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October 14, 2012

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Fraud!!

Pres. Ramotar demands answers as ...

Meet Andrea Rodrigues

President Donald Ramotar

Audit report recommends dismissal of NDIA boss, Lionel Wordsworth and Senior Engineer Aneel Chowbay Guyanese man kills sleeping wife, commits suicide in US Man jumps to death from hospital window Fighting corruption…

Whistleblower protection laws - former Auditor General, should be introduced Anand Goolsaran

NDIA boss, Lionel Wordsworth

Passionate designer and model mentor, Sonia Noel, is a 'Special Person'

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Judy-Ann Stuart, new lawyer Thirty-one-year-old JudyAnn Stuart of Bel Air Park, Georgetown, was on Thursday last admitted to the Guyana Bar after her petition was accepted by Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire.

Stuart's petition was presented by Attorney-at-Law Kim Kyte-John who had been her mentor and tutor.

Before Justice GeorgeWiltshire, Kyte-John said that she was pleased to present Stuart who had worked endlessly to achieve the dream.

Kyte-John said that Stuart first attended the Stella Maris Nursery School and then Stella Maris Primary School where she wrote the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE) in 1992.

She secured a place at St. Joseph High School and attended from 1992-1997.

She excelled both in academic and extra-curricular activities such as impromptu speaking competitions, elocution and public speaking competitions.

Stuart then attended the University of Guyana and pursued studies in Public Management before being admitted to the Law Programme. She was awarded a Bachelors of Law Degree in 2006. As a result of her studies and performance at the University, Stuart was elected

Attorneyat-Law Judy- Ann Stuart

Head of Advertising and Sponsorship of the University's Law Society.

With experience both locally and abroad, Stuart worked as a paralegal following Guyana University education and later proceeded to Trinidad and To b a g o t o commence reading for her Legal Education Certificate at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

On October 2 last, the new lawyer graduated with the Le-

gal Education Certificate by the Council of Legal Education. Stuart is also actively involved in non-governmental organizations and is a certified Health Educator at the Guyana Red Cross.

Stuart thanked her family and friends for their patience, prayers and comforting words. Stuart also extended gratitude to Justice Cummings and Mrs. KyteJohn for their support and mentorship.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Fraud!!!!

Kaieteur News

Audit report recommends dismissal of NDIA boss Lionel Wordsworth and Senior Engineer Aneel Chowbay An audit report on the operations of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has recommended the immediate dismissal of the entity’s boss Lionel Wordsworth and the Senior Section Engineer, Aneel Chowbay, after several instances of fraud and conflict of interest were unearthed.

The report on fuel consumption and equipment operations and maintenance, was conducted between May and September. It was completed and submitted to the Chairman of the NDIA Board of Directors on September 26, and carbon copied to President Donald Ramotar.

This newspaper was reliably informed that His Excellency has instructed the NDIA boss to respond to the report.

Up to yesterday, Wordsworth had not responded.

The report concluded that fraudulent acts were committed by Lionel Wordsworth and Senior Section Engineer (SSE) Mr. Aneel Chowbay, in breach of the Procurement Act 2003.

President Donald Ramotar

NDIA boss, Lionel Wordsworth

It speaks of conflict of interest and sole sourcing of services such as the supply of fuel and the awarding of contracts to relations of senior NDIA operatives, in breach of national procurement procedures.

The audit and subsequent report came in the wake of declarations that millions of dollars are allocated to the National Drainage and

Irrigation Authority for which questions of value for money and accountability have been raised.

The report noted that there was a major breakdown of internal control over the fuel system which lends itself for possible fraudulent activity since it cannot be fully tested and relied upon that fuel ordered was received in part at the pump station and used

for its required purposes.

According to the report, fuel consumption and pump efficiency were inadequately monitored by the NDIA Mechanical Engineer Department who should have assisted in implementing steps to minimise risk exposures and losses.

It is the opinion of the auditors that the NDIA contract for fuel transportation and payments recommended was poorly managed and verified by the Senior Section Engineer and ultimately the Mechanical Department.

The audit revealed that contracts for fuel already supplied were deliberately deemed as urgent and were solely awarded to one Michael Seeram, sanctioned by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) illegally, breaching the procurement act instead of utilizing the open tendering process which would have enabled the NDIA to pay a competitive price for the contracted service.

The auditors also (continued on page 14)

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No one is dealt a perfect hand A young man was playing poker with six of his friends.

Now this young man did not have a vast amount of money but wanted to play anyway so he threw a quarter of his money in the pot. When the dealer dealt his cards he noticed he had the worst possible hand - a high card. Since he had put a quarter of his money in the pot already, he reasoned that he would do what he could to come out victorious.

This young man knew what he was doing and did not even glance at any of the other six players. When the opportunity arose to swap all of his cards he tactfully refused and kept his seemingly worthless hand.

Now, when the time came to throw in more bets, this young man put in another quarter of his earnings. Because three of the other six observed that he never changed his cards, they assumed he had a great hand so they immediately folded and withdrew whilst the remaining three called and threw in some of their money.

Knowing that there were still three players left, he decided to put all his money in the pot. This frightened the last three and they folded. This young man came out victorious and now had ten times the amount he began with.

When his six friends asked him to show them his hand, he threw his cards on the table revealing the lowest hand.

After a brief pause the young man stated: “I knew I was going to win because the cards don’t matter in poker, it is the trick of leading your opponent to believe you have an unbeatable hand”.

This is not to say we should bluff our way through life, rather we should use what we have to be the best we can.

In life, no one is dealt with a perfect hand. Some are just dealt with higher cards and some will choose to try and change those cards.

If you want to win in anything, remember that your hand is only as strong as your will and determination. Put in all you talents and never focus on what another person has because you will just be more disappointed in the end.

Your life is in YOUR hand. — Copyright © 2007 Allen Steble - W.A. — Australia

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

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8491, 225-8458, 225-8465 Fax: 225-8473 or 226-8210

Editorial

Crossing the Line The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of democracy, and it has a long, distinguished history here in Guyana.

Protests are a mechanism to highlight perceived nonadherence to the social compact so that the authorities can address any breaches – but they must be peaceful.

Like all rights possessed by citizens, the right to protest is not unfettered: it must be balanced against the right of other citizens to go about their lives safely and freely.

Last Thursday evening, the protest by some individuals in Agricola so egregiously violated all the tenets of peaceful protests that it is not surprising it was roundly condemned by all responsible Guyanese. The protestors crossed the line of peaceful protest even as the very premise of their protest action had been questioned.

Shaquille Grant, a young Agricola resident had been shot and killed by a police patrol. Murder charges were quickly issued against three policemen from the squad: two have not been served while the third had been charged before the court almost two weeks ago.

The protests began in front of the Magistrate’s Court in Georgetown because the mother and other Agricola residents claimed that the policeman in custody had been given ‘preferential’ treatment. When originally arraigned, he had been brought to court riding in the front of the van without being handcuffed. On Thursday, the court proceedings had to be aborted because of various actions by the protestors, including complaints that the policeman had again arrived seated in the front of the van.

The protestors prevented the removal of the prisoner until the afternoon.By then, in what can only be described as a carefully planned manoeuvre, new protests erupted on the Public Road of Agricola just as the rush hour began.

Tyres were thrown onto the highway and set afire, creating impenetrable clouds of acrid black smoke that brought traffic to a halt. Logs and other debris were also added. When the police attempted to clear the road they were attacked: some were injured.

A vehicle was torched as the policemen retreated. But it was the traumatic effects on the thousands of commuters, especially schoolchildren, by the protest actions, that highlight the line between legitimate and illegitimate protests.

It was not only the virtual forced imprisonment for five hours that violated the rights of these citizens, but the numerous robberies to which they were subjected when they attempted to seek alternative routes out of the melee.

The police showed tremendous restraint in dealing with the protestors, some of whom brandished cutlasses at them.

That police, it must be noted have the right to use appropriate action “to prevent unrest, violence and crime, and for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

On Thursday night, the police bent backward to ‘accommodate’ the protestors, some of whom physically attacked them, while allowing the thousands of innocent commuters’ rights to be violated. There has been a diversion with fingers being pointed as to who might have precipitated the protests at Agricola. The government has pointed to the demands of the Opposition for the Minister of Home Affairs to be fired and the ‘incendiary’ rhetoric used to make those demands – including a time-based ultimatum that expired the night before the protests exploded.

The Opposition has countered that the trigger might have been the ‘provocative’ phrase used by the Cabinet Secretary that the government was ready to ‘rumble’ with the Opposition on their demands.

While it is important to determine if there are politicians that are deliberately working to provoke conflict in our society, it is even more important for our citizens to understand and accept their obligations to each other. The social contract is not only between the state and the citizens, but also between those same citizens. If we are to have our rights respected then we must respect the rights of others.

Those politicians calling for protest actions to place pressure on the government must be aware of the proclivity of some elements to cross the line of legality. They will be held accountable for the consequences.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

Luncheon’s ‘rumble’ statement was yet another manifestation of political thuggery DEAR EDITOR, It is an unfortunate fact of life under the PPP government that Dr. Roger Luncheon’s incendiary statement to the parliamentary majority was par for the course.

Luncheon’s remarks telling the Opposition that the PPP administration was ready to “rumble”, and that it was entrenched in its position of support for Clement Rohee was yet another manifestation of political thuggery and outright bullyism that is the face of the new PPP in Guyana. As I

listened to the press conference I could see clearly that this was a regime that was uninformed, out of touch with the wishes of the people, and seriously in need of a reality check.

The people of Guyana must now decide what we must do in the face of such outright disrespect and intolerance. On the 28th of November 2011 we the people spoke and the majority of us voted for the opposition and sent them to the National Assembly to be our voice. On the 31st of July after 24 members of the

Assembly had spoken, in a debate that lasted for 10 hours, a motion of no confidence was passed against Clement Rohee the Minister of Home Affairs.

That the Ramotar administration has chose to defy the wishes of the people, is a testament to their (the PPP) dictatorial style of governance over the last two decades.

Roger Luncheon has now served five presidents over a 20 year period and it is my opinion that like his masters the PPP, he has stayed a bit too long at the party and

maybe imbibed way too much of the power punch. It is clear even for the casual political observer that this group needs a good shaking up, and one wonders if Donald Ramotar is really the man in charge. In a few weeks Ramotar would have completed a dismal first year in office. One marked by parliamentary fights over a flawed budget, the imposition of illegal Interim Management Committees (IMC), Linden, Police shooting, and an air of unrest that has gripped this Continued on page 6

Sunday October 14, 2012

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Does the PPP really want the police force reformed?

DEAR EDITOR, Mr. Patrick Mentore’s letter, “Don’t hammer the police without offering useful suggestions,” (KN, October 12), was long on rhetoric but short on reality.

The rhetoric about offering suggestions for making the force better is no different from the rhetoric from those who challenge critics of the regime to come up with ideas instead of merely criticizing.

There is no Guyanese, at home or abroad, who can show evidence of any meaningful or substantive suggestion that was offered to the PPP regime by a nonPPPite over the last two decades that was adopted or incorporated into government’s agenda.

If there is one thing I have learned about the PPP in the last two decade, it is this: it

does not care for the opinions of anyone other than the PPP. It is either the PPP’s way or no way.

While many of us had an open mind to Cheddi Jagan and the PPP back in 1992, we were shocked to discover that the PPP never had an open mind to us.

And even when it pretended to be amenable to a suggestion from outside Freedom House, it would twist and turn the suggestion to fit into one of its already established agenda items, making the suggestion a PPP brand.

When Dr. Yesu Persaud suggested to Dr. Jagan in 1990 that Mr. Sam Hinds of the GUARD movement be Jagan’s prime ministerial candidate, we all held out hope for an open and peoplefriendly PPP after being told for two decades prior of the

horrible stuff a communist PPP regime would do to Guyana. After Jagan and the PPP won, we kept looking futilely for the PPP to incorporate ideas from the people, but then Jagan died unexpectedly in 1997, and the baton was passed to Janet Jagan and then Bharrat Jagdeo.

With the ascension of Jagdeo, the PPP morphed from a party of the Guyanaversion of hope and change into hype and corruption.

The Civic arm was crippled.

Mr. Hinds went from being a bridge for Blacks to a door mat for the PPP. With all the Blacks being shot and killed by the police, Mr. Hinds remains conspicuously absent from the platform as a voice or ‘bridge’ for Blacks.

Even when the crime spree was on during 2002-

The stage is being set for permanent PPP rule DEAR EDITOR, Countless persons on Friday evening after the rally (held at the White Castle Fish Shop on Hadfield Street where Dameon Belgrave was killed by a police bullet) have been saying to me that the opposition parties have to go and speak to the Guyanese people about the racial incitement that the PPP is frenetically spreading since the Agricola protest on Thursday night Though that may be a concern, the opposition parties have to ask themselves why the PPP is doing this. One and only one motive exists. After the race sentiment is whipped up, after the ethnic fear spreads, the PPP is going to call a snap poll.

The intention is to become a majority government again. A snap election is called, the PPP wins with the votes of the people in Berbice and Essequibo and they rule Guyana dominating the Regions where they have lost devastatingly This has been the pattern of elections in Guyana where the PPP loses comprehensively in certain Regions and those Regions are reduced to enclaves of servitude. Is this what the opposition wants if they participate in another general election?

It is less than one year since the PPP lost in Region 4 and Region 10. Look at the power of the elected administrations in these Regions. They are totally

powerless. The Region 4 government has no authority to govern over any area of life in Demerara unless the central government approves of their policies. This is a vitiation of the sacred principle of free and fair elections From the time the election results were announced last November, the PPP has sought to instill ethnic fear in its supporters with one specific goal – call another poll and win the election. (remember Ramotar ’s accusation that on election day PPP supporters were prevented from voting by the opposition; then there was the nasty Chronicle attack on Black youths).

The PPP is going to seriously look at the possibility of a snap poll. My bet is that with the gigantic milking of the Agricola protest (it is going on nonstop all over PPP traditional areas and PPP controlled media houses), the election will be called.

It is for the supporters of the AFC and APNU to call upon their leaders to decide if they are going to participate or not. In my speech at the rally on Friday night, I made it clear that morally and politically, I will not be able to campaign in the next general election if there aren’t far-reaching constitutional changes.

As an academic that studies political behaviour in my country I think this nation has been living with an electoral nightmare since 1992. The description is

simple.

The PPP has won the plurality of votes in five consecutive elections with a narrow ethnic base yet has completely dominated this country reducing citizens in Region 4 and 10 to their puppets. Not even signals from other television channels can Region 10 receive.

The Region 4 administration would not be allowed to give permission for investors to start up a radio station. Yet in both of these Regions, free and fair elections resulted in the loss of power by the PPP. By what logic then does the PPP govern Regions 4 and 10?

If there is a snap poll, are APNU and the AFC going into this same situation? If they are, can they tell us what future they have if the PPP wins a majority and what will they do if that majority came through ethnic voting rather than national support across racial lines?

I have very personal friends in the opposition that would lead this country into a wonderful future if they win at a national election. But I will not be involved in another election battle.

The Constitution should be changed before the general poll because it is essentially a flawed document. For APNU and the AFC to go into a snap poll, they are certainly risking their own demise and that of their supporters. For me, I am through with election campaigning. I will not even vote Frederick Kissoon

2004, with Blacks as both criminals and suspects and also victims, Mr. Hinds was visibly absent. Where was his voice or ideas or suggestions? Again, it was either the PPP’s way or no way.

And when President Jagdeo wrote the British asking for help in reforming the police force to deal with the armed criminal gangs, the British responded by offering to finance a GY$160M security sector reform plan, only to be shot down by the Jagdeo regime because the regime did not want to have British police stationed among Guyanese police as part of the security sector reform.

What bigger and better suggestion than this can anyone offer for the police, Mr. Mentore?

It is not for the want of suggestions that the PPP regime is still corrupt, lawless, vindictive, authoritarian, and discriminatory, or that the police force remains compromised to the point it is now in a state of crisis, much like the system of governance in Guyana.

The PPP does not listen

to anybody and tries to give the impression it is tough, but relents under tremendous pressure, which means that the only suggestion the PPP needs is pressure lots and lots of pressure. It should change the name of its headquarters from Freedom House to House of Pressure.

And believe me, Mr. Editor and Mr. Mentore, if Guyanese don’t not put pressure on the PPP, the PPP will steamroll them on its way to a real dictatorship. It needs a corrupt or compromised police force to achieve this, though.

It does not care who jumps on its bandwagon for personal or political reasons, but everyone is expendable in the interest of the PPP’s goals. Look at Merrs.

Ramjattan, Nagamootoo and Ramkarran.

Meanwhile, the opposition is calling for the removal of Mr. Clement Rohee as Home Affairs Minister in the face of a series of major blunders by the police, and I quite support the call.

However, the regime is saying ‘it will not be moved’. My question is: Even if the regime

removes Rohee, won’t the regime g o f o r a n o t h e r Rohee-type replacement, given that President Ramotar already declared his cabinet will be all-PPP? Rohee must go, but the police force must be reformed. Does the PPP really want the police force reformed?

The intransigent stance by the PPP on Rohee, police reform and other issues, therefore, is troubling for several reasons, but none more so than it does not care about the opinions of others.

And here is a useful secret: it is only a handful of people in t h e P P P leadership behind the PPP’s agenda being manifested in such a massive and dominant way in the government’s belligerent behavior.

The sooner Guyanese wake up and realize this ‘handful’ concept, the sooner the nation could be on its way to having the type of government and type of police force that conform to the will of the majority.

Governments serve the people, which make the people the actual rulers!

Emile Mervin

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Sunday October 14, 2012

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What is a monopoly’s place in a democracy?

DEAR EDITOR, The Guyana telephone and telegraph company (GT&T) has enjoyed a monopoly for over twenty years extracting super profits out of ordinary Guyanese.

They may say that’s a small price to pay to update a d i l a p i d a t e d

telecommunication infrastructure which existed in Guyana when GT&T took over the firm or is it?

Now the world has moved on and Guyana has moved on to the point where a significant amount of us own a cell phone.

Before the other

telecommunication services entered the cell phone market Guyanese had to pay above average cost for cell phone use. GT&T even had draconian pricing rules where we were made to pay for per minute billing as oppose to per second billing which we now enjoy, thanks

DEAR EDITOR, It is time the country cease emphasising ‘reading’ and ‘literacy’, and just let matters rest in these regards. I am so shocked that in a day and time when professionalism is the hallmark, NCN is so abysmal.

I am forced to illustrate, and if it causes embarrassment, then please, I ask, let it result in some changes.

On the morning of Friday, October 12, 2012, I listened to a few minutes of sports news. It was the 06:50 edition, and yes, in the five minutes of news, I heard n o t h i n g of the Shanghai Tennis Tournament nor the World Golf Final.

I am a sport enthusiast and I am on top of things

local. I like listening to the local stories too, but I need my news to be broad-based.

I think that important events must be covered, more so, that there was about five minutes remaining before news time.

The reader was not only limited; he was an ‘F’ grade reader at best, and his knowledge of actual words in the English Language is abysmal. Here is just one of the many ‘word blunders’ he made.

The ‘poor boy’ said “comaraderie” instead of “camaraderie.” He could have at least checked a dictionary.

I gather he is not ‘up to the task’ at hand.

He read a few items and

did not accommodate the ten-minute time frame. Then he used a non-existing word.

He just does not know any better, and I question his employment criteria.

Let me slip in here what took place on 98.1 Hot Fm. In the news capsule, I heard about ‘metology’ for fighting crime. I am forced to forgive here. I have a distinct feeling that NCN is like NOC-guess why? A place for remedial training.

Dear Editor, if Guyana is fighting for improvement in things ‘reading’ and ‘literacy’, then the nation must not be subjected to this level of professionalism. I call for a rise in standards.

Shelliza Ali

DUNCES ON THE LOOSE

EPA has not taken ‘soft stance’ on this rice mill owner DEAR EDITOR, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejects the notion being peddled by Vice Chairman of the Alliance for Change, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo that the agency has taken a ‘soft stance’ in addressing the issue of dust and noise pollution relating to the operation of Mr. Hakh’s Rice Mill located at Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara, since receipt of the first complaint on May 30, 2000.

The Agency would like to point out to the AFC that over the years, the issue relating to the noise nuisance was addressed and complaints regarding noise nuisance from the Rice Mill ceased; however, dust pollution remained a major concern.

During the period from 2000 to present, the Agency has been aggressive in recommending mitigation measures to the polluter, and conducting monitoring inspections of the Rice Mill to ensure that recommended measures were being satisfactorily implemented to reduce impacts on the receiving community.

Numerous community meetings and joint inspections were also held with affected residents and all government officials related to the project such as the Ministries of Agriculture and Local Government, Guyana Rice Development Board, NDC etc., to allow for residents to voice their concerns and propose and discuss further recommended measures for alleviation of the

pollution.

More recently, the EPA conducted bi-weekly inspections to assess the level of mitigation works completed, and noted that Mr. Hakh has installed felted material within the Bag House to contain dust particle sizes of 2.5 micro meters and sealed all exposed vents/openings on conveyers and elevators with duct tape, installed higher pressure nozzle on the furnace, installed a sprinkler system, and enclosed the loading and offloading areas to prevent the escape of dust particles into the environment.

Despite these extensive measures which were implemented to alleviate the dust nuisance, a few residents whom are politically aligned with the AFC claim to be affected by the operation.

As such, the Agency remains actively involved in the complaint resolution and has scheduled air quality monitoring to be done using the recently acquired air quality monitoring equipment, for the rice mill in order to determine whether dust particles are being emitted by the Mill and if so, whether they are within acceptable world standards.

Environmental Protection Agency

to competition in the industry.

GT&T contract has come to an end.

GT&T had been paid handsomely for their involvement in Guyana ’s communication development and it time for them to let go and allow Guyanese to enjoy true economic freedom. Sadly this reality is being ignored

by GT&T. A monopoly is where a single firm, in this case GT&T, operates in an industry.

GT&T has exclusive rights over our telecommunication networks with cell services being the exception. In a democracy freedom is a central tenant and economic freedom is included in this mantra. With the existence of a monopoly economic freedom is not possible. It constrains individual freedom to invest in whatever market one chooses to. In Guyana economic freedom does not exist. GT&T has a strangle hold on our VIOP service and this has serious economic implications for Guyana ’s future development.

Without competition this industry will be less efficient and Guyanese consumers will continue to be shafted by paying through their noses for telecommunication services.

These costs can hinder small business development as it has implications on their profits. One area of exceptional entrepreneurship among Guyanese youth is investing in internet cafés.

These have sprung up in every little part of Georgetown and wider a field.

Some of these entrepreneurs are young ambitious men and women, the kind we have been trying to develop over the years and GT&T aggressive stance on killing these small businesses off is intolerable and morally repugnant.

These small businesses have to fight there own concern with this giant of an organisation.

The government of Guyana has sat ideally by, failing to protect our young entrepreneurs. No one is coming to their aid.

There is a vulnerability of national security with a monopoly own telecommunication institution that has foreign owners. In the US currently the senate have serious concerns about foreign players in their telecommunication industry.

We should take note of this issue as Canada has done recently raising concerns about foreign institutions that may have ulterior motive in this sensitive industry.

Guyanese businesses are potentially wide open to intellectual thieft of their business plans and creativity.

I am not aware of any checks and balances the government have in place to ensure that out intellectual property are safe from cyber theft.

Every single piece of communication that involves the internet and landline as well as most cell phones is routed through GT&T. There is a potential for misuse and abuse of private information.

We should note this weakness and address it. Our government and parliamentarians are no exception to this vulnerability.

This should be the impetus for them to ensure Guyana businesses including government business are safe.

It is time for this monopoly to end. This abuse of economic power has no place in a democracy and for where Guyana is now there is no need for such a market structure. GT&T should be welcome to continue to trade in Guyana but not under the current market arrangement.

The industry should be opened up to welcome all those who dare.

Government should ensure that there are regulations to curb any market abuse of the telecommunication industry.

New entrants to this industry should be enabled to grow to become competitive enough where they can stand on their own.

More new entrants will certainly increase competition and therefore will drive down price and increase available choice of services to Guyanese consumers. It’s not best for the Guyanese public and is certainly not good for Guyanese business.

Government should address this issue and let true economic freedom rain in Guyana Just a thought, what is the incentive for government to continue with this market structure?

Malachi James

Luncheon’s ‘rumble’ statement was...

From page 4 nation. Ramotar as a head of state has failed to instill confidence in the people and by choosing to retain the Jagdeo cabinet he signaled to the population that the change they voted for would not be forthcoming.

Now Mr. Ramotar has sent another signal via Dr. Luncheon that he and his administration are prepared to “rumble” (fight) with the people. The defiance that this administration has expressed over the Rohee debacle shows clearly that it has become out of touch with the ordinary Guyanese.

Presidents shuffle their cabinets all the time; in fact, most administrations take an introspective view after the first year and make the necessary adjustments.

But I am sure that the PPP will not be making any such adjustments, and I am just as sure that Mr. Ramotar will only remove Mr. Rohee when he is faced with a situation where he has no other choice.

What is being asked of this President is not something that is unprecedented, Ministers of the Government around the world resign and some are removed all the time. In several Caribbean nations Ministers of the government have resigned because their United States Visas were revoked. Some Ministers have resigned because they failed to properly manage those placed under their charge.

So, with Parliament about to reconvene and the parliamentary majority firmly rejecting the Minister of Home Affairs, and the bellicose utterances coming from the Executive Branch, interesting days are ahead.

Personally I feel that the President should relieve Rohee and Luncheon of their duties, for both have served him badly.

Rohee and now Luncheon, if they continue to serve, will be major distractions for the upcoming

legislative agendas of both the government and the Opposition. The people, having been disrespected and dismissed, will eventually have their say. Already we are beginning to hear soft rumblings that must be addressed immediately.

Mr. Editor, as Dr. Luncheon spoke to the press on Thursday, somehow it conjured up two images from the not too distant past. Both were pictures of defiance by dictators who not too long afterwards were toppled; Manuel Noriega waving his machete and taunting George H Bush to “bring it on” and Sadam Hussein standing on his palace balcony, rifle in hand, a picture of defiance against the impending US invasion.

The problem with dictators is that they read their own press clippings, but history has shown that it is always better to listen to and follow the wishes and the aspirations of the people.

Mark Archer

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Man jumps to death from hospital window

The ward to which Vishal Ramotar was admitted.

A 35-year-old man jumped to his death around 20:00 hours Friday night from the second-flat Male Medical Ward of the West Demerara Regional Hospital to the ground below.

This newspaper learnt that Vishal Ramotar, a patient at the hospital for the past two weeks, was suffering from chronic renal failure and was always complaining of excruciating pains.

According to one patient, the resident of Hubu, East Bank Essequibo, was being his usual self shortly before climbing to the northern window rail of the Male Medical Ward.

The patient recalled that as soon as efforts were made to draw the attention of a nurse Ramotar leapt through the window.

“Me see he guh and sit down by the window and me know he does normally go and tek breeze sometimes so me nah think nothing. But

then the boy next to he (Ramotar) bed see he climb up then we know something nah right,” the patient added.

According to the man’s sister, Reena Ramotar, she learnt of her brother’s death when a nurse called her at home early yesterday morning. She said, however, that she was not at the time informed of the circumstances surrounding Vishal’s death.

The woman said that upon her arrival at the hospital she inquired about her brother and was asked ‘Is not you brother jump through the window?’

“Me didn’t know nothing about how me brother dead; all me know is that me brother had this kidney problem and so he had to stay in the hospital.”

The woman said that she has since heard a number of rumours surrounding the death of her brother including reports that his lifeless body

A patient shows the area from which the now dead man plunged.

was left on the ground for close to three hours before he was removed.

She said, too, that there are reports that the nurse who was responsible for the Male Medical Ward was sound asleep at the time of the incident.

Reena Ramotar said that in addition to renal failure her brother also suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

According to her “he used to be out of breath all the time and he couldn’t really lie down properly. He did taking oxygen all the time and he didn’t really able with the sickness no more.”

The dead man who was known to frequent Venezuela and the interior prior to being hospitalised leaves to mourn, two sisters. Hospital officials were tight-lipped when this publication visited yesterday and efforts to contact the Regional Health Officer for a comment were futile.

Page 7

Nothing warranted recall of National Assembly during recess - Speaker Media operatives were yesterday given the opportunity to learn more about the workings of Guyana’s Parliament and to share their input at a special forum convened by Speaker, Raphael Trotman, at Public Buildings, yesterday.

The Speaker recalled that there were some concerns raised by certain sections of society when the recess was announced and said that it is a practice that the Parliament has been following for years as the period is used to conduct repairs and clean the building, and facilitate staff’s annual leave and training.

He noted, too, that the country did not go into any state of crisis that warranted the House to be recalled, according to a government statement.

Media operatives were brought up-to-date with the functions of the Parliament and the Standing Orders, which are rules of procedures by which the sittings are guided.

Clerk of the National A s s e m b l y, Sherlock Isaacs, explained his roles and responsibilities which include general

House Speaker, Raphael Trotman supervision of the Committees Division, Hansard Division, Library, Registry, Accounts, Sergeant at Arms, and IT, Personnel, Public Relations, and Planning and Management Departments.

At present, the Parliament is in the process of modernizing the various departments to ensure more effective functioning and to make the work of this important body more open to the citizenry.

A contract was recently awarded for the overhaul of its website to facilitate live

streaming of sessions and the uploading of pertinent information.

During the discussions, the Speaker singled out PPP/C’s Chief Whip and veteran parliamentarian, G a i l Te i x e i r a f o r h e r understanding of the Standing Orders; adding that she has set the bar for many of the other MPs, particularly the new ones.

The parliamentary recess has ended but a date for the reconvening of the House is yet to be fixed. Thus far, the Tenth Parliament has seen 28 sittings.

Page 8

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Investigation launched into corpse mutilation at GPHC

Cement intended to facilitate works at the GPHC mortuary.

An investigation has been launched into the recent mutilation of a corpse at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) mortuary.

That incident has left several persons questioning the usefulness of the facility.

The disclosure about the investigation was made yesterday by Chief Executive Officer of the medical institution, Michael Khan.

This newspaper reported in its Saturday edition that the remains of slain 20-year-old Sulé Brian Assanah were discovered with a gaping hole where his nose should have been. The discovery was made on Friday by his father, Brian William Assanah,

during a visit to the hospital mortuary. Reports are that rats were the cause of the corpse’s disfigurement.

In fact, staffers of the hospital had informed this publication of a rat infestation at the facility.

They said that this was not a unique occurrence. The employees said that rats had eaten away the dead man’s face and there is nothing to prevent the rodents since the mortuary itself needed a better sanitizing system.

One staffer speculated that the rats may have got into the mortuary refrigerator through the drain pipes.

According to the Chief Executive of the hospital, Mr

Khan, he first learnt of the incident on Thursday evening and immediately ensured that pest control officials were summoned to address the situation.

He disclosed, too, that the matter was also reported to the hospital’s board which is tasked with investigating the matter.

In expressing his regret over the unfortunate incident, Khan sought to highlight that “this is the first time that something like this has happened under my watch and I have been here for 10 years already.”

Khan said that efforts to ensure that such an incident does not recur have seen the administration of the hospital making the crucial decision to effect rehabilitative works on the facility.

Yesterday, a visit to the mortuary revealed a pile of cement and other materials intended to patch sections of the mortuary refrigerator. It is believed that the rodents were able to access the corpse through a number of visible holes in the refrigerator.

According to supervisor of the facility, Martin Rodrigues, the individual (one Mr Parris), who was contracted by the hospital to undertake the needed works,

Mortuary Supervisor, Martin Rodrigues, points to areas of the refrigerator that require remedial works. had indicated that he would commence work yesterday morning at the facility.

However as at noon yesterday, works had not yet commenced.

Sulé Brian Assanah, a victim of a knife attack, succumbed at the public hospital last week Sunday.

He was at the time attempting to coerce his eventual attacker, who was wanted for an offence, to surrender to police officers who were

pursuing him. His efforts were futile as the man who was armed with a knife lunged at him inflicting a lifethreatening wound to his neck. The incident occurred at the corners of Fourth and Light Street, Alberttown, Georgetown, a short distance from Sulé Brian Assanah’s home.

According to the dead man’s mother, Laurine Mingo, hospital staffers had warned her that the hospital’s

storage facility was in a poor condition revealing that “the dead would rot and not be in a healthy state when it is uplifted.”

The woman said that she sought permission from officers at the Alberttown Police Station to have her son’s remains be removed from the GPHC and stored at a funeral home. This request, she said, was denied since her son’s death was said to be a police matter.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

>>>> PNCR Column <<<<

Dem boys seh

Uncle Donald ketch some of Bharrat thiefing people Is long now people use to seh how de government is a family business but nobody use to tek dem serious. People use to see family employing family and when dem talk everybody use to seh how dem picking pun everything de government do.

Even Uncle Donald who admit that dem have corruption claim that de situation grossly exaggerated. Well he get a report that shut he mouth Jagdeo blue-eye boy, Lionel, get ketch thiefing. Dem boys know that wid a name like Lionel is only one thing dem coulda expect.

De man wuk up till he engineer decide fuh join in. Dem mek money wid engineer’s estimate which dem prepare after dem collect de job cost and dem mek money wid de fuel.

Bharrat use to seh that he got to get de evidence but he never order any investigation.

Uncle Donald get de evidence. He call pun Wordsworth to explain and he ain’t get no explanation.

However, dem boys bet that he would never call in de police suh Lionel wouldn’t go to jail. At least not yet but dem boys gun do everything to mek sure that he sleep in Camp Street.

Well if Lionel and he engineer coulda keep de thing in de family then everybody can do de same. Dem boys seh that Uncle Donald got nuff family. Uncle Adam is one of dem.

Uncle Adam is he cousin by he mother side.

And Uncle Adam got nuff family and Uncle Donald got to let dem do wha Lionel and he engineer use to do wid de people money.

Dem boys know that is not now this was happening, that it was happening since Bharrat put he de Lionel in charge of de drainage system. Lionel think that he job is to drain de public treasury too.

Moon does run till day ketch am. Uncle Donald ketch. Is fuh see wha he gun do wid de fish.

Talk half and try wid de rest.

Page 9

Rohee, Rodrigues and the Rupununi Just when we thought it was safe to let the children out to play, we woke up to learn that an arsenal of arms and ammunition had been unearthed in the Rupununi Region.

The arsenal which was found at a house in Tabatinga on Monday 1st October 2012 comprised four M-70 automatic rifles; four magazines; 389 rounds 7.62×39 calibre ammunition; six M-16 rifles along with two magazines; 74 matching rounds; two fragmentation hand grenades; one Icon VHF radio set; one Icon hand-held radio set and one roll of camouflage material. No one could think that these weapons had any other purpose than to kill people.

Police subsequently issued a ‘wanted bulletin’ for Ricardo Ignatius Rodrigues called “Fatman” – said to be a close associate of the worst criminal in Guyana’s history – Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.

That notorious narcotrafficker is now serving a sentence for cocaine trafficking in a United States correctional facility.

Rodrigues’s cousin, Clive Lloyd King, called “Bora,” was also sought in

connection with the crime.

The discovery of this cache of illegal weapons in the Rupununi should not come as a surprise to anyone except, perhaps, Clement Rohee. Everyone else knows that Guyana is vulnerable to the trans-national crime of gun-running.

Many of the guns used by crooks to commit armed robberies in Guyana are of Brazilian manufacture.

Everyone else knows that many of those guns were brought into the country illegally. Everyone else knows, also, that Guyana is vulnerable to the trans-national crime of drug-trafficking.

Clement Rohee, however, has been stonily silent over the past fortnight about the clear indications of the crimes of gun-running and drugtrafficking.

Rohee must know that the Rupununi Region is a zone of proven vulnerability. He must know that Guyana’s 1,100 km border with Brazil has remained as porous as ever under the careless watch of his Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Rupununi - the country’s largest administrative region

- is vast, comprising about 58, 000 km² or approximately 27 per cent of this country’s territory.

Rohee, however, simply does not have a functioning security plan for the hinterland in general and the Rupununi Region, in particular. He seems blissfully oblivious to consequences of his misunderstanding and mishandling of border security.

He seems unable, also, to craft a comprehensive strategy to ensure the security of the Guyana-Brazil border and to protect our territory.

The border is not only an open gateway for aliens to come and go as they please through informal border crossings and to avoid

contact with law-enforcement and revenue authorities. It is now clear that it is also a thoroughfare for gunrunning on an industrial scale.

The return to prominence of the colourful Ricardo Ignatius Rodrigues is not necessarily good news for Guyana. The importation and accumulation of a large arsenal of arms and ammunition the only use for which is to kill humans – is bad for Guyana.

Retaining Clement Rohee as Minister of Home Affairs is bad for Guyana. He seems disinclined, even after two weeks, to issue a statement on this serious breach of national security that has occurred in the Rupununi.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Fighting corruption…

Government should seriously consider introducing whistleblower laws that will protect individuals who report cases of mismanagement, fraud and corruption, said former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran.

Anand Goolsarran, on Tuesday evening launched his book, chronicling his efforts while in office, to restore public accountability in Guyana and bring about improvements according to international best practices.

Speaking to diplomats, academics and other invitees at Marian’s Academy, Goolsarran who has been outspoken about the state of finances and accountability in Guyana, said the government’s record in relation to its fight against corruption has not been an impressive one.

Given Guyana’s low ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), he warned that it is the government’s duty to put in place appropriate measures to correct this within the

Sunday October 14, 2012

Whistleblower protection laws should be introduced

shortest possible period of time.

“In this regard, the Integrity Commission should be reorganized, and staffed with members with professional and technical competence.

Adequate funding should also be provided to ensure that the Commission discharges its responsibilities fully in accordance with the law.”

Similarly, he said, an Ombudsman should be appointed without further delay.

“In addition, the Freedom of Information Act, which was drafted several years ago, should be passed into legislation. This will send a powerful signal that there is a strong commitment to openness and transparency in government operations.”

Goolsarran, who became the Auditor in 1990 and served for 15 years, was convinced that the government has no options but to fully implement all the provisions of the InterAmerican Convention against Corruption.

In recent years, the issue of corruption and accountability has been a hot topic and it is widely believed that the failure to adequately address it was the main reason for the poor showing by the P e o p l e ’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the November 28, 2011 General and Regional Elections.

The ruling party lost its Parliamentary majority for the first time in 20 years since assuming power in 1992.

PROCUREMENT COMMISSION NOW As regards the Procurement Commission, Goolsarran stressed that it is in the national interest for the political parties in the National Assembly to set aside their personal interests and genuinely seek to make the necessary accommodations to enable impartial and competent members of the Commission to be appointed.

“In this way, there is no longer likely to be the perception of bias in the

award of Government contracts.”

However, he admitted, despite these safeguards, in the most rigorous analysis of the issue, the prevention and detection of corruption need to be addressed more fundamentally through a system of institutionalized education and training to sensitize citizens to the public interest and to the value of inculcating moral and ethical behaviour.

“While recognizing the diverse religious and cultural backgrounds of Guyana’s citizens, the arguments are strong for the Ministry of Education to introduce into the school curriculum a system of moral and ethical education at least at the primary level, with possible extension to secondary and tertiary levels.”

ETHICS TRAINING He also recommended that there be in place an arrangement whereby Government employees are required to undergo mandatory ethics training as a basis for continued employment, as in the case of the United Nations which also has a dedicated Ethics Office.

“Once ethics training becomes institutionalized in Government and over time its

- Former Auditor General Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran

merits are appreciated, it can form the basis for possible emulation by the private sector.

“After all, corruption in Government is often facilitated by the actions of some private sector players.”

Goolsarran insisted that research has led to the conclusion that the root cause of corruption is poverty.

“It would be fair to state that employees, who

are less schooled in moral and ethical behaviour and who place little value on the virtues of public good and the public interest, are likely to indulge in corrupt behaviour.”

The former Auditor General believes that it would be necessary for the Government to carry out a comprehensive review of the compensation packages payable to all levels of its employees with a view to ensuring that they are adequately remunerated.

“It would indeed be penny wise and pound foolish not to pay competitive salaries when the costs to the State that are associated with this approach are likely to be significantly less compared with the benefits that would accrue from a reduction in corruption.”

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Turkish Prime Minister slams Security Council over Syria ISTANBUL (Reuters) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rebuked the U.N. Security Council for inaction over Syria yesterday, saying the world body was repeating mistakes that led to massacres in Bosnia in the 1990s.

President Bashar alAssad’s forces used air strikes and artillery to bombard insurgents on several fronts in Syria, as the 19-month-old conflict risks dragging in regional powers.

Turkey is increasingly entangled after intercepting a Syrian airliner carrying what it said were Russian-made munitions for the Syrian army, infuriating Moscow and Damascus.

It has led calls for intervention, including no-fly zones enforced by foreign aircraft to stop deadly air raids by Assad’s forces.

But there is little chance of U.N. support for robust action. China insists any solution to Syria’s crisis must come from within while

Russia has said many Syrians still support Assad. Western nations meanwhile are loath to commit to any military action that could touch off a regional sectarian war.

“The U.N. Security Council has not intervened in the human tragedy that has been going on in Syria for 20 months, despite all our efforts,” Erdogan told a conference in Istanbul

WA S H I N G T O N (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday accused President Barack Obama of failing to “stand up to China” after the U.S. Treasury put off releasing a politically sensitive report on the currency policies of major U.S. trading partners.

“Four years after promising to take China ‘to the mat’ for its manipulative currency practices, President Obama has once again failed to live up to his word,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement released by the campaign office.

“We can’t afford another four years of President Obama’s failure to stand up to China. Mitt Romney will do it on day one of his presidency,” she said.

The U.S. Treasury on Friday said it would delay a semi-annual currency report until after a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers in Mexico on November 4-5, which makes it unlikely the report will be released before the U.S. presidential election on November 6.

Past reports have repeatedly singled out China for not allowing its currency to appreciate more rapidly,

Tayyip Erdogan

attended by leaders including Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby. “There’s an attitude that encourages, gives the green light to Assad to kill tens or hundreds of people every day.”

The bloodshed has worsened markedly in the past two months although neither side has been able to gain a distinct advantage, with government forces relying heavily on air power and artillery to batter the rebels.

Combat has been reported nationwide but the crucial strategic battles are being fought in an arc through western Syria, where most of the population lives.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Libya’s wartime rebel Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril to discuss Syria on the sidelines of the Istanbul conference.

Romney hits Obama on China policies

Shot fired at Obama campaign office in Denver DENVER (AP) — Denver police are reviewing video footage from city surveillance cameras after a shot was fired through the window of President Barack Obama’s campaign office.

Police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez says cameras are in the area of the campaign office on West Ninth Avenue near Acoma Street near Denver’s downtown, and investigators are poring over the tapes for any leads. She did not release any other information, citing an “active, ongoing investigation.”

Lopez says people were inside the office when the shooting happened Friday afternoon, but no one was injured.

A large panel of glass was left shattered at the office.

Lopez says she isn’t aware of any previous threats against the campaign office.

The Secret Service referred questions about the shooting to Denver police, and an Obama campaign spokeswoman declined to comment.

Mitt Romney but the Obama administration and the previous Bush administration have stopped short of labeling China a currency manipulator, The yuan has appreciated 30 percent since July 2005 and China argues that its currency is no longer tightly controlled. The yuan firmed against the dollar on Friday, hitting an intraday higher for the second straight day.

Romney has said that if he wins the November election he would declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office, arguing that China’s trade and currency policies are harming U.S. workers and businesses.

Obama has criticized Romney for “talking tough” on China, while his previous job at Bain Capital sometimes cut U.S. jobs or sent them overseas.

Page 11

Mali Islamists tell France they will open doors of hell BAMAKO (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mali threatened yesterday to “open the doors of hell” for French citizens if France kept pushing for armed intervention to retake the rebel-held north.

The renewed threats against French hostages and expatriates came as Frenchspeaking nations met in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where French President Francois Hollande was expected to urge the rapid deployment of an African-led force to rout the Islamists.

Hollande said the threat would not deter France’s determination to quash the Islamists in Mali.

“If he continues to throw oil on the fire, we will send him the pictures of dead French hostages in the coming days,” said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for Islamist group MUJWA, in apparent reference to the six French nationals still held by armed groups after being seized in the region.

“He will not be able to count the bodies of French expatriates across West Africa and elsewhere,” Hamaha said by telephone.

MUJWA is among the Islamist groups which seized control of the northern two-thirds of Mali when fighters swept into the territory in April following a coup in the capital Bamako.

Regional and Western powers are now considering armed intervention to retake the area, with former colonial ruler France seeking swift military action by regional bloc ECOWAS. The U.N. Security Council called on Friday for an intervention plan to be drawn up within 45 days after passing a French-drafted resolution to revive attempts to end the crisis.

Hollande on Saturday dismissed the MUJWA threat, saying it would not alter its stance on Mali.

“We have always said that we would always do everything to secure the release of our hostages,” he

Francois Hollande told a news conference in Kinshasa.

“Should we tone down our message on the integrity of Mali, on the fight against terrorism, because of these threats? I think it’s quite the opposite.”

“It’s by showing our determination to stand by our position of fighting terrorism that we can convince the abductors that it is time to free our hostages,” he added.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

ImmigrationTALK

U.S. Visa Lottery Open from Oct 2nd – Nov 3rd

By Attorney Gail S. Seeram The U.S. Department of State will be accepting applications for the 2014 Diversity Visa Lottery programme from October 2, 2012 to November 3, 2012.

Each year, the Diversity Visa Lottery programme makes 55,000 permanent resident visas available to people from eligible countries who meet the strict requirements.

Of the 55,000 immigrant visas, 5,000 are allocated for use under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), thereby making only 50,000 permanent resident visas available on an annual basis.

The Department of State

Gail S. Seeram chooses the winners of the Diversity Visa Lottery programme randomly through a computergenerated lottery drawing.

Anyone selected under the Diversity Visa Lottery

programme will be notified directly by the U.S. Department of State through the mail.

Applicants can check the status of their application to see if they are a winner by v i s i t i n g www.dvlottery.state.gov. If the winner is granted permanent residency, s/he will be authorized to live and work in the United States along with their spouse and children under age 21. There are four basic entry requirements for the Diversity Visa Lottery programme.

Native of Eligible Country: Applicants must be a native of an eligible country. Natives from the following countries are not eligible to apply because they sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States during the past five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, South Korea, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

If you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible but your spouse was born in a country

whose natives are eligible, you can claim your s p o u s e ’s c o u n t r y o f birth—provided that both you and your spouse are on the selected entry, are issued visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.

Second, if you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but neither of your parents was born there or resided there at the time of your birth, you may claim nativity in one of your parents’ countries of birth if it is a country whose natives qualify.

E d u c a t i o n o r Wo r k Experience: Applicants must have either a high school education or its equivalent (completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education) or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.

Photograph: Recent photographs of the applicant and his family (spouse and unmarried children under age 21) must be submitted with

their application. Note, a group or family photo will not be accepted. Separate digital passport style photos of each family member must be submitted with the Diversity Visa Lottery application.

Since the application is submitted on-line, the digital photos are also required to be submitted o n - l i n e . T h e r e b y, t h e photos can be produced by taking a new digital image or using a digital scanner to scan the photos.

If a new digital image is submitted, it must be in JPEG format, have a maximum file size of 240 KB, have a resolution of 600 pixels high by 600 pixels wide, and have color depth of 24-bit color.

If a scan photo is submitted, it must be scanned at a resolution of 300 dpi, it must be in JPEG format, have a maximum file size of 240 KB, have a resolution of 600 by 600 pixels, and have a color depth of 24-bit color.

Note, this is the most cumbersome part of the process because if your photo does not meet these specific requirements, your

application will not be accepted on-line.

Application: The D i v e r s i t y Vi s a L o t t e r y application is accessible only at www.dvlottery.state.gov and must be submitted online. Note, when your application and photo have been accepted online, a confirmation screen will appear and this should be printed for your records.

Remember to keep a copy of your confirmation page from the online registration entry submission because you can conduct a status check on your visa lottery entry by visiting www.dvlottery.state.gov and select Entrant Status Check. Status information will be available starting May 1, 2013 through at least June 30, 2014.

If you require assistance in submitting your visa lottery application, contact our office by email at Gail@GailLaw.com or visit our website at www.GailLaw.com.

Questions? Call 407-2927730 or toll-free at 1-877GAIL-LAW.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Interesting Creatures...

The Bald Uakari T

he bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) or bald-headed uakari is a small New World monkey characterized by a very short tail; bright, crimson face; a bald head; and long coat. The bald uakari is restricted to vĂĄrzea forests and other wooded habitats near water in the western Amazon of Brazil and Peru.

The bald uakari weighs between 2.75 and 3.45 kg (6.1 and 7.6 lb), with head and body lengths average 45.6 cm (18.0 in) (male) and 44.0 cm (17.3 in) (female).

In general, the bald heads have long, shaggy coats ranging from white in colour to red and their heads are as the name indicates, bald.

The tail of Cacajao calvus is bob-like and rather short for a New World monkey (about 5.9 inches (15 cm)), at only half the length of the body and head combined.

Their scarlet red faces are due to the lack of skin pigments and plentiful capillaries that run under their facial tissue. This bright red facial skin is a sign of good health and allows for the determination of a healthy mate. The breeding season is between October and May. Their gestation period is approximately six months.

Both sexes have a sternal gland, which might be involved in olfactory communication, especially during mating, when the female encourages the male to mate by releasing an attractive scent.

The uakari generally live approximately 30 years and they have been known to live over 30 years in captivity.

These arboreal primates prefer to reside in seasonally flooded forests in the area of the Amazon River Basin, in the countries of Peru and Brazil. It is important that the uakari is arboreal (lives in the tree tops) because of the flooding of the forests and the water rising to great heights during the rainy season.

During the dry season, Cacajao calvus comes to the ground to look for seeds and other food material. The overall diet of a uakari consists of 67 per cent seeds, 18 per cent fruit, six per cent flowers, five per cent animal prey, and buds.

Their powerful lower jaw forms a pseudodental comb, which allows the

uakari to open the hard surfaces of unripe fruits and eat the nuts that most other primates would not be able to open. They will also eat insects that happen to cross their path, however they do not specifically pursue this type of food.

The bald uakari can be found traveling up to 4.8 kilometres per day in multimale/multi-female groups of five to 30 individuals, and even up to 100. It can be extrapolated from the general primate behaviour of female philopatry that female uakaries are also philopatric.

This means that males leave the natal group. The total size of their home range is between 500 and 600 hectares. This requires efficient territorial defense mechanisms. A few of these include specific vocalizations, wagging of the tail, and erection of the hair.

Due to the uakari's location, it is extremely common for these animals to contract malaria. Primates who have contracted the disease are noticeably paler and are not chosen as sexual partners as they do not have the desired natural immunity to malaria.

The conservation status of this species was changed from near threatened to vulnerable in the 2008 World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List because the species has declined at least 30 per cent over the past 30 years (three generations) due to hunting and habitat loss.

This is considerably better than the 1994 assessment which found them to be endangered, followed by the 2003 assessment which found the species to be near threatened.

A l t h o u g h t h e conservation status has

improved, actual population numbers are on a decreasing trend.

Since these particular primates live only in white water flooded forests, they are very susceptible to human impact (i.e.: land acquisition for agriculture and/or pastures).

Forest loss and hunting are the two most prominent threats to Cacajao calvus. Between 1980 and 1990 it was found that an average of 15.4 million hectares of tropical forests were destroyed each year and the Neotropics are facing forest loss in areas such as the southern and eastern parts of the Amazonia.

In 1997, the Amazon Basin experienced the highest rate of forest destruction of the remaining tropical rainforests worldwide. Logging of hardwoods is a major contributor to overall destruction as large-scale logging disrupts the continuity of forest canopies.

Canopy disruption and forest loss directly affect uakaris because of their arboreal lifestyle and adaptations for seed food consumption.

Additionally, Cacajao calvus populations are located so close to the Amazon River that there is a higher risk of human hunting from canoes and such to use the primates as a food source or bait.

In 1999, the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rainforest, set forth by the World Bank, aimed to place a total of 350 million dollars from Germany, Britain, and other major industrialized communities into

conservation programs for the Amazon.

Conservation efforts have also been initiated by Wi l d l i f e C o n s e r v a t i o n Society representatives working in South America.

The Amazon-Andes

Conservation Program (AACP) was established in 2003 in order to protect a set of seven landscapes in the Amazon.

These protected landscapes account for approximately three percent

of the Amazon Basin. The Wi l d l i f e C o n s e r v a t i o n Society is planning on expanding to more landscapes in the near future.

(Source: Wikipedia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Free Online Encyclopedia)

Page 14

A new store on Saffon Street Charlestown will be making available a variety of garments that they will be featuring for the India Expo. The entity is opened daily.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Audit report recommends dismissal of NDIA boss Lionel Wordsworth and ...

From page 3 expressed the opinion that 99 per cent of fuel delivery was not emergencies as stated in the NPTAB’S letter of requests by Lionel Wordsworth for approval of such contracts.

“These acts of sole sourcing were deliberate, fraudulent and in breach of the procurement act,” the report stated.

In one glaring case, after receiving quotations from the contractor, Seeram, the Engineer’s Estimates for the supply of fuel were prepared by the SSE Chowbay, who subsequently explained that he had factored in variable increases, resulting in varying prices for similar activities in the bill of quantities prepared.

Further, the date when the estimate was prepared was deliberately left out by Chowbay to facilitate the approval of contracts by the Procurement and Tender Board as “emergencies”, based on the advice of CEO Wordsworth.

“It is audit’s opinion that the SSE poorly performed his functions and unethically conspired with the CEO, committing acts of procurement fraud,” the reports stated.

It added that despite the centralized procurement functions, the Senior Section Engineer performed the function of requesting quotes which were sent to and

evaluated by Wordsworth, instead of the procurement department.

The audit noted that quotations for all contracts were submitted to the CEO, who acts as an evaluator, and approves all contracts.

According to the auditors, the quotations which were seen were not dated upon preparation by the contractor, nor were they date stamped upon receipt by Wordsworth’s office, “which was an indication of deliberate acts by the contractor and Wordsworth.”

This “deliberate act” the auditors found, breached accepted procurement procedures and lacked transparency.

Additionally, the report was scathing in its assessment that SSE Chowbay did not declare a conflict of interest and continued to prepare contract documents, certify payments for his uncle, one Kaydar Persaud, who was carrying out work for the entity.

This newspaper understands that Persaud, the contractor for NDIA works totaling $19M, is the uncle of the entity’s Senior Engineer.

The engineer’s brother, Keshav Chowbay, is also an engineer working with his uncle, the contractor.

The audit found that all the Bill of Quantities were prepared by and requests for payment verified and certified by the NDIA Senior

Engineer for all contracts awarded to his uncle.

“This situation presents a conflict of interest and a great risk of the SSE’s primary interest being unduly influenced by a secondary interest,” the report stated.

It however deferred the evaluation of the Bill of Quantities/Engineers Estimates for possible corruption and financial gain to the Contract Audit for a more detailed test.

The report recommended that Chowbay should cease all functions relating to excavators including preparation of scope works, bill of quantities and verification of payments. It further advised that he should be written to for not declaring a conflict of interest.

The auditors, in their recommendation, submitted that both Wordsworth and Chowbay be fired. “the CEO and SSE’s services should be immediately terminated for committing the fraudulent acts and a full investigation of all awarded contracts for 2011 and 2012 be done…The procurement functions performed by the CEO should be relinquished immediately to the Procurement Department for strict adherence with professional procurement guidelines,” the report recommended.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

The National Psychiatric Hospital, caring for the mentally ill for 170 years From straight jackets to modern medicine

By Leon Suseran

M

ental health care delivery in British Guiana now Guyana, has its history rooted deeply in the country's National Psychiatric Hospital.

Popularly referred to as the 'Mental' and even 'Berbice Mad house', this mental asylum has a rich history.

As Mental Health Month rolls on, this facility has provided a safe haven for thousands of persons who had need for mental treatment this past 170 years.

Established in 1842, the asylum admitted 195 patients mainly of African descent. Provisions for the mentally ill, back then had been extremely poor and the efficiency and scantiness of the place were openly deplored by Messers Alexander and Chandler on the account of their tour to the West Indies in 1849.

Over the following

years, although greatly needed, the erection of the new asylum was delayed due to the great diversity of opinion with respect to its appropriate location. By 1861, the institution hosted about sixty inmates of various ethnic backgrounds and though improvements had been unquestionably made by 1850, the general and hygienic conditions of the asylum still failed to meet acceptable standards.

As a consequence, the facility was relocated. A new permanent site was established on the Fort Lands, outside the town of New Amsterdam. A resident surgeon was assigned to the institution and was responsible for the general hospital. He was obliged to visit the asylum at least once per month. By this time, a daily average number of patients had reached about 100.

This rapid increase prompted the construction in

The now condemned Victorian Ward-C building

the following year, of an additional female ward with 10 single rooms, and the

Patients of the NPH recite an acrostic during Mental Health Day last week planning of a similar extension in the men's ward.

In 1870, there was a plan for the erection of a building where the patients could find place for recreation, sheltered from the sun; and in 1873, the sum of $1,427 was spent for the completion of these works.

The new asylum was provided with sufficient land for exercise and cultivation and by 1872, a daily average of 34 of 165 inmates were tentatively employed in precarious constructive activities; yet nothing much was done to improve the living and sanitary conditions of the inmates, nor to modernize the

curative process.

On the contrary, obsolete and detrimental methods of therapy were firmly and consistently enforced. Some of the patients were locked up in cells for extended periods of time and numerous forms of physical restraints including canvas jackets, leather straps and iron handcuffs were regularly used to manage and control their behaviour.

By June 1875, the institution hosted 180 patients; the majority of whom showed signs of malnutrition and abuse.

The buildings devoted to the purpose of the asylum were part of the old Fort

Canje Barracks. Fort Canje was established in the 19th Century at the junction of the Canje and Berbice Rivers where the barracks were set up to house British soldiers.

To d a y, t h e N a t i o n a l Psychiatric Hospital locally known as the Fort Canje Hospital is still located where the old forts stood.

The number of inmates continued to grow steadily and the necessity to increase the capacity of the facility continued to be an issue for several years.

In 1877, the number of patients increased from 105 to 505. A new dormitory with capacity for 22 patients was (continued on page 34)

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 17

“Humble but passionate” Denita Persaud admitted to the Bar

By Rehanna Ramsay Modest and soft spoken Denita Persaud was the last person that anyone, herself included, would imagine as an attorney.

However, the 26-yearold attributed hard work and dedication to achieving her goal and is now officially permitted to practise law in Guyana as she was admitted to the bar on Friday last by Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Supreme Court. Her Petition was presented to the Judge by A t t o r n e y - a t - L a w Te n i Housty.

Housty described the new lawyer as possessing much strength of character, and as a well rounded individual with “an incorruptible personality.”

Surrounded by several close friends and family members, Persaud promised to be “fair and fearless” in practicing her new profession.

The University of Guyana and Hugh Wooding Law School graduate became the most recent addition to the list of female Guyanese Attorneys who took an oath to solemnly serve their country.

Justice Reynolds congratulated the young woman on her achievement.

The Judge noted that the presence of Persaud's friends and relatives is testimony to the high level of esteem and expectation bestowed upon the young Attorney.

Reynolds cautioned Persaud not to treat her achievement as “the end of the climb but as the beginning of a new climb to the next Plateau.”

“It is a new phase in your life and the ball is now in your court.” He admonished Persaud to resist “shortcuts”, something that is rampant in the current environment of her livelihood but to observe and inculcate the traditional practices of law. The judge also encouraged the lawyer to continue to read more law books as the vocation is a lifelong learning practice.

Persaud said that she never dreamed of becoming a lawyer but was curious about it. As she started to study law she said that she developed a passion for it.

This passion brought her through her many challenges.

This passion, Persaud said, is the thing that can

Denita Persaud (right) flanked by close relatives

cause a person to bear the rigorous task that the preparation period has oft demonstrated. She thanked

her friends and family members for their encouragement and continued support.

Delighted at her daughter's achievement Persaud's mother, Rosaline Singh, said that her daughter,

despite her quiet personality always proved to be “ d e d i c a t e d a n d hardworking.”

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Passionate designer and model mentor, Sonia Noel, is a 'Special Person'

By Abena Rockliffe

I

t was French fashion designer Coco Chanel who expressed the notion, “Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.” Our very own Sonia Noel has epitomized that concept throughout her life. She strives to always look her best and her name has been duly positioned among the top locals in the field of fashion.

“I grew up hearing my Mom say that 'a shoemaker never has a proper shoe' so naturally, I thought the theory applied to persons of similar professions.”

However, Sonia subsequently learnt and has proven that it's not always that way.

Most of us would have read of Sonia Noel, the immaculate designer who always dresses the part and has made impressive contributions to Guyana's fashion industry, which she pledges “…will continue happening until the day I die.”

The question is: how many of us know Sonia Noel the secondary school teacher, the vendor and the cook?

Yes, she's indeed an interesting as well as special person.

Sonia poses with her two daughters

Sonia Noel was born in Georgetown, on August 15, 1971, to Claudia John and the late Patrick Noel. She spent most of her youth in Bartica, being raised in a single-parent home.

She explained that her mother was a victim of domestic abuse and when she finally mustered the strength to leave her abuser, he decided no longer to contribute to his children's lives.

“Our happy moments depended on him not being home. He was a policeman

that she really didn't deserve.

Despite all mommy went through she managed to be a perfect mother.”

Sonia recounted that she and her family (mother and five siblings) moved to Bartica, from whence her mother originally hailed, and essentially started life all over again. She was nine at the time but had the irresistible urge to assist her mother. At that tender age, she started making tamarind balls, plantain chips and fudge to sell at school. Then, when she entered secondary

“A drop of negativity can spoil a pool of positive things. I don't let negative people rent a space in my head.” and he use to beat mommy a lot, most of which I witnessed. That is why I incorporate domestic violence in my fashion shows. Mommy was a victim of both physical and verbal abuse, and the worst part of my childhood was watching her going through that hurt, knowing there was nothing I could have done about it.

When mommy finally gathered the strength to move on I was happy and even though things were hard, financially, I found comfort in the fact that she became free from the abuse

school, she moved to selling in front of her mother's yard.

“I could never forget Sandrina Timmerman, who thought me to make pastries.

I started making them to sell.

I used to put a basket on my head and walk through the village and sell,” she reflected with a smile.

Asked how a teen with a basket on her head turned into the attractive, fashionconscious and accomplished individual Guyana has come to know and respect, she responded, “I was always glamorous I just never had the false pride. There is pride and there is pride, my mom

Sonia Noel

taught me to have values, but not to one day think I am less than anyone else”.

LOVE FOR FASHION It was funny how Sonia remembered, in detail, everything she was asked about her younger years, except, when she realized that she was in love with fashion. However, I guess one can say it's because she was obsessed with fashion for as long as she remembers.

What she does recall is that it more than likely stemmed from a combination of her idolizing an aunt, and the first pageant she entered at the age of 12.

“I use to always admire my aunt Corine, she was my young aunt; mom's youngest sister. Aunt Corine has always been and remains immaculate in her dressing.

Everything she wore always matched. She is what we call a fashionista… of course I didn't know that word back then, but that is the exact word needed to describe aunt Corine.

I loved her; she let me wear some of her clothes because we weren't far apart in size. Mom is not like aunt Corine, she is quite simple, but Aunty had style, and I think she definitely influenced my perception of style. Aunty Corine is now 49; sadly she had an

amputation. She is still the one who does my signature hair style.”

“I have been wearing my own designs since I entered my first pageant at the age of 12. But back then I was shy, so I had to be pushed to enter the pageant. I can recall my teacher, Mona McKenzie, had asked mommy to allow me to participate and mom said yes, 'but Sonia isn't going to enter a pageant, Sonia is very shy.'”

“Ms. McKenzie tried to persuade me until she eventually told me to just go to the rehearsals and watch the other girls. As I sat in rehearsal watching the other contestants I said to myself 'I could do that'. So I entered the pageant. I designed a blue, white and red skirt-suit.

The shirt had three-quarter sleeves and the bottom was actually a skirt pants. The front was designed in a tennis-style and the back was a pants effect.”

Sonia was first runner-up in that pageant which was commonly referred to in Bartica as the 'cotton fashion show', since cotton had to be used to create the pieces worn by the contestants.

She also placed first runner-up in Miss Bartica Mashramani, and it was the same in Miss Bartica Regatta and Bikini Regatta. She indicated that she considered going up for Miss Guyana but decided against it.

BEAUTIFUL BARTICA Sonia related that she gradually moved away from the selling, as the time for her to write CXC drew nearer.

She sat the exam and did well enough to be hired as a secondary school teacher at age 18. For two years, she taught Social Studies at Bartica Community High.

She subsequently experienced even greater fulfillment as the proud (continued on page 20) Grandma moment

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 19

THE AFC CANNOT PULL OFF A MASS PROTEST The AFC is incapable of launching a mass protest in Guyana. It simply does not have the capacity to do so.

As a middle class party, the AFC does not enjoy the degree of mass support to pull off a major protest. As such, its political activism will inevitably have to be restricted to a few, small protests, comprising a handful of persons, often in conjunction with other groupings seeking the public limelight, or through the use of press conferences to make its case.

Given its lack of mass support, the AFC could not have been responsible for what took place at Agricola.

The AFC does not and will never have that political reach. It can, however, piggyback on other protests or inflame tensions with its rhetoric.

The rhetoric is likely to be turned up as the AFC tries to deflect from its own internal problems. There is growing factionalism within the AFC camp.

On the one hand, there is a faction that believes that the AFC must stick to the rotational formula for the next election and hand over the presidential candidacy to someone else other than the present leader.

This is being resisted by another faction that is interested in ensuring that the incumbent leader remains for the next election, since he brought greater success to the party by employing a strategic approach, which sees the party today holding the balance of power between APNU and the PPP/C. In the face of this budding factionalism, there is bound to be some â&#x20AC;&#x153;playing to the galleryâ&#x20AC;? by persons.

Divisions also exist within the AFC over the approach being taken by the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Then there is the fallout within the party over the divisions of the spoils of the last elections with former ROAR members, who had campaigned strongly in PPP strongholds, being sidelined after the elections.

It is not likely, however, that the differences, divisions and factionalism will cause the AFC to splinter. There is a limit to how much a small party can split, and any splitting of the AFC will render it nonexistent.

In any event, the middle class, from which the bulk of the support of the AFC is drawn, will try hard to make the alliance work. The middle class has clearly

found a party of its liking and the factions within the AFC know that should divisions become enlarged, the middle class will abandon ship like they did with the Working People's Alliance when the Burnham dictatorship applied the pressures on that party in the late seventies and early eighties.

The finger pointing by the AFC is therefore part of political gamesmanship. The PPP is playing politics when it says that the AFC and APNU were part of what took place at Agricola, and the AFC is also playing politics when it attributes the events of last Thursday to statements made by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.

This is not the first time that the PPP/C has indicated that it is ready to rumble with the opposition. And if that statement is deemed provocative, then those that have emanated from within the AFC can be said to be inflammatory.

From day one after the elections, the opposition has picked fights with the ruling party and government, and the government has been rumbling with them for close to one year.

The opposition has made a mess of trying to build political cooperation. They have fought the government from day one and the government has rumbled, tumbled, stumbled, jumbled and even at times mumbled, in its attempt to prevent the opposition from trying to dictate executive policy and action.

It has resisted the designs of a power drunk opposition in parliament, in the negotiating rooms and in the courts. It has taken its blows and it has plodded forward with its developmental plans.

The other inexplicable excuse given for last Thursday's mayhem was preferential treatment that was said to have been given to the police rank charged with murder.

Unfortunately, the media have to accept much of the blame for cultivating this idea of preferential treatment for police ranks charged and placed before the courts. For many years now, the media have been highlighting what happens to members of the force after they leave the courtroom. The media have shown scenes of ranks being held outside of cells in the court lockups and being transported in the cab of the prison vehicles.

The media apparently are not aware of the process of segregation of certain

prisoners, which is standard practice in prisons in all parts of the world.

What happens with police officers charged and remanded to prison in Guyana is no different to what exists in other parts of the world. This treatment cannot be considered as preferential treatment.

Recently, a police officer in the United States was found guilty of murder. He will be sentenced soon and will most likely get life without parole. This means that he will never be a free man again. Despite him not having the possibility of

returning to civilian life, the prison authorities will have to keep him segregated from the rest of the prison population for his own protection.

When someone is convicted, that person does not lose the protection of the State. Even guests of the State have rights and prisoners enjoy protection of the State. Indeed, the prison authorities have an obligation to protect those who are jailed or remanded.

As such, certain prisoners, because of the jobs they had in civilian life, have to be kept segregated.

The same thing happens with

high-profile prisoners. They too enjoy what is known as protective segregation.

Child molesters are likely to be brutalized in prison and therefore they are often also segregated from the rest of the prison population.

The fact therefore that a policeman charged with an offence is transported in the cab of the police vehicle does not constitute preferential treatment. That person, because of his job, cannot be placed with the rest of the prisoners. They would maul him to death. To place a remanded or convicted police officer with

the rest of the prisoners would be irresponsible of the authorities and constitute a dereliction of their duty to safeguard those in their custody.

The Guyana Human Rights Association knows this all too well, but has never said anything in the face of media reports that have perpetuated this view of preferential treatment.

Page 20

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Passionate designer and model mentor, Sonia Noel ...

From page 18 mother of two girls, Mariska and Shantay.

AND WHAT ABOUT BARTICA? “Bartica is a beautiful village, I really enjoyed living there. I enjoyed going to the river. My friends and I used to swing from shipwreck to shipwreck. I was like a fish; I even saved my friend's life. His name is Eon Loncke, but we called him Shabba. One day we were swimming and my friends and I saw him going up and down in the water…at first we thought he was kidding. Luckily, when he came up like the third time I saw the fear in his eyes and I plunged in and saved him.”

Career-wise, she said that reality about her environs quickly set in.

Though she loved teaching, Sonia decided to open a store in her hometown and named it Mariska's Fashion (after her first daughter).

For quite a few years she stuck with the store that gave her “a comfortable life” before she decided to move to Georgetown.

“My years in Bartica were lovely, but I knew it wasn't the place to be if I want to become a designer.”

With that in mind and the fact that Sonia wanted to start a “new life” away from her ex-spouse, she decided to take “the plunge.”

Sonia said that when she disclosed the news of her

intended departure to her friends and family, most people thought she'd “lost it”.

“Most people were like, Sonia are you sure? You know what you have here?

You don't know how it will work out in Georgetown. But mommy believed in me, she was supportive; so was my friend Leon Redford, and I believe in God and by extension myself, so I went for it.”

RECOGNIZABLE NAME It all evolved from the tender years of pageantry and the competitive environment and spirit, along with other personal challenges, but most significant is the fact that over the last 15 years, Sonia has become one of the more recognizable names among Caribbean designers.

She has cleverly positioned herself throughout the region at all the noteworthy fashion events and intuitive enough to create a label Mariska's Designs that is a unique hybrid of Guyanese craftsmanship, Caribbean ingenuity and a pervasive, universal style.

Sonia's designs can be worn from the beach to the ballroom. She indicated that she has dressed from housewives to first ladies.

Her tireless efforts to make Guyana proud have seen her being awarded the accolade of 'Caribbean Fashion Ambassador' at the

2011 British Virgin Islands Fashion Weekend.

She also received the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association Limited (GMSA)'s Award for her involvement in youth development and crossborder promotion of the local fashion industry As mentioned earlier, she has participated in many significant fashion events throughout the region – Caribbean Fashion Week, St. Kitts Fashion Week, Fashion Week Trinidad and Tobago, U S V I F a s h i o n We e k , Antigua Independence Fashion Weekend, among others.

In addition to these grand expositions, she also took part in the Caribbean Gift and Craft show and highlighted her Mariska l a b e l i n S t . Vi n c e n t , Suriname, Cayenne, Grenada, St. Lucia and Barbados, even going further afield to New York, Toronto and London.

In 2007 she was a recipient of the Shabeau Magazine award for excellence for her contribution to fashion in the Caribbean, and during that same year, launched Guyana Fashion Week 2007. In 2008 she was given the Pride of Bartica Award, and in October 2009, she led a small delegation of designers to China to participate in the largest fabric and design fair.

She produced two reality television series – Guyana Model Search and

The designer signing autographs at a conference held in China

Designers/Stylist Portfolio and a pioneering talk show for television – Diatribe.

Back in 2008 the government of Guyana commissioned her to head the fashion component of Carifesta X. She has also been appointed the official designer of the Barbados Music Awards 2013.

PERSONAL EXPRESSIONS Sonia's father died 20 years ago. His death came at a time when she was preparing for reconciliation.

Attempting to hold back her tears and gently ridding her face of the single trickle that streamed down, Sonia related that “a little before he (her father) died I told mommy that I would have bought him a Christmas gift and try to make up for lost years, but I hadn't the chance.”

“I have an uncle named Orin Richards; he was always there for me, so I took my daughters to see him from time to time. I can recall taking my daughter to see uncle Orin and daddy was right upstairs and I didn't allow him to see her. He died not knowing his grandchildren. I regret that,” she said, bowing her head.

After his death, “I realized he was following my work and was proud of me. His new wife, who is a very nice person, showed me some newspaper clips he kept of me. But he never showed me.”

A picture taken during one of Sonia's visit to Archer's Home

POSITIVITY AND ROLE MODEL Sonia said that she believes a little negativity can spoil a pool of positive things.

“I fear God and think that with his help I can work around anything. I hate hearing the word problem, I catch a fit, I tell people who work with me to refer to it as a situation that has to be dealt with and we take it from there.”

Asked about the negativity attached to pageantry, models and designers, Sonia opined, “The stigma does exist but I think there is more positive in pageantry than negatives, it builds self-esteem and open doors of opportunity.”

Further, Sonia noted that the youths who passed through her hands gained more than fashion tips as “We try to help them find themselves; some youths find themselves faster than others.

I try to instill morals and values in them also, as you know we see persons from all backgrounds, but the runway is the end result… we do a lot of work otherwise.

My aunt Avis who died of breast cancer taught me to be meticulous with time and she bought me my first fancy dress. But I try to instill the importance of being on time also.”

Asked how she deals with the publicity and the

negative things about herself that may pass her ear from time to time, the designer said that fabrication and amplification of the truth “…come with the territory. It used to bother me years ago but with my travel, I learnt how to just let it go and try not to listen. I know that success breeds enemies”.

And then there is Jaden the “special” man in Sonia's life. For those who don't know, Jaden is her grandson.

Yes, Sonia is a grandmother, and proudly so. Jaden was born to Sonia's first child who is currently studying in Jamaica. “I have the best son in law I must say.”

Even though not currently occupied, Sonia has already planned her wedding.

“It will be a simple beach wedding; simple dress, possibly designed by my younger daughter. Only loved ones will be invited. I will make that man the happiest man alive. All he needs to be is ambitious and able to make me laugh.”

Apparently, his only competition might be Sonia's two-year-old dog that she shampoos, cooks pepperpot and buys cheese cake for.

“I am happy; I have two beautiful children, a wonderful son-in-law and the cutest grandson. My mom is happy, I've got a wonderful step dad and I am living my dream. I thank God every day.”

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 21

Ravi Dev Column

Recommendations on Police Responding to APNU spokesperson Mark Archer’s call for the police force to be ‘reformed’, I pointed out that he had neglected to mention a most pertinent aspect of any reform that would be effective in Guyana: the need to make the force representative of our population. Mr. Archer then retorted, “However you can have an ethnically balanced force and still have the same type of scenarios that Mr. Dev was at pains to recount in his Sunday column.”

Of course you can, but isn’t it now conceded in all multi-ethnic countries that Forces more representative of the various elements of the communities are the most effective ones? Because of that fact, didn’t the London Metropolitan Police set targets for Black recruits some years ago? Didn’t several police forces in the US, including New York and Los Angeles, also embark on that path? But more to our point didn’t our own Disciplined Forces Commission, with Brigadier David Granger, also so recommend for Guyana?

The hurdle now paraded against implementing this policy is the rhubarb that “Indians do not join the

Force”: in tones that imply this reluctance arises from some genetically-inherited quality.

We do not intend to expand on the historical bases for the Indian aversion to the Force, but simply want to point out that PPP Minister of Home Affairs, Balram Singh Rai, single-handedly proved between 1960 and 1962 that this could be overcome.

But what is troubling about Mr. Archer’s response is that he dismisses my concerns as that of an “Indian activist”, implying that Indian concerns are not also Guyanese concerns. And with no sense of irony can say, “as a black man in Guyana”, that “in most poor African communities the Police are seen as the “enemy”. Isn’t this also a Guyanese concern?

Is it any way different in Indian or Amerindian communities, poor or rich? If we’re going to ‘fix” the police force, why don’t we start on the right footing – especially if that footing has already been identified and accepted unanimously by parliament?

It is possible that being out of Guyana at the time, Mr. Archer does not know that when ROAR was launched in January 1999 as “Rise,

Organise and Rally” against crime, we issued a thoroughgoing analysis of the GPF and made numerous recommendations, that were submitted by myself and Malcolm Harripaul to the then Minister of Home Affairs. It was never just about ethnic proportionality.

We also recommended, “Decentralising the Force”. We showed that unlike the police forces of most low crime jurisdictions, which were decentralised, the GPF was heavily centralised due to the historical imperative of the colonial power to suppress rather than to protect the local population.

The complaint in 2008, for instance, that the Bartica Police resources were totally inadequate to deal with the massacre, resonates in all police stations outside of Georgetown.

It is rooted in the concentration of all police strength at the centre.

We suggested in 1999: “The centralised structure of the GPF has led to widespread ineffectiveness and dislocations.

Administrative effectiveness is not the sole criterion of police competence, which should rather be the greatest effort in the promotion of the Rule of

Law and entrenching citizens’ security. We recommend that the GPF be split into six separate forces: Metro-GT, Demerara, Berbice, Essequibo, Rupununi and a Central Force (like a FBI). Each Force would have its own Commissioner and its own command structure. The Central Force would oversee a central Forensic lab, the Anti-drug Unit, Intelligence and international co-

The madness on the roads just will not end. Even when a group of angry people block the road and halt traffic for nearly six hours people still get killed on the roads. There will be more of the same. And speed coupled with carelessness will be the main cause.

More recently there were children, this time the fatality will be adults. It is difficult to understand that people cannot see that the spirits around just want more bodies on the roads before the end of the year. ** Some enterprising people

ordination.”

Recommendation 3: Supplementing the Force: The first part proposed “Community Policing” on which the administration has since happily embarked, enthusiastically.

This effort must be deepened and broadened.

Secondly, we proposed the resuscitation of a People’s Militia – which we later dubbed a “Peoples’ Home

Guard”.

The Home Guard would have all the training as regular Continued on page 23

are going to plot a robbery because they got inside information of money on a location. What they will not bargain for are the police in the vicinity, although they would have cased the area, and the security on the location.

The matter will make for

good newspaper reports, but the employees of the location would be too stunned to appreciate what happened. ** A fraud would be uncovered in a high government office. The fraud was being perpetrated for some time. However, when the department shifted location, a review of the computers would reveal the fraud.

Needless to say, efforts would be made to hush up the situation, but word will get out and there will be a lot of questions asked.

Ravi Dev

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Demons in a burgundy taxi

By Michael Jordan Taxi drivers claim to have a built-in instinct about danger, but the driver in the burgundy Toyota Carina felt no apprehension when the three boys approached his car.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that they didn’t fit the profile of the young men the cops were blaming for the three-year spree of robberies, kidnappings, and murders. So, when they asked, he readily agreed to drop them up the East Coast of Demerara.

Some of his buddies at the Demico Park would later say that he was just a bit reckless when it came to picking up strangers.

During the journey, the passengers stopped at UG Road, where they picked

up some other friends.

They then informed their driver that they wanted to go to a night spot at Lusignan.

Shortly after nine on October 24, 2004, persons living near the St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Beterverwagting heard screams of ‘Murder!’ and ‘Thief!’ coming from the vicinity of the church.

Those who looked outside saw a man stagger from a burgundy car. Still

Georgetown.

The older residents went to the scene, where they found a man of mixed ancestry lying there who had literally been stabbed all over his body. He was clearly dead.

Detectives eventually arrived but found no documents on the victim.

F i n a l l y, o n e o f t h e detectives suggested that a Kaieteur News reporter, who was also there, photograph the ‘John Doe’

- They were mere boys…but they were boys with a thirst for cash, fast cars and killing… screaming, the man stumbled south along Quamina Road before collapsing at the roadside.

Meanwhile, the car headed in the direction of

and have the picture published.

The slain m a n ’s photograph appeared in the October 25, 2004 Kaieteur News edition.

Because the victim had exited a vehicle, there was speculation that the victim might be a taxi driver.

Following that slim lead, I took a copy of the Kaieteur News and headed to the Demico car park.

The second driver who I showed the picture to said with certainty: “That is Teddy Smith.”

It couldn’t be this easy, I thought.

But I entered his car and we journeyed over the Demerara Harbour Bridge to Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara where Teddy Smith lived.

I rapped at the front door and an attractive young woman, who i d e n t i f i e d herself as Sonia Garryva, invited me in. With some trepidation and a sense of guilt, I showed her the newspaper.

Sonia Garryva screamed.

Yes, the sobbing woman said. The man was Teddy Smith, the father of her three children.

Dressed in white and red jersey, jeans and brown boots, 35-year-old Teddy Smith, called ‘Fine man’, had left home at around 18:00 hrs on Sunday October 24, 2004.

Sonia did not suspect that anything was amiss when Teddy failed to come home the following day, since he often worked until morning.

The car he drove was a burgundy vehicle, PGG 9723. At the time, not even the police had this information.

I had already completed my story when we were tipped off about an intriguing development.

The night after Teddy Smith was slain, taxi driver Deochand Debidayar was in the Cummings Lodge area when two young men hired him to take them to Ogle.

Debidayar had no idea that the occupants of a burgundy car were trailing him.

When he arrived at Ogle Airstrip Road, the passengers, who were armed with knives, began to beat Debidayar. But luck was with him that night. A Special Constabulary mobile patrol was traversing the Ogle Airstrip road at the same time and heard his screams.

When they arrived at the spot, some of the youths fled from the burgundy car that was

trailing D e b i d a y a r ’s .

However, one of them was nabbed in the vehicle.

According to the police, the suspect led them to five other accomplices.

One of the youths was reportedly hiding in a wardrobe when the cops arrived at his home.

Although the licence plates had been removed, detectives quickly confirmed that the b u rg u n d y To y o t a t h e suspects had used was the same one that Teddy Smith had driven when he was slain.

According to the police, the youths confessed to murdering Smith, while a fingerprint expert lifted their prints from the dead man’s car.

Detectives were somewhat disturbed about the cold blooded nature of the attacks.

After all, none of the teens—five from Cummings Lodge and one from Prashad Nagar—was from an impoverished home.

F i v e d a y s l a t e r, t h e suspects, all aged 17, were charged with murder and armed robbery.

One 15-year-old lad was also charged with murder, while another 15-year-old was charged with robbery under arms.

Eventually, only four of the teens appeared in the High Court on murder charges.

CASE CLOSED? Not so.

They had caught the accused in Teddy Smith’s car.

They had confessions and fingerprints.

But the state’s case began to fall apart.

The battery of defence attorneys began to pick the

SEEKING HELP TO LOCATE RELATIVES OF EIGHT CHILDREN KILLED BETWEEN 1969-1970 Michael Jordan is trying to contact relatives of eight children who were murdered between March 20, 1969 and June 1970, by Harrynauth Beharry, also known as Harry Rambarran, Charles Bissoon, Charles Pereira, Anant Persaud and Maka Anan.

Some of the victims are Basmattie, an eight-year-old schoolgirl from Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara. David Bacchus, 15, of Tucville, 11-year-old Mohamed Fazil Nasir, of Number 78 Village, Corentyne, Mohamed Faizal, of Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Jagdeo Jagroop, Mohamed Nizam Ali; Paulton of Hogg Island, Essequibo; Orlando Guthrie, of Grove Village, East Bank Demerara.

Please contact him via his email address mjdragon@hotmail.com., or on telephone numbers 22-58458, 2258465, or 22-58491. HeI can also be contacted on 645-2447.

State’s case apart and to expose their sloppy preparation.

During crossexamination, the police rank who had uplifted the fingerprints from the m u r d e r e d m a n ’s c a r admitted that both he and his assistant had omitted to sign the card on which the fingerprints had been mounted.

The detective also could not say with certainty which officer he had asked to sign the document and was not in a position to recognize the signature on it.

As a result, the Presiding Judge ruled that the fingerprints were inadmissible as evidence.

The defence also queried whether the police had forced the ‘confession statements’ out of their clients.

Two of the accused would later allege in unsworn statements from the dock that they had signed blank papers after police ranks beat them in an effort to achieve confessions.

The Judge subsequently accepted no-case submissions in relation to the two others and ordered them to be freed.

A day later, a jury, directed by the Presiding Judge, then found the two accused who claimed to have been beaten, not guilty of murder.

I suppose i t ’s impossible to cover the crime beat without taking some cases personally.

There are the cases that you feel could have been solved, had some detective shown more diligence.

Then there are the times when your gut tells you that you know who the killer is but can’t prove it.

But the ones that hit you hardest are those in which the cops seem to have the killers in their grasp—and yet they walk free.

I added the tragic case of Teddy Smith to that list.

If you have any information about other unusual cases, please contact Kaieteur News at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location. We can be reached on telephone numbers 2258465, 225-8491 or 2258 4 7 3 . Yo u n e e d n o t disclose your identity.

You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email a d d r e s s mjdragon@hotmail.com

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 23

== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

Bizarre language of an aging, faded, jaded entertainer It does not matter what asinine, bizarre and incredible language the protégés of Cheddi Jagan use to describe the way they see the world, Guyana and themselves. It doesn’t matter how toxic and miasmic is the detergent they use to wash their souls, these abysmal failures cannot see how pathetic they look on the stage they have occupied for too long. You become a horrible sight if you cannot see that the audience has left, the lights are out, and the curtain is drawn. You become a tragic figure of yesterday This is what has become of the PPP. The party founders are long gone, but the PPP limps along, flirting with the dreams of a bygone age and wallowing in its manufactured dirt that it constantly mistakes for creative spirit.

It has to be one of the saddest days for politics anywhere in the world for Clement Rohee to be described as the best Cabinet Minister of the PPP Government since 1992, second only to the most macabre example that Dr. Roger Luncheon can conjure up – Bharrat Jagdeo.

Mr. Jagdeo is the most incompetent, unpatriotic, illmannered, unschooled, unintellectual, non-achieving and ordinary head of government/State that the Caribbean has produced.

Dr. Roger Luncheon has been the chief of staff in the Office of the President for twenty years - the same duration with which he holds the post of chairman of the NIS .

The priceless NIS has an uncertain future and the Office of the President is the most unpopular national place in Guyana, courtesy of Luncheon’s golden boy, Bharrat Jagdeo.After twenty years of failure, Luncheon has not been visited with mental stress or psychological burden,

but psychic disintegration.

There can be no other description of this gentleman.

Which rational person could face other human beings and consciously describe Rohee as the second best Cabinet Minister he has worked with? If any politician has been a non-entity in modern world politics it has been Clement Rohee.

Incapable of grasping the finer points of human relationships, incapable of discerning what are the contents of a sensitive situation, incapable of comprehending the elementary dimensions of human nature, Mr. Rohee has been a failure his whole life as a political activist that I have grown up with, and a Minister in a government.

If this is Luncheon’s boy then what do you make of Luncheon himself? We can make a lot of Luncheon by just looking at him the past twenty years, observing his deportment, speeches and policies, and it becomes simple to understand why he would pick Rohee and Jagdeo as his stellar performers.

The reason for Luncheon’s choice is that for all his life, he had no standard by which to judge the quality of Guyanese patriots. If you live in the gutter, you accept the sound of crickets as the best music you have ever heard.

When someone gives you a Bob Marley record or plays the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, you scream and throw them away.

Naturally, so, you have nothing to compare them with – only crickets of course.

Should Luncheon go? When a man who is second in charge of a country (forget about Sam; waste of time) could in one of the most sensitive of situations in the nation’s history make fun of a tragedy by calling on the opposition to rumble, then you

From page 21 army units and in all regards, would constitute a reserve for the Army – and a recruitment pool. They would have the wherewithal to discourage the highpowered banditry that has become endemic in our country.

Recommendation 4: Streamlining the Force: We pointed out that, “Only approximately 30% of the GPF are engaged in crime detection and prevention.

We elaborated on all the various non-policing elements that could be farmed out – especially to civilian staff. Does immigration really qualify as a “policing” task?

Shouldn’t each Police

Force have its own Prosecutor’s Office manned by high calibre, qualified permanent staff? To those who may widen their eyes at the apparent massive swelling of the Force that the recommendations apparently entail, the streamlining would free-up spending for real police work.

Of course, just having an ethnically representative GPF would solve all our policing problems. But to create such a force would be the first step to reverse the tradition of politicians, using an ethnically skewed force to buttress their ethnically divisive political mobilisation.

Recommendations on...

know his psychic fibre is gone.

Luncheon should have gone a long time.

Sick, feeble, undynamic, uninspiring, incompetent and oblivious to any kind of reality, Roger Luncheon was and is a burden on the political culture of Guyana, just as his favourite Minister was and is. The most bizarre dimension of his personality and politics is his indecipherable and inexplicable language.

I am not a specialist in

grammar, but I was taught grammar by one of Guyana’s most competent grammarians – the brother of one of Guyana’s intellectual giants, Professor Rawle Farley.

I can say most graphically, Luncheon’s press conferences are characterized by the art of stringing words together that have no grammatical and semantic meaning.

I cannot believe the nonsense in sentence structure that comes out of

this man’s mouth. Simply put – most of what he says in response to media questions have no meaning in terms of the use of words and are confusing and nonsensical.

There may be signs that Marvin Hamlisch’s entertainer may be nearing his end, he and the rest of the cast.

After twenty years, a dictatorship gets weary and immobilized. There is no question in my mind if it wasn’t the twenty-year

Frederick Kissoon malady that Luncheon is living with, he would never have invited the opposition to rumble over Rohee’s resignation motivated by the tragedy of five persons’ death.

Page 24

Kaieteur News

Book Review In this seminal work, Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld reintroduces the inimitable icon, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to a new generation of readers.

And for those who think they know this figure - inside out -a surprise awaits. In many ways, ‘Great Soul’ is a psychological journey - a detailed but incomplete one if only because Gandhi was a complex figure riddled with ambivalence. Sure, he epitomized human resplendence and altruism.

We are well aware of his satyagraha (forceful truth),

Dr Glenville Ashby

Sunday October 14, 2012

Rethinking Gandhi and ahimsa (non-violent struggle). But Lleyveld begs the question: Should exaltation of any kind go unchecked? Lelyveld’s surgical account of Gandhi in South Africa reveals a troubled and irreverent individual. Gandhi apologists may vilify Lelyveld as a revisionist. Be that it may, one can hardly question the sound research of this work.

He probes, questions and analyses.

His research is exhaustive, and by the end of this bildungsroman, the reader encounters a far more human

and fallible figure - far removed from the lionized, monumental image projected in hagiographic films and books.

The author sensibly avoids didactics, leaving readers to ponder and draw their own conclusions. But he raises serious issues. We Gandhi, who, like the black civil rights notable Rosa Parks, refused to or surrender his seat to a white man. But Gandhi was far from a revolutionary defender of the untouchables - unlettered, uncivilised and indentured Indians.

The book cover of great soul He was a lawyer of the privileged Modh Banias subcaste, who was quick to educate whites (in the Transavaal Advertiser) on the difference between a coolie and an Indian.

Gandhi, it seemed was caught up in a vortex of caste, subcaste, colour and class, that he both accepted, and rejected.

In his gestational years in South Africa, Gandhi wore Western suites and socialised with those of his intellectual ilk. He was a defender of the polished Indian, be they Hindu or Muslim. To suggest otherwise is to be guilty of what the author calls “heritage myth-making.”

In a racially charged South Africa, Gandhi sided with the British in as they were blacks or “kaffirs,” bloody crackdown on Zulus. In fact, Lelyveld writes: “No reprisals his concern, derogatorily called, were hardly materialised, but signs of Zulu resentment over Gandhi’s decision to side with the whites were not lacking.”

He quotes the Zulu newspaper Izwi Labantu: “African would not forget that Indians had volunteered to serve with the English savages in Natal who massacred thousands of Zulus in order to steal their land.”

To this day, many in Africa and the Diaspora are weary of the torrent of praise that showers on Gandhi.

Interestingly, it took Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi (then Nehru) - not the “Mahatma”- to state that “Indians and Africans must

act together...”

Through these provocative revelations, Lelyveld’s style is engaging.

He is persistent. There is more to Gandhi that meets the eye.

The author cites Gandhi himself: “I was tremendously attracted to Christianity but eventually I came to the conclusion that there was nothing really in your scriptures that we had not got in ours...”

Is the author suggesting that Gandhi was viewing Christianity as a means to social mobility and acceptance in a brutally unjust society? Did Gandhi’s populist fervour emerge when a new reality dawned on him?

That, as much as he tried, he was no better than an untouchable in the eyes of white South Africa? To what extent was the “new” Gandhi influenced by Leo Tolstoy and John Ruskin?

Indeed, Gandhi is enigmatic and unnerving as the circumstances of his time.

On a personal level, he remains a paragon of irony “many-sided.”

And finally, amid his vow of brahmacharya (celibacy), we are ushered into Gandhi’s world of homo-eroticism with German born Hermann Kallenbach, and his strange fascination with his relative Manu Gandhi.

In the end, though, Gandhi’s historical stature isn’t seriously threatened, but the reader is well counselled that he was very flawed.

Yes, ‘Great Soul’ soars – a literary gem. It is written with virtuoso and forces us to Continued on page 25

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 25

My column

A small community has taught me a lot It has been almost one week since I came home after a week in the Falklands, but I am still to properly adjust to both the temperature and to the Guyana situation. For starters, I knew that the Falklands were coming out of their winter, being so far south of the equator.

I know that Australia is so far south that it is known as the land down under. The Falklands are farther south than Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. This was hard to believe until I got out a map and looked at it.

Getting there was not easy.

I am in South America and the Falklands are a few hundred miles off the coast of South America. But to get there I had to go to Miami then come back down to Santiago, Chile, then to Punta Arenas at the tip of Chile and next door to Argentina before flying to a place I have come to like— East Falklands.

It was extremely windy, more wind every day than I had ever imagined. The wind was so strong that one had to brace against it. Last week I looked at some of the things such as the end result of the conflict thirty years ago and the various monuments, but there was so much more.

I did say that there is oil to be brought to the surface in a few years. Well 3,000 people must decide what they are going to do with the extra money. They don’t have to worry about thieves. The people are still talking about the bicycle that was believed stolen. And that had happened some five or six months before I got there.

They found the bike and the people believe that the owner simply went for a good

drink and could not remember where he had left his bike. The governor, Nigel Haywood, said that no one loses his car keys. They people simply leave the keys in the vehicle.

Like me, he said that the issue is to cope with a multi-milliondollar economy.

The Falklanders are not British colonists and as for being Argentines, they are so far removed from South American culture that any Spanish-speaking South American would be at odds to believe that he is not in England or some other country that has an accent not too dissimilar from the British.

Wildlife abound. I saw colonies of penguins for the first time. During the visit to Gypsy Cove where there are the Magellanic Penguins called the Jackass penguins because they do sound like braying donkeys, there were two young men who wanted to get very close. Then I saw a middle-aged woman running. She was my bus driver but she also worked as a tourist guide. She got him away from the penguins.

I also saw sea lions for the first time. As cool as anybody’s business they sat on a ramp minding their own business even as the boat approached as close as possible. I heard that they allow people to go close to them, but they bite.

Yet it was the crime situation that left me amazed.

I could not see a prison, so I asked whether there was one and indeed there was. It had four inmates, one of whom was doing fourteen years for child molestation. The other three were also sex offenders, but they were doing smaller sentences.

From page 24 confront imagination.

Provocative. Lelyveld’s masterpiece - The Sword of Damocles – caste, racism, sexism, and socioeconomic inequality.

In this cesspool of misguided values, Gandhi emerged - a philosopher and with all his shortcomings, he s o m e h o w m a naged, as “master political alchemist”, to awaken the conscience of

a stained nation – if not the w o r l d . (glenvilleashby@gmail.com) Dr Glenville Ashby, literary critic - Caribbean Book Review

Rethinking Gandhi

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld Alfred AKnopf, New York, 2011 ISBN 978-0-30726958-4.

Ratings: ****: Highly Recommended

The location of the prison? Below the police station. If one did not ask, one would not have known. These prisoners would be allowed out to clear the police cars. I saw no police patrols, but I did meet the police commissioner who was recruited from England.

In a very small society one would see strange things.

About one hour after meeting the governor I was to meet him again—jogging. He said that he was training for the marathon. I went to what they call a pub quiz. This is a once monthly event. Twelve dollars

per team. The night I was there ten teams entered. The Caribbean team placed eighth.

The money went to the three top teams to buy beer or to pay for whatever meal they had that night. The police commissioner was there as ordinary as you please. His team placed second.

For a community with about 2,500 people there are many pubs and each do brisk business serving food and alcohol. I visited a few.

There is no prostitution. I asked about that and the police commissioner said that it never factored into the

equation. Indeed if people want to solicit some fun they know how to do it, but certainly in the community where everybody knows everybody, one would not try in the town. There is just too much space outside the town.

Everyone is comfortably wealthy. There is too much money to go around. No unemployment, no need for sick leave and certainly, no need to sit around an office all day.

There is a lot to be learnt on management. In Guyana, where corruption is rampant, people like me find it strange

Adam Harris to go to a country where no one is interested in stealing.

And the Falklanders cannot understand people stealing public money.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Sunday October 14, 2012

SUNDAY SPECIAL HADFIELD ST. FATAL SHOOTING… THREE COPS UNDER “CLOSE ARREST” Three police officers including a corporal from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) are presently under “close arrest” as investigations continue into the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Dameon Belgrave two Friday nights ago. Their weapons, two M-70 assault rifles and a 9mm pistol, have been lodged.

According to reports, Belgrave, who would have celebrated his 22nd birthday on Saturday October 6, was fatally shot while standing with friends at the White Castle Fish Shop at Hadfield and Lime Streets. A “highspeed chase” involving the aforementioned ranks and the occupants of a white motor car (PGG 3506) ended in proximity to the popular hangout, and eyewitnesses have related that shots were fired indiscriminately.

Kaieteur News understands that the rank with the 9mm alleged that he discharged a round in the air. Another rank also reportedly discharged a round from an M-70 at the vehicle. This newspaper was told that the police recovered a warhead from a vehicle that was damaged. Further, eyewitness in the area recalled hearing two gunshots and when the vehicle that was being pursued came to a halt, the driver fled and three passengers surrendered. This newspaper was told that an 18-year-old Bent Street resident told police that he and some friends were in Guyhoc Park when they decided to go to a party at the fish shop.

MINISTER ROHEE CONFIRMS SPEAKING TO COMMANDER HICKEN –AFTER THE LINDEN SHOOTING

Kaieteur News

Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee has clarified that his conversation with Senior Superintendent of Police Clifton Hicken was conducted after the shooting that occurred on the Mackenzie Bridge on July 18.

During an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) the night of Friday October 6, the Minister stated, “Yes we did make contact, I did have a conversation with him; most of the conversation was after the shooting took place on the Bridge.” He said also said that, “If there was any contact before, well the records will show whether that was so or not but from my recollections most of the time when we spoke was after the incident took place so I don’t think there is need for any speculation to take place about whether the Minister was in touch…I was in touch with him and we did speak so I would like to put that to rest lest there be any speculation or suspicion that somebody is trying to cover up anything.”

MONDAYEDITION MAN KILLED HELPING COPS ARREST SUSPECT A 20-year-old Alberttown man was stabbed to death near his home at around 20:30 hrs Sunday while attempting to help a police officer who was trying to arrest another man. Sule Brian Assanah who would have celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday, was slashed to the neck by the suspect, whom police identified as a horse-cart operator. He succumbed shortly after arriving at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The incident occurred at the corner of Fourth and Light Streets, Alberttown. Police said that the suspect fled the scene on a bicycle. Reports are that a police rank pursued the suspect to the Bourda Market area but had to retreat after the

Page 27

suspect brandished his knife.

This publication was told that earlier in the day, the suspect went to the home of a female acquaintance and threatened to kill her.

MAN SHOT, WIFE’S HAND BROKEN Masked bandits subjected a Corentyne, Berbice couple to a brutal beating at around 23:00 hrs on Saturday after using a sledge hammer to smash down their door.

Chanderdat Samaroo, 40, of Nigg Squatting Area, Corentyne, was shot in the leg by one of the robbers who dragged him out from under a bed, where he had sought refuge from the gang. The five-man gang also brutalised Samaroo’s wife, Tangama Madramootoo, leaving her with a broken hand. Samaroo has been admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, while Madramootoo is being treated at the New Amsterdam Hospital. The bandits carted off an undisclosed sum of cash and over $500,000 worth in jewellery, three cell phones and a CD player. Kaieteur News was told that none of the neighbours dared to come to the family’s aid since the bandits were shooting wildly at the house and windows.

Police later recovered several spent shells, along with the sledge hammer.

TUESDAYEDITION OPPOSITION WARNS OF MASS PROTEST IF ROHEE DOES NOT RESIGN The political opposition has warned Government of an organised protest if Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee is not removed from office. The political parties say that it is clear that Rohee is unfit for the portfolio. They pointed to the escalation of killings by police ranks and to unsolved crimes.

The Alliance For Change

The recovered shell of a Toyota Premio that was stolen three months ago from a West Bank Demerara resident (AFC) and A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) say that calls were also made for mass demonstrations for what is being deemed as a national crisis in the wake of recent killings. Gathered in protest Monday at the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Eve Leary, were Leader of APNU David Granger, APNU Member of Parliament Joseph Harmon, APNU Member of Parliament Basil Williams, Chairman of the AFC Nigel Hughes, social activist Mark Benschop and over a dozen mothers who held placards, chanting “Rohee must go!”

The protest is a result of the killing of 21-year old Dameon Belgrave two Fridays ago outside of White Castle Fish Shop, Hadfield Street.

CHRIS RAM SAYS LUNCHEON, NIS BOARD MUST RESIGN Former Chairman of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Reform Project, Christopher Ram, is calling for the immediate resignation of Dr. Roger Luncheon, amidst revelations that the fund is in serious trouble.

Dr Luncheon, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors, is also the Head of the Presidential Secretariat and the Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers.

Ram, an accountant and lawyer, who has been fiercely critical of Government and its policies, noted that Dr Luncheon is a powerful figure within government who, under his watch as Chairman of NIS, did nothing to ensure that the fund, which is a main source of income for

thousands of pensions, was protected.

“I am calling for Dr. Luncheon to resign. He and other board members have been there for several years now.” NIS recently warned that it is worrying and hopes to find urgent solutions as expenses will exceed income by year end. NIS earns income from investments and contributions. According to Ram, the last periodical actuarial review of NIS had been completed before the CLICO financial fallout and as such, included income from the investments that NIS had in CLICO. WEDNESDAYEDITION

Speaker – nothing of priority.

“October 10th marks the end of the first recess of the National Assembly, and as we look back at the performance of the legislative agenda, it is very striking… it is disappointing and almost depressing,” Ram opined.

“Five of the bills were financial papers and nine were amendments with only four substantives. Only eight were made into law. Of four substantive bills, only one made it into law and that contained a mere three sections. What has made the matter more depressing is that the opposition parties had a splendid opportunity to introduce its own bills as it has the combined majority.

OPPOSITION’S PERFORMANCE IN PARLIAMENT DISAPPOINTING

PERPETUALACTING APPOINTMENTS DANGEROUS

The performance of the opposition in the National Assembly is coming under fire, with questions being asked whether it was necessary for a nine-week break. The recess ended Wednesday and the Parliament is set to reconvene later this month. According to financial commentator, Christopher Ram, the work by the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the 10-party coalition A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) during the first session of the 10th Parliament left much to be desired.

“Of 21 bills presented, 20 of them were from the government, while the other was from APNU’s Volda Lawrence…and it had to do mainly with regards to the

A call was made for improving public accountability under Transparency Institute’s umbrella when former Auditor General, Dr. Anand Goolsarran, on Tuesday launched his book – “Improving Public Accountability – Guyana Experience 1985-2007”. Dr. Goolsarran, who served 15 years as the Auditor General from 1990, and has been known to be outspoken, on Tuesday also said that the practice of not confirming, on a timely basis, senior functionaries in constitutional offices is a serious cause for worry. He cited as examples Chief Justice (ag), Ian Chang and Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Carl Singh.

Continued on page 40

Page 28

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

27 complete SME course in Berbice

By Samuel Whyte Twenty-seven (27) persons drawn from a wide cross-section of Berbice are now in a better position to start or manage their own business, compliments of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association (BCCDA).

The participants successfully completed a twoday course on Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMEs) which was organized by the (BCCDA) and was held at the Chamber’s office at 12 Chapel Street, New Amsterdam.

The forum, which was held in the form of a workshop, was the first of its kind and catered for persons with existing small businesses, potential entrepreneurs and single parents.

During the compact twoday training session which was done free of cost, participants were taught, lectured to and guided along on topics such as Understanding the role of small business, managing a small business (Do and don’ts),understanding the legal and compliance framework, record keeping, constructing and analysing income statement and balance

sheetscalculating profitability and forecasting, access financing, previews to areas of lucrative small businesses, how to market their business, when and how to invest, how to manage their finances, diversifying and the labour practice and laws in Guyana.

They also heard inspirational remarks from two successful Berbice businessmen and viewed a video on the success story and the rise of a small business.

The facilitators included representatives from a number of entities.

Region Six Chairman David Armogan and Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, Industry and Commerce Dhaneshwar Deonarine both spoke at the opening ceremony and congratulated the BCCDA for the foresight and initiative in organising a workshop of that nature BCCDA president Imran Sacoor also spoke at the opening and made mention of that entity’s continued drive to develop young entrepreneurs and make an allout effort to give back to the community. The programme he said is just one in a number of community-based

BCCDA President Imran Sacoor (sitting at centre) and other chamber members pose with the course’s participants initiatives that the chamber has planned for the year.

A message sent by President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Clinton Urling, was also read.

The successful participants will be eligible to apply for loans to start or

expand their business. The BCCDA will also work along with them for six months to

ensure that they are on the right track. Following that another batch will be trained.

Caribbean ministers to discuss common fisheries policy for CARICOM BELIZE CITY, Belize — A United States petition submitted this March to list the queen conch (Strombus gigas) as a threatened or endangered species, the status of the implementation of a common fisheries policy for CARICOM, and the joint action plan and Belize Declaration signed this September in the historic joint meeting of Central American and Caribbean fisheries ministers will be priority items on the agenda of the upcoming third special meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).

The special forum, to be chaired by The Bahamas, is being held to coincide with the Caribbean Week of Agriculture, which will be observed from (today) October 14 to 20, under

the theme: “Celebrating Youth and Gender in Caribbean Agriculture – Each Endeavoring, All Achieving.”

Seventeen ministers from across the Caribbean are expected to converge at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, in St John’s, Antigua, for the meeting slated for Thursday, October 18, 2012.

On the sidelines of Thursday’s gathering, eight ministers who sit on the CRFM’s ministerial subcommittee on flying fish will also convene their first meeting, also to be chaired by The Bahamas, as they discuss the recommendations of the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem (CLME) case study which looks into policy, legal frameworks and institutional

investments in the flying fish fishery - the single most important small pelagic fishery in the southern Lesser Antilles.

The subcommittee will also review the report of the 1st meeting of the CRFM/ WECAFC Working Group on the flying fish fishery in the Eastern Caribbean.

Due to concerns about overfishing, the CRFM is working with the region to implement management plans for sustainable harvesting of the flying fish.

The four-wing flying fish (Hirundichthys affinis) is a shared resource which is exploited by seven countries: Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Martinique (France), St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

BRADES, Montserrat (GIU) — The Royal Montserrat Police Service confirmed on Friday that a 19year-old male has been arrested and charged with the murder of local businessman Aubrey Barry.

Commissioner of Police Steve Foster told the press that Orin Francois RedwoodEvans has been remanded in custody after being formally charged with the killing of Barry, which took place sometime between late Wednesday and early Thursday morning October 4, 2012.

Barry sustained head injuries and died while being medivaced to Barbados for treatment.

Foster declined to say if Evans had confessed to killing the businessman, who ran a small grocery in the Cudjoe Head area. He said the investigation was continuing and anyone with information about the incident could contact the police and share what they knew in confidence.

A post mortem of Barry, who was originally from Guyana, was conducted in Barbados with one local

forensic officer in attendance. The results are being reviewed, the top police official said.

This brings to two the number of homicides in 2012.

Foster said history has shown that Montserrat recorded one murder every five to seven years and so this statistic was unusual and bore looking into.

The teenager was employed by the government of Montserrat.

Police Inspector Bennett Kirwan has been assigned as the lead investigator with Inspector Williams appointed as family liaison officer.

Montserrat man charged with murder of Guyanese businessman

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Chavez carries on: Lessons to be learned from a resounding victory

By Trent Boultinghouse and Joel Jaeger Research Associates at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs By now, the cheers from victorious celebrations greeting Hugo Chávez to another term as president of Venezuela have abated.

Despite the oft-hysterical predictions of some in the mainstream media, the election was not carried out on a wave of violence, but rather seems to have reaffirmed the integrity of the Venezuelan electoral process. Even opposition candidate Henrique Capriles acknowledged the results. Indeed, Chávez, Capriles, and their respective aides de camp remained remarkably well behaved in the aftermath of the ballot count.

By all of the available data, Capriles carried on a respectable fight against Chávez, succeeding in narrowing the Venezuelan leader’s popularity gap to its slimmest divide since the incumbent first took

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez office. This is a notable feat for a historically disorganized and scattered opposition.

On the other side, h o w e v e r, C h á v e z ’s supporters now can justify

the true grade of his vision with a definitive democratic stamp that marks his newest presidential term.

Under Chávez, Ve n e z u e l a has seen substantial economic

transformation and social improvements for the poor.

The household poverty r a t e i n Ve n e z u e l a h a s slumped from 49 percent in 1998 to 26.7 percent in 2011, according to a recent report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Moreover, since Chávez was first elected in 1999, Venezuela’s Gini index has decreased from 49.5 to 39 (0 representing perfect income equality and 100 representing perfect inequality).

The distribution of stateowned land to the landless, the building of hospitals and medical clinics in the country’s poorest areas, and the development of literacy programs have all combined to bring increased social mobility to many Ve n e z u e l a n s who previously had limited access to such opportunities.

By no means, however, a r e C h á v e z ’s r e f o r m s ubiquitously accepted by the population, as determined by the ten percent electoral margin and the polarization of various pockets of Venezuelan society.

Chávez, for his part, did acknowledge in his victory speech the legitimacy provided by the 45 percent of Venezuelans who voted against him, but it remains to be seen if he will now revert to divisive or inflammatory rhetoric to defend the revolution against dissenting attitudes in the days ahead.

After last Sunday’s results, Chávez has the opportunity to solidify his democratic-socialist revolution in the near future by continuing to revel in the

strident social change it has brought in the nation.

Still, there are various urgent challenges that impact the quality of life for all Venezuelans, such as addressing the high crime rate and frequent blackouts.

Also imperative is that Chávez improves the s t a t e o i l c o m p a n y, PDVSA, by increasing its transparency and operating style as a way to counter future charges of inefficiency and lax maintenance. Given that 94 percent of the country’s exports consist of oil, if global oil prices dip in Chávez’s new term or if PDVSA cannot maintain its current profit structure, the Bolivarian Revolution might have to scale back on its social programs.

It also seems likely that Chávez will find himself facing more scrutiny as more power is devolved to communal committees seeking to be the protagonists of their own development.

As a result, Chávez’s new six-year term bodes to be the toughest to date, but the Jefe Máximo has shown he still possesses a cunning level of political acumen to address these challenges.

Amidst all of the fanfare Chávez has received from victory, the United States skirted around an opportunity to offer a warm abrazo for Venezuelan democracy, instead giving Caracas a limp hand. A subdued statement from the State Department congratulated Venezuela on holding demonstrably free and safe elections, but somewhat patronizingly urged the leader to respect the wishes of the 45 percent of citizens who voted against him.

Such an action could be interpreted as Wa s h i n g t o n s u g g e s t i n g Venezuela apologize for its election results — a hypocritical line considering the White H o u s e ’s own q u e s t i o n a b l e involvement in numerous Latin American elections throughout the latter half of the 20th century.

I n C h á v e z ’s v i c t o r y speech last Sunday n i g h t , t h e Ve n e z u e l a n leader held the Bolivar s w o r d , b r i s t l i n g with symbolism, in order to represent the continued revolution for a version of Latin American 21st century socialism but also against traditional Wa s h i n g t o n - a l i g n e d capitalism and imperialism.

By contrast, several

Latin American heads of state were quick to offer Chávez their congratulations after his victory over Capriles was assured, including such left-leaning stalwarts like B o l i v i a ’s E v o M o r a l e s and Argentina’s Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Ecuador’s Rafael Correa even offered his own best wishes on his Twitter feed, saying, “Long live the Bolivarian Revolution!”

There still remain numerous obstacles facing the goal of future amicable relations between Caracas and Washington.

The emergence of regional unified blocs such a s M e r c o s u r, U n a s u r, ALBA, in addition to the agenda of the recent failed Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, are manifestations of a gradual loss of US-backed tempo throughout the hemisphere.

But these trends also represent an opportunity for US-Latin American relations to take on the character of mutual respect and a tolerance of political and ideological pluralism that should inform its ideology.

If the combination of Chávez toning down his fiery anti-US rhetoric were to be coupled with US presidents and candidates overcoming their negative instinctual reaction to an opera bouffe image of a socialist Ve n e z u e l a , bilateral relations could take a more positive turn.

Yet, a concerted effort in the United States to improve relations and seek a constructive dialogue with Venezuela is all-but-impossible before the American presidential elections are held.

Thus, it would behoove Washington, regardless of who is president, to productively support some form of political pluralism throughout the region.

As last Sunday’s results have shown, there is a great need for the White House to respect the policy gradations between democratically elected leaders in the hemisphere, to the degree that the United States r e s p e c t L a t i n American nations’ sovereignty as each of them work out their own destiny and national interests.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, taxexempt research and information organization.

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Shreya Ghoshal arrives today for mega concert tonight!

Shreya Ghoshal

The beautiful and talented Shreya Ghoshal is finally here with her troupe of 25 for the much anticipated show booked for the Guyana National Stadium, Providence this evening.

Plans were put in place for the singing beauty to be welcomed by members of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, and members of the media.

Come this evening, the Indian superstar is expected to thrill locals with her melodious voice and charismatic charms.

She will be accompanied by two male singers- Jeffrey Iqbal and Prithvi Gandharva.

While there is not much known about Prithvi, an impressive video of Jeffrey singing has been in circulation on the television.

This very much anticipated show is part of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s month of activities in preparation of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali (November 13).

Shreya Ghoshal is among the best playback singers in Bollywood, with one of the softest, sweetest voices and she is finally here. The chance to see her perform live on stage is tonight.

Shreya is the winner of four National Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards, five IIFA Awards, five Screen Aw a r d s a n d n u m e r o u s others; and with that, Shreya Ghoshal has made a name for herself as the m o s t a w a r d ed female playback singer in the Indian Film Industry today.

Equally comfortable with her own hits and the evergreen hits of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, Shreya Ghoshal brings the perfect combination of yesteryear and the present to her concerts, so a promisingly exciting concert awaits patrons.

She has worked in more than 180 films, some of which may be among our favourites; one such film is Devdas.

After she was able to capture the attention of legendary movie director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shreya was offered the opportunity to be the voice of Paro, the lead female character played

by Aishwarya Rai from the hit film Devdas.

She was able to do magic with the five songs she sang in that film. Her performance won her the Filmfare Award

for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as Filmfare’s RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. She also won the National Film Award for the song “Bairi Piya”.

This very beautiful and talented young lady has composed songs with many music greats including Udit Narayan, the sensational Sonu Nigam, the very much talented Atif Aslam, and A.R. Rahaman.

Some of her most popular hits and Guyanese favourites

include Teri Ore from the movie Singh is King; Dhola Re Dhola from Devda; Dhoom Tana and Om Shanti Om from the Movie Om Shanti Om; Teri Meri from the movie bodyguard; Piya O Re Piya from Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya; her solo peace Bahaara from the movie I Hate Luv Storys; as well as the well loved song Chori Kiya Re Jiya featuring Sonu Nigam.

Shreya Ghoshal is also very gifted when it comes to

classical songs. And one particular classical number for which Shreya received much deserved praises for is Mere Dholna from the Movie Bhool Bhulaiya.

Keep your fingers crossed, as Shreya may very well sing one of your favourite songs tonight.

Shreya is on tour in North America and the Caribbean, and after performing in Trinidad, Guyana is her final stop.

Tickets for the Concert

are VVIP -$20,000, VIP - $5000, General Seating $2,500 and Standing $1,500. These will be out next week at the following locations - Dharmic Kendra Prashad Nagar, Red Mango Robb Street, Bhagwan’s Water Street, Harrinarine and Sons -Regent Street, ENetworks -Camp Street, Ashmin’s Trading, The Murti Shop - West Coast Demerara, Spready’s Snackette Berbice, R. Gosai and Sons and M&M’s Snackette - East Bank Demerara.

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The National Psychiatric Another Kissoon Hospital, caring for the ... becomes a lawyer From page 16 completed in November 1882. In 1885, additional buildings had to be erected to alleviate overcrowding.

Initially, the compound h a d h o u s i n g accommodation for medical superintendents, wardens and matrons.

There were also a printing shop, tailor shop, carpentry shop, painter, bakery, sewing room, laundry, kitchen, farm, cinema, barber shop, and a hair- dressing salon for females and an occupational therapy department, a dining hall for staff and a chapel for those, both staff and patients who wished to participate in religious services.

With the exception of a few, some of these facilities are still in existence.

Formerly, nearly all the employees were attendants.

With the advent of the job evaluation, these attendants were subsequently reclassified as nurse- aides.

Other categories of medical nursing staff were also introduced to work in the institution, providing a better level of nursing care.

In 1979, fire destroyed the west block which housed the male patients.

At that time the north block was already

condemned. These were replaced by flat chalets.

These buildings and other similar buildings for females after Victorian Ward C were deemed unfit to house patients.

At present, there are five male wards and three female wards, with capacity to house 214 beds and a patient population of 166 patients.

The main sections of the psychiatric, nursing, pharmaceuticals, o c c u p a t i o n t h e r a p y, administrative and supportive services, offer out and in- patient services.

To date, the institution is equipped with the latest advanced medicine; more trained professionals but possibly with the help and contribution of the patients' relatives and members of society, who see the need to care for their fellow brothers and sisters, faced with mental disorders.

The institution is headed by the psychiatrist who is directly in charge of the overall management of the institution.

Non- medical staff members are managed by the administrator. Nurses are managed by matrons and also work along with the psychiatrist, ably supported by the pharmacy, social worker and occupational

therapy to manage the welfare of the patients.

Around-the-clock services comprise of inpatient and out- patient services.

These services have been extended to the Skeldon Hospital, where, to date 95 patients have been seen and treated by the psychiatrist.

These services, she said, are also provided by the New Amsterdam prisons.

The occupational therapy department works assiduously with patients to arouse their interest; their courage and confidence; to exercise mind and body in healthy activities; to overcome disabilities; to achieve social fulfillment.

Patients are encouraged to see the importance of personal hygiene and keep up-to-date with current events. Daily newspapers are provided; television viewing and music therapy are also encouraged.

This programme has been successful and a testimony can be seen of the work done by patients, ably assisted by staff in the craft work.

There was once when the facility experienced a little bit of shortage of electricity in the compound but this was quickly remedied by the relevant authorities.

(from left) Liksham Nitya Sharna Kissoon in the presence of Justice William Ramlal and Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran in the Judge's Chambers.

T

he 21st lawyer in a family of illustrious legal luminaries was recently admitted to the local Bar to practise as an attorney in the courts of Guyana.

The new addition, Liksham Nitya Sharna Kissoon of Delph Street, Campbellville was awarded the legal education certificate of the council of legal education on 7, September, 2012.

He is the cousin of 17 current lawyers, nephew of retired Justice of Appeal Nandram Kissoon, lawyers

Jailall Kissoon and Latchman Kissoon.

Family, friends and well wishers were gathered at the court for the event.

The petition was presented by former Speaker of the National Assembly Senior Counsel, Ralph Hari Narayen Ramkarran who is also a close family friend of the Kissoons.

It was accepted by Justice William Ramlal who advised the new lawyer to not lose sight of his obligation to the court, since the court always comes first.

Senior Counsel

Ramkarran said that the new lawyer better known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nityaâ&#x20AC;? attended St. Margaret's Primary School and successfully completed his Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) at Queens College.

He added that whilst at the law firm, Nitya thought it fit to pursue the career in keeping with the family tradition.

Liksham Nitya Sharna Kissoon who signed his first legal document before Justice Ramlal said he will serve the bar to the best of his ability.

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Aid: The golden taps being turned off

By Sir Ronald Sanders Austerity budgets throughout Europe, and Government cuts on welfare spending, have caused many people to argue that aid allocations to foreign countries should be reduced and the money spent on domestic needs.

This will shortly have an adverse effect on countries in the Caribbean unless they advance solid proposals with achievable outcomes for continuing to receive aid.

Popular media in many European countries have been in the forefront of the argument to cut aid. They have revealed how aid has been misspent and even used for the purchase of military equipment in certain countries.

Among the influential persons in Britain who would like to see the government “turn off the golden taps and stop flooding the developing world with our money” is Lord Michael Ashcroft, a significant contributor to the coffers of Prime Minster David Cameron's Conservative Party.

Lord Ashcroft is no

Scrooge. A wealthy man himself, he contributes generously to a number of charities and other organisations doing valuable and helpful work in many developing countries. As he said in an open letter to the recently appointed Minister for International Development in Britain, Justine Greening: “I do not fully agree with the argument (that) we should turn our backs on the world's poorest people because of tough times at home”. Yet, his concern about Britain's aid spending is reflective of many both in the Conservative Party and the country at large. He says: “They think it morally wrong to carry on giving away such vast sums abroad – more than £300 per household – at a time of domestic spending cuts”.

Except for the Department for International Development (DfID), every government department in Britain has suffered severe spending cuts.

DfID's budget has not only been protected, it is expanding from £7.8 billion in 2010 to £11.5 billion in 2015.

What influential persons like Lord Ashcroft want is to see aid provided on the basis of “rigorous analysis of all available evidence”.

The reason that Caribbean countries, except for Haiti, should be highly alert to this increasingly prevalent thinking in Europe is that they are all classified as Middle Income Countries (MICs) and there is an increasing contention that the MICs should use their resources to look after their own and stop expecting the taxpayers of other countries to do so.

This thinking is already evident in the approach of the European Union (EU) to aid.

The European Commission has unveiled a Differentiated Development Instrument which has graduated 18 MICs from aid except in certain specific circumstances.

It is generally agreed that the decision to “graduate” MICs under its “differentiated” approach will migrate into the European Development Fund (EDF) under which Caribbean countries get aid from the EU as part of the African, Caribbean and

Pacific (ACP) group.

S i g n i f i c a n t l y, M s Greening, at a Conservative Party Conference, shortly after her appointment is reported to have “criticised the EU for giving aid to less poor countries and said she would be meeting European development officials next week to make sure the EU targeted aid where it could have the greatest impact” She is quoted as saying that “it was not right for the EU to provide aid for countries higher up the income scale".

There is still some hope that Caribbean MICs may not face an immediate 'graduation' from EU aid.

Apart from the fact that the terms of an arrangement still exist under the Cotonou Treaty between the EU and the ACP that runs until 2020, other factors such as the vulnerabilities of small states could be taken into account. A vulnerability index for small states was developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat using criteria in addition to per capita income. While these additional criteria have not been adopted by institutions such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), they are compelling enough not to be wholly ignored.

But, it is important to understand that there is no guarantee that, in the present

climate in Europe, they will be recognised. The popular sentiment is to redirect aid allocations to financing domestic needs.

What then can Caribbean countries do in these circumstances?

What is certain is that many of them continue to need aid particularly for infrastructural development.

At the moment, much of that aid is coming from Venezuela, China or Taiwan placing them in an increasingly dependent relationship with these three countries. In any event, while aid from these three sources is vital, it is not enough.

Caribbean countries, therefore, have to be mindful of Lord Ashcroft's admonition to the British International Development Minister and gear their aid requests “on rigorous analysis of available evidence”.

If the Caribbean countries do not adopt this approach, some of them – especially the smaller ones with extremely limited natural resources - may have to slip back into the status of less developed countries before they become eligible for significant aid.

The British-based Overseas Development Institute has made an argument that Caribbean

Sir Ronald Sanders countries should take on board. In a paper by Jonathan Glennie, it points out that “those countries that are graduating from aid dependence to more sustainable levels of aid need to set in train policies to smooth their graduation, supported by key donor allies”. But, this will not happen without strategic thinking, planning and organisation by the Caribbean countries themselves. The specific and realistic needs of individual Caribbean countries have to be identified with a clear idea of their sustainability and their contribution to job creation and production. Once those needs are identified and agreed, a donor conference should be organised to endorse the needs and agree the financing including through changed rules in the international financial institutions.

T h e r e g i o n ' s organizations – the Caribbean Community Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the Caribbean Development Bank – should be initiating this work, or at least placing it on the agenda of governments. The problem is not tomorrow, it is now.

(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat) Responses and previous c o m m e n t a r i e s : www.sirronaldsanders.com

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Works Ministry flattens Double Built in Day Hotel's 2008 'Kissing Bridge' “Wickedness or envy by a Govt.

I support” - hotel owner The final destruction of Double Day Hotel's 'Kissing Bridge' by the Public Works Ministry in February last has left the proprietor, Harryram Bhola, questioning if wickedness or enviousness is the motive.

The 'Kissing Bridge' spanned a trench about 50 feet from Tuschen Public Road, East Bank Essequibo, was erected in 2008. After one year of helping to create intimate memories for numerous wedding parties the first section of the structure was destroyed by the Public Works Ministry.

The public kept using the remainder of the 'Kissing Bridge' until February 20, 2012 when a crew from the Ministry returned to the hotel to complete the demolition of the bridge. This occurred one day after Prime Minister Samuel Hinds commissioned a play park opposite the hotel.

“The flattening of this beautiful $2.5M 'Kissing Bridge' has me wondering if Government is wicked or envious because the Regional Administration didn't do anything.

This structure is not close to the road so I don't see how it is justifiable to say it is unsafe,” Bhola said.

He added, “Sam Hinds come to the opening of my play park that has a library and the next day Public Works come and break down the bridge.”

According to Bhola, on both occasions when the structure was destroyed no notice was given. He noted that the explanation given on the first occasion for the demolition of the structure was that it was built close to the road hence unsafe for users.

Bhola related that his hotel was established for tourism and to add beauty to the environment the structure was surrounded by well groomed plants. Former Minister of Tourism Manniram Prashad had lauded the 'Kissing Bridge' since it was the only privately owned facility in Guyana. There is another in the Botanical Gardens.

He stressed that prior to the construction of the bridge the trench was bushy and unsightly.

In fact, no excavation works to clear the drain occurred from 2008. As such, Bhola undertook the clearing and cleaning of the section where the bridge was built.

Bhola noted that he is ready to rebuild the structure but is wondering if the government he supports would demolish it again.

He questioned whether this Government is the same loving Government Cheddi Jagan created. The hotel owner stressed that he never expected that destruction of such beauty would occur under President Donald Ramotar.

He said that when the first section of the structure was destroyed in 2009 he wrote to Ramotar in the capacity as General Secretary of the People's Progressive Party/ Civic.

“He (Ramotar) said I should write to Dr. Roger Luncheon and Prime Minister Hinds.

Their response to the incident was good and I was told to do nothing to the bridge but to replant the flowers,” Bhola said.

Broken in 2009

Flattened in 2012

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The National Insurance Scheme, the Public Service and the Private Sector It appears that our politicians are not convinced that the National Insurance Scheme is likely to collapse during their tenures. It is difficult to appreciate their indifference to the fate of so many who now are dependent not only on the superannuation benefits it offers, but more critically its medical benefits, minimal as these are (limited to pre-existing disabilities).

Over the last two decades, the financial capacity of the Scheme, as reported on by the actuaries, has continued to decline at an increasingly uncomfortable rate, while at the same time, a significant portion of its reserves have been applied to investments whose returns may be unpredictable for the foreseeable future.

One immediate limiting factor which could affect its financial buoyancy is the insistence on holding the official retirement age in the public service at that which obtained in the colonial era – 55 years, as if an index of development in the post-

colonial era is not the greater longevity of its population.

The point being that so far as public servants are concerned, there would be greater assurance of eligibility for pension benefits if their contributions, and therefore eligibility, could statutorily be maintained till the age of 60 – an arrangement that would be equally agreeable to the management of the NIS. But there is the perception that employers of public servants are sensitive about the cost to the Administration of extending this benefit. In contradistinction, the same Administration indulges in, and encourages the employment of identified public servants on contracts which provide for gratuity payable in lieu of pension, at the rate of 22.5% of salary every six months.

The situation demands a serious cost benefit analysis to be conducted to identify which of the two scenarios is more valuable to the Administration, particularly since in the latter case there are minimal performance standards attached to the gratuity eligibility clause in the

contracts.

The situation is compounded by the further gratuitous award of a 5% salary increase annually – a mechanism which only requires the public employee to be on the books, without any statutory requirement of proof that he/she has actually worked during the relevant period.

In the midst of the disarray of compensation mechanisms, no one has sought to institute an examination of the variety of ‘alleged’ contracts, at least to verify what undertakings there are for contributions to be made to the National Insurance Scheme.

Nor have they thought of the anomaly of ‘contracted’ employees who retire and still seek a public service superannuation benefit. It has been rumoured that some such applications have been favourably considered.

In the meantime, while the National Estimates portray the increasing proportion of ‘pensionable’ posts occupied by ‘contracted’ employees, there is no detailed reference to the ‘establishment’ of the respective

40 Statutory Bodies and related Public Sector entities (10).

It would be helpful if, as a first step, the NIS were invited to furnish a list of all the Public SectorAgencies from which they receive contributions and the respective amounts.

The next step would be for Parliament to demand the most comprehensive audit of all Public Sector Entities, and report/s on the extent of compliance with NIS requirements, the explicit reasons for identified defects; and recommendations for correcting these and/or instituting disciplinary action, where relevant.

The audit/s should reveal how many persons in the respective bodies hold: i) formal letters of appointment, including the related conditions of pensionable employment; ii) formal contracts stipulating the specific terms of employment; iii) in either instance, descriptions or terms of reference related to their current responsibilities.

The audit should also be

required to reproduce the eligibility criteria for each position.

Another possible anomaly that should invite the attention of legal luminaries in the political arena, is the correct status of an ‘Agency’ which is registered under the Public Corporations Act, namely the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Unlike other Public Corporations, all the GPHC jobs – from unskilled to professional – are shown as ‘pensionable positions’ commensurate with traditional Public Service, and within its traditional salary scales. The additional confusion obtains in the disproportionate percentage of the incumbents who are ‘contracted employees’.

But it is important to return to the issue of what should be the operative pensionable age for any type of public sector employee. It is a verifiable fact that a number of public sector agencies and semi-autonomous entities observe an officially approved retirement age of 60 years. These include the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Audit Office of Guyana, amongst others, like the Guyana

Sugar Corporation. And there is reason to believe that Guyana Power & Light has maintained the retirement threshold of 65 years inherited from the original North American owners.

It is worth ascertaining whether in the circumstances voluntary contributions are required, and are made. In this regard it should not be too presumptuous to ascertain which employees in OP, for example, contribute to the NIS. THEPRIVATESECTOR In terms of sustainability, and even growth of the NIS, the envisaged development of the Private Sector may be even more crucial, that is if one were to believe all the hype about prospective investments, economic growth and related employment expansion.

Against this background it may not be irrelevant to mention that thoughtful international studies have adverted to the low and slow rate of facilitating overseas investors to become established and operational in Guyana, as compared to the rest of the Caricom Region and beyond.

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From page 27 During his book launch at Marian Academy, Carifesta Avenue on Tuesday evening, Goolsarran stressed that “not confirming officials to positions in a timely manner can lead to perception of dependency on executive government…a dangerous practice”. Arguing that the Guyana government’s accounting systems are too centralized and bureaucratic, he was optimistic that change is now “threatening”.

Georgetown. The response was so insignificant that the protestors were encouraged to relocate and intensify their actions at Agricola, repeating tactics observed during the Linden protests. The protestors engaged in blocking traffic there on the East Bank Highway, lighting fires on the roadway, burning tyres, attacking police officers, preventing the Fire Service from operating, assaulting and robbing innocent bystanders and destroying public and private property.”

THURSDAYEDITION EDAHMAD PLEADS GUILTY Appearing visibly shaken, with his voice breaking at times, Ed Ahmad was biting back tears, as he cut his loss and entered a guilty plea in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn.

He gave his name as Edul Ahmad and informed the court that he is a naturalized American citizen who originates from Guyana, South America. In the early stages of the case he had advised the court of his strong ties to the then Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo. It was exactly 12:08pm on October 10, 2012 when the Guyanese-American businessman sealed his fate, entering a guilty plea to count one of the ten-count criminal complaints against him, and told the court that his attorney has advised him that there is no viable defense to the charges against him. In admitting guilt, Ahmad told Judge Dora Irizarry that between January 1995 and January 2009, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, together with others, he knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud several lending institutions, in a mortgage fraud scheme that lasted almost 15 years. The United States Attorney’s office alleges that Ahmad was part of a scheme that defrauded American lending institutions of approximately US$50 million, obtaining approval for mortgages on various properties by falsifying documents submitted to the lending institutions, using a string of straw buyers, and other illegal practices.

REGENT ST. LANDSCAPE UNDERGOES MAJOR CHANGE…UNITED CENTRE OPENS TO PUBLIC Standing at six stories with a spacious environment, the new multi-million dollar “United Centre” has transformed the appearance of the Regent Street shopping

An artist’s sketch of the proposed 165 megawatts hydro power facility for Amalia Falls, Region Eight zone. The total area space is 58,300 square feet. It’s a steel structure clad with concrete board. The exterior of the building is aluminium board, which reduces the overall weight of the building, and glass. Its six stories have four shopping floors, an office floor and the roof which is a work in progress. In addition, the six-storey store will boast a five-star restaurant in the next two months when the roof is completed. This will also be complemented by two open dining decks, three bars and a VIP area. The Mega Store also features an amazingly large screen television on the exterior which advertises the variety of brands and offers the store has.

According to Marketing Director, Michael Alleyne, United Centre is the culmination of five years of tireless commitment from conception to completion. He explained that United Centre sees the amalgamation of Essential Shopping Centre at Camp and Regent Streets and other branches of the store such as Footsteps, Home and Beyond at the corner of Camp and Charlotte Streets will be incorporated into the new Mega Store.

hurled large stones and even flaming sticks at the hapless riot police ranks, and even threw back tear smoke canisters that the ranks eventually discharged. Police only managed to clear the streets at around 21:00 hrs after ranks from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) converged on the scene and entered Agricola.

A police statement said that TSU rank Corporal Kwesi Lawrence sustained burns to the thighs and was also hit to the left eye by a missile. He was treated at a private hospital. At least one baby had to be treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation after suffering minor effects from tear smoke, while a number of protesters were struck by shotgun pellets.

OPPOSITION TO BE BLAMED FOR CAUSING THIS DEPLORABLE SITUATION – GOVT.

The Office of the President Thursday night blamed the opposition, especially the Alliance For Change (AFC), for causing the protests at Agricola which caused thousands to be stranded.

“The Office of the President rejects outright any contention that the protests on the East Bank are peaceful protests. The criminal activities have been provoked by the Opposition diatribes against Minister Clement Rohee which saw Nigel Hughes and Moses Nagamootoo of the AFC declaring an ultimatum to President Donald Ramotar to remove the Minister by midnight of October 10th.

Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition had stated his noconfidence in the Guyana Police Force. The Government rejected the ultimatum, as a result of which the AFC, by the following morning, reacted by conspiring with APNU to start a new wave of protests at the Courts in

SATURDAY EDITION RED THREAD,AFC RALLY AGAINST DANGEROUS POLICE There was a resounding call Friday afternoon as Guyanese from all walks of life converged for a “change” rally just outside the White Castle Fish Shop, where 21year-old Dameon Belgrave was shot and killed by the police. They were calling for a change from a country, which according to them has a “dangerous” police force that is out to harm people.

The rally and procession was organized by the Red Thread organization and Alliance for Change (AFC). Persons heard speeches from Karen De Souza, SASOD’s Delicia Nicholson, Kaieteur News Columnist Freddie Kissoon, Jermaine Grant from the YCT and Shonette Adams among others.

Chairman of the Alliance Change, Nigel Hughes, had the large gathering shouting.

Hughes told them that the PPP/C regime was not only frightened, but was in a panic mode. He said that the reason for this is that the people of

FRIDAYEDITION LUNCHEON’S “RUMBLE” STATEMENT SPARKS FIERY PROTEST Police in riot gear clashed Thursday with youths armed with stones, bottles, sticks and cutlasses during a fivehour standoff, between the villages of Agricola and Eccles, that brought rush hour traffic on the East Bank of Demerara to a standstill, leaving thousands of commuters stranded on either side of the conflict zone.

The mob also torched a vehicle and burned lumber and tyres on both carriageways of the main East Bank thoroughfare.

The mainly Agricola youths, including women,

Scenes from the fiery protest at Agricola

Guyana are using the most dangerous weapon they have which is “our minds”.

SEMBLANCE OF CALM IN AGRICOLA- BENN A semblance of calm has returned to the community of Agricola following Thursday night’s fiery protest by residents. Ranks of the Guyana Police Force are still conducting patrols in the community and along the East Bank Public Road.

Reports indicated that Thursday’s protest was triggered by utterances by Head of Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon that the government was prepared to “rumble” against demands for Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee to step down.

The Opposition has been calling for Rohee’s resignation following the execution of an Agricola youth, Shaquille Grant, by ranks of the Guyana Police Force. The protest which lasted for several hours saw a standoff between the police and youths armed with stones, bottles, sticks and cutlasses. Protestors lit tyres and other obstacles which they used to block the carriageway.

According to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, who is also executing duties as Home Affairs Minister, the flow of traffic which was interrupted for hours along the East Bank Demerara main thoroughfare is flowing unhindered.

This was made possible by the clearing of debris including broken bottles, burnt wood and a vehicle shell

by Public Works Ministry’s Force Account Unit.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

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Euro zone mulls new ways Mauritania says President wounded in accidental shooting to cut Greek debt mountain (Reuters) - Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was “lightly wounded” after a military patrol accidentally fired on his convoy, the government said yesterday.

Abdel Aziz is undergoing treatment at a military hospital in the capital Nouakchott, a source at the presidency and two military sources told Reuters.

They did not give further details and it was not immediately clear why the military convoy opened fire on the convoy.

“On his way back to Nouakchott, the presidential convoy was shot by a Mauritanian patrol...as they did not recognize his convoy,” Communications Minister Hamdi Ould Mahjoub said on national television.

“The president was shot on that occasion, but he is lightly wounded and his life

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is not threatened,” he said.

Word of Abdel Aziz’s shooting triggered talk across Nouakchott that he had been targeted by Islamists.

Abdel Aziz was elected in 2009 after coming to power in a 2008 coup and he is now seen by Western nations, including France, as a key ally

in tackling al Qaeda in the region.

Security forces blocked roads leading to the military hospital, but security did not appear to be heightened around the presidential palace or other official buildings, according to a Reuters witness.

Mauritania launched numerous military operations on Islamist bases in neighbouring Mali before a rebellion in that country split it in two, placing its vast desert in the hands of heavily-armed groups linked to al Qaeda.

Mauritania, which straddles black and Arab Africa on the West coast of the continent, has enjoyed several years of relative political stability. Abdel Aziz has faced some protests over complaints ranging from corruption to his poor handling of a recent food crisis.

Iran says ready for nuclear flexibility

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is ready to show flexibility at nuclear talks to ease Western concerns over its contentious nuclear program, its foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday, as tensions rise in the standoff between the Islamic Republic, Israel and the West.

The remarks by Ramin Mehmanparast, published by the official IRNA news agency, underscore Tehran’s push to resume talks with world powers as Western sanctions squeeze the economy tighter and the European Union weighs a boycott of Iranian natural gas.

“Iran is ready to show flexibility to remove concerns within a legal framework but such measures should be reciprocal,” Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. “The other party needs to take measures to fully recognize Iran’s nuclear rights and

Iran’s enrichment for peaceful purposes.”

The five members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany and Iran, aim to resume high-level talks that were suspended in June. The countries want the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity because at that level the material can be quickly turned into fuel for nuclear weapons.

Iran has indicated it is ready to stop the higher enrichment if sanctions are lifted and its right to enrich is recognized. The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Earlier, the country’s supreme leader said Iran would defeat its adversaries, who he said are using a combination of sanctions, military threats and clandestine operations

in an attempt to make Tehran back down on its nuclear program.

Ay a t o l l a h Ali Khamenei’s remarks follow a precipitous decline in the country’s currency linked to economic sanctions imposed by the West, as well as remarks by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta highlighting the possibility of a cyberwar between Iran and the United States.

“We should not neglect the enemy. The enemy enters through various ways. One day it’s talk of sanctions.

Another day it’s talk of military aggression. And one day, it’s talk of soft war ... We have to be vigilant,” state TV quoted Khamenei as saying during a speech in the northeast. “But they should rest assured that ... our enemies will fail in all their conspiracies and tricks.”

(Reuters) - Euro zone officials are considering new ways to reduce Greece’s huge debts because delays to reforms

by Athens and continued recession have put the target of a debt to GDP ratio of 120 percent in 2020 out of reach, euro zone officials said.

A Greek debt sustainability analysis prepared by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission in March forecast Greek debt would rise to 164 percent of GDP in 2013 from around 160 percent in 2012 under a baseline scenario assuming the Greek economy would stop contracting next year.

But Greece now expects its economy to shrink by 3.8 percent in 2013, its sixth

consecutive year of contraction, boosting its debt ratio to 179.3 percent.

“At the moment it looks like Greece’s debt level will rise to well above the target of 120 percent of GDP by 2020,” ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

To bring it back towards the desired level in 2020, Greece could organise voluntary buy-backs of its bonds, he said.

The country is currently locked in talks with its lenders on a further set of cuts and reforms in order to obtain a new loan tranche. A deal should be reached by the time EU leaders meet on October 18-19, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in an

interview with the Sunday edition of daily Kathimerini.

Money for buy-backs could not come from the ECB, but it could be lent by the European Stability Mechanism, for example, one senior euro zone official, who was in Tokyo for the weekend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, said.

Because Greek bonds trade at very deep discounts, one euro of money borrowed from the ESM, the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, could reduce Greek debt by 1.5 euros, the official said.

A second euro zone official said that while borrowing from the ESM would in itself increase Greek debt, there was another way to reduce it.

Venezuela’s Chavez shuffles cabinet, then tweets about it (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shuffled his cabinet yesterday then announced the changes from his Twitter account, days after winning a re-election bid that could extend his rule to nearly two decades.

Chavez last week Sunday beat opposition challenger Henrique Capriles by a resounding 11 percentage points, giving him a third sixyear term to continue his selfstyled socialist revolution in the South American OPEC nation.

He named General Nestor Reverol, who has led Venezuela’s anti-drugs agency, as the new interior minister. That post is key to addressing the violent crime that is the top complaint of Venezuelans of all social classes.

The shuffle also put new faces in the environment and communications ministries.

He ended several tweets with the phrase “efficiency or nothing,” reflecting efforts to address complaints about

Hugo Chavez stifling bureaucracy and halffinished infrastructure

projects that at times dogged him on the campaign trail.

He has tapped several key allies to run in elections for state governors in December in efforts to win back states now controlled by the opposition.

Chavez, 58, on Wednesday named Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as vice president.

Maduro has been seen as a possible successor to the flamboyant socialist leader since his cancer diagnosis in mid-2011.

Chavez insists he is fully recovered from the disease, but doctors say a relapse cannot be ruled out.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

U.S. asks Britain to extradite Finance leaders back EU, U.S. Kyrgyzstan ex-leader’s son to-do list to shield growth

(Reuters) - The United States has asked Britain to extradite the arrested son of Kyrgyzstan’s fugitive expresident on fraud charges, the U.S. embassy in Bishkek said yesterday.

The request looked likely to be granted since the United States and Britain have an extradition agreement.

The Kyrgyz president’s office said Maksim Bakiyev, son of the former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, had been arrested in London on Friday at the request of Kyrgyzstan and the United States.

British police said Bakiyev, 34, was detained by extradition officers on the request of U.S. authorities,

Maksim Bakiyev who want to question him for alleged involvement in fraud, after he voluntarily went to an appointment at a central London police station.

“The United States has requested the extradition of Mr. Bakiyev from the United Kingdom to face trial in U.S. federal court on serious charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and obstruction of justice,” the U.S. embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek said in a s t a t e m e n t (bishkek.usembassy.gov). “If convicted, Mr. Bakiyev could face a lengthy prison sentence.”

The Kyrgyz president’s office said on Friday that given the absence of an extradition deal between Bishkek and London, Britain was considering the option of sending Bakiyev to face justice in the United States.

(Reuters) - World finance leaders yesterday endorsed a checklist of policy reforms aimed at pressuring Europe and the United States to tackle debt troubles that threaten to choke off global growth.

To hold each others’ feet to the fire, the nations meeting under the aegis of the International Monetary Fund - agreed to review progress in six months.

Their 10-page agenda, h o w e v e r, l a rg e l y summarised previously planned steps, such as deploying a new European Central Bank bond-buying programme and avoiding the U.S. “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax hikes set to take hold early next year.

The checklist and checkup were an acknowledgement of frustration within the IMF and among many emerging market economies over a sluggish and piecemeal policy response to the major risks facing the world economy.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said nations had narrowed their differences over how to implement policy, seeking to downplay

Christine Lagarde disagreements between the Fund and Germany over how quickly debt-laden countries such as Greece should cut budgets.

“There was no objection to the recommendation that we gave to the membership, which was A-C-T,” Lagarde said, spelling out the word letter by letter.

“We might not always agree on everything, but I think there is a general consensus that collective action is going to produce results,” she told reporters.

In a communiqué released after two days of talks, IMF members warned that global economic growth was

decelerating and that substantial uncertainties and risks remained.

But the IMF’s governing panel, representing the 188 member countries, praised steps that had already been taken, particularly in Europe, to make the world financial system safer, even if they had not yet gone far enough.

“Members all agreed that we are in a better position today than we were six months ago,” said Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the chairman of the committee.

Spain’s economy minister, Luis de Guindos, said he felt the mood toward his country lifting too. Spain is under pressure to seek a bailout as it struggles to cope with high government debt and the cost of recapitalising its banks.

“The atmosphere, from International Monetary Fund policymakers or from the private sector, is much more positive than it was before the summer,” de Guindos said.

Euro zone sources said they expected Spain to seek financial aid from the euro zone in November.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 45

Agricola protest...

G/T businesses suffer dramatic drop in sales Georgetown business community is reporting that it suffered a dramatic drop in sales on Friday in the wake of the violent protest at Agricola on Thursday evening.

Tension in the atmosphere, poor turnout of employees, few customers and meagre sales to fill the cash registers were some unusual features for a Friday for businesses on Regent and Main Streets, they said.

However, this is not surprising for many business owners since protests and any form of unrest negatively affect sales.

On Thursday evening, Agricola residents staged a fiery protest blocking the East Bank Public Road at Eccles and Agricola.

The protest was reportedly in response to Government’s support of Clement Rohee as Home Affairs Minister.

The community is grieving the execution of one of its youths, Shaquille Grant, by ranks of the Guyana Police Force.

While, protestors were attacking the police and

robbing and beating innocent passersby, traffic had stalled for hours leaving many stranded.

According to business owners, many employees did turn out to work on Friday out of fear of what occurred on Thursday.

“Some of my employees live in Diamond (East Bank Demerara) and they had to sleep in town owing to what was happening on the road, so they couldn’t come out to work.

And many of them were afraid to travel because of the violence,” a store owner told this publication.

Even with limited employees, serving customers was not difficult owing to the few who came out to shop.

Many store owners related that sales were down by at least 70 percent on Friday and there was a slight increase yesterday.

One proprietor said, “Business was already slow before the protest and Friday was slower. It is coming to year-end and businesses need the holiday sales.

Hopefully what happened

Regent Street on Friday

last year doesn’t occur again.”

Similar sentiments were

expressed by other business owners who mentioned that rumours of potential

disturbances in the commercial zone also put a damper on business. Many

opined that the rumours could have contributed to the light flow of traffic.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Four pirates attack vessel returning to Guyana Four fishermen who were attacked, beaten and left for dead in Suriname waters, returned to Guyana last Sunday while two other shipmates are missing and suspected dead.

Forty-four-year-old Harry Singh and three others were among a party of six who ventured to neighbouring Suriname to ply their trade as fishermen and unfortunately ended up at the mercy of pirates. Two of their coworkers are unaccounted for and reports are that Surinamese officials along with Guyanese stakeholders are conducting searches for the missing men.

Singh, who resides at Phase 1 Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, told Kaieteur News that he is distraught about and fearful for his co-workers. The man said that he was the captain on board the fishing vessel on which missing 44-year-old Murtland Fordyce and 39year-old Kumar Persaud were working.

Singh told Kaieteur News that he left Guyana on September 22, last, and went to Suriname where he is a licensed fisherman. The man said that on October 1, around 19:00hours he and his workers were pulling up a part of their fishing net when at

least four men came from behind and said, “Everybody lie down pun de f**ing ground.”

Singh claimed that the pirates were armed with cutlasses, pieces of wood and guns. The boat captain alleged that the pirates gave his men a sound thrashing before tying them up and tossing them over board. The captain said he was lashed across the head with a piece of wood and was chopped twice; once across the leg and on the left hand.

The captain said that because he was badly hurt, the pirates did not bother to tie him up. He said he was the

‘Taxi driver’ granted bail on robbery charge A man who professes to be a taxi driver has been granted bail on a charge of robbery with aggravation.

The accused, Goriah, of Lot 111 CC Eccles, East Bank Demerara made his appearance at the Providence Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Leslie Sobers.

It is alleged that on Wednesday October 10, last, at 13:55 hours at Toolsie Persaud Limited, Neil Cory was about to make a purchase. Before entering the store he stopped to talk to a truck driver.

According to the police, Goriah and another man then ran up to Cory, physically assaulted him and took away a bag which contained some $120,000.

The two men then jumped into a car which was parked a short distance away. A report was made to the police and the accused was subsequently arrested and charged.

The accused was granted bail in the sum of $175.000.

second person to be tossed overboard, but never came into contact with the other workers. It took all night, Singh said, for him to swim and float himself close to shore; where he said he was picked up by a small vessel.

The captain attributed his survival to his 31 years experience as a fisherman. He claimed that the fishing vessel was recovered in a different district in Suriname completely ransacked, with millions of dollars worth of goods and equipment missing.

“These people (pirates) heartless. Dem ain’t got soul man! Imagine dem tie we up and throw we over board,” Singh described.

The captain said, “I don’t understand why they want to kill people. Dem done rob we; why dem had to throw we overboard?” When asked, Singh said the pirates spoke both English and Dutch. He believed that it was a tactic to protect the identity of the attackers.

The man is however praying for the safe return of Fordyce and Persaud. He said they are very close to him since they were regular workers on the boat. The others were newcomers.

In another incident, the

Missing: Bisham Mohamed

Missing: Murtland Fordyce

search continues for two other missing fishermen said to be the victims of another pirate attack. That was the story told by the lone survivor of the ordeal. Bisham Mohamed, and the Captain, Khemraj Cyril are still missing after they too went to Suriname to ply their fishing trade west of Paramaribo.

Mohamed’s family and owner of the attacked fishing vessel, Patrick Vieira, are not convinced by the conflicting stories which they said the lone survivor told.

Mohamed’s sister, Geomattie Husman, called the situation “fishy” while the boat owner called the matter “strange”.

According to them, the survivor first said the pirates had beaten the fishermen and tossed them over board with the captain going first. He later related that the pirates ordered the fishermen to jump over board with him jumping first. The fishing boat was also recovered with everything intact except for the engine being partially damaged. He said even the boat’s catch and the boat occupant’s belongings were recovered.

The survivor has since returned to Guyana while Vieira travelled to Suriname early last Sunday to render assistance in the search.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

UK ballistics expert arrives in Guyana

By Latoya Giles United Kingdom firearm expert, Dr. Mark Robinson, has arrived in Guyana and has examined the scene of the shooting in Linden. Dr. Robinson was brought to Guyana by the Alliance for Change to observe ballistics tests on fragments and bullets recovered from the Linden shooting and to conduct his own independent tests.

Nigel Hughes, an attorney, who is watching over the interest of the relatives of Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset, yesterday disclosed that the expert is in Guyana. Hughes had written to acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell requesting that Robinson be facilitated.

According to Hughes the expert along with the relatives of four of the victims, including Janice Burgan, was present yesterday. Robinson is expected to give his testimony this week. The commission is expected to continue on Monday, after a one-week break.

The commissioners are Lensley Wolfe O.J., who is the Chairman; Mr. K.D. Knight S.C; Ms. Dana Seetahal S.C, and former Guyana Court of Appeal Judge, Claudette Singh CCH; and Cecil Kennard CCH. Commission Chairman, former Jamaican Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, has said that the Commission’s findings will be based solely on the

- visits shooting scene

Victim Janice Burgan with British expert Dr. Mark Robinson, yesterday at the scene. evidence presented to it on oath or affirmation by witnesses.

Some $80M has been budgeted for the exercise which arose out of the killing of Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset when protestors clashed with the police at Linden.

The deaths stretched the protest for a month, as

Lindeners pressed for a full investigation and opposition parties called for an international inquiry. On August 21, Government and the Opposition finally signed an agreement paving the way for the beginning of a Commission of Inquiry into the unrest. The signing also saw the mining town returning to normalcy.

UK expert Dr. Mark Robinson examining the scene

Page 47

GWI signs $1.7 B contract for Linden Water Supply Improvement Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) signed a $1.7 Billion contract for the construction of two water treatment plants, booster stations and storage facilities.

The contract was awarded to Universal Earth Movers Incorporated (UEM Inc.).

The works form a significant part of the Linden Water Supply Rehabilitation Programme (LWSRP) which is funded by the Government of Guyana through the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB).

Speaking at the contract signing at the Linden Constabulary Building, recently Chief Executive of Guyana Water Inc., Shaik Baksh stated, “I am pleased that the contractor will employ skilled and qualified Lindeners who will provide the much-needed knowledge and expertise required to execute key civil works.

“It is a proud moment for all parties involved in the programme which is not only improving the quality of water provided to Lindeners, but also job opportunities for skilled persons.” According to GWI, the programme seeks to significantly enhance the quality of life experienced by

- Contractor pledges to employ qualified Linden workers the water company customers in Linden through a massive rehabilitation of the water supply system.

Over the next five years, GWI will undertake a series of large-scale civil works which will include the construction of two new water treatment plants at Amelia’s Ward and Wisroc, as well as booster stations, reservoirs, and the installation of transmission mains; as well as the rehabilitation of the distribution system, including replacing leaking pipelines and service connections.

Through the combination of the new treatment facilities and the reduction of leaks as well as an upgrade of the distribution system, Linden customers will experience improved water quality as well as higher levels of service.

Under the programme, GWI is also engaging a consultant to develop a strategy to reduce water loss and non- revenue water.

The Linden Water Supply

Rehabilitation Programme will encompass a large public education and community outreach component.

“The success of the LWSRP also depends on the willingness of GWI Linden customers to partner with us on water conservation, protecting freshwater resources, and maintaining safe household water supply,” stated Chief Executive Shaik Baksh, “for customers to enjoy higher levels of service, they must avoid wastage. We will be engaging all the treated water schemes in a conservation campaign via mass media and community meetings.”

“Linden customers can anticipate a robust public education thrust, including a 60-minute television documentary on the programme,” stated the Chief Executive. “We urge them to partner with us as we strive to significantly enhance their quality of life through the improvement of the service we deliver in Linden.”

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Scrap visa restriction to Muhammad Yunus Central and South America announces financing in Haiti

Jamaica Gleaner – Former Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association President Josef Forstmayr is calling on the Government to waive visa requirement for Central and South American countries, as Jamaica seeks to tap into that region’s emerging tourism markets.

Forstmayr made the call while speaking at Thursday’s University of Technology’s Public Forum at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Rose Hall, which was staged under the theme ’50 Years of Tourism Growth and Beyond’. “We continue to erect the barriers to travel that we have inherited and we end up in a bureaucratic jungle trying to work our way through it,” said Forstmayr.

“We have to introduce our visitors to the best of Jamaica.” Forstmayr is also advocating for the abolition

Josef Forstmayr of immigration forms, which are filled out at the point of entry when a visitor arrives in the island. He argued that in this technological age, visitors should be able to swipe their passports and information is relayed.

“When the visitors come

to the airport and especially when Jamaicans are coming home, they have to fill out forms and join long lines,” noted Forstmayr. “We could make this much simpler by using technology.”

Damion Crawford, the state minister for tourism, told The Gleaner in a subsequent interview that the Government would not be thinking of abolishing the forms as they provide vital information on health issues, and other data relevant to the processing of people coming to Jamaica.

However, Crawford indicated that the forms could be revamped to capture the relevant information as briefly as possible. Additionally, Crawford noted that the acquisition of a visa also carries a fee, which is revenue the Government could not give up at this time.

Tropical Storm Rafael dumps rain in east Caribbean CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Tropical Storm Rafael lashed the eastern Caribbean yesterday with heavy rains that are expected to unleash floods on islands around the region.

The storm was located about 100 miles (165 kilometers) southeast of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands early yesterday afternoon. It had top sustained winds of

40 mph (65 kph) and was moving north at 9 mph (15 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Centre said the storm will gain some strength and will pass near or over the Virgin Islands.

Flooding was reported in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad, where the storm caused a brief power outage at the island’s main international airport late Friday. At least one flight was

cancelled.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, St. Maartin and Guadeloupe.

Puerto Rico was under a tropical storm watch.

Meanwhile, tropical depression Patty disintegrated east-northeast of the central Bahamas.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Nobel peace laureate Mohammad Yunus announced yesterday that his pro-business development group is financing several endeavors through a mix of loans and equity.

The projects that incorporate Yunus’ development philosophy of “social business” include two poultry farms, a bakery and a plantation of jatropha plants that can be used for biodiesel, offering an alternative energy source while creating jobs for 200 farmers.

The amount invested in each will range from $80,000 to $500,000, and feature loans with interest rates ranging from 6-10 percent.

Such “social businesses” must each have a social mission like a nongovernmental organization, but also generate revenues to cover costs like a profitmaking business.

Yunus, an international development expert, made the

announcement on the first of a three-day trip to Haiti that includes field visits and a conference examining ways to use his development philosophy to ease poverty in Haiti.

It was the second time Yunus had come to Haiti since visiting a year ago to introduce his “social business” philosophy to the impoverished Caribbean nation. The country is still recovering from a January 2010 earthquake that toppled thousands of buildings and displaced more than 1 million people.

The Germany-based Yunus Social Business Fund, formerly the Grameen Creative Lab, opened an office in Haiti after the temblor.

Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker known for developing a microcredit program for entrepreneurs who were too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

He sits on a board of more than 30 philanthropists,

Mohammad Yunus former government leaders and executives that advise Haitian President Michel Martelly on economic matters. Former President Clinton, also the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, is a co-chairman.

Yunus also plans to launch a nationwide social business competition for university students before leaving Haiti on Monday.

PM still mum on election date

Senator Harry Husbands, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and ministers of government George Hutson and Donville Inniss.

Barbados Nation - Prime Minister Freundel Stuart isn’t ready to reveal the date for the next general election just yet.

But yesterday after being part of a mass canvass in St James, he did indicate the Democratic Labour Party would be taking its story to the people “over the next few months”.

The next election is constitutionally due by April next year.

“What I can tell you, is that the election is seven days

closer to the date than when I answered th a t same question last week,” responded Stuart, in his unique tongue and cheek manner when asked if he was closer to revealing the special date.

“That day is going to come. And I can tell you we won’t have to send out any messengers for us. The people are going to be the messengers. On election night there will be no scope for analysis or conjecture.

There will be election results,

and they will show the Democratic Labour Party has won.

We are secure in our own minds as what the people of Barbados expect of us, and we will make sure we live and conduct ourselves true to those expectations”.

The Prime Minister also had a special message for the Opposition, Barbados Labour Party.

“Either get out of the way, or you will be stepped upon.

We are on the march to victory”.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

CARICOM countries could benefit from CBERA WASHINGTON - CMC Several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries could benefit as the United States considers whether to designate them eligible to receive benefits under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said it is requesting comments no later than November 9 on the possible extension of trade preferences under the CBERA as amended by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) to countries not currently receiving them. The CBTPA is currently authorized through September 30, 2020 with the USTR said that it is considering whether to designate Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Turks and Caicos Islands as eligible to receive benefits under CBERA/CBTPA. USTR said that Congress had identified the Turks and Caicos as potentially eligible for benefits in 1983 but the country did not request

beneficiary status until July 2012. Separately, as a result of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became successor political entities and have therefore requested the receipt of CBERA and CBTPA benefits.

USTR is also considering whether to designate Aruba, the Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as eligible to receive benefits under CBTPA. It said while Congress identified the Bahamas, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent for benefits under CBERA in 1983 and CBTPA in 2000, these countries did not request benefits under CBTPA until 2012.

Similarly, Aruba was designated as a CBERA beneficiary country as of January 1, 1986, upon becoming independent of the Netherlands Antilles but did not request CBTPA benefits until October 2012.

USTR said that interested parties should submit comments on whether these countries meet the appropriate eligibility criteria.

For CBERA, these include whether the country is communist, has nationalized ownership or control of property owned by a U.S. citizen or corporation, fails to act in good faith in enforcing arbitral awards in favor of U.S. citizens or corporations, and affords preferential treatment to the products of another developed country that could harm U.S. commerce among other criteria.

It said that other measures include the country’s economic conditions, assurances of equitable and reasonable access to its markets and basic commodity resources, compliance with accepted rules of international trade, use of export subsidies, export performance requirements or local content requirements that distort international trade, contribution to regional revitalization through trade policies.

Page 49

Manning backs down on challenge to Parliament Trinidad Guardian Former prime minister Patrick Manning Friday withdrew two lawsuits challenging a decision of Parliament’s Privileges Committee. During a status hearing in the Portof-Spain High Court, attorneys representing Manning, the San Fernando East MP, informed Justice Carol Gobin of their intention to discontinue the judicial review proceedings.

Gobin did not give the attorneys in the matter any order as to how the legal costs would be distributed.

Manning first filed the action after he was suspended from Parliament by a vote of 25 for and nine against on May 16 last year. He had earlier been found guilty by the committee of contempt of Parliament, which stemmed from statements made on November 19, 2010, during the debate on the Interception of Communications legislation.

Manning’s comments concerned Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar’s private residence

Patrick Manning in Phillipine, south Trinidad.

In the lawsuit, Manning sought leave from the court to challenge Parliament’s decision to suspend him. He also challenged the committee’s decision to refuse his request to have his

lawyer question witnesses who were before the committee.

Speaker Wade Mark was listed as a party, together with the office of the Attorney General. Manning recently returned from the United States, where he spent time recovering from a stroke he suffered at his home in south Trinidad on January 24.

Manning has not attended Parliament since his stroke.

Mark was represented by attorneys Deborah Peake, SC, and Rikki Harnanan, while Senior Counsel Russell Martineau and Dana Seetahal led the State’s legal team.

Manning’s lawyers included Douglas Mendes, SC, John Jeremie, SC, Stuart Young and Kerwyn Garcia.

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Kaieteur News

Jack back-pedals on crime stats gag Trinidad Guardian National Security Minister Jack Warner appeared to have painted himself into a corner last week, saying he had a change of heart about placing a gag on the police with respect to releasing crime statistics.

Warner spoke with reporters after a function at the Diplomatic Centre and confirmed it minutes later at the weekly post-Cabinet news conference at the same venue in St Ann’s.

He admitted that his intention was “to instruct the police along those lines and

Jack Warner between then and when I met the police I decided, of course,

to have a change of heart.”

Asked why, Warner replied: “I don’t even know why I should say why I have had a change of heart. Come on, guys, there is a limit as to how far you could go. I must tell you why I have had a change of heart?”

Warner later said he did not discuss the matter with the police because he knew where his boundaries are.

Asked if he no longer had any intention of instructing the police to stop making murder statistics public, Warner said: “My intention is no longer there.”

Efforts on to attract regional visitors St. John’s Antigua - The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority has partnered with regional carrier LIAT to boost travel to the twin-island state.

The initiative – dubbed “Regional Traveller” – aims to provide specially discounted fares on flights into Antigua & Barbuda from select regional markets for specific local events.

“For the month of October, the Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority secured special fares from LIAT for the highly anticipated FIFA World Cup qualifying match between

Antigua & Barbuda and the USA on Friday October 12,” a release said. “This led into the weekend’s Love in Antigua and Bride Villa Bridal Expo headlined by world renowned wedding and event planner, Preston Bailey…

October 13 – 14.”

It added that discounted fares are also being offered the weekend of October 19 – 21, when hundreds of Caribbean cyclists will descend on Antigua for the annual Caribbean Cycling Championships 2012. The month concludes with much anticipated annual pre-

Independence celebrations.

“This is a great strategic move by our destination to focus on the regional market, especially during the traditionally slower periods for international travel,” Minister of Tourism John Maginley said.

“Antigua & Barbuda has to continue to focus its efforts to see growth in all its target markets. The Regional Traveller concept of a weekend getaway to see a sporting event or attend a good show is quite an attractive lure, especially when it is priced right.”

Sunday October 14, 2012

Port-of-Spain residents stage fiery midday protest Trinidad Guardian Residents of Nelson and George Streets in Port-ofSpain Friday staged a fiery demonstration, blocking the road with burning tyres and debris to protest what they described as Government’s “broken promises” of better living conditions and jobs.

Residents dragged out old mattresses, appliances and tyres, placed them in the middle of upper Nelson and George Streets and set them alight during the protest around 1 pm. Police were quickly on the scene and fire tenders from the Wrightson Road headquarters extinguished the double blaze.

National Security Minister Jack Warner made a visit to the area on September 30 to broker a peace deal between two warring gangs and returned with a team of Cabinet ministers c o mprising Works and Infrastructure Minister Emmanuel George, Social Development Minister Glen Ramadharsingh, Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Local Government Minister Suruj Rambachan and Pastor Winston Cuffie to listen to the plight of residents on October 2.

A Nelson Street resident said: “The problem is the

An upset Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene Mc Donald walks away from an angry George Street, Port-of-Spain resident.

Government not doing anything for the poor man out here.

The buildings are not maintained by the Government, water leaks from all the roofs and the wiring is over 20 year old.” Paynter said if the Government wanted to reduce crime in the

area it must help the people, especially the young men.

“This is our plight today and we will continue doing it until somebody listens to us, because George and Nelson Streets are the heartbeat of Port-of-Spain and they can’t treat us lightly but with respect.”

Antigua’s agriculture minister says yes to vigilante justice ST JOHN’S, ANTIGUA – Antigua’s Agriculture Minister Hilton Baptiste has voiced his personal support for farmers who ‘take the law into their hands against’ those who would rob them of their livelihood.

“One of these days somebody is going to hurt somebody… You’re gonna hear farmers killing three or four people around the region and I will celebrate that, I not going cry! I will find the money to help those farmers to find lawyers to help themselves,” he told yesterday’s opening session of the Caribbean Media Sensitization Workshop at the Grand Royal Antiguan Beach Resort.

Baptiste said as a child he spent time farming with his grandmother and despite the many technological advances it remains “hard backbreaking work”.

Hilton Baptiste For this reason, he empathized with farmers affected by praedial larceny.

“When you produce you food and watch the trees and crops and somebody go and harvest them, it’s not just cry you want to cry, you want to kill somebody!” he said.

Lamenting that some 25

per cent of fruits, vegetables and livestock produced in Antigua and Barbuda is stolen, the agriculture minister suggested that it was the same for the region adding that the crime was organised to the extent that there was thriving intraregional trade of stolen farm produce.

He explained: “In Dominica they find export market for it. In Antigua, it’s going to Guadeloupe on boats. It’s a problem!”

Baptiste also cited a local example indicating that the failure of regional governments to provide redress or deal in a realistic way with praedial larceny has contributed to it’s perpetuation.

In Jamaica the crippling cost of praedial larceny has been estimated at J$6 billion per year.

(Jamaica Gleaner)

Sunday October 14, 2012

From the Diaspora...

Kaieteur News

Page 51

MY three-year-old grandson has his own iphone

I know I have been missing for two weeks, and for good reason; the Seeram family got a new addition, a beautiful baby girl, my first granddaughter born a week ago.

And yes Grand Pa has more responsibility. It was a new experience for me, very much unlike when my two children were born in New Amsterdam. My son was born at the New Amsterdam Hospital or I should say the old New Amsterdam Hospital, the one the government allowed vandals to steal.

From the hospital he went home where he was placed on a bed with two pillows on the side to prevent rolling, no cradle or cribs that was it.

My daughter was born at home in Smythfield, delivered

by Nurse Ward. Many of the older folks might remember Nurse Ward; she probably delivered more than a thousand babies in New Amsterdam and its environs.

My daughter had a crib, a gift from my neighbor Isaac Romalho who personally made the crib, which the baby promptly refused to sleep in, preferring to sleep on my arms— yes no bed for her. So when my granddaughter was born I suggested that the baby would have to sleep with her for the first few months.

Was I wrong!! Not only wrong but apparently out of touch with the times.

A month before the baby was born her room was furnished; she had her own room (as I am writing I am recalling my six siblings sharing one room). She has her crib, a play pen/bassinet, another piece of furniture that rocks her to sleep while playing lullaby songs, and of course a rocking chair. I

won’t even get in to the other baby accessories.

Did I mention a video monitor with a portable screen where you can see and hear the baby cry? I never knew you had to get so many pieces of baby furniture for the first few years of the baby upbringing.

Makes me wonder how we managed to rear our two kids without all those equipment.

For that matter how do the babies in Guyana grow up without those luxuries. Yes they are luxuries to me. Maybe I am not up with the times.

For good measure to ensure Grand Pa and Grand Ma share the responsibilities, my daughter set up in my bedroom, a crib, play pen/ bassinet and a rocker bed.

What a smart move. I don’t think it needs any explanation.

There is “no if and but”; I would have to do some babysitting, part of being grandparents I am told.

From my little interactions with her I think we will get on fine— except for her wake up and play time, she wakes up and wants to play from 1 am to 4 am, or as Guyanese would say “foreday morning” Now I did mention I have a three-year-old grandson, who acts like he is 16. He is a great backseat driver; from his child seat he directs me how to drive. “Papa go that way” choosing which entrance he wants to exit his school. The car hits a bump on the road and he tells me “Papa you have to be careful; you can’t drive, I am going to drive my car next time” He has a large battery operated car.

One day I was passing a vehicle and he tells me, “you driving too fast”. He thinks he is a driving instructor. The other day he was reading a

New Amsterdam without potable water supply New Amsterdam, since Friday, has been without a supply of potable water.

According to several residents, their taps suddenly went dry some time on Friday.

The town has a population of over 20,000.

Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, when contacted yesterday said that he was unaware of the problem although he himself is a resident of New Amsterdam. However, he noticed that no water was coming through his taps at home. He promised to investigate, but chided the water company for not informing residents of the disruption.

This latest disruption in water supply affecting a main

town in Berbice comes at the same time when residents of the Upper Corentyne area, especially in Corriverton, have been receiving irregular supplies of water, since the Guyana Water Incorporated’s Queenstown Water Treatment Plant has been, for weeks now, supplying the Skeldon Sugar Factory with treated water, which is being used to wash the canes.

This was confirmed by the estate managers during a visit to the Skeldon Factory last weekend by Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy.

Efforts to contact the New Amsterdam Water Treatment Plant and Queenstown Water Treatment Plant all weekend proved futile. The GWI Hotline was not in service.

book and I attempted to talk to him. “You are talking while I am reading Papa”. “Don’t disturb me”.

Sometimes I marvel at how he can express himself.

It really comes down to his exposure to learning materials.

Did I mention he has his own room loaded with all the learning educational and materials you can think about? Two days ago his mother showed me an iPhone she gave him —-iPhone. Now what does a three-year-old need an iPhone for?

It actually turned out to

be a good idea. He likes to play with my iPhone. I don’t know how he does it but sometimes he bypasses the password and gets into programs, and unearths stuff I did not know exist on my phone.

However, the beauty of the Iphone is that it can download and store hundreds of interactive educational programmes, and that is the part that fascinates my grandson. He loves the educational Apps on the phone; that’s why he loves to play with my phone. It is fun for him but at the same

time a great interactive educational tool— fun while learning.

Just in case you are wondering, his phone does not make calls; it is only used as an educational tool. Now a week ago I made the mistake of allowing him to play educational games on my laptop. Now he wants to use my laptop, he loves the large screen. Maybe he can, later, but for now I had to draw the line; his tiny fingers are too quick for me.

He locked up my computer the other day; I had to get help to unlock it.

Grand Pa will have fun babysitting his grandson and granddaughter. It will be interesting considering that another loved one will also need my attention. In fact she demands my attention. The other love of my life, my pet cat, Chelsea.

Despite all the “fancy stuff” in my room, I can see the four of us sleeping together on my bed “Guyanese style” the way I grew up. Don’t tell my daughter that.

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

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Sunday October 14, 2012

Lusignan remembers the victims of 2008 massacre …as President Ramotar castigates political opposition A large gathering at the Lusignan Mandir, East Coast Demerara, on Friday evening remembered the 11 persons from five families of the community who were brutally murdered during the 2008 massacre.

On the morning of Saturday, January 26, 2008 gunmen stormed into the small village and ruthlessly murdered the villagers, among them five children.

All were shot in their homes as gunmen believed to have been led by Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins went on a killing spree. President Donald Ramotar, who was in attendance at the Pitr Paksh function, a period set aside to honour the dead, stated, “The best homage we can pay to their memories is to ensure that this never happens again and, the best way to do that is for us to speak out; make our voices heard, reject division; let everyone know that we disapprove of this kind of behaviour.”

President Ramotar said that they were cut down in their prime, some not even reaching there as they were children. “That is why in remembering Lusignan five years ago, we must constantly learn to look for the fingerprint and modus operandi and reflect,” he said.

He added that there is always the tendency to blame someone else for these attacks as has currently been happening.

Speaking of events such as what occurred on Thursday at Agricola, he observed that members of the Political Opposition gave an ultimatum to Government and yet began protesting before the ultimatum was up. When the events at Agricola occurred, the Opposition blamed Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon, he said.

“They are now trying to single him out, forgetting that Moses Nagamootoo and Nigel Hughes sat down at a press conference throwing threats against people and creating ultimatums in our society.

“We must beware of those who instead of bringing people together to move forward as one nation, try to create division because unity does not serve their purpose.

Togetherness does not serve their purpose,” President Ramotar stated. He also warned that opposition politicians try to use such events to create division and fulfill another kind of agenda.

“Nothing that the police or anyone has done, can justify what we saw Thursday – five hours when children, small babies, and old people had to stand on the highway.

Many people were robbed on their way home. I want to reassure you we will work tirelessly to ensure law and order is upheld and respected in this country,” the Head of State declared.

He said that the event that occurred at Lusignan five

years ago is one too significant to ever forget, stating that those who pulled the triggers were criminals who had no regard for life.

“But more important, are the intellectual authors of what occurred here; and many of them are still around,” he added. “They have their own diabolical thinking of how to achieve their ends. We have seen that playing out … time and time again. It is something we have to fight, until it is completely defeated.”

The President pointed to what he termed an ongoing and deliberate campaign to demonise the Police Force, and to attack them in every way to make them ineffective, that is why they are coming under so much pressure.

Admitting that Government is aware that the Police do make mistakes, he also acknowledged that they need training. However, “in some of the incidents we have a commission of inquiry. You saw some of the incidents (Agricola) and I must admire the resilience and professionalism of our policemen when they were so provoked.

They are provoking the police to do things then turn around and attack,” he stated.

The January 26, 2008 event which lasted about 20 minutes penetrated the quiet of the morning with heavy gunfire as the marauding gang mercilessly killed the 11 persons. The dead were:

President Ramotar and officials at the Lusignan Mandir Clarence Thomas, 48; Vanessa Thomas, 12; Ron Thomas, 11; Mohandan Goordat, 32; Seegopaul Harilall, 10; Seegobin Harilall, 4; Dhanwajie Ramsingh, 52; Seecharran Rooplall, 56; Raywattie Ramsingh, 11; Shazam Mohammed, 22; and Shaleem Baksh, 52.

Several of the children who were murdered were found dead while still in their beds. Survivors of the attack are Arjune Bhim, and Roberto

Thomas and Howard Thomas.

The Thomases who sustained life-threatening gunshot wounds, have undergone successful recoveries.

Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins, who claimed responsibility for the murders, was initially wanted for the April 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh.

Rawlins’s girlfriend had vanished in January 2008 and Rawlins believed that his

girlfriend was kidnapped by law enforcement officials in an effort to force him to turn himself in.

Rawlins telephoned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), and warned them to turn over his girlfriend to him or face the consequences.

Rawlins was killed by the police on August 28, 2008, when they caught up with him at Kuru Kurukuru, Soesdyke-Linden highway.

Guyanese man kills sleeping wife, commits suicide in US Guyanese man, 37-yearold Aditya Ramotar between Friday night and yesterday morning shot and killed his 34-year-old ex wife, Sharon Forbes, before turning the weapon on himself at their home in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Their bodies were later discovered by their eightyear-son, who took the gun over to a neighbour’s house and related that his parents were dead.

‘The Daily News Journal’ yesterday reported that around 6:41 am, the neighbour, after securing the handgun, made contact with police who later showed up at Forbes’ 1224 Bolton Drive, Tennessee home.

The Daily News Journal also quoted Smyrna Police Chief Kevin Arnold as saying that the horrific event occurred as the children, ages 8, 6 and 2, slept inside the home.

It went on to establish that while the eight, and sixyear-olds are the biological children of Forbes and Ramotar, the 2-year-old is a nephew who was living in the home with his mother, and Forbes’ sister. The sister was said to have been staying with a friend when the incident occurred.

The Smyrna Police Chief was further quoted as saying

Sharon Forbes that they have learned so far that Ramotar and Forbes were married at one point, but that they were divorced and were most recently in the process of reconciling.

The Daily News Journal also reported that “one neighbor claimed he heard what sounded like two popping sounds around 6 a.m., but thought at the time it may have just been a neighbour working on his home.”

The story by The Daily News Journal went on to say that neighbours were reluctant to be named or quoted, since they did not know much about the family

who moved into the home just about two months ago.

The Daily News Journal also stated that “as for their children, they were in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services Saturday afternoon, as DCS worked to ensure their placement with an appropriate family member”.

The children attended Stewartsboro Elementary in Smyrna, and according to The Daily News Journal, the school system plans to have counselors available to speak with students on Monday.

Kaieteur News understands that Forbes had given her ex two weeks to permanently leave the house, and Friday night would’ve been his last. They had been together for over 10 years.

Both parties hail from Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, but were American Citizens.

Despite much effort, Kaieteur News was unable to make contact with Ramotar’s family. Meanwhile, Forbes’ family members are in a deep state of grief as they make preparations for a funeral service.

Kaieteur News understands that Forbes also has a daughter in Guyana.

She is not Ramotar’s biological child.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 53

The Abigail Column ‘True love’ - could it be true?

DEARABIGAIL, Is there such a thing as “true love?”

The reason I ask is that my observations of the world today indicate that there are more people getting divorced, getting cheated on, and breaking up than there are happy couples that are in love and stay in love. I mean, are humans mentally and physically capable of staying in love with someone and being faithful to each other?

Curious Dear Curious, If we base our idea of what true love is on fairy tales, we might think that finding

prince charming or an enchanting princess and living happily ever after is the ultimate goal. But for most mortals, striving for such ideals is unrealistic, and may even leave us feeling unfulfilled or let down. The reality is that being and staying in love takes continual work and patience. Couples who have healthy relationships find ways of working together and this in and of itself could be considered a sign of true love.

It’s true that in many cultures, people who are “in love” create long-term partnerships and/or get married. There are couples that have been married for 60 years and still feel passionately in love, and there are others who care deeply for one another even

though the lust is gone (or maybe never existed!). Keep in mind that the reasons why some relationships don’t last are as varied as the different kinds of people we are; in many cases, the partners simply grow apart because they have grown and changed as individuals, and seek different, more fulfilling opportunities for love.

So, are humans capable of staying in love? Sure they are, as there are lots of models around us of people who love and care deeply about one another. Some people follow the philosophy of “better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”

Instead of looking at all the heartaches around us, why not look to all of the examples of the different types of love in the world?

Sunday October 14, 2012 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Stop furrowing your brow, and take a nice deep breath.

Relax. Today's interview, date or audition will go very well -you don't have to worry about lacking the skills or the charm that they're looking for. ****************** TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Lucky you! It looks as though you're going to have a little extra cash in your pocket very soon, which in turn will put a nice big smile on your face! ******************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): It's extremely important for you to have an action plan today, even if your day isn't full of large mountains to climb.

From running a series of little errands to presenting a huge new idea in front of the big bosses, you need to have a plan if you want to succeed. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22):Do not give up if things are not going as smoothly as you'd hoped they would. Keep pushing forward. This process is taking more time than expected -- but that could work to your benefit in the end. ******************** LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Just like peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese, you and a new person make one heck of a good combination today -so good, in fact, that you might be shocked. ********************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): Retail therapy is not a very effective way of dealing with problems right now -- so avoid the mall and do not get out that

plastic! ********************** LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Lately you have been pleasing a lot of people and making a major impact without even really trying that hard, and this type of oversized effect is going to continue for a few more days. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): This is not the day to be passive about your passions!

You have the right to speak your mind about whatever is important to you -- no matter how controversial it might be. ********************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): You've got to avoid conflict today -- especially any that starts with you. It may actually be best for you to close yourself off from colleagues and family members, if that's possible. ***************** CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Your services are required today -- so make sure that you're paying attention and taking care of business whenever the need arises. *********************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18): Your creative side is almost always available and on display, but with today's great energy, you should find that you are even more radiant and adorable. *************** PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20): Try to take great care with your important chores and errands today. It's not like you're in physical danger, but you should find that things start to get weird pretty early on.

DTV CHANNEL 8 09:25hrs. Sign On 09:30hrs. Turning Point 10:00hrs. Kickin’ It 10:30hrs. Lab Rats 11:00hrs. The Ultimate SpiderMan 12:00hrs. Movie: The Familiar Stranger 14:00hrs. Movie: Trapped 16:00hrs. Movie: Layover 18:00hrs. Catholic Magazine (Faith in Action) 18:30hrs. Know Your Bible 19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00hrs. Once Upon a Time (New Episode) 21:00hrs. The Good Wife (New Episode) 22:00hrs. The Mentalist (New Episode) 23:00hrs. Sign Off NTN CHANNEL 18/ CABLE 69 05:00h - Sign on with the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra 05:00h - Timehri Maha Kali Shakti Devi Mandir Presents Krishna Bhajans 05:15h - Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc Presents 05:30h - Queenstown Masjid Presents Quran This Morning 06:00h - R. Gossai General Store Presents Krishna Bhajans 06:15h - Jettoo’s Lumber Yard Presents Krishna Bhajans 06:30h - Muneshwar Limited Presents Krishna Bhajans 06:45h - Double Standard Taxi Presents Krishna Bhajans 07:00h - Ramroop’s Furniture Store Presents Religious Teachings 07:30h - The Family of The Late Leila & David Persaud Presents Krishna Bhajans 07:45h - Sankar Auto Works Presents Krishna Bhajans 08:05h - Sa Re Ga Ma (Musical Notes) A Live Call-In Program 09:30h - Shreya Ghoshal 1 10:00h - L’il Masters 10:30h - Sunday Morning Fiesta with Angelica 11:30h - Guyana’s Entertainers Platform 12:00h - Hinduism in a

changing world presented by Pt. Ravi 12:30h - LET’S TALK with LAKSHMEE 13:00h - DVD Movie-: PUKAR (Eng: Sub:) *ing Amithbh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Randhir Kapoor & Tina Munim 16:00h - Teaching of Islam 16:30h - L’il Masters 17:30h - Ganesh Parts Presents - BHAGAVAD GITA ( Discourses in English) Serial 17:45h - Birthday Greetings / Death Announcement & In Memoriam 18:00h - Shreya Ghoshal 2 18:30h - Caribbean Comedy Digest 19:00h - Geet Gaata Chal Live with Joel 20:00h - Indian Soap - Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke 20:30h - Indian Soap - Rab Se Sohna Isshq 21:00h - Indian Soap - Pavitra Rishta 21:30h - Indian Soap:- Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyien 22:00h - Indian Soap:- Punar Viivaah 22:30h - Shreya Ghoshal 1 23:00h - DVD Movie:- THE RAVEN

00:30h Sign Off with the GAYATRI MANTRA MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 06:30h Prayag Vanie 07:00h MTV Bhajans 08:00h Christ for the Nation 08:30h Puran Brothers: Shiva Bhajans 09:00h Muslim Melodies with Al Madina Exclusive 09:30h Teleview Kutbah 10:00h DJ Stress Indian Movie 13:00h Garam Geet 14:00h Sitcom 14:30h BBC World News 15:00h The Variety Show with WR Reaz 16:00h Bollywood Sensation with Kavita 17:00h Birthdays & Other greetings 17:15h Death Announcements/ In memoriam 17:30h BBC World News 18:00h Entertainment Buzz with Shivanie 18:30h Wendy Khan and Dheeraj Show 19:30h Focus on GRA 20:00h Sangeet Mehfil 22:00h Indian Movie: Bol Bachan Sign Off

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Fire Service soaks opponents to win Commander B Division football trophy In this fire prevention week the Guyana Fire Service B Division made sure all systems were working as they soaked their opponents to come out on top, blazing away with the Commander B Division, Assistant Commissioner Derek Josiah trophy in the one day five-aside football extravaganza last Wednesday at the Blairmont Community Centre ground.

Seven of the twelve teams turned up with CID Berbice and the Guyana Defence Force for the military units suffering misfortunes and failing to show with full teams.

The civilian outfits of Strike Force United Youth Club, Paragon Youth Club and Monedderlust Youth and Sports Club all of West Coast Berbice could not form full teams.

The day’s action was intense and keenly contested with the teams battling to the end for supremacy in front of an appreciative crowd which included Commander B Division, Assistant Commissioner Derek Josiah and other senior officers of the division.

Results of the games played were as follows: in match one GPS got the better of No2 subdivision (Corentyne) 1-0 with Jermaine Barrington scoring. In game two GFS won from No1 sub division (New Amsterdam Canje) 2-1 with Steffan Adams netting both goals for GFS. Cadet Officer Halley responded for No1 sub division.

In the third encounter, B Division traffic and No3 sub division (West Berbice) battled to a 1-1 draw with the game being decided on penalty kicks 3-2 in Traffic’s favour. The goal scorer for Traffic was David Layne and Collis Burnett for No1 sub division. Felix Austin Police College B (FAPC), who drew the bye in the first round, then opposed GPS in the first semifinal with FAPC B winning on penalty kicks 3-2 after the game e n d e d 1 - 1 . The two goal scorers were Keiron Crandon for FAPC and Jermaine Barrington for GPS. The second semifinal saw GFS coming from behind to win from Traffic 2-1. Scoring for GFS were Stefan Adams and Colin

Joseph, while Denzil Marks netted for Traffic.

The final between GFS and FAPC was keenly contested between two evenly match teams with the winner being decided on penalty kicks in a match that went down to the wire.

The GFS although battle scarred from earlier encounters, were able to stand up to the test in a hard fought encounter. The boys from the GFS withstood the relentless pressure enforced by the more physically fit FAPC unit to squeeze out a hard fought win 4-2 on penalty kicks after the game ended 0-0 after fulltime.

FAPC had the better run of play but GFS stood their ground to come out victors.

In the presentation ceremony that followed GFS received the Commander B Division trophy from Commander, Assistant Commissioner Derek Josiah.

FAPC received their accolade from Senior superintend Clifton Hicken.

The GPS and the B Division Traffic both were recognised for placing third.

Guyana Prison Service

Senior Police Officers pose with the winning GFS team and their silverware. took away the most discipline and Best Uniform team prizes.

The individual awards went to MVP Stephan Adams of the GFS, while Adams and Jermaine Barrington of GPS received prizes for being the highest goal scorers with two goals each. Both commander Josiah and Coordinator, Sports Officer Assistant

Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan expressed their appreciation for the day’s activity which was well organised and coordinated.

The commander gave his whole hearted support for more activities including those for police alone and police, other military organisations and the community in the

future. He mentioned the community involvement and the benefits in bringing a better police and community relationship.

The prizes and incentives were made possible through the compliments of both senior officers of the division and members of the community. (Samuel Whyte)

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Page 55

GCA\Queensway 50 over tourney F&H Printing Countrywide Million Dollar Plus Dominoes Police, Everest, Transport Competition Progresses off to winning start

The F& H Million Dollars Plus Dominoes Competition has completed three weeks of competition. Matches are currently being played in Bartica, Mahdia, Linden, on the West Coast of Demerara and Georgetown. Zones matches are scheduled to commence in the following areas today, Sunday October 13 - Canje, Annandale and Mahaica.

Essequibo and Parika are scheduled to commence on Wednesday October 17.

Other areas such as Mabaruma, West Coast Berbice and the East Coast of Demerara are currently being mobilized.

In Georgetown, four zones have been completed and the Ministries/Corporations/ Business Entity zones commenced Friday October 13 at the Transport Sports Club.

In Zone 1, T&T and Rage are through to the playoffs.

T&T won the finals with 83 games, Rage finished second with 78 games. Top markers for the teams making the playoffs

Matches being played in all regions were; T&T- Leroy Edwards and Sonia Goodluck made 17 games each and Shawn Morgan made 15 games. For Rage: Mark Welch made the maximum 18 games.

In Zone 2; Assassin and Specialist are through, both teams tied on 77 games each.

Jerry Chow made 17 for Assassin, while Mark Rodrigues scored the maximum 18 games; he was supported by Paul Lewis and Ken Whaul with 15 games each.

In Zone 3, Exodus and C7 are through, Exodus made 79 games with Critchlow and Bailey making 17 and 14 games respectively. C7 made 77 games and was led by L. Bowman and M. Thom who made15 and thirteen games respectively.

In zone 4, Mix up and Providence are through; Mix up recorded 72 games, led by the evergreen Mark ‘Jumbie’ Wiltshire with the maximum 18 games and M. Permaul with 16

games. Providence amassed 70 games, birthday girl Dion Telford gifted the team the maximum 18 games and A. Santos supported with 17 games.

In the first round Corporations zone match, A&J and sponsors team F&H made it to the second round; A& J accumulated 75 games and F&H 73.

A&J were led by Narine with the Maximum 18 games and Samaroo who supported with 14 games; F&H saw Motilall making 15 games and Gewan, Davis and Ramlall all making 13 games each.

Matches in Georgetown will continue t o m o r r o w a t D y n a s t y, during the week other matches will be played at Turning Point, Transport Sports Club and Strikers Sports Bar. Further information can be accessed by contacting Mr. Colin Mc Ewan (Turning Point) on 687 2074.

GABA U-16 boxing tourney on next weekend in Berbice

The Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) will be staging its Under-16 Championships at the Central Police Station Recreational Centre on October 20 and 21 in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

The leading junior fighters around the country are due to be on show and an exciting programme is anticipated.

GABA Official and Coach Terrence Poole will be in New Amsterdam today where he will meet with Superintendant Clifton Hicken to fine tune arrangements for the event.

The last in the series of Under16 events is set for early December and these events follow the recently concluded National Novices tourney at the National Gymnasium.

The Intermediate championship is set for the

first week in November and the Open championship in December.

Guyana’s boxing got a boost just this week when an AIBA organised programme was aired on ESPN Sports TV network. GABA President Steve Ninvalle said this was good exposure for the country on what is being done here under the circumstances faced.

It was also disclosed in brief by Ninvalle, that changes will be made by the World Governing Body AIBA to its structure and mode of operation to become involved in Professional Boxing.

The word Amateur is to be dropped from its name and its affiliates will follow in the near

Over-50 veteran footballers will have another practice session today at the Georgetown Football Club ground, Bourda from 9:00 this morning.

The players are preparing for a two match Goodwill tournament against Flamingo of Suriname, who will be here from November 1. All Over50 veterans are encouraged to come out to today’s session.

While the organisers are still seeking additional

sponsorship, several businesses and individuals have chipped in to assist in various ways and the organisers are expressing gratitude.

Among those helping to date are; Western Union, Demerara Mutual life Insurance Company, the Guyana Football Federation, Minister Robeson Benn, Cummings Electrical, Jerries Restaurant and Bonny’s Supermarket.

Changes in the making for amateur boxing

Practice session for Over-50 veteran footballers set for GFC today

Police, Everest Cricket Club and Transport Sport Club were the victorious teams when play in the Georgetown Cricket Association\ Queensway 50 over knock out competition commenced yesterday with three matches.

At Malteenoes, the home team went down to Police by 40 runs. Police batted first and posted 219 all out in 34.3 overs. Pernell London and Jermin Reynolds were their leading run scorers with 44 each, while Troy Benn supported with 30 and Jason Heyliger 24. Seon Daniels and Kellon Carmichael grabbed 3 wickets apiece, and Deon Ferrier took 2-29.

Malteenoes in reply mustered 179 before they were bowled out in 34.3 overs with Orin Forde top scoring with

68, while Daniels chipped in with 31, and Imran Hassan 21.

Trevor Benn was the pick of the bowlers for the winners with 3-35, while Troy Benn, Vishal Jaigobin and Jermin Reynolds claimed 2 each.

At Everest, the host got past Muslim Youth Organization by 9 wickets.

MYO took first strike and were skittled for 135 in 39.1 overs.

Chiem Gittens and Richard Latiff scored 24 each, while Roopesh Motilall contributed 23 as leg spinner Amir Khan captured 3-21, Christopher Surat 2-14 and Chanderpaul Hemraj 2-35. Openers Rajendra Chandreka and Adrian Singh then put together 129 for the first wicket stand before Singh was dismissed for 46. Chandreka ended unbeaten on 83(9x4,

1x6) as Everest finished on 136-1 in 38.1 overs.

At DCC, Transport got the better of University of Guyana by 34 runs. Carl Rambahrose led with 85(9x4,4x6), and Oslyn Batson made 19 as Transport scored 208 before they were bowled out in 38.3 overs after batting first. Dennis Heywood bagged 5-44 and was backed up by Wayne Osborne 3-50 and Darnell Douglas 2-27.

UG in response managed 174 all out in 44.2 overs.

Melroy Stephenson 25, Dwayne Dodson 24 and Osborne 21 were their main scorers. Kevin Ross 3-28, Batson 3-34 and Leon Peters 2-35 did the damage with the ball for the winners. The competition continues today.

(Zaheer Mohamed)

Entries for the Norman Singh Turf Club’s October 21 Horserace Meeting close today. The Meet, held in collaboration with Jumbo Jet Auto Sales, has already attracted entries from about 70 horses and over $7.5M in cash prizes and trophies are on offer.

The track has been recently refurbished and an exciting day of racing is anticipated. Early sponsors include Banks DIH and Digicel.

Race Time is 12:00pm sharp and horse owners are asked to be at the venue on

time for a prompt start of the nine races which the organisers intend to stage before darkness sets in.

The events listed for the day are: B & Lower over 1400M for a $1,200,000 purse. The E & Lower over 1200M for a $450,000 purse, the 3 yrs old open-West Indies Bred 1400M gallop for a $500,000 prize, G1 & Lower 1200M race with $300,000 at stake, the 2 yrs old Open –West Indies Bred 1200M gallop for $400,000 prize money, the 2 yrs old Open– Guyana Bred 1100M sprint for $300,000, the I2 and

Lower 1200M with a $150,000 purse, H1 & Lower 1200M for a $200,000 winner’s money and the Unclassified Div. 1, 2 & 3 (J,K&L) race over 1200M for $120,000. All races are being run under the rules of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority. All 2 yrs old horses shall provide their Certificate of Registration.

Owners/trainers can have their horses entered through Ghansham Singh (Ganesh) @ 649-3636/600-3626 and Compton Sancho @ 690-0569 or at the Club’s Office No.6 Village, WCB.

From back page marksman, Ransford Goodluck, scored 96 points with 5 V Bulls.

The shooters competed for the Milex Cup on two ranges, both over 900 yards. Initially, they were down to contest on the 900 and 1000 yards ranges but after the Jamaicans lodged a complaint of inconsistencies on the bank of the latter range, the organizers were forced to abort and opted for the two 900 yards event.

Other than their duties with the gun, four of the marksmen, former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slow, Braithwaite, Goodluck and Persaud, doubled as wind coaches. The local shooters had earlier pointed out the severe challenges associated with strong winds which skewed some of their shots. The Guyanese experienced some good fortunes after steady showers just after the lunch sessions, which

had initially threatened to halt the proceedings, abated at around 15:00hrs and brought favourable winds which presented more amicable conditions. “We were greeted with favourable winds at the start of the shoot but as time progressed conditions became trickier when the winds rebounded on the trees to the south of the range,” explained Braithwaite.

He said that he had to resort to his vast experience and skillfully readjusted the sights. His colleagues also benefited from his expertise as he also doubled as wind coach.

Meanwhile, Braithwaite's performance did not go unnoticed and owner of the Milex Security Company and sponsor of this segment of the tournament, Jamaican, Major John Nelson, lauded his good showing even as he commended the Guyanese contingent for their remarkable display. Mr.

Nelson pointed out that the Guyanese performance was of an exceptionally high standard and would earn kudos at most of the major world events. He also said that Braithwaite's performance has inspired him to put up a special award for the best shooter within the team championships. The award would be made available shortly and would be deemed retroactive to facilitate the just concluded championships.

The teams return to the ranges this morning to contest the Short Range Team matches on the 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges. Activities get underway at 10:00hrs and once again the locals are exuding confidence of carting off the spoils. The curtains would be drawn at around 14:30hrs until 19:00hrs tonight when the teams congregate at the GDF Officers' Mess for the presentation ceremony.

Entries for Norman Singh TC Horserace Meet close today

BULLSEYE!!!! Guyanese marksmen...

Steve Ninvalle future and amendments made to their constitutions. This innovation to the sport will come into effect by next year, 2013, and it will allow boxers with a certain number of fights being allowed to maneuver between fighting as a junior and a professional.

A special department will be established within AIBA and its affiliates to directly deal with this amateur/ professional aspect of the sport. Full details of the changes are to be fine tuned and released by AIBA and its respective affiliates in the near future.

Page 56

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Andy Murray beats Roger Federer in Shanghai Masters semi-final BBC Sport - Andy Murray remains on course for his third successive Shanghai Masters title after a 6-4 6-4 victory against Roger Federer in a one-sided semi-final.

The Briton, 25, took the first set after three straight double faults from Federer gifted him a pivotal break. Two rain delays in the second, one before Murray served for the match, threatened to upset the Scot’s rhythm but he kept his composure to win.

Murray now faces world number two Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final. Both players produced some scintillating tennis in a semifinal that was halted for almost half an hour by light rain in China, with US Open champion Murray preparing to serve for the right to face Djokovic in a repeat of the New York final.

But the delay did affect Murray’s concentration as he powered to victory. “He didn’t serve that well for him tonight so I was able to be very aggressive on his second

serve,” said Murray.

“He maybe slowed down his first serve a little bit so I was able to take a few more chances on the first serve.

Obviously that helped, but I

Andy Murray (Getty Images) went for it like I did the last few times I played against him.”

The Scot led Federer 9-8 in head-to-head meetings going into the match following

his gold medal-winning victory in the Olympic final.

Murray oozed confidence throughout, attacking Federer from the start in a stylish, aggressive display that left

the Swiss looking well below his best.

It was an uncharacteristically edgy display from the 17-time Grand Slam winner, who struggled to cope with M u r r a y ’s excellent returning - and it was a sign of the Scot’s determined mood that he broke in the first game.

Murray surrendered that early advantage in the next, before the world number one saw his serve broken for a second time in the fifth game. It came in remarkable fashion as Federer produced a scarcely believable run of three double faults to gift Murray the break.

The Wi m b l e d o n champion was again on the back foot in the opening game of the second set, saving six break points before the g a m e ’s contentious first rain delay.

As a light rain shower began, and with the game still finely poised, Federer implored the match officials

to halt play - to the displeasure of Murray, who was keen to continue. A six-minute break ensued before Federer won an epic point immediately on the resumption, followed by an ace to complete the hold.

But it proved only a temporary reprieve for Federer.

At 2-2, the Swiss raced into a 40-0 lead only for a composed Murray to fight back to deuce and seal the break with two brilliant forehand winners. With Murray 5-4 ahead and ready to serve for the match, the rain came again - but despite an even longer delay while the roof was closed, the Scot served it out without fuss.

Earlier, in-form Djokovic accelerated his push for the year-end number one ranking, dismissing the challenge of fourth seed Tomas Berdych 63 6-4.

Djokovic, who won last week’s China Open, has yet to drop a set in the tournament.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Ghana first to qualify for Nations Cup finals (Reuters) - Ghana became the first country to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup finals after debutant Afriyie Acquah scored the only goal to secure an away victory over Malawi on Saturday.

Acquah, brought into the squad as a late replacement, struck after four minutes of the final round, second leg tie in Lilongwe to ensure Ghana’s progress.

The 1-0 win followed a 2-0 home triumph in last month’s first leg.

Ghana were one of the favourites at the last Nations Cup but were upset in the semi-finals by eventual winners Zambia. They finished fourth in the 2012 finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

The next Nations Cup is in South Africa from January 19 to February 10.

Keith London former...

From page 58 After the 1993 Shell Cup, London was contracted by GT Cobras, Guyana first Semi Professional Team. His last outing in 1993 for Guyana was to Trinidad for a Goodwill Series.

Keith London also played professionally in Antigua. Keith London is the ideal role model for young footballers with skill on the ball field and the educational background to go with it.

International tours: 1986Toronto Canada Robbies 1986Suriname C.F.U under 19 Eliminator 1987G u a t e m a l a Olympic Qualifiers 1988Trinidad; World Cup Qualifier 1990Suriname: Shell Cup 1991Jamaica: Shell Cup Finals 1992Suriname: Shell Cup 1992S u r i n a m e : World Cup Qualifier 1993Trinidad: G.T Cobras 1993St. Vincent: G.T Cobras 1993St. Lucia: G.T Cobras 1993 Trinidad: National Team 1994 Suriname: Shell Cup

Kaieteur News

Page 57

“The winners and new champeens; again – West Indies!”

Colin E. H. Croft If you have never been world champion, you will never fully understand that feeling, regardless of what support, even nurturing, you may have given to respective sport teams or individual players!

2012 - As said at world championship boxing, paraphrased for West Indies absolutely phenomenally welcomed victory at ICC World T-20; “The winners and new champeens – Weeeesssssttttt Indies!”

Darren Sammy, Samuel Badree, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendyl Simmons, Dwayne Smith all deserve wholesale thanks from seven million Caribbean inhabitants, zillions in the Diaspora, regardless of each player’s individual output, for winning WT-20 2012!

A world sporting champion is absolutely unique. Nothing else even comes close!

That feeling only came home to me fully, after many years in cricket, in 1999, while working for Cable News Network/Sports Illustrated at ICC 50-overs World Cup, being introduced as “Colin Croft – World Champion Cricketer!” I had actually ‘arrived!’

Being world champions transcends all other feeling in sports, including, as was recently overtly demonstrated in golf’s Ryder Cup 2012, the fact that you may be a multi-millionaire. Not even Toyota’s catchy jingle, “Oh what a feeling!” could describe the euphoria!

USA’s and Europe’s Ryder Cup 2012 players are all gazillionaires. Yet, each, to a man, openly cried, for losing; USA’s team, who actually snatched debilitating defeat from the very jaws of victory; or, for winning; Europe’s team; who even dedicated their dramatic win to Seve Ballesteros, their dead

mentor!

Geoffrey Boycott suggested that “West Indies now have new heroes!” Quite so indeed!

“Boycs”, great batsman that he was, knows that he would never experience that feeling of being world champion at playing cricket. Who knows, he could still be “World Champion”, at bridge or similar!

West Indies have won only four world championships since

winning Tour de France!

1975 - Most of us, including me, then completing navigation and flight technology training in Trinidad & Tobago for naval and air traffic control situations, missed entire days of school and work, when West Indies scrambled that unlikely win v Pakistan in the semi-final, then trounced Australia in the final!

deliciousness, like Tennyson’s “Lotus Eaters”, that taste that we forever want to regain, ‘not wanting to return home……….but were staying and munching lotus without thinking further…….!’ We have since always pined mightily in euphoric hope for success!

Records can always be broken. The world’s best cricketer, Sir Gary Sobers, once had the batting record for Test

West Indies pose for a team photograph after winning the World Twenty20 (ICC Getty)

its inception as our international representative cricket team in 1928; one-day cricket starting in 1970/71. We needed this last win badly!

Muhammad Ali, asked in 1965 if becoming world heavyweight champion, after surprisingly beating Sonny Liston, was better than winning gold at 1960 Olympics, answered emphatically; “No!” Even “The Greatest” knows that beating the world is the absolutely ultimate in sports!

At London Olympics 2012, cycling’s Tour de France 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins, one of only 16 of last 33 Tour de France winners since 1980 not to have been tainted by drugs, confirmed that his gold medal for the ‘Time Trial’ at London 2012 was infinitely more valuable to him that

As inaugural winners of Prudential World Cup 1975; 60 overs - only eight teams present, six Test teams plus East Africa and Sri Lanka, hardly a world championship – West Indies started something for us back then that continued onwards to Sunday 07 October 2012 in Sri Lanka.

We need to win more often too!

Maybe Darren Sammy, his team and crew, and all of us, owe much to 1975’s squad; Clive Lloyd, Keith Boyce, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, Gordon Greenidge, Vanburn Holder, Bernard Julian, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Deryck Murray, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts. There is nothing like the first!

Those won 1975’s World Cup, giving us that lust of

cricket’s highest individual score – 365 no.

Even with his magnificently illustrious career, Sir Gary was never included in any world champion cricket team. I will bet anything that he would even be willing to give up his records, just to be able to say; “I am a world champion!”

It is a very special, singular feeling!

1979 - World Cup, West Indies overwhelmed all.

Again, there were eight teams – six Test teams plus Canada and Sri Lanka.

I was one of our team then too; Clive Lloyd, Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Alvin Kallicharran, Collis King, Deryck Murray, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Larry Gomes,

The players have been encamped from June 1 and have been exposed to a programme that has been broadened to focus more intensely on developing their mental prowess, in addition to the rigorous training in skills development and fitness required for high performance athletes.

“We believe Sagicor has come at a time that is difficult,

but at a critical time in the resurgence of West Indies cricket,” said Sagicor HPC Administrative Manager Rodney Alkins.

“Sagicor’s involvement has brought a sense of confidence that allows us to focus solely on the goal at hand, which is to re-establish West Indies as the leading brand of cricket.”

This year’s Sagicor HPC

programme, under the direction of head coach Graeme West, a former Middlesex County academy director in England, will conclude in May next year.

Th e f i r s t s q u a d o f Sagicor HPC players graduated last November and included current West Indies opener Kieran Powell and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel.

Osborne gives Sagicor HPC “thumbs up”

From page 60 Sagicor HPC will be a key component in providing that solid foundation for future success in West Indies cricket.”

The second squad of Sagicor HPC players has just returned from a one-month trip to Bangladesh, where they played a series of matches against local opposition, and were very competitive.

Colin E. H. Croft Faoud Bacchus, Malcolm Marshall.

All we did was ‘execute excellently’, to retain that trophy!

2004 - Brian Lara, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne, Shiv Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Sylvester Joseph, Jermaine Lawson, Ricardo Powell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Smith also all hoped that winning the Champions Trophy would rejuvenate West Indies’ winning spirit. It was not so, until last week!

1975, 1979, 2004, now 2012! West Indies must never again endure such long intervals of senior men or women cricket teams not winning another world championship again. It is so very fulfilling! Enjoy!

DeSinco Trading/ Degree...

From page 62 her that the sport was on a different path, one which the new executive is charting to ensure the glory days of the sport is returned.

Still, a competitor on the Canadian circuit, Abraham informed Ms. DeAbreu that 2012 has seen a number of other private competitions held, referring to the Hugh Ross Classics and Flex Night, which will culminate in December with an International event following a number of regional competitions, the first of which was held in Berbice a few weekends ago.

This year’s Senior’s is being held under the theme, “Rise of The Machines” and will get started at 19:00hrs on October 20 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Tickets can be purchased from any gym locally as well as Fitness Express located at Sheriff and John Streets, Campbellville.

In addition to the prizes sponsored by Fitness Express, Digital Technologies will be offering a flat screen TV to the Overall winner.

(Franklin Wilson)

Page 58

Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Keith London former Guyana international 1987 to 1994

By Charwayne Walker The series featuring footballers who represented Guyana at the World Cup qualification level by Statistician Charwayne Walker continues and this week with highlight Keith London.

When St. Joseph’s Graduate Keith London made his Senior International Debut

for Guyana 1987 September against Trinidad and Tobago at Camp Ayanganna, Pele FC Terrence Archer was the National Captain and ironically when the Thomas United utility stalwart played his last match in National Colours 1994 April against Suriname at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo, Suriname, Anson Austin, another academic was

- World Cup player 1988 and 1992 London’s Skipper and it seems like Austin and Archer’s influence played a massive role in London’s career on and off the field.

London emulated his skipper by Graduating from University with degrees in economics and sports administration. Although he

never wore the Captaincy Armband he represented Guyana with gusto at a time when the National Team was recovering from the Exodus of 14 members in 1987 and just like his mentor Archer, his four words to young aspiring footballers is sacrifice, perseverance,

dedication and discipline.

London first outing in National Colours was 1986 June to Toronto, Canada with the Maurice Enmore coached National under-19 team for the Robbies International tournament.

After the Robbies, London was retained for the CFU eliminator against Suriname. Guyana loss 3 Nil in Paramaribo and drew the return fixture one All at Camp Ayanganna. That result send Maurice Enmore Boys packing from the CFU under19 championship.

The following year 1987 after some impressive work for the then Demico League Champs, Thomas United, London was included in the National under-23 team that humbled Grenada Senior National Team one Nil at GCC Bourda. After the Grenada series, Lennox Arthur gave London his first Senior National Cap against Trinidad and Tobago at Camp Ayanganna.

Guyana lost that friendly encounter 2-1. His next International Assignment was to Guatemala City where Guyana lost two Olympic Qualifiers to the host 6 Nil and 3 Nil. He, Royston Hetemiah, Phillip Carrington and Mark Pollard were omitted for the Los Angeles clash against Mexico. After the Los Angeles Debacle, London returned to the National Team for a World Cup Qualifier which Guyana lost 4 Nil to Trinidad & Tobago at Camp Ayanganna. He gave his heart and soul in the return fixture, Guyana lost one Nil in the Twin Island Republic.

London had no International action in 1989 so the utility Maestro had to settle for Demico League and Inter Guiana games duties. The National Team returned to the International scene the following year 1990, London playing under the Captaincy of the late Godfrey Gibbons, suffered an ignominious 5 Nil thrashing to Suriname in Paramaribo. Embarrassed by the beating in Paramaribo, Guyana sacked coach Fussy Madramootoo his replacement was Desmond Alfred. Under Alfred, London and the boys fared better, they drew one All against the Netherlands Antilles and drew Nil All against Grenada, both games were contested at t h e w o r l d f a m ous GCC Bourda and those encounters

brought an end to Guyana 1990 Shell Cup Campaign.

The following year Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Braithwaite took over as National Coach from Alfred and London and company started Guyana Shell Cup campaign with a 4 nil thrashing of Aruba at GCC Bourda.

He played the biggest game of his International Career in the next match when Guyana eliminated Suriname from the Shell Cup Finals. London was the man assigned to key Suriname strikers and the Chemistry between him Skipper McKinnon, Michael Messiah and the late Orin Accra gave goalkeeper Phillip Carrington tremendous confidence. Although the game ended one All Guyana advanced to the finals for the first time.

At the Shell Cup Finals in Kingston, Jamaica, London and company failed to replicate the performance against Suriname.

McKinnon’s men loss 6 Nil to host Jamaica, 4 – One to St. Lucia and three – One to Trinidad; they however won 2 Nil against the Cayman Islands.

Keith London International career continued the following year 1992 against Barbados in January under lights at GFC where Guyana succumbed 2 Nil in both encounters. His next international match was a four Nil thrashing by the Mexico National under-23 team at GCC Bourda February 1992. In May 1992 London featured in a 2-One World Cup Qualifier loss to Suriname at GCC Bourda. He was superb in the return fixture which drew one All at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo.

In 1992, London also played an integral role in Shell Cup action against Suriname, Guyana lost 4 Nil, while versus French Guiana they drew one All and against Aruba, Guyana won three Nil; all these matches were contested at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo.

The following year 1993, London and company started Guyana’s Shell Cup Campaign off with a 3-One victory over the Cayman Islands at GFC, but surrendered to Puerto Rico 2 Nil in their next encounter at GCC Bourda.

Pug Wilson boys also lost 3 Nil to Barbados at the same venue and failed to reached the 1993 Shell Cup Finals.

Continued on page 57

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Deccan Chargers’ termination to stand

Cricinfo - Deccan Chargers’s hopes of returning to the IPL received another blow after the Bombay High Court, on Saturday, overruled the arbitrator’s ruling that the BCCI termination be stayed.

On Friday, the franchise owners had failed to meet the deadline stipulated to raise the Rs 100-crore bank guarantee ($19 million), a condition set by the court to keep the Chargers alive in the IPL, thereby reviving the BCCI’s original termination order.

However, in a countermove, the Chargers immediately approached CK Thakkar, the court-appointed arbitrator, who put a stay on the termination order passed by the High Court.

In the ensuing legal thrust and parry, the BCCI filed for an “urgent” hearing challenging Thakkar’s ruling today in the High Court. “We moved an urgent appeal in front of the Bombay High Court this morning against the

learned arbitrator’s ruling, because we felt it was not within his jurisdiction as he is not a superior tribunal to the learned judge of the High Court,” a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. Thakkar, a retired Supreme Court judge, had been appointed by the High Court to determine the legitimacy of the grounds of the Chargers’ original termination.

It is understood the judge, Justice RD Dhanuka, ruled in favour of the original termination. “The judge passed an order staying the order passed by the learned arbitrator on the ground that it was a self-operating order of the High Court, and on the eventuality of the bank guarantee not operating, the termination will take effect.

The result of that is, now, the termination has already taken effect,” the board official said.

The only avenue left open to the Chargers now is to file an appeal in the Supreme

Court, challenging the High Court’s order.

Meanwhile, in its first formal response on the development, the BCCI welcomed the move of the Hight Court. “The termination of Deccan Chargers franchise was challenged in the Hon’ble Bombay High Court by the DCHL pending the arbitration.

A Conditional Order of stay was granted by the Hon’ble High Court pending arbitration on 1st October 2012. The condition to give BCCI a Bank Guarantee of a Nationalised Bank for Rs 100 Crores by 5 pm on 12.10.2012 to cover expenses of IPL 6, was breached by DCHL. Notwithstanding the Hon’ble High Court’s refusal to extend time to DCHL, the Learned Arbitrator passed the Order of Status quo last evening (12.10.2012). BCCI moved an appeal against the Order of Arbitrator and the same was heard this morning.

The Hon’ble High Court was pleased to stay the Order of Arbitrator after hearing both the parties. Thus, the termination of DC Franchise stands,” Sanjay Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, said in a media release.

After the Chargers’ owners had dragged the issue into the court, the BCCI had to put off floating a tender for a new franchise(s). However, now the BCCI is free to invite bidders for a new franchise, but it is understood the board does not want to take a step in haste and would instead like to see the Chargers’ issue end completely before they make their next move.

The Rose Hall Town Young and Sports Club organized Day of Cricket Champions would be held today at the Albion Cricket Ground. The event has been organized in honour of the club’s first ever test player, Assad Fudadin and would involve RHT Gizmos and Gadgets, Albion, GCC and DCC. Albion and DCC would clash in the first 20/20 match at 10:00am, while RHTGG and GCC would play at 1:30pm. A financial contribution would be made to ailing former test cricketer Ivor Mendonca, by the RHTY&SC, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul would be honoured for his contribution to West Indies cricket.

The Day of Champions is expected to attract a large crowd with several players on

show who have represented the West Indies at different levels including Fudadin, Devindra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul, Trevon Griffith, Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Leon Johnson, Derwin Christian and Christopher Barnwell.

Teams: RHTY&SC: Assad Fudadin, Dominic Rikhi, Delbert Hicks, Renwick Batson, Jason Sinclair, Rajiv Ivan, Eon Hooper, Clinton Pestano, Shawn Perriera, Shailendra Shameer, Arif Chan, Devin Baldeo and Askay Homraj.

1. Albion: Sewnarine Chattergoon, Kandasammy Surujnarine, Narsingh Deonarine, Jonathan Foo, Veerasammy Permaul, Devindra Bishoo, Sharaz Ramcharran, Avinash Wajid, G. Motie-Kanhai, Andy Mohan, David Latchaya and

Balchand Baldeo managed by M. Permaul.

2. GCC- Leon Johnson, Robin Bacchus, Vishal Singh, Jeetendra Sookhdeo, Joshua Wade, Raj Nanan, Gavon Charles, Chindana Sriram, Gavin Singh, Elon Fernandes, Almondo Damon, Devon Lord and Winston Forrester.

Monty Lynch- coach.

3. DCC- Trevon Griffith, Andrew Lyght Jnr, Christopher Barnwell, Derwin Christian, Gajanand Singh, Paul Wintz, Jermain Hickson, Totoram Bishun, Andre Stoll, Dennis Squires, Cohen Ismond, Omesh Dhaniram, Johron Byran and Dexter George. Gavin Nedd- coach, Ron Amos- manager.

The event’s main sponsors are Ansa McAl, Sterling Products, Guyoil, The Trophy Stall and the RHTY&SC.

Dale Steyn was in red-hot form, Deccan Chargers v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL, Hyderabad, May 20, 2012

RHTY&SC’s Day of Cricket Champions on today

Page 59

Guyana aiming to maintain order of home advantage

Andrew King With the final leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) fast approaching, all the countries vying for the coveted title are pressing ahead with preparations for the anticipated showdown, at the South Dakota Circuit.

According to news emanating from the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC), the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and local competitors are in full preparation mode in anticipation of an increased influx of fans for the event which will be staged on November 11.

Last year, Barbados became the first territory to win both the Driver and Country titles in the same year since joining Guyana and Jamaica in the competition in 2008, and also the first to win the Country title twice - after Jamaica’s triumph in 2008, Barbados claimed the title in 2009, then Guyana in 2010.

Currently, Jamaica leads the points standing with 113 points followed by Barbados on 64, Cayman Islands lies

third on 26 and Guyana in the cellar on 21.

However, with home court advantage the order of the day in the preceding two legs in Jamaica and Barbados, it is expected that Guyana will pose a formidable challenge to all the visitors, especially with the anticipated partisan support from local Guyanese and those in the Diaspora who usually make the trek to witness the riveting spectacle.

At Dover Speedway in Jamaica in the opening leg, former Caribbean champion Jamaican David Summerbell Jnr. dominated the day winning all three races that enabled him to take a handy lead to the second edition at Bushy Park in Barbados, but it was the homeboy Roger Mayers in his Ford Focus that crushed the opposition when he too captured all three races in the Series.

The predicted sequence now leaves Guyana’s own Mark Vieira, Andrew King, Kevin Jeffrey, Vishok Persaud and Mark Vieira with the

responsibility to ensured that that order is maintained.

It will be a hard task, but there is no doubt that providing their machines are properly prepared and remain reliable throughout the day, their superior driving abilities could make the difference.

Summerbell, driving a Mitsubishi Evolution 8, Peter Rae in the Mazda RX7, Andre Anderson in the Mitsubishi Mivic and Sebastian Rae in the Mirage, gave Jamaica a substantial lead after the Barbados leg and they are expected to lead the charge for ‘Reggae Land’.

Barbados will be led by Mayers and his support will come from Doug and Mark Maloney, both of who have already confirmed participation.

In the battle for individual supremacy, Summerbell, after copping 1 second and two third place finishes in Barbados, maintains his lead in the drivers’ Championship after six races, with 50 points, with only the last leg in Guyana to tackle in November.

The Patron, Management and members of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club especially the Bakewell Under-17 and Second Division Teams would like to express profound sympathy to the widow, family and friends of the late Naeem Nasir, Owner of our official team sponsor.

Bakewell and Mr. Nasir have been supporting the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club since 2000 and has been one of the main reasons why the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club is widely the best.

The members of the club are deeply shocked at the passing of a great person whose compassion and love for his fellow human beings

was unmatched. His love for youths was evident in his investment in sports, culture and education while as a businessman he was not only successful but very visionary.

The Rose Hall Town Bakewell Teams over the last two months had won the Berbice Under-17 and Second Division Cricket Titles and had dedicated the victories to Mr. Nasir not knowing that he would not be too long with us.

The Club salutes our beloved friend and pledge in his memory to uphold our high standard. Guyana has surely lost one of its greatest sons and as a nation we are poorer with his death.

Hilbert Foster said in the release, “On a personal note, I would like to express my

sympathy to his wife and staff especially our close friend, Mr. Rajin Ganga. Mr. Nasir over the years has been a source of advice to me in my capacity as Secretary/CEO of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and despite his success as a businessman I have always found him to be a humble and very simple man.

There is an old saying that great men do not live long and it has proven true with Mr. Nasir. He would be forever remembered by all of us at the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports club for his love, kindness and support and the club would pay its own tribute to him in a permanent way.”

“May his soul rest in peace. Farewell Mr. Nasir we shall all miss you.”

RHTY&SC salutes Bakewell’s Brother Naeem Nasir

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Kaieteur News

Sunday October 14, 2012

Osborne gives Sagicor HPC “thumbs up” BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Sagicor High Performance Centre has been hailed for the vital development work it continues to do, producing the next generation of West Indies players.

Philip Osborne, S a g i c o r ’s g r o u p c h i e f financial officer, said he was impressed with the professionalism of the staff and the vibrancy of the participants in the programme.

He was speaking following a visit this week to the Sagicor HPC training base at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus here.

“I was very impressed, and it is an excellent, professional outfit,” said Osborne. “There are a number of serious people working here, and I met with the players and they seem to be learning and developing. This augurs w e l l f o r We s t I n d i e s cricket.”

The Sagicor HPC is exclusively funded by the West Indies Cricket Board

through assistance from Sagicor.

The Sagicor HPC was launched two years ago to elevate West Indies cricket to new competitive levels, taking up the challenge of ensuring that elite players in the region develop the necessary skills to meet the physical, mental and social demands placed on them to perform at the highest levels of the game.

Against this backdrop, Osborne said the Sagicor HPC fitted right alongside the values for which the regional financial services company has stood.

“We are a Caribbean company and this is a cross-Caribbean project, which dovetails well with what we are about,” he said.

“Sports and youth are two of the main areas of social activity which we support.

“We r e c o g n i s e d t h a t West Indies cricket needed to improve its game. We had fallen behind the other countries, like Australia, England, South Africa, India, and we needed to match what they were

doing.” He added: “We know our players have the talent. They are as equally

gifted as any other. We saw it in Sri Lanka last Sunday, when West Indies rose to

the challenge and won the I C C Wo r l d Tw e n t y 2 0 Tournament.

“But you need a solid foundation and I think the Continued on page 57

Sagicor HPC coach Graeme West (second from left) presents an autographed bat to Sagicor Chief Financial Officer Philip Osborne (third from left) on behalf of the management, staff and players of the Sagicor HPC. Sagicor HPC Administrative Manager Rodney Alkins (left) and captain of the Sagicor HPC team Carlos Brathwaite look on. © WICB Media via Brooks LaTouche

Bush Lot United Turf Club expresses appreciation The executives and members and the Bush Lot United Turf Club has taken the opportunity to extend heartfelt thanks to all the sponsors, members of the public and the various media houses in Guyana who contributed in one way or the other in making their one day horserace meet which was held on Sunday 30th September at the Clubs Entity Sea View Park, Bush Lot West Coast Berbice, a success.

The members of the management Committee would like to say a big thank you to Banks DIH Branch Controller Mr. Gavin Jodhan and team for their tremendous support.

Another bid thank also goes out to Mr. Inshan Bacchus for spearheading the construction of the newly built grand stand.

Mr Ramesh Sunich managing director of Trophy Stall Bourda Market and a number of others including Mohammed ‘Nanko’ Shariff of the Shariff racing stable, Buddy Shivraj and company Limited, Jumbo Jet Auto Sales and racing stables, Phagoo General Store, Rommel Jagroop Construction and racing stables, Dr Bramdeo Singh, Lenny Singh, Chatterpaul “Chen Singh” Deo, Attorney at law Ramkarran Singh, Phagoo

General Store, B. M Soat Auto Sales, Dennis De Roop general Contracting Services and Simple Royal racing stables, Guyana Tourism Authority, Shano , Rice and cattle farmer, Attorney at law Bernard DaSilva, Innovative Construction Incorporated, Mohammed “Aga” Khan, Regency Hotel, Hand In Hand Insurance and Feroze Ishack Gas Station and Sweet Point Beer Garden among others including all the members of the Bush Lot United Turf Club and the various media houses.

According to coordinator Mr Lakeram Sukdeo the club which was resuscitated just over a year ago has seen tremendous improvements over the year including the construction of a new grandstand, the relaying of the track, construction of a new paddock, scale house, new rails, running water and toilet and bar f a c i l i t i e s among other amenities.

The club’s next race date is set for Sunday November 4 and preparations have already commenced.

Australian White admits to doping within Armstrong team (Reuters) - Australian Matt White has stepped down as Orica-GreenEDGE sports director on Saturday after admitting to doping while riding with Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal cycling team.

“I am sad to say that I was part of a team where doping formed part of the team’s strategy, and I too was involved in that strategy,” White, who rode at U.S. Postal from 2001-03, said in a statement.

“Given my admissions above, I have been in contact with my employees and will be voluntarily standing

down from my positions w i t h t h e National Men’s High Performance Program with Cycling Australia and as a Sports D i r e c t o r w i t h GreenEDGE Cycling while inquiries into my case are conducted and the Board of Cycling Australia and GreenEDGE make a determination regarding my future with each organisation.”

On Wednesday, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published a 1,000-page document which said that Armstrong used b a n n e d substances and organised team doping during his career.

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

Bush Lot United Turf Club one day Horserace Meet set for Sunday October 28 Basking from their recently held one day horserace meet a month ago, the Bush Lot United Turf Club will once again be the place to be come Sunday 28th of October.

That is the date when the club goes racing again at its entity at Sea View Park, Bush Lot West Coast Berbice. The club in collaboration with the Young Achievers Sports and Entertainment Group has organised a grand one day meet.

Over $5.5M in cash and trophies are up for grabs in the day’s proceedings. Eight races are listed on the day’s programme. A number of feature races are listed on the day’s card with races for C, E G, and the three and two year old events being the top drawing cards. The Feature race will be for horses classified ‘C’ and lower with the animals set to cover a distance of 1500M. The winner is set to take home $1M and trophy compliments of Banks DIH Limited. The horses classified E and lower will be racing for a top prize of $500,000 and trophy over 1500M. The G class race will be a 1400M affair with the animals running for a winning purse of $300,000 and trophy.

The event for three and Four years old Guyana and West

Indies Bred Horses is for a first prize of $250,000 and trophy over 1200M. The event for two year old Guyana and West Indies Bred horses will see the winner running away with $400,000 and trophy over 1000M. The two year old and I3 horses will also race over 1000M for a winning purse of$200,000 and trophy. J class event will see the animals racing for a winner’s money of the $150,000 and trophy in another 1000M contest. The K and L class match up will see the winner pocketing $100,000 and trophy over 1200M. Among the sponsors on board so far are Banks DIH, Mohammed Shariff of the Shariff racing stable, Rommel Jagroop, Trophy Stall, Bourda Market, Jumbo Jet Auto sales, Inshan Bacchus, and Phagoo General Store of Bush Lot West Coast Berbice. The individual performers including top jockey, stable and trainer will be presented with trophies compliments of The Trophy Stall.

Interested persons can make enquiries with Coordinator and Treasurer Lakeram B. Sukhdeo on Number 232-0558 or 672-0810 or President R. Jagit (tel 232-0231).

Race time is 12:30 hrs.

(Samuel Whyte)

Page 61

Trophy Stall on board for Annual Draughts Championship THE Guyana Draughts Association will be holding its Annual National Championship on Saturday 20 th and Sunday 21 st of October, at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue. All three categories will be played; A, B and C. Registration begins at 09:00 hrs while the tournament starts at 10:00 hrs. Entrance fee is $300 per person for all categories of players.

The B and C games will be played and on Saturday 20th, and on Sunday 21st the top six (6) qualifiers will join the A division players to contest for the championship.

E. Grandison from the B division will be looking to defend his title against some of the country’s best players and gain promotion to the A division. The C division title is now vacant since the defending champion Shawn Weeks has moved up to the B division where Carlton Simon will be looking to defend that trophy and could face strong challenges from Khemraj Pooranmall and past champion Elton Lambert.

Trophies for this year’s event will be sponsored by

A representative of the Trophy Stall (left) hands over two of the trophies to Mr. Jairam of the GDA. Trophy Stall which is located in Bourda Market.

Meanwhile proprietor of the business, Ramesh Sunich, said that he played the game some years ago, and was willing when approached to

sponsor the trophies for this event.

On Sunday October 28th, an international Draughts tournament will be played using the 100 square boards and trophies will be

sponsored by National Sports Commission.

All games are opened to clubs and individuals throughout the country and players are reminded to be on time for a prompt start.

Page 62

Kaieteur News

All set for “Guyana Softball Cup 2” The Guyana Floodlight Softball Cricket Association is all set for its second International Softball Tournament called “Guyana Softball Cup 2”. The tournament will be played on Friday November 2, and Saturday November 3 at the GCC ground Bourda, Everest, DCC, YMCA, Queens College and Ministry of Education Ground. Sunday November 4 will be the finals at Everest.

A total of 40 games will be played on the first two days with the two finals on Sunday November 4.

In October 2011 when the first such tournament was held, Cotton Field Wildoats of Essequibo and Regal Seniors were the champions in the Open and Masters Category.

The tournament will be played again in two categories. Male Open 20/20 (12 Teams) and

Sunday October 14, 2012

Late binge send Mexico past Guyana

Cash prize $1,800,000 at stake Male Masters 20/20 (12 Teams). The foreign teams involved are New York Softball Cricket League (2 Teams), New York President XI, Softball Cricket International-Miami and South Florida Softball Cricket League (SFSCL). Local teams in Open Category are defending champion Cotton Field Wildoats, Regal, Wolf Warriors, Farm XI, Trophy Stall, Demerara Speed Boat XI, Crabwood Creek Unstoppable, Karibee Boyz, Memorex and Smith XI of Essequibo. The Master will feature the defending champion Regal Seniors, Floodlights, Bedi Ramjewan XI, Savage Masters, Success Masters, Cornelia Ida Masters, Parika Defenders

and Front Liners.

The winning team for Guyana Softball Cup 2 open category collects a massive trophy + $800,000, Runner Up will receive a Trophy + $200,000. In the Masters category, the winning prize will be a massive Trophy + $600,000; Runner Up will receive Trophy + $200,000.

The two Players of the Tournament will each receive a 10 penny weight 14 carat men gold bracelet valued at $300,000.

Official sponsors for the tournament are Digicel, Trophy Stall, Steve’s Jewelry, Survival, Mike’s Pharmacy, Bel Air Texaco, Clear Water, Rohan Auto Spares, Busta, Nauth Motor Spares and Top Brandz.

DeSinco Trading/Degree Adrenaline on board for GABBFF Seniors - being held under the theme, “Raise of the Machines”

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (right), guarded by Nicholas Millington (left), put a penalty off the crossbar before scoring one of Mexico’s five goals in the final 12 minutes against Guyana (Photo by Mexsport).

CONCACAF Website HOUSTON - Mexico scored five times in the final 12 minutes and subdued Guyana 5-0 Friday night to formally eliminate the Caribbean side from CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

Mexico, which already had secured its place in the sixteam final round of qualifying, won its fifth straight having outscored its opponents 132.

The match, played before a crowd of 12,115 at the Houston Dynamo’s BBVA Compass Stadium, was a “home” match for Guyana, which sought to change the venue after it had a conflict with its regular stadium.

El Tri hit the post three times before finally capitalizing when Andres Guardado scored in the 78th minute. Javier Hernández, Oribe Peralta, Ángel Reyna and an own-goal by Charles Pollard added to the final margin of victory on a night when the Guyanese gamely battled before finally succumbing.

Hernández had a chance to give Mexico the lead after five minutes. The Manchester United striker drew a penalty kick when fouled by goalkeeper Derrick Carter four minutes after the opening kickoff, but chipped the resulting attempt off the crossbar.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board announced on Saturday a 15-member squad for the tour of Bangladesh next month.

Left-arm spinner Permaul will be making his first trip with a senior West Indies squad. He has played 45 firstclass matches since his debut five years ago, snaring 152 wickets at 24.59 apiece.

The 23-year-old from Guyana has just returned from a tour of Bangladesh with the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre, where he collected 21 wickets over the three formats of the game and was a constant threat with the ball.

He was the West Indies ATeam captain earlier this year,

when they prevailed over India-A in a home series.

Kirk Edwards is recalled to the squad, after losing his place for the third Test on the tour of England earlier this year.

West Indies are scheduled to play two Tests, five Oneday Internationals and one Twenty20 International on the tour between November 3 and December 12.

Squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Marlon Samuels.

The frame came to Carter’s rescue twice more as Mexico struggled to find its sharpness in front of goal. Javier Aquino clipped an effort off the far post as Carter rushed off his line on a breakaway eight minutes after Hernández’s effort. Israel Jiménez then hit a drive off the crossbar four minutes before halftime.

It took until the final quarter of an hour, but the Mexican persistence paid dividends with five goals in eight minutes.

Guardado started the spree with a low, left-footed drive after a corner kick squirted out to him on the left side of the penalty area.

Peralta made it two in three minutes when he tapped home a feed from Hernandez to complete a fine sequence through midfield.

Pollard added to Guyana’s woes in the 82nd by unfortunately sweeping the ball away from Hernández and into the back of his own net.

Hernández finally produced his goal five minutes from time by nodding home a Guardado cross.

Second-half substitute Reyna capped the scoring with a fine solo goal four minutes from time.

Mexico will complete its semifinal round with a Group B finale against El Salvador in Torreon, Mexico, on Tuesday night. The loss was Guyana’s fourth in five games and suffered its fourth defeat in five outings in qualifying, and seventh loss in eight games overall with only a draw against El Salvador.

It will finish out the semifinal round of qualifying at Costa Rica in San José at the same time.

Permaul named in Windies Test squad for Bangladesh tour

GABBFF’s Eustace Abraham receives cheque from DeSinco Trading / Degree Adrenaline Rep. Ms. Alicia DeAbreu.

DeSinco Trading under their Degree Adrenaline brand is lending support to the Guyana Amateur Body Building & Fitness Federation (GABBFF) for their Senior Championships which will take place on Saturday October 20 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

This event which is the federations’ marquee event of the year is expected to attract over 30 of the nation’s best athletes including current king, Clint Duke of Total Fitness Gym, Grove, East Bank Demerara.

Recently, Degree Adrenaline Representative

Alicia DeAbreu handed over her entity’s contribution to Executive Committee member of the GABBFF, Eustace Abraham.

Ms. DeAbreu at the simple handing over reminded Abraham and the others present that DeSinco Trading has always been supportive of sports and the development of athletes in Guyana.

“As a company, we do recognise our role and responsibility in nation building and more so through sports. We have been doing our bit and will continue to do so as we encourage our

athletes to aim for the skies in striving to be the best.”

Ms. DeAbreu encouraged the GABBFF to strive to make this year’s championships one of the best they have ever hosted and that the athletes must work hard so that fans, supporters and patrons coming out will enjoy the competition.

Abraham, who is based in Canada, thanked Ms. DeAbreu and her company for coming on board and promised that the GABBFF has been working hard to bring off one of the better shows in recent years. He told Continued on page 57

Veerasammy Permaul

Sunday October 14, 2012

Kaieteur News

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t r o Sp

BULLSEYE!!!! Guyanese marksmen regain Long Range shooting title

By Michael Benjamin Local rifle shooters turned in a remarkable display of precision shooting to defeat their Caribbean counterparts, in the process regaining the prestigious Milex Cup from Jamaica when activities in the Long Range Team Match of the We s t I n d i e s F u l l b o r e Shooting Championships concluded at the Timehri ranges, last evening.

They amassed 754 points and 51 V Bulls, while Trinidad and Tobago finished in the second place with an overall total of 715 points and 43 V Bulls.

Defending champions, Jamaica were relegated to the third place after scoring 701 points with 32 V Bulls, while Antigua and Barbuda finished 4 th with 695 points and 35 V Bulls. Barbados was 5 th with 676 points and 32 V

Bulls while Bermuda finished in the cellar after scoring 230 points with 5 V Bulls.

The Guyanese were in full flow and carted off the Lion's share of the awards with Lennox Braithwaite, who had earlier claimed the honours in the Individual Shooting segment, turning in a flawless performance, scoring 100 points with 11 V Bulls to lead the local shooters to championship honours.

Fullbore Captain, Mahendra Persaud finished with 98 points and 8 V Bulls, while Dylan Fields registered a similar amount of points as Persaud but with 4 V Bulls.

Ryan Sampson also finished with remarkable figures after scoring 96 points with 8 V Bulls while veteran Continued on page 55

The successful Team Guyana Rifle Shooters proudly parade the 'Golden Arrowhead' and the scoreboard to indicate their supremacy at the Long Range Shoot yesterday.

Guyana aiming to maintain order of home advantage

Mark Vieira David Summerbell Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Limited, 24 Saffon St.Charlestown, Georgetown.Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/ 226-8210