’s first medal at a distance below 5,000m at a major championships.

Britain’s Andrew Osagie came home fifth in 1:44.36.

Milcah Chemos Cheywa of Kenya claimed gold in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in a time of 9:11.65 to finish ahead of compatriot Lidya Chepkurui and Ethiopia’s Sofia Assefa.

Eilish McColgan finished in 10th for Britain in a time of 9:37.33.

Ukrainian heptathlete Ganna Melnichenko won her first major title, finishing ahead of Canadian Brianne Theisen Eaton, who earned a silver medal to hang next to husband Ashton Eaton’s decathlon gold.

World junior champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands charged down the home straight to finish third and secure the bronze medal. (BBC Sport)

Chanderpaul back to Jamaica, Windwards and number two in Test rankings T&T win in fourth round

B

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

D

ubai, UAE West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul regained the number two position in the latest ICC Test batting rankings after Australian captain Michael Clarke’s sub-par showing in the fourth Test against England at Chester-le-Street.

Clarke posted scores of six and 21 to fall three spots

to fifth. England’s Ian Bell (6 & 113) continued to make gains, hopping three places to seventh while Aussie Chris Rogers (110 & 49) climbed 41 places to 42nd.

South African Hashim Amla continued to lead the rankings while his teammate AB de Villiers and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara are third and fourth respectively.

Among the bowlers,

Test Batting Rankings:

1. (-) H.M. Amla (SA) - 903 2. (+1) S. Chanderpaul (WI) - 880 3. (+1) A.B. de Villiers (SA) - 879 4. (+1) K.C. Sangakkara (SL) - 866 5. (-3) M.J. Clarke (AUS) - 862 6. (-) C.A. Pujara (IND) - 777 7. (+3) I.R. Bell (ENG) - 762 8. (-1) J.H. Kallis (SA) - 756 9. (-1) A.N. Cook (ENG) - 752 10. (-1) Younus Khan (PAK) - 748 42. (+41) CJL Rogers (Aus) - 526

Aussie Ryan Harris (2/70 & 7/117) skipped four places to seventh while Man-of-theMatch Stuart Broad jumped from 14th to ninth. There were no changes in the top six with Dale Steyn, Vernon Philandeer, Rangana Herath, Saeed Ajmal, Peter Siddle (1/41 & 0 /59) and Grame Swann (2/48 & 2/53) each maintaining their places. (First published in the Trinidad Guardian)

Test Bowling Rankings

1. (-) D.W. Steyn (SA) - 905 2. (-) V.D. Philander (SA) - 890 3. (-) H.M.R.K.B. Herath (SL) - 831 4. (-) Saeed Ajmal (PAK) - 819 5. (-) P.M. Siddle (AUS) - 790 6. (-) G.P. Swann (ENG) - 772 7. (+4) R.J. Harris (AUS) - 759 8. (-) R. Ashwin (IND) - 757 9. (+5) S.C.J. Broad (ENG) - 751 10. (-3) J.M. Anderson (ENG) - 733

asseterre, ST KITTS & NEVIS – Jamaica, the Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago secured victories in the third round of matches in the Regional Under-19 OneDay cricket tournament on Tuesday.

Jamaica defeated Barbados by six wickets at the Conaree Sports Complex.

The Bajans, sent in to bat, were bowled out for 161 in 46.5 overs with Aaron Jones scoring 42, Dario Boyce-Malcolm 27, Carlos Maynard 26, and Jafari Toppin 23.

There were two wickets each for Ramaal Lewis (101-26-2), Fabian Allen (6.5-129-2), and Nicholas Walters (9-0-39-2).

The Jamaicans, in reply, reached 162 for four off 42.4 overs with a fifth wicket unbeaten partnership of 113 runs between Fabian Allen (58) and Brandon King (53).

Chad Williams took two for 38, bowling for Barbados.

Over at Molineaux, the Windwards scored a huge 163-run win over the home team.

Sent in to bat, the Windwards totalled 238 all out in their allotted overs with Taryck Gabriel 69, Keone George 35, Gidron Pope 29, and Tonius Simon

Shimron Hetmyer

Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai

27.

50, and Bryan Charles unbeaten on 41.

Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai had the best bowling figures for Guyana with four for 49 off 10 overs.

Guyana, in reply, made 170 all out in 47.4 overs despite 92 from Shimron Hetmyer. He had a decent strike rate as his innings came off 80 balls which included nine fours and three sixes.

Brian Charles took three for 52, bowling for Trinidad & Tobago.

In fourth round matches scheduled for Wednesday, the Windward Islands will play the ICC Americas; Guyana against Barbados and Leeward Islands come up against Trinidad & Tobago.

The successful bowlers for the Leewards were Jeremiah Louis (9-044-3), Shaquille Martina (9-0-493), and Collin Archibald (10-0-41-2). In reply, the Leewards only managed 75 in 25.3 overs.

Larry Edward was the pick of the Windwards’ bowlers taking four wickets for nine runs off 6.3 overs.

He was assisted by Preston Mc Sween (6-0-27-3), and Ray Jordan (7-2-22-2).

Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago played in a close fought encounter with the latter winning by 15 runs.

The Trinidadians batted first and scored 185 for eight off 50 overs.

Vikash Mohan hit a top score of 51, Brian Christmas

22

wednesday, august 14, 2013

guyanatimesGY.com

International athletes expected to lift standard of Boyce and Jefford Classic W

ith the Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic set for this weekend, the inclusion of international athletes will make the meet of higher class, according to organisers.

The meets gets going from Saturday at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, and then moves to Mackenzie Sports Club ground, Linden, the following day.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Mark London and Tonya Nero are expected to make an appearance in the middle distance events at the meet.

London, a three-time Carifta gold medalist in the 800m, has a personal best time of 1:50.54s and is expected to give the Guyanese athletes a stiff run in the event.

Matching up with the talented T&T athlete, who ran

Tonya Nero

Mark London

Kenisha Pascal

a season best of 1:50.98s, from Guyana will be ALBA silver medalist Wayne Harlequin, who has a personal best of 1:50s and a season best of 1:54.78s.

Cleveland Thomas who has a season best of 1:55.66s is also expected to com-

pete in the event along with Police’s Dennis Horatio and Guyana’s distance king Cleveland Forde.

The 800m is billed to be one of the marquee events of the meet especially since Forde is seen as unbeatable in Guyana, while Harlequin

has always been touted as one of the best talents in the event.

Thomas’ hard work and Horatio’s gift of performing when it matters most make this race the one to watch come Sunday.

Harlequin and Thomas

will look to attack the race from the start while Forde and Horatio, who are more strategic, will look to evaluate the race during the vent.

However, the unknown is definitely the Trinidadian but based on his times, it certainly seems as though the three-time Carifta gold medalist will not play around especially on foreign soil.

Meanwhile, T&T’s Tonya Nero will look to hit the ground running in the women’s 1500m that will feature Guyana’s three-time Carifta 1500m gold medalist Jevina Straker and Linden’s own Cassey George as a guest athlete; she is also the Carifta 1500m gold medalist.

Straker, known for running from behind, almost dampened the return of Linden’s own Marian

Burnett at last year’s edition of the event when she came from behind to finish second.

However, with George’s form at the moment, having run 4:36.37s earlier this year at Carifta, one wonders how Straker’s strategy will work against the Lindener, who has run the faster times for the year.

Factoring Trinidad’s Nero into the mix and you have a show-stealing event because of her personal best time of 4:22.74s.

Grenada’s Kenisha Pascal is also expected to compete in the same race.

With the sprint events already expected to be highly competitive, especially over 400m.

The winners of the international events will receive $50,000 (US $250).

Mo Farah reaches World 5,000m final Brathwaite keen on rebounding from injury to keep alive double hopes

M

o Farah’s bid to add the World 10,000m and 5,000m titles to his Olympic golds remains on track after he eased into the final over the shorter distance.

The defending champion was fifth in his heat, the final automatic qualifying position, in 13 minutes 23.93 seconds.

If he wins Friday’s final, Farah will emulate Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and become the second man to win 10,000m and 5,000m Olympic and World titles.

“You have to do the job without going crazy,” the Briton told BBC Sport.

“My body feels good, the team have been looking after me well and I’m recovering well.”

The 30-year-old, who won the distance double at the London 2012 Olympics, became the first British man to win a 10,000m world title last Saturday.

And he began his defence

Mo Farah

of the 5,000m crown he won in Daegu in 2011 in comfortable fashion.

He was in third or fourth for much of the heat before taking the lead with three laps to go and easing off in the final 200m, once he realised his safe passage into Friday’s final was secure.

Muktar Edris set the fastest time of the two heats, clocking 13 minutes 20.82 seconds.

The Ethiopian sprinted past Farah down the finish-

ing straight but the Briton was more concerned with conserving as much energy as possible for the final in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

“I just wanted to do as little work as possible to be fresh in the legs, ready for the final,” said Farah, who finished behind training partner Galen Rupp of the United States.

“Galen and I looked across and, with top five qualifying, I said save as much energy as you can. I wanted to run comfortably and not sprint all out and tire myself out for the Friday.”

Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz qualified for the high jump final in joint first place. He cleared 2.29m after four first-time clearances.

Jessie Williams of the United States and Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia, who won gold and silver two years ago, both failed to make Friday’s final. (BBC Sport)

European Tour denies reports of takeover by US PGA

R

eports that the US PGA Tour plans to buy the European Tour have been denied by the Wentworth-based body.

It has been suggested that the American circuit wants to take advantage of the Eurozone economic crisis with a bid to take control of the European Tour.

Such a move would give the PGA Tour a share of the Ryder Cup and would help its desire to claim a bigger stake in the booming Chinese golf market.

Keith Waters of the European Tour described the reports as “incorrect”.

In the current economic climate, the European Tour,

which hosts events throughout the world, has struggled to compete with its US counterparts. Despite it being the height of the golf season, there have been no full events on the continent for the last three weeks.

Ryder Cup star Paul Casey, who is a member of the European Tour’s tournament committee, told The Daily Telegraph: “There are so many good things about the European Tour and it can be such an unbelievable product given the places we go to and the players we have.

“But we are so far from maximising what we have and we need to freshen things up.”

In response to the takeover claims, Waters, the chief operating officer of the European Tour, said: “The golf market in Europe is significantly smaller than in the United States.

“Hence the European Tour’s expansive policies throughout the world over the past 16 years, which includes co-operation with the US PGA Tour in the World Gold Championships arena.

“However, the notion that the US PGA Tour is somehow bidding to buy the European Tour is incorrect.”

PGA Tour communications chief Ty Votaw said: “We don’t have any comment on these stories.” (BBC Sport)

K

ingston, JAMAICA – For talented allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, the Limacol Caribbean Premier League represents much more than just a Twenty20 tournament. In fact, in many ways, the inaugural showpiece has signalled a new start for the talented Barbadian.

Only two years ago, the 25-year-old was fulfilling his boyhood dreams of playing international cricket when he made his limited overs debut for West Indies against Bangladesh in Dhaka. Brimming with promise and with the world at his fingertips, it seemed a sure bet Brathwaite would go on to carve out a successful career and put his stamp on Windies cricket but things fell apart when a heart-breaking knee injury put him out of action for several months.

Now, however, the tall seamer and powerful righthanded batsman has his sights set on impressing again and using the Limacol CPL as the springboard.

“I think I am 95 to 100 per cent fit. I had surgery in February and rehab went well and I was out for three months or so. Since then, I’ve made my return to the local circuit playing for the University of West Indies, playing three or four games in the three-day First Division and the T20 competition,” Brathwaite said.

“I was doing a lot of work in the gym while I was injured and since then, I’ve been doing a lot of cardio to get my fitness level back up to par. I think the strength is there, the confidence has also come back since my first game so I am ready and raring to go.”

In the Limacol CPL draft back in June, Brathwaite was selected alongside the likes of Rayad Emrit,

Carlos Brathwaite

Shannon Gabriel, Devendra Bishoo, Kirk Edwards, Dwayne Smith and Jason Holder, all of whom have already represented West Indies.

Tridents is led by global T20 superstar Kieron Pollard and includes overseas players Shoaib Malik, Shakib al Hasan and Umar Akmal.

Coming off injury, Brathwaite said performing again would require a huge mental effort on his part, especially since he was lining up alongside some of the world’s best players in the Limacol CPL. “Unfortunately I had two injuries in two years coming off a good Caribbean T20 tournament but at the end of the day it is easy to look back and be depressed but it is better to look forward and press on,” he explained. “At the end of the day I still have things to go out there and do, I have goals in mind and it is important now for me to put those things behind me and press on towards my goals.”

He continued: “Coming back from injury as I did last year is not only a physical hurdle but also a mental

hurdle. You actually have to believe you can go out there and hit your straps as hard as you used to before.

“The confidence is there but going into a high pressure situation with world class superstars is another hurdle you have to overcome mentally where you have to believe that you can go out there and perform with the world watching.”

Brathwaite missed out on selection as Tridents won their first four games to romp into the semi-finals of the inaugural Limacol CPL. His debut game on Sunday coincided with the Tridents’ first loss, a 27-run defeat to Guyana Amazon Warriors.

His two overs cost 18 runs and he blasted 18 from 14 balls as Tridents slipped towards defeat in pursuit of 150 for victory.

Brathwaite said he did not foresee only personal benefits for players coming out of the Limacol CPL, but huge advantages for Barbados and West Indies cricket.

“It’s always good to share dressing rooms and share knowledge with talented allrounders. It is a case where you have seven or eight guys who enjoy each other’s company, mixing at the same time with proven international stars as well,” Brathwaite pointed out.

“You can learn together and then take back things that we learn from them to our clubs and build Barbados and West Indies cricket. It is exciting times for West Indies cricket but for Barbados cricket too where you have youngsters playing in an international competition in a franchisedbased scenario, and you have professional backroom staff and you are mixing and mingling with persons from other countries. It bodes well for our cricket.” (CPL)

wednesday, august 14, 2013

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Enthusiasm shown by participants of cycling programme heartening, says Mohamed

Hassan Mohamed

N

ational cycle coach Hassan Mohamed said the enthusiasm shown by the participants is this year’s National Sports Commission (NSC)sponsored ‘Teach Them Young’ cycling programme is heartening.

The programme, currently in its 37th year, has attracted the largest turn out of participants this year, including seven five-old riders.

According to Mohamed he is satisfied with the progress of the programme this year.

“We have a total of 65 riders registered and we

are into the sixth of eight weeks. The weather has been a challenge for us so far and has resulted in fluctuating attendance daily.

But generally, I am pleased with progress to date, and at the same time I am satisfied especially with the enthusiasm shown by the participants; it encourages me to work along with them,” Mohamed said.

He noted that the programme does much more for the youths than simply teach them the basic of cycling.

According to Mohamed, during the first five weeks, the participants did work on endurance riding, increasing stamina, learning to pedal, controlling the bicycle, the art of focusing and how to setting a bicycle.

This year’s programme got underway on July 8 and will conclude on August 30.

It is being held at the inner circuit of the National Park with sessions from Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 11:00h.

Mohamed disclosed that this Saturday his charges will have another opportu-

Quarter-final action of Caribbean Pre-Cadet Championships on today

A

fter the group stages in the singles competition of the Caribbean Pre-Cadet Championships on Tuesday, Guyana will feature in the quarter-final round today in each category at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Neveah Clarkston and Selinas Jackman of Guyana played unbeaten in their individual groups to gain a bye to the semis while Abigail Martin will have to face Shurjah Welch of Trinidad and Tobago to make it to the final of the Under-11 Girls’ category.

In the final Under-11 girls’ quarter-final Mikayla Mathilda of Aruba will face Ackayla Lucas of Trinidad for the final semi-final spot.

The Boys’ Under-11 category will see Brandon Lee

Young of Trinidad battling Ronico Sealy of Barbados while Asaba Moore from Barbados will take on Niran Bissu of Guyana.

Terrence Russo and Tyriq Saunders will also feature in the quarter-final round for Guyana as they look to make the final of the event an all Guyanese contest.

In the Girls’ Under-13 category Priyanna Ramdhanie of Guyana will have a tough task against Dominican Republic’s Idelsa Baez while Kristie Lopes of Guyana will battle Shanekah Johnson of Trinidad after making it through the group stages.

The Boys’ Under-13 category will feature two Guyanese, Khalil Ninvalle against Miguel Wong in the semi-final.

National cycling coach Hassan Mohamed with three of the youngest participant of this year’s programme (Rajiv Bisnauth photo)

nity to showcase what they have been learning in an 11race competition, the second meet of the programme.

There will also be invitational races that will also attract the seasoned riders.

Reviewing the past 36 years, Mohamed reflected that the ‘Teach Them Young’ programme has played a significant role in helping to consistently produce champions at all levels.

“Take for example the recent IGG cycling meet where Guyana took a clean sweep of both the male and female event. Those cyclists came out from the Teach Them Young programme and also what this programme is doing is keeping the sport alive by bringing in new blood into the sport,” Mohamed emphasised.

The first champion to emerge from the programme in 1977 was former president of the Guyana Cycling Federation and lecturer of the University of Guyana, Hector Edwards. He was followed by Leo Ramalho, who has since ventured into rifle shooting.

Some of the other notable names whose foundation came as a result of the programme were the Fiedtkou brothers – Noel and Marcus, Byron and Bertram James, Dwayne “Road Hogg” Gibbs, Godfrey Pollydore, the late Troy Humphrey, Linden Dowridge, Eric Sankar, Warren McKay, Daniel Ramchurjee, Shane Boodram, Alanzo Greaves, Geron Williams, Robin Persaud and Enzo Matthews among others.

wednesday, august 14, 2013

TOP SCORES

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

Antigua Hawksbills 98-5 beat Barbados Tridents 97-9 by five wickets

Hawksbills stun Tridents in low-scoring thriller

A

ntigua Hawksbills stunned Barbados Tridents on Tuesday night by five wickets, handing them their second straight defeat of the Limacol Premier League at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua.

After starting the tournament with a flourish and doing everything right initially, the Trident churned out a sub-par performance after they won the toss and chose bat, recording a mere 97-9 from their 20 overs. The second win for the Hawksbills therefore means that the tournament is now on a more even keel as teams begin to find their rhythm.

Playing in front of the large home crowd, Hawksbills eased to 98-5 in 19 overs. Marlon Samuels and Devon Thomas were left unbeaten on 18 and six respectively.

The Antigua Hawksbills had a frenetic start with Johnson Charles striking the ball sweetly in the first over but in his team’s quest for quick runs re was run out for 12 in the same over.

Subsequently, the scoring rate fluctuated with Shoaib Malik bowling two maidens and picking up the wicket of Kieran Powell, lbw for nine, and Ashley Nurse having Rakheem Cornwall, stumped for four, while there was the odd

boundary.

As the Hawksbills steadily moved to their target, the aggressor in the innings Orlando Peters lost his wicket for 31 from 22 balls, of which two went for four and three for six.

Eventually, a patient Samuels Thomas carried the host franchise to their second victory.

Meanwhile, tournament leaders batted they never found the momentum to post a challenging score, a far cry from their initial blitz in the tournament when they scored four straight games. At one point they were tottering on 39-5 before Umar Akmal

(15) and Raymon Reifer (30) put on 38 for the sixth wicket, the most resistance in the innings.

Akmal was the first to go, bowled by Kemar Roach, who had 2-17 from his four overs. Prior to that, Sheldon Cotterrell started the downward spiral of the Tridents when he removed Dwayne Smith (13) and Jonathan Carter (3); he would go on to be the principal wicket taker for the Hawksbills, claiming 4-20 from his four overs.

His captain and offspinner Marlon Samuels also chipped in with 2-12 (4) while the plump Cornwall had 1-18 from three overs.

SCOREBOARD

The Antigua Hawksbills celebrate their routing of the Barbados Tridents

Barbados Tridents innings DR Smith c & b Cotterrell 13 JL Carter c †Charles b Cotterrell 3 Shoaib Malik c Cotterrell b Samuels 14 Shakib Al Hasan c Roach b Cotterrell 0 KA Pollard* b Roach 0 RA Reifer b Samuels 30 Umar Akmal† b Roach 15 AR Nurse b Cotterrell 5 RR Emrit c sub (A Martin) b Cornwall 2 D Bishoo not out 8 ST Gabriel not out 1 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 6 Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 97 Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Smith, 2.5 ov), 2-25 (Carter, 4.3 ov), 3-25 (Shakib Al Hasan, 4.6 ov), 4-26 (Pollard, 5.2 ov), 5-39 (Shoaib Malik, 9.4 ov), 6-77 (Umar Akmal, 16.2 ov), 7-83 (Reifer, 17.5 ov), 8-88 (Nurse, 18.5 ov), 9-92 (Emrit, 19.1 ov) Bowling: KAJ Roach 4-0-17-2, O Peters 4-0-15-0, SS Cotterrell

4-0-20-4, MN Samuels 4-012-2, GC Tonge 1-0-13-0, RRS Cornwall 3-0-18-1 Antigua Hawksbills innings J Charles† run out (Pollard/†Umar Akmal) 12 K Powell lbw b Shoaib Malik 9 R Cornwall st †Umar Akmal b Nurse 4 O Peters c †Umar Akmal b Gabriel 31 M Samuels* not out 18 B Rohrer b Shakib Al Hasan 9 D Thomas not out 6 Extras: (lb1, w8) 9 Total: (5 wkts, 19 overs) 98 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-23, 3-46, 4-65, 5-83 Bowling: Shakib Al Hasan 4-021-1, A Nurse 4-0-31-1, Shoaib Malik 4-2-3-1, D Bishoo 2-0-140, S Gabriel 1-0-7-1, K Pollard 2-0-12-0, R Emrit 2-0-9-0

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