Kaieteur News

Online readership yesterday 95,528

March 26, 2013 - Vol. 6 No. 13 - Price $80

Email: kaieteurnews@yahoo.com Online: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com

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

Govt. unveils $208.8B budget PAYE rate reduced to 30%; old age pension increased to $12,500 monthly tax break for new homeowners; assistance for senior citizens with GPL bill NIS rate hiked 1%

Grade Six Assessment gets underway

Pupils of St Angela’s Primary School after the first segment of the Grade Six Assessment yesterday.

Dismal sugar industry ...

Govt. withheld billions in critical EU assistance to GuySuCo - Tony Vieira - Finance Minister says $39.5B invested over the years

Armed bandits caught after snatching $$$ in front GRA - money returned to businessman

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Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

$17.5B to kick-start Rohee’s Security Sector plan Guyana’s security sector will this year benefit from an infusion of a whopping $17.5B to continue the Government’s heightened focus in securing its citizens.

This figure, which was announced by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh in his 2013 budget presentation, is $1.1B more than what was allocated last year.

It will allow for specific interventions to be made to enhance citizen confidence in the law enforcement system, resulting from more police presence, and better trained professionals with greater attention to accountability.

According to the Minister, this will be the norm, particularly because this aspect of performance will be monitored closely to ensure standards are met.

There will also be a more intense collaboration among the joint services to ensure maintenance of security and stability.

Focus will be placed on enhancing physical infrastructure, and providing air, land and water transport and equipment for the sector to carry out its mandate effectively.

The Government has embarked on a comprehensive programme of reform to the security sector,

which it sees as a long term process, and has designed a strategy which articulates a holistic approach to citizen security and safety, and public welfare.

The strategy focuses on key areas dealing with developing and strengthening administrative competencies, improving professionalism, strengthening accountability and integrity, deepening interorganisational linkages for greater cohesiveness and impact, expanding on safe neighbourhoods pilots, and establishing houses of justice to allow for greater people participation and involvement in public safety and security issues. On December 31, last, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had unveiled an ambitious security sector plan, which is manifested in the allocation to the sector in this year’s budget.

Yesterday, the Finance Minister disclosed that $16.4B was expended last year for the continued development and modernisation of the security sector. In this regard, five year strategic plans were completed for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Police and Prisons and now guide the priorities of these agencies.

With a view to ensuring

Ranks of the Guyana Police Force during an operation last year. that the operational capacity of the Joint Services is continuously improved and to complement the efforts of modernisation, $872.7 million was spent in 2012 on the acquisition and maintenance of essential security related equipment.

Additionally, with the operationalisation of the Integrated Crime Information System, thus improving the security forces’ capacity to collect and analyse crime statistics, 18 police stations in Regions Four and Six were equipped with computers and connected to force headquarters.

“Crime information can now be compiled electronically on a daily basis and shared with Force leadership, thus enhancing planning and use of resources.”

Minister Singh explained that with regards to the fight against drugs and piracy, the maritime sector will benefit from greater physical presence of maritime forces with the operationalising of floating bases in Regions Two and Six. In support of further advancing the capabilities of the safety and security personnel, ranks of the Guyana Police Force from the

level of Constable to Assistant Commissioner will benefit from mandatory overseas training.

The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory will be completed and is expected to become operational in the latter part of the year.

According to the Minister the state-of-the-art laboratory will make a significant impact by providing sound scientific basis for investigations and expert testimony to support the adjudication of cases, and will thus raise the quality of analysis that can be carried out in our country to

international standards.

He added that Guyana continues to play a principal role internationally in fighting crime. “Our bilateral and multilateral efforts are mutually beneficial as Guyana supports the global campaign against drugs, money laundering, corruption, terrorism and illegal arms trade. Our relationships with our bilateral and multilateral partners in the global campaign against crime and violence have provided conclusive evidence of how valuable our contributions are seen,” the Finance Minister declared.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

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Kaieteur News

Govt. unveils $208.8B budget PAYE rate reduced to 30%; old age pension increased to $12,500 monthly tax break for new homeowners; assistance for senior citizens with GPL bill NIS rate hiked 1%

By Leonard Gildarie Several measures, including a $2,500 monthly increase in the old age pension and lowering of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax rate to 30 per cent, were introduced yesterday as Government unveiled its 2013 National Budget to the tune of $208.8B - its largest ever.

During a three-hour long budget presentation yesterday afternoon in the National Assembly, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, also announced plans to allow homeowners who have mortgages to deduct their interest payments from the taxable income.

While the tax threshold for workers will remain at $50,000 monthly, the PAYE rate was reduced from 33.3 per cent to 30 per cent.

“As a result of this reduction in the personal income tax rate, more than 184,000 taxpayers will benefit with higher take home pay, and an additional $1.8 billion of disposable

income will be placed annually in the hands of the taxpaying public,” Singh said.

Regarding the measures, D r. S i n g h s a i d i t i s Government's objectives to ensure that the debt remains within manageable levels.

In addition to $1B to assist the ailing sugar industry which fell to its lowest production last year, this year Government has allocated $11.2B to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) that will assist that state-owned agency meet its cash flow requirements.

The money will also help in key projects including the upgrade of GPL's transmission and distribution network, its loss reduction programme, and activities relating to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.

The Minister argued that GPL last raised electricity tariffs since 2007, when fuel prices were a fraction of what t h e y a r e t o d a y. “ T h e escalation in fuel costs has been borne by GPL in the absence of tariff increases,

placing tremendous pressure on the cash flows of the company. For this reason, it was necessary last year for Government to inject a transfer of $6 billion into GPL. Those circumstances remain substantially unchanged.”

Another $2.9B has been allocated as electricity subsidies for over 10,300 residents of Linden and Kwakwani, Region Ten. Last year, attempts by government to raise electricity in Linden met with protests with three persons shot dead by police. That hike has since been placed on hold.

Regarding the noncontributory old age pension which Government has introduced several years ago to persons over the age of 65 years, Singh noted that it has been increased annually from $3,500 in 2006 to $10,000 last year.

“I am pleased to announce that Budget 2013 provides for the old age pension to be increased to $12,500 per month, an increase of 25 percent, with

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh effect from May 1, 2013.

The annual impact of this increase would result in an additional $1.3 billion of disposable income being placed in the hands of 42,500 senior citizens, and will bring the overall old age pension bill to a total of $6B in 2013.”

In addition to the old age pension increase, the budget this year will also see government paying part of the GPL bill for seniors. This

will amount to $20,000 annually or $1,666 monthly.

Government has also been spending $200M annually assisting senior citizens to pay the water charges they incur at the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI). This electricity subsidy will cost the national treasury $590M annually.

Government did not leave out the National Insurance Scheme from the budget. Reviews have called for revenues to be increased urgently or face continued shortfalls by the dwindling number of contributors.

Government has decided that it is raising the rates payable by employees and employers alike by one per cent. This will generate additional revenue for the NIS of approximately $890M annually.

The Finance Minister said that government will meet both the employers' and the employees' share of the increase in contribution payable with respect to employed persons whose income is not more than $50,000 per month.

There will also be changes to property taxes and valuation on companies

and individuals.

“With effect from year of assessment 2014 …the first $10M of net property will be taxed at zero percent; the next $15M of net property will be taxed at 0.5 per cent, and the remainder of net property will be taxed at 0.75 percent.

Thousands of small businesses with net property below $10M will no longer be subject to property tax.”

In introducing relief measures for homeowners who have mortgages, the Finance Minister disclosed that with effect from year of income 2013, first time homeowners who are holders of mortgage loans of up to $30M granted to them by commercial banks or the New Building Society will be permitted to deduct the interest they pay on such mortgages from their taxable income for the purposes of personal income tax.

“That portion of taxable income used by a first time home owner to pay interest on a housing loan of up to $30 million from a commercial bank or building society will be exempt from personal income tax.”

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Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

The Budget no longer holds terror Yesterday was Budget Day. There was a time when people looked forward to the budget because they had hopes of a pay rise, a drop in taxes and some even looked at the budget to anticipate movement in currency.

Those old enough would remember the days when Guyana had what it called a “basket of currency”. The Guyana dollar was tied to the major currencies and moved accordingly. But the time came when even that could not be sustained and so was subject to devaluations. This was something that people waited to see.

These devaluations reduced many people to near paupers. Those who had large sums of Guyana currency in the bank to buy foreign currency found that there was so much less foreign currency that they could buy. Then began the game of cat and mouse; as Budget Day approached people withdrew their money and sought to buy foreign currency on the black market. Pretty soon people were keeping their money in foreign currency or in assets.

But there were those who just had money for the sake of money. These paid a hefty price.

Budgets no longer command the interest they once did.

Instead, people are more interested in tax breaks by way of an adjustment in the income tax threshold. They are also interested in adjustments in their minimum wage. For example, the government had signaled that it was going to have a standard minimum wage.

Ever since the government was presented with a parliamentary minority, though, the budget has created other interest. The parliamentary opposition says that it is keeping an eye on spending in light of charges that there is widespread corruption in Government circles.

Indeed, there have been many cases of monies being allocated but not spent as the budget stipulated. For example, there were budgetary allocations for the construction of airstrips at Leguan and Wakenaam. However, despite the allocation no work was done in 2010. This was money that could not have been diverted so the truth was that while it was voted and not spent, it represented funds that were put in cold storage, inaccessible to the nation for its development. Road works were planned and not executed; other works were identified but there was nothing to ensure execution. More recently, the Public Accounts Committee began examining some expenditures voted for in the National Assembly. The committee is now finding that many contractors were overpaid. To make matters worse, the overpaid sum is not being recovered. This means that the national treasury is paying out sums for which no work is done. These discoveries have only served to heighten the imagination of the opposition who are now questioning the various allocations. Not being accustomed to being questioned in a manner that could see amendments to the budget, the government is not happy. It has been critical of the opposition but the nation firmly believes that there should be some accountability.

Let it be known that the opposition participation in the budget debates has seen modifications in even after the budget has been passed. Last year there was a budgetary vote on old age pension. The opposition was not happy with the amount and caused the intervention of President Donald Ramotar. The result is well known; old age pensioners began receiving $10,000 per month.

Up until the government found itself in a minority position it passed allocations regardless of the objections.

Still fresh in memory is the allocation for the One Laptop Per Family project. There was no objection because the opposition felt that such opposition would have been fruitless. It turns out that the Chinese are funding the second tranche. There should therefore be no budgetary allocation in this area. But if there is, surely the opposition would be forced to vote against it.

Now we come to the sensitive issue. The courts contend that the opposition cannot tamper with allocations. This would be interesting if there is an allocation for the One Laptop Per Family project.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Resilient planning will help cities to adapt to climate change DEAR EDITOR, Climate change will, no doubt, affect all countries and, to different degrees, both rural and urban areas.

Cities in developing countries, including Georgetown, which is four feet below the normal high tide and an additional two feet below spring tide, remains particularly vulnerable to this environmental phenomenon.

However, this vulnerability presents opportunities for new approaches to planning, development and investments in designing and implementing appropriate infrastructure and facilities that would allow them to adapt to environmental change.

Cities are centres of population and economically and socially valuable assets and services.

As a result, both the size and cost of impacts, whether climaterelated or natural disaster-related, tend to be disproportionately greater than in the more dispersed rural areas. Cities also tend to have large informal settlements (squatting arrangements) built with little care about official zoning and building requirements.

Cities often have high concentrations of solid and liquid waste, large areas of impermeable surfaces such as roads and concreted yards that accelerate run-off and disrupt natural drainage patterns. Also, the problem of excessive use of plastic, Styrofoam and other nonbiodegradables affect the efficiency of drainage systems.

However, the population concentration and infrastructure

of cities can facilitate the implementation of some adaptation and disasterprevention policies and measures.

Anticipated climate change impacts on cities have initiated change in the way urban infrastructure is designed and located, populations are settled, and how city services are coordinated and delivered.

The primary climate change impacts include rise in sea level, temperature rise, increased variability in precipitation patterns, and an increase in the frequency and/or severity of extreme weather events.

As a consequence, climate change adaptation and disaster risk management require that the resilience of cities be improved.

Reinforcing existing urban infrastructure and designing future urban services can assist city authorities to be better prepared to deal with this environmental change. This necessitates pertinent changes including adaptation and preparedness in sustainable urban growth.

City planning must now be based not only on historical patterns, but on predictions and projections of future impacts decades from now. Climate change will seriously impact the physical basis (such as land and water) for the provision of urban services as well as the location of populations.

When climate change adaptation and disaster management become integrated into urban management, urban development and infrastructure will become more sustainable.

Also, reducing the carbon

footprint of cities is a serious city development imperative. City authorities need to consider and support renewable energy policies and investment opportunities as part of urban infrastructure development.

Creating and implementing regulations and different incentives on transport, industrial and power generation emissions, and efficiency standards are required to increase the use of renewables, alternative fuels and alternative transport modalities.

Investing in environmental improvements will require building capacity in Local Government bodies to understand, appreciate and support energy efficiency and green building development.

Urban environmental management includes water conservation, solid waste collection and disposal, air and water pollution control, and sanitation. These affect the carbon footprint of cities.

Given the unpredictability of certain events, disaster risk management should be part of proactive national and municipal planning to design and implement investments in adaptation measures and natural disaster prevention.

The practical use of climate change impact assessments and projections as part of a city’s information base can guide future growth requirements while also building public participation in adaptation measures and practices.

The development of best practices addressing climate change adaptation, including those requiring cross- border or

trade-related measures will also be important challenges for regional cooperation among developing cities.

The investment requirements for designing and building high- and medium-rise, mixed-use urban structures incorporating environmentallyfriendly building standards, are an important part of enhancing a city’s resiliency. Such structures clearly represent an important change in the current trends of urbanization in most developing countries. Informed local government strategies can support urban service delivery through the efficiencies that resilient planning brings.

Well-organized and effectively managed cities that integrate measures such as improved land use planning, public transportation, improved water and sanitation systems, and updated building standards can effectively reduce GHG emissions, build resiliency to climate impacts, and encourage improved health and sustainable development.

Adaptation investments range from public education and awareness, to economic and other incentives to address climate-induced constraints, to production and livelihoods, to alternative settlements and new infrastructure.

Resilient cities are those that are effectively planned to manage their hazards for continued growth and those that employ practices that will allow them to successfully adapt to climate change.

Royston King Executive Director Echo

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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

Lincoln misses a basic requirement of life DEAR EDITOR, One of the fundamental rules of living in this world is to try to understand the people in it that we relate to, how they affect our lives and those close to us and their impacts on the country we live in. My friend Lincoln Lewis has sent down three letters on me and I say I do not see his attempt to adhere to this basic obligation. First, from illiterate to genius, we must have an opinion on why people do the things they do.

Lincoln Lewis is telling me and his readers that he has no concern on what transpired between two important public institutions – the presidency (under Jagdeo) and the office of the opposition leader (under Corbin). Yet, this same Lewis, when that question was put to him on Benschop Radio said this; “That is the PNC’s business.” Those interviews were taped.

They can be replayed. So the PNC’s business is the PNC’s business. I guess the same goes for all other stakeholders that want to change Guyana For the third time, Lincoln let readers know that he engaged Sam Hinds because he is leader of the Government’s business in the House. It is clear to any schoolboy that under our Constitution, the House is subordinate to the executive presidency in terms of the exercise of money and control of the public realm.

It would have been wiser for Lincoln to write President Ramotar for a dialogue.

Maybe he did and they sent Hinds. Any schoolboy would know that Hinds is powerless to act in a political culture where the ruling party is paramount and the executive presidency acts over and above the Constitution.

For the third time, Lewis let his readers know (and he writes in glowing terms about this) that his engagement with Hinds was publicized by the state media. This is where my

point becomes applicable, about humans trying to understand the people around them.

At no time did Lincoln tell us why the state media was so generous to him. Any schoolboy can answer that, because all the schoolboys in Guyana know that the state media is shamelessly servile to the PPP. The answer is that the state media announced the TUC’s dialogue with Sam Hinds because it was a propaganda coup for the PPP. One hopes that when the TUC reaches out to other stakeholders like the AFC, APNU, ACDA etc, the state media gives Lincoln adequate coverage.

For the third time, Lincoln tells his readers that enemies are talking in Afghanistan.

Yes they are talking, not for the sake of talking, but because they want something from each other and they are getting it. Anyone who says you must talk because talking is a concept that must be used is talking nonsense.

You only talk as part of a wider strategy. The Taliban has got American assurance that the Afghanistan Government will discuss areas of concern. This for the Taliban is a climb down by the Americans, because it is tacit recognition of the Taliban.

The Americans have got the assurance that while talks are going on, Taliban attacks will cease.

Where were the talks between Castro and Batista?

There were none. A revolution came about.

Where were the talks between Gairy and Bishop? There were none. A revolution came about. Where were the talks between the British Empire and the American settlers?

There were none. A revolution came about.

Where were the talks between the Shah of Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini? There were none. A revolution came about. Where were the talks between Cromwell and Charles the First? There were

none.

Charles was overthrown and beheaded.

Where were talks between Burnham and Rodney? There were none. Rodney was killed and the effectiveness of the WPA came to an end.

Where were the talks between the IRA and the British Government? There were none until the Good Friday Agreement gave the IRA what it wanted.

This is just a brief number in a list of millions to show Lewis that you don’t talk when talk is a waste of time.

Adversaries talk when they know it will lead to a strategic advantage in which there is

forward dialectical movement for both sides. Talking can make people laugh at you if you just want to talk. Talk can make you lose your support if it does not bring about a result for you.

I repeat for Lincoln’s digestion – I know of no book, statement or action in history that says when people are opposed to each other, they must talk. I know they go into discussion when both sides are armed with the analytical knowledge that there will be give and take.

Finally, Ramon Gaskin. I don’t have to ask Gaskin

anything. I am asking Lewis, who publicly said that Gaskin is his friend, publicly proclaimed that Gaskin has a fine mind, and placed Gaskin on the Critchlow Labour College Board. Gaskin on the other hand has publicly announced as late as Sunday evening on television to Mr. Yesu Persaud that his baby project is NICIL. He says it is one of the worst things the PPP Government has done.

Yet two months ago, Gaskin signed a consultancy with the Ramotar Government to examine the financial accounts of City Hall and discovered that money was

not accounted for. Four persons will be charged. But the same Gaskin didn’t ask Ramotar for a consultancy to investigate NICIL. Of course Lincoln will say that is none of Lewis’s business. After all, according to Lewis, Gaskin has a fine mind. I know a man who has a fine mind too… Bharrat Jagdeo. But Lewis wants Jagdeo to be charged for the abuse of power. So much for a fine mind. A fine mind can become a waste if it is put in the service of ethnic and political oppression Frederick Kissoon

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday March 26, 2013

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

Many misconceptions exist about alcohol addiction DEAR EDITOR, A lack of understanding of the underlying cause of alcoholism may be the single most contributing factor accounting for its high prevalence in the Guyanese society.

In this country, many misconceptions exist about alcohol addiction and may be potential sources fueling this disease.

Society at large, perceives

addiction as a problem of the undisciplined, not realizing it can happen to any one of us.

Alcoholics are viewed as deliberately misusing alcohol and lacking discipline in ending their drinking habits.

To this end, they are treated poorly and with little or no empathy from society.

These perceptions originating from a lack of understanding of the underlying cause of

alcoholism are wrong. Society needs to be informed so that we have the right attitude in helping the addict and in reducing the prevalence of this disease.

Knowledge and insights into this disease will only foster the right attitudes in effectively handling it. These misconceptions have also essentially caused a lack of interest in developing programs tailored in effectively addressing this problem.

Although alcohol addiction has been a perpetual problem with a high prevalence in the Guyanese society for many decades, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Human Services have severely fallen short of effectively handling this disease due to a lack of expertise among other probable causes.

Indeed, alcoholism is not a choice. Alcoholism is a brain disease a view overwhelmingly shared by the scientific community including; the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the

American Medical Association (AMA), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM), just to name a few.

According to the scientific view of alcoholism, alcohol consumption can potentially result in marked changes in brain structures including; the frontal cortex, the mesolimbic drug reward pathway, memory and motivational circuitries and as well as their relevant neurochemical correlates. Once these brain-related changes occur, voluntary control of alcohol use becomes disrupted and the phenomenon of alcohol dependence (addiction) ensues, whereby the individual can no longer control their craving, impulse, obsession and compulsion for alcohol. The pathology of alcohol addiction resides in the brain.

The onset of addiction after the first drink varies from individual to individual. Brain alterations may result in many individuals, after just one drink. For many others, brain alterations may occur, only

after repeated drinking. Yet for some fortunate others, significant brain alterations may never occur, even after repeated drinking.

To account for these differences in individual susceptibility of alcohol addiction, vulnerability factors such as genes, environment (poverty, stress, education, cultural values, mental health issues and peer

pressure), age and gender, are determinants of the onset of this disease.

There is an urgent need to understand the underlying cause of this disease in the Guyanese society, as significant inroads desperately need to be made in reducing its incidence, especially since it is spiraling out control.

Annie Baliram

DEAR EDITOR, The health situation of Nigel Hughes is a continuous subject for discussion among lawyers. The budget debate is slated to commence next week. As a result of these two events, a thought has just struck me concerning the Parliamentary voting system.

We all know that the Opposition has a one-seat majority. Now Mrs. Cathy Hughes, a faithful and loving wife is expected to be by the side of her husband. It is doubtful whether she could take part in this budget debate. The problem is that if any member of the Opposition fails to attend

Parliament, the government can get the budget passed without paying heed to the Opposition.

My question speaks to the voting system. I know that if I am a Shareholder in a Company and I cannot attend the Shareholder’s meeting, I can give an indication of the way I wish to cast my vote, which is called proxy voting.

This is a legal process recognized by the Companies Act, Section 141. Could the same happen in Parliament or does parliament have special rules?

I would like someone to explain.

Jonas M.F. Coddett

An interesting state of affairs could soon develop

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

One witness testifies in attempted murder trial Accused remains unrepresented...

The High Court trial for attempted murder involving accused Mohamed Alli, called “Dick”, of Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, will continue on Tuesday in the Berbice High Court.

Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed jury are hearing the matter. Alli, is charged with attempting to murder Ann Singh, the mother of his child on March 31, 2009 at Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice.

The trial was scheduled to commence about two weeks ago. However, when the matter was first called on March 7, the accused had indicated to the court that he hadn’t secured the services of a lawyer and needed some time to do so.

At that last hearing the judge had informed the accused that the matter will proceed even if he hadn’t secured the services of a lawyer.

The accused then told the court that he had secured the services of attorney at law Tajenarine Ramroop.

However he told the court that the lawyer was unavailable and would be present in court the next day. At the appointed time no lawyer was

Accused Mohamed Alli called “Dick” present.

When the matter began last Wednesday the prosecution was able to call one witness. Prosecutor Dionne Mc Cammon called the virtual complainant Ann Singh to the stand. The woman spent the entire day on the witness stand and was being cross examined by the accused who is unrepresented.

Singh told the court that she was at home when the accused came up to her and

started to lash her in her back.

She said that she collapsed.

She stated that at the time she thought she was being hit with a hard object but later realized that she was being stabbed. At the time of the incident she was five months pregnant.

She was rescued by a neighbour who came over after hearing her shouts for help. She was subsequently taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital where she was stabilized before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Under cross examination which is expected to continue today the woman told the court that she was constantly abused by the accused. “You burst my head, push me into the gas stove, black and blue me eye.” The woman stated.

She also told the court that she never reported the matter to the police because she could not. “I couldn’t go to the police because you does lock me up in the house and wouldn’t go to work the next day.” She responded to a question by him.

Singh told the court that during the incident Alli threatened to kill her.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Man’s body found with private part in mouth - Post mortem shows man was stabbed twice, beaten

Dead: Ray Holder

Lalita Takoordyal

The Post mortem done on the body of Ray Holder of South Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, revealed that he died of two stab wounds to the chest. The man’s body was found with his penis severed and stuffed into his mouth.

The examination was done by Dr Nehaul Singh on Saturday in the PotaroSiparuni area, Mahdia.

The 29-year-old miner went missing two Saturdays ago.

His body was discovered by a fisherman after it washed ashore in Mahdia.

According to the man’s mother, Lalita Takoordyal, when they visited the area her son’s face appeared to be eaten by fish or shrimp as a result of the body being hidden.

The mother explained that

the police even tried to convince relatives that Holder had drowned.

She reflected that Holder left for the interior on Mashramani night (February, 23). “A bus driver tell we that he got a call from the people that he worked with that they just find he body and they (were) going to bury him (last Tuesday) because he is badly decomposed.”

Adding that her son has been working with the dredge owner for over a year, the mother said that the owner of the dredge has her number.

She said that “since the night her son left for the interior the “boss man called three times and told me to let Ray go to the bus driver that night for the man to carry him up in the bush.”

According to the dead man’s father, Aubrey Bobb,

The Closed Areas Committee (CAC) of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), a Committee which awards lands to small and medium scale gold miners, has been reconstituted.

President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Patrick Harding disclosed that the Committee held its first meeting yesterday and that the Association saw this as a very welcome development.

He said that the GGDMA had been assured that the Committee will hold four lotteries and four auctions this year – so that as many

persons who want to get into the industry, can get lands to work.

He said that the Association was looking forward to this commitment being met so that these investors can get land and get their operations up and running.

Harding said he was optimistic that the resumption of lotteries and auctions would help to minimize the problem of illegal mining which has been very much in the news in recent weeks.

The CAC awards to small and medium scale miners lands which have been abandoned or returned by

“When we go there we ain’t even ask nobody nothing, and they tell we ‘they cruel ya son bai, they beat he up and make he whole back, black and blue, then they stab he’”.

“The man said the people he does work with got two dredges and both work 24-hrs a day and they does work this boy hard…They said not to let down the story because they kill ya son on the landing and they turn up the music high so nobody couldn’t hear since he was drinking there and friendly with a Amerindian girl and that’s why they kill he…They even cut off his penis and put it in his mouth,” the father added.

“The person that I really angry with about the entire thing is the girl that this thing is surrounding; she can say exactly what happened and the police can’t say they don’t have a case!” the father exclaimed.

Adding that it is now confirmed that the man was murdered, relatives said they are calling for an in-depth investigation. He further noted that his son’s body should have been transferred to the city and not buried in Mahdia. Holder was buried on the spot where the post mortem was done.

The father of the dead man noted that he visited Eve Leary headquarters and spoke to the police officials yesterday about the circumstances surrounding his son’s demise. He is expecting the authorities to act accordingly.

After 11 month lapse: GGMC land allocation to small and medium scale miners to recommence large scale mining companies.

Earlier this year the GGDMA had complained that there were many people who were prepared to invest in mining at the small and medium scale level, but were becoming frustrated because they did not have legal access to land. The CAC held two lotteries last year, the last one in April, sources inside the industry have said.

But those were not enough to satisfy the demand for land by small and medium scale miners.

Additionally, there had not been an auction by the GGMC for gold bearing lands since 2009, the GGDMA had said. Harding said that he was optimistic that the work of the newly reconstituted CAC will impact positively on people finally getting to work and ultimately on increased production and productivity within the gold and diamond mining sector.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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THE AFC’S BARK IS NOT MATCHED BY ITS BITE AT THE MOMENT The illness of Nigel Hughes, the Chairman of the Alliance for Change and one of its parliamentarians, will throw up an interesting equation in the National Assembly when it begins to consider the 2012 Budget.

The combined opposition has a slim one-seat majority in the National Assembly but with Hughes undergoing treatment overseas and being accompanied by his wife who is also a member of parliament. It could see the combined opposition being two seats shy of denying the estimates of expenditure of the government.

Even if his Mrs. Hughes returns to vote on the motion to approve the appropriations, it would mean that there would be a tie when there is a call for a division.

As such, the opposition without the vote of Nigel Hughes would be unable to disapprove of the Budget because they would be one vote short of a majority. And if Mrs. Cathy Hughes is also not present, the government would have the majority to pass the estimates. (Nigel Hughes is not a member of parliament so the premise is false. However, the columnist will be allowed to continue in this vein.)

Despite these permutations and the ruling of the court, the AFC continues to insist that it has the right to slice the Budget.

The courts have held that the opposition cannot cut the Budget; they can only

approve or not approve.

While this is just a preliminary ruling, it must be borne in mind that rulings of the court must be complied with until such time as they are overturned or reversed. Society will descend into anarchy if bodies or persons decide to not comply with rulings of the court, regardless of how they may feel about a specific judgment.

The AFC is insisting that it can cut the Budget because the ruling by the Chief Justice was just a preliminary ruling.

It should bear in mind a number of things. Firstly, an interim injunction is a temporary measure that is instituted until the final determination of the matter under consideration. Should citizens adopt the same position with interim injunctions as the AFC is adopting with the CJ’s ruling?

Should citizens not comply with an interim injunction until it is made absolute? Imagine the implications for the rule of law should citizens decide to not comply with interim injunctions.

The fact that the Chief Justice made a preliminary ruling does not negate its potency. It is a ruling, one that was of significant length, and it was made no doubt because the necessity existed for the National Assembly and other interested parties to be so guided. It should be recalled that there was also a preliminary ruling in the case of the challenge to the denial of the right of Minister Rohee

Dem boys seh...

Ash Knee try fuh soft soap old people De budget is de biggest. Every budget bigger than de other one. It got to be that Guyana mekking nuff money or collecting nuff money. De old people get a top up and some of dem happy but Ash Knee know that some of dem gun grumble suh he decide to sweeten de pot wid a cut fuh dem light bill and water bill.

Dem boys seh that de only thing that dem old people sorry bout is that dem got to wait till May before dem can collect anything.

And if people think de government stupid dem better think again. Last year dem had nuff story over de budget. This time de government put in thinks fuh even dem big ones. Imagine dem cut de property tax. Dem also arrange fuh some people pay less tax but Ash Knee know how he gun collect all of that again. He plan fuh collect more VAT than he ever collect. He done target all who does go to Brazzy place fuh drink and eat.

Dem got to pay more VAT because he know how much money dem got. All of dem dip dem hand in de same kiddy.

Dem boys also notice that dem had some trickery. Irfaat tek Guysuco land and sell it fuh $4 billion. Ash Knee tell de nation how de government give Guysuco $4 billion.

That is how smart de government smart and if dem boys didn’t check dem woulda never know.

And Ash Knee got money fuh GPL. That is de new trick. GPL ain’t gun see nuff of de money because funds got a way of disappearing and then de powers does seh how dem buy fuel.

Well dem got to buy nuff fuel. Dem also got to talk bout de Petro Caribe deal wid Venezuela. Nobody ain’t talk nutten bout that yet. Money hide up in deh.

Ash Knee seh that he don’t know bout nuff things but dem boys know that he know.

Talk half and wait fuh see what more money spending.

to speak in the National Assembly and when the final ruling came there was a clear and unambiguous injunction that it was binding.

In that ruling the Chief Justice had noted that while it was not for the courts to interfere with the workings and operations of the National Assembly, the court was the guardian of the constitution and has the jurisdiction to determine whether the actions of the National Assembly were in contravention with the Constitution.

He also observed that while parliament can determine the extent if rights and privileges of its members, so too can the courts since such determination concerns

questions of law, and when the court so determines it is “final and binding.”

The AFC in refusing to accept the rulings of the court in so far as budget cuts are concerned is taking this nation down that slippery slope of anarchy. But the AFC’s threat may end up being purely of academic nature because with the likely absence of Mr. Nigel Hughes due to him having to seek overseas medical treatment, the opposition may end up one vote shy of a majority, and if his wife is not present to vote, the opposition may be two votes shy.

The opposition therefore is not likely to have the majority needed to deny the estimates of the government.

However, if Mrs. Hughes is present, then there will be a deadlock. And because the Standing Orders require that there be a majority of those present and voting before a motion to approve the estimates can be approved, it also means that the government would not be able to pass the estimates should there be a tie when the division is taken.

In the case of a deadlock in the National Assembly, the Speaker does not have a casting vote. But the Standing Order also provides that the motion will die should there be a deadlock. As such, the motion by the government will die if there is a tie in the division.

The AFC’s talks about

cutting the Budget may be a tactical maneuver to deflect attention from its own dilemma posed by the possible absence of one or two of its members when the Assembly considers the estimates in two weeks time.

Right now the opposition’s one-seat majority is tenuous.

In the present situation, the AFC’s bark is not likely to be matched by its bite.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

Freddie Kissoon Column

Doctor, judge, killer: Life as it is Some ladies in their pin stripe suits were indignant.

They announced that they would not read the Kaieteur News anymore. The fuss was about a front page photograph of a beheaded victim of gang warfare in Agricola. Of course I had my immediate reply. It was not that I could not understand their revulsion at what they saw (though at the time I supported the newspaper’s decision and still do). What I could not accept was their convenient way of choosing values.

This indecent habit of human beings is something I deeply resent. Don’t tell me that you find a person deserving of being condemned for bad manners but you can enjoy a sound social relation with an employer that underpays his employees. My question at the time is if these ladies were disgusted at the publication of the photograph then they had to be with other forms of value distortion. But they were not.

One of these socialites who announced her boycott

of the Kaieteur News had a husband who worked as a Minister in President Jagdeo’s Government. The wife and husband said nothing publicly when Mr. Jagdeo’s “wife”, Varshnie Singh told the nation that Mr. Jagdeo refused to sign the forms to make the marriage legal and accused him of terrible mistreatment.

The pin stripe lady never denounced Mr. Jagdeo. She picked on the Kaieteur News.

When it was discovered that a medical doctor at the Georgetown Public Hospital

was convicted in the US of fondling his step daughter, angry citizens, including women groups, nice ladies from the cocktail circuit, human rights organizations and so-called decent men from the same cocktail circuit demanded his employment termination. It happened.

There was nothing wrong with this anger.

In any country, the doctor would have been forced out.

But unlike other countries, there is a huge mountain of hypocrisy in Guyana when it comes to molestation of

children and rape of women.

If you are without status, then you don’t stand a chance if you are accused of domestic abuse. If you belong to the corridors of power, you can pulverize your female lover or your wife and then attend the cocktail event where you will be warmly welcomed. A wife, we were told, committed suicide.

Another wife, we were told, was beaten by the husband when she entered a night club to challenge his lover. When the convicted doctor hears about these untouchables he must have wondered why he was singled out.

The socialites jumped on the Kaieteur News but chose to remain silent on the abusers of women. But more than this, the abusers are still welcomed on the cocktail circuit.

Days after the judicial inquiry awarded compensation of eight million Guyana dollars to the relatives of three protestors shot to death by the police at a demonstration last July in Linden, I wrote that the two retired Guyanese judges on the commission, Justices Claudette Singh and Cecil Kennard will still retain their position in the socialite world.

They will attend important social functions and will be honoured by the attendees.

No one will frown on them for valuing the lives of three Guyanese citizens at three million dollars each for two of them and two million for another.

One week after I wrote this opinion, I saw in the papers that Justice Kennard

Frederick Kissoon was the honoured guest at a sporting event. Where is the convicted doctor? What must be going through his mind when he read about the eight million dollars Justice Kennard put as the value of the lives of three Guyanese but he cannot practice medicine because the socialites call him a convicted child molester who must not be allowed to work in any hospital in Guyana.

But guess who can work in Guyana; one of the men who planned and participated in the assassination of Walter Rodney. This guy is a big part of socialite Guyana.

The same people who criticized the Kaieteur News for the front page photograph, the same people who say the doctor must not work are the very people who will hobnob will this conspirator. What a sick society we live in.

I read that the ruling party celebrated the 50 th anniversary of the party newspaper, The Mirror” and described the harsh treatment the newspaper received at the hands of the PNC Government. But the same ruling party which forms the government enjoys a close relationship with one of the men who conspired to murder and did assassinate a great Guyanese hero.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 11

Grade Six Assessment gets underway Armed with the relevant tools, primary school pupils, both from public and private schools across the country, were out in their numbers yesterday to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). Formerly known as Common Entrance, the examination is one which is designed to determine which secondary institution pupils are eligible to attend.

Based on annual statistics from the Ministry of Education, an estimated 18,000 pupils are slated to undertake the two-day assessment which is set to culminate today.

Yesterday, pupils were required to undertake assessments in the areas of English and Science and the process will continue today with Mathematics and Social Studies. Candidates should have previously been evaluated at the National Grade Two Assessment in 2009 and the National Grade Four Assessment in 2011.

Their performances are expected to reflect the percentage of the marks gained at the Grade Two and Grade Four Assessments, combined with the marks attained at the National Grade Six Assessment. Five per cent of each candidate’s Grade Two score in Mathematics and English, and 10 per cent

of the Grade Four score in the same subjects, are added to 85 per cent of each of their score in those subjects.

The combined scores in Mathematics and English are then added to the scores gained in Science and Social Studies. Emotions were high at the various schools as students participated in the defining assessment. Attired in school uniform, pupils were required to have in their possession pencils and erasers as well as their timetable or risk being denied entry to their designated examination centre. During a visit to the St Margaret’s and St Angela’s Primary Schools yesterday shortly after the completion of the first segment of the assessment, pupils seemed satisfied with their performances.

Ahead of the expected 09:00 hours simultaneous start of the assessment at the country’s schools yesterday Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, in a statement intended for the pupils, labelled the assessment as “special.” In her missive she stated “I know that you have worked really hard throughout your years at primary school and now it is the time to show off how much you have learnt.”

Even as she encouraged pupils to ensure that they are punctual at their respective

Excited pupils of St Margaret’s and St Angela’s Primary Schools after the first segment of the Grade Six Assessment yesterday. examination centre, Minister Manickchand also expressed gratitude to the parents,

teachers, relatives, friends and well-wishers who according to the Minister

would have “invested time, energy, intellectual and material resources and good

wishes in you who will be writing the Grade Six Assessment.

struck down by a Canter truck, the driver of which remains at large.

From all indications the driver was under the influence

of alcohol, since all the occupants of the truck who were taken into custody admitted that they were drunk. The recent deaths have not gone down well with police on East Coast Demerara, since almost all of the drivers responsible were positively tested for excessive alcohol consumption.

“Every week there is some kind of activity and the police cannot be everywhere to monitor drivers who imbibe at these activities,” one traffic rank told this newspaper.

He believes that educating drivers on the consequences of drunk driving alone cannot solve the problem.

Instead, it is the wide view of a number of police traffic officials that the penalty for drunk driving should be stiffer. “What is $7500 for a man to pay if he is caught driving while under the influence of alcohol?” an official from the East Coast Demerara traffic department asked.

He argued that persons have been deported from developed countries after being convicted of dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol.

“The penalties must be there for people to respect the

law,” the traffic official stated.

So far this year five persons have been killed in road accidents on East Coast Demerara, compared with six for the same period last year.

Recently, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee told police officers that the work that the Force has been doing to restrict the number of fatal accidents on the country’s roads is not unreasonable.

But Rohee acknowledged that the issue of speeding, inattentive driving and driving under the influence of alcohol has been blamed as the principal reasons for the number of traffic accidents that have been occurring in the country.

“The time has now come for a review to be done of the present written and practical examinations that are being conducted by the Force to allow persons to obtain driver’s licences,” he said.

The Minister noted that soon there will be tangible assistance for the police to deal with the traffic situation.

“To assist the Police Traffic Department, we have submitted the names of 75 applicants to be Traffic Wardens. I am still awaiting a response from Force Headquarters on the outcome of the screening in process,” Minister Rohee had stated.

Drunk driving fatalities a worry to police Porters at the GPHC removing the body of hit-and-run victim Denishram Persaud from a police vehicle on Sunday night.

Police are blaming too much social activities and the meager fine for the prevalence of drunk driving on the country’s roads.

Within recent times drunk driving has resulted in a number of road deaths, especially on East Coast Demerara, the latest being

that of 34-year old Denishram Persaud of Unity, Mahaica.

On Sunday night Persaud was riding home when in the vicinity of Bee Hive, he was

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

City businessman arrested in connection with cocaine in lumber bust Customs Anti -narcotics Unit (CANU) ranks are hoping that they have got the break that they were looking for as a popular businessman, believed to have major shares in the country’s second largest drug bust was arrested yesterday morning.

Kaieteur News was told that around 09:00hours, a named city businessman, the owner of a pawn shop and several boutiques was arrested after his name came up during investigations into the 314 kilograms (692 pounds) of cocaine found in logs at a sawmill located at the Soesdyke/Linden Highway last month. Kaieteur News was told that the suspect was deported from the United States several years ago and had been residing in Guyana ever since.

They said that they have reason to believe that the businessman may be the “kingpin”. In the meantime,

other persons of interest are still reporting to the anti-drug squad. Three individuals, among them a Dutch national, Edgar Boesenach, of Coralita Avenue, Bel Air; and a Guyanese, Raymond Ghani, the local manager at the Soesdyke sawmill were detained.

A second Guyanese man was detained, while a forklift operator, who allegedly packed the drug filled logs which were found in the container destined for the Netherlands, was rearrested when another suspect implicated him.

CANU sources had said that the forklift operator appeared to have fair knowledge about the operation but told investigators less than he actually knew.

The Dutch national and the Guyanese manager were arrested on the same day that CANU unearthed 314 kilograms of cocaine in hollowed-out timber which was due to be shipped to

Europe.

Sources said that investigators had been eyeing the timber company implicated in the bust for some time, since there were irregularities in the way they function.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) also said that CANU had suspicions about the scanning anomalies that were discovered and thus opted to drill one of the logs.

They said the Guyana Forestry Commission had already given the containers which were on the wharf some clearance to be shipped, but the GRA insisted that the lumber be checked again.

The GFC said that it too noticed irregularities about the Soesdyke-based timber company. Two weeks prior to the drug bust, the sawmill had been closed down, because the company was allegedly engaged in four illegal shipments.

Investigations are continuing into a boat collision which left a nineyear-old girl and a 48-year-old father of three dead Saturday night. Dead are Nekeshia James and boat driver Phillip Adams. According to the police the incident happened around 20:00hrs on Saturday at Canal Bank, Port Kaituma, North West District.

Kaieteur News learnt that Adams was driving a 25hp boat, while the other vessel was equipped with two 200horse power engines.

This newspaper was told that the other boat is owned

by Charlie Singh, but that he was not piloting the vessel when it crashed. Reports also indicate that the driver of the large boat was under the influence of alcohol.

Relatives and residents in the area have voiced their displeasure about the police investigation.

According to residents the driver of the larger boat and its occupants failed to render any assistance to the injured persons.

Eslyn Adams, the dead man’s wife, had stated that he was taking some church members home. According to the woman, the members had attended a wedding in the area.

The woman recounted that her husband was wearing a “bright light” on his head and he should have been seen by others. Eleven passengers perished in January when two boats collided near a ‘blind turn’ in the vicinity of Crab Falls, Mazaruni. One of the vessels was reportedly equipped with two 200-horsepower

engines while the other had two 75-horsepower engines.

The approach speed of the two vessels was said to have been in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Minister of Transport Robeson Benn had said that two boats, one carrying 12 persons and the other carrying nine, collided.

The dead included Ricky Bobb of Barr Street, Kitty; Kevon Ambrose of Vergenoegen, East Bank, Essequibo; Deon Moses, 33 of Norton Street, Georgetown; Keanu Amsterdam, 17, of Barr Street Kitty; Francisco Alves, a Brazilian national; Jermaine Calistro, 27, of Boodhoo Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo (EBE); Ulric Grimes, 39, of Salem, East Bank Essequibo: Christopher

Narine, 21, of Parika, East Bank Essequibo; Zahir Baksh, 34, of Kaneville; East Bank Demerara; Christopher Narine, and 52-year-old Jewan Seeram.

The tragedy occurred just a month after a boat captain and five passengers were killed in a two-boat crash in the Pomeroon. This collision had occurred even as the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), the government regulator for vessels, was stepping up its checks to ensure vessels are fully certified and licenced.

Since then, more than 30 unlicenced boat operators and bow-men have approached MARAD officials in a bid to be certified.

Drunk boat captain in custody after two killed

City police charged for assaulting litter bug Dexter Ross, a 28-year-old city policeman of 81 Howes and St. Stephens Street, Georgetown, was yesterday charged for the unlawful assaulting against Hu Yu Nan. He pleaded not guilty.

Presiding over the matter was Magistrate Alan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court.

Attorney at law Paul Fung -A -Fat who stood in defense of Ross, stated that “the Chinese man was caught throwing refuse and my client approached him. He fought with my client and Ross defended himself against the kung fu moves.” Fung- AFat asked for reasonable bail “due to the fact that police only work for $40,000 per month and after they take out

for their children and children’s mothers they barely got anything lef back.”

Prosecutor Bentham had no objection to bail.

Police reports revealed that while some ranks were on a mobile patrol on March 23, the vehicle stopped and Ross approached the complainant at his store on Wellington and Charlotte Streets whilst he was on a ladder. The defendant told Hu about his littering which occurred one week ago, an allegation he denied. The defendant then drew his handcuff and dealt the victim several lashes about his body which resulted in numerous injuries.

The matter was adjourned until May 6 and the defendant was placed on $5000 bail.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

GECOM ponders termination of Chief Registration Officer’s contract The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) could soon commence looking for a new Chief Elections Officer if the Commission at its Statutory meeting set for today fails to renew the contract of the current substantive Chief Registrations Officer, Mr Gocool Boodoo.

This publication was reliably informed that at the Commission’s previous statutory meeting of March 12, 2013, Boodoo had made a request for his contract to be renewed. That request has

since been under consideration and a decision is likely to be made today.

However there are reports that suggestions have been made to have the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Mr Calvin Benn, assume the position of CEO in the interim. An attempt to solicit a comment on the state of affairs from Benn yesterday was only met with remarks of “I do not know what decisions were arrived at...I do not attend statutory meetings.”

There have even been

reports of indiscretion within the entity among a named senior official which could affect the decision of the Commission which is headed

by Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally.

He was unavailable for comment yesterday.

There are six commissioners among them Attorney-at-law Sandra Jones, who filled the void that was left when oppositionmember Robert Williams passed away, Mr Vincent Alexander and Mr Charles Corbin who also represent the

parliamentary opposition.

Attorney-at-law Jaya Manickchand, Dr Bud Mangal and Mr Mahmood Shaw are representing the ruling party in the Commission.

There are reports that the Chairman is in favour of having the CEO position advertised in the Caribbean, a suggestion that was reportedly dashed by the Commissioners representing the parliamentary opposition.

In fact this publication was reliably informed that based on deliberations at the

previous meeting not all were receptive of suggestions that were made which reportedly included having the Assistant Deputy Chief Elections Commissioner, Mr Keith Lowenfield, being elevated to the position of DCEO. Another suggestion this publication was informed

was a proposal reportedly from the Chairman himself to defy electoral management by recommending that the entity’s Public Relations Officer act in the DCEO capacity. This publication was however not able to have the Chairman corroborate this information yesterday.

A number of staff members at the Mahdia Post Office are calling on the relevant authority to pay close attention to several irregularities at that branch.

According to sources within the post office all the irregularities are stemming from two officials who have consistently shown total disregard for protocol.

Kaieteur News was told that some three weeks prior to the discovery of a multimillion-dollar fraud, two post office executives visited the Mahdia branch to conduct an audit. The source explained that what was so “strange” about that audit was that these two officials said that nothing was wrong, financially.

Kaieteur News was told that that particular audit was compromised, and if one would do the mathematics it would show that it was faulty.

Further, just three weeks after that initial audit, the area manager went to do a separate one and that was when the fraud was unearthed.

Staffers further stated that if the Board of Directors is to look at the account charge book which dates

back to 2009 a number of irregularities would be revealed.

Kaieteur News was further told that the post office would normally make a remit between $5 M to $6M weekly.

Last week Oswald Whyte, of 586 Bourda Street, Georgetown, appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to answer a charge of larceny by clerk or servant. Particulars of the offence are that between March 1 and March 9, being employed as a clerk or servant of the GPOC at Mahdia, Potaro, he stole $15,737,970, property of his employer.

Police Corporal Kerry Bostwick said the money went missing over a period of time from the Mahdia Post Office and an investigation was launched.

After the probe was completed, the defendant was arrested, the prosecutor said, making no objection to bail but requesting that Whyte report to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) every Friday until the case is completed.

Whyte was ordered to post $650,000 surety and the case was transferred to the Mahdia Court for April 17.

Irregularities at Mahdia Post Office

City Hall suspends seawall Easter vending spots

The Mayor and City Council yesterday decided that there would be no sale of vending spots on the seawall for this year’s Easter Monday festivities.

The Council at its statutory meeting expressed that “the area is in a precarious and unsafe state.” The Council said that “it believes that as a responsible municipality it could not offer for sale spots along the seawall road nor could it give permission to anyone to do vending in that section of the city.” The Council said that boulders, bricks and other materials have been placed in sections the council would normally allocate to persons who are desirous of doing business on that day.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Stranded EZjet passengers refunded Refunds for stranded EZjet passengers have started but the process has been far from smooth. A number of persons have expressed their dissatisfaction with the system.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Public Works’ Head office, in Kingston, Georgetown was crowded with people coming from all across Guyana to collect their refund.

Persons from as far as Essequibo and Berbice sat at the Ministry’s head office from 5:30am yesterday and at 03:00pm they were not attended to.

Many persons were frustrated because they had left their jobs to go to the Ministry, hoping that their long wait for their refund would have come to an end.

“They should have at

least say which area they are dealing with; they can’t say they will start to pay out people and have everyone coming here. Now when we come here, there is no list so that we could check our names. Suppose we wait here whole day and when we ready to go in, our name is not on the list,” an EZjet passenger noted.

Another stranded passenger, Susan Hemmerding, said that she took time to come to Georgetown to collect her money but it was just a waste of time. “This is unfair; I did not use their ticket so why do I have to pay the consequences,” Hemmerding questioned.

Yesterday, the Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, could not say how much money will be paid out, “it

Minister Benn speaking to a few upset passengers yesterday depends on the number of people and how fast the transaction will be processed.”

“There is a large crowd

AFC councilor exonerated of bribery allegation

After heaping allegations of bribery and inappropriate behaviour on Alliance for Change (AFC) lead councilor Rohan Jagasshwar, the Region Six administration has been forced to drop all charges and issue an apology to the man after he was cleared of all bribery allegations.

The bribery charges came from a member of the Regional Works Committee. This was after the accuser, a contractor, suffered cold feet and refused to attend hearings to back up his claims.

The allegation had first surfaced last October by contractor Hardat Singh of Black Bush Polder. Singh had written a letter to the Region Six Administration accusing Jagasshwar of trying to solicit money from him in order to pass his work.

At the Council’s statutory meeting Regional Chairman, David Armogan, said there

has been no evidence to suggest that Jagasshwar had been involved in corrupt practices. “Mr. Singh has not come forward with any evidence to the commission and hence there is no evidence against Mr. Jagasshwar.”

He subsequently issued an unqualified apology to the long serving councilor who previously served the council as a member of the People’s National Congress.

Jagasshwar had maintained his innocence even as Regional Councilors called for a speedy hearing.

Singh was never present on the dates set for the hearings making excuse after excuse.

On one occasion he said that he was busy with his rice field; another time he said that he was out of the country. Then he just did not respond to several requests made for him to attend the meetings.

Jagasshwar who has since been reappointed as a member of the Regional Works Committee has since indicated that he will commence legal proceedings against a number of persons, including the contractor Hardat Singh, PPP Member of Parliament Fizal Jafarally, and the National Communication Network (NCN).

As police intensify their campaign against known drug pushers and target the many drug blocks in Berbice they have nabbed another drug dealer. But the man did put up a fight before he could be subdued.

E o n Wi l l i a m s of A n g o y ’s Av e n u e N e w Amsterdam, Berbice was sentenced to a three-year jail term and fined an additional $10,000 with an alternative of a further three weeks in jail by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo.

Williams had pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

On Friday March 8, last, the police were on mobile patrol in the Angoy’s Avenue area when they noticed Williams leaving a shop.

Upon seeing the cops he retreated into the shop and made a dash for it through a back entrance.

He was chased by the police and subsequently apprehended with a black plastic bag in his hand which

he tried to discard.

The contents of the bag were checked and what appeared to be leaves, seeds and stems of the marijuana plant were found inside.

He was taken into custody and the contents of the bag were checked and weighed, and found to be 33 grams of marijuana.

He told the court after being asked if he had anything to say, “When they done they gone still lie and jail you. Whatever them say is dat.”

Regional Chairman apologizes

Rohan Jagasshwar

Another drug pusher chased, caught in Berbice

and we are assuring them that once they registered within the required time to claim the refund, they will be refunded.

We are paying out 64 per cent refunds. There is only a certain amount of money

available as a bond and the demand exceeds the amount in the bond; that is why we are paying a 64 per cent refund to make the best of a situation,” Benn said.

There were some persons

who did not register to collect their refund but turned up at the office yesterday only to be told by the Minister that they will not be paid.

Payments of refunds will continue today.

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

Dismal sugar industry...

Govt. withheld billions in critical EU assistance to GuySuCo –Tony Vieira - Finance Minister says $39.5B invested over the years

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh

Former PNCR MP, Tony Vieira

Government is to be blamed for the sugar’s downward slide over the years, with billions of dollars of Europe’s assistance money never even reaching the coffers of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

According former Member of Parliament for the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Anthony Vieira, the state-owned sugar factories last year stood idle 50 per cent of the time, because of a serious shortage of labour.

Vieira, himself a long time planter of sugar canes, has been writing about the industry for years now, criticising some of the policies.

GuySuCo lost its preferential price and together with a labour shortage, saw production plummeting to a new low last year despite attempts to jumpstart the industry.

Vieira in his analysis of the sugar industry last year,

said from all indications, a poor labour turnout continues to besiege it.

“In 2012 the industry showed the factories standing idle, out of cane and not grinding, during the first and second crops, for a total of 10,527 hours. The actual time the factories worked during the year was 21,623 hours.”

Needless to say, Vieira noted, during a substantial part of this time, the factory’s workers had to be paid for standing by doing nothing.

“This alone prompts one to ask why are we struggling with this inefficient and costly industry? It is clear from these figures that for GuySuCo to survive more factories have to be closed or more efficient methods of delivering the cane to the factories must be developed.”

Vieira blamed the government for not doing anything since 2000 when it became evident that the workers were migrating away

The new Skeldon Sugar factory

from the industry.

Starved of funds “Beginning in 2006 the European Union [EU] had started paying the development fund to Guyana which was our compensation for the loss of the preferential price for sugar in the EU markets.”

Vieira argued that the money was supposed to be used to make the industry more efficient and competitive and that a substantial part of it should have been used to start the expensive process of converting the land for mechanical harvesting, on all estates, to offset the loss of workers.

This money was never released to GuySuCo and its board in its 2008 summary had

warned that “this starvation of funds will significantly restrict management’s ability to achieve their objectives outlined in the GuySuCo strategy plans.”

According to Vieira, starting from 2006, the total amount paid was $24.7 billion but GuySuCo got none of it.

“In 2012 GuySuCo finally got a subvention of around $5 billion from the annual budget but today we have a poorly functioning sugar industry which had never received any of the $24.7 billion released to the Government to rehabilitate and make competitive the Guyana sugar industry.”

Vieira called on former Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, to explain what was done with this money.

“Given this government propensity for incompetence and corruption the money was clearly wasted on grandiose projects that cannot bring wealth to the nation or its people.”

Under Performance Vieira saw the Skeldon factory as a very bad investment, being forced to grind at a rate of 196 tons cane an hour when in fact it was designed to operate efficiently at 350 tons an hour.

“The effect of this is apparent in its performance; the tons of cane to make a ton of sugar in 2012 at Skeldon was 16.29 whilst just next door Albion only took 10.52 tons of cane to make a ton of sugar. Skeldon therefore took 64.6% more cane to make a ton of sugar than Albion.”

The retired farmer said

that one cannot buy and build a 350-ton per hour factory and grind at 196 tons per hour... the mills, the power generation depending on bagasse, the vessels for boiling the juice etc. all are underutilised operating at only around 56 per cent of their rated capacity.

It must have a very substantial effect on the economics of running “this costly and inefficient factory, and it is showing”.

“Also incredibly at Skeldon is the amount of grinding time lost for mechanical reasons at the factory— 550.51 hours.

During 2012 the time lost at all the other estate factories for the entire year 2012 was 2130.55 hours, so this brand new alleged state of the art factory accounted for 25 per cent of the total factory downtime in the entire industry.”

The former MP also noted the dismal production for the year 2012.... 218,069 tonnes, the lowest in over two decades. “The production of the Skeldon factory was a total of 33,309 tons of sugar; Albion, for example, produced 54,022 tons.”

By this time, according to all of GuySuCo’s projections, the Skeldon factory should be producing 100,000 tons of sugar but “continues to be an unachievable and therefore expensive goal, and the time has come to ask if it is viable?

“At the very least a commission of enquiry should be set up to examine what has happened and what is the way forward if in fact

there is one?”

Government has been pinning its hopes on the new Skeldon modernization factory in East Berbice, which has overtime cost government US$200M, to help revive the sugar industry.

But Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, yesterday said Government’s position on the sugar industry is clear and unequivocal.

“The industry is still of sufficient systemic importance to the national economy and to the livelihoods of so many rural communities and has such deep forward and backward linkages with suppliers and distributors nationwide that no effort must be spared to ensure its long term viability, competitiveness, and profitability.”

Over the years, Singh said, Government has injected a total of $39.5B to recapitalise the industry and to support its operations. As recent as last year, Government provided a transfer of $4B to ensure that GuySuCo was able to meet its financing requirements.

This year, Government will be providing $1B to GuySuCo to help the company meet the financing requirements of its transformation plans.

“This support by Government to the sugar industry will redound to the benefit of the industry’s 18,000 workers, their families, and suppliers of goods and services to the company.

“Together, more than 120,000 persons will benefit directly or indirectly.”

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Former Norwegian Minister defends GuyanaNorway climate and forest partnership Former Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim, has defended the “Guyana-Norway climate and forest partnership” by citing significant economic and environmental benefits for Guyana.

Solheim, via e-mail to this newspaper, yesterday dismissed any unorthodox act in relation to the partnership, and charged that Guyana and Norway have made history in this “first-ofits-kind partnership.” Solheim was clearing the air on why his country had chosen to tie bundles with Guyana in tackling the issue of climate change.

“I have been grossly misrepresented in your article of 21 March on the GuyanaNorway climate and forest partnership. I have not made any statements along the lines you propose to ‘quote’ in this article. It is simply an untruth, and I expect an apology.”

This issue was duly explained by the newspaper.

The initial publication from which the quote was taken has not been challenged.

According to the Norwegian official, Guyana is among the few countries that keeps deforestation low and embarks on a low carbon development path. Solheim highlighted the “high political commitment Guyana has shown in this area.” He reiterated “Guyana’s high forest cover and exceptionally low deforestation rate.”

“Twenty per cent of the world’s remaining tropical forests are in such countries,”

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo he said. “It is crucial to the health of the planet that these countries are incentivized to keep it that way. Guyana’s commitment to use the funds generated through the partnership on low-carbon development, in particular as regards to putting the country on a clean and renewable energy trajectory and investing heavily in adaptation to unavoidable climate change,” was also considered prior to the partnership.

Solheim added , “The pay for performance- partnership could serve as a model for the world, as developing and developed countries alike struggle with the defining challenge of our time avoiding catastrophic climate change.”

The core merit of the partnership, Solheim said, is in solving the challenges of climate change “for real, and

Norway’s former Environment and International Development Minister Erik Solheim not on paper.” He said that the world may learn something for this cohesion, while adding that Norway and Guyana have made admirable progress since work started in 2009.

“Obviously, much remains to be done. However, I am confident that Norway continues committed to the partnership with Guyana and that the two countries will succeed with their joint efforts to keep deforestation low and to create a low carbon development path for Guyana.”

“The people of Guyana should be proud of this partnership. Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Guyana and Norway are trying very seriously to deal with it. That, in itself, is an example to a world which will have to change, urgently, if

certain disaster is to be avoided.”

Head of the Climate Change Unit, Shyam Nokta, also told Kaieteur News that Guyana is one of few countries in the world that is being paid for the climate services our forests provide, with Brazil and Indonesia being the only other two.

He said that Guyana and Norway’s partnership is now the world’s second largest Interim REDD+ scheme. So far, Nokta noted, Guyana has earned US$115 million in payments for forest climate services through the Norway partnership and the payments, along with national and other sources of financing are being channeled to implement projects outlined in the LCDS. In total, the partnership may see Guyana earning up to US$250M by 2015.

A Norwegian writer, Chris Lang, however opined oblivion towards Norway and Guyana’s relationship since prior to Solheim and former President Bharrat Jagdeo signing a Memorandum of Understanding, there had been no connection between the two countries.

The writer had quoted Norwegian stallholders as viewing Norway’s move towards Guyana as being “quite naive”. Another official, it was pointed out, described the partnership as “bad aid” adding that “Guyana is among the most corrupt countries in the world.

Jagdeo was steering it like his own farm. They don’t even have a law for public procurements!”

Saturday March 23, 2013

Victim of Stewartville fire plans to rebuild … source of blaze remains unknown West Coast Demerara businessman, Ganesh Agasen, is contemplating rebuilding the establishment after fire destroyed his Stewartville factory last week Sunday evening.

Agasen said that the origin of the blaze is still a mystery.

However this newspaper understands that thus far evidence suggests that the fire had been the result of arson.

Fire fighters fought intensely to save Agasen’s two-storey building which housed his furniture factory and residence. The building located at Second Street, Stewartville, went up flames around 7:00 pm as the inhabitants of the house were asleep.

The upper flat of the building served as home for Agasen, his wife, three children and the children’s grandmother.

The fire reportedly started downstairs thus the occupants were able to escape on unhurt.

The businessman is still unable to estimate the cost of his loss but related that millions in dollars went up in flames.

He noted that while the investigations are ongoing to determine what caused the fire, plans are being made to reconstruct the property.

Meanwhile, Agasen and his immediate family are currently being accommodated by other relatives. Reports reaching this newspaper stated that the occupants were in the house when they saw smoke coming from a section of the building.

Upon checking they discovered that a huge fire had already started and they immediately tried saving some valuables just before the flames quickly engulfed the entire building.

Kaieteur News was told that apart from a few pieces of furniture and ply wood from the furniture making establishment, the family was only able to save precious little.

Colis Harry, a 32-year-old resident of 1163 Pigeon Place, South Ruimveldt Park appeared before Magistrate Alan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court to answer to the charge of unlawful assault against his blind uncle, Dexter Harry.

According to the police, Prosecutor Bentham stated that on March 14, an argument ensued between the defendant and his uncle at South Ruimveldt Park and the defendant proceeded to assault the blind man, causing several lacerations to his arm and face.

The matter was reported, and the assailant was subsequently arrested and charged. The Magistrate however noted that the uncle who was not pleased with a

mere “bond to keep the peace application” put forward by Prosecutor Bentham did so because of his fear of his nephew. The uncle who is 41 years old, pleaded with the court for the defendant to be remanded. He said “Sir this man gave me nuff nuff licks.

This is the justice I getting sir?”

The Magistrate took his sentiments into consideration and ordered an affixed condition to be attached to the application.

The Magistrate made it clear to the defendant, that should there be a breach of the bond to keep the peace, he would be imprisoned for six weeks. The defendant was also granted $15,000 bail and ordered to make his next court appearance on May 6.

Man beats up his blind uncle

Five remain in custody over latest airport drug bust

Up to press time yesterday five persons were still in custody in connection with the recent drug bust at the soon to be expanded Cheddi Jagan International Airport on Friday last.

The five are all attached to CJIA and were still assisting with investigations.

Reports are that on Friday around 15:30 hours Customs Anti Narcotics ( CANU) officials at Airport found some 30 lbs of cocaine in a mail bag, destined for New York. Reports are that the bag was found on the baggage scanner and was about to be loaded on a Caribbean Airline flight.

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 19

Armed bandits caught after Truck runs over snatching $$$ in front GRA wheelchair bound man - Money returned to businessman

Businessman Cecil Albert Gajadhar Police nabbed two bandits yesterday, after a businessman’s bag containing over $4M was snatched from him in front of the recently shifted Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) head office on Camp Street.

The arrest came after a police inspector in a car noticed the commotion in the area and fired a shot behind one of the bandits who was running east on Quamina Street. The robber was apprehended with the bag of

money. Another man was also held and was identify as a James Street, Albouystown resident.

Reports disclose that four men traced the businessman, Cecil Albert Gajadhar, from his East Coast Demerara gas station.

The men then joined a taxi at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara and continued to trail the businessman.

They left the taxi when they noticed Gajadhar stopping in front of the GRA,

and pounced on the man who was alone in his vehicle at the time and proceeded to snatch the bag that contained $4M. According to Gajadhar, he was heading to the bank when he decided to stop at the GRA’s office for a form.

Approximately 10 minutes into his wait, he said four men descended onto his vehicle and demanded the bag containing money.

One of the men then opened his door and grabbed the bag containing the money and ran away. The man ran south on Camp Street then turned east into Quamina Street and into the arms of the police.

“I must say the police did an excellent job and I received my money. Public spirited citizens and police must be commended,” Gajadhar said.

“When the men grabbed my bag I was hollering thief loudly”.

Adding that he subsequently visited the Alberttown Police Station where he gave a statement, Gajadhar said the bandits worked with information and police should investigate deeply to find the mastermind.

Up to press time yesterday the driver of a motor lorry was in custody assisting with investigations following the death of a wheelchair-bound man.

According to reports Royston Smith, 53, of 476 North East La Penitence, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation while receiving medical attention.

Smith was run over about 08:00 hours on Mandela Avenue and Houston Bypass road.

The police in a statement said the lorry GJJ 3745 had stopped at the traffic light by the Houston Bypass road. At the time Smith who was in his wheelchair was reportedly soliciting alms from motorists.

He reportedly fell into the path of the lorry.

According to the police statement, unfortunately the traffic light changed and the lorry attempted to move off, crushing Smith. The severely injured man was picked up and rushed to the Hospital where he died while receiving medical attention.

The dead man’s sister, Denise Fraser, told this publication that she was at home about 09:00 hours when she received news that her brother was involved in an

Dead 53 year-old Royston Smith. accident and that vehicles refused to take him to the hospital.

The woman added that having received the news, she and other relatives raced to the scene where they found him bleeding profusely from his injuries as there was some difficulty with getting transportation to take him to the hospital.

Fraser added that from the time she saw her brother there was very little hope that he would survive. The woman said that a few years ago her brother was the victim of a hit and run accident which

resulted in him losing the lower parts of his legs. As a result of that accident Smith also suffered a broken hip.

There are reports too that Smith suffered two heart attacks while receiving treatment for his injuries.

Fraser said that she was told by the driver that he did not see her brother. He only knew someone was injured after he heard loud screaming and upon stopping his vehicle to investigate he noticed the man under his vehicle. Investigations are ongoing.

Meanwhile, Compton Narine, popularly known as Ras Camo and Compton Williams, is a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital after a Tundra slammed into his vehicle then fled the scene.

The accident occurred on D’Urban Street, Werk-enRust. A black Tundra heading in the opposite direction slammed into Ras Camo’s vehicle. He sustained a fractured thigh.

The Tundra reportedly slammed into a Canter truck in the vicinity of Agricola as it was fleeing the scene, and injured two children who were hurled out of the Canter truck on impact.

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Kaieteur News

Speedy arrest for rogue prison officers (Trinidad Express) Prisons Commissioner Martin Martinez has vowed once again to deal with prisons officers who, by their actions, bring the Prison Service into disrepute.

Martiniez told the Express Sunday those rogue officers have been engaging in the trafficking of cellphones and other illicit items and substances for their own personal gain.

“In that regard, we are working with other law enforcement agencies to deal with crooked officers,” Martinez said.

“We find officers with marijuana; we find officers with cellphones coming into the prison; we find officers with cigarettes, which is an offence now, and they are arrested and prosecuted in the courts.

“We are not intent on tolerating officers who are operating below the line at all.

Where we have evidence and where we have information and where we find officers engaged in illegal trading with

inmates and clandestine activities with inmates, we take (action). We have had the fullest support of the police in that regard.”

Martinez described the prison as a “microcosm of the wider society”. “ We h a v e a l o t o f criminal elements and they don’t automatically get good and well behaved when they join the service.

They still come with their bad behaviours, they still come with their particular mindset and we have to deal with that.”

Martinez said prison authorities have been trying to address the proliferation of illegal cellphones within the system.

“The fact is, the large amount of cellphones within the prison are there for ‘legitimate purposes’ in terms of inmates calling their families and calling their lawyers, etc.

“It is not right. But until we find an alternative legal phone system, which we

are addressing at the moment (involving the use of a) phone card system for the prisoners, we will continue to have that problem.”

Martinez dismissed a claim by Prof Selwyn Ryan that the Unemployment Relief Programme and the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme are being controlled by gang leaders from within prison. The claim was made in a report on young males and crime in Trinidad and Tobago.

The report was commissioned by the government and is titled No Time To Quit—Engaging Youth At Risk. It was tabled in Parliament last Friday.

“There has always been talk that inmates are operating from within the prisons carrying out their drug trade, carrying out hits on prison officers and carrying out hits on members of rival gangs.

That is only talk, as far as I am concerned.”

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Caribbean Investment Facility to provide support to region BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — Improvements in the infrastructure of priority sectors such as transport, information and communication technologies and social services are on the horizon, with the launch of the Caribbean Investment Facility (CIF) on Friday in Barbados.

The CIF, a 40 million euro facility signed in 2012 between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, represents the ongoing collaboration between the two regions, a relationship which Barbados Senator Darcy Boyce supports and appreciates.

Speaking at Friday morning’s launch, Boyce stated: “For us in the Caribbean, mainly Small Island Developing States, susceptible to external shocks due to natural or manmade disasters and with economies intricately linked to the overall performance of other economies within the global system, this initiative

is timely.”

“It allows for countries within the region to stimulate sustainable economic growth by attracting more foreign direct investment and by improvements in trade related activities that are made available through the provision of an efficient transport and communication system,” he added.

Boyce highlighted the range of EU programmes from which Barbados stands to benefit, namely an EU grant of almost 6 million euros for a public sector Smart Energy Fund to be signed by the middle of this year.

He noted: “Other initiatives provided under the European Development Fund through the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme, include the Regional Private Sector Development Programme (28.3 million euros), the Economic Partnership Agreement Programme (46.5 million euros) and the Caribbean Regional Public Health Agency (1.5 million euros).”

Barbados has also received support from the EU

through its National Indicative Programme which, Boyce explained, resulted in the “construction of the Barbados Hospitality Institute which provides training to our young people entering the hospitality sector and the establishment of the Barbados Language Centre, which provides individuals with linguistic competence required to meet the needs of a competitive export-oriented economy.”

Younger students will also gain from EU funded endeavours, the senator remarked, with school kits to be provided for those pursuing the Common Entrance Examination this May; while BDS$250,000 will be contributed to the Barbados Non-State Actors Small Grants Programme.

CIF contributions will support investments located in the 15 Caribbean countries signatory to the Co ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, which include Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Haiti and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

CAL and Air India in code sharing talks (Trinidad Guardian) Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) is continuing to explore prospects for a code sharing agreement with Air India. This was confirmed by CAL chairman Rabindra Moonan who said discussions with Air India officials are continuing and the destinations being looked at are London and New York.

A codeshare agreement allows two or more airlines to share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but is actually operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code.

“These trade talks are taking place and we at Caribbean Airlines would want to be on board to make it easier for business and for other types of travel between T&T and India,” Moonan said.

“It (the talks) is still at the exploratory stages. It may take some time before we actually come to an agreement but we thought that we should not allow it to linger, despite having gone there more than a year and a half ago.

We thought now is the opportune time given the trade conferences which have been taking place.” Malay Misra, India’s High

Commissioner to T&T, said Air India and CAL are trying to determine whether it is viable to have a code sharing agreement.

“We’ve signed a framework agreement which is called a bilateral air services agreement in January last year, during the Prime Minister’s visit to India.

Within that agreement we can certainly see if it is possible.

“This has to be a commercial arrangement between Caribbean Airlines and Air India and it will depend on the feasibility first of all, the flights can be linked, secondly the traffic, whether you have adequate traffic to justify that kind of arrangement.”

Mishra added: “I understand there is a senior technical team from Caribbean Airlines going to Delhi to discuss this.” He said once the two sides settle on a suitable agreement there would be benefits or both sides in terms of trade, tourism and other areas.

“We should give some time for the volume of traffic to increase and not look at the volume of traffic now to develop some kind of linkage.

Now there is not much traffic.

T&T can even become a hub to serve other countries in the Caribbean,” Mishra said.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — Improvements in the infrastructure of priority sectors such as transport, information and communication technologies and social services are on the horizon, with the launch of the Caribbean Investment Facility (CIF) on Friday in Barbados.

The CIF, a 40 million euro facility signed in 2012 between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, represents the ongoing collaboration between the two regions, a relationship which Barbados Senator Darcy Boyce supports and appreciates.

Speaking at Friday morning’s launch, Boyce stated: “For us in the Caribbean, mainly Small Island Developing States, susceptible to external shocks due to natural or manmade disasters and with economies intricately linked to the overall performance of other economies within the global system, this initiative is timely.”

“It allows for countries within the region to stimulate sustainable economic growth by attracting more foreign direct investment and by improvements in trade related activities that are made available through the provision of an efficient transport and communication system,” he added.

Boyce highlighted the range of EU programmes from which Barbados stands to benefit, namely an EU grant of almost 6 million euros for a public sector Smart Energy Fund to be signed by the middle of this year.

He noted: “Other initiatives provided under the European Development Fund through the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme, include the Regional Private Sector Development Programme (28.3 million euros), the Economic Partnership Agreement Programme (46.5 million euros) and the Caribbean Regional Public Health Agency (1.5 million euros).”

Caribbean Investment Facility to provide support to region

Page 21

OAS committee of anti-corruption experts concludes 21st meeting WASHINGTON, USA — The Committee of Experts of the Mechanism to Follow Up on Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Saturday completed its 21st meeting in Washington, DC, with the approval of reports on Argentina, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago, countries visited in October 2012.

The Committee also approved two draft model laws to offer to member states, one concerning the declaration of interests, income, assets, and liabilities of persons performing public functions; and one to facilitate and encourage the reporting of acts of corruption and to protect whistleblowers and witnesses. Both texts will be submitted to the 43rd OAS General Assembly to be held in Antigua, Guatemala, from June 4 to 6, 2013.

During the meeting, which lasted for a week, the Committee continued its consideration of issues of collective interest on the responsibility of the private sector in preventing and combating corruption and promoting public participation and transparency in the fight against corruption. Furthermore, the member states of the MESICIC reported on their progress in implementing the recommendations made to them by the Committee.

The reports are prepared by a committee comprising representatives of two member states who visit a third party accompanied by officials of the Department of Legal Cooperation of the OAS, which serves as Technical Secretariat of the Mechanism.

During “on site” visits, which always have the consent of the host country, the Commission maintains contacts with political and social actors in the country to fulfill its task.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Central African Republic rebel chief to name power-sharing government (Reuters) - The leader of rebels in Central African Republic pledged to name a power-sharing government in a bid to defuse international criticism of a coup that killed 13 South African soldiers and has plunged the mineral-rich nation into chaos.

Regional peacekeepers said that leader of the Seleka rebel coalition, selfproclaimed president Michel Djotodia, appealed for their help in restoring order after his own men joined in a second day of looting on Monday in the riverside capital Bangui.

The rebels’ ousting of President Francois Bozize on Sunday was condemned by the United Nations and African Union. But in a sign of pragmatism, the United States, France and regional powerbroker Chad called on the insurgents to respect a January peace deal creating a unity government.

Some 5,000 Seleka fighters swept into the capital on Sunday after a lightning offensive in which they fought their way from the far north to the presidential palace in four days after the collapse of the power-sharing deal, the Libreville Accord.

Neighboring Cameroon confirmed yesterday that Bozize had arrived there but said it was not giving him permanent refuge.

The removal of Bozize, who had himself seized power in a coup backed by Chad in 2003, was just the latest of many rebellions since the

poor, landlocked country won independence from France in 1960.

“We will lead the people of Central African Republic during a three-year transition period, in accordance with the Libreville Accord,” Djotodia said in a recorded statement issued to reporters. It was not broadcast due to power cuts.

January’s peace deal signed at Libreville, the capital of Gabon, was drafted by regional mediators after the rebels had besieged Bangui in December. The accord had created a government drawn from Bozize loyalists, rebels and the civilian opposition.

Djotodia said that civilian opposition representative Nicolas Tiangaye would remain in place as prime minister.

In Bangui, 600,000 residents of the capital remained without power and running water for a third day.

Despite a curfew, there was widespread pillaging of offices, public buildings and businesses by rebels and civilians.

“Public order is the biggest problem right now,” said General Jean Felix Akaga, commander of the regional African peacekeeping force.

“Seleka’s leaders are struggling to control their men. The president has asked us to help restore calm.”

He said rebels would be confined to barracks from yesterday.

International aid group Doctors Without Borders

Armed South African soldiers talk in Begoua, 17 km (10 miles) from capital Bangui, in this still image taken from video, March 23, 2013. REUTERS/Reuters TV said its offices in Bangui and setback for Pretoria since the Thierry Vircoulon, Central elsewhere in the country had end of apartheid in 1994 and African specialist at the been looted, and urged all an embarrassing snub to its International Crisis Group. sides to ensure people had efforts to project its power in “They did not at all access to health care. the resource-rich heart of understand they were backing the wrong horse.

Africa.

“SAD MOMENT” FOR “It is a sad moment for our They did not consult within SOUTH AFRICA country,” Zuma said, adding the region.”

French troops patrolling the that another soldier was still international airport in the capital With France’s military missing. contingent refusing to “The actions of these killed two Indian citizens when intervene, two heavily armed bandits will not deter us from three vehicles tried to enter the columns of insurgents in pick- our responsibility of working facility, France’s defense up trucks stormed into for peace and stability in ministry said.

Seleka, a loose coalition Bangui the previous day, Africa.” brushing aside a South Zuma said South Africa of five rebel groups whose African force of 400 troops had yet to decided whether name means “alliance” in the which attempted to block their to pull out its force, which he Songo language, was formed path. said had inflicted heavy last year after Bozize had South African President casualties on the rebels during failed to implement powerJacob Zuma said at least 13 a nine-hour attack on the sharing in the wake of disputed 2011 elections soldiers were killed and 27 South African base. others wounded in the “This is complete disaster boycotted by the opposition.

It resumed hostilities on fighting, the worst military for South Africa,” said Thursday after military leaders of the group detained its five members of Bozize’s government and accused the president of violating January’s peace deal by failing to integrate 2,000 of its fighters into the army.

“The movements that make up Seleka have a long history of divisions,” Vircoulon said. “The cohesion of Seleka will be tested now they are in full control.”

Despite rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium, Central African Republic remains one of the world’s least developed and most unstable nations.

Bozize rose in the military during the 1966-1979 rule of dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa, a self-styled emperor found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes.

In recent years, Bozize’s government had hosted U.S. Special Forces helping regional armies hunt down the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, led by a Ugandan warlord, who have killed thousands of civilians during decades of conflict.

FRENCH NATIONALS SAFE Paris, which already had 250 soldiers in Central African Republic, has sent another 300 troops to ensure the security of its citizens and diplomatic missions.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there was no need to evacuate the 1,200 French nationals, most of whom are in the capital. “Things are under control from our point of view regarding French nationals,” Fabius told Europe 1 radio.

French President Francois Hollande spoke to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Chadian President Idriss Deby to suggest that any solution to the crisis should be based on the Libreville agreement, Fabius added.

Jordan closes main border crossing with Syria

(Reuters) - Jordan closed its main border crossing with Syria yesterday after two days of fighting there between Syrian troops and rebel fighters, Jordan’s information minister said.

Border traders said passengers were turned back at the Jordanian border crossing of Jaber and prevented from entering in the first such closure of the crossing since the revolt against President Bashar alAssad’s rule started two years ago.

“The border post is effectively closed because there have been clashes since yesterday and they are continuing,” Minister Samih Maaytah told Reuters.

The crossing is a thoroughfare for passengers and was transit route before the Syria conflict for hundreds of trucks daily carrying goods to Turkey from the Gulf and vice versa.

Situated near the Jordanian border, Syria’s southern Deraa province is a vital battleground.

Rebels in the last month have stepped up fighting for control of the border area and Deraa town after gaining territory in the countryside and capturing several army bases.

They have also overrun several towns near the Israelioccupied Golan Heights, fuelling tensions in the sensitive military zone.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Kerry, Karzai make show of unity after weeks of tensions (Reuters) - Secretary Of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of unity yesterday after weeks of heightened tensions over prisoner transfers and Afghan suggestions of U.S.-Taliban collusion.

Kerry made a brief, unannounced visit to Afghanistan to discuss a host of issues including attempts to stabilize the country before most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014, the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces and Afghanistan’s 2014 elections, a U.S. official told reporters.

After a private meeting that lasted several hours, the two held a news conference where Karzai confronted questions about his remarks earlier this month in which he accused the Taliban of undertaking attacks “in service of America”.

Numerous press reports stated he was suggesting the U.S. and the Taliban were colluding, but he rejected that interpretation at the news conference held in the presidential palace in Kabul.

“I never used the word ‘collusion’ between the Taliban and the U.S. Those were not my words. Those were the (words) picked up by the media,” he said.

Kerry said the two men had discussed the matter but he played it down. “I am confident that the president

absolutely does not believe that the United States has any interest except to see the Taliban come to the table to make peace.”

AFGHAN CONTROL Making his first visit to Afghanistan as Secretary of State, Kerry also acknowledged America’s hand-over earlier in the day of control of Afghanistan’s largest detention facility, adjacent to the Bagram military base north of Kabul.

Control of the detention facility and the prisoners inside was formally ceded to the Afghans during a ceremony yesterday morning, ending a longstanding U.S.-Afghan bone of contention.

Transfer of control of the prison had been repeatedly delayed over the past year, in part due to U.S. concerns that inmates dangerous to coalition forces might be released.

“As of today, we don’t have prisoners. Whatever is occurring here is under the control of the Afghan people,” Kerry said. An aide said he was referring only to Afghan citizens.

Earlier in the day the Afghan commander of the Bagram detention facility, Gulam Farooq Barakzai, said a very limited number of detainees remained in U.S. custody and were expected to be handed over to the

Afghans by the “end of next week”.

Asked for details on how the prisoner transfer agreement would work, Karzai said the United States had agreed to share intelligence about what it viewed as highly dangerous prisoners and would be consulted before any eventual release.

Karzai said an Afghan board would review intelligence and decide whether detainees should be released, before a final exchange of views between the U.S. military commander and the Afghan defense minister.

U.S. WELCOMES KARZAI TRIP TO QATAR The Afghan president is due to travel to Qatar within days to discuss the peace process and the opening of a Taliban office for conducting negotiations. The trip comes after years of stalled talks with the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban.

U.S. officials called his trip a step in the right direction “Nobody is expecting that he will open an office there in a week.

Nobody is expecting that he will be sitting down with Taliban in a week. This is a long process and this is one more small but positive step in that ... process,” said one official.

Suspect tied to African, Yemen militants pleads guilty to U.S. charges (Reuters) - A Somali man who was a high-level liaison between al Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen and later became a U.S. government informant and witness has pleaded guilty to multiple U.S. terrorism-related charges, the Justice Department said yesterday.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed a guilty plea by Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame to nine U.S. criminal charges. They alleged he once commanded hundreds of fighters for the Somaliabased militant group AlShabaab.

Law enforcement and legal sources said Warsame is one of the most important militants connected to Somali-based al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab and Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be captured by U.S. forces and to agree to become a U.S. informant.

Information provided to U.S. authorities by Warsame

has resulted in the capture or arrest of other suspected al Qaeda militants from East Africa, lawyers familiar with recent prosecutions brought

by U.S. authorities said.

In one of those cases, former al Shabaab members detained in the African state of Djibouti last year were brought to New York for trial in U.S. courts without any known extradition proceedings in Djibouti, the lawyers said.

Critics of U.S. counterterrorism policy alleged that the case was an example of how the administration of President Barack Obama has continued to engage in “rendition,” a procedure under which suspected militants are moved from country to country without normal legal procedures.

While it has foresworn some controversial counterterrorism practices used by the administration of President George W. Bush, including the use of

physically coercive interrogation tactics and secret CIA prisons, the Obama administration announced it would not completely abandon the use of rendition.

According to one official document unsealed yesterday with Warsame’s guilty plea, U.S. authorities seized a laptop and two other electronic devices when he was arrested two years ago.

The memories of these devices, prosecutors said, contained “dozens of pages of handwritten notes by Warsame as he learned how to build bombs; letters back and forth between the senior leaders of AQAP and al Shabaab, and correspondence in which Warsame describes why he was sent to Yemen by al Shabaab.”

In the same document, prosecutors said that information provided to the United States by Warsame Continued on page 24

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) listens to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai during their joint news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul March 25, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed Kerry repeated the U.S. call for the Taliban to enter into talks and a wider political process and issued a veiled threat if they did not, saying U.S. President Barack Obama had yet to say how many U.S. troops will remain in the country after 2014.

Karzai stressed the need to bring neighbouring Pakistan into such a

negotiation. U.S. and Afghan officials have long said the Taliban forces enjoy sanctuary across the border in Pakistan.

“Without the participation of Pakistan, any peace process will not see a fruitful end,” he said.

U.S. officials said Kerry had wanted to visit Pakistan on this trip but had decided

not to given the May 11 election, in part to avoid any appearance of seeking to influence what would be Pakistan’s first civilian-tocivilian electoral handover.

“We wanted to be, you know, holier than the Pope on this one, on staying away while the electoral process unfolded,” said the U.S. official.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Cyprus leader hails bailout, but banks stay closed (Reuters) - The president of Cyprus assured his people a bailout deal he struck with the European Union was in their best interests and would end anxiety, but he also announced “very temporary” capital controls to stem a run on the island’s banks.

Returning yesterday from fraught overnight negotiations in Brussels, the conservative leader said the 10-billion euro (8.5 billion pounds) rescue plan agreed there in the early hours of the morning was “painful” but essential to avoid economic meltdown.

He has agreed to close down the second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular, and inflict heavy losses on big depositors, many of them Russian, after Cyprus’s outsize financial sector ran into trouble when its investments in neighbouring Greece went sour.

“The agreement we reached is difficult but, under the circumstances, the best that we could achieve,” Anastasiades said in a

televised address to the nation on Monday evening.

“We leave behind the uncertainty and anxiety that we all lived through over the last few months and we look forward now to the future with optimism,” he told compatriots who face an immediate deep recession and years of economic hardship.

Many Cypriots say they feel anything but reassured by the bailout deal, however, and fear of banks being besieged when they reopen after being shut all last week saw plans for their reopening put back until Thursday.

Little is known about the restrictions on bank transactions that Anastasiades said the central bank would impose, but he told Cypriots: “I want to assure you that this will be a very temporary measure that will gradually be relaxed.”

Capital controls, preventing people moving funds out of the country, are at odds with the European Union’s ideals of a common market but the government may fear an ebb tide of panic

that would cause even more disruption to the economy.

Without an agreement by the end of yesterday, Cyprus had faced certain banking collapse and risked becoming the first country to be pushed out of the European single currency - a fate that Germany and other northern creditors seemed willing to inflict on a nation that accounts for just a tiny fraction of the euro economy and whose banks they believed had suffered fatal hubris.

Backed by euro zone finance ministers, the plan will wind down the largely stateowned Cyprus Popular Bank, known as Laiki, and shift deposits under 100,000 euros to the Bank of Cyprus to create a “good bank”, leaving problems behind in, effectively, a “bad bank”.

Deposits above 100,000 euros in both banks, which are not guaranteed by the state under EU law, will be frozen and used to resolve Laiki’s debts and recapitalise the Bank of Cyprus, the island’s biggest, through a deposit/equity conversion.

RESIGNATION THREAT A senior source in the Brussels talks said Anastasiades threatened to resign at one stage on Sunday if pushed too far.

The conservative leader, barely a month in office and wrestling with Cyprus’s worst crisis since the 1974 invasion, was forced to abandon his efforts to shield big account holders.

Diplomats said the president had fought hard to preserve the country’s business model as an offshore financial centre drawing huge sums from wealthy Russians and Britons but had lost. Cyprus has retained links with Britain since its days as a colony.

The head of the EU rescue fund said Cyprus should receive the first emergency funds in May. The U.S. Treasury, noting the importance to the United States of financial stability in Europe, its largest trading partner, said it was now up to Cypriots to rebuild their economy: “It is critical to lay the foundation for a return to

financial stability and growth in Cyprus,” the Treasury said.

Analysts had said failure to clinch a deal could have caused a financial market selloff, but some said the island’s small size - it accounts for just 0.2 percent of the euro zone’s economic output - would have limited contagion.

Cyprus’s banking sector, with assets eight times the size of the economy, has been

crippled by exposure to Greece, where private bondholders suffered a 75percent “haircut” last year.

The tottering banks held 68 billion euros in deposits, including 38 billion in accounts of more than 100,000 euros - enormous sums for a nation of 860,000 people that could never sustain such a big financial system on its own.

From page 23 was corroborated by at least four other witnesses who interacted extensively with him in Africa, three of whom are presently cooperating witnesses in a Shabaabrelated case in Minnesota, which has a substantial Somali-American community.

Prosecutors said that Warsame’s guilty plea was made in secret on December 21, 2011. But the records were sealed as a result of what the government described as a “cooperation agreement” between Warsame and U.S. authorities.

Although the maximum sentence Warsame could receive for his guilty plea is life in prison, customarily prosecutors agree to request a reduction in sentence for suspects who cooperate extensively with

investigators.

A law enforcement official said the case had been unsealed because investigators felt that keeping it secret would no longer potentially compromise ongoing investigations. It was unclear when Warsame will be sentenced.

A Justice Department official said that Warsame had begun cooperating with U.S. authorities after he was captured by U.S. military forces in April 2011. For the next two months, the official said, he was questioned “for intelligence purposes.”

A law enforcement official said these interrogations were conducted while Warsame was held aboard a U.S. military ship sailing off the coast of Africa.

Subsequently, the Justice Department said in a press

release, Warsame was read his Miranda rights. But after waiving those rights, he continued to cooperate with U.S. investigators, the department said.

A Justice Department official said that U.S. authorities continue to make “active use” of information provided by Warsame and that his cooperation “has been and continues to be enormously valuable.”

Warsame remains in custody in the United States.

Prosecutors alleged in unsealed documents that, in addition to leading and training Shabaab fighters, Warsame also served as a liaison between the Somaliabased group and AQAP, which U.S. authorities consider to be perhaps Al Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate.

Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades

Suspect tied to African, Yemen militants...

Saturday March 23, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Saturday March 23, 2013

Budget is a Jagdeo presentation - Opposition

By Abena Rockcliffe Both the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have described Budget 2013 as bleak.

AFC executive member, Moses Nagamootoo, said that the budget, in his opinion, did not deal with the fundamental issues affecting Guyana; it did not deal with the low salary of public servants.

According to Nagamootoo, the AFC had requested a 10 per cent salary increase for public servants but the government has disappointed again by not even granting anything.

Leader of the APNU, David Granger said that his party was looking for change in the education system; and wanted to see job creation “but we didn’t hear anything about that and so it is void. It is empty of the major factors that will transform the economy. It was very disappointing, blunt void, vacant.”

He said that the government could have benefited from meaningful consultations with the opposition but that opportunity was lost.

The APNU leader lamented that there was nothing in the budget to address poverty, “nothing to make life in Guyana better for us.”

Granger noted the “heavy subsidies” and said it is left for all to wait and see the impact of those on the economy.

A sore point for the APNU leader was the old age pension. He said that he is appalled that the government could not have even granted the $15,000 for which the opposition had petitioned.

APNU’s Shadow Minister of Finance Carl Greenidge, was most critical. Greenidge told media operatives that the NIS proposals reflected in the budget are less than satisfactory. He noted that the Opposition was looking for a longer term solution to the “problem of NIS.” He said that the problem of the loss of investment income is a very important one that wasn’t mentioned at all. Greenidge said that the overall programme remains “a Jagdeo programme.”

The measures on discrimination and corruption were not even considered, not even reflected in the budget.

The Shadow Minister pointed to the major decline in the sugar industry, primarily because of political incompetence and the insistence of using the board of directors as a device to carry out the government’s policies and measures.

He said, “The budget also continues to focus primarily on a capital programme because (it) provides the government with scope to give monies and perks to its cronies, associates and party members. It is in the same vein that the government awards the licence for radio and TV; it is all part and parcel of the same process.”

Greenidge added that the three per cent decline in personal income tax on the threshold is useful because every bit helps but the overall discussion that the joint parliamentary opposition was hoping to have with the government was for a more careful and systematic attention to the issues of the poor and the vulnerable.

“When you talk about 486 people here and 4000 persons there, it is a joke because the numbers of persons who are

unemployed and earning low income far exceeds those numbers.”

Greenidge also touched on the government’s policy on employment of the youth.

He said that the testimony to the government’s interest in this area is to be had from the Marriott situation.

The Shadow Minister said that when it came to social areas, the Minister took on a different tone and his presentation became more “vacuous.”

Passages were taken exactly as they were in 2012 budget and presented in budget 2013, he said. “This means that an important part of the inadequacies of the government is implementation.”

Greenidge cited a promise made by the President last year when discussing the problems of the Value Added Tax. “In order to keep the opposition quiet a committee was set up. The Minister hadn’t the decency to say what has become of the report and the commitment the President had to deliver in relation to VAT. Commenting on electricity tariffs, Greenidge said that Sam Hinds gave an undertaking that the monies collected from parliament will be used to set off against a tariff structure that would give extra benefits to the poor.

“Don’t be fooled by only $1.5M for GuySuCo because the government will, as normal, turn up in April and ask for more money. You have to fix the fundamental problem-- the things that lead to the GuySuco decline before the solution.”

“A good deal of focus was placed on keeping the business community happy but there are others who have needs.”

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

DTV CHANNEL 8 07:55 hrs. Sign On 08:00 hrs. DTV’s Festival of Biblical Movies for the Lenten Season: “King of Kings” 10:00 hrs. Roseanne 11:00 hrs. The View 12:00 hrs. Prime News

12:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 13:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 14:00 hrs. The Talk 15:00 hrs. Criminal Minds 17:00 hrs. Charmed 18:00 hrs. Awakening 18:30 hrs. Nightly News

19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Alliance on the Move 21:00 hrs. NCIS: Los Angeles (New Episode) 22:00 hrs. Golden Boy (New Episode) 23:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Tuesday March 26, 2013 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): You aren’t in the mood to be messed with today and might act defensively, even if you are not personally attacked. An issue that has been on your mind now pushes you dangerously close to a meltdown.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20): Your need to maintain the status quo might land you in trouble now, even if you believe your actions are for the best. Don’t hide behind your stubbornness or your unexpressed feelings can turn to resentment. The current emotional waves may be strong, but riding them is healthier than attempting to hold them back.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): A close friend or associate may be on your case today.

You realize that your response is required, but you’re not quite sure how best to proceed. Talking about your options won’t help you get what you want now, but it could be what’s needed as long as you don’t stop there.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21): Your two planetary rulers, Mars and Pluto, are dynamically squaring off in a tense showdown, ramping up your energy level to a near alltime high. Unfortunately, you may be so supercharged with feelings that they can be more than you want to handle. But they are your emotions, so you must deal with them.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Everything feels very intense today, but don’t let this prevent you from doing what is right. You may be apprehensive about what’s happening at work because you are being transformed by events you cannot completely control.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): You can get a lot of work done today if you have your mind set on a specific goal.

However, you could encounter unexpected encouragement from a close friend or family member and strong resistance from someone else.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): You breeze through the day with flying colors as long as you maintain your integrity and treat others kindly.

However, if you are holding on to a secret or harboring resentment now, any interaction might suddenly turn into an emotional conflict.

CAPRICORN(Dec.22–Jan.19): You have an exciting opportunity to confront your fears now, especially if you’re willing to feel the pain of a past emotional wound. Your tendency is to avoid your feelings by placing your attention on outer accomplishments, instead.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22): Although something or someone might have looked good in the past, there are things coming to light today that you hadn’t noticed before. Conflicts arise — perhaps because you are so driven at this time in your life.

Your ambition is tied to fulfilling your dreams and may be running rampant.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18): It may seem as if you’re doing battle with your friends and family today, rather than working or playing with them.

Even if the circumstances feel extreme, it’s not really that black or white.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): Someone may be undermining your efforts today and the situation is complicated enough that you don’t know what to do about it. One tactic is to analyze what you have done to arouse opposition.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): You might be involved in a difficult emotional struggle today that adds turmoil to your life, and you need to take some of the responsibility for the current unstable situation. It may seem as if there’s a problem with others, but half of this conflict originates within the confines of your own mind.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Djokovic and Sharapova win at windy Miami David Ferrer outlasted Italian Fabio Fognini 6-1 7-5 and Japan’s Kei Nishikori, Ferrer’s next opponent, beat Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-2 7-5.

World number two Sharapova, who is on an eight-match winning streak, fell behind 3-1 in the first set but won 11 of the next 14 games to advance in straight sets. “It wasn’t easy for the both of us with the heat and the wind,” Sharapova said. “It was just one of those days

Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a forehand to Somdev Devvarman of the Netherlands during their match at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida March 24, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

(Reuters) - World number one Novak Djokovic and Russian Maria Sharapova shook off windy conditions to move into the fourth round of the Sony Open at Miami on Sunday.

Serb Djokovic posted a 62 6-4 victory over India’s Somdev Devvarman and Sharapova turned back fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-2.

Djokovic’s win set up a clash with German Tommy Haas, who beat Ukrainian

Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 62.

“It was very difficult to kind of get into a rhythm because you couldn’t really serve at 100 percent,” Djokovic, the two-time defending champion, told reporters. “You had to go more for precision and put twice as much effort into the step adjustments because of the windy conditions. All in all, I’m just happy to get through the rough day.”

The top-seeded Serb took

28 of his 31 first-serve points and faced just one break point in the 68-minute victory.

Haas, seeded 15th, moved through to the fourth round for the first time since 2001.

He hit 13 aces and saved seven of the eight break points against his serve.

“He’s probably one of the most experienced active players in the world now,” Djokovic said of the German.

“He can play equally well on any surface.”

Spain’s world number five

where you know you might not be playing your best tennis. I certainly wasn’t today.”

The third seed next faces Czech Klara Zakopalova, who beat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 6-2 7-6.

Romanian Sorana Cirstea pulled off Sunday’s biggest surprise, taking out sixth seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4 6-0.

After Kerber held at 4-4, Cirstea won eight games in a

row - and lost just seven points in those eight games.

“I didn’t have any expectations coming into this tournament because I’ve never played that well in Miami,” Cirstea said. “But I’ve been fighting the best I could and working my way through every single match, and it’s working.”

She draws former finalist Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a 7-6 6-4 winner over Russian Nadia Petrova.

FIFA confirm Costa Rica protest over World Cup snowstorm

Brad Guzan (right) of the U.S. blocks a shot from Costa Rica’s Alvaro Saborio (left) during their 2014 World Cup qualifying soccer match in Commerce City, Colorado March 22, 2013. REUTERS/Mark Leffingwell LONDON (Reuters) FIFA have confirmed that they have received a protest from Costa Rica who were furious at being forced to play Friday’s World Cup qualifier away to the United States in a snowstorm.

“We can confirm that FIFA has received a letter from the Costa Rica FA regarding last Friday’s World Cup qualifier,” said soccer’s governing body in a statement.

“FIFA will now analyze the content of the letter and next steps will be determined in due course.”

Furious Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto said the

match was an “embarrassment to football” after his side lost 1-0 in Denver on a snowy field with a covering that became deeper as the game wore on.

The Costa Rica Football Federation (Fedefutbol) said in a statement on its website that there were four parts to its protest.

It said the conditions were a threat to “the physical integrity” of the players and said stadium officials had come on to the pitch to clear the snow while the ball was in play.

Furthermore, the pitch markings “disappeared” and the “the movement of the ball

Bakewell donated MVP...

From page 32 Mr. Nanan said that he was happy to continue the trend established by his former boss even as he wished the organizers well.

He also urged the players to compete fairly even as they enjoy the benefits of competition. Mr. Noel then thanked his benefactor while assuring him that the gift is valued and will help in promoting a qualitative

tournament.

Activities commenced on March 9 with fierce competition among 8 teams placed into 2 groups.

The semifinals were staged on Sunday evening last and Kings and the Amelia Ward Jets won their respective matches and will play against each other tonight in the finals at the Mackenzie Sports Complex, Linden.

became impossible due to the quantity of snow on the pitch.”

Fedefutbol also demanded sanctions for “all the officials who were involved in the decision to keep playing this game.”

“The complete opposite happened in Europe where the snow forced the match between Northern Ireland and Russia in Belfast to be postponed,” it added in a separate statement.

“We don’t want to create false expectations but we are fighting for rights which we think we violated during this match,” said Fedefutbol treasurer Rodolfo Villalobos.

Costa Rica could retaliate by staging the return fixture in the Saprissa stadium, a notoriously hostile arena where the fans are close to the pitch, rather than the new National Stadium, which has a running track around the field.

The defeat left Costa Rica bottom of the six-team final stage in the CONCACAF region qualifiers with one point from two games. The Ticos host Jamaica in San Jose on Tuesday.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Scrabble players to compete for top prizes in Phagwah Open tournament National Scrabble Champion, Abigail McDonald has been out of the jurisdiction for a few weeks during which time top seed, James Krakowsky dominated the tournaments and twice relegated another top seed, Moen Gafoor to the second position. McDonald returned with a bang and reclaimed the top spot when she outplayed all and sundry to take top honours when the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) staged a similar tournament just one week ago.

The prolific word former will attempt to emulate that feat when the GASP stages the Phagwah Open tournament at the Malteenoes Sports Club tomorrow morning. Other top players

that will vie for honours are Gafoor, Krakowsky, Leon Belony, Wayne Cave, Grace Hercules and Orlando Michael among others.

Activities get underway with the registration period starting at 09:45hrs and ends at 10:00hrs when the tournament gets underway.

Those players arriving before the culmination of the registration period will pay a registration fee of $500, while those arriving afterwards will pay $200 more. Members with clocks and games are asked to ensure that those items are at the venue at least half an hour prior to the start of the tournament.

The first three finishers will receive lucrative prizes as well as the best person outside of the top ten ranking.

Georgetown are DCB Inter Association U-15 champs

Clevon McEwan (left) and Ashmead Nedd.

Georgetown got past West Demerara by 1 wicket to take the Demerara Cricket Board Inter Association 50 over U-15 title last Saturday at the Everest Cricket Club.

West Demerara batted first and posted 162 before they were bowled out in 44 overs. Kishram Seyhadan made 44 while Ashmead Nedd had 2 wickets for the home team who responded with 163-9. Clevon Mc Ewan scored 39 while Bhaskar Yadram supported with 21 and Timothy Mc Almont 21.

Rishi Loaknauth took 3 wickets.

On Sunday at the said venue East Bank defeated East Coast by 17 runs. East Bank took first strike and rattled up 177-7 after the game was reduced to 34 overs due to rain. Paul Thomas led with 83 (14x4), while Sagar Hatiramani chipped in with 30.

Rajpaul Gopaul grabbed 425.

East Coast who showed up with 9 players fell for 1608 in 33.4 overs, in reply. Robin Williams top scored with 46 and Bhaskar Deodat made 39; Nazim Esau claimed 3 wickets and Mark Ramsammy 2 for the winners.

‘Screw’ Richmond Schools Football starts today Defending champions Linden Technical Institute will oppose Harmony Secondary in the feature clash of a double header which will signal the commencement of this year’s Edward ‘Screw’ Richmond Secondary Schools Football Competition in Linden.

A release from the Local Organising Committee indicated that the opening encounter will see Wisburg Secondary take on Mackenzie High School from 14:30 hrs.

However, before the start of action, there will be the parade of teams followed by a brief Opening Ceremony, at the Wisburg Secondary School ground.

Page 29

Jets take flight against Kings tonight in Linden - New Era hosts Cell Smart Super-Eight final

Orin Rose Marvin Hartman

Shane Webster

Kevin Joseph

In a game that could easily decide the top club in Linden, the Amelia’s Ward Jets will take flight against Kings when New Era Entertainment hosts the final of the Cell Smart Super-Eight Contest at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) HardCourt.

At stake is a year’s bragging rights, the New Era Entertainment/Cell Smart Championship trophy and $200,000 for the winner.

Retrieve Raiders and Victory Valley Royals will set the tone for the evening in the third place game from 7pm at the venue.

Both Kings and Jets were undefeated at the end of the preliminary phase of the competition that gave patrons immense entertainment. Kings had defeated Retrieve Raiders 5744 while Jets took care of Victory Valley Royals 69-57 to reach tonight’s final.

Kings’ re-emergence by way of reach the New Era Final gives the impression that they are back on top of their game, having fallen from the apex of basketball in Linden in recent times. To get back the status they had, they must beat the best tonight,

Jets.

The experience of Marvin Hartman, Steve Neils Jr., Orin ‘Six Head’ Rose and Omally Sampson has all turned in stellar performances during the tournament. These important players will have mammoth roles to play in the final.

Of the lot, Sampson, a leading MVP candidate, is having an outstanding tournament as the Kings front court player and is averaging a tournament-leading 18 points per game.

He will lead a team that has been here many times before against inconsistent Jets.

The Amelia’s Ward team reaching the finals is no surprise, but their problem is that they always seem to fall short on the big stage.

National player, Shane Webster along with his brother Alister, have been solid on the inside for Jets.

Kevin ‘Two Feet’ Joseph has been as good as any top guard in the country with superb passing and onpoint shooting from downtown.

Nonetheless, it was Rodwell Pellew, who is the breakout star for the club in

the New Era Entertainment competition.

The Point Guard seems to be doing nothing wrong with the ball, making all the right plays, and hitting all the right shots.

He has also blossomed into a deadly three-point shooter for his team in the competition and would like that form to continue.

Like Sampson, Pellew is the Jets’ front-runner for the

MVP prize, which is a motorcycle along with a pair of basketball sneakers.

Basketball enthusiasts were yesterday asked to wear green if they are supporting Jets and yellow if they are backing Kings.

M e a n w h i l e , Guymine.com, Linden’s premier website that features news and events happening in and around the mining community, donated $40,000 that will go the most discipline team of the tournament.

Adams leads St Cuthbert’s Warriors...

From page 34 Shuman and Hussein returned identical figures of 2-16.

At the presentation ceremony, Chairman of the ECCCC Interim Management Committee, Taajnauth Jadunauth, thanked St Cuthbert’s Warriors Sports Club and members of the community for their hospitality, adding that his club is willing to accommodate them in a return match soon.

Chairman of St Cuthbert’s

Warriors Sports Club, Ridley Ferreira, lauded both teams for the spirit in which the game was played, adding that his club is enjoying tremendous success at the moment, having won the last three games on the trot.

The captains of both sides were also pleased with the camaraderie displayed during the match.

Trophies for the game, which was organised by Mohamed, were provided by Tiger Sports of Enmore Old Road, East Coast Demerara.

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Tuesday March 26, 2013

::: Letters to the Sports Editor :::

My response to Colin Elcock Answers to Mr. Elcock’s Questions DEAR SIR, Please give me some space in your print and online publications: This is in response to Mr. Colin Elcock’s letter of response to a letter by Anil Bhola about the ongoing debate about the Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) and Mr Colin Elcock.

Mr. Elcock debated Mr. Bhola about his residency in Guyana. Please note Mr. Bhola moved from Guyana a short time ago. Short enough to know the politics involved in the Guyanese horseracing community. As a matter of fact Mr. Bhola was present in January at the election of the GHRA panel. Mr. Elcock was not present at that meeting.

I myself am the founder of Guyana Horse racing.com. I do not reside in Guyana. I

started the website to accomplish one thing, to enhance and promote the sport. I have to rely on sources in Guyana for content. I am not affiliated with anyone in horseracing nor do I want to benefit monetarily from the website.

The only thing I need is content from Guyana that only various race track managements can provide.

The first person I called when starting up the website was Mr. Colin Elcock. From the first phone call I was met with opposition from Mr. Elcock for information. This information from Mr. Elcock would benefit not only benefit his own racetrack but the entire Guyanese horse racing community. I then had further phone conversations with Mr. Elcock until it became

obvious to me that he did not have time for me. Mr. Elcock certified this by saying in his letter to your newspaper that he did not have the time too for this. Seems to me if someone is contacting you to promote your product, for free I might add, one would think you would jump at the opportunity cooperate and allow time for this. Mr. Elcock was quite the opposite.

On another note, I was told by a reliable source that Mr. Elcock called for the banning of over-aged jockeys. The reason for Mr. Elcock’s hostility it seems, was because an older jockey rode a horse in the feature event at his (Mr. Elcock’s) track that he was hoping to win. He claimed the older jockey cut off his horse, while in fact the elder jockey used the wider route the entire race.

It is safe to say Mr. Elcock uses some practices that are not very nice. Bullying has been suggested by some who knows Mr. Elcock.

Scott Ramnarine Founder Guyanahorseracing.com

DEAR SIR, Please allow me to put Mr. Elcock long growing questions answered once and for all.

In your Sunday 24 March article in the sport column he ask about Brighton Turf Club finances, well Mr. Elcock if you were well aware with the game you would be well aware that that club run its last race meet in 1992 when the late Mr. Gregory Vanderstoop was secretary and horses like GO FOR IT still to this day did not received payment of it winnings or even its entries.

However I know you want to know about the race event that was held about 8 years ago, well for your info it was run under Brighton Reform Turf club and that was a event which was run for personal gains by me as I have all the documents and can give you a copy if you so desire to put your mind at ease which includes, Affidavit of Support, Police Permission, Fire Service, Magistrates Pass for Music, EPA Permission, GRA, NDC Permission for use of the ground, since none of its land proprietors were not paying rates and taxes for the land.

There is even a receipt from the Late Mrs. Crawford for the Starting Gate which was taken away before the feature event so as to allow one of your imported horses, who was a late starter off the gate to win. And just for the

record, all horses were paid their winnings by the next day in full without any reductions in the prize money.

I am sure a lot of horseracing stakeholders would agree that we should not let horseracing go to a government ministry to have it destroyed in politics just like out cricket and football?

And for the starting gate issue I think all the start gates are still now below demand since there is a high number of horses in each race and the 12 spots are insufficient.

I would commend Port Mourant Turf Club for the extensions of its starting gate to 16 so as to not disenfranchise any horse at the last minute to race time since you would be well aware of the high cost to maintain a horse and the Jumbo Jet family for the 14 spots starting gate that was recently imported to help boost the level of racing.

Also for the camera PMTC installed to help in judging close finishes to better improve the results is commendable, but yet I stood many time at PMTC and see you constantly complaint that the camera cannot give you the correct results and yet you would not import the correct camera to rent to all the tracks to improve results standards.

Anil Bhola

GUYANA FOOTBALL 2013 AND BEYOND DEAR EDITOR, It is a critical time now in Guyana’s football, two decades have passed and it has been a challenging one for us.

On April 12, 2013 we have an opportunity to make a difference, make a statement and make a change for the betterment and survival of football in our country.

It is my humble opinion that the time has come for us to elect qualified, dedicated and football driven personnel to serve the football fraternity and our country. It is time for us to elect a team with a

vision, a plan and a team to take Guyana’s football to the next level.

For the past seventeen years (1995-2012), I had the privilege and opportunity to represent my country at the highest level. I have seen the National team grow from strength to strength.

However, more can be done given the right structure and personnel.

It is crucial that we pay critical attention to our facilities and more importantly, to the development of the game from the youth level.

My main goal and objective is to return to my country in a coaching capacity, to assist in the development of football and make Guyana’s football team a force to reckon with.

Over the past couple of years I have gained a lot of experience and a wealth of knowledge and I am ready and willing to transfer once given the opportunity to serve.

To this end let’s come together and make a difference in Guyana’s football on April 12, 2013.

Charles “Lilly” Pollard

Round-up of WICB Regional 4-Day Championship matches All three matches came to an end on the third day of their fifth round match in the WICB Regional 4-Day Championship.

Trinidad and Tobago defeated Combined Campuses and Colleges by ten wickets on the at Queen’s Park Oval.

T&T 406 for nine decl.

(Jason Mohammed 138, Dwayne Bravo 60, Stephen Katwaroo 50, Kieron Pollard 45, Yannick Cariah 43; Ryan Austin 3-94, Raymon Reifer 256, Kevin McClean 2-81, Keswick Williams 2-89) and 11 without loss.

CCC 188 (Kyle Corbin 62, Raymon Reifer 48, Shacaya Thomas 29, Anthony Alleyne 21; Rayad Emrit 6-35) and 228 (Chadwick Walton 93, Floyd

Reifer 48; Marlon Richard 366, Jason Mohammed 2-7, Imran Khan 2-19).

Windward Islands defeated Barbados by 216 runs on the third day of their fifth round match at Kensington Oval.

WINDWARDS 184 all out (Devon Smith 40, Andre Fletcher 38, Kenroy Peters 25 not out; Sulieman Benn 4-50, Ashley Nurse 4-63) and 301 for four decl. (Devon Smith 150 not out, Tyrone Theophile 91, Johnson Charles 23, Andre Fletcher 23).

BARBADOS 64 (Kevin Stoute 33; Shane Shillingford 4-20, Nelon Pascal 3-29, Kenroy Peters 2-9) and 205 (Kraigg Brathwaite 91 not out; Shane Shillingford 8-82).

Jamaica defeated Leeward

Islands by 170 runs on the third day of their fifth round game at Sabina Park.

Scores: JAMAICA 209 all out (Jermaine Blackwood 42, Nkrumah Bonner 39, Odean Brown 30 not out; Justin Athanaze 4-76, Quinton Boatswain 3-21) and 225 (Odean Brown 59, Sheldon Cotterrell 46 not out, Tamar Lambert 43, Carlton Baugh 20; Hayden Walsh 462, Tonito Willett 2-16, Justin Athanaze 2-37).

LEEWARDS 108 (Montcin Hodge 21; Nikita Miller 7-13, Andrew Richardson 3-34) and 156 (Jahmar Hamilton 52, Sylvester Joseph 38, Justin Athanaze 20; Nikita Miller 434, Andrew Richardson 3-30, Odean Brown 2-51).

Tuesday March 26, 2013

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A confident T&T CARIFTA Team heads for Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago’s full contingent for XXVIII CARIFTA Swimming Championships departs this week and will be participating in Swimming, Water Polo and the inaugural Open Water competition.

The Water Polo delegation leaves on Tuesday (today) while swimming’s delegation departs on Friday.

The Manger for the swim team, Neal Marcano says that he is wholly confident of the team’s prospects as they have strengths from both locally- and foreign-based swimmers in all of the age groups including multiple event A qualifiers Hannah Chatfield and Kael Yorke debutantes in the 11-12 age group. Carifta gold medalists Amira Pilgrim, Tyla Martin, Dylan Carter, Joshua Romany and Jabari Baptiste also add value to the team.

Top seeds in particular events include Jeron Thompson, swimming in his first Carifta, in the 1112 100m butterfly followed by teammate Kael Yorke seeded

in second position.

Tyla Martin is the top 15-17 Girls qualifier in the same event and also in the 200m fly and 400m free.

Dylan Carter and Joshua Romany are one-two in the 100m fly as well as in the Boys 15-17 200m freestyle. Adrian Goin (13-14) and Kael Yorke (11-12) are also at the top of the standings in the 50m fly as is Joshua Romany in the the 15-17 50m fly, 100m free and 400m free while Jonathan Ramkissoon is at the top in the 50m breast.

Ariel Cape, a 2012 CISC silver medalist is expected to best that performance as she goes in as the top qualifier in the Girls 200m backstroke event. Our relay teams command the top spots in the Boys 15 - 17 400m free, 400m medley, 800m free and 200m free.

Joining the team after local open water qualifications are Jivan Chee Foon, Sachin Sankar, both in the 15-17 age group, Teresa Otero, Shania David (13-14 Girls), and Kyle

Bridge Company makes sure cyclist can fly, assist with airline tickets

Operations Manager of the (BBCI) Jainarine Koosial (right) presents the cheque to Neil Reece in the presence of Randolph Roberts and Marica Dick.

The Berbice Bridge Company (BBCI) made sure that two of Guyana’s up and coming cyclists can fly to Trinidad and Tobago to participate in the International Easter Grande Pre Cycling Track event in the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The two Berbicians, Neal Reece and Marica Dick of the Flying Ace Cycle Club (FACC), will compete in the meet which will be held from the 29th to the 31st of March and will be staged at two venues; Arima Park and Skinner Park cycling arenas in the twin island republic.

Operations Manager of the Berbice Bridge Company (BBCI) Jainarine Koosial in presenting the cheque noted that the company is always willing to assist in whatever way possible especially activities that are community based, education and sports and youth development. He said that the company also is looking at good accountability.

Coach and founder of the FACC Randolph Roberts thanked the company for coming on board and assisting the cyclists.

He stated that they will not be only representing FACC at the meet, but the entire Guyana.

The cyclist on behalf of their club executives and coach expressed their heartfelt thanks to the BBCI and the other companies for their wonderful gesture. The cyclists will be accompanied by coach Randolph Roberts. (Samuel Whyte)

Caracciolo and Christian Marsden (13-14 Boys). 15-17 Girls Theana Hay and Syriah David will also swim in the open water event in addition to their other swimming events. Edmund Pouchet, Head Coach, is also confident in his team and looks forward to a successful meet, ably assisted by Hazel Haynes, Brian Wickham, twotime Olympian Sharntelle Mc Clean, and Vincent Tardieu while additional support will come from massage therapist Kevin Mc

Intyre and psychologist Nadine Sammy.

Chaperones are Roxanne Marcano, Natasha Lyder George and Jason Wickham. The swimming contingent leaves on Friday 29 March.

The Water Polo team comprises Adam Alexis, Joseph Herrera, David West, Kryztien Sharpe, Massimiliano Di Cola, Kiev Alleyne, Keegan Forde, Liam Smith, Keanan Charles, Luke Gillette, Ethan Elliott, Liam Howell and Andrew Gillette.

The manager is Sheldon Bhanwanie while Alan Too a Foo is Head Coach.

The Trinidad and Tobago delegation also has referees selected and appointed by Carifta’s administration to officiate at its 2013 installment of the championships. Swimming will be represented by FINAapproved referees Lindsay Gillette and Francis Sampson. Kester Scanterbury will referee in the water polo competition.

T w e n t y - t w o

(22) countries are expected to participate which includes: Guyana, Antigua & Barbuda, Jamaica, Aruba, The Netherlands Antilles, The Bahamas, Martinique, Barbados, St. Lucia, Bermuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, The Cayman Islands, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Dominica, Suriname, French Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, The Turks & Caicos Islands, Guadeloupe, The British Virgin Islands and The US Virgin Islands.

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Tuesday March 26, 2013

Trophy Stall / WDFA 2012 U-17 Final...

Eagles upset Den Amstel on sudden death Penalty Kicks to claim title When the tournament commenced in the last quarter of 2012, no one in their wildest dreams would have or could have predicted that the little known Eagles Football Club of Stewartville on the West Coast of Demerara would have emerged as the champions of the 2012 Trophy Stall sponsored West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) Under17 League.

But that’s just how the script ended on Saturday evening at the Den Amstel Community Centre Ground and in epic fashion too. The two teams had to be separated by sudden death penalty kicks after the score was locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

Even when the five (5) stipulated penalty kicks would have been exhausted, the score was locked 4-4. The

little known side held their nerve and composure to silence the home crowd when the dust was settled as the afternoon’s sun started to fade away; and a new champion was born on the West Side.

The third place game saw no such excitement and nerves as Bagotsville / Nismes brushed aside Wales United 3-0 with goals scored

by Shawn Patrick (6th), Kevin Richards (15th) and Chris King in the 48th minute.

Eagles United, based at Stewartville absorbed lots of pressure from a well organized Den Amstel side which no doubt was the more oiled unit on the day, but in the final analysis, the Stewartville lads kept the focus all along to emerge as victors, their first title having been together for just over one year.

The best goalkeeper of

Champions We Are! Trophy Stall / WDFA Under-17 2012 champions Eagles FC of Stewartville in jubilant mood following victory over Den Amstel in the final. the tournament, Rockey Reddy (Eagles FC) was definitely ready for the big stage, bringing off some point blank saves during the course of the game. He capped a solid game when he denied Den

Amstel’s Kevin Dundas’ sudden death penalty kick saving at the right post to send his team and supporters into wild celebrations.

That save was after Reddy’s teammate; Travis Bagot had scored the first kick in the sudden death segment.

During regulation time, it was Den Amstel that took the lead almost on the stroke of half time after some probing football that tested the Eagles defence and goalkeeper but they finally wilted under the pressure.

Given the performance of Eagles in the first half though, it was not going to be easy for Den Amstel to walk over their opponents. The home

team continued to enjoy the better of the exchanges but lacked the focus and discipline in the final third to put away the chances they created.

The tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Eagles Captain Ezekiel Cox led with authority and kept his side together and focused in testing times. With the clock ticking away, many felt that the game would have ended 1-0 in favour of the home team but that was not to be.

With one minute to go, casual goalkeeping on the part of Den Amstel’s Kevis Fraser allowed the ball from a long range shot, to slip through his fingers as he leaped in the air, to settle at

the back of the nets, tying the game 1-1.

From that point, Eagles never looked back as they drove home the advantage.

Paul Miggins, Omari Haynes, Aubrey Greene and Akeem Hector all scored for Den Amstel; Gavin Graham missed the final kick of the stipulated five.

For Eagles, their second shot rebounded off the cross bar, Seon Mills failing to direct his shot past Fraser.

They were however on target through Mervin Frank, Stephon Bentick, Jason Carroll and Clem Brotherson.

The presentation ceremony will take place at a venue and date to be announced.

Bakewell donated MVP prize as Cell Smart Super 8 Basketball Tournament concludes Eagles’ custodian Rockey Ready safely clutches the ball during one of the many offensive endeavors of Den Amstel.

Bakewell, under the stewardship of the late Nazir Mohammed, has always been in the forefront in rendering support for the sustenance of sports and other community oriented activities. Mr. Mohammed died late last year and his successors have added the appendage, Nazir and Nazir Company to the business enterprise, in recognition of the input of the late proprietor to the success of the business place.

Furthermore, the new management has continued his chivalrous works and yesterday morning they acquiesced to support the Cell Smart Super 8 Basketball Tournament organized by New Era Entertainment.

Towards this end, they have donated one Jailing 110CC motorcycle that will go to the Most Valuable Player.

Yesterday morning, Director of the New Era Entertainment, Kenrick Noel,

Manager of Bakewell, Nazir and Nazir company, Jacob Nanan (centre), hands over the gift to Mr. Major in the presence of Kenrick Noel visited one of the business establishments of the sponsors, Roti Hut, in Albert Street, Georgetown where he received the gift from Manager of the Bakewell,

Nazir and Nazir Company, Jacob Nanan, in the presence of Aubrey Major (jnr), another member of the organizing committee.

(Continued on page 28)

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday March 26, 2013

Adams leads St Cuthbert’s Warriors to victory over Enmore Middle-order batsman, Timothy Andrews, provided an exhibition of power-hitting on Sunday afternoon, hitting a game changing innings to lead St Cuthbert’s Warriors to a comfortable 70-run win over Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club (ECCCC) in a friendly T20 game at the St Cuthbert’s playground.

Batting first, the hosts recovered from a sluggish start to post a commanding 170-6, to which ECCCC replied with 100-9 at the completion of the stipulated overs.

Inserted to take first strike after ECCCC skipper Bheemraj Ramkellawan called correctly at the toss, St Cuthbert’s Warriors found runs hard to come by as fast bowlers Chetram Ramlall and Ranjeet Heeralall kept a tight rein on the scoring, consistently hitting a good line and length.

At the end of eight overs, at which point Ramlall and Heeralall had both completed their quota of four overs each, the hosts were 24-2 and ECCCC firmly in control.

However, the complexion of

the game changed drastically after that, as the last 12 overs produced a staggering 146 runs. Veteran off-spinner Balram Bactowar was hit for two sixes in his opening overthe ninth of the innings- and that set the tone for a belligerent assault, as St Cuthbert’s Warriors, led by Andrews, feasted on some loose bowling in the second half of their innings.

The right-handed Andrews, who was later adjudged Man-of-the-Match and Best Batsman of the game, slammed seven towering sixes and two boundaries during his knock of 66, which not only dug his team out of hole, but also ensured that the total was more than enough to secure victory.

Mackey Andrews, who in partnership with T. Andrews, helped revived the innings, supported with 30 (2x4s, 1x6), while Stallone Simon with two sixes in a quick-fire 23 and Oswald Hussain with 14 not out (2x6s) chipped in towards the end of the innings.

Bowling for ECCCC, Ramlall finished with remarkable

Members of the St Cuthbert’s Warriors team pose with their trophies after victory on Sunday. Man-of-theMatch Timothy Andrews is standing fourth from right. figures of 2-8 from four overs.

Faced with an asking rate of 8.55 runs per over, ECCCC suffered an early loss when former national wicketkeeper/batsman Sheik Mohamed was trapped leg before by fast bowler Burton Clenkin, much to the delight

of the home team supporters.

The visitors never recovered, and even though Ramkellawan kept St Cuthbert’s Warriors at bay with a topscore of 24 (2x4s,

1x6), wickets fell at regular intervals, causing the run rate to climb beyond manageable proportions.

Youngster Vishwanauth Ramlakhan (13) and Heeralall

(12) were the other batsmen to get into double-figures.

Clenkin, who copped the Best Bowler trophy, finished with 3-14, while seamers Denzil (Continued on page 29)

Fourth Desmond Dorsett Memorial road race classic successfully staged

The various winners pose with coordinator Mrs Waveney Dorsett after collecting their accolades Sunday.

Denzil Leitch raced away with top honours when the fourth edition of the Desmond Dorsett Memorial Road Race Classic, which is organized by the Dorsett Family of Leeds/ No50 village Corentyne, was successfully staged last Sunday on the Upper Corentyne.

The race which began around 09:30hrs was open to athletes throughout Berbice and was run in four categories namely Under-19 males, U-19 females, U-15 Boys and U-15 girls.

The senior runners raced off from No 47 village and ended at the popular No53 Complex, covering a distance of four miles. The U-15 athletes and the U-19 females covered a distance of 3½ miles beginning at No 49 village and also finish at the No 53 Complex.

In the end it was Leitch who out ran his opponents to run away with the U-19 males title and be declared winner crossing the finishing line ahead of Michael Layne and Ryan Bell. On the distaff side, LaShawna Johnson was able to move up in category to race home ahead of Anika Jaundoo.

Among the juniors boys Aubrey Leitch, who placed third last year, moved up to take top place with Shemroy Sparman again placing second ahead of Raphael Gray third.

Among the junior girls Naomi Browne was in winners row taking top honours ahead of Azuka Williams with last year winner Chelsea Toney third.

The top finishers were all presented with trophies, medals and monetary awards compliments of the Dorsett family. The other participants were also presented with a Desmond Dorsett Memorial T-shirt in which the participated in.

All the participants were given certificates, ribbons and other memorabilia.

Residents in the various communities turned out in large numbers to witness the event which passed through No 49, Leeds, No51, No52 and finally finishing at the No 53 Sports Complex.

The late Superintendent Dorsett was an ardent sports fan who participated in numerous sporting activities including Cricket and athletics during his time in the Guyana Police force and in the community.

The event was coordinated by his wife Waveney Dorsett, a retired Head Mistress, and community activist and also a re-migrant along with his children, family, well wishers and friends. (Samuel Whyte)

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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GFC gunning to down Alpha in Mayor’s KO Football quarterfinal today The Georgetown Football Club (GFC) Ground, Bourda is the place to be tonight when the opening q u a r t e r f i n a l r o u n d of matches in the annual Mayor’s knockout football tournament are contested.

Home side GFC will be gunning for Alpha United in the opening game of the double header at 18:30hrs and fans are encouraged to turn up early because they will miss the fireworks.

Giant killers, GFC, who have booted Premier League teams BV Triumph United

and Western Tigers in the preliminary stage, will come out tonight to ensure Alpha suffers a similar fate.

They will look to leading players Gregory Denny, Dexter Rutherford, Dellon Cadogan, Teashawn Blackman, Reshawn Sandiford and Sherwin Pinder for inspiration.

However, on the other hand, Alpha is definitely a prospect many teams do not relish.

They are number one and are bent on keeping it that way. Goalkeeper Richard

GTU names team for Les Harris tourney The Guyana Teachers’ Union has selected fourteen players to take part in the Les Harris Regional teachers’ Twenty /20 tournament which is schedule for St. Lucia from April 5 to April 7, 2013. Guyana will be playing Jamaica on the opening day of the tournament. The players selected are Balram Samaroo, Wayne Osborne, Albert Sinclair , Andrew Williams, Festus Benn, Zaheer Moakan, Imran Moakan , Nazeer Mohamed 9.Rocky Huston, Rawle Munroe , Ameer Rahaman, Kwesi Maltay, Kevin George and, Randy Jackson.

Dwayne Jacobs the third and fourth place finishers will receive $300,000 and $200,000 Anthony Abrams

Gregory Richardson

Reshawn Sandiford

Reynolds, Travis Grant, Bevon Mosley, Andrew Murray, Dwight Peters, Gregory Richardson and Anthony Abrams are all talented players, most representing Guyana, and will be in no nonsense moods as they look to brush aside the challenge of the upstart Bourda Blues.

The competition promises to be intense and fans will not be disappointed.

The second match will see Slingerz of the West side tackle Camptown at 20:30 hrs and this is anticipated to be

another exciting encounter.

Slingerz, seeking to stamp their authority on the local football scene, will have their work cut out against Camptown in what should be a ding dong battle.

Slingerz will look to Dwayne Jacobs, Joshua Brown, Anthony Harding, Tichard Joseph, Andre Hector and Kester Jacobs to carry their fight.

But Camptown under the eye of former player Troy Prescod will depend on skipper Reshawn Sandiford, Lennox Charles, Devon Forde, Telson

McKinnon, Joel Bond and Travis Martin to halt the Westside team in what has the makings of a bruising encounter.

Thursday’s quarterfinals will see Santos opposing Den Amstel, while Fruta Conquerors battle GDF. The respective semis will be contested on Sunday March 31 with the final and third place playoff set for April 7.

The winner in this tournament will cart off $1,000,000, while the runner up will take home $500,000;

respectively.

Meanwhile, Ansa McAl has come onboard with the tournament and has agreed to provide the third prize. And CBR Mining, who has been supporting local sports in a big way, is also expected to come on board with the tournament in a big way.

Details of their involvement are scheduled to be announced shortly.

The other sponsors on board so far are 2 Brothers gas station, Mohamed’s Enterprise, General Equipment Guyana Ltd, Bakewell, Guyana Beverage Inc and MaCorp.

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Tuesday March 26, 2013

Tiger Woods back as world number one after Bay Hill win

Tiger Woods poses with the trophy after his win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Getty Images) BBC Sport - Tiger Woods returned to the top of the world rankings for the first time since October 2010 after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational by two strokes.

The 37-year-old replaces Rory McIlroy as number one after dropping to a career-low 58th in November 2011.

The American’s win at Bay Hill was his 77th PGA title and his third of 2013.

Woods resumed three

shots clear after storms halted Sunday’s play and shot 70 to hold off England’s Justin Rose, who climbed to third in the world rankings. “I play well here, it’s as simple as it gets,” said Woods, who became number one for the 11th time following his eighth professional win at Bay Hill.

“I’m very pleased with the way I’m playing. “It was a by-product of hard work, patience and getting back to

playing golf tournaments.

“I’ve turned some of the weaknesses that I had last year into strengths. I’m really excited about the rest of this year.”

It was Woods’s sixth title in his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour, and after wins at Doral and Torrey Pines this year, he is now clear favourite to capture his fifth Masters title when the season’s opening major begins at Augusta on 11 April.

Woods, who clinched the last of his 14 majors in 2008, first became world number one in June 1997 following his maiden major victory at the Masters, aged 22. He topped the rankings for 264 weeks from August 1999 to September 2004 and 281 weeks from June 2005 to October 2010.

But a five-month lay-off in late 2009 after an infamous scandal in his private life, a string of injuries, including four knee operations and an Achilles problem, and problems getting to grips with a new swing all contributed to his fall down the rankings.

Woods had played two holes of his final round at Bay

Hill when a torrential storm ended proceedings in Florida on Sunday. But the ferocious storm that felled several trees at the exclusive Orlando course was replaced by sunshine and only a moderate breeze on Monday.

American Rickie Fowler moved to within two shots of Woods with four holes remaining but dropped four strokes in the next two holes, including a triple-bogey eight at the 16th, when he put two

shots into the water.

Woods, who leaked several tee shots to the right, was in the large fairway bunker at the 16th, from where he found the water on Friday, but struck a majestic escape into the heart of the green and calmly two-putted for a birdie.

Rose, who was at the top of the leaderboard in the first two rounds before dropping back with a 72 on Saturday, resumed four shots adrift with 16 holes of his final round

remaining.

He dropped a shot at his first hole of the day and at the third, but recorded four birdies, ensuring sole possession of second with an assured up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the par-three 17th.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy did not play at Bay Hill but can regain the top spot with victory at this week’s Houston Open, which Woods is not attending.

Joseph is new GDA president

President of the GDA Faye Joseph (4th from left) with other members of the newly elected executive.

Faye Joseph became the first female president of the Georgetown Dominoes Association when the body held its Annual General Meeting and elections on Sunday evening at Orin Joseph residence in South Georgetown.

Neville Cadogan was elected Vice President while the Secretary is Travis Cameron. Sonia Goodluck will serve as the Assistant Secretary and Ronald Beharry the Treasurer.

The Organising Secretary is Mark Wiltshire and Basil Bradshaw is the Public

Relations Officer, while Cedrick Fortune and Kevin Boston are his assistants.

The committee members are Paul Lewis, Charlyn Barnwell, Dhyan Carter and Errol Seymour, while the Trustees are Orin Joseph and Winston Steven. Earl Mars and John Chance will serve as the internal auditors.

Speaking after the elections Faye Joseph thanked the members for electing her and urged the executive to work towards the development of the sport. Meanwhile former president Orin Joseph wished the elected office bearers well.

EDFA U-15 Tourney...

Youth Developers & Paradise take full points in latest encounters Under-15 rivalry on the East Coast of Demerara under the auspices of the East Coast Demerara Football Association continued on the weekend with Youth Developers banging their way to a 3-1 win over Buxton Stars while Paradise took full points without breaking a sweat.

The other match saw Golden Grove and Mahaica battling to a 0-0 stalemate. It was another day of excitement for the Under-15 players who are contesting for places on the East Coast squad to contest the Guyana Football Federation Inter

Association tournament which is anticipated to kick off shortly.

Youth Developers dug in to take care of business against Buxton Stars with S. Fredericks netting a double and the other coming from S. Adams. The consolation strike for Buxton Stars was scored by S. Scott.

Paradise got full points from Victoria Kings which failed to show up. In results from matches played on March 16, BV Triumph United and Paradise battled to an exciting 2-2 draw. For BVTU the players hitting the onion

skin were P. Kingston and D. Joue while for Paradise the players on target were O. Fields and T. Cummings.

Ann’s Grove hammered Victoria Kings 4-0 on the back of goals from S. Joseph with a brace, D. Pellew and J. Jemmott touched in one each.

The other game ended in a 1-1 stalemate between Golden Grove and Buxton United. K. Garnett scored for Golden Grove and K. Durant responded for Buxton United.

Three matches are scheduled for tomorrow at the competition venue, Buxton Community Ground.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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t r o Sp

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Competition...

Six outrights wins and a draw set tone as Linden segment begins

Part of the action on opening night in the Linden segment of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Competition.

Seven exciting matches got the ball rolling in the Linden segment of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Competition on Sunday evening, at the Wisroc/Amelia’s Ward Bus Park.

Attended by officials from the sponsor Banks DIH, the evening got started with Cherokee Park edging Pokerburg 1-0 thanks to Aubrey Fredericks’ 12th minute strike.

The second game saw Speightland beat South Stars 2-0 through goals off the boots of Allan Gordon (4th) minute and Julian Roberts (6th).

Coomacka United then eased past Exudos 3-0 with Dorwin Daw (4th, 11th) netting a double, while Adrian Edmunson (17th) completed their tally.

Mini Bus registered the most lop-sided victory of the night when they thrashed Top Class 4-0 with John Waldron (7th, 8th), Ray Bobb Semple (4th) and Seon Brewley (15th) the men on target.

Silen Assassins lived up to their sobriquet with a 3-1 win over Barsenal through a brace from Romain Haynes (9th, 20th) and a solitary strike from Quacy Johnson (7th), while Darwayne Duke (2nd) made the consolation strike for Barsenal.

Goalgetters and Wisroc played to the only stalemate of the evening when their encounter ended 1-1.

Roy Griffith’s 1st minute goal gave Goalgetters the initial lead, before Clarence Huggins responded for Wisroc in the 18th minute. Hard Knocks then squeezed past Eagles 2-1 with Calvin David (4th) and

Oswald Benjamin (20th) the players to score for the winners, while Derron Smith’s (15th) strike had leveled things briefly.

The full results are seen below: (See table) The competition continues tomorrow evening with eight more matches at the Amelia’s Ward Hard Court, starting from 18:00 hrs.

THE FIXTURES ARE AS FOLLOWS: $100 car versus El Dorado The Amazing vs. Constab Classic Six vs. Blue Berry Hill High Stars vs. Silver Bullets Attackers vs. Train line warriors 1 Mile / ½ vs. Scheme Unknowns vs. Ripping Bullets Rough and Rugged vs. TLC Russians

Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Limited, 24 Saffon St.Charlestown, Georgetown.Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/ 226-8210