Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 3

CANU makes massive coke bust at Soesdyke sawmill - shipment concealed in lumber destined for Europe Agents of the country’s main anti -drug unit yesterday unearthed a massive quantity of cocaine which was stashed in hollowed out lumber destined for Europe. As a result of the bust, several suspects have been detained to assist with investigations, head of the Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU), James Singh told reporters yesterday.

Kaieteur News was told that approximately 314 kilograms (692 pounds) of the illegal drug was extracted from ‘lumber boxes’ at a sawmill located at the Soesdyke/Linden Highway junction. Among those detained is a European national said to hold a senior position in the establishment.

This publication was further informed that the drug shipment was headed for The Netherlands (Holland) - being shipped by Guyana Timber Products Inc. Reports are that various state agencies were involved in the probe which was allegedly initiated by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). According to information, the forestry

agency had suspicions about the company’s lumber shipments after it repeatedly failed to adhere to policies.

The drugs were found in a container which was said to have been cleared and was due for shipment. The GFC reportedly insisted that a complete check be done of the containers in the presence of Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and CANU agents.

Sources said that the timber company had experienced ups and downs with GFC after the latter had cited insolence on the part of the company in relation to adherence to rules and regulations. As a result some of the company’s shipments were denied at certain intervals.

At least seven containers were said to be of interest to investigators, but by nightfall yesterday, only one had been searched. The drug container was taken back to the sawmill’s compound where it was re-opened and the lumber stripped to reveal a hollow inside neatly packed with sealed packages of the illicit substance. Kaieteur News was further told that earlier this month, the lumber yard

One of the hollowed out timber ‘boxes’ with the cocaine

had reportedly been closed

by GFC with some of the

workers being laid off. This was as a result of the

company’s conduct.

The street value of the

cocaine is said to be in excess of US dollars.

Page 4

Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

The good life As we brace ourselves for the battles that will accompany the presentation of the next budget, it might be useful to remind the politicians why they were elected to office in the first instance. It was not just to score political points.

If we cut to the chase, we believe that all Guyanese would agree that what they desire is a good economy, a good society and a good political process. The first would give them the material basis for enjoying life, the second, the social relations to live in harmony and the third, the wherewithal to vote the rascals out if the first two are not delivered.

We are not saying that the good life will be easy to achieve: but if the politicians do not begin to work together, they will make it impossible. For one, there are the inevitable trade-offs in the policy prescriptions for achieving our goals. If the present practice of reflexive finger-pointing is not abandoned when one’s recommendations are not followed, then the society will never congeal into a nation.

Take, for instance, the hosannas about ‘freedom’ that will reverberate throughout the land this weekend.

Many of us do not want to concede that very often, ‘more freedom’ means less social cohesion and less security. We all admire the tremendous achievements of China over the last three decades. They have lifted more people out of poverty in a shorter span of time that in any other period of human history. But they were only able to do so under conditions that most in the west, including Guyana, would claim to be of quite restricted freedom. The new leadership, for instance, was basically ‘selected’ rather than ‘elected’.

Some argue that the discipline the Chinese political system imparts on the populace may be duplicated under conditions of greater political freedom. But as the experience of India and other democracies demonstrate, the answer is not quite so simple. As to where the line is drawn is a question that only responsible leadership in a democracy such as ours can answer. But that answer, for sure, cannot be just protests and marches in the streets.

There is also a trade-off between high income growth and equal income distribution. We all aspire to the standard of living in the developed countries. But today there is great dissension in those countries over the ridiculous income-gap between the top 1% and the remaining 99%.

This gap ballooned tremendously in the last two decades. The defenders of the status quo assert that the imperatives of human capital growth inevitably conflict with the goals of savings and capital formation.

This trade-off had always been faced in countries in their early stage of development. The question raised now is whether it continues even into the developed stage of economic development. To assume that we can somehow avoid this trade-off, as the local political rhetoric asserts, is plain irresponsibility.

One trade-off that is presently creating much angst in the local landscape is that investment and technology transfer, which is the basis for generating sustainable high growth levels necessary for catapulting us into ‘developed country’ status, means high interdependence in international relations. More specifically, with China awash with foreign reserves that could facilitate technology transfer embedded in investments, we would assume that the politicians would agree on better bilateral relations.

However, from the cacophony raised recently over the spate of Chinese investment and the concomitant conditions, it appears that our politicians want the investment, but not the strings. This is not how the real world operates, and we only have to revisit our previous dominant economic partnerships for a reality check.

Whether it is “politicking” according to the President or ‘racism’ according to one of his advisors, the brouhaha demonstrates that the political maturity necessary to accept the need for trade-offs is missing here.

It means, therefore, that the creation of the conditions necessary for us to enjoy the good life is that much farther away. Will the political elite rise to the need of the hour?

Wednesday February 20, 2013

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

Is Guyana the Titanic, moving towards Marriott Hotel, the iceberg of decadence?

DEAR EDITOR Let us move this detractor:”Titanic” out of the way. As far as the ex-British Caribbean Colonies are concerned, Guyana is indeed a “Titanic” in respect to its size, compared to other English-speaking Caribbean countries.

If a people are committed to silence for a long period of time, those silenced will in time doubt their ability to have a voice to speak.

The hotel that is now being constructed in Guyana with the name of Marriott is a potential outpost of decadence in a programme which may be grooming Guyana to be the Hong Kong of Western Hemisphere. The plan has been set in motion.

The “props” are being prepared. These acts of blatant disrespect for Guyanese are being acted out openly. It is for Guyanese to be acquainted with the truth of this scheme, because our freedom may be at risk.

As a secondary thought, what is it that is being built within the structure of the Marriott, that the planners do not want the Guyanese masses to be aware of?

That the Chinese and Guyanese Government are spending millions of dollars valued to the American Dollar, to build a 190-plus bed hotel in a city that in visual

appearance, and in nasal incident is a gigantic filthy rubbish dump, should throw up a great deal of “red flags.”

However the Marriott Hotel is just one piece in the jigsaw of decadence. .The other pieces of the jigsaw are an upgraded airport that is able to service international traffic, a bank that has specific functioning, and a communication network.

In the final analysis the completed Marriott Hotel in Georgetown will initially or shortly be a 24-hour gambling institution for international clientele. The international clientele will be brought in by air transportation made possible as a result of the upgrading of the Timehri Airport.

Those clientele will be the sources of the laundering of money, trafficking of drugs, especially of heroin, the product mostly from Afghanistan. To make the services of the Marriott visible would necessitate a medium with national and international outreach, hence the 24-hour television station licence given to the Chinese, that would serve a viewing area larger than that served by all television stations of Guyana, except one pseudo Government television station. To complete the puzzle, a Chinese bank must be opened.

The haste to complete the building of the Marriott Hotel is not to accommodate the citizens of Guyana. The hotel is not being built to accommodate a tourist population that is crying out for services. In the final analysis, the hotel will be an oasis of currency in a “desert” of a currency-starved populace.

In the final analysis Guyanese, will be pawns to be used in every corrupt and criminal schemes: from prostitution of our men and our women and facilitating the movement of drugs, to the assassination of those who fell afoul of the operators of the various money laundering and drug distribution schemes.

Guyanese who at present are fed on diets of “hope” instead being presented with opportunities, will be reduced to occupiers of drug houses (modern day opium dens), and

petty drug pushers. Have we not learned anything from the tragedy of Jonestown?

Our slide along the slippery slope of decadence has started.

Enough!

Guyanese workers want opportunity not hope. All origination of job opportunities in Guyana must place the needs of the Guyanese workers as paramount. Now is the time to act. Demand now that all jobs originating in Guyana must have a majority labour force of Guyanese; that the Government should not negotiate in secret any project that uses the resources of Guyana; that the Government and its officials must be subjected to one hundred percent (100%) transparency in all their negotiations involving the resources and finances of Guyana.

Cooperatively, Dr. Rudi Guyan

Premature memory loss DEAR EDITOR Poor Freddie Kissoon seems to be suffering premature memory loss. We have met twice-once at the Cuffy Statue (Me with David Dabydeen and the Fredster in his car) and once at the Georgetown Club (at a wedding—Freddie and Mrs

Freddie present). I have gone on the record thrice about the former meeting. My memory is firm as always.

Perhaps Dr Beckles might help yourcolumnist with his condition.

Yours John ‘Bill Cotton/ Reform’ Mair

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

China in Guyana- the Addressing the Prime new imperialism?

Minister’s contention

DEAR EDITOR From the banks of the Berbice River — Bai Shan Lin Investments, stretching across to the PotaroKuribrong Rivers — the Amalia Hydroelectric project, going on to Corriverton— Skeldon Sugar factory to the streets of Georgetown — commercial stores and Chinese products — and I can go on and on — Chinese influence can be felt everywhere.

Small states like Guyana that have been experiencing diminishing aid from traditional multilateral development agencies rush to fill this void for development financing at very attractive financial terms and conditions that the Chinese offer. Indeed countries like ours are caught in a nexus on the one hand of

securing attractive financing.

On the other hand, those vested with godly authority of negotiating a better package of measures that all, I mean every single one of the Chinese investments, to include some way or the other, training programmes, technology transfer and the fostering of local management skills coupled with the reservation of the proportion of Chinese investment and infrastructure projects for local firms and labour.

The experience of many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean provides comparable lessons that it is a two-way street for Chinese investments and commercial activity.

These countries have negotiated benefits strongly

for trade, services and employment for their people.

Indeed in Guyana one cannot only see it through the lens that the Chinese is an attractive development financier.

But from a political viewpoint it can clearly be seen that China has shifted from its Cold War ideology to the modern pursuit of economic self-interest in the form of access to raw materials, markets and spheres of influence through investment, trade assistance - to the point where China can be suspected of pursuing the goals of any classical imperialist.

Yours truly (Name and address provided) Nanda Kumar

Faced with the reality DEAR EDITOR, In the Stabroek News of 17 February a cartoon depicting a drunken person, sprawled on the ground, apparently just jolted out of drunken stupor by an irate employer, has apparently touched “corns”.

At the same time as the MARRIOTT construction barring local workers from employment is a hot topic, the cartoon was condemned by some individuals as ILLTIMED, not in BAD TASTE or UNSUPPORTIVE of local expertise or even plain ANTIGUYANESE, but ILLTIMED??

That says that these critics of the said cartoon KNOW that the cartoon depicted the general attitude

toward work in general by many Guyanese, eg: It is almost a culture with hired workers that at the end of a work week, when workers are paid it is VERY LIKELY that they don’t report for work at the beginning of the new work week, either ON TIME or NOT AT ALL. The usual trivial, flimsy excuses abound... “not feelin’ good...” or “...trans-p di’ li’l hard...” and it goes on...when the truth is they were heavily hung over from a weekend of drinking.

Some even go so far as to cease returning altogether since barrel or family come in from “foreign”. The point here is that many Guyanese do not have the WORK ETHIC they so readily and eagerly adopt when they leave these shores

for those abroad and they KNOW that arriving to work ON TIME, EVERY DAY is VERY important and no flimsy, trivial excuses-PERIOD!!

The Brazilians, the Chinese and others who have their work ethics at heart are aware of this fault of local workers and the cartoon is showing the possibly “funny side “of such situations.

But believe me folks as long as we keep cussin out each other about colour of skin and texture of hair, and not noticing that foreigners recognise the value of our great country to them, cartoons will be drawn about exactly that, and you lnow what? It won’t be funny anymore...

P. Harris

The soldiers violated UG DEAR EDITOR, It is appalling to see that the military authority of the Guyana Defence Force is attempting to justify the illegal and unlawful acts of its members by entering into the Turkeyen campus of the UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA (UG) on February 12 and February 13, 2013, at night, without seeking permission to do so from the relevant administrative authorities of UG. The army also failed to report to the campus security and this was done while seeking to apprehend one of its member.

The encroachment resulted in the disruption of classes on both

occasions and caused students to fear the immediate application of force to their persons. This caused students to take evasive action, such as, resorting to the ends of the classroom and or abandoning classes altogether.

The University of Guyana is an autonomous body that is so authorized by law to carry out the function of teaching throughout the length and breadth of Guyana under chapter 39:02 of the LAWS OF GUYANA. The University of Guyana is saddled, by law, with the responsibility of eradicating ignorance throughout the length and breadth of Guyana

and its target does not exclude members of the GDF from its ambit and mandate, thus, the University can be likened to the mother of education in Guyana and as such must enjoy the “SANCTITY OF PRIVACY”.

Unlike the GDF whose legal mandate is to defend the country against enemies of the State under chapter 15:01, the University is legally responsible for the enhancement of people’s education and, therefore, members of the GDF ought to hold UG in the highest esteem and not to trample upon its ‘DIGNITY’.

Ganesh Mahipaul President UGSS

DEAR EDITOR, As predicted, the Prime Minister has taken the route that CCTV is not the Broadcaster; it is the Guyana Governments’ owned and controlled NCN. I had written elsewhere that “The Government of Guyana (GOG) would clarify its position by saying that the China Central TV Network (CCTV) was merely using airtime on a National Communications Network’s frequency and license”.

The Prime Minister rushed to make it clear that No Licence was issued to a Foreign Broadcaster. He added that “this is a business arrangement of NCN. At that time, Channel 29/Cable 80 was earmarked to NCN for partuse in re-broadcasting CCTV programmes, but when the Learning Channel came along in early 2011, NCN began utilizing that previously earmarked Channel for the Learning Channel.

Consequently, in 2012, when the re-broadcasts were to begin, Channel 27/Cable 78 was instead assigned as a

substitute.” One does not want to misunderstand the Prime Minister. Is he really saying that NCN was given a channel in 2012 by the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) to facilitate the Foreign Broadcaster?

If the Government bypassed the NFMU and latterly the Guyana National Broadcast Authority then what the Prime Minister is in fact saying is that the National Communications Network (NCN) arrogated to itself three Frequencies in the VHF/UHF band in Georgetown.

This brings us back to my original question about the available frequencies and what allocations have been made by the National Frequency Management Unit. How are Guyanese and other Caricom Nationals to invest in the limited electromagnetic spectrum if they do not know what is available and if the Administration can by a call to the NFMU allocate frequencies to itself and others? Is another dangerous precedent is being set? Is the

Government squeezing out “freedom of expression” by allocation? Member of Parliament for the AFC, Catherine Hughes, submitted two sets of questions to the National Assembly according to the Order Papers for this month of February. The prime minister in his statement, preempting the answers in the House, has made the issue one of whether it was done under the Broadcast regulations. I shall await with bated breath the answers to the other questions raised.

I shall also await an answer to what is the difference between this international agreement and the domestic agreement on the Channel in Linden. Could the National Broadcaster allow the Regional Broadcaster to regain the Frequency in Linden to relay what the people in the Region want? Later I shall raise questions on Frequency Allocations that have had an effect on GTT and Digicel and on the stewardship of the Director of Telecommunications but let us not confuse the issues.

Enrico Woolford.

Page 6

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

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

This mentality seeks to condone and promote ethnic supremacy

DEAR EDITOR, While reading the opinion columns of KN Feb. 11, 2013, I came across a contemptible piece of hackneyed treachery under the name Devanand Bhagwan bearing the head words, “Freddie’s sensationalist column was typically partial and unbalanced.” This writer claims to be presenting a balanced view of why Guyanese must condone the (Ravi Dev-like) agenda for complete Indo domination of all spheres of life in Guyana.

He cites strange fictional statistics in an attempt to justify a traceable abhorrent pattern of official government policy of systematic marginalization of Afro Guyanese. The writer, in racists’ overtones, accuses and dismisses a whole nation of people of Afro heritage as lazy late-night party animals who lack business acumen, strangers to hard work and have manifest unwillingnessto toil to feed their families. Even though it is very sad that Bhagwan chooses to go so deep into the septic tank, I’m not at all surprised, because this has been a growing Indian (business, intellectual and middle class) narrative where there is a huge appetite to condone and in some cases promote official policies aimed at perpetuating Indian

domination of all spheres of life in Guyana.

Bhagwan harks back to the days of PNC rule in which he insinuatedthat under the Afro-led PNC, Afro people had ample opportunities to flourish and they did not (get up and get), so why cry, now that you feel neglected under the current PPP Indo dominated dispensation. In other words, you had your people looking after your interest and you (or they) did not capitalize or significantly advance your cause, now we have our people looking after our interest stop whining and bare your ‘chaffe’, it is our time to shine. After all, no one physically restrained you from advancing.

Herein lays the tragedy of race relations in today’s Guyana. Any Indian who dares to proffer dissenting views is attacked, ridiculed and vilified for opposing the breeding of an Indian supreme class.To speak out against racially skewed government directed top heavy Public Service, Foreign Service, government issued contracts, land distribution and agriculture projects is to undermine the quest for complete Indian supremacy.

No wonder Freddie Kissoon, Chris Ram and Anand Golsarran are national untouchables. On the other hand, people of the ilk of

Parvattie Persaud-Edwards, Ravi Dev and Vishnu Bisram are darlings to be endeared in the brotherhood with the mantra; tweak the little traces of Indo imbalances that still exist, artificially engineer an Indian takeover of the Disciplined Services and we are well on our way to complete dominion.

Bhagwan hides behind a veil of skin bleaching mumbo jumbo to tell us that the explicit systematic snub of dark complexioned people in Guyanese ads,is that the Indian business class is merely pandering to an African desire to be white, sheer poppycock . By his logic there is no reason to raise an eyebrow because when we look at these ads we are merely looking into the mirror of our souls, so we should shut up and look on.

Bhagwan further claims that his “figures are staggering” from forged phantom science which he uses to argue why Indians have a natural and inherited right to an ascendency and there should be no fuss because the natural process will ensure that the legacy of Indian supremacy is cemented in Guyana. What is sad about this line of reasoning is that there seem to be a growing number of protagonists and aficionados

supported by a vast sea of silent condoners.

The average IndoGuyanese should stage a vocal revolt against this creeping culture because it will not deliver to Guyana a future of lasting peaceful coexistence. This science of one race domination will only fuel further divisions and create greater inequalities, the result of which could redound to the detriment of all Guyana.

The main ingredient to fuel a Guyanese implosion is to have sections of the population harbouring perception of continual

suppression. It is better to coin material strategies to allay these fears (that exist in both Indo and Afro communities), than to continue to live on the fringes of violent remonstration for a piece of the Guyanese pie.

Otherwise, we run the risk of creating a mentality and subculture of ‘Robin Hoodism’ among those who feel suppressed; we understand only too well all the attendant ills. Recent memory of the infamous post2002 jailbreak saga where a large section of the Guyanese society was ready to celebrate

hardcore criminals as freedom fighters should be very instructive to all segments of Guyanese society, the recurrence of which should be avoided at all cost.

Guyanese from all walks of life should seek a national conversation on race relations in Guyanaand decipher ways in which the fears of various ethnic groups are addressed so that ordinary Guyanese do not feel threatened by the successes of a person who do not share their ethnicity.

Sincerely Lenno Craig

THE Commodore’s mockery of Jagan’s education ideals.

DEAR EDITOR My family and I wish to extend our gratitude to you and the Force for affording me the opportunity to have applied for acceptance to the Cadet School for the Standard Officers’ Course 2013-2014.

Denial of my application was disappointing, and even more disappointing sir, was the reason you provided for my rejection--Grade Three (3) Mathematics at the CSEC level.

Sir, am I to believe that that eleven (11) CSEC passes inclusive of seven grades one’s and two’s is not adequate for admission to your cadet programme? Am I to believe that I am not as worthy a candidate for

admissions as someone who would have attained the bare minimum--six CSEC passes grades one’s and two’s? Sir, isn’t it fair to assume that had I limited myself to six subjects I probably would have attained all six subjects in Grades One’s and Two’s?

Mr. Commodore, students of today view CSEC as more than just an exam we take at the end of our secondary schooling, in fact, students of today view these exams as an opportunity to challenge themselves and gain the respect of our communities, peers, seniors and families.

Commodore Best, I feel your rejection letter is a slap in the face of ambition, perseverance and sacrifice.

While Dr. Cheddi Jagan is no

longer with us, he understood the universal right of every Guyanese to a quality education.

My grandfather met him in 1963 when he commissioned the opening of the University of Guyana, paraphrasing what Dr. Jagan said to my grandfather and what was later passed down to me: “One should never be punished for success”.

Commodore, I believe had Dr. Jagan been alive today he would have understood my frustration at the punishment I am enduring for succeeding and sacrificing for my eleven CSEC passes instead of settling for Six (6).

Yours Truly, GRADE 3 REJECT. KISHAN GANESH

Time is going by for the truth commission DEAR EDITOR, The Prime Minister, by the President’s grace, Mr Samuel Hinds, OE, recently called for Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Guyana.

The former President, Mr. Jagdeo had said once that he would prefer that such a commission to go back to the fifties. I owe both of these statements to press reports that have not been denied.

If I still breathe and can function, I shall be willing to cooperate with such a commission, as my political activity, nationally, goes back to 1947. If too much time goes by the few of us left from those years will be gone about our business to the company of the ancestors.

Such a project is not fit for one-party preparation or

planning. In fact, if it is to be, it should begin soon with a law establishing custody of historical records of agreed specifications, civilian, labour, police, and military.

These should be vested in an expert, non-party or all party body of persons including historians and other agreed persons and vocations. It has to be a serious process.

This is a land where various documents have disappeared and evidence of various forms has melted i n t o t h i n a i r. P r i m a r y sources must be preserved in a transparent and public manner.

The university perhaps should be empowered to verify where newspaper archives are.

A bullet once melted to nothing during a post mortem examination. It means that

security (intelligence) reports of the past have to be made available from British and US archives. I believe that there are citizens available who have worked in international organisations, universities and elsewhere, and have wide experience of reconciliation processes.

Many too were not involved in “politics.”

This letter is intended merely to place these ideas in the public area for people to think about and find credible ways of assisting such a process.

I know that many think that “reconciliation” is for weak-minded people; I ask that they look at any sample of children on the way to or from school and reflect.

Yours respectfully.

Eusi Kwayana.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

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

The black intelligentsia out foxed by Bharat Jagdeo and Goons DEAR EDITOR It is time for Afro Guyanese to hold the opposition accountable by vehemently exuding their anger and frustration upon the gang of black leaders who continue to vacillate forestalling in the process their efforts for change. I speak directly to Afro Guyanese because they are the community most affected by the PPP’s race hate.

As with each day that passes the sorrows Afro Guyanese would rather not choose multiply, thrusting them further and further away from chance, opportunity and change, while the leaders in whom they continue to have faith daily betray the peoples faith and trust with meaningless verbiage, inconclusive debates, inordinate game plans and volatile strategy,which has exacerbating the peoples woes, compounded their frustrations while hastening with much speed the PPP’s agenda.Never in the history of the post independent Anglo-Saxon Caribbean has

there been on display the nature of inept politics the likes of which is articulated, portrayed and played by a naive PNC/APNU misfit who have failed in all terms to preclude themselves from becoming the ‘politics of laughter’ across the entire Caribbean.

Where else in the Caribbean save Guyana, can you visualize inconsequential politics from a political opposition? On November, 28th last, the people in a quest to free themselves from the barnacle of the PPP curse, overwhelmingly went to the polls and sought out that change while others,smitten by fear and ignorance and not wanting change that much, stayed away from the polls.

The result was a redefining of the political landscape in Guyana. The context became an opposition majority house governance which saw the APNU by accident and circumstantial fate (the people wanted change at any cost) secure a plurality of votes within the

opposition fence, while the new and endearing kid on the block the AFC was not given the imperative to blow the fresh wind of change Guyana deserves because of the continuum of racial voting.

While time will offer its enduring argument that neither David Granger nor KhemrajRamjattan were creditable and competent enough to lead the change the nation beckoned, they both have been absolute failures on the other side, the criminals of state remain, and we are condemned for yet another tour to deal with ‘DEM’.

While the people who fought for change won big in a small way the lost big in others. One will argue what have they won when in fact the destabilization of their forte continues unabated.

When their chances slim as always has been reaffirmed by insensitive leaders, who caught up in a preoccupation to preserve their bread and butter alienates the very drive of the people upon whose mandate they were called to

deliver.And what have they delivered in the context of a new dispensation? Fourteen months later, with a majority controlled house where are the increments and dividends payable to the people? How can they possibly boast of success when the people in Linden whose struggle they refuse to lead and own continue to buffer under a real and present threat of economic genocide. These constituents fourteen months later have no jobs, have no means of feeding themselves, have no prerogatives within their own communities while the PPP goons are let alone to invade and engage in give aways to their kit and kin.

How can they give credit to themselves when their preserve Georgetown festers in filth and a real and present threat of a potential health hazard while they sit within deliberating in futility with a racist regime that starves their constituency of funding at a risk to life?

When the land of our native Amerindian brothers are taken away and given to

PPP goons?

How can the majority house opposition beat its drum and dance while the racist Jagdeo/ Ramoutar cabal are allowed to proceed with a Mariott hotel project expending the states funds in futility, denying Guyanese employment while they import and hire Chinese nationals? The PPP cabal continues to hold ransom the states funds in NICIL while they use those funds to press their agenda and the majority house looks on?It is obvious and clear that the PPP has continued to execute its agenda in clear view, uninhibited by the ‘ house’.

How do we as a nation change the play? Any political opposition who abandons the arsenal of protest in any political dispensation is condemned to fail in its agitation for change and its ability to rein the deviant political ass.

The opposition can only succeed in its challenge when it willingly executes the will of the people. Not seizing the momentum evident on

November 28th has forestalled the will of the people, led many adrift and fueled apathy. The solution to our nations woes does not rest in shared governance but in enhancing the realization of our people to rise above politics of hate and politics of divide, creating the prism that fosters trust, confidence in each other and a level playing field for all. To achieve this we must be true to the thesis of our founding fathers and live out our creed that we are all one people, one nation with one destiny.

Resetting the battle now is necessary and the opposition must mobilize the people for a final push which must overflow into the streets forcing the tyrants to acquisce to the demands of the people.

They must cease feeding the dog that bites them. They must not push the people beyond the point where they will no longer return. They must understand the deeper reaches and cynicism of the PPP criminals.

John Talbot

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 9

THE AFC’s WINDMILLS There is a new tailor in town! One that is so excited that there is a hurried readiness to make the cut even before the measurements are known.

The details of Budget 2013 are not yet public; the Budget itself may still be in a state of preparation. Yet even before the Budget has been presented to the National Assembly, the AFC is announcing that it will institute cuts to the document.

Apart from the fact that the AFC is announcing that it will cut even before knowing what the document contains, it has escaped their memory that the Chief Justice has ruled that the opposition has no power to cut to the Budget.

They can reject or approve the estimates, but not cut.

The fact that the AFC is already flaying with its scissors in hand is an indication of the approach that it intends to once again bring to the Budget negotiation process. It is signaling that even before it knows what is contained in the Budget, there will be cuts.

The AFC is signaling its usual policy of aggression against the government. It is stuck in the mode of confrontational politics.

This nation must never forget what was averted last

year before the Chief Justice’s ruling. The AFC had decided that it would cut in excess of three billion dollars from certain ministries. If those cuts had been carried out it would have returned Guyana to the dark days of retrenchment and seen the entire sports programme of the government being shut down. Fortunately, APNU did not go along with these tactics and voted for the approval of the estimates for those ministries which the AFC so recklessly wanted to decapitate.

Yet, after the Budget was passed with amendments, it turned out that the allocations for the health sector were passed unaltered and when the controversial contract for the payment of drugs to the public hospital was revealed by this newspaper, the same AFC turned around and asked who approved the expenditure of the procurement of the drugs, not realizing that the vote for the estimates for the hospital formed part of the unopposed appropriations that the opposition did not touch.

The AFC intends to chop the subvention from NCN as it did last year. It does not as yet know whether there will be a subvention, but it has signaled that it will cut.

Dem boys seh...

Ah Kneel birthday party flop Is nah everybody can hold a birthday party. Although de food and drinks free and although people like freeness dem got people who can’t get nobody fuh go to dem party.

Ah Kneel was planning he party fuh de longest while. He print fancy invitation and he invite de whole Cabinet. Dem boys seh that not a single big one was left off de list. Even Donald get invite, but like he does always do, Donald find a reason fuh go out of de country.

De party start. Dem boys seh that if you see how Ah Kneel line off de food and de drinks. De plates stack up like cards in a deck. De only thing is when de night done dem plates still deh stack up. Nobody ain’t tun up. Everybody ignore de President in Waiting.

De man didn’t invite dem boys because he invite Bharrat and Rob Earth. He invite Gail and Odinga and Sam. Well when Sam ain’t tun up at a freeness you could understand. De Chancellor tun up and de Chief Justice because de man is a legal person, but not one of he colleagues tun up.

Dem boys seh that de man sit down texting people to find out wha dem doing. He still texting. When it raining it does really pour. He tek de food to carry to a home that does help people. Dem people seh that dem can’t tek it because other people done come already and any more food woulda waste.

De food spile.

Ah Kneel proppa cry. He cry so much that he go to a press conference and he couldn’t tek off he dark shades. He eye swell up.

And while Ah Kneel eye swell, some people face swell.

Ben Cock mount a protest outside de National Chinese Network pun Homestretch Avenue. Ben Cock decide fuh ask everybody who enter de compound if dem wukking at “Natinal Tienee Netwuk.” He really mean National Chinee Network. People swell up dem face.

Knee Ass come out and try fuh play security guard but dem boys see when he run back inside. Ben Cock tell he something ‘bout some li’l gyal in he office.

De Gordon boy pass in and Ben Cock ask he “You wukking at Natinal Tienee Netwuk too?” De Gordon boy answer, “Two Wong don’t mek a White.”

Talk half and look fuh wuk at National Chinee Network.

It does not as yet know whether this subvention will be used to help subsidize the cost of international cricket and football to fans, but it has already decided that any subvention to NCN will be subject to cuts.

The approach by the AFC fails to betray a mindset of confrontation. The AFC sees itself as holding the balance of power between the government and APNU, and it is prepared to flex its muscles with threats about cuts without even seeking to engage in Budget negotiations, as opposed to pre- Budget consultations.

In light of the approach that it has taken regarding

intended cuts, one has to question whether this is a reaction to the reception that it has had from the government during the consultations or whether it is all part of a strategy to become the spoiler, in terms of the passage of this year’s Budget. As much as the AFC may have reservations about the seriousness with which the government is approaching the consultations with the opposition party, the majority that the combined opposition holds, allows its leverage in any negotiations.

As APNU has shown, real progress can be made in these negotiations. Last year

APNU extracted significant concessions from the government during the negotiations, but allowed itself to be manipulated by the AFC, who effectively scuttled the outcome of those negotiations.

The AFC is a danger to itself and its hostile political stances are not helpful to the political cooperation and compromise. It may hope that by adopting this approach, it will make further inroads into APNU’s constituencies, but as a middle-class party it is only fooling itself, because the support that it obtains in future elections is not going to be determined by how much it can flex its political

muscles, but the degree to which it can use these muscles to help push forward political cooperation and compromise.

Instead of waiving a scythe, it should be building political bridges. Instead of trying to cut the financial cloak on this nation, it should be darning the rips in the fabric.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===

The drift towards disaster was inevitable The first thing that comes out of the mouth of your philosophy professor as you sit down for your first lecturer is that you must never see human behaviour in scientific terms. He would go on to say that humans are not inanimate objects that are dictated to by scientific laws. And indeed that has been the case since civilization began.

A light paper thrown from a high rise apartment will adhere to the laws of gravity.

A ship on the water follows the laws of flotation. But humans do not follow that

pattern. A woman may still love a man that beats her and endure that indignity for decades. Another woman may get her brother to kick his backside in.

One aspect of human society that appears to our eyes to fit a scientific pattern is the nature of dictatorship.

Try as hard as you want to believe that human behaviour cannot be predicted, the story of dictatorship forces you to think that when all is said and done, we humans are like the light piece of paper thrown from the window or the ship

on water. Dictatorship is indeed predictable and because it is, we know what eventually happens.

First, let us get out of the way, the concept of dictatorship.

I like debating with Ravi Dev because his comical antics make me laugh and in Guyana one needs to laugh as much as possible to take one’s mind off of the tragic nature of our country. I remember Ravi once suggested that I see a psychiatrist. I thought he would have suggested the

hair specialist, because I have a problem with my hair growth. My hair just does not stop growing. I can cut this thing and in two days’ time, it is long again. Ravi of course knows about the hair growth process.

Then Ravi replied to me and wrote that in the 2006 national elections, Indians stuck with the PPP because they were afraid that if they went over to the AFC and the Africans stuck with the PNC, then the country would have had a PNC Government. Ravi disappeared for years in

replying to me when I told him that in the same 2006 elections, the Africans deserted the PNC for the AFC and African-Guyanese never for a moment thought that if they voted for the AFC and the Indians stuck with the PPP, then you would have an Indian Government again.

The most comical aspect of Dev’s polemical exchanges with me was his rejection of my description of the PPP under Jagdeo as an elected dictatorship. First Dev contended that if a government is elected freely then it cannot be described as a dictatorship.

Secondly, Dev gave me a definition of dictatorship that he borrowed from a writer who defined it in a book written in the late forties.

Since then there have been endless typologies of dictatorship.

The term dictatorship refers to how power is used, not only how it was acquired.

In a country that freely elects its government, that legitimate administration can still be assessed as tyrannical based on how it uses power.

An elected government can torture and jail citizens; plunder the country’s treasury; repress the media and devastate the rule of law.

The regime rulers can resort to autocracy and oligarchic violence out of the belief that it will win elections again. We cannot wash away its vicious tyranny because it was re-elected. The brutal leaders can be foolish enough to think that re-election can insulate them from their totalitarianistic behaviour.

So if they are reelected, does that mean they didn’t

Frederick Kissoon commit crimes against humanity? For a good adumbration of elected dictatorship, see the work of Fareed Zakaria and his theory of liberal constitutionalism.

The PPP Government is still locked in the elected dictatorship that Bharrat Jagdeo clothed it in. It is slowly drifting towards implosion and disaster. And it was inevitable, because dictatorship follows a deterministic pattern.

Dictatorship cannot turn back the clock. It cannot appease its critics. It cannot compromise with its opposition. It cannot resort to generosity. It cannot seek negotiated settlements.

Too many instincts prevent dictatorship from embracing democratic changes, of which fear of retaliation is its greatest nemesis.

Dictatorship follows the logic of defiance, continuing hubris, continuing infallibility, of continuing messianic pomposity. Each day, the fear of losing power tightens its grip. In the end, the law of diminishing returns sets in and the implosion followed by disaster is the result. At the moment it just doesn’t look good for the PPP Government. Maybe Gail Teixeira and Roger Luncheon will consult Ravi Dev for survival advice.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Parika Façade residents complain of collapsing roadways Very soon the roadways at Parika Façade will be impassable to vehicular traffic as a result of continuous deterioration. However, as it is, the partially collapsed road poses as a threat to residents of the area.

The collapsing section is located just before the bridge that connects the two roads running parallel to the river; “…is the bridge used to take you from Pharmacy Street over to the Façade.”

Kaieteur News understands that only last week a young lad, while riding along the road, fell into the hole. Fortunately for him, a taxi was close behind. The driver reportedly stopped his vehicle and rendered assistance to the youth.

This newspaper was informed that the driver had to let down a piece of wood for the child to hold on to, and then pulled him out of the trench.

Alliance For Change (AFC) Region Three Councilor Harrynarine Deokinanan said that the condition of the road spells danger to all residents of the community “more so the children.”

Deokinanan said that

A collapsed section of one of the roadways

signs of depression to the now destroyed section began about three months ago.

However, over the last few weeks, deterioration has been accelerated.

He pointed out that the road is collapsing from both sides of the Western end of

the bridge.

According to him, he began “complaining” from the

inception but none of the authorities paid attention.

The councilor opined that “If it (deterioration) continues at this rate vehicles won’t be able to pass there very soon.”

Deokinanan said that he brought the situation to the attention of the Agricultural Committee at its last meeting recently held at Region Three. But, prior to raising concerns at that forum, the councilor said he highlighted the matter of the collapsing roadway to the Regional Democratic Council at a meeting held approximately a month ago “but nothing was done.” Deokinanan informed that roughly over 2,500 people dwell in the community and traverse that area on a daily basis.

“Most miners in the community use taxis as their main mode of transportation and then you have the other residents, the farmers, the children… all these people will be affected,” he said.

Deokinanan said that he has exhausted “all” other avenues of getting the road fixed and he now hopes the danger being posed attracts the attention of the Public Works Ministry.

(Abena Rockcliffe)

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 13

GGMC investigating illegal St Margaret’s hands over report to Education Ministry shops, landings in gold districts - following probe into pupil’s death The Ministry of Education is now in receipt of a report from the St Margaret’s Primary School, which follows on the heels of a post mortem examination on the remains of one of its Grade Three pupils, eight-year-old Joshua Hubbard.

Speaking to this publication yesterday Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, indicated that while the report has been made available to him he had not yet perused its contents. He however informed that the Education Ministry is taking an active hand in investigating the incident.

During a visit by this publication to the school on Monday, head teacher, Ms Georgiana Lewis, was at the time preparing the report on the incident which allegedly led to Joshua Hubbard’s demise.

It is alleged that his death was linked to an act of bullying meted out by a fellow classmate on February 14, last.

Reports are that Hubbard purchased a rose for his mother for Valentine’s Day but attempts were made by another pupil to relieve him of the gift, an action which reportedly resulted in Hubbard falling to the ground.

Although there were no signs of any life-threatening injury on the day in question it was not until the wee hours of the following day that the child started screaming for unbearable pain.

He was rushed to a

Dead: Joshua Hubbard private hospital where he was pronounced dead around 03:00 hours.

A post mortem examination conducted on his remains Monday revealed that blunt trauma to his neck was a significant contributing factor to his death.

According to the autopsy report which was shown to this publication, cerebral haemorrhage, which is bleeding around or within the brain itself, was the condition leading directly to death which was brought on by a fractured spine.

It is believed that the Grade Three Pupil sustained the fatal injury when he was pushed to the ground.

According to the now deceased boy’s mother, Annette Roxanne Hubbard, officials from the Education Ministry had met with her on Monday and there was talk

about the possibility of some form of donation to the family.

She said, too, that Education Officials had promised to visit her yesterday to hold further discussions about her son, who is set to be buried on Friday.

The woman however still was in disbelief that the last of her four children is no longer alive.

“I’m a pressure case and I really can’t deal with this situation....I had to be sending my daughters to the school,” said the woman, as she made reference to the fact that her daughters, Shamaine Nurse and Shemeka Hubbard were at the St Margaret’s Primary School on Monday seeking to get answers about the incident that occurred there on Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, the dead boy’s father, Orin Hubbard, said that he has since filed a report on the matter at the Alberttown Police Station.

He disclosed that a statement was taken by officers there who promised to investigate the matter.

According to the dead child’s eldest sister, Shamaine Nurse, while the intent is not to have anybody arrested or charged, there is need for other parents to be aware of what transpired so that more care and caution can be taken in the school environment.

“We just need to know what happened...that is all we are trying to find out and nobody is telling us the facts,” Nurse emphasised.

Fuel wharf, pipelines for GPL V/Hoop project The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) yesterday received bids from four (4) entities for the construction of a fuel wharf and fuel pipelines for the 26MW Wartsila Generator Plant project, Vreed en Hoop, West Coast Demerara.

The bids were opened by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, Main Street. The engineer’s estimate is $213.5M. The bids:

Meanwhile, bids were opened for the upgrade of Shelter Belt water treatment plant for the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) - Lot (1) - design and construction of a sludge collection system in Region Four. The engineer’s estimate is $31.2M.

Scores of shops believed to have been set up illegally in the mining districts, and especially along the landings, are to be regularized, government said yesterday.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, following concerns by various stakeholders of the proliferation of illegal shops and unorganized dwellings which are being used as nesting grounds for crime and illegal activities, it has instructed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to execute its statutory mandate to ensure compliance with the Mining Laws and Regulations.

“These concerns were raised by the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association and Amerindian groups, and have been impacting negatively on the social aspect of community development,” the ministry said.

With an explosion in growth in the goldfields in recent years amidst high prices on the world market, there has also been the negative side of increased

reports in crime.

These include reports of prostitution, smuggling, robberies and murders.

GGMC has been also battling illegal squatting and other issues regarding the regulations.

According to the Ministry, the GGMC has embarked on an exercise to regularize landings in all mining districts to ensure businesses comply and have the necessary documentation to operate as prescribed in the Mining Act and Regulations of the GGMC. “Further, an investigation is being undertaken where business permissions were issued for locations that were not g a z e t t e d . O n e s u c h incident has been brought to the attention of the

Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, where shop owners are contending that they received the requisite permission from GG M C officers as far back as 2005.”

The Ministry said that upon examination of the business permission presented, officials noted that it should not have been issued in the first instance; since the establishment of shops can only be done in areas gazetted as designated landings, as stipulated in the mining regulations.

“Meanwhile, part of the emphasis for 2013 through the Board of Directors to the GGMC is to intensify compliance, monitoring and enforcement activities in all mining districts.”

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Israel’s Netanyahu makes first move for new government JERUSALEM (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a first step in forming a new government yesterday, announcing a coalition deal with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and naming her to handle efforts to renew stalled diplomacy with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s choice of Livni, a moderate voice for a government led by his rightwing Likud party, seemed a positive signal ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit next month on a push to resume peace talks deadlocked since 2010.

In televised remarks, Netanyahu said the union with Livni, a longtime rival, was intended to provide his emerging government with a “wide and stable government that unites the people”.

He said he wanted to face down what he called “tremendous challenges”

posed by a nuclearising Iran and the violence of neighboring Arab revolts.

Netanyahu said Israel had to “make every effort to promote a responsible peace process with the Palestinians,” adding that he hoped for resumption of talks that froze after a dispute over Jewish settlement building.

Without expressly giving a title for her new diplomatic role, Netanyahu said Livni would become a “senior partner in the effort” to revive Middle East diplomacy. She would also become justice minister, a job Livni has also held previously.

The coalition union with Livni’s six-member faction will likely ratchet up pressure on Israel’s other fractious centrist and religious parties to come on board Netanyahu’s emerging new government as well.

After winning a January 22 election, though short of a

majority in parliament, Netanyahu has another month to secure enough coalition partners to control at least half of the legislature’s 120 seats so that he can govern.

Likud, running on a joint ticket with another right-wing party, won 31 seats in the vote. Livni heads a small centrist party that won six.

Livni, 54, said she had decided to join Netanyahu’s next government “because of a strategic and moral imperative to leave no stone unturned, to exhaust any possibility and become a part of any government that commits to bringing peace”.

As foreign minister in 2006-2009 with the centrist Kadima party, Livni headed inconclusive talks with the Palestinians. She formed her own party last year after quitting Kadima following a lost leadership contest.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) Robbers dressed as police and armed with machineguns have stolen 120 parcels of diamonds worth millions of dollars from the runway of Brussels Airport in one of the biggest heists the industry has seen.

Two vehicles carrying eight men drove up to a van belonging to security firm Brinks, which had just finished loading the diamonds into a Swiss passenger plane, on Monday evening, officials said.

The men, who were masked but also wore police uniforms, did not fire a single shot and the entire heist took

less than five minutes, said Ine Van Wymersch, spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office.

They escaped and are now being hunted by police.

“They were well prepared,” Van Wymersch said. “There were passengers on the plane but they saw nothing of what was going on. Prosecutors said they could not yet comment on how much the diamonds taken were worth or to whom they belonged.

Belgian state broadcaster VRT reported the total value was 350 million euros ($467 million). A spokeswoman for the Antwerp Diamond Centre

said the value may be closer to $50 million.

“In any case it’s one of the biggest robberies we’ve seen,” she said.

Antwerp has been a leading diamond centre for centuries, with some eight in every 10 rough diamonds, and five in every 10 polished diamonds, passing through it.

Both vehicles sped off after the robbery and one was later found burnt just outside of Brussels.

The robbers managed to get onto the tarmac after breaking through the fence that surrounds the airport, an airport spokesman said. ($1 = 0.7490 euros)

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Hatenuah party, during their joint statement at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem yesterday. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Livni had rejected Netanyahu’s offers to join his current government formed after a 2009 election, amid disputes over policy and jobs,

after her party polled the most seats though Netanyahu mustered more political allies than she could.

Netanyahu said they had

agreed “we need to set our differences aside and overcome old rivalries and combine forces for the sake of the country”.

Diamond Heist Nets $50M Worth of Gems North Korea threatens South with ‘final destruction’

GENEVA (Reuters) North Korea threatened South Korea with “final destruction” during a debate at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament yesterday, saying it could take further steps after a nuclear test last week.

“As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea’s erratic behaviour would only herald its final destruction,” North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong told the meeting.

Jon’s comments drew quick criticism from other nations, including South Korea, France, Germany and Britain, whose ambassador Joanne Adamson said such language was “completely inappropriate” and the discussion with North Korea was heading in the wrong direction.

“It cannot be allowed that we have expressions which refer to the possible destruction of U.N. member states,” she said.

Spanish Ambassador Javier Gil Catalina said the comment left him stupefied and appeared to be a breach of international law.

“In the 30 years of my career I’ve never heard anything like it and it seems to me that we are not speaking about something that is even admissible, we are speaking about a threat of the use of force that is prohibited by Article 2.4 of the United

Nations charter,” Catalina said.

Since the North tested a nuclear bomb last week in defiance of U.N. resolutions, its southern neighbour has warned it could strike the isolated state if it believed an attack was imminent.

Pyongyang said the aim of the test was to bolster its defences given the hostility of the United States, which has led a push to impose sanctions on North Korea.

“Our current nuclear test is the primary countermeasure taken by the DPRK in which it exercised its maximum self-restraint,” said the North Korean diplomat Jon. “If the U.S. takes a hostile approach toward the DPRK to the last, rendering the situation complicated, it (North Korea) will be left with no option but to take the second and third stronger steps in succession,” he said, without indicating what that might entail.

North Korea has already told key ally China that it is prepared to stage one or two more tests this year to force the United States into diplomatic talks, a source with direct knowledge of the message told Reuters last week.

U.S. Ambassador Laura Kennedy said she found North Korea’s threat on Tuesday profoundly disturbing and later tweeted

that it was “offensive”.

Poland’s representative suggested North Korea’s participation in the U.N. forum should be limited.

Impoverished and malnourished North Korea is one of the most heavily sanctioned states in the world.

It is still technically at war with South Korea after a 195053 civil war ended in a mere truce.

Washington and its allies are believed to be pushing to tighten the noose around North Korea’s financial transactions in a bid to starve its leadership of funding.

Jon said last week’s test was an act of self-defence against nuclear blackmail by the United States, which wanted to block North Korea’s economic development and its fundamental rights.

“It is the disposition and firm will of the army and people of the DPRK to counter high-handed policy with tough-fist policy and to react to pressure and sanctions with an all-out counter-action,” he said.

Jon said the United States had conducted most of the nuclear tests and satellite launches in history, and he described its pursuit of U.N. Security Council resolutions against North Korea as “a breach of international law and the height of double standards”.

(Continued on page 26)

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

U.N. chief suggests Congo rebels had outside help to take Goma UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The command, equipment quality and fighting ability of rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when they captured the frontier city of Goma in November suggests they had external support, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said yesterday.

While Ban did not say from where the external support came to help the M23 rebels take Goma on November 20, U.N. experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda of aiding the revolt in the resource-rich region.

Both governments strongly

deny any involvement.

In a three-month report on the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, known as MONUSCO, Ban said the M23 rebels had shown uncharacteristic capacities during the offensive to take Goma.

The rebels eventually withdrew from the city 11 days later.

“The subsequent speed, efficiency and success of the M23’s renewed offensive were rendered possible by a sudden increase in the group’s combatants, coordinated multi-pronged attacks, and attacks with

coordination between infantry and fire support,” Ban said in the February 15 report released yesterday.

M23 began taking parts of eastern Congo early last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal.

That deal ended a previous rebellion and led to the rebels’ integration into the army.

They have since deserted the army. “ M O N U S C O ’s observations of the command and control ability of the attacking force, the effective coordination of its fire

Zimbabwe police raid election support group HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — An alliance of rights organizations said Zimbabwean police yesterday raided the offices of an independent election support group searching for alleged subversive materials.

The Crisis Coalition said police knocked down a gate to get into the suburban Harare offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network and escorted visitors out of the building before starting their search.

No further information was immediately available, the coalition said.

Zimbabwe is set to vote in a referendum on a new constitution March 16, followed by national elections later in the year.

In a crackdown in the past week, three other prodemocracy groups have been raided by police, one also accused of subversion and possessing unauthorized recording equipment and voter education display materials.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe announced the referendum date on Friday.

The election support group said in a statement Monday the fixing of such an early date for the referendum denied citizens “a meaningful opportunity” to learn about the 160-page draft constitution to make an informed choice to vote ‘ Ye s ’ o r ‘ N o ’ i n t h e referendum.

It said the official Zimbabwe Electoral Commission did not have enough time to organize a credible vote that would be recognized by regional

governments and follow international voting standards and guidelines.

Later yesterday, the National Constitutional Assembly, a group opposed to rapid adoption of the new constitution, filed a High Court suit to ask for an order deferring the vote for at least another two months.

Andrew Makoni, the group’s attorney, said distribution of the draft document only began Monday and a translation from English into local languages, Shona and Ndebele, for the nation’s 6 million voters has not started.

“People will not have ample time to study it,” he said.

He said the court has yet to set a hearing day for the case.

Rights groups have criticized police for harassment of activists that has included a raid on the respected Zimbabwe Peace Project last week, the tear gassing and baton charge of women marchers on Valentine’s Day and the arrests Saturday of a pastor and community campaigners after a meeting in the town of Chegutu to encourage unregistered adults to add their names to voters lists.

The Crisis Coalition said yesterday the latest police action “appears to be a calculated state sponsored

move to inculcate fear in groups doing election related work” as polling approaches.

Veritas, a legal research and advocacy group, said the referendum is needed to pave the way for elections to end a shaky coalition between Mugabe and the former opposition of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai brokered by regional leaders after violent and disputed polls in 2008.

“But the nation’s constitution is too important to cut the time necessary for proper consideration just to speed up elections,” it said.

There were also legal and technical issues as well as funding still to be raised that made a March 16 “totally unreasonable.”

The draft was completed Feb.6 after three years canvassing for the opinions of electors amid bitter bickering and disputes between political leaders.

Many already believe the main political parties, who have called for a ‘Yes’ vote, hijacked final drafting of the new constitution.

Veritas said a hasty referendum creates the impression that the draft serves the interests of political parties not the views of the nation.

“This would negate a feeling of ownership by the people,” Veritas said.

support, the quality of its equipment and its general fighting ability, particularly during night time, all suggested the existence of external support, direct and indirect,” Ban said.

At the time of the advance on Goma, U.N. officials said they were surprised by the increased strength of the rebels but appeared reluctant to officially blame it on outside support.

Despite Rwanda’s strong denials, the U.N. Security Council’s Group of Experts, which monitors compliance with sanctions and an arms embargo on the Congo, said in a report late last year that Rwanda’s defense minister was commanding the M23 revolt and Kigali was arming the rebels and sending troops.

Some countries criticized MONUSCO for failing to stop the fall of Goma. But the world body defended its actions, saying the peacekeepers could only have taken on the rebels in support of the Congolese army, who had

Ban Ki Moon fled the city.

In the wake of the blow to MONUSCO’s image, Ban is due to recommend to the U.N. Security Council shortly that it approve the creation of an enforcement brigade within MONUSCO to take on the armed groups in eastern Congo, according to U.N. officials.

Peace enforcement missions allow the use of lethal force in serious combat situations, while peacekeeping operations are intended to support and monitor an already existing ceasefire, diplomats and U.N.

officials say.

An uneasy truce is now in place between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels, and Uganda is currently hosting talks between the two parties. But progress towards a negotiated settlement to the crisis has been slow.

Separately a delayed U.N.mediated regional peace deal aimed at ending two decades of conflict in the east of Congo is due to be signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on February 24, the United Nations said on Saturday.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Brazil’s Rousseff says extreme poverty almost eradicated (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff yesterday raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil, a nation with enormous income gaps between rich and poor.

She said she has almost met her anti-poverty target halfway through her fouryear term, though Brazil’s last census points to 700,000 Brazilian families who still live in extreme poverty but are not

registered on government social programs.

Success in the war on poverty would garner useful political capital for a possible re-election bid by Rousseff in 2014 and compensate on the welfare front for her failure to deliver strong economic growth.

With a stroke of her pen, Rousseff raised monthly stipends for the remaining 2.5 million people known to be living below the poverty line, raising their income to 70 reais (22 pounds) a month through

the so-called Bolsa Familia, or Family Grant program, the country’s flagship social program for the past decade.

“We are turning the page on our long history of social exclusion that had perverse roots in slavery,” Rousseff said after signing the decree authorizing the increase, which will go into effect on March 18.

There are still extremely poor Brazilians, she acknowledged, but the government does not know who or where they are because they have not signed onto Brazil’s national register of social programs. They could be as many as 700,000 families, or 2.5 million people, based on census data.

“The state will have to go and find them to include them before they come knocking on our door,” Rousseff said.

“But the most difficult part has been done. Soon there will be no Brazilians steeped in extreme poverty.”

Brazil’s internationally praised monthly stipend program has pulled 36 million people from extreme poverty since it was first expanded in 2003 by Rousseff ’s

predecessor and political mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In eight years in office, Lula oversaw an economic boom that helped create a vast middle class in a country long known as a society of haves and have-nots.

The means-based program is based on conditional cash transfers usually paid to mothers who must prove their children attend school and are properly vaccinated.

According to the United Nations Development Program, Brazil has successfully raised living standards through its antipoverty programs, which are being emulated worldwide.

Despite an economic slowdown that has dogged her administration, Rousseff extended Lula’s poverty reduction program when she took office in 2011 to add stipends for children and adolescents living in extreme poverty, farmers who engage in conservation and people who start technical training.

Brazilians who have benefited from these programs are still poor by any standard, but a regular

income, however small, affords them some stability.

While Brazil uses the same definition of extreme poverty as the United Nations anyone who earns less than $35 a month - critics say that is hardly enough to raise people above the poverty line in a developing country where the cost of living is as high as in wealthy nations.

More than 48 million Brazilians, or one quarter of the population, are registered for the social programs that will cost the federal government 24 billion reais this year, including 800 million reais to fund yesterday’s expansion. Rousseff’s new slogan for improving social conditions in Brazil is: “The end of poverty is just the beginning.”

She said her government will now focus on improving access to public services for poorer Brazilians, extending school hours for their children, and ensuring they have electricity, water, sewers and basic housing.

With the help of local mayors, her government will seek out families still not registered for social programs,

Dilma Rousseff either because they live in remote corner of the Amazon rainforest or in shantytowns in the big cities of southern Brazil. Brazil’s sputtering economy has not dented Rousseff’s wide popularity, largely because unemployment has fallen to its lowest level on record, but also thanks to her continued efforts to reduce poverty.

Rousseff is widely expected to run again in 2014 and delivering on her promise to end extreme poverty should help her win re-election in the face of weak opposition.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 25

Venezuela’s VP would win vote if Chavez goes – poll CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro would win a presidential vote should his boss Hugo Chavez’s cancer force him out, according to the first survey this year on such a scenario in the South American OPEC nation.

Local pollster Hinterlaces gave Maduro 50 percent of potential votes, compared to 36 percent for opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

Chavez made a surprise return to Venezuela on Monday, more than two months after cancer surgery in Cuba, to continue treatment at home for the disease that is jeopardizing his 14-year socialist rule.

He has named Maduro, 50, a former bus driver and union activist, as his preferred successor.

Capriles, 40, a center-left state governor who lost to Chavez in a presidential vote last year, likely would run again.

Chavez still has not spoken in public since his December 11 operation in Cuba. Venezuelans were debating yesterday the various possible scenarios after his homecoming - from full recovery to resignation or even death from the cancer.

There was widespread expectation Chavez would soon be formally sworn in for his new six-year term at the Caracas military hospital where officials said he was staying. The January 10 ceremony was postponed while he was in Cuba.

“The president’s timeline

is strictly linked to his medical evolution and recovery,” said Rodrigo Cabezas, a senior member of Chavez’s ruling Socialist Party who, like other officials, would not comment on when he might be sworn in.

Should Chavez be forced out, Venezuela’s constitution stipulates an election must be held within 30 days, giving Capriles and the opposition Democratic Unity coalition another chance to end the socialists’ lengthy grip on power.

Capriles, who crossed swords with Hinterlaces at various points during the presidential election, again accused its director, Oscar Schemel, of bias in the latest survey.

“That man is not a pollster, he’s on the government’s payroll,” Capriles told local TV. “He said in December I would lose the Miranda governorship,” he added, referring to his defeat of government heavyweight Elias Jaua, now foreign minister, in that local race.

Opinion surveys are notoriously controversial and divergent in Venezuela, with both sides routinely accusing pollsters of being in the pocket of the other. But Hinterlaces successfully forecast Chavez’s win with 55 percent of the vote in October.

Its latest poll was of 1,230 people between January 30February 9.

Polls last year showed Capriles - an energetic basketball-playing lawyer

who admires Brazil’s centrist mix of free-market economics with strong social welfare policies - as more popular than any of Chavez’s senior allies.

But Chavez’s personal blessing of Maduro, on the eve of his last cancer surgery, has transformed his status and made him the heir apparent for many of the president’s supporters.

As de facto leader since mid-December, Maduro also has built up a stronger public profile, copying the president’s techniques of endless live TV appearances, especially to inaugurate new public works or promote popular policies like subsidized food.

He lacks Chavez’s charisma, however, and opponents have slammed him as a “poor imitation” and incompetent.

Local analyst Luis Vicente Leon said that should Chavez die, Maduro would benefit from the emotion unleashed among his millions of passionate supporters in Venezuela.

“The funeral wake for Chavez would merge into the election campaign,” he told a local newspaper, noting how Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s popularity surged when her husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner died in 2010.

Maduro already has implemented an unpopular devaluation of the local currency and said more economic measures are coming this week in what local

Military Court throws out request to dismiss charges against President Bouterse PA R A M A R I B O , SURINAME - CMC – A military court has denied a request to dismiss a case in which President Desi Bouterse and several others are implicated in the deaths of 15 prominent people who were opposed to the then military government in Suriname in 1982.

The Military Court is reported to have delivered its verdict last week when it met behind closed doors, according to the Suriname based website, devsur.com It said that attorney Irwin Kanhai had submitted the request on behalf of three of the accused.

The trial was due to restart last December, but the Prosecutor ’s Office announced that it was

awaiting a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the Amnesty Law which was recently passed by the Parliament.

The trial had been halted in May after the National Assembly approved the controversial law that could pardon all the suspects in the December 1982 murders. It has been criticised by civil and non government organisations as well as human rights groups including Amnesty International.

Bouterse and 24 others are accused of the murder of 15 prominent citizens more than 30 years ago.

The men were political opponents of Bouterse, who was then the military leader of the country.

The trial began in November 2007.

Last month, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said it was concerned at the ongoing delay in the resumption of the trial and that that it was dissatisfied with the continued uncertainty on the applicability of the Amnesty Law that could threaten the status of the trial.

Bouterse has repeatedly denied being present at Fort Zeelandia when the detainees were shot.

He led a military government in Suriname from 1980 until 1987 and again from 1990 to 1991, but in 2010, he won the general election becoming the country’s ninth president and the fifth to be democratically elected.

Venezuela’s Vice President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters outside the military hospital after visiting President Hugo Chavez in Caracas Monday.

REUTERS/Jorge Silva economists view as austerity measures after blowout spending prior to last year’s election.

In Caracas, the streets were quieter after tumultuous celebrations of Chavez’s homecoming by supporters on Monday. A few journalists stood outside the military hospital.

Prayer vigils were planned in various parts of Venezuela.

“We hope Chavez will

stay governing because he is a strong man,” supporter Cristina Salcedo, 50, said in Caracas.

Student demonstrators who had chained themselves near the Cuban Embassy last week, demanding more information on Chavez’s condition, called off their protest after his return.

Until photos were published of him on Friday, the president had not been

seen by the public since his six-hour December 11 operation, the fourth since cancer was detected in mid2011.

The government has said Chavez is breathing through a tracheal tube and struggling to speak.

Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Caracas yesterday in the hope of visiting his friend and fellow leftist.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Obama presses GOP to halt automatic spending cuts WASHINGTON (AP) — Staking out his ground ahead of a fiscal deadline, President Barack Obama lashed out against Republicans, saying they are unwilling to raise taxes to reduce deficits and warning that the jobs of essential government workers, from teachers to emergency responders, are on the line.

Obama spoke as a March 1 deadline for automatic across-the-board spending cuts approached and with Republicans and Democrats in an apparent stalemate over how to avoid them.

Obama cautioned that if the $85 billion in immediate cuts — known as the sequester — occur, the full range of government would feel the effects. Among those he listed: furloughed FBI agents, reductions in spending for communities to pay police and fire personnel and teachers, and decreased ability to respond to threats around the world.

He said the consequences would be felt across the economy.

“People will lose their

jobs,” he said. “The unemployment rate might tick up again.”

“So far at least, the ideas that the Republicans have proposed ask nothing of the wealthiest Americans or the biggest corporations,” Obama said. “So the burden is all on the first responders, or seniors or middle class families.”

House Republicans have proposed an alternative to the immediate cuts, targeting some spending and extending some of the reductions over a longer period of time. They also have said they are willing to undertake changes in the tax code and eliminate loopholes and tax subsidies.

But they have said they would overhaul the tax system to reduce rates, not to raise revenue. Obama did win an increase at the start of the year when Congress increased the upper tax rate for the wealthiest Americans.

“The American people understand that the revenue debate is now closed,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement Tuesday following Obama’s remarks.

“Tax reform is a once-in-a generation opportunity to boost job creation in America.

It should not be squandered to enable more Washington spending. Spending is the problem, spending must be the focus.”

Obama’s remarks came a day after he returned to Washington from a three-day golfing weekend in Florida.

Congress is not in session this week, meaning no votes will occur before next week and complicating the ability to negotiate any short-term resolution. Obama said the anticipated cuts were already having an effect, noting that the Navy had already delayed the deployment of a carrier to the Persian Gulf.

“Changes like this — not well thought through, not phased in properly — changes like this effect our ability to respond to threats in unstable parts of the world,” he said. Obama wants to offset the immediate spending cuts, known as a sequestration in budget language, through a combination of targeted spending cuts and increased

President Barack Obama, accompanied by emergency responders, a group of workers, yesterday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) tax revenue. The White House is backing a proposal unveiled last week by Senate Democrats that is in line with the president’s principles.

But that plan has met an icy reception among Republicans, who oppose raising taxes to offset the cuts. GOP leaders say the president got the tax increases he wanted at the beginning of the year when Congress agreed to raise taxes on family income above $450,000 a year.

Obama called on congressional Republicans to compromise and accept the Senate Democrats’ proposal.

The Democrats propose to generate revenue by plugging some tax loopholes.

Those include tax breaks for the oil and natural gas industry and businesses that have sent jobs overseas, and

by taxing millionaires at a rate of at least 30 percent.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Ohio Republican agrees the sequester is a bad way to reduce spending, but put the onus for averting the cuts on Democrats.

“A solution now requires the Senate — controlled by the president’s party — to finally pass a plan of their own,” spokesman Brendan Buck said.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan proposal Tuesday by cochairs of an influential deficitreduction commission called for reducing the deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years, with much of the savings coming through health care reform, closing tax loopholes, a stingier adjustment of Social Security’s cost of living

North Korea threatens...

From page 22 Neither Russia nor China, which are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, spoke yesterday’s meeting in Geneva.

Before its nuclear test, North Korea was already

facing growing diplomatic pressure at the United Nations.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is widely expected to order an inquiry next month into its leaders’ responsibilities for crimes against humanity.

increases and other measures.

The proposal by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Democrat Erskine Bowles, the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, calls for about one quarter of the savings to come from changes in health care programs and another quarter from revenue generated by tax changes.

In their plan, Bowles and Simpson say the automatic cuts scheduled for March 1 are too steep and could set back the economy.

“Sharp austerity could have the opposite effect by tempering the still fragile economic recovery. In order to protect the recovery, the sequester should be avoided and deficit reduction should be phased in gradually,” they wrote.

Some Republicans, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have advocated plugging loopholes, but as part of a discussion on a tax overhaul, not sequestration.

“Loopholes are necessary for tax reform,” Ryan said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” ‘’If you take them for spending, you’re blocking tax reform and you’re really not getting the deficit under control.”

The sequester was first set to begin taking effect on Jan. 1. But as part of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, the White House and lawmakers agreed to push it off for two months in order to create space to work on a larger budget deal.

With little progress on that front in recent weeks, Obama is calling for the sequester to be put off again, though it’s unclear whether another delay would have any impact on the prospects for a broader budget agreement.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Barbados election poll predicts victory for opposition

Freundel Stuart and Owen Arthur BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – The main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is likely to win as many as 20 seats in tomorrow’s general election, according to the latest opinion poll published yesterday.

The poll by the Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES) shows that the BLP, lead by former prime minister Owen Arthur could win between 17 and 20 of the 30 seats to be contested in the general election. It said that the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) headed

by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart “will occupy the opposition benches with between 10 and 13 seats”.

Last weekend CADRES published a poll in which it said that voters had preferred Prime Minister Stuart to lead the country as against Arthur by a 39 to 36 per cent.

“On this occasion, Stuart’s approval rating has risen from 39 to 41 per cent while Arthur’s has remained constant at exactly 37 per cent. The disapproval rates for both leaders have increased marginally with

Stuart’s moving from 40 to 41 per cent and Arthur’s moving from 38 to 41 per cent. In both instances the movement came from the uncommitted cohort which is somewhat smaller for both leaders.”

The DLP, which had been trailing the opposition for the past several months, had narrowed the gap to a statistical dead heat, according to the first poll released over the last weekend.

“The main noteworthy comparative observation is that the BLP was leading in the polls one week ago and continues to lead on this occasion and appears to have widened its lead. It is also clear to CADRES that this will be one of the most marginal and indeed competitive campaigns ever endured in this nation’s history. “This marginality is evidenced by the fact that a shift of four to five per cent in support over the last week has resulted in a presumptive loss of five more seats for the DLP. “CADRES has repeatedly made the point that this DLP government appears strong in terms of numbers but is in reality comparatively weaker

Sri Lanka establishes diplomatic relations with St. Vincent Sri Lanka and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines established formal diplomatic relations on 15th January 2013.

Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, signed the Joint Communiqué on behalf of Sri Lanka, while Mr. Camillo Gonsalves, the Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, signed on behalf of Saint Vincent and Grenadines.

Both Ambassadors expressed satisfaction that the two countries have established diplomatic relations and hoped that this would continue to further build on the bilateral

relationship which already exists between the two countries as members of the Commonwealth and the UN. The Ambassadors also discussed further strengthening bilateral ties, especially through sports.

Mr. Gonsalves spoke of the forthcoming tour of the West Indies by the Sri Lanka Cricket Team as a part of a triangular series involving also India. He hoped that a high level visit from Sri Lanka would coincide with the tour.

Dr. Kohona mentioned that both countries are committed in advancing each other’s interests both within and outside the Commonwealth. (Asian Tribune)

than any other first term government that the DLP has had previously.

“As such the slightest deterioration in support will have a devastating impact on seats. It is against this background that CADRES has argued that the party better organised on Election Day in all of the marginal constituencies has what would be called a better “fighting chance” to win those “seats”.

But the pollsters said

notwithstanding the possibility of DLP “surprises” in some instances, “CADRES is at this time of the opinion that the BLP will win the 2013 election on Thursday with between 17 and 20 seats, while we believe that the DLP will occupy the opposition benches with between 10 and 13 seats”. CADRES said that the latest poll was conducted during the week February 1518 and reflected public opinion in the second week of the campaign.

“...the point needs to be made that this second poll captured a fully evolved election campaign and the launch of both manifestos which were not available when the last poll was conducted. As such this poll in our opinion presents a far better podium from which we can assess the likely outcome of the 2013 general election.”

It said in the first poll, the non-response was 33 per cent, but on this occasion the non-response was 24 per cent.

The pollsters found that the “data indicates that a majority of Barbadians are not satisfied that “we” are on the right track, and a similarly marginal majority believe that it is time for a change of government.

“These two responses indicate a high level of indecision on the part of the electorate which is clearly divided about the extent to which the government should be changed, and whether it has performed well.”

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Boy’s drowning in reservoir…

Cops seek 15-yr-old who fled scene

- relative suspects foul play

Police are searching for a 15-year-old male of Sheet Anchor Village, East Canje, Berbice who was in the company of the 8-year-old boy who drowned in an underground reservoir in the village last Saturday afternoon. Emmanuel Welch, of Lot 9 Sheet Anchor, met his demise while playing near a sand pit.

New details are coming to light in the incident which now seems to be taking an interesting turn. Additionally, the boy’s foster mother, Nadira Toolsie strongly believes that the boy was pushed into the reservoir.

Toolsie said she had returned from work just after 16:00 hrs on Saturday but did not see him at home. She

enquired and was told that he was playing with friends.

After being informed that the boy was playing near the sandpit, a few blocks away, the woman ran towards the scene and found the boy lying in the water, lifeless.

Toolsie recounted that she started to care for him as a one year old. His mother, she said, was of unsound mind and died two years ago, “and I still continued to take care of him”. The whereabouts of the father are unknown, “and they were going to give him away and take him to the orphanage but I took him and ‘mind’ him from a 1-year baby—it real hard, because he is the only company I had with me in the house,” she lamented.

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Toolsie related that a 15-yearold male, only name given who resides at a section of the village under the Canje River Bridge, Sheet Anchor, disappeared after the incident on Saturday.

Toolise stated that the missing boy “very cruel and come from a very cruel family”. She stated that “my little boy don’t really mix with him” but somehow he ended up playing with the teen. The mother believes that the lad, when found, would be able to shed light into what really happened that fateful afternoon. “If he didn’t do anything, why he run away?” she questioned.

The compound, which

formerly housed the Ministry of Public Works several decades ago, is now used by Ameerally Construction Services (AMACO) for selling sand, etc. The 12-ft deep reservoir in the compound was once used by the Public Works Ministry for water retaining purposes during that time.

When Kaieteur News visited the compound yesterday, the reservoir was still uncovered. It is the view of many that the reservoir is a health risk/hazard and should have been covered since there are a lot of children who play near and in the compound regularly.

An employee of Amaco stated that the reservoir will be covered by next week.

“By next week we should cover it off”. He added that the company had put gates on the compound and covers on the reservoir but these were either vandalized, removed or destroyed by persons.

“We put gates and so, but people breaking the gates…we did put a cover [on the reservoir] but people carrying away the covers— breaking and pulling it out”.

The reservoir, he stated, is also used by persons from the village doing laundry there. “That thing always get water; it never out of water.”

A post mortem examination performed Monday by Government Pathologist, Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan, revealed that

Welch died of asphyxia and drowning.

Region 6 Chairman, Mr. David Armogan, whose trucking, sand and stone service is located next door to the location and sand pit, stated that he was very familiar with little Emmanuel.

“Every time I go there, he always would call me! And I carry him all about, to all the Rotary Club Christmas parties and so on. When I saw his photo in the Kaieteur News, I was shocked…he was my little friend,” Armogan reflected. Armogan has volunteered his truck to be used during the funeral procession which will be held today. The boy will be buried alongside his mother at the Kildonan Cemetery.

House Speaker Raphael Trotman is just about ready to release what is expected to be his definitive ruling on Minister Clement Rohee in relation to his right to speak in the National Assembly.

At the sitting on Valentine’s Day, Deputy Speaker Deborah Backer prohibited Rohee from introducing legislation in the House, saying she was doing so with regard to the noconfidence vote in Minister Rohee.

The ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) accused Backer of undertaking a “coup” in the House, since at the previous sitting, Trotman, as the substantive speaker, had allowed Rohee to speak.

PPP’s Gail Teixeira accused the opposition of going against its own Speaker.

Yesterday, Trotman said he would not be dragged into an argument about whether he would have allowed Rohee to introduce the Firearms Amendment Bill or not. All Trotman would say is that Backer had the full authority in the House, and that would have been the case whether she sat in as Speaker “for an hour, half an hour, or even a

minute”.

Trotman’s ruling on the matter is due before the end of the week.

On February 7, after being effectively restricted to his seat for months, Minister Rohee was back on his feet again in the National Assembly despite the objections of the majoritycontrolled House.

With that decision from Speaker Raphael Trotman, the Members of Parliament from the Opposition, including Backer, had walked out.

Minister Rohee was given his break to speak in the National Assembly when he requested to address the House on the prevailing security situation in the country. Before walking out, the Opposition attempted to prevent Rohee from taking the floor. Opposition Leader David Granger pleaded with Speaker Raphael Trotman but to no avail.

The Opposition had moved a no confidence motion against Minister Rohee, saying he had failed to preside in an acceptable manner over the security situation in the country. That no-confidence motion was

passed on July 30, last.

Based on that no confidence motion, the Opposition wanted Rohee blocked from speaking in the House. The Speaker had made a decision that since the matter of a member speaking in the House was one of Privilege, he would be referring the matter to the Privileges Committee.

The Committee of Privileges has been set up to determine what, if any, are the powers of the National Assembly to sanction a Member of Parliament, who is a Minister appointed by the President, for failing to resign following the adoption of a Motion of No-Confidence in him. If the Committee does conclude that the National Assembly can sanction a member, it would then have to determine what sanctions, including preventing the Minister from speaking, are available to the National Assembly.

The Government took the matter to court, and Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang recently ruled that the National Assembly has no right to prevent any member from speaking in the House,

but Chang stayed clear of ruling on whether Rohee could speak as Minister of the Government.

With that ruling and the matter still before the courts, the Speaker had decided that he would still convene the Privileges Committee of Parliament. At that January 21st meeting, both the government and opposition agreed to abort the work of the Committee until the court proceedings are over. And thus the Speaker had said he would allow Rohee to speak, given the fact of the security situation at the time.

Granger argued that with the number of crimes being committed every day, Minister Rohee should be speaking every day.

Speaker Trotman rebuffed comments from the opposition that his decision to allow Rohee to speak was an overnight one.

While the matter was with the privileges committee, the Speaker had said that he would not allow Rohee to introduce new Bills in the House, but would allow him to speak on security or any other matter he wishes to speak on. With the ruling,

Rohee spoke to the Speaker, but mainly facing empty seats on the majority side of the House.

Once Rohee was done speaking, the Opposition Members of the House returned to their seats.

The Opposition Leader is arguing that while the constitution allows any member of the Assembly to introduce laws or propose motions for debate, the constitution also provides for the National Assembly to regulate its own procedure and may make rules for that purpose.

Eon Ogle, a 50 year old minibus conductor from Agricola stood before Magistrate Judy Latchman yesterday accused of stealing $9000 from his employer Eric Quallis. He pleaded guilty to the charge, but explained that Quallis operates the minibus of which he was the conductor and had owed him a sum of money, thus he

deducted from the day’s earnings.

“Mr Quallis had agreed to pay $3000 a day, but he previously owed me money.

On February 15 I decided to stop working with Quallis and thus I deducted my money which he had owed me. He was driving recklessly that day so I walked off the bus with the money and I gave

him the remainder of the money which I had for him the following day, but he would not collect it. I still have the money to give him” After listening to the explanation the presiding Magistrate recorded a not guilty for the accused. Ogle was subsequently placed on $10,000 bail. He will return to court on March 10.

Trotman decision on Rohee imminent

Conductor charged for stealing “bus money”

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Suriname Airways may fly GT-New York route by July The Government of Guyana has begun discussions with Suriname Airways, in an effort to have that airline service the Georgetown-New York route, to fill the void that will be created by the planned exit of Delta Airlines from the Guyana market.

On Monday, President Donald Ramotar and delegation, which included Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, met with Vice President of Suriname Airways, Clyde Cairo, on the sidelines of the 24th InterSessional Meeting of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in Port-auPrince Haiti, a government statement said last evening.

Minister RodriguesBirkett said that the two sides will have a follow-up meeting shortly as they continue to explore the possibilities of the airline servicing the route.

Cairo said that the meeting with President Ramotar and delegation was fruitful and he will relay the issues with the Board of

President Donald Ramotar meets with Vice President of Suriname Airways, Clyde Cairo, in Haiti. Ministers Clement Rohee and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett are also in picture.

Directors of Suriname Airways.

“We have discussed possibilities, yes there are options which we will look into … I need to report to my

board first…effective July we can begin servicing this route, either non-stop or via another point,” Cairo said in an invited comment.

This move has come

about as a result of Delta Airlines’ announcement last week that it intends to stop flying the Georgetown- New York route as of May 2013.

Suriname Airways restarted its non-stop flight between Georgetown and Miami on April 3, 2012, twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Last year an official of the airline had indicated that Suriname Airways was looking to tap into the Georgetown- New York market.

The airline offers a nonstop service with direct flights to Miami and excellent connecting flights to other destinations including Amsterdam, Brazil, the Middle East, and even China.

The airline during the 1980s provided flights to New York from Georgetown.

With the Georgetown to New York route a critical one, especially for the thousands of Guyanese who live in the US, and the linkage to other countries, government has been scrambling to find an alternative to Delta.

Last year, lost low-cost carriers, Redjet and EZjet, ran into financial troubles and were forced to cease operations.

Government has denied that Delta was pressured to leave and instead pointed out that Delta’s flights were almost filled since starting operations here a few years ago.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Guyanese prosecutor gets conviction in Anguilla’s first money laundering case Former Magistrate, Guyana-born Dawn HolderAlert, with Crown Counsel Erica Edwards of Anguilla on Monday last secured a conviction against prominent offshore Manager Joseph Brice who was charged in 2009 for the theft of US$950,000 belonging to his client Regency Holdings Limited, a company registered in Anguilla.

In the country’s first money laundering case, Brice who was the entity’s sole director, was charged in the British territory on other counts relating to the transfer of the stolen funds which the prosecution described as “criminal property.” The manager was thus convicted by the nine-member jury on one count of theft and eight counts of transferring criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The manager had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial was presided over by the Honourable Madam Justice Cheryl Mathurin at the Courthouse in Anguilla.

Another former Guyanese Magistrate, Horace Fraser, represented the defendant.

Brice elected to testify during the trial and maintained that he had only borrowed the money, though admitting that he didn’t wait for a reply to the email he sent requesting the loan before he withdrew the funds. He stated that he also intended to repay the cash and that he had already done so.

He never denied the transfers, but denied that the funds transferred were proceeds of criminal conduct and maintained that he had not stolen it.

The manager was a former Registrar of Companies in Anguilla and a former Chairman of the Anguilla

branch of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners.

The prosecution’s witnesses testified that Brice did not attain authorization for the money transfer as was the normal practice.

Eleven witnesses testified in the matter. Two South Africans, Mr. Leonard Reyneke and Professor Alwyn De Koker presented their evidence in relation to the defendant’s relationship with Regency Holdings Limited; and that all transactions should have been authorized by the company.

Mr. Niguel Streete, a former Director of Anguilla’s Financial Service Commission, Mrs. Connie Oysterman-Webbe, a former employee of the defendant, bank officials and police officers also gave their testimonies.

The defendant was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison awaiting sentencing on March 7th, 2013.

Regency Holdings Limited is an international business company registered in Anguilla.

All users of measuring instruments for trade must have their devices verified for the first half of this year, according to the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) “All measuring rules must be in metric units and must be submitted to the GNBS office or any of its sub-offices and weights and measures offices countrywide.”

Public Relations Officer of GNBS, Lloyd David, explained that verification exercises conducted so far for this year have revealed that users of scales, masses and measures have been submitting their devices for verification (stamping) for the first half of the year.

However, the submission of measuring rules for verification has been meagre

despite the commencement of verification since the beginning of January this year.

He explained that GNBS continues to receive reports of malpractices at stores and other sales outlets across the country regarding the measurement of fabrics and other materials offered for sale to consumers by length.

These malpractices, he said, include the use of counter-tops and pieces of sticks as measuring instruments. This has created a great deal of concern for the GNBS which is the organisation responsible for ensuring that all weighing and measuring devices used in trade are verified, accurate and are used in the recommended manner.

During the second quarter

of the year, he underscored that the GNBS will conduct weights and measures surveillance visits to shops, markets, stores and other business outlets countrywide, and all unverified devices including measuring rulers, sticks and tapes used to measure fabrics, vinolays, carpets and similar materials will be seized and removed.

In the circumstances, the GNBS is urging retailers of fabrics and similar materials which are measured by length to submit their meter rules and tapes to the GNBS during this verification period which ends on March 28, 2013.

Concurrently, consumers are encouraged to be vigilant during their purchases and to request materials in metres and centimetres.

Dawn Holder-Alert

Measuring devices used in trade must be verified - GNBS

Cell phone thief gets six months A 49 year old father of five was yesterday sentenced to six months in jail when he appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court.

Roy Singh, a gardener of West Berbice, pleaded guilty to the allegation that on February 11, last, at David Street, Kitty, he stole a Nokia cellular phone valued at $15,000 from Amzad Hussein.

Singh told the court that he informed the arresting

officers that he took the phone and sold it for $15,000 to an employee of Jerries Snackette. The man said his action came as result of the complainant refusing to pay him for services he had provided.

“I wuk three day with he, he does work with a church.

I de got fuh get pay fuh me wuk.”

Prosecutor Vishnu Hunte told the court that the defendant had recently spent six months in prison

for a similar offence. Singh went to the complainant’s place of work after his release and committed the act.

The prosecutor related that in the statement which Singh gave to the police he claimed that he found the phone in a walkway and sold it.

The complainant told the court that on the day of the incident he was about to pay the defendant but later found that the man had stolen his phone and went missing.

Page 31

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Buxtonians lament denial of healthcare - cite Pharmacist’s absence, limited supply of drugs among worries The Buxton Health Centre

Several patients sit outside the doctor’s office Several elderly persons were yesterday forced to leave the Buxton Health Centre to purchase their prescriptions elsewhere, as there was no Pharmacist present to give them their doses.

Kaieteur News in responding to complaints learnt that this is a usual scenario at the health facility, since the lone pharmacist had not been doing his job as is expected.

Persons complained that even if the pharmacist does show up, he does not work the amount of hours that he is supposed to.

A few senior citizens who remained at the health centre explained that on some

occasions, the doctor himself would issue medication to patients. However, there are days when the doctor’s workload is too much and he is unable to do so. This would cause a great deal of unease to , particularly the seniors who would then have to go elsewhere and purchase their much needed drugs.

“I didn’t feel well, so I come hoping that the dispenser gon be here. But is when the doctor done see me then I hear that the pharmacist ain’t come to work again.

This getting too much…now I can’t get my heart tablet today,” one woman said.

In addition to this,

Kaieteur News understands that the centre has not yet received drugs for 2013. The medication is therefore limited.

When contacted yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran stated that while he is aware of an overall issue of the tardiness of workers across the country, he had not received any complaints of the Buxton Health Centre not receiving drugs for this year.

He opined that it may very well be the same delinquent pharmacist who had not contacted the Ministry to put in the claim for the drugs.

Ramsaran promised that he will look into the matter.

Norton St. accident victim succumbs

The second victim of the Norton Street, Lodge accident which occurred three Tuesdays ago succumbed to her injuries on Monday at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Dead is 53-year-old Phyllis Luckie of Norton

Street, Lodge. Luckie is the second person to die as a result of the accident.

On Saturday, 21-year-old football player Colin Edwards succumbed to head injuries he sustained following the accident.

On February 7, last, at around 20:30 hrs, Edwards

was proceeding west along Norton Street on motorcycle CG3325 when he struck two women who were waiting to cross the road.

The third victim, Lydia Bishop was also hospitalised, but with minor injuries. She was discharged the following day from a private hospital.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55 hrs. Sign On 09:00 hrs. This Morning 10:00 hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 11:00 hrs. Roseanne 12:00 hrs. The View 13:00 hrs. Prime News 13:30 hrs. The Young and

the Restless 14:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00 hrs. DTV’s Festival of Biblical Movies for the Lenten Season: “The Story of Jacob & Joseph” 17:30 hrs. Family Feud 18:00 hrs. World News 18:30 hrs. The Wayans

Bros 19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Channel 8 News 22:00 hrs. Criminal Minds (New Episode) 23:00 hrs. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (New Episode) 00:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Wednesday February 20, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) It may be time to honor your need for privacy, even if you are accustomed to spending a lot of your energy engaged in activities with your friends and associates.

You independent Rams often like to work alone, for your patience grows thin when others cannot keep up with you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You might be swimming in tumultuous emotional waters now, unless you can let go of the control you believe you need. However, you’re not in charge of anyone’s feelings but your own. Instead of trying to fix the situation by making someone more comfortable, concentrate on yourself.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) You’re more tentative about sharing your feelings now because you don’t want to risk your security.

Unfortunately, keeping secrets can exhaust you because you have to focus attention on monitoring what you say.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You’re content exploring your feelings in the privacy of your own space today. Your emotional security is extremely important now and you may not be satisfied until you feel completely safe and sound in your environment.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) The pace of life slows down today, bringing you more time to integrate a recent change of heart. You may need to reconsider your goals or even change your position on a professional matter.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) There may be an expansion-contraction dilemma developing now as your normally cavalier attitude assumes a more cautious stance today. But don’t succumb to the pressures of social expectations.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) It’s difficult to know exactly what you feel today since your moods can radically shift from moment to moment now that the Moon’s back in your sign. You may go from wanting to pour your heart out to a friend or lover to withdrawing to the safety of your hidden cave.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Although others seem to be looking right at you, you still may feel as if you aren’t being seen. You don’t understand how they can miss the point as you hold your head high and carry out your assigned tasks, even if your heart is hurting.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Don’t take what you hear literally this week as many of the messages others share might be unclear. The culprit of this confusion is your ruling planet Mercury slowing down before turning retrograde (backward) on Saturday.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) You may not believe you have sufficient patience to hold someone’s hand while they go through an emotional meltdown; however, it could be exactly what’s required today.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) You may be challenged by relationships at work now because your lack of clarity makes it hard to confront your needs and recognize how they differ from those of your peers. Your extra efforts might even seem to be a waste of time today.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Although your current tendency might be toward isolation today, you still may indulge in romantic play.

Ironically, your ability to enjoy yourself makes you more productive now that the evocative Moon is moving through your 5th House of Spontaneity.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Young Warriors Cricket Club host Canje/ Number 19 10/10 Tournament for Mash Day

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Grove Hi Tec/Wayne Andries Mash KO 7-a-side football...

Samatta Point, Agricola, Rising Star & Soesdyke advance The battle for the top spot in the Grove Hi Tec/Wayne Andries Mashramani 7-a-side knockout football tournament is interestingly poised following recent play at the Grove Playfield, East Bank Demerara.

Soesdyke Falcons playing the feature game edged Grove Hi Tech by a 2-1 margin in a close battle. Netting both goals for the winners was Colin Mocane, while the consolation for Grove was netted by John Matthews.

Rising Star were in devastating form against Grand Master who were hammered 6-0. Malone Richardson banged in three goals with Domini Garnett and Leon Yaw among the scorers.

Agricola needled Kuru Kururu Warriors compliments of a Winston Rollins goal. Samatta Point closed off Giant Killer 21. In an exhibition game, Diamond United got the better of first timers Herstelling 1-0.

The semifinal and final will be contested this Friday at the same venue. The winning team will pocket $50,000 with the losing finalist receiving $10,000; both teams will also receive trophies.

Mr. Carl Moore (left) presenting a cheque on behalf of Ashiek and Sons Motor Spares in the presence of cricketers that are expected to participate and Anil Beharry, Secretary/Treasurer of YWCC. The Young Warriors Cricket Club of Cumberland, East Canje, Berbice has teamed up with several corporate sponsors to host a Special Day of Sports on Mash Day February 23, 2013 to celebrate Guyana’s Republic Status and to reinvigorate the interest in cricket in the Canje/ Number 19 District.

The day’s activities will focus on second division hardball teams which will include all the villages in Canje and teams will be drawn from Ganjaram, Adephi, Betsy Ground, Canefield, Bristol Boys, Young Warriors, Number 19 Team, Goed

Banana Land.

The day’s event is expected to be fun filled since there will be musical entertainment, cheerleaders, food and beverages bar and a whole host of other entertainment.

The organizers have decided to host the event since much does not happen in Berbice on Mash Day and it will give patrons an opportunity to come out with their families and have fun.

The team will battle for over $200,000 in cash and prizes and patrons will also have the opportunity to sample items from various entities that will be doing

promotions at the event.

The proceeds from the event will go towards purchasing a cover for the Young Warrior Ground Cricket Pitch and to fence the venue.

The Club was resuscitated in 2000 and has so far erected two pavilions with all amenities, two concrete sight screens, bought lawn mower/slasher and a concrete score board.

The ground was transformed from a pasture to one of the best in Berbice. The Club has produced Guyanese cricketers like the Damodar Dasrat, Richard Ramdeen, Kevin Ramdeen, Quacy

Maltay, Seon Hetmyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Balram Samaroo and Gajanand Singh amongst others.

Several sponsors have already come on board including Terminate Pest Control, Republic Bank Guyana Limited, Charrandass Law Firm, Universal DVD, Universal Solutions, Associated Business Services, Banks DIH, Ashiek and Sons Motor Supplies and S. Sattaur and Son General Store amongst others. Persons interested in vending and becoming a Sponsor are asked to contact Telephone # 592-624-1436 or 592-623-6875.

Carlton ‘Corn man’ Stephenson defies conventional beliefs to blaze marathon track Those commuters that rise very early might be a bit surprised to see a 59 year old athlete, bathed in perspiration and jogging along the streets.

He is not Usain Bolt nor is he aspiring to attain any of the phenomenal records achieved by the Jamaican.

In fact, the individual in question is Carlton Stephenson, well known as ‘Corn man,’ a patriotic Guyanese with such a passion for physical fitness that he has endeavored to engage in a lengthy jog as testimony of the benefits of physical exercise and that all citizens, regardless of age, could indulge in such activity and enrich their lives.

‘Corn man’ was born on March 6, 1953 and in a mere few weeks would be celebrating his 59 th birth anniversary, yet his crisp gait and agile movements belie this fact. He subscribes to the view that healthy eating supported by rigorous exercises contributes to longevity.

It is this belief that has inspired him to become involved in marathon events and in 2002 he completed a 26 miles journey from Soesdyke to his home village, Sophia.

Thereafter, the senior athlete has made the event a yearly ritual and this year he plans a similar journey starting from Soesdyke and culminating at the Red Shop, Sophia.

Stephenson said that the 26 miles journey will commence at 04:00hrs.

He has no qualms going the journey all alone but he wishes to encourage other fitness conscious citizens to participate in the event. “I am appalled at the vast talent locally that is not being

Carlton Stephenson adequately exploited,” he lamented. He feels that Guyana has a lot of talented athletes that are yet to realize their potential and he has christened the event as an awareness run to bring this anomaly to the fore. “I love sports and despite my age I participated in the South American 10K race in 2011,” he revealed.

Mr. Stephenson is also planning an event on Emancipation Day, August 1 next, from Uitvlugt to Sophia.

He is currently engaged in a mobilizing process and has targeted youths to participate in the event. He is also appealing to the business community and other well wishers to support the event with the requisite sponsorship.

He remains adamant that young people could use the experience to improve their standing, not only as athletes but as health conscious individuals. He could be reached at tele # 592-683-3119 or 592-672-7322.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

New Zealand vs England, 2nd ODI, Napier

Another scalp beckons for New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo - It is hard to decide whether New Zealand are the most overestimated or underestimated team in world cricket. Without fail they are considered small fry for the more glamorous teams, yet a cautionary footnote is always offered.

Such warnings cite their ability to pounce over any opposition looking a little offcolour. South Africa’s weaker health was too timid in January and England also turned up a little pasty in the face as they lost the opening ODI in Hamilton.

Given that loss, England are again on the verge of a series defeat in New Zealand despite bringing probably their best ODI side since 1992 - the last time they won a series there.

Consecutive series defeats will not be in the mind of Ashley Giles, who inherited the No. 1 ODI side in the world before Christmas.

The preparation of both camps would have made a difference in Hamilton.

Almost half the England XI came into the match without a warm-up knock, following a few weeks recuperation after the India tour.

They met a New Zealand side walking a little taller after their remarkable series win in South Africa. A match in, and Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, James

Anderson and Graeme Swann should be fully adjusted to life in the land of the long white cloud. Arguably New Zealand’s best simply isn’t as good as England’s best, and Cook’s men will be focused on not selling themselves short again.

New Zealand, for their part, have another grand opening to claim a notable scalp and consecutive ODI series wins will be some turnaround from the shambles of the Test series in South Africa.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Ross Taylor is one of the most talented batsman New Zealand have produced and he is yet to make a serious mark on his return to the side.

A big performance could provoke a Nasser Hussain-style reaction that would not only send the clearest of messages to the New Zealand board but also ensure that Taylor becomes entrenched in the t e a m ’s r e v i v a l , h a v i n g missed the landmark victory in South Africa.

He may be penned in for the Champions Trophy at No. 3 but Jonathan Trott will always have his doubters. Innings like his 68 in 90 balls in the first ODI don’t do much for Trott’s image and, despite his value as a base to play

around, he needs to keep the runs ticking to quell t h e c a l l s f o r f l a s h i e r, younger players to replace him.

TEAM NEWS New Zealand’s victory in Hamilton came with its casualties.

Mitchell McClenaghan has been ruled out of the series and Martin Guptill will miss at least the second ODI. McClenaghan’s replacement, Tim Southee, is coming off a fine allround first-class performance and will be hungry to reclaim lost ground after being sidelined by injury for two months.

Hamish Rutherford, who made his international debut in the first T20 against England, replaces Guptill.

England will probably stick with the same XI. James Harris could play to give Steven Finn a rest but with the series on the line, fielding a debutant is unlikely.

PITCH AND CONDITIONS The weather should be warm and sunny and McLean Park generally offers one of the best pitches to bat on in New Zealand. England will be looking for a similar score to their previous visit.

Page 37

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Yolo Entertainment 10/10 Softball Cricket Series

Team Speedboat responds to Invaders

Team Speedboat poses for a photo op following one of their wins.

As teams continue to confirm their participation for the inaugural Yolo Entertainment 10/10 Softball Cricket Series, the hype and boasts have been intensfying and the latest to issue a warning was Team Speedboat specifically in reference to a similar notice that emanated from Invaders, who threatened to send them packing should the two teams clash in the tournament.

A release from Team Speedboat admonished all teams scheduled to participate in the exciting format to “Produce or Perish”, meaning that

despite the bragging it is on the field of play that teams will have to execute and they are not going to be easily distracted by all that is being said.

This warning came after it was stated in an earlier release that Team Invaders will provide Speedboat with a “boat” which they will have to use to sail home after they (Invaders) would have beaten them.

Speedboat Captain, Shazim Hussain said that his team had started training early in 2013 in anticipation of the GT&T’S annual 10/10 tournament so they are in fine

shape and ready for any challenge that will come their way.

The Speedboat Cricket Team is based in West Bank Demerara and can be considered one of the veteran teams of softball cricket, having participated in over two hundred tournaments over a five-year period, during which time they’ve accumulated over one hundred and sixty-five wins with thirty trophies to boast.

Hussain disclosed that the team’s strength is in the all-round cricketing ability of the players.

“As a team, united we

stand” said the captain, a d d i n g t h a t t h e t e a m ’s nemesis is the Trophy Stall, who they managed to defeat in a recent 12/12 tournament.

According to Hussain, in that outing, their star player Greg Singh scored thirty five runs and took two wickets for a meagre six runs.

All the major softball cricket teams in Guyana have signaled their intention to participate in the competition which will bowl off at a venue to be announced shortly.

To date, Creative Jewellery& Pawn Shop has chipped in with their support.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Question being asked over Dr. Thakur statements to Select Committee on cricket In a letter leaked to the media, University of Guyana (Berbice Campus) Lecturer Dr Rishi Thakur has been taken to task over comments he made during a presentation to the Special Select Committee on the Guyana Cricket Administration Bill on February 18. Asking serious questions of Minister Frank Anthony on the matter is Presidential Adviser Odinga Lumumba.

In his letter to Minister Anthony, who is Chairman of the Committee, Lumumba said, “I was shocked and dismayed by the comments of Dr. Thakur…” Quoting the portion of the presentation made by Dr Thakur; “It was seen as little more than just irregular that the near 70 percent of the management personnel of the BCB was drawn from the African Community when it represented less than 30 percent of the population, in a community where the majority of cricketers and clubs would have been from the east Indian Community, representing about 65 percent of the population but less that 30 percent of the management personnel of the BCB. It finally appeared as a process of organised exclusion when we wrote that the three most

successful clubs in the post war history of cricket in Berbice, Skeldon, Albion and Port Mourant, could only muster one of the twenty two (22) positions on the various management committee of the BCB.” Lumumba noted in his missive that, “During his presentation an opposition member asked him if he was implying that the 70 percent of Africans composition of the BCB was responsible for the underdevelopment of the cricket in Berbice, and surprisingly his response was in the affirmative. I believe that this section of his presentation should be brought to the full attention of Parliament for condemnation and withdrawal.”

Lumumba said the Lecturer should be asked to provide scientific data that outline how the majority of one race over another in any given entity can lead to this underdevelopment of an entity. He further noted the contributions of Peter Abdool, a non-African Guyanese, to boxing as the head of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control over the years and called for full condemnation of “…racism when it raises its ugly head.”

Locals continue to prepare for St. Lucia Martial Arts Festival The Great Diamond Martial Arts Association is currently preparing their students to represent Guyana at the St. Lucia Piton Open International Martial Arts Festival called Armageddon, which will commence on the 24th of March 2013.

According to Mater\Instructor Lloyd Ramnarine this association has been representing Guyana for a number of years and they are hoping to send about ten students to the St. Lucia Festival.

“In 2012 Portia Schepmyer went to Trinidad and Tobago and performed exceedingly well, this year we are trying to send a larger contingent and we are looking forward to support from the business sector and the Government. I am afraid our participation may be limited due to the lack of financial support which has not been good so far,” he added. Ramnarine said the cost for one student to attend the tournament is approximately G$90,000.

Ramnarine who is a 5 degree Black Belt Master informed that he is satisfied with the form of the students. “We train three days a week; Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at the Diamond Community Center and the athletes are all confident of doing Guyana proud. The sessions last for two hours but we sometimes extend it for another two hours to get our students in the best possible shape,” stated Ramnarine.

He told Kaieteur Sport, Guyana will be taking part in the Traditional Kata, Open Weapon, Free Form and Sparring in both male and female categories. Ramnarine also conducts classes at Parfait Harmony on the West Bank of Demerara on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Among the students that are expected to represent Guyana in the tournament which will last for two days are Steven Persaud, Lloyd Smith, Portia Schepmyer, Afdar Mohamed, Zaffar Lee Ramnarine, Steven Singh and Chris Persaud.

Anyone willing to assist the association in this venture can contact Ramnarine on 592-698-6727 of the Treasurer Steven Singh on 592-699-1875.

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

Pistorius shot girlfriend Burrell promises to stop Rudolph... through door: Prosecutor

Oscar Pistorius stands stony faced in court during his hearing. (Reuters) PRETORIA (Reuters) “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Reeva Steenkamp, a 30year-old law graduate and model, died after being hit by three rounds from a 9-mm pistol, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Pistorius, 26, wept uncontrollably in court as Nel outlined details of a shooting that has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the double amputee’s track glory as the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity.

Later, in an affidavit read out by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Pistorius said he had been “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, whom he had been dating since November, and had no intention of killing her. Having had previous death threats, Pistorius said he slept with a 9-mm pistol under his bed in his plush Pretoria home in the heart of a well-secured gated community.

He and Steenkamp went to sleep on Wednesday night - the eve of Valentine’s Day - shortly after 10 p.m., he said.

However, in the middle of the night, he awoke in pitch darkness and thought an intruder had climbed through the window of his bathroom, Pistorius said.

He climbed out of bed without putting on his prosthetic legs and went towards the closed bathroom door, not realizing Steenkamp was behind it, he said. He then fired several shots into the door, before shouting to Steenkamp to call the police.

Realizing she was not in bed, he grabbed a cricket bat to beat down the bathroom

door and found her slumped on the floor.

“I am absolutely mortified at the death of my beloved Reeva,” he said in the affidavit. As Roux read the statement, Pistorius was crying uncontrollably, to the point magistrate Desmond Nair had to halt proceedings for several minutes. “You need to concentrate on what’s going on,” he told him.

“AN ANGEL” Nearly 1,000 km (600 miles) away, on South Africa’s windswept southern coast, scores of mourners gathered in the city of Port Elizabeth for Steenkamp’s funeral.

Amid the grief, there was little sympathy for Pistorius.

“She was an angel. She was so soft, so innocent.

Such a lovely person. It’s just sad that this could happen to somebody so good,” said Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Steenkamp’s father. “I’m disgusted with what he did. He must be dealt with harshly,” he added, shortly before Steenkamp’s cremation in the windswept Victoria Park Crematorium.

“Without a doubt he’s a danger to the public. He’ll be a danger to witnesses. He must stay in jail.”

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gangrape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria central magistrates court, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

Before Pistorius’ dramatic testimony, Nel, the lead prosecutor at the hearing, painted a picture of premeditated killing - a crime that carries a life sentence in South Africa. “If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a

person, that is premeditated,” he said. “The door is closed.

There is no doubt. I walk seven meters and I kill.”

“The motive is ‘I want to kill’. That’s it,” he added.

“This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 meter little room. She could go nowhere. It must have been horrific.”

NIKE DROPS PISTORIUS The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semifinal of the 400 meters in the London Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber ‘blades’. But the impact has been greatest in sportsmad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

His endorsements and sponsorships, which include sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year, and owned properties worth nearly $1 million. Nike said on Monday it had dropped Pistorius from any future advertising campaigns. Other sponsors have said they will make no decisions until the legal process has run its course.

Pistorius has cancelled scheduled track appearances in Australia, Brazil and Britain in the coming months to focus on his attempt to clear his name. Born without a fibula in either leg, Pistorius had his lower legs amputated as an 11-month-old baby but became the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games.

Dressed in a dark suit, Pistorius arrived at the court in a police car shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).

Proceedings were delayed as more than 100 journalists from around the world jostled to get into the dimly lit, brickface courtroom.

After the hour-long private ceremony in the cream-colored hill-top church in Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp’s brother Adam and uncle Mike, fighting back tears, spoke briefly to reporters.

“There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that can’t be filled again,” Adam Steenkamp said. “We are going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister. We will miss her.” ($1 = 8.8816 South African rand)

From back page whipping himself into shape under the guidance of veteran coach, Hector Roco.

Kaieteur Sport chatted with both persons after a hectic session yesterday morning and Burrell was very upbeat of his chances. He is no slouch and has chalked up 6 wins while losing once, to Fidel Blocker. He has stopped 5 of his opponents, the most recent at his last bout in North Carolina last July where he stopped his opponent in the 1st round.

Asked for a prediction, Burrell hedged but said that he is coming to show off his wares. He said that apart from the hectic gym work he also jogs in the evenings.

“Conditioning is not a problem with me,” he says.

His confidence emanates from the fact that he trains hard and naturally expects to fight easy.

Meanwhile, Roco is also confident that Burrell will cart off the spoils. He explained that his charge had sparred 12 grueling rounds with Joan Gooseman, a 2 times world champion in the bantamweight and super/ lightweight division, as well

as Carlos Abrigo, rated at number one by the WBC, and Ashley Theopane, rated at number 4 by the IBF. “We are coming to Guyana to fight and win so we are putting in the rounds,” said a confident Roco.

Former boxing star, Darius Ford also had a glimpse of Burrell and proclaimed that Fraser would have to be at the top of his game if he should win this bout. “I don’t know Fraser but I can tell you, he will have to fight hard for every round if he wants to win this fight,” exhorted Ford.

Several other boxers will be on show including Kwesi ‘Lightening Struck Assassin’ Jones up against WBCCABOFE heavyweight champion, Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox. The two will battle in a 10 rounds non-title catchweight affair in the main supporting bout while Dexter Marques returns to the ring for a highly anticipated 8 rounds flyweight contest,

while Loul opposes Patrick Boston over 4 rounds in the super/middleweight division.

W B C C A B O F E lightweight champion, Clive Atwell was to have been matched against Trinidadian Kevon Diaz over 8 rounds but the organizers are still to confirm whether the bout is still on. The night’s opener will witness bantamweight Delon Allicock, just off a knockout victory over Charlton Skeete, opposing Ryan Ali over 4 rounds.

Tickets are currently on sale and could be had at Street Styles Boutique, Texila American University and at the CASH on fight night. The organizers could be reached at telephone # 604-9482 or at the venue on the day of the event. VIP tickets are sold at $10,000 each and include drinks, while seats for ringside and stands could be had for $4,000 and $2,000 respectively.

Page 40

Kaieteur News

Wednesday February 20, 2013

FIFA confirms goal-line China footballers and officials banned for match-fixing technology at World Cup

A FIFA referee holds a soccer ball as he looks at his wrist watch, which is used as part of the Hawk-Eye goalline technology as he tests the system before the matches, at the Toyota Stadium in Toyota, central Japan December 12, 2012.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon ZURICH (Reuters) - Goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup and two more systems could be considered in addition to the existing pair, soccer’s world governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

Two systems, Hawkeye and Goalref, have so far been licensed by FIFA and both were used at last year’s World Club Cup in Japan, one in each of the two stadiums, where goalline technology was employed for the first time.

FIFA said a third system, developed in Germany, had already passed examinations and that the providers were in licensing discussions. A fourth system, also German, has also been tested with the results due this week. FIFA confirmed goal-line technology was “successful” at the World Club Cup, although there were no incidents where it had to be used. It intends to install goal-line technology at all 12 venues at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

“After a successful implementation of

goal-line technology (GLT) at the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 and 2014 World Cup,” FIFA said in a statement.

“The aim is to use GLT in order to support the match officials and to install a system in all stadia, pending the successful installation, and pre-match referee tests. “With different technologies on the market, FIFA has launched a tender today, setting out the technical requirements for the two forthcoming competitions in Brazil.”

FIFA said Hawkeye and Goalref would have to join the selection process.

LAMPARD CONTROVERSY Goal-line technology providers had been invited to join an inspection visit to the six Confederations Cup venues in March. Those venues will all be staging matches at the following year’s World Cup. The use of goal-line technology, to help match officials in cases where it is not immediately clear if the ball has entered the goal, was approved by soccer’s rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), last year.

The use of goal-line technology had previously been rejected by FIFA, which performed a U-turn following the controversy over Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England in the 2010 World Cup match against Germany.

Replays clearly showed that the ball had crossed the line after bouncing down off the underside of the crossbar, but match officials did not award the goal. Germany, 2-1 ahead at the time, went on to win 4-1.

However, goal-line technology is not favoured by European soccer’s governing body UEFA, which instead prefers to employ two extra linesmen, one on each goal line.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has already said that extra linesmen are unlikely to be used at the World Cup. Many critics think that football should go further and allow the use of video replays to help referees make decisions concerning offside, handball and fouls. Referees have to make split second judgments with the naked eye while millions of television viewers are treated to slow-motion replays, from different angles, which often show clearly whether the official was right or wrong.

BBC Sport - China’s football association has banned 33 players and officials for life after a threeyear probe into match-fixing.

The Shanghai Shenhua club was also fined 1m yuan (£103,000) and stripped of its 2003 league victory for fixing a match on its way to the title.

In recent years, China has increased efforts to clean up its football, which has been hit by a series of scandals.

Over the past year, more than 50 officials, referees and players have been jailed.

The corruption and rigging has at times been blatant, says the BBC’s John Sudworth in Shanghai.

One infamous match

ended with a team clearly seen trying to score an own goal, he says.

ATTRACTINGTALENT Shanghai Shenhua was found guilty of offering bribes to officials to secure a 4-1 victory against Shanxi Guoli, Chinese media report.

In addition to the fine, the club was given a six-point penalty for the coming season, as was another topdivision side, Tianjin Teda, which was also fined 1m yuan, said China Daily.

In total, 12 clubs have been given financial or pointsbased penalties, Xinhua reports.

Among the officials banned for life were two

former heads of the Chinese football league, Nan Yong and his predecessor Xie Yalong, who are already serving 10-and-a-half years each in jail after being convicted of accepting bribes.

Another 25 players and officials have been given fiveyear bans. China’s football authorities hope that by cracking down on corruption cases they will raise standards and attract foreign talent to play in the country.

Former English Premier League players Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka both joined Shanghai Shenhua in 2012, but left after just one season.

“Shocked” China launches probe into WADA allegations BEIJING (Reuters) - China will investigate claims that virtually all the raw materials used to produce illegal performance-enhancing drugs come from the country, even if they have serious reservations about their accuracy, state media said on Tuesday.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director general David Howman told Reuters in an interview last week that “ninety-nine percent” of the materials used by criminal gangs around the world to make the drugs were emanating from China.

“We are shocked at Mr. Howman’s comment,” Jiang Zhixue, the head of antidoping at China’s sports ministry, told the official Xinhua news agency.

“We are wondering where this 99 percent came from and what is his evidence. We have

asked for a more detailed explanation from WADA.” Jiang said the probe would require coordination from various ministries as had happened in a crackdown on the manufacture and sale of banned performance-enhancing substances in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China’s record on doping at elite levels of sport improved markedly after Beijing won the right to hold the 2008 Games, a far cry from the 1990s when the country’s

David Howman rise to sporting superpower was accompanied by regular scandals.

Enterprise\Busta SC to hold 6-A-Side softball tourney The Enterprise\ Busta Sports Club will be hosting a Six-aside softball tournament on Sunday at the Enterprise ground starting from 09:00hrs.

Teams will battle for a first prize of one Ram Sheep along with other incentives. Entrance fee is $6,000.