Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Independent investigation will unearth whopping financial Missing cook’s relatives suspicious irregularities at NCN about ‘conflicting’ reports Cargo boat mishap…

Relatives of 67-year-old Gerald Fraser are expressing suspicion at what they claim are conflicting reports about the circumstances that led to the experienced seaman being the only casualty of Friday’s cargo boat mishap.

Fraser, the vessel’s cook, was reportedly trapped in the 65-foot vessel when it capsized in the Demerara River shortly after leaving the Muneshwer’s Wharf.

Relatives yesterday told Kaieteur News that they are puzzled by some of the things they are being told. Relatives said that they were initially told that Fraser ran back inside for a “bag” and was trapped in the vessel.

But Fraser ’s niece, Sharon Pickett, told Kaieteur News that this report was worrying. Pickett said that just one hour before the incident happened, Fraser was shopping at the Stabroek Market. It was explained that Fraser was initially told that the vessel would have been leaving at midnight, but he received a call saying that the vessel was leaving at 18:00 hrs.

“They called him and said that they were leaving earlier so he was hurrying to buy groceries for the vessel,” Pickett told Kaieteur News.

According to the niece, the only bags her uncle had with him were the groceries he bought and it’s “highly unlikely” that he would run back inside the listing vessel for that.

Pickett said that relatives were also told that Fraser had made it off of the vessel.

According to the woman, relatives were told that Fraser and the captain were helping another crewmember who couldn’t swim when he disappeared.

“My uncle worked on ships for over 35 years and he was an excellent swimmer so again, I’m not believing that,” the niece said.

So far the woman said that the owner of the vessel has not really communicated with relatives. Pickett said that they called the owner Vijay Sankar on Saturday and he had promised to return the call but hasn’t done so.

Fraser’s relatives said that they are also upset over the fact that the cargo boat’s owner was allegedly allowed to remove the vessel. As of

Gerald Fraser yesterday afternoon the vessel was directly behind the Stabroek Market stelling.

However Sankar, in a brief telephone interview denied moving the vessel. The man said that he is sure that the Miss Ellisa was not overloaded. He told Kaieteur News that he is yet to decide on compensation.

Relatives are expected to meet with Minister Benn at 08:30hrs today.

Minutes before the Miss Ellisa capsized on Friday, Fraser had expressed concern that the cargo vessel was over-laden. He was also concerned about the apparent haste to reach their destination; his wife had told Kaieteur News.

Divers who scoured the vessel on Saturday failed to locate the missing man, and it has been suggested that his body is still trapped in some inaccessible section of the craft or that it floated away.

Minister of Public Works and Transport, Robeson Benn, on Saturday told Kaieteur News yesterday that efforts will be made within a few days to tow the vessel closer to land.

Fraser’s spouse, Jean Thompson, had told Kaieteur News that she last saw her husband around 08:00 hrs on Friday, when he left home to board the Miss Ellisa. She said that her husband had expected that the vessel would have departed at midnight. However, he then called around 17:30 hrs to inform her that they were departing.

“He call and say that the people change their mind and that they leaving. He said ‘I don’t know why they hurry to go right now. The back of

the boat is down (low in the water) and it (the vessel) overloaded.

He say ‘you hear the engine?’ and I say yes. He said ‘you know I love you’, and I say ‘yes, I will pray for you.’”

Ms. Thompson said that shortly after, Fraser’s son called to inform her that the vessel her husband was on had capsized. “When I call, the phone go to voice-mail.”

Fraser’s wife alleged that on the previous voyage to Trinidad, the seaman had also complained of overloading and of what he perceived to be their haste to reach their destination.

Minister Benn said that information suggests that the vessel began listing “by the first buoy.” “They tried to shift the cargo and the listing became more pronounced, and they decided to return to Muneshwer’s Wharf, and when they tried to make the turn (back to the wharf) the vessel capsized and this happened quickly.”

According to Benn, the ‘water taxis’ and the Harbour Master responded, followed by the Coast Guard. “The water taxis took the crew off the vessel and they were transferred to the Maritime boats.”

Minister Benn dismissed suggestions that Da Silva could have been rescued had divers been brought to the scene promptly. The captain of the vessel, St. Vincent national, Justin Bynoe, said that he realized as soon as he departed the wharf that the ship started to lean and was taking in water. He said that he decided that he was no longer going out to sea and was preparing to return to the wharf to adjust the cargo.

That is when he said the boat started to take in water from the starboard side. “She started to take in water from the side and she kept going and never turned back.”

Bynoe said that apart from himself and the missing cook, Ronald Saroop; first mate, Deodat; Chief Engineer, Victor Christopher; second engineer, Anthony Bowen and Sahadeo Baldeo were on board.

CEO should also go on leave - insider

The new multi-million dollar ‘Outside Broadcast’ vehicle has been lying dormant for several months.

As investigations continue into the financial and other malpractices at the National Communications Network (NCN) observers and concerned staff members are urging the removal of the entity’s Chief Executive Officer in order to facilitate an independent probe.

Last week, NCN’s Production Manager Martin Goolsarran was sent on administrative leave following revelations of massive fraud which is pointing to the involvement of senior company officials.

However, the company’s CEO Mohamed Sattaur remains in charge even as he is being accused of behaving like the government’s “favoured” one.

Sattaur has retained a stranglehold on the NCN, despite allegations of mismanagement which came to light following parliament’s chopping of the entity’s budgeted subvention.

The company’s management had lashed out at the cuts initiated by the parliamentary opposition, claiming that it will significantly affect capital works and would impact on the employment of staff.

However, from all indications the budget cuts have revealed another side of the coin, one that points to mismanagement and financial irregularities.

According to a reliable source, after the budget cuts the Board of Directors perused several financial documents which gave rise to several questions.

Kaieteur News understands that the board questioned the amount of money NCN made on the recently held GT&T Song competition.

There are reports that some of the revenues such as production costs cannot be accounted for. In fact while the NCN charged the telephone company production costs, somewhere in the vicinity of $7M, staff members who worked on the production are alleging that they were not paid.

“There might be many other cases like this. It is not $10,000, its millions,” one NCN insider said.

Then there is the purchase of a multi-million dollar (Continued on page 18)

Body found at La Grange koker Police on Saturday responded to reports of a body floating in the vicinity of a koker at La Grange, West Bank Demerara. When ranks arrived, they pulled the body of a man believed to be in his late 20’s floating in the koker.

This publication was told that the man who was of mixed ancestry was clad only in his underwear. The man’s body was removed by undertakers from the Ezekiel Funeral where it is being kept awaiting identification and a post mortem examination.

Police said that there were no visible marks of violence and so far foul play has been ruled out. Up to press time yesterday the man was still not identified. Police are calling on the members of the public for their assistance with identifying the man’s remains.

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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 Grades, Games and Youth Violence There has been a great deal of ink spilled about violence and youths in our country. Recently we had two egregious cases where two schoolboys were actually stabbed to death by their classmates after objectively minor disagreements.

This phenomenon is not confined to Guyana. While this does not excuse our youths, it does suggest we may learn from the experience of those countries that have studied the phenomena with an eye towards crafting ameliorative programs. We cite one such study below.

Imagine two adolescent boys, Bobby and Tommy. They are the same age, race, ethnicity, and even go to the same school. There is just one crucial difference: Tommy does well in school and Bobby does not. And that, according to a new study, predicts which of them will be drawn to violent video games and aggressive behaviour.

The study was conducted by researchers from Ohio State University and the University of Amsterdam and published in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescence. Researchers Marije Nije Bijvank, Elly A. Konijn, and Brad J. Bushmanlower observed more than 800 adolescent boys in the Netherlands.

The Dutch middle school system divides students into three groups—lower, medium, and higher academic ability—based on their standardized test scores, and the boys in this study were equally divided across those three groups.

The researchers asked the boys about their video game preferences (only three boys out of 833 reported not playing video games at all), measured their levels of aggressive and risk-taking behavior, and assessed their motivations for playing video games.

The results show that boys at the lower academic level preferred violent games significantly more than the boys at the medium or higher levels (there was no difference between those latter two groups). They also had a higher perception of the game as being “real,” and they “wishfully identified” more with video game characters.

Prior research has found that identifying with violent video game characters can increase children’s aggression levels in general. So the results of this study suggest that boys at the lower education level are more at risk for the negative effects of violent video games. The researchers also found that these boys had more aggressive personalities and were more likely to seek out thrills and risky behaviour—in fact, the most aggressive boys in the study were the ones who had low test scores and played violent video games.

The researchers note that these boys also came from families of lower socioeconomic status, and that may contribute to why they’re so drawn to violent games. “By playing violent games these boys may come to believe that aggression is an effective way of solving conflicts and getting what you want in life.”

However, it is important to clarify that the researchers do not argue that video games or low educational performance cause aggression, just that these factors are strongly associated with aggressive behaviour, suggesting that low performing kids are the most at-risk for violence. It is up to future research to determine whether engaging kids in school during their formative years does indeed prevent future aggression, and to explore how to engage boys like Bobby in school before video games become a favourite (and antisocial) outlet.

The researchers suggest that media literacy programs may be one way to protect these at-risk kids from resorting to violence. “These programs could help boys with a lower educational ability make the fuzzy border between possibilities in virtual worlds and the real world clearer. They can help them identify with nonviolent and prosocial heroes in video games, and find more constructive ways to solve interpersonal conflicts.”

These media literacy programs must become part of the teaching repertoire imparted at our teachers’ training programs at Cyril Potter and UG. Teachers and others in the educational establishment must be made aware of the impact of these new video games on their charges. We cannot close our eyes to the reality that children today probably spend more time on these violent games than on their books. Parents must also be involved.

Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

Letters... Where your views make the news

Local rulers have oppressed their people more than the colonizers DEAR EDITOR, Several writers in your paper have commented about the meaning and achievement of our political independence. There is an absolute need for introspection of independence. Are we really better off today than we were 50 years ago?

Have our current former leaders (from both sides of the political aisle) let us down?

How can we reclaim our nation from self serving Politicians — those who don’t seem to give a hoot about the people but are only concerned about the welfare of themselves, friends and families.

Throughout the world, people in third world countries, former colonies, are expressing regrets for breaking away from colonial rule. Most Third world countries are worse off today than they were under colonial rule. Very few countries (Singapore, India, Malaysia, Brunei, etc.) have made real progress since independence, while most have retrogressed since they broke with their imperial rulers. Peoples’ quality of life has declined precipitously and they have given up faith in government to better their lives.

Corruption is a norm of life in all former colonies. The former colonies have become

more divided than they were during imperialist control.

Law and order as well as discipline have broken down.

Work ethnic has been on the decline.

The remaining colonies in the world don’t want to break from their mother countries.

A few days ago, I visited Puerto Rico, which is having national elections, for a study on attitudes toward colonial rule. Puerto Ricans don’t want to break from Uncle Sam and the same is true of the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa. I was in French Polynesia last February for another study on colonial attitudes.

The French Polynesians don’t want to break from Paris control. The same was found in my visits in St. Martin and Guadeloupe. Arubans told me they don’t want to break from Holland. The same is true of the people of Curacao and the rest of the Dutch Caribbean.

The British colonies (Bermuda, Cayman, Anguilla, Monsterrat, British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, etc.) of the Caribbean are not even thinking of breaking from England.

Life in all of the colonies is much better than it is in any of the independent countries of the Caribbean. That is why so many Guyanese, Jamaicans, and other islanders are attracted to

these other islands for permanent residency.

Opinion polls in former British colonies are not favourable towards independence. In Jamaica, the late Professor Carl Stone did an independence poll for years that asked whether the populace felt they would have been better off if Jamaica had remained a colony.

The responses were not surprising. An overwhelming majority wished if Jamaica were not independent. This poll question has been continued by Professor Bill Johnson and the results last year showed that 60 per cent of people still yearn for colonial rule - a lack of faith in the politicians who succeeded the British rulers.

When I was in Jamaica last year, most people I interviewed yearned for a return of the British.

Jamaicans, no matter what Prime Minister Portia Simpson says, do not want to replace the Queen as their Head of state. The same is true of Barbados and the other islands of the region. As in the rest of the region, in Guyana some 90% wished if Guyana had remained under England’s control. Recently, voters in Black Bush told me if America opened up its borders to Guyanese, everyone, including the communists, would leave for

the US. I remember an old lady telling me “beta, abe na bin dey so bad under White man rule” - a severe indictment to those who drove off the British so they could inherit the mantle to abuse their own people. A few years ago when I wrote that our nation had regressed since independence, I was severely criticized for “being nostalgic for colonial rule”.

Yet, those who attacked “the imperialists” are seeking to settle in the imperialist countries; they (including the communists) want their children to be raised and schooled in the imperialist countries.

I don’t think we should return under colonial control.

But politicians and the elite must be cognizant of the views of people about how their standard of living and politics have deteriorated since the colonialists left. In many countries, the local rulers have oppressed their people more than the colonizers. Politicians in third world countries are only interested in getting their hands at the purse to enrich themselves and don’t concern themselves with the conditions of the poor and the working classes.

We should have a serious review of where we are today as a nation since we broke from the British.

Vishnu Bisram

Kwayana’s use of constitution preamble is confusing elephant’s trunk for elephant DEAR EDITOR, In a letter to SN on 6-5-12 titled “the preamble to the Guyana constitution commits us to finding a system of governance which permits a ‘broad-based participation in national decision making”, Mr. Eusi Kwayana again advanced an age old irresponsible demand for political power. No surprising metamorphosis in an open aligned advocacy for the PNC which he wishes to assure has no motivational Brer Anancy-like slickness or cunning.

Whiles Mr. Kwayana is most famous for proposing the partitioning of Guyana, he is yet to embrace workable federalism which accommodates the best course for all to decide their own futures, united within a single country.

What can fundamentally reassure mindsets which have historically cultivated abhorrence to seemingly being governed by those of another “undeserving” race and their culture but still demands accommodating flip

flop parity with the same alleged “undesirables” within a national government other than the right to be free?

What has fundamentally changed in Mr. Kwayana’s are not his goals but his repackaging of this new quest for political power by the PNC recalibrated within APNU. Could all this new wisdom now validate Jagan’s PPP secret talks with the PNC in the 1980s?

It was Mr. Ravi Dev’s seminal analysis “for a future peace” in his weekly column in the KN of 6-10-12 which now preempts future prolonged acrimonious bickering to resolve this race standoff.

What can be more exciting than Mr. Dev’s refreshingly reassuring wisdom wherein he highlights that “in this narrative both “sides” are morally right: the conflict is not between good and evil but between (the available now desirable) “goods” on which each is making exclusive claim? Isn’t this the situation that our mutually exclusive narratives of

victimhood with its facile binary oppositions have delivered us into? If Mr. Kwayana still offers promise of a binding resolution in resorting to the 1980 Guyana constitution which is indeed the highest law of the land, it may be a good compromise step. In quoting the preamble i.e. the warm up or beginning, Mr. Kwayana is actually equating it to the main body of its contents.

Reliance on the preamble can hardly be the knockout punch with which Mr. Kwayana hopes to convince his critics about the strength of his case.

He can do better. Mr. Kwayana’s thrust is actually torpedoed using a lesson from a close friendship he had with a former native Buxton Pandit; not a contradictory term from yesterday.

Pandit Sama Persaud of Annandale (relocated from neighboring Buxton during the 1960’s race riots) was a good friend of Mr. Kwayana.

All those who were familiar with Pandit Sama knew he was a non-orthodox Hindu

Pandit who belonged to a more revolutionary Hindu denomination.

It was common knowledge that he and his father Pandit Latchman Persaud found inspiration and solace through the Vedas which they viewed as the fountainhead and final authority of God for Hindus and others.

In fact Mr. Kwayana was a prominent speaker at Pandit Sama’s funeral. Only a close circle knew that Pandit Persaud and his father Pandit Latchman Persaud were very financially generous in times of need both to Mr. Kwayana and his extended King family in Buxton and afterwards.

Since both Pandits never personally pocketed the donations received for Hindu religious work they instead gave it as charity to “deserving” people as Mr. Kwayana has acknowledged in his tribute to his close friend.

The close relationship remained strong between both Mr. Kwayana and Pandit Continued on page 5

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

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

This situation calls for an Kwayana’s use of constitution... urgent forensic audit DEAR EDITOR, I accepted my son-inlaw’s invitation to accompany him to a community security meeting at Paradise Housing Scheme on Sunday May 27 and was surprised at the large number of persons who turned out at that meeting. This level of attendance suggests that there is a serious crime problem in that area. But before going to the meeting we drove to the back of the village and I could not believe the appearance of that place, which simply put, was disgraceful.

I had been reading letters in the newspapers about the Paradise Scheme and was kind of reluctant to believe everything that was written, but my own eyes saw the evidence of a housing scheme where the residents seem to have no sense of pride in their surroundings. There are partly done buildings which are overgrown with bushes and trees; yes trees in the buildings!

My son-in-law told me that someone was trying to get things straightened out but his efforts are being blocked. I understand that a government Minister had promised to have some

forensic audit done on the affairs of the Cooperative but nearly three months after, nothing has been done and it is business as usual with an almost indecent haste to sell off vacant lands at high prices with no one knowing where the money is going. The neighbouring villages are nowhere near the disorganized state Paradise seems to be in and no one is any the wiser on what is really going on in Paradise.

I am concerned for the well-being of my two grandchildren who have to be kept cooped up with no place to go and interact with children their own age except on the roadways. I am told that the affairs of the village is in the hands of the Ministry of Cooperatives but I fail to understand how the Ministry can conduct the day-to-day affairs of a Cooperative and still be reporting to itself on those affairs.

This appears suspiciously like conflicting interests and calls for a serious rethink of the situation. As my late husband would say ‘Something smells to high heavens in the state of Denmark’.

I asked my son-in-law to point out the people who are

managing the affairs of the village at the community meeting and was flabbergasted when he told me that no one was there; he said that it was the third meeting he attended and none of the people who allegedly run things are ever present but can be counted on to call meetings whenever it suits them to dictate to the members.

My son-in-law advised me that the village is almost divided with one side wanting positive development for their community while the other side enjoys the status quo and is content to prey on the ignorance of their followers.

When I heard of the incidents of crime like cattle stealing and such like, I was not really surprised considering the state of the place and the lazy sprit which you could actually feel oppressing you; people were actually reluctant to volunteer for committee membership. What would surprise me is if they can really get their act together and unite to take back their community from both the violent and subtle criminals and make their village a model of harmonious coexistence.

Emily Boatswain

DEAR EDITOR, I have kept my silence about the increase in fares being peddled by the private operators of public transportation around Georgetown for as long as I possibly could. I was hoping that good sense will prevail and the fares would go back to what it was before.

It is now time to speak out against it as operators seem to believe that the public will forget about it and just comply. I am not satisfied that the increase is a justified increase.

As soon as an increase in the income tax threshold was announced, minibus operators believed that they were entitled to a share of that increase. Unfortunately, what they fail to realize is that the vast majority of persons who use minibuses do so because it’s the most economical form of transportation, taking into consideration their meager incomes.

Ve r y f e w p e r s o n s choose to use minibuses because they want to; they do so because they can’t afford to take a taxi or own a vehicle. Who would choose to travel in minibuses where you are forced to “double up” but

still pay the full fare, subjected to loud, vulgar music, harassed by touts, subjected to the reckless driving of the majority of drivers and chastised if you voice your concern about any of those issues?

You are forced to “give a lil squeeze”, “push yuh body” and “tek it hay”. The persons who are made to suffer are those who need assistance the most. I refuse to pay $80 from Main and Lamaha to the minibus park.

Twenty dollars more and I can go all the way to Diamond on the East Bank or Annandale on the East Coast. I have taken to having the exact $60 change as conductors refuse to give you the correct change once a $100 or more is presented.

What bugs me the most, Mr. Editor, is the fact that the majority of these operators do not pay income taxes. It is people like you and I, who are (in this case unfortunately) a part of the formal system and who are taxed beyond what we can afford.

Yet the operators who make $80,000 monthly can take that entire amount home whilst you and I will have to pay taxes on

$30,000 of that. It has come to my attention that commuters travelling along the East Coast of Demerara are made to pay $200 per person when travelling after 3pm. As most persons are aware, it is difficult to get transportation to the East Coast around that time.

Operators are using this as an opportunity to exploit the commuters.

I am calling on the Minister of Commerce to establish a regulatory body to monitor these private operators to ensure that the interests of the travelling public are taken into consideration.

To m y d e l i g h t , t h e government has signaled its consideration of the reintroduction of a public transportation system. I will be the least bit sympathetic to private minibus operators when this happens.

Like other monopolies, they tend to squeeze as much out of you as they possibly can. As my mother so often reminds me “you never miss the water until the well runs dry”.

John Carter

I refuse to pay $80 from Main Street to the minibus park

From page 4 Persaud as both served prominently in Dr Jagan’s first 1953 PPP government, one as a PPP minister and the other a Senator. Mr. Kwayana has also documented the impact on his cultural awakening when he was “found” overlooking a traditional Hindu religious yagya or crusade as a youth.

Spirited debates with orthodox Hindus friends and Pandit Persaud’ s reform denomination often found them at odds in the early 20th century . The orthodox placed more emphasis on the Ramayana and or the philosophical end of the Vedas known as Vedanta.

Pandit Sama’s thrust was reliance on the entire Vedas rather than any specific part.

With Mr. Kwayana lifelong close friendship with Pandit Sama it would be inconceivable that he is

unaware of his close friend’s knockout punch in those historical debates.

“The tail of the elephant is not the entire elephant”. In Mr. Kwayana’s reliance on the preamble of Guyana’s constitution he needs to avoid grasping and hoisting himself and baggage with the elephant’s trunk onto its back to go for a ride. Mr. Kwayana has long been aware that neither the trunk nor tusks at

the front of the elephant make up the entire elephant.

Often, most rapid vehicles find them with their trunks in the rear. Now that he has positioned himself to frontally face the elephant he must keep in mind the behaviors and challenges of Guyana’s elephant(s) and from which continent they hail. Our Guyana elephants are not easy to manage.

Sultan Mohamed

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Kaieteur News

Ex-cop among two held for Cultural Centre shooting An ex-policeman is among two persons in custody as police continue to investigate Friday night’s shooting and stabbing incident at the National Cultural Centre.

Kaieteur News understands that the former policeman was detained several hours after the attack that left army boxer Mark Pierre, 31, of Albouys Street, Albouystown, with stab wounds. former football player, Oriley Small and Stabroek Market businessman, Lawrence Wayne with gunshot wounds.

It is unclear why investigators have detained the former policeman.

Police yesterday said that they are looking for other suspects in connection with the incident. This newspaper was told that the incident was

probably sparked by an ongoing feud between Small and one of the suspects in custody. In terms of the stabbing the police have said that the victim Mark Pierre knows his attacker and has given details about the person.

His condition is said to be critical while he remains a patient in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Pierre’s sister, Roberta Walcott, on Saturday told Kaieteur News that information about the incident is sketchy.

According to Walcott, her brother while at the football match, followed a friend to the toilet. The woman said she was told that Pierre got into an argument with some boys who were standing at the toilet and that they stabbed him.

According to relatives Small was shot in the mouth, neck and shoulder. His mother, Petal Small, had told Kaieteur News that she was informed that he was standing with some friends at a football match when the incident happened. He was rushed to the Woodlands Hospital where doctors immediately prepared him for surgery.

Two of the three bullets were removed. Stabroek Market businessman, Lawrence Wayne, was also shot twice. According to reports he was standing with Oriley Small when he was shot. He is presently a patient at the Balwant Singh Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit.

Shondell Benn, 30, of Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, was shot in her left arm. She was treated and sent away.

Guyana trailing behind Caribbean in road safety

- NRSC vows stringent measures Guyana is said to be lagging behind the Caribbean considerably in terms of road safety. Despite the decrease in road fatalities so far for 2012, National Road Safety Council (NRSC) Chairman, Nigel Erskine said that Guyana is still far away from its desired reduction in road carnage.

In an interview with the Kaieteur News, Erskine said that Guyana in May of last year signed a “Decade of Action” challenge set out by the United Nations, in that, by the year 2020, the country is to reduce its accident numbers by half.

According to Erskine, the UN has shown that road accidents are one of the leading threats to public health. The UN report stated that across the globe, approximately 1.3 million

people die due to road accidents while 50 million are injured.

He said it is with such information that the challenge came about. Apart from that, Erskine said that Guyana needs to get on par with the rest of the Caribbean and in doing so a number of exercises, seminars and aims have been set out to reach the goal of road accidents reduced.

Erskine pointed out that the NRSC is working towards a significant reduction in accidents as its short term aims. The Chairman said that the organisation is looking to reduce its death numbers to at least 10 deaths per 100,000 persons in the next two years.

The NRSC chairman said that the UN reported that around the world, at least 3000 persons die from road

accidents daily. Therefore, in signing on to the UN’s challenge, the NRSC will be starting programmes that will look at safe vehicles, safe environment and safe road users.

The long-term aims Erskine said will be inclusive of a School safety patrol program. This he said will see schools across the country receiving training on road safety. He also mentioned the (Continued on page 15)

Monday June 11, 2012

Dead foetus left in woman...

Doctors forced to remove patient’s uterus Doctors at a private hospital were forced to remove the uterus of the Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD) woman, who was left with parts of a dead foetus inside of her by doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Chanwattie Raghubir, 34, underwent two D&Cs (a procedure to remove pregnancy tissue from the uterus).

But after both procedures and despite reassurances that they had “cleaned her out”, it was discovered at a private hospital that some parts of the foetus were still inside the woman.

Kaieteur News has confirmed that while doctors at the private institution were operating on the mother of four, they were forced to remove her uterus because it was badly damaged.

A medical source told Kaieteur News that the woman had suffered a perforation of the uterus during one of the D&C procedures at the GPHC. “They perforated the uterus and the baby (foetus) came out of the womb, and the lady ended up losing her uterus,” the official said.

Kaieteur News understands that one of the D&C procedures was done by an Indian national who is seconded to the GPHC. On May, 29, last, Raghubir was discharged from GPHC without any medication for the second time. Her husband, Roy Raghubir had told Kaieteur News that the doctor (name given) had assured him that his wife was “ok”. “To be on the safe side, I took my wife the same day to Balwant Singh Hospital to do another ultrasound.”

The man claimed that the ultrasound showed that “parts of the foetus were still inside her.”

The woman underwent immediate surgery at the

private institution on the same day she was discharged from GPHC. “The doctors there told me that because the doctors at public hospital inserted nine tablets inside her, they damaged her womb,” the husband claimed.

He added that his wife was discharged from hospital on June 1, and he was required to pay over $300,000 “to correct somebody mistake.”

The depressed husband claimed that he tried to talk with the doctors who performed the faulty surgeries on his wife but every time he went to the hospital, “the staff there always telling me that they are in a meeting.”

He said that he could have lost his wife and his children could have lost their mother “and like the hospital doesn’t care, they only know to kill poor people.”

According to the woman’s husband, his wife was almost five months pregnant when a Cuban doctor stationed at the Kuru Kuru Medical Outpost diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection. The diagnosis was made when the mother of four visited the maternity clinic for a routine check.

The doctor, he claims, prescribed a dose of Azithromycin-Zithrocare to treat the infection. Raghubir reportedly drank one of the pills before retiring to bed.

When she woke up the following morning, she was bleeding and was experiencing severe abdominal pains.

The horrified woman, fearing for her life, visited the GPHC to run checks to make sure that she and her unborn child were fine. She was required to do an ultrasound.

The report revealed that the foetus had died, and an emergency surgery was required to remove it.

On May 1, last, she underwent surgery and remained a patient at the hospital’s maternity ward for five days.

The husband said that although his wife was experiencing severe pain in her abdomen and could not

The woman, who could have been killed

by GPHC faulty operations. have walked, she was discharged.

At home, her condition made a turn for the worse after she collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital once again. Checks were made and it was discovered that a part of the foetus was still in her womb.

Mr. Raghubir claims that after he rushed his wife back to the hospital, the doctors were taking good care of her and “they were talking nice and my wife told them that she wanted a stop (a procedure to prevent her having more children) because she already has four kids, and they told us that they will do everything.”

“On Tuesday, last, (May 29) they discharged her and said they already did the ‘clean out’ and everything, but they didn’t give us any medication. I told the doctor that I want to do another ultrasound and the doctor said I don’t need to do that because everything was ok,” the husband claimed.

But after the woman was taken to the private hospital, it was discovered that a part of the foetus was still in her.

She was admitted and underwent immediate surgery.

“That hospital (GPHC) want people sue them. They only know how to kill poor people; the doctors there don’t treat people with care.

That girl has four children who waiting on her to come home,” the woman’s mother stated.

An official at GPHC had stated that the matter was under investigation, and that a response would be made within a week.

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Health Ministry studying data on Styrofoam products

Styrofoam boxes and plastic bottles improperly disposed of in a drain

By Keeran Danny A group at the Ministry of Health is currently analyzing information on the health effects of polystyrene products, better known by the brand name Styrofoam, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shamdeo Persaud revealed yesterday.

According to research, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently added styrene, a chemical in polystyrene products like Styrofoam, to its “reasonably anticipated to be carcinogens” list.

Styrofoam, which is actually the trade name of a polystyrene foam product used for housing insulation.

The biggest environmental

health concern associated with polystyrene is the danger associated with Styrene, the basic building block of polystyrene. Chronic exposure affects the central nervous system showing symptoms such as depression, headache, fatigue, and weakness, and can cause minor effects on kidney function and blood.

Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The local Health Ministry is hoping to come-up with some recommendations shortly on the use of Styrofoam products. Like many organizations it is

concerned about the controlled use and importation of such products.

Dr. Persaud advised that persons should neither microwave food nor eat out of Styrofoam containers.

Former Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy believes that Guyana needs to regulate the use of Styrofoam products.

“Its use is too free in all developing countries. They need to bring some restrictions,” he said.

Although the health implications of Styrofoam are being researched locally, environmental organizations have been calling for authorities to ban or limit the importation of the material.

But according to Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Indarjit Ramdass, banning the importation of Styrofoam products is a policy decision above his agency. He emphasized that such a decision needs to be carefully looked at.

Dr. Ramdass related there needs to be proper management of Styrofoam products particularly in its disposal.

In Guyana’s capital city, Georgetown, many waterways are clogged with Styrofoam containers and plastic bottles. The impact of this improper disposal is

- said to be linked to cancer mostly felt during the rainy season, resulting in flooding.

According to Mayor of Georgetown Municipality, Hamilton Green, the importation of Styrofoam products should be banned because Guyana does not have legal and institutional arrangements to deal with Styrofoam and plastics.

He noted that while society and the taste of consumers have changed, waste management in Guyana has not been developed to keep pace with new living

habits.

Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine Singh, stated that Styrofoam is bad for the environment since it is not bio-degradable.

He noted that Guyana has a poor history of managing waste. He also added that Styrofoam cannot be recycled.

Without recommending the material should be banned, Dr. Singh pointed out that Nigeria banned the use of Styrofoam because of waste management issues.

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

MP, urging Jamaica to leave T&T Govt. Ministers grounded CARICOM, wants bipartisan review KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC Opposition parliamentarian, Karl Samuda, the former commerce minister who has called for Jamaica to leave the Caribbean Community and described the regional bloc’s single market as a “hallucination”, has now called for a bipartisan review of Kingston’s relationship with the grouping.

“There should be a bipartisan panel to look into the Treaty of Chaguaramas (under which CARICOM was established), with special emphasis on the natural endowments of each territory, to determine how to go forward,” said Samuda, the

Karl Samuda Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) spokesman on Transport and Works and Infrastructure Development. “The review will shortsighted and myopic

if it does not involve the opposition, because some of us have vast experience with the issues, the mechanisms and the machinations of CARICOM.” On Thursday, Finance Minister Dr. Peter Phillips told journalists that the People’s National Party (PNP) government is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the country’s CARICOM relationship. It follows Samuda’s criticism over Jamaica’s inability to secure gas imports from fellow CARICOM member Trinidad and Tobago and charges that Trinidadian goods enjoyed an unfair advantage in the Jamaican market.

IMF throws support behind Jamaica’s fiscal programme It appears the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the general thrust of the Jamaican Government’s fiscal programme for the 2012/ 2013 fiscal year.

In a report published a day after Finance Minister, Dr Peter Phillips closed the Budget Debate on Wednesday, the IMF said its directors agreed with the Government’s efforts to increase primary surplus to about six per cent of gross domestic product.

The IMF report was posted by the American news site, Bloomberg.

The Fund says strong fiscal adjustment will add to the credibility of the Government’s programme, while adding that several of its directors supported a balanced pace of adjustment to safeguard the island’s fragile recovery and social cohesion.

The IMF says going

forward, continued fiscal consolidation will be needed to secure permanent savings, which will be generated by having sufficient and sustained primary surpluses over the medium term.

It says this will play an important role in assisting to reduce public debt, build fiscal buffers, and create space for social spending and growth-enhancing capital projects.

Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a criticism of the former political administration, the IMF said in the report that it regretted that the successful Jamaica Debt Exchange had not been accompanied by fiscal consolidation to reduce the public debt.

But the IMF report says the current political environment provides an opportunity to address the macroeconomic imbalances and increasing vulnerabilities, adding that

Dr Peter Phillips the Fund also welcomed the progress made by the Government in developing a comprehensive economic programme.

It urged the Government of Jamaica to make debt reduction, improved growth and competiveness and enhanced social conditions its main concerns.

(Jamaica Gleaner)

…as PM set to announce Cabinet reshuffle this week

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has ordered all Cabinet ministers to cancel overseas trips for the upcoming week. The Prime Minister, Sunday Guardian learnt, gave the instruction last week indicating that all government ministers must attend Thursday’s Cabinet meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

Insiders told Sunday Guardian that the instruction is in light of the Cabinet reshuffle and the reconfiguration of state boards that is expected to be announced later this week.

“The Prime Minister is going to announce the changes. It is going to be quite a few.

Some may come as a surprise but it is all in the best interest of the country,” a top Cabinet source revealed.

Cabinet sources said from as early as today, the Prime Minister is expected to meet with some of her ministers and heads of state boards to receive an account of their mandate, since they assumed their ministerial portfolios and positions. The meetings are expected to continue until

Wednesday.

Following the three-day meeting, Sunday Guardian learnt the Prime Minister is expected to meet with all ministers on Thursday in a marathon session to discuss the various changes before making them public. Cabinet sources said the Prime Minister has expressed a considerable amount of concern over crime and the economy. Reliable sources told Sunday Guardian that the Ministry of National Security headed by Brig John Sandy is expected to be split.

Economist Jwala Rambarran is being seen as a potential replacement for Dookeran. Rambarran could not be reached for comment Saturday night. These two key areas, according to political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath, are more than likely to see some changes.

Ragoonath said the implementation of the new crime plan by the National Security Minister was an indication that his position was in jeopardy.

However, Ragoonath said the answer was not Minister of Works and Infrastructure

Kamla Persad-Bissessar Jack Warner. “I do not see the Prime Minister moving Mr Warner, given his popular position. He is working where he is. He may be given additional responsibilities but he would not be removed. He is in the corner of the Prime Minister and is a key player,” Ragoonath said.

Also sitting in a comfortable position is Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal. “The housing minister is not going to be displaced. He is working and he seems to have things under control at his ministry.”

However, Ragoonath said while Dookeran may be replaced because of the state of the economy, it may be at the request of the minister.

(Trinidad Guardian)

Capriles rallies Venezuelans to challenge Chavez CARACAS (Reuters) Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans flooded downtown Caracas yesterday to support opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in the biggest rally to date of his campaign to unseat cancerstricken socialist President Hugo Chavez.

The athletic 39-year-old walked and jogged 10 km (6.2 miles) in the company of supporters to register his candidacy with electoral authorities, burnishing his image of physical fitness in contrast to the convalescing Chavez.

Capriles hopes to replace Chavez’s state-driven socialism with a Brazil-style

balance between free enterprise and social programs, and promises an end to the sectarian polarization of Chavez’s 13year rule.

“On October 7th we will decide not between two men but between two different ways of life,” Capriles intoned from a stage set up before a plaza jam-packed with sympathizers before entering the election’s council.

During his speech he looked up to address a group of people in a nearby government office tower that has been used to house Venezuelans who lost homes in floods - a problem that plagued Chavez for months and spurred a major home-

Henrique Capriles building campaign.

“You’re going to get out of there and move into a home, God bless you and your family,” he shouted.

The event marked a shift toward high-profile rallies to galvanize supporters after a months-long house-to-house tour of the OPEC nation in which he sought to win over new sympathizers ahead of the October 7 vote.

Marchers yesterday swarmed the main avenues of Caracas, waving the flag of the opposition coalition and chanting slogans alongside trucks blasting Capriles’ campaign pop jingle.

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 9

WHAT IS PREQUALIFICATION? In order for our readers to understand the issue of procurement, today we publish an explanation about pre-qualification of bidders.

The public must not be confused between prequalification and a tender for a contract.

The two are not the same and the difference between the two is explained here.

Prequalification is not a form of tendering.

Prequalification when used, precedes the tendering for the actual contract.

Prequalification is used to identify contractors who would be allowed to tender for certain contracts.

Therefore an advertisement for prequalification does not amount to an advertisement of a tender for a contract because all the former does is allow those interested to express their desire to be eligible to tender.

Once a company is prequalified for a particular contract it is then eligible to tender for that contract.

A firm applying for prequalification has no expectation to be awarded any contract on the basis of the application for prequalification. Its only expectation is that once it has been approved for

prequalification, then it is free to bid for the contract.

Prequalification therefore precedes the tender and an advertisement for prequalification should not be confused with an advertisement inviting tenders for the award of the substantive contract.

Prequalification is not used for all contracts. In fact, it is only used in certain cases where it is felt necessary to do so.

The vast majority of contracts are publicly advertised without the need for prequalification which is often reserved for large contracts and those requiring highly technical expertise.

One of the advantages of prequalification is to reduce the need to evaluate unqualified contractors. It is way of narrowing the field to only those who have the requisite ability to comply with the terms of the contract and the financial capability to undertake the work.

Thus for certain contracts, particularly large contracts or those involving highly technical work, a procurement entity will before advertising for bidders for the contract, first ask for invitations for pre-qualified bidders.

Prequalification allows

for unqualified bidders to be weeded out and thus helps to speed up evaluation of bids since only a limited number of pre-qualified bids have to be examined.

This means that only those firms pre-qualified would be eligible to bid on the contract.

The prequalification is merely for companies to demonstrate that they have the ability to undertake the work or supply of whatever it has to be sourced.

Section 6 of our National Procurement Act is in fact very precise on this point. It provides at Section 6 for the procuring entity to engage in prequalification proceedings in order to identify, prior to the submission of tenders, suppliers and contractors that are qualified to participate in such proceedings.

The Act goes on to indicate that a procuring entity shall solicit invitations to pre-qualify by causing an invitation to pre-qualify to be advertised.

Section 6 (6) goes on to state, “The procuring entity shall promptly notify each supplier or contractor submitting an application to pre-qualify whether or not it has been pre-qualified and shall make available to any

Dem boys seh

Bobby is a doctor like Jagdeo Some people does always want dem pickney to be a doctor. If dem can’t be a doctor then dem got to be lawyer. That is how Bobby tun a doctor. What dem boys don’t know is if he is a doctor of medicine. When he just graduate as a doctor he use to go home and show dem how as a doctor he is a magician. When de dog get sick he do something and mek de dog stand up. Right away he mother ask he fuh wuk magic pun he father and mek he stand up too.

But is only when Jagdeo tun a doctor and he and

Bobby tun close friends that dem know wha de boy graduate in as a doctor. But people didn’t want talk because dem frighten. But one of dem whisper to dem boys that it had to be a doctor of thief.

And he in good company.

Two of dem run to Vic fuh ask he fuh cover fuh dem but Vic got sense. He know that de company that send de cheque got records too. People did suspect a long time ago that something was wrong suh some people come in and right away dem knock off four of dem from de telephone

company.

While de company was sponsoring 10/10 cricket de four was playing cricket wid de money. Is de same thing wid NCN. Dem had de nerve to protest de budget when dem was tekking dem pay in advance. Dem boys seh that Fuzzy who talk bout putting people pun de breadline did done tek enough money to pay de staff fuh a year. That is why de opposition cut de budget fuh Hen See Hen. And Fuzzy cry foul pun de TV. Talk half and wuk magic fuh de rest.

member of the general public, upon request, the names of all suppliers or contractors that have been pre-qualified.

“Only suppliers or contractors that have been pre-qualified are entitled to participate further in the procurement proceedings.”

The Procurement Act goes on to state that except for single sourcing, procurement through community participation, restricted tendering single or a request for quotations, for which there are prescribed rules- all procurement should be by open tendering.

In the case of request for quotations, there are usually limits to the amounts under which this method can be used.

The procurement process is important for public transparency and should allow for a system that is fair and allows for the procurement agency to reap the benefits that go with such openness.

It is quite possible for companies who feel that prequalification has been

used to disqualify them from tendering to legally question the fairness of the prequalification process.

Certainly, for example, it would be in violation of international trading rules for a company which is being asked to supply goods to enjoy an advantage over either a local or international firm simply because it has local manufacturing capabilities.

This would amount to a breach of national treatment and because it offers an unfair advantage can be annulled either through resort to the national competitiveness process or through direct court action.

Govt. approves commercial licences for helicopters to operate in Guyana The Guyana Government has approved a decision to commence the commercial operations of helicopters in the local aviation industry.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon this past week made the announcement and informed that the decision was arrived at during Cabinet’s meeting on Tuesday last.

According to Dr Luncheon, similar licences were temporarily granted in the past, “with a requirement for security clearance of the operator or the licensee.”

He explained that the Cabinet decision in relation to the commercial licensing of helicopters locally would impose additional mandatory technical requirements for the potential licensees

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

Govt. losses to ‘Fip’ Motilall still undetermined The government’s claim to 100 per cent of the US$1.5M Performance Bond that had been issued by Hand in Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company is being looked at as an absurdity.

Proficient officials in the field have pointed out that “the claimant would only claim what they actually lost; that way they preserve their market position.”

The insurance official said that “If any claimant were crazy enough to claim the entire face value of a demand bond just because they can, they would hardly ever get another bond in this market or any international one….So, there is a lot of tallying up to do…If there was no loss, there is no real claim.” The claimant in this instance is the Government of Guyana which had issued the US$15.4M Contract to Synergy Holdings Inc

….will resolve how much of US$1.5M claim can be recovered

Head of NICIL Winston Brassington headed by Makeswhar ‘Fip’ Motilall.

The contract was pulled from Motilall in mid January this year for failing to secure an extension to the Performance Bond that had been issued by Hand in Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company.

The Government claim is

still pending and further it is “still at the information stage.”

Motilall’s Performance Bond expired on July 2011.

That bond was negotiated and brought into force when the contract with Motilall was signed in January 2010, with an eight-month duration.

This means that for the latter half of last year, Synergy Holdings Inc. was operating with an expired bond, pursuant to its stipulations.

The bond did carry a stipulation that claims could be made for six months following its expiration.

Government did lay claims prior to this deadline, but according to a senior official close to the matter, “This doesn’t mean that the claim is automatically valid. All

aspects of compliance have to be thoroughly checked.”

The source, knowledgeable on the issue of insurance, explained that Hand-in-Hand will have to conduct investigations on every aspect of the claim before it is accepted or rejected completely.

Reports that the government and Synergy Holdings Inc still have some balancing up to do to determine who owes whom, could also affect the outcome of the claim made by the government on the performance bond.

Motilall, following the announcement of the termination of the contract with Government, had claimed that he was owed in

AK 47 bandits remanded to jail Four men who allegedly robbed an East Canje business couple on Saturday were on Wednesday remanded to jail.

The men, Tameshwar Khemraj, called ‘Ramboo’, 25, of Lot 171 Nigg Corentyne, Deon Fraser called ‘Bucko’, 23, of Adelphi East Canje Berbice, Deodat Seecharran

called ‘Pop Corn’,19, Of Edinburgh East Bank Berbice and Adbussulum Azimulla called ‘Sato’, 29, of Lot 183 Hampshire Corentyne Berbice , were arraigned on two charges of robbery under arms. They appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the Reliance Magistrate’s Court and were

remanded.

It is alleged that on Saturday, June, 2, at Cumberland, while armed with guns, cutlasses and knives, the quartet robbed Melissa Fernandes of $185,000, four cell phones valued $220,000, a quantity of jewelry valued at $550,000; to a total value of 987,000.

It is also alleged that on the same day, armed with guns, cutlasses and knives they robbed Inderjeet ‘Chris’ Persaud of two gold chains valued $450,000, four gold rings valued $200,000, one gold bangle valued $200,000, one stainless steel band valued $30,000 and $11,000 all to the value of $891,000.

Prosecutor Corporal Roberto Figueira opposed bail on the grounds that

firearms were used. He also opposed bail on the grounds that Azimulla is facing a similar matter before the court and has not been attending his trial.

According to information, the victims were at home with their eight year old daughter.

They were about to close up a barber shop when four unmasked men, armed with an AK 47 rifle, a shot gun and two knives, barged into their yard and started to beat the couple.

The men then escaped through the back yard.

The suspects were arrested at a house at Edinburgh East Bank Berbice.

Two cars were also impounded and the drivers detained. The accused will return to court on 27th June.

excess of US$1M. Winston Brassington, the Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), who has played an integral role in the project, subsequently in a pronouncement to clear the air on the termination of the contract said, “One important consideration that determined the contract being awarded to Synergy was based on Synergy having the lowest evaluated price.”

Contacted recently Brassington said that he is no longer affiliated with the project. Hand-in-Hand had also issued a mobilization bond to Synergy Holdings, but this too expired.

Hand-in-Hand in its financial report for the company in 2010 had listed under Contingent Liability, the Amaila Falls Hydropower Road project.

In that report it was stated that the Government of Guyana had granted to contractor, Synergy Holdings Inc., the authority to construct the road to Amaila Falls and the Transmission Line Clearing Project.

It said that on March 31, 2010, Hand-in-Hand on behalf of Synergy Holdings Inc., issued advance Mobilisation and Performance Bonds totaling US$1.54 million each.

“At the onset, these bonds were collaterized by a guarantee from WM Fogarty’s Ltd to the extent of US$500,000 for the initial fourmonth period.”

The Financial Report for Hand-in-Hand also said that the “Advance Mobilisation Bond which expired on November 18, 2010, has since been released by the

Makeswhar ‘Fip’ Motilall.

Government of Guyana.”

It further states, “The Hand-in-Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company Ltd remains responsible for the current performance bond, which is to be secured by counter guarantees in the form of: Escrow Account to the extent of US$500,000; Debenture on the machinery/ equipment for the difference.”

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

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

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

“The Hand-in-Hand is very happy to settle any claim it is determined to be liable to pay.

Monday June 11, 2012

How do I go about starting my own country?

Why is “Peggy” the nickname for “Margaret”?

What’s the difference between a boat and a ship?

If you shove a potato in a car’s tailpipe, will the car explode? How do they get the sperm used in artificial insemination of animals?

These are all questions that were asked of the newspaper column “The Straight Dope”, written by Cecil Adams, which has been running since 1973 and is now carried by about 30 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

The Straight Dope takes all questions in its stride including, “What came first, Dick or ‘dick’?”

According to Adams and his crew, the name came first.

Then, because everything was written by hand, “Richard” was shortened to “Rick”. Rhyming names (e.g. Tony Baloney) and nicknames were also fairly common so we had “Dick” from “Rick”. This led to the use of “Dick” to mean the ordinary person or “Every Tom, Dick and Harry.”

In 1847, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites a “dick” as meaning a type of hard cheese which led to “spotted dick” which is not a venereal disease but a type of British pudding. The term ‘dick’ was also used to mean a riding whip, an apron, the mound around a ditch, and an

Kaieteur News

abbreviation for ‘dictionary’ around 1860.

Dick also meant a declaration, in which sense the OED cites someone writing in 1878 ‘I’d take my dying dick’ to mean ‘I’d swear a dying declaration.’ The term ‘dick’ came to mean policeman around 1908, and then detective. The use of “dick” as coarse slang for penis first arises around 1890. How ‘dick’ came to be associated with penis is not known, although the riding whip may have pointed the way.

You, dear reader, might be wondering why I have gone into this “dick” business at such great length. I’d take my dying dick to say it was not in any sense sexually motivated. It was because of Dick Whittington, the poor boy who became Lord Mayor of London.

I have been driving around Port-of-Spain, the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago (TNT), for the last few weeks and when I come to a particular street where the traffic is almost gridlocked on some mornings there is the same City Council gang busy attacking a short yardage of pavement outside a cemetery. There are large metal barrels linked by (significantly) crime scene tape. If you hit one of the barrels with your car, the damage will be very costly.

If the barrel hits a “worker”, whether he is

sitting in his customary place against the wall enjoying a cigarette and cell-phone conversation, or on the rare occasion he is in trying to make an impression on the seemingly unyielding pavement, he will be severely injured.

Many motorists wonder why plastic drums are not being used instead and why the pavement repair seems to be a never-ending story.

Some even link it with a “Park and Ride System” that the Mayor plans to introduce from next month in that particular area. As one of my friends commented, “It is obvious we are being taken for a ride.”

One good thing about this Mayor is that he is not a “Dick”, he is a “Louis”. But then other Mayors with last names that are not connected in any way with Richard or its derivatives have done some things that make you wonder if there was some kind of hanky-panky with their birth certificates.

David Dinkins, former Mayor of New York, said, “”I haven’t committed a crime.

What I did was fail to comply with the law.” Washington D.C. Mayor, Marion Berry, insisted, “Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.” Berry claimed, “The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is

racist.”

When confronted about his nocturnal activities, Berry explained, “First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club.

And second, what can I say?

I’m a night owl.” Clearly he, like some other Mayors, don’t give a hoot. In fact, he was videotaped smoking crack cocaine and sentenced to six months in prison.

He is now serving as a member of the Colombia District Council. Sue Mills, the 50-year-old Mayor of Torrington (UK) posted on Facebook, “Illegal immigrants are like sperm - millions of them come in but only one works.”

There is a story about when Berry was campaigning for a second term. A seedylooking man was sitting in the first row at a town meeting, heckling Berry as he delivered a lengthy speech. Finally Berry decided to confront the heckler and said, “Will that (gentleman) who differs with me please stand up and tell the audience what he has ever done for the good of the city?” “Well, Mr. Berry,” the man said in a firm voice. “I voted against you in the last election.”

This is still the first term of the Mayor of Port-of-Spain and, like the priest in this story, may not be totally aware of the nuances of this particular parish. An old priest got sick of everyone in his parish confessing to

Guyana trailing behind Caribbean...

(From page 6) possibility of road safety education being included in the school curriculum. They will also become aware of road markings and other important features pertaining to road safety.

The Long term goals will also include training for drivers. These persons, he said, will attend seminars and training sessions. Ministries and private individuals will be targeted in this initiative, and according to Erskine, these persons will be trained

by experts. For example, he said, was someone specialized in the sale of tyres to deliver information on buying the right tyres and proper maintenance. This aspect he said is part of making vehicles safer.

Another long term aim Erskine said involves the engineering section of the NRSC, which is responsible for the maintenance of road lights, signs and other markings. One of the most important aspects of road safety is the maintenance and

correctness of road signs, Erskine said.

“This deals with the environment. Not only are we to have safe road users and safe vehicles, we must ensure that the environment is safe and this include signs, lights markings etc. This is very important.”

The chairman said that it is essential to involve road users in the goal to curb the current situation on Guyana’s roads.

One pivotal issue the road safety official pointed to

Berbicians turn out in their...

(From page 11) rejoin a new line thus adding to more confusion. Eventually after some time the situation was brought to some semblance of order with the help of police ranks who were busy directing traffic which was backing up regularly as the crowd spilled onto the Main road.

Among those in attendance were local soca duo of ‘Times Two’ Adrian Dutchin and Jumo Primo and Kirk ‘Chow Pow’ Jardin.

‘Chow Pow’ spent most

of the day on the microphone trying to maintain law and order. He later told the media that the promotion kick started on May 25 at the BlackBerry Office in Georgetown. It has gone to Linden, and now in Berbice.

After which it will move to Essequibo in a few days.

He also mentioned that all those who did not get through now will have a second chance. Additionally, a second team will do a sweep of the areas to catch those who did not get through now.

The promotion basically offers customers from the other network to switch to GT&T mobile network with an incentive of $500 free credit weekly for 10 weeks. One of the main attractions for the promotion is that customers will pay a mere $1000 for a special brand GT&T ‘Shango’ phone which has features like radio and torchlight.

Several other incentives are also on offer including winning a house at GT&T’s scheduled drawing slated for July 2nd.

was passengers speaking out against drivers breaking that law.

“We are looking into talks with road users to encourage them not to be afraid to speak out against speeding, cellular phone usage while driving and other matters that can lead to accidents.”

According to the police statistics, at the end of May 2012 there was a 26 per cent decrease in accidents and fatalities when compared to the same period in 2011.

The police stated that for the period under review, 2011 recorded 46 fatal accidents resulting in 47 deaths of which two were children, while for 2012, 34 such accidents resulted in 35 deaths in which two children died.

The police insist that speeding continues to be a major contributory factor to fatal accidents, causing 24 of the 34 accidents as at May 31, 2012.

It was noted that traffic education and rigid enforcement of traffic laws continue to be the main factors responsible for the recorded reduction of road carnage.

Page 15

affairs. He warned, “If one more person confesses to extra-marital liaisons, I’ll quit!”

Since everyone liked him, they decided to use a code word “fallen”. From then on, anyone who had an affair said they had ‘fallen’.

This satisfied everyone and things were fine for years until the old priest passed away. Shortly after the new young priest settled in, he paid a call on the mayor and expressed his concern, “You have to do something about the sidewalks in this town, Mayor. You can’t believe how many people come into the confessional talking about having fallen!”

The mayor started to laugh, realizing that no one had explained their code word to the new priest. But before the mayor could explain, the priest shook his finger at the mayor and said, “I don’t know why you’re laughing; your wife fell three times last week!”

I doubt that the expectations were so high that the Mayor has fallen in anyone’s esteem but my friends are not quite sure and

one even sent me this story.

A pastor went to his church office on Monday morning and discovered a dead mule in the church yard. He called the police.

Since there did not appear to be any foul play, the police referred the pastor to the health department. They said since there was no health threat, he should call the sanitation department which said he could not pick up the mule without authorization from the mayor. The pastor knew that the mayor had a bad temper and was hard to deal with but called him anyway.

The Mayor shouted, “Why did you call me? Isn’t it your job to bury the dead?” The pastor replied “Yes, Mayor, but I always like to notify the next of kin first!” *Tony Deyal was last seen quoting Marion Berry and wondering when the Port-of-Spain Mayor would echo Berry’s, “I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man.”

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

Who’s really in charge at Corriverton? Hope Canal on Mayor says he never received formal notification to demit office Ousted Mayor of Corriverton, Roy Baijnauth, says that neither he nor his seven councillors of the Corriverton Municipality ever received a formal notification or correspondence from the Local Government Minister or Ministry with valid signatures, informing them of the termination of their services.

Baijnauth showed Kaieteur News two faxes which were sent to his office and received by the Town Clerk a few weeks ago informing them that an Interim Management Committee (IMC) had been formed to replace the council. The faxes, both titled ‘Public Notice’ bore no signatures and were not addressed to anyone in particular from the Corriverton M&TC, not even the Mayor.

This has created a political vacuum in the town.

As a result, the question must be asked if Baijnauth was never officially notified by the Minister himself through a signed document, then who really is legally in control of Corriverton.

A few weeks ago, Minister of Local Government, Ganga Persaud, and a team of Government officials, including Member of Parliament, Faizal M. Jaffarally, installed nine Interim Management Committees (IMCs) in Berbice.

Eight Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs)– CanefieldEnterprise; Ordnance/Fort Lands 38; Enfield- New Doe Park; Kilcoy- Chesney; Maida-Tarlogie; Black Bush Polder; Bush Lot- Adventure, and Whim- Bloomfield were dissolved. The Corriverton Mayor and Town Council

was dissolved soon after and IMCs were installed to manage their affairs.

When Kaieteur News contacted MP Jaffarally, he said that an investigation into the affairs of Baijnauth’s town council was carried out and several irregularities were found. But Baijnauth is asking for that report to be made public. Jaffarally had said that one of the findings of the report was that Baijnauth and his councillors do not go out and meet the people and listen to their issues. Baijnauth responded by saying that “if you go and meet the people, they will make a lot of demands” and said that the tight budget that the council had to operate was not really enough to satisfy works that the residents would ask them to do during meetings.

“Them [the government] a go and meet people and fool people— that’s why people a curse them!” Baijnauth said.

He added that the Town Clerk received the fax on May 14 at 14:24 hrs titled ‘Public Notice’. The notice identified the new IMC members.

The Mahaicony Rice Mills (MRL) which is the country’s largest rice milling company that controls an estimated 40 per cent of purchases countrywide, is facing the non-renewal of its operating licence unless all farmers are paid fully, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy warned yesterday.

According to the Minister, late payment to rice farmers continues to be a concern for his Ministry, and the Guyana Rice Development Board has not issued a licence to Mahaicony Rice Mills for 2012, and will not do so, unless all farmers are paid fully.

He has urged farmers to inform the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB)

and the rice producers’ association when they transact business with entities that promise to pay later.

The Agriculture Minister noted that stakeholders are working with millers and farmers to bring a speedy resolution to the issue of late payments in regions two and six.

At the beginning of December 2011, Mahaicony Rice Mills owed farmers over 265 million dollars. At present, it owes over 60 million dollars to farmers, particularly in Essequibo.

Amidst growing complaints by rice farmers over non-payments and delays of payments by millers for paddies supplied, there had been amendments to the Rice Factories Act which

Corriverton Mayor, Roy Baijnauth

The fax had no official signature or any line that stated that Baijnauth and his councillors were to leave their positions. “They can’t send the town clerk anything!

I am the town clerk’s boss and they put pressure on the young man!” “Nobody told him [the town clerk] Baijnauth is not the Mayor anymore.”

The fax, he said, was just an ordinary notice and Baijnauth added that “I could have told the town clerk to put the thing in the waste paper basket”. “If you take this thing (the fax) and show any educated person, they will throw it away.”

In this regard, he is still maintaining he is the Mayor of the town.

He added that perhaps the document did not have a signature of either the Minister or any senior Local Government Ministry official “because nobody want to commit themselves— that’s why nobody ain’t want to sign it!”

“I have been supporting the PPP since I know myself— them chaps this who come the other day, them doing wrong things”, he said. Baijnauth has been the Mayor for the town for 17 years and feels deeply hurt over how the events in the recent weeks have transpired.

“They could have shown some appreciation— all of us were glad to have been given the opportunity to serve the people of Corriverton and Guyana as a whole”, he related.

He stated that on May 30, something interesting took place. The IMC and the M&TC of Corriverton planned the statutory meeting on the same day.

Both entities clashed and met each other in the M&TC office and Baijnauth then asked his town clerk to call the Minister and Region 6 Chairman to “tell them what was going on”.

The Town Clerk, he claimed, told him that a senior official in Region 6 told him (the town clerk) over the phone that “if the mayor misbehaves, they will get the police and put us out of here”.

Baijnauth added that to avoid a major confrontation that day, he and his councillors peacefully walked out of the building and allowed the IMC to hold the meeting. “The police know I am the mayor and if they did come that day I might have had cause to tell them to put the IMC out, then what would have happened, look at the disgrace that would have taken place”.

Baijnauth added that his town was “not short of leadership” and claimed that the government was bullish in its operations in the town whereby the council was not really informed whenever the government was carrying out works within the township.

“The government did not inform us about doing streets in Corriverton until they went and signed the contracts, then they told us to go. Why they want us then?” He wants President Donald Ramotar to send a team to the area with whom he will meet “with my councillors and let us go and see the roads they (the government) made and see if I am wrong”.

The current Corriverton IMC has ten PPP members.

There is no opposition member on the IMC, even though the previous Corriverton M&TC had 3 PNC members.

No licence for Mahaicony Rice Mills until all farmers paid - Ramsammy Rice Farm

shortened the payment period and included interests.

Meanwhile, Ramsammy said that gauging from the rate of rice production for the first crop this year, the

Ministry of Agriculture anticipates that this year’s production would exceed 400,000 tons of rice.

Even with only 88 percent Continued on page 18

schedule - NDIA

Concrete piles being driven to construct bridge at Hope.

Construction of the Hope Canal is moving apace and is expected to meet its June 2013 deadline despite constant intermittent showers on the East Coast Demerara, says Lionel Wordsworth, Chief Executive Officer of National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

Wordsworth related that as of this week all four components of the project are on schedule, even though the rains have slowed excavation of a section of the channel being created from the conservancy to the sea defence.

Of the 10.3 kilometer (km) channel being created, a total of 6.6 km has been dug. The remaining 3.3 km is being excavated by NDIA. He said that excavation in this section (between the conservancy dam and crown dam) is challenging owing to swampy conditions.

A release from the Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday stated that the Ministry does not contemplate difficulties in the timely completion of the channel together with its associated structures such as the dams.

The construction of the Public Road Bridge is the responsibility of DIPCON Engineering Services Ltd. According to the release, Agriculture Minister, Leslie Ramsammy, urged the contractor to ensure that work is done within the stipulated timeframe.

Major activity at this site is the driving of pre-cast, prestressed concrete piles. These piles are constructed at DIPCON’s Pre-Stressed Casting Yard at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice.

The construction of the High level Outfall Sluice Structure at the Atlantic Ocean end (North of the

Hope Secondary School) is the responsibility of Courtney Benn Contracting Services Ltd. This component requires a large number of piles. One of the constraints being faced is the availability of these piles because of their huge demand in the construction industry.

As such, the Ministry and Forestry Commission are working to ensure the timely availability of piles so as not to delay the construction of the High Level Sluice.

BK International Incorporated is responsible for the construction of the head regulator on the East Demerara Water Conservancy to link the Channel. Construction is challenged by the weather, difficulties to access working site and also the availability of piles.

According to Wordsworth, when the Hope Canal, which will be the northern relief channel, is completed it will allow excess water from the conservancy to flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

“The Hope Canal will relieve or drain excess water accumulated during the rainy season from the conservancy. This excess water comes when we have intense rainfall for long period,” he said.

He explained that currently to prevent the conservancy from collapsing and protect the coastline, the eastern canals’ (Lamaha and Maduni) gates are opened.

Consequently, Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary areas are flooded. These areas are known for farming.

Every rainy season, farmers complain of the absence of alternative drainage, which results in them incurring millions of dollars in losses.

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 17

The Abigail Column Afraid to have sex? that maybe I am not the right person for him or something.

What should I do?

Curious DEARABIGAIL, My boyfriend and I have been going out for more than two years now. I am eighteen years old and he is 19. We haven’t had sex yet, but during the last year and a half we tried pretty much everything there is besides it.

He really feels this is the right time, but when he tries to talk to me about it, I say that I am afraid. He wants to pressure me, but I just feel

Dear Curious, Before we get into the nitty gritty, here are the three key words to remember: trust, communication, and respect.

“Losing” one’s virginity, or choosing to have sexual intercourse for the first time, can be a major decision.

Should you two ultimately decide to have sex, it is important that both you and your partner feel 100%

comfortable with your decision.

Above the pleasure, exploration, and fun, sex comes with a whole lot of responsibility. It is important that you and your partner have a strategy for birth control, and have spoken about what you would do if she became pregnant.

Regardless of your sexual activity, being in a relationship is a unique journey — filled with companionship, love, and just enjoying the little things together.

Monday June 11, 2012 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Today your imagination, dreams and fantasies will provide other people with entertainment ... after your perform for these folks, you should reach out to them for insight. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Your life has been a series of compromises and negotiations, each of which has strengthened your bonds with friends, family and partners. But not everyone feels that compromises enrich their life -- as you will see all too clearly today. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): All your forward momentum is starting to slow down a bit, which is both a positive and a negative thing. On the one hand, this time out will finally give you a chance to take in the interesting view you've been missing out on for so long. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): This day may require a lot of organization, so do yourself a favor and start the day with a thorough evaluation of what needs to be done and how you are going to go about doing it. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Your generosity is at odds with your wallet, and it might be time to get creative with a gift idea. Think about what you can do for someone rather than what you can give them. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): You will be graced with a huge dose of beautiful, magnetic energy today. In a crowd, you will be able to draw people around you with your supportive ways. ********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct.

22) : You have only just scratched the surface on a new endeavor. Keep digging today and you could uncover the whole beautiful thing (at any rate, you should make amazing progress). ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): Being interested in the lives of rock stars and celebrities is nice for some people, but today you should follow your urge to turn off the TV, put down the glossy magazine and find something of substance to explore. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): If you think playing 'hard to get' is going to land you the apple of your eye, think again. There is far too much going on in their lives to notice someone who doesn't seem to notice them. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19):As a peacefulness comes over your emotional life, look for other areas of your life to grow more peaceful as well. For any social outings today, try to choose a quiet spot where you can really talk. Avoid crowded places. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18): When you are building something, sometimes you get so focused on the nuts and bolts that you forget to step back and look at your progress. Don't make that mistake today -- it's a wonderful time to check in on how you're doing. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Your alreadycomplicated relationship with money is getting more and more complex -- but only because you are letting it. The bottom line is still the same:

NTN CHANNEL 18/ CABLE 69 05:00h - Sign on with the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra 05:15h - Meditation 05:30h - Queenstown Masjid Presents Quran This Morning 06:00h - R. Gossai General Store Presents Shiva Bhajans 06:15h - Jettoo’s Lumber Yard Presents Shiva Bhajans 06:30h - Muneshwar Limited Presents Shiva Bhajans 06:45h - Double Standard Taxi Presents Shiva Bhajans 07:00h - RRT Enterprise Presents Shiva Bhajans 07:15h - M & M Snackette Presents Raja Yoga Discourses 07:30h - Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc Presents Shiva Bhajans 0:745h - The Family of The Late Leila & David Persaud Presents Shiva Bhajans 08:00h - Timehri Maha Kali Shakti Devi Mandir Presents Shiva Bhajans 08:15h - NTN This Morning Live with Reyaz Husein 09:30h - Indian Soap - Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyien 10:00h - Indian Soap - Yahaan Mein 10:30h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 11:00h - Lil Masters 12:00h - DVD Movie:- APNA DESH (Eng: Sub:) *ing Rajesh Khanna & Mumtaz 15:00h - Sitcom - FRINGE 16:00h - Drying Tears Live with Pastor Edson 16:30h - Devotional Time 17:00h - Sitcom - FRINGE 17:45h - Ganesh Parts Presents - BHAGAVAD GITA ( Discourses in English) Serial 18:15h - Birthday Greetings/ A n n i v e r s a r y / Congratulations/ Death Announcements & In Memoriam 18:30h - HARE KRISHNA TODAY 19:00h - Ricks & Sari Presents Bed Time Songs Live with Joel 20:00h - Health in Focus 20:30h - Indian Soap - Yahaan Mein 2200h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 2230h - Indian Soap - Pavitra Rishta 2300h - Indian Soap - Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyien 2330h -.Sign off with the

Gayantri Mantra NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00hrs – Inspiration 05:30hrs – Newtown Gospel 06:00hrs – 3rd Test West Indies VS England – Day 5 08:00hrs – Guyana Today 09:00hrs – Cricket Resumes 13:30hrs – NEWSBREAK 13:35hrs – Cricket Info & Quiz 14:00hrs – Movie 16:00hrs – Cartoons 17:00hrs – Anderson 18:00hrs – NCN News Magazine – Live 18:30hrs – Feature 19:00hrs – Guyana VS Costa Rico Update 20:00hrs – 3d/daily millions/ play de dream/lotto draw 20:05hrs – NCLO Presents 21:05hrs – We Linkin 21:35hrs – Excellence Dazzell Show 22:05hrs – NCN Late Edition News 22:35hrs – Movie MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 06:00hrs Islamic Perspective 06:30hrs The Diary 07:00hrs DAY BREAK ( live) 08:00hrs Dabi’s Musical Hour 08:30hrs Avon Video & DVD Musical Melodies

09:00hrs Current Affairs 09:15hrs Top Notch Music Break 09:30hrs Caribbean Temptation music break 10:00hrs Payless Variety music break 10:30hrs Double day Music break 11:00hrs H. Persaud music hour 11:30hrs Salvation Message with Pastor Kelvin 11:45hrs The View 12:00hrs Weekly Digest 12 30hrs The Young and The Restless 13:30hrs Days of our lives 14:00hrs The Revolution 15:00hrs General Hospital 16:00hrs The Bold and the Beautiful 17:00hrs Birthdays & other Greetings 17:15hrs Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30hrs Sitcom: Friends 18:00hrs Aracari Resort Hour 19:00hrs Fire fest Update 19:30hrs News Update 20:30hrs Getting it Right 21:30hrss English Movie: Twins 23:00hrs News Update 23:30hrs English movie: Twins continues Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Monday June 11, 2012

Integrity body for public officials currently a ‘toothless poodle’ A motion by Guyana’s Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, scheduled for debate this Thursday in the National Assembly will have seemingly sunk even before it has come up for debate to set sail.

The motion in the name Hinds, reportedly threatens to expose delinquent Members of Parliament (MP’s) for failing to make annual declarations to the Integrity Commission.

The commission in its current form however has been dubbed a “toothless poodle” and is non functional as has been indicated by the Secretariat of the Commission.

Speaking with this

EDUCATIONAL

publication yesterday, Executive Member of A Partnership for National Unity and its second highest ranking member, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine said definitively that the coalition will not be supporting Hinds’ Motion.

Dr. Roopnaraine informed that only recently the Coalition’s Leader, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, was in receipt of a missive from the Secretariat of the Integrity Commission.

This missive purportedly warned that should the members of APNU default on making declarations, then delinquents will have their names Gazetted and publicly exposed.

(From page 19)

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The APNU’s second in command informed this publication that the Opposition Leader responded to the Secretariat and requested to know who the Chairman of that Body was and further who the commissioners were.

He said that the coalition Leader, received a second missive from the Secretariat informing that there is no Chairman and further, there are no Commissioners in place.

As such, APNU’s Members of Parliament have been instructed to prepare their declarations and hold them until a Commission can be put in place to the satisfaction of the Coalition.

Dr. Roopnaraine said that the Commission must at the very least have forensic and investigative capabilities and not just be a body that receives reports and files them.

He said that the coalition has been drawing attention to allegations of corruption at times where fingers have been pointed at Cabinet Ministers but to date there has been no investigation of

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds their declarations to ascertain accuracy.

Dr. Roopnaraine says that the party will not be making any declarations to a Commission that cannot even investigate what is has before it.

The APNU Executive Member’s comments are not a far cry from those of his Alliance for Change (AFC) colleague Parliamentarian, Cathy Hughes.

Hughes recently made her reservations publicly

Independent investigation...

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The old eight million dollar OB vehicle gathers dust in the NCN compound.

(From page 3) Outside Broadcast vehicle, which is presently lying unused in the compound following its acquisition several months ago.

This newspaper was reliably informed that the vehicle which is to be used for outside radio broadcast is down for the want of several important components.

The old radio Outside Broadcast vehicle is presently gathering moss in another section of the NCN compound. “This is just a waste of money and then the management is protesting against the budget cuts?” the source said.

According to the source, an independent investigation will also reveal that the company may have purchased reconditioned cameras instead of brand new ones as documented in their budgetary requests.

A few years ago Sattaur, who is also the administrator of a number of the ruling PPP’s

entities including Red House and Heritage House, was suspended by the NCN board of directors headed by Dr. Prem Misir following claims of insubordination.

However, he was reinstated by the then President Bharat Jagdeo who had intervened in the matter. Now with revelations of financial impropriety surfacing, his continued presence as CEO of NCN is giving rise to concerns that an independent investigation would not be done.

Sources at the state owned broadcasting entity have indicated that any independent investigation will reveal that the company has had no meeting since 2004 where an audited financial statement was presented. “Until some pressure is brought to bear on the top management of the NCN the company will continue operating as if it is the property of a few,” the source said.

APNU’s second-in-command Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine

AFC’s Cathy Hughes

known, as it relates to making declarations to the Integrity Commission in its current form.

She told media operatives that she has requested a bevy of information on the Integrity Commission which would help to determine whether she as a first time Parliamentarian would make any such declarations.

Should the Parliamentarian not be satisfied with the responses, the MP says that she will not be making any declarations.

The ruling Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/ C) and the political opposition have been at loggerheads for several years over declarations to the Integrity Commission with at least one piece of court litigation already lapsing. ”How could we have a place awash with corruption and a commission that does not function?” was the question asked by Dr. Roopnaraine, during a previous interview with this newspaper when he had originally questioned the usefulness of the Integrity Commission since it appeared that it has no capacity to investigate but rather to just receive reports.

According to Roopnaraine, there are numerous instances of persons in public offices amassing wealth which seems inconsistent with their earnings but the Integrity Commission has failed to undertake a forensic audit.

He believes that it is insufficient to have a Commission that is merely

tasked with receiving reports of declarations but cannot investigate.

The Integrity Commission Act, Chapter 19:12 came into effect with the passage of the Integrity Commission Act No 20 of 1997.

The law provides for the establishment of a Commission to ensure probity in public life, particularly among elected officials and public officers entrusted with responsibilities by the State.

Under this Law, the designated public officials are required to submit annual returns of their assets and may be subjected to penalties if they fail to do so without reasonable cause.

Among the declarations that are required to be made are all gifts received by public officials and it is for the Integrity Commission to determine whether those gifts are personal, or whether they belong to the state. The only exceptions are gifts from relatives.

Dr. Roopnaraine told this publication yesterday that while the coalition is currently focused on Local Government Reform and a date for Local Government Elections the party will be addressing the issue of the legislation dealing with the Integrity Commission.

Dr. Roopnaraine says that any fixing of the Integrity Commission will have to be dealt with by amending the governing laws, but first the party must evaluate whether the Commission has ever even prevented any form of corruption or malfeasance by public officials.

No licence for Mahaicony...

From page 16 of this year’s first crop recorded, production has already exceeded the level of production for the first crops for 2011 and 2010.

According to the Agriculture Minister, the 88 percent of rice recorded for 2012 totals 197,407 metric tons while the first crop for 2011 and 2010 were 207,638 metric tons and 168,796 metric tons respectively.

He noted that in spite of the challenges, such as flooding and increasing fertilizer prices, rice farmers are on target to exceed the 2011 record production.

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Page 19

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Page 20

Kaieteur News

Landmark celebration was needless says Ramdin Birmingham, England – We s t Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin said his emotions had boiled over, leading to the way he celebrated his second Test hundred in the third and final Test against England on Sunday.

Ramdin celebrated his landmark by waving a piece of paper in the direction of the media centre that bore a message, chiding West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards.

The action was in response to earlier criticism levelled at Ramdin by Sir Vivian, now an expert analyst for BBC Radio’s Test Match Special, following West Indies’ defeat in the second Test at Trent Bridge.

Ramdin said he and all the current West Indies players have a tremendous respect for Sir Viv and other West Indies legends, and no disrespect was meant. “ S i r Vi v h a d s a i d

something [about me] in the press and I think I got a bit emotional and it came out in the way it did,” said Ramdin.

“Having said that, he’s a legend of the Caribbean and I still look up to him.”

Ramdin said he had been under pressure, particularly to score runs, and the comments by Sir Viv both hurt and motivated him. “His statement was a bit hurtful to me, but I worked hard and I proved the critics (wrong),” he said. ”When I was not getting runs, I kept reminding myself that I needed to score runs and do well for myself and my teammates.”

Ramdin said: “Being out of international cricket for a long time and knowing there are players coming through all the time, I felt pressured. . .this is something that I love and I want to perform. “I have not been getting runs since my return and we are playing against the No.1

Test side in the World and I wanted to do well.”

Ramdin said however, his point had been made with the bat and there was no need for the paper, and he was willing to meet Sir Viv to further defuse the situation.

Ramdin also hailed the batting of West Indies fast bowler Tino Best. He made 95 to collect the highest score by a No.11 batsman in the history of Tests.

“It was amazing, Tino went out there and played some unbelievable shots,” he said.

“I didn’t think he had all those shots in his armoury, but he went out there and expressed himself; that’s the way Tino plays.”

Ramdin continued: “It was funny. He kept saying ‘keep going big dog, you go out there, you get the hundred and then you bat with me to get my 50’. “I told him I would be there when he got his hundred, but unfortunately he got carried away.”

Best breaks tail-end record; centurion...

From back page It was also the first test half-century by any number 11 in England for 46 years since John Snow made 59 not out against West Indies at the the Oval.

England struggled for a breakthrough without their two leading fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were rested.

Ramdin was solid but outshone by the flamboyance of Best. He had contributed just eight runs when the 50 stand was registered and 32 for the 100 partnership, which came in 117 deliveries.

When Ramdin reached three figures with a single off Tim Bresnan to fine leg, he took a handwritten note out of his pocket and showed it to the commentary box. It read “Yeah Viv Talk Nah” in an apparent reference to criticism from former West Indies captain Viv Richards who is commentating for BBC Radio.

Richards had said Ramdin had deteriorated as a cricketer. “Ramdin just looks out of sorts,” he had said. “When he first came into the game, I felt he was a huge prospect. For some reason, he has deteriorated in such a big way.

Just the way he is walking back, he looks like a totally lost guy.”

Ramdin was dropped on 69 by Kevin Pietersen when the score was 326 for nine, though it was a difficult chance at gully from a firm cut shot. He had resumed on 60 and saw Ravi Rampaul out to the third ball of the day, caught behind off Steven Finn, to bring in Best.

Richards reacted to Ramdin’s protest by saying: “I’m not sure what Ramdin meant but he’s played well and if you’re given enough chances you’re going to get it done.”

West Indies have won just two of their last 32 Tests and Richards, a member of their all-conquering sides of the 1970s and 1980s, said: “Let’s not forget this is in a losing cause — the team’s not winning. “He should be happy and humble,” the former West Indies captain added.

“I think I remember saying he’d lost his confidence, but I’m on the other side of the

fence now and I’m here to do a job — there’s no sentiment in it. I’m glad that he got the motivation from it.”

Best then thrilled a sparse crowd on a pleasant Birmingham morning as he savaged England’s bowling attack with a series of textbook shots all around the ground, making light of England’s place at the top of the world rankings.

Best hit 14 fours and a straight six off Bresnan after he had raised the team’s 350 with a lofted drive for four over extra-cover, again off his former Yorkshire team mate Bresnan.

He reached his fifty with a single to extra cover off Bresnan, when he then engaged in some wild celebrations and kissed the badge of his maroon helmet. His eventual total, from 112 balls, bettered the 75 that India’s Zaheer Khan scored as last man in the order in Dhaka in 2004.

Close: England 221 for 5 (Pietersen 78, Bell 76*) trail West Indies 426 (Ramdin 107*, Best 95, Samuels 76, Onions 4-88) by 205 runs.

Monday June 11, 2012

Defending champs, Tucville in Scotiabank/ Pepsi Schools Football Academy final Scotiabank/Pepsi Schools Football Academy male champion, Tucville Secondary School last Saturday edged out power house team, East Ruimveldt Secondary 4-5 at the Fruta Conquerors ground (Tucville ground) when the Scotiabank/Pepsi Schools Football Academy tournament semi-finals kicked off.

East Ruimveldt, being the biggest threat to Tucville in the tournament, turned on the heat on the defending champions as the determinedly fought like warriors to qualify for the final which is slated for June 16 at the Carifesta Sports Complex.

East Ruimveldt’s Ashmalie Barrington penetrated the goal against Tucville’s goalkeeper in the 3rd minute to send out the message to their rivals.

- other teams to qualify for final on Wednesday and Thursday Keifer Brandt made the equalizer for his team six minutes later. The fierce battle between the two teams continued as they both tried to defend their territory, but East Ruimveldt’s Travil Preponte was too swift for the Tucville boys when he credited his team account in the 12th minute to make the score 2-1.

Craig Hughes picked up from where Preponte left off to add two more goals to the account in the 15th and 18th minutes respectively putting Tucville at a major disadvantage.

Ronlan Mayers was able to score a goal for Tucville in the 21st before the first half of the game concluded. At that time the score was 4-2 in favour of East Ruimveldt.

Tucville turned the tables on the East Ruimveldt boys when the second half resumed, adding two goals to their account as an own goal was registered by East Ruimveldt.

Colin Waterman scored the final two goals in the 45th and 55th minutes after the own goal was netted in the 38th minute.

Meanwhile, Lodge and Charlestown and North Georgetown and Tutorial Secondary will be engaged in a male and female skirmish respectively on Thursday at Tucville ground from 3:30pm to qualify for the final.

Another female game will be played on Wednesday between Tucville and Campbellville at the same venue from 4pm.

“Big Three” powers Miami to finals (Reuters) - The Miami Heat and their Big Three are going back to the NBA finals.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined for the Heat’s final 31 points as they roared past the Boston Celtics 101-88 to win the Eastern Conference championship in Game Seven on Saturday.

James scored 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds while the Heat came back from an 11-point first half deficit to earn a meeting with Western winner the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA finals.

Game One is set for Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

Miami had hoped the crown would be theirs last season with the addition of James and Bosh, but they were beaten in the finals by the Dallas Mavericks.

The Heat and Thunder played only twice this season, each winning on their home court.

Wade added 23 points on Saturday with Bosh scoring 19 off the bench and role player Shane Battier contributing four key threepointers.

Rajon Rondo tried to keep the aging Celtics competitive, and they were for three quarters before the Miami’s Big Three took over. “We let this one slip away,” said Rondo, who finished with 22 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. “We just had nothing left,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers after his team had gone deeper in the Eastern series than many had thought likely against the Heat.

Paul Pierce added 19 point

and Brandon Bass, the sparkplug of the Celtics’ first half lead, finished with 16.

But he had only two points in the second half as Miami cranked up three defense and turned to their Big Three for all of their fourth quarter points.

What turned out to be a nip-and-tuck third quarter ended in a 73-73 tie and after

Ray Allen drilled home a three-pointer for Boston’s final lead at 82-81 with 8:49 to go in the game, James and company took over.

James put Miami back up with a monster dunk, Bosh added the last of his careerbest three three-pointers and James scored again, and suddenly the Heat fans were ready to celebrate.

French Open men’s final suspended by rain PARIS (AP) Whoever is going to make history at the French Open will have to wait at least one more day.

The final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was called for the day because of rain Sunday with Nadal clinging to a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2 lead.

Nadal, going for his record seventh French Open title, and Djokovic, trying to become the first man in 43 years to win four straight major titles, played under a light drizzle for much of the match, which also included a 34-minute interruption in the second set.

Not long after they returned after the first delay, the rain started again. Court Philippe-Chatrier kept absorbing more water but the players had to beat the mushy mess of waterlogged clay out of their shoes on virtually every point.

As he was preparing to serve down 2-0 in the fourth set, Nadal took one of the saturated tennis balls and tossed it toward the chair umpire. Nadal, who had lost the previous eight games, won his serve. But on the changeover, play was called and the rain kept coming into the evening.

It means the French Open won’t end on a Sunday for the first time since 1973, when Ilie Nastase’s victory over Nikki Pilic ended on Tuesday.

The forecast for Paris calls for intermittent rain Monday.

English siblings eager to...

From page 23 crowd got to them as the Mexicans enjoyed more possession of the ball and the Guyana team wasted theirs. However, the second half showed that the Mexicans had to fight very hard and I think they will now look at the Guyana team with more respect when they come to Guyana to play the other game,” Andre said.

The Trentons left Guyana this week for London via the USA and plan to make contact with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to signal their interest in playing for Guyana.

Monday June 11, 2012

Kaieteur News

Exciting action as nations Simon Pures slug it out in GABA U-16 tournament On a somber night on the international boxing scene where Philippine boxer, Manny Pacquiao suffered a shock defeat, surrendering his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight belt to Timothy Bradley, the Simon Pures on the local scene turned in crowd pleasing performances when the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) in collaboration with the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) staged the inaugural Andrew Lewis Juniors U-16 Boxing championships on the northern tarmac of the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis Boxing Gym (ALBG) Saturday evening last.

Understandably, skills were replaced with slugfests since most of the youngsters are now experiencing the joys of displaying their skills in the ‘square jungle’ before a large audience. However, but several positives could have been drawn from the experience as the officials of the GABA aspire to nurture the nursery in preparation for the international tournaments years down the line.

Several government functionaries joined Mr. Steve Ninvalle and his executives at the opening ceremony and Director of Sports, Neil Kumar was loud in praise of the efforts of Mr. Ninvalle and his executives. He conveyed his delight at the efforts of the GABA executive but expressed remorse that Guyana would not enjoy fistic representation at the impending London Olympics later this year.

Notwithstanding this, Mr. Kumar said that he is heartened by the efforts of the GABA executive under the stewardship of Mr. Ninvalle. He pledged the continued support of the Government and further highlighted its recent input where the services of a reputable coach out of Cuba was sought. At present, that individual is here in Guyana conducting sessions towards the development of the local pugilists.

Mr. Ninvalle reiterated a need for collaboration between his organization and government towards the realization of the requisite goals towards the boxers’ improvement. He urged the boxers to exhibit the high level of discipline and commitment necessary for their advancement even as he assured them of continued efforts of his executives in their development.

DDL Marketing executive, Alexis Langhorne also wished the boxers well and assured them of continued

support in the future. She also urged them to turn in good performances even as she encouraged the public to come out in support of the boxers.

Meanwhile, the participating gyms include, Harpy Eagle (HE), Essequibo (Essq), Rose Hall Jammers (RHJ), Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF), Linden (Lin), Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym (PRBG), Young Achievers (YA). After a night of fistic fury, several of the pugilists came out successful and advanced to the finals at the same venue last night.

In Saturday night’s encounters in the 50-54lbs division, Kevin Mullings (HE) earned a 3-0 decision over Malrick Walcott (ESSQ) while in the 65-69lbs division, Christopher Mansfield won by a 2-1 verdict over Kevin Allicock. Elijah Insanally then prevailed over Odeny Moore in their 80-84lbs fight. Cordell Walcott dropped a 3-0 decision over Tyron Lashley in the 85-89lbs division moments before Ezekiel Accra was gifted a walk over from Orin Bancroft in the in the 9094lbs class. Stefan Green (HE) also fought in the 90-94lbs division and pounded out a 3-0 verdict over Albert Thomas (Lin). The bout in the 105-109lbs division saw Travis Hubbard (HE) winning by a 3-0 margin over Joel Williamson (PRBG). In the final two bouts of the night, Javaad Richards lost is 125134lbs bout after the referee stopped his fight against David Moore (RHJ) in 25

Pacquiao’s shock defeat leaves bitter taste for many

seconds of the second frame, while Jose Chappell (HE) won a 3-0 verdict in his 165-175lbs bout against Jamal Thomas (YA). Activities concluded last night.

(Reuters) - Much of the boxing world was still reeling on Sunday as the smoke began to clear after Manny Pacquiao’s shock defeat at the hands of American challenger Timothy Bradley the previous night.

There was hardly a person watching inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena who did not believe that Filipino Pacquiao had won the fight, promoter Bob Arum describing it best when he said the split decision was “crazy” and “unfathomable”.

The faster and more powerful Pacquiao seemed to be in cruise control for at least nine of the 12 rounds, and Bradley himself made comments immediately afterwards suggesting he had not done enough to win.

“Can you believe that?”

Arum fumed during the postfight news conference, at one point describing the three judges as “The Three Blind Mice.” “I had it 10-2. After I got into the ring after the fight, I went over to Bradley and said ‘You did very well.’

He said, ‘I tried hard, but I couldn’t beat the guy.’ “This is crazy. You talk about killing boxing? All three scorecards you throw out. It’s not good for the sport of boxing.”

Judge Jerry Roth (115113) awarded the fight to

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton became the seventh different winner in as many races in a slow-burn Canadian Grand Prix that came alive in the final laps.

Hamilton fought up from third place past Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps. Alonso’s one-stop strategy, Hamilton did two, failed - he dropped from the lead to fifth as his tyres faded. He was passed

by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, Sauber’s Sergio Perez and Vettel, who made a late second stop.

Alonso just managed to hold on to fifth from the fast closing Mercedes of Nico Rosberg on the last lap. The result moves Hamilton into the championship lead, two points ahead of Alonso, who is one ahead of Vettel.

Hamilton said: “What a great feeling this is [to win here] where I won my first grand prix.

“I knew this was going to be a tough, tough race but I loved every minute of it. I never had a doubt in my mind that there wasn’t a possibility to win. “I was thinking these guys are falling quite far

behind, I assume they’re doing a one-stop. So I decided to keep pushing and build a gap.

“It’s five years since I first won here and it feels just as good. This for me feels like one of the best races I’ve had for a very long time.”

Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button had a terrible race and finished 16th, slipping in the process to eighth in the championship, 43 points off the lead.

Hamilton ran second in the opening laps, behind Vettel and ahead of Alonso in the order in which they had qualified for the race.

Alonso briefly took the lead by running a couple of laps longer than his rivals to his first pit stop but Hamilton was able to pass him straightaway as the Spaniard struggled to get his tyres up to working temperature.

Hamilton then led the middle portion of the race, building a four-second lead over Alonso and Vettel.

McLaren were always planning a two-stop strategy and were initially sure that Ferrari and Red Bull would have to do the same. Indeed,

Christopher Mansfield (left) covers up but fails to prevent the right uppercut from Odeny Moore from landing to his rib cage. The former boxer went on to take the decision on a 2-1 verdict.

Page 21

Pacquiao, while C.J. Ross (115-113) and Duane Ford (115-113) gave it to the American, but the crowd erupted in boos after a contest which the Filipino had appeared to dominate.

Ross gave Bradley the final three rounds and five of the last six. Ford scored five of the last six for the American. Pacquiao, who has claimed world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions, ended a run of 15 consecutive wins.

GOOD GRACE While Pacquiao was stunned after suffering his first defeat since he lost to Erik Morales in Las Vegas in March 2005, he took the decision with good grace and looked forward to a re-match on November 10 at a venue yet to be decided.

“Don’t be discouraged about boxing,” the Filipino said after his career record slipped to 54-4-2 with 38 knockouts. “There’s always next time.”

However his trainer, Freddie Roach, was totally dumbfounded. “I think they (the judges) had their eyes closed,” said Roach.

“Something wasn’t right because what everyone else saw and what they saw were two very different things. “I didn’t see that many close

rounds. I thought we clearly won the fight. I am very proud of Manny. I thought that was one of the best fights he fought since the (Miguel) Cotto fight. I thought he boxed well.”

Roach was then asked whether he felt Pacquiao had perhaps paid a ‘payback’ price after winning his previous fight, against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, on a highly a controversial majority decision. “I’m not sure if our last fight had something to do with that,” he replied. “That was a very close fight and maybe controversial but I thought Manny won that.

Did they hold that against us? I’m not sure.”

Arum scoffed at the suggestion, while adding that Saturday’s decision was much more of a shock. “It was close, everybody said it was close,” Arum said of Pacquiao’s win over Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena seven months ago.

“This wasn’t really a close fight.”

For all the controversy, though, the November rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley is certain to whet the appetites of the fans much more than their initial encounter, which failed to attract a sellout crowd.

Lewis Hamilton becomes the seventh winner in 2012 in Canada

Lewis Hamilton celebrates his win at one point Hamilton asked his pit crew: “Are you sure they’re not doing a onestop?” To which his engineer replied: “Yes, we’re sure.”

Hamilton came in for his final stop on lap 50, with 20 to go, and although that demoted him to third, the greater grip from his tyres meant he caught his rivals quickly.

He passed Vettel on lap 62 and then Alonso on lap 64 on his way to his first win since last November’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Vettel, feeling his tyres were finished, stopped for a

fresh set on the lap after Hamilton had passed him, but Alonso and Ferrari decided to hang on. It was the wrong call - those behind him closed rapidly and he was helpless to hold them off.

It was an especially impressive race from Grosjean and Perez - both men were on the same one stop strategy as the Ferrari but did not run into the same tyre problems.

Grosjean and Lotus took the same approach as Alonso, stopping one lap later to change from the ‘super-soft’ tyres to ‘softs’ and running to the end.

Perez, who had qualified only 15th, started on the hard tyres and ran a long first stint before switching to the ‘super-softs’ at the end.

Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was seventh, ahead of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

While McLaren will be celebrating Hamilton’s win, there will be some headscratching about Button, who had his worst weekend for years - the culmination of a downward slide in form over the last few races.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Sir Viv Richards responds to Denesh Ramdin note Sir Viv Richards has questioned Denesh Ramdin’s decision to display a public message to the West Indies great after scoring a century against England.

The wicketkeeper held up a note that said “Yeah Viv, talk nah,” in an apparent response to criticism. But Richards said: “It’s like in a football match. If you are losing 5-0 and score in the 90th minute you should not be running around jumping for joy. “I wouldn’t be happy with that. I set my standards a bit higher.”

Ramdin was recalled to the West Indies Test side after a two-year absence for the tour of England. The 27year-old, who had made only one century in his previous 44 Tests, played in the opening two matches as the tourists were beaten at Lord’s and Trent Bridge.

After the Windies collapsed on the fourth afternoon of the second Test in Nottingham, Ramdin came in for criticism from Richards,

who said: “Ramdin just looks out of sorts. “When he first came into the game I felt he was a huge prospect. For some reason he has deteriorated in such a big way. Just the way he is walking back, he looks like a totally lost guy.”

But on day four of he final Test at Edgbaston, Ramdin responded with a hundred and shared a 10th-wicket stand of 143 with Tino Best, whose 95 is the highest score by a Test number 11.

In celebrating reaching three figures, Ramdin pulled the handwritten note from his pocket and directed it to the commentary box, where the former West Indies captain is working for BBC Test Match Special.

“I think I remember saying he’d lost his confidence, but I’m on the other side of the fence now and I’m here to do a job - there’s no sentiment in it, continued Richards, who scored 8,540 runs at an average of 50 in 121 Tests between 1974 and 1991. “It’s

been a long time coming. If you are good enough, the chances certainly are you are going to get it done.”

Ramdin said he meant no offence to Richards and had only kept the note in his pocket for personal motivation: “Sir Viv had said something in the press, and I think I got a bit emotional and it came out the way it did.

“Having said that, he’s a legend of the Caribbean - and I still look up to him. “His statement was a bit hurtful to me - I worked hard and I proved the critics (wrong).

“Not getting runs, I had it [the note] in my pocket reminding myself I need to get runs.” Best added: “I don’t think he meant any disrespect.”

Ramdin’s only other Test century came against England in Bridgetown in 2009. On that occasion, he celebrated his maiden hundred by displaying a note praising Ramnaresh Sarwan, with whom he shared a stand of 261.

Abigail McDonald outplays field to claim inaugural Fred Collins Scrabble Classic

National scrabble champion, Abigail McDonald is flanked by Gafoor (left) and Adams after the tournament concluded Abigail McDonald surrendered her first game to Moen Gafoor by a 72 spread margin but returned to win her remaining games to notch up 5 points and a positive spread of 569 to claim the spoils when the inaugural Fred Collins Classic Scrabble tournament concluded at the Malteenoes Sports Club yesterday afternoon.

McDonald’s victims were Grace Hercules (352), Fred Collins (95), Ulric Harris (111), Ewart Adams (16) and Julian Skeete (167) Moen Gafoor continued his rich vein of form but had to contend with the second

place spot after amassing a similar amount of points but with a lower spread of 473.

He lost to Collins (41) but prevailed over Ruby Cummings (38), Adams (28), Skeete (167) and Orlando Michael (107).

Ewart Adams also made a grand return to the podium, sealing off the remaining spot with 4 points and a positive spread of 383 after defeating Ulric Harris (118), Michael (95), Maurice Munru (2) and Collins (212).

Julian Skeete finished on 4 points and a negative spread of 247 to cop the special prize for the best

player outside the top ten.

Meanwhile, the players will journey to the Mining Town of Linden to compete in the yearly Earl Vigilance memorial tournament on June 24 next.

Vigilance was ranked among the top seeds when an industrial accident claimed his life some 5 years ago. Ever since then the players have traveled to Linden to compete in the tournament named in his honour.

Otherwise, the players convene at the Malteenoes Sports Club on Thursday evenings to engage in practice sessions.

Monday June 11, 2012

Triple Sports Fiesta deemed a success - Young Achievers, Old Fort, GCC and national netballers all win

The victorious Old Fort team poses for a photo op with the winning trophy following the presentation ceremony.

Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James speaking with the media during the staging of the inaugural Triple Sports Fiesta on Saturday night, at the National Gymnasium described the event as a success, informing that the Company was able to deliver on its promise to the sporting public.

“I think it is a good thing we have done by showcasing it to the public, so people will not enquire and once enquiries start we know that there will be more games, more public viewing with people gravitating towards one of the sport on display”.

She pointed out that she is unaware of the Triple Fiesta being held in other Caribbean territories, adding that similar programmes would have been held, but none bringing together all the sports on one day in the same venue.

According to her, she was surprise to learn that Guyanese were unaware of Netball, “What I have noticed is that a lot of people have never ever seen netball played in Guyana and I was very surprised, because people were asking what does WD (Wing Defence) means, how long was the game and stuff like that”.

James said she had expected a much larger turnout, but opined that, perhaps, because the popular NBA finals are being televised it may have been responsible for many other persons staying at home instead of being, at the National

Gymnasium.

“But over all I think it is a fairly good crowd, there’re a lot of people who are on the outside, but I think they are waiting for their sport to start”.

Asked whether there is a possibility of the programme becoming an annual affair, James said it would be nice to have the public come out and witness the games and get acquainted with them and that the sky is the limit as it relates to having other sports on display, but said it would be discussed.

President of the Guyana Netball Association (GNA), Kim Kyte-John said that she was pleased with the performance of the all the girls who participated in the competition, but more so the national players for winning their match convincingly. The national team who was dubbed the Macaw Girls defeated the combined team Golden Stars 44 goals to 9.

Scoring for the Macaw Girls was Angeline McCarthy with 20 goals from 29 attempts and she was assisted by Ranea Anderson with 16 goals from 23 attempts.

Shonette Estwick scored 6 goals from 11 attempts followed by Adel Chalmers with 2 goals after 5 attempts.

Scoring for Golden Girls were Simonica Fanfair who netted 3 goals after 7 attempts and Kristy Roberts managed 6 goals after 11attempts.

According to Kyte-John they were able to kill two birds with one stone, getting the girls the much needed

competition desired and also generating interest in the sport. The latter she hopes would attract more people to the games and also encourage them to join clubs.

In the Volleyball segment, Young Achievers defeated Castrol Strikers 3 games to two in the best of five series.

Castrol Strikers won the first game 8-0, 16-3, 25-22, before Young Achievers rebounded to level the contest with a 16-5, 25-13 triumph to tie one all.

In the third set, the Strikers regained the ascendancy with another win 8-5, 16-12, 20-17, 22-21 and 2522. Young achiever again found the equalizer, winning 8-4, 11-5, 16-10, 21-17 and 2519, before going on to take the decider 8-7, 11-9, 15-9.

In the third and final game of the night, GCC ladies cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Hikers. Scoring for GCC was Gabriella Xavier, who netted in the 10th and 24th minutes, while, Kerensa Fernandes scored in the 37th minute.

In the male match Old Fort defeated Bryden and Fernandes Indoor Hockey Champions Pepsi Hikers 3-1.

Scoring for Old Fort were Aderemi Simon in the 7th minute, John Abrams in the 24th minute and Jason De Santos in the 27th minute.

The lone goal for Hikers was scored by Shane Samuels.

The teams were presented with trophies, while the Associations will receive cash prizes on a date to be announced.