Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Two die in bus and Tundra smash-up - 12 injured Two persons were pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation late last evening following a smash-up between a route 44 minibus and a Toyota Tundra pickup on the Mon Repos Public Road, East Coast Demerara.

The crash occurred around 21:30 hours. The two dead persons have been identified as 37 year-old Senior Mistress of the Beteverwagting/Quamina Primary School, Shondell Yaw and driver of the minibus, Godfrey Gilbert Daniels, who hails from Berbice. Ten other persons, mostly passengers from the minibus BMM 8260 were up to press time still being treated at the GPHC for injuries they sustained. At least two other persons were removed and taken to Private medical institutions for treatment.

Those injured have been identified as Deborah Bennett, 46 of Victoria, East Coast Demerara; Wayne Reynolds, 50; his father Eldon Reynolds, who is said to be in his 70’s; Dully Singh, 27 of Vreed-en-Hoop; Krystal

Injured: 27-year-old Dully Singh (left) and Debra Benette Clarke of Alberttown; Police Constable Nigel Roach; Marcel Fitzalbert of Festival City; Janel Nichol; Krystel Seeram and Savitri Mohandas.

Reports are that the minibus was heading toward the city when the pick-up reportedly turned out from a street onto the main road and crashed head on into the

minibus.

An eyewitness told this publication that after the pickup turned onto the main road, it went full speed into the minibus’s lane, resulting in the collision.

Within minutes, persons, who were in close proximity, raced to the minibus to pull the injured persons out of the badly mangled vehicle.

Persons at the scene said from all indications, the driver of the Tundra was under the influence of alcohol.

“As soon as people hear the noise, I see a lady rush out of she house and buss the minibus trunk and start pulling out people and trying to get them to the hospital,” one eyewitness recalled.

Another eyewitness said

Injured: Police Constable Nigel Roach that as public spirited citizens assisted the injured out of the minibus, the conductor who appeared badly injured fell out of the vehicle and was placed into a vehicle.

However, it is not clear which medical institution he was taken to.

Meanwhile, as news of the accident spread, scores turned up at the Georgetown

Public Hospital to find out the fate of their loved ones.

Hospital staffers appeared overwhelmed as the crowd grew, with persons flocking the Accident and Emergency Unit trying to get a glimpse of their injured relatives.

However, only those who seemed critical were taken in for immediate treatment while (Continued on page 18)

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Kaieteur News

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

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

Editorial

Rural women

In the euphoria of the announcements about the record rice production of 2012 and record foreign revenues hauled in for the country, it was significant that the role of rural women in this accomplishment went unremarked.

And this in the face that the priority theme of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) during its fiftysixth session in 2012 was, “the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.”

Rural women (who are still mainly engaged in agriculture) account for more than a quarter of the total world population and 43% of agricultural workers. They produce, on an average, more than half of all the food that is grown: up to 80 per cent in Africa, 60 per cent in Asia, between 30 and 40 per cent in Latin America and Northern countries.

Yet, they are hardly ever recognised as farmers in their own right, and are not provided any of the associated rights.

So, globally, it is estimated that they own only two per cent of the land and receive only one per cent of all agricultural credit. Only five per cent of all agricultural extension resources are directed to women.

Apart from direct involvement in agriculture, women are crucial to rural off-farm income-generating activities, and of course, to all the household-based tasks associated with social reproduction, including care of the young, the sick and the old. They typically bear the responsibility for family nutrition and household provisioning, all of which are part of the unpaid work they routinely perform.

In Guyana, the situation is no different from this global pattern, and may even be somewhat worse because of the continuing agrarian crisis in large parts of the country.

Yes, sugar is in crisis but no one says it is actually the sugar workers’ wives (and female sugar workers) who are in crisis: they still have to keep the household going by any means necessary. Most of the women employed in Guyana are engaged in agriculture, whether as workers in household farms owned or rented by their families, or as wage workers – especially by GUYSUCO. Yet, it is precisely livelihood in agriculture that has tended to become more volatile and insecure in recent years.

And women cultivators have actually been worse hit because they already were insecure in terms of lack of land titles as well as access to credit and output markets. All this has other consequences, in terms of raising the costs of cultivation for women farmers.

Because they do not have titles to land, they do not have the collateral that would enable them to access bank or institutional loans. Because they are not recognised as farmers, they do not get the benefit of agricultural extension services, or subsidised inputs, or other publicly provided services for farmers.

These existing disadvantages have been compounded by trends in Guyanese agriculture, which have moved much more cultivation, especially on the Coast, away from subsistence farming or cultivation of traditional crops that required little in the way of monetised inputs to cash crops that rely heavily on purchased inputs and assured water supply.

Farmers, whether male or female, are now forced to enter markets for inputs, output, credit, and water. And all of these markets have operated in ways that have reduced the viability of cultivation in the past decades.

At a fundamental level, of course, the problems of farming are evident, ranging from floods, droughts and soil degeneration to the lack of institutional credit and insurance, leading to excessive reliance on private funds; from the difficulty in accessing reliable and reasonably priced inputs to the problems of marketing and the high volatility of crop prices.

But the crisis is also reflected in other features of the rural economy, such as the decline in agricultural employment and stagnation of other employment. Since women are involved as agricultural wage workers, this necessarily affects them negatively as well.

Let us give some consideration to what we can do in Guyana to improve the conditions of life and work of rural women.

Monday February 04, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Eagerly looking forward to the Joe Singh Creative Partnerships Initiative DEAR EDITOR, Just when I thought hope for saving Guyana was fading fast, up came retired Major General, Mr. Joseph Singh, in his eloquently articulated but very arresting missive, “This situation is becoming unacceptably claustrophobic and debilitating,” (KN, February 2).

Although the recent brazen and disturbing guntoting home invasion and physical attacks on PNC General Secretary, Mr. Oscar Clarke and his family, spurred the letter, Mr. Singh saw the act as an extension of a host of other social ills afflicting the Guyanese society, which weeps silently for concerted efforts at speedy resolutions, especially in light of the fact that, in three years, we will be 50 years old as an independent nation.

This spiraling decline in our nation’s social and moral standards did not happen suddenly; a point poignantly stated in Ms. Geralda Dennison’s letter, “Two postIndependence generations know no other way of life,” (KN, February 3). To me, it can be traced back to the era of the denial of Guyanese constitutional and human rights and freedoms during the PNC era, and which decline was further exacerbated by the era of pervasive corruption, lawlessness, vindictiveness and sporadic symptoms of autocracy during the Bharrat Jagdeo era.

Basically, since Independence, or between the PNC and PPP, Guyana’s

social decay has worsened to the point where ‘spiritual renewals’ and ‘moral revivals’ and ‘social revolutions’ have become worn out clichés to impress the distressed and depressed.

And it makes no sense for any of us to even think we can simply blame the PNC and PPP without taking blame as a nation, because the PNC and PPP could not exist and do what they did without support from the very people who are now victims of our own social decadence. Yes, we have, by our choices and decisions, privately and publicly, contributed to this quagmire.

And we certainly simply cannot leave it to the PPP government to take the lead role in the call for change because that is where a major part of the dilemma exists.

So, like Ms. Dennison, I, too, ask, “The cat is to be belled but who’s to bell the cat?” Ms. Dennison answers her own question by stating the “need to start a process of re-education, our leaders setting the example, then perhaps another ‘enlightened’ figure may come along and help to turn things around,” meaning, a modern day version of the late Cheddi Jagan will emerge to lead this change.

Mr. Singh, for his part, succinctly captured for us what is wrong and even provided an antidote when he wrote, “Fissures in the fabric of our society along the fault lines of politics and ethnicity continue to fuel the perception, rightly or

wrongly, that political alignments, ethnicity and social standing are factors that influence decisions relating to equity, access, security and justice.”

“If we are to change this perception,” he continued, ”then one systemic change I proffer, is to harness the potential of the youth men and women who are falling out of the formal society and embrace them, counsel, guide and train them to be proud and productive Guyanese, realising their true potential.”

“I believe such an initiative, planned and implemented through creative partnerships, will garner support and traction.

We need to fashion an enabling environment, not of garrisons, gated communities and gaols, but one where we the people feel motivated to empower ourselves to pursue our vocations, display our talents, entrepreneurial skills, patriotism, and good neighbourliness.”

If Mr. Singh genuinely believes that creative partnerships can result in ‘harnessing the potential of youth men and women who are falling out of the formal society’, then the next step is to give structure and substance to this belief. Can Mr. Singh or Ms. Dennison or anyone else in or out of Guyana, who is deeply bothered by Guyana’s social decline enough to want to help effect change, come up with ideas and not mere clichés?

To me, based on the

diagnosis, the prognosis does not look good, so we need a revival of something like the Guyana Association for Reform and Democracy (GUARD), not so much as a quasi-political organization seeking to determine who helps form the government of the day, but as a vehicle that would help take Guyana from social decadence status to social development status, through better democratic practices that do not treat social enhancement and economic development as mutually exclusive, but mutually dependent.

For while many are hailing signs of so-called development, others are decrying pervasive corruption in government and social decay, and that is like mixing water with oil, because as sure as the oil will float atop the water, development will rest on a broken society; collapse is inevitable.

Now, if the Joe Singhs of Guyana truly believe ‘fissures in the fabric of our society along the fault lines of politics and ethnicity continue to fuel the perception, rightly or wrongly, that political alignments, ethnicity and social standing are factors that influence decisions relating to equity, access, security and justice’, then pressure must be placed on the government to start respecting people’s constitutional and human rights, because democracy is never limited to the ballot box, but a process extended to include, among other things, Continued on page 5

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

What have Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan done to be considered political heroes?

DEAR EDITOR, Humans seem to have a deep psychological need for heroes, so every country has them. But because the elevation of deeds to the level of heroic acts often depends on by, to, and for whom deeds are done, it is not surprising that many so-called heroes are rarely unanimously approved or universally accepted. So it is, has been, and will forever be.

And though heroes are not accepted by everyone and are not equal in status, I have observed that sports heroes are the most likely to enjoy national acclaim across racial and ideological divides within any country.

So in Guyana, it would probably be easier to get twothirds of our people or parliament to acclaim and vote Rohan Kanhai and/or Clive Lloyd as national sports heroes than it would be to get them to designate Forbes Burham and/or Cheddi Jagan as political heroes. But such is the nature of our politics, and of human nature, too: We want to select our political heroes, as well as those of our friends and enemies!

But what have Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan done to be considered political heroes? What wrongs did they right? How many lives did they save?

How many Guyanese regardless of race, religion, or creed looked forward to their appearances and speeches, hoping that they’d live forever? And what joys and glory did they bring to our nation?

How much deprivation did they suffer?

These identical questions or variants of them have been asked before, but they have always been met with defensive answers that malign and impugn the questioners.

For to the supporters of these men, such questions are merely a transparent attempt to turn their demigods into demagogues. But these questions have to and must always be asked until we are able to engage in dispassionate discourses about our nation’s political history.

Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan came of political age in a Guyana that was under British rule. They both attended the elite Queen’s College, then an exclusive boys’ school; and were both educated in the West— Burnham in London on a British government scholarship for being the top student in our country, and Jagan through his own resources in the United States.

Mr. Burnham left for his

delayed studies in London in 1945 and came back as a 26year-old lawyer in 1949 while Mr. Jagan left for his studies in the US in 1936 and came back as a 25-year-old dentist in 1943. They in 1950 collaborated in the formation of the original People’s Progressive Party, from which the PNC emerged in 1958 following a split from the PPP in 1955.

That split, though attributed to as many reasons as there are agenda-driven insiders willing to talk about it, ultimately resulted from the inability of two selfabsorbed charismatics to coexist in the same party. But Burnham and Jagan were united in their demand and determination that the British must end their rule in Guyana.

The British acceded by allowing self-rule in 1953 and Independence in 1966. But using our experiences with both PPP and PNC governments as guides, I have been thinking about what grievances Burnham and Jagan had against the British.

The American call to oust the British was clear and singular: no taxation without representation. And they remedied that situation by running the British out of town and establishing a Republic whose democracy

The political leaders and the political system have failed the people of this country DEAR EDITOR, As a young man growing up on the West Bank of the Demerara River I had dreams about this country becoming great. At that time there were many clubs that helped to fashion the character of youths and the village fathers and community leaders established standards and behavioral dispositions that were worthy of emulating.

With the emergence of local political organizations and more particularly after the split in the PPP many youth and community o r g a n i z a t i o n s metamorphosed as appendices to the dominant political organizations. The focus was then transformed from the personal and social development of the individual and community to the unwavering support of the political parties and the virtual neglect of the nonaligned individuals.

After the change in the first past the post system of electing one’s representative

to parliament and the introduction of proportional representation the identification of a community’s representative became blurred and parliamentarians were no longer answerable to their constituency but to the leadership of the party on whose slate they had appeared. That political sleight clouded the concept of accountability to one’s constituency since the constituency was now the entire country under this new arrangement.

The outcome of the above change resulted in the institutions of government being used in part to facilitate and compensate party stalwarts for their loyalty and support. Positions of authority and influence in these institutions are in many instances offered to party comrades irrespective of w h e t h e r they have the relevant knowledge, skills, attitude, aptitudes and competence to perform.

Additionally, the situation afforded the leadership of the party to feather the nests of friends and family.

That paradigm shift culminated in the kinds of pervasive frauds and corruption that is frequently reported. The behaviour manifested by some of our current crop of politicians seems to indicate that people are getting into politics to enrich themselves and not improve the lot of the populace and develop the country.

Therefore, funds that should be utilized for the teaching of life skills and the development of programmes and institutionsthat would benefit the people are being siphoned off into the offshore and hidden bank accounts of those who are in positions to do so.

Meanwhile, the natural resources of the country are being raped and squandered and the people are none the better it.

Hubert C. Roberts

and economy have become the envy and refuge of the world, and the scourge of the enemies of freedom and personal liberty.

But what situation(s) did Mr. Burnham and Mr. Jagan seek to remedy and actually remedied after the British acceded to their demands?

And what legacies of their rule have they left our nation and the world?

Many Guyanese do not know what life was like under British rule because they were either too young or were born after 1966. So a synopsis of life under the British is necessary. Policemen walked the streets with batons (no, not the type used in track and field relays) and extra-judicial killings were as rare as a visit by the Queen; racial and religious discrimination were subtle but rampant against Indo- and Afro-Guyanese in sports and employment; secondary and vocational schools did not exist outside of Georgetown, particularly because less years of education meant that necessary labor would be more readily available to the sugar estates; most people

lived in tenement yards in Georgetown and in shacks (except for the few sugar workers who were able to buy cheap house lots from Bookers (now Guysuco) on or off sugar estates in the countryside, which was an idyllic place with few serious crimes against persons or property; Georgetown, as it is now, was the place where one was most likely to be the victim of a crime, but it was also among the cleanest cities in the world; and the colonists, eager to replicate

life in Britain to the greatest extent possible and in keeping with their free enterprise competitive spirit, allowed various kinds of business enterprises and multiple newspapers and radio stations, which always censored the news to ensure that British rule was not threatened by unwelcomed ideologies or by the restive ambitions of the educated local elite.

So it was in this environment that Forbes Burnham and Continued on page 7

Eagerly looking...

From page 4 election of local government leaders and genuine social development.

If only at least a few other good and caring men (and women) of national prominence and social influence in Guyana would stand up, speak up and dare to do something, rather than pen letters and talk about crimes and the environment in formal or informal gatherings, I believe our beloved native land can finally come into its full potential for the benefit of its people.

We have the vision, all we need now is a vehicle to help get us where we want to go; otherwise we will be talking about where we want to go without getting there.

Once again, thank you Mr. Joseph Singh, for reviving my fading hope. Eagerly looking forward to the Joe Singh Initiative!

Emile Mervin

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

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

Anti-racism crusaders should think about all ethnic groups DEAR EDITOR, After foraging through Roger Williams’ rambling in his letter, “Kissoon is highlighting the fact of racism” (KN, 10-02-13), one quickly detects Mr. Williams’ periphrastic attempts in appearing intellectual in his one-sided foray into the problem of racism in Guyana.

Mr. Williams is rightly concerned about racism; the jist of his letter is summarized in his seemingly passionate statement, “racism in every form must be condemned”.

One, however, questions the sincerity of the letter writer about his quest to do away with racism, as the letter hovers on the “level of overt and covert racism heaped upon Afro-Guyanese post 1992”.

Mr. Williams had appeared genuine in his desire to overcome the cancer of racism in Guyana but this exploit catapulted into self-destruction with the repeated mention and support of the now despised Kean Gibson booklet, The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana.

By aligning himself with, and desperately trying to defend the bizarre ”scholarship” of Ms. Gibson,

Mr. Williams has unwittingly exposed himself on the despised racist tabernacle on which Ms. Gibson stands – the ultimate paradox of letter writer’s enterprise to do away with racism!

I refuse to address the booklet author as “Dr. Gibson”; the University which conferred her that title would be less than bemused after examining that booklet – which would earn a certain ‘F’ grade in a Linguistics 101 course at any respectable university anywhere in the world. One wonders how Ms. Gibson still retains her place as Senior Lecturer at UWI Cave Hill campus in Barbados - after the outcry from the academic community worldwide. (For those who don’t know, Ms. Gibson used comments given by the callers to call-in TV shows, comments which she supposedly heard on the streets, and letters to the local media to ‘prove’ that Hindus have a hate agenda against Africans in Guyana; there are other blatant flaws of the booklet that are too numerous to list in this letter).

Freddie Kissoon denounced Ms. Gibson’s booklet as “extremely poor…

a propagandistic attempt at revisionist history, … and a descent into everyday demagoguery and not a work based on research using scholarly methodologies.”

(Mr. Williams claimed that Mr. Kissoon has been “transformed” since his conjecture when Gibson’s booklet surfaced. I doubt it; Mr. Kissoon is too solid an intellectual to change his assessment of that junk).

I do believe that both gentlemen are sincere in their clamouring crusade against racism. But with their pervasive rhetoric against racism, you’d think they would quickly denounced the KN editorial of Jan. 31, which chided the criminals for attacking their ‘own’.

(Speaking of the unfortunate Oscar Clarke shooting, the editorial sulked, “The perpetrators come from that community; they come from the homes where they would have heard their parents sing adulation to the party. Did the perpetrators not know that the home was that of a person who served the party for which their parents walked the streets in protest?”) Is the KN condoning racism if victims are of a certain tribe?

Mr. Williams and Mr. Kissoon may mean well, but their grand faux pas emanate as they both have been addressing racism from only the angle of the African Guyanese; they have virtually ignored the plights and pains of other ethnic groups in the country. They, like other ‘Rights’ spokespersons, have consistently painted the Indians as the oppressors and the Black people as the victims.

What about the Amerindians - who, in my opinion, suffer most from racial discrimination in Guyana? And how about the racial discrimination against Indians post 1992; their gripes are also deep and numerous, and should also be acknowledged in the holistic equation? What is the composition of Indians in the public sector employment,

the army, the police, and umpteen government related outfits, for example?

A friend was travelling with me to Guyana a few years ago, and remarked in the arrival queue at the airport that it appeared that we were visiting an African country, as all the immigration officers were African Guyanese.

The number of Indians being given scholarships, government jobs, contracts, etc perturbs Mr. Kissoon and Mr. Williams. Even those partial to the Indian cause often recoil at the mention of Indians being awarded a greater number of jobs, house lots, etc., compared to Africans, for example. But one need not be conscience stricken, when one considers the ethnic composition in Guyana.

Approximately 43% of the people are of Indian descent, whereas Afro Guyanese are

about 30%. So if 100 jobs, scholarships, or contracts and each applicant is considered ‘equal’ in qualification, experience, suitability, sustainability, etc., then it is reasonable to expect 43 of those applicants would be Indian, 30 to be Africans, and so on. I salute Bro. Eusi Kwayana, as he has been the level-headed standout in addressing the race issue in the country. He has empathized with the Amerindians, felt with the Africans, fought for the Indians, and defends all Guyanese.

When crusaders become more fair and objective in their concerns and assessments, more Guyanese would start to listen, and it would be a great step in the right direction towards healing, reconciliation, harmony and fairness.

Devnanand Bhagwan

This situation ought to raise eyebrows in any Normal Sovereign Democratic Nation State DEAR EDITOR, Guyana is unique, a really strange country, as one columnist likes to put it we are Blighted Guyana (BG).

The State now has three Frequencies in Georgetown , Guyana NCN (Channel 11), the Learning Channel (Cable 80) and now CCTV/NCN on Channel 27/Cable 78. The National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) is still to reveal who has been allocated what frequencies in Guyana .

At the end of 2011, the Chinese Embassy and the State owned and controlled media NCN inked a deal for a 24-hour CCTV broadcast.

This is although the Guyana Government had given an undertaking that no new license would be issued.

The government of Guyana gave China a 24 hour channel on Guyana ’s “limited electro-magnetic spectrum” ahead of its own and CARICOM Citizens under the Caricom Single Market and Economy mechanism.

Note Carefully what the then CEO of NCN said about the agreement “NCN agreed that once the equipment is provided, and the Government of Guyana grants a licence for broadcast we will manage the station”.

Should I repeat what the CEO said “and the Government of Guyana grants a license”.

It is now clear that Channel 27/ Cable 78 has been operating, bringing “Chinese English language

programming” to Guyana through the auspices of the Government of Guyana.

Sovereignty and Reciprocity issues aside, the emergence of the Chinese Content/State Carrier operation points to the dilemma the Guyana Government faces in Linden and elsewhere.

It also reinforces the belief that the CONTROL of the Carrier Frequencies to ensure that only Approved Content goes out to the People of Beautiful Guyana is the tacit policy with regard to spectrum management. Only those whom the Government of Guyana (GOG) favors shall be granted favors.

The Fact that Guyana has Chinese Content TV on a Frequency paid for and essentially operated by a Foreign Government through a State to State mechanism ought to raise eyebrows in any Normal Sovereign Democratic Nation State. But is Guyana such a State or are we in a State, quite a State?

The pact between the Governments of Guyana and China for China Central Television (CCTV) programming to be broadcast on a one-hour slot on the National Communications Network (NCN) has been amended.

Today a new agreement was entered between NCN’s Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Sattaur and Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Guyana Dr Ouyang Jun for a 24 hour CCTV broadcast.

The signatories made the deal at the Government Information Agency (GINA) in the presence of GINA’s Director Neaz Subhan NCN’s Editor in Chief, Michael Gordon, Chief Engineer Kenneth Jones and Programme Manager Martin Goolsarran.

Giving a background to the agreement, the state media’s CEO said that at the time of the initial agreement the option a 24 hour broadcast was brainstormed.

The Chinese counterparts had then proposed to supply the facilities for the satellite up-link down-link transmitter and a control room for management of the broadcast.

“NCN agreed that once the equipment is provided, and the Government of Guyana grants a licence for broadcast we will manage the station… that is the basis of the agreement that we have signed here today,” Sattaur said.

He envisioned that the project will be completed with the New Year and credited the endeavour to the Chinese Government, the aim of which is to bring news and information about China to the populace which includes a small percentage of Chinese nationals.

With the 24-hour broadcast the Chinese Counsellor said the Chinese community in Guyana will be receiving sound information about the events that made the news in the Asian continent.

Enrico Woolford

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

It is frightening how little the learned Attorney General seems to know of the Constitution DEAR EDITOR, The statement attributed to Mr. Anil Nandlall, Attorney General in the article in today’s (February 3) Sunday Stabroek “Opposition bills awaiting assent, not yet sent to AG for preparation) is strange and troubling, but a las, not surprising. Mr. Nandlall is quoted as saying that “The opposition bills have not reached the

Attorney General’s Chambers” “for his inputs”. Neither proposition has any constitutional or statutory underpinning and both are downright wrong.

First, that Mr. Nandlall would refer to a Bill passed by the National Assembly as an opposition bill is ludicrous and misinformed. Such a Bill ceases to be anybody’s but the National Assembly’s Bill.

And on the constitutional arrangements for the progression into law of a Bill passed by the National Assembly, I respectfully refer Mr. Nandlall to the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly.

Order 65(2) of those Standing Orders provides that where a Bill is passed by the National Assembly the

Speaker has the power to “correct any patent errors and make such other changes in the Bill as are consequential upon the amendments accepted by the [National] Assembly”.

And on the question of the role and relevance of the Office of the Attorney General, Standing Order 67 provides that the Bill remains in the “custody of the Clerk

What have Forbes Burnham and...

From page 5 Cheddi Jagan made their entry into the struggle to “free” Guyana from British rule and its concomitant adverse effects.

We can judge for ourselves to what extent our lives and nation have changed from the circumstances the British left when they first allowed internal rule in 1953 and Independence in 1966. In what ways have Mr. Burnham and Mr. Jagan improved our society and relationships among our people? What good things have these men done that no other leader could have done or inspired our people to do?

What became of the multiple radio stations and newspapers that Guyanese were allowed to access during colonial rule? And have more Guyanese been killed under PPP or PNC inspired and supported violence than were killed under British rule?

What has become of the rule of law?

And now that the fruits of our labor are not being sent to the treasury of a mother country, are they being enjoyed by us and our mothers? Or are they being deposited in the mother of all treasuries, the bank accounts of our leaders and their cohorts?

I’m not naïve about the nature and effects of colonial rule and do not want a return of any foreign power to

administer the affairs of our country.

But given where we are today as a nation, I have every right to wonder if the grievances of Mr. Burnham or Mr. Jagan extended beyond their individual wish to be the first among the local educated elite to sate their restive desire to experience the exercise of power over our people and our treasury.

Or could it be that I should look no further than the anticolonial sentiments that had enveloped the minds of the educated elite in other colonized territories?

Whatever their reasons for wanting the British out of Guyana, the plain truth is that in any other country in any other time, these two would have been at the very minimum charged and placed on trial if a properly constituted commission had conducted an objective inquiry into their activities and actions against our people and country.

This is not to say that I am attempting to deny supporters of these men the right to call them heroes. They are free to have and sing about their heroes . But I wish the rest of us would be spared the pressure to join in the chorus. We prefer to focus on our struggle to bring our country back from the frightening brink to which it has been pushed by Mr. Burnham and Mr. Jagan.

So I want to acknowledge

and recommend the struggles of the men and women who have sensed that our nation has had a greater need to be liberated from our own leaders than it had to be liberated from the British. And they have been fighting for the liberty of our nation, without regard to race or party.

These people are Walter Rodney, Karen de Souza, Andaiye, Clive Thomas, Tacuma Ogunseye, Lincoln Lewis, David Hinds, Mark Benschop, Nigel Hughes, Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Freddie Kissoon, Raphael Trotman, newspaper owners such as Glen Lall and David de Caires, and others whose names I can’t recall or don’t know.

They have suffered personal and business deprivations such as loss of life, limb, livelihood, freedom, and business income as a result of self-serving but unpatriotic reactions by the PPP and PNC. These are the people that should be hailed as the true political heroes of our country because they want to make our country a better place than they found it. And they seem to refuse to allow party politics or the personal charisma of any leader to get in their way.

Though degree of deprivations ought not to be the sole measure by which heroes are determined, it is nevertheless an important

one. But I consider it a crying shame and an insult to make comparisons between the cruel deprivations suffered by the aforementioned persons and the benign deprivations suffered by Mr. Burnham or Mr. Jagan during their struggle to “liberate” Guyana from British rule.

How much deprivation did Mr. Burnham or Dr. Jagan suffer in getting enraptured supporters to join marches and picket lines or in writing or delivering speeches that would now read and sound like bombast to those who think for more than a second?

And what deprivation was there in Dr. Jagan’s retributive 28-year loss of power for his more than 50year heartless support of oppression and dictatorship in communist countries? Or in his being being jailed for a few days and having his movement restricted to Georgetown for about 3 years for his own safety?

Our country has also suffered far greater deprivations because Dr. Jagan and Mr. Burnham have ruled it. Yes, the bad they have done to it far outweighs the good they did for it. So I urge my heroes to stay the course because our nation needs people like them much more than it ever needed the unreformed PPP or PNC or the two political heroes designated by them.

Lionel Lowe

of the National Assembly who shall, subject to Article 164 of the Constitution (relating to procedures for altering the Constitution) at the earliest opportunity, submit the Bill to the President (emphasis added) for his or her assent and the President shall assent in accordance with Article 170 of the Constitution”.

Article 170 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana requires the President, who is part of Parliament, to assent to Bills presented to him following passage in the National Assembly. It goes on to state that where the President withholds his assent, he must return the Bill to the Speaker within 21 days with a message stating the reasons for withholding his assent.

It is frightening how little the learned Attorney General seems to know of the

Constitution or the Standing Orders, even on matters on which he ventures to speak publicly. How he came to the position that he has the power to “give his inputs” to Bills already passed is a mystery which he ought to explain, or retract.

Of course, it is obviously within the President’s power to consult with his Attorney General on any matter should he choose to do so. But what is not within the President’s right or power is for him to act outside of the provisions of the Constitution, including the timeframe set out in Article 170 (2). No ruse or defect in the understanding by the Attorney General of these requirements should be allowed by the Speaker and the National Assembly to frustrate a Bill properly passed.

Christopher Ram

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Brazilian succumbs to Woman freed of exstab wound to the neck boyfriend’s 2007 murder

Police at Lethem are keeping an eye out for a TM truck (bush truck) which is believed to have transported the suspected killers of a Brazilian teen who succumbed yesterday from a stab wound to his neck.

The 17-year-old, identified as Paulo Maurico Da Silva, was found mortally wounded on the roadway at Tabatinga, Lethem around 14:30 hours. The teen, according to reports, resides at Bon Fin, neighbouring Brazil but dwells at San Bora, North Rupununi, whenever he is in Guyana.

Sources say that Da Silva, also known as Charles

Thomas, sustained a single wound to his neck but bore other lacerations about the body. He was picked up by nearby dwellers and rushed to the Lethem Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

This newspaper understands that Da Silva was at a popular night club called Satie, where he spotted his Brazilian girlfriend in the company of some other young men.

He was also said to have been in the company of another young lady.

However he severed his company with the other young lady and ordered his

girlfriend to leave with him angering the group of men who were in her company.

Kaieteur News understands that while the two walked towards Da Silva’s residence, they were attacked by the same group of young men. “They like they follow dem with dey bush truck,” a source in the area told Kaieteur News.

Da Silva’s girlfriend reportedly ran away and left him to fend for himself “and dem boy bank he.”

It is believed that after being stabbed, Da Silva ran a short distance before collapsing, where he was eventually found.

Dem boys seh

Kwame and Bar Raat is Hard Times experts De Hard Times paper proper finding experts. De other day when de Waterfalls paper report how much security Jagdeo got, de Hard Times paper report that a security expert tell dem that de report threaten de life of de former president.

It tun out that de security expert was a reporter who wukking at de hard Times paper. At one time dem boys think was de old policeman who name Steve.

Now dem got a public relations expert and this expert turn out to be Kwame and Bar Raat. All two of dem got shares in de Hard Times paper.

De Hard Times paper claim that dem two expert seh how it gun cost billions of dollars fuh tell people that de Bees don’t thief no more. Well dem boys seh that if that is

de case, all de money that dem tek dem got to put back to correct de same image that dem seh that de Waterfalls paper destroy.

Dem tek suh much that de Big Market paper carry a report that ‘economic circumstances’ cause dem young people fuh go in de Bush and pick fare.

Dem two word ‘economic circumstances’, is de big word fuh hard times. Dem boys want to know is who mek that? If is not Bar Rat, Irfaat, Rob Earth and de Bees and dem kavakamites?

Dem is de people who tek way de investments; dem snatch all de wealth and got dem poor gal going in de Bush fuh get dem wealth from all kind a man, whether dem man bathe or not.

Dem boys seh that from now dem gun be looking at

de Big market paper fuh get more news about de hard times young gyal facing. De strange thing is that none of de Bees facing de economic circumstances that poor people facing.

Some of dem who enjoy de economic circumstances hear bout jail and dem decide fuh settle down. Dem build a dorm pun de Essequibo Coast fuh $57 million.

Before de Waterfalls paper start fuh talk such a project woulda cost $570 million. Is a two storey building. De waterfalls paper did find a one-storey building that cost $69 million.

Times change and dem start fuh behave demself because dem hear bout de pumpkin jumpsuit.

Talk half and pray fuh dem lil gyal.

Following seven years of incarceration, murder accused Aliya Boyer was released from prison last week. The lower court did not find sufficient evidence for Boyer to stand trial for the capital offence. The ruling was made by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine Beharry on January 20, 2012.

An anxious Boyer left the courthouse with her sister clinging to her side. She declined to talk to reporters.

“God’s knows I’m free and innocent,” Boyers said with a smile.

Boyer was remanded to prison after she was accused of murdering her former boyfriend, Michael Glasgow way back in December 18, 2007, at Yarrowkabra.

According to police reports Glasgow, a laborer, went to Boyer’s home on the day that he was killed.

Police investigators revealed that the couple who had recently ended their common-law relationship was engaged in a heated argument which led to physical altercation. As a result Glasgow was fatally stabbed

in the chest.

He subsequently succumbed to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Boyer was later arrested and charged.

Boyer, made her first court appearance on December 22, 2007. She burst into tears after the charge was read to her by then acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle.

She was previously committed to the high court but through her attorneys, she had a second preliminary inquiry done, which eventually led to her freedom.

Mining pit caves in and kills18-year-old While, the gold fields of Guyana have proven profitable to many, it seems as if it is becoming more and more dangerous as another miner, Thycuf Xavier, lost his life when the walls of the pit in which he was working caved in.

The incident occurred around 16:00hrs on Saturday.

Eighteen-year-old Xavier, of Pradow Village, South Rupununi, was said to have been mining in a tunnel at Mazda Mountain, Marud, South Rupununi, when it caved in and trapped him

underneath.

His body was recovered and taken to the Aishalton Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police are conducting an investigation into his death.

Several miners have been killed as a result of mining pit accidents within the past six months.

Just last month, 44year-old Mark Wilson lost his life in a mining pit at Puruni. The father of five was pinned under tons of rubble.

In October, in what can be

described as one of the worst mining pit accidents in Guyana, three miners 25year-old Deonarine Singh called ‘Chubby’, and cousins Elson Singh called ‘Papa Johnny’, 47 and Devon Barry, 22 were buried alive in a Cuyuni mining pit.

And earlier this week another miner, Errol Bennett 38 of Port Kaituma was killed after the walls of the mining pit he was working in at Arakaka caved in on him. Last year a total of six persons died as a result of mining pit accidents.

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Two East Coast Demerara homes gutted by fire in less than 24 hours Within less than 24 hours, two houses on the East Coast of Demerara were completely gutted by fire, leaving eight persons homeless. The first fire occurred at around 17:30 hours on Saturday at 10 Foulis, East Coast Demerara and the second occurred at Lot 19 Unity New Road, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara around noon yesterday.

While the cause of yesterday’s fire is still unknown, Saturday’s blaze was reportedly started by the male occupant of the home.

Reports are that at Foulis, the fire was started by a man identified as Ramit who is also said to be the owner of the home. The man’s wife Janet Ramdeo told this publication that she believes that her husband made good on his threat to torch their home in a drunken rage. According to Ramdeo, shortly before the fire her husband had called her to find out where she was.

“When he call I tell he that I deh by me mother and I coming home just now and he tell me that he deh by he friend drinking.”

The woman related that a little while later, she made telephone contact with her husband to inform him about where she had left the keys for the house in case he wanted to go home.

“When me call back to tell he whey de keys deh, somebody tell me that he gone home already and that he drunk and then he call me and ask me way I deh again and I tell I deh walking come home.”

Ramdeo said when she arrived at their home she noticed her husband sitting under the house with his head down on a table.

“Ah go and raise he up and I say why you don’t go upstairs and get some rest and he go fuh slap me but me

move away and he fall down and I go out de yard and go by a neighbour because I didn’t want no problem.”

The woman further told this publication that her husband called her phone again and asked her to come home but she refused, telling him that she would return to the house only when he was sober.

“He tell me if me ain’t come he guh bun down the house but I didn’t bother with he and later I get a call that the house on fire.”

Meanwhile, neighbours said that they noticed smoke coming from the house and raised an alarm. The Fire Service was informed.

Meanwhile, even as persons began racing to the scene, Ramit was seen sitting calmly in his minibus. The man was subsequently arrested and according to sources close to the

investigation, his clothing smelled of kerosene. The one flat two bedroom house was completely gutted and nothing was saved.

Yesterday’s fire at Unity Mahaica resulted in at least six persons being homeless and millions of dollars in losses.

The home owner Shivraj Totaram said that around noon yesterday, he went out to run some errands, leaving his wife Chandranie Totaram at home with their four children. Mr. Totaram said that while on the road, he received a call informing him that his house was on fire. The man said by the time he raced home, most of the two storied building was engulfed in flames.

He valued his home which was fully furnished at in excess of $20M. Totaram and his wife operated a business, importing clothes and

Employees of the Enmore/ Hope Neighbourhood Democratic Council are up in arms against the Chairman and Councillors of the NDC because they have not been paid since October last year.

Officials of the NDC refused to offer an explanation when contacted by this publication.

Garbage collectors, a Contractor and Watchmen have been pleading with the NDC’s Chairman for their wages to no avail.

Employees have claimed that they have been

borrowing money from kind relatives over the past four months to survive.

The Christmas holidays were gloomy for their families.

Those with children were unable to provide them with new attire for back to school.

One employee reported that the Chairman kept blaming staff of the Ministry of Local Government for not releasing funds. The employee wanted to know why they couldn’t be paid from revenue so far collected in 2013, which was reportedly not being deposited into the bank.

The situation has led to garbage not being collected for weeks, resulting in residents dumping garbage along the streets in the district.

It is the general feeling that the Chairman is not coming clean and something is amiss with the finances of the NDC. Another attempt on Friday morning to reach the Chairman proved futile.

In the meantime, employees are being threatened with dismissal and political alienation if they continue to ask for their wages.

What is left of the house at Unity Mahaica.

A distraught Chandranie Totaram (at right sitting) is consoled by a relative shortly after fire destroyed her home.

NDC employees not paid for four months

footwear as well as a table and chair rental service.

The man’s wife, who was in the house moments before she detected the fire, said she was asleep when one of her daughter’s woke her up.

“She come and tell me that she smell smoke and when she went to check, I notice fire at the front of the house so I get them children and we run out the back door because we couldn’t go through the

front.”

The woman said once she was out of the house, she alerted neighbours and the Fire Service was summoned to the scene. However, by the time they arrived, most of the building was already gutted.

A crew from the Guyana Power and Light Company also responded promptly and cut off power supply to the building.

“We had like 5000 new t-

shirt and about 500 pairs of sneakers, pipes and a whole lot of other items, and everything burn up. We ain’t get to save anything; everything gone,” the woman cried.

Mrs. Totaram said they never encountered any electrical problems at the house and she is at a loss as to what may have started the fire.

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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GPL given ultimatum over wages dispute The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is being advised to make the right moves to rectify the ongoing wages rows with the workers’ union, or face the consequences of staffers downing their tools.

National Agricultural and Industrial Employees Union (NAACIE) has threatened the power company that this is the last chance to honour the November 27, 2001 collective bargaining agreement, or workers will have to withdraw their services.

NAACIE is still asking for its 2012 eight percent across the board wage increase, while the power company is only prepared to pay one percent. The alternative to that, GPL has offered, is an all inclusive five percent increase, which NAACIE is not willing to accept.

NAACIE General Secretary, Kenneth Joseph said that after a letter was sent to the Minister of Labour, a meeting between the union and the power company was called last Friday.

At that meeting GPL requested a copy of the letter to the Ministry with an aim of addressing the union’s request. NAACIE is now awaiting GPL’s reply, and

NACCIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph another meeting will be held.

Joseph is making no promises to remain docile as he noted that workers’ rights must be respected. He told media operatives last week that “This is the last straw,” if GPL does not honour its agreement.

Joseph charged that the 2001 agreement which speaks about payments for the various categories of workers was carefully studied before its signing.

Joseph said the contract worked for a while until, “Guyanese management started to destroy our agreement.” Union members, he said, were denied

payments under the present agreement, and the relevant information that is needed to make decisive moves in relation to the workers is not being provided by GPL. Joseph argued that GPL is “offering no proper information as to what is going on.” He confirmed that GPL did offer a one percent increase across the board which is being, “paid a year after the inflation rate is showing 4.5.”

“You are telling the worker,” Joseph stressed, “that what you earned last year, you will get less this year and they must accept that.”

While the power company is holding out on its one percent increase, NACCIE had stated that it too would be holding on to its eight percent increase and would be taking it to the Labour Ministry. The union is also asking the Minister to ensure that GPL respects the original agreement which the Labour Ministry itself had signed on to. Joseph charged that the power company has over the years boasted about improvements and achievements, thus their inability to pay the workers proper wages is unacceptable.

Monday February 04, 2013

Guyana/Trinidad food security partnership lauded by UN A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization study shows that, with the exception of Guyana, Belize and St Kitts and Nevis in the English-speaking Caribbean, no country has the required land mass to achieve 100 per cent food security.

Leading Caribbean agriculturist Dr Arlington Chesney, Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), has highlighted the opportunities the Caribbean’s mainland territories such as Guyana, Suriname and Belize offer in the matter of food security.

“The region has set itself a target of 25 per cent food and nutrition security by 2015. But we can’t do that as individual countries,” Chesney said.

Guyana and Trinidad have partnered for the creation of a food-security facility with hopes of stimulating agricultural and livestock production, reducing dependence on foreign food imports, and stimulating, regionally, the drive for food security in CARICOM. Chesney said the principle behind the arrangement between Guyana and Trinidad was “a very good one”.

CARICOM, with

- food should be a priority in national and international policies

approximately 16 million inhabitants in its 15 member states, has an annual food import bill of more than US$4 billion.

Chesney said that he welcomed the food-facility arrangement. He said it was important to note the land mass limitations of a majority of CARICOM countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, but said that Guyana and Suriname, with their abundant acreage, can play a crucial role in a collective regional initiative to respond to the challenge of food security.

Food security-related issues have long occupied

the agenda of the Region’s countries. Suriname’s OAS representative Niermala Hindori-Badrising recently noted that the issue of food security and access to food should be a priority in national and international policies, and that what is needed to solve this problem is regional and international cooperation, “and an obvious need to invest in agricultural technology.”

Trinidad and Guyana’s partnership is, therefore, being hailed as “good news” for farming communities, commercial sectors as well as consumers with a passion for Caribbean commodities.

Berbice teachers complete education management course President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Colin Bynoe is encouraging all teachers in the school system to elevate themselves professionally and academically.

He was speaking to the sixth batch of School Managers’ graduates in Berbice. The 58 teachers graduated from the Ministry of Education (MOE)/ National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD)’s Education Management Course Batch 2010-2012.

Bynoe’s comments come in the context of numerous professional development courses being made available by the MOE through NCERD. Some of these courses are the Non-Graduate English, Physics, Biology, Mathematics and Chemistry, as well as the Education Management Course, all of which are managed by NCERD. “Educate yourselves to lift your educational standards,” he called upon them. “You know that the purpose of this course is to make you better managers of schools and it therefore means that the graduates will

help to uplift the standard of management of our schools from now on and that in the next few years, we should see the effects of your training coming out in the school system.”

The GTU, he stated, was successful in negotiating for persons completing the programme to be given additional points when they apply for senior vacancy positions.

“We feel that when people elevate themselves, they must be given something for what they have done.”

He cautioned the graduates not to use the management programme for senior promotional points only.

Bynoe noted that for too long, reports have been received that persons graduate and they cannot manage schools.

“What we need are managers who can handle situations on-the-spot and we have all sorts of things happening today in the schools; parents rushing into schools doing all manner of things; students looking at a teacher in his or her face, using all sorts of expletives

GTU President Colin Bynoe addressing the teachers and you don’t know how to handle it. Some of us run into the classroom and hide,” the GTU Head said.

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Kwakwani NDC vows to pursue development in the community The Kwakwani N e i g h b o u r h o o d Development Committee (NDC) has pledged its continued support towards the development of Kwakwani- a predominantly mining community about two hours’ drive by mini bus from Linden.

Neil Patterson, a member of the NDC, told Kaieteur News that since t h e formation of the group, Kwakwani has seen much u p g r ade; despite the negativity that surrounds the formation of the NDC. He pointed out that the NDC executed some “much need repairs” to the furniture at the Kwakwani Park Nursery School.

Also the group donated a photocopier and printer to the Kwakwani Waterfront School.

Patterson expressed that even though the community is in need of “much more”, the NDC has recognized the importance of focusing on the educational sector.”

The NDC member said that the body had noted the strides being made by the Kwakwani Football TeamStrikers-even with the little resources available, and so a quantity of footballs was donated to the team.

The election of the Kwakwani Neighbourhood Development Committee by the residents themselves was done reportedly to “resist the unfair imposition of an Interim Management Committee, by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic

administration.”

Residents claimed that they were cheated by the Ministry of Local Government which ‘secretly’ established the IMC. However, while some residents said that the formation of the IMC is needed for the development of the community, others maintained that they do not want it.

The residents are against the move by the Ministry and said that the formation of the committee was not done properly.

In early July, Minister within the Local Government Ministry, Norman Whittaker installed the Interim Management Committee (IMC) to replace a ‘dysfunctional’ NDC. However, this move was condemned by a large group of residents.

This led to a new NDC executive being elected to replace the old one that was rendered useless by the imposition of the IMC. Recently, the diplomatic community pointed out that Local Government Elections are overdue and recommended that one should be held this year.

Patterson expressed gratitude to the diplomatic community that made the “welcomed” suggestion for Local Government Elections to be held this year. He expressed the view that even though Guyana is dubbed a “democratic country,” democracy is a struggling aspect of life.

Suspect in Oscar Clarke shooting remanded for other offence A suspect in the shooting of People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)’s General Secretary, Oscar Clarke has been remanded to prison for another offence.

Commissioner of Police Leroy Brummel told Kaieteur News that an eyewitness to the attack on Mr. Clarke and his family had failed to pick out the suspect during an identification parade. However, he was not released from custody since an arrest warrant had been issued for him in connection with a narcotics offence.

He was subsequently remanded.

The prisoner is still being considered as a suspect in the attack at the Clarke’s Plum Park, Sophia home, and Commissioner Brummel said that investigators will attempt to set up another identification parade with the PNCR General Secretary, who was discharged on Saturday, and the individual.

Clarke, 74, was shot in the groin and the left side last Tuesday after four bandits invaded his Lot 37 Plum Park, Sophia home while posing as policemen.

His wife, Linda, was slapped by the robbers, who also escaped with an undisclosed amount of valuables.

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Children display repaired chairs

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Solider who collapsed during training gets posthumous promotion The late Lance Corporal Eon Blair has been promoted posthumously to the rank of Substantive Corporal with effect from this year January 18, the date of his demise.

Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best has approved the promotion which is in recognition of the deceased Corporal’s “sterling contribution” to the Force.

Corporal Blair was given a military funeral on January 30, at Number 49 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

At the funeral, Commodore Best, during his speech in farewell of Blair, told mourners “We will miss him (Blair)…The Force values his service to the nation…we will be forever indebted to him.”

He had also indicated that Blair’s surviving spouse and two children will be supported by the Army in the future.

Promoted after death: Eon Blair A post mortem examination performed on the 28-year-old soldier’s remains revealed that he died from lung failure and heart blockage.

Blair reportedly collapsed in the vicinity of Umana Yana, High Street during one of his annual fitness runs.

Initial reports were that Blair complained of severe chest pains but was forced to persevere throughout the exercise.

Meanwhile Commodore Best has announced that the promotions of 267 Other Ranks have been approved with effect from January 1, 2013.

This newspaper understands that 101 ranks were confirmed to their respective ranks while another 166 were elevated in rank. GDF indicated that the soldiers were promoted through ranks ranging from Acting Warrant Officer Class Two to Acting Lance Corporal.

The list includes 36 ranks from the Coast Guard.

Those who have been confirmed in rank have been appointed to “Substantive” rank after previously holding the “Acting” rank.

Two die in bus and Tundra...

(From page 3) others sat in the triage area screaming in pain.

About 30 minutes later, news emerged that the driver of the minibus had succumbed. Some of the man’s close friends wept uncontrollably as their worst fears were confirmed. Reports are that the dead man’s wife had been informed about the accident. Soon after, word of another death greeted anxious relatives who had gathered in the hospital’s compound. One woman ran out of the Accident and Emergency Unit screaming after confirming that her sister, Shondell Yaw had died.

“I come here long, long looking fuh me sister and nobody ain’t tell me anything and now I know that she dead,” a woman identified as Allana Yaw lamented.

This publication was told that Yaw of Paradise, East Coast Demerara was on her way to the Georgetown Seawall to spend time with some friends and other relatives.

Monday February 04, 2013

Recording system for Guyana Courts Judges in the Court of Appeal, Commercial and the Chief Justice’s Courts will soon be able to down their pens and note pads as government has signaled the move to implement a high quality recording system.

This follows the successful implementation of the system during the Commission of Inquiry into the Linden unrest.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall explained that he was given the responsibility of setting up the infrastructure of the Linden Commission of Inquiry. He said in so doing, it was required to get the recording devices as well as the personnel to operate it.

According to the AG, the Clerk of the National Assembly was contacted and he offered to lend a part of the system which is used in the National Assembly.

Nandlall said that he was surprised by the high quality of verbatim records of the COI which the small team was able to generate within a 24-hour

basis. The AG said that he then realized that there is no good reason why the same cannot be replicated in the court system.

As a result of this, Nandlall said, he consulted with officials from the Inter Development Bank, since they are the ones who are funding the Justice Modernization Project.

The Attorney General said that the idea was accepted by the IDB and they have agreed to include this intervention as the final phase of the project which is now ongoing. According to Nandlall, a pilot will be started with a few courts; the Court of Appeal, Chief Justice’s and Commercial Courts.

He said that if the trial is successful, it would be replicated in other courts including the Magistrates’ Court, the Georgetown, Berbice and Essequibo High Courts.

Recently the IDB with the Ministry of Legal Affairs, through its Project Secretariat for the Modernization of the

Justice Administration System (MJAS) project launched the highly anticipated Law Reports of Guyana. The Law Reports volume was compiled and edited for the years 1977 to 2007 as one aspect of the Modernization of the Justice Administration System project. The MJAS Project is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by way of a Loan to the Government of Guyana (GoG) and is implemented by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

The MJAS programme was designed as a hybrid facility comprising a policybased component supported by a policy based loan of US$15M. A further investment and technical support component supported by an investment loan of US$10M was given.

The investment component was intended to help implement the policy reform programme and also support initial capacity building activities in the justice sector institutions.

Unlicensed taxi driver guilty of 12 offences, faces 84 days in jail

Injured: Krystel Seeram All of the passengers who spoke to this newspaper could not recall what happened since they claimed that they were asleep.

Meanwhile, the driver of the pick-up who escaped with minor cuts and bruises has been detained and is assisting with investigations.

An unlicensed taxi driver, who on October 8th two years ago, was spotted by police driving a hire car and talking on his cell phone and then led them on a chase through the streets of New Amsterdam, Berbice, was finally found guilty on the 12 charges that were slapped on him.

The man, Christopher Chatterpaul, 25, of Sheet Anchor, East Canje, Berbice was driving Motor Car HB 5753 along Vryheid Street in New Amsterdam and talking on his cell phone when he was spotted by a police Traffic Officer. The cop signaled Chatterpaul to stop and he refused. A chase began with Chatterpaul driving in a dangerous manner throughout the town of New Amsterdam, over the Canje Bridge into East Canje.

Throughout the chase,

Chatterpaul failed to stop at the major roads, failed to give way to traffic on the major roads, failed to confirm to signs, and when he was eventually cornered, he left his vehicle on the roadway in such a manner that it obstructed traffic.

That was not all. He then resisted arrest and assaulted one of the police officers who tried to apprehend him. It was later discovered that he was not the holder of a driver’s licence. He subsequently appeared before a Berbice Magistrate on 12 charges including two counts of dangerous driving, two counts of failing to confirm to road signs, one for crossing yellow line, one for using hand held mobile phone whilst driving, one for obstruction, failing to give way, failing to produce drivers licence, failing to behave in a

civil and orderly manner and resisting arrest.

On the assaulting peace officer and resisting arrest charges, he was fined $20,000 each. On the two dangerous driving charges he was fined $15,000 each. On the charge of failing to behave in a civil and orderly manner he was fine $10,000. The other seven charges attracted a fine of $7,000 each, making it a total of $115,000 or a total or 84 days in jail. The man hadn’t the amount of money to pay and by the time his relatives had gone to scour for the necessary finances it was late and he was taken away to prison.

He was heard mumbling, “Is better a de plead guilty since then and make a bargain with the police to drop some of the charges and wouldn’t had to pay lawyer and deh in dis.”

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Kaieteur News

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Syrian opposition chief under fire for talks with Assad allies MUNICH (Reuters) Syria’s opposition leader flew back to his Cairo headquarters from Germany yesterday to explain to skeptical allies his decision to talk with President Bashar al-Assad’s main backers Russia and Iran, in hope of a breakthrough in the crisis.

The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers, and U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, portrayed Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib’s new willingness to talk with the Assad regime as a major step towards resolving the two-year-old war.

“If we want to stop the bloodshed we cannot continue putting the blame on one side or the other,” Iran’s Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday, welcoming Alkhatib’s overtures and adding that he was ready to keep talking to the opposition.

Iran is Assad’s main military backer together with Russia.

“This is a very important step. Especially because the coalition was created on the basis of categorical rejection of any talks with the regime,” Lavrov was quoted as saying yesterday by Russia’s Itar Tass news agency.

Sheikh Moaz Alkhatib, President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden (R) meet for bilateral talks during the 49th Conference on Security Policy in Munich. REUTERS/Michael Dalder Russia has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pushing Assad out or pressuring him to end a civil war in which more than 60,000 people have died. But Moscow has also tried to distance itself from Assad by saying it is not trying to prop him up and will not offer him asylum.

Syrian state media said Assad received a senior Iranian official and told him Syria could withstand “threats ... and aggression” like an air attack on a military base last week, which Damascus has blamed on Israel.

Politicians from the United States, Europe and the Middle East at the

Munich Security Conference praised Alkhatib’s “courage”. But the moderate Islamist preacher was likely to face sharp criticism from the exiled leadership back in Cairo.

Alkhatib has put his leadership on the line by saying he would be willing to talk to representatives of the Assad regime on

condition they release 150,000 prisoners and issue passports to the tens of thousands of displaced people who have fled to neighboring countries but do not have documents.

“He has a created a political firestorm. Meeting the Iranian foreign minister was totally unnecessary because it is useless. Iran backs Assad to the hilt and he might as well have met with the Syrian foreign minister,” said one of Alkhatib’s colleagues on the 12-member politburo of the Syrian National Coalition.

Alkhatib, whose family are custodians of the Umayyad Mosque in the historic centre of Damascus, is seen as a bulwark against Salafist forces who are a main player in the armed opposition. He was chosen as the head of the Coalition in Qatar last year, with crucial backing from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Syrian opposition member, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed to comments by Salehi and Lavrov on Sunday, a day after their meetings with

Alkhatib, as evidence that they had not changed their positions and still backed Assad.

Salehi told the Munich conference where the round of talks took place that the solution was to hold elections in Syria - making no mention of Assad having to leave the country.

Firm opposition backers like Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and U.S. Republican Senator John McCain voiced frustration in Munich at the international community’s reluctance to intervene in the Syrian conflict.

“We consider the U.N. Security Council directly responsible for the continuing tragedy of the Syrian people, the thousands of lives that were lost, the blood that was spilled and is still flowing at the hands of the regime’s forces,” said alThani.

Moscow played down the significance of the discussions in Munich, with one diplomatic source calling the talks between Lavrov and Alkhatib “simply routine meetings”.

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Iran hedges on nuclear talks with six powers or U.S. MUNICH (Reuters) - Iran said yesterday it was open to a U.S. offer of direct talks on its nuclear program and that six world powers had suggested a new round of nuclear negotiations this month, but without committing itself to either proposal.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West suspects is intended to give Iran the capability to build a nuclear bomb, have been all but deadlocked for years, while Iran has continued to announce advances in the program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said a suggestion on Saturday by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Washington was ready for direct talks with Iran if Tehran was serious about negotiations was a “step forward”.

“We take these statements with positive consideration. I think this is a step forward but ... each time we have come and negotiated it was the other side unfortunately who did not heed ... its commitment,” Salehi said at the Munich Security Conference where Biden made his overture a day earlier.

He also complained to Iran’s English-language Press TV of “other contradictory signals”, pointing to the rhetoric of “keeping all options on the table” used by U.S. officials to indicate they are willing to use force to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“This does not go along with this gesture (of talks) so we will have to wait a little bit longer and see if they are really faithful this time,” Salehi said.

Iran is under a tightening web of sanctions. Israel has also hinted it may strike if

perhaps after Iran has elected a new president in June.

Negotiations between Iran and the six powers Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany - have been deadlocked since a meeting last June.

EU officials have accused Iran of dragging its feet in weeks of haggling over the date and venue for new talks.

Salehi said he had “good news”, having heard that the six powers would meet in Kazakhstan on February 25.

Ali Akbar Salehi diplomacy and international sanctions fail to curb Iran’s nuclear drive.

In Washington, Army General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States has the capability to stop any Iranian effort to build nuclear weapons, but Iranian “intentions have to be influenced through other means.”

Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his comments on NBC’s program “Meet the Press,” speaking alongside outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Panetta said current U.S. intelligence indicated that Iranian leaders have not made a decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.

“But every indication is they want to continue to increase their nuclear capability,” he said. “And that’s a concern. And that’s what we’re asking them to stop doing.”

The new U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, has said he will give diplomacy every chance of solving the Iran standoff.

With six-power talks making little progress, some experts say talks between Tehran and Washington could be the best chance,

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates the efforts of the six powers, confirmed that she had proposed talks in the week of February 25 but noted that Iran had not yet accepted.

Kazakhstan said it was ready to host the talks in either Astana or Almaty.

Salehi said Iran had “never pulled back” from the stuttering negotiations with the six powers. “We still are very hopeful. There are two packages, one package from

Iran with five steps and the other package from the (six powers) with three steps.”

Iran raised international concern last week by announcing plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines. The EU said the move, potentially shortening the path to weapons-grade material, could deepen doubts about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday

that Israel’s mission to stop its arch-enemy from acquiring nuclear weapons was “becoming more complex, since the Iranians are equipping themselves with cutting-edge centrifuges that shorten the time of (uranium) enrichment”.

“We must not accept this process,” said Netanyahu, who is trying to form a new government after winning an election last month. Israel is generally believed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.

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Monday February 04, 2013

Spain’s opposition Socialists Berlusconi offers big tax tell Rajoy to resign cuts in “last great battle” MADRID (Reuters) Spain’s opposition Socialist Party called for the resignation of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy over a corruption scandal yesterday as a poll showed the lowest support on record for his centre-right People’s Party (PP).

Media reports over the past two weeks alleged at least a dozen senior PP officials, including Rajoy, received payments from a slush fund operated by its former treasurer.

Rajoy denies wrongdoing, but the scandal has provoked fury among Spaniards already disenchanted by deep recession and high unemployment, as support for the two biggest parties slumps.

“Rather than the solution for this country, Rajoy has become yet another problem,” Socialist leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, who served as deputy PM under the Socialist government which lost a landslide election in 2011,

Mariano Rajoy told a news conference.

An opinion poll published in the country’s biggest-selling newspaper El Pais on Sunday showed neither of the two big parties could win a clear majority in an election.

The Metroscopia poll showed 23.9 percent support for the PP - the lowest on record and down from 29.8 percent in the same survey last month.

The PSOE was little changed at 23.5 percent.

Spain has suffered five years of recession or economic stagnation and unemployment - already the highest in the European Union at 26 percent continues to grow.

The United Left Party, on 15.3 percent in the poll, double its level of support at the last election in late 2011, has also urged Rajoy to resign.

But the PP’s parliamentary majority so far rules out any chance of a vote of no confidence.

The survey showed 77 percent disapproved of Rajoy as head of government, and 85 percent had little or no faith in him.

Eighty percent said PP leaders named by the media as alleged recipients of kickbacks should resign.

Almost all respondents 96 percent - said corruption was widespread and not adequately punished, according to the survey which was carried out between January 30 and February 1 and interviewed 1,000 people across Spain.

(Reuters) - Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi announced his “last great electoral and political battle” yesterday with a sweeping promise to cut taxes and the cost of government if his centre right wins elections this month.

In a passionate and much anticipated speech to supporters in Milan, the city where he built his fortune, he said only his centre right could lift Italy out of the dark fog of recession and reestablish trust between government and citizens.

His political opponents were quick to deride him.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti said Berlusconi “has never kept any of his promises” and one centre-left parliamentarian called the speech “a laundry list of stupidities”.

The centrepiece of Berlusconi’s fiery speech was the unveiling of what he had billed beforehand as a “shock proposal” - a promise to reimburse Italian families for a much-hated tax on their primary residences.

That tax, known as IMU, was imposed last year by Monti’s technocrat government to help with Italy’s financial crisis, after it had been abolished in 2008

by Berlusconi.

The master communicator peppered his speech with repetitions of the words “tax” “taxpayer” and “tax man” along with references to “the anxiety of families”.

He said he would scrap the tax at his first cabinet meeting and refund payments already made.

He promised a centreright government would eliminate a regional tax on businesses over the course of five years, reduce personal income tax rates, would not increase VAT and would not impose a so-called “wealth

Silvio Berlusconi tax” on higher earners.

“I have nothing to ask for myself,” said Berlusconi, 76, one of Italy’s richest men. “I want to fight one last great electoral and political battle.”

Gianfranco Fini, the speaker of the lower house of parliament who broke with Berlusconi in 2010, tweeted that in his second cabinet meeting, Berlusconi would “decree that everyone wins the lottery”.

Berlusconi took simultaneous swipes at both Monti’s centrist coalition and the centre left, saying: “I want to help Italy get out of this dark atmosphere the technical tax men have put it in, and in which the tax men of the left will leave it mired.”

Italy is deep in recession.

Last month the central bank forecast that GDP will fall by 1.0 percent this year rather than the previously forecast 0.2 percent. Unemployment is seen climbing from 8.4 percent in 2011 to 12 percent by 2014.

One candidate running for Monti’s centrist group called the speech tantamount to “vote-buying”, and Rosy Bindi, president of the centreleft Democratic Party, slammed it as “dangerous electoral propaganda”.

Berlusconi said revenue to cover the elimination of the

real estate tax on primary residences would come in part from striking a deal with Switzerland to tax financial activities there by Italian citizens.

He also promised a number of measures to cut the cost of government, to halve the number of parliamentarians, to cut government waste, and to eliminate public financing of political parties.

Most opinion polls indicate that the centre-left coalition, headed by Democratic Party secretary Pier Luigi Bersani, will win the February 24-25 election.

But the gap between the centre left and the centre right has been narrowing steadily since Berlusconi returned to active politics. On Sunday even La Repubblica, a leftleaning paper, ran an editorial headlined: “If Berlusconi’s horse wins the race.”

Berlusconi told cheering supporters: “We think we are close to an historic result.

Simply put, we are sure we are going to win.”

But the media magnate, who stepped down in November 2011 when Monti’s technocrat government was installed to lead Italy out of a full-blown economic crisis, will not be prime minister again if the centre right wins.

That job will go to Angelino Alfano, secretary of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party.

Berlusconi had said earlier that he would be the economy minister in a centre-right government. In his speech on Sunday, he said he would be both economy minister and industry minister.

“That is, if Angelino Alfano reconfirms his trust in me,” joked Berlusconi, who has been the voice and face of the centre-right campaign, often leaving Alfano in his shadow.

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French forces launch airstrikes in northern Mali GOSSI, Mali (AP) — French troops launched airstrikes on Islamic militant training camps and arms depots around Kidal and Tessalit in Mali’s far north, defense officials said yesterday, as the first supply convoy of food, fuel and parts to eastern Mali headed across the country.

French planes pounded extremist training camps as well as arms and fuel depots from Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday, according to French army Col. Thierry Burkhard.

“It was an important aerial operation to the north of the town Kidal and in the Tessalit region where we targeted logistical depots and Islamist training camps ... some 20 sites,” said Burkhard. He said there were 30 planes used in the operation including Mirage and Rafale jets.

The French intervened in Mali on Jan. 11 to stem the advance of the al-Qaedalinked fighters. Though they succeeded in ousting the rebels from the three main northern cities they occupied, including the fabled city of Timbuktu, Sunday’s aerial operation highlights that the French still see militants in the extreme northern area near the border with Algeria a threat.

“Here, there’s still various Islamist groups like the MUJAO, and Ansar Dine,”

he said. The Islamic extremist group the Movement for Unity and Oneness of the Jihad, is known as MUJAO. As the French bombarded in the north, they also neared the eastern town of Gao with its first supply convoy since the conflict began.

Crowds along the roads heading northeast from Sevare toward Gao yesterday thronged the roads screaming “Vive la France!” and old men in long flowing robes on bicycles held onto the handlebars with one hand to wave as soldiers passed by. Even camels grazing in acacia trees perked up as the 62-vehicle convoy spanning 5 kilometers (3 miles) lumbered by.

Others passed by in carts, sometimes moving faster than the French.

The convoy was near Gossi, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of its final destination of Gao yesterday. It proceeded slowly because of concerns about land mines between Gossi and Gao. Four Malian soldiers died last week when one exploded, and two others have been found in the vicinity since, said Lt. Emmanuel who gave only his first name in keeping with French military protocol.

The logistics convoy carrying food, fuel and spare parts for the French military 1,300 kilometers (808 miles)

Kerry calls foreign officials in first day on job

John Kerry WASHINGTON (AP) — New Secretary of State John Kerry had a busy first weekend on the job, calling Palestinian, Israeli, Turkish, Canadian and Mexican officials.

In his conversation yesterday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Kerry said President Barack Obama “is very interested in the peace process and aware of the economic hardships of the Palestinian people,” Abbas spokesman Nabel Abu Rdeneh said.

Abu Rdeneh also said that Kerry said he would visit the region for further talks with Abbas “to preserve the

political path.” No time was set for the visit.

The State Department said Kerry spoke with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday about the formation of the country’s new government, and that the two “exchanged views” on the peace process and regional matters. Also on his first full day as America’s top diplomat, Kerry: - got an update from Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu about the investigation into Friday’s suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.

- spoke with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird about Iran, Mali and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas.

- discussed with Mexico’s foreign minister, Jose Antonio Meade, the deadly blast at the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil company.

- had lunch with George Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan.

Kerry was sworn in Friday afternoon, succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton in Obama’s Cabinet.

over ground from Bamako to Gao underscores the logistical difficulties facing the mission in Mali.

“The distances are very long. In Afghanistan we could do it in a day. Now, it’s eight days round trip here,” said Lt. Emmanuel. The convoy is bringing a 15-day supply, he said.

Still, the successes of the operation were seen alongside the small villages where signs of life were returning to normal, and where there was no visible

presence of the Islamic rebels who imposed harsh rule for months.

The approach of the convoy and the use of aerial assaults come three weeks after France unilaterally launched its military intervention — and significantly, just hours after French President Francois Hollande left Mali soil. On Saturday, he visited Timbuktu to a liberator’s welcome. Thousands of people stood elbow-to-elbow behind a perimeter line in downtown Timbuktu,

hoisting the homemade French flags they had prepared for Hollande’s arrival to the northern desert city that French troops liberated last week after 10 months of control by alQaida-linked groups.

He then flew to Bamako, the capital, where he spoke before boarding a plane back to Paris.

He stressed the successes of the French intervention, but warned that threats of extremism will continue.

“Terrorism has been rejected. It has been chased,

but not yet beaten,” Hollande said. France has said that it eventually wants to hand over responsibility for the mission to the Malian army and other African counterparts. But, once the country’s thousands of troops, fighter planes and helicopters leave, Mali’s weak army and soldiers from neighboring countries might be hard-pressed to retain control of northern Mali’s cities if the Islamic extremists attempt a comeback from their desert hideouts.

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T&T Govt. sues former Miss Universe Wendy Fitzwilliam PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The coalition People’s Partnership government has filed a suit against former Miss Universe, Wendy Fitzwilliam alleging that she failed to properly advise the directors of a state-owned company on whether to enter into a TT$30 million (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) investment in 2005 with the China-based Bamboo Network Ltd (BNL).

The Sunday Express reported that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, who has already initiated legal action against the board of directors of the Evolving Technologies and Enterprise Development Company Ltd (e TecK) has now joined Fitzwilliam, an attorney by profession who served as vice president/general manager Business Development at the state state-owned entity.

Also named as a defendant in the amended lawsuit is the company’s former manager, Business Development John Soo Ping Chow, who is accused of failing in his accounting duties related to BNL, and failing to properly advise the company’s board on the prudence of the investment, given the alleged absence of audited accounts for BNL. The amended lawsuit was filed January 17. So far the Kamla Persad Bissessar led coalition government has filed lawsuits against six former e TecK officials, including its chairman Professor Kenneth Julien and directors Ulric McNicol, Professor Brian Copeland, Dr Rene Monteil, Eugene Tiah and Sonia Noel.

Wendy Fitzwilliam Fitzwilliams told the newspaper that the lawsuit has been “before the courts now and has been for quite some time. “I think the matter has been thrown out at the Appeal Court level. I’m not sure. I’m just getting on top of it. So it’s before the courts.

I will have lots to say when this is done, but not now. It’s before the courts,” she added.

In June 2011, the government filed the lawsuit against the board of directors following a 2005 investment in BNL to develop e TecK’s information technology business venture as part of the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration’s diversification of the downstream industries.

The claim alleged that the six board members failed to ascertain whether the investment with BNL was prudent and in the interest of the company or the country and that BNL failed to perform any of its obligations under

the agreement arrived at by the board led by Julien.

It is also being alleged that BNL failed to return the invested five million US dollars despite several requests by e TecK. The Sunday Express said that Ramlogan in 2011 during a news conference said a forensic team which included investigator Canadian Bob Lindquist had uncovered what he alleged was a lack of “due diligence” by the board members, which led to a massive financial haemorrhage.

Ramlogan said the most “startling discovery” was the lack of proper legal or financial due diligence into the nature of the investment that the board agreed to.

“That money disappeared into a black hole,” Ramlogan alleged, adding that when an e TecK team visited Hong Kong, they discovered several companies bearing that same name and as a result the Ministry of Finance “in the strongest possible terms” advised e TecK not to invest in BNL. “Notwithstanding this advice from the Ministry of Finance, e TecK proceeded apace,” he said.

Last December, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Julien and other members who comprised the board he led, in a procedural appeal filed in the lawsuit brought against them by Ramlogan.

As a consequence, the State was ordered to pay TT$55,000 in legal costs to Julien and the former directors who in March last year had filed an application in the courts seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed on the basis that it was filed out of time.

Monday February 04, 2013

Venezuela’s Vice President accuses rival of ‘conspiring’ against country CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro accused opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Saturday of “conspiring” against the OPEC nation during meetings in neighboring Colombia, stepping up his attacks on his most likely potential election rival.

The government is upbeat about President Hugo Chavez’s recovery from cancer surgery in Cuba. But the socialist maverick has not been seen in public or heard from in eight weeks, calling into question the future of his self-styled revolution.

Any new vote in South America’s top oil exporter would probably pit Maduro, Chavez’s heir apparent, against Capriles, the 40-yearold governor of Miranda state, who lost to Chavez in last October’s presidential election.

Maduro has been sharpening his rhetoric against the opposition leader, and the former bus driver said on Saturday he was being kept informed about a series of meetings Capriles was holding during a trip to Colombia that began on Friday.

“The information reaching us is not good,” Maduro said, wearing a hard hat during a televised visit to a tractor factory in Portuguesa state, in the west of the country.

“We know who he met with, and where, conspiring against the country and against peace … in a few hours we are going to say what that loser was doing against the fatherland in Colombia.”

Capriles responded on Twitter, saying Maduro was

the real conspirator and traitor because he was “receiving orders from Cuba’s government and giving away Venezuela’s money overseas.”

“It’s a big job for Mr. Maduro! Keep ranting to cover your inability. That’s what the mediocre are like, screamers!”

Capriles also tweeted a photo of himself meeting Spain’s former prime minister, Felipe Gonzalez, in Bogota, and said he had enjoyed a long talk with Gonzalez, a “great friend of our Venezuela.”

Earlier this week, Maduro said “honest, patriotic” lawmakers from the ruling party would present proof next Tuesday of “immense corruption” involving a senior figure in Primero Justicia, the party Capriles helped found in 2000.

Opposition leaders, who accuse the government of secrecy over Chavez’s condition, say Maduro is in campaign mode and merely seeking to copy his boss’ vitriolic attacks on them.

The government, which says it has never been more transparent about the 58-yearold Chavez’s health, says he has completed a complex post-operative period following the Dec. 11 surgery, and has started a “new phase” of his recuperation.

Maduro said Chavez was recovering gradually and held talks in Havana on Friday with Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, and Defense Minister Diego Molero.

The president has never said exactly what type of cancer he is suffering, only that it was diagnosed in his pelvis in mid-2011. He has

Barbados opposition party launches campaign for general elections BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – The main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has launched its campaign for the February 21 general elections promising voters strong leadership to deal with the island’s socioeconomic problems over the next five years.

BLP leader and former prime minister Owen Arthur Saturday night told party faithful that he was offering “a leadership that has been tried, leadership that has been tested and leadership that has been proven”.

The BLP, which lost the 2008 general elections to the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), and seeking to regain

control of the 30-seat Parliament, said it is promising a “Campaign for a Better Tomorrow”.

He told the huge crowd gathered in St. Michael that “leadership matters” as he reminded them of the BLP’s stewardship during its 14 year term in power.

“We managed to do a lot with a little. We didn’t have gold, we didn’t have oil, we didn’t have bauxite, but we made Barbados a great little country because we always had strong leaders,” he told supporters, adding that “there has been no time in our country’s development where leadership matters more than now”.

Arthur said Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had failed the test of leadership adding, “ I know how to make decisions”.

“Thing could be difficult…but they do not have to be this bad and they are this bad because our country should not be governed this way,” he said, outlining tough decisions that his administration had to take in 1998 when it implemented the Value Added Tax (VAT) or even standing up to the International Monetary Fund in 1994.

“I am asking you in this campaign to judge what kind of government we will give this country by the way we

Owen Arthur are running this campaign.

“Only a disciplined political institution, only a serious political institution should be vested to lead a serious country in these

difficult and challenging times,” Arthur said, adding that he wants” to give your children and my children and grandchildren a better country to live in”.

Earlier, BLP candidates including former leader Mia Mottley, said that the Stuart government had done little for Barbadians and the local economy.

Lynette Eastmond, who is contesting the St. Philip West constituency, said that the DLP had failed to address the “real issues” facing the country, while Gline Clarke candidate who is the party’s Christ Church West candidate said they were confident of victory.

Henrique Capriles since undergone four operations in Cuba, and weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

While his fragile health could spell an end to Chavez’s 14 years in power, the pressures of the situation have exposed old strains between moderates and more hard-line members of the opposition’s five-year-old Democratic Unity coalition.

It is made up of some 30 ideologically diverse political groups that chose Capriles as a unity candidate to run against Chavez in last year’s election.

Despite their differences, they are likely to pick Capriles again to face Maduro, should Chavez step down or die and a new vote was held within 30 days, as laid out in the constitution.

After chatting with workers and inspecting farm machinery in Portuguesa, the vice president slammed Capriles and two other top opposition figures: the coalition’s policy architect, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, and Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma “They’re a trio of wrecks with a history of defeat and treason,” Maduro said.

“They must know that if our people see the proof that has been prepared of their plot … it is just going to radicalize us even more.”

During Capriles’ absence in Colombia on Friday, the government launched a highprofile anti-crime operation involving more than 2,000 officers in his state, Miranda, which includes crime-ridden parts of the capital, Caracas.

The interior and justice minister, Nestor Reverol, used the event to criticize the opposition governor for his trip outside the country.

“Instead of being in Colombia, meeting the paramilitaries, you should be here supervising the deployment and ensuring people’s safety,” Reverol said on state TV, flanked by commanders of the security forces and scores of National Guard troops lined up on motorcycles.

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Amid domestic change, Cubans march to the polls HAVANA (Reuters) Cubans went to the polls yesterday to elect a Communist Party-selected slate of 612 deputies to the National Assembly at a time of change in how they live and work but not in how they vote.

President Raul Castro and other leaders were shown on state-run television casting their ballots and commenting on the importance of the election as a show of support for reforms and independence from the United States.

Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro was expected to cast his ballot from home.

Raul Castro is decentralizing the statedominated economy, allowing more space for private initiative in agriculture and retail services and has lifted many restrictions on personal freedoms such as travel and the buying and selling of homes and cars.

Castro, since taking over for older brother Fidel in 2008, has also introduced term limits (two five-year stints) for top government posts, but

has drawn the line at legalizing other political parties and contested elections.

“Renouncing the principle of a single party would be equal to legalizing one or more imperialist parties,” Castro said at a Party conference last year.

He insisted critics, and even some friends, did not take into account the “abnormal state of siege” the country is experiencing.

“The one-party elections in Cuba, alongside steady but slow progress on opening the economy, represent how the current regime intends to manage change on the island - giving the people more space to participate in the economy while controlling their role in politics and civic life,” said Ted Piccone, deputy director of foreign policy at the Wa s h i n g t o n - b a s e d Brookings Institution think tank.

Some 95 percent of 8.7 million residents over 16 years of age were expected to cast ballots in a land with polling stations on just about every block and where abstention

is frowned on.

On Sunday, Reuters talked with more than half a dozen voters before they entered the polls in Havana, none of whom knew the candidates on the national slate from their districts.

“What’s certain is they are all revolutionaries and that’s what matters,” retiree Eduardo Sanchez said.

“I vote because I feel I have to, and it doesn’t really matter because the deputies have no power anyway,” said one young women, who declined to give her name.

The curious read biographies of candidates posted at the polls, then cast paper ballots in cardboard voting boxes guarded by grammar and junior high school students.

Others simply entered the polls and checked a box for the entire slate.

The candidates were equal to the number of positions up for a vote, the only choice being to not vote for a certain candidate or leave blank or spoil one’s ballot. “Cuban voters will check ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ from this

new list of candidates, so it’s not a direct competition,” said Julia Sweig, director of Latin America studies and the Global Brazil Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations U.S. think tank.

Nevertheless, she added, the slate of candidates represented a big demographic and political step forward from the current assembly.

“Some 67 percent of the candidates are completely new picks, and of these, more than 70 percent were born after the revolution. Women comprise 49 percent of the candidates and Afro descendants 37 percent,” Sweig said.

The deputies are elected for five year terms.

The new assembly will meet later this month to approve a party-proposed slate for the Council of State, which Raul Castro is expected to head for his second term.

Council of State members must be deputies.

The general election cycle began last year with the election of more than 15,000 ward delegates in the only

An election official gives a man ballot papers at a special polling station set up in Havana’s main train station yesterday. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) vote in which residents choose between two or more candidates.

Party-controlled commissions then selected candidates for provincial assemblies and the singlechamber national assembly, at least 50 percent of whom must be ward delegates and the remainder officials and

personalities from the arts, sports and other sectors.

The National Assembly usually meets just twice a year for a week of committee and plenary meetings, though deputies remain engaged between sessions while working their normal jobs and can be relieved from work for assembly tasks.

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PM to meet opposition to discuss choice for T&T President PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - CMC – Following the submission by the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) on their choice for President , Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar is scheduled to meet with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley today morning for last-minute discussions on the matter.

The PNM has selected Justice Rolston Nelson of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their person to be considered to for the post of President.

While the Prime Minister is yet to name her secret candidate for President today one day before tomorrow’s deadline for nominations, Rowley said he will be going into the meeting with an “open mind and was not going to prejudge the discussions”.

The Opposition believes that there should be

Kamla PersadBissessar consensus and agreement from both the Government and the Opposition on the election of the next President, when the term of office of President George Maxwell Richards ends.

Persad Bissessar has already indicated that the nominee of the coalition People’s Partnership

government would be made known today.

“Every care must be taken when choosing the right person. The choice is one which will bind us as a nation for the next five years,” Persad-Bissessar said, adding “I want to assure the public that the process for the nomination of our president is well advanced and we will make an announcement as to who is the Government’s nominee today.

“The government will nominate only one person. I know there was speculation that with the Partnership there may have been several nominations. That is not the case.

Government will nominate one person that will be put before the Electoral College,” she said.

Richards, who has served the country as President since 2003, will step down from office in March.

Monday February 04, 2013

CLICO gets new name Trinidad Express - That’s the name Government has selected to rebrand the collapsed Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO).

While the government had given a commitment in its 2012/2013 budget that CLICO will cease to be in January 2013, the Sunday Express understands that there are some legal hurdles with the name change and application, given the different nontraditional businesses owned by the insurance company.

It is expected that the insurance policies of CLICO and British American Insurance Company will be transferred to the new company. The behemoth insurance company serves approximately 200,000 customers and its imprint on the country’s financial landscape was so deep that when it went belly up in January 2009, the government was forced to intervene because of the systemic risk it posed to the rest of T&T’s financial system.

The government’s bailout of CLICO stands at TT$19 billion. CLICO was an insurance company formed

by Cyril Duprey in 1936. The

company was passed on to his nephew Lawrence Duprey in 1988 who expanded it beyond its traditional business.

Subsequently, Duprey set up a holding company, CL Financial as a multinational conglomerate with CLICO and CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) as its cash-cow subsidiaries.

By then CLICO and British American, aided by CLF, had long since expanded beyond the remit of any insurance company—with expensive real estate investments in Florida costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The majority of the billion-dollar bailout was spent repaying policyholders of CLICO and British American’s Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) which was a facility created

by CLICO to raise money and bore an above market, annual interest rate of ten per cent.

The tale of how CLICO came to be and the inner workings of this private company have been brought out in various witness statements during the Sir Anthony Colman Commission of Enquiry which

Lawrence Duprey is expected to be concluded this year.

In January 2009, Duprey approached the government cap-in-hand for a bailout of the insurance company which had become illiquid and bore a hole in its Statutory Fund. Duprey’s empire, which comprised some 65 companies in 32 countries, was caught in a “perfect storm” of economic collapse. Government has attempted to bring the CLICO issue to a close and has made a claim to CL Financial for sums owed.

CL Financial is seeking to dispose of assets to meet the government’s claim.

US urged to rethink relations with Cuba WASHINGTON, USA (CMC) – A major think tank here is urging the Obama administration to quickly adopt three important initial steps that would “trigger a speedy rapprochement” with the Spanish-speaking nation.

In its latest report, the Washington-based Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) urged Washington to “immediately phase out the embargo, free the ‘Cuban five,’ and remove Havana from the spurious State Department roster of nations purportedly sponsoring terrorism.

“These measures should be seen as indispensable if Washington is to ever mount a credible regional policy of mutual respect among nations and adjust to the increased ideological diversity and independence of the Latin American and Caribbean regions,” COHA said. It said Washington’s path towards an “urgently needed rehabilitation of its hemispheric policy” must also include consideration of “Cuba’s own pressing national interests.”

COHA said a thaw in USCuba relations would enhance existing security cooperation between the countries, amplify trade and commercial ties, and guarantee new opportunities

for citizens of both nations to “build bridges of friendship and cooperation.”

In addition to being counter-productive and immoral, COHA said US policy towards Havana is also out-dated, stating that, ironically, at the present juncture of world history, “the embargo is in some ways isolating the US rather than Cuba. “Washington is often viewed as implementing a regional policy that is defenceless and without a compass,” it said.

In furthering moves towards rapprochement with Cuba, COHA urged the US State Department to remove the country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying that “it is an invention” to depict Havana as such.

The think tank said another “gesture of good will” would be for the White House to grant clemency to the Cuban five: Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzalez.

The Cuban nationals were convicted in a Miami court in 2001 and subsequently sentenced to terms ranging from 15 years to double life, mostly on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage.

Despite requests for a change of venue out of Miami, which at first was granted and later denied, COHA claimed that the trial took place in a “politicallycharged Miami atmosphere that arguably tainted the proceedings and compromised justice.”

According to COHA, supporters maintain that the Cuban five had infiltrated extremist anti-Castro organisations in order to prevent terrorist attacks against Cuba and did not pose any security threat to the United States.

“It would be an important humanitarian gesture to let them go home,” it said.

“Perhaps, such a gesture might facilitate reciprocity on the part of Cuban authorities when it comes to American engineer Alan Gross, who is presently being detained in a Cuban jail.”

COHA said there would probably be a political price to pay by the Obama administration for taking steps towards reconciliation with Havana.

But it said if Obama’s election to a second term means that there is to be a “progressive dividend, surely such a dividend ought to include a change in US policy towards the island.”

Monday February 04, 2013

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Much has been made, mistakenly, of the meaning of Jesus Christ’s words –”the poor ye have always with you” – recorded in St Matthew’s Gospel in the Holy Bible. Guyanese, however, should not accept poverty as a permanent condition of its citizens and should not accustom themselves to seeing poor people everywhere.

This country, arguably, has never been wealthy by western standards but the appearance of hordes of extremely poor, destitute, homeless persons and street children over the past two decades is a man-made catastrophe, not an act of God. Poverty can be reduced and, perhaps, eventually eradicated, with good governance, a safe environment and sensible public policies.

The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index report assesses the level of poverty in Guyana at 39.5 per cent. About two-thirds of this number can be classified as ‘extremely poor’ with an expenditure level that is below what is required to purchase a minimum low-cost diet. The Index continues to rank Guyana well behind Barbados which gained Independence in 1966 the same year as Guyana. Our neighbours – Suriname, Venezuela and Brazil – are all ranked higher.

The Human Development Index is a rough guide to a people’s quality of life. It emphasises education and health but also assesses the impact of other social services. Education and health are two of the major measures of human comfort.

Countries which possess well-built schools which are equipped with libraries, laboratories and recreational facilities and are staffed by trained teachers, who manage their institutions efficiently, are likely to enjoy a high standard of education. The same goes for hospitals staffed by committed nurses, doctors and technicians.

Guyana’s plan to eliminate poverty is based on its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. This was meant to be a mechanism through which Guyana, defined as a low-income country, can craft its own plan for poverty reduction and

Monday February 04, 2013

can provide a guideline for the World Bank to render assistance. The principles governing the PRSP are that they must be country-driven, written with the input of civil society, must focus on outcomes that would benefit the poor, must be partnership oriented and must be based on a long-term perspective for poverty reduction.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, at the PRSP consultations in January 2008, charged that the success rate of the poverty reduction strategy papers over the previous five years had been “minimal with no significant reduction in moderate and extreme poverty levels countrywide.”

Hinds told the participants that the results in two poverty status surveys conducted in 1999 and 2006 following the implementation of the first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper had been “marginal.” When another assessment was done at the end of 2006, the implementation of the programmes set out in the paper had only showed marginal reduction in the poverty levels. He called on participants at the consultation for the 20082012 Paper to find out “why there have been such poor results.”

Hinds admitted what everyone has been observing over the past twenty years of People’s Progressive Party administration – increasing impoverishment of a larger section of the population side-by-side with the enrichment of a tiny élite, with a widening income gap between the new super rich and the poor.

Poor people are not all the same. Some belong to a class of ‘hereditary poor’ who have endured wretched conditions for generations. Most have little education, shoddy clothing and housing, deficient diets and substandard health care.

There are also the ‘invisible poor’ who might be infirm or disabled and are usually out of sight. Those who are unemployed or underemployed and the homeless and the destitute constitute the largest group of poor people.

Street children, perhaps, are the most undeserving of their plight. Unkempt, uneducated, undisciplined

and uncared for, they live in a catch-as-catch-can world around fast-food restaurants and supermarkets in the central business district by day. They pass their nights outside night clubs and bars in the entertainment circuit and sleep on makeshift cardboard cots on the city’s pavements and parapets.

These are children. They survive by begging, gambling, stealing and working at odd jobs. They are usually victims of sexual molestation by older men.

Beyond the care of adults, many juveniles are increasingly being seduced into criminal activity by older boys.

The PPP/C administration’s attempts to eradicate poverty have failed.

The Ministry of Human Services’ short-term campaigns have not had lasting results.

The administration seems to be infatuated with the Victorianstyle ‘big house’ remedies of trying to heap as many poor people together in one place.

This approach is manifested in the Drop-in-Centre and Night Shelter mentality.

Constructing concentration centres might succeed in sweeping the issue under the carpet for a short while, but cannot solve the problem of poverty in the long term.

The administration has also injected doses of cash into the Social Impact Amelioration Programme, Basic Needs Trust Fund, Youth Choice Initiative, Amerindian Development Fund, Rural Community Support Project Poverty Reduction Strategy and other disparate programmes. They have not stimulated economic growth, created new jobs or reduced poverty in any significant way.

The true test of a progressive government is whether it is prepared to protect the poor and to provide opportunities for people to enjoy a good life.

This is what is expected in other Caribbean countries such as Barbados or The Bahamas, for example. The PPP/C administration, after twenty years in office, however, failed to improve the education infrastructure sufficiently; failed to expand access of small businesspersons and farmers to micro-credit and failed to expand markets for produce.

The PPP/C, most of all, has failed to promote the rapid economic growth needed to create employment. That is why poverty persists in Guyana.

Monday February 04, 2013

DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55hrs. Sign On 09:00hrs. GMA 10:00hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 11:00hrs. The Ricki Lake Show 12:00hrs. The View 13:00hrs. World News 13:30hrs. The Young and the Restless 14:30hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00hrs. The Talk 16:00hrs. Steve Harvey 17:00hrs.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00hrs. Facing the Nation 18:30hrs. The Wayans Bros.

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19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00hrs. Channel 8 News 21:00hrs. Movie: John Carter 23:00hrs. Hawaii Five-0 (New Episode) MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 05:30h Dharan Kai Awaz- The Voice of Dharma 06:00h Islamic Perspective 06:30h The Diary 07:00h DAY BREAK (live) 08:00h Dabi’s Musical Hour 08:30h Avon Video & DVD music hour 09:00h Current affairs 09:15h Top Notch Music

Break 09:30h Caribbean Temptation music break 10:00h Amanda’s music break 10:30h Clairan’s Ent. Music Break 11:00h Salvation Message with Pastor Kelvin 11:15h National Geographic 12:00h The View 13:00h Village Talk 13:30h The Young and The Restless 14:30h Days of our lives 15:00h General Hospital 16:00h The Bold and the Beautiful 16:30h Cartoons 17:00h Birthdays & other

Monday February 04, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Your compassionate nature has helped you create some very strong relationships. But your compassion can sometimes cause you to get upset about problems that are not yours to be upset about. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Your deepest emotions have been coming up to the surface quite a lot lately, and they will likely cause you to act in a very unpredictable manner today. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): Your popularity is definitely on the rise right now, but it might be climbing at a slower pace than you would really like. There is something to be said for taking baby steps on the road to fame and adulation. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Take your temperature today -- both literally and figuratively. Your health is something you should take more seriously than you have been. Just because you feel great and look great doesn't mean that you wouldn't benefit from a checkup. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Don't be too surprised if you find out that something is much different than you thought it was, today. The signs were there, you just did not take the time to see them.

This should be a lesson for you: From now on, look at issues that affect your life more deeply. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): Try to push things to the next level today, especially in terms of academics or general knowledge. You need to feed your intellectually curious side with healthy ideas and debate -- not junk thinking.

********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): You'll have a great fascination with material possessions today -- shopping suddenly seems like all you want to do. This might be a fine way to spend the day, but do you have the cash to bankroll such a diversion? ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): A very kind person will come into your life today, and you will feel a magnetic pull towards them. Follow it. Let yourself go where they go, do what they do, and give what they give. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): Have you noticed that segments of your social circle seem to be breaking off into smaller units? You can try to figure out why this is happening, but what is the point?

Reshuffling happens all the time, and it's usually a very organic and necessary process. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Look for one of your friends to be distancing themselves from the rest of the group. They are going through some of their own stuff right now, and the group dynamic is just not making them very comfortable. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18): If you need to feel socially useful, follow that desire today. Ask around and find out who could use a hand planning a party or spreading the word about an upcoming event. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Are you feeling conflicted about how to approach someone about a difficult issue? The answer is to just step up and start that conversation!

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Greetings 17:15h Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30h Sitcom 18:00h Aracari Resort Hour 19:00h CNN News 19:30h News Update 20:30h Getting it Right 21:30h English Movie: Here comes the Boom 23:00h News Update 23:30h English Movie: Here comes the Boom continues Sign Off

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

Contract signed for Dharmic children’s shelter in Berbice The Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha on Friday last signed a building contract with Kascon Engineering Service of Berbice to begin construction of its Shelter in Ankerville, Berbice.

The Shelter will house 3050 children who have been abused with their mothers having the option of being with them. Rehabilitation/ counseling programmes will be carried out for both parent and child until they can be reintegrated into a safe environment.

The shelter falls within the ambit of the Sabha’s programme “Voices against Child Abuse” which was launched early in 2010.

Through the donation of land by the Government of Guyana, fundraising efforts of the Sabha

including the holding of two mega concerts featuring superstar p l a y b a c k S i n g e r s Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and donations from individuals, families, businesses and the Guyana Hindu Dharmic New York Chapter, the organization is able to begin construction of the facility.

In order to complete the project, the Sabha will have continuous fundraising activities. The Shelter will be open to any child who needs help.

The Dharmic Sabha will w o r k closely with the Ministry of Human Services and the Child Protection Agency and offer its services to any other organization that can identify children who are in need of protection and help.

The Sabha said that after a tedious and lengthy process of paperwork which caused much delay in the commencement of this project, it has been given every assurance by Kascon Engineering services that the building will be completed within 10 months.

The unveiling of the building design was done by World Renowned Singer Sonu Nigam and President Donald Ramotar in April, 2012 and it is anticipated that the building will be ready for use early next year.

In preparation for this facility, the Sabha will be conducting many training programmes related to sensitizing the communities across the country about Domestic Violence and Parenting. The first Parenting session will be held in Berbice in partnership with the Mothers Union this month.

The Sabha has expressed its gratitude to all those who supported it in its efforts to construct such a facility through encouraging words, financial contributions and attendance at the two concerts the Sabha held at the National Stadium.

Meanwhile, some 20 years after its opening, Guyana

A representative of Kascon Engineering Services signs the contract with Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, President of the Guyana Dharmic Sabha.

Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s Dharmic Sanskritik Kendra is currently undergoing major rehabilitation. The Kendra is an institution which has provided training in many areas including Pandits’ training, sanskrit and hindi, dance, music, singing, Indian cookery, peer education and skills training. Numerous Guyanese from around the country have benefitted from

these programmes and the Kendra has been open to all who showed an interest.

In addition, Dharmic Sanskritik Kendra has been a hub of activity year round as it serves as the Head Quarters of the Sabha and has been the venue for Holi Utsav, Phagwah Mela and Bazaar, Kala Utsav, Dharmic Rama Krishna Primary School Graduation, Arrival Day

Activities and many other functions.

The building will now have an increased capacity to train a greater number of students, commence new programmes and projects and be the venue for new initiatives of the Sabha.

Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha celebrated its 39th Anniversary on January 8th with countrywide Satsangs.

Monday February 04, 2013

There is a rumour among rednecks that President Obama needed a private ceremony to take the oath of office to start his second term because he swore on a Koran that had been taken from Bin L a d e n ’s Pakistan c ompound. Late night comedian, Jimmy Fallon, commenting on the event quipped, “On Sunday the White House will hold a private swearing-in ceremony for President Obama. Not to be outdone, on Sunday Republicans will hold a private swearing-at ceremony for President Obama.”

The issue of Obama’s alleged fundamentalist leanings was further compounded by a bulletin from the Washington Post which stated, “Barack H. Obama drops Hussein from the presidential oath.” The Post said, “The Barack Hussein Obama of 2009 has been replaced in President Obama’s second inaugural celebration by ‘Barack H. Obama.’

In taking the oath of office Monday morning before Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Mr. Obama abbreviated his birth name, giving only the initial ‘H.’” The Post later corrected this to, “The initial post incorrectly stated the president did not use his middle name in taking the oath of office.”

Obama’s second coming has seen an increase in the sale of guns, especially assault rifles. As Late Night comedian and satirist Stephen Colbert rhymed, “There once was a man name Barack,/ Whose re-election came as a shock./ He raised the taxes I pay,/ And then turned marriage gay./ And now he’s coming after your Glock.”

There were several distractions that helped to warm up the cold winter’s day.

First there was the use of two bibles. Jay Leno noted, “President Obama will be sworn in with his hand resting on two Bibles” and asked, “Is that how screwed up Washington is now? One Bible can’t get the job done anymore?” His rival, Conan O’Brien was sympathetic, “”President Obama’s inauguration is coming up.

During next week’s

Kaieteur News

inauguration, he will be sworn in with not one, but two Bibles. Relax, Mr. President.

We get it. You’re not a Muslim.

You’re overcompensating.”

Kimmel went straight to the speech and the challenges Obama faced, observing, “The president gave a brief but powerful speech. He did not shy away from the many challenges he faces: a massive federal deficit, a conservative majority in the House, an aging population, runaway entitlements, humongous ears.”

Leno noticed the brevity of the speech and pointed out, “Actually, you know who gave the shortest inauguration speech in history? George Washington.

It was only like three minutes long. Well, sure. George Washington couldn’t tell a lie.”

Then there were the bangs, not explosions or gunshots, but Michelle Obama’s haircut. Jimmy Kimmel set the tone for the FLOTUS (First Lady of The United States) fashion frenzy, “”More than a million people gathered in our nation’s capital yesterday, and tens of millions more watched from home to celebrate the first lady’s new haircut” and then slipped in the knife, “”Most people seem to like the hair style, though some Republicans are demanding further cuts. But bangs aren’t easy to pull off. As far as I know, the only other women who have done it successfully this decade are Jessica Biel and Justin Bieber.”

Radio Free KLJH reported: “I love Michelle Obama,” the president said at the start of brief remarks at a candlelight reception at the National Building Museum. “And to address the most significant event of this weekend: I love her bangs.” “She looks good, she always looks good,” he added.

The bigger bang was the accusation that Beyonce mimed the National Anthem.

Conan O’Brien started the fun, “Beyonce is remaining silent about charges that she lip-synched the national anthem. However, the charges are being strongly denied by a recording of

Beyonce.”

Bill Maher, normally in Obama’s corner, joked, “Let that be a lesson; if you are in Washington DC and you open your mouth and another voice comes out, it better be the NRA, an oil company, or a bank.” One newspaper report called it the “Star Mangled Banner” and asked “Was Beyonce lip-synching the US national anthem on Monday, or wasn’t she?”

Reports confirm that the lip-synching question made headlines around the world and “Beyonce” was among the top Facebook conversations on Monday.

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However, Beyonce remains tight-lipped. Now reports are that Obama also lip-synced his speech.

According to one source, it was not immediately apparent however the recorder malfunctioned and something appeared to be amiss when Mr. Obama stated, “…Or build the roads and networks, the roads and networks, the road and networks…”

Had this really happened it would have been one of many weird inauguration moments.

A chicken invaded Nixon’s Inaugural Ball at the

Smithsonian. One report says, “While guests danced the night away, a female participant became quite ruffled when a chicken flew into her one thousand dollar VIP box and began to assault her.”

Then on January 20, 1953, when Texas-born Dwight Eisenhower, in the reviewing stand, was lassoed by a cowboy who rode up to him on a horse.

Strangest of all was William Henry Harrison who delivered the longest

inaugural address in 1841 without wearing a hat or coat in a howling snowstorm. He came down with pneumonia, and died one month later. His was the shortest tenure in the White House. *Tony Deyal was last seen repeating David Letterman’s take on American values, “The inauguration will have a lot of corporate sponsors, big money, and corporations sponsoring the inauguration. It will be the same with the Kardashian baby.”

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

Windies women rebound in style as Taylor, Dottin bat SL out of match ESPNcricinfo - A flamboyant knock of 171 from opener Stafanie Taylor helped West Indies Women crush Sri Lanka Women by 209 runs in a Group A match at the MIG Ground in Mumbai. Taylor’s hundred and a powerful, 20ball 50 from Deandra Dottin took West Indies to 368 for 8, their highest ODI score. In reply, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 159 runs with ten overs to spare, giving the West Indies their first win of the tournament.

Taylor, who was named the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and the Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2011, also broke her own record for the highest individual score by a West Indian b a t s m a n i n w o m e n ’s c r i c k e t , s u r p assing her innings of 147 against Netherlands in 2010.

West Indies got off to a flying start after Sri Lanka chose to field. Kycia Knight and Taylor scored 19 runs in the first two overs, helped partly by some wayward bowling from Sri Lanka.

Taylor was the more subdued of the duo in the early overs, as Knight went after the bowling, especially mediumpacer Sripali Weerakkody who conceded 25 runs in her first three overs.

By the time spin was introduced, Taylor was wellsettled and, in spite of losing Kycia and Shemaine Campbelle quickly, kept the momentum going. She used her feet well against the spinners, coming down the track or stepping on the backfoot to cut through the offside. The right-hand batsman brought up her 50 with a lofted drive over midoff and, when the scoring rate slipped a little, hit a six over long-on.

Her partnership of 110 runs with the other Knight sister, Kyshona, steadied the West Indies innings. Taylor toyed with the Sri Lankan attack, scoring a flurry of fours and sixes before she brought up her fourth ODI hundred off 97 balls.

It was a run-out which broke the partnership as Kyshona was dismissed for 44 by a direct hit from Deepika Ranasangika on the first ball of the 34th over bowled by Eshani Kaushalya.

The run-out didn’t fluster Taylor, who dispatched the next two deliveries for fours.

New batsman Deandra Dottin lived up to her reputation of a hard-hitting batsman coming into this World Cup, clobbering a huge six over long-on, off her first ball.

Kaushalya was struck for 16

runs in that over.

Dottin was in her element when the Powerplay began in the 36th over. She struck two fours and a six and followed that up with two consecutive fours in the next over, struck so hard that she had to change her bat.

Sri Lanka were sloppy, missing two run-out chances of Taylor in the 38th over, even as the overthrows and wides they bowled cost them 14 runs. With the opposition running out of bowling options, Dottin struck two more sixes to add to their agony, one of these almost landing in the balcony of a neighbouring residential building.

When Sherina Ravikumar eventually dismissed Dottin, the pair had put on an astounding 90 runs in almost six overs, of which 71 came in the powerplay overs.

We s t I n d i e s l o s t a couple of quick wickets after Dottin’s exit before Ta y l o r w a s j o i n e d b y captain Merissa Aguilleira.

The duo punished the Lankan bowlers a little more, striking a 55-run partnership in just 28 balls.

Taylor was eventually dismissed for 171, and her knock included 18 fours and two sixes. Aguilleira scored an

unbeaten 47 as West Indies reached a daunting score of 368.

Needing more than seven runs an over, the Sri Lankan innings quickly fell into disarray. The opening partnership lasted just 25 balls and with the West Indies bowlers holding a steady line outside the off stump, the pressure kept mounting. Left-arm seamer Shanel Daley struck twice in her first spell, leaving Sri Lanka reeling at 51 for 3 in the 12th over.

Prasadani Weerakkody anchored the innings with a patient knock of 22, but found herself running out of

partners.

Legspinner Shaquana Quintyne ended her stay at the crease with a brilliant catch off her own bowling. She picked up two more wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 32. Offspinner Anisa Mohammed stifled the batsmen with her flight, enhanced by her high-arm action, conceding only 10 runs in 5.2 overs and picking up one wicket.

The seventh-wicket partnership between Dilani Manodara and Deepika Rasangika was worth 37 runs but, by then, Sri Lanka were almost out of the contest.

Rasangika’s 25-ball 28 only delayed the inevitable and Sri

Lanka held on for another ten overs before West Indies prevailed.

In other results: SA Women 188/9 v Aus Women 190/7 (45.4/50 ov) - Aus Women won by 3 wickets (with 26 balls remaining); Eng Women 272/8 v India Women 240/9 (50/50 ov) - Eng Women won by 32 runs; Pak Women 104 v NZ Women 108/3 (29.4/ 50 ov) - NZ Women won by 7 wickets (with 122 balls remaining).

Scores: West Indies Women 368 for 8 (Taylor 171, Dottin 50, Siriwardene 2-58) beat Sri Lanka Women 159 (Rasangika 28, Quintyne 332) by 209 runs.

Sammy leads list of 5 West Indians bought in 2013 IPL auction as Barnwell gets in West Indies Captain, Darren Sammy, leads a list of 5 Windies players picked up during the 2013 Indian Premier League auction. Guyanese Christopher Barnwell also makes his IPL entrance.

The auction, held on February 3rd, featured 12 West Indies players who made themselves available. Outside of the auction, Samuel Badree was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals franchise.

The full list of WI players bought in the auction reads: Player Name IPL Team Cost (USD) Darren Sammy Sunrisers Hyderabad - 425,000 Ravi Rampaul Royal Challengers Bangalore - 290,000 Fidel Edwards Rajasthan Royals - 210,000 Christopher Barnwell Royal Challengers Bangalore - 50,000 Jason Holder Chennai Super Kings - 20,000

Christopher Barnwell

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Misbah, Shafiq keep Pakistan alive in first test JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - An unbeaten 101run stand for the fifth wicket between Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq kept Pakistan alive in the first test as they reached 183 for four at the close of play on day three against South Africa at the Wanderers.

The visitors looked to be heading for a heavy defeat when they slumped to 82-4 before tea chasing down 480, but the pair batted through the final session to give Pakistan hope. They still need 297 runs to win but with the rain predicted on the final two days all results remain possible.

Misbah (44 not out) and Shafiq (53 not out) batted patiently, seeing out 45 overs in their partnership as South Africa struggled to find a breakthrough. In part the home side have only themselves to blame. Vernon Philander thought he had Shafiq caught at slip by Graeme Smith when the batsman was on 40, but the Pakistan right-hander was recalled after a check with the third umpire showed it was a no-ball.

In the next over Robin Peterson dropped a simple chance offered by Misbah at point off the bowling of Kallis. With the new ball due in just five overs on Monday morning, South Africa will still be confident of forcing a result if the weather holds.

Things did not start as well for Pakistan in their

second innings though.

Mohammed Hafeez made just two as he glanced a leg-side ball from Philander, but succeeded only in providing wicketkeeper AB de Villiers with a catch behind the stumps.

Debutant Nasir Jamshed’s stoic resistance came to an end when he attempted a pull off Dale Steyn, but got his timing all wrong and picked out Robin Peterson at mid-on four runs short of a maiden test half-century. Azhar Ali (18) was trapped in front by Kallis and although he chose to review the decision, the TV umpire upheld his dismissal.

Younus Khan (15) was not sure whether to play or leave a Morne Morkel delivery and in the end did neither, a faint edge being snapped up by De Villiers to leave his side four down.

Earlier in the day, South Africa made a fast start when they resumed their second innings, scoring 68 runs in just nine overs before declaring on 275 for the loss of three wickets. Resuming on his overnight 63, de Villiers led the charge with a sparkling unbeaten century off 117 balls.

He was ably supported by Hashim Amla, who moved from his overnight 50 to 74 not out by the time Smith called the players in with 50 minutes of the morning session gone. By that time the pair had put on a Wanderers record fourth wicket test partnership of 176,

Asad Shafiq and Misbah-ul-Haq put on an unbroken century stand. (Associated Press) beating the previous mark of 147 they had set against Australia in the 2011/12 season.

Scores: Pakistan 183 for 4 (Misbah 44*, Shafiq 53*) and 49 need 297 more runs to beat South Africa 253 and 275 for 3 dec (de Villiers 103*, Amla 74*, Smith 52).

Impressive ceremony as Fruta Conquerors One Love Classic KO football tourney commences Fifteen teams of resplendently attired footballers graced the field in a colorful march pass ceremony when the curtains went up on the Fruta Conquerors One Love Classic knockout foo t b a l l tournament at the Tucville Ground yesterday afternoon and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who took the salute minutes before delivering keynote remarks, congratulated the organizers for delivering such a splendid ceremony.

Mr. Hinds had performed similar duties at the tournament’s opening last year and told the organizers that last night’s presentation was the better of the two.

He reminded the players of the ability of the sport to unite people of different cultures and other dispensations even as he voiced the hope that the sport

form an integral part of the school curriculum.

Other important persons at the forum included Mayor Hamilton Green, Managing Director of the National Milling Company (NAMILCO), Bert Sukhai, his financial advisor, Fitroy McLeod, engineer, Ralph Hemsing, President of the Guyana Football Association, Vernon Burnette and his Vice

President, Rawle Adams and GFF President (ag), Franklin Wilson among others.

Shortly after the conclusion of the ceremony, the GDF took to the field against Northern Rangers in the first match of a double header that also saw Police and the Seawall FC in the feature attraction. Details of these matches will appear in a subsequent edition.

AB de Villiers made his 15th Test hundred. (AP)

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

Starc, Bailey shine as Australia beat West Indies (Reuters) - Seamer Mitchell Starc grabbed a second successive five-wicket haul and George Bailey his maiden international century as Australia beat West Indies by 54 runs in the second one-dayer at the WACA on Sunday.

West Indies put up a better fight than in the nine-wicket defeat in Friday’s opener but Bailey’s unbeaten 125 pushed Australia to 266 for seven and Starc (5-32) helped dismiss the islanders for 212 to give the hosts a 2-0 series lead.

There was controversy too, when the television review system was employed to help Starc claim the wickets of Kieran Powell (83) and Devon Thomas (0) in successive balls, the latter given out caught behind to much disbelief.

A promising but ultimately unsuccessful day at the WACA for West Indies was summed up by tailender Sunil Narine, who smashed sixes off the first four balls of one Glenn Maxwell over but was stumped on the sixth.

Maxwell finished with figures of four for 63 but Starc was again the pick of the bowlers after skittling the top order with three early wickets and returning later as West Indies lost five men for 20 runs.

Australia suffered a collapse early in their innings and Bailey had to put on 100 from 123 balls for the seventh wicket with James Faulkner (39) to rescue them from 98 for six less than half way through their 50 overs. The 30-year-old saved his best until the end of the innings, however.

After reaching his century with a six over long-on in the penultimate over, he hammered three sixes, a four and two runs off the last six balls to finish unbeaten on 125.

“Few bonus ones at the end there,” Bailey said in a televised interview. “It was just about getting a partnership when James Faulkner came out. We were looking at 200. “We were backed up again with the ball, Mitchell Starc is on fire at the moment.”

Powell and Dwayne Bravo (45) looked like doing a similar job for West Indies when they put on 126 for the fourth wicket but the latter’s dismissal prompted a major collapse.

George Bailey celebrates his hundred. (Getty Images) The Caribbean islanders were highly embarrassed by their humbling in the opening clash of the five-match series and their fielding at least was much improved. Four of the first five Australian batsmen to fall were caught while the fifth, skipper Michael Clarke, was clean bowled for 16 by Dwayne Bravo.

For pure reflexes, Darren Sammy’s effort to dismiss Matthew Wade (16) was the pick of the bunch as the skipper snatched a rocket of a ball out of the air with one hand.

Scores: Australia 7 for 266 (Bailey 125*, Sammy 3-48) beat West Indies 212 (Powell 83, Starc 5-32, Maxwell 4-63) by 54 runs.

Guyana Baseball League President attends IBAF meeting as development targeted President of the Guyana Baseball League Mr. Robin Singh attended a IBAF Executive meeting in Cartagena, Colombia on Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd of February, as a guest of the President of COPABE Mr. Israel Roldan and was able to get the attention of international stakeholders to aid development in the sport here.

Many issues pertaining to development of baseball and softball were discussed, including details of the IBAF/ WSBC presentation to the IOC for the reinstatement of Baseball and Softball into the 2020 Olympic Games.

Mr. Singh also met with executive members of the IBAF on issues affecting the development of the game in the South American country.

Following lengthy discussions, it was decided

President of COPABE Mr. Israel Roldan (right) and Mr. Robin Singh. that President Singh would visit the headquarters of Baseball USA in North Carolina later this month to work on a customized plan for the development of baseball

and softball in Guyana.

A number of coaching education seminars will be held in Guyana, details will be released upon the completion of the planning phase.

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Thomas evades Giddings to win Cross Country race The surging Cleveland Thomas evaded strong challenges from the consistent Nathaniel Giddings yesterday on the outer grass circuit of the National Park to win the senior male race in the season opening Athletics Association of Guyana Cross Country race.

Running Braves’, Thomas sprinted home in 25:46.77 ahead of Upper Demerara’s, Giddings, who returned 25:50.5 for second and Police Progressive Youth Club’s Dennis Horatio (27:35.96) after he took command early in the 8km race.

Thomas was heavily challenged throughout the race with talented athlete, Devon Barrington also in the hunt early. However,

Barrington dropped off the pace and finished fifth.

Defending champ in the male race, Cleveland Forde did not compete owed a groin injury.

Forde told Kaieteur Sport that he is doing light work and expects to be back competing sometime next month.

He said that he would have liked to defend his title, but unfortunately he will not put being out for the rest of the season at risk and thus opted out.

Alika Morgan won the senior female 6km race in 11:24.6 with Guyana Defence Force’s, Ashanti Scott finishing second in 12:02.3 and Carlissa Atkinson (13:03.9) third.

Andrea Foster won the 4km junior race in 11:34.9

while Jevina Straker (11:53.9) placed second; Adama Roberts (12:03) finished third.

In male youth race, Grivon Grant won in 22:56.4, while Kevin Nicholas placed second in 23:29.0 and Ornesto Thomas (23:42.7) third. Orlando Adams took the male youth race ahead of Kwesi Blair and Leandre Archer respectively.

Delicia Harper (10:29) was the female 3km youth winner ahead of Cassey George (11:23.35) and Cassie Kirton (11:40.29) respectively.

The Cross Country race is usually the qualifying race for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Cross Country race that is usually held in Trinidad and Tobago.

(Edison Jefford)

TAKING COMMAND! Cleveland Thomas (right) takes command of the senior men’s race yesterday at the National Park Circuit as Nathaniel Giddings and Devon Barrington stay on his heels in the 2013 season opening event.

The various prize winners in the season opening Cross Country race yesterday pose for a photo opportunity with officials.

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 04, 2013

Nigeria eliminate favourites Ivory Coast Nigeria progressed to the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with victory over favourites Ivory Coast.

Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike opened the scoring just before half-time, smashing a thunderous effort past Boubacar Barry in the Ivorian goal. Midfielder Cheick Tiote drew the Elephants level shortly after the break, heading home from Didier Drogba’s free-kick. But Sunday Mba sealed Nigeria’s win with a shot deflected in off Sol Bamba.

The result sees Nigeria through to their fifth semi-final in seven Nations Cup appearances, while Ivory Coast’s wait for a second continental title goes on, after they failed once again to live up to their billing as the highest-ranked side in Africa. It also marks a return to form for two-time winners Nigeria, after they failed to qualify for last year’s finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Nigeria were much the brighter side throughout the first half, with the star-studded Ivorians looking lethargic.

Chelsea’s Victor Moses led the Super Eagles’ attacking threat from the outset, sending in a searching ball that Ideye Brown was unable to direct on target. Moses then sought to add to his two-goal tally against Ethiopia, lashing in a fierce shot from 25 yards that stung Barry’s hands, before trying to find Brown at the far post from a free-kick that flew just over the striker’s head.

The Elephants struggled to get a shot on target in the opening period and were largely limited to long-range attempts, with Tiote’s snapshot flying over Vincent Enyeama’s bar.

Emenike had had the best chance of the opening half-hour, Brown playing in the Spartak Moscow striker only for him to lift his shot over, but he was on target when Nigeria

took a deserved lead on 43 minutes, thumping home from 25 yards from a short free-kick.

The Ivorians almost replied from a dead ball, Romaric whipping in a curling shot that flew just over Enyeama’s bar, but the tournament favourites went in at the break with work to do to get back into the contest.

They emerged much brighter and hauled themselves level on 50 minutes, profiting from a fortuitous free-kick after Drogba went down under minimal contact in a dangerous position.

The former Shanghai Shenhua man chipped to the far post, where Tiote headed home his first goal for his country as the Nigerian defence failed to pick him up.

The goal spurred the favourites on and they pressed the Nigerian defence looking for a second, which almost came when Enyeama flapped at a corner and the ball fell to Tiote on the edge of the area, but it was cleared well.

At the other end, Brown squandered a great chance to head home at point-blank range from a corner, but Barry gathered after a brief scramble in his six-yard area.

Still the Ivorians threatened, Yaya Toure bursting to the edge of the area and smacking a shot straight at Enyeama, who parried away, with Drogba unable to get his follow-up shot on target.

But it was the Nigerians who edged ahead, as Mba broke to the edge of the area and unleashed a fierce shot that deflected wickedly off Bamba and past Barry.

Elephants coach Sabri Lamouchi responded by throwing on Lacina Traore for Romaric and the big striker found the ball at his feet in front of goal almost immediately but was unable to get a shot in, allowing the Nigerians to clear, as they hung on to progress to a semi-final clash with Mali.

Nigeria players celebrate their progression (Getty Images)

Super sub Wakaso scores twice to send Black Stars into semis

Wakaso Mubarak was the hero for Ghana as he scored both goals, including this penalty. (EPA) Daily Mail - Wakaso Mubarak came off the bench to score twice and take Ghana through to the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-0 win over Cape Verde on Saturday.

Wakaso hammered home a 54th-minute penalty and then scored into an empty net in injury-time after a desperate Cape Verde sent everyone up the other end of the field in search of an equalizer.

The opening goal sparked some life into the tournament’s first quarterfinal after a cagey first half, and Cape Verde threatened with a succession of chances after that as Heldon Ramos hit a low shot just wide and Ghana goalkeeper Fatawu Dauda made a string of crucial saves to keep his country ahead.

With Cape Verde desperate, Wakaso broke away in the dying seconds to end the first-timers’

impressive campaign at their first major tournament as the substitute side-footed into an open goal with ‘keeper Josimar Dias and his defense scrambling to get back.

Ghana head for a semifinal against the winner of the Togo-Burkina Faso quarterfinal, having made the last four of the tournament for the fourth straight time.

The Black Stars will continue their search for a first title since 1982.

Wakaso pushed Ghana to the brink of the semis with his second successful penalty of the tournament after Carlos Tavares had bundled Asamoah Gyan over. Wakaso scored down the middle having only entered as a substitute in the 47th.

After that, Cape Verde surged forward time after time in search of the equaliser that would prolong an already uplifting campaign at their first Nations Cup, but they

couldn’t find a way past Ghana’s last line.

Ghana goalkeeper Dauda won the man of the match award to reflect a second half when Cape Verde did the vast majority of the attacking but just couldn’t find a way past him. Ramos went close for Cape Verde with his 55th minute shot, which skimmed past the left post. Luis Soares then forced Dauda to stretch out his right hand and deflect a goal-bound effort from the edge of the area away.

Dauda’s flying save from Djaniny Semedo in the 82nd was his best as he dived to his right and palmed a powerful shot away with his left hand.

He then kept out Ramos’ free-kick with three minutes of normal time remaining before Wakaso skipped away from a last-second corner and went over 50 meters unchallenged to score in Cape Verdes’ unmanned goal.

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

Milo U-20 Schools Football Competition

St. George’s, South Ruimveldt, QC register victories

The players who were on target for South Ruimveldt Secondary School pose for a photo op. following the completion of their win against Bishop’s High School yesterday.

From left: are Keith Caines, David George, Akeem Hamilton, Colin Peters and Jaleel Hamilton.

St. George’s, Queen’s College and South Ruimveldt all registered wins when the Milo Under-20 Schools Football Competition continued yesterday, at the Ministry of Education ground on Carifesta Avenue.

In the most impressive performance of the day, St. George’s inflicted a crushing 11-0 triumph over a hapless St. John’s College with Royston Dublin (12th, 14th, 31st, 35th & 77th min) hitting in five goals, Sean Taylor (23rd and 75th) and Quinsey Caveril (29th and 67th) netted a brace apiece, while Oseal Small (17th) and A. Small (70th) completed their tally.

In the second game of the day, Queen’s College edged Cummings Lodge 3-2 with Jayadev Mana (41st and 60th) hammering in a pair, while Stephen Rutherford (81st) added the other goal.

On target for Cummings Lodge was Hutson Henery, who fired in a pair in the 29th and 48th minutes.

In the final clash of the day, South Ruimveldt eased to a comfortable 8-3 win over Bishop’s High.

Keith Collner (26st, 50th and 60th min), Colin Peters (19th & 31st), Jaleel Hamilton (48th) and Akeem Henery (66th & 79th) were the players to enter the scoresheet.

For Bishop’s High School, Shamal Lewis (44th, 59th min & 70th) booted in a hat-trick.

The tournament resumes this weekend with matches slated for Saturday and Sunday, at the same venue.

Meanwhile, the top four schools will receive cash awards which will go towards the creation of a project of their choice.

The champion school will receive $200,000, runner-up $100,000, third place $50,000 and fourth $25,000. All four institutions will also be given medals and trophies, while the Most Valuable Player, Highest Goalscorer, Best

Goalkeeper, Best Coach and Most Supportive Parent will be recognised for their achievements.

The schools hunting the top prizes are: Charlestown, North Georgetown, Christ Church, Ascension, Tucville, St John’s College, St George’s, Tutorial High, Cummings Lodge, Bishop’s High, South Ruimveldt, Queen’s College, Lodge, David Rose, Dolphin Secondary, Guyana Education Trust College, St Winefride, North Ruimveldt, Carmel, Brickdam, New Campbellville, Sophia Special School, Richard Ishmael and Central High.

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Kaieteur News

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali ‘could be dead in days’, warns distraught brother Daily Mail - Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali is so ill he could be dead within days, his brother has warned.

Rahman Ali said the former heavyweight champion cannot speak and no longer recognises him.

Rahman fears his 71-yearold brother - known as The Greatest - may not survive the summer.

He told The Sun: ‘He’s in a bad way. He’s very sick. ‘It could be months, it could be days. I don’t know if he’ll last the summer. He’s in God’s hands.’

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984 but remained active for many years and made a moving appearance at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games where he lit the flame.

However, he was seen looking particularly thin and frail at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony where he was helped across the stage by wife Lonnie.

Rahman has accused his sister-in-law, who has been married to Ali for 26 years, of refusing to let the family visit the ailing champion.

Rahman, who was also a professional boxer, said he

last saw his brother in July at the Sports for Peace Gala in London and is only allowed to speak to him over the phone.

The brothers, born Cassius and Rudolph Clay, grew up together in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ali’s most recent public health scare was December, 2011, when the champion was taken to hospital after falling unconscious.

Emergency services were called days after Ali made a frail appearance at the funeral of fellow boxing great Joe Frazier. He was treated for dehydration after collapsing at his 6,000 sq ft estate in Arizona.

Rahman told The Sun from his flat in Louisville that before Ali’s health deteriorated, he said he was in no pain and was proud of his achievements.

Rahman, who has suffered recurrent strokes following his own boxing career, said he feels distraught at being cut from his brother’s life, who he compared to Jesus, and who he says he loves above all others.

He said: ‘You know the

Muhammad Ali may not last the summer, according to brother Rahman. (AP) word “infinite”? That’s Ali, he’s infinite. His name will last forever.’

Father-of-nine Ali wants a Martin Luther King quote on his gravestone, according to Rahman. The quote is: ‘I tried to love somebody, I did try to feed the hungry. ‘I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.’ The Greatest.’

Wife Lonnie refused to comment on the claims.

Monday February 04, 2013

Rayon Griffith reappointed Chairman of GCB Senior Selection panel Former national fast bowler Rayon Griffith was reappointed as Chairman of the National Senior selection panel when the Guyana Cricket Board held its first Executive meeting l a s t F r i d a y, t o a p p o i n t committees, at the GCB boardroom. The other members of this committee are Adrian Amsterdam and Sheik Mohammed.

At the junior level Nazimul Drepaul was retained as Chairman of that panel, while Berbice Coach Julian Moore and Aotto Christiani are the two other members.

The Guyana Cricket Board Constitution requires that this panel comprise of one selector from each of the three counties.

Vice President Alfred Mentore chairs the Cricket Development Committee. The other members are; Grantley Culbard, Elroy Stepheny, Randolph Latcha, Kenroy Joseph, Dr. Rishi Thakur, A representative from the Blind Cricket Association, Chairmen of the County Board’s CDC and a representative of the Guyana Cricket Umpires Council.

The Competitions Committee is made up of

Rayon Griffith Colin Europe (Chairman), Veeren Chintamani (Secretary), a representative from the Guyana Cricket Umpires’ Council and two representatives each of the three county Boards.

The Marketing and Fund Raising Committee is chaired

by Marketing Manager Rajendra Singh with the other members being Rawle Ferguson, Ramsey Alli and Paul Bonar.

Treasurer Mr. Anand Kalladeen heads the Finance Committee while the other members are D r u b a h a d u r, Anand

Sanasie, Mrs. Savitri Persaud and Rajendra Singh.

The GCB Representatives to the WICB are President Drubahadur along with Vice President Alfred Mentore, while the Directors to WICB Inc. remains unchanged with Secretary Anand Sanasie and Treasurer Anand Kalladeen receiving unanimous support from the Executive Committee.

Mr. K A Juman Yassin (Chairman), Terry Holder and Steven Lewis were all retained on the Disciplinary Committee while the Reports Committee is comprised of Fizul Bacchus (Chairman), Anand Sanasie, Andy Ramnarine and Colin Europe (the Chairmen of Selectors will join this committee as necessary).

President Drubahadur heads the Umpires Committee while Colin Europe and a representative of the GCUC are the other members.

The Executives also reviewed a calendar of fixtures for the rest of the year that will be released shortly to all County Boards. All County Boards are asked to submit their list of cricket tournaments for update of the GCB approved cricket list.

Monday February 04, 2013

Kaieteur News

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NSC Mashramani 40-Miler

Mc Kay (Senior), Leal (Junior) & Niles (Veteran) record back to back wins

WE DID IT AGAIN! Warren ‘Forty’ Mc Kay and Raul Leal with hands raised nears the finish line in yesterday’s NSC Mash 40-miler on the West Demerara. (Franklin Wilson photo) Warren ‘Forty’ Mc Kay (Roraima Bikers Club) has sounded an ominous warning to all when he successfully defended the National Sports Commission sponsored Mashramani 40-miler on the West Demerara yesterday morning.

Mc Kay was not alone when it came to his success as defending junior and veteran champs, the ever improving Raul Leal (Team Coco’s) and Junior Niles (Flying Star Cycle Club) also crossed the finish line ahead of their challengers in their

respective categories.

Mc Kay was pursued to the line by six other riders but his explosive and dismissive finishing stood out as he rallied to cross the line in One Hour 40 Minutes 36 Seconds for a solid win and in the process lowered last year’s time of One Hour 44 Minutes 15 Seconds.

Leal rode like a seasoned campaigner and was tactically sound in placing second overall he was also in winning mode on Saturday in the junior 10-lap race the

Raul Leal collects his prize from Malcolm Sonoram on behalf of the NSC.

day before in the NSC’s National Park 11-Race Meet.

National Road Race champion Orville Hinds of Linden was the next rider to cross the line and he did so ahead of fellow Lindener Rastaff O’Selmo, Akeem Arthur copped the 5th spot and second among the juniors with the number six spot occupied by Paul DeNobrega.

Alonzo Ambrose placed third among the juniors, while Junior Niles was again unstoppable among the veterans; Stephen Fernandes

followed him to the line. Niles also won his category on Saturday in the National Park. Naiomi Singh received a special trophy as the lone female to finish.

The race, which pedaled off from the Demerara Harbour Bridge just after 09:00hrs, attracted a whopping sixty (60) starters. From early in the piece it was almost a foregone conclusion who would have been the contenders for the top spots.

Mc Kay, Leal, Hinds, O’Selmo,

Junior Niles receives his prize from Malcolm Sonoram on behalf of the NSC.

DeNobrega, Arthur, Ambrose and Niles broke away from the main pack and by the turn at Vreed-en-Hoop they had established a 30-second lead on the second pack.

The determination and resilience of the leading pack got better as the race matured which made it difficult for the chasing pack to connect. Niles however, went low on gas and was dropped at Crane on the downward journey with the second pack connecting.

(Franklin Wilson)

Warren Mc Kay accepts his prize from Malcolm Sonoram on behalf of the NSC.