Kaieteur News

Online readership yesterday 110,066

April 16, 2013 - Vol. 6 No. 16 - Price $80

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Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

Budget hangs in the balance Cable licences will monopolise national communication system - GHRA

Radio/Cable licences protests taken to OP

“It was an orchestrated plan by Jagdeo to take over the airwaves; they want to control this nation. Their aim is to put us (independent media houses) out of business. The protest will continue until Ramotar clears the air on this issue,” says Lall

GBTI refutes AFC Businessman Pilot ignored secret US$25M engine trouble account claim gunned down warnings Sparendaam plane crash…

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Radio licences protests taken to OP “…the protest will continue until Ramotar clears the air on this issue,” says Lall

By: Romila Boodram Media operatives, backed by concerned supporters, took their protest to the Office of the President yesterday to demand the withdrawal of radio and cable licenses granted under questionable circumstances by former President Bharrat Jagdeo.

The protest was staged to coincide with a scheduled meeting at Office of the

President between President Donald Ramotar and members of the Opposition over the proposed budget cuts.

The peaceful protest saw the presence of Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall; Charles Griffith, a Director at the privately-run Hoyte Blackman Television (HBTV) Channel Nine and veteran broadcaster, Enrico Woolford.

Bearing placards, the

protestors stood quietly on the parapet on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, opposite the President’s Office. A senior police rank initially demanded that the protestors remove. He even called for “back up” but none ever arrived. Instead he received additional barricades.

Mr. Lall said that “the protest continues against the unlawful, illegal and immoral issue of radio and cable license by former President, Bharrat Jagdeo. I believe it was a discriminatory act perpetrated on this nation and it must be corrected.”

He explained that the granting of radio and cable license by the former President to his “buddies” is criminal. “They are already making money from it but what has Guyana got?

Nothing! Where will we get money to pay the police; your children and grandchildren will be affected,” Mr. Lall emphasized.

According to the

Kaieteur News Publisher, Guyana Times and the Mirror Newspapers were each granted five radio frequencies while Channels Two, Six, Seven, Nine and Thirteen were refused despite being in the business for as long as television has been in Guyana. Mr. Lall said that cable licences were granted to two of the former President’s close friends, Vishok Persaud and Brian Yong, both of whom he described as “Lil kid.”

He explained with a cable license an individual or company could in fact “give wireless internet, you can have TV stations, radio stations and it can also provide a telephone service.

So when you hear Brian Yong, this li’l kid. was granted a license and Vishok (Persaud), this other kid was given a licence, it is not a magic, it was well plannedThey are not the owners of this thing.”

“Let us have a level

playfield. Let this nation wake up every day and be able to, or given the opportunity to hear different views on various issues. This is what democracy is all about; it is not a one-sided affair,” Lall stressed.

Mr. Glenn Lall believes that the reason for this publication not being granted a radio license was a deliberate act by the former president to have control over the electronic media. “It was an orchestrated plan by Jagdeo to take over the electronic media; they want to control this nation. Their aim is to put us (independent media houses) out of business.”

Meanwhile, Woolford is convinced that the move made by Jagdeo was clearly one in which he rewarded close friends and party supporters. “He (Bharrat Jagdeo) was supposed to act without affection or ill-will but clearly he acted with affection for his people and ill-will

against the people he thought were not in his corner.”

“This is about unfairness, lack of transparency and lack of accountability. You cannot as the President, act in such a way that you act with affection for some of your friends. The airwave is a national resource; it belongs to the people of Guyana.

Therefore it must be distributed in a transparent manner and it must be done with accountability,” Woolford stressed.

The Media Proprietors’ Association is embarking on legal action. “Papers will be filed maybe as soon as tomorrow.” The legal team will consist of Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan; Vice Chairman for AFC, Moses Nagamootoo; Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram; Senior Counsel, Rex McKay, and attorney Roysdale Forde The protest will be continuing today.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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No secret US$25M account in GBTI—bank officials The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry has refuted claims that it has in its account, a secret US$25 million account. On Sunday, Kaieteur News carried a story about a US$25 million account that was only recently discovered in the accounts of Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry.

According to the story, the money was “in a bank account under the control of Winston Brassington, the controversial head of the Privatisation Unit.”

The story attributed the discovery to Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), who claimed that such monies “can be used to pay public servants a muchneeded increase in wages and

salaries.”

Regarding the bank account, Ramjattan said that a whistleblower disclosed that Brassington and Keith Burrowes, an official close to the government, are the main persons controlling the bank account at GBTI. “We are being told by a reliable source…a whistleblower…that the account has $4.9B in it in the name of National Cooperative Financial Services.

AFC is extremely concerned about this since nowhere has the government told the National Assembly that it has (this money) sitting in an account.”

Yesterday, the bank said that it had only one account above the sum quoted by Ramjattan, and that the

signatories are not Winston Brassington and Keith Burrowes.

The bank added that it has no account for which Brassington is a signatory.

“There is no account to which Mr. Burrowes and Mr. Brassington are joint signatories.”

Commenting on the issue of a ‘whistleblower’ a senior bank official said that commercial banks are about secrecy. The contention that there is someone in the bank who is divulging information to the outside is distressing.

However, the consensus is that someone decided to “set up” Ramjattan who could not take the time to check the veracity of the information he received. And Mr. Keith Burrowes, who is currently

seeking medical attention overseas, said that there is no secret US$25 million account to which he is a signatory.

Mr. Burrowes said that he is surprised that the information was not verified with him or a senior staff.

“Politicians must verify their information before going public with such damaging statements.

Usually information coming out of the commercial banks is credible; but unfortunately in this case the information is totally inaccurate,” he added.

The other issues raised in the article are government issues or issues of other entities and as such those institutions and the government will decide if and when they may respond to the article, he said.

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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

Questionable investments Something must be horribly wrong with Guyana and its forward planning. When it plans ahead it arrives at certain conclusions which when examined, seem to be worth the time and energy put into the programme. Sometimes, the undertaking involves large sums of money.

For example, for decades the people in Guyana were accustomed to travelling by boat to Linden, at the time the leading bauxite community in Guyana. That trip lasted some twelve hours but the people were accustomed to it. The government decided that the community and the country could be better served if there was a road linking the two communities and sought foreign funding to construct such a road.

Today that road has seen the rapid expansion and development of Linden largely because it exposed the town to more people since the trip to the mining community was just over an hour.

It was the same with the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Berbice River Bridge. Travelling from Berbice to the city was a veritable nightmare. For one, people had to leave their homes at odd hours and even when they reached the stelling; it could be hours before they were allowed to cross.

When one considers that the river is not three kilometers wide then one must agonise over the fact that they could sit and wait for as long as four hours to make that crossing.

The Demerara Harbour Bridge was equally a move that represented money well spent. Today hundreds of vehicles cross that bridge every day. And to further support its importance, the bridge had allowed the government to create housing schemes that now house thousands of people.

These schemes have eased the pressure on an already overcrowded capital city.

But there are other areas of expenditure that only serve to invoke anger in the population. One such entity that simply gobbles up money without providing the desired change is Guyana Power and Light. It goes without saying that this entity is the larger consumer of foreign exchange by way of the fuel it requires for its operation.

None can fault this expenditure but there have been other expenditures that were designed to enhance the operation of the power company. For starters, taxpayers funded the rental of Caterpillar engines to supplement the ailing turbines. But despite these turbines power outages continued. Then the government took the bull by the horns and spent a huge sum—some US$30 million—to construct a generating station. At the commissioning of that station, Prime Minister Sam Hinds who has responsibility for the power sector, announced to the world that the days of blackouts were over. No sooner had the words left his mouth than blackouts continued. The government then set about constructing another power station and one thought that with two new turbines the power situation would have been constant. This is not to be and one is left to wonder at the expenditures and loans to the power sector.

The most scandalous of the lot is the new Skeldon sugar factory. Up until the proposed construction of the Amaila Falls hydro project the Skeldon factory project represented the largest investment in the history of Guyana.

This factory was supposed to lower the cost of production, increase output and make Guyana’s sugar competitive on the world market in the wake of the price cuts by the European Union. Instead, this factory uses more cane to produce a tonne of sugar, experiences more downtime than its eighty-year-old predecessor and keeps gobbling up tax dollars to rectify problems that should not have existed at this time of its life.

Recently, when the nation looked at the amount of money it keeps pouring into the Skeldon factory it began to ask questions. The government says that it has spent too much to quit now. But the political opposition feels that the time has come to say enough is enough.

Of course it would not make sense to scrap a project for which one would be paying ad infinitum but the time has come when one must question the ability of the decisionmakers to conceptualise worthwhile projects.

There are some new projects underway and now is the best time to examine these projects.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Bharrat Jagdeo’s unsurprising descent into intellectual degeneracy, cultural vagrancy and political immorality DEAR EDITOR: Bharrat Jagdeo’s descent into intellectual degeneracy, cultural vagrancy and political immorality does not surprise me anymore. Jagdeo’s most venal legacy is his conversion of political capital gained from the support of the vast majority of Indians in Guyana, into a plutocracy, elitism and oligarchy that benefited a few, majority of whom were Indians. This is Jagdeo’s degenerate legacy, one that vomits all over Cheddi Jagan’s egalitarian legacy.

No leader, I emphasize, no leader in our country’s history has ever so tragically and abominably stratified this nation on economic terms, wealth and class. We have always had racial division, but Burnham, Hoyte, Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan all practiced or sought to implement features of socialist or communist wealth redistribution. Not Jagdeo.

So, when Jagdeo shows up at the funeral of the nation’s most prominent Hindu priest, where his family is openly grieving, and assaults the Hindu religion by disrespecting that religion’s funeral tenets (Antyesti or Antim Sanskar) by abominably raising a deeply offensive, divisive, volatile and inflammatory issue of race, it is Bharrat Jagdeo being Bharrat Jagdeo.

It is miscreant, characterless, undignified and indecent to metastasize such a solemn and vital occasion (critical period of reincarnation) with vile references to the trenchant, provocative, volatile, inflammatory and bitter issue of race. To raise

racial issues at this setting is offensive to Hindus, most of whom are Indians. Nothing highlights Jagdeo’s intellectual callousness more than this abject irony.

Even more putrifying is the fact that Jagdeo’s views are rejected by facts, repudiated by truth and challenged by evidence.

There is no rising anti-Indian sentiment in Guyana. There is definitely a resurgent anti-PPP sentiment in this nation. This is directed not against those Indians who support the PPP but to those who have hijacked the PPP, a cabal of Indians and other races with Indians in the majority.

There is also a rising anticorruption passion in Guyana. It is directed against the PPP, because the PPP happens to contain the most corrupt collection of individuals in Guyana and they control the nation’s purse.

How does one assert anti-Indian sentiments when we have had two largely peaceful elections? There is a growing Indian presence in the tsunami of voices against the PPP and its venality. A large part of the anti-Indian sentiment are those Indians, like sugar workers, who have been economically deprived and marginalized by a handful of Indian oligarchs living the good life in Pradoville.

This statement is characterized by pathetic failed politicking. The PPP is seriously considering either local government elections or snap national elections. The ethnic temperature will be raised accordingly. This

statement just escalated the ethno-political temperature at a time when snap elections are in the air. The old tricks of crying victimization will be used and abused. But the people are no longer living in fear. Indians know anti-PPP feelings are not anti-Indian feelings, because many Indians harbour those same anti-PPP feelings. If one is to characterize the condemnation of the PPP’s economic aggrandizement of a few, mostly Indians, by many Indians themselves as anti-Indian sentiment, one is really telling the masses of Indians to sabotage their own morality and to betray their own decency, and they have no right to condemn the vagabonds who have used their race to commit all manner of abominations. It is tantamount to calling those Indians who are shamed by the PPP’s corrupt antics turncoats and backstabbers for doing the right thing.

Invoking racial imagery will not cause Indians to automatically support a corrupt PPP regime when they are disgusted by that regime. This bunch of PPP usurpers can no longer spin this anti-PPP vibe as antiIndian. It is a rising tide of anticorruption, anti-inequality, anti-injustice and antiunfairness sentiments we are witnessing, not ‘antiIndianism’.

I find it laughable that a man who launched a lawsuit alleging racism against a critic before the election and which lawsuit managed, against all odds, to be heard in the middle of election season refuses to take the stand, yet makes

these comments out of court.

A lawsuit on racism of all things, against the government’s most vociferous critic, remarkably proceeding to trial just before the election, is exactly the kind of political theatre, some believe for their own political gain a nation with a deepseated race problem that becomes virulent in the heat of election season, needs.

Just in the past few weeks, there have been several letters in the reputable newspapers (Kaieteur News and Stabroek News) criticizing Africans for lack of financial independence and accommodation of PPP’s skulduggery. One could argue there is an anti-African sentiment if one is to read these articles. No African leader has commented thusly.

Anti-PPP sentiment is not anti-Indian sentiment.

This bunch in charge of the PPP has morally and culturally betrayed Indians.

The victimization mantra is no longer working. Nor is the reverse psychology or attempting to hide egregiousness and atrocities under the shroud of race. The undisputed fact is that there is disproportionate distribution under the PPP of the state’s economic resources to Indians and a handful of Indians at that.

This is a problem not only for all other races, but for the staggering majority of Indians who are being economically marginalized by their own PPP government which is giving away their taxes to their friends, cronies and soupdrinkers.

M. Maxwell

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

Poor governance has stalled development in Guyana DEAR EDITOR: It is clear that those in authority lack the intellectual foundation and adequate pedigree in the art of good governance.

As part of good governance, the Government has a duty to consult, engage and involve the people on what projects and plans are in the 2013 Budget for them.

Did anyone visit the New Amsterdam Town Hall and have a public consultation with the people on the 2013 Budget? Did they visit the Albion or the Skeldon Community Centres and consult the people on what they want in the Budget? Did they discuss the budget with the people in Demerara or Essequibo? Was anyone consulted in Georgetown?

It is clear that the insensitive administration is not interested in consulting anyone (not even their own members and supporters) other than themselves, on issues of concern to the citizens.

For instance, rather than misleading the United Nations and the Parliament of Guyana, the Presidential Advisor on Governance, Ms.

Gail Teixeira should have advised her colleagues to reach out and consult Guyanese on the budget.

Rather than accusing the opposition of being racist because they have exposed the PPP regime for supporting a foreign contractor who refused to hire Guyanese workers to build the Marriott Hotel, Ms. Teixeira should use her high office to make sure that Guyanese workers are not discriminated against by such contractors.

She can better serve the nation by listening to the plight of the people and use her office to do something about it.

Rather than speaking fluff in Parliament constantly, Ms. Teixeira should use her position as the PPP Chief Whip to make sure that the masses and not only the wealthy receive adequate benefits from the budget.

This PPP Government has spent over two trillion dollars since the Jagdeo/Ramotar administrations took power from the Jagans, and it is clear that they are asking the

people to carry this heavy burden, but they do not want to be accountable to them.

Only the PPP cronies have a monopoly on new ideas for economic and human development.

What a human development tragedy that the Marriott Hotel is being built with 100% foreign labour!

This project is a shameful abuse of the principle of good governance and to all Guyanese.

It is the duty of the government to spend the taxpayers’ money on all the people.

However, when it comes to bringing the benefits to those on the lower tiers, it is way below the expected level of satisfaction and nothing is being done to improve the situation.

This happens in all the services: namely education, healthcare, sanitation, water, power, road, drainage, agriculture and many other areas of societal importance.

Even in the procuring of a house-lot, the citizens have to struggle; most despicable indeed.

A Government is responsible for bringing

smiles to the faces of the people if it can enact the appropriate policies, laws and facilitating societal transformation; and not steal the people’s resources.

More than 280,000 persons who exist below the poverty line face the most difficult challenge to uplift their lives, but the administration has so far done nothing substantial to help them.

Our GDP should be growing at 8%; rather, we continue to grow at 4% thus placing thousands more into the army of the poor. This government needs to focus

immediately on: 1. Value added agriculture and food processing (rice cereals, packaged rice cakes, tinned rice pudding, more packaged sugar, bio-energy, agro-tourism, packages and chopped fruits and vegetables for the export market); 2. Reliable and quality electric power, surface transport and infrastructure for all parts of the country; 3.

Education and Healthcare for all; 4. Private Sector-driven Information and Communication Technology; and

5. Strategic sectors such as ethanol production, a deep water harbour; the road to Brazil; oil production; and job creation at the basic level (the AFC in its Action Plan recommended creating 5,000 jobs immediately to clean Guyana up).

Implementation of these programmes in an integrated way and in a timely manner, and in a cost effective fashion, will help Guyana turn the corner on our creeping human development disaster.

The question is, can the PPP do it?

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

DEAR EDITOR: I would like to comment briefly on the Attorney G e n e r a l ’s constant statement of the Government being prevented from carrying out its constitutional mandate. This statement was made by him on several occasions during the constitutional debate.

I wish to express how disgusted I feel about these remarks, especially since one

does not have to be a lawyer to understand what this statement suggests, as the constitution of Guyana has been violated by this Government on many occasions between 2002 and now, simply because the Government had a majority in Parliament.

The violation of the Constitution is by passing legislation in breach of Articles 164 of the Constitution by way of

Amendment which is now law.

I wish to be challenged as being wrong on this issue and for this reason I would not at this stage highlight what I have discovered.

This confounded nonsense must stop. I write this letter as a founder member of the Guyana National Council o n P u b l i c P o l i c y, t h e GNCCP. Jonas M.F. Coddett

This confounded nonsense must stop

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

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

It is time for all property owners to speak up DEAR EDITOR: Nearly one month ago, the Mayor and City Council placed several advertisements in the press for vacant positions. But nothing has been said by the council about those vacancies. Every day, the council is embroiled in some problem; there is clear evidence of very poor leadership and the city remains a large dumping ground.

One would have thought that the very visible undesirable situation would

have pushed the Mayor and his Councillors into action to get their act together, and to have a proper administration with well trained and qualified staff, that can help rescue the capital from further deterioration.

In every corner there are heaps of refuse, drains are stagnant, alleys overgrown with high bushes and long grass and no one seems to care about the rapid decline of the city. No street lights in certain areas and the mosquito nuisance is a big problem in many

communities. The thing is, there appears to be no effort on the part of the council to take action to remedy these things and to fix Georgetown.

Instead of that, we hear reports in the press about the councilors quibbling about petty issues and individuals running the council as if it were their personal preserve.

No wonder citizens find it difficult to pay their rates and taxes.

I recall, sometime last year, when the government imposed the current acting Town Clerk on the council,

that the Minister had said that it was a mere temporary arrangement and that the situation would have changed.

A year after that imposition, the situation remains the same with no explanation from the government or the council authorities. Citizens deserve far better than what is obtained at the Georgetown Town Council. It is time for all property owners to speak up against this folly taking place at the council.

James Mattis

I intend to follow up this matter with Mr. Trotman and the Police DEAR EDITOR: In his presentation to the National Assembly during the debates on the 2013 Budget Speeches, WPA representative in the APNU Desmond Trotman, said; “People out there see the PPP as a criminal cabal to be dismantled.”

At the conclusion of Trotman’s presentation I rose and objected to this sordid characterization of the PPP on the ground that implicitly, to describe the PPP as a “criminal cabal” would mean that PPP MPs are involved in criminal activities and therefore should be prosecuted.

The logical conclusion of this wicked, malicious and jaundiced expression is that PPP MPs ought not to be seated in the National Assembly, were we to accept that the PPP is “a criminal cabal”.

In this regard, I requested that Trotman’s remarks be

struck from the records or that they be withdrawn. In response, the House was advised that Trotman was simply “reporting what the people are saying and that the words were not his”.

Consequently, my remarks on the matter were noted for the records, I further requested that since Mr. Trotman seemed supportive of the claim that the PPP is viewed as a “criminal cabal to be dismantled’ he should provide information on the matter to the Police or the Police be asked to visit him with a view to soliciting whatever information he might have on the matter.

Trotman was so advised and the matter was left at that in so far as his privileges in the National Assembly is concerned.

I intend to follow up this matter with both Mr. Trotman and the Police.

Clement J. Rohee Minister

DEAR EDITOR: The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), in a recent report, found that more than a quarter of children under the age of five are permanently “stunted” from malnutrition, leaving them physically and intellectually weak and prone to early death. This is indeed sad and a serious indictment on the current global order in which tens of millions are dying for want of food, water and medicine, while a privileged few wallow in luxury and conspicuous lifestyles.

As I mentioned in a previous letter, something is fundamentally wrong in any system of production and distribution where so many of the world’s population are forced into a life of poverty and want, while a tiny

minority enjoy the “high” life and have at their disposal more than what they could possibly consume.

What is even more unfortunate is the fact that the provision of vitamins, clean water and other basic amenities could have saved these 165 million children from the scourge of malnutrition and stunted growth but for the political will by the global community to make the necessary resources available.

According to the UNICEF report, the countries with the highest levels of stunted children are concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This is why the call for a new global human order by the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan is so relevant in today’s unjust world.

Hydar Ally

Stunted growth and the new global human order

Let the seller beware DEAR EDITOR: Interesting, the recent Editorial headed ‘Beware the Conmen’. About the tricksters getting away with the scam because “the cheques are paid close to or after the commercial bank has closed and the business entity therefore has no way of checking the authenticity of the document”.

The answer to this could be to warn the customer at the

time of purchase that such cheques must be presented between......... and ......., hours that would enable the shop to establish authenticity.

No business should be so “quick to grab every penny that comes its way.......and become careless”. This is tantamount to being ‘pennywise and pound foolish’. Take no chances.

Let the seller beware.

Geralda Dennison

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

South Ruimveldt businessman gunned down Within the past 24 hours there have been two reported shooting incidents in the South/North Ruimveldt community. Unfortunately the second incident has resulted in the death of a popular sports enthusiast.

Some time close to midnight on Sunday, 52 yearold Orin Joseph a domino fanatic was pronounced dead by doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital who were feverishly trying to save his life. Joseph sustained three gunshot wounds after he was reportedly attacked and robbed just outside of his Gaulding Place, South Ruimveldt Park home.

Faye Joseph, the dead man’s wife, who was overcome by grief, recalled the last few minutes with her husband.

Mrs. Joseph said that she and her husband recently restarted their Blue Bird Domino club. “Once we have domino competition he would normally remove the cars from under the house and park them up the street to facilitate the people.”

Mrs. Joseph recalled that when the competition was over at about 23:00 hours, herself and two other persons were tidying up while her husband went to bring back

help turn her husband on the bed and she noticed about three gunshot injuries.

“Within 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital they told me my husband was dead.”

According to the grieving widow she believes that her husband was the victim of a brazen robbery which was committed by persons who knew his movements. Mrs. Joseph told this publication that persons saw two men fleeing from where her husband fell.

Dead 52 year-old Orin Joseph

The dead man’s wife Faye Joseph.

the vehicles to the house.

“I was sweeping and the two other persons were packing up the chairs and we heard like four gunshots.

Right away I heard my husband calling my name, so I turn to the two people there and I tell them like Orin get shoot.”

According to Mrs. Joseph she immediately began running towards her husband with the two other persons by her side.

“I saw the door on his car open and the lights on so I thought he got shot in the car but then somebody call me

back and say look he on a neighbour bridge,”.

Fighting to hold back tears, Mrs. Joseph recalled her husband pleading with her to loosen his belt from around his waist.

The woman said she did as her husband requested while her friends assisted in placing him in a vehicle. By that time other persons had converged on the scene and a police officer who lives nearby drove the wounded Joseph to the Hospital.

Mrs. Joseph said that when they arrived at the hospital a nurse asked her to

“He had on a gold band and a gold chain and it look like they snatch his chain but when they realize that it was silver and gold they left it because when we picked him up his chain just fell off”.

While the woman is pleading for justice she is also calling on the police to carry out a thorough investigation into her husband’s death.

Only on Saturday morning another man, Desmond Marcus, was shot in his head in the vicinity of National Avenue and Caneview

Avenue following a confrontation with a man who was in his minibus and who refused to pay. Marcus’s injury was not life threatening.

This recent incident has raised some concern among residents of the community who say there seems to be an upsurge in criminal activities in the area despite the fact that a police outpost was set up in that location close to a year ago.

Hence residents are calling for increased police patrol.

Man wounds panty thief who stole wife’s under wears Two men are now before the court in contrasting circumstances, one for simple larceny and the other for unlawful wounding and maliciously inflicting grievously bodily harm.

It all started on March 22, 2013 at Douglas Street, Cumberland, East Canje, when Edward Ramsundar, 41, of Lot 85 Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice, a known felon, stole five pairs of underwear worth $5,000 belonging to Anicee Balgobin.

The woman had earlier left her underwear on a line and had gone out. She and her husband were on their way home when the suspect was seen in the area. The woman subsequently checked and realized that five pairs of her underwear were missing.

The word eventually got around that Ramsundar was seen in the yard earlier and was the culprit. The woman’s husband, Michael Balgobin, 33, a labourer and father of three of Lot 14 Douglas Street, Cumberland, armed himself with a piece of wood and confronted the accused.

An argument ensued and Ramsundar was wounded and had to be taken to the hospital where he was treated for a fractured hand.

Both men were subsequently arrested and charged. They appeared before magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Ramsundar was released on $10,000 bail while Balgobin was required to post $20,000 for his pretrial liberty. They will both have to return to court on May 15, 2013.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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MADURO AND RAMOTAR ARE NOW TWO PEAS OF THE SAME POD You should never take your political opponents for granted or presume that any election is signed, sealed and delivered. Overconfidence leads to complacency and complacency can result in problems.

There is no better example of this than what took place in the general and regional elections of 2011 in Guyana.

The supporters of the ruling party could not envisage anything but a landslide victory. After all, the country had been enjoying prosperous times; its best years ever and the opposition had done poorly five years earlier. The PPP expected to sweep the polls. There was even talk about a sixty per cent support for the ruling party.

That seemed likely given the low-keyed election campaign of the main opposition partnership which seemed short of cash to run its campaign.

The supporters of the government took too much for granted. Scores of them decided that they did not need to turn out to vote, that victory was assured. They could not contemplate the possibility of a massive showing for a failed political party like the PNCR which when during its rule had brought Guyana to economic destruction. It was the PPP which brought Guyana back to economic viability and its best years ever. So the supporters of the PPP asked themselves: Why the PPP

should not win the elections easily?

They took too much for granted. Complacency hurt them. They won the elections but narrowly failed to gain a majority in the National Assembly. Now all Guyana is paying the price for that loss of a parliamentary majority.

The reason why the opposition did so well in Guyana was because they had a much higher voter turnout in their strongholds that the ruling party had in theirs. And with the AFC campaigning smartly, it got sufficient seats to deny the PPP the majority.

The Chavistas in Venezuela should have learnt from the experience of Guyana. They presumed that they had the election safely wrapped up. Buoyed by the sympathy vote, they predicted another landslide against a presumed weaker opposition than the one the late Hugo Chavez comfortably defeated last October.

The Chavistas took things for granted and in Sunday’s election, the lines were generally shorter in their strongholds than they were in the opposition’s strongholds. The Chavistas were complacent and the end result was that their leader barely scraped home with the Presidency by a mere two percentage points when opinion polls had given him a commanding double digit lead going into the final week of the elections.

Dem boys seh...

Things bad wid Amaila When de plane fall down Saturday afternoon, some people seh that de Man above was sending a message. De statement lef dem boys puzzled because dem know that de plane ain’t got nutten to do wid de government and corruption. Is when a man mention Amaila that dem boys see de whole picture.

De plane was doing some wuk fuh de Amaila project.

One man start fuh cry. He holler how de project ain’t gone nowhere and it tek two life already. Imagine wha gun happen when it start.

But of course dem got people who seh that it was an accident but people point to Skeldon wha kill people and it ain’t wukking good up to now.

Dem boys know people who believe that some project got to get blood. That is why some of dem use to kill a fowl cock and drop de blood at de project site. That suppose to keep de spirits happy. Some people did try fuh do that at Skeldon but de white people who was wukking deh didn’t believe suh nobody didn’t try.

Dem boys willing to bet that before de week out de whole Cabinet heading to de Amaila project fuh shed blood because dem know that trouble deh in de air. Dem already kill two sheep at de airport. Dem did kill two fowl cock and three duck when dem was building de Marriott. That is why de only serious thing that happen is two Chinee worker pound dem finger wid a hammer.

Nobody ain’t fall off a scaffold.

Dem boys seh that people shouda see wha Jagdeo do when he was building he mansion. He don’t tek chance.

Walter de Wicked now telling dem boys that he ain’t going nowhere near to Amaila till de government lock up Fip because de man creating mischief because he get knock off.

Talk half and look fuh dem sacrifice.

Once again the turnout rate was the defining factor that allowed the opposition to come close to ending the Bolivarian Revolution.

There are important lessons that both Maduro and Ramotar can learn from the elections in their countries.

The first of these is that they should not take things for granted. Every vote counts and they should not allow complacency to develop during elections because in both countries there is ruthless opposition that will overturn all that has been built upon over the past twenty years.

The second lesson is that a successor leader cannot be expected to enjoy automatically the support of his predecessor. Donald Ramotar has been involved in politics for a long time but he was not very conspicuous in government prior to the 2011 elections and as such while his party’s supporters railed for him the critical swing votes did not know much of him. They still do not know much of him today.

In the case of Maduro, he was expected to enjoy a sympathy vote. But he was never going to be as popular as Chavez and therefore this

needed to be factored into his alliance’s political calculations.

He is now facing a grave situation whereby his victory was so narrow that the opposition is going to use this as the basis for questioning his legitimacy even though, like the opposition in Guyana, it knows that it lost but still want to create problems.

He will rule with the cloud of two per cent majority over him for the next six years.

In the case of Guyana, the PPP knows that the opposition peaked in 2011 and the opposition knows that it will never be able to better that

performance. The PPP however still has to get out its voters and avoid that situation that happened in 2011 when these supporters could not envisage that the opposition would have done so well.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Freddie Kissoon Column

Shocking news in Venezuela but I wasn’t surprised Trust me, when you study philosophy, nothing the human being does will surprise you. Though I admire the mind of the great, European thinker Arthur Koestler, I could not have agreed with his pessimism on the Human Condition when I had to study his works as a philosophy student.

I really do like Koestler and learned a lot about human nature from reading his books but I believe, then, and I still do, that humans are capable of the great logical

thinking and sound reasoning about their obligations to each other.

The results in the Venezuelan elections did not startle me. They could not because philosophy instructs us never to be surprised at how the human being thinks.

The really sad thing about those election results is the country I live in.

After the election of Obama, the power-sharing government in Zimbabwe, the Arab Spring, I thought that there was something

destructive about my country.

How can the world go through such great, phenomenal changes yet we remain a backward nation?

The election results in Venezuela have stunned the world. No one can be that indecent to say they expected that kind of percentage win

by Chavez’s handpicked presidential candidate. He won by 1.7 percent. The loser should feel that they were tied. He has a right to because the world felt that with Chavez’s death the candidate

of Chavez’s party would have earned a landslide victory.

Respected commentators the world over predicted a wide margin of victory because of Chavez’s death. It wasn’t to be. At the time of writing, the opposition is requesting a recount citing over three hundred thousand incidents of irregularities that could have affected the election results.

All analysts the world over will have to rush to their libraries and dig out their politics books to explain this

phenomenon in Venezuela.

Here is my little two cents.

I believe capitalism as a system has failed. I also believe the same of communism and socialism.

Chavez came to power in Venezuela championing the cause of a man who failed miserably to bring his people out of poverty – Fidel Castro.

It was an immense mistake to emulate Castro because there was nothing to emulate about Castro.

A country’s people cannot feed themselves on a fantastic health and education system. That was all Castro gave the Cuban people. He never gave them food. From the time of the revolution in 1959, Castro had a problem providing food to the Cuban people. He has retired and failed miserably in that respect.

Chavez did a superb thing when he came to power. He took the country’s oil revenue and put it in the hands of the poorer classes. This was a break from centuries of capitalist oligarchy. Not one Venezuelan president that preceded Chavez was more generous to the working people and the poorer classes than Chavez.

But Chavez was not a benefactor that dropped from the skies. He was not a radical who wanted to create a workers’ paradise in his country. He was not a leader struck by a vision that he would create a country of distributive wealth.

Chavez was a populist narcissist who hadn’t a clue how to develop Venezuela into Scandinavia where wealth is distributed that the concept of a poorer class does not exist. If there is any part of the world where the

Frederick Kissoon socialist revolution is impossible to make is Scandinavia. There are no poorer classes to appeal to.

By the time of his death, the money was running out, the poor were getting restless, and the economy of Venezuela was jumping like a chicken whose head was just taken off by a butcher.

Coupled with this was the fact that large sections of the Venezuelan society had become fed up with Chavez and his narcissist behaviour.

They had fourteen years of it and were beginning to see him as an eccentric and unpredictable leader.

Three reasons could be cited for the narrow (very narrow) victory of Chavez’s deputy. First, Venezuelans wanted to turn a new leaf.

They felt that the epoch of Chavez was gone and it was time to bring in something new. Secondly, they felt that they should give another candidate from another party a chance.

This is called the fatigue syndrome. People just get burdened with a party that has been in power for too long.

Finally, a large percentage of voters felt that the opposition candidate may do better. Here in Guyana, we are still waiting to prove Arthur Koestler wrong.

Maybe Guyana proves Koestler right - humans are flawed animals.

Army officer fined for ganja possession Samuel Archer, 35, of the Guyana Defence Force pleaded guilty yesterday to the charge of possession of narcotics, before Magistrate Allan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court.

Prosecutor Kerry Bostwick told the court that on April 14, about 1:00 hours, police on duty at the National Park whi c h h o s t e d t h e “Boom Concert,” saw the defendant acting in a suspicious manner. As a result, a search on the suspect was conducted and a plastic bag containing leaves, seeds and stems was discovered in his right side pants pocket.

He was consequently arrested and taken to the Alberttown Police Station, where the narcotic, which

was suspected to be cannabis, was weighed in his presence. The contents of the plastic bag amounted to six grams and the defendant was charged for the said offense.

Attorney at Law, Dexter Todd, rose to Archer’s defense and begged the court for mercy. The lawyer explained that even though his client is an excellent worker within the force he was misguided at the time and was caught up by the “one try” experience. He was unfortunately caught.

Magistrate Allan Wilson explained to the defendant that six grams of cannabis is over the fence of community service but was spared a jail term and granted 12 months of community service and instructed to pay a fine of $10,000.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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East Bank Berbice motorists Corentyne youths complete USAID gear for city protest funded sexual violence training As the incidence of gender-based violence continues to raise its ugly head, Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre of Number 68 Village, Corentyne, is training out -of school youths aged 16-23 to equip them with the knowledge and skills to promote positive behavioral changes among their peers. The focus of the change is domestic, youth and sexual violence. The centre has as its primary mission preventing and stopping all forms of violence especially against women and girls.

A five-day workshop is being conducted by project staff of Roadside Baptist Skills and Training Centre with funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development

The participants in the youth empowerment programme (USAID) through the financial contractor Community Development and Support Services - CSDS.

Roadside Baptist Centre is at present implementing a project entitled “Engaging Men, Boys, Traditional leaders and Community initiative to prevent and stop gender-based Violence”.

A live televised panel discussion programme was also recently held in Berbice with positive impact.

The panel was made up of Ms. Munroe, Probation Officer; Mr. Dineshwar Jaiprashad, School’s Welfare officer; Dr. Harry PersaudChand, Medical Doctor – Skeldon hospital; Mr. Linden Murray, Community Development Officer – Skeldon Sugar Estate and Ms. Shazeeda Abdulla from National Sisters Association – NISA.

Mother remanded for the murder of her 8-month-old baby

The East Bank Berbice protesters have been soliciting contributions from the traffic users, even school children that use the East Bank Berbice Public Road.

The money is to hire vehicles to take them to Georgetown to protest at Parliament Buildings.

The protesters are claiming that since their last protest action no government official has met with them and such they are of the view that

they will never be able to access a new road.

The residents claimed they saw several televised programmes where the President spoke of numerous projects but none is of the building of East Bank Berbice public road.

They claim that it has been decades and only promises are being made and every now and again the government patch and do remedial works on the road which only lasts for a couple

months.

The angry residents believe that it is time the government does something to help them.

Motorists say that the state of the road is damaging their tyres and other accessories on their vehicles.

The protesters trekked the streets with donation boxes. Road users willingly contributed their donations with the hope that this protest action will wake up the government.

Ashanti Lalldas, 25, of 49 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, was yesterday remanded for the alleged murder of her eight-monthold son, Antonio Lalldas, at New Road, Middle Mazaruni River, Essequibo.

Presiding over the matter was Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court.

Court documents revealed that on April 8, at about 14:00 hours, the accused left Papi Shaw L a n d i n g , M i d d l e Mazaruni River along with

the deceased who was her son and returned on April 9 about 9 hours. People in the area became suspicious when she returned without the baby.

She then tried to quell the growing questions by telling members of the community that she had left the deceased with his father who is a Brazilian national.

On April 11, about 11:30 hours, the defendant returned to the Papi Landing and went to a shop where she

told Lendon Blyden that she was raped by two Amerindians and a “rasta man” on a hill top where they also allegedly raped her son and killed him.

Th e matter was subsequently reported to the police and investigations were conducted which later caused the defendant to be charged with the said offence.

Lalldas’ trial is scheduled to begin on April 25 at the Bartica Magistrate’s court.

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Tuesday April 16, 2013

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Joint opposition proposed cuts leave Home Affairs Ministry naked-Rohee - Such action will hurt country’s economy As the Alliance For Change (AFC) aims to cut $36 Billion from the 2013 National Budget, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says that the AFC’s decision will hurt the country’s economy while leaving the Ministry of Home Affairs naked and the Sports and Arts Development Fund stagnated.

The party further condemned the latest assault on the 2013 budget, Guyana’s largest, by the joint opposition alliance of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and AFC. During the press conference at Freedom House, PPP’s headquarters on Robb Street yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Frank Anthony lamented on the proposed budget cuts which they say is not in the interest of the country’s development.

Minister Rohee explained that the Ministry of Home Affairs has oversight of over seven departments and in the Budget that is being presented, under capital $50.8M and under current

$136.5M adds up to $187.3M, this has been slashed by a proposed $96.5M cut which shrinks the amount to $90.8M. Underscoring one of the many areas affected, Rohee said the citizens security programme which was allocated $643M; there is now a $500M slash being proposed which would only leave $143M for the citizen security programme.

“What is more critical is that the Ministry currently has 91 contract employees, they (AFC) have reduced this 91 by virtue of cuts to 23, so from 91 contracted employees, they are saying we must have 23. Now what is going to happen to those people?”

Rohee questioned as he noted that these contracted workers’ job security are in limbo. “Who like to know their life is in limbo? You give me one person like that and I would probably exchange my job for yours … nobody wants to be in a position of job insecurity.”

Further questioning how the Ministry will be managed with all the cuts, Rohee explained that persons who

are hired for various positions can opt to be a contract employee or be a fixed established pensionable employee, thus these persons cannot and should not be penalized.

“It is unfortunate that in Guyana we have the resources but we have an opposition who are bent on cutting those resources, placing workers on the breadline and depriving our people of necessary goods and services to positively impact their lives all because they are power drunk on a one seat dictatorship in the National Assembly…Faced with this reality, the opposition has now resorted to making a number of unrealistic demands from Government in order to save face with the public,” Rohee noted.

“All responsible stakeholders should reject outright this outrageous attempt by the Opposition to hold Budget 2013 hostage and to hijack and stymie development in Guyana.”

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Frank Anthony said the opposition proposed

to eliminate the Sports and Arts Development Fund of $100 million which would be u s e d for funding Cuban coaches, competitions and prize monies, Guyana Prize for Literature, republishing of books, publishing speeches of former Presidents, lecture series amongst many other programmes.

Adding that cuts should not be made to cultural programmes and the arts, Minister Anthony said the opposition parties are making a serious mistake since the programmes would benefit a substantial amount of people in the country.

“It is going to affect peoples’ lives and I would urge them to rethink their approach.”

However, the opposition noted that unless the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport can come clean on how that same amount was spent last year and say what he proposes to do with that money this year there will be cuts. Cuts are also proposed in the sum of $224 million to the Board of Industrial Training.

Other big projects the

‘Lead by example and take lie detector test’— GPSU tells GEA officials The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) which has from the inception denounced polygraph testing as a method of maintaining worker integrity, has called on seniors of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) to “lead by example and take the lie detector test.”

This call comes amidst numerous allegations by lower level GEA staff that top agency officials are reportedly involved in, or condoning the illegal act of fuel smuggling. The call follows more recent calls by A Partner for National Unity’s (APNU) Kerwin Crawford, to have the police speed up investigations into irregular fuel activities occurring in his constituency, East Berbice Corentyne, Region Six. GPSU’s Head, Patrick Yarde, has however said that the union is going to stick by workers because they firmly disbelieve in the use of polygraph testing.

They also claimed bias in its application.

Yarde said, “The test is not foolproof. It is an abuse of workers’ rights and shows “bullyism” since these workers are not obligated to take the test.”

Yarde asserted that the test is supposed to be voluntary but according to the reports, workers are forced to sign forms saying

that they volunteer to be tested. Polygraph testing cannot be forced on a worker especially when it was not an option to satisfy job application, he added.

It is further discriminating, Yarde charged, when the test is not applied to everyone.

In a previous interview, Yarde had stated that the test was being used more opportunistically to expel unfavoured employees and not because employees are corrupt. He told this newspaper that to ensure integrity, testing must come from the top all the way down and those found guilty should immediately face the justice system.

It is not that we don’t support agency methods to ensure honesty and transparency, he said, but the approach must be credible and foolproof. “We are not trying to push out approaches to identify irregularities, but approaches must be credible and able to stand up to scrutiny and investigation,” Yarde iterated.

In relation to two GEA staffers who were fired a few weeks ago for not volunteering to take the lie detector test, GPSU said that an investigation has been launched into the matter.

He said that the men, former seniors of GEA, have been asked to bring in relevant

information, “and when we are satisfied with what is provided, we will take the necessary action to rectify the matter.”

Staffers of GEA had come forward with information which they said suggested corruption amongst GEA top brass. They were peeved at the possibility of losing their jobs because they did not want to take the polygraph test or for failing it.

They were however unwilling to be fired, while alleging to be cognizant of unorthodox activities occurring within the agency, allegedly involving seniors.

The workers made allegations of GEA seniors covering up for administration affiliated fuel smugglers.

They alleged that some senior staff members and their affiliates reportedly have businesses in areas requiring fuel, creating a conflict of interest perception. The workers further cited unfair and discriminating treatment in the test application.

GPSU in 2009 criticized the government when they used this method of testing to fire Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officers who failed the test.

The workers union saw that action as frustrating legitimate procedures and described the government’s

moves as arbitrary, discriminatory and unlawful.

It was also noted by the Global Polygraph Network out of the US that polygraph testing alone was not grounds to fire any worker.

The agency charged that there needed to be reason for a worker to be tested, that the test is not mandatory and workers’ permission must be granted.

It further stated that additional investigation is required before a worker can be scrutinized for irregularities.

Only last Saturday APNU councilor Crawford made the call for police to speed up their investigations into fuel theft.

The Region Six Regional Democratic Council (RDC) came under fire at the latest Public Accounts Committee meeting as representatives were made to answer for over $24M in fuel and lubricants that could not have been accounted for.

Also, it was found that the RDC could not account for $345M worth in outstanding cheque orders dating back to 1998.

The APNU member said discrepancies were further discovered and reflected in the Auditor General’s (AG) report for the period 2007 to 2008, while the irregularities reappeared in the AG’s 2011 report.

AFC plans to cut are those under the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

The AFC plans to cut down those estimates from $20 billion to $1 billion.

Further, the AFC has given notice to the Clerk of the National Assembly that it will not approve the more than $900 million that was asked for the Guyana Elections Commission under a heading called “other.”

The government has proposed to spend $2.3 billion more on the Amaila Falls access road, but the AFC wants that sized down to $700 million.

Minister Clement Rohee

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Cable licence will monopolise national communication system - GHRA …says suspend support for any budgetary allocation for communication

By Abena Rockcliffe The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday made clear its position on the “discriminatory” issuance of several Radio licenses, dubbing the issue an intolerable one that requires firm action to be taken.

President of the GHRA, Mike Mc Cormack yesterday pointed out that, since the year started, there have been several extreme problems that the Guyanese public has

been dealing with. All those issues- each with its own significance- have been sidelined when a bigger one arises and were therefore never dealt with.

Mc Cormack recalled that in February, the “big issue” was the Chinese television station. This, he said, was sidelined by the “very unfair and discriminatory fashion in which the radio licences were issued.”

The GHRA president added that concerns about the issuances is almost being

Man, 72, stabbed to death at Gaumont Guest house Police were yesterday questioning several people in connection with the stabbing to death of a 72-year-old man at the popular Gaumont Guest House in High Street.

Reports stated that Frederick Thomas, of Friendship, East Coast Demerara, was at the hangout spot at around 16:00 hrs when he was stabbed in the chest.

He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he succumbed some 15 minutes later.

Police subsequently took statements from the guest house owner and several patrons, but it is unclear whether anyone was detained.

When Kaieteur News visited the High Street location, the building was shut tight.

There have been other murders at the night spot, with one of the victims being a man who was stabbed to death by a female.

sidelined by those about the new cable from Brazil “which has the potential of monopolizing the entire communication system in Guyana for whomever friends and families get control of it.”

Mc Cormack stated that the GHRA finds the unfair distribution more than disturbing, the association views it intolerable.

He said that the GHRA finds that there is a need to get back to basics and call on the National Assembly to suspend support for any budgetary allocation for communication.

That would include monies allocated for the National Communication Network (NCN); which the joint parliamentary opposition that holds the majority in parliament has already signaled intention not to support, unless certain requirements are met.

Mc Cormack said, too, that until the Broadcast Authority is restructured in alignment with principles of fairness, professionalism and competence and until the authority is independent from political influence, “we (GHRA) feel that it will be scandal after scandal.”

Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams

GHRA President, Mike Mc Cormack

Similarly, last week at a press conference, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) reiterated its disapproval towards the manner in which the radio licences were issued in 2011 by the then president and Minister of Information Bharrat Jagdeo.

The party’s shadow Minister of Finance Carl Greenidge said that he recognizes the issuances as not only a means for the government to get its friends richer, but as a means for it to strengthen its strength of

spreading propaganda.

The former Minister said, “And another thing is that when they sell out the spectrum to their friends, families and cronies for a song, taxpayers will have to pay more. So one must know that one cannot condone this act but complain about tax, it is contradictory.”

APNU’s shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, reminded that the broadcasting legislation governs everything on the spectrum, “which means that every man Jack has to

reapply.

“So Shadick with whatever she is talking about is not relevant, since having these persons reapply is not discursion but the law.”

APNU executive member, Lance Carberry, added that the spectrum belongs to the nation and should be used for the development of the nation.

The very month he left office, Jagdeo gave five radio frequencies each to his best friend Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop; The Mirror newspaper, which is owned by the ruling PPP; and Telcor and Cultural Broadcasting, which is linked to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud. Jagdeo’s successor, President Donald Ramotar, attempted to justify his actions when he told media operatives that early in Jagdeo’s second term of office, which began in 2006, he promised to end the state control of radio and liberalize the sector.

“So I suspect he was fulfilling a commitment that was made very early in his second term. From that point of view I don’t see anything irregular with it.”

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Local hospital expands service with upgraded MRI machine As part of its efforts to further expand its services, the privately operated, Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital recently introduced a massive high frequency Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine which according to the medical institution’s administrator, Dr. Madhu Singh, is brand new and fully functional.

During an interview with this publication, Dr. Singh explained that the General Electric (GE) made MRI machine has a 1.5 Tesla magnet measurement and was in fact something that Guyana was lacking.

Previously the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, which is also privately operated, was the only facility offering MRI service and according to Dr. Singh, the East Street, Georgetown, Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital will be offering this service at a comparable price.

The MRI, according to Dr. Singh, offers imaging of any part of the body including the brain and can cost a minimum of $65,000. The scanning machine can produce the images of the entire spine at a stretch enabling complete evaluation of the whole of the spinal cord, vertebrate and all discs.

It was disclosed that the entire head, neck and whole body can also be assessed in single image formats for evaluation of cancers, polytrauma or screening for any serious illness.

Currently a Specialist Neuro-Surgeon, Dr. Harsh Saxena, is visiting at the private hospital. According to

Dr. Singh his visit commenced last Monday and will conclude next week Friday. Moreover, those who are found to be in need of Dr. Saxena’s services will be attended to during this period.

At a recent press conference officials of the private hospital spoke of the importance of the MRI scanning service, highlighting that MRI as a modality is known to give the best resolution of internal organs as compared to any other scanning modalities especially for brain, spinal cord, discs, joints and muscles.”

According to them, MRI gives great details of body parts, pathological processes and even chemical constitution of any area of the body.

Another advantage of the MRI, as presented by the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital, is that it is multi-dimensional.

Images can be obtained in any plane of the body. For example in an x-ray there is just a two dimensional portrait of all structures together and in CT scans there is only a horizontal slice of the body depicted, whereas in MRI it is possible to make details of images in vertical, horizontal, or any oblique slices and their composite 3D images are possible.

“Unlike CT Scans or xrays these excellent images can be reproduced without any harmful radiation. So this is an ideal imaging modality in pregnant women and children,” officials confidently noted.

According to Dr. Singh, as an advanced MRI facility, there is even the possibility of providing a better resolution of the images of all parts of the body and the chance of missing any pathology is unlikely.

It was also revealed that the machine has the capability to detect stroke at the earliest possible time so that the revascularisation therapy for stroke can be initiated before the window period. This, it was noted, is possible with the use of diffusion weighted images of MRI, which is a functional MRI imaging technique.

MRI is also said to be the imaging choice of people with epilepsy, according to Dr. Singh, who insisted that any person suffering from this illness should be assessed at least once by MRI to make sure that no specific cause exists.

It was noted too that many patients with epilepsy may have diseases like infection of the brain, tumours, stroke or vascular malformations and it was disclosed that “a blood clot in the brain whether it is in artery or vein is best depicted

by MRI...”

“People developing fits should undergo an MRI to detect any possible causes including encephalitis, where MRI will show the first evidence of a developing brain disease.”

Hospital officials said that the MRI is also good to evaluate people with back pains where all structures of vertebrae, discs, spinal cord, nerve roots and muscles can

Teen hangs self on dad’s suicide anniversary Today would have been two years since his father hanged himself and it is close to four years since his eldest brother also hanged himself.

Another uncle was also a victim of suicide by hanging.

On Sunday, the lifeless body of 18-year-old Yadesh Kumkarran, called Anil, or Louis, of Edinburgh Village, East Bank Berbice was cut down.

A former employee of ENetworks Port Mourant Berbice Branch, Kumkarran’s body was discovered by his uncle Lakeram Sukhai, called Dillip, and his wife, Jenny Hookumchand, on Sunday around 05:30hrs.

Yadesh who was the leader of his youth camp in Berbice, devoted himself to the group since 1996, the camp was organized by Swami Akshrananada from the Hindu College at Corneila Ida, West Coast Demerara and Yadesh assisted in the teaching of ‘Shakar’ meaning games.

A graduate of Berbice Educational Institute, he grew up most of his life with his aunt and uncle since his father passed away.

His tearful aunt said that his paternal grandparents and other relatives tried their utmost providing Yadesh with anything he needed and he showed no sign of having any problems with anyone.

Jenny explained that she was not feeling well and went to spend some time by her parents. She left Yadesh and his uncle at home with enough for them to eat until she comes home.

She left home on Saturday and returned on Sunday only to find his lifeless body hanging from the room he was sleeping in.

His uncle, Dillip, said that when he discovered Yadesh’s body hanging, the teen had his father’s photograph in his hand and his girlfriend’s photograph was crumpled and thrown in a corner.

The fist of his left hand

was bruised indicating that he probably cuffed the walls.

There were also several GT+T prepaid phone cards in the room and along the hall way.

Some were used and some unused but there was no trace of Yadesh’s mobile phone.

Jenny said when she contacted Yadesh sister who is married and lives at Number 64 Village, Corentyne to tell her of her brother’s death, the sister told her that Yadesh had a girlfriend at Number 64 and the two had some sort of falling out.

She said that Yadesh had bought the girl, only known as Sharlene, a gold chain for her birthday and on Sunday she took the chain to Yadesh sister and told her that the relationship was over.

The family believes that if she had found Yadesh cellular phone it would have shown that he spoke to Sharlene last and something with the two triggered him to suicide.

The now functional MRI machine at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital.

be imaged with utmost precision.

Various sports injuries are also better assessed by MRI as this can clearly evaluate bone, cartilage, muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Similar injuries can also occur in road traffic accidents and it was noted that a MRI with good resolution of all structures is said to be the

only effective modality to assess these injuries.

Moreover, the move to introduce the MRI service by the private hospital comes as part of its attempt to make Guyana a world class medical destination.

“We are constantly (pursuing) efforts to make the country proud of its health standards and our people no longer need to go

outside the country to get higher diagnostic tests and treatments,” said Dr Singh, adding that “we are committed to patient care and offer this facility for all patients from any hospital or doctor.” She also assured that emergency MRI services are offered everyday including holidays on a 24/7 basis.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Sparendaam plane crash...

Pilot ignored engine trouble warnings - relatives pay emotional visit to crash site Reports have emerged that indicate that Pierre Angiel, the American pilot of the ill-fated twin-engine Piper Aztec which crashed down on a Sparendaam house last Saturday, had ignored warnings that the aircraft was unfit to undergo further flying.

The pilot, 71-year-old Angiel, and Canadian technician Nick Dmitriev perished as a result of the mishap which also saw the three-bedroom house of 69 year old Florence Tyndall go up in flames.

The aircraft with crew was contracted to carry out aerial surveys of the proposed Amaila Falls road.

Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the aircraft e n g i n e s h a d showed signs of malfunction two days before Saturday’s tragedy.

This confirms to reports that the aircraft which was in Guyana a week ago, had carried out prior missions along the Amaila Falls road.

“We heard how the engine was behaving two days before Saturday, but

then the plane carried out successful surveys prior to Saturday’s mishap and some of the fears subsided,” an Ogle Airport source told this newspaper.

The source added that Angiel also ignored verbal warnings from engineers at Ogle, claiming that he was familiar with the aircraft, having flown it on countless missions over a number of years.

On Saturday the aircraft had taken off on its second trip of the day after refueling at the Ogle Airport.

Eyewitnesses recalled hearing what sounded like one of the engines backfiring just before takeoff.

A few minutes later the plane fell out of the sky and landed on a house a few miles from the airport.

“A plane is not like a car that you could stop and check it if there is engine trouble. Once you are up there, (in the air) there is nothing you can do, really, if there is engine trouble.”

Immediately after the crash, Works Minister Robeson Benn was quick to

indicate that the aircraft appeared to have suffered engine trouble.

However, it will be a while before investigators ascertain what caused the engines to fail.

“Investigators will have to rely on the engines which will have to go to the manufacturers for checks.

The plane does not carry a black box; it was not the size to carry a black box. Only transport category aircraft normally carry black boxes,” the source explained.

Meanwhile, relatives of the dead men paid an emotional visit to the scene yesterday.

According to Elizabeth Belle whose house was scorched as a result of the crash, the relatives were shown the spot where the charred remains of Angiel and Dmitriev were found.

“The girl was standing at the gate crying and I told her to come in and I showed her where her father was lying and she picked up a piece of burnt paper and she hugged it and started to cry,” Belle told Kaieteur News.

Guyana Civil Aviation Authority investigators at the crash site.

She believes that after the plane engines failed, the men were desperately trying to prevent it from landing on any of the houses.

“You could see the plane

shifting and waving from side to side as it was coming down, like they trying to steer it away from the house. That is how it ended up landing between the two houses,”

Belle stated.

“My daughter was sitting in a car and the plane passed right over it and when it land is then when you hear the screaming start,” she added.

Cove and John granny murder…

Police overlooking vital evidence-relative Police conducting investigations into the murder of 89-year old Millicent Cummings are coming in for severe criticism over the way they are treating the matter.

Relatives of the dead woman have said that the investigators have been overlooking significant evidence that could ultimately lead to solving the case.

The elderly woman’s partially nude body was found in a pool of blood under a house on the Cove and John public road not far from her home, early Friday morning, sending shockwaves throughout the entire community.

Several persons were detained for questioning but they were all released soon after.

A post mortem examination performed on Cummings’s body yesterday

by Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, gave the cause of death as severe blunt trauma to the face.

The post mortem

Millicent Cummings examination also confirmed that there was penetration of the elderly woman’s vagina.

But while the police appeared stumped in their investigations, angry relatives believe that they are not doing enough to crack the case.

One relative spoke of retrieving a “fresh condom wrapper” from the crime scene after investigators had

left it on Friday last.

“I took a twenty dollar bill and collected it without touching it, and I took it to the police at Cove and John. There they were trying to tell me that it was not at the scene,” the relative told this newspaper yesterday.

This is despite the police securing the crime scene to gather all possible evidence.

“This is sloppy work on the part of the police,” he added.

This newspaper revisited the scene and discovered that Cummings was definitely killed at the same spot where her body was discovered.

There were blood stains spattered on the wall, which suggested that she was bludgeoned while lying on the ground.

No one heard the elderly woman’s screams, not even a man who lives upstairs in a section of the house under which her body was found.

He too was questioned and subsequently released.

There are also concerns that the police failed to utilise the services of sniffer dogs. But a police source informed that that was one of the first options, however all of the canines at Eve Leary are only capable of sniffing for narcotics.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Linden school expels eight students …they physically attacked a teacher

Eight students from the Fourth Form (Grade 10) of the Wisburg Secondary School in Linden, were expelled from the institution subsequent to investigations carried out by both the Region Ten Education Department and the police. The root of the investigation was an incident that saw a Teacher sustaining severe head injuries, after a piece of furniture landed on her head as she entered the classroom. The students were reportedly informed of their expulsion yesterday, after a meeting with education officials. According to reports the incident in which the students were implicated, involved the setting of a piece of furniture as a trap for the teacher, on whose head it fell after she opened the door to enter the classroom.

The woman, Michelle Richards, had to be rushed to the Linden Hospital Complex for the injuries sustained, and was later referred to another medical institution in Georgetown where she had to undergo CT scans to determine the extent of her injuries. Richards’s husband, Rawle Johnson, had told Kaieteur News that Michelle Richards, the mother of his

one-year-old child, has been severely traumatized by the incident, and has since been unable to work.

Johnson said that the incident which occurred in February has caused him to spend in excess of $100,000 for CT scans and other medical expenses.

He complained that after the incident, a relative of one of the students involved in the incident, went to his house and ‘cussed him out’, telling him that he wanted compensation. But the man said it was not about money, because no amount of money can undo the damage done to his reputed wife.

Speaking with this newspaper again yesterday, he said that he felt the expulsion of the students was a step in the right direction. Regional Education Officer, Jennifer Bourne, said that the decision to expel the students was taken after a thorough investigation into the incident.

Bourne said that the school should be a ‘safe and secure place’ for both students and teachers alike.

The students’ expulsion is expected to send a strong message, that any sort of

deviant behaviour, especially the type that puts people’s safety in jeopardy, would not be tolerated.

Last month teachers from across Linden staged a massive rally in protest of the recalcitrant and deviant behaviour of students. They also condemned the ‘attack’ on Michelle Richards.

The teachers were applauded by many for taking a stand, as it was pointed out that everyday teachers go to school, their life is under threat. Chairman of the Upper Demerara teacher’s Union, Jermaine Figuera, in addressing the Teachers who later congregated at the Mackenzie Market square, said that more needs to be done by the relevant authorities, to urgently address the prevalent and escalating violence in schools, as it threatens both teachers and students alike.

Among those who attended the rally in a show of solidarity, were Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon, APNU Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon, who is also a teacher by profession and President of the Guyana Teachers Union, Colin Bynoe.

(Enid Joaquin)

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Commander reassures seawall vendors of security Commander of ‘A’ Division, Derrick Josiah, says that mobile and foot patrols are in place at the seawalls, while reassuring vendors plying this area that his ranks will be doing even more to ensure their safety.

The Assistant Commissioner was responding yesterday to concerns expressed by some seawall vendors who have called for more police patrols, particularly on Sundays, following the slaying of 19-yearold Jamal Harris, allegedly while he was attempting to rob the son of a female vendor.

“The police have always had mobile and foot patrols …and we have been keeping an eye on the area even before that man (Harris) was injured. We have noted their (the vendors’) concerns and we will do more,” the Divisional Commander said.

But one vendor who expressed fear for her safety after the recent robbery attempt was critical of the operations of police ranks at the seawall. She said that many robberies have occurred between Sheriff Street and the Kitty area where the alleged bandit was slain.

In pleading for more security, she pointed out that the seawall is one of the few

‘cheap’ hangout spots for youths, who gather there particularly on Sundays.

There are reports that Jamal Harris was a member of a gang of youths who targeted seawall visitors. They are said to have used a black Toyota Raum as a getaway vehicle.

One of the victims was a young woman who alleged that two youths attacked her at knifepoint and stole her BlackBerry phone last month while she was sitting in a car with her boyfriend.

It is alleged that a black Toyota Raum, with the same licence number as the one that Harris rented, then drove to the scene and picked up the robbers.

The owner of the vehicle also claimed that Harris had rented the vehicle the same day that this robbery occurred. Harris, of Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, along with an accomplice, was allegedly attempting to rob a young vendor two Mondays ago when he was stabbed by a deportee.

Kaieteur News was told that the two robbers escaped in a black Toyota Raum that arrived at the scene. The driver took Harris to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where the badly wounded man succumbed.

Police took the deportee into custody but released him last Friday.

GWI contractor nabbed after armed robbery About 13:30 hours yesterday, businesswoman Seena Nauth, 28, had just returned to her home at Williamsburg, Corentyne, when three masked men barged into the home through the open door.

Two of them were armed with handguns.

It turned out that one of them was a contractor with Guyana Water Authority and was working within the area.

The perpetrators took away $498,000 and a quantity of jewellery before they escaped. However, during the robbery the victim managed to unmask one of the men, who was subsequently arrested at Rose Hall, Corentyne. The man has been identified as Trevor Sampson, 30, of Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara. He is in police custody assisting with the investigations

Tuesday April 16, 2013

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Venezuelan opposition calls for protests to demand recount (Reuters) - Opposition leader Henrique Capriles yesterday called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and peacefully demand a vote recount if election authorities formally proclaim Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor as the next president.

The day after Venezuela’s election board declared acting President Nicolas Maduro winner of Sunday’s presidential vote by a tight margin, Capriles insisted the opposition’s own count showed he was the victor and accused the government of conspiring to hide the truth to remain in power.

“We think we won the election. The other side thinks they won and we’re both within our rights,” Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, said in a televised news conference.

“All we’re asking is that our rights be respected, that the will of the people be respected, and that every single vote be counted, every little piece of paper, that paper

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles isn’t for recycling, it’s proof.”

The request appeared to fall on deaf ears.

Shortly after Capriles spoke, senior ruling party official Dario Vivas told Reuters the proclamation ceremony would go ahead and accused Capriles of trying to “destabilize” the country, which is home to the world’s largest oil reserves.

Conscious of Venezuela’s long history of turbulent protests, Capriles urged his

supporters to resist temptations to resort to violence. He called for Venezuelans to bang pots and pans in protest last night if Maduro is formally proclaimed winner.

If the stalemate continues, Capriles asked his followers to gather in protest today in front of election board offices around the nation. If there is still no sign of a recount by tomorrow, Capriles pledged to lead a

T&T moves to prop up falling tourism industry T&T is looking to the diaspora market and to the Caricom market to boost its tourism industry, says Tourism Minister Stephen Cadiz. He said T&T has lost 60 per cent of the Caricom market. Cadiz was addressing members of the local, regional and international media at a news conference held Sunday at the Hyatt Regency, Port-ofSpain.

The news conference marked the start of the 14th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC14) themed Keeping the Right Balance, Enhancing Destination Sustainability Through Products, Partnerships and Profitability.

The conference is expected to explore the ways in which the

Caribbean can enhance destination sustainability and competitiveness in the current global environment.

“Trinidad and Tobago have lost 60,000 Caricom travellers over five years. We have 100,000 Caricom travellers (who) come to T&T for whatever reason and that dropped off. I think one of the reasons for that is the cost of inter-island travel.” Cadiz said there is need to find ways and means of bringing T&T back to “where we were before, getting back the 60,000, so that is just within the Caribbean.”

Describing the diaspora market as a “huge” market he said there are millions of people living in Canada, the United Kingdom and United States and the ministry’s

target is to attract the children of the diaspora to return, he said it is a “demographic we have to start looking at very seriously.”

Cadiz added that the ministry wants to designate 2014 as a “coming home year” for children of the diaspora and already Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) is achieving this, because 90 per cent of the passengers which fly Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) comprise of the diaspora. Referring to the marketing budget for tourism, Cadiz said it has always been low but, the ministry is not daunted as a lot can be achieved with a limited budget. He anticipated that in the 2013/2014 budget the ministry would receive a greater budget.

UWI, Mona Undergraduate Fees to go up by 5.5% The Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) is to increase undergraduate tuition fees by 5.5 per cent across all faculties for the upcoming 2013-2014 academic year.

President-elect of the Guild of Students, Terron Dewar, says the new rate was arrived at through negotiations and is less than the 8.3 per cent inflation rate

which is usually used to determine fee increases.

He says the fees had to be increased given the rising operating costs for the UWI, Mona. Dewar says the Guild’s role is now to sensitise students about the increase and work towards creating more financial options for students to fund their tuition.

Earlier this month, the school’s chief

communications officer, Dr Caroll Edwards admitted that the University was having cash flow problems due to the financial problems at the Students’ Loan Bureau and the failure of some students to pay their fees on time.

However, she said the University has been undertaking a number of income-generating activities to mitigate the effects.

Venezuelan presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores celebrate after the official results gave him a victory in the balloting.

REUTERS/Tomas Bravo peaceful march through the streets of Caracas to the election board’s headquarters.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE The controversy around Venezuela’s first presidential election without Chavez on the ballot in two decades ushered in new uncertainty in the OPEC nation of 29 million people.

It also raised doubts about the future of “Chavismo,” Chavez’s selfproclaimed socialist movement, without its

charismatic founder, who died from cancer on March 5.

Before dying, Chavez named his longtime protégé Maduro as his preferred successor, giving the burly former bus driver a huge boost heading into Sunday’s election.

But the endorsement was not enough to ensure an easy victory for the uncharismatic Maduro, who edged out Capriles with 50.7 percent of the votes, according to election board returns.

Capriles took 49.1 percent, just 235,000 fewer votes, according to the official count. Opposition sources told Reuters their count showed Capriles won by more than 300,000 votes.

The streets of Caracas were mostly calm early yesterday but tensions grew as the day progressed. By midafternoon, there were a handful of protests around the capital, with one seeking to disrupt traffic on the city’s main highway.

About 200 proopposition students p r o t e s t e d in an upscale district, trying to enter a hotel where unofficial foreign election observers were meeting. Outside the opposition’s campaign headquarters, protesters shouted “No more fraud.”

Maduro, 50, said he was open to a full recount, even as he insisted his victory was clean and dedicated it to Chavez.

Senior government officials, on state television and Twitter, ridiculed the opposition as sore losers a n d praised Venezuela’s election system as foolproof.

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Tuesday April 16, 2013

Over 20 Govt. employees arrested in motor vehicle licence racket

Senior Supt. Radcliffe Lewis and Rev Dr Howard Gregory, Lord Bishop of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands, exchange pleasantries at the service.

(Jamaica Observer) Over 20 Government employees have been arrested over the past month, as the authorities clamp down on the pervasive motor vehicle licence racket.

Radcliffe Lewis, the senior superintendent in charge of the police traffic department, shared the figures with reporters following a service at the St Andrew Parish Church to mark the 20th anniversary of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC).

“For the past five months

more than 20 persons have been arrested by Revenue Protection Division.

I’m not going to say exactly [which area in Government they worked, but they a r e G o v e r n m e n t employees,” Lewis said.

The senior cop said that the racket is mostly being run in “collaboration with persons within a certain” Government-run agency.

But he declined to name the agency.

Lewis’ comments follow a call by Rev Dr Howard

Gregory, Lord Bishop of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands, during a church service, for the authorities to put an end to the illicit production and sale of motor vehicle licences and insurance documents.

The Lord Bishop made the call as he noted that the illicit practice was contributing to road fatalities, as, increasingly, unworthy drivers are finding themselves behind the wheels on the nation’s streets.

Republic Bank raises red flag with FIU about suspicious transactions of senior govt. official (Trinidad Guardian) Republic Bank has alerted the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to the suspicious transactions of a senior government official. The bank, sources say, raised a “red flag” after the official paid off two million-dollar mortgages within a six-month time frame.

One of the mortgages was for a property purchased through the official’s private company in 2010 valued at $1.75 million, while the other was for a property purchased in September 2011 at a cost of $3.3 million.

The bank initially started its own investigation late last year after discovering the mortgages were fully paid off.

Bank officials noticed that apart from the monthly payments, the government official was also making payments on a daily basis towards the mortgages.

The daily payments, sources say, were close to $42,000 and were paid at different banks throughout the country. Banking officials, however, say there is a $60,000 per day limit on the amount of money which can

be deposited in personal accounts.

“Anything higher than this, individuals will have to declare a source of funds,” the banking official, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday Guardian.

According to banking regulations issued by the Central Bank, and under the heading large/suspicious transaction records, “financial institutions should review and properly document the background and purpose of all complex, unusual, or large transactions…every financial institution which receives cash, bank cheques, drafts, money orders or traveller’s cheques in an amount in excess of the threshold shall keep and retain a large transaction record...”

Following investigations

by Republic Bank, it was discovered that the government official also has accounts with other banking institutions.

However, no money was withdrawn during the said period in which the daily deposits to Republic were

made on the mortgage accounts.

It was after this internal probe was completed that Republic Bank alerted the FIU of the transactions.

In response to questions from the Sunday Guardian on the matter, Republic Bank, through its Corporate Communications and Marketing Department, said in a statement, “We are unable to reveal actual bank procedures. However, and as you would imagine, we cannot comment on any transactions which might or might not have occurred.

“The bank is guided by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2009 in identifying and reporting transactions which might be considered suspicious based on descriptions provided by Section 55 of the act.”

The FIU, in a release in response to questions as to whether a report was made to them by Republic Bank, said such disclosures are confidential, adding should they be made public it would breach sections 21 and 24 of the FIU Act.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

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(Reuters) - Gold headed for its biggest two-day drop in 30 years on Monday and oil, copper and grains prices also tumbled as investors fled most financial markets after disappointing Chinese economic data underscored global growth worries.

With U.S. stocks on track for their first two-day losing streak in a month and Treasuries prices near flat, few assets appeared to be taking in new money amid growing caution the world economy was headed for another recession.

“I think everyone’s going cash. People are either not deploying capital or just taking profit,” said Sean McGillivray, vice president of asset allocation at Oregon’s Great Wealth Pacific Management, a commoditiesfocused asset manager.

Commodities-linked currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars declined more than 1 percent against the U.S. currency .DXY, weighing further on energy, metals and crop prices.

“Nearly every commodity has taken a hit today. The

Kaieteur News

only markets in the world that have been kind of detached from this are the German and French stock markets and U.S. large cap stocks,” said James Dailey at Pennsylvaniabased TEAM Financial Asset Management.

The 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a globally watched indicator, fell 2 percent and headed for its sharpest one-day loss since mid-September. The index hit its lowest level since the end of June.

GOLD TUMBLES Gold, which dropped 5 percent on Friday, sunk nearly 8 percent more on Monday, sliding deeper into bear territory. The precious metal’s spot price fell over $30 in a matter of minutes at one point, breaching support at $1,400 per ounce.

The sharp selloff in gold came as an “unexpected event” to many hedge funds, said long-time gold investor John Burbank, who runs San Francisco-based hedge fund Passport Capital.

Oil fared scarcely better than gold, sliding nearly 3 percent. Other precious

metals were caught in the downdraft, with silver briefly dropping 10 percent.

Industrial metals plummeted, with copper at its lowest price in over a year.

Wheat led the decline in grains, falling nearly 3 percent. In other crops, arabica coffee plumbed a near 3-year low.

Both oil and gold have bee n u n d e r s u b s t a n t i a l selling pressure since last

week. Bullion has come off the most, shedding around 9.5 percent since last M o n d a y ’s c l o s e , w h i l e crude has lost about 3.5 percent.

Gold was under pressure from a variety of factors, including a proposed sale of Cypriot gold holdings, and more fund-based investors headed for the exits after China’s data on Monday.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

China’s economy grew 7.7 percent in the first quarter, undershooting market expectations for an 8.0 percent expansion and frustrating investor hopes that the world’s No. 2 economy would rebound after posting its weakest growth in 13 years in 2012.

CHINA DEEPENS SELLOFF The weaker-than-forecast GDP growth was backed by

slower increases in China’s industrial production and fixed-asset investment, despite strong lending growth in March. Besides being the world’s No. 2 economy, China is the biggest buyer of industrial metals and many other commodities.

“If you want to be worried about China, there’s plenty to keep you awake at night,” said Sean Corrigan, chief investment strategist at Diapason C o m m o d i t i e s Management in Switzerland.

By 1: 3 0 p . m . E D T (1730 GMT), spot gold hovered around $1,365 an ounce, after hitting a two-year low at $1,384.69.

The liquidation in gold was widespread, with selling pressure coming from exchange-traded funds to even physical buyers in China and India, who have long supported the shiny metal.

“This is a market that has only got one thing on its mind ... get me out,” said David Govett, head of precious metals at Marex Spectron in London.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

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North Korea issues new military threats on founder’s birthday (Reuters) - North Korea made new threats of military action on Monday as the reclusive nation celebrated the anniversary of its founder ’s birth, stoking tension on the peninsula with a new “ultimatum” to South Korea in the stand-off over its nuclear program.

The latest statement from Pyongyang followed threats of nuclear attacks on the United States, South Korea and Japan, after new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to the North’s latest nuclear test in February.

“Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Monday, noting actions would “start immediately.”

The statement was issued

by KCNA after signs that Pyongyang may be presenting a less warlike stance on the “Day of the Sun,” the date the North’s

founder Kim Il-Sung was born.

Although many Pyongyang watchers had expected a big military parade to showcase North Korea’s armed forces, the day was marked in Pyongyang with a festival of flowers named after Kim. U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye will meet May 7 at the White House to discuss economic and security issues, including “countering the North Korean threat,” the White House said on Monday.

The United States has offered talks, but on the precondition that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea deems its nuclear arms a “treasured sword” and has vowed never to give them up.

Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, ending a trip to the region

North Korean soldiers salute at Mansudae in Pyongyang, in this photo taken and provided by Kyodo April 15, 2013, the birthday of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.

Mandatory Credit REUTERS/Kyodo

dominated by concern about North Korea, stressed his interest in a diplomatic solution.

Kuwaiti politician jailed for insulting emir (Reuters) - A prominent Kuwaiti opposition politician was sentenced to five years in jail on Monday for insulting the emir, his lawyer said, in a ruling that brought thousands of people to the streets in protest.

The demonstration showed the continuing tension between former members of parliament and the government, long dominated by the Al-Sabah family, in a country that has avoided the sort of mass prodemocracy unrest seen in many other Arab states.

The Kuwaiti criminal court found Musallam alBarrak, an outspoken former member of parliament, guilty of insulting Sheikh Sabah alAhmad al-Sabah in a speech in October last year in which he appealed to the emir to avoid “autocratic rule”.

Thousands of supporters marched from Barrak’s guest house towards the central prison outside the town as a police helicopter watched from the sky. In a show of defiance, the crowd chanted phrases from Barrak’s October speech for which he was convicted of insulting the emir. “We will not let you,” they chanted, repeating part of the fiery speech Barrak addressed to the emir.

“Repeating this speech is not in support for Barrak. It is in support of justice and for the nation,” Faisal al-Yahya, a former parliamentarian told the crowd at Barrak’s house ahead the march.

Before the court decision,

Kuwaiti lawmaker Musallam al-Barrak the government put a special forces squad on alert and boosted police patrols, according to the al-Qabas daily.

“I did not insult the emir. I addressed the head of state,” Barrak told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television in an interview. He was not immediately taken into custody. The government of Kuwait, an OPEC member and U.S. ally across the Gulf from Washington’s main regional adversary Iran, said Barrak was given a transparent and fair hearing.

“All citizens, regardless of their position, are equal in t h e e y e s o f t h e l a w.

Anyone accused of a crime in Kuwait will get a fair trial with a comprehensive legal defense and open appeals process,” the Information Ministry said in a statement.

After the sentencing, the latest manifestation of a crackdown on opposition activists, the Kuwaiti stock market briefly dipped by 1.3

percent but rebounded.

Kuwait was buffeted by large street protests last year after the emir changed voting laws, which prompted the opposition to boycott a general election in December and produced a parliament more friendly toward the government.

While Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some other Gulf Arab states, the emir has the last say in state affairs and is deemed “immune and inviolable” in the constitution.

There has been a series of political trials in Kuwait of late that have drawn rebuke abroad and anger at home.

“CONSCIENCE” “Musallam al-Barrak is not just a (member of a) tribe and a political trend, but a conscience of a nation struggling to protect its rights, freedoms and wealth,” former opposition parliamentarian Osama alShaheen wrote on his Twitter account.

“The United States remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearization, but the burden is on Pyongyang,” he said. “North Korea must take meaningful steps to show that it will honor commitments it has

already made, and it has to observe laws and the norms of international behavior.”

On Sunday evening, Kerry appeared to open the door to talking without requiring the North to take denuclearization steps in

advance. Beijing, he said, could be an intermediary.

But on Monday White House spokesman Jay Carney said North Korea would have to “commit itself in a verifiable way to denuclearization” first, which has long been the U.S. position.

“If North Korea shows that it’s serious about pursuing that path, then negotiations are the course through which that can be achieved,” Carney told reporters.

Earlier, Kerry said he believed China, the North’s sole economic and political benefactor, should put “some teeth” in efforts to persuade Pyongyang to alter its policies. The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, warned on Monday that tensions could get out of control. “It does not matter if it is intentional or accidental, even the smallest thing could cause the situation to change rapidly and perhaps get totally out of control,” the paper said.

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Tuesday April 16, 2013

Two blasts rock Boston Marathon, at least two killed, dozens hurt (Reuters) - Two bombs ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people and injuring dozens in what a White House official said would be handled as an “act of terror.”

President Barack Obama promised to hunt down whoever was responsible for the attack on a day when tens of thousands of spectators pack the streets to watch the world-famous race.

Many runners were heading for the finish when a fireball and smoke rose from behind cheering spectators and a row of flags representing the countries of participants, video from the scene showed.

The cheers turned to screams and panic.

“It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven’t stopped shaking yet,” said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.

Ambulances, fire trucks and d o z e n s o f p o l i c e vehicles converged at the scene, and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.

The dead included an 8year-old boy, the Globe reported, citing two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

“I saw people who looked like they had their legs blown off. There was a lot of blood over their legs. Then people were being pushed in wheelchairs,” said Joe Anderson, 33, a fisherman from Pembroke, Massachusetts, who had just run the race holding a large U.S. flag.

The blasts put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C. and New York City, sites of the September 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks.

Four Boston areahospitals contacted by Reuters reported a total of at

least 67 hurt. Some of those may have been hospitalized for treatment from running the marathon. The Boston Globe newspaper reported that at least 132 people were hurt.

Two high-level U.S. law enforcement officials, who declined to be identified, said one or more bombs caused the explosions at the scene of the marathon, which is run annually on the state holiday Patriots’ Day. “These were powerful devices that resulted in serious injury,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told reporters.

About an hour after the 2:50 p.m. EDT (1850 GMT) blasts in Boston’s Copley Square marred the usually joyous end to the marathon, a fire erupted at t h e J o h n F. K e n n e d y Presidential Library three miles away, but no one was injured, police said.

Authorities were uncertain whether the fire was related, Davis said.

In Washington, Obama told reporters, “Make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this.”

He said “any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

No suspect was in custody. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department, Homeland Security Department and other agencies were all investigating, authorities said.

“EVIL, EVIL, EVIL” Runners from the marathon and others went to the Massachusetts General Hospital offering to donate blood.

“This was evil, evil, evil,” said Kevin Garboit, 46, from the hospital lobby, asking staff if he could donate blood. He was told to come back Tuesday morning.

Without knowing who perpetrated the attack, the

This image shows the two separate explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon

Boston Police look at blown out windows at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon

White House said it was handling the incident as “an act of terror.”

“Any event with multiple explosive devices - as this appears to be - is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror,” a White House official said.

The two explosions were about 50 to 100 yards (meters) apart as runners crossed the

finish line with a timer showing 4 hours and 9 minutes, some 9 minutes faster than the average finish time, as reported by Runner’s World magazine.

Of the 23,326 runners who started t h e r a c e o n Monday, 17,584 finished before the blast, marathon officials said. Runners were diverted before officials brought the marathon to a halt.

Spectators typically line the 26.2 mile race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line.

Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a “massive explosion.”

Smoke rose 50 feet in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.

“Everybody freaked out,” Mitchell said.

The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897.

Horrific Injuries: Medical workers aid an injured man at the 2013 Boston Marathon who screams out in pain (AP photo)

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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The passage of the $208.8 billion budget was left hanging last evening as Speaker Raphael Trotman asked for time to decide whether the Opposition has the grounds under which to cut the budget.

Taking centre stage was the provisional ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang that the National Assembly does not have the power to cut the budget; only to approve or disapprove.

The Opposition has argued that the power to disapprove is the same as having the power to cut.

If he agrees that the law and Parliament’s rule book allows him to, Trotman would have to rule that the sevenseat Alliance for Change (AFC) can go ahead with its proposed cuts - $38 billion.

The opposition’s trump

Kaieteur News

.. Speaker to rule on cuts motion today

House Speaker Raphael Trotman

Khemraj Ramjattan

card was perhaps what came from AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan.

He quoted from the statement of the Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh from April 17, 2012 when he said “”it is the legitimate right of

the opposition to propose any change within the boundary of the Standing Orders.”

The Finance Minister had said, then, that the ruling PPP/C would defend the right of the opposition to question the

estimates and make amendments.

That essentially chewed up Singh, and the rest of the government’s arguments that the opposition cannot cut the budget. However, the budget cuts could be avoided, the AFC says, if the government comes clean on its spending, The largest coalition block, APNU, which has 26 seats, has also indicated its intention to cut the budget, but has not formally laid a motion to this effect.

Both the AFC and APNU were adamant that they have the authority to slash parts of the 2013 budget.

Their position was taken despite a critical meeting between the Opposition and President Donald Ramotar and his advisors yesterday, which according to officials, did not find much progress.

Last evening after hours of arguments, Trotman said he will reserve a ruling to today. Last year, almost $20B was reduced from the budget.

In allowing arguments yesterday, the Speaker ruled that while a court ruling has been made, he does not believe that it should “interrupt” the proceedings of the National Assembly.

According to Ramjattan, Parliament’s supervision over public’s money is an inherent right but that attempts continue to be made to “degut” the powers of the National Assembly.

He was adamant that the provisional ruling of the CJ, despite certain interpretations, allows for the budget to be cut.

He pointed out that the Constitution or law of the land, mandates the Minister of Finance to present the country’s financial estimates within 90 days of the new financial year to the National Assembly for approval.

Westminster Ramjattan drew comparisons to the Westminster style of Parliament that Guyana has adopted, and quoted from several sections to bolster his arguments that the budget can be amended. He also cited sections of the Standing Orders or rule of National Assembly which gives members that right also.

“To take away that power is to denude us,” he said.

He also listed instances of other governments where budgets were reduced…places like Sweden, Australia, the US House of Representatives and Jamaica.

“We are not alone. The Standing Orders are saying we can make amendments.”

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, in rejecting the arguments of AFC’s Leader,

Tuesday April 16, 2013

insisted that the government’s position has not shifted. “The courts have now pronounced … we are guided by the courts of law.”

He pointed out that the Constitution also does not have provisions for what happens when the estimates are not approved, or reduced.

It does not even contemplate the likelihood of nonapproval.

Disapprove?

Shadow Finance Minister APNU Carl Greenidge also argued that the House has the capacity to control the public purse. Greenidge found it preposterous that the Opposition can question the spending but not have the powers to disapprove it.

Gail Teixeira, Chief Whip of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/ C) disputed the contention that Guyana’s system was exactly like the British one.

Rather it is a hybrid one, she said. Teixeira insisted that the National Assembly can only approve or disapprove.

When APNU front bencher Deborah Backer got up to defend the authority of the House to cut, she said the controversy could have been avoided if the government was willing to engage in shared governance.

The Prime Minister insisted that the ruling PPP/C has always been for shared governance and building trust for political cooperation.

Backer said the arguments could have been avoided if the government was willing to have a genuine conversation “as to how we can sit down together to craft a budget that could have the support of the vast majority.”

“If the government was serious, we would not have been here,” Backer stated.

She said if there was compromise, both the opposition and the government would have won some and lost some.

She referred to Article 218 (2) which shows that when the estimates have been approved by the Assembly, a Bill to be known as the Appropriation Bill has to come to the House.

Given that Bills have been forever amended, she asked whether Attorney General, Anil Nandlall was saying that the House cannot amend a Bill. Nandlall referring to the Chief Justice’s ruling on Parliamentary Standing Orders said that some Standing Orders are in violent conflict with the constitution.

Ramjattan had argued that the Standing Orders allow for amending the estimates.

Nandlall argued that the Chief Justice did not deal with Article 171:2 (b) because it deals with existing charge. He says that charge is not there yet, because the budget has not been passed.

The Attorney General said that all sovereign powers of the Parliament, must comply with the four corners of the constitution.

Nandall harked back to the Chief Justice’s ruling regarding the Parliamentary Standing Orders, saying that the House even as “gatekeeper” cannot cut the estimates. The Speaker then chipped in and took the Attorney General back to Article 171: 2 (b) of the Constitutions, which Ramjattan argued was not addressed by the Chief Justice. The argument is that that Article allows for cuts.

Cripple The Attorney General, quoting the Chief Justice, says if the drafters of the constitution had wanted the House to exercise power to cut, they could have said so in the Constitution, as was done in India. But again, the Speaker intervened, saying that Article 113 (2) of the Indian Constitution of India provides three options: approval, disapproval or reduction of budget. The Speaker said that if the arguments of the Attorney General were to be held as true that would mean reducing the Committee of Supply of the Guyana Parliament to a rubber stamp.

Referring to an early argument by Ramjattan, the Attorney General said that if Standing Orders are law, they cannot collide with the constitution.

The Speaker pointed to former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran who ruled that the Standing Orders are just the same as written law. The Attorney General says that if Mr. Ramkarran did so rule, he is wrong. The Opposition has argued that it could not have appealed the ruling of the Chief Justice because the ruling was preliminary. The Attorney General said that that argument is frivolous and vexatious and puerile.

The Attorney General went as far back as Esther Perreira elections petition case, in which Justice Claudette Singh ruled that once a citizen is 18 years or older, that citizen has the right to vote and no law passed in Parliament to introduce new requirements (at that time the use of a voter ID card or else a person could not vote) can take away that right to vote.

So, the Attorney General argued that the court has a supervisory role over Parliament. APNU front bencher Basil Williams argued that the court has no jurisdiction to issue orders to the National Assembly. He said that since the Chief Justice ruled that he could not direct the Speaker on the conduct of the Assembly, that’s the end of the matter.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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More tax breaks mulled for gold miners as prices fall Government says that it is considering a number of tax breaks and faster processing of work permits as part of the measures to deal with a worrying drop in gold prices.

Yesterday, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud met with various stakeholders of the gold sector to discuss the issue.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA), licensed gold dealers, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB).

According to Minister Persaud, the price of gold has hit a two-year low, falling below US$1,400 per ounce.

He noted that since the beginning of 2013, prices have been marginally declining. Some of the factors which have caused this continuous decline in the price of gold are the effects of the Cyprus bail out in the European Union and the selling of reserve gold by the central bank of that country, as well the possibility of more gold reserves from other members of the EU being sold to cover the larger bail out of

countries.

“The slowing down of the Chinese economy and the decision by the United States to move away from quantitative easing as well as lower consumer confidence are some of the additional factors that are impacting on the downward trend of gold prices,” the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

“The various stakeholders at the meeting said that the price of gold is sometimes very unpredictable and the quantity of gold declared in and exported by Guyana will not influence the global market since we are a price taker in this situation.

However, the global price of gold will affect the level of output, investment and earnings of Guyana.”

The Ministry said that a number of short term measures were discussed…measures that will require both private and public cooperation.

These include the use of better technology for recovery and production, more effective tax breaks and duty free concessions for miners and improved method of building local machinery for miners.

Also discussed was the need for diversification of mineral extraction activities. A revolving fund for new technologies whereby both the public and private sector will contribute and various tax incentives are also being considered.

“The stakeholders indicated that the inefficiencies in the processing of permits for various levels of operations, often affect the cost of production. Thus, as prices continue to lower for this precious metal, production costs will have to be reduced at each stage of development for the mineral.

“The Ministry’s Guyana Geology and Mines Commission should consider the option of allowing persons who have applied for the Prospecting Permits Medium Scale to be converted to Mining Permits to work without having to wait for the full process of the permit to be completed.”

However, this will be subject to verification of the type of mining operations.

The miners, according to the statement, noted that short term reductions in operational cost could include better roads and

infrastructure in the various mining districts.

Also raised is the impact of foreign currency usages and its availability.

The meeting agreed that a working group consisting of representatives of the

Ministry and its agencies and representatives of the GGDMA and licensed dealers will continue to monitor the situation.

Gold is the biggest foreign currency earner for Guyana with a significant chunk of the

country’s workforce rushing to the hinterland in recent years.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested by locals and foreigners as the gold sector boomed in face of the high world prices.

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Kaieteur News

Guyana-born NY cop shoots boyfriend, child before killing self in Brooklyn.

An off-duty New York Police Department officer apparently shot and killed her one-year-old son and the boy’s father before fatally shooting herself inside her apartment in Brooklyn yesterday morning, a law enforcement official said.

Police officers responding to the scene found Guyanaborn Rosette Samuel, 43, inside a bedroom of the East 56 Street ground-floor apartment about 8:30 am, the official said, with her young son by her side on a bed. Both were dead when the police arrived, the official said. The baby was identified as Dylan Samuel-Peters.

The father of the boy, who was identified as 33-year-old Dason Peters, was found shot to death in a hallway in the apartment. According to the official, Samuel’s 19-year-old son from a previous relationship was able to escape the apartment through a window and encountered police officers as they responded to the scene.

The teenager, Dondre Samuel, called 911 when he saw his mother standing with a gun as Peters sat on the floor, the official said. After being ordered back to his room by the couple, he heard

Dason Peters a gunshot, the official said.

In a brief exchange with his mother before she apparently shot Dylan and then herself, Rosette Samuel apologized to Dondre Samuel and told him she had left a letter behind for him, the official said.

A note was found by investigators in a purse inside the apartment in which Rosette Samuel apparently wrote that she was sorry for her actions and that she had $42,000 in a retirement

account so Dondre Samuel can go to college, the official said. According to the official, there was little sign of trouble in Rosette Samuel’s life at work.

The official said Samuel had been an officer since September 2000 and was assigned to the 108th Precinct in Queens. She had no history of shooting her weapon on duty and was in good standing within the department.

But Dondre Samuel told detectives that his mother and Peters had an argument on Saturday over a handwritten letter that his mother had received, the official said.

The contents of that letter were not known.

The letter had been torn up and flushed down a toilet in the home, Dondre Samuel told investigators, according to the official.

Friends and relatives of the couple were shaken by the sudden violence, describing Peters as a loving father who was scheduled to travel to his native Guyana on Monday.

Relatives said the couple tended to be private about their relationship but had never displayed signs of trouble.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Tuesday April 16, 2013

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Gafson’s Group of Companies donates gym equipment to K&S football champions On January 1 last, footballers of the Buxton United Sports Club (BUSC) culminated a spectacular performance in the finals of the 23rd edition of the Kashif and Shanghai football extravaganza with a historic win over Amelia’s Ward FC to win the top prize for the first time of the tournament’s history.

The East Coast based

team has since improved its standing with a current placing of 4th in the National Leagues while accruing 20points to retain a number 3 spot in the East Coast League. Yesterday morning, the club received much needed support when corporate entity, Gafson’s Group of Companies donated several pieces of training equipment to facilitate the

development of the club’s membership and by extension, residents of the Buxton/Friendship community where the club is based.

Yesterday morning, one of the club’s outstanding administrators, Lyndon France, journeyed to the Houston Offices of the sponsor where Manager of the Gym and Home

Appliances section, Ms Shellon Yarde, handed over one weight bench, 2 abdominal boards, several weight plates and two weightlifting bars to Mr. France. Manager of the BUSC, Mark Wade and one of the players, Travis Phil were also in attendance.

Ms Yarde spoke on behalf of the sponsors and expressed delight at the

opportunity to render support to the club.

She said that even though Gafson’s is in the forefront in extending such chivalry, the gesture was the first for the BUSC. “I trust that the gift is appreciated and the equipment will serve its intended purpose,” exhorted Ms Yarde. She further assured the ball weavers that her company stands committed to further assistance towards the continued development of sports and the youths that participate.

Mr. France was grateful for the assistance and relayed such sentiments to Ms Yarde.

“Thank you for your positive

response to our request,” he said. He further intimated that 96 youths are currently registered in the club that will benefit from the gift.

The BUSC administrator further revealed that his executives are contemplating employing a physical fitness guru to assist in training activities.

“We hope that this is not the last time that Gafson’s extend such help and we are planning to rechristen the gym in honour of this company,” revealed Mr. France. The occasion was also witnessed by Human Resources Officer (Gafson’s Group of Companies), Ms Donna Todd.

St John’s, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board has commenced a global search to fill the position of Director of Cricket.

The Director of Cricket will play an essential part in establishing the WICB as one of the premier governing bodies with the sport while overseeing the provision of successful and exciting West Indies teams.

“The Director of Cricket is critical to the operations of the WICB and it is a diverse and challenging role, but one which we think will be immensely exciting and rewarding,” said WICB Chief Executive Officer Michael Muirhead.

The WICB Cricket Department, which the Director of Cricket will head is responsible for all cricket

development, operations and logistics relating to home and away international series, regional tournaments, the High Performance Centre, Te r r i t o r i a l A c a d e m i e s , talent identification, player welfare and playing conditions.

The position of Director of Cricket was last held by Tony Howard, a former Test cricketer and West Indies Team Manager.

United Kingdom based Sports Recruitment International has been commissioned to execute the recruitment on behalf of the WICB. Interested candidates can contact Sports Recruitment International at west i n d i e s c r i c k e t @ sportsrecruitment.com or on +44(0)20 7092 6950.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French Open’s total prize money for 2013 has been increased by more than three million euros to 22 million euros ($28.77 million), organizers said on Monday.

The winners of the men’s and women’s singles titles will each earn 1.5 million euros, up 250,000 euros from last year.

Organizers added that the move was part of plans to

boost the total prize money by a further 10 million euros to 32 million euros by 2016.

In comparison, US Open prize money will reach $33.6 million this year and rise to $50 million by 2017, while Wimbledon prize money was more than 16 million pounds ($24.61 million) in 2012.

This year’s Australian Open prize money was A$30 million ($31.31 million).

WICB commences global search for Director of Cricket

French Open prize money gets four million dollar boost

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Greaves enjoy fruitful day with 3 wins

CID/Blue Life Water/ RBC Race Meet Roraima Bikers Club member Alonzo Greaves enjoyed a fruitful day when his club hosted last S u n d a y ’s Caribbean International Distributors sponsored Blue Life Water Race Meet at the Seawall Bandstand Circuit.

The day’s activity turned out to be a major success not only for the organizer and sponsor but leading cyclist Alonzo Greaves, who not only won the feature 30-Lap Open contest along with 4prime prizes, but he was the first to cross the line in the

Win and Out Open and the 3Lap Points Race which was another Open event.

Following are the full results of the day’s activity.

Juniors/Category 4&5 (5-Laps): Raul Leal, Gordon Sampson, Delroy Hinds Categories 1 to 3 (5Laps): Orville Hinds, Jude Bentley, Rastaff O’Selmo Veterans Under-50 (5Laps): Junior Niles, Ian Jackson, Raphael Williams Veterans Over-50 (5Laps): Virgil Jones, Dwayne Ramsay, Lancelot Rose 12-14 Year Juveniles/ Females (3-Laps): Kravitz Jeffrey Greaves, Jamal John

O’Selmo, Raphael Leung Burrowes Win and Out (Open): Alonzo Greaves, Rastaff O’Selmo, Horace Burrowes Points Race Open: Alonzo Greaves, Orville Hinds, Andrew Reece Mountain Bikes Open (5Laps): Julio Melville, Clyde Jacobs, Garfield Lorimer BMX Open (3-Laps): Raphael Leung, Mikhail Diaz, Rawle Stephen Feature Open (30-Laps): Alonzo Greaves (4-Primes), Hamza Eastman (3-Primes), Rastaff O’Selmo (3-Primes), Orville Hinds, Horace Burrowes, Andrew Reece.

Tuesday April 16, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) You will be able to work in fine detail and present the best possible proposal.

You can get your point across if you don't beat around the bush. Your talent will be recognized.

LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) Relationships may be hard to handle. You should avoid getting involved in the personal problems of colleagues. You can make some favorable changes to your looks.

TAURUS (Apr. 21- May 21) Join a choir or a drama club. You may be considering moving to larger quarters. Help with your aspirations is likely, and profits could follow. You will be accident prone if you aren't careful today.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)

GEMINI (May 22-June 21) Physical activity will help defuse your frustration.

Business or pleasure trips will be knowledgeable as well as highly successful.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) You can gain approval, get kudos, and ask for help if you put a little heart into your speech or request.

Upheavals may occupy your day.

LEO (July 23-Aug 22) Those close to your heart may be difficult to reason with. Be aware of deception when it comes to your position, and be sure not to jump to conclusions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept.

23) Try to get away with your mate. There's lots to be done and if you meet your deadline you'll be in your boss's good books.

You may have been too agreeable to someone who just wanted to use you.

You will be on the rampage today. Don't let them blame you.

SAGIT (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) You will need to spend extra time sorting through your work. You may exaggerate your emotional situation. Don't let the cat out of the bag.

CAPRI (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) Move forward if you want to turn your life around.

Find out if they have other commitments. This will not be the day to have minor surgery.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)

You will find that social activities will lead you into passionate meetings. Work quietly on your own and you will forge ahead. It is time to clear your decks.

PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) Don't trust a deal that looks too good, or a lover who appears to have it all.

One-sided relationships are likely. Social events may lead to a romantic interlude.

Alanzo Greaves receiving his feature race prize

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Tuesday April 16, 2013

Cyclists off to Columbia for One Month High Performance Training Stint - fully sponsored by Team Cocoa’s Miami

Raul Leal

Paul De Nobrega

Raynauth Jeffrey

The future of Guyana’s cycling seems destined for days of glory with the continued intervention and vision of USA based Guyanese Ian ‘QB’ Davis who is the CEO of Team Cocoa’s Miami, a professional Cycle Club.

Yesterday, the quartet of 2012 Junior Sportsman of t h e Ye a r a n d J u n i o r Caribbean Champion Paul DeNobrega, Raynauth Jeffrey – the reigning National Junior Road Race Champion, Raul Leal – 4th in the 14-16 Years category at the Caribbean Cycling Championships and Christopher Holder, all members of Team Cocoa’s Guyana, left these shores for Columbia where they will participate in a One Month High Performance Development Programme.

Missing from this bunch is Caribbean 14-16 Years

Champion Michael Anthony who couldn’t make it due to school commitments.

The riders are expected to return to Guyana on May 16 in time for this year’s Three Stage Meet which is eagerly looked forward to.

Speaking with Kaieteur Sport, President of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Cheryl Thompson expressed delight at the opportunity afforded the young riders by Mr. Davis and Team Cocoa’s.

“The Guyana Cycling Federation has fully endorsed this opportunity for our young and promising riders to gain high level exposure that will only aid in the continued development of these riders.

This is something that we are very happy about, we know that these riders are very talented and disciplined.

They have shown their worth

locally and at the Caribbean level so it follows that they now need to get the requisite exposure at a higher level for them to realize their true potential”.

The aim of Team Coco’s Guyana and Miami is to see Guyana represented at the Olympics in Cycling.

These said riders have been supported not only locally but at events throughout the Caribbean aimed at affording them high level exposure consistently.

The GCF President is looking forward to other local riders seeking to emulate DeNobrega, Jeffrey, Leal and Holder and aim for even higher heights.

It was further disclosed that Team Cocoa’s has formally applied for full membership to the Guyana Cycling Federation.

(Franklin Wilson)

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

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GRFU shortlists 47 players to commence preparations for NACRA 15’s

Part of the action in the practice game between Presidents and Vice-Presidents which was organised by the GRFU The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) released the names of fortyseven players to commence preparations for the upcoming NACRA 15’s Championship.

According to a release from the Union, those short

listed will be involved in a Rugby Skills Fitness Training Programme every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at the National Park, Rugby Field from 16:30 hrs.

Training commences today and all players must be

at the venue from 16:00 hrs.

The release added that the squad will be reduced to twenty two (22) players as training continues.

Meanwhile, recently elected President Peter Green addressed the players following a practice game that

was played on Saturday where he stated that he wanted to ensure that he is a serving a very useful term and that the players have to realize that they are Guyanese first and foremost, playing for their c o u n t r y, t e a m a n d t h e n themselves.

He noted that rugby has fallen behind and his mission is to push the sport back into the spotlight.

Green told the players that they have to use a combination of skills and knowledge to play the game and the coaches and team members must function as a unit and communicate with each other.

In the practice game that was organised, VicePresidents defeated Presidents 17-12 with Theo Henry, Trenton Braithwaite and K. Campbell each scoring a try each, while Henry added a conversion.

For the President, Elwin Chase and Kevin Joseph had a try apiece, while the

conversion was made by Leon Greaves.

After the game, a training squad was short listed for the NACRA senior men’s 15s

Caribbean championships against Barbados on the Saturday, May 18, 2013 in Guyana.

Those called are:

FORWARDSCyon Kitt Marvin Stephens Delroy Gordon Allien Crawford Rondel McArthur Kiefer Lopes Dwayne Schroeder Walter George Kevon David Jacques Archibald Rickford Cummings Terence Daniels Daniel Anderson Jason Tyrell Cloyd Prowell Troy Arjoon Jason Ridley Grantley Williams Ato Talbot Kevin Joseph Jamal Angus Reign Dey Kenroy Evening Peter Bristol Andrew Jarvis Clinton Mars Avery Corbin BACKS Ryan Gonsalves Akeem Fraser Christopher Singh Peabo Hamilton Breon Walks Troy Bascombe Jaryl Moore Elwin Chase Claudius Butts Godfrey Broomes Orin Williams Carl Lewis Lancelot Adonis Leon Greaves Claude Alexander Blaze Bailey Trenton Braithwaite Oise McKenzie Marvin Lawrence Kevin Joseph

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Rain fails to dampen Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal excitement Despite a sudden downpour of rain, fans that attended the Linden segment of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Competition on Saturday night at the Wisroc / Amelia’s ward Bus Park were treated to six exciting matches in the final round of the preliminary phase.

In the opening encounter, Cherokee Park led by a brace each from Jamal Samuels (4th and 12 th ) and Aubrey Fredericks (3 rd and 13 th ) comfortably defeated Blueberry Hill 4-1.

On target for the losers was Troy Miller, who netted in the 17th minute.

In the second game, Alikyu and Mini Bus played to a 1-1 draw with Averell Johnson (4 th ) and John

- preliminary phase ends Waldron (13 th ) scoring respectively.

Star Boys then cruised past High Stars 3-0 with Melvin Benn (14th), Jermaine Grandison (18 th) and Tony Adams (19th), the players to enter the scoresheet.

South Stars and Rough and Rugged then engaged each other in a fascinating contest that failed to produce a winner, the final result being a 3-3 stalemate.

Devon Green (6th and 8th) and Kevin Croal (11th) netted for South Stars, while Quincy Davis (9 th and 15 th ) and Marlon Cox (10th), responded for Rough and Rugged.

Coomacka United then squeezed past Constab 2-1

with Ateba Edmondson (12th) and Derwin Daw (19th) aiding in their victory, while Germaine Fordyce’s 3rd minute strike had given Constab the early lead. In the final game that was possible, Eagles and Trainline Warriors played to a 1-1 draw.

Lynden Anderson’s 7 th minute effort had given the Warriors the early ascendancy, but that lasted for just one minute as Keon Bristol responded almost immediately.

The knockout phase begins on Saturday, at the Wisroc/Amelia’s Ward Bus Park.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s results are as follows:

Squash Association to stage Senior Ansa McAl tourney The Guyana Squash Association (GSA) will stage its first annual Senior Easter Tournament sponsored by Ansa McAl which begins on Wednesday April 17 at 18:30hrs at the Georgetown Club’s Squash Facility.

The event is the GSA’s third tournament of the year following the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap Tournament and the Toucan Industries Kool Aid Junior Easter Skill Level Tournament. Jason Ray Khalil was the victor of the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap Tournament, while two-time Caribbean junior champion Nyron Joseph won the Kool

Aid Junior Easter Skill Level tournament.

Khalil had been injured during the Kool Aid Junior Easter Skill Level tournament but has since recuperated and is expected to compete this week.

Other seniors on the local scene include Ashley Khalil, Raphael DeGroot and Nicholas Narain, who finished second to Khalil in the Bounty Farm Handicap tournament.

Although this is a senior tournament, many of the junior players will be competing as they look to sharpen their skills in

preparation for the Caribbean Area Squash Association’s (CASA) Junior Caribbean Championships which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago July 21-29.

The Senior Easter Tournament sponsored by Ansa McAl is expected to be played each weeknight beginning at 18:00hrs.

The competition will also be played during the weekend when the semifinal and finals will bring the curtains down on the tournament this Sunday.

The GSA continues to be sponsored by Digicel Guyana.

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Cat Messiah dominates as G. Singh Stable takes top honours at BLUTC Horserace meet Zelick claims feature event, big win for Swing Easy and Captain Crook Zelick of the Night Eyes Racing stables ridden by Ravindra Ramnauth and trained by Anthony Solomon returned to winning ways when it captured the feature D and lower event when the Bush Lot United Turf Club held their highly successful, action packed one day Horserace meet at the club’s track, Sea View Park, Bush Lot West Coast Berbice on Sunday.

The feature 1600M event lived up to expectations as the race was fast paced and hotly contested throughout. Out of the starting gates they raced with Diamond Dazzling shining brightly in front with the rest of the field breeding down its neck. Into the back stretch it was Fresh Again that took up the running with a fresh burst of speed.

Diamond Dazzling came back for more and took the lead with Zelick and stable mate Miss Karina with Andron Findley on board coming into connection.

It was relentless pressure

after that with Zelick taking over down the homestretch as it cantered home for its second win in a feature event and the $500,000 winner’s money and the Banks DIH trophy. Miss Karina, Fresh Again and Diamond Dazzling occupied the other places.

The competition was so intense that during the race top horse Serenity of the Jumbo Jet Stable collapsed and passed away.

However the day belong to Mr. Gansham Singh’s Guyana bred three year old champion runner Cat Messiah as it purred its way to the top and sermonize its opponents in two dominating performances with convincing victories. To sum up its performance - One horse, two jockeys, two wins, champion horse, champion stable and champion trainer was indeed a noteworthy accomplishment.

The animal lived up to all its pre-race billing as it first took out opponents in the J and lower 1200M event.

Ridden by Junior Sookhan it first toyed with its opponents before galloping away, increasing a lead by every step to take the $180,000 first prize and trophy by about 10 lengths from Mary Ann, Windy Killer and Speed Vision.

Cat Messiah like a true biblical character returned to lead then all in the I3 and lower1200M race this time with Ravindra Ramnauth aboard for an even more convincing victory and take the $240,000 first prize and trophy and royalty that came with it from Mary Ann and Royal Princess.

Swing Easy of the Shariff stable with Colin Ross on the perch was fast to the draw as it swung out in front and maintained the lead for an easy gate to pole win in the F3 and lower 1400M race from Traditional Man and Appealing Harvest. The win was worth $360,000 and trophy.

The G and lower 1200M event with a first prize of

Lakeram Sukdeo (right) of the BLUTC presents his winning trophy to Mohammed ‘Nankoo’ Shariff of the Shariff Racing stable for Swing East victory in the F class event. $300,000 and trophy was hotly contested with Captain Crook of the Jumbo Jet stable and jockeyed by Rad Drepaul piloting its way to victory.

Traditional Man, Rosetta and Red Cloud rounded out the money.

Magga Line owned ridden and trained by Rupert Appadhu was strong as it took the $140,000 and trophy

in the K and lower 1200M event from Wicked Revenge, Lady Secret and Alana.

The Gansham Singh stable ran away with all the individual awards copping the champion stable, champion horse with Cat Messiah, champion trainer with Shawn “Foliar” Bharrat and champion jockey accolades which went to Ravindra

Ramnauth compliments of the organisers.

Over 70 horses took part in the day’s activity with some $6.5M in prizes and trophies available.

The day’s activity was incident free with the police coming in for special commendation for doing an excellent job. (Samuel Whyte)

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Assuria Invitational Tennis Classic

Downes, Humphrey, Adams crowned champions

Prize winners pose with their hardware following the conclusion of the presentation ceremony.

Watched by a small, but yet vocal crowd, top seed Anthony Downes and second seed Jeremy Miller treated the fans to a superb display of tennis in the Men’s final as the Assuria Invitational Classic came to an end. Downes made a very strong start, breaking Miller to open up a 4-0 in the first set, before clawed his way back to level the match 4-4.

He then inched ahead 5-4, but Downes held serve to put the contest back even.

He then lost his serve at a pivotal point in the twelfth game to lose the set 7-5.

The second set was an error prone one for Miller as he was broken three times to lose the set 6-0 to setup the super tiebreak with the first player to reach the tenth point declared the winner.

Miller staged a hard fought comeback, but was upstaged by a persistent

Downes. Miller was two points from a defeat at 8-5 in the super tie break third set, but rallied to take 3 of the next 4 points to inch at 8-9.

His inconsistent serve and backhand proved to be his downfall in the end.

He served to stay in the match at 8-9, but his weak backhand was under immense pressure from a strategic Downes.

The top seed aimed for the lines at which point Miller forced to utilise his suspect backhand slice produced an error to hand Downes the title That sealed Downes’s second consecutive tournament win going along with the Pegasus 2012 open.

In other action, Carlos Adams stayed perfect to win the men Over-35 crown with a straight sets win over Berbician Godfrey Lowden, while another Berbician Carol Humphrey claimed the

Women’s Singles title after beating Shawna Gentle, also in straight sets.

President of the GTA Ramesh Seebarran said that he was impressed with the tournament and the way it ran and mentioned that the staging of tournaments depend on sponsors and with that he thanked Assuria for their support.

Seebarran pleaded with players to be more prompt when playing tournaments, noting that players were late for scheduled matches without any prior notification.

Assuria confirmed that this tournament would be a regular feature on the tennis calendar.

The next tournament scheduled is the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry championships, tentatively scheduled for July.

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Panthers win two in a row for late surge

Panthers won its second straight Division I game in a late surge from the bottom of the League’s table when the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) competition continued at the Burnham Basketball Court Sunday night.

Panthers defeated Knights 44-29 with forward Yannick December scoring 10 points and centre, Haslyn HHaaHaooper adding eight points in the low-scoring game.

Owan Walton continued his prolific scoring for Knights with 16 points in the game.

Knights had lost four straight games before Friday when they won their first and Sunday when they notched their second win for a 2-4 win/ loss record. This weekend will ultimately decide the final seeding of teams in Georgetown following key games.

Point guard, Jacob Lowe got Panthers off to a hot start when he drilled a three-pointer from the top of the arch; Kevin ‘Micey’ Cumberbatch followed that up with another three-pointer before December led the team on two fast-break plays.

The offensive run from Panthers put them up 9-0 before the quarter ended 13-3 in their favour as Knights searched for their offense.

Panthers reduced shooting the ball at a high percentage when the game continued in the second quarter, opting to go to ‘big man’, Hooper.

But the offensive productivity of both teams slumped in the second period with Panthers adding just three points to their first quarter score and Knights adding eight for a 16-11

Panthers’ forward, Yannick December (left) gets pass Knights’ guard, Kester Gomes to put one off the glass Sunday night on the Burnham Basketball Court. halftime score in the bottomof-the-table clash between the two teams.

Lowe opened the third quarter with an up-and-under finish as Panthers looked for more offensive efficiency as in the opening period.

December finished a onehanded dunk to extend Panther lead to 33-18 before taking over to win the game for his team.

In the first of three Division III games that were also played on S u n d a y, B u x t o n H e a t steamrolled Eagles 82-60 with Amineke Archibald scoring 32 points and Kevin Dey 18 points.

Kevin Higgin had 23 points and Quacy Eston 15 points for Eagles.

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) notched up another win the make the Division III version of the

League very interesting. They beat Westside Jammers 83-61 with Michael Turner adding 21 points, Phillip Earle 17 points, Mark Rose 15 points and Jermaine Newtown 14 points. Ralph Brown scored 18 points and Leonard Brotherson 14 points for Westside Jammers.

In a keenly contested game between two of the Division III frontrunners, Colts edged Pepsi Sonics 56-51 in overtime after a 4646 regulation stalemate.

Clebert Thornhill led Colts with 20 points while Daniel Ramlogan added 13 points.

For Sonics, Loshon Caesar added 17 points with Sheldon Frank adding 10 points. The League continues this weekend with some decisive contest that could determine the place of teams in the ratings. (Edison Jefford)

Tuesday April 16, 2013

Kaieteur News

Goodluck moves into lead at GNRA Fullbore Championship

Page 37

Assuria General Insurance supports GBBC Firestorm' Boxing card

Ransford Goodluck

Former National champion Ransford Goodluck has taken a slim lead in “X” Class, while fullbore captain Mahendra Persaud won the prestigious Valladares Trophy after the first day of competition in the Guyana National Rifle Shooting championships which opened Sunday at the Timehri Rifle ranges.

Goodluck recorded an overall aggregate of 131 points and Seven V-bulls out of a possible 135 points in action on the opening day of shooting held over 300, 500 and 900 yards ranges in overcast conditions and fluctuating winds.

He shot a possible 35 points with 3Vs at 300 yards but dropped nine points at 600 to record 41 points with 9 Vs at 500 yards and 47.3 at 900 yards.

Reigning Caribbean fullbore champion Lennox Braithwaite occupies the second position with 130 points and 10Vs. He shot 33.4 at 300 yards, and dropped just one point at 500 yards to finish on 49.2 while shooting 48.4 at 900 yards.

Persaud shot a possible 50 points with 3Vs at 500 yards to clinch the Valladares Trophy, which is presented to the shooter with the best score at 500 yards at

Mahendra Persaud

t h e N a t i o n a l Championships.

He holds the third position with 129 points and 9Vs having shot 34.3 at 300 yards and 49.3 at 900 yards.

Lt. Col. Terrence Stuart is the current leader in “O” Class with 120 points and 3Vs after recording 32.0 at 300, 49.3 at 500 and 39.0 at 900 yards.

Charles Dean holds the second position with 119 points and 8Vs with scores of 33.4 at 300, 45.3 at 500 and 41.1 at 900 yards.

Leo Ramalho made a creditable return to competition after an extended hiatus from the sport to be in third place with 119.7 with scores of 31.1, 47.3 and 41.2.

The championships will continue this weekend with competition at 500 and 600 yards on Saturday, while on Sunday the shooters will battle over 300, 600 and 1000 yards. Starting time is 12:00 hours on Saturday while competition fires off at 10:00 hours Sunday.

The national riflemen are preparing for the visit here of the Great Britain team in two weeks time and their defence of the West Indies Fullbore shooting long and short range shooting titles.

The Regional championships will be staged in Barbados during the second week in May, while several of the Guyanese shooters will be looking to be selected on the West Indies team to compete against shooters from Great Britain, United States, Canada and Australia in the A u s t r a l i a C u p championships.

Guyanese Paul Slowe has already been named captain of the regional team.

Peter Abdool gratefully collects the cheque from Dick Wesenhagen at the latter individual's North Road office yesterday As preparations continue for the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) 'Firestorm' Boxing card scheduled for this Saturday at the Princess Hotel, Providence EBD, April 20 next, Assuria Life, Pension, Fire and General Insurance of 133 North Road, Georgetown has donated tangibly towards the success of the card.

Ye s t e r d a y m o r n i n g , President of the GBBC,

Peter Abdool, visited that business place and received the sponsorship cheque from Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dick Wesenhagen. "It is an honour and a pleasure for Assuria GY to be part of the sponsorship team,” exhorted Mr. Wesenhagen.

He further explained that officials of his company have noted that the GBBC always delivers highly entertaining fights

with a superb level of sportsmanship.

The businessman noted that GBBC has an astonishing track record of safety and security with respect to the boxers' health and safety and as such, immediately consented to support.

'We would like to extend good wishes to the GBBC in their attempts to popularize and develop the sport,” said Mr.

W e s e n h a g e n .

Mr. Abdool accepted the gift and expressed gratitude to his benefactor.

"It is our pleasure to have Assuria on Board and wonderful to see the officials immediately become involved in the development of boxing,” he said. The GBBC President said that he look forward to a l o n g a n d satisfying relationship with Assuria.

t r o Sp

Cat Messiah dominates as G. Singh Stable takes top honours at BLUTC Horserace meet Zelick claims feature event, big win for Swing Easy and Captain Crook

Gansham Singh and Family is all a smiles as they receives the championship trophy for Cat Messiah's convincing victories in the I and J class events.

Gafson's Group of Companies donates gym equipment to K&S football champions

Banks DIH Manager Mortimer Stewart presents the winning trophy for Zelick's victory in the D class event to Lisa Ramkissoon of the Night Eyes racing stable.

Ms Yarde hands over one of the weight plates to Mr. France

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