Guyana Times Daily

Limacol CPL Corner Guyana Amazon Warriors fans upset over outcome of P Limacol CPL final

24

Issue No. 2225

Sunday, August 17, 2014

PRICE

Texila American University expanding operations

$120 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Guyana, Panama sign agreement Page 3 on Agricultural – building US$12M Medical Campus at Providence; Specialty Hospital in pipeline trade, research P2 Regional P5 CSEC performance continues upward trend UG loan issues to be resolved before new academic P8 year

A model of the Texila American University Campus to be built at Providence, East Bank Demerara (Carl Croker photo)

Narco-sub may be Woman killed, linked to Colombian dumped at drug dealers De Kinderen Page 11

Page 14

Shaik Baksh is new GuySuCo P11 Chairman

2 NEWS Guyana, Panama sign agreement on Agricultural trade, research SunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

– areas include fruits, vegetables, milk and meat

G

uyana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Panama for collaboration in the development of agriculture and trade between the two countries, one an agriculture giant in Caricom, and the other a trade and economic hub in Central America.

The MoU includes close collaboration in building the potential of the rice industries of both countries.

According to Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, one of the first outcomes from the MoU is that Guyana on August 14 signed contracts with the Panama Government to supply rice on a monthly basis for the rest of 2014.

Partnership

The MoU is intended to facilitate a partnership between the two countries for scientists and agricultural

Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy (left) and Panama’s Agriculture Minister, Dr Esteban Giron, congratulate each other in the presence of President Juan Carlos Varela after signing the agreement

research institutions to work collaboratively to enhance agriculture and trade between the countries and with other Caricom and Central American countries.

The areas identified for the collaboration include, but are not limited to, rice, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish and other areas related to agriculture.

The activities and programmes of cooperation will be achieved through exchange of delegations of experts, scientists and technicians, seed crops and animal breeds, in-

formation and technical documents, trade in agricultural products, joint organisation of technical seminars, workshops and conferences, coordination of research projects of interest to both countries, among others.

Dr Ramsammy said the MoU gives effect to the intention of President Donald Ramotar and President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama to develop stronger ties between Guyana and Panama and between Caricom and Central America.

The two leaders met as Presidents for the first time in Colombia on Wednesday last (August 6). President Varela was sworn in as President of Panama on July 2.

Trade in rice

As a consequence of the meeting in Colombia between the two Presidents, a team led

by Dr Ramsammy, Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) General Manager Jagnarine Singh and Rice producers Association General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj, concluded successful meetings with officials of the Government of Panama that resulted in Guyana being given meaningful access to the Panamanian market.

The Agriculture Ministry team was able to secure a contract that will see a monthly export of about 5,000 tonnes per month, beginning in September and taking the contract period to the end of 2014. New contracts for 2015 are to be negotiated on satisfactory conclusion of these initial contracts.

The contracts to export rice to Panama in September and monthly to the end of 2014 were signed at the Office of the Agriculture Minister in Panama City on August 14.

Final terms for the contract were agreed after negotiation between Guyana’s team of Dr Ramsammy, Seeraj and Singh and the team from the Agriculture Ministry of Panama, led by the Vice Minister of Agriculture, Dr Esteban Giron.

The Agriculture Minister of Panama was part of the negotiation of the MoU, but could not be present for the finalisation of the rice contracts because he had to leave for a meeting outside of Panama.

The signing of the new contracts to supply rice to Panama in a Governmentto-Government arrangement ensures that Guyana’s rice market continues to expand, even as production has in-

creased significantly.

The Government of Guyana, through the Agriculture Ministry and the GRDB, and in collaboration with the RPA, has been working diligently to expand demand for Guyana’s rice and paddy to overseas markets.

The PPP/C Government has also worked assiduously with the private sector (millers) in Guyana to build the export market.

The Agriculture Ministry, through the GRDB and the RPA on behalf of rice farmers and millers, individually have been working in a collaborative way to ensure Guyana’s rice market expands and keeps pace with the increase in production.

The Government-toGovernment deal to supply rice to Panama and the recent successes of several millers to export small quantities of rice into Panama means that Guyana has become a major player in the rice market in that country.

Cost of living

Dr Ramsammy and his team had met with President Varela, the Agriculture Minister of Panama and his team, and the Foreign Affairs Vice Minister over a twoday period (August 13/14) in Panama City.

At the meeting, the President of Panama was very assertive in describing Panama’s commitment to strengthening ties with Guyana and Caricom and the agreement to allow Guyana to be a supplier of rice to Panama is a concrete example of how south-south cooperation can be accelerated.

He expressed his determination to ensure that the people of Panama are able to access food at an affordable price and he sees the agreement between his Government and the Government of Guyana as one way to keep his commitment to the people of Panama to lower the cost of living.

Dr Ramsammy expressed gratitude for the vigorous effort of President Ramotar in meeting with and making the issue of rice a priority in the meeting with President Varela. President Ramotar has made the issue of rice exports an important part of his international engagement.

Minister Ramsammy also expressed gratitude to Minister Carolyn RodriguesBirkett, who has been a steadfast partner in the extensive trade negotiations occurring with various partners in the world.

NEWS

3

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Sunday, August 17 from 10:00h-10:30h The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Sunday, August 17 from 09:20h-10:50h

Texila American University expanding operations – building US$12M Medical Campus at Providence; Specialty Hospital in pipeline

BY TAJERAM MOHABAIR

W

Thundery weather can be expected in the morning with heavy rain showers prevailing during the rest of the day. Temperatures are expected to range between 5.3 degrees and 29.2 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Easterly between zero and 4.46 metres per second.

High Tide: 08:23h and 20:45h reaching maximum heights of 2.45 metres and 2.47 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 01:59h and 14:20h reaching minimum heights of 0.63 metre and 0.77 metre respectively.

ith a vision to establish itself as the best medical school in the Caribbean, the Texila American University which established operations here in 2010, will soon be building a state-of-the-art campus at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Speaking to Guyana Times via Skype from the university’s offices in New Jersey, USA, Director for International Operations Ashok Kumar said the design for the building has been completed and is in the process of being approved.

He is hoping that the process will be completed within three months, pointing out that construction will commence soon after.

Construction of the university will be done in two phases—the actual construction of the building, followed by technical work on the sci-

Demerara campus.

The East Coast Demerara campus currently has over 350 students from 35 countries, and would be matriculating another 120 in the new academic year.

The majority of the students are from India and African countries, with some from the US and Canada.

Hospital

On completion of the Providence project, the university will embark on another physical infrastructure programme -- the construction of a hospital for students to do their clinical rotations.

Currently, some students at the university do their clinical rotations at the Georgetown Public Hospital and others at hospitals in the US and the Philippines.

According to Kumar, the hospital which is expected to be built in the next three to five years will be a general hospital at first, but would

Director for International Operations Ashok Kumar

Bhaskar is also the Chief Executive Officer of ALLTERE Education Management, which is the project management and international execution arm of Texila American University.

The ALLTERE education group is an education

Saturday, August 16, 2014 The Texila American University, Goedverwagting, Sparendaam Campus

G 04 12 18 24 16 21 25

01 03 09 12 19

9

0

9

05 06 07 09 14 15 20

ence facilities.

According to Kumar, when completed, the new US$12 million campus, outfitted with all modern facilities, will have the capacity to accommodate 1000 students from across the world.

The Providence facility will complement and prevent overcrowding at the Goedverwagting, Sparendaam, East Coast

gradually move to become a specialty hospital. This, he said would be in keeping with Government’s drive to make Guyana a medical tourism destination.

The Texila American University is owned by a group of businessmen based in Hong Kong, of whom Saju Bhaskar, an Indian national, is one of the majority shareholders.

project management company that manages education projects in China and The Philippines. ALLTERE has wide experience in trans-national education in India and abroad.

The Texila American University began operations in Guyana at the Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, with

seven students, before moving to the Goedverwagting, Sparendaam campus about three years ago.

According to Kumar, the university’s management set up operations in Guyana because it wanted to provide a unique experience for international students.

And, he pointed out Guyana is such a destination to visit and study, given its abundance of flora and fauna, beautiful sites, rich cultural heritage and hospitable people. Some of the students, notably those from India, can readily identify with the Indian segment of the population here as they are descendants from that country.

These, he said, were some of the endogenous factors, coupled with the demand for quality medical tuition, and the fact that Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America and is the gateway to South American and the Caribbean that drew the university’s management to set up shop here.

He explained that the goal of Texila is to provide an alternative to Caribbean medical students, who wish to study in the US, by building modern facilities and having a teaching in Guyana that is second to none in the Caribbean.

Currently, the university has partnership programmes with several universities around the world, namely the University of West England; Universidad Central de Nicaragua (UCN), Central America; Broward College and Concordia College, USA; Zamosc University, Poland; Charles University, Czech Republic; and Semmelweis University, Hungary.

According to the university’s website, its curriculum is structured after the best US and Caribbean medical schools. turn to page 7

4

guyanatimesgy.com

sunDAY, august 17, 2014

Views

Editor: Tajeram Mohabir 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

India’s Independence F

riday was the 67th Anniversary of the Independence of India from Britain. As the “Jewel of the Crown” in an empire on which the “sun never set”, the fateful decision of Britain on August 15, 1947 was a signal to the rest of the colonies on three continents that it was not inevitable they had to wage violent wars of liberation to also become independent. Guyana, then called “British Guiana” was one such colony.

But India had a powerful impact on what later became known as the “Third World” even before independence in 1947. The Indian Congress Party - which became so well known that it was henceforth known simply as the “Congress Party” – was founded as far back as 1885 and played a pioneering role in demonstrating to nationalists in the colonies the path to creating institutions that could replace the British Raj. It is not by coincidence that political parties in countries as far apart as South Africa (African National Congress – ANC), Guyana (People’s National Congress – PNC) and Ghana (National Democratic Congress – NDC) adopted the name.

The British insisted on political parties in its colonies adopt the norms of “Westminster parliamentary democracy” with its insistence on debate and discussion within a largely liberal tradition. In India, however, while the early leaders had become “Brown Englishmen” and quoted Locke and Hobbes with the best of them in England, Mohandas Gandhi introduced a nationalism to Indian politics that was peculiarly indigenous.

This was so not only in his method of mobilisation, but also in the premises of his politics, which was based on the ancient notion of “satyagraha” or “truth force” confronting the brute force of colonial role. In Guyana, Cheddi Jagan, in his book, “The West on Trial,” described the tremendous influence the man who was to become a “Mahatma” or “Great Soul” had on him.

In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was also to follow in the path of the Indian Saint who had actually worked out his politics of non-violence during his long, 20-year sojourn in South Africa (1893-1913).

As the other colonies followed India’s independent path after 1947 – Burma, Pakistan and Ceylon in Asia during 1948, Ghana in 1957 (Africa), Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1962 (West Indies) – they were all affected by the polarising effect of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. India, under its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the pioneers of an alternative effort to create a more neutral and less polarising world order. In 1955, he and leaders of Egypt, Yugoslavia, Ghana and Indonesia met in Bandung in the last century, and launched the “Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). In this manner, India’s influence continued unabated.

Internally, it also stuck fast to a pragmatic combination of liberal methods of parliamentary politics and socialist insistence on economic planning. While the results in the economic sphere were not exactly stellar, growth was steady and in the present most commentators insist that while its democratic method of selecting its leadership might be somewhat messy, ultimately it should redound to the country’s long-term stability.

Since 1990, India began to “liberalise” its economy – but not to the extent of those countries that were forced to do so under the International Monetary Fund’s ideological doctrine summarised under the “Washington Consensus”.

Here again, and continuing into the present, India has been able to demonstrate a third way in development to its fellow ex-British colonies. Its conservative banking policies, for instance, have prevented the creation of the “casino-type” banking system that precipitated the financial meltdown in the developed world.

Internationally, after the lessened importance of the NAM following the end of the Cold War in 1989, India continued to be very active in multilateral agencies such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the UN system, which benefited smaller countries such as Guyana, immensely.

In its latest effort to launch a new development bank with its BRICS partners, India continues to promote independence for the less developed countries.

Palestinians perform Friday prayers outside a mosque which witnesses said was destroyed by an Israel air strike during the offensive, on the second day of a five-day ceasefire in Gaza City (Reuters)

Janma-Ashtmi: Festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna Dear Editor, Janma-Ashtmi, which falls this year on August 17 is a Hindu festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu Bhagwan.

Krishna Janma-Ashtmi is observed on the eight Tithi of the dark fortnight in the Hindu month of Bhadrapad.

Baby Krishna was born at midnight to Vasudev and Devki, who were imprisoned by the cruel Kamsa. Lord Krishna put Kamsa to his demise and re-established peace and stability on the face of the earth. For devotees, this important “birthday” marks the triumph of good over evil.

Sweet devotion percolate, permeate, penetrate and saturate, the hearts and souls of Lord Krishna’s devotees all over the world as they extoled His wonderful name and sing His praises on the occasion of Janma-Ashtmi.

A birthday is always a special occasion, in that it marks out for us on an annual basis, our growth and development as human beings. It is a day every year, especially as we grow older when we are able to look back over the last year in particular and

the previous years in general and to honestly ask, how purposefully have we used the gift of human existence.

How well have I used the gift of my human existence depends on how I see the value of my being born in the first instance. In the Bhagavad-Gita – Chapter 4: Verse 7-8, Lord Krishna gives purpose for his own incarnation when he says: “Whenever there is a decline in righteousness, I manifest myself for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the evildoers and for the reestablishment of virtue and righteousness; I am born from age to age.”

Every human being requires an ideal standard against which to judge his/ her behaviours and as well his/her purpose. In defining the reason for his birth the lord also gives us an opportunity to understand the purpose of our births.

When we know that purpose we are able to direct the course of our lives accordingly.

Lord Krishna gives the following reasons: protection of the good; destruction of evil; and re-establishing righteousness and a virtuous way of life.

These reasons are also

given by Shri Ram in the Ramayana: the quality of life we live and the experiences we have are determined by the vision we have of our purpose.

If that vision is one of protection of that which is good, eliminating that which is evil and ensuring that virtue, morality and righteousness prevail, then with such an entrenched and ingrainedvision, two things become a reality.

Our lives become filled with behaviours that promote and reflect goodness and virtue, and secondly, by being exemplars of goodness and virtue, we provide the model against which others including our children and families would fashion their behaviours.

No one wants to experience unhappiness and sorrow, indeed, we all wish to be joyous and have pleasurable experiences. The reality is that by our choices we are the source of our joys and sorrows.

All outcomes are created by us and us alone.

How to achieve constant and unbroken happiness, even as we continue to live and work in the world is the major challenge to human existence. Life cannot

just be about the satisfaction of wants, needs and desires. If it were, then man wouldbe happy after achieving material abundance.

The fact that human beings continue to be dissatisfied despite material abundance, that the human being continues to suffer and experience an emptiness despite pleasure satisfaction, heralds the existence of a higher purpose of human existence, the discovery of which alone can bring unbroken unhappiness.

Therefore let us use the occasion of Krishna Janma-Ashtmi for self-introspection, self-analysis and self-examination and quietly ask our selves the question, have I lend purpose to my life? Is there a reason why I came on earth?

Certainly we will move to construct a society where people of all shades of opinions and estimations can work in a cohesive effort to build a better world.

Lord Krishna’s perpetual grace and blessings.

Happy Janma-Ashtmi.

Submitted by, Pandit Jagmohan Persaud

NEWS

5

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

Regional CSEC performance continues upward trend T

he overall performance for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) May/June 2014 examination continued the gradual upward trend started in 2012.

This year, 66 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, Grades One to Three. This compares favourably with 65 per cent in 2013 and 62 per cent in 2012.

Of the subjects offered, performance improved in 12, declined in 19 and remained constant in five.

Physical Education and Sport was the subject with the best overall performance.

Ninety-nine per cent of the 10,000 entries achieved Grades One to Three, compared with 94 per cent last year. Theatre Arts had the next best results; 94 per cent of the 17,000 entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 93 per cent in 2013. Food and Nutrition caps off the top three best performing subjects with 91 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades.

English and Mathematics

Performance in the English and Mathematics offerings also continued the positive trend from last year, except English B, which had a marginal decline. This year, English A saw a one per cent improvement over last year’s performance.

Fifty-nine per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 58 per cent last year and 47 per cent in 2012. Seventytwo percent of entries for English B achieved acceptable grades compared with 73 per cent in 2013 and 68 per cent in 2012.

Mathematics saw the most improved performance of all subjects offered in 2014 compared with 2013.

Forty-nine per cent of entries achieved Grades One to Three, which is a 14 per cent improvement over 2013 when 35 per cent of entries achieved similar grades; and 16 per cent improvement over 2012.

The Subject Awards Committee attributed the improved performance to improvement in most areas on the examination with the exception of trigonometry and geometry.

Additional Mathematics, in its third year, recorded an improved performance over the two previous sittings.

Seventy-six per cent of entries achieved Grades One to Three this year compared with 70 per cent last year and 58 per cent in 2012.

Of the science subjects, performance improved in Chemistry and Physics and declined in Biology, Agricultural Science Double Award (DA), Agricultural Science Single Award (SA),

and Human and Social Biology. Sixty-eight percent of entries for Chemistry achieved Grades One to Three compared with 62 per cent in 2013, while for Physics there was a 10-per cent improvement with 77 per cent of entries achieving Grades One to Three compared with 67 per cent in 2013.

Both Agricultural Science DA and Agricultural Science SA saw significant declines in performance this year. For the Double Award, the percentage of entries achieving acceptable grades fell from 96 in 2013 to 75 this year, while for the Single Award, the percentage fell from 93 per cent in 2013 to 78 per cent this year. For Biology and Human and Social Biology, there was a two-percentage point decline; Biology dipped to 72 per cent, from 74 per cent last year and Human and Social Biology dipped to 62 per cent, down from 64 per cent last year.

Business

All the subjects in the business cluster recorded declining performances of varying degrees.

Seventy per cent of entries for Economics achieved Grades One to Three, compared with 81 per cent in 2013. The Subject Awards Committee noted that questions relating to the business environment, exchange rates, economic integration and balance of payments posed challenges to candidates.

For Principles of Accounts, 68 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 75 per cent in 2013. Principles of Business had a four per cent decline year on year with 75 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades compared with 79 per cent

in 2013.

Office Administration had a five per cent decline with 73 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades this year compared with 78 per cent in 2013.

Candidates were challenged by topics such as financial services, closing stock, and operating balances, the Subject Awards Committee reported.

Performance in Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPD) re-

ment, from 93 per cent of acceptable grades last year to 94 per cent this year.

Performance on Visual Arts declined by eight per cent – 69 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 77 per cent in 2013.

Technical and Vocational

There were mixed performances in the technical and vocational subjects.

Performance in Home Economics Management and Technical Drawing im-

Both Electrical and Electronic Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology had a five per cent decline in performance: Electrical and Electronic Technology dropped from 62 per cent in 2013 to 57 per cent this year, while for Mechanical Engineering Technology performance fell from 75 per cent in 2013 to 70 per cent this year.

Eighty-one per cent of entries for Clothing and Textiles achieved acceptable grades in 2014 while

foreign languages, Spanish and French, saw marginal declines – French dropped one percentage point from 77 per cent to 76 per cent and Spanish dropped from 70 per cent in 2013 to 66 per cent this year.

Performance in Geography remained steady over the two-year period at 67 per cent. The Subject Awards Committee noted once again that there is a general weakness in mapreading, physical geography and exposure to field work.

During the Final Awards Committee meeting, it was noted that several teachers of Geography are not Geography graduates and this impacts their ability to adequately deliver the syllabus.

Entries

The overall performance for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) May/June 2014 examination continued the gradual upward trend started in 2012, CXC Subject Awards Committee reports

mained the same as last year’s – 86 per cent of the entries achieved acceptable grades.

Expressive Arts

The subjects in the expressive arts cluster with the exception of Visual Arts recorded improved performances when compared with 2013. Ninetynine per cent of the entries for Physical Education and Sport achieved acceptable grades, compared with 94 per cent in 2013. Music saw an eight per cent improvement with 78 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades compared with 70 per cent in 2013. Theatre Arts saw a slight improve-

proved by seven per cent and three per cent respectively. Ninety per cent of entries for Home Economics Management achieved acceptable grades this year, while 83 per cent achieved similar grades in 2013. For Technical Drawing, 77 per cent achieved acceptable grades this year and 74 per cent achieved similar grades last year.

Food and Nutrition saw a marginal decline from 92 per cent of Grades One to Three in 2013 to 91 per cent this year; Building Technology – Construction also saw a one per cent decline – 80 per cent this year compared with 81 per cent last year.

72 per cent achieved similar grades in 2013, while for Building Technology – Woods, 76 per cent achieved acceptable grades in 2014 and 82 per cent achieved similar grades last year.

Humanities

The subjects in the Humanities cluster saw declines in performance this year when compared with 2013. Social Studies saw a 10 percent decline in performance – 58 per cent of entries achieved Grades Ones to Three compared with 68 per cent in 2013.

Performance in Caribbean History dipped from 68 per cent in 2013 to 62 per cent this year. Both

The number of candidate and subject entries declined this year. Candidate entries fell from 149,311 in 2013 to 142,884 this year, while subject entries moved from 616,447 in 2013 to 603, 383 this year.

Mathematics was once again the largest subscribed subject with 98,542 entries, followed by English A with 94,106 entries. The next largest subject entry was Social Studies with 50,027 entries. Principles of Business is in at fourth with 34,883 and Human and Social Biology fifth with 31,450 entries.

The age group 19 years and over comprised the largest single cohort of candidates, 31 per cent, while the 17- year-old age cohort accounted for 29 per cent of candidates, 16 year olds 20 per cent and 18 year olds 14 per cent.

Forty-one per cent of the candidates who registered for the 2014 examination were male and 59 per cent female. (Caribbean News Now)

6

sunDAY, august 17, 2014

Page

guyanatimesgy.com

Foundation

Growing Janam-Ashthami: Celebrating Krishna pains and his teachings

Anu Dev

W

hen my own CSEC results came out in 2011, I’d been vacationing with my family in Suriname. I learnt about it, in what is now the old fashioned way -- via the newspapers. This year, the Eduction Minister broke new ground – she personally streamed the results of the top 52 performers who’d secured 11 or more passes with Grade Ones.

My family were avid viewers over in New York,

writing his notes in cursive at that time!

For him to enter school and skip Grades One and Two, he had to be evaluated by several officials in the Education Ministry. When he later placed 4th in the NGSA at the age of nine, the Chief Education Officer Genevieve Whyte-Nedd confessed that she’d opposed his entry – she hadn’t thought he’d be able to compete.

So Abhi, went on to Queens, and against the advice of his teachers and our parents, he decided to write 17 subjects. It’s possible he wanted to top me – who’d done 15. I’ve heard about these “sibling impulses”!!

Like me, he didn’t do any lessons, except for Spanish.

ago.

And this is really what I want to talk about today.

We hear a lot about boys not performing as well as girls and this year’s results prove that in aces – at least at Queens where the top 100 NGSA performers end up.

Among the 20 Queens students who secured 11 or more Grade Ones - not a single one of them was a boy!!!

While I only have access to the Fifth Form friends who shared their Grades on Abhi’s Facebook page, it appears that he was the top performing boy this year at Queens. What is going on??

I can only report from what I saw with Abhi and his friends. Even though all of the friends went to les-

“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”

– Abigail Adams where we were now vacationing: my brother Abhimanyu had written 17 subjects at the age of 14 and “anxious” was not the word for us!!.

Maybe me more than my kid brother! Abhi had always been special – and precocious. You know the saying, “You have to creep before you walk”? Well, he just dragged along on his (pampered) rump for a while and then blithely stood up and walked one day.

He started to read at the age of two and when he entered primary school at the age of six - he had to be placed in Grade Three.

As his classmate Saskia Khalil recently reminisced on his Facebook wall after the CSEC results were announced, Abhi was already

But unlike me, he absolutely refused to seek assistance from our father – who I still lean from even now I’m in medical school. Forget about ME helping!! That was, and is, Abhi – fiercely independent and marching to his own drummer.

So Minister Manickchand announced the 11-plus achievers– and Abhi wasn’t on the list. We could see he was bitterly disappointed.

When he was finally able to access his grades– he’d gotten 9 ones and 8 twos. Now I personally think this result was incredible – not only in absolute terms – (any 14-year-old securing 17 subjects has to be special), but because I knew Abhi didn’t really study. For sure not like how I did, three years

sons – the latter was seen as mostly a place to hang out.

Then there were the other extracurricular activities – cricket, computer games – and in Abhi’s case, reading every book under the sun (and then some), but his schoolbooks. Whether it is a case of our method of imparting education is geared more towards girls (who are socialised to be more passive), or because we mature earlier – I wouldn’t be able to say definitively.

But I do know that Abhi finally buckled down during the three months his exams lasted. And I say – congratulations for doing what he did in that time!! Imagine what he and the rest of the boys could do if they hit the books like we girls did!

Hindus in Guyana celebrate Shri Krishna Janamashthami today. It marks the incarnation or ‘birth’ anniversary of the Hindu Avatara, Lord Krishna. The day is primarily observed with massive congregational worship and reading of the scriptures and the teachings of Lord Krishna.

Hinduism has from ancient times held strongly a belief in the reality of the Avatara that is, the descent into form, the revelation of the Godhead in humanity.

God descends so that man may ascend. It is the coming down of the Absolute Spirit into the frame of the finite body to lead the way for the re-establishment of spirituality, righteousness or Dharma.

Krishna himself revealed, “Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an upsurge in unrighteousness, then I body myself forth. For the protection of the virtuous, for the extirpation of evil, and for re-establishing Dharma on a firm footing, I come from age to age.” (Bhagavad Geeta 4:78).

The Avatara however is not limited to the bodily frame is has assumed.

It is always its true Being.

Krishna was no exception.

The Avatara is the living example of what man ought to strive to be — to go beyond the confines of the body unto the imperishable spirit of the universe — God. Writing on Krishna and the nature of the Avatara, the celebrated Sri Aurobindo explained: “All existence is a manifestation of God because He is the only existence and nothing can be except as either a real figuring or else a figment of that one reality. Therefore, every conscious being is in part or in some way a descent of the infinite into the apparent finiteness of name and form.

But it is a veiled manifestation and there is a gradation between the supreme being of the Divine and the consciousness shrouded partly or wholly by ignorance of self in the finite.

The conscious embodied soul is the spark of the divine fire and that soul in man opens out to self-knowledge as it

develops out of ignorance of self into self-being.

The Divine also, pouring itself into the forms of the cosmic existence, is revealed ordinarily in an efflorescence of its powers, in energies and magnitudes of its knowledge, love, joy, developed force of being, in degrees and faces of its divinity.

“But when the divine Consciousness and Power, taking upon itself the human form and the human mode of action, possesses it not only by powers and magnitudes, by degrees and outward faces of itself but out of its eternal self-knowledge, when the Unborn knows itself and acts in the frame of the mental being and the appearance of birth, that is the height of the conditioned manifestation; it is the full and conscious descent of the Godhead, it is the Avatara.”

This Avatara Krishna revealed his divine nature and achieved the purpose of the Avatara when he dwelled upon earth over 5000 years ago. Particularly his revelation took the form of that gospel and philosophical scripture, the Bhagavad Geeta in which he, being the divine teacher showed the way to divinity using his disciple as the representation of man. Sri Aurobindo in his “Essays on the Gita”made it so much more lucid when he wrote: “The teacher is God himself descended into humanity; the disciple is the first, as we might say in modern language, the representative man of his age, closest friend and chosen instrument of the Avatar, his protagonist in an immense work and struggle the secret purpose of which is unknown to the actors in it, known only to the incarnate Godhead who guides it all from behind the veil of his unfathomable mind of knowledge.

“The occasion is the violent crisis of that work and struggle at the moment when the anguish and moral difficulty and blind violence of its apparent movements forces itself with the shock of a visible revelation on the mind of its represen-

tative man and raises the whole question of the meaning of God in the world and the goal and drift and sense of human life and conduct.”

The life of Krishna, his teachings and himself, the living example of his teachings, have without exaggeration been and will surely continue to be a force of insurmountable influence upon Hindus – both the ordinary and intellectual and also the philosophers of both East and West for his influence is one that is positive, potent and ever pervasive.

Of Krishna, his life and teachings, Swami Vivekananda stated as a tribute to him: “He was the most wonderful Sannyasin and the most wonderful householder in one; He had the most wonderful among the Rajas, power and was at the same time living in the midst of the most wonderful renunciation.

“Krishna, the preacher of the Geeta was all His life the embodiment of the Geeta; He was the great illustration of non-attachment; a great landmark in the history of religion, the ideal of love for love’s sake, work for work’s sake, duty for duty’s sake, and it is for the first time fell from His lips of the greatest Incarnation, Krishna, and for the first time in the history of humanity, on the soil of India.

“He was the first heart large enough to see truth in all. In Krishna we find two ideas supreme; the first is the harmony of different ideas, and the second is nonattachment. He does not need anything; He does not want anything. He works for work’s sake. He is the most rounded man I know of, wonderfully developed equally in brain and heart and hand.

“Every moment of His is alive with activity. Five thousand years have passed and He has influenced millions and millions. My regard for Him is for His perfect sanity. No cobwebs in His brain, no superstition. He knows the use of everything.”

(Submitted by, Pandit Charranlall Nandalall)

NEWS

7

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

EPA moves to ensure safer, healthier environment – through enforcement of regulations

T

he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the watchdog body for the environment on Friday held a consultation with representatives drawn from various agencies to outline the new regulations in the Environmental Protection Act (EPAct).

The EPAct allows the agency to oversee the effective management, conservation, protection and improvement of the environment. In addition, the EPAct also requires that the agency take necessary measures to ensure the prevention and control of pollution, assessment of the impact of economic development on the environment and sustainable use of natural resources.

Further, the role of the EPA as an effective environmental regulator is to monitor development activities and ensure they are in compliance with the EPAct and associated regulations.

Among the attendees were representatives from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Livestock Development Association, and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).

The EPA said over the years it was constrained in achieving its mandate fully in terms of ensuring effective compliance and enforcement.

EPA Compliance and Enforcement Director

Kemraj Parsram, said significant development and economic activities have taken place in Guyana, and many of them were undertaken with no awareness, lack of ensuring the appropriate environmental safeguards and many were constantly in breach of the EPAct. It was further stated that since authorised officers attached to the EPA had no powers to apply civil or criminal sanctions to resolve breaches, the agency resorted to the courts to deal with serious infringements and Parsram said this process proved to be too lengthy and slowed down the agency’s effectiveness in dealing with the violations.

Filling loopholes

According to Parsram, following the discovery of loopholes in the system of environmental protection, in September 2013, the agency began drafting the compliance and enforcement regulations “aimed at strengthened management of environment and social impacts of development activities in the economic sectors of Guyana, through the development of appropriate regulations for compliance and enforcement”.

The EPA’s approach to ensuring breaches are lessened and dealt with accordingly entails informing and educating citizens and organisations of the EPAct

Attorney Teni Housty addressing representatives from various organisations, agencies and ministries on the Environmental Protection Compliance and Enforcement Regulations

and its regulations.

Also, the approach further entails setting standards and expectations for

all developmental activities, monitoring compliance to determine the level of compliance with current

standards and laws and maintaining the ability to detect non-compliant activities; providing support to ensure developers understand the gist of compliance, and enforcing the law by legally addressing noncompliance (which would ensure the offender stops the non-compliant activity and remedy any environmental harm their activities may have caused) and further, where appropriate, a penalty may be attached.

Prepared by Attorney Teni Housty, the Environmental Protection Compliance and Enforcement Regulations allow the appointment of

inspectors, investigators and analysts by the EPA. Inspectors will be required to carry out groundwork (inspections) to detect and verify compliance with the Act by developers among other closely related issues, while investigators will be required to perform specialist functions as may be required under the Act. The analysts will be required to examine (test) samples of materials (such as soil, harmful substances) when presented to them.

Parsram said the agency plans to further sensitise the public on the new regulations in the EPAct as soon as they are finalised.

Texila American University expanding...

“The academic programme is both accelerated and rigorous, with a focus on preparing students for licensure in the United States, the Caribbean and India. The programmes curriculum is designed to reinforce the enduring tenets of the practice of medicine and ensure the ability of understanding and handling the changing demands of health service in the various fields of society.”

The American Texila University is recognised by the National Accreditation Council, the World Health Organisation, the Medical Council of India, the International Association for Dental

Research, Global Alliance for Medical Education, the International Association for Medical Education, the Swiss Association of Pharmaceutical Professionals and the Association of C o m m o n w e a l t h Universities, among several others.

Programmes offered

Some of the programmes offered by the university include the Doctor of Medicine Programme (MD) (four years for students with 90 college level credits), the Pre-med Programme + MD Programmes (in a total of 5.5 years for high school graduates), the Bachelor’s

of Science in Nursing (four years) and the RN-BSN (two years) Advanced Standing Nursing Programmes.

Kumar also pointed out that students studying the MD Programme can do their last two years of clinical rotations in the wide network of hospitals with reputed physicians in the US and The Philippines.

The hospitals in the US include DeKalb Medical, Atlanta and the Louis A Weiss Memorial Hospital and Masonic Medical Centre, Chicago.

Kumar also noted that students from other reputable universities, for example the University of the West Indies (UWI), who wish to

from page 3

do their clinical rotations in the US can register and become accredited to do so at any of the university’s network of hospitals there.

He disclosed too that the university’s tuition fees are designed to attract local students, explaining that the cost for foreign students to study for the medical or nursing degree programmes ranges from US$40,000 to US$45,000, while local students pay half the amount.

This offer, the Operations Manager said, is part of the university’s corporate social responsibility to Guyana, contending that sums paid by foreign students, help to subsidise the tuition cost for local students.

8

NEWS

SunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

UG loan issues to be resolved before new academic year Eyew tness – President Donald Ramotar Leaders...

P resident Donald Ramotar has given the assurance that the Finance Ministry is working assiduously to have issues regarding loans for University of Guyana (UG) students resolved in time for the new academic year 2014-2015.

On Thursday, UG ViceChancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi had said that if the situation of uncertainty persists, he will be forced to close down the campus in the second week of the new semester.

President Ramotar, speaking at a press conference on Friday, said the matter is under active consideration by the Cabinet and will be resolved as soon as possible.

He assured that “we are not going to allow the students unnecessary suffering”, but noted that it was the combined Opposition in Parliament that reduced UG’s 2014 budgetary allocation of $450 million to zero.

The funds that were cut from the budget were restored by the Government, for which the President and his Cabinet came in for serious flak, included $225 million for the university.

Over the years, a vast majority of the student pop-

President Donald Ramotar

ulation at the country’s premier tertiary institution have benefited from student loans and a large percentage of new entries continue to apply for this facility.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had had earlier dismissed threats by Professor Opadeyi to close the university as reckless and premature.

“I believe the ViceChancellor should know the matter is currently engaging the consideration of the Cabinet. Instead of making reckless and irresponsible threats, the Vice-Chancellor would be better advised to ask the Opposition why they cut the budgetary allocation for student loans in the 2014 Budget,” Dr Singh said.

On Thursday, it was dis-

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh

UG Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi

closed that a high level of uncertainty surrounding students’ ability to access loans currently exists, even as the Loans Department remains mum on the situation.

Dr Opadeyi said the unresponsiveness from the Loans Department and by extension the Finance Ministry could trigger a total shut down on both campuses at Turkeyen and Tain, as he alluded to Plan B. “We will close down UG for a year, because if we have no student who can pay fees, then we will have no student to teach and then we will have the liabilities of lecturers who will have to receive salaries every month. So it will just

be useful to just shut down for six months or three months,” he said.

According to him, if a favourable response is not given by the second week of the new Academic Year 2014/2015, the university will be closed, until funding can be made available to students. Questioned whether the “Plan B” was in keeping with the initial “Plan B” agreed upon by the Council, Dr Opadeyi in response said: “I am the CEO.” Although 40 per cent of the student population acquired loans in the last academic year, this per centage is expected to significantly increase with the hike in tuition fees that will take full effect come September.

GDF investigating report of assault by training instructors

A

team of investigators from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was dispatched to the Colonel John Clarke Military School at Tacama last evening, following a report by an Officer Cadet that he was assaulted by his training instructors.

According to a release, the incident allegedly occurred between August 13 and 14 during a training exercise at Tacama.

The Officer Cadet was first brought to the Base Ayanganna Medical Centre, then taken to the

Georgetown Public Hospital where he was seen by a specialist.

He is currently under the care of the Force Medical Officer in Ayanganna where he was also visited by his parents.

“The Chief-of-Staff has

ordered that a Board of Inquiry be convened immediately to unearth all issues relating to this incident. Further, he wished to reiterate that the Force does not condone violence in any form against its ranks,” the release concluded.

...reducing debt We have just been reminded that external debt -- what we own other countries -- just went down again, according to the half-yearly report. It stands now at US$1.2 billion. While some people believe debt’s the grease that makes the world go around, for countries that have leaders with no clue about finance, it can be a case of “all dat is sweet does sometimes hut belly”!

Take the case of Guyana under the PNC and Forbes Burnham. Nowadays as the project to beautify him continues apace, we hear about all the roads and stuff he built. True, true...but do these revisionists ever mention he took on debt to do these things???

Nah! These projects were created with a wave of Burnham’s wand!

Burnham borrowed right, left and centre but never least a basic lesson -- debt literally has a “payback”.

And as they say, payback is a bi*ch -- especially when you don’t have a black cent to your name.

And that’s the story of Burnham and the PNC -whose linear successors are chomping at the bits to get their hands back on the Treasury. The thing about debt is not that you shouldn’t borrow money.

But when you do borrow you have to make damned sure you generate returns to pay back your debt when it becomes due. But Burnham could tek but never give back -- because he never put the money to productive use.

He would fall for the fancy ideas that never got off the ground. We don’t have to talk about the Mazaruni Hydro that gave the whole country “hydro”! Took all the money from sugar and put it into the black hole that was at the end of the road to Mazaruni. Everybody’s washing their mouth on “sugar” nowadays. If Burnham had reinvested the profits of sugar in the industry and not squeezed it out with his Sugar Levy -- the industry wouldn’t be in the state it is now.

Yet today, the man who had to get Guyana out from under the weight of the US$2.1 billion in debt that Burnham’s PNC left us -- Bharrat Jagdeo -- is regularly castigated by the ingrates from that party.

But then it has been said if you want to make an enemy, just help someone. And who but Jagdeo helped to wipe out the debt and shame that the PNC bequeathed to us. Ouch!!!

...marketing Guyana The news that President Ramotar might’ve secured new markets for our rice in Panama shows the difference between “moutar and guitar”. Leaders in the Opposition are whipping up rice farmers into a frenzy to see millers as “enemies” rather than as “partners “to develop the industry that depends on their cooperation. Shouldn’t they at least work as diligently as the President to do something constructive for the industry? Rather than, say, just having their organisers shock the sensibilities of the nation by stripping to the buff in public??

Just as they’ve done with the debt, these wankers pretend to forget it was Jagdeo who opened up the Venezuelan rice market that’s keeping it afloat right now. Real leaders have their people’s interests on their minds 24/7 -- so whenever an opportunity to further those interests present itself, they’re ready to pounce. The Opposition wankers claim to be very tight with the US. If their claims are to be believed, they meet on a daily basis. More, if one counts the IRI meetings.

But have they ever pushed Guyana’s interests -- in rice even -- at these meetings rather than their own, narrow and selfish agenda to get power.

Not in this life! ...defending Guyana’s right to develop On the whole issue of using our forestry resources, the Opposition and their handmaidens in the media seem to feel that NO LOGGING should take place. As President Ramotar pointed out -- once the logging is within the agreed limits, what’s the problem??

9

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

10

sunday, august 17, 2014

guyanatimesgy.com

News

Bai Shan Lin operating within the law −GFC – dismisses TIGI’s claims on permission to log, export as baseless

T

he Guyana Forest Commission (GFC) has reiterated that the operations of all forest concessions are in compliance with the Forestry Act, as it defended the operations of Chinese company Bai Shan Lin. The GFC in a release said the company has been granted a concession and has been operating with partner entities in keeping with Sections 9, 15 and 16 of the Forest Act 2009.

According to the Forestry Commission, the company and its partner companies are engaged in the export of forest produce and are in receipt of valid export licences, which would have been granted following the set procedures of the forest sector.

On this note, the GFC said it is regrettable that Transparency International Guyana Inc (TIGI) proceeded to draw invalid conclusions when it cannot state a single instance of having made a request to the GFC for validation of its assertions that the company does not have permission to log and export, and is breaching the forest

The one without sin

S

Act and the EPA Act. “The GFC wishes to advise that the operations of all forest concessions are in compliance with the Forest Act. The contractual obligations of each forest concession prescribe the level to which extraction and sustainable utilisation of forest resources are to be done,” the GFC said.

It noted that information on the harvest levels, the size and scale of Bai Shan Lin and its joint venture partners, and the compliance of the company with the export licensing system and nation-

al log export policy, have been made public.

“We also wish to reiterate that the harvest levels of Bai Shan Lin as well as its joint venture partners are well below the maximum sustainable levels. In addition to the company’s compliance with this safeguard, along with compliance with the other set provisions of the Forest Act and guidelines, the GFC has no legal basis to halt the company’s operations.

“In actual fact, to engage in the halting of a company’s operation within proper

legal basis, as in this case, would only expose the GFC to adverse litigation. A photograph or several photographs showing a log-storage location of a concession does not provide legal basis for halting a company’s operations.

“Further, the GFC is perturbed that assessments on technical matters such as sustainable harvest levels, allowance of growth and yield models, and assessment of forest cover and canopy impacts, are being done by looking at photographs.

“The GFC’s management of the forest sector fulfils the obligations required of the Forest Act and the Constitution, include the stipulations of Article 149J (2). Logging activities in Guyana are guided by strong forestry guidelines, such as the Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting. From previous and current studies of the forest sector, including annual assessment of forest area change, there has always been very low impact of logging activities on the forest,” the GFC said. continued on page 12

atiricus was livid. He’d just read this letter in the Stabber. Here was this fella Ah-Gun-Seh maligning the fair name of the Founder-Leader again. Claiming that the great Kabaka was not “sin-less”!!!

“Oooooh!!” Satiricus shrieked, “When will this persecution cease?” Had the magnificent Odo not fulfilled every demand of the prophecy?? He was not as other sinful humans. What else did these people want??Was he not born under a star in a barrack in the village of Titty??

How could people like Ah-Gun-Seh tell people it was not really a star but the light from the Lighthouse over in Kington??

“This was blasphemy!” fumed Satiricus. And later in life had not the Anointed One rode into the town of Hope on a donkey?? But here again those who were jealous would lie and say he actually rode on a horse! And rather than blessing the arrogant workers who were learning some humility, the Comrade Leader actually was cursing them!!!

“A curse would never cross those blessed lips of He Who Was The Greatest Intellect Of The Age,” murmured Satiricus. But Satiricus knew why this Ah-Gun-Seh refused to accept the Immaculate Conception of the Great Leader, who now rested in 15 Ponds. Ah-Gun-Seh wanted to exalt his own leader Rod-Knee. And that was why he claimed that The Greatest Orator Of The Age was jealous of puny, little Rod-Knee.

“What nonsense!” shouted Satiricus – at which his wife looked at him funny-like. How could the “Greatest Intellect Of The Age” be jealous on a man, when he had praised the same man as a great high-jumper??”

And as a lawyer, did not the “Bolshevik And Not A Menshevik” advise Rod-Knee to “make his will”? Was this not eminently sound advice?? And more to the point, the Statesman Of The Age hadn’t even charged a fee for that legal advice. Which other lawyer would do that??

Oooooh! What a saint! By now Satiricus was snivelling something piteous.

It was clear that Ah-Gun-Seh was the one who was jealous. When the Greatest Legal Luminary had passed away, his body had been taken to all parts of the world for people to have his blessing and then a monument had been created in 15 Ponds. The body had ascended into the Great Beyond.

Rod-Knee, on the other hand, had been dumped in Le Repentier. And his followers had the nerve to say The Most Powerful Man On Earth was not sinless??! Satiricus knew that when he returned to Earth, The Immortal One would exact vengeance.

Or then again, it might be his Representative – who was just rigged into Office – who might take care of that.

Ah-Gun-Seh better not accept any Walkie-Talkies!!

guyanatimesgy.com

sunDAY, august 17, 2014

News

Shaik Baksh is new Woman killed, dumped GuySuCo Chairman at De Kinderen

F

ormer Education Minister Shaik Baksh has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Sugar Company (GuySuCo).

The announcement was made by Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who explained at a press conference on Saturday that Baksh, along with some other members, have officially accepted their letters of appointment from the President.

Baksh, prior to his appointment, had served as Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).

He had also served as Housing and Water Minister from 1998 to 2006 before being appointed Education Minister af-

New GuySuCo Chairman Shaik Baksh

ter the 2006 General and Regional Elections.

Support for nationbuilding indispensible —Rohee

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

P

eople’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary Clement Rohee emphasised the need for all hands to be on deck in the nation-building process, as he addressed Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks at the Army’s Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna on Thursday.

According to a release, Rohee was invited in his capacity as General Secretary of the PPP/C to address ranks attending the GDF’s Senior Command and Staff Course.

The General Secretary on behalf of the PPP/C congratulated the participants on their future endeavours and success in the course.

According to a release, Rohee addressed many issues during his almost three-hour long interaction with the soldiers.

The main topic was the ruling PPP/C’s vision for Guyana and its current policies being implemented for the modernisation of Guyana and advancing the livelihoods of all Guyanese.

The General Secretary

11

traced Guyana’s economic recovery since 1992, following the restoration of democracy and the basic civil and political rights of its citizens.

In addition to explaining the development trajectory towards which the PPP/C has successfully steered Guyana and the prudent management it has stuck with which resulted in sustained economic growth over the years, Rohee made reference to the 1974-1976 period during which the PPP extended critical support to the then PNC Government.

This policy was adopted in light of the progressive positions adopted by the PNC at that time which the PPP/C viewed as in the best interest of Guyana and all Guyanese. This, he said, showed maturity and commitment to put the nation and the welfare of its people first despite political differences between the two parties.

Partisan politics

In this regard, the PPP/C General Secretary expressed disappointment at the failure of the current Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), to indulge in petty and partisan politics instead of supporting transformative projects such as the Amaila Hydro Project, the Specialty Hospital, the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the Marriott Hotel, which will propel further the country’s rapid development and drastically improve the lives of all Guyanese. continued on page 13

Baksh is credited with revolutionising housing development in Guyana, and during his tenure as Education Minister, there was marked improvement in students’ performance, teacher reform and greater hands-on management at the central Ministry.

Before serving as a Government Minister, Baksh was a lecturer at the University of Guyana and a private sector executive.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from the University of Guyana and Master’s of Management Science from the University of London.

Dr Ramsammy also revealed that Dunston Barrow and Bajie Persaud were appointed new members to the Board, while Keith Burrowes was returned as a member.

R

esidents in the small village of De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara, were in shock on Friday evening after a body was dumped in the area.

The body has been identified as that of Pradika Persaud called “Simone” of Orangestein, East Bank Essequibo. According to the Police, the body was found on the roadway about 23:30h on Friday night.

The woman was clad in a short pants and a top. She had bruises about her body and her neck bore small cut marks.

Guyana Times understands that a car was seen in the small village sometime around 23:00h. Residents in the area claim that the car drove around before it stopped and dumped the body on the corner of the roadway.

Speaking to this newspaper, one resident claimed that he observed the car driving around and became suspicious.

“Actually, this is a small area and there are not a lot of people here, so when I heard the car drive in that late, I look out and see it drive around the turn. But it didn’t stop anywhere, it come around back and then stop up the road just before the access road and all I see is the door open and like somebody fall out, then the car drive away,” the resident recalled.

The man, who requested anonymity, explained that the area was dark at the time so he could not have seen the colour or model of the vehicle. He added that after a while and he did not see the body move, he immediately alerted the Police.

Persaud was positive-

ly identified on Saturday evening by relatives.

Investigators are working on several theories based upon evidence gathered thus far.

Investigators are working on the theory that the woman might have been strangled and dumped in the area. This newspaper was told that mud was found in and around the woman’s mouth, which is inconsistent with the area where she was found.

A source close to the investigation disclosed the woman is reported to have been a drug addict and investigators are using this information also to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.

The body of the 26-yearold woman was taken to the Ezekiel Funeral Parlour,where it is awaiting a post-mortem.

12 NEWS

SunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

Soyini Fraser crowned Miss Jamzone 2014

The delegates in their evening wear

I

Soyini Fraser being crowned Miss Jamzone 2014

n a night of fulfilled promises, spectacular dances, laughter, music and an exquisite fashion display, Guyana’s Soyini Fraser was crowned Miss Jamzone International 2014 at the National Cultural Centre on Friday evening.

Elegance, intelligence, grace and poise were all

features that Fraser epitomised as she took to the stage last evening and won the coveted title and US$10,000, which has been elusive to Guyana since the pageant expanded to include Caribbean countries quite a number of years ago.

Miss Barbados, Dannyelle Leslie and Miss

Bahamas Lexi Wilson were named first and second runner-ups respectively.

Meanwhile, Miss Trinidad and Tobago Yaya Henry and Miss Jamaica placed fourth and fifth respectively.

Miss USA Kadian Collins and Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines Aphesha Matthews were eliminated

before the final stage of the contest.

In addition to the top prize, Fraser also copped the prizes for Best National Costume and Best Fantasy Swimwear. Trinidad and Tobago’s Miss Henry took home the prizes for Best Smile and Best General Swimwear.

In addition, the People’s Choice Award and Best Gown went to Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The contest got off to an excellent start with each contestant being tasked to showcase their respective countries. It was in this segment that the winner, Miss Guyana, said to the other contestants that the crown was staying home this year.

With a few jokes and an entertaining performance, she took the crowd through the sights and scenes of Guyana, all in five minutes.

Her interactive display in this segment was certainly critical in her copping the

title.

It must be noted too that some of the other contestants did very well in this segment and those include Miss St Vincent and the Grenadines, who delivered a funny and informative performance.

Miss Barbados and Bahamas also delivered very well. However, it is unclear whether her demeanour was a part of her presentation, but Miss Jamaica appeared to be a bit high during the delivery of a giggly school-girl like performance.

Miss St Lucia failed miserably in this segment as she could not arouse the interest of the audience during her performance. Miss Trinidad Yaya Henry came off as a bit nervous as she raced through her speech, leaving the audience baffled as to what she was saying.

Next on the agenda was the Fantasy Swimwear Segment, in which Miss

Bahamas suffered a major wardrobe malfunction.

Interestingly enough, Miss St Vincent appeared in a stunning pink swimwear which was a sure crowd favourite.

In the Evening Gown Segment, Miss Jamaica came out in a red dress that was a sight to behold, taking the stage with much grace and poise. Miss St Vincent however had a misstep and nearly fell. She too had a wardrobe malfunction as her dress straps slipped off from one side of her shoulder.

When it was time for the Question and Answer Segment, it was a tight competition as almost all the island beauties answered the question presented to them without much difficulty.

However, Miss Trinidad was once again nervous and fumbled, as she spoke too quickly for the audience to comprehend what she was saying.

Bai Shan Lin operating...

from page 10

Along with other forest companies, Bai Shan Lin’s operations in the forest sector in no way adversely impact the maintenance of the forest cover in Guyana, the Forestry Commission said, pointing out that TIGI’s claim of the forest not being managed in a sustainable manner and in contravention to the Constitution is baseless.

“It is noted that TIGI is calling for the GFC to ascertain if there are breaches of the forestry requirements

by Bai Shan Lin. The GFC wishes to note that monitoring of forestry activities is a routine function and mandate of the GFC and one in which significant resources is dedicated. In this regard, the GFC wishes to point out that it has in place a wide network of monitoring outposts that allows for effective real time monitoring of forest operations. The GFC also has a complement of high calibre field staff that has the relevant resources to effectively monitor forest operations countrywide. Specifically, in the Region 10 area, the GFC has nine monitoring stations, some of which are 24-

hour stations,” the Forestry Commission said.

It explained that collectively, these stations are manned by 50 forest officers and accompanying support staff. More specifically,with regard to Bai Shan Lin’s operations at Bissaruni, there are 10 resident forest officers who are supported by the legality monitoring team that comprises approximately 12 forest officers.

In addition, periodic checks are done by the Internal Audit Unit of the GFC. Altogether, these help to ensure that there is strong forest legality and forest governance at the concession level, including at Bai Shan Lin, the GFC said.

“The GFC would like to emphasise that forest management in Guyana is conducted in keeping with strict adherence to the principle of sustainable development, and careful attention is placed on ensuring that ecosystems and the environment to support such ecosystems are maintained for future generations.

“In this regard, the forest sector of Guyana has brought and continues to

support the social and economic livelihoods of local Guyanese, including at the community level. As the forest sector further develops, the GFC commits to working with all stakeholders in ensuring that the forest resources of Guyana bring maximum benefit to our country,” the GFC said.

The forest sector provides employment for approximately 20,000 local Guyanese.

“Bai Shan Lin’s Forest operations foreign work force is a minimal percentage to local employment; again, the assertion that foreign workers are given preference over local workers in false. Some sections of the local media have, over the past few weeks, undertaken a baseless attack on the forest sector and its operators, in a manner that has been insular and misleading.

“The Government of Guyana through the Guyana Forestry Commission in the interest of continuing transparency and full disclosure extends an invitation and other interested stakeholders to a full briefing session on their concerns,” the GFC said.

NEWS

13

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

Father of one killed in New Large-scale corn, soya cultivation to commence year-end Amsterdam accident

A

A

27-year-old man is now dead following an accident on the Number 19 Highway, New Amsterdam, Berbice, on Friday.

Karamchan Shivdyal called “Shiv” of Chesney Village died at the New Amsterdam Hospital while being prepared for transfer in an ambulance to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

According to reports, Shivdyal was with a group of friends making their way home from New Amsterdam after attending a wedding when the accident occurred.

Reports indicate that the driver Eugene Cort was proceeding along the Number 19 Highway when he swerved from a cow and lost control, ending up in a roadside trench.

There were five persons in the car at the time and they all received minor injuries; however, only Shivdyal was taken to the hospital.

According to a source, the accident was never reported and there was an apparent cover-up of the entire accident. The car was taken out of the trench and concealed in a house.

It was until after Police learnt of the death, and acting on information received that they were able to recover the car and nabbed the driver, who is currently in custody assisting with the investigation.

When this newspaper visited the family, they were in a state of shock and disbelief. The dead man’s mother related that she received a call about 04:30h informing her that her son was involved in an accident.

“I quickly rushed down to

Karamchand Shivdyal and his family in happier times

the hospital and the doctors were setting him up to go to Georgetown when he died in the ambulance… when I was in the room, they were saying that his heart rate was dropping quickly and that mud was in his lungs.”

Shivdyal was a Junior Sugar Broiler at the Albion Estate and was also a cricketer who played for the Albion Sports Club. He represented the club at various levels.

He also represented Berbice at the Under-19 level.

According to his wife Devica Somai, her husband left for work at 14:00h and before doing so, kissed his four-year-old son goodbye.

The distraught wife, in tears, described Shivdyal as a simple and willing person who got along well with everyone. Somai said she still cannot believe that her husband has died.

Support for nationbuilding... from page 11

With regard to Opposition Leader David Granger’s call for a future “One-Guyana” administration, Rohee recalled that the PPP/C was the first political party to call for a National Patriotic Front and National Front Government.

He noted that former President Forbes Burnham had an ideology which he followed and he made it clear where he stood; however, the current leader of the PNC unlike Burnham is always ambiguous in his positions --if he takes any at all-- on international issues.

And as far as ideology is concerned, it appears that he is not influenced by any.

Rohee emphasised the need for the political Opposition to act responsibly and that they should not derail the nation’s development gains achieved thus far. He reiterated that the PPP/C and the PPP/C Government will continue to put the nation and its people first and would not be distracted from its efforts to continue working for the

betterment of Guyana and Guyanese.

Rohee also took the opportunity to refer to the sustained successes in the education sector, resulting in many Guyanese students excelling.

While addressing this particular issue, Rohee debunked the notion of “education apartheid,” showing how all Guyanese children are entitled to attend school irrespective of race, class or religion and that such a disparaging and false notion serves only to discourage the efforts of the country’s hard-working teachers and students.

The PPP General Secretary commended the joint efforts of the Army and the Police in crime-fighting, their collaboration on issues of national security and protection of the nation’s borders.

Several questions were answered at the end of his presentation. Rohee extended best wishes to the ranks for their future endeavours as members of the Army.

“I am hoping that this is just a dream.”

The Police are investigating the incident and a post-mortem is expected to be performed shortly.

griculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsamm has said the target set in the National Agriculture Strategy 2013-2020 to reduce the importation of corn and soya by 15-25 per cent is not only achievable, but it can also be exceeded.

He said the feasibility work conducted by the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), has shown that Guyana can reduce the cost of corn and soya by a minimum of 30 per cent through replacing importation.

Moreover, the test plots in Guyana demonstrate that the yield per acre is equivalent and in some instances, even better than that recorded in the United States and Brazil.

“I would say that at this stage, we have successfully demonstrated that we will be able to do large-scale production… I want to congratulate NAREI on the work done to demonstrate the

feasibility on commercialscale corn and soya production in Guyana,” Minister Ramsammy said.

Cultivation of corn and soya in Guyana is not novel, but these crops were cultivated to meet only kitchen demands. As such, the Ministry has embarked on a programme that will see the cultivation of corn and soya on a scale that would meet the needs of the stockfeed industry.

“We have to lower the cost of production, and one way to do so is to ensure that those inputs that we need for the stockfeed industry, mainly corn and soya, are obtained at a low price which will allow for competitive pricing,” Minister Ramsammy said.

Late last year and earlier this year, cultivation of corn and soya was also done on test plots at Mon Repos.

These crops will be harvested shortly.

The Ministry has also extended an invitation to

farmers with sizeable plots of land to grow corn and soya and in this regard, it has committed to providing the required technical support.

At present, there is a consortium of Guyanese and Brazilian investors who have indicated their interest in large-scale production of corn and soya for the stockfeed industry and for the production of bio-fuel.

These investors are looking at the intermediate savannahs as a possible location for cultivation.

The Ministry has allowed them to utilise test plots at NAREI’s Ebini facility to conduct their own feasibility studies. That study is proceeding well and has even exceeded the expectations of the experts that are working on the field at Ebini.

The Minister said that, “we expect that the largest scale production of hundreds of acres will begin by the end of this year”.

14

sunday, august 17, 2014

guyanatimesgy.com

News

Narco-sub may be linked Younge’s Take to Colombian drug dealers

S

The semi-submersible craft that was found in a creek off the Waini River in the North-West

T

he semi-submersible craft that was found in a creek off the Waini River, North-West District on Thursday is believed to have links with Colombian drug cartel.

The Colombian drug dealers are known to use this innovative technology to ship narcotics across the Caribbean and the US. When contacted on Saturday, Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Director James Singh, who headed the search operations that led to the discovery of the vessel, could not confirm whether there is in-

deed a connection.

He told Guyana Times that investigations are currently ongoing and no more information can be disclosed to the public at this time.

Recently, drug cartels have been developing newer and more sophisticated ways of transporting their shipments without attracting much attention or being caught. And this is driving fear into US officials since the trafficking networks are moving away from socalled fast boats, the highpowered fishing and leisure boats that can carry about a tonne of cocaine

and are easier to spot, to semi-submersible and fully submersible vessels that can surreptitiously carry many more tonnes of drugs, which are unloaded in shallow waters or transported to shore by small boats.

Narco-submarines are also called narco-sub, drug sub or Bigfoot. Submarines are used mostly by the Colombian drug cartel to transport cocaine from that country to Mexico and ultimately the US. These vessels were first detected over a decade ago; however, those craft were semi-submersibles as they

could not dive since they only had a small area for the cockpit with the exhaust gas pipes above the water.

But with the advancement of technology and officials clamping down on narco-trafficking, more modern and fully submersible craft are being built.

Back in 2011, the US Coast Guard recovered a so-called “narco submarine” that was reportedly used

by Colombian drug cartel members to ship cocaine to the US. The month before, the crew of the Coast Cutter Seneca (Coast Guard) intercepted a cocaine-carrying, self-propelled semisubmersible (SPSS) in the western Caribbean, just off the coast of Honduras, a short distance from the Nicaraguan border.

Some 7.5 tonnes of cocaine valued a whopping US$180 million was discovered. Several more narco-submarines have been interdicted over the years.

According to CANU, the craft found in Region One was blue and was already fitted with a diesel engine and steering wheel, navigation and other machinery to deem it serviceable.

However, no contraband was on board the SPSS. CANU, along with Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Special Forces, Coast Guard and Air Corps, acting on intelligence from an ongoing investigation conducted an operation along the Waini River.

During a search of one of the creeks branching off from the Waini, the vessel was discovered about two miles in, along with a camp consisting of three structures – accommodation, workshop area and generator. The accommodation had the capacity to sleep approximately 12 persons.

In addition, there was also a kitchen area located within the accommodation.

The workshop consisted of pulleys, power tools, paint, and several fibre- glass materials. Based on the items present, it is believed that the SPSS found in the creek was built in the area.

Snap elections

nap elections are the answer to all of the problems facing this democratic state at this time as far as governance is concerned.

Anyone who denies this is living in a dismal world where there are fairies and other magical creatures existing, who somehow have the unexercised power to correct the political deadlocks that are undermining progress here.

The staging of snap elections brings with it many opportunities for Guyana to lift itself out of the endemic conundrum and period of political regression that are threatening its bill of health.

These elections also have the possibility of renewing and redefining the mandate that was handed to political leaders back in 2011, when the decision of voters caused the emergence of an Executive government which had a one-seat minority in the National Assembly.

There is a likelihood that any elections now, caused by a vote of no-confidence or initiated by Government, will see a high voter turn out, as there is a determination on the part of the population to remove the tension and uncertainty that loom over their future.

What is noteworthy, however, is that these possible elections will be held when there is no functional Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) in place to monitor the situation on the ground. As all are aware, there is usually a lot of tension among the different ethnic groups and interests around this time.

This is most worrying, given the trend of attacks being mounted on various segments of the population via media outfits and other political platforms.

Also, premature elections will put to the test the effectiveness of policies and positions that have been advanced, articulated and executed by both the government and its opponents.

The dynamics for early elections are many and cannot easily be predicted. But the stakes are high and all of the major political actors understand the importance of oiling their campaign machinery to mount a strong challenge.

Interestingly, the pollsters have not started to give a forecast as to which party has an edge or is in a better position to win these premature elections.

From revelations in the media alone, it would appear that the David Granger-led coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is in its worst shape ever after the damming allegations that marred the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) elections.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has faced multiple challenges with the resignation of several of its executive members, the scandals involving some of its sitting parliamentarians and the ongoing power struggle within its ranks to determine the course of the party.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) seems poised to pose the most formidable challenge to retain state power despite the barrage of attacks against the current administration.

But low voter turn out, the threat of a pre-electoral alliance between the APNU and AFC, the apparent opportunistic and ambitious posture of its former PPP/C stalwart Ralph Ramkarran, and the posture of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) if not addressed adequately could see a poor showing at the polls for the PPP/C. There is also no consensus candidate or leader that appears to have the ability to amass massive support for any of the political parties ahead of the elections.

Donald Ramotar, David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan who are all likely to be fielded again as presidential candidates, do not appear to enjoy high popularity and approval ratings from the populace.

The period leading up to the elections is most critical and therefore time will tell. The way forward is clear. Snap polls are needed.

NEWS

Simply the Truth Platform: Communicating with our people

O

ur current crop of political leaders are very poor in communication skills.

Largely, the people depend on the media (TV and print, especially) for news about the business of the nation. But very little of this is communicated well or with an eye to objective conveyance of news.

There is an extreme antigovernment spin on the one hand, and an extreme progovernment spin on the other. When we hear from Professor Daizal Samad the politicians directly, we cannot make head nor tail of what they are saying.

There is a need then for an efficient, state-sponsored mechanism for communication in order that the people be more informed. An informed nation is a nation that can make educated choices.

Thus far, the politicians have not made good use of what is available. And they are too busy or reactive in the so-called bottom-house meetings. Public meetings do not make for dialogue. They talk, we listen. They don’t hear our opinions or our ideas. This must change.

First, we need an efficient Minister of Information and Communication. The primary function will be to keep the nation informed of the business of the nation. It is also important to let people know how this or that decision or event affects the people directly and indirectly. The communication must be immediate, simple, honest and effective. No mumbled big words, please!

Within the context of Guyana, there is a great deal of talk about computers and computer technology. Even though we are merely consumers of the work of others, all of this talk is good. We hear about a laptop for each home, “smart schools”, “distance education”, e-learning, digitizing this or that, and so on.

And there have been many workshops that teach people to find their way around computer usage. The Government of Guyana is trying to play its part, and the diaspora has come forth as have international agencies. However, we have no ways to implement these ideas efficiently and to measure their effectiveness.

Many of our young people are quite good at operating these technological tools. One is often dazzled by the speed with which they do these things, and parents boast about how good their kids are with “computers”. We could use this as a nation to speak with and listen to our youths.

We need to coordinate these several youth groups for the good of all. As elders, our job is to facilitate the advancement of our youths so that they may serve those younger and older than themselves.

Our youths are capable, but they need to be shown how they may use their talents for good. And we pay them a bit for their service! This is one way to provide a constructive avenue for boundless youthful energy, educate the populace effectively, and provide employment.

Our young people often look for ways to serve. We fail to show them, so they fly into walls, into self-destruction. The fault is not with them at all. We the elders must take the blame!

The idea is to empower our youth groups who will empower our youths who will empower those younger and older than themselves. Youth groups are a gold mine waiting to be discovered for the good of national advancement.

There is a group in Region Five called Youthful Minds Community Development that has done admirable work, but has now been suffocated from lack of financial and moral support. There are some young policemen and women who are serving our young through starting and sustaining Scout movements.

We can have several types of programmes: literacy and numeracy, information technology education, small business start-up, and so on.

If each of our sportsmen and women can be asked to mentor two kids, think of how far we may go. Mentors are always concerned to project the right image, so the mentored gain as do the mentors. All of this is about preparing our young for leadership through service, hard work, humility, and integrity. It is about self-determination.

There are businessmen and women that I know who will come on board with such projects, so we now involve another sector in nation- building. So what do we have here? We have true political leadership which cultivates the youth through example and opportunity to participate in the creation of their nation.

We also have the youth groups involved, and our business people involved. Can this be bad? But it is about will and about clean and selfless implementation. This is the nation that we envision. We can dream and then make the dream real. It can be done! If any of our citizens have other ideas, contact us at daizal@gmail.com.

15

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

16 NEWS

SunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

Poor management cause of Linden Town Council cash flow problem – Minister Whittaker

L

A section of the gathering at the Linden Town Hall on Friday

ocal Government and Regional Development Minister Norman Whittaker contends that the Linden Town Council’s cash flow problem is rooted in the Council’s poor management of its financial resources.

Addressing a meeting of the staff and Council of the Linden Town Council at the Linden Town Hall on Friday, Minister Whittaker reminded the gathering of his recommendations and the general consensus reached with the Council during their meeting of November 25, 2013, to address the Council’s financial difficulties which it still faces, almost nine months later.

“The Linden Town Council’s cash flow problem is rooted in the Council’s poor management of its financial resources,” the Minister asserted.

Most of the recommendations proffered then and repeated during a recent meeting with senior

Council officials during another meeting of July 11, in the Minister’s Office, remain unimplemented.

These include a freeze on new employment during 2014. To the contrary, the Council had employed 12 additional staff during 2014 to date; Council must not pay any salary increases for 2014 since its employees had received substantial increases ranging from 35 per cent to 42 per cent for 2013; the Council had proceeded to budget for and to pay salary increases for 2014.

And this, despite the fact that the Minister had refused to approve Council’s 2014 Budget deficit of $36 million and had ordered the Council to “live within its means”; the Minister’s advice that the Council do a human resource audit “with a view to optimising its use of human resource even if that meant relocating some staff and severancing others, was ignored; and there was no evidence of any con-

certed effort to set up the Debt Recovery Unit and to task it with recovering the more than $ 55 million owed to the Council in Rates and Taxes and Market rentals.

To the contrary, its liabilities remained in excess of $ 120 million including statutory debts of $55 million.

The Linden Town Council was also advised to extend its revenue base.

Kara Kara Toll

The Minister’s announcement that the Auditor General’s Office would shortly commence the audit of the Council’s Financial Records was met with applause by an obviously relieved gathering, who were dissatisfied with the performance of the Council and its resulting impact on the latter’s ability to meet its monthly employment costs.

While several of those present implored that the Kara Kara Toll be restored, Minister Whittaker exhorted that his advice to the

Council to extend its revenue base must be viewed as an advice to do those things that are right in the sight of the law. The Kara Kara Toll, he reminded the audience, was illegal and not a consideration at this point in time.

The Council was also reminded of the Minister’s suggestion that the Council engages the Guyana Revenue Authority and the General Manager of the National Insurance Scheme in the matter of the Council’s indebtedness to these bodies

and with a view to working out a debt repayment schedule with them.

The Minister informed the gathering that he had given the required written approval for the Council to utililise funds from accounts other than the General Accounts, so that employees could be paid their July salaries.

He emphasised however, that only prudent measures aimed at enhancing Council’s legitimate revenue sources; expenditure control measures that ensure, inter alia, only necessary expenditures are incurred and this must include a re-examination of staff inventory with the prime objective of retaining the productive and disengaging the underproductive; and efficient use of resources in order to provide core services will be productive.

Minister Whittaker in his concluding remarks, stressed that while he “em-

pathised with the situation of the workers, he found it difficult to understand the Council’s lack of effort to address the obvious inadequacies and inefficiencies and the ineptitude and inertia of some staff that has led to Council’s present situation”.

He spoke of his Ministry and Government’s continual support to the Council by way of the 2014 Annual Subvention Grant of $ 11.848 million; the Regional Democratic Council Region 10 doing approximately $ 6 million of road maintenance works; $ 10.8 million provided under the IBSA Project for the rehabilitation of the McKenzie Market; and the benefits that the residents of the Linden Municipality would derive from the “Cleanup my Guyana Project”.

The Minister urged the workers to insist and to ensure that the Council works in the best interest of all workers and residents.

Economic growth amid challenges satisfactory – President Ramotar

P

resident Donald Ramotar says the level of economic growth of 3.2 per cent recorded for the first half of 2014 is satisfactory when one takes into consideration the international environment, as well as the local political situation.

“We already hear that Europe seems to be going through some difficulties, and North America, their recovery is far slower as expected, so with that one factor I would say our progress has been satisfactory; the second factor is internally, with the lack of cooperation that we have been having, the kind of atmosphere that the opposition has been creating.”

The President noted that the Opposition’s attitude seems to be totally ‘anti developmental’ and a large section of the media seems to have joined in that campaign.

It is from that point of view, the Head of State said, the country’s performance has been very good.

President Ramotar added that the growth also demonstrates prudent management and good governance of the economy as the country has been able to achieve this growth, amid the negative atmosphere.

While speaking of the growth, the President also acknowledged that there are some sectors including the gold industry, which is still struggling because of the falling price for the met-

President Donald Ramotar

al on the international market.

He spoke of the continuous growth in the sugar and rice industries, which both continue to contribute significantly to the overall growth of the economy.

The rice industry continues to achieve an unprecedented production boom, with production in the first crop of 312,283 tonnes, 18.3 percent over last year’s record high first crop of 263,868 tonnes.

Sugar production in the first crop of 79,995 tonnes was 66.5 per cent above the 2013 level, while the forestry sector recorded robust growth of 38.1 per cent, supported by the introduction of new incentives to harvesters.

With regard to the sug-

ar industry, the Head of State pointed out that this growth shows that while the industry has been facing some difficulties, it has shown that it has the potential to overcome those challenges once all stakeholders work together.

The President also spoke of Guyana’s overall balance of payments deficit which has improved to US$93 million, compared to US$145.6 million at the half year of 2013.

“It tells me from the figures, that our economy is more resilient and broader based, it no longer depends on the three pods that when one gets into crisis, the entire economy gets into crisis, it’s more resilient and has grown much stronger.”

(GINA)

17

sunDAY, august 17, 2014 | guyanatimesGY.com

18

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

Limacol CPL final 2014…

Controversy reigns as Tridents crowned champions

Dwayne Smith survives an LBW appeal that television replays showed should have been given out

C

ontroversy reigned on Saturday evening in St Kitts as the Barbados Tridents were crowned champions of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after a rainaffected final against the Guyana Amazon Warriors was decided by the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Their innings twice interrupted by the elements, the Barbados Tridents posted 152-6, a total built on half-centuries from Dwayne Smith and Shoaib Malik, before the Amazon Warriors replied with 1074 from 15.5 overs when a shower sent the players and umpires scampering off the field.

According to the Duckworth/Lewis system, the Amazon Warriors needed to be at 116-4 at that stage, hence victory for the Tridents by eight runs.

When the covers were taken off, hopes off an exciting finish loomed with the Amazon Warriors needing 46 off 25 balls, with Christopher Barnwell and skipper Denesh Ramdin being the not out batsmen.

However, that was not to be as about 15 minutes after the covers were removed, it was announced that the Tridents had won the tournament. No definitive reason was given for the shock decision.

The Amazon Warriors

players then boycotted the presentation ceremony and the franchise later announced that it will be appealing the decision to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The game was also marred by several ques-

from Krishmar Santokie.

Television replays showed that the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps.

All-rounder Navin Stewart was also on the receiving end of a few dubious wide calls, while James Neesham was ruled caught behind off Jason Holder, although video footage could not produce conclusive evidence that the ball had touched the gloves.

That decision prompted an angry reaction from Ramdin, who was at the non-striker’s end.

The Amazon Warriors skipper slammed his bat down and took off his gloves in a show of disapproval for Brathwaite’s ruling.

At the start of the run-chase, the Amazon Warriors, also losing finalists in 2013, lost the prolific Martin Guptill, bowled

by Kyle Mayers for seven in the third over, before the competition’s leading runscorer Lendl Simmons fell for 20 at 49-2 in the ninth over.

At the Busta drink break, the Amazon Warriors were 55-2 from 10, way behind the 74-2 the Tridents were at that stage.

Santokie celebrates a wicket

Braithwaite, adjudged to have been caught behind.

Ramdin and Barnwell then took the score to 107 when the rain came to effectively bring the tournament to an anti-climax.

Sent in to bat after Ramdin called correctly at the toss, the Tridents fell into a hole right away, slipping to 8-2 after Krishmar Santokie first removed William Perkins caught at backward point, before

his pads, only for umpire Braithwaite to surprisingly rule it not out.

Thereafter, Malik and Dwayne Smith, who shared a century partnership in a losing cause when the two teams met in the preliminary stage, battled through two rain interruptions to add 88 in 10 overs to repair the early damage created

by Santokie.

At 17-2 after four, the Amazon Warriors were dictating the pace, but the next two overs produced 31 runs to swing the momentum Tridents’ way as they raced to 48 at the end of the

six overs of powerplay.

Fast bowler Ronsford Beaton went for 17 in the fifth, including a six and two fours by Smith, before Malik struck left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul for a six and two fours in the next over.

Sunil Narine produced some magic in his first over only for it to be spoiled by a six by Smith off the last ball, before he came back in the 13th over to break the partnership with a massive double strike.

Smith was caught on the long-on boundary for 59 and next ball Kieron Pollard’s leading edge was taken low down by Narine to make it 94-4 with seven to go.

Unflustered by the double blow and the dismissal of Raymond Reifer, bowled

by Santokie, Malik continued to bat positively, bringing up his 50 with a four that was preceded by a six in the 19th over bowled by Santokie.

Beaton was hammered for 16 in the final over, including a six off a waisthigh full toss at the start, a wide and a four off the penultimate ball, before Jeevan Mendis was run out for 15, leaving Malik on 55.

As it turned out, Malik’s stroke of luck earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

SCOREBOARD

The Guyana Amazon Warriors received good support from their fans who would have been disappointed with the anti-climax. Photo: CPLT20

tionable umpiring decisions by Barbadian Gregory Braithwaite, as Malik was given the benefit of the doubt in a leg before decision to the first ball he faced

After the interval, Mohammad Hafeez was brilliantly caught by Reyad Emrit off Holder for 28 at 74-3 in 12.2 overs. Three balls later, Neesham was sent packing by

shattering the Zing stumps of Jason Holder first ball.

Both batsmen failed to score and Shoaib Malik could have suffered a similar fate, as Santokie’s next delivery crashed into

Barbados Tridents innings (20 overs maximum) DR Smith c Guptill b Narine 59 WKD Perkins† c Mohammad Hafeez b Santokie 0 JO Holder b Santokie 0 Shoaib Malik not out 55 KA Pollard* c & b Narine 0 RA Reifer b Santokie 5 BMAJ Mendis run out (†Ramdin) 15 Extras (b 4, lb 7, w 6, nb 1) 18 Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 152 (7.60 runs per over) Did not batKR Mayers, AR Nurse, RR Emrit, R Rampaul Fall of wickets 1-5 (Perkins, 0.6 ov), 2-8 (Holder, 2.5 ov), 3-96 (Smith, 12.5 ov), 4-96 (Pollard, 12.6 ov), 5-111 (Reifer, 16.1 ov), 6-152 (Mendis, 19.6 ov) Bowling: K Santokie 4-0-193, V Permaul 4-0-30-0, RR Beaton 2-0-33-0, SP Narine 4-0-20-2, Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-21-0, ND Stewart 2-0-18-0

Guyana Amazon Warriors innings (target: 116 runs from 15.5 overs) LMP Simmons c Reifer b Emrit 20 MJ Guptill b Mayers 7 Mohammad Hafeez c Emrit b Holder 28 JDS Neesham c †Perkins b Holder 17 D Ramdin*† not out 14 CD Barnwell not out 17 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 4 Total (4 wickets; 15.5 overs) 107 (6.75 runs per over) Did not batND Stewart, V Permaul, SP Narine, K Santokie, RR Beaton Fall of wickets 1-12 (Guptill, 2.2 ov), 2-49 (Simmons, 8.4 ov), 3-74 (Mohammad Hafeez, 12.2 ov), 4-76 (Neesham, 12.5 ov) Bowling: KR Mayers 2-0-9-1, R Rampaul 2-0-100, JO Holder 4-0-18-2, RR Emrit 3-0-25-1, BMAJ Mendis 1-0-8-0, KA Pollard 3-0-250, RA Reifer 0.5-0-10-0

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

CULT/EBFA U-17 League…

Grove and Herstelling take care of Agricola and KK Warriors

Grove Hi Tech Captain Trevor Jones (2nd left) works his way past this Agricola Red Triangle player at teh Grove ground

G

rove HI Tech kept their unblemished record intact with another hard fought win while Herstelling FC continued their rise with another victory when play in the CULT / East Bank Football Association (EBFA) Under-17 league continued at the Grove Playfield.

The feature game of the day saw some pulsating action between Grove and Agricola Red Triangle, the first half producing a whopping five goals in a pulsating clash.

Two of the five goals were own goals with either side being guilty but that did not take away from the fierce exchanges between two of the more exciting sides in the league. It was the home team that forced the visitors on the back foot early in the piece with an own goal after 10 minutes of play.

Both sides showed offensive intentions in what can be considered one of the most exciting games to date.

Returning the favours so to speak was Agricola whose first goal was also an own goal that came in the 21st minute to neutralise the score.

It was no letting up by either of the two teams as the youngsters displayed a high level of fitness. It did not take much time for the next goal to materialise; it was

the home team that would take the lead again.

Nicholas Matthews obliged as he headed home from a corner taken by Mervin Squires in the 29th minute, Grove restoring the advantage. Even though they had the lead, Agricola were well into their stride so it was just a matter of time in terms of the next goal being scored.

Their [Agricola] constant pressure paid off as they were awarded a penalty in the 37th minute which was converted by Deshawn Matthews to even the scores yet again, Grove 2 Agricola 2.

The home team’s Captain, Trevor Jones was not content at all with training or even allowing Agricola to be on even keels with them and often times left his position in marshalling the defenders to take the ball into the offensive third.

Like the own goal scenario, it was returning of the favours with regards to the penalty. With five minute to the half way mark, Grove were awarded a spot kick and it was Jones who took on the responsibility and he made no mistake as his team regained the lead for the third time.

The second half was no different as the intensity of the exchanges was main-

tained, the only difference being that both sides were

Herstelling but it was the latter team that asserted themselves led by the inspirational forward and their leading scorer, Seon Alfred.

The Warriors did come to the party in a bid to stop the party stoppers; they kept up with the exchanges for the most part but as the game matured, it was Herstelling that set themselves apart.

Alfred netted a beauty in the 73rd minute it was the culmination of about 10 minutes of constant pressure on the Warriors. With the deadlock being broken, it did not take the leaders much time to double the advantage thus securing full

Herstelling FC’s Seon Alfred (left) nets the first for his double past Kuru Kururu Warriors goalie, Jamal Dos Santos

tighter in defence. Just a single goal was scored and it was the home team that converted, Mervin Squires hitting home in the 73rd minute, again from the penalty spot. Final score, Grove Hi Tech 4 Agricola Red Triangle 2.

The afternoon’s opening match up also produced some keen and even exchanges between the Linden Soesdyke Highway based Kuru Kururu Warriors and

points.

Two minutes after the first goal, Herstelling was awarded a penalty and it was no guessing as to who would have taken on the task. Alfred it was and he buried the shot comfortably past Jamal Dos Santos in goal for the Warriors.

The top four team in this league will advance to the semi-finals, more play is set for this Saturday at the same venue.

19

Young Chattergoon dedicates doublecentury (268) to late mom

By Ravendra Madholall in T oronto

oung and talented opening batsman Harrinarine Chattergoon has dedicated his double-century he scored recently in the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) Premier 50-over competition to his late mom, Shamshadbagam Chattergoon.

The right-hander fashioned a belligerent and historical 268 for Hawaiian Arctic Cricket Club, who soundly embarrassed Durham Cricket Club at Ashtonbee.

His innings spanned only 129 deliveries while he smacked 39 fours and 12 sixes as his team raced to a mammoth 618-6 from the allotted 50 overs and then bowled out Durham for a paltry 86.

This season marks Chattergoon’s second year in succession and he stated that he is delighted with his form since his migration to North America last year.

His mom Shamshadbagam passed away two years ago in Berbice, Guyana and Harrinarine also mentioned that he is still saddened by her death and this epic innings he has dedicated it her.

“I [am] delighted with the innings and my form, but I miss my mother badly and I just want to remember her with this special innings by scoring a double-century,” the former Guyana under-19 player related.

He further commented that his mom was very instrumental with his cricketing career at a very young age, especially when he was representing his club Albion Sports Club also in the Ancient County of Berbice.

“I will always miss her for the things she used to advise me to do, especially when it comes to cricket, so I can honestly say I learned a lot from her and now achieving a score like this, I just

Y

feel to dedicate it to her,” the occasional off-spinner, expressed.

In his debut season at the Toronto and District Cricket Association Premier and Elite Divisions, Chattergoon, played for Vikings Cricket Club and was satisfied with his performances. He still continues to ply his trade at those levels, but he is wearing the Victoria Park’s colours on this occasion.

“I think the experience of playing cricket in Canada at the highest level is fantastic; I just want to keep performing consistently and help my teams win every game,” the 22-year-old Chattergoon revealed.

Harrinarine is the youngest of four brothers, all of whom featured in Guyana’s team at various levels, while Sewnarine Chattergoon played for the regional side in both Test and One Day Internationals.

The eldest, Hemnarine Chattergoon, represented the West Indies Under-19 team while he featured for Canada on the international scene too.

The other brother, Ramnarine, went on to play for the Combined Campuses and Colleges team in the West Indies Cricket Board Four-day and Limited Overs tournaments.

His introduction to the new environment has also given the right-hander the impetus to aim for achievable goals as he wants to play professionally on a regular basis.

According to Harrinarine, his eldest brother has been very influential so far in his cricketing career in Canada and even since he was representing his native country.

“I must thank big brother (Hemnarine) for his continued encouragement to play the game hard; he has a great work ethic; he strongly believes in fitness and discipline, so he is indeed a good role model for me as a young, ambitious international cricketer,” Harrinarine commented.

Successful Payless table-tennis camp concludes

Y

oung aspiring table tennis players in the West Demerara area recently benefitted from a one week camp sponsored

by Payless Variety Store and conducted by the experienced coach Muniram Persaud.

The camp attracted 21 youths between ages five and 17 and they were edified on the basics of the game. Following the completion of the camp, the players were involved in a competition with Alexandre DeAbreu, Krystian Sahadeo and Jaden Dipchand fin-

ishing 1-2-3 in the 10 and Under Open.

The 15 and Under Open was won by Jonathon Lilliah, with Nicholas Jordan and Darren Manohar finishing second and third respectively, while Samuel Persaud took top honours in the 18 and Under Open, leaving Ronaldo Griffith to settle for second and Jonathon Anderson third.

Samuel Persaud was named Most Valuable Player; Moses Persaud was adjudged Most Improved and David Manohar the Most Disciplined.

Coach Muniram Persaud (right) and officials of Payless Variety Store pose with the top performers of the camp

20

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Joe Root helps hosts tighten grip on final Test wickets for 38 runs.

Ballance had looked imperious alongside his skipper, piercing the gaps on both sides of the wicket and reaching 50 for the sixth time in seven Tests with a ramp shot over the slips. However, he popped Ashwin into the grateful hands of silly point, two balls later Ian Bell edged Ishant through to wicketkeeper Dhoni, and Moeen withdrew his bat too late and played on to Ashwin.

Crisis was averted by Root and Buttler in a partnership of 80 for the sixth wicket. Both were judicious at first but upped the ante after tea. Buttler struck nine fours before he fell into a trap set by cap-

SCOREBOARD

Root’s superb unbeaten 92 helped the hosts recover

J

oe Root moved to the brink of a century as England tightened their grip on the final Test against India and moved one step closer to winning the series. Root’s superb unbeaten 92 helped the hosts recover from 229-5 to reach 385-7 on day two at The Oval, a lead of 237 over the embattled tourists.

Four quick wickets in the afternoon session, including England captain Alastair Cook for 79 and Gary Ballance for 64, gave India a glimmer of hope.

But the prolific Root, who scored 54 off the last 39 balls of his innings, along with Jos Buttler (45) and Chris Jordan (19 not out), punished a tiring and increasingly ragged side in the evening session to

guide the hosts to a position of total supremacy.

England will expect to wrap up a third successive victory over the next two days to complete a 3-1 series triumph. “We’ve put ourselves in a great position, but there’s still a long way to go,” Ballance told BBC Sport. “The pitch is getting better, so we have to have a good morning and then bowl well.

“It was disappointing to lose those wickets in the afternoon, but, earlier in the summer, we might have had a whole team collapse.

Joe Root and Jos Buttler fought back well and ended up putting the pressure back on India.

“With three wickets left, a 300 lead is realistic.

If we get that, we’d be very happy.”

tain Dhoni and clipped Ishant to short midwicket.

The dismissal of Chris Woakes for a duck merely sounded the starting gun for a late acceleration as Root and Jordan added 67 off 62 balls in a raucous finale. Root showed particular disdain for all-rounder Stuart Binny. His timing impeccable, the Yorkshire batsman twice cut through third man for four and when Binny corrected to a fuller length Root drove him down the ground.

Another day to forget for India was summed up when Jordan edged between second slip and gully for his second boundary to leave Dhoni shaking his head in dismay.

On another dominant day for the hosts, there was disappointment for Sam Robson as he failed to convert his promising start on Friday evening into an innings of substance when he was bowled

by Varun Aaron for 37.

The Middlesex opener has scored only 165 runs in seven innings in the series at an average of 23 and may struggle to retain his place when England set off for the West Indies for their next Test series in April.

While Ballance goes from strength to strength at number three, question marks also remain over the batting technique of Moeen Ali, who chopped Ravichandran Ashwin on to his stumps for 14. Since his magnificent final-day hundred almost saved

England the second Test against Sri Lanka, Moeen’s highest score in six innings is 39.

Cook may also look back on the day with mixed feelings as another chance to end his 31-innings wait for a hundred went begging.

He played fluently before lunch as he and Ballance drew England level with India’s first-innings 148 for the loss of only one wicket in dry, sunny conditions.

But the interval had a dramatic effect on Cook’s rhythm. After twice being dropped at slip - by Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane - his luck ran out when a firm-footed prod at Aaron found the edge and was caught low by Vijay.

Cook’s dismissal sparked a mini-collapse in which England lost four

India 1st innings M Vijay c Root b Woakes 18 G Gambhir c †Buttler b Anderson 0 CA Pujara b Broad 4 V Kohli lbw b Jordan 6 AM Rahane c & b Jordan 0 MS Dhoni*† c Woakes b Broad 82 STR Binny c Cook b Anderson 5 R Ashwin c Root b Woakes 13 B Kumar c †Buttler b Jordan 5 VR Aaron c & b Woakes 1 I Sharma not out 7 Extras (b 6, lb 1) 7 Total (all out; 61.1 overs) 148 (2.41 runs per over) Fall of wickets 1-3 (Gambhir, 0.4 ov), 2-10 (Pujara, 5.6 ov), 3-26 (Kohli, 13.4 ov), 4-28 (Rahane, 15.6 ov), 5-36 (Vijay, 18.5 ov), 6-44 (Binny, 30.3 ov), 7-68 (Ashwin, 36.4 ov), 8-79 (Kumar, 39.1 ov), 9-90 (Aaron, 44.5 ov), 10-148 (Dhoni, 61.1 ov) Bowling: JM Anderson 17-4-51-2, SCJ Broad 15.14-27-2, CJ Jordan 14-7-

32-3, CR Woakes 14-730-3, MM Ali 1-0-1-0 England 1st innings AN Cook* c Vijay b Aaron 79 SD Robson b Aaron 37 GS Ballance c Pujara b Ashwin 64 IR Bell c †Dhoni b Sharma 7 JE Root not out 92 MM Ali b Ashwin 14 JC Buttler† c Ashwin b Sharma 45 CR Woakes c †Dhoni b Kumar 0 CJ Jordan not out 19 Extras (b 14, lb 3, w 1, nb 10) 28 Total (7 wickets; 105 overs) 385 (3.66 runs per over) To batSCJ Broad, JM Anderson Fall of wickets 1-66 (Robson, 20.5 ov), 2-191 (Cook, 57.4 ov), 3-201 (Ballance, 62.5 ov), 4-204 (Bell, 63.1 ov), 5-229 (Ali, 68.6 ov), 6-309 (Buttler, 93.4 ov), 7-318 (Woakes, 94.5 ov) Bowling: B Kumar 24-3-86-1, I Sharma 24-8-58-2, VR Aaron 25-1-111-2, STR Binny 12-058-0, R Ashwin 20-2-55-2

Van Gaal loses first league game as Man U manager Serena Williams fightback sees off Caroline Wozniacki in Cincinnati

Wayne Rooney, preferred to Robin van Persie as Louis van Gaal’s captain, scores the first goal of the Dutchman’s reign

L

ouis van Gaal’s first competitive game as Manchester United manager ended in a historic home defeat at the hands of Swansea City.

A day that began with the Dutch manager receiving a rapturous welcome from the Old Trafford fans as he walked out before kickoff ended with his side being beaten at home on the opening day of the league season for the first time since 1972.

Not even a trademark Van Gaal tactical switch could save him from opening his Premier League account

with a 2-1 loss, as his side produced a disjointed performance which underlined the scale of the job ahead of him - and the improvement needed in several areas.

Injuries, together with a lack of summer arrivals, saw Van Gaal give debuts to two young academy products - Tyler Blackett on the left of a three-man defence and Jesse Lingard at wingback.

Midfielder Ander Herrera was the only new signing to line up for a United side that finished seventh last season, and it showed.

Wayne Rooney’s overhead kick in his first game since being named United’s new captain cancelled out Ki Sung-yueng’s opener for the Welsh side, but some uncertain defending allowed new Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson to score a 72ndminute winner.

That saw the Welsh side, who also enjoyed a famous victory at Old Trafford in the FA Cup last season, ruin Van Gaal’s big day by clinching their first away win over United in the league in 12 visits dating back to 1931.

Williams struggled with her serve for much of the match but won

W

orld number one Serena Williams overcame a slow start to beat Caroline Wozniacki and reach the final of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Williams struggled with her serve for much of the match but won 2-6 6-2 6-4 and will now face Maria Sharapova or Ana Ivanovic in the final.

Williams, 32, is trying to win the tournament for the first time.

In the men’s semi-finals, David Ferrer will take on Julien Benneteau before Roger Federer faces Milos Raonic.

Wozniacki, seeded 12th, had looked on course to beat Williams for only the second time in nine meetings, and extend a run of 12 wins in 13 matches since Wimbledon.

The in-form Dane broke three times to win the opening set but, after a break apiece at the start of the second, Williams found some

rhythm and pulled away to level.

However, Williams was far from her best and continued to look out of sorts in an unpredictable final set that saw Wozniacki warned at one stage for coaching by her father, Piotr, in the stands.

A convincing service game of three aces gave Williams a 4-2 lead but the American failed to close out the match at the first time of asking, eventually sealing victory after one hour and 43 minutes.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

21 Taylor praises teamwork for Super50 win C aptain of Jamaica’s Women’s cricket team Stafanie Taylor has attributed teamwork and persistence to their successful Regional Women’s Super50 title defence in Dominica recently.

The Jamaicans registered a record sixth consecutive championships triumph when they crushed Guyana by 218 runs in the final, after losing out to them earlier in the tournament.

Taylor explained that the inclement weather slightly dampened their performance in the first round of matches, but the team’s progression toward the back-end of the tournament propelled them to the title.

“It looked easy, but it wasn’t; it took a lot of hard work,” she said. “First of all there was a lot of rain, so we thought that we would be in a lot of trouble.

It came up to the semifinals [and] we pulled it off, and went into the finals and gave it our all and came out victorious,” she told reporters after the team’s arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday.

She added: “I think more of our strength is in our bowling; we are a team that plays together and I think that is one of the things that actually helped us.”

The 23-year-old allrounder expressed delight at the fact that the senior players came to the fore, as they were expected to play a vital role throughout the tournament, and their contribution left her feeling satisfied with her individual performance.

She is now looking for-

Stafanie Taylor

ward to doing duties for the regional squad.

“I am very happy that most of our senior players came through this year. I started off slowly, but in the end I kind of picked up, and it’s actually where I want to be going into West Indies camp and getting ready for the New Zealand tour,” she noted.

When asked to give her feedback on the reduced format of the tournament, Taylor said she was “disappointed”.

Coach Cleon Smith also expressed disappointment at the reduction of the tournament. “It can’t be good for West Indies cricket when we come down from 21 or 22 days last year to having five matches in about eight days.

But that is up to the regional body to look into,” he

told the Jamaica Observer.

In elaborating on the tournament, Smith pointed out that the weather posed a challenge for the teams throughout the tournament, which resulted in most of the games being lowscoring.

“None of the teams could have trained...no team scored any high total within the first and second rounds.

We knew what we had to do, we know we are a champion team and we had experience all round, so we did some planning and we bounced back,” he explained.

Debutante Natasha McLean was Jamaica’s standout performer in the final, as she scored a smashing innings of 96 off 94 balls, which may have placed her under the radar of the regional selectors. (Jamaica Observer)

22

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Lloyd impressed with Sangakkara, Jayawardene prosper after Herath nine Regional U-19 players T

he new convenor of the West Indies selection panel was recently in Guyana observing proceedings in the just concluded Regional Under-19 tournaments and has remarked that he is pleased with what he has seen.

Speaking to commentator Ian Bishop during the match between Jamaica Tallawahs and Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday, Lloyd said he was quite interested in watching the Under-19s because they are the other set of players that will represent the West Indies and that he was quite impressed.

“There were quite a few players that I saw and we have contracts coming out and I am sure that some of them would have earned one or two.”

Lloyd had recently indicated that youth development will be his primary focus in helping revive West Indies cricket. He had that in order to ensure West Indies’ ascension in the ICC Test rankings, emphasis must be placed on honing the potential of youngsters at the regional under-19 level, something he felt was undervalued in the past.

“I think it Is important because you want to pick the right people and not to say that others weren’t doing so but looking at the Under-19s, I think we have

Clive Lloyd

a lot of talent around, it is just about harnessing that talent and getting them to that situation where they could perform well at the highest level,” the legendary former West Indies captain told Bishop.

There were a number of outstanding performances in the recent U-19 tournaments especially in the Guyana team that ended up as champions of both the Three-day and One Day competitions.

Guyana and West Indies Under-19 opener Shimron Hetmyer carted off the bulk of the individual awards having dominated the tournament with the bat.

The Berbician left-hander racked up 321 runs in six innings, the most by a single batsman. He was also rewarded for the highest individual score (123), as well as the being adjudged the Most Valuable Player.

Akeel Seetal of Trinidad and Tobago was the highest wicket-taker while Romaine Morris of Jamaica was the wicket-keeper with the most dismissals.

Guyana’s Kemo Paul was also superb with bat and ball while batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul was also impressive.

Speaking to cricinfo recently, Lloyd also stressed that West Indies needed to be more formidable and mentally stronger to regain respectability in Tests.

West Indies are currently ranked eighth in the ICC Test rankings and have not won a series against a top-eight side since August 2012.

Following his retirement from playing the game after a career that included 110 Tests and 87 Oneday Internationals between 1966 and 1985, Lloyd has served West Indies and international cricket in various ways.

He has been a West Indies coach, manager and board director, and currently serves on the WICB’s debriefing panel which assesses team performances following series and tours.

He has also served the International Cricket Council, the sport’s World governing body, as a match referee and head of its cricket committee.

T

wice, in this match, Pakistan’s perseverance had meant Sri Lanka were not allowed to run away too far ahead. The home side, sitting on a 1-0 lead, won the toss on a batting-friendly pitch, but were restricted to a slightly belowpar 320 by Pakistan’s seamers. Rangana Herath then quaked the Pakistan batting line-up with a career-best nine-wicket haul - the best by a left-arm bowler, but the visitors, led by a counterattacking century from wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, still managed to post a slender first-innings lead.

Sri Lanka’s third advance, though, was the one threatening to take the match, and the series, way beyond Pakistan’s reach. It came from familiar quarters: the Kumar SangakkaraMahela Jayawardene combine. The two, batting together for the last time in Tests, blunted the Pakistan spinners during a period where they were extracting help from the pitch and added an unbeaten 98 runs to drive Sri Lanka into a strong position. During the course of their stand, the two also went past Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge to become the second-most prolific duo in Tests.

In the absence of Junaid Khan, who sat out the last two sessions after being hit on the helmet grille while batting, Pakistan’s three frontline bowlers toiled for 61 out of 63 overs and were

Caribbean Regional Badminton Championships….

Guyana cop eight medals at CAREBACO

The Guyana players proudly display their medals

G

uyana finished with eight medals at the Caribbean Regional Badminton Championships (CAREBACO) in Jamaica at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium, University of Technology, Kingston.

The Guyanese, with the smallest contingent of play-

ers, copped one gold, five silvers and two bronze medals.

Some countries had more than 40 players at the tournament.

The top player for Guyana was Narayan Ramdhani, who played his best throughout the tournament and gained the crowd’s

support. He won two silvers in the Boys Under-17 Singles and the Boys Under-17 Doubles.

Priyanna Ramdhani won two silvers and one bronze. In the Girls Under-13 Singles, she won silver and in the higher event, the Girls Under-15

Doubles, she also won silver.

Priyanna also took bronze in the Under-13 Mixed Doubles.

Abosaide Cadogan won gold in the Girls Under-13 Doubles and bronze in the Girls Under-13 Singles, while Jonathan Mangra won silver in the Boys Under-17 Doubles.

The Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) said it is extremely pleased with the performance of the team that is going in an upward direction in the last seven years with the players showing improvement by medaling at every international junior event to date.

Guyana’s trip to Jamaica was made possible through support and sponsorship from Continental Group of Companies, National Sports Commission, E-Networks, Neville Osman Investments, Republic Bank, Woodpecker Products, Demerara Bank, Dr Philip DaSilva, Dr Yesu Persaud, GBTI, Hand-inHand Insurance Company, Rubis Gas Station- Bel Air, General Equipment, Farm Supplies Limited, Décor and Gift Gallery and Fitness Express.

only able to dislodge the Sri Lanka openers.

As has been the trend in this Test match, the SSC pitch offered much more to the bowlers in the last session. Few stayed low, some turned and bounced, and a couple beat the inside edge of Sangakkara’s bat as he went for the drive, a rare sight in itself. But if one had to pick two batsmen for such conditions, Jayawardene and Sangakkara would be top choice for most. They tired out the bowlers with their immaculate defence but played the most exquisite drives the moment the bowlers erred.

Sangakkara reached yet another half-century with a paddle to fine-leg boundary in the last over of the day while Jayawardene, unbeaten on 49, was on course to make it a memorable farewell.

The calmness with which Sangakkara and Jayawardene played was in complete contrast with the frantic morning session during which the two teams traded blows. The pitch was firmer and there was not much for the bowlers but that did not have much effect on the approach of Herath, who went on to pick up all four Pakistan wickets to fall.

That Pakistan managed a slender 12-run lead was down to Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, who has been prolific in each innings in this series - he has gone past 50 every time.

Sarfraz reserved his best for see a possible setback had been single-handedly averted.

After adding three more runs though, Sarfraz was dismissed in typical Herath fashion: the flight drawing the batsman forward, then turning to take the outside edge. It was only the second dicey shot Sarfraz played off the spinner after staying in command throughout his in-

the SSC, after Pakistan had slid to 140 for 5 on the second day and were in danger of losing the advantage of restricting Sri Lanka to 320.

He became the first Pakistan wicketkeeper to hit a century - his first in Tests - since Kamran Akmal’s unbeaten 158 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in February 2009.

Starting the day 76 short of Sri Lanka’s total, Sarfraz was the key for Pakistan if they were to get close.

And the batsman’s busy approach meant he didn’t let the bowlers settle on one line. The sweep and the cut were his most profitable allies as he continued to collect runs at a brisk pace. As Sri Lanka waited for the new ball, Sarfraz calmly kept the scoreboard moving with neat manoeuvres, a powerful sweep from outside off to Angelo Mathews standing out among his early runs on the day.

Before reaching his century, Sarfraz lost Abdur Rehman after a 40-run stand - the batsman edging Herath to Jayawardene at first slip - and Wahab Riaz, who scored 17. On 90, he twice swept seamer Chanaka Welegedara off consecutive balls, hitting a four and a six to reach his maiden hundred off only 109 balls. The loud shriek of excitement as he celebrated the landmark reverberated around the ground. He received a standing ovation from the Pakistan dressing room that was relieved to nings. It was also Herath’s eighth wicket. The bowler picked up another one with a slider to become the first bowler since Muttiah Muralitharan, in 2002, to bag a nine-wicket haul. He already has 18 dismissals this series, and will have his eye on Murali’s record of 22 wickets in a two-match Test series.

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan 1st innings Khurram Manzoor c †Dickwella b Herath 23 Ahmed Shehzad c †Dickwella b Perera 58 Azhar Ali c Mathews b Herath 32 Younis Khan c †Dickwella b Herath 13 Misbah-ul-Haq* c †Dickwella b Herath 5 Asad Shafiq b Herath 42 Sarfraz Ahmed† c †Dickwella b Herath 103 Abdur Rehman c Jayawardene b Herath 16 Wahab Riaz c Welegedara b Herath 17 Saeed Ajmal b Herath 4 Junaid Khan not out 13 Extras (lb 3, nb 3) 6 Total (all out; 93.1 overs) 332 (3.56 runs per over) Fall of wickets 1-47 (Khurram Manzoor, 8.4 ov), 2-110 (Azhar Ali, 31.3 ov), 3-122 (Ahmed Shehzad, 34.5 ov), 4-131 (Younis Khan, 38.6 ov), 5-140 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 42.1 ov), 6-233 (Asad Shafiq, 66.6 ov), 7-273 (Abdur Rehman,

78.4 ov), 8-301 (Wahab Riaz, 85.6 ov), 9-315 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 89.4 ov), 10-332 (Saeed Ajmal, 93.1 ov) Bowling: KTGD Prasad 16-4-53-0, UWMBCA Welegedara 18-2-65-0, HMRKB Herath 33.1-3-1279, AD Mathews 9-1-21-0, MDK Perera 17-1-63-1 Sri Lanka 2nd innings WU Tharanga b Abdur Rehman 45 JK Silva c Younis Khan b Abdur Rehman 17 KC Sangakkara not out 54 DPMD Jayawardene not out 49 Extras (b 9, lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 12 Total (2 wickets; 63 overs) 177 (2.80 runs per over) To bat: AD Mathews*, HDRL Thirimanne, N Dickwella†, MDK Perera, KTGD Prasad, HMRKB Herath, UWMBCA Welegedara Fall of wickets 1-54 (Tharanga, 20.2 ov), 2-79 (Silva, 24.2 ov) Bowling: Wahab Riaz 14-150-0, Abdur Rehman 24-365-2, Saeed Ajmal 23-5-470, Ahmed Shehzad 2-0-5-0

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

11th annual Seven Seas 11-race cycling…

23

King clocks record time to win feature race

Mario King crosses the line ahead of Raynauth Jeffrey to win the feature race on Saturday (Photos: Avenash Ramzan)

By Avenash Ramzan

M

ario King broke the record for the 35-lap School Boys and Invitational race on Saturday on his way to winning the feature event of the 11th annual Geddes Grant sponsored 11-race programme at the inner circuit of the National Park.

Sponsored under the Seven Seas brand, the main race was off to a fast start as, apart from the standard eight prime prizes on offer, cyclist Enzo Matthews, through his business Lezo Online Shopping, put up an additional 20 primes for the last 20 laps.

King was part of a group that established an early advantage, pulling away from the chasing pack and increasing the lead with each passing lap.

King, Raynauth Jeffrey, Alanzo Greaves and Christopher Holder were in that group, and as the race wore on, the chasing pack connected with the peleton before King and Jeffrey once again pulled away.

It ended up being a straight fight between King and Jeffrey at the start of the final lap, and it was the former who had enough in the tank to cross the line ahead first. When race official Joseph Britton stopped the clock reading one hour,

13 minutes, 45.29 seconds (01h: 13m: 45.29s), King had officially become the new record holder, bettering the previous record by Orville Hinds of one hour, 14 minutes, 29 seconds (01h: 14m: 29s).

Raymond Newton strode in a distant third, while Hamzah Eastman, Greaves and Holder occupied positions fourth to sixth in that order.

Other winners of the day included Rakeem Blair (12-14 Boys and Girls), Junior Niles (Veterans U-50), Linden Blackman (Veterans O-50), Maurice Fagundes (Veterans Over60), Alonzo Ambrose (Juveniles), Emmanuel Gayraul (Mountain Bike), Sherwin Sampson (BMX 6-9 and 9-12) and Sherwin Forde (BMX Open).

At the presentation ceremony, national coach and organiser of the race, Hassan Mohamed, thanked Seven Seas for once again sponsoring the race and investing in the youth population of cycling.

Products Specialist for Seven Seas, Karen Cornell, said Geddes Grant is once again proud to be associated with the sport. In sharing out samples of Seven Seas products, she encouraged the riders and officials present to live a healthy lifestyle and to complement their diet with

Sophia Warriors A dominate ACDA sports activities

S

ophia Warriors A emerged as champions of both cricket and football when the games were played in observance of Emancipation recently. The matches were organised by the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) Sporting Committee.

In cricket, Sophia Warriors A scored 96 for 6 with a top score of 66 from Scoray Ramotar. Their opponents Sophia Warriors B were then bowled out for to 92 despite a battling

half century from Trevor Edwards (52).

Shamar Grannum finished with 3 wickets for 16 runs bowling for Sophia Warriors A. In football, Sophia Warriors A defeated Sophia West Team by 4 goals to 2.

Trophies and cash prizes were donated by Paul’s ImporterDistributor,the Guyana Olympic AAssociation, Keisha’s Gift Shop,the Ministry of Home Affairs,the Prime Minister’s Office and others.

the necessary supplements to ensure maximum output.

Also present on behalf of Seven Seas was Lucille Gomes, who assisted in distributing samples to those at the venue.

Feature race winner Mario King receives his trophy and prime prize from Lucille Gomes in the presence of national coach and organiser, Hassan Mohamed

sundAY, august 17, 2014

Limacol CPL final 2014…

Controversy reigns as Tridents crowned champions See page 19

Guyana Amazon Warriors fans upset over outcome of Limacol CPL final F

ans of the Guyana Amazon Warriors are extremely disappointed over the outcome of the second Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final on Saturday evening at Warner Park, St Kitts and Nevis.

Immediately after the decision, there was an outpouring of comments on social media condemning the decision.

The comments were posted by those who witnessed the game live at the ground in St Kitts, as well as those who watched on television from as far as England, North America and right here in Guyana.

Barbados Tridents won the title under highly controversial circumstances after the game was inexplicably called off by the umpires, with Guyana needing 46

off 25 balls, as very achievable target with Christopher Barnwell and Denesh Ramdin on 17 and 14, respectively, at the wicket. The Tridents margin of victory was eight runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Poor umpiring decisions appeared to be evident throughout the match, in particular those made by Barbadian umpire Gregory Braithwaite. The television umpire, Leslie Reifer, is also Barbadian.

Braithwaite called a number of deliveries wides when the Amazon Warriors were bowling, but seemed to ignore similar type deliveries when the Tridents took the field.

In addition, Tridents batsman Shoaib Malik was given not out by Brathwaite off the first ball he faced from Krishmar Santokie. That

Fans like these proudly displayed their Guyana flags and stayed on at the ground despite the controversial decision

decision appeared horribly wrong from all the replays. It cost the Amazon Warriors 55 runs.

Ramdin threw his bat to the ground after James Neesham was given out, also

by Brathwaite, caught behind

off Jason Holder. Television replays could not produce conclusive evidence that the ball had touched Neesham’s gloves. Neesham himself appeared perplexed by the decision.

Towards the end of the

game, it was observed that the covers were off for about 10-15 minutes, with no play, before the television broadcast showed the Tridents in celebration and it was later announced that the Tridents were declared winners. There was also a delay when the Tridents were batting.

The on-air television commentators also seemed clueless as, at that time, no definitive reason was given for the shock decision to call off the final, which turned out to be a disaster from an officiating standpoint.

The time between when the covers were taken off to the time when the decision was announced was arguably more than what was required to bowl the remaining 4.1 overs to complete the match.

The Amazon Warriors players were a no-show at the pre-

sentation ceremony, during which fans were heard loudly 'booing' the decision.

Hundreds of Guyanese were seen disappointed in the stands, among them Government officials, representatives of sponsors, and members of the business community.

The Amazon Warriors also lost last year’s finals to the Jamaica Tallawahs at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, and the expectation of a win this year would have been high among fans, given the team’s improved performance.

They surely did not expect, however, to be disappointed by factors unrelated to the team’s performance and that the umpires, in particular Braithwaite, would have had such a major role in determining the final outcome.

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, Tel: 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230, 223-7231, Fax: 227-0685 - SALES AND MARKETING - sales@guyanatimesgy.com PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.