Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 5

Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news The Supreme Court and land registries Traffic Ranks urgently needed at Kitty, need professional management Vlissengen Road in a meeting or not taking talking and lazing around all DEAR EDITOR, This nonsense has got to I write with disgust, the service extended to the public at large more so to Attorneys at Law, and I am an Attorney.

I join the call for the immediate sacking of the Land Registrar.

This individual is arrogant, incompetent and lives in her own bubble.

As an Attorney, we are not even allowed an appointment with this individual. Our matter takes years before they are eventually passed, months to years before they are checked, all the while our clients Compliances would have expired and they have to then go again and expend further sums to re-apply and get a current one.

Apart from that the staff is unhelpful. The janitor answers the phone in this unpleasant gruff voice and always tells you, the person is not in or is busy or not at work. When you ask to speak to the Registrar she is not in,

calls, the Deputy Registrar has a high handed approach also and is unwilling to assist. All this said, these two individuals are highly incompetent and grossly unqualified. Can you imagine they are not the trained lawyers, and they want to tell us how to do our job?

They must understand that they are not the lawyers, both these individuals and their staff and they should show some respect and professionalism. I do not even want to wonder what the public endure. I recall hearing the Registrar saying no one could move her, she only take orders from Dr. Luncheon, because he was the one to put me here.

With respect to the Supreme Court, the Registrar does not know. I more feel that he does not care to know what his staff is doing. Again not a trained Attorney. They move at snail’s pace, eating,

The desire of Guyanese DEAR EDITOR, In the Interest of Guyana’s development If the person looking at this letter can read it (and understand it), thank somebody.

Over the last decade and more, observations show that an appalling number of fellow Guyanese appear to read newspapers/printed material by simply glancing through articles, looking at pictures and noticing headlines.

The new President and Leader of the Co-operative Republic aptly identified four enemies of our nation: crime, disease, ignorance and poverty. In sum, the real culprit is ignorance for the only evil is ignorance and the only good is knowledge.

World over, people may be grouped as follows: He who knows not and knows that he knows not, He who knows and knows not that he knows, He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, And He who knows and knows that he knows, is wise In which category do we mostly find ourselves? ... teach him... wake him... shun him Through our own sincere efforts may God deliver us from these enemies. Let us allow wisdom and understanding to flow ... Let us be able to sing again, and with meaning, II Onward, Upward may we ever go.

Conscious Guyanese Citizen

day. Their supervisor picks and chooses who she attends to, and only some lawyers are entertained behind the counter; not to mention her gruff attitude. Apart from that only one staff checks Orders; so she feels that she is god.

We have to wait for days whenever she tells you to come back and she has the blessings of the Registrar.

These are the people responsible for the slow pace sat the Registry.

Why can an Order not be checked the same day and possibly enter too. But instead they sit in a room deemed a snackette, filled with food selling there, and they would send a message telling you to come back.

Nowhere in the world are lawyers treated like this. We are the professionals. Imagine we studied all these years to come back to service like this.

Not a “good morning, how can I assist you,” but instead sour faces trying to tell you how to do your work and go wait on them.

stop immediately. These non professionals need to stop behaving like gods and have the real professionals wait.

Also when the Secretaries do go to check on matters they give them the royal run around, the lawyer then has to take time out, leave his office to go deal with this personally.

In both these cases the Registries knows absolutely nothing about service, respect for time, professionalism among many other things.

This seems to be the norm in most Places in Guyana, but yet when these very same people leave these shores for North America they confirm to what happens in that society.

The Rule of Law has gone to the waste-side. I hope some form of frequent training to help these individuals to first learn to respect themselves then others, speak: to others, importance of time, will be embarked upon. Time may not be important to them but it is to others.

Name withheld

Where is the fraud?

DEAR SIR, In Guyana it costs US $220 to move a cubic meter, 200 miles. In China, it costs US $760 to move from the forest to about 11,000 miles (?).

So US$760-US$220 = US $540 to move 9,000 miles (?). This is 540 + 9000 = US 6 cents per cubic meter per mile.

Guyana gets US$220 + US$200 = US $1.10 per cubic meter per mile.

Where is the fraud of US$84 million to US$440 million taking place? Who is robbing whom?

There are strong allegations of corruption, but do not mislead the public. I may be ignorant, however, I am not stupid.

Ignoramus

DEAR EDITOR, I write to voice my disgust at the traffic commotion on the Kitty public road from the gas station to the junction at Kitty seawalls and Vlissengen Road, going west onto Carifesta Avenue.

Every morning it is a nightmare. The minibus drivers with their usual discourteous, rude and obnoxious behaviour, would keep pushing their buses, cutting in front of vehicles already in line within their correct lanes.

These minibuses are never in their correct lanes, no signal is used and create a second to third lane going west onto Carifesta Avenue, disrupting the turning lane onto Vlissengen Road, leaving the rightful drivers in that lane frustrated and with no other choice but to wait on these ill-mannered creatures.

I am appealing to the Commissioner of Police to position a permanent Traffic Rank at this juncture. Indeed at times there is a traffic rank over the traffic light on

Carifesta Avenue, but the real chaos starts happening from the Kitty Road, from the vicinity of the gas station.

Apart from that, I also urge the requisite Ministry which is responsible from these minibus operators, the Minibus Association, to have them report for frequent training on road etiquette, and even whether they are fit to be drivers on the road taking responsibility of so many lives.

I also seek to blame some of the passengers who sit there and condone this type of behavior. Passengers need to start taking up to them, let them know without you the passengers they have no livelihood.

I see the great enthusiasm to clean the city, which I applaud, but keeping the city clean and having person operating like hooligans driving on the road cannot take this country to the next level. Moral is of paramount importance and must prevail to hold the fabric of society together.

Samuel Hyman

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

GuySuCo’s return to profitability…

Improved production must be linked to incentives - former director For the sugar industry to return to profitability, the new Government may seriously have to think about offering incentives for key operations in order to raise production levels.

Former Human Resources Director of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Jairam Petam, in a letter to the editor published yesterday, stressed that the biggest problem facing the stateowned company is its huge employment cost, which as at end of 2014 was 65 percent of total operating expense.

Of this, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) bargaining unit accounts for 80 percent of the total employment costs, and more than 75 percent paid to piece rated workers, the majority of which is payable to cane harvesters.

Some one percent of wages/salaries work out to approximately $200M. Recently GAWU has submitted a claim for 9% increase in wages for 2015, which if agreed to is equivalent to $1.8 billion; thereby taking employment cost to 69% of total operating expense. This is not a sustainable ratio, said Petam,

- employment cost 65% of total operating expense in 2014 Blairmont estate

Former Director, Jairam Petam who retired a few months ago and is now based overseas.

Petam’s comments would come at a time when a new Government has taken helm of the country and with questions about the future of the industry which has been operating with major losses in recent years.

Billions have been poured into the industry annually from the Treasury, but production has fallen to a twodecades low, with GuySuCo left with very little cash reserves for capital works.

There have been calls for closure of the industry, but

one that none of the political parties want to take a decision on.

The former executive agreed with criticisms that the current circumstance of the company producing sugar at US$0.40 per pound and selling at US$0.13 is certainly not sustainable to warrant perpetual bailouts.

“Guyana is too poor a nation to perpetually provide billions of dollars of bailouts each year. The immediate past CEO (Chief Executive Officer Dr Rajendra Singh) had estimated $16B as a shortterm bailout this year, and early last year, management indicated to the Economic Services Commission that GuySuCo had incurred $58B in debt. Imagine what this amount of money could do towards the improvement of the health and education sectors of a nation with a population of just under 800,000.”

Petam believes that for GuySuCo to become a sustainable entity, free from Government bailouts, it would have to relook at all agriculture practices, from a labour perspective, incentivising key operations,

so that productivity could be enhanced.

“New productivity indices will have to be determined for all key field operations. There is no way that the current establishment of field workers in general, and cane harvesters, in particular, could be improved; because cane harvesting and planting (two key field operations) are no longer considered attractive for employment.”

The company has to improve on the current field incentives to not only retain those in its employ, but more importantly to increase current productivity rates.

“There must be a balance between the levels of mechanisation and labourreliant operations, because the vagaries of the weather must be taken into consideration. Skeldon is a good example that illustrates the exposed vulnerability of mechanisation. Whenever it rains harvesting operation is literally grounded to a halt on this estate.”

Petam urged for more research and development in higher yielding and more robust cane varieties to be intensified. Part of the plans

will also have to be in more efficient use of herbicides to bring dramatic improvement in the high-cost area of weed control.

“Optimum establishment on human resource will have to be worked out for each operation and department from labour to management and support staff, and those superfluous to the needs will have to be severed, invoking the legal procedures as adumbrated by the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act.” Petam believes that GuySuCo would need to start from a zero-based position.

“It is all the more important that new collective labour agreements would have to be ironed out; replacing the current which have outlived their usefulness, including agreements on annual and weekly incentives.”

Petam said that engagements with the unions must now be based on productivity bargaining, rather than the age-old haggling on pay increase, without any bearing on productivity. “There is need for a broader based

committee far beyond the scope of the existing Interim Management Committee, which is seemingly a band aid intervention, to not only chart the way forward, but more importantly to implement initiatives that will enhance the survival and viability of the company.”

The former Human Resources Director, who over the years has been a point man in negotiations for benefits and pay, said that there must be the political will to agree to the philosophy that GuySuCo cannot be business as usual.

“For too long, political interventions and interferences have stymied management responsibilities in not only managing the business, but in strategically charting the way forward on labour relations, in particular.”

Petam warned that the sugar entity cannot be about sustaining labour for political expediency and anachronistic customs and practices, but “more so about saving an entire industry”.

The previous administration of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had promised to sink some $20B ($100M) into the industry over the next five years to help GuySuCo recover.

The new David Grangerled administration recently fired the entire Board of Directors and CEO, replacing them with an Interim Management Committee (IMC). Former CEOs, Paul Bhim, and Errol Hanoman, were both brought back to be part of the IMC, which is expected to be in place for the next six months until a more permanent solution is found.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

European Union blacklists 14 Caribbean countries as among world’s worst tax havens Fourteen Caribbean countries are among 30 territories blacklisted by the European Union (EU) as the world’s worst tax havens.

The list published by the EU on Wednesday includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

Each of those countries, and the other 16 on the blacklist, had been suggested by at least 10 EU member states as problematic because they were not doing

enough to crack down on tax avoidance.

Jurisdictions commonly labelled as offshore tax avoidance hubs, including Luxembourg, Jersey and Switzerland, were not on the list.

European Commissioner for economics, taxation and customs Pierre Moscovici said that publishing the list of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” was a decisive step in pushing the territories to adopt international standards.

“Our citizens can no longer tolerate that certain companies, often the most prosperous, avoid fair tax contributions and that certain tax regimes encourage them on this path,” he said.

The European Commission, the EU’s tax watchdog, issued the list at the same time it unveiled a plan for tackling corporate tax avoidance.

The aim of that plan is to tax companies where they earn their profits, rather than allowing firms to shift money into low-tax jurisdictions.

Moscovici said corporate tax needed a “radical reform” and all member states needed to “pull together” to ensure companies paid their way.

The others on the blacklist are: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Monaco, Mauritius, Liberia, Seychelles, Brunei, Hong Kong, Maldives, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Marshall Islands, Panama and Vanuatu.

Study finds Latin America and Caribbean making progress in universal health care WASHINGTON, United States,– A new study by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the World Bank says Latin America and the Caribbean countries are making headway in efforts to provide universal health care, but financing and efficiency remain top challenges to sustainability.

“The report shows that countries have made meaningful progress toward universal health coverage, with increases in population coverage and access to health services, a rise in public spending on health, and a decline in out-of-pocket payments,” said Dr. Carissa Etienne, PAHO/WHO Director.

However, she added that: “Despite the advances, much remains to be done to close the equity gap and address new health challenges in the region.”

The report, ‘Toward Uni-

versal Health Coverage and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from Selected Countries‘, shows that while countries have been expanding population coverage and access to health services, the poor remain underserved, and inadequate attention is paid to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that account for most deaths in the region.

The study primarily focusses on 10 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

“The region has increased its spending on health and narrowed the gap between rich and poor on a number of key outcomes: average life expectancy has risen significantly, more children live to see their first and fifth birthdays, and fewer mothers are dying from complications of childbirth,” said Jorge Familiar, World Bank Vice President

for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“In a context of constrained resources and lower economic growth, countries now face the challenge of boosting the efficiency of their health systems to continue building on these achievements,” he said.

The report, edited by Dr. Gisele Almeida, Advisor in Health Systems and Services Analysis at PAHO and Dr. Tania Dmytraczenko, Senior Economist at the World Bank, notes persistent health inequities between and within countries and the failure of some health systems to address changing health needs.

While the rate of impoverishment owing to health care expenditures is declining, two to four million people in the nine countries analyzed were driven into poverty due to out-of-pocket health spending, with expenditures on medicines being the largest cost driver.

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 9

The PPP should stay out of Parliament The decision of the PPPC not to enter the National Assembly may be a blessing in disguise. It certainly allows the new government an undisturbed honeymoon, and the opposition an opportunity to adjust to a role unfamiliar to it for over twenty-three years.

The people of Guyana had become tired on the “no” politics of the National Assembly. They had also become tired of the PPPC. More than half of the voters decided that they would vote for APNU+AFC. This ended the 23-year rule of the PPPC, but let no one be deceived into believing that the people were happy with what was happening in the parliament and the absolute lack of political cooperation that was taking place there.

Many had anticipated that

things would have been different because one party held political power and the other legislative power. It was expected that this would have led to a situation in which there would have been less fighting. Some people even said that the results of the 2011 elections were the best thing that could have happened to Guyana.

It turned out to be the worst thing. In fact, so terrible was that experience that some people said that they never want a minority government again. The AFC no doubt also recognized this and decided that the 2015 elections either had to be the PPPC or the combined opposition. It turned out to be the latter.

This is how we have a new government.

Right now, therefore, in so far as the people are

concerned, the PPPC can stay out of the National Assembly as long as it likes. As an opposition party without a majority, it is not going to have a great impact on anything.

It is always good to have another view of things, but the way technology has emerged and the many avenues that are now available to opposition parties, the PPP really does not need parliament to be able to criticize the government or offer a different vision of things. It can do this, as it has been doing of recent, by its weekly press conferences.

It may not have dawned on some persons as yet, but by hosting weekly press conferences, the PPPC is adopting the role of an opposition party. The fact, therefore, that the party is not

Dem boys seh...

De Parliament gun clip Jagdeo wing Rohee seh that he party ain’t going to Parliament to debate no speech wha Soulja Bai mek because it gun mean that he party believe in Soulja Bai. Well that was de first time that dem boys realize that when dem opposition party debate a speech dem signaling that dem believe in de ruling party leader.

If that was de case then a lot of people did believe in Donald and Jagdeo. But Rohee think he smart.

He call dem journalist and he start fuh debate de speech.

He talk how Soulja Bai promise fuh set up de Procurement Commission but he ain’t gun do it.

Dem boys know fuh pass de Procurement Bill de people who promoting it got to get 50 per cent. Now de only way anybody can get two-thirds in this parliament is if all dem party go to parliament and if

everybody vote.

He know that he party wouldn’t be in parliament so nobody can get two-thirds. Is like a man betting a one-foot man that he can’t kick a football to score a goal.

Dem boys seh that things really bad fuh Rohee to pick pun de Procurement Bill.

Then he talk bout de payment of old age pension.

He got to collect pension and he glad fuh de small piece suh he teasing Granger bout de increase. Granger did talk bout a substantial increase and Rohee want it.

That is why he get vex when somebody tell him how Soulja Bai seh that he gun give a moderate increase.

Another thing dem boys notice is how Jagdeo get quiet. Since he get back pain

it look like he get toothache too. He puff up. Fuh one he light bill cut.

De money he spending in one month he got to spend in a year. Wha he was spending in light bill in one month coulda pay pension to 30 old people.

He phone bill smaller than wha Gail had. She was a million dollars per month. And that was only fuh cell phone.

But it bigger that Soulja Bai own. But de cut back coming.

Talk half and watch how Jagdeo gun live from now on.

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood.

in parliament does not mean that it does not consider itself the de facto opposition in Guyana.

The new government has now awakened to the reality as to how the bureaucracy works. Things take time.

Legislation takes time to be drafted, to be redrafted, to be deliberated on, to be laid in the National Assembly and then passed. The threemonth period that the opposition set itself to do a series of things is much too short. It needs more time.

Not having to deal with the histrionics of the PPPC will be a blessing in disguise. Sittings of the National Assembly will become less combative.

Sittings will be shorter because fewer persons will have to speak on any issue.

In fact there may be no need for anyone to speak at all.

This will be a far cry from what took place during the threeyear period from 2011 to 2014 when the parliament was prorogued.

For the PPP, not having to go to parliament means that its members can concentrate on rebuilding the party. They have bigger problems to attend to than deciding who should be their parliamentary representatives. They have to decide who will lead them into the next elections. They have to decide how to win back greater support, because they no longer command the slim majority that they always commanded at elections.

They have to decide how the party will survive. When you are in power everyone throws money your way. But

when you are in the opposition and cannot do anything for financiers, this is when political parties need their commercial arms.

Unfortunately, the PPP was so sure that it would rule forever that it gave up its commercial sources of revenue.

The PPP therefore is shaky and does not know whether it can financially survive. It therefore has its work cut out and does not need the distractions of parliament. But then again, the parliamentary stipend may be the only income coming the way of some of its members for a long, long time.

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

The wise words of Carl Greenidge It never crossed my mind until Carl Greenidge focused on it. After his words, I began to put some analytical touches on it. I mentioned the words of Greenidge in a column recently, and it is worth repeating them now that there seems to be a whirlwind of debates on the next PPP leader.

The place was New Amsterdam. The time was past midnight. The backdrop was the APNU-AFC New Amsterdam rally. Directly opposite the Banks DIH outlet, David Hinds and I engaged Carl in a long, analytical discourse on politics.

Greenidge was enraged and worried about Jagdeo’s race-baiting rhetoric. I asked

him if he thought Jagdeo’s race game would chase Berbicians back to the PPP, thus denting the AFC. He said yes.

GECOM has now released station by station voting and the citizens can see how Indians voted.

They removed their faith in the AFC, thus making the election the closest competition in Guyanese electoral history. So close it was that the coalition took Region Eight by one vote.

As the conversation looked at the possibility of another PPP government, all three of us agreed that if the PPP won, the party would have concluded that it has a permanent mandate, and its sixth government would see

fascist repression.

None of us saw any hope of a better PPP leadership.

And it was Carl who said that if you take a look at the younger PPP leaders, some are even worse than the aging stalwarts.

I never thought of such an analysis before. The closest I came to that idea was in early 2011, when the son of one of the leading PPP bigwigs said that he found Priya Manickchand to be more “PPPish” than even the big leaders at the top.

Carl Greenidge is on target. If you do an assessment of the young Turks who people think are in line to replace the dinosaurs from the seventies and eighties, then as they say in

Guyanese proverbial style, “it’s the same boodups.”

Why aren’t these secondtier leaders reformist and fertile with liberating ideas?

The answer lies in the route they used to get into the PPP. They all came into the PPP when the PPP was in government and enjoyed absolute power.

All they knew was a hegemonic PPP that made the PPP coterminous with the entire country. All they saw and knew was a government (that they became part of) that did what it wanted, how it wanted, whenever it wanted.

The failure in imagination by the newcomers in the PPP leadership began with Jagdeo.

He was never part of the PPP in opposition. Roger Luncheon, testifying at my libel trial brought by Jagdeo, told the court that he first knew of Jagdeo after 1992.

The reason for this was because Jagdeo was a little boy during the days when the PPP was in opposition.

Jagdeo took a high level job in the Ministry of Finance under Jagan after 1992 and saw the evolution of the PPP’s hegemony. He knew nothing

about democratic government, because the government he served under Dr. Jagan was racist and domineering.

Jagdeo, when he became President, ushered into the corridors of power a school of young newcomers. And what did they see? They witnessed what Jagdeo lived with under Cheddi Jagan - a government that did what it wanted with Guyana.

The young Turks, then, whose names are in contention, are tainted people.

People without a sense of right and wrong; people who have been immersed in the abuse of power, the culture of corruption, the immoralities, debaucheries and morbidities of dictatorship.

They do not understand what democratic governance is, because they have not seen a democratic government with the President that patronized them.

There is no indication whatsoever that the dinosaurs will give up the leadership of the PPP before the 2020 elections.

But let us assume that some

Frederick Kissoon unforeseen circumstance exorcizes them from the PPP’s biology, it is naïve to think that any of the younger monarchs, whether male or female, will be any different from the troglodytes that lost two consecutive national elections.

If the PPP hopes to win the 2020 election, and if it wants to stay in the consciousness of the Guyanese people, and if it wants a cross-racial embrace from the nation, a brand new face has to be catapulted to the top of the hierarchy.

He/she has to be someone that Africans find to be fairminded and East Indians find to be approachable and honest.

That is asking someone to find a pin in the forest dropped from a plane. But miracles do happen and dreams do come true.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Education Minister meets World Bank Rep. As Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, continues to meet the sector’s stakeholders, on Friday last he met with the leader of the World Bank Task Team, Ms Hongyu Yang at his office.

Ms. Yang informed the Minister about the World Bank’s ongoing education projects in

Guyana, which cover Nursery, Secondary, Teacher Education, and University of Guyana. The World Bank says it looks forward to continue working with the Ministry of Education on current and future projects.

In the photo, Minister Roopnaraine greets the World Bank official.

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DUO JAILED FOR SIMPLE LARCENY Two Ministry of Finance employees were each sentenced to three years imprisonment

by Magistrate Leron Daly, after they were found guilty of simple larceny.

Nigel Adams, a driver, of Ogle, East Coast Demerara and Gary Emanuel Dundas, a 49year-old technician, of West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, conspired with person or persons unknown to steal $2.4M, property of the State of Guyana.

The theft occurred between January 1 and 20, 2011 at the Accountant General’s Department, Ministry of Finance.

The Magistrate in handing down her ruling explained that the charge of embezzling money was inconclusive, because the men were not employed as a clerk or servant to the Ministry.

As a result of this, a case of simple larceny

was made out by Police Prosecutor, Inspector Michael Grant.

The Magistrate explained that the money was already owned by Guyana which was why the case of larceny was made out, since the money belongs to another.

A total of six witnesses testified during the trial including Adams’ mother-in-law, Colleen Easton. She was jailed for 36 months

by Magistrate Judy Latchman, last October, for conspiring to commit a felony.

The men are currently on trial for several other charges that stemmed from a fraud at the Accountant General’s Department of the Finance Ministry.

They will return to the Providence Court on August 12, for continuation in the other trials.

Auditing services sought for Global Fund initiative A sole bid was yesterday opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, for the provision of auditing services for the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The fund to Guyana, which was launched back in 2014, is part of a new model seeking to assist countries in planning how to control these epidemics. So far Guyana is one of a number of countries to benefit, including nations from the African continent, Caribbean, Latin America and India.

Global Fund, which is an international financing organisation, invests nearly US$4B a year to support programmes run by local experts in countries around the world and is the world’s largest financier of anti- AIDS, TB and malaria programmes.

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Kaieteur News

Former Minister gives police statement, returns state vehicles

Former Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford Former Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, has reportedly returned six vehicles to the Ministry of the Presidency, and is cooperating with investigations into the suspicious transfer of state assets into private hands.

According to sources close to the investigation, the former Minister of Public Service has submitted a statement to the police. She has publicly denied any wrongdoing and said the transfers occurred since around 2010 and not recently.

The vehicles were taken late last week to the Ministry of the Presidency.

The former minister also met last week with senior officials of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/ C) including former President Bharrat Jagdeo and General Secretary Clement Rohee, at Freedom House, to discuss the matter which has already implicated several top names.

Rohee this week said Westford was advised on the course of action to take.

“I met with the comrade and we had some discussions and she was advised on a course of action to take.” said the General Secretary.

The transfer of 28 state vehicles shortly after the May 11 elections came to light after the coalition government took office.

The matter was handed over to the police, with the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, urging for the vehicles to be returned.

In addition to Westford, one of the persons whose name was mentioned as having the registration transferred to his name was Delroy Lewis, a driver in the Ministry. He has since reportedly claimed that he is unaware of the transfer.

Harmon last week disclosed that two staff members from the Ministry of Public Service have been sent on administrative leave to facilitate an investigation into the suspicious transfer of state assets to private individuals.

According to Minister Harmon, Personnel Officer Margaret Cummings, and Joyann Taylor were sent on leave following reports that the two were involved in the suspicious transfers.

They have also given police statements.

Harmon had noted that there were documents which had been sent to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), and that were purportedly signed by Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Hydar Ally.

This was done under Ally’s letterhead, but signed by someone else.

Ally, a candidate of the PPP/C in the recent elections, denied knowledge of the transfers.

There were documents showing the vehicles being sold to Westford and Lewis.

Gary Beaton, a senior Coast Guard official, and Westford’s partner, along with Wayne Walker and Osbert McPherson, were other names mentioned.

Receipts also surfaced showing payments for the vehicles ranging from $300,000 to $2.1M. Lewis, a driver attached to the Public Service Department of the Ministry of the Presidency, reportedly said that he was “shocked” to see that he was implicated in the scandal.

The driver wants his name to be cleared. He said that the issue of buying a vehicle from Cummings never come up at his time in the Ministry.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Govt. orders audit into Rice Board - as GM declares willingness to go, if necessary

By Jarryl Bryan Government has ordered a forensic audit to be conducted into the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), in a bid to uncover any potential financial irregularity and corruption, the latest in several such audits initiated by the A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government.

This audit was announced on Monday last, during a meeting the Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder had with millers. The accounting investigation will be carried out by Nigel Hinds and Associates, a local accounting firm that has been in existence for eight years.

When contacted yesterday, General Manager of GRDB Jagnarine Singh confirmed that the audit was initiated yesterday, with the auditors already collecting a few documents in order to comb through.

Singh also responded to his critics within the rice industry, who have been making demands for his removal from the GRDB, stating that it was only a matter of time that such calls would be made. According to the official, it was possible that he would willingly step

down from his position as a General Manager, should it come to that.

“I’m a very open person.

I have always wanted to serve any government,” the General Manager affirmed.

Though the rice sector has had booming production levels, it has lately been embroiled in several controversies, including the shocking revelations by the new government that money from the Petrocaribe ‘oil for rice deal’ was gone.

This was despite earlier assurances from former President Bharrat Jagdeo to rice farmers while on the campaign trail that the money to pay them was intact. The former Head of State had also said at the time that only US$15M was used from the fund for projects such as the new Guyana Power and Light (GPL) power plants in Kingston and the Hope Canal, while the remainder was nestled safely in the central bank.

In addition, there have been demands from farmers for outstanding payments amounting to some $1.9B to be met by the government.

The Government subsequently authorized the release of US$800M to go towards clearing their debts

to the millers, thereby facilitating payments to farmers. These demands were formulated by the Rice Producers’ Association Action Committee (RPAAC).

These delays, which are a holdover from the days of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration, resulted in numerous protests from Essequibo farmers, the latest of which was as recent as last Friday.

During these protests, vociferous demands were made for the removal of GRDB head Jagnarine Singh, as well as General Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj, and head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Agency (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth.

However rice experts are of the opinion that things should have never reached as far as they did. According to former CEO of Alesie Rice Group, Dr. Turhane Doerga, the rice that Venezuela took off of Guyana’s shoulders was already paid for, yet there is nothing remaining of the fund to pay farmers. And this, according to Doerga, is after assurances were provided during the campaign that all the money was in the fund to pay farmers.

“They (PPP/C administration) left us with an empty bag and betrayed their own people (constituents).”

In lieu of this, Doerga was welcoming of the forensic auditing, stating that there is a lot of money that has to be accounted for.

Nigel Hinds and Associates has as its CEO, Nigel Hinds, CPA (Certified Public Accountant). He is also the current President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA). His firm has worked in collaboration with organizations such as Citigroup, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (IIC) and other accounting firms.

Hinds, when contacted yesterday, affirmed that the aim of the audit would be to uncover and identify all irregularities that pointed to fraud and corruption within the GRDB. He confirmed that the handling of the Petrocaribe fund would be one of the many aspects in the accounting investigation.

According to Hinds, the team of auditors includes George Vaughn, Clement De Nobrega and Godfrey Statia.

Bandit shot dead, victim wounded in robbery attempt A suspected bandit was shot dead at around 23:00 hrs last night and his alleged victim wounded during a robbery attempt near Butcher’s Pool Bar in Middleton Street, Campbellville.

Police identified the robbery victim as Paul Chow, 31, of Railway Line Kitty. Chow was shot in the right side jaw.

According to reports, Chow was outside the Lot 25 Middleton Street night-spot when two men tried to relieve him of his valuables. One of the bandits then shot Chow.

Kaieteur News was told that a police rank who was on the scene opened fire, shooting one of the robbers in the chest.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. At press time, Chow was still being treated in the Accident and Emergency Unit.

Meanwhile, David Pyle, 46, of Lot Two, Phase Two, East Ruimveldt, was admitted to the GPHC at around 21.00 hrs last evening with gunshot wounds to the right leg and right buttock.

According to reports, Pyle was shot by a group of men who were discharging shots while running on a dam in the area.

A female Lance Corporal attached to the Central Police Station has reportedly been placed under close arrest following allegations that she has been involved in trafficking in persons (TIP).

In the meantime, the parents of a 14-year-old girl are appealing for help in finding their daughter after she allegedly ran away from home and the policewoman is being accused of being one of the persons responsible for the child’s disappearance.

Reports surfaced last Friday when a woman

collect young girls and traffic them for a fee.

The child was kept for a longer time and after she eventually returned home she allegedly got away and returned to the policewoman’s residence.

However residents got wind of the operation and reported it to the police who swooped down on the residence. Three girls were

Female cop under close arrest following TIP allegations contacted the welfare department in New Amsterdam that her teenage daughter had been misbehaving and running away from home. The matter was subsequently referred to the Police.

However, according to reports, the child was taken into custody by the Female Lance Corporal who promised to nurture and take care of the child for a few days.

The policewoman, who hails from a village on the Corentyne, operates a bar and hotel facility at another village also on the Corentyne. It was alleged that the woman would

allegedly in the house, but one managed to escape.

However residents managed to catch two of the girls, ages 17 and 18.

The policewoman was subsequently taken into custody following a confrontation.

Investigations are continuing and the matter was expected to be reported to the Ministry of Social Protection.

Corruption benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. Say no to it.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

ALBOUYSTOWN MAN National Assembly set to slash former presidents’ benefits SHOT IN TUCVILLE

Ian Ambrose just after he was shot.

Twenty-eight year-old Security Guard and father of one, Ian Ambrose, of Cooper Street, Albouystown, was yesterday morning shot in the vicinity of Tucville Bridge, around 08:50 hrs, by a man who allegedly approached him and whipped out a firearm before discharging several rounds and fleeing the scene.

A least four bullets struck Ambrose. The man sustained gunshot wounds to his left arm (which was broken by the impact), back, leg and the region of his heart.

According to eyewitnesses, Ambrose was standing in front of the Reserve Housing area which persons from Tiger Bay were placed years ago after a fire,

when the assailant opened fire.

A friend who was with Ambrose at the time, after hearing the gunshots rode away on a motorcycle, striking a two-year-old in the process. It is unclear as to what may have sparked the shooting.

According to Audrey Ambrose, the clearly emotional mother of the wounded man, she has no idea what may have caused someone to do such a thing to her son.

“He doesn’t really live with me, but he sleeps over from time to time. He slept at me the night before this incident and this (yesterday) morning he left after preparing

his daughter for school”.

“About 10 am I was informed about the incident and I rushed to my son’s aid… I’m a mother of 10, and I love all my children very much,” Ms. Ambrose said.

She added that her son was still in the recovery phase after what was said to be a successful surgery, but his condition was still serious.

Doctors reported that the left arm would not operate effectively at this time, but is expected to improve soon.

Ian Ambrose up to press time was in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation recovery unit, as the investigations into the matter continue.

By Abena Rockcliffe Tomorrow the National Assembly will be presented with a Bill that seeks to amend the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act of 2009 which provided unlimited benefits to all former presidents of Guyana.

Passage of this new Bill will force former President Bharrat Jagdeo to either curtail his lifestyle or foot a large percent of his bills. The new Bill specifies some conditions under which the capped or limited benefits of a former president may be enjoyed.

However, the new Bill has nothing to do with and will not touch the pension offered to former presidents.

The Act of 2009 allowed former presidents to have uncapped benefits. Jagdeo has been the only former president to really benefit from this provision.

Since Jagdeo demitted Office in 2011, the state stood all expenses for his water, electricity and telephone services. The state paid for all the former president’s maids, his gardener and his security.

Jagdeo got unlimited use of state vehicles which had to be maintained and fueled by the state.

Last year, Former Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in responding to a question posed by former A Partnership for National Unity parliamentarian Desmond Trotman, said that Jagdeo racked up in excess of $45M on transportation, security and electricity bills within 27 months..

The figures provided by Dr. Singh, represented the money the State spent for

Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo Jagdeo’s transportation, security and electricity from the time he demitted office in December 2011 up to February 2014.

Jagdeo’s total electricity bill for the duration amounted to over $9.8M. His average monthly bill was $365,766 at the time.

For transportation, Jagdeo utilized over $15.2M. The State spent over $20.3M for Jagdeo’s security over that 27-month period, an average of $752,649 monthly.

The number of vehicles and guards provided to the former President were not provided.

The monthly health expenses/claims met for Jagdeo and his dependents during the specified period were not provided.

Former Presidents will now be given $25,000 per month for electricity, a further $25,000 for water and another $25,000 for telephone.

With this new provision, former presidents will be given $300,000 per year for electricity which is less than Jagdeo’s current monthly electricity bill.

The new Bill states that former presidents will be given services of personal

Former President, Donald Ramotar

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan and household staff, including a gardener but, the total number of such staffers cannot exceed three persons.

There will be a limit of $200,000 per annum for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by a former President for himself and his children below the age of eighteen years and his spouse provided that the money was not spent on medical attention and treatment obtained abroad or at private health facilities in Guyana, and were available in Continued on page 27

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

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Wednesday June 24, 2015

Detailed investigations to be done on major projects ...before decision taken on way forward - Pres. Granger The new administration will have to carry out thorough investigations into several major projects, which were undertaken by the previous administration, before a decision is made about their continuation, according to President David Granger.

According to a Government statement, quoting the President during a recent interview, the immediate projects include the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion, the Amaila Falls Hydropower and the Fibre Optic Cable.

Regarding the Amaila Falls hydro, President Granger said while in Opposition he was not privy to some of the information about the project.

“We have never been given a project document by the previous government; it was never brought before the National Assembly, so we could not consider the entire project... power generation, power distribution... we were only exposed to some aspects.”

President Granger explained that some of the information which was shared with the then Opposition, contains some aspects which were discussed with the Inter-

CJIA expansion: President David Granger has made it clear that detailed reviews are being carried out on major projects before decisions are taken on the way forward.

President David Granger American Development Bank (IDB), and includes the raising of the debt ceiling.

Reiterating that his knowledge of the project was very fragmentary, the President said currently there is no definitive position on the way forward for this project.

“It seems unlikely now that we will proceed with the project as was described, we are still interested in hydro electrical power generation, but whether it will remain at that site will be another matter.”

He explained that Guyana has about 100 other sites from which hydro electricity could be generated, but in going forward, it must be

determined which one is the best for such a project. ”Whether that site that was selected is the best site, it may not be, but we want to get information before we make a final determination.”

The project was halted in 2013 after the Oppositioncontrolled National Assembly refused to pass key legislation needed for financing to be released.

Almost US$900M was to be spent on the project, which would have made it the most expensive in the country’s history. The then Opposition had expressed concerns about aspects of the project, including the cost. It was to be funded by the Government of Guyana, the IDB, China and Sithe Global,

the US developer.

Meanwhile, as it relates to the Fibre Optic Cable project, the Head of State said it is desirable to have some form of E-Governance, but whether or not that project is the solution, that too is yet to be determined.

The project, headed by Alexei Ramotar, son of former President Donald Ramotar, ran into serious trouble because of technical issues including tough terrain and breakages. In shocking revelations earlier this year, it came to light that the previous administration had signed a deal with a local contractor,

Dax Contracting, to repair the cable. In return, Dax would have had access to the cable and internet connection, allowing the company to compete on the local market in the telecoms sector.

The transaction had immediately prompted objections as the telecoms sector is being reviewed, with legislation before the National Assembly that will allow new players to offer telephone and other critical telecoms services in a highly lucrative industry.

The US$150 expansion of the CJIA facilities, which included a new terminal and

longer runway, will receive the support of the Administration, but will also be assessed on its merits, the President said.

The former Opposition had also had reservations about cost of the project. It is being constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC).

China has granted Guyana a loan of US$150M for the expansion project, The coalition, under David Granger, had vowed to review a number large scale projects, especially relating to costs, during the lead-up of the May 11 general elections.

Giftland Mall at Liliendaal for...

(From page 2) customers, as he mentioned that the mall will eventually have a bus terminal.

As one of the country’s most popular retail companies, the CEO maintained that despite Giftland’s new location, the company will continue with their highly competitive pricing standards. He shared that Giftland will be providing furniture for the first time, with most of the suppliers being from France. He added that customers can see up to 20 percent in reduced pricing.

“I think one of the driving forces behind us being so focused on customers is be-

cause we ourselves are customers, and we view ourselves as customers, and we try to ensure that the customers don’t face the same problem,” said Ramdeo.

In total, the mall is expected to have 120 concessions, with Republic Bank already signed up to provide its services, as the company is in negotiations to bring other banks on board..

When the mall is fully operational, it will be able to provide approximately 2000 jobs, as stores will be required to run from 08:00hrs to 21:00hrs.

Meanwhile, the rest of the mall is designed to operate up to

midnight, with some sections going beyond that.

As the company eyes a July 2 opening, Ramdeo related that the mall’s previous delays were as a result of the international economic downturn in recent years, as well as issues relating to facilitating electrical power to the complex. To power the facility, the company has employed a 5MW generator.

Ramdeo shared that the company is willing to provide the surrounding communities with the power surplus which the generator will produce, in an effort to fulfil its corporate responsibility to the area.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 25

West Dem. Commander comes up with another youth empowerment initiative

Commander Stephen Mansell interacting with the intended participants.

He has left his mark on the youths of every Police Division he has worked in, and more young men and women are still approaching Commander Stephen Mansell to be empowered, so that they can stay clear of a life of criminal activity.

His latest challenge involves the young people of the West Demerara, where he has begun a strategic plan, which is aimed at equipping especially the unemployed and school dropouts with life skills to help them become proper citizens.

This new plan will see close to 70 youths benefitting from six weeks of training in areas like Plumbing, Welding, Information Technology, Auto Mechanic and Carpentry.

Speaking to the eager students at a simple orientation held last Wednesday at the Leonora Technical and Vocational Training Centre, Commander Mansell explained that the idea was born after he observed many youths wasting their lives, idling on the streets. He believes that

the strategy will serve to fight crime and offer empowerment to the young people on the West Demerara.

“We are basically teaching them to fish for a lifetime,” Mansell said.

The training is designed to make students marketable, financially competent and independent.

The programmes are scheduled to begin on July 20 and will be of six-week duration. The initiative will enable students who successfully complete them to enroll at the technical

institute for one-year certificate programmes.

Mansell recently took over control of the division and was the pioneer of the CPETS (Creating Positive Environments Through Safer Communities and Partnerships) project.

With criminal activity on the increase and the lure of fast money challenging young people, the commander began visiting communities in his division three weeks ago, meeting with youths and various stakeholders to sell his idea.

The stakeholders bought into the scheme and have already teamed up with the police, bringing about a positive transformation.

At the orientation, Mansell urged the youths to grasp every opportunity that is offered to propel them in life.

Principal of the Leonora Technical and Vocational Training Centre, Eon Nicholson, challenged the potential participants to be unwavering in their pursuit of education, since everyone is responsible for their own

success.

Also addressing the participants was Assistant Education Officer Patrick Chimedu Onwuzirike, who said, “you can take your certificates to any part of the world and gain employment” since the certification offered is internationally recognized.

The Guyana Police Force will be providing transportation to students who will be coming from the West Bank of Demerara throughout the six-week programme.

Overseas-based doctor worried about sepsis-related...

(From page 18) the nurse’s action were met with a rude response together with the assertion that “this is Guyana.”

“I had to ask, who is Guyana?

You (the nurse) are Guyana!” related Dr Singh as she disclosed that speaking to the Sister of the Unit did not help to appease the already daunting situation. “It was very unprofessional (the response),” Dr Singh added, as she related how nurses in the Unit were unwilling to give assistance when asked. “I said excuse me, they looked at me and then turned back to their social conversations...chatting on their cell phones, eating at the nurses’ desk...” said Dr Singh of the nurses, as she spoke of the inability to identify them because of inconspicuous name tags.

As if this was not bad enough, Dr Singh said that it was particularly appalling to observe that “not one nurse washed (or sanitised) their hands between (attending to) patients...The physicians are probably not doing it too.

There is a garbage bin (on the ward) that is opened and these can all help to contribute to infection diseases...” added a very concerned Dr Singh.

“How are people going to get better? They are not going to get better,” she declared as she related how not only was she forced to assume the care of her aunt, but a simple request to change her immobile aunt’s position was not adhered to.

“I went back 24 hours later and she was still in the same position...this is a woman that couldn’t even wipe her own tears. She literally couldn’t move. I had to ask for a NG (Nasogastric) tube so she could be fed,” Dr Singh recounted.

It was upon her request too that her aunt was eventually administered IV fluids.

“I asked about her mental status...because she appeared confused and she was running a fever and so I asked about her ammonia level...” related Dr Singh.

When adults experience mental changes, disorientation, sleepiness or lapse into a coma, an ammonia level may be ordered to help evaluate the cause of the change in consciousness.

Even as she admitted that she was aware that her aunt was dying, Dr Singh said doctors take an oath which obligates them to at least try.

“Her kids had hope and so they needed to at least talk to the family,” said Dr Singh, as she related that the family was told little to nothing about her aunt’s condition.

It is the belief of Dr Singh that because she advocated for better care for her aunt during her last days that the care offered to her was not the best. According to her, she saw the need to advocate on her aunt’s behalf because of her observation that attending doctors at the institution have been failing to even explain to family members the condition of patients.

She related that during her advocacy attempts, one doctor told her that if they (medical practitioners) are aware that a patient is dying, not much is usually done for that patient.

Another distressing development was the disclosure of a doctor that if the care at the GPHC was not good enough the family should have opted for a private institution.

“But what about the people who can’t afford it?

Things need to change at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

People who don’t have money should be eligible for equal care as people who can pay.

What is the art of nursing? Are they teaching them compassion or how to advocate for patients? Physicians need to stop thinking they are gods...they are human just like you and me, they need to start talking to families,” insisted Dr Singh as she spoke of the need for improved nurse-doctor relations at the hospital.

This, she disclosed, was based on the disclosure of a doctor that while he had ordered certain medications for her aunt, he had no control over the nursing staff to ensure that his requests are carried out.

“Of course you have control! If you write an order you should make sure that it is ex-

ecuted and if it is not then there should be consequences. People need to be held accountable for their actions and we cannot keep saying that this is Guyana...” insisted Dr Singh, who is hopeful that the relevant authorities will take urgent action to improve the delivery of care at the GPHC.

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Wednesday June 24, 2015

Nations University celebrates third batch of MBA graduates

The graduates are joined by Minister of Education Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine (fourth from left, front row) and Finance Minister Winston Jordan (second from left) for a photo opportunity.

The third annual graduation of the MBA programme that the Australian Institute of Business (AIB) offers in

collaboration with Nations University was held on Saturday, last, at the Pegasus Hotel.

Seventy-three students received parchments on this occasion, fifty-two graduated with the Master of Business Administration, eleven others graduated with the Graduate Diploma in Management and the remaining ten persons

graduated with the Graduate Certificate in Management.

The Chairman of the Academic Board of AIB Professor Rod Oxenberry (PhD, M. Soc., Admin, BA, AUA), presented the awards and delivered an address at the Graduation. Professor Oxenberry was an inaugural member of the South Australian Higher Education

Registration and Accreditation Board.

He was also previous Head of the International Graduate School of Management of the University of South Australia involved with graduate management programmes in Australia, Asia and Europe.

He has taught in MBA programmes in the areas of leadership, strategic management and governance.

The feature address was delivered by the Minister of Education Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine.

Those who graduated included persons representing a wide cross section of the Guyanese business community, including senior personnel from government ministries, and from GuySuCo, Guyana Water Incorporated, Guyana Elections Commission, CARICOM, and the Guyana Revenue Authority. Among the graduates are also sole entrepreneurs and representatives of a range of

private agencies.

Presently over 300 persons have enrolled with Nations University to pursue their MBA through AIB. Next month will see the beginning of the Eleventh Cohort.

The facilitators of the MBA programme must be holders of at least a recognized Master’s degree and have wide practical expertise and teaching experience. Amongst those who have facilitated courses on the MBA are: Celine Davis, Abraham Ogowewo, Shonnet Moore, Vishnu Doerga, Colin Thompson, Ruth Lee, Michelle Johnson, Ray Suknandan, and Ren Gonzales. In addition, Kamla Rampersaud, Deon Grandison and Corrie Sheppard-Bobb travel from Trinidad to help facilitate the programme.

The AIB is a higher education provider in Australia, registered to provide the full suite of business degrees which are fully accredited in Australia

and internationally recognized. AIB has alumni from over 70 countries and Teaching Centres in ten locations worldwide.

The International Graduate Forum has ranked AIB’s MBA as fourth in Australia and tenth in the world according to the latest rankings released in the Winter 2014/15 edition of CEO Magazine (UK).

This year marks the third consecutive year that AIB’s MBA has taken its place among the top 20 MBAs internationally and within the top four in Australia, above many other well-known business schools.

There are three entry options into the first stage of the MBA programme, namely, the Graduate Certificate in Management (GCM); a recognized Bachelor’s degree; a recognized Advanced Diploma and three years relevant work experience; or at least three years of managerial work experience.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Handyman sentenced to 15 years for killing lover Andrew Ketwaroo, a handyman and a father of four, of Sophia, Georgetown, was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to killing his reputed wife, Radica Ramjattan.

Ketwaroo’s murder trial was at the time scheduled to commence before Justice Navindra Singh and a mixed 12-member jury at the Georgetown High Court, and he opted to change his plea.

He pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

The accused was initially indicted for the murder of his reputed wife.

Radica Ramjattan was murdered on August 23, 2011. The incident is said to

have occurred at the couple’s Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara residence.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge at his initial appearance on Monday. And when he informed the court of his decision to change his plea yesterday, he faced questions from Justice Singh.

The Judge inquired from the accused, whether the decision was taken of his free will. He asked him if he knew that the guilty plea attracts a prison sentence and whether he had consulted with his attorney before adopting that course.

In answer to the judge’s question, Ketwaroo confirmed that he had

Andrew Ketwaroo consulted with his attorney and that he knew that he would be sentenced to serve

Fisherman charged with $11M high seas robberies A known character was on Monday charged with two counts of armed robbery on the high seas.

Ameer Mohammed, 44, a father of two and a fisherman of No.79 Village, Corriverton, Corentyne, Berbice was remanded by Magistrate Charlyn Artiga when he appeared before her at the Whim Magistrate’s Court.

The incidents were allegedly committed in the vicinity of Whim and No.66 village Corentyne on May 29 and 30, last.

Mohammed was not required to plead.

According to Prosecutor Sergeant Althea Solomon, Mohammed is accused of, on May 29, in the vicinity of Whim Village, while being in company of others and armed with a gun, robbing Riki Sooklall of one boat, two 48

Ameer Mohammed Yamaha outboard engines, 2500 pounds seine, fish and fish glue, a compass, six drums of gasoline, a cellular phone, all worth $8,773,800 – the property of Shivanand.

The second charge read

that on May 30, in the vicinity of No 66 Village Corentyne, Mohammed whilst in company with others, and being armed with a gun, robbed Dhanraj Mangal of 2500 pounds of fish, 70 pounds of fish glue, four cylinders of gas, a compass and a G.P.S. navigation system, groceries and a DVD player, a total value of $2,605,000 - property of Navindra Mahadeo.

Mohammed who told the court that he owns his own boat, denied that he was involved in any piracy.

However he was refused bail on both charges.

On the first charge he will have to return to the Whim Magistrate’s Court on July 9 and on the second charge he will have to appear in the No.51 village Magistrate’s Court, on July 3.

National Assembly set to slash...

From page 14 Guyana at government institutions.

Former presidents will be given full time personal security, not exceeding two persons including those at the place of residence.

Former presidents will also be entitled to the provision of not more than two motor vehicles owned and maintained by the State; toll free transportation; and an annual vacation allowance equivalent to the cost of two first class return airfares provided on the same conditions applicable to judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature.

However, even with the benefits being capped, the new Bill states that “A former President shall cease to be entitled to the benefits and other facilities provided under section 3, if the former

President engages in business, trade or paid employment or is convicted of a criminal offence for which a term of imprisonment is imposed.”

Jagdeo is presently before the court for charge for which if he is found guilty of, he can be fined $100,000 and jailed for two years.

When contacted yesterday, former President Donald Ramotar said that he is yet to make a decision as to if he will continue to work as he is “very busy” at the moment, looking at “other things.”

Ramotar said that he currently has two security guards and one state vehicle.

Therefore, he will not have to give up anything after the Bill is passed.

However, according to reports, Jagdeo currently has more than one state vehicle

at his disposal and retains more than two security guards.

The new Bill takes into account the fact that former Presidents are eligible for a pension which is 7/8 that of the salary of the President in office.

The Bill is to be presented to the House by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.

A Bill resembling this one was passed in the Tenth Parliament back in 2012. It was taken to the House by the then shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge.

But even though the Bill was passed, the then President, Donald Ramotar, refused to assent to it and therefore it was not made law.

This Bill seems to be more generous than the Bill of 2012 as that Bill only allocated $5,000 for water, electricity and telephone services.

time. The accused further told the court that he had taken no drugs, alcohol or medication within the last 24 hours, before deciding to change his plea.

Attorney-at-Law, Dexter Todd, subsequently made a plea of mitigation on behalf of the accused. Todd told the court that his client, a 34-yearold of Sophia Georgetown, spent more than three years in incarceration.

The lawyer also noted that Ketwaroo had not wasted precious judicial time and that he has shown deep remorse for his actions.

Todd said that his client was deeply in love with his spouse but their relationship was one with many problems.

According to the lawyer, Ketwaroo was in a very drunken state on the night of the incident and had little recollection of what transpired. While in prison, the lawyer said, Ketwaroo came to full consciousness of

what had occurred, and the fact that his loved one is no longer there.

The attorney further told the court, that his client had been attending rehabilitative courses while incarcerated and had become a model prisoner, earning him a position of trust in the prison system.

In his brief words to the court, the accused said that he was very sorry for what happened and promised to continue to participate in remedial courses.

Ketwaroo’s initial sentence amounted to thirty years. However, the judge deducted six years for the guilty plea; four years for the time he spent in custody pending trial; three years for a genuine show of remorse and two years because he had been a model prisoner, which amounted to the accused having to spend 15 years behind the prison walls. The Judge also encouraged

Ketwaroo to continue taking remedial courses, during his period of incarceration.

Earlier reports had indicated that the accused had been consuming alcohol shortly before killing his wife.

Relatives of the victim found the body of the 42-year-old woman lying in her Tarla Dam, Meten-Meer-Zorg house.

They had all claimed that she was subjected to numerous beatings at the hands of her partner.

A sister of the victim had related that the suspect was hugging the body when she and others arrived at the scene. The woman was lying face down and motionless in a pool of blood. A long, bloodstained knife was nearby. At that time, Ketwaroo has repeatedly denied killing the woman.

The matter was prosecuted by Attorneys-atLaw, Judith GildharieMursalin and Narissa Leander.

GWI expanding offices to improve customer service, efficiency

Minister Keith Scott (front, third left) along with senior GWI officials.

The Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) is making major improvements to its corporate offices as part of its plans to improve customer services and its efficiency.

The disclosures were made yesterday during a visit to the GWI Water Treatment Facility at Shelter-Belt, Vlissengen Road by Keith Scott, Minister within the Ministry of Communities.

The Minister also met with the Central Management Team and employees at the GWI Corporate Complex. He was accompanied by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities, Emil McGarrel.

According to GWI, Minister Scott was provided with a full tour of compound, including a section of the East Demerara Water Conservancy.

“He noted his concerns about the small working spaces within some

departments and implored that GWI management act on providing a more spacious working environment for the over 200 employees stationed at the Corporate Complex,” GWI said.

“The Minister expressed his relief after being informed that plans are ongoing to expand some of the offices within the GWI Corporate Complex to facilitate a more comfortable environment.

While the proposed

expansion and enhancement to the buildings are in the early stages of procurement, it is expected that key sections including Customer Services, Finance and Operations among others will benefit from the expanded office space.”

Scott urged GWI employees to continue striving for improved performance, especially in the areas of water quality and customer care.

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Kaieteur News

SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Guyana Passport application.

Graphics design, Advertisement. Tel: 6267040; 265-4535.

Repairs & spare, fridge, freezer, A/C, washers, stoves. Contact Nick: 6831312, 627-3206 Repairs to refrigerators, washing machines, gas stoves, A/C units –Call Lindon: 641-1086; 694-2202 Balloon decorating for birthdays, weddings, anniversary etc, make your event extra special! Tel Maya: 642-6664 Licensed custom-brokerCall: 660-9478 REPAIRS AT LOW COST: FRIDGES, AIRCONDITIONERS, WASHING MACHINES, TVS, MICROWAVES, FREEZERS - CALL:6294946 OR 225-4822 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building, visadocumentsgy@yahoo.comCall: 225-6496, 662-6045 Mahadeo Construction for all construction, carpentry, masonry, pluming, painting etc. Free estimates and plan Contact # 669-7376 I N N O V A T I V E MARKETING & PUBLISHING INC –TEL: 600-4212: We create A/ works, logos, business cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included

MASSAGE Mobile Massage: we come to homes, offices and hotels, 20% discount for fathers, St. Lucia trained –Tel:695-1265 The Gent’s Spa: Let beautiful masseuses pamper you, four-hand massage. Khandi and Tiffany –Tel:657-5979 FOR HIRE Enclose truck and Hiab Truck, double axel –Tel: 6945460, 662-8884

WANTED

SALON

VEHICLE FOR SALE

Make Up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, Black Opal and Sacha cosmetics. Call: 647-1773/660-5257 Alyssa Beauty Salon & Tattoo Parlour @ 103 Regent & Wellington St. Georgetown. Salon station to rent –Call:684-1062

1 L-Touring Wagon, excellent condition - A.C Alarm & Remote start, flair kit, CD player, 16" mags, price -$1.3M - Tel: 626-2884

Female domestic to work in Trinidad, must have education, age 25-35 – Call: 1868-683-1528 Hairdresser, nail technician, tattoo artist, pedicure/ manicure –Tel: 613-8710/ 6807813 Farm worker & time clerk; call office Monday – Friday with 7am-4pm. Tel: 265-3586 Salesgirls and porters, apply to Best Buy Food Supplies, at 1E Dennis & Middleton Street, Campbellville with written application.

1 Confidential Secretary must have excellent communication & writing skills, able to multitask, accounts knowledge is an asset. Tel: 223-9888 Contract cars & experienced drivers –Contact: 227-1721, 227-1720 or 660-6102 Porters, Office clerk, general domestic. Apply at Survival @ Lot 10 Wholesale Dept, Vlissengen Road.

1- Salesboy & girl to work in a provision shop, knowledge of weight on metric scale & calculation –Tel: 669-5335 1 Sand Truck Driver, 3yrs experienced –Tel: 265-3024; 663-8639; 609-0766 One experienced Head Teacher to oversee setting up of New School details. Email:mazatarti@yahoo.com One Surveyor to work with mining firm, must have own GPS-Contact: 226-9768 One general manager to work on land dredge in the interiorContact: 226-9768; 625-5136; 626-6909 2 Accounts clerk with Grades 1 & 2 in Maths & English.

Apply at Technical Services, Eccles Industrial Site, E.B.D. Salesman and drivers –Call: 661-9809 One experienced pastry maker –Call: 266-5845 We buy residential house lots in Parfaite Harmonie, Eccles, Herstelling, Farm, and elsewhere –Tel: 611-7223; 675-7292 FOR SALE/RENT 3 Storey established business at 220 south roadCall: 601-3369 HEALTH Follow-me male enhancers, diabetic, hypertension and more. Sickness free sample treatment- Tel: 696-2957

LAND FOR SALE Commercial lots available at Eccles E.B.D $14M - Tel:592227-2913 or 592-689-3033 144X37.4ft house lot, available at Buxton -$3.2M – Call: 696-8391 Parfaite Harmonie -$1.5M, Tuschen -$1.6M, Long creek Linden/Soesdyke Highway with creek, 30 acres -$9M – Tel:611-7223, 675-7292 3 Large house lots @ back of B/Burg gas station -$15M for all 3 –Call: 650-0402 House lot for sale at Grove/ Diamond, 2nd Bridge area, serious enquiries only –Call: 624-2857 1500 acres transported land 4½ miles from Bartica Rock, Quarry, Forestry, Agriculture.

Contact Mark: 603-1266; 6259788 Bartica, Westerbeck lies between, Mazaruni & Cuyuni, 7 acres of cleared land (rich land) -$5M, Diamond - $2.5M –Tel: 231-2199; 618-7483

Star Cars Auto Sales: In Stock, Premio, Vitz, Bluebird, IST, Alteeza, Benz C200, Spacio - Tel: 679-3140 Don’t Miss! Venus Auto Sale: pre-order, specials on Toyota IST, Vitz, Ractis, Passo, Raum- $1.9M, $1.8M Call: 624-5617 One Toyota Allion PNN SERIES & 1 new & unregistered Mazda Axela, excellent condition -Tel: 649-0956 1 RZ EFI minibus. BKK 7634Call: 226-9530, 651-2274 1 Beige Toyota Spacio 2003 model, PMM lady driven -1st owner, excellent condition – Tel:628-5828 Toyota Prado, Price$4.4M Neg. Call: 643-2403 1 Toyota Cami PLL Series, 1 Million negotiable –Tel:6793410 Unregistered Toyota IST fully loaded -$1.950M – Call: 691-7475 Nissan Titan for sale, immaculate condition – Contact: 647-3924 Leading Auto: Unregistered Toyota Allion, Premio, Spacio, Noah, 212, Axela, IST, Canter, bus –Tel: 677-7666, 610-7666.

Fantasy Auto Sales: 38 Alexander Street Kitty. Get $100,000 discount on perorders- Tel: 611-1833 2 Ford F350 Pickup, extended cab, 4X4 Diesel, excellent condition, fully loaded, 6" lift kit –Call: 610-5370

CAR RENTAL PROGRESSIVE AUTO RENTAL:CARS&SUV FOR RENTAL- $4,000 & UP PER DAY- CALL: 643-5122, 2193900, EMAIL: PRO_AUTO RENTAL@YAHOO.COM DOLLY’S CAR RENTALCALL: 225-7126/226-3693 DOLLYSAUTORENTAL@ YAHOO.COM/WWW. DOLLYSAUTORENTAL.COM Aidan’s Car & Pickup rental, cheap rate, low security – Tel: 698-7807

EDUCATION Private custom brokerage certificate training course from 29th June 2015, register now & save-Call: 681-7567; 223-1506; 694-8322

Smart Choice Auto: Premio, Allion, Spacio, Fielder, Bluebird, Carina 212, ISTCall: 652-3820, 665-4529 First Class Auto in Stock: 09 Allion, 08 Premio, Carina 212, Spacio, Runx, IST, Mark 2, Axio, 06 Premio –Call: 6098188; 638-3045 We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses; Extra Cab pickups; 2006 TacomaCall:680-3154 AT192, 212, Allion, unregistered Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN, RZ & Pit-bull, 7 seater super custom. Cash / terms- Call: 680-3154 One Toyota Celica convertible customizes (high performance set up). One Toyota Ipsum (new model) going cheap. Contact: 629-5414 Mazda Hatch back, full body kit, rims, crystal lights on, in good condition –Tel: 6915485

Wednesday June 24, 2015

VACANCY Female accounts clerk, four years experienced. Apply Alabama Trading Georgetown, Ferry Stelling, Stabroek.

Exist in a growing organization, for experienced seamstress, must have experienced with industrial machines. Contact: 225-8831 Work from home, earn $5,000-$20,000 daily Call Monday-Friday 9am-5pm #233-6517, 638-0595 www.jobfairworldwide.com Accounts clerk, must have experience send application t o rtilak@adamantiumholdings. c o m DRIVER-LORRY LICENCE REQUIRED, SALESMAN TO SELL COOKING GAS. 676 6700 S E C U R I T Y GUARDS WORKING 12 HRS FOR UP TO $4,000 PER NIGHT, PART TIMEWELDER,CARPENTER/ MASON, GARDENER. 676 6700 I N T E R N AT I O N A L EMPLOYMENT: NURSE, T E A C H E R S , C A R P E N T E R S , ELECTRICIANS, COOK, WAITERS, BELL BOYS, HOUSEKEEPERS, STOREKEEPERS, SECURITIES. CONTACT: 231-6296; 650-9880/ www.plzrecruitme.com One handyman / gardener contact 223-5273/4 Dagger operator contact: 2235273/4 Vacancy exists for one certified hairdresser, who knows to do everything. One nails station to rent –Contact Melissa: 610-1941; 225-1037 One experienced hairdresser magic touch beauty salon – Tel: 225-6492.

1 Crankshaft grinder and machinist to bore engine block-Apply @ Technical Service -18-23 Industrial Site, Eccles.

FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.

10 Acres of land road side at Kuru Kururu for business.

Cheap price- Call: 601-3369 Loving Tibetan & Dachshund mix puppies, dewormed & vaccinated – Tel:611-2497 Double lots (corner) in secure, gated community @ Land of Canaan, light, water, roads -$15M –Tel:668-0306 42" Smart LG TV, price $135,000 negotiable, excellent condition –Tel: 6702343 Lot 6 Adventure, Essequibo, Land 352X70ft with wooden building -$14M negotiable.

Contact Anwar Essequibo: 771-4395; 694-4457 or Georgetown Trudy: 225-4712 1 Yamaha R6, Suzuki GSXR 600, 1-250 Rebel, 1-250 nighthawk –Tel: 265-3024, 663-8639, 609-0766 1 Caterpillar Excavator 320C, excellent condition -Contact: 658-4450 Pile driving hammers, weight 3 and 4 tons, 6 cylinder Leyland engine, 10 tons double steel wheeled roller Call: 275-0538; 693-7105 D4H CAT bulldozer, Leyland DAF 55 Tipper truck, 20 lengths- plastic sheet piles– Contact: 275-0538; 693-7105 Pneumatic roller – 9 wheels, 2,500 GLS, steel tank, 2,000 GLS, steel tank , 428 CAT Back-Hoe Call: 275-0538; 693-7105 German shepherd pupsContact: 615-0513 House and land – Call: 2653586 Adults Only: female enhancers and novelties – Tel: 644-6077 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, motors, etc call:225-9032,647-2943 Pure Breed pit-bull pups, dewormed and vaccinated – Call: 661-1715/ 669-2434

TO LET Prime office space @ lot 239 Quamina Street, Central Georgetown, parking available in Private yard. Tel: 592-227-2913, 592-689-3033 Furnished executive one or two bedroom suites in Diamond. Ideal for foreignersCall: 609-2466 Space suitable for salon/ massage parlor/beauty service to co-exist with other business –Call: 647-1773

Pure breed Rottweiler pups, fully de-wormed & vaccinated –Tel: 220-2277, 220-8904; 629-1471 Mix breed pups, pit-bull and European mastiff –Contact: 601-1371 400Lb 5" cat guts seine – Contact: 220-7655; 667-8921 TO LET Fully furnished (2) bedroom apartment in South: TV, AirConditioned, Hot & Cold, Cable and washing machine –Tel: 689-5877 Continued on page 29

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Delegation to visit Venezuela on rice deal continuation Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, is expected to lead a team as early as next week to Venezuela to discuss the continuation of the multibillion-dollar ‘rice-for-oil’ deal.

According to Government officials yesterday, the rice deal is expected to expire this year.

Guyana would badly want the deal to continue as the market with Venezuela is a critical one for the rice industry.

Under this year’s agreement, some 120,000 metric tonnes (Mt) of paddy along with 84,000 Mt of white rice have to be supplied to Venezuela. The deal is worth around US$113M.

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan Following the announcement of a significant

oil find offshore Guyana in recent months, the first for the country, relations with neighbouring Venezuela has been at an all-time low.

This is because a claim has been made on the waters where there drilling took place

by Venezuela. There were fears that Venezuela could scrap the deal. Local officials have assured that a recent signing of this year’s deal is testimony that the arrangements are not in any way threatened. As a matter of fact, shipments of rice and paddy are being made.

Following a fall in world prices in the last couple of years, oil-rich Venezuela, one of the biggest producers in the world, has seen shortages

of critical items, including food, toilet paper, detergent and even medicines.

Venezuela is not likely to back out anytime soon from the rice deal, not only because of the shipping proximity of Guyana, but because this country owes it tens of millions of US dollars for oil taken under the PetroCaribe deal which is offered to a number of participating countries within Latin America and the Caribbean.

Guyana itself badly needs the deal because it has been producing at record levels in recent years because of good yields. Last year alone, the industry recorded 630,000 tonnes of rice, its highest

ever.

Venezuela has been relatively stable market since 2010.

The rice pact was initiated in 2010 between Guyana and the late Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chávez. The agreement aimed to strengthen food security in both countries.

In 2011, Guyana signed a US$54 million agreement with Venezuela to supply 50,000 metric tonnes of paddy at US$520 per metric tonne, and 20,000 metric tonnes of white rice at US$800 per metric tonne.

In 2013, Venezuela agreed to take 140,000 tonnes of

A team from Guyana is expected to visit Venezuela next week to have talks on the continuation of the rice-for-oil deal.

paddy and a further 70,000 tonnes of white rice.

The previous administration has been eyeing producing one million tonnes of paddy this year.

The Agriculture Ministry has been targeting paddy production to hit the $50B mark for farmers.

Under the 2014 agreement, Guyana exported 150,000 tonnes of paddy and 50,000 tonnes of white rice valuing US$114M to the Spanish-speaking state.

Last year, exports to Venezuela accounted for about 34 percent of the total production of rice in Guyana.

From page 28

FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Office, storage bond, lessons place, other businesses at Vreed-En-Hoop- Call: 680-9905 GT TOOL RENTALS: COMPACTOR; CHIPPING HAMMER RANSOM & FLOOR SANDER, JACK HAMMER, CONCRETE SAW & MORE- CALL: 675-0767, 627-5098

Letters... Where your views make the news

Open letter to the Minister of...

From page 4 them to be promoted. Yet these rejects are compelled to guide and teach their superiors who do not know the work.

There is disrespect and exclusion of the workers’ recognised Representative trade Union to participate in the decision making process on behalf of employees’ welfare as stipulated by law.

Indeed it is imperative that this new government address the disparity where officials receive tax-free super salaries whilst the masses are taxed.

Are we subtly promoting an imperialistic or class structure where lords are praised and rewarded handsomely whilst their Subjects (slaves) are

burdened with heavy workload but are paid pittance?

To compound our woes the regulatory Board and other oversight entities have turned the proverbial blind eye to these glaring infractions and abuse of offices.

Complaints remain uninvestigated and remain

Suspected poaching of wildlife DEAR EDITOR, I would like to bring it to your immediate attention that I am extremely concerned that there is poaching of alligators in Leguan Island.

For the past week or so there have been four to five men who are not locals of Leguan and who have been catching alligators and skinning them.

When I asked them why they are doing this, they said that they had permission to do so but refused to show me any written

documentation or proof that what they were doing was permitted.

I am gravely concerned that this is illegal activity that is directly affecting our wildlife.

I would like to know: 1. Is this legal? 2.

What is the purpose of this? 3. Does the government have knowledge of this?

These questions need to be immediately addressed by the relevant authority. My contact information can be made available if the need arises.

Mr. Dale Shaka Kalamazad

cold cases. Their inactions have allowed these officials free reigns into becoming loose cannons, maybe content that the entity was achieving its revenue targets and have chosen money over workers’ welfare.

For the records, the Revenue Agencies over the decades have always surpassed its annual targets under previous management because of the constant recruitment of dedicated and hard working public servants and I am confident that this will continue under any management.

I am openly seeking the intervention of the Minister of Social Protection to investigate the many complaints of victimization and marginalization of employees’ at the Guyana Revenue Authority.

Concerned staff

One 2 bedroom apartment for rent –Call: 220-6168; 6741358, 618-1754; 681-1508 12 Offices $60,000 at 220 South road- Call : 601-3369 Space @ 43 Wellington Street, G/town, Suitable for Barbering, Tailoring or Boutique-Tele: 226-1839 Spacious Top Flat @ CNS Channel 6 Building, Suitable for Office or Business- Tele: 226-1839 Space @ 41 Agricola Public Road, E.B.D, Suitable for any type of Business or Apartment- Tele: 226-1839

PROPERTY FOR SALE Residential lots ad houses for sale at Eccles, E.B.D $7.5M. Tel:592-227-2913 or 689-3033 Property for sale, Grove $18M neg. Tel: 625-5461.

Property @ Lot 63 West Ruimveldt, Estate Housing Scheme Georgetown – Contact Mark: 618-9744 Two storey 45X35 concrete property, lower flat incomplete, in Diamond, New Scheme, 5th Avenue, E.B.D –Tel:629-4017 Lot 23, Area F Zeeburg, South, old gas station road, West Coast DemeraraContact: 621-8386 (Brodo) Brand new 2 storey concrete building in 5th Avenue, Diamond, E.B.D, all modern amenities –Call: 662-9335; 612-3244 Property at Kersaint Park LBI, price $11.5M negotiableContact:664-1865; 698-5713

ACCOMODATION

VEHICLE FOR SALE 1 Noah BSS 1650, excellent condition. Tel: 652-0709 1-Toyota 4WD extra cab, pickup LH drive –price $1.9M negotiable –Tel: 6688431

Aracari Resort –Tel: 2642946: Rooms from $45USD, double occupancy, fully air conditioned, hot & cold bath, WiFi, breakfast.

Harmony Inn: furnished, airconditioned apartment & rooms, suitable for local & overseas guest -$20USD, $30USD, $35USD –Tel: 6680306; 694-7817, 218-1400

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

FCSF, Linden Fund USA make timely donations

From left: Peace Corps Volunteer attached to FCSF, Ben Armuth, Peace Corps Volunteer attached to Linden Hospital Complex Rachel Ivancie, CEO (ag) Dr Steve Mark and PRO Linden Hospital Complex Reycia Nedd.

By Jacquey Bourne For the Children’s Sake Foundation (FCSF) in collaboration with Linden Fund USA made timely donations to the Linden Hospital Complex and the Child Friendly Room of the Linden arm of Child Protective Services last Friday at the Hospital and at the Child Protection and Welfare Office on Independence Avenue.

Executive Director of FCSF Mr. Vernon Todd said for many Guyanese, ‘child work’ is viewed as part of a child’s socialization process that helps them get better accustomed to the skills

needed later for employment, but noted it must be differentiated from the worst forms of child labour, which is not only injurious to the health and well-being of the children, but also deprives them of their education.

According to Todd, the situation is worsened by the fact that parents cannot afford to send children to school due to the poor quality of living and poor rate of education leading to unemployment.

“The sensitive yet hidden and pervasive nature of child labour requires a holistic approach, which must

comprise providing free compulsory and quality education, ensuring that all boys and girls have a safe and quality learning environment, enforcement of laws on child labour and promoting social protection policies to encourage school attendance.”

Todd said that both organizations donate regular food hampers to the less fortunate and host health clubs in schools.

President of FCSF, Tisha Campbell, at the handing over, said that she believes that every child should have the opportunity to succeed in

Cocaine-in-crotch suspect remanded Twenty-eight year-old Lennox Smith appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry last Monday, accused of being in possession of four grams of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, while in Region Nine on June 15.

Smith, a father of one, of James Street, Albouystown, pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read to him Police Corporal Bharat Mangru told the court that on the day in question, the police were on patrol when they stopped the defendant and searched him after he appeared to be acting suspiciously.

A transparent plastic bag was found in his trunks as well as hidden in his crotch.

However, Attorney Jerome Khan argued that the police officers searched the defendant and did not state anything about drugs until they had taken him to the closest station.

The lawyer contended that the alleged drug was not found in his client’s possession.

Khan also argued that a date for the court in the jurisdiction where the offence was committed (Lethem Magistrate’s Court) is not until September, adding that if his client is remanded he would have to remain in jail until that time.

The Prosecutor opposed bail citing that no special reasons were advanced by the attorney to satisfy the

Recreation does for you what it says literally.

It creates you again. It refreshes the mind, renews the spirit, and motivates the body.

Constant working towards some objective can do the opposite, unless we control it by rest and relaxation.

Lennox Smith court.

The Magistrate listened to the arguments of both parties and informed the court that the defence’s application was not sufficient for his client to be granted pre-trial liberty.

This matter was transferred to the Lethem Magistrate’s Court for September 7.

University of Guyana Social Work student, President of FCSF Tisha Campbell (second left), makes a presentation to Child Protection Officer Amrel Beckles, in the presence of PRO FCSF Tishon Fraser (left) and Child Friendly Officer Dawn McFarlane. the classroom and not be held back by circumstances over which they have no control.

“Our backpack and school supply distribution helps ensure that every child and adolescent in the County who needs our help can start the school year feeling prepared and ready to learn.”

Chairman of Linden Fund USA, Mr Keith Semple, said that the Linden Fund Organization is happy to be a part of an activity which contributes meaningfully to make Linden a better community and this is just one of the many projects done by the Linden Fund USA. Child Protection Officer Miss Amrel Beckles expressed heartfelt gratitude to the two

organizations for their support and hoped for their continued support. Ms. Beckles said the Child Friendly room which was remodeled by FCSF and Linden Fund USA, was designed and fashioned for the Social Workers to provide a safe area for visiting children.

“It creates a safe, secure, friendly and comfortable environment which would help children to express themselves. The stationery and teaching aids would be used as an educational tool to further enhance and empower our children who are today’s future.”

Similarly Public Relations Officer of the

Linden Hospital Complex Reycia Nedd, in thanking the organizations for their donations, shared the same sentiment as the Child Protection Officer - that she believes that the children are the future and the donations received would go towards continued care and education of staff and patients.

Among the things donated to the Linden Hospital Complex are disinfectant medical kits, stationery, pedometers and health education reading materials, while the Child Protection Services received stationery, health educational materials and posters, as well as toys for visiting children.

Man, 64, accused of repeat assault on neighbour Two neighbours, who just cannot seem to get along, found themselves before a Magistrate again, after an alleged confrontation.

Cedric Dash, 64, of Block D 77 North Sophia, was yesterday placed before the court, accused of assaulting his neighbour, Felicity Benjamin.

It is alleged that on May 19, at Sophia he assaulted Benjamin, so as to cause her actual bodily harm. He was granted bail to the tune of $40,000.

Dash was also slapped with another charge, which alleged that on the day in question, at the said location, he behaved in a manner to provoke Benjamin.

The defendant denied the allegation while appearing before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry In relating the facts, Police Corporal Bharrat Mangru told the court that on the day in question, around

17:45 hrs, the defendant approached Benjamin and dealt her several lashes about the body which caused her to receive injuries. The defendant then relieved her of jewellery, local and foreign currency that amounted to $65,000.

Dash explained to the court that “she (Benjamin) knock me and I just push she”.

The prosecutor objected to bail because Dash allegedly committed the offences, while he has pending matters of a similar matter before the court. He noted that bail should be opposed more so on the fact that the defendant may tamper with the prosecution witness (Benjamin), since they are known to each other.

Dash will make his next court appearance on July 27, 2015, before Magistrate Annette Singh.

The accused, who is no stranger to the court, on several occasions saw himself posting bail on assault

Cedric Dash charges. The man and his neighbour have been appearing in court since 2012.

At one point Dash was accused of assaulting his neighbour with a steel pipe.

Benjamin had told a Magistrate that the grudge between he and his neighbour stemmed from a land dispute.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

CARICOM urged to speak out for Haitians facing deportation in Dominican Republic

Thousands of foreigners in the Dominican Republic, most of them Haitians, are facing deportation.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Tuesday June 23, 2015 – Outrage is growing over the Dominican Republic’s move to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants and Haitians born in that Spanish-speaking country, with warnings that it will lead to a humanitarian crisis and calls for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to advocate on behalf of those affected by the policy.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says refusing citizenship to people in the Dominican Republic and subjecting them to deportation is a “stain” on Caribbean civilization.

“What is happening in the Dominican Republic is simply unacceptable,” he said. “It is unacceptable to have a public policy in relation to citizenship, grounded in ethnicity or your national origins.”

Gonsalves made the comments to the media in St. Vincent on his return from the EU–CELAC Summit in Brus-

sels where the matter was discussed.

Up until 2010, anyone born on Dominican Republic soil was automatically given citizenship, but a change to the constitution has denied citizenship to children born of undocumented parents.

Then, in September 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Tribunal handed down a ruling denying citizenship to anyone born in the country since 1929, if his or her parents had been “in transit”, affecting not only shortterm visitors but long-term, undocumented workers as well.

The government recently launched a programme offering legal residency to Haitians born in the Dominican Republic but the deadline for applications ended last week with thousands still unable to register.

In Trinidad, one of the opposition parties, Congress of the People (COP), issued a statement condemning the Dominican Republic’s stance.

“The mass deportation of persons who have lived,

worked and owned property in that country of their birth not only deprives them of their rights, but, will also worsen the humanitarian situation in Haiti,” COP leader Prakash Ramadhar said.

“We must all do our part to maintain the pressure on the government of the Dominican Republic to permanently halt the threatened deportation. As a Caribbean nation, we must join with our CARICOM and international neighbours to demand that Dominican Republic government take all political, legislative and other measures to restore the citizenship rights of these Dominicans.”

Ramadhar added: “We have written to the Caricom Secretariat calling on them to take all steps necessary in concert with the United Nations and other international human rights bodies and all governments to continue the strongest measures to force the government of the Dominican Republic to meet its obligations to respect the rights of its citizens and right this terrible wrong.”

Another seven St. Lucian men missing at sea CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Tuesday June 23, 2015 – St. Lucia marine officials have reported that seven more men are missing at sea.

On the heels of a search for four men who left Martinique almost three weeks ago for St. Lucia, and the discovery of four bodies in the French island, police have confirmed that seven men left St. Lucia for Martinique on June 13, but

never reached their destination either.

The seven left on the fishing boat ‘Same Speed’ around 2 o’clock that morning.

A search for those men is now underway.

On June 5, four St. Lucian men left Fort de France on board a seven-foot pirogue, The Unexpected, and were expected to arrive in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia that same day.

However, they never ar-

rived.

Thr e e d e c o m p o s e d bodies were found by kite surfers on Saturday night off Cap Chevalier, on the eastern side of the island and another body was found last Thursday at Anse Aux Bois.

Investigations are being conducted to determine whether any of the bodies found are of the missing men.

Page 31

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Syria Kurds seize town from Islamic State near its ‘capital’ Kurdish-led forces in Syria seized a town from Islamic State on Tuesday after capturing a military base overnight, aided by U.S.-led air strikes in some of the most dramatic gains yet against the militants.

The Kurdish march deep into the heart of Islamic State territory follows their capture of a town on the Turkish border last week, reversing the momentum of militants who had seized major towns in both Syria and Iraq last month.

The Kurdish YPG-led forces had taken full control of Ain Issa, said YPG spokesman Redur Xelil. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on the war, said Islamic State fighters had completely withdrawn from the town.

Overnight, advancing forces including Syrian rebels fighting alongside the YPG took control of the nearby Liwa-93 military base, a strategic objective which Islamic State had captured last year from government forces. The advance to Ain Issa brings the Kurdish forces and their allies within 50 km (30 miles) of Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital, from which it rules over a “caliphate” across much of Syria and Iraq.

But Xelil said an assault on the city was not currently planned. The Observatory said the aim of the advance was to seize control of an east-west highway running through Ain Issa which links the city of Aleppo with the northeastern province of Hasaka.

The United States and its Arab and Western allies

launched an air campaign against Islamic State last year after the fighters, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, proclaimed their “caliphate” to rule over all Muslims.

The YPG fighters have emerged as the most credible ally of the U.S.-led campaign on the ground in Syria, where Washington has fewer friends than in Iraq. Xelil described the U.S.-led air support as “excellent”. slamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani urged fighters to escalate attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and vowed to defeat the U.S.-led campaign against them, promising “surprise after surprise” in coming days.

NATO working on plan to advise Iraq on reforming its army In a separate battle, the Syrian military and militias fighting alongside it have gained ground to the northwest of the city of Palmyra, which Islamic State captured from government control last month, according to the Observatory and a source in Syria briefed on the situation.

The West and its Arab allies have shunned the idea of partnering President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against Islamic State.

“STRANGLEHOLD” The group has shown little resistance to the latest YPG-led advance.

A US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the setbacks were “notable” and showed that the militants “were vulnerable especially to motivated and well equipped forces backed by the coalition”.

The Pentagon’s said it

carried out three air strikes in the area of Tel Abyad, 30 km (20 miles) north of Ain Issa.

The YPG advance gathered pace last week when the Kurds, in partnership with smaller groups under the banner of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), captured Tel Abyad and cut an Islamic State supply route from Turkey.

Coordination between the YPG and the U.S.-led alliance has deepened since they first joined forces to defend the town of Kobani, also on the Turkish border, defeating Islamic State fighters in January after four months of battle.

Asked whether the de facto Islamic State capital was now a target, Xelil said: “Raqqa is a Syrian city, like Tel Abyad and Kobani, and all Syrians want it freed of Daesh terror. But at the current time it is not included in our agenda.”

Thousands of people have fled the YPG-led advance into Raqqa city in recent days, the Observatory says. Some people escaping Tel Abyad have accused the Kurds of expelling Arabs and Turkmen, a claim dismissed as propaganda by the YPG. More than 2,000 Syrians who had fled into Turkey crossed back into Syria on Monday.

The Observatory says there have been no systematic YPG abuses, though some have been carried out by individuals.

Government forces had also advanced against Islamic State to the west of Palmyra, home to Roman-era ruins that are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Observatory said.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Strike halts Channel Tunnel traffic, migrants try to board vehicles

Lorries are backed up on the M20 motorway which leads from London to the Channel Tunnel terminal at Ashford and the Ferry Terminal at Dover Traffic was halted through the Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France on Tuesday after striking French ferry workers set fire to tyres, while Britain’s Foreign Office warned of migrants trying to get into vehicles queuing to enter the tunnel.

Television images showed large crowds of migrants trying to board waiting lorries.

Others were held back by riot police. Around 400 workers blockaded the port of Calais to protest restructuring at its MyFerryLink division, the Syndicat Maritime Nord trade union said. Shipping was halted early in the day and both Eurotunnel (GETP.PA) and Eurostar later suspended their services because of the disruption.

“Traffic in the tunnel is suspended because of burning tyres, which are the result of port workers,” a Eurotunnel spokeswoman said of an incident at the terminal entrance.

The union opposes plans

by Eurotunnel to sell two of MyFerryLink’s three passenger vessels to Denmark’s DFDS (DFDS.CO) and convert the third to freight, cutting jobs.

The day of action was due to end at 7 pm local time (06:00 p.m. BST) but Eurostar said it had been informed by Eurotunnel that the tunnel would remain closed all day.

“We expect normal service to be resumed tomorrow,” it said in a statement.

Earlier, French strike police were deployed to remove protesters blocking motorway access to the tunnel, which had created a 10-km (six-mile) tailback.

A spokeswoman for Eurotunnel said it understood the concerns of the port workers. “We hope that there will be suitable job proposals tomorrow,” she said of a meet-

ing planned for Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain was in close contact with French authorities. Britain issued travel advice that said migrants were using the disruption to try to board queuing vehicles.

“There are large numbers of illegal migrants in and around Calais who may seek to enter the UK illegally. Although local police patrols have been reinforced, you should keep vehicle doors locked in slow-moving traffic and secure your vehicle when it is left unattended,” the Foreign Office said.

LORRIES TARGETED “We are seeing the usual phenomenon - some migrants are trying to climb into lorries stopped in traffic jams on the motorway leading to the tunnel,” the police press office in Arras said. “They’re trying to hide in lorries in particular.”

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

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West Indies retired Players Foundation golf day a ‘huge success’ CPL - BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: The West Indies Retired Players Foundation has expressed great delight with Sunday’s charity golf event, which was staged at Sandy Lane Country Club.

The event was jointly hosted by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), and supported by the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Digicel. Close to 70 players registered for the event including former West Indies players Sir Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Sir Richie Richardson, Jeff Dujon, Ian Bishop, Phil Simmons; as well as current international players Dwayne Smith, Mahela Jayawardena of Sri Lanka and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand. Several members of the International Cricket Council also

participated.

The West Indies Retired Players Foundation was formed 18 months ago and part of its mandate is the development of programmes and assisting with the welfare of former players who represented the Caribbean team at the international level.

Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron, President of the WICB said: “We want to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who turned out on Sunday to support the ongoing work of the West Indies Retired Players Association. This is the first time we have hosted a golf day and it was a huge success. Everyone enjoyed the day and at the end of the day it is the players who will benefit.”

Wavell Hinds, President of the WIPA said: “Cricket has given us so much and it is

wonderful to see persons giving back to this great game as many braved the weather to show their support for this worthy cause. It was delight to see the former players and current players rubbing shoulders with fans and cricket lovers and this helped to raise the profile of the event as well.”

Dr Nigel Camacho, President of the WIRPF said: “Sunday’s golf day was an overwhelming success and we at WIRPF are pleased to see the wide cross section of persons who participated including legends of the game; cricketers past and present; and many other persons who have West Indies cricket at heart. This marvellous initiative will help to accelerate the work which we started last year as we give back to those who have given us so much.”

Wednesday June 24, 2015 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) When you enter a room, Aries, the dynamic suddenly changes. Your presence has a powerful impact on other people. Don't take it lightly.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) When it comes to issues of love and romance, you're likely to be in a tough situation, Taurus. The problem is that it may seem like there's an element of detachment developing.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Your self-confidence will get you out of any sort of pickle you might be in today, Gemini. Try not to get too emotional about any issue.

Make sure that you keep things light and energetic.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Try not to get too worked up over other people's actions that don't concern you, Cancer. Recent events may have triggered responses from others that now have a serious effect on you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Feel free to ignite your passion with the help of the people around you, Libra.

Join with those who share similar dreams and make a plan for accomplishing whatever you choose.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You may get caught up in gossip if you aren't careful, Scorpio, and people may find this off-putting.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Your enthusiasm is contagious, Sagittarius, and you should do what you can to share this feeling with others. In matters of the heart, have confidence that you know exactly where you stand.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) You may be at a high point right now and feeling very excited about things to come, Capricorn. You probably anticipate but have only a vague notion of what's just over the horizon.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Emotionally, you should feel good today, Leo, so don't let this confidence go to waste.

Do things with your sweetheart and turn the dial up on romance.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Let your heart be the reassuring force in your life today if difficult emotional issues come to the surface, Aquarius. Your feelings are apt to be at a climactic point in your month.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) As much as you try to explain things, Virgo, others simply aren't going to see them with your same intensity and do-or-die urgency.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Be open and communicative about your feelings today, Pisces. Most people find it easy to share facts or concrete information. The challenge is to share something from your heart.

The inaugural winners of the competition - Dave Cameron, Pete Russell, Sir Viv Richards and David Brookes — at Sandy Lane.(CPL)

Christianburg / Wismar make resounding...

(From page 41) goalkeeper with a thunderous shot from close range.

The goal evoked much laughter and applause as the effort which was initially criticised after it was realised that he could have passed the ball earlier to a teammate better positioned finally resulted in a goal.

The final nail in the coffin

was netted by Antwaine Gill, who got on to a cross from the right side and buried a cracking left-footer out of the reach of the opposing goalkeeper. The scoreline remained unchanged until the final whistle sounded.

Meanwhile, in today’s round of matches, Chase Academy take on Kingston at GFC ground; St. Mary’s tackle

Houston at Tucville; Patentia engage Goed Fortuin at Leonora; President’s College square off with Bladen Hall at Victoria; Camille Institute go up against Diamond at Timehri Red ground; No.8 clashes with Belladrum at Rosignol and Berbice High School and Canje battle at Burnham Park.

All matches commence at 15:30 hrs.

Pettiness and perceived right...

(From page 41) for consensus will eventually find its way out.

Too many persons are depending on football for their daily existence, perhaps forgetting that the sport in Guyana is still regarded at best as amateur.

It must be recalled also that it was this same NC that met with the current executive of the UDFA during their fact finding and meeting with affiliates outreach so to now hear of such a dev e l o p m e n t i s surprising and perhaps sinister.

Could they be making room for one of their cronies’ only time has the answer, but the early signs seem to indicate that the move resembles a similar indulgence of the previous political status quo?

Pettiness and the perceived right of ownership continue to plague local football and it has resulted in many believing that unless these two impediments are eradicated from the psyche of some in the football fraternity, acrimony and the possibility of us being subjected to a severe punishment is not improbable.

Let integrity, transparency and accountability be the tenets of football governance, failing which who knows which local or international law enforcement agency might be watching.

Don’t be fooled by the tsunami occurring within FIFA

right now it will dissipate at some point and those who’re thinking of taking advantage

of the pandemonium taking place better think twice and do what is right.

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Wednesday June 24, 2015

Copa America big boost as Jamaica look to Gold Cup, World Cup qualifiers Copa America made us stronger, say Reggae Boyz Jamaica Observer - VINA DEL MAR, Chile — They never seriously thought of lifting the famous Copa America trophy on July 4.

Their primary objective was to test themselves against genuinely world-class talent and teams. In the end, the Reggae Boyz passed, even without scoring a goal, let alone winning a game; and were able to hold their heads high upon exiting the preliminary-round phase following three 0-1 defeats in Group B, which included Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

For them the experience was one to treasure, as they learnt a lot in a competition with 99 years of rich history.

There is now tremendous belief in self, individually and as a unit, and the hope is that the team will grow stage by stage and become much better from here on. “From an overall point of view, I think if someone had said before the tournament started that we would narrowly lose, particularly the first game, and then the other two games 1- 0, I don’t think many people would have given us that chance,” stated Jobi McAnuff following the last game against Argentina on Saturday evening.

“And that we are actually

Jamaica defender Adrian Mariappa (centre) is tackled my Argentina’s Marcos Rojo (left), while the latter’s teammate Javier Mascherano steals possession. Jamaica’s Garath McCleary watches from a distance. disappointed not to get a result, I think that says a lot because, outside of the Jamaica camp, I don’t think anyone would have given us a shot of getting near a result, so we’ve got to be pleased

with the performance, particularly against Uruguay, the second half against Paraguay and a whole performance tonight.

“As I said we are not playing against any mickey

Tour de France winner Riis knew his team was doping, probe says COPENHAGEN (Reuters) Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis failed to act after learning that riders on the professional cycling team he managed were using performance-enhancing drugs, a damning report from Danish sporting authorities said.

The report into claims of doping in Danish cycling was released on Tuesday by the country’s Anti-Doping Authority and National Olympic Committee after a two-and-ahalf year investigation that collated material from more than 50 interviews.

It followed a similar U.S. probe that ended with Lance Armstrong, hitherto the sport’s global icon, being stripped of his seven Tour De France titles for doping offences and banned from professional cycling for life.

Riis, 51, won the Tour in 1996 and was feted during his heyday as the greatest Danish cyclist of the modern era, but he subsequently admitted having doped during his career. He later managed Team

Saxo, which competes on the main pro circuit, before being sacked by the rebranded Team Tinkoff-Saxo in March following a dispute with new owner Oleg Tinkov.

“Management, with Bjarne Riis in overall charge, has at a minimum had knowledge of doping within the team, but failed to intervene. It is completely unacceptable,” Danish Anti-Doping Authority director Michael Ash said in a statement on Tuesday.

Armstrong’s dramatic fall from grace in 2012 lifted the lid on a hitherto largely hidden culture of drug use within the sport from which Danish racing was not immune.

Morten Molholm Hansen, director of the Sports Federation of Denmark, on Tuesday criticized the “tradition of performance-enhancing drugs in cycling, which leads to a mentality that (such behavior) is acceptable.”

“Danish leaders in the sport failed to respond to specific knowledge about their own riders’ use of dop-

ing,” the Authority added in a statement.

Tuesday’s report recommended that night-time testing of athletes should be introduced, that blood values from tests should either be delayed or not revealed to them and that a licensing system for team managers and doctors be introduced.

It also contained an allegation by Danish rider Bo Hamburger that Riis asked him in 2000 to acquire EPO, which improves aerobic capacity by artificially raising the user ’s red blood cell count, for German Team Telekom rider Jorg Jaksche.

Jaksche confirmed the story to investigators, but Riis rejected the allegation. With many revelations contained in the report dating back more than eight years, a statue of limitations for doping cases applies and no disciplinary charges can be brought.

Riis and Team Tinkoff-Saxo’s main sponsors, Tinkoff Bank and Saxo Bank, were not immediately available for comment.

mouse teams. We are away from home, a lot of things against us, referees been tough the whole tournament, but we’ve taken it on board and from our point of view it’s a building block for Jamaican football to move forward with the Gold Cup coming up and the World Cup qualifiers of hopefully doing something really special,” added the veteran 33- year-old.

Jamaica, one of two specially invited guest teams from the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF, the other being Mexico) currently ranked 65 on the FIFA CocaCola list, were ranked higher than just three of the 10 South American nations — Venezuela at 72; Paraguay at 85, and Bolivia at 89.

The FIFA Coca-Cola top10 list includes Argentina at number three; Colombia at number four; Brazil at number five, and Uruguay at number eight. “I’m confident we can play against anyone,” beamed Adrian Mariappa.

“The Gold Cup, I think, we should definitely progress from our group and take it from there, but I think in that competition we definitely can get to the later rounds if we play like today,” he added.

The Jamaicans begin their quest at the CONCACAF Gold Cup on July 8 with majority of the players from the

Copa America squad returning to the fold to continue from where they left off in Chile, and hopefully build on the progress made.

Goalkeeper DuWayne Kerr from Sarpsborg 08, and Deshorn Brown from Valerenga, both in the Norway league, have been ruled out because their clubs have refused to release them, having allowed the players to compete in Copa America.

The Jamaica Observer also understands that the three localbased players — Hughan Gray, Allan Ottey and Dino Williams — will not be included, as Alvas Powell and Andre Blake from Major League as Chris Humprey and Arnett Gardens’ Andre Clennon will fill those places.

The Boyz are drawn in Group B alongside Costa Rica (July 8 in Carson, California), Canada (July 11 in Houston, Texas), and El Salvador (July 14 in Toronto, Canada).

McAnuff, who like his British colleagues, returned home for a brief period of rest and relaxation before returning to the team’s training base in California on July 4, can’t wait to show what they’ve learnt.

“It should be massive because as a unit with togetherness it has been great. The key thing is the time together that we’ve had, which is tough at international level, as you don’t get a lot of time together and then we’ve got

this.

So we need to try and keep the bulk of the squad together going into the Gold Cup, have a good performance there, which we are confident of doing, particularly with the ball, as over here against these teams you probably don’t have as much of the ball as you would like.

So we need to show a bit more of ourselves with the ball going forward – creating chances, scoring goals – and we believe we can do that in the Gold Cup, and the belief should be high because we’ve acquitted ourselves very well.”

And reflecting on the improved second-half performance against Argentina when the Boyz had the fans singing their praises, McAnuff said it was as a result of a number of factors. “I think it is a combination of things... they got a little bit more frustrated, at only 1-0 they expect to be beating us two, three, four nil, so they got a little bit frustrated.

There were a few more gaps opening up on the pitch, we started to press a little bit higher from goal kicks and, as I said, you’re taking more risks, but at that point of the game, obviously, you can do it. If you tried to do that at the start of the game you open yourself up to a very good footballing team, so we know we are strong physically, we’re fit and we finished strongly.”

And the former Reading FC skipper, who made his international debut in London in 2001 as a 19-year-old, is enjoying every moment of his international career just now.

“I just love playing man; I love playing for Jamaica first and foremost, and it gives me such a buzz every time I put on that jersey man.

You are not just playing for the guy next to you, my dad at home or my mom at home or my wife, you are playing for a whole country man.

And from our point of view we want to get everybody on board, we want that support when we are in Jamaica, wherever it is – Kingston, Montego Bay – so that people come to the stadium.

“We want them to be proud of us, and hopefully that with the performances this tournament we’ve done that and I’ll keep going until my legs pack up, but hopefully that won’t be for a little while,” he concluded.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 35

Tridents make it two from two

Gayle-storm fails to materialise, Petersen shines Chris Gayle scored 9 off 13 balls and failed to ignite the Tallawahs innings before their middle-order gradually subsided to the growing pressure to fall short on a thrilling evening.

Peterson dismissed Chadwick Walton and Mahela Jayawardene in the space of three balls in the eighth over of the Tallawahs innings and from that point onwards the visiting team were playing catch-up.

Chris Lynn and Horace Miller put up some resistance for the Jamaican team, both making more than 30, to keep their team’s hopes alive and Andre Russell briefly threatened to pull off a remarkable comeback but when he fell Jamaica’s hopes died with him and ultimately the Tridents bowling was too good and the total perhaps a little too steep.

It probably should have been even steeper. The Tridents were given a wonderful platform by opening part-

nership Dwayne Smith and Dilshan Munaweera who put on 57 for the first wicket before Shoaib Malik joined in on the fun to leave the home side in a great position to register an imposing total.

However, the Tallawahs bowled well in the middleovers to pull the Tridents back before a late flurry of boundaries saw 50 runs scored off the final four overs to elevate the home side to 161-4. Smith was the top-scorer with 56 but Jonathan Carter’s 5ball 17 was integral in giving the Tridents that valuable fillip which later proved to be crucial to their victory.

The Tridents are now two points clear at the top of the table and play again tomorrow against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel who had their first match of the season against the St. Lucia Zouks abandoned.

T h e Ta l l a w a h s n e x t play on Sunday against the Zouks.

Robin Petersen took three wickets, including two in two balls! (CPL)

U.S. eliminate Colombia, Bronze pure gold for England

Colombia forward Lady Andrade (16) moves the ball against United States defender Becky Sauerbrunn (4) and defender Julie Johnston (19) during the second half in the round of sixteen in the FIFA 2015 women’s World Cup soccer tournament at Commonwealth Stadium. (Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports) EDMONTON (Reuters) The United States capitalized on Colombia goalkeeper Catalina Perez’s dismissal to earn a 2-0 win and set up a women’s World Cup quarterfinal against China, while England continue to build up a head of steam after coming from behind to beat Norway.

England’s reward for fighting back in sweltering conditions to record a 2-1 vic-

tory is a last-eight tie against hosts Canada in Vancouver on Saturday.

The United States will face China a day earlier in a repeat of the 1999 final but they had to work for their win at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and only took control of the game with the sending off of Perez after half-time.

Despite a series of unconvincing displays, U.S. coach

Jill Ellis was happy with the way her team were finding a way to win.

“This is the World Cup, I am really satisfied with advancing,” said Ellis. “It is about finding a way. I thought we stroked the ball around pretty well at times. So I am pleased with where we are.”

The game turned the Americans’ way shortly after half-time when Alex Morgan

was brought down just inside the area by Perez, who was then sent off.

Abby Wambach missed the penalty but the opening goal arrived in the 53rd minute when substitute goalkeeper Stefany Castano failed to deal with a near-post shot from Morgan.

The United States doubled their advantage 13 minutes later when Megan

Rapinoe was brought down in the box and this time Carli Lloyd was given the penaltytaking duties and made no mistake from the spot.

United States midfield duo Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday picked up yellow cards on Monday and will miss the game against China. That game will be a repeat of the 1999 tournament’s final, which the Americans won in a penalty shootout on home soil.

Wambach could find herself in trouble with FIFA after suggesting the French referee may have deliberately chosen to give yellow cards to team mates on the verge of suspension.

“I don’t know if they were yellows. It seemed like she was purposefully giving those to the players she knew were sitting on yellows. I don’t know if it was just a psychological thing, who knows?” Wambach told reporters.

Earlier at Landsdowne Stadium, where the temperature hovered around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the first half, Norway’s Solveig Gulbrandsen got her head to a corner at the near post and flicked the ball in off the bar to give her team the lead in the 54th minute.

England, who lost their group opener to France but have now won three in a row, equalized from a corner in the 61st minute when captain Steph Houghton outmuscled

two defenders to score with a fine header of her own.

Defender Lucy Bronze then blasted in the winner in the 76th minute to book England’s spot in the quarterfinals. “We have an excellent record against this Canada team ... the momentum we got from this game will put us in a great place going into the quarter-final,” said England coach Mark Sampson.

The remaining last-16 game takes place on Tuesday with Japan taking on the Netherlands in Vancouver. The winner of that game will play Australia for a place in the semi-finals.

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Kaieteur News

Banglawash threat looms over India

MS Dhoni has a chat with Bangladesh players Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman on the eve of the third ODI, Mirpur, June 23, 2015 ©AFP ESPNcricinfo - From the outside looking in, Bangladesh trouncing Zimbabwe 5-0 barely caused a blip.

There was perhaps a doubletake when Pakistan were served 3-0. If they whitewash India on Wednesday, the world will sit up and notice.

The 14 men and the support staff on tour here already have. MS Dhoni has admitted his team was outplayed.

He has wrestled questions on his captaincy, even bristled momentarily when the critique moved onto selection.

R Ashwin, another player of the ‘keep calm’ variety, seemed to feel he was behind enemy lines at the pre-match press conference. He felt compelled to remind everyone that India had won 75% of their matches this season.

Whether that was because of the scoreline of the series or the brutal spotlight that is on the team is debatable, but it was clear to see it does have issues to sort out. Besides the headache of why the batsmen who are touted to front up for the 2019 World Cup are misfiring all at once.

A lot of the credit should go to Bangladesh. They have won key moments and ensured the momentum never

dissipated. There is a pack mentality readily visible among the quicks. So much that India’s batsmen haven’t had any room to breathe.

They have been bowled out twice, and the best partnership they have put on - one among only four that have crossed fifty - has been 95.

“They’ve owned the Mirpur stadium,” was Ashwin’s assessment. New faces like Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das have fit neatly into the oneday structure, while the old faithful Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza have continued contributing. An 11th win on the trot at home would be the perfect way for them to sign-off in front of the loud, colourful and unabashedly partisan Mirpur crowd.

In the spotlight With the squad bursting with performers, Mushfiqur Rahim hasn’t had much to do. He did seal the series with a sparkly cameo that indicated he was finding his best touch again. But perhaps he might like to put in a more substantial performance, considering the scrutiny over his wicketkeeping lately.

Shikhar Dhawan has had a decent tour so far. He has

restated his case for Test selection, and has taken home a half-century from the second ODI. What he and the rest of the India batting line-up haven’t been able to do is set up a big total. India have spoken about playing freely, a mandate Dhawan quite likes.

Team news Bangladesh have added the legspinner Jubair Hossain to their squad for the third ODI. “”He was taken to increase the bowling options,” Faruque Ahmed, the chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo. “We will have a look at the wicket tomorrow and take a call on him.”

Ajinkya Rahane opted to train yesterday after being dropped for the last ODI. The rest of the team went through “a couple of quiet days,” Ashwin said. The morale isn’t as high as it normally is within the Indian camp.

Pitch and conditions Every day of play on tour has contained the threat of rain, and the trend doesn’t look to be changing. The players trained under cloudy skies on the eve of the match as well. As far as the pitch is concerned, there might not be much change. It is expected to be a touch slow.

18th edition of Hilbert Old Beef Humphrey annual football tournament underway The 2015 edition of the annual Hilbert “Old Beef” Humphrey Inter school U15 football tournament got on the way on Tuesday at the All Saints Scotts Church ground on Princess Elizabeth Road in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

This is the 18th year that the competition is being played.

One of two scheduled matches was played. The first scheduled encounter between Berbice High School (BHS) and New Amsterdam Multilateral (NAMS) was n o t played since NAMS

failed to show up giving BHS a walk over.

In the one game that was played Vryman’s Erven Secondary (VESS) needled Tutorial Academy Secondary School (TASS) 1-0 with Aaron Hunte netting in the 48 minute. The competition will continue on Friday with semi final play when Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) will take on BHS and Canje Secondary School meet VESS. Both matches will be played at the Scott Church ground.

The final is set for next Tuesday at the same venue.

The late ‘Beef’ Humphrey

was an ardent sports fan with several of his children representing Berbice at football and other sports. Some are still actively involved in promoting the further development of the sport in Berbice.

The coordinator is former national player Neil “Grizzly” Humphrey and he is being assisted by former national Kenrick Bowrey. The top two teams will be presented with trophies and medals.

Outstanding individual players will be presented with medals and other tokens.

(Samuel Whyte)

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Paris enters race to host 2024 Olympic Games PARIS (Reuters) Paris on Tuesday officially announced its bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games and bring the global sports event back to the French capital for the first time in a century.

Paris, which narrowly missed hosting the 2012 Olympics, now begins a twoyear selection process in which the world’s most visited city will face off against the likes of Boston, Hamburg and Rome, which lost out to Paris in 1924.

“Paris 2024 promises a feasible and flexible Games concept,” French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) head, Denis Masseglia, said.

His team and others had flagged a Parisian bid for months.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce the candidate cities that made it to the shortlist in 2016, before voting for a winner in the summer of 2017.

French President François Hollande welcomed the move.

“The state will make every effort to ... support this candidature which will be exemplary on the environmental, economic and civic front,” he said in a statement.

“It is a unique moment for a whole generation to come together and show the world France at its best.”

However, Paris’s Olympic plan took some time to emerge.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo was reluctant at first about the cost but endorsed the idea in March after a study said the city’s existing infrastructures should help limit outlays, putting the hosting budget at 6.2 billion euros ($7 billion).

Hidalgo said the way Parisians had united to come out on the streets in their thousands to mourn victims of the January attacks by Islamist gunmen at the offices of a satirical weekly and a Jewish

foodstore was an argument in favour of the bid.

“We aim to highlight the unity and the solidarity of a cosmopolitan city, which I am sure will be one of the key strengths to win,” she said in a written statement in English.

Paris lost bids to stage the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The latter went to London.

“We analysed the reasons for the failures,” Sports Minister Patrick Kanner said.

“The main thing is that the world of sport will lead this bid. The politicians ... won’t be on the front line.”

Three-time Olympic gold medallist, canoeist Tony Estanguet, will be a prominent member of the bidding team.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach told President Francois Hollande last April that Paris would make a “very, very strong candidate”.

Rivaldo ponders comeback at 43 to help Brazilian club Rivaldo (L) fights for the ball with Getafe’s Fabio Celestini (Reuters/ Susana Vera)

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) World Cup winner Rivaldo is considering coming out of retirement at the age of 43 to help pull struggling Mogi Mirim off the bottom of the Brazilian second division.

Rivaldo, who is president of the provincial club, said he would train regularly with the squad and might play in some matches, although he played down the idea of a full-blown comeback.

Mogi Mirim have taken only three points from their opening eight games in the Brazilian Serie B and have failed to win a match.

“Once again, I will sacrifice my family for the good of the club but I hope to see our

team in a more worthy situation in the competition,” the former Barcelona, AC Milan and Deportivo La Coruna midfielder said in a statement.

“I stopped played professionally 15 months ago but, if my knee is okay, I could help in some games, but that is something the training sessions will help me decide.”

Rivaldo, who helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup, added: “I want to help the players get out of this difficult period, because I don’t think our team should be struggling against relegation.

We are good enough to be, at least, in the middle of the table.

“I believe that by training

every day with the squad, with my experience, I will help give the players some tranquillity at this difficult time.

“I’m not coming back to play regularly but as I’m a player with a valid contract, I want to help the players get out of this complicated situation.”

Top Brazilian footballers are often able to play into their late thirties and early forties in their homeland, helped by the modest standards of domestic football.

Romario played for first division Vasco da Gama at the age of 41 and goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni is still playing for Sao Paulo, also in the first division, at 42.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

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Champions face hosts as Copa reaches last eight

Members of Chile’s national soccer team participate in team training for the Copa America tournament at the team’s headquarters in Santiago, June 22, 2015. (Reuters/Jorge Adorno) SANTIAGO (Reuters) The most successful team in the history of the Copa America take on the most impressive side from the first round when Uruguay face Chile in the first quarter-final tonight.

The Uruguayans are the defending champions and have won the competition 15 times — more than Argentina or Brazil.Hosts Chile have never won it but finished unbeaten and top of Group A having scored 10 goals in their opening three matches — twice as many as any other

side in the competition.

“The statistics are clear.

Chile played very well in the group stage,” their midfielder Marcelo Diaz said.

“So, yes, I agree that Chile were the best team in the group stage but that’s over now... Now we start the games of life and death.”

The winners of today’s tie in Santiago will face either Peru or Bolivia who meet in the southern city of Temuco tomorrow, while, on the other side of the draw, Argentina and Brazil could be heading for a semi-final

showdown.

The Argentines take on Colombia in their quarter-final in Vina del Mar on Friday while Brazil face Paraguay in Chile’s second city, Concepcion, on Saturday.

ENIGMATICARGENTINA Argentina were enigmatic in the group stage.

They played superbly in the first half against Paraguay before surrendering a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2. Similarly, against Jamaica, they took an early lead but failed to kill off the match and had to settle for a 1-0 win.

Uruguay’s captain Diego Godin (L) and teammates attend a training session at Sport Center Los Llanos in La Serena, June 21, 2015.

(Reuters/Marcos Brindicci) “We’re lacking a killer instinct,” coach Gerardo Martino said after the Jamaica match. “You can’t account for players with the ability that ours have missing so many chances.

“The fact that we didn’t finish off the match, plus the physical issues we’re having towards the end of the games, leaves me feeling a bit uneasy.” Martino’s men will take on a Colombia side who are

also failing to fire on all cylinders and needed a helping hand from Brazil in the final round of group matches to avoid elimination.

Their playmaker James Rodriguez has yet to make much of an impact and they will play the rest of the tournament without key midfielder Edwin Valencia, who tore a cruciate ligament in Sunday’s drab goalless draw with Peru in Group C.

Brazil finished top of that group but have yet to set the Copa alight. They beat Peru and Venezuela by a single goal and lost to Colombia.

They have also lost their star striker Neymar — suspended for the rest of the tournament for his part in a fracas against the Colombians.

Robinho took Neymar’s place in their last match and will almost certainly start against Paraguay.

Tongues wag over new super-fast The 4Horsemen Promotion horserace bike set for Tour de France debut meet rescheduled to September

The 4Horsemen Race Promotion has announced a change in its race schedule.

The meeting previously advertised for August 2nd, 2015, at the Port Mourant Turf Club, has been rescheduled to date to be determine in September.

After meeting with fellow promoters and track owners, it was decided, in the best interest of horseracing, to withdraw from promoting a race meeting for August 2nd, 2015.

The 4Horsemen, as the name suggests, is made up of

horse owners with a desire to promote a unique and rewarding racing experience.

In a release from the group it was noted that, “In the coming weeks we will be adding new members, including more horse owners, and looking within our membership to address areas of conflicts where members also happen to be track owners and administrators.”

The 4Horsemen in the release stated that it would like to assure all its sponsors and

strategic partners, of its steady commitment to quality racing and to refocus the goal of uniting horse owners, thus increasing value for its partners. The 4Horsemen will announce the exact date in September, within the coming weeks.

In the meanwhile, the group would like to thank all their supporters and partners and look forward to working with them when the racing season resumes.

(Samuel Whyte)

George hat-trick gives Cummings Lodge huge win Elroy George netted a hattrick to lead Cummings Lodge to a comprehensive 8-2 victory over Nehemiah when the Digicel National Schools Football championship continued yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground.

Both teams made several raids on goal in the opening exchanges, but it was Cummings Lodge who took the lead when Frederick Katwaroo fired home in the 12th minute.

Denzie Price doubled the advantage in the 14th minute before Katwaroo scored his second in the 25th minute as

Cummings Lodge took a 3-0 lead at half time. Cummings Lodge dominated possession after the interval, but it was Nehemiah’s Aubrey Gill who slotted home in the 47th minute to reduce to deficit. The second half turned out to be a goal spree for Cummings Lodge as they took advantage of their opponents tiring legs.

Shaquille Inniss found the back of the net in the 52nd minute before Jeremiah Rowe fired home Nehemiah’s second in the 55th. Zeemario Johnny extended Cummings Lodge lead in the 56th minute

before George registered his hat-trick.

George opened his account in the 58th when the blasted home from just inside the area, skipping pass a defender in the process.

He then netted his second in the 65 th, neatly tapping home a pass from the left side of the box before completing his hat-trick in the final minute.

Nehamiah goalkeeper Michael Richmond had a fine day between the uprights, pulling off a number of saves.

The game was reduced to 70 minutes due to a late start.

Business Insider (Yahoo Sports) This year’s Tour de France, as with most Tours, will see the rolling out of new bikes, wheels, tires, helmets, sunglasses, shoes, apparel, and more. Because it’s the world’s largest annual sporting event, it’s an ideal time for manufactures to show off all their new stuff.

One bike that seems to be getting more attention than all the others is the just-revealed Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS. The company recently invited Business Insider to check it out in person, but because it was under embargo until now we didn’t get to take it for a spin.

Yet during our brief meetup with a Specialized rep we got to snap a few pics and learn a bit about it. Specialized claims it is “the fastest bike in the world,” which is a bold statement considering how many fast bikes are out there.

The carbon Venge is actually one of five new products Specialized is unveiling this week as a “complete aerodynamic ecosystem.”

Along with the Venge, there’s a new skinsuit, helmet, shoes, and wheel-and-tire system. All together, the project is dubbed “5 Min-

utes,” which is how much time you’ll save over 40 kilometers, or about 25 miles, if you’re riding this bike and wearing the gear, the company says. That is, compared to its previous similar bike and gear.

There will be limited availability beginning in August, the company said. The price for the Venge: $12,500US. Although we didn’t get to ride the bike — not yet anyway — it does look impressive. The first thing we noticed was the headset, stem, and handlebar; it looks like a super-stiff setup.

Then the new proprietary brakes; they’re integrated, behind the fork and seat tube.

Third, there are no cables showing — they’re all internally routed. The company says this bike, ridden with a Roval CLX64 wheelset, will save 120 seconds over 40km.

Overall, as a first impression, it might be the best-looking aero road bike we’ve ever seen. Hopefully we’ll get to test-ride one soon.

Here’s what Specialized’s Chris Riekert said in a statement sent to Business Insider: The all-new S-Works Venge ViAS Di2 was developed with one objective in mind—to be the fastest bike

in the world. The design for this bike started with building our own Win Tunnel, and with more than 1000 hours of testing, prototyping, and refining, we can say with confidence that we nailed our objective. The high level of performance starts with a Rider-Fi r s t E n g i n e e r e d frame and fork that feature a new level of aerodynamics.

This is coupled with the added benefit of the Roval CLX 64 wheelset—the fastest wheels we’ve ever made.

Along with the zero-drag brakes and Aerofly ViAS c o c k p i t , t h e S - Wo r k s Venge ViAS Di2 is, quite simply, the fastest bike in the world.

And here’s what Specialized says about the new wheelset: Roval CLX 64 wheelset provides the ultimate in speed and performance. Optimized for both head- and crosswinds, the CLX 64 wheelset is tubelessready and features a 21mm internal ribm width for enhanced traction, minimal rolling resistance, and improved aerodynamics.dd As for that tire, it’s the SWorks Turbo. The company claims it’s “the world’s fastest tire” and saves 35 seconds over 40km.

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Tiger Sports of Enmore provides Juniors make their presence felt balls for BCB fundraiser

Day 3 highlights of the GBTI Tennis: For many years the open categories have seen mainly adult entries but refreshingly enough, in 2015 the juniors have made their visibility felt.

The question dawned; can a junior player make it deep into the main draws? The answer to that question came when spectators saw the two junior players, Shivani Persaud and Sarah Klautky, slugging it out on court 2 in the Ladies Singles Open. We were witnessing our country’s tennis future in these two youngsters.

Klautky lost the first set 6/0 to a more seasoned Persaud; however she gained some momentum in the second set. She slammed first serves and blasted winners in rallies that lasted over 10 strokes. It was evident that the consistency levels of the girls were high and can be attributed to the exposure gained on the regional tennis circuit. In the second set, the girls went on serve until 5/5, Klautkytook two quick points on her serve but lost the third point, hereafter in that game she lost her confidence and with that Persaud kept her cool and took control to close the match 6/0, 7/5.

The juniors kept the ball rolling in the Ladies Singles Open with Kalysia Fraser taking out the senior, Tracy Shamsudeen 6/1, 6/1. The young Fraser kept her cool as she hit clean lines to create angles which forced her opponent to move. The two under 10, Vedanand Resaul and Joshua Kalekeyzi stole the show in their debut match against the two seniors, Daniel Lopes and Nicolas Glasgow. They played fearlessly against their opponent. They earned every point and never looked out of the game as they encouraged each other along.

This positive spirit gave them 2 games which will boost their egos as they continue improve. Lopes and Glasgow advanced with a 6/0, 6/2 win to face Hemraj Resaul and Mark McDonald. This young combination has already pulled off the biggest upset so far in the tournament and will be coming into the match with a renewed sense of be-

Kester Abrams (right) shakes hands with Viraj Jugdeo after his win. lief.

It was a treat to watch Harry Panday and Chetham Narayan fence it out with their racquets in the over 35s Singles Category. Panday is known for his consistency in returning any ball that is hit at him but he was forced out of his comfort zone by the imposing Narayan, who hits the ball with flat acute angles.

Panday displayed resilience to stay in the match but the Indian National, Narayan, attacked the backhand of Panday with deep inside-out forehand shots to opening the court. He then executed finishing shots of smashes and tenderly touched volleys.

Narayan closed the match 6/ 3, 6/2.

All eyes were drawn to the main court to view a three hours marathon between Viraj Jugdeo and Kester Abrams.

Jugdeo took the driving seat of the match from the first game and secured a straightforward first set at 6/3. At this point in the match it seems Abrams would be swept away by the precision of Jugdeo’s shots, but he proved the prediction wrong. From the serve of the second set it became a tumultuous match with the momentum being swung between the two players. At 4/4

Abrams got broken and Jugdeo was on serve for the match. When asked about his thoughts at this moment he said, “I decided to just play, whether I won or lose. I had nothing to lose”. He managed to save the match to set a tiebreaker which he won 7/3 to give him the set 7/6.

He rode the confidence boost into the third set to a 5/ 1 lead with his unconventional double fisted back and forehand shots which became more deadly in the final set.

All hopes of a win seem to have fleeted from Jugdeo after Abrams set up 2 match points which were erased by Jugdeo’s conviction in his winning shots. The final game had 5 deuces until Abrams capitalized on the 4th match point. He won the match 3/6, 7/6(7/3),6-1 and will face the No. 1 seed, Anthony Downes.

Stephen Bailey and Oswin Coggins teamed up in the Men’s Doubles Open to defeat Dominic Fraser and Nomechandra Persaud, 6/1, 6/ 4. Bailey and Coggins were favoured for the win with their great teamwork and communication nonetheless, Fraser and Persaud put up an admirable fight in the second set.

Tiger Sports of Enmore, East Coast Demerara, owned by former national wicketkeeper/batsman Sheik Mohamed has agreed to provide four boxes of white balls for the Berbice Cricket Board Fundraiser.....”Caricom Championship 2015".

Presenting the balls to Hubern Evans, BCB executive and former national all rounder, was Javed Mohamed, the son of Sheik Mohamed. Young Mohamed, himself a former national youth player, said that he and his father follows the work of the Berbice Cricket Board very closely and are always impressed with the amount of energy the board members put into their cricket. He added that they both love the game very much and will always give back to help produce not only cricketers but good sports ambassadors in general.

Evans in response thanked Sheik Mohamed and his family for their kind gesture and said that based on the feedback he gets many Berbice cricketers, cricket clubs and even the BCB can go to Tiger Sports for help and help is always given. He

encouraged all Guyanese to shop at Tiger Sports for there is always good quality, great bargains and handsome discounts.

He said that the popular sports store which can be contacted on 615-1900 has the latest sports gears, of high quality and at very affordable prices.

The BCB is working feverishly to make sure that three day first division cricket returns to Berbice and proceeds from this event will go towards that initiative. The board is appealing to all cricket lovers in Guyana and in the diaspora to come on board with the BCB to further enhance the game in the ancient county.

The board is also calling on former Berbice players for assistance. Contact can be made on telephone numbers 333-2375, 655-4140 and 6236875. Emails can also be sent to abeharry1970@yahoo.com and ros_haniff2001@yahoo.com.

Others sponsors on board so far are: Sentinel Security Inc, Republic Bank Guyana Ltd, Sandeep Ramdas of Ishmail Poultry Establishment (Pampey), Safraz Photo Studio, Office Express and

Rocky of Palace Taxi Service and Restaurant and Bar. The board would also like to thank the print and electronic media for their support so far. The Caricom Championship will be played at the historic Albion Sports Complex on Sunday July 5, 2015 and will see eight first division teams in Berbice taking part in a ten over knockout competition with the final of 20 overs to be played under lights for a top prize of $80,000 and trophy.

The runner up will receive $40,000 and trophy with the losing finalists $15,000 each. Man of the match in every game will be rewarded. The teams will don coloured clothing and white balls will be used. Action begins at 10am sharp with the top Berbice cricketers on show.

The draw will be done today at 1pm and a representative from each team is invited.

Many gate prizes will be up for grabs for the fans, with a well stock bar and musical entertainment present.

Games for the young and old will be there. Entrance is $300 for adults, children under 12 free.

Bolt enters 100 at Jamaican world trials Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after winning the 200m at the IAAF Diamond League Grand Prix track and field competition in New York June 13, 2015.

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

KINGSTON (Reuters) Reigning world champions Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce are both entered in this week’s Jamaican trials despite holding byes to the Beijing world championships.

Bolt, who has struggled to find form this season,

will compete in the 100 meters as the world record holder seeks race shape. He will compete in both the 100m and 200m at August’s world championships.

Fraser-Pryce, the year’s co-fastest in the women’s 100m, is entered in both

sprints at the trials, which begin on Thursday.

Olympic double sprint s i l v e r m e d a l i s t Yo h a n Blake, who returned to action this month after an 11 month injury layoff, also is down to contest both the 100m and 200m.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

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3rd Ansa McAl/Slingerz West Side Independence KO Cup

Bakewell Slingerz FC swamp Ann’s Grove to lift championship

By Franklin Wilson The have certainly proven that they have got the goods to be consistent and eventually challenge for the best club in Guyana.

Bakewell Slingerz Football Club, based on the West Coast of Demerara mauled East Demerara’s Ann’s Grove United FC to successfully defend their West Side Independence knock-out Cup. The final, which was played on Father’s Night at the spanking new Leonora Sports Facility, saw forward Devon Millington blasting the nets on three occasions to lead his team to yet another c h a m p i o n s h i p t r o p h y.

The third place match went to Fruta Conquerors over fellow city side Pele by way of two second half goals following a goalless opening 45 minutes.

Jeremy Carret in the 53rd minute and Delon Williams four minutes later were the players hitting the network for Conquerors.

Ann’s Grove, the surprise package of the tournament got more than they bargained for coming up against a side that features a number of Golden Jaguars.

Slingerz FC receives the championship trophy from Ansa McAl’s PRO Ms. Darshanie Yussuf following their triumph against Ann’s Grove United in the 3rd Ansa McAl/Slingerz West Side Independence KO Cup. By the end of the first 45 minutes, Slingerz were well on their way to a comprehensive win and keeping the top prize of $600,000.

Millington, a lethal marksman wasted no time in stamping his authority on the opposition with goals in the 23rd and 35th minute.

Golden Jaguar Vurlon Mills had opened the scoring in the

21st minute.

Ann’s Grove, which also lost by a similar margin to East Demerara’s Grove Hi Tech in the Stag Beer, three association knock-out cup on New Year’s night this year, when Domini Garnett blasted all five goals, put up a tougher fight in the second half but it was not enough to curtail the rampaging

Slingerz frontline.

Four minutes into the second stanza, Millington completed his hat-trick of goals and it was not until five minutes to full time that they were able to score the fifth and final goal. Ann’s Grove were never threatening in the attacking third.

For their efforts, they walked away with the second

place prize of $300,000.

Fruta Conquerors pocketed $150,000 for their third place, while Pele FC collected $100,000 for their efforts.

Ever since they came on to the football scene two years ago, Bakewell Slingerz, one of the eight clubs that have been selected by the Guyana Football Federation for their inaugural

Elite League which is expected to kick off in August, have been consistently winning tournaments.

They have won the Banks Beer Cup hosted by the Georgetown Football Association; Annual Mayor’s Cup and the Kashif and Shanghai knock-out championship which is now played at Easter.

Commenting on the win, Club President and Owner Javid Ali said that he is pleased with the efforts of his team in winning yet another tournament, noting that the hard work they have been putting in under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Joseph Wilson, continues to pay dividends.

He said that with the club being among the eight selected by the GFF for the Elite Championship and also having received their Club License following the CONCACAF led Club Licensing initiative, Slingerz will continue to aim higher as they seek to not only be the best club in Guyana but will also be aiming to make their mark at the Caribbean and CONCACAF levels.

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Digicel Nationwide Schools Football competition

Floyd, Jacobs lead Uitvlugt to 3-0 win

By Sean Devers Playing in the agriculture setting of the Den Amstel Football ground on the West Coast of Demerara, about 30 minute’s drive from the Capital City, Daniel Floyd scored a brace on either side of the half after Jermaine Jacobs had netted the opening goal to lead Uitvlugt Secondary to a convincing 3nil victory against Vreed-inHoop Secondary as the Digicel national schools football tournament continued yesterday.

A wonderful turnout for this level of Football filled the two stands while others, mostly students from the several schools on the West Coast, stood in several sections of the soggy ground under a clear blue sky and scorching heat and those students from the Uitvlugt Secondary School left the

venue with smiles as broad as the Mighty Atlantic Ocean which is a stone’s throw from the northern fence of the Region three venue.

Among those present yesterday was Digicel’s Sponsorship and Events Manager Gavin Hope.

Uitvulgt, Captained by National under-17 player Shomal Smith and coached

by Miss Shevon, a member of the Coaching staff of the Slingerz Football club, played a fast paced and aggressive football game and enjoyed the majority of the ball possession.

Jacobs opened Uitvlugt’s account in the 8th minute when he evaded a sea of white shirts to hit a stinging right footer from just outside the box as his team attacked ferociously and dominated proceedings in the first stanza.

Floyd then beat the

Keeper from close range in the 27th minute and celebrated as if his had won the World Cup much to delight of the close 400 fans and at the break Uitvlugt led 2 to nothing.

Even though the pace slowed somewhat in the second half the Vreed-inHoop Keeper Kevin Todd had a hectic afternoon as the opposition made several raids on Goal and the game got a bit more physical.

In the 47th minute, Smith was given a yellow card for unsportsman-like conduct and an indirect free kick was awarded to Floyd Peters, who looped the ball nicely over the wall. But it was well caught by the Uitvlugt Keeper and their best chance of getting a goal went abegging.

After three successive shots were saved by Todd, Keon Duke thought he had

Jermaine Jacobs easily penetrates a sea of white shirts to score a stinging right footer past the Vreed-in-Hoop Custodian. netted Uitvlugt’s third goal from a rebound from the goalie and was in the middle of ‘taking off his shirt’

celebrations when he saw the off-side flag being waived by the Referee.

But the score line soon

read 3-0 when Floyd scored again in the 63rd minute and so it remained when the final whistle was blown.

August vacation Bishop’s, St. Roses High latest winners swimming programme in NSBF Georgetown Conference Bishop’s High School and St. Roses High were the latest Under-19 winners on Saturday when the National School Basketball Festival’s (NSBF) Georgetown Regional Conference continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Bishop’s High downed President’s College 55-36 with Timothy Thompson scoring 18 points and pulling down a mammoth 27 rebounds and seasoned campaigner, Daniel Haynes

contributing 19 points and 14 rebounds.

For President’s College, Jaleel Duke scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds with five steals.

In the other U-19 game, St. Roses High beat Marian Academy 40-36 with Trinity Grid Holdings Pacesetters junior guard, Nathan Saul pouring in 12 points, completed with seven steals.

He got support from Anfernee Jervis’ 10 points and seven rebounds.

For Marian, Jonathan Mangra had 15 points.

In an Under-16 clash, Plaisance Secondary defeated St. Joseph High School 47-18 with Delroy Critchlow scoring 22 points and Nigel Bowen a doubledouble with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Lemuel Grant scored eight points and grabbed 18 rebounds for St. Joseph.

In the Girls’ competition, Marian Academy thrashed St. Roses High 32-5 as

Georgianna Vyphuis led with 12 points and 18 rebounds and Jada Mohan 14 points. Sileena Arjune scored four points and grabbed four rebounds for St. Roses High.

The Georgetown Conference semi-finals will be contested on Sunday. This will be followed by the Regional Championship games for all Conferences on July 3 and NSBF from July 5-12 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

2015 starts July 13 The Ministry of Education – Department of Culture, Youth and Sport/ National Sports Commission will conduct its annual August Vacation Swimming Programme during July 13 to August 21, 2015 at the Colgrain Swimming Pool.

Interested persons are request to make contact with Ms. Desiree Cummings at the Colgrain Pool, Camp

Street, Georgetown on telephone number 226-0387 or Mr. Abraham Watson at the National Aquatic Centre on telephone number 6495562 for the necessary information, between 08:00h – 16:30h.

Children will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. It is important for parents to walk with their children’s birth certificates for registration.

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 41

Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition Pettiness and perceived right of ownership continue Christianburg / Wismar make to plague local football resounding start to title defence

By Rawle Welch As the football world continues to reel from the plethora of bribery scandals unearthed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the USA, sources close to the local scene is suggesting that the caretaker Normalisation Committee (NC) recent actions is threatening to destabilize the sport once again.

According to a source, the NC under its General Secretary (GS) had written the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) stating that its right to participate in the upcoming Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Congress has been revoked.

The source added that the GS’s correspondence stated that following an international investigation the FIFA has advised that the UDFA right to attend and participate in the NC Congress be rescinded.

The UDFA responded to the GS by asking him to show cause for such an action since the executive seems unaware of an international investigation and moreso what that investigation was all about among other questions which this newspaper is cognizant of.

The letter to the GS also reminded of the whole purpose of the NC’s existence which is to bring about a stabilizing and cordial atmosphere among the sport’s stakeholders after a period of chaos which by the very actions of the current administration could resurrect its ugly head once again.

It must be noted that it was the very FIFA / CONCACAF officials, that mediated in the previous turmoil that, who said that there will be no recrimination towards anyone, while also urging the NC to stay far away from revisiting decisions taken by the previous administration.

To now renege on the verdict which was announced quite pellucid to the media and other stakeholders in the small room at the Pegasus Hotel last year, if true, is simply dishonest and a step backward, especially in light of what has been happening to the sport globally.

The NC is the Body charged with making the day to day decisions for football locally and if what the GS articulated in his missive to the UDFA implicating FIFA as the authority that made such a judgment then other affiliates should take that ruling as a forewarning for their own future attendance at Congress.

Today it is the UDFA, but who knows who it will be tomorrow.

To add even more intrigue into the current state of affairs is the rumour of certain members of the NC vigorous campaign to stay on after the September deadline for the Body’s dissolution.

There seems to be a creeping characteristic of authoritarianism being displayed right now within the corridors of football and if not checked could send us back to the dark days.

Nepotism and cronyism is still the order of the day and these acts of deceit is causing internal revolt and while it has been contained so far, the continued disregard (Continued on page 33)

Reigning champions Christianburg / Wismar made a resounding start to the defence of their title after registering an emphatic 4-0 triumph over New Silvercity in their clash of the Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition yesterday, at the Wisburg Secondary School ground.

The champs who’ve won the title on three consecutive occasions shook off a nervous start, in front of the biggest crowd of the tournament to date, before imposing their will on their opponents to send an early warning to all pretenders that dismantling them will not be easy.

Both teams played cagey from the opening whistle, but it was the champs who begun to assert themselves and netted in the 23rd minute of play when Kendolph Lewis stationed on the far post following a free kick from about 25 yards out on the left flank rose above every defender to head into the far corner.

That goal seemed to invigorate the champions and they went on a relentless pursuit to stretch their advantage with New Silvercity constantly on the receiving end and had it not been for a combination of errant finishing and misfortune the scoreline could have easily been much different.

However, the pressure eventually proved too much for New Silvercity and they conceded a penalty after a defender was punished for handling the ball in the ‘red zone’ and the ensuing spot kick taken by Omar Brewley was delivered with awesome power into the roof of the net after thirty-four minutes.

Photo on server From left- Christianburg / Wismar goalscorers Omar Brewley, Kendolph Lewis, Amar Jones and Antwaine Gill pose for a photo op yesterday.

That scoreline held until the break as New Silvercity clung on for dear life with the rampant Christianburg / Wi s m a r s t r i k e f o r c e providing plenty headaches.

On the resumption, the

same pattern of play continued as the Champs looked deadly in the attacking third and nine munites after got their third goal in fortuitous manner as Amar Jones, who had picked

up the ball from the backfield, teared dowfield dribbling past a host of defenders and in the process breaking a few tackles, before piercing the (Continued on page 33)

t r o Sp Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition

Christianburg / Wismar make resounding start to title defence

Players from New Silvercity (white jersey) and Christianburg / Wismar fight for possession of the ball in the air in their encounter yesterday.

Tongues wag over new super-fast bike set for Tour de France debut

The world’s hottest new road bike: the S-Works Venge ViAS from Specialized.

The super-stiff, lightweight aero machine will officially debut at this year’s Tour de France (July 4-26), where it will be ridden by select riders such as Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan. (Daniel McMahon/Business Insider)

Pettiness and perceived right of ownership continue to plague local football

George hat-trick gives Cummings Lodge huge win

Cummings Lodge goal scorers from left Shaquille Inniss, Denzil Price, Elroy George, Frederick Katwaroo and Zeemario Johnny.

Day 3 highlights of the GBTI Tennis:

Juniors make their presence felt

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