Kaieteur News

Saturday Edition

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November 24, 2012 - Vol. 6 No. 44 - Price $80 kaieteurnews@yahoo.com Website:http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

President Ramotar slams Speaker for 'political ruling' Horror at Bonasika Creek…

Jilted man kills wife's lover, chops off spouse's hand

Speaker says Rohee not being sanctioned

Two houses destroyed in early morning Alexander Village fire - Dismisses Attorney General's comments as “froth”

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

One million donated to rebuild One Mile Primary - computers, DVD’s and flash drives also donated New York-based Guyanese Sahaboob Yassin has followed up on a promise made earlier in the year, to donate $1 million to help with the reconstruction of the One Mile Primary School.

Yassin, his wife, and with members of the Youth Coalition for Transformation, including the president Jermaine Grant, travelled to the mining town during the week and made the presentation. Chairman of the

Region Ten Democratic Council (RDC), Sharma Solomon, greeted Yassin.

YCT president Jermaine Grant explained that Mr. Yassin’s visit to Linden was a follow up to the commitment of donations to citizens of Region Ten after Mr. Solomon and Ms Vanessa Kissoon’s recent visit to the United States to meet key stakeholders and Guyanese in the Diaspora.

Grant said that meetings

Sahaboob Yassin hands over the cheque to the Linden representatives were held in New York and New Jersey to highlight the economic challenges and realities of Linden and to forge a partnership with overseas-based Guyanese to support the economic development of Linden and the human development of residents of Region Ten. On welcoming the delegation Mr. Solomon expressed appreciation of Mr. Yassin’s follow up visit and informed the delegation of the mobilization of residents to aid in the rebuilding of the One Mile Primary School and programmes for six communities that are less fortunate to establish community research centres that will target 2,500 young people.

He said that the centres will have interactive libraries with internet access supported from GT&T and also offer reading programs.

Mr. Yassin said that he would be donating the money to the rebuilding effort of the

One Mile Primary School, along with four desktops and eight laptops to the research centers along with DVDs, flash drives, and literature for the libraries at the research centres.

In his presentation before the group, Mr. Yassin committed four computers for the centre with ready software installation and congratulated the group for efforts in setting up the centre.

President of YCT Jermaine Grant said that he was pleased to be present in Linden to engage with the RDC and community based organizations to network and share information and experience to build capacity and empower youths.

Mr. Grant contended that YCT service to the community is to “cement a relation” in partnership.

Member of Parliament, Ms. Vanessa Kissoon, expressed delight at the donation of computers by Mr. (continued on page 15)

Former GBTI head tipped to be GT&T Boss Former banker, Radha Krishna Sharma is tipped to be the new Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T). He is among those shortlisted for the position.

Currently, the Project Manager of the National Competitive Secretariat, Sharma was the former Head of Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI). If chosen, he will replace former Chief Executive Officer, Yog Mahadeo, who resigned earlier this year.

The current acting CEO is Major General (rtd) Joseph Singh who works along with another former CEO, Sonita Jagan, in executing the company’s business.

Sharma holds a Masters of Commerce Degree (Capital Markets and Finance) from the Punjab University, India.

During his tenure, Sharma had overseen the growth of GBTI, which in 2008 recorded

Radha Krishna Sharma net profit of $941 million and boasted total assets of $49.3 billion. The Bank has a 21 per cent share of total commercial bank assets among the six banks in the country.

Sharma is the current Chairman of the Guyana Association of Bankers.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Two houses destroyed in early morning Alexander Village fire Two properties were destroyed and their occupa n t s rendered homeless after an early morning fire gutted two properties early yesterday morning at First Street Alexander Village, Georgetown.

The fire reportedly started at Lot 39 First Street, Alexander Village around 07:35 hours and quickly spread to a second building located close by. A third building was scorched.

Wallace Trotman, owner of one of the burnt out houses said that he was not home at the time of the fire but received a call about what was happening some time after 07:30 hours. The visibly distraught man said that by the time he arrived at the scene, the fire fighters were already there and trying to save his home.

Trotman explained that his son and aunt were at home when the fire started and managed to flee the burning building without suffering any injuries.

He recalled that on Thursday evening, the

electricity supply to the building was fluctuating, and suggested that the fire may have been electrical in origin.

The man said that he had been living at the house for more than 25 years after relocating from Linden.

Trotman said that his losses were astronomical.

Another displaced occupant said that she was about to take a shower when she smelled smoke which ultimately turned to flames.

Nacelle Younge, an occupant of the other house which was burnt, stated that she was at home preparing to go to her brother’s residence to assist with his wedding preparations. The woman added that about 07:25 hours she heard loud screams and as she looked out she saw her neighbour’s house on fire.

She panicked and ran from hers since portions of her home was already on fire.

The woman said that as soon as the fire fighters arrived, she pleaded with them to save her house but noted despite their best efforts, the upper flat of her 41 First Street, Alexander Village home was

The two buildings which were gutted

quickly engulfed in flames.

The woman related that all of the items in her house were completely destroyed.

Another victim, Molly Josiah, stated that she left

home about 5:00h with her two children and while at work, she received a telephone call from a neighbour informing her of the fire. She added that while the fire fighters attempted to

save her belongings, the items were damaged in the process; either water soaked or broken.

The distraught woman cannot estimate her losses but said that they would run into

millions of dollars.

She occupied the lower flat of Younge’s house. The self employed woman stated she is thankful that her children were not at home.

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Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

The plight of the society There must be a lot wrong with the society. It would seem that the last few generations were left to grow on their own, exposed to all the wicked elements in the society because many of them have no values, no regard for human life and certainly, no fear of retribution.

Such a comment may seem unreasonably harsh, especially when we live in a society that holds itself as a democracy and a decent place to live; a society that objects when the media highlight the despicable things in the society and cause those in the Diaspora to take note and reserve their decision about returning to the land of their birth.

Indeed, there are other countries where dastardly crimes are committed but from the media one would never garner such information. This is the case in those islands that rely on tourism for their livelihood. Crimes are either not reported or hidden so deep in the pages that one is likely to miss the information.

But in Guyana, how can one hide the fact that a man who presents himself as a stranger would enter a woman’s home which she shares with her husband and children, beat the woman, douse her with an inflammable substance and only avoids setting her afire because she manages to escape?

How can a man justify barging into the home of a woman who ended a relationship with him and started another with another man? The man hacked off the woman’s arm and killed her paramour as he lay in the bed.

Some would say that it is a crime of passion but we say that it is wanton disregard for life and a case of refusing to accept that every individual has a right to his or her decisions.

How can one hide the fact that there are men who prowl the streets looking for crimes of opportunity and when these present themselves, the men act like barbarians, shooting their victims and then simply walking away to spend the loot in a manner as though there is no tomorrow? This was the case of the Chinese national who had just closed his business. Today there are fears that he would be paralysed at the age of twenty-four.

An office Assistant attached to Kaieteur News was similarly shot because the young perpetrators wanted his motorcycle. They were not content to rob him.

We have women who display marks of violence suffered because their partner simply lost his temper over some trivial matter.

Had these people been acculturalised by a society that is law abiding, then these things would not have happened.

It goes without saying that most of the criminals come from depressed areas or those societies where people place little value to child rearing.

Today, we have the case of the police preparing for heightened criminal activity. They expect the criminals to come out in their numbers.

There was a time in Guyana when the most people had to worry about were the pickpockets. There were a few attacks on people who frequented dark lonely stretches of roadways. These days the police expect attacks in the broad daylight and in the presence of crowds. The criminals are the ones who have no fear of retribution.

Desmond Hoyte introduced draconian legislation to fight drug trafficking. The passage of time has made the financial penalty irrelevant because devaluation has taken its toll.

But there is a clause in the law that allows the judge or magistrate to apply a fine that is three times the value of the drug in relation to the jail sentence. If that is done then we are certain that we would see a decline in drug trafficking.

There should also be draconian legislation for those offences that threaten to reduce the society to a point of anarchy. The laws are not stringent enough and even if they are, the police more often than not do not conduct proper investigations. The result is that the criminals almost always escape deserved penalty.

The society needs a revamp and it had better come now.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Letters... Where your views make the news

Thievery and corruption were never this bad under the PNC DEAR EDITOR, The PNC/APNU and PPP are horrendous political calamities that befell this nation. Theirs is a legacy of corruption, thievery, wrongdoing, brutality, incompetence, arrogance, ignorance and mismanagement. There was thieving, looting, pocketfilling, banditry and rank corruption under the PNC, but was it ever this bad as it is under the PPP? No, it wasn’t. I’ll explain why.

Firstly, while the inclination, intent and desire to steal and corrupt was just as pervasive under the PNC as it is under the PPP and the failed system was just as accommodating and

facilitating, the thieves under the PNC never had it so good as those criminals under the PPP. The size of the economy and the scale of revenues, loans and expenditure under the PNC were minuscule compared to the PPP. The sheer size of the economy under the PPP dwarfs anything under the PNC. The PNC never handled the kind of money the PPP has handled, particularly during the last regime and the current one.

Secondly, GRA’s tax collection renders the PNC’s revenue collection into a joke.

Hundreds of billions are collected in taxes every year.

One can only guess what happens with that money.

A quite puzzling advertisement DEAR EDITOR, In Sunday’s Chronicle, we saw a tender under the Ministry of Education’s Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP) project for the supply of laptops.In the qualification details it was stated that the applicants must have supplied a minimum of 200 Laptops as a single supply to a Government Ministry within the last two years.

We would be grateful to know; 1- How many companies have supplied this amount of Laptops as a single purchase during the last two years? Are

there more than one or two?

2 - Are these tenders being made solely for those companies? In which case, why tender and not request direct quotes from the said suppliers?

3 - If this is the criteria, why would one go about becoming a supplier for laptops to Government agencies if you have not made that single sale?

We have tried without success to have these questions answered and would appreciate response from Government on this.

Interested businessmen

Thirdly, the PPP got a markedly improved free market economy, started by Hoyte, and has built steady, but still subpar for Guyana, economic gains since then.

This economic improvement translates to more revenues, more business activity and more wealth creation. This has further fed the corruption animal, which is now out of its cage and terrorizing the public.

Fourthly, government spending has massively increased under the PPP compared to the PNC despite the fact that the latter was socialist and the former operates a free market economy. These herculean budgets and staggering government spending end up in the hands of a few friends and cronies of the PPP by way of a corrupt and unfair contracting and tendering system.

It is one of the most heinous redistributions of wealth in this country, where taxes from all are put into the hands of a few. There is a class of people created by the PPP, about 1% of the population or around 7500 persons, who live better lives than the middle class in countries like USA, Canada and Germany.

Fifthly, we must examine the difference in the approach to crime and corruption under the PNC and PPP. Corruption was just as rampant under the PNC as it was under the PPP, but the opportunity to steal was less and on a smaller scale, the PNC refused to

allow criminality to overcome the nation, because some within the PPP could profit from bribes from drug cartels or because some ignorantly believed drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises could benefit the economy.

The PNC could have done like the PPP and made Guyana a major cocaine transshipment point during the heydays of the cocaine cartels (1980s), which was when the PNC economy was at its absolute worst, but it didn’t. The rise in corruption under the PPP also occurred in tandem with the rise in criminality. Drug trafficking, smuggling, prostitution and other sicknesses existed under the PNC, but were crushed from every becoming anything more than marginal forces.

While the PNC encouraged politicallymotivated criminals like the House of Israel, it refused to share its space with drug cartels and other socially destructive criminal forces.

Crime and criminality has taken off under the PPP and shames the small time criminality under the PNC. Corruption had another source of income under the PPP from this increased criminality.

Sixthly, the PPP encouraged a plutocracy and oligarchy where a handful of persons were allowed to prosper at the expense of the vast underclass. This means an elite few have secured the (Continued on page 6)

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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

Just say ‘No’ to perceived injustices corners, leaving several windows unmanned. One day I happened to look up in time to see three men emerge from their rooms and then proceed to hang over the rail, laughing and exchanging comments while looking at the queues below.

I overheard the moans of people in the queues who took time off work, to get

DEAR EDITOR, Talk about ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. I read two recent letters in your column which brought home to me Guyana’s continuing pitiful situation.

Tony Vieira refers to the day-to-day unsatisfactory living conditions of Lethem and other communities in the Interior and the rubbish piled up in various parts of Georgetown. Earlier this year, on a short visit to Guyana, I saw this for myself. Apart from the congestion on the pavements and roads, particularly around the Water Street area, I was appalled at the amount of building rubble along Sheriff Street, on the edge of the city, and wondered how people can exist year in and out in such conditions and still remain sane and so cheerful? Or, was it a case of ‘laughing on the outside, crying on the inside’?

As Mr Vieira puts it, “How much will be too much for the Guyanese people? At what point will they say enough”?

Then I read David Shivlall’s letter about his water woes and the disconnection from and

reconnection to the system “without a notice or without telling me anything”. Gross disrespect and a lack of suitable official procedures in place.

Households should always be given a final warning to pay and a chance to do so, before disconnection takes place. To me, water is a health and safety issue, and procedures for disconnection should always provide for special circumstances, e.g. households with elderly people and/or children - a civilized arrangement. By my calculation, the chap handed over G$22,000 within two weeks - a sum not to be sneezed at. It is to be hoped that the outfit concerned shows more respect and consideration for its customers in future.

During my 4 1/2 years’ stay in Guyana in the 1990s, I too have always wondered “at the capacity of the Guyanese people [all races] to endure pain”, especially when visiting the main branches of commercial banks.

People would be standing in long queues, mainly to withdraw their own money, while staffers were chatting in

DEAR EDITOR, Despite its rhetoric to the contrary, the PPP government is not serious about developing our country. In fact, it has shown plain indifference to the serious problems hindering development in Guyana, or it is utterly unable to address these issues.

Everyone knows that the biggest problem holding this country back is the lack of a reliable power supply.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Berbice, on the Upper Corentyne.

For months now, this area has been subjected to the most cruel and embarrassing spate of blackouts, which occur every single week, and

DEAR EDITOR, Here we go again!

Additional proof that once again evil lurks in Guyana and this has driven fear into the hearts and minds of those who believe in the democratic process.

As conscious nationalists we recognize that under the constitution, Guyana has three independent branches of government - Executive (Presidency) Legislative (Parliament) and the Judiciary.

But attempts by the minority Jagdeo/Ramotar regime to control the other two branches are clearly putting democracy and the political process at risk.

Ignoring the noconfidence motion passed against Minister Rohee in July is a case in point. The stubborn cabal had dug in their heels and drawn a line in the sand with the Rohee issue.

Frustrated by the rancour in Parliament, Speaker Raphael Trotman has called on all MPs, especially those in the minority, to be matured and let commonsense prevail.

Implicitly, the speaker is telling the minority PPP MPs that they should abide by the majority

decision if democracy is to triumph and the constitution be respected. Aside from the budget, after almost a year, the 10th Parliament has not passed a single piece of legislation that would improve the welfare of the poor and the working class.

T h e P P P ’s p r i m a r y focus is that Rohee not be barred from speaking in Parliament, which could result in a political crisis.

Which brand of insanity can cause them to believe that they can neglect the human capital for generations; process hundreds of thousands of our children through a substandard educational system; provide poor medical service to the masses; spend billions of taxpayers’ dollars to build shoddy projects like the Marriott Hotel; deliver no justice for most of the wrongs committed against t h e p o o r, a n d a l l o w corruption and crime to continue unabated, while they make Rohee their main focus?

What is wrong with this dictatorial regime? If the PPP’s plan was to use the “noconfidence” motion against Rohee to place the country in a political crisis and then blame the opposition, it surely

backfired. Speaker Trotman not only pre-empted such a move, but his ruling that Rohee cannot speak in Parliament until determined by the Privileges Committee dumbfounded the PPP, especially PM Sam Hinds and Anil Nandlall, who thinks he is a constitutional expert.

Speaker Trotman’s remarkable performance in Parliament on Thursday, November 22 , may just have saved the nation from a political crisis.

Trotman has shown that he has got what it takes to silence some of the bombastic and acerbic PPP members of Parliament, who continue to behave as if they are the majority.

We p r a i s e S p e a k e r Trotman for his courageous act of gagging Minister Rohee until the Privileges Committee speaks some time next year, if it will ever do so.

However, it is now clear that it will take awhile before Rohee is given the opportunity to speak in Parliament.

We hope that Mr. Ramotar would heed the Speaker’s ruling and consequently remove the Minister of Home Affairs.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

some money, and had to choose between leaving without it or face losing their jobs. Their attitude was “What can we do”?

My own ‘enough is enough’ moment came when, having stood in a queue for over 10 minutes, to make a withdrawal, a customer entered the bank with US dollars sticking out from his

palm. The cashier, with a grin broader than his, beckoned him forward. I stepped from my queue in front of him, mentioned how long we had been waiting, and asked him to allow me to be served first.

He willingly agreed. Honour was satisfied. No doubt others later did likewise.

Customers should be served in turn. (Incidentally,

the most efficient queuehandling I have come across so far was in Hong Kong.

The Chinese use their hands with great dexterity hand, eye and brain seem perfectly co-ordinated). It is a truism ‘we are treated the way we allow ourselves to be treated’. Just say ‘No’ to perceived injustices.

Geralda Dennison

PPP is not serious about developing Guyana

Speaker Trotman saved Guyana from a political crisis

often for extended periods of time. When was the last time this area enjoyed a one-week supply of uninterrupted power? And despite all the promises of GPL officials, the power supply has not improved a bit!

How can this government expect this area to develop when businesses suffer significant financial losses whenever there is a blackout, and when businesses are packing up and/or moving out? How can businesses innovate and use new technologies and computerize their operations when a reliable supply of power, which is essential for doing so, is unavailable?

It is simply unrealistic and infeasible to expect businesses to depend on backup generators that cost thousands of dollars, and even more in operating expenses, and which eat away significantly at any profits earned.

The response of the PPP government towards the blackout crisis on the Upper Corentyne has been downright sickening.

This is an administration that loves to talk about encouraging new developments and entrepreneurship, but which is impotent to do anything about the horrible management at GPL that is

hindering development of not just Berbice, but the entire country.

As other letter writers have previously stated, we, the people of the Upper Corentyne, are sick and tired of the government’s failure to adequately address the blackout crisis in our area.

If this government is serious about development in Guyana, then I challenge any minister to respond to my letter and explain why we still do not have a reliable power supply in Guyana, and what immediate steps this government has taken to rectify this situation.

Seema Chatterdeo

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

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

Essequibians’ transportation woes Thievery and corruption...

DEAR EDITOR, Some things are really getting out of hand. Last Saturday I was traveling to Supenaam from Parika via the speedboat service. The time was about 10: 55hrs.

When I boarded the vessel, there were 12 adult passengers seated, along with 5 children within the approximate ages of 8-14.

Subsequently the boat left Parika with 22 adult passengers. This did not include the captain, sailor(bow man) and the children. The boat is registered for 19 passengers.

This was written on the bow.

Fortunately, we arrived at Supenaam without any eventualities. My question is.

What is the purpose of the monitors at these boarding and discharging points? Is it not to ensure that all boats leave with the registered amount? This matter was reported to the monitor on arrival at Supenaam. I am 90% positive this is occurring on a daily basis.

The other concern is that the Christmas season is upon us. Why can’t the ‘roll on roll off’ ferries work on a schedule, to facilitate the Essequibo commuters? Say one leaves Supenaam between 4-5 am

and leaves Parika at 4-5pm?

My understanding is that the tide would not be an issue with these new ferries, and they are relatively fast. Just under two hours for a oneway trip.

I am sure scores of travellers would use this service. And of course, more revenue will come in. I really don’t see why this system cannot be put in place. The current situation is really frustrating for folks traveling from Essequibo. The fare for the speedboat is ridiculous. $1300! Car fare from Supenaam to Anna Regina is $700! My understanding is that these ferries were bought to bring relief to the traveling public to and from Essequibo.

Lots of people will want to go home (Essequibo) to visit families and friends and would like to take their vehicles. With four boats plying the route, the holiday must be a jolly one.

I sincerely hope the relevant authorities will do something about the overloading of the speedboats and give consideration to the suggestion for the roll-on -roll -off ferries.

Concerned Citizen

(From page 4) majority of the spoils, something that occurred under the PNC to a far lesser extent.

Seventh, corruption was more diffuse under the PNC, with many corrupters sharing a smaller pie. Under the PPP, the bulk of what is stolen goes to a handful of individuals closely connected to the regime.

Eighth, the PPP has perfected the system of corruption by making it more mainstream, putting more assets for the taking, creating incredible schemes and making it easier to steal with impunity.

Ninth, while there was corruption under the PNC, Burnham and Hoyte never enabled corruption to attain the towering heights that it acquired under the PPP. There was an unspoken limit and the crooks within the PNC knew that limit.

Corruption and skulduggery has been seen as a limitless exercise in the past decade of PPP rule.

Tenth, while both the PNC and PPP have failed to punish corrupt officials, this sickness we see where

auditors who uncovered corruption are sanctioned and other evils would not have been tolerated by Burnham, and definitely not Hoyte.

The PNC were a band of thieves, but the PPP has made the PNC looters look like altar boys.

The PNC didn’t have a lot to steal from. The PPP had a lot to steal from and they did take thieving to an entirely new level where these guys just will not stop. It seems like this is now a competition.

The PNC created a cesspool where corruption and wrongdoing is a cultural, social, psychological and societal fixture and the PPP has taken it into the stratosphere.

Many engaged in corruption under the PNC because of basic survival.

They took enough to provide just minimally for their families.

Today, the stealing is to buy fancy boats, foreign homes in the USA, to stuff bank accounts in th e Caymans and to build leisure quarters that are bigger than the homes of

the majority of the poor citizens of this country.

Today, even when there is significantly better pay for officials, as shown by those outrageous salaries the PPP pays its cronies (some at OP), the scourge is killing everything in its sight.

It is like a bandit kicking down your door and instead of roughing you up after taking a few things, emptying your entire home and then killing you in cold blood.

There is no relief for the working class under the PPP, just as there wasn’t any under the PNC. The PNC and PPP have made criminals out of some Guyanese. They have pushed some Guyanese to thieving, corrupting, defrauding and cheating in order to survive.

This is no kind of existence for any people or civilization. Corruption was never this bad under the PNC for the reasons I outlined above.

If the PNC ever returns to power, it will be corrupt. The question is whether it will ever be as corrupt as the PPP. M. Maxwell

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 7

Negotiations start on liberalization of telecoms sector Government has started a series of meetings with the two telephone companies in Guyana in its continued attempts to free up the telecoms sector.

A number of senior executives from Digicel’s regional offices met with President Donald Ramotar on Thursday to discuss, among other things, competitive international rates.

The National Assembly was set to start considering the Telecommunications Amendment Bill and the Public Utility Commission’s Amendment Bill 2012 on Thursday but Prime Minister, Sam Hinds, withdrew both stating that negotiations have started.

Hinds have ministerial responsibilities of the telecommunications sector.

According to a government statement late Thursday, Director of Digicel, Patrick James Mara, met President Ramotar and Prime Minister Hinds for talks regarding the company’s growing impatience at liberalisation of the international telecommunications market.

Issues raised included the approval needed to offer competitive international rates.

The liberalization has

been simmering now for a number of years with government intending to allow other players to step into the market.

Already, Government has sold its 20 per cent stakes in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), in anticipation of the liberalization.

But the process has not been all smooth sailing. GT&T which has a binding contract and monopoly on international calls has been strenuously objecting and its parent company, Atlantic TeleNetwork (ATN), has even threatened to go to court.

Days before the end of the Ninth Parliament last year, Government pulled the proposed legislative changes from the National Assembly, signaling that it is consulting with GT&T and Digicel.

The Alliance For Change, too, has its own liberalization Bills. According to the party’s leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, the Bills would be withdrawn in light of the talks.

Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s service providers had been given copies of the Bill to peruse and were recently informed of Government’s intention to put on hold, the second reading of the bills pending negotiations with

- Digicel meets with President Ramotar, PM President Donald Ramotar and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds in discussion with Digicel’s top executives on Thursday

Digicel and GT&T. Mara, who was accompanied by Digicel Guyana’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gregory Dean, and Caribbean Chief Operations Officer, Kevin White, was given the assurance by the President and Prime Minister that the

legislation will be handled expeditiously save for any opposition impediments.

“We certainly have the President’s assurance that they want to bring liberalisation to the international market; they want to bring it quickly and that they will bring this Bill to

the select committee as soon as possible with the support of the opposition groupings,” Mara said.

In July, Digicel, acting on a High Court ruling on GT&T’s monopoly, arbitrarily moved to slash international rates by 88 percent but was blocked by an injunction filed

by GT&T and a reprimand from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

GT&T currently holds a 20-year monopoly licence for landline communication and other services, occupying shares with its parent company Atlantic Tele Network (ATN).

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Government gets excavators from Japan The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) yesterday handed over a fleet of excavators and two pontoons valued at approximately US$3.5 million to the Government of Guyana.

The contribution of equipment and machinery was secured through a US$7 million grant which was approved by the Japanese Government a few years

subsequent to the 2005 flooding.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has made this grant available to the Government of Guyana for the Rehabilitation of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC).

The main purpose of the initiative is to increase Guyana’s preparedness to natural disasters and the

Postmortem confirms epileptic woman died by drowning Odessa Fraser, the epileptic whose body was found in a ditch in East Ruimveldt on Thursday, died by drowning, This was confirmed yesterday during an autopsy by Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh.

Kaieteur News understands that there was a substantial amount of mud in the victim’s lungs. The corpse bore no injuries. Investigators have concluded that Fraser drowned after suffering a seizure. The woman was found lying face-down in the ditch around 06:00 hrs on Thursday.

A resident told Kaieteur

News that it was around then that his wife looked through a window and screamed out: “Don’t tell me this girl dead.”

On looking outside, he saw Fraser lying with her upper body in the drain.

Fraser had moved out of her mother’s home last October after a dispute.

On Wednesday night, she turned up in front of her mother’s home with the intention of moving back in but was refused entry.

The man alleged that during that time, Fraser suffered three epileptic attacks, but her mother still refused to let her in.

effects of climate change.

This is the first component of the two year Project. Eight Kabelco excavators and two pontoons were thus far been donated by the Japanese Government. Another part of the deal is expected to be realized shortly.

Chief Executive Officer of the Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth, said that the new machinery with better aid in improving the efficiency of the drainage system, especially in Region Four and its environs.

Wordsworth noted that added to the new equipment, the Japanese company will assist with the spare parts and maintenance issues as well as training of operators to function in that capacity.

According to JICA Caribbean’s Chief Representative Shoj Ozawa more than 1000 of the company’s personnel will be available to train locals in uses of Japanese technology.

At the handing over ceremony, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, expressed gratitude to JICA for the much needed contribution which he says comes “in the middle of an El Nino phenomenon.”

However, the Minister

Some of the newly commissioned equipment noted that the additional equipment will be beneficial to not merely the Agricultural sector but communities across Guyana once rainy season starts. Ramsammy said that with this addition the Ministry will now have 67 excavators and seven pontoons under its management.

The Minister also lauded

the Japanese Government for its integrity.

He recalled that the grant was approved at the time when Japan was facing its own disaster. He reiterated that the notion will significantly contribute to the sustenance and development of the Agricultural sector.

Japan’s Ambassador to

Guyana Yoshimasa Tezuka said that Japan is indeed grateful to extend aid in disaster management in an attempt to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.

He held that the Japanese Government looks forward to strengthening and improving further, future relations with Guyana.

Saturday November 24, 2012

I would love to live to one hundred years. Beyond that, my limbs and joints would have become calcified, cataract surgery would be impossible as my sight declines and even if I could survive the operation, my memory would fade.

That would be the right time for me to go and meet my Maker.

But before then, I would love to spend the remaining days of my life in Guyana where the sun shines everyday and where even on the highest mountain peaks, it is bearable.

I would love to live in a new capital, located somewhere on the banks of the Essequibo River. I would love to each morning wake up to the birds chirping, and to see and experience the dew on the grass.

I would love nothing better than to have a window looking out to the rising morning sun and when evening sets to experience that wonderful sunset that can only be found in Guyana.

I would love to be able to swim in the warm creeks until the day I die and to sit all day under a tree, read a good book or find a faithful companion who will not run off-- as is the case so often these days-with someone else.

I would love to grow old gracefully and hope that the NIS does not close down before I receive my benefits. I hope that no new sickness afflicts me since this would

Kaieteur News

mean my automatic disqualification from benefits from the NIS. I hope to have the privacy to bathe at least once every three months in the rain without the police hauling me over for indecent exposure despite me having on my underpants.

I would love to sit in the evenings on and enjoy the cool nights under a lovely starry sky, reminisce about the day gone by and the days long gone, never to return.

I would love to do the things that I never had the time to do in my younger days.

I would love t o c o l l e c t stamps, to learn the art of barbering and how to finally play the guitar. That surely cannot be asking too much.

I would love to see hydroelectricity come to Guyana, finally. Too many promises have been made, too many dreams have been abandoned.

It looks as if we will finally have hydro-electricity, cheap current as they say. I hope that those who will inherit this cheap energy and use it in their homes and factories will be willing to pay for it and not have the GPL running after them.

I hope that I can travel by road all the way to Boa Vista and from there join the transcontinental highway all the way to Argentina. But I hope more than anything else to return to Guyana, where each

Dem boys seh ...

Irfaat get ketch thiefing Is a long time dem boys know that is sheer crooks deh in high places. Dem crooks get expose de other day and when other people woulda feel shame dem just don’t care. Irfaat and he kavakamites hustle off wid US$120,000. That is $24 million and dem ain’t had to do nutten. De money ain’t come from de budget.

Is when de word buss out that Chris Brown wasn’t coming that somebody talk bout de money that get thief out. Sharma, de Auditor General got to find it. He got to check de Lotto Funds and NICIL fuh know wheh lose money. He might also want to check NIS because money disappearing from that place like how ice does disappear from a bowl in de hot sun.

Irfaat was de fus one who decide fuh blame de opposition because Chris Brown wasn’t coming when he know damn well that dem never tie up a deal wid de singer. He cuss Granger, he cuss Ramjattan and he cuss Nigel. Dem boys seh that he behave like a thief man who thief and then decide fuh run wid de crowd hollering “Thief, Thief” like if he innocent.

Chris Brown people talk loud and clear that dem never finalise any agreement wid Guyana. De local people and Irfaat and all of dem decide fuh fool de people how Chris Brown coming suh that at de last moment when dem mek de announcement de people woulda done mek up dem mind to go to de show. That is de dishonesty.

Dem never complete de deal but dem hustle off de money.

If Brown people seh that dem never tie up a deal who woulda tek de money. Uncle Sam don’t mek joke wid dem kinda thing and Chris Brown don’t want go back to jail.

He done seh that Irfaat and he kavakamites must show de receipt and dem must tell de people who collect de money.

Dem boys want all of dem go to jail fuh thiefing and lying. But then again, once a thief and a liar, always a thief and a liar.

Now de people know how Irfaat and all of dem does lie.

He claim how APNU lef young people wid sour face. Dem young people face sour because dem realize that dem get con.

Talk half and brace fuh more lie

day there is sunshine and lovely people.

I hope that the new generation of Guyanese people never forget to cook their cultural foods. What would Guyana be without its foods? What would Guyana be without Banks Beer and El Dorado rum?

I would love to see more of the interior of Guyana. I would love to see roads open up this interior to more people so that they can appreciate what they have and stop dreaming of a better life overseas because the best life is here in Guyana.

I would love to travel on the roll-on ferries I would love to see the people of Guyana stop fighting around politics. I would love to see politics bring people together rather than divide them. I would love to see everybody being happy.

I would love to see a railway to Lethem. This will be great for travel and tourism. I would love to see a railway line also run along the Corentyne River so as to open up more lands and then veer over the river to link up with

Page 9

Suriname. From there you can travel by good roads all the way to French Guiana.

I would love to see more tourists come to Guyana and create jobs for our people and fill the hotel rooms. But I would not like to see a white elephant constructed at great expense to the people of Guyana.

Guyana needs its present hotels to be filled; it does not need any new massive hotel.

I would love to see all those specialty services that are being provided by private hospitals and by some new hospital which is to be

constructed to be done by the public health system so that I, when my time comes for some major surgery, my little savings do not have to go to private individuals who are going to make a great deal of money if specialist health care is put in the hands of those who already have more money than they can spend.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Immigration TALK: Questions & Answers By: Attorney Gail S. Seeram Through this “Question & Answer” column, our goal is to answer your immigration questions. Many of you have questions on backlog time and eligibility – we seek to clarify these issues and more.

We appreciate your comments and questions. If you have a question that you would like answered in this column, please email: Gail@GailLaw.com Question #1: I am a green card holder. I live and work in Guyana and travel to the United States every six months, do I have to pay taxes in the U.S.? I never filed a tax return in the U.S. Answer #1: As a green card holder or permanent resident, you are supposed to file a federal tax return in the U.S. if you have earned income in the U.S. or outside the U.S. There may be certain credits you are eligible for if the income was already taxed abroad.

Failure to file or pay federal taxes in the U.S. may be a ground for removal/ deportation and a ground to deny further citizenship applications. I advise you to consult with a U.S. accountant or tax preparer to determine your tax liability, if any.

Question #2: I am a green card holder and live and work in Guyana. I am waiting on

my wife’s paperwork to be approved at the U.S. Embassy.

We have about a year more to wait. I travel to the U.S. every five or six months and spend two to three weeks in the U.S. I am worried about my next reentry into the U.S. and being questioned about the amount of time I spend outside the U.S. Answer #2: Yes, you should be worried. Customs and Border Protection officers are increasingly getting tough with green card holders or permanent residents who spent a greater amount of time outside the U.S. than inside the U.S. Remember, you lose your green card automatically if you spend more than one year and one day continuously outside the U.S. However, any time less than one year spent outside the U.S., then the officer has the discretion to take away your card if he determines you have abandoned your residency based on travel history or lack of property and employment ties to the U.S. Question #3: I was deported from the U.S. in 1995 for illegal entry. A few years back I applied for a visitor visa and was advised I was permanently banned. Is this correct?

Answer #3: A ground for denial of a visa (or ground of inadmissibility) to the U.S. is fraudulent misrepresentation to gain entry into the U.S.

Gail S. Seeram If you gained entry into the U.S. in 1995 illegally through fraud (whether it was a fraudulent passport or visa), then this is a ground to deny issuance of a visa. When you apply for a tourist visa, make sure you disclose your prior illegal entry or else you will be committing a fraudulent misrepresentation again.

Question #4: I entered the U.S. with a tourist visa and overstayed for 8 years. I returned to Guyana after getting tired of being in the U.S. without status. What are my options for returning to the U.S.?

Answer #4: If you overstayed in the U.S. illegally for more than one year and leave the U.S. then you face a ten-year ban from returning to the U.S. Once the ten years have passed and you remained outside the U.S. for ten years, then you can benefit from a family-based petition filed by a spouse, child, parent or sibling.

MUSE or AMUSE

Victorian secrets and nepotism The recent cultural uproar over appropriation of a cultural icon by the wellknown Victoria Secret brand reverberates with many. While many of us love to get into Victoria’s secrets, we also revere and revel in confusion and diffusion of things cultural.

The past years have been a cultural revelation to me. On one hand, the political boycott of businesses that backed the PPP slate has created a scenario where African businesses are being obliterated. Who would lose in the long run?

Victoria may keep her secrets, but would have to learn from Guyana on how to create total secret. The Guyana Government continues to weave its shroud of secrecy around everything.

Transparency in Guyana is a dream that may not be realized in our lifetime. While the government continues to operate as though it cannot reveal any detail of anything to the public, they have effectively muzzled the human rights and transparency agencies.

Regardless of the work by these agencies, the

government is still blind and deaf to the need for transparency.

The PPP is obviously not enjoying its current position of being in opposition in Parliament while holding the offices of Government. But nothing is changing. It is using the same maligned persons to lead its political front as they attempt to drum up support across Guyana.

While President Donald Ramotar is yet to discover his own identity, the PPP identity is slowly but surely being replaced by those of the ilk of the former president. And, while we wonder what goes on behind the walls of the Freedom House, it is obviously not the Freedom of Guyana or its peoples that are contemplated. Those secrets will be revealed one day but will not be as tempting as Victoria’s secrets.

The PPP history of Red is however becoming blue. The Red has ceased to reflect revolution and struggle for freedom; instead it now represents the shroud over any possibility for transparency. The blue battles or elitist establishment is clear as certain elite persons are

cast into roles, positions and boards that are aimed at ensuring lesser and lesser visibility of transactions and deals.

The composition of the board of the Privatization Unit, the Broadcast Authority Board and the recent so-called “negotiations” of the telephone companies are examples of the clear intent to hide the truth.

The Government continues to delay the liberalization of the telecommunications sector. It is almost as if it is waiting for its current employee to get into the telecoms’ top position (and that its Chinese counterparts are firmly in place).

Meanwhile, the nepotistic overtures of the telecoms appointment is obvious as the intent to control the company from USA and Canada makes the case for family, familyfriends and Government employees to assert themselves in top positions of control.

The secrets may never be seen, but the writing is on the wall. Guyana’s development continues to be in distress.

And we continue to be abused. We are not amused.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Politicians’ immature behaviour in National Assembly hinders investment - GCCI Immaturity of politicians in the National Assembly and political instability are frustrating investments in Guyana- which is the most exciting economy in the Caribbean Region to invest in, says Clinton Urling, Chairman of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Chairman made those comments yesterday, one day after the Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, barred Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, from tabling Bills. The Speaker ruled that the Minister will have to appear before the Committee of Privileges where he will have to defend himself.

Rohee has been criticized by the Opposition for his handling of the security in the country and especially the Linden protests in July which resulted in the shooting death of three protestors.

On November 7, the first sitting of Parliament after a nine-week recess was abruptly adjourned by the Speaker because of the Opposition’s unruly behaviour. The Opposition had refused to allow Rohee to speak by chanting loudly “Rohee must go” even though the Speaker had earlier declared that Rohee should be allowed to speak uninterrupted.

It was reconvened on Thursday when time was

again spent discussing the Rohee issue.

According to Urling, GCCI finds the situation in Parliament worrying since important issues such as Constitutional Reform, National Insurance Scheme revenue, National Budget 2013 preparation, and Oil and Gas Regulations should be the focus.

He deemed the matter relating to Rohee petty, but that the ruling of the Speaker-whether in favour of Government or the Opposition-- must be respected. The work of Parliament needs to continue without fighting which is harmful to the development of the country.

According to Urling, the new dispensation in Parliament with the Opposition having a one-seat majority should have been treated as a positive. But egos are holding up the work of Parliament. This has resulted in potential investors having a “wait and see approach” to investment in Guyana.

He noted that almost daily, local and foreign investors interact with GCCI and their biggest concern that is a risk to the country is political instability and not crimes.

Reflecting on Guyana’s political history, Urling said that whenever there is a political situation leading disturbances the economy experiences downward

Chairman of GCCI, Clinton Urling growth.

Urling emphasized that at this juncture he will not tell any investor that GCCI has confidence in Guyana’s political climate. In fact, the public confidence in Parliamentarians is at an all time low, he added.

According to the Chairman, Guyana is the most exciting economy in the Caribbean Region with many big businesses wanting to invest. The gold mining industry is robust and has been having spin-off effects in other sectors but progress will only occur with political stability.

He explained that the recent unrest in Linden that resulted in investors pulling out of the district and obstruction in the mining industry is harmful to the environment.

Prof. Samad explains absence from convocation

By Leon Suseran An acting Director has been appointed to head the University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC). Phillip Da Silva was appointed acting Director by a letter dispatched

by Registrar, Vincent Alexander on October 31, 2012.

This happened days before the 11th Convocation on November 17, last. Former Director, Professor Daizal Samad’s four- year contract came to an end on November 1, 2012 but he was however, “granted permission” to present the Director’s Report at the graduation. He did not show up, saying that it “was rude and unnecessary” for him to have received a letter less than 24 hours prior to the graduation to deliver the address.

Prof. Samad said that it was too short notice to prepare his speech. “I wasn’t prepared to be there. My report is [usually] expected to be articulate, coherent and informative— they do not know what it takes—I spend weeks preparing!” He stated, too, that he was “granted special

Professor Daizal Samad permission” to deliver the address and it was “very, very shabby treatment”.

“I will apologize to the public, the graduates and their parents. I am here to serve, but not at the expense of my dignity”. “I respect them [the people] too much to turn up there [at the convocation] and say a whole lot of ordinaries”, he related.

Samad stated that his contract should have been extended for a month until the

convocation had been completed, even without pay.

He stated that he was integrally involved in the planning of the event and worked assiduously to get things in place but had to drop everything and vacate the position due to the appointment of someone else as Acting Director.

Prof. Samad, in the past, has always been outspoken about the problems at the Turkeyen Campus and has criticized the poor administration and infrastructural situations there.

He has stated numerous times, too, that Turkeyen has “collapsed” and he will not allow the same to happen in Berbice or for UGBC to be bullied by Turkeyen. He has called on numerous occasions, too, for autonomy for the Berbice Campus.

He is worried that his four years of work might go down the drain now that he is out of the position of Director of the campus, but Kaieteur News was told by a senior official in Berbice that Prof. Samad should allow due process to take its course.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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US$6.6M Black Bush Polder Road project ...

Remedial works being executed on newly completed roadway - Regional Chairman Minor remedial works are being executed on the recently completed US$5.5M Black Bush Polder Road by the contractor, BK International.

The entire project which includes the erection of bridges and installation of culverts costs US$6.6M. According to Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, remediation works are being executed in the liability defects period. He assured that the contractor will not be paid in full until the remedial works are done.

“BK International has got some remedial works to do already on the newly- built sections of the farm-to-market road. I have noticed him squaring up some of the parts of the roads that were damaged as a result of mud piling up—and maybe a little bit of poor work in some of the areas, but he [BK] is working on that to make sure all is well before the end of the year. The contractor will not be paid for the road until the remedial works are done,” Armogan stressed.

Meanwhile, two remaining

concrete bridges being constructed under project are expected to conclude by December 15-- almost one month after the 34.5 kilometers of roadway was completed.

The structures are said to be 50 percent completed.

The project experienced several extensions with the most recent being in April 2012 when President Donald Ramotar, Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn inspected works.

BK International was able to conclude construction of the US$5.5M roadway; erection of five of the seven concrete bridges and two wooden bridges; and the installation of 50 pipe culverts on November 13.

Apparently, the two concrete bridges that are now being constructed were not in the original design.

According to Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, who recently visited Berbice, information from his technical team, consultants and engineers, “the road would have passed the various test—the bitumen

tests—minor corrective works have been identified to the contractor.”

An Engineer of the Public Works Ministry said that the scope of the works involved building the roadway 20 feet wide with 12 inches of thickness of recycled road material without cement and six inches of stabilizing material.

In addition, the roadway has close to two inches of asphalted concrete surface.

According to the Engineer, the cost for the construction of the roadway was reduced, because for the first time the Ministry recycled road materials. It was explained that traditionally the Ministry would not reuse road materials.

The Engineer said that the average cost to construct one kilometer of roadway using the traditional method is US$300,000. But, using recycled materials saw the Ministry enjoying a 25 per cent reduction in cost.

In relation to the construction of the concrete

Section of the recently completed Black Bush Polder Road bridges the Engineer said that the contractor built the structures with timber beams and concrete decking.

However, the two bridges that are now being constructed would have steel beams with concrete decking.

The road was construc t e d f o r f a r m t o

market purposes and according to Edghill he is displeased with the weight being transported on the structure.

“What we have observed is that the trucks operating in the polder— mainly single-axle trucks which, all of them which I

have seen, carried with them, extension in the trays and that would have meant they are carrying greater weight than they were supposed to be carrying,” he said.

He added, “Double axle tonnage in a single axle truck (continued on page 15)

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Republic Bank, Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business train young entrepreneurs Republic Bank Guyana Limited, through its Berbice branches and its commercial customer business programme, in collaboration with the Arthur Lok Jack Gradu a t e School of Business, University of the West Indies successfully completed a five-week training programme for young business entrepreneurs in Berbice.

Ele ven completed the training programme which was held once weekly at the Little Rock Suites, Main and Church Streets, New Amsterdam.

The young business entrepreneurs are now equipped with the knowledge and interpersonal skills to oversee the expansion of the respective business projects.

The programme, which is an ongoing effort by Republic Bank with assistance from the revered Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, prepares participants for successful planning, organising and operating small to medium size businesses in various sectors in our economy.

The programme which started in September 2010 saw a specially selected group of

The participants pose with their certificates and with Republic Bank’s facilitator Ms. Natasha Subero customers from the Ancient County benefiting from training aimed at improving their ability to assess and understand the business environment and effectively drive business strategy.

The participants are also trained to implement, financial

management tips and techniques and marketing in the face of new challenges.

The programme is designed to prepare entrepreneurs for successful planning, organising and operating small to medium size businesses in various sectors

within the economy.

The programme also seeks to create a network of business professionals equipped with the tools to enhance their business and increase productivity.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Manager of

Republic Bank New Amsterdam branch, Imran Saccoor, noted that the bank has already seen noteworthy results for some of those who participated.

He said that the skills acquired will help them to manage the challenges which

lie ahead.

Manager of the Rose Hall Branch, Leon Mc Donald, who delivered the feature address, stated that the bank is likely to benefit indirectly from the knowledge acquired by the entrepreneurs.

He stated that the bank remains committed to advancing strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

Speaking with this publication, facilitator Natasha Subero, of Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, said entrepreneurs who have the skills to start a business may not have the skill to grow that business. “Some persons may lack the ability to communicate effectively with employees or may not be able to master human relations skills.�

The entrepreneurs included persons in the electrical field, advertising, poultry, auto sales, pest control and agriculture.

The facilitators were Mr. Hilary Bengochea, Mr. Nigel Chinapoo and Ms. Natasha Subero, lecturers at the Author Lok Jack Graduate School of Business University Of The West Indies

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Teacher still incapacitated after British National jailed for cocaine bomb throwing at Diwali observance in salt fish and marvex bottle A 25-year-old British man was yesterday jailed for three years after he was found guilty of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

The accused, Kwesi Headley, was sentenced by Magistrate Leslie Sobers at the Providence Magistrate’s Court. In October 2010, Headley was charged for being in possession of 12.3 kilograms of cocaine; Headley was about to board a New York bound Delta Airlines flight when the drug was found in his possession, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

According to Prosecutor Shellon Daniels, the drug was found hidden in salted fish and in a Marvex bottle. The

The injured teacher on her bed

items were first detected in the man’s suitcase, by a scanner.

The suitcase was then searched by Police AntiNarcotics ranks, who were suspicious about the items.

One of the fish was cut open and a white powered substance was found in it, the Marvex bottle was also cut open and the same substance was found in it. The substance subsequently tested positive as cocaine.

The Magistrate in handing down his sentence, said that he was not satisfied with the case put forwar d b y t h e man’s lawyer, Sonia Parag.

Ms. Parag in her client’s defence had told the court that her client had no knowledge of the cocaine.

The lawyer had argued that her client was given the items by a relative to take to the United States. The Magistrate told the accused that he is not satisfied; since Headley was unable to say to whom the items were to be given.

He further told the accused that he hardly believes that the United States has a shortage of bleach for him to be taking bleach to that country.

The man’s lawyer then asked that her client be given a light sentence given the fact that he had already spent one year in prison because he was unable to post bail. The magistrate took that into consideration and imposed the three-year sentence.

One million donated to rebuild ...

The Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) teacher who had an explosive device thrown at her during a Diwali programme two Mondays ago is still in severe pain and recuperating at home. But the recuperation is not going so well.

Meanwhile, the student who hurled the device has not been apprehended.

Additionally, the teacher has not heard anything from the School, the Welfare Department, the education officials in the region, nor the police.

The teacher, Samantha Prince, feels helpless and is currently on medical leave.

She is in excruciating pain in her right foot. She is currently on antibiotics and using ointments.

The teacher said that she was in the middle of the auditorium that fateful afternoon “supervising” the programme so that the children would not throw any squibs as is the custom. “I did not see the squib or the direction from which it came.

All I remembered was that I was standing and then I felt my foot get numb. I looked down and saw it bleeding”.

She hopped to the head

teacher’s office with the assistance of two of her colleagues. “I was sitting there and I had some students who sopped it with some methylated alcohol.”

She said that she asked to visit the hospital but was asked by the head teacher to visit the police station first.

She declined because of the intense pain she was feeling.

She did visit the hospital and “they dressed the foot and they told me I had to go back the next morning for dressing. After that, I visited the station”.

Two students were arrested that afternoon and taken to the Central Police Station for questioning. They were thought to have been the perpetrators. The police took a statement from the teacher as well. A report, as requested by the Department of Education, was written up by both the head teacher and teacher.

Prince stated, “After that, nobody called, nobody asked me how I was feeling or how the foot was or nothing”. She stated, too, that currently, she cannot move around as she likes and that the foot is swollen and needs to be cleaned very often since it

oozes blood. The doctors related to her that the explosive device “went next to a vein”.

The Home Economics teacher stated that “if I get up, you gonna see the blood running out, so you gotta be sitting all the time and keep the foot down.”

She related that she might have to seek the services of a private doctor since “she does not like how the foot is looking”. She has been hopping all the time on the left foot. “It’s hard and it’s me alone living here and I have kids to take care of”.

Prince said that what is hurting her “is that nobody from the Education Department ain’t call. It’s hard. And it makes you feel like you do not have a place in the teaching profession, because if a child could throw a squib and nothing comes out of the matter—the person is suffering and is at home”.

She noted that even though the Diwali programme was called off, the students kept throwing explosives even after the school was dismissed.

Kaieteur News was unable to contact the head teacher of the school.

From page 13 could pose weight problems for the road. The engineers he said, informed him that the road has been designed for 32ton trucks, and so, we want to find a solution for that, not make a demand…We need to talk to the people if we want to have long life for the road.”

administration and “we have gone through and measured all the roads and we are paying to measure the works.”

In some cases where the contractors were mandated to do 700 feet of roadway, inspections by Armogan and his team revealed that only 600 feet were done. “So there is no question of overpaying people for work that was not done and we are measuring all the works and paying for measuring the works,” he said.

The majority of contractors, he said, are up

to standard but there are a few whose “wo r k s a r e substandard and we have asked them to remedy those works before we make any payments.”

He noted that the Manchester-Lancaster Corentyne areas were inspected recently “and we have seen that the layer of crusher-ru n t h a t w a s supposed to be placed on that road, did not have that amount, so we asked the contractor to go back and remedy the work, or he will not be paid.”

Remedial works being ...

INSPECTIONS TO ENSUREVALUE FOR MONEY According to the Regional Chairman, 60 percent of road works in Berbice have been inspected by his

From page 2 Yassin after his commitment during outreach fora by representatives of Region Ten in the US with Ms. Welsh of the community centre conveying heartfelt gratitude on behalf of the community of Victory Valley to Mr. Yassin for his kind donations.

The visit culminated with a trip to the Christianburg Community Centre that caters for sporting events such as basketball and football and

where Mr. Solomon requested the YCT to assist with a pilot project to help in a structured programme with community centres in Region Ten. The last stop was at the location of the destroyed One Mile Primary School. A representative of the school expressed frustration of the dislocation and discomfort of 837 pupils and staff of the school that are at three locations scattered across Linden.

The representative expressed the

hope and desire for the early completion of rehabilitation of the school in addressing the inconvenience. The YCT committed to aid in the awareness of the programme to mobilize additional donations and support with telethons and raffles to aid in fundraising to rebuild the school.

The One Mile Primary School was destroyed by fire last August. Arson was suspected but no one was charged for the incident.

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Saturday November 24, 2012

PUC suspends hearing for water tariff changes Officials of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) were meticulously interrogated yesterday by officials of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) during a hearing at Hotel Tower, Main Street, Georgetown.

The move marks an initial step towards a revised tariff regime for the water company.

GWI anticipates that the revised regime could become effective by January 1, 2013.

GWI’s proposal is expected to allow for categorizing customers, rates for consumers of treated and non-treated water, domestic and non-domestic rates, fixed charges, tariff bands for sewerage services, security deposits and other ancillary matters.

However, yesterday’s hearing, which saw sparse attendance from stakeholders, did not last very long owing to a number of reasons, among them the fact that the GWI officials appeared not fully prepared to swiftly answer some of the questions put to them by the PUC officials.

This was despite the fact that GWI officials were fully armed with a 2012 Tariff Harmonisation Proposal which details the amendment of existing rates and establishing criteria for the application brought to the

PUC. The GWI team was made up of Director of Commercial Relations and Customer Service, Earle Aaron; Chief Executive Officer, Shaik Baksh; Chairman, Ramesh Dookhoo; Director of Finance, Jaigopaul Ram and Director of Operations, Joseph Coddette.

Although on the PUC’s side there was not a quorum, given the recent passing of John Caesar, it was aptly represented by its Chairman, Justice Prem Persaud; Commissioners Maurice Solomon and Badrie Persaud along with Financial Analyst, Mr. Marselene Sankar.

The PUC Chairman in an interview said, “...There are a lot of questions we have to ask and the atmosphere is not conducive.” He was alluding to the sound system in the hotel. It was not effective enough to allow for the respective speakers’ clear projection.

Further, the PUC Chairman was not impressed with the fact that when questions were asked of the GWI team the members were not always adequately prepared to give an instant answer.

“When you ask one person one question, then that person refers it to somebody else. They have to get their people together; they need three or four, who will come with specific answers...They have to

The PUC team

get their acts together,” said Justice Persaud. The hearing was adjourned less than an hour into the proceedings.

Justice Persaud said that the PUC would seek to write to GWI, as early as next week, a missive that will detail all of its questions concerning the GWI proposal.

“We should feel reasonably comfortable that GWI has the capacity to implement any increase in an efficient and seamless way before approving the tariff...We have to be satisfied,” asserted Justice Persaud.

However he noted that before an approval can be granted for implementation, GWI will first have to be heard.

Against this background a new date for the hearing has been set for December 7, 2012, at the PUC

The GWI team Church Street, Georgetown, boardroom.

Following that hearing the PUC Chairman said that “once we get all the answers in two weeks we will issue a report which will be put to the public...”

Addressing the GWI’s preparation, the GWI Chairman, Dookhoo said, “I was disappointed with our inability to answer one particular question...” He was at the time referring to a question posed by the PUC as it relates to the benefits GWI would gain, should the tariff revision be approved.

Dookhoo however stated his optimism that the December hearing will prove to be a better opportunity for GWI to more effectively outline its proposal to the PUC as well as the public.

He made reference to the modest attendance yesterday adding that he was quite disappointed that more members of the public did not attend.

Among those that were expected to be in attendance were the Regional Chairmen of a number of Regions.

Dookhoo however took pleasure in the fact that the major consumer bodies were in attendance, among them Ms Patricia Martindale of the Consumer Movement.

CEO Baksh said that the proposed tariff regime is one that would cater to an improved water delivery system.

The system, according to him, has improved over the last five years but there is still more work to be done.

At the moment, Baksh

said, GWI is faced with a number of challenges among which is the wastage of water and the failure on the part of some consumers to pay for the liquid.

According to the CEO the current tariff structure does not promote water conservation since unmetered customers pay a standard service charge regardless of the amount of water utilised.

“Conservation of our service is critical to its sustainability as well as reducing GWI’s energy cost...joining with the national movement for energy conservation this change to our current structure is vital,” he added.

The last time that GWI implemented a revised tariff change was in 2005.

New Paint shop for Ansa McAL The Ansa McAl Trading group yesterday launched its fifth PENTA Color Shop. The new paint shop is located inside the Safeway Security building, 153 Regent and Oronoque Streets, Bourda.

Public Relations Officer for the company, Darshanie Yussuf, said that the expansion of PENTA is in recognition of the burgeoning demand for paints and paint products. She explained that the market is fuelled by the current boom in construction and AMTL has willingly taken up the challenge in an effort to provide both quality and affordability to new and existing homeowners at this new and convenient location.

This location is well situated in Georgetown yet sufficiently away from the

hustle and parking problems that consumers face further along Regent Street.

She said that the color shop is owned and operated by prominent businessman and Rotarian, Eon Caesar, and will offer the full range of quality PENTA paint products to the market. Yussuf said that the “Safeway Penta Color Shop” will have the capability of supplying paints in custom, customer-determined colours in an interactive facility.

This will enable persons to upload photographs of their buildings and rooms and actually paint them using various colours in a virtual environment before purchase.

She said that it would be ably supported by the famous high quality PENTA shelf colours, wood finishes,

textured coatings and other PENTA products at very affordable prices.

This is the fifth addition in the line of Penta Color Shops with the others being located at A. Ally & Sons, New Amsterdam, Berbice; Imam Bacchus & Sons, Anna Regina, Essequibo; Sankar Auto Colour, Sheriff Street, Georgetown and at AMTL’s Head Office, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara.

Businessman Ian Caesar said that he was happy to partner with Ansa Mcal. He said that his company and staffers are there to assist the homeowners with whatever service they may require. He urged everyone to come out and support the company which he says will have the most competitive prices.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 17

President Ramotar slams Speaker for ‘political ruling’ - not preparing for snap elections President Donald Ramotar has blasted Speaker of House, Raphael Trotman, for his Thursday night ruling that effectively barred Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, from tabling any bills in Parliament.

Yesterday, during an interview with the stateowned National Communications Network (NCN), the Head of State, whose Presidency has been a bumpy one after his party lost the Parliamentary majority for the first time in 20 years following the November 28, 2011 elections, described the Speaker’s ruling as a political one.

The ruling has pitted the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in a bitter battle against the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the 10party A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) in a year which saw criticisms over the progress made in the National Assembly regarding its legislative work.

There have been a number of suspensions of sittings as a determined government and opposition refused to give ground on a number of

issues. On Thursday, following a motion to bar Minister Rohee from speaking in the National Assembly, Trotman, a former leader of the AFC, ruled that the matter should be sent to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges which investigates the conduct of Members of Parliament.

The Speaker, who said that he was prepared to resign over what he admitted would be an unpopular decision, also said that the House has the authority to sanction its members and should not be fettered by the courts.

The ruling immediately came under fire from Government with Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, describing it as flawed and illegal.

SPEAKER ERRED Yesterday, President Ramotar made it clear that the Speaker erred in sending the matter to the Committee as the Minister had not committed any offence or violated any rules in the National Assembly.

The motion to gag Rohee, tabled Thursday by Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier

(Ret’d) David Granger, followed another move a few weeks ago to silence the Minister, in which the Speaker, after seeking legal advice, ruled that he had no authority to do so.

On Thursday, there was strenuous opposition from the ruling PPP/C side over the tabling of the motion by Granger, with arguments that it was not proper and that Rohee’s freedom of expression was being trampled on.

There were also objections that a court action filed by government to nullify the no-confidence vote against the Minister, was still in progress and as such a similar move in the National Assembly would not be right.

Addressing the ruling by the Speaker, President Ramotar said that the government had agreed to a Commission of Inquiry into the July shooting deaths of three protestors from Linden.

The Opposition, believing that the Minister had a hand in it, had gone ahead and passed a vote of noconfidence against Rohee.

CONSTITUTION

President Donald Ramotar IS “SUPREME” The President contended that the Opposition, through the Speaker, violated all the norms and Standing Orders of the National Assembly with the ruling to send the matter to the Committee of Privileges, effectively gagging Minister Rohee. “(It is) totally wrong to take Minister Rohee to the Privileges Committee. You have to commit an offence…

Rohee did not violate (anything).”

The President, was at pains to point out that it is the Constitution of Guyana

Speaker, Raphael Trotman

that established Parliament and as such is “supreme”.

He described the ruling as one of callousness and total disrespect for the rule of law and procedures in the country. The Head of State was also of the opinion that the Speaker displayed political leanings with his “political ruling”.

In defense of Rohee, Ramotar said that the Minister was not considered innocent in the entire affair and as such was not given an opportunity to defend himself, as is the norm.

Ramotar made it clear that

Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee he is not concentrating on snap elections but was prepared for one if the combined opposition should make a push for it.

As of now, Government is concentrating of preparing the 2013 National Budget and continuing the social and economic development of the country.

The budget preparation had been one critical issue that the opposition was determined to have a say on. Government has since started a series of meetings with the opposition on the 2013 budget.

Page 18

Horror at Bonasika Creek…

A jilted man killed his reputed wife’s lover and hacked off one of his spouse’s hands on Thursday night after sneaking into a house at Bonasika Creek, East Bank Essequibo in which the couple slept.

Police identified the dead man as Richard, a 22-year-old fisherman, and the woman as Joy Meyers, 23.

Meyers has been admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. Her left wrist was severed and she

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Jilted man kills wife’s lover, chops off spouse’s hand also sustained wounds to the head and neck. The woman’s three-year-old daughter, who was also in the house, was unharmed.

The suspect, identified as Davendra Persaud, 34, was still on the run up to late last night. The suspect and the victims are all from Bonasika Creek.

According to reports, Persaud and Meyers had severed their relationship some time ago and she struck up a relationship with the

younger man.

Police said that Myers and Richard were sleeping in a house at around 17:30 hrs on Thursday when the suspect, who was armed with a cutlass, entered through the open door and attacked them.

Meyers, who has been admitted to the Female Surgical Ward, told Kaieteur News that she and Richard were lying on a mattress in the living room of her father’s house when her reputed husband, Davendra Persaud,

came in and started to chop them. She said that she didn’t lock the doors because it was early.

“Me and he (Richard) went lying down and then we see he (Persaud) come in and then he turn back and pick up the cutlass and he start chopping and when he chopping, he cussing up…We keep trying to take the cutlass away but he just na stop firing the chops,” the mother of five recalled.

She claimed that during

Joy Meyers

the 15 minute-ordeal, she and Richard both shouted for help but no one came to their aid.

“After I keep trying to take the cutlass away, he chop me and my hand just fall off and I start hollering more hard and I pick up my li’l daughter and run out the house and go by my neighbour.”

She claimed that her neighbour’s son telephoned Persaud’s brother along with the police and informed them about the incident. “When I run out the house, he (Persaud) run out and left Richard alone and I don’t know where he gone.”

After she was sure that her husband had left, she clutched her three-year-old daughter in her right hand and, with blood gushing from her severed limb, went back to check on her lover.

“When I go in the house, I see he (Richard) lying on he belly in a pool of blood in the front room… I try shaking him but he na move so I run out back the house.”

She added that her brother-in-law arrived with the police and they rushed her to the Bonasika Health Centre and then to Parika in her brother-in-law’s speed boat.

From Parika, she was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital and then to GPHC. Yesterday, Meyers

explained that she had lived with Persaud, a farmer, for some time and gave birth to four of his children. She claimed that her relationship was on the rocks for most of the time. “He use to beat me and drink nuff rum and he does tell me that I deh with all kinda man.”

She said that she left him and moved to her father’s home four times, but went back to her spouse because “he does always come begging and then I does watch them children face and I does go back.”

But the woman said that last month she finally decided to leave him for good.

She went by her sister in Mahaica to spend some time and it was there that she met her lover.

“I stay there for a month and I see Richard. He live two house away from my sister.

Me and he link up about three weeks back and I tell him everything about my husband and he didn’t say anything… He was really good,” the woman claimed.

She added that last Monday, she and the 22-yearold man travelled to Bonasika to spend some time at her father’s. “Like somebody tell he (the suspect) that I have somebody else mek he come.”

(Romila Boodram)

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 19

T&T highway project to continue despite hunger strike by UWI lecturer P O R T- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad – CMC - As the hunger strike by university lecturer Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh continues, Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar, says the multi million dollar highway project in South Trinidad will continue.

Addressing journalists at Thursday’s annual Christmas media function, the Prime Minister insisted that Kublalsingh, who is now on his eight day of a hunger strike - has refused to meet with her.

“Many have asked me to visit him and I wish to clarify this once again. Wayne Kublalsingh insists that he does not wish to see me, his demands are for a technical review committee to evaluate the Solomon Hochoy Extension project and that while this committee is being established that the roadwork be halted” She added that “His inappropriate and aggressive rejection of the Minister of Health and others whom the government sent in his interest is consistent with this stance. In fact, Wayne has made it clear on more than one occasion and continues to do so today that he has no desire to see me. So the failure to meet with him is not of my own making but of Wayne’s refusal”.

However, in an immediate response a weak Kublalsingh said the Prime Minister was not speaking the truth and vowed to continue his hunger strike.

The Prime Minister went on to dismiss reports that she reneged on a promise made to the University of the West Indies lecturer who heads the Highway Reroute Movement.

She said that following a meeting with Kublalsingh and members of the movement, she suspended work on a section of the highway project

pending deliberations and the review the appointed technical committee.

“The Highway Reroute Movement walked out of several meetings with the Minister of Works and the technical team. And when finally a report was made on the evaluation that included compromises based upon the group’s views, the results were again rejected by the Highway Reroute Movement.

At this stage we simply could not give into the demands of Wayne Kublalsingh and his group to stop a project that would benefit hundreds of thousands of citizens for generations to come” According to PersadBissessar, based on advice given, if the project is halted the government could be sued by the contractors who have contractual obligations to meet.

“Wayne’s view is that the project is a bad one and must be stopped at all costs. His demand is not to meet me. So as Prime Minister what am I expected to do? Simply give into his demands to protect his life and give up the livelihood and future of hundreds of thousands of others who want the development but choose not to protest in that fashion in favour of it?”

While noting that Kablalsingh’s health is of great concern, she also expressed concern about the development of the nation and that she has made arrangements for his wellbeing.

“I have penned a note to his mother in reply to one she sent me, I have sent emissaries to his side, I have placed an ambulance on standby.

“Naturally, Wayne’s health is of concern to me but what is also of concern is the development of the nation I lead. We have tried to reason with the Highway Reroute

Movement, more than many would have allowed. Wayne chooses to deprive himself of food and water but as Prime Minister I cannot choose to deprive generations of the nations citizens of the development which the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension would bring” “I therefore make another appeal to Wayne’s dear Parents, Ray and Vilma, and his wife and brothers and sisters to take seriously their obligation for the action of their beloved son and not transfer this parental duty to the state” the Prime Minister stated.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has also weighed in on the issue, in a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday, Opposition leader, Dr. Keith Rowley said the situation has escalated to a point where a life might be at risk and pleaded for her intervention.

“It is now a matter transcending the objectors of Delhi-Mon Desir to one of the national conscience relating

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican federal police have captured suspected murderer, rapist and drug gang member Joe Luis Saenz, one of the 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s list, the government said yesterday.

Saenz, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in the city of Guadalajara in western Mexico on Thursday following an investigation carried out by the federal police in conjunction with the

FBI, the government said in a statement.

According to the FBI, Saenz is suspected of shooting and killing two rival gang members in Los Angeles in July 1998. For the FBI’s most wanted list, see: www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten Less than two weeks later, Saenz allegedly kidnapped, raped, and murdered his estranged girlfriend. Saenz is also believed to have murdered another man in

October 2008 in Los Angeles County.

FBI records suggest Saenz is 36 or 37, and the bureau offered up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest. Born in Los Angeles, Saenz was known to travel between the United States and Mexico, and was believed to be working for a Mexican drug cartel, the FBI said. He had a number of aliases including Zapp, Peanut Joe Smiley and Honeycutt, it added.

Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh

Mexico arrests suspected murderer on FBI most wanted list

to how we deal with one another and how the might and patience of the State is exercised in service to the people, all the people, even

those who may be perceived to be stubborn, unreasonable or taxing” The Opposition leader voiced concern about Kublalsingh’s health, stating that “if something positive is not done very soon the ultimate tragedy of irreparable harm would most certainly occur” “I asked Dr. Kublalsingh what is the minimum condition attached to his request and he informed that the announcement of a multicomponent technical group with some element of independent professional/ technical, input, detailed to review the alternatives will suffice to break his fast” Rowley called on the Prime Minister to revisit the issue in an effort to ‘save a life and disembark us all from the pathway of destruction upon we may have wittingly or unwillingly entered.

“This is not a time for anger, blame or bombast. This is a time for reaching out and

protecting us all from the pain of failure. Ultimately this is a matter of the State versus the people where numbers and dollars may not be all that matter. It may finally boil down to who we are, how much we understand each other and how well we would have served all the people” Kublalsingh and the ReRoute Movement have been protesting the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway on the grounds that the environment would be affected and families dislodged.

Since last Thursday, the environmentalist has since positioned himself outside the offices of the Prime Minister and his 79-year-old father, Ray Kublalsingh told the Trinidad Express newspaper that his son has not been eating or drinking anything.

It’s reported that he has lost approximately 42 pounds and is growing weaker by the minute.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Speaker says Rohee not being sanctioned - Dismisses Attorney General’s comments as “froth” Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee is not being sanctioned or disciplined by the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman said yesterday.

However, the ruling effectively makes it impossible for Rohee to bring new legislation to the House until the committee comes up with a decision.

As far as Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, is concerned that is unconstitutional, but the Speaker is not flattered by that interpretation of his ruling.

“He (Nandlall) likes flair and language, but not much of it has substance,” said Trotman in response to the Attorney General.

“There is a lot of froth at the top like a beer, but I deal with the substance.”

Trotman reiterated that Parliament regulates its own procedures, but that if Nandlall feels that the ruling was unconstitutional, he can go to the constitutional court and get a ruling on that.

Trotman is standing by his ruling, and r e p e a t e d a n earlier suggestion that if any side of the three-party House loses confidence in him, he is prepared to hand in his resignation.

The Speaker feels that his decision to let a Committee of Privileges determine if the Minister’s privilege can be taken away, allows for the business of the National Assembly to continue rather than have it paralysed over Rohee.

With the government refusing to budge on the vote of no confidence against Minister Rohee, the opposition moved a step further Thursday by seeking to have the Minister barred from participation on the House.

Opposition Leader, David Granger, took a motion to the National Assembly stating that the National Assembly has the power to sanction a member and those powers should be invoked against Minister Rohee against whom the opposition-led National Assembly has voted “no confidence.”

After a lengthy debate which sometimes became raucous, the Speaker ruled that Standing Order 91 deals with matters which appear to affect the power or privileges of the Assembly and as such a Committee of Privileges would be best to determine if the Assembly has the power to restrict the privilege of any member.

Trotman said that

Speaker Raphael Trotman at a press conference yesterday.

whatever decision is reached would ultimately affect all members of the House.

As such, Trotman believes that his decision was the best one.

“As Speaker I have a duty to ensure that our Parliamentary system and our Parliamentary democracy is not derailed, is n o t shattered, but is held together…,” Trotman stated.

The committee would be

convened with the Speaker as Chairman along with five members from the opposition and four members from the government side of the House.

Minister Rohee is not expected to be called before the committee, and the Speaker clarified that Minister Rohee is not being sanctioned or disciplined by the Committee in “any way, shape or form.”

Election of Deputy City Mayor invalid – Chief Justice Chief Justice Ian Chang yesterday ruled that the election of Patricia ChaseGreen as Deputy Mayor of Georgetown is invalid.

City Councilor Llewellyn John had moved to the High Court to challenge the methodology used to elect the Deputy Mayor.

John had complained against the conduct of the election to fill the vacancy of Deputy Mayor following the death of Robert Williams.

His argument was that the election held by the then Town Clerk Yonette Pluck should have been a special election meeting of the Council. John had also contended that there was no notice of the holding of the election as required by the Local Government (Elections) Amendment Act. Justice Chang upheld those contentions.

Patricia Chase-Green At the hearing, John was represented by attorney-atlaw Clyde Forde while ChaseGreen was represented by Mr Robert Ramcharran. The election of Chase-Greene was held on March 12, 2011.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

ACP legislators meet in Suriname PA R A M A R I B O , Suriname – CMC - European and African Caribbean and Pacific (EU-ACP) legislators begin a two-day meeting today with disgruntled Dutch parliamentarian Toine Manders continuing his crusade to get legislators to boycott the meeting.

Manders, who earlier this year failed to get fellow EU legislators to change the venue for the 24th EU/ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly, announced that he would not be travelling to Paramaribo as part of the protest against President Desi Bouterse, who will be opening the meeting.

The EU/ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly is the largest multilateral meeting after the General Assembly of the United Nations and will be attended by more than 1,000 delegates.

Dutch legislators said the passage of the controversial Amnesty Law provides an amnesty to President Bouterse and others implicated in the December 1982 murders of known opponents of the then military government headed

by Bouterse.

Holland, with whom Bouterse has a strained relationship, has ceased

development aid to the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

The Dutch Euro parliamentarians say it would be against their principles to attend the EU-ACP conference here as well as having to meet and greet Bouterse who would also be addressing the conference.

While Dutch legislators later gave an undertaken to attend the meeting, Manders re-opened the issue after the agenda was released on Monday.

“I decided not to go because I do not want to be part of Mr. Bouterse’s act,” Manders said.

So far however he seems the only Dutch Euro Parliamentarian who is boycotting the summit.

Fellow Dutch parliamentarian Ria OomenRuijten (CDA) said she will be attending the two-day event.

“Bouterse is opening the ACP part of the conference, not the EU part. He hasn’t been invited to our part. If he does show up, we’ll leave,” she said, adding that she would also be meeting with opposition legislators while here.

But Rabin Parmessar who chairs the organizing

committee for the meeting, said the conference will benefit Suriname.

“This is PR (public relations) at its best. People will get excited when they see what we got to offer and that’s likely to trickle down to the tourism sector. That’s the added value of this conference,” he added.

On the first day of the conference, ACP legislators will meet separately from their European counterparts while on Sunday, the EU and ACP parliamentarians will have a join meeting discussing a wide range of issues from politics, economy, social affairs and the environment.

ROME (Reuters) Growing food insecurity in Haiti after Hurricane Sandy risks sparking more social tension, the United Nations Food Agency w a r n e d o n T h u r s d a y, calling for food, farm and transport investment to b o o s t t h e c o u n t r y ’s resilience to climate shocks.

Three natural disasters have hit the Caribbean island this year, including a drought in the summer and Hurricanes Isaac and S a n d y. M o r e t h a n 4 0 percent of Haiti’s harvest was destroyed and losses of about $254 million incurred, U.N. estimates say.

About 60 percent of Haiti’s population live in rural areas and more than half of those are now at risk of acute food insecurity, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

“This vulnerability could be a source of destabilisation: if we don’t address it, there will be tensions,” Laurent Thomas, the FA O ’s assistant director-general, told Reuters.

The past several months have seen a series of nationwide protests and general strikes over the rising cost of living. Even before Hurricane Sandy hit, residents complained that food prices were too high.

A spike in food prices triggered violent demonstrations and political instability in April 2008.

A U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti was recently extended for another year, but the number of soldiers and police officers will be reduced by about 1,700 to 8,800 by June 2013.

Haiti is still struggling to recover from a strong January 2010 earthquake

that killed about 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless.

FAO and the Haitian government have launched an appeal to raise $74 million over the next 12 months. They have so far secured $2.7 million, with a further $5-6 million in the pipeline, they said.

Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly and FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva met on Thursday.

They said afterwards that investments in the food and farm sectors as well as in transport infrastructure would help boost Haiti’s resilience to climate shocks.

“The problems that we are currently experiencing can be seen as opportunities for investors,” Martelly said.

“This means roads, ports, airports ... and investment in the agriculture sector.”

Desi Bouterse

FAO warns of social tension in Haiti

Page 21

UN chief welcomes record vote on death penalty moratorium WASHINGTON D.C., United States – CMC - With most Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries still having capital punishment on their law books, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed what has been described as a record vote by a General Assembly committee in favour of the call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Ban’s spokesperson said the vote “offers the opportunity to again encourage member states who still practice the death penalty or retain it in law to follow suit.

“The Secretary-General, therefore, calls on member states to join the worldwide trend and support next month’s General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty,” the spokesperson told reporters, noting that 150 states have either abolished or do not practice the death penalty.

Ban Ki-moon The new General Assembly resolution calls on all states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

The vote took place in the Assembly’s Third Committee, which adopted the resolution by 110 votes in favour, with 39 against and 36 abstentions.

The Third Committee deals with social and humanitarian

issues, as well as human rights. The UN said it is one of six such bodies, which each deal with a block of issues and themes under discussion by the wider General Assembly, but which lend themselves to more effective discussion in smaller settings before then being forwarded to all UN member states “in the socalled General Assembly Plenary” for a final decision.

Ban’s spokesperson said the Committee’s resolution reflects a trend against capital punishment, which has grown stronger across regions, legal traditions and customs since a landmark General Assembly resolution on the topic in 2007. “The Secretary-General saluted this development at a highlevel event on the death penalty in New York this July.

He said then that the taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process,” the spokesman added.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24. 2012

Gaza crowds surge at Israel border fence, 1 dead GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel’s border fence yesterday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state.

The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.

Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meterwide (300-yard-wide) no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.

In one incident captured

by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side. Some Palestinians

the crowds away from the fence.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.

The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by

phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years. “When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all,” he said.

Israel’s military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.

The truce allowed both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from the brink of a fullfledged war. Over eight d a y s , I s r a e l ’s a i r c r a f t carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza fighters fired roughly the same number of rockets at Israel.

The fighting killed 166 Palestinians, including scores of civilians, and six Israelis.

In Cairo, Egypt is hosting separate talks with Israeli and Hamas envoys on the next phase of the cease-fire — a new border deal for blockaded Gaza. Hamas demands an end to border restrictions, while Israel insists Hamas halt weapons smuggling to Gaza.

A poll Friday showed about half of Israelis thinks their government should have continued its Gaza offensive.

The independent Maagar Mohot poll showed 49 percent of respondents felt Israel should have kept pursuing squads that fire rockets into Israel, 31 percent supported the decision to stop and 20 percent had no opinion.

Tw e n t y - n i n e percent thought Israel should have sent ground troops into G a z a . The poll of 503 respondents had an error margin of 4.5 percentage points. The same survey showed Netanyahu’s Likud Party and electoral partner Israel Beiteinu losing some support, but his hard-line bloc was still favored to form the next government after Jan.

LONDON (Reuters) - A new virus from the same family as SARS which sparked a global alert in September has now killed two people in Saudi Arabia, and total cases there and in Qatar have reached six, the Wo r l d Health Organisation said.

The U.N. health agency issued an international alert in late September saying a virus previously unknown in humans had infected a Qatari man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia, where another man with the same virus had died.

Yesterday it said in an outbreak update that it had registered four more cases and one of the new patients had died.

“The additional cases have been identified as part of the enhanced surveillance in Saudi Arabia (3 cases, including 1 death) and Qatar (1 case),” the WHO said.

The new virus is known as a coronavirus and shares some of the symptoms of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in China in 2002 and killed around a 10th of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

Among the symptoms in the confirmed cases are fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.

Of the six laboratoryconfirmed cases reported to WHO, four cases, including the two deaths, are from Saudi Arabia and two cases are from Qatar.

Britain’s Health Protection Agency, which helped to identify the new virus in September, said the newly reported case from Qatar was initially treated in October in Qatar but then transferred to Germany, and has now been discharged.

Coronaviruses are typically spread like other respiratory infections, such as flu, travelling in airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

The WHO said investigations were being conducted into the likely source of the infection, the method of exposure, and the possibility of human-tohuman transmission of the virus.

“Close contacts of the recently confirmed cases are being identified and followedup,” it said.

It added that so far, only the two most recently

confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia were epidemiologically linked - they were from the same family, living in the same household. “ P r e l i m i n a r y investigations indicate that these two cases presented with similar symptoms of illness. One died and the other recovered,” the WHO’s statement said.

Two other members of the same family also suffered similar symptoms of illness, and one died and the other is recovering. But the WHO said laboratory test results on the fatality were still pending, and the person who is recovering had tested negative for the new coronavirus.

The virus has no formal name, but scientists at the British and Dutch laboratories where it was identified refer to it as “London1_novel CoV 2012”.

The WHO urged all its member states to continue surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections.

“Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases,” it said.

Hamas supporters wave the movement’s flags and hold up Qurans during a proHamas rally in the West Bank city of Hebron, yesterday. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi) briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of “God is Great” and “Morsi, Morsi,” in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, whose mediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, “Go there, before I shoot you,” and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee,

assuming a firing position.

Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.

During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep

Four new cases of SARS-like virus found in Saudi, Qatar

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Protests after “Pharaoh” Mursi assumes powers in Egypt CAIRO (Reuters) Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to assume sweeping powers caused fury amongst his opponents and prompted violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities yesterday.

Police fired tear gas near Cairo’s Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a “coup”. There were violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.

Opponents accused Mursi, who has issued a decree that puts his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament is elected, of being the new Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.

“The people want to bring down the regime,” shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing a chant used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down. “Get out, Mursi,” they chanted, along with “Mubarak tell Mursi, jail

comes after the throne.”

Mursi’s aides said the presidential decree was intended to speed up a protracted transition that has been hindered by legal obstacles but Mursi’s rivals condemned him as an autocratic pharaoh who wanted to impose his Islamist vision on Egypt.

“I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt,” Mursi said on a stage outside the presidential palace, adding that he was working for social and economic stability and the rotation of power.

“Opposition in Egypt does not worry me, but it has to be real and strong,” he said, seeking to placate his critics and telling Egyptians that he was committed to the revolution. “Go forward, always forward ... to a new Egypt.”

Buoyed by accolades from around the world for mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, Mursi on Thursday

ordered that an Islamistdominated assembly writing the new constitution could not be dissolved by legal challenges.

“Mursi a ‘temporary’ dictator,” was the headline in the independent daily AlMasry Al-Youm.

Mursi, an Islamist whose roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood, also gave himself wide powers that allowed him to sack the unpopular general prosecutor and opened the door for a retrial for Mubarak and his aides.

The president’s decree aimed to end the logjam and push Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, more quickly along its democratic path, the presidential spokesman said.

“President Mursi said we must go out of the bottleneck without breaking the bottle,” Yasser Ali told Reuters.

The president’s decree said any decrees he issued while no parliament sat could not be challenged, moves that

A protester cheers as items ransacked from an office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party burn in Alexandria yesterday. REUTERS/Stringer consolidated his power but look set to polarize Egypt further, threatening more turbulence in a nation at the heart of the Arab Spring.

The turmoil has weighed heavily on Egypt’s faltering economy that was thrown a lifeline this week when a preliminary deal was

reached with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan.

But it also means unpopular economic measures. In Alexandria, north of Cairo, protesters ransacked an office of the Brotherhood’s political party, burning books and chairs in the street.

Supporters of Mursi and opponents clashed elsewhere in the city, leaving 12 injured. A party building was also attacked by stonethrowing protesters in Port Said, and demonstrators in Suez threw petrol bombs that burned banners outside the party building.

(Continued on page 24)

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24. 2012

Syria says Turkey’s bid for NATO missiles “provocative” BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria yesterday condemned Turkey’s request for NATO to deploy Patriot defense missiles near their common border, calling it “provocative”, after a spate of clashes there that has raised fear of the Syrian civil war embroiling the wider region.

The 20-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has turned increasingly bloody and heavy fighting has often erupted right along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

Ankara has repeatedly scrambled fighter jets and responded in kind to stray shells and mortars flying into its territory.

In the first Syrian response to Ankara’s request earlier this week, a ministry source told Syrian state television that Damascus would hold Turkey’s prime minister responsible for increasing tensions along the

frontier.

Turkey’s missile request may have riled Damascus and its allies - notably Russia and Iran - because it could be seen as a first step toward implementing a no-fly zone.

Syrian rebels have been requesting a no-fly zone to help them hold territory against a government with overwhelming firepower from the air, but most foreign governments are loath to impose one for fear of getting sucked into the conflict.

The Patriot system is designed to intercept aircraft or missiles. Turkey asked for it after weeks of talks with its NATO allies about how to shore up its 900-km (560 mile) border, where it fears security may crumble as the Syrian army fights harder to contain the rebels - who have enjoyed sanctuary in Turkey.

“Syria stresses its condemnation of the Turkish government’s latest provocative step,” the

ministry source told Syria TV. The source said that Syria would respect Turkish sovereignty but also said that it “holds (Tayyip) Erdogan responsible for the militarization of the situation on the Syrian-Turkish border and increased tensions”.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that the possible deployment of Patriot missiles was “purely defensive” and would “serve as a deterrent to possible enemies even thinking of attacks”.

The U.S.-led Western alliance has had some talks on the Turkish request but no decision is expected before next week.

Asked about Syria’s remarks, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Damascus was at fault for heightened tensions by having attacked its own people with tanks and warplanes “without any regard for any rules of war”.

“There exists such a situation now right next to Turkey, that (Turkey) has to take its own measures...aimed at defense.

“If this measure is not needed then it will not be used, but if there is any kind of risk to Turkey’s security, all kinds of steps will be taken, both within Turkey’s national capacity and within the framework of Turkey’s membership of NATO. Nobody should have a need to question this,” Davutoglu added.

Russia, Syria’s main arms supplier, opposes the deployment of surface-to-air missiles. It is not a NATO member and cannot block alliance decisions, but planned talks with NATO about a move it says “would not foster stability in the region”.

Analyst Michael Stephens of the RUSI thinktank in Doha said Turkey’s request was a symbolic gesture, noting that Patriots could do little to stop incoming mortar fire.

“It could be a first step to a no-fly zone, but what does that take? NATO would need a mandate, which means a United Nations Security Council resolution, and Russia will obviously say no to that,” he said.

Western states, keen to avoid another costly Middle East conflict and wary of backing rebels who include Islamist militants, have stayed on the sidelines, although France and Britain formally recognized a newly formed opposition coalition as the sole representative of the Syrians this month.

With no credible peace mediation on the horizon, the number of dead is rising rapidly by the day. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 40,000 had died and the actual number may well be higher because both sides appeared to be under-reporting their casualties.

Rebels appear to have been advancing in recent weeks, seizing several military bases in the eastern oilproducing province of Deir alZor, Aleppo in the north and even around the capital Damascus.

Their tactics have improved as they focus on controlling roads and sealing off military bases.

Recent rebel gains in Deir al-Zor, including the Mayadeen artillery base on Thursday, have meant notable amounts of arms and a wider swathe of territory passing into insurgent hands.

But rebels still lack

Bashar al-Assad advanced heavy weaponry they need to oust Assad’s well-armed troops ensconced in the main cities, and remain vulnerable to increasingly frequent air strikes.

Many surface-to-air missiles seized in recent rebel raids seem to be missing some of the equipment needed to fire them, arms experts say.

This means the rebels probably have the means only to fire a few antiaircraft missiles at a time.

“The rebels have made big advances in the countryside and even into the main (Deir al-Zor) city, but they cannot take it,” Stephens said. “This is another brick the rebels have taken down, but it is not critical for toppling the regime.”

Deir al-Zor province abuts the long Iraqi border but controlling it may not offer the same advantages seen by rebels near the northern border with Turkey, where the fighters can go in and out easily.

Protests after “Pharaoh”...

From page 23 Mursi’s decree is bound to worry Western allies, particularly the United States, a generous benefactor to Egypt’s army, which praised Egypt for its part in bringing Israelis and Palestinians to a ceasefire on Wednesday.

The West may become concerned about measures that, for example, undermine judicial independence. The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

“We are very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration on human rights and the rule of law in Egypt,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, said at the United Nations in Geneva.

The United States has been concerned about the fate of what was once a close ally under Mubarak, who preserved Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. The Gaza deal has reassured Washington but the

deepening polarization of the nation will be a worry.

“The decree is basically a coup on state institutions and the rule of law that is likely to undermine the revolution and the transition to democracy,” said Mervat Ahmed, an independent activist in Tahrir protesting against the decree.

“I worry Mursi will be another dictator like the one before him.”

Leading liberal Mohamed ElBaradei, who joined other politicians on Thursday night to demand the decree was withdrawn, wrote on his Twitter account that Mursi had “usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh”.

Almost two years after Mubarak was toppled and about five months since Mursi took office, propelled to the post by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt has no permanent constitution, which must be in place before new parliamentary elections are held.

The last parliament, which

sat for the first time earlier this year, was dissolved after a court declared it void. It was dominated by the Brotherhood’s political party.

An assembly drawing up the constitution has yet to complete its work.

Many liberals, Christians and others have walked out accusing the Islamists who dominate it of ignoring their voices over the extent that Islam should be enshrined in the new state.

Opponents call for the assembly to be scrapped and remade. Mursi’s decree protects the existing one and extends the deadline for drafting a document by two months, pushing it back to February, further delaying a new parliamentary election.

Explaining the rationale behind the moves, the presidential spokesman said: “This means ending the period of constitutional instability to arrive at a state with a written constitution, an elected president and parliament.”

Saturday November 24, 2012

MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 Sign on 06:30 hrs - Peace Love & Harmony (live) 07:00 hrs - Dabi’s bhajan Hour

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07:30 hrs - Times of Refreshing (live) 08:00 hrs - Full Life Broadcast with Pastor Findlay 08:30 hrs - Cartoons 09:30 hrs - Living the Life 10:00 hrs - Camille’s Institute Presentation

10:30 hrs - Children Movie: The Little Prince 12:30 hrs - National Geographic: World Wide Web Dare Devil 13:30 hrs - Cartoons 14:00 hrs - National Geographic: World’s

Saturday November 24, 2012 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You may be feeling onedge today and are ready to swing into action at the slightest provocation.

Although you’re eager to play the role of a super hero, you don’t have to be aggressive to save the day.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) The Moon’s passage through your 12th House of Secrets encourages you to hide your feelings. However, there may be too much happening now to keep your opinions out of sight. Just remember that what you want doesn’t always point to the healthiest course of action.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Your cleverness is your best asset now, but your thoughts are moving so swiftly that they may add to the drama.

If you feel as if you are in a rut, you might want to create some fireworks for a change of pace.

However, your strategy of instigating instability won’t work because once the light show is over, your same old thoughts return.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You might put extra effort into resisting change because everything is happening so fast now and you may feel like you are losing control of the current circumstances.

Fortunately, uncertainty on the job is also the source for potential success if you just capitalize on the moment.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You’ve been quite busy recently, and the pace isn’t going to let up just yet. You might even feel as if your nerves are on edge today. But don’t get pulled into any crazy drama, especially if it isn’t yours. Keep your eyes on the goal in front of you, instead.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)

You may feel as if you have already experienced these current events once before, but it might be that you have just played out the scenario in your own mind.

The tide is picking up speed now. Don’t fight it; float along with it for a while, even if it’s not taking you where you want to go.

SAGIT (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) Concentrating on the ball when it’s in play enables you to compete to the best of your ability. Don’t get distracted now by the lightning on the horizon. It’s not your storm, even if it comes close and sounds threatening.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) An interesting dilemma is quickly developing in your life now.

You might feel grounded and stable, but you still cannot shake a jittery feeling that won’t let you relax. You could be holding on to negative energy, and it can become uncontrollable if you don’t express it.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Even if you believe that you’ve been doing well recently, today’s events might test your resolve. The most important thing now is to listen to the feedback that the universe is giving you and reevaluate your priorities.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You have the practical side of reality wired for sound today, but the volume may be turned up so high that you can’t hear yourself think. It feels as if there’s little you can do to transform an extreme situation into a more manageable one. Instead of trying to be sensible, trust your hunches now.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Although you may feel overwhelmed by the fast pace of the day, it’s not all noise and chaos. There is something for you to learn within the hectic flow of events.

Sure, you can slip right into party mode because you might be seeking ways to blow off some steam.

Your high-anxiety planet, Uranus, is feeling the intensity of Mars’ heat today. You want to be seen and heard now, and nothing is going to hold you back, except your own logic.

Don’t do anything rash unless you can rationalize it.

Page 25

Weirdest Freaks of nature 15:00 hrs - Spotlight on Christmas 16:00 hrs - GINA programme 16:30 hrs - Alabama Trading Music break 17:00 hrs - Birthdays & other Greetings 17:15 hrs - Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30 hrs - Sitcom 18:00 hrs - Searching the Scriptures with Pastor Floyd 18:30 hrs - Cabinet Briefing 19:00 hrs - Apex Forum (Live) 20:15 hrs - MTV music break 20:30 hrs - Indian Movie: Fareb 23:00 hrs - English Movie: Looper Sign off DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55 hrs. Sign On 09:00 hrs. Power Ranger Samurai 10:00 hrs. Supah Ninjas 11:00 hrs. Saved by the Bell 12:00 hrs. Prime News 12:30 hrs. Saved By the Bell 13:00 hrs. Movie: The Smurfs 14:45 hrs. Move: Prom 17:00 hrs. The Baptist Hour 18:00 hrs. World News 18:30 hrs. Nightly News

19:00 hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00 hrs. Issues of the People

(Live) 21:00 hrs. Indian Movie 00:00 hrs. Sign Off

Guides are subjected to change without notice

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Saturday November 24, 2012

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Alfred’s world title hope

dwindles to naught WBC officials forced to cancel fight

S

hondell ‘Mystery Lady’ Alfred’s chance to hit the international lime light in a fight against Mexican, Zulina Muñoz, for the World Boxing Council ( W B C ) f e m a l e Super/flyweight title at Foro Polanco, Mexico City, Mexico tonight, was shattered when doctors performing medical checks hours before the bout discovered that she was more than two months pregnant.

T h e m e d i c a l practitioners subsequently advised world boxing officials to cancel the bout as it would have been a calculated risk to Alfred’s health if the fight was given the green light. The news came as a shock to Alfred who, according to reports, up to the time of the

discovery, was totally unaware of her condition and was distraught by the turn of events.

President of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, Peter Abdool was also appalled by the news. He said that he had worked tirelessly to ensure that Alfred clinched the bout and he was confident that she would have won the belt.

Mr. Abdool said that he had been closely monitoring Alfred’s progress ever since she landed in Mexico some time ago and was satisfied that she was psychologically ready to take on Muñoz.

Quizzed on any setbacks Alfred might experience following the twist of faith, Mr. Abdool said that the prognosis might not be that favourable.

He lamented that the Women’s International

Boxing Association (WIBA) Bantamweight champion had been waiting in the sidelines ever since her devastating knockout victory over Corrinne van ryke DeGroot and had relished the opportunity to fight before an international audience.

Mr. Abdool could not definitively say what would be the stance taken by the WIBA in regards to the title Alfred now holds but he said that he has known of instances before when the administrators had placed the title on hold while mandating the number one and two contenders to fight an interim bout for the title.

The winner would then be the one to tackle the champion at the earliest opportunity. He feels that Alfred might be able to benefit from this precedent.

“We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best,” said the Boxing Board President.

Meanwhile, Alfred was brimming with confidence mere hours before the fight yesterday afternoon and had paid a courtesy call on President of the WBC, Jose Sulaiman at the offices of the WBC in Mexico City moments after she had attended the WBC Boss’ weekly press conference.

The fight was to have been the feature attraction of the card dubbed ‘Funcion de Gala Ring Telmex’ and the

Shondell Alfred meets President of the WBC, Don Jose Sulaiman Guyanese pugilist was spouting confidence. She had trained intensively while in Guyana and had even engaged in special training sessions to counteract the effects of the high altitude terrain of the Spanish

speaking country. All that has dwindled to naught and Alfred and her coaches, Sebert Blake and Joseph Murray are now preparing for the flight back home devoid of the title she was certain she would have won.

F&M donates Stihl F-160 Brush cutter to Fruta Conquerors FC maintenance

Mr. Forde gratefully accepts the gift from Ms Browne at the Farfan and Mendes offices

T

he input of corporate entities towards sports development cannot be ignored as it is such assistance that is responsible for the sustenance of most sports organizations. It was with this in mind that President of the Fruta Conquerors Football Club (FCFC), Wayne Forde, approached the management of Farfan and Mendes (F&M), 45 Urquhart Street, North Cummingsburg, for such assistance.

The Fruta Conquerors President requested that F&M donate a brush cutter to facilitate the clean-up process of the club’s environment. On Thursday

afternoon last, Mr. Forde traveled to the F&M offices where Marketing Manager (F&M), Onai Vasconcellos, accommodated the request while Customer Service Representative, Novella Browne, handed over one Stihl F-160 Brushcutter to Mr. Forde, in the presence of Secretary of the FCFC, Daniel Thomas.

Vasconcellos explained that his company received the request after expending the sponsorship budget.

Nevertheless, the management decided to donate the instrument at cost price.

He said that his organization has always been supportive of sports and his fellow executives

recognize the importance of the football institution towards the development of young people. The F&M manager further committed to future support of the club.

Mr. Forde accepted the gift and said that it was indeed a timely gesture.

He said that the equipment would be used to maintain the ground and general environment thus significantly reducing the Club’s overall expenditure.

He expressed gratitude to Va s c o n c e l l o s a n d t h e management of F&M on behalf of the club executive and players as well as the Tucville community which experiences positive spinoffs from the Club’s activities.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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North Georgetown topples Upper Demerara North Georgetown edged closer to Upper Demerara and Kwakwani last night in the overall title race of the National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships when the District won its 13th overall title at the National

- edge closer to overall title leader Stadium. Upper Demerara performed poorly in the Teachers’ Championships after being in contention of an overall title defence in the other Championships to

basically gift wrap the title for their nemesis North Georgetown in the 52nd Edition of the competition.

Upper Demerara are the current overall leaders in the

Bolt wants to run at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Usain Bolt has revealed he ‘definitely’ wants to compete in the 100 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The Jamaican missed the 2006 Games in Melbourne with a hamstring injury and elected not to travel to Delhi four years ago, but said he wants to compete again in Britain to complete his collection of international sprint titles.The Olympic champion and world record-holder over 100m and 200m said: ‘Definitely.

That’s the only title I don’t have so I think it’s something I would like to go for, even if I just do the 100m.

‘It’s something to say (I have won) at the end of my career. It’s a good one to get and if everything goes well and the coach (Glenn Mills) agrees then I will go. It’s the Commonwealth Games so I don’t think he will have a problem with me going.’

Bolt, 26, will attempt to regain his World Championship 100m title in Moscow next summer – which he lost in 2011 to compatriot Yohan Blake after he was disqualified for a false start in the final - but is also targeting breaking his own world record in 2013.

Speaking at the IAAF Centenary Gala in Barcelona, the sprinter also ruled out suggestions he will move up

Switching on: Bolt was turning on the Christmas lights at the Puma store in the Spanish city. to the 400m or add the long jump to his repertoire.

Bolt said: ‘It’s just speed, really. Next season I just want to go as fast as possible. I’m getting a little bit old now so I want to go as fast as I can – but the World Championships is also a real focus for me.

‘We talked about the 400m and long jump. I decided I won’t go to do one of those.

It’s just about trying to go as fast as possible (over 100m and 200m). I just need to stay injury-free.

‘At 28 coming up 29 you’re going to start going downhill. So (the target is) fast

and hopefully everything will go well at the World Championships.’

Bolt is also keen to take up Sir Alex Ferguson’s offer of a training session with Manchester United next year.

The Jamaican said he plays football ‘every Wednesday and Sunday’ and added: ‘I have got an invite from Alex Ferguson to come and train with the guys any time I want.

It’s just finding time to get up to Manchester to do it.

Hopefully after my career in track and field I can go and play some football for Manchester United.’

Championships with a total of 14 titles.

The defending champions, Upper Demerara placed seventh in the Teachers’ Championships with North Georgetown winning that competition.

The team with the most points from the placements in the Teachers, Track and Field, Cycling and Swimming competitions is declared ‘Champion of Champions’ as the overall title is usually called.

In the overall title race, North Georgetown finished with 72 points while Upper Demerara had 65 points for second.

Corentyne was third with 51 points while Bartica finished fourth on 47 points; East Georgetown rounded off the top five with 45 points; New Amsterdam finished sixth with 44 points while West Demerara was seventh with 41 points; East Coast Demerara eighth with 40½ points; West Coast Berbice ninth with 40 points and South Georgetown tenth with 37 points.

The Essequibo Coast was eleventh with 34 points;

Rupununi twelfth with 32½ points; North West on 27½ points for thirteenth; East Bank (22½ points) for fourteenth; Potaro/Siparunon 12 points for fifteenth and Essequibo Islands in the cellar position on four points.

North Georgetown amassed some 240 points to win the Teachers’ Championships ahead of West Demerara (192 points) and Bartica (182 points); East Georgetown was fourth with 166 points the Corentyne was fifth with 140 points and New Amsterdam sixth with138 points; Upper Demerara placed seventh with 105 points; West Coast Berbice eighth with 104 points; South Georgetown’s 70 points was good for the ninth spot with East Bank Demerara placing tenth with 66 points and Essequibo Coast eleventh with 58 points; North West and East Coast was tied for twelfth with 41 points while the Rupununi was in the cellar position with 23 points.

North Georgetown had also won the Swimming Championships earlier this week. They dropped the track

and field championships to the usually super strong athletic-based, Upper Demerara and placed third in the cycling on their way to amassing more overall points.

In the track and field competition, Upper Demerara compiled 646½ points to win that title ahead of North Georgetown with 577½ points. Corentyne was third with 483 points; East Coast was in the fourth position with 427 points; New Amsterdam fifth with 374½ points; West Coast Berbice sixth with 341½ points; Essequibo Coast (332½); Rupununi (325½); West Demerara (306); South Georgetown (292); East Georgetown (267); Bartica (236); East Bank (229); the Essequibo Islands (129) and Potaro (47) were the other teams that featured among the points.

Corentyne won the cycling competition with 169 points with Upper Demerara second with 126 points and North Georgetown third with 97 points. South Georgetown was fourth with 88 points and West Coast Berbice (77 points) rounded up the top five districts in cycling.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

Back Circle, Albouystown ‘A’ show ominous form - Quarter-finals action starts tonight Defending champions Back Circle and Albouystown ‘A’ warmed up for the knockout stages which starts tonight at the Banks DIH Car Park with emphatic performances as the final round of the preliminary phase ended on Thursday evening, at the Albouystown Basketball Court.

Back Circle registered a comfortable 3-0 win over Stevedore Housing Scheme, while Albouystown ‘A’ was less sympathetic in their clash against Laing Avenue who they crushed 7-0 with former national striker Andrew Murray Jr. slamming in four goals, while Devon Small lashed in a treble.

In the night’s full results: Game 1 - Sophia ‘A’ and South Ruimveldt drew 0-0 Game 2 - Norton Street West defeated Cross Street 21; Goal Scorers Norton Street - Linden Bacchus 4th minute and Dillon Legall 21st. Cross Street - Dexter Marshall 18th minute.

Game 3 - Alexander Village and East La Penitence drew 1-1. Goal Scorers - Alexander Village Delon Williams 20th minute. East La-Penitence Sheldon Shepherd 17th minute.

Game 4 - Festival City beat West Front Road 1-0. Goal Scorer Leandre Ferguson 26th minute.

Game 5 - Broad Street B cruised past West Back Road 3-1. For Broad Street B, Devon Adams (3), Daniel Favorite (6) and Jimmy Gravesande (17).

West Back Road scorer was Cyril Brmdah.

Game 6 - North Last Entrance edged Albouystown ‘B’ 1-0, Travis Grant netted in the 12th minute.

Game 7 - Back Circle beat Stevedore Housing Scheme 30. Goal Scorers, Vincent Thomas (1st), Andy Duke (4) and Wayne Wilson (8).

Game 8 - Alboystown ‘A’ hammered Laing Avenue 7-1.

Goal Scorers for Albouystown A, Andrew Murray (3, 23, 26, 28), Devon

Action in the clash between Festival City and West Front Road which the former won 1-0

Small (5, 29, 30). Laing Avenue’s consolation came from Jermain Junor in the 27th

minute. Meanwhile, the fixtures for tonight’s start of quarter-final action are as follows: 19:30 hrs- Guinness Bar versus Media; 20:00 hrs-

Banks DIH Ltd vs. Sweet Hand; 20:30 hrs- Clippers Barber Shop vs. Oasis; 21:00 hrs- Stevedore vs.

Queen Street - Tiger Bay; 21:15 hrs- Upper Level vs.

YMCA; 21:45 hrs- West Front Road vs. South Ruimveldt; 22:15 hrs- Leopold Street vs.

Albouystown ‘A’; 21:45 hrsHope Street-Tiger Bay vs.

Alexander Village.

Interesting battle expected for Senior National Chess Championship honours‘

Maria Thomas Senior National Chess Champion, Taffin Khan will have to pull out all the stops if he is to retain his title when the Dr. Chase Senior Chess Championships resumes at the Ocean Spray Hotel, Stanley Place Kitty today.

When action in the 4th round of the championship ended Wednesday evening last, Khan had compiled 3 ½ points, just ½ point in arrears of Maria Thomas and Shiv Nandalall who have scored 4 points apiece to jointly assume the lead position.

The two frontrunners are on a collision course and are expected to clash today when

Shiv Nandalall play resumes at the same venue. This is a very important match for both players as the winner would surge ahead and stands a good chance of dethroning the current champion.

However, the situation is not so cut and dried as Khan, who benefitted from a point by default after his predecessor, Berbician Kriskal Persaud, failed to show for their encounter, is still in the mix and may very well retain his crown if he registers victories in the three remaining rounds.

As a matter of fact, the tournament is too close to call with Loris Nathoo on 2

½ points and Frankie Farley on 2. Craig Sylvester, Kriskal Persaud and Glenford Corlette are yet to score and remain in the cellar.

Those players attempting to dethrone Ta ff i n K h a n a r e L o r i s Nathoo, Glenford Corlette, Kriskal Persaud, Frankie Farley, Maria Thomas, Shiv Nandalall and Craig Sylvester.

Should any two players end on identical scores at the end of the seven rounds tournament, a playoff would become necessary to identify the eventual winner. An interesting day of chess is therefore envisaged

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Basil Butcher Tribute U-21 Trophy...

Hetmyer & Motie leads Berbice to crushing 141 run win over G/town The Cellink Berbice Under-21 team led by outstanding performances by Shimron Hetmyer and Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai crushed Georgetown by 141 runs to lift the Basil Butcher Tribute Trophy at the Albion Sports Complex on Wednesday. Hetmyer struck 102 (10x4 1x6) while Motie spun webs around the Georgetown players, claiming 5 for 24 from 10 overs. The match was organised by the Berbice Cricket Board in an effort to expose its players to a higher level.

The match was sponsored by the BCB and Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club. Berbice batting first after losing the toss was given a solid opening partnership of 88 in 16.3 overs between Hetmyer and Kandasammy Surujnarine before was run out for 21.

Dominique Rikhi joined Hetmyer and added 82 for the 2nd wicket to take Berbice to 170 for 1 in the 30 overs

before Hetmyer 102, Rikhi 34 (4x4) and Joemal La Fleur fell in quick succession to leave Berbice at 179 for 4.

Andy Mohan 29*, skipper Shawn Pereira 15 and Motie 14* carried Berbice to 256 for 9 off their allotted overs after Kevin Ramdeen 8, Loyydel Lewis 7, Romario De Jonge 1 and Clinton Pestano 00 fell cheaply. Bowling for Georgetown left arm spinner Chanderpaul Hemraj took 4 for 32 from 10 overs and Winston Forrester 2 for 40 from 10 overs.

Needing to score 257 runs from 50 overs, Georgetown started quietly in the face of some hostile and accurate fast bowling

by Clinton Pestano and Romario De Jonge. The openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Charwayne Mc Pherson added 28 in 10 overs before first change bowler Joemal La Fleur had Mc Pherson caught behind by Andy Mohan for 10. Winston Forrester had a solid looking Chanderpaul then added 11 for the next

wicket before Motie had Chanderpaul caught for 40 (3x4) and then La Fleur had Forrester stumped for 15.

Georgetown then collapsed to 115 all out in 36.2 overs, the Berbice spinners bowling well. Jahron Byron made 21.

Motie ended with 5 for 23 from 10 overs, he received support from off spinner La Fleur 2 for from 8 and Shawn Pereira 3-12 from 6.5.

At the presentation ceremony, BCB Special Events Committee chairman Hilbert Foster expressed gratitude to the Georgetown Cricket Association for accepting the Board’s invitation. The BCB, Foster stated is determined to play a major role in the development of every available talent in Berbice and one of the ways is by exposing the younger players to a higher level of competition.

Chairman of the Georgetown Cricket Association Competition Committee and Manager of the Under-21 team Shawn Massiah

GFF responds to concerns raised by players The Guyana Football Federation has responded to a number of quarries and concerns that have been raised by a number of players.

Following is the full press release issued.

“It is rather ironic and perhaps unfortunate that after what has been widely acclaimed as the most successful performance by any Guyana Football team participating in the World Cup Qualifiers that a member of the team would seek to denigrate and diminish that performance by prematurely presenting a perspective to the public that is discordant with and divorced from the observed reality. In the circumstances one must wonder what may be the real motives for such action.

Nevertheless, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) will continue to do its duty as it relates to fulfilling its responsibility to its affiliates, sponsors and the general public. Final Managerial and Technical Reports on the Golden Jaguars participation in the World Cup Qualifiers and the Caribbean Cup Tournaments are being awaited and the GFF is currently compiling information on all aspects of the team’s

participation in the Tournaments to enable a full review and holistic report to its membership and the public via the media. If there are changes to be made at any level by the GFF, they will be made after such a review.

In the meanwhile, it is apposite to note that at present, the GFF is unaware of any players who would have lost their jobs or contracts, as a consequence of their participation in any of the two (2) Tournaments. As a matter of fact, we are aware that to the contrary two (2) players, and perhaps more, would have benefitted from new contracts.

Furthermore, as regards the Agreement entered into with the players in Houston, Texas, yes, the players did rebel; they did present the Executive body of the GFF with an ultimatum that, notwithstanding our previous Agreement, they would not be playing for the country unless they received a part of the ‘package’.

Executives did agree to three (3) components for payment to players which included: 1) An increase in our previous agreement for Match Fees for Starters and Substitutes used from US$350 to US$500, and for Substitutes not used from US$200 to US$300.

2) Twelve per cent (12%) of the Game Fee received from Sponsports for staging the match in Houston Texas, after deduction of expenses.

3) A win/draw/lose bonus of US$500 each for players and officials.

The Federation by way of letter dated 8th November 2012 to players and officials subsequently confirmed the decisions in respect of items (1) and (2) but noted that in retrospect the concept of a bonus payment for a loss was a contradiction in terms and may even be considered an illegality. Further advice has been sought in that respect.

The GFF has in the last two (2) years committed significant amounts of its resources, financial and otherwise, to the support, preparation and participation of the Golden Jaguars in the World Cup Qualifiers and other tournaments. This was not meant to hinder the team’s performance but to help, and we believe that was accomplished. The Federation has always been very clear that it will honour any legitimate commitments made to players and officials despite the limitations on its resources, and it will continue to do so as long as those claims are justifiable and verified.

expressed gratitude to the BCB for hosting the game and for the role it is playing in the development of cricket in Guyana. Shimron Hetmyer won the best Bowler prize of

a coffee maker, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai as the bowler received a three piece water pitcher set while Hetmyer received an electric blender as the man-of-the-finals prize.

All of the prizes were sponsored by the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club.

The two teams would clash again on Wednesday at the GCC Ground.

GCA competitions continue this weekend

The Georgetown Cricket Association Hadi’s World first division and Noble House Sea Foods second division twoday competitions are set to continue this weekend with a number of matches.

In the Hadi’s tournament Everest will host GNIC, DCC will entertain GDF and GCC will be at home to Transport Sports Club.

In the Noble House Sea Foods competition, GNIC will travel to Eve Leary to engage Police, Ace Warriors and Third Class will do battle at YMCA and Everest comes up against TSC at GNIC. Vikings drew the bye in Zone A. Zone B matches will see, GCC journeying to UG, MYO staying at home

to DCC and MSC hosting GYO, GDF drew the bye.

Meanwhile, following are the points standing after the completion of last weekend’s matches in the Noble House Sea Foods second division.

GNIC currently lead Zone A with 93 points from 4 matches followed by TSC on 74 from 3 games, Police 54 from 2, Everest 37 from 2, Third Class 47 from 3, Viking’s 16 from 3.

In Zone B, GDF and DCC are tied at the top of the table with 54 points each from 3 and 4 matches respectively while MYO and UG shared second spot with 52 from 3 games apiece ahead of GCC 46 from 2, MSC 33 from 3 and GYO 26 from 2.

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N&M Intermediate 50 over cricket...

Anthony D’Andrade Rose Hall Town Pepsi defeated Bermine by 41 runs

Kaieteur News

Saturday November 24, 2012

HICKS’ 50, HOOPER’S 5-16 GUIDES RHT PEPSI INTO THE FINAL

to book a place in the final of the inaugural Neal and Massy Intermediate 50 over Cricket Competition in Berbice.

Playing at the Edinburg ground, the match was reduced to 46 overs because of late start due to preparation moisture.

Rose Hall Town Pepsi won the toss and decided to take first strike and soon lost Devin Baldeo to Romario Shepherd-DeJonge. It was soon 31-2.

However Dominique Rikhi and Delbert Hicks came together and they put on 69 for the third wicket before Rikhi was caught off Joemal

LaFleur, bowling off spin for 46 at 100 for 3.

They declined to 143 for 6 with Hicks at the point going for 50 which included 5 fours.

At that point, Bermine fancied their chances for a quick end to the Rose Hall innings but that was not to be as the No.8 batsman Ravi Narine hit an enterprising 36; Eon Hooper made 16 and Akshay Homraj 15 to guide them to 222 all out in 45.5 overs.

Bowling for Bermine off spinner Devon Clements took 3 for 46 from 10 overs, Shepherd-DeJonge 2 for 29 from 6.5 overs and LaFleur 2 for 42 from 9 overs.

When Bermine began their

response, they lost LaFleur second ball with no run on the board.

Leon Williams and Jamally Odle added 33 for the second wicket before Williams was run out for 12. Anthony D’Andrade came in and he and Odle looked threatening

to Rose Hall, the two putting on 74 for the 3rd wicket before Odle went for 44 at 107 for 3.

Clements went shortly after but D’Andrade and Shepherd-DeJonge added another 39 after which D’Andrade fell for a well played 62 (4x4 1x6) at 150 for

5. Off spinner Hooper got into the act snapping up three quick wickets that saw Bermine swiftly declining to 171 all out in 41.1 overs.

Bowling for Rose Hall, Hooper ended with 5 for 16 from 9.1 overs and Devin Baldeo 2 for 30 from 5 overs.

ECCB U-19 40 over, Enterprise retains title

Enterprise – ECCB Under-19 champs Enterprise Enterprise Sports Club successfully defended their East Coast Cricket Board Under-19 title when they defeated Buxton Carl Hoper Cricket Club in the final played recently at the Enmore Community Centre Ground..

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Enterprise posted 228 for 7 off their allotted overs with Ravindra Beepat 71 and Ramesh Alkinson 38, the main contributors with the bat. Bowling for Buxton Vickram Ramkison ended with figures of 3 for 37.

In response, Buxton were never up to the task of making it difficult for Enterprise as

they were sent packing for 93 in 26.4 overs to lose by 135 runs. Darrel Frederick’s 37 was the only score of resistance, the other batsman showing meek fight. For the winners, Tryanne Sheoprashad ended with figures of 5 for 11 and Vivian Albert 3 for 13.

The competition attracted eight East Coast clubs; Ogle, Plaisance, LBI, Mon Repos, Lusignan, Buxton, Enterprise and Golden Grove.

Competition commenced on September 2 and ended November 17.

Many promising young players were on display during the tournament and standing out were Darrell

Fredericks of Buxton Carl HooperCricket Club the lone centurion of the tournament; Ameer Kishore of Enterprise and Richard Woolford of Golden Grove each had 5wicket hauls.

The ECCB said it was very pleased to run off the tournament while pledging its commitment for its continuance which will allow the growth and development of the players.

Meanwhile, the ECCB is requesting clubs that can field Under-15 teams to make contact with Mr. Raymond Barton on 626 0223 for further details in relation to a tournament.

Saturday November 24, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Samuels’ best ever leads WI run feast

Shivnarine Chanderpaul after reaching a century

Darren Bravo made his fourth Test hundred

Marlon Samuels celebrates his maiden Test double century

Khulna, Bangladesh – Marlon Samuels completed a Test double hundred for the first time and the West Indies’ batsmen indulged themselves to pile up a firstinnings lead so far of 177 over Bangladesh in the final match of their two-Test series on Friday here.

The stylish Samuels made his highest Test and firstclass score of 260, as the Windies batsmen pillaged the Bangladeshi bowling to reach 564 for four at the close on the third day at the Sheikh

Abu Naser Stadium.

Samuels reached the double-hundred mark from 329 balls when he flicked a delivery from Rubel Hossain to deep mid-wicket for a single, becoming the 25th player from the Caribbean to score a Test double hundred.

But Samuels was not the only West Indies batsman to prey on the home team’s bowlers.

Darren Bravo completed his fourth Test hundred of 127 and fellow left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul eased past the legendary

Garfield Sobers on the list of Windies century-makers in Tests with his 27th hundred, an undefeated 109.

Samuels shared two significant partnerships that reinforced West Indies’ bid to sweep the series and celebrate four straight Test wins for the first time in close to two decades. He put on 326 with Bravo, the pair narrowly missing out on a West Indies record for the third wicket, and then added 177 for the fourth wicket with Chanderpaul.

As the landmarks ticked

away for West Indies, the Bangladesh bowlers toiled on the unforgiving pitch with Rubel Hossain ending the day with 2-75 from 28 overs and off-spinner Sohag Gazi finishing with 2-143 from 49 overs. Bravo was the first to reach a landmark, when he tickled his 221st ball – from Abul Hasan – to deep fine leg for a single. It was his first triple-figure score in 14 innings to the day last year, when he stroked 166 in the final match of a three-Test series against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

After Samuels crossed the 200 threshold, the pair continued to bat with aplomb before closing up shop ahead of lunch, when Bravo made room to cut a delivery from Gazi and was adjudged lbw.

He struck 10 fours from 288 balls in 411 minutes.

West Indies reached 369 for three at lunch, and Samuels and Chanderpaul emerged after the interval to continue to grind the Bangladeshis. Samuels batted coolly, but Chanderpaul was virtually

unstoppable, reaching his 50 from 88 balls, when he deflected a delivery from Naeem Islam to deep square leg for a single.

The two West Indies batsmen continued to plunder the runs, although Samuels came close to being bowled, when he almost played on a delivery from Gazi, as the visitors reached 462 for three at tea.

After the break, Samuels and Chanderpaul defied the Tigers’ attack, and were greeted by the third new ball shortly after it became due following 160.2 overs.

Samuels flicked it to deep backward square leg to reach 250 from 451 balls off Rubel, whose persistence paid dividends in his 27th over.

The 31-year-old Samuels passed his highest first-class score of 257 before Rubel got a delivery to bounce awkwardly and the West Indies batsman could only glove a catch to point, where substitute fielder gleefully accepted.

Samuels struck 31 fours and three sixes from 455 balls in 618 minutes at the crease,

as he increased his aggregate of runs for the year to 866 at an average of 86.60 from seven matches.

By this time, Chanderpaul had his hundred within reach, and in the following over from Gazi, he lofted the off-spinner to long-off for four before driving to wide mid-off two balls later for a single to bring up his 100 from 187 balls, as he and Denesh Ramdin, a century-maker in the first Test, batted through the remainder of the day.

This hundred was the veteran West Indies lefthander’s second of the series, following his undefeated 203 in the first innings of the first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka. He is now 12th on the all-time list of century-makers in Tests.

West Indies lead the twoTest series 1-0, following a 77run victory in the first Test that ended last Saturday at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

The West Indies have never lost a Test series, let alone a Test in three trips to this country. (WICB)

t r o Sp

North Georgetown topples Upper Dem. - edge closer to overall title leader

CHAMPIONS AGAIN! Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James (centre) joins North Georgetown as they celebrate winning their 13th overall title in the National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships last night.

Alfred’s world title hope dwindles to naught - WBC officials forced to cancel fight

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