Kaieteur News

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January 05, 2013 - Vol. 7 No. 01 - Price $80 kaieteurnews@yahoo.com Website:http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

Missing GEA employee...

Police detain

suspect’s associates A lucky day

These vehicles collided on Albert and Fourth Streets, Alberttown Georgetown at around 15:00hrs yesterday.

The driver of the car was heading south along Albert Street. He failed to heed the stop sign outside the Alberttown Police Station.

The result was that the larger vehicle drove over the car. The driver was heard to mutter that he was lucky to be alive.

Ed Ahmad squeals - court on NY Senatorwatchers Govt. says...New bridge across Demerara in the making

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Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

Ed Ahmad squeals on NY Senator - say court watchers ...Feds mount probe The feds have launched a criminal probe of former State Senate Democratic Majority Leader, John Sampson, of Brooklyn, The Post has learned.

The inquiry focusing on Sampson’s campaign fundraising stems from a broader federal probe into Queens Democratic Congressman, Gregory Meeks, sources said.

Shady real-estate broker, Edul Ahmad, is the common link that drew the feds from Meeks to Sampson, said sources familiar with the investigation.

Ahmad was embroiled in a congressional ethics probe for giving Meeks a secret $40,000 loan believed to have been a gift.

State Sen. John Sampson is now being targeted by federal investigators, whose probe into Rep. Gregory Meeks over dealings with realestate broker Edul Ahmad led to Sampson.

More important, Ahmad pleaded guilty in October in a separate, $14 million mortgage-fraud scheme.

But his sentencing date has not been scheduled and the defendant is now cooperating with the feds and

possibly singing about Meeks and Sampson, sources said.

They also said that he has been singing about his relationship with former President Bharrat Jagdeo and some of his close associates.

However, details of what he has been telling the Feds are not being released at this time.

Like Meeks, Sampson has strong ties to Ahmad.

Sampson was Ahmad’s lawyer in real-estate dealings and even got into hot water over that representation.

The New York Department of State, which licenses realestate brokers and other corporations, admonished Sampson for notarizing a statement by one of Ahmad’s workers without a valid notary licence, which had lapsed.

Details were sketchy about what the federal probers were looking for in Sampson’s campaign records.

Ahmad was a Sampson donor, contributing at least $2,000 to the senator’s campaign kitty, records show.

FBI spokesman, Martin Feely, said that he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation

into Sampson or Meeks.

Sampson was questioned by two FBI agents who stopped him by surprise on a Brooklyn street outside his gym late last summer, sources told The Post.

A source familiar with the case said that the agents initially could have been looking to flip Sampson and get him to cooperate against Meeks or even a target of some other investigation.

Either way, “they’re definitely looking at him,” the source said. “They’ve been interested in him for a while.”

Sampson has repeatedly declined Post requests for comment. Through a spokesman, he declined to comment this week when asked again about the probe.

The feds continue to probe Meeks even though the House Ethics Committee cleared him for failing for two years to report a $40,000 loan from Ahmad that appeared to have been an interest-free gift.

The panel last month concluded that Meeks’ inaction was “inadvertent” and declined to rule on whether the loan was in fact a gift.

The revelation of the federal probe into Sampson comes two weeks after he was dumped as the Senate’s

John Sampson Democratic leader in a 19-6 vote. He was replaced by Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester.

It’s not the first time Sampson has been in investigators’ cross hairs.

A bombshell report by the state inspector general in 2010

slammed Sampson for tainting the bidding process in the award of a contract to run the Aqueduct casino in Queens.

Sampson, then the majority leader, was fingered for leaking a confidential bidding document to the lobbyist for the politically connected firm AEG, which subsequently won the contract.

The state yanked the billion-dollar contract from AEG when the Inspector General’s Office launched its probe.

Sampson claimed the bidding document was public information and he insisted he did nothing wrong.

Critics branded Sampson a weak and in effective Senate leader and said the ethical transgressions played a role in the Democrats losing the majority two years ago.

Ahmad faces more than 10 years in the slammer for submitting bogus information on mortgage applications to lenders and using straw

Gregory Meeks buyers to hide his role in the scam. He also faces more than $15 million in fines and restitution.

When he pleaded guilty during his last court appearance he denied that he had stolen US$14 million. His lawyer argued that the amount of loss by the people whom Ahmad defrauded was less than US$14 million.

To this Judge Dora Irizarry postponed sentencing and directed him to calculate how much he stole from the people and return to court in March to inform the court.

From left: Former State Senate Democratic Majority Leader, John Sampson, Mark Green and Edul Ahmad

‘Hungry Man’ snatches Crime Chief’s chains, remanded to jail A man who performed the daring feat of snatching two gold chains off of a senior police officer ’s neck in Berbice was on Friday remanded to prison on a charge of larceny from the person.

Luindo Junior Davis, 20 of Springlands, Corentyne, and of Murphy Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, appeared in the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s court, before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo and pleaded not guilty.

The man who told the court that he is a fisherman, was refused bail.

Prosecuting Sergeant Phillip Sheriff told the court that on Boxing Day last year, at Matthew Allen Road, Senior Superintendent of Police, Marlon Chapman, the Crime Chief of ‘B’ Division was with others at Matthew Allen Road in New Amsterdam when Davis came up and snatched the chains valued at $1.3 million and ran.

He was pursued but made good his escape.

Acting on information the police surprised the man at Springlands on the Upper Corentyne as he was making arrangement to flee to Suriname.

Objecting to bail the prosecutor stated that if granted bail there is every likelihood that the man may not return for his trial, since when he was captured he was on his way to Suriname.

He also stated that the matter i s s t i l l b e i n g investigated in respect to the recovery of the chains.

Magistrate Nagamootoo refused bail and fixed the next trial date for January 28.

T h e m an had told investigators that he was hungry and broke and that he had hidden in the bushes for the entire night.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Govt. says ...

New bridge across Demerara in the making

By Leonard Gildarie Amidst worry over congestion on the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Government has signaled its intentions to invite proposals for a new structure shortly.

Speaking yesterday at press conference on his Ministry’s performance in 2012, Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, said that it is the hope that the current bridge will continue operations for the next seven years, at least.

Shortly, the government will be advertising for Requests For Proposals (RFP) for a new “crossing”, he said.

In all likelihood, any structure similar to the current Demerara Harbour Bridge will have to be built right alongside it as studies have indicated this is the best option.

Benn did not immediately rule out the possibilities of the government going the route of a public/public partnership, similar to the Berbice River Bridge where state funds, from a number of agencies, were sunk in that structure.

Government would be in a hurry to have a new bridge

Government says that it will be seeking proposals shortly for a new Demerara Harbour Bridge. across the river because of the increasing challenges facing the current one. Not only has the increase in vehicular traffic been causing headaches for the management, but the number of vessels passing through has also been rising.

Last year alone, westbound vehicular traffic reached 2.9 million, some 167,000 more than the 2011, representing an almost seven

per cent rise. This translates to an average of 8,000 vehicles crossing to the West Bank Demerara daily in 2012.

Regarding river traffic passing, some 1,219 vessels would have passed through the retractor span- a 5.8 per cent increase over 2011.

In July, the bridge was closed for three days after a temporary pontoon sank after breaking loose from the bridge, causing parts of it to

collapse. The closure would have cost $15M to fix and left hundreds of commuters stranded.

With the Georgetown Ferry Stelling no longer operational, the closure had starkly highlighted the critical importance of the linkage.

In recent years, the West Demerara area has seen an explosion of new housing schemes, placing more pressure on the bridge.

Several farmers were left with losses after July closure.

On a daily basis, workers of the bridge can be seen conducting maintenance.

It has been costing government millions of dollars. During last year, Government plugged $270M for capital works and according to General Manager, Rawlston Adams, the bridge will be requiring hundreds of millions more to

carry out critical repairs and maintenance, including new buoys, servicing of pontoons and building of protection barriers for the retractor span.

The bridge itself has been making money, but spending as much. Last year, it made $432M …$10M more than 2011. Its total expenditure was $346M. The income increase in 2012 was almost 7.5 per cent.

According to Adams, last year there were some significant works done, including the replacement of the retractor span ramps. This was last done 15 years ago.

The current Demerara Harbour Bridge, commissioned in 1978, has long since outlasted its life expectancy.

Vehicular traffic last December broke records with 252,000 vehicles crossing.

With a projected 10,000plus vehicles being added t o t h e c o u n t r y ’s r o a d s annually, the troubles have been many for the bridge.

Bridge officials have already said that the situation will become difficult to control within five years because of the volume of traffic.

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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

Expectations from the days ahead The year is only a few days old and there is the expectation that a lot of what started during the past year would be accomplished. And from all indications this is likely to be the case. Some of the largest projects ever to be undertaken in Guyana are well along the road to completion.

The largest project ever undertaken in Guyana is the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project. At a whopping US$850 million –and it could reach as much as US$1 billion-- this project is touted to solve Guyana’s electricity woes.

But there must be the construction of a road before there could be any talk of construction of a hydro dam. This road was plagued from the inception. From the time the government awarded the contract to a company with no experience despite the objections of the wider society. In the end, after wasting millions of dollars, the government pulled the plug on the contract.

As if to make the job easier, the government split the contract and awarded sections to numerous contractors.

But the blight on the project remained; one of those contractors had to be pulled because not only was his machinery repossessed but also he could do nothing to continue the work on the section he was allotted. We now hear that the road could be completed by June 30, nearly two years after its commencement.

There is the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport—terminal included. That, too, is a major project which augurs well for the country. This project is going to get underway this year and represents one of the major undertakings in the quest for national development.

These are just two of the projects that were inked last year but they represent the drive to take the country into the modern lane. They also highlight the need to develop the skills area. Last year the nation saw many who professed to be contractors being awarded contracts and undertaking jobs but failing to complete these jobs.

This was rather widespread. One of the projects destined for completion this year is the four-lane extensions being pursued. Road constructions over the past decade have been undertaken by the locals, many of them with borrowed equipment.

The government allowed this to happen because in the first instance, there are just not enough people to monitor or to investigate the people tendering for bids.

Money is often wasted in this manner. For example, one contractor had to be pulled from the East Coast Demerara four-lane project. He could not complete the project and when a thorough inspection was done the authorities had to undo some of the work that this contractor undertook.

This year, there is a move to have the people in the areas where the projects are being undertaken are asked to monitor the project.

In the past there were similar requests. The difference was that the administration paid little attention to the people when they reported indiscretions and shoddy work. This year now promises that the people would be recognized. It also spells disaster for those who believe that they will continue to fleece the national coffers.

More is to happen this year. There is to be a focus on the young and the less fortunate. The state recognizes that it must invest in the young and the less fortunate. To ignore these people would be to create a pool from which the criminal-minded could recruit the desperate. The government is spending a lot on institutions to cater for these unfortunate souls. And all this is happening during the New Year.

We still need to ensure governance. The parliament is full of hostility and animosity. This is where the nation is expecting the politicians to behave as people who have the best interest of the nation at heart.

The first thing that the nation expects would be an end to confrontational politics. The national budget that dictates the direction in which money would be spent is going to be first tested for maturity of the politicians.

There is already acrimony over the continued sitting of the Home Affairs Minister in the National Assembly.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Holding the security of a nation to ransom is reckless and irresponsible DEAR EDITOR, A bus filled with school children develops an electrical problem and starts to burn. A fleet of fire engines quickly rushes to the scene, but the Fire Chief, recognizing the driver as one with whom he has a grievance, refuses to extinguish the flames, endangering the lives of those innocent children trapped inside. Seizing the opportunity to be vindictive, he calls the Board of Education and demands the resignation of the bus driver before he instructs his men to put out the flames. Is the Fire Chief guilty of reckless endangerment? You bet!

Fortunately, the story above is just an analogy, but it accurately mirrors the devious strategy of David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan, to ‘get Rohee at any cost’.

Kaieteur News published an article on New Year’s Day: “International police officers to assist local Force”, in which Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee announced an “elaborate plan that will see, among other things, significant changes within the Guyana Police Force and other entities under the purview of his Ministry.

Facing a gag order in the National Assembly, the Minister took the opportunity to use a forum conference to detail his five-year plan that will see a name change for the Police Force, the Guyana Prison Service as well as the Guyana Fire Service; the

employment of specialist civilian professionals within the Police Force and the possibility of international police officers as consultants.”

The report added, “The strategic plan for the Guyana Police Force for the period 2013-2017 will see the implementation of a Strategic Management Department, which will have oversight of the plans’ implementation.”

According to the report, this strategy will strengthen “the administration of the force, with particular reference to standards, recruitment and retention of staff and succession planning; Integrity/Probity (Professionalization) aimed at improving the professionalism of the Force through strengthening its accountability and instigating a more rigorous approach to development of integrity; and Public Relations/ Communications...”

While David Granger said he was prepared to support “any reasonable measure that will make the country safer”, and AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan admitted that “The plan is one I cannot be vexed with”, both were quick to reject a call by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry for them to support Rohee’s initiative, and reiterated that they will not do so under the stewardship of Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.

Holding the security of a nation to ransom is reckless and irresponsible, and

endangers every Guyanese just like those kids on the burning bus.

The opposition in any country is morally obligated to support policies of national interest and security. The Guyana Police Force infamously earned its reputation of being brutal and corrupt. And everyone agrees there is urgent need to enforce integrity and professionalism within the Force.

It may be long overdue, but that’s exactly what Minister Rohee is now doing.

Granger and Ramjattan should recognize that this is in the best interest of our people, and offer him their full support in keeping with the oath they’ve taken as lawmakers.

That is the responsible thing to do. The interest of the country must take precedence over any personal grudge, which is what their beef with Minister Rohee has now become.

I have noted with great concern, efforts by the joint opposition to create chaos and mayhem in Linden and Agricola, aimed at destabilizing the newlyelected administration of President Donald Ramotar.

Minister Rohee was cleared by an independent Commission of Inquiry of any wrongdoing in the unfortunate deaths of the three “Peaceful Protestors” in Linden last July. Yet the leadership of both PNC/ APNU and AFC continue their witch hunt of fabricating

reasons to justify the call for Rohee’s dismissal. In an unprecedented move, aided by the Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman, Rohee is prevented from speaking in Parliament based on a trumped up noconfidence motion that had nothing to do with violating House Rules. This abuse of their one-seat majority in Parliament must not be allowed to compromise our national security.

In an earlier article, “APNU confident in any snap elections” (Kaieteur News, December 28) Granger said he is “confident that the Opposition is more beloved by the population as a whole.”

But when asked about forcing early elections by “bringing a vote of no confidence against the current Administration, it was noted by APNU’s Rupert Roopnarine, that there are outstanding issues in relation to any type of election being called which includes local government elections.”

Roopnarine added, “There are elements of the GECOM Secretariat that we would like to see back off before we can engage in any electoral process.”

Adding that “There is a lot of preliminary work to be done before any elections could be held”, Roopnarine also noted that “although the Opposition can pass a vote of no confidence against the Government and force snap elections, the issue does not pertain to finance but the Continued on page 6

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

The opposition will be a failure in 2013 unless it passes laws on key issues DEAR EDITOR, The opposition was often played for the fool in 2012, often being set up and sent on running around like headless chickens by the PPP, while the rogues in that party made off with the nation’s wealth.

The opposition has to stop falling for these little diversionary tactics in 2013 and focus on the big picture.

The opposition will be a failure if by December 31, 2013, it fails to do vital things, using its Parliamentary majority. Because the opposition controls Parliament, it controls the ability to pass laws. So, it must draft and pass laws. That is the blueprint by which the opposition will be judged in 2013.

There are enough lawyers in the opposition, so there is no excuse. Plus, there are model laws in every area of life floating around on the internet and readily available for duplication. So, the time for excuses from the opposition has passed.

The PPP will not pass these pieces of legislation because it will result in many of its high-ranking members visiting prison cells for a long time.

Here are the pieces of legislation the opposition must pass in 2013 in order to get a passing grade: 1. Anti-corruption - It should not, I repeat should not, take more than six months for the opposition to craft strong anti-corruption legislation that creates a powerful and far-reaching anti-corruption entity.

2. Electoral reform - This is necessary in Guyana. This debacle that passes for elections in Guyana has to end and a better system must be created with emphasis on campaign financing, etc.

3. Media reform – Absolutely essential; to not only prevent government abuse and domination of the media, but to reform those antiquated libel and other laws.

4. Proper procurement To stop the thieving, banditry, highway robbery and corruption that overflow in the current contracting and procurement system.

5. Anti-discrimination and anti-racism - Legislation with teeth; that mandates ethnic balance in every facet of our life, including the armed forces. The AFC has to push this law as the PNC/APNU and the PPP will balk at this proposal for fear of losing their racial political playgrounds. However, with

declining Indian and African populations and with the PNC/APNU base heavily marginalized in the past 20 years, this is the best thing for the survival of both parties.

6. Laws properly defining use of the Consolidated Fund - This would be to ensure the money this country handles is under strict watch, strong monitoring and powerful accountability.

7. Amend the Auditor General’s Office - Give him more independence, authority and the ability to conduct deeper forensic audits.

The opposition should not stop there. Call a referendum on issues that will bring overwhelming support to fixing our democracy such as removing or limiting the power of the president to dissolve or prorogue Parliament at will under article 70 of the Constitution.

How could a president who operates as head of an entirely different branch of government (executive), who himself is not directly elected, dissolve and indefinitely prorogue a democraticallyelected Parliament, elected by the people of Guyana?

No Constitution in the modern world has an equivalent of article 70 and it must be removed.

What of the travesty that is the president’s right to ‘appoint’ a prime minister?

What is stopping the opposition from calling a referendum to ask the people of Guyana to make article 165, which allows the National Assembly to regulate its own procedure, into a permanent article only altered by a referendum? After all, the Chief Justice has validated this article in his ruling upholding the sovereignty and independence of Parliament to run its own business.

What about the president’s veto power under article 170 of the constitution?

I am no lawyer, but why aren’t the lawyers in the AFC and PNC/APNU having a public debate over this provision of the Constitution when it is a sham that a president who is not separately and directly elected gets to block the efforts of Parliament?

I know the veto is a feature of every presidential system but let’s be honest, Guyana is no proper presidential system. The president is elected through elections to Parliament by piggybacking on a party list as its head.

There is no separate vote to elect the president like in the

USA where there is an Electoral College vote, or in South Africa, where the elected Parliament votes on a president.

This ridiculous mess of a constitutional system created by the PNC and embraced by the PPP puts power in the hands of a minority president that he did not get in an election in the first place. The problem gets worse when we realize there is no separation

of powers like in the USA and other proper presidential systems, because the Guyana President can openly interfere and influence legislature (Parliament) because he is allowed to handpick elected members of Parliament to his Cabinet. These ministers sit in Cabinet and then sit in Parliament where they lead their party’s business, dominating proceedings.

This allows the executive to

inordinately influence the legislature.

The grave headache with this dangerous arrangement is because of Guyana’s current and future predicted demographic and political changes, no party is likely to ever win a majority again for the foreseeable future, so we are stuck with a future of minority governments/ presidencies. It is exactly for these reasons we should

consider fixing this ridiculous veto power.

Why should a president who won a minority of seats in Parliament get to not only put his minions in his Cabinet into Parliament, but also retain the veto to override laws passed by the majority of Parliament? That entire meme destroys the integrity of the entire country’s democratic process.

Continued on page 6

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Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

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

The 1823 monument site - Something is fundamentally wrong DEAR EDITOR, There is an old saying that where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. This was the first thought that rushed through my mind after reading a Demerara Waves news release titled; “Kitty Seawall road best site for 1823 slave rebellion monumentsculptor” January 3rd 2013.

My second thought was more emotional and thus unprintable.

In the release, Mr. Ivor Thom, the Sculptor, pontificates at a news conference that; “the land space was there (speaking about the seawall site), place for parking and everything was there and more than anything else, the viewing was good…” the good gentleman went on; “We thought that that would have been the best place to put it, because it could be easily seen by persons traversing to and from East Coast Demerara from different directions”.

Thom further went on to say that it was his opinion that the seawall site was the best of all the locations that were suggested.

Something must be fundamentally wrong if we as

a people and our government entrust the selection of the site of a monument of such great national significance to a sculptor. Ivor Thom may be a good sculptor, but Mr. Thom does not speak for the African collective in this country.

It is clear from Mr. Thom’s remarks that his focus was more in-keeping with the visibility of his work, rather than the emotional and physical connection of the rebellion and its connection to the African people. Like Thom, I too have an opinion, and I feel that the site of the 1823 monument must by necessity be at a location chosen by the descendants of that struggle.

It is a historical fact that the geographical and emotional epicenter of that Rebellion was the area known as the Promenade Gardens and the Parade Ground. This is where the brutality and sadistic mentality of the Colonial government was put on full display, after the rebellion was put down. This is where our African freedom fighters were hanged and decapitated.

This is where in African tradition and lore, the spirits

of our courageous ancestors still roam. What Mr. Thom and Mr. Anthony are about to do is not only dangerous and unprecedented, but an affront to, and direct attack on, the historical accuracy of the African struggle for freedom in Guyana.

I am personally disappointed in the remarks made by Ivor Thom, remarks which clearly show that he is more interested with his design and showing it off, rather than with integrity and historical accuracy. We have several monuments in this and other countries that are not located on public thoroughfares, many lack adequate parking.

Mr. Thom once lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and he knows that the Martin Luther King historical site is located on Auburn Avenue, a depressed section of the city with poor parking and limited land space, but the historical accuracy was maintained, because Dr. King was born and lived on that street. The Babu John monument to President Cheddi Jagan was not built on the shoulder of the Corentyne Highway or the Georgetown Seawall; both sites would have given

it more visibility; The Place of Heroes is in the Gardens at the area of the seven ponds, and the Monument to the Enmore martyrs is at Enmore.

These sites were selected because of historical and emotional consideration, not commercial or popular appeal.

Mr. Thom and Mr. Anthony must know that we distort our history when we make arbitrary decisions on important matters, without consulting the stakeholders, the direct descendants of the murdered slaves and the historians.

It is clear once again that the Ramotar-led PPP/C government sees consultation and negotiations with the people

and their representatives as unnecessary. Why would the government of Guyana build a monument to celebrate and remember the struggle of Africans at a place where the Africans have said they don’t want it?

Why would a government administration (in a plural society) that garners its supports primarily from Indians, feel it is has the right to decide where to put a monument to an African Slave rebellion without consulting with the African people and their organizations and their leaders? Why would the PPP government proceed to build the 1823 monument at the Seawall site, knowing full well that it will cause controversy

and become another symbol of racial disunity?

There is talk that the African organizations will build a monument to the 1823 Rebellion at the Parade Ground site.

For it was at the Parade Ground that many brave slaves were tried, convicted and executed for fighting for their freedom over the inhumane and unjust system of slavery. It is also clear that the PPP regime, with Thom’s blessing, will go ahead with the building of this divisive monument. It is a pity that Thom who I know personally, and who does not live in Guyana, allowed himself to be used by the PPP. Mark Archer

DEAR EDITOR, In recent days, there have been a number of reflections on the significance of upcoming anniversaries in 2013 and the contributions their commemorations can make to the challenging task of promoting national identity and fostering national cohesiveness.

The editorial in Stabroek News on December 30, 2012, reflected on the comprehensive program of

activities from 1984 to 1988 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and concluded that such a comprehensive initiative could not happen in 2013.

Perhaps we need a different orientation. Why not use the moments in 2013 to launch initiatives that will mature in 2016—the 50th anniversary of Guyana’s independence?

Now is an opportunity to

initiate a national conversation—one that includes youth and Guyanese in the Diaspora—on being Guyanese during 2013. The results from that conversation can inform and guide the design and implementation of a range of activities to showcase and to celebrate Guyana at 50 in 2016.

Another contribution to “making hopes happen in 2013.”

Vibert Cambridge

From page 6 To completely remove the presidential veto entirely may not be the answer because as long as the presidency stays, there has to be some form of veto.

With a future of minority presidencies and with the distinct possibility of many smaller parties emerging and forming coalitions to get legislation passed in Parliament, it would be inimical to the country’s future to have a president of a party with only a plurality, rejecting bills passed by majority coalitions which may not meet the two-thirds supermajority requirement to

bypass the presidential veto, but is quite close to it.

A future where if the President rejects the Bill he must refer it back to Parliament for reconsideration and if this fails he must send the Bill to a referendum.

That works better. Or possibly a system where the Bill goes to the highest court in the land for constitutional review and if deemed good, the President must sign it.

These are all issues which the opposition should be raising hell about in 2013.

The PPP will lose serious political capital if it refuses to sign anti-corruption legislation or blocks a Bill

Now is an opportunity to initiate a national conversation

The opposition will be... demanding more ethnic balance in the armed forces.

These are the bills the opposition needs to produce in 2013.

How can the PNC/APNU or AFC refuse to push this legislative agenda, knowing these legislative moves will equalize the playing field for them and for all Guyanese? At the end of this year (God willing), I will return to this very letter and the uncomplicated and achievable laws within the easy reach of the opposition in 2013. My assessment will be simple: either a passing or a failing grade.

M. Maxwell

Holding the security of a...

From page 4 proper electoral system.”

This is as much garbage coming from the mouths of the APNU leadership, as I’ve seen littering the streets of Georgetown. Granger and Roopnarine have no shame; lying through their teeth to the media.

If they’re so confident in APNU’s chances of winning a snap election, they would have brought a vote of noconfidence against the Administration already. But by all the above admissions

and excuses for not doing so, PNC/APNU is clearly not ready to lose again.

Most Guyanese are terrified by the violence unleashed by APNU’s ‘beloved’ supporters in Linden and Agricola, and Granger is politically astute to know he could never win a free and fair election.

But by using Ramjattan as an accomplice, he hopes to force the Administration to include them in a Government of National Unity. This I believe is their ultimate

objective, and defiance seems to be the vehicle they hope will get them there.

Khemraj Ramjattan now has an opportunity to distance the AFC from the radical, destructive path the PNC/APNU has chosen, and give critical support to this Security Plan for easy passage through Parliament.

For any political leader who knowingly jeopardizes the security of a country he hopes to lead some day, will certainly perish at the polls.

Harry Gill

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

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

Calling PPP supporters hypocrites will not help AFC DEAR EDITOR, This is in reference to M. Maxwell’s “PPP supported parliamentary unity back then, but not now” (KN Dec 21, 12) describing PPP supporters as “hypocrites”. Maxwell criticizes PPP supporters for being silent when their party was in unity talks with PNC (during the era of the dictatorship) but being very critical of the AFC as it has sought to unite with the PNC (APNU) since December 2011.

Hypocrisy has nothing to do with the way PPP supporters view efforts of their party talking with the PNC and theAFC talking with the PNC. The PPP engaged the PNC because of political reality at the time, to end the abuses of the dictatorship, and they view anyone in bed with the PNC as an anathema to their interests, because the PNC has not atoned for its sins.

As a political analyst, Maxwell should have recognized there is a marked difference in the unity talks this time around and from when PPP was in talks with the PNC – the PNC and AFC are uniting against the PPP, which naturally will oppose the merger because of the threat it poses to

the ruling party and its supporters.

PPP supporters are fearful of the PNC in light of what was done to them during the 28 years of the dictatorship. They were never pleased with the PPP’s efforts to link up with the PNC, but reluctantly accepted the PPP strategy as a way to end the PNC authoritarian rule. The PPP supporters considered themselves fortunate that a merger between PNC and PPP did not take place.

International factors led to the collapse of the dictatorship and the restoration of democratic rule. The AFC has to be careful in its alliance talks with the PNC, as it is losing credibility and support. The AFC was the beneficiary of disenchanted PPP supporters in the November 2011 elections. The AFC’s association with the PNC is viewed as a betrayal by those who voted AFC. They expected the party to take an independent position, clear from the two behemoths, and hold both of them accountable, while seeking to change the politics of the nation.

Instead, the AFC supporters complain that their party has found itself in bed

with the PNC much to their chagrin, and they are going to punish the AFC come next election, unless the party dissociates itself from both major parties.

Instead of negotiating with the PNC to get back at the PPP, the AFC should be introducing legislation that offers significant political reforms like reducing the powers of the executive.

The AFC should look at changing the way the President is chosen (voted by parliament or direct election for the President who should be chosen by a majority of the electorate) with a run-off election, if no candidate gets a majority, or a return to the Prime Ministerial system of governance with a ceremonial head of state.

The AFC should also introduce legislation to empower civic society and the establishment of a group to oversee expenditure of funds and accountability of the use of state resources, etc. Attacking PPP supporters as hypocrites will not help the AFC.The party has to understand the fear of PPP supporters.

Vishnu Bisram

The concerns of the majority must be the concerns of all

DEAREDITOR, Before the year gets a day older and quickly fades out of its embryonic stage of newness, I pen these words with the hope that this New Year will be one in which freedom; equality; justice and prosperity for all will be experienced in our country.

It is time for the people of Guyana - all races, class and status - to take up that right to recall government to their duty and their obligation, and above all, to exercise that right to share in the decisions of government decisions which shape our lives, everything that make one’s life worthwhile such as family, work, education, how we raise our children and how we rest our heads.

We as Guyanese must be conscious and cognizant of the ever-present fact that it is the government of the day that shapes one’s life with the decisions ‘we’ as a people allow it to make. When as a people we fail to act and demand these elected servants of government, it only empowers them to not heed to the demands of the people. This is why we as citizens must make it our essential responsibility for our voices be heard and be heeded to. We must ensure that this essential right to be heard is not limited to

just the wealthy, or those of a particular race, religion or party affiliation, but to all Guyanese.

As citizens, we must ensure that we limit the powers of government to act against its people in ways that may affect their livelihood and safety. To ensure also that no arbitrary imposition of brutality or penalty on an ordinary citizen by high or low ranking government official or worker occurs.

We as a people must not allow in this New Year what has been constant by government, to let the gap of promises and performance to continually widen. We cannot allow government to act with painful slowness in making the lives of all Guyanese better.

Let us in this new year, be consistent in ensuring that government officials and those who represent the interest of people are constantly reminded of their primary and fundamentally responsibility, which is to serve the interests of the people. We must ensure that government recognizes the full human equality of all citizens, not because it will be advantageous for Guyana, not because we as Guyanese wish it so, or because it is the will of God for his creation, but because it is the single and fundamental reason

that it is the right thing to do.

Let this New Year be one in which the concerns of the majority are the concerns of all.

Government must cease to cling onto the views of the box that they are in; one that creates injustice to those that pose a different view. It also causes the repression of the people, where many are trapped in poverty and are unemployed, and where the wealth and riches of a few continue to grow. These different evils reflect the work of government and an ineffective opposition. It also reflects the lack of inadequacy of human compassion and justice.

The time has come for all Guyanese to wake up and become intelligently independent enough to think for themselves and not allow the government or the opposition to hoodwink and bamboozle us with falsified information and propaganda. This thinking will allow all Guyanese to become truly first class citizens in our land. It will also allow us to demand that government serve not self-interest or the interest of its cronies, but the interest of all natives.

The power of the people, according to Wael Ghonim, is greater than the people in power.

Jermaine Figueira

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THE WORST OPPOSITION EVER The government has filed an action before the Courts questioning the wisdom, legality and constitutionality of the decision of the Speaker to send a motion directed against the Minister of Home Affairs to the Committee of Privileges, and instituting a gag order on the said Minister until the committee makes a recommendation.

The Courts will have to rule on whether it has jurisdiction to hear this matter and what follows from such a determination.

The government, however, need not wait until the Court rules to resolve this matter.

It should seek an alternative resolution to the present impasse without conceding any credibility to the decision to send a motion censuring the Minister to the Committee of Privileges, a decision which has already been described as perverse.

Guyana is a divided country, but even those who hate the PPP administration have seen for themselves the ruthlessness of the opposition parties in so far as the Minister of Home Affairs is concerned.

The opposition condemned the minister even before he was tried; they tried to silence him even before the report of the Commission of Inquiry has been released and despite a ruling that motions are not binding on the executive.

If in the face of opinions

that the minister could not be prevented from speaking because of a no-confidence motion nor could he be forced to resign, the opposition still persisted with their vindictive and brutal actions before the National Assembly, then it should by now be clear that this is an opposition which can never be trusted with political power.

To place executive authority power in the hands of this opposition would be gambling with disaster.

The opposition represents a danger to parliamentary democracy. If the opposition could have instituted actions that have led to a gag order on the Minister of Home Affairs without establishing any contempt of parliament by the Minister, then by extension they can gag the entire government. Is this an opposition that can be trusted?

Further, how can a member of parliament be dragged before the Privileges Committee and in the process lose his right to speak before the National Assembly, a right that flows from his very election to the House, without being told what is the offence he has committed and specifically which privilege was breached? Not even in the days of our unrepresentative National Assembly was there any attempt to gag a member of parliament without a charge of contempt being heard.

Dem boys seh ...

Ed Ahmad singing de bar rat song Long time dem used to have song festival in this country.

That was when judges use to select de best singers. People win car and some win holiday.

De radio station had a programme called In Search of a Star. De people use to look fuh de best singer and de prize was good. People get to travel and sometimes dem use to win other things.

Now a days dem got all kind of singing competition. Carib does sponsor de Soca Competition and Banks does sponsor de Mashramani Calypso competition. De prize good too.

In de States dem have programme fuh singers too. A popular one is X factor but de real good one is American Idol.

Ed Ahmad deh in one of dem because dem boys hear he singing like a canary. Aunty Dora hear he sing before but now de Feds got he in training fuh bigger things.

Some people in Guyana use to sing fuh dem supper; Ed singing fuh stay out of jail. De man sing a song and right away a Senator get tie up.

He did done tie up another Senator before. But de song that de people like best in ode one wha Ed call de bar rat tune.

Every line got de word bar rat and every sentence got Jaggy. Dem boys seh that people should see how dem Feds dancing whenever Ed sing that tune.

And when Aunty Dora hear de song this time she seh that de man got a sweet voice and she might just keep he fuh ten years rather than de forty years she had in mind.

Dem got others who gun have to sing too but dem boys ain’t ready to call dem name. Sonny hoarse right now suh he can’t sing too good but he gone into training. He favourite song is Barbie and Bar Bee. Talk half and sing de other half.

The opposition cannot be blamed for the matter being referred to the Privileges Committee.

It did not seek such an outcome, but it is complicit in what happened because it was its own motion that triggered such a response, and it has done nothing to diffuse the impasse or to contribute to a resolution.

All the talk about wanting to avoid another Budget impasse should therefore be taken with a grain of salt, because the actions of the opposition are contrary to any such spirit of avoiding an impasse. The opposition parties are creating unnecessary problems in the parliament and their actions

have irreparably strained relations between the opposition and the government. This is the worst opposition that this country has ever produced.

Notwithstanding the government has to find a way to diffuse the impasse that has been the sole creation of the opposition.

The government should, without prejudice to the court actions they have filed, seek an alternative resolution to the problem facing the Minister of Home Affairs.

The objective should be to reverse the decision to send the motion against the Minister to the Committee of Privileges. There is nothing stopping the Speaker from

reversing himself once he can be convinced that his ruling was flawed.

As such, the government should seek opinions from the House of Commons or persons who have knowledge of the operat i o n s o f parliamentary rules, as to whether the action of sending the matter of Minister Rohee to the Committee of Privileges should be entertained.

Those opinions should be part of an attempt to demonstrate that there were serious flaws in that decision and to expose its shortcomings and inherent flaws so that it can be reversed and thus avoid having to go ahead with the

Court action.

If after doing this there is no reversal of the ruling, the government can always, with the weight of the opinions of persons learned in British parliamentary rules, bring its own motion of noconfidence against the Speaker, because it has already been reported publicly that once any of the parties lose confidence in the Speaker, he would be willing to step aside.

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UK-based Guyanese jurist $9.8 M larceny accused gets Queen’s honours has seizure in court

Ms. Dale Simon, Chairperson of the United Kingdom Chapter of the Guyana Law Association (GLA) and Director of Equality and Diversity of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), has been awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Queen’s New Year Honours List!

Ms. Simon is a founder member of the GLA (UK) and for the last four years has been the pivotal figure leading the CPS in embracing equality and diversity in its HR policies, and in delivering more sensitive prosecution policies in all areas including those connected with Race, Gender and Domestic Violence.

She also has a major influence on the equality and diversity policies of other Government departments and other public sector organisations; and, despite a very busy schedule, she nonetheless finds time to contribute significantly to voluntary organisations like the GLA (UK).

Dale has risen up the ranks from being a Crown Prosecutor to one of the CPS’s most senior positions in her

Guyana Law Association (UK) Chairperson Dale Simon honoured by the Queen in her 2013 New Year’s Honours List role as Director of Equality and Diversity.

GLA (UK) extended congratulations Dale Simon on this recognition of her hard work and achievements during her on-going distinguished professional career and also on her immense contribution to the voluntary organisations with which she is associated.

GLA (UK) was launched

ten years ago after a visit by the then Chancellor, Mme Justice Desiree Bernard OR, CCH, when she addressed the Diaspora lawyers, at a meeting arranged under the auspices of High Commissioner Laleshwar Singh CCH. Justice Bernard asked them to assist the Justice System in Guyana by collecting and transporting donated law books and computers to Guyana.

Since then with encouragement and assistance from the High Commission, several shipments of books and computers (worth over £2m) have been sent to Guyana.

Chancellor, Justice Carl Singh OR, CCH; former Attorney General, Charles Ramson OR, SC; and the current Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, have all expressed their heartfelt appreciation for the books and computers sent.

The books previously sent are available in the Supreme Court’s Library, the Law Library in Berbice, the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the University of Guyana.

They are accessible for members of the Judiciary, practitioners and students.

bail refused Joel James, Jermaine Anderson.

Following their apprehension for breaking and entering the Regent Street Cell Point Store and carting off with $9.8 million worth of merchandise, Jermaine Anderson, 22, of 11 ‘B’ Field Sophia and 17-year-old Joel James were brought before the court yesterday.

The two accused faced Magistrate Leron Daly and entered not guilty pleas in response to the allegation.

The charge is that between December 31 and January 1, Anderson and James broke into Cell Point on Regent Street and stole a quantity of cellular phones, fake jewelry, MP3 players, $1.8 million cash and brand name wrist watches along with one flat screen television which belonged to Davenand Singh, the owner of the enterprise.

Attorney- at -law George Thomas who requested bail on behalf of Anderson, told

the court that his client suffers from chronic seizures for which he needs adequate treatment. In his application, Thomas said the defendant has no previous convictions or pending matters.

And as if on cue, the defendant had an episode of the epileptic symptom which as a result caused a brief halt to the court proceedings.

The Attorney stated that while the police are alleging that his client was found in possession of two of the items, this does not prove that he committed the actual crime. Thomas reiterated that his client is a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he is treated for his condition. The same medical attention may not be available at the Georgetown Prisons, he added. Prosecutor Venetta Pindar informed the court that contrary to what the lawyer

said, the accused was once charged for possession of narcotics. Magistrate Daly after listening to the lawyer’s submission, granted bail to Anderson in the sum of $500,000 and refused bail to Joel James since he has no fixed place of abode.

According to reports, bandits broke into the Cell Point store on Regent Road, Bourda, shortly after 5:00 hours on New Year’s Day and escaped with almost $10 million worth of cash and valuable articles.

Despite the presence of the City Constabulary Department which is merely a stone’s throw away from the store and MCC security systems in place, bandits were able to successfully execute their operation.

All but one bandit, who was found, hiding on the ceiling of the building, managed to escape.

Woman’s nude body found in bushes at Coldingen

The body lying in the bushes Police are investigating the discovery of the nude body of a so far unidentified woman in a clump of bushes just off the Coldingen Public Road on the East Coast Demerara.

The discovery was made by a group of construction workers who were working on a concrete fence around 15:00 hours yesterday. They immediately informed a member of the Enterprise Community Policing Group, who subsequently called the

police. The body was on its side and the woman appeared to be sleeping. A piece of clothing that apparently belonged to the dead woman was nearby.

One of the workers related that they became suspicious when they saw a strange object lying in a clump of bushes just about 20 feet from where they were working.

Upon checking they made the shocking discovery.

There is speculation that the woman might have been

a destitute, who was frequently seen traversing the main East Coast Demerara Public Road. However investigators have not been able to ascertain her identity so far. There were no immediately visible marks of violence on the body but foul play, including a sexual assault has not been ruled out. Judging from its condition, investigators believe that the woman died sometime in the wee hours of yesterday morning.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

MUSE or AMUSE

Budget 2013 and the Emperor’s new clothes Budget time is here again and the political gaming process is due to start with parliamentary parties teeing to engage/disengage using the emotions of the population and the (in) flexibility of the law. The joint Opposition will be working on their plan to call for consultation and engagement in the budgetary process while GoG will artfully disengage so that the Opposition does not have a place.

One can surmise that GoG should strategically allow the Opposition to become part of the budgetary process since this would stop the Opposition from opposing the budget.

However the opposite is also true since the Opposition will claim that it didn’t agree to certain sections and so cannot approve.

One fact is obvious: Ashni Singh dare not allow anyone to get to the details of any of his budgets. Too much is at risk. And the parliamentary process is bound to screw itself since budget presentation is like the US Army’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” i.e., IF the Opposition does NOT ask for specific details, the GoG is not obliged to reveal anything.

If the opposition does ask, the GoG is still NOT obliged to reveal anything

other than heads and sub heads while the devil remains hidden in the details!

Notwithstanding the above, I believe that the Government should NOT include the Opposition into the budgetary process. If they want to do the budget, then win the national elections! It is the legal duty of GoG to prepare the national budget and present same to parliament for approval.

Anil Nandlall has performed well in ensuring that the legal system identified the role of the Opposition in such budget approval process. The Opposition cannot cut any item out of the budget – they can simply approve or not.

The greatest shame about the whole process is that GoG has not done anything to earn the respect of Guyanese people.

And, their attitude does not engender any confidence that they are about to earn anybody’s respect. They simply do not care. They are going about their business uncaring about the perception of corruption and their own corrupt officials.

From one Ministry almost 100 persons left; in another there is payback from contractors; Ministries are inept and corrupt, Regional

executives are the same. The public officials do not realize that contractors are telling their friends who and how much is paid out of contracts.

Obviously some of them don’t, but others do. Yet GoG unashamedly bashes anyone who says there is corruption and its cheerleaders from the private sector play the same tune. And, as a payback, it occupies prominent positions in committees and boards.

President Ramotar tells everyone to give him a chance to do his thing. Yet, he seems oblivious to the circles and processes around him. More than a year has passed by and he is yet to become assertive or decisive in any aspect of Government, other than crying about the majority Opposition. He would do well to take hold of his Government and do the right thing.

The sad truth is that, as time rolls by, the President is fast becoming a reference point for jokes and gaffes in bars, restaurants and homes.

Almost everyone shakes their head in disappointment when his name is mentioned. He should read the story about the Emperor’s new clothes to realize what is happening to him.

We should be amused by the way things look, but it is our country at stake and so we are not amused!

Montrose woman wins Suzuki Swift in Payless promotion Mrs. Singh (left) receives the keys to her new Suzuki Swift from a Payless employee.

A Montrose, East Coast Demerara woman carted off a brand new Suzuki Swift motorcar which was on offer in the Payless Variety Store’s end of year promotion.

The drawing took place on Thursday at the store’s Vreed-en-Hoop branch and

saw the woman who only gave her name as Mrs. L Singh, copping the first prize.

The promotion, which started in late October, saw customers who made any purchase of $1000 or more a t t h e Payless Store’s Wellington Street and Vreed

en Hoop locations, becoming eligible.

Nine other customers received prizes ranging from a Jialing motorcycle, flat screen televisions, a Blackberry cellular phone and microwave oven among other items.

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No Cuban doctors at Diamond Regional Hospital, patients angry A single doctor is currently manning the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital which is supposed to take care of patients’ medical needs in the community.

This has been the situation since New Year’s Day with all the Cuban doctors assigned to the hospital on leave since Cuba was observing two holidays.

On New Year’s Day, the Cubans celebrated Triumph of the Revolution and they observed Victory of Armed Forces Day the following day.

They are expected back to work next Monday.

The shortage of medical staff at the health facility has angered patients and their relatives who have been seeking medical attention.

A clerical worker at the hospital yesterday confirmed that there was one Guyanese doctor on duty and he was only dealing with emergency cases.

Kaieteur News understands that early yesterday, a group of angry patients stood in front of the hospital entrance and

demanded to be treated by a doctor but their small protest was quickly dismissed by security.

Gregory Allen said that his mother visited the health facility yesterday to see a bone specialist but she was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) since the doctor was on leave. “She said that there were a lot of people and they were cursing because only one doctor is working,” Allen added.

Many persons were questioning the reason why all the Cuban doctors were given leave at the same time, leaving one doctor to satisfy the medical need of hundreds of persons.

“Is a two day holiday and today (yesterday) and they are still not working, this is nonsense. If they are given leave does that mean that whenever there is a holiday here, the Guyanese doctors should abandon the people and their illness and celebrate?” a patient queried.

Calls to the Minister of Health, Bheri Ramsaran were futile as always.

- Clerical worker says only one Guyanese doctor on duty East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Amerindian land demarcation still awaiting Norway funds

- $76M spent to support National School Uniform Programme

Amerindian land titling has been challenging in 2012 since the disbursement of the relevant funds did not materialise, however, communities that submitted their application for support will be addressed in 2013, according to Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.

Speaking at a press briefing held Thursday at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Headquarters, Quamina and Thomas Streets, Minister Sukhai said, “We have 13 villages on the list to

be titled, 32 villages to be demarcated, and we will begin the process of examining 41 village extension applications.

All of this is slated to be done within three years bringing closure to the Amerindian land titling programme.”

Minister Sukhai said that the criteria of village status are that there should be a population of more than 150 and the community should be in existence for 25 years. Once such conditions are met, the village will be eligible for titling.

She added that 14 village

audits were conducted because of complaints received by the Ministry.

The Norway Funds which are intended to be used to speed up land demarcation have not yet been received. The Minister is counting on $600 million to get the job done.

WELFARE The Minister said that during the last year, 1229 used the facilities at the Amerindian Hostel which provides accommodation, dietary needs and patient care for Amerindians who are in the

city for various medical conditions.

She explained that 832 person were also assisted by the Ministry to return home when they could not have sourced the funding.

Noting that Amerindian Heritage Month was a huge success in 2012, she said that the Amerindian culture is one to be proud of and the support being given annually has been escalating. This shows cohesion in the country, she said.

“The event will continue to be supported at the

national and regional levels.”

Underscoring that Government allocated $54 million to support the National Toshaos’Council (NTC) in 2012 that attracted 200 village leaders who met with President Donald Ramotar, Minister Sukhai said this occasion is used by Amerindian leaders to express themselves to the head of state who in turn would address their grievances. The Toshaos’ elections were also lauded by the Minister with 96 Toshaos being elected.

SCHOOLS UNIFORM PROGRAMME The Minister added that a total of $76M was spent to support the National Schools Uniform Programme in the hinterland last year. This benefited 30,000 students in Regions One, Seven and Nine.

Adding that the programme benefitted 165,000 students throughout the coastal regions who were presented vouchers valued $1500 for the procurement of

Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai school items by the Ministry of Education, she noted that the Ministry procures school uniform material which is distributed to communities in the four regions each school year.

Sewing groups within the communities are paid $800 to sew an outfit. This is also done to spawn income generation within the community.

Chinese couple assault girl, 8

An eight-year-old girl was yesterday beaten and stripped by the proprietors of Satno Mall located in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, opposite Demico House, after she was accused of stealing.

According to persons who witnessed the assault, the eight-year-old Muslim child had gone into the mall to shop with her grandmother when she was accused of stealing a pair of jeans.

She was confronted by the owner of the store who is

Unlicensed firearm holder remanded A 44-year-old man was yesterday denied bail for being in possession of a firearm without having a licence. Edward Persaud, of Soesdyke/Linden Highway was remanded to prison until January 14.

Persaud was allegedly found in possession of a single barrel 16-gauge shotgun and six cartridges of matching ammunition on January 3 while being an unlicensed firearm holder.

Persaud pleaded not guilty to the allegations as he stood before Magistrate Leron Daly yesterday. He was however ordered into police custody.

a Chinese national. The man and his wife stripped the child in the presence of customers as well as staff and severely beat her.

The attack on the child angered street vendors who then stormed into the store and dealt the owner several punches. Some of the vendors carried away sheets and other items which were in the store; they were eventually chased out of the property by police officers.

Yesterday when Kaieteur News arrived at the scene, police had already taken the child, her grandmother and the Chinese couple to the Brickdam Police Station.

There were a few persons standing outside the store and were badmouthing the owner of the store. They claimed, “They beat her really bad; they spit in her face, and they kick her. When they finish the child couldn’t walk,” Nayan Williams said.

“She is Muslim; how can you strip her in the presence of people? She was wearing her head-tie and was well covered. If she stole something they should have taken her to the police but the thing is they search and didn’t find anything,” an eyewitness said.

Kaieteur News understands that the Chinese nationals were each placed on $10,000 station bail

Saturday January 05, 2013

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Local officials clueless about last departure date of hijacked vessel The hijacked vessel

Local authorities are yet to determine when was the last time the gold-laden vessel, Summer Bliss, which was attacked and robbed in Curacao last year, left any Guyanese Port.

At least this is according to Director of the Maritime Administration Department, Claudette Rogers, yesterday, when she responded to questions about the vessel.

On November 30, last year, armed men attired as police officers boarded vessel and reportedly carted off gold bars valued at several millions from the Guyanaregistered boat shortly after the vessel docked at the port in Willemstad, Curacao, an Antillean island located off Venezuela.

Initial reports suggested that the boat left from

Suriname, where they said that a large amount of the stolen booty originated. Two officials from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission travelled to Curacao to determine whether the precious metal came fromGuyana.

Speaking to the ownership of the vessel yesterday, Rogers confirmed that the vessel is registered to o n e D e o Shivpaul. The local address

on the registration was reportedly given as Canal Number Two Polder, but checks by local officials found that the location is an empty lot.

However the Director related that the vessel was previously owned by another individual whose name she could not provide yesterday. She did disclose though that before being

renamed 'Summer Bliss' the vessel had carried the name 'Shiva'.

According to her the police are still conducting investigations into the matter even as she disclosed that MARAD has already made all of the necessary information available to the investigating authority.

She added that it is a mandatory requirement that every vessel that leaves any Port report to the local lighthouse. However she intimated that “from all indications we do not have anything here from the lighthouse when this vessel would have last departed from Port Georgetown.

We are not sure whether it even departed from Port Georgetown or from any other port,” Rogers added yesterday.

Development in the recent high-profile heist has since seen authorities in Curacao and the United States tracing some of the stolen gold bars to at least seven suspects including prominent jeweller, Giovani Regales.

Reports are that some 56 of the stolen gold bars were seized in Curacao. And Curacao's police in a statement said that of the seven persons arrested, one of them is from Bonaire, another Dutch Antillean island; three from Venezuela and the remainder from Curacao. The arrests were conducted at several locations in Curacao.

One of the suspects was since released while the others are s t i l l b e i n g interrogated. During the investigation, the police said that they confiscated articles that are “very important for the case”.

It is believed that at least two of the gold bars were found at the arrested jeweller's business place.

Curacao police said that in the preliminary part of the investigations, the Customs also p a r t i c i p a t e d a c t i v e l y.

“Furthermore because this investigation has some internationalaspecttoit,thePolice Corps had communication with the authorities from these countries” even as the investigation in the case continues.

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Regional Chairman takes cheer to Dharm Shala

Regional Chairman David Permaul Armogan delivering goodies and spreading Christmas cheer to inmates of the Dharm Shala Regional Chairman Region Six David Permaul Armogan on Monday visited the Berbice Branch of Dharm Shala, home of indigents, situated at Fort Canje and brought smiles to the faces of

the 31 residents.

The Regional Chairman led a team that distributed food stuff and toiletries. The residents were fed an Old Year’s Day lunch and then given breakfast items that

included biscuit, butter and nut butter. Mr. Armogan stated that as Regional Chairman, he always thinks of the less fortunate and the underprivileged and that in this the season of sharing and

giving he thought it best to extend a helping hand to citizens who are not so privileged at this time.

He stated that the administration is working on a few strategies to aid the indigent all year long. He gave a commitment to look at the possibility of providing daily breakfasts for the residents. This was after the inmates had stated that they would usually have some difficulties in getting something to eat in the mornings.

“Currently, we are trying to work out a way that the Regional Administration can continue to provide breakfast stuff throughout the year.”

The inmates thanked the administration for its gesture.

They are also calling on the relevant authorities and the business community to assist in providing material to keep them meaningfully occupied doing craft and other beneficial things during their daylight hours.

Caretaker Gary Erskine

thanked the Regional Chairman for comingling with members of the Dharm Shala.

He urged more Guyanese to come on board and assist the residents, many of whom would have made tangible contributions to society in their younger days.

He stated that there is a kitchen in place and if foodstuff is provided then it can be cooked at the institution. He said that one of the inmates needs a wheelchair and that he would seek the services of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security this year to have Social Workers visit the institution.

He also called on the Ministry of Health to assist.

“We need more assistance from the hospital.”

Erskine took the opportunity to thank all those who assisted the Home in the past and wished them well but that he looked forward to even more support. He also thanked the Rotary Club of New Amsterdam who spearheaded a drive to helping the institution to acquire portable water.

It broke out shortly after sundown, and according to reports only one occupant, 16-year-old Ritchlyn Richmond, was at home at the time. Her mother, Lorraine Pitt, was said to be visiting her sister, Verlyn, in Block 22, Wismar.

Both mother and daughter had to be rushed to the Linden Hospital complex, after they fainted at the scene.

The owner of the house, Alice Pitt, who is said to be hypertensive, was in Georgetown at the time of the disaster, and relatives were in a quandary as to how they

would relay the dreadful news to her. The woman survived the ordeal.

Neighbours were only able to retrieve a bed frame and a mattress from the burning building.

They said that members of the Linden Fire service fought valiantly to save the building, even though they had a problem dousing the burning building because it was located so far away from the main road.

The fire fighters reportedly used buckets of sand in their efforts to put out the inferno, but were unsuccessful.

New Year’s Day fire destroys Linden home

Three persons, including a 74-year-old pensioner, are now homeless after fire of unknown origin destroyed their three-bedroom wooden and concrete house at 189 One Mile Wismar on New Year’s Day. A recent addition to the building, a self- contained room which was built entirely of concrete was saved.

Losses were estimated in the millions of dollars, according to a relative, who noted that the building was about 40 years old, but had all modern conveniences. The fire reportedly started in one of the bedrooms.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Saturday January 05, 2013

Twelve of 289 cases tried during last quarter of 2012 - Essequibo district was without judge

By Abena Rockcliffe Guyana’s courts are starting this year with a backlog of 277 cases. Only 12 of a listed 289 cases were tried during the October session of the criminal assizes.

Of the 289 cases, 240 were listed to be tried during the Demerara October 2012 assizes while 49 were to be tried in Berbice.

There was no Essequibo October 2012 Criminal Assizes since no Judge was assigned to preside in that county.

Only eight of the 240 cases that were listed to be addressed in Demerara were tried in the High Court of Demerara.

Justice Navindra Singh and Madam Justice Diana Insanally sat from the beginning of the Demerara October 2012 Assizes and they were joined by Justice James Bovell-Drakes during December.

Of the eight cases, four were completed by Justice Navindra Singh, three by Madam Justice Diana Insanally and one case was done by Justice James Bovell-

Drakes in December.

Justice Navindra Singh presided over four murder trials. In the first trial, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment.

In the second murder trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty against the accused who was sentenced to death while the third murder trial accused was acquitted after Justice Singh upheld a no-case submission and ordered the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

Justice Singh, in the fourth murder trial intervened and ruled that there was insufficient evidence to proceed. The Judge directed the jury to return a unanimous verdict of not guilty and the accused was discharged.

The three matters which were done by Madame Justice Diana Insanally were for the offences of Murder and Carnally Knowing a Girl Under 15 years. There were two murder cases. In one of the murder cases, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser

offence of Manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

In the other Murder trial, a hung jury in proportion of eight guilty to four not guilty was arrived at which caused the Trial Judge to order a retrial for the accused.

In the third matter which was for the offence of Carnally Knowing Girl Under 15 Years, Madame Justice Insanally directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty for the accused after the virtual complainant stated that she did not wish to proceed with the matter.

The only murder trial over which Justice James BovellDrakes presided saw the accused being placed on $250,000 bail after the judge quashed the indictment subsequent to upholding the defence submission that there was no evidence to sustain the indictment. The State has appealed the Judge’s decision to quash the indictment.

Madame Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire presided over the Berbice October 2012 Assizes and completed four

cases from a list of 49 cases.

The four matters completed were for the offence of murder. In the first murder case the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty for the accused who was sentenced to death by Justice George-Wiltshire.

In the second murder trial, the accused was found guilty and sentenced at the Court’s pleasure for a term to be reviewed by the High Court every two years on the anniversary of his sentencing on November 15, 2012. The accused was 15 years old at the time he committed the offence.

The third murder case saw the accused pleading guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment.

In the fourth murder trial in which two accused were jointly charged with the capital offence, Madame Justice George-Wiltshire upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty for both of the accused.

During last year, 60 cases were disposed of. Of those, 46 cases received attention in court and 14 cases were nolle

prosequi by the DPP. Twentyfive were from the Demerara Assizes, 16 from the Berbice Assizes and five matters from the Essequibo Sessions.

There were 39 cases for the offence of Murder, five cases for Manslaughter, four cases for Rape, six for Carnal Knowledge, one for Abduction, two for Robbery under Arms, one Break and Enter and Larceny, one for Buggery and one (1) for Sexual Activity with a Child

by Abusing a Position of Trust.

The 14 matters nolle prosequi by the DPP were for offences such as murder, manslaughter, rape, Carnal Knowledge and Incest of a Girl Under 15 years, Causing Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent to Murder, Robbery under Arms and Possession of Narcotics for the Purpose of Trafficking.

These cases were nolle prosequi because they have been pending on the list for in excess of fifteen years and the main witnesses to prove the offences charged are no longer available to testify. In addition, in one case for Manslaughter and another for Rape the accused died. In a Rape case and two Carnal

knowledge cases the victims did not wish to proceed.

During the entire last year, there were 19 convictions, 19 acquittals, five hung jury and two quashed committals.

In the case for the offence of Sexual Activity with a child by abusing a position of trust, a charge under the new Sexual Offences Act 2010, the Judge ruled that the Preliminary Inquiry and everything that flowed was a nullity and ordered that the accused face a new Preliminary Inquiry. An amendment to the sexual offences act passed in parliament during the last sitting addressed that issue.

The January 2013 Assizes for Demerara will be opened on January 8. There are 235 cases listed to be heard during the Session before Madame Justice Roxanne GeorgeWiltshire, Madame Justice Dawn Gregory and Justice Navindra Singh.

The February Essequibo Assizes is expected to commence on February 19 before Justice Franklyn Holder; and, the February 2013 Assizes for Berbice will be opened on February, 5 before Justice Bassington Reynolds.

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Britain’s top tabloid scolds Venezuela’s Chavez fighting Argentina over the Falklands severe lung infection

Hugo Chavez CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being treated for “respiratory deficiency” after complications from a severe lung infection, his government said, pointing to a deepening crisis for the ailing 58-year-old president.

Chavez hasn’t spoken publicly or been seen since his Dec. 11 operation in Cuba, and the latest report from his government Thursday night increased speculation that he is unlikely to be able to be sworn in for another term as

scheduled in less than a week.

It was the first time the government has described the lung infection as “severe,” and the strongest confirmation yet that Chavez is having serious trouble breathing after days of rumors about his condition worsening.

“Chavez has faced complications as a result of a severe respiratory infection. This infection has led to respiratory deficiency that requires Commander Chavez to remain in strict compliance with his medical treatment,” Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Thursday night, reading the statement on television. The government’s characterization raised the possibility that Chavez might be breathing with the assistance of a machine. But the government did not address that question and didn’t give details of the president’s treatment.

Independent medical experts consulted by The Associated Press said the government’s account indicated a potentially dangerous turn in Chavez’s condition, but that it’s unclear whether he is attached to a

ventilator.

“It appears he has a very severe pneumonia that he suffered after a respiratory failure. It is not very specific,” said Dr. Alejandro Rios-Ramirez, a pulmonary specialist in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, who is not involved in Chavez’s treatment.

“It does imply the gravity of his pulmonary infection that led to a respiratory failure.”

Dr. Gustavo Medrano, a lung specialist at the Centro Medico hospital in Caracas, said he has seen similar cases in cancer patients who have undergone surgery, and “in general it’s very bad, above all after a surgery like the one they performed on him.”

“I don’t know the magnitude of the infection he has, how much of his lungs have been compromised, how much other organs are being affected. That’s not clear,” Medrano said.

“What’s most likely is that he’s on mechanical ventilation,” Medrano added.

However, he said, while respiratory deficiency means there is an abnormally low concentration of oxygen in the blood, depending on the severity it can be treated in various ways.

St Lucia’s PM warns of economic problems CASTRIES, St. Lucia CMC - Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony says St. Lucia has the largest fiscal deficit in the Caribbean as he prepares to address the nation tomorrow on the economic challenges facing the island.

“Where as other Caribbean states might have a fiscal deficit of seven to eight per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), we are climbing up to 10 per cent.

That’s a warning sign so we have really got to ensure that we bring it under some degree of control, and resolve those differences. “So when you see for example I plead for understanding from our public service unions and others engaged in the

negotiations, it precisely for that reason because we need to restore St. Lucia’s financial standing,” Anthony told a government housing development ceremony.

In his address tomorrow, Anthony, who is also Finance Minister, is expected to outline the economic difficulties facing the island amid calls from public sector trade unions for increased salaries for their members.

Prime Minister Anthony cautioned that some order must be brought to the public finances through consolidation, and acknowledged that the country must be bold and brave in attracting investment.

“This is vital because no

country in the world can survive without investment.

What has happened in the world has made investment ten times more difficult and the new investors are very discerning, as they are only going to those parts of the world where they can get all the right incentives.

“Our product is a little tired and jaded and we now have to search for new answers and do things we never thought of doing before, if we are going to survive in this new and different world,” he added.

Anthony had earlier said that the wage negotiation is not solely a matter between the government and the public sector unions, but it involves the entire country.

A British flag is set on fire during a protest by left-wing activists at the Buenos Aires cruise terminal yesterday. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian.

BUENOS AIRES/ LONDON (Reuters) Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper had a simple message for Argentina in an editorial published yesterday in the South American country: “HANDS OFF” the Falkland Islands.

The seven-paragraph epistle, penned by the populist Sun tabloid and published in Argentina’s main English language newspaper, came in response to fresh demands from President Cristina Fernandez to open talks over the sovereignty of the South Atlantic archipelago.

The two countries fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the remote islands, which are part of Britain’s self-governing overseas territories and are known in Argentina as Las Malvinas.

Britain won the war but Argentina started pressing its sovereignty claim anew last year after oil exploration began in waters near the islands.

“British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands dates back to 1765, before the Republic of Argentina even existed,” the Sun said in its open letter to Fernandez, published in both Spanish and English in the Buenos Aires Herald.

“In the name of our millions of readers,” the Sun said, “HANDS OFF!” The Sun, part of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s empire, has a long history of publishing fervently patriotic articles. One of its front pages during the 1982 war it marked the news that British forces had sunk the Argentine warship General Belgrano with the banner headline “GOTCHA.” As the extent of Argentine losses began to emerge, the Sun changed its headline in later editions. A total of 323 Argentines lost their lives in the attack on the Belgrano.

While the rhetoric has yet to reach such levels, tensions have flared between London

and Buenos Aires against the new backdrop of oil prospects.

Crude was found to the north of the Falklands in 2010 by Rockhopper Exploration, drawing interest from hedge funds and other investors despite threats from Argentina to disrupt the activity.

In an open letter from Fernandez to Prime Minister David Cameron published in British newspapers on Thursday, the fiery two-term Peronist leader accused Britain of breaching United Nations resolutions calling for a negotiated solution.

Cameron rejects negotiations, saying the approximately 3,000 people of the Falkland Islands have chosen to be British.

In its Friday edition, the Sun used less moderate language for its own British readers than in its open letter to Fernandez, labeling her country a “banana republic.”

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Colombia firm makes T&T electoral college votes for armored clothes for kids new president February 15

A worker inspects armored vests designed for children at the Miguel Caballero factory on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, Thursday.

(AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian firm that makes bulletproof vests is now creating armored clothing for children.

Factory owner Miguel Caballero said he never thought about making protective clothes for kids until requests came in following the deadly attack on Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last month.

“After the tragedy in Connecticut, we started getting emails from customers asking for protected (clothing) because they were afraid to take their kids to school,” Caballero said.

“We have received messages from all over the

United States,” seeking the protective gear, added Giovanni Cordero, the company’s marketing director.

Products include childsized armored vests, protective undershirts and backpacks with ballistic protection that can be used as shields.

The products are designed for children ages 816 years old and cost $150$600 depending on the complexity of their construction. Each piece weighs 2-4 pounds.

“The products were created with the American market in mind, not for the Latino market,” said

Caballero. “All the designs and colors, everything is thought out with them in mind.”

Caballero performed a test on a pink-and-yellow striped bulletproof backpack attached to a pale blue protective vest, firing a 9mm pistol and a machine gun to show it could withstand a barrage of bullets.

He said the backpack-vest combo and other protective gear have already been ordered by a U.S. distributor, although he would not identify it.

About 250 people work at Caballero’s factory, which has been making armored vests for adults for more than 20

Trinidad Guardian - The electoral college will meet next month to elect a new president of T&T. Communications Minister Jamal Mohammed announced the February 15 date during the first post-Cabinet news conference for the year at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair Thursday.

President George Maxwell Richards is expected to complete his second five-year term on March 17, and under the Constitution a president has to be elected at least 30 days before the term expires.

Mohammed said the election was being held in accordance with Section 26 (4) of the Constitution, which provides that an election “shall be held not more than 60 days or less than 30 days before the expiration of the term of that office.”

He said the election must be held no sooner than January 17 and no later than February 18.

Mohammed said the Speaker of the House was responsible for the conduct of the election and must announce the date in the Gazette not less than 21 days or more than 30 days before the election.

He said after that was done, Speaker Wade Mark is required to inform members by letter of the meeting of the electoral college. “The Speaker has recommended to the Prime Minister, and Cabinet has duly noted that Friday, February 15, 2013, is the date selected by the

George Maxwell Richards Speaker of the House for the convening of a meeting of the electoral college for the election of a president of T&T.” February 15 is the Friday after Carnival.

Mohammed said in accordance with Section 30 of the Constitution, the deadline for nominations is Tuesday, February 5.

While Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Richards had not been ruled out for an unprecedented third term as head of state, sources close to the president said he was not expected to accept any request to serve another term. The source said Richards was happy and honoured to have served T&T as president for ten consecutive years, but would be happy at the end of his second term to return to private life.

Sources told the T&T Guardian that Richards was asked if he would be interested in serving “a few more years” but had declined the offer.

Government sources remained tight-lipped on possible nominations for the post when contacted by the T&T Guardian yesterday.

Only recently, National Security Minister Jack Warner was very critical of Richards, describing him as a “PNM

puppet” for seeking information from the PM about the so-called Section 34 fiasco under Section 81 of the Constitution.

In November last year, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley led a delegation of trade union leaders at a meeting with Richards, asking him to ask the PM about the early proclamation of Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011.

It was proclaimed in August and repealed two weeks later after an emergency sitting of the Parliament. The Prime Minister fired Justice Minister Herbert Volney, saying he misled the Cabinet about the support of Chief Justice Ivor Archie for the early proclamation of Section 34.

Warner said on December 22: “In his last remaining days as president, His Excellency may feel emboldened to use his office to interfere in the politics of this nation but he may also have misjudged the ire of critics and the sensitivity of the population.

The mask of President Richards has fallen and the entire nation can now see him for who he has always been—a political puppet of the former (PNM) administration, placed there to bolster the political fortunes of the People’s National Movement.”

Richards was first elected on March 17, 2003, replacing President Arthur NR Robinson. He was re-elected on March 17, 2009, for a second term.

Richards, previously served as principal of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies and was awarded t h e c o u n t r y ’s h i g h e s t award—the Trinity Cross, as it was called—in 2003.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

US announces final rule to support Caribbean family unity WASHINGTON D.C., United States - CMC Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has announced new rules reducing the time Caribbean and other nationals who are US citizens are separated from their immediate relatives.

She said these relatives spouse, children and parents - must be in the process of obtaining visas to become lawful permanent residents of the United States under certain circumstances.

“The final rule establishes a process that allows certain individuals to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver before they depart the United States to attend immigrant visa interviews in their countries of origin,” she said, adding that the process will be effective on March 4, 2013.

“This final rule facilitates

the legal immigration process and reduces the amount of time that US citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who are in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa.” Napolitano said the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received more than 4,000 comments in response to the April 2, 2012 proposed rule and considered all of them in preparing the final rule.

“The law is designed to avoid extreme hardship to US citizens, which is precisely what this rule achieves,” said USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas.

He said the change will have a significant impact on American families by greatly reducing the time family members are separated from those they rely upon.

Under current law, immediate relatives of US

citizens who are not eligible to adjust status in the United States to become lawful permanent residents must leave the US and obtain an immigrant visa abroad.

Individuals who have accrued more than six months of unlawful presence while in the United States must obtain a waiver to overcome the unlawful presence inadmissibility bar before they can return to the United States after departing to obtain an immigrant visa.

Under the existing waiver process, which remains available to those who do not qualify for the new process, USCIS said immediate relatives cannot file a waiver application until after they have appeared for an immigrant visa interview abroad and the Department of State has determined that they are inadmissible.

Gonsalves want issues surrounding regional aviation discussed

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent - CMC - Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves wants Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to seriously address the regional airline industry when they meet later this year.

CARICOM leaders will meet in Haiti for their intersessional summit in February and Gonsalves said that apart from cooperation with other airlines, there is need to address matters such as energy costs, fuel and “we need to address the subsidy which CAL (Caribbean Airlines) is getting and competing with LIAT in the same space, the same single economic space.

“You can’t do it, it is just wrong it is contrary to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and is contrary to the 1996 Common Air Services Agreement signed to

Dr. Ralph Gonsalves

by CARICOM members including Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.

Gonsalves said that a resolution must be reached on the matter of the competition between LIAT and CAL. “This is not an antiTrinidad issue. In fact we are

working well with the government of Trinidad and Tobago on several important matters and we have very close relationship,” Gonsalves said, adding that he used to raise these matters when “my friend Patrick (Manning) was in government.

Last month, Chairman of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, Jean Holder called for a meeting of CARICOM leaders early in 2013 to deal with transportation problems in the region.

In a paper to the meeting of major shareholders of the Antigua-based airline, Holder said that the summit should be convened to discuss regional air transportation and its critical role in supporting the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

LIME’s termination of 97 workers…

BWU counteraction an option Barbados Nation Counteraction could be the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) response to LIME’s termination of 97 workers from its retail stores and backoffice Wednesday, says BWU General Secretary Sir Roy Trotman.

He told the media yesterday, following a meeting with a large segment of the telecommunications company’s 600-plus staff at Solidarity House, that LIME’s managing director Alex McDonald had already started industrial action by

making the workers redundant, and the BWU could counter it.

He said, however, the union was trying to be fair after being “severely provoked” by McDonald.

“As far as the BWU is concerned, Mr McDonald and his advisor have already taken industrial action. They have taken industrial action which is the counterpart of locking out the workers, and that by itself should lead to counter industrial action on our part; but we have been endeavouring to be fair to the

process, and we are under the chair of the Minister of Labour,” he explained.

“We believe that at that level somebody has to be mature enough to take proper decisions, so although we have been severely provoked today, by receiving a letter at close to closing time yesterday (Wednesday) . . . we feel that in the given climate, and in the given circumstances of a reference to the Chief Labour Officer, we ought not to be hastening to take counteraction. But if we have to, we shall,” he stated.

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Italy’s Monti unveils alliance, Budget battles threaten to limit Obama’s second-term agenda rules out minister role ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti yesterday unveiled the alliance he will lead into February’s parliamentary election and said he was unlikely to agree to serve as a minister in another premier’s cabinet after the vote.

The 69-year-old former European commissioner, who replaced Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister in November 2011 when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis, announced last week that he would run for a second term.

Monti said on Friday the grouping would be called “With Monti for Italy”, whose logo is a circular symbol with the colors of the Italian flag and his surname in the center.

“I hope that (the new alliance) helps improve politics, and that it renews the interest of those Italians who had turned their back on politics, involving them actively again in public affairs,” Monti said.

Opinion surveys have shown that up to 50 percent of the electorate plan to abstain or are undecided in the February 24-25 election that

is a three-way battle between rightist Berlusconi, Monti and center-left frontrunner Pier Luigi Bersani.

Focusing the campaign strongly around Monti could be a risky tactic, with his popularity dented by the tough tax hikes and spending cuts he has introduced over the past 13 months. Roughly 60 percent of Italians are against the idea of him standing for a second term, polls show.

A poll by the Tecne research institute released on SkyTG24 on Friday showed that Monti’s grouping would likely attract slightly more than 12 percent of the vote.

That compares with 40 percent for his rivals on the left, Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD) and its coalition ally Left, Ecology, Freedom; and 25 percent for the most likely center-right coalition of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) and the Northern League, the poll showed.

Monti, who wants to form a broad coalition of proEurope, pro-reform parties after the election, said on Friday that his goal was to continue as prime minister,

and he was unlikely to accept a job in someone else’s cabinet.

When asked if he would consider being, for example, the economy minister under another prime minister, he told La 7 television channel: “I believe not.”

“I do not think I would have the motivation to commit myself to serve a government that did not agree with me on at least 98 percent of policy,” he said.

He told La 7 he would be open to a three-way television debate with Berlusconi and Bersani.

Monti plans to lead a single alliance in the upper house, while three separate blocs would run as a coalition with the economics professor as their leader in the lower house.

One will be a list of candidates who have not before participated in politics, to be called “A Civic Choice: With Monti for Italy”.

The other two will be already existing centrist parties, the Catholic UDC led

by Pier Ferdinando Casini, and FLI led by Chamber of Deputies President Gianfranco Fini.

WA S H I N G T O N (Reuters) - After a brutal “fiscal cliff” battle, President Barack Obama’s looming budget confrontation with Congress threatens to sharply curtail his secondterm agenda and limit his ambitions on priorities such as immigration reform and gun control.

Obama has vowed to push ahead with other legislative priorities during the fiscal fight, but faces the likelihood that they will be elbowed aside in a fierce struggle with Republicans over approaching deadlines to raise the limit on federal borrowing, cut spending and fund government operations.

Obama and Congress must agree by the end of March on increasing the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, the fate of $85 billion in delayed automatic spending cuts and passage of a bill to fund the government after a temporary measure expires.

Those budget battles could be even more intense than the weeks-long “fiscal cliff” fight that ended on New Year’s Day with an agreement to raise taxes on the wealthy, leaving divided Republicans itching for revenge and a fractured relationship between Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

“We always felt that a bipartisan and amicable conclusion to the fiscal cliff would lead to a very positive agenda for the next two years, and the opposite occurred. It bodes poorly for Obama’s other major priorities,” said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at the centrist think tank Third Way. “There is a high level of dysfunction. They haven’t cracked the code yet on how to work with each other,” Kessler said of Obama and congressional Republicans.

The fiscal cliff fight overwhelmed nearly everything else at the White House for two months. A

similar result in the budget battle would be bad news for Obama, cutting into the narrow one-year to 18-month window when second-term presidents traditionally still have the political clout to achieve their most significant legislative victories.

“From a Republican standpoint, if you don’t want Obama to get any oxygen on these other issues, focusing on the fiscal cliff and all these budget issues is a very good way to run out the clock on him,” said Republican strategist John Feehery, a former Capitol Hill aide.

Obama has promised to pursue a broad second-term agenda focused on comprehensive immigration reform, bolstering domestic energy production, fighting climate change and gun control. After the “fiscal cliff” deal, he said he would not curtail his agenda because of the looming budget fights.

“We can settle this debate, or at the very least, not allow it to be so allconsuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face,” Obama said on New Year’s Day before boarding a flight to Hawaii to resume a holiday interrupted by the fiscal cliff fight.

“It’s not just possible to

do these things; it’s an obligation to ourselves and to future generations,” he said.

Republicans are primed for the coming fight, believing they have more leverage against Obama than during the fiscal cliff battle. Failure to close a deal on the debt ceiling could mean a default on U.S. debt or another downgrade in the U.S. credit rating like the one after a similar showdown in 2011.

A failure to reach agreement on a government funding bill could mean another federal shutdown like brief ones in 1995 and 1996.

Republicans say they will not back an increase in the federal debt ceiling without significant spending cuts opposed by many Democrats, particularly to popular “entitlement” programs such as the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans for the elderly and poor.

“When you look at what’s coming down the pike, it will make the fiscal cliff look like a day in Sunday school,” said Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis.

“You’re talking about a battle that’s going to last weeks or months. If they get a deal, it’s going to be ugly, it’s going to be brutal. Once you get past that, where do you find the will to address other issues? It’s going to be very hard,” he said.

Administration officials promise to move quickly in January in pursuit of new legislation on gun control and immigration. The gun control effort will be led by Vice President Joe Biden, who was appointed to develop a response to the deadly Connecticut school shootings in December.

But what seemed to be fresh momentum for new measures such as a ban on assault rifles after the mass killing in Connecticut could be stalled by a protracted focus on the seemingly neverending budget showdowns.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) The European Union has proposed a time and place for further talks on Iran’s nuclear program, but Iran has yet to respond, an EU spokesman said yesterday.

Iran said yesterday it had agreed to resume talks in January with six major powers - represented by the EU - but the EU spokesman said Tehran had not yet replied to proposals made on December 31.

“We offered dates and a

venue, but we are still waiting to hear back from Iran,” said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who leads negotiations on behalf of the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China.

Mann declined to say which dates and venue the EU had proposed.

The countries involved in the talks - particularly in the West - want to rein in Iran’s uranium enrichment work which Tehran says is for

peaceful purposes only but which produces material which, if processed further, can be used to make nuclear bombs.

There was no breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April 2012. But neither side has been willing to break off totally, partly because of concerns this could lead to war if Israel attacks Iran - something it has threatened to do if the Islamic Republic looks close to getting nuclear weapons.

Barack Obama

EU says Iran not responded to nuclear talks proposal

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Syrian forces bombard rebel areas near capital BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government warplanes and artillery pounded restive suburbs of Damascus yesterday and anti-regime activists said a car bomb targeted an intelligence building north of the capital.

Fighting in Syria’s civil war has flared in areas around Damascus as rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad try to push into the city itself. The rebel advances in the suburbs threaten the government’s grip on its seat of power, prompting a punishing response from the military on rebel areas skirting the capital.

Anti-regime activists circulated a video they said showed an explosion near a military intelligence office in the town of Nabk, north of the capital. They had no information on casualties and the government did not comment on the bombing.

The blast came one day after a car bomb hit a gas station in the capital itself, killing eleven people, activists said. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, they could be

This citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows anti-Syrian regime protesters holding a placard during a demonstration in Kfar Nebel, Idlib province, northern Syria, yesterday. (AP Photo/Idlib News Network ENN) guerrilla strikes by rebels groups who lack the force to battle Assad’s troops in the capital.

Syria’s 21-month conflict has turned into a bloody stalemate that the United Nations says has killed more than 60,000 people, and it

warns the civil war could claim the lives of many more this year. International efforts to stop the fighting have failed so far, and although rebels have made gains in recent months, they still can’t challenge Assad’s hold on much of the country.

Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves British hospital

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai (C) waves with nurses as she is discharged from The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in this handout photograph released yesterday. REUTERS/Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham/Handou LONDON (Reuters) - A in the Swat valley, drew neck.

She was treated by Pakistani girl shot in the head widespread international by the Taliban for advocating condemnation. doctors specializing in She has become a an neurosurgery, trauma and girls’ education has been discharged from a British internationally recognized other disciplines in a hospital after doctors said she symbol of resistance to the department of the hospital was well enough to spend Taliban’s efforts to deny which has treated hundreds time recovering with her women education and other of soldiers wounded in rights, and more than 250,000 conflicts in Afghanistan and family.

Fifteen-year-old Malala people have signed online Iraq.

Yousufzai, who was shot by petitions calling for her to be “Malala is a strong young the Taliban in October and nominated for a Nobel Peace woman and has worked hard brought to Britain for Prize for her activism. with the people caring for her Doctors at the Queen to make excellent progress in treatment, was discharged on Thursday but is due to be re- Elizabeth Hospital in her recovery,” said Dave admitted in late January or Birmingham where Yousufzai Rosser, the hospital’s medical early February for was treated said that director.

“Following discussions reconstructive surgery to her although the bullet hit her left skull, doctors said. brow, it did not penetrate her with Malala and her medical The shooting of skull but instead travelled team, we decided that she Yousufzai, in the head at point underneath the skin along the would benefit from being at blank range as she left school side of her head and into her home.”

On Friday, the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government warplanes bombed suburbs of the capital, including Douma, where twin airstrikes killed more than a dozen people a day earlier.

The Observatory also

reported the explosion near the military intelligence building in Nabk, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Damascus.

A amateur video posted online showed a large explosion and a large gray cloud of smoke billowing from the area. An off-camera narrator said the blast struck the intelligence building.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting.

Fighting also raged south of the capital, where rebels have been trying to push into the city for weeks.

Damascus activist Maath al-Shami said the government fired rockets and mortars from Qasioun mountain overlooking the capital at orchards near the southern suburbs of Daraya and Kfar Sousseh.

The Observatory reported clashes between rebels and the army in other areas south of the capital and on the road to the city’s airport, to the southeast.

For its part, the Syrian army said in a statement late Thursday that troops had killed “terrorists” in areas

around the capital, including Daraya.

The government says the uprising is fueled by foreignbacked terrorists who seek to destroy the country.

“Regime forces are facing very strong resistance in Daraya,” said al-Shami via Skype, but added that government forces had been able to advance down the suburb’s main thoroughfare.

The government’s capture of Daraya, southwest of the city, would provide a boost to the regime’s defense of Damascus. It is close to a military air base as well as government headquarters and one of President Bashar Assad’s palaces.

In the north, rebels continued to clash with government forces inside the Taftanaz air base in Idlib province and near the Mannagh military airport and the international airport in Aleppo. The attacks are part of the rebel’s effort to erode the military’s air power.

Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib, said the rebels killed on Thursday the commander of Taftanaz air base, a brigadier general.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

Abbas sees Palestinian unity U.S. missile teams in as Fatah rallies in Gaza Turkey, missiles come later BRUSSELS (Reuters) U.S. soldiers who will man Patriot anti-missile batteries to protect Turkey from the spillover of Syria’s civil war began arriving in the country yesterday, the U.S. military said, but the missiles themselves are due later.

Turkey formally asked NATO for the missiles in November to bolster security along its 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, which has been torn by a 21-month insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey repeatedly has scrambled fighter jets along the frontier and responded in kind when Syrian shells came down inside its borders, fanning fears that the civil war could spread to destabilize the region.

About 400 U.S. personnel and equipment from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, will arrive in Turkey over the next several days by U.S. military airlift, the U.S. European Command said on its website.

No U.S. Patriot missiles arrived on Friday, however,

according to a military source, and it will be several weeks before the missiles, supplied by Germany and the Netherlands, get to Turkey.

The U.S. troops, who began arriving at Incirlik air base in Turkey, will man two U.S. Patriot batteries out of a total of six batteries that have been promised by NATO allies.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokeswoman said the first U.S. military personnel belonging to the Patriot unit began arriving in Turkey on Friday and more will arrive over the coming days.

The equipment would start arriving a few days later, with the aim of having the U.S. Patriot batteries in place by mid-January, she said.

Germany and the Netherlands are also providing two Patriot batteries and up to 400 troops each.

The German and Dutch missiles are expected to be loaded onto ships in European ports early next week but will take several weeks to get to Turkey.

A small advance team of German and Dutch soldiers will also fly to Turkey early next week to prepare the ground for the Patriots, with the bulk of the troops arriving later.

NATO foreign ministers approved Turkey’s request for the Patriot deployment in early December.

The alliance said the move was aimed at defending Turkey and it had no intention of intervening in the Syrian civil war, but Syria, Iran and Russia criticized the decision.

NATO officials say the Syrian military has fired Scudtype missiles in recent weeks and they have voiced concern about chemical weapons Syria is believed to hold.

The Patriot missiles will be stationed near three southeastern Turkish cities.

The Netherlands will deploy its batteries near Adana, Turkey’s fourthlargest city, which lies around 100 km (60 miles) from the Syrian border.

The joint TurkishAmerican Incirlik Air Base is just outside the city.

Palestinians gather around the rubble of a Hamas security site, which witnesses said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, during a rally marking the 48th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, in Gaza City yesterday.

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) GAZA (Reuters) President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a fiveyear split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave.

“Soon we will regain our unity,” Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions, said in a televised address to hundreds of thousands of followers marching in Gaza yesterday, with yellow Fatah flags instead of the green of Hamas.

The hardline Hamas movement, which does not

recognize Israel’s right to exist, expelled secular Fatah from Gaza during the war. It gave permission for the rally after the deadlock in peace talks between Abbas’s administration and Israel narrowed the two factions’ ideological differences.

The Palestinian rivals have drawn closer since Israel’s assault on Gaza assault in November, in which Hamas, though battered, claimed victory.

Egypt has long tried to broker Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, but past efforts have foundered over questions of power-sharing, control of weaponry, and to what extent Israel and other powers would accept a Palestinian administration

including Hamas. An Egyptian official told Reuters Cairo was preparing to invite the factions for new negotiations within two weeks. Israel fears grassroots support for Hamas could eventually topple Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.

“Hamas could seize control of the PA any day,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

The demonstration marked 48 years since Fatah’s founding as the spearhead of the Palestinians’ fight against Israel. Its longtime leader Yasser Arafat signed an interim 1993 peace accord that won Palestinians a measure of self rule.

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The U.N. children’s agency says it’s concerned about a growing number of children being recruited by armed groups in Central African Republic as President Francois Bozize’s government faces a rebellion in the north.

UNICEF said Friday it has received “credible reports that rebel groups and progovernment militias are increasingly recruiting and involving children in armed conflict.” Souleymane Diabate, UNICEF Representative for Central African Republic, said children who have become

separated from their families amid the instability are at the greatest risk.

UNICEF estimates that even before the latest crisis here some 2,500 children were part of armed groups in the country long plagued by rebellions. Rebels have seized 10 towns in a month’s time.

New child soldier fears in C. African Republic

Church of England ends ban on gay bishops LONDON (Reuters) The Church of England has lifted a ban on gay male clergy who live with their partners from becoming bishops on condition they pledge to stay celibate, threatening to reignite an issue that splits the 80-million-strong global Anglican community.

The issue of homosexuality has driven a rift between Western and African Anglicans since a Canadian diocese approved blessings for same-sex couples in 2002 and U.S. Anglicans in the Episcopal Church appointed an openly gay man as a

bishop in 2003.

The Church of England, struggling to remain relevant in modern Britain despite falling numbers of believers, is already under pressure after voting narrowly last November to maintain a ban on women becoming bishops.

The church said the House of Bishops, one of its most senior bodies, had ended an 18-month moratorium on the appointment of gays in civil partnerships as bishops.

The decision was made in late December but received little attention until the

church confirmed it yesterday.

Gay clergy in civil partnerships would be eligible for the episcopate - the position of bishop - if they make the pledge to remain celibate, as is already the case for gay deacons and priests.

“The House has confirmed that clergy in civil partnerships, and living in accordance with the teaching of the Church on human sexuality, can be considered as candidates for the episcopate,” the Bishop of Norwich Graham James said.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

MARAD to tackle uncertified boat operators - Director General “Accidents don’t happen, they are caused,” said Director of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Claudette Rogers, to a gathering of media operatives yesterday.

She said that there are moves afoot to sensitise those who are operating via the waterways that safety is paramount and is in fact, MARAD’s main objective.

Her comments come in the wake of a recent boat accident in the Pomeroon River which claimed the lives of six individuals.

Rogers admitted, too, that “unfortunately we have had more accidents and incidents in 2012 than 2011 and one of the things that we have recognised is that accidents are as a result of human error.”

The Director has attributed the increased number of accidents to the fact that there are a lot more operators and boats that are uncertified.

Moreover, she said that MARAD will this year seek to rigorously embark on more awareness seminars.

She added that while measures engaged may not be enough to completely eradicate accidents, the objective is to minimise them.

MARAD is tasked with regulating aspects of the Shipping Act and the operations of the Ports and Harbours Department. And although confronted with the challenges of accidents last year, MARAD was however able to realise many achievements, among them the acquisition of a Pilot Launch namely the M. L. Kakabelly.

Rogers said that efforts were made to embark on the training of Marine Cadets to become Marine Pilots and Marine Inspectors. She disclosed that history has been made with females now

MARAD Director General, Claudette Rogers being a part of the programme for the first time.

“We have recognised that training is paramount and it is necessary that if persons are not trained then they will not be able to execute their functions in a particular manner...”

And according to Rogers, a group of Marine Cadets will complete the inspector programme by June and are expected to be focused on a particular category of vessel.

During the past year the Department docked some of its vessels and efforts are continually being made to have continuous ISPS inspections of the local port facilities even as 24-hour per day pilotage is offered, Rogers said.

A total of 715 ships were piloted in and out of Port Georgetown as at November 2012, compared to 789 in 2011; in Berbice there were 83 in 2012, and 132 in 2011 while there were none recorded for Essequibo for either years.

Among the piloting categories were tankers, cargo ships and containers, Rogers disclosed.

For 2012 the cargo

imported by the piloted vessels was 435,840 metric tons in 2012 while there were 538,303 metric tons imported in 2011.

Cargo export on the other hand accounted for 2,172,789 metric tons last year while there were 2,182,426 metric tons in 2011, Rogers disclosed.

The Department, according to her, has also been able to sustain Flag and Port state inspections relative to safety standards on board Guyana registered and licensed ships. Alluding to the move to have boats outfitted with sheds/superstructures, the Director General said that “we know that this initiative was ridiculed but is now increasingly welcomed by the travelling public.”

And according to her MARAD has observed an increase in the number of boats operating between Parika, Supenaam and Wakenaam.

However, there were evident limitations in the operation of MARAD which, according to Rogers, was not able to do much dredging last year which was due to the need for emergency repairs on the entity’s main dredge, the “Steve N”, so as to facilitate continuous dredging of ships channel.

“The dredge unfortunately had a lot of mechanical defects and we were unable to focus on that specific area and currently we are doing everything we can to ensure that our ‘Steve N’ will be operable in 2013 because we would have been delinquent in that area.”

This year should also see MARAD seeking to improve on its hydrographic surveying capabilities even as 24-hour pilotage continues and inspection of vessel and certification of seafarers continue.

Page 25

Immigration INFO: Immigration News For Our Community Through this “Question & Answer” column, our goal is to answer your immigration questions. We appreciate your comments and questions. If you have a question that you would like answered in this column, please email: Gail@GailLaw.com.

Question #1: How can I apply for a visitor visa to the United States?

Answer #1: My best advice is to visit the U.S. Embassy website or office located in your country.

Generally, you must complete Form DS-160 (some offices require it be completed online), pay the applicable fees, schedule an appointment, assemble required documents and attend the interview. Applicants must prove that they intend to only visit the U.S., have strong ties to their native country and have no intent to remain in the U.S. Question #2: M y fiancé’s visa application was denied at the Embassy, can I just marry my fiancé and file a spousal petition?

Answer #2: Yes, upon marriage, you can submit a petition for your spouse.

However, petitioner and beneficiary will have to prove that their marriage is goodfaith and based on love and not for immigration benefits.

Question #3: I have plenty of family members in the U.S. – who can sponsor me?

Answer #3: T h e following individuals can file a family-based sponsorship petition for you to obtain a “green card” or residency in the U.S.: U.S. citizen spouse, U.S. citizen child over age 21, U.S. citizen brother/sister, permanent resident spouse, and permanent resident parent.

Question #4: My U.S. citizen father filed for me in September 2006 as an unmarried child, how much longer is the wait before I will have my interview at the Embassy?

Answer #4: According to the February 2012 visa bulletin, visas are being issued for F-1 petitions (unmarried child over age 21 of a U.S. citizen) filed on or

Gail S. Seeram before December 22, 2004. So, you have about a 2 years wait.

To access the monthly visa bulletins, visit GailLaw.com and click the first blue button labeled “Visa Bulletin”.

Question #5: My mother was deported back to Guyana – when could she return to the U.S.?

Answer #5: Generally, when someone is deported or removed to Guyana, there is a certain period of time that they must remain outside the U.S. before applying for readmission.

It may be 5, 10, 15, 20 years or a lifetime ban. It depends on the reason or grounds for which the person was removed or deported from the U.S. A family based sponsorship petition may be filed for your mother but a waiver and application for reentry would be required.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Amaila Falls Road Project…

Govt. wants court to force payment of US$1.5M bond The government wants the court to force insurance company Hand in Hand to pay US$1.5 million after it fired Makeshwar “Fip” Motilall from the Amaila Falls road project.

The former Bharrat Jagdeo administration had handed Motilall a US$15.4 million to build the road leading to Amaila Falls where the government plans to construct a mega hydro power plant. However, with Motilall unable to get the job done, he was fired last January, a month after the new Donald Ramotar Government took office.

A performance bond was posted by Hand in Hand Insurance Company to the value of 10 per cent of the contract, or US$1.5. With Motilall failing to perform and out of the way, the government sought to get the US$1.5 million, but to no avail.

“We are dealing with that in the courts,” Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn said yesterday.

He said that there was a “valid” performance bond and there were “issues with performance on the contract” and so the government is moving to secure the bond.

Sources had indicated that Motilall’s performance bond expired ever since July 2011.

That bond was negotiated and brought into force when the contract with Motilall was signed in January 2010, with duration of eight months. But Motilall was never able to meet that deadline and had several extensions until the plug was pulled in January 2011.

When the validity of that bond expired in July 2011, Motilall was expected to secure another, but he did not and that was used to fire him.

In an agreement he had signed, it was agreed that “failure of Synergy Holdings Inc to present to the Government of Guyana a valid performance bond from an acceptable institution to the value of 10 per cent of the contract price on or before January 10, 2012 will result in the immediate termination of the contract.”

A claim by the government did not mean that the insurance company would automatically pay, but that it would have to carry out its investigations, as is done in all cases of persons making a claim.

Motilall, following the announcement of the termination of the contract with Government, had claimed that he was owed in excess of US$1M. Winston Brassington, the Head of the National Industrial

and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), who had played an integral role in the project, had said that the government received what it paid for. “…Government has received value for money based on the work completed,” he had said.

Brassington had said that the

government retained 10 per cent of all valuations.”

He said, too, “The Agreement for Completion to the contract with Synergy, executed in December 2011, provided certain additional safeguards, including assigning the rights to the equipment to Government.”

Hand-in-Hand, in an

official announcement following the termination of the contract, had stated that “the position of an insurance company with regard to any insurance policy or claim is strictly confidential and would not be disclosed by the insurance company unless required by law or legal process.”

The insurance company

had also stated that “If a claim is made under a performance bond, it goes through our claims verification and investigation process…This process is performed in respect of each and every claim regardless of size.”

Large claims are submitted to the Board of Directors of Hand-in Hand for its consideration.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

EZjet passengers have until January 14 to request refunds - Public Works official ... efforts made to pay RedJet passengers There is no possibility of resuscitation for the failed Airline charter Service, EZjet, whose operation came to a screeching halt during the latter part of last year following a high-profile scandal involving its now arraigned Chief Executive Officer, Sonny Ramdeo.

This assertion was made

by Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, who insisted yesterday that the company is “dead; it is finished...There is nothing that we can do at this point in time...it has been killed off.”

Already EzJet officials have submitted a total of 240 requests for passenger refunds which according

Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works, Derrick Jodhan, is valued at some $26 million.

“At its start up, EzJet, was required to lodge a $40 million Bond with Government from which the refunds will be made”, Jodhan said yesterday.

According to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Balraj Balram, a public advisory has been issued requesting that all jilted passengers submit their claims once they had in fact purchased tickets and were not able to travel.

The advisory, he said, will come to an end on January 14,

Cops on $200,000 bail on thievery allegation

By Rehanna Ramsay After they were caught red-handed trying to swindle money from the owner in exchange for a stolen laptop computer, two police constables faced the court to answer charges in relations to the issue.

Andrew Albert, 29, of Lot 229 Lamaha Park, Georgetown; and Andre Pollydore, 25, of Lot 11 Charles Street, Charlestown; were placed before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday.

Both officers denied the allegation that on December 28, last, they had in their possession a laptop computer, a hard drive and a

computer bag valued at $371, 000 knowing these to be stolen.

The device which belonged to Troy Edwards was reportedly obtained by the accused officers during an ongoing robbery investigation.

According to a recent police press statement, the incident derived from a robbery which occurred on Christmas Eve at Haslington North, East Coast Demerara. During the robbery, a taxi-driver and his three passengers were held up at gunpoint by two men.

The robbers relieved the victims of two laptop computers, a quantity of jewelry, three cell phones and

a sum of cash. The perpetrators then escaped on a motor cycle. Police investigators later received information that the two police constables had approached the owner of one of the computers and had received a sum of money from him for the return of the computer.

The computers had not been recov e r e d b y t h e police investigators during the course of the investigations.

A sting operation was set up and the two ranks were found with the stolen laptop computer in a house at North Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

In court the accused were represented by

Attorney- at- Law Satesh Kissoon who requested bail for both defendants. In his bid for bail, the Attorney told the court that both defendants were serving members of the Guyana Police Service (GPS) who were held in the lock-ups for six days before the charges were laid.

Kissoon said that Pollydore who is also from Wisroc, Linden has three years of service while his colleague, Albert, has been a serving member for over 12 years.

The Chief Magistrate set bail at $200,000 each for the defendants.

The matter is scheduled for court on January 21.

last year. “We are receiving applications at the moment but we are not considering them until we get the total applications which will close on January 14...(On that date) we will be able to say how many people are making claims and what is the amount because the Bond we are holding is only for $40 million.”

“So we have to wait and see the total applications before we can say who we are refunding or not,” said Balram.”

According to the Minister he is hopeful that the refund process does not pose a challenge to Government.

“We hope that we don’t run into a problem of having to give partial refunds but we are looking at the situation and we are assessing the claims as we go along.”

Turning his attention to RedJet another airline which was forced to c l o s e i t s doors during the first q u a r t e r o f l a s t y e a r, Jodhan said that some $25 million has been received from the flopped entity to offset payment to 715 families.

He said that the Ministry is also in receipt of another list

that came from the entity which will require payment of approximately $8.8 million to cater to another 263 passengers.

“We are hoping to get confirmation on that amount pretty soon and we have sent off the e-mail to RedJet Directors so we are hoping that they sign off to that so that those persons can be added to the list,” said Jodhan.

He said that there is yet another outstanding unapproved list of 160 persons which would require the payment of some $4.1 million which once paid will complete the request for refunds the Ministry has received.

However, senior officials disclosed yesterday that “some of them may not be legitimate and we found out that some of the tickets were bought in Barbados and different countries...but we are only paying for tickets in Guyana and this is from the $40 million Bond.”

As a result Jodhan said that the Ministry is working in close collaboration with RedJet Officials to verify the passengers that are entitled to refunds.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Guyana Goldfields adopts Itaballi $9.8 M larceny accused has seizure in court

One of the major efforts of Guyana Goldfields in promoting community development has been its corporate adoption of the Itaballi Community. This community, in which Guyana Goldfields has a logistics/ maintenance camp, is a transshipment area for a large number of mining operations.

Beginning several years ago with a simple Christmas party for the school that is located there, Guyana Goldfields is now involved in the following activities: Itaballi Primary School has approximately 180 young children, mainly indigenous children. This school is served by four teachers

including the Head Mistress.

There are four cooks and a cleaner. Many of the children walk miles to reach the school or travel by boat from other river communities to attend school. The school is away from the chief Administrative centre of the Region at Bartica, and is often lacking many facilities and resources.

The first activity by Guyana Goldfields was to provide a Playground.

In the past, Guyana Goldfields provided drinking water to the students and teachers of the school and would hold an annual Christmas event. Currently, Guyana Goldfields is in the process of a complete

rehabilitation programme at the school which involves the cleaning and painting of the school; the fixing of its rain-water technology system used for drinking, cooking and hygiene; a complete re-leveling of the land on which the school is built; the provision of SOLAR POWER for the school, teachers’ homes and the community library; the fixing of toilets; the provision of school teaching aids; the provision of blackboards; the provision of cabinets for storage of books and records; and the provision of three additional play tools in the school yards to complement the one already provided by

Guyana Goldfields.

In 2009, Guyana Goldfields expanded its support to the school by establishing an annual Guyana Goldfields Cricket Match between Itaballi Primary school and the neighbouring school up the river called Kartabo Primary School.

This was preceded by the presentation of cricket, soccer and volleyball equipment and trophies to the school. This match, which was heavily supported by parents from both schools as well as the community at large, has now nurtured an annual Guyana Goldfields Soccer match between the schools.

Following their apprehension for breaking and entering the Regent Street Cell Point Store and carting off with $9.8 million worth of merchandise, Jermaine Anderson, 22, of 11 'B' Field Sophia and 17-year-old Joel James were brought before the court yesterday.

The two accused faced Magistrate Leron Daly and entered not guilty pleas in response to the allegation.

The charge is that between December 31 and January 1, Anderson and James broke into Cell Point on Regent Street and stole a quantity of cellular phones, fake jewelry, MP3 players, $1.8 million cash and brand name wrist watches along with one flat screen television which belonged to Davenand Singh, the owner of the enterprise.

Attorney- at -law George Thomas who requested bail on behalf of Anderson, told the court that his client suffers from chronic seizures for which he needs adequate treatment. In his application, Thomas said the defendant has no previous convictions or pending matters.

And as if on cue, the defendant had an episode of the epileptic symptom which as a result caused a brief halt to the court proceedings.

The Attorney stated that while the police are alleging

that his client was found in possession of two of the items, this does not prove that he committed the actual crime.

Thomas reiterated that his client is a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he is treated for his condition.

The same medical attention may not be available at the Georgetown Prisons, he added. Prosecutor Venetta Pindar informed the court that contrary to what the lawyer said, the accused was once charged for possession of narcotics.

Magistrate Daly after listening to the lawyer's submission, granted bail to Anderson in the sum of $500,000 and refused bail to Joel James since he has no fixed place of abode.

According to reports, bandits broke into the Cell Point store on Regent Road, Bourda, shortly after 5:00 hours on New Year's Day and escaped with almost $10 million worth of cash and valuable articles.

Despite the presence of the City Constabulary Department which is merely a stone's throw away from the store and MCC security systems in place, bandits were able to successfully execute their operation.

All but one bandit, who was found, hiding on the ceiling of the building, managed to escape.

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Kaieteur News

Missing GEA employee …

Police detain suspect’s associates Police yesterday detained several associates of suspect, Sherwin Francis, while intensifying the search for Guyana Energy Authority (GEA) employee, LeVoy Taljit, who has now been missing for two weeks.

The prime suspect, 32year-old Francis, is still in custody, but sources said that police need more evidence if they are to charge him in connection with Taljit’s disappearance.

This is despite the fact that the Soesdyke resident has reportedly admitted to hiding the missing man’s Toyota Raum and selling his mobile phone.

It has now been 72 hours since police detained Francis, and investigators will have to apply to the High Court to keep him in custody.

Sources close to the missing man said that the suspect was found in possession of financial documents belonging to Taljit.

According to the sources, the detained man claimed that Taljit gave him the phone and a financial document. He also said he subsequently sold the phone.

Yesterday, detectives and

Still missing, LeVoy Taljit, residents again scoured forested areas near the Soesdyke/Linden Highway in the hope of finding clues to the 25-year-old man’s whereabouts.

An associate of Taljit’s said that the man claimed to have befriended the 25-yearold GEA employee some time ago.

The associate also said that the Soesdyke resident claimed that Taljit visited his home around the time of his disappearance. He alleged that the young man had a bag of money and asked the

suspect to stash the Toyota Raum. He is said to have also claimed that Taljit left in another vehicle.

According to the source, the suspect had initially told detectives that the missing GEA staffer was alive and well and that he has spoken to him from Paramaribo, Suriname.

He reportedly admitted some time later that this was a fabrication.

Phone records revealed that someone had used Taljit’s mobile phone in the vicinity of Marudi, on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, a few days after he went missing. The individual also used Taljit’s phone to make a call to a land line.

The individual had reportedly inserted a different SIM card in the cell phone, without being aware that the phone could still be traced when activated. It was around that time that residents from Yarrowkabra found the abandoned vehicle.

There are now suggestions that robbery is the primary motive for Taljit’s disappearance. There have also been suggestions that persons dealing in fuel smuggling might be involved in his disappearance.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Notorious bandit jailed for 22 years Notorious bandit Richard Barrow, called 110, and Hensu, 30, of Lot 75 Mocha, East Bank Demerara and of Smythfield, New Amsterdam was yesterday sentenced to a total of 22 years in jail.

He was wanted for a number of crimes including robbery and robbery under arms, and escaping from lawful custody. He was recently shot by police and hospitalized.

When he was taken to court on Wednesday he was refused bail by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo. During yesterday’s appearance he pleaded guilty to five charges, four for robbery under arms and one for escaping from lawful custody.

The case for the prosecution as presented by Corporal Orin Joseph was that on February 3, last year, at Susannah (No19) Village East Coast Berbice, Barrow while with others and armed with guns, robbed Chetram Sirkissoon of one minibus, property of Inderjeet Deosarran.

Another charge was that on the same day and time while being in company with others and armed with guns, robbed Chetram Sirkissoon of $200,000 property of James Ross.

The next charge was that on the same day, time and place while also being in company with others and armed with guns he robbed Thakoordial Roshahair (a passenger in the minibus) of $14,000. He was sentenced to five years on each charge.

The men had entered a minibus en route to Corentyne when in the vicinity of Susannah, one of them stopped the vehicle to relieve himself, whilst the

Richard Barrow vehicle was stopped, Barrow and the others reportedly put a gun to Sirkissoon’s head.

Sirkissoon was the minibus driver.

The men then took hold of the vehicle and drove it to a desolate area aback of Palmyra where it was found abandoned.

The fourth charge read that on January 27, at No. 7 Village, East Coast Berbice, in company with others and armed with guns, he robbed Indranie Ramnarine of six gold finger rings, two and half pairs gold bangles, two gold chains, one pair gold earrings, two wrist watches, one cell phone, GT&T and Digicel Phone cards property of Indranie Ramnarine.

The woman was at home around 09:15 hrs when Barrow and others barged into her home and robbed her. He was sentenced to five years on that charge.

The final charge was that while in custody at the Central Police Station on February 10, 2012, he escaped from lawful custody.

Barrow and another notorious criminal, Mark Lee Young, who was also jailed for a number of robberies

including the daring $14.9 M daylight robbery on February 7, on Rams Jewellery World and Pawn Shop at Lot 52 Public Road, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice had made good their escape from the police station.

However the police, acting swiftly, had captured Young in the Berbice River during the night. Barrow managed to slip through the police cordon and escaped.

The police surprised Barrow in Georgetown.

He was captured and escorted to Berbice and placed in custody at the Central Police Station. He escaped again from the Central Police Station less than 24 hours after he was captured.

He was recaptured on July 19 after he was shot and injured by police. The police acting on information had moved in at his mother’s place and surprised him. Barrow was shot as he attempted to make a getaway.

The man had once jumped from the top of the MV Torani and swam out of the Berbice River and escaped after he realised that he was being cornered.

Defense Counsel Charrandass Persaud in a plea of mitigation asked the court to show some mercy to Barrow who has decided not to waste the court’s time and pleaded guilty.

The armed robbery charges involving the minibus will run concurrently.

The other armed robbery charge will run consecutively with the others, while the escape from lawful custody charge will run concurrently with the others.

Barrow will serve 10 years in jail

Saturday January 05, 2013

NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00 hrs - Inspiration 05:30 hrs - Newtown Gospel 06:00 hrs - NCN Late Edition (R/B) 06:30 hrs - Feature 07:00 hrs - Ebezener Praise Time 07:30 hrs - The Truth 08:00 hrs - Pulse Beat 08:30 hrs - Weekly Digest 09:00 hrs - Cartoons 10:00 hrs - Youth Expression 11:00 hrs - Cartoons 12:00 hrs - CNN 12:30 hrs - Close Up 13:00 hrs - Epic Hype 13:30 hrs - Feature 14:00 hrs - Save the Children 14:30 hrs - Feature 15:00 hrs - Revelation &

Kaieteur News

Power 16:00 hrs - Bollywood 60 Mins 17:00 hrs - Feature 17:30 hrs - Choices 18:00 hrs - NCN News Magazine – Live 18:30 hrs - Feature 19:30 hrs - President’s Diary 20:00 hrs - 3d/daily millions/ play de dream/lotto draw 20:05 hrs - Video Hitlist 21:00 hrs - Bollywood Hits 22:00 hrs - Movie MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 Sign on 06:30 hrs - Peace Love & Harmony (live) 07:00 hrs - Dabi’s bhajan

Hour 07:30 hrs - Times of Refreshing (live) 08:00 hrs - Full Life Broadcast with Pastor Findlay 08:30 hrs - Cartoons 09:30 hrs - Living the Life 10:00 hrs - Camille’s Institute Presentation 10:30 hrs - Children Movie: Scooby Doo Mask of the Blue 12:30 hrs - National Geographic: 24 hours after Hiroshima 13:00 hrs - Youth excel…with Ms. Diva 13:30 hrs - Cartoons 14:00 hrs - National Geographic: Micro Planet

15:00 hrs - BBC World News 16:00 hrs - Sitcom 16:30 hrs - Alabama Trading Music break 17:00 hrs - Birthdays & other Greetings 17:15 hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30 hrs - Sitcom 18:00 hrs - Searching the Scriptures with Pastor Floyd 18:30 hrs - Cabinet Briefing 19:00 hrs - Apex Forum (Live) 20:15 hrs - MTV music break 20:30 hrs - Indian Movie: Kuch Naa Kaha 23:00 hrs - English Movie: The Expenditure Sign off HBTV CHANNEL 9 05:20 hrs - Dalgety’s Devotional 06:00 hrs - Archbishop W.

Saturday January 05, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Your ruling planet Mars is supported by buoyant Jupiter today, motivating you to act on your feelings. You feel secure enough to express emotions that would normally make you feel uncomfortably vulnerable.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Your key planet Venus forms a stressful aspect to somber Saturn tonight, reminding you that common sense will ultimately overcome your enthusiasm.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) At first everyone seems to be having a fine time, but you can see beneath the surface and the atmosphere isn’t as copacetic as it appears. It isn’t your style to rain on someone else’s parade, yet the responsibility may fall on you to be the one to issue a reality check.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You feel the power of love today but you may not reveal your true passion, especially if the thought of expressing your desires makes you uncomfortable.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Although there are many excellent reasons to work in partnership now, be certain you have all the facts at your disposal before you make faulty assumptions. It’s tempting to overlook something you don’t want to know, but it’s better to be rational and have a solid handle on reality today.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You feel like you have an inexhaustible supply of energy today, prompting you to reach for the stars.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your exuberance is apparent in everything you do today as long as you’re being creative. Luckily, you can maintain your sense of optimism if you focus your attention on the future.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Sink into your own feelings today as energetic Mars activates your 4th House of Emotional Security.

Your current optimism might inspire others; however a slight case of self-doubt could gnaw away at your confidence.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Your ruling planet Jupiter is a key player in today’s expressive cosmic configuration, pulling you head-first into the realm of relationships.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Demonstrating your competence at work is effortless today because everything seems to be going your way. Unfortunately, you may be so sure of yourself now that you take the path of least resistance rather than doing a job in your typically thorough manner.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Jovial Jupiter is harmonizing with irrepressible Mars in your 1st House of Personality today, pushing your exuberance to the surface.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Your imagination is often a path for escape, yet today you can dream your way to success as long as you’re willing to cooperate with others on the job. Even if you’re tempted to withdraw from social interaction, push past your resistance and reach out to your co-workers now.

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Page 31

D. Babb Presents 06:30 hrs - Prime News (ReBroadcast) 07:00 hrs - New Beginnings 07:30 hrs - Cartoons 08:00 hrs - Look What God is doing 08:30 hrs - Special Programme 09:00 hrs - Gina Special Programme 09:30 hrs - That’s who I am 10:30 hrs - Guinness Greatness Hour 12:00 hrs - G-Money 12:30 hrs - One Pulse 13:00 hrs - Evolution Vibes 14:00 hrs - Nice & Spicy 14:30 hrs - Special Programme

15:00 hrs - Royalti Vybez 16:00 hrs - AFC Press Conference 16:30 hrs - Greetings 16:35 hrs - Kids TV 17:00 hrs - With God All Things are Possible 17:30 hrs - Love & Laughter 18:30 hrs - Things Gospel 19:30 hrs - Prime New Weekin-Review 20:00 hrs - The Apostolic Voice 20:30 hrs - New Life Ministries 21:00 hrs - Death Announcements & In Memoriam 21:10 hrs - Dalgety’s Africa 24:00 hrs - Sign Off

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

::: Letter to the Sports Editor :::

RHTY&SC says a big thank you DEAR SIR, The Patron, Management & Members of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club would like to use your newspaper letter column to express profound gratitude to every individual, NGO and Companies who assisted the club or played a part, no matter how small, in assisting us to fulfill our mandate in 2012.

It was another highly successful year for us with over 160 programmes/ projects completed, the test debut of Assad Fudadin and our continued dominance of cricket in the ancient county.

We also received the International Olympic Committee Award for Sports in March 2012.

The Club during the year was able to surpass its target of 140 programmes/projects due to the hard work, dedication and passion of every single club member under the guidance of our Patron Ms. Beverley Harper and President Keith Foster and this is despite the loss of millions of dollars worth of office equipment, sport gears and other items that were for the charity programme that were stolen via four robberies at

our club office during the year.

Among the programmes/projects completed in 2012 were the Annual Awards Ceremony, Cricket Academy, Annual magazine, Republic Bank Summer Camp, Patricia Moniz Educational Trust Fund, Basil Butcher Cricketers Trust Fund, Western Union Junior Ambassador Programme, Tribute to Heroes, Tribute to Head Teachers, Port Mourant Secondary School Teacher & Student of the Term, Lower Corentyne Outstanding Students Award, Gizmos & Gadgets Tribute to Teachers, Scotia Bank Tribute to Outstanding Teachers, Mother of the Year, father of the Year, Busta Champion of Champions, Spelling Bee Competition, Essay Competition, Television Programmes, Printing of Educational Posters, Printing of Cricket Posters, Senior Citizens Luncheon, monthly hampers for less fortunate, Christmas Children Party for 700 kids, publisher of Berbice Cricket Board Annual Magazine, granting of Educational Scholarships and donations to countless NGOs, schools and churches.

In addition the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club

has used its office to raise millions of dollars in both cash and materials for Berbice Cricket and also sponsored over 50 programmes for the Berbice Cricket Board.

We are grateful for the support of our sponsors who supported us in 2012.

We would also like to express gratitude to members of the media especially those at DTV-8, LRTVS CH10, NCN, Kaieteur News, TVG, Stabroek News, Guyana Chronicle and Guyana Times for their coverage of our activities.

Special thanks also to the countless supporters of the Club who supported us throughout the years by turning up at cricket matches, by offering moral support when we needed it most and also for the criticism which kept us in line.

2013 promises to be a highly successful one for the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports club and we look forward to the continued support of our sponsors, the media and our supporters as we strive to make God’s world a better place.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Hilbert Foster, Secretary/CEO, RHTYSC.

‘Pacman’ gets Parkinsons warning Neurologist Dr. Rustico Jimenez, President of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, appearing on ABS-CBN DZMM Radio in the Philippines, called on Filipino ring legend Manny Pacquiao to retire, claiming Pacman may be showing early signs of Parkinson’s disease.

“Even though his reflexes are quick, I noticed the movement – it’s just another view, my personal view – but

it seems like there are early signs,” stated Jimenez, who has never examined Manny in person. Pacquiao, who is coming off a brutal KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December, is expected to face Marquez again later this year in a huge megafight.

Parkinsons is a neurodegenerative disorder that Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach and all time great Muhammad Ali suffer from. (fightnews.com)

Manny Pacquiao

From page 35 West Indies cricket,” he said.

“We have completed the full circle of the foundations of development, it is now for us to remain on course, put in the hard work and reap the rewards and benefits which will follow.” He noted: “The WICB is immensely proud of the success of the Sagicor WIHPC programme in particular. “We have seen players graduate to the international stage and proven themselves, and we continue to see a host of talent who are successful on the regional scene and who we are confident will step up when the opportunities are

provided to them.”

Hunte said: “On the commercial side, with Digicel, Taj TV, Admiral, Verus International, Scotiabank, Sagicor, Sandals Foundation, various tourist boards, as well as various other suppliers and providers, West Indies cricket now has an extensive network of sponsors and partners,” he said.

“But even as we continue to build relationships with various sponsors we need to ensure that we secure part or title sponsorships for our domestic tournaments which still need the support of our corporate sector.”

Hunte said the WICB was grateful for everyone that had

played a part in making the past year successful.

“The board of directors commend the players, the team management and match officials, the WICB staff and all those who work tirelessly for the success of West Indies cricket,” he said.

“2012 has been a year of success for West Indies cricket, but it was as a result of careful planning and a determination to change course from years of downward spiralling.”

He said: “We must now strive to continue on the path of development and progress which will ensure the future success of West Indies cricket.

Hunte hails notable year...

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

FIFA Rep should be given opportunity to engage relevant stakeholders

By Rawle Welch Even though no official release has emanated from the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) about the scheduled arrival of the FIFA representative to mediate in the ongoing conflict between the local governing body and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA), many persons connected to the sport are hoping that apart from meeting with the two entities, relevant stakeholders will have the opportunity to engage the official at some point during his visit.

Local football has become fractured due to the enduring court battle which was prompted by the GFA after they were denied voting rights by the GFF who deemed the entity illegitimate, a claim refuted by the accused Body.

The issue has resulted in three clubs who for years were affliated to the GFA making the decision to pull out of all competitions organised by the Body following the alleged ruling by the GFF of its illegality.

However, all the other affliated members have since stuck with the GFA in a show of defiance of the GFF’s ruling, instead signaling that the GFA’s AGM was in compliance with its constitution contrary to the belated

petition of it being null and void.

Meanwhile, the prevailing scenario even though it has not impacted heavily on the onfield exploits of the players, has damaged the sport’s image over the period and that is why many within the fraternity are of the opinion that the visit of the FIFA official is timely and necessary.

However, a very important juncture in local football will shortly be reached and all the key stakeholders in the sport must lobby for a meeting with the FIFA representative and not leave it alone to the two warring factions to communicate their gripes.

They are not the only major actors in this show and even though it is not normal for FIFA to involve other parties in their affairs, the present scenario and the importance of the sport on the national calendar require external participants.

All have agreed that for the ‘good of the game’, the current state of affairs cannot continue, the coming weeks and the impending outcome of the official’s visit will definitely alter the course of football locally.

What is also certain is that the GFF and GFA will continue to exist, but with AGMs pending, the current composition of both entities could very well change.

Golyn & Sons on board for Wiltshire Dominos tourney

Organizer Mark Wiltshire collects the third place prize from Sales Representative of Golyn and Sons, Fazeena Khan.

Golyn and Sons of Stabroek Market yesterday presented a cheque valued $50,000 that will be given to the third placed team of the Mark Wiltshire Dominos competition which

commences tomorrow at the Transport Sports Club.

Sales Representative of Golyn & Sons, Fazeena Khan in handing over the cheque to Wiltshire said they are pleased to be

associated w i t h the competition and the continued growth of the sport. Wiltshire in return expressed thanks to the entity for their continued support.

Reifer tells CCC: Don’t hit...

From page 34 killed us. As we go on, our guys will get better and better with more experience.”

Reifer added: “It (T20) is a new game to a lot of the guys. The guys are improving but one of the things that hamper us all the time is that we can’t keep a team together. Once a guy comes to CCC and he shines, his particular territory is going to take him up. I know our mandate is to produce

cricketers for the territories, but I would love to have a set team for at least three years and I’m sure we could win a major title.”

This year CCC will have some of the familiar faces who have represented the unit from the inception. Reifer will be joined by his younger cousin Ramon Reifer, who has emerged as skilled allrounder.

Also in the line-up are big allrounder Jason Holder, fast

bowler Kevin McClean and stylish wicket-keeper/ batsman Kyle Corbin – who all came through the Sagicor High Performance Centre programme and were members of the West Indies A Team which beat India A last year. Experienced keeper Chadwick Walton and offspinner Ryan Austin, who featured in Test matches against Bangladesh back in 2009, are in the squad as well.

Page 33

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

Cricket fans invited to see Reifer tells CCC: Don’t hit the panic button Regional T20 games live at DCC Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – The Combined Campuses and Colleges won’t be “backing off” of anyone when they come face-to-face with the region’s best in the upcoming Caribbean T20 tournament. The CCC have blown hot and cold in the three previous tournaments and believe this year they could upset the apple cart and lift the cup.

Floyd Reifer, the experienced player/coach is of the opinion that inexperience has affected his charges in the past, but said he has seen a steely resolve which has been evident in recent months and his players have grown in the game.

An example of this happened earlier this week when they went toe-to-toe with Barbados at the 3Ws Oval on a two-match series.

Two new faces – seamer Keswick Williams from St Vincent and left-arm spinner Derone Davis from Trinidad – were the stand-out players and are expected to feature

prominently in the coming weeks.

“Inexperience comes out a lot especially under pressure. Pressure brings the best out of people, sometimes it brings the worst out of people,” said Reifer as his team prepared for the tournament. “I try to teach my guys how to handle the pressure and how to operate under pressure. One thing you don’t do under pressure is panic.

“Once you push that panic button you’re dead!

What we don’t want to do is push the panic button. We try our best to remain as calm as possible while analysing the situation all the time and again, that’s where roles come in to play. You have guys that play certain roles.”

Reifer, who is a former Barbados stalwart and West Indies captain back in 2009, has been a stabilising force in the CCC. He said fans can expect his side to continue to improve with experience.

“To be fair to CCC, I think

we have played some of the best T20 cricket in the Caribbean T20. In that first year of the tournament started, we tied with Barbados twice chasing 180,” he said.

Back then, on a tensionfilled night at Kensington Oval, Reifer belted a boundary off the last ball of the innings as a courageous CCC outfit chased down Barbados’ 180 to finish with scores level. In the one-over eliminator, CCC seemed to have the upper hand in defending 16 runs when Romel Currency stepped on the boundary ropes in taking a catch off the final ball, giving the Bajans the six runs they needed to tie the game again and win the contest by virtue of the superior number of sixes during the innings.

This remains the closest finish in Caribbean T20.

“We had some good games, but it was just the inexperience at the time in our bowling department [that] (Continued on page 33)

Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) is a long standing and prestigious organization which has just completed celebrating a great and memorable milestone of 100 years. Like any other cricket club, the DCC has given its all to the development of cricket in Guyana and the West Indies.

The Regional T20 viewing has been an annual feature on the club’s calendar and this year is no different since DCC is seen as the entertainment hub for clubs in Georgetown and to an extension Demerara. From the previous regional T20 tournament the pulse and crowd support has

always been good and we expect it to be no different in 2013.

Our aim is to create a cricket village with a similar atmosphere to that experienced in Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia, where the games are being played.

Hence, we believe that the public viewing would be undertaken in an engaging and cricket friendly atmosphere.

The fact that the public would be in an environment which has served the game for a hundred years and produced great cricketers such as Clive Lloyd, Lance Gibbs, the Harper brothers Mark and Roger, Roy

Fredericks, Keith Semple and Travis Dowlin promises to make the viewing of the games an electrifying experience. DCC would make available surround sound system, music, food, drinks, happy hours and promotions throughout the tournament as the public support the Guyana Cricket team and enjoy pulsating cricket action. Members of the Club and the public are invited to visit the venue to view all the games and support the Veerasammy Permaul led Guyana Cricket side in their quest to capture the Caribbean T20 Championship.

Uruguay legend Mazurkiewicz passes away The football world is in mourning following the death of former Uruguay international Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, considered by many as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. He was 67.

An inspirational presence between the posts for Penarol and his country, Mazurkiewicz was widely regarded as the successor to the great Lev Yashin.

Indeed, he was one of the leading exponents of his art in the 1960s and 70s, appearing at three consecutive FIFA World Cup™ finals: England 1966, Mexico 1970 and Germany 1974.

“It is with great sadness I hear of the passing away of Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Uruguay’s most capped player at a FIFA World Cup,

with 13 games played in three editions,” FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. “On behalf of FIFA and myself, I address my most sincere condolences”.

“I know that it gave him great pride hear Lev Yachin, one of the greatest goalkeeper of all times, saying, when he retired in 1971, that Mazurkiewicz was his successor”.

The Uruguayan’s most outstanding performances came in Mexico, where the man they called Chiquito starred in Uruguay’s run to fourth place, conceding just one goal before a Pele-inspired Brazil ended La Celeste’s hopes in the semi-finals.

His displays in Mexico led to the press crowning him the goalkeeper of the tournament.

Mazurkiewicz, who made a point of wearing black to make it harder for opposing players to pick him out, was as dependable as they come, letting in a solitary goal in Uruguay’s six-game unbeaten run in FIFA World Cup qualifiers between 1965 and 1969.

He also distinguished himself on the club scene, making a vital contribution to Penarol’s 1966 Copa Libertadores final win over River Plate and standing tall once more as the Montevideo giants beat the mighty Real Madrid to land the Intercontinental Cup later that year.

He retired in 1981 after also playing in Brazil, Spain, Chile and Colombia for Atletico Mineiro, Granada, Cobreloa and America de Cali respectively.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Best says “great belief” in Bajan camp ahead of Caribbean T20 Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – Tino Best is hoping to give Barbados a “lift off” when they clash with the Leeward Islands in their opening match of the Caribbean T20 on Monday afternoon at Queen’s Park Oval.

The lion-hearted pacer’s performances with the new ball will be crucial if his team is to challenge for the title – which has eluded them in all three tournament so far. He was sharp and steady in the warm-up win over the Trinidad & Tobago Reserves on Thursday.

“I think I bowled pretty well ... got a wicket off my three overs. I bowled with heart and I bowled with good ‘heat’, so that was good for me. As a team, it was good to get one in the win column as we approach the business end. We came to Trinidad early to get in a few matches and get used to the conditions. Most of us have played at the Oval (Queen’s Park Oval) so we know what to expect, but it adds to come and get a feel from early,” Best said.

Barbados might have the richest cricketing history in the region, but they have failed to do the job in the regional Twenty20 format.

Tino Best The island’s best showing was back in 2010 – when they reached the Final – but lost to Guyana in the last over.

“Winning is in the forefront of our thoughts.

The Caribbean Premier League has been launched and this is probably the last time we will play as ‘Barbados’ in the Caribbean T20. The first year we went to final and lost and that hit us hard. Then, we lost out again in the following year and we had a heartbreaking semi defeat against Trinidad and Tobago last year,” Best said.

“Last year it was going well for us but we faltered.

Looking at our squad this year, we think we are one of the best teams in this

tournament. We are really happy with the new format – you get to meet everyone in the preliminaries and then the top team moves to the final with the second-placed and third-placed teams moving to the play-off. That will add some spice.”

The 31-year-old added: “This is a massively important event for us. As a senior player it is a big thing for me.

We have some senior players in our dressing room who can do the business and we also have some young players who are so eager to get out there and prove their worth.

The desire is there, there is no doubt about that.”

Best has also backed new captain Dwayne Smith to do the job. On Thursday Smith starred with both bat and ball – taking three wickets and making an unbeaten halfcentury at the top of the order.

“He has a positive effect on the team and he has emerged as the man in charge and the man to take us forward. He is our most experienced T20 player, having played all over the world, and he knows the ins and outs of the game. He can win it for you with bat, with ball and in the field.”

Hunte hails notable year for Windies cricket St. John’s, Antigua – President of the West Indies Cricket Board Dr. Julian Hunte has described 2012 as “a watershed year in West Indies cricket”.

Noting that there were a number of historic events in the year, Hunte said that West Indies cricket is better positioned for the rest of the decade on many fronts.

“Most significantly is that the West Indies team won the ICC World Twenty20 Tournament and are World champions again after a period of drought,” Hunte noted.

“We must recognise and hail the efforts of Darren Sammy and Ottis Gibson, along with Team Manager Richie Richardson and the senior players in particular.”

Hunte added: “Shivnarine Chanderpaul continues to be an outstanding performer in Tests, once again attaining the top ranking as a Test batsman.

“Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo are some of the finest and most entertaining players in

the shorter formats in particular, and they are our foremost cricketing ambassadors when in West Indies colours and when they are in other colours flying the West Indian flag in the various leagues around the globe.”

Turning his attention to off-the-field, Hunte was high in praise for the partnerships and agreements the WICB was able to secure and finalise during the year.

“We also saw the launch of the Caribbean Premier League, which will come on stream next year, and we were able to secure a major television rights deal with TAJ TV, which will ensure the financial viability of West Indies cricket for this decade,” he said.

Hunte also recalled that the regional governing body had managed to increase the number of central retainer contracts from 15 to 20, while a large pool of regional players are set to start receiving regional retainer contracts from next year as part of the licensing agreement with Verus

International for the CPL. “Our women’s team continues to build from strength to strength and are now ready to move into the upper echelons of the women’s international rankings,” he continued.

“Stafanie Taylor was confirmed as the leading player in women’s cricket after she won the ICC Women’s Player-of-the-Year award and now stands alongside Anisa Mohammed, Shanel Daley, Merissa Aguileira and Deandra Dottin as some of the finest female cricketers in the World.”

Hunte said the developmental programme of the WICB was also stronger now than it has ever been.

“From our Scotiabank Kiddy Cricket programme through to our Digicel Grassroots Cricket, Sandals Under-15 High Performance camps, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 tournaments, Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre and the West Indies A-Team, there are ongoing development programmes at every level of (Continued on page 32)

Page 35

Ferreira-James appointed to CFU Referees Committee Guyana’s most successful FIFA Referee to date who retired last year from active duties, Dianne Ferreira-James has been appointed to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Referees Committee and will serve until 2016.

The committee which will be chaired by Jamaican Peter Pendergrast is one of the Standing Committee’s of the CFU and the other members are Denmore Roberts (Antigua & Barbuda), Luis Enrique Yero (Cuba), Alfredo Whittaker (Cayman Islands), Hedwig Vinkwolk (Suriname) and Merere Gonzales (Trinidad & Tobago).

The Committee is expected to make a significant contribution to the transformation of the CFU that begun in December 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland and culminated with the election of a new Executive in May 2012 in Budapest, Hungary.

In outlining the criteria for membership of the committee, the CFU stated that the members must be former or

Peter Pendergrast retired Referees having served at the International, Confederation or Union level.

The Committee members should possess a sufficient level of refereeing knowledge, Laws of the Game, Officiating Expertise, Referee Instruction and/or other relevant experience.

Ferreira-James has had a distinguished career in the middle and commanded the respect of all and sundry the world over.

As she now embarks on an administrative journey in the same field, the Guyana Football Federation wishes

Dianne Ferreira-James Ms. Ferreira-James and the entire CFU Referees Committee the best as they seek to further consolidate the development of the game from a referee’s perspective.

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

Former GBBC Member, Syd Cummings takes his final count The boxing community is much poorer following the death of former Judge and Member of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, Sydney Randolph Cummings who passed away after a short period of illness. He was 92 years-old.

One of the oldest officials to have served in the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC), Syd, as he was familiarly called, served in various capacities on that institution. His tenure spanned over 36 years and he served under four Presidents.

He was the Assistant Secretary Treasurer under the Bill Brown administration and subsequently served under the late President, Frederick Rampersaud. Mr. Cummings also served as a Judge in the Presidency of K D Persaud as well as Colonel Cecil ‘Pluto’ Martindale.

An ardent worker, Mr. Cummings retired from his position in 1986 but returned four (4) years later at the behest of Mr. K D Persaud

who was impressed with the quality of his work. During his tenure he has been an astute Judge and would best be remembered for the role he played in the Anthony Andrews/David Mendez bout at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) for the World Boxing Association Latin Americas belt.

He also officiated in the Andrews/Wayne Harris title bout and the Andrew Lewis/ Terrence Ali welterweight clash.

Syd eventually retired from all boxing related duties and was subsequently conferred with Honorary Membership of the GBBC. Despite retiring as an official, Syd continued to grace boxing matches and was a prominent figure at the Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite/Shawn Corbin heavyweight title fight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) October 27 last.

Meanwhile, Syd was cremated at the Lusignan foreshore after a ceremony at

the Bedford Methodist Church yesterday morning where Reverend Glenna Spencer delivered a moving Sermon. Tristana Jagarnauth delivered the Eulogy and glowingly traced the life of the late boxing official. His daughter-in-law, Caroline Cummings and Tatum Reis read from the scriptures.

Vice President of the GBBC, Andrew Thorne, represented that entity and reminisced on the integral contribution of his late colleague. He said that Syd has left an indelible mark on the GBBC and by extension, the sport.

He said that even after he had retired in 1986, Syd still had a passion for the sport and his return in 1990 underlined his commitment. “He will be missed and on behalf of myself and family and the officials of the GBBC, I’d like to express profound sympathy to his family and all those affected by his death,” said Mr. Thorne.

Mr. Cummings’ sons and other family members bear his casket from the Merriman’s Funeral Home for the service at the Bedford Methodist Church.

President of the GBBC, Peter Abdool, was committed elsewhere and could not be at the funeral. However, in a telephone interview, he expressed sympathy to the

Cummings family and urged them to take solace in the fact that Syd has served with distinction and his work has been the catalyst of improvement in the lives of

many pugilists.

The management and staff of Kaieteur Sport wish to convey deep sympathy to his grieving relatives. May his soul rest in peace!

Australia lead Sri Lanka but toss away wickets Sydney: Australia made hard work of grabbing a narrow lead over tenacious Sri Lanka on a second day tarnished by reckless run outs and rash shot-making in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The home side, with the series already clinched after wins in Hobart and Melbourne, edged Friday to a 48-run lead over the tourists.

But it proved tough going and the Australians failed to get away to a bigger lead after a run-a-minute start.

At the close, Australia were 342 for six with Matthew Wade on 47 and Peter Siddle not out 16. Wade lived dangerously late in the day, surviving two reviews and a dropped catch close in while on 22.

Australia self-destructed with two run outs while David Warner, Phil Hughes and

Michael Clarke threw away their wickets with false strokes. The top order carelessness was accentuated by Australia’s decision to go into the third Test with four pace bowlers and promote wicketkeeper Wade to number six ahead of an elongated tail.

Wa r n e r a n d H u g h e s both missed out on centuries and Clarke, aghast at his part in the run out of the retiring Mike Hussey, was out attempting to slog sweep left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for 50.

Free-scoring Warner perished when he took on part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan only to be well caught by Dhammika Prasad, back-pedalling at long-on, for 85 off 84 balls. Hughes followed Warner back to the pavilion seven overs later, caught behind attempting to

cut Herath for 87.

Sri Lankan players gave Hussey a guard of honour to the crease amid acclaim from the SCG crowd in his 79th and final Test after announcing his retirement from international cricket.

The 37-year-old veteran lasted 51 balls before he was needlessly run out in possibly his final Test innings for 25 when he could not make his ground as Clarke took off for a quick single.

Karunaratne scored a direct hit with his throw at t h e s t r i k e r ’s e n d a n d a diving Hussey failed to make his ground.

Clarke, back at the SCG where he scored 329 not out against India a year ago, also looked in fine touch, lofting Herath for six and next ball went aerial again for four before his false stroke.

South Africa trounce New Zealand in first Test at Newlands South Africa beat New Zealand by an innings and 27 runs on the third day of the first Test at Newlands.

The hosts dismissed the Kiwis for 275 shortly before tea after Dean Brownlie hit 109, his maiden Test century.

New Zealand resumed day three on 169-4, with Brownlie on 69, but lost their last six wickets for 46 runs.

South Africa dismissed the visitors for 45 in the first innings and then declared on

347-8 after lunch on the second day in Cape Town.

Brownlie, whose previous highest Test score was 77 not out against Australia in Brisbane in 2011-12, reached his 100 off 160 balls courtesy of a six off left-arm spinner Robin Peterson.

The Australian-born Brownlie, 28, was eventually caught by Peterson at deep backward point off paceman Morne Morkel after facing 186 balls. New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling

added 42 and shared a stand of 72 with Brownlie before New Zealand’s resistance quickly crumbled.

Dale Steyn was South Africa’s most successful bowler, taking 3-67 from 30 overs.

After two Tests and three one-day internationals in South Africa, New Zealand will host England in three Twenty20 matches, three ODIs and three Tests, the first of which starts on March 6.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 37

KEITH FOSTER RETURNS UNOPPOSED AS BCB BOSS President of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club Keith Foster on Sunday last was elected returned unopposed as the President of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) for his third and final term when the Board held its Biannual Elections at its Cheddi Jagan Street office, New Amsterdam.

Foster who was first elected President in 2009, is the eldest son of former West Indies batting star Basil Butcher and has led an administration that has totally transformed the sport in the Ancient County on and off the field of play.

Also returning unopposed to their positions were Secretary Angela Haniff, long serving Assistant Treasurer Romash Munna was promoted to the Treasurer ’s position unopposed while President of the Blairmont Community Centre Club Shabeer Baksh was also elected unopposed as Assistant Treasurer.

Serving as First Vice President is former Treasurer Anil Beharry who defeated

Keith Foster

Angela Haniff

Godfrey Persaud 29 votes to 4 while former national player Hubern Evans won the Second Vice President

position from Vemen Walter 25 to 13. Former Selector, Julian Cambridge clinched the Third Vice President spot

in a three way run off against Vemen Walter and former national Coach Albert Smith.

Cambridge won 22 votes, Walter 12 and Smith 2.

Former Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club Secretary and current Guysuco Personnel Manager Raymond Haniff was elected Assistant Secretary after defeating Muthuswammi Permual 27 votes to 8.

President Foster speaking to members of the BCB after the elections expressed gratitude to them for the confidence placed in him and his team while pledging to work harder in the 2013/2014 term to make sure

Perth, Australia - Gayle yet again failed to register any significant impression with the bat as the Scorchers restricted the winless Thunder to just 113 for nine in their 20 overs and reached the target losing just one wicket at the WACA. The high-profile and

highly paid Gayle scored just two runs from nine balls, as the Thunder slumped to their 12th straight Big Bash loss, dating back to last season, after winning the toss and batting first on a slightly green pitch.

Gayle, standing in as Thunder skipper for the

injured Chris Rogers, lost his wicket in the second over defending a quality length delivery from Jason Behrendorff and was caught at first slips.

The only resistance came from Test aspirant Usman Khawaja who hit 56 off 45 balls in a bid to

that the cricket revolution continues in the Ancient County.

Earlier, the full house of delegates representing the thirteen (13) clubs and three (3) cricket associations discussed the current state of the game in Berbice and made several recommendations.

Members also discussed the situation of the game at the national level and also the BCB’s decision not to send an Under-15 team to the Inter County tournament.

Delegates also discussed in depth the annual reports of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Chairman of Special Events Committee and the

Chairman of Competitions Committee.

The Audited Financial Statement for the period November 2011 to November 2012 was adopted and passed by the delegates after a few queries were answered by the Treasurer.

The BCB in the period under review completed numerous tournaments at all levels and a record 176 programmes/activities.

The new Executive would meet shortly to appoint other Executives and members of the Selection, Competitions, Special Events and Marketing Committees for the next two years.

rescue the Thunder. Shaun Marsh who scored 56 off 45 balls and Marcus North 39 off 30 combined for an unbeaten century stand to seal victory for the Scorchers in 13.2 overs.

The nine-wicket win lifted the Scorchers, last season’s runners-up, from sixth to

second on the Big Bash table ahead of Thursday’s final match away to the Adelaide Strikers.

Gayle’s Thunder has one final chance against the Melbourne Stars on Tuesday to avoid the ignominy of ending the tournament without a win.

Gayle’s Big Bash horror continues

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Saturday January 05, 2013

McGrath inducted into ICC Hall of Fame Sydney Former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath joined fellow 201213 inductees-West Indian Brian Lara and England’s Enid Bakewell as members in the ICC Hall of Fame. McGrath became the 68th male member in the ICC Hall of Fame during the lunch interval of the ongoing third Test between Australia and Sri Lanka here.

While Lara and Bakewell were inducted in September

at the ICC Awards, McGrath was inducted at his home ground of the SCG by ICC President Alan Isaac, along with Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards in front of a large and appreciative crowd.

“I am delighted to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and to be considered among the greats of the game. To be honoured alongside the likes of Don

Glenn McGrath and family after being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame

Bradman, Dennis Lillee and Michael Holding who were all my heroes when I was growing up is something I could never have dreamed of when I first started playing cricket,” McGrath said.

“I have to thank my family, my team-mates, my coaches and all those who have supported me throughout the years to help mold me into the cricketer that I became. I took great pride every time I donned the Baggy Green and I now take great pride in being inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame,” he added.

A fourth and final inductee of 2012-13 will be announced later this year.

McGrath, who was born in Dubbo, New South Wales, in 1970, represented Australia in 124 Test matches between 1993 and 2007, claiming 563 Test wickets at an average of 21.64. He has taken more Test wickets than any other seam bowler currently in the game or retired.

Australia won 22 of the 30 Ashes Test matches that he played, with the side losing

just four matches when McGrath was part of the bowling attack.

McGrath was part of the Australian side that won three successive World Cups — 1999, 2003 and 2007. He still holds the record for most wickets in World Cup competitions with 71 scalps and his figures of 7-15 against Namibia are the best in the competition’s history.

When McGrath retired from the game in 2007 he had represented Australia in 250 ODIs, claiming 381 wickets at an average of 22.02 while he took over 800 first-class wickets in his career. (ANI)

GDA made significant strides in 2012 The Guyana Darts Association in its continued efforts to revive the game in Guyana has over the past year made significant strides, including updating its status with the World Darts Federation.

The Association staged two major events, complimented by several smaller tournaments, throughout the year. The two major events were the Mashramani Darts Classic 2012, and the National tournaments.

The Mash tournament which was held at the Malteenoes Sports Club in February, saw Sudesh Fitzgerald dominating the opposition which included Guyanese world class player Norman Madhoo, other top local players as well as several Barbadian participants.

Madhoo has since migrated.

Fitzgerald, who won the two previous Mash events, gained first lien on the LEN’S Trophy, a new trophy for this event.

In the National tournaments held at the CCWU Sports Club over two days, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th November 2012, Sudesh Fitzgerald again completely dominated. He won the Mixed Doubles Title

with Hemwattie Amyan for the GNNL trophy; the Men Doubles title with Brian James for the Queensway Trophy; the Mixed Triples title with Hemwattie Amyan and A. Balchan for the Apex Insurance Brokers Inc. Trophy; the Four Member Team event with S. Greene , R. Hiralall and A. Bissoondyal, for the New GPC. Trophy; Then he topped it off by winning the National Men’s Singles in a closely contested final against Chris Fulton, for the first lien on the John Fernandes Ltd. Trophy.

The GDA plans to nominate Sudesh Fitzgerald for the Sportsman of the year.

Mention must also be made of the women participation, which has grown over the past two years.

Hemwattie Amyan won the Women Singles title from Shaundell Hyles, a new comer, for first lien on the Dr. Terence Joseph Trophy.

Sisters Hemwattie Amyan and Rosetta Hiralall overcame the veteran pair of Jean Desouza and Jean Singh in the National Women Doubles for the GDA Trophy.

The GDA’s new year will kickoff with the Mashramani Darts Classic 2013.

Saturday January 05, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

GCB 50-Over Inter County starts today - defending champs Berbice aiming to retain title

By Zaheer Mohamed West Indies middle order batsman Assad Fudadin will lead defending champions Berbice when they take on the President’s XI at DCC in their opening match of the Guyana Cricket Board 50 over Inter County tournament which bowls off today with two matches.

Leading the Berbicians will be the likes of Sewnarine Chattergoon, Richard Ramdeen who can consider himself unlucky not to be selected on the Guyana T20

team, Shimron Hetemyer, Gajanand Singh along with Fudadin.

Berbice, although without a number of key players who are on duty with the National T20 team, boasts one of the strongest batting line-ups in the competition which will used as a yard stick to select the Guyana team for the Regional 50 over tournament.

Despite being without the services of spin twins Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul the bowling will be in the capable hands of off spinner

Zaheer Mohamed

Assad Fudadin

Ricardo Adams

Kevon Boodie

Krishundat Ramoo, Gudakesh Moti-Kanhai, Shawn Periera and pacer Keon Joseph.

The President’s XI have proved on many occasions that they can hold their own in any given situation and will

be no push overs in this competition.

Their Captain, Eugene La Fleur, is a talented all-rounder and will no doubt look to prove himself at this level.

Opener Krishna Arjune, Kevon Boodie, Elton Baker, Jeetendra Sookdeo and young Tagenarine Chanderpaul will bolster the batting. Pacers, Brandon Bess and Gilford Moore who hails from Essequibo will share the new ball and with support from spinners Joshua Wade, Collins Butts, Stephen Latcha and Raj Nanan, scoring against this reserve side will not as easy as many

may suggest.

Meanwhile, Demerara with former West Indies batsman Travis Dowlin at the helm will have home advantage when they face Essequibo at Everest. Openers Ryan Ramdass and Shemroy Barrington will no doubt look to regain their places on the national team, while Chanderpaul Hemraj, Vishal Singh and Rajendra Chandreka are established batsmen at this level.

With the inclusion of spinners Amir Khan, Zaheer Mohamed, Totaram Bishun, pacers Paul Wintz, Andrea Stoll and Robin Bacchus,

Knight sister in Windies squad for Women’s World Cup Bridgetown, Barbados – Kyshona Knight will join her twin sister Kycia in the West Indies Women’s team for the ICC Women’s World Cup in India later this month.

Kyshona, a left-handed batter and right-arm seamer, is the only newcomer in the 15-member squad which was unveiled on Thursday.

Kycia, a left-handed batter and wicketkeeper, made her international debut last year and was a member of the team that reached the semifinals of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Tournament last year in Sri Lanka.

The team will be led by experienced wicket-keeper Merissa Aguilleira, who has been at the helm since 2010.

The vice captain is allrounder Stafanie Taylor, who won the ICC Women’s Playerof-the-Year award for the last two years. “It is a great feeling to be selected in the West Indies team with my sister,” said Kyshona. “This is a dream for both of us.

“I wanted to join her from the time she made the team last year and I’m pretty excited right now that our dream of playing together for the West Indies has been realised.

Not many sisters, especially twins, play the same sport and achieve similar success.”

The 20-year-olds have also represented their native Barbados in football (soccer) and track & field before they switched to cricket.

“Just seeing her playing and performing motivated me a lot try to make the team,” said Kyshona. “Now that I have achieved this, once I get to play, I intend to give it my best shot and try to help us

Kyshona Knight win the World Cup and stay in the team as long as possible.” Kycia was happy for her sister and best friend.

She said: “I’m happy she made it. It is a great

achievement for her. I tried to encourage her all the time and pushed her to work harder and meet the standard to make the team.”

The Windes Women will play in Group A alongside defending champions England, hosts India, and Sri Lanka. Group B will include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.

FULL SQUAD: Merissa Aguilleira (Captain), Stafanie Taylor (Vice Captain), Shemaine Campbelle, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Natasha McLean, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Juliana Nero, June Ogle, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman and Tremayne Smartt.

MATCH SCHEDULE Warm-up matches: January 28: vs Australia at Cricket Club of India January 29: vs Pakistan at BKC Tournament matches: January 31: vs India at Wankhede Stadium (day/night) February 4: vs Sri Lanka at MIG February 6: vs India at Cricket Club of India (day/night) Super Six matches: to be played on February 9, 11, 13, 15 FINAL: February 17 at Cricket Club of India (day/night)

Demerara possess one of the strongest bowling attacks in the tournament.

Former National Under19 batsman Royan Federicks spearheads the Essequibo team whose batting will depend heavily on Dellon Heyliger who plays most of his cricket in Georgetown, Herrell Green, the attacking Ricardo Adams, Kenzo Baksh and Wayne Osborne.

Mark Tyrell, Greyson Paul and Roopesh Motilall will lead the pace attack in the absence of Ronsford Beaton.

They will be supported by left arm spinners Anthony Adams and Herry Green and off spinner Jason Heyliger.

The tournament was last played in 2011.

t r o Sp

GCB VP Dru Bahadur and Director of Sport Neil Kumar with members of the Guyana team before their departure yesterday morning.

T

he National team left the shores of Guyana yesterday morning with all eyes set on winning the Caribbean T20 tournament which gets underway in Trinidad and Tobago, tomorrow.

Speaking at a simple ceremony

at the Windjammer International Hotel before their departure, Manager of the team Alvin Johnson said his side is a balanced one and urged the players to work up their best performances that will enable to team to win the top prize.

“I expect the senior guys to lead

National team wings out for CT20 from the front, as long as we can play as a unit we will be the number one team at the end of the competition”, added Johnson.

Vice President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Dru Bahadur said he expects an injury free tour.

“I am confident the team will do us

proud in this competition”, he stated.

Meanwhile, Captain, Veerasammy Permaul urged the players to give of their best and said it’s an honour to lead Guyana. Also present yesterday morning was Director of Sport Neil Kumar.

Guyana will face Combine Campuses and Colleges in their first game on Monday at the Queens Park Oval before they play Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago at the same venue. The second leg of the tournament will be played in St. Lucia.

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