Kaieteur News

Thursday Edition April 04, 2013 - Vol. 6 No. 14

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Ex cop, barber shot in execution attempt

A bigger turnout of protestors outside the Plaisance Community Centre Ground yesterday

Plaisance protests bear fruit…

Govt. rescinds decision to erect tower on playfield Colin Jones Budget 2013 debate ... Commissioners sets fire to 'Hero' says still undecided Camp Street budget to help cronies on Boodoo’s Prison financially once again …blasts Govt on corruption place at GECOM

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Over 1000 Caribbean Teachers and Families in Immigration Limbo As the debate for comprehensive immigration reform gains momentum and some kind of legislative response seems imminent, the plight of teachers recruited from the Caribbean during 2001-2006 period is growing.

At the rally held at Capitol Hill on Wednesday, March 20, to highlight the CaribbeanAfrican position on prospective amendments, representatives of the more than 1000 Caribbean teachers and their children aired their grievances.

Later, contingents delivered two documents to Senators, including Eric Cantor (Republican) and Kirsten Gillivrand (Democrat).

The documents amounting to 57 pages of documented discontent, explanations and suggestions was titled “ Broken Promises: the story of Caribbean International Teachers in New York City’s Public Schools” and “ Dream Deferred: Black, Invisible & Documented: The Plight of Caribbean Immigrant Youth”.

According to Judith De Four-Howard, a recruit from Trinidad and Tobago, and representative of the Coalition for Educational Justice, Caribbean teachers “came from very comfortable situations” to one where they cannot realize “ even their

level of creativity, not even their level of productivity, not even occupational mobility.”

Besides, “they have lost freedom, social standing, become financially unstable and financially disadvantaged.” This is so, she said, because the teachers are wrongly classified as unskilled labour (EB3) under the immigration law rather than as professionals (EB2)and there are no means of redress.

The transition from Caribbean recruited teachers to permanent American residents and citizens is therefore stymied in a complex bureaucratic process, incurring “prohibitive legal fees…and constant threat of termination and deportation,” as happened in 2004 when 200 teachers received letters of termination from the Department of Education on the expiration of their visas.

It took the intervention of Congressman Major Owen to avert expulsion.

According to the “Broken Promises”, one document of the grievances authored by the Association of International Educators and The Black Institute, at the time of recruitment the teachers were promised “New York State certification, Master’s degrees, housing

Ms. Judith De Four-Howard, teacher of Crotona Park West, a K-8 school, and representative of the Coalition for Educational Justice addresses the rally. To her left in front row, is Mr. Alden Nesbitt, from Trinidad and Tobago, son of a recruited teacher. He also addressed the rally. assistance and ultimately, a pathway to permanent United States residency for themselves and their nuclear families”.

These promises were never met by the New York City Department of Education, it states, although

the teachers remained in the school system “teaching in areas where there are teacher shortages – often in lowincome, low-performing schools.”

The promises, said De Four-Howard, made Caribbean teachers take calculated risks to uproot themselves from the Caribbean but the hardships are unacceptable.

The dilemma of the teachers inevitably extends to their children. The other document, “Dream Deferred”, noted that “many of their children have ‘agedout’ of their legal immigration status as they are no longer dependents under their parents’ visas…Because the parents did not receive green cards by the time the youth

reached age 21 they’ve lost their status”.

And since most of the children arrived in the US after age 16 they cannot qualify for the Presidents’ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme (DACA).

So the children cannot legally work, are barred from obtaining driver’s licences or state identification, have to qualify as F-1 international students to continue their post-secondary education, prohibited from accessing scholarships, grants and any form of public assistance, disqualified from their parents’ health insurance but cannot have their own, and are subjected to “stop-andfrisk” and deportation.

While an F-1 visa legalizes

the students’ status the cost of attending college doubles as they are required to “pay out-of-state tuition rates”.

These additional costs are also burdensome to the families. Alternatively, the students could remain with their expired H-4 visas, pay instate tuition rates but risk deportation.

One condition of the F-1 visas is that its holder must return to his country of origin.

To become a permanent resident therefore, depends on whether an employer is willing to sponsor him, whether a family member, preferably a parent, would petition on his behalf, or he gets married to an American citizen.

Any of these options incurs extensive waiting time.

Another being sought for Electronic City robbery One man, up to press time yesterday, was still in police custody while another known suspect was being sought in connection with the multimillion-dollar robbery which was carried out on Electronic City, Sheriff Street.

According to reports, two of the three persons who were initially detained in connection with the robbery, have been released. Sources close to the investigation

revealed that only one of the men who were caught in the get-away car has been positively identified as an individual who robbed the store. The two others, a male and a female were released from police custody.

This publication was also informed that the car which was used as the get-away car PPP 4544 belongs to the man who remains in custody.

On Saturday two men, one

armed with a knife and another armed with a gun, held up the employees of Electronic City and robbed the store of items totaling some $30 M. The two men then joined a waiting car which was parked a short distance away from the store. The police were immediately informed about the robbery as well as the car which was used to carry the robbers.

Initial reports are that the car was intercepted just in front of a city pawn shop where the men had gone to pawn a portion of the stolen booty. Some of the items were handed over to the police by the pawn shop proprietor.

Sources say that the second suspect had already parted ways with his accomplice taking with him the rest of the stolen items.

Investigations are ongoing.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Not much kite-flying on Easter Monday Yesterday’s kite flying activities were somehow put on the back burner; while the traditional picnics dominated.

In the National Park where hundreds converged, about a quarter of the people were actually involved in kite flying. One man, Desmond Sealy, told Kaieteur News, “The changing of the times is even evident on these holidays.”

He said that in his time, “we would fly kite from the time Jesus born to when he died. January month is most breezy so soon Christmas done is time to fly kite.”

He attributed the loss of interest by the now-a-day child to technology.

Sealy said that “in my day, we use to make our toys; we would have made kites, arrow and bow and other things but these days the children don’t want those. They want technology and not just any technology, the one that their friends have.”

The man said that this year’s Easter celebration was “flat.”

“Since I didn’t see much kite flying leading up to today I came out today to see; but

not much kite flying, not much at all.”

Nevertheless, lots of persons seemed to have enjoyed the holiday. Many tents and hammocks were set up and it was truly a day for the family.

An overseas-based Guyanese, Kenneth Hinds,

told Kaieteur News, “I am only here for a few days but I came out today expecting to see lots of kite flying but instead I saw lots of love and the three Fs were definitely presentfood, fun and family. Just by seeing that alone made me happy to be home.” ( Abena Rockcliffe)

It will cost Government $5B more this year to run the country with labour costs taking a significant chunk.

Last year, Government spent $118M to repair roads, pay public servants, run schools, and buy drugs, among other things. In its budgets estimate of current expenditure, it will require, this year, $123.18B. Total employment costs, for contract employees, administrative and other staffers, will increase from 2011’s $104.6B to $108.6B. The cost to hire contract employees will increase from $6.2B to $7.8B. Government mandatory contributions to the National Insurance Scheme as an

employer will rise from $1.4B to $1.5B. This year, to buy drugs for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the Ministry of Health, some $4.77B has been allocated as against the $4.5B last year.

Maintenance of roads and bridges, drainage and irrigation, sea and river defenses and other infrastructure is set to increase from $2.31B last year to $2.40 this year.

Government will also pay $1.39B for local travel and subsistence- $233M more than 2011.

Utility charges are also expected to go up by about $479M to $7.47B.

Last year, to protect its properties, Government doled out $1.9B. This will increase by $373M. Dietary supplies, in all likelihood including part of the feeding programme for schools, will cost $673M more than 2011 or $3.4B. Last year, a hefty $24.4B was given as subsidies and contributions to local organizations. This has been reduced to $16B this year.

One of the biggest costs this year will be pension payments including to nonpensionable employees, increases and old age pension and social assistance. Last year, $7.4B was paid out. This year, $10.3B has been budgeted.

After the demise of her kite, this little girl resorted to playing in the sand

One of the biggest kites seen in the National Park yesterday; at the time of the photo the kite was just taken out the sky

Running Guyana will cost $5B more this year

Cartoon characters posed as side attractions yesterday

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Kaieteur News

Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana.

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

From blunder to blunder The government keeps blundering from mistake to mistake. Sadly, though, when these mistakes are highlighted the persons highlighting these mistakes are roundly abused as an opposition element. If the medium highlighting the mistakes is a private-owned television station or a newspaper, then they are lumped into the category of hostile media.

If the people making the charges were the ordinary people then the consensus would have been that these are fanatical supporters of the government who would rise to object to anything negative about the very government. The consensus would have been that these people are blinded by loyalty.

However, some of them making the claims of media hostility are senior, very senior, Government officials. Some of them are decision makers and others are politicians who hold the highest office in Government.

No government likes to be criticized but where criticisms are due, they take stock of themselves and try to avoid a repeat.

Governments know that to have their shortcomings exposed day after day could be very costly. It seems to be different in Guyana.

Here the government insists on stepping from blunder to blunder and expects that no one would say anything because for them, to criticize the government is to commit a crime against the state.

The history of this behavior can be traced back to more than two decades when the new government appealed to the nation to give democracy a chance. Mrs Janet Jagan had kept repeating that Guyana now had a fledgling democracy and that people needed to give it a chance to work. People did give it a chance, unwittingly allowing some of the untenable characteristics to become chronic.

We saw the splitting of contracts to allow for the government to ignore the tender process and to make allocations to people who are desirous of being rewarded by the government. There were such actions in the award of pharmaceutical contracts worth billions of dollars. When this was exposed the government denied wrongdoing. It took years after the discovery before there was any change in the situation but by then a few people had been financially fortified.

Having corrected that issue one would have expected the government to operate under the rule of law but this must have been too heavy a task. There has been the pursuit of projects that appeared to be questionable from the start. Indeed the government did say that it wanted to make sugar competitive and to do this it needed an ultra-modern sugar factory.

This factory became the most expensive project to be undertaken by the Guyana Government. Two years after its completion the factory is still not performing as it should. In fact, to describe it as problem plagued would be an understatement.

Needless to say there have been criticisms of the contract and with good reason. The Enmore sugar bagging plant was another questionable project. An examination of the project revealed that it was too costly. The government denied this charge and then argued that the money was spent on other related things and not on the bagging plant alone.

Since then one is left to wonder whether the Enmore plant is indeed serving the purpose of giving Guyana value added for its sugar. And to make matters worse, the government is keeping the factory under wraps as though to provide any further exposure.

The most recent criticism surrounds the move to commandeer a community playground for the erection of a tower. The government not so long ago removed a tower from that location because it was said to have been in the flight path of planes using Ogle airport. Bharrat Jagdeo and some other people have since built some upscale houses there. There must be something wrong with the government’s perception of the people it leads.

Shortly before this recent blunder the government had awarded radio frequencies to people who are known to be his friends and his relatives in a clear case of nepotism.

Why should the people not criticize these obvious unpleasant and dictatorial actions? But the government is unfazed. It simply keeps doing undemocratic things and appears not to care about the public perception of its actions.

Thursday April 04, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

How the PPP and PNC have damaged the Guyanese psyche and morality DEAR EDITOR, There are three grave tragedies of the Guyanese condition created or magnified by our divisive politics since 1950. One is the scourge of racism and ethnic polarization. Another is moral and psychological degradation of the nation.

The third is economic impoverishment.

The first and the last elements have always existed in this land since the events pre- and post-Emancipation reshaped this landscape. The moral and psychological degradation of the Guyanese people before the arrival of the bitter struggles of the PPP and the PNC was limited to the immoral domination by the bourgeoisie of the working class.

The working class majority itself was peaceful, hardworking and decentminded people grounded in justice and fairness in a sharing and crime-free working class stratum despite their sufferings. That changed with the arrival of the PPP and the PNC. They introduced full-scale ethnic division and racial apartheid politics to Guyana.

They caused their constituencies who were 85% of the population to adopt morally fraudulent and catastrophic positions out of this racial division. It was no longer what was right, just or fair, but what was racially opportunistic.

Negative ethnic generalizations and

stereotyping became fullblown diseases under their reigns. All Africans were the PNC and all Indians were the PPP. Moral hypocrisy strutted supreme. A dictatorial PNC government was to be overthrown by a Stalinist PPP party that crushed democracy. PNC socialism injected with healthy communist action (see nationalization) was condemned by the PPP and its supporters who advocated in the same breath the replacement with a communist state. PNC supporters sinfully accepted the atrocities of the PNC government just like PPP supporters support the abominations of the PPP government today.

In the grand circle of irony, these two groups of supporters have become one and the same. This moral undermining of the nation that took place in the racialpolitical struggles of the fifties and sixties have left an indelible stain on this nation’s psyche and morality.

Even today, there are calls for the repetition of these stereotypes as evidenced during the 2011 election campaign when Bharrat Jagdeo reminded those who endured the PNC struggles to recall those experiences for the youths of today.

The moral damage was not limited to the psychological operations of the PPP and PNC and their race-driven political orgy. It

has to do with the economic woe the PPP and PNC left this nation. Both of these parties have been dismal economic managers. Despite its working class rhetoric, the PPP’s economic management from 1957 to 1964 was a failure that saw economic decline and hardship for the working class along with increasing corruption.

The PNC was handed an economy in gradual decline in 1964 and took it over the precipice with a reckless socialist policy accompanied by corruption and mismanagement. In 1992, the PPP got a destroyed economy that was beginning to grow again and has delivered modest growth in an era of the greatest worldwide economic growth.

The modest gains the PPP achieved have been largely shifted by deliberative government policy into the hands of a new upper class who benefit from the largesse and corruption of the PPP. All of this economic mismanagement has pushed the majority of this country to moral corruption in order to survive. Not only do they have to work for immoral government, they are constantly morally debasing themselves in order to obtain a basic modicum of decent living. Even worse, this is now instinctive and normal for many.

By allowing illegal activity like drug trafficking to flourish, the PPP has firmly destroyed the already

wavering moral core of this country.

Economic destitution leads to moral equivalency and Guyana since the fifties has been a prime example of this truism.

We have people who condone or execute all manner of atrocity for fear of losing that laughable paycheque in a country of rampant unemployment.

In dictatorial governments, people become afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation and harm. The mind becomes Pavlovian, directed by the dictates of the regime.

This is what has happened in Guyana since the fifties.

Slavery was abolished some 175 years ago while Indentureship ended 96 years ago, yet this nation remains very much a plantation moved by race and economic survival. This gives us the constant moral massacre or the annihilation of the moral code of this nation.

Right and wrong is relative in this nation because there is no moral line left that cannot be crossed. Wrong is very right in Guyana and right is often wrong and illusory.

We are a nation in a moral quagmire from which extraction requires sacrifice, which we lack.

In every country that has built itself from ruins, except Guyana, there is an unmissable connection between sacrifice and struggle and moral reclamation. In these countries, people struggle, Continued on page 6

Thursday April 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news

The antiquated way of using documents for identification needs to be reviewed DEAR EDITOR, Permit me to respond to Ms. Lyken-Ramdial’s reply of April 3 to Mr. Craig. Ms. Lyken-Ramdial, like so many people in Guyana, misses the point of identification.

I have travelled the world, and have done business in over twenty countries, and Guyana is the only country that I have visited that does not accept a driver’s licence for identification: It has a photograph and at least the address of the holder, and is usually renewable every three or five years.

For an individual to verify his most recent address, all they should have to provide, is any correspondence mailed to that address, providing they have another form of identification, as an individual address is usually based on their job or business at that moment.

The majority of people living or working in Guyana do not have the documents

being asked for at this bank.

It took me thirty months to get my name on my electric bill from GPL, even though I was paying my bill every month, so if I was waiting for that to prove my address, that’s how long it would have taken me to take care of a transaction similar to that of Mr. Craig.

What Guyana as a whole has is an antiquated way of using documents for identification, which needs to be reviewed.

We are way behind the power curve. This country is not ready for the 20th Century much less the 21st, and managers need to broaden their thinking process if they are to move this country forward.

Part of a manager’s job is to come up with innovative ways of making business more efficient, rather than quoting regulations and policies which make no sense.

Interested observer

Raising fees at the University of Guyana DEAR EDITOR, The recent public address by the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, has brought into focus the business of tertiary education.

Professor Opadeyi, in his inaugural address, has outlined restructuring plans for the university, which include a potential increase in tuition fees. The rationale is that increased remuneration is expected to attract qualified academic professionals who in turn will be able to provide Guyanese with qualifications of international merit.

Essentially, Professor Opadeyi has emphasized the nexus between finance capital and education.

There can be little resentment with these positions when one considers that tertiary education, even in the most developed countries, carries a price tag.

Sometimes an unbearably ponderous one. Published professors, administrative support, research databases, teaching resources and learning infrastructure are

only some of the recurring costs which have to be defrayed. Professor Opadeyi is right. Capital injection whether state or private - is necessary to improve the University of Guyana.

Be that as it may, Professor Opadeyi’s call signals an ideological shift that has been increasingly enshrouding Guyana.

Pervasive corporatization and commodification.

Students are now perceived as consumers who shall be purchasing a commodity called tertiary education.

Like the consumer strolling the aisles of a trendy store, they will utilize their purchasing power to appropriate the most desirable item.

Of course, purchasing education in Guyana is nothing new, except that the providers and procurers of such a good will prefer to see the transaction as serviceacquisition instead of plain business conducted in the marketplace.

Professor Toby Miller has analyzed this commodification of higher education in the United States and his conclusions are

worrying. He cites instances where universities in the US become “competitors for traffic in merchantable instruction”.

Though this trend is already evident among the proliferation of private secondary schools around Guyana, the University of Guyana will not be equally besieged, since it will have the academic monopoly. The concern though is that as with private secondary schools, commodifying education in the university does not guarantee commensurable results.

Here I think less of improved pedagogy and more about the country’s ability to retain its qualified citizenry.

As inevitably as globalization and neoliberalism impose a new social and economic structure in our society, we still have to be intellectually and politically equipped to address domestic “skill deficits” such as on Marriott projects.

Miller also charted the progressive decrease of public funding for higher education in the US, which has necessitated an increase

in tuition fees every single year since the 1980s. Perhaps the University of Guyana is confronting a situation where the current government has chosen to become fiscally conservative with higher education.

In a country where Marriotts have become top priority, perhaps “both government and university administrators construct corporate life as their desired other”.

It is difficult to imagine Guyanese responding favourably if governmental interest in the University of Guyana becomes nothing more than corporate oversight.

If the University of Guyana is framed as yet another governmental business venture, then as Professor Miller affirms, “paymasters and administrators [will] accrete authority over academics”.

This means that whether the funding is public or private, university administrators will be dancing to the tune of the investors.

More importantly, one can hardly conceive of critical Continued on page 7

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Kaieteur News

Thursday April 04, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news

Are Guyanese witnessing an evolving dictatorship?

DEAR EDITOR, The type of governance being exercised by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been described by its chief spokesperson as “Democratic Centralism”.

However, after taking note of recent happenings in Guyana, namely: 1) the disbanding of Neighbourhood Democratic Councils, and the wanton imposition of Interim Management Committees; 2) the secrecy surrounding the “Intelligence Gathering Centre”, NICIL, Lotto funds,

contracts, overpayment of contractors, Marriott hotel, Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Specialty Hospital, and other projects; 3) the still unexplained, unauthorized shipment(s) of gold bullion to another territory; 4) the lack of any meaningful punitive, or corrective measures in the NCN and NDIA scandals; 5) the lack of Presidential assent to the long promised “Freedom of Information Bill”; 6) the increasing arrogance on the part of several high-ranking government officials, and

their apparent contempt for the citizens of Guyana; 7) the importation of Chinese workers (and possible voters) using Guyanese taxpayers’ money; 8) the reluctance of functionaries to release information which one would expect to be in the public domain, unless sanctioned by the CEO; and especially, 9) the manner in which broadcasting licences were allocated and distributed, have vividly brought back to mind George Orwell’s “1984”, and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World Revisited”.

Given the foregoing, it begs the question: “Are Guyanese witnessing an evolving dictatorship”?

Huxley, commenting on “Propaganda Under a Dictatorship”, reports that Albert Speer, Hitler’s Minister for Armaments, at his trial as a war criminal after the Second World War, described the Nazi tyranny and analyzed its methods.

Albert Speer said: “Hitler’s dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history.

It was the first dictatorship in

the present period of modern technical development that made complete use of all technical means for the domination of its own citizens.

Through technical devices like the radio and loudspeaker, eighty million Germans were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man”.

Does the scenario described in the above paragraph bear any similarity to what has been taking place in Guyana for some time now, and to the obscene attempt by the former President Jagdeo, through his friends, to take complete control of Guyana’s airwaves?

Guyanese should bear in mind two things: 1) Guyana’s population is less than 800 000 people (under onehundredth of Germany’s 80 millions in the 1930s); and, 2) the broadcasting technology now available to former President Jagdeo and his friends is infinitely superior, and far more pervasive than it was in Hitler’s time some seventy odd years ago.

Would it not be much easier to peddle the various shades of “State propaganda”, exclude other perspectives, or views of the world, stifle freedom of expression, thus depriving Guyanese of alternative and independent thought while subjecting them to “former President Jagdeo’s” will?

Given the background that is described in the first and second paragraphs of this letter, it would suggest the following questions are not only valid, but extremely relevant, and warrant the

keenest attention of all patriotic Guyanese: 1) Does the control of Guyana’s airwaves suggest that “State” censorship of the electronic and social media could become a reality if the PPP were to win a majority in the next general elections?

It has been reported that the broadcast of a certain calypso that is critical of the government has been banned. 2) Is the PPP’s 2013 “gloss & glitter”, or “beads and trinkets for the natives” budget an election gimmick designed to lull Guyanese voters by way of deception into a feeling of benign benevolence by the government, and so improve its chances of strengthening the dictatorship?

All who love Guyana must awake from our lethargy, diligently scrutinize the 2013 budget, and pay keen attention to the debates in parliament. Among the numerous issues that need to be clarified: “Is the government giving its citizens “x” amount of dollars now only to take back “2x” later, and “4x” from our children, and even more from generations yet unborn, so that even the little that they have would be taken away from them?”

Put another way: “How heavily indebted to China would Guyana become if the 2013 budget is passed without changes?” “How many future generations of Guyanese will be faced with huge debt payments?”

“What could happen if Guyana were to default?

Could we be re-colonized by Continued on page 7

From page 4 scrimp, sacrifice and battle to improve their lot, but they also possess a powerful moral philosophy about it; that they will endorse those who will help them achieve their redemption and reject those who are morally abject.

In Guyana, we have a generally hardworking nation that somehow abandons that moral requirement that is vital to their ultimate advancement.

If people refuse to attach moral expectations and demands to their struggles, they will inherit societies constantly derailed by the immoral leadership and political parties they refuse to change.

Convenient moral blindness produces no economic profit or advancement out of poverty.

You cannot expect less chokeand-rob of your earnings when you allow more chokeand-rob of your taxes by the rulers of the state. Choke-and-

robbers at the top lead to choke-and-robbers at the bottom.

Moral hypocrisy allows crooks to bully a populace.

Moral convenience leads to an immoral society where vagabonds thrive and in such a society only a handful of the depraved are enough to demonize and crush the rest.

The PPP and PNC have destroyed the morale of this nation and wrecked its psyche. Too many are worried about how those of another race or class are voting or how their own race or class are voting and not focused on what is important to them.

That self-focus, which is evident in wealthy nations, and which allowed a Whitedominated society like the USA to elect a Black President, is grounded in that element of morality that is missing in Guyana.

M. Maxwell

How the PPP and PNC have...

Thursday April 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Letters... Where your views make the news Letters... Where your views make the news

Raising fees at the University... Are Guyanese witnessing an ...

From page 5 intelligence and intellectual autonomy blooming in that atmosphere.

Higher education is most likely, therefore, to become conformist and sterile.

Thus, the university student, as consumer and investor, will enter the renovated lecture halls, bedecked with technological apparatuses and highly paid, qualified professors.

She will enter on the assumption that her education will be liberal and autonomous, and may actually receive such training.

However, she will leave to discover that her political and social environment is inimical to such tutelage and as a result she will become frustrated.

Maybe this is the point Professor Opadeyi anticipates when he references eligibility for a visa.

That leaves me wondering if educational upliftment at the University of Guyana will be less about national development and more about qualifying citizens for vocations overseas.

Of course, remittances have long benefited

economic growth in this country, but with shrinking federal budgets and fiscal austerity measures, it is hardly conceivable that educating - should that be the case - for such a purpose will be shrewd.

No quality education whatever that concept means - will realize its value unless there are corresponding s o c i o p o l i t i c a l transformations in the country. Increasing fees in higher education have known advantages, least of which is modernized training, but such skills require amenable milieus.

There has to be critical intellectual spaces which foster debates of government policies and failings without risks to physical and economic well-being.

There has to be political amplitude for peaceful protest without the spectre of economic exclusion and character assassination.

There simply has to be a welcome appreciation of all peaceful expressions of civil liberties and dissent without the blight of acrimony we constantly witness.

When these conditions are realized, we can effectively nourish intellectual potential for social and economic development.

Until that time all expectations of commodifying education with the expressed purpose of promoting national development will be an inoperative dream.

R. Khan

From page 6 a country with a dubious human rights record?”

Those of us who remain unconcerned need to become aware of the dire consequences of perpetuating the status quo in Guyana.

As the numbers of unemployed, unemployable (functionally illiterate), and miscreants increase not only will the available national tax base (revenue) to fund much needed social infrastructure, social services, and public amenities shrink, but each successive year an increasing portion of the nations’ revenue, and indeed an increasing portion of our own personal incomes will be consumed by the expanding non-productive sectors – the security services, law enforcement agencies, and prisons.

It should be noted that the 2013 allocation of approximately 8.5 billion dollars to the Ministry of Home Affairs represents an increase of nearly 7% of the 2012 allocation of approximately 7.7 billion. These agencies produce no products, nor create any wealth, but rather they consume, sometimes wastefully, the wealth created by the productive sectors.

Surely this is not prudent use of Guyana’s scarce resources.

As a consequence the quality of our social services (education, health, recreational facilities, potable water supply and waste disposal) will deteriorate even further. If the present deterioration in our social environment continues, all our lives and all our property will be at risk. Social advantages and privileges of birth that we now enjoy will be no guarantee

against the bitter harvest when chickens come home to roost. All will be consumed. None, not one shall be spared.

We must, therefore, in unity let it be assertively known that Guyanese are dissatisfied with policies, where the “odds” are continuously being stacked against ordinary citizens, the working poor, our children, and our generations yet unborn.

Let it be known, both here and abroad, that our nation’s patrimony, our freedoms, and our rights are not for sale!

The glossed-up, more-ofthe-same 2013 budget could well be the “would-be dictator’s” opiate, or “Trojan Horse”.

We must not be complacent and be caught unawares. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Clarence O. Perry

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 9

ARTICLE 182 IS INNOCUOUS The Kaieteur News gave me a shock on Sunday recently. It reported that a sixty –five year old man had marched seventeen miles bearing a cross and a placard to protest Article 282 of the Constitution of Guyana.

I cannot recall the constitution of Guyana having 282 articles. So I assume that what was really being deemed as poisonous was Article 182 which deals with the immunities of the President.

This old man could have been saved all that walking and protesting, if someone had explained to him that notwithstanding the immunities that a President has, the Head of State cannot act contrary to the laws and Constitution of Guyana.

Article 182 of the Constitution immunizes the President of Guyana from being personally answerable to the courts for actions done while he holds the presidency.

It also holds that the President cannot be criminally charged for any action that he took while as President.

However, this does not mean that the actions of the President are shielded from judicial review. They are not.

The immunities of the President protect him from

prosecution and from being held personally answerable, but they do prevent the actions themselves from being overturned.

This point was brought out in the action that was filed

by C. N. Sharma against the decision of the President, acting as Minister of Information, to suspend his station. And this is worth repeating here as it seems there is some confusion over the issue of immunities.

The fact that a president is immune from prosecution does not grant automatic legitimacy to every action that he or she may take. The immunities of the President do not prevent the courts from vitiating any action that it finds to be in contravention of the law or the constitution.

The President is not above the law, or above the constitution. The constitution may debar him or her from being held personally liable but it does not oust the jurisdiction of the courts from overturning actions that are unlawful and unconstitutional.

As such, if any person feels that the licenses granted by the former President in 2011 were granted in an arbitrary manner, inconsistent with the constitution and in violation of the Broadcasting

Dem boys seh...

Is not easy to feed Donald and Irfaat and Brazzy De budget seh that it gun cost de government $5 billion more to run de country this year. That could mean that de country either get more people or that dem paying out more money to workers and to old people.

Everybody know that de population ain’t increase suh it mean that dem paying out more money to people. But wha de budget ain’t telling people is that this is because Donald got size and it gun cost more to travel. Dem airline planning to charge people by de pound because dem seh that it ain’t fair fuh a child who weigh 60 pound, to pay de same money as a man who weigh 300 pound.

Then dem got de security guards. Because Donald got more belly than Jagdeo it gun cost dem security guard more to walk round he. Dem gun got to get more shoes and things like that.

He does eat more too suh that got another cost.

Is nuff people like that. Brazzy more big than Donald suh right away dem boys seh that de government got to put aside a good small piece fuh he travel and these days he travelling to China steady. He food bill gun go up too because he like eat dem thing that carry nuff VAT. Irfaat is another one. He is tourism minister suh he got to tour steady. Heaven help Guyana. Dem embassy ain’t helping.

Dem does tek way de wrong people visa. Dem boys talking bout all dem scamp in de government who helping demself to taxpayer money and dem still got dem visa.

Uncle Sam got a law against wha dem call moral turpitude.

It mean that if you bribe a big one then that is a crime. If you force something that is another moral crime and so on.

If a Guyanese go to de States and he get ketch bribing an official or he forge he passport, then that is a moral crime. He can’t go back to de States.

Well dem boys want Uncle Sam to watch in Guyana and see who commit moral crimes. Dem already deal wid Kwame fuh dem li’l boys. Dem deal wid dem boys who had fun wid dem gyal and out it in video. Wha happen to dem who robbing de poor people of Guyana?

Talk half and prepare to pay fuh Donald and Brazzy and Irfaat food bill.

Act, then that person can seek recourse in the courts.

The former President cannot be personally sued or held liable because the constitution immunizes him against these things. But the government and the State can be held liable since the immunities do not legitimize the actions of the President.

If therefore there are persons who feel that the

broadcast licenses granted in 2011 were not covered by law, then it matters not that there is Article 182. The actions of the President must be subject to the law and if it can be established that these actions may not have been in accordance with the law, then the courts are likely to overturn the actions.

Also, if the government is of the opinion that the former

President granted licenses using his discretion, that discretion has to be under some law and not by virtue of Article 182.

So under which law were the licenses granted? This is what those who are concerned about the grants of the 2011 licences must answer, not about Article 182 which has been pared of some of its 1980 powers and

which is not as poisonous as some make it out to be. In fact, Article 182 is quite innocuous.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Freddie Kissoon Column

Grisly reminder of what Guyana has become When you read the critical, acerbic, hair-raising response of the Director of Pubic Prosecution (DPP) to the botched investigation into some gruesome murders by the Guyana Police Force, then one conclusion comes immediately to mind – our country is not a viable, modern state.

The level of outrage contained in the DPP’s statement should not

surprise us. For a long time now, the Guyana Police Force has become dysfunctional.

The brutal, savage murders of many homosexuals have just been contemptuously dismissed by the police.

Eminent Guyanese have been killed and though robbery was not a motive, the cases are stored in old freezers buried deep in the cemetery of the dilapidated office of the Eve Leary and Brickdam offices of

the police.

Life has no value in this country and it is questionable whether this country can survive another twenty years.

The police force and the people who control it have no apology to make to this nation for the contempt with which they treat the Guyanese people. Some of the most horrible criminal situations just go unattended in this land.

The co-owner of Nabi and Sons, the famous architecture firm that did the Caricom Secretariat, was shot and killed on a work site in East La Penitence. He wasn’t robbed. His murder has become a footnote.

The particular case that is extremely obscene over which the Police Commissioner at the time should have been dismissed peremptorily reads like a

movie script. An ordinary driver stood to benefit handsomely from an heiress who wanted to pay him back for his years of devoted service. There was a drive-by shooting directed at him but he survived. Any rookie policeman would tell you that family business is where the conspiracy originated. Yet to date there is no investigation.

Did the wealthy family pay Henry Greene off? My answer is yes. Not only Greene but many of the seniors in the force take money. This writer knows that none of the close family members of the heiress was questioned. This is the same police force that is quick to pulverize teenage males that they pick up for loitering. This is the same police that would brutalize young men for stealing mangoes from a private yard.

This columnist and three other members of the People’s Parliament went to pay a visit to the relatives in Leopold Street of a murdered homosexual. This young man was brutally slaughtered. Do you know the police did not take possession of his cell phone? This is a basic method of modern police investigation. This columnist believes that a highly placed individual has killed his homosexual lovers and he will kill again because he knows the police do not serve this nation, do not intend to do professional policing and that Guyana has gone to the dogs.

So he knows he will kill again and walk free.

Back to the DPP’s shocking revelations. She tells the Guyanese people that the files of many murder investigations are sent to her office three years later. She tells us a botched investigation into the deaths of a Cuban doctor and his female partner led the police to conclude it was murder-

Frederick Kissoon suicide when an examination of the autopsy report leads to double homicide. But why is the DPP shocked at this?

Inside the police force, homicides occur and the police couldn’t be bothered.

In Berbice, the police came up with a theory of murdersuicide when it was alleged that a superintendent shot a lower rank then put two bullets into his own brain.

The post-mortem result revealed that the senior officer could not have fired two bullets because the first would have killed him. If you blow your temple off with the first round, from where are you going to get the muscular movement in your hand to take a second shot?

It is so sad that the relatives of these victims cannot get closure. But when citizens live in a failed state there can be no answers for anything because nothing makes sense in a failed state.

If you follow the history of Nazi Germany the way I have as a trained historian then you would conclude that such a dent in civilization cannot happen again. But it will because selfish people will always support an Adolph Hitler for their own financial gain.

The DPP’s response to police incompetence will not move the Private Sector Commission to condemn the 20-year-old government we have in Guyana as incompetent too. No they think only of their profits.

Death comes so easily in Guyana, a land that time forgot long ago.

Woman alleges she was raped by associate While a young lady in her twenties has proceeded to lodge a complaint about being raped by a male who is known to her and to members of her family, police are saying that they are pursuing further leads before instituting charges against the suspect.

According to reports, the man attended a sporting

activity along with the victim’s family on Sunday, at Tennessee, in the Pomeroon River. He was accommodated by the young woman’s family, since he and the victim’s brother are said to be friends.

During the course of Sunday night, the young woman alleged that she was raped.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Not enough being done to curb gender- based violenceFirst Lady First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar has stated that the law enforcement officials are not doing enough to curb gender-based violence. She said, recently, that even though there are the relevant enacted legislations aimed at protecting the rights of women in the home, workplace and in society, the wanton abuse of women continues.

Legislations, she stated, do serve a purpose. “They guide us legally—you have legal rights—so although right now we [women] are getting all the rights, law enforcement authorities—I don’t think are doing enough to stem this violence”.

But she also blamed some of the victims who, after reporting incidences of gender- based violence to the police, ‘go soft’ and beg for their perpetrators’ release.

“You go to the police and when your husband or partner comes—you beg for them and withdraw the case.

This happens all the time and the police will get fed up too”.

She urged women to go right through the process

Mrs. Ramotar shares aclose moment with a female prisoner in New Amsterdamrecently

after taking the necessary legal steps. In this way, the perpetrators can be dealt with according to the law.

During recent times, several women have been butchered by their partners, lovers and husbands across Guyana. In some instances, the perpetrators commit

suicide after the heinous acts.

Mrs. Ramotar wishes that Guyana can go back to the days when the community raised the children. “So maybe in days gone by when the whole community was a family and they took charge of your children…if it were so still we would be a better

place”.

She added that the family is the essential key to any stable society and that Guyana has come a far way in women issues. The First Lady recalled the time when Guiana’s women fought against colonialism; women such as Jane Phillips-Gay,

Winifred Gaskin and former President Janet Jagan. She stated that the movement started in the 1900s when women were oppressed and experienced great inequality.

She also said that there have been other heroines such as, Gail Teixeira, Indra Chandarpal, Former First Lady Viola Burnham, and Kowsilla.

“We have moved a far way...These women have brought us a far way to prosperity,” she posited.

Mrs. Ramotar stated however, that there are still a lot of challenges to face even though more women occupy jobs previously occupied by men. “Women still have a lot of challenges and one of the main challenges is equal rights…Our women are abused—both physically, verbally, emotionally and sexually.”

Women, she added, have to make sure that they believe in themselves and respect themselves. “They must work with our men folk to gain respect from them and we must give back respect.

When we talk about equality, we should look at partnership—For example, if you and your husband work

together….this would eliminate some of the ills of society and we must bring up our children in a healthy environment to give back that love and respect they received.”

The First Lady added that the family is the first and foremost key to any stable society. But she remained resolute that women’s struggles in this country continue.

She said that not all men are evil or bad men. “There are a lot of liberated men; who help their families in the home, and who take responsibility.”

Mrs. Ramotar gave her husband, the President, as an example.

“He still does that. We have grown children who will ask for advice and he is there to give it to them”.

“I am proud of my family—even my boys. They are very decent young men and my daughters too…so the struggle continues,” she related.

“The men know what triggers them to commit heinous acts, so if we can work with them, together we can move ourselves and [move] Guyana forward,” she asserted.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Writers reiterate calls for clarity on Caribbean Press a publishing house. …say it functions with state money establish “The original intent was Local poets, novelists and other writers have reiterated calls for information on the Caribbean Press to be divulged. They say that the institute is driven with state money. Writers also say that since the announcement of the Caribbean Press, there has been no public information about it.

A major advocate for the improvement of culture preservation, Barrington Braithwaite, said yesterday that the Caribbean Press saga is only one of the woes facing Guyana’s cultural sphere. He argued that to date information on the functioning of the Caribbean Press is still unknown despite the initiative being activated with tax dollars.

Additionally, Braithwaite opined that from what has been published so far, allegedly under the covers of the Caribbean Press, it appears that only a certain clique has the benefit of getting work out. However, information such as who is the chairman of the Caribbean Press, who decides what is ‘Literary Culture,’ how it

functions and its criteria, are still unknown to the populace, he argued.

“We don’t even know where its office is located,” Braithwaite explained.

Braithwaite continued that attempts were made on several occasions to engage the Minister of Culture, Dr. Frank Anthony, on the matter but he was told that a letter had to be written before he could gain an audience with the minister.” Braithwaite complied and two weeks elapsed before contact was made. Then the Minister’s secretary explained that the Minister had made arrangements to address the writers’ concerns, Braithwaite said.

In 2009, the Caribbean Press, launched by Ministry of Culture and endorsed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, was set up to provide an outlet for local and Caribbean literature, Anthony had stated.

Braithwaite however said that he was only aware of the press’ activeness when Ruel Johnson in a letter, questioned the legitimacy of

Anthony’s 13-year-old daughter ’s book being launched, allegedly under the press. Johnson wrote in his letter, “When I saw the recent launch of young Ashley Anthony’s book Mysterious Association and the Virtu Gems (sic) I declined to publicly point out the irony of Minister Frank Anthony’s – Ashley’s father – woeful record of creating the sort of space for other young aspiring Guyanese authors to write and publish their work.”

In another paragraph of the letter, Johnson opined, “Where Dr. Anthony seems to have fallen down considerably, however, is that he appears confused as to what constitutes personal resources at his disposal and what constitutes public resources.”

He charged that the Minister daughter’s book was published with the Caribbean Press label on it and as he knew it, “the press is a mechanism established about three years ago, in the wake of the 2008 commitment by former President Jagdeo to give US$100,000 a year to

clearly to find an outlet for the publication of writers resident in Guyana (and, secondarily, the wider Caribbean).” He continued that after a couple months of silence, it was announced that the Press would start off by publishing a series of out-of-print books called the Guyana Classics series. “Unless the situation can be proven to be otherwise, the publication mechanism promised to contemporary Guyanese/ Caribbean writers almost five years ago, has only so far published one contemporary writer, the daughter of the man in charge of the Caribbean Press, Johnson noted. Indeed, this is the only state-funded publication of any contemporary writer since the PPP took office over twenty years ago.”

Braithwaite however suggested to Kaieteur News that on the heels of the evidence, the cultural landscape of Guyana will remain in disarray unless a governing body such as the heritage commission is constituted to safe guard the varying art forms.

Community policewoman brutalized Weeks after she was brutalized, Yutive MacCloud, is still looking for her colleagues at Mahdia to take action.

Mac Cloud, a 42-year-old n e i g h b o u r h o o d policewoman, is alleging that some three weeks ago, she was beaten severely by a man whom she identified. The beating left her with a broken hand and lacerations to the face.

She is contending that justice is not being served because her assailant is wealthy.

Mac Could recalled that the incident that she felt led to her being attacked occurred on March 14, “only a few days after International Women’s Day.” She said that that day’s altercation stemmed from her speaking to Johnson about him washing his Land Cruiser on the road.

MacCloud explained that the road at Mahdia is made mostly with loam, which is easily washed away; hence her telling him to stop.

She also told Kaieteur News that the accused has vast yard space and could

Yutive MacCloud have washed his vehicle there; but instead “he chooses to wash it on the road and then cuss me up when I talk to him about it.”

On that occasion, they both went to the Mahdia Police Station and “the police told him to go make a formal report.” According to her, approximately one week after,

she saw Johnson on the road and from a distance; he was making utterances and gesticulating. So when she got close to him, “I look at him and ask he what is he problem, and if he think anybody afraid of he.”

“After then I really can’t say what happened because after the first hit I fell to the ground. I want to believe they bank me because it was he, he son, and he wife was standing on the road. But I really can’t recall…the licks was so much.”

Mac Cloud, who is also a secretary of a youth organization and a volunteer health worker, said that when she went to the police station to make her report, the man

walked in. She said that the police at the station “told me to go lang ya way and the man went into the station. But, even with me condition, dem ain’t keep he more than five minutes because by the time I walk out on the street he drove behind me and threatened to kill me, and say how he got the money to do what he want.”

The mother of three says that she now fears for her life and still seeks justice since three weeks after the incident her face is still black. “My hand hurts a lot and I spend a lot of money since. And to know that I going through all of this and not a thing ain’t happen to he, ain’t easy to live with.”

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

CJIA US$150M expansion…

AFC to question Govt on final costs during budget debates The expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is likely to take centre stage during the debates on this year’s National Budget set to begin today.

According to Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, his party is concerned about the final cost of the project which has at present, a hefty US$150M price tag. It will be Guyana’s second most expensive project after the US$200M Skeldon sugar modernization project in Berbice.

In late 2011, a US$138M contract was signed with the Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). Among other things, Government agreed to guarantee 10 hours per day work for CHEC. Government will also have to provide all the filling materials, including sand, for the extension of the main runway and for the building of the new terminal building.

According to Ramjattan, it is unclear to his party how these costs will impact the final price.

“We will also be asking government what is the

AFC says it will be questioning government on the costs of the CJIA expansion during the debates of the 2013 National Budget.

AFC’s Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan interest being charged on this loan from China so that we can be clear what this will cost the Guyanese taxpayers…It is, after all, they who will be paying back these monies.

“I would not be surprised that this could end up costing us US$200M. We will also want to know under what conditions Government agreed to pay $1.4M daily for any delay in the construction of works.”

Government is taking a US$130M loan from China for the project and has signaled intentions to plug at least $20M more from the public

purse.

Government, in the National Budget, is asking for

$5.3B this year for the expansion project and it will be hoping that AFC, which has seven seats, and A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), 26 seats, would give their blessings.

Construction works are expected to start as early as May with preliminary works currently being carried out.

The airport’s project was announced in 2011 by Jamaican media. Government later said that the contract signing was leaked before the administration had a chance to talk about it.

Recently, President Donald Ramotar turned the sod at CJIA, signaling Government’s commitment to go ahead with the project.

In justifying the project, both the President and Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, said that Guyana was moving to capitalize on potential markets in Asia and Africa, using its strategic geographical location at the tip of the South American continent.

In addition, Guyana’s tourism is expanding and the limited capacity of the current airport and terminal at CJIA was preventing additional

airlines with their bigger, wide bodied planes from coming here, they said.

According to copies of the signed contract with CHEC released to MPs and the media, US$138M that the contractor is charging does not include the construction of a new car park, internal roads and handling equipment area. Rather, CHEC is only charged with preparing designs but government will have to take responsibility for the construction.

CHEC’s US$138M price tag also does not include the construction of a new cargo area and fuel farm.

Government is responsible for designing and constructing both. However, CHEC will be responsible for land backfilling to extend the runway area, constructing a new terminal building, pavement of new apron, layout structures and systems, oil tank, water supply and drainage for runway extension area and fire pump station and power supply line for runway extension area.

The new airport terminal will entail the installation of

Prison escapee nabbed A prisoner who was enjoying his freedom having fled from justice for the past three months by evading the police was re-captured by ranks on the Essequibo Coast, early Monday morning.

Ovid Joseph, of Hampton Court, Essequibo Coast, had escaped from the Camp Street prisons where he was serving his sentence for a Break and Enter.

He was captured by a police patrol. Joseph is likely to face the relevant charges this week.

power supply, communication and water supply and fire control system, and air conditioning system for the terminal.

The contract also said that the US$138M does not include the removal of the existing terminal, cargo store and containers. Rather, the employer (government) will have to do it. Government has since announced that it will no longer tear down the current terminal building but has plans to convert it for cargo storage and other services. The contract price excluded taxes, duties, royalties and other fees normally imposed. The government will have to take charge of this.

Already, according to Government in its budget figures that have been released, more than $4B has been spent before this year – more than likely representing an advance of 15 per cent of the total contract price or US$20.7M. The combined opposition has a one-seat majority following the 2011 General and Regional Elections.

Last year, the opposition used that one seat advantage to reduce the budget by $20B. However, following a court case, Government used its interpretation of ruling to restore the monies.

It will be wary again of similar measures by the Opposition which continues to raise questions of a number of billion-dollar projects sealed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo just before his term in office ended in late 2011.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Police and Buxton continue to heal old wounds - youth club successfully launched The administration of the Police ‘C’ Division (East Coast Demerara) has kept its promise to the village of Buxton to engage the youths of that community in meaningful vocations. It formally launched the Police/ Buxton Youth Club last week.

The project which is partly the brainchild of Deputy Commander, Stephen Mansell, kicked off last Saturday with a day of sporting activities at the Buxton Community Centre Ground.

The initiative was born out of discussions between the ‘C ‘Division police and members of the once troubled village at a recently held face the community meeting, to steer the youths of the village away from ungainly activities.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Superintendent Mansell explained that the meeting with Buxtonians was part of a series of meetings that is planned for several communities throughout the Division.

“We recently had one meeting at paradise primary school where we captured 145 youths within Dazzell Housing Scheme, Bare Roots, Bachelor’s Adventure, Non Pareil, Paradise and other areas as far as Victoria,” Mansell explained.

During the discussions with the Buxtonians, the police immediately jumped on the idea of establishing a mechanism through which the youths could elevate themselves while engaging in fun filled and educational activities.

The police hope that through the youth club, which will mirror several others that were established in Berbice and other areas, the young Buxtonians as well as interested youths in the neighbouring communities will benefit from sporting activities, extra lessons and computer training classes.

“Out of this we will attach the youths to our summer camp that we usually have annually, and to our work study programme at Eve Leary,” Mansell stated.

It is expected that during the work study programme,

the youths will be engaged in attractive areas such as forensic science and music, rather than just basic policing involvement.

Mansell said that although working in the various East Coast Demerara communities so far, the programme is in the embryonic stages, there is already some level of satisfaction on both sides and there is confidence that the objectives can be achieved.

“Residents are now getting on board and bringing their children out.

There are parents who are also part of this club. In fact, some of the executives of the club are teachers from the Buxton Secondary School and police officers.”

The deputy commander revealed that popular businessman Mr. Wilson who owns the Buxton Gas Station has promised to provide some computers and soon a computer centre will be commissioned for the youths.

President of the club, Yvonne Bristol-Morrison, expressed gratitude to the police for the work they have started in the village.

She is confident that the programmes identified for the club and the successes will be manifested in the entire community embracing it.

“The Guyana Police Force pledged to us that during the August vacation, these children will be involved in work study within the various police departments.”

Morrison expressed the hope that some of the persons in the community who still have a negative perception of the Guyana Police Force will come around to embracing the present engagement.

“If police and the Agricola people were at odds recently, and now because of the work that the police did in there you can’t go into Agricola and say anything bad about the police, that is exactly what we want to portray in Buxton right now.

We need to keep our youths occupied,” Morrison told media operatives who traveled to the community to witness the launching.

Deputy Commander of the Police C Division Supt. Stephen Mansell shows off some of his football skills with President of the Police/Buxton Youth Club Yvonne Bristol Morrison and other club members

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Thief escapes, leaves tooth and three photographs behind A Sophia, Georgetown woman is lucky to be alive after a shocking experience with a thief who happened to be hiding under her bed for hours on Sunday night.

Aruna Sukraj, who lives in a back house at Lot C 40 North Sophia, Georgetown, said that on Sunday around 18:30 hours she left her home and went to talk with her brother who was at the front of the yard.

Sukraj recalled leaving her door open. She returned home around 20:00 hours, “I change and I went to bed and I leave my brother in the hall watching TV.” The 25-year-old recalled hearing a “strange sound” under her bed but she thought that it was a rat “tumbling” since she had caught one in her home only a few days ago.

“I went back to bed and

around 12:00pm, when I open my eyes, I saw a man walking towards me with a piece of cloth in his hand, aiming at my nose. I start screaming and my brother who was sleeping in the hall run in and he and the man had a scramble,” the mother of one claimed.

She said while her brother and the thief were attacking each other in the hall, she was screaming, hoping that someone would have come to her aid, but no one did.

“The door was hard to open so I was trying and pushing to open the door while my brother and he (thief) were fighting. He (thief) was getting confused, he jump on the bed and jump down back and my brother pelt a glass table on him and like his tooth pitch out,” the woman recalled.

The 25-year-old said that after she got the door opened

Aruna Sukraj she ran outside and the thief jumped from her verandah and escaped. He left three photographs of himself and a tooth behind.

Sukraj said she recognized the man as the “drug addict” who lives at the back of her home. “He does be in the bushes and when

The piece of cloth that he (thief) held and his tooth that was left behind

he come out he does come stay in that house (a shack), located at Lot C 39 North Sophia. I called the police many times but they never

came.” The mother of one explained that her husband was robbed and killed four years ago and she never got justice for his death. “When

my husband was killed, he (thief) was around.”

Police yesterday visited the scene and took the photographs of the thief.

Work commences on special house for heroic prison officer

Prisoners working on the foundation for the special house for Roxanne Winfield.

Eleven years ago some colleagues left her for dead; now inmates of Guyana’s penal system are lending their hands to build a special home for heroic former prison officer, Roxanne Winfield.

Kaieteur News spotted a crew of prisoners preparing the foundation for the special home for the incapacitated Winfield.

The woman is confined to a wheelchair.

The home is being constructed on a plot of land that belonged to Winfield’s deceased father at Middle Walk, Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara.

The idea of the special home to accommodate Winfield’s present condition was cemented during a visit to her by the Rotary Club of Stabroek, in February last year.

It was during the visit that members of the club decided that Roxanne needed a disability-friendly home to if nothing else, enhance her inhouse mobility.

They say it’s better late than never.

Now, one year later and with the help of the Government of Guyana, The Guyana Prison Service, Habitat for Humanity, the Guyana Relief Council, Food for the Poor, TCL, Glass Inc and the Hand in Hand Insurance Company, the Rotary club of Stabroek is able to keep its promise to Winfield.

“The home will be disability friendly and suitable for a stalwart public servant such as Roxanne who has provided exemplary service to her country.”

According to the club,

Miss Winfield, who 11years later has endured a slow but steady recovery, has displayed nothing but strength and courage.

Members of the Rotary Stabroek Club are still amazed at her positive attitude despite all that she has endured.

Construction of the house is expected to be completed this year.

Winfield was shot in her head at point blank range on February 23, 2002 by bandits who staged one of G u y a n a ’s m o s t d a r i n g prison escapes.

They went on to create one of the most violent crime sprees this country has ever seen.

But while Winfield continues to live her life, all of the persons responsible for her present condition were slain by the security forces.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday April 2, 2013

Ruimveldt Police ignore rampant ‘Bike Gangs’ robberies … although incidents occur three minutes away In spite of the fact that the Ruimveldt Police Station is approximately less than three minutes away from Middle Road and Fourth Street, LaPenitence area, the “bike gangs” continues to wreak havoc.

Within recent times, residents of the area claimed they have made several reports at the Ruimveldt Police Station about the bike gangs, but the police seem unable to arrest the problem.

The La Penitence residents are not sure who these young men are, or even where they reside but these young men use cunning plots to steal.

As one the elders of the community explained, “These thieves get smart. Long ago they use to walk up behind you and rob you with something like a cutlass or knife or gun or so . And if you lucky, sometimes you spot them waiting in the shadows and you would get a chance to run. But now these people get so sly, it scary.”

Residents related that for days on end, “ snatchings would take place in the area

and when reported, the police would just take the statements and that is it; they done wid you. There is no follow up, or any patrol by the police. No nothing.”

Three of the residents detailed their tragic encounters with the members of the formidable “bike gangs.”

One of the residents of Fourth Street, La Penitence, related that her daughter was robbed right before her eyes and though she screamed for help and a report was made at the said station , nothing was done to date nor were the stolen items recovered.

The woman said, “Three weeks ago, I remember my daughter went out to a party.

So she call me around 9 o’ clock de night and told me she on she way home. So I sit outside and I was talking with my other neighbour about the same bicycle thieves.

“Then I saw my daughter walking through the street and all of a sudden I see these two boys pull up next to she on a motor bike and one of them throw he hand round she. I seh to me self that ain’t we family and I know it can’t

be she boyfriend either cuz she was dating two guys at the time. So I got worried.

Next thing you know before I coulda do anything the man snatch she chain and pull she Blackberry out she hand and they ride off.

“This thing happen so quick I didn’t even get time fo go out and run behind them. So we went to the station and made a report and all they do was tek we statements and that was the end of it . My daughter valuables gone down the drain.”

Another resident said that one day he too was also caught in the dreadful clutches of “bike gang.” He told Kaieteur News that on his way home from his girlfriend he was attacked by the duo.

Upon being subdued, he was relieved of his cell phone, money and jewellery.

“One evening, I was returning to my home in Fourth Street. As I approached the junction that intersects Middle Road and my corner, I noticed two young men ride past me in a speed.

“I noticed that one of them stopped at the end of my corner as another rode back in my direction.”

“I became nervous and instantly suspicious. I began

to search for a wood on the road. Before I was able to arm myself with a weapon for possible self defense, I was attacked by a stocky guy from behind who choked me with so much force that I was unable to wriggle out of the position.

“Whilst I was being chocked the other guy removed my cell phone, watch, gold chain, bracelet and wallet and then threw me into the gutter. I got out of the gutter, went to the station in my exact condition and reported the matter. The police there showed total disregard for my situation and were even reluctant to do a quick patrol to see if the guys were probably still lingering around the neighbourhood. “After much insisting, they took me on to the police vehicle and we patrolled the area for a few minutes. And that was the end of my matter.”

There is also the testimony of a businesswoman who resides on Middle Road. She related that in this case, she was followed by one of the gang members from her place of work to the time she was in the street.

She told Kaieteur news that the incident occurred around 20:00 hours that night.

She had received a large sum

of money that evening and on her way through the street, the young man who was lurking around her business earlier that day rode past her on a bicycle.

She said, “I was walking through the street; then when I meet half way, I notice this man stop and like he was going to ride into me, he then jump off the bike and I freeze up and then he took a knife and stick me up at one of my neighbour’s bridge.

“I holler for help but no one came to my rescue. He took my money and jewellery worth approximately $400,000 and left me on the bridge. I was in total shock. I got up, walked to my house that was just a corner away from where the incident took place and I got my family to follow me to report the matter.

“The police like they didn’t even care about what I had to say. When they took the report all they said was all right they gon run an investigation on the matter and that was it. I haven’t heard about any follow up with regard to my matter.”

Residents said that as recent as last week, a young lady that was not even a resident of the area, whilst visiting her family, was attacked and robbed of her money and Blackberry

phone. It is beyond the comprehension of the residents that the police, who are endowed with the responsibility to protect and serve and are within proximity, treat the matters with such a nonchalant disposition and are “not doing anything, not even as much as a patrol once every week to at least drive the gangs away.”

Residents live in fear not knowing who the next victim will be and are urging the officers of the Ruimveldt Police Station to take the matters into serious consideration and “at least serve the purpose of instilling some sort of security as they are paid to do.”

Though some residents believe that even these pleas may go unheard, one resident implores that “the police should not wait until someone is murdered then to take the bulls by the horns.

Instead of having the bull (the bike gangs ) masquerade throughout our community and constantly instil,” he humbly requests that the unfailing , prompt and hardworking officers of the Ruimveldt Police Station conduct frequent patrols so that this growing cancerous problem can at least be controlled, if not cured.

Thursday April 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Capriles mocks “skin-deep” revolutionaries ahead of Venezuela vote

‘A silent shame’ Uncle Sam shut the door Trinidad Express - It is a silent shame the United States government has not yet responded to queries by the Government on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe linked to National Security Minister Jack Warner.

This was stated Tuesday

by Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds in his contribution on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Defence and Police Complaints) Bill, 2013 at the Senate sitting at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain.

In piloting the bill for debate in the Senate,

Venezuela’s opposition leader and presidential candidate Henrique Capriles sings the national anthem during a campaign rally in Caracas Monday. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate tore into government leaders yesterday as false revolutionaries lining their pockets while professing faith to the late Hugo Chavez’s radical socialism.

Trailing in opinion polls ahead of the April 14 vote, Henrique Capriles is attacking acting President Nicolas Maduro and other senior officials as a corrupt and incompetent coterie unable to solve Venezuelans’ basic problems.

“They talk of socialism, but it’s on the surface only.

Look how those wellconnected ones live, what they wear, what cars they go round in, how many bodyguards they have,” Capriles said.

“They are skin-deep socialists only. Their behavior, I’d say, is savage capitalism. They love traveling. During Easter, they were all off to La Orchila,” he

added, referring to a militaryrun island in the Caribbean off Venezuela.

The 40-year-old state governor is trying to persuade voters that rival candidate Maduro is a far cry from Chavez, who died of cancer a month ago.

But passions are still running high over Chavez’s death, Maduro is presenting himself as the president’s “son” and “apostle,” and “Chavista” supporters are largely expected to obey their beloved leader’s dying wish to support Maduro.

Nevertheless, Capriles’ attack yesterday went to the heart of a common complaint from rank-and-file “Chavistas” that senior officials are out of touch with the people’s problems, and too concerned with feathering their own nests.

“My fight is against the corrupt ones,” Capriles added, in an unusual meeting with leftists who support him.

Perpetuating the class

rhetoric common during Chavez’s 14-year rule, Maduro and his supporters attack Capriles daily as a “little bourgeois” who is a puppet of Venezuela’s wealthy elite and their friends in the United States.

Maduro, 50, is a former bus driver who rose to become Chavez’s vice president, while Capriles, 40, comes from a wealthy family with extensive business interests.

The opposition candidate, who has governed populous Miranda state since 2008, said his record on building schools and anti-poverty measures spoke for itself.

“One ruling party leader said to me, ‘Capriles, a single finger of yours is more revolutionary than the whole body of the candidate they have imposed on us,’” said Capriles, referring to a recent visit to the coastal town of Punto Fijo.

Senate debate on Defence Bill adjourned

No support from independent senators Trinidad Express Government yesterday afternoon pulled the plug on the Senate debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Defence and Police Complaints) Bill, which, if passed, would have granted soldiers the powers of arrest.

It was expected that Bill would have gone to a vote late yesterday.

However, when the Senate took its usual 4.30 p.m break, Leader of Government Business Ganga Singh, rose and addressed the Senate sitting at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. He said

the House would be adjourned to April 23.

Speaking with members of the media later, Singh said the adjournment would give the Government time to retool and consider the concerns raised by the Independent Senators.

The House of Representatives had passed the Bill last month, and it went to the Senate, where the Government needed the support of at least four of the nine Independent Senators.

However, when debate began on Tuesday, Independent Senators senior counsel Elton Prescott, and

Corrine Baptiste-McKnight both expressed concern.

This despite an appeal for support from Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and other Government Senators.

Today Independent Senators Dr Victor Wheeler and Subhas Ramkhelawan also signaled that their support was not forthcoming as they all expressed grave concerns on the legislation.

The Opposition said the suspension of the debate was a clear defeat on part of the Government.

But Justice Minister Christlyn Moore said this was not so.

Page 19

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan had said if another country were to attempt to take over Trinidad and Tobago, assistance from “Uncle Sam” would be sought. Speaking just after Ramlogan, Hinds pointed out that Uncle Sam had not yet responded to this Government after two days.

“They called Uncle Sam over the last 48 hours, he shut the door on them either because he don’t trust them or because the Government is so suspect.

So don’t call Uncle Sam, he will not answer you, Attorney General. He doesn’t trust you. What a shame!

Uncle Sam doesn’t trust you.

I will leave the rest for another place, Madam Vice President.

Outside this House,” said Hinds.

Prime Minister Kamla P e r s a d - B i s s e s s a r, i n a release at the weekend, admitted there was no response yet from the US regarding the FBI probe.

She indicated she had requested Ramlogan and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran pursue the matter through diplomatic channels.

Ramlogan has written to US Attorney General Eric H o l d e r, seeking information on the issue.

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Kaieteur News

Thursday April 04, 2013

Chinese Kingston Hotel targets 2014 opening Jamaica Observer - The Chinese developer of a hotel behind Devon House hopes to start building in May. ZDA Construction Limited’s three-storey business boutique hotel will have about 46 rooms, according to its Deputy General Manager, Gary Zhong.

“If all goes well, it shouldn’t take more than 10 months to be completed,” he said.

The Bank of China gave funding for the construction, and the hotel will cost US$7 million ($685.6 million), Zhong said.

Already, the company has been granted planning permission and environmental permit with stipulated conditions by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).

The initial plan was to have a 56-bedroom hotel with a multi-purpose games room, an open-air party space on the roof, along with a gym, a meeting room, a pool and a restaurant.

But, the plans have since been modified to include a

restaurant, a meeting room and a pool, according to Zhong.

“We took off the fitness club and there will be no roof entertainment,” he said.

When the proposal to build the hotel was made last year, the resident of the Canterbury Manor Citizens Association objected to some aspects the development.

Residents complained that the hotel is out of character, as most adjoining buildings along Kingsway do not exceed two floors, and that it could restrict light and airflow, according to the citizen’s association.

Buildings on Kingsway are primarily residential and a hotel with large-scale business entertainment and recreational activities would be out of place, it said last year.

Even with an amendment, the residents have still raised some concerns.

“The proposed redesign still does not address our overriding concern that the development will adversely impact the residential

orientation of Kingsway and is consistent with the multifamily housing developments typical of the area,” the association said.

But NEPA’s chief executive officer and government town planner, Peter Knight said quite a bit of work has been done with the investors on the plans.

“They (ZDA) have redesigned it and have taken the plans to us many times,” Knight said. “We can’t keep going back and forth, the decision has been made by the board.”

ZDA’s lawyer, George Duncan, said the principal will do what is required by the authorities and the company will follow through with the plans.

He said the character of the area has changed with time and a three-storey boutique business hotel shouldn’t be an issue.

“The area was for single family homes, but has changed to multi-family homes, and some businesses are nearby,” he said. “Foreign direct investment would be brought to the country, value

An artist’s impression of the Shanghai Business Hotel, to be located near Devon House in Kingston. will be added to the land, and it will improve the aesthetics of area, because the area currently has an empty lot.”

ZDA constructed the Basic Medical Science Complex of the University of West Indies, Mona Campus

and according to Zhong, the company has its eyes set on building some low-income houses in the future.

Two of the island’s main private sector groups are voicing increased concern at the rapid slide in the value of the Jamaican dollar, warning that the situation is nearing crisis level.

Currency trading ended Tuesday with the US dollar at a record J$99.08. It was near J$93 at the start of the year.

The Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) said the private sector is increasingly worried about the movement in the exchange rate especially since there is no sign that the slide will soon end. It has also sounded another warning that the price of goods will

continue to move up.

Brian Penngelly, JMA’s president, said the situation is compounded by the uncertainty surrounding Jamaica entering a new deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The slide of the dollar is definitely contributing to the weakening of the economy which as it continues, it is going to affect - if it is not affecting already - consumer pricing, so therefore it is affecting everybody in Jamaica and it’s almost a critical position,” said Mr. Pengelley.

Meanwhile, the Private Sector Organization of

Jamaica (PSOJ) said the sliding dollar and the decline in confidence do not augur well for the country.

“Well, the value of the dollar is a concern, but what is more concern is the lack of confidence that is showing itself by a continued slippage of the value of the dollar against the US dollar. The country is crying out for some stability and for a finality to the IMF agreement and a gross programme to be put on the table as well as some resolution to our energy crisis, at least a policy of a resolution,” said Christopher Zacca, PSOJ’s president.

(JRJ)

Private sector groups worried at slide in local currency

Thursday April 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Government plans to reduce food Mother charged following the import bill by US$300 million death of two children in a fire

KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC – The Jamaica government says it intends to significantly reduce the island’s food import bill, which stands at a staggering one billion (US) dollars.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said the intention is to reduce the bill to US$700 in the short to medium term. “We have targeted some 8,000 acres of government lands that we intend to put into the hands of farmers and we are committed to putting in the basic infrastructure to help to get those lands into production.

“We will be working on irrigation systems, we will be helping with extension services and whatever else that can be done …we are going to do it,” he told farmers and other stakeholders at the annual Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show in St. James, west of here.

Clarke said that thousands of acres of idle lands are available for production, and the Portia Simpson Miller government is determined to reduce the import bill, while putting money into the pockets of farmers.

“The Ministry of Agriculture is targeting, between the short and

medium term, to reduce that importation bill by at least US$300 million and I think we can do it,” he said, citing statistics to show that the importation of foods has been showing a steady decline, as farmers have increased production in many areas.

“In terms of ginger, which we can be proud of, we imported 101,000 pounds in 2011. Last year 53,000 pounds came in, but we exported one million pounds.

“When it comes to pork, we never had one imported leg of ham in this country last year … every pound of ham that was eaten last year was produced by our Jamaican farmers,” he added.

Clarke said the task at hand is for the country to continue to produce more of what is consumed, adding “we are going to produce as we

LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — The governor of Argentina’s Buenos Aires province says at least 46 people have died in flooding due to torrential rains in his provincial capital.

That increases the overall death toll from three days of rains to at least 52.

More than a quartermillion people remain without

power in Argentina’s capital and surrounding province.

Nearly 1 million people live in and around the city of La Plata and many are struggling to recover even as more rain is in the forecast.

Gov. Daniel Scioli said We d n e s d a y that emergency workers are focusing on the people most in need.

have never produced before, because that is the only way we are going to survive”.

Clarke said what he saw at the show was evidence that agricultural sector is thriving and paid tribute to farmers whom he said “are the ones who are feeding us now and who will continue to feed us way into the future”

Roger Clarke

Argentina: flooding from torrential rains kill 52

HAITI-HEALTH-UN report warns of increased malnutrition cases in Haiti PORT-AU-PRINCE,Haiti – The United Nations says a growing number of Haitians are not getting enough to eat.

The U.N. mission in the Caribbean nation of 10 million people said in a monthly bulletin Tuesday that a spike in malnutrition has been recorded in some areas since October. At least one in five households faces a serious food deficit and

acute malnutrition despite efforts to reduce hunger, the report said.

The situation is of great concern in the country’s far western corner, and there have been reports of acute malnutrition in southeastern Haiti as well.

Widespread flooding damaged many critical crops when Hurricanes Sandy and Tropical Storm Isaac brushed Haiti last year.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The mother of the two children who died in a fire at their home in Mount Himus in the central parish of Clarendon is scheduled to appear in court next week to answer to a charge of cruelty to children. Latoya Frasier was taken into police custody late Tuesday and questioned in the presence of her attorney.

According to information from the Chapleton Police Station, she was subsequently charged under the Child Care and Protection Act. Frasier was offered bail in the amount of J$100 thousand and is to appear in court on April 10.

Her children, Junell McKenzie, 10 and his sister Beyonce McKenzie, 7, who

were alone at home, died in the fire which broke out in the one room board structure between eight and nine o’clock last week Thursday night.

Residents went to save the children but the blazing inferno made their attempts futile. However their four year old brother was rescued. (JRJ)

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Thursday April 04, 2013

Taliban attack Afghan courthouse, leaving 53 dead KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms launched a suicide attack and stormed a courthouse yesterday in a failed bid to free Taliban inmates, killing at least 44 people, half of them shot in the basement.

The attack — one of the deadliest in the more than 11year-old war — began about 8:30 a.m. when nine men wearing suicide vests drove into the capital of Farah province in western Afghanistan, evading checkpoints by using army vehicles, according to the provincial police chief. The standoff ended some eight hours later when the last gunman was killed.

Insurgents have stepped up assaults targeting the Farah provincial government in recent months as they vie for control of an area bordering Iran to the west and Helmand province to the east. Farah has become increasingly volatile as the site of a growing drug trade after military offensives in neighboring areas.

“The Taliban seem to be exploiting the opium harvest and the unpopular

eradication efforts by the government to further establish their presence,” Fabrizio Foschini, of the independent research group Afghan Analysts Network, said in a recent blog.

Militants have staged high-profile complex attacks across Afghanistan in a bid to show their strength and undermine confidence in the central government.

Wednesday’s assault was among the most brutal for civilians, raising fears of deteriorating security as international combat forces withdraw by the end of 2014 and hand over control to Afghan security forces.

The attack began when two assailants blew themselves up inside one of the vehicles while the others jumped out and ran toward the courthouse and prosecutor’s office, provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said. Guards opened fire, killing one of the attackers, as the others engaged in a fierce gunbattle that left civil servants and government officials holed up in their offices.

Other civilians fled to the basement of the courthouse,

where gunmen found them and killed 21 people, officials said.

Kemtoz said the attack aimed to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners who were being transferred to the courthouse for trial, which had not yet started.

“Definitely the plan was to free the prisoners with this attack, but thank God, they did not succeed,” he said.

“All the prisoners are accounted for.”

Deputy provincial governor Yonus Rasouli, however, said one of the inmates had escaped. He said the suspects had been arrested in different places and faced a range of charges, including planting roadside bombs.

Provincial Gov. Akram Akhpewak said those killed included 34 civilians, including judges and prosecutors, 10 members of the security forces and the nine attackers. Dr. Abdul Hakim Rasouli, chief of the Farah hospital, said 80 people also were wounded.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to

This image made from AP video shows an injured Afghan National Army soldier taken off from a military vehicle outside the local hospital in Farah, western Afghanistan yesterday. (AP Photo via AP video) reporters, although some witnesses questioned whether the assailants were Afghans.

Provincial lawmaker Humaira Ayobi said a recent police operation targeting the drug trade may have been a factor in the audacious attack.

It was the deadliest strike since Oct. 26, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque packed with senior regional

officials in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, killing 41 people on a major Muslim holiday.

In Kabul, meanwhile, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid returned to Kabul yesterday nearly four months after he was seriously wounded by a Taliban suicide bomber posing as a messenger of peace.

Billboards in the capital welcomed home the director

of the National Directorate of Security, saying he has fully recovered and “is ready to continue his duty to provide peace, security and prosperity to his homeland.”

In other violence, Taliban gunmen attacked a local police patrol late Tuesday in southeastern Paktika province and six insurgents were killed in the fighting, according to a statement from the governor ’s office. A roadside bomb then struck a

Spain king’s daughter suspected in corruption case MADRID (AP) — In another blow to Spain’s royal family, a court named Princess Cristina, the king’s daughter, as a suspect yesterday in a corruption case involving her husband.

The Palma de Mallorca court announced that the 47year-old princess will be called in for questioning on April 27. She has not been charged with any offense and faces no restrictions on her freedom. Her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, a lead suspect in the investigation, has also not been charged with any crime.

The court summons is a first for a member of the king’s immediate family. The Royal Palace expressed surprise at the judge’s decision and would not comment about what the princess’ defense will be.

The announcement comes after a year of health and image problems for 75year-old King Juan Carlos, once one of Spain’s most popular figures, widely admired for his role in helping steer Spain to democracy in the 1970s after decades of

Princess Cristina dictatorship.

But the Mallorca corruption case and other issues have eaten away at Spaniards’ admiration for their royal family — especially as a crippling economic crisis has widened the gap between rich and poor.

“This is the toughest blow the royal family has received within the last few years, or ever since I can remember,” Jan Martinez Ahrens, deputy editor of El Pais, the country’s leading newspaper, told The Associated Press.

Investigating authorities allege that Urdangarin and his former business partner Diego Torres funneled about 5 million euros ($6.4 million) in public funds to companies they controlled. The two ran a nonprofit organization called the Noos Institute, through which the funds were channeled and of which the princess was a board member.

In a court document yesterday, investigating magistrate Judge Jose Castro said the princess was a board member on two of her husband’s companies. The magistrate added there was evidence the princess was aware that her husband had used her name and status in his dealings, from which both had benefited. Castro said such evidence could lead the princess to be classified as an accomplice.

Urdangarin, 45, has already been questioned twice by Castro since the probe began two years ago.

The magistrate said for the investigation to be completed and to show that justice treats all equally, the princess must be questioned.

Thursday April 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Rebels capture military base in southern Syria BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels captured a military base in the country’s south yesterday after days of heavy fighting, activists said, in the latest advance by opposition fighters near the strategic border area with Jordan.

Opposition fighters battling President Bashar Assad’s troops have been chipping away at the regime’s hold on the southern part of the country in recent weeks with the help of an influx of foreign-funded weapons.

Their aim is to secure a corridor from the Jordanian border to Damascus in preparation for an eventual assault on the capital.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels seized the air defense base, home to the Syrian army’s 49th battalion, on the outskirts of the city of Daraa, the birthplace of the country’s

This image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows damaged buildings due to heavy shelling in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, Syria, yesterday. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) uprising, yesterday after battling Assad’s troops in the area for several days.

The capture follows a string of other rebel victories in the southern province of

Daraa, a largely agricultural region predominantly populated by Sunnis. Last month, opposition fighters seized Dael, one of the province’s bigger towns, and

Hagel tells U.S. military to brace for further belt-tightening

WASHINGTON Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the U.S. military yesterday to brace for a new round of belttightening as he carries out a sweeping review that could slash the number of generals, pare back civilian workers and stem spiraling costs of new weapons.

But Hagel, in his first major policy speech, also warned that the United States could not allow its current fiscal and budgetary crisis to force it to retreat from its role in the world.

“America does not have the luxury of retrenchment we have too many global interests at stake, including our security, prosperity and future. If we refuse to lead ... someone will fill the vacuum,” he said in remarks prepared for delivery to students at the National Defense University in Washington.

Chuck Hagel But at the same time, he stressed the limits of military power, saying that most of the world’s pressing security challenges have political, economic and cultural components and “do not necessarily lend themselves to being resolved by conventional military

strength.”

Hagel took the helm at the Pentagon in February as it was struggling with $487 billion in budget cuts over a decade beginning last year.

An additional $500 billion in cuts over a decade began March 1 under the across-theboard cuts known as sequestration.Under those cuts, the Pentagon must slash $41 billion by Sept. 30, the end of the 2013 fiscal year.

Next year it is facing another $50 billion in cuts unless Congress and the White House agree on alternatives to reduce federal budget shortfalls.

At the same time, Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, is winding down the war in Afghanistan and grappling with a host of security challenges, from North Korea’s threats to Iran’s nuclear advances and the possibility of cyber attack from several countries.

overran another air defense base in the region.

An amateur video posted online yesterday showed what appeared to be rebels from the Suqour Houran, or Eagles of Houran brigade, driving an armored personnel carrier inside the base of the 49th battalion.

Another video, posted by the Fajr al-Islam brigade,

showed the rebels walking around the base as the heavy thud of incoming artillery rounds fired by nearby regime forces is heard in the background. A destroyed rocket, army trucks and radars are seen on the ground inside the base.

The videos appeared consistent with AP reporting from the area.

The fighting has escalated across Syria in recent weeks, as the rebels and the Assad regime try to gain the upper hand in the 2year-old conflict that the U.N. says has killed more than 70,000 people.

The rebels control vast portions of northern Syria that border Turkey.

They’ve also captured areas in the east along the border with Iraq recently, but the strategic region between the southern outskirts of Damascus and Jordan — known as the Houran plains — is seen as a crucial gateway to the capital.

Both sides consider Damascus, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Jordanian border, the ultimate

prize.

Rebels have established footholds in a number of Damascus suburbs but have only been able to push into limited areas in the southern and northeastern parts of the capital.

They’re only major foray into the capital took place last July was brought to a swift end by a punishing regime counteroffensive that swept rebels from the city.

Millions of Syrians have fled the conflict, seeking refuge in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, raising fears that the civil war could spread across the region as the fighting occasionally spills over Syria’s volatile borders.In Lebanon, a Syrian jet fired a missile that slammed into a house on the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal, according to Lebanese state media.

The National News Agency said the attack hit the edge of Arsal on the Lebanese side of the frontier, causing material damage, but no casualties.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Thursday April 04, 2013

U.S. sends missile defenses to Hostilities flare along Guam over North Korea threat Israeli-Gaza border

North Koreans attend a rally held to gather their willingness for a victory in a possible war against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, yesterday in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang yesterday. REUTERS/KCNA WA S H I N G T O N (Reuters) - The Pentagon said yesterday it was sending an advanced ballistic missile defense system to Guam in the coming weeks, as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel cited a “real and clear” danger from North Korea.

North Korea has singled out U.S. military bases in Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, and Hawaii among its potential targets in threats in recent weeks that have put the Korean peninsula on edge and triggered a change in the

U.S. defense posture and missile defense planning.

“Some of the actions they’ve taken over the last few weeks, present a real and clear danger,” Hagel told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington.

He said those actions had threatened the interests of South Korea and Japan, but he also cited their direct threats against Guam, Hawaii and West Coast of the United States.

Shortly after Hagel spoke,

the Pentagon said it was deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), which includes a truck-mounted launcher, interceptor missiles, an AN/TPY-2 tracking radar and an integrated fire control system.

“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and stands ready to defend U.S. territory, our allies, and our national interests,” a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) Israel pressed Hamas yesterday to rein in rocketfiring militants in the Gaza Strip after the most serious outbreak of cross-border hostilities since the ceasefire that ended an eight-day war in November.

The flare-up, sparked by anger in Gaza over the death from cancer of a Palestinian held by Israel, included Israel’s first air strike on the Hamas-run coastal enclave since the truce.

Confrontations spread to the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces clashed with dozens of Palestinian protesters in the city of Hebron, where Maysara Abu Hamdeya who died in jail on Tuesday aged 64, is due to be buried today.

Troops fired teargas and rubber bullets at youths throwing stones and petrol bombs; Reuters journalists saw several protesters escorted away with injuries.

The Israeli military said a rock had also struck one of its officers in the face.

Some 4,600 Palestinian prisoners declared a hunger strike for three days in protest at Abu Hamdeya’s death, accusing the authorities of poor medical treatment. Food trays were returned untouched on Wednesday, an Israeli prisons official said.

In West Bank towns, some shops were shuttered in solidarity.

The Gaza frontier fell quiet by evening and Israel and Hamas appeared to be

weighing carefully their next moves; four months of relative calm has enabled Palestinians in Gaza to rebuild and Israelis near the border to live without sirens and rockets.

Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip had struck southern Israel in a morning attack on Wednesday, causing no casualties, the Israeli military said. Hours earlier its planes had targeted “two extensive terror sites” in the north of the territory.

Israel launched the air strike after three rockets landed on Tuesday. An al Qaeda-linked group, Magles Shoura alMujahadeen, claimed responsibility for the attacks on both days, saying it was responding to the death of Abu Hamdeya, who was jailed for life in 2002 over a planned bomb attack on a Jerusalem cafe.

Tuesday was the third time since the November truce that rockets from Gaza had struck southern Israel. But with a new government and defense minister now in place after weeks of coalitionbuilding since a January election, Israel seems keen to

show resolve, putting the onus on Hamas to curb militants. “(Israel’s armed forces) decided to attack overnight in order to signal to Hamas that we will not suffer any strike on the south. And any shooting will meet a response, in order to restore quiet for the south soon,” BrigadierGeneral Yoav Mordechai, the chief military spokesman, said on Army Radio.

“I assess that Hamas has no interest in seeing the situation deteriorate,” he said. “Our goal is to maintain the quiet.”

Spillover from the civil war in Syria - mortar and machinegun fire toward Israeli troops in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has also heightened Israeli unease.

“We will absolutely not allow any sporadic fire toward our citizens and our forces,” Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement, referring to both Gaza and Syrian frontiers.

Israeli tanks fired at a Syrian post on Tuesday, though it was unclear whether rebel or government forces were manning it.

Saudi court said to order criminal to be surgically paralyzed DUBAI (Reuters) Amnesty International has condemned a reported Saudi Arabian court ruling that a young man should be paralyzed as punishment for a crime he committed 10 years ago which resulted in the victim being confined to a wheelchair.

The London-based human rights group said Ali al-Khawaher, 24, was reported to have spent 10 years in jail waiting to be paralyzed surgically unless his family pays one million Saudi riyals ($270,000) to the victim.

The Saudi Gazette newspaper reported last week that Khawaher had stabbed a childhood friend in the spine during a dispute a decade ago, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Saudi Arabia applies Islamic sharia law, which allows eye-for-an-eye punishment for crimes but allows victims to pardon convicts in exchange for socalled blood money.

“Paralyzing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture,” Ann Harrison, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said in a statement late on Tuesday.

“That such a punishment might be implemented is

utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offences, as happens in Saudi Arabia,” she added.

A government-approved Saudi human rights group did not respond to requests for comment.

The Arabic-language alHayat daily quoted Khawaher ’s 60-year-old mother as saying her son was a juvenile aged 14 at the time of the offence. She said the victim had demanded 2 million riyals to pardon her son and later reduced this to 1 million.

“But we don’t have even a tenth of this sum,” she said.

Al-Hayat said an unnamed philanthropist was trying to raise funds to pay the blood money, but it was not clear how much time remained before Khawaher’s sentence was to be carried out.

Amnesty said the case demonstrated the need for Saudi Arabia to review its laws to “start respecting their international obligations and remove these terrible punishments from the law”.

Saudi judges have in the past ordered sharia punishments that include tooth extraction, flogging, eye gouging and - in murder cases - death.

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Kaieteur News

MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 05:30hrs - Dharma kai AwazThe Voice of Dharma 06:00hrs - Islamic Perspective 06:30hrs - News Update 07:00hrs - Day Break 08:00hrs - Dabi’s musical hour 08:30hrs - Avon DVD music break 09:00hrs - Current affairs 09:15hrs - Top notch music break 09:30hrs - Caribbean Temptation music mix 10:00hrs - Amanda’s Music break 10:30hrs - Clairan’s Ent. Music Hour 11:00hrs National Geographic 12:00hrs - The View 13:00hrs - Weekly Digest 12:30hrs - The Young and the

Restless 13:30hrs - Days of Our Lives 14:00hrs - General Hospital 15:00hrs - Katie Couric Show 16:00hrs -The Bold and the Beautiful 16:30hrs - Cartoons 17:00hrs - Birthday greetings 17:15hrs - Deaths & In Memoriam 17:30hrs - CNN News 18:00hrs - Pulse Beat: Ministry of Health Presentation 18:30hrs - Ma Ke Mahema 19:00hrs - CNN News 19:30hrs - News update 20:30hrs - DJ Stress Quiz 21:30hrs - Islam for Guyana 22:00hrs - English Movie: Hobbit 23:00hrs - News update 23:30hrs - Movie: Hobbit continues

DTV CHANNEL 8 08:25 hrs. Sign On 08:30 hrs. This Morning 09:00 hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 10:00 hrs. Roseanne 11:00 hrs. The View 12:00 hrs. Prime News 12:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 13:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 14:00 hrs. The Talk 15:00 hrs. Criminal Minds 17:00 hrs. Charmed 18:00 hrs. Awakening 18:30 hrs. Nightly News 19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Alliance on the Move 21:00 hrs. NCIS: Los Angeles 22:00 hrs. Golden Boy (New Episode) 23:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Tuesday April 02, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): You are growing tired of your current responsibilities and are ready for a change of pace. You feel as if you have been working hard enough and now you are eager to take a break.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20): You are deeply satisfied when your actions lead to tangible results. Although some projects are taking longer to complete than expected, at least you’re starting to see progress instead of just piein-the-sky possibilities.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20): It’s challenging to focus your mind on your immediate tasks today, but this is exactly what you must do. Temporarily set aside your desire for fun and pleasure so you can meet a deadline or make practical plans for what’s ahead.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): Someone may step in to play the role of your boss today, possibly even making unreasonable demands on your time. You might resent their authority, whether or not they deserve your respect.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22): There are so many things on your to-do list today you may not have time for any extracurricular activities. You are quite wise to focus on whatever is most practical now with the earthy Capricorn Moon’s presence in your 6th House of Details.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): Unfortunately, it may be your job to rain on someone’s parade today, especially if your life will be negatively impacted by the other person’s failure to produce as expected.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): Domestic responsibilities follow you around throughout the day, but you may not be able to attend to them until later in the evening. Perhaps memories of a painful childhood event distract you from your current work.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): It may be quite a challenge to keep up with your busy schedule today, especially if a previous commitment turns into a much larger job than you originally expected.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): Financial pressures may constrain social activities today, yet a lack of cash won’t necessarily dampen your overall enthusiasm. But it’s not as if you’re overly excited, since you have a practical outlook these days.

CAPRICORN(Dec.22–Jan.19): You may be feeling quite emotional today, but it doesn’t do much good to try to hold back the flow of your feelings. In fact, it only makes you more irritated when you can’t express yourself clearly.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18): Even if you must perform your everyday job duties today, your real work dwells in the spiritual dimensions now. You may feel like a bit of a loner, but that is about to change.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): You might be offered generous support from your friends today, but you may not be willing to pay the price. You will have to overcome your own resistance and expose your vulnerability, even if you don’t want others to see your weakness.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Thousands flock Number 63 Beach on Easter Monday

Thousands flocked the Number 63 Beach on the Corentyne for the usual Easter Monday gathering.

Kites of various descriptions and sizes accompanied by the resplendent colours of the

h o l i d a y, dozens of vehicles, and perhaps thousands of persons were on the five-mile stretch of beach to enjoy the day.

President Donald Ramotar arrived shortly after midday and walked through

the crowd. Many stopped him for photographic opportunities.

He was accompanied by Attorney General Anil Nandall.

Several food and beverage stalls were in

operation as well as ice-cream vans and sweets stalls.

And what would a trip to the Number 63 Beach be without sampling the waters?

Many took the opportunity to have a swim as could have been seen.

Kids were enjoying themselves as well.

There were speedboat rides at $300 per person and many took advantage of the opportunity to take the thrilling and wet ride across the Corentyne River.

The Number 63 Beach is one of the main hotspots to be on Easter Monday and yesterday was proof that thousands of Guyanese from across the country maintained the famous tradition.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Millions budgeted for Sheriff Street upgrade, West Coast Demerara highway Several critical transportation projects on the coastland, including repairs to the Soesdyke/Linden Highway and the Essequibo public road are scheduled for this year.

Under the Ministry of Public Works ‘Road Improvement and Rehabilitation Programme’, this year some $735M has been allocated.

The programme is part of a $5.9B project financed by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) and Government and which started in 2009.

Already almost $2.7B has been spent.

The programme includes the East and West Canje roads, the access road from Bounty Farms to the Terminal Building at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the rehabilitation of the East Bank Berbice Road.

Also this year, $1.1B has been set aside under the Ministry’s ‘Highway Improvement East Coast Demerara’, which includes studies and designs for the four-lane highway from Better Hope to Golden Grove and

preparatory widening works from Better Hope to Annandale.

This project is an almost $4B one being financed by Central Government and Kuwait –Government is plugging the majority of $3.7B. Before 2013, some $1.1B was spent on the works.

A section of the project was delayed after the contractor reportedly failed to deliver.

Meanwhile, another IDBfunded project to the tune of $14.9B started last year and dubbed ‘Road Network and Expansion Project, is set to take shape this year.

Government is contributing $1.35B. This year, $300M has been allocated.

This programme will include the design, upgrading and construction of selected main roads throughout the country and the upgrade of Sheriff Street from the East Coast Demerara Public Road junction to the junction of the East Bank Public Road at Houston.

This has been in the making for a number of years

Canals Polder access roads and the Soesdyke/Linden Highway are scheduled for critical repairs this year. now with Sheriff Street/ Mandela Avenue providing a critical link between East Coast of Demerara and East Bank of Demerara.

On the West Demerara area, major rehabilitation works are expected to start on

the road from Vreed-en-Hoop to Hydronie, East Bank Essequibo. Some $926M has been set aside this year for this. The entire project is budgeted to cost $9.6B and set for completion in December 2017.

Website for Supreme Court to be launched

With a view to improving the public’s access to case information, the Supreme Court will be launching a website during the second half of this year as part of the $2.1 billion Justice Sector projects in this year’s national budget.

The website will include listings, status of cases, hearing dates and completion dates for all cases pertaining to bail, commercial, family and constitutional courts, and chambers’ applications.

The criminal justice system is also expected to see greater coordination and collaboration among relevant

agencies this year.

More judges, better trained police prosecutors, increased capacity and expansion of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and better resourced Magisterial Districts are on the agenda to improve the criminal justice system.

Meanwhile, construction works at the magistrates’ courts in Wales, Lethem and Linden are expected to be completed during the first half of 2013.

Additionally, the recently completed mediation centre in New Amsterdam and the

Family Court are to become operational this year.

Recently the Inter American Development Bank with the Ministry of Legal Affairs, through its Project Secretariat for the Modernization of the Justice Administration System (MJAS) project launched the highly anticipated Law Reports of Guyana. The Law Reports volume was compiled and edited for the years 1977 to 2007 as one aspect of the Modernization of the Justice Administration System project. The MJAS Project is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by

way of a Loan to the Government of Guyana (GoG) and is implemented by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

The MJAS programme was designed as a hybrid facility comprising a policybased component supported by a policy based loan of US$15M. A further investment and technical support component supported by an investment loan of US$10M was given. The investment component was intended to help implement the policy reform programme and also support initial capacity building activities in the justice sector institutions.

There has been talk about making the road from Vreeden-Hoop to Parika, into a fourlane highway.

Meanwhile, under the ‘Rehabilitation of Public and Main Access Roads’, the Ministry is set to repair a number of critical roadways.

These include Canal Numbers One and Two Polder access roads and Hubu main access road, East Bank Essequibo; Soesdyke/Linden highway and the Essequibo Coast public road.

The Canal Number One

road is the main access to the La Parfaite Harmonie housing scheme, one of the largest in the country, but it has deteriorated badly in recent years. It is a similar situation at Canal Number Two which, too, leads to a farming community and Belle West, a new housing scheme.

The Soesdyke/Linden highway, one of the best built roads in Guyana, has been deteriorating too. It is a critical access road leading to the Mining Town of Linden, a gateway to the hinterlands.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Guyanese cop two honors in one week

By Lin-Jay HarryVoglezon (American International News Correspondent) Guyanese Sandra Chapman, Deputy Borough President of Brooklyn, NY; and Dr. Monique DavidsonTucker, shared their Sunday evening, March 24, 2013, in the company of 14 other honorees at the Tropical Paradise Banquet Hall, 1370 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn.

Three days later, on the evening of Wednesday, March 27, 2013, at the Brooklyn Borough Hall, Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, the Honorable Sandra Chapman was one of seven recipients of another award as well as co-convenor of the event. While the former event was the 21st anniversary of “Women Celebrating Women”, which started as a “thank-you party” by the Honorable Dr. Una S. T. Clarke of the Progressive Democrats Political Association, the latter marked the Annual Salute to Women History Makers by the Caribbean American Chamber of

Commerce and Industry, Inc. “Women Celebrating Women” purposefully coincides with International Women’s Day and like the “Annual Salute to Women History Makers”, it occurs within Women’s History Month in the USA. “Women Celebrating Women” honours women who significantly “improve the quality of life of other women”.

The “Annual Salute to Women History Makers” recognizes and salutes”a diverse group of women who are making tremendous contributions in their respective areas including, academic and corporate affairs, business and community leadership.”

Chapman, “problem solver and advocate in the public sector”, and recipient of several community and public service awards, has nearly 30 years of managerial experience spanning several departments of the New York City government. She is a former student of St. Joseph’s High School in Guyana and a masters’ graduate of Long

Sandra Chapman, Deputy Brooklyn borough president responds to her award at Borough Hall.

Island University.

Dr. Davison-Tucker, a former student of Bishops’ High School and Queen’s College in Guyana, and doctoral graduate from Howard University, serves as Dentist at Our Lady of Mercy

Medical Centre and Nassau County Department of Health.

She is a bible class teacher among “American and minority populations in Queens, Long Island, and Brooklyn, particularly South East Queens”.

Dr Monique Davidson-Tucker (right) receives her plaque from Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.

Wakenaam residents experience transportation woes The residents of Wakenaam, particularly the business community, are disappointed with what is believed to be a new policy by the Transport and Harbours Department.

Their plight lies with the issue of the daily ferry service now operating every other day.

Business owners are especially upset about this since the situation is constraining on their businesses.

According to one resident, the last ferry left the island on Saturday, and will not be returning until Tuesday evening, leaving business owners who were planning on taking their produce off the island, stranded without notice.

“They didn’t even give we any notice that the next ferry

won’t be here until Tuesday.

That is wrong. That is not the agreement. How else we taking we goods to town and Parika?”

Another added that the Clerk in Charge of the Wakenaam stelling should have at least informed them that they would not be able to ship goods off the island for a while.

Kaieteur News understands that even some persons who were visiting relatives on the island were forced to leave their vehicles at Parika s i n c e S a t u r d a y, u n t i l Tuesday.

Residents are calling for a revision of this new schedule.

This newspaper was unable to make contact with the Minister of Public Works for an official comment on the situation.

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Police play pivotal role in justice system— Attorney General says

The wheel shaped Kite is owned by Nanin Totaram of Number 46 Village, Corentyne.

His mother explained that it took him close to two

months to make.

Navin, who suffers from a speech defect, was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Minister who would normally visit the

Number 63 Beach for Easter annually but none came this year.

He really thought that he would have been awarded a prize for his innovative kite.

Discrepancies of how the police force handles its investigation were highlighted by the Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack.

These discrepancies are indeed of great concern, said Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall.

The Minister was talking to a strong worded letter sent by the DPP to Police Commissioner, Leroy Brumell, in which she berated the force, saying that case files show “poor and inadequate” work that has left several murders unsolved.

“Based upon anecdotal evidence, I’m regrettably forced to conclude that there are also instances where the police investigations are deliberately compromised for improper motives. This is a serious problem in the force and a part of the reform component which specifically addressed oversight and scrutiny of the conduct of the force to ensure that its operations are more transparent, accountable and lawful,” the attorney general noted.

Nandlall said that it is precisely in recognition of

this reality that the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs has embarked upon a most comprehensive reform programme for the security sector.

The Minister explained that included in these reforms are components that seek to strengthen investigative capabilities of the police force. These components include the establishment of a new modern forensic laboratory.

Nandlall further stated that the reform also includes training of police officers.

New and revamped legislative interventions would be increased.

He also noted that both aerial and maritime capabilities would be increased. Further, the minister said, there would be a more scientific and technological approach to investigating crimes.

Nandlall said that this should result in alleviating some of the problems to which the DPP alluded.

According to the AG, in any criminal trial the state has an undoubted interest to ensure that the accused receives a fair trial. It is also

interested in ensuring that the victims and their relatives get justice at the end of the process.

The Minister said that justice is a two-way street and the verdict at the end of the trial must be based upon the relevant legal principles and evidence.

“Every time the evidence is insufficient and faulty, a guilty man walks free and there is a miscarriage of justice,” the Attorney General noted.

Nandlall said that on every occasion that this happens the system would have faulted those whom it is intended to serve.

The Attorney General said that the police play a pivotal role because they accumulate the evidence.

When they fail it’s the entire justice system that fails, he added.

Several calls to police Commissioner Leroy Brumell went unanswered yesterday.

The calls were intended to get the Police Commissioner to respond to the charges against his ranks and the capability of the force to pursue justice.

(By Latoya Giles)

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Tuesday April 2, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 31

United States, Trinidad Rotary clubs collaborate with New Amsterdam Rotary Residents of the United States of America who are members of the Rotary Clubs of Western Virginia and Northeast Tennessee flew thousands of miles to Guyana, on their way linking up with the Rotary club of Charlieville Felicity, in Trinidad.

In Guyana, they travelled overland to join with their counterparts of the Rotary club of New Amsterdam to bring smiles and cheers to the faces of many Guyanese.

The occasion was the annual Rotary Club of New Amsterdam wheel chair distribution which is in its third year. This was held on the lawns of State House in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

The local club spearheaded the distribution and assisted 25 persons to be able to move around much easier.

The wheel chairs which were bought by Rotarians from the Rotary District 7570 which includes Western Virginia and Northeast Tennessee in the USA, are usually shipped to countries that are part of District 7030 which includes the three Guianas, the Caribbean, Mexico and Colombia.

District Governor, Woody Sadler, stated that the 25 wheelchairs being distributed in New Amsterdam are part of a larger shipment of 560 being brought to the Caribbean and distributed to some of the other countries in District 7030.

He stated that they will be distributing over 1500 wheel chairs.

He said that they have decided to undertake the project because as Rotarians they have a commitment to assist the less privileged.

He stated that the club felt privileged to come to this part of the world—the first time for many of them— to touch the lives of so many.

“We were certainly overwhelmed by the smiles, happiness and praise from the recipients.

We will be happy to help in the future.” There are 83 clubs in the district with a total membership of 3,600.

Accompanying the team to Guyana was Guyapersaud Beharry who is also the charter member of the Rotary club of Charlieville Felicity in Trinidad.

President of the New Amsterdam Rotary club, Rabindranauth Sookraj,

Some of the happy recipients with members of the four clubs speaking at the ceremony which was attended by Regional Chairman David Armogan, who is also a member of the club, praised the visiting team for its assistance. He described it as a commendable gesture which is hardly matched by any other organisation.

It is a remarkable experience to serve one’s community, Armogan said, and alluded to the club’s motto of “Service above self” which all revolves around the idea of giving back to the community.

Commenting on the wheelchair programme, he

said, “The initiative of distributing wheel chairs to unfortunate and disabled recipients is just one of many astonishing community projects that the club has chosen to pursue. The club strongly strives for satisfaction through the appreciation of others whose

contentment is the club’s privilege.”

To date under the wheel chair project more than 2,800 wheel chairs have been shipped and distributed to district 7030.

Another shipment is due to arrive shortly to The NA Rotary for further distribution.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Brazil’s stadium closure impacts Rio 2016 preparations

By Tim Vickery BBC Sport Brazil’s preparations for the 2016 Olympics suffered another setback over the weekend when the Rio de Janeiro derby between Botafogo and Vasco da Gama was called off because the stadium was declared unsafe.

The Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange, known locally as the Engenhao (after the neighbourhood), has been in action for less than six years.

Already it is in such poor condition that there is a risk of the roof blowing off and the stadium has been closed indefinitely.

The story hit the global headlines because in a little more than three years the Engenhao will spend a week as the centre of the world when it will host the track and field events in the 2016 Olympics.

In its short life the stadium has not exactly proved popular with Rio football fans, and it could well be the least impressive Olympic athletics venue for some time.

But, presumably, all structural defects will have been solved by then.

There is a more immediate problem - where will the Rio clubs play their local derbies?

The city’s iconic Maracana stadium is still closed for 2014 World Cup work.

It must be reopened for June’s Confederations Cup, but may still need some finishing touches to be applied afterwards. It is not yet known when, and on what terms, it will be made available to the clubs.

There is Vasco da Gama’s ground, Sao Januario.

Steeped in history, it is a favourite of mine, and was briefly the biggest stadium on the continent when it opened in 1927.

But it has seen better days, and so have the streets surrounding it.

The authorities will only accept games there with a 90/ 10% split of supporters. This is unacceptable to the clubs, and so the big local derbies will have to be held out of town in Volta Redonda - two hours away by bus.

But it is not only the 2016

Olympic connection that has given the closure of the Engenhao such worldwide attention. It is also because this is a story which captures the prevailing mood.

For the last few years the global media has been full of reports on the rise of Brazil, the awakened tropical giant taking huge strides forward.

More recently came the backlash and questions are beginning to be asked.

Why isn’t Brazil moving as fast as it could? What is holding it back?

The bizarre tale of a collapsing new stadium seems to symbolise some of the possible explanations shoddy infrastructure, inept government, a lack of faith (frequently justified) in collective solutions.

The ever astute Andre Kfouri wrote in Saturday’s issue of the sports daily ‘Lance!’ that “the closure of the Engenhao is the best possible piece of propaganda for the events we are going to receive in the next few years. There is no jingle or slogan. It is Brazil in its pure state.”

The Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange (Reuters) The secret is out - in the eyes of the world, Brazil is no longer a sideshow.

Fifteen years ago I spent a few days working with a team from the BBC current affairs programme Panorama.

They had decided to come to Brazil after doing an interview in Switzerland with then-Fifa president Joao Havelange.

Asked about the state of the domestic Brazilian game, Havelange had replied that it was in good health and challenged them to go and see for themselves. And so they did, and arrived at an especially turbulent moment.

The big Rio teams were at war with the local federation, and in protest they were not turning up for matches.

Tickets were sold, there were some fans in the stands, there was a referee ready to blow his whistle - and no players.

It all made for some great television images. The Panorama director said that he decided to come because he had the clear impression that Havelange did not expect him to. He called the Fifa president’s bluff.

But it was a one-off. In general, the global media was

content with its traditional, lazy images of Brazil. The spotlight was elsewhere.

Not any more. The country now has an unprecedented international profile. This, of course, is a massive opportunity, a chance for Brazil to show that it has so much more to offer besides beaches and bikinis.

But it also means that the country’s problems are going to be examined as never before. Stories such as the Engenhao closure (or the fight in December between security guards at Sao Paulo FC’s stadium and visiting players from Argentina) reach an audience that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Brazil has certainly made massive progress over the past two decades, with millions of people joining the middle class. But there has been no revolution -there is still much about the country and its social relations which remain semi-feudal. The old oligarchy have not disappeared - indeed, they are still strong in football politics.

It is a complex and contradictory place. Brazil, as the famous saying goes, is

not for beginners. Over the next few years, foreign visitors, tourists and journalists alike, may look under the rock and discover that while much is to their liking, not everything is.

Many are worried about this. I frequently appear on a round table discussion on Brazilian TV. One of the presenters is concerned - “We’re not prepared to take criticism from outsiders,” he says. “We just get offended.”

It is a fair observation.

Brazil has a self-esteem problem, and as a consequence can be prickly and defensive.

But I am more optimistic.

There will be moments of tension, but I believe all concerned have more to gain than to lose from this process when Brazil hosts the world.

What Kfouri identified as “Brazil in its pure state” will be shaken up a bit, which may be no bad thing.

Comments on the piece in the space provided.

Questions on South American football to vickerycolumn@hotmail.com, and I’ll pick out a couple for next week.

Today’s world has become...

From page 37 event and let him further explain what he has achieved during his tenure as Organising Secretary which dates back to 2002, except for overlooking the acquisition of a large debt, a failed GOAL Project, denial of voting rights and a ‘big’ payday for his Organisation.

Is that an impressive resume even as Guyana struggle to produce footballers of quality locally, while a Super League that is heavily funded by FIFA is yet to gain momentum when compared with other tournaments?

In what way has the visits of the great King Pele (no disrespect to the man proclaimed as greatest ever footballer} and the disgraced Austin ‘Jack’ Warner, the attendance of over twenty (20) Congresses and three (3) World Cups, benefitted either Linden or Guyana’s football fortunes? Stop the embarrassing self aggrandizement; it will not suffice, not in today’s world which has become intolerant of pretenders.

It is because of my appetite and aptitude for research that I find nothing in Shanghai’s resume that could propel him to high office.

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Sprinters roar back - Jamaica dominate sprint relays on Carifta’s day two Jamaica Observer AFTER winning just one of four 100m gold medals on Saturday, Jamaica’s sprinters roared back decisively Sunday night winning three of four 4x100m relays on the second day of the 42nd CARIFTA Games Track and Field Championships at the

brand new 15,000-seater Thomas A Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas.

With the Under-20 girls’ team dropping the baton at the second exchange, while leading by a long way, the other three teams won in style with anchor runner Odail Todd running past the

Superb Ba goal, Cech save...

From page 34 six seasons, will meet City, the 2011 winners, at Wembley on April 14. Championship (second tier) side Millwall will Premier League Wigan Athletic in the other semi at Wembley the day before. “I scored one that was quite the same for Newcastle against Man U, so when I scored this one it reminded me of it,” Ba told ITV. “But it was important to win today, it gives us a lot of confidence.” Manchester United, who have won the FA Cup a record 11 times, had their chances, with Robin Van Persie spurning a good opportunity to equalise in the second half, but with both teams playing their second match in three days, the game never lived up to expectations.

United manager Alex Ferguson, who has led United to five FA Cup successes and is poised to take them to a 20th league title, said his team had not been able to take their chances. “We lacked the composure to win the game,” he said.

“We had a lot of possession but did not make the best use of it and then on the counter-attack they caused us quite a few problems.”

Chelsea’s semi against City will be their sixth in the last eight seasons and Monday’s victory was their 23rd in 28 FA Cup matches.

Trinidad and Tobago athlete to lead the Under-20 boys home to victory in 39.92 seconds after the Bahamas, the defending champions, dropped the baton. Jevaughn Minzie led off the team to 100m silver medallist Jazeel Murphy, with hurdler Tyler Mason running the third leg.

Both Under-17 teams finished ahead of Barbados and Bahamas; the boys winning in 41.38 seconds and the girls in 45.62 seconds.

Jamaica, meanwhile, are well ahead in the medal tables, and with a number of field events still to be completed at press time last night, had won another 20 medals on yesterday’s second day for a total of 45 inclusive of 18 gold, 16 silver and 11 bronze. This is, however, behind last year’s two day total of 51 medals; 25 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze.

Sunday national junior record holder Omar McLeod made it three wins in a row in the Under-20 boys’ 400m hurdles, winning in 51.46 seconds, adding to victories

in Bermuda last year and Montego Bay in 2011.

Kimone Green, a former Under-17 champion, won the girls’ Under-20 gold medal in 59.31 seconds, ahead of teammate Tatiana Wolfe who took the silver in 1:00.65, and Tia-Adanna Belle of Barbados took the bronze.

Patrice Moody was second in the Under-17 300m hurdles in 43.73 seconds, behind Trinidad’s Jemeise Parris who won in 43.24 seconds, while Orlando Smith was also second in the Under-17 boys’ 400m hurdles in 56.89 seconds beaten by Barbados’s Rivaldo Leacock in 53.11.

Shanieke Watson won the girls’ 3,000m Open in 10 minutes 56.07 seconds ahead of teammate Derricka Pitters (11.05.00 seconds) with Bermuda’s Zakiyya Showers taking the bronze.

A day after winning the 1,500m, Jauavney James returned to win a second gold medal, winning the 3,000m in 9:22.52, beating Guadeloupe’s Nardin Alvin

Jamaica’s Gleneve Grange in action in the Girls’ 800m

and Trinidad’s Alexander Haleem. All but one of the Jamaican 200m runners advanced to this evening’s finals after Shelleice Clarke, who won a bronze medal in the Under-17 girls’ 100m on Saturday, was disqualified after she picked the start in the first round. Nataliah Whyte, the Under-17 girls 100m champion, looked on course to take the double after winning her semi-finals heat in the 200m easily, running 25.13 seconds.

IAAF World Youth silver

medallist Odail Todd (21.36 seconds) and Jevaughn Minzie, competing without any controversies for the first time in three years, running a fast 21.18 seconds, both won their heats in the Under-20 boys’ section. Shericka Jackson, who won bronze last year, won her girls’ Under20 semi-final heat in 23.68 seconds, while Kedisha Dallas was second in her heat in 24.51 seconds, behind prerace favourite and 400m winner Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas (23.67 seconds).

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 02, 2013

FOUR TOP TEAMS, TWO ELECTRIFYING ENCOUNTERS AS THE MAYOR’S CUP ENTERS SEMIFINAL STAGE Several weeks of exciting football will continue to climb to a delectable climax when Alpha United oppose Den Amstel shortly before Slingerz FC throws down the gauntlet against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in two mouth watering semifinal matches when action in the Mayor ’s Cup football championship continues at the Georgetown Football Club ground Thursday

evening next.

Alpha United had already etched its place in the semifinals Friday evening last shortly before a power outage forced an end to the proceedings leaving the Fruta Conquerors/GDF match still to be played.

This encounter was staged Sunday evening last and the GDF, through the efforts of Marlon Benjamin, who netted in the 32nd

minute, eked out a 1 nil victory to move on to the semifinal stage against Slingerz, a team that has created many upsets and have managed to catch the eyes of the pundits.

The soldiers entered Sunday night’s game with positive signs and it was clear that they were seeking redemption.

The exchanges were fierce with the boys from the army displaying the usual

rough brand of football that characterizes their game.

The game was fast paced and fortunes fluctuated with players from both teams attempting unsuccessful power shots from every angle.

There were also instances of skillful ball weaving that really entertained the medium sized crowd until Benjamin collected an offering from one of his teammates patrolling the left wing that landed square in front

of Conqueror’s goal.

The dapper striker simply collected and tapped the ball to the left, even as the Conqueror’s goalie misread the play and dived to his right. The intense battle continued but the soldiers zealously preserved the advantage right up to the half time whistle.

The battle resumed at the start of the second session and during a keen tussle Conquerors lost the services of Trevon Lythcott after a ferocious tackle which the referee ruled was improper.

Hardly five minutes had elapsed when Eon Alleyne almost brought the situation to equilibrium. He weaved his way from halfway down the

field and into the GDF’s berth and his dribbling tactics was a joy to behold.

Just when he reached near the opposition’s goal, he botched the opportunity after the Army’s defence formed alliances and stopped his advances.

Despite intensifying their efforts, the lads from Conquerors were unable to make that vital breakthrough and when the final whistle sounded, the soldiers and their fans erupted into celebrations.

The two semifinal encounters on Thursday evening next should provide the type of entertainment that will set the stage for the grand final three days later.

Australia captain Michael Clarke struck down with gastroenteritis

BBC Sport - Australia captain Michael Clarke was hospitalised on Sunday, suffering with gastroenteritis.

Clarke, who returned home early from Australia’s tour to India with a back injury, was discharged on Monday.

The 31-year-old is expected to take up to 10 weeks to recover from his injury but should be fit for this summer’s Ashes series in England.

Clarke will miss the Indian Premier League and is doubtful for June’s Champions Trophy, also in England.

The middle-order batsman, who was replaced as captain by Shane Watson for the fourth Test in India,

Michael Clarke has been in brilliant form of late, averaging 106.33 in Tests in 2012.

His absence in Australia’s final game against India meant he missed a Test because of injury for the first time in his 92-Test career.

Superb Ba goal, Cech save send Chelsea through LONDON (Reuters) Chelsea’s love affair with the FA Cup continued when a brilliant goal by Demba Ba gave them a 1-0 win over Manchester United in a sixthround replay at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

The holders will play Manchester City in the semifinals after Senegal international Ba, who had only scored once for Chelsea in his previous 10 appearances, struck with astonishing athleticism after 49 minutes.

Ba, drifting free of his marker, allowed a lofted ball from Juan Mata to sail over his shoulder before stretching to volley it into the

far corner beyond a helpless David De Gea. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech then produced magic at the other end 14 minutes later when he produced the other highlight of an otherwise relatively tame game.

United’s Mexican forward Javier Hernandez seemed bound to equalise with a diving header but Cech performed a backward twisting dive to palm the ball over the bar and win the tie for Chelsea who were 2-0 down after 11 minutes in the first match at Old Trafford before fighting back to draw 2-2. Chelsea, who have won the cup four times in the last ” (Continued on page 33)

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 02, 2013

World number two Andy Murray Kolkata Knight Riders look for repeat determined to improve on clay ESPNcricinfo - “We can do a CSK” is the line coming out of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp. However, in contrast to the consistent performances from more than one player that took Chennai Super Kings to consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011, Knight Riders have their shortcomings, evident during their dismal run during last year ’s Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, where they earned a solitary (and irrelevant) victory before making an exit.

Annoyingly for Knight Riders, the difficult questions continue to persist. Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis, the top two run-makers for Knight Riders, are fighting their individual battles to stay fit and find form. Gambhir, who is also the Knight Riders’ captain, remains unsettled after a prolonged drought of runs that forced the Indian selectors to drop him for the home Test series against Australia last month. This tournament will be a litmus test for a cricketer well-known for his determination and character.

The IPL would be the first time Kallis plays active cricket since pulling a hamstring before the final match of the home Test series against Pakistan in February. Kallis who has had several niggles in the past year, failed to excel even in home conditions during the Champions League, compiling just 18 runs.

He then failed during the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, managing 24 runs in three innings across five matches.

The concerns only heighten with Brendon McCullum yet to join the squad as he is recovering from a hamstring injury. In any case McCullum’s stint this season is a short one, since he is scheduled to depart after first week of May to lead New Zealand on their tour of England. Also missing till May 12 would be the Bangladesh allrounder, Shakib Al Hasan, who is set to tour Zimbabwe.

One big reason Knight Riders finished second to the Delhi Daredevils on the points table at the end of the league phase last year was due to their skewed win-loss records home and away. Though they had a fantastic away record with just one defeat in eight matches, they lost four times in seven completed home matches.

So, do Knight Riders reinvent themselves or follow the same path that led them to their

Yusuf Pathan had a season to forget in 2012.

Knight Riders need a better 2013 from him © AFP

maiden crown last season? Finding stability and a balanced team, two main attributes of Super Kings, will be the key for Knight Riders.

Key players Sunil Narine: The main catalyst behind Knight Riders’ triumph last season, Narine will be itching to bounce back after being dropped from the home Test series against Zimbabwe owing to an ineffective performance in the away series in Bangladesh. Narine, who bowled an important spell of 3.4-0-9-3 in the World Twenty20 final, could once again be the confounding spinner who proved to be the best bowler of the 2012 season.

L Balaji: Gambhir dedicated the final victory in 2012 to the India and Tamil Nadu seamer, who was forced to sit out the summit clash. Balaji had an economy rate of 5.40 (against T20I career ER of 7.98) as he used his knowledge of bowling on Indian pitches to good effect, cramping the opposition batsmen for width while teasing them with his variations.

BBC Sport - Britain’s Andy Murray says there is plenty of room for improvement as he heads into the clay-court season ranked number two in the world.

The Scot beat David Ferrer to win in Miami on Sunday, taking him past Roger Federer in the latest ATP rankings.

Murray remains some distance behind world number one Novak Djokovic.

“It’s good to get there but I obviously want to try and keep improving,” he said. “If I get the chance to go higher that’s what I want to try and do.”

There had been lots of talk around Murray’s potential ranking improvement during the Sony Open in Miami, and the 25year-old admitted he was relieved to get the job done ahead of the busiest stretch of the season.

“It was nice to get there so I can go into the clay-court season just focused on improving and going forward and not worrying about rankings or seedings or anything like that,” Murray told BBC Radio 5 live.

Murray described clay as “my worst surface” but he is a former French Open, Monte Carlo and Rome semi-finalist, and has the opportunity to close the rankings gap on Djokovic this year after failing to make it past the quarterfinals on clay in 2012.

However, the impressive return to action of seven-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal after nearly eight months out with a knee injury leaves little doubt over who is the favourite for the major

World number two Andy Murray. (Getty Images) clay titles.

“I can play some decent tennis on it but I need to work extremely hard on the clay because I haven’t played on it in 10-and-a-half months now, so it always takes me a bit of time to get used to,” said Murray.

MURRAY HAPPY WITH ‘TOUGH’ MIAMI WIN “It’s the most challenging surface for me and with Rafa coming back it’s going to be very tough, but I’ll give it my best shot.”

A potential benefit of being ranked number two is, given an ideal draw, he could be placed in the opposite half to Djokovic, Federer and Nadal at the French Open in May. Murray has boosted his ranking with a successful run on American hard courts in recent weeks, reaching the last eight at Indian Wells before winning his first Masters 1000 title since 2011

in Miami.

“I haven’t played my best tennis in the Masters Series the last couple of years and it’s nice to win one,” he said.

“These are very tough tournaments to win; it’s six matches in the space of 10 days or so against guys like David. They are challenging to win, so I’m glad I managed to get this one and getting to number two is the icing on the cake.”

Murray will now take a break for a few days before practising on clay in Florida, and then heading to Europe for the Monte Carlo Masters, which begins on 14 April.

“I didn’t want to overplay too much at the beginning of the year - a lot of guys this week have been complaining they’re tired and we saw quite a few guys pulling out,” he said. “I think being fresh helped me and hopefully I can keep managing my schedule well throughout the year.”

Good Success beat GYO to take Aslam 40 over title Good Success SC of Wakenaam defeated Gandhi Youth Organization (GYO) of Georgetown by 6 wickets in a feature 40-over cricket match played recently at the Wakenaam Community Centre ground.

GYO batted first and scored 115 before they were bowled out in 23.4 overs. C. Deonarine made 33 (3x4, 2x6) as left arm spinners Moin Khan and Imran Khan snared 4-15 and 4-30 respectively.

The host responded with 118-4 in 30 overs with Jaggernauth Manbodh top scoring with 32 (4x4) while Heera Sukram made 25; Siddiq Mohamed and Wazeer

Imran Khan Mohamed had 1 wicket each.

Good Success received a trophy, compliments of Mohamed Azam Aslam.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Kaieteur News

Jumbo Jet flies away with champion...

Banks DIH Berbice supervisor Nandram Basdeo presents the winning Banks DIH trophy to connections of the Simple Royal Stable.

From page 37 The star horse on show was Summer Classic owned and trained by Dr Dwight Walrond and ridden by Ravindra Ramnauth as it ran away with the two G class races to

emerge as the champion horse on show. There was controversy in the first race of the day for G3 and lower horses over 1200M with Captain Crook of the Jumbo jet stable crossing the finish

line first.

However after much protesting it was learnt that the animal ran out of its classification and was eventually disqualified.

Summer Classic sourced

from Trinidad over a year ago was elevated to the podium position to claim its first victory in Guyana and the $300,000 and trophy from Bridal Stone Corner, The Girls Dem Sugar and Stormy

TODAY’S WORLD HAS BECOME INTOLERANT OF PRETENDERS

By Rawle Welch The two individuals who seem to think that whenever they speak everyone should shut up and listen simply because they feel that they are the sole authority and owners of the rights of football will fail miserably in their attempt to silence me.

It seems to be a calculated attempt by the Directors of the Kashif & Shanghai Organisation, enabled by person or persons within the media fraternity who lack the resolve to stand up for something, to silence me only, since other writers have advocated through various media similar concerns that I’ve proffered, but no challenge has been made to ‘edify’ them.

Well, as many within the sports fraternity would know, I am not one to call a spade a fork and I will continue to report fearlessly on any subject that I feel I have the facts and competency to report on.

To begin with, Kashif (formerly known as Greg Charles) writing in Kaieteur News of Sunday, March 31, spoke of numerous falsifications written by me in an attempt to denigrate and dismiss his good friend Shanghai as a leading candidate for the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Presidency which will be contested on April 12.

He then spoke of me not soliciting clarification on the

issue of his OUTFIT’s involvement in certain aspects of Guyana’s World Cup campaign from the General Secretary of the GFF pertaining to the role they played in the process.

I am tempted to concede that the right thing was to make that call, since it would have placed me in a better position to have on record the response by the GS. However, it would be interesting to hear the explanation for the placement of a massive Billboard outside the K&S Head Office that stated there was where the World Cup Secretariat was housed.

For what other reason would the Billboard be placed there?

Once again, just as the public had judged their yearend football extravaganza, so too will they have the opportunity to adjudicate who is right and wrong in this matter now and April 12. I have been in the media for close to nine years and during that period I have been nominated as Sports Journalist of the Year on three consecutive occasions, a fact that can also be verified with the National Sports Commission so I know how important it is to safeguard one’s integrity, but at the same time state the facts without fear or favour, features of my character that can be substantiated by many sports administrators who when delinquent were

not given a pass.

The attempt to make Shanghai look like the ‘clean’ guy as he goes up against candidates with less baggage will fail unless he or someone from the GFF comes clean with what actually occurred with the Mexico proceeds.

After almost five months no release has been made and all it does is endorse the long held view about the obscurity

of the work of the officers of the GFF and their associates.

The voters must not be hoodwinked by a resume that appears more self serving than all encompassing, a facet that is critical for the holistic development of the sport.

Let Shanghai say what he has done for the community of Linden that was home to the longest running sports (Continued on page 32)

Page 37

CARIFTA make changes in line with IAAF, CAC standards CARIFTA Games stakeholders yesterday announced changes to the annual meet, set to come into effect by the next edition scheduled for the French island of Martinique.

The number of athletes per country has been increased from 70 to 80, while the age limit of participants has been raised from Under17 to Under-18, similar to the CentralAmerican and Caribbean (CAC) Championships.

“Jamaica moved the motion for the number of athletes per team to be increased from 70 to 80 and it was supported in a vote 118,” said Garth Gayle, Secretary of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA).

President of British Virgin Islands Athletics Association, Dean

Greenaway, said the changes bring the CARIFTA Games, one of the world’s premier events, in line with the IAAF and the measures CAC introduced last year.

Changes have also been made to the shot put, discus, javelin and the sprint hurdles.

In the boys’ Under-20 at CARIFTA Games, 16-yearold athletes (17-year-old in the same year of competition) are asked to throw 1.75k discus, 6k shot put, 800g javelin and 0.99m/ 110m hurdles.

At CAC, World Youth the following are used: 1.50k discus, 5k shot put, 700g javelin, 0.91 110m hurdles.

The 300m hurdles have been changed to 400m hurdles, the girls’ pentathlon changed to heptathlon while the boys’ heptathlon has been altered to octathlon.

Lass.

The Summer Class with Ramnauth again on board was in a class by itself as it returned in the G and lower 1400M race with a burst of speed down the homestretch to whip a top notch field and take the $500,000 and trophy from Captain Crook, Joyful victory and Top of The Line.

There was a victory for Easy to win of the Habibulla stable with Semple on the mount from Party Time, Savion and De Gump worth $250,000 and trophy.

The J&K class race was

won by Cat Massiah with Andron Findley riding of the Gansham Singh Stable as it took away the $200,000 and trophy over 1200M from Mary Ann, Prince Bayaya and Windy Killer.

Rad Drepaul was the top Jockey with the Jumbo Jet stable taking top honours.

They received incentives compliments of Trophy Stall, Bourda Market Over $20 M in cash trophies and other incentives were up for up for grabs during the day’s meet which turned out to be an incident free day of racing.

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Jumbo Jet flies away with champion stable accolade - Summer Classic is top horse on show as Score’s Even win feature at Guyana Cup Fever.

By Samuel Whyte It was a day filled with action, the upsets came, the crowd was there in its large number and the excitement was fever pitched and in the end despite a few minor hiccups the Guyana Cup Fever came off with a bang.

The event, which was held at the Port Mourant Turf Club in collaboration with the Jumbo Jet Auto Sales and Racing stables, had prize monies totaling over $20M. In the end there were three dominating factors - The win

by Score’s Even of the Simple Royal Stable with Richmond on perch to take the feature B and lower event; the double win and champion horse status by Summer Classic of the Dr Dwight Walrond Stable and the victories by the Jumbo Jet connections to land them Champion stable accolades.

The feature B and lower 1500M event lived up to expectations as the 11 horse field took off from the starting gates. With the large field

competing for the coveted $2M and Banks DIH trophy there were some initial bumping with some horses being locked in giving others the initial advantage. The going was fast with the lead changing hands on a number of occasions with California Strike, Grand De Roja, Score’s Even, and the newly imported Country Armagh all doing their thing early.

As the race got older there was a bunching up as the animals jostled for the lead.

Into the homestretch there was still a fierce battle with Score Even and Country Armagh up front with Got to Go coming into the picture with a spirited run. However, Score’s Even with Richmond in control had enough to carry it ahead of a fast finishing Got to Go with California Strike and Grande De Roja rounding out the money.

It’s My Turn of the Jumbo Jet stable with Rad Drepaul on mount took first place in the 1200M event for Guyana and West Indies Bred Horses and took home the $1.5M first

prize and trophy with a blazing finishing from Ameera’s Joy, Princess Alisha and Flying Baby.

Serenity of the Jumbo Jet stable ridden by Rad Drepaul returned to winning ways in the Four year old Guyana and West Indies bred 1600M classic and claimed the $1M winner’s money and trophy from Red Cloud, Rosetta and Quiet Storm.

The Shariff racing stable was in winners’ row when Silent Night ridden by Brian Blake silenced its opponents with a classic run in the race for three year old Guyana bred horses to take home the $600,000 money and trophy ahead of Party Time, She So Special and Easy to win.

The E and lower 1200M event saw Mission King of the Elcock stable with Rupert Ramnauth in the stirrups taking off like a horse on a mission to take the event from Swing Easy, Appealing Harvest and War Craft. The win was worth $700,000 and trophy.

(Continued on page 38)

The Jumbo Jet connections in celebrity mood after Serenity’s victory in the four year old event.

Donefka Walrond receives the winning trophy for Summer Classic victory in the G class event.

Banks DIH Berbice supervisor Nandram Basdeo presents the winning Banks DIH trophy to connections of the Simple Royal Stable.

Tuesday April 02, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

t r o Sp

Guyana are 4 wickets away from victory, CCC need 126

By Zaheer Mohamed Guyana and the Combined Campuses and Colleges were locked in a keen battle at the close of play on the third day yesterday in the sixth round of the West Indies Cricket Board Regional 4 day tournament at Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

The visitors need to score a further 126 for victory with 4 wickets in hand.

Guyana resumed on their overnight second innings score on 44-1 with Assad Fudadin on 16 and Leon Johnson on 26, the pair carried the score to 58 before Johnson fell to Nekoli Parris

for 37 (5x4,1x6), while Fudadin was leg before to Kesrick Williams for 27 to leave the score at 74-3.

Guyana then lost Narsingh Deonarine who was caught and bowled by Parris for 7 before Ramnaresh Sarwan and Stephen Jacobs featured in a fifth wicket stand of 87 as the host fought back. Off spinner Ryan Austin then removed Sarwan for 13.

Jacobs who appeared well set for a half century was then caught and bowled

by Akeem Dewar for a top score of 45 a Guyana fell into further trouble at 157-6.

The host then lost Anthony Bramble (16), Paul Wintz (00), Devendra Bishoo (03) and skipper Veersammy Permaul (14) to

Raymond Reifer turnsa delivery form leg spinner Devendra Bishoo on the onside. be all out for 175 in 63.2 overs. Dewar was the pick of the bowlers with 3-21, Parris claimed 3-51 and Austin claimed 3-55.

Set 239 to win, CCC closed on 114-6 in 43 overs.

Lively fast bowler Ronsford Beaton made early inroads when he uprooted the stumps of Anthony Alleyne for 01 at 09.

Off spinner Stephen Jacobs then bowled Nekoli (01) while Permaul sent back Shacaya Thomas (13) as CCC slipped to 23-3.

Floyd Reifer and Kyle Corbin steadied the ship somewhat with a fourth wicket partnership of 41 before Reifer was taken at slip off Bishoo for 18.

Permaul decision to recall Beaton for a second spell paid dividends when

the lively pacer had Corbin caught behind off a sharp rising delivery for 35 to make it 85-5.

Chadwick Walton who drove Deonarine through mid off and cover for fours was leg before to Permaul for 12 just before the close.

Raymond Reifer is unbeaten on 22 while Dewar is yet to score.

Permaul has so far taken 2-15, while Beaton who bowled with pace and aggression has 2-18; Jacobs and Bishoo has 1 each.

A t Wa r n e r P a r k : Barbados declared their first innings on 381-6. Kraigg Brathwaite stroked 165, while Kevin Stoute made 114 and Shane Dowrich 32 not out.

Kelbert Walters took 364 and Shane Burton 2-32.

The Leeward Islands closed the day on 40-4.

Sulieman Benn has 3-4. The islanders made 201 in their first innings.

At Sabina Park: Jamaica beat Trinidad and Tobago by 93 runs. Jamaica scored 259, batting a second time.

Brenton Parchment led with 75, while Tamar Lambert supported with 51 and Nkrumah Bonner 31; Imran Khan bagged 5-28 and Shannon Gabriel 2-52.

Trinidad were skittled for 192 in their second turn at the crease. Rayad Emrit made 52, Khan 36, Denesh Ramdin 30 and Kjorn Ottley 22. Nikita Miller snared 4-54 and Andrew Richardson 2-23.Scores: Jamaica 147 and 259, T and T 121 and 192

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