Kaieteur News

Page 2

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Anti-retrovirals a powerful way to combat HIV/AIDS - report A key United Nations report on the state of the HIV/ AIDS has found strides in the Caribbean with Guyana, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico reaching more than 80% treatment coverage of antiretroviral therapy.

The 2012 Global Report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) also said that progress has been made on the treatment and HIV prevention in children, but more has to be done on discrimination.

Programmes to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, reduce new HIV infections and treat people living with the virus, have yielded encouraging results.

However, in order to achieve gains across the board, there must be renewed efforts to sustain the region’s response and reach those communities that are most at risk, the report said.

Launched ahead of World AIDS Day to be observed on December 1st, the document draws on 2012 country progress reports. The report refers to 13 Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica,

- sharp decline in Caribbean deaths the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

After sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean is one of the most heavily affected regions in the HIV epidemic.

“Adult HIV prevalence in 2011 was about 1% [0.9%– 1.1%], higher than in any other world region outside of sub-Saharan Africa. The number of people living with HIV in the Caribbean remains relatively low—230 000 [200 000–250 000] in 2011—and has varied little since the late 1990s.”

REDUCED DEATHS According to the report, the region has seen a sharp decline (42%) in new HIV infections since 2001, from 22 000 [20 000–25 000] in 2001 to 13 000 [9600–16 000] in 2011.

AIDS-related deaths fell from an estimated 20 000 [16 000–23 000] in 2005 to 10 000 [8200–12 000] in 2011.

From 2009 to 2011, there was a 32 percent reduction in the number of babies contracting HIV from their mothers in the region.

“Additionally, the

Caribbean is the only developing region that has approached the nearuniversal coverage of antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Some 79 percent of pregnant women living with HIV now access treatment to prevent passing on the virus. Eliminating this form of HIV transmission is feasible with continued efforts to address stigma and discrimination and targeted interventions to reach more women, particularly in the Dominican Republic and Haiti,” the report said.

UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team Director, Dr. Ernest Massiah said: “If you are pregnant, go to your antenatal clinic early and ask for an HIV test. If you are HIV positive we can prevent your baby from being born with the virus and ensure that you get the treatment you need to live a long and healthy life.”

The Caribbean leads the world in the rates of its reduction in new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths. From 2001 to 2011, there was a 42 percent decline

in the number of the region’s people becoming infected with HIV. LIFE-SAVING TREATMENTS Deaths due to AIDS dropped by 48 percent from 2005 to 2011.

“This is directly due to the fact that 67 percent of people living with HIV in the Caribbean now access lifesaving treatment.” Massiah cautioned that while these gains are significant, they are not irreversible.

“There have been profound advances over the last decade but in order to sustain them, Caribbean governments need to put more money and effort towards ensuring that their HIV programmes can be maintained. It is in the national interest,” Massiah noted.

But while the region has seen marked improvements in these areas, it must do more to address the prejudice and social inequities that operate to make some people both more vulnerable to HIV infection and less likely to access prevention, testing, treatment and care services.

“Young people, men who

The region has recorded a sharp decline in AIDSrelated deaths last year, a key UN report says. have sex with men and sex workers are among the populations that need targeted investments and more protective environments through a combination of social dialogue, increased tolerance and law reform.”

“The next 1000 days before the 2015 targets will be critical. UNAIDS will focus on accelerating access to HIV testing and treatment.”

The targets include reducing sexual transmission by 50%; reduce HIV transmission among people who inject drugs by 50% and the elimination of new

infections among children and substantially reduce the number of mothers dying from AIDS-related causes.

UNAIDS is also targeting 15 million persons to provide antiretroviral therapy.

It is also working to eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence and increase the capacity of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV. 34M HIV-POSITIVE In 2011, an estimated 34 million people globally were living with HIV; 2.5 million (Continued on page 25)

Page 4

Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

Office of the Leader of the Opposition Article 110 (1) of our Constitution states rather baldly: “There shall be an office of the Leader of the Opposition, election to which office shall be in accordance with Art. 184.” This had been altered after the changes effected in 2000 from the 1980 version, which had proposed, “There shall be an office of Minority Leader and appointments thereto shall be made by the President”.

However, while the institution of the office existed, the paraphernalia to enable that office to exercise its mandate had until recently not been provided. As part of the ‘new dispensation’ following the elections of November 2011, it was therefore quite a positive development when a building and staff were allocated to the “Office of the Leader of the Opposition” (OLO). In a news item carried in this newspaper last Sunday, the leader of the Opposition expressed some displeasure that his new office was being starved of funds.

In addition to the rental not being paid, wages for security were also lagging. Mr Granger posited that it appeared the government’s actions were a deliberate attempt to stifle the work of the opposition.

A letter the following day from an official on APNU’s staff was somewhat more specific. He revealed that in addition to the provision of office space and security, the OLO also had been given “5 staff members; a gardener, a secretary, a driver, a receptionist and one other staff.” But he also pointed out that OLO “has no access to state vehicles, no budget, and pays its own light, telephone and water bill.”

If the above facts are correct, then there is definitely the need for some further changes to be effectuated so that the OLO can perform its constitutionally mandated functions.

We do not believe that many Guyanese will break a lance over the APNU Official’s adumbration of those functions: “holding the Executive accountable; developing an organized approach to and representing the views of, the people, opinion leaders and nongovernmental organizations; ensuring that there is freedom of access to information and the media; adequately representing in the national assembly and generally, the interest and concerns of the people.”

As to the level of staffing and budget that might be necessary to fund those activities, there will obviously be the need for the government and the Opposition to arrive at an overall consensus on the specific funding needs and for this to be fine tuned by the Ministry of Finance’s Budget Office. As it is, the APNU Official’s assertion that “The office of the Leader of the Opposition should by necessity be funded like a small government ministry with its own budget and a full, complement of staff,” sounds somewhat ominous, in light of the Opposition’s own criticism of the funding levels of its doppelganger, Office of the President.

Neighbouring Trinidad holds out a reasonable model.

The website of the “Office of The Leader of The Opposition” declares as its mission: “To provide the Leader of the Opposition with professional research assistance and advanced secretarial support in the execution of his official duties.” It explains that “The post of Leader of the Opposition is a Parliamentary Office created by the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Thus, it must be provided with essential support services and resources vital to its existence. The Office of the Parliament facilitates this process. All staff members are political appointments.”

The T&T’s OLO has the following staff: legal counsel, chief economist, research specialist, information specialist, office aide, clerical assistant, janitor, driver and maid. We think it is infra dig for it to be even argued that the state ought not to pay for the utilities of the OLO. In terms of vehicles etc. we believe these should be capped under the same rationale that the Opposition have used to go after the fringe benefits of the formers presidents’ pensions.

In addition, we also proposed that the MPs representing the geographical constituencies also ought to be provided with office space and staff to execute their duties.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Letters... Where your views make the news

CAN NAGAMOOTOO AND HUGHES RISE TO THE CHALLENGES? DEAR EDITOR, Fed up with the opposition, Mr Norman Browne is concerned that “until David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan stop their weak posturing, we may just roll into another election year to once again give the PPP a majority in the National Assembly.”

In fact Mr. Browne is very disturbed that all PNC leader Mr. David Granger seemingly does is “collect his pay as Opposition Leader, sounds and looks important, wear green which symbolizes militancy and talk a lot about Guyana and where it should be.”

Mr. Norman Browne wants justice for the three Linden deceased and injured others. Hopefully he would, like Home Affairs Minister Mr. Clement Rohee, be held responsible.

Mr. Browne does not offer any evidence why the Home Affairs Minister should be punished for upholding law and order nor does Mr. Browne explain why Lindeners must pay considerably less for electricity even as all other Guyanese nationwide pay a lot more.

In a letter to KN on 20-1112 Mr. Browne feels “Granger and Ramjattan can do no more to disappoint.”

Should Mr. Browne also ignore the highway robbery of truckers and commuters, burning down of Linmine, setting ablaze the PPP/C branch office and the resulting violence which

subsequently engulfed Agricola targeting peaceful commuters especially women and Indo Guyanese?

What Mr. Browne really wants is “for Nigel Hughes and Moses Nagamootoo to create an urgent political fever amongst the masses as if we are in an election year.

This must be sustained until we feel the winds of change beginning to gently brush against our bruised cheeks.” In other words Mr. Browne wants the AFC to again create similar Linden and Agricola type “fever” all over Guyana.

Didn’t the AFC deny previous complicity in any “fever” labeling it all lies?

You better watch out, you better not cry, “Fever” (not Santa Claus) is coming to town.

By now everyone knows the priority by which the opposition wants any “doctor” overseeing the “medical” team to be urgently removed. “Rohee must go”.

Without any effective “doctor” and “medical response” the population could succumb to future “fever epidemics” thus creating nationwide havoc.

One can therefore understand why Mr. Browne sincerely seeks Mr. Hughes to be President of Guyana one day. “Hughes gives me a lot of hope”.

In fact Mr. Hughes has every right to be President of Guyana like anyone else, shouldn’t he? But when Mr. Browne also concedes that “the PPP wins every time” he

can defeat his own aspirations and that of Mr. Hughes.

Does Mr. Browne know of any plans of Mr. Hughes to join the PPP/C since they are winners? Doubtful isn’t it?

With the PPP/C’s colossal failure to balance the armed forces and the PNC being led by a former soldier what does it say of their intentions?

Inevitably federalism will become the correct solution to ensure black people run their own affairs just as it would ensure others do the same. When race is viewed as the ultimate problem it must also be the final solution. Wasn’t the AFC born to solve the race problem?

Note when Mr. Moses Nagamootoo jumped from the PPP/C how enraged he was when he pledged to make it a

sinking ship. It’s still afloat despite former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s neglect of the PPP base, party machinery, the aged and his coterie’s lavish lifestyles which mock the historical PPP and the Jagan’s legendary modesty, simplicity and incorruptibility.

The PPP/C still operates like it is unable to adjust to the lessons they were taught in 2011.

Examine PPP/C non wisdom in allowing respected former Speaker Mr. Ralph Ramkarran to just walk away.

Is this the same PPP/C which also found Mr. Nagamootoo ambitions too unmanageable and undisciplined?

Nevertheless, one can only be puzzled why Mr. Browne is now so infatuated that “Nagamootoo can bring some Continued on page 5

DEAR EDITOR Gaza is a strip of land slightly smaller than Region Four and in that strip lives 1.75 million people, more than double the Guyana population.

The Gazans do not have air raid shelter like Israel and they, the Gazans, cannot get out because they are locked in by Israel.

Further the Israelis will go into Gaza and destroy infrastructure at will and the Americans and Europeans are quite comfortable with the status quo.

The Gazans, tired of being held prisoners and of the

international community indifference including the Arab states, have decided to fight back, shooting a few harmless rockets.

Israel has replied with such hate, bombing and wiping out whole families including the women with babies in their wombs.

With all this going on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are shouting that Israel has a right to defend itself and by the same token I get the impression that Obama and Clinton are saying that Gazans have no right to exist.

W. George

The plight of Gaza

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

THE PPP HAS MADE LIFE UNBEARABLE FOR THE POOR DEAR EDITOR, Since knowing ourselves, Guyana has always been a country in political turmoil, the struggle for independence, the struggle for free and fair elections and today the struggle for good governance and against a system that rewards corruption and penalizes those who want to play by the rules.

Throughout our history all these experiences have taught us that life for the poor and the working class remains almost unbearable.

Even the small business and peasant class “catching fire” under this Jagdeo/Ramotar regime.

If one is to observe the comments coming out of Berbice on the issue of blackout under this PPP regime it is a clear that day to day life in Guyana remains painful and no amount of PPP propaganda can erase the burning in the belly of the people.

Sukhai, a farmer said in Stabroek News What the people Say Column, “This blackout is very terrible because when the current goes on and off… our appliances get burn and damage ….. and we do not receive any refund from GPL.” Sukhai

further stated as a poultry farmer, “…. when the current goes off these chicken suffer.”

But stay with us and listen to Sukhai. Sukhai revealed a reality that the ordinary people in PPP Guyana face every day when he said “…while there is blackout during the day and the pipe is running it (the water) cuts off. We do not have water to use and this is really bad for the people in Berbice.”

Thank you Mr. Sukhai for speaking your truth and for exposed several cases of irrational underdevelopment because of poor governance and corruption under the PPP namely: 1.

The PPP executes capital (fund) punishment on this farmer by damaging his appliances resulting in him spending what he does not have, on new appliances.

This is the PPP formula to keep Sukhai in perpetual poverty. He did not damage his TV; GPL and by extension the PPP did but they refuse to refund him for his loss of wealth.

2. As his chicken dies as a result of poor electricity supply, his ability to multiply his wealth is put at risk by the PPP. Thus his return on his investment reduces with every chicken that dies as a result of blackouts. Under the PPP this farmer is not

DEAR EDITOR, It is said that corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gains.

While it hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people entrusted with power and authority, it is also an inclination leading many to put their own interest or to centre their lives on gaining material possession, wealth and authority through dishonest means.

This is very much fitting to the Strategic Action Security Service who has been given the authority by Government to secure the security of all state entities within the ten administrative Regions of Guyana.

Although the government with the support of the combined opposition in Parliament has Passed Bill# 23 of 2012 in which it is expressly

stated that Security Guards employed by the Private S ecurity service be paid a wages/salary of $140 per hour effective 1st June 2012 we are still being paid by the said company $120 per hour.

The President of Guyana Mr Donald Ramotar while addressing the FITUG conference stated that the Government will always stand by the workers.

I will now ask that the President stand by his word and see to it, if not personally, that the ministers responsible that is the Minister of Labour, Mr Nanda Gopaul, and the Minister of Regional Development.

Mr Ganga Persaud, use their good office and see to it that we get what is really due and payable to us from June 1, as provided for by Act No. 23 of 2012.

S. Jones

From page 4 hope too.”

“I am through with Ramjattan and Granger. They can do no more to disappoint” a fed up Mr. Browne has already informed us.

Without a doubt Mr. Browne has made his agenda

very clear: “the ball is in Hughes and Nagamootoo’s court. Maybe, we will have to start holding them accountable. Where potential is great, experience is not a problem. Where there is a will; these two men must now make a way.”

Sultan Mohamed

Government will continue to stand by workers

CAN NAGAMOOTOO...

guaranteed a fixed rate of return for his investment and labour.

However this same PPP has guaranteed the rate of return for all the megainvestors in Guyana (the Marriot Hotel investors, the Berbice Bridge investors, the Amaila Fall project investors and even Buddy Shivraj when he invested in the Princess Hotel). No risk for the rich friends, family and business buddies of the ruling Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal.

This is the PPP brand of working class party for you!

3. Water is life; at least

that is what the United Nations tells us. However, under the PPP, potable water remains a luxury that is not easily accessible in the land of many water. Water is a critical element for every family and if you do not have reliable access to water, then you cannot run a poultry farmer properly; much less manage a family satisfactorily.

The risk posed by denying this farmer water in times of Blackout has to be responded to by the majority in Parliament.

A motion must be passed demanding a full,

independent and transparent investigation of the operations of GPL. It is time the leadership from all political forces including the back benchers in the PPP, rise up and demand justice for the people of Berbice. Mr. Zulfikar Mustapha and his side-kick Mr. Jafarally, who like to flounce on Berbice TV to sing the praises of the PPP should wake up from their slumber and stop telling the people Alice in Wonderland stories.

All is not well in Berbice.

They’re living in a world of their own and they’re

trying to reduce the rest of us to the same condition of losing touch with reality. We call on the AFC to highlight the real suffering of the Berbicians to all of Guyana, especially in those areas that the PPP thinks they got tribal rights.

Let us bring the nation back to its centre of gravity where the people more actively resist non-violently the oppressors in the current regime, just like how they resisted the colonialist and the Burnham dictatorship.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

Page 6

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

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

The Police Commissioner A no-win situation must be professional DEAR EDITOR, Kindly allow me the graceful permission to pen this missive concerning some issues, which according to my estimation, have the tentacles’ to escalate into civil unrest and even more-so into organizational discontent.

The main issue of which I speak is one in which the Acting Commissioner of Police, Leroy Brumell, someone whom I looked up to believing that he would have served the Guyana Police Force in his designated capacity, by word and deed.

All my illustrious dreams of an efficient and effective Commissioner were shattered when it was revealed that my promising Commissioner, at the re-commissioning of the Headquarters of “C” Division of the Police Force, at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara, had reneged on that pledge he took when he joined the force, to serve “without fear or favour, malice or ill-will”.

Brumell, in his congratulatory remarks aimed at the embattled Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee,

somehow committed a “political and administrative suicide”, by stating unequivocally that, himself and the entire Guyana Police Force stand behind Rohee, in whatever he, Rohee, does or undertakes in a disguise as betterment for the Security of the Guyanese populace and improvement in the morale of the Guyana Police Force.

I, in my capacity as Criminal Psychologist and a Researcher, immediately after Brumell made his statement, contacted many persons within the Guyana Police Force and to my surprise, many of them from the Rank and File to Senior Officers, both Commissioned and NonCommissioned, have stated that Brummell cannot speak on their behalf when it comes to the issues of the embattled Minister.

Brumell tried to justify his utterances when questioned about his unending support for Rohee, even though Rohee is being accused of being inefficient in his watch as Home Affairs Minister, and Brumell said that he has to

back Rohee, because as of today, he Rohee is his immediate BOSS. As Rohee is his Boss, if Rohee orders him, in his capacity as Commissioner of Police to open fire on peaceful, innocent civilians, who are exercising their democratic rights as free citizens to peacefully assemble, whether he would carry out that order?

If Rohee orders him to arrest and prosecute members of his immediate family, he Brumell, knowing that they are innocent, would he obey the BOSS? Mr. Brumell needs to speak to former Minister within the Jagdeo Regime, Henry Jeffrey, who refused to adhere to Jagdeo’s dictates, due to the fact that he did not see the relevance as a learned person.

I can go on and on and quote cases both internally and externally, whereby subordinates have blatantly refused the orders of superiors, if they, (the subordinates), honestly believe that obeying such orders would be a violation

of not only persons rights, but the rights of they themselves.

As someone who has earned an expatriate Masters’ Degree in Human Resource Management, I would like to tell or advice Mr. Brumell that gone are the days when, “Massa makes his dictates”.

Now are the days for any organization to function effectively.

There must be inclusive management and right here is where the Guyana Police Force is lacking a major component for improvement, whether socially or morally. It has too many political dictates; officers are not functioning as officers of the Guyana Police Force.

Mr. Commissioner, please stand up and be counted, stand up and be recognized as a stalwart for what is right, die on your feet, and please, do not sell your birthright or your people for some shiny objects of silver and gold, as our forefathers are claimed to have done in Africa.

Aubrey Gill Ph.D.

DEAREDITOR, I read the recent letter titled ‘Urgent need for PPP and PNC to transform themselves into genuine multi-racial parties’. It was refreshing and reassuring to find that good manners were still around and letter-writers were able to express themselves in courteous terms. And, of course, I felt flattered by some of Mike Persaud’s comments.

I get similar feedback from the UK print and electronic media, with whom I am in regular touch – a good way to fend off dementia. I value frank, wellreasoned exchanges and would not expect 100 per cent agreement, but I do not think it ever necessary to be rude in print, something at present prevalent worldwide in the media, and liable to cause offence to many people. I wish to thank Mike for his observations.

I would like to comment on some of his thoughts. First is advocating certain actions “in the hope of stirring up a national conversation on this topic, and one that could potentially generate enough public pressure on the ethnic parties – PPP and PNC – and force them to change”. I think “forcing them to change” is a bit of a pipe-dream.

Fear is the key; each side is afraid that the other would ‘hit back’ if elected, many having regard to (post-Independence) life since

1966. However, I agree that the legacy of ethnic voting is “a cancer that thwarts the development of genuine democracy in a multi-racial society”. In the UK the problem is now one of class, the ruling party being regarded as led by ‘posh boys’, and there is a lot of sniping about ‘them not caring about us’. (I have never had a problem with posh, privatelyeducated chaps, when I worked alongside them as a secretary in the financial district of the City of London - they were always so polite, we shared a sense of humour and I knew a few Latin words and phrases, which seemed to suggest to them a similar background). As a young woman, straight from school, being the offspring of a black mother and an Indian father, I experienced the great divide in a real way, as a teacher on the Enmore Estate. If a black child complained at home about me, the mother would turn up and scream, ending with the words “Because she ain’t a coolie like you”.

An Indian mother would scream “Because she ain’t black like you”. A no-win situation.

Sometimes I thought “A plague on both your houses” and was glad to move on. The ethnic scenario will run for a long while yet.

Geralda Dennison

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 7

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

New Amsterdam Town Council offers poor public relations DEAR EDITOR, From time to time I have been reading and hearing in the print and electronic media about the callousness of public official. I want to highlight the vindictiveness, unprofessional and unethical behaviour and attitude of officers attached to the New Amsterdam Town Council.

Early in July, I submitted my house plan to the building inspector Miss Frank of the New Amsterdam Town Council for approval.

Some time after the Mayor’s secretary, Miss Camille Reid, called and informed me that my plan was approved and so I must visit the New Amsterdam Town Hall and pay my rates and taxes. On July 27, 2012, I went with the intention of fulfilling my obligation. I was told that I will have to pay $7,550 as outstanding rates and taxes since the scheme was handed over to the municipality in 2011.

She told me to purchase a building inspection form which costs $2,200. I filled the form and was told that I will have to pay an additional $22,000 as building inspection

and processing fees. I told Miss Reid that I did not have that amount but I will return to pay later. She agreed.

On September 20, 2012 I returned to the town hall to pay the required sum. As soon as Miss Reid saw me she began to shout and threaten me telling me that I took too long to pay hence I will have to pay a contravention of $15,000.00. Anyhow, I paid the amount of $37,000.( see receipt attached) I was so shocked and humiliated by this lady’s behaviour towards me that I visited the Deputy Mayor to air my concern.

He assured me that I have to be refunded $15,000.00 since it was done arbitrarily and that nothing in the bylaws or rules or regulation stipulates that I have to pay ‘contravention’ and that Miss Reid ‘s action , behaviour and attitude were totally unacceptable, unethical and illogical since many citizens are not even attempting to do what I was doing.

I wish to mention that I witnessed a building inspector from the New Amsterdam Town Council

publicly abusing and threatening a resident in the most humiliating manner just because he was casting part of his yard. Is that the culture of the officers attached to the New Amsterdam Town Council?

I thought that the first instance was an isolated case but the second tells me that the human relation facet of the officers of the New Amsterdam town council leaves much to be desired.

How can they solicit the trust and confidence of the citizens especially the residents of Glasgow Housing Scheme which recently came under their jurisdiction?

People are afraid to interface with these misfits.

If these officers are not sent packing or their attitude and behaviour are not changed New Amsterdam Town Council will always cry out for lack of funds and the once beautiful town will continue to retrogress.

Augustus Outar, Vice Chairman Glasgow Housing Scheme Development Association

KN Erred on EZ Jet Ownership DEAR EDITOR, The collapse of EZ Jet has exposed an inherent bias in KN’s reporting and commentaries. KN published several pieces suggesting that a former President and the publisher of a competitor newspaper were co-owners of EZ Jet. It was a malicious story that went haywire on the internet and in the US. It made many to believe that the former President really owned the carrier. It turns out KN is wrong and it behooves the newspaper to tender an apology.

I believe the media should have untrammeled freedom to publish and it is better to err on the side of publishing unsubstantiated information than to practice self censorship. Nevertheless, a fair minded press would say “We are sorry” after the collapse of EZ Jet came to light.

The media has every right to investigate and expose wrongdoings and even to take biased positions (against the government). But when the media is found to be wrong it should print a retraction and an urgent apology.

The media should be

criticized for unfairly targeting people and accusing them of actions without evidence.

Many Guyanese believe KN’s stories.

After all, why would KN publish a story if it weren’t true? Very often what appears in KN is considered as gospel making it practically impossible to undo falsities.

It is pellucid clear that the KN reports on ownership of EzJet by a former President and a publisher of another newspaper were very wrong.

In fact, the truth is just the opposite!

It simply could not be true that Guyanese politicians or a newspaper publisher would invest in the airline business.

The government has moved to clip the wings of EZ Jet and even went further stating it could not provide it with assistance.

If the airline were owned by government officials, it would have received the full backing of the government.

Airlines are not profitable

businesses and no one in their right mind would want to get into that business unless they have money to throw away.

The paper libeled the two accused and misrepresented the facts on ownership.

Freedom of the press does not entitle the media to besmirch someone else’s character and reputation without supporting evidence. The media has exposed its bias for not printing the truth.

Being biased against the government is OK but publishing unverified information attacking it is wrong.

A retraction of a statement that has been proven to be untrue is the right thing to do.

If not an apology, a paltry acknowledgement of wrongly accusing the two men would go a long way to clear the air.

Vishnu Bisram Editor’s note: Mr Bisram does not prove that KN is wrong

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 9

GOVERNMENTS - WE LOVE TO HATE THEM, BUT CAN’T DO WITHOUT THEM Government – the thing we love to hate so much, but without which we can do very little… at least in Guyana.

We love to loathe government, to criticize, to demand things from it, and even to become attached to it to the point of extreme dependence. W h e n t h e government in our estimation fails us, the persons that make up the government are set upon, ridiculed, scandalized, and in some instances, demonized. If some members of the public had their way, the government would be subject to Jedwood justice.

The problem is not the government, or too much government, or too inefficient government.

The problem is with the people. If tomorrow, government were to be miniaturized, the country would come to a standstill, because for all the selfrighteous drivel that is heaped upon the authorities, life without government, however imperfect and flawed it is, would be reduced to misery.

The people simply cannot do without enough government. They would love nothing more than for Guyana to find oil so that the monies can be found to fork out more of their own

personal responsibilities to the government.

The problem is not inefficient government, because there are far more inefficient forces outside of government. The public, however, loves to flog the government.

The public expects the government and the officers to be perfect, but the very judges of that perfection are no more perfect than those who they wish to criticize.

Very little slack is cut for the government and whenever some problems are highlighted, these are magnified out of proportion.

Take for example, the report of the Auditor General.

Now this is a very important report in any country, because without it there would be no accountability and very limited transparency. So it is something good that there are regular and timely submissions of the reports of the audit office.

There were, of course, for many years, accusations that in the past no reports were published. This was made into something of a political anthem by the government when criticizing the opposition. Now we are hearing that those accusations may not be accurate, because somebody has a list indicating that the

Dem boys seh...

Brazzy in big hanky panky wid a lady Bee When dem boys use to talk how Brazzy is a big Bee people use to seh how de man ain’t deh suh because he does go to church every day and four times pun Sunday.

But he card get peep and he ain’t suh religious.

De man like he hanky panky. De other day he tek a speedboat and he head fuh a resort up de Essequibo River.

He had a big one from an organization that does give money to Guyana hand over fist; he had he cook; he had another man and he had a woman.

Right away dem boys know that was a party that involve plenty things. De organisation related to de Bees because it is a Bee. De man walk wid he cooler and he does claim how he don’t drink. When dem boys see de woman who is a big one wid an international organization that got headquarters in Guyana right away dem know that was a case of de international organization preparing to give money to Guyana, but dem had to get a plan how most of de money gun buss up

because Guyana must only get a small share.

Brazzy is de man who handling all money that de biggest Bee arrange fuh keep out of de Treasury. Dem keep out de money that dem get from de sale of the GT&T shares. That is some of de money that gone to build de Marriott.

Dem boys didn’t have to ask wha happen up de river although dem have doubts that Brazzy was a key player in some of de action. Dem know that de big lady from de international agency had to sing like if she had de spirit.

One thing is certain. Dem boys gun wait and see how much money de international organization releasing to Guyana; how much going to water, how much going to sea defence, how much going to agriculture and how much going to Brazzy.

And to think that Brazzy lef he family home fuh go pun de escapade. He probably tell dem he was going to Trinidad on business.

Talk half and keep an eye on Brazzy and de other lady Bee.

reports were submitted.

Well, somebody having a list does not clear up anything. Does it?

And the media seems quite content to let the matter rest there. All it will take is for some reporter to ask the Auditor General, both the present and the past, to confirm that the reports which were said never to have been tabled were in fact tabled.

That is all it will take, along with a determination as to whether the reports said to have been tabled were unqualified or qualified.That should settle the issue as to

which administration was more accountable than which.

But that is asking too much of our journalists.

They are quite happy to uncritically regurgitate extracts from the recently tabled report of the Auditor General and highlight those deficiencies to a public with an appetite for absorbing these deficiencies and converting them into claims of massive corruption.

I am yet to see a country in which there are no deficiencies in public accounting.

I am yet to see the country in which the accounting officers do not point out a number of things which need to be put right.

But in Guyana, with our penchant for mauling the government, the mere fact that some ledger may have penciled notations is now the basis for casting suspicion over the accounting process.

There will always be problems in accounting procedures, and while this does not mean that these problems should not be rectified, the existence of such problems should not be

always construed as evidence of corruption.

The fact, also, that certain accounts which were not supposed to be closed were closed does not mean that the funds in those accounts have disappeared.

What these things point to is the need for improvement in the ways certain things are managed, (Continued on page 10)

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===

Amidst bombs, guns and dead bodies, a lesson I learnt When the Ronald Reagan Government in the US in 1983 invaded Grenada, the brother of Guyana’s famous hero, Walter Rodney, was at my home. The resulting curfew stopped travel on the island, so Donald pitched tent with me and my wife.

We lived in close range of a number of strategic institutions like Radio Grenada and the Soviet Embassy, so there was intense bombing and gunfights around us. Two Cubans died not too far from my home.

During the endless discussions on Guyanese

politics, Donald said something to me that is an important lesson that the people who make up life on Planet Earth should take note of.

It forms the core of a universal mistake that humans have made since time immemorial. Donald intoned that since the international headlines on his brother’s assassination, people had “Walter Rodney” expectations of him and that was the attitude he received wherever he went in and out of Guyana.

Donald said that though the expectation was natural,

he wasn’t a political animal like his brother, didn’t want to be a revolutionary, had no intention of being an antidictatorship actor and only wanted to live the life of a professional quantity surveyor.

Most people have the expectation that once you come from a noted medical family or a rich background in engineering or a famous athletic family, you will go that route. It is wrong to see people in that context.

I now return to the comparison between Donald Ramotar and Bharrat Jagdeo as promised last week. A

majority of Guyanese, including this columnist, believed that after the 2006 election, Mr. Jagdeo, achieving twelve years of power before he demitted office, would want to eclipse Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan.

This is the mistake all humans make. Mr. Jagdeo had no such dream.

We began to be severe on him because as the years passed on, Mr. Jagdeo wasn’t doing anything innovative, phenomenal or even untraditional.

The brutal fact, which at the Freudian level we blocked

out of our mind because this is the way humans are nurtured to think, was that Jagdeo had not even an inch of intention of wanting to have a legacy, wanting to leave his name in the history books, wanting to be a great president that people will remember more than Burnham and Jagan.

Jagdeo came from a rural background where the hustler mentality prevailed.

He was essentially a hustler leader who was fascinated with the class of rich and wealthy folks. Mr. Jagdeo must have laughed at all of us each day he sat down in his presidential chair saying to himself; “Let them go on thinking I will do something great, I know what I want and they can go to hell with their expectations.”

He is gone and no one will ever remember him for anything fantastic much less great. We are making the same mistake with Ramotar. This time, I’m not going to break away from tradition and think outside the box.

Donald Ramotar is the type of politician who lived his entire political life in the shadows of people inside the PPP that he felt and feels are the crème de la crème of the PPP. He worships these people and accepts their superior thinking.

It is not that he is afraid to make changes and be his own man.

He does not think he should be his own man when there are others in the PPP that can take the PPP and the government to heights he cannot move them into.

Frederick Kissoon In other words, Donald Ramotar is not interested in a legacy, has no dream of surpassing the two historical icons (Burnham and Jagan) and has no intention of coveting a historical page for himself.

The people who write the Stabroek News editorials should sooner rather than later come to this reality. In many editorial flections on Mr. Ramotar, they lament his willingness to remain cocooned in New Garden Street doing nothing noteworthy.

We want to think that once a person is a president of a nation that person is going to carve out a historical niche.

We end with a crucial difference between Jagdeo and Ramotar and the balance sheet of Mr. Jagdeo proves this. Despite his lack of intellectual depth and his overall mediocrity, Mr. Jagdeo had confidence in himself, knew what he wanted out of his presidency for himself, and was not afraid to speak his mind and seek confrontation.

Mr. Ramotar lacks these dispositions. He is so unsure of himself and will remain like that until he leaves.

GOVERNMENTS - WE LOVE TO HATE THEM...

From page 9 and there is not likely ever to be an auditor’s report in which no recommendations for improvements are made.

People should also not get worked up about there being losses due to expired drugs.

There is no health system in the world in which there are no such losses. The government purchases drugs and these drugs are kept in a bond until required to be used.

Not all will be used and in budgeting, these things have to be catered for, just like in a home, where you may always buy a little extra of something in case there is an additional need.

In every system, therefore, there will be some redundancies.

The danger of understocking is far greater than a small degree of overstocking.

And the sum of thirty-odd million in expired drugs should not be a frightening development in a country

that purchases billions of dollars in medical drugs each year.

Allowances have to be made for such losses.

However, efforts should be made to have greater inventory controls and improved systems, based on what the Auditor General reports.

And in those cases where there is suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, the police should be called in.

The reports of the Auditor General are really intended to allow for improvements in public accountability and not merely to be used by politicians and the public to grind their political axes.

And if tomorrow, somebody were to suggest that we do away with the government or limit its role, there will be demonstrations and protests calling for a repeal of this suggestion.

When it comes to governments, we cannot live with them nor can we live without them

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Breakaway unions strike across Argentina BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Opposition trade unions protesting Argentina’s economic policies brought public transportation and grains exports to a halt yesterday in the first general strike since President Cristina Fernandez took office five years ago.

Demonstrators burned tires to block roads and vandalized a handful of the businesses that opened despite the 24-hour work stoppage called by bus drivers, train conductors and port, airline and bank workers.

They rallied in places including Plaza de Mayo in front of the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.

The general strike - the first to hit Argentina in a decade - follows broad protests held on November 8 over high crime, soaring inflation and the government’s policy response.

Farmers also joined the protest led by Hugo Moyano, a gruff former truck driver once closely linked to Fernandez but now a leading opposition figure. He wants

economic growth and high inflation, which the government does not recognize and therefore does not reflect through adjustments in the sliding income tax scale,” said Ignacio Labaqui, who analyzes Argentina for emerging markets consultancy Medley Global Advisors.

The International Monetary Fund has given Argentina roughly until the end of the year to improve its murky inflation reporting or

risk sanctions.

The strike increases the stakes in the political battle between the president and Moyano.

Ties between the two soured after the death in late 2010 of Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez’s husband and predecessor as president.

Moyano’s CGT labor federation split earlier this year, with his allies re-electing him as leader in a vote rejected by rival union bosses aligned with Fernandez. The fracture in the umbrella group risks deepening labor unrest as inflation stokes wage demands.

“This general strike raises the possibility that she is losing control of the street and it puts the unions that are allied with her in an uncomfortable position,” Labaqui said.

Fernandez, meanwhile, is moving to shore up her base.

Her allies in Congress last month lowered Argentina’s voting age to 16 from 18, a change that could help the politically ailing president court the youth vote ahead of 2013 mid-term elections.

Argentina is the world’s top exporter of soy oil, needed to make biofuels, and soymeal used to feed cattle as far away as China, where the emerging

middle class is clamoring for beef steak. The South American country is also the second-biggest corn exporter after the United States.

“This (strike) was necessary, unfortunately,” said Eduardo Buzzi, who heads the Argentine Agrarian Federation, which represents small-scale farms. “There is no way to dialogue. ... This is the most anti-farm government Argentina has ever had.”

The agricultural sector has long quarreled with Fernandez over the 35 percent export tax her government puts on soybean exports and curbs it places on corn and wheat shipments.

Telephone calls went unanswered at the main grains port of Rosario.

The usually noisy, truckjammed entrance to the port of Buenos Aires was still, with activity expected to resume on Wednesday. The local stock and bonds market was also unusually quiet.

Just up the street from the presidential palace, tourist attraction Cafe Tortoni closed its doors after being vandalized.

“It’s painful,” a cafe employee told state television. “This is like a second home to us.”

Trinidad Express - Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar Monday night congratulated bpTT on the discovery of one trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Savonette 4 well.

“We are advised that this is bp’s largest discovery in Trinidad and Tobago in seven years and the largest discovery of natural gas in Trinidad and Tobago since 2007. This is the third major discovery of oil and gas in 2012 and follows on the

successes of Bayfield in East Galeota and Petrotrin in Cluster 6. This discovery augurs well for confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago economy,” Persad-Bissessar said.

She added, “The Savonette 4 discovery will no doubt aid in the arrest in the decline of natural gas reserves. This has already been demonstrated in the 2011 Ryder Scott audit results and the trend is expected to continue in 2012. The

discovery also confirms that Trinidad and Tobago’s Columbus Basin continues to be a world-class hydrocarbon province. We also expect that this discovery will aid in attracting new investment into our downstream energy sector.

Finally the monetisation of these reserves will provide revenue to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, which will further be used for the benefit of all the peoples of our nation.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC - One of the attorneys representing Shanique Myrie, the Jamaican woman who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by immigration officials in Barbados, has dismissed a call for a gag order.

Anthony Hylton has described as unnecessary the request made by the Barbadian legal team.

The lead attorney for the Barbados government, Queen Counsel Roger Forde, sent a letter to Jamaica’s Solicitor General requesting the Jamaican government implement a gag order on ministers when it comes to the Myrie case.

Hylton, who is also Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, explained that he was responding to questions posed by a Barbadian journalist and his statement was not aimed at prejudicing the case.

“I am not in the habit of speaking about the case but for the specific question asked of me in that interview, nothing would have been heard from me so I do not believe my remarks were either intended to or had the effect of prejudicing the case, this is just a one day wonder and we will move on,” he said.

Myrie brought the case before the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

claiming that her rights were violated on March 14, 2011, when she was not only refused entry into Barbados but she was also discriminated against and ‘finger raped’ by an immigration officer at the Grantley Adams international airport.

Myrie, 24, is seeking significant damages including an apology from the Barbados government.

In documents filed with the CCJ, which in April granted her special leave to commence proceedings against the Barbados government, Myrie is also claiming J$118,000 (US$1,340) in special damages to cover the cost of airline ticket, medical expenses and a slipper.

People sleep next to garbage bags during a one-day nationwide strike, yesterday. REUTERS/Enique Marcarian lower taxes for workers whose purchasing power has been drained by galloping inflation.

“The complaints are justified,” Martha Valazza, a 72-year-old retiree, said in the all-but-abandoned Retiro train station in Buenos Aires. “The worker must act to improve his own situation.”

Fernandez’s popularity

has tumbled since she easily won re-election last year.

Inflation is running at about 25 percent despite a sputtering economy, according to private economists. The government publishes much lower inflation data long dismissed by the markets as inaccurate.

“The strike is a consequence of slow

T&T Govt. welcomes major gas find

Lawyer dismisses call for gag order

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 19

ICJ rules tiny islands in the western Caribbean belongs to Colombia THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that a group of tiny islands in the western Caribbean belongs to Colombia, but also granted Nicaragua control of a large swath of the surrounding sea and seabed that could hold oil reserves.

Based on evidence presented by lawyers for both nations, “Colombia and not Nicaragua has sovereignty over the islands,” the court’s President Peter Tomka told delegations from both sides.

But the decision not to grant Colombia full sovereignty over the waters connecting all the archipelago’s islands drew a vehement objection from Colombia.

President Juan Manuel Santos told Colombians in a national speech that the court had “committed grave errors” by ignoring the terms of the very treaty it had declared valid and that the decision would hurt the archipelago’s fishermen.

The decision effectively

Nicaragua’s foreign minister Samuel Santos greets members of Colombia’s delegation as Colombia’s agent Julio London Paredes, center, and former foreign affairs minister Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, right, wait for the court to deliver its ruling. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) cut off four small islands from the rest of the archipelago and Santos said he could not accept the court’s “omissions, errors, excesses and inconsistencies.”

While Santos said he

recognized that the court’s decision is final and legally binding, he said Colombia “emphatically rejects this aspect of the decision” and “we don’t rule out any recourse or mechanism that

Low-cost carrier flies into T&T

WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer, centre, chats with Airport Authority’s marketing manager Emmanuel Baah, right, and TDC’s CEO Leon Lue Yat, left, during the launch of WestJet’s direct service to Toronto at Piarco Monday. PHOTO: SHIRLEY BAHADUR Trinidad Guardian Another low-cost air carrier is flying into T&T. This time, it’s WestJet from Canada. The airline began flying from Piarco to Toronto on Saturday, WestJet’s public relations manager, Robert Palmer, said at the launch Monday. Declining to say what the cost of tickets would be, Palmer said it was the only Canadian airline that offered daily, non-stop scheduled service.

Asked why they chose T&T, Palmer said they did their homework and

discovered there are 150,000 T&T citizens living in Canada and, roughly, 6,000 expatriate Canadians living in T&T. He said WestJet is hoping to make it easier for both sets of people to travel back and forth.

Tourism Development Company (TDC) CEO Leon Lue Yat, who spoke at the launch at Piarco, said Canadians made up only about 12 per cent of the total number of tourists who visit this country, but the TDC believed WestJet would support its initiatives to

increase arrivals from Canada.

Caribbean Airlines spokesman Clint Williams, asked if the airline was worried about new competition, said, “We have seen competition in the past. “We believe we have an excellent product and people will trust us and respect us.” Palmer said airlines with lower fares will stimulate the market and cause more people to travel.

He said this will result in competition appreciating, in a greater way, who are the most important people in the business.

international law gives us to defend our rights.”

He said he would fly to San Andres immediately.

President Daniel Ortega called it a “day of national

victory, victory for all Nicaraguans,” and called on Santos to respect the court’s ruling.

Nicaragua’s representative at the court, Carlos Arguello, said the ruling gives the poor Central American country “incredible potential wealth and future exploitation of fisheries and other resources, such as minerals.”

“We’ve been given very important maritime territory,” he said.

Undersea oil exploration concessions for the waters surrounding the islands were approved in 2010 by the Colombian government of then-President Alvaro Uribe.

After taking office later that year, Santos introduced legislation to begin the exploration but, after complaints from environmentalists and local politicians, reversed himself and said he would not allow the exploratory drilling.

The archipelago is home to one of the largest barrier reefs in the Americas, the 100square-mile (255-square-

kilometer) old Providence reef. The rich marine habitat was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000.

Nicaragua first went to the world court, the United Nations’ highest judicial organ, in 2001 arguing that Colombia had no legal claim to the islands.

The two countries’ dispute over the region began in the late 1960s when Nicaragua granted oil exploration concessions for part of the seabed, but so far no drilling has started.

The court partially rejected that argument in 2007, saying a 1928 treaty between the two countries established that Colombia owned the English-speaking islands of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina.

Those volcanic islands, 720 kilometers (450 miles) from Colombia’s coast and 110 kilometers (70 miles) from Nicaragua’s mainland, are popular among tourists for their pristine white beaches and coral reefs.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Region needs to address sexual abuse issues affecting children BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC - A two-day meeting focusing on ending sexual violence against children in the Caribbean opened here yesterday with a warning that there is still much more to be done in the region in creating legislation to address sexual abuse issues, including child

trafficking; strengthening institutional capacity; and enforcement to support current legislation.

United Nations Resident Coordinator and Representative, UNDP Barbados and the OECS, Michelle GylesMcDonnough, said that all Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) countries have signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, committing to putting in place the necessary legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the region’s children from all types of violence.

Further, in the Caribbean

UNiTE Consensus developed as an outcome of the 2010 launch, government, the judiciary and other stakeholders acknowledged the differential vulnerabilities to violence facing girls and boys and “reiterated the need for comprehensive and multisectoral responses to end violence against women and children that address prevention, protection, services, access to justice and cultural change.”

But she told the conference, convened within the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign to End Violence A g a i n s t Wo m e n , t h a t “there still remains much work to be done in creating legislation to address sexual abuse issues, including child trafficking; strengthening institutional capacity; and enforcement to support current legislation.

“In reality, and according to the Caribbean Regional

Assessment, weak institutional capacity to enforce the laws and inadequate funding for research and public education are among the challenges in identifying and supporting child victims of sexual abuse and enforcing suitable legislation in Caribbean countries. “ She said there is also the problem of under reporting and the inadequate quantitative methods to fully investigate this social problem, as noted in the 2009 Report on Perceptions of, Attitudes to, and Opinions on Child Sexual Abuse in the Eastern Caribbean.

“Also of importance to all of us here are the social, cultural and economic linkages that allow child sexual abuse to continue to occur, with the resulting i m p l i c a t i o n s for the individual, the family, our countries and the region.”

Gyles-McDonnough it is

out of recognition of the myriad challenges that The Kingston Declaration was created in May 2012.

She said the Declaration emphasises that “to eliminate violence against children requires a sustained and coordinated effort from all,” and this is why we are here today.

P O R T- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad – CMC - A group, comprising o p p o s i t i o n political groups, trade unions and civil society organisations, has written President George Maxwell Richards urging him to establish a Commission of Enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the early proclamation of Section 34 of the controversial Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011.

Officials from the group which includes the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), the Movement for Social Justice

(MSJ) and the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), met with President Richards yesterday to discuss their concerns over the clause that has since been repealed.

The group said that President Richards should take into consideration when making his request on the government to provide information that the Cabinet is “implicated in a diabolical conspiracy and would be biased in compiling any such information to present to your Excellency.

“If the Prime Minister or the Cabinet compile the

information which Your Excellency may request... such compilation would not be done in accordance with the principles of natural justice, the principles of law which govern apparent bias of a public body and the provisions of Section 20 of the Judicial Review Act Chap 708 which mandates a public authority or a person acting in the exercise of a public duty or function in accordance with any law to exercise that duty or perform that function in accordance with the principles of natural justice, common law and in a fair manner.

Bernt Aasen

Trinidad groups call for Commission of Enquiry

Wednesday November 21, 2012

MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 Sign on 06:00 hrs - Islamic Perspective 06:30 hrs - CNN News 07:00 hrs - DAYBREAK – Live 08:00 hrs - Dabi’s musical 08:30 hrs - Avon DVD

Kaieteur News

Musical 09:00 hrs - Current Affairs 09:15 hrs - Top Notch Music Break 09:30 hrs - Caribbean Temptation Music Mix 10:00 hrs - Amanda’s Costume jewellery musical 10:30 hrs - GINA programme 11:00 hrs - National

Geographic 12:00 hrs - The View 13:00 hrs - Village Talk 13:30 hrs - The Young and The Restless 14:30 hrs - Days of Our lives 15:00 hrs - General Hospital 16:00 hrs - The Bold and The Beautiful 16:30 hrs - Cartoons 17:00 hrs - Birthday and

Wednesday November 21, 2012 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Your feelings are a bit fuzzy today and every time you dip in to test the emotional waters, you come back up with a different reading of what’s happening. You’re not happy about something now, but it’s difficult to put your finger on the source of your worries.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Just as the truth begins to dawn on you today, it slips away as if it isn’t ready to reveal itself yet. There are serious discussions that must take place first. Nevertheless, steer clear of the emotional landmines that might trigger conflicts about control and power. Listen to your instincts before expressing your heart.

for quite some time.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You may be feeling dangerously close to an emotional meltdown and there doesn’t appear to be a quick fix to this uncomfortable situation. You want to tell it like it is today, but you might get discouraged when you consider the possible negative reactions you could receive.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You are coming into another phase of powerful changes this week. You are no stranger to transformation, although at times it occurs very slowly. However, things are likely to move much quicker now.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) It’s crucial to stay on top of the details today, especially at work. Little things can be buried in ways that make them seem less obvious, but they are more important than you realize. Don’t try anything underhanded, for your motives will be all too transparent.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) You may feel uncertain about your direction in life today, even if you think that all is well at first. You might be hurt by a situation that raises painful memories, so it’s crucial to realize what’s happening now is not the same as what happened in the past.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Today the focus is not on your external world. You are in touch with a very wide range of emotions that have pulled you into the rapidly changing currents. You might feel as if you’re in over your head, but only if you dwell on the past too long.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Make an extra effort to share what’s on your mind today with friends or coworkers. You could be feeling more emotional than you’re letting on, which is often your style, but right now you have a perfect chance to reveal your softer side.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) You may feel stress as you attempt to balance your outward appearance with your inner feelings today. You have a natural tendency to act your way through a difficult situation, but now your inner voice is telling you not to sweep your emotions under the rug.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Relationship issues intensify today as the Moon enters your 7th House of Others. You may be driven to deal with an uncomfortable feeling that has been brewing

Your recent run-in with your own irrationality begins to fade as your emotions finally settle down a bit. But just because the clouds are lifting now, don’t fool yourself into thinking that the issues are resolved.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) A fog settles over the land this afternoon, making your logic unreliable as a navigational tool. You aren’t as certain about anything today.

Trust your imagination while drawing the map that you need to reach your future destination.

other greetings 17:15 hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30 hrs - Sitcom 18:00 hrs - Aracari Resort Hour 19:00 hrs - Update on Boxing Day lime 19:30 hrs - News Update 20:30 hrs - DJ Stress Update 23:30 hrs - Musical Waves 22:00 hrs - English Movie: Die Hard 1 23:00 hrs - News Update 23:00 hrs - English Movie: Die Hard 1 continues Sign Off DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55 hrs. Sign On 09:00 hrs. GMA 10:00 hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 11:00 hrs. The Ricki Lake Show 12:00 hrs. The View 13:00 hrs. Prime News 13:30 hrs. The Young and the Restless 14:30 hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00 hrs. The Talk 16:00 hrs. Beverly Hills, 90210 17:00 hrs. MacGyver 18:00 hrs. World News 18:30 hrs. Nightly News 19:30 hrs. Greetings and Announcements

Page 21

20:00 hrs. Channel 8 News 21:00 hrs. Survivor 22:00 hrs. Criminal Minds (New Episode)

23:00 hrs. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (New Episode) 00:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Israel intensifies attacks, despite truce talk JERUSALEM (AP) — A diplomatic push to end Israel’s nearly weeklong offensive in the Gaza Strip gained momentum yesterday, with Egypt’s president predicting that airstrikes would end within hours and Israel’s prime minister saying his country would be a “willing partner” to a ceasefire with the Islamic militant group Hamas.

As international diplomats raced across the region to cement a deal, a senior Hamas official said an agreement was close even as relentless airstrikes and rocket attacks between the two sides continued. The Israeli death toll rose to five with the deaths yesterday of an Israeli soldier and a civilian contractor. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed.

“We haven’t struck the deal yet, but we are progressing and it will most likely be tonight,” Moussa Abu Marzouk said yesterday from Cairo, where cease-fire talks were being held.

Israeli officials were more circumspect, saying only that “intensive efforts” were under way to end the fighting. Israeli

Israeli reserve soldiers pray at a staging area near the border with northern Gaza, yesterday. REUTERS/ Nir Elias media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as telling a closed meeting that Israel wanted a 24-hour test period of no rocket fire to see if Hamas could enforce a truce.

In what appeared to be a last-minute burst of heavy fire, Israeli tanks and gunboats shelled targets late yesterday, and an airstrike killed two brothers riding on a motorcycle. The men weren’t identified.

The fighting came shortly before U.S. Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton was set to arrive. President Barack Obama dispatched her to the Mideast from Cambodia, where she had accompanied him on a visit.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, perhaps the most important interlocutor between Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory, and the Israelis, said the negotiations between the two sides would yield “positive results” during the coming hours.

Israel demands an end to rocket fire from Gaza and a halt to weapons smuggling into Gaza through tunnels under the border with Egypt.

It also wants international guarantees that Hamas will not rearm or use Egypt’s Sinai region, which abuts both Gaza and southern Israel, to attack Israelis.

Hamas wants Israel to halt all attacks on Gaza and lift tight restrictions on trade and movement in and out of the territory that have been in place since Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israel has rejected such demands in the past.

In Brussels, a senior

official of the European Union’s foreign service said a cease-fire would include an end of Israeli airstrikes and targeted killings in Gaza, the opening of Gaza crossing points and an end to rocket attacks on Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Violence raged on as the talks continued. An airstrike late yesterday killed two journalists who work for the Hamas TV station, Al-Aqsa, according to a statement from the channel. The men were in a car hit by an airstrike, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Israel claims that many Hamas journalists are involved in militant activities.

Earlier this week it targeted the station’s offices, saying it served as a Hamas communications post.

By yesterday, 133 Palestinians, including at least 54 civilians, were killed since Israel began an air onslaught that has so far included nearly 1,500 strikes.

Some 840 people have been wounded, including 225 children, Gaza health officials said.

Five Israelis, including an 18-year-old soldier and a civilian contractor who worked for the military struck

by rocket fire yesterday, have also been killed and dozens wounded since the fighting began last week, the numbers possibly kept down by a rocket-defense system that Israel developed with U.S. funding. More than 1,000 rockets have been fired at Israel this week, the military said.

Late yesterday, a Palestinian rocket hit a house in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, wounding two people and badly damaging the top two floors of the building, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. In other violence, a 60year-old Israeli woman was seriously wounded in a firebombing attack as she drove in the West Bank, police said.

With the death toll rising, the international community stepped up efforts to bring a halt to the fighting that began last Wednesday with an Israel’s assassination of the Hamas military chief.

“If a long-term solution can be put in place through diplomatic means, then Israel would be a willing partner to such a solution. But if stronger military action proves necessary to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel wouldn’t hesitate to do (continued on page 24)

Church of England say no to female bishops

Dr Rowan Williams, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury speaks during a meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England in central London, yesterday. (AP Photo/PA, Yui Mok, Pool) LONDON (AP) — The Church of England’s governing body yesterday narrowly blocked a move to permit women to serve as bishops, leaving the church facing more years of contentious debate.

Following a day-long debate yesterday, opponents mustered enough support to deny the necessary twothirds majority among lay members of the General Synod.

The defeat was a setback for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who retires at the end of December, and his successor, Bishop Justin Welby. Both had strongly endorsed a proposed compromise that they had hoped would end decades of debate.

Passage of legislation to allow women to serve as bishops must be approved by two-thirds majorities in the synod’s three houses: bishops, priests and

laity. Synod members were voting on the latest compromise which calls for church leaders to “respect” the position of parishes that oppose female bishops — without saying exactly what “respect” means.

The vote was 132 in favor and 74 against. In separate votes, bishops voted 44-3 in favor with 2 abstentions, and clergy voted 148-45 in favor.

Church officials say it may take five years to go through the process of taking new legislation to a final vote.

In the day-long debate, many speakers expressed regret that they were unable to agree on a way forward.

“Whatever the outcome, there is no victory in the coming days. It is a train crash,” said Rev. Angus MacLeay, summing up for the opposition.

Sister churches of the Anglican Communion in Australia, New Zealand and the United States already have women serving as bishops.

Southern Africa joined that group on Sunday with the consecration of Ellinah Wamukoya as the Anglican bishop of Swaziland.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Congo rebels seize eastern city as U.N. forces look on

Displaced people cross the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into Rwanda, yesterday. REUTERS/James Akena GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda seized Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, parading past U.N. peacekeepers who gave up the battle for the frontier city of one million people.

Fighters from the M23 group entered Goma after days of clashes with U.N.backed Congolese soldiers that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee, raising fears of human rights abuses in the sprawling lakeside city.

A senior U.N. source told Reuters that international

peacekeepers gave up defending Goma after the Congolese troops evacuated under pressure from the advancing rebels.

“There is no army left in the town, not a soul... Once they were in the town what could we do? It could have been very serious for the population,” he said asking not to be named.

The M23 rebellion has aggravated tensions between Congo and its neighbor Rwanda, which Kinshasa’s government says is orchestrating the insurgency as a means of grabbing the chaotic region’s mineral wealth. “We will continue (resisting) until Rwanda has been pushed out of our country ... There will be absolutely no negotiations with M23,” Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende said, adding that Kinshasa would talk directly only with Rwanda.

U.N. experts say Rwanda, a small but militarily capable neighbor that has intervened in Congo repeatedly over the past 18 years, is behind the

revolt. Congo’s mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, copper and coltan used in mobile phones - has inflamed the conflict and little has been spent on developing a country the size of Western Europe.

The capture of Goma will also be an embarrassment for President Joseph Kabila, who won re-election late last year in polls that provoked widespread riots and which international observers said were marred by fraud.

Congolese state television reported yesterday that Kabila, who has made few public comments on the rebellion in recent weeks, is travelling to Uganda, the mediator in the conflict with the eastern rebels.

Uganda’s Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Asuman Kiyingi told Reuters the rebels would not attend the talks.

In the Congolese capital Kinshasa, security forces used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse a few hundred youths protesting about the fall of Goma.

Residents in Congo’s second (continued on page 24)

Page 23

West concerned about fuel move at Iran nuclear power plant VIENNA (Reuters) Western officials voiced concern yesterday about what they described as an unexpected unloading of fuel at Iran’s first nuclear energy plant and said Tehran, which has dismissed it as a normal step, must clarify the issue.

The U.N. nuclear agency said in a confidential report on Friday that fuel assemblies were transferred last month from the reactor core of the Russian-built Bushehr plant to a spent fuel pond, but it gave no reason for the move.

The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant - whose startup has been delayed for years - is a symbol of what Iran calls its peaceful nuclear ambitions, disputed by the West, and any new hitch would probably be seen as an embarrassment both for Tehran and Moscow.

“This is not a routine matter or something that’s quite ordinary,” a senior Western official who declined to be identified said. “So this is of great concern. We need answers.”

Another Western

diplomat in Vienna, where the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based, said he did not know what had happened at Bushehr but that the fuel development raised possible safety-related questions.

“It sounds a safety bell and then it potentially sounds a safeguards bell if it is used in a weird way,” the diplomat said, referring to the fact that plutonium usable for nuclear bombs could in theory be extracted from spent fuel. The removal of the fuel came some two months after Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the long-postponed plant on Iran’s Gulf coast was operating at full capacity.

It was plugged into Iran’s national grid in September 2011, a move intended to end protracted delays in its construction. Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said the fuel transfer was part of a “normal technical procedure” linked to transferring responsibility for the plant to Iranian from Russian engineers.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Congo rebels seize eastern Kosovo PM’s ally to be tried again for war crimes city as U.N. forces...

(From page 23) city, Kisangani, attacked Kabila’s local party headquarters.

While conflict has simmered almost constantly in Congo’s east in recent years, this is the first time Goma has fallen to rebels since foreign troops officially pulled out under peace deals at the end of the most recent 1998-2003 war.

Hundreds of M23 fighters accompanied their leader Sultani Makenga into Goma, where they were greeted by cheering crowds shouting “welcome” and “thank you”.

Before they arrived intoxicated local people had thrown up roadblocks of

stones in the largely deserted streets pelted by heavy rain.

“We’ve taken the town, it’s under control,” said Colonel Vianney Kazarama, a spokesman for the rebels.

“We’re very tired, we’re going to greet our friends now.” On Monday, Kazarama had denied the rebels would take the city.

Analysts said it was unclear if M23 would try to make Goma a stepping stone towards Kinshasa, as past rebellions have done, or would use the victory to push the government into talks.

“By making this demand (for talks), the M23 aimed to reduce the crisis to a domestic affair, thereby preventing

Kinshasa from internationalizing it in order to negotiate a solution at the regional level...,” conflict think tank International Crisis Group said in a note.

Goma’s fall risked triggering “serious human rights abuses against civilian populations” and had the potential to “relaunch open warfare between the (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Rwanda”.

Before M23 took the city, streams of residents headed for the nearby border with Rwanda. More than 50,000 people who fled earlier fighting abandoned refugee camps around Goma, according to Oxfam.

PRISTINA (Reuters) - A close ally of Kosovo’s prime minister will be retried for war crimes, the Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday, six months after a previous prosecution collapsed due to the suicide of the main witness.

Fatmir Limaj, a senior figure in the Kosovo Liberation Army, whose fight against the rule of Slobodan Milosevic’s Serbia in the late 1990s culminated in NATO air strikes against Serbia, is accused of killing and torturing Serbian prisoners.

He remains a prominent figure as a member of the Kosovo parliament and deputy leader of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party, which led Kosovo to independence from Serbia in 2008. In May, Limaj was acquitted of ordering the killing of two Serb captives and torturing another at a makeshift prison in the village of Klecka in central Kosovo.

The not guilty verdict came after the chief witness, a former prison guard, died last year in Germany, where

he had been sent by the European Union’s police and justice mission for his own protection. He was found hanging from a tree in a park in what authorities said was suicide. The court in the original case ruled that a written testimony by the guard, Agim Zogaj, known at the time as Witness X, was inadmissible. Yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered a retrial. The court, comprised of a panel of judges from Kosovo and the EU mission (EULEX), “annulled the verdict of the first instance,”

EULEX said in a statement.

“The panel also ruled that the evidence of Agim Zogaj, also known as ‘Witness X’, is admissible,” EULEX spokesman Nicholas Hawton said. Limaj, who went by the nom de guerre of Celik (Steel), was acquitted in 2005 of similar charges at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague and was welcomed home as a hero.

Limaj also is facing corruption charges for the time he was a government minister from 2008 to 2010. He was indicted last week. He denies all charges.

(From page 22) what is necessary to defend our people,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a joint press conference in Jerusalem with visiting U.N. chief Ban Kimoon.

Ban condemned Palestinian rocket attacks, but urged Israel to show “maximum restraint.”

“Further escalation benefits no one,” he said.

Minutes before Ban’s arrival in Jerusalem from Egypt, Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward

Jerusalem, just the second time it has targeted the city.

The rocket fell in an open area southeast of the city.

Jerusalem had previously been considered beyond the range of Gaza rockets — and an unlikely target because it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest shrine.

Earlier yesterday, a man identified as Hamas’ militant commander urged his fighters to keep up attacks on Israel.

Speaking from hiding on Hamas-run TV and radio, Mohammed Deif said Hamas

“must invest all resources to uproot this aggressor from our land,” a reference to Israel.

Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets on several Gaza neighborhoods asking residents to evacuate and head toward the center of Gaza City along specific roads. The army “is not targeting any of you, and doesn’t want to harm you or your families,” the leaflets said. Palestinian militants urged residents to ignore the warnings, calling them “psychological warfare.”

Fatmir Limaj (L), a prominent politician and a close ally of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, walks towards a car in Pristina. REUTERS/Hazir Reka

Israel intensifies attacks...

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Two charged in Agricola protest Dwain Gibson, an electrician, of 133 Nelson Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara, and Nigel Garraway, a University of Guyana student, of 33 La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, are facing charges stemming from the October 11 unrest at Agricola.

The men, both aged 29, appeared before Magistrate Sueanna Lovell at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Monday, charged with damage to property.

The charges stated that Gibson and Garraway damaged a quantity of tyres valued at over $4.2 million.

Gibson is also charged with damaging a Ford motorcar valued at approximately $2.7 million, property of Ray Rutherford. Both defendants denied the accusations.

Their attorney, Joseph Harmon, made an application for bail. The lawyer told the court that both his clients were implicated in the protest at Agricola after they were passing through the area to conduct their personal business.

He explained that Garraway was proceeding along the East Bank road on his way to the University, as he was scheduled to write exams, when the traffic

Nigel Garraway

Dwain Gibson

stopped and he went to inquire what was happening.

The other client, Harmon said, had been working in the community on a contract, and that he can produce proof of same. The Attorney said that his clients had nothing to do with the protest actions and held that the police were on a “witch hunt” to hold persons accountable in relation to what took place at Agricola.

There were no eyewitnesses who identified the two defendants as the culprits who burnt tyres and damaged other people’s property on October 11.

Harmon added that the virtual complainant was not present at yesterday’s hearing. He said that his

clients have no reason to flee the jurisdiction, thus bail should not be denied.

The prosecution made no objection to bail, but asked that it be set at a substantial sum based on the nature of the offence.

Bail was originally set at $100,000 for Gibson and $175,000 for Garraway, however the lawyer appealed for a reduction of the amounts, since he claimed that his clients are of meager means. The Magistrate then set bail at $75,000 for Garraway while Gibson was given bail in the amount of $150,000 since he is facing two charges. The matter was transferred to another court for hearing on November 21.

Anti-retrovirals a powerful...

(From page 2) people became newly infected with HIV and 1.7 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses.

The report also shows that globally more than 50% reduction in the rate of new HIV infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries–– more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV. In some of the countries which have the highest HIV prevalence in the world, rates of new HIV infections have been cut dramatically since 2001; by 73% in Malawi, 71% in Botswana, 68% in Namibia, 58% in Zambia, 50% in Zimbabwe and 41% in South Africa and Swaziland.

In addition to welcome results in HIV prevention, sub-Saharan Africa has reduced AIDS-related deaths by one third in the last six years and increased the number of people on antiretroviral treatment by 59% in the last two years alone.

The area where perhaps most progress is being made is in reducing new HIV infections in children. Half of the global reductions in new HIV infections in the last two years have been among newborn children.

The report shows that antiretroviral therapy has emerged as a powerful force

for saving lives. In the last 24 months the numbers of people accessing treatment has increased by 63% globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, a record 2.3 million people had access to treatment. China has increased the number of people on HIV treatment by nearly 50% in the last year alone.

There were more than half a million fewer deaths in 2011 than in 2005. The largest drops in AIDS-related deaths are being seen in countries where HIV has the strongest grip.

South Africa saw 100 000 fewer deaths, Zimbabwe nearly 90,000, Kenya 71,000 and Ethiopia 48,000 than in 2005.

The report shows that countries are increasing investments in the AIDS response despite a difficult economic climate. In 2011, US$ 16.8 billion was available and the need for 2015 is between US$ 22-24 billion.

An estimated 6.8 million

people are eligible for treatment and do not have access.

UNAIDS also estimates that an additional 4 million discordant couples (where one partner is living with HIV) would benefit from HIV treatment to protect their partners from HIV infection.

Of the 34 million people living with HIV, about half do not know their HIV status.

The report states that if more people knew their status, they could come forward for HIV services. In addition, there is an urgent need to improve HIV treatment retention rates; reduce the cost of secondand third-line treatment; and explore new ways of expanding and sustaining access to treatment, including domestic production of medicines and innovative financing.

Despite the encouraging progress in stopping new HIV infections, the total number of new HIV infections remains high—2.5 million in 2011.

Page 25

GRA warns about misuse of vehicles transporting goods The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has warned against the misuse of vehicles registered for the transportation of goods.

According to stateowned tax collection agency, it has noted with concern that there are a number of motor vehicles registered in the ‘G’ and ‘B’ series that are being utilized in a manner that contravenes the terms and conditions under which the motor vehicles were granted permission to be registered.

Under the ‘G’ series, vehicle owners are required to have seats fitted at the front of the vehicle for the driver and two porters with the sides completely sealed with metal and not glass.

Seats cannot be installed in the rear of the vehicle.The unladen weight of the vehicle, name and address of the registered owner should be painted on the right side of the vehicle.

“The person wishing to register the vehicle as ‘G’ must have a registered business to justify use of a goods transportation vehicle. In addition, the GRA requires that approval be granted by the

Commissioner-General, through the office of the Tax Exemption Processing and Verification Unit before a vehicle can be registered as ‘G’.”

GRA said that goods vehicles should not be used for the purpose of transporting passengers.

“On the other hand, mini buses that are registered for the purpose of transporting passengers should not be seen transporting goods.

Such actions constitute a breach of the conditions of registration and persons found to be in contravention of the outlined conditions will be penalized.”

GRA also made it clear

that the registration of extra and single-cab motor vehicles cannot be changed from ‘G’ to ‘P’ and must remain in ‘G’ since those vehicles are strictly designed for the purpose of carrying goods.

“The Guyana Revenue Authority will continue its enforcement activities to ensure that vehicle owners are in compliance with the regulations and that vehicles are being utilized for the purposes for which they were registered.

Persons who have information of any vehicle being used other than for the registered purpose are encouraged to contact the GRA’s Hotline on 227-6060.”

Erroneous headline On Sunday, November 18, Kaieteur News published an article with the headline -”Sale of GT&T’s 20% shares….Luncheon confirms money gone to fund Marriott Hotel”.

Indeed, the substance of the article did not support the headline. And at his press conference in which the story was rooted, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon did speak about the money that the government received for the shares, but he never spoke about its allotment.

As such, Kaieteur News apologises to Dr. Roger Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary, for any embarrassment.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Submachine gun found in Corriverton...

Weapon linked to C’tyne robbery, two more arrested As police continue their investigation into the discovery of a submachine gun in a car last Monday, two more arrests have reportedly been made. Further this publication was told that investigators have linked the weapon to a robbery which occurred at Nigg, Corentyne. During that incident, a businessman was shot in his leg and his wife was severely beaten.

Also reports are that checks are being done to ascertain if the weapon was one which mysteriously disappeared from the Vigilance Police Station some time back. Initial reports are that a traffic police rank attached to the Springlands Station, on Monday, while working on regular traffic stops in the vicinity of the Scot School at Number 76 Village, Corriverton, stopped motor car, HB 7123, a silver grey Toyota 212.

The rank said that he noticed that the occupants were acting suspiciously. One of them had a black bag resting on his thigh. As the unarmed lone rank asked the driver to step out of the car, the other occupants came out of the car and made good their escape. But they left the bag that contained a submachine gun and two empty magazines. The driver in custody is reportedly known to the police as one who transports criminals.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

GRA teams up with local banks for renewal of vehicle licences The tedious task of renewing Motor Vehicle Licences (MVL) has become far simpler and with less hassle for the public.

According to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), it is teaming up with three banks countrywide to have vehicle owners pay there. The licences are later posted to the owners.

Until this year, the renewal of the licences has proven to be a major headache for GRA’s Licence Revenue Office, which handles the transactions.

With 90,000-plus vehicles on GRA’s records and the licences being sold at a specific time, the system had been a vexing one.

GRA had announced a new measure in which instead of a particular annual deadline, vehicle owners renew their licences on the anniversary of the vehicles’ original registration dates.

The system allows GRA to send out renewal notices to the owners. This measure was designed to reduce the crowds. There had been growing anger over the previous system.

According to GRA in a notice yesterday in Kaieteur

The Licence Revenue Office at Smyth Street, Georgetown, was the only location being used for issuing MVL. News, it is now teaming up with Demerara Bank Limited, the Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry Limited and Bank of Baroda, to handle the transactions.

GRA said that vehicle owners should detach the Motor Vehicle Licence Renewal Quotation from the renewal notice posted to them

and present these to the banks with their payments.

The licences will be sent in the post to the owners following the processing.

GRA noted, however, that only persons who have received the quotation attached to the renewal notice will be able to process the payments.

Last year, GRA was forced to extend the deadline for the purchase of licences because of the crowds at the issuing location.

GRA has said that while the new system will allow owners to have a grace period, it will soon be sending out a list of defaulters to the police.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 27

Confronting adolescent pregnancy is a challenge Addressing adolescent pregnancy is not only a legal issue but a challenge, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative, Ms Patrice LaFleur. Her remarks were forthcoming last Saturday during a colloquium, hosted jointly by the UN agency and the Ministry of Health to sensitise media operatives on reproductive health issues.

LaFleur pointed out that adolescent pregnancy is among the matters that are

channelled through the Ministry of Human Services, in particular the Child Care and Protection Agency.

Although the involvement of such entities are realised, she noted that court proceedings to deal with them remain a challenge.

“The court process poses a lot of challenges, and as you know, the Sexual Offences Act is now being revised because of some technicality...”

Compounding the

– UN official stresses situation is the fact that some times the parents of pregnant girls opt to not be involved.

Further still, LaFleur disclosed that there are instances when the parents are guilty of forcing their daughters to become involved with older men because of their poverty situation.

At the moment, UNFPA has engaged measures to

Nominations close today for GMSA awards Today is the last day for the submission of nominations for the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association’s (GMSA) Annual Awards for exceptional achievements.

The Association will hold its 17th Annual Awards Presentation and Dinner next Thursday in the Savannah Suite of the Guyana Pegasus Hotel at which the medium, small and large scale enterprises that have made significant strides during the year will be recognized and tangibly rewarded.

The awards regime includes: Attainment of international standards certification including ISO and HACCP; International Market Penetration; Initiation/acceleration of cross-border trade; Introduction of new and innovative technologies and methodologies in Engineering and Construction and other fields of manufacturing; B reaking new ground in Maritime, Tourism, Fashion Designing and other services, and

Implementation of Equal Opportunity Employment Practices.

The GMSA’s Board will select the recipient of the Lifetime Award from a field of Entrepreneurs whose work has made the greatest impact on business development and promotion over a prolonged period. The executive will also identify the recipient of the President of Guyana’s Award for Export Achievement.

The GMSA is the sole Business Support Organisation selected by the Office of the President to make this award to the most outstanding business enterprise.

Banks DIH was the 2010 recipient of the President’s Award, and Nand Persaud Company Ltd., the Berbicebased producer and exporter of rice and its by-products, received the President’s nod in 2011 for expanding its export market into South and Central America.

EMPRETEC Guyana, the local arm of the Switzerlandbased business support

organization, is also expected to identify one Guyanese manufacturer or service provider for the EMPRETECO 2012 award.

Companies operating in the sectors of Forestry and Wood Products manufacturing, Agriculture and Agro-processing, Minerals, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Engineering and Construction are invited to submit to the GMSA the name and profile of the company or individual they deem most eligible to receive a GMSA 2012 award in any of the categories listed.

The closing date was extended to widen the field of applicants for these coveted awards. The nominations should be sent to the GMSA’s Secretariat, 157 Waterloo St., Georgetown by Wednesday 19th November 2012.

Nominees will thereafter be notified by mail.

The GMSA Annual Awards Presentation is the longest running awards programme in Guyana. The Association holds its 17th Presentation this year.

Gold miner stabbed, robbed - says attackers looked like “decent people” A gold miner miraculously escaped death early yesterday after he was attacked and stabbed by three men at a Brazilian bar on Light Street, Georgetown.

The assailants stripped 34-year-old Troy McAllister of his boots, hat and $50,000 before stabbing him in his abdomen.

McAllister of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, is hospitalized in the Male Surgical Ward at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Yesterday, in his hospital bed, the man said that he went to the bar with one of his employers, who had recently come from the interior.

“Me and he went to drink and I was telling him that I want to go back to the bush and he give me $50,000 to buy

the things that I would need and to pay passage,” the injured man claimed.

He added that his friend left the bar with his girlfriend and he (McAllister) stayed. “I still stay there and I was drinking and then these three boys come up demanding me to give them my money.”

According to McAllister, the men punched him and forced him to take off his boots and collected the $50,000. He added that the men were present at the bar when he and his friend arrived.

“They see when my friend gave me the money.

They didn’t look like bandit, they look like decent people taking a drink,” the gold miner recounted. He was rushed

Troy McAllister to the GPHC by patrons at the bar.

help address the dilemma in a number of rural communities including Mon Repos, Lusignan and Buxton, all on the East Coast of Demerara.

“We are working in some of these communities and there are a lot of gaps there.

We have found that there are quite a lot of girls who are adolescent mothers and we have realised that it has to be addressed through a health education and community approach.”

According to LaFleur, all efforts to arrest the problem of adolescent pregnancy must embrace community interventions. She revealed that at the level of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the UN Agencies, including UNFPA a n d t h e U n i t e d N ations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are working closely to combat the existing challenge.

“It is not a problem unique to Guyana, all the other CARICOM countries encounter these challenges and the most recent study which was done on adolescent and youth by CARICOM alerted us to the fact that initiation to sex begins at age 10 in the Caribbean,” LaFleur told the

UNFPA Representative, Ms. Patrice LaFleur gathering.

Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, also added his view to the matter, stressing that there are also those who give sexual consent but are equally vulnerable. This state of affairs, he said, requires a strategic plan which targets both the men involved with

adolescent girls and the girls themselves.

“We can’t only talk to the men, we also need to empower the girls.” Such a tactical approach would require the cooperation of the Ministries of Health and Education and be supplemented by the efforts of the Culture, Youth and Sports Ministry, as well as that of Human Services.

“We are aware of the data that CARICOM is generating and that is what we are working on...even the vulnerable school population we have to look at,” the Minister said.

The colloquium also saw the Minister dispelling the widely accepted notion that adolescent pregnancies are more prevalent in hinterland communities, insisting that the figures do not support such beliefs. In fact, he challenged media operatives to undertake a survey which he believes will prove his conviction.

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Shooting of KN staffer…

Bandits nabbed, motorcycle recovered Police sources revealed last night that they have nabbed the bandits who shot Kaieteur News staffer Shaum Persaud last Sunday morning and stole his motorcycle.

One source told Kaieteur News yesterday that investigators have detained two young men who have confessed to shooting Persaud. An official said that the CG motorcycle, CF4664, has also been recovered.

Charges are likely within a few days.

During the investigation, detectives also nabbed a third suspect in connection with the theft of another motorcycle.

Persaud, an office assistant, was shot in the left thigh at around 10:30 hrs on Sunday while sitting in a Broad Street, Charlestown beer garden. The robbers also relieved him of a pouch containing his driver’s licence.

Persaud had related that he was on his way home when a friend invited him to take “a drink” at the beer garden.

He wheeled his

motorcycle into the shop and was having a drink when two youths rode into the beer garden on a motorcycle and immediately began assaulting him while demanding the keys for his bike.

Persaud estimates that the attackers were both in their teens.

He said that one of the men began to hit him with a gun while the other relieved him of the keys for the motorcycle along with his pouch.

Despite being gunbutted, the father of two said that he tried to prevent the robbers from making off with his motorcycle.

Persaud recounted that this angered the robbers and one of them shot him in the left thigh. They then escaped with his motorcycle.

Other patrons at the beer garden took the injured man to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

His left thigh was broken by the bullet’s impact but his condition is listed as stable.

Detectives retrieved a 9mm warhead and a bullet casing from the scene.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Army commissions Medical Centre Annex

By Zena Henry Members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) yesterday welcomed the addition of a newly commissioned medical centre annex equipped with a clinical laboratory, with vast testing capabilities.

With a major focus on combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the GDF HIV/AIDS prevention programme handed over the medical addition to the army’s Medical Corps at a small ceremony held at the force’s headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.

The GDF/US AIDS Programme Coordinator Beverly Gomes-Lovell said the annex was an initiative of the GDF HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme and the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). The organization she said recognized the need for the medical facility to improve measures tackling HIV/AIDS. “The GDF HIV/AIDS prevention programme in line with the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) transiting from emergency response to reporting sustainability in the continuing battle to mitigate HIV/AIDS, has recognized the need for further

Lab Supervisor Bonita Richards (far left) discusses the medical apparatus with Commodore Gary Best, NAPS head Dr. Shanti Singh, Charge’ d’ Affaires, US Embassy, Thomas Pierce and GDF/US AIDS Programme Coordinator, Beverly Gomes-Lovell. development of the medical infrastructure to support HIV testing and counseling, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis diagnosis.”

It was declared that the new facility has the testing capacity such as hematology and microbiology, while it was noted that biochemistry units at the institute were also functional.

Laboratory Supervisor, Bonita Richards told Kaieteur News that the facility will soon increase its testing scope to enroll microbial and further hematology testing.

Most of the support in terms of confirmation of other testing, Richards said, is partnered with the Ministry of Health. The laboratory will be used as the doctor’s diagnostic tool to confirm findings, and based on that, diagnosis for patients will be concluded.

Among a number of senior GDF officers, ranks, NGO representatives and specially invited guests was Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best.

He noted that the handing over ceremony was being held as part of the GDF’s 47th

Anniversary, in recognition of the importance of edifying ranks and identifying against the fight of HIV/AIDS pandemic. He said HIV represents one of the greatest global health challenges and creates social and economic concerns, making it a national security issue.

Commodore Best said that in the GDF, they have learnt to live with and care for those who fall ill to the disease. He emphasized that, “The Guyana Defence Force will not allow HIV/AIDS to incapacitate our ranks, as death from HIV/AIDS and any other causes, result in the loss of personnel which affects military preparedness, efficiency and increased cost of recruitment and training of replacements.”

Commodore Best stated that the force had recently received a report that speaks to the extent of sexually transmitted diseases in the GDF. This report, he noted, will be used to educate ranks further and to improve on their personal hygiene to reduce the large incidence seen on the report of certain types of sexually transmitted

diseases.

Commodore Best asserted that, “In the same vein, the notion that HIV/ AIDS only comes from samesex relations had been debunked many years ago.”

He continued that the GDF still has a role to play that no one is discriminated against based on his/her sex…”

“As for a matter in the mainstream media, the GDF is committed to ensuring that anyone who joins the GDF is treated fairly and professionally once serving.

We have no programme or discrimination against persons who have alternative lifestyles, once that conduct does not interfere with the professionalism of the GDF.” Lieutenant Thomas Pierce of the US Navy and Charge’ d’ Affaires, US Embassy also congratulated the force on their addition to the Medical Corps. Pierce said to increase the ability to address the most urgent needs in HIV/AIDS affected area, the venture for the annex construction commenced in February and was successfully delivered by the design and build team of DI Grand Construction Company.

“The extension of the medical laboratory will enhance the delivery of health care and treatment services to members of the GDF in a safe functional and stable environment.”

The National AIDS Programme Manager Dr. Shanti Singh noted that the extension will support the central health care facilities in providing voluntary counseling and testing, STI screening, diagnosis and treatment and the management of persons infected and affected by HIV/ AIDS. She applauded the GDF for bringing all the services together under the overall umbrella of providing healthcare service.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Construction companies bid for condom delivery Under the Ministry of Health, bids for the supply and delivery of male condoms were opened by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, Main Street yesterday. Among the bidders were two construction companies

In addition, the Health sector also received bids for the supply and delivery of printed materials.

Still in the Health sector, bids were opened for the supply and delivery of field materials and supplies.

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) received a lone bid for the repair and refurbishing of two fibre glass boats. With an engineer estimate of $3.2M, the bid submitted was:

Bids were submitted for the Guyana Office for Investment for the purchase of a centralized UPS.

Under the Ministry of Local Government, bids were opened for the procurement of a double cab vehicle for Region Eight for the office of the Regional Executive Officer.

The National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) received bids for the rehabilitation of the stores building at Bartica, Region Seven. With an engineer’s estimate of $6.2M, the bids were:

The Ministry of Agriculture, by way of the Agriculture Sector Development Unit (ASDU), received one bid for consultancy service for the development of a computerized monitoring and evaluation database and reporting system.

Page 29

Health Ministry did its part to facilitate medivac of Mabaruma girl A total of 197 medical evacuations were facilitated by the Ministry of Health during the past year, with each costing some $250,000.

This disclosure was made by top health officials last Saturday, as efforts were made to explain to media operatives the process of medical evacuations, which according to Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, are usually facilitated through a well thought-out and executed plan.

The detailed explanation was forthcoming as part of an attempt to debunk allegations that enough was not done on the part of the Health Ministry to save the life of 15year-old Bibi Zaleena Shadeek.

Shadeek, a resident of Mabaruma and student of the Mabaruma Secondary School, had her neck slit and abdomen slashed around 19:30 hours last week Wednesday, reportedly by a spurned boyfriend, who subsequently committed suicide.

Commenting on his Ministry’s efforts to save the young girl, Minister Ramsaran said that not only were tireless efforts made to streamline an aircraft to facilitate a medivac, but health officials were able to keep the badly wounded girl alive until the following morning.

She died some time after 05:30 hours Thursday, aboard the plane that was rushing her to the city for further medical attention.

There are reports that the dead girl’s relatives lauded the efforts of the doctor, nurses and medex, who did their best before she succumbed.

Reports are that the doctor and other staffers at the Mabaruma Hospital wept when news spread that the girl had died.

However, there have been differing reports as to why an aircraft was not readily available to facilitate a medical evacuation.

Minister Ramsaran insisted on Saturday that

- Dr. Ramsaran while the aircraft companies know that they can be called upon at anytime, the delay in the recent medical evacuation was due to the timing of the incident, since there was only one pilot on hand to facilitate a flight. Two instrument rated pilots have to be on any plane that is performing medivac operations at night, this newspaper was informed.

“This one failed because I understand you have to have two pilots at nights...Night is the issue.” the Minister said.

Insisting that the Ministry did its part, Dr Ramsaran asserted, “We usually call airlines from right across the board...anybody, including the military. My understanding is that the military had a man on standby and there was some back and forth, but as far as I know the system worked throughout, including the administrative aspect, plus the clinical aspect of that patient being managed for a long distance flight. She was writing to communicate although she couldn’t speak.”

Minister Ramsaran said that he is satisfied that 99.9 per cent of medical evacuations are undertaken in accordance with a prescribed protocol.

“Our protocol has worked well, we don’t produce pilots; the only other suggestion that is being made is that the Ministry of Health buy airplanes and start its own service with maintenance crew and everything ...but that is a no go.”

According to the Minister, the medical operatives in far-flung areas that require medivacs have been a part of such undertakings for many years and they know how to evaluate patients.

He explained that the process entails a doctor, medex or community health worker, first making an evaluation of a patient before

making a mercy call, utilising radio sets that are available at most health posts.

In the case that a radio set is not at a health post or is inoperable, health officials can in fact use those at police stations or at the Regional Democratic Council offices.

“Once that call comes out, permission is given for a plane to facilitate a medivac. The aircraft companies know that they can be called upon and they know the persons who are actualising the medivac too.”

Among the persons ascribed to perform such duties are the Chief Medex, the Regional Health Services Head, the Chief Medical Officer or the Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples.

“They are already known to the dispatchers and we have had no problems with this arrangement,” the Minister insisted.

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Mayor Hamilton Green Marian Academy will be difficult birth anniversary proposition for Tucville-Hunte tourney continues

Shemroy Arthur

Soloman Austin Football lovers have witnessed top matches ever since the tournamernt to commemorate the 78th birth anniversary of Mayor Hamilton Green started recently. They can expect

similar entertainment when the tournament continues this evening at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC).

Activities get underway at 18:00hrs with the West Corner taking on Eveleary moments before Tiger Bay oppose Bagotstown. Werken-Rust and Sophia will also oppose each other while West Ruimveldt will oppse Kingston shortly before West Ruimveldt Estate tackles Kitty.

Meanwhile, Kuru Kuru defeated Wales in sudden death penalty when the tournament continued last week. Newtown and Sara Lodge also enjoyed similar victories over Crane and Mocha respectively while Grove won 2-1 from East Ruimveldt.

Tucville also defeated Lima Dam 2-0 while Thomaslands defeated Bagotsville 4-0. Goed Fortuin won 1-0 from Bourda while Stewartville triumphed over North East LaPenitence 1-0.

The next round of matches will be played on Friday November 23 and Saturday December 1 to decide on the quarter finalists and the semi-finalists.

The winners cart off $200,000 and a trophy while the runners up win half that amount, also with a trophy.

Recreation does for you what it says literally.

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

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

Head Coach of Marian Academy Denis ‘Chow’ Hunte seen putting his players through their paces yesterday at the YMCA ground.

Courts Pee Wee Schools Football finalist Marian Academy is leaving nothing to chance and Head Coach Denis ‘Chow’ Hunte has embarked on vigorous preparations ahead of Saturday’s clash against Tucville for the coveted title.

Kaieteur Sport caught up with Hunte, who was seen spearheading a training session yesterday at the YMCA ground where the players were busily engaged in learning how to shoot the ball accurately in addition to improving other deficiencies.

According to Hunte, Saturday’s final could go either way, but he believes that despite his school being the underdogs they will rise to the occasion and be a difficult proposition for their opponents.

No stranger to winning

titles, having guided Pele, one of the leading local clubs to numerous junior titles in the past, Hunte though not willing to make a definitive prediction, expressed confidence that Marian Academy will produce a gutsy performance that could surprise many.

“We are playing team football and we will not be relying on any particular player to win the title for, but rather we are focusing on good team play,” Hunte told this newspaper.

Quizzed on the focus of the session yesterday, Hunte related that the players have a tendancy of exhibiting poor judgement when the ball is in the air, especially when executing a header or a kick and his concentration is to rectify that deficiency.

Asked to pinpoint some players who will be expected to play huge roles for them to stand a chance of beating Tucville, Hunte pointed to players such as Shemroy Holder, Diarra Thomas, Matthew Klautky and Tyrese Jeffrey as those on whose shoulders most of the burden will rest.

Hunte said Thomas has a wealth of experience at the higher level and should have been more dominant in the competition, but so far he has lacked the consistency and a better showing should not be far away.

Responding to the relevance of the competition, Hunte said it is extremely important that the sport gets back into the school system since it helps to bridge the gap between the junior and senior

levels, a component that has been missing for quite a few years now.

“It is almost embarrassing to witness a player at the senior level not able to maintain possession of the ball or make an accurate pass and this is simply because most of them are only playing the game seriously in their late teens which makes it more difficult for a Coach to teach the fundamentals at such a late stage,” Hunte pointed out.

He felt that is the reason why so many of our locallybased players are finding it difficult to maintain possession and construct passes when they reach the higher level, a development caused by the absence of football on the school’s curriculum.

TNT are $500,000 winners; 58 teams...

From page 35 against the other is critical.

The Limpy Lotto team, playing throughout with only 5 players was muscling their way forward against the odds and gaining respect with Vackacy and Esther leading the end game with their ‘Bruck It Down’ style of playing. However at a key point they blundered tactically.

Other prizes handed out were: MVP of the finals Shawn Morgan of TNT $10,000; First Double Love of the playoffs was achieved by Gordon Peters of Adventure - $5,000; Best Female Team in the Playoffs was Turning Point Girls - $5,000; First Love of the Finals was administered

by Vackacy Joe who loved Leroy Edwards of TNT $3,000; Best far reaching area

team was Limpy Lotto of Bartica - $25,000; Best Corporation Team Ministry of Health - $15,000, the y reached the last 8; Best Uniformed team was B6 - $30,000.

Teams that won their respective zones each received $10,000 while every team participating in the playoffs collected one pack of branded dominos, compliments of F&H Printing Establishment while the out of town teams were assisted with travelling expenses and accommodation.

The organizing committee for the tournament came in for high praise in raising the bar for the sport and competition in Guyana. This committee however felt that there were areas which needed to be improved. A review meeting took place on Monday

evening.

The sponsors have indicated that they will again partner with the Georgetown Domino Association and will invite other sponsors on board in this national effort to return the sport to its glory days.

F& H Printing has committed to reaching out to sub associations as they strive to make dominos once again become a truly competitive national sport.

Sincere thanks were extended to all the persons and entities who would have lent invaluable support towards making the competition the success it was. Singled out for special mention were the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and Mr. Gurvey Harry.

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Sammy eyes morale-boosting victory in second Test Khulna, Bangladesh – Darren Sammy said West Indies need to win the final Test in their series of two against Bangladesh to extend their winning record and boost the confidence in the team.

The second Test between the two sides begins today at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in this south-western city.

Speaking ahead of the match, the Windies Captain said his side had arrived with a clear mission of winning all the matches on the tour and having won the first Test by 77 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, this objective had not changed.

“The previous match was a hard-fought victory for the team,” he told WICB Media.

“We have seen more of [the Bangladeshis]. We know how competitive they will play, so we can formulate a better plan for them going forward, both batting and bowling.

“People may say the victory was only against Bangladesh, but we have lacked a winning attitude for too long. We won the two Tests and the previous series against New Zealand, and now we have another chance to do the same thing here.”

Sammy said there was still room for improvement from his side and they would look to put things right at a venue which is hosting its first ever Test.

“I would like us to improve our second innings batting,” he said. “This is

Darren Sammy practices his slip catching something that has affected us in the past, where we only bat well in one innings and don’t back it up in the next. It was a much better effort in this Test, but it’s still something we can improve.

“The guys who scored runs for us in previous Test series, like Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and myself, we didn’t get much in the first Test, yet we still got a big total, so it’s good contributions are coming from different members of the team.”

He added: “There’s always room for improvement in any sport, but the players are in a really good frame of mind and we will be looking to come up with another performance that will win us this next Test.

“Once we continue to work as hard as we have done over the last few years, we

should come out victorious.”

Sammy praised the West Indies bowlers for the hard work they had put into giving the side victory in the first Test and said adding more firepower to the attack with another fast bowler was option being considered.

“We took 20 wickets in the first Test,” he said. “In order to win Test matches, you have to take 20 wickets.

You have to be able to bowl out the opposition twice. “I think it was a good decision to play the extra bowler in the first Test. Veerasammy Permaul created some important breakthroughs for us.

“Neither (Sunil) Narine nor I bowled as well as we could in the second innings.

The way Tino Best bowled and the way they played him, we may be tempted to play Fidel Edwards, since he too is quite pacy.”

Upper Corentyne 2nd div. T20 cricket

No. 68 Turn Team, Springlands, Kim IL Sung & No. 48 Challengers through No. 68 Turn Team off spinner 46-year-old Dianand Gooniah snared 5 for 5 from 3 overs to help bowl out Progressive Youth of Crabwood Creek for just 80 in 17.4 overs and then his teammate Toolaram Persaud hammered 58* (5x4 4x6) to lead them to an easy 9 wicket win and a place in the second round of the Upper Corentyne second division twenty overs cricket competition.

Also advancing were Springlands, Kim IL Sung and No. 48 Challengers.

Deoprakash Ramdat’s 58 (5x4 1x6) helped No. 71 post 125 against Springlands whose leading batters were Akram Razack 60* and Gainauth Ramnarain 35*, the two featuring in an unbeaten

3rd wicket stand of 108 to see them home.

Clarence Beresford slammed 53 (3x4 5x6) and Rabindra Singh 37* (5x4) to help Kim IL Sung to a 7 wicket win over No. 72 Cut and Load.

Collated scores: At No. 69 - No. 68 Turn Team hammered Progressive Youth by 9 wickets.

Progressive Youth 80 in 17.4 overs; Trevor Chand 47, Dianand Gooniah 5 for 5, Vedesh Sooknanan 2 for 17, Richard Jones 2 for 15. No. 68 Turn team 80 for 1 in 7.3 overs with Toolaram Persaud 58*.

At No. 71 - Springlands thumped No. 71 by 8 wickets.

No. 71, 125 in 19.3 overs; Deoprakash Ramdat 58, Tayab Alli 3 for 15, Akram Razack 2 for 26, Gainauth Ramnarain 2

for 25, Imran Mohamed 2 for 27. Springlands 128 for 2 in 18.2 overs; Akram Razack 60*, Gainauth Ramnarain 35*.

At No. 72 - Kim IL Sung beat No. 72 Cut and Load. No. 72 Cut and Load 133 for 9 in 20 overs; Reshey Persaud 41, Dairanarine Laljet 28, Tulsiram Munisar 3 for 14, Faoud Bacchus 2 for 21, Eric Phillips 2 for 24. Kim IL Sung 135 for 3 in 14 overs; Clarence Beresford 53, Rabindra Singh 37*.

At No. 48 - No. 48 Challengers took care of No. 51 Leeds Young Star by 5 wickets. No. 51 Leads Young Star, 99 in 19 overs; Gavindra Baijnauth 4 for 13, Megnauth Homraj 3 for 16.

No. 48 Challengers 104 for 5 in 14.3 overs; Alvin Diaram 25, Alvan Jeffrey 3 for 41.

Page 31

Page 32

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Paul and Griffin lead Clippers over Spurs 92-87

Chris Paul #3 of the Los Angeles Clippers controls the ball against Tony Parker #9 of the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio (AP) - The San Antonio Spurs had rallied within a basket of the Los Angeles Clippers with less than 30 seconds remaining and the crowd was buzzing. Some would

call it a tense situation.

Chris Paul calls it ‘’winning time.’’

Paul had 19 points and eight assists and the Clippers beat San Antonio 92-87 on Monday night for their

second win against the Spurs this season. Paul’s 10-foot jumper in the lane with 24.6 seconds left gave the Clippers a 91-87 lead. ‘’Yeah, I wanted to shoot; I didn’t know how, I just needed a little space,’’ Paul said. ‘’I love those situations - when it’s winning time.

We’re up two with 24 seconds left, I want it.’’

Spurs guard Gary Neal missed a 3-point attempt on the subsequent possession, which Eric Bledsoe gathered for his fifth rebound. Bledsoe, who had nine points, made one of two free throws for the final margin.

Matt Barnes added 14 points, DeAndre Jordan 13 and Blake Griffin had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers (8-2). Tim Duncan had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs (8-3), who suffered their second home loss this season. Manu Ginobili added 15 points and Tony Parker 11.

The Spurs rallied when Matt Bonner made a pair of 3s sandwiched around one from Parker to pull to 88-85 with 2 minutes remaining.

Bonner, who did not play in

the first three periods, finished with 10 points.

San Antonio needed the late rally after losing a lead and Stephen Jackson after the first quarter. Jackson, who suffered a non-displaced fracture to his right pinkie finger late in the first quarter, is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Jackson finished with two points and two rebounds, but the team missed his toughness most.

The Spurs were outscored 29-14 in the second quarter while

shooting 3 for 18 from the field. It was a season low for points in a quarter by San Antonio.

Neal, returning to the lineup after missing two games with a cut on his right index finger, made a runner on his first attempt to give San Antonio a 3020 lead.

That runner with 11:19 left in the half was the last basket for 8 minutes for the Spurs, who missed 11 shots and had six turnovers in the drought.

Jackson’s injury didn’t

muster any sympathy from Paul during or after the game. ‘’Injuries happen,’’ he said. ‘’We’re without Chauncey (Billups, left Achilles rehab) and Grant (Hill, right knee bone bruise).’’

Paul’s jumper gave the Clippers a 34-33 lead with 5:31 left in the first half that they extended to 45-36 on Paul’s 22-foot jumper.

Danny Green’s 3-pointer pulled the Spurs to 67-63 with 1:29 remaining in the third, but Paul responded again with another jumper on the ensuing possession.

Nuggets end Grizzlies’ streak at 8 with 97-92 win

Memphis, Tenn. (AP) Danilo Gallinari had suffered through an inconsistent shooting touch early this season, but he got untracked to help Denver end the Memphis Grizzlies’ eightgame winning streak.

Gallinari scored a seasonhigh 26 points, including a 3pointer with 13 seconds left, and the Nuggets handed the Grizzlies only their second loss of the season with a 9792 victory Monday night.

Gallinari entered the game shooting 34 percent from the field and 21 percent from outside the arc. He finished the night 7 of 15 from the field and 2 of 6 from long range.

Gallinari’s late 3-pointer came as Memphis had surrendered a lead in the final minutes. The shot from the wing, set up by a pass from point guard Ty Lawson, put the Nuggets up 96-92.

As for the 3-poiner that put the Grizzlies away, Gallinari said they ran a high pick-and-roll with him and Lawson, knowing the Grizzlies would have to pick one of them to guard. He was left open for the shot.

JaVale McGee provided a second-half lift for Denver and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Kenneth Faried added 13 points and grabbed 13 boards to help the Nuggets outrebound Memphis 47-33.

Denver, which snapped a three-game skid, also won the battle in the paint 50-44 and outscored the Grizzlies in second-chance points 21-16.

In addition to dominating inside, the Nuggets also pressured the Grizzlies early, forcing Memphis out of its regular pace.

The Nuggets handed the Grizzlies their first loss since dropping the season opener against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Rudy Gay scored 22 points, Marc Gasol added 16 and Randolph had 12 points

Danilo Gallinari #8 of the Denver Nuggets drives against Zach Randolph #50 of the Memphis Grizzlies. and 13 rebounds for Memphis.

The Nuggets closed the game on a 9-0 run, with Gallinari scoring six points in the final two minutes, including the 3-pointer, which was set up when he intercepted a pass by Gay on the Grizzlies’ end of the floor.

Gallinari connected on five of his first six shots and all four of his free throws in the first half to help the Nuggets carry a 52-49 lead into the break. Gay led Memphis with 11 points at the half.

Neither team led by more than five in the opening two quarters, with eight lead changes and nineties. There ended up being 12 ties and 12 lead changes in a tight game.

Memphis opened the second half with a 12-4 run, but McGee had eight points

in the frame to cut the Grizzlies’ advantage to 70-69 entering the fourth. Denver would carry its rally into the final frame with eight straight points, including six by Faried.

The two teams would continue exchanging leads throughout the fourth, and were still tied at 87 with 3:35 left.

Memphis took a 92-88 lead on Randolph’s tip-in with 2:14 left, but the Grizzlies didn’t score again. It was a nice recovery for the Nuggets, who were coming off a poor showing in a 126-100 loss at San Antonio on Thursday night.

As for the impact of Gallinari’s 3-pointer, Lawson added: ‘’We’ve had a rough 10 games. For that shot to go in was big for us, for our morale. To get a big one like this is huge.’’

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Kaieteur News

Usain Bolt may play football or cricket after 2016 Olympics

Usain Blake Sprint star Usain Bolt will not appear in this year’s Big Bash Twenty20 League but may consider switching to cricket or football after the 2016 Olympics. The Jamaican, 26, held talks with Shane Warne’s Melbourne Stars in October.

But Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms told BBC Sport: “Usain is currently an athlete focused on his preparations for the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. “He may try his hand at cricket or football when he retires from running but that would be after 2016.”

Bolt, who grew up in cricket-mad Jamaica, was sounded out by Melbourne Stars captain Warne in August after cementing his status as an athletics legend by defending his 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay crowns at the London 2012 Olympics.

Bolt said at the time that he would “definitely” love to be involved in the Australian tournament, prompting Warne to launch a Twitter campaign to try to bring about the move.

The story resurfaced on Friday when exAustralia wicketkeeper Ian Healy tweeted that a deal between Bolt and the Stars to play in the competition - which runs from 7 December

to 9 January - was “hours away”.

But Healy’s claim was dismissed by Simms, who said: “I met with the Melbourne Stars in October and told them Usain is not available to play cricket this year.” Melbourne Stars Media Manager Jess Cook told BBC Sport that the team had held “lengthy discussions” with Bolt’s representatives over the summer before accepting defeat.

“From our end this has been done and dusted since mid-October,” she told BBC Sport. “We had lengthy discussions with Bolt’s management from June to August but his training schedule ahead of the World Championships unfortunately wouldn’t allow him to be involved with the Stars this summer.

“We will remain close to Bolt and explore it again next season.” Bolt, who describes himself as an all-rounder, has appeared in charity cricket matches and famously clean bowled then West Indies captain Chris Gayle in 2009.

His first love, however, is football. He was a special guest of Manchester United at the 2011 Champions League final in London and spoke recently of his desire to play professionally in the future.

“I always wanted to try to play soccer,” he stated in October. “Maybe at the end of my career. It would be something that I would love to try.”

Jamaican sprint rival Yohan Blake, who captured gold at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu when a false start ruled Bolt out of the final, also touts himself as a potential cricketer.

The 23-year-old was a guest of honour at Lord’s for the first day of England’s final Test with South Africa in August and declared his desire to play in the Big Bash after interest from the Sydney Sixers.

“I bowl around 85-90 mph, which is definitely quicker than Usain,” said Blake. “He would probably get more bouncers than me because he is taller but I am definitely faster than him.” (BBC Sport)

Page 33

Haiti, French Guyana head to Carib finals St. George’s, Grenada Haiti beat Grenada 2-0 Sunday to reach the Caribbean Cup finals for the fourth straight time, and will be joined by French Guyana, which advanced to the championship round for the first time since 1995 despite a 4-3 loss to Guyana.

The results finished Haiti atop second-round qualifying Group 6 with six points, two better than both French Guyana and Grenada. Since French Guyana and Grenada drew 1-1 in their head-to-head meeting on Wednesday, French Guyana advanced over goal difference (zero to minus-1).

Guyana finished last in the group with three points.

Jean-Sony Alcenat gave Haiti the lead in the 36th minute, and an owngoal by Anthony Straker in the 58th added the insurance. Despite a 1-0 loss to French Guyana on Friday, Haiti responded with its sixth win in its last seven matches.

March Edwige put French Guyana into the Caribbean Cup finals, scoring in the 91st minute to pull his side within a goal.

Guyana went ahead in the 12th minute on Vurlon Mills’ fourth goal of Caribbean qualifying.

Stanley Ridel scored the first of his two for French Guyana in the match in the 34th, but Walter Moore

and Shawn Beveney tallied in the first 13 minutes of the second half to restore Guyana’s lead 3-1.

Ridel pulled French Guyana back within a goal in the 63rd, but Beveney converted a penalty in the 87th. The results ended Grenada’s streak of qualifying for the past two Caribbean Cup finals, where it finished runner-up in 2008 and fourth in 2010.

Haiti will join Group A in the Caribbean Cup finals along with the Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago and host Antigua & Barbuda.

French Guyana will be placed in Group B with Martinique, defending champion Jamaica and Cuba.

Rupununi’s Kaitan upsets Giddings...

North G/town/District 11 are champs From back page 1:30.20, followed by June Jeffery of District 07 (1:49.36) and Delicia Rodrigues of District 10 (1:50.75). Khan also took Gold in the Girls U-16 50 meters Freestyle in a time of 33.26. Shebekie Duggan of District 10 copped Silver in 36.87 and June Jeffery (District 07) grabbed Bronze in 39.00.

Khan again proved too strong for her rivals in the Girls U-16 100 meters Freestyle stopping the clock at 1:14.54.

June Jeffery 1:31.97 and Sunita Lyte of District 09 1:33.04 placed second and third respectively.

Britany van Lange of District 11 took Gold in the Girls open 50 meters Freestyle in 29.72; she also won the Girls open 50 meters Backstroke in 40.56 and the Girls open 100 meters Freestyle in 1:10.28.

Hannibal Gaskin (Dist.11) topped the field in the Boys open 100 meters Freestyle in 1:00.56. District’s 07 Donovan Washington in 1:06.09 and

Omali Dare in 1:10.84 of District 10 took the other two podium positions in that event.

Joseph Seguina (Dist.11) got the better of his rivals in the Boys 100 meters open Backstroke in 1:16.20. Keon Blount (Dist.10) in 1:33.94 came second ahead of Carlson Raymundo (Dist.09) in 1:34.95.

Onika George (Dist.11) won the Girls U-18 50 meters Butterfly in 36.32, the Girls U18 50 meters Freestyle in 31.41 and the Girls U-18 100 meters freestyle in 1:11.13. The girls U-18 50 meters Breaststroke

and Backstroke titles went to Athena Foo (Dist.11) in 53.77 and 44.64 respectively.

District 11 200 meters open Girls Freestyle Relay team of Soroya Simmons, Accalia Khan, Onika George and van Lange was too good for their opponents, winning that event in 2:08.84. District 10 in 2:29.43 came second and District 07 in 2:30.94, third.

District 10 claimed the top spot in the Boys 200 meters open Freestyle Relay in 2:00.41; they were followed by District 07 in 2:04.12 and District 03 in 2:09.23.

Upper Demerara’s U-16 ace, Kelanie Griffith goes airborne yesterday in the Triple Jump at the Rudolph Harper Facility at the YMCA, Thomas Lands.

From back page New Amsterdam’s Jomul Butts jumped 5.81m to win the Boys Under-16 event with Upper Demerara’s, Kelon Primo (5.61m) second and East Coast Demerara Joel Thom (5.58m) third.

Thom returned to win the Triple Jump event with a leap of 12.04m with Corentyne’s Nathaniel Jordan (11.90m) second and New Amsterdam’s Ryan Bramble (11.90m) third.

In the Girls Under-18 Long Jump, South Georgetown’s Tasnica Lovell with 4.88m had

the top mark with Upper Demerara’s Shannon Griffith 4.88m second and North Georgetown’s Shoquane Daniels (4.22m) third.

Miguel Williams sprang to 6.28m to win the Boys Under-18 event with North Georgetown’s Kevin Abbensetts 6.27m second and Upper Demerara’s Samuel Gray 6.10m third. North Georgetown’s Neil Gordon 6.10m effort was the best mark in the Boys Under-20 category with West Demerara’s Devon Browne 5.95m second and Essequibo Coast Eon Osborne (5.88m) third.

Page 34

Kaieteur News

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Candy Shop, Banks Premium Beer 5-over softball cricket

Memorex A & B are joint champs Memorex A and B teams were declared joint champions and shared the US$450 joint first and second prizes and trophies in the Candy Shop, Banks Premium Beer 5-over softball 7-a-side knock-out cricket competition played on Tuesday last at the Scott’s Church Ground, New Amsterdam, Berbice.

The two teams reached the final which was scheduled to be played under floodlights, however before its commencement, some of the Memorex players requested to leave early because of their involvement in Diwali activities.

The request did not go down well with the organizers, but after some consultations it was decided that the two teams would share the top prizes.

In earlier play, Memorex conquered Bounty Hunters by 9 wickets. Scores, Bounty Hunters 67-4; Memorex 70-1 in 4.1 overs. In game two, East Bank Berbice Sports Club were washed

away by Wash Bay 1, Wash Bay 63-3; EBBSC were sent packing for 24 in 3.4 overs.

Game three saw Memorex B getting the better of Olendorf by 19 runs.

Memorex B 82-1, Olendorf 633.

Wash Bay 2 whipped Republicans by 7 wickets after dismissing their opponents for 36 in 3.2 overs, they replied with 37-3 in 2.2 overs.

The first semifinal saw Wash Bay two batting first and scoring a challenging 804 in their allotment of overs.

Memorex A in their reply plundered 81-2 in just 3.5 overs to win by 8 wickets.

The second semifinal saw Memorex B hammering a tournament high 85-1 with Wahid Edwards scoring an unbeaten 48 (1x4 6x6) and Veerasammy Lalbachan 25 not out, the two blasting the bowlers to all parts of the ground. Wash Bay 1 in their reply made a spirited effort but fell short at 69-4 to lose by 16 runs.

Both Memorex captains

were presented with the winning and runner-up Banks Premium trophies. Waheed Edwards was adjudged the player-of-the-tournament.

Presenting the accolades was Banks DIH’s Mike Fung and Manager of Candy Shop and organizer, Tito Sancho among others.

Outstanding players and officials were also presented with Banks DIH caps and other memorabilia.

Eight teams took part, namely Memorex A and B, Wash Bay of Rose Hall Town Corentyne (two teams), Olendorf Carriers, East Bank Sports Club, Bounty Hunters of West Canje and Republicans of New Amsterdam Prisons.

The organizers expressed thanks to Banks DIH, Candy Shop, Stretch D Dollar Super Markets, D. Sookraj and Sons Establishment, Rajesh Grocery, Desire Clothing, Triple S Taxi Service, Kool Ride Taxi Service, Amerally Sawmills, Sue Brothers Restaurant and Future Vision DVD.

New GPC ‘injects’ life into K&S football tournament

Kashif Muhammad (left) gratefully receives the cheque from Trevor Bassoo in the presence of his colleague, Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major.

The New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation is synonymous with the manufacturing and distribution of healing and other life saving products and yesterday afternoon that agency, situated at Farm ECD, ‘injected’ life into the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament with a large cheque of one million dollars.

Kaieteur Sport travelled all the way to the East Bank Demerara location and witnessed as the financial document exchanged hands between Marketing Manager (New GPC), Trevor Bassoo, and Mr. Kashif Muhammad.

The former individual admitted that his Executive has been impressed with the organizational skills of the K&S duo which resulted in better fortunes and increased opportunities for local ball weavers. This is the 6th year that the company has been on board and Mr. Bassoo attested to the quality of the tournament which has served as the catalyst to continued support.

“The tournament has been extremely

qualitative and has heightened the competitive spirit of local players thus encouraging our support,” exhorted the New GPC Marketing Manager.

Mr. Mohammad expressed deep gratitude to his benefactor even as he committed to hard work to ensure that the tournament retains the high quality fans have grown accustomed to.

Sixteen teams comprising the nation’s best footballers will face the starting lineup, all optimistic of adding their name to the coveted list of top clubs. They will be vying for a top prize of four million dollars while the team finishing second receives one million dollars.

The third and fourth places will cart off $750,000 and $500,000 respectively.

Additionally, the Most Valuable Player will win a luxury motor car while coaches will compete for a motorcycle put up for the best of the lot.

Patrons will also contest for several motorcycles, donated by corporate Guyana as gate prizes. Activities conclude with the grand finals on January 1 next.