Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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NIS boss quits after clash with Board In a signal that all continues not to be well at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), its head, Doreen Nelson, yesterday resigned after reportedly refusing to accept a recommendation from its Board of Directors.

Both government and NIS’ officials remained tightlipped over the issue.

Nelson declined to comment yesterday and senior NIS officials either did not return calls or remained unavailable. An official at the Office of the President would only say that Nelson failed to implement a number of directives from the Board and despite requests, refused to do so. During an engagement with the Board yesterday, Nelson who is one of the longest serving NIS employees, again reportedly refused to carry out the directives. She, instead, reportedly tendered her

Troubling times? NIS’s General Manager, Doreen Nelson (right) yesterday resigned after clashing with the Board.

Also in photo is Chairman, Dr. Roger Luncheon. resignation.

It is unclear whether the Board and the government have accepted her resignation. A government official, who asked not to be named, said that it has nothing much to do with wrongdoing or fraud, but

rather with procedural disagreements. “She has refused to comply.”

Nelson’s resignation would come at a time when the state-run NIS is grappling with coming up with new ways to earn more revenue in

New GPC still to supply drugs four years after collecting money- AG Report - $80M spent since 2008 still to be cleared

By Abena Rockcliffe The Ministry of Health (MOH) was in 2010 unable to provide receipts to prove that it collected $30M worth of drugs and medical supplies from New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation Inc. (New GPC).

Also, in 2010, the outstanding balance of 222.526M for 2008 and 2009 was still to be reconciled by the Ministry.

These issues were all stated in the Auditor General (AG)’s report and are set to be brought up before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) come Monday.

Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, stated in his 2010 annual report, “The Ministry failed to provide evidence of receipt of drugs and medical supplies to the value of $30.909M purchased from New GPC in 2010. Also, the outstanding balance for the years 2008 to 2009 of 222.526M is still to be reconciled by the Ministry.”

The Ministry’s written response to the auditor’s findings, dated June 29, 2012, stated that “To date the Materials Management Unit has reconciled all contracts with the New GPC for the year 2010. The Ministry is currently working with the supplier (New GPC) to reconcile its records for 2008 and 2009, and to have all the outstanding deliveries cleared.”

However, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP), Jaipaul Sharma, who also sits on the PAC, has signaled his

APNU MP Jaipaul Sharma intent to thoroughly question Ministry of Health officials who appear before the committee next Monday.

The Member of Parliament, who is also an accountant, told Kaieteur News that he did prior investigations as to why drugs are being delivered four years after it was paid for.

Sharma said, “I questioned why drugs were delivered four years later because I wanted to know if it is that the company (New GPC) was incapable of supplying the drugs at the time, which would have meant that it should have been disqualified from tendering, but I was given an excuse just to throw me off.”

According to Jaipaul Sharma, he learnt, from the Auditor General, that the drugs were to be delivered to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the hospital, at the time, hadn’t the storage capacity.

“Now, even if that is the case there is still a big

problem, because GPHC would have received or will receive the same drugs that the supplier would have supplied four years ago; the supplier will not go and buy new drugs.”

Further, Sharma stated that the drugs, once expired, will have to be destroyed or disposed of, which in turn results in a “total waste of state funds.”

Sharma also stated that the international limit for drugs to be destroyed because of expiration is five per cent. “So what they will do is only destroy some of the expired drugs so that they won’t embarrass themselves, which leads to another problem.”

The MP stated that better can be done within the system “and this needs a lot of answers.” The AG, when contacted yesterday confirmed that GPHC “hadn’t storage capacity” to collect the drugs at the time. He also noted that the same drugs that were to be supplied in 2008 were supplied last year, 2012, and will be supplied for the money to be cleared.

However, asked whether the drugs are likely to be expired, he replied “not really.”

The AG also told this newspaper that $222.5M to be reconciled has since been reduced to “about $80M” and that those deliveries for 2008 are presently being audited.

Ministry of Health officials are set to tell the PAC next week, what steps have been taken to ensure all drugs and medical supplies purchased are promptly received and accounted for.

the face of rising costs.

The Chairman of the NIS board is Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary. However, he has been in and out of hospital recently. Last month, it was reported that Derrick Rodney, an Assistant General Manager, had his contract reportedly terminated because of “communication failures”.

NIS is currently meeting with stakeholders to discuss its future after a periodical review warned that it will run out of funds in nine years, unless urgent measures are

taken to increase measures and cut costs.

There have been accusations that the fallout of a bad investment of $6B by NIS, into the collapsed regional insurance, CLICO, has helped to contribute to the unsteady state of finances. The Opposition has also accused Government of too much political inference and demanded the resignation of Dr. Luncheon from the Board.

However, Government says that NIS is not broke; that it but has billions in its coffers. However, measures must be found to ensure that payments do not exceed its falling revenues or the reserves will literally be eaten away. According to the Eighth Actuarial Review, an independent analysis of the fund as at December 31, 2011, NIS is nearing crisis stage and will be exhausted in less than 10 years, unless contribution rates and benefits reforms are done immediately.

The report also criticized the National Insurance Reform Committee for failing to make critical changes that were recommended from the 2007 review Among other things, the report is recommending an increase in the contribution

rate from 13 per cent to 15 per cent no later than this month end. The wage ceiling should also be increased to $200,000 per month; the pension age raised from 60 to 65 years on a phased basis and a freeze on pension increase for two years until the contribution rate is increased and finances improve.

NIS began operations on September 29, 1969, providing coverage to employed, self-employed and voluntary insured persons for three main types of social security benefits – short-term benefits, long-term benefits or pensions and industrial benefits.

The system is financed by contributions which are levied on employment earnings up to a wage ceiling and are paid by employers, employees, self-employed persons and voluntary contributors. Surplus funds are invested in various types of securities.

NIS surplus in past years has taken a beating, especially after the scheme invested US$30M in the now bankrupt CLICO. Even though it was able to invest almost US$10M (G$2B) in the Berbice River Bridge, its contributions are less than its expenditure.

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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

The Diaspora Project Last September, the Guyana Diaspora (GUYD) Project was launched. Initially it seeks to “map” Guyanese who have emigrated along with their children and other descendants, especially in regards to their skills. The Project is being initially funded through the International Organization for Migration Development (IOM), formed in 1951 in the wake of the massive transfer of populations precipitated by WWII. Initially, emigration from third-world countries like ours was bemoaned a ‘brain drain’ to the more developed countries which were the destination of choice. There is obviously still much merit in this perspective, especially in view of the remarkable statistic that 89% of our tertiary graduates emigrate after graduation. Combined with our net migration rate of -9.5 per 1000 – one of the highest in the world – it is not surprising that not only has our population remained more or less stagnant – but also our development.

Especially in the modern globalised world, education is seen as key to improving the productivity of the workforce.

If the most qualified workers keep on migrating, one can understand why the resulting image and reality is one of the country running on a treadmill. Unlike our fellow Caribbean neighbours, our migration did not take off right after WWII but in the 1960s, when political conflict spilled over in inter-ethnic riots.

The process accelerated exponentially in the 1970s and 1980s as the economy collapsed under the economic experiments of the PNC regimes. But as the emigrant Guyanese became settled in their new homelands, especially the USA and Canada, in the last decade a silver lining was discerned in dark clouds of depopulation: remittances. While it had long been known that overseas Guyanese had been sending monetary assistance to their relatives ‘back home’, more sophisticated central bank monitoring demonstrated that this had ballooned to as much as US$400 million annually. This was more than the revenues generated by the two largest employers in the country: the sugar and rice industries.

It was also seen that the largest number of tourists to the country were ‘overseas Guyanese’ and they also gave a large injection of foreign funds into the local economy.

Emigration was not, therefore, totally a negative phenomenon. The Diaspora Project is an attempt to further transform the ‘lemon’ of emigration into the ‘lemonade’ of development. Other countries with a longer history of emigration had long seen other positive externalities of emigration and they paved the way to take advantage of these.

The two most obvious positives were the skills and capital that the émigrés had acquired in their new countries. Being the most highly educated and possessed of greater than average initiative than their peers who remained behind, it was not surprising a high percentage of Diaspora members rose to very responsible positions in corporations in the developed countries and in several instances, owned their own businesses.

China and India are two of the most successful examples of modern economies that have crafted strategies for capitalising of the strengths of their Diaspora. Belated or not, the government has now decided to go down that same road in its quest for sustainable development. In this first phase of ‘mapping’ skills, however, it appears that after the launching of the programme in New York, Toronto and London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under which the Project falls, is depending passively on Guyanese in the Diaspora to sign up online.

This will not do. Those in charge of the Project must take a much more pro-active approach, as did China and India. Take the need for funding to initiate development projects: the government must coordinate the Project with Go-Invest to highlight investment projects it has identified in line with its strategic development plans such as the “Low Carbon Development Strategy” (LCDS) and the evidently shelved National Development Strategy (NDS).

Right now, the eleventh edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention is being held in India. Guyana can replicate the PBD to provide a unique platform for overseas Guyanese to interact among themselves and where the Government can showcase investment opportunities .

Wednesday Januaey 09, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Persistent harassment

by Immigration at CJIA DEAR EDITOR, My name is Ronald J. Daniels. I am a law student at Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. I have persistently suffered abuse and humiliation by the conduct of the Immigration Authority at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, my two most recent encounters being the worst.

There is a man with the same name as myself who has been engaged in criminal practices and was wanted by the authorities for some years.

There is an article titled ‘Wanted man recaptured two years after escape’ which appears in the December 21, 2008 edition of Kaieteur News giving a brief history of the criminal activities engaged in by this person and his subsequent apprehension.

My misfortune began in 2006 when I first traveled outside of Guyana. At that time I was a law student at the University of Guyana. I was naturally surprised by the suggestion that I was a wanted criminal and the commotion this created.

Upon my return I was treated to a similar welcome.

Every time subsequent to 2006 that I have traveled my reception has been the same.

I am detained for some time while the attending immigration officer calls his or her supervisor and I am made a spectacle to a ready audience of travellers. I have

always protested this treatment, but to no avail.

I traveled home on December 14, 2012 for the Christmas holidays and was accompanied by my two-year old nephew. I deliberately secured a forward place in the immigration line as my nephew was exhausted and agitated from the flight. The line behind us was rather lengthy. When we were through with immigration everyone else was long gone and making their way through customs. The immigration officer was kind enough to expedite our passage through customs after I protested.

I left Guyana on January 3, 2013 to resume school. My embarrassment was pronounced. I was again traveling with my two-year old nephew and was once again detained by immigration.

Again, there was a lengthy line behind me, a line which was gone by the time immigration was through with me. I was screened by the same officers who screened me upon my arrival.

Naturally everyone was looking at me with skepticism; this was compounded by the fact that my hair is in dreadlocks and I was invited to a side desk with a computer where I was asked to take off my hat and “flick back” my locks and turn from one side to the other while the immigration officers squinted

their eyes at the computer screen.

It did not help that I was wearing and produced for closer inspection my Hugh Wooding Law School Badge.

I informed the officers on both of the most recent occasions that the man has been apprehended and that the article appeared in Kaieteur News. They were clear in their view that my words have no value.

I insisted that their system should be modified to spare me this prolonged abuse, to which they responded that it is not their business to do so but it is my interest so I should report it to the police station.

It takes little imagination to appreciate the stigma that would be attached to a ‘rasta man’ who is detained by immigration for a lengthy period which commuters are not privy to muted conversations. If this were not sufficient, flight BW 527 which was scheduled to leave Guyana at 9:05 am left roughly about 9:35 am consequent

upon my detention. The flight attendants were inquiring on the plane as to who is ‘Daniels’.

They greeted me upon my entry on the plane with the fact that the flight was stalled because of me, albeit this was not said with any hint of confrontation. As I scurried to find my seat I was clearly the subject of angry looks and questioning eyes.

I had planned to utilize the services of the duty free shops at the airport but for obvious reasons I could not.

It pains me that I am an upright citizen who is trying to better myself in the interest of serving my countrymen but am criminalized or at least made to publicly appear as a criminal while I engage that endeavour.

I am disappointed that my country can be so lax in matters this serious and permit such laxity to persist for so long. I am tired of being harassed by the immigration authority and have expended all my tolerance of this abuse.

Ronald J. Daniels

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

Why was there no 1823 Monument during PNC Government?

DEAR EDITOR, I am amazed by the ruckus being created by the PNC/ APNU over the location of the 1823 Monument to commemorate the rebellion on the East Demerara Plantations by 12,000 slaves in August 1823.

Slavery is a part of our dark history that no one can be proud of, and should not have existed. But this is one subject that is always exploited by politicians of African descent to create division among our people.

I am aware that what I’m about to say is not ‘politically correct’. Political pundits and politicians are usually afraid to offend certain groups, especially when running for office. This subject is taboo for most non-Blacks as myself, for whatever I write will be construed as “racist” by my adversaries.

But the truth is, Africans were not the only race that suffered under British colonialism. Indians, Chinese, and to a lesser extent, Portuguese also suffered under the policies of this notorious regime. Yet I’ve never heard a single Guyanese of any other ethnicity blaming their failures, lack of growth and opportunities on being descendants of indentured labourers.

As a nation, it is imperative that we honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we now enjoy. But let us not get carried away by insinuating that the PPP/C Government is not sensitive to this. The Ethnic Relations Commission was established on August 11, 2000 under the PPP/C Administration.

Among other racerelations functions, this group is charged with promoting the “elimination of all forms of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity; and to discourage and prohibit persons institutions, political parties and associates from indulging in, advocating or promoting discriminatory

practices on the ground of ethnicity.”

It was the former President Jagdeo who, on the 162nd Anniversary of Emancipation, preformed the sod turning ceremony at Parade Ground on August 1, 2000. Now, after a thorough research was done by AfroGuyanese sculptor Ivor Thom, he concluded that the Parade Ground was not the most appropriate place to erect this monument, and as such, a more suitable location was decided upon: a plot of land on Carifesta Avenue, east of GT&T’s Earth Station.

Whether or not this site is ideal is debatable. But it took the PPP/C Administration to finally pay tribute to those martyrs. If the likes of David Granger, Hamilton Green and Nigel Hughes and Lincoln Lewis are so perturbed about the location of this monument, then AfroGuyanese must ask this of their leaders: Why was no 1823 Monument erected in the 28 years of a predominantly Black PNC Government?

Granger was a former Political Liaison Officer under Forbes Burnham, and my close friend Hamilton Green was a former Vice-President and Prime Minister under Burnham and Desmond Hoyte respectively.

They had the power to get things done if they wanted to.

These so-called proponents of African ancestral rights had 28 long years to erect a fitting tribute to their ancestors at the very Parade Ground.

They also had 28 years to resolve the problems with Ancestral Lands, that prevents some descendants of slaves the legal titles to an estimated 70, 000 properties purchased by the freed African slaves in villages like Buxton.

Apart from erecting the 1763 Cuffy Monument, the PNC has done very little to honour the sacrifices made by the ancestors of AfroGuyanese.

It is important to note that the 1763 Cuffy Monument is located on Vlissengen Road in full view of the former

official residence of former President Forbes Burnham, despite the fact that the February 23, 1763 slave rebellion occurred in the county of Berbice and had nothing to do with Georgetown.

But none of the individuals or groups battling the PPP/C Administration now had the cojones to tell Forbes Burnham that this venue was inappropriate. No one dared defy the dictator.

Shooting down efforts to unite our people is nothing new.

At the launch of activities to mark the International Year for People

of African Descent (IYPAD) last January, President Jagdeo hailed the contributions of people of African descent to the development of Guyana and said he did not want the year to be just about slogans but about solutions. He promised that his government will remove obstacles to the development of African people wherever it is found.

Despite this, the African organisation in Guyana ACDA boycotted this event, so too did the main opposition party -PNCR, whose supporters are predominantly Afro-Guyanese.

After the Rastafari community defied the boycott and participated, Robert Corbin blasted the Administration in a letter to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, and accused the government of “using the old Slave Master Strategy against African ancestors, sought to divide and rule, (house slaves versus field slaves), by approaching individuals within the African Guyanese Community to participate in the so-called launch in the hope of advancing the propaganda that African Guyanese groups have been involved.”

It seems nothing that the Administration does is good enough for the PNC/APNU. The 1823 Slave Revolt is of national significance, for despite our ethnicity, we’re all Guyanese struggling for one identity. Why politicians always have to see things through the prism of race and ethnicity is beyond me.

The Ramotar Administration has accelerated efforts to bring this 1823 Monument to fruition. But instead of getting credit for such a noble gesture, they’re stigmatized as racists.

Harry Gill

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday Januaey 09, 2013

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

Tough sanctions needed against rape DEAR EDITOR, Regarding letter exchanges on rape by several notable personalities, the victim should never be blamed. We must dispense with the male chauvinistic view that the female invited the rape on herself by the way she dresses. More modest clothing would not deter rape.

Every society condemns rape but few societies take measures to counter rape by providing for quick justice – punish the rapists expeditiously even with capital penalty.

Mr. Abu Bakr had stated stated that Islam is clear on the penalties of rape even if occurred in a home and justice to the victim — monetary compensation and punishment for the rapist that may include the death penalty. As such, he concluded, Islamic law is even tougher than the anti-rape legislation in most countries.

I feel western countries are tougher on rape than traditional societies as in Islamic countries. No faith condones rape but few religious leaders or leaders of Islamic countries advocate for tough penalties. In some (Third World) societies, religious leaders are mum on rape. What is penned on paper or the religious text and the reality (as it relates to justice for the victims) is often completely different.

There are numerous reports of rape in Islamic countries (governed by Islamic law) and in other traditional societies and virtually none of the victims ever receive compensation.

In addition, very few of the rapists are punished for their transgressions and when they were punished it is just a slap in the wrist. Very few Islamic societies carried out capital punishment for rape and very often the victim was

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

the one to be punished or executed (stoned to death) and not the rapist.

I have been a regular reader of Asian ethnic newspapers in NY (like India Abroad, India Post, News India, Jakarta Post, Filipino Weekly, Filipino Express, etc.) since the 1970s and have come across countless reports of rape in Middle Eastern societies.

Publications in Asia also reported on rape of immigrant workers in the Middle East.

The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, etc. all featured cases of rape in the Middle East.

Newspapers in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia have reported regularly on rape of domestic servants in the Gulf countries. In virtually all of the cases, justice was not served.

The victims were not compensated and the rapists went scot free.

In some cases, the victims were executed because the rapists claimed the victim molested him, or the victims were blamed for the rape.

In Middle Eastern societies (wealthy Gulf

countries in particular), as is the norm also in Asian countries, rape victims are stigmatized. The rape victims (most of them South Asian, Indonesians, Filipinos, Kenyans, are often accused of being the aggressor and they are beaten and deported.

They are ashamed of being raped and they almost never file reports. If the rapist is from a wealthy family or has political connection, nothing happens to him. And in some countries like Pakistan or Bangladesh, for example, rape victims often commit suicide to protect the honour of their families. Many are forced to commit suicide.

Reports note that in Gulf Cooperation Council countries rape is common. I visited several Islamic countries and quietly spoke with immigrant workers from South Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Conditions they work under are intolerable. All of them (especially domestic servants) complained of abuses including sexual transgressions by their employers and or the children

of the employers.

Most of the domestic servants have become sex slaves. I listened to countless cries of sexual abuses and physical violence from so many victims and none of them were ever compensated.

They were forced to endure abuses because they did not want to return to a life of poverty if they were to be returned to their home country. A complaint to the authority would result in their deportation and they would get no compensation, not even outstanding salary. For example, in 2008, according to one report, in the United Arab Emirates, a woman who was gang-raped by a group of Arab men was imprisoned for eight months for adultery after reporting the crime to the police.

So the victim is blamed for the rape and punished, often beheaded. In cases where the victims took revenge against the aggressor, the victims were quickly tried and got the death penalty or deported. That is not justice, not in any faith and we need to condemn such behavior whether it happens

in Islamic countries or in others like India or Kenya or Pakistan.

I have read too many reports about how rape victims are treated in Islamic countries and in Africa and Asia. Their ill-treatment would hardly be allowed in the West. Victims have a better chance of justice in the West and not in an Islamic country or a secular nation like India. We need to express outrage at rape irrespective of where it is committed. One rape is too many.

Governments around the world and International Agencies need to exert pressure on those countries that have taken virtually no action against perpetrators of rape – which only serves as an encouragement for more rape. In particular, immigrant workers like domestic servants should be protected from rape carried out by their masters especially in societies where rape is prevalent.

Tough sanctions (like death penalty) are necessary as a deterrence against rape not just modest clothing.

Vishnu Bisram

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Letters... Where your views make the news

The propriety of that publication DEAR EDITOR, In my last letter I made what I believe to be fairly unambiguous charges that the Minister of Culture, Dr. Frank Anthony, usurped his position to have his daughter’s book published under the Caribbean Press, a state-funded mechanism originally intended to publish the work of contemporary writers resident in Guyana.

In that letter, I called on the support of several prominent people associated with the Press or government’s cultural policy to condemn what is a clearcut case of nepotism and the misuse of public resources.

So far, there has been a public silence on this matter, as there has been on several other issues related to the literary arts.

Perhaps what is at issue is that my learned friends are unsure about the impropriety of the publication in question, or perhaps a different scenario has been privately offered as explanation. Once we are satisfied that the young Ms Anthony’s novel has the “Caribbean Press” logo/title on it, there are only two possible scenarios outside of the one – as I’ve posited – in which Dr. Anthony had his daughter’s book published with state funds, even as that privilege has not been extended to any other contemporary writer.

The first alternative scenario is that the book was produced by a different publishing company and the graphic artist who created the cover artwork took liberties to attribute the book to the Caribbean Press.

In that scenario, it would mean however that this error would have somehow slipped through every single step of the editing process, an

unlikely occurrence since even vanity press publishers require some acknowledgement, to the exclusion of any other brand or trademark.

So, if the book was published by, say, Xlibris, it is reasonable to expect an Xlibris credit on it, not one from the Caribbean Press.

Further, this scenario would render the use of the “Caribbean Press” branding on the book a violation of what one hopes is the registered trade name of a state entity, and one perpetrated by – since Ms. Anthony is a minor and could not reasonably have acted on her own behalf in the business aspect of the publication – a government Minister.

In short, any unauthorised use of the Caribbean Press branding on the book would not only be unethical but illegal.

The second alternative scenario is that the good Minister paid out of pocket for the printing of the book, and for use of the registered Caribbean Press brand name.

Since this is a state entity and since the subject Minister would have been involved in said transaction, then we would expect that Dr. Anthony to be ready to provide records – quotations, invoices, receipts, delivery notes – to verify that everything was above board financially.

Even so, this would still beg the question of when precisely was this policy decision – the state funded initiative functioning as a vanity press – taken and whether this decision was announced publicly so that other writers could take advantage of the opportunity.

Let me be clear – I celebrate the emergence of any new author in Guyana, whatever age, whatever their familial ties.

As has been made clear by their academic performances, the Anthony children are exceptionally bright, and I am certain that her commitment to producing a book at such an early age is a clear indicator that Ashley Anthony has a promising future as a writer ahead of her.

This for me is what makes the manner of her first publication all the more obscene – his daughter is not without the talent, and the Minister not without the resources, to have had this book published independently and hence free of the tarnish of nepotism that is now placed upon it.

Moving forward, I suggest that the Minister take the decision – for personal and professional reasons – to publicly donate every single copy of this edition of the book to the school system, and then have the Ministry host a national young writers’ competition – with integrated workshops – of which the best entries are collected into an anthology.

The young writers should also be afforded the privilege of having their efforts covered by the state information agency and given prominence in the state media.

And, in the long term, clear guidelines and criteria for publication with the Caribbean Press need to be established so as to ensure that there selection is based on merit, both in terms of talent and need.

Ruel Johnson

DEAR EDITOR, I would have done an injustice to my fellow veterans and ardent readers of your column, had I failed to respond to a letter written by a retired Major C S Vaughn, captioned “The PNCR vociferous about CLICO, but silent on Globe Trust”.

Mankind does not surprise me as in this case, it is the writer’s democratic right to rant and rail, but he has to be truthful and accurate and not allow bitterness to engulf his sanity.

Sylvester, the letter writer, attempts to compare the debacle which occurred at Globe Trust with what occurred at CLICO. These

two situations are incomparable, and I hope the writer is awakened from his slumber.

In the CLICO situation the Government high handedly through its agents invested Guyanese savings without the consent of policyholders, a behavioral pattern of this regime.

Sylvester has conveniently failed to mention the numerous investments CLICO has undertaken at the expense and detriment of Guyanese.

It boggles my mind as to where Sylvester Vaughn lives. Surely it could not be in Guyana.

The writer has the gall to mention the former President as someone whom

he sees as caring and truthful in his uttering.

Sylvester’s assault on the PNCR and its Leader, is unfair and unwarranted.

Many persons have suffered loss through Globe Trust, but countless individuals continue to be haunted by the autocratic handling of the CLICO catastrophe.

May I inform the writer that there are those who were, and are gleeful of Globe Trust misfortune.

Sylvester should occupy space in this column to expose corruption by those white collar criminals in this Government instead of pleading for sympathy from those criminals.

Umar Saied

In defence of the Globe Trust (non) probe

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Demerara criminal Itaballi residents refute assizes open for January GGI community adoption - jury empanelled for three murder cases

Justice Navindra Singh being escorted during the inspection of the ceremonial Guard of Honour Two hundred and thirtyfive (235) cases are listed for the January session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes which commenced yesterday.

Justice Navindra Singh took the salute and inspected the ceremonial Guard of Honour.

Several top ranking police officials were present at yesterday’s parade, among them Divisional Commander George Vyphuis.

Three murder trials are expected to get underway today. For the beginning of the session, five prisoners are expected to face the judges.

Justice Singh will hear the case of Latiff and Arif Mohamed who are accused of murdering Jairam Balgobin, called ‘Bark’ at Success Squatting Area in March 2008. The accused is being represented by Attorney-atlaw Peter Hugh, while the

prosecution is headed by State Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford.

Justice Roxanne-GeorgeWilshire will hear the case of Kenise Glasgow, who is accused of murdering Christie Sookra. His lawyer is Basil Williams, while the state will be represented by Prosecutor Rhondel Weaver.

Justice Dawn Gregory will preside over the case of Mortimer Melville and Jevon Ismond who were charged of murder in August of 2007.

A mixed jury has been empanelled for all three murder cases.

Two hundred and forty (240) cases were listed for the October 2012 Demerara assizes. Three judges presided and completed eight of the matters.

Justice Navindra Singh and Justice Diana Insanally

presided and were later joined

by Justice James BovellDrakes. Among those cases was that of 41-year-old Dexter Moseley of Lot 4 Kara Kara, Linden. He was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for murdering his aunt in 2007 after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Dwayne Jordan, a 40year-old carpenter of Lot 24 Back Street, Den Amstel, was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of murdering his 30-year-old wife, Claudine Donetta Rampersaud.

Cyon ‘Picture Boy’ Collier’s case ended in a hung jury. He was charged for the double murder of Victoria brothers, Ray Walcott, called ‘ Sugar’ and Carl Andrews, called ‘Alo’. Eight jurors felt that the accused was guilty, while four believed otherwise.

The Itaballi Community Centre where the primary school students now reside and attend classes

By Zena Henry Some residents at the interior location of Itaballi are upset by utterances of the Guyana Goldfields Inc. (GGI), and have refuted claims that the company had been putting measures in place to improve the standard of living there, charging that the entity is seeking, “to make itself look good.”

Published last Friday in this newspaper were reports of GGI allegedly adopting the Itaballi Primary School for the purpose of development and had thus been working extensively to upgrade the education institute and the community.

The residents, especially teachers of the primary school are however furious at what they said are gross inaccuracies in the information provided. They said that while GGI seeks to talk so much about what it did for the primary school, students have vacated the school since last September and now reside at the village’s Community Centre.

Secretary of the Itaballi Community Development Committee (CDC), Lindon Durant, along with residents, insist that nothing has been done for the community, contrary to the published information which seems to indicate that only recently the entity contributed to the primary school.

The newspaper’s report stated that one of the efforts of the Guyana Goldfields Inc. in promoting community development had been its corporate adoption of the Itaballi Community Centre.

It said that beginning several years ago, Christmas parties were hosted for the 180 students occupying and living in the school. It was also highlighted that the organization had first provided a Playground, then drinking water to the school.

Rehabilitation programmes such as cleaning and painting the school; fixing its rain-water technology system ; completely re-leveling the land; providing Solar Power to the school, a community library; fixing the toilets; providing school teaching aids; blackboards; cabinets and the provision of three additional play tools in the school yard were reportedly in the making.

Annual cricket matches were said to have started and sports equipment provided.

The Itaballi residents however said that GGI initiated a cricket match on one occasion, but nothing further. They are refuting the solar panel, and the rehabilitation works which are reportedly in process.

They claim that the students left the primary school before school reopened last September, and now use the community centre for learning and accommodation purposes, because of the dilapidated state of the school and the fear of it collapsing at any time.

“Even at the community centre the students have to fetch water to flush toilets and for other purposes. There is no solar panel, fixing of toilets or provision of books and cupboards as reported. The

cricket match the article spoke about was almost two years ago. There has been nothing since. 99.9 percent of the information is wrong; we want to know when all these things were done for the community.”

Consultant of the Guyana Goldfields, Eric Phillips told Kaieteur News that the works for Itaballi had been a proposal and that some of the ideas for the school had already played out. He highlighted that while the Canadian firm was working in the community, there were plans to upgrade and assist the location as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.

Those plans were however halted, he said, when certain measures had to be put in place, which included the acquisition of a mineral agreement which would have assisted in the firm adopting the primary school, since a foreign entity could not do such. He pointed out that now that the students have moved from the school, the proposal will have to be reviewed, but apart from that, permission must be attained from the education ministry for GGI to do certain things for the school.

Phillips further asserted that in disseminating information about another CSR initiative, the Itaballi proposal was wrongfully released. He however noted that in the new week, the company plans to visit the community to re-evaluate plans for future development and coalition.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 9

NCN SHOULD EXPLAIN ITS RESTRICTED COVERAGE OF CERTAIN CRICKET TOURNAMENTS NCN was always seen as the local television channel that the average man, unable to afford cable television, could turn to in order to view major sporting events, especially international cricket.

The public has come to depend on NCN to be part of these major sporting spectacles and it is for the devout cricket fans in Guyana, a heart-breaking exercise to be denied the opportunity to see certain international and regional tournaments.

While the rights to broadcast cricket are very expensive and have always presented a significant challenge to the state-owned television channel, the cricket-loving public knew that the government would always intervene and help defray the expenses associated with the cost of acquiring these rights so as to ensure that Guyanese who cannot afford to subscribe to local cable companies or who do not have access to such services because of where they live can still see cricket, compliments of NCN. Strangely, however, a pattern seems to be emerging where NCN coverage of cricket is becoming selective and this pattern needs to be explained. It has been observed that whenever a certain privately-owned local cable television provider is screening certain major cricket tournaments, NCN does not provide television

coverage.

The cable companies make their monies from subscriptions and NCN can make monies from ads. When NCN is unable to screen these major tournaments, they lose that potential. The biggest losers are, however, the local fans, who are unable to see their stars perform.

Take for example the T20 Cricket World Cup which was played last year in Sri Lanka.

One would have expected that the state-owned NCN would have spared no effort to ensure that their viewers were able to see these matches. Certainly there was overwhelming local interest in this tournament. The advertising potential was there; the revenues from ads would have helped defray the cost of acquiring the rights.

If the rights could not have been obtained, it was for NCN to say this, so that the public could have been satisfied that the station in whom they have historically depended to bring cricket into their homes, had tried its best to do so, but was unable or prevented from acquiring the rights.

NCN should have explained how it failed to provide coverage of such a major cricket tournament when for years it was able to do so. Why did NCN not bring the coverage of the T20 World Cup which was eventually won by the West Indies?

Did this decision have anything to do with the fact

Dem boys seh...

Bar Bee pocket de people money Guyana good for business but only fuh some people.

There was a time when Guyana get a bad rating as a place to do business and Bharrat vow to change that. Dem boys seh that he do a good job because some businessmen would put dem head pun a block that dem business things dem can do in Guyana dem can’t do anywhere else.

Dem boys would like to tek people money to sell something and tek four years fuh deliver. That is good business and Bharrat put that system in place. He friend Bar Bee tek government money fuh buy drugs and don’t deliver.

But dem boys know that Bar Bee is a honest man and that he really buy de drugs, but is that de Ministry couldn’t use all suh he, Bar Bee, keep some and only release piece, piece.

But every year de Ministry of Health buying more drugs or at least paying out de money fuh de drugs. De Auditor General find nuff money short because de drugs don’t add up.

At de same time while Bar Bee either keeping de money fuh de Ministry because de Ministry don’t know fuh keep money, dem old age pensioners crying fuh a small piece suh that dem can live. When dem talk too hard, Ash Knee announce that de Ministry of Health banking wid New Gee Pee See. No bank can’t keep that money because is money that got to be available at short notice. And because Bar Bee keeping de money and he keeping it good, nobody else can’t get de contract because dem don’t know fuh keep Government money.

But doing business is one thing, doing proper business is another. Dem boys going to listen to de questioning and hear wha excuse Bar Bee gun give. Dem gun have policemen nearby because dem boys certain that people gun go to jail.

Talk half and wait fuh de hoorah

that a local cable provider was broadcasting the tournament to its subscribers? Was there anything precluding NCN from obtaining the rights to broadcast this tournament?

At present, cricket fans are again being shortchanged by not being able to see the Regional T20 tournament which is taking place in Trinidad and Tobago.

The matches are not being televised on NCN; only radio coverage is available.

Here again, NCN needs to explain why there is no television coverage of this tournament. Does this also

have to do with the fact that the same local cable company is broadcasting the tournament?

NCN must understand the confusion in the minds of local fans. It seems odd that NCN could have brought coverage of the West Indies tour of Bangladesh which was also shown on local cable television, but cannot bring coverage of two major cricket tournaments, the World T20 and the Regional T20 tournament.

It has also been reported that the local cable company that is telecasting the regional

T20 tournament is seeking ads for the transmission of the telecast which is being aired on ESPN. So during the transmission of the matches, the logos of companies are said to be advertised and during the break between overs, promos are being reportedly aired despite the feed coming from a cable affiliate, ESPN. Against this background, NCN needs to issue a statement explaining its inability to bring the cricket on television. The public is grateful that radio coverage is available, but with so much

interest in this tournament, it cannot be asking too much for NCN to explain how come it was possible for it to telecast the West Indies tour of Bangladesh and not provide television feeds for the T20 tournament that is now taking place.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===

Cleopatra’s nose in Guyana The great 17th century French intellectual, Blaise Pascal, made a tiny, humorous reflection on life that has become extremely popular since then. Pascal had deep thoughts about his little remark, but it came across lightly.

He wrote that if Cleopatra’s nose was shorter, the course of world history would have changed from what it turned out to be.

What he meant was that the long nose of the Egyptian Queen enhanced her beauty that made Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony fall in love with her, thus the Roman Empire went into a different direction.

The Harvard scientist, Stephen Jay Gould, is given credit for a theory that existed long before his time, but no one ever took credit for it.

Many times over the long centuries, scholars have remarked that an unnoticed, uneventful incident can change the course of history, and there is an outcome that was never thought of. Gould once wondered if it was raining and not sunning when life emerged on earth what would have been the outcome.

Three Fridays ago I was part of a press conference at the City Hall, after which I walked out with someone who knew Forbes Burnham intimately.

He told me of all the plans Burnham had. Burnham died suddenly and the course of Guyanese history went into a completely new pathway.

It can be said it was the same with Desmond Hoyte’s situation. Mr. Hoyte was inflexible that the PPP had violated all the sacred texts of Guyanese history and should be confronted in a zero sum way.

Had he lived longer there would have been no extinguishing of the flames of “mo fyaah/slo fyaah.” Could Guyana have achieved power-sharing under Hoyte as opposition leader if he didn’t have a heart attack?

In 2012, Moses Nagamootoo stepped into the arms of the Alliance for Change and we are still waiting to see how far the historical push that he stated will go. In a recent editorial in the Stabroek News, the paper made the point that it seems all too easy for the PPP to keep scapegoating the PNC.

The race card can be so nicely played against the PNC. But the paper went on to add that the AFC is a ball the PPP is not finding easy to kick.

What Moses Nagamootoo did is to create a house of horror for the PPP that took up all the energies of the PPP last year. If there is a description one is looking to use for 2012, it would be the Year of Moses Nagamootoo.

Most Guyanese feel that the loss of Indian votes that made the PPP a minority government is the beginning of the end.

And it all had to do with an incident that never took place.

Suppose Bharrat Jagdeo had called Nagamootoo for a very complex chat, late one evening over drinks, and begged him to stay and in a fit of dedication Nagamootoo had agreed.

Would 2012 be different from the tumultuous year it turned out to be?

These are the things that Gould referred to and one wonders if more of the consequences of Cleopatra’s nose will not turn up in 2013.

First, the PPP has an aging directorate and one or two of

them may not be enjoying optimistic moments. Could history turn out differently if these inflexible apparatchiks move on?

Secondly, Lady Luck may be waiting, because the inevitable fight for power inside Freedom House is coming sooner than later. The PPP hasn’t got a revered figure like a Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Ptolemy Reid, to which party faithful will look up and listen to.

If there is a snap poll, Lady Luck will have even more of a presence in Guyana. With a snap poll, Donald Ramotar will want to run again. He will

come up against cogent arguments that there are others in Freedom House that can swing the votes stronger than him in favour of a return to majority rule.

Ramotar has to face the music every day that he did not win the 2011 elections.

What about another dimension of the Cleopatra’s nose theory. In China, Deng Xiaoping was disgraced and sent to a labour camp.

He returned to become the leader of China and one whose legacy is right next to Mao’s.

In Jamaica, Bruce Golding left the JLP, ran against it in a

Frederick Kissoon national election then became the JLP’s leader and took it into an election victory. Could Ramkarran be asked to lead a snap poll to reclaim a PPP victory? I have a funny feeling that it is too late. The Nagamootoo factor has doomed the PPP.

Tourism Ministry to introduce rating system for Hotels, Restaurants A rating system which is expected to enhance the quality of services offered by Hotels and Restaurants in Guyana is soon to be introduced and instituted.

This was disclosed by Minister of Tourism (ag) Irfaan Ali, during a recent press conference held at the Ministry’s Boardroom, to outline the Ministry’s plans for the first quarter of 2013.

Ali explained to reporters that if the Government wants to see an increase in the arrivals of tourists, things need to be of a certain standard.

This, he opined, would not only help visitors in choosing places for accommodation, meals, entertainment etc., but also prompt these places to raise their standards, allowing for a better quality.

“Considerable emphasis will be placed on regularizing the service providers in this sector, continuing what the

Ministry began in 2012. A special committee of both public and private sector representatives was formed to specifically consult service providers towards establishing standards.”

In addition to this, the Ministry also has plans to implement the “food critic system”.

Executive Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Indranauth Haralsingh, explained that the entity is hoping to have the various newspapers come on board in making the initiative a success.

He explained that the plan is to have qualified persons go into these places and assess not only the taste of the food, but also the kind of services being offered (courtesy of staff, sanitation, pace at which the services are offered, etc.), and then give their review of it in the newspaper.

The Minister noted that

his Ministry is determined to ensure that the service quality is improved across the board.

“We have 199 operators, guides, and properties registered so far, 87 hotels, 64 tour guides, 30 tour operators and 18 lodges and resorts.

Our intentions are to ensure that these facilities would be held to certain standards and to have some waiting systems implemented sometime this year,” Ali pointed out.

Hence, the training programmes which commenced last year in the field of Tourism and Hospitality will be expanded, while new ones are expected to be implemented.

This also includes tutoring tourism staff, as well as Immigration and Customs Officers to speak the Portuguese and Spanish, thus bridging the communication barrier with other countries like Brazil and Venezuela.

Disturbed female teen beats cop in station, causes uproar at court A 16-year-old fifth form student of Berbice Educational Institute who disobeyed her parents and then beat a female police corporal in a station, before causing uproar at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court, has been sent for observation at the National Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Canje.

This was after she was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly behaviour.

The teen was scheduled to make her second appearance before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Court, but according to information, the charges were withdrawn

because the girl was still hospitalised in the mental institution and may be unable to answer to the charges.

The court was told that on December 27, the police received a report of simple l a r c e n y. T h e t e e n w a s accused of taking an ATM card from her mother. She was taken to the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam.

Whilst being interviewed by woman Police Corporal Tracy Benjamin-Long, the teen became annoyed at being questioned and started using indecent language and dealt the police woman a cuff to the face and several kicks about the body.

She started to behave in a

disorderly manner and resisted arrest, eventually walking out of the station.

Reinforcement was summoned and she was subdued and taken back into custody.

She was charged on the three aforementioned counts and taken to court.

In court, the teen also started to behave in a disorderly manner.

The matter was called in chambers.

It was decided that the teen should be sent to the National Psychiatric Hospital for observation. Outside of the courtroom she continued her ranting and raving until she was taken away for evaluation.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

GT&T supports Mercy Hospital renovation drive

From left: Chris Fernandes, Chairman, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Improvement Committee; Helen Browman, CEO, St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital and GT&T Public Relations Officers, Allison Parker and Nadia De Abreu.

The Guyana Telegraph and Telegraph Company (GT&T) yesterday made a commitment of $750,000, representing a gold sponsor, towards the rebuilding efforts of the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

The contribution is being made over a three-year period

which began last year.

GT&T, in a release, said it believes that the hospital has provided outstanding medical care services to Guyana in the past and that it is “pleased to support its rebuilding efforts so that the institution can continue to deliver effective health care

services in the country”.

Chris Fernandes, Chairman of the Hospital’s Improvement Committee, acknowledged GT&T for its support, noting that it will go a far way in the hospital’s rebuilding efforts, the first phase of which is nearing completion.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle has confirmed that the fire at the Ministry of Culture Annex at Middle Street was electrical in origin. Yesterday, the officer said he received a conclusive report that the fire resulted from a short circuit.

Gentle had told Kaieteur News that on Monday night last the fire service received the call about the fire around 21:00hrs. Four units responded. Gentle said that upon arrival, his ranks observed that the first floor was engulfed in smoke and

there were visible flames. He said that the fire fighters entered the room and quickly managed to contain the blaze to one wall.

He had said then that the fire appeared to have started in an air condition unit.

The Fire Chief indicated that there was some level of water damage to the f l o o r. T h e r e w a s g r e a t collaboration between the police and the fire service, he added.

The police kept the crowd that had gathered, away from

the building, and avoided any hindrance to the fire fighters.

Culture Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, who was present at the scene, thanked the fire service. He said that the rapid intervention allowed for containment of the blaze.

He said that the Mash Secretariat also suffered some water damage.

He said a few files were damaged but those could be easily replaced. Anthony said from what he understood, it was the security officer who alerted the fire service.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat was the recipient of a number of publications which were presented by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony.

The presentation was made on Monday.

The publications, comprising the ‘Guyana classics’ series by authors such as Mark McWatt, Ian McDonald, Sir Walter Raleigh, Denis Williams, Sister Mary Menezes, Martin Carter,

Charles Barrington Brown and David Dabydeen, were presented to CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, at the Secretariat’s Documentation Centre.

The Minister also presented a compilation of speeches made in the National Assembly between 1947 and1987 by the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, former President of Guyana.

In brief remarks during the presentation, Minister

Anthony said that the books, which all hold historical significance for Guyana, were published by the Caribbean Press publishing house with funding from the Government of Guyana, and were among the first 36 books to be so published.

Secretary-General LaRocque commended the Minister for the impressive undertaking and expressed gratitude to him for the “wonderful” presentation of Guyana’s rich history.

A two-bedroom house located at Edinburgh Village, East Bank Berbice, was completely destroyed by fire on Monday, shortly before midnight, leaving 10 persons homeless. Marcia Moses, who rented the house from Debra David sometime in April 2012,

lived at the premises with five of her children - Odessa - a staff nurse at New Amsterdam Hospital, Onika, Oltia, Marvin and Marlon - and four grandchildren - Tyrese, Tyra, Amol and Mark. Another daughter, Samantha, and her two children were also

visiting at the time. The occupants are claiming that the fire started on a utility pole near the building.

A source close to the investigation revealed that they have not yet come up with anything conclusive.

Investigations are ongoing.

Culture Ministry blaze was electrical - Fire Chief

CARICOM gets ‘Guyana classics’

Berbice fire leaves ten homeless

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

More than 4100 child abuse cases reported in 2012 A staggering 4,102 cases of child abuse were brought to the attention of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security during the past year through its Child Care and Protection Agency.

This state of affairs has spurred intensified collaborations between the Child Care and Protection Agency, the Police Force and Prosecutors, according to Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster, who revealed during a press conference on Monday that during the latter part of last year, workshops were held in this regard.

Additionally, she said that the Child Care and Protection Agency conducted training sessions for its staffers which complemented a collaborative workshop with officials from the police force and prosecutors, which was sponsored by UNICEF, and focused on “how they could better work together to have an integrated approach towards the investigation of cases of child abuse.”

As part of the strategic moves to help arrest the

- Minister Webster

Human Services Minister, Jennifer Webster social challenge, Minister Webster said that Cabinet, last year, appointed members to serve on a revamped National Family Commission.

That Commission, she said, commenced its work during the last quarter of the year in an attempt to fulfil a mandate to address issues related to the family and more particularly, issues such as promoting good family life, parenting, leadership, social interaction in the home, gender-based violence and the protection of children and women.

The Commission, which is

chaired by Reverend Kwame Gilbert, also has the service of several reputable Commissioners who have all embraced the mission of the Commission to address social issues that have a direct impact on the society.

During the past year child abuse cases were reported in the five broad categories of: neglect, physical, sexual, verbal, custody/Teenage Pregnancy/Delinquency.

Based on the reports obtained by the Ministry, there were 1,547 cases of neglect, 742 cases of sexual abuse, 729 physical cases, 205 verbal cases and 879 cases of C u s t o d y / Te e n a g e Pregnancy/Delinquency.

Region One accounted for 64 of the reported cases, while there were 126 in Region Two; 753 in Region Three; 717 on the East Coast of Demerara; 360 on the East Bank of Demerara; 600 in North Georgetown; 495 in South Georgetown; 223 in Region Five; 280 in Region Six; 32 in Region Seven; 55 in Regions Eight and Nine and

397 in Region 10.

Also last year, the Human Services Ministry as part of its commitment to expand its Foster Care Programme facilitated the placement of 150 children in the care of 90 foster parents. All foster parents, Minister Webster said, are on a monthly basis in receipt of $18,000 to care for each child in their charge.

According to the Minister, “the foster care programme continues to expand and is being strengthened through awareness programmes to encourage more persons to

open their homes and hearts to take children in.”

A c c o r d i n g l y, the Ministry during the past year held special training programmes for potential foster parents, as well as those who already have children in their care.

The Minister said that through a ‘Children at Risk’ programme, efforts are made to provide psychosocial support and other assistance to families with children who were found in vulnerable situations and children who have to be reintegrated from institutional care.

This programme, she said, is done in collaboration with the Non-Governmental Organisation Child Link and

the objective of the programme is to supply support for the wellbeing of the children and to prevent separation from their natural family. Minister Webster said that there are currently 151 children in that programme.

In the area of Residential Care Services, the Ministry, according to Webster, had continued to manage three Government care centres at Mahaica, Sophia and the Drop-In-Centre situated in Hadfield Street, Georgetown. “We have more than 200 children in our care, including 12 young girls with babies from the hinterland programme,” the Minister related.

Rehab for ferry stellings, floating ramps for this year - T&HD GM Plans are apace this year to undertake rehabilitative works on a number of ferry stellings including the currently dilapidated Georgetown and Vreed-enhoop stellings.

At least this is according to General Manager of the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), Ms. Merclene Merchant, who during a Public Works Ministry press conference on Friday last said that “foremost amongst the plans for 2013 is the rehabilitation of stellings.”

“In addition to repairs on a Port Kaituma bond and the two aforementioned stellings, works are also slated for stellings at Parika, Rosignol, New Amsterdam, Bartica and Wakenaam”, Merchant said.

There are also plans to rehabilitate the T&HD Central workshop this year, even as efforts are directed to the construction of floating ramps to accommodate speed boats at the Parika, Vreed-enHoop and Georgetown stellings.

According to Merchant “our engineers are presently designing these floating ramps.”

The T&HD Director also spoke of plans for the acquisition of spares for vessels and ships and moves to install a vehicle scale at Bartica and point of sales systems at the Bartica, Leguan and Wakenaam stellings.

“We also installed points of sale systems at the Parika and Supenaam stellings to enhance the operations; digital video recorders were also installed at the Supenaam and Parika stellings to enhance security and computerised wind systems were installed at Supenaam, and there is currently upgrading at the Parika stelling,” Merchant informed.

Also among the plans for

Rehab for ferry stellings, floating ramps for this year - T&HD GM this year is the docking of two vessels – the MV Makouria and the MV Malali – even as the efforts are made to acquire a new or secondhand vessel to replace the MV Kimbia which was recently docked, Merchant disclosed.

That vessel was docked to the tune of $118M, of which $95 million was funded by capital expenditure which was allocated to the T&HD Department for 2012.

Merchant disclosed that the department was in receipt of a total of $414 million in capital expenditure for the past year, which in fact catered to the dry docking of three vessels and the rehabilitation and improvement of a few stellings.

In addition, the monies for MV Kimbia have been allocated for the docking of the MV Sandaka to the tune of $52 million and the MV Barima which will cost the department a further $103 million.

Merchant disclosed that the MV Barima is slated to replace the Lady Northcote which is presently tasked with plying the Georgetown – Kaituma route.

The T&HD General Manager revealed that during

the past year monies amounting to about $167 million, were expended on the acquisition of spares for vessels. And according to her, other achievements included the completions of the Rollon/Roll-off facilities at Parika and Supenaam, hence the two new ferries, the Kanawan and the MV Sabanto, commenced operating the Parika/Supenaam route in September and November respectively.

Merchant disclosed that last year the MV Bonasika was docked under current expenditure to replace the MV Sandaka which is presently operating in the Berbice River between Rosignol and New Amsterdam. Works last year, too, included the completion of revetment works at Kumaka, along with minor repairs and maintenance to the other stellings.

T&HD, Merchant noted, was able to open its own Sports Club and Bar in March, an operation which is said to be progressing fairly well. The upper flat of that facility, she added, is rented out for functions such as weddings and parties. Another venture undertaken by the Department is its bitumen plant which, despite some challenges, was able to produce approximately 14,000 tonnes of hot mix for the year, Merchant said.

However she noted that the “total receipts generated for 2012 was approximately $1.404 billion as against our major expenditure which was $1.495 billion.”

The T&HD Department is usually furnished with subsidies amounting to $500 million as Current Expenditure from the Finance Ministry to assist with payments of fuel and several major liabilities, including those related to the Guyana Revenue Authority and the National Insurance Scheme, among others.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Linden schools reopen, but several issues prevail Schools reopened on Monday with thousands of students turning out all over the country.

In Linden, APNU Member of Parliament, Rennisson Morian, took the opportunity to visit several of these learning institutions, where he made observations and held brief discussions with school heads and other officials about pertinent issues affecting the smooth running of the schools.

Issues highlighted included lack of running water in at least three schools, a classroom without lights due to defective switches at Wismar Hill Primary, and the still to be completed rehabilitation work to the staff room of the Wismar/ Christianburg Secondary School.

At the Christianburg Primary School, there was a good turnout, and students were already busy with assignments set by their teachers. There were no complaints; however one lucky child whose haversack strap was torn was presented with a new one by Morian, who had walked with a couple for just such an emergency. But lack of water was a major cause for concern

Little ones enjoy their snacks at the beginning of the new term at St Aidan’s Primary, Wismar Hill Primary and the Wismar/ Christianburg Secondary (Multi).

At all three schools improper plumbing infrastructure was blamed for the water situation, while at the Multilateral school, inadequate water storage facilities plus the huge school population was said to compound the problem.

Several teachers at this school were at the time of yesterday’s visit on their lunch break, in a staff room

where debris from rehabilitative works that were carried out was strewn around the floor. Broken tiles also littered the floor.

A fire over a year ago damaged this section of the school, and even though some repairs were done, these were less than satisfactory, Morian stated. He pointed out that a teacher had to receive fifteen stitches to her rear, after a toilet bowl shattered under her, although she was not in the least overweight.

As if on cue, the teacher could

be heard recapturing her ordeal for colleagues.

Two schools, West Watooka Nursery and St Aidan’s Primary, highlighted the need for handymen.

“In this year, which has been declared the Year of the Youth, the situation that currently prevails at some of these schools is definitely not conducive to learning. More attention has to be paid to

APNU’s Rennisson Morian is greeted by one of the pupils education facilities; we need better facilities, especially here in Region Ten, where we have schools in dire need of repairs, water problems and several other issues.

At the Harmony Secondary School, the Deputy Head teacher’s office is just a room. It is bare, except for a desk and chair, but the desk has no drawers. There is also need for fans at this school, because of poor

ventilation. Moreover, some schools have no water.

Said Morian: “This is totally unacceptable. I’m therefore calling on the Ministry of Education, and the Government to support our children in their quest for education - to look into these issues which are very troubling, and which interfere with the proper delivery of education. We are urging them to do something urgently.”

acting on information and after conducting surveillance, raided the defendant’s home where a search was carried out for narcotics, arms and ammunition.

During the search, a plastic bag was found under a bed.

Scrutiny of the bag unearthed leaves, seeds and stems of what was suspected to be the marijuana plant. The items were seized and Brandt was

arrested and escorted to Central Police Station where the items were tested and weighed and found to be 31 grammes of the prohibited plant. He was subsequently charged.

In court, Brandt pleaded guilty, but later changed his plea to not guilty, stating that he misunderstood what the Magistrate had said.

Bail was refused and he will have to return to court on February 12, next.

Drug dealer nabbed with ganja under bed Aubrey Brandt, 22, of Lot 51 Archer Street, Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice, was yesterday remanded to prison by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo when he appeared before her at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court on a charge of Possession of Narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

Prosecutor Sergeant Godfrey Playter reported that around 02:00 hrs on December 29, last, the police,

Tripped transmission line shut off power to Demerara system - GPL The entire Demerara was left without power for several hours Monday night after a transmission line tripped, the state-owned power company said yesterday.

Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), in a brief statement, said that the outage lasted two hours after the Demerara Interconnected System (DIS) tripped at 23:44 hrs.

GPL said this was because of problems experienced with the 69KV transmission lines linking Garden of Eden and Sophia.

“As a result, Georgetown, East and West Coast Demerara, and East and West Bank Demerara communities were without electricity for about thirty to fifty-five minutes.”

The truth is that some households in those areas were without power for as long as four hours.

The power company said that emergency remedial measures allowed its emergency personnel to “quickly and effectively” respond to the situation which resulted in the first feeder being repowered at 00:13 hrs and the last at 01:40 hrs on Tuesday.

However, Kaieteur News received numerous calls yesterday complaining about the severe inconvenience.

Residents of especially those on West Bank Demerara have spoken of sporadic blackouts during the past holidays, even on New Year’s Day. “I wonder if GPL feels that

it can do what it feels like and not explain to the people of Guyana why we are having these outages? Nada.

Nothing. We are literally left in the dark. I believe that is eye-pass they eye-pass the people,” said one businessman of La Grange, West Bank Demerara.

GPL has a massive programme now to run new transmission lines across the coast with several new substations. It has run a new submarine cable across the Demerara River from Kingston, to help with the supply on West Demerara area.

The old cable from Garden of Eden has outlived its usefulness and is too small to take the increasing load demanded there.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Reg. 10 Chairman rejects unrest assumption…

‘We are fully committed to keeping the peace’ unrest - and said that “it is nothing of the sort.”

In addition to giving assurances of continued peace, Solomon stated that his move to postpone the meeting was based primarily on the need to update Lindeners on the current state of affairs as it relates to the development in the agreement made between Region 10 and the government. “This was done with the aim of having that change to update Lindeners.

We acknowledged the need for us leaders to meet with the

Region 10 Chairman, Sharma Solomon

By Abena Rockcliffe In light of the recent pronouncements made by Presidential Advisor, Gail Teixeira that deemed Region 10’s postponement of a scheduled meeting with the government as a signal that the town is preparing for unrest, Chairman Sharma Solomon yesterday reiterated

that the community is “fully committed to honouring our part of the agreement made with the government.”

Solomon acknowledged yesterday what was reported in sections of the media - that the Region’s cancellation of the meeting and schedule for a public meeting to be held this weekend signals that it may be gearing for further

Body of unidentified man found on C’tyne Public Road The body of an unidentified man of East Indian descent was found on Monday night last on the Number 67 Village, Corentyne, Public Road.

This publication was told that police from the Springlands Station responded to a call and upon arrival in the area they found the man’s body.

Reports are that the man was clad in a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt, and is

estimated to be about 5 ft 9 inches. Further there are reports that the man may have been the victim of a hit and run, since residents of the area said prior to the discovery of the body there was a loud impact which sounded like a large object being struck by a vehicle. Up to press time yesterday the body was still at the Skeldon Hospital Mortuary awaiting identification and post mortem examination.

Laptops for teachers highlight bidding process Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP) under the Ministry of Education, received six (6) bids for the purchasing of laptops. The bids were opened yesterday by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, Main Street. The bids are as follows:

Bidder Amount Fix It Depot $27.5M Auto Supplies and Haier Guyana $29.9M CCS Guyana Ltd $32.7M Orkon Construction $45M Global Technology US$147,750

people of Linden and give them an update as to what has become of the agreement made between us and the government. Lindeners were promised that they would be kept informed and we need to keep that promise.”

Further, Solomon told Kaieteur News that a need for consultations has been identified.

“We need to review the agreement among ourselves, because everything in that agreement deals with our rights as a people, none of which should be violated. Our

right to be involved in decision making, our right to be a part of economic prosperity and development and our right to have access to free information, are all reflected in that agreement.

“Each of the agreements that the government has failed to honour, especially the right to free information, is a focus of concern for the people of Linden,” Solomon affirmed. He also stated that leaders in the region need to find out more about every aspect of the agreement.

He went on to mention

that the right of the people to have their leaders involved in decision making has been respected by the government “…because they now have to engage with the leadership of the Region, and this is after that right has been demanded by the people.”

“The people are saying that the government must facilitate, not as Teixeira is saying ‘as far as possible’ but facilitate, period, the agreement, as that was signed, just as the Region has been keeping its part of the bargain.”

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Chinese couple in court over assault of girl, 11 The Chinese couple accused of assaulting an 11year-old girl appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, yesterday. Jiang Pen Ren, 42, and her husband, Jun Zhang, 32, faced assault charges when they stood before Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The couple pleaded not guilty. Attorney at law Satesh Kissoon who represented the two accused, said that the woman became scared after she found the young girl dressed in a kemar in her living quarters.

The couple was subsequently placed on $80,000 bail each.

The 11-year-old victim allegedly suffered physical abuse at the hands of two Chinese nationals, after she was reportedly found roaming in their premises under “suspicious circumstances” last Friday.

The girl was allegedly attacked and beaten by the proprietors of Sino Mall located in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, opposite Demico House. The owners of the store had reported that the girl was found hiding in their apartment located at the top floor of the building.

The child, who is of

Chinese couple at their first court appearance Muslim persuasion, however claimed that she was never upstairs in the building, but that she was beaten and insulted by the Chinese couple due to a misunderstanding about her mode of dress.

She was wearing a kemar at the time, which she said the Chinese woman who attacked her described as a mask. She maintained that the woman accused her of stealing after she bent over to pick up a swimsuit that fell from a clothes rack. The police were later summoned and the couple since have been charged and placed on bail.

They are scheduled to return to court on January 28, next.

And a group of angry patrons and Muslim

supporters yesterday staged a protest in front of Sino Mall, calling for justice for the child.

The protest was headed by social activist Mark Benschop and several other supporters, including Muslims, who deemed the action by the store owners as “inhumane and racial.”

“This is not anti-Chinese.

I know Chinese who are very respectful; but what these people did to that 11-year-old girl is absolutely wrong. They say that they have video of the girl under the bed, then why don’t they show us the video?” Benschop asked “We are calling on people to boycott this store or any other store which will be disrespectful to anyone.”

While the protest was

The child, her grandmother and Mark Benschop outside the store going on, persons were shouting, “Shut them down, they coming to Guyana and playing boss; y’all go in and empty that store; they playing mad, we are madder.”

During the protest, the child and her grandmother sat quietly and observed what was going on while the store owners were inside their store, anxiously conducting their daily business.

The proprietor of Sino Mall insisted that she never hit the little girl, “I never hit the girl, when I found her under meh bed I dragged her downstairs and she was trying to runaway so I hold

her and she keeping pulling and knocking up she self on the clothes rack.’”

When asked whether she spit on the child, she replied, “No’ I de just finish eating beef and when I see her under my bed I start talking hard because I was mad, so like my saliva went into she face.”

“When I was pulling her I see a set of people run in and after the little girl see that she start to shout ‘Chinese beating me, Chinese beating me,” Ren stated.

One of the woman’s workers, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that the business

Some of the protesters

woman spat on the child’s face. The worker also admitted that the child was indeed in the woman’s room.

“I see when she bring the child downstairs but she didn’t beat her; she just pulled her to go to the station.”

And as the protest was going on, a number of persons including a child, went into the store and carried away haversacks.

The businesswoman frantically tried to close her store, but the protesters stood in front the door and avoided her from doing so. The police were eventually summoned.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Several North West passengers stranded in G/T ‌T&HD pleads with travelling public for patience

Some of the passengers leaving the Kingston Ferry Stelling yesterday.

Yesterday there was a heavy build up of passengers at the Transport and Harbours Department Kingston wharf as only a limited number of persons were being allowed

to board the Lady Northcote.

The regular vessel has been sent for dry docking.

The buildup caused much frustration among the passengers, many of whom

claimed that they needed to get back to their communities so that their children could return to school. Some persons also complained about the urgency to get back to the district to operate their businesses.

At the wharf yesterday, priority was given to some persons with children returning for school and persons living in the Kumaka area. Meanwhile, General Manager of the Transport and Harbours Department, Ms. Merclene Merchant, when contacted on the issue said that the buildup is as a result of only one vessel plying the Georgetown to North West District route.

According to Merchant, currently the MV Kimbia has been docked for routine repairs. Ms Merchant told this publication that notices were placed in some sections of the media about the temporary schedule for transport to the North West District.

Merchant further

The MV Kimbia which is currently docked for routine repair works. explained that priority was given yesterday to passengers from Kumaka, since it was found that during the Christmas season there was a heavier outflow of passengers from that area.

She however noted that passengers from Port Kaituma were allowed on the Lady Northcote since passengers

can seek other modes of transportation from Kumaka to Port Kaituma. She added that yesterday’s situation, where some persons had to be turned away, was as a result of the T&HD exercising caution, since the department did not want to overload the vessel and put passengers’ lives in jeopardy.

Merchant said the Lady

Northcote is expected to return to port Georgetown next week for a scheduled run to Port Kaituma.

In the interim, Merchant is appealing to members of the travelling public to be patient with the current system as the routine repair work to the other vessel is needed to ensure their safety.

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Cocaine in straws case…

Key witnesses testify As the trial of Adrian David and O’Brien White continued yesterday, two main witnesses were called upon to give their testimony.

The witnesses testified against the duo accused of attempting to smuggle cocaine which was found secreted in drinking straws.

The case was called up before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Police Prosecutor Stephen Telford called witness Ray Charles to the stand. Charles, a cargo officer attached to Consolidated cargo/Aviation services pointed out O’Brien White as the customer whom he had done business with on December 6, 2012. Charles said that White had approached the company with a shipment of mangoes and noodles to be exported to Canada.

He however, could not remember the direct address of the consignee or the exporter.

Under cross examination

by Defence Counsel Peter Hugh, the witness said that the accused had exported goods that day. However

when the question was again put to the witness, he changed his response.

Charles said that the intended shipment was “not successful” because the Customs Anti Narcotics Officers had seized it.

The next witness was businessman Jadesh Persaud.

Persaud, is the owner of the property which was the registered mailing address of the exporter. The address Lot 1 and 2 Plantain Walk, Vreeden-hoop, West Coast Demerara, is said to be the location of Vick’s Mall.

Persaud said that he rents to the place to several tenants, but is unaware of any business by the name Prestigious Foods.

The witness also stated that he had never heard the name O’Brien White before.

White, the accused attempted to export 21 kilos of cocaine using the said address as one where he operates his business Prestigious Foods.

Nevertheless, under cross examination by the Defence Attorney, the witness stated that he is not aware of all businesses that are in

operation at his premises, neither has he ever opposed or stopped any of his tenants from conducting any sort of business at the location.

White and David face charges of trafficking in narcotics in December of last year.

The narcotics were found in a quantity of drinking straws disguised to be macaroni noodles scheduled for a Canada-bound shipment.

The narcotics discovery was made by CANU ranks.

The ranks carried out a thorough search on the consignment after suspicion arose about the weight of the goods.

There, they discovered that among the contents were drinking straws spraypainted in the colour of macaroni noodles and packed with a white powdery substance.

This was subsequently tested and confirmed to be cocaine – a total of 21 kilogrammes.

The shipment was addressed to 44 Mount Crescent, Ajax, Ontario, Canada. The matter is adjourned until January 14.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Cops detain suspect in Annandale businessman’s murder Police are questioning an East Coast Demerara man in connection with last December’s murder of Annandale businessman Kamal Ramsahoye, who was found with multiple stab wounds in his home.

Kaieteur News understands that the suspect was detained about two days ago and that police are acting on information provided by persons close to the slain man. A source said that police have been trying to locate the individual since Ramsahoye’s demise.

The 35-year-old Ramsahoye, who lived alone in his Annandale Market Road property, which houses his business, was found dead in the bottom flat of the building by his brother Kumar. His body bore 10 stab wounds and the building was ransacked. There was no sign of forced entry, leading police

to believe that the businessman was attacked shortly after he opened up his property and went into his yard through the back door.

However, some investigators also suggested that the robbery scene was

staged and had questioned a former female associate of the victim.

Neighbours who spoke to Kaieteur News all said that they had not seen anyone fleeing the scene and had not heard any unusual noise.

Evidence at the scene suggested that the killers had scaled a tall fence enforced with razor wire while escaping, since police found blood on the fence and in the yard.

Kumar Ramsahoye, a brother who lives a few hundred yards away from the victim, said that the young businessman, who is separated from his wife, would usually visit his home for breakfast.

He said that after his brother failed to arrive, he tried contacting him on his telephone but got no answer.

The brother then went over to his sibling’s home and made the gruesome discovery.

Brazil, Suriname and Trinidad have shown an interest in participating in Mashramani 2013, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

Minister with the portfolio, Irfaan Ali, said that one of the main initiatives is the launch of a visitor plan for 2013 for the Mashramani celebrations in February. The programme will be designed to target the needs of all visitors, particularly those from Brazil, Suriname and Trinidad.

He explained, “One of the main initiatives is the launch of a visitor plan for 2013, you will know that we have a lot of Guyanese returning home for Mashramani but we have not, in a structured way, been able to target the potential of our neighbours.” In this regard, the Ministry will focus its energies on attracting the participation of a 30-member Brazilian Samba Band, which has the potential to attract as much as 400 ‘followers’ to Guyana.

“This will be utilised as the vehicle through which we can attract an average of 400 tourists. We are working with the state of Roraima and tourism agencies within the State to promote and sell packages,” Minister Ali explained. In addition, there is also strong interest from a Surinamese delegation from the Aptijt (pronounced Uptake) Band , which is one of the leading Bands in that country with a following of at least 500 persons.

Alluding to the benefits of these and other interests, Ali said, “We are already working to make this happen. In addition to this, there is also strong interest from Trinidad, where persons will also be celebrating Carnival close to Mashramani. We want to target that population and offer Guyana as the potential destination that they can visit. We are going to promote our eco lodges and resorts and river tours.”

The Tourism Minister

said that a massive ‘Street Celebration’ is being conceptualised as part of the plan to attract more persons for the upcoming Mashramani celebrations and to magnify the significance of the occasion. He said, “We are planning a street celebration on Brickdam on the eve of Mashramani so that the celebrations can lead all the way into the main celebration.” Mashramani 2013 will be celebrated under the theme ‘Reflecting creativity, Embracing Diversity’ and as is customary, the occasion is expected to attract thousands of visitors from across the world.

The word ‘Mashramani’ is derived also from the Amerindian language and in translation means “the celebration of a job well done”. It is sometimes referred to as “Mash”, and is observed on February 23Guyana’s Republic Day - to commemorate the “Birth of the Republic”.

Murdered: Kamal Ramsahoye

Brazil, Suriname, Trinidad interested in Mash 2013

Recently released prisoner jailed again Anthony Layne, 33, of Angoy’s Avenue, who has been in and out of jail is back behind bars after pleading guilty yesterday to a charge of larceny from the person.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison or alternatively to pay a fine of $50,000. He didn’t have the money and was whisked off to the New Amsterdam prison.

The man who was recently released from prison appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court, and after initially pleading not guilty to the

charge, changed his plea and admitted to the crime.

Prosecutor Orin Joseph said that on Wednesday, December 5, at St Magdalene Street, New Amsterdam Berbice, the accused snatched a gold chain valued at $60,000 from the neck of Premwattie Devi and made good his escape.

According to the prosecutor, around 10:30 hrs on the day in question, the woman was walking along St Magdalene Street when the accused rode up behind her on a bicycle, grabbed her chain and rode away. An

alarm was raised and persons nearby tried to stop the accused, but he managed to escape.

The police were informed, and after conducting investigations, the accused was arrested and was positively identified as the culprit at an identification parade. He was later charged.

In court he admitted to the crime and begged for a chance.

The court was told that the man had only recently been released from jail after serving a sentence on a similar matter.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Opposition parties accuse government of “insulting” voters in Tobago P O R T- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad - CMC - Opposition parties contesting the January 21 Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election have accused the coalition People’s Partnership government of insulting the population by introducing legislation aimed at providing more autonomy for Tobago.

Former THA chief secretary Hochoy Charles, who is leading the Platform of Truth into the THA elections, said the decision by fourparty coalition to introduce the legislation to Parliament on Monday during the height of an election campaign was wrong.

“You cannot carry a bill during the midst of an election in parliament to discuss Tobago’s future. That is insulting to the people of Tobago and in fact, we will not sit down here and allow that to happen,” Charles told local media”.

He warned he was prepared to mobilise “the whole of Tobago to deal with that and to take the matter elsewhere (including), the international forum or court.

“You can’t do that; you are having an election. Let the election come and go and then we will sit down to talk,” Charles said. The main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), which is seeking to

Dr. Keith Rowley extend its 12-year hold on the THA, has also been critical of the move by the government, despite Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar telling legislators that the decision to table the legislation is in keeping with the promise made by her coalition that includes the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) when it was elected in 2010 and was not intended as an inducement to Tobagonians when they vote on January 21.

PNM and Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley told a news conference on Monday that while the PNM is fully supportive of more autonomy for Tobago, it will not be bullied into voting for the Tobago Bill unless

the people are consulted.

The government has deferred debate on the legislation to January 16 and is promising to send the bill to a joint select committee of Parliament.

But Rowley told reporters the PNM is “no fly by night political party”: and is not “fearful of any threats or any consequences as threatened by the Prime Minister.

“We will not participate in any substandard approach to treating with this because the outcome of this legislation will be influenced and impacted by its process. In so far as there is a requirement for the PNM votes to advance this, such votes will not be used to advance the UNC’s election campaign in Tobago. They could say what they want in Tobago, we believe that the people of Trinidad and Tobago are not stupid,” he added.

“We believe the people of Tobago will understand that the PNM is 100 per cent of Tobago getting an improvement in its autonomous arrangements...but that support is not going to come in this form of bullying to pass possibly bad law in an uninformed environment where the outcome good as it may be will be tarnished and stained by the population thinking that we did not understand what the Government had done,” said Rowley.

Authorities probe bogus marriage scheme ST GEORGE’S, Grenada - CMC - Grenada authorities say they have launched an investigation into a bogus marriage scheme involving men from Middle Eastern countries and local women.

“We are conducting an investigation and these notices are part of the process,” said an official in the Ministry of National Security.

The notices, placed in a weekly newspaper, and naming at least six people, indicate that they should “contact the Ministry of

National Security for further information in order to show cause on or before 31st March 2013 why the Minister of National Security should not exercise his right to do so”. Last week the Financial Intelligence Unit also issued a notice calling on 12 Grenadian women to contact the office immediately.

FIU head, Senneth Joseph, said that the “notices are interlink and its part of an investigation” and officials who spoke to reporters on condition that they now be identified said the “marriage

of convenient scheme” involved foreigners paying a significant amount of money to women in order to acquire Grenadian citizenship.

Last October, eight members of the Syrian Community here were accused of falsifying documents in which they claimed they were married to Grenadian nationals in an effort to obtain Grenadian Citizenship. The suspects, including a businessman, were arrested following a yearlong investigation by the FIU.

LIMA (Reuters) - Seven employees of U.S.-based Columbia Helicopters were killed in a helicopter crash on Monday in Peru’s Amazon jungle, the company said yesterday.

Columbia, known for its tandem rotor cargo helicopters that are used in logging and oil exploration work, said four of the employees were based in the United States and three in Peru.

“This is a very sad day for Columbia Helicopters,” said

Michael Fahey, the president of the company from Portland, Oregon.

“We may operate globally, but we are still very much a family.”

The helicopter crashed minutes after taking off from Pucallpa, about 485 miles east of Lima, on a flight to Tarapoto.

It apparently tried to drop cargo as it lost power, and at least three people leapt from the aircraft, Peru’s La Republica newspaper, citing witnesses, reported on

Tuesday.

There were no survivors, a Peruvian judicial official said.

Local media reports initially said on Monday that those on board worked for Petrominerales Ltd, a Canadian-based oil exploration firm focused on Latin America. Petrominerales later denied those reports.

Columbia said it would work with witnesses and authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash.

Columbia Helicopters says 7 employees killed in Peru crash

Page 19

Ailing Chavez unable to attend swearing-in …Opposition furious over likely Chavez inauguration delay

Hugo Chavez CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez won’t be able to attend his scheduled swearing-in this week, Venezuela’s government announced yesterday, confirming suspicions that the leader’s illness will keep him in a Cuban hospital past the key date.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro broke the news in a letter to National Assembly

President Diosdado Cabello, saying on the recommendation of Chavez’s medical team, his recovery process “should be extended beyond Jan. 10” and for that reason he won’t be able to attend Thursday’s scheduled inauguration.

Maduro said Chavez was invoking a provision in the constitution allowing him to be sworn in before the Supreme Court at a “later date.” Cabello announced he had received the request during a legislative session.

Tensions between the government and opposition have been building in a constitutional dispute over whether the ailing president’s swearing-in can legally be postponed. The president underwent his fourth cancerrelated surgery in Cuba last month and hasn’t spoken publicly in a month.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said earlier yesterday that Chavez’s current term constituionally ends tomorrow and that the

Supreme Court should rule in the matter.

Other opposition leaders have argued that the inauguration cannot legally be put off and that the National Assembly president should take over as interim president if Chavez hasn’t returned from Cuba on inauguration day.

“The Supreme Court has to take a position on what the text of the constitution says,” said Capriles, who lost to Chavez in presidential elections three months ago.

“There is no monarchy here, and we aren’t in Cuba.”

However, Capriles said he saw no reason to bring a formal challenge to the Supreme Court because it was obliged to issue a rulling on the dispute.

While leaders of both proand anti-Chavez camps say they don’t expect violence to break out Thursday, the dispute could lead to opposition questions about the legitimacy of government officials serving past the scheduled inauguration date.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Wednesday Januaey 09, 2013

War of words between radio US newspaper says Jamaica’s personality and PM’s attorney debt worse than Greece ROSEAU, Dominica CMC - A radio announcer has pointed an accusing finger at the attorney for Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as being the source of secret and confidential information about the head of government being aired on a local radio station in December last year.

The Integrity in Public Office (IPO) said it has already written to Police Commissioner Daniel Carbon, seeking assistance in investigating the leak, but Lennox Linton has accused Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan of providing the information which the radio announcer said he used on his radio programme.

But Astaphan, who has called for the resignation of all, but one member of the Integrity Commission, because of perceived political bias, has dismissed the claim

by Linton as “nonsense”.

“Even any police officer or investigator wants to speak to me about the matter I will speak to them on the matter and any other allegation,” he said.

Lennox Linton Linton told listeners that he had written to the IPO on the leak, saying that his information had come from a source under condition of anonymity.

But he insisted that the source was never a member of the IPO or an employee.

“Importantly the source has been able to provide me with hard evidence that the leak of the confidential information between the Integrity in Public Office Commission and Mr. Skerrit in respect to which the Integrity in Public Office Commission has asked for a police

investigation … that information came from Mr. Skerrit’s lawyer, Senior Counsel, Anthony Astaphan,” he said.

“In this regard a copy of the thread of Mr. Astaphan’s exchange of email correspondence with a third party under subject under the subject, ‘Absolutely and Completely Secret and Confidential,’ under the period August 23, 2011 and August 25, 2011 is attached,” he told the IPO. “The attached documents establish that while Astaphan and his client Roosevelt Skerrit have been trying in recent weeks to impugn the integrity of members of the Integrity Commission by accusing them of leaking confidential IPO declarations to unauthorized persons in violations of the oath of secrecy and Provision 21 of the IPO Act, it is Astaphan himself, a senior counsel, by sharing his client’s confidential disclosures to the IPO to unauthorized third parties,” Linton said in his letter.

CHICAGO - CMC - A leading United States newspaper yesterday said that Jamaica’s debt crisis is in a worse financial shape than Greece and suggested that the Portia Simpson Miller administration consider a bailout plan with significant debt relief.

The Chicago Tribune in an editorial said that Jamaica has more debt in relation to the size of its economy than any other country and warned against the Caribbean island becoming what it labelled “The Greece of the Western Hemisphere”.

“The Caribbean nation actually is in worse financial shape than Greece,” the editorial said, noting that the island pays more in interest than any other country.

“It has tried to restructure its loans to stretch them out over more years, at lower interest rates, with no success. Such a move would be risky for its already nervous lenders.”

Jamaica is seeking to renegotiate a Stand By Agreement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the newspaper claimed that “more than half of its government spending goes to service its loans.

“The country can spend barely 20 per cent of its budget for desperately needed health and education programmes.

Its infrastructure is faltering. It lacks resources to fight crime.

It has little margin to recover from natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy.

“To set itself straight, Jamaica needs a restructuring, and a bailout with significant debt relief.

No way can a small economy that has limped along with growth at less than half the global average for two decades pay back the fortune that it owes,” the paper said.

Jamaica is reported to be in debt to the tune of J$1.7 trillion (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) and the Chiacgo Tribune warned that the potential alternative to dealing with the debt could be very bad for the island.

“Defaulting on its debt would ruin Jamaica’s prospects for many years to come: It would undermine the island’s critically important trade relations with the U.S. It would discourage badly needed foreign investment in its tourism, agriculture and mining sectors. The only thing worse than doing what Jamaica must do to live within its means would be not doing it,” it said.

The paper said that the Jamaica is an extreme example of the fate that could befall Spain, Italy, Japan or, even the United States, noting that the analogy only goes so far since those much-larger economies have better resources to manage their finances.

“Jamaica has few options, apart from beseeching the IMF. The American “fiscal cliff” deal was good news for Jamaica, which could not afford another U.S. recession.

The island’s financial stewards have taken some practical steps to depreciate the local currency and curb

inflation. The broader solution, however, is as obvious and necessary in Jamaica as it is in Greece and other countries mired in debt: Reform taxes, curb pension costs, cut public payrolls.

“In Jamaica, that austerity-based formula has, unfairly, gotten a bad name.

Critics of trade liberalization, privatization and deregulation point to Jamaica as Exhibit A of First World policies gone awry. IMF-imposed fixes more than a decade ago — after public debt had ballooned in the 1990s — made conditions worse, the critics say.”

But the paper said what really transpired is that the IMF fixes gave Jamaica a temporary lifeline, but the government never stopped borrowing and spending.

“The lesson of Jamaica is not that access to credit is bad. It’s that irresponsible stewardship is bad.

We’re cautiously optimistic that Jamaica’s current leaders will do better,” the paper said, urging Finance Minister Dr. Peter Phillips to do whatever is necessary to reduce its outof-control debt.

“Jamaica must make enough painful progress to win the confidence of the IMF, and of private lenders.

While the rest of us wait to see whether the island nation escapes its debt trap, we’ll see whether other countries learn the lesson of Jamaica: Stop digging such deep, deep holes in the beach,” the editorial noted.

Police investigating murders come under fire BELMOPAN, Belize CMC - Police and media workers were forced to seek cover as gunshots rang out near an apartment building where the bodies of four men were found with their throats slashed on Tuesday.

Police Commissioner David Henderson was among law enforcement officials and journalists forced to scamper for safety as multiple gunshots were fired.

Police have not yet been

able to identify the dead men or provide a motive for the killings in the capital.

Schools in the area were suspended and authorities were urging parents to come and collect their children.

Belize have been rocked by a number of killings since the start of the year.

Over the weekend, at least three people were murdered included 22-year-old Feeshia Felix, who was shot while she slept at her home.

Police said that several bullets had been fired at the home and one had hit the woman in the head.

Police press officer, Raphael Martinez, said that Feeshia is the third member of her family to be shot and killed in recent times.

“Her brothers, sadly, have all been victims of gun violence, On Mother’s day 2006, elder brother Tyronne was gunned down while on his way home from a concert,” Martinez recalled.

The Executive Council of the Barbados Workers Union will meet today to decide whether to call out its members for an island wide strike in the impasse with telecommunications company LIME. The company’s representatives failed to turn up for talks with the BWU under the mediation of labour minister, Dr Esther ByerSuckoo on Monday.

CBC News understands that those talks were to focus on several issues including the dismissal of 97 workers from LIME’s retail stores and its back offices.

Dr. Byer-Suckoo said she will be trying to get LIME to return to the bargaining table with the BWU on Wednesday but used the occasion to meet separately with BWU officials. BWU General Secretary, Sir Roy Trotman

told reporters that if LIME does not rescind the dismissal letters sent to workers by Wednesday (January 9th) and fails to return to the bargaining table, it will seek support from the union’s executive council to sanction the island wide strike.

Sources have told CBC News that LIME has sent a letter to the Labour Minister indicating why it did not attend the meeting. (CBC)

Union threatens island-wide strike

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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PM disputes claims that Guatemala builds private impoverished Haiti is unsafe city to escape crime

Visitors walk in Paseo Cayala, a nearly independent city on the edges of Guatemala City. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) GUATEMALACITY(AP) — The highway climbs toward the edge of Guatemala City, past deep ravines where the poorest residents of the capital live in thousands of cinderblock huts, roofed with plastic sheets and powered by black cables stealing electricity from nearby lampposts.

Seven miles (11 kilometers) south of the historic center, the rutted, two-lane road comes to a set of towering white stucco walls and a pair of broad castiron gates that open onto apartment buildings and storefronts designed in Spanish colonial style. Cupolas top redtile roofs. Residents sip cappucinos and lattes under red umbrellas in the sleek silver chairs of cafes facing a cobblestone promenade.

Guatemalan developers are building a nearly independent city for the wealthy on the

outskirts of a capital marred by crime and snarled by traffic. At its heart is the 34-acre (14hectare) Paseo Cayala, with apartments, parks, high-end boutiques, church, nightclubs, and restaurants, all within a ring of white stucco walls.

The builders of Paseo Cayala say it is a livable, walkable development that offers housing for Guatemalans of a variety of incomes, though so far the cheapest apartments cost about 70 times the average Guatemalan’s yearly wage.

It’s bordered by even costlier subdivisions begun earlier.

Eventually, the Cayala Management Group hopes to expand the project into “Cayala City,” spreading across 870 acres (352 hectares), an area a little larger than New York’s Central Park. Cayala’s backers promote it as a safe haven in a troubled country, one with an unusual

degree of autonomy from the chaotic capital. It also embraces a philosophy that advocates a return to a traditional concept of a city, with compact, agreeable spaces where homes and shops are intermixed.

Detractors, however, say it is a blow to hopes of saving the real traditional heart of Guatemala City by drawing the well-off back into the urban center to participate in the economic and social life of a city struggling with poverty and high levels of crime and violence.

Cayala “is a place that tries to imitate a historic center, the way people move around an urban city, but it fails because it is not a city,” said architect Carlos Mendizabal, who worked to rebuild the turn-of-thecentury Cinelux movie theater, one of Guatemala City’s first cinemas.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Barbados has recorded a significant increase in dengue cases last year even as health authorities were reporting a decline in confirmed cases during a four week period leading up to mid-December last year.

Official figures released here show that for the fourweek period leading up to December 15, last year, there were 43 confirmed cases of dengue, compared to 68 in the four weeks leading up to November 17.

The figures released by the Ministry of Health indicated that a total of 391 confirmed cases were recorded up to December 15, and 1,381 suspected cases

were sent to the lab for testing. During the same period in 2011, a total of 200 confirmed cases were recorded and 786 suspected cases were sent for testing.

“Despite the recent decline in confirmed cases, there has been significant rainfall in the past month and officials are reminding householders to check their premises for possible mosquito breeding sites and either dispose of, or cover water containers, such as buckets, small plastic containers and drums,” the statement said.

It said that vector control, including source reduction and chemical control, will remain the principal strategy in the prevention of dengue

and that environmental health officials will continue to inspect premises, investigate mosquito complaints and maintain surveillance at sites, including ports of entry, wetlands, tyre shops and nurseries.

Dengue fever is an infectious tropical disease transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito and symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint paints and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In severe cases the disease develops into the life threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage.

Barbados records increased cases of dengue fever

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) - Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has disputed claims by the United States and Canada that the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country is not a safe place to visit.

“We would like to reassure the tourists, the Diaspora, people who want to visit, Haiti is one of the safest destinations that they could visit,” Lamothe told reporters, noting that the latest figures from UN Office on Drugs and Crime show that in 2010 Haiti had a recorded murder rate of 6.9 for every 100,000 people.

The rate is close to onequarter that of Jamaica and less than half of the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

UN officials, however, said that statistics are always subject to “under-reporting and under-recording”.

Lamothe’s statement comes after Washington last week issued a stronglyworded travel warning and Canada modified its advisory.

The travel advisory warned travellers arriving

Laurent Lamothe from the US “were attacked and robbed shortly after departing the airport” and at least two US citizens were shot and killed in robbery and kidnapping incidents in 2012.

“US citizens have been victims of violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, predominantly in the Port-au-Prince area. No one is safe from kidnapping, regardless of occupation, nationality, race, gender, or age.”

In updating its travel advisory on January 2, Canada told its citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution due to high crime rates” especially in certain slum neighbourhoods of Port-

au-Prince But the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, said “generally when we look at the whole hemisphere, the security situation in Haiti is far less than in other countries. “e have to be careful that by taking certain action we are not becoming counterproductive to what we want to achieve. Haiti needs tourists, Haiti needs investors, and anything that can limit or become a deterrent is going to be a negative,” he added.

Ramdin urged the international community to re-evaluate efforts to help Haiti, which also must do its part.

“I have found a lack of willingness on the part of the international community to coordinate better in Haiti because everybody wants to plant their flags. They want to be recognised. Haiti’s government, despite its goodwill, has been distracted by domestic issues and also by financial disaster,” he added.

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Wednesday Januaey 09, 2013

Riot breaks out in Syrian refugee camp in Jordan ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) — Syrian refugees in a Jordanian camp attacked aid workers with sticks and stones yesterday, frustrated after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets.

Police said seven Jordanian aid workers were injured when they were attacked by dozens of refugees while distributing bread for breakfast.

The refugees may be about to face even deeper misery with warnings of a major snowstorm on Wednesday.

“It is hell — boiling hot in the summer and freezing cold now,” lamented Ahmed Zibi, 45, who said he spent the night watching over his five children when his tent collapsed. “Rain flooded the tent and its shafts submerged and collapsed on us.”

The riot broke out after the region’s first major winter storm this year hit the Zaatari refugee camp, home to nearly 50,000 refugees, at least half under the age of 18, in Jordan’s northern desert.

Inside the camp, large puddles surrounded tents, stranding pregnant women and infants. Some refugees scurried to evacuate their flooded tents or used small buckets to bail out the water, while others made walls of mud to try to keep the water out. Women, children and the elderly took cover in other tents.

Ghazi Sarhan, spokesman for the Jordan Hashemite Charitable Organization, said frustration over the harsh conditions triggered the riot.

The charity runs the camp along with the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Calls from loudspeakers echoed across the camp urging protesters to evacuate muddy streets.

UNHCR says 597,240 refugees have registered or are awaiting registration with the agency in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Some countries have higher estimates, noting many have found accommodation without registering.

The World Food Program also said Tuesday it is unable to help 1 million Syrians who

LONDON (Reuters) British chancellor George Osborne urged European Union policymakers in Berlin yesterday to follow his example and toughen bank regulation across the 27member bloc.

As one of the countries worst hit by the 2007-08 financial crisis - and with relatively hands-off existing regulation - Britain is passing a new law to separate banks’ day-to-day retail banking arms from riskier investment bank activities.

The European Commission - which proposes EU legislation - is considering similar proposals from Finnish central banker Erkki Liikanen, but Germany and France, the bloc’s two largest economies,

have opposed similar ideas in the past.

Osborne urged a rethink at a gathering of German business leaders and senior euro zone politicians in Berlin.

“There is an interesting proposal on the table ... which envisages ring-fencing European banks’ retail and investment arms into separate entities,” Osborne told the meeting, which included German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Britain is already pushing ahead with similar reforms and I think it’s an idea that the EU, including Germany, should give serious consideration to implementing,” Osborne added, according to a statement provided by his office.

Osborne urges tougher ringfence rules for EU banks

Syrian refugees make their way on water and mud, at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, yesterday. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon) are going hungry inside Syria.

WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said the

agency plans to provide aid to 1.5 million of the 2.5 million Syrians that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent says are

internally displaced. But the lack of security and the agency’s inability to use the Syrian port of Tartous for its

shipment means that a large number of people in the some of the country’s hardest hit areas will not get help, she said.

“Our main partner, the Red Crescent, is overstretched and has no more capacity to expand further,” Byrs said.

Rain was intermittent and the wind had subsided by Tuesday.

But the weather service warned a large snowstorm could hit Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and parts of Iraq on Wednesday. Private and public schools throughout Lebanon were closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Temperatures dipped below freezing overnight and were expected to be similar late Tuesday night into Wednesday. Winds gusted up to about (60 kph) 35 mph overnight.

Qatar aiding Egypt with extra $2.5 billion CAIRO (AP) — Qatar announced yesterday it was doubling its financial aid to the Egyptian government with a new injection of $2.5 billion, underlining its role in propping up Cairo’s foreign currency reserves and highlighting its strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood leadership.

The help from Qatar has been crucial to the government of President Mohammed Mursi, who hails from the Brotherhood. Qatar has assisted Egypt with $2.5 billion in deposits since August, after Morsi won in the country’s first free presidential election.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani said his nation will loan Cairo an additional $2 billion and transfer another $500 million outright grant, bringing its total assistance to $5 billion.

The aid comes as Egypt faces an economic crisis.

Egypt’s economy has

been in a slide since the fall of Hosni Mubarak two years ago. The unrest has scared away foreign investors and crippled the vital tourism industry, both key foreign currency earners for Egypt.

Street protests and clashes over a contentious constitution last month further alarmed residents, who hurried to exchange their Egyptian pounds for U.S. dollars.

The rush prompted Egypt’s central bank to introduce a new auction system for banks buying and selling U.S. dollars that insiders said is a type of “controlled devaluation” of the Egyptian pound, which has lost around five percent of its value to the dollar in the past two weeks.

Foreign currency reserves long used to prop up the currency have fallen by more than 50 percent since before the uprising and now stand at $15 billion. The central bank warned that is a

“critical minimum level” needed to cover debt payments and buy vital imports.

Egypt has renewed talks toward a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The package, if approved, is not enough to cover Egypt’s external financing requirement, but could help cover a widening budget deficit and boost investor confidence in Egypt’s ailing economy.

The Brotherhood, while preparing for parliamentary elections in the coming months, is also under pressure to implement painful austerity measures, including tax hikes and subsidies cuts in what appear to be conditions attached to the IMF loan.

Masood Ahmed, who led the IMF delegation to Cairo on Monday, said in a statement after meeting with Mursi that the lender wants to see Egypt move to “a more inclusive model of economic

growth through a sociallybalanced homegrown program.”

An official in Mursi’s office says Qatar’s total grant of $1 billion will not need to be paid back. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Qatar has already agreed to invest $18 billion in Egypt over the next five years and its QInvest company purchased a majority stake in Egypt’s biggest investment bank, EFG Hermes.

Qatari assistance to Mursi’s government comes as the oil-rich Gulf state faces scrutiny over its ties with Libya’s Brotherhood group, funneling weapons and funds to the anti-Moammar Gadhafi forces during that nation’s civil war last year.

Additionally, Qatar has been a key supporter of the Syrian opposition, and particularly its Brotherhoodaligned members.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Netanyahu takes on the world in Israeli election campaign JERUSALEM (Reuters) It’s Bibi against the world on a campaign trail that took the combative Israeli prime minister to a Jewish settlement yesterday.

Enjoying a wide opinion poll lead before a January 22 election, Benjamin Netanyahu has been lecturing the international community - vocal in its criticism of settlement expansion on occupied territory and his hints of military action against Iran about what it should really be worried about.

The right-wing candidate, known by his childhood nickname “Bibi”, has been striving in campaign appearances to strike a common chord in a country where a song titled, “The whole world is against us”, was once a hit.

“The great danger to the world is not from Jews building in our ancestral capital in Jerusalem, it’s from nuclear weapons in Iran,” Netanyahu said on Monday in a speech in the holy city, to which both Israel and the Palestinians stake claims.

A day later, he travelled to Ariel, a major Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, where his government’s granting of

university status to a college last month drew international condemnation.

Tweaking his message to match the locality, Netanyahu said: “The danger to the world is not from the university in Ariel or Israeli construction in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The danger comes from Iran, which is building nuclear weapons.”

Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy only.

Netanyahu has long been at odds with even Israel’s closest Western allies over settlement building in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 war that Palestinians seek as part of a future state.

His tough talk on Iran, hinting heavily that Israel might attack its nuclear facilities unilaterally unless international sanctions persuade Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, has raised the alarm in world capitals.

The civil war in nearby Syria and Israeli fears that Syrian chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist rebels also figure high on Netanyahu’s campaign list of eye-openers for foreign leaders.

“I call on the world to wake up. History will judge

AIG may join bailout lawsuit against U.S. government NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) American International Group Inc, the insurer rescued by the U.S. government in 2008 with a bailout that ultimately totaled $182 billion, drew angry condemnation yesterday after it said it may join a lawsuit against the government alleging the terms of the deal were unfair.

A leading congressional Democrat called criticism of the deal’s terms “utterly ridiculous,” and former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer - who probed AIG when he was in office - called the prospect of a suit “insulting to the public.”

The White House declined to comment on the potential for a lawsuit but defended the bailout.

Meanwhile, newly elected Senator Elizabeth Warren, feared by Wall Street as a potential thorn in its side on the Senate Banking Committee, called the suit talk “outrageous” and said the company should not “bite the hand that fed them for helping them out in a crisis.”

The move would be something of a shock, given that AIG just launched a highprofile television ad campaign

called “Thank you, America,” in which it offers the public its gratitude for the bailout.

On Tuesday, the company promoted the ads on Twitter, even as it came under fire over the lawsuit.

AIG said its board would meet Wednesday to discuss joining a lawsuit filed against the government by the insurer’s former chief executive, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg.

Greenberg, whose Starr International owned 12 percent of AIG before its nearcollapse, has accused the New York Fed of using the rescue to bail out Wall Street banks at the expense of shareholders, and of being a “loan shark” by charging exorbitant interest of 14.5 percent on the initial loan.

“If AIG enters this suit it would be the equivalent of a patient suing their doctor for saving their life,” said Mark Williams, a former Federal Reserve bank examiner who teaches in the finance department at Boston University.

A federal judge in Manhattan already dismissed one of Greenberg’s suits in November; it is being appealed.

Benjamin Netanyahu severely those who equate democratic Israel, which is establishing a university (in Ariel), to those tyrannical regimes slaughtering their countrymen and possessing weapons of mass destruction,” he said during his visit to the settlement.

Running under the campaign slogan, “A strong prime minister, a strong Israel”, Netanyahu’s Likud party, allied in the election with the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu faction, has lost some ground to a startup far-right party led by hightech millionaire Naftali Bennett.

But opinion polls still count Netanyahu as a shooin to enlist right-wing parties after the vote and form the next coalition government. In Israel, no single party has ever won a parliamentary majority.

Bennett, a former settler leader, opposes a Palestinian state and wants to annex about 60 percent of the West Bank.

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Three accused in Indian rape case finally get legal help NEW DELHI (Reuters) Three of the men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student have asked lawyers to defend them and the lawyers have agreed to do so, even though most of the judiciary has refused to represent the suspects because of outrage over the attack.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being beaten and gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street.

Protests followed, along with a fierce public debate over police failure to stem rampant violence against women.

Five men and a teenager have been accused of the December 16 attack but with public anger simmering, most lawyers in the district where the trial will be held have ruled out representing them.

But two lawyers, V. K. Anand and Manohar Lal Sharma, offered to defend the five men when they appeared in a New Delhi court for the first time on Monday, despite the condemnation of their legal colleagues. The lawyers said yesterday three of the five had asked to be represented by them. “I understand the sentiments of the people. But you cannot go by sentiments,” Anand told Reuters. “The accused have a right to justice just as the victim has.”

Legal experts had said a lack of representation for the five could give grounds for appeal if they were found

guilty. Convictions in similar cases have often been overturned years later.

The five accused men are facing various charges including murder, rape and abduction and prosecutors have said they would seek the death penalty.

Anand said he would represent Ram Singh, the driver of the bus on which the rape took place, and had a preliminary meeting with him on Tuesday to work on a defense plan.

“There are many aspects. He has conceded some things and also talked about the role of others,” Anand said. He declined to go into details.

The other lawyer, Sharma, said he would also be representing Singh as well as two other men.

The court must confirm the two lawyers as defenders when it next convenes on January 10.

The other two of the five accused men had yet to ask for legal representation, the lawyers said. The sixth member of the group, who is a teenager, will be tried separately in a juvenile court. On Monday, Anand and Sharma were heckled when they offered to defend the men during rowdy scenes in court before the pre-trial hearing.

Sharma said denying the men a legal defense would only make it easier for courts to throw out the case if not now, then later, if it went to an appeal.

Since their arrest soon after the assault on the woman and a male companion, the men have not had any lawyers. Police have conducted extensive

interrogations of the men and say they have recorded confessions “This is a critical, complicated case. All the more reason it should be tried in a fair manner,” said Sharma, who practices at the Supreme Court.

The case has shone a light on a widespread problem of violence against women but also the failure of the criminal justice system to bring the guilty to justice in a country where official statistics show a rape is reported every 20 minutes. The case will be heard in a special fast-track process, set up after the attack, but some legal experts have warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India in some cases led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.

Anand said comments by the woman’s male companion, who was badly beaten, about how they were left unattended afterwards and how the police wrangled over whose jurisdiction the crime had been committed in had exposed lapses in the investigation.

“This is not an open and shut case,” Anand said. He did not go into specifics.

The woman’s friend told Zee television that passersby left the pair lying unclothed and bleeding in the street while police officers argued over where to take them after they arrived 45 minutes later.

Police said the first police van reached the scene four minutes after it was called and took the man and the woman to hospital within 24 minutes.

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Wednesday Januaey 09, 2013

Iran’s medical crisis deepens as economy sputters TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — For the first time in more than a decade, the black market pharmaceutical peddlers are back on Nasser Khosrow Street near Tehran’s main bazaar.

“Medicine, medicine,” the street dealers shout. “Any kind you want.”

Business is brisk. For many Iranians, such underground channels are now the only way to get needed — or even life-saving — drugs as Western sanctions over the country’s nuclear program have indirectly limited normal supplies to hospitals and pharmacies.

But for others, even the sidewalk touts are not an option. Iran’s sinking currency has more than doubled the prices of some of the imported medicines and supplies, potentially putting them out of reach for lowerincome patients.

While medicine and humanitarian supplies are not blocked by the economic embargoes on Iran, the pressures are clearly evident in nearly every level of Iranian health care. It’s a sign of the domino effect of sanctions on

routes or by simply carrying shipments by hand, but the prices can be even higher than on regular shelves.

“You pay in advance and I will bring the medicine you need later,” said Behzad, a street medicine dealer who would give only his first name.

“We have all sorts of medicines: European, Indian or Chinese. It depends on your budget.”

The economic blows from sanctions are most acutely

felt in key industries such as oil, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of Iran’s foreign revenue. On Monday, the head of Iran’s parliamentary budget committee, Gholam Reza Kateb, said receipts from oil and gas exports have fallen by 45 percent in the past nine months. The announcement appeared part of political early warnings before expected austerity measures in March that will likely include major tax hikes.

But Iranian authorities also know the challenges of trying to squeeze more money from an economy showing serious signs of strain.

Cheaper Asian parts and products are increasingly taking the place of Western goods. Factories depending on imported raw materials are struggling to stay in operation. Prices for nearly everything — including health services and medicine — continue to climb as the rial stumbles along at about one-third its exchange rate value compared with 18 months ago.

“I’ll decide whose turn it is,” barked emergency nurse Zahra Rahmati at the staterun hospital in central Tehran, where dozens of patients clamored for attention.

Scenes of overcrowded state hospitals are now

common across Iran after fees for private health care have nearly doubled in recent months. The costs in staterun facilities are far cheaper, but that also comes with shortages and long waits.

“Sometimes we don’t even have serum for dehydrated patients, said a young doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was worried that comments to the media could jeopardize his job at a state-run hospital.

The prices for other items have soared in recent months: radiology film up 240 percent; helium gas for MRIs up 667 percent; filters for kidney dialysis up 325 percent. The cost of one round of chemotherapy for cancer has reached 200 million rials, or $65,000, from 800 million rials, or $25,000, last year.

The independent Hamshari daily quoted a father — who was not named in the article — as saying his child died because he couldn’t afford the higher price of an artificial heart valve.

At a major pharmacy in Tehran, a 53-year-old father slumped over — his head in his hands — as he looked at the prices for medicine for his teenage daughter, who is suffering from stomach cancer.

JAMMU, India (Reuters) - India accused old enemy Pakistan of sending troops across the heavily militarized line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir yesterday, and said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gunfight.

The body of one of the soldiers was found “badly mutilated” in a forested area of the Himalayan territory on the side controlled by India, said Rajesh K. Kalia, spokesman for the Indian army’s Northern Command.

The army said in a

separate incident later in the day both sides shot at each other for more than an hour across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir.

After that more shots were fired over the line from Pakistan, with no more casualties or injuries, the army said. A Pakistani army spokesman denied what he said were Indian allegations of “unprovoked firing”.

He branded India’s allegations “propaganda” to divert attention away from a clash along the line two days earlier in which Pakistan had

said one of its soldiers was killed after an Indian incursion. India denied its troops crossed over.

India considers the entire region of snow-capped mountains and fertile valleys an integral part of its territory.

Pakistan contests that and demands implementation of a 1948 U.N. Security Council resolution for a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

(Reuters) - Britain will host an international meeting to plan for the period after Syrian President Bashar alAssad’s “inevitable” departure, the Foreign Office said yesterday.

The meeting will take place today and tomorrow, and delegates will include Syria experts, academics in post-conflict stabilisation, representatives of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) opposition group and other

agencies.

The gathering highlights jitters over the shape of a post-Assad Syria, and experts fear regional and sectarian rivalries could extend the bloodshed and destabilise other countries in the strategically sensitive and volatile region.

“Aim is to galvanise planning for political transition in Syria,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Twitter.

“Assad’s departure from power is inevitable. Vital that international community plans ahead for the day after in Syria,” he said.

Hague, along with other Western leaders, dismissed a defiant speech by Assad on Sunday, which the Syrian president billed as peace plan but in which he rejected talks with his opponents.

Rebels described the speech as a renewed declaration of war.

An Iranian pharmacist arranges medicine on shelves at a pharmacy in central Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) everyday life.

Restrictions on Iran’s access to international banking networks mean major obstacles to pay for imported medicine and equipment — the same troubles facing many businesses in need of shipments from abroad.

Meanwhile, the nation’s slumping currency — seen as

collateral damage from sanctions — has driven up prices sharply. An imported wheelchair now costs 10 times more than last fall. A blood-sugar test kit has more than doubled to 540,000 rials, or about $18.

The black market still finds ways to get medical supplies through smuggling

India accuses Pakistan of killing soldiers in Kashmir

UK meeting plans for possible post-Assad Syria

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55 hrs. Sign On 09:00 hrs. GMA 10:00 hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 11:00 hrs. The Ricki Lake Show 12:00 hrs. The View 13:00 hrs. Prime News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

13:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 14:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00 hrs. The Talk 16:00 hrs. MacGyver 17:00 hrs. The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 hrs. World News 18:30 hrs. The Wayans Bros 19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Channel 8 News 21:00 hrs. I Get That a Lot 22:00 hrs. People’s Choice Awards 2013 00:00 hrs. Sign Off MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 Sign on 06:00 hrs - Islamic

Perspective 06:30 hrs - News Update 07:00 hrs - DAYBREAK 08:00 hrs - Dabi’s musical 08:30 hrs - Avon DVD Musical 09:00 hrs - GINA programme 09:15 hrs - Top Notch Music Break 09:30 hrs - Caribbean Temptation Music Mix 10:00 hrs - Amanda’s Costume jewellery musical 10:30 hrs - BBC World News 11:00 hrs - National geographic 12:00 hrs - The View 13:00 hrs - Village talk 13:30 hrs - The Young and The Restless 14:30 hrs - Days of Our lives

15:00 hrs - General Hospital 16:00 hrs - The Bold and The Beautiful 16:30 hrs - Cartoons 17:00 hrs - Birthday and other greetings 17:15 hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30 hrs - Sitcom 18:00 hrs - Aracari Resort Hour 19:00 hrs - Fire fest Update 19:30 hrs - News Update 20:30 hrs - DJ Stress Update 21:30 hrs - English Movie: Click 23:00 hrs - News update 23:30 hrs - English Movie: Click continues Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Wednesday January 09, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Someone at work might ask for your help today, but there could be more trouble here than meets the eye. Be careful about what you do, for your behavior may create big expectations that you cannot fulfill.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your life is at a critical junction now that new information is being thrown your way, bringing complex issues out into the open.

Thankfully, your growing knowledge base enables you to make better decisions.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) It may be easier to make plans now than to actually execute them. Your key planet Venus lures you to envision the future as she joins three other planets in your 9th House of Big Ideas.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You transform into a private investigator today when unexpected things happen for no apparent reason. However, your current dilemma might even stump Sherlock Holmes, himself.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You may be inclined to set aside your responsibilities today and do things that bring you momentary pleasure. Unfortunately, it might not be that simple to find people to join your party because others may be more serious than you now.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) You feel as if you’re completely in charge today, but this sense of authority is probably more illusion than truth. It’s not that your life is running amok; it’s just that circumstances can unfold without your expressed permission.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Your emotional sensitivity means that you don’t miss much, so it’s challenging for someone with mixed motives to get past your radar.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) You’re not happy that your to-do list seems longer than ever now. Perhaps you need to rethink your workload and consider why you try to do so much.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Just when you thought you were done processing all the emotions that were lurking in your subconscious, you realize that there are more hidden feelings buried out of sight.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You might feel as if time is running out, but the faster you attempt to complete what’s on your plate, the slower everything appears to move now. If you panic, time may even seem to stop for a while.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) You may be acting as if life is fine today, but you’re probably worried that something isn’t going your way. Although feisty Mars occupies your 1st House of Personality, others can see your concerns lurking just behind your enthusiasm.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) As if your relationships with friends and associates haven’t been complicated enough, a whole new dimension of depth and intrigue can emerge now.

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Guyana’s oldest, Ismay Spooner, dies at 112 Guyana’s oldest died peacefully at her Little Africa, Skeldon, Corriverton home yesterday.

Mrs. Ismay Spooner, who turned 112 years a few days ago, died at her relative, Iris February’s home.

Ismay was born in Barbados on December 27, 1900 to Bajan parents. Her father, Livingstone, died before she was born, but her mother Louise, lived to the ripe old age of 102. Her two brothers and two sisters are all deceased. She married Harold Spooner, a caneharvester in British Guiana.

He is also deceased.

The centenarian had recounted that she left Barbados at age 10, with her mother and uncles, for British Guiana.

During an interview back in 2011, Mrs. Spooner said that she left Barbados at age 10, with her mother and uncles, for British Guiana “during the indentureship period”. “They were carrying people all about to [build] Panama [Canal]; to different places”, she said.

“Cutting cane was a hard work, a very hard work. Rain a fall and beat yuh till yuh…Oh Lord have mercy…when a rain fall, yuh shiver like a leaf on a tree,” she reminisced.

“Plenty people come with me and they go away back to Barbados.”

During the hardship, she said that some of her family members returned to

Barbados but she refused since she could not handle “the running up and down”.

She settled on the Corentyne where she lived until her passing.

Her only child, Elsie, died several years ago in Scotland.

“Me work hard a Backdam, cut cane and weed grass, throw manure, build punt, break brick, fetch bagasse, and that time, six cents was expensive you know ,” she said.

“You didn’t have paper money. When you had paper money, you feel you big, silver money and copper. A penny could’ve given you four things. You could’ve gone and buy ½ cent biscuit and ½ cent sugar and you get a whole set. You mad to go and call for a cent sugar now?

“So the money was small but you get the value”, she recalled. She also performed a few domestic chores for some people on the Corentyne. “My dear, I worked like a slave. I hear

people talk about work; I work at people kitchen from morning till night,” she said.

She loved to talk about her many visions during dreams in which she saw “in the clouds, a chariot coming from the East” with people who stopped and she entered, hearing, “I go take you to Heaven you know” and asked her to “look upstairs at a rainbow”.

“Me never see a house big so, a tower,” she said. She stated that she saw a man who told her to enter the tower and told her he will take her to heaven. “Me can’t describe this place how this place nice. Me kneel down on me knee and pray for mercy.”

She said that the man told her that God will pardon her and have mercy on her. Her life changed then and she became a Christian.

“If I didn’t accept that message from the Lord, I wouldn’t be here today”.

She shared more stories about visions of the heavens and transparent houses in the sky.

If she has gone to that place then she is truly happy, now. Perhaps when she drew he last breath about noon yesterday, she was seeing that “place” she always saw.

She loved to eat hassar and gillbacker but stopped shortly after becoming a Seventh – Day Adventist a few years ago.

She recalled that she had “seven accidents”. She fell down a few times and on one occasion when some boys

Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, says that his administration will not make another application for a broadcast licence to establish a television station within the Region.

According to him, the Regional Administration has already sent in an application, and that is the most it will do based on the understanding of the agreement that was signed with the National Frequency Management Unit.

In his comment to the media on Monday, Solomon said the Regional Administration is prepared to broadcast even without being granted a licence.

“They can say we are lawbreakers,” he said.

“They can call it what they want.”

He noted that at the time that agreement was signed, there was nothing like the National Broadcasting Authority. “ “When we signed that agreement, President

(Bharrat) Jagdeo had already given ten licences just before he demitted office.

It means, then, Solomon said, that the government could have granted a licence when the agreement was signed.

He contended that what the opposition did, as in the case of the electricity tariff hike, was to discuss with the government without engaging the Regional Administrations (and) sign on to the National Broadcasting Authority.

This, he stressed, has prompted the government to state that the National Broadcasting Authority exists and that the Regional Administration has to apply to that body for a Broadcasting licence.

“We’re saying no. We are saying that the agreement predates the National Broadcasting Authority. If we had known what we know now, we would not have signed that agreement.”

Solomon said that the

Region Ten Administration has formed a Regional Information Management Committee (RIMC), which will exercise oversight on information-gathering and dissemination within the Region and influence information policies set by the Region’s Democratic Council.

The RIMC will not act as a business entity, but will be limited to policy formulation on behalf of the people of the Region, including greater access to hotspots and broadband internet connection.

The RIMC will be responsible for appointing a Board that will run the day to day affairs of the proposed television station.

Four young people have already been identified for training to work in various capacities at the proposed television station.

A Management Board will include a private investor, who will act in the capacity of Chief Executive Officer of the station.

By Leon Suseran

Dead: 112-year-old Mrs. Ismay Spooner

Region 10 pushing ahead with TV station…regardless

KN’s Leon Suseran with Mrs Spooner during a visit in 2011 who were playing were playing with an iron roller upstairs, she got hit on the face since she was standing below.

Ms Iris February started to take care of her in 2002, after she saw Mrs Spooner was living alone in an unsafe home. February said that she enjoyed caring for old people.

She once took care of other old people in Georgetown.

February told this

newspaper that Mrs. Spooner had some relatives on the Corentyne, but they did not really visit. She added that Mrs. Spooner did not receive NIS pension, but received old age pension and $720 per week from the Sugar Estate.

“She drank a lot of porridge and [ate] provision and so”, she said.

Asked about the secret to her longevity, Mrs. Spooner had stated, “I can’t tell you. I

can’t tell you that. God knows”.

She said she had asked God a few times before to take her away since she was struggling with some pains (from her accidents), saying, “Father, what me a do here.

Put me to my rest”, but He told her, “When I am ready, I will put you to rest. I am your doctor.” Mrs Spooner lost her sight a long time ago but was still a talkative, jovial old lady full of stories and songs to give praise to her God. Fulfilling her long dream to have a radio to listen to church programmes and preaching, the New Jersey Arya Samaj Humanitarian Mission, in 2011, donated a transistor radio and other items to Mrs Spooner.

Pandit Suresh Sugrim was one of the persons who visited Mrs Spooner on an annual basis, taking love and material goodies for her. He was saddened at her death.

“I extend my deepest sympathies and am very sad...With the years of visiting her and maintaining her, it’s unfortunate— whatever she wanted, I always tried to meet her expectations... may her soul rest in peace”.

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Bowled over! Hamilton hits the Kashif & Shanghai 2012/13 Chico spot as birthday-boy revs up for U-13 football restarts Saturday F1 title challenge Birthday-boy Lewis Hamilton took time out from his gruelling training regime to enjoy a spot of ten-pin bowling with long-term girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger as he gears up for his first season Mercedes.

Hamilton celebrated turning 28 on Monday with the pop star and X-Factor judge but many believe he has his work cut out if he is not to strike out with his new team after turning his back on McLaren. The 2008 world champion is pulling out of the stops to ensure he is in tiptop condition for the daunting task of turning Mercedes into frontrunners by working out in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Hamilton will then spend time at the simulator at Mercedes’ base in Brackley, Oxfordshire later this month before finally getting behind the wheel of his new machine for real in early February at the first pre-season test in Jerez, Southern Spain.

After a break due to the inclement weather and other incidentals the Kashif & Shanghai Chico U-13 Inter Primary School Football Competition is set to resume on Saturday 12th January, 2013 at the GFC Ground commencing at 13:00hrs.

Four matches are fixed for the day (see attached fixtures) and the competition promises to be keen.

Meanwhile, the organisers has stated that

Lewis Hamilton posted picture of him with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger After just two further tests in Barcelona, Hamilton and the rest of the Formula One circus head down under to Australia for the 2013 season opener in Melbourne on March 17.

Damon Hill expects the coming campaign to be another tightly contested affair. ‘In the old days there was only ever one team worth driving for, so you had the two best guys in the same

team fighting over attention,’ said the 1996 world champion.

‘Now you have more than one team and four guys with their own teams. You could look at 2013 like this: Jenson Button’s got McLaren, Lewis has got Mercedes, Fernando Alonso’s got Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel’s got Red Bull, and Kimi Raikkonen’s got Lotus. The reality of the situation is that any of them could win.’

Tucville Primary has violated the rules of the tournament by playing students who attend Lodge Secondary and other schools which is totally against the regulations. This tournament is for persons who attend the respective primary schools who are participating and as such they have lost the matches and the points and two (2) goals have been awarded to the opposing teams. At the team briefing this was ventilated

and highlighted with the representatives.

The Min of Education has been informed of the decision on this matter and will also be informed of the recommencement of the tournament on the aforementioned days and time. The organisers are reminding that they are awaiting the registration forms with the relevant Names of the Students, DOB and Principal’s Signature.

U13 Chico Inter School Tournament - Fixtures Day 3: Sat 12th Jan 2013 13:00 hrs Company Road Primary vs Grove Primary 14:00 hrs BV Quamina Primary vs Uitvlugt Primary 15:00 hrs Tucville Primary vs Soesdyke Primary 16:00 hrs West Ruimveldt Primary vs St Gabriel’s Primary Day 4: Sun 13th Jan 2013 13:00 hrs 3rd Group “A” vs 4th Group “B” 14:00 hrs 3rd Group “B” vs 4th Group “A” 15:00 hrs 1st Group “A” vs 2nd Group “B” 16:00 hrs 1st Group “B” vs 2nd Group “A” Day 5: Sun 20th Jan 2013 13:00 hrs Loser of Mt 13 vs 14 – (7th place play off) 14:00 hrs Winner of Mt 13 vs 14 – (5th place play off) 15:00 hrs Loser of Mt 15 vs 16 – (3rd place play off) 16:00 hrs Winner of Mt 15 vs 16 – (FINALS) Points standing: GROUP “A” Teams Mt P W D L GF GA Grove Primary 2 2 0 0 3 0 Soesdyke Primary 2 1 0 1 8 1 Company Road 2 1 0 1 2 8

GD +3 +7 -6

Pts 6 3 3

FIFA/CONCACAF joint mission for Guyana this week Representatives from the world governing body for football, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) are expected in Guyana this week to meet with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and other stakeholders in an effort to bring an end to the impasse between the Federation and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA).

The visit of the combined

team would have been prompted by the ongoing Court matter instituted by the GFA against the GFF and which has resulted in the polarisation of aspects of football for more than a year in Guyana.

The FIFA / CONCACAF team will comprise CONCACAF President Mr. Jeffrey Webb, Lawyer Mr. Bruce Blake, Director of Public Affairs Ms. Felicitas Colombo, and FIFA’s Mr. Thierry Regenass and Mr. Marco Leal.

The team will meet with the relevant parties and, as

Jeffrey Webb stated in a letter from FIFA, the aim is to find an amicable and prompt resolution to the present matter. The meetings will be held on Thursday.

GCB CONGRATULATES PERMAUL & TEAM ON HARD FOUGHT VICTORY The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is especially pleased and proud of this hard earned victory that you and the team achieved in our opening game on Monday evening against the CCC team.

Congrats!!! We do recognize that this victory was not easily achieved, after being well placed for 75% of our innings and faltering during the lower middle order segment of our batting, but

we are extremely proud of the mental resolve and the never say die attitude that was displayed towards the end of the match.

We are confident in your ability as a team and trust that remedial measures would be put in place to correct whatever shortfalls may have been discovered during this first match so that we could continue to grow from strength to strength in coming out victorious in all

of our remaining matches.

Once again, congratulations on your first victory! The GCB and the entire Guyanese population stand strongly behind you and urge that you continue to motivate yourself and the team to utilize all the skills and experiences accumulated over the years in bringing back some pride and joy to the cricket deprived nation of Guyana.

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Shane Warne defends Big Bash Powerlifting – Success story... bust-up with Marlon Samuels

Shane Warne defends Big Bash bust-up with Marlon Samuels Former Australia spinner Shane Warne has defended his behaviour after his confrontation with Marlon Samuels in the Big Bash tournament on Sunday.

Warne, who was suspended on Tuesday as his Melbourne Stars side beat Sydney Thunder by 13 runs to reach the semi-finals of the

Twenty20 event, said: “[Sunday] was emotion and passion.

“Sometimes we like to see that in sport - we’re not robots. “But I overstepped the line. I apologise for my behaviour.”

Warne, 43, the secondhighest Test wicket taker of all time, exchanged words

with West Indian Samuels during the Melbourne derby between the Stars and Renegades.

The leg spinner, who took 708 Test match wickets at an average of 25.41, then hit Samuels with the ball while fielding, prompting the 31year-old to throw his bat in the direction of the Australian.

Samuels was later hit in the eye and the injury has ended his participation in the Australian tournament, with E n g l a n d Tw e n t y 2 0 s t a r Alex Hales called up to replace him. Warne was fined £2,900 (AU $4,500) by Cricket Australia and suspended for Tuesday’s fixture over the altercation.

“Sitting here and doing detention is not easy,” he admitted when interviewed in the stands during the game against the Thunder.

Emmanuel Adebayor to represent Togo at Nations Cup 2013 BBC Sport - Tottenham forward Emmanuel Adebayor has reversed his decision not to represent Togo at January’s Africa Cup of Nations, leaving Spurs with Jermain Defoe as their only recognised striker.

The 28-year-old initially planned to remain with his club because of a row over team security and unpaid bonuses. But he will now go to the tournament in South Africa, which starts on 19 January, and may miss six Spurs games. It is undecided whether he will be available for Saturday’s match at QPR. Adebayor met up with the Togo squad in Ghana for their pre-tournament training camp, but Tottenham are hopeful he can fly back for the trip to Loftus Road before heading off again.

After QPR, Tottenham host Manchester United on

Emmanuel Adebayor 20 January before travelling to Leeds or Birmingham in the FA Cup on 26 Jan. Away games against Norwich and West Brom precede the visit of Newcastle on 9 February, with the Cup of Nations ending a day later.

Adebayor has scored only three goals in 17 appearances this season but

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas had been counting on him for January.

“At the moment we benefit from that situation,” Villas-Boas said of Adebayor’s original decision to suspend his international career. “We’ll probably have the player here in January, which is a massive boost as you know, it gives me other options and possibilities. “[He is] very very important, we are speaking about a player that has meant so much to us.”

In Adebayor’s absence, the goalscoring burden will rest largely with Defoe, who has struck 14 times in 28 appearances this season.

Winger Gareth Bale is second in Tottenham’s scoring charts on 11 goals, while forward Clint Dempsey has six and winger Aaron Lennon three.

Unique Entertainment/Banks Premium Beer Futsal to kick off January 25 - 24 Linden teams to clash for $500,000 first prize Beginning January 25, Futsal heads to the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court as 24 teams are set to battle it out in the inaugural Unique Entertainment Banks DIH Sponsored tournament.

Held under the Banks Premium Beer brand, the tournament will fetch a $500,000 first prize while

second place will go home with $300,000 and third place $150,000.

This is the first time that Unique Entertainment is venturing out into organizing a sporting event and according to the entity, the response has been great, given the fact that already 12 teams have registered.

Registration forms can be

uplifted in front of the LEND (formally LEAP) Building on Republic Avenue in Linden and no fee is attached.

According to the Unique Entertainment group, apart from heavy incentives for players, fans can also cash in on the nightly Premium Beer give-a-ways in several novelty events catered for the spectators.

From page 37 to accommodate Powerlifting, Weightlifting and Bodybuilding.

“I am personally involved with the design which will be presented to the Minister of Sport with our annual Year in Review Report. Much needed equipment for the Regions will also be requested so that our schools programme can be launched.”

With regard to the Business Community; they have been tremendously generous to the lifters individually and federation as a whole with contributions tripling the amount infused by Government.

“Simply put, the business community has been the lifeline of this sport. Without their belief and generosity many of the achievements made by our athletes, notably Winston Stoby, Randolph Morgan, Vijay Rahim and Dawn Barker among others would not have been possible.

Guyana would have been just a footnote in the history of powerlifting but instead, our lifters are making history and are acclaimed among the

best in the world.”

“Indeed, on behalf of the federation, I am very grateful and humble for all the support from all quarters as well as the negative criticisms as it has only made me much stronger in service to powerlifting.”

Goals for 2013 “In looking ahead to the new year, firstly, it must be known that we are one of the few organizations that hold Annual Elections without fail.

As the current President, I have goals for 2013 but I cannot state with any degree of certainty until elections have been completed. No one can ever say if they will be elected the following year.

Nevertheless whether I am

returned as President or not, I would like to see the sport have the following: A Strength Sports Center; Equipment for Schools and Centers; More Internationally Certified Referees; More competitions such as Raw or Unequipped/Joint Services; The launching of the GAPF long overdue Magazine; Financial stability through an improved Marketing Strategy; More World Champions.

I would like to on behalf of the federation wish all our athletes and fellow countrymen and women a Blessed Christmas and a Productive and Healthy New Year.

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Subdued Serena set for sixth title at Melbourne Park MELBOURNE (Reuters) A belated discovery that tranquility makes a useful ally in the pursuit of glory has Serena Williams in the box seat to win a third consecutive grand slam title at the Australian Open next week.

The Williams of explosive on-court tantrums and offcourt drama has largely been banished, and a calmer, more mature prototype arrives at Melbourne Park with her game rivaling the peak of her brilliant career.

Pundits are already talking up the chances of a sequel to the “Serena Slam” the non-calendar grand slam that the 31-year-old American completed during the 2002-03 seasons - and Williams herself believes the best is yet to come.

“I was looking at a lot of old matches on YouTube, and I feel like right now I’m playing some of my best tennis,” she said after winning the Brisbane International at the weekend.

“I feel like I want to do better and play better still, and I’ve always felt like I

Serena Williams could play better.”

William’s smooth preparations for the year’s first grand slam lie in stark contrast to her troubled leadin to the 2012 tournament,

when she arrived in Melbourne with a foot injury after a season blighted by illness and injury.

Having played two matches in five months,

Williams strained ligaments in her ankle at the warm-up tournament in Brisbane, and lasted four rounds at Melbourne Park before being dumped by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.

A sensational first-round loss at the French Open sparked another round of career obituaries by sports writers. But Williams, who had survived a lifethreatening blood clot in her lungs the previous year, began rebuilding her game with the help of French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

In a four-month blitz, Williams clinched her fifth Wimbledon trophy, singles and doubles gold at the London Olympics and her 15th grand slam title at the U.S. Open, underlining her status as one of the greatest players to grace the game.

She then capped the year by winning the seasonending WTA finals in Istanbul without dropping a set.

RELAXEDAPPROACH Williams, who lost the U.S. Open final in 2011 to Australia’s Sam Stosur and the 2009 semi-final to Kim

Clijsters following explosive outbursts at match officials, credited her stunning second half of the season to a more relaxed approach to her game.

“I really think starting in 2011, the summer, I really started being more calm on the court and just relaxing more, if it’s possible for me to relax,” Williams said at the Brisbane International.

“I feel better when I’m more calm.” A serene Serena is bad news for her rivals, who have already conceded her world ranking of three is scandalously inaccurate, and likely to be corrected in short time.

World number one Victoria Azarenka, the defending Australian Open champion, came close to upsetting Williams in the tense U.S. Open final, but the Belarusian finished the year 0-5 against the American.

Curiously, Azarenka dodged a re-match in the Brisbane semi-final against Williams last week, blaming a toe infection caused by a bad pedicure.

World number two Maria

Sharapova completed a career grand slam with victory at the French Open, but lost all three of her encounters to Williams last year, including a stinging 6-0 6-1 loss for the Olympic singles gold at London.

“It’s surprising to win two grand slams, the Olympics, Madrid and the Championships and to be number three,” Mouratoglou said after Williams won in Istanbul. “If there is a bug somewhere (in the rankings system), someone has to find it.”

Williams can fix it with her own racquet by winning a sixth Australian Open title, a feat achieved only by Australia’s Margaret Court in the modern era.

That would see her succeed compatriot Chris Evert as the oldest world number one in women’s tennis - a nice, albeit sobering idea for Williams.

“I’m really boring now,” Williams said in Brisbane. “I used to be fun. “I could be the oldest number one. I don’t know how that goes with the funnest.”

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Hungary and Bulgaria sanctioned to play without spectators The FIFA Disciplinary Committee yesterday, 8 January 2013 notified the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) and Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) of sanctions imposed at the meeting of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on 20 November 2012.

Following the friendly match between Hungary and Israel, played on 15 August 2012 in Budapest, Hungary, FIFA was informed by FARE (Football Against Racism Europe), the Israelitische Kultusgmeinde Wien, and the Centre Simon Wiesenthal, that a group of supporters had chanted anti-Semitic chants, and displayed other offensive symbols.

Following an extensive investigation, during which the MLSZ acknowledged and regretted the behaviour of a group of Hungarian supporters, the members of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee were unanimous in condemning an abhorrent episode of racism, antiSemitism, and of political provocative and aggressive nature perpetrated by

supporters of the Hungarian national team.

After taking into account the full circumstances of the case, and in particular due to the gravity of the incidents, the Committee decided that the next home match of the ‘A’ representative team of Hungary in the preliminary competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ (Hungary v Romania on 22 March 2013) will be played without spectators. The Committee also decided to impose a fine of CHF 40,000 on the MLSZ. In the preliminary Competition match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ between Bulgaria and Denmark on 12 October 2012, it was reported by both the referee and the Match Commissioner, that as well as two fireworks being thrown onto the pitch in the 7th minute, Denmark’s Patrick Mtiliga was subjected to racist abuse by a group of Bulgarian supporters each time he touched the ball after entering the field in the 54th minute.

In the 73rd minute, the Match Commissioner spoke

to the 4th official, and a public address warning was given to the home fans by the announcer. Although the level of abuse subsided, audible racist abuse still continued until the final whistle.

Following the opening of disciplinary proceedings on 17 October 2012, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee analysed the match officials’ reports, reports from FARE, as well as the position of the BFU. The Committee agreed that the offensive, denigratory and discriminatory actions of a small group of Bulgarian supporters, was shameful and a clear breach of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC). In addition, the incendiary devices thrown, which can pose considerable threats to personal safety, are also not tolerated.

In conclusion, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, taking into account once more the gravity of the circumstances, decided that the next home match of the ‘A’ representative team of

Barbados brush aside Jamaica

Carlos Brathwaite traps Tamar Lambert LBW. He took career-best 4-23. (WICB Photo/Randy Brooks) PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Barbados brushed aside Jamaica by 5 wickets in the fourth game of the Caribbean Twenty20 at Queen’s Park Oval here yesterday.

Chasing 73 to win, Barbados scored 73 for five off 11.2 overs. The not out

batsmen were Shane Dowrich on 16 and left-hander Kyle Mayers, 17.

Skipper Dwayne Smith was run out for two; his opening partner Justin Brathwaite bowled by left-arm pacer Krishmar Santokie for 23 off ten balls with three

fours and one six. Ryan Hinds was leg before wicket by offspinner Jamie Merchant for six, Jonathan Carter was leg before wicket by Santokie for nought and Shamarh Brooks was bowled on the back foot by left-arm spinner Nikita Miller for one as the Jamaicans scented a remarkable comeback but simple had too few runs on the board.

Santokie took two for 14 off three overs.

Jamaica, who batted first, were bowled out for 72 in 17.3 overs after winning the toss.

Opener Nkrumah Bonner topscored with 21. John Campbell and Krishmar Santokie were the other batsmen into double-figures with 13 each.

Pacer Carlos Brathwaite was the leading wicket-taker with four for 23 off four overs, which earned him the man-ofthe-match award. Hinds picked up three for 12 and fellow left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, two for 14 both off four overs.

Scores: Barbados 73/5 11.2ovrs: Brathwaite 23, Dowrich 16*, Mayers 17*; Wkts: Santokie 3 Merchant 1 Miller 1.

Jamaica 72 Bonner 21: Wkts C. Brathwaite 4, Benn 2, Hinds 3, Best 1.

Result: Barbados won by 5 wickets (with 52 balls remaining).

Bulgaria in the preliminary competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ (Bulgaria v Malta on 22 March 2013), will be played without spectators.

The Committee also decided that due to more than one incident occurring, the minimum fine outlined in art.

58 par. 2 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code was not sufficient, and imposed a fine of CHF 35,000.

The MLZS and BFU have both been warned to their future conduct, and should such incidents of a racist nature occur again, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee would be left with no other option than to impose harsher sanctions, which could go as

far as forfeiting a match, a points deduction, or disqualification from a competition. The costs of each case will also be borne the MLZS and BFU. FIFA strongly condemns all forms of racism in football, and any form of discrimination will not be tolerated and will receive a strong response by the relevant FIFA authorities.

According to Article 67 par. 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the home association is liable for the improper conduct among spectators, regardless of the question of culpable conduct. Article 58 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code - which is also applicable regardless of the question of

culpable conduct - clearly sets out the minimum sanctions at FIFA’s disposal, in the event of discriminatory behaviour.

According to article 96 par. 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, any type of proof may be produced and par. 3 of article 96 provides for a nonexhaustive list of admissible evidence.

The Committee also wishes to underline that, whilst disciplinary infringements are prosecuted ex officio, any person might report conduct that he or she considers incompatible with the regulations of FIFA, to the judicial bodies. (art.108 par. 1 and 2 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code).

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Lumumba challenges FIFA to ensure resolution in Guyana situation President of the Alpha Football Club, Odinga Lumumba, has again written to Football Governing Body FIFA, this time pointing out areas in which the FIFA team that is scheduled to visit here this month should look at in the hope of cleaning up the local game.

He challenged them not to only just spend a day here

because that is not enough time to meet will all stakeholders and to ensure an amicable resolution to the issue.

Citing several instances in the past where he would have communicated with various regional and the governing body of football on the matter here, Lumumba hinted that FIFA should have intervened

a long time ago.

He highlighted several injustices that have been handed down by the Guyana Football Federation over the last decade and the lack of action by FIFA or CONCACAF in his missive.

Among them the GFF’s ill treatment of the Georgetown Football Association; denial of their voting rights which

previous President Colin Klass used to guarantee victory during his 20 year reign in the position.

He observed Guyana’s inability to get its Goal Project off the ground after ten years, despite the release of FIFA funds. Also the match fixing matter in the 2011 CFU leg of the CONCACAF championship and the lack of

action and public statement by the GFF on Klass’ bribery charge in the Bin Hamman vote for cash scandal.

He called on FIFA to bring independent lawyers and take statements from the Guyana Olympic Association, Guyana referee Association, Executives of Clubs, Government Officials and other members of the football fraternity to get a true picture of what is happening here.

Lumumba also indicated that he will continue with his petition drive to form an opposing body to the current GFF if the situation is not properly dealt with and if so called upon, will make himself available when the team visits Guyana.

He recommended a Termination of the current GFF executive, Appointment of five (5) person Interim Management Committee, organising of general elections in all Associations and Affiliated bodies within six (6) months based on terms of conditions of the approved if any FIFA GFF constitution.

Odinga Lumumba These elections he notes; must include conditions that spell out the authenticity of clubs and their rights to participate in voting process of Associations. The Alpha boss also called for an independent investigation of the use of FIFA funds for the past 20 years including the $500,000 for the Goal project and hosting of GFF elections within 9 months.

A FIFA delegation is due this week to look at the Guyana situation and Lumumba is hopeful that his recommendations would be taken into consideration and the situation here is resolved and football can progress as it should.

What a screamer! Stoch beats Neymar and Falcao to goal of the year

Stoch collects the FIFA Puskas award (AFP Getty Images) Daily Mail - Miroslav Stoch won the 2012 FIFA Puskas award for his stunning volley for Fenerbahce against Genclerbirligi.

The winger beat Neymar’s goal for Santos and Radamel Falcao’s strike for Atletico Madrid to win the award on Monday at FIFA’s Ballon D’Or, where Lionel Messi was crowned player of the

year.

But although Slovakian Stoch, who played just five games for Chelsea between 2008 and 2010, is not as highly rated as the other two, his goal certainly deserves the accolade.

Stoch, 23, kept his cool and his balance to superbly volley into the top corner from the edge of the box in a Turkish Super Lig match.

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New Era ENT. March Madness Gayle ends drought with Basketball tournament set for March 9 record half century Eight teams, eight playing dates, $200,000 1st prize The term ‘March Madness’ is more commonly affixed to the USA’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, a singleelimination college basketball tournament that is one of the country’s biggest sporting event.

In Guyana, a group popularly known for their involvement in bringing entertainment to Linden – New Era Entertainment, is ready start Guyana’s own ‘March Madness’ with their Super Eight Club Championship, set to begin on March 9 at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard Court.

“We use to have this tournament a few years ago but now we see that basketball is vibrant again in the community so we want to help keep that alive,” said Aubrey Major Jr. who along with Chris Noel and Winston Fraser together make up the promotional group.

Eight teams will be part of the competition that takes on a win or go home format –

Aubrey Major Jr. Amelia’s Ward Jets, Kashif and Shanghai Kings, Victory Valley Royals, Bulls, Block 22 Flames, Wismar Pistons and Retrieve Raiders with games being played on March 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24 and March 30 for the grand final.

Given the fact that Linden presently only has seven first Division clubs, the organisors of the tournament will be putting together an All-Star team to round off the quota of eight participating teams.

“New Era is known for doing everything big so we want this tournament to be one of the best for the year,” Major added, while he said

“…for the first prize, we’re paying out $200,000, second place $100,000, the third place team will be going home with $75,00 and fourth $25,000.”

With Cell Smart and Ansa McAl being the tournament’s major sponsors so far, Major said that some attractive prizes will also be given out to the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), top scorer and other areas of individualism.

Basketball in the mining community is back on top as it relates to the support shown by the people of the community and the willingness of the players to compete and it is on that note the New Era Ent. Group is hoping that the momentum is carried into their championship.

“We are looking forward to this tournament, we are looking forward to the rivalries to continue and we want everyone to keep supporting basketball because we want to give the players a grand stage to play on and spectatorship,” said Major.

Pork Knockers Promotions Inc. to host Bob Marley 7-a-side football

RAS Aaron Blackman

Bob Marley

Football teams on the East Coast of Demerara and fans will commemorate the birth anniversary of Jamaican and World renowned Reggae Icon, Nesta Robert Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) when Pork Knockers Promotions Inc. in association with Positive Vibes Football Club host a 7-a-side competition starting with a Reggae Night on February 6, next.

The venue is the Paradise Playfield with activities getting underway on the afternoon of the 6th with a lecture on the Life and Times of Brother Bob Marley from 16:00hrs to be followed by the

opening game of the football competition.

According to RAS Aaron Blackman, one of the organizers, the competition will conclude on February 16 under lights at the same venue.

He noted that cash prizes totaling $200,000 along with a trophy donated by Dexter Bryan will be up for the taking as they celebrate and recognize the Life of an Icon whose contributions has made the world a better place through his treasured lyrics promoting African Liberation and World Peace.

Marley’s daughter Cedella describes her father this way:

“He made his reggae music to uplift us, inform, entertain, inspire, and make change in the world. He’s a musician, a poet and songwriter, a philosopher, a soldier, an activist and a leader.”

RAS Blackman is aiming for a positive tournament that will be competitive and entertaining. Bob Marley himself was a keen football player and follower.

Apart from the on field action, Blackman informed that local artistes will be performing Bob Marley’s hits during a show dubbed ‘Reggae Night’ after the final of the football on February 16.

There will also be an exhibition of Rastafarians creative works of art and local cuisine.

Teams and artistes desirous of participating in these events are asked to contact RAS Aaron Blackman (683 8937) or RAs Lionel Langevine (609 0258) for further details.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live! Bob Marley

MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC) - Chris Gayle emerged from a run drought to hit a record half century but the Sydney Thunder squandered his heroics and succumbed to a 13 run loss against the Melbourne Stars in the Australian Big Bash League Tuesday.

Gayle finally got going in the tournament powering his way to a fiery 65 but it was not enough as the Stars’ pace attack ripped through the Thunder’s middle order.

The Thunder were dismissed for 132 off 19.1 overs as the Stars successfully defended a mediocre total of 145 for 8 at Melbourne.

The West Indies opening batsman shrugged off a dreadful personal series, to unleash the mighty blows for which he’s famous around the world.

He raced to the fastest half-century of the tournament in just 25 deliveries, pounding boundaries around the

compass and two towering blows into the Great Southern Stand.

His 65 off just 43 balls included four sixes and six fours.

Gayle’s array of shots included thumping Jackson Bird over the sightscreen in the second over and clubbing 19 runs from John Hastings’ first over, as well as a contemptuous slap that cleared the longest boundary on the ground at midwicket.

However the Stars’ belated ability to bowl some dot balls to him after his 50 eventually brought his downfall via a catch to Glenn Maxwell, who clung almost for life itself to an ambitious pull shot off Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Gayle’s departure swung the momentum in favour of the Stars who cashed in on some rash late Sydney Thunder batting to grind out a 13-run win and advance to the semi-finals.

Thunder have consigned

Chris Gayle themselves to a winless season and a 13th straight loss as a franchise.

Stars’ win also keeps alive the career of Captain Shane Warne who is expected to lead his charges in the penultimate round after being banned from Tuesday’s game due to an on field altercation with West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels.

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Athletics sustain momentum and growth

By Edison Jefford There is absolutely no doubt that local track and field has sustained a busy schedule domestically and internationally last year following the new Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) proposal to robustly expose athletes and generate corporate interest in the sport.

When former national sprinter and now Deputy Superintendent of Police, Colin Boyce took over the AAG in 2009 from years of dormancy and ineptitude, he announced that his primary aim will be ensuring athletics occupy a prominent place on the local calendar of sport.

His simple, but effective plan was to ensure that Guyana competes internationally more regularly and to add signature calendar events that would attract corporate support. He accomplished those goals with the sport and athletes benefitting from the infusion.

Using last year as the climax of what has happened

under Boyce’s first tenure as President of the AAG, would indicate several enchanting positives for the sport that need to continue if track and field in Guyana is to occupy a place among the other top disciplines.

Taking a closer look at what has been one of the main bugbears for the development of sport that is lack of sponsorship; Boyce was able to reintroduce the corporate community to athletics which is one of his major achievements as head of the association.

The Digicel-sponsored Under-23 Championships is a new initiative that was started under in his tenure and continued with much success last year. Four athletes represented Guyana at the South American U-23 Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil as a result.

It tied in with Boyce’s well-publicised aim to expose athletes, and gave Running Braves Athletic Club, Stephan James, the chance to continue his global ascendancy that started in 2011 where he made the final

Stephan James

Kadecia Baird

Andrea Foster

Colin Boyce

of every international meet he competed in.

In Brazil, James ran 46.52 seconds to break the national junior record while taking bronze in the 400m race in September. His feat would not have been possible without Boyce’s strategic plan to expose the best local talents that are exceptional enough to produce results.

Chavez Ageday also competed at the South American U-23 Championship, running 10.65 which is his personal best time as a junior in the 100m for a bronze medal as well.

Guyana’s tally of the two bronze medals was unprecedented in South America before. Cindy Fraser (Long Jump) and Natrena Hooper (Triple Jump, 400m) were the two female athletes on the team.

Continuing with corporate injection into athletics, the distance athletes for two years enjoyed the return of the AinLim and Courts 10km races, which were reintroduced in 2011 and continued in 2012 as circuit events leading up to the South American 10km race.

Financially, both events give athletes something to look forward to near the end of the athletic season.

Then there is the President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic, which was conceptualised to give athletics its signature calendar event annually, and improve the financial standing of clubs with lucrative cash prizes for the top three clubs and cash prizes for athletes.

The AAG-sanctioned Inter-Services Annual Athletic Championships (ISAAC) was among those events. It didn’t fail to produce some extraordinary performances with Rupert Perry the headline act with his 9.90 hand-timed 100m at the Guyana Defence Force Ground.

The National Junior and Senior Championships and Three Development Meets all

gave athletes a robust season last year and generally lifted the standards of athletics in Guyana. Not to mention the exposure of Perry, Quinse Clarke and Winston George at the IAAF High Performance Centre in Jamaica last year.

On the subject of international performance, the United States-based Kadecia Baird permanently put Guyana on the map again with her 51.04 seconds 400m time that brought her a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain in July. Stephan James had also run his personal best time of 46.99 in the 400m Heats before his smashing performance in Brazil months later. James also represented Guyana at the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda where he finished sixth in the 400m final in April. Tevin Garraway made both the 100m and 200m finals as well, which as was expected, confirmed the development of Guyana’s juniors.

But the high point of the CARIFTA Games has to be Running Braves’, Andrea Foster’s 4:57.28 time in the 1500m that got her a bronze medal at the prestigious regional junior meet. Foster, the daughter of senior sprinter, Alisha Fortune, ensured that Guyana continued its tradition of medals at the distance level of the Games.

Davin Fraser and Samuel Fraser had also competed at

the CARIFTA Games, capping the largest team Guyana had ever sent to the competition.

At the senior level, Aliann Pompey represented Guyana at the IAAF World Indoors in Turkey in March placing third in her Heats with 54.63s along with US-based counterpart, Jeremy Bascom, who ran 6.77 seconds in the semi-final of the 60m.

Pompey, Bascom and Winston George, who had qualified for the London Olympic Games, while based in Guyana, ensured representation at the 2012 Olympiad where the country was left still in search of that elusive Olympic medal after modest performances.

Pompey was eighth in the 400m semi-final in 52.58 seconds, while George was fifth place in the male Heats in 46.86 seconds. Bascom placed sixth in his Heats in 10.31 seconds. It was Pompey’s fourth Olympics and the first for George and Bascom.

Whether it’s exposing athletes internationally on merit, initiating new competitions, championing corporate infusion for the sport and exposing coaches including Lyndon Wilson, Julian Edmonds and Robert Chisholm, Boyce’s first tenure as AAG President has certainly lifted the sport out of the dark era of ineptitude, neglect and blatant nonchalance.

England in India: Ian Bell shines but Delhi win by six wickets BBC Sport - Ian Bell shone for the second match in succession but could not prevent England slipping to a six-wicket defeat in their second warm-up game before the one-day international series in India.

Bell top scored with 108 and shared in a partnership of 113 with Eoin Morgan in a much improved batting display from the defeat by India A on Sunday.

Alastair Cook’s side

posted 294-5 but Shikhar Dhawan led the way for Delhi.

The opener scored 110 as the hosts eased home with nine balls remaining.

England’s first ODI against India starts on Friday January 11 in Rajkot. Bell’s century followed on from his 91 in the first warm-up game, which also ended in defeat.

Scores: England XI 294/ 5 (50 ov) Bell 108, Morgan 52, V Sood 3-45; Delhi 295/4 (48.3 ov)S Dhawan 110, M

Ian Bell Kumar 78*, J Tredwell 2-49.

Result: Delhi won by 6 wickets (with 9 balls remaining).

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 37

Powerlifting – Success story continued in 2012 -90% of 5-year plan; 2008 – 2012, achieved While most of the other sports organizations will be looking at their performance over the past 12 months or so, the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) under the astute leadership of Peter Green is zooming in on their performance over the past five years.

Green, who has been at the helm for those years in sharing information on the performance of his association said that lots would have been achieved over those past years and the sport is now well entrenched to continue doing well at every level locally and otherwise.

Guyana’s profile at the Caribbean, Regional, Commonwealth and International levels have risen to unprecedented realms with our athletes competing and excelling at the aforementioned levels consistently ever since this country’s return to top flight competition following a lengthy hiatus.

Some of the positives and achievements of the federation in 2012 * International Powerlifting Federation / North American Powerlifting Federation 2012 Caribbean Men’s Team Champions – Guyana fielded a full strength team. * Federation was able to expose various athletes ranging from Sub Junior (U18) to Masters (Over 40) to International events from the Caribbean to the World levels with varying success. * Greater visibility was gained by this nation in eth powerlifting world as a result of the exposure of more athletes. * The lifters elevated themselves and country on the International stage with outstanding performances: Women’s achievement Dawn Barker – Caribbean 84+kg Open Champion and Squat record holder; Best Lifter Overall Women Open; World Open Ranking of 15.

Kimberley Mars Loncke – Caribbean 84kg Silver medalist; World Open Ranking of 36 Men’s achievement Gumendra Shewdas – Caribbean 53kg Sub Junior Under-18 Champion; World Ranking {Sub Junior 6th; Junior 12 Vijai Rahim – Caribbean 59kg Junior Under-23

Champion, Squat, Dead Lift and Totals record holder; Caribbean Open 59kg Champion and Dead Lift Record holder; South American 59kg Junior Under23 Silver medalist and Squat Record holder; Commonwealth 59kg Junior Under-23 Dead Lift Record holder; World Ranking – Juniors 13, Open 28 Winston Stoby – Caribbean Open, Masters M2 Category Champion and Dead Lift Record holder; World Masters M2 {74kg} Overall Champion and Dead Lift Record holder; World Ranking – NUMBER ONE Master, Open 39 Paul Adams – Caribbean 74kg Silver medalist; World Ranking Open 80 Anis Ade Thomas – Caribbean 83kg Junior Under23 Champion, Squat, Dead Lift and Totals Record holder; North American Regional 83kg Junior Silver medalist; Commonwealth 83kg Junior Dead Lift Record holder; World Ranking, Juniors 22, Open 57 Randolph Morgan – FourTime Caribbean 83kg Open Champion, Best Lifter Open Overall, Bench, Dead Lift and Totals Record holder; World Open 83kg Dead Lift Champion; World Ranking Open 10 Karel Mars – Caribbean 105kg Open Silver medalist and Squat Record holder; World Ranking Open 59 John Edwards – South American 120kg Masters M1 Gold Medalist and Bench Press Record holder; Caribbean Squat, Bench Press, Dead Lift and Totals Record holder; World Ranking Masters M1 12, Open 58 * The GAPF nominated two locally trained Referees {John Edwards & Edwin Spencer} for International Certification and they were both successful in passing. They are now Internationally Certified Category II Referees. * The Federation was able to host their Novices, Intermediate, Juniors, Masters and Open Championships despite limited financing. * Larger turn out of athletes which indicates a growing interest in this lesser known sport. * The only local strength sports organization with lifters as young as 16 year-old Kevin Brijlall 67 year-

old Nairanjan Singh.

Some areas that needs attention * The establishment of a Doping Center for the testing of athletes. According to Green, the Guyana Olympic Association wrote the federation some time ago for them to submit the names of five athletes for free drug testing.

“We submitted same and have never heard anything

since. The International governing body has given a mandate to all countries to submit results of October / ICT Tests of at least 5% of all participating athletes at the National level. Sadly, we cannot afford this as the cost is over US$300 for each test. * More seminars for Coaches to bring them up to date with the Technical aspects and the lifters techniques.

SENIOR MEN Ranking Name 1 Morgan Randolph 2 Rahim Vijai 3 Mars Karel 4 Stoby Winston 5 Perry Mark 6 Edwards John 7 Thomas Anis 8 Shewdas Gumendra 9 Abdool Farouk 10 Adams Paul SENIOR WOMEN 1 Barker Dawn 2 Mars Loncke Kimberley JUNIOR MEN 1 Rahim Vijai 2 Thomas Anis 3 Shewdas Gumendra 4 Shewdas Suraj 5 Blackmon Rudolph 6 Bhagwandin Nandaram 7 Brijlall Kevin 8 Ramdeo Dalichand 9 Ketwaru Fabien 10 Hussein Sohail SUB JUNIORS MEN 1 Shewdas Gumendra 2 Shewdas Suraj 3 Brijlall Kevin 4 Hussein Sohail 5 Latiff Reaz 6 Federicks Agnan 7 Spencer Tevon MASTERS M1 MEN 1 Perry Mark 2 Edwards John 3 Abdool Farouk 4 Bacchus Ayube MASTERS M2 MEN 1 Stoby Winston 2 Henry Errol 3 Spencer Edwin MASTERS M3 MEN 1 Singh Nairanjan OVERALL BEST LIFTERS 2012 SENIOR MEN Morgan Randolph SENIOR WOMEN Barker Dawn JUNIOR MEN Rahim Vijai SUB JUNIORS MEN Shewdas Gumendra MASTERS MEN Stoby Winston MASTERS INDIVIDUAL MASTERS M1 (40 - 49) Perry Mark MASTERS M2 (50 - 59) Stoby Winston MASTERS M3 (60 - 69) Singh Nairanjan MOST IMPROVED LIFTER 2012 Male – Rahim Vijai Mars Karel

* More voluntary members to fulfill various SubCommittees that are needed to ensure the continuing growth of the organisation. * Marketing of the GAPF and its athletes.

Government Support / Business Community * The Government assisted the federation with a timely injection of $1.4m to ensure participation at the Caribbean Championships

where Guyana was represented by a full team.

The National Sports Commission supplied uniforms and US$500 for Randolph Morgan to attend the World Open Championships.

Green disclosed that the federation did not seek larger financial support as they are lobbying for the construction of a Strength Sports Center (Continued on page 31)

Wgt cl. (kg) 83 59 105 74 105 120 83 53 120 74

Wilkes Pts 571.24 498.66 495.96 485.52 481.75 464.08 462.24 444 443.84 441.56

Championship World Open Senior Nationals Senior Nationals World Masters Claude Charles South American NAPF Regionals Senior Nationals Senior Nationals Senior Nationals

Category M.O. M.J. M.O. M.M.2.

M.M.1 M.M.1.

M.J. M.SJ. M.M.1 M.O.

84+ 84

448.08 329.18

Caribbean Senior Nationals

W.O. W.O.

59 83 53 66 74 93 59 74 66 53

498.66 462.24 444 418.11 413 382.21 376 376 372.8 355.63

Senior Nationals NAPF Regionals Senior Nationals Senior Nationals Intermediate Intermediate Novices Novices Senior Nationals Senior Nationals

M.J. M.J. M.SJ. M.SJ. M.J. M.J. M. SJ. M.J. M.J. M.SJ

53 66 59 53 83 83 74

444 418.11 376 355.63 328.4 326.5 310.19

Senior Nationals Senior Nationals Novices Senior Nationals Novices Novices Novices

M.SJ. M.SJ. M. SJ. M.SJ M.SJ M.SJ. M.SJ.

105 120 120 83

481.75 464.08 443.84 349.05

Claude Charles South American Senior Nationals Claude Charles

M.M.1 M.M.1.

M.M.1 M.M1

74 93 93

485.52 415.83 360.78

World Masters Claude Charles Claude Charles

M.M.2.

M.M2 M.M2

83

300

World Masters

M.M3

83

571.24

World Open

M.O.

84+

448.08

Caribbean

W.O.

59

498.66

Senior Nationals

M.J.

53

444

Senior Nationals

M.SJ.

74

485.52

World Masters

M.M.2.

105

481.75

Claude Charles

M.M.1

74

485.52

World Masters

M.M.2.

83

300

World Masters

M.M3

59 105

498.66 495.96

Senior Nationals Juniors Senior Nationals Open

Page 38

Kaieteur News

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Wednesday January 09, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

Demerara are GCB 50-over inter-county Champs E’bo beat President XI by 148 runs

The victorious Demerara team with Secretary of the GCB Anand Sanasie (left) and Vice President Alfred Mentore (right).

By Zaheer Mohamed Demerara defeated GT&T Berbice by two wickets to capture the Guyana Cricket Board Senior 50-over Inter County title at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.

The home team won the toss and inserted Berbice to bat after the game was reduced to 43 overs due to overnight rain. Pacer Andre Stoll removed Sewnarine Chattergoon (04) and Assad Fudadin (03) to reduce Berbice to 22-2.

Richard Ramdeen and Gajanand Singh took the score to 98 before leg spinner Amir Khan accounted for Singh who made 28 with the score at 96. Ramdeen was then caught off Khan for a well played 68 which came off 70 balls and contained six fours.

Left hander Zamal Khan was the only other batsman to reached double figures with 23(2x4) as Berbice finished on 163-9 off allotted overs. Stoll 3-25 off 8 overs, Robin Bacchus 3-21 off 8 and Amir

Derbyshire eye up Chanderpaul West Indian also among Worcs targets Derbyshire hope to pull off a coup by signing the world No. 2 Test batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for part of the 2013 season.

Regarded as one of the weaker first-class counties for several years, Derbyshire have enjoyed a resurgence in recent times and were promoted to Division One of the County Championship for the first time in 12 years as champions of Division Two last season.

It was the first time they have achieved promotion having previously contested Division One cricket by default in the first season of split divisions. No other county had experienced so long in the bottom division.

The signing of Chanderpaul would underline the new ambition of the club.

Chris Grant, the club chairman appointed in March 2011, swiftly demonstrated his desire to shake things up at the club by sacking John Morris, the long-serving director of cricket, in the middle of a game barely six weeks later. Karl Krikken was appointed in his place and led

the side to promotion in his first full season in charge.

Chanderpaul would add solidity to a batting line-up that sometimes appeared fragile in 2012. Derbyshire gained more bowling bonus points than any other side in Division Two but finished only mid-table in terms of batting bonus points.

While the club have a strong unit of seamers, several of their “home grown” young batsmen - the likes of Ross Whiteley and Dan Redfern - are still developing and it was the overseas players, Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja, who topped the county’s batting averages in 2012.

Derbyshire have already added former Essex and Middlesex top-order batsman Billy Godleman and former Warwickshire wicketkeeper Richard Johnson to their staff.

Godleman is the latest county player to seek the services of freelance coach and mentor, Neil Burns, who has been credited by Nick Compton and Monty Panesar as the man to have revitalised their

Shivnarine Chanderpaul careers.

Derbyshire are not the only county interested in signing Chanderpaul. It is understood that he, along with South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Pakistan’s Misbahul-Haq, is among Worcestershire’s targets.

38-year-old Chanderpaul has enjoyed sustained success in his previous stints in county cricket. In 2011 he played for Warwickshire, scoring three centuries and averaging 89.83 in five matches to help the club finish second in the County Championship, and he has had three spells at Durham, helping them to titles in 2008 and 2009 and averaging 58.26 for them in first-class cricket.

He also played for Lancashire in 2010. (ESPN Cricinfo)

Khan 2-30 from 9, were the main wicket takers for Demerara.

Set a revised target of 150, Demerara lost opener Rajendra Chandreka leg before for 01 with the score on 08 in the first over off Keon Joseph.

Joseph then accounted for Chanderpaul Hemraj (10) and Vishal Singh (02) to leave the score at 35-3.

Barrington and Robin Bacchus then took the score to 54 before Barrington was caught and bowled by Fudadin for 11 at 54. Joseph Perry joined Bacchus and took the total to 102 with sensible batting as Demerara fought back. Krishendat Ramoo then had Bacchus caught for a fighting 52 which came off 57 balls and included six fours.

The home team then lost Perry (07) and Paul Wintz, who was run out for 7, to leave the score at 133-7. Amir Khan was then run out without scoring at 138 but Zaheer Mohamed who ended unbeaten on 25 (3x4,1x6) and Stoll 01 not out saw their to safety as they finished on 150-8 in 34.2 overs. Joseph ended with 320 while Gudakesh Motie Kanhai, Krishendat Ramoo and Fudadin had one each.

At DCC, the President XI won the toss and asked Essequibo to bat. Openers Norman and Royan Federicks added 120 for the first wicket stand. The duo rotated the strike and easily dispatched the bad balls to the boundary as they laid the foundation for a huge Essequibo total.

Royan was the first to go when he was bowled by pacer Joshua Wade for 62 (4x4, 3x6).

Dillon Heyliger then joined Norman and continued to defy the opposition with a second wicket stand of 89.

They brought up their team 200 in the 36th over before Norman was bowled by Elton

Baker for 75 (3x4, 3x6).

Heyliger, who reached his half century with a single to long off, dominated a 49 run 3rd wicket stand with Ricardo Adams before he was dismissed for 75 (2x4,6x6).

The left handed Adams then made the President XI pay for dropping him on 6, he hit Wade for 6 then followed up with another six off Jitendra Sookdeo before hoisting Elton Baker back over his head for a maximum.

His fifty, which came with a six over mid wicket off Baker, lasted for 24 balls and included one four and four sixes. He was then caught off Baker in an attempt to clear the ropes at mid wicket one delivery later.

Essequibo then lost Jason Heyliger 21, Anthony Adams 08 but Wayne Osborne 14 not out (2x6) and Mark Tyrell (01*) saw them to a challenging 344-7 off their allotted overs.

Baker grabbed 3-51 off 5 overs while Butts had 2-42 from 10; Wade and Clements had 1 each. Tagenarine Chanderpaul then pulled Dillon Heyliger through mid wicket for four in the first over then spanked Roopesh Motilall for consecutive boundaries in the second over as he added 21 for the opening stand with Anthony Bramble when the President XI began their reply.

Motilall soon had Bramble leg before for 05 at 21 in the 4th over. Kevon Boodie, who opened his account with a straight drive off Dillon Heyliger for four, put together 52 for the second wicket stand before he was caught off Anthony Adams for 26 (3x4,1x6).

Chanderpaul soon reached his half century with a maximum off Anthony Adams before Herry Green had Baker caught and

Tagenarine Chanderpaul bowled for 05 at 95. Devon Clements was then bowled by Ricardo Adams for 17 at 112.

The President XI then lost Jitendra Sookdeo for 19, Dexter Solomon 00, Wade 00, Butts 00 in quick succession to leave the score at 158-7.

However Brandon Bess who ended unbeaten on 16 ensured Chanderpaul reached his well deserved century with a six over mid wicket off Green.

Chanderpaul who played shots on both sides of the wicket finished unbeaten on 103 which was decorated with thirteen fours and three sixes as the President XI closed their innings on 196-8 in 50 overs. Jason Heyliger bagged 3-24 off 10 overs, while Ricardo, Anthony and Herry Green had one each as Essequibo won the match by 148 runs.

Demerara received a trophy and $200,000, while Tagenarine Chanderpaul collected the Most Valuable Player award. Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the Everest Cricket Club, Vice President of the GCB Fizul Bacchus congratulated Demerara for winning the tournament and urged the cricketers to get themselves prepared for the four day tournament which starts on Thursday.