Chronicle 01 03 2016

WELLS RUN DRY No. 104420

SUNDAY JANUARY 3, 2016

Price: $140

(VAT INCLUSIVE)

- Rupununi drought continues - Cash crop, livestock farmers count their losses

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Bridge to Brazil The drought in interior regions has allowed for beach–like conditions on the banks of the Takutu River, which residents enjoy. As seen in this photo, residents of Region Nine are also able to cross this make-shift bridge over to Brazil as the El Nino weather phenomenon has caused a significant drop in the water level in the river, which serves as the water boundary between Guyana and Brazil

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GPHC records 5 births 2 on New Year’s Day Page

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

GPHC records 5 births on New Year’s Day AS Guyana joined the rest of the world in ushering in 2016, doctors and nurses at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) were busy gearing up for the new arrivals. In the end, five beautiful babies were successfully delivered at the city hospital on New Year’s Day. At just about 12:16h, 23-year-old Seata O’Donoghue of Lot A72 East La Penitence, Georgetown delivered a baby girl, who was recorded as the first birth at the hospital for the year.

Hours after her delivery, the 23-yearold mother was presented with a baby bag and hamper by the medical personnel attached to the Maternity Ward at GPHC.

Minutes after the first baby came into the world, Heimrajie Ramdat was overwhelmed with joy after delivering her son at 12:55h. The 23-year-old mother resides at Lot 95 Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara.

She also received a token from the GPHC.

Thirty-two-year-old Shenise Williamson delivered the fifth and last New Year baby at GPHC for 2016. The baby girl was delivered at 3:00h and will now take up residence with her mommy at Lot 167 Vigilance North, East Coast Demerara.

At 01:25h on Friday, January 1, 2016, Vanessa Isaacs delivered this handsome baby boy. This 20-yearold mother who hails from Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara was all smiles when Guyana Chronicle visited the hospital on Friday morning, as her little prince was resting peacefully in her hands.

The fourth baby was born to Shemika Williams at 01:55h. Williams and family are now celebrating the birth of her son.

Wells run dry

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

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- Rupununi drought continues - Cash crop, livestock farmers count their losses

By Alva Solomon REGION Nine is bracing for another month of dry weather conditions. Already, salty water is being pulled from some wells in the Rupununi. Communities in the Central and South Rupununi have faced the brunt of the dry weather. At the moment, several wells which are important sources of water for most communities in the region have dried up, and residents in some communities have discontinued using others, citing the high level of salt concentration in the water.

Residents say that between 60% and 80% of the region is affected by the current drought conditions. Weather conditions are not expected to change anytime soon, with just a few days of rainfall forecasted in the weeks ahead.

Climatic data posted online at the World-Climates.com website have given a breakdown of the decline in rainfall in recent months in the Rupununi. The data indicates that the weather conditions started to change in mid-2015.

Regional Executive Officer (REO) Carl Parker told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that while the region has been experiencing intermittent rainfall over the past two weeks, it is not enough to bring the expected relief to affected areas. He said there are reports that the water tables in some areas have seen improvement in water levels, and that persons, including farmers, are optimistic about the rains changing the situation.

The Regional Chairman noted that an emergency response committee was formed to respond to any eventuality. He said Vice Chairman Carl Singh sits on the committee, which is answerable to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).

Total rainfall at Lethem dropped significantly after the

A dried-up waterway in the Rupununi

Please turn to page 14

Brawl leaves Tuschen man dead A BRAWL outside of the popular “Pink Shop” at Greenwich Park, East Bank Essequibo on New Year’s Night has left a 22-year-old man dead.

Eyewitnesses said that

Dead: Dewaun Anthony

Dewaun Baksh sought to intervene in an altercation involving his younger brother when he was brutally stabbed to death on the roadside.

At the time of his death, the 22-year-old Baksh lived at Tiger Bay, Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo with his relatives. He returned to Guyana last March, after spending six years in Barbados, and so last Christmas was very special for his relatives and friends, his twin brother Dewane told the Guyana Chronicle.

Dewane said his brother was asleep for most of New Year’s Day, having partied on Old Year’s Night. In the afternoon, Dewaun and his younger brother Rafeek and three friends headed out to continue the holiday celebrations.

During the course of the

night, Dewane said, Rafeek had “a talk” with a former acquaintance with whom he had had an argument sometime in the past. They all lived at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo at the time, before the Baksh family moved to Tuschen.

It was during an apparent argument between Rafeek and the other man that Dewaun intervened and the argument got even more heated.

Rafeek told his relatives that he walked away to leave the scene, but was hit in the head with a bottle or some other object.

It is then that the brawl broke out, and Dewaun was stabbed in several parts of his body, and was later pronounced dead.

Police are currently hunting three suspects known to Rafeek and his other friends.

Dewaun had hoped to return to Barbados later this month to continue his work

there.

Apart from Rafeek and his twin brother, Dewaun

leaves to mourn his sister Shazeena, his parents, and other relatives and friends.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

Shi’ite cleric among 47 executed in Saudi Arabia, stirring anger in region (Reuters) SAUDI Arabia executed a prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric and dozens of al Qaeda members on Saturday, signaling that it would not tolerate attacks, whether by Sunni jihadists or minority Shi’ites, and stirring sectarian anger across the region.

Hundreds of Shi’ite Muslims marched through Qatif district in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province in protest at the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr, an eyewitness said. They chanted “Down with the Al Saud!”, the name of the ruling Saudi royal family.

Nimr, the most vocal critic of the dynasty among the Shi’ite minority, had come to be seen as a leader of the sect’s younger activists, who rejected the quiet approach of older community leaders for failing to achieve equality with Sunnis.

Most of the 47 killed in the kingdom’s biggest mass execution for decades were Sunnis convicted of al Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia a decade ago.

Four, including Nimr, were Shi’ites accused of involvement in shooting policemen.

The executions took place in 12 cities, four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading. In December, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula threatened to retaliate against Saudi Arabia for any execution of its members.

The move further soured relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and its Shi’ite regional rival, Iran, which had hailed Nimr as the champion of a marginalized Shi’ite minority.

The website of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, carried a picture of a Saudi executioner next to notorious Islamic State execu-

tioner ‘Jihadi John’, with the caption “Any differences?”, and the powerful Revolutionary

Guards said “harsh revenge” would topple “this pro-terrorist, anti-Islamic regime”. Saudi Arabia summoned the Iranian ambassador in response.

In Iraq, prominent religious and political figures demanded

MESSAGE TO SAUDIS However, the executions seemed mostly aimed at discouraging Saudis from jihadism after bombings and shootings by Sunni militants in Saudi Arabia over the past year killed dozens and Islamic State called on followers there to stage attacks.

After the executions, Islamic State urged its supporters to attack Saudi soldiers and police in revenge, in a message on Telegram, an encrypted messaging service used by the group’s backers, the SITE monitoring group reported.

Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family has grown increasingly worried in recent years as Middle East tur-

(Russia) A new appraisal names the United States as one of the threats to Russia’s national security for the first

time, a sign of how relations with the West have deteriorated in recent years.

The document, “About the

Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation”, was signed

by President Vladimir Putin on New Year’s Eve. It replaces a 2009 version, endorsed by thenPresident Dmitry Medvedev, the current prime minister, which mentioned neither the United States nor NATO. It says Russia has managed to heighten its role in solving

global problems and international conflicts. That heightened role has caused a reaction by the West, it says.

“The strengthening of Russia happens against the background of new threats to the national security, which has complex and interrelated nature,” the document says.

Conducting an independent

that ties be severed, calling into question fence-mending efforts

by Riyadh that had been intended to boost a regional alliance against Islamic State militants.

Nimr al-Nimr

moil, especially in Syria and Iraq, has empowered Sunni militants seeking to bring it down and given room to Iran to spread its influence. A nuclear deal with Iran backed

by Saudi Arabia’s biggest ally, the United States, has done little to calm nerves in Riyadh.

But Saudi Arabia’s Western allies, many of whom supply it with arms, are growing concerned about its new assertiveness.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Nimr’s execution risked “dangerous consequences” by further inflaming sectarian tensions in the region, and a German Foreign Ministry official said it “strengthens our existing concerns about increasing tensions and deepening rifts in the region”.

The simultaneous execu-

tion of 47 people - 45 Saudis, one Egyptian and a man from Chad - was the biggest mass execution for security offences in Saudi Arabia since the 1980 killing of 63 jihadist rebels who seized Mecca’s Grand Mosque in 1979.

The 43 Sunni jihadists executed on Saturday, including several prominent al Qaeda leaders and ideologues, were convicted for attacks on Western compounds, government buildings and diplomatic missions that killed hundreds from 2003-06.

The four Shi’ites were convicted of involvement in shootings and petrol bomb attacks that killed several police during anti-government protests from 2011-13 in which over 20 members of the minority sect were also shot dead by the authorities.

policy, “both international and domestic” has caused “counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs.”

That, in turn, is likely to lead to “political, economical, military and informational pressure” on Russia, the document says.

Relations between Russia and the West reached a low after Russian forces annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014, after protests in Ukraine forced its pro-Moscow president to flee to Russia.

Since then, the West has accused Russia of aiding insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies actively assisting the rebels.

The United States and the European Union have since imposed wide-ranging sanctions against Russian individuals and

companies. Moscow has reacted by restricting food and other goods from the EU. The document says that the United States and the EU have supported an “anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Ukraine”, which led to a deep divide in Ukrainian society and to a military conflict.

It also names the expansion of NATO as a threat to Russia’s national security and said that the United States has expanded its network of military-biological laboratories in countries neighbouring Russia.

The document, which serves as a basis for planning strategy related to national security by different state bodies, does not mention Syria. On Sept. 30, Russia began air strikes against anti-government rebels opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally.

Putin names United States among threats in new Russian security strategy

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

Cuba’s Santeria priests predict explosive migration, social unrest in 2016

(Reuters) Priests offering New Year’s prophecies from Cuba’s Afro-Cuban religion forecast an explosion in migration and social unrest worldwide in 2016.

Many on the Caribbean island eagerly wait for guidance from the Santeria religion’s annual forecast. Santeria, with roots in West African tradition brought to Cuba by slaves, is practised by millions of Cubans.

This year, the island’s official association of priests, known as babalawos, predicted an “explosion” of migration and “social unrest provoked by desperation.”

The yearly reading is for Cuba and the world at large, but the babalawos did not state which predictions, if

any, apply to Cuba specifically.

“The predictions of Ifa (divination system) warn world leaders that, if no action is taken, we may lead our people to a massive migration provoked by different things, desperation among them,” priest Lazaro Cuesta told a news conference in Havana.

The flow of migrants from the Communist-ruled island jumped by about 80 percent last year as the process of detente between Washington and Havana, announced in December 2014, stirred fears that preferential U.S. asylum rights for Cubans may soon end.

Cuesta said war, economic hardship, political conflict and terrorism are sparking

worldwide migration.

He did not give specifics about the priests’ social unrest prediction, but offered a metaphor: “When you are in your room and it’s really hot, desperation makes you run out of the room. If we give you an air conditioner, you stay put.”

“I can be living in a hot room and I don’t leave running, because it’s my room,” Cuesta said. “I’m living alongside everyone else in Cuba, and I’m not leaving.”

Based on this year’s forecast, the babalawos recommend, “establishing favourable accords with respect to migration policy,” and “reaching a balance between salaries and the high cost of basic necessities.”

Earlier in this week, Cu-

Newly installed mayor of Mexican city killed (Reuters) The newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on Saturday, according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez.

Gisela Mota formally took office with the new year on Friday. Mexico City newspaper EL Universal said she was attacked at her home by

four armed gunmen.

Local police later arrested two alleged attackers, while killing two others, according to a statement issued by the Morelos Attorney General’s Office.

The statement did not provide further details of the attack.

Several mayors were killed last year in Mex-

ico, where armed gangs financed by the drugs trade control many local communities.

Temixco, located some 60 miles (100 km) south of Mexico City, has a population of about 100,000.

Mota, a former federal member of Congress, belonged to the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.

Gisela Mota, late new mayor of Temixco, took her Oath of Office during a swearing-in ceremony in Temixco, south of Mexico City ,on January 1, 2016.

ban President Raul Castro told the National Assembly, the country’s single-chamber parliament, that an economic slowdown is expected in 2016. Food prices have increased more than 50 percent on the island over the last four years, according to official media. The average salary throughout the island is less than $30 a month.

“A person who economically considers himself incapable of living in the place where he is is going should look for a better future somewhere else,” said Cuesta.

The priests also prophesied that 2016 would bring greater foreign investment and accords between nations, but gave no further details.

No bidders for Norman Manley International Airport

(Jamaica Observer) KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government of Jamaica has closed the bidding process for the privatisation of the operations of the Norman Manley International Airport.

Dennis Morrison, chairman of the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ), has indicated that no bids were received by the submission deadline of December 30, 2015, a news release from the AAJ said recently.

The chairman of the Enterprise Team for the privatisation, Michael McMorris, stated that the Government had engaged in a robust bid-

ding process which utilised the services of the International Finance Corporation(IFC) as lead advisors for the transaction, and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Secretariat.

The team is now expected to assess the outcome and make recommendations to the Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr Omar Davies, for deliberation by Cabinet. Subsequently, the minister is expected to make a public statement on the way forward.

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Editor-In-Chief

Nigel Williams

Editorial: 227-5216; 227-5204 guyanachronicle.com wnigel10@hotmail.com gnnleditorial@gmail.com

Editorial

Partnership Politics WHEN the history of Guyana is properly written, the year 2015 will go down as one of the most significant years in the history of Guyana. It was the year when the Guyanese electorate went against the political grain by electing a majority government that was not the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP).

On account of our ethnic voting patterns, the PPP, whose traditional base has been the majority Indian-Guyanese community, had hitherto won all certified free and fair elections since 1955. Even in 2011, when, for the first time, it failed to win a parliamentary majority, the PPP still garnered a large plurality of the vote, which enabled it to retain the powerful presidency. So when that party was relegated to the opposition benches after the May 11, 2015 polls, that relegation represented a break with a sixdecade-old tradition.

No doubt, political scientists and historians would soon begin to tease out the factors that caused such a major turn of events. Already, the presumed leader of the PPP, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has identified complacency and arrogance among party and government functionaries as key factors.

Others have pointed to government corruption and general mismanagement of the ship of government and state as other contributory factors.

While all of the above may be true, few can doubt that the evolution of Partnership Politics was a major factor, if not THE major factor. Beginning in 2011 with the formation of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and culminating in 2015 with the APNU+AFC coalition, the electorate was presented with new alternatives at the last two elections. The APNU consolidated the fractured traditional PNC base to mount a serious challenge in 2011, which, along with the AFC’s incursion into the PPP’s traditional base, caused the latter to lose its accustomed parliamentary majority.

The big question in 2015 was whether the APNU and the AFC could together achieve what they did separately in 2011. After much agonizing, they actually did achieve what seemed unachievable a few short years prior.

We believe the significance of the rise of Partnership Politics may be lost on some, particularly on the opposition side. We now have an entire generation of Guyanese who are being socialized in the politics of pluralism, and for whom one-party politics may be a foreign consideration. Mr. Jagdeo may have recognized this when, in his recent assessment of the reasons for the PPP’s loss of the election, he pointed to young PPP supporters who opted for change by voting for the coalition. While he is hoping that that move was temporary, he may well find out that it is more permanent than he thinks.

Can it be that Guyana has finally stumbled upon a political formula that could usher in that long desired plural form of government that reflects the country’s ethnic

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

PU/NICIL has been good for people and country Dear Editor,

I WRITE to make the case that PU/NICIL has been good for people and country.

I would be failing in my duty if I were not to write. I put myself on record also, that I have known and worked closely with CEO Winston Brassington and DCEO Marcia Nadir-Sharma weekly and often daily throughout the years, and have found them to be knowledgeable, able, diligent, hardworking, and earnestly committed to advancing people and country.

It is said that every person is liable to some moment(s) of failure. Nonetheless, I put myself on record as standing at the side of colleagues who earned my greatest respect and appreciation for their work. And I am not doing so recklessly, flying in the face of evidence.

What evidence is there? In all that I have seen and heard, I have not sensed any criminal act. There is no indication of any money flowing to any of their pockets.

The CEO’s crime (and that of PU/NICIL as an institution, along with all its employees) seems to have been that he did his able best to carry out the policies and programmes of our PPP/C administration, accepting them and pursuing them rather than taking his cue from the then opposition.

Just recall the complaints related to Amaila, the Berbice Bridge, the Marriott Hotel, particularly the Mar-

riott. What have they been, other than means to discredit those projects and deny our PPP/C Administration opportunities to bring good to people and country and win favourable consideration?

Those projects made manifest our policies, outlook, worldview; our ideas of our stage of development and the next steps that we should take. Those were essentially political choices, and the attacks should be launched against us, the political leaders of the PPP/C, not the administrators.

Let me acknowledge that, in the competitive and perhaps inevitably adversarial politics in democracies -- even more so in our historical demographics, and especially so after our 2011 elections, when, on the basis of provisions in our Constitution, we set up as a minority Government -- an Opposition is likely to doubt, question, and disparage all that the Government says and does, and to see deception and corruption in every place; but this should go only so far.

We, of the PPP/C, then in opposition, were not ourselves free from such inclinations in the run-up to the 1992 elections; but we have always been a responsible group, even though we had real reason to be bitter.

Yes, we criticized the Barama, CRL/CLICO and Omai agreements earnestly and responsibly, arguing mostly that the PNC had no mandate then to enter into those

diversity?

There are many who still speak about the dominance of the PNC in the APNU, and the dominance of the APNU in the coalition as a truism. Such calculations lose sight of the fact that the partnership has begun to take on a life of its own. We believe that the idea and reality of the coalition forged a popular optimism among a majority of the electorate that drove a higher-than-normal turnout to the polls. In other words, the coalition benefited from a spirit of national consensus that is widespread in the country.

The President, in his charge to the coalition’s parliamentarians this past week, declared that the coalition must work. His charge has resonance beyond his side of the aisle.

Partnership Politics is never easy, and this governing coalition brings together parties with differing political cultures and ideological groundings. Significantly, it brings together at least two parties that were once political enemies. The presence of a coalition does not mean the absence of tension; the latter is inevitable. Yet, if each party intentionally puts the interests of the entire country ahead of partisan disagreements, the country would inevitably benefit. As

agreements.

Thus, when we came into office, Dr. Jagan could have had the agreements reviewed by persons in whom he had great trust (amongst whom was a Dr. Maurice Odle, then with an international agency). We could and did accept that the agreements were fundamentally standard international agreements.

We laid them in Parliament and, with a few adjustments, they have been our standard documents throughout our years in office.

The APNU/AFC went so far in demonizing us of the PPP/C that, more than six months after our elections, they cannot start pulling back, expending valuable money and time, and delaying the re-establishment of some degree of political accord.

PU/NICIL has been at the centre of APNU/AFC demonizing because it was able to complete the Mariott Hotel despite their efforts to stop it midway.

The PU (Privatization Unit, which we set up formally), NICIL (National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited, set up by the PNC after they retreated from State ownership of more than 80% of the economic activities in Guyana), and the later merged PU/ NICIL, have been important elements in our integrated approach to the overall growth and development of people and country, and we grew noticeably.

This is not the forum, but

now may well be the time to talk extensively about the bringing of people and country from where we were in October 1992 to where we were in May 2015.

Managing the ongoing refashioning of the bauxite sector and communities within the commitments of the outgoing PNC to the international bodies gave rise unto about 2006, to a large part of the work of PU, NICIL, and later PU/NICIL, as we sought to turn people and assets no longer required by the core to new activities, and to attract new international bauxite and other companies to those communities.

Other sectors for which I was responsible – other mining, electricity, energy, telecommunications – also gave rise to much work for PU/NICIL. So I was much involved with PU/NICIL. In time, I urged the merger of PU and NICIL. It was a natural and sensible thing to do, to utilize remnant and other available State assets to facilitate and enable new investments, particularly those that bring increased diversification in our economy.

PU/NICIL’s focus was directed not just on the large and foreign, but also on the smaller and local.

Take, for example, the tourism and hospitality sector. We gave the goahead to direct negotiation for purchase of adjacent property so that Duke Lodge could expand. There was some notice and comSee Page 7

Professor Clive Thomas, one of the early architects of the APNU, put it, the test of political substance lies not in how well one works with comrades, but in how well one is able to work with those with whom one does not share a natural political culture.

As Guyana approaches its 50th Independence Anniversary, the spirit of national unity must move beyond convenient rhetoric to find its way into our political behaviour. In this regard, we hope that the PPP’s rejection of President Granger’s offer to join a government of national unity is temporary. We begin 2016 with another political battle looming in the form of the long-awaited local government elections. The parties will again slug it out in the political ring, and both sides will try to make the elections a referendum on each other’s stewardship of the central government. The coalition will contest as a single entity, thus further cementing the partnership as a major tendency going forward.

Whatever happens at those elections, we hope Guyana wins. We cling to the belief that a governance structure and practice grounded in a spirit of national consensus is ultimately our most effective path to the good life for all.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

The Pergola Promenade

-A national monument or disgrace?

Dear Mr. Editor, THE “Pergola Promenade” was financed by the six institutions under the umbrella of the Cooperative Financial Administration during the eighties, and was dedicated to the sterling performance of the late Shirley Field-Ridley, a former minister of the government and former

wife of the current mayor of Georgetown.

Over the years, it was the haven for vagrants of all sorts, and was subjected to all types of solid waste deposit, including human excrement.

I have noticed that in the recent clean-up exercise of the Merriman Mall, this structure seems to have been deliberately deserted by municipal authorities, as grass

and other unsightly debris can still be seen desecrating this edifice.

The Mayor and his City Councillors ought to hang their heads in shame, as they certainly cannot have any excuse for not maintaining this monument over the years.

Come on folks, let’s get on with the job.

Sincerely yours ALEX EDWARDS

PU/NICIL has been ...

ments about that, but we had PU/NICIL do similarly for the elegant expansion of Herdmanston.

I was Chairman of the Board of PU/NICIL for a period, thus I am obliged to, and I can, speak up for PU/ NICIL and shoulder what we, the politicians, not the officers, should.

What should the Guyanese public make of the claimed unearthing of billions of dollars in the accounts of PU/NICIL and its subsidiaries, and of other autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, and of those billions now being sent to the Consolidated Fund (CF)? First, those accounts were not unknown, not hidden, not secret, not unlawful. Second, the fact that there are billions in these accounts should raise questions about whether there was any stealing at all. Third, it is an achievement of note that there are surplus funds in bodies which before drew from the CF. Fourth, the records would show that, without fanfare, billions of dol-

lars had been transferred steadily, from time to time, over the years, to the CF from these accounts, including the accounts of PU/NICIL. And yes, particularly in the earlier years, we needed to and did use such accounts for what is known internationally as “off-budget financing”. In our first years, Guyana’s economic position was so bad, and the international strictures on various budget ratios so tight, we had to have the GGMC fund maintenance of the Air Corps of our GDF, as prepayment for servicing greater monitoring of mining across our hinterland. Again, with a good reason in hand, I had the GGMC fund the extension of the MMC minibus-grade trail into Mahdia, transforming the outlook and prospects for that community.

Whatever the wrongdoing in such actions, I and members of the then Cabinet are ready and willing to pay the price.

Having now transferred

these billions of dollars to the CF, what can we expect?

The danger is that it would be used to raise recurring current expenditure to unsustainable (at this time) levels, putting us at risk of again getting on a path to a downward inflationary spiral such as we got on soon after Independence, and only very painfully began working ourselves out of in the late 1980s.

Additionally, more immediately, the stated intention to withdraw all these billions in accounts in the banks would reduce the ability of the banks to lend, and further constrain our economy.

We, of the PPP/C, citizens of Guyana, no more so or less so than others, hope that those dangers would be avoided. No one would want a return to the 1970s and 1980s.

Time will tell.

Yours truly, SAMUEL A. A. HINDS Former Prime Minister and Former President

Reassigning Minister Broomes Dear Editor,

MINISTER Simona Broomes, who has arguably been amongst the hardest working ministers in this new administration, is being removed from her Labour portfolio.

This news comes as a shock, since the trade union movement and employers who desire to comply with the rule of law never expressed dissatisfaction in the minister’s performance, neither was the opinion of the trade union community sought in relation to her performance. Were our opinion sought, disagreement would have been expressed in the minister’s removal.

Although the Guyana Tr a d e s U n i o n C o n g r e s s (GTUC) initially took her appointment with some degree of caution, this minister has proven beyond a shadow of any doubt that, once she received her instrument to office, she was prepared to discharge her duty without fear, favour or ill-will. Her record of achievements within that short time has been one of acclaim. Workers and employers committed to the rule of law had a trusted ally in her.

The workers of this country have lost someone who was prepared to champion justice. Responsible employers have lost a minister who was prepared to work with them in upholding their responsibilities. Renegade employers and the self-serving will rejoice over her removal. Guyana, as a whole, continues to suffer the consequences of gut-feeling decision-making.

No doubt, Minister Broomes has the capacity to shine in her new appointment.

At the same time, Minister Volda Lawrence is yet to act consistent with the Labour Laws, six months after taking office, and issue letters to start the arbitration proceedings with the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU), which is not only the lawful course, but one she advocated for when in opposition.

This grievance is more than six years old.

This nation needs to ask the searching question: ‘Is there any seriousness being brought to bear on how the business of the state is being addressed?’ This is the first time in the history of Guyana that Labour stands alone.

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years of political independence, it need not be forgotten that it was the trade union movement under Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow who, in 1905 and 1926 (two significant landmarks), started the 20th century fight for the right to self-determination, which included freedom of association, right to collective bargaining, one man one vote (universal adult suffrage), internal self-government, among others.

The trade union movement laid the foundation for the mass-based political parties that came from 1950 (PPP), and for their leaders, namely: Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham. The GTUC, in 1963, sent a delegation to

the United Nations to argue the case for Guyana’s independence. This delegation comprised Egbert Bolton and Cleveland Charran.

On 1st May 2015, the GTUC shared the Labour Day platform with the APNU+AFC, to speak to the workers of this country. The trade union movement made it possible for the political leadership, and every single person who sits in the National Assembly, to so do.

Through secondhand information, the trade union movement learnt of Minister Broomes’s removal from the Labour Department. Likewise, it is being learnt that Minister Keith Scott is to replace her. It should be said that, under the presidency of Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte and Cheddi Jagan, Labour was consulted and advised on the choice of Minister of Labour. It should further be said that this is the first time in the nation’s history that there is no ministry that has the name Labour, even moreso, particularly when there is talk about a Green Economy, of which the ILO Core Labour Standards form the foundation.

This nation is witnessing the loud mouthing of concepts like ‘inclusionary democracy’ (Article 13 in the Guyana Constitution) and ‘national unity’, but the question needs to asked: How can this be achieved when there is contempt for these principles, instruments and institutions?

Regards, LINCOLN LEWIS

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All eyes on Ashni WE haven't heard from Past Prez Donald in a while, but he has emerged in defense of former Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, following threats by the government to go after him for spending $4.5 billion from the Treasury without parliamentary approval. Ramotar, in a spirited statement, said Singh had done nothing wrong, that he had acted legally; and he even called the government's behaviour harassment.

But, drawing on President Granger's words, no one will get locked up unless and until concrete evidence surfaces. Right? So Ramotar should take a deep breath and rest easy for now. All this means is that all eyes are on Ashni, he's not going anywhere… yet.

IS WE OWN… People are pretty impressed by the announcement that there is an increase in the number of persons joining the military, with over 500 new soldiers added to the GDF each year in the last two years.

What's more is that there has also been a decrease in the number of AWOL cases. That's a breath of fresh air for the GDF, and people are glad to hear this.

Of course, we all know it can't be for the benefits, but maybe it's Venezuela’s 'increased insistence on trying to take our Essequibo’ that has our young Guyanese ready and willing to serve.

Don't try to step on land that "is we own". Our GDF's increasing numbers show that we may very well be more equipped than the foreigners think.

RACKING UP NUMBERS It’s two days into the new year, and already three persons have lost their lives following altercations.

One would think that the new year would ring in resolutions of changed attitudes, but clearly last year's issues were dragged over to 2016.

Meanwhile, a report that 511 people lost their lives to suicide in the last 5 years has people in awe at the suicide rate of this tiny country. Many have suggested that there was a lack of God in the victims’ lives, others sought to point at a particular race. Low blow, don't you think?

How about us seeking to find solutions instead of trying to wildly speculate and pose questions that the victims will never be able to answer?

Good thing Lisa Punch is back. Hopefully, she'll continue in her advocacy started during her Miss World journey.

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

Grand statements and grand claims THE people who read well -- people like Ian MacDonald -- would have noticed that many of our columnists and such always begin their pieces with grand statements and even grander claims. My experience in too many countries to count is that this is an almost across-the-board under-graduate habit.

It is okay, one supposes, to babble things like “Guyana is the most stupid country on Planet Earth” or “Guyanese are the most foolish, idiotic, shameful, despicable people on Planet Earth”, but those things are good only to babble in rum shops. For one thing, those grand things are said by people who have very little idea of the big world spinning out there.

That, too, is okay, since one can often just put those writings in the garbage.

I met a rather nice fellow, some time ago, who actually went to AFRICA! Actually, he had gone to the outskirts of Lagos in Nigeria. He had also lived in AMERICA for a while. Actually, it was Queens. So he had actually travelled to three places, including Guyana. But then he talked with such authority about Africa -- that big, diverse, complex continent in which I lived for six years (please notice that there are no redundant adjectives).

He said things like this: “Everywhere in Africa you see palaces!” and “Everyone is RICH!” Then he proceeded to let me know, in the Queens accent, that the Guyana Police Force must be trained in “stuff”. Goodness knows what “stuff” means, like “issues”. That, too, is okay, as if our good policemen and policewomen simply jump into uniforms as if by magic.

At the December 16 ceremony that honoured the fine achievements of some of our cops, the training shone through.

Service above and beyond, and I take this opportunity to congratulate them all, especially Shiv Bacchus, Best Cop; but many others too, for the naming of whom there is no space here.

What bothers me about these grand statements and even grander claims is that, when they are written, they are downright embarrassing: the wild claims; the exaggerations; the gossip that passes for analysis; the awful language; the self-serving egos; the narcissism; the complete ignoring of any kind of objectivity, and balance and coherence; the base ordinariness of all of which a first-semester student would blush at.

The lack of honour bothers even more, since a single incident (always personal, of course!) is an excuse to insult everyone and the nation itself.

The Minister of Public Security is intolerant of crooked cops, for instance. So is the Chief of Staff of the GDF and Commissioner of the GPF. I am optimistic that they will act against all in the joint services who dishonour the respective uniforms. One of the justifications for this optimism is the fact that the intelligent and intellectually adroit cops are being advanced in very speedy ways. Advancement is now performance-based.

There is a tangible sense of the GPF being much more active against crime of all sorts in Berbice, and we ought to say a simple thank you to the conscientious ones out there.

We ought, also, to try to redeem those that are bribe-takers, mischief- makers, bullies; the crude and rude. The new GPF will help to change them, but they need to want to change.

Genuine change does not come from outside-in; it comes from inside-out.

Linden man found dead on abandoned land

THE residents of old Kara Kara in Linden were, over the past two days, forced to investigate the reason behind an unbearably foul smell emanating from an abandoned land.

To their shock, it was the smell of a partially decomposed body found lying in the grass.

The body belonged to Francis Peters of 43 Old Kara Kara, Mackenzie Linden. He was 53 years old. Even though partially decomposed, this body was identified by residents on the scene, and identity was confirmed at the Wismar Hospital Mortuary on Friday evening by his niece.

According to Police E’ Division Commander Calvin

Brutus, the state of decomposition suggested that death had occurred approximately four days ago.

The body bore no marks of violence, hence murder has been ruled out. The dead man’s sister, Barbara Peters, told this publication that she had last seen her brother on Boxing Day. Residents recalled seeing him up to last Wednesday selling grapes in the vicinity of the market.

Francis Peters had been a staunch Seventh-day Adventist who visited church every Saturday. He is remembered as a very jovial person, and is survived by two children and his sister, who remembers raising him from the age of five.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

The arts as pawn of politics and ideology

IT IS seldom realized that though art enriches, it also enslaves, and then it redeems. We celebrate, in the season of Christmas, the time-space of a Mystic Sage from Nazareth, His birth and life. If His biographers are correct, then He is indeed a tremendous soul. He defied age-long traditions and sacred sects; He touted the egalitarian state, challenging who is without sin; and today an entire religion is ascribed to this Man, who declared we are all children of God. His name was Jesus. By His wisdom and gifts, He became the “Christ.”

In Khemet [Egypt], where His parents had returned, as the scriptures say, on the instructions of an Angel, there He was schooled in their mystery systems; and in Khemet, they would have called Him Maa Kheru , which meant ‘made true the voice’ [word] of the cosmic law giver, the Goddess Maat.

He changed the ancient world as no other did, His gospel influenced Ethiopia and Kush long before it was embraced by Rome. His mother, Mary, and His countrymen did not look like, and so how did the world arrive at, the portraits of Christ now accepted?

It took the sponsorship of a colonising new religion, Roman Catholicism, in the Mediaeval age, which adopted Jesus the “Christ” and His ministry, with some additions, as their state religion to harness the incredible artistic talents of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and many others to construct epic romantic graphics to tell a distorted and fantastic story in art to an illiterate population.

But the Renaissance, as that period in European history is called, was also political. It constituted the indoctrination to remove the eclipsing influence of the Moors and Islam on European culture and Christianity, rejecting all that reminded them of the 800 years of Moorish influence, including their African ethnicity, thus the necessity of the art of the Renaissance.

This is the art that continues to enthrall the educated world of today with its standards and hypnotic imagery, art that is now woven into the tapestry of our human story.

This paragraph is a narrative of art under the instruction of Politics, Religion, and the ambitions of Empire, fulfilling the task as a master secret weapon.

Recently, I mourned the attack in France directed at the publishing house whose cartoons depicted the Prophet Mohammed in a derogatory way. I couldn’t justify the violence, because two can play that propaganda game; and with the hardware the groups that claimed sponsorship for that bastardly act have, they can publish a major response.

Then, as an Afro–Guyanese, I know that there have been no other variations of the human species whose image, culture and spirituality have been maligned more by every medium that is artistically available over the last three hundred years in the colonising western world. And

aspects still persist today, just pick up a children’s story of the Bible, of Egypt, the History of the World, and even respected journals, and it’s there -- artistic fiction for those who can see. The problem is that seeing and wanting to fix it is not alone enough of a force, for that’s where the other business of finance steps in.

To put it bluntly, a nation that ignores the importance of its arts will not survive within its sovereign self for too long. Forbes Burnham understood that. Let’s flash back a little to a pivotal experience. I was at Kuru Kuru College in its formative years when, because we were sleeping on “jackasses” [not the animal], my fellow pioneers [not GNS] implored the barrack room artist to compose a protest so we can have beds. After all, we were human, and I eagerly complied.

We lodged it at the office of the Principal, Mr. Basil Armstrong. The beds and mattresses came, delivered

by Mr Haynes himself, the Minister of Cooperatives.

Months passed, then finally, in 1973, the Co-op College was opened. The Prime Minister, Mr Burnham, opened it. We were gathered there but weren’t necessarily listening to his speech, until he asked about the artist who had forced his government to buy beds for us.

I wanted to sink into the sand. Gordon, “Pointer,” Tilak, Bamfield -- my buddies -- gave me up, so I stood as this towering man spoke. I heard nothing. The only part I remembered was when he said: “Tell the story of our heroes with your talent.” I replied, “Yes, Sir.” He corrected me that I was his comrade; comrade, as in socialist comrade.

That philosophy didn’t essentially succeed in Guyana, but it did allow the state to remove certain important social fetters and barriers.

What Prime Minister Burnham did back then was to jolt me and numerous others into the reality of questioning who our heroes are. That was the first question I asked the late Skipper Gordon, who managed us, that evening. He had answers about past events I had never heard about or, in some cases, had heard but had not paid attention to.

We were in a comfortable imported cultural vacuum with some attractive glimpses of ourselves, like Quamina’s “Tides of Susanburg” and James Sydney’s radio narration of Edgar Mittelholzer’s “My Bones and my Flute.” They were great radio dramas, but were not packaged for export or for ingestion by the wider public consciousness. The most direct artistic secret weapon, to my memory, were the first comic books given out freely in Guyana from my boyhood days, political comic books distributed by the United Force, showing the said Evils of Communism.

Classic Cold War stuff, they painted a most grim picture. Just read the artwork of armed Russian troops monitoring everything, from poll stations to conversations.

Communism was illustrated as a gruesome development to the young and not-so-young minds that absorbed those comics. They were aggressive. Art also served negative industry. Camel cigarettes, with their devastating health implications, were graphically marketed to an unsuspecting world. But the arts are also vehicles for social change. The play-turned-movie, “To Kill a mocking bird”, as well as the short-lived anti-racist comics that evolved after WW2 in the USA, are excellent examples.

We will soon be celebrating our 50th independence anniversary. Key figures of this administration understand where we need to go in this context. The resurfacing of the independent local arts will occur, for the talent pool is there. The new digital world is upon us; we’ll discuss its implications next week.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

– Washington DC

Why do countries keep foreign reserves?

FOREIGN exchange reserves are now generally maintained by countries to meet their international payment obligations. Included in those obligations are the financing of imports; payment of foreign debts; and, every now and then, targeted intervention by the central bank in the currency markets when they have made the calculated conclusion that the local currency is mispriced relative to the dominant foreign currency - usually the US dollar.

This intervention by the central bank is designed to boost the confidence of the market by demonstrating that the country does have the ability to meet its external financial obligations, and can absorb any unforeseen external shocks, contingencies, or unexpected capital movements.

In a nutshell, this illustrates one of the most important jobs of the Bank of Guyana.

HOW LARGE A STASH IS ENOUGH? The net foreign reserves controlled by the Bank of Guyana on behalf of the Cooperative Republic constitutes mainly holding of gold, foreign currency balances with foreign banks, and international reserve assets assigned to Guyana by the IMF (called SDRs). The adequacy of foreign reserves was traditionally measured by the level of such reserves in relation to months of imports. The standard rule-of-thumb measurement is that the international reserves should cover greater than four months’ worth of imports.

As at the end of October 2015, Guyana has foreign reserves to cover 4½ months of imports. Although over the minimum benchmark, this is the lowest coverage level since 2008, when the import cover was recorded at 2½ months. Using this benchmark, the best year over the last 10 years was 2010, when Guyana had an import cover of 6¼ months. Since 2010, import cover has been diluting mainly as a result of the material increase in the fuel prices (a primary commodity imported into Guyana) during the years 2011 to 2014.

In 2014, the situation was slightly more complex. Higher imports in 2014 were also driven by the major construction projects, such as the Marriott Hotel project, which created huge demands for imported steel and cement. This served to compound already high cost of imported oil for most of that year.

At the same time, there was a meltdown in the sugar prices received by Guyana as a result of a change in the

pricing regime by the EU. So there is a clear economic explanation for the depletion of the reserves during the years 2011 to 2014.

However, there is a serious anomaly for 2015. Why, in a year of depressed oil prices and lower imports, are we seeing a decline in the import cover? Imports are expected to be some US$200 million lower in 2015 than in 2014. This can only mean one thing: the productive sectors of the economy are really not securing great prices, and remittance is down; thus this is further causing a depletion of our foreign reserves.

In October 2015, the international reserves were logged at some US$600 million, which was the lowest level since July 2010. Let me emphasise: in October 2015, Guyana had the lowest levels of international reserves for the last 5 years. This is a situation that demands full and serious attention from the policy-makers at the highest level.

The slide in our foreign reserves began since September 2012, when it was recorded at US$825 million. The international reserves dwindled by some $225 million between September 2012 and October 2015. Most of this dilution happened under the Ramotar administration, but what has not changed since the Ramotar administration left office is that the decline in the international reserves did not cease; actually, it continued.

From May 2015 to October 2015 (a 5-month period under the new coalition government), the international foreign reserves declined by US$15 million, and this is happening during a period when the economic growth rate has flattened; economic confidence remains lukewarm, and the private sectors have not aggressively pursued their investment strategy. This is a recipe for producing a poison pill for economic growth, and it is happening in postMay 2015.

What if the private sector had chosen an aggressive risk-seeking strategy with big investments? How would this economy handle the increased demands for imports like steel and cement? This would have meant further depletion in the foreign reserves, because the income for Guyana in US dollars remained rather flat in 2015.

There is a lot of “singing and dancing” about meeting targets, but is that what really matters? What matters is how much foreign currency the sugar, rice and

gold industries have brought to the table in 2015. To expand on this statement, the seven sisters (gold, rice, sugar, bauxite, timber, seafood and cash crop/coconuts) have not earned enough foreign currency in 2015 to positively affect the foreign reserves and allow this nation to do what it ought to be doing in 2016. To support this statement on the seven sisters, the unit price of sugar is expected to decline by 15 percent compared to 2014; rice is expected to record a decline of 16 percent in its unit price over the same period; bauxite will record a decline of 5 percent, and gold a decline of 7 percent.

So where is the new foreign currency earnings coming from?

Conclusion It is from this angle that one expects a more robust management of the economy in the post-Ramotar era. This kind of economic performance cannot be excused away; it has to be strategized upon, with a view to rolling out strategies to turn the economy around and mitigate the risk in the productive sector to boost their capacity to generate revenue.

The Bank of Guyana has, over the years, done an excellent job at managing the monetary policy of the nation; but may I humbly recommend one amendment of policy -- cease any operation that sells foreign currency, to allow the foreign currency rate to depreciate at its natural rate for now. This is very important to boost our competitiveness in the global marketplace.

It is my considered view that the Guyana dollar is slightly overvalued. Such policy action will serve the valuable role of making imports more expensive and our exports more competitive. This is the boost that the cash crop farmers need to compete against the imported grapes and apples and canned pigeon peas.

This brings out an important point that is not funny at all. I watched that picture and video of His Excellency President Granger sitting at the head table at the Police Officers Christmas Breakfast with bowls and bowls of imported apples and grapes. Shame on the leadership of the police for placing the President in such an embarrassing position! Could they not buy local fruits in the land of many fruits? What really happened to our “buy local” campaign? That is the question for next week.

HINDS’SIGHT

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

Dr David Hinds

11

Playing smart, but not being clever

- the PPP is trying to divide the coalition NOT for the first time have I been labelled a racist and extremist by the PPP leadership. The latest such labelling came from the pen of that party’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee, who identified a group of persons whom he claims are trying to push the government to take extremist positions.

According to him, this group, which includes Lincoln Lewis, Dr. Clive Thomas, Tacuma Ogunseye and Eric Phillips, is driven by racist interests and vengeance against the PPP. He further claimed that at the heart of this group’s actions are political and ideological differences.

Ogunseye and Lewis have already responded to him. Others not named have also weighed in. The quick responses are testimony to the seriousness of the charges made by Rohee. As Ogunseye reminds us, Mr Rohee is trained in the art of war-propaganda. One of the advantages the Rohees of the PPP have over the Jagdeos is their grasp of political history. They may distort that history, but you can’t fault them for knowing it; after all, they were there.

I said the foregoing to argue that Rohee and the PPP set out in that letter to do what they think is a winning strategy — drive wedges between the forces in the governing coalition. The first part of the script has been in full swing since 2011: Drive a wedge between the AFC and the PNC. In this regard, the PPP has been relentless. The intent is to tarnish the image of the AFC Indian Guyanese leadership in the eyes of that constituency; to paint them as going against the natural wishes of the flock. The nasty attacks on Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan, and latterly on Anand Goolsarran and Christopher Ram, fall into this well-orchestrated campaign. The hope is that the Indian Guyanese community would punish the AFC by not voting for them and/or keeping the AFC far from the APNU. The strategy didn’t quite work at the May 11 elections, but its potency as an ethnic mobilizing tool

means that the PPP will continue to use it.

The second part of the script was laid out by Rohee in his latest letter to the press: Drive a wedge between the WPA and the PNC, and between the independent and establishment wings of the APNU. This is a more complex undertaking for the PPP. The persons named by Rohee have all been calling for a break from the corrupt governance that took strong root under the PPP. Some of us have argued that the place to start is to identify those roots and, if possible, sanction those responsible via due process. This call is part of a broader scrutiny of the government that goes beyond calling for the heads of PPP leaders. For me, I am less concerned about going after PPP leaders.

Rather, I am concerned with cleaning up government so that it can become a vessel for transformation, including equitable distribution of the country’s resources, particularly to the poor and the powerless. This can be achieved easier if corruption is minimized.

The PPP knows that governments don’t like being critiqued, particularly by those considered ‘part of the flock’. So they are playing on this weakness.

They are saying to the government leadership: “you are only pursuing PPP wrongdoing because these racist extremists are pushing you to do it.”

The hope is that the government, in wanting to prove that it is not being influenced by racists and extremists, would go easy on the PPP; and, worse yet, distance itself from the extremists. This is a case of playing smart but not being clever, as Bro Bob Marley would say.

They know how defensive governments in Guyana get at being called racist. Given the pivotal role of Indian Guyanese votes in the narrow election victory, and given the country’s general fear of confronting anything to do with race and ethnicity, they expect the government to buckle.

I can’t tell the government how to react to this latest

PPP ploy. All I can say, for now, is that I will continue to support the government and defend it against the PPP’s destabilization. I will also continue to scrutinize its actions as both a form of oversight and self-criticism or insider-critique. I will not allow the PPP’s latest ploy to deter me.

The irony is that, when very early in the government’s tenure, the PPP accused the government of extremism and ethnic cleansing, it did not attribute these accusations to those of us named by Rohee. Clearly, the PPP is playing serious propaganda games. It is simultaneously accusing the government of inherent extremism and racism and of being influenced by extremists and racists. The hope is that one or both will stick.

Maybe the PPP knows of the origins of my extremism. But what I do know is that there is nothing more extreme than a party wanting to hold on to power as a divine right. There is nothing more extreme than to preside over the slaughter of innocent poor people protesting peacefully for the right to subsidised electricity. There is nothing more extreme than knowingly exploiting the fears and insecurities of an entire group for cheap political gain. There is nothing more obscenely extreme that to distribute the country’s common resources to one’s cohorts as a means of personal enrichment.

There is nothing more racist that to use the state media to criminalize the youth of an entire ethnic group, or to exploit their social vulnerabilities for your political survival.

More of Dr. Hinds ‘writings and commentaries can be found on his YouTube Channel Hinds’ Sight: Dr. David Hinds’ GuyanaCaribbean Politics and on his website www. guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com. Send comments to dhinds6106@aol.com

12

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

2012 Agreement between Central Government and Region Ten AT the dawn of 2016, this nation is being reminded that the August 21, 2012 Agreement between Central Government (CG) and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Ten, which represents the interest of the citizens of the region, is yet to be honoured.

Given the commitment of the administration, it is the fervent hope that issues not dealt with in 2015 would be addressed in 2016; that high on the agenda will be this agreement, which ought to be honoured to the letter.

The 2012 Agreement is a litmus test for CG, by action, to demonstrate its respect for the Guyana Constitution, which protects the autonomy of the Local Democratic Organs (LDOs), which are the regional and local governments. Compliance with this agreement further brings into focus how far the operatives of this government can be trusted when making commitments to the citizens.

Given the spirit and intent of our constitution, government is elected to serve at the behest and on behalf of the people. Ours is a representative democ-

racy, where leaders are elected and paid by us to represent and serve us. It behooves us therefore, as a people, to collectively take responsibility for honouring and implementing decisions made from time to time. To fail to do so means we are failing to discharge our civic duty, and are under-representing the representative nature of our democracy.

In 2012, the opposition groups -- A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) -- supported the cause of the people of Linden/Region 10, and publicly stated that their cause was a just one. The parties to the signing of this agreement were Prime Minister Samuel Hinds on behalf of CG, Chairman Sharma Solomon on behalf of Region 10, Rupert Roopnaraine on behalf of the APNU, and Nigel Hughes on behalf of the AFC. The agreement was subsequently ta bled by Vanessa Kissoon, debated and approved by the National Assembly, the highest decision-making forum, on 27th June 2013.

This agreement brings this nation to the closest point of respecting the

spirit and intent of Article 77 of the Constitution, which speaks to the region developing its plan and CG funding it.

When the Constitution was promulgated in 1980, new forms of government were created.

Outside of the national and reconfiguration of the local authority, the country was now divided into ten administrative regions, headed by RDCs. These regions were demarcated based on informed topography, which indicates their resources within. It was expected then that each region would start its own development based on the existing/indigenous resources.

In the interim, it required continuity of dayto-day lives in the respective community. It was for this reason that CG continued to make decisions on funding available, until such time as the National Assembly, under Article 76 of the Constitution, makes laws for the regions to make and dispose of their own revenue as they deem fit. In the interim, there was a Government Order 12/1980 issued by the then PNC Minister of Regional and Nation-

al Development, Robert Corbin, which sought to give some autonomy to the LDOs. This order was undermined by the PPP government in 2006, during the stewardship of Minister of Local Government, Clinton Collymore.

Thirty-five years into the Constitution, there remains an absence of will and commitment by CG and the National Assembly to empower the RDCs, Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and municipalities. The present Constitution has seen the replacement of district commissioners with Regional Executive Officers (REOs) appointed by CG. Unfortunately, the REOs and Town Clerks have since come to operate at the behest of, and been seen as an arm of, CG. The situation has become more centralised with each passing year. We continued to see emanating from the regions programmes lacking the input of the people in the region.

It was against this backdrop, and given the known marginalisation suffered by the people, that in 2012 they stood up as one and demanded that their right be respected in

developing an indigenous economic programme to meet their needs. The position of Region 10 was guided by Articles 13, 76 and 77 of the Constitution, which speak to inclusionary democracy, CG partnering with the regions to develop their programme and the region’s economic autonomy.

There is a school of thought that national politicians do not want local institutions to operate in an autonomous manner. It is suspected they believe that ideas must not flow from the citizens and leaders in the respective regions and communities, but only from them. It is the concern that they revel in the notion that they are seen as knights in shining armour riding into the communities to distribute what they perceive to be goods for the citizens, including announcing what they think are the needs of the region.

As we mark this 50th year of political independence, even as our chests are rightly held erect with pride that we have broken the bondage of a far distant land, heads must be bowed in shame that while the colonial

authorities departed, the colonial mindset of governance continues to reign.

And this is demonstrated not only in the manner in which policies, programmes and decisions are made, but also in the conditioning of society to think that, even with political independence, we are being ruled with constant reference to our political leadership as rulers.

Let it be made clear that, nowhere in the Constitution are citizens referred as subjects, and leaders as rulers. This supreme instrument talks about representation and involvement in the management and decision-making processes of the State. Given that this is so, we are subjects of no one, but agents of our self-determination.

As such, it is not the purview of CG to say to any region or local authority that it has the right to develop programmes for those communities and their residents. There must be growth in our politics, and all efforts must be made in 2016 to deepen and strengthen our democracy.

A productive 2016 to all!

13

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

Teen fisherman stabs cousin to death

By Rabindra Rooplall

POLICE are hunting an 18-year-old fisherman who stabbed his cousin to death after a New Year’s Day celebration.

Dead is 34-year-old Ganesh Ramlakan of 127 First Street, Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara. The carpenter and father of two was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. His assailant has been identified as 18-year-old Vicky Baldeo who lived in a neighbouring yard.

According to the dead man’s relative, Richard Gowkaran, at some time after 15:00hr on New Year’s Day, he retired from taking drinks and decided to relax upstairs when he heard a commotion downstairs. Upon checking, he discovered his nephew and another relative fighting.

“I see Vicky run into the house and come out back with two knives and started to stab him about his body repeatedly. These two didn’t had any problem; Vicky was out on the road drinking and Ganesh was home drinking. Then Vicky come home and slap he (Ganesh)

behind the head, and he turn around and ask what he do that for,” the relative noted.

He said that the two men were “tumbling” on the ground when Vicky armed himself with a fisherman’s knife and another kitchen blade and began to brutally stab Ganesh about the body. It is believed that a particular stab to the man’s chest led to his eventual demise.

Gowkaran added that the teenager was also involved in a fight with him last year, and he had wanted to make a police report at the station, “but his sister begged for him.”

“He was drunk and wanted to jook me up, and his sister beg me to give him a chance. Now look what he do; he kill Ganesh!”

Concerned relatives tried to intervene, but were reluctant after Gowkaran and another family member were slashed to the hands.

Ganesh collapsed, and the cousin rushed into the home and grabbed his “fisherman” bag and made good his escape before police could have apprehended him.

A sister of the dead man said she knows of no

Vicky Baldeo, left, and his dead cousin, Ganesh Ramlakan, in happier times problem than existed between the two cousins, and that the entire family was at home and were left shocked as the incident unfolded before them.

Cane Grove man beaten to death - villagers say attackers known

By Derwayne Wills A YOUNG Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara father of one died yesterday morning as a result of injuries he sustained in a New Year’s Day altercation in which he was allegedly attacked by a group of five men in his community.

Twenty-two-year-old Deokumar Basdeo died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), but the police are currently investigating the incident, which occurred at about 21:30 hrs on New Year’s Day, one day after Basdeo had celebrated his 22nd birthday.

Basdeo’s wife, Sherry, told this newspaper that she was at her mother’s residence on the night of the incident when she received a call that her husband was badly beaten, and that he was unconscious and bleeding on the side of a roadway just around the corner from her in-laws.

On her way to the hospital yesterday morning, she received a call at about 08:30 hrs, informing her that her husband had died as a result of his injuries.

The family reminisced that the deceased had been a peaceful man who would not make trouble with anyone. They could not relate the source of the altercation between the deceased and his attackers.

They believe that the altercation was captured by a surveillance camera attached to the home of a wealthy community member for whom Basdeo worked up until his demise.

The family confirmed police investigators sought the surveillance footage from the residence, but were informed by the man’s son that the cameras were turned off at the time of the incident.

The dead man’s wife said she believes her husband was also run over by a motor vehicle after he had been beaten.

One eyewitness who claimed to have seen the entire incident said they heard a loud noise at the corner that sounded like someone had been knocked down. Upon visiting the scene, the five men were seen beating the now-dead man as he begged for his life.

Deokumar’s father, 43-year-old Kevin Basdeo, is calling for justice in the matter. The deceased man leaves to mourn his wife, extended family, and a oneyear-old son.

Crabwood Creek man stabbed to death Deokumar Basdeo and his wife in happier times The attackers were no strangers to the community. One resident confirmed that one of the attackers would frequent his mother’s home, located opposite the dead man’s family’s home. That man, believed to be from Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, was not named.

That information was related to the police and two men are consequently believed to be in police custody, according to residents, although a police press release indicated that no arrests had been made up to press time.

- first murder victim for the year

A CORENTYNE man was recorded by the Guyana Police Force as the first murder victim for the year.

Police said Asif Hafeez, 24, was stabbed to the neck following an argument with another man with whom he was drinking alcohol. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Skeldon Hospital.

At the time of his death, Hazeez lived at Crabwood Creek.

Up to press time, the Police had not arrested the suspect in the case.

Wells run dry

14

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

From page 3

June-July period, when 10 to 11 inches of rain fell, with 19 and 18 rainy days recorded for each month respectively.

The weather began to change significantly in August, when there were only 14 days of rain, with a total of 7 inches of rain. Thereafter, the figures dropped to 7 days (September), 4 days (October), and 3 days (November) of rainfalls for the months at year-end.

For the month of September, there has been 3.6 inches of rainfall, followed by 0.9 inches (October) and 1.2 inches (November).

Last month, there were a mere four days of rain, with only 1.0 inches of rainfall, and the situation continues to appear grim.

Persons on the ground told this newspaper that the levels of the main waterways in the region have dropped significantly. A resident said that, apart from the devastating impact on crops, animals such as cows and horses are being taken to the rivers and creeks for water, but if the current conditions persist, the owners will have to consider searching for alternative water sources.

At the moment, residents can walk across the St Ignatius Creek on makeshift bridges, while the level of the Takutu River has dropped significantly in certain parts, and the situation is such that persons can also walk across the national water boundary.

One resident sent pictures of a well at St Ignatius, located

less than 100 metres away from the Takutu River. The well, stretching to 33 feet in depth, is almost dry.

South of Lethem, several villages are also feeling the effects of the weather phenomenon. Dry weather conditions have been reported at villages along the Essequibo River south of Lethem, including at Sand Creek.

Pictures posted online by a recent traveller gave an illustration of the conditions, with the columns and foundation of an unfinished bridge which was built across the waterway clearly visible.

From Aishalton , former Toshao Tony James told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that residents there have been sharing wells as the source of water has been drying up in certain parts of the community.

“The weather (has) had a terrible impact on drinking water especially”, James said. He noted, however, that there have been instances of light rainfall in the past week, and residents are hoping the trend improves.

He said there is a pipe in the community which runs from a drilled well and this has been a key source of water for some families in recent weeks. However, he said, its capacity cannot fulfill the needs of most households. The community also has another older well, but he was unsure of its serviceability.

“I see the necessity for drilled wells”, James said. He said there is water in the creeks nearby, but the levels have been

dropping. Most residents take their cattle to those waterways.

Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock had told the Guyana Chronicle in October that several measures were being put in place to cope with the weather phenomenon. He had said that several standpipes were erected at villages which were severely affected by the conditions. He had explained that with the installation of the standpipes, water can be sourced from the drilled wells.

He had also noted that while the water levels in the wells may drop, they will not dry out completely.

There are 55 wells across Region 9, with more than 90% being photovoltaic (PV) system wells, while the remaining 10% includes hand-dug windmill wells and hand-dug shallow wells with Mark 11 hand pumps.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) has reported there is a 55% chance that El Nino conditions will continue into the second quarter of this year. This prediction has been based on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diagnostic discussion issued by the Climate Prediction Center (NCEP) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society in September.

As a result of the expected conditions, the Hydrometeorological Service has advised that appropriate water management practices be employed in the various sectors, and that households take action to militate against the forecasted drop in rainfall quantities.

Residents of St Ignatius in Region Nine cross a bridge which was erected across the St Ignatius Creek. In recent weeks, the water levels have dropped as El Nino weather conditions continue to affect the communities there. Residents have said that, under normal circumstances, the levels are as high as the rails on the banks of the waterway, at top right hand of the picture.

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

Swine flu case confirmed

15

- man returning from China hospitalised

DAYS after a man was flown out of the country subsequent to being detected with suspected symptoms of the H1N1 virus (swine flu), Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud confirmed that the man was in fact affected by the virus.

Speaking on Thursday at the end-of-year press conference of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Dr. Persaud highlighted, “The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, has been detected in Guyana, with one person already confirmed as having the virus.”

He explained that, after returning to Guyana from China, the 50-year-old man developed the symptoms

(body aches, chills, cough, fatigue, fever and headache) within a two-week period, and was admitted to a private city hospital, but was later transferred to another private medical institution.

The Public Health Ministry was subsequently informed.

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Laboratory in Trinidad returned the results on Wednesday evening.

As such, both the Ministry and the private hospital where the man was being treated are now taking measures to vaccinate their staff members, including doctors who were treating the sick man.

“We will be monitoring close relatives and per-

Force Account Unit maintained 359km of roads THE FORCE Account Unit, which is responsible for executing maintenance works for roads, bridges and other infrastructure, maintained approximately 359km of roads in 2015.

This is according to Works Services Group Coordinator Geoffrey Vaughn.

The Force Account Unit uses its own labour force and equipment to perform work, such as road construction or

WSG Coordinator Geoffrey Vaughn road maintenance, and has proven most useful in emergency situations.

Vaughn said the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has reportedly had a productive 2015, as work on all the bridges scheduled for maintenance has been completed.

As it relates to the expansion of the East Bank road, Vaughn pointed out that the project was divided into three lots. Lot one, which runs from Providence to Covent Garden, EBD, was awarded to Dipcon Engineering Services in the amount of US$8,003,265.38.

However, that contract was terminated and a section of the lot was awarded to BK International Inc. Lot two, which spans from Vreed-en-Rust to Prospect, EBD, was awarded to GEM Ltd. & Gaico Construction in the amount of US$5,802,640.80, and was completed in May 2015.

Lot three, running from Prospect to Great Diamond, was awarded to BK International Inc. in the amount of US$3,444,060.07, was completed a month later.

Vaughn further noted that the feasibility studies for East Bank Berbice/Region 6, for Phase 2 -- Stanleytown to Everton -- and the East Bank Demerara road from Grove to Timehri, are completed and are awaiting approval. The feasibility study for Canals Nos.1 and 2 and other West Bank Demerara roads has been terminated due to non-performance.

In relation to the Miscellaneous and Urban Roads Programme for rehabilitation and construction in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10, totals of $509M and $570M respectively were budgeted for these works.

The year-end report shows that the Sea and River Defence Sector is currently benefiting from two major donors. These are Government of Guyana/Caribbean Development Bank Sea and River Defence Resilience Project and the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Budget Support Programme.

sons who would have come in contact with him, but, at this point, there is no

assured that there is no need to panic, as medical institutions are prepared to deal

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud

Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton

need for screening, because a case has not been confirmed,” Dr. Persaud explained.

While this is not good news for Guyana, Dr Persaud

with such occurrences.

Among the symptoms for H1N1 are chills, fever, coughing, sore throat, runny

or stuffy nose, body aches, fatigue, and diarrhoea.

The Public Health Ministry has been monitoring the situation over the last 12 months, and has not detected any other H1N1 case in Guyana.

Dr Persaud has said that the Public Health Ministry has had an active disease surveillance system in place, particularly at the main ports in Guyana – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the Ogle International Airport.

In dealing with the H1N1 virus and any other types of influenza, the Public Health Ministry has been using the “Keep Ebola and other Infectious Disease out of Guyana Strategy”, by implementing precautionary measures. That strategy focuses on six main areas: coordination and con-

trol; rapid detection, isolation and risk reduction; points of entry; clinical management; laboratory diagnosis; and information, education and communication.

“So we monitor all incoming flights, and what is mandatorily required is that the flight attendants provide, upon arrival of every commercial flight, general flight declaration. A significant part of that flight declaration is a health declaration for them to provide (information on whether) there was any sick patient on board, if there was coughing, or if any of the passengers would have experienced fever,” the CMO explained.

It was further pointed out that the Ministry has taken a decision to boost its medical team operating at CJIA Medical Centre.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

TB prevalence in Region Four remains high THE prevalence of Tuberculosis (TB) remains high in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), with 257 new cases recorded during the period January to October, 2015.

In fact, Region Four accounts for more than 50% of the 439 new cases of Tuberculosis recorded as at the end of October, 2015. This is according to the National TB Register.

TB is an infectious disease which is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, and can be detected if persons are plagued with a bad cough that has lasted in excess of three weeks; if that person is coughing blood; is experiencing pain in the

chest; is having a persistent fever, or is experiencing persistent fatigue and night sweats.

The disease remains extremely low in Regions Five, Eight and Nine, with a total of 18 new cases recorded in those regions. Region Nine, however, has recorded the lowest incidence – two; and Region Five the highest – 10.

In Regions One, Two, Three, Six, Seven and 10, new cases ranged between 15 and 37, with Region Seven recording the lowest and Region Three the highest.

The co-infection rate as it relates to the number of

persons in Guyana infected with both Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a major concern, Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton told Guyana

Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton Chronicle yesterday.

Between the period January 2015 and October 2015, new cases amounting to 363 were tested for HIV. However, only 89 were returned positive. Despite that, the co-infection rate appears to have declined when compared with 2014 (109).

Minister Norton maintains that the rate among key populations remains high, contending that many of the cases, though recorded at health centres across the country, are not being handed down to the central body.

According to Minister Norton, Guyana must effectively counter HIV in order to significantly reduce the number of new TB cases. As such, he said, the UNAIDS 2016-2021 Strategy comes at a critical time.

With a universal agenda firmly grounded in evidence and rights-based approaches, the strategy maps out the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to accelerate the AIDS response over the next five years, to reach critical HIV prevention and treatment targets in addition to achieving zero discrimination.

The National Tuberculosis Programme and the Guyana Chest Society continue to work closely with the National AIDS Programme Secretariat to curb the number of tuberculosis cases, except in particular persons who are co-infected.

In addition to the co-infected cases, Minister Norton said failure to adhere to the treatment regime remains a major problem for the Health Ministry and its supporting arms. It was explained that many persons infected with Tuberculosis and HIV continue to be defaulters by failing to take their prescribed medication.

“We have been doing so well in the prisons, but when these infected prisoners leave (the prisons), they do not follow up with their treatment plan. We have the same problem with migrant workers and persons operating in the interior,” the Health Minister explained.

Among the programmes introduced in the country to reduce and prevent tuberculosis is the D.O.T.S (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course) initiative. The D.O.T.S programme is designed to tackle the disease from the initial stage, which is infection. If a patient is diagnosed with the TB disease, he/she will be attached to a D.O.T.S worker, who has the core responsibility of visiting the patient’s home, school, or work place to observe the patient take each dose of their medication. This process allows patients to be cured within six to nine months.

Some D.O.T patients even absent themselves from their homes, schools or places of work on their appointed date with D.O.T.S workers.

17

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

State repossesses hangar of ‘Cash Jet’ pilot THE Ministry of Public Infrastructure has taken a decision not to renew the lease for a hangar located at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Embattled cash-jet pilot Khamraj Lall, who used the hangar, was nabbed

by Puerto Rican authorities in a high-profile arrest in November, 2014, while transporting more than US$600,000 in cash aboard his jet. He is facing up to two years in jail.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said Lall’s representatives had written to Attorney General Basil Williams, claiming that they still had a stake in the property but were told that the clear condition on the lease is that, once it expired, the State could repossess the property.

The lease expired on October 15 last year, and following legal advice from the Attorney General, a decision was taken not to renew the agreement.

“We wrote, in accordance

with the lease, advising them that we will have no intention of renewing the lease and they were free to remove

Embattled cash-jet pilot, Khamraj Lall any moveable objects and properties that they would have on the land,” Patterson noted.

The Minister noted that the CJIA could make a lot of money in facilitating the arrival and departure of cargo. Meanwhile, Government will also be seeking avenues to forfeit all illegal gains made by Lall through

money laundering and drug smuggling.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said: “There are assets here in Guyana, and it is in the interest of the State to ensure that those assets are secured in the event that we have to take further steps or actions.”

Under the deal with the U.S. Government, Lall pleaded guilty to one count of concealing more than US$10,000 in his plane, and attempting to transfer it outside of the U.S. to Guyana. He would have been facing up to five years’ imprisonment on a number of charges if he had opted for a trial and had been found guilty.

Lall, who operated the Timehri hangar and controlled KayLees Gas Station at Coverden, East Bank Demerara, has agreed that other assets may be subject to forfeiture, as there is still a pending civil matter for the seizure of assets in New Jersey, another U.S. territory where he has homes,

vehicles, cash and other properties.

In July 2015, Lall was also charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and importation of co-

caine into the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Marangola, who is handling the case, said that according to the indictment, between De-

cember 2013 and February 10, 2015, the defendant conspired to bring more than five kilogrammes of cocaine from Guyana into the United States.

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SUDOKU

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

CROSSWORD

January 1 Solution

January 1 Solution

SUNDAY CHRONICLE January 3, 2016

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

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Late Stokes burst ...

From Page 24 to a stunning one-handed catch at third slip by Morris for 27 off the bowling of Rabada.

Cook, who won the toss, and Hales shared a 55-run partnership, the first 50-run open partnership in the last eight English test innings. South Africa’s bowlers all took a pounding with Rabada’s figures of 3-74 the best.

“The margin for errors were small and so it was tough. We’ve just got to go out tomorrow and attack and get some early wickets,” Rabada said.

Debutant Morris finished with 1-99 off 20 overs as the absence of Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott was felt by the home team.

England won the first Test in Durban by a convincing 241 runs.

24

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

Riddim Squad tame Western Tigers 2-1 to lift GFA/ -New Amsterdam United overhaul Santos 4-2 Banks Beer Cup

By Stephan Sookram

RIDDIM Squad successfully tamed the Western Tigers to earn the 2 million-dollar purse in this year’s Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer Knock Out football tournament during Friday evening’s final at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence The Riddim Squad side looked the better team on the

night with more cohesive plays and were rewarded when Amos Ramsay successfully converted his team’s chance and gave the East Bank side the lead in the 49th minute.

More and more attacks continued from the Riddim Squad side with their opponents featuring in a few runs of their own that failed to materialise in the final third.

It took a penalty to bring the scores level again after a Western player was brought down in

the box.

Randolph Wagner, the tournament’s eventual leading goal-scorer (seven goals) successfully converted the penalty in the 72nd minute, which triggered the Western supporters in attendance.

Their cheers however were short-lived as the Riddim Squad side quickly regained the lead through Delon John in the 80th minute.

Coming down the left

wing, John, with all the space he needed, pulled of a finesse finish through a curling chip which swung sweetly into the region of the last post and right between the uprights, setting the Stadium afire with noise from the Riddim Squad- based side.

With the win, the East Bankbased side are now $2M richer and have etched their names in the history books as winners of the tournament, while Western will go home with $1 M.

Senior Riddim squad player and stand-in captain Sceyon Hope, contended that his win was due to a better team performance, adding that the support of fans spurred his team to the win.

Meanwhile ,New Amsterdam United carted off $500,000 and third place for their efforts in the play off when they beat Santos FC 4-2 George Hinckson opened the scoring in the ninth minute after Travis Williams pro-

advantage to England who lead the four-Test series 1-0.

Hales, in his second Test, was out for 60 to a sharp catch from AB de Villiers in the slips after getting an edge to a lifting ball from Morne Morkel.

His patient innings off 140 balls should, however, allow him more time to cement a regular role as captain Alastair Cook’s opening partner.

“It was a good contest between bat and ball but Stokes’s innings got the bowlers, who were sleeping on the physio’s couches, out to come and watch,” Hales told reporters. “He always provides something spectacular”.

Root made 50 before giving debutant Chris Morris his first Test wicket when he nibbled at a ball and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

Nick Compton was five runs short of his 50 when he pulled to midwicket and was caught by Temba Bavuma off the bowing of Kagiso Rabada with the last ball before tea.

`ENGLAND 1st innings A. Cook c Morris b Rabada 27 A. Hales c de Villiers b M. Morkel 60 N. Compton c Bavuma b Rabada

45 J. Root c de Kock b Morris 50 J. Taylor c de Kock b Rabada 0 B. Stokes not out 74 J. Bairstow not out 39 Extras (b-10 lb-1 nb-4 w-7) 22 Total (for 5 wickets, 87 overs)

come to an end.” Pressed for an explanation, Simmons indicated that he’s no longer wanted by the Warriors and expects to be drafted by the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel.

A few days ago, the CPL announced a number of changes to its player-draft format for 2016.

According to the new rules, the six franchise teams will be allowed to sign one “marquee” player as a free agent before the draft process begins. The CPL also disclosed that over the last two months the teams have been in negotiations with the best players in world cricket and will be announcing their marquee stars within the first few weeks of this month.

The number of players that the franchises can retain before the player draft

has been reduced from four to three, whilst the squad size has been increased from 16 to 17 for the new season.

Further changes to the rules include the number of players who must live in the franchise territory being reduced from four to two, whilst the limit on overseas players has increased from four to five. 2015 also saw the introduction of ICC Americas players, with two being selected for the Tridents and Patriots squads.

In 2016, at least six ICC Americas players will be guaranteed a contract.

Overall, the salary cap for each team has increased to US$780k from US$600k.

Commenting on the changes to the format, Tom Moody, International Director of Cricket for the CPL, said: “Our aim each year is

duced goal number two for the Berbice side Jamal Butts’s double in the 52nd and 78th seemed to sink the Santos side even further before a Dwayne McLennon double (84th and 87th) saw some signs of life from the Georgetown-based side.

T he Sa n t o s s i d e g o t $250,000 for their efforts in the tournament, which saw a large turnout of fans.

Late Stokes burst gives England the edge

By Mark Gleeson

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters)-Ben Stokes struck a sparkling unbeaten 74 to help England finish the opening day of the second test against South Africa on a healthy 317 for five at Newlands yesterday.

Stokes top-scored for the touring side with Alex Hales and Joe Root also contributing half-centuries and Jonny Bairstow ending on 39 not out in an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 94.

Stokes took to the tiring South African bowling in the last hour of a hot day, seeing off the threat of the new ball with a cavalier approach that gave the

Ben Stokes brought up a valuable halfcentury with some attacking shots.

Sweeping changes likely ...

From Backpage

the fourth edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft takes place next month.

T h e Wa r r i o r s h a v e failed to win any of the three tournaments despite reaching the finals in 2013 and 2014 and being knocked out in last year’s semi-final versus Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel; and this has reportedly not gone down well with the authorities in charge of the Guyana-based franchise.

In 2013, under coach Roger Harper and skippered by former Guyana and West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Warriors went down to the

Jamaica Talllawahs by seven wickets after being restricted to 128 for five in their allotted 20 overs. The Tallawahs replied with 129 for three in 17.3 overs.

The following year, under the same coach and captain, the Warriors lost to the Barbados Tridents in a rainmarred controversial final.

Chasing a challenging 153 for victory after the Tridents had reached 152 for six, the Warriors were 107 for four in 15.5 overs when the rains intervened, thereby going down via the Duckworth-Lewis system.

The fate of marquee off-spinner Sunil Narine is also in the balance, with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) advising recently

that the Trinidadian will not be allowed to participate in the Nagico limited overs tournament, due to commence on January 7 after his bowling action was deemed illegal by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Whether or not Narine’s eligibility will be under scrutiny by the CPL authorities is left to be seen. He has already been retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders for this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.

Narine’s Trinidadian compatriot Lendl Simmons, through is Facebook page, has already indicated that he’s not returning to the Amazon Warriors, posting: “It was a good three years in yellow and green, but all good things

The 20-year-old Rabada, replacing the injured Dale Steyn, took two wickets in as many balls either side of the interval. James Taylor fell straight after tea playing a big drive to a wide ball to be caught behind for a golden duck.

The first England wicket to fall was Cook who fell See Page 23

SCOREBOARD 317 Fall of wickets: 1-55 A. Cook,2-129 A. Hales,3-167 N. Compton,4-167 J. Taylor,5-223 J. Root To bat: M. Ali, S. Broad, J. Anderson, S. Finn Bowling: M. Morkel 18 - 3 - 51 1(w-1), C. Morris 22 - 3 - 99 – 1, K. Rabada 19 - 2 - 74 - 3(nb-4 w-), D. Piedt 21 - 5 - 63 - 0 S. van Zyl 5 - 0 - 12 – 0, D. Elgar 2 - 0 - 7 – 0.

to make CPL even bigger and better so that we can attract the best T20 players in the world and make it as entertaining as possible for the fans. Over the past few months we’ve worked alongside the franchise owners to make sure that the 2016 player draft is open and competitive so that the buzz and excitement of CPL will start building from January right through to the tournament launch in the summer.

From early January 2016 we’ll start to reveal the franchise marquee players and the retained players, so that by the time the draft comes around in February fans will already have plenty to talk about.”

The 2016 Hero CPL Player Draft will take place in February 2016 with further announcements due in the coming weeks.

25

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

The Inside edge Rohan Kanhai 80 not out

ROHAN Bholalall Kanhai, the world-class batting supremo, first saw the light of dawn on December 26, 1935, some 80 years ago on Plantation Port Mourant in Berbice.

He was simply a natural batting genius possessed of hawk-like reflexes, nimble footwork, an impeccable defence and all the strokes in the manual, including a few that he invented of his own.

He thrilled thousands the world over with his flamboyant, attacking style of play during which he indulged in 421 first-class games inclusive of 79 Tests and seven one day internationals in an illustrious career spanning two decades.

Kanhai came to the fore in the early 1950s as one of the charges under the late Sir Clyde Walcott (a member of the famous 3 Ws clan), who was appointed to coach on the sugar estates.

His natural flair for batting coupled with his ability to learn quickly propelled him into the national team in 1955 at the age of 19.

In his debut inter-colonial game against Barbados at the Kensington Oval, he made only 14 and one, but later that same year he did impress with scores of 51 and 27 in a tour match against the visiting Australians, whose attack included the famous four of Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Ritchie Benaud and Alan Davidson.

A year later, he registered his first, first-class hundred (129) against Jamaica and a superbly fashioned 195 off Barbados. He also added scores of 62, 90 and 117 in the trial matches which earned him a place in the 1957 squad to England.

There, burdened with

the double roles of opener and wicketkeeper, Kanhai had a moderate series compiling only 206 runs at 22.88 per innings. However, his class was evident and he duly kept his place for Pakistan’s inaugural

for 42 years as the highest individual Test score by anyone in India.

His appetite now opened, he was run out for a splendid 99 in his very next innings in Madras and not surprisingly, he accu-

Rohan Kanhai

tour to the Caribbean in 1958.

For this series he was relieved of the wicketkeeping duties, but was still requested to open the batting in four of the five games, although he relished batting in the middle-order from where he stroked a polished 96 in the Barbados Test.

The batting stylist then toured India and Pakistan in 1958-59, but by the end of the second Test in Kanpur, he had played 13 matches without recording a century, although he had chalked up three 50s and had had several good starts.

In the third Test in Calcutta, he came of age, producing a truly monumental innings of 256-his highest Test score-which stood

mulated 538 runs in the rubber at the excellent rate of 67.25 runs per knock to carry West Indies to a 3-nil series win.

On the Pakistan leg for the three-match engagement, he was off to a slow start but produced another awesome display of brilliant batsmanship in the final game in Lahore to garner 217. This was good enough to earn the guests a victory, although the series was lost 2-1.

When the English visited the Region in 1960, the stalwart batted for over six hours at the Queen’s Park Oval for a restrained and disciplined 110 in a failed effort to save the West Indies from defeat as the five-Test series was lost 1-nil.

By the time the historic

1960-61 tour to Australia came around, Kanhai was at the pinnacle of his game. He cracked a chanceless 252 against Victoria early on the tour, during which he invented the extra-ordinary “falling hook” that became his trademark shot.

On this particular tour, he excelled by constructing twin tons in the Adelaide Test (117 & 115) and totalled in excess of 1000 runs in all first-class matches on tour.

The batting maestro, dubbed the “Corentyne Thunder,” was now terrorising bowlers everywhere. Against india at home in 1962 he aggregated 495 runs; in England in 1963 he scored another 497, including a most belligerent 77 in only 88 minutes with 10 blistering fours and a six; in 1965 against the Aussies in the Caribbean, he churned out 402 more runs.

He slipped a notch on the tour to England in 1966, compiling just 324 runs at 40.50 runs per innings over five tests, but he had the pleasure of reaching his first century on english soil-a compact 104 at the oval in the final encounter.

He bounced back on the tour to india in 196768 with 227 runs at 56.75 in only three tests, and when the West Indies hosted England in 1968, he accumulated an additional 535 runs at the impressive average of 59.44 runs each time he batted.

In the series against England, he powered his way to 153 in the fourth match in Trinidad and an exhilarating 150 in the final game at Bourda, where he and Gary Sobers went on a rampage.

After a moderate tour to Australia in 1968-69, Kanhai opted out of the three-test duel in England

during the 1969 summer to rest and in the process broke a sequence of playing 61 consecutive matches.

A late call up to be a part of the team for the first test against India at Sabina Park in 1971 did not deter him, as he proceeded to plunder an unbeaten 158 in the second innings after the West Indies were forced to follow on. His superb effort ensured the match was drawn and he ended the series with 433 more runs to his credit.

At this juncture of his career, he was contracted to Warwickshire in the English county championship in which he passed 1000 runs for each of the 10 years he played and shared in huge record-breaking partnerships with Billy Ibadulla (402) and John Jameson (465) as he got stuck into the opposition.

Kanhai was not invited to be a part of the first series of New Zealand to the Region in 1972, as the selectors “blooded” Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran, but after leading Guyana to a first Shell Shield title in 1973, he was named captain for the home series against the Aussies later that year.

The West Indies lost the series 2-nil, mainly due to a lack of penetrative bowlers, but the captain acquitted himself well and led from the front. His first three innings produced scores of 84, 105 and 56 as he garnered 358 runs at 51.14 per innings.

In mid-1973 he led the team to a 2-nil triumph in England, which ended a barren seven-year period.

In a mammoth West Indies victory at Lord’s, he and Sobers marked their final Test in England with breathtaking knocks of 157 and 150 not out, respectively.

By Edwin Seeraj

He retained the captaincy for the English return visit to the West Indies in 1974, but after leading the side to a resounding seven-wicket victory in the first Test in Trinidad and three successive draws, the team faltered in the final game, ending the series 1-1.

Coupled with his meagre returns in the series and the fact that he was now 39, the selectors thanked him for his great services and appointed his fellow Guyanese Clive Lloyd as captain for the trip to Asia in 1974-75.

Kanhai also had the distinction of being at the helm when the West Indies contested their first ever one day international match in 1973 and played an invaluable innings in the 1975 World Cup final, during which he partnered Clive Lloyd in a match-winning stand of 149 after the team had stuttered at 50 for three.

He continued to grace the first-class field for a couple more years before he retired, bathed in the glory of having engraved his name in the pages of history as a batsman of the highest order.

He coached the Jamaican senior team in the 1980s, then took up a similar position with the regional side a few years later.

Kanhai currently resides in England.

Records Tests: 79 runs: 6227 avg: 47.53 centuries: 15 hs: 256 vs ind, calcutta, 1958-59 ODIs: 7 runs: 164 avg: 54:66 hs: 55 vs Eng, Leeds, 1973 & vs Aust, Lord’s, 1975

26

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

UDFA GT BEER FINAL

Gittens’ last-gasp effort lands Winners Connection record hat-trick of wins

By Joe Chapman

THE reliable and durable forward Rawle “Boney” Gittens showed his class with a stunning right-footer that soared past the defenders as the Winners Connection retained the year-end GT Beer title with a 1-0 pip of Silver Shattas in the final of the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) championship, as the fans flooded the gates to see a full house in attendance at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground on New Year’s night.

This game would enter the record books because the eventual result could not be repeated and the Winners Connection remains unbeaten in the championship for a third successive year.

Gittens, in tandem with Marmalaque Davidson, had taken the battle to their opponents and at times it was the skill of Ray Fraser, the left- back defence who overlapped constantly to push his side forward, which allowed the forward thrusts by the Shattas strikers Rawlston Fraser and Colwyn David chances to keep their hopes alive in this game.

The game was a hugely competitive one with the teams displaying skill and power, and the crowd was in it early after the Winners Connection seemed like taking the upper hand.

But the Shattas, com-

ing into this game with an outside chance, did themselves proud and their loyal supporters were satisfied with their brilliant display at times.

After the Winners Connection seemingly looked the better side early on, the initiative would also swing periodically for the Shattas as they were not to be outdone in this huge final Urged on by their supporters, they did not give the Winners Connection any free pass, but for some odd times when their defence lapsed; but at one stage Davidson and Gittens failed to make the best of such chances.

At the same time, Winners Connection did have their moments of anxiety after Fraser and Drakes would make inroads, but lost control or shot wide of the mark.

When the first half ended, the scores were nil all but the game was far from over.

The struggle to get the opening goal of this final continued in the second period and despite frequent forays by both sides, neither would find the back of the net for many different reasons.

At times it seemed that they were running tirelessly, but being unable to break through in front of another great turn-out wanting to relish the final’s winner.

The game was heading for an exciting draw, but for the ever-present and probing Gittens in the middle

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER

(Sunday January 03, 2016) COMPLIMENTS OF THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market & The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & AUDREY’S TASTY SNACKETTE-176 Charlotte Street, Georgetown (Tel: 226-4512)

Answers to Thursday’s quiz: (1) ‘A first ball dismissal in each innings of a match’ (2) Michael Holding & Ian Bishop Today’s Quiz: (1) How many Test matches Brian Lara played against Australia?

(2) How many Test centuries Larry Gomes made against Australia?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

GT Beer Brand Manager Jeoffrey Clement and second right Ms. Shondel Easton with the Winners Connection team celebrating after their win right outside and with two rasping right-foot shot that of the 18-yard box, where other team-mates, headed rocketed into the back of the he collected a ball from the to goal. Gittens flashed a net, as the Winners Connec-

tion took the decisive lead two minutes from the end and held on to come away with their third straight title, having never lost since this tournament came into being three years ago.

In the third-place supporting game, it took second half strikes from Oswald Benjamin in the 50th and Collie Hercules in the 69th to earn Topp XX the win as they beat Net Rockers 2-0 Presentation of the various prizes will be done next week. However, Jeoffrey Clement, the GT Beer Manager with Banks DIH and the Linden Branch Manager Ms. Shondel Easton were on hand to present the cheque and championship trophy to the winners in the presence of Banks DIH Communications Manager Troy Peters.

Good year for horse-racing

By Rajiv Bisnauth

THE lack of adequate legislation is responsible for the sport of horse-racing not being a bigger success story in Guyana; however, there is no doubt that horse-racing has become one of the major sport industries in Guyana.

The 2015 racing season can be classified as one of the busiest, despite one of its major sponsors opting not to play any part in the sport for the entire year.

There are some major areas that require attention and should be addressed before the start of the new season in order to raise the standard of the sport.

One such area is legislation that governs the sport.

Dubbed the Sport of Kings, horse- racing, since its resuscitation some seven years ago, has been operating under a legal document that was registered under the Miscellaneous Deeds Act. Draft document The Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) had drafted horse- racing legislation, which was submitted to the then Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, on September 10,

- but legislation needed urgently

The 2015 racing season can be classified as one of the busiest tention is the manner in 2014. which jockeys go to work.

The draft document There should be a set of had taken pattern from rules, if there is not one two legislative models – one already, to govern the way done by Justice (retired) jockeys dress. Just like evCecil Kennard and the othery other sport, a code of er, which is the Trinidad dress is a standard requireand Tobago legislation, ment, so the authorities compiled by Senior Counmust enforce the rules for sel and horse-race magnate, jockeys and public safety.

Marcel Crawford.

There has also been talk The draft document was of owners and handlers usalso influenced by recoming performance- enhancing mendations made by Secsubstances on their horses, retary of the Trinidad and but with the sport still unTobago Racing Authority regulated due to the lack of (TTRA), David Loregnard. legislation, this particular Another issue of conpractice could be difficult to

detect and confirm.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is the continued violation of the track by punters and spectators.

This dilemma is a real one that many of the track authorities are either afraid to address or have no answers for.

Though local owners are now more readily prepared and equipped to import horses from Trinidad and Tobago and beyond, the quality of the horses and the breeding stock should be of a higher pedigree to really lift the standards of racing in Guyana, and at the same time create a level playing field for all.

Meanwhile, the attempt by a few executives to improve their facilities to make all associated with the race activities comfortable is praiseworthy, but a lot more still needs to be done.

Finally, all tracks should also have a special area for media access and this particular issue had been raised before, but very little action was taken.

All in all the sport is growing in popularity and 2016 should see another packed calendar of events.

27

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, January 3, 2016

Stag Super XVI

Grove Hi Tech outlast Ann’s Grove to $1.5M and bragging rights

D E FEN DING c ha m pi o n s Grove Hi Tech had to once again pull out all the stops to take home the top prize of $1.5 M and bragging rights for the next year, when they outlasted Ann’s Grove United 2-1 on sudden-death penalty kicks, following a 4-4 tie after the first 5 and a 0-0 scoreline at the end of regulation and extra time.

The result brought an end to the second edition of the Stag Super XVI knock-out football tournament that featured 16 teams from the East Bank, East Demerara and West Demerara Football Association, who battled over eight days of exciting action at venues in the three associations.

The third-place match which saw Mahaica Determinators taking on Victoria Kings, saw the latter prevailing also via penalty kicks 4-3; regulation and extra time ended 1-1, with Mahaica equalising on the stroke of full- time from the spot.

It was the perfect climax to a truly intense tournament and it was the second time in a row that Grove Hi Tech defeated Ann’s Grove in the championship match, the first ending 5-0.

This time around however, Ann’s Grove, which had lost their semifinal match to Mahaica Determinators on penalty kicks 3-4, were gifted a spot in the final owing to the fact that Determinators fielded a player who was not duly transferred, thus losing the match and being relegated to the third-place game.

Ann’s Grove went about the task of upsetting the defending champs in businesslike fashion and would have put the game away early if they had been potent in the attacking third, as they

were all over the Hi Teach team, but just could not finish.

Grove Hi Tech had a few good moments once and afar, as it was the home team which enjoyed great fan support from the 3000+ spectators and enjoyed good momentum for most of the match.

Even the minutes added on in extra time could not separate the two sides as the fans from both teams sought to add some energy to their players by cheering them on; it was evident that the grind of multiple matches over the past two weeks was taking its toll.

Regular penalty kicks too, did not produce a winner as after the first five, the score was locked 4-4. Ann’s Grove’s third shot, taken by Marlon Adams, was saved by Grove Hi Tech’s custodian Michael Matthews.

Hi Tech also missed their third shot, which was sent wide of the left upright by Orson Francois.

However, both teams restored order by sinking the next two shots each which meant that at the end of the first five, neither team held the advantage. It was now down to sudden- death penalty kicks, where the team to miss would be out.

Both teams sunk the first two shots each before Ann’s Grove missed their third, as Antonio Jackson buckled under the pressure of the moment.

Hi Tech’s Devon Joseph then put the sealer on the match and championship for his team by hitting the ball into the back of the net past Ann’s Grove’s substitute goalkeeper Travis Allen, who was inserted into the match for Narvado Denny in the 110th minute.

…Victoria Kings outstay Mahaica Determinators for third Joseph’s goal sent Hi Tech fans storming onto the field in wild celebration as they complimented the players for delivering the goods and easing a very pressurised situation in their favour, whilst the Ann’s Grove team and fans were naturally, very disappointed. The losing side will collect $500,000.

Victoria Kings had taken the lead in the third-place match against Mahaica Determinators through the third goal of the tournament from Alden Lawrence in the 26th minute. The exchanges were back and forth with both teams exhibiting the desire to go after each other.

The second half saw a much more determined Mahaica side, but the Kings stood firm in attack. The persistence of Mahaica was rewarded in the final minute of regulation time, when they were rewarded with a penalty which was converted by Kurt Roberts to tie the match and force extra time.

Penalty kicks were required after a fruitless extra- time period.

Kings missed their first shot taken

by Samuel Blackett, but converted the next four through Winston Pompey, Sherlock Dowden, Lawrence and Ruben Morris.

Mahaica converted their 1st, 2nd and 4th shots taken

by Terry Caesar, Roberts and Ewart Abel, but missed their 3rd and 5th. Kings will receive $300,000, while Mahaica will be rewarded with $200,000.

The presentation of prizes will take place during this week.

Holder wants fairer Test match wages

By Daniel Brettig in Sydney WEST Indies captain Jason Holder has thrown his support behind Kevin Pietersen’s call for a central ICC fund to provide more competitive wages to cricket’s less wealthy nations.

Holder stated his interest in the proposal after ESPNcricinfo revealed the exact dimensions of the vast pay gap between West Indies and Australia, a scenario that has made it near enough to impossible for many Caribbean players to continue playing Tests when they could be earning far greater sums as Twenty20 freelancers.

Pietersen, in Australia to take part in the BBL alongside the likes of Andre Russell, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, suggested that the game should try to balance the disparity, much as the ICC has already done in terms of staging Test matches by creating a fund to subsidise series where they are not so profitable as in England or Australia.

“The ICC ... should say: ‘Right, we need Gayle, we need

even [Kieron] Pollard, we need [Darren] Sammy, we need Bravo, we need Andre Russell’,” Pietersen had said. “Andre Russell is bowling at 150kph, whacking big sixes in the Big Bash. He should be doing that in a Test match, he shouldn’t be doing it here.

“It’s just a sad state of affairs that these guys here, who are star attractions all around the world and they command big numbers from T20 franchises, it’s just sad they’re not playing the longer form of the game.

Test players should be paid a hell of a lot of money.

That’s the only way they’re going to get the guys back playing. They should get paid so much more money than we get paid playing domestic tournaments.”

Pietersen’s suggestion has been tried effectively in other sports. Salary caps make a difference, as do equalisation funds.

Australian Rules football has witnessed one of the more successful regimes of this kind over the past two decades, allowing a national competition to be sustained with

strong teams in all states despite disparities between in terms of income and fan following.

Having presided over a tour played opposite so many noteworthy performances by fellow Caribbean players who have chosen the BBL while the Test team struggles, Holder said there needed to be a better incentive for cricketers to choose the game’s most challenging format over its most lucrative.

West Indies player wages were cut back drastically in 2014 to help fund a professional domestic four-day tournament.

“I think it’s possibly a way to keep [Test cricket] alive,” Holder said of Pietersen’s idea.

“Obviously we’re in a situation where the money isn’t great for us at the moment and we’ve been in numerous battles for that but that’s beyond our control at this present time.

We’ve just got to play cricket.

At the end of the day hopefully somewhere along the line we can have an increasing pay and be paid a little bit better than at the moment.”

Grove Hi-Tech Stag Super XVI champions after their victory.

Guyanese trio aiming for consistency during ICC U-19 World Cup

By Rajiv Bisnauth

THREE emerging West Indies cricketers, opening batsmen Shimron Hetmyer, all-rounder Keemo Paul and wicket-keeper batsman Tevin Imlach say consistency will be their main aim during International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Cricket World Cup to be held in Bangladesh in January-February this year.

The three Guyanese are among the 15-member squad announced by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in exclusive interviews recently, the players say they are elated with their selection, adding that consistency will be their watchword during the tournament.

“It is a great feeling again to represent West Indies at a youth World Cup. And all

Shimron Hetmyer

I am looking for is to stay focused and live up to the expectations,” Hetmyer said.

He added “I want to use this tournament to develop my game; it’s a big step in my career, so I am looking forward to it.”

Hetymer has been named captain of the squad, and, is one of two players along with Alzarri Joseph, the pacer, to have First-class experience.

Hetmyer, who also featured in the 2014 edition of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates, made his first-class debut for Guyana in April 2014, and has played five matches since.

Meanwhile, Paul said he is looking forward to the tour. “I am thrilled to be named in the West Indies U-19 world cup team; I am really looking forward to the series and want to make Guyana and the region

proud,” said Paul.

On the other hand, Imlack said his expectations of the tour are high, as his aim is to use it to take his game to the next level. “I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

West Indies are placed in Group C alongside England, Fiji and Zimbabwe.

They open their campaign on January 29 against Fiji in Chittagong.

Prior to the tournament, West Indies will play Bangladesh Under-19 in a threematch series as part of their preparation for the World Cup. The full squad reads: Shimron Hetmyer (capt), Keemo Paul, Kacey Carty, Shahid Crooks, Michael Frew, Jyd Goolie, Tevin Imlach, Ryan John, Alzarri Joseph, Kirstan Kallicharan, Obed McCoy, Gidron Pope, Odean Smith, Shamar Springer, Emmanuel Stewart.

Keemo Paul

Tevin Imlach

Grove Hi Tech outlast Ann’s Grove to $1.5M and bragging rights See Story on Page 27

Riddim Squad tame Western Tigers 2-1 to lift GFA/Banks Beer Cup See Story on Page 24

-New Amsterdam United overhaul Santos 4-2

Leading goal-scorer and Western Tigers Randolph Wagner converts from the penalty spot as Riddim Squad and tournament- best Goal Keeper Ron Liverpool goes the wrong way. (Cullen Nelson Photo)

2016 Caribbean Premier League

Sweeping changes likely for Guyana Amazon Warriors

The victorious Riddim Squad side celebrate with their first GFA/Banks Beer championship trophy and prize money (Cullen Nelson Photo)

Printed and Published by Guyana National Newspapers Limi ted, Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown. Telephone: 2 2 7- 5204, 2 2 7- 5216.

SWEEPING changes are reportedly coming to the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise squad, involving the management, coach and players for the impending 2016 season.

According to a usually reliable source, there are almost certain to be changes in the managerial position, currently held by Trinidadian Omar Khan, coach Carl Hooper and captain Dinesh Ramdin.

The source also disclosed that contrary to earlier reports,

Guyana Amazon Warriors batsman Lendl Simmons

it’s highly unlikely that Guyana will host the 2016 semifinals and final and there’s also the distinct possibility that several of the matches involving the Warriors will be played in Florida and not at the Guyana National Stadium.

In addition to those impending changes, the squad is also expected to take on a new look as several players who were part of the 2015 side will not return when

See Page 24

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2016