Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur M@ilbox Kaieteur M@ilbox SOMETHING IS IN THE AIR: IT IS NOT GOOD DEAR EDITOR, I have been involved in four forms of protest the past two months. I showed solidarity with the striking GPL workers by demonstrating with them on Main Street and in Brickdam. I was among the protestors of Plaisance who were inflexible against the placing of the e-governance tower on the community ground. I picketed with the vendors and City Councilors who rejected the Town Clerk’s decision to evict sellers from their vending sites downtown. On Friday I participated in the picket/ demonstration of the

residents of Yarrowkabra who are being displaced from their coal burning occupation to make way for BK sand mines Citizens of Guyana who were not among these irate people will not properly understand the real depth of their feelings against the Guyana Government. You will understand, yes, but you cannot fully grasp the inner anger of them unless you are among them. And when you are among them what you see tells a sad tale of leaders who cannot learn from the mistakes of the past. These protestors from all parts of Guyana are depressed at their

helplessness and it brings out strong feelings in them and strong is a mild word.

You struggle with these people and you feel it inside your soul that something is going to happen sooner than later and it will not be pleasant for Guyana and its citizens. No nation is going to sit by in silence and watch their livelihood disappearing from their families.

The Yarrowkabra incident is simply madness in all its forms that must be stopped. The people displaced are not even working class but maybe a little stratum below the working class. These are poor

DEAR EDITOR, Our nation’s 47th anniversary of independence is no doubt another occasion for our governmet to utilize cliches in an attempt to hoodwink Guyanese about the source, nature, and extent of our country’s many vexing problems. We will be told everything except that, on careful examination, May 26th, 1966 was the day Guyana was granted its independence to start what can be best described as a fire dance with autocratic rule and democracy.

The result has been that our various governments have, for selfish personal and political party reasons, allowed Guyana to become dangerously dysfunctional compared to the society the British left us. Many will disagree with my assessment, but no amount of denial can erase this inconvenient and painful truth.

When our executive president now possesses more power over us than the colonial governor, the Queen, or the British Prime Minister did at the time of our independence, we know that our society has become dangerously dysfunctional.

When the president and his government treat the

provisions of our constitution and the binding decisions of our courts as mere inconvenient recommendations or irritable suggestions that must be given less importance than arrogated presidential discretion, we know that our society has become dangerously dysfunctional.

When citizens turn to the police only as a desperate last resort rather than as a preferred first option to deal with crimes committed against them or their property, we know that our nation has become dangerously dysfunctional.

When breaking of the law, by government or citizens, is only deterred by consideration of the connections of the targeted person, entity, or property rather than by any consideration of the rule of law, we know that we have become dangerously dysfunctional.

To be frank, Guyana has become like that dysfunctional, decadent, and dangerous village or neighbourhood, where everything seems normal but in which traditional family- or community-building practices have long been supplanted by family- or community-destroying values.

Businesses and families, in full imitation of government ministers, now

focus on raising their profits and profiles by any means necessary rather than on improving their communities for the good of all. The result has been an alarming descent into numbing decadence that currently seems like the proverbial calm before the destructive storm that will surely come.

Sadly, there are no easily implementable solutions to this state of affairs, primarily because the powerbrokers, who always claim to be working for the people, do not want to compromise for the good of our country. The nation-destroying fight to amass power and privileges for persons and political parties is given more prominence and importance than the voluntary surrendering of some party or personal power and privileges for the good of our country. We have seen this destructive attitude before and, given where we are, we know where it has led.

I hope for a different outcome for our nation. But mere hope has and will never accomplish what narcissistic and vengeful men and women consciously refuse to pursue. I wish our nation well and urge our powerbrokers to find the courage to voluntarily and bloodlessly reverse course.

Lionel Lowe

Guyana has become dangerously dysfunctional, compared to the society the British left us

people. Why any government would want to weaken their economic existence for one of the largest companies in Guyana that can easily claim another area for mining sand?

As a political activist and a student in history, I see tragic events unfolding in my country if this government does not stop and reflect on the insane pathway of selfdestruction they are on.

There isn’t even a small pause. One atrocity follows another within days and the destructive flow goes on. Last Tuesday, I spoke to a high level PPP activist that was a recent discovery of the party and he said to me that he honestly thinks that Roger Luncheon and Gail Teixeira are totally oblivious to the unpopular direction the PPP has gone into. I sat in his car and he confessed to me that the PPP has lost its way and Teixeira and Luncheon constitute serious hurdles to the PPP trying to change.

While I agreed with the two names I told him that Ramotar himself must not be taken out of the picture of blindness to reality. I honestly do not see any shade of

difference between Ramotar on the one hand, and Luncheon and Teixeira on the other. They are all Stalinist who have lost their ways more than fifteen years ago. I mentioned that Irfan Aly and Priya Manickchand, from confidential information I receive all the time about their party politics, are just as inflexible as any of the names he cited.

The question is if there is anyone in the families of the PPP hierarchy with influence that can talk to the PPP. I doubt the likes of Teixeira would listen to Rupert Roopnarine even though they share a very close working relationship and Roopnarine is more than capable of assessing for Teixeira the dangers ahead if the PPP continues with its venalities.

But would Roopnarine want to? I doubt the PPP would listen to Sir Shridath. But would Ramphal want to get

involved?

Is there anyone in the diaspora that can sit down with the PPP’s collective leadership, get into their minds and persuade them to just “cool out?” I believe only four candidates stand some chance but I doubt Luncheon and Teixeira would be persuaded.

They are Nelson Mandela, Jesse Jackson, PJ Patterson and Jimmy Carter. Carter is out.

He said he is not interested in any more mediation in this coun t r y.

M a n d e l a ’s advisors would advise on him traveling. Patterson is too loyal to CARICOM to want to talk to a sitting Head of a CARICOM country.

T h a t l e a ves Jesse Jackson. But who is to approach him. Guyanese are helplessly looking on as their country slips into a chasm of mind-boggling insanity Frederick Kissoon

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Some enterprising lawyer should jump at the opportunity to challenge the legality of these tests DEAR EDITOR, How things have changed since I started practice so many y e a r s a g o , w h e n lawyers sensing some kind of lawlessness would, without being retained of of their own accord, file an applications to the Courts for a ruling as to what they perceived to be a wrong was legal or not.

Take for example this – what I call consider to be illegal rubbish - This G.R.A. polygraph testing of its employees and the subsequent firing of its employees who fail the test.

Employees who have not been accused of or found guilty of any matter related to the execution of their job and of course the complete ruining of their character any work potential.

Mr. Editor – May I draw the a t t e n t i o n o f m y colleagues out there to the provision of the Justices Protection Act Ch 5:07 of the Laws of Guyana – Which provide for any action against the Government “shall not be commenced against the Justice until one calendar month at least after notice in writing of the intended action has been delivered to him” Sect 8(2) and next — “No action shall be brought against a justice...unless the action is commenced within six calendar months after the act complained of has been committed” Sect. 8(1).

Mr. Editor, I hope that by this letter, some enterprising lawyer out there will jump at the opportunity to

challenge the legality of these tests — voluntary or not — even pro bona — and that those so egregiously wronged would seek legal redress before it is too late.

As an afterthought Mr. Editor —1 wonder who in Guyana has the necessary expertise or equipment to c a r r y o u t the polygraph test, a test that is so unreliable that nowhere in the civilised world is it approved for use in the court of law and whether the results of these tests will be available for scrutiny if challenged Randolph Joseph Eleazar

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Kaieteur M@ilbox I CANNOT BRING MYSELF TO BOW TO ANY OF THESE APPOINTEES, AT ANY LEVEL DEAR EDITOR, I wish to bring to the attention of the legal profession, the quality of appointments that this PPP Government has been making in the judicial system.My father-in-law who was an Attorney-at-law for over sixty years, died a few years ago and left a property at plantation Drill, Mahaicony, Upper East Demerara.The property was in his name at first, but his love for the bee-keeping activities that he pursued, caused him to put the property in the name of a bee keeping company that he had formed.Any person with any smattering of knowledge in Company law will know that a limited liability company can own property in its own right, in the same legal way as a real person.My father in law was always in possession of the land at Mahaicony, but at some point he had entered into an agreement of sale and purchase of the land with another man.The matter ended up in court. The man who had entered into the agreement of sale subsequently died and my father in law also died. He could not complete the terms of the

agreement of sale of the land because the land did not belong to him in law. Imagine the surprise of my husband and other relatives when a judge of the high court made a judgement in this case where both of the contracting parties had died, a legal impossibility. The judgment did not stop there, but the judge ruled that the transport in the name of the beekeeping company must be passed to the widow of the deceased man, and accordingly a new transport was made out in the name of this woman.

The result is that my husband and his other siblings have been dispossessed of their father’s estate by the ruling of a Judge of the High Court in Guyana .Needless to say, that far more litigation to settle this matter is contemplated, and the expenses that will of necessity, follow.It is for precisely this reason that I have not appeared to represent ANYONE in the courts of Guyana , for the past several years.

I CANNOT bring myself to bow to any of these appointees, at any level.

Juliet Holder-Allen Attorney-At-Law

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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AG Reports to come under focus at Regional retreat - Ramotar, Ministers to engage Regional heads Findings and recommendations of the Auditor General Reports on operations of Regional bodies will be extensively deliberated at an upcoming retreat for Regional heads. The primary aim is to correct and remove flaws which consistently appear in the annual reports.

According to Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud, from May 31 to June 2 in Region Six President Donald Ramotar and several Cabinet members will engage Regional Executive Officers and Deputy Regional Executive Officers on matters relating to the reports.

Persaud said that the Ministry is paying careful attention to the findings and recommendations of the Office of Auditor General.

Earlier this year it concluded a staff retreat. The Ministry is targeting the upcoming retreat for the Regional heads, which will focus on what is being done, how they are being executed and whether there are any best practices out there that could be replicated.

One of the expected outcomes of the retreat is ensuring that certain basic operational procedures are adopted and accepted and will inform the way business is done across the 10 Administrative Regions.

It will deliberately focus on the Auditor General’s reports over the past years and strategize mechanisms to correct and remove those consistent findings which appear in the reports. The end result should see mechanisms and strategies in place to deliver completed projects and programmes within the prescribe time frame and the concept of value for money is materialized.

Almost annually, the Auditor General’s Reports highlight the same flaws in Government’s accounts, particularly for Regional Departments such as

Permanent Secretary Collin Croal and Local Government and Regional Development Minister Ganga Persaud overpayment to contractors, non-clearance of Advances, and lack of maintenance of logbooks among others.

The United States of America 2012 Human Rights Report made reference to the fact that the effectiveness of the Audit Office remains limited since Government may or may not act on the discrepancies noted in its reports.

“Observers noted that recurring discrepancies were repeatedly highlighted in the reports without officials taking appropriate follow-up actions to investigate and resolve the discrepancies,” the report highlighted.

The Local Government and Regional Development Ministry is also putting measures in place to ensure that it leads by example. The Ministry is seeking to develop its internal audit department to promote accountability.

According to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Collin Croal, the Ministry has received

permission from the Public Service Ministry to recruit four auditors.

He hopes that the addition of the auditors would help to identify weaknesses and

make representations. “If you follow the Public Accounts Committee (of the National Assembly) there were a number of negative reports being provided… We want to deal with those reports,” Croal said.

The Ministry of Local Government will be hiring a Legal Officer shortly. Minister Ganga Persaud said that for quite a while Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and Municipalities have encountered difficulties accessing and benefiting from legal representations. The appointment of a Legal Officer will allow enforcement of areas which were being treated lightly.

“In some instances, with the coming onboard of the legal officer it is anticipated that we will be able at the local Government level to enforce the bylaws in a consistent manner,” Persaud added.

Dem boys seh

Donald talk like a human being Donald sound like a human being when he talk to de nation last night. This is de same man who use to sound like de powerhouse who use to rule Guyana. De man suddenly wake up to de fact that he got to get help He different from Jagdeo. This is de man who tell people how independence come at de right time because de people who was ruling de country before use to tell people that dem shouldn’t send dem children to school. Well is either de people had sense or Jagdeo lie because he mother send he to school and nuff of dem same people who end up as minister today been to school. It either mean that dem parents was disobedient or that Jagdeo lie.

Donald, however, recognize that this situation is not about we and dem. It is about co-operation and compromise. He stand up pun de stage and he talk about wha de government do over de years; about de economic growth and things like that. He ain’t spend too much time talking bout wha de government try to do and fail—things like Skeldon factory and some of dem school wha shut down because dem get too old. He ain’t even talk bout dem schools wha he got to build over although de same people who use to run de country did boast how dem build school. Dem boys notice that Donald ain’t like de other one. He ain’t got wings suh he ain’t flying so much. He rather stay home and try wid de mess he inherit than fuh tek a holiday and mek de nation pay for it. De man tell de crowd that he believe in de country; that everybody should put Guyana first. He didn’t talk to dem who put demself first and tek so much money that to this day de country can’t pay workers proper wage.

There is still hope fuh Donald.

Talk half and pray fuh Donald.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

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All is not well between the CID and DPP

By Dale Andrews The recent withdrawal of the murder charge against Chaka Chase by the DPP may be indicative of the malaise that has probably engulfed the Criminal Investigations Department over the years.

In fact it speaks volumes for the relationship between the hierarchy of the CID and the office of the DPP. “The DPP’s action in relation to the Chaka Chase matter is totally correct in law.

It tells you that something is terribly wrong with her relationship with the CID,” a Police officer opined.

The DPP had demanded that the file on the Chaka Chase murder charge be brought to her, after the suspect had already been taken to court by the Police.

“I can’t recall a man being charged for murder and the next day the DPP withdrawing that charge.

Once again the Force has hurt the family of the deceased.

One would have thought that with Romain Cleto being one of their own, all the investigating skills of the Guyana Police Force would have been brought to bear on this case,” a former police officer with CID experience explained.

Earlier this year, the DPP also had cause to publicly chide the Guyana Police Force over what she described as sloppy investigative work.

Her comments had prompted a feeble response by the police.

“What has happened has damaged the image of the Force, irreparably, especially

- is there a police torture unit?

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud given the amount of training that ranks are going through,” another officer stated.

If what is being revealed by some staff at the Police Headquarters, Eve Leary is true, then there is a ‘torture unit’ at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Head Office.

The revelations come in the wake of recent disclosures by at least two persons, one a murder suspect and an alleged eyewitness, that they were subjected to electric shocks and other harsh physical treatment at the hands of operatives at CID headquarters.

Staffers at the Police Headquarters, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that they have heard screams coming from the Criminal Investigations Department on a nightly basis and they are sure that they were the screams of criminal suspects.

One staff said that she was not surprised by the allegations made by murder suspect Chaka Chase and the

woman who police said had identified him as one of the persons in a car that was used in the fatal shooting of policeman, Corporal Romain Cleto.

The revelations would also come as no surprise to many Guyanese who reacted angrily to a photograph published by this newspaper back in 2009, depicting a teenager, who was also a suspect in a murder, with a badly scarred genital area.

While the police have been denying the recent allegations, the image of Tywon Thomas’s burnt genitals could not escape a thorough investigation and the subsequent charging of two policemen.

Two senior officers, including a divisional commander, were also casualties of that episode that the Guyana Police Force would have done well to put behind them.

Ever since Toyin Anderson from the infamous Linden ‘Blackie’ London gang had to be hoisted into a courtroom following a brutal beating by the police, open evidence that suspects were suffering torturous treatment abounded.

There was the case of David Leander, called ‘Biscuit’, who also had to be physically carried into a

courtroom.

Kaieteur News understands that the same names that are being called in connection with the recent allegations of torture were also linked to the Leander beating.

A police officer said that the increasing number of allegations from criminal suspects at the hands of the police is becoming troublesome for the majority of senior officers of the Guyana Police Force.

It is also the view of many present and serving officers that unless the police office of professional responsibility is given some kind of independence to conduct its work with regards to investigating alleged transgressions such as torture by members of the Force, the perpetrators could always get off without facing prosecution.

“The OPR is a creature of the Commissioner of police.

Its head has to report to the Commissioner. If the

We are life savers, you should be one too!Donate blood today!!!

Commissioner or the Crime Chief does not order an investigation into this recent allegation, the OPR cannot do anything,” one officer explained.

And since the police have flatly denied the allegations of torture, an investigation may not be forthcoming.

It is the widely held view by some senior officials that within the past six or seven years, investigation in the Guyana Police Force has been replaced by physical violence against suspects, in what may be a response to the spiraling number of unsolved serious crimes.

At the last Police Officers’ Conference a few months ago, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee had declared that he was dismayed by the large number of unsolved serious crimes, especially since the government has

DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack been investing heavily to enhance the capacity of the Criminal Investigations Department.

His concerns received a lukewarm response from Crime Chief Seelall Persaud during his presentation to the officers immediately after.

The Crime Chief brushed the concerns aside, using figures which gave a farcical impression that all is well.

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Kaieteur News

ImmigrationINFO Immigration News For Our Community

Sunday May 26, 2013

Ministry pushing for Universal Secondary Education

Sponsorship issues relating to adopted children and orphans Attorney Gail S. Seeram The process of obtaining lawful permanent resident status for an adopted child or orphan is not an automatic process.

The adoption process can be long and tedious but once an adoption is finalized, then the immigration process begins. In order for an adopted child or orphan to gain entry into the United States or/and lawful permanent residence status in the United States, various requirements must be met, such as residency, legal custody, and age when adoption finalized.

ADOPTED CHILD: In order for an adopted child to be approved for lawful permanent resident status in the United States, the adoption must be final before age 16, must reside with adoptive parents for two years and been in the legal custody of the adoptive parents for two years. The U.S. Immigration authorities

Gail Seeram will require evidence to prove the adopted child resided with the adoptive parent.

Such evidence may include school records, tax return records, medical records, photos and notarized affidavits. In addition, the adoption decree must be final before the adopted child reaches age 16. If the adoption was filed before the adopted child was age 16 but became final after the adopted child turn age 16, then the adoption cannot be used to establish a parent-child relationship for U.S. Immigration benefits.

Once an adoption is final, the adopted child cannot obtain immigration benefits from his/her natural parents and the adopted child cannot petition for his natural parents or siblings. The adopted child can only obtain immigration benefits through their

adoptive parents and viceversa.

ORPHANS: A different‘ set of immigration rules applies to orphans that are adopted and seek entry or lawful permanent resident status in the United States. An orphan is a child that has been abandoned by reason of death, disappearance, abandonment and/or desertion, separation or loss of both parents.

Orphans do not have the twoyear legal custody and residency requirement.

Thereby, an adoptive parent can file an immigration petition for the benefit of an adopted and does not have to reside with the child for two years. However, the adoption must be final before the orphan reaches age 16.

A child in the U.S. either illegally or as a nonimmigrant is ineligible for the benefits of an orphan petition. In this case, the child can be adopted by his/her adoptive parents but would have to meet the two-year residency requirement before eligible to apply for lawful permanent resident status in the United States.

The distinction between an adopted child and orphan can be complex and not meeting the requirements may lead to a denied immigration petition. It is recommended to seek the legal advice of an immigration attorney when filing for such immigration benefits.

Some of the students at the session

Having achieved Millenium Development Goal Number 2, that is; Universal Primary Education, the Ministry of Education has committed itself to attaining Universal Secondary Education (USE).

While secondary education is available in most regions of Guyana, the Ministry is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to ensure that USE is achieved throughout the entire country.

Indeed the Ministry’s vision is to make good quality education accessible, available and affordable to all secondary school-aged Guyanese.

As a result of Universal Primary Education, and more consciousness on the part of our people as well as varied and relevant subjects and training being offered; there is an increasing number of students who would need and want to access secondary education. This

will only materialise if there are enough schools and quality teachers, and if students have access to these schools.

INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SCHOOLS Government has constructed and rehabilitated a number of secondary schools across the country.

Additionally, it has upgraded the facilities in many schools to include laboratories for science and technology.

A number of dorm facilities have also been constructed and renovated in Regions One, Two, Seven, Eight and Nine to accommodate the growing number of students.

SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS The ministry has been providing support to students in several ways.

These include the provision of school uniforms, textbooks, transportation and the implementation of school feeding programmes in

hinterland areas. Being aware of the role of guidance counsellors and welfare officers, the ministry has been steadily increasing the numbers of these officers while providing specialized training.

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS The training and retaining of quality teachers has also been engaging the attention of the ministry. This has seen the reform of teacher education and training, improving the quality of school managers and enhancing the use of information and communication technology.

To improve the quality of teachers, the ministry has been conducting nongraduate English, Mathematics and science courses for teachers and engaging them in Continuous Professional Training. In addition, the teacher (Continued on page 53)

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Yarrowkabra coal producers ordered off proposed B.K.’s sandpit Several residents of Yarrowkabra, community along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, on Friday, picketed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), asking the agency to rethink its decision to issue permission for a sandpit to a major construction company.

The area for the sandpit has been granted to B.K. International but it will displace almost 40 women currently there and who are involved in making wood coals, the residents claimed yesterday during the exercise in front of GGMC’s Brickdam headquarters.

The decision to grant the sandpit to B.K. has already seen objections from Bulkan Timber Works and Superior Shingles and Wood Products, two businesses that are operating in the nearby compound of the old glass factory.

Bulkan and Superior Shingles had, earlier this year, objected to the decision of the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) not to require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the proposed sandpit, which it said would be mere feet away from its compound at Yarrowkabra and could affect its infrastructure. The old glass factory consists of several buildings.

However, despite a public

Residents of Yarrowkabra protesting Friday outside the GGMC’s headquarters, Brickdam. meeting on the issue, EAB has upheld the decision for no assessment, paving the way for B.K. to start sand mining.

But the story has now taken another twist. Behind the Bulkan’s operations, almost 40 women from the Yarrowkabra have been using the odds and ends of the waste wood to burn coals.

The coals are sold locally and even exported to Trinidad and Haiti. It is a $3M monthly operation, the women claimed yesterday. They have been told to move to make way for the sandpit.

“Bulkan is the major employer of the Yarrowkabra area providing almost 90 per cent of the jobs. We have single mothers of

Yarrowkabra who have been doing this for years and who are now being told to move,” says Dennis Huntley, a resident of the area.

He explained that Bulkan’s objection to the sandpit led to a community meeting with EAB but it ended without any resolutions as things became raucous. Since then, there has been silence.

Threatened According to Michael Carrington, another resident, the Yarrowkabra Coal Miners Association, which has been registered, has been applying for the land in the area for years now.

“This particular area for the sandpit has been earmarked for an industrial zone. The association never

did receive a reply from the Guyana Lands and Surveys.

It is really puzzling to learn that the women are being told to move now and the lands given to B.K. Where will they go?” Carrington noted that there are other lands available in the area.

“If these persons have to go to cut wood from the forest and then take it to another place, that is a cost.

These are poor people. We are asking GGMC and Government to intervene…to talk to us.”

The residents said that they understand that B.K. was granted around 19 acres for the sandpit.

“We don’t know…that is what we are being told.”

Another woman is

worried as she has four children and is a single mother.

She was laid off from Barama Company Limited, a plywood making company, at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara.

She has been living in Yarrowkabra for over 15 years. “This is what I do.

There are others who make use of the opportunity of the free wood from Bulkan to burn the coals. We now get a letter to move.”

Kaieteur News was told that a significant number of the coal burners are single mothers who would face severe hardships if they are indeed forced to move.

On Friday, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, released a statement from the EAB which said that a public hearing on the Bulkan’s complaints was held on May 9. EAB said that the proposed sand mine is approximately 7.8 hectares (19 acres) and is considered by GGMC and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to be small scale. “It is the established practice of the EPA to assign a ‘No EIA Required’ status for sand mines of less than 60 acres. This precedent is based on the Code of Practice for Sand and Saprolite (Loam) Mining on the Soesdyke Linden Highway, Section 1.2 which states that “All sand/ loam mines of over 60 acres must obtain Environmental Authorizations from EPA

prior to being issued licences from GGMC.”” NO THREATS EAB said that the area in which the proposed sand mine is located has been zoned for such activities with many small-scale sand mines already in operation in the approximate environs.

“There is sufficient distance/area between the appellant’s (Bul k a n ) property and the proposed sand mine to allow the establishment of a buffer that would mitigate against the issues of airborne sand, noise and vibration.

The appellant is solely responsible/liable for any structures that may not be structurally sound on his property.”

Residents yesterday said that B.K. has already started preparatory works for the sandpit. According to Howard Bulkan, a senior official of the Bulkan Timber Works, his companies are extremely worried about the women who would be affected.

“We don’t have any objections to any companies coming but there are several areas along the highway that can be considered as alternatives.”

“Nobody wants big holes being dug close to their operations or home. We have expensive equipment and our buildings would also be under threat.”

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Ravi Dev Column

I remember Independence Day 1966 very well. I was in high school and the new holiday was very welcome. I was very sceptical that we would actually call our country “Guyana”. We had been referring to it as “BG” for so long, I doubted that the new name would ever roll off my tongue so easily. While I do remember the celebrations that surrounded the event, that the “Independence Arch” would be constructed in the section of my village Uitvlugt where now only African-Guyanese lived, was a stark reminder of the ethnic cleansing that had taken place only two years before.

Whereas before there had been a sprinkling of intermixing, now there was absolutely none. Each section of the village had its own primary school and the large one on the Public Road that had been originally built a century before, was now a foreign land. There was much talk of reconciliation from the new PNC/UF coalition Government, but on the ground not much was happening. My Nana had a three-acre plot of land that his father had received in lieu of his return passage to India.

We planted rice on it and it was an activity that everyone in the family had to play a part.

Rice was then cultivated very intensively and “planting rice” was not a figure of speech. We literally “planted” stalks of rice into the levelled mud and even at that early age, I knew personally what a “backbreaking” task was. So when in 1965 the PNC government broke the contract for rice with Cuba and the price fell precipitously, we all took it rather personally. Being raised by grandparents who together received the grand sum of six dollars in pension after fifty-five years each of labour on the sugar plantation, made one resent every penny lost.

Governmental takeover of the Rice Marketing Board was an

THE BACCOO SPEAKS It is no secret that the rains are here and so too are the swollen canals.

It takes no imagination to see cars and vans in these canals. They will end up there because the drivers are so inexperienced these days that they simply cannot understand that different conditions affect driving.

Then there is the penchant to save. Motorists do not realize that the only thing between them and the road are the tyres. Smooth tyres will send them into the canals. Fortunately, there

will be nothing serious. ** When the police botched an investigation and allowed people to walk free, the people who walked free did not realize that they would be carrying

an extra burden. They will find out how difficult it is to stay alive.

They will shout to high heavens about the threat to their lives but no one will know the architects of the attack. The hue and cry will be great. ** Calamities often come in threes. A family will be sunk into mourning once more.

A road accident will be the cause this time. Prior to this, an incident in the h i n t erland had brought intense grief.

ominous sign. That year, the PPP had held their Congress at Zeeburg, the neighbouring village to the west, and while I did not then or later ever join the party or the PYO, one was kept up to date with what transpired through the grapevine.

There was a great deal of agitation about the state of emergency that was still in force, and was to continue until after Independence. And also about the PPP activists who were still detained. I remember the intense discussions precipitated when the PNC held their Congress of 1965 at MacKenzie/ Wismar, the scene of the largest “incident” in the 1964 riots, when all the Indians had to be evacuated after hundreds of their houses were razed.

The general conclusion was that a message was being sent. That message was reinforced when at the Independence Conference the same year it was announced that Independence was to be given on May 26, the day after the anniversary of the Wismar conflagration.

The point I am making is

that “Independence” for me and most Indian-Guyanese in 1966 meant something different from other Guyanese. For me there was a great deal of apprehension about what lay ahead. As a young lad we had been weaned on the expectation that independence would bring so much.

The British were the source of our deprivation and once they were gone, we would be able to live ‘life in London”. Hadn’t Jagan, gestured expansively towards the immaculate lawns and houses in the senior staff compound of the “estate” and told us all at the ‘line top” meeting, that it would be ours at Independence?

But even to a teenager, it was clear on Independence Day 1966 that the PNC had cut a deal with the British and the Americans: their loans for road building and a new airport had already been offered to the new government. Jagan had made the rounds of their capitals and returned with an empty cup.

We were not going to be living in the senior staff compound anytime soon and

Ravi Dev

my friends would still have to earn a shilling as “ball boys” at the lawn tennis court at the “Big Manager” house.

The language around Independence time was akin to that used about “revolutions” in other third world locales. While we did not have to wage any guerrilla warfare to oust the British, but rather cut a back room deal, one heard a great deal about the “anti-Colonial struggle” and the need to “decolonize” our minds.

The leaders would have shirt-jacks rather than suits, but to a teenager who was soon to have sixteen GCE “O” and three “A” levels and could not find a job or obtain any of the scholarships being handed out, “independence” was just a word, not an experience.

I wonder what “independence” means to a youth today.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

A mother’s tale of losing her children to a drunken driver ...and the unending fight to save other lives

By Jenelle Willabus Statistics show that nearly 1.3 million people die in road accidents each year worldwide, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled without a chance of leading a normal life after.

Further, more than half of all road traffic deaths occur among young adults ages 1544 and road traffic crashes rank as the ninth leading cause of death and account for 2.2% of all deaths globally.

Road crashes are also said to be the leading cause of death among young people ages 15-29, and the second leading cause of death worldwide among young

people ages 5-14.

Each year nearly 400,000 people under 25 die on the world’s roads, on average over 1,000 a day.

On Guyana’s roadways it is no different. Apart from the deaths, many victims are left bedridden, crippled or with scars they will take to their grave. While well publicized efforts are being made to reduce the fatality figures through the setting up of organizations and committees, there are some individuals that have been driving forces in the relentless fight against the lawlessness and recklessness that pervades on our thoroughfares As the saying goes ‘Who

feels it knows it”, and this is definitely the case for Mrs. Lucille Bacchus. Almost 17 years ago, Mrs. Bacchus lost her only two children as a result of a horrific road accident. And after all these years, this road safety advocate still sheds tears when talking about that sad day which she sometimes wishes was just a bad dream.

On November 16th 1996, Wallie’s life ended at the age of 17, while 10 days later his 16-year-old sister, Fareena, succumbed to her injuries.

Recollecting the events of that fateful day, Mrs. Bacchus said her children had gone to a friend’s residence in Enmore, East Coast Demerara, to collect a

A touching portrait: Lucille Bacchus and her two children, Wallie and Fareena. book, and were returning to their Lusignan home, when the driver of a speeding car overtook a parked vehicle and sideswiped two persons on a motorcycle, before hitting them and toppling three times, careening off the southern side of the road. Wallie and Fareena were also on a motorcycle.

Mrs. Bacchus explained that at the time of the accident, which occurred at approximately 08:40 hours, she had just closed the family shop and was about to relax when a neighbour approached her and enquired of the whereabouts of her children. She responded that they would return shortly.

“If someone had told me that my children would not return home I would have never let them out of the house” the emotional mom said, as she removed her spectacles to wipe away tears.

Wallie, she explained was fully conscious when she visited him at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital, and had even recounted the entire tragedy for his mother, but shocked everyone when he succumbed at around 14:30 hrs the same day.

According to the post mortem report, the teenager died of multiple internal injuries, which included a broken pelvis, damaged liver and spleen and severed intestines.

His mom still clung to hope that maybe she would still be able to take home Fareena, who had been unconscious from the time she was thrown from the motorcycle. But this was not to be. Fareena died from kidney failure on November 26, two days after undergoing brain surgery in Trinidad.

While for Mrs. Bacchus it is her belief that no amount of money in the world can bring back her children, she noted that at no time during her grieving did the person responsible for the accident visit or “offer even a bottle of water” to her family.

“I would not have accepted any monetary compensation for my children’s life. A kind gesture from the person responsible would have helped in the grieving process,” she said.

Unlike many relatives of accident victims Mrs. Bacchus did not allow frustration to get to her as she spent years trying to ensure that the individual responsible for her children’s death was brought to justice.

And although the sentence which the man received was not even considered punishment, Mrs. Bacchus used her loss as a driving force to help many others who have experienced similar circumstances.

Speaking of some the challenges she endured while struggling for justice for her

Mrs. Bacchus at a recent pedestrian crossing painting exercise.

children, Mrs. Bacchus said shortly after her children’s death, because of depression she and her husband suffered, they were forced to close down their shop and everything took a heavy toll on their marriage.

The woman, who now reaches out to giving families and who promotes road safety, also spoke of attending court for two “gruelling” years and her active involvement.

Hoping that she could have assisted the police with “gathering other antecedents which may have helped nail the driver”, Mrs. Bacchus also travelled to Corentyne, Berbice, and had collected all the details pertaining to another serious traffic offence with which the man had been charged, but she was informed that the police could not use those facts since that matter had been settled out of court.

According to Bacchus the driver of the vehicle, who it was concluded had been drunk at the time of the accident, was released after spending only 16 months of a three-year sentence imposed on him on January 21, 1999.

Mrs. Bacchus realized that she needed to use her grief and turn it into something positive. And she did just that. Being a founding member of the Mothers In (Continued on page 57)

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 27

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Replay Jagdeo’s funeral speech today After almost fifty years of Independence, do the Third World masses believe even one word of condemnation of the white colonials by their so-called Independence leaders? A good answer comes from reading the results of a credible poll by The Gleaner, in which over sixty percent of Jamaicans want to return to rule by the British.

If such a survey was taken in Guyana, the percentage opting for the return of white man administration would climb into the eighties.

The cussing down of the white colonial has lost its appeal, totally, in a place like Guyana. Who believes these leaders when they run down the white man? Two reasons explain this change. The modern Guyanese nation consists of people who have travelled outside to at least one country. They read and see what is happening in other countries.

They see development that is breath-

taking in other lands and they know their country is going backward rather than forward.

The second reason why the anti-colonial rhetoric no longer holds sway among the masses is because the people see the local replacement of the white man as being worse than the white colonial in every sphere of life, be it, style of living, style of leadership, provision of service, administrative culture, integrity in office, developmental projects, even personal values.

How ironic that just weeks before Guyana celebrates forty-seven years of Independence, Bharrat Jagdeo, who served as president for twelve years, told the audience at the funeral service for Reepu Daman Persaud that the colonials were so contemptuous of the locals that they encouraged them not to send their children to school.

Mr. Jagdeo is a pathetic figure who lives in the past.

That anti-colonial bell has been rung out. The anticolonial song has been sung out. Mr. Jagdeo ruled Guyana for twelve years. We are into forty-seven years of Independence and look at our educational system. Is it better today than when the white man discouraged us from sending our children to school, according to Mr. Jagdeo?

Before this essay proceeds further let me get something out of the way. Mr. Jagdeo cannot produce a history book to bolster his nonsensical claim that the colonials instructed Guyanese parents not to send their children to school.

After forty-seven years of Independence, look at our only university. This writer says most unambiguously that if any high school student in this

country is taken on a tour of the University of Guyana, then you pick out at random, any university anywhere in the world, and take that same Guyanese student on a tour of that foreign institution, the student would not want to even enter UG much less study there.

After forty-seven years of Independence, a majority of our schools are in a more dilapidated state than when the colonials ruled us.

How can any leader in government in this country criticize the colonial administration when you take a look at Georgetown? Have we gone backward as a nation since Independence in 1966?

Only a twisted, ugly mind would look at the city of Georgetown and conclude that we have progressed as a nation. If there is any reason to believe that Guyana is a failed state, it is the primitive conditions that have enveloped Georgetown. Do

you know there isn’t a dictator in the post-WW2 world that would have allowed his capital city to deteriorate so horribly?

What went through the mind of the listeners last evening and what will go through the minds of the attendees this evening as speaker after speaker spoke and will speak on the progress we have made as a sovereign nation since we became Independent in May 1966?

After forty-seven years of Independence, post-colonial security forces get away with more bestial brutalities than the colonial police. If the colonial police shot to disarm, the post-colonial police shoot to kill.

Forty-seven years after Independence, Guyanese buy and eat their cheese and drink their tinned and boxed milk from top industrialized nations whose agricultural pastures can hold into one of the islands in the Essequibo River.

The most popular cheese in

Frederick Kissoon Guyana comes from Holland.

We import milk from postmodern Denmark.

We return to Mr. Jagdeo and his funeral address. The white man, Jagdeo told us, didn’t want us to send our children to school. But we want to live in the land of the white man. Statistics show that 14 persons a day leave Guyana for the US and that figure does not include legal migration to Canada and illegal migration to Canada and the US. When the white man ruled us, we couldn’t swim in his estate pool. We still can’t.

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SUNDAY POLYGRAPH TESTS FOR OFFICIALS NOT RULED OUT – LUNCHEON As the debate continues to rage over Government’s use of polygraph tests on public servants, the administration has not ruled out placing departmental heads and other top officials in the hot seat also.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, two Fridays ago said that the use of polygraphy is being developed but targeting only employees in the frontline, revenue-earning state entities.

“What we are proposing is integrity testing and its applications in specific areas as we mature in the use of polygraphy.”

A polygraph, popularly referred to as a lie detector, measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions. The belief is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with nondeceptive answers.

More than 60 law enforcement workers have been fired or not have their contracts renewed after failing or refusing to take the polygraph tests. These include employees of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) and Police Anti Narcotics Branch. More than 20 employees of the Guyana Energy Authority (GEA), including fuel markers and inspectors, have also been let go recently because of the polygraphs. The use of polygraph testing as a means to test an employee’s honesty is a controversial one, with arguments by some that it is not conclusive enough to use as a basis for firing someone.

GOVT. TELLS T&T NEWSPAPER…RADIO LICENCES WERE

Kaieteur News

GRANTED TO PERSONS WITH FINANCIAL MEANS Former President Bharrat Jagdeo, in late 2011, mere days before he ended his two terms in office, approved 11 radio frequencies to applicants after they showed that they had the financial means to run the broadcasting operations.

Government made the assertion in response to a stinging editorial by a leading Trinidad newspaper criticizing the controversial issuance of radio licences by the Jagdeo administration in 2011. The details of the allocations only came to light after the Opposition demanded answers and Prime Minister Sam Hinds was forced to provide these in the National Assembly. It led to street protests by established media houses and worried vendors and attracted widespread condemnation from local, regional and international media bodies.

Even the diplomatic community has advised Government to review the allocations. Party officials have kept largely silent on the embarrassing issue which has pitted the private media against the administration.

Government, in defence of those controversial licences in which several established, leading media houses were overlooked in favour of persons close to Jagdeo and the ruling party, had used a number of different reasons over the past few weeks to justify Jagdeo’s decision.

MONDAY RESIDENTS SAY POLICE LINKED TO BIKES SMUGGLED THROUGH LETHEM Shocking allegations are being leveled against the police in relation to the saga about motorcycles that have been smuggled into Guyana from neighbouring Brazil.

Residents of Lethem told Kaieteur that it’s a “runnings thing and the police are involved.” Last week Saturday, Police detained a minibus driver and a civilian

after recovering three motorcycles that they believe were smuggled into the country through Lethem.

Police stated that ranks at a roadblock at Wisroc, Wismar, stopped and searched a minibus in which the three motor cycles were found. The civilian driver and a passenger were arrested..

There were initial reports that a policeman who was in the bus had been linked to the smuggling.

However the Police Force refuted those claims, stating that the rank was a passenger in the vehicle and was only placed under close arrest after he was found to have left his station district without permission.

Those statements from the Force resulted in a flurry of information forthcoming about the “racket” that had reportedly been going on for some time. Reports are that the, “Brazilians thief it from Brazil and come here, sell it for next-to-nothing and the police then covet it from the people who buy it.”

According to information received, “the police like they know de runnings and so they does be on the lookout for these bikes. When they stop the bike and the rider don’t have documents for the bike, they usually tell them to leave the bikes until they could bring back documents.”

TUESDAY APNU PULLS OUT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE The country’s major opposition coalition bloc APNU pulled out of a Special Parliamentary Committee tasked with fine-tuning amendments to the country’s law on financial crimes. The move essentially paralysed the government’s efforts to have the amendments rushed through the House before it faces an international review panel in Nicaragua at monthend. The issue which forced the pullout of APNU from the committee was a letter sent to President Donald Ramotar by the Caribbean

Sunday May 26, 2013

intervention in collaboration with local, regional and international stakeholders in organizing a workshop on the same matter on Wednesday, April 17.”

The letter further stated that, “It is in that context that the omission took place during which I may have committed the imagined slight as your May 20, 2013 correspondence intimates. I can assure you that no such slight was ever intended as your participation was expected at the workshop where the status of Guyana’s situation was the key agenda item.”

Murder accused Chaka Chase as he was leaving the Magistrates’ Court Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) on April 10, last.

Opposition Leader David Granger wrote President Donald Ramotar Monday saying that he was shown the CFATF’s letter of April 10. The letter was circulated to members of the Special Select Committee concerning amendments to the AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act. “ALLEGED COP KILLER” CHARGED Heavily shackled and clad in white trousers and shirt, police brought a nervous and shaking Shaka Chase to court Monday. Chase is alleged to have murdered Police Corporal Romain Cleto on April 27 ,last, at Georgetown.

Chase made his court appearance Monday before Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. The accused was represented by Attorneys at Law Nigel Hughes and James Bond.

Hughes told the court that the police did not take statements from witnesses who could confirm his client’s alibi at the time that the shooting death of the policeman took place.

The lawyer said that he had since sent those statements to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It was at this point that the Magistrate questioned the Police Prosecutor about whether any advice was sought from the DPP in the matter. The Prosecutor told the Court that the DPP’s advice was not given. The statements which will show that Chase was elsewhere when the shooting occurred were given by several eyewitnesses, including a police officer. The court was told that Director

of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack, would review the entire file before the case came up again on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY PRESIDENT RAMOTAR APOLOGISES TO APNU LEADER FOR OVERSIGHT Presidential Adviser on Governance Gail Teixeira on Tuesday during an interview with the National Communications Network said that President Donald Ramotar has issued an apology to Opposition Leader Mr. David Granger. This followed the decision by members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), to walk out of a meeting convened to discuss the amendments to the AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill. The opposition left the meeting after they were instructed not to take part in any further discussions by APNU’s leader. This was as a result of a perceived slight by the Opposition over a letter not being shared with them by the President.

Teixeira, in reading a part of the President’s correspondence to Mr. Granger, stated that, “I received that correspondence on April 12, 2013, at which time, the Office of the President was pressing for the resumption of budget talks with the parliamentary opposition and preparing for same. Importantly, I was made aware of the situation surrounding Guyana’s compliance to the CFATF obligations derived from the outcome of the CFATF/ICRG assessments. I was equally aware of the planned

GOVT. AFRAID ITS ‘BOYS’ POCKETS WILL RUN DRY – RAMJATTAN The government is rushing to avoid financial blacklisting because the “parallel economy”, overflowing with illicit funds which benefits its ‘boys’, could be dried up, Khemraj Ramjattan, leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) said Tuesday.

The government’s efforts to rush through amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 (AML/CFT) by at least Wednesday failed. The Special Parliament Committee examining the amendments was not done with its work, so there was no report to put to the House for a vote. The government wanted the amendments passed before it faces the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) this week.

The Task Force could recommend a host of sanctions which could stifle illicit funds which benefit government functionaries, Ramjattan asserted. He said the type of controls the amendments could put in place also caused the government to drag its feet on the issue, and it is now accusing the opposition of dancing.

Guyana has been listed as being partially-compliant in its monitoring of “politically exposed persons” (PEPs) as recommended by the internationally-recognised Financial Action Task Force.

This recommendation is designed to prevent the flow of money laundering and fraud by prominent, politically connected people.

THURSDAY RAMOTAR APPEALS TO OPPOSITION FOR SUPPORT In an unprecedented move, President Donald Ramotar on Wednesday sent a message to the National Assembly appealing to (Continued on page 39)

Sunday May 26, 2013

Innocent persons continue to perish in our country’s rivers because of the indifference of the People’s Progressive Party Civic administration’s policymakers and politicians.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, in the wake of the deaths of two women who drowned when a river boat capsized in the Corentyne River in February 2007, remarked, nonchalantly,

Kaieteur News

that citizens could not continue to do the ‘wrong thing’ and expect the state’s protection. Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn responded more intelligently earlier this year, in light of the recent fatal boat accidents, by calling on his departmental heads at the Ministry of Public Works to make safety their priority. Benn’s pleas, however, are no substitute for rigorous enforcement.

Like a cancer without a cure, the human safety situation is deteriorating.

The dangerous lawlessness on this country’s rivers and coastal waters is taking an unbearable toll on human life. Yet, the two ministries with responsibility for regulating riverine traffic and human safety, respectively — the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Home Affairs –

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seem either indifferent or impotent as the chaos continues and deaths increase.

Riverine traffic is increasing in volume, extent, composition and complexity.

Vessels involved in crossborder trade – including contraband trade – to Venezuela and Suriname, barges carrying bauxite, stone, sand or timber, mining dredges and tugs carrying

fuel compete with residents of riverine villagers.

Residents, however, have no option but to use the rivers with whatever crafts are at their disposal. They are obliged to rely almost exclusively on boats to go about their daily business, including evacuating sick persons and travelling to their farms, mines, schools and towns. Government officials, tourists and holidaymakers must travel by river to reach their destinations.

Schoolchildren in some hinterland communities only travel to daily classes by canoe.

There has been a ‘culture clash’ between traditional lifeways and contemporary commercial reality.

The everyday economies of riverine communities on the one hand often jostle uncomfortably with the commercial, governmental, industrial, mining and leisure sectors, on the other hand.

This clash has resulted far too frequently in fatal collisions.

The change in river use has taken place slowly over a period of decades but the administration has not seen the need to provide additional resources to regulate riverine traffic.

The two ministries can prevent further needless loss of life if they become less indifferent to the plight of the river users and if they resolve to discharge their responsibility to protect our citizens more effectively.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, for example, has no option but to rebuild the Guyana Police Force’s neglected Marine Police Unit. It now has only a few boats and ‘balahoos.’ It is staffed by an inspector who is supported by fewer than 10 constables and subordinate officers.

There is no way that the present Marine Police Unit can discharge its duty to patrol the busiest and deadliest crossings and to enforce the law. Riverine traffic has increased in every river flowing northwards to the coast – from the Corentyne to the Barima–but the Marine Police Unit has been reduced over the past 20 years.

The Marine Police presence must be enhanced; its members should be trained to conduct search-and-rescue operations, assist boats which are adrift, lost or broken down and render life-saving medical aid to passengers in need. It must be empowered to suppress lawlessness and take enforcement action against delinquent river boat

operators. Regulations for these measures exist but are simply not enforced owing to official indifference, lack of interest and the failure to provide sufficient resources.

The Ministry of Public Works must also wake up. It must provide adequate resources to its Maritime Administration Department to enable it to do its work.

The Ministry must set standards of competence for bowmen and captains; conduct examinations before river boat crews are certified to carry passengers; prescribe the structure and design of river boats and determine the weight of cargo and the number of passengers that can be carried safely – all before the issue of the river-worthiness certificates.

The MARAD must ensure passengers’ safety by enforcing the use of individual lifejackets; the installation of port and starboard lights, horns and first-aid equipment and fixing the hours of operation.

River boats must be inspected, their engines and their equipment must be tested and captains and bowmen must be certified to operate vessels. Passenger vessels must have third-party insurance coverage, just like road vehicles.

The national fleet of river boats is growing larger. The Parika-Supenaam route alone has over 80; the ParikaBartica route has about 60.

Other major rivers – Corentyne, Berbice, Abary, Mahaicony, Mahaica, Demerara, Essequibo, Cuyuni, Mazaruni, Pomeroon, Waini, Moruca, Barima – have hundreds more. To these must be added the vessels of other river users – fisherfolk, traders, miners and villagers.

Guyana is not called “the land of many waters” for nothing. The old ways of river use and governmental enforcement are dangerously obsolete. There must be a new approach to maritime and riverine traffic.

The two ministers – Benn and Rohee – must learn the lesson of the loss of life over the past decade. Their party, the PPPC, must start to place a high value on human life.

Asked some time ago why the administration has not moved to exercise regulatory oversight over the dangerous crossings, one minister confessed, lamely, that “some of the operators do not want this.”

This attitude helps to explain why there is so much chaos and so many deaths on our rivers!

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Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

From page 28 all sides of the House to urgently review amendments to the law on financial crimes so the country can avoid an international financial blacklist. The two opposition parties which hold the majority in the House are sticking to their position, but neither is interested in rushing through consideration of amendments to the law for the sake of meeting a deadline.

“I anticipate that as Guyanese first, and leaders of our political parties we shall not be found wanting. The Guyanese people are watching and trusting that Members of Parliament will stand for country first,” Ramotar said in a statement read by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.

WHERE IS THE US$90 MILLION? O p p o s i t i o n Parliamentarians on Wednesday evening demanded that Government come clean on the $18 billion (US$90 million) it has collected in Environmental Tax over the last 18 years. The demand came as the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted against amendments to the Customs Act dealing with the Environmental Tax, saying that the government has failed to be transparent with the money it has collected. It is estimated that government collects $1 billion a year through the tax, but the opposition says there is no accountability.

FRIDAY AFC SAYS…NO AMAILA $$$ RELEASE UNTIL IDB DUEDILIGENCE COMPLETED Despite the very real likelihood of Guyana facing penalties of not meeting a deadline later this year for financial closure on the US$840M Amaila Falls hydro project, the opposition Alliance for Change (AFC) says it will remain cautious, and not endorse the release of billions of dollars it blocked recently.

In fact, the party will await the completion of the ongoing financial due diligence by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), one of the main lenders for the project, before making a decision. The project is on rocky ground at the moment, with miles of the access road leading to the site at the falls in Region Eight still incomplete, with a year-end deadline. The project’s developer, Sithe Global, has signed an agreement with government to manage the facility and construction, and a separate one with the Chinese contractor, China

Kaieteur News

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Railway First Group. Guyana has to finish the access road and have financial closure or face both Sithe Global and China Railway invoking penalty clauses which could see the country paying a percentage of the total project sum. Financial closure has been pushed back time and again from since 2011 because of the delays of the road, and the demand by the IDB to carry out its own checks to determine the feasibility of the project. The IDB has been asked to plug up to US$180M into the project.

ARSONISTS STRIKE AT MERRIMAN FUNERALHOME Quick reaction from nearby residents prevented total devastation of the Merriman Funeral Home, at Lime and Bent Streets, Georgetown, when an early morning fire damaged sections of the building, including the chapel and garage. Parlour officials estimated that the damage could easily run into millions of dollars, as two hearses were destroyed, as well as coffins and expensive infrastructure.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told Kaieteur News that preliminary investigations revealed that fires were set in different sections of the building. Gentle said a flammable substance was thrown under the door of the front entrance, while the hearses too were set alight deliberately.

A group of young male area residents braved the flames, using buckets of water and sand to extinguish the blaze.

DPP WITHDRAWS CHARGEAGAINST ACCUSED COP KILLER In what is likely to develop into one of the most embarrassing cases for the Police in recent times, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, has recommended that the murder charge against

Shaka Chase be withdrawn.

The man was freed Thursday.

Chase was charged on Monday for the April 27 murder of Police Corporal Romain Cleto, who was brazenly gunned down at the intersection of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic by occupants of a suspicious car which he had approached. The men reportedly opened fire with what is believed to be an AK47assault rifle and a ninemillimetre handgun. Cleto was at the time the senior rank on a mobile patrol which had been trailing the vehicle.

He was buried with full military honours. On Thursday, when the matter was called before Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry, the prosecution informed the court that the DPP had advised that the matter against Shaka Chase be withdrawn.

Magistrate Beharry immediately informed Chase that he was a free man.

Chase quickly bolted from the courtroom to meet anxious relatives downstairs who had been protesting for his release. A tearful Chase told Kaieteur News that he was truly happy that the DPP had made the recommendation.

He described the entire ordeal as

“horrific” stating that many people would never understand what it truly feels like to be “victimized”. Chase said that he was thankful for the many persons who prayed for him.

SATURDAY GOV’T TO PLEAD FOR MORE TIME TOAVOID FINANCIAL BLACKLIST The government has all but failed in efforts to get the opposition to rush

amendments to the law against financial crimes to avoid a blacklist being imposed next week in Nicaragua.

Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Paul Geer, and a state attorney were expected to defend Guyana’s case, but the government has roped in Attorney General Anil Nandlall to seek an extension. “When momma dry, you gaffo suck granny,” is how government’s chief

spokesman Dr. Roger Luncheon chose to describe the move to have Nandlall travel to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua.

President Donald Ramotar had appealed to Parliamentarians to expedite their work on the amendments in a Special Parliamentary Committee and take their report for a vote in the National Assembly

by May 28, the latest.

A sitting of the House was originally set for that date when the House adjourned last Wednesday, but that sitting was postponed to June 13.

The House can convene in a special sitting to take the vote if the committee completes its work, but that is unlikely to happen as the committee is due to hold its next meeting until June 12.

The government wanted the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 (AML/CFT) passed before it faces the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) review panel in Managua starting tomorrow.

Page 40

WHERE ARE YOU? The Jealous husband: My wife, where are you?

Wife: At home love.

Husband: Are you sure?

Wife: Yes. Husband : Turn on the blender Wife: (turns blender on) Rrrreeereeeereeee...

Husband: Ok my love goodbye.

Another day...

Jealous husband: My wife, where are you?

Wife: At home love. Husband: Are you sure?

Wife: Yes. Husband: Turn on the blender.

Wife: (turns blender on) Rrreeereeeereeee...

Husband: Ok my love goodbye. The next day, the husband decides to go home without notice, and finds his son alone and he asked him, “Son where is your mother?”

Son: “I do not know, she went out with blender...

A CUTE LITTLE GIRLS STORY One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe two and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident. Someone had given me a little tea set as a get-well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of ‘tea’, which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was ‘just the cutest thing!’ My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says; ‘Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?’

WHAT IS TWO PLUS TWO? A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job.

The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks “What do two plus two equal?” The mathematician replies “Four.” The interviewer asks “Four, exactly?”

The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says “Yes, four, exactly.”

Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question “What do two plus two equal?” The accountant says “On average, four - give or take ten percent, but on average, four.”

Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question “What do two plus two equal?” The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, sits down next to the interviewer and says “What do you want it to equal?”

JEHOVA’S WITNESS This morning someone was ringing the doorbell, so I opened the door and there was a young man standing there. “Hello sir” he said, “I’m a Jehova’s Witness”. I invited him in, offered him something to drink and we sat down in the living room. “So, what would you like to talk about?” I asked. He looked up from his cup of tea and said “To be honest sir, I havn’t got the faintest idea, I never made it this far...”

EYES Two men are sitting in a bar, talking to eachother.

One asks the other if he ever looks his wife in the eyes while making love. “I did once” the other responds, “But I saw a lot of anger in her eyes”. The first, looking confused: “Why was that?”

“Because she was looking from outside through the window!”

ASYLUM A reporter is looking for a new story and thought an asylum for the insane would make a nice story. There, his first question is how they know who is sane and who’s insane. “Well,” the woman working there replied “We give everyone a teaspoon, a tablespoon and a bucket.

Then we lead them to the bathroom and ask them to empty the bathtub as fast as they can”. “Obviously, the sane people would use the bucket” the reporter says.

“No, the sane people would use the plug...”

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Ministry pushing for Universal...

(From page 12) Education Programme has been reformed significantly.

The minimum qualifications for teachers applying to enter the teacher ’s college have increased and the Trained Teachers’ Certificate Programme has been discontinued to give way to an Associate’s Degree in Education.

Moreover, distance education services to teachers have been expanded.

In order to ensure that all students leaving secondary school have the competencies, skills, attitudes and values

that will prepare them for the world of work, the ministry has been placing emphasis on the development of the relevant skills.

Business, Technical Vocational Arts and Science with English and Mathematics are compulsory for all students.

An additional pathway to secondary education is also being offered which is comparable to the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence.

This programme is designed to offer technical and vocational education. A six-year secondary curriculum with

emphasis on numeracy and literacy was also introduced in selected schools.

More resources have been channeled to refurbish science and technology laboratories. More teachers are being trained in the separate sciences at the university and the teacher’s college and plans are underway to offer incentives to students and teachers to study the separate sciences.

The Ministry of Education will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that Universal Secondary Education is attained throughout Guyana.

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I became an American...

(From page 51) old passport as well as my NIS card. Yes I did pay into NIS and someone suggested I should claim my NIS benefits and donate it to charity in Guyana.

A young couple bought my house. It's their first house and they are very excited. I can overhear them talking about all the plans for the house.

Good for them. But I am thinking, “Wait when the initial euphoria is over, wait when he wants to have a beer and watch baseball, and the wife says you have to mow the lawn.

“Don't even talk about

maintaining the pool. Wait when you get that high electric bill for air conditioning such a large house; and the tax at the end of the year.

Me, I will be sitting on the upper deck of my condo enjoying the serenity of the lake below, writing my future Kaieteur News articles, and in August while he is in Florida's 95 degrees heat mowing his lawn, I will be with Mara and Gregory and Errol enjoying some labba and other wild

meat in Canje, Berbice. Yes, after the “storm comes the calm”. I am moving to a new stage in life. My grandson has already told me he wants' me to buy a boat for the lake.

By the way, did I mention that my new garage is larger than the one I am leaving? Well I promise myself and you my readers not to be a “junkie” again.

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood

Page 54

Art and Culture Review:

By Dr Glenville Ashby Singer and composer Yusseff Ahmed strips the musical genre of rapso from its signature gritty and grim

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

A Political Message with Musical Flair appeal, injecting a joie de vivre that seeps through every rendition. His protest songs are imbued with hope.

Fatalism and calamitous showdowns are shelved.

This is the new mode of rapso - catchy, thumping and elastic

- yet poignant and revolutionary. Surely, with Circles, Ahmed has finally etched a place among the finest ambassadors of the art form. His vocals are crisp, odic, catchy, and robust. Song after song is delivered with

attitude, angst, even a touch of gravitas. Ahmed still cares.

Social consciousness resounds throughout. He exhorts, cajoles, and at times inveighs against the establishment, and his message pierces the

airwaves…unrepentant. From the prophetic “Winds of Change,” which intones the imminent fall of political tin gods, to “People Power” - a battle cry for individual empowerment through reason and knowledge, Circles is thematically sound with each track rallying around the banner of liberty and self determination.

In “Got a Gun,” the bedeviled inner city is cautioned to reflect. It is musically blasé, but is ingeniously salvaged with the addition of a more colourful and energetic Spanish version. Society must be overhauled! The inhumanity and duplicity must stop! We are all accountable, and are equally culpable. The CD’s title explores the oftentimes debated topic of contemporary society and its fast paced, circulatory, almost autonomic character.

Why rapso hasn’t exploded is debatable. Maybe its candid, shoot-from-thehip messages are far too invidious. After all, social truths are bitter pills, better left unswallowed. Maybe it foments fissures and awakens social somnambulism, creating frightening scenarios Change, as we well know, is never readily embraced.

Rooted in extemporaneous musical poetry and popularised in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, rapso is defined by its raw social and political slogans.

And there have been many noted messengers. Brother Valentino and Brother Resistance have sure left their imprints. And there are others in the Diaspora, equally skilled in the craft.

For his part, Ahmed remains authentic, a fundamentalist, essentially loyal to tradition.

His concerns are the same - social justice, economic and political transparency. His Remember Lulumba, reassures his fans that Ahmed is still on top of his game, lyrically. But when provocative social justice

messages are interwoven with snappy bass lines, innovative musical synthesisation, and acoustical refinement, they assume a different veneer that is palatably optimistic. This is strength, the uniqueness of Ahmed’ work - persistently fresh and unpredictable.

In this, his third CD, singer and composer Ahmed travels a long distance to cement his place among rapso’s elite bards. It is a long, winding road that can sap the resourcefulness of many upstarts.

Interestingly, Ahmad steps outside the fold of traditional rapso, foraying into an eclectic blend of musical rhythms. It is a herculean, if not visionary musical effort. Surely, every song is not equally captivating, viz., The Journey has just begun,” that suffocates from banal musical riffs and vocals that lacks Ahmed’s trademark exigency.

But Circles is a resilient and artistic undertaking that is well produced. The UKborn musician who spent his formative years in Trinidad has managed to fuse classical rapso rhythms with the pulse of Latin music and the melody of calypso. It’s a marriage not so much of convenience, but of growth and creativity. Will he have his fair share of detractors? Sure, but has any musician ever been left unscathed when venturing into unchartered waters? At times, the price of growth, if not crowning success, is dicey. Has Ahmed sold out for the taste of commercial appeal? The jury is still out.

What is certain, though, is that his message remains as driving and socially relevant as ever. And that may just hold some critics at bay. glenvilleashby@gmail.com, Follow me on Twitter@glenvilleashby/ www.glenvilleashby.com Circles by Yussef Ahmed 4 De Crescent Productions Ratings: Recommended www.yussef.com w w w. m y s p a c e . c o m / yussefahmed

Sunday May 26, 2013

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MY COLUMN

I agonized about what to write this week. There was the release of two men whom the police said killed a young policeman by shooting him to death. Of course that makes for an analysis. Certainly, the decision to release the men did not come easy. Perhaps the rule of law was the influencing factor but then again, someone must ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to make her decision known.

Suffice it to say that a public outcry can do a lot for people. Both men had relatives who were prepared to proclaim their innocence.

Then I thought about independence, today being Independence Day. I was there when the Golden Arrowhead was hoisted for the first time forty-seven years ago. I was at school then and a country boy. I remembered the preparations.

The entire country was abuzz with talk of independence, particularly the younger people.

I remember the days when my stepfather would come home muttering about this little boy that treated him like a child at the workplace. And I remembered him talking about the white man who, to him, was all-knowing and very powerful. It was as though he hero-worshipped the white man. Certainly, growing up hearing such things, I was confused about Guyana existing without the everpresent white man.

A few months earlier, Queen Elizabeth had come to Guyana. That was a big thing.

The government built little platforms at those locations where the train carrying the queen would stop. There was a massive clean-up all over the country and the flags and buntings were strung up—all in the colours of the Union

Jack. I remember some schools in the city forming the map of Guyana on the Eve Leary cricket ground. As a Queen’s College boy, I was one of those sitting on the border. Later, I saw the photograph and I must admit that the map was a beauty to behold. Schools with green uniforms represented a county, those with blue another and some of the other schools with different coloured uniforms represented the rivers and so on. But the sun was hot that day. I remember getting some soft drink and rock hard buns at the end of the parade. That same day the Queen travelled to La Bonne Intention and again people came out of their homes to see this white woman who was ruling them.

Many could have recalled her coronation. That was another big day in Guyana. People travelled from West Demerara by train to be in the city for the event. The year was 1953.

I have a vague idea of the fireworks that night while standing on Sandy Babb Street, having been taken there by my parents from La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara.

I was at school on Independence Eve. Some of my schoolmates were supposed to be the toy soldiers at the ceremony later that night. George Edwards of the Stock Exchange was one of them. That day I went home, borrowed a bicycle from my uncle, put it on the train and travelled to Georgetown.

I was at the Queen Elizabeth Park that night; I saw the entire spectacle, right down to the hoisting of the Golden Arrowhead and the fireworks.

Then there was the tramping in the streets of Georgetown. In those days

Guyana had many steel bands. I remember leaving my bicycle at a house at the corner of Albert and Lamaha Streets to tramp behind the steel bands, changing from one band to the other. I went home very tired on the morning of Independence Day and did not care a hoot how much my uncle fretted. I was seventeen so he would have had a fight on his hand had he tried to hit me.

That was so long ago. I still remember the festive mood of Guyana and the fears of the next day. I remember Forbes Burnham talking about the British giving Guyana a wooden spoon, unlike the golden spoon that Suriname got when it became independent.

But for me independence was more than the hoisting of the flag and singing a national anthem. It is about those who struggled for it. Some of them died. It was about those who came on the promise of a better life and found out that the better life was the afterlife.

They had to die to enjoy it and no one has ever come back to tell me about that life after death.

I was at the exhibition at the National Museum and I heard a lot about the role of women in Guyana’s independence. I had never heard about some of them and I must sincerely thank Vanda Radzic for adding to that part of my history.

She spoke of a slave named Bess who opted to run away and the notice the slave owner, a woman, placed in the newspaper. “She speaks very good English,” the notice read. This fate of this woman was not recorded but she cherished her freedom, her independence.

There was America who received 170 lashes while she was pregnant. Her crime was

to object to her slave master’s wife beating her child. She aborted but that event brought a change. Slaves testified against their master and got him convicted.

There were women in the sugar industry—Kowsilla and Jagdai—, Janet Jagan, Jane Phillips-Gay, Viola Burnham, Winifred Gaskin, the first Black woman to work in an English newspaper in England and to challenge some of the things written about the people in her country.

There were countless others, even today,

who are making a fight for their independence.

Just Friday night, a woman who wanted to be independent, and was out earning a dollar, lost her home.

She had earlier lost a son who being just one year old, drowned in a bucket of water.

For me, then, independence means so many things, not least of all the right to depend on no one. This independence anniversary, for me is a time for stocktaking and that would involve taking stock of how far Guyana has come

Adam Harris since May 26, 1966.

Freddie Kissoon has an interesting view in these pages and there are many who share his view.

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A mother’s tale of losing her children to a drunken driver From page 26 Black Organization and member of the Guyana National Road Safety Council, she has over the years made significant contributions towards the implementation of strategies to help minimize road carnage.

Mothers in Black, through Mrs. Bacchus and Mrs. Denise Dias, among other hardworking members, have been able to render support to the families of accident victims in more ways than one. From moral support, to being a listening ear at nights, to walking up the Magistrates’ Court’s steps, Mrs. Bacchus has given herself totally over to fighting for a cause. While she strongly believes in the fact that money can never pay for lives that have been snuffed out because of a reckless driver, she says she sometimes understands the plight of victims.

“For me I would never accept any out-ofcourt settlement for the lives of my children… which I didn’t do, but there are instances where the person who was killed was the sole breadwinner of the home and now that family is left in a situation where they have no choice but to collect whatever little is being offered to them.”

Nonetheless, she said she will continue to encourage bereaved families to let the law take its course, despite the fact that the judicial system can sometimes cause one to become frustrated.

“Families have to play their part and make an effort to attend every court case and be present to give evidence whenever the matter is called and not shy away from facing these killers in court”.

Also, being a part of the National Road Safety Council, Mrs. Bacchus has been able to be a driving force behind the implementation of the breathalyzer test and radar guns which are now being used by traffic ranks of the Guyana Police Force.

However, she still feels that more can be done in terms of dealing with some of the root

causes of road fatalities.

She feels that there needs to be a review of the current system being used to issue persons with driver’s licences, as well as the fact that the focus should be placed on drinking spots which are often filled, with cars parked in close proximity. Bacchus said that persons at drinking spots are highly likely to be the very ones behind the steering wheels when the heart rending headlines are made.

“At every single drinking spot, on any given night, you can find persons consuming large amounts of alcohol and then shortly after heading into vehicles not only as passengers, but as drivers, heading to various destinations.”

Having lost her children to a drunken driver, this is a burning issue on which she has very strong views. Further she stresses that she does not feel the current penalties are sufficient for persons found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. Though not wanting to elaborate much on this touchy issue, Mrs. Bacchus opined that heavier penalties should be implemented to deal with errant drivers. In addition, she said while a lot is being said of a person who dies as a result of a road accident, very little is said of a person who is left crippled for life or one who survived but whose life has been changed forever.

“Think about it, what about the woman who may not be able to make another child, or the man who is left bedridden and a burden to his family.”

Nonetheless, through the various organizations to which she has aligned herself, Mrs. Bacchus insists she and colleagues will continue to do whatever is required of them to ensure road safety in Guyana is kept alive and taken to all corners. To this end, candlelight vigils are often held by Mothers in Black to celebrate the lives of accident victims and to raise awareness.

Also, through the Guyana National Road Safety Council, the message of road safety is taken to schools throughout the length and breadth of Guyana. In addition, the Council continues to assist the Police Force’s Traffic Department with the painting and placement of road signs around the country.

Though no one person or organization can ever really help get the message across to everyone about road safety and the widespread effects of road fatalities, Mrs. Bacchus says she will remain resolute in her passion to promote same.

“If there is something you can do as a

person to prevent a road accident I urge you to do it. It might seem ‘uncool’ to take away the keys of a vehicle from a drunken person, but think about the life you would have saved.

“Think about the woman who would have never made it home to her family to prepare dinner, or the father who would have never made it home to his family who are left without a breadwinner… that young boy who was waiting for his exam results, all excited to attend a new school or that little girl who may never attend her high school prom as my daughter never got the chance to do. These are all incentives for us to care.”

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What macroeconomic policy?

The Guyanese struggle is not one for survival but one for development. Our land is rich and our people resilient.

We have survived slavery, indentureship and a long period of repressive colonialism. We overcame almost three decades of postindependence misrule by the PNC and are currently witnessing the blatant diversion of the wealth of our country into the hands of a chosen few, under the guise of governance by the PPPC. In the meantime we remain an underdeveloped country with an underperforming economy and an underemployed population.

Our formal economy relies largely on the same set of raw materials that we’ve been exporting since before our independence: sugar, rice, gold, bauxite and timber. Our informal economy, which many suggest is bigger than its formal counterpart, is fueled by illegal drug exports and undeclared gold.

Today, the single biggest contributor to Guyana’s foreign earnings is gold. This makes it a key pillar upon which our economic performance (both formal and informal) rests. Our economy faces a major challenge from the falling gold price which is now down 18% since the start of the year, and 27% shy of its

all-time high of US$1896 per ounce, which it hit back in September of 2011.

It is therefore interesting to note the seemingly recent discovery on the part of our government that, in the world of gold production, we in Guyana are what are known as “price-takers”, meaning that our production is not significant enough to affect the market price of gold. In other words we pretty much have to accept the going rate.

What is noteworthy about this is not so much the concept of price-taking, but rather the posturing of this very government during the years when gold prices were rising exponentially.

We kept hearing about the robust performance of our economy, and Government’s sound macroeconomic policies and prudent fiscal management. There was never any hint that the consecutive years of economic growth, recorded from 2007 to 2012, were due largely to a phenomenon over which this government had absolutely no control, i.e., the rising price of gold on the world market.

In fact, while the world’s major economies were struggling against an economic recession that severely affected global markets, our government gloated all the way to the bank

that it had astutely maneuvered us out of harm’s way.The impression created was one of financial wizards tweaking and tinkering away to keep us afloat while their less competent counterparts, both regional and international, were unable to prevent their economies from tumbling into recession.The price-taker syndrome seemed not to matter back then.

A major plank in the AFC’s platform has been economic transformation. We have repeatedly emphasized diversification as a means of sustainable economic growth and job creation. This is not a concept of our own invention, neither are we the only ones who recognize the importance of adding value to the raw materials we export and broadening the base from which we derive our foreign earnings. Achieving this, however, requires an approach and an effort that the PPPC Government seems incapable of formulating, let alone implementing. They continue to take us for a ride on the global wheel of fortune, skylarking in the backseat while pretending to be at the controls.

This will not bring about the economic transformation required to enable the kind of development that has eluded us for so long.What is needed

is a national vision, signed onto by all stakeholders, from which can derive a long-term development plan or strategy that is clearly understood by all. Our current path is random and opportunistic, with no clear context in which to frame the massive capital investments that are placing an enormous debt burden on our nation.

Neither will the parallel economy bring about real development.

Much speculation surrounds the actual size of this layer of our economy, but all indications suggest that it is significant.

This clearly creates a serious challenge to legitimate operators who find themselves hard-pressed to compete with the unlimited supply of unregulated and untaxed goods and services offered informally throughout the country. The excess liquidity splashing from the coffers of a growing criminal network blends seamlessly into this scenario, creating a dangerous façade which the current government seems to be confusing with progress and is reluctant to curtail.

The AFC recognizes that even in a free-market economy the government has a responsibility to guide or attract investments in a direction that is consistent with some sort of strategic

long-term plan. Unless it is the grand scheme of this government to turn Guyana into a dumping ground for low-quality consumer goods and the packages they come in, then it has failed miserably in this regard. It ought to have occurred to them by now that investors, whether local or foreign, are interested in two things: extracting our raw materials and intercepting some of the cash circulating within our economy. This is not a condemnation of these investors but a reality which a prudent government would have sought to remedy by implementing measures to attract investors into a broader range of sectors, capable of increasing foreign earnings and providing new and better paying jobs.

The PPPC government has had more than twenty years in which to advance its developmental agenda. For nineteen of these years it enjoyed a parliamentary majority. This has given it more time and more power than almost any government in any democracy anywhere else in the world. Their constant reference to how badly off we were in 1992 when they took office is of absolutely no relevance in measuring their performance over this period.

That they failed to place

us on a path to development was clearly indicated by the ease with which they were able to suddenly switch to a Low Carbon Development Strategy when the sum of 250 million US dollars was dangled before them in 2009. Is there really a development strategy attached to this sound bite or is it just a means to fund a few projects, the benefits of which will never trickle down to the average Guyanese?

It is our conclusion that Guyana remains economically adrift due to many decades of bad governance and poor planning. This leaves us particularly vulnerable to influences beyond our control.

It is hoped that the price of gold will rebound and continue on an upward trajectory, strengthening the sector for years to come. It is also hoped that the recent exposure of our overreliance on this sector is a loud enough wakeup call to those in charge of our economy.

But hope is not enough.

Guyana needs a plan. Not a PPP plan or a PNC plan. Not an AFC plan or APNU plan.

Not an IMF or World Bank plan or a Chinese or a European plan, but simply a Guyanese plan which transcends politics and ethnicity, to lead us out of third world. Until then we will just survive.

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WANTED Business property for rent in Central Mackenzie- Tele: 444-5883/687-9992 One live-in maid to work in Georgetown- Call: 697-6747 One female experienced cook and kitchen assistant to work in home in InteriorCall: 697-6747 One Live-in Babysitter for Georgetown age 18-30- call: 697-6747 Land in La Parfaite Harmonycall: 675-7292 Contract Cars wanted: City Taxi Service- call: 660-1100 Live In Live Out Babysitter Domestic - Call: 225-6070 2 Garbage Truck Workers: 1 Pick-up driver: 1 Cook to work out of town- Call: 6122057/614-2464 Wanted!

Experienced salesgirls: Visit 140 Regent Street with written application Engine Room Operator: Apply @ Wieting & Richter Ltd 1 Whole day domestic- Tele: 667-5717 or 650-4761 One live-in domestic to work in a bar in Mahaicony River, 18 years-40 years $50,000 monthly- call: 2256571 Experienced Roti/ Puri cooks, Pastry makers & Handy Boy: Apply @ Hack’s Halaal 5 Commerce Street.

Kaieteur News

WANTED One attractive waitress, must be honest & courteous: $50,000 monthly: Boarding & lodging free- call:610-5043

Handy Boys: Apply to Shanta’s @ 225 Camp & New Market Streets Office Clerk: CXC English/ Mathematics- Call:225-0188/ 225-6070 Business place wanted for rent: Preferably a bar space located in Central Georgetown- Contact Miss Lee: 618-5873 Labourers and Porters: Apply @ Wieting & Richter Ltd

LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY M E R C U R Y (QUICK SILVER) 9 9 . 9 9 9 9 5 % PURITY - $20,000 PER POUND CALL:604-6108

One 500 ton cargo ship with contract- call:687-6174

HID lights call: 642-2850 1 Flock sheep and goats and flock Rams- Call: 696-8103

One female clerk- call:231-5171

125 HP Yahama Outboard engine –Call:611-5292

1 Handy-boy to work: Living accommodation free- call: 228-5655/ 628-1756 1 Gas acetylene welder: No Equipment needed: Living accommodation free - call: 628-1756/ 228-5655 Do you need an excavator operator? 12 yrs experience in mining- call: 254-0624/ 6554440 Two bedrooms apartment in or around G/T- call: 601-0582 ROCKSTAR TOP SALES PRODUCERS, WE WANT YOU: EARNING POTENTIAL $40,000 $100,000 ADDITIONAL INCOME MONTHLY- CALL: 225-7560, cmentore@mstbiz.com One live-in domestic- call: 613-7888 Carpenters/ Mason with own tools: Apply @ 68 Robb street, Nut Centre Experienced and Reliable assistant cook, Bar attendant, Waitress- Contact: 223-6284 Leisure Air Restaurant

Earth for sale in Georgetown: Own transportation must be provided- Call: 227-3681 or 227-8682 Bottom Komatau Excavator rollers- Call: 617-2273/2231051 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Mixed breed puppies- Call: 663-3397 Dell laptops & desktops complete computers from $55,000 Futuretech call: 2312206 Now in stock at Alabama Trading: Aloe Vera drink, Sagiko fruit drink, Cereal milkTele: 225-5800/ 225-3809 Purpleheart panel doors $28,000: Sizes (30", 32", 34", 36") × 80- call: 688-9712/ 6390501 K ‘A’rcher 2000 psi Pressure pump $160,000: Hyundai 3500 watts generators $180,000- Call: 666-8018/6457182 3 Tons Bedford dump-truck, Scania long wheel base with Hyab and drop-tail- Call:2704485 Pure Rottweiler pupscall:220-6879

Attractive live in waitressCall: 327-0252/ 674-4665

3 Barbers and 1 Nail Technician at 1 Smyth & Durban Streets, Werk-enRust: Call 674-8555

FOR SALE

1,000 LBS Scale $200,000/ obo- call:611-5929

Person for security duties.

Eccles area, call 227-1830

Sales girls apply in person with written application @ Best Buy Food Supplies: Middleton & Dennis St. Campbellville

FOR SALE

One live-in maid- Call:2317805/618-7483 Experienced hire car drivers and contract vehicles with owner driven- call: 645-0025

Fluffy Pups - Call: 642-6664 EDUCATIONAL LEARN TO DANCE LATIN STLE:SALSA, MERENGUE, WALTZ, TANGO, ETC. COME & FEEL THE EXCITEMENT CALL: 6126475, 629-8842

Sunday May 26, 2013

FIVE GALLON WATER BOTTLE CAPS IN LIMITED QUANTIESCALL: 614-8957 Vonn Water pump 60,000 liters per hour $110,00: Epson small-in-one printers $25,000call: 666-8018/645-7182

Electronic Course- PracticalBeginning 3rd June: Limited space available: Abdul Electronic, 226-6551/ 225-0391

Khemraj & Son landscaping - Call: 6275969; 18 months coconut tree, plant for sale, mould for sale, trimming plants

Enid’s dressmaking certificate classes from Elementary to Advance: 66 Sixth St. Alberttown: 2239106/695-3876: sewing done here

Brand new Asus desktop computers for just $100,000call: 645-9459

Imperial College- Register Now: CXC 2014 fulltime/ lessons/adults classes: Excellent results-call: 6835742/227-7627

Now in stock at Alabama Trading: PVC Ceiling, Tarpaulin, soap powder in different sizes- Tele:2255800/ 225-3809

Live/pluck chicken call:6504421,220-9203

Uniden cordless phones, single & double: Caller’s ID: Speakerphone: Personalized ringers: Answering system: Price $9,000 & $13,000Call:226-0765 RABBITS $2,000 EACHCALL: 650-0814 Lister Petter generator from UK 10KVA, with tank and exhaust system $950,000-call 621-4000, 690-6000 Chicken hatchery robbins 26,000 eggs capacity with trays, racks, complete system, sold as a package call: 621-4000, 690-6000 IPhone 4s-$110,000; Blackberry Bold 4 -$69,995; PSP with games-$59,995; PS2 with 10 games-$54,995call:225-4631 Bayliner Boat 18ft with Trailer inboard mercury, 10 seater $2.4M- call: 694-1584 Mr. Rampershad/681-8795 Mr. Hardatt Clark Forklifts 2,000; 3,000; 4,000 lbs lifting capacity: Needs minor repairs, sold as is $375,000- call:621-4000/ 690-6000 SDMO Generators, diesel, silent with tank 28 KVA: Not working, sold as is $375,000call: 621-4000/690-6000 22" Chrome rims (6 holes) with tyres, set of 4 $400,000call:621-4000/690-6000 Sale in Dell Dual Core Computers with LCD- call: 691-2077 Hilux 2L Gear Box, Leaf Springs, Fenders, Lamps- call: 691-2077 15-15-15 Fertilizer Large Quantity in damaged bagsCall: 266-2711/609-4594 Cheap Earth delivery to spot ECD & EBD call:627-9977, 698-0182 Clean Garden Earth builders waste, also Bobcat rental, excavating, clearing & leveling- call:616-0617 or 6633285 Cannon IR 400 photocopying machines call 649-0956

VEHICLE FOR SALE 2 New shape Avensiscall:698-0674 Mitsubishi Pajero (Immaculate condition); automatic, fully loaded, 4×4, price $2.8M- Contact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 AT170 Toyota Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, mags, CD player, price $675,000- contact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 AT212 Carina (private), automatic, fully powered, A/ C, CD player, price $1.375Mcontact Rocky:225-1400 or 621-5902 Toyota extra cab pick-up (22 R engine) manual, (EFI) 4×4, (GPP series) price $2.5MContact Rocky 621-5902/2251400 1-Suzuki (RI) Jeep, automatic, fully powered, A/C, Immaculate condition price $1.1- contact Rocky 225-1400 or 621-5902 1 Toyota RZ long base (EFI bus) manual, Mag rims, BLL series $1.350M: Excellent condition- Call Rocky 6215902/225-1400 1-2005 Nissan Titan $3.5M negotiable- Call: 622-1957 Anthony Mercedes Benz 190E fully powered, flare kit, mag wheel, needs repairs sold as is $500,000 call:621-4000 Cherokee Jeep, automatic, mag wheel, projection, LCD lights transmission needs checking otherwise perfect $1.2M cash call: 621-4000, 690-6000 Hummer H2 SUT model, 22" rims fully leather, sound system, lots of up-grades call: 645-9977 Toyota car, PGG series: A/C, Alarm, excellent condition: Price $800,000 negotiablecall: 690-3995 Mitsubishi 3000GT, 3000cc sports car, CD player,18" rims, very fast, must see price neg. call: 621-4000, 690-6000 HILUX SOLID DIFF Pickups 2L &3L, AC, excellent condition- call: 691-2077 Cheap! Premio, Hilux, 5L Engine, VVTI Stick gear buses call: 616-7635 Priced to sell: BMW 528E good condition $500,000: New engine- Tele:612-1486

PEN PAL Male seeking female Christian leading to marriageCall: 442-3224/689-9883 CAR RENTAL Premio, Vitz call: 689-6668

TOURS Specials to Kaieteur Falls: Daily Transportation to Suriname, Lethem etc. Call: CETS 225-2566/645-7333 FOR SALE/RENT American Pool Table - Call: 277-0578

VEHICLE FOR SALE Cruiser Auto Sales: Unregistered: Toyota Fielder, New Raum, Noah, Mazda, Axela- call:603-9700 2005 4×4 Toyota Tundra, 68,000 miles, extended cab, A/C, CD player, alarm: $18,000 US Negotiable- Call: 643-6644/931-436-6355 1 AT 192 Carina: Excellent Condition- Call:644-4437 1 Toyota Land-cruiser Prado PMM series- call:225-0188/ 225-6070 First Class Auto (03 & 06) Allion, (03 & 04) Spacio, (01) Carina, (07) Axio, VerossaCall:609-8188/226-2689 Axio, Blue Bird, Pitbull: Going cheap- Call:697-0294 Leading AutoUnregistered: Allex, Runx, Spacio, IST, Allion, Premio, Tacoma (06), F150 (06)- Tele: 677-7666/ 610-7666 Mercedes Benz CLK 200: Kompressor 2005, white, 6700 miles: PRR series: Immaculate- call: 623-5492 1 Toyota 110 Vintage Sprinter: Price Negotiable: PJJ series- call:613-0028 LEYLAND DAF single axle, new gear box and new engine- call:613-6615/2161315 Honda CRV, PLL series, sun roof, alarm, 4 wheel drive, CD, low mileage, Burgundycall: 643-8049/ 641-5366 1-55 Leyland Daf excellent working condition have all documents ready to workcall:680-2095/261-5401 1 AT 170 Carina $600,000: 1 AE91 Sprinter $350,000- Call: 638-1666/ 650-6339 Unregistered Toyota Sienta 1500cc: 7 Seats- Call:6175536 Suzuki Swift Car, working condition-$350,000- Tele: 616-5424/641-6217 or 2204818 Toyota- 4 Runner Surf, AT192, AT212, AT170, Ceres, EP82 & 71 Starlet, Solid DEF pickup, Nissan E24 van- call:644-5096 Reduced! Reduced! BMW 740 IL $4.950 million, luxury car: excellent conditionTele:612-1486/639-4398 Give away price!! Original Lexus LS 400 Luxury car, excellent condition-$4.750 million- tele:612-1486/6394398 Mercedes Benz S300 armored, powered, leather seats, Auto, 19" rims, CD player, sound system $3.5M cash call: 621-4000, 690-6000 (Continued on page 61)

Sunday May 26, 2013

VACANCY Wash Bay attendant for Bel Air Service station- Call: 6803863 Vacancy for one general domestic: Must know to prepare vegetarian mealCall: 225-3809/ 225-5800 Pump Attendant @ Shell Service Station Providence E.B.D: Must be able to work shift: Email: shellramsburg@ gmail.com, Tele:265-7305

Kaieteur News

Page 61

CAKES & PASTRIES

PROPERTY FOR SALE

SERVICES

Courses in cake decoration, pastry making & cookery, Call: 670-0798. Also wedding dresses for sale

At Clifton Port Mourant: Prime location on public roadContact:905-970-0210/6136795 or /624-8799

Computer repairs: Reloading done for lowest priceContact:654-5638 or 672-7194

LEARN TO DRIVE B & C Driving School, pick up & drop off, call:2250150,229-7258,680-6826

Courses for: Bridal accessories, Cake decoration & Floral arrangements, Cake and Pastry - contact Sharon: 672-8768/ 223-3303/612-4193

Versailles 5 Bedroom House with modern facilities and beautiful landscape- Call: 592-684-9203 / 592-624-8704

Repairs, sales & spares air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call:225-9032,647-2943

Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964

Prospect $13M, L.B.I $38M, Quamina Street $58M, Diamond $22M- call Diana:227-2256/626-9382 Two business properties @ Whim public road; 1 House & Land 4th street Whim, Corentyne: Price negotiablecontact:231-5171/619-7134

TO LET Furnished two bedrooms apartment in Linden for short term local & overseas guests: Hot & cold- call: 6144415/444-4704 Furnished 2 bedrooms Apt to let- call:665-2548/693-0710 Fully furnished short term apartments, Eccles call: 6896668 Furnished 2 bedrooms Apt $US 50-60 daily- call:665-2548 Diamond- $75,000; Kitty$80,000; Bel Air-US $1800; Brickdam -US$6,000- call Diana:227-2256/626-9382 Two storey building: Ogle 5 Bedrooms $80,000- Call: 6288667 Two bedroom bottom apartments, tiled: C/VilleCall: 650-0716 / 223-1051

Durban Backlands 2 Storey Concrete (needs repairs) $14M neg-672-7390, 2250854, 2250843

Regent street, Robb street, South road, South Ruimveldt Park, East Coast- Call: 6158810 or 668-3100 South Ruimveldt Gardens 5 bedrooms concrete 2 stories $35M-225-0853, 225-0854, 672-7390 Newly Built 5 Bedroom Selfcontain Double Garage, New Kitchen Super Condition W.C.D $69M: 6727390, 2250854, 2250843 Two storey house: West Ruimveldt near Mandela Ave $30M- Call: 617-4261 Newly built 5 bedrooms, house in Eccles and land $35M and $17M- 6727390, 2250843, 225-0854 4 Land Together, 2 House Concrete 2 Storey fence: 1 extra Land 50 x 90 :Good for Business Supermarket $148M- 6727390, 2250854, 2250843

Permanent & Visitors Vi s a Applications, Profressional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building: Call: 225-6496, 662-6045, 223-8115 Have somewhere for rent or sale? Contact D&J Investments: 223-8479/ 647-3768

Business Property for sale, lot 32 Timehri public roadTele:667-6554

Repairs to Refrigerators, Washing machines, Gas Stoves, A/C Units- Call Lindon: 641-1086 or 694-2202

1-3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathroom: House & Land located @ D’Edward Village W.C.B: Price $18M negotiable- call: 613-9438/679-9162

(BODY WORK) & Spray paint your vehicle at an affordable cost: Fast, efficient & reliable- call Kenneth 222-0811/619-4550

One two bedrooms concrete flat, 12th street Diamond Housing Scheme- $11 million - Call: 226-2924 or 613-9085

House plans & estimatescontact T. Boodhoo: 6259883/675-9296

3 Bedrooms house: Area Q Turkeyen (Guysuco gardens) $42M- Call: 617-4261 2 House in yard, 4 bedrooms Good location on Ben St, $27M neg- 225-0853, 2250854, 672-7390 Diamond/Grove: Newly Built 3 bedrooms: First Bridge Big Yard - 6727390, 2250843, 2250854 Newly built concrete 3 bedrooms house in Parfaite Harmony $19M, $17M, $8M672-7390, 225-0854, 225-0843

PROPERTY FOR SALE

We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar

2 Storey Concrete House Alexander St Kitty 60x80 Land $47M -6727390, 2250854, 2250843 Huge House/Huge Land Facing seawall: Subryanville, Super location Concrete downstairs, wood upstairs $US 750, 000 6727390, 2250854, 2250843

Computers repairs in HomesCall: 675-7292 Service & Repairs for Jet Skis, Jet Boats, ATVs, Inboard & Outboard (2 & 4 strokes) engine- call:694-7949

Diamond main road property 5 bedrooms flat house $37M: 225-0853, 225-0854, 672-7390 3 Bedrooms upstairs, 1 Selfcontained: Newly renovated: Yard space: Located in Diamond H/Scheme- Call: 613-0028

7 Acres cultivated with house, 2 Acres cultivated, 2-1 Acres cultivated contact: 226-7968 FOR RENT Two bedrooms house in Diamond- Call:264-1445 and 670-8793 2 Storey concrete 5 bedrooms with A/C, hot & cold, generator @ Happy Acre E.C.D call: 647-1569 Newly constructed apartments, with & without A/C: Parking & security available, L.B.I East CoastCall: 628-8008 / 603-0000 Hutsonville, E.B.D: Furnished 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, Bungalow with all modern convenience$100,000 Call: 697-4131 Barber Stations: Located in Kitty- Call:646-0268 Rooms - Call: 225-3234

We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699 HOUSE PLAN DRAFTING FOR ONLY $10,000CALL:694-9843/227-2766

2 Bedrooms apartment: Working couple preferablyCall:656-2460

Ribbon printing and favors for any occasion- call:6169201/227-2766

Fully furnished apartments to rent on E.C.D & Central Georgetown - contact Stefan: 223-8479/ 647-3768

CAR RENTAL Progressive Auto Rental cars from $4000 per day. Call 643-5122, 225-8711; email www.progressiveauto rental. com Adian’s car rental- Tele:6987807 Adian’s car rental/ PickupTele: 698-7807 Fab’s Rental: Cars to rentcall: 671-6051 or 609-6890

House lot for sale: Friendship EBD & drafting of house plans call: 223-0733, 223-0730 Garnett Street, Newtown Kitty: 4,588 sq foot – Call:647-1569 Prime Residential land $2.8M Schoonord Garden, 50ft×100ft cleaned & leveled: Beautiful - Call: 675-7292 Prime Residential house lot for sale $3.5M Farm E.B.D: Best offers only please- Call: 662-3010 Providence land next to the stadium with electricity, water, drains, roads & play park- call: 615-8810 or 6683100 Grove/Diamond $5M, $5.5M, $4M, $6.5M, $3.5M672-7390, 225-0854, 2250843 Eccles New Scheme 50 x 100 $5.5M- 6727390, 2250854, 2250843 Double lot $15M- 672-7390, 225-0854, 2250843

Rooms /Apartments available: Furnished - Call: 646-5147 MASSAGE

Galaxy Tours: Bus service for tours, Airport, Springlands, Moleson Creek, Weddings, groups etc- call:629-5913/ 675-3093

Diamond Flat House Newly Built $17.5M- 6727390, 2250854, 225-08433 Diamond/Grove 2 Storey Concrete Newly Built: Automatic Gate/Garage: Spacious Kitchen & 4 Bedrooms $36M- 6727390, 2250854, 225-0843

LAND FOR SALE Multiple house lots on E.C.D- contact Stefan:6473768/223-8479

Farm with house at Yarrowkabra, Linden Highway: Water, light, chicken & pig pens: fully fenced- call: 686-7180

Brian Moe @642-3543: Computer Technician: FB/ Brian.Moe.165: Home and Office visits at your comfort!

(From page 60)

American Style massage services- Call:609-4036

VACANCY Popular 24 hour East Coast Guyoil needs day & night pump attendants, sales girl, cleaners/maintenance- Tele: 698-5559/ 684-2838 2 Skilled Upholsters and 1 Frame Builder- Call:679-4396/ 220-8107

SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call 660-5257, 6471773

Clerical Staff: Computer literate: No age barrier: Apply @ Risans 51 Main St.

New classes -Cosmetology , Nails, Wigs, Designs, MakeUp, Hair-Styling; call Abby 216-1950, 666-5241, 619-7603

Diesel Mechanic, Industrial Electrician, Welders & Fabricators, Machinists: Technical Services Inc. 18-23 Eccles Industrial Site, E.B.D

Natural Beauty Salon & Spa: Grove Market Street EBD tele:265-4138,652-5800 specialized in everything for women & children

Page 62

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

The Abigail Column Sometimes it’s essential to let a friend hit rock bottom

DEARABIGAIL, My friend, ‘Cathy’ had been unhappily married for three years, met a man in at a party and began having a casual affair with him. She was not very discreet about it — carrying condoms in her purse and leaving her BlackBerry out with e-mails from the man on it. Her husband found out and left her.

They are now going through a difficult divorce.

Her ex does not want to help her out financially — they have a young son who is

having a terrible time dealing with it, and she is falling apart.

She has always been overly thin and now she is much more so.

She is heavily leaning on me for help and I (a) don’t know how to help her and (b) have some anger toward her for putting herself in this situation. I told her the affair was a really bad idea.

She sees me as one of her only friends and is constantly asking me to come over.

What can I do to both help her and distance myself from this?

Worried Friend

providing her with a steady supply of friendly consolation would be exactly the wrong kind of help for her right now.

Someone who is (1) falling apart and (2) continuing to behave in a self-destructive way is choosing to dodge the hard work of getting well.

In hard-luck situations, a friendly shoulder is what friendship is about, but the fallout from hard living demands a different approach.

As apparently one of her only friends, you’re the one in a position to take that different approach: Tell her clearly that you’re just a plain old friend, and what she needs is someone with the credentials to help her get well.

Dear Worried Friend, Even if you didn’t have other responsibilities,

Sunday May 26, 2013 ARIES (MAR 21 - APR 19): You feel a strong need to break away from a situation that is tying you down. There is the temptation to act now and think about it later but if other people are involved, you should respect their needs and feelings. ******************************* TAURUS (APR 20 - MAY 20): Friends are keen to share ideas and they might encourage you to act on an inspiring notion. Go along with people who ask you to make changes and support their plans and proposals. ******************************* GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUN 20): Today, if you’re hoping to improve your professional status, it is not so much what you know but who you know that counts. ******************************* CANCER (JUN 21 - JUL 22): Strike while the iron is hot because there will be an opportunity today, to fulfil a longstanding dream or ambition.

Embrace the changes that are happening now and accept the fact there’s no fulfilment in standing still. ******************************* LEO (JUL 23 - AUG 22): You should be revelling in all the romantic attention that’s coming your way, today and it’s a good day for intimate relationships. ******************************* VIRGO (AUG 23 - SEP 22): Today’s events will stir up feelings and reactions within a partnership which would have probably been better left undisturbed. Words are spoken and action taken that results in you having to give your one-to-one relationships some serious thought.

LIBRA (SEP 23 - OCT 22): Health problems, emotional tensions or difficulties in a work relationship surface and need to be dealt with. If you have been burning the candle at both ends, it’s hardly surprising that you’re starting to feel stressed-out. ******************************* SCORPIO (OCT 23 NOV 21): If you’re part of a duo and you feel your present relationship could do with a shot in the arm, this is the day to do something about it.

Being flexible and using your imagination will give your love-life a welcome boost. ******************************* SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 - DEC 21): Powerful forces of change will end a chapter in your family life. New ways are about to begin. You may feel unprepared and slightly overwhelmed by it all but this won’t stop you from grabbing opportunities that are presented. ******************************* CAPRICORN (DEC 22 JAN 19): You won’t be in the mood to get on with your usual routines so why fight the urge to have a little extra fun and pleasure? ******************************* AQUARIUS (JAN 20 FEB 18): Some offbeat arrangements or spontaneous plans will make this day unexpectedly special as well as expensive! ******************************* PISCES (FEB 19 - MAR 20): It’s a great day for new starts, acting on impulse and making innovative moves.

New opportunities increase the feeling that you’re starting to make a success of your life.

Page 63

Don't use differences to stall...

From page 3 indisputably much better today than it ever was.”

Not rosy He admitted that not all is rosy in Guyana. “While it is true that we have done much to improve the lot of our people, I am aware of many problems that confront our citizens in the towns and in the NDCs across our land.

Many village roads need to be repaired and rebuilt. Too many of our drains are clogged up with debris, silt and weeds.”

He pointed to garbage disposal as remaining a bugbear in almost all the areas on the coast and is fast emerging as a growing concern in many interior communities.

Ramotar said his government has moved decisively to improve wages and salaries.

“If there is any fulltime employee who is earning less

than the specified national minimum wage, I ask you to contact our Ministry of Labour. We will investigate your case. I had also promised to address concerns relating to domestic workers…

From July 1, 2013 some 31,000 workers in the security sector, domestic and shop assistant will have a high wage.”

He also plugged the US$840M Amaila Falls hydro power project to provide our citizens with cheap, clean and reliable energy. “This is vital in positively transforming our manufacturing and agro processing sectors. This development in turn will create higher paying jobs and challenge our youth to be builders in their own country.

“The Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project will also mean significantly cheaper electricity for households.”

“Guyana is working with another of its neighbours, Brazil on infrastructural integration. A deep water port and a fully paved LindenLethem road would allow for Guyanese products to be traded into additional and much larger markets, benefitting many industries through higher export volumes.

I am pleased to report that senior-level teams from both countries are working diligently to accelerate the realization of these projects.”

Page 64

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 65

‘Innocent until proven guilty – Keeping the focus on cricket’ Colin E. H. Croft This was coined by 19th century English barrister, Sir William Garrow.

How we interpret that, though, is the bigger problem!

A presumption of innocence is fundamental to modern civilization. We still operate under this overview, even now, when anything done or said is either photographed, made into a movie, or listened to!

With the advent of “New Media” – E-mail, Face-book, Twitter, Instagram - and cameras at every junction of life, nothing, apparently, can be hidden. Yet, there is always doubt and innocence!

Cricket, conversely, seems to handle legalize differently to every other walk of life.

Suggestions and allegations of either “match fixing”, more likely “spot fixing”, at Indian Premier League 2013 have cast massive clouds on a competition that has been excellent. It should be immediately noted that an entire event should not be dismissed as being shady, even if some elements are eventually found to be unwholly.

That would be senseless, tantamount to discarding an entire automobile because it has bad tires or wind-shield wipers do not work. Simply, remove offending parts, if and when proved faulty!

Fixing a match result is very difficult to achieve. The entire team has to be complicit on that result.

Spot fixing, on the other hand, is relatively easier to complete, since this only includes one player, or very few, and only one, or very few incidents that could quickly change things in the game.

In legal situations, even for the worst offences - rape or murder - accused are allowed what is known as “their day in court”, when they would be allowed to present their side of events.

Accused are even allowed to be “free”, on bail, to carry on relatively normal life, until the cases are called!

Also, the burden of proof of breaking any law is supposedly with the accuser.

Not so, it seems, in cricket!

In our beloved game, accused players are immediately criticized and ostracized, even completely barred from playing and earning a living, with only accusations having been

West Indies team will hope for more success. (UK Guardian)

Colin E. H. Croft

made. How can this be fair in a supposedly fair society?

Does this instead mean that our game believes that anyone accused is guilty until proven innocent? Betting on sports has been in vogue as long as sports itself has been around! Stories abound that bets were taken against soldier-messenger Pheidippides completing that long run, from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, in 490 BC, thus completing the first “marathon”, to announce that the Persians had been defeated. For his efforts, he then dropped dead!

If you attend ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in England next week, you will notice that there are many betting shops in and around all cricket grounds. People will bet on anything; any game; any time!

For international or highly visible players, the pitfalls are quite numerous and not always evident.

West Indian batsman Marlon Samuels, who maintains his innocence to this day, was actually banned from playing anywhere for two years, without any real proof whatsoever that he had done anything wrong.

His “crime”? Apparently, he was seen associating with a known bookie and accused of receiving spoils of such an

association!

Now, Samuels and the rest of West Indies, indeed the rest of all teams at ICCCT2013, will be under scrutiny as perhaps never before.

With the IPL allegations, and recent upheaval of impropriety of Pakistani players in 2010, ICC would, surely should, be monitoring everything, and every player, like proverbial hawks!

Honesty in sports, though, comes down to every, single, individual player, even in a team sport.

Great past West Indies cricket teams consisted, like airplanes, bicycles, or any other mechanical object, of several, individual, sometimes moving parts – players – who contributed fully to the whole – team success!

I certainly would not have expected Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge or Clive Lloyd to bowl 30 overs per day and get five wickets.

Similarly, neither of them would have expected me to get 100 runs. Some of my wickets, though, would have been effected by catches by those three!

That is what a team does!

Individual players, when properly honed and practiced, and correctly assembled, can always overcome as a collective. The responsibility of getting one’s

Police lead GCA\Hadi’s 1st division point standings Police currently lead the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)\Hadi’s World Inc first division 2 day competition points table with 105 from 7 games.

Demerara Cricket Club are in second place with 95 points from 6 matches followed by Georgetown Cricket Club with 92 from 6,Guyana National Industrial Corporation 90 from 7, Malteenoes Sports Club 87 from 8, Transport Sports Club 73 from 7, Everest Cricket Club 72 from 7 and Gandhi Youth Organisation 63 from 5.

self ready for sporting frays rests with that individual player. Absolutely!

West Indies must also now focus on cricket at Champions Trophy 2013 like never before!

This first team to be

officially led by Dwayne Bravo into a world 50 overs competition has a great opportunity to emulate Lloyd’s World Cup winning teams of 1975 and 1979, and Brian Lara’s team which won ICC Champions Trophy 2004.

After winning ICC World T-20 2012, the sequence can continue for West Indies.

There is no room for complacency or time for adjustment, with only three games, against Pakistan, India and South Africa, before semifinals!

Ramnaresh Sarwan was “Man of the Series” in 2004.

He, Samuels, Dwayne and Darren Bravo, and Chris Gayle must carry the batting.

Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Tino Best, Darren Sammy must lead the bowling!

West Indies must ignore everything that might be happening around them.

Focus on the cricket! Enjoy!

Page 66

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Dane Kendall former Guyana international Charwayne Walker continues his look at outstanding sports personalities who have represented Guyana. Today he looks at basketball player Dane Kendall.

The ‘Million Dollar Question’ still asked by Basketball fans throughout Guyana, is why was Dane Kendall omitted from Guyana’s Caricom team in 1994 and 1995, did Erik Rashaad had stats on Kendall’s performance against the first and to date the only Professional European team to visit Guyana, Germany’s T.T.L Bomberg?

Although his uncle Gavin Kendall played for Guyana in the seventies, Basketball was never Dane’s first love.

Growing up in Robb Street Bourda, the temptations from GCC and GFC was always difficult to resist but the late

Phillip George and Colts United changed his route from Bourda to Burnham’s Court. Under the guidance of George, Dane Kendall developed into one of the most Dominant Centres in division one competition in his Rookie Year (1991), so impressive was his performance he made the Georgetown team for Inter Sub-association action against Linden and Berbice.

Kendall was also unstoppable for Alberttown Bourda at the Inter Ward level. He had limited Court time in his first international match against Senators of Barbados, February 1991 at the National Sports Hall.

Playing against Senior Professionals like Dwight Rouse and Andrew Alleyne, the Rookie Kendall showed that he had the mental fortitude for the ‘Big Stage’.

So it was no surprise when

the National selectors included him for his debut Caricom championships in Kingston Jamaica July 1991.

Dane was hardly used by Coach Brusche in Jamaica because Guyana’s pivots were Christian Semple, Byass and Wyles so Dane had to wait his turn. After the Jamaica Championship, Dane’s next international assignment was Suriname for a Goodwill tour August of 1991. Dane played more minutes because both Christian and Byass declined selection after the Caricom championship in Jamaica.

His exposure in Suriname gave him the confidence and self belief that was lacking in Jamaica. The following year 1992, Dane led Colts United to two division one titles, he also was dominant for Georgetown and Alberttown Bourda but the performance that captured the hearts of basketball fans was against

the touring Germans T.T.L Bomberg in August 1992.

Although the Guyanese loss all three matches by wide margins, Dane was phenomenal.

His top score of 23 pts in the first game still remains his international career high. He also had double doubles in the other two games. His next outing in national colours was July 1993 against Barbados at the National Sports Hall, a series Guyana loss two games to one.

Kendall’s most disappointing moment wearing the national jersey was when Guyana lost in the finals to DC Jammers August 1993.

The Boys had an unbeaten run en route to the finals with two victories against the eventual winners and Suriname.

His international programme in 1994 started with Ravens Basketball Club at the Caribbean Club Championship in Trinidad and the two outstanding players on that tour were Lugard Mohan and Dane Kendall. After the Ravens tour, Dane Kendall was included in an National 17 man squad for three friendly international matches in Bridgetown, Barbados. This tour was basically used by Coach Rashaad as trials for Guyana’s final 12 man squad for the 1994 Caricom Championship in Guyana, but on return Rashaad omitted Guyana most prolific centre forward Dane Kendall.

Although the land of many waters reached its first finals, Dane Kendall should have been selected in front of Edgar Thomas, and Rookies Lorenzo Withrite and Lancelot Loncke even if the selectors were exposing

Dane Kendall

young talent in Withrite and Loncke. Thomas’ selection ahead of Kendall was shocking.

Again after dominating the local scenes in 1995 coach Rashaad omitted Dane Kendall for the Caricom championship in the Bahamas this time Rashaad’s poor judgement was ignominiously exposed. The land of many waters lost all six preliminary matches, still the most fundamental centre on the local scene, Dane returned to the National line up the following year 1996.

Playing under the guidance of new coach Theran Caesar, Dane had a lot to prove and his first opponents were DC Jammers. Kendall schooled the DC Jammers big men with mesmerising moves he was also dominant on the boards.

His outstanding All round performance helped Guyana sweep DC Jammers three Nil so the selectors had no choice but to include him in

Banks DIH lends support for today’s Half Marathon Banks DIH Limited has teamed up with the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) as a co-sponsor of the Independence Day Half Marathon road race billed for today from Paradise Village on the East Coast Demerara to Main Street in Georgetown.

The local beverage giants presented Powerade sports drink and Aqua Mist Water to the organisers of the race during a simple ceremony at Banks DIH Special Events Department on Durban Street Thursday.

Neil Kumar, Director of Sport, who received the beverages from Banks DIH representative Lakerani Sukram on behalf of the organisers, expressed gratitude to the beverage company for contributing to the race which will attract over 100 athletes.

Mortimer Stewart, Banks DIH Outdoor Event Manager, Gervy C. Harry, Administrative officer of the National Sports Commission, Banks DIH employees Jusset McDonald and Niranjan DeAbreu were also present at the handing over ceremony. The race will start at 05:30 hours in front of Jerrick’s Funeral Home at Paradise Village and will proceed along the East Coast public road to finish in front of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport office on Main Street.

The race organized by the AAG, Ministry of Sport and the NSC in being held to coincide with Guyana’s 47th Independence celebrations.

the final 12 man squad for the 1996 Caricom Championship in Trinidad. Although the go to big men in Trinidad were Withrite and Loncke, Kendall played an integral role as mentor. As a defender he was fearless against Kennedy of Jamaica, Rouse and Alleyne of Barbados, Knowles of Bahamas and Brisbane of Trinidad.

Although he was not a prolific scorer, his contribution in the locker room proved invaluable.

Dane will always remember July 1996 in Trinidad, Guyana placed fourth, narrowly losing the semi-finals to a Jamaican team that included former NBA Pros Rumeal Robinson and Andrew Kennedy. Also fresh in his memory is the three Nil thrashing Guyana handed to Trinidad and Tobago in 1997 April at the National Sports Hall. Dane had big moments in that historical series. He also helped Guyana triumph two games to one in a three match series of June 1997 against Barbados at the same venue.

The success against Barbados is rated highly by Kendall because Guyana contested that series without the likes of Captain Lugard Mohan, Orin Mohan, Eion Leitch, Robert Cadogan, the Co-Captains were Withrite and Remington Ram. His last outing in national colours is also historical because Guyana swept DC Jammers 4 Nil at the National Sports June 1998, but failed to attend the 1998 Caricom Championship in Belize. Dane Kendall still plays basketball for his beloved Colts and his employers John Fernandes Limited.

International Tours 1991 Jamaica 1991 Suriname 1994 Trinidad with Ravens 1994 Barbados 1996 Trinidad

Sunday May 26, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 67

Non-stop action anticipated at Guyana Dawn Barker withdrawn Independence Cup T20 today in Berbice from Powerlifting team All systems are in place as all roads lead to the Albion Sports Complex for the much anticipated Guyana Independence cup Twenty20 cricket extravaganza organised by the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) and the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association (BCCDA).

Thousands are expected to throng the venue for what is expected to be an action packed day of sizzling cricket action as they witness the most exciting and largest 20/ 20 tournament to ever hit the County.

Over the past few days the organisers had upped their preparation and pulling all the stops to make the one day spectacle a memorable occasion. The Tournament, which is part of celebrations to mark Guyana’s 47th Anniversary, will see four of Guyana best cricket teams in action including defending champions

Universal DVD Berbice Titans and Karibee Rice Tigers of Berbice, East Coast Demerara Jaguars and Georgetown Lions battling for supremacy and over one million dollars in cash, trophies and other prizes.

Some of the players expected to be on show are Dion Barnwell, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo and Leon Johnson among others.

The games will commence at 10:30Hrs with two matches being played during daylight followed by a cultural ceremony. When the night steps in, the atmosphere will be transformed with the light up of Big Screen Projectors, Cheerleaders and the finals to proceed under massive floodlights.

Fireworks display and live musical entertainment will be provided.

Patrons will have an opportunity to win fabulous

gate prizes including cell phones, mp3 players and hampers among other tokens from various companies which will be distributed free of cost.

Proceeds from this event will go towards assisting with the development of sports in the region. First division clubs, Albion and Bermine, two schools and orphanages are to benefit. Consideration is also given to support a young talent in Berbice in the field of culture.

Part of the proceeds will also go towards the rehabilitation of the commentary booth at the Albion Sports Complex. The balance will be shared equally by the two organisations to fulfill their social obligations and community work under the “Power to Change Programme”.

Meanwhile, the draw has been made and will see defending champions Universal DVD Berbice

Titans playing fellow Berbice team Karibee Rice Tigers from 10am and BK International East Coast Jaguars play Georgetown Lions from 13.30hrs. The winners will clash in the grand final under lights from 18.30hrs.

Among some of the sponsors on board are Universal DVD, Trophy Stall, Karibee Rice, Sentinel Security, Metro Office and Computer Supplies, Ishmail Poultry Farm, Banks DIH, Asheik and Son Motor Supplies, Demerara Bank Ltd, New Building Society Ltd, Fazil Yunas Contracting, Ian Andrew Budhan of Universal Sports Services, Bhaggu Lighting, Balram Shane and Poonai’s Pharmacy among others. The organizers wish to notify the public that no coolers will be allowed irrespective of the size.

Admission to the venue is $500 for adults and children under-12 free. (Samuel Whyte)

GASA Sarah King swims to the spoils after blistering Independence encounter with arch rival, Amy Grant Meet Sarah King swam at a blistering pace to defeat Amy Grant and take the honours in the Girls 11-12yrs 100 meters freestyle event when action on the penultimate day of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Independence Meet ended at the Aquatic Centre, Lilliendaal ECD, yesterday afternoon.

The two swimmers literally set the pool afire from the start, matching each other stride for stride. The race commenced at the northern end of the pool and both swimmers swam furiously, reaching the southern end simultaneously.

The ferocious battle continued right up to the halfway mark

when King dug deep and swam ahead of her rival. Grant did attempt to catch up but a determined King refused to relent and crossed the line first.

Earlier, King had stamped her authority in the Girls 1112 years 50 meters breaststroke when she swam in ahead of Alyssa Nurse and Grant. Dylan Nurse also prevailed in the Boys 13-14 years 50 meters breaststroke race after defeating Rancel Ramsaroop and Ray Ramsaroop in that order.

Another King, this time Naomi, triumphed in the Girls 9-10yrs 100 meters freestyle event relegating Deborah Scott to second place, while Danielle George and Donna Carter finished 3rd and 4th

STSC 5-a-side football and penalty shoot out competitions set for June 2nd The South Turkeyen Sports Committee (STSC) 5a-side small goal and penalty shoot out Independence football competitions which were to be played on Monday 27th May at the National Cultural Centre tarmac will now be held on Sunday 2nd of June at Burnham Basketball court commencing at 09:30 hrs.

Among the teams slated to take part are Tiger Bay, Sophia, Broad Street, East

Ruimveldt, Vryheid’s Lust, Plaisance and Enterprise.

At stake will be trophies and cash prizes donated by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Trophy Stall Bourda Market, prime minister Samuel Hinds, Mark Phillips, Ken Phillips, Campton Babb, Frankie Bisphan, president of the Guyana Football Federation Christopher Matthias and Joseph Harmon.

Sarah King (L) and Amy Grant cool off in the warm down pool shortly after the conclusion of their blistering race respectively.

Omari Dann swam off with the honours in the Boys 1517yrs 50 meters breaststroke while Derick Ramsaroop finished second. Niall Roberts swam all alone in the Boys 18 and over, 50 meters breaststroke and returned later in the afternoon to once again swim all alone in the Boys 18 and over 100 meters breaststroke. His main adversary was his best time of 56:24secs but though the result was unofficial, Kaieteur Sport was informed that he failed to eclipse the mark.

Gaskin Hannibal was also in winners’ row, clinching the Boys15-17 yrs 100 meters freestyle event. Omar Adams finished second just in front of Isaac DaSilva. The Boys 15-

17 yrs 100 meters freestyle event was won by Hannibal Gaskin with Omar Adams finishing second. Isaac DaSilva sealed off the third place slot in front of Kemo Fraser.

Daniel Scott was the winner in the Boys 11-12yrs 100 meters freestyle event with Nkosi Beaton and Nathan Hackett filling the other two podium spots, respectively.

Several other events were contested yesterday but up to press time those results were not received. They will be published in a subsequent edition.

The swimmers return to the venue this afternoon at 15:00hrs for the final day’s activity. Warm up activities commence at 14:00hrs.

due to ankle injury

Caribbean and National Women’s powerlifting champion, Dawn Barker who was slated to be a guest lift at the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF), Intermediate and Claude Charles Memorial Championships set for Sunday next will no longer appear.

Barker has also been withdrawn from Guyana’s team that will compete at the 14th Annual IPF/NAPF/ FESUPO Pan American Powerlifting Championships set for Orlando Florida, July 1

– 7, next.

According to the GAPF, Barker’s withdrawal from the competitions is as a result of a recent medical examination which confirmed that her knee injury is not fully healed.

Ongoing Physiotherapy has been recommended for Ms. Barker in the hope she will be fully recovered in time for the Senior Championship in November.

With Barker now out, Ms. Kimberly Mars-Loncke will be the lone female at the IPF/ NAPF/FESUPO Pan American Powerlifting Championships.

Page 68

Kaieteur News

Sunday May 26, 2013

Bayern Munich crowned Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs Champions of Europe Only Linden teams stay perfect after Round 1

Arjen Robben’s late winner banished Bayern Munich’s bitter Champions League memories with victory over Borussia Dortmund in an enthralling encounter at Wembley. Bayern had lost two finals in the last three years - including a defeat on penalties in their own Allianz Arena to Chelsea 12 months ago - but the agony and the waiting is over as they came out on top in this allBundesliga meeting to claim the crown for the fifth time.

It could be part of a perfect farewell for veteran Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who is standing down at the end of the season to hand over to Pep Guardiola as the Spaniard makes his return to the game following a sabbatical after leaving Barcelona.

Heynckes will have the chance to bow out with a Treble, with Bayern having already won the league and playing in the German Cup final next weekend. And it was redemption for a tearful Robben after playing in those losing finals against Inter Milan and former club Chelsea, when he missed an extra-time penalty, as well as two semi-final defeats to Liverpool in 2005 and 2007

during his career at Stamford Bridge.

Robben stole onto Franck Ribery’s flick in the 89th minute to show great composure to beat Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller to finally exorcise the demons that have haunted him.

He also created Mario Mandzukic’s opener for Bayern on the hour - but Dortmund were always in contention in a Champions League final that merely confirmed the Bundesliga as the major force in European football.

Ilkay Gundogan equalised from the penalty spot after Dante’s foul on Marco Reus but the last word went to Robben in a competition that has been so cruel to him in the past. Dortmund, led by charismatic coach Jurgen Klopp, were left to regret not taking full advantage of their early supremacy when they were only kept at bay by the brilliance of Bayern’s Germany keeper Manuel Neuer. The intense pressing style that is the trademark of Klopp’s team pushed Bayern onto the back foot in the opening phases and left Dortmund counting the cost of not taking at least one of those chances.

As Bayern struggled to find any momentum, Sven Bender forced Neuer into action again before the favourites finally started to mount a response.

Mandzukic had contributed little up to that point but demonstrated his threat with a header from Ribery’s cross that Weidenfeller touched on to the bar. Robben then had the best opportunity so far as he raced clear with only Weidenfeller to beat but the keeper spread himself to keep the Netherlands forward out.

Neuer then denied Lewandowski from the angle before Robben reacted first to a dropping ball in the area, only to see his effort strike Weidenfeller full in the face and rebound to safety.

Bayern had been a growing threat after a poor start and the breakthrough finally came on the hour when Ribery played in Robben and his cross gave Mandzukic the simplest of tasks to finish from six yards. Dortmund required a swift response and it came inside seven minutes - thanks to a piece of recklessness from Dante.

The Bayern defender, who had already been booked, needlessly raised his foot and caught Reus in the stomach.

Gundogan stepped forward to score coolly from the spot.

It then took a magnificent piece of last-ditch defending from Neven Subotic to keep Dortmund on terms. Thomas Mueller rounded Weidenfeller and his shot looked destined for the net until the lunging Subotic somehow recovered to clear.

Both goalkeepers had been outstanding throughout and it was Weidenfeller’s turn to demonstrate his ability once more with fine stops from David Alaba and Bastian Schweinsteiger as this enthralling Champions League final drew towards the 90-minute mark.

Former national midfielder Collie Hercules relived his golden years with a stunning performance as Linden teams enjoyed 100% success on opening night of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs which begun Friday evening, at the Banks DIH Car Park, Ruimveldt. Hercules, who is a Vice-President on the current Guyana Football F e d e r a t i o n executive, replaced the office attire and donned playing uniform as he exhibited admirable fitness and nimble footwork to bamboozle opposing teams en route to ensuring that his outfit, Silent Assassins, remain unbeaten heading into tonight’s second round of matches.

The other entrant from the Linden community, recently crowned champions in their segment, Silver Bullets, also looked impressive as they too maintained an unblemished record at the end of opening night action, played before a fair-sized crowd.

Silent Assassins registered wins over Plaisance, who they beat 3-2 on penalty kicks after regulation time failed to break a 1-1 deadlock, before they returned to defeat Bartica’s Millenium 2-1.

Silver Bullets on the other hand, first cruised past Bartica’s Hard Core Bar 3-1, before surviving 2-1 on penalty kicks in an epic battle against Victoria Church Yard

after regulation time ended 00.

East Coast Demerara runner-up Victoria Church Yard scored an impressive 20 win over Georgetown winners Leopold Street, before the latter returned to beat Hard Core Bar 1-0.

The exciting Victoria Church Yard was unfortunate to lose their first game on penalty kicks against Linden’s Silver Bullets.

Back Circle beat

Millenium 3-0, but went down to Plaisance 1-0, while Leopold Street rebounded to edge Hard Core Bar 1-0.

The only teams to have lost both of their games to date are those from Bartica.

Meanwhile, action in the competition resumes tonight after the Organisers were forced to postpone last evening’s scheduled round of matches due to the inclement weather. In the night’s full results:

Game 1-Silver Bullets 3 v/s Hard Core Bar 1 GOAL SCORERS Silver Bullets Nigel Bennette 5th Robin Adams 11th min Terry Gilbert 25th min Hard Core Bar Andrade Stoby 14th min

Back Circle Wayne Wilson 4th min Andy Duke 6th & 9th min

Game 2- Victoria Church Yard 2 v/s Leopold Street 0 GOAL SCORERS Victoria Church Yard Ryan Morrison 13th min Keron Simon 16th min Game 3- Silent Assassins 1 v/s Plaisance 1 GOAL SCORERS Silent Assassins Collie Hercules 3rd min Plaisance Kester Green 7th min Silent Assassins won on Penalty 3-2 Game 4- Back Circle 3 v/s Millenium 0 GOAL SCORERS

Game 5- Silver Bullets 0 v/s Church Yard United 0 GOAL SCORERS Silver Bullets Won on Penalty 2-1 Game 6- Silent Assassins 2 v/s Millennium 1 GOAL SCORER Silent Assassins Collie Hercules 7th min Collie Hercules 14th min Millennium Jermaine Christian 19th min Game 7- Leopold Street 1 v/ s Hard Core Bar 0 GOAL SCORERS Leopold Street O’Kenny Fraser 6th min Game 8 - Plaisance 1 v/s Back Circle 0 GOAL SCORERS Plaisance Warren Gilkes 23rd min.

Safeway Security ProAm Golf Tourney set for today The fourth annual Guyanese style Safeway Security Pro-Am pairs Golf tournament will tee off today

with some of the country’s leading players and several budding golf enthusiasts competing for top prizes at the Lusignan Golf Course.

Last year’s winning pair, Banking Executive Brian Hackett and Parliamentarian David Patterson, is expected to be in action once again while Safeway Security Chief Executive Officer and sponsor of the tournament, Eon Caesar, will be teaming up with seasoned golfer Ian Gouveia.

Business Executive Ramesh Dookhoo is reported to be returning to the course after a long absence and will be teaming up with his son.

Chatterpaul Deo, Lusignan Golf Club Captain, said that the “professionals” are the members of the club

while the amateurs are their guests.

The other club members lined up to compete are William Walker, Kassim Khan, Fazil Haniff, Imran Khan, Joaan Deo, Vijay Deo, Orlando Deo, Wesslin Matti, Patrick Prashad, Troy Cadogan, Mike Gayadin, Gavin Todd, Alfred Mentore, Brian Glasford, Lakeram Ramsundar, Carlos Adams, Alfred Semple, Mike Mangal, Kishan Bacchus, Dr. Ram Singh, Maurice Solomon and Mighty Raja.

Caesar said that there will be very attractive golf prizes to encourage players to return to the course after Sunday’s exciting event.

The tournament will be played over nine holes and tee off is at 09:00 hours.

t r o Sp

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs

Only Linden teams stay perfect after Round 1 This was part of the action on opening night of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs.

Part of the action between Georgetown champs Leopold Street (Black bibs) and Bartica’s Hard Core Bar which the former won.

Bayern Munich crowned Champions of Europe

Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians, IPL final, Kolkata

A final fighting for relevance GASA Independence Meet

Bayern Munich are the Champions of Europe for a fifth time after beating Borussia Dortmund (Reuters)

Sarah King swims to the spoils after blistering encounter with arch rival, Amy Grant

Brydens Super Classic Hockey tourney starts off indoor season 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