Kaieteur News

Thursday Edition

Online readership yesterday 106,964

Price $80 January 31, 2013 - Vol. 6 No. 05 (VAT Inclusive) Online: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com

Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

MPs get $420 monthly for telephone, entertainment and duty free allowances …but Jagdeo gets unlimited allowances

East R/veldt man shot dead in D'Urban Street

Dead: Allan Profitt

Female drug Toolsie Persaud mule dies in jail “rationing” stones Public Procurement Commission should be up and running within six weeks - AFC

Page 2

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

East R/veldt man shot dead in D’Urban Street A 47-year-old man was early yesterday morning shot dead at the corner of D’Urban and Hardina Streets, Wortmanville by a lone unmasked gunman.

The dead man has been identified as Allan Lloyd Profitt, of East La Penitence Squatting area. Reports are that the man was shot around 07:00 hours in the vicinity of the Banks DIH D’Urban Street outlet, Caesar’s Palace.

This publication was told that moments before the gunshot rang out Profitt was seen talking with the man who shot him.

One eyewitness said that it was customary every morning for a nearby bakery to give bread to ‘junkies’ in the area.

“I just go over the road and sit down and I see this man and me friend (Profitt)

Dead: 47 year-old Allan Profitt talking like they had a li’l vibes and then the man pull out a gun and do like if he going to lash me friend and

The slain man moments after the shooting then he just shoot he in he forehead and walk away.”

The wounded Profitt fell to the ground near to a cart which he used to transport scrap iron and other stuff he sold to make a living. The man’s body was left at the scene for some time, until police and undertakers arrived.

By this time several of the dead man’s relatives arrived on the scene to confirm what

they were told. One of the man’s children-mother Lisa Niles said she got a phone call saying that he was killed and when she raced down to the scene she saw him lying on the ground. Niles said she last spoke to Profitt on Thursday.

“We were talking about our daughter but he didn’t say if he had any problem with anyone, so I don’t know why he get kill like this,” Niles

said. Niles said Profitt did odd jobs around town and stayed with his father in East Ruimveldt.

Another relative said that although Profitt was considered a ‘Junkie’ he was never a menace to society as he did odd jobs around the place and sold old bottles to make a living.

Up to press time yesterday no one was arrested.

DO YOU KNOW THAT JAGDEO’S BEST FRIEND IS THE ONLY PERSON IN GUYANA TO OWN THREE MEDIA HOUSES ...

Radio, Television and Newspaper?

Dr. Bobby Ramroop

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

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 3

EU’s sugar quota extension…

Guyana preparing measures to take advantage - Agri Minister Government says that it is preparing a number of measures that will allow Guyana to capitalize on a critical five-year extension of its sugar quota to the European Union.

Last week, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development voted to extend the sugar quotas for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.

In 2006, the EU decided to end the quota system by 2015 as pressure grew by beet and other players in the sweeteners industry for a liberalization of the market.

Guyana has an annual sugar quota of 190,000 tonnes to the EU, a demand that it has been finding hard to meet. The extension is a “welcomed decision” that evolved from a major lobbying effort, said Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy in a government release.

“There has been extensive lobbying and many in Guyana and the Caribbean believed that the Government and the other Governments that joined in the lobby, were wasting their time that the

Agri Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy Guyana is preparing a number of measures to take advantage of the sugar quota extension granted by the EU. Europeans will not extend their time beyond 2016. We believed that the European leaders would have listened to reason.”

According to Dr Ramsammy, after extensive lobbying, the Europeans had indicated that they were not willing to extend the quota beyond 2016. “In other words they would have given a one – year extension.

Guyana was vigorous in our lobby and at an African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) meeting that was shared by our Foreign Affairs

Minister; the ACP countries had started a lobby that the quota arrangement should not come to an end in 2015 or in 2016. We should at minimum extend it to 2020 and even beyond.”

The minimum position taken by the lobbying countries, including Guyana, was that the deadline should be 2020, he disclosed.

The Minister said that the sugar industry therefore has another seven years or so to adjust and this must occur.

These planned adjustments will be announced at a later

date. Europe’s departure from Guyana’s sugar plantations had seen the birth of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), launched in 1973, which initially promised that sugar sale to the EU was indefinite.

The EPA was designed t o c o m pensate countries such as Guyana, which for hundreds of years as a colony, supported the economies of developed countries.

However, in the 2005/2006 p e r i o d , t h i s E PA w a s revised and resulted in a drop of at least 36 per cent in the

price of sugar supplied from ACP countries. According to Dr Ramsammy, this move was seen as “a betrayal of trust”.

“We believed that the period of time for the industries to re-orient themselves was not enough and the mechanisation and modernisation of the sugar industry will take much longer than the period given to us.

“We also believed that this modernisation has to occur within a new reality, the reality of climate change.

Because of that, we needed more extensive time for our industries to have to give up the preferential European

market. “That is why we thought that the lobbying effort must be tireless, must be vigorous and we mustn’t give up.” The extension would be more than a welcome one for Guyana at a time when production is at an all time low but showing signs of recovery.

It would be ironic too especially as sugar prices have been high in the last couple of years.

Sugar exports had become one of the biggest earners for Guyana but fell over the years as costs mounted, the work force dwindled and infrastructure became harder to maintain.A US$200M investment in a brand new factory at Skeldon that was supposed to increase production as part of a larger sugar “turnaround” plan has not worked that well.

A US$12M packaging plant at Enmore has also been commissioned to help bring more cash to the industry but the industry has been battling against rains to meet the quota and this has suffered to an extent.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation has closed several of its estates to reduce costs.

Page 4

Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

Crossing the line Shock waves reverberated around the country Tuesday evening. Former Home Affairs Minister and current General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform, Oscar Clarke, had been shot. He had just returned home with his wife who was expecting some relatives.

Four young men, said to be no more than boys, entered the yard and placed a gun to Clarke wife’s head and proceeded to rob the family. This is most remarkable and it tells the story of the level to which the society has descended.

Generally, prominent people in the society are not interfered with simply because they are respected as national leaders. Further, Guyana still has a culture of worshiping those who are prominent perhaps because the society recognizes that some time there are people who would have to turn to these people for some form of assistance.

When gunmen targeted a serving Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh, and killed him and other members of his household, they had stepped over the line but then one must wonder whether the line had not been removed already. A young man waved a middle finger at a presidential motorcade, young people swear at the top of their voices when they pass by police stations and sometimes one can hear these expletives as one sits in the hallowed halls of the National Assembly.

Many can still remember when policemen, who were considered to be above reproach, suddenly began to die in the streets. Gunmen targeted them to the extent that many were even afraid to wear their uniforms in public. Surely the lines had been removed but people did not take notice.

In the case of the killing of policemen there were those who simply said that the police had overstepped the line when they started to be judge, jury and executioner. And policemen almost with impunity, simply killed those whom they pursued.

But for the most part senior public servants who were well known are not interfered with by the criminal elements.

These people are supposed to be the foundation of the society and people do not rock the foundation.

Oscar Clarke’s shooting now begs the question of whether the society has collapsed to the point of no return.

When Kaieteur News did what any newspaper worth its sale would do—publish the strength of a former President’s security detail, Guyana Times announced that former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s life was under threat.

The newspaper could only write that because it recognized that society has degenerated. At no time in the history of this country have criminal elements gone after national leaders. No retired police commissioner or very senior police officer could testify to being made to suffer at the hands of gunmen. The same could be said for the people in the military.

We must now review what is happening in the society.

Is it that we simply cannot provide meaningful employment for the young people? Is it that the school system is generating more people with criminal intent?

Just this past week, there were reports of two stabbings in a school compound. That was unheard of not so long ago.

Of course there were fights but these were merely emotional release among young children. Now these fights have turned deadly. There was the case of a schoolgirl killing a grown woman in a city schoolyard. And there was the schoolgirl who stabbed and killed her uncle because he insisted that she remain at home in the absence of her mother.

The lines must have been removed.

There is one other turn to the Oscar Clarke shooting. It occurred in a location where the people overwhelmingly support the political party to which Clarke belongs. The perpetrators come from that community; they come from the homes where they would have heard their parents sing adulation to the party.

Did the perpetrators not know that the home was that of a person who served the party for which their parents walked the streets in protest? Have we reached the stage where crime knows no bounds?

Thursday January 31, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

There are many questions pertaining to Mr. Kissoon’s research material DEAR EDITOR, Your news item, “Kissoon details why he called former President “ideological racist” (26-01-13) is revealing. Is Mr. Kissoon’s ‘investigative research material’ which has been presented to the court available for sale, or for public scrutiny? The ‘research material’ sounds sumptuously palatable – like a huge, fresh, good-sized piece of juicy sugar cane from which you could keep on sucking for a long time.

The KN article stated that Mr. Kissoon “revealed that there were two major ethnic communities in Guyana, distinct in spheres and existence” – Indian and African; (brilliant revelation and observation, Fred thanks for enlightening Guyanese on this little known piece of info), and that Africans “maintained an existence with administration of the state, including state activities, education, the Arts and related activities”, whereas Indians got their power from “physical possessions and wealth”, and that both communities were “content with their sphere of influence”, according to a “Plural Model”.

KN also reported (29-0113) that Mr. Kissoon reiterated that the model “was used to describe a satisfied Guyanese society and the cohabitation of the citizens”, and that “changes were being

made to the public sector, destroying that model which he described”, with the advent of the PPP returning to power in 1992. Is that pronouncement of a “satisfied Guyanese society and co-habitation of citizens” prior to 1992 supposed to be a not-so-subtle shenanigan by the respected political commentator?

Has Mr. Kissoon forgotten what the public sector employment looked like in 1992?

To jog his memory, virtually all employees were from a particular ethnic background; the hue stood out like a sore thumb. Any conscientious national leader would know that there ought to be not mere token changes in public sector; there needed to be a total overhaul so that square pegs would not be plugged in round holes, and thereby establish a system that is fair and equitable for all Guyanese.

Was Nelson Mandela an “ideological racist” when he attempted to make the public sector employment reflect the ethnic makeup of South Africa after the ANC got into power – which rushed changes at relative lightning speed!

The KN reported, “Kissoon said that it was clear that, “98 percent possession of land, commerce, financial houses, the import and export trade and in general, wealth,” belonged to Indo-Guyanese.

How did Mr. Kissoon concoct that “clear” conclusion? The only thing “clear” about Mr. Kissoon’s preposterous statement is that that was the mere opinion of the researcher; it is subjective - not objective, and should therefore be deemed untenable.

Did Mr. Kissoon present any empirical evidence to back up that ‘98%’ statistic?

It reminds me of Mr. Kissoon’s stupendous statement in March 2010 when the author in question stated of the commercial landscape in Georgetown, “almost 99.99 percent” are owned by East Indians; in other words, out of 10,000 businesses or so, about 9,999 are owned by East Indians!

Mr. Kissoon gave statistics on how many AfroGuyanese were replaced by Indo-Guyanese in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GPHC, GRA, etc.

Were there any IndoGuyanese replaced by AfroGuyanese in similar positions? Are we given the true picture of the ethnic story being brandished by Mr. Kissoon’s (mis)use of statistical numbers?

It is vital to remind oneself of the composition of the ethnic makeup to which Mr. Kissoon refers. Indians in Guyana consist of about 43% of the population, whereas Africans make up about 30%.

If the personnel in a given department hired are slightly

in favour of Indians, does that reflect racism – in view of their larger number of Indians present in the country?

So, if there are 100 jobs available, and Indians happened to secure 43 of those positions, and Africans 30, would it be a case of racial discrimination? Considering all things ‘equal’, the question behooves the statistician - is there a significant difference between those ethnic peoples who are hired for a given position?

M r. K i s s o o n ’s o t h e r “strong” argument for b r a n d i n g M r. J a g d e o a racist was that “no Indo Guyanese was ever prosecuted when fraud was discovered in the government departments”. Was there ever prosecution of other ethnic Guyanese who were guilty of fraud or colossal wrongdoing?

An “ideological racist” is one who routinely subscribes to the idea that one’s race is superior to that of other ethnic peoples, and systemically promotes policies that discriminate against others because of ethnic makeup.

We look forward to hearing more of Mr. Kissoon’s defence in the use of this title - and sympathize with researcher for having his super (“Plural”) model disintegrated with the advent of the 1992 change.

Devanand Bhagwan

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

Is NICIL state-owned or not, Mr. Brassington?

DEAR EDITOR, I have never in my life laughed as hard as I did on Tuesday morning before heading off to work as I read your news article, “Brassington seeks $204M compensation for Linden building,” (January 29).

Appearing before the Linden Commission of Inquiry, NICIL’s Executive Director, Mr. Winston Brassington, NICIL was seeking $204.7M to replace the building that housed the Linden arm of NICIL and other businesses.

He then provided a breakdown of how he arrived at the cost for every section, but the news report never cited any property valuation report that was prepared prior to the destruction, nor did the news report ever state that the commissioners asked why wasn’t the building insured, which would have made sense if Mr. Brassington was a wise steward.

And that brings me to this question: Are government buildings insured?

Moving on, the news report then noted that in response to Commissioner K.

D. Knights’s belief that the request for compensation is tantamount to the government compensating the government, Mr. Brassington explained that NICIL is not governmentowned, but government is a shareholder.

So, here is my second question: Besides government, who are the other shareholders of NICIL? In fact, I would like to know the percentage breakdown of the shareholders.

That going braggadocios, he boasted how he worked ‘long enough’ in the corporate world to know that shareholders don’t own a company.

The legal explanations here vary depending on whom you speak with, but while shareholders do own shares and the board members provide policy oversight and directives to the management team, the shareholders are ‘technically’ the owners, because if they withdraw their shares, the company could become insolvent if the board members cannot find Continued on page 6

Do we have to accept this?

DEAR EDITOR, From all indications it looks as if only when a deadly incident occurs in Guyana, then this incompetent government that is governing us hastily runs to the media and announces or introduces shabby mechanisms that would attempt to prevent or curb further incidents from happening.

Not a day passed without something happening that could have been avoided if this government was more vigilant in its duties.

The latest was the loss of sixteen lives in the Pomeroon and Mazaruni Rivers.

For the number of years that speedboats have been in existence in Guyana, there were never any serious guidelines for the boat operators and monitoring of the boats when traversing to different destinations throughout Guyana that could have prevented accidents.

Numerous letters have been published about the speedboat operators’ action and the dangerous manner in which they operate the boats and they still continue untouched. Now, after these

two incidents, we are seeing a Minister along with the seemingly incompetent MARAD introducing lifejackets and logbooks for passengers - rules for the speed boats that would make any sane person laugh, because there is no way that these rules could prevent two boats with two-200 horsepower engines (400 total hp on each boat) heading towards one another, using up majority of the horsepower, from crashing.

Almost everyone travelling knows that in order for speedboats to be licenced, they have got to have enough life jackets for all the passengers they are licenced to carry.

One of the boats is a passenger boat that crashed and if MARAD was vigilant, no passenger would have been travelling without a jacket on.

At Parika Stelling, many boat captains could be seen using alcohol and illicit drugs whilst they are waiting for passengers.

Speedboats ferrying passengers are supposed to stop working at 6pm but at 6:30pm speedboats could be

seen occasionally with passengers in the river. To date, most routes are close to land and most of the boats are always late and would never slow down.

If there were any river patrol, they could have been monitoring them and ensured they are always cautious at dangerous areas and travelling at a minimum speed. If my information is correct, I believe there is a rule that no speedboat should be within forty feet of another vessel and many times, for some reason, large ships could be seen anchored in the Demerara River around the area that the G e o rg e t o w n / Vr e e d - e n Hoop speedboats use and sometimes you see large no smoking signs on the big ships which made me believe that the ships might be carrying fuel or cargo that is extremely flammable.

Now when I see that I always wonder which genius we have that could advise a dangerous boat like that to anchor at such a busy area and added to that, as an extra bonus, the boat captain will

take you extremely close to the ships that if a little child were to throw something at the ship, they are bound to hit it without much effort.

Lots of accidents happen in the Demerara rRver but the operators continue as normal.

As for licencing of captains, conversing with them you would assume there is no written exam for them.

Because of incompetence from those in authority, sixteen lives have been lost and we sit back, take the excuses that are given to us and wait for the twenty people to graduate in the next four months that were in training since last year to make the rivers safe for travelling.

Whilst the government could afford to throw away millions of dollars in expired drugs, give away billions in a Hydro project, give millions in advance for drugs that cannot be collected one year after, millions for road construction that last a few weeks, they have the nerve to say that MARAD doesn’t have the resources to prevent sixteen lives being lost.

Sahadeo Bates

Page 6

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

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

The school curriculum of bygone days DEAR EDITOR It is ironic how the UK Government is so alarmed at the poor standards of literacy and numeracy in the youngsters now entering the workforce that the state school curriculum of bygone days is being looked at seriously, with a view to tailoring the current one, while in Guyana it seems to be the opposite.

At present there are not enough teachers of maths in the UK to go round and not enough students applying for

maths courses at university level and this is hampering progress in the field.

In our primary school days, the subjects of arithmetic and English were taken very seriously and these subjects were taught every day, for the greater part of the day, until about age 9 or so, when other subjects, such as hygiene, nature study and geography, were added.

The rules of syntax were drummed into us, dictation and mental arithmetic were daily rituals, multiplication

tables were taught from Standard 1, i.e. at around age 6-7. A successful secondary education depended on, and was built on, the foundation of a solid, reliable primary education.

Perhaps the education field has changed vastly over the years, but it would still be interesting to know what the “other subject areas” are which would fill “the needs of our (Guyana’s) society” and whether readers among the generation of schoolchildren up to at least

the 1960s would agree to depart from the core subjects of English Language and Mathematics, especially basic arithmetic.

A good knowledge of the English language and arithmetic and a smattering of a language other than English, preferably French, should be expected from every child on leaving school.

My knowledge of times tables helped me on several occasions, before electronics took over. I saved myself from being overcharged in shops

when buying the same item in multiplies and, when abroad, I got asked often “Parlez-vous Français” if the person spoken to did not speak English.

Most recently, in Guadeloupe, when the tour guide was stumped, I was able to translate everyday objects into English for fellow UK tourists - a drawback at times, because they assumed I knew more French than I actually did and seemed to

expect me to help them as we went along!

Yes, by all means, let us “consider the needs of our society and the career opportunities”.

Let us consider an education that can serve us well wherever we happen to be.

Our circles of contacts are eternally thankful for the primary education they all had in Guyana.

Geralda Dennison

From page 5 replacement shareholders.

That academic debate aside, here is what Mr. Brassington is saying: the government has significant shares in NICIL, but does not own it. The other shareholders – whoever they are – have shares in NICIL, but do not own it. So who exactly owns NICIL, which derives its business activities and revenue generation from sale of and managing stateowned assets? Do you see why I laughed so hard?

On top of that, Mr. Brassington said NICIL was not constituted by an Act of Parliament; however, it is still state-owned. Wait a minute!

Didn’t I just type above that Mr. Brassington reportedly said NICIL is not governmentowned?

As of this moment, I know that NICIL was launched by the Desmond Hoyte

administration, making it a government-owned entity, to handle government properties and assets. How government became a shareholder is not clear, neither is it clear who the other shareholders are and whether they meet or have any say in NICIL’s operations.

In the meantime, I am going to now sit back and wait for my fellow patriot, Mr. Christopher Ram, to dissect Mr. Brassington’s browraising testimony before the Linden Commissioners.

In fact, if NICIL did not come into existence by virtue of an Act of Parliament, then what parliamentary rule says NICIL is required to present its audited accounts to Parliament, and what is the legal basis for that requirement?

Emile Mervin

Is NICIL state-owned ...

South Korea launches first civilian rocket amid tensions with North SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea launched its first space rocket carrying a science satellite yesterday amid heightened regional tensions, caused in part, by North Korea’s successful launch of its own rocket last month.

It was South Korea’s third attempt to launch a civilian rocket to send a satellite in orbit in the past four years and came after two previous launches were aborted at the eleventh hour last year due to technical glitches.

The launch vehicle, named Naro, lifted off from South Korea’s space center on the south coast and successfully went through stage separation before entering orbit, officials at the mission control said.

Previous launches failed within minutes.

South Korea’s rocket program has angered neighbor North Korea, which says it is unjust for it to be singled out for U.N. sanctions for launching long-range rockets as part of its space program to put a satellite into orbit.

North Korea’s test in December showed it had the

capacity to deliver a rocket that could travel 10,000 km (6,200 miles), potentially putting San Francisco in range, according to an intelligence assessment by South Korea.

However, it is not believed to have the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States.

The test in December was considered a success, at least partially, by demonstrating an ability to put an object in space.

But the satellite, as claimed by the North, is not believed to be functioning.

South Korea is already far behind regional rivals China and Japan in the effort to build space rockets to put satellites into orbit and has relied on other countries, including Russia, to launch them.

Launch attempts in 2009 and 2010 ended in failure.

The first stage booster of the South Korean rocket was built by Russia. South Korea has produced several satellites and has relied on other countries to put them in orbit.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

The Caribbean and Cuba: A True Friendship Should Rest on Principles

By Ambassador D. Brent Hardt In recent messages to Cuba marking 40 years of diplomatic relations, the Government of Guyana and many of its CARICOM counterparts spoke of a partnership based on principles of solidarity and strategic partnership.

Notably absent from these messages were references to Guyana and CARICOM members’ most cherished national principles of democracy and human rights.

Although the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean have a proud democratic tradition and a commitment to respect human rights at home and abroad, when it comes to the Cuban people; this tradition is unfortunately set aside.

True partnership often requires one friend to tell the other hard truths. The English Caribbean’s friendship with Cuba would be more meaningful if the Caribbean were willing to accompany its strongly felt sense of solidarity with a willingness to press the

Cuban government to ensure that all Cubans enjoy the same rights that Caribbean citizens demand and enjoy.

In recent tributes to Guyana’s relations with Cuba, top officials duly praised Cuba for assistance to Guyana in education and health, but stopped short of extending a true hand of friendship to the Cuban people by encouraging the government to guarantee the political and civil liberties of its citizens. Instead, officials and media outlets promoted an outdated view of U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba (incorrectly referred to by the foreign ministry as a blockade). They failed to recognize the sweeping changes in Cuba policy that President Obama has implemented.

In Cuba, the President’s priority is to empower Cubans to freely determine their own future. In April 2009 and January 2011, he announced policy changes to allow Cuban-Americans to travel freely to Cuba and increase the flow of U.S. visitors for academic, religious, and cultural exchanges. The goal

is to build connections between the peoples of the United States and Cuba, and to give Cubans the support and encouragement they need to build a stronger and more diverse civil society.

U.S. citizens, engaging in well-defined, purposeful travel, are the best ambassadors for our democratic ideals. Moreover, the hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who send and carry remittances to Cuba under the new policy framework, help Cubans gain economic opportunities for self-employment and private property that the rest of us sometimes take for granted.

The United States also believes in the importance of engaging with prodemocracy and human rights activists who have been working for years to expand the political and civil rights of all Cubans. As Secretary Clinton has said, societies move forward when citizens work together peacefully to transform common interests into common actions that serve the common good.

Our programmes in Cuba provide humanitarian

assistance to political prisoners and their families, support the documentation of human rights abuses and promote the free flow of information to, from, and within the island. We support and highlight the work of people who promote positive change in Cuba.

The Caribbean can and should support democratic change in Cuba. Indeed, just as the Caribbean benefits from Cuban expertise in health and education, so could

Caribbean countries share valuable lessons with Cuba on the importance of free labour unions, uncensored media and access to the internet, and the value of open and fair elections as a tool to build political consensus and advance national progress.

The Guyana Chronicle and Guyana Times suggested in recent commentaries that U.S. policy seeks to isolate Cuba. The reality, however, is that the United States is

reaching out to the Cuban people in an unprecedented fashion.

If the Caribbean wants to establish a true friendship with Cuba, warm words of solidarity are not enough.

Instead, the region’s leaders should seek to advance a dialogue with Cuba on democracy and human rights that is true to the shared ideals and aspirations of the Caribbean and Cuban people.

That kind of friendship would be truly built to last.

Magistrate Judy Latchman on Tuesday dismissed the allegations against the police senior ranks, who were accused of unlawfully wounding a number of protesters involved in a picketing exercise on December 6, 2012.

In her ruling, Magistrate Latchman stated that the prosecution failed to give the court enough evidence that Senior Superintendent Lyndon Alves and Superintendent Errol Watts unlawfully wounded the individuals. It was also noted, that only two persons turned up to give what was termed “flawed evidence” in a case where several other persons were allegedly injured.

At their initial appearance, Alves and Watts

had pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on self-bail.

Defence lawyer, Patrice Henry, said during a no-case submission that the case against his clients indicated that weapons were used to inflict harm on the protesters; but there was no evidence to suggest such an occurrence.

He also noted that the prosecution could not prove that any command was given for weapons to be used.

One complainant, former People National Congress Parliamentarian Joan Baveghems, in her testimony related to the court that she had heard Watts tell his subordinates to shoot at the protesters while another witness, Sarah Johnson, identified Alves as Watts when she was asked to point

out who was the commanding officer.

Eleven persons were shot and injured with rubber pellets by ranks of the Guyana Police Force during a protest march on Hadfield Street between Winter Place and Louisa Row. The injured persons were all treated for pellet wounds about their bodies at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

According to reports, the group had assembled at Square of the Revolution, to take part in a march, calling on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for a verification of the Statements of Poll in the November 2011 elections. However police ranks dubbed the activity unlawful and sought to halt the protest exercise.

Additional construction works to the newly renovated Georgetown Magistrates’ Court are said to be on schedule. Works are slated to conclude by February monthend and the building could facilitate court proceedings on the first working day of March.

This is according to Evadney Mangar, Project Coordinator of the Justice Sector Modernization Programme under the Supreme Court.

Works restarted early this month and the main task at hand is construction of the Magistrates’ independent

walkway.

Meanwhile, construction of the sanitary facility has been completed; tests are being conducted to ensure adequate water pressure; and the Guyana Power and Light has to certify electrical works of the building.

According to Minister w i t h in the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, the additional works cost $20M and are being executed by PD Contracting Services.

These additional works stemmed from a request by Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh. They were not

catered for in the initial plan to rehabilitate and construct the Court. Justice Singh had requested works totalling about $170M but following negotiations with Government and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), the loan provider, specific works totaling $20M were approved.

According to Mangar, the contractor has expanded the building to accommodate four additional courtrooms increasing the number to nine. Those works cost $69M. Moreover, the old building was rehabilitated at a cost of $19M.

Cops accused of wounding post-election day protesters freed

Magistrates’ court for March opening

Female drug mule dies in jail A female foreign national, who was serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking, succumbed at the New Amsterdam Hospital on Monday after a brief illness.

The woman, Aneisha Joseph, was admitted to the hospital earlier this month and despite the efforts of doctors, she breathed her last.

Joseph was arrested in

2010, while she was an outgoing passenger at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, with a quantity of cocaine concealed in a tin of powdered milk.

At the time of her arrest she was travelling with her baby to the United States of America.

She subsequently

pleaded guilty and was jailed for three years.

Joseph would have completed her sentence in May. Officials of the Guyana Prison Service confirmed her death.

They are now awaiting word from relatives with respect to the handing over of her body.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 9

FROM PEDAL POWER TO HORSEPOWER There used to be a time when the police would carry out campaigns against unlighted bicycles. In most of these campaigns, the police never bothered to charge anyone.

They would simply stop the cyclist on the road and deflate his wheels by removing the valve stem. This saved them a great deal of paperwork and worry instead of having to haul the cyclist down to the station and have that person charged.

For the cyclist the removal of the valve stem was not just an inconvenience. It was a real problem. For one, without the valve stem you could not even if you could find a bicycle pump, inflate the wheel.

It meant that you had to walk with your bicycle all the way home and since in those days public transportation was hard to come by and since most persons-especially those in the countryside-- used their bicycles to commute long distances, being stopped and having your valve stem removed meant that you had to walk, with bicycle in tow, for a long distance to get home.

You were not going to find any bicycle shop open at that hour of the night. And if you did, you were not likely to get a valve stem that easily because in those days even an item like a valve stem was a victim of the foreign exchange item.

Despite this, no cyclist bothered to question the legality of the actions of the police in removing valve

stems from your bicycle.

There certainly was no basis in law for the police to do this.

Yet no one complained.

This was no doubt out of fear of the Guyana Police Force. This was how authoritarian was the society.

People feared the police whose political masters allowed them to act with impunity.

Many people seem today to forget that the laws which now allow the police to search your property for guns and ammunition without warrant; were not instituted because of an increase in gun crimes but as a tool of political repression.

These laws allowed the police to terrorize the political opponents of the then ruling party as the WPA members in APNU can ably testify.

Today, the police do not have to bother as much with bicycles. This is fast becoming in urban areas an extinct species and in many rural areas it is often dangerous to ride your bicycles at night regardless of whether it has lights or no lights.

There is little regard that is shown these days for pedal cyclists. Often they are squeezed onto the curb by the heavy vehicular traffic.

Motorists seem oblivious to cyclists many of whom, ride at great risk these days.

This is all part of the trend of indiscipline on our roadways. And the police need to do something to stem this indiscipline without having to haul persons before the courts.

No motorist is going to

Dem boys seh...

Thiefing is not a right Is a long time now dem boys know that Jagdeo own Guyana Times and using Bar Bee as a front. De man does write everything good bout heself. He write how he is de greatest thing pun this earth when it come to getting money from people. He never write how he does get de money.

De other day he write how de opposition tekking way he rights. All de opposition try fuh do is put a number to how much car a former president entitled to and how much money he should get as allowance. When dem do that Jagdeo seh how dem denying him his rights. Is he newspaper seh suh.

Well dem boys seh that when a man rob a store and de police tek back de money dem actually denying de thief he rights because as far as he concern de money is he own. That is shame fuh Jagdeo own paper fuh mek such a statement.

Since when a man who tek people things fuh he self can tell people that he got a right to keep dem things?

When de Bill pass fuh give he unlimited money and unlimited cars and unlimited security guards and unlimited expenses not one person in Guyana support it. All of dem know that people does hustle fuh mek a way fuh dem children and dem grandchildren. Therefore Jagdeo ain’t got no right to do wha he doing.

And Irfaat telling everybody how de man right. Irfaat can’t see de Man above face. But then again de Man above don’t want see none of dem face. In any case, Irfaat and Brazzy can’t pass through de door fuh go to that place.

Leslie see de door and he ain’t like wha he see. Dem boys willing to bet that he ain’t got nutten more to do wid drugs fuh de Ministry of Health.

Talk half and watch out fuh de changes.

allow any policeman to deflate the wheels for breach of a traffic offence these days.

And no policeman is going to want to do this when he or she can exercise the more favoured option of hauling you to the station and placing you before the courts.

The police, however, can do much more to improve discipline on our roadways without having to throw the book at the erring motorists.

The police can give warnings to motorists and they would be surprised at how effective

this can be.

Take, for example, a practice that is very prevalent today and which aggravates most law-abiding motorists.

There are two lanes leading to a junction; one lane is for proceeding straight and the other lane, the turning lane, is for vehicles that are turning.

The lane for traffic not changing direction is usually the longer lane and there is usually a long line of vehicles in this lane. But quite consistently there are

motorists who will go alongside this lane into the turning lane and proceed to the head and then simply proceed straight, all the while impeding motorists who wish to turn and are in their correct lane.

All it will take is for a few policemen to be placed during peak hours at junctions where there are two lanes directing traffic in different directions. The police should simply pull over those who have flouted the law by being in the wrong

lane.

They should issue a stern warning to these drivers but should desist from trying to deflate their wheels because in this the age of horsepower that unlawful practice would not be condoned.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===

CARICOM is dead. PJ Patterson should read the eulogy You don’t want to be reminded each day that CARICOM is a failure. But this is what happens to me.

My windows overlook the CARICOM Secretariat. It is the first thing I see every morning when I rise from my bed.

It reminds me of VS Naipaul and his dismissal of the Caribbean.

CARICOM is a failure.

It is dormant. Maybe it is dead. It is a caricature of what an integration movement should be. I become irascible when my friends tell me about the White man and the nonsense about White countries exploiting the Third World. The White man in his White man country treats his White citizens better than Third World leaders treat their non-White citizens.

Foolish Third World leaders (including my own country) jail African youths for possession of a marijuana cigarette and even the possession of a smoking utensil.

Lost in the news of the euphoria of Obama reelection was the fact that Colorado and Washington (not Washington DC) had on the ballot the right to smoke small amounts of marijuana. Voters agreed and together with California, marijuana possession in small quantities is now legal.

In Europe, Holland has led the way.

In Guyana, Ralph Ramkarran tells us that his former party, the PPP, is anti-imperialism but in some imperialist counties, they don’t jail Black youths for smoking marijuana. In Guyana, they do What is so bad about the White world?

Enter CARICOM. When the far right won enough votes in Austria to secure a coalition in government, the EU immediately signaled its intention to isolate Austria.

For that reason, the far right was kept out.

CARICOM brokered an agreement with one of its members, Guyana, titled, the Herdmanston Accord.

The Guyana Government never implemented it. Why should citizens of this country have any respect for such an integration movement?

The Herdmanston Accord could have put an end to the long tragedy that is a country named Guyana. The warring factions agreed on fundamental restructuring of the Guyana Constitution that would have made absolute power ineffective.

Today, Guyana remains a troubled place and if we should go over the tip in Guyana again, CARICOM will come to the rescue again, only to make itself a clown.

P.J. Patterson was in Guyana a few days ago and spoke about the right of residency for CARICOM citizens. Is P.J. Patterson faltering with age?

In which year will Barbados agree for skilled CARICOM workers to have unhindered access to its shores? Not now, not next year, not in 2020.

I am surprise at Patterson.

He came to Guyana to speak

on the state and future of CARICOM and did not do any research on the CARICOM country in which he was going to give a talk about CARICOM. He didn’t dwell on Guyana at all. Guyana refused a peace deal brokered by CARICOM on cricket administration here.

Here are some facts for P.J. who is supposed to be the grand old man of CARICOM. A World Bank report puts at 85 percent, the number of Guyanese citizens with tertiary education who permanently leave Guyana.

If Barbados should take P.J’s advice then where would an island of 166 square miles put those Guyanese? Don’t you get it PJ? Once Barbados opens up residency for skilled CARICOM citizens, fleeing Guyanese will push that little island at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea where

it originally came from?

PJ Patterson must know from his extensive readings of regional affairs that Guyanese don’t want to stay in Guyana.

Which region are you living in PJ? Certainly not in the Caribbean.

Which university lecturer with a doctorate, senior public servant with an MBA, qualified engineer, brilliant surgeon is going to forget that Barbados exists and stay in Guyana?

Here is an interesting story for Mr. Patterson.

I worked for twenty-six years at the University of Guyana after studying at three universities. And my paycheck (take home) was seven hundred American dollars.

And you expect Barbados to open up its doors to skilled Guyanese. Come on PJ, don’t discredit yourself. P.J. Patterson and Sir Shridath Ramphal (who lives in

Barbados) even if joined by Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama are not going to get Barbados to open up because as soon as the doorman removes the padlock, the Guyanese stampede will overwhelm Barbados.

CARICOM leaders summoned President Desmond Hoyte to Mustique to explain the nature of governance in Guyana. Hoyte was a great Guyanese President. Jagdeo was the worst in the history of the Caribbean, yet CARICOM never asked him for an explanation on creeping fascistization in Guyana. PJ you are out of line!

Almost three years after its initial introduction, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) has practically rolled out its ‘E-magine’ Broadband Internet Service to much of the coastal areas in Guyana.

Digital Subscribers’ Line (DSL) is one of the fastest internet services in the world today.

In Guyana, GT&T is the sole provider of this service.

Over the past few days, one of the last areas to receive the service, East and West Canje and a few sections of the Upper Corentyne area, including Skeldon and Crabwood Creek began to receive a higher bandwidth (1 Megabit).

Customers in those areas, to their surprise, were automatically upgraded to 1MB Bandwidth. They now have a choice to keep the service or downgrade to DSL Lite during February.

The highspeed broadband service was launched in June 2010 by then GT&T Chief Executive Officer, Yog Mahadeo. The higher bandwidth offerings were made possible as a result of a much-touted US$30M fibre optic cable which has increased the company’s bandwidth capacity a staggering 4,000 times.

However, the company was not able to roll out the service to the entire country at one time. It began to do so in stages and by locale.

Georgetown was first, followed by East Bank Demerara up to a point, and West Bank Demerara.

Back at the launch in 2010, the company was hoping to upgrade all customers in Guyana with the Emagine service by mid-2011. This deadline, however, was not met due to certain hurdles.

Little did Berbicians know that they would have had to wait nearly three years later to receive E-Magine. During a meeting with the GT&T Chief Executive Officer and senior officials in 2011, a 15member delegation, primarily from West Demerara was told that the expansion to Berbice had been put on hold. The team, which comprised mostly individuals residing on West Coast Demerara, was headed by Colin Woolford.

Woolford also used the opportunity to ask about the service on behalf of residents of Linden and Berbice.

At the meeting, Mahadeo related to the delegation that GT&T is not sure of the government’s plan with the new cable and hence, the telephone company was not sure how to invest further back then into the E-magine expansion project to other areas in the country. This was not what customers were expecting to hear.

Thus, expansion to Berbice and West Demerara was put on hold, Mahadeo explained. The CEO said then, that Linden would be the first

heavily- populated centre in Guyana that would have seen the government’s new cable first and thus, the company was very hesitant to expand its E-magine service to that area, foreseeing a possible loss in revenue if they do.

However, that meeting did bring out one positive.

Mahadeo agreed to reduce the Standard DSL rates from $9,980 per month to $7,000 per month for customers who were not in the E-magine broadband locations in Guyana.

Last February, GT&T announced that it was targeting 10,000 DSL subscribers by the end of 2012. At that time, there were 18,000 DSL customers.

Finally, the E-magine broadband service did reach Berbice in October last year, when customers in New Amsterdam and Rosignol were upgraded; followed by customers on the lower Corentyne, and that was it.

Over the past days, the remaining customers in Berbice: Canje, Upper Corentyne and the rest of West Berbice were upgraded with the high- speed service, nearly 3 years later, bringing a sigh of relief to those customers who have been craving the much talked about service. This new development brings several implications.

Now that E-magine broadband is available for much of GT&T’s customer base and the entire coast, (continued on page 14)

Frederick Kissoon

GT&T E-magine roll-out almost complete

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 11

Body of epileptic floats MPs get $420 monthly for up in Mon Repos canal telephone, entertainment and duty free allowances …but Jagdeo gets unlimited allowances

Undertakers removing the body from the trench.

One day after he went missing, 48-year-old Rajesh Balkarran’s body was pulled from a canal along Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.

Schoolchildren on their way to school made the ghastly discovery around midday.

Their alarms had scores of residents and curious passersby peering over a treacherous wooden bridge rail along the Mon Repos Railway Embankment to get a glimpse of the body floating in the canal below.

Investigators have almost ruled out foul play since there were no visible marks of violence on the body.

It is widely believed that Balkarran fell from the wooden rail and drowned after catching a fit.

Sancharie, a relative who took care of Balkarran told the media at the scene that she last saw him on Tuesday morning.

She said that after Balkarran did not return home on Tuesday, she became uneasy, since his medical condition was worrying and she could not get to administer the medication prescribed for him.

“He de walk away from us for three days and three nights and end up till in Bee Hive (a village about 12 miles away). That was in December

last year. When dey bring he back, he was fold up like a child…and from then he start taking this medication,” Sancharie explained.

She said that Balkarran would normally sit on the rail of the bridge near where he was found, and persons who knew his condition would warn him against the practice.

Relatives are convinced that for some reason, Balkarran did not heed the advice.

“People pass and say they see he pon de line top.

Me start look around since last night…me get a message dat schoolchildren pass and dem see he float up in de water,” Sancharie stated.

High court trial for accused in schoolboy stabbing

Samuel Cornelius, an18year-old was yesterday committed to stand trial in the High Court. The ruling was made by Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The Magistrate stated that there was sufficient evidence against the accused thus a prima facie case had been made out against him to stand trial at the Supreme Court of Judicature at the next practical sitting of the Demerara criminal assizes.

Defence Attorney, Mark Waldron, on Monday made his final submission at the preliminary inquiry. Samuel Cornelius is accused of fatally stabbing his fellow schoolmate, Anfernee Bowman.

Samuel Cornelius During his submission Waldron argued that the Prosecution’s case against the accused pointed to provocation, accident and

self defense which are not active or main ingredients for the indictment of murder.

Waldron said the prosecution called several witnesses but few have offered relevant information to the court in relation to the case. However Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt in his final submission stated that a prima facie case was made out against Cornelius for the offence of murder.

Hunt said that the evidence “points a strong finger of guilt to the accused.” The prosecutor noted that the post mortem examination shows that the victim died as a result of four stab wounds.

While Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali told the National Assembly, during the last sitting, that a $5000 allocation per month to former Presidents strips them of their dignity, despite the $1.2M pension, Kaieteur News learnt that parliamentarians take home a fixed $420 per month in telephone, entertainment and duty free allowances; but transportation allowance varies.

The Minister’s agreement was put forward as he defended reasons why the Bill titled “Former Presidents (Benefits and other Facilities) Bill 2012- Bill No. 29/2012” should not be passed.

That Bill sought to repeal an Act made in 2009 that endowed unlimited benefits to all Former Presidents.

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge, had tabled the Bill based on his main argument that a former President should be given unlimited benefits when the state has limited

resources.

For example, the 2009 law only says former Presidents are entitled to vehicles and staff, without specifying a number. The new Bill intends to make the benefits specific.

At the last sitting, Alliance For Change Member of Parliament, Moses Nagamootoo, drew a parallel line from the President’s $5000 for telephone, electricity and water to $20 for serving parliamentarians as telephone allowance.

Each parliamentarian is given $420 to cover telephone, entertainment and duty free allowance.

The breakdown is as follows: Telephone: $20; Entertainment: $250; Duty free allowance: $150.

However, each member has a verifying travel allowance depending on the distance he or she needs to travel to attend the National Assembly.

Also, members who sit on different committees receive an additional allowance. For

example, a member sitting on the Public Accounts Committee, the body that scrutinizes the Auditor General’s report Ministry by Ministry gets an additional $20,000 per month as a stipend to attend weekly meetings. However, no water or electricity allowance is allotted.

In response to the Housing Minister’s point that it is utter disrespect and disregard for former Presidents to be given just $5,000 to cover water, electricity and telephone expenses, Nagamootoo said that the dignity of ordinary Guyanese is being stolen when money is being used to fatten the already wellendowed instead of giving more to pensioners and public sector workers, such as nurses, policemen and teachers.

Even though the last parliamentary sitting saw the passing of a Bill, no indication has been given as to whether the President will assent to the Bill.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Women in Caribbean, Latin America subject to widespread sexual violence: WHO Intimate partner and sexual violence against women is widespread in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a report published by PAHO, the Pan American Health Organization, a regional branch of the World Health Organization.

The report is titled “Violence against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean – a Comparative Analysis of Populationbased Data from 12 countries”. It is actually a joint effort between the Pan American Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States – the CDC. Alessandra Guedes, Regional Advisor on IntraFamily Violence at PAHO said. “We found, first of all,

that unfortunately violence against women is widespread in the 12 countries that we studied and that were included in this report.

“We found that between 17 percent of men and 53 percent of women interviewed reported having suffered physical or sexual violence by intimate partner.

In seven of the 12 countries, more than one in four women reported such violence.”

Adding that the organization also found very high levels of emotional abuse by a partner ranging from 17 to 48 percent of women who were interviewed. He said the key message is that this is unfortunately a very widespread phenomenon that affects a large proportion of women in the region.

These reports also ask women retrospectively about

their experiences with physical and sexual abuse prior to the age of 15.

In all of the countries studied, women who grew up in households where their mother was beaten by her partner had a greater risk of suffering partner violence themselves as adults. “We also found that women who suffered physical or sexual abuse in childhood reported experiencing partner violence in adulthood twice as much as those who did not suffer violence in childhood.”

The organisation also found that children living in households where women suffer partner violence were significantly more likely than other children to be punished with hitting, beating, spanking – in other words, with harsher disciplinary practices.

Child Rights’ head, Shirley Ferguson, dead at 77 Head of the Child Rights Division of the Child Care and Protection Unit, Shirley Ferguson, has died.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ferguson, 77, was in London receiving medical attention when she passed away.

She joined this Ministry in 1998, where she undertook the implementation of the Ministry’s mandate for the Government’s commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“This she did with great efficiency and enthusiasm, reaching out to the nation’s children in the many successful events she had undertaken. These ranged

Shirley Ferguson from accompanying children to UN sessions, regional seminars and symposia to children’s concerts, the last of which was held at the National Cultural Centre in December 2012.”

Describing Ferguson as a stalwart of child rights advocacy, the Ministry said that she promoted the Convention on the Rights of the Child through her many publications and the various competitions she organized.

“Mrs. Ferguson possessed a distinctive personality and was well admired for her deportment and her elegant mode of dress. She will be surely missed by the children of Guyana, the Ministry and her fellow workers.

The Administration of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security expressed condolences to her family, relatives, friends and colleagues.”

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Prison officials absent from meeting on improved health care in prison system From left: PAHO/WHO Representative Dr Beverley Barnett, Mr Joseph Hamilton, and Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran

Meeting in session yesterday Very noticeable was the absence of prison officials from a high-level meeting held by the Ministry of Health yesterday with a view to amplifying the importance of good health care as a human right in the prison systems.

The agenda of the meeting, which was held at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown, detailed Director of Prisons Dale Erskine and Prison Chaplain and Superintendent of Prisons, Reverend Faye Clarke, as two of the key presenters.

Ms Clarke said that an officer was designated to deliver a presentation on the health situation in prisons and the main challenges and gaps.

According to the Health Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary, Joseph Hamilton, who organised the meeting, he was informed Tuesday evening that the two officials would be unavoidably absent.

Nevertheless, the meeting, which saw attendance of several top health officials, including Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran; Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud; Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr Shanti Singh, among others, proceeded without the prison officials.

There was representation from the United Nations Development Fund, UNAIDS, the Guyana Human Rights Association and the Pan American Health Organisation which collaborated with the Ministry to host the meeting.

According to Hamilton a report on yesterday’s consultation will be forwarded to the Prison authorities.

P A H O / W H O Representative, Dr Beverley Barnett, reflected on the genesis of the meeting even

as she pointed out that a move was made by Guyana to reiterate its commitment to protect the rights of prisoners.

According to her, an important aspect of that commitment, and a perfect example of the interrelatedness of all human rights, is the obligation to fulfil the right of health. She said that “this applies to all human beings regardless of their social or other condition.”

She noted that the important aspects of the right to health are nondiscrimination, participation and availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of health goods, services and facilities.

In fulfilling its obligation under the various UN and Inter-American Human rights treaties and as a member state of PAHO/WHO, Guyana, she said, has recognised that people interacting with the justice system in one way or another, despite the fact that they might eventually be found guilty of having committed crime, are still people and are deserving of their basic human rights.

According to Dr Barnett, from a public health and practical perspective; it is important to maintain the health of prisoners since it is anticipated that most of them will eventually rejoin the wider society, participate in family and community life and contribute meaningfully to national development.

She added that the PAHO Resolution CD50.R8 specifically asks member states to “formulate and if possible, adopt legislative, administrative, educational and other measures to disseminate the applicable international human rights instrument protecting the

rights to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and other related human rights among the appropriate personnel in the legislative and judicial branches and other government authorities.”

She noted that as part of its technical cooperation with countries to assist in the implementation of this resolution, PAHO/WHO has initiated activities in the field of health in prisons.

She disclosed that last year a meeting was organised between PAHO/WHO, the Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Prisons. During that dialogue, Dr Barnett said that interest was expressed in conducting a high-level meeting with key stakeholders to raise awareness on health and human rights in the context of prisons.

This, she said, was done with a view to discussing collaborations among various partners including public sector ministries, other UN agencies and PAHO/WHO to improve health in the prisons.

“This high-level meeting continues the dialogue to identify the best ways to achieve that goal especially given the interventions for tuberculosis and HIV control that are already being implemented.

“Human rights are a PAHO/WHO cross-cutting priority and one of the UN systems programming principles so we are very pleased to collaborate in this effort with the Ministry of Health and the Justice system and other partners,” said Dr Barnett.

With a well-defined scope, the high-level meeting, according to Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, is aimed at identifying the very best ways to coordinate a joint effort among relevant

ministries for improvement of health conditions in prisons.

“That is fairly simple and straight forward...but the very identification of the task set for today’s activity is that it is of necessity that it be a multi-sectoral and profoundly participatory.”

He noted that yesterday’s meeting represented a fledgling effort which is

worthy of support and should therefore only be expected to lay the foundation for change and improvements in the systemic delivery of health care promotion and other human rights aspects for vulnerable groups “rather than be a bringer of radical overnight reformation aimed at easing all and sundry.”

The meeting also saw

presentations by PAHO/ WHO’s Human Rights Specialist, Ms Sandra Del Pino; the National Tuberculosis Programmes Director, Dr Jeetendra Mohanlall and the National AIDS Programme Manager, all of whom sought to highlight how health could be improved in the prison system.

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Recycling poses numerous challenges - Reis Recycling, while needed, is not on the cards anytime soon. This is according to Banks DIH Chairman, Mr Clifford Reis when he addressed the 60th Shareholders’ Reception in New Amsterdam over the weekend.

Mr Reis, responding to a question by the Mayor of New Amsterdam, Claude Henry, about the plethora of plastic bottles in the environment, stated that there are several hurdles that stand in the way of a recycling plan.

While there has been talk of a piece of land in Georgetown to be used for a recycling plant, Reis questioned what happens to Berbice, Essequibo and Bartica. “You cannot have environmental management for one section”, he noted.

Currently, he noted, the logistics are being worked out and ideas are being

entertained. The idea of someone collecting plastic

bottles, Banks DIH chipping it up and shipping it to China,

From page 10 customers wishing to have internet service will have a better option to choose from, instead of the slothful dial-up service, which has become outdated with time.

Many companies in Guyana have also

discontinued dial- up services.

It is anticipated that Mahadeo’s words could come to reality with more customers who will come on board GT&T’s DSL platform with standard DSL 256kbps services at just over $4,000—

when they (customers) were paying $3,000 for slow 56kbps dial- up connections.

More persons, therefore, are anticipated to switch to DSL connections in the future, especially, too with GT&T offering the DSL modems at half- price- $7,500.

Popular Banks DIH beverages being displayed at the shareholders’ meeting has been thrown on the floor.

“Our recommendation is

for Banks to crush (the bottles) and then you can put small satellite plants and put them into a container and they (China) will collect it, but then the question comes in. How does the entrepreneur (the person who takes the bottle to Banks DIH) get paid”.

“When you come in you want your dollar, so who will fund that dollar?” he questioned. “And secondly, when you take it to the plant, the guy has to chip it, and he gotta get his money back too—production costs—It’s a whole set of logistics”.

He stated that the Trinidad and Barbados governments both had this idea on the cards but shelved it after careful analysis and thought. The Chairman then questioned what was really more of a threat to our environment—the plastic bottles or plastic bags. He cautioned that the latter is

more prevalent and can do more harm to the environment.

“What happens to the sardine and corned beef tins, the batteries, Styrofoam—so they are focusing on the beverage bottles—why are they focusing on beverage alone? There are so many other items on the list which affect the environment”.

He said that there has to be a universal discussion.

“Now people ask why the United States is working, but they have a yellow container for newspaper, a blue [container] for garbage and a red for plastic…Barbados instituted laws of penalties for littering…”.

Reis is hoping that within the next six months, something “workable” will be arrived at to solve the recycling problem.

GT&T E-magine roll-out ... “Hungry Man” jailed, surprised when told whose chain it was

A man who performed the daring feat of snatching two chains from a senior police officer’s neck in Berbice back in December, was on Monday jailed for one year.

Luindo Junior Davis, 20, of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara; and also of Springlands Corentyne and Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, reappeared in the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s court, before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo and pleaded guilty.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty, but when the charge was read to him in court on Monday he changed his plea to guilty.

Prosecutor Sergeant Phillip Sheriff told the court that on Boxing Day at Matthew Allen Road, Senior Superintendent of Police Marlon Chapman was with other senior police officers when Davis came up and snatched the chains valued at $1.275,000 and ran. He was pursued but made good his

escape.

Acting on information the police surprised the man at Springlands on the Upper Corentyne as he was making arrangement to flee to Suriname. When captured, he revealed whom he sold the chains to. The goldsmith also upon realizing that the items were stolen property returned

The three market constables who were among four persons remanded to jail by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo when they appeared before her at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s court on a joint charge of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, have been granted bail.

The bail came when they made their second court appearance before her at the New Amsterdam court. The other accused was granted bail earlier following an application to the High Court.

The trio, Dwayne Casey, 25, a Lance Corporal of Golden Fleece, West Coast Berbice; Sherry Burnett, 48, of 38 Stanleytown; and Natasha Cooke of New Amsterdam, all constables attached to the New Amsterdam municipality market, were asked to post $300,000 each.

The number one accused Juel Cush, 45, called “Yellow” or “Rastaman”, of 61 Clifton, Corentyne, Berbice, and a vendor of Pitt Street New Amsterdam, was earlier granted bail in the same sum in the High Court.

In court, lawyers for the three remaining accused Joel

them.

The man told the court that he did not know what he was on that night and did not know whose chain it was. He was hungry and broke and did not realise who the man was.

He said that he hid in the bushes for the entire night, before fleeing early the next morning.

Constables granted $300,000 bail each

Edmond, Kim Kyte John, and Rabindranauth Singh, had argued for bail for their clients.

Especially since the number one accused was granted bail in the High Court.

The court case is that on December 21, at Pitt Street, New Amsterdam, the quartet had in their possession 360 grams of marijuana. Police got word of an alleged scheme involving drug dealers and members of the market constabulary. They secreted themselves after conducting surveillance and nabbed the four.

The matter will be called again on February 19, next.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Slain presidential guard…

Prosecutors rebuff identification complication in murder trial Prosecutors in the High Court trial of murder accused, Jevon Ismond and Mortimer Melville, yesterday presented closing arguments to support that the means of identifying the accused were clear and fair. The state agents, Renita Singh and Diana Kaulesar, are seeking from the 12-member mix jury, a guilty verdict in relation to the death of presidential guard, Nazir Alli.

The man was shot to death when he sought to defend himself and family during a robbery at their East Coast Demerara home.

It was the prosecutors’ turn yesterday to address the court in a summed up address relating to the evidence complied against the accused. The factors of the case heavily depend on the issue of identification, with the defence for Ismond claiming mistaken identity and lawyer for Mortimer, Hookumchand, claiming that the man was wrongly accused. Another point is Ismond’s lawyer’s claim that his client is not liable for Alli’s death since the robbery was over at the time the guard was shot.

Prosecutor Kaulesar, who is leading the case for the state, posited that the identification parade which

Jevon Ismond (left) and Melville Mortimer

prosecution show how the witness was able to make connections with the “redskinned man” she said shot her brother and the accused who is also of fair complexion.

Apart from that, Compton sought to highlight that in the felony-murder; that the number one had gone off and done his own thing when he shot the deceased after the robbery had occurred. He charged that it was not a part of the plan to rob the store, therefore Ismond could not be held responsible for Alli’s

death.

The prosecution however charged that Ismond was at the time present and that the robbery was a joint venture.

She further claimed that the robbery could not be over until the robbers left the location. Once they were still on the scene, Singh implied that the robbery would still be in progress, and as a principle of law, the team should share the responsibility.

The court will sum up the case on Monday after which, the jury will deliberate.

Digicel launches sleek Z10 Blackberry smart phone

circumstances surrounding the identification of the accused by the main eyewitness, who is the decease’s sister, were good.

Kaulesar was at the time talking about the lighting, the witness’s distance from the accused and her ability to see the robbers and later point them out.

The number two’s relation to the matter is however, peculiar since his lawyer is asking the jury to exempt him

was conducted in 2007 for both accused was fair. She argued that the two accused were misleading the court when one stood in the witness box and the other stood in the prisoners’ box to say that they knew nothing about the crime.

The men had stated that on the day of the incident they were not at the scene and played no part in the robbery and thus had no idea how Alli died.

She said the

Public Procurement Commission should be up and running within six weeks - AFC The Alliance for Change (AFC) is hopeful that within the next six weeks the Public Procurement Commission which is a constitutional body born of the Public Procurement legislation, would be up and running in accordance to stated legislation.

The Party’s Chairman, Nigel Hughes, told media operatives yesterday that there should be no reason why the constitutional body should not be functioning or activated within the mentioned time. He said that the party has already submitted the names of former Auditor General Dr. Anand Goolsaran and Accountant and Attorney-atlaw, Christopher Ram to serve purposefully on the committee.

“There is no reason why the Public Procurement Commission cannot be activated in accordance with the constitution within the next six weeks. There is no visible impairment,” Hughes said, “And once there is a group of names that are clearly well qualified, the mechanism for identifying the persons who should be on that commission, should not

from the murder charge because according to him, Alli was killed after the robbery took place.

Attorney Richard Compton, in his closing statement said that the evidence against Ismond should be viewed separate from that of the number one, Mortimer, who is accused of actually shooting the deceased. He claimed that his client was not positively identified by witnesses in the police identification parade and neither did the

AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes be beyond our collective efforts.”

He urged that the move to constitute the committee should be expeditious.

Last May, Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn RodriguesBirkett, who was at the time responding to her shadow Parliamentarian, APNU’s Deborah Backer, said that the Public Procurement Committee should be established by the end of June 2012.

Backer had raised the argument that one of the provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union is the establishment of such a

commission which had already been enshrined in the Guyana Constitution.

The Foreign Affairs Minister had told the House that to the best of her knowledge, the matter was actively engaging the attention of the political opposition and the administration.

She said that at the time the status quo was set at the submission of names.

The parliamentary opposition and the government were to submit the names of persons to sit on the commission. The Procurement Act of Guyana stipulates the role of the Commission.

Under the current Legislation, Cabinet has the right to review all procurements that exceed $15M. According to the legislation in force, Cabinet shall conduct its review on the basis of a streamlined tender evaluation report to be adopted by the Public Procurement Commission.

Cabinet’s involvement in matters related to the procurements will however have to cease when the Public Procurement Commission is established.

Digicel yesterday announced that it will be launching the new BlackBerry Z10 smart phone powered by BlackBerry10 across the Caribbean.

The new BlackBerry Z10 is the first smart phone to launch with the re-designed, re-engineered and reinvented BlackBerry 10 platform, “offering customers a powerful and unique new mobile computing experience.

The BlackBerry Z10 is the fastest and most advanced BlackBerry smart phone yet, and offers a smarter experience that continuously adapts to a customer’s needs.”

Both Digicel and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) offer the Blackberry service which has become popular because of its free messenger or BBM service.

Digicel Group Commercial Director, Brian Finn, said, “We are very excited to be bringing the BlackBerry Z10

The Blackberry Z10, the latest smartphone from RIM. smart phone to Digicel customers across the Caribbean. The BlackBerry 10 powered solutions on Digicel

offer a great new mobile computing experience – which is great news for our style-savvy customers who use BlackBerry smart phones for their business and lifestyle needs.

Our customers are looking for cutting-edge technologies and the latest apps wrapped up in the distinctive BlackBerry style.

The new BlackBerry Z10 fits the bill and we’re expecting a great response when it launches.”

Digicel said that it will continue to offer the current network and service plans. “…BlackBerry Z10 customers will be delighted with a re-invented communication experience, seamless multi-tasking, easy access to multiple social networks, and the peace of mind that BlackBerry security gives them,” said Carlo Chiarello, EVP, Global Smartphone Business at Research In Motion (RIM), makers of Blackberry.

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Prime Minister visits Oscar Clarke Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, who is performing the duties of President, yesterday visited People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) General Secretary, Oscar Clarke, who is hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), nursing gunshot wounds to his leg and groin.

Clarke, who is a patient in the High-Dependency Unit at the GPHC, survived a brazen robbery at his home Tuesday night.

Clarke, a former Minister of Home Affairs, considered himself a lucky survivor when he recalled the near death experience to Prime Minister.

Hinds expressed best wishes

The Prime Minister visits Oscar Clarke

for a speedy recovery to the opposition’s General Secretary.

Clarke showed the Prime Minister lacerations he suffered to his head after he was repeatedly gun butted by one of the two bandits who ambushed him. He also showed the wounds he sustained from the gunshots after he attempted to retaliate.

He recalled trying to engage his assailants in conversation to ascertain the motive behind the attack even as he was being struck in the head repeatedly by the robbers whom he believes were trying desperately to render him unconsciousness before carrying out the robbery.

“I’m a fighter; they couldn’t knock me out,” Clarke told the Prime Minister who commended him for his valiance.

One of the bullets is still lodged in Clarke’s leg but he was told that there is no need to worry.

Meanwhile, the Mayor

and City Council has expressed concern about the incident in which Councillor, Oscar Clarke was shot at his home, in Plum Park, Sophia.

The Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green said, “It is a shame that our society has deteriorated to this level. Obviously it is a question of security.” Green is calling on the competent authorities to enhance their strategies to protect all Guyanese and to secure our society. The statement added that Clarke is the Chairman of the municipality’s Personnel and Training Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee. “Citizens will recall that a few months ago, Deputy Mayor, Ms. Patricia Chase- Greene, had a similar experience when bandits invaded her home,” the statement added.

The entire municipality remains confident that Councilor Clarke will recover.

Africanized bees attack teens

Two teenagers were yesterday attacked by a swarm of Africanized bees which has been living in their unoccupied Lot 499 Section ‘A’ South Sophia home for the past seven years.

The teens, Shawn Gonsalves, 17, and 15-yearold John Gonsalves, were rushed to the Accident and Emergency Unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) just after 17:30 hours yesterday for medical assistance. Their injury is not life threatening.

According to reports, the two teens and a friend had dropped two of their younger siblings at a training programme in the community and had left to go in Sophia to check on their property which is frequently vandalized.

The teen’s mother, Paulette Simon Gonsalves, who currently lives at D’Urban Street, said that she and her late husband once occupied the Sophia property which belongs to a relative of her husband but moved several years back.

“Nobody is living at that property and last year I was served a notice to move (from D’Urban Street) so I was going to move back there but because of the bees I didn’t moved as yet,” the upset mother said, adding that she visited the Ministry of Agriculture to seek assistance to remove the bees but her visit there was fruitless.

“I went and I tell the guard what happen and she gave me

The teens’ mother at the hospital yesterday two numbers, a landline and a cell number and when I called a man answer and say I have to pay $7,000 to $15,000 to remove the bees but I cannot afford that kind of money,” Simon said.

The mother recalled that she was at home yesterday when a neighbour informed her that bees had attacked her sons. “I took a taxi and I went there and when I reach I saw them (two sons) folding up sitting by a neighbour so I carried them to the hospital.”

Kaieteur News was told that the three teenagers were sitting on the step when the bees attacked them. The two brothers ran and jumped in a nearby trench for cover while their friend managed to escape.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Digicel-sponsored Mahaica Children’s home nearing completion Works on a multi-milliondollar structure to house the Mahaica Children’s Home is just over 60 per cent completed and officials of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and the financier, Digicel Guyana, are optimistic that the facility could become inhabitable in a matter of months.

During a media tour of the facility, situated at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, the site was abuzz with activity as workmen scurried around adding the crucial final touches to the various sections of the sprawling structure which has an unmistakable modern flair.

With a capacity to house the more than 60 children currently accommodated in an older building a stone’s throw away, the new structure will include a number of features, some of which are not customarily found in local children’s homes.

Aside from a kitchen, washroom and rooms for the

children and house mothers, the facility will also entail a recreation room as well as a play area.

Once the new structure is completed the old one will be demolished said Minister of Social Security Jennifer Webster as she along with Digicel officials toured the facility yesterday. She said that the idea is that “we are looking to have a modern state of the art home for our children who are housed here at Mahaica many of whom were abused.”

Moreover, she said that efforts will be made to improve the quality of care that is currently provided which will entail the provision of more care givers in more rounded facilities that cater to more opportunities for those within their care. She noted too, that while all of the children are attending school there are plans to ensure that they are furnished with extracurricular activities.

This move, she said, is

intended to ensure that they become more rounded citizens as they grow older.

Although faced by a stone shortage in its early stage, construction works on the facility commenced on August 3, last year by R and D Engineering Inc. According to Minister Webster yesterday, although she is pleased that the facility is moving along at a satisfactory pace “we don’t want the contractor to lower the quality and standard of the work being done so that we will have a structure that is done properly and we look forward to the completion.”

Also expressing satisfaction about the pace of work was Digicel’s Head of Marketing Jacqueline James, who said “our main concern is to get the children in and to ensure that they are safe and comfortable...so we are gearing towards that...”

She too alluded to the importance of having a good structure, adding that it is

By Latoya Giles Relatives of the three men who were shot and killed on July 18, 2012 when police allegedly opened fire at protestors at Linden are expected to come before the Commission of Inquiry today to make claims of compensation for their deaths.

The three Lindeners, Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset, were allegedly shot by police who were trying to break up a protest at the WismarMackenzie bridge after residents had occupied the structure in protest of an increase in electricity tariffs.

First to take the witness box was Carlton Mohan, who owned a truck and trailer which were destroyed during the “unrest” at Linden.

According to the witness the valu e o f t h e t r u c k a n d trailer was some $8M. The man told the Commission that he purchased the vehicle from Jumbo Jet auto dealers on hire purchase. Mohan said that he would haul logs and containers from various regions. He explained that he has receipts showing that he paid $6.6M already and has a remainder of $1.9M. Mohan further told the Commission that he made an attempt to go for his truck but could not enter Linden.

The man said that when he eventually saw the vehicle it was burnt and some of the parts were missing.

He was asked whether the

vehicle was insured and he answered in the affirmative.

However the insurance policy states that for third party insurance, which he has, the company does not cover loss or damage resulting from fire or riot.

Second to take the stand was Ruben Bowen, who had to return to hand over a medical report from Dr. Terrence Joseph. That report was tendered and Bowen was released.

Vishnu Singh, who owned and operated a fuel tanker yesterday, submitted a claim for $9.2M for a tanker which was burnt on July 18 at Linden.

Linden resident Hugh Stevens who was shot in the eye, came yesterday to make the claim for his surgery.

According to the man a pellet is still lodged in his eye and he needs surgery to remove it. Stevens said that Guyana does not provide the service and he was advised that he needs to travel overseas.

He was advised by Commissioner Knight to get an estimate of how much the surgery; airfare and hotel accommodation would cost and get back to the Commission.

Stevens has to return today to give the Commission the estimate. Another Linden resident, David Vigilance, during his testimony had claimed that the police took two gold rings, one gold chain and cash on July 18.

Vigilance told the commission that the two rings were worth some $300,000, the

chain is another $300,000.

The man also submitted claim for $300,000 in cash which he claimed went missing after he was beaten by the police. However that claim of losing $300,000 cash didn’t sit too well with the commissioners, since the man neglected to mention that in his statement.

The witness however maintained that his money was indeed taken when he was beaten.

Minister Jennifer Webster (left) Digicel Officials and a representative of the contracting firm Compton Horatio (centre) tour the facility. anticipated that it will be in keeping with world standards as well as health and safety requirements. “So we have to put all of that into place to ensure that when the children move in they are comfortable and safe and this is home for them.”

Digicel, according to her, will complete the project in its entirety even providing the needful furnishing and landscaping.

According to her “there will be continued work on the property itself because it is not just a home...you have to

look at landscaping and putting in extra-curricular activities so we will be setting up a play area and outdoor activities for the children.

“We are going to ensure that in the next phase the property itself is well taken care of...” added James.

More persons come forward to claim compensation

An external view of the new children’s home under construction

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Duo charged for fraud at Linden Hospital Complex The two male staffers of the Linden Hospital Complex implicated in the recent allegation of fraud at the institution, have been placed before the court on several larceny charges.

The men have been accused of defrauding the Government of Guyana of cash tallying over $21 million via the Linden Hospital Complex.

According to the charge, Delon Saul, 35, an accountant of 6687 Industrial Area, Linden and Kenroy Moseley, 34, a Male Nurse of 129 Riverside Drive, Linden, while being employed in the public

sector, stole $12M, property of the Government of Guyana, between September 23, 2008 and November 12, 2012.

Saul was also charged with another count of larceny.

The allegation is that between December 10 and December 13, 2012, Saul stole $9M property of the Government of Guyana.

The duo made their first court appearance before Magistrate Sueanna Lovell yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Both men were represented by Attorney-AtLaw Adrian Thompson. The Attorney told the court that

Saul has an unblemished record and no previous brushes with the law, but he was arrested at the Linden Hospital Complex and detained until his court appearance.

Moseley’s lawyer, Gordon Gilhuys, said that the police contacted his client and told him to visit the Criminal Investigations Department on Monday last where he was detained.

The attorneys asked for bail to be granted at an affordable sum.

However Police Prosecutor, Alexis DavidHossanah objected to the men

being granted bail citing that they are flight risk. She stated even if the men lodge their travel documents with the police they can still go back track.

David –Hosannah stated that investigations are still ongoing. He added that Saul has over $8Million in his bank account which the police are currently in the process of confiscating.

She said that investigators have since seized Saul’s car.

David-Hossanah added that the men could tamper with investigations if released on bail, since the police are

currently looking into the matter and more charges are likely to be laid.

The presiding Magistrate Sueanna Lovell granted Saul bail in the sum of $1,250,000 while Moseley is on $750,000

bail. They have to return to court on February 25 for report and fixture. Meanwhile, the men have been ordered to lodge their passports and report to the Wismar Police Station.

Soldiers not authorized to inspect mining camps - Commodore Best No member of the Guyana Defence Force has the authority to inspect any mining licenses or to intermeddle into any mining activities once they are not accompanied by an official of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.

This was announced by Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force and Chairman of the Joint Services Coordinating Council, Commodore Gary Best, as the army continues its investigations into allegations that a ganjasmoking group of soldiers raided gold mining camps in the Cuyuni and seized a quantity of the precious metal. “…Members of the mining community must not submit themselves to any actions by officers and soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force acting alone with respect to enforcement of laws governing mining in Guyana,” the Chief of Staff stated in a notice to miners that is published in the daily newspaper.

According to Commodore Best, “No Guyana Police Force Officer or Guyana Defence Force Officer or soldier is authorised to enforce the mining laws of the country either together or with other members of the respective Forces or separately WITHOUT the presence of a GGMC Mining Officer.”

He made it clear that the Joint Services stand ready to work with the mining community to make their operational environment safe and peaceful.

To this end, it is imperative that information on all illegal activities be transmitted confidentially to the highest of offices within the Joint Services for immediate action.

He commended the efforts of some miners who came forward and reported illegal

Commodore Gary Best activities and expressed the hope that other miners will do the same.

“With regards to the alleged illegal conduct of members of the Guyana Defence Force, anyone and everyone found culpable will face the full force of the law,” Commodore Best reiterated.

GDF medical personnel are currently carrying out tests on ranks at Eteringbang to determine if they are indeed using narcotics as was claimed by one miner who witnessed the incident.

It is alleged that on Friday last, five heavily armed soldiers went into a Cuyuni mining district at an area called Devil’s Hole, where they relieved a group of Brazilian miners of raw gold after getting high on the marijuana they had seized earlier from drug pushers on the nearby Julian Ross Landing.

According to Commodore Best, preliminary investigations seem to suggest that some ranks had left the base without the proper authority.

He however cautioned that it was too early to determine if the ranks, who were off the base, were indeed at the location where the alleged incident took place.

“We can’t conclude as yet that our men committed the act but by tomorrow (Wednesday) we will know,” he said.

Body found in trench Police were up to press time trying to ascertain the identity of a man whose body was fished out of the East La Penitence trench, opposite the Night Shelter late yesterday afternoon.

According to reports, undertakers from the Lyken

Funeral Home received the call sometime around 18:00hrs yesterday and went to recover the body.

Kaieteur News was told that from all appearances the body had already started to decompose. The police are investigating the matter.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 19

CDB raises US$300M to National Insurance Board seeking to boost regional growth recover over TT$600m from CLICO

Suresh Sookoo Jamaica Gleaner - RBC Capital Markets, in conjunction with RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean) Limited, has successfully placed a US$300-million amortising bond issue for the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to bolster regional development and stimulate economic growth.

The 15-year fixed-rate bond bears interest of 4.375 per cent annually until maturity in 2027, and represents a significant investment inflow into the region, RBC said in a statement out of Port-ofSpain, Trinidad Tuesday.

“Proceeds of the bond

issue will be used to augment CDB’s capital ratios further, particularly in the face of prevailing downward trending regional economic conditions and the marginal growth being experienced throughout the region,” the bank said.

The bond is expected to have a positive impact on CDB’s development initiatives, ultimately supporting funding for the bank’s borrowing member countries, RBC added.

As outlined in its strategic plan 2010-2014, RBC said, CDB plans to assist member countries in confronting their major development challenges, as well as in implementing policies and strategies which would contribute to their economic and social development.

Chief executive officer of RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited, Suresh Sookoo, said the bond issue reflected not only the bank’s “commitment to regional capital market development, but also illustrates our ongoing drive to collaborate with organisations, like CDB, in the spirit of sustainable investment in the Caribbean.”

“We believe that the bond arrangement between CDB and RBC is indicative of

the intent of both parties to deliver best-in-practice, globally competitive and relevant financing solutions and support to our clients in the Caribbean,” Sookoo added.

RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited is the second-largest financial institution by assets in the English-speaking Caribbean, with branches in 20 countries and territories, and has a track record of successfully raising financing from local and regional bond markets.

The investment arm of RBC Financial (Caribbean), RBC Merchant Bank, is headquartered in Trinidad, and has regional reach with dedicated expertise within major Caribbean markets, including Jamaica, Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and Central America, in addition to Trinidad and Tobago.

CDB is the region’s only multilateral development financing organisation, and has the highest long-term debt securities rating of all Caribbean financial institutions, with an AA grade from Standard and Poor’s, and an Aa1 rating from Moody’s.

RBC (Canada) is rated A

by Standard & Poor’s and A1

by Moody’s for subordinated debt.

OECS emerging from four years of negative growth BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - CMC – Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Sir Dwight Venner, is calling on stakeholders in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to provide the collective effort to help the sub-regional countries put their economies on the path to growth and development.

In a radio and television broadcast to member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) on Tuesday night, Sir

Dwight said that the subregion had endured four years of negative economic growth as a result of the impact of the global economic and financial crisis “which has affected all facets of our economic and financial systems.

“It would be fair to say that we have reached a turning point in the OECS and the currency union which requires a collective effort involving political and social consensus, technical expertise and managerial and administrative competence.

“It is true that we have survived and made steady progress since independence, but all the evidence suggests that this time is different and that to catch up with the rest of the world and our competitors we must be prepared for significant adjustments to our current policies and modes of doing business. “ Sir Dwight said he is confident that the subregion has “the capacity to succeed in this endeavour” noting “the platform is there.

PARIS - CMC – The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) yesterday said political tension and judicial harassment have led to several Caribbean countries receiving low grades on its global press freedom index.

But Jamaica emerged as the western hemisphere’s leader, replacing Canada, according to a statement

issued by the RSF. It said Trinidad and Tobago, which was ranked 44th, has still “not stopped its illegal monitoring of journalists’ phone calls and attempts to identify their sources although it promised to stop in 2010.

In Suriname, which dropped nine places to 31st , RSF said “often stormy relations between President

Desi Bouterse and many journalists are unlikely to improve after the passage of an amnesty law for the murders of around 15 government opponents, including five journalists, three decades ago” when Bouterse headed a military government in the Dutchspeaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

Jamaica tops western hemisphere countries for press freedom

Trinidad Express - The aftershocks of the CL Financial collapse continue to be felt as the National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NIB) is seeking to recover more than TT$600 million from CL subsidiary CLICO. The issue was brought up Tuesday as officials of the NIB met with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain on the NIBTT accounts for 2010.

PAC member and Attorney General Anand Ramlogan noted that figure of TT$625 million was on the NIB books as a receivable and questioned how “realistic and practical” that was or whether it was wishful thinking.

NIB acting executive director Karen Gopaul said they had discussions with the Finance Ministry and they were still attempting to get the money. “We are hopeful in that regard,” she said.

She said the NIB believed the organisation fell under the category of creditors in a Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU) by the State. PAC chairman Colm Imbert asked if the NIB hoped to recover the money from Government and Gopaul said this was one option the NIB was looking at.

Imbert responded that the money has “to come from somewhere” as there was “no money tree in the Ministry of Finance” and this would be another liability on the books.

Ramlogan pointed out that the sum could artificially inflate the accounts and questioned if there was a contingency plan if it was not received and had to be written off as a bad debt.

NIB chairman Adrian Bharath said the board was looking at the “worst case scenario” regarding the impaired assets.

PAC member Anil Roberts chided the NIB for continuing to make deposits into CLICO from 2008 to 2009 when it was public knowledge that CL Financial was on the brink of collapse. He asked what measures were being put in place to ensure this did not reoccur.Gopaul said the deposits were small and were redeposited, and noted that

Anand Ramlogan the NIB had a new investment policy and was looking at the limits of authority.

Roberts also asked if steps had been taken to prevent interlocking directorships as occurred with former NIB chairman Calder Hart, who was also chairman of Home Mortgage Bank and also head of the Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage and Finance Company.

Bharath responded that the chairmen of these entities were all different people.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

City officials probed for negligence over Brazil nightclub fire SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Prosecutors in southern Brazil, where 235 people died when a fire ravaged the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria last weekend, are investigating whether city leaders and inspectors were negligent in allowing the club to operate.The investigation, which is separate from a criminal probe into the causes of the tragedy, comes after police said the club’s sole exit was partially blocked and that fire extinguishers and

emergency exit lights weren’t working.

Investigators say the lapses led to the stampede and consequent trampling and suffocation that killed most of the fire’s victims.

“There is a political dimension to what happened,” Cesar Augusto Carlan, a public prosecutor for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where the fire occurred, said in an interview yesterday.

He said the investigation sought to determine what

fault may lie with the city, fire inspectors, and any other enforcement officials who had allowed the nightclub to operate.

In a news conference late Tuesday, Santa Maria’s mayor, Cesar Schirmer, said city inspectors visited the club last April after it had undergone remodeling and found no reason to revoke its operating permit.

He said his mind was “at ease” that city hall had “fulfilled its obligation.”

Schirmer added: “The establishment, in our view, had no irregularities. If any measures or inspections should have been taken, that was the responsibility of the fire department.”

The local fire department, for its part, reiterated in a statement late Tuesday that it was in the process of renewing the club’s safety permit when the fire occurred, but that the establishment was authorized to operate in the meantime.

It added, however, that the club appears to have committed several safety violations, noting that it did not have a permit allowing the sort of pyrotechnics that sparked the fire and that regulations require that the exit remain unobstructed, which wasn’t the case.

“If there had been a request to use pyrotechnics in the nightclub Kiss, the fire department would not have authorized it,” the statement read.

Further details of the tragedy continue to emerge.

Police said one of the club’s owners, who with his co-owner is in police custody for questioning, on Tuesday tried to choke himself with a shower hose at a local hospital in a suicide attempt.

The owner, identified by police as Elissandro Spohr, told officials he could not bear

the strain of the tragedy.

In addition to the two club owners, two members of Gurizada Fandangueira, the band that was performing at the club, also are in custody for questioning. One of the band members, police say, lit an outdoor flare during its show, igniting overhead soundproofing material from which the fire rapidly spread.

None of the four men has been charged with any crime.

Local authorities have revised the death toll from the tragedy to 235, following the death of an injured man in hospital and a recount of the confirmed dead. Late on Tuesday, 121 people remained in hospital, 83 of them on respirators.

Some of those being treated are suffering complications from the toxic chemicals they inhaled during the fire.

Government orders the immediate closure of web shop gaming NASSAU, Bahamas CMC – less than 24 hours after Bahamians voted overwhelming to reject the legalisation of web shop gambling and a national lottery, the government has called on all operates of such games to close down their businesses with “immediate effect”.

“Failure to do so will leave all such web shop owners, operators and web shop gaming patrons exposed to arrest and criminal prosecution without further notice or warning,” Prime Minister Perry Christie said in a brief statement.

The results from Monday’s referendum showed that Bahamians by a margin of almost two to one, voted “No” to the questions on “Do you support the regulation and taxation of web shop gaming and Do you support the establishment of a National Lottery?

“This is a victory for the church,” said Dr. Ranford Patterson of the Bahamas Christian Council, adding “we are excited and thanking God,” he added.

The referendum had been conducted in a campaign similar to a general election with the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) urging supporters to give the thumbs up to the initiatives that Prime Minister Christie said would finalize a new source of government revenue and will facilitate new areas for local employment.

The main opposition Free National Movement (FNM)

Perry Christie had urged voters to reject the measure.

In his statement, Prime Minister Christie said that in keeping with his administration’s commitment to abide by the will of the electorate “it has now become necessary to effect the closure of all web-shop gaming operations in The Bahamas.

“Accordingly, all offending web-shop owners and operators are placed on notice that all their gaming operations, including all online gaming and the numbers games, must cease with immediate effect.”

Prime Minister Christie said the governments expects all web shop owners and operators “will cooperate in giving effect to what I have just outlined so as to thereby eliminate the need for the relevant law enforcement authorities to take coercive action to compel the necessary result”.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 21

FARC rebels vow to keep capturing EU provides budgetary Colombian security forces support to Montserrat

Juan Manuel Santos (Reuters) - Colombia’s FARC guerrillas have vowed to continue capturing security forces while the government yesterday asked rebels to make it clear they are not wasting time at peace talks in Cuba and genuinely want to end the five-decade conflict.

President Juan Manuel Santos’ government and Marxist guerrillas have been locked in peace negotiations in Cuba since November to

try to reach a negotiated settlement to a war that has defied all past attempts for resolution. The discussions are set to resume today.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the biggest and oldest armed group in Latin America, seized two police patrolmen in a southwestern province last weekend - the first kidnapping of security forces since the group said last year it would stop taking hostages to finance its activities.

The FARC never said it would stop taking members of the armed forces as “prisoners of war” but in April of last year it released all government forces under its control.

“We reserve the right to capture members of the security forces as prisoners if they surrender in combat,” the FARC said in a statement issued late on Tuesday in Cuba. An escalation of hostilities could affect the progress of the peace talks in Cuba. Santos has said he wants to achieve an agreement within a year.

The chief government

negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, said the Andean country would not be put off course by the recent kidnappings.

“We’re going to Havana to end the conflict, that is what we agreed. And if it’s not like that, they should tell us at once, so as not to waste the time of the government nor the Colombians,” de la Calle said before returning to Cuba after a short break in talks.

“We will not be diverted from our goal nor we will be pressured into a ceasefire,” de la Calle added.

At the start of talks in November, the FARC declared a two-month unilateral ceasefire, which ended on January 20 with the rebels attacking oil and mining facilities, including two pipelines and a coal rail line.

The government has refused to lay down its arms saying the ceasefire was a sham by the FARC to gain international attention. The army kept attacking the rebel group and carried out several aerial raids that killed at least 34 rebels.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – The European Union is providing Euro 5.13 million (One Euro =US$1.35 cents) to Montserrat as part of a financial package to the Overseas British territory.

European Union Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Mikael Barfod said the overall package of Euro 15.66 million is to help boost Montserrat’s economic growth and development.

The EU support will primarily assist with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Plan of Montserrat as part of the country’s economic recovery.

In addition it will assist with the country’s sustainable growth with a specific focus on public finance management, public sector reform and prudent economic management.

An EU statement said that expected results include the improvement of property tax administration through the provision of online services;

strengthening of public finance management through the reduction of tax arrears; increased access to housing through construction of new homes; improved public infrastructure through reform of the energy regulatory framework and new Port and Airport Authorities merger legislation; and promotion of private sector activity through a stronger alignment of the education sector to labour market needs.

Barford recently paid a first visit to Montserrat and met with Premier Reuben Meade as well as Governor Adrian Davis.

“He discussed aspects of the Public Finance Management reforms, the macroeconomic stability outlook and implementation of the Sustainable Development Plan with officials from the Ministry of Finance and visited the Lookout Housing Project and the Little Bay Port, both of which are co-financed by the European Union,” the statement said.

The EU has a long-

Mikael Barfod standing history of cooperation with Montserrat.

It has been providing support to the volcano ravaged island under various conventions since 1976.

It said that total development cooperation under the fourth and eighth European Development Fund (EDF) has been valued at Euro 32 million.

The EU said that under the ninth and 10th EDF, Montserrat is to receive another Euro 32 million of financial assistance in the form of budget support.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Australian PM announces Russia scraps antiSept. 14 elections crime deal with the US MOSCOW (AP) — Russia pulled out of an anticrime accord with the United States yesterday, the latest sign of rising tensions between Moscow and Washington.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to scrap the 10-year-old agreement “because it was no longer relevant,” his office said.

The agreement covered fighting terrorism, corruption and crossborder crimes such as drug smuggling and human trafficking.

Alexei Pushkov, head of R u s s i a ’s p a r l i a m e n t a r y foreign affairs committee, said the decision reflected Russia’s ability to manage its affairs without outside help.

“Russia is changing the format of its relations with the U.S.,” he tweeted. “We are ending our dependence on ‘the country No. 1.’”

The Foreign Ministry expressed gratitude to the U.S. for providing $12 million in aid for crime-fighting

projects under the accord, but said Moscow no longer needs such assistance.

“From a recipient of Western aid for anti-crime projects, Russia has turned into a donor for such programs in Central Asian nations and Afghanistan,” it said in a statement, adding that Moscow was ready to continue cooperation with the U.S. in fighting crime, including drug-trafficking.

A U.S. embassy spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The agreement is just one of several bilateral cooperation deals that Moscow has decided to abandon. Last year, Russia expelled the U.S. International Development Agency and also warned it wouldn’t extend the Nunn-Lugar program helping it dismantle nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons stockpiles.

On Friday, the U.S. withdrew from a joint civil society group.

President Barack Obama’s

efforts to “reset” relations with Russia have met a markedly colder wind from the Kremlin since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in May. Faced with unprecedent e d street protests against his 12year rule, Putin accused the U.S. State Department of staging the protests in order to weaken Russia.

After P u t i n ’s inauguration, the Kremlincontrolled parliament then quickly rubber-stamped a series of laws imposing new restrictions in an apparent bid to curb American influence in Russia.

Non-governmental organizations funded from abroad were required to register as “foreign agents,” a term intended to ruin their credibility among Russians for whom the term sounds synonymous to spies.

The Russian definition of treason was also expanded to include potentially any contact with a foreign organization.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister Julia Gillard surprised Australians yesterday by announcing that elections will be held Sept. 14, in a country where governments have traditionally given the opposition little more than a month’s notice to keep a strategic advantage.

In a speech to the National Press Gallery, Gillard said she wanted to create an environment in which voters could more easily focus on national issues by removing uncertainty around the timing of the elections.

“I reflected on this over the summer and I thought it’s not right for Australians to be forced into a guessing game, and it’s not right for Australians to not face this year with certainty and stability,” she said, referring to her holiday break during the current Southern Hemisphere summer.

Experts disagreed about whether Gillard’s unconventional move would give her an advantage in the elections. Some said voters would embrace her for making the early announcement on the date, while others suggested that Gillard had above all created a grueling eight-month election campaign instead of the usual five-week campaign.

Opinion polls suggest the conservative opposition coalition led by Tony Abbott is likely to win the elections convincingly.

Abbott welcomed the announcement on the date.

He said the elections would “be about trust,” echoing his Liberal Party’s campaign theme during its last successful election campaign

Julia Gillard in 2004.

“The choice before the Australian people could not be clearer,” he told reporters.

“It’s more tax or less, it’s more regulation or less, it’s less competence or more, it’s less freedom or more.”

Abbott has promised to remove the carbon tax that Australia’s biggest polluters pay, as well as the tax paid by coal and iron ore miners. Both taxes were introduced in July.

Gillard’s center-left Labor Party narrowly scraped through the last elections on Aug. 21, 2010, to form a minority government with the support of independent legislators and a lawmaker from the minor Greens party.

She said she consulted with Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and senior colleagues to help her make the decision on the date. Two independent lawmakers who support Gillard’s government, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, said they were informed of the date Tuesday night.

Gillard said that given the certainty of the poll date, the opposition would have no

excuse to delay the release of the details and costs of their campaign platform.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country’s main national business group, backed Gillard’s call for early policy announcements, after previously complaining that the uncertainty of the poll date in an election year harms business.

Australian National University political scientist John Warhurst said breaking with convention made Gillard appear in control and transparent, which would likely prove popular with voters who have tired of the guessing that surrounds the poll date in every election year. “Whether she comes to regret giving away the advantage of surprise, only time will tell how big an advantage that was,” Warhurst said.

Warhurst and former Labor Party power broker Graham Richardson both said the announcement would make it harder for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to attempt to replace Gillard in an internal party coup early in the election season.

Rudd, who was ousted by Gillard in such a coup in 2010, failed to gain enough support among Labor lawmakers to topple her last February.

Richardson said the announcement would also make it difficult for Abbott to put off announcing his campaign platform and explaining how it will be paid for.

Senior opposition lawmaker Joe Hockey accused Gillard of political trickery and said it would backfire on her.

Zimbabwe claims its accounts are bare HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s finance ministry said it has just $217 left in its accounts after paying the nation’s civil servants and government employees earlier this month.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the monthly salaries cleared out government earnings and tax revenues in January when he made an appeal Tuesday for foreign donors to help raise some $200 million for a constitutional referendum and elections later this year.

But financial experts said yesterday that Biti, known for his exaggerated rhetoric in the troubled economy, failed to mention quick returns from income tax, social security payments and increased taxable spending in shops and stores.

Those daily revenues immediately replenish the country’s battered coffers, experts say. Nationwide highway toll gates also separately bring in thousands of dollars a day.

The government is the nation’s biggest employer with a work force of up to 300,000 - and salaries routinely account for more than 70 percent of its monthly spending.

Many governments routinely pay out more than they receive, technically making their accounts empty, said Harare economist John Robertson. To fill that gap, they rely on domestic and international borrowing to which Zimbabwe has little access after years of political turmoil and economic meltdown, he said.

January is traditionally a lean month for households in Zimbabwe after festive holiday spending and school fees needing to be paid at the start of the school year.

Zimbabwe’s world record inflation in 2008 wiped out savings held by ordinary people that were used to make ends meet, pay family expenses and that bolstered the local money market with cash that could be borrowed, Robertson said.

A black empowerment program also scared off foreign investment and capital inflows that could have made a difference to the state’s liquidity.

“It is clear tax revenues have been limited this month but I don’t think it’s anything new. It has been like this before,” Robertson said.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Egypt curfew scaled back as Mursi seeks end to bloodshed CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - Authorities in an Egyptian city scaled back a curfew imposed by President Mohamed Mursi, and the Islamist leader cut short a visit to Europe yesterday to deal with the deadliest violence in the seven months since he took power.Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo’s central Tahrir Square yesterday, a day after the army chief warned that the state was on the brink of collapse if Mursi’s opponents and supporters did not end street battles.

More than 50 people have been killed in the past seven days of protests by Mursi’s opponents, raising global concern over whether the Islamist leader can restore stability to the most populous Arab country.

Mursi imposed a curfew and a state of emergency on three Suez Canal cities on Sunday but that only seemed to further provoke crowds in a week of unrest marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The governor of Ismailia, one of the three canal cities, said yesterday he was scaling back the curfew, which would now take effect nightly from 2:00 a.m. instead of 9:00 p.m..

Mursi, speaking in Berlin before hurrying home to deal with the crisis, called for dialogue with opponents but would not commit to their

demand that he first agree to include them in a unity government.

Asked about that proposal, he said the next government would be formed after parliamentary elections in April.

Egypt was on its way to becoming “a civilian state that is not a military state or a theocratic state”, Mursi said.

The violence at home forced Mursi to scale back his European visit, billed as a chance to promote Egypt as a destination for foreign investment. He flew to Berlin but called off a trip to Paris and was due back home after only a few hours in Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met him, echoed other Western leaders who have called on him to give his opponents a voice.

“One thing that is important for us is that the line for dialogue is always open to all political forces in Egypt, that the different political forces can make their contribution, that human rights are adhered to in Egypt and that of course religious freedom can be experienced,” she said at a joint news conference with Mursi.

Mursi’s critics accuse him of betraying the spirit of the revolution by keeping too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement banned under Mubarak which won repeated elections since the 2011

uprising.

Mursi’s supporters say the protesters want to overthrow Egypt’s first democratically elected leader.

The current unrest has deepened an economic crisis that saw the pound currency tumble in recent weeks.

Near Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday morning, dozens of protesters threw stones at police who fired back teargas, although the scuffles were brief.

“Our demand is simply that Mursi goes, and leaves the country alone. He is just like Mubarak and his crowd who are now in prison,” said Ahmed Mustafa, 28, a youth who had goggles on his head to protect his eyes from teargas.

Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei called for a meeting of the president, ministers, the ruling party and the opposition to halt the violence. But he also restated the precondition that Mursi first commit to seeking a national unity government.

The worst violence has been in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, where rage was fuelled by death sentences passed against soccer fans for roles in deadly riots last year.

After decades in which the West backed Mubarak’s military rule of Egypt, the emergence of an elected Islamist leader in Cairo is probably the single most important change brought

BEIRUT (Reuters) Israeli forces attacked a convoy on the SyrianLebanese border yesterday, sources told Reuters, after Israelis warned their Lebanese enemy Hezbollah against using chaos in Syria to acquire anti-aircraft missiles or chemical weapons.

“The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon,” said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment seemed unlikely to have included chemical weapons.

A source among rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said an air strike around dawn (0430 GMT) blasted a convoy on a mountain track about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of where the main DamascusBeirut highway crosses the border. Its load probably included high-tech antiaircraft and anti-tank missiles.

“It attacked trucks

carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hezbollah,” the source said, adding that it took place inside Syria, though the border is poorly defined in the area. A security official in the region also placed the attack on the Syrian side. A Lebanese security official denied any strike in Lebanon.

It was not clear whether special forces took part.

The Israeli government declined comment on the issue.

Such a strike would fit its existing policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Iranian-backed Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of Assad’s family rule after 42 years is seen

by Israel as posing a threat.

Some analysts suggested Hezbollah was moving its own arms caches from stores in Syria, fearing rebels would overrun them.

Though Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks from reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

Yesterday’s strike could have been a rapid response to an opportunity. But a stream of Israeli comment on Syria in recent days was a reminder of a standing policy of pre-emptive strikes and may have been intended to limit surprise in world capitals.

The head of the Israeli air force said only hours before the strike that his corps, which has an array of the latest jet bombers, attack helicopters and unmanned drones at its disposal, was involved in a covert “campaign between wars”.

Israel hits Syria arms convoy to Lebanon: sources

A protester opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi tries to stop riot police from firing tear gas, during clashes along Simon Bolivar Square, which leads to Tahrir Square, in Cairo yesterday. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh about by the wave of Arab revolts over the past two years.

Mursi won backing from the West last year for his role in helping to establish a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians that ended a conflict in Gaza. But he then followed that with an effort to fast-track a constitution that reignited dissent at home and raised global concern over Egypt’s future.

Western countries were alarmed this month by video that emerged showing Mursi making vitriolic remarks against Jews and Zionists in 2010 when he was a senior Brotherhood official.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said ahead of Mursi’s visit that the remarks, in which Mursi referred to Zionists as “descendants of apes and pigs” were “unacceptable”.

Asked about those remarks at the news conference with Merkel, Mursi repeated earlier explanations that they had been taken out of context.

“I am not against the Jewish faith,” he said. “I was talking about the practices and behavior of believers of any religion who shed blood or who attack innocent people or civilians. That’s behavior that I condemn.”

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Donors meet target of $1.5 billion aid for stricken Syrians KUWAIT (Reuters) Donor countries have pledged more than $1.5 billion to aid Syrians stricken by civil war, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday after warning that the conflict had wrought a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

In a pointed message for Syria’s leader, Ban told a fundraising conference that President Bashar al-Assad bore primary responsibility to stop his country’s suffering after nearly two years of conflict that have cost an estimated 60,000 lives.

“Every day Syrians face unrelenting horrors,” Ban told the gathering in Kuwait, adding these included sexual violence and arbitrary killings.

Sixty-five people were shot dead execution-style in Aleppo on Tuesday, opposition activists said.

“We cannot go on like this.... He should listen to the voices and cries of so many people,” Ban said.

“I appeal to all sides and particularly the Syrian

government to stop the killing ... in the name of humanity, stop the killing, stop the violence.”

Ban said the one-day conference had exceeded the target of $1.5 billion in pledges. About $1 billion is earmarked for Syria’s neighbors hosting refugees and $500 million for humanitarian aid to Syrians displaced inside the country.

The $500 million would be channeled through U.N. partner agencies in Syria. and the entire aid pledge would cover the next six months, Ban said.

But in the Syrian capital Damascus, the thud of artillery drowned out any optimism on the streets.

Asked about the aid promises, Damascenes were uninterested or despairing.

“Where’s the money going to go to? How does anyone know where it’s going? It all seems like talk,” said Faten, a grandmother from a middle-class family in the capital.

Another middle-class Damascene, a woman in her 70s who asked not to be named, said the money would not make it to Syrians.

“Tomorrow all that money will get stolen. (The middlemen) steal everything.

If they could steal people’s souls, they would. I wouldn’t count on the money,” she said.

The oil-rich Gulf Arab states of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each promised $300 million at the meeting. Its 60 participants included Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Tunisia, the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and a number of European countries.

But relief groups say that converting promises into hard cash can take much time, and one of them said on Tuesday that aid now reaching Syria was not being distributed fairly, with almost all of it going to governmentcontrolled areas.

Ban said that much more remained to be done to address Syria’s humanitarian emergency. “The situation in Syria is catastrophic and getting worse every day.”

Four million Syrians inside the country need food, shelter and other aid in the midst of a freezing winter, and more than 700,000 more are estimated to have fled to countries nearby.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said that Syrian agriculture was in crisis, hospitals and ambulances had been damaged and even painkillers were unavailable.

Freezing, snowy winter weather had made matters worse, and people lack warm clothes, blankets and fuel, with women and children particularly at risk, she said, adding: “We are watching a human tragedy unfold before our eyes.”

Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, told the meeting “horrifying reports” of violence had raised questions about Syria’s future and relief efforts had to be redoubled.

Syrian opposition

activists said at least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the embattled northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, the latest reported massacre over the course of 22 months of conflict.

They blamed militiamen loyal to Assad, while the government blamed the Islamist rebel Nusra Front. It was impossible to confirm who was responsible given Syria’s restrictions on access for independent media.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in all, according to a U.N. estimate, since the conflict began as a peaceful movement for democratic reform and escalated into an armed rebellion after Assad tried to crush the unrest by force.

Diplomacy to halt the war has been stymied by deadlock in the U.N. Security Council between Western powers, who want Assad to quit as part of a democratic transition, and Russia, a close Assad ally that rejects outside interference in Syria.

And the fighting is largely stalemated in Syria, with rebels holding swathes

of the north and east but unable to take key cities because of the government’s air power and superiority in heavy weapons.

King Abdullah of Jordan told the donors’ meeting Syrians had taken refuge in his country in their hundreds of thousands but Amman’s ability to help was at its limits. “We have reached the end of the line, we have exhausted our resources,” he said.

Iran, a staunch supporter of Assad, said the blame for the humanitarian crisis lay with rebel fighters who had come to Syria from abroad.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the government and its Syrian opponents should “sit and talk and form a transitional government”.

(Reuters) - Political rivals joined forces yesterday to launch a campaign to keep Britain inside the European Union, aiming to turn back a rising tide of animosity towards Brussels that threatens to end its 40-year membership of the bloc.

Politicians of different stripes decided to pool their efforts after Prime Minister David Cameron last week promised to renegotiate Britain’s EU membership terms and give voters a chance to say whether they want to leave.

The Centre for British Influence Through Europe (CBIE), a cross-party group that lobbies to keep Britain inside the EU, said it hoped to convince voters that its stance was the “common sense” option in the barrage of rhetoric on Europe.

And two of Cameron’s senior ministers urged a “political fightback” against growing calls for Britain to claw back powers from its biggest trading partner or leave it altogether.

Ken Clarke, a Conservative cabinet minister, and Treasury Minister Danny Alexander, of the pro-EU Lib Dems, the junior coalition partner, will speak at the group’s launch

later yesterday. They will be joined by Peter Mandelson, a former Labour minister and exEU trade commissioner.

“It is fundamentally defeatist to contend that Britain is forever isolated and without a vision in Europe,” the group’s director Peter Wilding said in a statement.

Britain’s long debate pits pro-EU forces who see Europe as a crucial trade partner and source of stability after World War Two against eurosceptics angry with what they see as a meddling and wasteful Brussels bureaucracy that threatens UK sovereignty.

Cameron said last week that his party would campaign for the 2015 parliamentary election on a pledge to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership. He said an “in our out” referendum on the country’s membership of the bloc would then be held by the end of 2017 - provided he wins a second term.

While both sides have begun making their case on Europe, a referendum is still far from certain to take place.

Cameron must come from behind in opinion polls to win the election, decide which powers he wants to reclaim from Brussels and then

overcome European opposition to negotiate their return.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle underlined the scale of Cameron’s task of securing opt-outs from EU rules in an article on Wednesday in which he told Britain: “There can be no cherry-picking.”

“We might be conjuring up forces that we can’t control,” he wrote in the Times newspaper. “We must not put at risk the common ground that we have achieved in more than half a century of European cooperation.”

The CBIE will stress the importance of closer ties with Berlin, Brussels and Paris to give Britain a louder voice in the world and to help its trading position.

The campaign was due to be launched at Europe House, an office building which is the London base of the European Commission as well as the UK Independence Party, the antiEU group which is siphoning off voters from Cameron’s Conservatives.

A stone’s throw from parliament, it was for years the office of the Conservatives a party whose divisions over Europe led to Margaret Thatcher’s downfall.

Ban Ki-moon

Political rivals in Britain unite to combat EU “Brexit” threat

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 25

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

APNU’s Sydney Allicock denies frontline position in NRDDB A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Mr. Sydney Allicock is refuting the contents of a letter carried by the Guyana Chronicle on January 20, 2013 which seeks to suggest that he is manipulating the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) and may be responsible for reluctance by international donor agencies

to provide support for the Board.

Letter writer, Lorna Charlie, had written that the NRDDB, a body formed to promote the development of the North Rupununi communities, had been doing well before the 2011 elections but after the elections seems to have fallen into a state of stagnation to the detriment of the continued development

prospects of Annai’s Amerindian communities .

The residents, she said, blamed this on Sydney Allicock’s presence on the NRDDB and him giving the impression that he is the spokesman for the NRDDB when he is not authorised to do so.

“Mr. Sydney Allicock is a Member of Parliament for the APNU political party and has adopted a frontline position

Agriculture Science and Catering were named among the two new subjects that were introduced into the student’s curriculum of the New Opportunity Corps for the year 2013.

While some of the inmates attend the Johanna Cecilia Secondary School, others are being taught at the facility by various trainers.

One hundred and fortysix students benefited from the programme with the aid and guidance of full time trainers, Jagnarine Parasram Singh, a senior training officer of NOC said.

Singh added that both subject areas will be involved in the theoretical and practical sessions.

A German company has

invested heavily in the catering programme.

Assistant Director of Youth, Shabeer Ali, noted that despite the stigma that was attached to the Juvenile facility, ever since the series of incidents specifically in August last year, the continuous training of staff and students and continued support from NonGovernmental Organizations, namely UNICEF and USAID as well as community support, led to a significant transformation of the facility.

He said staff members were trained on how to deal with students, especially in areas of counseling and guidance. Ali informed too, that the facility has also seen the integration of

programmes with UNICEF and SkYPE. He urged students, “to learn as much as they can to develop and grow.”

Barbara Grant and Egon Lake were awarded for their long service at the institution.

Lake and Grant served as a driver and crop attendant for the past 14 years.

Additional programmes offered at the institution include Electrical Installation, Handicraft, Information Technology, Carpentry, Joinery, Welding and Fabrication, Tailoring and Garment construction, Catering, Agriculture Science and Remedial Mathematics and English.

New subjects for NOC

(Yannason Duncan).

Accused in Cotton Tree murder to know fate today Murder accused, Nazrudeen Jahoot, called “Buddy”, 22, of Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, is expected to know his fate today after Justice Brassington Reynolds sums up the evidence to the mixed jury.

Jahoot is on trial in the Berbice High Court for the murder of Ramlall Mangal, called “Ochro” and “Dereck” also of Cotton Tree. The killing took place on August 25, 2008.

Both the prosecution and the defence closed their cases and presented their closing arguments to the judge and mixed jury. The state closed its case after the testimony of Dr Vivekananda Brijmohan.

Earlier, the accused had given an unsworn statement from the dock in which he stated that around midday on August 25, he had packed his bag and left the area for Lethem in pursuit of a job in that area.

He said that a few days later he received a call from Lisa Mangal who told him that her father had died.

He added that when he was arrested at Lethem he gave the officer his correct name. He said that it was Lisa Mangal who lied.

He said he was subsequently brought to

Georgetown and then later transferred to Fort Wellington.

The doctor whose unavailability during last week had stalled the trial, turned up in court during the morning hours. The matter was rescheduled to commence at 13:00 hrs but the doctor did not return.

In closing submissions defence attorney Charrandass Persaud concentrated his arguments on the taking of the caution statement and the signature of the accused on the said statement.

He also questioned the timing of the taking of the statement, which he said had some irregularities and urged the jury to take those into consideration.

State Prosecutor Prithina Kissoon in her submission drew the jury’s attention to the fact that the accused signed eight times on the Caution statement.

She also told the jury to look at the two times that the accused admitted he signed in the two station diaries (at Eve Leary and Fort Wellington) and see the similarities. At no time somebody will sign exactly the same way, she asserted.

A number of witnesses had testified, including police

officers, Detective Assistant Superintendent, Trevor Reid, Detective Inspector Kadarnauth Bejaimal, Detective Sergeant Gilbert Ross, Detective Corporals Michael Peters and Juke Jacques, woman Detective Corporal Daniel Blair, Detective Constable Mark Fraser and Constable Devon Semple.

Ivorene Dukhia the wife of the deceased also testified to what transpired before and after her husband’s death while Ramdeo Sookra, a nephew of the deceased, identified the body for the post mortem.

Mangal was allegedly stabbed to death around midday on August 25, 2008 during a fight with the accused. The men allegedly ended up in a trench, where Mangal was stabbed repeatedly.

He allegedly came out of the trench and sat on a bench under a shed in front of his house where he bled to death and was found in a sitting position.

The accused, who was 18 at the time of the crime, fled to Lethem and was cohabiting with the victim’s daughter when he was arrested.

He gave a statement telling the officers how he killed “Ochro.”

in the NRDDB. Public and international donor agencies may be hesitant to provide the support which the NRDDB needs at this time,” Charlie wrote.

Mr. Allicock confirmed that the NRDDB seemed to have fallen into dire straits after the 2011 elections.

He said that the NRDDB is an independent indigenous organization made up of elders and leaders and includes women and young people. The members represent the interest of the 16 villages in the North Rupununi.

Since 1996, he said, it has provided a forum to discuss matters that are important for the people of the northern Rupununi and has been a highly respected partner for the Government, national and international organizations.

During the period 2005 to the end of 2011, the government provided a monthly subvention of $500,000 to operate both the NRDDB and Bina Hill Institute.

Since the 2011 national elections, however, the NRDDB seems to have difficulty obtaining regular subvention.

Allicock said that it is known by all and sundry that he resigned from all office

positions at the NRDDB in 2011 after he decided to offer himself up for the 2011 national and regional elections.

“I resigned from all positions in the NRDDB because I felt that this was the ethical thing to do. I decided then that I could not hold office in a civil society organization and be active at the national political level at the same time.

He said that since he has vacated office from the NRDDB it remains functional under the chairmanship of Mr. Michael Williams who has served as a member, as vice chairperson and as secretary for many terms before.

He stressed “ I however remain a member of the NRDDB because I am a resident and an elder of my Village Surama. Although I hold no office, I have a voice

in the organization like any other resident, because it functions democratically,” he said.

He said, “Instead of such letter writers, we need people to think, plan and implement by being involved in the process of decision making and development that is in keeping with our way of life so that we can survive by our own representation.”

He expressed concern about the fate of the NRDDB following the 2011 elections.

He challenged the letter writer to become involved in a community effort such as a cleanup project at Lethem to cope with the garbage situation that is piling up.

“This would be a means of actually doing something for the people of the northern Rupununi instead of spreading unproductive untruths” .

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Reality TV in Guyana…

‘Bamazon’ boys mine $3.4M in gold

Mining for gold in South America is a muddy job.

Here’s the “Bamazon” crew at work.

“Just call me Denver,” said Chris Gamble, a member of the eight-man mining team from Alabama. “I got the nuggets.”

But did he? The entire crew, headed by Tim Evans, a Tallapoosa County real-estate developer, was hoping to get rich from a six-week stint in Guyana. “Judgment Day” was at hand on the January 27 programme, capping a rugged reality series on the History channel. As is typical for “Bamazon,” the workers faced nerve-wracking problems

with their equipment, and the men labored feverishly under severe time constraints.

Apparently, everyone had to leave the mining camp before water levels got too low in the nearby river, making exit from the jungle impossible.

Finally, their haul from the trip — tiny flakes and little chunks of gold — was sifted from muddy water and welded into two lumpy masses by crew member Steve Hudson. Evans pulled out a scale and announced the verdict: About US$17,000 worth of gold.

Split seven ways — Clate McDaniel, an original member of the team, left about halfway through the expedition — it amounted to less than US$2,500 apiece.

Disappointing? Sure. But the stage was set for the next season of “Bamazon.”

Evans (stoic but undaunted) vowed to return for another try at gold mining. The base camp was established. The equipment was in place. The team had experience under its collective belt. They’d simply have to wait

Julius Reed, left, and Chris Gamble pan for gold in Guyana. until the weather would allow for Round Two. “We’re going to come back next season, with everything we’ve learned to tackle that vein of gold,” Evans said. Crew member Julius Reed wasn’t ready to give up, either. It was a bold gambit by their leader, Tim Evans. When Tim’s business crashed a couple years ago, he decided to use what was left of his fortune to ship tons

of heavy equipment down to Guyana and lease a piece of land in the country’s treacherous northwest interior. All his research told him that the land held massive veins of gold. But getting at it—in a place with no roads or infrastructure—meant he’d need all the help he could get. Tim reached out to seven of his most trusted former employees, guys who’d been with him through thick and

thin. They had been broke and out of work for so long that Tim’s offer to share profits of a gold mining venture seemed too good to pass up. So what if none of them knew the first thing about mining? So what if most of them had never been out of the country before? They’re Alabama boys, and that means they know how to get things done.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Thursday January 31, 2013

MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 Sign on 05:30 hrs - Revelation and Power 06:00 hrs - Islamic Perspective 06:30 hrs - News Update 07:00 hrs - Day Break 08:00 hrs - Dabi’s Musical Hour 08:30 hrs - Avon DVD Club music hour 09:15 hrs - Top Notch Music Break 09:30 hrs - Caribbean Temptation Music Mix 10:00 hrs - Amanda’s

Kaieteur News

Costume Jewellery Music break 10:30 hrs - Clairan’s Ent. Music hour 11:00 hrs - IAC remembers the Lusignan massacre 12:00 hrs - The View 13:00 hrs - Village Talk: Port Mourant 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 - Birthdays and

other greetings 17:15 hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:50 hrs - CNN News 18:00 hrs - Sitcom 18:30 hrs - Jai Santoshi Ma 19:00 hrs - Soul Melodies with Trans Globe 19:30 hrs - News Update 20:30 hrs - Winners Row Quiz 21:30 hrs - English Movie: The Impossible 23:00 hrs - News update 22:30 hrs - English Movie: The Impossible continues Sign off

Thursday January 31, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You are drawn into stressful relationship dynamics, both at home and at work, as the Moon visits your 7th House of Companions.

However, your emotions may not be on the same page as those of your partner or coworker.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) The Moon’s presence in your 6th House of Work reflects your need to know you are doing a valuable service. Nevertheless, there is a part of you that would prefer to skip out on your responsibilities and indulge in pleasurable activities instead.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Tender feelings rise up to the surface as the gracious Libra Moon travels through your 1st House of Personality today. You are highly sensitized to the subtle emotional energy spreading through your environment, and you’re aware of the impact that your reactions have on others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You might feel somewhat discouraged today as the Moon visits your 12th House of Escapism. It’s hard to get much done if you’re not motivated to interact with anyone else.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You may be motivated to express your creativity in original ways today, but it’s still hard to set practicality aside in the name of spontaneity.

Nevertheless, your sense of responsibility won’t likely be strong enough to shut down your free-spirited behavior.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Everything seems to run smoothly today, helping to soothe any lingering tensions. Don’t worry about trying to resolve all the differences of opinion; just remember that being kind and considerate relieves the building pressure.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You might not feel very adventurous today as the Moon moves through your 4th House of Home and Family. But seclusion can be problematic, especially if you need to play a leadership role at work or in the community.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) It’s challenging to shake off the stress these days, especially if someone is pushing your emotional buttons. Still, you appear to continue acting gracefully even in a difficult situation.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) It’s all about diplomatic communication today as five planets move through relationship-oriented Air signs, making what you say less important than how you say it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You may seem very determined to get whatever you want today, but you must first overcome your timidity and ask properly. The emotional Moon in your 2nd House of Self-Worth can give you a sense of firm resolve, but your actions might not back up your intentions.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) Even if serious responsibilities continue to multiply, today’s peaceful Libra Moon lightens things up. Although the source of your concerns won’t likely disappear, taking a more spiritual approach to very real problems certainly helps.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) There are complex emotional waves washing through your mind now, challenging you to balance them with more practical issues.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find your rhythm and maintain the pace long enough to accomplish your goals.

Page 31

NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00 hrs - Inspiration 05:30 hrs - Newtown Gospel 06:00 hrs - NCN Late Edition News(r/b) 06:30 hrs - BBC 07:00 hrs - Guyana Today 08:00 hrs - Feature 09:00 hrs - Stop the Suffering 09:30 hrs - Feature 10:00 hrs - CCTV 11:00 hrs - History 12:00 hrs - CNN 12:30 hrs - NCN Newsbreak 12:35 hrs - Movie 15:00 hrs - Children’s Mash 16:00 hrs - Cartoons 17:00 hrs - Anderson 18:00 hrs - NCN News Magazine – Live 18:30 hrs - Farming Today 19:00 hrs - Al Jazeera 19:30 hrs - NIS & You 20:00 hrs - 3d/daily millions/ play de dream/lotto draw 20:05 hrs - NCN Newsbreak 20:10 hrs - Feature 21:00 hrs - RAVI D Show 22:05 hrs - NCN News Late Edition 22:35 hrs - Caribbean Newsline 23:00 hrs - 1ST ODI 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 13:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 14:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00 hrs. The Talk 16:00 hrs. Steve Harvey

17:00 hrs. The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 hrs. World News 19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 21:00 hrs. The Big Bang Theory 21:30 hrs. Two and a Half Man 22:00 hrs. Person of Interest (New Episode) 23:00 hrs. Elementary (New Episode) 00:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

WEST INDIES IN AUSTRALIA, 2012-13...

WARNER SUFFERS FRACTURED THUMB AT TRAINING ESPNcricinfo - David Warner’s place on Australia’s Test tour of India is open to serious fitness questions after it was confirmed he suffered a fractured thumb when struck in the nets ahead of the ODI series against West Indies.

On the eve of the squad

announcement for the subcontinent, Warner was struck by a prancing delivery from Mitchell Johnson in the lively WACA ground nets and showed considerable discomfort before being whisked away for scans on the thumb that confirmed a break. “David Warner was

struck on the left thumb by Mitchell Johnson in the nets,” Australian team physio Kevin Sims said.

“While the fracture is very minor, it is not worth taking any risks. The injury will keep him out of at least the next two matches against West Indies. We’ll

assess how he is progressing after that to determine his availability for the remainder of the series.”

The exit of Warner from the West Indies ODIs has meant a call-up for Usman Khawaja, who will fly to Perth to join the team before the first match of the series on

David Warner fractured his thumb after getting hit by Mitchell Johnson while batting during a net session (Getty Images) Friday. It also adds another layer of intrigue to Shane Watson’s return as a nonbowling batsman.

At the same time Warner was having his thumb examined, Watson looked uncomfortable during a brief innings of six from 23 balls for New South Wales against Western Australia in a domestic limited overs match at the SCG. Struck on the shoulder early on by a short ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile, Watson was then cramped by an inswinger from the young leftarmer Joel Paris and squeezed a return catch off bat and pad.

Despite his lack of first-class preparation, Watson will now be in line to open the batting in India should Warner’s thumb not recover in time.

“He would’ve liked more runs, there’s no question about that,” Watson’s former

Test teammate and now WA batsman Michael Hussey said. “He’ll get better and better the more he plays, it’s just good to have him back out there playing, I think it’s very good for Australian cricket that he’s back out there.

“He can play a crucial role for Australia whether it’s high in the order or in the middle order. I hope to see him back in there.”

Hussey termed Warner’s injury “terrible luck”. “He’s been playing well, I think he’s getting a lot of consistency to his game, and that’s a big blow for Australia coming into this one-day series for sure,” he said. “It’s going to give an opportunity for someone else - maybe it’s an opportunity for Shane Watson to get back up the top of the order and get some confidence back that way.”

Elections to top agenda at GABBFF AGM on Sunday Elections for a new executive will top the agenda when the Guyana Amateur Body Building and Fitness Federation (GABBFF) convenes their Annual General Meeting (AGM) this Sunday at the Guyana

Olympic Association, Headquarters Building, High Street, Georgetown.

The President’s and Treasurer’s Reports will be presented to the members as willtheGABBFF’sVisionfor2013.

Meeting time is 13:00hrs.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Shane Warne presents alternate reality ESPNcricinfo - Shane Warne has proposed an alternate reality for Australian cricket. It is one in which Mark Taylor is the generalissimo, Stephen Fleming the coach, and Ian Chappell the Godfatherly consultant for all players to lean on. Rotation does not exist following a players’ mutiny, captains are never chosen in advance of the team they lead, and sleep is a preferable form of recovery to the use of technology.

Having drummed up a wave of hype for his suggestions about how to lift Australian cricket from the state of disarray in which he says it has fallen into, Warne delivered an excoriation of the post-Argus review network around the national team and suggested replacements for all of Cricket Australia’s major team performance roles.

Warne had previously suggested on Twitter that the captain Michael Clarke needed better support than he was currently getting, and proposed that a new hierarchy be established that was comprised entirely of

former international players.

Taylor was nominated to replace the former rugby international, Pat Howard, as the team performance chief.

The selection panel would be comprised of Rod Marsh as chairman, plus Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn and Glenn McGrath.

Stephen Fleming, the exNew Zealand captain, was Warne’s coach of choice instead of Mickey Arthur, with Darren Lehmann to be his assistant. Warne argued that the coach should not be a selector.

The recently retired Michael Hussey and Michael Bevan were put forward as potential batting coaches, while Merv Hughes and Bruce Reid were posited as the men to mentor the bowlers.

Chappell, meanwhile, would oversee it all as a consultant, on call as a source of advice and philosophy on the game.

“All the above people are cricket people, not rugby, tennis or from any other sporting code,” Warne wrote on his website. “They all understand the game of

Darren Lehmann was nominated as Shane Warne's assistant coach of choice © Getty Images cricket, they have lived and breathed the game for a long time and most importantly have the best interests of Australian cricket at heart, along with being super passionate and above all, they just love the game.

“Cricket is a simple game;

sure it has room and a place for scientific research and current technology, which can help [you] learn about an opponent, but not instead of using your cricket brain - they can work hand in hand.

Technology can help in recovery, but so can sleep

and a common sense approach to recovery.”

As for the thinking behind selection, Warne said the most important element in his view was the fostering of a united team via the playing and winning of matches together. Critical for some time of the concept of rotation, Warne argued that the changing of teams for reasons other than the simplest of injury and form concerns bred mistrust, and he encouraged the current team to revolt against the concept.

“A simple criteria is pick your best team and stick with it in all forms, then the players get used playing together and being with one another on tour, you get to know the person,” Warne wrote. “Too much chopping and changing leads to insecurity, players then start to look out for themselves and over their shoulder, this breeds selfishness.

“It’s also why rotation and resting players will never work. I believe the players should be united, take ownership of this, it’s a very

powerful and strong message to send to CA if the players’ message is ‘I do not want to be rested or rotated; I want to play every game, if I don’t perform drop me’. If this decision comes from the players then CA have to respect that and follow suit on selection accordingly, this will then mean someone is accountable.

“We have the best batsmen/captain in world cricket at the moment in Michael Clarke and the spine of a good team with [David] Warner, [Shane] Watson, [Matthew] Wade, [Peter] Siddle and [Nathan] Lyon, the rest of the spots are up for grabs in my opinion.

Opportunities for players now are there for the taking.”

Warne said he planned to discuss his ideas with the CA chief executive James Sutherland, who had previously offered the former Test legspinner the chance for a meeting to air grievances that were aggravated by his own disciplinary problems during the Big Bash League and the Melbourne Stars’ exit from the tournament.

Page 34

Kaieteur News

::: Letter to the Sports Editor :::

HERO - CLIVE LLOYD NOT RESPECTED BY CRICKET ADMINISTRATORS DEAR SIR, Mr. Clive Hubert Lloyd a professional Cricket Character, had Guyana and the West Indies flags flying high during his tenure and now he is not respected by the West Indies and Guyana administrators in the battle for a new Guyana Cricket Board.

According to the law there is no Guyana Cricket Board and at present a legal draft constitution is being tabled in parliament.

Mr. C. Lloyd being the

Chairman of the Interim Management Committee which should have concluded in six months from the inception is now heading for sixteen months.

My suggestion to our Cricket hero, could you invite a team from the West Indies and the International Cricket Council to have a general meeting with all Cricket Boards across the country and then a prosperous Guyana Cricket Board will be formed, for example the Guyana Football

had done it where CONCACAF AND FIFA were invited and immediate success shown.

It is with great sorrow to see what our last Executives done to beautiful Cricket as the late B.L. Crombie would have said that match went down to the wirers.

I conclude by hoping to live and see international cricket return to this land of ours.

Yours-in-Sports, Parmanand Ram

Thursday January 31, 2013

Didier Drogba: Shanghai Shenhua dispute Galatasaray move Didier Drogba (AFP)

BBC Sport - Shanghai Shenhua say Didier Drogba remains their player and that his transfer to Turkish club Galatasaray violates the terms of his contract.

The ex-Chelsea star agreed an 18-month deal with the Turkish club on Monday.

“The club is deeply shocked,” said Shenhua, who took Drogba to China on a two-and-a-half-year deal in June 2012.

“Drogba is still a player of Shanghai Shenhua Football Club. The contract between the two parties is still within the period of validity.”

Galatasaray announced

Drogba would be joining them immediately after his involvement for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking through his representatives Sports PR Company on Twitter, the former Chelsea forward, 34, said: “The opportunity to play for this great club was an offer that I could not turn down.

“I am looking forward to playing in the Champions League again, against the best clubs in Europe.”

But Shenhua have disputed the transfer and suggested they are ready to raise the issue with Fifa, world

football’s governing body.

“We understand that Drogba is eager to participate in the European Champions League,” they added in a statement.

“Shanghai Shenhua Football Club and Drogba, on 1 July, 2012, officially signed a formal contract for a period of two-and-a-half years.

“The club has acted in accordance with this contract and has effectively fulfilled the responsibilities and obligations of the club.

“Shanghai Shenhua is prepared to collate all the evidence and information and submit it to Fifa in order to protect its interests.”

Drogba opted to play in China after leaving Chelsea following their Champions League triumph in May 2012.

Before the agreement with Galatasaray, he had applied for permission to make a loan move during the Chinese offseason but Fifa refused.

Fellow Shenhua striker Nicolas Anelka, also a former Chelsea team-mate, is set to join Italian club Juventus on a short-term loan deal.

Carib Beer First Division 20/20 Cricket Competition in Berbice

Blairmont and West Berbice reach Play-offs - half centuries for Patadin, Fraser, 5-wicket hauls for Jawahir, Johnson Blairmont Community Centre and West Berbice both won their final Zone A (West Berbice) preliminary matches to end up as winners and runners up respectively of that zone and therefore earn their places in the last six playoffs of the 2012 Carib Beer First Division 20/20 Cricket Competition in Berbice.

At Bush Lot, Blairmont Community Centre defeated Bush Lot United Rising Star by 38 runs. Winning the toss and batting first Blairmont Community Centre benefitted from a well played 82 (4 fours and 3 sixes) from Chris Patadin which together with 36 from Altaf Khan helped Blairmont post 157 for 4 in 20 overs. Bowling for Bush Lot, pacer Keyron Fraser took 2 for 41 from 4 overs and offspinner Ravi Gossai 2 for 32 from 4 overs.

Bush Lot United Rising Star could only reply with 119 for 9 in their 20 overs with Keno Gravesande 46 and Asif Khan 18. Doing the damage

Raun Johnson

Kevon Jawahir

for Blairmont were right arm Legspinner Kevon Jawahir with 5 for 13 from 4 overs and left arm spinner Waqar Hassan 3 for 20 from 4 overs.

Also at the Bush Lot Ground, West Berbice beat Cotton Tree Die Hard by 32 runs. Batting first after winning the toss and with the match reduced to 17 overs-aside, West Berbice slipped to 45 for 5 but some big hitting from Keith Fraser who blasted 61 N.O (6 fours and 5 sixes) together with 32 from Kerry Mentore helped them recover enough to reach 144 for 6 in

their 17 overs. Bowling for Cotton Tree Die Hard, medium pacer Kevin Shiwtahal took 2 for 20 from 4 overs.

Cotton Tree Die Hard in their reply never really got going and with West Berbice’s former Guyana Under-19 pacer Raun Johnson ripping through their middle to take 5 for 16 from 4 overs and Berbice offspinner Krishnadat Ramoo taking 2 for 32 from 4 overs, they could only respond with 112 all out in 16 overs with former Berbice allrounder Eon Abel topscoring with 24.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Don’t get carried away with your own importance, Lewis!

- Legend Stewart fires warning to Mercedes star Daily Mail - Sir Jackie Stewart has urged Lewis Hamilton not to get carried away with his own celebrity if he is to propel Mercedes forward this year.

Hamilton last week embarked on a new era in his Formula One career at Mercedes after six seasons with McLaren, a team he initially joined at the age of just 13.

There is no doubt Hamilton has taken a significant gamble, but the need to savour pastures new has been his driving force in signing up to the German manufacturing giant for the next three years.

It is also almost certain Hamilton will enjoy greater freedom off track than was the case at McLaren, considering the emphasis placed on sponsorship commitments by the Woking-based marque on their drivers.

However, three-times champion Stewart feels Hamilton needs to make sure such liberty does not go to his head. Hamilton can boast a pop-star girlfriend in Nicole Scherzinger and an array of friends from the music world, while there are suggestions he is planning on making his

Lewis Hamilton (in picture) must find the right balance to win titles, according to Sir Jackie Stewart (DC) own music. Bearing in mind Hamilton’s desire to transform Mercedes into a winning team, Stewart is hoping the 28-year-old does not let his focus drift elsewhere.

Stewart said: ‘Personally, if I’d been Lewis, I wouldn’t have left McLaren. ‘But as a 28-year-old, he should know what he is doing now.

‘You just have to be damn careful you don’t get carried away with your own

importance, your own celebrity, or your own schedule outside of being in the cockpit. It can be quite intoxicating.

‘What Lewis needs to do is have more consistently good drives, never mind the mechanical issues, and he shouldn’t be distracted, something he should keep in the back of his mind.

‘It’s about who you hang out with, what you do in your

Michael Muirhead

attendant benefits for all stakeholders,” Muirhead added.

The WICB had announced in December last that it had granted a license to Verus International to host and manage the CPL. The league will provide financial benefits for participating players with the majority of players being West Indian. In addition, as part of the arrangement, WICB will receive annual funding to allow for new retainer contracts for regional players (above and beyond the 20 Central Annual Retainer Contracts currently offered by the WICB).

The league is expected to comprise of up to six privately owned Caribbean city based teams.

All matches in the league will be televised throughout the Caribbean and across the globe, allowing for wide exposure of participating players.

WICB announces 2013 window for CPL

St John’s, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board announced the 2013 window for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The regional governing body announced that the inaugural season of the CPL will be played between July 29 and August 26 2013.

The West Indies team has no engagements during this period and the WICB will not schedule any senior male domestic cricket competitions at this time. The schedule will therefore allow for all regional players to be fully available for participation in the CPL. Chief Executive Officer of the WICB Michael Muirhead commented: “We are pleased to be able to confirm the window during which the CPL will be played and will take centre stage. The inaugural season promises to be packed with excitement and showcase an extravaganza of cricketing

entertainment. After a successful run of the Caribbean Twenty20, we hand the baton over to Verus International as they take charge and establish the CPL.” “The WICB is excited about the prospects that the CPL will bring for the players, the fans, sponsors and the economies of the Caribbean.

We look forward to an explosion of cricket and all the

off time, how you are committing your off time towards your real time - and your real time is being a racing driver.’

Such efforts will be noticed by team principal Ross Brawn, who has been accustomed to working with one of the greats in seventimes champion Michael Schumacher.

Although the last three years failed to produce the results hoped for by Schumacher prior to stepping back into retirement, the German was renowned for his meticulous and methodical nature in working with his engineers.

Stewart added: ‘The Ross Brawn factor is important. ‘He knows how to do it, and Lewis will have to work with him and depend on him, and Lewis, in time, will have to deliver.

‘Ross has worked with

Sir Jackie Stewart (PA) drivers who have really delivered. He worked with Schumacher from Benetton all the way through, and he knows how much Michael put in.

‘Therefore he will think Lewis will have to put as much into that team, time-wise, commitment-wise, not just

race-time wise, as Michael did.

That’s going to be quite demanding, but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t go straight in and be competitive up front, not at all.’ With just one victory in the last three years, though, since (Continued on page 37)

Page 36

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

GVF holds AGM, reports and way forward discussed The Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) held its AGM at the Albion Community Centre’s Boardroom on the Corentyne last Sunday. The meeting was attended by over 35 persons representing the BVA (Berbice Volleyball Association) and the DVA (Demerara volleyball Association). The main items on the agenda were reports from the President, Secretary, Treasurer and the BVA and DVA. President Lennie Shuffler in his report highlighted the work done in 2012 in promoting volleyball in primary schools through “volleyball Festivals organized in collaboration with the Allied Arts Unit of the Ministry of Education with support (finance and equipment) provided by the FIVB and CSB. He pointed out that the GVF also prepared U-19 Male and Female teams for the annual Inter-Guianas Games (IGG) and complimented all sponsors, players and officials for successfully hosting an International Club Competition which attracted

teams from Suriname, Trinidad, Roraima in Brazil and four local teams.

Mr. Shuffler also explained in detail, decisions made following his attendance at the FIVB World Congress in California, USA, and a meeting he had with the President of the FIVA and CSV, Dr. Ary Garcia in Rio de Janerio. He elaborated on ways the Brazil Federation will assist the GVF while playing the role of a Big Brother with the intention to revive the ‘Bloc Development” Programme which was accepted by the FIVB since 2002.

The veteran volleyball administrator reminded members that the “bloc’ included Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela and outlined his “Development through Activity” Plan pinpointing opportunities and challenges facing the Federation. Brief reports delivered by the Presidents of the BVA & DVA highlighted achievements during the year 2012 and recommendations for the future.

All members present also

Ms. Farias (right) presents the antennas to BVA Rep Errol Chase

Lennie Shuffler (left) hands over the balls to BVA Secretary A. Singh participated in a “brain storming” session to plot the way forward for the next four years and several decisions were taken with regards to fund raising and participation in more international competitions.

At the conclusion of the meeting the opportunity was taken by Ms. Andrea Farias who is an Executive member of the GVF and Owner/ Manager of the Kitano Travel Service, to present a pair of Tachikara Volleyball Antennas to assist in the raising of standards of officiating during

competitions. Ms. Farias said she was impressed with the number of competitions organized by the BVA in the past and together with her husband, Commander John Farias of the GDF Coast Guard, who is also the Head of GVF’s Refereeing Commission, thought it wise to make the donation.

BVA President Gregory Rambarran expressed thanks to the donors for the important piece of equipment and said it will be utilized fully in all competitions.

A quantity of Mikasa MVA200 volleyballs were also handed over to the BVA

by GVF President Lennie Shuffler.

IOC plans to cut one sport, add another BERLIN (Reuters) - One Olympic sport will learn next month that its Games future is in jeopardy when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meets to decide the shape of the summer Games from 2020.

The IOC’s executive board, meeting in Lausanne on February 12 and 13, will pick a core of 25 summer Olympic sports that will be put to a single vote at their session in Argentina in September. “The IOC in February is expected to make a recommendation on the 25 core sports to be put up for a vote in Buenos Aires,” an IOC official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The organization will recommend one sport to be cut from the original list of 26. Rugby and golf, which are being added to the Games from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, will not be part of the process.

The decisions of the executive board will need to be ratified by the session in Buenos Aires but it is unlikely that the board’s recommendation would be overturned.

Several Olympic sports are reportedly at greater risk, with modern pentathlon among those mentioned most.

The IOC is eager to

revamp the Games’ sports program in an effort to keep up with the times and attract younger fans and sponsors as well as to rein in the size of the Games and keep the number of summer sports at a maximum of 28.

Modern pentathlon with its five disciplines of pistol shooting, fencing, show jumping, swimming and running, is an outdated sport with little global TV and sponsor appeal, critics say.

MODERN SPORT “I do not want to start a discussion about pentathlon at the Games because we are focusing on our sport alone,” international federation chief Klaus Schormann told Reuters after its executive board meeting on Wednesday.

“We have modernized our sport, we have presented and delivered,” he said of several innovations, including laser pistols at the London 2012 Games.

The sport was brought into the modern Games by its founder Pierre de Coubertin.

“What we have developed not only underlines the legacy of De Coubertin but also of modern pentathlon. We deliver on what we promise.”

The federation has been trying hard to increase the

sport’s appeal to broadcasters and spectators by cutting events down to one day and they are eager to take it a step further with a single venue hosting all disciplines in Rio. There are seven candidate sports for a place on the program with baseball and softball, off the Games since Beijing in 2008, making a joint bid for re-entry.

Chinese martial arts sport wushu, sport climbing, roller sports, squash, karate and wakeboarding are also in the running for an Olympic spot.

The sport recommended

by February’s meeting to be dropped will automatically become a candidate sport, with the IOC then recommending one of the eight bidding sports for inclusion at its board meeting in late May in St Petersburg.

Olympic acceptance gives a sport instant publicity and increased funding while Games exclusion, especially for less-popular sports, translates into money problems and severely limited global exposure.

“We look confidently into the future,” said Schormann when asked again about the IOC meeting. “We know the IOC will deal with the report on what we have achieved.

We do not just talk, we deliver.”

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Milo Under-20 Schools Football Tournament...

Petra Organisation buoyant over good start Director of Petra Organisation, Marlan Cole in a brief analysis of the Milo Under-20 Schools Football Tournament expressed satisfaction with the response seen so far.

Cole, who along with Co-Director Troy Mendonca is responsible for organising the competition, told this newspaper that they are extremely satisfied with the support being given by the sponsor, teachers, students and fans.

“What we’ve seen to date is commendable and it augurs well for the development of the sport, while the enthusiasm and discipline displayed by the players are also high points in the tournament so far,” Cole noted.

He pointed to the move made by students of Bishop’s High, who organised themselves independently which according to him was a real surprise to them, but a development that he felt illustrated their level of maturity and something which they admired.

Cole also spoke of the punctuality of the teams at their games as another encouraging feature in the tournament to date and he urged all the participating teams to continue in the same vein so that the sponsor and organisers will be confident to do it again in the future.

Commenting on the turnout witnessed so far, Cole said that every week has enjoyed larger crowd and he is optimistic that as the tournament progresses the fans will increase, especially with the current support being offered by the media.

The Petra Organisation Director was high in praise of the Ministry of Health for promoting Gender Based Violence awareness against women, using the sport to spread their message which is read by the competing

Marlan Cole captains shortly before the start of each match. Cole lauded the support given by the groundstaff at the Ministry of Education ground, while the support of the match officials (referees) also came in for commendation.

He further informed that they are working assiduously to get regional coverage for the Tournament via Sports Max, while the granting of two Scholarships for players who excelled at the CXC is also engaging their attention.

In closing, Cole recognised the invaluable support and sponsorship received from Nestle’s Caribbean under the Milo brand and their local distributor Beepat’s limited, while the execution of the organisational capabilities of the Petra Staff has been noted as well.

Zimbabwe announce squad for WI tour Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Ray Price, the left-arm spinner, was dropped from Zimbabwe’s limited-overs squad for the upcoming tour of West Indies, but he would join the team for the Test series that follows the ODIs and the Twenty20s.

Left-arm seamer Brian Vitori, who has been part of all three squads since making his debut in August 2011 against Bangladesh, was dropped for the tour.

Left-hand batsman Sean Williams, who has played 47 ODIs and a T20 before, was included for the Tests for the first time while he has been left out of the limited-overs team. He played his last international match - an ODI against Canada - during the 2011 World Cup. Another new name to feature in both Test and limited-overs squads is Tendai Chatara, the Mountaineers right-arm seamer, who has picked up 13 wickets in three first-class matches this season.

The team will play three ODIs, two T20s and two Tests in what happens to be Zimbabwe’s first tour of the West Indies in 13 years. It is

the first time they are playing a two-Test series since playing India in 2005.

Four members of the limited-overs squad - Craig Ervine, Chamu Chibhabha, Tino Mutombodzi and Natsai M’shangwe - will return after the ODIs and T20s and will be replaced by Sean Wi l l i a m s , Ti m y c e n Maruma, Ray Price and Graeme Cremer for the Tests.

ODI and T20 squad: Brendan Taylor (capt), Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Tino Mawoyo, Kyle

Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Prosper Utseya, Regis Chakabva, Malcolm Waller, Keegan Meth, Craig Ervine, Chamu Chibhabha, Tino Mutombodzi, Natsai M’shangwe.

Test squad: Brendan Taylor (capt), Tino Mawoyo, Vusi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Regis Chakabva, Malcolm Waller, Kyle Jarvis, Keegan Meth, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Raymond Price, Graeme Cremer.

Page 37

Lakers hold off swarming Hornets to maintain run (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Lakers continued to build on their recent momentum with a 111-106 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday, as the home team staved off a late rally to register a third consecutive victory.

Kobe Bryant dished out 11 assists and Dwight Howard scored 24 points as Los Angeles, comfortably in control at 98-80 midway through the fourth quarter, almost blew the win when the Hornets put together a 16-2 run in the closing stages.

New Orleans pulled to within 102-101 in the final two minutes before Bryant found Earl Clark for a score and Steve Nash calmly sank a three-pointer to open up some breathing room.

After a well-publicized team meeting to address the group’s struggles last week, Los Angeles (20-25) appear to have found a new lease of life.

Flourishing in his new role as lead facilitator, Bryant has racked up 39 assists during the winning streak while Pau Gasol is thriving as a reserve.

“People forget Magic (Johnson) was my

first idol,” Bryant told reporters after finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds to flirt with a triple-double.

“I tried to do everything he could do and then I realized my growth spurt stopped at 6ft-5in.”

Eric Gordon top-scored for the Hornets (1530) with 25 points while Greivis Vasquez added 15 points and 15 assists as the visitors lost for the third time in their last four games.

Top overall pick Anthony Davis added 18 points but could not stop New Orleans from losing their ninth game in a row against the Lakers.

Los Angeles continued to get points from many sources with Clark tallying 20 to go with his 12 rebounds, while the bench added 38 points.

“Our second group played really well,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That’s something that’s going to be very important going forward.”

Despite enjoying the optimism of a threegame winning streak, the new-look Lakers will be thoroughly tested on a seven-game road trip starting in Phoenix yesterday.

Berbice denies attending GCB AGM

In a Press release, the Berbice Cricket Board has denied any of its officials attended the recently held Guyana Cricket Board Annual General Meeting. The release informed: “The Berbice Cricket Board would like to make it quite clear that none of its elected or appointed officials were present at the Guyana Cricket Board Annual General Meeting.

The Board notes with some concern some report in the printed and electric media that officials from the Berbice Cricket Board were present or in the capacity of observers.”

“The Berbice Cricket Board took a principled and united position concerning

the Guyana Cricket Board Annual General Meeting and elections. Two of the Berbicians present at the Annual General Meeting have no official positions on the Berbice Cricket Board but they attended our last Annual General Meeting as representatives of the West

Berbice, while the other Berbician at the meeting was invited to the meeting as he was/is employed by that body as one of its coaches.

The entire elected and appointed executives of the Berbice Cricket Board stand united and would continue to work as a team.”

Don’t get carried...

From page 35 Mercedes returned to F1, the pressure is on both Brawn and Hamilton to deliver.

‘Daimler (Mercedes’ parent company), are only interested in being up front and being the best,’ said Stewart.

‘If they’re not going to be that, it’s a five-minute decision for the Mercedes-Benz board to withdraw from motor racing if there’s another recession and they’re not selling cars.

‘In that respect, they’re slightly vulnerable.’

Page 38

Digicel Pro League T&T...

Guyanese and Caledonia AIA forward Sheldon Holder netted a double to help end his team’s two-match winless run in the Digicel Pro League (Trinidad & Tobago) and picked up much needed points by hammering bottom of the table T&TEC FC 6-0 for a second time this season on Monday night at the Ato Boldon Stadium.

Caledonia, lying second in the points table, last two League outings, saw them drop points by finishing with a goalless draw against defending champions DIRECTV W Connection and sat on the wrong side of the 5-1 score against leaders Defence Force.

But the MorvantLaventille boys made a u-turn last week in the semi-final round of the FA Trophy with a 2-1 comeback win over North East Stars at the very same venue to reach their second Final of the season.

Caledonia, now with 20 points and trailing Defence Force (28 points) by 8 points, followed up with a

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Holder’s brace guides Caledonia to 6-0 mauling of T&TEC scintillating display of possession, passing and finishing to demolish T&TEC after missing out on an opening item from the penalty spot.

Just eight minutes into the match right wingback Kareem Joseph was toppled inside the area by Eustace Darius forcing referee Rodphin Harris to sound his whistle and point to the spot.

However Joseph, known for putting it away from the spot, disappointingly directed his kick too high.

And in the 16th minute after a patient buildup by Caledonia, Joseph was influential with a sharp run into the area after he was picked out by Abdallah Phillips’ pass and sent a low cross into the six yard area for Trevin Caesar to easily guide into the back of the net. But to their disappointment, the offside flag had already gone against the Tobagonian.

Caledonia finally got it right in the 26th minute for a 1-0 advantage courtesy the Guyana National Team

forward, Holder.

An intelligent run down the left by wingback Aubrey David, teaming up with Phillips and Caesar, before sending in a cross to Holder who intelligently shielded off defender Cebastian Bailey and hitting past goalkeeper Darryl Francis.

Caesar then made it 2-0 by the 33rd minute after wrestling free an Edwards’ pass between a couple yellow shirts and executed a perfect strike from just inside the area to beat a hapless Francis.

Holder later made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute to complete his double. The Guyanese executing a simple left footed strike from the edge of the six yard area after an intended Edwards’ pass to Joseph bobbled into his path.

T&TEC was fortunate not to concede another in the 59th minute when Holder derailed his hat-trick by hooking an effort just wide as Caledonia penetrated T&TEC at will.

Holder was later replaced in the 69th minute after picking up a knock and his

replacement, midfielder Akim Armstrong enjoyed an item of his own for a 4-0 score seconds after entering the pitch. Armstrong volleyed a high Joseph into the roof of the T&TEC goal as Caledonia showed no mercy against the side they defeated at the same 6-0 score in Round One last November.

Another substitute and younger brother to Joseph, Sherron, also got on the score sheet in the 74th minute with Caledonia 5th item thanks to an assist by Edwards.

The distraught ‘Electric Boys’ had their first and only real attempt on goal by Tigana Sparks in the 83rd minute but that was spoiled by goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel who clearly enjoyed the night.

And a minute later Edwards wrapped up the 6-0 with a perfect strike into the far corner after he latched onto a Stephan David David pass into the area.

In the end T&TEC conceding its 9th League defeat of the season remained slumped at the bottom with just 4 points after 11 matches opposite, a complete reverse to their debut run last season.

(TT Pro League.com)

Sheldon Holder

USA, Canada in goalless stalemate

Action in the Canada, USA game Canada and USA played out a goalless draw on Tuesday in an international friendly designed as a preparation match for the Americans ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil qualifying.

USA stretched their unbeaten streak against the

Canadians to 16 matches, the Americans winning eight and drawing eight, and it leads the all-time rivalry 13-8 with 11 drawn.

Canada last defeated USA in 1985.

The teams also played out a goalless draw last year at Toronto. USA will open a six-team, round-robin

CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Honduras on February 6. Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica are also chasing one of three berths on offer with the fourth-place team facing the Oceania winner for another spot in Brazil next year.

(FIFA.com)

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 39

Leitch, McKenzie win for second time as Rose Hall TA&DO stage third road race The third edition of the Rose Hall Town Anniversary and Development Organization monthly road race was successfully held on Sunday last along the Corentyne Highway. The 5KM event saw the athletes running off from in from of the

K. Jagdeo Construction company No1 Road Corentyne to the Rose Hall Town Arch.

The event, which is being organised to help resuscitate athletics in the ancient county, saw some 37 athletes taking to the starting line. Pre

Mohammed hopes...

From page 40 cricketing skills against the neighbourhood boys that opened the doors for young Anisa 11 years ago.

“It so happened that one of the national women’s players was there at the ground and she invited me and my sister for the trials.

Everything fell into place from there,” she recalled.

Mohammed’s decision to take up off-spin too involved a considerable case of serendipity.

She started her career as a left-arm medium-pacer, but a freak injury forced her to make the shift.

Though the West Indian girls are yet to make the semi-

finals of a 50-over World Cup, Mohammed still has fond memories about her maiden appearance on the grandest stage fondly.

She revealed that the dramatic scenes following Darren Sammy’s team lifting the World T20 trophy in Sri Lanka last year are etched in memory, and she can’t wait to replicate the monumental successes achieved by her male counterparts.

“People at home are looking forward to this World Cup. The World T20 win has ensured that the entire Caribbean is more interested in West Indies cricket in general now,” Mohammed said.

race favourite Denzil Leitch lived up to expectations to capture his second race in three starts in a time of 18 minutes 38 seconds.

Leitch, who ran a good race, was hardly challenged brushing off his early pursuers to win easily by about 400M. Michael Dick, Michael Layne, Odwin Tudor, Kegan Fleming and Quincy Dennis followed Leitch home in that order to occupy the top six positions.

The winner received $2,500 and a trophy, while Dick fetched away $2,000 for his efforts. The other top finishers were also rewarded.

On the distaff side national junior sprinter Tyenese McKenzie showed her all round ability as she joined Leitch in winning her second title of the event. She ran away an easy winner ahead of Melisa Kyte and Erica Lashley.

The event was jointly sponsored by two of Berbice leading top corporate business entities Banks DIH

Prize winners display their trophies after the race.

Limited the Universal DVD solutions and DVD club.

The next race is carded for Sunday 3rd March 2013 and according to coordinator Godwyn Allicock. They are

very pleased with the turn out this time around stating that the idea is catching on. He motioned that some new initiatives are on the cards, which should cater for

different age groups and clubs.

Interested persons can contact Allicock on telephone numbers 337-4774.

(Samuel Whyte)

Page 40

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Mohammed hopes to have a “ball” with the ball in third World Cup Mumbai, India –The girls in maroon will take to the field today as the ICC Women’s World Cup bowls off in Mumbai. The West Indies have been described as a “dangerous” team, but the girls from the Caribbean see themselves as more than that.

They believe they are serious title contenders and will be going all out to lift the cup when the final is played on February 17.

Since placing fifth in the tournament four years ago, the Windies have been the most improved team in the world – having played unbeaten to win the ICC World Cup qualifying tournament in 2011 and reaching the semi-finals of the ICC World T20 Champions in 2010 and again last year.

One of the main players in that rapid rise is Anisa Mohammed, the most experienced player in the team, who started back in 2003 at the tender age of 14. The off-spinner from Trinidad is

one of the most successful players in women’s cricket history and the all-time leading wicket-taker for West Indies.

At first glance, there is little to suggest that there could be anything fearsome about Mohammed. Her lithe and bubbly exterior, not to mention the ever present smile, add to her affable disposition rather than give away even the slightest hint of her ability to evoke dread in an opponent.

There are few batswomen in the world, however, who would disagree with the notion that the spinner is indeed the wiliest exponent of her art going around presently in international women’s cricket today. She has the numbers to prove that tall claim too with 89 wickets – the highest for a West Indian – at an incredible average of 15.30 in 59 ODIs. In T20s, her stats read: 64 wickets in 49 matches at an average of 13 runs per wicket.

Despite still being at an age when most cricketers are just about getting their feet wet on the international stage, Mohammed has been part of the West Indian dressingroom for a long while, like she herself admits.

“This is my 11th year at this level. I’m no longer the baby of the side. In fact, I’m part of the very senior bunch now,” she told WICB Media.

The upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup will be Mohammed’s third overall, and apart from accepting her role as the team’s bowling lynchpin, she almost admits to feeling more confident than ever before regarding West Indies’ chances. Her first tournament was in 2005 in Pretoria, South Africa and she was also in the squad four years ago in New South Wales, Australia.

“We’re a far more experienced team this time around. We have beaten all the teams participating here, except Australia. I know we

can win this World Cup. This is the first World Cup where I’m getting that feeling that we could go all the way,” explained Mohammed.

“We have a lot of experienced batters and, to be honest, most of the members of our team can bowl. Most of us are allrounders. I have a lot of responsibility, but a lot of the other bowlers too are stepping up. The team is playing well together. We have the belief in each other,” she added.

Today, the West Indies take on hosts India at the historic Brabourne Stadium at the Cricket Club of India (CCI). The day/night match will be broadcast live on television. First ball is 2:30 pm (5 am Eastern Caribbean Time/4 am Jamaica Time).

And Mohammed, who played a crucial role in the West Indian girls’ ODI series triumph last year, is confident of continuing her good run against the Indians.

“India are playing at home, they have home advantage. [However] we have beaten them in the past here, as well as at home, and we are just going to come out and play at our best,” she insisted.

Mohammed also feels that with the likes of Deandra Dottin and Stefanie Taylor in the mix, there is no reason for the West Indies to be overawed by the prospect of facing defending champions

England in the group stages either. And in conditions that will favour spin bowling, she believes the two teams will be on par when they face each other next week.

Having made her debut a decade ago, the youngster who hails from eastern Trinidad has hardly experienced a lean run. She proved her ability to run through batting line-ups back in November 2011 during the World Cup qualifiers, by recording figures of 7-14 – the third best ODI figures of all time – against Pakistan.

She has also made a habit of entering the record books and is the highest wickettaker overall in international women’s T20s.

“My job in ODI cricket is to be economical because that way I’m helping my team add pressure on the opposition. The wickets simply follow,” she added.

She has also inspired a whole new generation of young spinners back in the Caribbean as well. The present West Indies squad in Mumbai have in the ranks a number of spinners in addition to Mohammed, be it allrounder Taylor, left-armer Shanel Daley or 17-year-old Shaquana Quintyne.

Mohammed was also among the first recipients of the WICB’s move to award central retainer contracts to a select few women cricketers back in 2010.

Anisa Mohammed “I do feel a lot more secure now. Knowing that we are playing more cricket now, it’s very difficult to get jobs back home because you are on leave every other month. So whatever we get from the contract is great to pay our bills and adds to our security,” she said. “After 1011 years, now I’ve started feeling like a professional cricketer,” she added.

Cricket has always played an integral role in the Mohammed household, with twin sister Alisa too having represented the Trinidad women’s senior team. But it was a chance visit to a nearby playground to pit her (Continued on page 39)

Brathwaite appointed to umpire in ICC Women’s World Cup Mumbai, India – Umpire Gregory Brathwaite has been named by the International Cricket Council to stand in the ICC Women’s World Cup which bowls off on Thursday in India. He is one of the international umpires selected by the game’s governing body to officiate in the most prestigious event for women cricketers.

“I am honoured to be appointed for the Women’s World Cup. I look forward to every assignment I get as an opportunity for development and progress,” Brathwaite said before he departed for the eight-team event.

“I am looking forward to doing my best and making an impact that would secure more international opportunities.”

Brathwaite will umpire in the first round match between defending

Gregory Brathwaite (WICB Media/ Randy Brooks) champions England and Sri Lanka on Friday. He will also stand in the match between hosts India and Sri Lanka next Tuesday, February 5. In addition, he has been listed as television umpire for the match between India and

defending champions England on Sunday. All these matches will be played at the Cricket Club of India.

The 43-year-old from Barbados is one of the leading umpires in the region. He has officiated in five One-Day Internationals and one T20 International. Shortly before leaving for India, he stood in his third consecutive Caribbean T20 Grand Final when Trinidad and Tobago defeated Guyana at Beausejour Cricket Ground last week.

For the ICC Women’s World Cup West Indies will play in Group A alongside England, India, and Sri Lanka.

Group B will include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa. The tournament starts on from Thursday to ends with the Final on Sunday, February 17.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 41

Ivory Coast remain unbeaten as they play out 2-2 stalemate with Algeria Group D winners Ivory Coast rescued a draw against Algeria to maintain their unbeaten record in the Nations Cup. Algeria, eliminated before the match, missed a first-half penalty through Ryad Boudebouz but Sofiane Feghouli scored from a second spot-kick. Substitute Feghouli then crossed for Hilal Soudani to power home a header to make it 2-0 before Didier Drogba nodded in superbly to halve the deficit.

A deflected Wilfried Bony shot completed the Ivorians’ comeback. It was a fightback that had looked in doubt as a reserve Ivory Coast side only raised their game once they went behind.

With their quarter-final place already booked, having won the group before the game, Ivory Coast made wholesale changes to their team.

And it appeared to play into the Algerians’ hands, who themselves were playing

for pride having lost 1-0 to Tunisia and 2-0 to Togo, meaning they could not progress from the group.

The Desert Foxes had also failed to score in the tournament, but they were given a golden opportunity to do so when Ismael Traore brought down Soudani and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Boudebouz hit the kick well enough but it crashed back off the foot of the right post.

At that point the Ivorians - favourites to win the tournament - looked content to play within themselves and simply get through the match.

They did create a couple of first-half chances, with Salomon Kalou firing over when well placed and then Drogba, restored to the starting line-up, going close with a free-kick.

It all changed after the break as Algeria looked threatening immediately from the restart.

They had another great chance to take the lead when Boudebouz’s free-kick was flicked on to Essaid Belkalem at the back post but he headed straight at the keeper.

But soon after they got their reward - and their second penalty of the game - when Arthur Bokam handled in the box and Feghouli made no mistake with his spot-kick.

It clearly boosted the Desert Foxes, who would at least go home having scored a goal, and they ventured forward with purpose.

Feghouli, an inspirational substitution, then turned provider as he delivered a pinpoint cross for Soudani to head home.

Algeria seemed rampant but Ivory Coast, who are one of the tournament favourites, responded in style.

Talisman Drogba got them started as he beautifully steered a header home from 12 yards.

And then fortune favoured the brave as Bony

Ivory Coast and Algeria players battle during their 1-1 draw. (Getty Images)

Ivory Coast and Algeria players battle during their 1-1 draw. (Getty Images) let fly with an ambitious, if inaccurate-looking effort, from outside the box that took a massive deflection and wrong-footed keeper Rais

Mbolhi.

Ivory Coast even had a chance to snatch the win at the end but Drogba was off balance and overstretching

as he tried to poke the ball in.

Not that the Elephants will be too concerned as they march on to face Nigeria in the last eight on Sunday.

Page 42

Kaieteur News

Thursday January 31, 2013

Togo reach quarter-finals for first time BBC Sport - Togo qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals for the first time by drawing with Tunisia in an incident-filled Group D encounter.

The Togolese led after 13 minutes as Emmanuel Adebayor played in Serge Gakpe, who fired home from an angle. Tunisia levelled through a penalty from Khaled Mouelhi shortly after, but the same player missed another spot-kick in a match Tunisia had to win to qualify.

Adebayor was denied a penalty at the other end but Togo held on for history.

The West Africans will now meet Burkina Faso in Sunday’s quarter-final in Nelspruit, whose sand-filled surface has attracted scrutiny and criticism in equal measure.

Togo’s passage came at a cost after Nibombe Dare and Jonathan Ayite both picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament, so ruling them out of the clash against their northern neighbours.

Dare’s booking was highly controversial after

South African referee Daniel Bennett, whose performance was littered with poor decisions, erroneously booked the tall defender for a challenge on Youssef Msakni when the foul had actually been committed by Serge Akakpo.

The decision for Hawks coach Didier Six, who cut an animated figure on the sidelines, is whether to appeal against the booking since Akakpo himself received a caution in the 2-0 win over Algeria.

The Frenchman’s side dominated the early exchanges, with the front three of Floyd Ayite, Gakpe and captain Adebayor all combining well. Ayite had the first chance, Adebayor then side-footed wide from 12 yards before the Togo captain slipped in Gakpe after 13 minutes.

Despite being in an offside position when the pass was played, the striker’s low finish across Moez Ben Cherifia from just inside the box was allowed to stand.

Togo’s 1-0 lead meant Tunisia needed to score at least twice

to reach the last eight and Msakni - whose stunning strike enabled the 2004 champions to win their opening game against Algeria - launched Tunisia’s first attack moments later with a strike that lacked venom.

Adebayor threatened at the other end when volleying wide but Togo’s control on the game was checked when Tunisia were thrown a lifeline.

The Carthage Eagles won a penalty as defender Dare who played at the 2006 World Cup - belied his experience by pushing Walid Hichri at a corner, with the Tunisian making the most of the challenge.

Despite the pressure, Mouelhi was seemingly nerveless as he wrong-footed Togo goalkeeper Kossi Agassa and slid the ball into the left-hand side of the goal.

Goals may have been in short supply in the second half but there was no shortage of incident as Bennett had a half to forget.

Shortly after the break, Togo defender Vincent Bossou brought down

Emmanuel Adebayor signals during their draw.

(Getty Images)

Oussama Darragi for what seemed a stonewall penalty but after a long look, the official decided against it.

It was then Adebayor’s turn to claim two penalties, the first of which was unconvincing whereas the second not only seemed clearcut but could also have warranted a red card for Cherifia after he got nothing on the ball and everything on the Togo striker.

After Darragi forced Agassa into a comfortable save from a free-kick, Msakni

also called the Togo keeper into action - but Tunisia’s best chance came after Dare conceded his second penalty as Saber Khlifa went down under another slight touch.

Mouelhi stepped up for a second time with the chance to put at least one North African side into the last eight, following the early exits of Morocco and Algeria, but he hit the post with a wellstruck effort.

Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi rang the changes as he searched a much-needed

winner and he must have thought substitute Fakhreddine Ben Youssef had decided the game only for the striker to be denied by two superb saves by Agassa in stoppage time.

Six punched the air in delight at the final whistle as Togo reached the quarterfinals at a tournament from which they were originally banned by the Confederation of African Football following their withdrawal from the 2010 Nations Cup - a decision that was later overturned by Fifa.

Leroy Brumell inter division female 10\10 softball...

Grant pilots HQ to 10-wkt win, B Division triumph over C Division Nicola Grant slammed five fours and two sixes in a top score of 35 as Headquarters defeated Special Constabulary Headquarters by 10 wickets when action in the Leroy Brumell Inter Division 10\10 female softball competition continued yesterday at Eve Leary.

Special Constabulary managed 42 in 6.5 overs after batting first with R. Albert scoring 18, Natasha Alder, Stacy Wilson and Donna Ferguson grabbed 2 wickets apiece for HQ who responded with 43 without loss in 2.3 overs. Wilson supported Grant with 07 not out.

In another match at the same venue, B Division overcame C Division by 5 wickets. C Division took first

Marlyn Roberts

Nicola Grant

strike and scored 60-7 off their allotted overs. Melissa Cadogan 15 and Melita Inniss 10 were the only batters that offered resistance as Neola Harry took 2-8 and P. Amsterdam 2-7. B Division

then responded with 61-5 in 7.1 overs. Marlyn Roberts led with 23 and G. France chipped in with 20; Simone Estrado claimed 3-6.

The competition concludes on February 10th.

Thursday January 31, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 43

Haslyn Graham elected Permaul leads National team fight back in first warm up game LABA President BOSAI’s Mines Maintenance Senior Planner, Haslyn Graham, who served as the last Organising Secretary of the association, is the new President of the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) following its AGM and Elections Tuesday night.

Long-standing Secretary of the LABA, Joe Chapman reported yesterday that “most of the hard-working officials over the past two years were returned to serve another two year term”. He said that Graham was elected unopposed. Manager of the National Communications Network (NCN) Linden Branch, Andrew McBean did not contest the position of President, as he had intended.

He declined nomination, but attended as President of the Amelia’s Ward Jets Club.

Bryan Lewis was elected 1st Vice-President with Abdulla Hamid as 2nd Vice-President.

Chapman was returned to his post as Secretary while Dawn McCammon-Barker was named Treasurer with Robert Byass (Assistant Treasurer) and Analyse Roman (Assistant Secretary). Clyde Brusche will serve as Public

Relations Officer. Others identified to serve are Committee Members Joseph Lawrence, Simone Ault and Patrick Clarke. Chapman reported yesterday that the seven affiliated Linden Clubs were all in attendance, those included Amelia’s Ward Jets, Kings, Victory Valley Royals, Half-Mile Bulls, Retrieve Raiders, Wismar Pistons and Block 22 Flames.

He said that Graham indicated that his tenure will see concentration on a lot of youth basketball and the training of referees and table officials. In addition, his tenure will focus on administrators of clubs so that discipline will be maintained.

Graham reported saluted the work put in by the previous Executives and asked for the continued commitment by all to push the sport forward, as he warned against condoning wrong doings and any form of indiscipline within the subassociation.

Chapman recapped the past year’s performance, as outgoing Treasurer, Eusi Francis presented a Financial Report, which spoke of a successful financial term for

Adams grabs 5 wkts for Rest XI

Haslyn Graham the LABA, where it was able to raise in excess of $1M from acquiring an account of $50,000. Chapman reported that when the previous administration came into office nearly two years ago, GDF Captain Eon Murray and 1st Vice President, Rawle Toney had withdrawn over the past year for various reasons.

According to Chapman, Toney was asked to submit a report concerning an incident with a player when he was a referee in a Trophy Stall game and he did not but opted to resign. Captain Murray he reported had disagreed with a decision of the Executive Committee and withdrew from all basketball activities, without tendering a written resignation.

City Mall supports Leroy Brumell’s 10/10 Cricket Competition

Supervisor at the City Mall, Debbie Prowell hands over the sponsorship cheque to Police Sports Officer, Colin Boyce yesterday at the Camp and Regent Street establishment, while staff, Imran Ayube shares the moment.

The City Mall yesterday became the latest entity to offer sponsorship for the Commissioner of Police, Leroy Brumell’s Birth Anniversary 10/10 Cricket Competition and Final next Sunday at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary.

In the male competition, Headquarters will take on ‘D’ Division in one of the semi-finals, while ‘G’ Division battles ‘B’ Division in another semi next Sunday. The female competition started at the Eve Leary Ground yesterday. The final day, which is being held in a Fun Day setting, will also feature games between 4R Lioness and Trophy Stall Angels

in a female showdown as Floodlight Masters take on Police Officers in a male grudge contest. The top three teams in the cricket competition and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) will receive cash prizes. In addition, a dominoes contest is also set for the day. The dominoes competition will be contested for cash prizes as well.

To make things even more interesting, two featured athletics events, namely male and female 100 metres and 800m will be staged.

The top three finishers of the four races will be financially rewarded, as Police Sports Officer, Colin Boyce confirmed yesterday.

Left arm spinner Anthony Adams bagged 5 for 37 to help the Rest XI restrict the National team for 146 in a 3 day warm up game which started yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club ground.

Opener Rajendra Chandrika was the only batsman that showed meaningful resistance with a top score of 39 which contained five fours and came off 83 balls, while Assad Fudadin and Ronsford Beaton with 15 each, Derwin Christian 13, and Steven Jacobs and Christopher Barnwell 11 apiece managed to reach double figures as they were bowled out in 53.4 overs after batting first on a track that kept low at times.

Brandon Bess 2-16, offspinner Zaheer Mohamed and Andre Stoll 1 each supported Adams who bowled with good control and variation.

The Guyana team fought back to leave the Rest XI on

Anthony Adams

Veerasammy Permaul

98-8 in 29 overs at the end of the first day.

Pacer Ronsford Beaton trapped Trevon Griffith (00) leg before, while Paul Wintz had Sewnarine Chattergoon caught in the slips for 10 before the lively Beaton sent back Vishal Singh (00).

Richard Ramdeen (19) played back to one that kept low and was trapped in front by Veerasammy Permaul who

then accounted for Chanderpaul Hemraj (00), Rajiv Ivan (00), Ricardo Adams (00) and Delbert Hicks (12) as the Rest XI found themselves on the back foot.

Royston Crandon is unbeaten on 18 and Jason Sinclair not out on 09, Permaul has to far taken 5-23, Beaton 2-15 and Wintz 1-2.

The game continues today.

t r o Sp

Sarwan pleased with steady start ahead of ODI Series Perth, Australia – Ramnaresh Sarwan believes his half-century against the Prime Minister’s XI on Tuesday was the right tonic he required to boost his confidence heading into the five-match One-Day International Series against Australia.

The experienced right-hander batted well at Number 3 to make 63 off 83 balls, as the Windies played in a high-scoring thriller on a good batting pitch at the Manuka Oval.

“I was a bit scratchy when I started my innings, but that was mainly due to the fact that I had it kind of rough when I played the Caribbean T20 tournament. I felt I needed to hang around a bit and be a bit patient...it paid off for me in the end,” Sarwan told WICB Media.

“It was my form that was the worry, it had nothing to do with the pitch. The pitch played really well, which was demonstrated by the fact that both teams scored over 300 runs. The fact that I was able to spend time at the crease helped a lot.

“It was important for me that I got a game before we start the One-Day Series for several reasons. I have been out for a while, I

have not played any international cricket for a while so it was good for me to get this game under my belt and I’m looking to take it forward from here,” he added.

Sarwan came to the crease after Johnson Charles and Kieran Powell added a run-a-ball 83 for the first wicket. He then helped Powell put on another 89 for the second wicket before Powell was forced to retire hurt. The 32-year-old continued on and eventually fell caught in the deep trying to raise the tempo as the required rate reached over 10 runs per over. Andre Russell then came to the crease and smashed 53 off 24 balls with five massive sixes. “Both Powell and Russell played extremely well. We needed someone in the top three or four to bat deep in the innings and I thought he [Powell] did a great job of providing us with that kind of start.

Unfortunately, he got cramp and could not go on to get a hundred,” Sarwan said.

“We added a really good partnership and what we tried to do was to rotate the strike as much as possible and not get bogged down.

“Andre really brought us back into the game. When he came we needed between 10

and 11 runs per over and he gave us an opportunity to win the game. The way he strikes the ball and his ability, we know what he is capable of doing. He’s a very confident young man and he has a very level head,” said the former West Indies captain. Sarwan brings a wealth of experience to the team having played at the international level for over a decade. He has made 173 ODI appearances and scored 5,644 runs at an impressive average of 43.41 runs per innings.

“We got what we really wanted from the game. It was good to get a feel of the conditions over here and get used to what we will have to encounter in the coming days. Generally it was a good outing. As a batting unit we did really well.”

The West Indies travelled to Perth yesterday where they will play their first Ramnaresh Sarwan and second One-Day Internationals on catches in practice. (WICB) Friday and Sunday at the WACA Ground.

They will have a full training session today.

First ball on Friday is 11:20 am (11:20 pm Thursday Eastern Caribbean Time/10:20 pm Jamaica Time).

Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Limited, 24 Saffon St.Charlestown, Georgetown.Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/ 226-8210