Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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

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

Editorial

A RUDE awakening awaits As the leader of the opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo is having a much harder time to fulfill that role than he had expected, but he could not resist the lure of being in the spotlight. By wresting the leadership from former President Donald Ramotar, Mr. Jagdeo felt that it was his call of duty to be the Leader of the Opposition.

As the former President, he believed that becoming the Leader of the Opposition is a true vindication of his quest to take control of the PPP. He is on a political trapeze trying to ingratiate himself with a younger generation; a feistier independent group who has grown up on social media and knows about the Jagdeo fatigue and is not motivated by it.

He, who assumes a character or temperament which does not belong to him, only makes himself ridiculous.

Donald Ramotar may not want to admit it except quietly to himself, and frustratingly to his colleagues that losing power to the APNU+AFC coalition was very difficult to accept. The expected coronation of his leadership did not happen on May 11, 2015 as he had anticipated.

In steps Jagdeo, again. He is now in the fight of his life to regain power. But hanging over his mind is a wet, dark blanket. This is perhaps why he has appeared so uncertain, confused and haggard and continued to distort the facts in recent days.

Being in opposition is not easy for Jagdeo who alienated and ruined the lives of many during his twelve years as President. Today, supporters of the PPP are abandoning the party; it is difficult for the party to find members to sit on the Region Six Democratic Council.

This is exacerbated by the government’s forensic audits, which are of greater concern to Jagdeo than he would portray in public. Never in his thoughts did he expect that his former colleagues, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan whom he actually kicked out of the PPP would become senior members of the government.

Meanwhile, as the APNU+AFC government uncovers more skullduggery, Jagdeo’s credibility is under threat. His untrustworthy index will be on an upward trajectory. It is common knowledge that he mishandled the affairs of the state, especially in the awarding of contracts and the giving away of the nation’s airwaves to friends and relatives.

Many, including supporters of the PPP, believe that his alleged prevarications were straight from his playbook and were based on greed and selfishness. Of all the troubles he could face, any notions of dishonesty or untrustworthiness are enough to cripple his political career.

Although he is not a political neophyte, yet the dilemma of being President for twelve years makes it difficult for him to present himself to the people as being new and different.

Mr. Jagdeo is in for a rude awakening because the APNU+AFC government will do everything in its power to expose his corrupt practices to the nation.

For those who do not suffer with convenient political amnesia should know of the massive corruption, extra judicial murders and the use of state resources to benefit himself, relatives and friends during the past 15 years.

The mandate which the people gave to the Granger/Nagamootoo government is a call to action to restore hope and confidence in the nation. It is also a signal from the people that the government has earned their trust and to ease their burdens and the pressures of increasing poverty, joblessness and a deteriorating standard of living.

It was a clear message that the people wanted a more accountable and transparent government which should consult them, respect the rule of law, serve with humility, reject governmental extravagance and eliminate crime and corruption or at least curtail them.

The mandate also calls on the government to restore the good name of Guyana in the international community and the opportunity for the people to achieve their goals.

Sunday September 13, 2015

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

A good Government’s punishment DEAR EDITOR, THE 2015 general election in Trinidad & Tobago has brought to the fore a few very clear and unmistakable truths. The people of Trinidad & Tobago are satisfied to be gullible; the national media is more brutal at politics than the politicians, and people are more inclined to believe what they hear, rather than find information for themselves.

The fall of the Kamla PersadBissessar administration is an anomaly that requires deep and thorough analysis. It is one of those rare moments when a Government that genuinely served its purpose, represented the diversity of its people, listened to ideas and consulted, outperformed all Governments of the last 50 plus years, was punished for it.

The analysis required of this anomaly cannot be done by local ‘experts’, many of whom smack of intellectual dishonesty in the extreme.

Some of them even chant the ‘unity’ chorus even as they conspire against it by fanning the flames of racial divisions.

Trinidad & Tobago is one of the few nations where analysts and experts are all too willing to sell their intellectual ‘wares’ to the highest bidder. The media is no different, content to fiercely defend a fictitious ‘journalistic’ integrity and ‘independence’ while vigorously preventing anyone from monitoring or questioning them.

The political expert and media industries in Trinidad & Tobago are far from democratic; in fact the symptoms of fascism are startling, seeing it as their right to demand transparency, while rigidly operating behind iron curtains.

So what does the result of the 2015 general election come down to? Simple – marketing, and capitalising on the slothfulness of a spoilt electorate. A look at the campaigns tell that story.

Keith Rowley’s campaign was

underlined at every turn with the sentiment-‘they are bad, kick them out’.

Many would remember his famous line: “What I stood for yesterday, is what I stand for now, and what I will stand for in the future.” It told the story of a man who was not about the change, and rejected the need to evolve.

To Keith Rowley, great was his party, not the country, and it seemed he took this as permission to make some of the most vile and crude political speeches in our political history.

His speeches were punctuated with the colloquial reference to a woman’s private parts; descriptives such as being “raped by an umbrella, and opening the umbrella after”.

He defiantly refused to apologise for lewd dancing and inappropriate behaviour with an underage school girl, and faced a number of other allegations of sexual misconduct which he (Continued on page 6)

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

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Kaieteur M@ilbox

This new rule will be It was never the PPP’s intent detrimental to vendors to make the constitution work DEAR EDITOR, Please permit me a space in your newspaper to express my concern on an issue which is affecting the ordinary stall holders and vendors of a section of the Stabroek Market.

A meeting was held with officials of the city hall today, September 11, 2015 and a decision was taken at the meeting, as a matter of fact a decision in the form of an instruction was handed down to the vendors/stall holders that from Monday to Saturday that selling should commence at 2pm daily until 7am the following morning.

This is commendable in the sense that some regulation is brought to this widespread selling at all fancy hours, so credit is given where it is due, however, I am particularly upset with the other part of the decision/ instruction which has made it mandatory and almost compulsory that these same vendors/stall holders, take

their rest day, Sunday to participate in a clean-up exercise of a section of water street.

My issue of contention is that the vendors/stall holders are now asked to go to city on Sunday mornings, collect a cap and jersey and commence cleaning of the identified section of Water Street, then are allowed to go sell at 2pm the said day.

I am particularly displeased about this new rule, since the mornings are considered to be the peak hours for any business and by now doing this it kills the intended business/sales for the vendors/stallholders for that particular day.

If this is to become a written rule on the books of the city, what will happen to those persons who have to attend church, take time for their families, attend to other personal business or just rest on this day, as we are all humans and need this.

I am therefore suggesting

to those in the hierarchy of the city to review and reexamine this instruction or new rule since it will bring some level of discomfort and inconvenience to these persons.

I know that there is a new government in office, but this leaves to me wonder if the administration of the city is in consultation with the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, under whose purview this falls.

If this was done and this is an initiative of the state, I am calling on President David Granger to review this policy as he says that his administration is for the people and this is the opposite to what his government is preaching.

As I conclude, it is my hope that this matter can be seriously addressed and that the officials at the city hall withdraw this instruction in the interest of the ordinary citizens. I thank you.

Dave Singh

OUR DESCENT TO THE NADIR OF DECADENCE DEAR EDITOR, I refer to the News Item in your publication of Tuesday 8th. September, under the caption “ Kaieteur News Reporter Robbed At Gunpoint.” The graphic description of the robbery which was recounted by the victim painted a vivid picture of the insensitivity and cruelty displayed by the bandit mixed with the shock and trauma suffered by the young reporter.

According to the news

report, the victim did not immediately hand over her shoulder bag, when accosted by the armed, foul-mouthed bandit, because she was rendered momentarily immobile by fear and shock.

Then to her dismay, the bandit ordered her to open her

mouth. When she complied with the outrageous demand, he shoved the gun into her mouth, causing the hapless and terrified victim to break down in tears.

Unmindful of her plight, he crudely asked her if she (Continued on page 6)

DEAR EDITOR, Time honoured principle respects the right of every group to identify its participants.

The claim by the PPP that it will not engage in “national unity talks” with the government once Moses Nagamootoo is on the team is an affront to this principle.

That being said, there are legitimate concerns that are deserving of clarification from our elected leaders.

This nation needs to be advised about the intent of national unity talks and the guiding parameters for the engagement.

Clarification is needed from the backdrop that: 1. Our political system is competitive and has enshrined an Opposition and Government, both of whom are members of the legislature;

2. Article 13 of the Constitution in outlining the Principal Political Objective of the State, mandates inclusionary democracy built on the involvement of groups in the management and decision-making processes of the State that directly affect their wellbeing; 3. Under the constitution, the President and Leader of the Opposition are required to engage in meaningful consultation on specified matters; 4. In Title 5 the Leader of the Opposition is identified under the Executive.

The opposition leader heads the parliamentary opposition. Parliament, which is the nation’s supreme organ of democratic power (Article 50), has responsibly for law making and Executive oversight. A member of the opposition heads the Public

Accounts Committee which oversights the Executive’s fiscal management of the nation. Parliament has the authority to bring before it any member of the public or expertise to aid its deliberations and decisionmaking. Members of Parliament (MP) engage in public outreach in keeping with assigned parliamentary committees.

The society expects MPs to be integrally involved with happenings in their constituency and engaging their constituents; 5. Article 171 (1) allows for any member of the National Assembly to introduce any Bill, propose any motion for debate and petition the House and these ought to be treated consistent with the rules; 6. The role of the (Continued on page 6)

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Kaieteur News

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur M@ilbox

Govt. has the authority to change the It was never the PPP’s... management structure of the Berbice River Bridge DEAR EDITOR, I am writing in support of the position taken by the Editor of the Kaieteur News as highlighted in his Sept 11 editorial titled “Ensuring Compliance of the Toll” Public Private Partnerships are indeed a great way to get major projects that improve societal welfare implemented.

However the “public” part in these partnerships requires that the public interest be given serious consideration.

Specific to the Berbice River Bridge as a public

private partnership the setting of tolls must have a public interest component.

The management structure of the Berbice River Bridge therefore needs to reflect adequate consideration of the public interest and public investment.

Likewise setting of tolls for use of the bridge has to have an explicit government input as represented both by the management structure of the Bridge and the appropriate regulatory environment.

The current situation of

the management of the Berbice River Bridge refusing to reduce the tolls charged for certain categories of users reflects the marginalized public inters and the sweetheart deal which the current management structure of the Berbice River Bridge represents.

The Government of Guyana has the authority to get change in the management structure of the Berbice River Bridge so that the public interest is properly represented.

Action contemplated in

this regard allied with a professional communication strategy would blunt inevitable attempts by Jagdeo/the PPP to rubbish these actions.

This information strategy would also assure that potential investors in Guyana remain confident that contracts are going to be respected.

People need to see how the Jagdeo/Ramotar regimes ruled Guyana by putting the interest of their friends above the interest of Guyanese.

Fitzgerald Yaw

A good Government’s punishment From page 4 appeared to adopt as a badge of honour.

By election night, the nation had no idea of his economic plan, his strategies to continue economic diversification started in the past five years, his ideas for empowering a large number of people so that they can life themselves out of poverty…nothing.

The sum total of his campaign was that “they bad, kick them out”, punctuated by wild allegations, hysterical rambling and fabricated claims of wrong-doing.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s campaign was underlined by a plan, and having a vision for where the nation must go if it is to succeed in an increasingly demanding and hostile global environment.

Yes, she fought Rowley toe to toe and challenged him on a number of fronts. What was his record of achievement? What was his plan?

What was his vision? What public spending would he cut?

Based on the progress she made in her first five year term, she outlined a clear roadmap to harness the natural and human resource wealth of Trinidad & Tobago to advance us to developed nation status.

She also reminded the nation that hers was the first Government to commit itself to its manifesto by adopting it through Parliament; and worked to deliver almost every promise she made.

A distant voice of a man called Jack Warner kept gnawing at her heels, and with each allegation become more putrid and abhorrent.

Kamla defended him from the start, taking blows for allowing him to sit in her Cabinet while holding his senior Vice Presidency at FIFA. Yet amid his allegations, he claimed that he made her who she was.

But the campaigns are now over; gullible Trinidad & Tobago must now live with the mistake they made when

they voted.

If leaked budget documents from Keith Rowley are anything to go by, within the next 12 months, poverty will rise, crime will increase, kidnappings may return, the most vulnerable will have the little they have ripped away from them, and students depending on State support for their education will be thrown into a quandary of not being able to afford to educate themselves.

If the leaked documents are true, pensioners are also on the chopping block, with Keith Rowley intended to revert an assured pension to an Old Age pension grant, which gives discretion to Rowley and his Cabinet.

This move demonstrates like no other that fact that Rowley and the PNM have come back to office with the intention to discriminate, disenfranchise and scare people into silence, for fear of reprisals if they speak out.

And there are facts now that we must monitor to get a good sense of exactly how dark a future Trinidad & Tobago faces.

Government revenue by the time the PNM left office in 2010 was $39 billion; by 2015 it was $60 billion. By the time the PNM left office, $400 billion cumulatively had been spent and borrowed, and the tail-end in 2010 brought with it numerous mega-projects incomplete, over-budget and contractors unpaid billions.

By the time Kamla PersadBissessar left office, $288 billion was spent with evidence of advancement in every corner of Trinidad & Tobago, including universal pre-school, a university campus in south and Tobago, and an energy sector that was starting to boom again.

The next five years will tell the story of where Trinidad & Tobago goes. And if Rowley and the PNM remain true to form, they will attempt to destroy the legacy of Kamla

Persad-Bissessar, for the simple reason that they have none of their own. And what is that legacy? In five years, Kamla Persad-Bissessar: (i) Proved that a Government can backdown on policies if stakeholders have concerns, she listened to the people; (ii) Transformed education, achieved tertiary participation of over 65% and successfully delivered a technological platform for the secondary school system; (iii) Achieved unprecendented progress for the protection and wellbeing of children; (iv) Changed the face of rural Trinidad & Tobago, giving people new pride in their communities; (v) Delivered promises of infrastructure development that were made and broken for up to 50 years; (vi) Delivered the first ever Specialist Children’s Hospital in the region; (vii) Negotiated more lucrative bilateral trade agreements that any other Government in our history; (viii) Transformed the investment environment, achieving the highest levels of foreign direct investments in Trinidad & Tobago’s history; (ix) Finally started the process of constitution reform to deliver power to the hands of people; (x) Reformed Local Government to vastly increase the powers of municipal authorities and people; (xi) Vastly improved the circumstances of the poorest with Housing and Land for the Landless; (xii) Completely changed the fact of Skills Training and Technical Education with hundreds more programmes that are in line with the modern interests of young people; (xiii) Delivered Trinidad & Tobago’s first Aviation and Drilling Academy; (xiv) Restored an ailing energy sector with more ex-

ploration and production taking place than in the last 30 years, while at the same time achieving deep sea exploration for the first time ever; (xv) Created the economic environment and conditions for the most small business start-ups ever, in a five year period; (xvi) Successfully held together a diverse coalition Government; an arrangement that failed to survive beyond two years on two previous occasions; (xvii) Stands out as the only Prime Minister to have so consistently stood against corruption and wrong-doing, having fired numerous Ministers, despite longstanding relationships; (xviii) Delivered the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway that was first promised by the PNM in 1961, and (xix) Made Trinidad & Tobago the first nation on the planet to achieve universal pre-school education; (xx) Increased the Heritage Stabilisation Fund by over 55 percent, ensuring that tomorrow’s generation is financially secure.

And, despite being a fraction of the former Prime Minister’s achievements, all of these things were delivered inside of a 5-year term, far exceeding the delivery of PNM Governments over a 20 year period.

Gerald Vincent

From page 5 opposition is to propose, support and oppose the government where necessary.

A responsible opposition would strive to do so sensibly; 7. Regional Government allows for groups participation.

Based on the proportionality of votes, seats are assigned on the Regional Democratic Councils. The chairman and vice chairman are elected from among the councillors; 8. Local Government allows for groups participation. Based on the proportionality of votes seats are assigned. The mayor, deputy mayor, chairman and vice chairman are elected from among the councillors; 9. Division of seats in regional and local governments have been made more pronounced from 1992 onward. The 2015 election sees the PPP controlling seven regions and the APNU+AFC three. This nation awaits local government elections. Given the dynamics in the society it is expected the local authorities will have similar diverse composition; 10. Article 75 and 76 allow for autonomy in the local democratic organs which includes the power to raise and dispose of revenue for the areas’ benefit and welfare. 35 years into this constitution and where the initial caretaker position provided for in Article 77 requiring of the government funding the projects of the local democratic organs, little has changed.

No effort was made by the PPP in their 23 years in office to establish legislation(s) that would have seen the deepening and strengthening of the devolution of power to the people.

The PPP had the longest stewardship under this constitution. Clearly, it was never their intent to make the constitution work. Instead, the government was comfortable misrepresenting this instrument and hiding behind widely help misperceptions as they trampled the citizens and

conducted their dastardly deeds. This nation is not witnessing an absence of national unity in the political structure.

This nation is witnessing an absence of political will and commitment to make the system work, respect the will of the people and their right to association and guarantee them the enshrined protection from discrimination for such association/ identity consistent with Article 147 and 149.

To disregard the spirit and intent of the constitutional built in competitive (check and balance) structure is not only to disregard the laws, but moreso to create an environment where the politicians would gang up against the citizens.

This would intensify their disregard for feeling they are answerable and accountable to the people in our representative democracy.

Where lawlessness permeates this society in all facets, even moreso by public officials as revelations unfold daily, the people will suffer.

Further, the PPP’s contention that national unity talks is “an attempt by the Coalition to throw dust in the eyes of the Guyanese people and at the same time pushing a commitment to fulfill a selfserving pre-electoral promise made to external forces” is deserving of attention.

Let it be known, any external force that requires the society discards the competitive, inclusionary and devolution principles which are characteristics of democracy and similarly practiced elsewhere, has no regard for our laws or theirs.

Regard for this nation’s laws, from which the base of national unity talks must spring, would encourage the politicians to take the needed time to understand the laws, the spirit and intent behind them and abide by them at all times, in totality.

This is the best starting point for national unity talks and actions.

Lincoln Lewis

OUR DESCENT TO THE...

From page 5 knew what was going on and ripped the bag from her shoulder, even as she was about to hand it over to him.

He then calmly joined his accomplice on a waiting motor-cycle and they rode away from the scene.

This crime highlights our descent to the nadir of decadence.

It also demonstrates how brutish, selfish and insensitive we have become as ‘Human

Beings’. Whether the crime may be a high tech theft of millions (billions) of dollars driven by greed and opportunity, which is perpetrated by a wealthy person in a privileged position, or a vulgar street robbery driven by lack of job opportunity, laziness, anger and perhaps need, which is committed by an uncouth thug, the fundamental common factors remain the same: low-down criminal

intent and lack of character.

It is hoped that this young woman can summon sufficient mental strength, to help her cope with emotional trauma which she must have experienced.

The words of the Roman Senator, Marc Anthony in the Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, come to mind: ‘ O judgement ! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.’

Lloyd H. Marshall

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

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Rowley’s Decision to cut ministries applauded Trinidad Guardian - Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s decision to cut 11 ministries which existed under the People’s Partnership government is finding favour among the citizenry.

Among those expressing support for the move were president of the Zoological Society Gupte Lutchmedial, past president of the T&T Contractors Association Christopher Garcia and attorney and past president of the American Chamber of Industry and Commerce Hugh Howard.

In an interview, Lutchmedial said he was happy that Land and Marine Resources were reverting back to under the umbrella of the Agriculture Ministry, headed by Minister Clarence Rambharat.

“This is what existed pre-1998. Forestry was under agriculture. Now that Land has merged with Agriculture there won’t be all this conflict about responsibility. There will be easier coordination over whose responsibility each of these departments fall because everything will be u n d e r o n e m i n i s t r y, ” Lutchmedial said.

Asked how he felt about the ministry of the

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, left, fields questions from the -media following Friday’s swearing-in ceremony at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s. — Trinidad Express Photo: Stephen Doobay Water Resources no longer existing, Lutchmedial said it made sense for the Water and Sewerage Authority to fall under Public Utilities.

However, he said that there should be a specialised Ministry of the Environment. Saying he has faith in Rambharat, Lutchmedial said he hoped that food security would be a top priority for the new

Government.

Meanwhile, past president of T&T Contractors Association Christopher Garcia said he was in favour of the appointments.

“I think they are very well placed and I hope that they will perform d i l i g e n t l y, f a i r l y a n d impartially. I think it will improve efficiency

because a smaller Cabinet means less people to interact with which makes for more efficient decisions and monitoring,” Garcia said.

He added that despite predictions of “doom and gloom” citizens must be prudent in decision making. He added that the Government must invest in our people.

“That is the only way we can grow and export our construction industry up and down the islands.

We have done it in energy so why can’t we do the same thing for construction?

Our Government must set the tone and the example and motivate people,” Garcia said.

Corporate attorney and past president of the American Chamber of Industry and Commerce Hugh Howard also said the merging of the Legal Affairs Ministry with the Office of the Attorney General was a step in the right direction.

“I don’t think that it will in any way reduce or compromise the efficiency of the work that falls under Legal Affairs. They are all legal work and the AG and ministry should embrace and have responsibility for everything that deals with...good governance,” Howard said.

He said he could not say whether the splitting of the ministry before had created greater efficiency.

“At the end of the day, once a ministry is appropriately structured and you ensure that you have the public servants

with the capability to discharge the duty based on policies decided by the Government, that will lead to better deliverables,” Howard said.

He said the line minister must understand that his function was one of policy.

“When it comes to the delivering of services he must ensure that the public servants who report to him are properly qualified, motivated and given the opportunity to discharge their duty in accordance with the relevant legislation without favour so you don’t have a disgruntled population who may claim discrimination,” Howard added.

He said Rowley had started off his tenure on a good footing.

“He is signalling that he understands that he is supposed to be Prime Minister of T&T and not of PNM supporters and he is willing to work with the Opposition...in the best interest of the country,” Howard added. He said listening to Rowley gave one confidence that he was a statesman who was fit to hold the Office of Prime Minister.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kitty fire leaves 11 homeless, destroys $$$M in goods

By Desilon Daniels It was pandemonium last night when fire broke out at a William Street, Kitty home, leaving 11 homeless and several others picking up the pieces of their damaged homes.

Hundreds gathered along William, Alexander, and David Streets to catch a glimpse of the house on fire.

The fire, which erupted around 5pm, quickly tore through the two-storey building, leaving nothing behind.

One of the now homeless persons is Ronel Griffith, 36.

Griffith, who lived with his wife and two small children, was the owner of the house

in his mother’s absence.

In darkness, due to the lack of electricity, he explained that he was actually at home when the fire began.

“I was right upstairs but it start from downstairs,” he said. “Me ain’t know how it really start. All I saw was the fire coming up the stairs from downstairs.” He said that it was the smell of smoke that alerted his entire family that something was wrong.

“I jump up and see the smoke but by time I run downstairs the fire been done start blaze up.”

By then, one of his tenants who lived downstairs was also alerted to the fire.

The other tenants who lived

in the apartment where the fire began had not been home at the time.

“We couldn’t grab anything. We just run out and see the fire from the one side.

It wasn’t big when we noticed but by time some guys came in and kick open the door it start to blaze up more and there was nothing we could do. We just needed to get out of there,” he said.

He said that his tenants also had three young children in total, none older than 10.

“Right now I’m just surprised because I have no idea what could’ve started this. No one was home as far as I know and I didn’t see any sparking [of wires] or anything.”

He said that the most he can do now is stay with relatives and try to figure out his next move.

Griffith, who is a businessman, explained that he distributed drinks and snacks. He estimated his losses to be in the millions of dollars.

“The goods them alone were anything near $12M,” he said.

“By time we run out, we couldn’t go in so we only have the clothes on our backs.”

They were all instead forced to helplessly stand by as bucket brigades unsuccessfully attacked the fire.

The Guyana Fire Service eventually came some 25 minutes after the fire would have started.

When Kaieteur arrived on the scene, about two dozen fire officials were attacking the fire, both from the northern (William Street) and the southern (David Street) ends of the building. There were three fire trucks on the scene.

During the initial stages, everything seemed under control and the fire was showing promise of being extinguished quickly. However, the Fire Service ran into trouble when the onsite trucks ran out of water.

A fire official explained that though the trucks initially had water, it was quickly exhausted.

Attempts were made to pump water from a nearby trench which was too clogged. Efforts to use fire hydrants also proved unsuccessful.

With no water available, the fire quickly blazed once more, fiercer than before. New concerns arose; the home was in close proximity to a number of other

houses. As the fire roared, other homeowners feared that their homes were in danger. Bucket brigades were formed on William and Alexander Streets and persons doused their homes with water in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading.

“Look how duh fire ketching! Soak de house, soak de house!” were the screams of many as men on rooftops, equipped with their buckets of water, splashed a small nearby wooden house.

After some time the fire was eventually controlled after fire officials got water from a canal on Vlissingen Road. They had been forced to connect hoses all the way from David Street to Vlissingen Road to get a viable water source. A fire hydrant on the corner of Alexander and William Streets was also utilized.

Though the fire did not spread, some homes sustained water damage.

These homeowners are now trying to pick up the pieces of their homes.

Meanwhile, while some had praise for the Guyana Fire Service others were clearly displeased with their performance.

A man, who was standing

next to a fire truck was heard shouting, “If y’all de come early, this fire cudda done; this is nonsense. Now these people lose all dem things.” Others accused the trucks of not coming with enough water.

On the other hand, there were those who believed that the fire officials had done a commendable job.

Kevin, a Kitty resident, explained that, after using all the water, the firefighters had to seek other ways of accumulating more water since most of the water hydrants in the area were not functioning.

“They did a commendable job. They managed to keep the fire under control even though they were not able to put it out,” he said. He said that the fire could have easily spread to nearby houses because of the proximity.

He said that the nonworking water hydrant also played a part in the amount of time firefighters took to extinguish the blaze.

Up to press time, the cause of the fire remained unknown.

(Additional reporting by Feona Morrison)

Sunday September 13, 2015

Dem boys seh...

A parrot find out Brassington De other day dem boys sit down to read some strange facts. Dem think that dem used to know everything just like some people but dem had things that dem didn’t know.

Dem find out that de ostrich eye bigger than its brain.

Right away dem boys seh that dem know somebody like that. Jagdeo eye bigger than his brain.

Then dem boys read a saying bout de greatest prison anybody can live in is the fear of what other people think.

One man seh, right away, that Jagdeo is living each moment with that fear.

But is not everybody got to be suh frighten. Of course, li’l children frighten darkness except when dem running from licks. That is when dem gun run under de darkest bed. When dem get big dem does like de darkness fuh a totally different reason. One set like de darkness to do big people things and hope that nobody ain’t see, especially if one of de big people got a husband or a wife.

De set who like thief does welcome de darkness because dem hiding from de police and de people who want to ketch dem. But dem got another set.

A pastor got this message fuh dem. “When your life is in darkness, Pray to God and ask Him to free you from darkness.

But if you still in darkness check wid GPL and pay you light bill.”

Electricity was a new thing in Mahaica when Jagdeo was a li’l boy and nuff people use to get dem lights cut off because dem wasn’t accustom to current. But dem had de fancy ones who like show off. Dem is de ones who always want light and does buy de biggest chandelier and things like that.

Dem does try to buy exotic animals. That is how Brassington go in a store and see a parrot. De store man tell him that de parrot could talk.

Wid he fronting self, he ask de parrot, “How I look?”

The parrot replies “You look like a fat male prostitute.”

Brassington get vex and tell the sales person that de parrot too rude and that he can’t buy it. De shop person ask Brassington to wait, and he carry de parrot at de back of de shop. He duck de parrot in a bucket of ice water till de parrot nearly drown.

When he pull out de parrot he tell de parrot that if he disrespect Brassington again is another bucket of cold water in he tail.

De shop man then carry de parrot to de front of de shop and ask Brassington to talk to de parrot again. Brassington seh, “If you see me and a man walking wha you gun think?”

De parrot seh, “I gun seh that is you and you son or you brother.”

“If you see me wid two man wha you gun think?”

De parrot reply, “I gun think is you wid you son and you brother.”

“If you see me wid three men wha you gun think?”

I gun think is you, you brother, you son and you best friend.”

“And if you see me and four men?”

Parrot: “Bring de bucket wid de ice water. This man is a fat, male prostitute.”

Talk half and don’t try to fool people.

Kaieteur News

Page 9

T&T’s oil chief to address local business body Several top officials of neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, involved in the multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry, are expected in the country this week to speak of opportunities.

The event, to be held Friday at the Pegasus Hotel, will be hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA).

According to the business advocacy body, Friday’s crucial seminar/ symposium is to sensitize manufacturers, service providers and commercial entrepreneurs to the myriad opportunities for business expansion and diversification into fields related to petroleum production, storage, safety and trade. Generally these are referred to as upstream or downstream enterprises.

The four to five-hour interactive seminar will be facilitated by the head of the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Thackwray Driver, who will be accompanied by several representatives of Trinidadian private sector companies including HHSL Safety Systems Ltd., Anfield Services Ltd. and Baker Hughes Inc. These companies are all integrally involved in the petroleum industry in the oil-rich twinisland republic.

This latest development

Dr. Thackwray Driver would come after a major announcement by US-owned ExxonMobil that it has discovered significant evidence of oil in its offshore concessions.

Previously, two offshore exploration attempts had failed to find oil in commercial quantities.

Guyana has been preparing for the advent of oil production, which from all indications could take another five years.

The country is heavily dependent on oil imports to meet its energy needs.

GMSA said, yesterday, that after Friday’s seminar, GMSA will host its now annual business dinner in the Savannah Suite, Pegasus Hotel.

The keynote speaker will be University of the West Indies Lecturer and Researcher on Energy Trade and author, Dr. Roger Hosein.

“He will discuss the opportunities and threats to intra-regional trade in a petroleum production environment under the topic: “The Macroeconomics of a Resource Boom in a small resource-abundant Economy”.”

During the week ahead, the team of Trinidadian petroleum experts will meet with key management officials at the Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the entity that will hold ultimate responsibility for the safe and environmentally sound

operations of all petroleum operations on and offshore Guyana.

Deputy GGMC Commissioner, Newell Dennison, the country’s own resident petroleum expert, will make a presentation during the seminar.

“These events are expected to bring together a wide range of stakeholders – entrepreneurs, business support organizations, government agencies, regional and international technical support organizations, and funding agencies to share information and build the relationships that will be crucial to Guyana’s hydrocarbon industry,” GMSA said.

Page 10

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Shot “goat thief’” escapes ‘spider-man’style from GPHC

By Romila Boodram An alleged goat thief, who was shot in the buttocks last Thursday by a police rank, staged a “spider-man” breakout from the Georgetown

Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday.

Justin Rodney, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD) escaped from the hospital’s Male Surgical Ward, which is located on the first floor of the

new wing.

Rodney allegedly slipped through one of the hospital windows and climbed down a pipe, which runs from the top flat of the three-storey building to the ground floor.

Kaieteur News was told that the alleged goat thief then jumped the hospital fence at Lamaha Street and made good his escape. At the time Rodney escaped, he was wearing a colostomy bag.

A colostomy bag is a prosthetic medical device that provides for the collection of waste from a surgically diverted biological system (colon, ileum, or bladder).

The police rank assigned to guard Rodney only realized that his prisoner had vanished about 35 minutes later, and this was when a hospital worker enquired about the prisoner’s whereabouts.

“He (police) was sitting outside the room and he was on his phone. When I go in to clean the room, I didn’t see (Rodney) and I asked the policeman. That is when he realized that (Rodney) escaped,” the hospital staffer said.

This newspaper was told that Rodney was not wearing handcuffs when he escaped from the hospital.

A security guard at the hospital said that she saw the individual climbing down the pipe but thought that he was a carpenter and that he was doing “some work.”

Rodney was shot when he attacked a police rank on

An eyewitness pointing to the pipe down which Rodney escaped

Thursday. He was with three others who were stealing goats in the Mahaica area.

Police said in a press release that about 05:30hrs on Thursday, the police responded to a report of suspected larceny of goats.

On arrival at the Helena No. 2 Public Road, Mahaica, ECD, three men and a woman were seen in a motor vehicle with two goats.

The men and the woman made efforts to escape and were pursued by the police, during which one of the men allegedly attacked a rank with a pair of scissors and was shot to his buttocks.

He was rushed to the hospital. The police have launched an investigation into the prisoner’s escape while the rank on duty was placed under close arrest.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 11

“BK” sold 100-acre Providence housing plot months after purchase GuyExpo trade fair at the Sophia Exhibition, BaiShanLin announced the gated community called “New Life” with a huge display.

Prices for homes were from $50M and reaching over $100M. In its Facebook page this year, however, it appeared that the developer scaled back, offering some of the homes from $40M and others at $70M.

- CH&PA agreement says land was for construction, sale of homes only Months after officially purchasing a prime piece of housing land on the East Bank of Demerara, a private developer last year turned around and sold it to a Chinese logging company.

The Chinese company in turn, shortly after, unveiled an ambitious gated community behind the National Stadium in Providence.

But that development along the East Bank Demerara corridor is in deep trouble with works stalled in recent months.

The particulars of the sale of the 100-acre plot by Sunset Lakes Inc. to BaiShanLin Forest Development Inc. is not only raising eyebrows but has fallen under the radar of the new administration. A review of the Sale and Purchase agreement is underway.

Sunset Lakes, a company whose Director is well known businessman/contractor, Brian “BK” Tiwarie, was last week ordered to attend a meeting with Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, and other officials of the Central Housing and Planning

Authority (CH&PA), to explain the delays.

Summoned also were officials of the BaiShanLin. However, Tiwarie was absent, sparking heavy criticisms from Minister Scott on Thursday. The business executive has since written to CH&PA asking to meet shortly, Scott confirmed late Friday. From all indications, Sunset Lakes breached the agreement by selling the entire plot without building any homes.

LITTLE OVERSIGHT? How the developer was able to get away with the breaches would raise troubling questions about CH&PA’s monitoring of the housing projects during the reign of the previous PPP/C administration, especially as thousands of persons are on file awaiting house lots.

According to the generous clauses of the “Agreement of Sale and Purchase” entered into on February 7, 2014, the 100acres was sold for $458.18M with 25 percent or $114.54M handed over as an advance.

Some 35 percent or

$160.36M would have been paid after CH&PA had evaluated the infrastructural works completed by Sunset Lakes/Tiwarie.

Under the agreement, Sunset Lakes was to hand over the final $183.27M when the Block Certificate of title for the 100-acres was passed.

With the basic infrastructural works still incomplete, it meant that CH&PA only collected $114M. CH&PA also handed over the land to the purchaser after the agreement was signed.

There were some special clauses in the agreement.

For instance, Tiwarie agreed that he will develop the lands for the construction and sale of houses only. That would suggest that he breached the agreement with the sale to BaiShanLin. Among other things, Sunset Lakes was supposed to submit a design layout of the proposed housing scheme within four weeks after the agreement was signed.

Sunset Lakes was supposed to start mobilizing immediately after the contract

BaiShanLin’s local boss, Chu Hongbo

Businessman, Brian Tiwarie

was signed last year February to execute the infrastructural works, including roads, drainage, water and electricity.

The developer was given eight months to complete the works with CH&PA insisting that it will be carrying out periodic inspections.

Tiwarie also agreed to complete the construction of the homes within 24 months and ensure 100 percent occupancy, or face a fine of 25 percent of the market value

of the land. The ambitious gated community was talked about since 2012 with the Guyana Chronicle in July of that year quoting Tiwarie as mentioning Sunset Lakes as one of the highlights for that Building Exposition.

It is unclear when Sunset Lakes was sold to BaiShanLin. The logging company reportedly offered US$9M for the 100-acres plot but still owes another US$3M. Last October, during the

TOUGH TIMES The company is facing tough times, with its aggressive entry into the logging sector and the unusually large tax and other concessions it was granted under the previous administration.

It has failed to build a US$70M wood processing plant in Linden despite drawing down on the monies from China Development Bank. It is believed that the monies were diverted to housing and into gold mining.

Its two listed phone numbers- 265-1705-6 –for the (continued on page 69)

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 13

Senior cop in hot water for attempting to rape female Constable A police officer is facing serious trouble after a junior female rank under his command reported that he tried to forcibly have sex with her in his quarters.

The incident which took place last week Sunday at Lethem, has resulted in the immediate transfer of the officer involved and has led to the calling in of the police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to carry out a detailed investigation.

Kaieteur News understands that the female Constable, who was recently posted to Lethem, was on duty when she was summoned by the Officer, who holds the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, to his private quarters.

Not wanting to disobey the order, the young Constable went over to see what the officer wanted.

According to a source at Lethem, the Officer began making advances to the rank after which he reportedly held

Minister Khemraj Ramjattan unto her and tried to kiss her.

“He asked her if she ever had sex since she came up to Lethem and when she said no, he held unto her and tried to fight her to have sex,” the source told this newspaper, adding that the female Constable managed to ward off the officer’s advances.

What the officer did not know was that the Constable has a well known uncle, who carries a similar rank to him and who is stationed at the

headquarters of the Tactical Services Unit, Eve Leary.

When the Constable contacted her uncle shortly after the incident, the man became incensed and immediately contacted high ranking officials of the Force, who ordered the immediate transfer of the officer while, commissioning an investigation into the matter.

The Constable was subsequently transported to the city where she was interviewed.

The incident is a reminder of the much talked about culture within the Guyana Police Force where sexual harassment of female junior ranks appears to be the norm.

“It happens a lot in the Training School. It used to be for promotion, now it’s being done by force,” one officer admitted.

This newspaper contacted Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and he did not mince his words in dealing with the subject.

The Minister said that while he was not aware of the Lethem incident, he will

certainly not tolerate such actions from police officers.

“I treat sexual harassment of females very seriously…but I don’t know what the OPR will say,” the Minister told this newspaper.

He however warned that if the Officer in this case is found culpable, he will be making an example of him, stopping short of saying exactly what penalties lie ahead.

Minister Ramjattan, who has already shown an inclination to deal sternly with rogue elements in the Guyana Police Force, has hinted at body cameras for ranks within the force,

especially females so that evidence of wrongdoing will be obtained.

“Let us get the evidence,” he said.

“We have a nasty culture in Guyana…and what is happening in our Police Force is a microcosm of our society. Male chauvinism is a part of our culture; we have to get rid of it,” Ramjattan added.

He lamented the fact that despite increased training, it is still taking quite some time to rid the force of unwanted practices.

He said that he will be seeking more training in women leadership especially,

so that certain attitudes will be inculcated that will make sexual harassment of females a thing of the past.

“I would like to have some women with attitude like (Minister) Simona Broomes and no man will ever try to mishandle them…That is what I want in the Guyana Police Force,” Minister Ramjattan stated.

The Public Security Minister said that he will certainly be engaging the Police Service Commission once officers are found culpable of wrongdoing, especially when it comes to harassment of their female colleagues.

Page 14

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

PPP’s bitterness for Nagamootoo, Ramjattan must not hinder unity talks with Govt. - Ramkarran

By Abena Rockcliffe The coalition government has taken an important step towards transforming Guyana’s culture of ethnopolitical dominance. It is not in the best interest of Guyana for the efforts to be stymied by the People’s Progressive Party’s united bitterness for Minister, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan, said political veteran Ralph Ramkarran.

Writing his weekly blog he reflected that Prime Minister Nagamootoo, at a

meeting in Whim, Corentyne, said “we are prepared to open the doors to the PPP if they want to enter this government.”

Ramkarran said he noticed that no further details were given; but, Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman subsequently announced that a team consisting of himself, Prime Minister Nagamootoo, Vice President Greenidge, Minister Ramjattan, Attorney General Basil Williams and Minister Joseph Harmon would conduct the

- Says a recipe already exists for failure but statesmanship, vision and patience, if deployed, will reap success negotiations.

“If the Prime Minister’s statement is a considered policy of serious intent, as it seems, it is expected to be followed by a more formal invitation by President Granger to Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo.”

There was that invitation.

Ramkarran said that the decision by the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change

(APNU+AFC) coalition to invite the PPP to share the government is a major and welcome departure from earlier positions.

Ramkarran also said that while it is true that President Granger had indicated support for a national unity government involving the PPP at the time of President Carter’s visit, most of his public pronouncements had projected the APNU+AFC

alliance as the multi-ethnic government of national unity.

“The reality, of course, is that only an alliance of the two major political parties can be considered as the foundation for national unity.”

The former PPP stalwart said that former President Bharrat Jagdeo went into office in 1999 intending to carve out a grand historical role for himself.

Ramkarran said that Jagdeo did not have the vision to see that such a role could best be achieved, not by seeking individual, ethnic, glory, but through the elimination of ethno-political dominance by way of a government of national unity, which he would have headed.

“Instead, he offered a period of building trust and confidence during the process of constitutional reform taking place at that time, after which focus could be directed to national unity (Building Trust and Confidence – Towards Greater Inclusive Governance in Guyana: February 11, 2003).

This of course was a hoax, merely designed to placate the diplomatic community, which had been bringing pressure on Jagdeo to make a gesture after the passing of Desmond Hoyte and the election of Robert Corbin as leader. As expected, the government did not follow up on this promise,” said Ramkarran.

“By 2011, so entrenched within the PPP was the culture of ethno-political dominance, that it was prepared to lose political office rather than act

Political veteran, Ralph Ramkarran in its own interests and those of Guyana. When asked after the 2011 elections if he intended to invite the opposition into the government, President Ramotar, heading a minority government which was bound to fail said, “That will not happen.”

President Ramotar could still have been President today had he allowed his vision to soar. And he could have served a second term as President heading a second national unity government.”

Ramkarran said that the APNU+AFC coalition has a monumental step of offering discussions.

He presumed that the “pressures’ within the coalition, or specifically within APNU, against ending the culture of ethno-political dominance will loom large in the coming period. Thus, he said, it is necessary to launch a public campaign in support of talks for national unity.

Such a full-blown public campaign should target and mobilize support from both Continued on page 72

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 15

GGMC has no capacity to regulate mining operations - Inquiry finds The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into mining deaths has concluded that the regulatory agencies, in particular Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) did not have the focus, capacity or strategy to ensure that mining operations fulfilled their legal responsibilities under health and safety laws and requirements of the Mining Act. After an examination of GGMC, the COI findings revealed that even when GGMC performs its normal monitoring functions and flags a non-compliant operator, operators do not take them seriously and would continue their dangerous practices while the Commission looks the other way.

The COI into mining deaths was ordered by President David Granger following Guyana’s worst mining accident in recent memory- the collapse of a Mowasi, Potaro mining pit that buried 10 miners alive. It was conducted by Chairman Dr. Grantley Walrond, Colin

- Citations usually ignored Sparman, of Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA), a representative of the Ministry of Social Protection, with Jo Bayah as the Technical Advisor.

The work of the COI commenced on July 1, with a one-month time span and when their work, which included extensive field work, was concluded, their report was submitted to the Minister of Governance.

According to the report, Geotechnical parameterswhich have to be done by the engineer on the mining pit- to examine the pit height, slope, material competency, etc must be done to support miners.

The report went on to note that GGMC with its available trained professionals must be the leader in this endeavour.

In fact, the report noted, some miners surveyed during the investigative period were willing to defray the costs in order to benefit from this essential and technical but

life-saving service.

The COI found that GGMC “was not focused and has not been doing its work properly.” It also stated that legal interference and interpretations which threatened to subvert the Commission’s work must be resisted.

This was the case in the collapse of the Mowasi mining pit. Leading up to the accident, operator Imran Khan was able to secure an injunction from the courts against GGMC thus blocking wardens from entering his mining operation.

In consideration of this, the report added that GGMC must adopt a “proactively aggressive posture against the persons and institutions which seek to derail it from its health and safety mandates.”

This posture, the report said, was greatly lacking and must undergo a change in light of the recent mining accidents.

The COI report also

criticized the decision-making at the executive level, saying that the “decision nodes” at that level were not visible and moreover follow-ups were done in an ad-hoc and perfunctory manner.

It was observed that the management of GGMC lacked an appropriate feedback mechanism for ongoing actions.

In fact, the report chided GGMC by noting, that too often files from actions it was involved in would go missing, leaving the responsibility of re-creating the file to the client. In cases where the file does not go missing, they are left perpetually open without closure.

“There is currently no clear protocol in place for dealing with post-accident issues including a ‘terms of resumption of work’ guideline.

The evidence suggests that most operators have gone back to work after accidents without clear indications of what the GGMC and other

agencies expect of them,” the COI determined.

The COI recommendation in this respect was for a clear post-accident protocol to be implemented. In addition, the report said, this protocol system needs to be integrated into the investigation and closure arrangement whenever an accident occurs.

“Remedial measures must be implemented in the industry to bring it to an acceptable state of compliance with the mining act and regulations, but these must be phased in to guarantee the continuation of livelihoods. The GGMC must urgently identify areas of the greatest threats and prioritize a scheme (to remedy it).”

TASK FORCE The report noted that whenever an accident occurs, emergency responses for search and rescue are inadequate. It strongly recommended a task force to be established in order to establish a clear protocol to handle and respond to accidents.

“All operations must sign

Commissioner of GGMC Rickford Vieira on to this new protocol and know exactly what notice mechanism and responses must be triggered in case of a serious incident,” the COI recommended.

It is understood that Minister with responsibility for Natural Resources and Environment Raphael Trotman will be holding meetings with industry stakeholders, where the report is expected to be discussed.

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Proposal made to rename President’s College

By Jarryl Bryan President’s College ended its celebrations of its 30th anniversary on Friday. In addition to assurances of Governmental support from Educational officials, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education, Vincent Alexander, announced the proposed renaming of the school.

Introduced as a school catering for the crème de la crème of primary school graduates, the educational institute was conceptualized by late President Forbes Burnham and first opened its

doors on September 11, 1985.

Speaking to the assembly was Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam. He made it plain that with the new administration, the necessary assistance for President’s College would be forthcoming.

“You will have the support of material and other resources to fulfill your true potential. As it is always said, the rest is up to you,” Sam said, while urging the current students to think seriously of the legacy they will each leave on the School.

He also urged them to maintain their status and work

hand in hand with the Ministry in order to move the President’s College agenda forward.

Alexander proposed the renaming of the school to the Burnham Learned Community- President’s College, a gesture meant to commiserate with the former Head of State. President’s college is considered his brainchild.

Alexander promised to pilot the proposal to the administration.

Alexander noted that even while Burnham, a student, was the editor of Queen’s College school newspaper in the 1940s, he

A section of the gathering wrote an article in his newspaper exploring an alternate School to QC- one which was better tailored to the needs of the populace.

Hence the seed for President’s College was planted.

Also taking the podium was the first ever Principal of President’s College, Oswald Kendall. He reflected on the value based education that students of President’s College received. Observing that students were securing passes in 15 and more CXC subjects these days at other institutions, Kendall asked the pertinent question of whether the humanity of these students was being developed, as well as their acumen.

Principal Carlyn Canterbury said that the needs of the College were more along the lines of infrastructure. Expressing optimism at the chance to work with the new Government, Canterbury spoke of a comprehensive budget prepared for the School year, and a five-year plan for modernizing PC. “There are things that definitely need to be fixed. We have our 2015 budget and our

2016 submission, which speak to our expectations about what needs (work). First and foremost is infrastructural support, including the aesthetics of the school, repairs, a swimming pool, parking lot for the teachers, and a multipurpose hall. We do not have one, so whenever there is a function it is held in the dining hall,” Canterbury said.

She also spoke of the food service department, which, according to the principal was badly in need of modernization. However, Canterbury explained that the needs of the institution were prioritized in the five-year plan.

There were cultural performances on display including dances from current students of the school and a skillful rendition of the National songs from the School’s Calypso steelband which got only two months notice to practise.

The School was opened in 1985, just after L.F.S. Burnham had died. The first students were selected from the top two percent of candidates in the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE). The prospective students were also subjected to a regimented evaluation process.

However, the admission standards have dropped over the years, with students being allowed to transfer to the school.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 25

Commonly asked questions about cough, runny nose and the common cold

By Dr. Zulfikar Bux Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine The common cold as it is named is a very common illness that has its seasonal peaks and affects almost everyone at some point. As common as it is, not a lot is known about it by many and persons often choose to wait out the course of the illness which does not always go as planned. Today we will share some commonly asked questions about the common cold and help to shed some light on this condition.

What causes cough, runny nose, and other symptoms of the common cold?

These symptoms are usually caused by a viral infection. Lots of viruses can take hold inside your nose, mouth, throat, or lungs, and cause cold symptoms.

Most people get over a cold without lasting problems. Even so, having a cold can be uncomfortable. And if your child has a cold, it can be hard to know when the symptoms call for a trip to the doctor.

What are the symptoms of the common cold? * Sneezing * Coughing * Sniffling and runny nose * Sore throat * Chest congestion In children, the common cold can also cause a fever.

But adults do not usually get a fever when they have a cold.

When should I call the doctor?

Most people who have a cold do not need to see the doctor or nurse. But you should call your doctor or nurse if you have: * Afever of more than 100.4º F (38º C) that comes with shaking chills, loss of

appetite, or trouble breathing * A fever and also have lung disease, such as emphysema * A cough that lasts longer than 10 days * Chest pain when you cough, trouble breathing, or coughing up blood If you are older than 75, you should also call your doctor or nurse any time you get a long-lasting cough.

Take your child to the Doctor if he or she: * Becomes confused or stops responding to you * Has trouble breathing or has to work hard to breathe * Refuses to drink anything for a long time * Is younger than three months * Has a fever and is not acting like him or herself * Has a stuffed or runny nose that gets worse or does not get better after two weeks * Has red eyes or yellow goop coming out of his or her eyes * Has ear pain, pulls at his or her ears, or shows other signs of having an ear infection What can I do to feel better?

If you are an adult, you can try cough and cold medicines that you can get without a prescription. These medicines might help with your symptoms.

But they won’t cure your cold, or help you get well faster.

If you decide to try nonprescription cold medicines, be sure to follow the directions on the label. Do not combine two or more medicines that have panadol /acetaminophen in them.

If you take too much panadol/acetaminophen, the drug can damage your liver.Also, if you have a heart condition, or you take prescription medicines, ask your pharmacist if it is safe to take the cold medicine

The Baccoo Speaks Hardly a day goes by without something stupid occurring in the country. A dysfunctional family is going to continue a gun war.

One member is before the court but the dispute has stretched into the prisons. Word of an abuse behind prison walls would start another round of violence. ** The police are going to solve another old crime largely because they pick up a suspect in an unrelated incident. The suspect would be held with a gun which would be traced to a crime that has been baffling authorities.

It would turn out that the suspect rented the gun from a man who he said was involved in a killing a few years back. **

Another case of rape is going to be reported but this time the issue will not reach the court in the desired manner.

The victim would identify a leading member of the society and cause problems.

The problem would rest with the pace the police are going to go about arresting the individual. Money still means a lot but the victim would not be without resources.

you have in mind.

What should I know if my child has a cold?

In children, the common cold is often more severe than it is in adults. It also lasts longer. Plus, children often get a fever during the first three days of a cold.

Are cough and cold medicines safe for children?

If your child is younger than six, you should avoid giving him or her any cold medicines. These medicines are generally not safe for young children and should be prescribed by a doctor if

needed. Even if your child is older than six, cough and cold medicines are unlikely to help.

Never give aspirin to any child younger than 18 years old.

In children, aspirin can cause a life-threatening condition called Reye syndrome. When giving your child nonprescription medicines, never give more than the recommended dose.

How long will I be sick?

Colds usually last three to seven days in adults and 10 days in children, but some people have symptoms for up to two weeks.

Can the common cold lead to more serious problems?

This can occur in a limited amount of cases. In some people having a cold can lead to: * Pneumonia or bronchitis (infections of the lungs) * Ear infections (in children) * Other infections How can I keep from getting another cold?

The most important thing you can do is to wash your hands often with soap and water.

Alcohol hand rubs work well, too.

The germs that cause the common cold can live on tables,

Dr. Zulfikar Bux door handles, and other surfaces for at least two hours. You never know when you might be touching germs. That’s why it’s so important to clean your hands often.

Page 26

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Eight years a mystery

- was Melissa Anthony slain by someone who was terrorising women in the community, or by someone whom she knew and trusted?

At around 11:30 hrs on April 7, 2007, Tristan Grant, a student, went to the home of a school teacher at Lot 134 Hippani Oval in Retrieve, Linden, to show her a school assignment.

The teacher was Tristan’s aunt; pretty, 25-year-old Melissa Anthony, who taught at Christianburg Primary. The lad called for his aunt, and after getting no response, he entered the open front door and got the shock of his young life.

A woman’s partlyconcealed body lay on the floor near his aunt’s study, with the legs protruding from the doorway.

Trying to remain calm, the lad walked over to the study and received another shock.

Lying on the floor, in a pool of blood, and clad only in a blue sweater, was his aunt, Melissa Anthony. Someone had slashed her throat and also clubbed her at the back of the head.

Despite her injuries, the teacher was still alive, though barely so.

Young Tristan bolted from his aunt’s home and headed for the Mackenzie Police Station. But by the time the police arrived, Mrs. Anthony had already succumbed.

Scouring the crime scene, detectives found that while the front door was ajar, there was no sign of forced entry.

Some persons surmised that she had left the door open because she was expecting her nephew.

Detectives also found some of the slain woman’s clothing in her bedroom. They also observed a trail of blood leading from the victim’s bedroom to the study. The

bed-sheet was also bloodstained while the room was in disarray, indicating that a struggle had occurred there.

News of the quiet young teacher’s death shocked the neighbourhood.

Melissa had no known enemies. Both she and her husband, Shane—also a teacher—were staunch Jehovah’s Witnesses. They had been married for about four years. But about an hour after Melissa’s death, detectives turned up at Redwood Crescent, Linden, where Shane Anthony was holding classes, and invited him in for questioning.

Mr. Anthony told them that he had left home at around 10:30 hrs to teach lessons.

He said that Melissa was alive when he left home.

Despite his protestations of innocence, Mr. Anthony was kept in custody. Meanwhile, detectives from the city joined in the investigation.

A close male friend of Melissa’s told Kaieteur News that he had called her at around 11:00 hrs on the day she was slain. The friend sensed that something was amiss because of the way that Melissa had responded. This led her to believe that the killer was present when she made the call.

As the investigation continued, police were informed that two cousins had heard sounds of fighting coming from the couple’s home on the day of the murder. Melissa’s husband received further bad news when detectives informed him that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advised

Melissa Anthony

that he be charged with murder.

But then, like a crime novel, the case of the murdered teacher began to take a series of interesting turns…

WOMENATTACKED The first thing that happened was when police questioned the cousins who had allegedly heard sounds of fighting while passing the couple’s house. One of the cousins denied that he was in the location when the murder occurred.

Detectives promptly took both cousins into custody.

They also released Melissa’s husband a few days before he

was to be charged.

Eventually, the two cousins were also released after detectives failed to connect them to the crime.

The second thing that happened was that a string of bizarre attacks on women began to occur in the bauxite community.

A few weeks after Melissa Anthony’s murder, 29-yearold Annetta Persaud awoke in her Block 22, Wismar home, to find a man standing over her. She said that despite the darkness, she recognised him as a Wismar resident who was known for similar attacks on females. When Persaud tried to push him away, the intruder stabbed her in the right thigh.

He then pressed the knife to Persaud’s throat while warning her to be quiet.

Fortunately, a neighbour heard the woman’s screams and called out to her. This distracted the intruder who fled through the back door.

She would later discover that the man had fled with her bicycle and a bag containing $15,000.

A few days later, Monique Dow, also of Wismar, was also attacked, stabbed and robbed by a man who had sneaked into her home.

Some days later, 25-yearold Linden resident Nadira Sahadeo, called ‘Cindy’ was in her kitchen when a man entered and attacked her.

The intruder took Sahadeo to her bedroom where he tried to strip off her clothing. She managed to slash the man to the face with his own knife, but the man also stabbed her three times before fleeing with a gold chain and ring.

Police later retrieved the suspect’s knife from Sahadeo’s yard. Persons who saw the fleeing man said he was tall, slim and of African ancestry. Annetta Persaud also gave a similar description of her assailant and said that he wore dark clothing.

At first, suspicion fell on a young man with previous arrests for attacks on women from the area. He was questioned by detectives, but eventually released when it was established that he was ailing and apparently physically incapable of carrying out the attacks. In addition, the man was still in custody when one of the attacks occurred.

Eventually, some

detectives began to look at the spate of assaults and began to see a pattern in them and the murder of teacher Melissa Anthony.

For one thing, if Melissa’s husband is to be believed, his wife and all the other victims were attacked when their spouses were away. This coincidence suggested that someone was checking on their movements.

Then in late October, 2008, police arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy from Wismar in connection with the two knife attacks on Annette Persaud and Monique Daw. He was subsequently remanded. According to some police sources, the suspect was also questioned about the murder of Melissa Anthony. He has reportedly denied killing her.

Meanwhile, some of Melissa Anthony’s close relatives are convinced that she was not slain by the alleged Linden serial attacker, but by someone whom she knew well. They say that some Lindeners know more than they are saying, but are reluctant to confide in the police. The relatives are urging them to do so.

If you have any information about this unusual case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office, or by telephone.

We can be reached on telephone numbers 2258473, 22-58458, 22-58465, or 22-58491. You need not disclose your identity.

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

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

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== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ==

A new book on Hitler that reminds one vividly of Donald Trump One night during the election campaign, we were returning to Georgetown after a Berbice engagement. It was very late. When you travel late in the night from Berbice to Georgetown, darkness consumes you. You are in need of animated conversation. All of us in the car certainly were.

Someone was lamenting what a terrible country the United States is. The subject was gun obsession in America. I remember my little contribution was that America is too complex to understand. You have extreme negatives and great philosophical positives.

In terms of the positives, I pointed to the election of a Black president; the global reign of Black superstars in sports and entertainment; the concern for human rights violations in countries that Japan, India, China, Russia, etc just couldn’t be bothered with; philanthropic money that goes to good causes around the world, open immigration to Third World people. But try as hard as you can to see America as superbly great, the US worries every Human Being on Planet Earth with its horrible negative sides.

How can a country so rich, powerful, educated, diverse, amazing in its science and technology, medical research, engineering, inventions, intellectual qualities, its arts and literature produce a Donald Trump?

It is not that what comes out of the mouth, mind and head of Trump is the lunatic rhetoric of a small town governor whose presence the US population doesn’t know about or care about.

This man is running for the president of the US and is the lead candidate according to opinion polls, for one of the two major parties.

There is an uncanny moment taking place in the world right as I write. A new book on Adolph Hitler has

just been released and when you read the things Hitler believed in and the things that came out of his mouth, Trump just flies right into your consciousness. Here is an extract from an article on the book (Hitler ’s World by Timothy Synder) by the author himself in the September 24 edition of the New York Review of Books; “Human races, Hitler was convinced, were like species.

The highest races were still evolving from the lower, which meant that interbreeding was possible but sinful. Races should behave like species, like mating with like and seeking to kill unlike.

This for Hitler was a law, the law of racial struggle, as certain as the law of gravity.

The struggle could never end, and it had no certain outcome.

A race could triumph and flourish and could also be starved and extinguished” (end of quote) Here now is an extract of a review of Donald Trump’s book, “Time to Get Tough: Make America Great Again,” in the same issue of the New York Review of Books; “Is Trump not the logical culmination of where Republican politics have been headed for many years now, going back to the Clinton and Bush presidencies, but especially during the tenure of Barack Obama?

Two qualities more than any others have driven conservatism in our time. first is cultural and racial resentment, felt by the mostly older and very white population the GOP increasingly represents— resentment against a fastchanging, more openly sexual America, as well as against dark-skinned immigrants, and White House occupants, and gay people and political correctness and the “moocher class” and all the rest.

The second is what we might call spectacle—the unrelenting push toward a rhetorical style ever more gladiatorial and ever more outraged (and outrageous)” (end of quote).

From 1933 onwards Hitler demonic sermon was that Germany was weakened by the Jews and Western nations and it was time to make Germany great again. Hitler was obsessed that racial mixing in Germany had reduced the greatness of his

country therefore the Jews must go.

When you read what Trump says about immigrants and Mexicans the resemblance to Hitler’s Germany is indeed very uncanny. Hitler spoke of mass deportation of Jews.

Trump wants the mass deportation of illegal immigrants which total more than 11 million souls. There can be no doubt that there are subliminal drives in the mind of Trump thatAfrican

and Asian Americans are also a threat to America’s greatness.

Maybe there wasn’t one person, not even one person on Planet Earth that took Trump seriously when he announced his candidacy.

Obviously, American would not take such a madman seriously. But America has.

The question that must tantalize the mind of any decent person is; after 82 years since Hitler rose to

Frederick Kissoon power in 1933 could a politician in the major country of the world in the 21st century enunciate an ideology the kind Hitler embraced?

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Sunday September 13, 2015

‘Long term planning, commitment and political will’ needed to alleviate flooding - NDIA Chief Reduction of flooding nationwide can be done despite the realities of climate change if there is a nationalistic approach to significantly improve the drainage system says Fredrick Flatts, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, NDIA. While many sections of Guyana is oft inundated

whenever there is heavy down pour, long term planning, commitment and ‘political will’ are needed if Guyana is to alleviate flooding and this cannot be completed overnight, Flatts said.

In a recent interview regarding the issue, Flatts told this publication that it was done before. And while efforts to remedy the recent

floods in Guyana are dubbed as woefully inadequate by some, efforts are in train to remedy such recurrences.

Flatts disclosed a holistic study of the areas, predicting of the level of rainfall expected within the near future, looking at the return periods of such rainfalls and making a sensible hydrological computation of the level of discharge needed for a

particular drainage catchment are among the efforts.

Presently municipalities and the regions are taking action to clear existing drains but this does not mean that those are the only things that should or would be in the arsenal in the future.

But the CEO’s personal view as to what is needed is beyond the town and neighborhood democratic

Fredrick Flatts CEO (ag) National Drainage and Irrigation Authority councils and more of a national approach to solving the problem. He noted that in terms of the financial approach “no one municipality can fund such an effort.”

Citing Georgetown as an example, Flatts said in city the last drainage master plan was in 1992-1994 and Flatts says that needs to be updated even though a lot of the recommendations in that report are still applicable.

Georgetown’s drainage is capable of withstanding 1.5 inches of rainfall in 24 hours.

Efforts are being made to increase the drainage coefficient not just in Georgetown but throughout the coastland and Region 10.

To make this a reality, plans are also in action for the increase of the amount of sluice doors in addition to the provision of mobile and fixed pumps.

Lack of adequate storage in the drains and waters not being efficiently conveyed to the discharge point; sluices or pump stations are the two main causes of flooding in the

capital city and most of the drainage in Georgetown are silted up.

“By cleaning the main secondary and tertiary drains we would increase the storage capacity of the city while increasing the conveyance…in both cases we anticipate the flooding of Georgetown would be reduced and the same thing would be apply to other municipalities and regions,” said Flatts.

He added that “it is not just saying let us build a pump station but making a proper choice of the capacity of the pump that has to be put down and then looking at the implication of the desired discharge as well as the channel structures and culverts in the area.”

“I sense that there is political will. I believe that as we go on with groups like the National Task Force Committee is a very good start,” he continued.

He said too that the President appointed a National Task Force Commission on which he is the Convener of the Drainage Commission that has numerous recommendations to be made.

However, when they are made based upon the reaction from the National Assembly then a better assessment can be made of the political will but as of at present “it’s yet early days.”

On the National Task Force Committee, Flatts is tasked with working along with the 10 administrative regions and the six municipalities. Additionally, he will be working with other communities and in some cases working with the neighborhood democratic councils.

He said as part of efforts to alleviate the flooding he will be working with the Guyana Sugar Corporation as in some cases residential drainage is link to their system.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

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My column

The crime statistics are frightening When I saw the police crime statistics on Friday I shuddered. I saw that we were having about 12 murders every month. That is a shocking figure. Road accidents at that rate are alarming so imagine when murders match road fatalities in a country with fewer than a million people.

An international organization ranked Guyana 44th in the world when it comes to homicide. There are nearly 200 countries in the world. I got to thinking about what could cause this spate of killings and I am stumped.

Gone are the days when people simply quarreled and walked away or when men battled it out with their fists.

Everyone who gets angry kills, it would seem.

There were nearly two dozen execution-type murders, all of the victim being young men barely out of their teens. At one stage I thought that these were drug related but then I noticed that many of the victims had criminal records. It could have been a case of criminal gangs exacting vengeance on another gang.

In one case a victim of such killing was said to be an individual who although no more than 22, had no problem with robbing fellow criminals.

When his killers cornered him he had a gun but he displayed all the evidence of fear and

never thought of using his gun. The police never said whether they recovered a weapon.

Then there were the domestic murders that were disguised to look like robbery murders. A man kills his wife and reports that criminals entered his yard and killed her while he hid. Another man hires some people to beat him and his wife because he wants her to stay in the union.

To their credit the police were not fooled.

As if the murders are not bad enough there are even more rapes. Sex is a driving force behind most things.

Among the lower animals there are fights for the right to have sex with a female.

Some of these fights have been so violent that animals have died. But such fights only occur when the female is ovulating. In short, sex is only for the purpose of recreation; never for pleasure.

In the case of human beings, it is different. Sex is more for pleasure than for recreation. There are prostitutes for some men.

These days there are even men for some men and women for some women. All this happens outside a normal relationship although I am not certain what a normal relationship is these days.

The other day someone hacked into a file controlled

by Ashley Madison. Normal

men, or should it be men in normal relationships were found to crave the services of women outside their marriage. One of them was a pastor who later committed suicide.

Tiger Woods was not considered a normal man because he cheated on his partner. He had to undergo counseling and in the end his marriage folded. In Guyana there are no known dating services but there are the prostitutes. Yet cases of rape are skyrocketing.

The authorities say that the perpetrators are often people who are close to the victims. Increasingly some of the victims are prepubescent. These are sick men. It could be that there were these cases all along but these days there are probably many more reports.

Just this past week a judge sent a strong message to one such rapist. She imposed a sentence that would see the man spend most of his natural life in jail.

But are others taking notice?

So there we are, a country that is bent on killing and raping.

The police crime statistics shocked me.

And things could only get worse. There was the belief that those deported from overseas had brought a new level of crime but it turns out that our own people are capable of conjuring up the crimes. I am certain that the reported rapes are just a fraction of the cases. Guyana must be a dangerous place but try telling that to the people who are pushing tourism.

At one time I said that crime and poverty are closely linked and I still think so except that some of the criminals are wealthy or should be.

One of the fellows killed recently has been known to handle a lot of money but what he did with it is unknown. His mother was reported to be saying that she

is waiting on some relative to help with the funeral.

I happened to be talking with a pastor who is firm in the belief that the declining numbers of young men who refuse to be lectured in morals are those who invariably turn to a life of crime. These are young men who seem unafraid of the jail until it faces them squarely.

I know men who are now desperately seeking a way out of jail having spent a long time for some violent crime.

The only thing is that the jail doors are not ready to open. I would expect that those on the outside would value their freedom more than anything else but they do not.

Perhaps they are among those who believe that they would never be caught but

Adam Harris there comes a time when every criminal is caught. So here I wonder whether the murders would end. Some of the murders are linked to drug smuggling which is another problem. With drugs comes guns and with guns comes death.

Guyana is dangerous, if only because some find it fashionable to kill.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Protecting Intellectual Assets

By Lance Hinds I have been reading the renewed calls for modernized intellectual property legislation with great interest and admittedly, with some wry amusement. Some of us have been yelling and screaming about this for years.

We have either been ignored by the powers that be or gotten a placatory response that the policy makers are now reviewing it, beginning consultations with the relevant stakeholders and so on and so forth. I am not making this point to get into a debate about who started the effort first but to begin to illustrate the level of interest and response I have experienced on this subject over the years.

Intellectual property legislation was inherited from the British at independence and quite frankly I have not seen any evidence to suggest that any further or significant attention has been paid ever since. And so through the years we went merrily along stealing television signals, copying CDs and DVDs and photocopying books or parts thereof. Some of these activities of course have

become thriving businesses and God forbid anyone suggest that we prevent our citizens from making a dollar.

We now have what can be called distributed networks with carts moving around the city center and further afield filled with CDs for sale.

In fact our friends and family in the Diaspora have been able to come to Guyana and purchase voluminous amounts of music at a price that they would never get in the United States. Apparently our American brothers and sisters frown very deeply on this kind of activity.

When these matters are brought for discussion there is the usual push back. What do you want us to do chief?

We cannot afford to consistently pay for original CDs and DVDs. Have you seen the price of original books comrade?

During the brouhaha in the early part of this decade when it was alleged the Government of Guyana was purchasing photocopied books, the spirited defense was how do we expect poor people’s children to get an education if we do not do this? (Never mind the question why we are still poor but let’s move on) This response did not go

down well. Private sector organizations like the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and others publicly raised their objections to the practice. The publishers and local booksellers had also enough of this state of affairs and threatened lawsuits.

There was talk of a negotiated settlement which included the Government producing books under a licensed arrangement with the publishers.

This has however, disappeared off the headlines.

I cannot speak for schoolbooks but certainly copy of other types of material has continued unabated.

So here we are in 2015 and the creative industries sector has publicly raised the issue of modernized intellectual property legislation. The Government of Guyana has indicated that they would like have this done within a year and will begin consultations with the relevant stakeholders. I am not quite sure why we need further consultations. I think it has already been established that the modernization needs to be done.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation

(WIPO), who tried this in Guyana previously, would be more than willing to assist.

Granted there are many layers to this and there is a need to a comprehensive, national approach but the first order of business must be to upgrade the legalization.

There also needs to be a greater understanding and appreciation of the issues that we are dealing with.

Intellectual property by definition, consists of ideas, concepts, insignia and symbols that are unique to the owner.

The concept is best thought as of as bundle of rights protected by law. Trade Secrets, know-how and expertise are instance of company information that is also protected by IP law. In the simplest terms any idea or concept that you create and attempt to bring to market must be protected by law. It applies to everything.

If someone for example, takes a Mashramani costume design to a business or Government entity for them to consider using it during the celebrations. There must be a level of legal protection to prevent the entity from using the design after they decline the designer’s proposal.

As stated previously and by others, our current IP laws are based on the 1956 British

legation.

It should be noted however that despite this, Guyana has happily signed on to the Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial property and the Berne Convention for the protection of literacy and artistic works.

Guyana as a signatory to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should have been compliant with the Trade Related Aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement since 2006.

This is not about being sanctimonious and taking the moral high ground, as stated earlier, there is simply a need for a comprehensive, national approach to the modernization of this legislation and I daresay many others. We are seeking to grow and nature 21st century industries so this is more critical than ever.

Creative industries are going through unprecedented economic and artistic growth which has led it to be one of the largest industries worldwide over the last 10 years. Our local industry cannot be prevented from participating fully in this because of outdated legislation. Our future in other intellectual outputs such as software development, business process outsourcing and

Lance Hinds product design will also be benefit from this effort.

Countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago benefit from more up market investment because they have enforceable intellectual property regimes that provide a level of comfort that encourage company to invest in ICT and related knowledge based industries.

Technology licensing revenues are estimated to amount over $80 billion in the U.S. and over $120 billion worldwide. Intellectual property therefore must be a primary economic interest for us.

There will always be social and economic questions about the impact of this kind of initiative. We will argue about cost, affordability and threats to existing livelihoods, etc. We have to cross all those bridges but I will continue to argue that under the new paradigm we can open the floodgate in terms of potential income and improve revenues generation and overall standard of living for us all.

Lance Hinds is the President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is also the Chief Executive of the BrainStreet Group, an Information Technology and Content Development Company.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

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Women in Guyana - The unfinished business of achieving women’s equality (Part 1)

By David A. Granger The publication of the State Paper on Equality of Women in 1976, was meant to usher in a new era of equality for women. It is evident, however, that despite visible and measurable improvements over the past four decades, the State Paper’s ambitious objectives have not been fully accomplished.

We have seen, over the past century, how the status of women has moved from the stage of blatant ‘discrimination’ in which they were denied the right to vote in colonial elections; to one of ‘agitation’ in the postWorld War II struggle for Independence; to one of ‘representation’ in the postIndependence period to one of intense ‘legislation’ subsequent to the launch of the State Paper. These changes were all necessary, but not sufficient. We must now move forward to the fifth stage, that of full ‘realization’ of gender equality.

The enforcement of enabling legislation is often ineffectual; momentum for change has slowed and the economic and political gap between men and women is still too wide. Women and girls, despite a few remarkable exceptions, are being left behind and are still relatively disadvantaged.

Your government aims, in the first instance, at designing, along with its social and political partners, a national policy aimed at ensuring that five principal objectives are met – equality of women in politics and society; eradication of extreme poverty; enhancement of employment opportunities; elimination of violence against women and enhanced access to education, especially in the sciences and technology.

Equality of women Firstly, your government aims at making Guyana a more equal society. Equality for women is essential if everyone is to benefit from this country’s bountiful resources. Women have made some significant strides over the past four decades and there is now, much more awareness of women’s rights.

There is, however, still a long way to go for women to achieve full equality.

The gap in economic, political and social achievement between men

and women remains wide.

Inequality persists. Episodic initiatives to promote women’s rights and offer them greater opportunities have failed to bring about full equality.

A comprehensive, longterm gender policy aimed at opening opportunities, promoting empowerment and providing protection to women is needed. The new National Gender Policy should aim to eradicate discrimination against women. It should be used to safeguard the emotional and mental integrity and physical safety of women. It should result in women having a greater say in decisionmaking at all levels of society.

There is no shortage of legislation to protect women and promote their rights.

Official interest in the condition of women was recorded from the time of the adoption of the World Plan of Action in 1975 at the UN Conference on Women in Mexico City.

The commitment of various administrations and Guyana’s official participation in the numerous conferences, since then, have been reflected in this country”sadhesion to several international conventions and agreements.

Attending conferences, signing conventions and passing laws are good.

Enforcement and compliance are something else. Your government will work more assiduously with women’s organizations. We must do more together to ensure greater equality, to eradicate extreme poverty; to enforce the law and to enable everyone that everyone to be treated as equal before the law.

Eradication of poverty Secondly, your government aims at eradicating extreme poverty.

A major obstacle to equality is the prevalence and persistence of poverty.

Poverty impacts significantly on the wellbeing of mothers and babies across the country.

It is a well-known fact that children born to mothers living in poverty – among whom are mothers who head single-parent households – face the greatest challenges to everyday survival. Poverty reduction ought to be an important means to lift the living standards of women and children in the poorest communities. This aspect of

government policy, however has not had its intended effect.

Measured against five indicators – poverty level, cost of living, household income, children’s formal schooling and children’s post-schooling employment – the quality of life of many mothers and their families can be described as low. It is a modern-day miracle that many mothers manage their families on their meagre earnings in the face of massive impediments in Guyana today.

Poverty is spreading, not shrinking. The number of homeless and destitute persons continues to rise. The solution is to reduce poverty, rather than increase the number of institutions such as drop-in centres for street children, night shelters for the homeless and the hopefullynamed ‘Centre for Rehabilitation and Integration’ for the destitute, to house the poor.

Women tend to live longer than men. They are most likely to spend a great part of their lives as pensioners today. The increase in old-age pension, at a stage of life when medical costs are highest, will ensure that they will be more likely than men to live in poverty in their mid60s and beyond.

The task of running impoverished households falls disproportionately on women.

The sole breadwinners of households in many instances are women.

These burdens must be lightened if we are to have

happy families and happy households. Women must be provided with greater opportunities if they are to escape from poverty.

Your government proposes to consider various measures to assist women to lift their families out of poverty. We will encourage greater entrepreneurship by women. Micro-credit and access to small business loans can have a positive impact on poor households headed by women. It can increase their incomes and improve their quality of life.

Your government is also prepared to negotiate concessionary financing for micro-credit organizations for lending to women. In addition, it is prepared to expand existing micro-credit schemes targeting women and singleparent households.

Thousands of our women can lift their families out of poverty and join the numbers of happy families and happy households through such measures.

Employment opportunities Thirdly, your government wants more women in the workforce. Many women cannot find satisfactory jobs.

Young mothers in increasing numbers have been travelling to the Eastern Caribbean and near abroad – Suriname, Venezuela and Brazil – in search of work.

Their contribution of ‘remittances’ to support their families and as an element in the gross national income is substantial. This, however, is not necessarily a satisfactory solution to long-term

joblessness. It can also be a symptom of serious social problems which, as a result of prolonged separation could have an adverse, long-term impact on their children’s upbringing.

Young female schoolleavers might have been given academic education, practical skills and a social orientation. The economy, however, does not provide employment opportunities for them. The relatively high rate of teenage pregnancies aggravates the ‘motherhood’ problem.

Schoolgirls who become pregnant and bear children are likely to find it more difficult to get satisfactory jobs and to earn enough to educate and nourish their offspring.

The jobs crisis is real and is getting wider and deeper.

Working mothers, once they receive their wages, have to stretch and spread their earnings thinly just to afford food as expenses rise.

Children of poor mothers are more likely to do worse at school and to become involved in juvenile delinquency than youngsters whose mothers are comfortable enough to be able to stay at home to bring them up. They are more likely to drop out of primary and secondary school and will be at greater risk of unemployment as young adults after their partial or interrupted schooling.

We shall establish employment centers in coming years in all administrative regions to allow for persons seeking

President David Granger jobs to be matched with available employment opportunities. Through this process, we anticipate that women will find jobs closer to their homes and would not have to work far away from where they live.

Your government also recognizes that many women are unable to take up full-time employment because they have to take care of their children.

These responsibilities require them to remain at home. Your government is prepared to consider offering tax rebates to companies which establish day-care facilities so that women do not have to leave their children unattended when they are at their workplaces. We want to make our women happy when they are at work. If they are to worry about the well-being of their children this will affect their work. We want happy women, because happy women will head happy families and happy households.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

BaiShanLin’s Berbice location

SUNDAY SPECIAL GUYANAHAS BEEN DODGING CORRUPTION FOR ALONG TIME US URGES PATIENCE OVER FORENSIC AUDITS - CHARGE D’AFFAIRES BRYAN HUNT The US has urged Guyanese to be patient as a number of Governmentordered forensic audits continue.

Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy, Bryan Hunt, made the comments on Tuesday during an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, in which he also urged for interim measures to safeguard the country’s procurement system.

The David Granger administration took office in May, following general elections, and immediately ordered a number of forensic audits into state entities and projects.

These include at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA); Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC); Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); Guyana Gold Board (GGB); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), among others.

But there has been impatience expressed in segments of society that no one is being held accountable or taken to court, although there are strong indications that corruption existed under consecutive administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

The PPP/C, while in

power, had accused the US of meddling in the affairs of Guyana.

BAISHANLIN ORDERED TO STOP SELLING LOGS ON LOCAL MARKET In a bid to stop Chinese logging company BaiShanLin’s encroachment on the local market, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) entered into an agreement with the company to prohibit them from direct competition with local loggers.

This agreement was inked on 20th April, 2015 and was meant to cover a six-month period, but the Government mandate was reportedly not enough to deter the Chinese company from continuing its sale of logs on the local market.

In the document, seen by Kaieteur News, the “numerous complaints from various stakeholders within the forestry sector” was cited as the principal reason for the agreement. The contract also noted that BaiShanLin was selling logs at reduced prices, thereby affecting the “livelihood of various companies, communities and associations in Guyana”.

BaiShanLin has come under much fire in recent times with the company being accused of expanding out of the logging sector by diverting funds and equipment originally intended for logging purposes to gain footholds in industries such as mining, housing and commercial river transportation.

There have also been protestations from local loggers who have found it impossible to compete with

BaiShanLin, since the tax breaks and duty free concessions granted to the Chinese company for their logging operations, gave them a distinct advantage and allowed them to charge prices far below what the locals could offer.

MONDAY EDITION GRANGER SEEKS INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO TRACE ILLEGALLY SPENT MONEY For those who believe that the coalition administration is slow to prosecute the “big fish”, President David Granger reassured that his government is only taking time to do proper investigation to bring to light over 20 years of corruption.

The Head of State disclosed that his government is seeking international assistance to help trace illegally spent monies from the government’s coffers.

Facing questions from this newspaper on government’s revamped show, “The Public Interest” regarding the prosecution of the perpetrators of corruption and stolen state assets, Granger noted that already, moves are being made to address these two issues.

“There are two sides of the coin. Were we to dismiss persons from the public service or haul in persons from the underworld, people would say where is the evidence? And sometimes it is not there to see and we have to do proper investigations and that is what is being done. So we don’t want to just haul in

people for the sake of making the headlines…crooks and criminals will obviously cover their trails and that is what we are trying to unearth.”

“It has only been a hundred days and some of this criminality has been going on for 20 years, so some of the birds may have flown and some of the big fishes may have swum away, but we are doing our work. As you know, some committees have been established and Presidential Advisor, Dr. Clive Thomas, is looking into asset recovery. So we are confident that we are going to find the assets and as the old saying goes, the old dogs know where the bones are buried in the backyard.”

President Granger was subsequently asked by this newspaper if he intends to partner with the international community on ensuring prosecution of those perpetrators who have sought refuge in greener pastures.

He said that already, some computer experts have offered programmes to trace the disposal of assets.

COPS SOLVE SEVERAL ‘TOUGH’ MURDERS IN SIX MONTHS - SUCCESS MAYHAVE HELPED QUELL PERCEPTIONS OF RACIALLY MOTIVATED ATTACKS It may be too soon to start breaking out the champagne, but a welcome trend seems to be emerging within the Guyana Police Force.

Despite being under pressure to stem a recent rash of violent robberies and particularly savage murders, detectives have managed to solve at least eight homicides

in the past six months.

In doing so, they have not only put some particularly sadistic individuals behind bars, but their success seems to be quelling a disturbing perception that some of the crimes were racially motivated.

Police have not had much success in solving executionstyle killings, but even that seems to be changing.

On January 12, businesswoman Patricia Senasie had just exited a car outside her 129 Atlantic Gardens, East Coast Demerara home, when a gunman shot her several times.

Senasie was the wife of Deokaran Sanasie, owner of Ram’s Auto Sales, who was himself shot in a botched execution attempt the previous year.

Three months later, police arrested Richard Stanton, 39, also known as ‘Ritchie’, of Princes Street, Lodge, for Sanasie’s murder. He was subsequently charged.

On March 10, activist Courtney Crum-Ewing, well known for his one-man protests, was gunned down on March 10 last at Third Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

The killing sparked protests and cries of political assassination.

It would take police five months to make a breakthrough. In early August, police arrested and charged Regan Rodrigues, also called ‘Grey Boy,’ for Crum-Ewing’s murder.

TUESDAY EDITION MORE SHOCKING REVELATIONS ON THE BERBICE BRIDGE… PRIVATE INVESTORS GET TAX-FREE RIDE ON PROFITS

New GPC’s rep on Berbice Bridge board, Ravie Ramcharitar As more details emerge over the questionable financial structure of the Berbice River Bridge, there are disclosures that as part of the sweetheart deal, the Bharrat Jagdeo administration

New GPC boss, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop granted New GPC and other private investors sweeping tax exemptions on their returns.

The bridge is now claiming imminent insolvency unless its tolls are increased or it is allowed to run the structure for 50 years, instead of the 21 years.

Investors were guaranteed lucrative rates of returns on their investments between 15 per cent and 23 percent. Those rates would stand out starkly against average rates of about 11 per cent 12 percent that normal investors earn from projects.

The Berbice River Bridge Act, assented to by Jagdeo in January 2006, was tailored specifically to ensure that profits were realized.

Section 20 of the act states: “All income earned by the concessionaire shall be exempt from Corporation Tax, Income Tax and Withholding Tax for the duration of the Concession Agreement or for the extended periods that the Minister responsible for finance may deem necessary, on being satisfied that the terms and conditions of the Concession Agreement may be amended or varied.”

The Act also allowed for all dividends payable to shareholders be exempted from Corporation Taxes, Income Taxes and Withholding Tax. While tax holidays have become a norm for investors, the guaranteed rate of return of 15 -23 percent would shed light on why a number of companies including New GPC and Queens Atlantic Investments Inc. (QAII) and Hand-in-Hand Insurance were so eager to jump on board.

GRA DEMANDS MILLIONS IN TAXES FROM IRFAANALI Former Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, has reportedly received a letter from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to pay up to $40M in taxes for a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) (Continued on page 33)

Sunday September 13, 2015

Former Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali From page 32 he imported last year.

However, Ali is insisting that he had received permission for exemptions.

On August 23, he released a letter dated March 3, 2014 that he purportedly received from GRA’s Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur, approving the importation.

Under regulations, MPs, Ministers, State and other officials are entitled to tax waivers on vehicles.

They can import used vehicles every three years.

For new vehicles, officials are not allowed to import one before a five-year period has passed, a senior GRA official explained.

GRA is contending that while serving as a Minister in the previous administration, Ali imported two luxury Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) within the last five years when he was only entitled to one.

Ali is now a Member of Parliament (MP) for the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

Ali had taken to his Facebook page late August claiming that it was brought to his attention by a senior GRA official that instructions have been given to institute taxes on “motor vehicle I acquired through legal means as a Member of Parliament in the 10th Parliament.”

Ali insisted that the concession was recommended and approved by all the relevant authorities.

“I was shocked when this officer approached me… after the Parliament to inform me that I will be receiving a letter from GRA…asking me to pay taxes on this vehicle.”

WEDNESDAY EDITION JAGDEO SETS CONDITIONS FOR DISCLOSURE OF HIS WEALTH Former President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has since become Opposition Leader, is willing to finally tell the nation all there is to know about his accumulated wealth.

However, he is not prepared

Kaieteur News

Ex President Bharrat Jagdeo to be the only one travelling in the boat of accountability and transparency.

Jagdeo will only make the disclosures if all other politicians in Parliament are prepared to do the same. This is essentially what Jagdeo said at a press conference he held Tuesday at Freedom House.

In the past, when asked about his wealth he kept promising to make disclosures, later. He is still to make those disclosures. The Opposition Leader hosted the press conference to clear up what he deemed “misinformation” published in the media. It was reported that he promised President David Granger, during a recent meeting, to assist in efforts to recover monies that

Page 33

could not be accounted for under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government.

Jagdeo said clearly that this was not the case.

However, questions were posed to Jagdeo about the missing funds and in whose pockets State finances might have gone.

Asked about his wealth and seaside mansion, Jagdeo claimed that his “affairs is a public book.”

He said that at the meeting with President Granger, he told the President that based on the fact that there have been lots of charges about people stashing money abroad, “why don’t we get all of our Members of Parliament to make public, not just to the Integrity Commission, but to make public their assets held outside of Guyana.”

GOVT. SEEKS MARKET VALUE FOR PRADOVILLE 2 HOUSELOTS Government’s State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) is actively considering several options in its investigations of the Pradoville Two house lots.

On Monday, Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, said that there are indications that several persons, including ex-ministers and former senior Government officials, owned properties before they were invited to

Otto Perez Molina in court.

purchase house lots in the exclusive Sparendaam area, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Under Government regulations, persons or families who owned properties cannot be allocated State lands for housing.

“It was discussed and it is the thinking that one option of recovery will be that persons who own other properties and yet benefitted from house lots in Pradoville Two will have to pay market value for the house lots. We are not sure what system was

used to allocate these lands.

We are seeing that some of them that benefitted have turned back and sold (the lot).”

Scott said that it appears that ex-Government officials were advised to treat the house lots as investments.

The minister, who has responsibilities for housing, insisted that the role of Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) was usurped by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

Minister Keith Scott

Remigrants paid ten times the price that former President Bharrat Jagdeo paid for house lots. Remigrants paid $1,111 per square foot to Jagdeo’s $114 per square foot.

GUATEMALA’S EXPRESIDENT PEREZ TO FACE TRIAL ON FRAUD CHARGES GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – A Guatemalan judge Tuesday ordered fallen former President Otto Perez Molina to stand trial over a graft scandal that stoked a political crisis, charging him with criminal association, taking bribes and customs fraud.

Perez, a 64-year-old retired general who was elected in late 2011 on a vow to fight crime and corruption, resigned as president last week, just as the country headed into the first round of a presidential election. He was held in jail pending a hearing

into accusations he made millions of dollars from a customs racket.

There are “sufficient indications that suggest he took part” in the scam, Judge Miguel Angel Galvez told a hearing. Dressed in a dark suit, Perez sat frowning during the hearing, and jotted in a notebook.

Prosecutors allege he was involved in a customs scam dubbed “La Linea” (“The Line”), referring to a phone hotline used by importers to avoid paying customs duties in exchange for bribes.

Perez’ conservative government spent much of this year facing corruption allegations, and he fired several of his cabinet members in a purge in May. Comic actor Jimmy Morales rode a wave of outrage over the scandal to win the most votes in Guatemala’s presidential election Tuesday, and is seen as having a strong chance of winning a runoff next month.

It remains unclear whether he will face former first lady Sandra Torres or conservative businessman Manuel Baldizon, who remain neck and neck as the vote count from Tuesday’s vote continues.

Congress has sworn in Perez’ vice president, Alejandro Maldonado, to fill out his term until power is handed over to the eventual winner in January.

THURSDAY EDITION CRABWOOD CREEK ROBBERY WAS STAGED… HOME OWNER HIRED BANDITS TO BEAT, TERRORISE SELFAND WIFE A Crabwood Creek, Berbice businessman is now in police custody after it was found out that he had (Continued on page 34)

Page 34

From page 33 conspired with known characters to stage a robbery on his own home.

Police, employing all their intelligence methods, found out that Krishendatt Jettoo, hired bandits to beat him and his wife, in a fake attack to influence his wife to stay in their unraveling relationship.

It was the latest in a series of fake robberies that has been used by critics to lambaste the Guyana Police Force and by extension, the ruling administration for spiraling serious crimes.

Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum Wednesday said that the businessman, a taxi driver and another man were arrested and are providing vital information for the investigations.

He said that the police were able to crack the case after they managed to locate a taxi driver who had aided the fake bandits in their getaway.

Jettoo had told police that five armed men invaded his house and carted off an undisclosed sum of money and jewelry.

He had given carefully concocted details of how the men entered his home around 02:30 hours on Sunday morning and threatened to kill him, while beating him and his wife about their bodies.

The businessman had claimed that they were tied up by the bandits who escaped in a white Toyota Carina 212 motor car.

But when police managed to locate the driver of the getaway car, the whole scheme unraveled.

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Sunday September 13, 2015

Investigators learnt that Jettoo and his wife were having marital problems, with the woman wanting to end the relationship.

FINAL LOCAL GOVT BILL GETS STORMY PASSAGE There was much hullabaloo Wednesday in the National Assembly over the Local Authorities (Elections) Amendment Bill but it was nonetheless passed. This Bill paves the way for the holding of Local Government Elections after two decades.

The business of the House saw the Government’s moving a motion for the Bill to be laid, debated and passed in a single session.

The opposition, however, opposed the motion.

It argued at length that Government was acting in a whimsical manner. It contended that the Bill which came with 22 amendments should be sent to a special select committee where each amendment can be properly scrutinized and perhaps strengthened.

Specifically, Opposition member, Bishop Juan Edghill spoke for almost 30 minutes on this matter. Edghill emphasized that due process must be given to such an important Bill in the House.

The amendments are not negligible but of a significant nature, he said.

He said that his members in the opposition’s camp had a very short time to consider the Bill. He contended that according to the norms and practices of the House, there is supposed to be at least six

Minister with responsibility for Housing, Keith Scott, meeting Baishanlin reps, Chu Hongbo and others to speak about the delays. days notice when Bills are going to be brought to the House. He said that the Government went against the spirit of parliamentary practice.

The politician said that time must be given to examine the amendments to see if they complement existing laws or contradict them.

FRIDAY EDITION MAN WAVES TO NEIGHBOURAFTER HAMMERING BLOCKMAKER TO DEATH For the past 16 years since its establishment, the

Police recovered this hammer at the crime scene. Inset: Nathan Persaud

small community of Herstelling New Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD), existed in relative peace and tranquility until Thursday.

That was all changed in a few minutes with the brutal murder of one of its residents.

The bloodied body of 42year-old Nathan Persaud, a father of four, was found lying face down in the living room of his Lot 66 Herstelling home around 09:45 hrs.

The back of Persaud’s head was bashed in and detectives recovered a hammer, two knives and a piece of rock, all of which had blood stains, from the immediate crime scene.

Persaud, a block-maker, who only moved to the area a few months back, appeared to have been bludgeoned to death in what is being described as a brazen daylight attack in the normally

peaceful community.

The shocking discovery was made by neighbours, minutes after they reportedly heard Persaud screaming in his two bedroom apartment.

They later observed a “strange” man walking calmly out of the block maker’s yard while waving at a neighbour with a smile.

Persaud, who shared the single flat house with his (Continued on page 35)

Sunday September 13, 2015

From page 34 stepfather and three sons, was alone at home when the attack occurred, and judging from the look of the interior of the building, he put up a fierce fight for his life.

Detectives are trying to establish a clear motive for the block-maker’s murder, since they have almost ruled out robbery.

PRIVATE HOUSING DEVELOPERS GIVEN FEBRUARY 2016 DEADLINE -BK GROUP SLAMMED FOR DISRESPECTFUL ABSENCE A key meeting Thursday between Government and private housing developers over delays along the East Bank Demerara public road, saw a February 2016 deadline being issued for infrastructural works to be completed.

The ultimatum was issued by Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, who is charged with the housing sector.

The meeting at the Brickdam offices of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) also saw harsh words coming from the Minister over the absence of the BK Group from the meeting.

BK’s principal, Brian Tiwarie, and Chineseowned, Baishanlin, were both summoned to Thursday’s meeting to explain delays in works on a 100-acre plot of land behind the National Stadium in Providence.

The land was sold by CH&PA in 2011 to Sunset Lakes Inc., owned by Tiwarie, to build homes.

All the homes and infrastructural works were supposed to be in place within 24 months.

However, an inspection on Tuesday found little work being done there.

CH&PA also found that BK also may have breached his agreement when he sold the entire 100-acres to Baishanlin.

SATURDAY EDITION BLOCK-MAKER’S DEATH WAS A PAID HIT - POLICE SOURCE ESTRANGED WIFE IN CUSTODY, CLAIMS MURDERED MAN HAD PLANNED TO KILL HER In a surprising turn of events, detectives probing the death of 42-year-old Nathan Persaud, who was allegedly beaten to death on Tuesday, have arrested his estranged wife.

The woman was taken into custody a few hours after Persaud’s body was found in his living room with a stab wound to the chest, and his head bashed in with a hammer.

While police cannot connect the dots into the block-maker’s death as yet, they claimed that his estranged partner is providing vital information which can very well lead to an early breakthrough in this case.

Kaieteur News was informed that Persaud and his wife were engaged in a bitter dispute over a property located at the entrance of Diamond New Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

The woman allegedly told detectives that while she had nothing to do with the blockmaker’s death, she was informed that her former spouse had concocted a plot with two men to execute her.

The woman claimed that she however ignored the warnings.

Police said that they have gathered enough evidence which indicates that Persaud’s death was a paid hit.

COI REPORTS SAYS … CORRUPTION, ABSENCE OF SAFE PRACTICES CONTRIBUTED TO MINING PIT DEATHS The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) at its 32ndannual general meeting Friday, unveiled a report of a Commission of Inquiry ordered by President David Granger. The report revealed that 25 deaths have been recorded in 16 accidents

Kaieteur News

within the past 12 months.

Among the findings were that the principal causes of pit failure accidents were the neglect of safe mining practices, as well as shortcuts being taken in a bid to grab as much gold, in the shortest time possible.

GGDMA executive Colin Sparman, a member of the Commission of Inquiry into mining pit collapses, presented the findings of the Commission to the meeting.

It was noted in the Administrative Coordinator’s report that from 2010 to 2015, a total of 62 miners, particularly young men, have died in the industry. This figure was described as “scandalous and unacceptable”, in particular since the statistics are from a small population.

The COI was launched after the mortality rate for gold miners recorded a spike on May 17 last, when a Mowasi, Potaro mining pit collapsed and killed 10 miners in what was arguably the worst mining accident in recent memory.

The findings were expected to be released imminently as the COI was concluded since August. It had however been reported that the findings were with the Cabinet.

STAGED CRABWOOD CREEK ROBBERY … BUSINESSMAN, TWO OTHERS REMANDED Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh Friday remanded Krishendatt Jettoo, 42, of Lot 26 Grant, 2757, Crabwood Creek; Matthew Ganga Persaud, aka Abel, 24, Hire Car Driver of #77 Housing Scheme; and Satram Kushley, 21, a Cane Harvester of 470 Port Mourant, Corentyne Berbice.

The men had appeared at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court. According to the police, the accused on September 6, 2015, armed with a gun, robbed Tejkumarie Jettoo, of Lot 26 Grant, 2757, Crabwood Creek of a quantity of gold jewellery valued at $790,000; a quantity of diamond jewellery valued at $590,000, US$19,000, and $1 Million in local currency.

The accused was represented by Attorneyat-Law Krishendatt Persaud.

In his application for bail he asked for reasonable bail in keeping with whatever the court finds substantial. Bail was refused after Prosecutor Inspector, Godfrey Playter, objected. Prosecutor Playter stated that a gun was used to allegedly carry out the robbery.

He added that the woman, Tejkumarie Jettoo, was severely beaten.

He was of the firm belief that it is the likelihood that if bail should be granted the accused might not return to trial, bearing in mind that two of the accused are not living within the Jurisdiction.

Attorney-at-Law Persaud said that they were not flight risks and that they are all fathers. Jettoo was also faced with the second charge of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony. Bail was also refused on this charge.

Wife of the accused, Tejkumarie Jettoo, was present in court. She sought to resolve the matter and offer forgiveness to her husband; however the Magistrate refused to hear her concerns.

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Sunday September 13, 2015

Myra Pierre-Moore, an educator on a mission to protect her heritage

By Sharmain Grainger September can be considered a very special month in these parts. Not only has it been designated Education Month but also Amerindian Heritage Month as well. The associated commemorative activities are understandably numerous and continue all month long.

While for some the focus is on the education related activities, there are others who indulge in the Amerindian festivities.

But there are yet others who give equal focus to both the education activities and the celebration of our first people; and with good reason too. One such person is Mrs. Myra Pierre-Moore.

Not only is she an Amerindian descendant with a passion for her heritage but also our Special Person this week who has been a devoted Myra Pierre-Moore, Head of NCERD’s Learning Resource Development Unit.

educator for many years.

But before we share her plans to preserve her heritage and detail some of her contributions to the education sector let’s take a brief look at Pierre-Moore’s origin.

EDUCATION PATH Born to Philbert and Hilda Pierre on December 2, 1969, she was raised in the riverain community of Koriabo, a

beneficiary of a hinterland scholarship which allowed her to travel to the capital city of Georgetown to attend Christ Church Secondary School.

During an interview with me recently she described her initial introduction to the city as a “whole culture shock”. Not only was there a complete change in the

“I have the unique opportunity to work with all teachers to help them to find resources to help in the teaching learning process…it is not an easy thing to do but it is something I love to do…”

Mabaruma sub-region in the Region One North West District.

The second of seven children, she attended the St Mary’s Primary School until the age of 11. She subsequently was the

environmental setting but the way of life was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

The young Myra was entrusted into the care of a guardian who lived at Albert Street, Queenstown,

Georgetown.

The accommodation was comfortable but she was just a puny child who hadn’t much experience taking care of herself. She was very sad to be away from home.

“I cried most of the time…” she recalled. “I didn’t know to wash my clothes; I didn’t know to do a lot of things but I had to learn,” added Pierre-Moore who also noted that some older girls who shared the same accommodation did give her some much needed assistance.

The start of her first day of secondary school was a tearful one but after literally being taken into the arms of a senior student who comforted her, Pierre-Moore was able to fit right into secondary school life.

She recognized the need to focus on her work and therefore walked with purpose the path to school each day. There weren’t too many people she called ‘friend’ and so she couldn’t wait for the holidays to return to the familiarity of Koriabo and the modest domicile in which she grew up.

THEAMERINDIAN WAY Among her fondest memories of home was canoeing to school a short distance away.

The community in which she lived was sparely populated. There were perhaps no more than 200 residents. Getting to a neighbour’s house would require about a half a mile travel by paddle boat.

Pierre-Moore’s father, like most people in Koriabo then, was a farmer. According to her, subsistence farming was the norm but there was often enough produce reaped to bring in an income to support

individual households.

Among the popular produce were coffee, corn, ginger and of course ground provision.

During her primary school days, Pierre-Moore recounted that there were, at least, three ‘big’ farmers who also offered employment to some residents. “At that time Region One was a farming area and you had a lot of produce from there being sent to Georgetown,” said PierreMoore as she recalled how each person in every household knew something about farming.

“I remember going to the farm when I came home from school…it was expected of you. I remember picking coffee beans, going through the process – milling and so on…I mostly remember the coffee, and picking corn,” said Pierre-Moore.

While her family did not live in a benab, but rather

Wearing a traditional Amerindian headwear

lived in a regular wooden house that might have had a thatched roof and then later zinc sheets, there weren’t too many efforts to embrace the traditional Amerindian lifestyle.

There were however always traditional foods around. “My mom did the cassava and so on…so we always knew about that, she taught us how to grate, scrape, and bake cassava bread, we were always making cassareep and so on…”

IMPORTANCE OFHERITAGE But even as she stressed the importance of heritage in any land, Pierre-Moore boasted of being born into the Warraus Amerindian tribe.

She doesn’t know too much about the tribe but is on a mission to reverse this state of affairs. ”Presently I think learning all I can about my (Continued on page 46)

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 45

Umami:

Adding the fifth taste to the local culinary dishes Some of the Umami Products

By: Kiana Wilburg Every cook, professional or not, has one thing in common—Creating a dish with a mysterious yet tantalizing flavour. The kind of taste that is original, addictive, it lingers on your mind even after the meal is devoured.

Already making their mark in the multimillion dollar industry of flavour engineering is chemist Chris Persaud along with his wife, Chanchal. They aspire to add their bit of “mystery” to the local culinary traditional dishes with their company, Umami Incorporated. They are manufacturers of high end sauces and condiments which can be found in most supermarkets in and around Georgetown or even at the stalls at Bourda or Stabroek Markets.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Persaud gave some insight into his passion for food chemistry, his business and his plans for expansion.

Persaud was born June 26, 1981 and grew up in Cummings Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown. As a young boy, he was always fond of the sciences and that passion exhibited itself during his days at St. Margaret’s Primary School, Saint Stanislaus High and even when he did his ‘A’ Levels at Queen’s College. It was no surprise that he would move on to the University of Guyana and successfully graduate with his Degree in Chemistry.

“I always had a flair for trying to figure out how to add that secret ingredient or flavour to my food hence I studied food chemistry which enabled me to truly understand how victuals interact with our body. I knew that one day I would want to venture into business studies but chemistry was my priority. My father always told me that a doctor

can be a businessman but the reverse cannot happen in a heartbeat and so that is another reason why I pursued chemistry. Since I started my business, I have just been driven by the desire to master every aspect of it which is why I started my Masters in Economics at Heriot Watt University in London,” Persaud asserted.

But his love for chemistry was fashioned by years of experience which he acquired while working with one of the most reputable Caribbean condiments company –Baron Products. He worked there for 10 years moving up the ranks from chemist to respected Board member. He would then move on to work on a similar yet unique company of his own-Umami. Persaud explained that Umami, pronounced ou-ma-me is Japanese for pleasant, savoury taste.

He said that the use of that particular name came about because of his love for the Japanese culture, traditions, their efficiency and discipline in mastering their craft.

On all of the 15 bottled condiments that his company produces, there are five circles on the logo, four of which represent sweet, sour, salt and bitter. He said that the fifth circle is the Umami taste. The colours of the logo also represent the national flag, the Golden Arrow Head.

The young entrepreneur said that the company was incorporated in May 2013, but actually made its first dollar in November of that year; hence the anniversary of the company is celebrated in that month.

“My wife and I consider ourselves true patriots. We love the fact that we have something that is Guyanese and that people in and out of Guyana are able to share in our taste. And it all goes back to my love for

creating the things which give food that magical mystery. It is a fulfilling feeling when persons can tell you that they really enjoy the quality of our product.

It means a lot because each product was carefully and uniquely designed to provide a taste that is fresh and local and most importantly can attract attention on the international stage,” Persaud added.

The chemist said that his manufacturing company, though relatively young, has already penetrated markets throughout the length and breadth of the country and after accepting proposals from regional and international markets, the Guyanese product is also represented abroad. He mentioned some of these territories to be Tortola, St. Martin and the United States.

He noted that currently, the company has 16 different products with their factory located in Lusignan. Some of these include; pepper sauce, Chinese sauce, blended green seasoning, Bar-B-Que sauce, tomato ketchup, and garlic sauce. The businessman noted however that starting his now successful company did not come easy.

“When we started out, it was tough. I mean every hurdle or obstacle a new business would encounter we had to deal with it. When we first brought out our products there were the usual comments like “oh this looks Chinese”, “I don’t know these people so I’m sticking to what I know,” etc. but given our persistence

and drive and belief in our product, we were able to achieve brand loyalty and provide customers these quality products at an affordable price. For me it’s about quality and making this taste part of the culinary traditions,” the chemist said.

He added, “A lot of thought went into the packaging because there is a myriad of foreign products that you have to compete with in the markets and that means you have less time to capture the attention of the consumer. And so we had to import the materials to bottle and package it to have a very attractive product. But we are most proud of the content of the product. It is all fresh and natural and provided by local farmers.”

Persaud said that soon, he hopes to start providing the very packaging materials he is importing for his products.

He said that his company plans on expanding by manufacturing edible oils too.

Persaud asserted, “There is a really good market out there for edible oils like soya bean oil. There is tremendous scope for it out there.”

The chemist concluded, “At the end of the day, we are pleased with the support we are given from Guyanese throughout the country and we just really want to thank them for making Umami their first choice. It is important to support your own. And we are again, elated to be welcomed into the kitchens of the Guyanese family as they add the fifth taste to their everyday dishes.”

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Sunday September 13, 2015

Myra Pierre-Moore, an educator on a...

In the company of family members

From page 36 tribe is very important…now that I am all grown up I feel maybe envious of other (Amerindian) people who know all there is to know about their tribes… who know their (tribal) language and can actually communicate with each other,” said Pierre-Moore She noted that while she remembers hearing her grandparents communicating in their tribal tongue when she was young, this was not practised among the younger generation.

However, she is on course to addressing this situation which currently sees her making keen efforts to even

learn the simplest of words in her tribal language.

“It is important for us to know,” said Pierre-Moore as she alluded to the Amerindians in Regions Eight and Nine who fluently communicate at all age levels, on a daily basis, in their respective tribal dialect.

And this could be possible for all Amerindian tribes, Pierre-Moore is convinced. “I have been in villages and I have interacted and I have seen this for myself,” she noted.

She speculated that the limited interest in tradition, exhibited by some Amerindians, could be linked to a move by outsiders to

force other cultures on them.

Just recently President David Granger announced plans to rescue Amerindian languages and Pierre-Moore is among the Amerindians who are ready and willing to support such efforts.

And she is in an ideal professional position to render support in this regard.

A PASSIONATE EDUCATOR After completing her secondary education, PierreMoore decided to embrace a passion for teaching that she had long developed. Upon her return to her home village she was given the privilege to offer teaching support to the very primary school – St

Mary’s Primary – which she had attended herself several years earlier.

She remembers all too well working along with the head teacher there. But it wasn’t long after that the task of heading the school, with a population of some 35 children, was thrust upon her.

“For me it was a lot because I was alone and just out of school and I had to find ways and means to make it work,” she recalled. But this was only the beginning for her as she was even them committed to being the best at whatever she did.

Over the course of her teaching career she has taught and rendered needed

With her husband, Mr Keith Moore

support at a number of hinterland schools with distinction. She, at times, even implemented unorthodox styles of delivering lessons to children of multi-grade schools in the hinterland.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing but she never implemented a teaching method that didn’t work. ”I got myself into trouble sometimes…I wasn’t aware that you can’t change teaching methods without prior consent from the administrators of the Department of Education…but I did and I even helped other (hinterland) teachers plan their scheme of work outside of the traditional way but I didn’t get permission so that made it wrong,” she confessed.

Of course her methods were simply her way of putting into action what she’d learned at Teaching College and subsequently the University of Guyana.

But although she was not always lauded for her efforts, her extraordinary teaching talent saw her being named the Most Outstanding Teacher of Region One in 1994.

Pierre-Moore, who is currently the holder of a Master ’s Degree in Education, has also served as an Education Officer and Hinterland Coordinator attached to a World Bank programme which saw immense development of the primary and secondary delivery of education in the hinterland regions.

She currently is the Head of the Learning Resource

Development Unit at the Kingston, Georgetown, National Centre for Education Resource Development, a crucial portfolio that gives her the opportunity to help enhance the delivery of education throughout Guyana.

“Being here gives me the opportunity to see how best I can help teachers across the education districts…I have the unique opportunity to work with all teachers to help them to find resources to help in the teaching learning process…it is not an easy thing to do but it is something I love to do,” asserted PierreMoore.

Her laudable contributions thus far to the education sector are innumerable but she insists that she is poised to continue to serve in any capacity once it will further the development of education, especially in the hinterland regions.

As an educator she is especially ready to not only help in the mainstream delivery of education but any capacity that she can share her knowledge. Perhaps her current position is a strategic one to most effectively realize her goal of helping to preserve the various Amerindian dialects.

Despite her keen focus to the development of education and her intent to help preserve her heritage, Pierre-Moore is still able to find time for her family, including her husband, Mr Keith Moore, a Vector Control Officer attached to the Ministry of Health.

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Kaieteur News

Herstelling block maker murder….

The estranged wife of Herstelling block maker, Nathan Persaud, could find herself in court as early as tomorrow after confessing to police that she had indeed paid a hit man to kill her husband.

The woman was arrested hours after Persaud’s body was discovered in his house at 66 Herstelling New Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara with a stab wound to his chest and the back of his head bashed in.

The cracking of this murder is the latest in a series of recent successes by investigators of the police Criminal Investigations Department. Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told this newspaper that the woman gave investigators a detailed account of how she contracted the killer, who is still at large, to eliminate her husband with whom she was having a bitter dispute over a property at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.

Kaieteur News was informed that the property in question is a two-storey house that once housed a business on the bottom flat.

While the matter is engaging the court, Persaud had moved to his mother’s house in Herstelling with his three sons. It was there that he met his death even before the court matter could have been completed. The Crime Chief said that while the woman and another relative are in police custody, the hunt is still on for the actual killer.

This newspaper understands that the woman claimed that she had felt threatened after Persaud expressed confidence that the court matter would end in his favour and had told her that when it was over, she will have to live on the road.

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Wife offered killer airline ticket to ‘take out’ husband

Murdered: Nathan Persaud She initially told detectives that while she had nothing to do with Persaud’s death, she was informed that her former spouse had concocted a plot with two men to execute her.

But investigators were soon to learn that it was the woman herself who carefully designed a scheme to get rid of her husband. The woman confessed that she met the killer about two weeks ago through her niece who is also in police custody.

According to reports, the killer who has a girlfriend residing in one of the islands of the Caribbean, was eager to travel there to surprise her but did not have the finances.

This, he confided to the woman’s niece, who is also a friend of his girlfriend.

So when Persaud’s wife found out about the man’s eagerness to travel to the Caribbean she used the opportunity to offer him assistance to purchase his airline ticket-- if he would do her a favour. That favour was to kill her husband.

“She told him that she and a man had a problem and the

only way she will feel comfortable was if the man was killed,” a police source told this newspaper. The man agreed to take the job and Persaud’s wife gave him her husband’s address.

She however advised the killer to wait until Persaud’s sons had left the house before attempting the task.

It is believed that Persaud’s killer travelled to his Lot 66 Herstelling New Scheme, EBD home from the city. Investigators are basing their theory on the fact that the killer spent a little over 20 minutes asking residents in the area for directions to Persaud’s home.

The suspect allegedly had his victim’s address written on a piece of paper.

“It’s very clear that he (suspect) didn’t know where he was going. I am certain he never met the man he killed,” a police source said.

There are also reports that a resident from the area, after receiving a description of the alleged killer, said that she was in a minibus with an individual who fitted the killer’s description.

The suspect is reportedly fair in complexion, about six feet tall with afro-hair style. He was wearing a pair of blue pants and was carrying a blue haversack.

On Friday, when this newspaper revisited the scene, an individual, claiming to have seen the suspected killer, said that she was in the area on Thursday when the man approached her.

“He had a piece of paper and he asked me if I know where Lot 66 is located and I tell him that I am not from the area and he walk away.”

Kaieteur News was informed that two days before Persaud was killed, someone had telephoned him.

“The killer called him two days before and tell him ‘I am

coming to kill you’,” a relative said. She further explained that Persaud had confided in his sons.

“He told his sons that his life was in danger and that he has to leave the country.”

This newspaper was informed that Persaud was waiting on the court matter to end. “He tell his sons that once the court matter finish, he will transfer his shares in their names and he will go and get his visa and leave the country because he is scared,” the relative said.

On Thursday neighbours said that they heard the man screaming earlier in his house but they were too scared to enter his home since they were all females.

“We called the (Providence)

police station but the lines were engaged. He was screaming on and off. When the screaming stopped, we went back inside,” a neighbour said.

Kaieteur News was told that about 10 minutes after the screaming stopped, a strange man was seen walking out of Persaud’s yard.

He allegedly smiled and waved at a neighbour.

It is not clear if the killer received his money for his airline ticket, but according to Crime Chief Blanhum, there is no indication that he has fled the country. “We know who he is and we are trying to get him,” the Crime Chief told this newspaper.

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Better understanding of credit bureaus needed Two years after its establishment, the operations of Guyana’s first and only credit bureau, CreditInfo Guyana (CIG), can be deemed a success.

However, despite the success, CIG’s main challenge remains the lack of widespread understanding and adoption of the credit bureau by both the business and consumer sectors.

These statements were made by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CIG Judy Semple-Johnson during a recent interview.

On August 30, 2013, CIG was granted a licence by the Bank of Guyana to commence its operations. A credit bureau collects information on a borrower’s obligations from various sources and produces a comprehensive credit report which is in turn used by potential creditors.

Since its establishment, the body has accomplished a lot, Semple-Johnson said.

However, she added, things have not been easy.

According to her, there are still areas which needed to be tackled, including the important consideration of the role of the credit bureau in national economic development and in creating a modern economy, particularly in light of a new government.

“During the month of January 2015 the first credit report was issued and within the last three months in excess of 10,000 inquiries have been made,” she said.

She explained that these inquiries came mainly from commercial banks and trade creditors in an effort to improve the effectiveness of their credit decisions.

“In these circumstances it is important for the borrowing public to understand that banks are now utilizing the credit bureau services to complement their credit decision-making process with information from within the credit bureau database. The result is more efficient and better informed

credit decisions,” she stressed.

She further highlighted other problem areas which had arisen over the years.

“Over the period, many opinions have been expressed as to the relevance of such an entity to a small, cash based economy as ours,” Semple-Johnson said.

She continued, “Fears of the confidentiality of information, which banks are involved, the sufficiency of data in the credit bureau database, how soon credit reports will be available are only a few of the questions CreditInfo has had to address over the period.”

Additionally, she said, some areas needed to be “fully expounded and understood” such as the concept of irregular information and its impact on business decisions; the ability to access financing; and helping those who are off the mainstream economy to gain access to resources that are otherwise unavailable to them.

“Going forward, CreditInfo Guyana would need to embark on a national sensitisation campaign highlighting international best practices in credit bureau implementation and drawing, particularly on the success of its sister companies in the global arena,” she said.

“Public awareness of the concepts of creditworthiness and the importance of credit

history towards greater access to financing from the formal system is therefore critical to the rate of development of the financial sector through the credit bureau.”

She added that there is perhaps the need for a better understanding of the benefits of a credit bureau.

Benefits Semple-Johnson emphasised the benefits of a full service credit bureau, including efficiency and quick access to information.

“A full service credit bureau such as CreditInfo Guyana contributes not only improved risk assessment based on the availability of data from a wide crosssection of sources, but also provides improved efficiency in the credit granting process since this information is available to subscribers in a matter of seconds,” she said.

She continued, “It is also important to note, especially for those who operate in the small and medium enterprise sector, that before any bank or credit grantor can advance credit to an individual or business it must first have an idea of the risk associated with granting credit to that customer.

This helps the institution to determine whether to grant the customer credit and on what terms to do so. It means therefore that customers with a good credit history can now have access to financing on

CEO of CreditInfo Guyana, Judy Semple-Johnson more favourable terms.”

She further explained that without a credit bureau the process of assessing a customer’s risk is difficult since the institution would simply have to base its decision to lend credit mostly on its relationship with the customer rather than a broad range of sources.

Additionally, the institution would have to wait longer periods of time before granting credit.

The businesses are not the only beneficiaries, however; Semple-Johnson said the regular man is expected to benefit significantly by having greater access to much needed funds for sustaining the livelihood of their households as well as through improved financial literacy and sound management of personal finances.

In terms of national economic development, she opined that the possibility of credit expansion in the local context would give rise to growth in the business sector, particularly amongst small and medium enterprises.

She said, too, that the financial sector as a whole would be deepened.

“Additionally, the credit bureau, by improving overall access to credit, can improve the country’s ranking on the global competitiveness index, thereby making it more attractive to investors,” she said.

She added that the findings of the World Bank’s Doing Business 2015 Report which ranked Guyana 165 out of 189 countries in the area of getting credit in informative.

In comparison, Jamaica was ranked 12th. Guyana and Jamaica are the only two countries within the Caribbean region to have national credit bureaux.

“The reasons for this disparity are varied but can be attributed mainly to issues related to differences in legislation, education or culture, and level of commitment,” she said.

According to SempleJohnson, CIG has been able to enlist the support of the banking and other sectors since its launch in 2013.

Through this support CIG is in the process of mobilizing the subscription of the “nontraditional” financial sector.

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Pesticides Control Board embarks on - to complement Public awareness campaign border control efforts The Pesticides and Toxic Chemical Control Board (PTCC) has embarked on an aggressive Public awareness campaign in a bid to complement the ongoing efforts to stop importing illegal pesticides and chemicals.

According to PTCC Registrar, Trecia David, the fight against illegal pesticides and chemicals was ever present, but in recognition of the fact that Guyana does have porous borders, the decision was made to tackle the problem in additional ways.

David stated that the Board has thus embarked on

a campaign, designed to notify the public of the pesticide products that are considered illegal.

According to her, the campaign will also target the market environs and street vendors with a particular focus on vendors of rat bait, which does not generally have labels.

She said that Pesticides and toxic chemicals have to go through a registration process with the Pesticide Board. Illegal pesticides would not have gone through this process, thus the components and toxicity of the products are not known.

“They have to go through

Some of the pesticides and chemicals the PTCC has seized this process to know how toxic these products are and whether they should be allowed in Guyana,” David stated.

She recalled one case

whereby persons using aerosol insect spray might be unaware of the toxicity contained in the item. Hence, they would remain in the room after spraying it in the air, a

“BK” sold 100-acre Providence ...

The stalled construction.

From page 11 offices at Cacique Palace and Banquet Hall, located behind Princess Casino and Hotel, were not in service.

The BaiShanLin/Sunset Lakes growing scandal would seem to be only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the lands allocated to the private developers.

An inspection visit by

Scott and senior CH&PA officials last Tuesday found several of the developments way behind.

Some 16 developers have benefitted from large plots of lands between Republic Park and Little Diamond.

It is unclear how much CH&PA collected from the sale of the lands.

What is known is that

CH&PA is now reporting that it has about 25,000 applications on file with only 5,000 to be addressed in the coming five years.

The new administration has said that housing developments, especially on the East Bank of Demerara, are facing delays because of contractors’ tardiness and poor oversight.

Yesterday, Minister Scott disclos e d t h a t h e h a s mandated a special body of C H & PA s t a ff e r s a n d others, to monitor private housing developers and report on their progress every month.

T he developers have been given a February 2016 deadline to complete infrastructure works.

practice that could be considered harmful.

She also stated that the names and images of products which did not go through the registration process would be published in the media each week. She stated that some brands of mosquito coil and some household products fall into this category.

David revealed that just last week, the campaign picked up steam in shops around Georgetown.

However, she explained that even if Inspectors enter these shops, it is not just to confiscate these products, but inspectors would remain on the business premises, consulting with customers.

During these consultations, the Registrar said, the public will be educated about the dangerous pesticides that are on the market and what signs to look out for. One danger sign, she said, were pesticides with labels in a foreign language.

She also encouraged the general public to contact them on their hotline. She added that if the public was not sure of what they could buy, the PTCC would provide a complete list of products.

The PTCC has continued to embark on raids of suspect

dealers and for the year 2015 has pulled off 18 seizures in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. The items seized include both agricultural and household articles which are all in violation of the regulations.

The items, according to the Registrar, would amount to approximately 600kg (half a ton).

The PTCC Board, created under the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Act 2000, Part III, Section 7, is responsible for managing the manufacturing, importing, transporting, storing, vending and usage of toxic chemicals.

The Board mandates that all toxic chemicals imported on or before December 31, 2015, be registered in order to be approved for importation from January 1, next. The registered products are then documented on the official listing for registered toxic chemicals.

Among the items required for registration are original draft labels in English, a safety data sheet comprising the formula used in the product, a description of the tests done and the results. An application for registration of a pesticide or toxic chemical, addressed to the Registrar is also required.

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Sunday September 13, 2015

MY MOM FLEW TO HEAVEN

By Ralph Seeram “The little butterfly has flown”, that was how my sister broke the news of my mother’s death last week. It was not expected, due to a series of events the previous day. But I will write on it at a later date, when the series of events will be a lesson to all families.

For now I can’t seem to concentrate, so I will reprint an article I wrote for my

mother for her 90th birthday last year September. Writing her eulogy was one of the most difficult tasks to complete.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank all friends, relatives and the hundreds of people who do not know me personally but never the less expressed their sympathy in so many ways. I thank you all.

Here is the reprint from last year.

90YRS AND STILL GOING STRONG, I AM BLESSED MY MOTHER IS STILLALIVE The neighbour’s cow was dying, so the owner decided to call the businessman who supplied meat to the two hospitals in New Amsterdam— the New Amsterdam Hospital and the Mental Hospital as it was then known as.

My mother saw what was happening, and realized that the dying cow was going to be slaughtered and given to the patients and workers at the hospitals to eat. Forget about health inspection; the health inspectors were susceptible to bribes. Yes corruption is not an overnight thing in Guyana, it existed way back then.

Anyway, my mother intervened with some choice Guyanese language and told the businessman that her husband works at the hospital and “you are not going to feed my husband with the sick cow”. So intimidating she was that the businessman decided to abort the deal and left with a few cuss words of his own.

Throughout her life I have always known my mother to be very feisty, one who would take no nonsense from anyone— from politicians to customers in her shop. She was also a woman of great foresight.

She survived her two sisters and is regarded as the matriarch of the entire family.

Her siblings, grand, great grands and great-greatgrands, nieces nephews numbered almost 100 persons.

Beauty Soman or “Aunty Beauty” or Miss Beauty as she was known to all in Smythfield, New Amsterdam, was born at Blairmont estate in 1924.

To say she is a remarkable woman with tremendous foresight will be an understatement. She is a very industrious woman who looked at every means to make money to maintain her brood of seven kids.

I recall her being a seamstress, rearing cows, pigs, and later chickens on a commercial scale, then on to a grocery store, all in Smythfield.

She probably had the distinction of having the first “kitchen grocery” in Berbice if not Guyana. She practically converted her kitchen upstairs into a grocery to the consternation of neighbours.

Nothing was an obstacle to her; and she would climb any mountain to achieve her goal.

I think her great achievement was the establishment of Smythfield, New Amsterdam as it is known today. Most of the residents of Smythfield may not know its history.

Smythfield was a coconut estate owned by George Kardar.

The residents then used to pay a rent of $1.00 a month for the house lots on which they built their house.

However the owner, Kardar, can also tell you to break your house and take it off the property if he so desires.

My mother realized this insecurity so she organized the residents into a Coop Society to buy out the house lots they lived on.

She was a shrewd negotiator; the 52 residents paid a $1000 for their house

lots, pay 25 per cent down, and the balance in 10 years, payable in simple interest instead of compound interest as is the norm. By the way a $1000 then was a lot of money.

What the owner of the estate did not know was that he was selling four house lots for $1000 and not one. My mother had seen the plan for extending New Amsterdam to Smythfield in an orderly development, known as the Barker Plan that is why today Smythfield is a planned development while next door Angoy’s Avenue (Cow Dam) is Guyana’s largest slum.

She was Secretary of the Smythfield Coop Society, while her husband was the President; yes no one else wanted the responsibility.

Smythfield as it is today owes its existence to her. She was what would be described today as a community activist.

My mother had a lighter side also, sense of humor if you will. One day an irate mother came barging into her shop cursing about how my younger brother was “interfering” with her daughter (meaning they like each other).

The “old girl” as we call her these days, told the woman “I only chain my sluts, not my bulls” and that was the end of the matter.

One time a male neighbor came and complained how our donkey, a stallion named “Saga Boy’, was making “love to his donkey”, a mare by the name of Jenny. My mother calmly asked him if he wanted his mare for himself.

End of complaint.

Near to the end of Smythfield road was very secluded so it served as a lovers spot in the old days.

One day this very pretty daughter of a prominent N/A businessman in her Berbice High School uniform decided to go to the lovers spot with her boyfriend. Too bad for

them, my mother spotted them, finished her chores, went to the backyard and cut out a “black sage whip” went and interrupted the romantic rendezvous with a few lashes on the girl, asking her “Is this you parents send you to school for”?

In those days even a stranger can discipline you, and you dare not go complain to your parents, because it’s going to be “licks again”. Of course she ask me if I knew the girl’s parents. To save the girl from further humiliation, I told her I did not.

The “old girl” as I said, had great foresight. In the early 70’s she saw the political horizon for Guyana and decided to get her brood out of Guyana. She made her plans and by the 80’s they were all out of Guyana.

This weekend her brood including a lawyer, computer engineers, civil engineers, environmental engineers and an assortment of other university graduates, will pay tribute to her. Their success in education is due largely to her vision some 40 years ago.

She had always stressed education, education, education.

Oh did I mention that I was the eldest of the brood, who felt the brunt of the discipline, who never saw ‘eye to eye” with her. Yes I was the “hard ears” and “own way” one.

Yes I got shut out when I came home late at night, and slept under the bottom house.

She had her house rules, follow them or leave if you think “you is a big man”. Later I decided I was a “big man” and left the home. Yes it was her way or the highway, but we all owe our success to her, to a ‘tough old bird” as I described her these days.

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.comor on Facebook

Sunday September 13, 2015

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VACANCY Work from home; earn $5,000$20,000 daily Call MondayFriday 9am-5pm #233-6517, 6 3 8 - 0 5 9 5 www.jobfairworldwide.com

FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 2 Bedroom apartment in Charlestown, available October, 1st -price $50,000 – Tel: 681-4275 Single room, semi-furnished apartment @ Crane Housing Scheme, W.B.D- Call: 6740509; 696-5599 One bottom apartment for rent– Call: 614-4275; 663-4813

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Live in Couple to care take country home, suitable accommodation peaceful environment. Risans, 51 Main Street Georgetown.

Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building. visadocumentsgy@yahoo.comCall : 225-6496, 662-6045 Construction and maintenance of Terrazzo – Call Bacchus: 642-2289

Contract Cars with driversContact Triple ‘S’ Taxi – Tel: 220-0060; 622-7772

We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer-Call: 231-0655; 683-8734. Omar

A senior accounts clerk, with level 1 ACCA 3yrs experienced required.

Attractive salary. Email resume to humresdes@gmail.com

2 Self Contained rooms; water (hot & cold) A/C & phone$US1500 @ Vlissingen RoadContact: 660-9478; 672-0865 One four storey building at Lot 14 Croal and Longden Street to rent- Contact 6631876

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AT192, 212, Allion, unregistered Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN, RZ & Pit-bull, 7 seater super custom. Cash / terms- Call:680-3154

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1AT 212 PTT Series for sale$1.4M negotiable -Tel: 6616156 or 650-3156

One Massey Ferguson Tractor 175 – Call: 255-0343; 694-7154

Kaw a s a k i N i n ja 650R, excellent condition, lime green $650,000 asking price Tel: 655-2561

Section 1, Stall 71/72, La Penitence Market, Albouystown – Contact: 6631597; 218-4837

1 Pit Bull Minibus, 19 seats, recently sprayed & service also brand new rims & tires.

Contact: +592-695-3813 Star Cars Auto Sale: Just Arrived: Rush, Allion, Pitbul, Bluebird, Alteeza, Benz, 06 Premio. Tel: 679-3140, 2683509 Star Cars Auto Sale: 04 Premio, Allion,06 Runx, 03 Runx, Axela, New Raum, IST, Vitz. Tel: 679-3140, 268-3509 Venus Auto Sale: September Specials: 2004 Premio $2.350M, Pre-Order specials on IST -$1.9M –Call: 624-5617 We buy & sell vehicles for cash, also parts available & 30 seater buses; Extra Cab pickups; 2006 TacomaCall:680-3154 1 Ford 2005 F350 Pickup, extended cab, 4X4 Diesel, 35 inch tyre auto, 1 Chevy Van 2007 –Call: 610-5370

33.6 Acres Farm land, one 2" water pump, 1 STHL M.Blower, 1 Tiller-garden purpose-Call: 225-7794; 679-1151

Toyota Premio- 2003, Spacio2004- Call: 227-5950 or 681-7117 Timber Jack 450 B, skidder, excellent condition, scrap Nissan 720 Pick-up- Call: Richard: 609-7675; 674-1705; 233-2614 BMW 320I –AT212, Raum, Tundra, Hilux 4-Runner & Pick-up, L-Touring Wagon, Nissan March & 4-Door Pickup- Call: 644-5096; 697 -1453

Automatic Gate opener, garage door opener, chainsaw 51 HP, Dell Projector, Toyota Fielder, year 2003 –Call: 644-4582, 6628665

Reduced Prices: Dell/HP laptop & desktop computers complete, from $55,000, free games and educational software @ Future – Call: 231-2206 Dachshund puppies, dewormed ($12,000) –Call: 2160521; 642-8671 2 Canters going cheap, owner migrating –Call: 6281756, 228-5655.

Lovely Tibetan Terrier pups for sale –Call: 649-4247 1 Two base music set for saleCall: 669-9055; 674-1291 F5-160 Shil Weeding Machine equipment included. Call: 661-2888 1 Complete six inch dredge inclusive of pick up and ATVprice 6,000,000-Contact: 6600422 1-45FT Fishing Boat with 800lb 5 inch Nylon Seine, 240 engine, Yamaha and 1 GPS for $4.8M-Call: 260-2591 4 Gold claims located in Mining District #5, Wanamu Calalu, area Barama River – Contact: 690-7932 Continued on page 72

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PPP’s bitterness for...

EDUCATION

From page 71

LAND FOR SALE

Princeton College Forms 1-5 (5000) CXC adult classes $1,500 a subject, Phonics/ Grade 2,4,6,9 lessons Call: 231-1209, 690-5008,657-7398

Professional Realty: we buy/ sell/rent/value your real estate –Call:694-3875; 6490535; 654-6198

I.A.E currently registering students for full time secondary school, lessons & evening CXC classes for adults- Call: 683-5742

Herstelling -$4M (110ftX60ft), Farm -$2.5M (100ftX50ft), Parfaite Harmonie (80ftX50ft) -$1.2M Call: 611-7223; 604-2207

Register now! 6 weeks course, pedicure & manicureCall: 618-8536; 696-2295 Makeup Classes @ La Vie Est Belle. Come register and be apart, its life changing!

Call: 682-9699; 218-2092 Spanish Classes!!! Learn Spanish in 3 Months: Introductory, Intermediate, Advance, children, CSC Form 1-5 –Tel: 673-8605.

Register Now!!!

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VEHICLE FOR SALE Mazda Axela Grey (PNN Series) 2004, 1500cc, fully loaded- $1.75M –Call: 6151611; 664-4000 Toyota Rush- Unregistered $3M negotiable; Honda CRV 2003 model PSS 2018- $3.1M negotiable, pre-order any vehicle. Call: 655-3400 Toyota X Runner, GTT series- $3.5 million neg. Call 227-2454 Toyota AT150, excellent condition, price negotiableCall: 226-1751; 616-9345 Just arrived from UK brand new TM trucks. Good priceTel: 679-7587, 264-1582 1 Small Town Ace bus for sale – Call: 614-4275; 663-4813

Kitty 2 Self Contained Bedrooms apartment, cable TV, Internet, parking security cameras-$100,000 monthly –Call: 645-0247 One bedroom apartment Grove New Housing Scheme, EBD -$36,000 –Tel: 642-1956

FOR SALE German shepherd and pit bull (mix) puppies -$30,000 each – Tel: 269-0711 or 621-7842

1-100 KVA Generator on trailer, 1-40HP, 2 Stroke Yamaha outboard. Call: 6843248; 662-9603; 653-0266; 6960712 5 Toyota Coaster, 1 Mitsubishi 30 seater, 1-320C bucket, must be sold- Call: 648-0121; 628-1832

Flat house, two bedroom with toilet and bath -$35,000 a month –Call: 684-8877 1- (One bedroom) tiled semifurnished bottom apartment C/Ville –Call: 667-1896; 2231051 2 BEDROOM FULLY FURNISHEDAPARTMENT, FOR SHORT TERM RENTAL (OVERSEAS GUESTS -$US35 DAILYCALL: 609-8132; 672-8569 (MAX) Apartment for rent at Parfaite Harmonie- Call: +592-6015058 1 Bedroom apartment to rent -Call: 678-7021 Apartment for rental @ Agricultural Road, MonRepos- Tel: 672-7431; 6583542; 234-1618

Property @ Tuschen New Housing Scheme –Call: 6699055; 674-1291 Property for sale, business place at Kuru kururu, New Town on High Way- Call: 261-6282 or 676-4787 Pearl: Well built 1,995 SF concrete building on 58X165 lot, formerly used at meeting halls-$13.5M-Tel: 649-1670 Brand new 2 storey concrete building in 5th Avenue, Diamond, E.B.D, all modern amenities - $45M –Call: 6629335; 612-3244 Property @ West Minister W.B.D, 3 Bedrooms, 1 bathroom & 2 Verandahs Property Vacant possessionCall: 660-9478; 672-0865, see T&T Realty on FaceBook.

1-Ford F250 truck, manual and lifted, 1-4-Stroke 40HP Yamaha Outboard – Call: 6843248; 662-9603; 653-0266; 6960712 TO LET

PROPERTY FOR SALE Property for sale, Grove $20M / Rent: $50,000 per month. Tel: 625-5461.

LAND FOR SALE $1.5M Parfaite Harmonie, main road, corner lot, $2.8M Parfaite Harmonie (130ftX46ft), Diary -$2.8M – Call: 611-7223; 604-2207

House & Land located @ Lot 17 Pike Street Kitty, location perfect for business & residence for more info call Anwar Rahaman on Tel: 6388513 or 600-8513 House for sale Versailles W.B.D five minutes from Harbour Bridge, price neg.

Call:616-0111 Business Property for sale @ Friendship Public Road –Call: 621-6878 Business place @ Anna Catherina, Road side. Call: 661-9880 Lot 12 Mon Repos E.C.D Tel: 220-7330, 203-850-5235 House and land for sale @ Agricultural Road, MonRepos- Tel: 672-7431; 6583542; 234-1618 2 Storey building with bond, fully grilled with modern amenities @ Tuschen. Owner leaving Country. Call: 6141030 Three bedrooms upstairs and downstairs concrete house, located at 204 Charlotte Street Lacytown, Georgetown-Call: 617-0384

Parfaite Harmonie 80X45 $1,250,000. Call: 683-0009 Concrete fenced land in residential high income area at Republic Park, Water, light, etc-Call: 233-0570 5 Acres, Enmore Public Road E.C.D, Ideally suitable for large investment-Call: Richard: 609-7675; 674-1705; 233-2614

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Land for sale at Yarakabra Call: 685-1259

PEN PAL Indian Male 48, seeking single female for friendship.

No Texting! Call: 649-4914

From page 14 the supporters of the coalition as well as from the PPP. “Supportive public opinion will aid resistance to the coalition’s own opposing elements or those from the PPP” said Ramkarran.

The former PPP stalwart said that while the PPP is united in its bitterness against Nagamootoo and Ramjattan, it may not have a united position in relation to the talks.

“In fact, the invitation to talks has not been rejected.

The PPP’s refusal to sit down with Nagamootoo should not be an obstacle. There are creative ways around these matters.”

Ramkarran said that talks leading to a national unity government should be seen as a process, not an event.

He added that if the

coalition wants to maintain focus on the larger picture, it will work through the sensitivities of the PPP. It will be prepared for the long haul and endure the painful negotiations but with purposeful commitment, serious compromises, the use of skilled interlocutors who are available within its own ranks and above all, persistence and patience.

The former Speaker of the National Assembly said that with each political party seeing the other as its nemesis, as its sole obstacle in its path to its rightful place at the top of the ladder of ethno-political dominance, a recipe already exists for failure.

He noted, however, that statesmanship, vision and patience, if deployed, will reap success.

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Austria’s Faymann likens Orban’s refugee policies to Nazi deportations Reuters - Austria’s chancellor criticised Hungary for its handling of the refugee crisis yesterday, likening the country’s policies to Nazi deportations during the Holocaust as refugees complained of their treatment in the eastern European country.

Thousands of refugees are crossing the border to Hungary, an eastern outpost of Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone, every day, and many are travelling on to the continent’s more prosperous west and north in what is Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Refugees continued to stream into Germany, favoured for its generous welfare system and relatively liberal asylum laws. At Munich’s main train station around 9,200 arrived by early evening and authorities said they would struggle to cope.

In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann likened Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s treatment of refugees to the Nazis’ deportation of Jews and

others to concentration camps.

“Sticking refugees in trains and sending them somewhere completely different to where they think they’re going reminds us of the darkest chapter of our continent’s history,” he said.

On Sept. 3, migrants boarded a train in Budapest in the belief that they were heading to the border with Austria but the train was stopped 35 km (22 miles) west of the capital in the town of Bicske, where Hungary has a camp for asylum seekers.

Hungary dismissed Faymann’s comments as “utterly unworthy of a 21st century European leader” and summoned Austria’s ambassador.

Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said the Austrian chancellor had been pursuing a “campaign of lies” against Hungary for weeks that made it harder to find a common European solution to the crisis.

Many refugees and migrants now arriving in Hungary want to avoid being registered there for fear of being returned to Hungary later as they travel on to

Werner Faymann (left) and Viktor Orban richer countries in western and northern Europe.

Saeed, a 25-year-old Syrian, was one of many refugees complaining about his treatment in Hungary.

Speaking to Reuters in the Austrian border town of Nickelsdorf, he said he had spent the last six days in Hungary, where he was taken to five camps and had to sleep standing up in an overcrowded room.

“They put us in jails. We were there for a week, so little food, one of these little breads in the morning and one at night ... Everyone has a cold because there is no heating or anything there,” he said.

“I escaped from Syria

because I wasn’t treated like a person, like a human being there and I came to Hungary and I was treated like an animal,” he added.

On Friday, video emerged of crowds clamouring for food in a border camp as police in surgical masks

tossed them packs of sandwiches. Police in Hungary said they had launched an investigation into the scenes.

In an interview due to be published in the Sunday edition of Austrian newspaper Oesterreich, Faymann said: “It is unacceptable that refugees arrive from Hungary afraid, panicked, hungry and sometimes traumatised.”

Orban, a conservative populist always keen to undercut his main political rival, the far-right Jobbik party, has taken a tough stance during the crisis and told German newspaper Bild’s yesterday edition that refugees should be sent back once Hungary closes its borders on Sept 15.

Asked where, he said: “Where they came from.

These migrants are not coming to us from war zones but rather from camps in countries neighbouring Syria like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. They were safe there.”

Marx admirer Corbyn elected UK opposition Labour leader

New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2-R) following his announcement as the party’s new leader, with other candidates Andy Burnham (4-R), Yvette Cooper (3-R) and Liz Kendall (R), at a Labour special conference in London, Britain, yesterday. (Londres) EFE/EPA/ANDY RAIN LONDON (Reuters) - Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran left-winger who professes an admiration for Karl Marx, was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party yesterday, a victory that may make a British EU exit more likely and which one former Labour prime minister has said could leave their party unelectable.

Greeted by cheers from supporters in the room and hailed by radicals across Europe, Corbyn’s triumph opened up the prospect of deep splits within Labour with some fearing he will repel voters with radical policies that include unilateral nuclear disarmament, nationalization and wealth taxes.

“Things can and they will change,” Corbyn, who when he entered the contest was a rank outsider, said in his acceptance speech after taking 59.5 percent of votes cast, winning by a far bigger margin than anyone had envisaged.

“I say thank you in advance to us all working together to achieve great victories, not just electorally for Labour, but emotionally for the whole of our society to show we don’t

have to be unequal, it doesn’t have to be unfair, poverty isn’t inevitable,” the grayhaired, bearded 66-year-old said.

His victory reflects growing support for left-wing movements across Europe, with Syriza winning an election in Greece in January and Spain’s anti-austerity party Podemos performing well in opinion polls.

Both parties welcomed the news.

“The election of Corbyn to the Labour leadership ... is a significant boost to the panEuropean front against austerity and sends a message of hope to European peoples,” Syriza said in a statement. Corbyn’s rise also has an echo of the way Senator Bernie Sanders has galvanized left-leaning Democrats in his bid to beat Hillary Clinton to the party’s nomination for the U.S. presidential race.

However, the scale of division Corbyn’s victory has created in his own party was immediately laid bare with one Labour lawmaker quitting his role as a health spokesman while Corbyn was making his acceptance speech. Others quickly followed, saying they would not serve in his senior team.

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Tunisians protest economic amnesty bill Reuters - Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital Tunis yesterday to protest a proposed law giving amnesty to businessmen accused of corruption during the rule of ousted autocrat Zine ElAbidine Ben Ali. Wa v i n g banners saying “This law will not pass”, protesters took to the streets under tight security in the city after authorities warned about possible car bomb attacks

by Islamist militants trying to undermine Tunisia’s democracy.

The proposed law would clear businessmen accused of corruption under Ben Ali in exchange for their ill-gotten wealth that the government says will inject needed finance into the North African state’s economy.

But critics say the law will be a step back for the country almost five years after an uprising against corruption and abuses ousted Ben Ali and allowed Tunisia a transition to democracy, free elections and a new

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against the economic reconciliation bill at Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis yesterday. REUTERS/ANIS MILI constitution.

“This law is dangerous.

The old regime is trying to

make an economic comeback,” said Asma, a young protester wearing a

T-shirt with the slogan: “ N o f o rg i v i n g ” . “ We ’ l l keep in the streets until this

law is defeated.”

Since its 2011 revolution ousted Ben Ali

and sparked the Arab Spring revolts, Tunisia has managed to build a political compromise between an Islamist party and other opposition figures and former Ben Ali officials.

That consensus allowed a return to stability but the new economic law, which would halt prosecutions of former officials and businessmen accused of corruption if they reveal their stolen wealth, threatens to open up old wounds and divisions.

Their frozen funds would then be injected into Tunisia’s economy, which has been hit hard by two major Islamist militant attacks this year against its vital tourism industry.

But one minister has said the government hopes to recover at least five billion dollars through the law.

Critics say the proposal white-washes past corruption and will allow the return of elites who benefited from Ben Ali’s autocratic rule.

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Germany’s Merkel sees need to Tunisians protest economic amnesty bill cooperate with Russia on Syria DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said yesterday.

The comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts who said the country had a low supply and sooner or later would need to import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.

Any indication Iran could become more self-sufficient will be closely watched by world powers, which reached a landmark deal with Tehran in July over its program. They had feared the nuclear activities were aimed at acquiring the capability to produce atomic weapons something denied by Tehran.

“I cannot announce (the level of) Iran’s uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves,” Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. Salehi said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.

Uranium can be used for

Ali Akbar Salehi civilian power production and scientific purposes, but is also a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.

The July deal between Iran and world powers will lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for at least a decade of curbs on the country’s nuclear activity.

The U.S. State Department said any new reserves of uranium discovered in Iran will be under the same monitoring as existing mines under the nuclear agreement.

“Any violation of that commitment would be met with the appropriate response,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

After decades of effort, Iran - which has consistently said its program is for

peaceful purposes - has achieved a full nuclear fuel cycle, ranging from the extraction of uranium ore to enrichment and production of fuel rods for nuclear reactors.

Sanctions on companies taking part in Iran’s uranium mining industry will be lifted when the agreement is implemented.

Salehi said uranium extraction was set to begin at a new mine in the central province of Yazd, according to IRNA. Some Western analysts have previously said that Iran was close to exhausting its supply of yellowcake - or raw uranium - and that mining it domestically was not costefficient.

A report published in 2013 by U.S. think-tanks Carnegie Endowment and the Federation of American Scientists said the scarcity and low quality of Iran’s uranium resources compelled it “to rely on external sources of natural and processed uranium”.

It added: “Despite the Iranian leadership’s assertions to the contrary, Iran’s estimated uranium endowments are nowhere near sufficient to supply its planned nuclear program.”

Iran has repeatedly denied overseas media reports that it has tried to import uranium from countries like Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe.

Greece’s Syriza, New Democracy still hard to separate, polls show and Tsipras and his centreright counterpart Vangelis Meimarakis have spent much of their campaigns trying to protect their vote, trading accusations over Greece’s economic crisis, migration and corruption.

In surveys published in the Sunday editions of four newspapers, Syriza led by between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent in three, hovering around 26 percent of the vote.

A fourth, by Public Issue poll in Avgi that included the preferences of undecided Alexis Tsipras Reuters - The leftist Syriza party of former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras maintained a wafer-thin preelection lead over conservative New Democracy in three opinion polls yesterday, with a fourth putting them level-pegging.

The two parties have been hard to separate in the run-up to the Sept. 20 ballot,

voters, put both parties on 31 percent.

In the other polls the undecideds, invariably the third largest bloc in surveys published this month, came in at between 10.4 and 14.1 percent Pollsters expect some of those voters to come off the fence after a televised headto-head debate between Tspiras and Meimarakis on Monday, though a sevenparty debate broadcast on Wednesday had little impact on voting intentions.

Reuters - Germany and other western European powers need to work with Russia as well as the United States to solve the crisis in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday.

She was speaking before a meeting of the German, Russian, French and Ukrainian foreign ministers being held in Berlin yesterday evening to discuss the Ukraine crisis, although the four are also expected to touch on Syria.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a lengthy exchange about Syria on the sidelines of the meeting, a delegation source said.

“Both ministers agreed to give firm political support to the U.N. Syrian envoy (Staffan) de Mistura and his plan to create a Syrian contact group,” the source said.

De Mistura has invited warring parties to take part in U.N.-led working groups to address matters including political and constitutional issues, and military and security issues.

Russia had called on Friday for cooperation with

Angela Merkel the United States to avoid “unintended incidents”, as it stages naval exercises off the coast of Syria, where U.S. officials believe Moscow is building up forces to protect long-term ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian state media said yesterday two Russian planes carrying 80 tonnes of humanitarian aid arrived in Syria. Russia said on Friday it had been sending military equipment to help the Syrian government fight Islamic State.

In an interview with regional German newspapers,

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Russia against going it alone in Syria, saying: “I hope that Russia is not depending on the Syrian civil war continuing.”

Separately in a guest article for the New York Times, Steinmeier said the nuclear deal struck between Iran and six world powers had created an opportunity to tackle Syria’s troubles, but he was concerned that the chance to make progress was fading.

“It would be folly to continue betting on a military solution,” he said. “Now is the time to find a way to bring the parties to the negotiating table. This must include preparatory talks with and among crucial regional actors like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but also Iran.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that Russia’s escalated military involvement in Syria indicates Assad is worried and turning to Russian advisers for help.

EU diplomats are concerned that Russian military support for Assad would counter any incentives to consider a political solution in the civil war.

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St Kitts PM takes flack for LIAT comments

Prime Minister Gaston Browne (left) and St. Vincent PM Dr Ralph Gonsalves

Daily Observer - Two regional prime ministers and a vocal Caribbean trade unionist are taking issue with the refusal of St Kitts & Nevis, the sub-region’s fastest economy, to invest in LIAT. Prime Minister Gaston Browne said other countries which benefit from LIAT but do not wish to invest in it “were taking a very selfish position.”

“You cannot have a situation where they continue equitably in the benefits of LIAT, but at the same time do now wish to share in any of its burden,” Browne told a LIAT shareholder governments’ news conference.

He reiterated his appeal for “the other countries within the region to reconsider their position.”

St Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris told OBSERVER media last week that he would want to see LIAT demonstrate some level of financial viability before investing in it, but Browne said he has heard enough “tired excuses.”

Chairman of the LIAT shareholder government St Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said he did not hear the remarks by his colleague, but promised to raise it with him when next they spoke.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Shaw wants probe into award of cane extension loans Audley Shaw

Jamaica Observer Opposition spokesman on Finance and Planning Audley Shaw has called on the Auditor General’s Department to carry out an immediate and urgent audit of expenditure under the Sugar Transformation Programme being carried out with funding from the European Union.

In making the call, Shaw cited Wednesday’s admission in Parliament by permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, that he and other senior employees of the ministry had received loans under the Cane Expansion Fund of the Sugar Transformation Programme.

Shaw said that the auditor general needed to examine the state of affairs where the chief accounting officer, who must account to the Government and Parliament for funds expended in his ministry, was himself and other public officers in receipt of loans which are managed by the ministry.

“This is a ... conflict of interest, and the minister of agriculture must now tell the country whether this scheme had his prior knowledge and approval,” Shaw said.

He also called the auditor general’s attention to the report of the agriculture ministry, which was sent to

the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), which said that replanting activities under the Cane Expansion Fund were slow, “as the reflows from the Fund are insufficient to support current (loan) demand”.

Shaw wanted to know whether the fund, which was meant to be a revolving loan scheme, was now unable to meet demand due to the failure of recipients to pay back their loans from the proceeds of crop sales.

He also called on the auditor general to investigate the Springfield, Clarendon barracks relocation programme in which 88 housing units and supporting infrastructure were reportedly in an unsatisfactory state of affairs, with the flooring of some units breaking apart and reportedly sinking , while the roads which were constructed are already beginning to deteriorate.

Among the matters to be investigated would be “the award of contracts, allegedly to political cronies, and not by competitive tender; the substantial cost overrun on the infrastructure and housing; as well as the substandard work and consequent loss of value for money which is self-evident.”

St. Lucia to host second meeting of OECS parliamentary opposition leaders CASTRIES, St Lucia — Parliamentary opposition leaders in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will be reviewing the status of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with an update on the Economic Union at a regional meeting in Saint Lucia scheduled for Wednesday.

At this second meeting of opposition leaders in the OECS, the bloc’s growth and development strategy as well as the accession of Martinique to associate membership will be among matters to be tabled for discussion.

The OECS Commission said it recognises that the upcoming meeting will be a significant opportunity to inform this key stakeholder group on developments towards the regional integration movement in areas such as the free circulation of goods and the free movement of persons.

It is also anticipated that such a meeting will also strengthen the capacity of parliamentary opposition leaders to share vital information on the regional integration movement with their constituents. (Caribbean News)

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Liquidators to take possession Govt. has housing fix-up plan of bankrupt Bahamas resort NASSAU, Bahamas — The joint provisional liquidators of the bankrupt Bahamas multibillion dollar megaresort Baha Mar last week undertook to continue “working closely” with all appropriate stakeholders as they settle into their role overseeing the affairs of seven Baha Mar entities.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Edmund Rahming, managing director of KRyS Global, Bahamas, noted the “extremely complex” nature of the Baha Mar winding up petition and its potential impact on The Bahamas.

Supreme Court Justice I a n Wi n d e r a p p o i n t e d KRyS Global (Bahamas) and the UK-based AlixPartners as joint provisional liquidators h a n d l i n g B a h a M a r ’s affairs on September 4.

Schedule 1 of Winder’s ruling outlines the powers granted to the joint provisional liquidators, including the provisional liquidators’ right to access records and other information held by the Baha Mar group of companies set out in the

Edmund Rahming government’s winding up petition.

“This is both a high profile and extremely complex situation which impacts a wide range of stakeholders, not least of all the people of The Bahamas. As a result the ultimate success of the Baha Mar project is in everybody’s interest and priority now is to begin our work in order to identify the best route forward.

“We will be working closely with all appropriate

stakeholder groups throughout and further updates will follow in due course,” Rahming stated.

Alastair Beveridge and Nick Cropper represent global business advisory firm AlixPartners Services UK LLP. Together, the joint provisional liquidators will oversee the affairs of a group of Baha Mar ’s affiliates comprised of Baha Mar Ltd, Baha Mar Land Holdings Ltd, Baha Mar Properties Ltd, BMP Three Ltd, BMP Golf Ltd, Cable Beach Resorts Ltd, and Baha Mar Enterprises Ltd. According to Winder’s orders, KRyS Global and AlixPartners are authorized to, “take possession of, collect and protect all of the assets of [Baha Mar] and in particular the books, records, computer equipment and other tangible assets” of Baha Mar and are similar charged with promoting a “scheme/plan of compromise” between all Baha Mar stakeholders that could reverse Baha Mar’s insolvent status.

(Nassau Guardian)

CCJ debate to begin in senate October 16

A.J. Nicholson The Gleaner - Jamaica’s Senate will finally begin debating the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) bills on October 16.

The Leader of Government Business in the Senate, A.J. Nicholson,

Friday said it is the most farreaching initiative to be undertaken by the Upper House since the Independence Debate of 1962.

The three pieces of legislation seek to amend the Constitution to make the CCJ the country’s final court, replacing the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.

However, the Government has shied away from starting the debate on the bill in the face of pronouncements by the

opposition that it will not support their passage.

Notice of second reading of the bills was given on May 22 following their passage in the House of Representatives one week earlier.

They have been awaiting debate and a vote by all members of the Senate.

The laws require a two thirds majority to be passed in the Senate. That means all 13 government senators and at least one opposition senator would have to vote in favour of the bills.

New T&T Govt. likely to present budget on September 28 PORTOFSPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The new Trinidad and Tobago Government is likely to present its fiscal national budget on September 28, Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said.

“I am tentatively setting September 28 for Budget Day, but that depends on what I discover when I look at the skeleton Budget,” Imbert told reporters after he was sworn into the post, adding “we may have to adjust that date but that’s the tentative date”.Parliament may hold its first sitting since Monday’s general election on September 21 and Imbert said that the Keith Rowley administration will have until October 30 to pass its fiscal package.

Imbert also noted that the Government could spend no less than 10 per cent of the previous budget under the provisions of the

Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation Act. “You have until the end of October to complete the budget so I will have to talk to the public servants and see what the skeleton budget looks like.

“I cannot say anything until I see what is going on, see the state of play. It will be unwise to say anything. The first thing I would like to do is to find out what is the state of the economy, what is the state of the debt what is our fiscal balance, how much money there is in the Exchequer account,” Imbert said.

The finance minister said he intends to meet with his predecessor, “Larry Howai and get some views from him on what factors he took into account when he was preparing the budget”.

Minister of Housing Denis Kellman addressing the media conference. He is flanked by co-chairs of the Habitat III committee, chief town planner Mark Cummins (left) and economist Jeremy Stephen. (WILLCOM) Daily Nation - Government is considering entering into arrangements with owners of abandoned and derelict buildings in a bid to acquire them and boost the country’s housing stock.

The disclosure by Housing Minister Denis Kellman came as he reported that a local delegation was able to secure support from a grouping of Latin American and Caribbean countries to champion some specific needs of Small Island Developing States like Barbados.

The meeting of Ministers and High Level Authorities on Housing and Urbanisation in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Jamaica late last month. Barbados had pushed for critical issues such as the vulnerability of countries to climate change as evidenced by the damage caused in Dominica by Tropical Storm Erika, and the need to get abandoned and derelict buildings back into the housing stock to be included in the Habitat III report for Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

BranderZ Guyana sponsors uniforms...

From page 85 have done Guyana proud in the past as two of the most decorated athletes. Stoby, a former World Master’s deadlift record holder and Rahim, a Caribbean and National record holder, both lifters were gold medal and record hopefuls at this competition, according to the GAPF release.

The donation of uniforms will outfit the travelling 8-member team of Britany Mack, Andrea Smith, Osmand Mack, Rudolph Blackman, Marino Jeffrey, GAPF General Secretary / IPF Referee Gordon Spencer, GAPF PRO/ Organising Secretary / IPF Scorer Denroy Livan

and Assistant Manager / Coach, Vickram Budhram. Manager of BranderZ Guyana, Mr. Martin Brock in handing over the tee shirts to GAPF’s Organising Secretary / Public Relations Officer Denroy Livan noted his pleasure in assisting the team in being uniformed for the 15th NAPF / FESUPO Pan-American Powerlifting Championships.

Given the lack of funds in the coffers of the GAPF, the athletes and officials who are travelling are footing their own expenses (airfare, accommodation, meals) primarily, the federation was able to pay the membership and affiliation fees.

TSC defeat GDF, DCC beat GCC...

From page 76 Mohamed removed Rutherford nine runs later but Byron, whose innings lasted 30 balls and included five fours and a six scored crucial runs towards the end. When GCC began their chase, Sookdeo hooked Barnwell for six and straight drove Rutherford for four before pulling him for six, while Robin Bacchus (12) was LBW to Barnwell.

Singh (3), Mohamed (7), Elon Fernandes (14) and Adams (5) all departed quickly and then Johnson hit Griffith for consecutive boundaries before injuring his back and retiring. When he returned at 128-8 and hit a couple of sixes it was too little too late.

Earlier, GDF who arrived late, could only

reach 155-8 chasing the 172-4 made by TSC although they should been allowed only 12 overs to get the 173 according to the GCA’s playing conditions.

Hemraj played an array of audacious shots and his 82 was decorated with eight fours and two sixes but only Suresh Budhoo (28) who added 70 for the third wicket with Hemraj, offered resistance as Gilford Moore (2-38) was the best bowler for GDF, who fell 17 short of victory with Leon Andrews (28) and Kelvin Bovell (8) adding 20 for the first wicket and Marcus Watkins (49) and Persaud (11) putting on 44 for the fifth wicket, showing fight. Orin Fernandes (2-25) and Budhoo (2-7) bowled TSC to victory. (Sean Devers)

Sunday September 13, 2015 ARIES (MAR. 21APRIL 20) You will be able to close any deals successfully. Problems on the home front might be a little disconcerting.

TAURUS (APR. 21MAY 21) Too much work and no play will not only result in fatigue and frustration but also loneliness, too.

GEMINI(MAY22-JUNE 21) Reevaluate your motives. You may find that getting together with colleagues after hours will be worthwhile. Your outgoing nature will win hearts.

CANCER (JUNE 22JULY 22) Don't overreact if your partner has a poor attitude. Mingle with those who have similar interests, and you should be able to start something. Your charm will be captivating.

LIBRA (SEPT. 24 -OCT. 23) Do a little investigating if there is someone at work you don't trust. You can gain valuable cultural knowledge through dealing with foreigners.

SCORPIO (OCT. 24 NOV. 22) Catch up on overdue paperwork. You will have no trouble getting things to fall into place.

You're in the mood to spend time with your lover.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 23 -DEC. 21) Close deals that have been up in the air and move on to new ones that appear to be profitable.

CAPRICORN (DEC 22.- JAN. 20) Think of joining a health club that will benefit your physical appearance. Go out with close friends who understand your situation and your needs.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG 22) You will be popular and will easily attract members of the opposite sex. Socializing or travel will lead to partnerships.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 21 FEB. 19) You can make new connections if you play your cards right. Your emotions are fluctuating, so be careful not to say things you'll regret.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 SEPT. 23) You will be uncertain of your feelings.

Don't be afraid to say what's on your mind. You may have to explain your actions to your family.

PISCES (FEB. 20-MAR. 20) Use your inventiveness to find solutions. It's time you let your true feelings out. Your temper could get the better of you if you confront personal situations.

Page 81

Sparta Boss versus Bent Street...

From page 83 Millington and Gregory Richardson, Sparta Boss has been able to play with the same potency as if they were present.

The injection of the skilful Deon Alfred into the lineup has been pivotal, while Denis Edwards, the experienced Travis Grant, Sheldon Shepherd, Cleon Forrester and Eusi Phillips are all extremely accomplished in this format.

When you add their ‘never give up’ mind-set then you know right away the difficulty Bent Street faces as well as the balance off in terms of the latter’s superior depth.

What is promised is goals galore and whatever the outcome, fans will be the real winners.

The game that precedes the final should be a keenly contested clash with both teams aiming to put their semifinal disappointments behind and produce a classic.

West Front Road has a lot to prove following a subpar showing against Sparta Boss when they managed to score just one goal courtesy of a Randolph Wagner strike that gave them the lead initially.

They failed to add to that early lead and spent most of their time questioning the referees’ decisions rather

From page 82 even less competitive. He beat defending champion Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, the most lopsided semifinal in New York in the Open era, which started in 1968. ‘’There’s a lot on the line always when we play against each other,’’ said Federer, who beat Djokovic in the 2007 U.S. Open final but lost semifinals to him in 2010 and 2011, both 7-5 in the fifth set.

It is their record-tying 42nd career matchup overall only Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have played each other that often in the Open era and Federer leads 21-20. He won their most recent match, on a hard court last month at the Cincinnati Masters. This will be their sixth meeting of 2015, all in finals, and Djokovic has won three, including the Wimbledon final two months ago. ‘’We all know how consistent he is and how good he is in the latter stages of Grand Slams and any other big tournament,’’ Djokovic said. ‘’He always makes you play your best.’’

On the same day that Serena Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam ended with a semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci, Djokovic made it to his fourth major final of the year.

He won the Australian Open in January, lost to Wawrinka at the French Open in June, and won Wimbledon in July. ‘’Well, of course it’s a great achievement, and I’m very proud of it,’’ Djokovic said. ‘’These are the tournaments where you want to perform your best.’’

For Djokovic, it’s his sixth trip to the final at Flushing Meadows. He’s only won one, in 2011.

Federer won five consecutive U.S. Opens from

2004-08; he lost to Juan Martin del Potro in the 2009 final. Since then, Federer has won two majors, at the Australian Open in 2010 and Wimbledon in 2012.

Djokovic’s tally in that same span? Eight trophies.

But nowadays, Federer’s movement is as good as ever.

No. 1 Djokovic, No. 2 Federer easily reach...

than upping their play.

Festival City tried as hard as they could, but found the going tough against a team that was in no mood to entertain any holdup to their march to the final.

Players such as Hubert Pedro, Michael Oie and Michael Pedro will have to lift their game for West Front Road, while Dwayne Lawrence, who started the tournament in ripping form will have to find a way to regain that form.

Eon Alleyne continues to be the team’s livewire, while Solomon Austin is always a stable force both on the defensive and offensive ends, Daniel Favourite will also have to do more to give them a chance of beating West Front Road.

Up for grabs are $500,000 and the championship trophy for the winning team, while 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed finishers receive $250,000, $125,000 and $75,000 respectively.

Among the other sponsors are NaMilCo and Trophy Stall of Bourda Market.

Page 82

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

“Hail ‘King’ Richard Williams - Queen Maker!”

Brian Charles Lara of Trinidad & Tobago and West Indies cricket fame had his mentor; the late, hugely missed Michael “Joey” Carew, also a former Test cricketer. While “Joey” did not excel with his WI cricketplaying efforts, his adroit cricketing ideas and submissions as mentor, coach, selector and ‘everything man’ - “Mr. Cricket” - survive to this day.

“Iron” Mike Tyson of boxing fame had his life saved and drastically changed after being adopted by crusty old veteran Constantine “Cus” D’Amato. “Cus” was a tremendous boxing trainer, guiding heavyweight Floyd

Patterson and lightheavyweight Jose Torres to world championships, while changing boxing’s firmament forever by mentoring Mike.

Inspiring me to play cricket for WI was Sylvia, the “Old Girl”. Strict, feisty, honest and abrasive, with not even a high school education, and whose adult male companion died when I was only seventeen, Sylvia demanded great efforts from her off-springs, especially the last one; me.

I still remember being awoken at 4:00am daily to go for my morning run before I caught the train from UnityLancaster at 6:00am to get to high school in Georgetown twenty-two miles away. If I protested with the lame

excuse when it was raining, her retort was always; “So what?” I just ran, rain or not, so she was quite proud when my running skills helped make me into a WI player.

But these episodes pale when compared to Richard Williams; father, mentor, driver and initial coach of unbelievably talented tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams. Most parents hope, pray, cajole, eventually expect their heirs would be of proper use to society in sports, politics, business, medicine etc. Richard Williams has been doubly blessed with world tennis champions.

A female aviation associate recently opined that scientists should have already cloned Richard

Williams, especially freezing his orgasmic output, since people like him, while not entirely unique, must be extremely difficult to find.

She suggested that Richard should be tasked, like race horses, with only siring offsprings, probable future champions, for he generates tennis royalty!

“King Richard” might indeed be a prodigy in some ways. His last of eight children, Dylan Starr Williams, was born in 2012 when Richard was already aged 70. Also, for the record, he mastered, cajoled and guided his daughters’ tennis efforts to an incredible 137 singles and doubles titles.

What a super man! Perhaps he ought to be cloned. There

NEW YORK (AP) — At 34, and more than three years removed from his most recent Grand Slam title, Roger Federer arrived at this U.S. Open with some changes in store. There’s his muchdiscussed ‘’SABR’’ - ‘’Sneak

Attack By Roger’’ - tactic, in which he half-volleys the occasional second-serve return. He skipped a hardcourt tuneup tournament last month, choosing to rest and prepare. And he’s now completely comfortable with

the larger racket head he had experimented with off and on in the past.

Add it all up, and he might just be playing as well as ever, which is saying something for a guy that owns a record 17 major titles.

Federer moved into his first U.S. Open final since 2009 with the latest in a string of dominating performances, overwhelming longtime pal and Swiss Olympic and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday night. ‘’What’s it been now? Six years I haven’t been in the final? Sounds like a big deal,’’ Federer said. ‘’Not that long ago, my opinion.’’

As for the quality of his play over the past two weeks - he has won all 18 sets he’s played, dropped only 62 games, and been broken only twice in 81 service games Federer said: ‘’It’s definitely very good. Maybe my best, I’m not sure. ... I’d love it to work just one more time.’’

That would be in Sunday’s final, which is a blockbuster: The No. 2seeded Federer meets No. 1 Novak Djokovic, owner of nine major titles himself.

Believe it or not, Djokovic’s match Friday was (Continued on page 81)

Colin E. H. Croft

No. 1 Djokovic, No. 2 Federer easily reach US Open final

Mocha Champs beat Grove Hi Tech...

From page 79 minute also from the penalty spot, Rasheed break. Mocha went on to hit the back of the Evans doing the honours. nets on two more occasions, Gible Stephens The EBFA is awaiting an official protest from the penalty spot following a handled ball from the Executive of Grove Hi Tech. Meanin the 40th minute and Shaquille Cox in the while, competition will continue on Saturday 56th minute. with a triple header, Agricola Red Triangle will Grove did create a few chances but were come up against Kuru Kururu Warriors from not able to handle the more limber and robust 10:00hrs, Diamond United will oppose Craig Mocha players. while Herstelling Raiders will face Mocha The home team pulled one back in the 48th Champs.

Latest Points Standings Club Played Won Lost Draw GF GA GD Points Herstelling Raiders Grove Hi Tech Mocha Champs Agricola Red Triangle Diamond United Kuru Kururu Warriors Craig

4 5 4 3 4 3 3

3 3 2 2 2 0 0

1 2 1 1 2 2 3

0 0 1 0 0 1 0

8 10 8 13 9 3 0

2 4 9 2 1 8 10

6 6 -1 11 8 -5 -7

9 9 7 6 6 1 0

is still time!

John McEnroe, also a tennis genius and best voice in the sport, commentating at US Open 2015, lamented: “We will never know what a privilege we’ve had in seeing the Williams sisters, especially Serena, play. It will only be when she is gone from actively playing, hopefully not from the sport altogether, that we will appreciate what we had and saw. We should savor these last few years of her unbelievable abilities and talent, for she is definitely the best of all time!”

No-one could disagree with “Johnny Mac.” Serena Williams has no peers in tennis, male or female.

Indeed, it could be argued that no other sport, male or female, individual or team, has ever seen such a champion of all champions!

That Serena is a black woman dominating a predominantly white sport, having been rescued from the fringes of ghettos, then being coached, with her sister, by a fawning father into being this true world beater, is such a miracle that it would be extremely difficult to be replicated anywhere.

Male and female cricketing friends have pinups of Serena as desk-top screen-savers on computers, as she was depicted on Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Celebrity Swimsuit Tennis Shoot”. They probably hope to be inspired by Serena’s sporting abilities and absolute fitness. When she often appears at presentation balls after tournaments, Serena does look like the “Nubian Queen”!

On court, Serena has become more serious, cynical even, seldom smiling, while normally decimating opponents. Nearly 34, (September 26), she is mostly in control of her tennis and destiny. With maturity has come appreciation that her time as tennis player and alltime winner will soon end. But

what a career!

It rained last Thursday night, so Serena had to wait until Friday to play her semifinal at US Open 2015 against Italy’s Roberta Vinci, ranked 43rd. Maybe No. 1 Serena was cold, as that absolutely massive upset loss to Vinci stopped, for the moment, Serena from joining tennis’ immortality.

History was ready to be rewritten, as Serena was on the verge of becoming only the fourth woman ever to win all four major tennis titles in a single calendar year.

Winning the four tennis majors; Australian, French and US Opens and Wimbledon (UK); in succession has been done previously, even by Serena herself – “Serena Slam”. She even did the “Golden Slam” too, winning two gold medals at London Olympics 2012 to augment her Slams.

But Serena will not yet join USA’s Maureen Connolly (1953), Australia’s Margaret Court (1970) and Germany’s Steffi Graf (1988) as the only women to win four Grand Slam events in one calendar year. However, hail King Richard.

Despite his daughter’s loss last Friday, Richard Williams must still be considered the ultimate “Queen Maker”! Enjoy!

E-mail address = c.e.h.croft@gmail.com

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 83

GT Beer / Petra Organisation Futsal Competition...

Sparta Boss versus Bent Street final promises goals galore tonight - Third place playoff should be equally entertaining

By Rawle Welch With both teams affection for scoring goals widely acknowledged, fans could be in for pure delight when Sparta Boss and Bent Street square off this evening in the final of the GT Beer / Petra Organisation Futsal Competition, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

In their respective semifinal matchups against West Front Road and Festival City, the two teams combined to score 18 goals in two mesmerizing performances to set up what many feel is a dream finale to a tournament that provided plenty excitement and showcased delightful skill.

But before their encounter, West Front Road and Festival City tangle in the third place playoff and many might feel that this game’s only significance is money, but bragging rights has always been a critical feature among community teams and this one has similar significance as well.

The championship game has taken a similar path to the Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao blockbuster not so long ago, with Bent Street’s Coach telling the media in post match comments that Sparta Boss was the team that they were rooting to meet, so right away fans could feel the animosity and hunger from them to meet and beat the best.

Sparta Boss on the other hand has shown time and again their pedigree, especially when the occasion

is a big one and the opponent worthwhile so a cracking affair is the only thing to expect when the game kicks off.

Bent Street has shown that they are not only strong on paper, but on the court as well with the speedy O’kenie Fraser the main architect of their success and his form has remained with him throughout the competition.

However, many pundits believe that the most lethal player on their roster is Stellon David and he seems up to the task. His skill is superior to many in this format of the sport, while his shooting has been deadly accurate so Sparta Boss will have no other choice but to keep a close eye on him.

Then there is the powerfully built Colin Nelson, who has perhaps the hardest shot in the tournament and very often is right on target so he too will need special attention.

Amos Ramsay, Sheldon Profitt, Daniel Wilson and Jermaine Scott round out a cast that is suppose to send shivers down the spine of opponents.

What more could be said of Sparta Boss that has become the most consistent exponent of the shorter version of football.

They are the reigning ‘Street Ball’ champions, having represented Guyana at the Caribbean Championship and this achievement goes with a number of other titles.

Despite missing two of their key players in Devon (Continued on page 81)

National Intermediate boxing championships fixed for this weekend The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) will stage its National Intermediate tournament on September 18 and 19 at the East Ruimveldt Community Centre ground (California Square). The competition comes on the heels of the recently staged National Novice Competition which was won by the Guyana Defence Force.

GBA president Steve Ninvalle said that the Intermediate will be followed next month by the National Open; where after, a squad would be selected to go into

training for the massive International Goodwill tournament to be staged here during the last week in November.

Defending Intermediate champion Guyana Prison Service is among more than eight gyms from around the country expected to participate in this week’s event. Last year, the boys from Camp and Durban Streets shocked the Guyana Defence Force into second place. Action in the two-day affair commence at 7:00pm nightly.

Page 84

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

GCA’s Carib Beer t20 cricket...

TSC defeat GDF, DCC beat GCC in fading light The largest crowd for a first division match in recent times watched as host DCC beat GCC in near darkness after TSC had defeated GDF in steaming heat as the latest round of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Carib Beer t20 first division cricket competition continued yesterday.

A courageous unbeaten 44 from Test left-hander Leon Johnson, who retired hurt on 31, failed to prevent GCC from an exciting 22-run loss to DCC who is assured of the top spot in zone ‘B’, while Malteenoes, who did not play yesterday, are the other team in the semifinals after topping Zone ‘A’.

Asked to bat on a track with a tinge off grass and good carry on one of the better grounds in the city and the hosts were led by attractive knocks from Jahron Byron (40*), Sherfane Rutherford (40) and Chris Barnwell (30) as they made 179-8 despite Anthony Adams (2-11) and Renaldo Ali Mohamed 2-42.

GCC reached 157-9 when their 20 overs expired with Jeetendra Sookdeo (45) and Johnson leading the fight as Rutherford, Barnwell and Kemo Paul all picked up two

wickets each in a match that DCC had to win to top their zone.

Trevon Griffith, who leaves to join the Jamaica Franchise on Thursday, hammered Mohamed over cover for six before hitting Joshua Wade over his head for another six, while former National U-19 Skipper Brian Sattaur (6) clobbered Mohamed for a six before he was LBW next ball at 17-1.

Griffith (16) then pulled Adams to mid-wicket at 31-2 before Kevin Boodie (13) was removed by Raj Nanan as DCC slipped to 53-3.

Barnwell, who smashed three fours and a six in his 25ball 30 and the explosive Rutherford who clobbered five fours and two six in an explosive 17-ball 40, added 49 in overcast conditions.

Barnwell slapped Nanan for four while Rutherford, who shows a liking for GCC’s bowling after scoring a century and unbeaten 89 in the second innings earlier in the year in the two-day format, got going with a six and a four off Wade.

Barnwell was stumped off Johnson at 104-4, while (Continued on page 81)

Sydroy Nedd Inter Ward/ Village 7-a-aside KO football tourney starts next Sunday He was a former President of the West Demerara Football Association as well as the Uitvlugt Football Club and footballer. He was also Manager of the Guyana Football Federation and Assistant coordinator of the Mayor’s Cup Organizing Committee before he passed away in September 2011.

Now the colleagues and friends of Sydroy Nedd, aka Neddie, join with the Mayor’s Cup Organizing Committee and his family, led by Nedd’s younger brother Superintendent Nigel Hoppie, to pay homage to his unwavering contribution to the sport, both domestically and internationally with a specially organized Inter Ward/Village 7-a-aside knockout football tournament next Sunday to coincide with what should have been Nedd’s 60th birth anniversary.

The tournament will be played at the Den Amstel Community Centre ground and commences at 14:00hrs with eight matches. In the first encounter, Tuschen will battle with Grove just before Sara

Lodge take on Agricola. Goed Fortuin will then oppose Mocha moments before Stewartville throw down the gauntlet on Sophia.

In other matches, Crane will oppose Wales, Pouderoyen tackle Dekindren, Uitvulgt play Bagotville while Den Amstel and Kuru Kururu will bring the curtains down on that day’s activities.

The tournament will conclude on Thursday September 24 at the same venue with the respective winners being matched against each other with the two top teams battling for the championship trophy.

There is no monetary requirement for entry into the tournament but teams are asked to be at the venue at least one hour before the prescribed starting time.

The tournament will be conducted under the auspices of the GFF and by extension FIFA and all relevant rules will apply.

The teams will be battling for a first prize of $100,000, second $50,000, third $30,000 and fourth $20,000.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

BranderZ Guyana sponsors uniforms FOR NATIONAL POWERLIFING TEAM Stoby and Rahim are out due to lack of funds federation is currently cash strapped and was forced to reduce the number of travelling members; unfortunately, the two lifters who were forced to stay behind are two of Guyana’s best, Winston ‘Little Master’ Stoby and Vijai Rahim.

Both Stoby and Rahim (Continued on page 81)

Britany Mack

Members of the National Powerlifting team set to represent Guyana at the 15th NAPF / FESUPO PanAmerican Powerlifting Championships to be held in Ribeirao Preto Brazil

starting September 16 – 20 were presented with t-shirts compliments of BranderZ. A press release form the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) informed that the

GCA/NBS second division 40-over tourney...

Hubbard, Persaud shine as Everest humiliate Ace Warriors, MSC beat GYO

Malcolm Hubbard (left) and Khemraj Ramdeen

M

a l c o l m Hubbard stroked and fine century while Akshaya Persaud slammed 91 as Everest Cricket Club humiliated Ace Warriors by 385 runs when the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)/ New Building Society second division 40-over tournament continued yesterday.

Hubbard scored 101 off 56 balls and shared in a 145run fifth wicket stand with skipper Khemraj Ramdeen who made 77 as host Everest posted a daunting 432-6 after they were inserted. Hubbard slammed nine fours and four sixes while Ramdeen struck nine fours and two maximums off 39 deliveries.

Akshaya Persaud and Ronaldo Renee gave Everest a solid start as they added 176 for the opening stand.

Persaud hit twelve fours and

two sixes before he departed off his 57 delivery, while Renee slammed nine fours in scoring 62. A. Macy claimed 3-94 off eight overs.

Ace Warriors responded with 47-8 in 15 overs, innings closed. Roger Aaron made 17, while left arm spinner Javed Rasheed captured 3-6 from four overs.

At Malteenoes SC, the host overcame Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) by six wickets. Batting first, GYO were sent packing for 97 in 26 overs. Chris Deonarine scored 39 (5x4) while Surendra Hiralall made 14 (2x4); Shaquille Moseley grabbed 4-20 and Steven Sankar 3-11. MSC responded with 99-4 in 23 overs. Joel Alleyne cracked 39 not out (4x4) and Imran Hassan 30 (5x4,1x6). Devesh Ramjattan snared 3-31 off seven overs.

(Zaheer Mohamed) th

Page 85

Page 86

Kaieteur News

Sunday September 13, 2015

Pennetta wins U.S. Open, then retires NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Flavia Pennetta won her first grand slam singles title over Roberta Vinci in an improbable all-Italian U.S. Open final on Saturday then added one more shock to a stunning fortnight by announcing her retirement.

With the 7-6(4) 6-2 win, the 33-year-old Pennetta becomes the fourth oldest grand slam winner in the Open Era and joins 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone as the only Italian women to win a major singles title.

But as the celebrations kicked into high gear, Pennetta dropped a bombshell that provided a dramatic finish to the year’s final grand slam and her career.

After embracing childhood friend and Fed Cup team mate Vinci at the net a smiling Pennetta stood at center court during the trophy presentation and told a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium that included Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that she would retire. “This is the way I would like to

say goodbye to tennis,” she said before hoisting the trophy and accepting the $3.3 million winner’s check. “I’m really happy. It’s what all the players seem to want to do, to go out with this big trophy. “And so this one was my last match at the U.S. Open and I couldn’t think to finish a better way.”

Pennetta’s surprise announcement provided a jawdropping finish to a grand slam packed with surprises.

She said it was a decision she made a month ago when a grand slam triumph would have seemed improbable and suggested fate may have played a part in her grand slam goodbye.

“Maybe that is why I am here today,” Pennetta said while embracing the trophy. “I was trying to play every match like it was my last one. Trying to play best all the time.

“For me it is easy to practice and stay in this life but sometimes it is hard to compete. “It will be a new life for me, I played tennis since I was young.”

Flavia Pennetta of Italy (R) holds her U.S. Open Trophy next to compatriot Roberta Vinci during the award presentation ceremony. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Vivian Harris suffers 4th round stoppage against undefeated Puerto Rican Former WBA Super/ lightweight champion, Vivian Harris’ attempt to redeem himself on the international boxing scene suffered a blow when he was knocked out in the 4th of a scheduled 8 rounder against undefeated Puerto Rican, Prichard ‘Digget’ Colon at the Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto Ontario Canada last Saturday evening.

The fight was one of the preliminaries of a card dubbed ‘Premier Boxing Champions’ that featured light heavyweight world champion Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson, defending against Tommy ‘Kryptonite’ Karpency.

Details of the fight are sketchy but Kaieteur Sport learnt that the Puerto Rican was much too strong for Harris whose long layoff from the ring acted against him. His last bout before the Colon encounter was a losing attempt against Ramon Alvarez for the vacant IBF North American

Vivian Harris (Saddo boxing) super/welterweight title ten months ago.

Colon has improved his record to an impeccable 160-0 record and has stopped thirteen of his opponents.

Harris is by far the more experienced but Colon proved the better on fight night. Kaieteur Sport will attempt to speak with Harris to ascertain his next move in the fistic sport.

Rodrigues, Barker BOOST POLICE

R

eginald Rodrigues slammed a fine 91, while Daniel Barker scored an even half century as Police posted 289 before they were bowled out in the final session on the first day against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) when the Georgetown Cricket Association/ Noble House Sea Foods second division two-day tournament continued yesterday at Eve Leary.

Rodrigues reached the boundary ten times and cleared it twice as he shared in a second wicket stand of 109 with Barker who cracked five fours and one six.

Troy Benn and Barker laid the foundation for the home team with a first wicket partnership of 60 before Benn departed for 34 (8x4). Off-spinner Jason Garraway bagged 554 off 17 overs while Jeremiah Harris had 2-29.

GDF were 24 without lost at stumps with Leon Andrews on 16 and Colvis Sam on eight. Play continues today.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 87

Mocha Champs beat Grove Hi Tech 3-1 amidst unofficial protest Lens Craft Optical/ EBFA U-13 League...

T

he Lens Craft O p t i c a l sponsored East Bank Football Association (EBFA) Under-13 league recommenced yesterday at the Grove Community Centre ground with the home team going down to Mocha Champs 1-3.

It was Mocha’s first win of the competition having previously taken full points from a walk over from Craig whilst drawing with Kuru Kururu Warriors and losing to Agricola. The Mocha boys were the dominant side despite playing two short but were the bigger of the two teams in terms of size.

It was the size of the Mocha players that prompted a few of the Grove Hi Tech supporters to make queries at half time about some of the Mocha players with Mocha leading 1-0 following an own goal from Grove’s Tyrese Jones in the 3rd minute of play.

Mocha were the more dominant of the two sides and clearly displayed a high level of fitness and awareness following the extended break which was partially due to the prolonged rainy season which made grounds unplayable. The competition was scheduled to restart one week earlier at the Mocha ground but did not as the ground is not suitable.

Following the half time break, the Grove players were told not to take the field of play for the restart since a few supporters felt that some Mocha players were over aged. The players were adhering to the ill-advice of the few misguided fans until the EBFA stepped in and told the players that they must continue the game and lodge an official protest after.

Play resumed as the youngsters were eager to play following the long (Continued on page 82)

Tenelec Inc. / BCB 50-overs

Sinclair and Fudadin leads RHTG&G to crushing win over Upper Corentyne A destructive spell from fast bowling from Keon Sinclair and an attacking half century from West Indies player Assad Fudadin led Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets (RHTG&G) to an easy nine wicket win over Upper Corentyne in the opening round of the Tenelec Inc. / Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) 50 overs cricket tournament.

Playing at the Area ‘H’ ground, the match was completed in less than two (2) hours as Sinclair claimed 6-30 from 10 impressive overs, while Fudadin blazed an unbeaten 56 from just 20 balls with three fours and six massive sixes.

Batting first after losing the toss, Upper Corentyne were bundled out for a meager 82 off 22.1 overs; only L. Latchman 11, A. Persaud 12 and Balram Samaroo 21 not out were the only batsmen reaching double figures.

Backing up the hostile Sinclair were off spinner Rajiv Ivan 2-0, Assad Fudadin 1-12 and 14 yearold Keith Simpson 1-1 on debut at the first division level.

Assad Fudadin In response Fudadin and Vidal Crandon smashed 51 for the first wicket before Crandon was trapped LBW by off spinner Derick Chatterpaul for 22 (4x4).

Fudadin who took 24 runs from off-spinner Balran Samaroo’s only over, batted well to take RHTG&G to an early victory.

Jason Sinclair was unbeaten on three (3) as RHTG&G ended on 84-1 from 8 overs. RRTG&G next game will be against home team Albion in the second round.

Mocha Champs (yellow) and Grove Hi Tech in their clash yesterday at the Grove ground.

t r o Sp

BranderZ Guyana sponsors uniforms

GT Beer/Petra Organisation Futsal Competition...

FOR NATIONAL POWERLIFING TEAM Sparta Boss vs - Stoby and Rahim areout due to lack of funds Manager of BranderZ Guyana, Mr. Martin Brock (3rd right) hands over two of the tee shirts to GAPF PRO/Organising Secretary Denroy Livan in the presence of other staff members.

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Bent Street will look to replicate similar performances when they beat their opponentsto cross tonight’s final hurdle.

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