Kaieteur News

Thursday Edition December 20, 2012 - Vol. 5 No. 50

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…Bangladeshi Government accuses executives of bribery

Supenaam stelling designer rocked by corruption accusations

Pomeroon boat tragedy ...

Pres. Ramotar to assist relatives

AG report confirms No former president granted state lands fraud at City Hall

- Prime Minister Samuel Hinds

Page 02

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

No former president granted state lands No former president was ever granted state lands or properties while still in office, a document released by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission shows.

The document was released following a question raised by Parliamentarian Carl Greenidge in the National Assembly.

Greenidge asked for a list of all the transactions involving the granting of titles to state lands and properties to former Presidents or Prime Ministers while they were still in office.

He wanted to know the price per acre, the total cost, the size of the plot and other terms and conditions of acquisition.

In response, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds

released a list produced by the Lands and Survey Commission which showed that none of Guyana’s Presidents acquired state lands.

The list included late Presidents Arthur Chung, Desmond Hoyte, Dr Cheddi Jagan, Mrs Janet Jagan, former President Bharrat Jagdeo, and current President Donald Ramotar.

H o w e v e r, t h e t h e n President Bharrat Jagdeo, while in office, bought state lands sold by the Ministry of Housing.

In the list, former First Lady, the late Viola Burnham was leased 12.49 acres in Durban Backlands. The lease was issued in 1972 and was stated as now being expired.

In 1991, a transport was passed for part of the lands.

“It may be appropriate to note that with respect to the land originally leased to Mrs Burnham, subsequent negotiations led to a settlement in which four acres were granted at no charge on the release of any and all other rights to the remaining land,” the Prime Minister stated.

Former Prime Minister Ptolemy Reid was leased 4.9 acres at Somerset and Berks.

The lease was issued in 1973 and expired in 1993. The land is being utilized for a school and community centre.

Reid was also issued a plot of land measuring 8.48 acres at Somerset and Berks.

The lease was issued in 1973 and expired in 1998. The land is being utilized for a housing scheme.

Miss USA wins Miss Universe pageant

Miss USA, Olivia Culpo, waves to the crowd after being crowned Miss Universe (AFP)

LAS VEGAS – A 20year-old beauty queen from Rhode Island was crowned the new Miss Universe on Wednesday, beating out 88 other women during a televised competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Olivia Culpo took the crown from Leila Lopes of Angola after strutting in a purple and blue bikini and a red velvet gown.

In the final stages of the competition, she answered a question about her regrets by saying she wished she hadn't

picked on her siblings.

Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, came in second, while Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, placed third.

Contestants from 89 countries on six continents spent the past two weeks in Sin City, where they posed in hardhats at a hotel groundbreaking, took a painting lesson, and pranked hotel guests by hiding in their rooms.

Contestants in the pageant cannot have been married or have children.

They must be younger than 27 and older than 18 by Feb. 1 of the competition year.

The winner of the crown receives an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.

The pageant started as a local revue in Long Beach, Calif., organized by Catalina Swimwear. It is not affiliated with the Miss America pageant and unlike that contest, does not include a talent section.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Page 03

Kaieteur News

Son torches mother's house T

here may be no Christmas for a mother of eight.

Instead, she is contemplating her next move after her 29year-old son decided to torch h e r t w o - s t o r e y, f o u rbedroom house.

Philomena BobbPilgrim said that her knees buckled when she saw her life's work going up in flames, knowing that she could do nothing but watch all her worldly possessions disintegrate. She said that the fire was as a result of her “addict son” lighting it b e c a u s e o f a misunderstanding which started the night before.

Regularly sniffing and using her white handkerchief to wipe away her tears, Pilgrim said that she has no idea what will be her next move and where she would be living.

According to her, it all started Tuesday night when she warned her son about using out her boxes of match. Her 29-year-old son, Rockwell Pilgrim, who works nowhere and contributes nothing to the home, has a regular habit to use things in the house.

The mother said that she

was adamant when she told her son that he should look for a job instead of constantly heading to the interior and returning empty-handed.

No argument or confusion was made over the matches, as her son ate his dinner and retired to bed.

Yesterday morning, she said that her son, who is sometimes delusional, woke up talking about “the worms in his belly.”

Philomena BobbPilgrim said that she could not recall her son telling her about worms in his belly and he became upset and started talking about the incident the night before. She said he then started to talk about Obama sending angels to protect him.

Knowing it's a regular occurrence for her son to say weird things, the mother said she paid no attention but hurried her granddaughter to leave the home.

Pilgrim had not reached far from her security job at Eccles when she said that a neighbour called her cell phone and broke the news.

“Right away I stop the bus and jump in another one to go back home. From the road

Philomena Bobb-Pilgrim surrounded by some of her kids and grandkids in front of their burnt out home

I saw the black smoke. When I see the fire, my knees buckle.”

The mother related that

the upstairs of her house was completely gone while the fire was making its way to the bottom flat which was

already blackened by the thick smoke. Neighbours tried to out the fire using buckets and other containers

but they were unsuccessful.

The fire tender, she said, arrived on the scene, but by (continued on page 7)

Page 4

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

That retirement age For years now Guyanese have been contending that the age of retirement should be raised. Public servants retire at 55, members of the judiciary retire at 60, and still a few others are allowed to retire at 65.

This has been the case for years but these days with people living longer and given the brain drain that has been robbing the country of its skills there is this call for the age of retirement to be raised.

We have seen the government being forced to rehire retired persons because there are simply not enough of skilled people to undertake certain duties within the public service.

One classic case is that of the legal draughtsman. Mr Cecil Dhurjon is into his eighties but he is not allowed to retire because he simply does not have a replacement. He had offered to retire on a few occasions but the administration begged him to stay on and he has.

What is interesting, though, is the fact that the government through its Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, concluding that the society does not want the retirement age to change. She is basing her contention on the fact that people simply do not want to wait until age 65 to collect their National Insurance Scheme old age pension.

When the scheme came into existence in 1969, the architects recognized that the age of retirement was 55 so they concluded that five years after retirement the individual would begin to collect his old age pension. And indeed, because of the nature of the society people who attained the age of 60 were made to feel old.

Indeed, there were those who simply left the public service and plied their trade in the private sector. But back then there was no paucity of skills so the older person had to make way for the younger generation.

A recent survey found that Guyana has lost about eighty per cent of its university graduates and those from the other tertiary institutions. It has already lost almost all of its skilled teachers and nurses to the extent that the recruits are being asked to undertake jobs way beyond them. The result is substandard delivery to the extent that there has been a mad drive to offer contracts to people who have already retired.

It was the then President Bharrat Jagdeo who when asked about the need to recruit foreigners when there was a need to reroute the sewerage in the vicinity of the Pegasus, said that Guyana had lost its capacity to do the job.

This was not necessarily true because that was a job that could have been undertaken by a number of contractors.

Ms Teixeira, responding to a question in parliament, recently, spoke of the rejection of the decision that would allow people to collect their NIS old age pension at age 65.

She said that this rejection is a clear indication that people are happy to retire at 55.

But the truth is that people look forward to what they consider their money having made their contributions over the years.

It has nothing to do with the age of retirement.

Were the government to conduct a referendum to ascertain what the age of retirement should be it might find a very interesting development.

The issue of the NIS and the recommendations by the Actuary should not be confused with an adjustment in the age of retirement. One is about people seeking to collect their money that they had saved over the years, the other is about being able to contribute.

If as Ms Teixeira suggested that people wanted to retire at age 55 there would not have been so many retirees knocking on the doors of the private enterprises. And they are gobbled up. The private schools are a classic case in point as are some of the services that seek retired policemen and retired soldiers.

What may find favour with the people whom Ms Teixeira says don’t want to work beyond age 55 is a clause that states that once someone is employed then that person cannot collect his or her NIS old age pension.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Letters... Where your views make the news

GTUC calls on stakeholders, civil society and civic-minded individuals to support PPP’s outreach DEAR EDITOR, The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) welcomes the PPP’s administration extended hand to the international community for support in what it considers threats to the “constitution, parliamentary norms and conventions and the Standing Order of the National Assembly.”

The GTUC calls on stakeholders, members of civil society and civic-minded individuals to support the PPP’s outreach. For whereas in the past the PPP viewed international observation of said nature as unwelcomed, it bodes well to note that Guyana as a member of the Human Family stands to benefit from the attention of the international community whose mandate is premised on laws, declarations, conventions and charters, the principles of which are enshrined in the Guyana Constitution.

The Guyana Constitution at Article 13 expressly states, “The political objective of the political system of the State is to establish an inclusionary democracy by providing increasing opportunities for the participation of citizens, and their organizations in the management and decisionmaking processes of the State, with particular emphasis on those areas of decision-making that directly affect their wellbeing.”

The underpinning of this objective is premised on the Rights and Freedoms of individuals and their organisations to selfdetermination established on universal principles of equality and dignity.

Said principles are enshrined in the United Nations Covenants on Civil, Political, Social and Economic Rights; the Organisation of America States’ The Rights of Man; and CARICOM Charter of Civil Society.

And if it requires the adult in the room being someone of external extraction and/or affiliation to bring attention to the principle of self determination which is in our hands but ignored, then the government outreach offers possibilities for new opportunities.

For it should be said a complaint is best addressed when the conciliator or arbiter (in this instance the international community) is armed with the requisite tools, inclusive of all the instruments applicable in system of governance and that of the international community, and ensuring the accused and other stakeholders are heard.

Guyana’s parliamentary (legislative) democracy is no different than others wherein this branch while sharing oversight and co-relationship with the Executive and Judicial branches is also allowed independence and

autonomy in its day to day management, and of which such powers and responsibilities are expressly outlined in the Constitution.

Also, our laws give the presidency to the party with the highest amount of votes, who together with a team forms the Executive.

To the National Assembly seats are allotted to political parties based on stipulated formula which creates the possibility for the opposition to have control of the House.

This is our reality and the parties were cognisant of the possibilities they were getting into.

As such the attempts now to de-legitimize a process or branch of government in an effort to continue acts of vengeance, dominance, discrimination and poor governance are infantile and must stop.

The opposition parliamentary control is constitutional, be it one-seat or otherwise; equally as the votes that secured executive control, be it minority or otherwise.

The elections are over, the people have spoken and it’s time to address governance in a serious and forthright manner with the three branches of government (legislature, executive and judiciary) held to standards consistent with the Constitution.

The 2011 elections present a new opportunity to

advance governance of a national character, i.e. inclusionary democracy, and the moment must be seized.

A political grouping does not have to be in control of the National Assembly and/or the Executive to advance programmes on behalf of the people with their involvement and support, and the politicians must be cognisant of this reality. For the spirit and intent of conventions, declarations, laws and charters were never to allow the tyranny of the majority or minority, they are for us to work together to advance common goals in an environment of mutual respect.

The administration shall be given the opportunity to prove its seriousness as the nation watches for signs that allow the voice of reason to prevail and mechanisms established to ensure the respect for international principles, our constitution, parliamentary democracy and the will of the people.

The GTUC stands ready to give its support to any and all who desire upholding these principles which are critical to advancing the nation’s development and the people’s collective wellbeing, equally as it remains committed to hold accountable those who violate them.

Lincoln Lewis General Secretary

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

Hats off to one of our finest politicians The PNC has always been afraid DEAR EDITOR, We live in an age here in Guyana when persons are hindered one way or the other in giving their honest points of view.

It would appear depending on location/s one is not free to give his/her honest feeling on things current or past, but I want to break the shackles that imprison people’s minds to being “Yes people”.

Toward this end I must highlight a wonderful woman who has been a politician for almost all her adult life. I know, because she lived in the same Village and Street where I resided as a youth.

This woman is hated by many despite her kindness and sacrifices made for several communities around the length and breadth of Guyana. To me, she is a star that shines in difficult times for those who need relief and light.

However, some have bitten this very hand that fed them, have created strife, threatened her and even fire-bombed her residence, yet she continues to soldier on fearlessly.

Supporting all the communities she has targeted for improvement, she is the National head of the Community Development Council. She manages groups in places like Linden, Buxton, Agricola, Sophia and many more. She penetrates racial, religious and political barriers

to accomplish her goals; her office is one of the few public offices that persons can visit freely and get help as individuals, family and community.

She is a woman of grace and mercy, never flinches under pressure, and is able to verbally contend for herself in a very fiery manner.

We n e e d t o g i v e flowers while people are alive and kicking and should not wait until one passes away and then turn the compliments that are for the living into a eulogy.

Mrs Philomena SahoyeShury is a woman among women, a community activist that I can compare t o a j u s t f e w. S h e possesses a passion and exuberance that brings laughter and joy to her face when those who had been in distress are helped.

I am grateful that Mrs Sahoye-Shury doesn’t look for personal glory and only boasts when those she sets out to assist are made comfortable.

I would urge all the Community Development Councils around Guyana to pay tribute to this living legend.

About the community where I live, Mrs SahoyeShury has aided personally with development/ improvement.

She is disappointed when targets are not met and would

DEAR EDITOR, While Christmas is a festive season that represents peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind, our sympathy goes out to all those who have lost loved ones during the year. We are still all in shock at the senseless murders of young men such as Shaquille Grant (Agricola), Dameon Belgrave (Pouderoyen), the three Linden Martyrs; Shemroy Bouyea, Ron Somerset and Allan Lewis and others who were cut down in the prime of their lives.

In the midst of their collective grief, the mothers, fathers and relatives of all those slain in contentious circumstances must continue to hope that good is coming to the land and know that they are not alone in their pain and sadness. As concerned Guyanese, we urge the government to make sure that justice be done so that the parents and relatives of the slain could have closure.

Today, twelve months after the inauguration of a new President, the poor and

the working class are no closer on the journey out of poverty.

We call on the government to heed the wishes of the people by paying greater attention to their needs.

In this festive season, we pray for the prosperity of all Guyanese and for commonsense and understanding to prevail in their actions. We also pray for peace and goodwill toward all and for love towards each other. Perhaps the holidays will give our national leaders a chance to reflect on a national plan that is inclusive, so that they can make better personal choices in 2013 to manifest that year into one of healing, atonement and success for all.

A peaceful and joyous Christmas to all. Our fervent wish in this season is that all will put their shoulder to the wheel to develop and build Guyana so that all, not only a selected few can share in the bounties of prosperity.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

The holidays should be for healing and atonement

let words fly as she gives vent to her disappointment.

She continues to looks for ways that will better the lives of the aged and young.

She soldiers on; replacing the zinc sheets on the roof of a senior citizen, attending funerals, organizing medical clinics, and officiating in the launching of non government organizations, purchasing water tanks, making monetary inputs to the playfield and basketball courts.

Hats off to one of our finest politicians, the Lord bless you with longer life.

Ivan John

of an independent judiciary

DEAR EDITOR, Allow me to make some comments on Mr. Mark Archer’s latest letter, published in the Kaieteur News on December 19, 2012 under the caption “AG’s continuous run to the courts is habitual”.

Mr. Archer is a well know APNU member and activist, and it is no secret that APNU has been consistently violating the constitution, both inside and outside parliament. It is not only the AG’s constitutional and democratic right, but also his constitutional duty and

responsibility to move to the High Court whenever he believes the constitution has been violated. Under the constitution of Guyana, it is the High Court that has exclusive jurisdictional responsibility in dealing with constitutional matters.

Mr. Archer’s letter, therefore, represents a clear attack on the independence of the judiciary and the integrity of the Hon. Chief Justice, Mr. Ian Chang who is tasked with the responsibility of hearing and determining the case brought by the AG on behalf of the Minister of

Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee. Letters of this nature are nothing but deliberate attempts by the opposition, directed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary and must be condemned for what they are.

It is no secret that the PNC has always been afraid of an independent Judiciary.

I encourage the Attorney General to continue accessing the Court to preserve the rule of law and to challenge Constitutional Violations, irrespective of who commits them.

Shyam Doodnauth

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

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

Linden TV deception and minority democracy DEAR EDITOR, I have a few observations and questions about this ridiculous situation regarding all agreements with the people of Linden, but especially with regard to the transfer of the TV station to them. To do this properly, people need to understand the sequence of events as they occurred and my reaction to them: 1. On July 18th 2012 there was a protest at the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge

and approximately 30 people were shot, 3 of whom died, there was international and national outcry against this use of excessive force.

2. The protest continued until the 21st of August 2012 when the government signed an agreement. The terms of the agreement as far as television service was concerned was item 3 of the overall agreement as follows: 3. Television in Region 10: a) The Government and Region 10 agree as follows:

i) That the dish and transmitter that were given to the Linden Community will be given to Region 10 Regional Democratic Council. The dish and transmitter should be transferred to the Region within 14 days of the signing of this Agreement. ii) That it was agreed that Region 10 will apply for a broadcasting licence and the Government will facilitate the granting of that licence in keeping with the law.

4. The expected transfer was never made and the Lindeners were instead instructed to apply to the National Frequency Management Unit [NFMU] for the licence to operate, but the understanding was that 14 days after the signing of the agreement the dish and the channel 13 transmitter would be given to the Linden community and that thereafter they would apply for a licence.

The Lindeners, notwithstanding that they were not given the transmitter or the Dish within the agreed 14 days, applied to the NFMU along with their broadcast plan and the

technical specifications of the installation, all of which were submitted to the NFMU by the end of August 2012. They never heard from the NFMU again!

The promised transmitter and the Dish had still not been handed over to the Lindeners as of December 17th 2012, when the agreement required that it should have been handed over 14 days after August 21st 2012, i.e. by the 31st August 2012. It is now therefore overdue by more than 120 days.

5. This was gross deception on the Opposition negotiators, since 10 licences for radio were given by Bharrat Jagdeo in 2011 without the necessity of applying to the NFMU or the Broadcast Authority. In addition, the Learning Channel was put on the air in 2011 without application to any agency to do so.

Therefore during the talks leading to the August 21st agreement, the Opposition were coerced to accept a completely unacceptable Broadcast Authority since Gail Teixeira and Lumumba

told them that the Linden station could not be licenced any other way.

By agreeing to facilitate the Lindeners, the Opposition were deceived into accepting an unconstitutional Broadcast Authority which can never be impartial, independent or autonomous, and which would have never surfaced if the Linden issue did not arise.

The Opposition therefore now has a responsibility to undo this situation and I am happy to see that they have placed the Broadcast Authority Act high on their Parliamentary agenda when Parliament reconvenes. This unconstitutional, biased Broadcast Authority must be repealed immediately.

6.

Monday 10th December, the Regional Chairman of Region 10, Sharma Solomon, received a letter from the National Broadcasting Authority signed by Bibi Shadick instructing him to apply to the broadcast authority for permission to broadcast in Linden.

This is completely contrary to the agreement the

government and the Lindeners signed on August 21st, and is therefore a political matter way above the head of Shadick. The PPP has once again repudiated one more aspect of the Linden/ Government of Guyana agreement of 21st August 2012.

At all times we must be aware that we cannot have any sort of verbal or written agreement with the PPP, they will not honour it. The Dialogue, the CommuniquĂŠ and countless other examples exist which demonstrate that the PPP cannot be relied on to honour any agreement.

7. In the meantime this unconstitutional authority has begun the process of persecuting the other local broadcasters who are not sympathetic to the PPP; and are acting in a completely partisan manner, demonstrating that they can never be trusted to be impartial, independent and autonomous. Any TV or radio station not sympathetic to the PPP will be penalised for the most trivial infraction. This is called minority democracy.

Tony Vieira

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

CJIA runway in excellent condition - says Aviation Director

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is equipped with a runway that is in excellent condition, said Director of Aviation Safety Regulation, Paula McAdam.

She expressed her conviction that “there is no fault that I can put on the runway at Timehri.”

She was at the time commenting on the Caribbean Airlines crash at CJIA last year which rendered one person an amputee when the aircraft went skidding off the runway.

McAdam is currently a part of a team that is working to finalise a report on the tragic incident which had raised several questions about the CJIA runway.

She related during an interview that a draft of the report has already been completed.

There has also been a meeting with the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB).

According to McAdam, “they made some comments and we are still working to finalise the report.”

She said that the Timehri runway is considered a bit

Paula McAdam short but it is more than adequate for the aircraft type that crashed at CJIA. Moreover this is one of the areas that the local aviation team has been examining, t h e Av i a t i o n D i r e c t o r added.

On July 30, 2011, a CAL Boeing 737-800 aircraft crash landed at the local airport shortly after midnight.

The aircraft, which overshot the runway, stopped short of a ravine, its nose cone

Son torches mother's ...

From page 3 then, it was too late. Everything was gone.

Yesterday, the mother, her children and grandchild were going through the rubble to see what could be salvaged.

Bobb-Pilgrim's son is however being detained at the La Grange Police Station. The mother said her son was arrested while walking over the Demerara Harbour Bridge.

The man pulled out a knife in resistance of the police. He was however subdued and taken to the police station.

For about 47 years, Pilgrim said she had been living at Lot 22 Samaroo Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara. Her husband passed away several years ago and she had been struggling ever since, com-

pleting the house they had started as a couple and raising the children they parented.

Her son and his girlfriend occupied the bottom flat of the house while she and her granddaughter lived upstairs.

Michelle Pilgrim, one of the eldest daughters, said that the family is shocked and deeply saddened since they never expected that their brother would do such a thing. While small offers are being made to the family, they would accept any assistance handed out.

Ms Pilgrim said that she has been a sickly woman for over 30 years. When she should be preparing for that stage of relaxation in her life, Pilgrim is now worrying about starting all over again.

segment breaking off.

The incident was described as “a miracle landing” as all 163 people aboard—including six crew members—survived.

A number of people were taken to hospital, and Guyana health authorities reported that three people had to be admitted for treatment. One passenger later had to have a leg amputated.

Subsequent news reports from Guyana and in the Wall Street Journal alleged pilot error.

This view has been substantiated by McAdam who categorically noted that “that the airport is adequate to take this aircraft so there was nothing wrong with the runway...it is grooved, there was no standing water, it was well lit, it was well marked as it should be marked...it was even marked with reflective paint so there is no fault that I can put on the runway at Timehri,” she insisted.

A final report on the crash-landing is outstanding almost 18 months after the incident but there are reports that it is expected early next year.

But according to McAdam the highly anticipated report would in fact require input from the oversight Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for CAL which is based in Trinidad.

“We are waiting for that but the investigation is going very well if I do say so myself...”

This view was forthcoming even as she reflected on an American Airline accident in Jamaica which occurred about six months before the crash in Guyana.

A report on that incident is yet to be completed, McAdam said, adding that “until you actually get involved with writing an accident report of that magnitude it is only then that you can appreciate what you have to do.”

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 9

WHAT DID THE COURT OF APPEAL ORDER? It came as something of a surprise to have read the claim that the Court of Appeal awarded a radio license to Vieira Communications Limited.

The media reports on that decision were quite adamant that the Court of Appeal declined to order the grant of the radio license.

The reports indicated that while VCT had asked the Court to order the NFMU to issue it with a radio license forthwith, the Court reasoned that there were technicalities involving such decision, noting that it (the Court) lacked the expertise to make such an evaluation.

It was therefore something of a shock to have read the claim that the Court of Appeal awarded a radio license to the appellant.

Perhaps, it is time for the record to be clarified. What did the Court really order?

That decision of course was not a landmark decision.

It merely followed the precedent set in the historic ruling by Justice Ian Chang who had earlier ordered that the applications of television licenses be expeditiously considered, after having conceded that no one has an absolute right to a license.

This ruling that no one had an absolute right to a license was a principle that was observed by the Privy

Council in two rulings dealing with freedom of expression, one in The Observer Case and the other in a case appealing a decision of the Court of Appeal in Trinidad and Tobago.

Commercial law does allow for persons to sell their interests in property.

However one cannot sell what one does not have and therefore it is hard to see how another company could have acquired the interest to a license when no license was ever issued. However, the sale may have included a clause dealing with prospective interests.

The claim therefore by one of the companies that was licensed just before the former President demitted office that in acquiring VCT it had bought prospective rights to that company’s radio license, needs closer examination.

While theoretically someone can buy rights and interests, including prospective rights and interests, when it comes to the grant of a radio license, it would seem strange that the licensing authority would grant a company under new ownership a license based on the application of the previous owner.

Surely, if the principle is that no one has an absolute right to a license, the change of ownership ought to be a material consideration in the

Dem boys seh ...

De bandits assembling at Brazzy den Every gang got a den. Is only gangsters does got a den.

Raja de Khan had he den; Rodrigues had he den; Fine Man had he den; Ali Baba had a den and now Brazzy got a den.

Manny got one too. If you don’t know what is a den let dem boys tell you.

A den is a hideout wheh gangsters does guh fuh plan dem next move. Dem have a special code fuh enter suh not everybody can go in.

Nuff people get kill when dem try fuh enter Fine man den just like Raja de Khan den.

Brazzy den wa deh pun Lamaha Street doesn’t open daytime. Is nuff wining does tek place deh. And all of dem who does go deh just like Dracula. Dem done suck de country dry.

When dem guh to de den now is fuh plan more move. And when dem done plan dem mouth red like Dracula when he drink blood. Is only that dem does drink wine.

Ash Knee, Brazzy and Gerry had a private meeting in a room in de den de other night. It had to do wid some payment fuh some property that Brazzy give away to Gerry. De Rat been deh just de other day and he meet Donald. He is a regular to this den.

A lot of de proceeds and dem deals that dem mek got to pass through. Is not only now dem boys know bout de deal and de kickback dem get from de stelling.

Brazzy does collect all and then he does summon a meeting at de den to discuss how dem gun silence Donald.

That is why Donald stop going deh.

Dem boys put in a microphone and camera fuh listen and see everything. That is how dem boys know bout de plot fuh silence Donald.

Christmas coming and dem boys got many wishes fuh dem. Today dem boys wish dem drink de wine and get choke and fall down.

Talk half and give dem more wine.

grant of a license, more so since there was a previous policy ruling that licenses were not transferable.

It therefore needs to be clarified whether the new owners of VCT were issued a licensed based on an application by the previous owner of owners of VCT. The NFMU should clarify to whom it granted the license and whether the licensed specified limitations on others either acquiring or selling rights to this license.

At the time when the grant of the radio license was announced, some ten companies were said to have been selected for the issuance of licenses.

But what about those companies that had also applied and not informed about the status of their applications?

Surely, the implication of the decisions in local cases was that all applications should be expeditiously considered.

If some were considered and others simply left to languish, then it opens the process to criticisms of arbitrariness and possible legal challenges.

Even though there is now a new broadcasting law and a new authority to consider applications, it is possible for the licenses granted under the old law to be challenged

and possibly annulled on the basis that they involved an arbitrary process. But that would have to be established as a question of fact in a court of law.

Now that we have a new Broadcast Law which creates a National Broadcasting Authority, it is incumbent to avoid any controversies as to all outstanding applications, more so since they have asked that the old applicants reapply.

As such the fate of the old applicants is in the hands of the authority. But surely there has to be a better way for licenses to be granted.

Instead of the present

system, the authority should determine the number of radio licenses that are desirable and the geographic spread and nature of these licenses and then simply auction off these licenses.

This would remove the allegations of favoritism and cronyism in the grant of licenses and remove also the problems associated with the same of prospective interests in radio licenses.

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===

Guyana was an enigma for the post 60s generation and from the 70s onwards it remains so for those born into this country. What is it about Guyana the past sixty years that has stultified it? What is about Guyana that it was a more developed state in 1960 than Malaysia but has been left behind by so many territories that came from far behind to eclipse it?

Outside of the ravages of civil war, is there a city in the entire world that is as stink as Georgetown? Do you know that fifteen years ago the then

High Commissioner of Canada went to UG to deliver a talk to a class in International Relations and as he walked into the classroom, on looking at the surroundings, he exclaimed; “This place is dirty.”

I was standing right next to him. If you bring back that gentleman to Guyana and he sees the environmental conditions of UG fifteen years after he made that remark and you walk him around Georgetown, that man is bound to say that Guyana is a complete failure as a viable society.

It is not that the mountains of garbage are left to rot, it is that more dirty sites are appearing. I have been jogging in the National Park for years now and I see that a huge pile of smelly garbage has taken up residence near the junction of Albert Street and Woolford Avenue.

The landscape of miasmic garbage is expanding in the city. How do you explain that in the 21st century, a government is embarking on funding a Marriot Hotel and is completely incapacitated in cleaning its capital city?

Pedestrian killed by out-of-control tractor With a mere 11 more days before the year ends, the country’s road fatality figure seems to have a race with time as yet another pedestrian lost his life as a result of an accident.

Forty-one year old Razeem Khan, of Lesbeholden, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, was killed by an out-of-control tractor on the Lesbeholden Public Road around 06:30 hours yesterday.

According to the police, investigations revealed that

the tractor was proceeding along the roadway and was in the process of negotiating a turn, when it is alleged that the steering wheel malfunctioned and the driver lost control of the vehicle which struck Khan.

From all indications, Khan died on the spot. The driver of the tractor is in police custody assisting with the investigations.

Meanwhile, Ramlakhan Samaroo, 67, of Novar, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, who was involved

in an accident at Mahaicony Park, on December 10, last, while a passenger in a motorcar, succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation about 16:30 hours on Tuesday.

A post-mortem examination which was performed on his body yesterday by Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, revealed that Samaroo died of a fractured spine and other injuries.

Investigations are continuing.

For over thirty-five years Guyana (not Georgetown but the entire country) has endured electricity disruptions. So the post-80 generation must have asked itself when would the blackouts come to an end.

Those born after 1990 have to suffer what those born in the eighties have experienced in their growing up years. What is it about Guyana that electricity outages which began at the beginning of the eighties are still plaguing us in 2012?

My daughter studied for her Common Entrance examination in blackouts.

This was when she was ten.

Today in December 2012, she is at UG and blackouts are tormenting her and have been terrorizing her since she entered UG four years ago.

Since the week began we have been getting electricity disruptions at Turkeyen (near to the great Caricom Secretariat, the great Convention Centre, the great Aquatic Centre and the imminent great upper income housing scheme of Eddie Boyer) not for two hours but twelve.

On Monday, it lasted fourteen hours.

You are not going to believe what I am about to write

but please do because life is about strange occurrences.

Because Turkeyen (the part where I live) is an area of darkness I stopped buying ice cream. This was about three years ago because the ice cream would melt when GPL stopped our electricity supply.

Do you know after three years when was the day I resumed buying ice cream?

Brace yourself for life’s strangeness.

On Monday morning, going home after my morning exercise in the National Park, I stopped at the supermarket and bought the largest tub of ice cream (two-litre). On that very day at 9 A.M blackouts came and lasted until 10 P.M. the same night. The ice cream melted.

My daughter is studying for her exams and the electricity madness is on. On Tuesday night, she came up to me in the study. I had a torchlight over my personal telephone book looking for a number.

She asked; “Papa, when you were at UG under Burnham did you get blackouts when you were studying?” I immediately answered in the negative. I entered UG in 1974 and

Frederick Kissoon graduated without outages undermining my studies. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

What is wrong with this country? How can you treat citizens like this in the Christmas season? My wife works. She comes home in the afternoon, so we do our Christmas cleaning in the evenings. We can’t anymore.

There are no lights in the night where I live. How can a country’s authorities fail to monitor the traffic signals at the time of the year when the streets are overflowing with traffic?

I have written about this over and over. In December 2012, I am writing about it again. In the holiday season, the traffic signals all over Georgetown have stopped working. Go and see the resulting madness for yourself. Guyana is one of civilization’s enduring tragedies.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Pomeroon boat tragedy ...

Pres. Ramotar to assist relatives The relatives of the six persons who died Tuesday evening following a boat collision at Abrams Creek,in the Upper Pomeroon River, had none other than President Donald Ramotar travelling to their community to offer his condolence.

Accompanying the President were several Government officials, including Ministers.

Ramotar met with the relatives at Siriki, in the Upper Pomeroon, yesterday and promised them that the Government while saddened by the tragic loss of an entire family will assist in some way.

The dead were identified as Vincent Singh,42, Harry Narine Bhagwandeen, Amerita Singh, 10, Rajkumar, 14, Zelda Rodriguez, 50, and one of her two sons, Sean Rodriguez, all of Abrams Creek in the Upper Pomeroon River.

Both the 10-year-old and her 14-year old brother were traveling to their Uncle Vincent Singh’s residence at Abrams Creek when tragedy struck. Bhagwandeen and Vincent are cousins.

Initial reports stated that a boat belonging to the

Region Two Administration was returning from a trip to St.Monica when it collided with a boat driven by Bhagwandeen.

The impact hurled Bhagwandeen’s boat some distance which eventually ended up into some mangrove plants, resulting in the deaths of six of seven passengers who were in Bhagwandeen’s boat.

The lone survivor of the crash, 12-year-old Eli Orlando, is said to be in a critical condition at the Suddie Public Hospital. All of the dead sustained head injuries.

The children’s mother, Beverly Johnson, said that her two young children were going to spend some time with their uncle, Vincent Singh, who had returned from the interior after four months.

Vincent has one daughter.

An inconsolable Johnson said that the most hurtful part was when the Region’s boat failed to render assistance to the injured.

At boat driver Harry Narine’s home his mother was inconsolable as well. She shared warm memories with Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.

Amerita Singh

Rajkumar Singh Bhagwandeen who apparently died instantly, was returning to his Abrams Creek residence accompanied by his cousin, Vincent Singh.

His mother said his engine was spinning when the boat ran over and crashed into some mangroves at Abrams Creek.

Bhagwandeen was piloting a 150 Hsp while Buddie, the driver of the Regional boat, was piloting a vessel with a 200HP engine.

He remains in custody.

Harry Narine Bhagwadeen Reports are that the Region’s boat was transporting members of the One Lap Top Per Family to Charity. It was raining heavily when the collision occurred.

Karen Harris, Bhagwandeen’s reputed wife, said that she last saw her husband three months ago

and had made several calls to him on Tuesday evening but didn’t get a response.

Harris, a Primary School teacher at the Santa Rosa Primary School, said that her husband was hard working and was the sole provider for his family.

Minister Robeson Benn,

Chairman Parmanand Persaud, Junior Agriculture Minister Ali Baksh, Vishnu Samaroo, Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud, former Region Six Chairman Zulphifar Mustapha, and Amerindian Minister Pauline Suhkai were there to offer their condolences.

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Thursday December 20, 2012

AG report confirms Severe penalty for those guilty fraud at City Hall of false declaration - GRA Boss After months of investigations into fraud allegations at City Hall, Minister of Local Government, Ganga Persaud, and Commissioner of Police, Leroy Brumell, are now in possession of the Auditor General’s findings, says a senior official of the Audit Office.

Speaking on the basis of anonymity, the official noted that the report was sent to both offices last week.

The report corroborates most of the financial irregularities highlighted in the Gaskin report and recommends serious disciplinary actions against several officers including the Town Clerk Yonette Pluck, City Treasurer Andrew Meredith, and City Engineer Gregory Erskine.

During the middle of this year a report prepared by Ramon Gaskin, who was part of an investigating team headed by Keith Burrowes, compiled a report showing serious financial irregularities at City Hall.

The report led to investigations by the Audit Office and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Guyana Police Force.

Town Clerk, Yonette Pluck

City Engineer, Gregory Erskine

In addition, six senior officers, Town Clerk-Yonette Pluck, Treasurer-Andrew Meredith, City EngineerGregory Erskine,PersonnelOfficer —Paulette Braithwaite, Assistant Town Clerk- Harry Munroe and Solid Waste Manager-Hubert Urling were sent on leave.

According to the official of the Audit Office, while serious disciplinary actions have been recommended against Pluck, Meredith and Erskine there is a possibility

that the other officers will also face disciplinary actions.

The official said that the Audit Office found instances of fraud. Monies from the sale of the old incinerator cannot be accounted for and the City Engineer “did some contract works that were not above the board.” According to the Source, the police will have to determine what actions they will take after studying the report submitted by the Audit Office.

Although measures have been put in place to revolutionise the services offered by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Commissioner General, Mr Khurshid Sattaur, is convinced that there are yet persons who are bent on trying to outsmart the system.

He was at the time referring to moves by some individuals to import commercial items as personal effects. He explained during an interview that some revolutionary changes were made in the administrative procedure as these relate to the importation of items.

These changes now allow for a smoother system.

“We have separated commercial items from personal effects and we have put a wonderful system in place that expedites personal effects...Of course there are some people who still want to be smart and bring their commercial importation as personal effects,” Sattaur disclosed.

However, he assured that GRA has strategic measures in place to deal with such situations. “I don’t want to say how (publicly) because these are sensitive matters but we have been dealing with them effectively. We have been finding out about those people who have been bringing their commercial imports disguised as personal effects and we have been dealing with them,” Sattaur insisted.

Once caught making a false declaration, the GRA boss said, persons are in fact faced with a very severe penalty. The existing system, he explained, is in place to facilitate all including the ordinary citizens of the country who sometimes have to depend on a barrel or personal consignment of goods made available by overseas-based relatives.

Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur Sattaur said, “We find it unconscionable of people to be using that system to engage in business.”

As part of its quest to improve the system, Sattaur said that GRA has entirely removed the function of goods examination as it relates to the importation of small items. He noted though that GRA has the prerogative to determine through a random selection process or risk profiling system that an examination should take place.

Turning his attention to large items, the Commissioner General said that GRA has taken out altogether this examination mandate that was once required of Customs.

This process, he explained, has now devolved into a new section which is called the Goods Examination Unit. “That is a separate unit outside of the management of Customs and I think it has worked wonderfully well...Customs does not do examinations,” The Goods Examination Unit is complemented by another novel idea introduced by GRA which is called the Lottery. The Lottery System, Sattaur said, is one

where a computer automatically determines on a weekly basis which containers that come through the system would need an examination. This, he said, is done under the watchful eyes of Customs officials and others within other relevant units of the GRA who are trained in such undertakings.

Sattaur said that the Private Sector is also invited to be a part of this critical activity in order to ensure that there is full transparency in the process.

“I think a lot of countries should look at these systems because they help to significantly improve on transaction time and expediting business in this country. A lot of times these things are not heard about ...people just want to turn a blind eye to them but there have been massive changes that have helped with the clearance of goods at the wharves, expediting of the entry processing of document and therefore rendered Guyana a country that is very business friendly,” asserted the Commissioner General.

He is confident that the implementation of the various measures and even more by GRA could in fact serve to halt the root cause of corruption which has the potential of undermining the system and force people to be more transparent.

According to Sattaur, transparency is not only confined to the work of GRA but also to taxpayers, some of whom, do not take pride in keeping records, fail to adhere to systems and who are of the view that bribery to expedite a process would not see them being caught eventually. “We have our ways and means of detecting those kinds of individuals and those types of transactions,” Sattaur warned.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

Patients and staff gather around the Christmas tree, shortly after it was lit

Even the mentally-ill among us should be aware of the holidays during this special season of Christmas.

On Wednesday evening, the National Psychiatric Hospital (NPH) in Berbice held a special Christmas tree lighting up ceremony on the hospital grounds.

Patients and staff gathered around the gigantic tree, sang carols and exchanged greetings for the season. A patient was even

NPH patients experience first Christmas tree light-up

bold enough to dress up as Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and held a baby- like figure in her arms during the singing of ‘Away in a Manger’.

Then the countdown began and the lights were turned on, and attracted applause from the patients.

Administrator of the NPH, Mrs Leila Clarke-Daniels expressed gratitude to Home Designs of Princess Elizabeth Road, New Amsterdam.

That entity is headed by

Dwayne Ferdinand. The administrator thanked him for graciously building the tree in the hospital’s compound. Steel and other materials were used.

She also thanked her staff for working assiduously in decorating the structure so that it would have had that extra-special Christmas look.

It was a simple yet special event because it showed that extra effort was made to make even the mentally ill feel the joys of this wonderful season.

Govt. not afraid of probes by Audit Office Government is not afraid of its contracts and works being scrutinized by Audit Office. As a matter of fact, Government supports the efforts of the Audit Office to clean up areas that need it.

“We in the government are not averse to the audit office working diligently, professionally and moving to clean up areas of concern to government because we believe that the taxpayers’ money… the people’s money must be spent in the interest of the country and those whom we serve. It’s only when you have checks and balances coming from an important office as (the Auditor General’s) can we feel safe.”

The statement was made recently by Dr. Nanda Gopaul, Minister of Labour, who was at the time speaking at the Audit Office of Guyana Annual Staff Conference and Social 2012.

A government statement yesterday, reporting on the event, quoted Gopaul as telling staffers that his government fully supports the work of the Audit Office

- Labour Minister and efforts to enhance transparency in public accounting and spending of taxpayers’ dollars.

He noted that over the years Government has made significant strides in improving the conditions at the Audit Office to better facilitate the smooth flow of work and transparency.

“The autonomy the Audit Office has in Guyana is second to none in any part of the Caribbean and even when you look at the Commonwealth; you may find very few have that degree of autonomy. “ A d d i t i o n a l l y, the Auditor G e n e r a l ’s independence is preserved in the Constitution of Guyana, so much so that he is answerable to absolutely no one. In his functioning, he’s under the control of no one and that must be seen as a sign of a healthy democracy.”

The Minister noted that the evidence of this lies in the timely, consistent and

meaningful reports from the Office of the Auditor General over the past two decades, as opposed to reports reflecting years of no audits.

The Minister noted that the Auditor General’s recent reports have been criticised for not being insightful and examining issues thoroughly. “(There are) a few critics who will want to find faults and bore holes in the audit reports and who want to question the independence and the integrity of these report...Perhaps these critics would like to see a report not based on facts and evidence, but being critical for criticism sake… We can never satisfy everyone, but we work based on our professionalism, integrity and issues that we have to deal with consistent with the nature of our jobs.

“Once you pursue your tasks in that diligent and professional way, even though criticisms will come your way from time to time, at (continued on page 18)

Thursday December 20, 2012

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Kaieteur News

Supenaam stelling designer rocked by …Bangladeshi Government corruption accusations accuses exec. of bribery A unit of SNC Lavalin Group Inc. said on Wednesday that a senior executive left the company earlier this month, just ahead of corruption accusations by Bangladeshi authorities, according to a report in the Globe and Mail newspaper.

B a n g l a d e s h ’s A n t i Corruption Commission has accused Kevin Wallace, former president of SNC’s Candu Energy Inc nuclear power unit, with conspiring to bribe Government officials, the newspaper said, citing a commission report.

Wallace, previously a project manager at SNC overseeing mining and industry projects, resigned from the Montreal-based company in early December, a Reuters report said yesterday.

In a brief press release, Candu said that on December 10, that Wallace had left the company and an acting president would fill his position until the board of directors appointed a new president.

SNC said on Wednesday

SNC Lavelin has been mired in corruption.

that it has not received a copy of the Bangladesh report and learned of the investigation through the media. The company also said it would not comment

on personal files of former employees, or their reasons for leaving the company.

Attempts to reach Wallace were unsuccessful.

The report is the latest

development in a mounting corruption scandal at SNC. Earlier this month, the company said it would suspend payments to its former chief executive,

following his arrest on fraud charges by Quebec police.

Pierre Duhaime left SNC in March after an internal probe found that he had authorized $56 million in company payments to unknown agents on projects that did not exist.

Quebec’s anti-corruption squad said in November that SNC’s former head of construction, Riadh Ben Aissa, faced the same charges as Duhaime.

Ben Aissa was arrested this spring in Switzerland.

According to media reports, Swiss police are investigating $139 million in payments to a Swiss bank account tied to contracts in Libya.

The Bangladesh probe is related to a bridge project, for which the World Bank withdrew a $1.2 billion line of credit in June, saying it had credible evidence of a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials.

Two former executives at SNC, which had bid to

supervise the contractor on the project, appeared in a Toronto court in July, accused of bribing officials in Bangladesh.

Ramesh Shah and Mohamed Ismail, were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in February following a 2011 raid on SNC’s office in Oakville, outside Toronto.

The Bangladesh anticorruption report recommends the prosecution of several Bangladeshi officials, as well as Wallace, Shah and Ismail, the Globe and Mail reported. Shares of SNC dropped 1.1 percent, or 45 Canadian cents, to C’dn$40.61 ($41.15) on the Toronto Stock Exchange at mid-session on Wednesday.

SNC Lavelin is the same company that helped design the Supenaam ferry stelling which suffered problems with its loading ramp in early 2010, causing government to spend millions more to fix.

T h e G u y a n a Government had ordered a probe but no single party was found guilty.

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Thursday December 20, 2012

Accused in 42 kilo cocaine bust walks free again Alleged cocaine dealer Narayan Jarbandhan, 40, of 11 Gordon Street, Kitty, was freed for a second time on a charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Hearing the matter was Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Whim Magistrate’s Court.

The Magistrate upheld defence no case submissions

by Attorney at Law Ramesh Rajkumar. The lawyer argued that the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit has no authority to institute such charge.

The case for the prosecution which was presented by CANU prosecutor Oswald Massiah was that around 06:00hrs on November 3, last year CANU agents swooped down on a location in the Crabwood Creek/Skeldon Line Path, Corentyne area.

There they held four men and recovered 41.856 kilogrammes (approximately 82 pounds) of cocaine which the men had for the purpose of trafficking. The drug is believed to have come through Guyana’s North West District and was en route to Suriname. The operation commenced after the area had been under surveillance for a few days.

The Magistrate stated that she had difficulty believing the testimony given by the Prosecution’s witnesses. Their evidences were unconvincing and not sufficient.

CANU has no authority to institute such charges - defence attorney Giving an unsworn statement from the dock, Jarbandhan had contended that he was picked up from an island in the Corentyne River and brought to BASS office on the Corentyne where he was beaten.

He was then taken to CANU office where he was again beaten. He had stated that he was taken to prison on remand, but the prison authorities had refused to accept him due to his injuries.

The suspect was then referred to the Georgetown Hospital.

The magistrate had thrown out both the written and oral statements given by the accused having concluded that the statements were not given freely and voluntarily.

Attorney Rajkumar submitted that his client was not present where and when the substance was seized. His client, he had contended, was picked up on an island. He also contended that there was no evidence that he was arrested to put a confrontation to him. The lawyer contended that his client cannot be arrested in the police station.

He then submitted that CANU has no authority to institute a charge of such nature.

Four men were charged on the first occasion with the

huge cocaine bust. The charge against three, Jarbandhan and Gary Belgrave, of Section ‘C’ Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara; and Leo Hernandez, of Block X Section ‘C’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara, was initially dismissed.

The fourth man, Salim Bacchus, of Crabwood Creek, whose name appeared on a separate docket, was tried and later freed.

He is now facing a charge of murder committed on Narcotics detective Constable Jirahan Diananand on September 14, last.

Charges were subsequently re instituted against the three who were freed, but only Jarbandhan was arrested and charged.

The other two men- Belgrave and Hernandez are still on the run.

Jarbandhan was charged with a similar offence stemming from a drug bust at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) while he was travelling to Canada, sometime during 2009.

He was convicted of trafficking in narcotics, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and fined $30,000 but has appealed the conviction. He is out on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.

Fourth suspected shootout gang member remanded to jail Zaheir Abdul, 22, the last of the four suspected bandits who were reportedly captured following a nightlong gun battle with police on December 9, last, has been charged and remanded to jail.

The shootout followed a foiled armed robbery on a residence in Betsy Ground East Canje. Three of the suspected bandits were shot and wounded.

Zaheir Abdul, 22, of New Scheme Adelphi, East Canje Berbice was the last to appear in court. Abdul appeared in court on Tuesday before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s court and was remanded to jail.

The man, like his three earlier criminal buddies, is on six charges.

According to prosecutor, Corporal Orin Joseph, on Sunday December 9, last, at Rose Hall, East Canje, Berbice, and while in company with others he discharged a

loaded firearm at police Cadet Officer Roger Pilgrim with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm.

He is also charged with discharging a loaded firearm at Police Corporal, Randy Hamilton, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm.

Another charge read that on the same day he discharged a loaded firearm at Doodnauth Moses with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm.

The suspect is also charged with being in possession of a firearm without being the holder of a firearm licence.

Another charge is that on the same day he was in possession of ammunition without being the holder of a relevant licence.

He is also charged with attempting to commit a felony.

He, like the others was refused bail and will return to court on 16-01-2013 at the

Reliance Magistrate’s court.

The three other men, Keshwar Harrinarine called “Bread”, 32, a hire car driver of Fyrish, Long Dam Corentyne, Berbice; Parmanand Joseph, 24, also a hire car driver of Johns, Corentyne, Berbice; and Deodat Seecharran, called “Pop Corn”, 20, of Edinburgh Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice were earlier arraigned on similar charges and remanded to jail.

Seecharran appeared before the Magistrate on Monday and was remanded to prison. However, the prison authorities refused to accept him due to there being no discharge papers from the hospital. He was however accepted on Tuesday.

Joseph who was said to be the getaway car driver was intercepted with vehicle-HC 1390 in the area. The men were seen exiting Joseph’s car after the police approached. They were eventually cornered in the burial ground.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Thursday December 20, 2012

Death Row inmate’s sentence commuted to life

By Rabindra Rooplall After spending 17 years on Death Row at the Camp Street Prison, 48-year-old Hafiz Hussein’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

The prisoner was taken off Death Row yesterday after a ruling was made by Chief Justice Ian Chang. The motion was carried to the High Court by legal aid which gives free or subsidised legal advice and representation to people who cannot afford to pay for an attorney.

The court noted that it was a breach of Hussein’s right as guaranteed by article 141 of the Constitution. Thus, after spending such a prolonged period on the Death Row it was considered inhumane and degrading punishment. Hafiz Hussein was sentenced to death for the murder of Aubrey Ramsammy, called Arnold, at Black Bush Polder, Berbice.

Despite his conviction by a jury of his peers, to this day many still believe that he is a victim of circumstance.

Hussein and another accused, Vinikanand Singh, were both sentenced to death

by Justice Claudette Singh and without hesitation they both appealed their convictions. Hussein had also appealed to the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy.

In September 1993, Hafeez Hussain, Vivakanand Singh, Tola Persaud and Hasrat Hussain were charged with murder, and in October 1994,

Hafiz Hussein they were committed to stand trial at the High Court. Two years later, on March 26, 1996, Hafeez Hussain and Singh were sentenced to death.

The two other accused, Hasrat Hussain and Persaud, were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to two and three years imprisonment respectively.

In 1994, the four accused appealed their convictions in the Court of Appeal. The grounds of appeal were that the trial judge omitted to direct the jury adequately on the law relating to identification, and that he did not adequately deal with the effects of the evidentiary statements said to be inconsistent.

The four men also claimed that the trial in a Corentyne District Court, following which they were automatically sentenced to death, was unfair.

They argued that the

police daily-record book which contained entries about the “real” authors of the crime was lost during the trial. According to the appeal records, the testimonies of several witnesses were not taken into account, a police officer gave contradictory testimony, and other testimonies which proved to contain “significant discrepancies” were used against the accused.

The quartet further argued that the trial judge did not direct the jury how to approach such issues, in particular, the reliability of testimonies.

Also of significance was the fact that the officer-in-charge of the investigation was related to the deceased, presenting a conflict of interest. According to the application of appeal, the investigator’s findings were partial and biased owing to his relationship with the dead man.

The appeal, concerning the Hussains and Singh, was dismissed.

Persaud subsequently appealed his three-year sentence and was given an additional seven years in jail. After Singh’s appeal was dismissed, he took his case to the United Nations which reviewed the case and recommended that the sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

The United Nations found that a crucial document was missing resulting in an unfair trial and recommended that Hussein’s sentence should be commuted.

Chan’s Charity for Children brings Christmas cheer to less fortunate This is the season of caring and sharing and Chan’s Charity for Children out of New Jersey, is trying to keep the Christmas spirit alive for less fortunate children across Guyana.

The group was formed by a Guyanese, Denise Pantlitz who now resides in the United States.

Mrs. Pantlitz said that she was driven to give back to the less fortunate having seen some of the struggles many families face during the festive season. The woman said that being among eight siblings raised by a

single mother, she knows what it’s like to be looking forward for the smallest of presents at Christmas time.

Hence, the initiative which sees children being given toys, clothing, stationary and footwear from the Chan’s Charity.

During this year’s visit Mrs. Pantlitz said that she has so far visited the Albouystown c o m m u n i t y, t h e We s t Demerara Regional Hospital’s Children’s Ward, L a G r a n g e , We s t B a n k Demerara and several churches in the city.

Pantlitz said that she will

make her final stop in the Charlestown area where she will make donations to children there.

The woman said that over the years seeing the smiles on the faces of the children has given her the extra drive to continue the programme which she has been financing on her own.

Over the years the demand has been growing more and more but she will not give up on the children, many of whom she has built relationships with over the years. They look forward to her visit and gifts.

Govt. not afraid of probes by Audit ...

From page 14 the end you will see the results,” he emphasized.

He urged the staff not to be distracted by negativity because the fact that the Auditor General’s report is attracting so much attention means it is purposeful.

The Audit Office distributed 60 honorary awards for outstanding and long service

during the conference.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma, Lakeram Ramkoomar and Enid Young were honoured for having more than 30 years of service within the Office, while ten staff members were awarded for more than 25 years of service; 10 for more than 20 years of service and 23 staff were recognized for having 15 and

more years of service.

The Best Worker Awards went to Cardicia Harry, Sheriffa Raheem and Seama Rohit, while the Best Support Staff awards went to Leona Persaud, Shabena Kadir, and Desrey James.

The Auditor General’s Award for Best Worker was copped by Kaloutie Jaikaran while the runner up was Arun Gopaul.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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8 to 10 percent salary increase for T&T teachers Yesterday marked the final day of wage negotiations between the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) and the Chief Personnel Officer, Stephanie Lewis.

After negotiating for the past two years and nine months, both parties have finally agreed on some 83 and 82 percent for teachers in Grades Three and Four respectively, of the Full Market Salaries.

“This amounts to an

average salary increase of about eight to ten percent across the different grades of teachers,” Davanand Sinanan, TTUTA’s first VicePresident told Newsday.

He further stated that Grades Three and Four represent the bulk of teachers, and based on the percentages given to those grades, “the existing salary differentials for the other grade of teachers, which goes up to grade eight were then maintained.”

Deal with perception of corruption - T&T President

Put aside “arrogance” and deal with the perception of corruption in this country, President George Maxwell Richards has said.

Richards made the statement on Thursday night as he delivered the feature address at the Integrity Commission’s 25th anniversary celebration and Christmas dinner at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad), Port of Spain.

“When we read that Trinidad and Tobago is ranked 80 out of 176 countries in the Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2012 and on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 being a corruption-free society, this country scored 39, we need

to sit up and take notice,” Richards said.

“We did not even score a passing grade, whereas five countries in our region, ranging from Barbados at 76 to Dominica at 58, outperformed us,” he said.

“We cannot afford to have arrogance cause us to set aside this finding, which sends the wrong signals and perceptions to the outside world as to the kind of people that we are,” Richards said.

Richards said this country’s failing grade in the CPI has signalled the need for the Integrity Commission.

“I posit, therefore, that those who say that the Integrity Commission has outlived its usefulness and should be abandoned are missing the point,” Richards said.

“Indeed there have been difficulties that needed to be addressed and some matters are yet unresolved, however, if the Integrity in Public Life Act does not now provide that which is necessary for the Commission to assist in making Trinidad and Tobago a corruption free society, then steps should be taken to review and strengthen the Act,” Richards said.

CMC - (ICE) A Trinidad and Tobago national has been sentenced to more than 12 years in a US federal prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s agency (ICE) said that the charges against Garvin Cadogan, 45, who had been living in the US under an assumed identity, had also been investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

ICE said Cadogan was sentenced to 151 months in a US federal prison for receiving child

pornography, 120 months on two counts of possessing child pornography, and 36 months for his false claim to US citizenship.

US District Judge Frank Montalvo ordered all the prison terms to run concurrently.

On February 23, ICE said HSI special agents executed a search warrant at Cadogan’s east El Paso apartment.

While executing the warrant, the special agents discovered that one of his computers was downloading and sharing multiple files via a peer-to-peer network, which depicted minors being sexually exploited.

George Maxwell Richards

Trinidadian gets 12 years in US for child pornography

Sinanan explained that TTUTA uses the External Labour Market (ELM) survey figures to determine the salaries that teachers should receive.

ELM survey, involves comparing the teaching profession to other similar professions to determine the salary figures that teachers should receive.

As such, during the wage negotiations, TTUTA had proposed some 85 percent of the figures determined by the

ELM for Grades Three and Four, which amounted to an average salary increase of 13 percent across the different grades.

The CPO on the other hand, had made an offer of some 81 percent of the ELM figures which had amounted to an average salary increase of eight percent across the different grades.

In the end, after teachers stayed away from classes for three days to “rest and reflect,” and one day for a

protest march in Port-ofSpain, CPO and TTUTA met on middle ground and agreed upon the 83 and 82 percent of the ELM figures.

“We settled on this figure because we feel that it is a figure that teachers can live comfortable with. It is not the exact thing that we wanted, but in the spirit of compromise we made the agreement,” Sinanan said.

In addition to teachers receiving an 8 to 10 percent salary increase, a press

release sent by TTUTA stated that teachers will receive a new Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) of $125, $125 and $145 per month in years one to three of the agreement respectively.

The release further stated that, “a revised commuted travelling allowance of $600 per month has been agreed to for all principals and viceprincipals, and the payment of this allowance has been extended to all senior teachers.” (Newsday)

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

PM says no to Max

Inmate and guards killed in Mexico jailbreak attempt

- President writes Kamla for answers on Section 34 but...

President George Maxwell Richards has called on Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar to provide information on the early proclamation of Section 34.

Richards, on December 7, wrote to Persad-Bissessar invoking Section 81 of the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution, calling for answers on the premature proclamation of the controversial law.

Section 34, which afforded accused persons with cases ten years old and over to walk free if their cases were not being heard, has since been repealed.

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley on Tuesday made the disclosure as he held his final bi-weekly media conference for the year at his Charles Street, Port of Spain, office. Rowley was notified of Richards’ move on the Section 34 controversy in a letter from the President, also dated December 7.

Richards’ letter to Rowley was in response to a letter signed by members of a

“Roundtable” that called on him (Richards) to invoke Section 81 of the Constitution and compel Persad-Bissessar to account for the early proclamation of Section 34.

Section 81 of the Constitution states: “The Prime Minister shall keep the President fully informed concerning the general conduct of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and shall furnish the President with such information as he may request with respect to any particular matter relating to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.” The Roundtable included Rowley, Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) leader Ancel Roget and Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah.

“With reference to the undated letter which I received on Tuesday, 20th November, which was signed by your good self and fourteen other persons representing various institutions, I wish to advise that by letter dated Friday, 7th

December, 2012, I have written to the Honourable Prime Minister pursuant to Section 81 of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,” Richards’ letter to Rowley stated.

Rowley described the situation as a “tremendous development”.

“Section 81 affords the President the right to request from the Prime Minister any information on any aspect of the operations of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago,” Rowley said.

“I think this is a tremendous development. It has never happened before, to the best of my knowledge in Trinidad and Tobago, where the President was requested in this way by the population, and he has deliberated. It is now for the Prime Minister to respond appropriately to the President,” he said.

Rowley said he was now waiting to hear PersadBissessar’s explanation for the fiasco. “We had written to the President’s Office

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar about a number of concerns that we had relating to how Section 34 was pulled out and proclaimed and resulted in persons being able to evade their day in court, and we complained about the strangeness of the conduct of the Cabinet,” Rowley said.

Rowley accused HamelSmith of using his role as acting President to be a rubber stamp for PersadBissessar in the Section 34 fiasco.

Volney was fired from the post of Justice Minister for misleading the Cabinet on Section 34 and was replaced

by Christlyn Moore.

(BBC) At least 17 people have been killed during an attempted jailbreak in Mexico, officials say.

Eleven inmates and six guards died in a shootout in the city of Gomez Palacio as the prisoners tried to escape through tunnels.

Gang violence is an endemic problem in the Mexican penal system.

The incident happened a day after President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the creation of a national police force to help tackle crime and violence.

The latest deadly clashes, which occurred in the state of Durango, appear to have happened when wardens tried to prevent prisoners from fleeing, the BBC’s Mexico correspondent Will Grant reports.

It is the first violent episode at a Mexican prison since President Pena Nieto took office on 1 December, our correspondent says.

Assaults and mass prison breaks are particularly frequent in jails housing inmates linked to the country’s drug cartels and organised crime.

In September, more than 130 prisoners, many from the powerful Zetas cartel, escaped from a facility in the state of Coahuila, close to the US border.

So far only a handful has been re-arrested.

On Monday, President Pena Nieto unveiled a sixpoint strategy to combat crimes linked to drug violence, kidnappings and extortions.

His plan includes a new militarised force of 10,000 officers.

However, there has currently been no mention of reviewing the country’s antiquated and dangerous prisons.

Human rights groups say the penal system suffers from chronic overcrowding and is in urgent of an overhaul.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Two shot dead Scrap metal trade to reopen In January

By STACY MOORE (Newsday) GUNSHOTS rang out in San Fernando yesterday as a hitman not only gunned down his intended target but also turned his weapon on his accomplice, fatally shooting him in the process.

The dead men have been identified as Troy “Yankee” Hernandez, 26, of Carlton Lane in San Fernando and Antonio Motoo, 22, of Ramsaran Street, San Fernando.

Hernandez was shot in his chest and back and was pronounced dead on arrival at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH).

The hitman’s accomplice Motoo - died two hours after the incident at hospital while undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds to his neck.

According to police, at about 3 pm Hernandez and a group of friends were liming outside Block B in Carlton lane, when a brown Kia panel van pulled up and stopped at the side of the road. Reports are that Motoo and another man alighted from the van and approached Hernandez who was at the time sitting on the ground and talking to his friends. The hitman then pulled out his firearm and started shooting Hernandez at point blank range.

As shot after shot were fired, Motoo who was standing nearby was struck in the neck and collapsed. The hitman quickly ran off while another man, said to be a close relative of Motoo, ran to him (Motoo) and

dragged him into the panel van and sped off in the direction of the hospital. A report was made to police.

Officers led by ASP Zamsheed Mohammed headed to the SFGH while others went to the scene of the shooting. The panel van was intercepted by police officers as it pulled up outside the Accident and Emergency section of the Hospital.

Motoo was wheeled into the operating theatre while Hernandez arrived a short while later, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

At 5 pm, Motoo died on the operating table while undergoing surgery.

Residents spoke among themselves about the shooting but most declined to comment to Newsday about what they may have seen or heard. Several evidence bags were used to collect the spent shells and other pieces of evidence at the scene.

One resident said when the shooting took place he thought the gunshots were fire crackers being set by the children in the area. Another said that the sounds of gunshots were a norm in Carlton Lane. “It’s a sound we have grown accustomed too,” the man said.

Superintendents Huggins and Harry, ASP Zamsheed Mohammed, Insp Matthew Noel and others visited the scene. The search continued last night for the hitman whose identity and last known address, are reportedly known by the police.

McKeeva Bush ousted by no-confidence vote

McKeeva Bush Parliament in the Cayman Islands has passed a vote of no confidence in Premier McKeeva Bush, who is facing corruption allegations.

The motion in effect removes him as Head of Hovernment in the British overseas territory.

Mr Bush, who was briefly detained for questioning last week, says he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.

The next step lies with the British-appointed Governor, Duncan Taylor, who may decide to call early elections.

The other option is to see whether the fractured governing party can try to form a new government.

The no-confidence motion was passed by 11 votes to three, with members of Mr Bush’s own United Democratic Party (UDP) voting against him.

He is suspected of misusing of a government credit card and importing explosive devices without a permit. Mr Bush, who was detained on 11 December and released the next day after questioning, made it clear he would not resign.

He has suggested he is being targeted by senior island officials as part of a “very vindictive political witch hunt”.

Mr Bush, 57, has been in power since the UDP won general elections in 2009 and also held the posts of Minister of Finance, Tourism and Development.

The Cayman Islands is a major financial centre and a global tax haven.

The scrap metal trade will be reopened in January.

The announcement was made yesterday morning by the Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton, at the weekly Jamaica House Press Briefing.

The trade was banned earlier this year amid increased reports of theft of private and public infrastructure and equipment.

Noting that the ban only served to drive the

trade underground, Hylton emphasised that the resumption of the trade will now be guided by stringent rules with appropriate penalties for non-compliance.

He notes that an improved regulatory framework is now in place to govern the trade of industrial and nonindustrial scrap.

He said all traders are now required to obtain a special permit to export and will also be charged a

regulatory fee.

In addition, Hylton said traders will be required to post a $7 million bond, a part of which will be used to compensate victims of theft.

The Commerce Minister said all exporters will use one of three central multiuser sites, where customs officers and members of the security forces will be permanently positioned.

Meanwhile, Hylton said material will be put on display at the sites for five

days to facilitate public viewing.

He noted that anything that raises suspicions will be kept for an additional 10 days to allow for further viewing.

The minister said a website will also be set up for members of the public to lodge complaints.

Hylton said traders found in breach of the new rules face a fine of $2 million, two years in prison and will also lose their license to operate as a scrap metal dealer.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

Rebels seize towns in central Syria (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have captured at least six towns in the central province of Hama, activists say, in an operation aimed at putting pressure on President Bashar al-Assad from the north as insurgents close in on the capital from its southern suburbs.

The rebel gains came as the United Nations yesterday launched what it said was its “largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever”, for $1.5 billion to help millions of Syrians suffering a “dramatically deteriorating” humanitarian situation.

“The violence in Syria is raging across the country and there are nearly no more safe areas where people can flee and find safety,” Radhouane Nouicer, U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told a news briefing in Geneva.

The Syrian opposition has scored significant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing several army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new

coalition.

The capture of large parts of Hama province could now give the rebels effective control of a stretch of territory from the northern Turkish border 180 km (110 miles) to the north.

Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the rebel military command, said most of the rural western part of Hama province, which stretches to the foothills of the mountains which are home to Assad’s minority Alawite community, was under the control of the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels.

Saadeddine announced the rebel offensive in Hama on Sunday.

Assad’s opponents already hold much of the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, and are fighting to advance from the southern Damascus suburbs towards the heart of the capital.

“The battle is ongoing.

We have freed many areas (of Hama) and we are studying plans to liberate more,” Saadeddine told Reuters by Skype from inside Syria.

“Three-quarters of western rural Hama is under our

control.”

He said the towns taken by rebels included Latamneh, Helfaya, Kfar Naboudah, Hasraya, Tibat al-Imn and Kfar Zita, and that fighting had also broken out in the city of Hama itself.

The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified due to tight restrictions on media access to Syria.

Rebels had intended to concentrate their offensive on rural areas before an assault on the city of Hama where some 10,000 people were killed in a 1982 crackdown by ordered by Assad’s father against an armed Islamist uprising. But clashes broke out in the city after authorities launched a wave of arrests, possibly in response to the rebel offensive.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights, an opposition-linked group which monitors violence across the country, said several of the Hama towns overrun by rebels came under bombardment on Wednesday.

It said at least 100 people

Children stand on a house damaged by what activists said were missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet of forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at Tel Abyed near Hasaka December 17, 2012.

REUTERS/Samer Al-Abdullah/Shaam News Network/Handout had been killed across the country, adding to a death toll in the 21-month-old uprising against Assad of more than 40,000 people.

At least 21 people, including 15 rebels, were killed when a car bomb exploded in Aziziyah on the southern approach to Aleppo city, the Observatory said. It was not clear what the bomb was targeting and it may have detonated accidentally. State media had no immediate report on the explosion.

In Damascus, rebels who seized control of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Monday alongside antiAssad Palestinian fighters

declared the neighbourhood a “liberated area” on Wednesday and handed it over to Palestinian control.

An activist in Hama confirmed the rebels were in control of Helfaya and other parts of the province. In Kfar Naboudah he said they took over a grain silo containing 12,000 tonnes of wheat, which they planned to distribute to rebel-held areas.

Residents say bakeries in many parts of Syria are running low on flour, leading to widespread bread shortages.

The U.N.’s World Food Programme is providing 1.5 million people with rations

inside Syria each month, but said it faces increasing constraints, including mounting insecurity and fuel shortages which hamper production and transportation of food.

The U.N. wants to raise $519.6 million to help 4 million people within Syria and $1 billion to meet the needs of up to 1 million Syrian refugees in five other countries until July 2013.

The U.N. plan provides for food, shelter and bedding, water and sanitation, emergency medical services, clothes, kitchen sets and baby supplies for beleaguered civilians across Syria.

(BBC) US President Barack Obama has called for “concrete proposals” on gun control by the end of January, saying “words need to lead to action”.

In remarks at the White House, Mr Obama said VicePresident Joe Biden would lead an exploration of options after a mass school shooting in Connecticut.

There have been calls for gun law reform after 26 children and teachers died at Sandy Hook School in Newtown.

The President said a “majority of Americans” back changes to some laws.

Those include the renewal of an assault weapons ban, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and an end to loopholes allowing gun purchases with no background checks, Mr Obama said.

He urged Congress to hold votes on those issues

when it reconvenes in the new year.

“If there is even one thing that we can do to prevent anyone of these events, we have a deep obligation - all of us - to try,” he said.

“The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence.”

The assault weapons ban lapsed under President George W Bush in 2004.

Mr Obama has previously stated his support for a reintroduction without backing a specific move to do so before now.

Mr Biden has decades of experience as a senator and analysts say that experience could be essential to getting any changes through Congress, which has been lobbied extensively on the issue by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The vice-president’s team

will include members of the Obama administration as well as representatives of outside groups.

Mr Obama told reporters he would push for the proposals recommended by the Biden-led task force “without delay”, after the January deadline.

In its first statement since the shootings, the NRA said it was “heartbroken” by the attack.

The gun lobby group said it was “shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.

“The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again,” the statement said, announcing a “major news conference” to be held on Friday.

There is no indication whether the NRA will join the Biden-led process.

Obama calls for US gun control proposals by January

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Authorities crack down on copycat threats after Newtown Authorities are cracking down on a spate of threats against schools following Friday’s attack at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults before killing himself.

In Indiana, police have responded to threats against three separate schools, making arrests in each case.

They included a Bloomington South High School student who allegedly threatened a “copycat” school shooting; police removed six guns from his home, The AP reported.

Two other teens, one in California, the other in Tennessee, who posted online that they would like to commit similar shootings were promptly arrested, CNN reported. Another teen in Tennessee was arrested after making phone calls to a local elementary school with a bomb threat.

Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said last week that anyone making threats would be investigated and prosecuted.

It’s common for threats

against schools to spike after a much-publicized shooting, and research has suggested there may be a link between how much attention an incident gets in the media and how many copycat threats follow.

In the 50 days after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, more than 350 threats were reported at Pennsylvania schools, skyrocketing from the one or two threats reported in the same period a year earlier. A study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in 1999, determined that the publicity Columbine received led to a spike in bomb and other threats on schools. A similar shooting a year earlier in Jonesboro, Ark., received a fraction of the media attention that Columbine did, and attracted many fewer copycat threats in the days following.

Based on this finding, the authors of the study urged the media to downplay coverage of shootings, not to portray the killers as “countercultural heroes,” and not to describe in detail how the crime was committed.

Though a rise in threats following shootings has been documented, it’s much less clear whether mass killings that attract intense media coverage lead people to attempt actual copycat attacks.

In a paper published in 1999, Christopher Cantor and other researchers examined seven mass killings in Australia, the U.K. and New Zealand. They said they found a “ripple effect” linking some of the mass killings, where some murderers were inspired by coverage of other crimes to commit their own.

Surette’s study of juvenile offenders in Florida, published in Crime & Delinquency in 2002, found that about a third of young prisoners had considered committing a crime that they had seen in the media— defined as TV, movies, news and music—and that a quarter of them had actually attempted to commit such a crime. But Surette had no way of knowing whether removing the media would have prevented those prisoners from committing their crimes in the first place.

Page 23

“Fiscal cliff” talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto (Reuters) - Talks to avoid a fiscal crisis appeared to stall yesterday as President Barack Obama accused Republicans of digging in their heels due to a personal grudge against him, while a top Republican called the president “irrational.”

As the clock ticks toward a year-end deadline, Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, are trying to reach a deal to avert harsh tax hikes and spending cuts that could trigger a recession.

Obama said he was puzzled over what was holding up the talks and told Republicans to stop worrying about scoring “a point against the president” or forcing him into concessions “just for the heck of it.”

“It is very hard for them to say yes to me,” he told a news conference in the White House.

“At some point, you know, they’ve got to take me out of it.”

The rise in tensions threatens to unravel significant progress made over the last week in the so-called fiscal cliff talks.

Boehner and Obama have

President Barack Obama each offered substantial concessions that have made a deal look within reach.

Obama has agreed to cuts in benefits for seniors, while Boehner has conceded to Obama’s demand that taxes rise for the richest Americans.

However, the climate of goodwill has evaporated since Republicans announced plans on Tuesday to put an alternative tax plan to a vote in the House this week that would largely disregard the progress made so far in negotiations.

Obama threatened to veto

the Republican measure, known as “Plan B,” if Congress approved it.

Boehner’s office slammed Obama for opposing their plan, which would raise taxes on households making more than $1 million a year and is a concession from longstanding Republican opposition to increasing any tax rates. “The White House’s opposition to a backup plan ... is growing more bizarre and irrational by the day,” Boehner said through his spokesman, Brendan Buck.

Boehner expressed confidence the House would pass the legislation, known as “Plan B,” today. He urged Obama to “get serious” about a balanced deficit reduction plan.

Global investors are on edge over the talks, and U.S. stocks fell yesterday following Boehner’s comments.

An acrimonious presidential campaign that culminated in Obama’s reelection on November 6 has added to the bad blood in Washington between Obama and congressional Republicans.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

South Korea elects first female president (Reuters) - The daughter of a former military ruler won South Korea’s presidential election yesterday and will become the country’s first female leader, saying she would work to heal a divided society.

The 60-year old conservative, Park Geun-hye, will return to the presidential palace in Seoul where she served as her father’s first lady in the 1970s, after her mother was assassinated by a North Korean-backed

gunman.

With more than 88 percent of the votes counted, Park led with 51.6 percent to 48 percent for her left-wing challenger, human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, giving her an unassailable lead that forced Moon to concede.

Her raucous, jubilant supporters braved sub-zero temperatures to chant her name and wave South Korean flags outside her house.

When she reached her party headquarters, Park was

greeted with shouts of “president”.

An elated Park reached into the crowd to grasp hands of supporters wearing red scarves, her party’s color.

“This is a victory brought by the people’s hope for overcoming crisis and for economic recovery,” she told supporters at a rally in central Seoul.

Park will take office for a mandatory single, five-year term in February and will face an immediate challenge from

a hostile North Korea and have to deal with an economy in which annual growth rates have fallen to about 2 percent from an average of 5.5 percent in its decades of hypercharged growth.

She is unmarried and has no children, saying that her life will be devoted to her country.

The legacy of her father, Park Chung-hee, who ruled for 18 years and transformed the country from the ruins of the 1950-53 Korean War into

an industrial power-house, still divides Koreans.

For many conservatives, he is South Korea’s greatest president and the election of his daughter would vindicate his rule. His opponents dub him a “dictator” who trampled on human rights and stifled dissent.

“I trust her. She will save our country,” said Park Hyesook, 67, who voted in an affluent Seoul district, earlier in the day.

“Her father ... rescued the country,” said the housewife and grandmother, who is no relation to the candidate.

For younger people, the main concern is the economy and the creation of well-paid jobs in a country where income inequalities have grown in recent years.

“Now a McDonald’s hamburger is over 5,000 Korean won ($4.66) so you can’t buy a McDonald’s burger with your hourly pay.

Life is hard already for our two-member family but if there were kids, it would be much tougher,” said Cho Hae-ran, 41, who is married and works at a trading company.

Park has spent 15 years in politics as a leading legislator in the ruling Saenuri party, although her policies are sketchy.

She has a “Happiness Promotion Committee” and her campaign was launched as a “National Happiness Campaign”, a slogan she has since changed to “A Prepared Woman President”.

She has cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a tough proponent of free markets, as her role model as well as Angela Merkel, the conservative German chancellor who is Europe’s most powerful leader.

One of those who voted yesterday was Shin Donghyuk, a defector from North Korea who is the only person

Park Geun-hye known to have escaped from a slave labor camp there.

He Tweeted that he was voting “for the first time in my life”, although he didn’t say for whom.

Park has said she would negotiate with Kim Jong-un, the youthful leader of North Korea who recently celebrated a year in office, but wants the South’s isolated and impoverished neighbor to give up its nuclear weapons program as a precondition for aid, something Pyongyang has refused to do.

The two Koreas remain technically at war after an armistice ended their conflict.

Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the North’s current leader, ordered several assassination attempts on Park’s father, one of which resulted in her mother being shot to death in 1974.

Park herself met Kim Jongun’s father, the late leader Kim Jong-il, and declared he was “comfortable to talk to” and he seemed to be someone “who would keep his word”.

The North successfully launched a long-range rocket last week in what critics said was a test of technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile and has recently stepped up its attacks on Park, describing her as holding a “grudge” and seeking “confrontation”, code for war.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

A. Gafoor wins IPA award $9M robbery accused on bail I n t e r n a t i o n a l Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) hosted its annual Christmas party on Saturday at the Airport Grill and Bar, Ogle.

Among the highlights was the presentation of awards to members of the business community who made vital and vibrant contributions to the community.

That section of the programme was the IPA Group Annual Award ceremony.

One of the recipients was Mr Abdul Sattaur Gafoor.

Here, Mrs. Miranda Singh presents the award to Mr. Abdul Sattaur Gafoor for his achievements and outstanding leadership as a manufacturer in Guyana.

A 27-year-old poultry farmer of Hadfield Street, Lodge, has been charged for robbing two people of over $9 million of raw gold.

The charge is that on December 4, last, in Alberttown, Mark George, while armed with a gun, robbed Joan Melville of a quantity of raw gold valued at $9,714,000.

On the same day the accused allegedly robbed Carlotta Melville of gold jewelry and a Blackberry cellular phone valued at $360,000.

George pleaded not guilty when he faced Chief Magistrate Priya SewnarineBeharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court on Tuesday.

In accordance with the facts, the accused and his teenaged accomplice approached the vehicle that both complainants were in and relieved them of the articles mentioned in the charge.

The two suspects allegedly made good their escape via getaway car. The police were contacted and the accused was later sought, arrested and charged.

George’s lawyer asked for bail at an affordable amount.

The attorney said that his client has been charged and

placed on$50,000 station bail for a robbery he knew nothing about.

The prosecution did not oppose the application but asked that bail be set at a substantial sum.

The prosecution pointed out that both victims identified the vehicle’s license plate number as PPP3235 the getaway car that was used in the robbery. The said car belongs to George’s mother.

As such, bail was set at $1 million and the matter is adjourned until January 2.

Number two accused in Rosignol murder trial also freed

Sean Benjamin and his attorney Raymond Ally Samuel Whyte The mixed jury which sat in the Rosignol Murder trial at the Berbice High Court on Tuesday returned a formal verdict of not guilty of murder thus freeing Sean Benjamin, the other accused in the matter. This was after they had listened to the summation of Justice Roxanne George Wiltshire and retired for just over two hours to consider the evidence.

The judge took just under three hours to sum up the evidence.

Sean Benjamin, called “Blacka” or “Blackboy”, of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, was on trial in the Berbice High Court for the murder of Ian Adonis, called “Safo” or “Iron”, of Lot 30 Edward Street, Rosignol on August 29, 2007 at Rosignol Village, West Coast Berbice.

Benjamin had been behind bars for more than five years.

Both the defence, led by Attorney at law Raymond Ally, and the prosecution led

by Attorney-at-law, Priteema Kissoon, presented their case to the jury on Monday.

The prosecution hinged its case on star witness Leslyn Nightingale who claimed that she saw when Benjamin inflicted the blows on Adonis.

The defence argued that Adonis was killed by the previously freed Mark Massiah who had admitted to lashing the accused, but was freed on no case submission on the account of self defence because Adonis accused and attacked him three times with a knife.

Benjamin had earlier given an unsworn statement from the dock in which he denied having anything to do with Adonis’s death.

The judge stated that the Jury has found you not guilty.

“You are free to go”. Benjamin looked bewildered causing Justice George-Wiltshire to repeat her statement.

Benjamin then smiled and hurried out of the courtroom.

Benjamin was on trial along with Mark Massiah called “Red Man” who was the number one accused.

Massiah was freed on Wednesday last following no case submission by his attorney Charrandass Persaud on the grounds of self defence.

The judge had overruled a no case submission put forward by Benjamin’s attorney Ally.

Speaking after the trial Benjamin stated that he must first thank his attorney. He stated that he was confident of being freed because he knew he did not do anything.

Thursday December 20, 2012

NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00 hrs - Inspiration 05:30 hrs - Newtown Gospel 06:00 hrs - NCN Late Edition (R/B) 06:30 hrs - Feature 07:00 hrs - Guyana Today 08:00 hrs - Feature 09:00 hrs - Stop the Suffering 10:00 hrs - CCTV 11:00 hrs - History 12:00 hrs - CNN 12:30 hrs - NCN Newsbreak 12:35 hrs - Feature 13:00 hrs - Beauty of Christmas 14:00 hrs - Feature 14:30 hrs - Revelation & Power 15:00 hrs - Feature 16:00 hrs - Cartoons 17:00 hrs - Anderson 18:00 hrs - NCN News Magazine 18:30 hrs - Farming Today 19:00 hrs - Al Jazeera 19:30 hrs - NIS & You 20:00 hrs - 3d/daily millions/ play de dream/lotto draw

Kaieteur News

20:05 hrs - NCN Newsbreak 20:10 hrs - Changing Course 21:00 hrs - The Ravi D show 22:05 hrs - NCN News Late Edition 22:35 hrs - Caribbean Newsline 23:00 hrs - Revelation and Power 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 Krishna Bhajans 0615h - Jettoo’s Lumber Yard Presents Krishna Bhajans 0630h - Muneshwar Limited Presents Krishna Bhajans 0645h - Double Standard Taxi Presents Krishna Bhajans 0700h - RRT Enterprise Presents Krishna Bhajans 0715h - M & M Snackette

Presents Raja Yoga Discourses 0730h - Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc Presents Krishna Bhajans 0745h - The Family of the Late Leila & David Persaud Presents Krishna Bhajans 0800h - Timehri Maha Kali Shakti Devi Mandir Presents Jai Hanuman 0815h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 0845h - Indian Soap - Rab Se Sohna Isshq 0930h - Cricket - 1ST T20 INDIA vs ENGLAND 1330h - Indian Soap - Pavitra Rishta 1400h - Indian Soap - Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyien 1430h - Indian Soap - Punar Vivaah 1500h - TBA 1600h - Viewers Choice live with Alicia 1700h - Drying Tears Live with Pastor Edson 1730h - SHREK THE HALLS

Thursday December 20, 2012 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You feel a powerful need for excitement today and are drawn to anything that fires up your enthusiasm. You’re on edge and cannot want for satisfaction. Fortunately, your spontaneity can be expressed creatively.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Your current desires seem rather eccentric to you, but others may still believe that you’re doing things by the book. Although you don’t feel restrained by the rules today, it appears as if you’re moving more cautiously than you actually are.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Your day probably won’t unfold according to your plan since you’re riding waves of changeable emotional currents.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You may feel emotionally secure within your own protective shell, but unstable circumstances at work today won’t leave you alone. You might try to escape by hiding behind a rock or crawling deep into a cave, but it’s not wise to miss too much of the action now.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Relationship dynamics can be pretty intense, but others may not realize how much you’re going through now.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Today’s energy is a mixed bag with the dreamy Pisces Moon hanging out in your 7th House of Partners.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You have a potentially amazing day ahead of you as your key planet Venus dances in step with outrageous Uranus.

Even the most unconventional ideas don’t seem so crazy to you now.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You may find yourself thinking about things in ways that are usually outside of your comfort zone. You might not be able to keep your mind off sex today, even with the highest of spiritual intentions as the fantasy-prone Pisces Moon activates your 5th House of Love and Romance.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) You can soar high above the clouds of imagination today while enjoying the fruits of your labor as long as you keep your excessive desires in check.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Go easy on those close to you, for your acceptance of others can catalyze an unexpected reward. You may experience an emotional earthquake if someone rattles your brain.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Nearly everyone who comes into contact with you today can tell that this isn’t just another regular day for you.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You are getting an electric buzz today from magnetic Venus in your 10th House of Career as she trines brilliant Uranus.

1800h - Ganesh Parts Presents -BHAGAVAD GITA ( Discourses in English) Serial 1830h - Birthday Greetings / Deaths Announcement & In Memoriam 1900h - Buddy’s Housing Development Project Live with Joel Ghansham 2000h - INSIGHTS presented by the CIOG 2100h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 2130h - Indian Soap - Rab Se Sohna Isshq 2200h - Indian Soap - Pavitra Rishta 2230h - Indian Soap - Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyien 2300h - Sign off with the Gayatri Mantra

Guides are subjected to change without notice

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

WICB explains scheduling of international cricket for 2013

St John’s, Antigua - In light of media reports in the Asian sub-continent regarding the Pakistan tour of the West Indies in 2013, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) provides details regarding the scheduling of international cricket for the 2013 season: 1. Earlier this year (2012) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) approached the WICB with a proposal to reschedule the Sri Lanka tour of the Caribbean scheduled for April/May 2013 as per the Future Tours Programme (FTP), with a view to allowing the Sri Lankan players to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

2. The SLC proposal found favour with the WICB as it would also allow for West

Indian players to participate in the IPL. The WICB has been of the stated position that where possible it will seek to avoid a situation where players have to choose between representing the West Indies and playing in the IPL. WICB is fully cognizant though that this will not always be avoidable and has been engaging players on a one-on-one basis to determine the best compromise positions.

3. Due to a subsequent agreement reached with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sri Lanka agreed to play the West Indies v Sri Lanka Limited Overs leg of the 2013 tour as part of a Tri Nation Series in June/ July following the completion of the ICC Champions Trophy. The West Indies v Sri Lanka Test Series would be deferred to a later date. Both SLC and the BCCI have confirmed the participation of the Sri Lankan and Indian cricket teams in the Tri Nation Series.

4. The Tri Nation Series is scheduled to commence on June 28th and conclude on July 11th. (The WICB will announce the Tri Nations Series schedule in a separate media release.)

5. As Pakistan was scheduled to tour the Caribbean from the last week in June to the last week of July 2013, the end of the Tri Nation Series would mean a clash with the start of the Pakistan tour.

6. The WICB therefore sought the agreement of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to shift the start of the Pakistan tour to immediately after July 11th. This would have resulted in the Pakistan tour going over to August.

7. This proposed shift did not find favour with the PCB for reasons which are

understandable to the WICB. 8. Consequently the Pakistan tour of the Caribbean is proposed to be played immediately following the Tri Nation Series and concluding at the end of July. The PCB is currently considering drafts of the schedule

and the Operations Departments of the WICB and PCB are working towards finalizing a mutually satisfactory schedule.

The WICB will provide further information as decisions are taken and agreements and plans are finalized.

GFF will honour commitments...

From back page have already written to former Technical Director Jamal Shabaaz and thanked him for his service and wished him well in his future endeavors. He informed the Federation will go local in terms of technical progress for now.

Wilson, who is on the FIFA development committee, told the media the GFF had a good year and expects a challenging 2013. “A number of female tournaments are slated for 2013 which will lead the 2016 female World Cup, the Lady Jags did us proud recently,” he stated.

Wilson informed the GFF will continue developmental plans with support from their major sponsors which are Ansa Mc Al, GT & T, Bakewell and DDL. He added that there has been a lot of talk of no development in football but recent reality suggested otherwise. In 2010, by virtue of their performances in regional tournaments, the Lady Jags were selected for national recognition as the outstanding Sports Team of the year, in the same year the Golden Jaguars achieved their highest rating-86-in the FIFA rankings.

He added in 2011, the Golden Jaguars were accorded national recognition as the outstanding Sports Team of the year for its performances in preliminary rounds of the FIFA Brazil 2014 World Cup Qualifiers, and its first ever passage into the third round of the World Cup. In preparation for participation in the third round of the World Cup in 2012, the Jaguars had the unprecedented opportunity for a number of friendly and closed door games against Guatemala, Grenada, ST. Vincent, Trinidad, Jamaica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Panama and clubs in Colombia to name a few.

They also attended high altitude training camp in Colombia prior to the initial engagement with Mexico.

The national Programme in 2012 accommodated for an enlarged cadre of players and at one stage Guyana had two National representative teams playing in Martinique and Suriname simultaneously.

In 2011 representative Guyana Women Football teams participated in preliminary round competition for the U-17 and U-20 World Cup tournaments. The U-17 team largely comprised local players and won the first round of

the qualifiers before they were eliminated in the second stage. He also informed since 2009, the GFF has introduced an annual Inter Association Women’s tournament as well as an annual National Super League Tournament in which ten clubs from different Associations vie for the honour of being crowned Club Champions of Guyana. Both tournaments are being sponsored by the GFF. Inter Association Tournaments are also played on an annual basis at the U-15,17 and 19 levels, all currently sponsored by GFF. The Federation also provides trophies and medals for youth tournaments run by Associations. In 2011 and 2012 School competitions have resurfaced, organized and sponsored by Digicel, Scotia Bank and Pepsi, but utilising the infrastructure put in place by the GFF. Courses are also conducted annually by the Federation for coaches and Referees, in Georgetown and outlying areas including Linden and Mabaruma.

In 2012, simultaneously with the Golden Jaguars campaign in the third round in the World Cup Qualifiers, the Guyana U-17 and U20 Men’s representative teams participated in regional qualification tournaments in Trinidad, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

In relation to the Goal Project he informed the GFF had to sever ties with the contractor and FIFA will retender for same. He said they are working feverishly to get this done.

Meanwhile, Wilson also stated that the Federation has had other expenses some of which are, accommodation in Guyana amounted to $25,508,186, printing of tickets $20,023,000, bonus, stipend and match fees for players and staff $23,446,480, meals $11,747,309, advertisements $8,908,513, air fare US$42,455,860, security $4.7 million dollars, medicals $551,821 and still counting, equipment for players $4,639,000, ground $4,124,553 and $1.4 million dollars for gate management.

Additionally, the expenses for the team’s World Cup campaign in 2012 has so far amounted to $191,825,409 and is still going up.

He informed that the GFF received US$75,500 after the game was played in Mexico and had an expense of US$279,000.

Below is the Remuneration Structure Golden Jaguars.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 29

:: Letters to the Sports Editor ::

Unanswered questions surrounds Fudadin’s non-selection - RHTY&SC DEAR EDITOR, The Management & Members of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club would like to question the nonselection of West Indies middle order batsman Assad Fudadin in the Guyana T20 Team.

Fudadin over the years has been a top performer for Guyana and has improved his game vastly over the last two years to adapt to the lower version of the game.

His performance for the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club in 2012 in all Berbice tournaments speaks volumes and his innings of 66 vs Skeldon, 63 vs Young Warriors, 78 not out vs Albion and 46 vs GCC in the Day of Champions match clearly showed that, like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rahul Dravid, Fudadin is quite capable of performing in all formats of the game.

With no cricket being played at the Inter County level, one is left to wonder how this team was selected especially as Berbice is the only County that allows its players to play all forms of cricket. Only last year

Fudadin played a major role with his 56 against the Georgetown Pitbull Team that included Benn, Taylor, Santokie and Pollard. He also won the man-of-the-finals prize in the Berbice Universal DVD T20 tournament and also scored a century in the Inter County 50 overs tournament last year.

The Management of the club is of the view that based on his performances he should have been on the Guyana team and bearing in mind that he is a West Indies player. He should be given the opportunity to make a case to gain selection on the West Indies T20 and 50 overs teams where the batting is weak in the middle order. We are fully confident that Assad Fudadin would be an asset to any Guyana team as he is not only a brilliant fieldsman but also a capable medium pacer who for heaven’s sake bowled at the test level.

We would wish to assure Assad Fudadin that he has the full support of the Rose Hall Town Youth & sports club membership and always will. Poor Delbert Hicks

Banks DIH at odds over article published in KN DEAR EDITOR, The article published by your newspaper captioned ‘Pele will not be playing in Banks/GFA tournament says Club President’.

We refer to an article published by you on page 60 of your newspaper (Kaieteur News) dated Sunday December 09, 2012, under the caption Pele will not be playing in Banks/GFA tournament says Club President. The said article, which alleged an offer was made by a purportedly very senior official of Banks DIH Limited to certain players of Pele Football Club (PFC), was written by Mr. Cecil Jacques.

We wish to state unequivocally that at no time did any senior official at Banks DIH Limited offer the Players of Pele Football Club (PFC) any monetary reward as much as $800,000 or any other amount. Such form of conduct is not associated with any senior official of Banks DIH Limited.

Further the article is “false, defamatory, libelous, and malicious” and is likely to disparage the reputation of

the said senior official and ultimately Banks DIH Limited.

Under the laws of Guyana, it is unlawful to engage in defamation of another person’s character and reputation.

We are enormously dissatisfied at your conduct as we expected a higher level of research and investigation of the facts from your newspaper.

We are therefore asking for a printed apology from your newspaper and for a correct statement of the facts to be published regarding our position within 48 hours of receipt of this letter or we will be left with no other option but to institute the necessary legal actions befitting your conduct.

All for your information and guidance.

Kavorn Williams (Mrs) Corporate Legal Officer Editor’s Note: We published the comments expressed by Mr Cecil Jacques and as such rendered ourselves liable to any action. We retract the comments we published and offer Banks DIH a sincere apology.

continues to perform par excellence with over 700 runs at the First Division level in Berbice at an average of over 40; his wicketkeeping has improved a lot since he last represented Guyana in 2009.

Sadly, however he cannot make a standby list and has to look on as lesser performers does. In 2011 Eon Hooper was

dynamic in the Guyana Cricket Board tournament as an all-rounder and just failed to make the final squad and was named a standby player.

Every cricketing person in Berbice is aware that Hooper is perhaps the best bowler in the shorter version of the game in terms of taking wickets and his economy

rate. In 2012 he has taken 32 wickets at an economy rate of 2.6 runs per over and an average of 12.15. His batting has also improved and only recently he scored a crucial 33 not out against the Hits & Jams team that had Ronsford Beaton, Kellon Carmichael among others, to win the match for Berbice. Hooper

also was not named among the standbys. Our club strongly believes in the God we worship and our faith in him has always inspired us to be strong even in times that are different and our players are urged to have faith.

Hilbert Foster, Secretary/CEO RHTY&SC

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Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

Confirmed great! - IAAF ratifies Ja’s amazing 4x100m world record Jamaica Observer - THE world record run of 36.84 seconds that was set in the Men’s x100m final by the Jamaican foursome anchored by double sprint champion Usain Bolt at the London Olympic Games in August has been ratified by the International Associa-tions of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

In their December edition of their online magazine, the world’s governing body for the sport ratified the time established by the crack quartet of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Bolt.

It was one of four senior world records and one Junior world record set at the XXX staging of the quadrennial sporting extravaganza in London to be confirmed yesterday.

The new time surpassed the 37.04 seconds set by another Jamaican team a year earlier at the IAAF World

Championships held in Daegu, South Korea.

It was the third time in four years that a Jamaican team was breaking the Men’s 4x100m world record after the same team comprising Carter, Frater, Blake and Bolt clocked an amazing 37.04 seconds in Daegu, breaking the 37.10 seconds set by another Jamaican team, anchored by Asafa Powell, at the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, China.

Bolt also chalked up a new Olympic record of 9.58 seconds in the Men’s 100m while retaining his 200m title in 19.32 seconds.

The other senior world records that were set at the Olympic Games were the Men’s 800m, Women’s 4x100m relay and the Women’s 20k race walk.

Kenya’s David Rudisha broke his own two-year-old mark of 1 minute, 41.01 seconds in the 800m with an

Jamaica’s 4x100m team of (from left) Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter poses with their gold medals after smashing the world record at the London Olympic Games last summer. astounding 1 minute, 40.91 seconds. In that same race,

Botswana’s 18-year-old star Nijel Amos smashed the World Junior mark, running 1 minute 41.73 seconds for third place to beat the old record of 1 minute 42.73 seconds by a full second.

The previous record w a s h e l d b y S u d a n ’s Abubaker Kaki and set in June 2008. The American Women’s 4x100m relay

team of Tiana Madison, Alyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter also broke a world record, setting 40.82 seconds to shatter the 27-year-old mark of 41.37 set in 1985 by an East German quartet in Australia.

Jamaica finished second in that race, clocking a national record of 41.41 seconds with the team of

100m gold medallist ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell Brown and Kerron Stewart breaking the old mark of 41.70 seconds set in Daegu a year earlier.

R u s s i a ’s Elena Lashmanova set the other world record in London in the 20K walk in one hour, 25 minutes and 02 seconds.

CONCACAF announces Champions League quarterfinal schedule New York – The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced yesterday the quarterfinal schedule for the 2012/13 Champions League.

The round is contested over two legs and opens on Tuesday, March 5 with the Houston Dynamo hosting Santos, last season’s runnerup, at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Xelaju will be at home on March 6 for the first leg of its series against two-time defending champion Monterrey, which finished an impressive third at the recently completed FIFA Club World Cup. Later that same evening, visiting Tigres will take on the Seattle Sounders.

The first leg ends on Thursday, March 7, when the LA Galaxy travels to Costa Rica for a meeting with Herediano.

Second-leg action starts on Tuesday, March 12, with an encounter between Monterrey and Xelaju, followed by TigresSeattle Sounders. Quarterfinal play concludes the next day with two games. Santos will square off against Houston and the LA Galaxy faces Herediano.

The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals April 2-4 and April 9-11. The semifinal pairings are the Monterrey-Xelaju winner facing the Galaxy-Herediano winner, and the Seattle-Tigres victor playing either Santos or Houston. The semifinal winners will

meet in a two-leg final set for April 24 and May 1. The winner of the 2012/13 CONCACAF Champions League will earn a berth to the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco.

2012/13 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS All Times U.S. Eastern (local times in parentheses) FIRST LEG Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Houston Dynamo (USA) vs. Santos Laguna (Mexico), 8 p.m. (7 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Xelaju (Guatemala) vs. Monterrey (Mexico), 8 p.m. (7 p.m.)

Tigres (Mexico) vs. Seattle Sounders (USA), 10 p.m. (9 p.m.)

Thursday, March 7, 2013 Herediano (Costa Rica) vs. LA Galaxy (USA), 8 p.m. (7 p.m.)

SECOND LEG Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Monterrey (Mexico) vs. Xelaju (Guatemala), 8 p.m. (6 p.m.)

Seattle Sounders (USA) vs. Tigres (Mexico), 10 p.m. (7 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 Santos Laguna (Mexico) vs. Houston Dynamo (USA), 8 p.m. (6 p.m.)

LA Galaxy (USA) vs. Herediano (Costa Rica), 10 p.m. (7 p.m.)

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 31

Chelsea smash five past Leeds Ivanovic scored Chelsea’s second goal from a corner to give the away side the lead. (Ian Hodgson)

BBC Sport - Chelsea came from behind to thrash Leeds at Elland Road and reach the Capital One Cup semi-finals.

Luciano Becchio finished a counter-attack to give the home team a half-time lead and hope of a famous win.

But Juan Mata fired an equaliser just after the break and Branislav Ivanovic headed the Blues into the lead. Victor Moses found the bottom corner before substitute Eden Hazard slotted home and Fernando Torres tapped in to seal Chelsea’s place in the last four.

It is a result that maintains their unbeaten record against Leeds in cup competition and

Ivanovic scored Chelsea’s second goal from a header off a corner to give the away side the lead. (Ian Hodgson)

gets them back to winning ways after defeat by Corinthians in the Club World Cup final.

The European champions looked in big trouble as Championship side Leeds opened the scoring in front of 35,000 passionate supporters.

But they produced a superb response to give Rafael Benitez his most important victory since taking over as interim manager.

The warnings of League Two Bradford’s shock win against Arsenal in the same round were heeded, and Chelsea are now two wins from securing the first trophy of the English domestic season. Much of the build-

up focused on the fierce rivalry of these clubs in the 1960s and 70s, but there was little sign of the old animosity.

There were even handshakes between Benitez and Leeds boss Neil Warnock, despite Warnock suggesting he might refuse the gesture following a dispute between the pair dating back to 2007.

It was left to the home crowd to stoke the atmosphere and their side responded with a first-half showing that looked every bit the performance of a side with four wins from their previous five matches.

Moses tested home keeper Jamie Ashdown with an early drive, but a sloppy

Shiv loses No 1 Test spot in latest rankings

Shivnarine Chanderpaul DUBAI, UAE (CMC) — Reliable West Indies player, Shivnarine Chanderpaul , has lost his position as the world’s number one Test batsman following the release of the latest Reliance ICC player Rankings Tuesday.

Chanderpaul has been replaced by Australia captain Michael Clarke who has predictably reclaimed the top spot after the completion of Test matches in Hobart and Nagpur.

Michael Clarke

Clarke, who entered the Hobart Test trailing numberone ranked Shivnarine Chanderpaul by just one ratings point, now leads the West Indian by nine points.

Clarke’s matching winning knocks of 74 and 57 against Sri Lanka played a part in helping him race to the top.

England’s Captain Alastair Cook, who was the other contender for the top spot, has remained in fourth position after losing 38 ratings

points following his double failure in the Nagpur Test which ended in a draw.

He now trails Clarke by 52 ratings points.

There were also some gains in the latest rankings for two other West Indian batsmen, Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo.

Bravo moved two places up to number 20 while Samuels eased up a notch to number 19 in the rankings for Test batsmen.

back-pass from Branislav Ivanovic then almost let in Jerome Thomas and Jason Pearce headed wide from Diouf’s free-kick.

At the other end, Moses felt he was tripped by Brown in the box but got up to draw a fine stop from Ashdown.

But Leeds looked dangerous going forward and Chelsea seemed to be showing the effects of Monday’s 6,000mile flight back from Japan.

The hosts’ reward came as Sam Byram intercepted a Luiz pass and released Michael

Tonge, who fed Jerome Thomas on the right and his accurate cross was converted first time by Becchio.

The visitors showed signs of coming to life before half-time as Ashdown twice denied Frank Lampard - albeit either side of a Tom Lees header that could have doubled the home side’s lead.

That miss proved costly when, a minute into the second period, Moses teed up Mata to beat Ashdown with a low strike that the goalkeeper might have saved.

Chelsea were definitely stirring now and after Torres went close with a header, Ivanovic nodded in at the near post from Lampard’s corner.

Moments later, Moses ran at a shaken Leeds defence and made it three with a powerful effort, before Hazard ran on to a perfectly weighted Luiz through-ball to score shortly after coming on.

Torres got in on the act with a late tap-in to boost Chelsea’s hopes of a fifth League Cup triumph.

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Kaieteur News

Shahid Afridi scored two attacking half centuries © Associated Press

ESPNCricinfo - Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, could be considered for the ODI squad for the tour of India, days after he was dropped from the same, according to ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

Afridi looked in good form during the ongoing practice matches at the conditioning training camp ahead of the India tour, scoring two backto-back half-centuries to press his case for a recall. He was, however, named in the

Thursday December 20, 2012

ODI RECALL FOR AFRIDI A POSSIBILITY - MISBAH Twenty20 squad.

“If his form remains like this and we need him, we will definitely consider him,” Misbah said at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “The form of senior players, who are experienced enough, is very important. They are seniors, whenever you give performances like this it will be good for Pakistan.”

Afridi had a poor World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, where he scored 30 runs in six matches at an average of six and claimed four wickets at 42.74. In his last 12 international innings across all formats, he averages 6.30 with the bat. He failed to make an impact in the recently concluded national Twenty20 competition and looked rusty.

However, during the oneday practice matches, he scored 52 off 40 balls on Monday and clubbed another impressive 92 off 64 balls on Wednesday. He looked composed and controlled with the bat, cutting, sweeping and executing with

a straight bat rather than slogging wildly. A lofty six over the bowler’s head into the dressing room was perhaps the biggest hit in the last three days. But if he is to cement his place in the side as an allrounder his bowling needs to improve. At the moment, though, his power hitting is a positive for Pakistan.

Misbah said Inzamam-ulHaq, Pakistan’s batting consultant, has given the batsmen tips on how to tackle

pressure while playing against India. “Inzamam has been very useful in helping us prepare both psychologically and mentally - what type of hurdles we are going to face, how to get out of it, how as a batsman you should carry yourself,” Misbah said. “No doubt in India-Pakistan cricket you have to play aggressive cricket and we will try to apply it over there.”

Misbah was wary of India despite their defeat in the Test

series against England at home. “There is no point underestimating them. We will have to play hard cricket.

Every bowler has a role to play. Against India you need a balanced attack,” Misbah said, stopping short of naming Saeed Ajmal as their key bowler. “You can’t depend on any one, otherwise you will be under a lot of pressure. India has depth in their batting line-up and you can’t catch them with any one bowler.”

London to host 2017 Paralympic World Championships

LONDON (Reuters) London will get the chance to recreate the magic of 2012 after being chosen to host the 2017 Paralympic athletics world championships, Mayor Boris Johnson said on Wednesday. The event will be held just a month before the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF world athletics championships, making London the first city to stage both events back-to-back.

This year’s Paralympics athletics events attracted sell-out 80,000 crowds with the performances of British 100m runner Jonnie Peacock and wheelchair racer David Weir providing some of the most memorable moments of the Games.

“London just staged the best spectacle of sport the world has seen,” Johnson said in a statement.

“By bringing the IPC athletics world championships to our wonderful Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park just a month before the world athletics championships, the capital is

London’s Mayor Boris Johnson speaks during a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event at Canary Wharf, east London December 4, 2012.

REUTERS/Andrew Winning poised to recreate the magic of 2012.

“London’s Paralympic Games were the first ever to sell out, and these Championships provide a perfect chance to build on that enthusiasm for disabled sport,” he added.

Xavier Gonzalez, chief executive of the IPC, said London had helped raised the bar for Paralympic athletics.

“We cannot wait to see Great Britain embrace the Paralympic Movement once again with open arms,” he said. “The bar has been set high for the 2017 IPC Athletics World Championships, and we are eager to see the worldwide media attention they attract.”

The next edition of the championships is being held in Lyon, France in 2013.

Guyana Boxing Association to stage DDL U16 tourney Saturday The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) will stage the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) sponsored Under-16 Boxing competition on Saturday at the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis Gym in Albouystown starting at 10:00am.

This is the third competition being sponsored

by DDL for this year among the young boxers, with programmes in Georgetown and Berbice previously.

Saturday’s action will see 12 bouts being contested and the best amateur boxers from

around the country will be on show. Gyms from all the various Regions are scheduled to be represented.

This has been a very active year for the GBA, more so the latter half.

GBA President Steve Ninvalle expressed heartfelt gratitude to DDL and the principals there for their assistance and the desire to see the relationship continue next year as the association seek to forge ahead with its plans.

He noted that a similar vein as this year will continue next year and heighten as they focus on their road to Rio programme to ensure that Guyana is adequately represented and medal at the Brazil Olympics kicks into higher gear.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Heat tame Timberwolves despite huge rebounding gulf Miami Heat’s LeBron James (L) drives against Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love in the first half of their NBA basketball game in Miami, Florida December 18, 2012.

REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Miami Heat overcame a 28point rebounding differential to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-92 on Tuesday with Dwyane Wade top scoring with 24 points.

The Timberwolves

slaughtered Miami 52-24 on the boards, with Kevin Love winning 18 of the rebounds and Montenegrin Nikola Pekovic 12.

But the Heat shrugged off the disadvantage as they dominated the turnover

count, and were never threatened after pulling away in the second half. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that, when you get doubled up on the rebounding and you still win,” Heat head coach Erik

India v England, 1st T20I, Pune

Scarred India strive for motivation ESPNCricinfo - Only three days ago, the two teams were part of a draining battle in the Test series in which things went from bad to worse for India while England rose in confidence and three days later, they are ready to take on each other for a couple of Twenty20s. Of the two, India needs a win, any win.

For India, it is a strange situation. First, they fell in their own trap in the Tests and now they need to find the motivation to come out of the slump and play positive cricket. It doesn’t help that the nucleus of their T20 squad is still the same as the Test side. MS Dhoni, whose leadership has been under fire, needs to arrest the slide and switch gears for a format, which appears, suited to the Indian team - hard-hitting batsmen, restrictive bowlers and a wait-and-watch style of captaincy. The reality, though, is that India haven’t really dominated on the international level even in T20s. Unlike India, England’s T20 side bears a completely different look. The architects of the series win are already back in England for Christmas, but they have left a scarred Indian team for their T20

generation to feast upon.

Most in the side, captained

by Eoin Morgan, have been in India for some time now and would have spent time getting used to the spinning conditions. So on paper, England have again been methodical in their preparations. That doesn’t directly translate to success if pitches take spin, the young side could again appear like rabbit in headlights. But it points to one clear difference between the two sides - one fighting their demons, the other ignoring theirs.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Yuvraj Singh may have flopped in the Tests, but he remains a dangerous limitedovers player. His inclusion in the T20 squad three months back appeared driven by emotions, but since then, Yuvraj has spent a considerable amount of time in the middle. He has scored a couple of hundreds at the first-class level and although he appeared inept in the Tests, he would prefer England’s new-look bowling attack to stamp his authority.

Eoin Morgan has been a regular in England’s limitedovers sides and in Stuart Broad’s absence, he has been

awarded with the captaincy.

Morgan, one of England’s best players against spin, will not only be the lynchpin in the middle order, he will have the responsibility of mentoring the inexperienced players. His IPL experience will come in handy for England to draw up plans against the Indian players.

TEAM NEWS Ten of the 15 players in India’s squad also took part in the Test series. Ambati Rayudu, who replaced the injured Manoj Tiwary, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the two new additions apart from the regulars but could find it hard to make it to the XI. Parwinder Awana could make his international debut after L Balaji and Vinay Kumar were withdrawn from the squad due to injuries.

England lost Stuart Broad to a heel injury and was replaced by the Middlesex seamer James Harris.

However, he is unlikely to make it to the XI with Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker ahead of him.

Joe Root, who was not part of the original T20 squad, could find a place after his impressive showing in the Nagpur Test.

Spoelstra told reporters.

“We’ll take it.”

LeBron James put up 22 points with 11 assists and seven rebounds in his 42 minutes on court to notch his 27th consecutive regular season game with at least 20 points.

The visitors led 27-21 at the end of the first quarter, having dominated the rebounds 18-3 in the opening 12 minutes. Miami recovered to lead 52-49 at the half, with Mario Chalmers scoring a three-pointer with the final play.

The Heat took control after the break, with James scoring 14 points, and overhauled the largest rebounding deficit in their history.

“They were absolutely annihilating us on the glass,” said Spoelstra.

“In the second half it felt we did a better job but they still had opportunities with second chance points. The only thing we could do at that point was put bodies on them and tip the ball away to somebody else,” he said.

The Heat forced 20 turnovers for a second

consecutive game, yielding 25 points, and made 14 blocked shots and 12 steals. “You have to make up for (the rebounding) somewhere else,” said Miami forward Shane Battier.

“It’s not a way we would want to rest ourselves every night but if you play hard in other areas of the game, force turnovers and are efficient on the offensive end, you can mitigate that a little bit,” he said. Chris Bosh said the Heat

had shown their quality in overcoming their rebounding weakness, a problem throughout the season.

“We’re a good team. Good teams always find a way to win. We have to find a way to rebound collectively as a unit.

Once we start doing that we give ourselves a better chance to win,” he said.

“When we get to that point we can really start to squeeze the life out of teams slowly but surely.”

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Kaieteur News

Sammy says “time is right” for Caribbean Premier League Castries, St Lucia – West Indies captain Darren Sammy has welcomed the Caribbean Premier League, saying “the time is right” for such an event to be staged in the cricket-loving region.

The allrounder, who led the West Indies to the title at the ICC World T20 tournament in Sri Lanka, was speaking after the CPL was

officially launched on the scenic west coast of Barbados on Monday afternoon.

“The time is right for the Caribbean Premier League.

Cricketers across the Caribbean will benefit from this immensely. I, for sure, am looking forward to participating in the tournament. It promises to be

some great entertainment, which players and the spectators will all enjoy,” the skipper said.

“For a while now people have been calling for a franchise-based tournament of this nature in the West Indies. The time has come and I know the players across the region will embrace and readily accept the new

Thursday December 20, 2012

Darren Sammy

concept.

“This is a special time in West Indies cricket as we launch what promises to be one of the best tournaments on the cricket calendar. It comes at a time when we in the West Indies are kings of the Twenty20 format. We are the world champions and we have some of the best players in the world. Our players have

created an impact all across the globe,” added Sammy, who celebrates his 29th birthday today.

The Caribbean Premier League, which was officially launched on Monday by Verus International, will be city-based.

Present at the launch were West Indies Cricket Board President, Dr Julian Hunte, and Chairman and CEO of Verus International, Ajmal Khan, who formally announced the groundbreaking licence agreement for the league.

Comprising the best of West Indies cricket talent, each franchise team will be

built around local Caribbean cricketers complemented by a few international, high-calibre star players from abroad.

“What is also exciting for me is the number of young cricketers who could benefit from this new initiative. The WICB has done some good work on the grassroots and developmental programmes, and with additional funding more players will have a chance in cricket and in life,” Sammy said.

“People across the world love the West Indies brand of cricket and the way West Indians enjoy the game and celebrate their culture. All this and more will be on show.”

Rambarran returns as BVA President Businessman and former player and Television station owner Gregory Rambarran was re-elected unopposed as President of the Berbice Volleyball Association (BVA) when that body successfully held their Annual General Meeting on Sunday at the Albion Sports Complex.

Rambarran since taking over as president of the BVA has taken the game to new heights in which there has been a surge in Volleyball activities in the ancient county.

The BVA at the moment is considered the most active Volleyball body in Guyana.

There is a new Vice President in Bhirooj Poonai. The Secretary is Adityanand Singh, while Godwyn Allicock is the new Treasurer.

A new PRO was also put in place with Danish

Gregory Rambarran Seelochan, occupying that position. Errol Chase is the Organising Secretary.

The executive is expected to meet shortly to plan their calendar of events for 2013, with emphasis being place on youth and school activities.

Training and club activities along with some action for the veterans are also on the cards.

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Vice Captain Powell ready to step up in Leewards colours CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – Kieran Powell had a good year in West Indies colours and now he is looking to do even better when he puts on his Leeward Islands shirt. The tall, left-handed opener has been named vice captain of the Leewards team as they try to win the Caribbean T20 for the first time.

The 22-year-old from Nevis is fresh from a brilliant year with the bat in Test cricket and is relishing the challenge as he switches from the longest version to the shortest and newest format of

the game.

Powell was outstanding this year with five first-class centuries. He made three in Test cricket – including two in the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka last month. In August, he made his maiden Test century came against New Zealand at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium. He also made a century against the England Lions on the West Indies tour of England and one for West Indies “A” against India “A” in St Lucia.

“I think I can make the

adjustment in any format of the game. Once I train hard and do the basics, I can transfer my form from the longer formats to the T20 format and that gives me a chance of getting a big score,” he said.

“I’m in a really good frame of mind at the moment and I’m focussing on continuing my success. It was a really rewarding year for me with the bat at the top of the order. I batted well for West Indies this year and I want to continue for the Leewards.”

Speaking on behalf of his

Central New Amsterdam maul Black Sharks Play in the Banks DIH Classic Inter Club Basketball competition continued on Sunday with one of two scheduled games in Berbice.

Central New Amsterdam playing their first game opened their account with an easy win as they drowned out the Fyrish Black Sharks to hand the Corentyne team their second loss in the fiveteam competition in the game which was played at the Fyrish Basketball court.

Central New Amsterdam took command from the start and never looked back as their players were constantly in the paint dunking baskets with ease to run away winners 53-35. The leading scorers for the boys from New Amsterdam were Randy Caesar with a game high 19 points with support from

Jevauhn Vanderstoop with 15.

The Black Sharks were totally at sea and lost their way early as they got totally tangled with none of their players reaching double figures.

The second game between Smythfield of New Amsterdam and Corentyne Jammers and scheduled for The Rose Hall Town Basketball court was not played due to unforeseen circumstances and has been scheduled for later date.

The competition will continue on Sunday 23rd December with two games. At the Fyrish court the Fyrish Black Sharks will be looking to redeem themselves with their first win in the competition when they play host to Jammers, while Rose Hall Town will be at home to

Smythfield. Both games are scheduled to get started at 16:00hrs.

Five teams are participating in the competition which is being played on a round robin basis. The top four teams will then advance to the semifinals which will see the team with the most points taking on the team third in the points standing and the second and fourth placed teams clashing for a spot in the final which is slated for Sunday 20th January at the New Amsterdam Basketball court.

The top four teams will all be presented with cash, trophies and other memorabilia while there will also be prizes for outstanding individual participants. The coordinator is Vibert Garrett.

(Samuel Whyte)

team-mates, Powell said he was pleased with the new setup for the Caribbean T20, which runs from January 6 to 20. For 2013, the tournament will be played on a roundrobin basis among the seven territorial teams.

The Leewards are due to have a preparatory camp in Antigua at year-end before they fly into Trinidad for the first round of matches. Powell is expected to open the batting with Sylvester Joseph, who is making a return to the team as captain after a four-year absence.

“The good thing this season is we have more matches, so even if you lose early you’re not in a desperate situation you still have a chance to make up...you have a chance to make a greater impact. I like the look of our team and I like our chances. We have ‘impact players’ and I can see us going deep into the tournament,” Powell said.

In two years at the

WICB’s development programme, Powell has emerged as the poster boy for the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre. He credits the Sagicor WIHPC for the cricketer he has become, noting it has given him the platform to progress towards his ultimate goals of being a consistent, top-class performer for Leewards and West Indies.

“The time at the Sagicor WIHPC has totally changed my game. It has been a massive boost to my cricket.

It has helped me with both the technical side and mental side of my game. It has helped to refine my game and overall I am now a calmer person. A lot of things I developed there I put into place, and I was able to assess the situation and go about the business of building an innings.

“There was a time I used to go in and look to play all the shots and see how many [runs] I could get. All that has changed now. I’m more

Kieran Powell settled and aware of my role.

I look back at the time I spent at the Sagicor HPC and realise the changes I made in my game. I can truly say I learned a lot in the two years there and I will look to kick on and get bigger scores for the West Indies,” Powell added.

LEEWARD ISLANDS SQUAD: Sylvester Joseph (Captain), Kieran Powell (Vice Captain), Justin Athanaze, Shane Burton, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton, Chesney Hughes, Javia Liburd, Anthony Martin, Lyndel Richardson, Garvin Tonge, Devon Thomas, Kelbert Walters, Tonito Willett.

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Thursday December 20, 2012

Berbice Bridge Inc contributes $$$ towards KMTC Xmas Race Meet Sponsorship is regarded as the oxygen of all sports activities and Honorary President of the Kennard Memorial Turf Club (KMTC), Justice Cecil Kennard understands this so well.

Yesterday morning he reiterated this view when he journeyed to the Water Street office of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI), Omadat Samaroo, where he collected a cheque for a substantial amount to offset the expenses associated with the success of the Xmas Race Meet 2012 at KMTC Bush Lot Farm Corentyne

headquarters, scheduled for Wednesday December 26 next.

This is not the first time that Mr. Samaroo has acquiesced to such chivalry but this time he has increased his donation substantially. As such, a cheque valued at more than $700,000 exchanged hands and Mr. Samaroo has pledged more substantial assistance for upcoming meets as well as other sports and social activities.

The CEO said that the donation will go to specific races, and even so, to specific placements. Turfites will be treated to 8 exciting races

among the country’s top horses with the feature attraction being the B and Lower class over a distance of one mile.

The winning jockey carts off $1.2M dollars, while the runner up wins half that amount. The third and fourth place finishers receive $300, 000 and $150,000 respectively. Then there is the G and Lower Class over a distance of 7 furlongs. The winner in this race will cart off $320,000, one of the prizes put up by the BBCI. The second place finisher wins half that amount while the third and fourth place finishers receive

Justice Cecil Kennard (right) gratefully accepts the trophy and cheque from Mr. Omadat Samaroo yesterday. $80,000 and $40,000, respectively.

The other events include the H and Lower over a distance of 6 furlongs. The BBCI contribution to this event totals $60,000 for the horse finishing in the 3rd place.

The other events benefitting from the largesse of the BBCI are the I/3 and Lower over 6 furlongs ($45,000), D3 and Lower over 6 furlongs ($63,000) and the race between the 2 years olds over 6 furlongs ($32,000).

Meanwhile, the BBCI executive said that he was most delighted to have been able to assist and he wished the organizers well. “The bridge has been in existence for approximately 4 years and we have been able to assist, not only in horse races but also other disciplines as well as sectors,” said Mr. Samaroo.

Mr. Kennard was delighted to have received the donation and assured the CEO that it would go a far way in offsetting the administrative and other

expenses associated with the event.

The organizers wish to remind horse owners that the event is being conducted under the aegis of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) and that all of the rules would be applied. The registration period ended on Sunday December 16 and horse owners can contact Justice Cecil Kennard (2261399, 225-4818, or 623-7609) or Roopnarine Matadial aka Shine (325-3192) for any additional information.

Balotelli withdraws appeal, accepts club fine LONDON (Reuters) Mario Balotelli has accepted a fine of two weeks’ wages from Manchester City after withdrawing his appeal against disciplinary action taken by the Premier League champions, the club said on Wednesday.

The volatile Italian striker, who was fined by City after a series of well-documented misdemeanors on and off the pitch last season, had been due to have his case heard by a Premier League panel on Wednesday but the hearing was canceled.

“After amicable talks between the parties, as a sign of respect for (coach) Roberto Mancini, the supporters and the club, Mario Balotelli has chosen to accept a two-week fine levied upon him by the Club and withdraw his disciplinary appeal,” a City statement said.

“Mario remains available for selection for all forthcoming fixtures.”

Despite the 22-year-old Balotelli’s decision to end his dispute and agree to a 340,000 pounds ($550,000) fine his relationship with the club and Mancini appears to be at

Mario Balotelli breaking-point.

The player who former Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho once branded “unmanageable” was left out of the squad against Newcastle United last weekend after being hauled off in the defeat by Manchester United the week before.

While he has occasionally justified the faith Mancini showed when signing him from Inter for 22 million euros in 2010, Balotelli’s goals have been overshadowed by rash tackles, tantrums and bizarre off-field antics such as setting fire to his house after letting off fireworks in his bathroom.

“When you have a player of this quality you can’t understand that he could continue to throw this out of the window. This is incredible,” Mancini told reporters after City’s 3-2 loss against United earlier this month. The club’s patience snapped last season when Balotelli missed 11 of City’s 54 competitive games through suspensions, the last of which followed a red card against Arsenal in April.

Balotelli has managed just one Premier League goal this season, although Mancini has continued to support him, playing down suggestions that he may leave in January. ($1 = 0.6155 British pounds)

Thursday December 20, 2012

Kaieteur News

Horse Owners, trainers say they should be included in meeting - Situation should be looked at holistically

By Samuel Whyte As the issues continue over racing dates between the Rising Sun Turf Club of Arima Park West Berbice and the Port Mourant Turf Club of Corentyne, the government through the Director of Sports Neil Kumar has decided to intervene in the current impasse in an attempt to resolve the issues that is plaguing the sport at this moment.

With both sides sticking to their guns and staying with their December 30 date, a meeting has been quickly called by the Government between the two parties and Chairman of the IMC, former Chancellor Justice Cecil Kennard, to sort things out as all efforts are being made to find a solution and save the game from degenerating into chaos.

Both clubs have organised multimillion dollars nine-race events for the 30th of December. A mere three

days after the Kennard Memorial Turf Club Multimillion dollar Boxing Day meet on the 26th of December. With the clash of date, Horses owners and trainers are stating that they will not be participating in either of the two events if the situation remains the same.

The situation is that the RSTC is the usual venue to the end of season meet either on Old years or New Year’s Day or the Sunday closest, while PMTC will usually have a date on the first or Second Sunday of December.

Both clubs are blaming each other for the present state of affairs with president of the IMC former Chancellor Justice Cecil Kennard stating that the clubs do not want to adhere to simple instructions.

He along with Senior Council Marcel Crawford had blamed the lack of legislation and the sloth of the government in implementing the necessary legislation for

the current scenario.

Spokesman Colin Elcock says that they are also sticking to their guns and hope that an amicable solution would be reached.

He blamed the entire fault on “lil boy” attitude on the part of the horse racing fraternity. He stated that, “…we are big men and I cannot see why big men cannot sit down and work things out. We had meetings and dates since the start of the year, while some are traditional dates, so why the foolishness.”

He understands the IMC cannot do much in terms of enforcement, because of a lack of legislation for which he blames the government for, but stated that people must act like big men.

Elcock stated that horse owners are blaming both clubs and to a lesser extent the IMC for the squabble which seems to be overtaking sports in Guyana. The eminent racehorse owner

and Dellon Bagot.

On the distaff side Leslyn McKenzie was all alone as she took command of the female segment of the event.

She ran mostly unchallenged as she took the lead from the start to romp home ahead of Tinisha Solomon, Aleema Arokium and Mellissa Kyte.

Prizes were presented by Mr. Fawaaz Harry, Sales Supervisor banks DIH Berbice Branch, while the winning trophies were donated by Jermaine Front Line Barber shop and Arlene Allicock Campbell.

The organisation would

like to express their gratitude to all the sponsors, supporters, athletes, the Media and Well wishers and looking forward for their continued support in 2013. 16 athletes faced the starters.

The next event is billed for Sunday 27 January and more categories are expected to be added. The coordinator was Godwyn Allicock. The monthly road race is being promoted to keep athletes active and help to resuscitate competitive running in the Ancient County.

The first race was held on November 11.

Bennons runs away with second monthly Athletic Road Race in Berbice

Darryl Bennons took advantage of ideal conditions for road racing to register a win in the second monthly road race organised by the Rose Hall Town Anniversary and Development Organisation (RHTADA) for athletes in Berbice. The race which was held last Sunday along the Corentyne Highway, started in front of the Whim Police Station and ended at the Rose Hall Town Arch, covering a distance of 5 kilometers. The female segment of the race got underway from Tain UG campus and covered a distance of 4KM. The event which was sponsored by Banks DIH and friends of Rose Hall Town began at 07:00hrs.

AS the race began the athletes kept a steady pace with Bennons always in contention. The athlete took charge of the race around the halfway mark and never looked back as he crossed the finishing line in a time of 19 minutes.48 seconds, beating into second place Rahaman James by about a minute.

The other places were occupied by Michael Layne third, Michael Dick, Asif Emmanuel, Muaaz Inshan

took a broadside on the principle of the PMTC for allowing the club to be used and raped of its benefits. “If the executives and the principals of the facility cannot perform and protect their assets, then they should leave and allow others who would look into the interest of all the people that should benefit to take over.”

Delving into some history he stated that the PMTC is not a private club and is the only public Race Track in Guyana. He stated that the village of Port Mourant has a lot of history and the Port Mourant race track was given to the people of Port Mourant by the colonial rulers with the government as the guardian for them to benefit and not to a few friends and their cronies to reap havoc.

He said that the facility is being raped and is urging the government to get on board before the situation gets worst. “How can a government allow something

Page 37

Colin Elcock

like this to happen to its assets?” he asked.

Elcock had asserted that horse owners had agreed that they will not be taking part in any meet once the controversy continued. He had said that, “We will not be taking part in any meet if the situation is not sorted.

If the two races will be held on the same day we will not be participating. The tracks will have to get their houses in order. We as horse owners are saying that we will not take part.

We will not be drawn into this madness. They have until this weekend to decide on the

way forward. I will stop training and exercising my horses by then, if nothing is worked out. I have already spoken to a number of owners who have expressed similar sentiments.”

Most in the horse racing fraternity has noted that the absence of the relevant legislation by government is the main cause for the current situation.

Senior Council and eminent Horse racing personality Marcel Crawford had drafted and handed a draft legislation to Minister of Sports more than a decade ago.

t r o Sp

GFF will honour commitments- Wilson

By Zaheer Mohamed

Acting President of the Guyana Football Federation Franklyn Wilson at a press conference held yesterday at the Federation head quarters at Section K Campbellville, stated the GFF will honour the commitments they had previously agreed to in relation to payments of players.

He said the only payments owed to the players are the 12% of income after expenses and Honorarium (US$500 that was agreed to for each player for the game that was moved to Texas) which amounted to US$8,500 (US$500X17 players) but three players namely Chris Nurse, Gregory Richardson and Konata Manning have already received their bonus.

The bonus for the game in St. Lucia, which is one win plus 4 goals amounted to

Acting President of the GFF Franklyn Wilson makes a point during the press conference yesterday. Next to him is General Secretary of the GFF Noel Adonis.

US$575 and the Grenada match bonus which is two wins plus five goals equivalent to US$1,000.

Wilson informed that the full match fees and Per Diem of

US$30 in accordance with agreement for the game in Texas have already been paid as well as the Per Diem of US$20 for the bonus in the St. Lucia and Grenada

games. He added that due to some financial difficulties encountered by the Federation, they were unable to pay the fees on time but same will be paid.

He said the GFF does not want the players to suffer a loss of earnings. “A number of players had to be away and were asked to submit information in relation to their absence and will be paid based on that, and the GFF will continue to do their best to prepare teams for future competitions.”

In relation to moving the game to Texas he said it was a late decision.

In response to a few players decision of not representing the country under the current administration, Wilson stated they can’t force players to play for the country. “We will continue to do our best for the players but cannot afford to pay the amount of money that some of them demanded. The GFF give players an opportunity to showcase their talent so that the can obtain contracts with clubs and earn a decent

pay,” he added.

He further stated the code of conduct was circulated to the players but they did not sign it. “We appreciated the level of patience shown by the players but there is a procedure that should be followed in terms of sharing your grievances and the players went overboard in this regard, this is one of the reasons they did not sign the code of conduct which gives them a lee way to do what they did.”

He added that plans for improving the game are in place. “There is always room for improvement and the Federation would welcome constructive views from anyone in this regard, we are also in talks with the new CONCACAF president J e f f e r y We b b f o r developmental programmes.”

Wilson said the GFF (Continued on page 28)

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