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February 24, 2013

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Transfers of millions from GGMC to NICIL inappropriate - Former Auditor General

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Marriott is a brazen corrupt exercise- AFC Unwarranted attempts to - Tony disgrace Guyana Stores Yassin

NIKITA SINGH

One of the Mash 2013 floats

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Marriott is a brazen corrupt exercise – Ramjattan Building a Marriott Hotel in Guyana is a brazen corrupt exercise designed to fatten the pockets of a few chosen Government officials with billions of taxpayers’ dollars, Khemraj Ramjattan, the leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) declared yesterday.

His comments came in light of the fact that the government has declared its intention to shift the property into private hands.

Ramjattan, a long time critic of the project and how it was conceptualized, said that the government’s intention is clearly to place the hotel into the hands of one of its friends and for next to nothing. At the same time, he said, Guyanese taxpayers would be robbed of billions of dollars.

Ramjattan said that his research shows that the project would cost just about US$22 million. That’s just about the same amount of taxpayers’ money going into the project.

But the government has signed a construction contract with Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) for US$52 million.

“So, what is going to happen here is that someone is setting out to steal US$30 million from Guyanese,” Ramjattan charged.

He said that the prices for the hotel were manipulated

- says some will pocket billions of taxpayers’ money - Brassington refuses comment on investors

so that the treasury would also be manipulated and raided. Ramjattan reasoned that when the hotel is built and goes into operation and fails to attract business and then goes bankrupt, the government would then move to privatize and hand the hotel into the hands of one of its friends.

The government’s privatization arm, NICIL, under the control of Winston Brassington, was used to create a special company to build the hotel. That company is Atlantic Hotels

Incorporated (AHI).

The government, in turn, is taking money out of NICIL – monies that came from the sale of state assets and properties – and funneling it into AHI to build the hotel.

Ramjattan has argued that what NICIL is doing is illegal, and that the money that comes from the sale of government assets and properties should go into the Consolidated Fund. If the money goes into the Consolidated Fund, it would then mean that any money coming out would first have

to get the approval of the National Assembly.

“The bubble is going to burst soon. The government ‘eye pass’ the constitution and laws of this country,” Ramjattan declared.

The government is so far using tax dollars to fund the project. It has already handed over US$10million (G$2 billion) to SCG, which was awarded the contract to build the hotel under the former Bharrat Jagdeo administration.

The government will participate in the project, by

way of equity, in the sum of US$4 million. This will be committed through NICIL, one of the investment arms of the government which holds its assets. The equity contribution determines the government’s strength in Atlantic Hotels Incorporated – the company created to see the project through. As it stands, the government is currently the sole shareholder in the company.

However, apart from the equity contribution, financing for the project would also come from “subordinate loan

stocks” of US$15 million invested by NICIL. Adding the US$2 million, NICIL will end up spending in development costs for the project, including design and other preliminary studies altogether, US$21 million into the project. Private investors are expected to contribute US$27 million in a senior debt arrangement with Republic Bank (Trinidad and Tobago).

That senior debt arrangement guarantees the private investors would have preference in getting their money back if the project folds. So, if in a scenario where the project fails and the value of the property depreciates to a value below what the investors have plugged, then the investors will get back their money, and there would be nothing to return to NICIL. Taxpayers’ dollars would go down the drain.

But there is no indication that that arrangement with Republic Bank has been sealed.

Asked about investors into the project, Brassington Friday told Kaieteur News he has no comment.

In a further bid to close the deal, the government has to get separate investors for nightclub, casino and restaurant. But after repeated advertisements, there are no takers.

DO YOU KNOW THAT JAGDEO’S BEST FRIEND IS THE ONLY PERSON IN GUYANA Radio, Television and Newspaper?

Dr. Bobby Ramroop

1) Channel 28 now TVG 28 2) A radio station - 89.5FM 3) Guyana Times newspaper

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

Saturday February 23, 2013

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Kaieteur News

Real Marriott plan exposed …Govt to give hotel to unnamed private investors

T

he story of G o v e r n m e n t ’s decision to plunge billions of dollars in the Marriott Hotel, has taken a new spin with disclosures yesterday that it is the intention to hand the hotel to private investors some time after it is completed.

The disclosure would take the public by surprise now as government has gone full steam ahead, amidst criticisms, risking billions into a project in the absence of other investors.

There have been harsh questions why Government in the first place is investing taxpayers’ dollars in what is considered a traditionally private sector initiative.

At first, Government said it was a public/private partnership (PPP) initiative.

In 2011, without finalizing who its partners in the project are, Government advanced Shanghai Construction Group (SCG), the Chinese contractor, US$10M ($2B).

Recently, more than one year later, Government said that it is still finalizing details with the investors.

This is despite the fact that construction is in full swing at Kingston, Georgetown.

Yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, may have contradicted Government’s stance on investing in commercial or private sector activities.

During his weekly media briefings, the Government spokesman was asked whether government was considering investing again in a national airline following news that Delta Airlines, one of two main operations running the critical Georgetown to New York route, is planning to leave by May. A c c o r d i n g t o D r.

Luncheon, the Cabinet of Ministers has not placed any “significant attention” to another Guyana Airways or a similar “Governmentowned, Governmentcontrolled” international airline.

He went further. He said that Government has had “experiences” in economic activities that would compete with players in the same sector. This stance, he stressed, would be reflected in privatizations of state companies which show a clear withdrawal from private sector activities by Government.

SOLD!

Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo Asked to justify the Marriott against this stance, Dr. Luncheon then disclosed that Government has no intention to hold on to the Marriott once it is completed, up and running.

“Marriott is clear,” he said. There have never been any indications or declarations that Government intended to maintain or own the Marriott Hotel, the official made clear.

“As a matter of fact… to the contrary. The financing of the Marriott and closure of the deal anticipates private sector… a non-government hand in the mature situation.”

He explained that Government would initially be involved with the management before the final transfer of the hotel into “non-governmental hands.”

The government is still to name the private investors.

Before yesterday, there was never any talk of the government giving the hotel to any investor. But the media, in general, and Kaieteur News in particular, was telling the nation that the Marriott was a scheme designed to defraud taxpayers.

Kaieteur News also said that former President Bharrat Jagdeo was using the government to front the hotel for the benefit his friends who would be hiding in the background.

The National Assembly, controlled by the

Dr. Roger Luncheon Opposition, has not given its blessings for the project as the taxpayers’ dollars being used, are controlled by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited, a controversial government-owned company.

In late 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo officially turned the sod for the construction of the hotel with the promise, that the project will create hundreds of jobs in the construction phase, and beyond when it becomes operational.

The 197-room hotel and entertainment complex is expected by February 2014.

Despite pressure by opposition parliamentary parties and a Parliamentary motion to halt Government funding for the project, the government is stubbornly pushing ahead with the project.

Private investors are expected to contribute US$27 million of the US$51M needed.

GUYANA LOSES… The government has some special arrangement that guarantees the private investors that they would get their money if the project folds.

So, if in a scenario where the project fails and the value of the property depreciates to a value below what the investors have plugged, then the investors will get back their money, and there would

NICIL’s Head, Winston Brassington be nothing to return to NICIL. Taxpayers’ dollars would, essentially, go down the drain.

The government will participate in the project by way of equity, in the sum of US$4 million. This will be committed through NICIL, one of the investment arms of the government which holds its assets.

The reality is that the investors would get the hotel.

The equity contribution d e t e r m i n e s t h e government’s strength in

Atlantic Hotels Incorporated – the company created to see the project through. As it stands, the government is currently the sole shareholder in the company.

However, apart from the equity contribution, financing for the project would also come from “subordinate loan stocks” of US$15 million invested by NICIL. Adding the US$2 million, NICIL will end up spending in development costs for the project, including design and other preliminary studies altogether, US$21 million.

So, in total, the amount of money the government is pushing into the project is just about what it should cost in Guyana to complete the project, industry experts say.

The additional US$40 million remains a mystery to industry experts.

Recently, news that SCG had imported Chinese labourers without using locals, triggered several protests across the city.

Government, in its defense, said that it is the contractor’s

right to hire its own labour force.

Government had promised 200 jobs would be created when the hotel is completed…but never made it clear when. Anger mounts from the Parliamentary opposition who felt that the monies for the project should have come under the scrutiny of the Members of Parliament.

Government, refusing to release the feasibility study which justified the building of the hotel, had instead accused the opposition of not wanting investments and of defending Pegasus Hotel, located nearby of the current Marriott Hotel site, because of partisan interests.

Local hoteliers have over the years been reporting that there are too many hotel rooms.

A number of hotels built for Cricket World Cup in 2007 have since been sold or turned over to new management, including B u d d y ’s H o t e l ( n o w Princess Hotel and Casino) in Providence, East Bank Demerara.

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Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

Truth and Forgiveness As we bask in the afterglow of our Republic Day festivities, we remind our politicians of their commitment for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We commend the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu, who spearheaded the South African T&RC. “The T&R Commission granted perpetrators of political crimes the opportunity to appeal for amnesty by giving a full and truthful account of their actions and, if they so chose, an opportunity to ask for forgiveness— opportunities that some took and others did not. The commission also gave victims of political crimes a chance to tell their stories, hear confessions, and thus unburden themselves from the pain and suffering they had experienced.

For our nation to heal and become a more humane place, we had to embrace our enemies as well as our friends.

The same is true the world over. True enduring peace— between countries, within a country, within a community, within a family—requires real reconciliation between former enemies and even between loved ones who have struggled with one another.

True reconciliation is based on forgiveness, and forgiveness is based on true confession, and confession is based on penitence, on contrition, on sorrow for what you have done. Confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation in the lives of nations are not just airy-fairy religious and spiritual things, nebulous and unrealistic.

They are the stuff of practical politics.

Those who forget the past, as many have pointed out, are doomed to repeat it. Just in terms of human psychology, we in South Africa knew that to have blanket amnesty where no disclosure was made would not deal with our past. It is not dealing with the past to say glibly, “Let bygones be bygones,” for then they will never be bygones.

How can you forgive if you do not know what or whom to forgive? In our commission hearings, we required full disclosure for us to grant amnesty. Only then, we thought, would the process of requesting and receiving forgiveness be healing and transformative for all involved.

Unearthing the truth was necessary not only for the victims to heal, but for the perpetrators as well. Guilt, even unacknowledged guilt, has a negative effect on the guilty.

One day it will come out in some form or another. We must be radical. We must go to the root, remove that which is festering, cleanse and cauterize, and then a new beginning is possible.

Forgiveness gives us the capacity to make a new start.

That is the power, the rationale, of confession and forgiveness. It is to say, “I have fallen but I am not going to remain there. Please forgive me.” And forgiveness is the grace by which you enable the other person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew. Not to forgive leads to bitterness and hatred, which just like self-hatred and self-contempt, gnaw away at the vitals of one’s being.

Whether hatred is projected out or projected in, it is always corrosive of the human spirit.

Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse.

It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.

We have had jurisprudence, penology in Africa that was not retributive but restorative. Traditionally, when people quarrelled the main intention was not to punish the miscreant but to restore good relations. This was the animating principle of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

For Africa is concerned, or has traditionally been concerned, about the wholeness of relationships. That is something we need in this world—a world that is polarized, a world that is fragmented, a world that destroys people.”

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur M@ilbox Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

The regime playbook on racial politics is a diversion from their unrighteous act on the Marriott issue DEAR EDITOR, Just as Lenin’s body remains on public display in Russia to rally the faithful when the Stalinists deemed it necessary, so too is one Presidential Advisor, Ms. Teixeira who has resurrected the PPP play book on racial politics in Guyana. We want to inform Gail Teixeira that this has worked in the past as a symbol for their rapidly dwindling supporters but it will not work today because Guyanese are aware of their scheme of deception.

Unfortunately, too many people “belly ah bun” in Guyana today for that kind of “jumbie politics” to take

effect and become successful. All over Guyana the East Indians “belly ah bun” and the Afro-Guyanese “belly ah bun” even more.

But worst of all, what the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal has put the Amerindians through in the last 20 years will not only cause their “belly to bun” but it has stifled their productivity, destroyed their dignity and created conflicts among the groups with the intent to make them life-long paupers.

Let it be known that the poverty rate in Guyana is now past 40% of the population and no amount of racial propaganda, distortions and untruths from

the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal can save them. The people of Guyana have lost confidence in this corrupt, greedy, uncaring and heartless regime whose time is coming to an end sooner rather than later.

As Frank Sanatra said “And now the end is near and so (they) face the final curtain”! Such a statement from that Presidential Advisor is unpatriotic, idiotic and most reprehensible. We call on all Guyanese, irrespective of their ethnicity and political persuasion to condemn it. It is high time for the PPP to stop this nonsense.

This is an outcome of

their desperation and crooked behavior as they try to hide their financial shenanigans and white collar gangsterism on the Marriot Project, the Treasury, NICIL and the Contingency Funds.

Contrary to Ms. Teixeira’s lame duck accusation that the opposition protest on the Marriott Hotel issue is “stink of racism” the issue is never about the race of the workers on the project, rather the real issue is clear to all Guyanese.

How could the Jagdeo/ Ramotar regime craft a contract with the Chinese to import labour from China when there is such a high Continued on page 6

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox We need to reply to these types of poison DEAR EDITOR, There is a quota of East Indian supremacists in this country that know what to do with their agenda – publish it in the press and keep publishing it. For them it is the natural thing to do if they are to succeed. It means then that these people are no fools.

They do not write at random but their activities are governed by logical thinking.

It is for us who detest their outpourings to be logical too in our thinking and reply to them The list, headed by Ravi Dev, includes, Vishnu Bisram, Vassan Ramracha, Annan Boodram, Devanand Bhagwan, Suresh Pillai, Prem Misir among others. These ethnically driven supporters of the PPP (Mr. Dev should clear the air on his association with Guyana Times) have their African based fulcrums in the PPP, of which Dr. James Rose may be the de facto head.

Rose in defending the site chosen by the Government for the 1823 monument publicly said that it was not necessary to erect the structure at Parade Ground because Parade Ground in itself is a monument. I never had any respect for James Rose, his opinions and his socalled academic work. I never will. But such asininity only proves that Guyana has indeed become a failed state. Rose is the Director of Culture who alongside the Director of Sports, Neil Kumar must make Guyana the circus of the entire world This letter here is a reply to Devanand Bhagwan (“Freddie Kissoon did not address the salient points,” KN, Friday Feb 22, 2013). Mr. Bhagwan is typical of the PPP mentality, a mentality bolstered by power and not intellect. We need to reply to the ethnically motivated propaganda of these State supporters because in doing so, we educate a generation that needs to know. Here now is a complete and comprehensive exposure of Bhagwan and I will ask readers to digest the small quote twice just to get a big picture of why we need to reply to these ethnic texts Here is what Bhagwan wrote in KN of Feb 13; “Why have East Indians become more successful in business in Guyana and elsewhere?

Whether it is in Trinidad, US, UK, Canada…the Indians have made their mark…the eminent (sic) and consummate business acumen of Indians is universally known…their hard wuk is reason for their success… while some are asleep from their late night dance THEY (emphasis mine)

get up early in the morning and start to work.” (end of quote). Any fool, any moron, any imbecile, any clown, any jackass, or even a baby would know that THEY in this quote means East Indians.

None of the world’s greatest philosophers can argue otherwise. Bhagwan meant East Indians when he used the word, “THEY.” This clown of a man wrote on Friday that by THEY he meant other ethnic groups too. Why did Bhagwan try to get out of this? Because we replied him and showed him (and proved) that other ethnic communities in Guyana have historically worked hard just as the other racial communities and continue to do so. Before I move off this topic let me inject a personal note. In living in Guyana, I found that the Portuguese and Africans in Guyana tended to run their businesses along more professional lines with less criminal violations of the laws and exploitation of labour than Guyanese Indians.

Now for Ravi Dev’s perennial cry of ethnic balance in the police force which the other Indian supremacists have taken up.

Bhagwan claims that after examining my work of over more than three thousand pieces over a ten year period, he has not seen me mention ethnic balance in the police force. I am not going to be dishonest and reject that.

Bhagwan may be right. Well, better late than never. I did mention the need for ethnic balance in the police force last week in my reply to Bhagwan and I am doing so now.

But let me warn Bhagwan and the whole of Guyana including Bhagwan’s party, the PPP and his PPP Government – there must be ethnic balance in all spheres of the paramount structures of this nation.

It must include business, commerce, resource ownership, governmental contracts, foreign paid consultancies in the public sector and in agriculture.

Nothing less will be accepted.

Let me warn Bhagwan that I belong to a group that will fight tirelessly for this allembracing racial balance in our country and we will not accept to be intimidated in our goal Finally, as to his religious credentials, I reassert what I wrote. If God can make humans like Bhagwan and Vassan Ramracha then I have a problem with the way God operates. But then again, I know Bagwan and Ramracha are not the true representation of how God feels about the humans he created Frederick Kissoon

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Kaieteur M@ilbox

My contribution to the ongoing public debate on the Marriott

DEAR EDITOR, Much have been said about the building of the Guyana Marriott Hotel by the Chinese, and I wish to add my contribution to this ongoing public debate. But before I am misconstrued as I’m often does, let me make it emphatically clear that I support policies that create good jobs both in the public and private sectors, and the right of all Guyanese to earn a decent livable income.

The Ramotar Administration which I support, has been working tirelessly to achieve these goals despite some drastic budgetary cuts, but is now accused by the Joint Opposition of allowing the Chinese construction company, Shanghai Construction Group to employ only Chinese nationals during the construction phase of the Marriott, at the expense of providing jobs for Guyanese.

On the surface, this could be viewed as appalling given the high unemployment rate attributed to Guyana by some, especially those in the opposition. But when one

objectively examines the broader picture, it is clear that the Joint Opposition is once again doing what they do best: Retarding all efforts by the PPP/C Government to further develop this country.

The Kaieteur News has done a terrific job over the years, highlighting the countless cases of shoddy work done by local contractors at taxpayers expense. To name a few, here is a sampling of those disturbing news headlines: • Contractor exposed for shoddy work on N/A roads (KN August 11, 2011) • More shoddy work on Good Hope/Lusignan bridge (KN August 15, 2011) • Shoddy road works cost Linden municipality a fortune (KN Sept.,10, 2011) • Worker killed as concrete wall collapses (KN March 27, 2012) • Parika Backdam residents allege shoddy sea defence works (KN June 7, 2012) • Supenaam stelling ramp collapses again (KN July 6, 2012) • Engineers warned about substandard work,

overpayments (KN January 13, 2013).

Recognizing this to be a problem, during her presentation on the 2010 budgetary debates, Junior Finance Minister Jennifer Webster assured the National Assembly that Government will put measures in place to penalized contractors for shoddy work.

But shoddy workmanship is not the only threat to our nation’s development; the easy-going attitudes and behavior of most in the workforce can be just as counter-productive as was articulated in a recent letter by famed cartoonist Paul Harris.

In defense of his work: A cartoon in the Stabroek News (February 17) depicting a drunken person, sprawled on the ground, jolted out of his drunken stupor by an irate employer, Harris wrote, “...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!!”

Well, I could not agree more with an old friend. The truth is, Guyanese are not reputed for having good work ethics at home.

In a discussion I had some time ago with my brother, one of New York’s leading architect with associates in Guyana, I was shocked when told that most of the building Continued on page 6

President Ramotar as Commander-in-Chief must address Mr. Ganesh’s matter DEAR EDITOR, I read the letter that one Kishan Ganesh wrote titled “The Commodore’s mockery of Jagan’s education ideals” (KN, Feb 22, 2013) and I was immensely displeased with what I suspect to be a blatant sticking for the rules while failing to see the forest for the trees.

President Ramotar should intervene in this matter.

Regardless of what the admission standards for the Standard Officers Course are, I find it reprehensible that an institution like the Guyana Defence Force, which bears a tarnished image among most of the public and which is in desperate need of not only ethnic balance reflective of the ethnic flora of the nation but of bright young minds to uplift its image would deny a young man who achieved 11 CSEC subjects at Grades 1 and 2 a place in this course on what seems to be a hollow technicality.

The GDF is never viewed as an attractant for the best and brightest in Guyana.

Surely, there is discretion within the office of those making admissions and selections.

It is shoddy and shameful that a young man who achieved 11 subjects at a

regional exam is denied because he gained a Grade 3 in Mathematics.

Couldn’t the GDF have provisionally admitted Mr. Ganesh and ask him to do a challenge exam or a remedial course in Mathematics? Only a crassly arrogant organization dismissive of talent and potential would throw out the baby with the bathwater. To repudiate applicants who may have fallen just short on one prerequisite while they outshine the accepted on every other front is idiocy.

While I am not enamoured with Mr. Ganesh’s attempt to place this debacle solely as an affront to Jagan’s education ideals as every single Guyanese leader up to Janet Jagan was rabidly proeducation and yes, that includes Burnham and Hoyte, Kishan Ganesh is absolutely right that the GDF’s rejection of him is a slap in the face of perseverance, ambition and sacrifice.

Even more, it is a slap in the face of the dwindling complement of young people of this country who are willing to serve country and advance nation. I openly call on President Ramotar to launch an investigation of this matter and the entire

admission standard of the GDF for all its programs.

The people need to know who got admitted to this Standard Officers Course over the past five years and what were their qualifications compared to Mr. Ganesh and how many did not pass Mathematics at Grades 1 or 2.

The people would like to

know how many of those applicants had 11 Grades 1s and 2s. Launch an investigation into this matter and let the people know what happened here and whether it is reflective of a consistent standard or a selective mishmash of decisionmaking.For heaven’s sake, give the young man a shot.

M. Maxwell

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Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Majority should have its way with respect for minority DEAR EDITOR, I support Mr. Lincoln Lewis’s position in letter in KN (Feb 17) stating the majority should have its way on their agenda passing bills but the minority should not be disrespected.

But I disagrre with Lewis chastising the Speaker for failing to execute the agenda of the majority opposition to bar Minister Clement Rohee from speaking. I agree with Lewis that the Speaker has the constitutional right to execute the agenda of the

majority and indeed he facilitates the opposition in their goals.

But that principle applies only with regards to adoption of real meaningful bills pertaining to policies and programs, not to functioning rules of parliament.

A Speaker has to be fair and impartial in applying rules. He or she cannot and should not be partisan and break conventions and precdents. The majority must have their way but there is a principle in democratic

governance called “respect for the minority”.

All democratic establishments are guided by it - allow the minority to express their views no matter how repugnant the majoirty finds it unless it does not violate the rules or needlessly attack people.

The Speaker cannot simply give a blanket ruling accepting all of the opposition’s motions including ones to ban people from speaking. It must be based on precedence, rules

and laws and a chance for the opposition to be heard – not just majority rule.

There must be fair play and a balance of rules and speaking time within the House and respect for all views. One cannot just use one’s majority to ramrod everything through parliament. If that were the case, one can pass just about any bill including a bill to prevent anyone from speaking – and how foolish would that sound? Today it could be Rohee; tomorrow,

Ashni Singh, next day Gopaul, and so on. That is not how parliament is run.

I teach American Government in New York and one of the functioning principles of American government is “majority rule” but it is balanced with “respect for the minority” – a necessary element of democracy and which has tremendous implications for good governance and furthering democracy especially for countries in transition from a dictatorship as ours.

The minority must be allowed to speak and efforts made to incorporate or respect its views if they are “good” – at the discretion of the majority.

The opposition passed a motion using its dictatorship of one vote to of no confidence against Minister Rohee following the Linden upheaval. The Executive says the motion is unenforceable.

The majority then decided the Minister will not speak in parliament.

The two are separate issues.

I believe the parliament has the power to pass a motion of no confidence against any Minster including the Chief Executive and it is a principle that guides governance everywhere. But the principle was misapplied in the Linden affair pertaining to Rohee.

Rohee made terrible blunders as a Minister and should have been punished long before the Linden violence. But the opposition did not see it fit to make a case against him prior to Linden.

It was only when the Linden violence happened that it opted to burn Rohee at the stake. But no case was made out implicating Rohee for the Linden violence. In addition, the Opposition demanded and the government agreed to hold an inquiry.

The opposition should have waited for the inquiry to be completed before proceeding to sanction the Minister.

In the course of the hearing, the public was informed that Rohee did not issue any order to police to use violence against violent protesters and furthermore opposition members told the inquiry they nudged the crowd to break the law. So the parliamentary majority should have held its hand till the inquiry gives its report.

If Rohee were found to be responsible, I am sure he would have tendered his resignation in conformation with parliamentary practice or the Chief executive would have moved against him.

But the opposition

jumped the gun using its majority of one vote to punish a member for something he did not do – revenge politics. What took place in Guyana’s parliament relating to Rohee is a violation of norms and as the Chief Justice also correctly ruled a violation of a M.P’s right to speak in parliament.

All over the globe where democracy exists, the Speaker cannot take away a member’s right to be heard in parliament. Also, the Speakers serves the majority and yes the majority should get its way but not at the expense of violating norms, rules, regulation and principled politics. In India, for example, perhaps the strongest example as a model for liberal democratic parliamentary governance, the Speaker indeed serves the interests of the majority because the Speaker is chosen by the majority as is the case in Guyana.

In India and in most countries, however, the convention is Speaker is chosen by the government (or majority) and the deputy Speaker by the opposition (minority). In Guyana, the majority opposition violated that convention - the majority had its way in accordance with Lewis’s rule.

Also, in India and in other parliaments, the Speaker had never denied the minority the right to express its views. In fact, the minority gets equal time as the majority to present its views on bills and even to present its own bill. In addition, the Indian Speaker had never denied anyone the right to speak, or had anyone sent to the Privileges Committee without a prima facie case made out against a member. The same holds true of the U.S Congress or House of Commons in Ottawa or London or Canberra. In Guyana, a M.P was sent to a committee to be disciplined but not told what rule he violated. In fact, he violated none.

That is a gross violation of democratic norms. That is what Lewis is advocating by his definition of majority rule even when the Chief Justice says the Speaker cannot deny a member his right to speak.

Trotman was right in his ruling allowing Rohee to speak.

Deborah Backer is wrong in reversing Trotman’s ruling. By disregarding the Chief Justice’s opinion, is Backer in contempt of court and is it a prima facie case for her to be sent to the privileges committee for investigation and sanction – a procedure that the opposition majority failed to carry out before denying Rohee his right to speak?

Vishnu Bisram

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Kaieteur M@ilbox

The regime playbook on racial politics...

My contribution to the ongoing...

From page 4 unemployment rate in Guyana (reported at some 40% for the youths aged 18-35 and 18% overall)? This is what Ms. Teixeira must address and not start to preach racism.

To have the Chinese discriminate against Guyanese workers is one thing but to have your own government chose foreign workers over its own is not only disrespectful, insulting and contemptuous but also they are taking bread out of the mouths of Guyanese. The Jagdeo/ Ramotar cabal has no shame whatsoever! How can they live with themselves?

So our dear Guyanese, please ignore these sustained acts of naked and cheap propaganda and gutter politics from the Freedom House operatives. It is all designed to pull wool over your eyes while they push their hands into the Treasury like common pickpockets, stealing the destiny of the Guyanese children.

From our analysis of the socio-economic and political situation in Guyana, we expect no better from the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal.

Persons like the Presidential Advisor should justify her salary of G$1 million a month paid from the sweat of the poor and the working class.

Twenty-one men will have to toil in the cane-fields every month so that one person can talk spume; that is the aggregate of the number of sugar workers it will take to earn what Gail Texeira takes home from one of her jobs.

We want the people to know that she wears many hats that pay additional wages.

It takes a political flea to say these untruths in order to serve their political masters and economic sponsors whose only objective is to plunder the Treasury and

financially rape the poor and the working class.

There was a time when racist overtones from the PPP would stick with the people in Guyana. That time was during the “apan jhat” and the Jagdeo period but that was then.

For the PPP to throw a red herring into the debate to distract, distort and confuse the people on the real issue is ridiculous. The people are fully aware that while their “belly ah bun” the fat cats in the PPP are drinking out all the MILK and HONEY from the country.

Today, the shoe is on the other foot and now we have a PPP poodle claiming that the TUC and other protestors are anti-Chinese and racist. That is furthest from the truth. It is quite an abomination that some 65,000 Guyanese are on the bread line; willing to work but there are not jobs available for them because the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal has given the jobs to the Chinese.

Yet, to add salt to the Guyanese workers’ wound, we were advised that some 600 plus Chinese are working in Guyana on jobs that many unemployed and skilled Guyanese are qualified to do.

These Chinese are not nano-technologists or nuclear-technologists; they are “run of the mill” masons, carpenters and steel benders.

But to justify a mysterious G$2 billion discount, Guyanese are denied jobs even though His Excellency, the President Mr. Ramotar had promised to create jobs for the people during the 2011 election campaign.

This was the biggest con game on the Guyanese people since the Jagdeo/ Ramotar cabal has revealed that it is unable to create the hundreds of new jobs as promised.

In addition, what remains a big question mark to us is

whether we are really benefiting from a discount of G$2 billion or is this a political kick-back into the pockets of leading politicians in the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal.

We call on the majority opposition-AFC/APNU to file an injunction against the Marriott Hotel Project and to use the opportunity to interrogate Mr. Brassington and others until the fraudulent money trail is found. This nation cannot afford for G$2 billion to be taken from the taxpayers by corrupt politicians.

We demand that the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal release to the public a copy of the feasibility study and signed contract on this Marriott Hotel Project? After all, these civil works are being paid for with taxpayers’ funds? This fishy business from the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal must be stopped by whatever peaceful means necessary and we call on the private sector business community which continue to lose new wealth because of this invasion of Chinese contractors and their workers into Guyana to support and fund these protest actions.

It is time for the TUC to join force with the opposition and intensify their mobilization in the villages and in the towns in order to wake up this Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal. Their squander mania and reckless ways of governance must be stopped.

The rights of Guyanese to work on projects paid for by Guyanese taxpayers must be respected and those who are opposed to these unrighteous acts must let their voices be heard by joining the picket line every day until they secure the required solution – jobs for Guyanese on projects funded with taxpayers money.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

From page 5 contractors at home cannot read Architectural or Structural Drawings properly, and even the few that could, do not always build to specification. They often substitute materials and compromise the integrity of a building’s foundation to maximize their profits.

Building a massive structure like the Marriott, requires not only tremendous knowledge and experience, but discipline and the uncanny ability to function as team.

All of these attributes are the hallmark of the Chinese culture.

Guyana is experiencing a tremendous building boom.

There is no shortage of work in the construction field for those who want to work.

Just recently, the Chinese construction company, Bai Shan Lin International advertised for about 700 skilled and semi-skilled Guyanese workers, and local contractors are experiencing difficulties finding workers to complete the projects they have. Unemployment is not nearly as high as some would want us to believe.

I am very impressed by the tremendous speed at which the Marriott is being built. An entire floor went up during the past month alone.

But progress would have been severely compromised had the Shanghai Construction Group not given the option to select

their own workers: people with the skills and experience of working on similar projects in other countries. It is like having the right tools to get the job done properly.

Had the construction of the Marriott been given to a local contractor with the lack of knowledge and experience in building similar structures, with a workforce that lacks the discipline and professionalism, here is the likely outcome: The Marriott Hotel would take years to complete; way over budget; and another article on taxpayers’ money being wasted on shoddy work when the substandard foundation gives way to erosion from the mighty Atlantic.

After all these years, we’re still waiting for the Amaila Falls access road to be completed by local contractors and workers.

Of course, a Chinese construction team building the Guyana Marriott should not come as a surprise to anyone in the know, except leaders of the Joint Opposition whose only interest is to find ways to discredit this Administration.

In the United States, California officials said the state saved hundreds of millions of US dollars by turning to China to build the Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The giant steel modules were built by several

thousand Chinese Nationals over a five year period. The bridge that was previously damaged during an earthquake, is set to open later this year.

This project is part of China’s continual move up the global economic value chain — from cheap toys to Apple iPads to commercial jetliners.

And I guess the leaders of PNC/APNU and that AFC provocateur Mark Benschop would be protesting outside the US Embassy if they knew that the US$120-million Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington was built by a Chinese sculptor.

On the local scene, the Chinese were involved in the construction of the Bel-Lu Clay Brick Factory; and a large workforce of French Canadians were employed during the construction of OMAI Gold Mines Limited in 1991, all done with the approval of the then PNC regime. How hypocritical that they now criticize the PPP/C Administration for a precedent they set years ago while in office.

The Marriott will soon be completed, and an estimated 200 Guyanese Nationals will be permanently employed there in the hospitality business.

I hope at the appropriate time they all remember with contempt, the leaders of PNC/ APNU and AFC who tried so hard to deny them those jobs.

Harry Gill

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Unwarranted attempts to disgrace Guyana Stores – Tony Yassin Although his concerns are currently gaining the attention of the High Court, owner of Guyana Stores Limited, Mr. Tony Yassin, has slammed allegations that he is indebted to the Winston Brassington-headed National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

There have been constant reports in sections of the media that Yassin owes some US$2 million to the Government and has failed to honour his obligation.

However, Yassin said, yesterday, that “as the investor I never declined to pay the US$2 million...after making the highest tender bid of US$6 million for Guyana Stores with no entrances.”

Yassin noted that it was through the court that he became aware that a promissory note was signed by the former Chief Executive Officer to indebt the investors and Guyana Stores. He explained that on its closure, attempts were made by the former CEO to infuse an additional US$1.5 million without the approval of the Board of Directors.

According to Yassin, there were also rumours

about properties that were part of the sale even as he noted that not only were there settlements of accounts but all monies owed have been paid in full.

He said that all other significant losses of the business are currently engaging the attention of the court.

Yassin is expressing concern that attempts are yet being made to damage the company’s credibility.

He noted, “In my opinion the trial is proceeding as it should. Any points of dispute or contention will all be addressed by the courts.”

He is convinced that attempts are being made to hamper due process. He pointed to 18 articles published in the government friendly Guyana Times which have been seeking to “tarnish the image, reputation and name of Guyana Stores and its investors.”

According to the United States-based Guyanese investor the most troubling aspect of the ongoing issue is the fact that the newspaper along with the local Privatisation Unit, which has Winston Brassington as its

Executive Secretary, and others are constantly “trying to try the case out of court...clearly a disrespect to the court.”

He made reference to a television appearance by Brassington which saw him “making baseless remarks and comments that Guyana Stores owes US$2 million to the government.”

Yassin insisted that the continuous slanderous attacks, innuendoes and varying assertions all seem to be a sensational move to bring the operations of Guyana Stores into disrepute.

He described the ongoing attempts as nothing less than blatant disregard for the court even as Government entities seek to tarnish the goodwill and image of a company and a home-grown foreign investor. He said that he has invested in a company losing millions of dollars and has over the years seen many failed attempts to be privatised.

The matter was heard Friday by Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire.

NICIL is being represented by Rafiq Turhan Khan, while Yassin is being

represented by Senior Counsel Rex Mc Kay, Edward Luckhoo and Mr. Sasenarine Gunraj.

In the court on Friday, Brassington admitted that he kept crucial documents away from the investor. Manniram Prashad, who was chairman of GSL before it was privatized, had warned that the company would face a serious cash flow problem if the company went ahead and paid out the interim dividend that Brassington ordered – an authority which he didn’t have in the first place.

Prashad had said that if the dividend of $358 million was paid out, it would have implications for the company’s debt status, that cash flow would be affected and working capital would be reduced.

A certain Mr Sharma, the Finance Manager, had also written about the negative impact on the financial status of the company.

Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo, Attorney for Yassin, asked Brassington if it wouldn’t have been

important to hand those documents over to the investor before the deal was signed.

Brassington said that while he did not include the document, the matters were “discussed” and that Yassin was aware of those issues.

Brassington further said that while he “partly” found the complaints by Prashad and Sharma to be serious, he did not necessarily respond in writing, even though he is most times a “careful and methodical” person.

Brassington denied that he deliberately kept the documents away from Yassin because he did not want him, Yassin, to know what was happening. The Privatisation Unit had submitted a bundle of documents to the investor for him to consider when submitting a bid for the property, but Brassington said that the documents were not to be relied on.

Pressed further by Luckhoo, Brassington first said that the documents were not meant to “enable” the investor to make a proposal.

He had to eat those words when he was directed back to the documents which said exactly that the documents were meant to “enable” the investor to make a decision to put in a bid.

In an affidavit signed by Yassin, he admitted that on October 4, 2000, he entered into an agreement with National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) to purchase the shares in Guyana Stores Limited which was owned by the Government of Guyana.

It was stated that before entering into the agreement with National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited, Yassin was given various information memoranda on June 5, 1996 and packages in March 1999 in respect of the matters and facts which were peculiarly within the knowledge of the NICIL, the Government and Privatisation Unit.

To these, the defendant stated, he had no access method of verifying through his own investigation and inquiry.

Mash flag raising ceremony features all female guard of honor

President Donald Ramotar at yesterday’s Flag Raising Ceremony. To his immediate right is acting Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee. To his left is Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony.

As a form of officially acknowledging Guyana becoming a Republic in 1970, the Flag Raising ceremony was executed yesterday morning.

Yesterday’s ceremony marked the second of its kind that President Donald Ramotar attended in his present capacity. He arrived at the Public Buildings in a motorcade being led by three police outriders.

With all other usual protocols observed, the

ceremony was graced with an all-female guard of honour.

The event was attended by a number of Diplomats, Ambassadors, Ministers of Government, Speaker of the National Assembly and other politicians.

The public gathered across the road to observe the proceedings. At the end of the ceremony, as the President took his leave, one citizen breached security and got a chance to “touch the President’s hands.” In good

faith, Ramotar shook the gentleman’s hands and continued shaking to other citizens while being driven out of the area.

Mashramani, often abbreviated to “Mash”, is an annual festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic. The word “Mashramani” is derived from an Amerindian dialect and in translation means “the celebration of a job well done”.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 9

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

2012 good year for Health—Dr. Bheri Ramsaran

By Leon Suseran Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, has said that 2012 has been a good year for health in Guyana in spite of challenges. Several new Cuban-trained Guyanese doctors were added to the complement, “allowing us to put more doctors in more places”.

Additionally, several post-graduate programmes were launched “which will see us training those doctors further to become specialists in Guyana”. The programmes, he reminded, are not homegrown “wishy- washy” programmes, Rather they are directly advised, supervised and monitored by international centres of excellence, for example in Canada and U.S.A. Hundreds of nurses were trained, “adding to the stock, including the introduction of two shifts in the nursing school in Georgetown which means that we will have a better ratio of teacher-tostudent therefore addressing some concerns about the quality, and at the same time,

making classroom sizes smaller.”

Upgrading was done to the Resource Centre at the Georgetown School of Nursing, adding more computers and hooking them up to the internet, to promote independent self-study. This process, he stated, will continue this year.

“We have maintained our vaccination programme well—Guyana has among the best—and we have coverage of a wide-flung population of up to 98 per cent in the routine vaccines”. Dr. Ramsaran stated, too, that the HPV Vaccine was introduced in January, preventing occurrences of cervical cancer in the later years of women, “and is being administered during the agegroup 9-11”.

Region Six, he noted, has shown a very enthusiastic uptake or acceptance of the new vaccine.

“Over the past four or five years, we built ten new hospitals: Diamond, Leonora, Suddie, Mahaicony, National Ophthalmology Hospital, Lethem, Mabaruma….we

have done significant repairs to the Georgetown Public Hospital itself—some sections are practically new— big additional stocks of bed space and capacity”.

Significant work, too, has been effected to the C.C. Nicholson and Moruca Hospitals, “so we have to make sure that we exploit those facilities greatly.” Over the past five years, he noted that significant monies have been invested in the West Demerara Regional Hospital, in terms of better transformers, better walls, et cetera.

“So we are getting more work now, starting from October last year at that hospital…more surgeries for example the result of that investment, we have had about 20 or so caesareansections done at that hospital, so that’s 20 headaches less for the GPHC”.

With more doctors and nurses available, he is hoping to extend the opening time of the health centres across the country. He mentioned Parika, for example, a densely-

Bandits shoot Gold Mining Corporation administrator Bandits shot an official from a gold mining firm during a pre-dawn attack yesterday on an Arakaka, North West District camp.

Police said that Christopher Mann, 26, Administrator of Gold Mines Corporation and of Bon Fin, Brazil, was in a mining camp at around 03:30 hrs when he

was confronted by two men who demanded gold.

A scuffle ensued during which he was shot to his body by the men who escaped.

Police said that the robbers also relieved an armed security guard of his service .38 revolver and six rounds of ammunition.

Christopher Mann was

admitted to the Matthews Ridge Hospital, and efforts are being made to have him transported to Georgetown.

Last Wednesday, dredge operator Gavin Mc Neil was shot dead at his Mc Doom, East Bank Demerara home by a group of young bandits who also terrorized and robbed his family.

populated, commercial area, will see its health centre being test-piloted in that the facility will have services beyond 16:00 hours.

“So people can go up to 6:00pm and who knows, up to 8:00pm. That is the way we are going to utilize the stock of doctors that we have and infrastructure that we already have”. New Intensive Care Units (ICU) for neonates consisting of twelve incubators were also added to the GPHC along with specifically internationallytrained nurses to use the units.

“This means that we should be having fewer deaths among the neonates who would have been born underweight, premature or with birth defects”. Similar equipment he stated was also delivered a few days ago at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, and shortly, to the Linden Hospital.

The equipment is being donated by a NonGovernmental Organization (NGO), headed by an overseas-based Guyanese, Dr. Narsingh. As for the equipment for the New Amsterdam Hospital, Dr.

Ramsaran stated that the donors do not believe that the New Amsterdam Hospital is ready for such equipment, “and it’s there waiting for them to put things in order, so that Berbice neonates can also enjoy that service.”

“We can’t continue giving resources and they are either mismanaged or not managed”, he stated.

He noted that the Ministry of Health’s “longstanding partner”, Global Fund, was able to distribute 16,000 nets in the malaria areas in Guyana.

The government, he stated, will add to that with the introduction of some 50,000 bed nets. Last November, President Donald Ramotar visited Lethem and distributed 1,000 “speciallytreated nets…impregnated with insecticide which kills the mosquito that carries malaria and dengue but which does not harm humans”.

The nets, Dr. Ramsaran stated, are expensive. They cost as much as US$50 to procure, transport, store and distribute, “but it’s worth the expense”.

Government, he stated, has bought 50,000 such nets and in this year’s budget, and

there is hope to procure a similar number. “Malaria is very prevalent in Regions One, Seven, Eight, some parts of Region Ten…very little in Region Nine currently, so we have started the distribution of these nets.

“We have been in partnership with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association whereby 15,000 nets were distributed to the miners in the hinterland”.

The Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) of Regions Seven and Eight were also given 5,000 nets in addition to the 15,000 given to the miners’ association. The GGMC was also given 2,000 nets along with a similar number to the Guyana Forestry Commissions (GFC).

“Currently, there are about 120,000 people in the mining areas in our country because the price of gold is just around $4000 per ounce today, “whereas in 2008, it was probably US $114—a big difference—so people are going there, risking and we have to go, so we are sending the nets and we are not doing it by ourselves; we are using the resources that exist there”.

Muse or Amuse While the drug-runners are set on permanently damaging the name and reputation of Guyana, the officials in public life are set in their ways to damage the last bit of hope that’s in the breast of us Guyanese.

The Chinese workers’ fiasco will make us bleed with the vanishing hopes of our youngsters. Alexi Ramotar has joined the Chinese train by avidly criticizing Guyanese workers.

It is strange that the son of the President took this stance when his father, the President, is actively approving and awarding contracts to local PPP-biased contractors. The contractors used in the Jagdeo fiber-optic project were all PPP-biased people. The contracts were awarded in secrecy by the same cabinet that has agreed to bring in Chinese for other projects. So is there now a difference between PPP contractors and Chinese? The Chinese are better than even your own people who you have been pampering all these years?

There is more to this than meets the eye. It is not just a matter of working out a large discount with the Chinese.

The Chinese Laundromat is in full swing and its bank will soon start spinning the web that the Swiss Banks were

spinning during World War II. Brassington and Jagdeo et al have sold Guyana outright. A couple of years ago they started selling its assets and infrastructure.

Now they are selling our sovereignty.

By the time the damage is felt by all of Guyana, these people like Brassington and Jagdeo will be history. They would have saddled this nation with debt, indiscipline, corruption and every conceivable crooked deal in the book – or out of the book.

Huge tracts of the forests have been given out, all of the infrastructural capital works are with Chinese, the minerals are given to the Russians and the rest are owned by the growing empire for which special laws had to be passed to cover illegality.

From the simplest to the most complex, all projects are decided by the PPP alone. The party does not seek any technical help. There is no consultation. The PPP members have effectively muzzled and controlled the private sector and all areas of civil society. The private sector will remain the worst in the world so long as people like Gouveia and Dookhoo remain there. The business sector may never realize how these men sold them out for their personal gains.

While some of these men sat on boards deciding the fate of their fellow businessmen, they themselves won contracts and were given assets to ensure that they were happy.

Gouveia and Dookhoo sit on most of the Government boards that have to do with investment, security and governance. They are part of every shady decision that the Government makes and have themselves been compromised in every conceivable way.

The tombstone of the private sector will be etched with the names of these men who stood with the small elite group of the PPP that is bent on their own gains by selling out Guyana.

What is left for the rest of us?

The public sector jobs are for PPP supporters or the old PNC people who remain stuck in a rut. The new bank is Chinese, the roads are PPP contractors, the seawall is PPP, telecommunication is Chinese, Power is Chinese, Security is Chinese, airport is Chinese, and Television is Chinese. ICT is Chinese – all of it GONE! SOLD!!!

What’s left except the hope to take the next flight out? But then EzJet version 2 is coming and then the airline is GONE. I am not amused.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 11

GWMO assisting Amerindian communities

Amerindian communities involved and surrounded by mining activities are being exposed to additional information on mining and social ills such as Trafficking in Persons, courtesy of the Guyana Women Miners’ Organization (GWMO).

A team headed by Simona Broomes, President of GWMO, recently interacted with miners and residents of Amerindian Communities in 58 Miles Mabura and Demerara River. These outreaches are part of GWMO’s constitution which speaks of enhancing, educating and collaborating with Amerindians.

According to Broomes, the organization has about 42 Amerindian members from the various Administrative Regions. They are exposed to the same protection and opportunities offered by GWMO. In fact, GWMO comprises members of all ethnicities and has zero tolerance for discrimination,

she emphasized.

The task is large and the organization cannot propel change alone so it is looking to collaborate with Amerindian organizations.

GWMO is in talks with the Amerindian People’s Association (APA).

GWMO’s goal is to educate Amerindians on topical issues such as Human Immuno Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), Tuberculosis (TB), Trafficking in Persons and Child Labour.

Broomes related that interactions with Amerindians in remote communities reveal that they have limited access to pertinent information that could save and improve lives.

She explained that in Region One some residents were unaware that there are laws governing Child Labour. In addition, persons were unaware that a person could be prosecuted for Trafficking in Persons.

According to Broomes,

GWMO will be advocating for better telecommunications in Amerindian communities.

She said that in this informed age messages transmitting from one remote area may take days because of the absence of telephones and internet.

Provision of adequate healthcare in remote communities is also a concern of GWMO. There needs to be river ambulances and health centres equipped with speedboats for emergencies.

She said that recently two captains were tasked with transporting a woman in labour to a health centre.

Their hectic journey began in Bartica and ended at Parika where she finally got help.

Apparently, all the health posts along the way were closed though it was a little after 15:00 hrs. Broomes stressed that this should not be the situation in those areas since the population in Amerindian communities is increasing.

She added that mines

Illegal miners ignore GGMC Cease Work Order in Potaro River

The dragger operating on the bank of the Potaro River Even after a Cease Work Order was issued by Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), late January, a dragger (a large Brazilian dredge) continues to operate on a bank of the Potaro River destroying the environment.

Miners within the Region Eight district are calling on the GGMC to remove the dragger from the environment. They also want GGMC to investigate why the Mines Officer in Mahdia is not aggressive in halting the illegal operations.

According to a miner, this dredge is only supposed to operate in the river. “By working inland they are breaking the environment laws. Several reports were made to the Mines Officers in Mahdia and nothing is being done to stop this dredge from destroying the banks of the

river,” the miner said.

He noted that even though the Cease Work Order was issued on January 28 the dragger continued to work on the bank of the river, but at nights. It was reported that miners operating the dragger are also dumping trees from the land into the Potaro River.

According to Parmanand Persaud, Stakeholders’ Support Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, investigations were conducted on February 10 and February 13 and did not find any dragger in operation.

However, it is suspected that the dredge would operate within the confines of the buffer zone at nights. GGMC is taking steps to remove dredges that are operating in proximity of the Buffer Zone to avoid any breaches,

Persaud assured.

According to Persaud, on January 28, acting on information that a river dredge was operating within the Potaro River buffer zone an investigation was carried out and the Cease Work Order was issued to the said dredge.

“Additionally, the GGMC seized an engine left unattended by persons allegedly operating on the landing in proximity to the road.” Persaud said that the only evidence of previous operation within the buffer zone of the Potaro River area was the portion of land that was issued the Cease Work Order on January 28.

He assured that GGMC is currently expanding its monitoring and compliance of mining operations in the various mining districts to complement the rapid growth of the mining sector.

offices in the Regions should be equipped to provide similar services that are offered at the head office in Georgetown.

Some miners, especially those that are now being established do not always

have money to travel to town as such simple services such as map reading should be available at any mines office.

In light of the gold mining sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic

Product, mines offices should be conducive to business transactions. For instance, the Puruni Mines Office needs to be manned by managers and have proper facilities to accommodate miners.

A pensioner died early yesterday morning in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) hours after he was struck by a minibus at the Anna Catherina Public Road, West Coast Demerara.

Dead is 61-year-old Tikaram Kalika of 35 Anna Catherina. According to a police statement, the father of four was riding a bicycle along

the roadway, when it is alleged that he suddenly turned across the road and was struck down by the privately owned minibus.

The driver of the minibus is in custody at the Leonora Police Station.

According to the dead m a n ’s n e p h e w, Vi c k i e Ramesar, his uncle left home to go purchase some household items at the shop when they received a

call, minutes l a t e r, informing them about the accident.

He was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital and was then transferred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital before being taken to the GPHC. Upon arriving at the city’s hospital, the pensioner underwent surgery and was immediately put on life support machine in the ICU.

colourful road party in true Guyanese style.

Families took up their spots along Merriman Mall with their beverage coolers and food baskets. They erected several makeshift tents to keep out the blazing sun and to get a glimpse of the parade.

Bar-b-Que grills breathed smoke at almost every block.

This proved to be a big sale day for food and beverage stalls. Mashramani is the celebration of Guyana’s attainment of Republican status. And like every year, it is the sweaty gyration of revelers and onlookers that depict the celebrations.

February 23 is celebrated in a carnival-like atmosphere.

Loud music, particularly from the genre of Soca, assailed the ears of those in

the vicinity of the parade which moved from Church Street, onto Vlissingen Road, and into the compound of the National Park.

Digicel and Banks DIH, as usual brought on a massive parade. Although there were threats of a possible shower, the floats were not hampered by the weather, which seemed to have cooperated to make the day worth remembering for some.

If there was one thing different from last year’s celebration, it is the fact that several Government Ministers were not seen accompanying their floats.

And although the parade ended later than many had hoped, the day’s activity could be deemed chockfull of entertainment, glitz and glitter.

Pensioner succumbs hours after accident

2013- Another successful year for Mashramani in Guyana Thousands of locals and foreigners flocked the streets of the capital city as the nation celebrated Guyana’s 43 rd Republic anniversary, under the theme ‘Reflecting Creativity, Embracing Diversity’.

This 2013 theme proved true as Guyanese from all walks of life came out in their numbers. As usual they lined the Mash route and many were the picnic sites. This is the trend each year.

Georgetown came alive with about 30 colourful floats sponsored by the various entities in the public and private sectors.

They included residents of the hinterland communities, beverage companies, phone companies, popular night spots and dance groups.

Yesterday saw, too, a

Page 12

Kaieteur News

March 1 deadline for Chiung Falls mini-hydro bids

Government is planning to build a 330kW hydro project at Kato, Region Nine.

Government is seeking bids to construct the 330-kW Kato micro-hydro project and its related irrigation system on the Chiung River.

Registration is due March 1 for a March 19 bidders meeting and a March 20 mandatory site visit.

Questions must be submitted

by April 2, with bids due April 23.

The European Union provided a US$2.5M loan for the project under the 10th European

Development Fund, with Guyana responsible for covering the remainder of the US$3.23 million project’s costs. Electricity generated by the project primarily, will be used to power the proposed Kato Secondary School and other government buildings.

Guyana’s Ministry of Finance is seeking bids for two lots. Lot 1 will include design and construction of a weir and hydro plant at the

Chiung River falls in Kato, including supply, installation, and commissioning of two turbine-generators for 36 meters of head and flows of 1.16 cubic meters per second.

Kato is in Region Nine.

The second lot will include design and construction of irrigation infrastructure including an irrigation weir, pumping station with 90-kW pumping capacity and four pumps, 1,000 meters of irrigation water feeding pipe, and a

7,600-cubic-meter water storage reservoir.

The Ministry of Finance is handling the process.

Also, financing for a major 165mW in Region Eight at Amaila Falls is at present being worked out by the Guyana government.

With a significant portion of its foreign currencies being used to purchase fuel for power, hydro-electric power has been on the front burner for a number of years now in Guyana.

Sunday February 24, 2013

GT&T still enjoys stay in Samuels case On Friday, Justice B.S. Roy heard arguments from counsel for Mr. James Samuels and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) regarding procedural issues arising from GT&T’s appeal of Justice Rishi Persaud’s decision in June, 2012 regarding Mr. Samuels’ contract dispute with GT&T. Justice Roy rejected GT&T’s request for a stay pending appeal, but issued a further interim stay for two weeks to permit GT&T to appeal his decision to the Full Bench of the Court of Appeals hearing the Samuels matter.

The telephone company says that it intends to file an appeal of Justice Roy’s decision early next week. Until then, Justice Persaud’s decision in the Samuels case will continue to be stayed for two weeks.

“As a result, there has been no change at this time in the status quo regarding this matter, which is that the Samuels’ decision from last year has been and remains stayed.” “Nothing that occurred during Friday’s hearing would permit any telecommunications operator in Guyana to begin providing service without a licence,” GT&T stated.

Previous efforts by Digicel to provide international calling services without a licence, and in violation of PUC regulations, resulted in an injunction which remains in place today.

“GT&T remains confident that the Guyana courts will issue a correct ruling on the matter of its licence rights, which were not directly involved in Mr. Samuels’ contract dispute with GT&T,” the telephone company stated.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Senior citizens feted as part of Republic celebrations

Some of the senior citizens who were treated Several senior citizens around Berbice were treated to a scrumptious three-course lunch under the auspices of the Region Six Administration and Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated (BBCCI).

The initiative was part of Mash activities aimed at giving back to senior folks who would have played their part in the development of the nation, especially as it underwent the Republican

status change several decades ago.

Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Imran Ally, stated that Guyana’s republican status came on the heels on the contributions and inputs of all our citizens, “particularly all of you, because I am certain that while you were employed, you had contributed to a sector and in your own way, too, your fight and courage

is what left the struggle for us to have attained Republican status.

“We are cognizant to that and this is our way of saying thank you and showing that respect for what you would have done, so that we, could have, as a people, attained that liberty and freedom that we enjoy today”.

Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, in

addressing the seniors, said that it is the intention of the country to remember those who have contributed to the development of the country and region.

“We recognize the efforts and contributions you have made to Guyana and to Berbice, so we need to be very, very thankful to you. It is not very often we get an opportunity to bring you all together to say thank you”.

Tricksters preying on Brazilian miners in City - Brazilian association wants Gov’t to arrest situation Foreign nationals, particularly Brazilians in Guyana, are being hoodwinked by persons purporting to be Immigration Officers. Those who fall prey sometimes see themselves before the Courts, says Antonio Szala, of the Brazilian Mining and General Association.

The association is requesting that Government arrest this unfavourable situation that is frustrating Brazilian miners who are investing heavily in Guyana’s economy. Cognizant that some Brazilians may cross the border without requisite documentation, Szala said that there are legitimate cases where Brazilians are conned into believing that their passports need to be stamped.

Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, in a brief interview with this publication acknowledged this situation and said that it is Guyanese who are targeting the

foreigners. He is unaware if there is a dedicated unit dealing with this “bondage” encountered by foreigners.

Dr. Luncheon painted the situation as one of confidence tricksters providing illegal stamps and forged documents to target foreigners. He said that a lot of people are sneaking into the country illegally and that makes them vulnerable. They are willing to do anything, even pay large sums, to regularize their status, he added.

However, Szala is painting another picture. He said that three known individuals- a former policeman, a former Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Officer, and another man- are purporting to be Immigration Officers harassing Brazilians.

According to Szala, a Brazilian national who came into Guyana legally was in Georgetown when one of the three men approached him requesting his passport. The man using a badge purported

to be an Immigration Officer.

The Brazilian presented the passport and was informed that he needed to have his passport stamped and would need to pay a fee of $40,000.

The Brazilian national complied and ended up in jail when the real Immigration Officers at Ogle International Airport saw the forged stamps.

Szala related that the Brazilian was convinced that the stamp was legitimate since the fraudster took him to an Office and stamped his passport.

Szala emphasized that this is not the only trouble Brazilian nationals face in Guyana. He said those involved in Guyana’s mining sector are being harassed by ranks of the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force in mining areas and in the City.

An Officer and four other Ranks of the Guyana Defence Force were detained in relation to their alleged involvement in criminal conduct, reportedly committed in the Cuyuni mining district recently.

A gang of heavily armed rogue soldiers had swooped down on the mining

community of Devil’s Hole in the Cuyuni and beat and robbed several miners of a large quantity of raw gold, using the uniform of the state as a cover for their nefarious activity. A miner had related that the soldiers became even more determined to carry out their mission, and they managed to force the owner of an all-terrain vehicle to transport them to an area where several Brazilian mining operations are taking place. There they allegedly relieved several camps of raw gold before making their way back to their camp.

Meanwhile, last year a Brazilian national was harassed by two ranks. When he went to the Alberttown Police Station, Georgetown, to file a complaint he saw the two ranks in the station. The ranks were apprehended and put before the Court.

According to Szala, Brazilians are being preyed on by these law enforcement officers. The assumption is that Brazilians have money but they are hard working just like Guyanese and should not be subjected to “shake down”.

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GT police set up illegal roadblock on highway, arrested by Timehri ranks They may have been trying to earn some extra money for Mashramani, but three police ranks were unable to participate in yesterday celebrations after being placed under close arrest for setting up an illegal roadblock.

It is alleged that last Monday, the three ranks from Impact Patrol, Brickdam, drove to the East Bank Demerara in a private car.

They then parked in an area near the Soesdyke/Linden Highway and set up a roadblock without permission from their superiors.

But the presence of the private vehicle reportedly aroused the suspicion of some residents.

They surmised that the ranks were in fact bandits dressed as cops and notified ranks at the Timehri Police Station.

A mobile patrol went to the scene and apprehended two of the ranks while the

third fled the scene. He was subsequently arrested.

The trio was under close arrest at the Tactical Services Unit until Friday morning. The matter is now before Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell for determination.

There have been previous reports of policemen setting up illegal roadblocks to solicit money from motorists.

This incident is just the most recent allegation of corruption leveled against police ranks.

Just two weeks ago, a police constable from the Dragon Alpha Squad was accused of stealing a car from an East Bank Demerara auto dealership.

Police found the Toyota Belta parked at the home of a Norton Street man who claimed that the police rank had told him to keep the vehicle.

It is unclear whether any disciplinary action was taken against the policeman.

Dem boys seh...

Kwame want de army major Yesterday was Mash. People was planning since de year start and some of dem even travel from far fuh be in Guyana fuh Mash. Dem had de usual flag raising and de rain skin up its face. Right away people seh that de Man above decide that all dem Minister want a bath and that Guyana want blessing.

People even start fuh worry bout de Mash float but then dem know that once is a sport dem boys know that de sun gun come out. Is only cricket does mek rain fall.

Well when dem boys guh pun de road fuh watch de float dem see de biggest float. Was Brazzy and he two bodyguards.

Is only when he pass that people realize that he don’t need no bodyguard because nobody don’t want to trouble he. Dem want see he in jail.

And it had to be that de rest of dem Minister didn’t have de courage to face de people. Normally dem does walk wid dem float. This year de float been pun dem own because dem Minister shame, especially since dem boys start fuh talk how dem sell out Guyana.

But even before Mash day dem had others who been ketching dem hand. Dem boys hear bout some policeman who lef town and go up de bank and set up roadblock. People get suspicious and de police from de area come out. De town police hustle back to town but dem didn’t get a chance fuh spend wha raise dem mek because dem get lock down.

That is why dem boys always seh that when dem see a roadblock dem does tek out a small change fuh mek peace.

And while de police was dealing wid that dem had to deal wid dem own who didn’t have faith. He kill heself and lef de same wife who he seh giving he headache fuh continue doing wha she doing. Brumell end up saying that just when he think all he troubles done is more old house pun old house.

Kwame got old house pun old house. He tell dem boys that he looking fuh de army major who mek de Canada woman report to de police about destruction of property.

Talk half and help Kwame wid he desire.

Page 14

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Sunday February 24, 2013

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Coping with renal failure...no longer out of the ordinary man’s reach

By Sharmain Grainger Although the symptoms were clear, it was only months later that he was convinced that he had a condition that required urgent medical attention. Having suffered various distressing spells over the years which took a dreadful turn last year, 53year-old Paul Grovesnor was eventually convinced by medical practitioners that he was a victim of renal failure.

Renal failure, also known as kidney failure or renal insufficiency, is a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter waste products from the blood.

Ahead of being diagnosed with the condition, the Sophia, Georgetown resident had on numerous occasions visited several medical institutions, both public and private, and it was at this point that he had in fact learned that he was a diabetic. Little did he know that his condition was becoming worse with each passing day; something that he opted to pay little attention to. “I was feeling ill on an off for about four years straight but I wasn’t really taking it serious,” Grovesnor admitted during a recent interview with this publication.

The contractor by profession was however forced to seriously confront his condition after he became severely unwell while engaged in a job at the RUSAL company in Kwakwani, Region 10.

He explained that “I just get sick; I start swelling up and I couldn’t sleep at nights; I was getting short breath and all kind of things start happening to me.”

Grovesnor recalled that his extreme ailment came on at a time when there was unrest in Linden, thus he was unable to travel to the city to gain needful medical attention. As a result he was forced to spend six devastating weeks in Kwakwani “just sitting and hoping that I get a chance to come down to see a doctor.”

As soon as the way was cleared for him to travel, Grovesnor said that he headed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where his condition warranted that he be immediately admitted. He was required to have a catheter implanted in the upper left section of his chest in order to allow for the proper filtering of his blood.

According to scholarly medical papers published by the American Diabetes Association, diabetes can damage the kidneys and cause them to fail. Moreover

failing kidneys lose their ability to filter out waste products, resulting in kidney disease. When our bodies digest the protein we eat, the process creates waste products. In the kidneys, millions of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) with even tinier holes in them act as filters. As blood flows through the blood vessels, small molecules such as waste products squeeze through the holes. These waste products become part of the urine and useful substances, such as protein and red blood cells, are too big to pass through the holes in the filter and stay in the blood.

Diabetes therefore can damage this system causing high levels of blood sugar and make the kidneys filter too much blood. All this extra work is said to be hard on the filters and after a few years, they start to leak and useful protein is lost in the urine.

Having small amounts of protein in the urine is called microalbuminuria and larger amounts of protein in the urine is called macroalbuminuria.

Medical experts have been able to deduce that when kidney disease is diagnosed early, (during microalbuminuria), several treatments may keep kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease is caught later (during macroalbuminuria), end-stage renal disease usually follows.

In the past there was little to no hope for patients after being diagnosed with renal failure in Guyana, but today there is greater scope for high-quality treatment even for those who can be considered the less fortunate.

This advent has been realised through the renal care service offered by the Annandale, East Coast Demerara, Doobay Renal Centre which opened its doors in September of 2011.

In fact it was this very facility that Grovesnor was referred after he was discharged from the public hospital. “They (GPHC officials) link me with this clinic to continue dialysis,” he related even as he disclosed that the service offered there is very satisfying. He is required to be dialysed three times per week, a process that currently cost $9,000 per session, an amount which is reportedly the lowest offered in Guyana.

However, according to Founder of the not for profit Renal Centre, Dr Budhendranauth Doobay, his objective is to see that the cost of dialysis be lowered even further. He claims that the facility was created with a

view of ensuring that quality service was made available to individuals from any stratum of the society.

According to the vascular surgeon, the Renal Centre idea matured after a conversation with the now Chief Executive Officer of the facility, Mr Vic Oudit, who informed that so costly had been renal failure treatment that some persons were forced to mortgage their homes and even cattle to make requisite payment, hence the need to introduce affordable yet quality health care in this regard.

However, the service offered at the Renal Centre has defied expectations whereby patients are afforded a procedure called Arteriovenous (AV) fistula, which is recognised as the gold standard hemodialysis access. Although very costly, the procedure is done free of cost, effectively doing away with the catheter which can become infected and allowing for a safer, neater and cleaner method of dialysis.

Grovesnor along with a few other patients were just last week offered this procedure

by Dr Doobay himself.

Added to the regular treatment for his condition, Grovesnor, like other renal patients, is expected to adhere to strict diet if he is to maintain a healthy condition.

This, according to him, is no easy task, but one that he intends to fully embrace in order to further improve his health and hopefully by extension help to extend his lifespan.

“I’m trying to stay away from certain foods and I am trying the hardest to stay away from red meat and I do a little bit of exercise too,” said the husband and father of three as he considered his journey since joining the Doobay Renal Centre some five months ago.

According to Dr Doobay, one of the key areas of helping to prevent conditions that can ultimately lead to renal failure is in fact that of diet. It is for this reason, he said, that the Renal Centre has as part of its programme sensitisation sessions which keeps patients as well as their family members the importance of eating the right types of foods. He however noted that it is evident that refraining from certain foods is a major challenge to many.

“They should not eat salt, but they are still eating the salt, people are still eating too much carbohydrates and they have to control their sugars...people are still doing the things we tell them not to do. We can only teach them and advise them, it is up to them to adhere,” Dr Doobay

Renal failure patient Paul Grovesnor, during a visit to the Doobay Renal Centre asserted. He added too that although the Doobay Renal Centre has been able to help address the renal failure challenge in Guyana, there is still evidence to suggest that “we are under-dialysed in this country. We should have 100 patients on dialysis since there is one patient per 1,000...so if there are 700,000 people we should have 700

people on dialysis.”

At the moment there are just about 40 patients on dialysis at the East Coast Renal Centre, several of whom were receiving treatment at other facilities before learning of the reduced treatment available. “We should have 100 patients on dialysis.

What about the people in Pomeroon, Bartica,

Essequibo and Skeldon?” questioned Dr Doobay.

Nevertheless he is very confident that the facility has been and will continue to be able to make an immense impact as it relates to helping to bolster health care in Guyana so that patients the likes of Paul Grovesnor can gain needful affordable treatment.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Doobay Renal Centre expansion to target non-communicable diseases - even as Health Ministry intensifies fight Although good health care is not lacking in Guyana, ambitious plans are in the pipelines to introduce a health facility which caters to the treatment of a wide range of non-communicable diseases at a greatly subsided cost.

It is hoped that even patients who are unable to afford good quality medical care can access the facility which is intended to represent an expansion of the service offered by the Doobay Renal Centre at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.

Speaking to media operatives earlier this week, founder of the f a c i l i t y, C a n a d a - b a s e d Va s c u l a r S u rg e o n , D r Budhendranauth Doobay, said that “we want to expand our facility to make it a little hospital here so that we can give affordable care to all Guyanese.”

With specific focus on diabetes, hypertension, stroke and heart diseases, Dr Doobay is confident that the lives of many Guyanese can be saved as all of these conditions can be treated allowing for a better quality of life. He expressed the view that many Guyanese when diagnosed with a heart condition, for instance, can illafford to spend a great deal of money to access the required treatment.

“When a Guyanese suffers from any of these conditions they either have to go and die or pay the very high cost...these require very expensive medical management,” the Vascular Surgeon who has been

The Doobay Renal Centre

Dr Budhendranauth Doobay treating patients with renal failure at the East Coast Demerara facility at arguably the lowest cost in the country.

The renal failure care offered there is supported by expert medical practitioners at the McMaster Medical Centre in Canada who offer their service on a voluntary basis.

“I am hoping that it would be possible for us to get this facility that will be opened to everybody across the country...Even if they don’t have money they must have proper medical care,” stated a very confident Dr Doobay.

Financing for the proposed facility, according to him, will be exclusively through fundraising activities and donations from benefactors some from right here in Guyana and overseas too. In fact, it is on this basis that the operation of the clinic has been premised since it opened its doors during the latter part of 2011.

“We get quite a bit from people; we have our own set of benefactors right here and

many others who are helping us out,” Dr Doobay disclosed.

It is however his hope that the efforts to make available an expanded facility to the Guyanese populace that Government will make available subsidies. Once subsidies are made available, particularly for items, such as filters and lines, to facilitate the ongoing dialysis treatment, Dr Doobay is optimistic that the service which is offered at $9,000 per session could be greatly reduced.

“This is what I am h o p i n g f o r. T h i s i s m y objective...but at the moment we are begging for money in Canada and we are begging for money here that is the only way we can do it right now...”

The Doobay Renal Centre since its commencement has been seeking to work in close collaboration with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and has even performed a few of its operations on renal failure patients there.

In its attempt to bolster the relation Dr Doobay disclosed that a total of four (dialysis) machines were donated to the hospital which allowed for the commencement of a dialysis clinic there. It is expected that further collaboration will be realised whereby subsidies and tax breaks will be afforded the Centre.

The expansion plans at the Doobay Centre are being pursued in earnest even as a bold stance is being taken by the Ministry of Health to place high on its agenda plans to address NonCommunicable Diseases (NCDs).

According to Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, during an interview with this publication, this strategic move is aimed at addressing the various forms of cancers, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic pulmonary diseases as well as cataract. He disclosed too that the threats that support or promote these diseases will also be amplified as part of the health sector’s

mission to bring health “right down to the community level.”

Minister Ramsaran pointed to the fact that NCDs are usually fostered by the abuse of alcohol, tobacco smoking, sedentary (inactive lifestyles), and bad food choices such as those laden with fat, salt and sugar.

NCD is in fact a medical condition or disease which by definition is noninfectious and nontransmissible between persons. They maybe chronic diseases of long duration and slow progression or they may result in more rapid death and can even lead to sudden stroke.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has outlined that in order to reduce the exposure of populations and individuals to the risk factors for NCDs, there is a dire need for different factions of the society to be considered for action.

Schools, households and communities could play a crucial role, WHO has

highlighted, even as health financing is sustained by innovative approaches such as earmarking revenue from alcohol and tobacco taxes.

Policy implementations measures needful to address NCDs could include the protection of people from tobacco smoke, the enforcement of bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; raising of taxes on tobacco and alcohol and restricted access to retailed alcohol and enforcing bans on advertising, according to WHO. Further still, it has been listed as crucial to promote public awareness about salt intake and salt content of food, the replacement of trans-fat in food with polyunsaturated fat and the promotion of public awareness about diet and physical activity.

It was against this very background that Minister Ramsaran said that “my Ministry is putting on the front burner the fight against the epidemic of NCDs.”

Sunday February 24, 2013

By Ralph Seeram “Jamaica is a beautiful country man; but you have to come see yourself” my fellow passenger seated next to me was telling the other person at the other end of the phone in typical Jamaican accent. So began my trip to Jamaica last week on Caribbean Airlines.

There is nothing more annoying on an airplane then someone chatting away loudly on a cell phone. The plane attendants had already given instruction to turn off cell phones but she kept chatting away on the virtues of Jamaica.

When I am flying, the first thing I want to do is get some “shut eye” and I was beginning to get the feeling this was not going to happen.

Have you ever travelled on a plane trying to sleep next to someone who wants to talk?

I was beginning to feel that this was not going to be a pleasant two-hour flight. I made sure our eyes did not meet to give her an opening

Kaieteur News

to start a conversation.

Oh and another thing airlines should really charge for two seats, passengers whose rear end, arms and shoulders cannot be confined within their seats.

On checking in at Orlando the ticketing clerk made a fuss over my carry-on being overweight by just five pounds, but allowed this woman who was at least 100lbs overweight and occupied my space. Airlines are very fussy about weight.

I can see in the future airlines charging passengers by weight instead of per seat. I will have no problem with that, I can see myself paying half the fare of the woman next to me. After all, I am less than 130lbs.

Fortunately for me she dozed away for the rest of the flight. In Jamaica I tried to engage people in conversation to get the feel of the country, read the newspapers get an idea of the politics etc. The thing that is occupying the minds of Jamaicans is the IMF

imposition of some strict if not drastic conditions in order to rescue the Jamaican economy.

Unlike Guyana’s the Jamaican economy is very unhealthy; to put it mildly, no way close the healthy economy Guyana enjoys at the moment. As one political figure put it Jamaicans will have to take “bitter medicine”.

One of my observations was that Jamaicans are very proud of their country despite all its economic problems.

Unlike Guyanese who “moan and bitch” about everything bad about the country, and sometimes do not appear to be proud of being Guyanese, Jamaicans are the opposite.

They take their problems in stride with a sense of reality.

Let me cite what may look insignificant but means a lot.

I was purchasing some items in Jamaica. The clerk saw the rubber band I had holding some documents burst. He quickly brought some rubber bands for me.

They were coloured rubber bands, and then I realized they were the colour of the Jamaican flag. That’s patriotism there.

Even the business community displays its support for the Government in tackling the economic situation to confirm with the

IMF rules. For instance, the IMF demanded that the Jamaican Government renegotiate its loans, bonds with the private sector.

Let me give you an idea of how loyal and cooperative to their Country the private sector in Jamaica is. Three years ago the Jamaican government entered into an agreement with the IMF to reform the economy. Part of the package was that the local bond holders renegotiate their loans and bond with a view to cutting the interest rate returns.

The business community cooperated. However the then Jamaican government did not live up to the agreement and the agreement floundered. Fast forward three years, the Jamaican economy is almost bankrupt, and the new Jamaican government has turned to the IMF again. One of the requirements again was for local investors take in cut in interest rate for the money the government has borrowed.

Again the Jamaican private sector has responded, I am talking here of billions of dollars. Some banks pointed out that they just made sacrifices three years ago and are being asked again to make painful sacrifices.

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Never the less, they responded. At last count over 98 per cent of the banks agreed to take a cut in the interest rate in order to help the Jamaican economy. Can you imagine if the Guyana government, as the business community did, was to make such a sacrifice? You would never hear the end of it.

But back to my trip, some of you Guyanese who think you are badly off should visit Jamaica. If you think the worst you have is a “plastic city” you should see the one in Jamaica. But don’t get me wrong, there are the mansions on the hills.

My host who lived below the mountains gave me a tour of the enclaves of the rich and you wonder how can there be such a disparity between the rich and poor. Not that it’s not in Guyana, but I think it is on a much grander scale in Jamaica.

My host also has been speaking about the paradise Jamaica is. In my short stay I have not heard one Jamaican “bad talk” the country. They may criticize the government, but are loyal to their country.

I come to Guyana and find some people have no sense of patriotism. I must confess that I find the cost of living to be lower than Guyana,

especially food items as well as imported products. The business environment is very competitive and major US companies as well as Latin American conglomerates have established themselves there.

Oh and by the way, while the Guyana government is embroiled defending the Marriott deal and keeping out the Guyana labor force, I was travelling on one of the roads the Chinese built in Jamaica, which I pointed out to my host, who with a sarcastic smile “what road”.

He then went on to tell me of the inferior quality of the road. So much for skill of the Chinese.

Of course the Skeldon sugar factory is a perfect example of how skilled the Chinese are— three years running and it still needs fixing.

I mentioned the fact that the Chinese did not employ any Guyanese at the Marriott construction site; he was amazed that this could happen. Asked if this could have happened in Jamaica he replied, “Nah, no way man.

We soon run dem out the country.”

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com

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Sunday February 24, 2013

Vatican blasts ‘false’ pre-conclave reporting VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican lashed yesterday at the media for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election.

Italian newspapers have been rife with unsourced reports in recent days about the contents of a secret dossier prepared for the pope by three cardinals who investigated the origins of the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents.

The reports have suggested the revelations in the dossier, given to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign. The pope himself has said merely that he doesn’t have the “strength of mind and body” to carry on and would resign Feb. 28.

Yesterday, a day before Benedict’s final Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican secretariat of state said the Catholic Church has for centuries insisted on the independence of its cardinals to freely elect their pope — a reference to

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI, right, delivers his message concluding a weeklong spiritual retreat, at the Vatican, yesterday. (AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano, ho) episodes in the past when kings and emperors vetoed papal contenders or prevented cardinals from voting outright. “If in the past, the so-called powers, i.e., States, exerted pressures on the election of the pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion that is often based on

judgments that do not typically capture the spiritual aspect of the moment that the church is living,” the statement said.

“It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave ... that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or

completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions.”

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi was asked how specifically the media was trying to influence the outcome; Lombardi didn’t respond directly, saying only that the reports have tended to paint the Curia in a negative light “beyond the considerations and serene evaluations” of problems that cardinals might discuss before the conclave.

Some Vatican watchers have speculated that because the Vatican bureaucracy is heavily Italian, cardinals might be persuaded to elect a non-Italian, non-Vaticanbased cardinal as pope to try to impose some reform on the Curia.

While Lombardi has said

the reports “do not correspond to reality,” the pope and some of his closest collaborators have recently denounced the dysfunction in the Apostolic Palace.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, for example, criticized the “divisions, dissent, careerism, jealousies” that afflict the Vatican bureaucracy. He made the comments Friday, the penultimate day of the Vatican’s weeklong spiritual exercises that were attended by the pope and other officials.

Ravasi, himself a papal contender, was chosen by Benedict to deliver daily meditations and on Saturday Benedict praised him for his “brilliant” work.

The divisions Ravasi spoke of were exposed by the documents taken from the pope’s study by his butler

and then leaked by a journalist. The documents revealed the petty wrangling, corruption and cronyism and even allegations of a gay plot at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.

The three cardinals who investigated the theft had wide-ranging powers to interview even cardinals to get to the bottom of the dynamics within the Curia that resulted in the gravest Vatican security breach in modern times. Benedict too has made reference to the divisions in recent days, deploring in his final Mass as pope on Ash Wednesday how the church is often “defiled” by attacks and divisions from within. Last Sunday, he urged its members to overcome “pride and egoism.”On Saturday, in his final comments to the Curia, Benedict lamented the “evil, suffering and corruption” that have defaced God’s creation. But he also thanked the Vatican bureaucrats for having helped him “bear the burden” of his ministry with their work, love and faith these past eight years. The Vatican’s attack on the media echoed its response to previous scandals, where it has tended not to address the underlying content of accusations, but has diverted attention away. During the 2010 explosion of sex abuse scandals, the Vatican accused the media of trying to attack the pope; during the 2012 leaks scandal, it accused the media of sensationalism without addressing the content of the leaked documents.

Merkel backs new EU talks for Turkey but has doubts BERLIN (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she favored new talks to revive Turkey’s stalled European Union membership bid, following warnings by the Turkish prime minister its halfcentury wait was “unforgivable”.

Yet Merkel, who favors a “privileged partnership” for Turkey in place of full EU membership, stressed the outcome of Ankara’s talks with Brussels should be open, and she remained skeptical about whether Turkey should join.

Turkey has complained bitterly over Berlin’s lack of support for its EU hopes, and has accused the EU of double-standards in conducting negotiations without full membership in mind.

Merkel made her

Angela Merkel comments in her regular weekly video message, a day before she sets off on a twoday visit to Turkey.

Her defense minister visited German patriot missile batteries in Turkey, a fellow NATO member, yesterday.

Socialist French President Francois Hollande said last week he was ready to unblock talks on the “chapter” or policy area dealing with help for EU

regions. His conservative predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, strongly opposed Turkey’s EU aspirations.

“I think a long negotiating path lies ahead of us. Although I am skeptical, I agreed with the continuation of membership discussions.

We are engaging in these with an open result,” Merkel said.

“In recent times, negotiations stalled somewhat and I am in favor of opening a new chapter in order to move forward.”

Turkey’s EU accession bid, launched in 2005, all but ground to a halt over an intractable dispute over the divided island of Cyprus, an EU member, and opposition from Paris and Berlin.

Turkey has completed only one of 35 policy “chapters” every accession candidate must conclude.

Sunday February 24, 2013

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Iran announces uranium finds, days before nuclear talks DUBAI (Reuters) - Days before resuming talks over its disputed atomic program, Iran said yesterday it had found significant new deposits of raw uranium and identified sites for 16 more nuclear power stations.

State news agency IRNA quoted a report by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) which said the reserves were discovered in northern and southern coastal areas and had trebled the amount outlined in previous estimates.

There was no independent confirmation.

With few uranium mines of its own, Western experts had previously thought that Iran might be close to exhausting its supply of raw uranium.

“We have discovered new sources of uranium in the country and we will put

them to use in the near future,” Fereydoun AbbasiDavani, head of the AEOI, was quoted as saying at Iran’s annual nuclear industry conference.

The timing of the announcement suggested Iran, by talking up its reserves and nuclear ambitions, may hope to strengthen its negotiating hand at talks in Kazakhstan on Tuesday with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Diplomats say the six powers, known as the P5+1, are set to offer Iran some relief from international sanctions if it agrees to curb its production of higher-grade enriched uranium.

The West says Iran’s enrichment of uranium to a fissile purity of 20 percent demonstrates its intent to

develop a nuclear weapons capability, an allegation the Islamic republic denies.

The enriched uranium required for use in nuclear reactors or weapons is produced in centrifuges that spin uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) at high speeds. The UF6 is derived from yellow cake, a concentrate from uranium ore discovered in mines. Iran’s reserves of raw uranium now stood at around 4,400 tonnes, taking into account discoveries over the past 18 months, IRNA quoted the report as saying.

In another sign that Iran is intent on pushing forward with its nuclear ambitions, the report also said 16 sites had been identified for the construction of nuclear power stations.

It did not specify the exact

Egyptian opposition politician demands election boycott CAIRO (Reuters) - An opposition leader called yesterday for Egyptians to boycott elections due to start in April, saying the process under Islamist President Mohamed Mursi would be “an act of deception”.

Islamists, who have won every election since the 2011 overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, dismissed any suggestion that the parliamentary polls would lack credibility and predicted a strong turnout.

While divisions between the Islamists and opposition remain deep, Mursi appeared ready to soothe anger among the Christian minority over the election schedule. The speaker of Egypt’s upper house said Mursi would change the dates to avoid Coptic Christians having to vote during their Easter celebrations.

Mursi called the lower house elections on Thursday, aiming to conclude Egypt’s turbulent transition to democracy.

However, liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei drew comparisons with the last parliamentary polls to be held under Mubarak in 2010, a vote which was widely seen as rigged.

ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear agency chief, noted he had called for a boycott in 2010 “to expose sham democracy”.

“Today I repeat my call, (I) will not be part of an act of deception,” he said on his Twitter account.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Mursi, rejected any call to boycott the voting which has been scheduled in

Mohamed ElBaradei four stages from April 27 to June. Essam Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said the polls would be carried out under “complete judicial supervision” as well as being followed by Egyptian, regional and international media.

Voting would be monitored by Egyptian and foreign civil society and human rights organisations, he said on his Facebook page, adding that he expected wide participation.

Egyptian elections have been supervised by judges since the revolution. The relatively small numbers of judges have required the drawn-out process, allowing them to oversee voting in different regions on different days.

The opposition says Mursi should not have called the elections until a number of disputes had been settled, chiefly a new constitution produced by an Islamistdominated assembly which contributed to serious street violence last year.

Mursi’s announcement of the dates drew fire from Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, as the schedule would interfere with their Easter festival.

Ahmed Fahmy, the speaker of the Shura Council, said Mursi would respond to these worries. “The president answered the requests of the Coptic members and will issue a statement changing the dates of the elections,” he told lawmakers.

The state news agency MENA quoted a presidential aide as saying a statement on new dates would be issued “within hours”.

Islamists have used wellorganised campaign operations to win every election since the revolution, while the liberal and leftist opposition has been beset by divisions.

Previous opposition boycott threats have failed to materialize.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), which groups a number of parties opposed to the Islamists including ElBaradei’s, is due to decide in the coming week whether to join a boycott.

“This is Dr. ElBaradei’s own position and own opinion,” said NSF spokesman Khaled Dawood, but he added that other NSF leaders were sympathetic to the idea of a boycott.

“This is yet another individual move by the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mursi, establishing facts on the ground and then asking you to basically go with the rules of the game they’ve set on their own,” he said.

locations but said they included coastal areas of the Gulf, Sea of Oman, Khuzestan province and the Caspian Sea. Iranian authorities have long announced their desire to build more nuclear power plants for electricity production. Only one currently exists, in the southern city of Bushehr, and that has suffered several shutdowns in recent months.

The announcements could further complicate the search for a breakthrough in Kazakhstan, after three unsuccessful rounds of talks between the two sides in 2012.

“We are meeting all of our obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and we should be able to benefit from our rights. We don’t accept more responsibilities and less rights,” Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, was quoted as telling Saturday’s conference.

In what Washington has called a provocative move, Iran is also installing new-

generation centrifuges, capable of producing enriched uranium much faster, at a site in Natanz in the centre of the country.

Western diplomats say the P5+1 will reiterate demands for the suspension of uranium enrichment to a purity of 20 percent, the closure of Iran’s Fordow enrichment plant, increased access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and agreement to address concerns on existing uranium stockpiles.

In return, the latest embargoes on gold and metals trading with Iran would be lifted. Iran has criticized the offer and says its rights need to be fully recognized.

“If the P5+1 group wants to start constructive talks with Tehran it needs to present a valid proposal,” said Jalili. “It needs to put its past errors to one side ... to win the trust of the Iranian nation.”

In a statement issued before the Iranian

Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani announcement, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the sixpower group wanted to enter a ‘substantial negotiation process’ over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“The talks in Almaty are a chance which I hope Iran takes,” he said.

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Sunday February 24, 2013

UK downgrade pressures reluctant Osborne to change course LONDON (Reuters) Britain’s finance minister insisted yesterday he would not change course after the loss of the country’s ‘AAA’ credit rating but George Osborne is facing pressure to do just that as his bet on austerity falters ahead of the 2015 election.

Moody’s dealt Britain its first sovereign rating downgrade on Friday, saying the $2.5 trillion economy faced years more sluggish growth and debt would continue to rise until 2016.

Economically the onenotch cut will have limited importance — most of Europe, Japan and the United States have already suffered the same fate and Britain continues to borrow at historically low rates.

But politically it is toxic for Osborne who has repeatedly vowed to protect the top credit rating since the 2010 election campaign. The downgrade exposes him to opponents who say his failure to deliver economic growth is driving Prime Minister David Cameron towards electoral defeat.

Osborne said yesterday the move by Moody’s showed he was right to focus

George Osborne on restoring Britain to fiscal health, arguing that only by doing that will the conditions for growth be restored.

“I am absolutely determined to make sure we deal with our problems, to make sure that Britain stays the course, to make sure that it doesn’t take from this credit rating the wrong message which is we should go and borrow a lot more,” the 41year-old Chancellor of the Exchequer said.

“I’m absolutely clear we’re not going to do that.”

For investors, the

downgrade underscores Britain’s predicament: a debtridden, stagnating economy which has kept bond yields low in large part thanks to the Bank of England becoming the world’s biggest investor in UK government debt by buying it with newly printed money.

“Osborne no longer has any place to hide or anyone to blame,” said David Blanchflower, who served on the Bank of England’s interest rate setting committee from 2006 to 2009.

He said the minister should “stand up, be a man and accept responsibility for the worst recovery in 100 years” and, in a message on Twitter, suggested a swift cut to value-added tax, a labor tax holiday for workers under 25 and incentives for investment and hiring to kick start growth.

Osborne can take comfort from Moody’s confidence that his austerity plan would eventually “reverse the UK’s debt trajectory”.

A Treasury official noted Moody’s had given the UK’s credit rating a stable outlook, meaning little chance of a further downgrade in the next 12-18 months. When the United States and France were

downgraded, their outlooks remained negative.

But whether growth will return forcefully long enough before the 2015 election to allow voters to appreciate it is now highly uncertain.

Sterling fell by almost a cent to around $1.5160 after the downgrade, just off Thursday’s fresh 2-1/2-year low. Analysts said they expected it to fall further on Monday.

Some of the Conservatives’ Liberal Democrat coalition partners questioned the political judgment of attaching so much importance to Britain’s AAA rating.

“This is a self-inflicted injury for George Osborne,” said Matthew Oakeshott, a former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman. “To be fair, he was very green in 2009 ... He foolishly erected tripleA status as a virility symbol.”

Cameron, who led his Conservative Party back to office as part of a coalition government after 13 years out of power, risks another year of stagnation and giving his opponents and open goal to aim at.

The Labor Party - which left the biggest peacetime

deficit when it lost the 2010 election - called for Osborne’s head.

“The medicine is not working so the Chancellor says increase the dose - that’s crazy economics. It is like an 18th-century doctor bleeding a patient as they get sicker and sicker,” said Ed Balls, the party’s main spokesman on finance issues.

But people close to Britain’s most powerful two politicians say they are completely aligned. Osborne led Cameron’s bid for leadership of the Conservatives and ran the 2010 election campaign.

There is little or no chance of him being sacrificed or being forced into a humiliating policy U-turn which would wreck his career.

“Osborne has lots of critics, both inside and outside the party, who are now going to be emboldened by this, but there is no coherent alternative,” said Tim Montgomerie, editor of the influential ConservativeHome website.

Though Labor is about 10 percentage points ahead of Conservative Party in polls, surveys show voters trust Cameron and Osborne more

than Labor ’s leader Ed Miliband.

Osborne originally gambled that by slashing spending, growth rates of between 2 and 3 percent would kick in from 2013.

But with Britain’s banks still recovering from the financial crisis and many of its main trading partners in Europe stuck in recession, his debt targets will be missed. His room for more spending is limited as he tries to avoid pushing up yields on Britain’s 1.29 trillion pounds ($1.97 trillion) of debt.

Wi t h government spending so restricted, many investors’ hopes lie with the Bank of England. Its governor, Mervyn King, this month voted to restart government-bond buying.

Although in the minority, his change of heart suggested the bank may be closer than expected to pursuing more stimulus.

If Osborne slows his debt reduction plans, he could upset bond investors and throw his deficit targets further off course.

“We should stick to the plan,” said Kwasi Kwarteng, a Conservative lawmaker.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Government sacks two legislators after bill fails in the Senate ST. JOHN’S, Antigua CMC – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer says he will dismiss two government legislators who failed to support legislation for his administration’s Citizenship

by Investment Programme that he said would result in significant economic gains for Antigua and Barbuda.

Last Wednesday the legislators sided with the opposition in defeating the bill and in a radio and television broadcast on Friday night, Prime Minister Spencer said “this failure was due to four government senators siding with the Opposition and voted against the Bill in its entirety.

“This action by these four government senators constitutes a fundamental break with government’s policy,” he said, adding “what is worse is that their actions came as a bolt from the sky.

“At no time was I, as head

Baldwin Spencer of government and the mover of the Bill in my capacity as Prime Minister, informed or advised whether formally or informally of their deep and fundamental disagreement that would have led them to kill the bill, and by so doing, pull the rug from under the feet of the government.”

Spencer said as the

person who piloted the legislation he was also “charged with presenting the views of the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda and by extension speaking to the implementation of a declared policy decision of the Government.

“The four Senators who voted with the opposition, in effect voted against their government’s own policy directive. In our Westminster system of government, when government officials can no longer support the policies of government, especially at the parliamentary level, and demonstrate that by voting against a Bill, then the expected and right thing to do is to resign.”

He said the actions of the senators “are the clearest indication and which could only be capable of one interpretation, and that is they defeated a government Bill in the Senate.

New PM warns against expecting all legislators to be named to new Cabinet

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is expected to name his Cabinet over the weekend, but has already told members of his successful New National Party (NNP) that not all of them would be named ministers.

Mitchell led his NNP to a clean sweep of all 15 seats in the February 19 general election and at a victory rally on Friday said at least two of three members will serve as backbenchers in Parliament.

He said the move would ensure that the legislators will

Dr. Keith Mitchell also be given an opportunity to be elected as Deputy

Speaker as well as to serve on various committees including the Public Accounts Committee.

“The regulations require that elected members of Parliament serve on these committee,” Mitchell told supporters as he explained the dilemma of having won all the seats in the election.

He urged supporters of the constituencies who will be directly affected following the swearing in of ministers on March 3 to understand the reason behind the decision.

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Sunday February 24, 2013

PM proposes new laws to fight crime following meeting with heads of security …no bail for guns Trinidad Express - As the Government grapples with the rising murder toll, it is moving “quickly” to bring legislation to deny bail to anyone found with illegal firearms or drugs in any quantity.

Under the current law, there is a three-strikes rule (a person must have three such offences) before the no-bail provision kicks in.

Concerned about the horrifying murders and the apparent spike in the murder toll, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday summoned heads of the Police Service and Army to a meeting at her Parliament office to discuss the crime situation and proposals aimed at addressing it.

After an “intense” meeting, Persad-Bissessar announced that the team had agreed to “increase the visibility” of the joint patrols and road blocks “as of today”.

The country can expect more road blocks, a significant

increase in joint police-army patrols (on foot and vehicular) as well as an increase in air patrols.

“I hope that with the increased visibility we can bring a sense of comfort to our citizenry that there are more personnel out there looking after their interests in terms of protective services,” Persad-Bissessar stated.

In addition, Government would bring “quickly” to the Parliament legislation for making the possession of firearms and the possession of drugs non-bailable offences. The legislation would also change the sentencing for such offences from discretionary to mandatory, she said. “Such legislation should be relatively simple,” she added.

On Thursday night at a press conference at Piarco International Airport shortly after her return from Haiti, the Prime Minister said Government was moving toward the precepting of

(Dwayne Gibbs) to implement such an initiative, and this had slowed down the adoption of this idea. She said the Government had to find creative ways of dealing with the crime situation.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan told the Express he would be taking the note to Cabinet next week for the nobail provision and for the

precepting of soldiers “with police training”.

“I would be treating with this as a matter of urgency,” he said. Noting that there was a three-strikes provision, he said: “That means that three (or more) lives could be lost before you reach the no-bail provision. You can take a life with a firearm. People are terrified and the situation calls

for tough measures. We were treating with the softer (social) side,but you must balance it with tough laws.”

He said Justice Minister Christlyn Moore was working assiduously to put in place the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the Electronic Monitoring Act, the DNA Act and the Act to abolish Preliminary Enquiries.

Government’s most recent initiatives follow the decapitation of ex-prisoner Learie Ceballo, whose head was left on a bar table in La Romaine; the hog-tying, beating and strangulation of 70-year-old grandmother Carmen Ramjattan;and the murder of Mwali Seales, brother of Sgt Michael Seales, secretary of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association.

It also follows the statement by Police Service Commission chairman Ramesh Deosaran that the crime-fighting measures over the past years had failed.

Among those present at the meeting with the Prime Minister were Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, National Security Minister Jack Warner, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, Major General Kenrick Maharaj and Brigadier Anthony PhillipsSpencer.

Trinidad Express - Prime Minister Kamla PersadBiss e s s a r used the authority of her office to pre-empt the statement promised by National Security Minister Jack Warner on the issue of the existence of a revamped Flying Squad in Parliament Friday.

Speaking at Piarco International Airport on her return from Haiti on Thursday night, the Prime Minister said she had asked the minister to provide a “complete report” to her and to the National Security Council (NSC) on the issue. She said pending that report, it would be inappropriate for him to make any statement on the issue.

Asked about Warner’s proposed statement on Thursday night, she said: “I plead ignorance.” PersadBissessar, who chairs the NSC, said after that report is given, then the Government would make a public

pronouncement on the matter, which she noted has been engaging much public attention.

Warner on Wednesday told the media he would be making a full statement on the issue when Parliament met Friday.

The Prime Minister has distanced herself from any decision to revamp the “infamous Flying Squad” and stressed she would not sanction any rogue cops or para-police unit.

Warner and the Flying Squad have been in the spotlight after former squad member retired police inspector Mervyn Cordner claimed the squad was revamped and named the New Flying Squad Investigation Unit (NFSIU).

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said he was disappointed by the Prime Minister’s statement that she had no prior knowledge of the reintroduction of the Flying Squad. Rowley said in an

article dated Wednesday, June 27, 2012, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying she was leaving the issue of the reintroduction of the Flying Squad up to Warner.

“The Prime Minister’s professed indignation at learning that the squad is alleged to be operationalised by the Ministry of National Security is yet another attempt to distance and isolate herself from the frequent unacceptable actions of her Government.

Rather than provide the population with clear and unambiguous, honest responses, what we have been witnessing is each responsible officer demanding some sort of report from his or her subordinate.

“The population deserves answers in this particular instance about what has been done, and will not accept bramble and bluster about what was not signed and who did not know,” he said .

NEW MEASURES: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar greets acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, left, before Friday’s meeting with heads of the Protective Services in the Parliament conference room, Port of Spain International Waterfront Centre. Looking on are National Security Minister Jack Warner, centre, and Major General Kenrick Maharaj.

—Photo: CURTIS CHASE soldiers.

She said there was a reluctance on the part of the former police commissioner

Warner blocked from speaking on Flying Squad

Sunday February 24, 2013

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Sunday February 24, 2013

Proposed location for DHB from Versailles to Houston

SUNDAY SPECIAL GOVT. DISAPPOINTED OVER DELTA’S PLANNED PULLOUT Delta Airlines’ surprise announcement that it was pulling out of the Guyana route has Government puzzled. Not only was the US airline doing well, indications are that it was commanding near full passenger loads, this year racking up its highest percentage…89 per cent, according to a government spokesman.

Its average loads when it started in June 2008 was 77 per cent full on average.

On Saturday last, Minister of Transport, Robeson Benn, in expressing government’s “dismay” at Delta’s announcement that it was discontinuing the Georgetown to New York flights from May, denied that the airline was unhappy over reports that it was pressured after the luggage of former President Bharrat Jagdeo was searched. One newscast suggested that Delta was not pleased after Government intervened after the incident.

Benn said he was not aware of that incident and that neither Delta nor Jagdeo has made any official complaint.

Airline sources are now

saying that Delta could have been upset because it lost all Government business to Caribbean Airlines (CAL), including the transfers of mail and diplomatic pouches.

CAL and Delta were the two only remaining airlines on the lucrative Georgetown/ New York route after Redjet and the EZjet folded last year.

Guyana would remain the biggest market for the Trinidad, government-owned CAL. In December, Government announced it had decided to grant CAL the status of being the country’s flag carrier. This has not yet happened, the official admitted.

GOVT. EYES NEW HARBOUR BRIDGE, TO SPEND US$300M Government is eyeing two locations for the construction of a new reinforced concrete Demerara Harbour Bridge, either from Versailles, West Bank Demerara (WBD) to Houston, East Bank Demerara or from Patentia West Bank Demerara to New Hope, East Bank Demerara. This was revealed

by DHB’s General Manager Rawlston Adams, during his presentation at the recent Public Works Ministry third

Engineering Conference. He said that the preferred location to erect the 2.25 kilometers structure is from Versailles to Houston. The company contracted for this project must have the capacity to design and build.

Though the Public Works Ministry will not design the structure, it has outlined its requirements which include a reinforced concrete bridge with at least four lanes; pedestrian walkways; navigational channel of 100 metres; air draft of 50 metres; and maximum gradient of five percent.

Adams said that because the channel (the deepest part of a river) of the Demerara River is closer to East Bank Demerara the 100-metre navigational channel and 50 metres air draft will be situated there. He further explained that since the bridge will have a maximum gradient of five percent it will pass over the existing East Bank Demerara Public Road to aback of Houston. There it will connect to the Southern Approach Road sending traffic directly into Georgetown.

The Southern Approach Road will be erected east to the East Bank Demerara Public Road connecting to

the Mandela Avenue-Sheriff St. thoroughfare.

MONDAY EDITION BANDITS ROB US-BASED GUYANESE, STAB FIANCÉ Bandits gave a US-based Guyanese a brutal welcome to her homeland, assaulting and robbing her of over $4M in cash and jewellery and stabbing her fiancé at around 02: 30 hrs Sunday.

Jermaine D’andrade, 33, was stabbed twice just below the chest by one of three bandits who invaded his Lot 8, Perry Street, Tucville home shortly after he had picked up his fiancée from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

D’andrade was admitted to hospital but sources said that his wounds were not life threatening.

According to the father of two, he and a friend had just picked up his fianceé at the Airport and as he drove into his yard and was about to disembark the car, two men confronted them, one with a gun and the other with a knife.

“As we were coming out the car, I see these two men (both appeared to be in their twenties) coming towards us.

They were already in the yard.

I didn’t want to take the chance to run because they had a gun,” the 33-year-old man said from his hospital bed. He explained that both men, including one with a kerchief tied across his mouth, began threatening them, while a third bandit came from behind them.

“One of them was pointing the gun to my head and was saying ‘I will give you five minute to answer and tell me where the house key is and the jewellery,’ while the other two were searching the luggage,” D’andrade recalled.

While one of the bandits was stripping the 33-year-old man of his valuables, another one assaulted his fiancée.

BOY, 8, DROWNS IN UNDERGROUND RESERVOIR

An eight-year-old boy, Emmanuel Welch, drowned in an underground reservoir while playing near a sand pit at Sheet Anchor, East Canje, Berbice. His foster mother, Nadira Toolsie, said she had returned from work just after 16:00 hrs but did not see him at home. She enquired and was told that he was playing with friends.

“Me asked my grandchildren and they told me he was at my daughter’s home across the road”.

However, upon checking with her daughter, she was told that the boy had left awhile ago, “and they didn’t know where he gone”.

“So after that, I sent my grandson to look for he and he left and go back at the sand pit and whilst going there, another little boy run come and told me that he (Emmanuel) fall in a tank, so I asked him how he fell in the tank”. The woman then ran to the scene, which was a few houses away, “but somebody tell me he already died so I keep running going and when I reached, I see he …the water was clear so I could see at the bottom”.

TUESDAY EDITION MARRIOTT HOTEL IS A COMPLETE SELLOUT – CHRISTOPHER RAM The former Bharrat Jagdeo government handed the Chinese firm a Marriott Hotel project that essentially sold Guyana and its soul, chartered accountant and attorney, Christopher Ram, has said. “…The contract for the construction of the socalled Marriott Hotel involves selling out Guyana and its soul,” Ram wrote in his Business Week column of the Stabroek News.

The deal smacks of contempt and lawlessness, he added. Ram described the project as a “scheme” that was conceived by Jagdeo after one of his friends failed to buy the Pegasus Hotel.

The deal to build the Marriott was facilitated by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, and Chief Executive Officer of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, he said. Ram grouped the Marriott deal in the same bracket as other projects in which public assets were sold under very questionable circumstances and to questionable people.

Ram pointed to illegal concessions granted to Jagdeo’s best friend Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop, the award of large swathes of forest to Vaitarna of India, and the secret transaction to borrow billions of dollars from the Chinese to build a new airport. He said that the Marriott project resembles the misdeeds of the Queens Atlantic mess, and the wrong doings of the Vaitarna and airport expansion transactions.

CHINESE STATION NEEDS NO LICENCE TO BROADCAST – SAM HINDS Facing tough questions, Government on Monday made an about turn, retracting earlier statements and insisting that China Central Television (CCTV) does not need a licence to operate in Guyana; because it is utilizing a channel assigned to the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN).

According to Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, NCN is merely relaying a feed. But the Parliamentary opposition, Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), both dismissed the explanations as being from a totally “confused” government that is now seeking to correct a gross mistake.

Since the Chinese stateowned television started to (Continued on page 30)

Sunday February 24, 2013

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== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

The Guyana Police Service: Whom does it serve?

Two weeks ago, I went to the police station to uplift a tent the police seized last August from the People’s Parliament on the second day of the occupy movement. I was ushered into the office of Commander Vyphuis. He was in a high-level meeting with his top officers. There were about twelve of them.

Here I was in the same room with the crème de la crème of the Guyana Police Force (oops, Service) and the first thing that came into my mind was to tell these people that the police service was not serving the people of Guyana.

I did just that, but not in my usual abrasive manner.

First, in a light way, I made the point that it was interesting to note that the former Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, died and left a lot of assets including mining concessions. I did ask the question as to how he acquired all that wealth. This is public knowledge, because his relatives are in court over the division of his assets. I did say to the gathering that it is my belief that senior police officers take political direction and that was unprofessional. I now repeat

that allegation.

I pointed out to Mr. Vyphuis that there were three officers sitting there that provide a good name to the police and I pointed to a particular one who had to intervene in a police investigation last year at my request and his conduct was very professional. Here is what happened. I got a call saying that one of my nephews was under arrest at Eve Leary for stealing coconuts from one of the richest men in Guyana and probably the Caribbean. On arrival at Eve Leary, my nephew told me that the employer’s guard had beaten him and two of his friends.

Part of his head was swollen.

I told the officers at Eve Leary that there must be two investigations – one on the supposed coconut theft and the other for assault. They were not interested in the beating allegations. The guards of the rich man were right in the compound and the police were not interested in talking to them. The very guards transported the three men to the Brickdam police station where they were promptly put in the lock up for the rest of the night. The guards were never even

questioned despite my protestations.

The next day I went to see this senior officer and demanded (yes, demanded) that the guards must be brought in for questioning. He agreed. That was the end of the matter. Had they proceeded with the alleged coconut theft, they had to question the guards for criminal violence. But they couldn’t. The police would not have touched the guards of this multi-billionaire. The police in Guyana do not touch the wealthy class. The Guyana Police Service in fact seems to be in the service of the moneyed class. They serve the rich class.

You can call the police every hour of the day to report the most heinous crimes, if they involve people from lesser economic strata and citizens from ordinary districts, the police take a million years to come or they never do. But let a big firm or a wealthy businessman call the station to report embezzlement.

With supersonic speed, a vanload of policemen arrives. You let a huge retail firm complain of theft, the Black Clothes ranks are on the scene immediately looking for the burglars, even

in the rat-infested gutters.

There may be some good men and women in the Guyana Police Force (forget about the stupid name change to “service”) but the police ranks, from constables through traffic ranks through to detectives, right up to superintendents, have terrible bad eggs among them.

The pay is cheap, so the police pay special attention to the needs, demands and complaints of the wealthy classes. It could be rape, murder, violent attack, etc., once the cries do not come from the moneyed stratum,

the police couldn’t be bothered.

The Guyana Police Force does not serve the needs of the society in totality. If you are poor, you are on your own. If you are poor and an allegation is made against you, then prepare to spend time in the lock-up.

I end with a funny story. I made a fuss about not being allowed to park on the parapet next to a fancy business place.

I yelled out that I was going to the police to settle the matter. One of Guyana’s most prominent citizens was in his car laughing. He said to me,

Frederick Kissoon “Freddie yuh sure is not the owner who pays the police that you will bring?”

Writer’s note: I didn’t get the tent back

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Sunday February 24, 2013

In show of unity Hindu Temple hosts Black History event

By Dr Donald Reid The Trinidad and Tobago Interfaith Council (TTIC) of New York, under the patronage of the Consulate General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, hosted the first ever an Interfaith, Intercultural and Interdisciplinary program in commemoration of their Caribbean Heritage and Black History month.

The Event was well attended with participants from all walks of life, representing a cross section of the Caribbean-American Diaspora.

The theme of the event: “One People, One Mission, One Victory” the “Pioneers of Social Change,” and was held at the Sri Trimurti Bhavan Temple in Queens, New York.

The program commenced with invocations by religious leaders and a welcome address by president of the

mandir, Dr Dhanpaul Narine.

It was followed by Dr. Glenville Ashby, the event organiser, and Chairman of the TTIC. Dr Ashby, drawing on his expertise in the area of interfaith dialogue, urged participants to be actively engaged in the process of “bridge” building across the religious and ethnic divide.

The Chairman and Founder of the ‘Council,’ also stated that new voices and new issues are challenging our traditional understanding of whom and what we are as a people. He added that although the situations we may be experiencing may seem to be new, there are many parallels in other parts of the world, and, hence the reason for the Interfaith Event that was convened, “to promote understanding and accommodation between the two largest ethnic groups in Trinidad and Tobago.” He added that interfaith dialogue

can stem the tide of instability and distrust, but only through open and sincere discussions.

Consul General Rudrawatee Nan Ramgoolam addressed the need for action, reconciliation and empowerment as a vehicle to bring together people of all faiths across both the Caribbean and North American landscapes.

In this regard she (Consul General) felt committed to play a pivotal role in bringing the resources of the Consulate to contribute in a meaningful way, to strengthen and deepen the collaborative work of the Trinidad and Tobago Interfaith Council in the United States of America.

The keynote address by Prof. Imo Bakari of the University of Southern Caribbean was entitled “Global competitiveness and Success: The African Responsibility” which drew upon narratives from the Caribbean American experience.

The highlight of the event was a Panel Discussion moderated by author, Ms. Nandi Keyi Ogunlade.

Panelists were Dr. Donald Reid, Author and Former

Economist with the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago who spoke on the topic “Theology of Caribbean American Economics and Finance.” He expressed the need for TTIC to play a critical role not only in religious affairs, but also to be equally active and involved in the economic well being of the members of the Caribbean community at large.

Dr. Dhanpaul Narine, President of Sri Trimurti Bhavan Temple spoke on the topic “Interfaith Relations: The Road Ahead” and noted that in our increasingly pluralistic societies, more interreligious dialogue and cooperation is needed if conflict fueled by religion is to be constructively addressed.

Another panelist Mr. Roland Guy, Owner, Ambrosia Health Food addressed the burning issue of “High Blood Pressure in the black community: Genetic and Environmental factors” and gave us some well-placed advice on the maintenance of the body temple.

Mr. Rohan Narine President of Sadana.org, spoke on the topic of “Youth, Technology and Culture” and gave the audience valuable

tips for surviving and thriving in this ever changing technological world in which we live.

Mr. Ernest Skinner, Activist spoke on the topic of “Political Rights and West Indians in NY” which presented a unique immigrant perspective on this subject.

Imam Hameed Ahmed, Spiritual Leader’s topic was “Islam and Human Rights in Africa and the Caribbean” asserted that while we may be diverse yet we are all connected with the universe for we all a product of God’s creation.

Roman Catholic priest, Peter Antonius Gopaul, chose the topic: “Liberation Theology” which he noted has always been marked by tolerance and inclusiveness.

Remarks and best wishes

by UWI lecturer, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh celebrating “this courageous event,” were conveyed to the audience on the topic “Honoring Our Heroes and Promoting Unity” In addition, Mr. Willie Chen, author and artist, brought a Special Greeting from the Chinese Trinidadian Community. Mr. Mohammed Hack of the Interfaith Council of Global Sustenance also

Event organizer and TTIC Chairman, Dr. Glenville Ashby, addresses the gathering brought greetings from his organization.

The program concluded with an intercultural presentation comprising of Poetry, Song, Dance and Steel Drum renditions by pannist Mr. Patrick Davis Bishop Allan Baxter delivered the benediction as a fitting end to this Interfaith Convocation, extraordinaire.

Reader comments and reviews on this article can be sent to Dr Reid at dnr7mba@gmail.com For info on TTIC, contact Dr. Glenville Ashby at glenvilleashby@writeme.com

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Burnham’s weltanschauung Forbes Burnham’s weltanschauung – world view – was shaped by the oppressive living conditions under which the working people of British Guiana languished in the aftermath of the First World War. This was the worst economic depression of the 20th century. Living conditions for the masses were depressed; unemployment was widespread; social security was almost non-existent; disease was rampant; housing was deplorable and the economy was controlled by foreign multi-national corporations.

Burnham was born 90 years ago on 20th February 1923 during this depression.

This was the time when the British Guiana Labour Union was founded and urban workers on the waterfront and rural labourers on the plantations were marching and rioting for higher wages and better living conditions.

He won the British Guiana Scholarship and went to study law in Britain after the Second World War. London in these years was a hive of anti-colonial agitation and anti-capitalist activity.

B u r n h a m ’ s weltanschauung was shaped by the legendary African and Caribbean students and war veterans who were there at one time or another. He served as president of the West Indian Students Union and was its delegate to the meetings of the International Union of Students in Paris in 1947 and in Prague in 1948.

He also joined and worked for the League of Coloured Peoples and was elected vice-president of the London branch of the Caribbean Labour Congress. His grounding with the anticolonial and Caribbean student community inculcated a strong desire for Guianese nationalism and Caribbean regionalism and for socialism.

Forbes Burnham’s thinking was heavily influenced by the social and economic policies of Clement Attlee’s post-war socialist Labour Party administration in Britain.

It was Attlee who introduced the National Insurance Act and National Health Service and vigorously reduced unemployment.

He nationalised energy generation – mainly gas, coal and electricity – and the railways. These ideas became embedded in Burnham’s world view.

He returned to British Guiana and became the main architect of the constitution and one of the major activists in the original People’s Progressive Party which was launched in January 1950. He was elected the first Chairman and Cheddi Jagan, ViceChairman. After a struggle with Jagan’s pro-Soviet faction, Burnham established the People’s National Congress on 5th October 1957. He was elected leader, Joseph Pryag Lachhmansingh, chairman and Jai Narine Singh, general secretary. A third party called the United Force – led by Peter d’Aguiar – was launched in November 1960.

Three main parties therefore contested the elections held in August 1961.

The years 1962 to 1964 were scarred by the ‘Disturbances’ marked by fierce struggles between the pro-PPP Guiana Agricultural Workers Union and the proUF Manpower Citizens Association in the sugar industry. Burnham correctly analysed the GAWU strike of 1964 as not a “struggle for independence and national liberation against the forces of imperialism [but] a brutal, cowardly, self-destructive war in which Guianese were deliberately encouraged to destroy one another and the imperialists were forgotten.”

The PPP lost office and was replaced by a coalition of the PNC and UF parties in the December 1964 general elections. Forbes Burnham was appointed Premier and received the Constitutional Instruments of Independence as Guyana’s first Prime Minister on 26th May 1966.

This was the opportunity for his weltanschauung to be made manifest. He launched the National Insurance Scheme. Infrastructural works – the rehabilitation of the coastal road network; pure water supply; sea defence; drainage and irrigation and electricity generation – were undertaken.

The Black Bush and Tapakuma agricultural schemes were completed and the new international airport was opened.

Burnham’s world view was also visible in significant social, educational and cultural change. The University of Guyana and Cyril Potter College of Education campuses at Turkeyen were opened and several multilateral and hinterland secondary schools were constructed. Free education from kindergarten to university was introduced.

The Caribbean Festival of Arts and the Guyana Festival of Arts were initiated.

The State Paper on the Equality of Women was presented and adopted in the National Assembly. Special emphasis on the welfare of the indigenous peoples was signalled by the passage of the Amerindian (Amendment) Act and the process of vesting land titles in Amerindian communities began.

The Islamic festivals of

Eid-Ul-Adha and Youman Nabi and the Hindu festivals of Phagwah (Holi) and Deepavali became national holidays.

Forbes Burnham’s weltanschauung was manifest, also, in his foreign and regional relations. He played the leading role – with the active support of two other Caribbean prime ministers Vere Bird of Antigua and Barbuda and Errol Barrow of Barbados – in pioneering the Caribbean Free

Trade Association, the forerunner of the Caribbean Community. Burnham was one of the four founding fathers who were the original signatories to the 1973 Treaty of Chaguaramas which established the Caribbean Community and Common Market. He also led the Caribbean in opposing apartheid in South Africa and became a formidable ally of African liberation movements.

Forbes Burnham had

become Prime Minister in 1964 when the country was still smouldering from internal conflict and reeling from external aggression. He led Guyana to independence and it was out of his weltanschauung that the principles of statehood which have been largely responsible for the country’s evolution emerged. His enduring legacies are the spirit of social justice, economic independence and regional cooperation.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Above all, let us love our beloved Guyana On 23rd February, 1970, after a resolution of the National Assembly, Guyana’s constitutional status was that of a Republic. This was an advance from our Independent status since 1966, as we became a sovereign democratic state.

We were revered as the firstever “Cooperative Republic” in the world.

Some opportunistically associated our republican status with the birthday of former President, L.F.S.

Burnham, and most as a culmination of a history of struggle of all races, starting with those of our Amerindian ancestors, African, Chinese and Indian forebears, from slavery through indenture and the anti-colonial efforts.

All our people justly deserve to be recognized, for bringing our Guyanese civilization this far.

But, as we celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Republic of Guyana and lavish in pomp, parade and

ceremony, we must remind ourselves of the heroic efforts of Cuffy (Kofi), Akara, Atta and Accabre. They made the primary blast, the initial heroic efforts, to end slavery and its associated wretched and degrading living conditions, and engraved on our soil the notion of freedom.

The Berbice Slave Revolt not only brought changes to slavery in the Dutch Colony, but it also sent a powerful signal to the Dutch colonial authority that the slaves at

that time were willing to fight and die for their human rights.

A group of men of courage led by Cuffy, Akara, Atta and Accabre were indeed leaders among leaders. Cuffy himself demonstrated that he had no fear of death if that was the price he had to pay in pursuit of his dreams of freedom and a life of dignity.

That spirit of fearlessness and resistance to slavery brought matters to a boiling point on February 23, 1763, resulting in an organized

revolution starting at Plantation Magdalenenburg.

Cuffy and his comrades in arms have bequeathed a legacy of struggle to our sugar workers on the plantocracy, who carried forward the torch, that resulted in political independence 200 years later and the subsequent establishment of Guyana as the first Cooperative Republic of the Commonwealth, which we humbly acknowledge and ought to be proud of as Guyanese.

At this historic moment, it is not for the AFC to be repetitious to note how much the Berbice Slave Revolt means to all Guyanese. It is not for the AFC to report what every adult and child in Guyana knows: that slavery was brutal in the extreme and one of the worst barbaric acts that man could impose on their fellow man. But it is for all of us to remember, observe and

celebrate the contributions of our forebears. Therefore it is only fitting for us to honour them in our celebrations.

In their memory and honour, we hope that all Guyanese will join and work towards the ideals for which they struggled and sacrificed and to never allow the new oligarchy to erode them through corruption, squandermania, inequality and a host of injustices, including denial of work to Guyanese. Our Republic celebrations must remind us, above all, that we have love of our beloved Guyana, and we must come together to end racism, corruption, crime and oligarchic minority rule. AFC encourages all Guyanese to rededicate themselves to the struggle for true freedom in our land.

In the words of Nelson Mandela “Let freedom reign [let justice prevail]. The sun never set so glorious a human achievement”.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Twelve years after deadly series of explosions...

By Zena Henry A little over twelve years after a series of deadly explosions which resulted in the loss of three lives, at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF)’s largest ammunition dump, Camp Groomes, on December 18, 2000, two victims are claiming that they are still to be compensated for injuries sustained. The men also recalled the early morning moments of terror, in an exclusive interview with this publication on Friday last.

Samuel Archer, 35, and Wendell Cort, 33, who both held the rank of Private, claim to have been abandoned by the entity they faithfully served, and by the country that they once placed their lives on the line to protect.

The men stated that in September 2012 they were “kicked out of the army” because they are medically unfit, but have received “no compensation” for the aforementioned occurrence that now prevents them from functioning.

Archer and Cort are now asking how they would be able to take care of their families, having dedicated 18 and 16 years of their lives, respectively, to an entity that has now discarded them like worn-out material.

The soldiers are adamant that there was nothing they enjoyed more than performing their duties.

“We were soldiers that love what we were doing,” Archer said emphatically.

“I do a lot of things for the army and the army do things for me. Dem send me out of the country to

represent dem in ‘run and shoot’ competitions and things like that, these are things that I use to enjoy. I was a marksman for them and you losing a man like me and now yuh unfair to me? You tink dat is right? No compensation? Nothing at all?”

The soldiers were in agreement that, “We are Guyanese and we were harmed in the line of duty. We need to be compensated, we need to take care of our families, and our colleagues need to be compensated, because they have families too.”

The men claimed that when they became strong enough they performed desk duties and light work since their bodies could handle no pressure. “But they (army) would pressure you as a sick person to get back into the work, just trying to frustrate you into leaving.”

Since their salaries were ceased last September, the men said, “the army got us running around.” “When you speak to the seniors, they always tell you next week, next month.”

Archer said last week he spoke to the army’s welfare officer (name provided) about compensation and benefits, and was told that he (officer) knew nothing about that and the only payment he knows of is their gratuity and pension.

“While everybody tink that we get couple million from the army, we ent receive nothing. There was rumours that the army woulda give we $700,000 and knock we out de wuk. Everybody get knock out de wuk, but people still

sick and nobody get anything.”

They claim that Calvin Lewis, whose injuries were the worst, has still not recovered. “To this day, that man feet continue to run stink water. He never get better.” ‘ P R O M I S E S , PROMISES’ The soldiers remembered many promises being made.

“The President, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo said to our parents that he shall compensate each and every one of the soldiers that was at Camp Groomes and he didn’t want to compensate some and leave back some. He said he would do it when everybody come back. Well everybody come back and nothing didn’t happen.”

On many occasions, they said they had gone to former President, the then Opposition Leader, Desmond Hoyte, who also made several promises.

Cort said subsequent PNC leader Robert Corbin came to his home and assured his family that the soldiers would be compensated.

They claimed that recently they “tried to reach” Opposition Leader David Granger but after waiting, were told by his secretary that this was “not possible at the time”.

“All they doing is just promising we and nobody ent doing anything.”

Cort said he has a small eddoe farm, “But what can that do?”

“We almost die for them and nothing for duh. I got two sons, I would never let dem join de army, ‘cause de army promise you de world and don’t give you nothing.”

Four of the Camp Groomes survivors, from left: Archer, Wilson, Calvin Lewis and Ross The men are insistent that the army continues to lie.

“Everything in the news that the army said were lies.

Imagine I deh over in New York and an ex-chief living over there come to my bedhead and tell me that he heard from the chief in Guyana that we de smoking.

How disgraceful, even if we de smoking cigarette and it go next to the concrete wall, how can dat affect what’s in dis closed, sealed building?”

Archer asked.

“The chemical that burned our skin was since before we born. They had to get rid of the chemical years ago and they lied about that, cause as the breeze blow, your skin falling off and it wasn’t fire.”

“No one wants to take blame for anything, so they will put all kind of thing in the papers,” the men charged.

They said it was until later that they learnt something interesting.

What remained of the facility after the devastating series of explosions.

The uprights for the barbed-wire fence stand in the background

“Some old soldiers would tell us that there was an underground tunnel leading to the bond and all the time we guarding, we never knew that.”

The soldiers now believe that no one was out to kill them, but that the bond had to be blown up, as they think that arms were stolen from the storage and the action was to erase any traces.

“If dem de want kill we dem coulda do it in de night, ‘cause all we had is a flambeaux (a lighted torch)… no proper light, but dem had to blow it, so you couldn’t tell if anything was missing.”

The two men’s recollection of the incident that led to the current contentious state of affairs is as compelling as it was disturbing in detail.

A STRANGE LIGHTAND THE HORROR OF DECEMBER 18, 2000 “It was a normal evening,” Archer recounted.

At the time he was a Lance Corporal, part of a 14-man unit that was guarding the threestorey ammunition bond located deep into the woods along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.

“Everything was going okay,” he reflected, except that the men who had to take over guard duty that night had not showed up. With that, he and the officer in charge, a Lieutenant, left to go to Camp Soweyo, some six miles away, to make phone calls to their families to inform them that they would not be coming home.

While Archer was doing that, Cort, who was an acting Lance Corporal at the time, said he was at Camp Groomes with the other men when they noticed, “a light shine from the Camp’s front gate straight to the bond,” and the

movement of figures.

The surroundings were completely dark since there was no lighting. The strange light continued to shine and it seemed to be flashing as the figures moved through the bushes.

A decision, he said, was taken to go towards the light, and some of the soldiers started in its direction until he (Cort) decided that it might be too dangerous to go towards the flashing torch in pitch darkness. Instead, those who had moved off returned to their post and everyone manned their stations.

Archer related that on his way back to Camp Groomes he met up with a Sergeant (name given) who was heading to Camp Soweyo.

Archer remembered asking the soldier why he had left his post since his orders were to stay put. The senior soldier opined that Archer had spent “too long making the phone call” and he (Sergeant) decided to come over to Camp Soweyo.

Archer said the Sergeant then told him something very strange. He recalled him emphasising that, “If anybody ask who was shining light, I must tell dem is he (Sergeant) was shining de light”.

Archer said he continued on his journey to Camp Groomes, but a gut feeling told him that something amiss. He further recalled Cort relating what he had seen in the bushes and he (Archer), immediately brought the matter to the Lieutenant’s attention.

Archer remembers that a “small meeting” was held that night, where plans to remain vigilant and steadfast were made between the 13 men at the facility, since the Sergeant (Continued on page 32)

Page 30

From page 24 broadcast less than two weeks ago on Channel 27/ Cable 78, the whole issue of the granting of television and radio licences has sparked a hot debate with questions especially over the procedures followed.

With the formation of statutory Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) recently, that body has been requesting fresh applications to be submitted.

Previously, the National Frequency and Management Unit (NFMU) would grant applications for frequencies.

With a number of applicants facing a further delay in the processing, the entire issue has been sharply drawn into the spotlight.

Initially, Government said that the licence was as a result of an agreement done way back before the Jagdeo presidency.

However, government later said it was checking back its record to determine what transpired in the lead up to CCTV taking the air.

WEDNESDAY EDITION CANU MAKES MASSIVE COKE BUST AT SOESDYKE SAWMILL Agents of the country’s main anti -drug unit on Tuesday 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 Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), James Singh, told reporters.

Kaieteur News was told that approximately 314 kilograms (692 pounds) of the illegal drug were 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

Kaieteur News

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.

CONTRACTOR’S SHODDY WORK ON FIBRE OPTIC CABLE IS NOW MINISTRY’S BURDEN – PROJECT MANAGER The Public Works Ministry is now tasked with correcting shoddy laying of the fibre optic cable from Kurupkari to Mabura by one of the project’s contractors. And because of limited resources under Government’s US$32M project to install fiber optic cable from Lethem to Georgetown, the EGovernment Project Unit was unable to adequately monitor the groundwork, resulting in the inferior installation.

This was the assertion of Project Manager Alexei Ramotar, during an interview with this publication Tuesday.

Ramotar said that the Unit made site visits along the stretch, except in that section, and reports from the supervising contractor, Fibre Optic Solutions, that the contractor was executing the project according to the onemetre under the surface specification, “were accepted as the truth”.

However, following numerous complaints from commuters traversing the stretch that the cable was “showing”, a team finally made a site visit. It was then discovered that the cable was merely covered by soil and in some cases was “laid where the water runs”.

“The supervising contractor was fired and the contracts were withdrawn from the contractor,” Ramotar stressed. The Project

Manager refused to comment as to how much money was expended, but gave assurances that the contractors were not paid and those monies are now being spent to correct the flaws.

THURSDAY EDITION BANDITS AMBUSH, KILL MINER IN HOME INVASION A miner, Gavin McNeil, was last evening shot dead after bandits held his young daughters hostage, forcing their way into his McDoom, East Bank Demerara home.

During the 15-minute ordeal, McNeil’s mother-in-law, June Elwin, was badly beaten by the masked bandits and his wife, Melissa McNeil, sustained an injury to her face. She was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

It is believed that six masked men, all believed to be teenagers escaped with more than $1M in cash and an undisclosed amount in jewellery.

According to information, the 38-year-old dredge owner had only returned from the interior last Saturday. He had his operations in Siparuni, Region Eight.

local manager at the Soesdyke sawmill, where the lumber was said to have been packed, are in police custody assisting with the probe.

On Tuesday, the Guyana Revenue Authority said that it unearthed about 314 kilograms of cocaine packed in hollowed out lumber. They had only checked one container at the time but Wednesday, CANU head James Singh, confirmed that the agency was continuing their probe by checking other containers. Information is that the lumber company, Guyana Timber Products Inc, was under surveillance by CANU over a few weeks.

The company is said to have offices located at Prashad Nagar and another on the East Bank Demerara.

The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) was said to have closed the sawmill two weeks prior to the bust, because the company allegedly engaged in four illegal shipments of smuggled lumber. It was also established that only recently the company was fined millions of dollars by Forestry for irregularities, but it never made the payments while continuing to ship timber.

MORE CONTAINERS SEARCHED, NO COCAINE FOUND Investigators are seeking key persons who may have played major roles in the smuggling of a large quantity of cocaine that was discovered in a lumber shipment destined for the Netherlands (Holland) on Tuesday.

The Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) has however continued its probe into the matter now checking six remaining containers that were also scheduled to leave for Europe.

Sources say that so far, three persons, including a Dutch national; Edgar Boesenach, of Coralita Avenue, Bel Air and a Guyanese, Raymond Ghani, a

FRIDAY EDITION NO ACTION YETAGAINST NCN, NDIA OFFICIALS… HIGHEST LEVEL OF EXECUTIVE LAWLESSNESS - AFC Months after ordering an investigation at the stateowned National Communications Network (NCN), President Donald Ramotar has still not taken action against officials who may have been involved in wrongdoing. Thursday, the Alliance For Change (AFC), one of the two opposition parties in the National Assembly, described the delay as the highest level of executive lawlessness.

According to AFC’s Member of Parliament and Executive Member, Cathy Hughes, the NCN issue is

Sunday February 24, 2013

similar to that of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) in which an audit report recommended the immediate dismissal of two senior officials.

Regarding the NCN matter, President Ramotar had said that the report was engaging his attention and he would be addressing it. Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon, an official government spokesman, recently said that the matter is still engaging the attention of the President.

Hughes, during her party’s weekly briefing Thursday, pointed out that the deposit of company money into the personal bank account of NCN’s Production Manager, Martin Goolsarran, is not an allegation.

MC DOOM MINER’S MURDER… COPS LAUNCH MANHUNT FORALLEGED MASTERMIND Police have launched a manhunt for a youth believed to be the mastermind behind Wednesday night’s brutal murder of Mc Doom gold miner Gavin Mc Neil. Investigators onThursday conducted searches at several homes on the East Bank of Demerara and in the city for the suspect, but failed to locate him.

The alleged mastermind is an East Bank Demerara youth who was questioned in late 2011 in connection with the murder of a woman. That case remains unsolved, but investigators Thursday appeared optimistic that Mc Neil’s killers will be apprehended.

Kaieteur News understands that police have received information that the suspect was seen lurking in the area where the victims live some hours before the sixman gang invaded Mc Neil’s home.

“He’s been on the police radar for a long time,” a source said. Information suggests that the killers were tipped off that the gold miner had returned from the interior.

SATURDAY EDITION REAL MARRIOTT PLAN EXPOSED …GOVT TO GIVE HOTEL TO UNNAMED PRIVATE INVESTORS The story of Government’s decision to plunge billions of dollars into the Marriott Hotel, has taken a new spin with disclosures Friday that it is the intention to hand the hotel to private investors some time after it is completed.

The disclosure would take the public by surprise now as government has gone full steam ahead, amidst criticisms, risking billions into a project in the absence of

other investors. There have been harsh questions why Government in the first place is investing taxpayers’ dollars in what is considered a traditionally private sector initiative.

At first, Government said it was a public/private partnership (PPP) initiative.

In 2011, without finalizing who its partners in the project are, Government advanced Shanghai Construction Group (SCG), the Chinese contractor, US$10M ($2B).

Recently, more than one year later, Government said that it is still finalizing details with the investors. This is despite the fact that construction is in full swing at Kingston, Georgetown.

Yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, may have contradicted Government’s stance on investing in commercial or private sector activities.

During his weekly media briefings, the Government spokesman was asked whether government was considering investing again in a national airline following news that Delta Airlines, one of two main operations running the critical Georgetown to New York route, is planning to leave by May. According to Dr. Luncheon, the Cabinet of Ministers has not placed any “significant attention” to another Guyana Airways or a similar “Government-owned, Government-controlled” international airline.

He went further. He said that Government has had “experiences” in economic activities that would compete with players in the same sector. This stance, he stressed, would be reflected in privatizations of state companies which show a clear withdrawal from private sector activities by Government.

Asked to justify the Marriott against this stance, Dr. Luncheon then disclosed that Government has no intention to hold on to the Marriott once it is completed, up and running.

“Marriott is clear,” he said. There have never been any indications or declarations that Government intended to maintain or own the Marriott Hotel, the official made clear.

“As a matter of fact… to the contrary. The financing of the Marriott and closure of the deal anticipates private sector… a non-government hand in the mature situation.”

He explained that Government would initially be involved with the management before the final transfer of the hotel into “non-governmental hands.”

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Sunday February 24, 2013

Camp Groomes victims claim...

(From page 29) had not returned from Camp Soweyo.

DREAMING OF WAR “No one does sleep until foreday morning,” Archer said, and he remembers that after he had completed his shift and handed over to another soldier, he took off his boots and went to bed.

Then all hell broke loose.

“I drop to sleep, and all I dreaming is dat I deh in a war and these enemy shooting at me and I shooting back and throwing grenades…But then a big explosion went off… “BOOM”… and I jump out me bed.”

“When I wake up de whole place was red and the roof was black, black. I seh I must be dreaming with me eye open, so I wipe me face and I try fuh go back to sleep. But den I feel like something saying ‘get up get up, if you know wha yuh deh in get up.’”

Archer said he jumped up and that is when he realised that the place was on fire.

“I jump up and ask ‘is wha’ going on hay?’. We had a canister with grenades and rounds in de guard room and duh start going off, going off… and I sit down flat on

de ground. Then I started to holler out, ‘we in explosion, whoever deh in hay get up and run!’”

Archer said he heard someone call out his name and when he looked down one of his “squaddies” was pinned by a bed. “When I raise de bed and he crawl out, I hold he up and we had to take the hard way out… over a thirteen feet barb wire fence.” This was the safer route, since exiting through the front gate meant getting closer to the building and the rapid explosions.

“I had to risk my life now and put he to climb over the fence. I remember everything the army teach me. I watching how these bombs blowing up next to me… and I just tuck in low, telling me squaddies ‘climb, climb, climb.’”

He recalled that as the explosions became more intense, “I step back and I jump, I don’t know how I do it, but I jump halfway up the fence and throw over me foot.

Next thing I hear is ‘BOODOOM’, that was de loudest blast. By that time I was over de fence, and land on my feet…de whole compound light up bright, bright and glowing.”

Archer said after clearing the fence he was looking for his partner (Alfred) but it was not until, “I come back from getting treatment overseas I gon hear Alfred die holding on pon de fence. Dem seh current from de bomb run on de fence and catch him right there, all his fingers lef’ on de fence.”

Cort described the horrible sight. “A bombshell fall pon he and cut-off he waist clean, all he guts come out. From he belt down deh pon de ground and he upper half still hold on pon de fence…he foot look like if it put pon a grill and barbeque it.”

Archer said he and his surviving colleagues headed to Camp Soweyo, and were about three-quarters of a mile to their destination, when they came across a creek “and that’s when I realise that my legs get burn”.

“One ah my squaddie, Samuel, wanted to jump in the creek to ease he burning, but I had to hold him back cause he woulda drown.”

“All this time, you could hear bombs going off in the distance. Even as we running, is as if people throwing these bombs behind we.”

The men reached Camp Soweyo where soldiers there assisted and a search party was dispatched for those who were missing.

Cort’s account was that after five that morning the place started to “blow.”

“When I woke up I couldn’t see anything except fire, but it wasn’t fire burning my skin. Cause I feel a hard breeze blowing, so I put my hand to block my face from the dust, but when I look all my skin gone… but it wasn’t fire. My face everything turn pink, pink, pink and bleeding.”

The whole camp he said was blown open.

He remembered crawling about five miles on his knees, after having “walked through the fire to save myself”.

“I reach to the Highway… almost five miles on my hands and knees cause my foot bottom, you could see the bone underneath.”

The original intention, he said was to get to the Demerara River and swim as far away as possible, but being unable to see, Cort said he took the wrong direction and ended up on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.

“No bus would stop,” he said, “I could even talk and I felt like from my waist down had freeze. But then I saw a GDF jeep pull out from the side of Camp Soweyo and I thought it was dem come to finish we off. I don’t know where I get the strength, but I get up and start run till I fall down.

Cort related that his injured colleagues were rescued and they were taken to the Linden Hospital before being transported to Georgetown.

Between Georgetown Hospital and Camp Ayanganna, Cort said he spent about four months seeking medical attention, while Archer said he was lucky to get treatment in the United States, but that was not until the victims’ families started “to make noise for us to get help.”

LINGERING EFFECTS And there have been lingering effects. Following the horrific events at Camp Groomes, the soldiers admit

Private Samuel Archer during his recovery period overseas

to having been severely traumatized. They related that they are unable to function normally, as time and again sounds, explosions and arbitrary noises would make them “lose time”, “freeze”, “trip” or become highly annoyed and fearful.

The soldiers said that to this day they are plagued by nightmares, they find themselves screaming wildly and jumping out of their sleep, and continue to feel as though “the enemy” is out to get them.

Archer said he has serious problems with his right eye, and his right ear drum as well which had to be repaired after it had ruptured.

He said that at times the chemical that was administered can be tasted when he eats. The other soldiers, he pointed out, have also complained about it.

“Sometimes my body would start rocking and I would feel out of tune…like I losing my balance. It’s not easy.” Cort related that since the mishap it has extremely difficult for him to cope with noise.

“Imagine I on de road, and a tyre buss and I freeze… next ting I wake up in de hospital…is a canter knock me down. When de tyre buss, I jus’ zone out and de canter pick me up.”

At Christmas he would plug his ears because he could not take the noise.

“I had a girl I was living with, she move out telling people I mad, because sometimes I deh good with my children and sometimes I can’t even tek my own son noise. I start behaving different and people start calling me mad man,” Cort said.

Archer said he was warned by the overseas specialist who tended to him that if follow-up treatment had not been given for the chemical that burned their skins, a serious skin cancer could have developed. He said he was further warned about the effects the explosion would have on their bodies and minds.

“Down to the tick, tick, of a watch or clock used to trigger me like if is a bomb ready to go off,” Cort stated.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Hundreds of millions of dollars over the years have been transferred from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to repair roads in the interior, but all was not right in placing those monies in the bank accounts of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

According to former Auditor General, Dr. Anand Goolsarran, it is inappropriate for funds to be transferred to NICIL to build a road on behalf of the Commission, since NICIL is not the competent government agency for the construction of such roads.

This is also applicable to the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), another independent government body that regulates the logging industry.

There have been criticisms of the transfers over time, but while government has been defending the moves saying that the roads, critical for operations of mining and forestry activities, have to be repaired and maintained, there has not been any satisfactory explanations as to why NICIL was chosen.

NICIL is a governmentowned company that handles investments for government and over the years has been criticized for initiating projects without the scrutiny of the National Assembly.

Projects being handled by NICIL include the US$51M Marriott Hotel and the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, which is expected to cost at least US$840M, among two of Guyana most expensive initiatives to date.

All monies from the Consolidated Fund, the central account where the countries revenues are placed, have to be approved by the National Assembly.

Opposition Members of Parliament have been complaining that NICIL, GFC and GGMC should all be placing their excess funds in the Consolidated Fund since it belongs to the taxpayers and should not be used without approval.

Between August and December last year, more than $750M was transferred from GGMC to NICIL, it has been reported. Already, opposition members have threatened to introduce legislation that would force more accountability and transparency from a number of independent, governmentowned state agencies.

According to Dr. Goolsarran, who has been fiercely critical in his weekly newspaper columns of what he believed to be deviations from requirements by government entities, he examined the regulations of both GGMC and GFC, and

Kaieteur News

- Former Auditor General

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh there is nothing that states it has to transfer monies to NICIL. As a matter of fact, opposition MPs had made the same point…that NICIL is not a construction company.

Dr. Goolsarran explained that the GGMC funds comprise sums appropriated

by Parliament; sums allocated to it from loan funds; repayments of loans made; monies earned from property, investments etc. and borrowings to meet the Commission’s obligations or to discharge its functions.

The Commission is required to meet any charges e.g. interest, from any money lent by the Government, except where such charges are met from monies appropriated by Parliament. Where there is a deficiency in the funds of the Commission, such deficiency is met from monies provided

by Parliament.

Funds to the credit of the GGMC may be invested in securities approved by the Minister, he said. The approval of the Minister is also required for the retirement of any such securities.

With the approval of the National Assembly, the Minister of Finance may guarantee the repayment of principal and interest on any authorized borrowing.

According to Goolsarran, the Commission may make loans as it deems fit out of its fund and resources in the performance of its functions, and in accordance with the provisions of the Act. It may also charge interest on such loans as it deems fit. Every loan made shall be repaid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the related agreement.

The Commission is required to maintain a Reserve Fund into which is paid such sums as the Minister may direct out of the net surpluses made each year. If the Reserve Fund does not have enough to meet the net loss in any one year, the deficiency is a charge on the Consolidated Fund. If a net surplus is made in a succeeding year, the Minister of Finance will determine what sum is to be repaid to the Consolidated

Fund until the full amount is repaid, inclusive of interest.

“As regards any transfer of funds to a government agency for the purpose of building a road, one has to examine whether this activity falls within the responsibility of the Commission. If so, and on the assumption that the Commission does not have inhouse expertise, it can request the competent government agency, for example the Ministry of Public Works, to do so on its behalf.”

Not NICIL, as was being done. The Commission will provide the necessary funds via an inter-departmental

warrant or equivalent, Goolsarran said.

Earlier this year, Shadow Finance Minister of A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), Carl Greenidge, made it clear that the coalition is exploring options in changing legislation to ensure the system of fiscal accountability is strengthened in Guyana.

APNU and the Alliance For Change (AFC), which combined, have a one-seat majority in the National Assembly, insisted that they have no problems with monies being spent to repair interior roads. Rather, it is

Page 33

transfer of the $254M that has them smarting.

Both the government and the opposition have been battling over NICIL for awhile now. Government says that NICIL is private and therefore its revenues do not have to be deposited to the Consolidated Fund.

However, the Opposition has been arguing that NICIL’s funds are state monies and therefore should fall under the oversight of the National Assembly.

The $254M transfer was revealed by AFC’s leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, back in January. According to Ramjattan, the monies should rightly go to the Consolidated Fund, where all revenues for the state are controlled.

Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran “To place these monies elsewhere is a breach of financial regulations of the country. The government is fully aware of this.”

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

A guide for Sophia's kids and advocate for rights and justice - Doris Mc Lennon is a 'Special Person’

By Rehana Ashley Ahamad

I

n a world today, where most parents are forced to take up jobs outside of the home with hardly any time to steer their children onto the so-called 'right path', there are women like Mrs. Doris Anetha Shelto-Mc Lennon who choose to adopt kids from challenging surroundings and guide them accordingly.

Unfortunately, there aren't many like her around; she is a special person. For over eight years now, the children of Sophia and its environs have had another place to call home, and another woman to call mother. They fondly call her 'Aunty Doris'. The doors to Mrs. Mc Lennon's home are always open to the children in need of a plate of food, a place to lay their heads, a little money in their pockets or simply just someone to share their problems with.

Mrs. Mc Lennon is always there for them.

She was one of 13

children, born to Yvonne and Vernon Shelto. She grew up in Belfield Village, Victoria, on the East Coast of Demerara. Mrs. Mc Lennon recalls being raised in a very spiritual home.

“We were taught how to appreciate God from an early age. Even our home was sit

President Linden Forbes Burnham, who subsequently visited the family and offered to assist in setting up accommodation and jobs for them in the Matthews Ridge area. The Shelto family took up the offer and moved almost immediately after.

Her parents soon gained

“The children would come here from nine in the morning and would leave sometimes till after dark.

When we finish tutoring them and listening to their issues, they would remain in my yard and play games like “dog and the bone and so on.

It is a pleasure to have them around.” uated like a church- with the benches and so on.”

As a little girl, Anetha, as she was most often referred to, attended the Victoria Roman Catholic School.

When she was around age 10, her entire family took ill with a severe case of food poisoning. This resulted in the death of her 12-year-old sister at the time. The incident also caught the attention of the then

employment and young Anetha was enrolled at the Matthews Ridge Primary School.

Recalling her days there, she said that she had always been an athletic youngster, very eager to participate in sports, especially leg races.

The now 52-year-old woman said that as a child, she was always eager to learn.

“When I was little, I always wanted to learn more.

I always felt the need to know more, and to be more than what I was.”

After sitting her examination, the one now known as the National Grade Six Assessment, Anetha was awarded a place at the Bygeval Secondary School.

In wanting to pursue a better education, she was ready to move back to her Victoria home in an effort to obtain a secondary education. Her parents agreed, and so they packed their bags to accompany her back to the city.

But their trip was not all smooth sailing. Anetha was stranded in the vast expanse of water for seven long days and nights on a small army boat with her parents and a few other civilian passengers.

Sure when she looks back at it now she would laugh, but at that time, Anetha was a terrified child who did not know whether she would've lived to see another day. She recalled them having to “pinch” everything they had on the boat, especially their water supply. All they had to eat was sweet potato, a ground provision that Anetha soon became fed up of.

“After that incident I didn't even want see back sweet potato. It was a long time after that I finally decided to eat it again.”

In recalling how they managed to get home, Anetha explained that “a man, I think he was a civilian passenger of the boat, too, took a radio and he stand up at the front of the boat and whichever side the radio

Doris Anetha Shelto-Mc Lennon pick up signal at, he demanded that the captain take we there.”

Although it was that frightening, Anetha believes that the incident somehow made her a better person; a stronger believer in God. “God was with us for that week. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been here.”

Nonetheless, she and her family survived the ordeal, arriving at her grandmother's house safely. After spending a day there to ensure that she was all settled and ready for school, Anetha's parents went back to Matthews Ridge. She remained with her grandmother throughout the five years of high school.

She described life during that period as being quite rewarding. Not only was she able to equip herself with a sound secondary education, but she gained an insight into who she truly was.

Doris Anetha Shelto was not the kind of girl who was interested in dressing up in the latest trends, and painting her face…she wanted to help people. She aimed at making a difference.

After completing high

Mrs. Mc Lennon teaching some of the little ones to sew

school, she moved back to Matthews Ridge. There she started her first children's group. It was more of Sunday school classes where Anetha taught the area's children about the importance of God. Apart from doing this, at around age 18, she started gathering food and clothing supplies for the less fortunate living further in the “jungle”.

Anetha was also called upon to teach students of the Matthews Ridge Primary School when there was a significant shortage of teachers.

She taught the four basic subjects for a few months, after which she met a young miner, Godfrey Mc Lennon, with whom she fell in love and later moved with to Queenstown, Essequibo. At age 20, she became Mrs. Doris Anetha Shelto-Mc Lennon. Although her husband hailed from Essequibo, he never really liked it there, so soon after, the newly wedded couple moved back to Mathews Ridge where Mrs. Mc Lennon continued gathering items for the less (continued on page 37)

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

2013 - Another successful year for Mashramani in Guyana

T

housands of locals and foreigners flocked the streets of the capital city as the nation celebrated Guyana's 43 rd Republic anniversary, under the theme 'Reflecting C r e a t i v i t y, E m b r a c i n g Diversity'.

This 2013 theme proved true as Guyanese from all walks of life came out in their numbers. As usual they lined the Mash route and many were the picnic sites.

This is the trend each year.

Georgetown came alive with about 30 colourful

floats sponsored by the various entities in the public and private sectors.

They included residents of the hinterland communities, beverage companies, phone companies, popular night spots and dance groups.

Yesterday saw, too, a colourful road party in true Guyanese style.

Families took up their spots along Merriman Mall with their beverage coolers and food baskets. They erected several makeshift tents to keep out the blazing sun and to get a glimpse of

the parade.

Bar-b-Que grills breathed smoke at almost every block. This proved to be a big sale day for food and beverage stalls.

Mashramani is the celebration of Guyana's attainment of Republican status. And like every year, it is the sweaty gyration of revelers and onlookers that depict the celebrations.

February 23 is celebrated in a carnival-like atmosphere.

Loud music, particularly from the genre of Soca, assailed the ears of those in the vicinity of the parade

which moved from Church Street, onto Vlissingen Road, and into the compound of the National Park. Digicel and Banks DIH, as usual brought on a massive parade. Although there were threats of a possible shower, the floats were not hampered by the weather, which seemed to have cooperated to make the day worth remembering for some.

If there was one thing different from last year's celebration, it is the fact that several Government Ministers were not seen accompanying their floats.

And although the parade ended later than many had hoped, the day's activity could be deemed chockfull of entertainment, glitz and glitter.

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Interesting creatures…

The Magnificent (Fregata Frigatebird magnificens)

T

he Magnificent Frigatebird ( F r e g a t a magnificens) was sometimes previously known as the Man O' War, reflecting its rakish lines, speed, and aerial piracy of other birds.

It is widespread in the tropical Atlantic, breeding colonially in trees in Florida, the Caribbean and Cape Verde Islands. It also breeds along the Pacific Coast of the Americas from Mexico to Ecuador, including the Galapagos Islands.

It has occurred as a vagrant, as far from its normal range as the Isle of Man, Denmark, Spain, England, and British Columbia.

The Magnificent Frigatebird is 100 cm (39 inches) long with a 215 cm (85 inch) wingspan. Males are all black with a scarlet throat pouch which is inflated like a balloon in the breeding season. Although

the feathers are black, the scapular feathers produce a purple iridescence when they reflect sunlight.

Females are black, but have a white breast and lower neck sides, a brown band on the wings and a blue eye ring. Immature birds have a white head and under parts.

This species is very similar to the other frigatebirds and is similarly sized to all but the Lesser Frigatebird. However, it lacks a white auxiliary spur, and juveniles show a distinctive diamond-shaped belly patch.

The Magnificent Frigatebird is silent in flight, but makes various rattling sounds at its nest. This species feeds mainly on fish, and also attacks other seabirds to force them to d i s g o rg e t h e i r m e a l s .

Frigatebirds never land on water, and always take their food items in flight.

It spends days and nights

on the wing, with an average ground speed of 10 km/hour, covering 223±208 km before landing. They alternately climb in thermals, to altitudes occasionally as high as 2500 m, and descend to near the sea surface. The only other bird known to spend days and nights on the wing is the Common Swift.

A scientific study that examined genetic and morphological variation in Magnificent Frigatebirds found both expected, and also highly unexpected results: firstly—as predicted by the flight capacity of the species—the authors found signatures of high gene flow across most of the distribution range. This included evidence of recent gene flow among Pacific and Atlantic localities, likely across the Isthmus of Panama. This geological formation is a strong barrier to movement in most

tropical seabirds. However, the same study also found that the Magnificent Frigatebird on the Galapagos Islands is genetically and morphologically distinct.

Based on this study, the Galapagos population has not been exchanging any genes with their mainland counterparts for several hundred thousand years.

Given these findings, the

Galapagos population of this tropical seabird may be its own genetically distinct species warranting a new conservation status. This small population of genetically unique Magnificent Frigatebirds is a vulnerable population. Any catastrophic event or threats by humans could wipe out the approximate 2,000 Magnificent Frigatebirds that nest on the Galapagos

Islands. Magnificent Frigatebirds are currently classified as Least Concern (LC) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but the Proceedings of the Royal Society paper recommends that, because of the genetic uniqueness of those on the Galápagos, this status be revisited.

(Source: Wikipedia – The Free Online Encyclopedia)

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 37

A guide for Sophia's kids and advocate for ...

From page 34 fortunate, with the financial assistance of her husband.

She also continued with her Sunday school activities, which soon grew into a much more diverse group. Mrs. Mc Lennon went from teaching the children solely about God, to talking to them about social issues.

By that time, her family had moved back to coastal Guyana. So when she became pregnant soon after, she scrapped the group and moved back to Victoria village to be near to her family. After giving birth to her first child, she was also joined by her husband who insisted that they settle in 'B' Field, Sophia.

A simple house which soon evolved into a cozy home; hers was a perfect family. She was happy with her life - her husband and five sons. There were many things going on in her life.

She had to also take care of her parents, which she did to the best of her ability. This did not distract her from doing what she felt was her duty - to help others.

Mrs. Mc Lennon started another group in Sophia. It was a community that she

said she “easily connected with” - an impoverished area where often children are left at home alone as their parents seek employment.

“These children, they need some guidance. Some of them used to be cussing and fighting on the streets for no reason. Some of them were real bullies,” Mrs. Mc Lennon explained.

Ever since, for over eight years now, she has been guiding the children of Sophia and its surrounding areas, and said that she has “seen much change in the children and the community as a whole”. Not only children, but their parents would also seek her advice on various issues in their homes.

“When we realise that something is wrong with a child, we contact the parents, and they would come in and talk to me. If it is something that I cannot handle, I would put them on to Ms. Ann Greene (Director of Child Care Services in Guyana).”

Mrs. Mc Lennon is now a second mother to close to 100 children who attends her Saturday classes, which are conducted in a classroom in the bottom flat of her home.

A section of the children gathered at her home “The children would come here from nine in the morning and would leave sometimes till after dark.

When we finish tutoring them and listening to their issues, they would remain in my yard and play games like “dog and the bone and so on.

It is a pleasure to have them around,” Mrs. Mc Lennon said.

She has also been a helping hand and a mentor to the parents of Sophia. She attends the children's school meetings and graduations, and particularly loves the fact that the children keep her actively involved in their lives.

“Every Saturday we do different things. We have a review of the work the children did in school during

the week. We help the weaker understand their subjects. We say prayers and discuss issues affecting the children at school. We have lunch, we do art… we practically do it all,” a smiling Mrs. Mc Lennon said.

To carry out her work, she receives support from a few other persons such as Ms. Mariel Blair, Mr. Desmond Burch- Smith, Dorcas John, as well as her husband, Godfrey Mc Lennon. Many would readily agree that Mrs. Mc Lennon's presence in their community and the work that she does has been beneficial.

“Ever since Aunty Doris come here, things change.

Dem children don't just cuss up fuh no reason and bully

other children and so. Things really change. The children look like they doing better in school. Plus more of them does come out to church too,” said one resident named Pamela.

Mrs. Mc Lennon is also the founder of the 'Mothers Action Group on Social Issues', an entity that became more active after she lost one of her sons, Elron Peter McLennon, in the fatal H o m e s t r e t c h Av e n u e accident in July 2011.

The group has been a mouthpiece and support mechanism for women who have suffered injustices being done to themselves or family. Mrs. Mc Lennon also formally re-launched her area group as the 'Sophia Sparkle Youth Group'.

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

The Abigail Column Daughter raised in abusive home is burdened by past

DEARABIGAIL, My sisters and I grew up in a horrible household with our mother. She was not only OK with the severe abuse and neglect we suffered, she encouraged it. Now grown up, my sisters have moved out.

My contact my mother is limited although I live close to her. My sisters want her to

know nothing about them, and they are very cautious.

Recently, one of them had a beautiful baby. I’m happy for her. I was given the news on the condition that Mom is not to know about the baby.

How do I deal with all of this now?

Neglect Dear Neglect, Your sisters have dealt with the abuse they suffered by going away, leaving all

reminders behind. You chose to maintain contact with your mother. You have many valid reasons to be angry, but please do not aim your anger at your sisters for wanting to protect themselves from someone who condoned and encouraged their abuse.

With professional help, you will be able to finally work through the feelings you have been avoiding for so long and start your own healing.

Sunday February 24, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): This day will be a long one, but it is going to be chock full of interesting prospects -- especially if you have been on the lookout for a new romance.

If you are willing to take a little bit of a risk with your heart, you will be rewarded. ****************** TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): An amusing misunderstand today will help you learn how to be more tolerant with people who act in ways that you don't always understand.

Harmony is a lot easier to achieve when you think the best of someone. ******************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): Today is going to be a very good day for you, especially if you are about to start a new venture or professional relationship with someone. The lessons you have learned from past mistakes are going to come in handy -- and they're going to ensure that you reach a much higher level of success this time! ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Your ability to see through false facades is strong today.

And when a braggart comes along, you won't fall for their act. They deserve an award for their showing-off skills, and they're pretty stellar at talking up how great they are. ******************** LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): If you feel pressured to spend a lot of money today, do not give in! If friends feel like going out for an elaborate dinner, suggest a pizza instead. If everyone's got that latest gadget and you're feeling left out, just focus on the fact that you'll have more cash later on. ********************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): Whatever delays happen today, they will be for the best.

Don't get all flustered if some-

one calls you to cancel or reschedule a date. It's not as big of a deal as you think it is. ********************** LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Look to a vacancy in your life today. What or who is missing from it? After all, you can't fill that void until you know what you're looking for, can you? Happiness takes effort to achieve, but the good news is that every inch of effort is rewarded doubly over time. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): Your exceptional sense of humor will be your most valuable asset today -- use it to make someone powerful laugh. Then laugh again, and again. ********************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): If you are about to go on a trip or long overdue vacation, your excitement is growing to a fever pitch. Today, it will hit such heights that it might be difficult for you to get any real work done. ***************** CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): This day will challenge your ability to be flexible and go with the flow. Your expectations will not match the expectations of the people you're working with now. *********************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18): Let other people get involved in power struggles today -- you have less stressful, more delightful things to deal with. Shift your focus away from business and work. *************** PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20): In order to gain the level of confidence you want, you have to stop focusing so much on what other people think.

Does that sound counterintuitive to you? It shouldn't.

DTV CHANNEL 8 09:25hrs. Sign On 09:30hrs. Touching Lives 10:00hrs. Pair of Kings 10:30hrs. Crash and Bernstein 11:00hrs. DTV’S Festival of Biblical Movies for the Lenten Season: “The Ten Commandments” 15:00hrs. Monk 17:00hrs. Family Feud 18:00hrs. Catholic Magazine (Faith in Action) 18:30hrs. Know Your Bible 19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 21:00hrs. The Academy Awards 00:00hrs. Sign Off

NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00h – Inspiration 05:30h – Newtown Gospel 06:00h – NCN News (R/B) 06:30h – Tomorrows World 07:00h – Voice of Victory 07:30h – Voice of Islam 08:00h – Lifting Guyana to Greatness 08:30h – President’s Diary 09:00h – Homestretch Magazine 10:00h – 2nd ODI 16:30h – Shape 17:00h – Round Table 18:00h – NCN Week in Review 18:30h – Guysuco Roundup 19:00h –Debate Series on Discrimination

20:00h – Kala Milan 20:30h – GT&T Jingle & Song 21:30h – Catholic Maazine 22:00h – African Moves 23:00h – Movie

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 45

Cop found hanging after domestic argument

By Dale Andrews A physical confrontation was narrowly averted when two sets of relatives clashed over the death of Police Corporal Clarence Giles who was found hanging in the bedroom of his Lot 72 South Haslington, East Coast Demerara house yesterday morning.

From all indications, Giles, 57, committed suicide but some of his relatives suspect foul play and this led to heated arguments that almost ended in violence.

The policeman, who was recently moved to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company in the city after serving at the Sparendaam Police Station, was discovered hanging by one of his sons who had slept with him in the house after his wife had fled the previous night in the midst of a heated domestic argument.

Giles’s wife, Shondell, a Police Sergeant attached to the Cove and John Police Station, said that she and her husband were having domestic problems stemming from him constantly accusing her of having extra marital affairs.

However, his taking of his own life was a shock to her,

Giles and his wife on Valentine’s night 2013. since the woman had held the belief that everything was “okay” between them, although he did attempt suicide before.

“I took him out Valentine’s Night,” she said.

She told Kaieteur News that on Friday night she arrived home from work and her husband was not at home.

She contacted him on his cellular phone and enquired where he was and he told her that he was drinking with some friends.

When he eventually came

home she gave him his dinner but he refused to eat it right away.

“He sit down and say, man, he de drinking with some friends and somebody tell he dat I deh with some bus man from Ann’s Grove and he gon call de man,” Shondell Giles said that when her husband continued to argue with her she left the house and went across to her mother’s a few houses away in the same yard.

The couple’s two children also became afraid and followed her.

Giles’ relatives console each other as his body is taken away by undertakers.

Later Friday night Corporal Giles called his children back over to sleep with him at home and they obeyed.

He also begged his wife to come back to the house but she refused, since she is convinced that her decision not to go back home on Friday night saved her life, given the way her husband was behaving and the fact that “he tell me he gon do me something.”

“He call me and say, ‘come over, I want talk to you’, but I say, ‘no, I ain’t coming because I ain’t know wha is you plan’.

So I stayed by my mother and I lie down and sleep,” Mrs. Giles related.

She said that yesterday morning their elder son came over to her and told her, “I raising up dad hand and like he lie down in deh dead.”

She said that she did not go over to her house but instead went to the Cove and John Police Station where she reported what she had heard.

“I didn’t go in (the house) to see anything.

Myself and the rest of the police came and went in and is then we see that he hang heself,” she explained.

The couple’s nine year old son, told members of the media that when he awoke yesterday morning he saw his father hanging and he was “stiff”.

He recalled that on Friday just as he was about to fall asleep, “I see he go pon de bed…He had a knife and he hide it under de sheet.”

But the dead man’s sisters, brothers and nieces are questioning his wife’s actions after word of his death was relayed to her.

When they arrived on the scene, they were greeted with

the sight of the man hanging from the ceiling of the house with a wire tied around his neck.

An argument quickly erupted between them and their brothers-in-law.

Giles relatives are also basing their suspicions on events that took place on Friday night and early yesterday morning.

“His wife called me and told me to get a taxi and come up to the station.

I asked her for what and she said that the children told her that they were waking up their father and he was not waking up,” Beverly Giles told Kaieteur News She said that as she was preparing to travel to the East Coast of Demerara from the city, a female inspector of police contacted another sister and told her that “your brother hang he self.”

“We heard that he was not waking up, only to come here and find him hanging,” the woman said.

Beverly Giles questioned why her brother’s wife went to the police station first instead of checking to see if what the children told her was true.

“The houses are just a few feet apart and she could’a go and check first.”

She also questioned the police actions in the whole investigation.

“If they de come and meet she dead, they would’a carry he down.

That is the procedure. So why wasn’t she detained? Is it because she is a police?

The police does carry you down for less than that,” Beverly Giles told this newspaper.

Perhaps even more suspicions were around from a conversation the now dead

Giles had with his niece, Latoya, late Friday night.

The niece said that her uncle called her around 10:30 pm and through the phone she heard a male voice talking to him in a threatening manner.

“I advised him to get a taxi and leave the house and I left and went out,” Latoya Giles stated.

Meanwhile, scores of villagers converged at the scene and were overheard condemning the action that the popular Giles took.

“He throw away everything.

I won’t come to he funeral, you know.

When a man kill he self, I don’t go to he funeral,” a man who claimed to be his friend said.

“We don’t even want no set up fuh any wake,” another villager stated.

“He was a good cop, boy.

With all dem harden criminals Giles know, he go and throw in de towel like dat,” was another remark.

Residents recalled when Giles reportedly drank a poisonous liquid, in an attempt to kill himself a few weeks ago.

“I see de man coming down de steps like he drunk not knowing is kill he go fuh kill heself,” a villager recalled.

“He really didn’t want kill he self then. He should’a go to Sibee, who gat poison fuh horse, grass, cow and all,” another villager remarked.

A colleague of the dead man believes that coupled with the domestic problems Giles was experiencing, problems at work.

These could have compounded matters.

His body was taken to the Lyken Funeral Home, pending a post mortem examination.

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Kaieteur News

ImmigrationINFOTM Immigration News For Our Community

Acquiring U.S. Citizenship through Birth to a U.S. Citizen Parent Attorney Gail Seeram, We all know that if you are born in the United States, then you are a U.S. citizen by birth under the Fourteenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Note, if you are born in the United States, your parents’ immigration status is irrelevant in determining whether you are a U.S. citizenship by birth. If you are born in the United States, your birth certificate is proof of your U.S. citizenship.

In certain cases, a child born outside the U.S. where one or both parents are U.S. citizens may acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. The child may still acquire U.S. citizenship where born out-ofwedlock.

The U.S. immigration laws require the U.S. citizen parent to reside or be physically present in the U.S. for certain periods prior to the birth of the child so that he or she may “transmit” citizenship.

The specific requirements depend on the law in effect at the time of the child’s birth. A child born outside the U.S. but who acquires citizenship is a citizen at the moment of birth and does not need a certificate of citizenship. In the situation where a child is born abroad to a U.S. citizen, it is recommended to report the birth to the local U.S. Embassy and submit required

evidence to prove child is a U.S. citizen.

Further, a child born outside the U.S. may become a U.S. citizen by virtue of his or her parent’s naturalization.

One becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen when one applies for U.S. citizenship after residing as a permanent resident for five years (three years if married to a U.S. citizen), pass a reading/ writing test and government history test, and demonstrates good moral character. A child could be a derivative U.S. citizen through their parent’s naturalization while the child was under age 18 and the child resided in the U.S. after lawful admission as a permanent resident (green card holder). The law before June 2001 required both parents or the parent with legal custody to be naturalized U.S. citizens before the child’s eighteenth birthday. The prior law required proving which parent had legally custody where child born out-ofwedlock or parents were legally separated or divorce.

The law since June 2001 allows for a child to derive citizenship as long as one parent is a citizen by birth or naturalization, the child is under age 18, the child is residing in the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, and the child is in the legal and

Sunday February 24, 2013

Bridge construction stalled for almost two years

Gail Seeram physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent.

A child deriving U.S. citizenship in this manner may apply directly for a U.S. passport. Also, the child can apply for a Certificate of Citizenship with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Lastly, step-children of a U.S. citizen are precluded from deriving or acquiring U.S. citizenship from their stepparent because a step-child is not within the definition of a “child” for purposes of automatic citizenship. Again, these rules are quite complex and the question of whether a child is a U.S. citizen through birth to U.S. citizen parents depends on the laws in effect when the child was born or the laws in effect when the parent became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Almost two years ago, works commenced on the Camran Dam Bridge that once linked the Canals Polder.

However, after the foundation was laid, workers downed tools and it seems as if the contract has been aborted.

This newspaper understands that the bridge was constructed in the 1980s and stood primarily as a short cut for farmers who transported sugar cane and cash crops from Canal Number One to Canal Number Two. However, with time it weakened until the structure began falling apart “but people could have still walked over.”

Kaieteur News was told that the then partially destroyed bridge was

dismantled and a contract for its reconstruction was awarded.

“Now it is almost two years after they left this thing quarter way and nothing is being done while we are being inconvenienced.”

Alliance For Change (AFC) Region Three councilor, Harrinarine Deokinanan, confirmed that the timber piles were driven in the earth two years ago. He said he couldn’t lend a reason for the stall or the aborting of construction.

According to Deokinanan, at a Regional Democratic Council (RDC) held some months back, Regional Chairman Julius Faeber, informed that the Endeavour and De Commons primary school would have

been turned into a secondary school.

Faeber reportedly stated at the forum, that with consideration given to the fact that children from Canal Number One would have to travel to Canal Number Two for schooling, the bridge would have been completed for their convenience.

“But that didn’t happen, and the children have to travel all the way around,” said Deokinanan.

The councilor said that he raised the matter at a subsequent meeting and he was told that it would have been looked into.

“But up to now, nothing is happening; farmers are being inconvenienced and school children too.”

(Abena Rockcliffe)

Sunday February 24, 2013

By Ralph Seeram “Jamaica is a beautiful country man; but you have to come see yourself” my fellow passenger seated next to me was telling the other person at the other end of the phone in typical Jamaican accent. So began my trip to Jamaica last week on Caribbean Airlines.

There is nothing more annoying on an airplane then someone chatting away loudly on a cell phone. The plane attendants had already given instruction to turn off cell phones but she kept chatting away on the virtues of Jamaica.

When I am flying, the first thing I want to do is get some “shut eye” and I was beginning to get the feeling this was not going to happen.

Have you ever travelled on a plane trying to sleep next to someone who wants to talk?

I was beginning to feel that this was not going to be a pleasant two-hour flight. I made sure our eyes did not meet to give her an opening to start a conversation.

Kaieteur News

Oh and another thing airlines should really charge for two seats, passengers whose rear end, arms and shoulders cannot be confined within their seats.

On checking in at Orlando the ticketing clerk made a fuss over my carry-on being overweight by just five pounds, but allowed this woman who was at least 100lbs overweight and occupied my space. Airlines are very fussy about weight.

I can see in the future airlines charging passengers by weight instead of per seat. I will have no problem with that, I can see myself paying half the fare of the woman next to me. After all, I am less than 130lbs.

Fortunately for me she dozed away for the rest of the flight. In Jamaica I tried to engage people in conversation to get the feel of the country, read the newspapers get an idea of the politics etc. The thing that is occupying the minds of Jamaicans is the IMF imposition of some strict if not drastic conditions in order to

rescue the Jamaican economy.

Unlike Guyana’s the Jamaican economy is very unhealthy; to put it mildly, no way close the healthy economy Guyana enjoys at the moment. As one political figure put it Jamaicans will have to take “bitter medicine”.

One of my observations was that Jamaicans are very proud of their country despite all its economic problems.

Unlike Guyanese who “moan and bitch” about everything bad about the country, and sometimes do not appear to be proud of being Guyanese, Jamaicans are the opposite.

They take their problems in stride with a sense of reality.

Let me cite what may look insignificant but means a lot.

I was purchasing some items in Jamaica.

The clerk saw the rubber band I had holding some documents burst. He quickly brought some rubber bands for me. They were coloured rubber bands, and then I realized they were the colour of the Jamaican flag. That’s patriotism there.

Even the business community displays its support for the Government in tackling the economic situation to confirm with the IMF rules. For instance, the IMF demanded that the

Jamaican Government renegotiate its loans, bonds with the private sector.

Let me give you an idea of how loyal and cooperative to their Country the private sector in Jamaica is. Three years ago the Jamaican government entered into an agreement with the IMF to reform the economy. Part of the package was that the local bond holders renegotiate their loans and bond with a view to cutting the interest rate returns.

The business community cooperated. However the then Jamaican government did not live up to the agreement and the agreement floundered.

Fast forward three years, the Jamaican economy is almost bankrupt, and the new Jamaican government has turned to the IMF again. One of the requirements again was for local investors take in cut in interest rate for the money the government has borrowed. Again the Jamaican private sector has responded, I am talking here of billions of dollars. Some banks pointed out that they just made sacrifices three years ago and are being asked again to make painful sacrifices.

Never the less, they

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responded. At last count over 98 per cent of the banks agreed to take a cut in the interest rate in order to help the Jamaican economy. Can you imagine if the Guyana government, as the business community did, was to make such a sacrifice? You would never hear the end of it.

But back to my trip, some of you Guyanese who think you are badly off should visit Jamaica. If you think the worst you have is a “plastic city” you should see the one in Jamaica. But don’t get me wrong, there are the mansions on the hills.

My host who lived below the mountains gave me a tour of the enclaves of the rich and you wonder how can there be such a disparity between the rich and poor. Not that it’s not in Guyana, but I think it is on a much grander scale in Jamaica.

My host also has been speaking about the paradise Jamaica is. In my short stay I have not heard one Jamaican “bad talk” the country. They may criticize the government, but are loyal to their country.

I come to Guyana and find some people have no sense of patriotism. I must confess that I find the cost of living to be lower than Guyana, especially food items as well

as imported products.

The business environment is very competitive and major US companies as well as Latin American conglomerates have established themselves there.

Oh and by the way, while the Guyana government is embroiled defending the Marriott deal and keeping out the Guyana labor force, I was travelling on one of the roads the Chinese built in Jamaica, which I pointed out to my host, who with a sarcastic smile “what road”.

He then went on to tell me of the inferior quality of the road. So much for skill of the Chinese.

Of course the Skeldon sugar factory is a perfect example of how skilled the Chinese are— three years running and it still needs fixing.

I mentioned the fact that the Chinese did not employ any Guyanese at the Marriott construction site; he was amazed that this could happen. Asked if this could have happened in Jamaica he replied, “Nah, no way man.

We soon run dem out the country.”

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Decomposed body found with bullet wounds at Plaisance Housing scheme

The blue shop where the shooting took place and the house (before shop) where the deceased ran towards

Behind the fence in the bushy yard where DeFlorimonte’s body was found The body of a 27 year old miner known as “Saddam or G” was yesterday found face down in a clump of bushes at Lot 53 Sparendaam Housing

Scheme.

When the remains of Gary DeFlorimonte of Lot 67 Sparendaam were recovered, three bullet wounds were

reportedly visible on the body and angry residents are blaming the police.

They said ranks had shot the deceased who attempted

to evade them, but the police made no effort to find the man and render assistance.

The residents recalled that it was last Wednesday, close to nightfall, when five policemen came in the area on foot. With them, was a named man who reportedly brought the police to DeFlorimonte after an alleged altercation.

Those who were present at the variety shop where the now dead man and several other residents were “liming” at the time, said that the ranks came armed and the named man pointed out the deceased. Reports are that DeFlorimonte attempted to evade the ranks by jumping into a nearby gutter to make his escape. The residents said, “The police fired one shot at he and he seh ow, alright, alright, I free up maself.”

When De Florimonte came out of the gutter and braced the gate leading to the house next door, the police fired another round. They said that DeFlorimonte reportedly ran into the neighbour’s yard with ranks letting off more gunshots behind him. The residents said the ranks then made their way onto the “back street thinking dat he gun come out from de other side,” one woman said. “ Now I de jus ask he for a $100 and he give me. So I go and buy something. When I

leffing de shop I see bout five policemen on foot and dis boy (name given). Me friend seh don’t look back and I didn’t. Next thing I hear a shot den bout three more go off,” the woman reported.

The residents said that on Wednesday all the persons who were seated at the shop were arrested and taken to the police station. A friend of the deceased requesting anonymity said, “Only yesterday we saying we got to find out whe dis man deh and carry water and food fuh he, because we seh like he get lock up. Nobody ain’t no nothing; we ain’t seeing he.

All dem man get lock up and nobody ain’t know he deh at de back there all de time. De police ain’t go in de back deh and look for he.”

Onika Simpson, the mother of DeFlorimonte’s two sons, said that she had last spoken to her husband on Wednesday before she left for her own home. The woman said she awoke about 6:30 am yesterday making plans to go look for her “child father” since no one had seen the man since mid-week.

About 7:00 am, Simpson said she was alerted by residents that her husband was found in the back yard.

When she checked, the woman said that her worst fears were confirmed.

She said she was not

around on Wednesday but residents related the events to her.

Simpson informed that she and her husband have two sons together, one aged one year and the other three.

Residents are however upset at the manner in which the police behaved. They said that the police should have done more. “ You mean to tell me that when they go into de station dem ain’t seh well they shot somebody. Dem ain’t accounting for discharging dem weapon?”

Another resident said, “He (DeFlorimonte) did not deserve to die like dat. I mean anybody does get in li’l problem but that ain’t seh he had to die like dat.”

When Kaieteur News visited the scene, the foul scent was still in the air. The decomposed body was already taken away by undertakers but dreadlocks and worms could still be seen where the body laid in the bushy back yard behind the fence that separated the yard from the trench.

The neighbour was not available for comment but she reportedly told residents that she was cleaning up her yard when she was assailed by the awful smell. On investigating, the woman said she saw the already swollen decomposed body and that was when she raised an alarm.

Visiting volunteers construct Community Bridge An International organization called Builders Beyond Borders, based in New Jersey, USA, in collaboration with the Mashabo Village Council, Digicel and Food For The Poor Guyana Inc constructed a 245-foot concrete bridge.

The construction of the concrete bridge commenced on February 16 and ended on Mash Day. The bridge replaced a dilapidated structure that linked Hosanna with Mashabo.

The new bridge, according to a representative of Food For The Poor, will be of tremendous benefit to the Amerindian community of Mashabo since it provides easy access between the communities.

The children of Mashabo Primary will be the prime beneficiaries, the representative added because more than 90 percent of the student population resides in Hosanna.

Thirty-four volunteers from the Builders Beyond

Borders including twenty ei g h t youths from Mashabo between the ages of 14 and 17 traveled from the United States of America to work on the project along with several youths from Mashabo and the staff of Food For The Poor.

The experience for the volunteering youths was exceptional, since they were able to learn about Guyana and its cultural diversity, particularly the Amerindian culture and traditions.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Governments want to control...

Lloyd fails in bid for WICB Presidency Former West Indies Captain and ICC Cricket Committee Chairman, Clive Lloyd failed to secure a seconder to his nomination put forwarded by the Guyana Cricket Board for the post of the WICB president.

Lloyd told Kaieteur Sport on Thursday that the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board may be the Territorial Board expected to second his nomination. Apparently, this did not materialize and the deadline for submission of nomination expired at midnight on Friday 22nd February. Kaieteur Sport understands that Mr. Lloyd may have received promises from Barbados and Trinidad Cricket Authorities but his late request probably was a deciding factor as WICB full members would have already made commitments to the other candidates.

While the Guyana Cricket Board seemed to have

abandoned all previous positions and gave full support to Mr. Lloyd, other territorial boards were not as accommodating.

When Kaieteur Sports spoke to Mr. Lloyd last night he said that he is, “Still awaiting word from the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board.” However, with nominations closing on 22nd February his chances seemed grim.

By simple deduction, if Mr. Hunte and Cameron have been nominated, four (4) Territorial Boards would have already given their backing to these two candidates.

Guyana Cricket Board, by nominating Lloyd, obviously did not participate in the nominations of Hunte and Cameron. Sources close to the process told Kaieteur Sport that Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board may have been the only option available to second Lloyd.

This is the second time

Clive Lloyd that Mr. Lloyd has attempted to run for the WICB presidency and both times failed to secure a seconder.

Former GCB president, Chetram Singh, also failed in his attempt 6 years ago.

The WICB AGM is scheduled for 27th March 2013.

Fourth annual Desmond Dorsette road race and family fun day set for March 24 From page 59 sack race, needle and thread and Sal Pass among others, while a number of ring games are also expected to be a part of the day’s programme.

A small entrance fee will be charged, while children will participate free with proceeds from the day’s activities will be used to help fund and stock the Negla Ross Library at the

No53 Complex.

The late Superintendent Dorsette was an ardent sports fan who participated in numerous sporting activities including Cricket and athletics during his tenure in the Guyana Police Force and in the community.

A native of East Canje, Dorsette migrated after retiring and would return with his

Sunday February 24, 2013

family from time to time to do charity and community work.

His wife Waveney Dorsette, a retired head mistress, and community activist and remigrant is the spearhead of the activity. Interested persons can make contact with telephone numbers 339-4475, 6657854, 3394133 and 3394626 for further information.

(Samuel Whyte)

From page 59 age 13 and won the 100m and 200m. Then I took an interest in him. Then he was picked for the Barbados CARIFTA team in 1991 to go to Trinidad.

The finals took place the day after his 15th Birthday, so he had to compete in the U-17 class.

Before the meet, I said to him like a coach, this could be tough etc., preparing him for what I thought was the inevitable licks he would get.

But on April 1, 1991, I would never forget, I was mowing the lawn and my daughter ran out to me and shouted, “Daddy, daddy Oba won the 100m” and I said don’t tell me this, because as you know it was All Fools Day, but then she said no he won indeed and it was a revelation.

He was not a committed athlete; if you didn’t remind him he would go and train etc.

He was not a dedicated athlete, but an event occurred in August 1992 where he was not picked for the World Youth Championships though he wanted to run.

His coach had prepared him for that and when he saw the times that the kids had ran in Japan, he really took it to heart and decided that it was the end of athletics for him. I said to him don’t give up and thought he would get over it but for three months he didn’t train.

Edison Jefford: What did you do about that situation?

Alvin Thompson: I read him the riot act and had a very serious talk with him about his talent and so on. He picked up his shoes and began to train again. The following

year, which was 1993, he was 17 years old. He won the Barbados Senior National Championships.

He won the CAC Senior Championships and at several other competitions he did well, including the Pan American Games. He was offered a scholarship in that year and I told him that he has to decide whether he will take it or not. He had offers of two scholarships and he chose to go to El Paso, Texas.

Between 1993-1994, after he got to the States, he broke the world junior 100m record.

He went on to hold three world records, including the fastest 100m under any conditions, which was 9.69 after getting out of the blocks last.

Unfortunately for him at the NCAA Championships, he sustained two injuries. He missed out on that in 1996, but in spite of all of that about two months later, he brought fourth in the 200m final at the Olympics behind Michael Johnson, who won in world record time and of course as you know in 2000, he got the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympic Games.

Between 2001 to when he finally quit in 2008, he was plagued by a series of injuries to his hamstring and he was asthmatic, so that affected him badly. He didn’t have the resources to have the best physiotherapist and all of that; at one time he was telling me that he had to pay a physio as much as US$300 for just a massage, but he did pretty well. He had an outstanding career.

Edison Jefford: Was there any point where efforts were made on your part or otherwise to have him represent Guyana?

If not, why?

Alvin Thompson: No! Obadelle was born in Barbados. He always wanted to run for his country. He never seriously considered an alternative.

Edison Jefford: Has he (Obadelle) ever visited Guyana?

Alvin Thompson: Just once when he was an U-13 athlete and came for the CUT Games. He never came back here as far as I can recall.

Edison Jefford: Is there any serious attempt from him that you know of to relate to his roots in Guyana?

Alvin Thompson: Let me put it this way, he has very close relationships with his first cousin, which is my brother’s son, who did law in Barbados.

They established a very close relationship. He has met his cousins from here and so on. He knows cousins and his family very well. He never actually came back here.

Edison Jefford: Is

Obadelle active in athletics today, in terms of its administration or coaching?

Alvin Thompson: No! I know that he and his wife were to have a coaching job at a school some years ago, but they didn’t take that up.

He is doing Law now, which he hopes will be his career (after holding degrees in economics and business).

Edison Jefford: I know his and Marion Jones union is a famed one, how are they doing?

Alvin Thompson: They are doing well. We speak to them often. They have three kids together. I don’t know of anything about them that would suggest there is conflict. They have moved into a bigger place late last year I believe. I could only say that they are doing well.

Edison Jefford: Well back to you. I know that you are a distinguished academic, who could have had distinguished athletic career as well. What happened?

Alvin Thompson: If the times were right. You really could not in my time marry athletics and academics. .

Edison Jefford: That is exactly where I wanted to go!

Alvin Thompson: No, no it was not possible. In my days living in Britain, British tracks were hard; difficult to run on. You could have never done world times on those tracks. You could have beaten people, but not run world class times. The times coming out of Britain were way below world standards. Athletes had to leave Britain to go elsewhere and train. Now the tracks are fast. New synthetic tracks and new shoes and everything are making that possible, but in my time, it simply was not possible in Britain.

Edison Jefford: Have you still an interest in athletics as keenly as those days?

Alvin Thompson: Not as keenly because I find that now whenever people do good times I tend to question whether it is authentic or not and times have improved dramatically over the last 10 years or so, whereas before times used to be cut down by small increments.

Edison Jefford: You don’t believe those times now are humanly possibly?

Alvin Thompson: Yes I do believe they are. I had my doubts but I have come to the conclusion that Bolt is authentic. Bolt is one of two I have looked at and concluded that they are authentic. I have always believed that Kirani James is authentic. I had my doubts initially. It is interesting that of all the 400m runners in the world, James is the first to break the 44 second barrier and they are many, many Americans who have broken that barrier.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Pistorius must live Excitement continues as Coca Cola with his conscience Beach Cup Championships conclude - slain girlfriend’s father

Oscar Pistorius weeps in court last week (AP) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius will have to live with his conscience after he shot dead his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day and said it was a tragic mistake, the victim’s father Barry Steenkamp was quoted as saying in the local media.

The athlete shot dead model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury home near Pretoria in the early hours of February 14. He was charged with premeditated murder after the shooting.

Pistorius said he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder. “It doesn’t matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he will have to live with his conscience if he allows his legal team to tell lies on his behalf,” Barry Steenkamp told Beeld, an Afrikaans newspaper.

“But if he is telling the truth then maybe I can forgive him one day. If it didn’t happen the way he said it did, he must

suffer, and he will suffer... only he knows.”

Pistorius was granted bail on Friday after his lawyers successfully argued the “Blade Runner” was too famous to flee justice.

Meanwhile, Pistorius’ family distanced themselves from a tweet on the account of the athlete’s brother on Saturday thanking people for the support offered to both families.

A spokeswoman for the family said the account had been hacked. They said Pistorius’ brother and sister would cancel their social media accounts.

The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 metres in the London Olympics.

But the impact has been greatest in South Africa, where he was seen as a rare hero for both blacks and whites, transcending racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

Final in inaugural Banks Classic Berbice Basketball set for March 10 at Fyrish The final in the inaugural Banks DIH Classic Inter club Basketball competition is slated to be played on Sunday March 10th at the Fyrish basketball court.

The two teams in the final are pre-tournament favourites Central New Amsterdam and giant killers the roving Fyrish Black Sharks.

Central New Amsterdam played unbeaten throughout the preliminary stages, but it was the Black Sharks after a not so enterprising start to the competition with two losses in their first two games that that came swarming back

to devour all in their path to clinch a place in the final.

The final will be preceded by the third place play off between Rose Hall Town and Smythfield Rockerfellas in a game which is also expected to be keenly contested. Jump ball time is expected to be 16:00hrs.

The top team and runner up will receive attractive prizes, while outstanding individual players will also be recognized with trophies and other incentives.

The other team in the five team competition was Corentyne Jammers.

Football fans have enjoyed more than six weeks of pulsating action and when activities reach its culmination, Silver Shattas will oppose Alikyu SC in the finals of the Coca Cola Beach Cup Championships at Bayroc Sand Reserve, Sat March 16 next. Both teams earned that right after winning their respective games over the past week.

Shattas was the first to qualify after defeating Blue Berry Hill, this after the two teams traded goals in the first two periods to finish on a 3-3 stalemate going into the final

third. The match was intensive and as the game wound down seemed to be heading for extra time. This was not to be as Deshawn Freeman struck twice, the last effort a thunderous free kick from midfield, to break the deadlock. Darrel George scored a double while Orin Scott netted once for Blueberry Hill. Colwyn David and Clifton Halley scored one apiece for Shattas.

The Silvertown/Alikyu SC encounter saw Silvertown point man, Mario Batson sprinting to the opposition’s goal to register in just one

second after the whistle.

Alikyu fought back on the defensive end and stifled the All Star Youths’ slick moves before Kevin Sparman scored twice to equalize the situation.

The game then reached fever pitch and on two occasions Silvertown rallied and assumed the lead through Joshaun Moore. Stiff rivalry from both teams ensured that the game remain tied at the end of regulation time and the two teams battled into extra time to determine the winner Alikyu’s custodian, whose earlier blemishes had

been responsible for the extra period of play, atoned for those blunders with some magnificent saves to thwart Silvertown’s efforts.

The players started to show frustration and their strategy suffered causing the game to remain dead lock before progressing into penalty kicks.

Silvertown’s Captain, Marmarlaque Davidson failed to past the ‘keeper’ before Alikyu’s Kevin Prowell blasted the nets to end the match 3-2. Activities culminate on Saturday March 2 at the same venue.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Governments want to control sport with little input Kaieteur Sports’ Edison Jefford caught up with distinguished Guyanese, Professor, Emeritus, Dr. Alvin Thompson, who was one of Guyana’s fastest junior sprinters in the late 1950s, and who is the father of Barbados-born sprint legend, Obadele Thompson.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) Professor of History and Philosophy did undergraduate studies at UWI, holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy from London University and a Ph.D. from UWI. His son is married to famed American sprinter, Marion Jones.

Professor Thompson was in Guyana as part of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ 250th Anniversary Commemorative Lecture Series where he delivered on ‘The Berbice Slave Uprising of 1973: Historical and Present Significance’ at the Umana Yana.

But in our interview, Thompson talks athletics in the Caribbean, his role in raising a world-class sprinter, the challenges that ensued, sport and its administration in the Caribbean, and a range of other pertinent subjects of interest to sport. Below is our interview: Edison Jefford: You are a renowned historian that has produced tons of work. Was there and is there any attempt to produce literature on the history of athletics in the Caribbean?

Alvin Thompson: No, no.

I mean sport history is a very important area, but I have dedicated my life to something that I believe is much more important than sports: colonialism and its impact on Caribbean people.

People have asked me, but if I

do write, it would be a biography of my son.

There is a lot of information that I know about my son; how he got there, his struggles etc. that people don’t know. His struggles when people have accused him of a number of things that are not quite what they say.

Edison Jefford: What about sport and its administration, any thoughts of getting involved at that level?

Alvin Thompson: There is not much scope, certainly in Barbados there is not much scope; their vision is very small and petty about a number of things.

One of the issues we have

- Professor Thompson believes bring home more petty medals and the bigger picture was eluding them. Jamaica don’t send their top athletes, even Trinidad don’t send their top athletes to meets like CAC and the like.

So, he had to say to them one time that he has his sponsors, Mizuno, who are paying him to compete as well, which is done according to the place you get in the race.

There was also the issue of the track there in Barbados.

It was way below standards.

It was on that track Obadele was injured in 1997. So there is always this conflict of

think essentially is the problem because we have similar issues pervading sport in the Caribbean?

Alvin Thompson: Yes I know, it is there in Cricket too.

There are a number of issues, but one of the main one is that a number of these people who are handling athletics have never done anything in athletics or in sports. They do not understand what it takes to be an athlete and to win.

They just want to exercise this control. They don’t understand several things, including how to spend money on sport. When you

Kaieteur Sports’ Edison Jefford (left) interviews Professor, Emeritus, Dr. Alvin Thompson at the Le Meridien Pegasus last week. had to deal with is the issue of control over athlete’s lives.

Obadele was the first Barbadian athlete to be declared by the IAAF as an elite athlete. They (Barbados) always wanted him to come, leave the circuit and run at meets like CAC (Central American and Caribbean) to

control. I have seen a number of potentially good athletes in Barbados that they handled the wrong way and broken them.

They never made it to the top. That is the problem and you never are going to get past that, never!

Edison Jefford: What you

go overseas and you are placed among the other athletes who have everything laid out for them, it does something to you psychologically.

The American team sends a number of psychologists with their team. Rudy Webster talks about this; sport

psychologists, to ensure that the athletes mind is not troubled by anything.

Those are the kinds of things that cost money, lots of money. Government don’t want to give you anything, but they want to control you.

That is just funny. They are not spending the money, but they want to make the demands.

People do not understand what it takes to produce, and that is the core of the problem we face in the Caribbean. Look what the British have spent recently to get medals at the London Olympics. They would tell you that the cost to get one medal is in the millions, and they will continue to spend and that is the Government’s input. Not here in the Caribbean.

Edison Jefford: From my own research, I know that you went to Queens College and you were nicknamed ‘9.9 Thompson’ as one of the fastest school boys Guyana ever produced. Can you take us through a bit of your school days in athletics in Guyana?

Alvin Thompson: The 9.9 seconds was over a 100 yards and not 100m and I think that has since been broken, but I did distinguish my craft at Queens College between 1959 and 1960. I went into Queens College in 1958 in the lower sixth form and I was named in 1960 Queen’s College Sports Personality of the Year.

After leaving school I went on to UWI, Mona (Jamaica) where I was sprint champion in 1963.

I went to Britain in 1966 to do my post-graduate work and became the London University sprint champion and British University sprint champion of 1966 and was given the London University

purple, which is the mark of distinction as the highest sports honour one could get at London University. I never went to the Commonwealth Games or the Olympic Games or anything like that though.

Edison Jefford: I understand you were very interested in representing Guyana, but the authorities at the time made no effort to ensure that you represent us at the highest level even though you had outstanding performances. Is that true?

Alvin Thompson: For some reason Guyana showed no interest; no one ever contacted me so I gave up athletics in 1967, partly because too I was in France doing post-graduate research. There was no correspondence between myself and Guyana. I never made any effort to contact Guyana, but I know Guyanese were aware of my performances. I think Guyana should have known, must have known, about my performances. I didn’t see it as my responsibility to contact the sports organisations.

Edison Jefford: Since those days you’ve had an obvious passion for athletics, which was demonstrated in the tremendous success of your son. Could you tell us what role you played in Obadele’s career?

Alvin Thompson: I have a daughter who was a brilliant young athlete, but she did not show great interest in going on so I let her slip through because she wanted to do academic work.

Obadele won things in Primary School too, but then he ran at the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) competition around 1989 at (Continued on page 50)

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 53

“West Indies beating Zimbabwe is not the biggest challenge! WICB Presidential race is so tasty!”

Colin E. H. Croft After Friday’s showing in the 1st One-Day International (ODI) against Zimbabwe, West Indies are overwhelming favourites to sweep this three-game ODI series, easily win the two T20-I’s, then come out ahead, even if they will have to work harder, in the two -Tests.

Piece of cake, really!

Not so that fight, race even, for Presidency of West Indies Cricket Board. That is quite another matter!

I feel somewhat sorry for Zimbabwe. They have not played full international cricket for a year and did not even have enough money to bring all of their coaches, a situation that International Cricket Council should have addressed by alleviating that financial stress.

Yet, Zimbabwe is here, trying hard!

So, if you remember, when Guyana had problems with that Interim Management Committee a year ago, I mentioned directly that I was sure that the real purpose of being IMC’s leader was a stepping stone for my former captain, Clive Hubert Lloyd, whose overall ambition was to be WICB President.

Happily, again, I was so right! However, given the

situation and candidates listed, runners in this race, it is not a forgone conclusion that CHL will become next President of WICB. That will be more difficult than beating Zimbabwe!

I expect that most former international cricketers, including me, would like to see drastic administration changes for better, from WICB. Former team-mate Andy Roberts has already stated thusly. But, to be fair, WICB has overseen excellent onfield improvements recently, with our senior men’s and women’s teams becoming and performing much better.

As they say in Guyana, “Yuh gaf foh gih Jack ‘e jacket!” Present WICB must take much positive credit!

Few gave West Indies any hope of winning anything, stumbling blindly from pillar to post last decade, looking for that special combination of personnel, on and off field, to become much more than just competitive, but also to actually win.

Indeed, most did not think that selections of Ottis Gibson as Head Coach, and Darren Sammy as team captain, would bring West Indies anything but grief. Yet, they have managed to shock us!

Out of that dark mist came that most unexpected, magical win of ICC World T-

20 Championship last year!

Regardless of what many may say now, after the fact, less than 25% of our supporters expected that outcome! Yes, that winning boost was as needed as several heart transplants for many very badly ailing hearts!

If that was not a great fillip to WICB’s achievements, our senior women’s team nearly pulled off the impossible.

They emerged way beyond expectations anywhere, to play in ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 Final a few weeks ago.

Suddenly, West Indies teams are winning again! That can only be really good for the sport and region!

Dr. Julian Hunte, present WICB President, running again for that position, must take credit here, after taking fearful flax, for nepotism and home-town favor, when Sammy, fellow St. Lucian, was appointed. Dr. Hunte has had the most recent, maybe his last laugh, as WICB President, but has savored improvements and achievements, basking in the glory of West Indies teams doing so well.

Many have continuously claimed that present WICB has no clue as to what to do with development. Yet, overall, there is very much more cricket being played in

>>>Letter to the Sports Editor<<<

The GCB must be the most stupid organization in the world DEAR EDITOR, In dissecting the animosity between the Government-created Interim Management Committee and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) over a two year period, I was careful to mention that my assessments were never in support of the Guyana Cricket Board but against the conspiratorial minds inside the PPP that wanted to control cricket administration in Guyana.

I was always meticulous in my pronouncements that I did not know what was going on inside the GCB and therefore preserved my intellectual integrity by not espousing the causes of the GCB. None of my letters and articles was in support of the GCB. I believe politics should be out of cricket and therefore the IMC is illegal and the country should not recognize it.

This week, the GCB shows how unfit it is to run cricket in Guyana and has played into the hands of the IMC, Clive Lloyd and the Guyana Government.

This is an asinine group that is administratively and intellectually unfit to run any major institution in Guyana. What the GCB has done is to undo the hard work the WICB has performed over the past two years in trying to keep politics out of cricket in this country. The GCB has insulted and abused Julian Hunte (the WICB President) in the most diabolical way. I don’t think there is a group of people in Guyana at the moment that is so

revolting to me as the people who make up the GCB. Mr. Hunte supported the GCB in all its hours of distress only to find the GCB saying that it supports Clive Lloyd to be the head of the WICB because he is Guyanese. This is the very Guyanese that participates in the introduction of politics in the administration of cricket in this country.

So it does not matter to the GCB if Lloyd would put Guyana cricket in the lap of the Guyana Government if he becomes the head of the WICB, what is important for the GCB is that a Guyanese must be in charge of West Indian cricket.

There can be no more a pathetic bunch in this country than these people in the GCB. Who are they? Where did they come from?

How can human beings be so silly, disgusting and downright sickening?

I hope when the Cricket Bill in Parliament is passed, the society fumigates the GCB and the whole lot is shipped out to sea. As for Clive Lloyd and his new found relationship with the GCB, I will have more to say on this.

But I am announcing to Lloyd and the GCB that I have become a clairvoyant. I predict that Lloyd will not be the new President of the West Indian Cricket Board.

Guyanese are stupid people and we are seen in the CARICOM region as such. The Jamaicans, Bajans and Trinis know better.

Frederick Kissoon

Julian Hunte the Caribbean than at any time in the past. It is not our numbers that worry, but our standards, which, despite those mentioned successes, is still quite poor. Only last week, Trinidad & Tobago was dismissed for less than 100 in a four-day game!

This WICB Presidential race has delicious situations developing before our very eyes, like Darren Bravo’s mature, initial international ODI hundred, or Johnson Charles coming of age with consecutive ODI centuries.

Nothing can be taken for granted at all, regardless of individual standings of the candidates!

Already, T&T has washed its hands on nominations, saying publicly, like proper politicians, that they cannot show whom of Dr. Hunte, his Deputy, Dave Cameron, or Lloyd, they would support.

That is just the tip of this really entertaining but potentially quite dangerous iceberg! Lloyd has also even asked Guyana’s Cricket Board for its endorsement. What?

Mind you, this is the same erstwhile body that he and Guyana’s government have tried, extremely diligently, with court injunction after court injunction, to have permanently removed from office.

That is tantamount to a man, after trying to poison his wife, actually asking her to respect and love him!

Cameron will have his hometown, Jamaica’s, votes.

He also boasts, we note, of having at least two other entities in his corner.

Neither Barbados nor

Colin E. H. Croft Leeward Islands have shown anything, despite Roberts’ comments, so maybe Cameron knows something we do not!

Dr. Keith Mitchell, a real champion for our cricket, who, in the past, was Chairman of Prime Ministers’ Sub-Committee on Sports, having swept Grenada’s general elections, brings another tantalizing sweet and sour taste. Would he support fellow Windward Islander, Dr. Hunte, or would he cast his weight behind his great cricketing friend, Lloyd?

Talk about intrigue, this is titillating! West Indies beating Zimbabwe takes a distant back seat. Enjoy!

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Kaieteur News

RHTYSC Cricket Teams donate Television set to Berbice Cricket Board

Sunday February 24, 2013

Fazia’s Collection / WDFA U-17 Girls Inter School Tourney...

Leonora, St. John’s, Uitvlugt & Zeeburg into semis

Action in the inaugural game between Uitvlugt and Leonora.

RHTY&SC Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster hands over TV set to BCB Secretary Angela Haniff The Berbice Cricket Board’s Coaching Programme on Thursday last received a major boost when the cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club donated a 24 inches television set values $70, 000 to the Cricket Board. The teams – RHT Farfan & Mendes Under-15, Bakewell Under-17 and Second Division, Metro Females, Pepsi Under-19 and Intermediate and Gizmos & Gadgets Under21 and First Division made the donation to the Berbice Cricket Board as part of their self development programme.

Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster at the presentation ceremony stated that the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club was quite passionate about the development of the game in the ancient county.

The Club, Foster disclosed has assisted Berbice Cricket at a level that is unmatched by any other organisation and pledged that the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports club

would continue to do so in the future. Eon Hooper of the Gizmos & Gadgets First Division Team stated that he and his fellow cricketers were delighted to assist the Berbice Cricket Board in its ongoing effort to lift Berbice Cricket even higher.

Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board Angela Haniff expressed gratitude to the RHTYSC and its cricketers for the donation.

The Berbice Cricket Board would use the Television set in its office on a daily basis for entertainment and also for its in house coaching programmes. Special emphasis would be placed on coaching in Berbice for 2013 and the Television set would play a major role in assisting the cricket coaches.

She issued a plea to other clubs and NGOs to follow in the footsteps of the RHTYSC in assisting the BCB which is leading a revolution in the administration of the game in the Ancient County.

The inaugural Fazia’s Collection / West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) Under-17 Girls Inter Secondary School competition has reached the semifinal stage following some pulsating group action.

Topping Group A was Leonora Secondary with victories over Uitvlugt and West Demerara, Uitvlugt took the runner-up spot with their win over West Demerara.

Ruling the roost in Group B was Zeeburg with wins over Vreed-en-hoop and St. John’s with St. John’s edging

out Vreed-en-hoop for the runner up spot, the top two from each group are through to the semifinals with one game set for Tuesday and the other on Wednesday at the Den Amstel Community Centre, Ground.

On Tuesday, from 15:30hrs, Leonora will put their unbeaten run on the line against St. John’s side that will be seeking to upstage the high flying Leonora ladies.

On Wednesday, Zeeburg, a unit that has displayed a huge appetite for scoring goals with a total of 11 in their two matches to date will be going all out to keep that reputation intact when they come up against Uitvlugt in what is anticipated to be a fierce battle.

In the final two group matches, Zeeburg banged their way to a solid 5-0 win over St. John’s led by a double from Lashawn La Rose who converted in the 41st and 52nd minute. Keshauna McRae signaled the intentions of Zeeburg from as early as the first minute.

Mariah Clarke scored in the 33rd minute with

Margaret Pillay sealing the issue in the 56th minute.

St. John’s and Vreed-enhoop battled to a 1-1 stalemate, the only drawn encounter in the group stage.

Kellyann Calderia had put St. John’s in the lead in the 17th minute and for some time they were sensing that that effort would have been enough for victory but Keishell Moore had different ideas for Vreeden-hoop. With six minutes to game time, Moore’s teammates couldn’t ask for more when she blasted a shot past the St. John’s goalkeeper to pull the score level.

The first, second and third place teams will be presented with trophies along with gold, silver and bronze medals. The fourth placed team will also cart off a trophy. The most valuable player of the tournament will also be rewarded as will the player to score the most goals and the best goalkeeper.

Leading the hunt for the most goals trophy is Uitvlugt’s Uan Wilson who has 5. Zeeburg’s Margaret Pillay has 4 and schoolmate Lashawn La Rose, 3.

All set for Rising Sun...

From page 55 Dazzling, Dream Girl, Stormy Lass, Mona Lisa, I want Revenge, the Gump and Savion.

The top individual performers including jockey, stable and trainer will be presented with accolades compliments of Ramesh Sunich of the Trophy Stall Bourda Market. The Race will be held under the rules of the

Rising Sun Turf Club and Bugle time is 13:00 hrs.

Last minute contact can be made with Fazal Habibulla at Chester Fry at Bush Lot West Coast Berbice on Telephone No 232-0232 or 648-6522, 6577010, or Inshanally Habibulla on 6234495, and 623-5453 or 2323295, Donald or Zaleena Lawrie on 225-4530 or 2254565 for additional info.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 55

Guyoil continues support of Berbice Cricket Board countywide Coaching Programme The Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil) under the Castrol brand on Wednesday continued its sponsorship of the Berbice Cricket Board countywide coaching programme for junior cricketers.

The coaching programme would be conducted by coaches Michael Hyles and Winston Smith and would cater for cricketers from the Under-13 to Under-19 levels.

The sponsorship is worth $100,000.

Chairman of the Berbice Cricket Board Special Events Committee Hilbert Foster expressed gratitude to Guyoil for supporting the Berbice

Cricket Board coaching programme and disclosed that four main coaching sessions would be held at the Blairmont, Cumberland, Area “H” and Skeldon grounds for two days each.

Each of the venues would cater for 50 to 60 cricketers and special emphasis would be placed on coaching for batsmen, wicketkeepers, fast bowlers and spinners.

The young cricketers would also be exposed to fielding and physical fitness techniques.

Foster disclosed that last year under the Guyoil/Castrol Coaching Programme over 400 young cricketers

All set for Rising Sun/ Banks Classic Mash horserace meet today All is set for the Rising Sun Turf Club in collaboration with Banks DIH limited annual Mashramani one day mega horserace meet at the club’s entity at Arima Park, West Coast Berbice today.

Over 95 horses have been entered for what is anticipated to be a packed day of racing. Seven races are listed on the day’s card and with prize money totaling over $6M in cash and trophies on offer.

Among the sponsors on board are Banks DIH Limited, Shariff business enterprise and racing stable, Jumbo Jet, Inshan Bacchus Business Enterprise, Colin Elcock racing Stables, Chester Fry Chicken of Bush Lot West Coast Berbice, Habla Meat Centre, Romell Jagroop Construction, Abary and Rising Sun Cattle ranches and Trophy Stall of Bourda Market, Rohit Lumber yard, Kris Jagdeo Construction and Simple Royal racing Stables among others.

The feature Banks DIH B and lower 1400M event with a sumptuous $1M and the Banks DIH trophy available for the winners will see the, likes of Score’s Even, California Strike, Mission King, Grande De Roja, the Message, The Bailiff, Renia Del Cafe, Dubai Duchess, Who is on the Case, Lovely Linda and Miss Karina.

The line-up for the F class 1400M event has 15 horses entered for the event which has a pole position taking of $340,000 and trophy available; among them are Swing Easy, Traditional Man, Sleep in the Town, Rosetta,

Fairy landing, Ready to Score, Quiet Strom, Dubai Duchess, Top of The Line, Silent Lizzy and Sweet Licks.

The three year old race for animals bred and born in Guyana and the West Indies with a winner’s pocket of $400,000 and trophy also over 1400M has the likes of The Wild Grinder, Another Jet, Gold Princess, Sent from Above, Monsoon, Set for Fame, Gold Rush, Flying Baby, Funny factor, Reaming Colours and Black Box. The G and lower showdown with a winning purse of $300,000 and trophy in another 1400M encounter. Among those entered are Traditional Man, Classic, Feels like Gold, Treacle, Silent Lizzy, Third World, Ready to score, The Bailiff, Indian King, Princess Kiara, Gold Majesty, Super Bowl, Dream Girl, Quiet Storm, Ready to score and Summer Classic.

Some of the animals entered in the three year old event for animals bred and born in Guyana which has a winning prize of $300,000 and trophy over 1400M are Silent Night, Dream Boy, Easy To win, She So Special, Angel Flyer, Miss Katrina, Cat Massiah, Famous Pride and Spice. There are 14 horses entered in the ‘I’ class gallop over 1100M for a winners take of $200,000 and trophy.

The J and lower race has 15 entries and will see the winner receiving $150,000 and trophy. Among some of the other animals in action are Strom in a Tea a cup, Joyful Victory Intruding Account, Feels like Gold, Diamond (Continued on page 54)

benefitted. Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board Angela Haniff stated that the main aims of the coaching programme are to identify new talents and to harness them properly for the future, while at the same time nurturing existing talents.

The Berbice Cricket Board also wants to make sure that every young Berbice cricketer understands their

individual role as a sport ambassador for Berbice.

The Board in 2013 would be placing special emphasis on coaching with events such as the Elite Training Programme, Training of Coaches, Berbice Cricket Academy planned for the year. One day cricket academies would also be held in West Berbice, New Amsterdam/Canje, Lower Corentyne and Upper Corentyne.

BCB Treasurer Romash Munna received cheque from a Representative of Guyoil

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Berbice Cricket Board and Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club make charitable donations

Some children of the Alpha Childern Home pose with their educational materials

Tamarind Root Cricket Club receives the donation of gears The donation to the All Saints Anglican Church

The Berbice Cricket Board and the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club on Thursday last made donation of cricket gear, educational materials, footwear and other items to three organisation under their cricket development, educational and charity programmes.

The two cricketing organisations over the last six years have worked together to assist cricket clubs and other NGOs who work to make positive differences in the

lives of youths, the less fortunate and elderly.

The Tamarind Root Cricket Club of Hampshire received a collection of cricket gear worth $60,000 to assist them to take part in Berbice Cricket Board organised tournaments. The donation included a set of stumps, batting pads, batting gloves, wicketkeeping pads and wicketkeeping gloves. The Alpha Children Home of East Bank Berbice received a collection of educational

materials for ten orphans under the Berbice Cricket Board Educational Awards Scheme. The Children Home also received 36 pairs of footwear.

The All Saints Anglican Church of New Amsterdam also received a wide array of stationery for its office, toys, footwear and a variety of formal clothing for members of the church. Secretary of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and Public Relations Officer of the Berbice Cricket Board Hilbert Foster in handing over the donations to the three organisations stated that the Berbice Cricket Board and Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club were pleased to assist and urged that the items be used for their

intended purpose.

Addressing members of the Tamarind Root Cricket Club directly, Foster urged them to place special emphasis on the development of young talents to ensure the future of the club.

Foster also urged the Alpha Children Home to form an Under-15 Cricket Team for the orphans and pledged assistance in this regard.

Representatives of the three groups expressed gratitude to the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and Berbice Cricket Board, while they pledged to use the items properly.

The Berbice Cricket Board in 2013 has targeted a total of 50 charity presentations to groups and cricket clubs in Berbice.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Warren McKay takes top honours in Benjamin Mashramani cycle race in Berbice Warren McKay

One Guyana’s top cyclist from the capitol city made sure that their sojourn to Berbice on a busy Mashramani Day was not in vain as they made a clean sweep of the top six positions in the senior category when the Flying Ace Cycle Club of Berbice in collaboration with former national cycling champion, overseas based Guyanese Wilbert Benjamin staged their annual Mashramani Cycle race on the Corentyne highway.

National cyclists Warren “Forty” Mc Kay rode home in 1hr: 27 minutes and 54 seconds to take the top positions in the 40 miles event.

Occupying the other top positions in the keenly contested event were Alonzo Greaves,

Marlon “Fishy” Williams, Geron Williams, Junior Niles and Paul DeNobrega in that order.

The race, which got started in front of the Benjamin Sport Store at Fyrish, Corentyne, saw some 37 cyclists riding off from the starting line around 09:05hrs and journeyed to the N043 bridge before turning back and heading to the place of origin for the finish.

With the cycling season in full flow and all the riders in top form and looking to have the early advantage in the season, the race was a closely contested throughout as no quarters were given and none asked as the riders by then were travelling at a good speed. The bunch was almost always together even as a

Former national athlete offers his thoughts on local Track & Field Immediately after making his opinion on the state of local cricket known, former national athlete and multiple times Masters gold medallist Victor Winston Churchill Benjamin gave his thoughts on local Track & Field, during an interview with Kaieteur Sport recently.

Benjamin, who currently resides in the USA where he has made it home since 1992, is back in the country of his birth on holiday and took the time to offer his views on the state of the sport and even attempted to compare his era with the present.

According to the former track star, Guyana’s athletes are suffering due to the lack of top class facilities which become crucial if an athlete is to reach the next level after leaving the junior ranks.

“Ever since my time, most of our athletes were on par with the rest of the Caribbean and I would go as far as saying that we held our own at the Junior Carifta Games, but when you graduate from that level, it is essential that the relevant facilities are in place to take you to the next level,” Benjamin said.

He pointed out that the difference was that the other countries had better facilities than ours and apart from that they also had more competitions than us so there was much bigger incentives for them to do well on a consistent basis, while the locals had no such luxuries and were left languishing even though they matched their counterparts not so long ago.

“In my time, we ran on grass tracks, but still managed to beat some of the best athletes in the Region, but the absence of regular Meets and good surfaces to run on never allowed our athletes to make the transformation from the junior ranks to the seniors

Victor Benjamin and that in addition to the existing administrative and technical problems continue to hinder development in the sport.

He was also critical of the location of the synthetic track currently under construction, referring to it as a big blunder that will not serve the majority of athletes.

“I say this because you hardly find athletes of quality coming from those areas that surround the facility and coupled with the cost of transportation I can already see that it would be difficult for the cream of our athletes who reside mainly in Georgetown to benefit from its presence.”

Benjamin when quizzed as to where he felt was the most suitable location for the track, responded by saying that it

should have been constructed somewhere in Georgetown, but went further to declare that even though the acquisition of such a facility is long overdue and welcomed, there is need for a few more to be constructed so that Guyana could be on par with the top performing countries within the Caribbean.

He added that another incentive for more tracks with quality is that a lot of talented Guyanese athletes are residing overseas and would like to come back and showcase their talent, but the absence of top class facilities have continually discouraged them from doing so.

He also spoke of a lack of a proper track & field programme which according to him is an annual one with no more than a one month rest period.

The former Army Officer and Physical Trainer disclosed that a more vibrant school programme needs to be implemented and as he did in the previous interview offered his service should the Athletic Association of Guyana / Government request it.

“If they call me I would be willing to offer my expertise, my experience is vast I have won medals all over the world, ran unbeaten at home for a long time, held many national records and the list goes on,” the multi talented former athlete said.

Benjamin’s achievements include 3 gold medals at the World Masters in Canada in 2005, 4 gold medals at the Pan Am Masters in Puerto Rico in 1980, 1 gold medal, 2 silvers and a bronze at the Pan Am Masters in Oregon, USA in 1984, 5 gold medals at the Pan Am Masters in Trinidad and Tobago among other outstanding performances.

He closed by stating that he has served this country with distinction without due recognition, but would gladly do it all over again.

few of the riders made a break for it, but were quickly sucked in by the pack.

On the downward journey Greaves, DeNobrega and Raynauth Jeffery made a slight getaway, but were subsequently sucked in by the roving bunch. By then the race was going at a frenetic pace. It was a sprint to the finish with the cyclists finishing in close order.

Niles rode in first in the veteran’s category with Wilbert Benjamin second. The top junior was Michael Anthony who came home ahead of Montel Anthony.

On the distaff side Naomi Singh made her journey to Berbice count as she got the better of home girl Marica Dick in their 20 miles duel with Crystal Lambert trailing in third.

The sprint point prizes were taken by Lindener Delroy Hinds and Raynauth Jeffery with two each, while Michael Anthony, Rastaff O’Selmo, DeNobrega and McKay rode away with one each.

The race, which is an annual one, was sponsored for the first time by the Canadian based Benjamin. It was previously held for cyclists of the Flying Ace Cycle club only.

This is the second event to be held in Berbice for the year and the second to be sponsored by the former national champion cyclists.

Benjamin along with coordinator and coach of the Flying Ace Cycle Club, Randolph Roberts, were both happy and expressed appreciation for the support. Benjamin expressed his joy and pleasure and stated that along with his family and business he will

continue to assist in whatever ways possible.

Roberts was loud in praise for the contribution of Benjamin who he stated is a noble Guyanese and one with his country at heart. He expressed hope that Benjamin’s benevolence and traits would rub off and catch onto other business persons in Guyana and Berbice, especially and overseas based Guyanese. The police lead by Deputy Superintendent Calvin Brutus, Inspector Williams, Sergeant Thomas and Corporal Gobin were commended for doing a splendid job.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday February 24, 2013

Namilco/Fruta Conquerors One Love Football tournament...

Two pulsating matches; one eventual champion as top teams go for broke

By Michael Benjamin Four weeks of pulsating football will come to a delectable climax when the two best teams, Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United and Santos FC clash to decide which is the best of the best when the finals of the Namilco/Fruta Conquerors One Love Football extravaganza is contested at the Tucville Ground tonight.

Indeed, following their decimation of the powerful Guyana Defence Force team, ‘The Hammers’ will be bristling with confidence and anxious to make amends for their ignominious exit from the 25th edition of the Kashif and Shanghai competition January last.

They have built quite a reputation and the pundits have labeled the team as the best locally. As such, the betting boys will want to cast their wagers on the Alpha unit because of their brutal demolition of their opponents

Gregory Richardson during the tournament which climaxed with a 5-0 drubbing of powerhouse, Guyana Defense Force.

On paper, ‘The Hammer’ appear to be the better unit with an ominous strike force that includes Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson, Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant and Andrew Murray, but will be depleted by the absence of Dwight Peters who will have to sit out tonight’s game after receiving a red card in the game

against the Army.

Nevertheless, Alpha will still be a formidable squad and still has Selwyn Isaacs and Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams to fill the breach.

Santos FC earned the right to grace the field tonight after disposing of tournament favourites, Fruta Conquerors 2-1 in the semi-finals and would be keen to replicate that feat. It has come a far way and the victory over Fruta Conquerors has signaled a turning point to the fortunes of the team dressed in white.

William Europe is in ripping form and was the first to open his team’s account against Conqueror’s FC, Keshon Lovell has also contributed in Santos’ semifinal success and he will be on a high; looking to replicate the feat. He can expect support from Vassel Cantzelaar, Odel Williams and Ryan Seals, who in tandem had destroyed New Amsterdam United to merit their places in tonight’s showpiece.

Should the trio coordinate,

they could very well drive the final nail in the ‘Hammers’ coffin.

The GDF had taken a pounding from ‘The Hammer’ and one wonders if they are fully recuperated to tackle Conquerors FC and salvage some pride. The fact that they had dished out an almost similar beating to Northern Rangers early in the tournament is indicative of their prowess. The soldiers have quite a competent lineup inclusive of Marlon Benjamin whose hunger for goals has seen him topping the averages for his team. He will garner support from Delwyn Fraser, Ryan Morrison and Desford Williams.

While these players could change the fortunes of the team, they would also be cognizant that Conquerors’ players would be bristling after their semi final loss to Santos FC. Dwayne Lawrence has proven his usefulness in previous matches and had scored the equalizer after

Travis Grant

Andrew Murray

Europe had sent Santos one up. The two teams had battled all of regulation time and it was only in extra time that Keshon Lovell had managed to separate the two teams, relegating Conquerors to the third place playoff.

They will want to restore some pride after losing on home turf. Against the Army, they will battle against a team of robust players that love to play it rough. One visualizes a match of David/Goliath proportions. It is this variance that sets up a match that fans will not want to miss.

The National Milling Company (NAMILCO) has increased the winnings handsomely which has amplified the keen rivalry over

the past month. In introductory remarks at the launching of the championships, Financial Controller (NAMILCO), Fitzroy McLeod encouraged the teams to play fair so that at the end of the tournament “We could attest to a triumph for all of the teams.”

While his words still resonate, tonight’s proceedings can produce only one winner.

Will it be Santos FC or will that team succumb to the weight of the mighty ‘Hammers.’ Fans would not want to miss the unfolding events.

The eventual winners will take home $1.2 M while the second place finishers receive $600,000. The third and fourth place teams win $400,000 and $200,000 respectively.

Sunday February 24, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 59

Zimbabwe look to avoid first ODI repeat upon such weaknesses.

Zimbabwe need to regroup quickly, as a team, and must show the will and confidence to stay competitive.

West Indies, on the other hand, need to find the ruthlessness that went missing after their World Twenty20 title win. They are expected to steamroll the opposition in this series and the only competition is with themselves. Can they get

E

SPNcricinfo - In a short three-ODI series that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t last a week, a heavy defeat in the first game can quickly become a nightmare. It wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be outlandish to say that 3-0 to West Indies is an expected result, but for Zimbabwe, who hardly play international cricket these days, this series offers a vital chance to show improvement. Their first outing was forgettable, but they need to avoid a repeat performance.

Their bowlers were battered by the West Indies batsmen, who could have got more than the 337 they eventually did, and when it was their turn to bat, their batsmen slipped at the first sight of Sunil Narine. In the end, it became a question of how badly would they lose.

That they lasted 50 overs was largely due to a 67-ball 18 by No. 8 Prosper Utseya.

In both innings, there were only a couple of performers of note and in international cricket, other teams feast

Fourth annual Desmond Dorsette road race and family fun day set for March 24

T

he Dorsette family of Leeds, Corentyne Berbice will for the fourth year be sponsoring the annual Desmond Dorsette Memorial Road race classic and Family Fun day on Sunday 24th March 2013.

Preparation has already begun for the big day which will be held at various venues. The road race which is expected to begin at 08:00 hrs will be held in three categories and is open to athletes from throughout Berbice. The categories are males and females open, U19 and U15. Although all systems are not in place the senior and U19 athletes will cover a distance of 5Km beginning their journey at No47 village and finishing at the popular No53 Sports Complex Corentyne. The U15 and the females will begin their segment at No49 village and are also expected finish at the No53 Complex.

Attractive Prizes which will include cash incentives, trophies, T shirts and ribbons and other memorabilia will be presented to the top finishers in each categories. Certificates of appreciation and participation will be presented to all participants by the Dorsette family. Also this year the top finishers from the Leeds, No51, Union, No53 catchment area will be presented with special prizes.

Following the road race a fund day will be held at the No53 Sports Complex beginning at 10:00hrs and will include softball cricket, volleyball, football, dominoes and a number of novelty events including egg and spoon, three legged race, (Continued on page 50 )

more if they bat first? Can they bowl out Zimbabwe within 40 overs? These are the challenges that Dwayne Bravo would want his team to take head on after the recent reverses in ODIs in Australia.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Darren Bravo has been around for close to four years n o w. H e h a s s h o w n numerous glimpses of his talent in the past - especially

in Tests - but the hundred on Friday was his first in 51 ODI outings. He followed up his maiden Test hundred with two more soon after.

With the quality of bowling Zimbabwe offer, he would certainly be hoping for another one in this series. If Zimbabwe need to show improvement, it has to start from two of their experienced batsmen, B r e n d a n Ta y l o r a n d

Hamilton Masakadza. The two were out in consecutive overs without getting into double-digit scores. With 249 matches between them, Zimbabwe would hope the pillars of their batting lineup show some resistance.

Kieron Pollard, who missed the previous match due to travel difficulties in getting to Grenada, will be available for selection for the second ODI.

t r o Sp

Night of Champions...

‘Lightening Struck Assassin’ promises to avenge ‘Big Truck’ loss to ‘The Sniper’

By Michael Benjamin W h e n K w e s i ‘Lightening Struck Assassin’ Jones enters the ‘square jungle’ tonight against Barbados knockout artist, Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox, he will be carrying a huge responsibility of avenging a second round knockout suffered by his countryman, Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite at the hands of the Barbadian late last year.

That encounter is highly anticipated and gives Jones an opportunity to back his scathing attack on the Barbadian after the fight was aborted last month. When Jones last entered the ring, more than 12 months ago, he had brutally disposed of Cleveland Fraser thus silencing his critics. In the meantime, Cox had engaged Denis Lebedev and was knocked out early in the 2nd round in his interim WBA 200-pound title clash in Russia. Cox has not fought since and Jones will be comforted that he (COX) has also been a mite inactive.

The two pugilists will square off tonight in the main supporting bout in a 10 rounds non title affair when Elton Dharry, in collaboration with Pearl Vodka presents ‘Night of Champions 2’ at the Cliff

Patrick Boston (left) will face debutant Mahmood ‘The Extractor’ Loul Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) this evening.

In the main attraction, Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry steps into the ring against Jamaican pugilist, Rudolph Hedge and the Guyanese pugilist will be cognizant that the World Boxing Union (WBU) bantamweight title will be the ultimate stake; he will be only too anxious to add that accolade to his Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) belt.

Dexter Marques will have to reorganize his fight plan after his original opponent, Dean Bad Newz’ Burrell

opted out of their bantamweight bout and the Guyanese will now oppose Selwyn Lett over 8 rounds.

Rudolph Fraser opposes Richard Williamson in a 6 round jnr/welterweight return encounter shortly before the night’s opener which will see Patrick Boston up against debutant Mahmood ‘The Extractor’ Loul over 4 rounds.

Few could forget the crunching left hook delivered by Cox that dropped Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite for the full count and despite Jones’ boasts

Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry (left) steps into the ring against Jamaican pugilist, Rudolph Hedge that he will ‘take his man into the deep and drown him’ the pundits are cognizant that Cox’s wallop that could be decisive.

Jones has also demonstrated immense power when he catapulted Fraser into dreamland compliments of a left hook.

The possibility of his landing a similar blow against Cox is high because the Barbadian is not very quick on his legs.

Jones has also demonstrated some boxing ability and if he could dance around and evade Cox’s bombs while landing his, he might just be able to pull off a victory.

Both boxers have crunching power and the fight is hardly likely to last the full ten rounds. The burning question of which fighter will smell the canvass cannot be immediately answered.

What is for sure is that the bout is hardly likely to last its full duration.

Fans should aspire to be present from the first gong.

Dharry is perhaps the smartest, most complete boxer on the local front. He has mastered the art of quartering the ring and he packs a terrific punch. He is the more experienced of the two but Hedge is no slouch.

He has compiled 10 fights, winning seven while the other 3 all ended in draws.

In Dharry’s last fight he had disposed of Barbadian, Ricardo Blackman while Hedge had earlier registered a unanimous verdict over the Bajan. As a matter of fact, Hedge said that he has fought 4 times in Barbados and came out victorious in all of them. He also won a fight in the Bahamas but registered a draw in another bout, also in the Bahamas.

Dharry, a resident of the USA has had more than his fair share of international fights; contrastingly, Hedge is still to win any major title but has fought in several countries and is spewing confidence in procuring the top prize.

Of average height Hedge, a native of Negril Jamaica, says that he is u n f a z e d b y D h a r r y ’s reputation and is confident of winning tonight’s bout.

His coach, Wayne Sharpe, summed up their intention in terse Jamaican dialect, “We nah come yah fo play games; is fiah from the first bell.”

Hedge nodded affirmatively in support of his coach’s predictions.

Loul is a Syrian dentist and is on attachment at the Cheddi Jagan Dental School.

This is his debut boxing match but he has had a productive career as a kick

boxer.

Tonight he will be required to shelve his kick boxing proclivities but he has promised to enter the ring with those of his professional trade in dentistry and extract a few of Boston’s cavities. Boston smiled broadly after learning of ‘The Dentist’s ambitions while promising to turn back the challenge.

Otherwise, Fraser has said that he has learned his lesson after being complacent in the first fight against Williamson. He has promised to come out with blazing fists to avenge the loss.

Williamson is a classy boxer but has already paid a heavy price for complacency when the referee halted, and awarded his contest against Charlton Skeete to the latter fighter. Williamson has rebounded nicely with the Fraser win and will be out to prove that it was no fluke.

The battle lines are drawn and the boxers are ready to turn in top performances. Appreciative fans should flock the venue in anticipation of the classy duels. Admission prices vary; fans pay $10,000 for VIP seats, which include drinks and snacks while a ringside seat costs $4000.

Those seated in the stands will pay $2,000. The first bell sounds at 20:00hrs.

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