Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 3

US human rights 2012 report highlights...

Murder, abuse and rape by law enforcement officials Although torture and mistreatment of prisoners are prohibited by law in Guyana, there continues to be several reports alleging beating of inmates by prison officials as well as allegations of police abuse of suspects and detainees.

This is according to the United States of America Human Rights 2012 Report.

During the period under review, the Police Complaints Authority received 36 complaints of unnecessary use of violence, while several cases of random police brutality, arrest, and interrogation prior to investigation were reported.

In one case, which was reported by the media, on June 23, Audrey Cummings claimed that four armed policemen entered her home to search for guns, ammunition and narcotics.

Once they entered her home and discovered that she was locked in her bedroom, the police allegedly kicked down the bedroom door, entered, dragged her out, and began to assault her verbally and physically, resulting in Cummings breaking her left hand.

In June 2011, a court awarded one of three suspects maliciously wounded by three police officers during a 2009 murder investigation $6.5 million in damages as a result of a civil action filed in February 2010.

The suspect had his genitals burnt, a case that attracted worldwide attention following its exposure by this newspaper.

The court had earlier dismissed criminal charges against the three officers after witnesses failed to appear.

In July 2011 the Attorney General appealed the award but later withdrew the appeal and paid the amount awarded by the court.

Under the period of review there were 14 complaints of unlawful killings by law enforcement

officers made to the Police Complaints Authority.

And the Linden fiasco which resulted in the death of three persons also featured in the report.

On July 18, police allegedly shot at a group of protesters on the first day of a planned five-day protest in Linden, resulting in the deaths of Allan Lewis, Ron Somerset and Shemroy Bouyea.

Several other persons were injured in the incident.

“Protest action continued in the town until the government and the opposition agreed to institute a Commission of Inquiry into the shootings and address economic concerns at the center of the protest,” the US Human Rights Report stated.

The five-man Commission, which was chaired by Jamaican Justice Lensley Wolfe concluded hearings November 2, 2012 and presented its report at the end of February this year.

While not being specific, it concluded that the police ranks were culpable in the deaths of three Lindeners.

The US report also shed some light on the September 11, 2012 execution style shooting of a 17-year-old Agricola youth by the police, which set off street demonstrations.

Three policemen have been charged with the teen’s murder but only one of them has appeared in court so far to answer the charge.

A few weeks later two policemen were charged with manslaughter stemming from the October 5 shooting death of a citizen outside the White Castle Fish Shop on Hadfield Street, Georgetown, following a police chase.

There were no developments in the May 2011 death of Angold Cox, shot and killed by a police officer after Cox was reported to the police for using threatening language towards his tenant.

However the report

The late Henry Greene

Shaquille Grant

Kelvin Fraser

Dweive Kant Ramdass

recalled that trials in the High Court were set for the police officer charged with the June 2010 murder of 16-year-old student Kelvin Fraser and for three Coast Guard personnel charged with the 2009 killing of businessman Dweive Kant Ramdass.

The report also highlighted allegations of sexual abuses against policemen, including the Henry Greene scandal.

It focused on the fact that while authorities failed to bring charges against Greene for the November 2011 allegation made by a mother of two who went to him for assistance in a criminal matter, Greene’s resignation was accepted.

The case had its infamy in the move by Greene to the High Court to block the institution of criminal charges against him.

Following an investigation conducted with assistance from Jamaican authorities, the Director of Public Prosecution recommended in February last year that the Commissioner be charged with rape.

However, before police could bring charges, the Acting Chief Justice granted temporary orders blocking the DPP’s recommendation and barring the police from instituting the charges.

After hearing the case on several occasions and reviewing written submissions, the Chief Justice ruled on March 29 against the DPP, finding that “her decision was unlawful and, even if not unlawful, was irrational” because the circumstantial evidence did not present a realistic prospect of a conviction.

The ruling attracted widespread criticism from civil society, including the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and another Non Government Organisation,

which represents the interests of women.

The GHRA said that the ruling was “profoundly disturbing” and lamented that “an opportunity for a meaningful test of this country’s commitment to both the protection of women from sexual offences and the principle that no one is above the law, should be shortcircuited by such specious reasoning.” In April 2012 Greene retired from the Guyana Police Force.

The case of the sexual assault of two female

prisoners by two policemen at the Cove and John police station in November 2011 also attracted the attention of the human rights body.

The human rights report noted that authorities initially dismissed the criminal charge instituted against one of the policemen who along with his colleague was sexually involved with the two female prisoners (one a juvenile) in custody at the station.

Authorities later reinstated the charge and the case remained pending at the end of last year.

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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

Democratisation

Democratisation is one of the most important concepts and trends in modern political science, one whose significance is just beginning to be understood by conflict-resolution practitioners.

On one level, it is a relatively simple idea, since democratisation is simply the establishment of a democratic political regime.

However, in practice, democratisation has been anything but easy to understand, let alone achieve as we in Guyana should appreciate.

Democracy, as we know it today, is a relatively recent phenomenon. While some of the ancient Greek city-states had democratic aspects, modern democracy only dates from the late 18th century. To be considered democratic, a country must choose its leaders through fair and competitive elections, ensure basic civil liberties, and respect the rule of law. Some observers also claim that a democracy has to have a capitalist economy and a strong civil-society and civic culture, although not all political scientists would include these two criteria.

Democratisation is the process whereby a country adopts such a regime. There is less agreement among political scientists about how that process occurs, including the criteria to use in determining if democratisation has, in fact, taken place. Many countries have adopted democratic regimes only to see them collapse in a military coup or other revolt that yields an authoritarian government instead.

Typically, we do not think that democracy has truly taken root until at least three national elections have been held. Another criterion raised by many experts is the peaceful transfer of power from one political party or coalition to the former opposition. Such a transition is critical because it indicates that the major political forces in a country are prepared to settle their disputes without violence and to accept that they will all spend periods of time out of office.

Can we say we have achieved the latter condition in Guyana?

Less clear is how democratisation occurs. It took an extended period of time to develop in the industrialised countries of Western Europe and North America. In the United States and Great Britain, it took well over a century before all the institutions and practices mentioned above were firmly in place. France, Germany and Italy saw their democratic regimes collapse and replaced by fascist ones.

It is undoubtedly true that democratisation can take place faster today. However, it certainly is not something that can be instituted overnight. Democratisation takes time because it requires the development of new institutions and widespread trust in them, which almost never happens quickly. As with the definition of the term, the importance of democratisation is easy to see at first glance, but is much more complicated in practice. Between states, democratisation is important because of one of the most widely (but not universally) accepted trends in international relations, known as “the democratic peace”. Put simply, democracies do not have wars with other democracies: they have achieved what Kenneth Boulding called “stable peace.”

Whatever the exact set of factors that contribute to democratic peace, within states, democratisation is particularly important in those countries that have gone through an extended period of intractable conflict. The institutions and value systems that make democracy possible are based on the development of the trust, tolerance and capacity for cooperation that make stable peace and reconciliation possible outcomes of a conflict-resolution process. Unfortunately, the same reasons that make democratisation important make it difficult to achieve. The ethnic and other tensions that give rise to intractable conflict create so much mistrust and intolerance that cooperation is very difficult to achieve. Indeed, there are very few countries that have been able to move from intractable conflict to democracy quickly or easily.

One exception is South Africa, where the black and white political elites summoned up unprecedented political will and commitment to the multiracial democracy that came into effect in 1994.

What most citizens can do, however, is to engage in the political process of their home country to promote policies that help democratisation. For one, we can put pressure on our political elites to pursue the politics of accommodation as Mandela did in South Africa. Their Executive power-sharing arrangement for one term did much to diffuse suspicions and create trust between the previously warring factions. We can also become involved in civil-society organisations that are working to build democracy itself.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

GPL is deserving of the allocations in the 2013 Budget (An Open Letter to Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC)) DEAR MR. RAMJATTAN, I am moved to write this open letter to you on reading the AFC column, “GPL is a liability to the people”, in the Kaieteur News of Sunday, April 21, 2013. I take this unusual step because others in APNU, and in the public at large, may have similar concerns, and time is of the essence.

Being aware that it was my duty, I did seek during the general debate and in the consideration of the estimates, in Parliament, to provide sufficient and credible information about the operations, and financing, of GPL. In an important matter such as this, I clearly would like to have an opportunity to clarify what I presented, and to respond to any other questions.

Allow me firstly to bring before us again two of the exhibits which, I think, give an essential, holistic context within which we should see the allocations, from the budget, to GPL. It may not accord with the impressions which many of us have, but (i) the prices charged by GPL are lower than both the cost and the economic prices – the net foregone revenue over the period 2003 to 2013, is about G$27.88 billion, and (ii) the prices charged by GPL, as well

as the costs incurred and the economic prices, compare well with similar prices across the Caribbean.

From 2003 to 2013, the average rate charged by GPL and the economic rate (per kWh) from which is determined the earnings that GPL has foregone, monies which GPL, to keep running, needs to receive from some other source, most reasonably from our National Budget.

The prices customers are required to pay have been kept unchanged since 2008.

The small movements in prices are related to changes in the proportion of electricity taken by the different customer-categories.

An explanation may be asked about prices in the years 2010 and 2011. The system of calculating economic prices for GPL is based on actual costs in the preceding year – there is thus a one-year lag which is small when costs are changing slowly, but, over the period 2006 to 2011, oil prices experienced a dramatic rise (from U.S.$ 50 to U.S.$ 150. per bbl), a fall (to U.S.$ 35. per bbl), and a rise again (to U.S.$ 100. per bbl). Average electricity prices could have fallen somewhat in 2010 and 2011, but only to rise dramatically in 2012. As a mechanism of the stabilization of prices, the foregone revenues of the period 2003 to 2007 were recovered in 2010 and 2011, enough to keep prices stable

(unchanged).

With respect to the domestic tariff (prices charged) across sixteen (16) reporting CARILEC countries, in June 2011, the figure of U.S. 26.70 cents (G$ 55.00) for Guyana, is the fourth lowest. For Barbados it is U.S. 38.9 cents (G$ 80.13).

GPL’s average price across all consumers was G$ 66.31 per kWh. Additionally, when we consider that GPL’s actual cost for 2012 was put at G$ 75. per kWh, and the economic price put at G$ 82. per kWh, the GPL’S costs and economic prices compare well with what prevails in other CARILEC countries. These figures question the assumption in the AFC column that “GPL is a huge black hole of inefficiency, mismanagement, waste and squandermania”. That belief is not true!

There is the usual response that pay-scales in Guyana are lower than those in other countries. Quite true, but about 85 % to 90 % of GPL’s costs arise from purchases of oil and other foreign-sourced goods and services.

The answer would be to look for other sources of electricity, particularly local sources, which could be cheaper - hence our focus on the proposed Amaila Falls Development.

Far from what the AFC column seems to have assumed, ‘total losses’ have been an ongoing focus of GPL

since the GEC’s time of the 1980s. At various times over the last decades, losses have exceeded 40 %. Over the last couple of years, GPL has brought losses down to about 31 %. Losses include both technical (network) and commercial (mainly electricity theft) losses.

There must, inevitably, be some technical losses. In Barbados, losses are enviably low at about 8 %, with about 18 % in Jamaica.

In every country, prices include total costs, which include the losses. This is much the same as in other sectors, where costs include spoilage, theft and other shortages.

The losses of GPL are high on both counts – with technical losses estimated at about 13 % and commercial losses estimated at about 18 %. The reduction of technical losses requires significant investments in networkupgrade, both transmission and distribution, in the ending of the 50-cycle generation, transmission and distribution, and in ending the 50-60 cycle conversion.

The allocations to GPL this year include soft funding to the Government from the China EXIM Bank, to complete the transmissionupgrade by December 2013/ January 2014.

GPL is well on the way to complete the conversion to 60-cycles during the first half of this year, thereby ending 50- cycles in the Georgetown Continued on page 7

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

Introduction and Operationalisation of the Evidence (Amendment) Act 2008 DEAR EDITOR: The Ministry of Home Affairs welcomes the introduction and operationalisation of the Evidence (Amendment) Act 2008.

It is to be recalled that in August 2008, the then Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs the Hon. Mr. Doodnauth Singh introduced in the National Assembly a Bill intituled Bill No. 22 8.2008 Evidence (Amendment) Bill.

Acknowledged as a reformatory measure, the Bill sought the approval of the House to ensure; “The appearance of detainees for obtaining bail, etc., from the place of detention before the Court by audio visual links, the taking of evidence by the Courts and making submissions before them by audio visual links from any place in Guyana or outside, subject to certain safeguards.”

According to the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum, the amendment to the Evidence Act sought to give; “legal recognition to the

taking of evidence by the Courts in Guyana using audio visual link facilities in Civil and Criminal proceedings and to give legal recognition to the conduct of the identification of parades by using audio visual link facilities.”

During the debate, I supported the Bill wholeheartedly and stated that the audio visual link; “will not deny a prisoner his Constitutional Right to be in and out of a prison environment neither will it deprive any prisoner their right to appear in Court.”

Mrs Clarissa Riehl, on behalf of the Opposition PNC in her contribution made the astounding statement that with the introduction of the audio video link the Government; “appears to want to get out of its responsibility”.

Mrs Riehl went on to emphasize that the video link will “deny the prisoner his/her day in Court and will make the prisoner a more hardened criminal”.

This was the first clear indication that the Opposition

was not inclined to support passage of the Bill.

For the AFC, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan in rejecting the need for the introduction of the audio video technology in Court proceedings stated: “We are ill prepared, it is just that we want to show off a little; we are going to .......have the video link mechanism” Meanwhile, In her contribution, Member Backer stated that; “If it is to improve the speed of trials it is not going to work....It will not help the Administration of Justice...”

Mrs Backer went on to state: “........in its present form we cannot support this Bill. It will not do what it sets out to do; we are uncomfortable with how wide sweeping it is and for now we feel that restricting it to people who are overseas is a good way to start.”

It was clear therefore that the Opposition benches did not have any interest in nor could be counted on to support the Bill. However, the Bill was passed and eventually was assented to

by President Jagdeo. It has Continued on page 6

Violence in schools DEAR EDITOR: The official and public reactions to the cases of students assaulting teachers in the last few months have been disappointingly onesided. While the attacks on teachers have undoubtedly been wrong, and it must be acknowledged that teachers do have rights, and should not be subject to assault, the environment that generated this assault must also be examined.

The Ministry of Education must necessarily take some responsibility for the creation of an environment in which children are driven to the point of attacking teachers, in which violence has become normative. What, we must ask ourselves, are the reasons behind these children’s behaviour? Are they the sole culprits of these assaults? Or does an environment in which violence begets violence, lead to the student body’s inevitable retaliation?

The continuation of corporal punishment in schools is one thing that must be examined; not only is it physically damaging to our children, but it can also be

mentally scarring, demonstrating beyond a doubt that those with the power to enact violence have control.

Furthermore, the verbal and psychological abuse that students suffer at the hands of teachers every day cannot go unnoticed.

The behaviour of the teachers themselves must then be questioned- as Colin Bynoe stated in the article “Increasing Reports of Teachers Being Assaulted is Worrying” (Kaieteur News, Thursday April 18th, 2013, pg 6), no student should retaliate against any teacher. What, we must ask ourselves is, what are they retaliating against?

Bynoe goes on to decry the inadequacy of the punishment awarded to the eight students guilty of the assault. These students have now been expelled, and their prospects for future education do not seem to be of public interest - what then happens to these children, who, in lieu of counselling, are thrown to the metaphorical dogs of a future without education?

The state of the schools themselves must also be

examined as a contributing factor to these children’s clear display of their displeasure: with teenagers in secondary school who are still unable to read, is it any wonder that an environment of hostility and frustration is fostered within our schools?

Furthermore, the level of bullying within our school system is at an all-time high, a fact which the Ministry has yet to address; students acting violently towards teachers cannot be said to be completely surprising when they have already been acting violently towards other students. Teachers have either ignored this tendency to bully or have tried to correct it with beating the children involved. But how can violence correct violence?

In situations like this, we need to be careful to reexamine our values about the rights of the child, and to be ready to take some responsibility for the actions of our children, as they undoubtedly reflect upon ourselves.

Karen de Souza, Joy Marcus and Esther Harvey For Red Thread

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

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

Hope is dying for the CCJ

DEAR EDITOR Grenada-born law professor, Simeon Mc Intosh, went to his grave a few weeks ago without seeing his country and nine other CARICOM states join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final appellate court. Mc Intosh spent the last five years of his life travelling around the region rallying support for the regional court, but all was in vain.

Last week Tuesday, April 16, was eight long years since the CCJ was inaugurated at

the Queen’s Hall in Port of Spain and so far only three countries Guyana, Barbados and Belize - have accepted the CCJ as the final appellate court In fact the birth of the CCJ came after a long arduous gestation. In March 1970, the Organisation of Commonwealth Bar Associations (OCBA) first raised the issue of the need to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy as the court of last resort for the Commonwealth Caribbean by a regional court of appeal. A

month later, at the VI Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government, the heads agreed to take action on relinquishing the Privy Council and mandated a committee of CARICOM attorneys general to further explore the question of the establishment of what was then being called a Caribbean Court of Appeal.

This was done decades ago, but most governments could not make up their minds, giving different reasons, and when a few finally agreed they were voted

out of office for other reasons and the new administration restarted the process.

A referendum is necessary in few countries, but it seems that the sitting governments are afraid to go through that process because they might not succeed. St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves was bold enough to call a referendum, but it was defeated.

However my view is it is not that the Vincentians do not want to replace the Privy Council with the CCJ, but the

referendum was padded with other issues such as removing the Queen as the Sovereign, hence the reason why a little more than 51.1% of the electorates voted no.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Kamla PersadBissessar a West Indiantrained lawyer, said more than a year ago that she would go halfway, i.e. to abolish appeals to the Privy Council only in criminal cases, and civil appeals should continue to go to London.

This is not a good move, since most of the appeals are from the civil courts and cost a fortune. In any event, no steps have so far been taken by her administration to abolish criminal appeals to the Privy Council.

I am very surprised and disappointed about this since Basdeo Panday, who PersadBissessar replaced as leader of the UNC, was the Prime Minister who advocated for Port of Spain to be the headquarters of the Court.

It is back and forth in Jamaica. Sometime ago there were plans to set up the final appellate court in Jamaica, but that idea was apparently shelved and there were plans for removing the Queen as the Sovereign Head of State

and accepting the CCJ as the final court to coincide with the 50th anniversary of independence, but eight months have passed since the reggae country celebrated its golden anniversary, but it seems as if the idea was either placed in the back burner or totally abandoned.

This is very unfortunate since Jamaica is contributing 27% of the costs to run and administer the court.

There were complaints in some quarters that there was no Jamaican judge in the court, but a distinguished professor Charles Anderson of Kingston was appointed nearly three years ago to the panel.

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) had taken a decision to arrange referenda simultaneously in each state, but nothing has been heard since. There again is talk, talk and more talk.

Meanwhile some Caribbean leaders and commentators have commented adversely on the slow pace in which decisions are being taken by the Caribbean Community, some contending that the regional body is dying slowly.

Oscar Ramjeet

From page 5 come to my knowledge that since then, the Audio Video link was utilized on two (2) occasions. On one (1) occasion in the Criminal Jurisdiction, and the other in the Civil Jurisdiction.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is on record stating on the first occasion that the Audio Video link was used to extract; “Criminal testimony of witnesses who have not only migrated outside of the jurisdiction but those who are no longer at the same location in Guyana that they were at the time of the incident”

And contrary to Mrs Backer’s contribution that the Audio Video link will not speed up trials, the DPP emphasized that the use of the audio visual link: “will ensure speedy trials”.

I join with the DPP in celebrating the successful inauguration of the audio video link in our Court System.

It is another landmark achievement; contrary to the scoffing on the initiative by Opposition Members at the time the Bill was debated in the National Assembly.

Clement J. Rohee Minister

Introduction and...

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

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

GPL is deserving of the allocations in the...

From page 4 area.

These two aforementioned projects are responsible for much of the interruptions being experienced this year.

GPL is ever aware that there is still the distributionupgrade to be addressed.

GPL has been steadily pursuing the reduction of commercial losses by appealing to moral-suasion and by pulling down illegal connections. Recall that the Head of this section was shot and killed some years ago.

GPL would be assisted greatly by more positive support from citizens, the majority of whom do not steal electricity. Laws have been enacted over recent years to stiffen the penalties which are faced by persons who engage in the theft of electricity, including a mandatory prison-sentence on a third conviction.

GPL has also embarked on a third line of attack in the war against electricity theft, specifically illegal connections, which is to install more hardened and smart distribution-networks.

This does not come cheaply – depending on the level of

hardening, the cost of connecting a customer could be increased more than fivefold. The budget allocation to GPL, from an IDB loan to the Government, is focused on this and other ways to reduce commercial losses.

In response to the contention in the AFC column about GPL focusing on its billing (and collection) system, I need to point out that recovery on billing is given the same weighting as losses, and that it is often combined with losses to determine an overall cashrecovery for the utility.

The profits of the years 2010 and 2011, are not an indication of widelyfluctuating performance of the Board, Management and other employees of GPL. Rather, it indicates the dramatically lower oil prices in 2009 and 2010, and the recovery of revenue foregone in previous years. The overall picture that should be borne in mind, is the remaining net foregone revenue of G$ 27.883 billion, over the period 2003 to 2013. Foregone revenue for the year 2013 is projected at G$ 6.416 billion.

Additionally, Government

as owner, as the party responsible for providing the financing for expansions, rehabilitation and upgrades for GPL, provides this financing via allocations in the Budget.

These allocations are mostly from soft loans sought, and identified, for GPL, and they account for about G$ 30 billion of budget allocations over the last five years.

Foundation works began this year for a new 26 MW generating-station at Vreeden-Hoop (enlarging and replacing the one at Versailles) to be completed by the end of this year, at a total cost of about G$ 6.4 billion.

As Minister responsible for the sector, I have been endeavouring to provide straight and fulsome answers. There is lots of money involved, and the issues demand some time for them to be fully understood.

The monies, particularly the investment monies, have been spent as intended. Such monies are only released by the third-party, primary providers on satisfactory certification of the work done.

As Minister responsible,

I am concerned that we are not once again side-tracked from the steady progress that GPL has been making, by any seeming panacea, such as privatization, in the past. We were side-tracked there, primarily by the view that with foreigners as owners, the customers, as well as employees, would fall into line, and total losses would readily fall to more reasonable figures. That was not to be.

Indeed, that was highly optimistic, and when the investors walked away, we had to call on the two previously leading employees, whom we had cast aside, to break their new arrangements and to return.

It is only fair that we had to make it reasonable for them to ditch the contracts which they then had.

I am confident that someone who could take the time for a full and thorough review of the many dozens of reports on, and by, GPL, would also find that rather than GPL being a liability, GPL has served, and continues to serve, our people and our country well, taking account of the staffing, the generators, the networks, and

the other resources that GPL has available to it, including the Budgetary Allocations received over the years.

With generation that is insufficient, a good portion of which having being aged and of questionable reliability, with networks that are overloaded without redundancy and much of it also aged and already amortized, there is reduced addition to costs than would be the case with new facilities and an offsetting of some of the cost of high losses, but only with service that is compromised.

The failure of the large station-transformer at the Canefield generating-station in July last - one of a number of similar transformers, across the GPL network, that is over forty years old - caused much problems in putting available power into the Berbice grid, until about December when a transformer borrowed from

the transmission-upgrade project was installed.

With cash-flows that are less than required and uncertain in timing, it takes a particular kind of courage to manage things: a courage that is fortified with the commitment to serve and the awareness that things are getting better.

This challenge, this Minister and all in GPL dutifully take on, conscious that all of us Guyanese face similar challenges in whatever work we do.

Let us provide the allocations, and continue to demand the best stewardship of GPL. Samuel A. A. Hinds Prime Minister Cc: Brig.-Gen. (ret’d) David Granger - Leader of the Opposition and Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Tuesday April 23, 2013

One of the most colorful figures of all time in Trinidad and Tobago has departed the political scene.

The flamboyant former head of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Jack Warner has resigned his position as a Minister and has since also tendered his resignation as chairman of the United National Congress (UNC).

These resignations follow on the heels of another damaging report about his actions when he was at the helm of CONCACAF. Jack was a commanding figure both in regional football and in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago. He was not afraid to lock horns with anyone. Despite the many controversies that surrounded him, he was hugely popular because he was viewed as a politician who got the job done.

If he came into your area and you complained to him that there was a problem and he promised to fix the problem in a certain way, you could bet your bottom dollar that he would get the job done. It is always hard for political to let go of such men of action, persons who delivered on what they had promised. But in the end the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was left with no choice because it

Kaieteur News

seems as if the issue of the affairs of Caribbean football and that of CONCACAF are not going to go away in the near future.

Mr. Warner despite being a survivor and a fighter was forced to call it quits as a minister and as chairman of his party. All this controversy began a few years ago over allegations of persons being paid to support a candidate in his quest for the position of the Head of FIFA. Jack was forced eventually to resign from Caribbean football after an investigation was done and there were calls for him to be fired but the Prime Minister persisted with him, as it now seems to her own peril.

FIFA was not going to put this matter to rest simply because Jack resigned from the administration of regional football. This is something that the government of Trinidad and Tobago did not seem to recognize. They must have hoped that with his resignation from the administration of regional football that Jack has put his problems behind him.

But there are clearly forces that are not going to allow these matters to end so simply. Already there are news reports about an FBI investigation in which a

Dem boys seh...

De Americans know who thiefing in Guyana When de people use to talk bout corruption some use to seh that dem mekking it up. Then dem boys find dem contractor who use to do kok wuk and de government use to pay dem anyhow.

Dem boys start to watch dem big ones like some of dem government Ministers and dem see a real rags to riches story.

People who was ordinary suddenly become very rich pun dem salary. And dem couldn’t explain wheh de money come from.

Barbie who had to pawn jewels to get money to buy de New drugs company suddenly find money to buy de Santa complex and nuff other things including a TV station and all de property, including de big property at Versailles. Dem boys talk when twenty container come in from de States fuh de president and when one Customs officer get pull in suh till she talk how she didn’t know wha Uncle Adam was talking about.

Well de Americans talking now. In a report that de whole world read, de Americans talk loud and clear that de government got a don’t care a damn attitude bout corruption.

Transparency International did give Guyana a bad rating and de whole government jump pun de organization and cuss de people who help put up de report.

Well dem boys want to see if dem gun cuss de Americans.

De people talk bout de Integrity Commission that never wuk because de government ain’t want it wuk. Dem talk bout de police who doing all kind of things and nutten don’t happen to dem; de talk bout de procurement commission that ain’t set up yet; dem talk bout de Auditor General who writing bout corruption and getting nowhere; dem talk bout de radio business that had kok write all over it; and dem talk how nobody ever get charge fuh all de corruption that tekking place.

Dem boys seh that is time de government do something fuh mek people stop washing dem mouth pun dem. Ehen people ain’t got shame dem does be don’t care a damn or as de people who know big words does seh, indifferent or apathetic, or disinterested.

relative to Jack is said to be cooperating witness. The government of Trinidad has written to the authorities in the US about this but, as is typical of that country, there has not yet been any reply.

They will however act as they see fit and when they see fit just as how they did in the case of the allegations surrounding a minister of the government of Guyana. If the PPP feels that that problem is over, they had better take a second look at what happened to Warner. It is not going to be over until Uncle Sam gets what it wants.

Meanwhile, a new administration has been put in place for the management

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of local football. If that administration feels also that it can simply make a fresh start and put the past behind it, it had better once again look at what is being done to Jack Warner.

It should be recalled that one of the allegations made that triggered Warner ’s withdrawal from regional football was that at a regional meeting of football officials, brown paper bags, each with US$40,000 or eight million Guyana dollars was shared out in what was supposed to be a vote-buying operation.

There is supposed to be video evidence of who received and who refused the

money but it seems that not many persons, including the media in Guyana, are interested in finding out whether any person from Guyana actually received any money and if so where is the money and if it is accounted for in the official accounts of the local football association, or whether if it was received whether it was treated as a private gift. Or indeed if no one from Guyana ever received any such gift.

The new administration of football has to understand the direction in which FIFA is going. They are not going to allow these allegations to fade away. As such the local

football authorities have to ensure that they too launch, with the cooperation of FIFA, their own investigation as to what went on at that ill-fated meeting.

And more importantly that they determine on which side Guyana stood when it came to the distribution of that money in those brown paper bags.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Freddie Kissoon Column

I did not sue President Jagdeo for libel If Mr. Peter Ramsaroop is going to start a political career with the PPP, one hopes he is aware of that old saying about a sinking ship. Of course there is another question; will the PPP welcome on board Mr. Ramsaroop. His shifting sands of political involvement may discourage the PPP. In the Stabroek News of April 20, Mr. Ramsaroop gave Mr. Nigel Hughes, my lawyer

in the Jagdeo libel suit, the following advice; “Mr. Hughes must take his position seriously and realize that in representing a lawsuit whose main premise is racial defence approach only adds to this dilemma we face as a nation...” There can only be one response to such poor, dishonest reasoning – a cuss down of Mr. Ramsaroop. But let us avoid that and offer a

multi-faceted lecture to Mr. Ramsaroop.

I did not sue Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo. It was Mr. Jagdeo, while President, who took me to court seeking ten million dollars. By Mr. Ramsaroop’s logic, I should not have offered a defence because race issues were to be brought out in the open and that was not good for Guyana.

Mr. Ramsaroop went on to

reason (if you look at the rationale behind his advice to Mr. Hughes) that the lawyers I sought should not have taken the case for the same reason. In plain simple language Mr. Ramsaroop is saying that I should not have defended myself.

I will agree to drop my defence once Mr. Ramsaroop pays Mr. Jagdeo the ten million dollars he is asking for,

plus aggravated cost plus cost for counsel. It is as simple as that.

If this is the way Mr. Ramsaroop sees life I am not too sure what will become of his future in politics in Guyana. It is important to mention in this context what Mr. Nigel Hughes wrote in the Stabroek News of April 18, 2013. I quote him; “On no less than three occasions, twice before the hearing had commenced and once after the first day of Dr. Luncheon’s testimony, I indicated to the plaintiff’s counsel now the Honourable Attorney General that he may wish to consider deferring the hearing of the case as the evidence which I had in my possession was explosive and may indeed heighten the racial tensions in the country.

On each occasion, the plaintiff declined the offer.” (end of quote).

Either Mr. Ramsaroop is dishonest or he does not read important statements coming from the pen of people whose thinking he ought to familiarize himself with if he is going to be of any value to his new found friends in the PPP. Mr.Hughes’ missive appeared in the SN two days before Mr. Ramsaroop publicly penned his advice to Mr. Hughes.

It would appear from his statement to Mr. Hughes that Mr. Ramsaroop is not even in the thinnest of ways familiar with the Jagdeo versus Kissoon libel hearing even though it started in July 2011 and is still in front of the courts.

I presented my research on the practice of racism by the Government of Guyana at an academic conference sponsored by the Guyana Historical Research Society at the National Library in June 2010. Centrally directed thugs (five of them) in a violent drama that brought back memories of the House of

Frederick Kissoon Israel goons in the Burnham era tried to disrupt the event and attempted to assault me.

The next day in my column I informed the Guyanese people about what took place and included material from my research paper on the practice of racism by the Government.

So not only was I nearly attacked but I got sued too.

Now Mr. Ramsaroop finds that it would be a wise thing for Mr. Nigel Hughes and by extension, the other two lawyers, Khemraj Ramjattan and Christopher Ram not to pursue the suit because race matters are out in the open and they will further undermine Guyana’s stability.

F o o l i s h l y, M r.

Ramsaroop avoids giving advice to his friends in the PPP that they brought the libel and if it is to end, they have to stop it not my lawyers.

Of course, as I wrote above, my lawyers can take Mr. Ramsaroop’s advice and ask the court to halt proceedings.

This would mean I concede defeat and have to pay Mr. Jagdeo. That can be arranged as soon as Mr. Ramsaroop signs a check for the millions and millions that Mr. Jagdeo wants.

Finally, one needs to remind Mr. Ramsaroop that Mr. Jagdeo’s chief witness, Roger Luncheon, as reported in the media, could not recollect in about ninety percent of the questions put to him who were the people that received concessions, contracts and employment from Mr. Jagdeo’s Government. Hardly a help to Mr. Jagdeo’s case.

Wife beating mechanic placed on bail A mechanic who decided to vent his anger on his wife after a hard day’s work, forcing the woman to be hospitalised was placed on $50,000 bail on the charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Radish Bhicoory, a mechanic of Palmyra Village, East Coast Berbice, on Monday appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s court charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on his wife Janice Fredericks.

The court was told that

on January 14, last, Bhicoory and the woman had a misunderstanding at their Palmyra village home. He then proceeded to beat the woman forcing her to be hospitalised.

The matter was reported and the man went on the run.

He was subsequently arrested and charged. The prosecution which offered no objection to bail told the court that the victim is currently staying with Help and Shelter.

The accused, after some pleading, was subsequently granted bail and will have to return to court on Friday 14 June.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Linden Town Week 2013, challenging - PRO Public Relations Officer of the Linden Town Week 2013, Fitzherbert Ralph says that there are many things that mitigated against the Linden Town Week Planning Committee, which made their work challenging.

Linden Town Week 2013 runs from Friday April 26 until Tuesday May 6. Ralph claims that planning for the event has been hampered because some members of the committee found it difficult to put aside their personal preferences to function at the collective level.

He said, “The people on

the current committee, including myself, are not the power houses, not the people, who can really broker and draw from the power players within the whole scheme of things,” Ralph said.

He added: “The Linden Town Week Committee ought to be comprised of persons in high office … and persons with managerial responsibilities that have the entire developmental focus and programme of the community in their heads, or under their area of responsibility. From that level you ought to get a smoother

flow of arrangements and for the different types of stakeholders to fall in place without question.”

Background He said that Town Week originally began as Town Day by an individual, Norvelle Frederick, and it was intended to be a very dynamic portrayal of the life of Linden and its residents; “those things that make us proud,” Ralph said.

“Those processes that Lindeners would have experienced; the battles that we would have won; the institutions that would have been formed over the years

that would have come about over the various types of struggles that we would have passed through – the developmental activities; all of those things would be put on show during Town Day or Town Week and it would have also provided Lindeners and the wider community as to how Linden is set to deal with developmental challenges for the years to come.

“The Town Week activities are designed to do that – show off where you are as a people, how you were able to arrive at where you are

and then demonstrate your preparedness to deal with the future.”

CHANGE However, over a number of years, Town Week was transformed into a ‘jam and wine’ type of open air fete rather than a portrayal of the more wholesome aspects of the society.

According to Ralph, the change was recognized and efforts have been made to balance the various activities since, according to him, Linden is a secular community so that people from the different belief systems and preferences would be included in the Town Week activities.

DIRECTION He said he was asked to become involved in the planning of Linden Town Week 2013 after the committee had started its work and he immediately observed that there was discord amongst the committee members, which prompted him to find out whether the committee had reached consensus on a deliberate, collective objective He was informed of the theme: “Coming Clean In 2013”.

Ralph said that immediately the theme struck him “as being dynamic and very challenging”.

He added: “There was so much that jumped out at me because I respect the contribution that had been made over the years by those, who had been involved in the management of Town Week.”

Noting that sponsorship is down this year because of the changes in the committee as well as concern by corporate businesses over the late finalization of the national budget, Ralph said some of the big sponsors such as Banks, Ansa McAl and Bosai are still on board.

The Linden Town Week

Fitzherbert Ralph 2013 Public Relations Officer added that while a substantial number of overseas-based Lindeners are expected to arrive to take part in the Town Week activities, some have cancelled their flights because Town Week is being held later than usual this year and they could not get alternative vacation leave from their jobs.

ACTIVITIES He said most of the major shows have been retained this year. He added that a major innovation would be Wismar having five nights instead of the regular two.

According to him, the Town Week Committee had planned to give an extra night with the s p o t l i g h t o n Wismar on the first to third of May but an investor, Lennox King, who had previously operated a Lumber Yard and Shipping Service at Wismar, intends to reinvest in the community and would be u s i n g To w n We e k t o reintroduce himself.

He s a i d K i n g a l o n g with business partners will be having activities at Wismar on April 26 and 27th and he will be assisting agricultural producers from West Watooka to showcase their produce, which they will sell cheaply.

Schoolboy held with ganja in class Since school children are becoming violent at school these days, the teachers at a Linden secondary school have been carrying out classroom searches. During one such search they found marijuana in the school bag of a third form student.

The police were immediately called in and identified the substance as cannabis which weighed 28 grams.

The student a 15-year-old male, of Lower Kara Kara, Linden, was taken into custody for questioning.

He told police at the Mackenzie Police Station that one of his cousins, who is a former student of the said school had given him the substance to sell.

The student said that this was the first time that he brought the substance to school.

His parents were contacted and said they are very surprised at this. Police could not locate the cousin.

A senior Schools’ Welfare Officer, Yolanda James, was making her monthly visit to the school at the time the incident took place.

The schoolboy remains in custody and is expected to face court as early as today as investigations continue.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Differently challenged youths speaking out

By Jeff Trotman Persons with disability have the right to marriage like every other human being, President of the Georgetown Young Voices Club, Stacy Johnson stressed last Saturday, at the Mackenzie Sports Club.

He was in a group of 35 young people, mostly from Georgetown, who staged a march and rally at Mackenzie, Linden, to launch the Linden Chapter of the Young Voices Club, which restricts membership to only disabled persons between the ages of 16 and 26.

President of the Linden Chapter, Tishaun Rodney, said that launching the Linden Young Voices Club with a march through the town was intended “to make people in Linden see people walking around with disability.”

He added that a lot of people with disability are not usually seen walking in Linden. According to him, the activity would motivate the disabled to make more public appearances as well as make the wider public more accustomed to seeing disabled persons going about business like any other person.

Stacy Johnson, Georgetown President The march commenced from the Five Corner and proceeded along David Rose Avenue, Republic Avenue and Greenheart Street to the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground for a brief rally.

The Georgetown club was launched in 2008 while the Berbice Chapter was launched last year. The groups meet once a month in their respective host communities to discuss matters that affect persons with disability with a view to empowering them and improving their quality of life and lifestyles.

The groups also engage

Some participants at the march and rally that launched the Linden Young Voices Club on Saturday in capacity building of their members, who are generally sheltered and are not exposed to a lot of activities in their respective communities.

Discrimination “As human beings, we all find someone that we love and would want to be with for the rest of our lives,” Johnson said. “Everyone has the right to marriage. Persons with disability must not be exceptions. We are equal and we deserve to have the right to marriage.” The President of the Georgetown Young

Voices Club added that, former President Bharrat Jagdeo signed an Act in 2010 that enshrined that “persons with disability have rights like any other person living in Guyana”. He said the march through the streets of Linden was intended to make the Linden public “aware of these rights and what they entail”.

Noting that a lot of work is needed with respect to the right for jobs for persons with disability, Johnson said, “First, you have to look after the education because if you

don’t have education and you don’t have training you can’t acquire a job.”

He said the Young Voices Club attempts to groom its members to be independent members of society after they leave the club.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Linden Young Voices Club, Quasia Lyle, in calling on the general population to be aware of the club and what it stands for also issued an appeal for the general public to refrain from discriminating against persons with

disability.

Lyle said she suffers from glaucoma and has been the butt of insults and verbal abuses from people on occasions when she bumps into them, particularly in crowded places such as the market and bus stands.

The secondary school student said that even at school very little or no consideration is given to her poor eyesight as her requests for her examination papers to have bigger letters than normal, are generally ignored.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

U.S slams Guyana on radio licences The United States Government has slammed the issuance of radio licences under former President Bharrat Jagdeo.

In its latest report on human rights, which includes freedom of speech, the U.S Government said the issuance of the licences under Jagdeo “lacked transparency.”

In November 2011, the very month he was leaving the Office of the President, Jagdeo handed out ten radio licences with his friends and associates being granted 15 radio frequencies.

“In 2011 the government approved applications for 10 new radio stations, although the process was controversial, lacked transparency and contained further steps needed before the new stations could begin broadcasting,” the report on Human Rights Practices stated.

The report noted that in 2011 Parliament passed a broadcasting law that allowed for the establishment of a Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) with a governing board appointed by the President, but noted observations that few of the board members had previous

media experience.

The report added that the law states that programmes that address controversial public policy or matters of political or industrial contention “must meet standards of fairness, balance and accuracy, maintaining a proper balance and respect for truth and integrity and always ensuring that opposing views are not misrepresented.”

On September 5, the government appointed members of a governing board for the GNBA, and the report noted that at the end of 2012 only one new station began operations, and it was closely aligned with the government.

That station which the report referred to is Radio Guyana, owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop, the best friend of former President Jagdeo.

The report acknowledged that the law provides for freedom of speech including for members of the press, and the government generally respected this right in practice.

However, the report noted that the government influenced print and broadcast media and

- says process “lacked transparency” - cites heavy control over state media continued to exert heavy control over the content of the National Communications Network (television), giving Government spokespersons extended coverage, while limiting participation of opposition figures.

On Friday, two challenges were filed in the High Court against the granting of radio frequencies by Jagdeo.

Broadcaster Enrico Woolford, the National Media and Publishing Company (publishers of Kaieteur News) and the Guyana Media Proprietors Association are asking that the High Court quash Jagdeo’s decision.

Woolford is asking the High Court to declare that the issuance of the licences was “arbitrary, unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, capricious, irrational, procedurally improper, ultra vires, null, void and of no legal effect.”

It was recently revealed that Jagdeo, in the very month he was leaving the Office of the President granted five

radio frequencies to his best friend Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop; the company which publishes the newspaper of the ruling party; and Telcor, which has as its directors Ruth Baljit, the sister of Minister Robert Persaud, and Kamini Persaud, who is the niece of Jagdeo and wife of Minister Robert Persaud.

One frequency each was granted to seven other companies.

In the proceedings, Woolford claims that Jagdeo had signed an agreement with then Opposition Leader Robert Corbin in May, 2003, saying that no broadcast licences would be issued until

the new broadcasting legislation comes into effect.

However, Jagdeo went ahead and granted those new frequencies almost one year before the Broadcast Act came into being. The Broadcast Act came into being at the end of August, 2012. Woolford is claiming that he applied for radio broadcast frequencies in October, 1997. However, he claimed never to have received a response from the NFMU. The National Media and Publishing Company, publishers of Kaieteur News, and the Guyana Media Proprietors Association have

asked the court to make a declaration that the release of those radio licences was done under improper considerations and was discriminatory, unconstitutional and of no legal effect.

The action by the Media Proprietors Association is also against those who were granted cable licences by Jagdeo, namely his friend, Brian Yong, and the ruling party’s associate Vishok Persaud. Those filing the second challenge claim that for sixteen months after the allotment of the radio licences, the names of the persons who were granted licences “remained a dark secret within the bosom of President Jagdeo” until Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, was obliged to do so in the National Assembly.

Two Guyanese busted in Barbados human flesh trade A recent swoop by Barbadian police that netted five Guyanese girls working illegally and almost naked in a Bridgetown bar may be the tip of the iceberg, according to Guyana nationals on the island.

The Barbados Nation newspaper reported Monday that police raided the bar in Nelson Street a downtown area frequented by Guyanese and other non-nationals, and discovered the 17 to 21-yearold girls clad only in bathing suits. According to Barbados Nation online newspaper, Amelia Joseph, 36, of Waterhall Land, Eagle Hall, St Michael and Keenon Chase, 22, of King William Street, Bridgetown, were arrested and charged after investigations by the newly formed Sex Crimes and Trafficking Unit of The Royal Barbados Police Force.

Both are jointly charged for managing a brothel, living on the earnings and receiving some of the victims. Both are Guyanese and were scheduled to appear in court yesterday. Chase will also answer the charge of harbouring five female Guyanese nationals, while Joseph will answer charges of forced labour and confiscation of travel documents of the five women.

On further investigation, it was found that the five women’s passports and documentation were not in their possession. Other evidence uncovered, suggested the women were part of a regional network.

This is the first time Barbadian police have laid that type of charge, but more indictments were likely as

Guyanese sources told Kaieteur News that an illegal gun was found in the bar along with a number of forged Guyana passports, used to smuggle the girls into the island.

Human trafficking is a crime in which traffickers profit from the exploitation of individuals lured to places where they can be controlled.

Victims are promised a better life and good jobs, but then forced into dangerous, illegal or abusive work.

Barbados was placed on a “Tier 2 Watch List” for a third consecutive year for human trafficking in 2012 by the United States Department of State.

In the department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report on Barbados, it said this island was “a source and destination country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. . . .

Evidence suggests there are foreign women forced into prostitution in Barbados.

Legal and illegal immigrants from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Guyana appear to be the most vulnerable to trafficking.”

The report added that prostitution of children was known to exist in Barbados, with a high-risk group being Barbadian and immigrant children engaging in transactional sex with older men for material goods. “In the past, foreigners reportedly have been subjected to forced labour in Barbados, with the highest risk sectors being domestic service, agriculture and construction.

According to a number of Guyanese who did not want

to be named, it has long been a thriving business of luring young girls from Guyana into this and other Caribbean islands to work as prostitutes with the promise of large sums of money to be made, and to take back to Guyana.

This flesh trade is said to be spearheaded by Guyanese.

One source gave the name of a Guyanese man, along with a woman who are said to be now in Guyana recruiting girls for a trip to Barbados. The woman is also Guyanese and was married to a Barbadian who passed away last year.

Whether the young prospective prostitutes are brought up on their genuine passports or forged travel documents, the credentials are withheld by the traffickers who make the girls virtual slaves as they have no means of returning to Guyana if they so desire.

These hapless persons are fearful of contacting local authorities because they are working illegally. It is not uncommon for the traffickers to be seen beating the girls who dare to question the conditions to which they are subjected. A Guyanese woman spoke of a distant relative who was so badly beaten last month that she had to be hospitalised.

While the local media report highlights the raid as Barbadian police smashing a human smuggling ring, Guyanese sources said this is merely a dent in the trade.

Further, they say that police got wind of the happenings in that bar owing to a falling out among the smugglers - those in Barbados and the two currently on a recruitment drive in Guyana.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Amputee fisherman regrets absence of adequate compensation

By Rehanna Ramsay After having his right leg amputated because of a trawler mishap, former seaman, Dwayne Nelson is still recovering. He is grappling to adjust to the current realities of his life.

The unemployed father of two lamented that by no means has he received any acceptable monies from the company with which he was employed when he suffered his misfortune.

Nelson currently receives $20,000 per month from the fishing company, as part of a damages package, which he said is just not good enough.

Nelson, 23, lost his leg in a horrific freak accident last December while working as a deckhand on a Pritipaul Investment Limited trawler, ‘Maria Sue’ some 25 miles from the mouth of the Berbice River.

The fishermen were in the process of pulling in a catch when Nelson’s foot got caught in the winch which was being used to pull up the seine. His right foot from the shin down was severed.

“All I know that I de pulling up the net and I feel like the line hook my foot. By

A recovering, Dwayne Nelson the time I look, I see me foot come off. I de shock so I didn’t even feel pain till seconds after I see de foot.”

“Like even though I survive, I never think that I

would be dependent on people so young. It hard because I can hardly do things for myself,” the father of two lamented.

“Since the accident I never received no adequate compensation from de company. I wuk deh fuh more than two years. I use to work for at least $100,000 a month to support my family. I got two small children to look after, one is two and the other is a couple months baby ... I de hoping that they woulda come with something, seeing me situation.” Nelson added.

He said that all the help he has been receiving is coming from persons other than his former employer.

“Is people lift me into the ambulance at the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling, and is the bauxite shipping people that de wuking near de Berbice River and a boat with police and other people help get me off the trawler. Pritipaul never even promise to help me out with nothing.

“After I get in the accident and had to come down from New Amsterdam, is me fiancée had to pay a taxi fuh bring me down to Georgetown and Pritipaul Personnel say they would a

pay me back but them ain’t even do that. I had to pay all de hospital expenses and till now I doing it.”

“Right now when I try fuh ketch transportation, cause minibus don’t really want stop fuh up a one foot man, I does stand pon the road fuh hours before I get a bus. I can’t get around properly and the company ain’t even assisting me.”

Apart from the emotional grief and financial constraints, the 23 year old, Norton Street, Bagotstown resident said that he still has to endure the physical discomfort.

“I does still get pain in the foot and every time I remember what happen and so, my foot does pain me so I still got fuh go to de hospital and so.”

Nelson said that it was while visiting the hospital that he met William France, a fellow amputee who encouraged and inspired him through difficult times.

“He really who help me to focus and encourage me to go through de rough times.”

Nelson plans to join France, an athlete, who participates in walk-a-thons locally and abroad.

Neville Annibourne dies in sleep at 82 Having escaped one of the most horrific events in Guyana’s history— the Jonestown massacre— Neville Annibourne had much to be thankful for and thus lived a fruitful and active life.

This is according to his reputed wife, Ms. Verna Cummings.

Annibourne, a former Captain in the Guyana Defence Force and a longstanding journalist died early yesterday. He was 82.

Cummings, who knew Annibourne for over 25 years, told Kaieteur News that it was around 04:00 hours yesterday that she discovered her husband in bed with a faint pulse. She said he seemed to be clinging to life as there was no movement or sound and his breathing was extremely light and slow.

She said that it was some time last week that she noticed strange occurrences with her husband. She said he suffered a bout of filaria and had other ailments such as hypertension. Last Thursday, the man became bedridden; he complained about pain in his legs and had a terrible tummy ache.

Doing what is usual, Cummings said she gave Annibourne his medicines and tended to his needs, while he continued his regular visits to his doctor. He however

started to find problems standing and walking and later had difficulties talking and eating. By Friday, Cummings said his condition worsened.

She recalled that on Sunday she noticed that her husband seemed extremely weak, as he was hardly moving in bed. That night, she said, he had a heavy wheezing and he was snoring extremely loud.

Cummings said she went to bed around 03:00 hours Monday as she was up knitting. She remembered hearing the heavy breathing just before falling asleep, but about an hour later, she said she jumped out of her sleep and realized that there was no sound from her husband.

“Like something touch me and I woke up, but I was not hearing that loud snoring so I start shaking him and calling him, but nothing.”

Cummings said she continued to shake her husband and calling his name but still there was no answer.

When she checked his pulse, the woman said, “It was low but he was alive.” By that time she said Annibourne’s son had already tried feverishly to get on to rescue workers.

Calls were even made to the Sparendaam Police Station, but they were not getting through.

It was a very long time after, Cummings said, that the ambulance came. And when they arrived they were reluctant to take her husband to the hospital. The man told her, “We don’t carrying dead people.” She said it was not until she pleaded to the point where she started demanding that they take her husband to the hospital that they did.

She said she remained firm that her husband had a pulse until the man finally said, “Only cause of you lady mek we gun carry he.”

When they arrived at the hospital, Cummings said a young man pronounced her husband dead and he was subsequently taken to the morgue.

Annibourne was one of those fortunate enough to get out of Jonestown with his life

in 1978. He had ventured into the interior area of Port Kaituma where American preacher Jim Jones had created a community of followers where some committed suicide and others were murdered. He had accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan who was shot and killed there.

Ryan remains the only United States Congressman to be killed outside the United States.

Annibourne served in the country’s army, before playing his part on the political and journalist scene.

He was also a member of various organizations and was involved in various club activities. His last place of residence was at Lot 27 Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

GPL wants $5.2B budget cut reversed Officials of the stateowned Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) yesterday called on the Opposition to rethink its $5.2B cut to a government assistance programme last week.

During a press conference at its Kingston office yesterday, the utility company said that the amount slashed would seriously affect several large scale enhancement projects currently underway to improve its efficiency.

It could also lead to the very real possibilities of tariff increases for customers and impact financing by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) for the US$840M-plus Amaila Falls hydro-project.

Calling for the Opposition to reverse its decision to slash that sum from the $10.2B sum allocated, the officials said that it is unthinkable to place a hold on the projects which include new transmission lines, frequency upgrades and a new 26-megawatt Wartsila power plant at Vreeden-Hoop, West Bank Demerara.

Both A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) used their one-seat majority last week to reduce the amount during the considerations of 2013 National Budget in the National Assembly.

The combined Opposition also slashed the budgets of National Communications Network (NCN) and Government Information Agency (GINA), two state-owned media entities which have come under criticisms for its seeming biased coverage of the same opposition.

The Opposition, in justifying the cuts to GPL, said that it was not satisfied that the company is doing enough to remain competitive, keeping costs down and addressing the issue of customers’ tariffs.

But the GPL officials painted a different picture yesterday, pointing to challenges of increasing demands for power and the need to urgently make the power company ready for the advent of hydro power.

At the press conference yesterday were the Chairman, Winston Brassington; Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal and his deputy, Aeshwar Deonarine.

According to Brassington, the slashing of the subvention by $5.2B has left GPL with few choicesincluding raising tariffs or cutting its capital projects.

With 2008 the last time tariffs were raised, it is a fact that the power company had foregone $27B in revenues.

Making a case for the subvention, Brassington said the fuel cost has doubled from US$60M in 2006, placing pressure on the company to quickly reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Insisting that local electricity rates are among the lowest in the Caribbean, the Chairman said that the $5.2B are low rates’ loans from China’s Exim Bank, PetroCaribe fund and IDB earmarked for critical projects targeting the improvement of GPL’s development and expansion plans. These include fixing problems with transmission and distribution, generation, metering and loss reduction.

“This (cut) has consequences.”

Brassington rejected GPL going the tariff increases route as it would affect the businesses which depend on power for their operations.

The situation is now a dilemma- the capital projects cannot be compromised and GPL has to continue spending more to improve efficiency and to meet generating demands.

Dindyal was even blunter, and believed that the Opposition went ahead making the cut in “total ignorance”.

Addressing concerns of the Opposition over continuing high losses by company which stands at 31 per cent, the CEO noted that several projects are underway simultaneously to address the problems.

To reduce line or technical losses due to faulty equipment and transmission lines, Dindyal disclosed that seven new substations are currently being constructed with critical components on the ground and now under threat facing damage unless installed soon.

Also under threat is the new Wartsila US$32M generating plant at Vreed-enHoop. Another loss reduction project is the frequency conversion project to standardize the city to the 60

- says Amaila Falls hydro, major projects affected

GPL said several projects like this ongoing sub-station construction at Columbia, Mahaicony, are under threat.

Hertz cycle.

With 50,000 new customers added to the grid since 1992, the cut would also likely threaten new customers awaiting meters. GPL currently has in stock only 4,000 meters. “There is simply no logics to the cuts,” Dindyal said.

Also likely to be affected is a project to link the power systems in Berbice and Demerara. On the issue of finances, it is a fact that GPL’s biggest expenses remain fuel and employment costs- the two alone account for 92 per cent of revenues collected with 78 per cent being fuel costs.

Deonarine noted that GPL is puzzled with the call to reduce tariffs as already it is way below the fuel costs.

“We have been sharing information.”

GPL estimates it will have to raise tariffs by 17 per cent to recover the $5.2B. Regarding its financial situation, the officials said that while new customers have increased GPL’s income from $24B in 2009 to $29B last year, correspondingly, total expenses have risen since then from $21B to $32B last year, which meant that fuel has eaten away the little cash that the company may have been hoping to spend in other areas. GPL is paying $2.5B annually in wages.

The Opposition is also targeting cuts to other critical areas of the 2013 budget including projects under the Ministry of Public Works which is handling the roads to the Amaila Falls hydro project in Region Eight.

GPL officials: (R to L) - Chairman, Winston Brassington; CEO, Bharat Dindyal and Deputy CEO, Aeshwar Deonarine

Enterprise/Coldingen road works…

Works Ministry slaps liquidated damages on contractor Hemraj Garbaran, the contractor who has been tasked with rehabilitating the Coldingen/Enterprise access road, has failed to reach the stipulated deadline and according to Roads and Bridges Engineer, Khiraj Bisesar, penalties will be imposed.

Permanent Secretary in the Works Ministry, Balram Balraj, has ordered that liquidated damages be imposed. He also suggested that the Ministry move against the performance bond lodged by the contractor Hemraj Garbaran.

According to Bisesar he was told that the works were not completed because of the unavailability of asphalt.

However, it turned out that Garbaran refused to uplift his supplies. He had already paid for some 85 tons of asphalt.

However Bisesar said that the Ministry of Public Works will be imposing liquidated damages and the contractor could also face being barred from other contracts.

On March 12, last, Bisesar visited the area where the

Roads and Bridges Engineer, Khiraj Bisesar works are to be carried out with the aim of clearing up some issues which residents of the community had raised about the contract.

When the contract was awarded to Hemraj Garbaran in January, residents had stated that they do not feel that the money allocated was being wisely spent. Residents

also claimed that the money was way too much for the ‘mediocre’ work that was being carried out in the area.

Further residents went on to state that the works being carried out only values some $10M. However Works Ministry Engineer, Mr. Bisesar told this publication that the $34.624 M contract would have covered a total of 1500 meters of road rehabilitation.

The Engineer explained that the Coldingen/Enterprise main access road project is to extensively rehabilitate sectional areas to a total of 500 meters by 4.3 meters wide.

This he said would have been done in asphalted concrete.

“As you can see only certain patches are not in good condition hence we will do only those areas; that is why we are emphasizing sectional works.”

In the Housing Scheme network road project Bisesar said a 1000-meter section of road is to be rehabilitated.

The deadline for the completion of the work was April 9.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Reigning Miss India Worldwide Jagdeo might have issued radio will not be in Malaysia frequencies gleefully - Prime Minister “He might have done it a bit gleefully,” said Prime Minister Samuel Hinds of former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s issuance of five radio frequencies to his ‘best friend’ Bobby Ramroop.

The Prime Minister was at the time responding to questions at a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/ C) press conference yesterday about the fairness of the issuance of radio licences in November 2011 to persons favoured by the former President before he demitted office.

At the Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown, forum, the Prime Minister explained to reporters that it is his understanding that the issuance of the frequencies to Ramroop was in fact one that was compelled by the courts.

“It originated with the Vieira Communication and Television (VCT) and then judgement was given and the president was more or less compelled to issue that licence.” Elaborating on the issuance of multiple frequencies to licensees such as Ramroop, the Prime Minister calmly noted, “I don’t see it as five frequencies, I see it as what is needed for a particular service; if I want to put a service across Guyana I need

sets of frequencies particularly for FM and for TV...and I have to work out how it hops from one place to another,” he explained.

He also sought to highlight that the process of licences issuance was certainly not one that was intended to be “comprehensive and exhaustive” even as he noted that with the establishment of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) this process now falls within its realm.

According to Hinds all those who are desirous of having the privilege of having licences can do so through the GNBA. He said that the body is currently processing a number of applications and “I hope that it will be completed soon. Let’s have 100 radio stations and 40, 50 new TV stations...I would say that I hope in two or three years time everybody will get their licences and this would have been just a little blip in the story.”

The fact that several persons are seeking to be licensed, according to Hinds, is nothing strange. When the ruling administration came to power in 1992 “we were faced...with applications from almost every village along the Coast for local radio and I must say at the time many Indo groups and persons felt that they weren’t having equal

access.” Hinds, who was at the time functioning in the capacity of Minister responsible for the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU), said that Government at the time was tremendously pressured as it relates to offering the radio service.

“We resisted in those times also but we now have the GNBA which is the authority set up and working so let’s have it,” said the Prime Minister.

Turning his attention to reports that Jamaica is seeking to be compensated for its frequencies, the Prime Minister noted that Governments are known to receive revenue by a variety of means and therefore can take various policy positions.

The Guyana Government, he noted, took the policy position of not issuing its various broadcasting licences by way of auction.

“We think that it was a sound position bearing in mind that there was no tradition of big bucks being made in this area in Guyana.” He said that the Guyana Government has in fact sought to garner its revenues through annual fees for frequency utilisation and from percentages of (broadcasters’) gross revenues.

Alana seebarran

When Alana Seebarran, the reigning Miss India Worldwide 2012 and Guyana’s first international pageant winner, was contacted about her intended travel plans to Malaysia, Kaieteur News was surprised to learn that she was informed via email that she is no longer invited to the pageant in Malaysia to hand over her crown.

Ms. Seebarran went on to offer that there were various instances during her reign when things were sometimes less than perfect but she felt a sense of duty to her title and to her country and soldiered on.

Ms. Seebarran says that it feels as if she has been penalised by the India WorldWide pageant. She considers her sashing her

successor as an integral part of her role, function and privilege as a Queen.

“The Chairman has stated that he and the organisation have not stripped me and do not intend to but it is still a very confusing situation not to have been invited to hand over my crown when it is my duty as the reigning queen.”

When the reigning Miss India Worldwide was asked about the Youtube video that surfaced in social media in Guyana where another Guyanese young lady seemed to claim to be the Queen; Alana said she was disappointed and hurt because the young lady in question was the sister of the Miss India Worldwide Guyana franchise, Chandini Rambalak Ramnarine.

Alana also disclosed that this interview was arranged

by Chandini who was also Alana’s agent/manager at the time.

When Alana was asked whether she thinks her not attending the pageant in Malaysia has anything to do with this video and the scandal that followed or the subsequent severing of the relationship with Chandini, she added that she has since sought legal advice on the matter and would not want to comment too much about that matter at this time.

When Alana was crowned it was the first time that Guyana has ever won an international pageant. “I am very hurt and disappointed that I will not be crowning my successor.”

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Warner quits as UNC chairman ..deputy Khadijah Ameen will act

Jack Warner (centre) prepares to leave the compound of Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar’s private residence at Philippine, south Trinidad on Sunday, shortly before his resignation as National Security Minister was announced.

(Trinidad Express) Jack Warner, who resigned as National Security Minister on Sunday, yesterday tendered his resignation as Chairman of the United National Congress.

The Express was told that Warner’s resignation from the party position was received

by the party’s political leader, Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar yesterday morning.

In the interim, the UNC’s deputy chairman UNC Deputy Chairman Khadijah Ameen will act as party chairman.

Warner was re-elected Chairman in the UNC’s March

24, 2012 executive election.

He received 12,656 votes - the highest number of votes cast in the election. Challenger, attorney Ashvani Mahabir polled 656 votes, and Mooniram Heru received 201 votes.

In the 2010 internal election, Warner received 9,195 votes, defeating then challenger Vasant Bharath who got 2,744 votes.

Warner’s resignation as minister came on Sunday, following a meeting with Persad-Bissessar at her Phillipine, south Trinidad home.

Persad-Bissessar later announced she had accepted the resignation and had advised President Anthony Carmona to revoke Warner’s ministerial appointment.

Warner’s resignations have come after the disclosure of the contents of Concacaf ’s Integrity Committee report last Friday, which detailed allegations of multi-million-dollar financial mismanagement by Warner and former Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer.

Warner remains the Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West, a position that Persad-Bissessar said on Sunday, she cannot take from Warner.

Warner resignations too little too late - OWTU

...the AG should also go says union

President general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget The OWTU today responded to Jack Warner’s resignation as National Security Minister and chairman of the United National Congress, and called on Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to also step down.

In a press statement signed by its president general Ancel Roget, the union said it views the double resignation as too little too late.

“We are indeed extremely happy with this development, but we equally want to match that with extreme sadness

because of the untold and immeasurable damage done to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and not to mention the irreparable damage done to our country’s regional and international image”, the union stated.

“While we believe his resignation/dismissal did not come a moment too soon, it is unfortunate he has already left a trail of destruction. The country will never forget his onslaught on the citizenry and the institutions of democracy from when he broke down the Re-route

movement strike camp, his constant attack on the media, his attempt to set up a paramilitary unit called the flying squad, his statements about the former President, the Clergy and the Chief Justice, his failure to respond effectively to the escalating crime situation just to name a few. We a sure that there are many more damaging acts committed by Mr. Warner known and unknown, seen and unseen”.

The OWTU’s position is that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should have insisted on Warner’s resignation or even revoked his appointment a long time ago and cannot now absolve herself from responsibility.

“She refused to dismiss him and came out on several occasions along with the Cabinet in full support of Jack Warner. The Prime Minister is just as culpable”, the union stated.

“We now wait patiently for the dismissal and/or resignation of the Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, who like Mr. Warner continues to cause untold damage to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and the Office of Attorney General”, stated the OWTU.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Central bank’s Merentes named new Venezuela finance minister

CARACAS (Reuters) President Nicolas Maduro replaced Venezuelan Finance Minister Jorge Giordani on Sunday, appointing central bank chief Nelson Merentes in his place two days after being sworn in as the late Hugo Chavez’s successor.

It will be the third stint as finance minister for Merentes, a mathematician by training

who is seen as a more pragmatic economist than his ideologically driven counterpart Giordani, a Marxist academic who was nicknamed “the Monk.”

“I’ve great faith in Nelson Merentes. We’ve known each other for many years,” Maduro said in a nationally televised address.

In his speech, he also

confirmed Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, Defense Minister Diego Molero, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua and Vice President Jorge Arreaza in their current roles.

Merentes faces private sector complaints about lack of access to hard currency, persistent shortages of basic goods from flour to medicines, slowing growth,

and one of the highest inflation rates in the Americas.

Consumer prices rose 7.9 percent in the first three months of 2013 alone, the central bank said last week.

“We need to control inflation, the speculative factors that influence prices, ensure that there are more domestic products, and an

economy that can move,” Maduro said.

The economy grew 5.6 percent in 2012, but most private economists expect that to slow this year as the government pares back after heavy state spending last year that was a key driver of the economy and helped the ailing Chavez win re-election.

Meanwhile, annual inflation may head toward 30 percent thanks to a currency devaluation and expanding money supply.

Giordani, who had been finance minister since 2008, was seen as one of the architects of the OPEC nation’s complicated system of price and currency controls.

He will now become planning minister, a senior position in the economic Cabinet that Giordani held on and off in Chavez’s government.

SEEN AS PRAGMATIC Merentes, who has been president of the central bank since 2009, completed a PhD. in mathematics in Budapest in 1991 before returning to Venezuela as a university professor.

“I think Merentes’ pragmatism is positive. He is one of the best options they have,” said financial analyst Henkel Garcia of Econometrica.

Maduro has vowed to continue Chavez’s hardline socialism. Ecoanalitica director Asdrubal Oliveros said no one thought the move

would lead to a change in Venezuela’s leftist model.

“But the weakening of Giordani is positive,” Oliveros said.

Voters were showered with state spending in 2012 as Chavez sought re-election, financed in part by billions of dollars in bond issuance and loans from China.

Many private economists expect to see the economy grow by 2 percent or less this year when the administration slows spending, as it normally does after presidential races.

The government maintains growth projections of 6 percent for this year, and Maduro’s allies dismiss talk of a slowdown as a politically motivated smear campaign.

A veteran of Venezuela’s polarized political scene, Merentes ran a polling organization in between government jobs that produced data usually favoring Chavez, who died on March 5 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has refused to recognize Maduro’s narrow win in an April 14 election triggered by Chavez’s death, and alleges that there were thousands of voting irregularities. He was dismissive of Maduro’s new Cabinet.

“Members of the ‘for now’ government are being announced,” Capriles said on Twitter. “Result: more of the same.”

Former US Embassy Security Chief Sentencing Put Off To June 10 The former security chief at the United States Embassy in Kingston who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a Jamaican entertainer is to wait awhile longer to know his fate.

David Rainsberger should have been sentenced on Friday, but the hearing was put off.

The matter had to be put off because the defence lawyer told the court the time was not convenient and asked for the sentencing to be rescheduled.

The sentencing has now been set for June 10.

Rainsberger is facing a total of seven years in prison for pleading guilty to receiving unlawful gratuities

and making false statements to US authorities.

He made the admission in February.

Court records reveal that the former security chief befriended the well-known entertainer, identified only as DB. The entertainer had been barred from entering the US because of allegations of criminal conduct.

Rainsberger ’s investigation of the entertainer resulted in the reinstatement of DB’s visa.

In return for his assistance, court records say he received two luxury watches from the entertainer as well as a birthday party hosted by DB and free admission to nightclubs.

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

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

‘White Lady’ Is Back - Cops Say Cocaine Trade Resurfacing In Jamaica (Jamaica Gleaner) Years after they smashed an international drug ring operating in Montego Bay, St James, with help from nationals of one South American country, the Jamaican police say they are seeing troubling signs of a reemergence of the deadly cocaine trade here.

This was underscored by senior investigators probing a multimillion-dollar cocaine seizure in St James on Saturday.

A senior investigator attached to the Major Organised Crime and AntiCorruption Task Force (MOCA) revealed yesterday that major players from the same South American country are at the centre of this new enterprise.

According to the investigator, the enterprise has been linked to at least three murders, which were carried out to exact revenge for missing drugs.

“It appears that the cocaine is coming back and it is as a result of collusion

between them (nationals of the South American country) and Jamaicans,” said the investigator, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The investigator estimates that at least 90 per cent of the cocaine, also known as the white lady, coming into the island is from the same South American country and is being sent here for redistribution locally and overseas.

“I don’t think anything is coming from the other sources (countries),” the senior investigator insisted.

In 2008, St Ann businessman Norris ‘Deedo’ Nembhard and four other Jamaican men were extradited to the United States to face cocaine charges.

Investigators believed they were part of an international drug ring that also involved nationals from Panama, Colombia and Cuba.

National security and police officials believe the multibillion-dollar lottery scam resulted from the vacuum created by the

smashing of the drug ring.

STASH FOUND IN VEHICLE On Saturday, detectives from MOCA and the Transnational Crime and Narcotics Division, with support from members of the Jamaica Defence Force, intercepted a vehicle carrying 66 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $264 million along the Mount Carey main road in St James.

Private security providers Guardsman Limited on Sunday acknowledged, through its Chief Executive Officer David Whittaker, that the vehicle was from its fleet.

The company also confirmed that one of its security contractors was one of the two men apprehended by the police in connection with the massive drug find.

Stunned by the seizure, Whittaker told The Gleaner Sunday that Guardsman has launched an internal probe to determine if any of its systems had been breached.

“We have started our own investigations to see where

exactly there was a breakdown,” he said in response to questions about how the cocaine got into the vehicle.

Whittaker could not confirm, up to late Sunday, whether the second man in police custody was attached to the company.

He said if it is determined that the man is not attached to Guardsman, that would be a breach of company policy.

Investigators said the two men, whose identities are being withheld, would be interviewed and could face criminal charges.

General Manager in charge of operations at Guardsman, Major Ricardo Blackwood, also sought to distance the company from any involvement, saying “we do not in any way stand for what is allegedly individuals conducting unlawful activity”.

Blackwood said the security contractor implicated has been relieved of all duties with immediate effect until the investigation is complete.

Big savings with drug treatment court

(Barbados Nation) The introduction of the Drug Treatment Court to Barbados’ judicial system has the potential to save the country thousands of dollars.

According to Justice Kofi Barnes, Chairman of Canadian Association of Drug Treatment Courts (CADTC) and also Chair of the International Association of Drug Treatment Courts (IADTC), research has proven that the court model which has been adopted by many countries Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago included, research has shown that for every one dollar invested in a Drug Treatment Court, taxpayers saved ten dollars.

Barnes, a justice in the Canadian Ontario Court, was

Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite (l) and Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson at the session yesterday. speaking earlier yesterday at the Drug Treatment Court

Training Workshop, at the Supreme Court Complex

which he spearhead the training.

Barnes said that additionally, research has also shown that the courts that take their time to engage in ongoing training were five times more effective than those which did not.

“Drug treatment courts will not solve all the world’s problems. But when you have seen a person who has been found to be down and out and when you have seen a person who has lost everything, a person who has been shun by community and if you observe them to change their lives and to become successful members of society, you cannot help but be changed. You cannot help but believe,” said Barnes.

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Jamaica’s Finance Minister admits growth target challenging

Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips (Jamaica Observer) Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips admitted Friday that meeting the one per cent growth target rate for fiscal 2013/14 will be a challenge for the Jamaica economy, which will depend on the state of the global economy The (IMF) programme has us looking at a one per cent (growth) this year. The challenge for the country, and the programme, is conservative; taking into account the overall global economic conditions, in a sense, nobody can predict with certainty,” Dr. Phillips told a press briefing at his ministry on Friday.

“I would hope that the financial analysts and journalists will bring a tinge of realism about this whole issue of economic forecasting to our domestic dialogue,” he suggested.

The minister was clarifying issues raised by his opening budget presentation in the House of Representatives on Thursday, including the growth target.

He noted that both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank have revised their economic forecasts, including the prospects for the aluminium industry, all of which impact directly on Jamaica’s capacities.

“So, in that context, and

with that caveat, what we are seeking to do is to be able to benefit from the upside risks, in other words, to overshoot targets on the growth side. It is quite possible, again it depends on what is happening in the world economy,” he explained.

He also listed natural disasters, like last year’s Hurricane Sandy, as threats to the target, noting that after passing through Jamaica the hurricane intensified, creating more damage to the US landscape and economy, which also affected the Jamaican economy. However, he said that there was a ray of hope with a discernible revival in the aluminium market in Europe, but the effect will depend on Jamaica’s energy solutions for the industry.

“So, there are these imponderables, these areas that you cannot predict. But, ultimately what we are seeking to do is to create the environment whereby we can induce greater levels of investor confidence, to undertake the major projects that will kick-start some of this growth here, and to ultimately set a platform by completing the programme of debt reduction, which will ultimately lead to us to having more robust capital budgets, which are critical to the growth and development agenda,” he stated.

Phillips told Parliament, Thursday, that the Government agreed that economic growth was the only guarantee of an improved standard of living, and would provide the necessary platform for addressing the country’s social problems. However, he said that it was important to dispel the notion that economic growth was separate from the economic reform programme.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

U.S. sending more medics to Guantanamo as hunger strike grows (Reuters) - The U.S. military is sending additional medical personnel to the Guantanamo prison camp, where more than half the captives have joined a hunger strike to protest their openended detention, a camp spokesman said yesterday.

Reinforcements numbering fewer than 40 will arrive by the end of April, said Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House, a spokesman for the detention operation at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in southeastern Cuba.

House said the new arrivals would include a doctor, nurses, corpsmen and

medics, who will supplement the 100 medical personnel already on duty. Navy hospital corpsmen and Army medics are trained to provide emergency care and basic medical services.

“There was no specific trigger, other than the growing number of detainees that have chosen to hunger strike,” House said.

The U.S. military counted 84 of the 166 prisoners as hunger strikers on Monday and was force-feeding 16 of them liquid meals through tubes inserted in their noses and down into their stomachs.

Six were

hospitalized for observation, House said.

Hunger strikes have occurred at Guantanamo since shortly after the United States began detaining suspected al Qaeda and Taliban captives there in January 2002.

The current hunger strike began in early February, after guards seized photos and other belongings during a cell search. Prisoners said the guards had also mistreated their Korans during the search, which the U.S. military denies.

The military has declined to say what prompted the cell

The Guantanamo prison camp searches but similar searches have been conducted in the past.

Though the cell search was the immediate trigger, military officials and lawyers for the prisoners have said the protest generally reflects frustration with the failure to resolve the prisoners’ fate.

Most have been held for more than a decade without charge or trial and Congress has blocked Obama administration efforts to close the camp.

“It’s escalated because the men are desperate and they’ve hit a breaking point,” said Carlos Warner, a federal public defender from Ohio who is part of a team

representing 11 Guantanamo prisoners.

“Really what is behind all this is the president abandoned his promise to close Guantanamo. The men know that, they’re desperate.”

Forty-three prisoners had joined the hunger strike by April 13, when guards in riot gear swept through a communal prison and forced the detainees into one-man cells where they could be better monitored. Camp officials said the detainees had covered the security cameras and windows, blocking guards’ view.

The number refusing meals has grown steadily

since then, and two prisoners tried to kill themselves by making nooses with their clothing, House said.

Lawyers for the prisoners have said the hunger strike is more widespread than the military acknowledges, with between 100 and 130 detainees taking part.

More than half of Guantanamo’s prisoners have been cleared for release but Congress has put stringent restrictions on transfers.

About two-thirds of those cleared for release are Yemenis and the Obama administration has halted repatriations to their homeland because of instability there.

Heavy fighting in northeast Nigeria, death toll unclear (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities said yesterday there had been heavy fighting between security forces and Islamist militants in a remote part of the northeast, but there was no confirmation of reports from a local official that 185 people had been killed.

Fighting erupted on Thursday in Baga, a fishing town in Borno state on the shores of Lake Chad, by the Chadian border — an area officials say is a stronghold for Islamist fighters and a smuggling point for weapons from across the Sahara.

Defense spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade said Nigerian forces had exchanged fire with militants, killing 25 of them, while only one soldier was killed.

Many hundreds have died in the rebellion by Boko Haram, a movement loosely modeled on the Afghan Taliban that is seen as the number one security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.

A local community representative had put the death toll at 185, Umar Gusau,

spokesman for Borno state which administers the area, said after visiting the town with a delegation on Sunday.

“For now, we don’t have a very good basis for the figure,” Gusau said. “These people say ... they have buried them. From my experience, most times residents exaggerate figures.”

He said since they had buried the victims quickly, in line with the Muslim custom, authorities had been unable to count the bodies independently, although an investigation was ongoing.

Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the mixed military and police Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno state, said by telephone that the death toll had been “terribly inflated” by residents.

The military, which rarely admits killing civilians, is often accused by locals of understating civilian casualties.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Kimoon said he was “shocked and saddened at reports of high numbers of civilians killed”, adding that he urged

“all concerned to fully respect human rights and safeguard the lives of civilians”.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s office said he had ordered a full investigation into the report of civilian casualties in Baga.

The statement said his administration would “do everything possible to avoid the killing or injuring of innocent bystanders in security operations against terrorists and insurgents.”

The violence came as Jonathan awaits a report from a panel he set up to offer an amnesty to the insurgents if they give up their struggle for an Islamic state.

Boko Haram has so far shown no interest in talks and two mediators have already pulled out, including Islamic cleric Ahmed Datti, the only person whom Boko Haram have said they trusted.

Jonathan, a Christian, has failed to quell the violence through military means and traditional leaders in the mostly Muslim north have put pressure on him to cut a deal.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Boston bombing suspect charged while hospitalised (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the Boston Marathon bombings in an impromptu hearing yesterday in his hospital room, accusing him of crimes that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.

Video taken by security cameras showed the 19-yearold ethnic Chechen placing a backpack near the finish line of the race one week ago, the criminal complaint said, alleging he acted in concert with his older brother, who was killed during a shootout with police early Friday.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured later that day after a massive manhunt and taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

The criminal complaint did not mention a motive for the bombings, leaving that as one of the mysteries of the investigation.

But a sworn FBI statement in support of the criminal complaint did reveal new details, such as the recollection of a man whose car was allegedly hijacked by the brothers while they tried to escape on Thursday night.

“Did you hear about the Boston explosion?” one of the brothers is said to have told the carjack victim. “I did that.”

The brothers carried two backpacks containing pressure cooker bombs that ripped through the crowd near the finish line of the world renowned race, killing three people and wounding more than 200, the complaint said.

Ten people lost limbs from the bombs packed with nails and ball bearings. By yesterday, Boston-area hospitals were still treating at least 48 people, with at least two listed in critical condition.

The charges were delivered on the same day Canadian police said they had thwarted an “al Qaedasupported” plot to derail a passenger train. U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, but Canadian police did not confirm that.

The 10-page complaint in the Boston case drew from investigators’ review of a mass of video and still images captured by security cameras, the media and the public at the race before and after the bombing.

Thirty seconds before the first explosion, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev started fidgeting with his cellphone, the complaint said. After the blast, virtually everyone around him turned to look in

that direction “in apparent bewilderment and alarm,” while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared calm, the complaint said.

He then left his backpack on the ground and walked away, the complaint said.

About 10 seconds later the second explosion ripped through the crowd.

The charges were issued shortly before the city paused at 2:50 p.m. (1850 GMT) to mark the moment a week ago when the bombs exploded. A funeral was held for Krystle Campbell, a 29year-old restaurant manager who was killed in the bombings, and a memorial service was planned for another victim, Chinese graduate student Lingzi Lu, 23.

An 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard, was also killed.

WOUNDED SUSPECT Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was wounded during at least one of two gun battles with police on Friday, suffering gunshot wounds to his head, neck, legs and hand, the complaint said.

He was mostly unable to speak due to a throat wound, managing to say “no” once in response to a question, according to a court transcript posted on the New York Times website. Mostly, he nodded in response to questions.

Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler found he was lucid and aware of the nature of the proceedings, the transcript said.

His capture capped a tense 26 hours after the FBI released the first pictures of the two bombing suspects, still unidentified, on Thursday.

Five hours after their faces were pictured on TV screens and websites around the world, the brothers shot and killed a university policeman, carjacked a Mercedes and sought to evade police by hurling more bombs at them during a shootout on the streets of a Boston suburb, police said.

Older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was shot during a close-range exchange of gunfire with police and run over by his younger brother during his escape, police said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev later abandoned the car and fled on foot, evading police for nearly 20 more hours until he was found hiding and bleeding in a boat.

Those extraordinary days captivated the United States and reminded people of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

“Although our investigation is ongoing, today’s charges bring a successful end to a tragic week for the city of Boston, and for our country,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

In choosing the civilian justice system, U.S. authorities opted against treating Tsarnaev, a naturalized U.S. citizen, as an enemy combatant.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a legal U.S. resident, visited relatives

in the volatile region of Chechnya for two days during his six-month trip out of the United States last year, his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva and aunt, Patimat Suleimanova, told Reuters in Dagestan yesterday.

U.S. investigators were trying to piece together if he may have become radicalized and determine whether he became involved with or was influenced by Chechen separatists or Islamist extremists there.

That trip, combined with Russian interest in Tamerlan Tsarnaev communicated to U.S. authorities and an FBI interview of him in 2011, have raised questions whether danger signals were missed.

The Tsarnaev brothers emigrated to the United States a decade ago from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia’s Caucasus. Their parents, who moved back to southern Russia some time ago, have said their sons were framed.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged for the Boston Marathon bombings in an impromptu hearing yesterday in his hospital room

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Tuesday April 23, 2013

Canada thwarts “al Qaeda-supported” passenger train plot (Reuters) - Canadian police said yesterday they had arrested and charged two men with plotting to derail a Toronto-area passenger train in an operation they say was backed by al Qaeda elements in Iran.

“Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters in Toronto.

The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot, which authorities said was not linked to the Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and injured more than 200 people last week.

Neither is a Canadian citizen, but the police did not reveal their nationalities.

A spokeswoman for the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique near Montreal confirmed that Esseghaier was a doctoral student at the research institute and that he had been

Malizia said that the RCMP believed the two had the capacity and intent to

carry out the attack, but there was no imminent threat to the public, passengers, or infrastructure.

The arrests come as Bostonians are still recovering from last Monday’s bombings, and is one of a handful of terrorismrelated investigations involving Canadians or Canadian residents.

Police said earlier this year that Canadians took part in an attack by militants on a gas plant in Algeria in January, while Canadian and Somalia authorities are investigating whether a former University of Toronto student participated in a bomb attack on Mogadishu last week.

And in 2006, police arrested and charged n e a r l y 2 0 To r o n t o - a r e a men accused of planning to plant bombs at various Canadian targets. Eleven were eventually convicted.

RCMP Superintendent Doug Best said a tip from the Canadian Muslim community had helped the investigation.

The timing of the arrests was due to “logistics.”

“Today’s arrests demonstrate that terrorism continues to be a real threat to Canada,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters in Ottawa.

“Canada will not tolerate terrorist activity and we will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists or those who support terrorist activities.”

The Canadian authorities linked the two to al Qaeda factions in Iran, to the surprise of some security experts.

“The individuals were receiving support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran,” Malizia said.

Iran did host some senior al Qaeda figures under a form of house arrest in the years following the September 11, 2001 attacks, but there has been little to no evidence to date of joint attempts to execute violence against the West.

However, a U.S. government source said Iran is home to a little-known network of alleged al Qaeda fixers and “facilitators” based in the Iranian city of Zahedan, very close to Iran’s borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The source said the operatives serve as gobetweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving through the area.

They do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which has a generally hostile attitude towards Sunni al Qaeda militants, and which periodically launches crackdowns on the al Qaeda elements, though at other times appears to turn a blind eye to them.

(Reuters) - At least 109 people have been documented as killed and up to 400 more are likely to have died in an almost week-long offensive by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar alAssad on a rebellious Damascus suburb, opposition activists said.

If the accounts are confirmed, the killings in the mainly Sunni Muslim suburb of Jdeidet al-Fadel would amount to one of bloodiest episodes of the two-year-old uprising against Assad.

Many of the dead were civilians, the activists said.

Veteran activist George Sabra, who was appointed on Monday as temporary president of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) umbrella group, said Assad’s militia, known as shabbiha or ghosts, paraded dead bodies on open trucks through the streets of the Mezze district of western Damascus.

“Instead of liberating their land, the so called leader of Syrian resistance, Bashar alAssad, sent them his

shabbiha and murderers to kill and massacre,” Sabra told a news conference in Istanbul.

Sabra, a Christian who spent eight years as a political prisoner under the iron fisted rule of Assad’s late father, described the killings as one of many “crimes against humanity” being committed in Damascus.

The SNC condemned “the deafening silence of the international community.”

“Syrians no longer expect an answer to our pleas for help or a chivalrous intervention from our brothers and neighbors. We no longer expect to be supported with the necessary arms to empower the Free Syrian Army to defend our people,” the SNC said in a statement issued from Istanbul.

Syrian state media gave no death toll but confirmed the army had been fighting in Jdeidet al-Fadel. It said it had saved the town from what it described as criminal terrorist groups, killing and wounding an undisclosed number of them.

On Sunday, activists said at least 85 people had been killed and the toll might reach 250, but, as the army pulled back, more accounts emerged to suggest a much higher final figure.

The activists, speaking from the area, 10 km (six miles) southwest of Damascus, said residents had buried some victims in the early stages of the five-day attack by elite forces and pro-Assad militias.

More bodies were now being found burnt or apparently killed in summary executions, they said. Rebels who numbered around 300, withdrew two days ago, they said, leaving Assad’s forces in total control.

The working-class district is one of several Sunni Muslim towns surrounding the capital that have been at the forefront of the uprising.

It is situated near hilltop bases of elite forces which are mostly from Assad’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam that has dominated Syria since the 1960s.

A Via Rail Canada passenger train pulls into Dorval Station in Montreal, in this July 22, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Shaun Best/Files arrested.

Julie Martineau, the school’s director of communications, said Esseghaier arrived at the school in 2010 and was about midway through his degree.

“He is doing a PhD in the field of energy and materials sciences,” she told Reuters.

A bail hearing for the two

will take place in Toronto this morning.

Malizia said there was no indication that the planned attacks, which police described as the first known al Qaeda- backed plot on Canadian soil, were statesponsored.

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a

rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.

Canadian police said only that the plot involved a VIA train route in the Toronto area.

VIA is Canada’s equivalent of Amtrak and operates passenger rail services on track owned primarily by Canadian National Railway Co. JOINT OPERATIONS

AL QAEDA IN IRAN

Up to 500 feared dead in Damascus suburb: activists

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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PPP remembers Satyadeow Speeding driver crashes Sawh’s death anniversary at Land of Plenty

Yesterday marked the seventh death anniversary of former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Central Committee member and Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh.

According to a PPP press statement, Sawh was assassinated along with his sister (Phulmattie Persaud), brother (Rajpat Rai Sawh), and security guard (Curtis Robertson) at his Earl’s Court, La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara home on the night of April 22, 2006 by a gang of “ruthless criminals at the direction of their political masters, whose latest effort at the time to destabilize our country was via a violent crime wave.”

Mr. Sawh will forever be remembered for his dedication to the ideals of the PPP, his contribution to the Agriculture sector and Foreign Affairs, the PPP noted. He also played a

Former Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh significant role in the fight against dictatorship and the restoration of democracy through the Association of Concerned Guyanese based in Canada for which he was the President for many years.

He is also credited with

laying the foundation for the improved relationship Guyana currently shares with neighbouring Venezuela where he served as Guyana’s Ambassador from 1993 to 1996, and for which he was awarded that country’s second highest honour, the Order of Francisco de Miranda (First Class).

Sash, as the PPP fondly referred to him, also played a significant role in promoting his religion of Hinduism and the Indian culture in the overall Guyanese cultural identity. “His legacy lives on, especially through his children and his wife Sattie Sawh who continues to contribute to our party and the PPP/C Government.

“The death of Satyadeow Sawh serves to remind us of the grave intentions of those who seek to harm our nation and his legacy will forever show that they will never succeed,” the party noted.

Carjacking suspects remanded Appearing yesterday before Magistrate Allan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court, were Jimmy Rollins, 28 and Daniel Mohamed, 24 of Front Road and Mandela Avenue, charged with carjacking; they were remanded.

According to the Prosecution, on April 17 in the Meadow Bank area, Raymond Ho o p e r w a s a l l e g e d l y robbed by the two defendants.

Hooper was operating a taxi HB 6486, outside of Demico House when he was hired by a woman to go to Meadow Bank. Once there, he was confronted by four men armed with hand guns.

They allegedly dealt Hooper several blows to the head and relieved him of two cell phones, his car and $60,000. Hooper was then bound and dumped in a nearby dam. He was later found by a passer-by.

The matter was reported to the police and investigations led to the arrest of Rollins and Mohamed who were later charged with the said offence.

They are expected to return to court on April 30.

Further, in the arraignment of Dwayne Henry and Oswin Adams, w h o a p p e a r e d yesterday before Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court, they were remanded for the charges of robbery underarms and possession of firearm without a licence.

The two defendants, who are both residents of the Annandale community, were not required to plead to the robbery under arms charge which was deemed an indictable matter.

The charge stated that on April 18, the defendants, with a loaded gun, allegedly robbed Elvin

Alert of one Samsung cell phone worth $20,000 and one Nokia cell phone. On t h e s a m e d a y, t h e d u o reportedly robbed Vland a m i r D a v i d s o n o f one Toyota car HC 1720 and other articles.

The defendants were subsequently arrested in the Cummings Lodge District.

A search was conducted and police found a .38 live round and one .38 revolver for which neither of the defendants had a licence.

To the two counts of robbery, both pleaded not guilty.

The possession of firearm and ammunition charge was transferred to Sparendaam Magistrate’s court for April 26 and for the indictable matter the defendants will return to the Georgetown Magistrates’ court on April 29.

The owner of two pit bulls appeared before Magistrate Allan Wilson yesterday, to answer to the charge of setting ferocious dogs at large and pleaded guilty.

According to Police Prosecutor Renetta Bentham, on the morning of April 16, at Fort Street, Kingston Georgetown, Margaret Johnnie, 56, an employee of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) called at the home of the defendant,

Paul Persaud, to urge one Rebecca Persaud to settle her account. Two unmuzzled Pitbull dogs subsequently ran out of the open gate and attacked Johnnie.

As a result; she sustained severe injuries to her leg and bottom. A report was made to the police and the defendant was arrested and charged with the said offence.

Persaud claimed that the dogs were always tied but on the day in question they broke their chains.

He alleged that he was asleep at the time and was awakened by the screams of Johnnie. He then ran downstairs and chased the dogs off. He further assisted in cleaning her wounds and offered to take her to the hospital.

The defendant was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. He was further admonished by Magistrate Wilson to dispose of the dogs or “pull out their teeth” before he lands in more trouble.

Owner fined $10,000 for pit bull attacks

Arjune Ishwar, 22, of Anna Regina Squatting Area, sustained a fractured pelvis following an accident he was involved in at Land Of Plenty, Essequibo Coast, Sunday morning.

Ishwar was later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital due to the severity of his injuries. He was initially admitted a patient at the Suddie Public Hospital.

According to an

eyewitness, Ishwar was proceeding in a northerly direction on the Land Of Plenty Public Road at a fast rate when his car PEE 4070 drove off the road and into a canal.

Persons dragged the injured Ishwar from the car before it submerged.

On April 18, last, Canter GDD 7614 driven by, Hassan Ally was transporting some 40 mourners to La Union cremation site when the

vehicle toppled at WaltonHall, killing one and injuring 21 others.

The dead woman was identified as 28-year-old Basmattie Prashad, formerly of Bella Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara.

Another passenger has since succumbed to her injuries.

The woman has been identified as Parbattie Sukhai, of Parika. She sustained head injuries.

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Tuesday April 23, 2013

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Guyana Government indifferent to Corruption - US State Department Government’s apparent ineffectiveness in implementing laws that provide for criminal penalties for corruption by public officials has been highlighted by the United States of America 2012 Human Rights Report.

The report, which was released over the weekend, stated that there remains widespread public perception of corruption involving officials at all levels, including the police and the judiciary.

“The World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators assessed that government corruption was a serious problem,” the report said.

The Guyana Police Force bore the brunt of the report’s assessment, which pointed to allegations of police officers being connected to the drug underworld.

In October 2011 the Guyana Police Force’s Crime

Chief submitted a report to the Minister of Home Affairs regarding allegations by a senior officer that many officers had connections to drug dealers.

According to the report, the Minister considered it but has so far taken no action.

In fact, one of the officers against whom the allegations were made is still driving a BMW that reportedly belongs to an alleged drug dealer.

Meanwhile, the report zeroed in on the fact that public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws and are required to submit information about personal assets to the Integrity Commission.

However, although the Prime Minister had stated in June last year that members would soon be appointed to this Commission, it is still not up and running.

On June 14 last year, the

National Assembly approved a government motion that members submit annual declarations in keeping with provisions of the Integrity Act, but compliance was uneven, and the Commission had no resources for enforcement or investigations.

The Act sets out both criminal and administrative sanctions for nondisclosure.

If a person fails to file a declaration, the fact can be published in the daily newspapers and the Official Gazette.

Failure to comply with the law can lead to a summary conviction, fines, and imprisonment for six to 12 months.

If property was not disclosed as it should have been, the Magistrate convicting the defendant will order the defendant to make a full disclosure within a set time frame.

The report said that no such publication or convictions have occurred.

Former Police Officer takes stand in wrongful dismissal case Several years after his dismissal from the Guyana Police Force, former Superintendent of Police Michael McBean, took to the witness box yesterday before Chief Justice Ian Chang.

McBean who was granted a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom took the former Police Commissioner Henry Greene to court to challenge his dismissal from the force.

Mc Bean told the court yesterday that he joined the police force on April 1, 1992.

According to the witness he proceeded on the cadet officer course. The witness said that he was successful in this course which was during 1993 to 1994. After his completion of that course Mc Bean told the court that he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent on July 1, 1996.

In November 2001, McBean said that he was again promoted, this time to the rank of Deputy Superintendent. He added that in August 2004, he was promoted to Superintendent of Police. During his promotions, McBean told the court that he had attended the University of Guyana completing his diploma and degree in Public Management. The witness further stated that during this time he had attended several officers’ conferences.

Mc Bean said that during those conferences the Commander in Chief (the President) would always encourage ranks to further their education. So in 2006

when he saw an advertisement in one of the dailies to submit applications for the Chevening Scholarship in the United Kingdom, which is offered through the British Embassy, Mc Bean said he applied.

In May 2007, he said that he was informed that he had been shortlisted and was successful for the one-year Masters programme.

Mc Bean told the court that he had applied to the Guyana Police Force for “study leave”. He said that he had sent two applications one requesting the leave with pay and then a further application requesting leave without pay.

He told the court that after his application for leave, he had indicated to then Police Commissioner Henry Greene, his intention of studying abroad. At this point Mc Bean said that he had brought to the Commissioner’s attention that he was granted a full scholarship.

The witness further told the court that he was called to a meeting with the Commissioner of Police and congratulated. At this point Mc Bean said that he was informed that his leave had been approved.

McBean said that he was granted some 112 days and on September 4, 2007 he proceeded on leave and he eventually left the country on September 23, 2007.

During his time overseas McBean told the court that he became ill. He said that he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress. The witness

produced several documents supporting this claim yesterday in court.

He also said that he followed procedures of the police force when submitting medical certificates while overseas. The documents which were medical certificates were certified by the Guyana High Commission in London and faxed to the Police Commissioner’s Officer.

He was granted three certificates. While studying, McBean said that he received a correspondence from the Ministry of Home Affairs asking about his “well being and how his studies were coming along”.

He returned to Guyana on September 14, 2008 and was posted to Berbice. He was the second in charge of the division. While serving in Berbice, McBean said that he was summoned by the Commissioner in 2009.

According to the witness he was issued with his dismissal letter by the Police Service Commission.

He told the court that prior to his dismissal he was never charged criminally or departmentally. After his dismissal from the force McBean said that he worked at the Ogle Airport for about a year and half. The witness said that he is currently unemployed.

The matter will continue today. McBean is being represented by attorney at law Patrice Henry, while the state is being represented by Attorney at law Pritima Kissoon.

When it comes to the Office of the Auditor General, the report was uncomplimentary.

The Office of the Auditor General scrutinizes the expenditure of public funds on behalf of Parliament and conducts financial audits of all publicly funded entities, including donor-funded entities, local government agencies and trade unions and reports to the National Assembly.

However, the US human rights report stated that the effectiveness of the office remained limited since the government may or may not act on the discrepancies noted in its reports.

“Observers noted that recurring discrepancies were

repeatedly highlighted in the reports without officials taking appropriate follow-up actions to investigate and resolve the discrepancies,” the report highlighted.

The 2001 constitution called for the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to monitor public procurement and ensure that authorities conduct the procurement of goods and services in a fair, transparent, competitive and cost-effective manner.

However, the government never constituted the PPC despite public criticism of the present system’s ineffectiveness in awarding government contracts in an equitable and transparent manner.

The report stated that under pressure from opposition parties in parliament, the government promised to establish the PPC

by June last year, but this has not yet materialized.

A 2011 Access to Information Act, intended to promote transparency and accountability within the government and public institutions, provided for persons to secure access to information under the control of public authorities and for the appointment of a Commissioner of Information.

Again the US human rights report highlighted that so far the government had not issued implementing regulations or appointed a Commissioner.

Region Ten councilors join Hururu residents in protest - over RUSAL’s blocking of road to logging concessions Some 200 Hururu residents, accompanied by two Region Ten Councilors, yesterday staged a second day of protest over RUSAL’s refusal to allow residents to access a road to logging concessions in the area.

They used logs and other debris to block the Hururu road, which the Village Council had leased to the Russian mining company some time ago.

The protest began early in the day and ended around 17:00 hrs. Residents who spoke to Kaieteur News said that they will continue their protest until RUSAL officials meet with them to discuss the issue. One villager said that the logging concessions are some distance from the area that has been leased to RUSAL for mining, and therefore would not impede the company’s work.

However, he explained that the loggers would have to use the Hururu roadway to reach their concessions and RUSAL is preventing them from doing so.

Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, yesterday expressed support for the residents. He said that any investments coming into the Region must be built on mutual benefit.

Region Ten Councilors, Leslie Gonsalves and Maurice Butters, visited the area to lend support to the protesters and to listen to their concerns.

Kaieteur News was told that Gonsalves and Butters, along with Toshao Winsbert Benjamin, were initially prevented from passing a checkpoint that RUSAL had set up on the Hururu roadway.

They were eventually allowed to pass.

“What they (the residents) are saying is that the company (RUSAL) in a very hostile way is not allowing them to get to their logging concessions,” Gonsalves said. “They are being stopped from harvesting their logs.”

According to Gonsalves, the Guyana Forestry Commission had granted permission for the residents to harvest their logs and some of the logs had even been stamped.

He also accused RUSAL workers of destroying the logs.

Kaieteur News was told by members of the Hururu Village Council that the Council has leased over 2000 acres of land to RUSAL for some $1.3M per month for bauxite mining. The Hururu road has also been leased to RUSAL for $1.1M per month.

Winsbert Benjamin, the Hururu Village Council’s Toshao, explained that this money is paid to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. He also explained that from this sum, some $1M is deducted to pay RUSAL monthly for

electricity that the company supplies to Hururu.

Kaieteur News was told that as part of the agreement between the Hururu Council and RUSAL, residents will have to discontinue cutting logs in the leased area.

RUSAL is said to be preparing to commence mining soon, which means that the agreement will now be enforced.

But now several residents, including Deputy Toshao, Victor Walker, are expressing reservations about the deal, which they say will severely affect the livelihood of loggers in the area.

Some residents have even accused the Hururu Council of selling them out.

Rather than the $2.3M per month, Walker and other residents have suggested that RUSAL pay $12M for lease of the mining area and use of the Hururu road.

The Deputy Toshao said that the issue was to have been discussed at an April 17 meeting with officials from the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.

However, he alleged that when he arrived at the meeting he was prevented from raising the issue, allegedly due to his late arrival.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Guyana, Suriname hold simultaneous launch of Vaccination Week of the Americas at Corriverton

By Leon Suseran The Guyana and Suriname Governments, yesterday launched the 12th Vaccination of the Americas Week simultaneously in the border town of Corriverton with a grand march that began at the Skeldon/Line Path Secondary School and ended at the Skeldon Hospital.

In attendance were several dignitaries from both countries, including Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran; both Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of Guyana and Suriname, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud and Dr. Martinez Ersel, a Surinamese Member of Parliament , Dr. Premdew Latchman; Director of Regional Health Services (DoRHS) in Suriname, Dr. Sarju and Pan American Health Organization Representatives including Ms. Jennifer Sanwigo of Washington.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘ Va c c i n a t i o n : A s h a r e d responsibility.’

Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) is an annual effort by the member countries and territories of the Pan American H ealth Organization (PAHO) to promote equity and access to immunization. VWA was initially proposed in April 23, 2002 under the presidency of Dr. Patricio Jamriska, Secretary of Health of the Republic of Ecuador and by

the Ministers of Health in the Andean Region following a measles outbreak in Venezuela and Colombia.

VWA activities strengthen the national immunization programmes in the Americas by reaching out to populations with little access to regular health services, such as those populations living in urban fringes, rural and border areas and in indigenous communities.

Since its inception in 2003, more than 410 million individuals of all ages have been vaccinated during campaigns conducted under the framework of VWA. Guyana’s health system offers 16 free health vaccines to the population, including Yellow Fever, Measles and Rubella. And at the launch, the country was praised for having nearly 100 per cent coverage, “comparable to any other developing country in the world where vaccinations are concerned”.

Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, 21 raised the fact that the vaccines are availabl e f r e e t o t h e population of both Guyana and Suriname, since many Surinamese were said to have been accessing healthcare in Skeldon.

The CMO of Guyana, Dr. Persaud, stated that the simultaneous launch was a “great moment for Guyana and Suriname as we once again take another bold step, bringing our two

Nurses march into the compound of the Skeldon Hospital during yesterday’s simultaneous GuyanaSuriname launch of VWA

health care systems together.” Both countries, he stated, should be proud to work hand-in-hand for the health sector.

Guyana has been working with all the countries of the Americas “and we are trying now to improve immunization so that those diseases that we vaccinate you against can be eliminated,” Persaud n o ted. The vaccines, he stated, are more than just a Ministry of Health

initiative “to keep our population healthy.”

The VWA has emerged, he stated, as a main approach to ensure vaccines are given to everyone who needs to get them. “No one should be left behind and everyone should be protected with vaccines, once they are available.”

The Surinamese Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Martinez invit e d h e r G u y a n e s e counterparts and all Guyanese to Nickerie next year for the launch of VMW where the two countries plan to launch the week simultaneously once more.

“We think how we can work better with the

government of Guyana to ensure that all the children who cross the border are properly vaccinated”.

She noted, too, that the two countries ought to think carefully [of] “how we can fulfill our shared responsibility as two nations, towards the health of people at both sides of the Corentyne River.”

Surinamese Member of Parliament, Dr. Premdew Latchman, said that the 100 per cent coverage by vaccination is laudable.

Suriname is closely in the nineties, too. “We have to share our knowledge and organize these kinds of occasions—Let us come

together and meet and talk about the problems— because not only vaccination is important but we have seen that patients with chronic diseases, we have a lot of them—Guyanese in Nickerie have the same problem and …discuss and share knowledge”.

After the launch, which involved several school children, nurses and other health care practitioners, vaccination drives were held at several schools in Skeldon, Line Path and Crabwood Creek.

These will be ongoing throughout the week in Berbice and across the country.

Four teens rescued by GWMA to remain in care of Child Protection Agency Up to press time yesterday the four teens rescued from a shop in Tiger Creek, Puruni, Region Seven by the Women Miners’ Association were in the care of the Child Care Protection Agency.

Head of that Agency, Ann Green, said that her social workers were with the girls most of yesterday prior to their being questioned by police at Eve Leary Headquarters.

Green said after the police were finished with the teens the Agency took them into their care.

Further Green said the teens will be questioned and counseled by social workers from the agency.

Members of the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO) rescued the four teenagers from alleged sexual slavery. In

the process, the group had an altercation with the owner of the shop from where they were rescued on Sunday last.

The girls age 14, 15, 17, and 18 years old were reportedly being held in a shop, popularly called ‘Kaimoo’ by pork knockers, in Tiger Creek, Puruni, Region Seven.

According to Simona Broom e s , H e a d o f t h e GWMA, the crying teens, after being rescued, spent Sunday night on a bench in the Bartica Police Station. The police there had refused to provide security at the private residence where the GWMA wanted to keep the girls.

According to Broomes, the representative of the Human Services Ministry in Bartica was unable to provide any assistance immediately

to the young girls. Broomes initial l y told this publication that rescuing the girls was not an easy task and members of the GWMA had to put up a fight.

Without police security, members of GWMA had to depend on their lone personal security to help fight off the perpetrators who followed them to Itaballi.

Broomes said that she was shocked to see that the Mines Officer in the area and the perpetrators are friends. She said that at the Mines Officer’s dwelling place, a physical altercation occurred.

She said that she was assaulted and was forced to defend herself.

The mines officer said nothing until she retaliated.

He has since been suspended.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Britons’ shameful moment

By Sir Ronald Sanders The lady was dead. Margaret Thatcher, who dominated British political life and the transformation of a sick economy to a vibrant partner in Europe, was no more. In the words of the Bishop of London at her funeral service: “Lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings”.

Common decency should have demanded respectful silence among those who may have been her most bitter political opponents. Regard for leaving Britain a better place than she found it when she took up the cudgels in 1979 should have encouraged expressions of praise and gratitude.

There was much of the latter. She richly deserved it.

But, sadly, there was also much of the former by persons and groups of people – many of whom were not even born when she held office – who shamed their nation, and their national ethos of fairness, civility and good manners. The shouts of “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie – dead, dead, dead” as her funeral procession passed through the streets of London blighted the image of Britain, as did all the callous celebrations of her death including the characterization of her as a “witch”.

The dislike – even hatred – of Margaret Thatcher arises from two principal events. The first is her victory over trade unions – particularly the Miners’ Union – that held the British economy to ransom with unreasonable demands and costly strikes. The second was her introduction of a poll tax. But it appears to have been forgotten that the economy she inherited as Prime Minister had long been in decline.

In the mid-1970s, shortly before she was elected in 1979, Britain had to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $4 billion of assistance; there were severe restrictions on the amount of money that persons could take on holiday; the tax rate soared to 83 per cent; inflation was high. In short, Britain and the British people were on their knees.

Turning around the dire economic situation would have been tough for any strong man; it was doubly difficult for a woman. Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister she may have been, but nonetheless she was a woman in a government consisting mainly of men from privileged backgrounds for whom women had a place that was not one of leadership. Her battle was on many fronts. No weak person

could have taken it on; and certainly no weak woman.This may have accounted for her tough public style – epitomized by her embracing of the epithet “Iron Lady” which commentators in the Soviet Union had ascribed to her, and also in the famous declaration, “You turn if you want to; the lady is not for turning”. It was easy to dislike that public style and to be vexed over her unyielding “conviction politics” that provided no room for compromise. She was, undoubtedly a polarizing figure in Britain throughout her political career.

But, in her time in office, she transformed the British economy. The top rate of income tax was lowered from the high of 83 per cent to 40 per cent; the standard rate was slashed to 25 per cent; bloated and inefficient stateowned enterprises that were an expensive burden on the tax-payers were privatized opening the way for competition, lower costs to the consumer and wider choices – among the stateowned companies that were privatized were British Airways, British Telecom, British Steel, British Gas and the British Airports Authority.

Privatization democratized share ownership; shares in those companies were made

available to all, including small investors, at affordable prices. Thus, it had the effect, not only of relieving taxpayers of the burden of subsidizing highly inefficient, loss-making enterprises, but also providing them the opportunity to invest and benefit from the companies’ future growth.

There was more, her government openly wooed foreign investment in Britain as a spring board into the European Union market; under her stewardship Council housing was sold to their occupiers or others, giving persons at the lower end of the income scale an opportunity to own their own homes. Essentially what Margaret Thatcher did in Britain was to give Britons more personal freedom and less state intervention; she put more money in the pockets of individuals by reducing taxes and she e n c o u r a g e d entrepreneurship; she stymied the power of trade unions whose links then to the British Labour Party compromised its ability to make policy decisions of which the Unions did not approve.

By the time she left office in 1990, Britain was no longer the sick man of Europe, and its people were better-off.It is telling that when the Labour Party, under Tony Blair, came

to office it was not the policies and practices of previous Labour Party governments that were followed; it was Margaret Thatcher’s path that it walked – extending the policies of deeper private sector involvement in the economy through public sector-private sector partnerships.

A word should be said about two foreign policy issues to which she is closely linked. The first is the matter of the Falkland Islands which are claimed by Argentina. Apart from the legal case that establishes British sovereignty of the Falklands, Margaret Thatcher respected the right to selfdetermination by the people of the Falklands, and, despite opposition from many including influential figures in her own Cabinet, she sided with that right to selfdetermination, and committed Britain to defending that right. She did not abandon the Falkland Islanders.

And, on apartheid in South Africa, while Commonwealth diplomats in London (including me at the time) were upset that she resisted economic sanctions against South Africa in 1985, she had earlier approved an arms embargo against the White regime, and her loathing of apartheid on moral grounds was well known by diplomats in

Sir Ronald Sanders London. Regrettably, other considerations – not least her close alliance with the United States and its concerns about communism in Southern Africa - trumped her abhorrence of apartheid, but we knew it would have been little different with a Labour government.

Nonetheless, she was elected three times, and at the end of the day, her stewardship of Britain invigorated the economy and improved the living conditions for many. That record deserved respect.

Those Britons who scorned her in death and celebrated her passing shamed themselves and tarnished their country’s image.

(The writer is a Consultant, Visiting Fellow at London University and former Caribbean Diplomat) Responses and previous c o m m e n t a r i e s : www.sirronaldsanders.com

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Tuesday April 23, 2013

MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 05:30hrs - Dharma Kai Awaz: The Voice of Dharma 06:00hrs - Islamic Perspective 06:30hrs - News Update 07:00hrs - DAYBREAK 08:00hrs - Dabi’s musical 08:30hrs - Avon Video & DVD: Avatar 09:00hrs - BBC World News 09:15hrs - Top Notch Music Break 09:30hrs - Caribbean Temptation Music Mix 10:00hrs - Amanda’s music break 10:30hrs - Future Vision Music Hour 11:00hrs - Comfort Sleep Musical 11:30hrs - The View 12:00hrs - Weekly Digest 12:30hrs - The Young and The Restless

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13:30hrs - Days of Our Lives 14:00hrs - General Hospital 15:00hrs - Katie Couric Show 16:00hrs - The Bold and The beautiful 16:30hrs - Cartoons 17:00hrs - Birthday & other greetings 17:15hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30hrs - CNN News 18:00hrs - Pulse Beat: Presentation of Ministry of Health 18:30hrs - Ma Ke Mahema 19:00hrs - Focus On GRA 19:30hrs - News Update 20:30hrs - DJ Stress Quiz 21:30hrs - Islam for Guyana 22:00hrs - English Movie: Cellular 23:00hrs - News update 23:30hrs - English Movie: Cellular continues

NTN CHANNEL 18/ CABLE 69 0500h - Sign on with the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra 0510h - Meditation 0530h - Queenstown Masjid Presents Quran This Morning 0600h - R. Gossai General Store Presents Hanuman Bhajans 0615h - Jettoo’s Lumber Yard Presents Hanuman Bhajans 0630h - IPL6 - Match 31 Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors..

1000h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 1030h - IPL6 - Match 32 Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab. .

1400h - Indian Soap - Rab Se Sohna Isshq 1430h - Indian Soap - Pavitra

Tuesday April 23, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): It’s a mistake to believe that others will take your words at face value today, no matter how clearly you express yourself. In fact, you could share more than is necessary ... which dilutes your message and creates a situation where you are misunderstood.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20): You have taken the necessary time to organize your ideas so you can say exactly what you mean.

However, also make certain that you mean what you say.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20): It’s tough to find a work pace that you can sustain these days.

Although you’re doing better than you think, your perceptions may be out of whack.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): Emotional tensions might bring a minor conflict to a head today. Unfortunately, you may feel as if there is too much chaos for you to keep it all together.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22): Your dreams contain the seeds of your future and it’s smart to pay careful attention to what they are telling you now. If you listen to the clues, you might crystallize a simple, yet elegant plan that could save the day.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): Talking about your core values may be easier today than integrating them into your daily routine. Powerful ideas pop into awareness now, but the strategy required to reach your goals might remain elusive.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): You are absorbing information from everyone around you these days. It’s as if you’re wearing an idea antenna and the signals keep coming your way.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): Your daydreams may reveal a vision that sends you on an amazing journey of the mind. You might be quite excited by your thoughts now as you do your metaphysical traveling.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): Your ideas continue to grow by leaps and bounds today. Even if you attempt to maintain a healthy perspective, everyone seems to like what you are saying so much that you’re encouraged to share more.

CAPRICORN(Dec.22–Jan.19): Although it’s encouraging when others reflect what you want to hear, you might miss the critical feedback you really need.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18): Sticking to the facts might help you reach your goals, but this strategy won’t be easy to follow today. You are so eager that you may unwittingly alter the truth to match your preconceived beliefs.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): You may be caught in the heat of conflicting perspectives within a close relationship today. You have to face reality to get through the dilemma, and even if it’s temporarily unpleasant, walking through the fire is ultimately for the best.

Rishta 1500h - Indian Soap Badalte Rishton Ki Dastaan 1530h - Indian Soap - Punar Vivaah 1600h - Headline News 1615h - Drying Tears 1715h - World’s Hindi Teaching by Sanskar Bharati International 1730h - Ganesh Parts Presents - BHAGAVAD GITA ( Discourses in English) 1745h - Birthday Greetings / Anniversary / Congratulation / Deaths Announcement & In Memoriam 1800h - The Interview Implications of 2013 Budget

Page 31

Cuts 1900h - Press Conference Prime Minister 2000h - SQUARE TALK LIVE with Kwame McCoy 2130h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 2200h - Indian Soap - Rab Se Sohna Isshq 2230h - Indian Soap - Pavitra Rishta 2300h - Indian Soap Badalte Rishton Ki Dastaan 2300h - Sign Off DTV CHANNEL 8 08:25 hrs. Sign On 08:30 hrs. This Morning 09:00 hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 10:00 hrs. Roseanne 11:00 hrs. The View

12:00 hrs. Prime News 12:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 13:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 14:00 hrs. The Talk 15:00 hrs. Criminal Minds 17:00 hrs. Charmed 18:00 hrs. Awakening 18:30 hrs. Nightly News 19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Alliance on the Move 21:00 hrs. NCIS: Los Angeles (New Episode) 22:00 hrs. Golden Boy (New Episode) 23:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Ravens thrash top seeded Pacesetters in League Finale - ensure tie-break separates second to fourth seeds

By Edison Jefford Ravens, after unforeseen losses to Pepsi Sonics and Colts in the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Division I League, rediscovered their aura to completely demolish top-seed Trinity Grid Holdings (TGH) Pacesetters Sunday night.

Ravens was sublime against a lacklustre Pacesetters that showed little resistance perhaps because they knew win or lose they will top the League; nevertheless, Ravens enforced its full wrath with a 73-58 win on the Burnham Court in the League Finale.

Guard/forward, Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai, had a dominant game with 26 points as point guard, Ryan Stephney added 18 points.

The win for Ravens ensured them a 6-2 win/loss record that also forced a tie-break to determine the second to fourth seed teams.

Colts and Pepsi Sonics also finished with 6-2 records,

but because both of them defeated Ravens, they were placed second and third respectively with Colts also beating Sonics. Pacesetters soared with a 7-1 record.

Travis Burnett scored 18 points against Ravens.

Pacesetters were poor on transition defence; free-throw shooting was a nightmare and the offence that gave them an undefeated status before they met Ravens, completely collapsed in a one-sided Finale that failed to live up to the usual competitive standard.

Ravens led 34-15 at halftime and extended that lead with a 6-0 run early in the third quarter with Stephney and Kanhai finishing fastbreak plays. However, with Burnett, a naturally gifted scorer on the court, Pacesetters remained hopeful of resurgence.

Burnett completed backto-back inside plays on a brief rampage that invoked some memories of his Inter-Guiana Games performance when he

won for Guyana seven years ago.

He helped TGH Pacesetters to within striking distance, but he could not do it alone.

Forward Jermaine Slater finished a coast-to-coast layup that was converted to an And1 play for Ravens, which gave them a 48-29 lead near the end of the third quarter.

Pacesetters missed their ninth straight free-throw in two minutes to add to their woes.

Kanhai scored three straight points to give Ravens their biggest lead of the game, 51-31. Royston Siland didn’t help Pacesetters’ cause when he was fouled out in the third period that ended 52-35 in favour of Ravens that extended its dominance in the fourth period.

In other deciding games Sunday night, Colts ensured that it continued its ascendancy with a 72-64 win that Shelroy Thomas (22 points) and Dane Kendall (20

TGH Pacesetters’ Division I Captain, Royston Siland (left) collects the League Championships trophy from GABA President, Michael Singh in the presence of coaches and team-mates on the on the Burnham Basketball Court Sunday night. points) engineered. Jason Squires scored 24 points for Pepsi Sonics.

Republic Bank Nets

defeated Panthers 69-60 with Darrion Lewis scoring 14 points for Nets and Yannick December 14 points for

Panthers. The Division III League that the Pacesetters also lead will conclude this weekend at the same venue.

Full ranking of Division I Clubs in Georgetown

Man United 3 Aston Villa 0...

Time to celebrate: Robin van Persie is joined by his Manchester United team-mates after sealing the League. (Ian Hodgson) From page 35 Manchester United visit in six days time. It will stick in the craw to salute the former captain who deserted their cause, but no player will deserve it more.

Indeed, as one prime candidate withdraws from the running for Footballer of the Year, so Van Persie reacquaints us with the identity of the most influential player this season. Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale have turned in magnificent individual displays for Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, propelling their clubs forward, but Van Persie has defined the title race.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Port Mourant Training School wins BVA ‘B’ Division Volleyball competition The Port Mourant Training School (PMTC) Volleyball unit continues their dominance on the Volleyball courts in Guyana, even if it’s a B division competition. The dominance resulted in the (PMTC) team playing unbeaten to capture the first place trophy when the Berbice Volleyball Association held its ‘B’ Division Competition on Sunday at the Eaglets

Volleyball Court in Reliance, East Canje, Berbice.

The competition was open to school teams, beginners, veterans and ordinary club players and attracted seven male teams namely -Albion Sports Complex, PMTC, Falcons, PMTC Red, PMTC Blue, 3 Door Strikers 1 and 3 Door Strikers 2. Unfortunately no female teams turned up to participate.

Like Jack Warner and...

From page 38 even amidst accusations of impropriety, rigged elections, unilateral undertakings and a host of other malpractices.

Yes, the nation was able to breathe a sigh of relief following the FIFA ruling that ousted Klass and another that rectified the inconsistencies that precluded a smooth transition of leadership. There are still a host of questions that need to be answered, most of them financial in nature. Mr. Mathias has acceded to the helm at a time when the finances relating to football administration is shrouded in secrecy. Over the next few weeks we will be unearthing some of these inconsistencies that have stifled the sport during the Klass tenure at the helm. It is our firm belief that Klass must be brought to bear; he must not be exempted from accountability.

Otherwise, the Mathias administration runs the risk of repeating the old idiom that ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same.’

The competition was played on a “best of 3” roundrobin basis with all of the teams playing six matches.

The PMTC unit, which consisted of a blend of seasoned players and emerging young players, came good to overcome all and sundry to take away the coveted trophy in the absence of the senior players that were not allowed to compete and the two top teams in - PMTC 1 and Port Mourant Jaguars.

At the end of the day of volleyball, the PMTC unit was the only team standing with an unbeaten record. In second place with one loss was 3 Door Strikers 1 of West Berbice, while Albion Sports Complex copped third.

Akeem Bowling of PMTC was adjudged the MVP and was presented with a trophy.

At the presentation ceremony held immediately after the conclusion of the competition, president of the BVA, Gregory Rambarran, thanked all of the teams that participated and

Captain of PMTC team, former national captain and coach Levi Nedd, receives the winning trophy congratulated the winners. He had words of appreciation for the Falcons Volleyball Club for preparing the venue for the competition and national

players - Jason Seelochan and Quacy Matheson for assisting with the officiating throughout the day.

Before the start of the

competition, Nation Coach Levi Nedd, updated all present of the new FIVB rules with regards to service reception.

(Samuel Whyte)

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Luis Suarez: Liverpool fine forward for biting Branislav Ivanovic Luis Suarez (right) during the biting incident with Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic (Getty Images)

BBC Sport - Liverpool have fined Luis Suarez for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic but insist the striker still has a future at the club.

Suarez, 26, bit Ivanovic’s arm during his team’s 2-2 draw against Chelsea.

Asked if the incident would affect the player’s time at the club, Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said: “Not at all. “It affects his future in the sense that we have to work with him on his discipline.”

The Football Association will review the match official’s report into the game and

incident before deciding what course of action to take.

However, Ayre said he has spoken to the club’s owners concerning the controversy and added: “Luis is a very important player to the club.

“As we keep saying, he signed a new four-year contract last summer and we’d all love to see him here throughout that contract.

“He’s a fantastic player, top scorer and everything we’d want in a striker, so there’s no change there. “This is more about getting him back on the right track and it’s largely down to [Liverpool manager] Brendan [Rodgers]

now to work with him on that side of his character.”

Merseyside police say they will not take any action against Suarez, with Ivanovic not reporting any physical injury and telling officers he did not want to pursue the matter.

Suarez issued a swift apology following the conclusion of the game at Anfield on Sunday and also spoke to the Serbia international.

“I’ve spoken to Ivanovic on the phone so I could apologise directly to him,” Suarez tweeted. “Thanks for accepting.” He also tweeted: “For my unacceptable behaviour the club has fined me. “I have asked the club to donate the money to the Hillsborough Family Support Group for the inconvenience I have created to the Liverpool fans and to Ivanovic.”

It is not the first time that the Reds forward has committed such an act. He was banned for seven games after biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal during a match in November 2010.

He moved to Liverpool in

January 2011 and was given eight-match suspension and fined £40,000 for racially abusing Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra in December 2011.

Following Suarez’s latest misdemeanour in biting Ivanovic, he has been offered anger management therapy by the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Its chief executive, Gordon Taylor, said: “We’ve got a lad here who is an extremely good player, one of the world’s best and is letting himself, the club and the game

down by his actions.

“While it’s good he made a personal apology we have got to work really hard with him and I hope the club agree on this anger management business to avoid it happening again and setting the worst possible example.”

Suarez has scored 30 goals so far this season and is one of the six contenders for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award.

Taylor added: “It would be embarrassing if he is named Player of the Year but we have got to deal with it and make

sure he is player of the year not just in a footballing sense but as a human being as well and we will be trying to do that.”

Meanwhile, Suarez’s boot sponsor adidas issued a statement saying they did not condone Suarez’s behaviour. It added: “We will be reminding him of the standards we expect from our players.

Luis has admitted his actions were unacceptable and we support the way Liverpool are planning to handle the situation.”

Charritar stars as Jaguars beat Good Success to take AFS Shipping T20 title

Moin Khan left (best bowler) collects his award from Chairman of the WCC Moses Ramnarine at the presentation ceremony. Secretary of the WCC Nazeer Mohamed is standing second from left.

A fine allround performance by Tamesh Charritar guided Sans Souci Jaguars to victory over Good Success in the final of the AFS Shipping Twenty\20 competition Sunday at the Wakenaam Community Centre ground.

The Jaguars’ batted first in front of a fair size crowd and scored 120 before they were bowled out in 19.4 overs. Charritar slammed four fours and three sixes in a top score of 47, while Satrohan Shiwnandan supported with 24 (3x6) as medium pacer Lokram Narine claimed 3-27 and off spinner Nazeer Mohamed 2-20. Purposeful bowling by pacer Siddiq Mohamed 3-19, Dellon Osborne 2-8 and Charritar 2-14 then restricted Good Success

to 95 in 18 overs in reply.

Chandrika Ragnauth 14 and Nazeer Mohamed 11 were the only batsmen that offered any resistance as the Jaguars won the game by 26 runs. Charritar received the manof-the-match award, while Imran Khan (87 runs) of Good Success took the best batsman prize and Moin Khan (10 wkts) of Sans Souci Jaguars collected the most outstanding bowler trophy. Chairman of the Wakenaam Cricket Committee (WCC) Moses Ramnarine thanked the sponsors while Secretary Nazeer Mohamed said he hoped this competition will serve as an impetus for others to invest in cricket on the island.

Srikant takes 5-wkts as Mahaicony beat Speed XI by 8 runs Garbarran hits half century for Everest Lowlayswar Srikant bagged 5 wickets for 18 runs as Mahaicony defeated Speed XI by 8 runs in a feature 20 over softball match played last Friday evening at the Everest Cricket Club ground.

Mahaicony batted first and rattled up 1679 in 20 overs with Ganesh Persaud top scoring 45 while Vijay Jagdeo chipped in with 25 and Gewan Gobin 16. Pradeep Abdool, Falim Mohamed and Yunnis Yusuf captured 2 wickets each. Speed XI in reply fell for 159 in 19.2 overs. Yusuf, Danny Mohanram and Kenrick Persaud made 21 apiece as man-ofthe-match Ganesh Persaud supported Srikant in the bowling department with 4 wickets.

Persaud was also voted the best batsman,

while both teams received trophies. Steve Narine was given a prize for taking the best catch. Srikant and Bhagwandin were rewarded for their bowling and fielding performances respectively. The game was sponsored by Speed XI. Meanwhile in another encounter, Everest Masters got the better of Enterprise by 56 runs. Hemraj Garbarran stroked 71 (4x4,4x6) and got support from Richard Latiff 26 and Ronald Jaisingh 22 as Everest posted 179- in 20 overs, batting first.

Enterprise in response were bundled out for 123 in 17 overs. Nirmal Singh made 33 and Suraj Kumar 30 as Caramchand Ramsarran claimed 3-23 for Everest who received a trophy compliments of Trophy Stall.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Master Junior Man United 3 Aston V illa 0: CHAMPIONS! Villa Wharton is TTKF It’s Robin’s Victory Parade as hat-trick takes United to the title Special Adviser

Junior Wharton Grand Master Junior Wharton 10th Dan, founder and President of Tiger System Karate International (TSK-I) has been re-confirmed as Special Adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Karate Federation (TTKF).

Master Wharton has over fifty nine year in the martial arts which include wrestling, judo, boxing, ju-jitsu and karate. He has also registered his organization in TTKF for 2013.

His school is based in New York with branches in Canada and England. His rep in Trinidad and Tobago is Master Herbert Lara, 9th Dan. Master Wharton is expected to be in Trinidad shortly to conduct workshops and exams. He can be contacted at tigersystem1972@yahoo.com or 718-4061203.

U-12 softball cricket set for Helena

Daniel Richmond Cricket coach Daniel Richmond has organized a softball cricket competition for U12 males and females at Helena Mahaica No. 2 Sports Club ground on Friday 26th of April.

Director of Sports Neil Kumar will deliver the feature address before the action gets underway from 09:00hrs. According to Richmond schools from Unity to Cane Grove are expected to take part.

Daily Mail - It was the performance that brooked no argument. Any team that can put the prize on the mantelpiece a full eight days before the end of April is worthy of respect.

The best? The worst? A weak league? A poor defence of the title from that lot down the road? These are arguments for another day.

Manchester United were superb against Aston Villa last night, Robin Van Persie exceptional. From the 94th second, when he scored his first, there was never any doubt of the outcome. Some would argue, the same could be said of the moment he put pen to paper as a United player.

Roberto Mancini, manager of Manchester City, for instance, said Van Persie could decide the title in United’s favour and so it has proved. Whether City were ever in competition for his signature is debatable.

Sir Alex Ferguson told confidantes two years ago that Van Persie was the one great player left at Arsenal and that he could get him at any time. Seeing the title go to City last season might have crystallised those thoughts.

Last night made the logic irrefutable. Van Persie destroyed Villa and, in doing so, steered United over the line at a trot. Nobody wins the title waving and throwing roses to the crowd. United, however, went close.

It helped that United had several swings at getting the three points required, not just this one, but even so Ferguson looked uncommonly calm prior to kick-off, still signing autographs after the match had started. He put his pen away just in time to see United take the lead.

Antonio Valencia carried the ball down the right and laid it back to Rafael, whose cross at first appeared to have been hit too deep. The curl on the ball kept it in and Ryan Giggs played the ball back across goal for Van Persie to tap it in from close range.

The celebrations began from there.

It was party time at Old Trafford, a surprisingly rare occasion considering this is Ferguson’s 13th league title. Of those, just three have been clinched with a victory at home, so this was a night to remember. Sensing it, United stepped up the tempo and tore Villa to shreds. They could have been 4-0 up in 10 minutes.

From the next attack, Van Persie could have added a second, meeting a Valencia cross on the volley, the ball flying just over. A cross from Giggs was then headed back across goal

by Van Persie, only for Shinji Kagawa’s attempt to be smothered. Finally, Rafael shot from 25 yards, eluding goalkeeper Brad Guzan but not the far post.

Villa eased the pressure with a chance of their own from player of the season Christian Benteke, but it was brief respite.

United’s second goal came a minute later and, had it been the only event of the night, this would still have been a vintage performance. Wayne Rooney played a quite stunning through ball, arguably the pass of the season, and it was met by Van Persie, outstripping Villa’s defence, for a first-time volley on the run that planted itself low in the corner of Guzan’s net.

It showed direct football at its simplest, but also its most beautiful — the long ball made exquisite.

Except this wasn’t just a ball: it was a pass.

And playing it may give a clue to Rooney’s future at Old Trafford. This has not been his finest season and even Ferguson has taken to issuing dark warnings about his place in the team.

In recent matches, he has reinvented Rooney as a midfielder, leaving Kagawa to partner Van Persie — but here was proof it could work. Rooney was superb in a deeper central role, always available, always ambitious in his play.

Ferguson once said he can play in any position and volunteers as much when United are short. If there is a hole at right back, Ferguson said, Rooney announces he could play there.

And, without doubt he can hack it in

midfield: certainly against a team as raw as Villa. When he was substituted after 71 minutes it was to warm applause, not worried sideways glances.

It was nice Paul Lambert, the Villa manager, did not compromise his principles, although at times neutrals were close to begging him to sling 10 men behind the ball and defend, particularly when United added a third after 33 minutes.

It was Van Persie’s hat-trick goal and made him the Premier League top goalscorer this season. Kagawa found Giggs, who drove the ball into the penalty area and squared to Van Persie for what looked a simple conversion.

Unfortunately, there was a complication.

Van Persie appeared to get the ball trapped beneath his feet. Others would have panicked.

He rebalanced, took a couple of touches and somehow lofted the ball into the roof of the net with four Villa defenders plus Guzan between himself and the target.

It was a masterful finish, precisely what a fee of £24million is supposed to buy — what Chelsea thought they were getting for £50m from Fernando Torres.

And when Villa reconvened after half-time and took advantage of United’s relaxed mood, who was it who cleared Andreas Weimann’s header from the line as David de Gea flapped.

Van Persie, of course. The tradition will see Arsenal forming a guard of honour when (Continued on page 32)

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kwakwani complete successful tour to Georgetown The National Sports Commission hosted to Kwakwani on Saturday and Sunday 20 and 21, April 2013 is several sporting events.

The Opening Ceremony was held at the National Gymnasium where the gathering was addressed by Mr. Neil Kumar, Director of Sport and the Hon. Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill.

The Director of Sport welcomed and informed the gathering of Government’s plans to upgrade facilities at Kwakwani. The Minister encouraged the participants to use sports and interaction for the development of self, community and county.

On Saturday, the teams were involved in Volleyball, Dominoes and Football at the National Gymnasium and the Western Tigers Football Ground.

Results: FOOTBALL At the Western Tiger’s Ground, the Nationals Sports Commission defeated Kwakwani in a keenly contested match, 5 goals to 4. Scorers for National Sports

Commission were Michael Oie, Paul Rodney, Nathaniel Nagalloo and Michael Dedio, while Cort Simeon, Ted Rogers and Parris Archer (2) hit the back of the net for Kwakwani.

VOLLEYBALL In the female contest, National Sports Commission struggled but got pass Kwakwani by 2 sets to 1. In the match - Kwakwani males vs NSC females, the going was much easier as the girls whipped the boys 2 sets to nil.

DOMINOES There was no stopping Kwakwani as they totaled 78 games leaving Middle Road Warriors (67) and NSC (65) in the respective second and third positions.

The top scorers for Kwakwani were Ray Garraway (17 games), Abiola Archer (16 games including a love) and Dennis Gobin (14 games).

Middle Road had Gavin Towler (16 games with a love), Frank Small (15 games) and Michael Marques (13 games) as their top scorers.

Gregory La Rose (16

games), Daniel Richmond (15 games) and Bashir Khan (10 games) did the honours for NSC. The Love Birds were Tyson Kandasammy of Middle Road Warriors and Parris Archer of Kwakwani.

Cricket – Lusignan Community Centre Ground In the T/20 affair, the aging NSC was no match for the youthful Kwakwani who scored 154 for 6 with Kishon Wong 27, Trevor Garraway 23 and Kishon Phillips and Howard London 21 respectively, then blew away NSC for a meagre 71 all out.

Daniel Richmond who scored 12 and Muniram Persaud 10 were the only batsmen to get into double figures for NSC. Man-of-the-Match went to Khamraj Chand of Kwakwani who captured 4 wickets for 10 runs from his 4 overs. The tables were turned when Kwakwani faced NSC in the female 10/10 encounter.

Kwakwani batted first and scored 75 for 1, with Rosanne Williams 42 and Pinkey Loden 25. NSC replied with 76 for 3.

Jana Edghill and Bibi scored

Representatives from Kwakwani (above) and Lusignan (below) respectively collect sports gear following last weekend’s competition.

22 runs each.

Rosanne Williams of Kwakwani won the Most Valuable Player Trophy with her magnificent score of 42.

Minister Bishop Edghill, Dr. Morella Joseph,

Programme Manager, Human Resource Development, Caricom Secretariat and Permanent Secretary, Alfred King (who represented NSC at cricket) spent much time on Sunday at the Lusignan

Community Centre Ground and assisted in the distribution of trophies to winners, along with sports gears and equipment to Lusignan Young Cricketers and Kwakwani.

GCB/GTM Three-Day bowls off tomorrow The Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire & Life Insurance Company (GTM) and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-19 Inter-County Three-Day Competition is set to commence tomorrow with two games.

The Competition, which will be contested on a roundrobin basis, is expected to be keenly contested, and matches will be played at Everest Cricket Club, Wales Community Centre ground, Demerara Cricket Club, Georgetown Cricket Club, and the Enmore Community centre ground.

The second round is scheduled from April 28-30, and the third from May 2-4.

Two matches will be played simultaneously in each Round. In Round one the President’s XI will take on Berbice at Everest, while Essequibo will go up against Demerara at Wales.

With the likes of skipper Akasha Persaud, Ryan Shun, Martin Pestano Bell, Rajiv Balgobin and Denesh Mangal, the President’s XI should be able to post decent scores; however it will be exciting to see how they handle the Berbice bowling attack which will be spearheaded by their captain Shawn Pereira, Dereck Narine and left arm spinner Gudakesh Moti Kanhai.

President’s XI Left arm pacer Asif Ilahi performed well in the Demerara Cricket Board inter association tournament

Ricardo Adams

Shawn Perreira

and is expected to lead their bowling attack with support from Nail Smith, Akash Jagroo and Shun. The talented Shimron Hetmyer heads the Berbice batting line up which also includes Nick Ramsaroop, Devin Baldeo and Parmanand Narine.

Demerara batting will be centered on Brian Sattaur, all rounder Kamesh Yadram, Andrew Gibson and Kemol Savory. Dexter George and Bernard Bailey are likely to share the new ball while spinners Steven Sankar and Devon Lord will look to put their names on the national selectors list.

One of the batsmen to watch in this competition is National T20 selectee and Essequibo captain Ricardo Adams. The exciting left hander is capable of holding his own in any given situation at this level and with former national U-15 captain Kemo Paul, Ricardo Peters, Mark Gonsalves and Shivindra Hemraj included their batting seems rock solid. Left arm spinner Herry Green and Paul Adams will spearhead their

bowling department.

The absence of inter association\committee cricket in Essequibo does not serve well for the development of the game in the county. While some are saying that this is due to the lack of sponsorship, the board can make a better effort to give every player an equal opportunity to stake a claim for selection on the team.

Talented players such as Moin Khan, Tamesh Charritar, Satrohan Shiwnandan and Zameer Zaman can consider them selves unlucky not to be selected. Most of these players were not invited to the trials but have the ability to make any of the four teams in this tournament and it is depressing to see that these talents are not being harnessed properly. A better attempt should be made to field the best possible Essequibo team.

Representatives from GTM along with GCB Executives will meet the competing players at Everest at 9:30 to mark the opening of the competition.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Fury celebrates his knockout victory over Cunningham by serenading New York crowd

Page 37

Dereck Chisora stops Hector Alfredo Avila in ninth round Dereck Chisora (left) fights with Hector Alfredo Avila during their bout.

(Getty Images)

Tyson Fury recovered from a knockdown in the second round to beat Steve Cunningham by knockout in the seventh (AP) Daily Mail - What better way to celebrate your first victory on American soil than to break into song and belt out a few lyrics for the crowd?

After proving the star attraction during his seventh round victory over American Steve Cunningham, Tyson Fury was the real showman as he put on additional entertainment for the Madison Square Garden Theatre crowd.

The Mancunian treated the surprised audience to a few verses from the Ricky Van Shelton song ‘Keep it between the lines’ after grabbing the microphone off a American interviewer following his post-bout interview.

The 24-year-old unbeaten boxer has history for his entertaining antics after he sang Bette Midler’s ‘Wind between my wings’ at a post-

fight press conference in December following his defeat of American Kevin Johnson.

Fury had earlier recovered from a second round knockdown to knock out Cunningham in the seventh round of their entertaining heavyweight clash and he can now look forward to a meeting against Kulev Pulev in a final eliminator before the winner takes on Wladimir Klitschko.

‘It’s one of those things, you can’t go swimming and not get wet he put on a good fight,’ Fury said.

‘I got caught with a big swinging right. You have to get up, this is a learning experience.

‘That was a good hook to the side of the jaw, it was a matter of time until I got hold of him and when I caught him it was curtains.’

Award Winners for Regional Super 50 2013 Bridgetown, Barbados –Please see below the award winners following the conclusion of the Regional Super 50 tournament on Sunday night: Clive Lloyd Trophy (Champions) Windward Islands beat CCC by 9 wickets in Grand Final Sir Vivian Richards Award (Leading Batsman) Devon Smith (Windwards) – 348 runs Curtly Ambrose Award (Leading Bowler) Shane Shillingford (Windwards) – 17 wickets Collis King Award (Best Allrounder) Raymon Reifer (CCC) – 159 runs, 11 wickets Jeffery Dujon Award (Best Wickets) Carlton Baugh (Jamaica) – 11 catches, 3 stumpings Gus Logie Award (Best Fielder) Devon Smith (Windwards) – 7 catches

BBC Sport - British heavyweight Dereck Chisora stopped Hector Alfredo Avila after nine rounds in his first fight since losing to David Haye in July.

Chisora, 29, was fighting for the first time since his British licence was reissued in March, having been withdrawn after a brawl with Haye a year earlier.

He eventually stopped the Argentine to end a poor spectacle at Wembley Arena.

“It’s done and now we move on to bigger and better

things,” said Chisora.

“The guy came to spoil and that made it difficult.”

Argentinian Avila, who has now lost 13 of his 34 fights, has spent most of his career at cruiserweight but frustrated Chisora throughout a low-quality fight.

Chisora has targeted a fight with British heavyweight rival David Price later this summer.

Price’s next fight is a rematch with Tony Thompson on 6 July.

Chisora hits Agila in the ribs (Getty Images)

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Like Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Colin Klass must also be answerable for the many inconsistencies that shrouded his leadership tenure - Says Michael Benjamin

Jack Warner

Chuck Blazer

Colin Klass

Christopher Matthias’ ascension to the helm of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) some two weeks ago was viewed by a wide cross section of affiliates and fans as a breath of fresh air. In what was considered a keenly contested toe to toe battle, Mathias eventually prevailed in a final round of voting against Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major; Ivan Persaud and Alfred King were early casualties but the former individual rebounded to clinch a Vice President post.

Football buffs would want to forget those dark days under the Colin Klass regime

when the elections were far from democratic and the voter browbeaten into submission.

Naturally election results produced a President of perceived majority consensus coupled with disgruntled players.

Klass might still have occupied the chair had it not been for sanctions implemented by FIFA after the infamous ‘money for votes’ scam that affected Mohammad Bin Hammam, a football administrator and president of the Asian Football Confederation and a member of FIFA’s 24-man executive committee from

1996 to 2011 for more than 15 years. He was banned for life from all FIFA and football related activities by an action of its Ethics Committee.

Klass’ ban exceeded 2 years.

Franklin Wilson’s elevation to the prestigious position after Klass’ demotion was well received and though he was merely acting, the general consensus seemed to credit him with augmenting a unified approach towards the forward movement of the sport. This was not to be and Mr. Wilson would have rued a golden opportunity to mediate on several

contentious issues, especially the retraction of a weird decision by the Klass administration to strip the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) of voting rights. Simply put, a huge chunk of affiliates would have been denied a fundamental right to select the officials to rule over their lives.

While Wilson foot dragged on the issue, GFA officials rallied forces and approached the courts for mediation. Naturally, the situation worsened and officials of the GFF threw the book at the defaulting affiliate, while citing FIFA’s statute that frowned on such problem solving methods. Amidst the smooth transition, one cannot help but note the words of CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb, that local football executives could have resolved the matter on their own.

Matthias’ term will be very brief as he is merely serving out Klass’ truncated tenure which amounts to twoyears. Even the uninitiated will admit that such time is inadequate to grapple with the many issues that compromised the advancement of the sport.

It was indeed commendable that Matthias has sought the input of his international colleagues when he attended the CONCACAF congress in Panama last week. To date, Mr. Matthias has not convened a press conference to update the media of the decisions and/ or initiatives that emanated from his Panama trip.

However, while the focus

may be on developmental strategies, there must be an investigation into the many inconsistencies and shortcomings that characterized the Klass administration and brought the beautiful game of football to an inglorious standstill.

We are told that the GFF is strapped with huge debts which will naturally be inherited by the current administration. It is, therefore imperative that this group commence the requisite procedure to investigate the many anomalies that shrouded the Klass administration and overlapped into Mr. Wilson’s tenure.

For a start, Mr. Matthias could demand answers pertaining to grants approved

by FIFA in 2005 for the rehabilitation of grounds after the floods had subsided.

Then there is the high level of secrecy that shrouds the Guyana/Mexico World Cup Qualifier that was switched at the last minute from the National Stadium, Providence to Texas. While the nation has been told of the debt incurred for this trip, we are still to be informed of the arrangement pertaining to monies received from the Texas football authorities.

As a matter of fact, it would be prudent to have a neutral audit firm peruse the expenditure of the GFF during the Klass administration in order to ascertain if the many grants and funds channeled to the GFF was utilized for what it was meant for.

Recently, former CONCACAF bigwigs, Jack

Warner and Chuck Blazer have been accused by the CONCACAF integrity commission of fraudulent behaviour. Warner has since tendered his resignation as Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security.

It must also be remembered that Warner had earlier stepped down as CONCACAF’s President following the ‘cash for votes’ scandal.

A detailed report of financial mismanagement by Mr. Warner and Mr. Blazer was handed over to FIFA officials at the just concluded congress. Naturally, these documents will be studied with sanctions being applied if and where necessary.

Many may want to refer to such acts as witch hunting but it is time that accountability returns to the GFF. We have been gifted millions of dollars by FIFA and other international football agencies and have nothing to show for it. The (in)famous sod turning ceremony at Turkeyen where then Minister of Sports Gail Teixeira and other government officials trooped to the University of Guyana in a macabre soil turning display and the subsequent embarrassment still rankles especially since this country is still languishing for a football stadium or even the eventual facility that we were offered after the sham of the stadium was uncovered.

Amidst it all, Klass is very quiet and the just concluded elections seems to have removed him from the picture (Continued on page 33)

Linden Secondary Schools U-19 Basketball Championship

Wisburg win big against Mackenzie High, Linden Foundation beat LTI 47-39 Perennial minnows Wisburg Secondary continued their campaign to claim their first Linden Secondary Schools Under-19 basketball title with a 55-21 win over four time champions Mackenzie High, while defending champions Linden Technical Institute suffered their second loss, going down to Linden Foundation 47-39 as the annual championship continued at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court on Thursday.

Wisburg Secondary once again dominated their opponents for their second straight win as Taquille Johnson led their effort with a game high 22 points.

Aubrey Campbell netted 10 and Akeem Powers had nine for the winners, who led at half time 24-12.

Daniel Anthony had the best score for

Mackenzie High of 11 points, with Qoo-SaPhan Headley adding eight for the losers.

The Linden Foundation Secondary in their 47-39 triumph, after leading 30-19 at half time, saw their top score from Vibert Benjamin with 18, while the next best score was recorded by Shaquille Primo.

The defending champions’ top shoots were Marlon Alexander with 14 and Gavin Gasper 13 points On Friday the matches had to be rescheduled as the unbeaten teams Wisburg and Christianburg /Wismar Secondary Schools each had 21with just over seven minutes left in the first half of their game.

The game will continue today at the same venue, while the second game is between New Silvercity Secondary and Mackenzie High.

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Hikers Oneday Hockey Festival Jai Signs and Designs survived a penalty shootout against Antonio’s Grille to capture the inaugural Hikers Hockey Club one-day Festival on Sunday, at the St Stanislaus ground, Carifesta Avenue.

With a fair-sized and vocal crowd in attendance, Jai Signs and Designs had to pull out all the stops to clinch a 2-0 win on penalties against Antonio’s Grille after they played to a 1-1 draw, at the end of regulation time.

It was a keenly contested affair as the two sides made up of a mixture of junior, former and current national players entertained the fans with a wonderful display of skill that made choosing a winner a difficult task.

In the penalty shootout, Antonio’s Grille missed all

Kaieteur News

Page 39

Jai Signs and Designs crowned champs their opportunities, while Jai Signs and Designs converted two of theirs to capture the title. Player/Coach Ivor Thompson and captain Karensa Fernandes speaking shortly after the conclusion of the game said they were always confident that would win the title due to the strong blend of players they had at their disposal.

Jai Signs and Designs were made up of players from Old Fort, Hikers and GCC, all top clubs in Georgetown.

“At the start of the day when we looked at the makeup of our team we felt we were in with a chance because we had some very good players.

We enjoyed the format and it was good to come out on top,” Thompson said.

Fernandes was equally pleased with the team’s performance. “It was fun. We enjoyed the day and it feels really good to win. It was very tiring because we had five

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

Martin Luther King, Jr.

games, but generally we had a good time.”

For the win, Jai Signs and Designs carted off $50,000, a large trophy and medals, while Antonio’s Grille had to settle for the runner-up prize of $30,000 and medals.

President of the Hikers Hockey Club, Devin Munroe, described the competition as a great success, adding that the plan is to make it an annual event.

“Although we thought people would come out and play for fun that was not the case…it was very competitive and all the teams were equal in terms of strength so it was not a walkover by any means for any of the teams,” Munroe reflected.

“What we’re going to do now is look at ways and means of making this better as we want to make it an annual event.”

The event, which took the form of a seven-a-side mixed Festival, featured male and female players playing on the same team. The nine teams were sponsored by individual entities which included Antonio’s Grille, Demerara Distillers Limited through its

Members of the victorious Jai Signs and Designs team pose with the trophy, medals and cash award shortly after the completion of the presentation ceremony on Sunday.

Diamond Mineral Water and Pepsi brands, Colours Boutique, EMTEC, German’s Restaurant, Global Technology, Jai Signs and

Designs and Woodpecker Products.

The event was held to raise funds for the development of hockey at the

Hikers Club, as well as provide preparation for the national ladies team in training for the Pan American Cup in Argentina later this year.

t r o Sp

Ravens thrash top-seeded Pacesetters in League Finale - ENSURE TIE-BREAK SEPARATES SECOND TO FOURTH SEEDS

TGH Pacesetters’ Division I Captain, Royston Siland (left) collects the League Championships trophy from GABA President, Michael Singh in the presence of coaches and team-mates on the Burnham Basketball Court Sunday night.

Windwards crush CCC in S50 final

Man United 3 Aston Villa 0: CHAMPIONS!

It’s Robin’s Victory Parade as hat-trick takes United to the title LIKE JACK WARNER AND CHUCK BLAZER

WINDWARD ISLANDS captured the regional 50-over title after their emphatic nine-wicket win over CCC under the Duckworth Lewis Method on Sunday evening at the Kensington Oval in Barbados

Colin Klass should answer for inconsistencies that shrouded his tenure

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