Kaieteur News

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 5

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

History would be unkind to those who place obstacles in the way of national unity DEAR EDITOR, Much has been said and written about the need for a mechanism to allow for shared governance and a government of national unity.

I am firmly of the view that the time has come for us as a nation to embrace a new governance paradigm which would allow for the full participation of Guyanese right across the ethnic, political and ideological spectrum.

In less than a year from today, May 26, 2016 to be precise, we would be observing fifty years as an independent nation.

This is an opportune time for us to come up with some fresh and innovative ideas on the way forward. We owe it to the people of this country

to come up with concrete proposals on inclusive and participatory governance structures and mechanisms which would result in the full mobilisation of all Guyanese in the exciting task of nation building.

Finding a governance mechanism can be a long, protracted and painstaking exercise but it certainly is worth the effort.

One key ingredient for success is for the parties to approach the issue with an open and unbiased mind and without any preconditions.

I think there is the need to work out an agreed programme for national development which must have as its cornerstone the enhancement of the living conditions of the Guyanese

people and ensuring our national and territorial security.

One way in which this could be achieved is through the establishment of a national democratic state.

This in essence is a trisectoral state with strong roles for the public, private and cooperative sectors. It is also a state founded on high moral values based on good, accountable, transparent governance and respect for the rule of law.

The establishment of a national democratic state would necessitate constitutional reforms and an eventual phasing out of “winner takes all” politics as is currently the case.

The Constitutional

Reform Commission should as a matter of urgency reconvene and continue the search for a political solution along the lines of an inclusive national democratic state.

Maybe, there could be some value in the setting up of an advisory body comprising of constitutional experts, sociologists, religious leaders, elder statesmen (among others) to guide the process.

History would not be kind to those who fail to seize the moment and place obstacles in the way of national unity.

We are too rich in natural and human resources to continue to lag behind other countries in our hemisphere in terms of economic growth and development.

Hydar Ally

Can Rip Van Whittaker say if any REO in his administration was not aligned to the PPP? DEAR EDITOR, Here comes Norman Whittaker jumping out of his sleep to once again pen his usual attack on a system which he as Regional Chairman and subsequently Minister, used and abused.

Whittaker the new Pope in town is suggesting that all REOs with the new Government are political appointees. Could he say

which of the REOs in his administration were not aligned to the PPP? Region 1 Barima/Waini – the first REO appointed soon after with the 1992 elections was the Sub Treasury Officer at Mabaruma. He, on the morning of October 06, shouted out in the Administration Office – ‘Is we time NOW!’ That was his qualification to become the

new Regional Executive Officer. All other REOs that followed were out of the PPP mould.

I do admire that Mr. Whittaker feels free to watch all the REOs. All the REOS have quite a task to clean up the quagmire left in the wake of the tsunami of corruption left by the PPP government.

Who was it that saw it fit to go into his office to clear

out stuff at night? Mr. Whittaker boasts that the PPP won in most of the Regions. Quite true, but please let the gentleman be informed lest he has not recognise it as yet – the country is now being run by a decent Government! So he needs to let his Regional Chairmen know that PPP is not in power!

Michael A. Sam

Was Mayor Green’s promise just a cheap campaign gimmick?

DEAR EDITOR, With the untimely and unfortunate death of political activist Courtney CrumEwing during the election campaign period several months ago , the nation can recall City Mayor Hamilton Green announcing his intention to take urgent steps to memorialize the name of the man who became well-known for his solo protests outside the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.

In fact in addressing a large gathering at the Burnham Basketball Court, Parade Ground where CrumEwing’s body was taken for a public viewing, Mayor Green said that Carmichael Street between Middle, Main and New Market Streets would be named the Crum-Ewing block because “his memory and his work must not die”.

Listening to the Mayor then who declared that with the authority vested in him given by citizens, that he would be renaming that square where Courtney

stopped, the Courtney CrumEwing block so that when, as he put it ‘the Most Honourable Distinguished and all-powerful Former Attorney General, goes to his office he will be going through Courtney’s Block.,’makes me wonder now whether he has lost interest in the project, seeing that there is a new Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs occupying that office.

I think it is sad when our Politicians use the misfortune of others to advance their narrow political agendas.

Clearly that promise and declaration was just a cheap empty campaign gimmick and now it back to business as usual.

Nadine Jerrick

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 21, 2015

State Asset Recovery Unit Jobs for young people must be our top priority over the next five years receives numerous complaints of stolen gov’t. property - Granger tells PNCR General Council The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) last Saturday, held its third General Council Meeting for the year 2015 at the Party’s Headquarters, Congress Place, Sophia.

The General Council was held under the theme: PNCR - Facing the Future United and Resolved to Achieve National Consensus”.

In the feature address delivered by the Party Leader and President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana David Granger, gratitude was expressed for the hard work that was put in

by Party members all across the country.

Commenting on the recent elections victory, Granger said that this is an opportunity to implement the promises that the PNCR has been making to the people of Guyana. “It is an opportunity to serve.”

The PNCR leader also urged the General Council of the Party to work to achieve several goals, one of which was equality for women.

“Over the next five years we must work to make women’s equality a reality,” he said, adding that the country could not move forward unless social cohesion as achieved.

“This country must be one nation, one people. If we are to achieve our full potential we have to become more socially cohesive,” Granger stated.

Addressing youth unemployment, President

President David Granger Granger said “jobs for our young men and women must be our top priority over the next five years.”

He noted that a big problem facing the nation was the high drop-out rate. “A big problem in Guyana is keeping children in school; we must do everything possible to give all of our children access to education.”

The Party Leader renewed his promise of one lap top per teacher, and called for more emphasis on Information Technology. He said, “We have to train a generation that is committed to innovation… a generation of entrepreneurs and manufacturers.”

To loud applause, the PNCR Leader told the General Council that APNU+AFC will deliver a good life to all Guyanese. “We will deliver that good life for all Guyanese…it will not be done with hand-outs, but with

a helping hand.”

Meanwhile Party Chairman, Basil Williams thanked party members for their steadfastness, sacrifice and for staying the course and working in partnership (APNU+ AFC) to secure a victory for the people of Guyana at the May 2015 polls.

The Party Chairman, however, warned that, “… we cannot rest on our laurels; we must set about to work to secure a good life for all Guyanese.”

A minute of silence was observed for Party members who had passed away in the period between General Councils. General Secretary of the party Oscar Clarke brought the Council up to date with the state of the Party’s Secretariat, the youth and women’s arm of the Party and all Party regions (local and overseas) and the work of the Secretariat during the period between General Councils.

The General Secretary reported to the Council that the state of the party was strong, poised and ready for the task ahead.

Following the feature address there was a panel discussion on Local Government Elections. A lively plenary during the second session examined the Party Leader’s address and the General Secretary’s Report. This session also dedicated time to planning for the upcoming Local Government Elections.

The General Council concluded with a summation and charge which was given by the President.

By: Kiana Wilburg Head of the State Asset Recovery Unit, Dr. Clive Thomas said that those who held authority over state assets under the previous administration will be subject to “rigourous” audits, preparations for which are already underway.

The Economist said that this comes in light of the “hundreds upon hundreds of complaints” that come in on a daily basis to the Asset Recovery Unit regarding individuals who held high office and abused or allegedly stole state assets.

Dr. Thomas said that by all legal means necessary, his entity’s mandate to return or regain what rightfully belongs to the state, will be achieved.

Dr. Thomas noted that under the previous regime, the assets of the state were “misused and in some cases stolen in unconscionable ways.” He said that he will make it his duty to see that due process is followed and that justice is served.

The Head of the Asset Recovery Unit stated, “I cannot begin to tell you the amount of complaints we get on a daily basis on persons under the previous government who abused assets of the state and in some cases, the evidence would strongly suggest that they stole it for their own benefit or the benefit of a third party. So we have our job cut out for us.”

He noted however that in order for this to be done, the entity must be legally empowered to prosecute and this comes from having its own legislation.

Dr. Thomas said that the coalition Government is making moves in this regard as it is currently preparing a “robust piece of legislation” that promises more than moral suasion with respect to stamping out corruption and prosecuting those who dared to steal the assets of the state.

Dr. Thomas explained that the draft legislation is currently in the chambers of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

It is expected to be perused

and strengthened by a specialist from the United Kingdom before being taken to the National Assembly for passage.

Dr. Thomas said that once it receives the blessings of the House and the assent of President David Granger, the entity will be renamed the State Asset Recovery Agency and it will be vested with more powers.

As for the process of strengthening the draft legislation, the Economist said that the Asset Recovery Unit is awaiting the presence of Mr. Brian Horne who he said is an exceptional advisor on asset recovery.

Dr. Thomas asserted that Mr. Horne, who is a Guyanese by birth, has spent most of his life in the United Kingdom. He has worked in more than 22 countries in the field of the recovery of state assets and the successful prosecution of the defaulters.

Already, a number of cases have been undertaken by the State Assets Recovery Unit one of which includes the misappropriation of state assets by former GuySuCo CEO, Dr. Rajendra Singh.

Dr. Thomas had said that a request was made for more details for some of the transactions and decisions made by Dr. Singh as they involved the misuse of State assets.

The Assets Recovery Unit will be looking into the sale of 2.6792 acres of land at Plantation Good Hope, East Coast Demerara to one Kelvin Gobin. This sale was authorized by Dr. Singh.

Dr. Singh, during his tenure as GuySuCo’s CEO, also entered into management agreements with Global Casetech and Global Cane Sugar Services out of India for the management services on a number of estates at unreasonably high cost, and without approval of the Board of Directors.

Documents also show that he persisted with a commercial bio fertilizer despite advice to the contrary from the corporation’s research and technical personnel. Single sourced procurements were done for the supply of bio fertilizers

Head of the State Asset Recovery Unit, Professor, Clive Thomas from Kay Bovet Engineering Ltd. of India in the sum of US$76,680 in June 2014 and Global Cane Sugar Services Pvt. Ltd of India in the sum of US$68,580 in February 2015.

Despite being cautioned numerous times regarding the adaptation of a practice that has not been used outside of India, the former CEO persisted with commercial application rather than a trial as advised. Dr. Singh also made decisions that resulted in millions of dollars being lost by GuySuCo. The said documents reveal that Singh had responsibility for Finance and Marketing for the company and entered into a one year agreement with Tate and Lyle in 2013 when the company could have entered into one for three years while locking in at a higher sugar price for 2014 and 2015.

This was the first time in the history of the Long Term Agreement (LTA) with Tate and Lyle that a one-year agreement was entered into.

The failure to enter into a three-year agreement resulted in a conservatively estimated loss of US$60M in revenue for the corporation for the years 2014 and 2015.

During his time as CEO, he also committed 38,000 tonnes of sugar to Futures Market without locking into a price of $0.16 cents per pound.

The current price is now US$0.11 cents per pound and this decline resulted in a loss of revenue in the sum of US$4.2M for GuySuCo.

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Republican candidate Carson says Muslims unfit to be U.S. president Reuters - Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said yesterday that Muslims were unfit to be president of the United States, arguing their faith was inconsistent with American principles.

“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that,” Carson told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The remarks by Carson, who is near the top of opinion polls for the crowded field of Republican candidates, followed a controversy that erupted when front-runner Donald Trump declined to challenge anti-Muslim comments made by a supporter on Friday.

Carson, a Christian who says he got the idea for his tax proposals from the Bible, said he thought a U.S. president’s faith should be “consistent with the Constitution.”

Asked if he thought Islam met this bar, the retired neurosurgeon said: “No, I do not.”

America’s largest Muslim civil rights group condemned Carson for his statement, which it said should

Ben Carson disqualify him from the presidential contest because the U.S. Constitution forbids religious tests for holding public office.

“It’s beyond the pale and he should withdraw,” said Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

Minnesota Democratic Representative Keith Ellison, the first practicing Muslim elected to Congress, said: “It’s unimaginable that the leading GOP presidential candidates are resorting to fear mongering to benefit their campaigns.”Ellison added in his statement that “every American should be

disturbed that these national figures are engaging in and tolerating blatant acts of religious bigotry.”

Carson had been rising in polls, although he gave up some ground in a CNN/ORC poll released on Sunday, slipping to third place from second with 14 percent support. Sixteen Republicans are seeking the party’s nomination for the presidential election in November 2016.

The CNN/ORC poll showed Trump, a real estate mogul, continued to lead the contest with the support of 24 percent of registered voters, down from 32 percent in a previous poll.

Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina surged into second place with 15 percent support, just above Carson.

Carson’s comments drew scorn from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, another presidential candidate, although one who garnered under 1 percent support in the CNN/ORC poll.

“I think Dr. Carson needs to apologize,” Graham said, adding the comments were particularly offensive to U.S. soldiers who are Muslim.

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Refugee crisis to test EU at summit of divided leaders Reuters - Bitterly-divided European leaders will seek to find a credible response to the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War Two at an emergency summit this week.

German chancellor Angela Merkel called on her peers yesterday to accept joint responsibility.

“Germany is willing to help. But it is not just a German challenge, but one for all of Europe,” Merkel told a gathering of trade unionists. “Europe must act together and take on responsibility. Germany can’t shoulder this task alone.”

Striking a more sceptical tone on migration than in previous weeks, Merkel also warned that Germany could not shelter those who were moving for economic reasons rather than to flee war or persecution.

“We are a big country. We are a strong country. But to make out as if we alone can solve all the social problems of the world would not be realistic,” she told a gathering of the Verdi trade union.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs European Union summits, said on Twitter yesterday following a weekend visit to Jordan and Egypt that the EU needed to help Syrian refugees find a better life closer at home.

That will be one of the topics of discussion for Wednesday’s summit in Brussels as hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants brave the seas and trek across the impoverished Balkan peninsula to reach more affluent countries in northern Europe.

The 28-member bloc has struggled to find a unified response to the crisis, which has

Angela Merkel tested many of its newer members in the East that are unaccustomed to large-scale immigration.

Yesterday Hungary erected a steel gate and fence posts at a border crossing with Croatia, the EU’s newest member state.

Overwhelmed by an influx of some 25,000 migrants this week, Croatia has been sending them north by bus and train to Hungary, which has waved them on to Austria.

Around 10,700 migrants walked into Austria from Hungary yesterday, some 200 more than on Saturday.

The influx of migrants, most of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has led to bitter recriminations between European governments while the temporary closure of national borders has undermined one of the most tangible achievements of the Union.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 21, 2015

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 9

Come back home? You have to be joking!

A Guyanese mother recently returned home from an overseas vacation. On her way from the airport, she was trailed by bandits who eventually robbed her after she reached her residence.

This is the sort of thing that scares the living daylights out of Guyanese living overseas who may wish to make a return visit home. If you have children and you want to bring them to show them the country in which you were born, reports such as the one above will deter you.

I have already spoken to

persons who said they really do not wish to handle the stress of coming home to the sort of crime that Guyana is experiencing. People are just being robbed and shot too easily.

The police have recently been making good progress in solving crimes. Guyana made history recently when there was a reported “hit on credit”, the first time that something like that has ever been heard of. The problem is that we are making news for the wrong reason.

What would be more comforting is that, if apart

from solving so many crimes, the police can actually do a lot more work in preventing crimes because for every crime solved there are three or four that are not solved.

There are far too many illegal guns in society for comfort and when it gets dark, there is an inadequate number of police manning the stations and roadways in Guyana.

Guyanese want to come back for a holiday but they have reasons to excuse themselves and to go to some other country where there is less hassle.

I know that some amount

Dem boys seh...

Bobby should lower he pants Spite is a hell of a thing.

Is when somebody do something and you vex so you want to do something back to dem. De coalition promise to lower de toll pun de Berbice River Bridge and when dem win de elections dem try.

De Berbicians did glad when dem hear that de government want to reduce de toll but when dem see de Bridge people refuse dem get vex. Nuff of dem did vote fuh de opposition but when it come to you pocket is another story. Suddenly de same bridge people who was complaining that dem losing money decide that dem gun mek school children travel free.

De opposition sit down and decide to get vex. Nuff of de people in Essequibo didn’t vote fuh dem but dem want de support suh dem calling pun de government to lower de toll fuh Essequibo.

Dem boys seh that is de same government that fix de toll fuh Essequibo, even raise

it but dem want de government to lower it. Why dem didn’t lower it when dem been in power?

Well dem boys want nuff other things lowered. Dem want Jagdeo to lower he pension and de pension that he give Donald and Sam. Dem want de opposition lower de pressure it putting pun de government.

Before de elections people did want to see Jagdeo and he people lower de money de government was giving to Bobby fuh bring in drugs. That didn’t happen and now a Permanent Secretary got to pay.

De Pee Ess didn’t seh nutten even when Bobby didn’t tek money and didn’t supply de drugs. Of course, Soulja Bai shoulda realize that nobody coulda seh nutten.

De Pee Ess woulda loss he wuk long before now. He can console heself that at least he get pay but now dat pay gone.

But two people ain’t got to worry bout dat. Ram and

Goolsarran conducting de audit and dem tekking long.

Jagdeo already talking how dem wouldn’t find anything but dem still searching. And even if dem don’t find nutten, dem gun still get pay.

Dem boys seh that de two of dem shoulda realize that de people who been in government was smart and dem woulda hide wha dem tek. To find anything Soulja Bai got to call in dem torture cops and loose dem pun de government people.

Talk half and see if somebody gun call pun Bobby to lower he pants.

of ridicule was posted online about the manner in which Guyana’s top cricketer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was treated by the country’s Immigration authorities. I find it shocking that one justification should be that at the time Chanderpaul started his career, most of the present crop of Immigration Officers would have been in diapers.

There is hardly a Guyanese, both at home and abroad, who do not know about this fantastic cricketer who has been one of the greatest servants of Guyanese and West Indian cricket.

And to think that he could be treated so scantily at our country’s airport, to the point where he is not considered as a VIP and is removed from the VIP line is inexcusable. He has done m o r e f o r t h i s c ountry’s image and for the West Indies that all of the VIPs combined.

If there is an Immigration

Officer who does not know the name Shivnarine Chanderpaul, then that would be very surprising indeed and that person ought not to be manning an Immigration check point at the country’s major airport.

It is incidents like the one involving this great servant of West Indies cricket that turn people off from returning home.

The immigration authorities have their work to do and they should not be expected to compromise their standards but anyone who has travelled to Guyana knows that our immigration authorities can be far friendlier and welcoming. In fact the entire atmosphere at the country’s main airport is highly intimidating and this is not what you need to encourage tourists.

One person has written about relatives having to peer through a glass window to witness the check-in of their

relatives. Guyana is the only airport in the western world where security is placed at the entrance of the check-in airport to prevent nonpassengers from entering.

This is a big turn off for visitors also.

A great many Guyanese living overseas would like to return home for Guyana’s 50th Independence anniversary.

However, many of them are having second thoughts because of the crime situation.

How many of them are going to come back to the sort of welcome we have at our airports? How many of them are going to come back and risk being the next crime victim.

It is nice to be back in Guyana but safety is a major concern. The way you are treated at your airport is also a big consideration.

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 11

Georgetown Prison gang war…

Baby killed in Highway Mom seeks protection for son accident, relative critical after third attempt on life

Mohamed Ali, driver of the Tundra in the A&E unit.

The mangled remains of the Tundra An afternoon family drive ended tragically for 10month-old Aiden Anderson, who was killed after the Toyota Tundra he was travelling in suffered a blow out along the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway yesterday afternoon.

The baby sustained severe head injuries after the vehicle turned turtle several times and he was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where he succumbed.

Driver of the vehicle, Mohamed Ali, 26, of Bush Lot also sustained injuries. He is

reportedly in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Anderson’s mother, Alana Hackett, of Diamond, East Bank Demerara and her nephew, Ameer Mohamed of 172 Grove East Bank Demerara were also occupants of the vehicle.

Miraculously they escaped with minor injuries and are at home grieving their lost.

Kaieteur News understands that the family was at the time heading along

the Linden/Soesdyke Highway to visit a relative at Long Creek, when tragedy struck around 15:00hrs.

An eyewitness told Kaieteur News that the accident occurred in the vicinity of Kuru Kururu. The eyewitness, who was at the time heading to the city in his car, recalled that he was a good distance from the vehicle when he heard a loud explosion.

“I heard a loud explosion and see when the vehicle made its final flip,” he added.

The badly damaged navy blue Tundra bearing number GTT 5756, ended up along the road side. Its windscreen was completely shattered and the roof had caved in.

Father of the driver, Nazir Mohamed and his wife Fareeda Mohammed were at the hospital last night awaiting word on their son’s condition.

The father said that his son, Mohamed Ali sustained injuries about his body and is responding to treatment.

Although the father is unable to confirm his son’s injuries until an x-ray is done, he said that the young man is feeling intense pain in the region of his neck.

Nazir Mohamed said that he got word of the accident after his stepson, Ameer Mohamed called him. He said that he was not far away and rushed to the scene where he confirmed his worst fears.

Mohamed related that Ameer and the baby were seated together in the front passenger seat.

Fareeda Mohamed, the dead baby’s aunt could not hold back tears as she tried to cope with the tragedy of her nephew. She said that Anderson was her sister’s only child.

As she tried desperately to hold back tears, the grieving woman recalled that she received a phone call from her father, who informed her of the accident.

Mohamed added that she rushed over to the Diamond Hospital and was informed of her nephew’s demise.

Children in foster care outnumbering...

(From page 3) foster care, you got to keep the child then give back the child. Some people want to hold on to the children all the time but foster care is a temporary care. Then, we fix the mother and father and the child has to go back. We’re working to get people to understand to really buy into what we want to do.”

Greene further indicated that Foster Care Month is in November and the CCPA is already working stridently on getting more persons to come onboard and understand the importance of fostering a child.

Meanwhile, before a person can become a foster parent, a number of steps are required, Greene indicated. Recently, a group of persons

were trained to become foster parents, and training, Greene said, is a mandatory step.

Another mandatory step is the screening of persons in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force, before candidates are accepted into the foster care programme. Greene indicated that while there are persons who would have been rejected as foster parents, this is not often the case. She added that some persons would have been put on hold. “We don’t have many of those though,” she added.

As part of the foster care programme, CCPA embarks upon speedy rehabilitation of foster children’s parents so that these children will stay with foster parents as temporarily as possible.

Romel Ross, the 19-yearold inmate who was injured last Friday in what is said to be an escalating gang war, has been admitted to the Georgetown Prison infirmary.

His mother is now seeking a meeting with prison authorities today, in the wake of what she said is the third such attack on her son.

The woman said that prison officials have not provided her with any information on the incident.

An official that Kaieteur News contacted yesterday also declined comment, while saying that he is awaiting a report.

Ross, a resident of Agricola, who has been on remand since January, was chopped on the head, hands and legs last Friday night, during an altercation with other inmates in the ‘Brick Prison’, which houses prisoners on remand. Some of the inmates set a mattress alight. Prison and Fire Service ranks extinguished the blaze

and also reportedly doused the fighting inmates.

Ross’ relatives said that he was also stabbed and chopped twice before, and they had asked prison officials to have him isolated for his safety.

The attacks on Ross reportedly stem from a vendetta outside the prison that has led to at least three recent execution-style murders. Some incarcerated gang members have reportedly vowed to kill other prisoners who are from Agricola.

The vendetta is reportedly connected to the recent murder of 23-year-old Kellon Hinds, called ‘Baige,’ who was gunned down a few weeks ago in East Ruimveldt.

He was slain hours after being released from custody.

Hinds himself was a suspect in the murder of Sherwyn Barrow, who was slain in ‘Warlock’, East Ruimveldt last May. Shawn Barrow, a relative of the slain

One of the injured prisoners Sherwyn Barrow, was charged two weeks ago for Kellon Hinds’ murder. He is currently an inmate at Camp Street.

Other members of the Barrow clan have met violent ends. They include Agricola resident David Barrow, called ‘Gurple’ who was beheaded in 2005, allegedly by members of the notorious ‘Fine man’ gang.

The injured Romel Ross.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 21, 2015

Respect for borders emphasised at Chile’s Nat’l Day Celebration The principles of peaceful co-existence among states, good neighbourliness and the inviolability of borders were among concepts that took center stage last Friday as Guyana and members of the Diplomatic Corps joined the Republic of Chile in commemorating that country’s 250th Independence.

President David Granger and Chile’s first Ambassador to Guyana, Claudio Rojas, both told a packed gathering at the Cara Lodge Hall, Quamina Street, Georgetown of the importance the countries attach to the principles of equality among sovereign states with it being seen an essential basis for respect and peaceful coexistence.

Diplomats from India, United States of America, United Kingdom, as well as representatives from the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) were among those who heard both men belabour the importance of respecting international treaties and international law since those lay the foundation through which South America can remain a zone of peace.

Rojas started off his address with a moment of silence in honour of those who lost their lives in an earthquake last Wednesday in Chile. The Chilean government has since declared a state of emergency in Coquimbo, the Central Region where the earthquake of 8.3 magnitude hit, according to international media reports.

“From the historical perspective, our independence was part of a very large process of seeking freedom, and selfdetermination by our nation of South America. It was a

(From L to R) Chile’s Ambassador to Guyana, Claudio Rojas and his wife, Martiza Del Carmen Perez Quimbaya along with President David Granger and First Lady Sandra Granger with Minister of State Joseph Harmon as they toasted to Chile’s 205th Independence anniversary. native endeavour that was fought on the basics of sheer realism, liberty and freedom and conducted by the leadership of our founding fathers,” said the foreign diplomat.

He said that Chile is proud of its independence and glad that the journey was one shared by the other South American nations. “It was a common endeavour; it was not a single endeavour taken

by Chile. It was many of us fighting for freedom and selfdetermination, so that’s why we celebrate 205 years of independence with many of our nations during this period of time.”

The Ambassador added, “We attach great importance to the principles of equality among sovereign states as an essential basis for respect and peaceful coexistence.

Therefore, at the international level we already adhere to the respect of treaties and

international law.”

He reiterated Chile’s commitment to cooperation at the multilateral, regional and bilateral forums in order to contribute to the progress of all administrations in these parts.

He pointed out the need for the countries to advance towards a more integrated region. For him, important policy priority should be given towards this, as this is a region of diversified countries, underscored by many shared values.

The relationship between Guyana and Chile, the Ambassador said, started in 1971. It was on August 18, 2015, however, that Rojas’s Letters of Credence were presented to Granger.

“We want to be partners with Guyana in helping move forward and strengthening the link of Guyana with the South American nations,” said Rojas.

The Chilean Ambassador also spoke of efforts his country has been making as it gears towards the 21st Conference on Climate Change in Paris later this year.

He spoke of promoting an agenda that would be in the interest of the Region, considering what was suffered in these parts.

“To have one voice for the Region and to respond to the challenges that globalization imposes on us is the right thing to do,” intimated the Chilean diplomat. He told the Guyanese Head of State that there are opportunities ahead for mutual cooperation, promoting understanding, strengthening bonds as well as working together in the Region and continent.

“Let’s be creative, let’s bring these aims into reality,” charged Rojas. He said that it is within the two Presidents’ efforts in promoting

democratic, inclusive societies for the peoples of Guyana and Chile.

President Granger said that it is with honour that Guyana joined in Chile’s celebrations. “September18 marked the start of the war of independence, the war with a popular struggle that transformed an Imperial Captaincy General into an independent Republic,” he remarked.

The years of independence, he said, “have changed a poor backward colony into a prosperous nation state of proud citizens.

The Republic of Chile today is considered to be one of the most developed countries on the continent of South America. Its efforts at reducing poverty through the implementation of innovative social policies are widely admired.”

The progress that Chile has made since it gained independence is undeniably a result of the struggle, sacrifice and success of its people, according to Granger.

“Guyana and Chile are both committed to the principles of peaceful coexistence among states, good neighbourliness, the inviolability of borders, the sanctity of treaties and respect for international law.

South America can remain a zone of peace only if those principles are observed scrupulously,” remarked the Guyanese Head of State.

The President applauded Chile’s affirmation, as delivered by its first Ambassador to Guyana, that “international borders must be respected and that where disputes arise they should be settled through peaceful means and in accordance with international law.”

“Guyana, as a small state in the Caribbean, has

consistently sought Regional responses to both domestic and international challenges,” he said, adding that the country is committed to its membership of its continental family.

Guyana is committed to the goal of Regional and Hemispheric Cooperation, eradicating the scourges of crime, disease, ignorance and poverty that assail the peoples, Granger said. For him, the countries share common values.

According to the President, Guyana’s membership of regional integration mechanisms, in particularly the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Union of South American States (UNASUR), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Common Market of the South and the Community of Latin American Caribbean States signals its seriousness in promoting regional integration and in seeking to create a better understanding among the peoples.

Granger noted Chile’s role in promoting increased South-South cooperation, especially with the wider Caribbean region through the CARICOM-Chile Joint Commission.

“Our two countries share core values and ideals especially with regard to the alleviation of poverty, the promotion of peace, respect for territorial integrity of states and the sanctity of international treaties,” said Granger.

According to Granger, these common values laid the groundwork for strong relations and closer ties between the two. He said the country is pleased with Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet to establish a permanent diplomatic mission in the capital city, a decision which he envisions will deepen their cordial relations.

For Granger, Chile’s presence in Guyana will assist in paving the way for further expansion of their cooperated programme and the development of commercial and investment opportunities between the two.

President Granger remarked that Guyana is pained by the loss of life and the destruction caused by Wednesday’s earthquake in Chile. He extended sympathy to those affected.

“Guyana stands by your side,” said Granger as he added that the country stands in solidarity with Chile both in times of celebration and commiseration.

(Sunita Samaroo)

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 21

THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES “Vanity” in the English Language means “excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements.” It can also be a “dressing table”. A dressing table is not a “press” or “cupboard”. In fact, an Irish newspaper has featured, as a burning question, what is the difference between a “cupboard” and a “press” and has come up with the added information that there is also a “hotpress”. They are all enclosed shelving spaces.

The cupboard is for airing clothes, the press is like the old fashioned “safe” found in some parts of the Caribbean where food is stored safely from roaches and rats, and a “hotpress” is always where the hot-water heater is hidden.

But let us press on secure in the knowledge that in

English, “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing unless like me, in the town in which I grew up, there lived the “Chance” family and given the disparity in size of the two Chance daughters who went to school on the bus with me, we were able to differentiate quite easily. .

A “Vanity Press” is not a cross between a dressing table and a cupboard but a publishing house in which authors pay to have their books published. Bearing in mind that English is such a funny language that we park on the driveway and drive on the parkway, what is a “Vanity Plate?” It is not Wedgewood, Royal Copenhagen, Spode or Villeroy and Boch. It is not the sparkling golden false teeth that some Guyanese people prefer. It is a special costly licence plate for your vehicle.

Britain’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) claims to have over 50 million personalized number plates available through online purchase or auctions. The DVLA says that prices start “from as little as £250 which includes VAT and £80 assignment fee”.

The Independent Newspaper revealed that the personalised registrations scheme allows car-owners to bid for previously unissued plates in order to give their cars a distinctive look.

Since 1989, over three million such registrations have been sold at prices of up to £352,411 – the record set in March this year when a businessman bought the combination 1 D in one of the DVLA’s auctions. He paid £351,411 for it while in second place was the person who spent £254,000 for “51 NGH”.

Legal dispute over prime commercial land Boyer says he didn’t notice Gafoors on property Businessman, Eddie Boyer, has said that he didn’t notice an A.Gafoors and Sons Store on the disputed 117 “B” Regent and Alexander Streets, Georgetown property, when he acquired the transport title in 2008.

Boyer was once again subjected to a series of questions in the ongoing battle, in which two commercial entities are seeking the court’s determination on the rightful ownership to the Regent Street property.

National Hardware and Guyana Realty Investment Limited (GRIL) are arguing over prescriptive rights to prime commercial land in the city. Boyer, who is also known as Claude Deygoo, claims that he and his wife, Donna Deygoo, who are the proprietors of National Hardware, have legal entitlement to the said property on the basis of a transported title they acquired in September 2008.

But Sattaur Gafoor, the Chairman of GRIL, which is linked to Gafoor & Sons Group of Companies, is claiming that GRIL has a rights to the property, having purchased it from a third party (Stanley Collymore) in 1993, to use the premises to operate a paint shop.

The matter is being heard

by Justice Roxanne GeorgeWiltshire at the High Court in Georgetown. The Boyers are being represented by Attorneys-at-Law Devindra Kissoon and Rajendra Poonai, while GRIL is being

National Hardware Proprietor, Eddie Boyer

Proprietor of Gafoors and Sons, Sattaur Gafoors

represented by Rex McKay S.C, Edward Luckhoo S.C, and Neil Boston.

Boyer had previously been questioned about the tenants, who operated businesses from the building located at 117 “B” Regent and Alexander Streets, Georgetown. Mahendra Gangaram, Donna Chase and Franklin Bumbury were the names of some of the persons who rented the building.

Boyer had recalled seeing documents signed between Stanley Collymore and Donna Chase, to that effect. Chase had rented the building from Collymore, who had previously controlled the property. On Friday, Attorney -at- Law Neil Boston cross examined the businessman.

Boston confronted the witness with excerpts from the evidence presented in the trial and again questioned Boyer about his knowledge of tenants and businesses located at the said Regent Street property.

While he admitted that the

persons had been tenants on the property, the witness said that Gangaram was no tenant of his. He later clarified that the three persons occupied the building, but Bumbury became his tenant in 2008.

Boyer explained that Bumbury rented the property and then subleased it to the other persons.

The Attorney then asked the witness, whether since visiting the property from 1998 to now, he had seen an A. Gafoors and Sons Store, there. “No!” bluntly replied Boyer. He maintained that he had seen no Hardware or Paint Store under that name on the said property, during that time.

Following the cross examinations, Boyer‘s attorney, Devindra Kissoon sought clarifications on some of the statements made but this exercise was however met with objection from the Judge and opposing team of Attorneys. The matter is scheduled for continuation on October16.

Plate sales raised over £80 million during the DVLA’s last financial year and that is more than Royal Copenhagen earns with its Flora Danika pattern which sells for £1500 a dinner plate. However, there are limits on the amount of vanity allowed especially as some plates are far too hot to handle. The DVLA has a steering committee of “Censors” who meet every six months to decide on potentially offensive license plates.

Earlier this Wednesday, the Independent reported that the DVLA have released a list of banned plates, revealing while you are allowed to have ORG45M on your car you can’t have a VA61ANA on the roads. The list is 49 pages long and details all the “suppressed car licence plates, ranging from homophobic to the puerile and obscene.”

The Toronto Star reported the latest DVLA’s release as, “PEN15 got a pass but P15 OFF was shot down.”

Also included in the list are BL03 JOB, JE55US and AL14LAH. The Guardian stated that potentially offensive number plates have become a serious issue at the DVLA after the release

of H8 GAY in 2006 prompted a storm of protest. It was later withdrawn after an MP and members of the public complained that it could be understood to say “Hate gay.” However, some people complain about a lack of consistency in the list. For example, JE55US and AL14LAH are banned, but last week KR15 HNA – referring to the Hindu god Krishna - was sold for £233,000. A man from the Midlands with the surname Islam applied for the 15 LAM plate but was told it was “inappropriate”.

The man, who did not want to give his first name, told the Guardian: “I’m not particularly religious, but I am proud of my name. I was thinking of buying the plate as a gift for my brother. To be told that my name is offensive is really upsetting.”

Yet despite the ban on 15 LAM, the registration of M014 MED is expected to fetch significantly more than £100,000 at auction. This is less than what is expected for PEN 15. I am waiting for cashstrapped Caribbean

governments to go into the plates business in a less restrictive way. Not that we have been restricted in punning with those we have.

Lord Kitchener (Kitch) used the licensing system in Trinidad where you start with one letter of the alphabet like “H” for a “Hired”, “R” for a “Rented” or “P” for a “Privately Owned” vehicle and then when you sell out the series you add another letter starting from “A”.

This allowed Kitch to compose and sing his classic, “I will park my PP anywhere.”

I have already started thinking about a “good” plate in the sense that the writer G.K. Chesterton explained it, “The word ‘good’ has many meanings.

For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.” *Tony Deyal was last seen saying that the DVLA pulled F4 GOT and D1 KES because of their resemblance to the “derogatory” terms “faggot and dikes.”

Page 22

Kaieteur News

FOR RENT

SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. – CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Guyana Passport application. Graphics design, Advertisement. Tel: 626-7040; 265-4535.

PARTY DECORATING: balloon creation, back drops etc. for weddings, birthdays, anniversary etc. Make your event extra special! Tel Maya: 642-6664 REPAIRS AT LOW COST: FRIDGES,AIR-CONDITIONERS, WASHINGMACHINES,TVS, MICROWAVES,FREEZERSCALL: 629-4946 OR 225-4822 REPAIRS & SPARE, FRIDGE, FREEZER, A/C, WASHERS, STOVES CONTACT NICK: 6831312, 627-3206 Floor sanding & Lacquering House plans, Estimate & painting, Boat for Santa Mission - Call: 650-4362 Repairs at affordable prices: fridge, air conditioner, washing machines, dryers, TV, microwaves & freezerCall: 610-5846 or 661-8158 Permanent & Visitors Visa Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building. visadocumentsgy@yahoo.comCall : 225-6496, 662-6045 Jadesco: offers architectural designs, civil engineering estimations, construction & rehabilitation -Call: 612-0468; 629-3605 or email: jadesco15@gmail.com We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer-Call: 231-0655; 683-8734. Omar Eagle’s fridge re-gas @ 99-100 New Market Street - $8,000 & washing machine repairs.

Phone: 697-2969, 223-5818 Do you need a care giving nursing services for your love ones with 3 years experienced –Call: 653-3052; 611-9275.

Supervisor to work at hotel in charity rtilak@adamantiumholdings.com or contact 223-5273/4

PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 One bedroom apartment suitable for couple or single person -$35,000 monthly: light, water and garbage included- Call: 638-8858

Experienced hire car driver & dispatcher @ Princess Hotel Providence-Call: 616-5419

House and land at Canal #2 Polder -$35,000 monthlyContact: 613-1860; 685-9721

Carpenter to work on WCD $7,000 per day- Call: 684-8231

2 Self Contained rooms; water (hot & cold) A/C & phone$US1500 @ Vlissingen RoadContact: 660-9478; 672-0865

WANTED

New company hiring; security officers needed: $3,000 per day-Contact: 2316052 between 8am and 4:30pm Ranger Must Know How To Use GPS contact 223-5273/4 1Cook to prepare local / international dishes for catering establishment – Call: 660-4904; 223-5621 between 9am-2pm Live in home aid in Republic Park, 1 week on, 1 week off $13,000 weekly –Call: 6750767; 627-5098 Honest, experienced sales clerk. Apply at Nanda’s Boutique-223 Camp Street, next to Gas Station Experienced Security guard for day & night, need police clearance and also housekeeper wanted 3045yrs-Call: 231-8344 One welder fabricator, to work in workshop on the West Coast, on a percentage basisCall: 679-4992 One live in maid –Tel:6755256 Field sales agents @ Max Consultancy & Accounting Services, preferably males, must be experienced in this field –Call: 223-1855 Senior Mechanic to work in Georgetown –Call: 218-5105 Single Nurse wanted to care for elderly woman 25-35, life changing opportunity – Call: 687-5837 Canter Driver to work on W.C.D -$30,000, porter $20,000 –Call: 684-8231

One four storey building at Lot 14 Croal and Longden Street to rent- Contact 6631876 Three Storey 75ft’X30ft’ bldg, open floors, 2 offices, 2 washrooms, driveways, 25B Princess St, Charlestown.

Call: 223-0654; 225-0605 Two -2 bedrooms apartment @ 35 Howes Street- Contact Pet Boy Shop, between the hours 11am-6pm - $45,000 & $50,000 monthly 1-3 Bedrooms upstairs, 1-2 bedrooms downstairs for rent @ Cornelia Ida W.C.D – Contact: 277-0108 Apartment for rent @ Parfaite Harmonie, WCD-Call: 6015058 Three bedrooms apartment for rent at Section ‘A’ , Diamond E.B.D. For more information please call: 954479-7454/ 685-5023 Two bedroom apartment for rent Section A Diamond. For more information please call: 954-479-7454/ 685-5023 3 Bedroom upper flat for rent at Vreed-En-Hoop JunctionCall: 661-0162 GT TOOL RENTALS: COMPACTOR; CHIPPING HAMMER RANSOM & FLOOR SANDER, JACK HAMMER, CONCRETE SAW & MORE- CALL: 6750767, 627-5098

INNOVATIVE MARKETING & PUBLISHING INC –TEL: 600-4212: We create A/ works, logos, business cards, posters, etc, placements of ads included.

ACCOMODATION Harmony Inn apartments, furnishing (Kitchenette, bath tubs, hot & cold, TV, Wi-Fi, AC) –Tel: 668-0306; 6947817; 218-1400 $5,000-$8,000

LEARN TO DRIVE Soman Son & Outar Driving School at Maraj BuildingTel: 644-5166; 622-2872; 6150964; 689-5997

LAND FOR SALE 33 Acres prime agriculture land located at Plantation Flensberg W.B.D-price negotiable-Contact Erick Boodhoo: Call: 654-6229; 627-0556

VACANCY Male & female workers, accountant, checkers, bond clerk @ RA Soda Factory Rosignol West Coast Berbice: Tel: 330-2399; 6235920 Joiners and semi skill joinerCall: 699-9671; 642-5797 Drivers, Drink machine operator, anyone with mechanical ideas @ RA Soda Factory Rosignol West Coast Berbice: Tel: 330-2399; 623-5920 One Driver; apply @ Technical Services Inc, 18-23 Industrial Site, Eccles E.B.D Accounts clerk: experienced in QuickBooks, accounting software, managing VAT NIS & PAYE, apply @ Technical Services Inc, 1823 Industrial Site, Eccles E.B.D 1 Driver to driver delivery truck – apply at Alabama Trading Georgetown Ferry Stelling.

Branch manager wanted to work in New Amsterdam, attractive salary –Call: 6093650 Diesel Mechanics to work at Mining Firm must have knowledge of Perkins engine & excavators- Contact: 2269768 One experienced driver/ purchaser. Must have recommendations, must between35-45years old – Contact: 226-9768; 661-5307 Indoor Salesman with sales skills, secondary education, customer friendly @ Key Food Trading, Mc Doom, next to Post Office .

Immediate vacancy- 1 cook $18,000 weekly, 4 waitresses $17,000 weekly, free meals & accommodation, EBD-Call: 684-2119 One experienced hair dresserContact Magic Touch SalonTel: 225-6492 Salesgirl, send written application & passport size picture to Survival Shopping Complex, 173 Sheriff Street, Cambellville-Call: 227-5286-9 Handyman, room attendant, security guard-male –Call: 225-0198 or 233 South Road, Lacytown Engineer for road work contact 223-5273/4 Hauler operator contact 2235273/4 Foreman for road work contact 223-5273/4 Motor grader operator contact 223-5273/4 Compactor operator contact 223-5273/4 Security officers wanted by security company-Contact: 672-1920

Monday September 21, 2015

SALON Make Up Courses with Mac, Bare Minerals, Black Opal and Sacha cosmetics. Call: 647-1773/660-5257 Affordable salon services: pedi, mani, wash & blowout, facials, etc $2,500 each. Vogue @ Kalyan Mall, Lamaha Street. Tel: 647-1773/660-5257

FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754.

Land at Schoonord (Next To Demerara Harbour Bridge), 45' X 100' $ 6 M, 60' X 100' $ 7.5M- Contact 650-0402 / 260-4988 Canadian made, white bath tub Jacuzzi - $275,000, baby food processor, stroller/car seat -$20,000-Call: 666-4634; 644-2646

TO LET Flat house, two bedroom with toilet and bath -$35,000 a month –Call: 684-8877 Three bedrooms executive concrete top flat in South Ruimveldt Gardens –Call: 218-1949 One bedroom apartment Grove New Housing Scheme, EBD -$36,000 –Tel: 642-1956 Furnished 2 bedroom apartments in Nandy Park, parking available. For further information – Call: 619-4824

VACANCY Neil’s Body Work- Call: 6490659; 670-1637 Head Chef and Chef Carnegie training or grilling experienced would be an asset. Call: 600-7388, 225-7933 Male supervisor to work in Housekeeping Dept. Call: 225-0198 or 233 South Road Lacytown E&N Beck Establishment: experienced milling machine & late operator, experienced driver with police clearance & reference-Call: 225-6272; 2275273 WANTED Female domestic to work in Trinidad- Call 1868-683-1528 Two experienced General Managers for a hinterland operation.

One experienced General Manager for a crusher.

Applicants should contact 6644284 or 225-8130 Attractive salaries offered 2yrs Experienced seamstress – knowledge: flat/ over lockers/ Serger machines, meeting of deadlines/target a must; preferably E.C.D Contact: 270-4852 & 645-5533 One pastry maker, must also be able to make finger foodsCall: 660-4904; 223-5621 between 9am-2pm One domestic to work in Diamond- Call: 216-2502

Great Deals on video games & all gaming consoles. PC, phone games & applications. Delivery also – Call: 672-2566; 265-3232 Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Huskies for sale: Contact Frank:6645401, Elizabeth : 680-6426 One Pool Table for sale contact 223-5273/4 1 Aqua Sol water heater price$150,000 negotiable, interested person can contact: 264-2946 Transported property in Tuschen Scheme, Main Road/ bank loan available$10.M negotiable-Call: 6848231 4 Gold claims located in Mining District #5, Wanamu Calalu, area Barama River – Contact: 690-7932 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, motors, etc Call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Reduced Prices: Dell/HP laptop & desktop computers complete, from $49,000, free games and educational software @ Future – Call: 2312206 Mazda Axela: 2008 service, excellent condition, price $1.5M negotiable, serious enquiries only-Contact Shawn: 668-3412, Farida: +1868-318-0650 1 Motor Car, 1 Toyota Corolla (AE91), PGG3474-Call: 6844094 5 Toyota Coaster, 1 Mitsubishi 30 seater, 1-320C bucket, must be sold- Call: 648-0121; 628-1832 Ducks @ $500 per lb (live), free plucking & roasting, free delivery on EBD with purchase of 2 or more. Call: 684-2877 FOR SALE/RENT American pool tables –Call: 277-0578 MASSAGE Relaxing massage servicesCall: 674-8147 Continued on page 23

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

Page 23

Letters... Where your views make the news

The police needs to provide answers.

It has been two months now DEAR EDITOR, Two months ago residents of Wakenaam, Maria’s Pleasure signed a petition calling for the immediate removal of a Neighbourhood Police Officer. We had outlined in the petition evidence of bribery and corrupt practices as the primary grounds for removal of this officer.

Two investigators came on the island and took statements from the signatories and were provided with additional information as to the need for the immediate removal of the said officer. About a month ago, I personally spoke to the commander of G division who said that the file has gone to

DPP. Editor, the above begs the question, why the slothfulness?

We are now officially frustrated and are therefore demanding the intervention of the Minister of Public Security. Mr. Ramjattan has a copy of the petition.

I find it strange to comprehend the dismissal and transfer of real police officers and the sloth in dismissing a Neighbourhood Police Officer that is continuously stepping out of boundary. Is someone protecting this individual? We will not jump to conclusions if answers are provided to us.

Ganesh Mahipaul

Concerns about the Guyana Forestry Commission and sawmill owners and operators

DEAR EDITOR, Please grant us space in your newspapers to express our views on issues affecting portable sawmill owners/ operators. We are also asking of you to please investigate the circumstances laid out in this letter.

There are currently hundreds of sawmills purchased during a five year period with millions of dollars being paid to the Guyana Forestry Commission.

Today, many of these mills are not in operation due to pressures emitting from the said entity.

As portable sawmill owners and operators throughout Guyana, we are

faced with the ever-changing demands of the Guyana Forestry Commission. The said commission has imposed upon us tremendous challenges and constraints halting the proper flow and operation of these mills.

First of all, a portable sawmill, as the name implies, is a piece of equipment that can be used anywhere as deemed possible for the effective conversion of logs at any given place or time.

The Guyana Forestry Commission treats portable wood mills as a static mill, (being placed at a fixed location) and logs have to be transported miles to its location maximizing

production costs.

There is also a requirement for an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) license which is a complete waste of time for sawmills operating within concessions, and if a mill is to be relocated to another location a new license is also required.

The said EPA license is also a duplication of many rules also sated in the code of practice for mill operators.

An EPA license should only apply to mills operating within residential areas.

The Commission is also charging portable mill owners/ operators a hefty price for the license, which is then expired

on the 31st of December and a new one has to be made; so if a mill is registered in November for $80,000 and expires on December of the same year, a new license would have to be taken out on January for another $80,000.

The Guyana Forestry Commission has rules or a code of practice governing the effective operation of mills. We, as owners and operators, are calling on the Honorable Minister responsible for the forestry sector to address these issues that are stifling the industry.

Portable sawmill owners/operators

Jagdeo is not the PPP and the PPP is not Jagdeo DEAR EDITOR, A clear indication of the difficult task facing the Granger/Nagamootoo coalition government is its efforts to unite the people from all ethnic backgrounds and to form a national unity government.

This is exactly what the nation needed for healing and for the people to live in peace and harmony. This was the hope and desire of the founding leaders of the country, the late Linden Forbes Samson Burnham and Dr. Cheddi Bharat Jagan.

Their dreams were for a united Guyana but standing in the way of this lifelong dream is the leader of the opposition PPP, Bharat Jagdeo who has rejected the idea. He remains bitter and is in a state of total confusion after losing the last election.

He was convinced that the PPP was going to win the last election, but when he realized that theyhad lost, he accused the APNU+AFC coalition of rigging the election.

As if that was not enough, the PPP has asked the court to declare the election null and void. This is bizarre for a party that has ruled the country for 30 years (1957-

1964; 1992-2015) and claimed to believe in democracy.

However, it is normal for the leaders and supporters of the PPP, that after losing thelast election, particularly if the campaign was bruising, to feel disappointed and frustrated to the point where they would refuse to support the new government or anything its policies.

They have been unable to cope with such huge loss and, as a result, have been most vitriolic in their comments.This is a classic example of how sore losers

behave. For Jagdeo to refuse to attend the unity talks shows poor leadership and for him to tell Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo that he has no authority to spearhead those talks is rude and offensive.

There is no place for the nastiness that he spewed at Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. It is childish and uncivil!

The reality is Jagdeo should not be allowed to impede the unity talks or the formation of a unity government. Jagdeo is not

the PPP and the PPP is not Jagdeo. He is an ordinary citizen. The coalition has to move beyond Jagdeo and seek support from the other PPP members. It is time for the nation to rebuke hissleazy, divisive and race-bait politics before they divide the country further. That should be the message ofall Guyanese who welcome and embrace the new coalition government. Corruption breathes negativity and so is a depraved mind.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish Singh

Time to address sexual...

From page 4 abuse within the ranks?

In 2014, the then President Donald Ramotar, during his address at the Police Officers Conference, hinted at the possibility of integrity tests for policemen, as a means of ensuring that the Force that is empowered to ensure our safety from criminals is free from such elements.

Wishful thinking!

Prayerful Hoping!

In February 2012, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had also hinted at the institution

of lie detector tests for the entire Police Force. This would be in addition to several other proposals that he opined would hopefully bring about a new posture of the Police Force. It is apparent that even in the previous government the way forward was questionable.

On a conclusive note, a profound radical change in policing must take place now, before the police continue to take sexual advantage and intimidate the females alongside whom they are

supposed to serve. Protect & Serve should be the battle cry for the female cops to Detect the Perves.

Delay is dangerous. No longer can the Police Commission wait on lie detector tests or integrity tests to ascertain the character of the male members of the force but should instead consider seeking remedial measures in the administration of antilibidinal suppressants for likely perpetrators.

Yvonne Sam

From page 22

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PROPERTY FOR SALE Property for sale, Grove $20M / Rent: $50,000 per month. Tel: 625-5461.

2 Storied transported concrete property upstairs 2 bedrooms, downstairs 2 bedrooms, fully grilled, block ‘8’ MonRepos, E.C.D -$18M- Call: 625-1514; office 231-7255 Property @ West Minister W.B.D, 3 Bedrooms, 1 bathroom & 2 Verandahs Property Vacant possession- Call: 660-9478; 672-0865, see T&T Realty on FaceBook.

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 Business Property for sale @ Friendship Public Road –Call: 621-6878 One-two storey house with four bedrooms at 160 Stewartville, land -50’X120’, building 24’X60’ – price $10.5M –Call: 220-9419; 627-9794 Brand new 2 storey concrete building in 5th Avenue, Diamond, E.B.D, all modern amenities - Call: 662-9335; 612-3244 2 Storey 45x35 concrete property, lower flat incomplete. Land 65x120 @ Diamond N/S 5th Avenue,E.B.D- Call: 664-5052 House and land for sale, situated at lot 95 La Penitence Street Albouystown. Call: 6875851; 1-604-589-1852

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Monday September 21, 2015

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Kerry: US to accept 85,000 Greek leftist Tsipras returns in refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017 unexpectedly decisive vote win

US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with refugees fleeing Syria, at Villa Borsig, yesterday, in Berlin. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool) BERLIN (AP) — Scrambling to address a growing Syrian refugee crisis, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced yesterday that the United States would significantly increase the number of worldwide migrants it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.

The U.S. will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and that total would rise to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry said at news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after they discussed the mass migration of Syrians fleeing their civil war.

Many, though not all, of the additional refugees would be Syrian, American officials have said. Others would come from strife-torn areas of Africa. The White House had previously announced it intended to take in 10,000 additional Syrian refugees over the next year.Asked why the U.S. couldn’t take more, Kerry cited postSept. 11 screening requirements and a lack of money made available by Congress.

“We’re doing what we know we can manage immediately,” he said, adding that the U.S. cannot take shortcuts on security checks.

U.S. lawmakers immediately expressed

concerns about the potential influx.

The Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations “have made it abundantly clear that they will use the refugee crisis to try to enter the United States. Now the Obama administration wants to bring in an additional 10,000 Syrians without a concrete and foolproof plan to ensure that terrorists won’t be able to enter the country,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “The administration has essentially given the American people a ‘trust me.’ That isn’t good enough,” according to a statement from the lawmakers, who head the congressional judiciary committees. Conditions in Syria have been growing increasingly dire as the civil war grinds on. As many as 9 million people have been displaced, including more than 4 million who have fled the country, according to the United Nations.

A letter made public last week and signed by several former Obama administration officials urged the U.S. government to accept 100,000 Syrian migrants, and to put in place special rules to speed the resettlement process. Germany says it will accept as many as a million Syrians this year.

Former Greek prime minister and leader of leftist Syriza party Alexis Tsipras greets supporters after winning the general election in Athens, yesterday.

REUTERS/MICHALIS KARAGIANNIS Reuters - Greek leftist Alexis Tsipras stormed back into office with an unexpectedly decisive election victory yesterday, claiming a clear mandate to steer Greece’s battered economy to recovery.

The vote ensured Europe’s most outspoken leftist leader would remain Greece’s dominant political figure, despite having been abandoned by party radicals last month after he caved in to demands for austerity to win a bailout from the euro zone.

In a victory speech to cheering crowds in a central Athens square, he promised a new phase of stability in a country that has held five general elections in six years, saying his mandate would now see him through a full term.

LibDems vow to spearhead fight to stay in EU Reuters - The Liberal Democrats, Britain’s most enthusiastic Europhiles, kick off the fight to stay in the European Union today with a warning that its rivals are dangerously ambivalent about the consequences of leaving.

Nick Clegg, the former party leader and coalition partner of Prime Minister David Cameron in the last government, will say the stakes “could not be higher”, with a “Brexit” potentially leading to a break-up of the United Kingdom.

Britons will vote on the country’s future in the 28member bloc before the end of 2017 in a referendum Cameron promised before last May’s election to try to counter the rise of the antiEU UK Independence Party.

The LibDems, who were reduced in that election to

Nick Clegg only eight lawmakers after 57 in the last parliament, previously could have counted on the opposition Labour Party to back the EU. But Clegg will say the election of left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader this month has muddied the

waters.

“I say to Jeremy Corbyn: the EU referendum is simply too important for ambivalence, “ he will tell delegates at the party’s conference, according to extracts from his speech.

Corbyn, who voted to “No” to Britain’s membership of the forerunner to the European Union in a 1975 election, said last week that he could not give Cameron a “blank cheque” to renegotiate EU ties ahead of the vote.

He shifted his position days later, saying Labour believed Britain should remain in the EU. But if Cameron failed to deliver a “good package or one that reduces the social gains we have previously won in Europe”, he said, the party would renegotiate.

Clegg will say that if Britain votes to leave the EU,

Scottish nationalists, who won 56 out of 59 seats north of the border, would “gleefully grab the opportunity to persuade the people of Scotland to leave the UK as well”.

A survey by pollster ICM last week showed 43 percent of voters favoured staying in the EU, 40 percent would opt to leave and 17 percent were undecided.

“Whether we remain in or out of Europe is an existential question for Britain - if we leave we face an uncertain and isolated future; if we stay in we can lead as a strong European power,” Clegg will say.

“That’s why we must strain very sinew to fight - and win -the referendum.”

The LibDems’ new leader Tim Farron will launch the campaign on Monday in Bournemouth on England’s south coast.

“Today in Europe, Greece and the Greek people are synonymous with resistance and dignity. This struggle will be continued together for a full four years,” he said.

He made no specific reference to the 85 billion euro bailout, but Syriza campaigned on a pledge to implement it, while promising also to introduce measures to protect vulnerable groups from some aspects of the deal.

“We have difficulties ahead of us but we also have a solid ground, we know where we can step, we have a prospect. Recovery from the crisis can’t come magically, but it can come through tough work,” he said.

Tsipras’s first task after forming a government will be to persuade European Union lenders that enough agreed steps have been made to ensure the next payment. The bailout programme is due for a review next month.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers that use the single currency, said he looked forward to the swift formation of a new Greek government with a mandate to implement the bailout.

“Ready to work closely with the Greek authorities and to continue accompanying

Greece in its ambitious reform efforts,” Dijsselbloem tweeted.

Tsipras will also need to grapple with Greece’s central role in Europe’s refugee crisis, as the main entry point for tens of thousands of migrants who arrive by sea and trek up the Balkan peninsula to richer EU countries further north. He meets EU colleagues at an emergency summit over the crisis on Wednesday.

With around 57 percent of votes counted, Syriza was on course to claim 35.5 percent of the vote, easily seeing off the main conservative challengers New Democracy on 28.2 percent.

The interior ministry said that would give Syriza 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament, just four fewer than when Tsipras first stormed to power early this year. The result was more decisive than had been indicated in opinion polls, which had predicted the outcome would be close.

New Democracy swiftly conceded defeat. Leader Vangelis Meimarakis said: “The electoral result appears to be concluding with Syriza and Mr Tspiras in the lead. I congratulate him and urge him to create the government which is needed.”

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Monday September 21, 2015

Colombia peace talks must not fail, says Pope Francis HAVANA (Reuters) Pope Francis urged Colombia’s government and Marxist FARC guerrillas yesterday to ensure that nearly three years of peace talks in Cuba are successful and end their “long night” of war.

“Please, we do not have the right to allow ourselves yet another failure on this path of peace and reconciliation,” the Argentine pontiff said in an address at the end of a Mass he celebrated in Havana’s Revolution Square.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has staked his reputation on reaching a pact

with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end Latin America’s longest insurgency, which has killed some 220,000 people and displaced millions over 50 years.

“May the blood shed by thousands of innocent people during long decades of armed conflict, united to that of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, sustain all the efforts being made, including those on this beautiful island, to achieve definitive reconciliation,” Francis said.

“Thus may the long night of pain and violence, with the support of all Colombians, become an unending day of

concord, justice, fraternity and love, in respect for institutions and for national and international law, so that there may be lasting peace.”

At the negotiations in Havana, Santos’ government and the FARC have reached partial agreements on land reform, an end to drug trafficking, political participation for ex-rebels and efforts to remove land mines.

Discussions on victim reparations and demobilization are ongoing.

If they can reach a comprehensive peace deal, it would be placed before Colombian voters for approval.

Call for Caribbean Diaspora brand

NEW YORK, United States – A CaribbeanAmerican community leader called on West Indians living in the United States to establish a Caribbean Diaspora brand.

Following the success of the 48th West Indian American Labor Day Carnival Parade, Kwayera Archer Cunningham asserted it was time build on brand Caribbean, starting in Brooklyn – “Caribbean Central” in the United States.

“Yes, I am Jamaican, but when in New York City, I am a Jamaican from the Caribbean – the brand that many of our parents who came to this country helped to build,” she said.

Archer Cunningham, an award-winning nonprofit executive who espouses the strengthening of communities by building sustainable philanthropic networks which ensure resources are directed to those most in need, suggested a powerful Diaspora brand might awaken Corporate America: “We have contributed so much creative and intellectual power to the success of the United States, and we have infinite potential to do great things – both locally and globally.”

“Now that the festivities are over, let’s work together to send our message of unity to Corporate America,” Archer Cunningham exhorted, “so we can all reap the benefits of prosperity and allow every community to thrive.”

The founder of Global Ase, an international firm established to assist leaders, organizations, corporations and communities who are

Kwayera Archer Cunningham working for social good, urged stateside Caribbean people to use the same focus “that our parents had when coming here for a better life …now it’s our turn to leave a strong legacy.”

She suggested Caribbean institutions and businesses collectively contribute to the community and to the Caribbean by pooling their significant resources.

Archer Cunningham, who has lived in Brooklyn for 27 years, believes the community needs to address the violence taking place during and beyond the Carnival season.

“The inter-generational experience I enjoyed while growing up in a Caribbean family and community was priceless. It’s where young people learn how to socialize.

We didn’t go to baby sitters, we watched our parents dance, drink, eat and laugh.

So we in turn, learned how to drink without fighting and don’t drink until we pass out.”

She recalled: “We also

learned how to dance close with others without our mates wanting to jealously attack the other person, and we learned about pride and community.”

She lamented, however: “Today many young people do not get exposed to the rich opportunity to engage in cultural expressions with family and community regularly and therefore get a bit extreme when an instance occurs.”

Archer Cunningham said when her parents came to America, they pooled their resources with family, friends and neighbors, supported each other, saved money, bought houses and sent resources back home, creating a clear path toward economic independence for one and all. “But today, although we may be doing this, I truly believe we are not as organized as the past generations who gave us the opportunities we have today.

We have become too comfortable.” (Caribbean 360)

Monday September 21, 2015

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UNC’s fight for six seats will flop - Khan

Franklin Khan

Trinidad Guardian - The People’s National Movement (PNM) says it is not unduly perturbed by the ruling on the general election by a High Court judge on Friday.

In fact, PNM chairman Franklin Khan said the party’s lawyers indicated that the UNC did not stand a chance of victory, “but it is the law.”

He called it a “smokescreen.”

“What they are doing is challenging the victory of the PNM candidates.” He said the UNC was trying to avoid the radar about its internal troubles. Khan said, “You have a leader there who has lost five consecutive

Jump in UWI numbers Daily Nation - What a difference three weeks have made.

And a jump in enrolment by about 1,000 students at the UWI’s Cave Hill campus is evidence to prove it.

The turnaround in fortunes lifts some of the gloom that surrounded the campus’ matriculation ceremony on August 28 when the principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau, reported that enrolment had dropped by nearly 50 per cent as a result of the imposition of tuition fees.

The majority of the new undergraduate enrollees have entered the social sciences faculty, pushing total enrolment to just over 5,000.

elections now...that is their story.

We will focus on governing this country in a fair and equitable manner.”

Khan was responding to questions by the media after the PNM held its Eighth General Council meeting at Balisier House in Port-ofSpain, Saturday. He said, “You can go through the route of an election petition which they have been granted leave to so do.

Obviously, once due process has started, we have no comments to make. “It is largely a matter between the UNC and the EBC, whether they acted within their remit and their jurisdiction.

“However, because the petition is specific to six constituencies, our MPs will be party to the petition.”

Meanwhile, Ronald Huggins is now the PRO of the PNM. He has replaced Faris Al-Rawi, who resigned from the position. Huggins, who comes from the St Joseph constituency, will hold the post until the party’s election in the future.

Monday September 21, 2015

U.N. nuclear watchdog says its chief visited military site in Iran

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano (left) meets Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani (R) in Tehran, yesterday.

REUTERS/PRESIDENT.IR/HANDOUT Reuters - The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which is investigating whether Iran carried out work related to developing a nuclear bomb, said yesterday its chief had visited a sensitive military site during a trip to the country.

The visit is a highly symbolic move by the agency, which has not visited the Parchin site in a decade and has faced accusations that it reached an agreement with Tehran restricting its ability to investigate at the sprawling complex.

Under a road map agreement accompanying a July deal with world powers, the IAEA is due to issue an assessment this year on “possible military dimensions” of Iran’s nuclear programme. One open question is whether Iran carried out high-explosives testing at Parchin related to making a nuclear warhead.

“The director general visited the site of Parchin, together with the head of the Department of Safeguards, Tero Varjoranta,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the IAEA declined to provide details on the visit by its director general, Yukiya Amano. Tehran denies having conducted research related to nuclear weapons at Parchin, 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Tehran, or anywhere else.

IAEA access to Parchin was one of the most sensitive issues in negotiations that led to the July deal between Iran and six world powers - the United States, France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia - which provides for restrictions on Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.

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Monday September 21, 2015

Govt. wants further funds Pope Francis meets Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro for international airport

Pope Francis and Cuba’s Fidel Castro shake hands, in Havana, Cuba, yesterday. (AP Photo/Alex Castro) HAVANA (Reuters) - Pope Francis, Latin America’s first pope, met Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro yesterday, discussing religion and world affairs at the home of the 89-year-old retired president.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the meeting lasted about 40 minutes and was “very familiar, fraternal and friendly.”

Castro’s wife and several children and grandchildren were present, the spokesman said.

Francis gave Castro several of his official papal writings as well as two books on spirituality and a book and CD on the writings of Father Armando Llorente, a Jesuit priest who taught Castro in high school.

Castro gave him a copy of “Fidel and Religion,” a 1985 book of interviews with a Brazilian priest and writer that lifted a taboo about speaking about religion in Cuba, which was then officially atheist.

The spokesman said there were no official photographers at the meeting and the Vatican would not release pictures. He said it would be up to the Castro family to decide whether to release pictures taken with phones.

Fidel Castro, the older brother of President Raul Castro, led the Cuban government from 1959 until he resigned for health reasons, at first provisionally in 2006 and then definitively in 2008.

Please give me a round of applause, Portia pleads

The Gleaner - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday afternoon took to the microphone at the 77th Annual Conference of the People’s National Party (PNP) reeling off what she called progress in the economy, health, education and other sectors.

But it appeared that the thousands of orange-clad Comrades gathered inside the National Arena were not in sync with the Prime Minister, at least on one count.

As Simpson Miller turned to the area of job creation, she cited that some 60,000 jobs were provided under the

Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).

With no applause coming from the Comrades, Simpson Miller asked for it.

“Sixty thousand jobs and no clapping?” she asked, “Come on man, come on man,” she said begged.

Earlier, the Prime Minister heaped praises on Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips, a former political rival for the leadership of the PNP. Boasting of Phillips’ success in the ministry, she said Jamaica has passed ýall nine quarterly reviews targeted by the International Monetary Fund.

Portia Simpson Miller

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent - CMC – The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government will today seek a further US$16 million to go towards the construction of the Argyle International Airport, Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace has said.

He said the Ralph Gonsalves administration will ask Parliament to authorise the borrowing of the funds for the long-delayed airport, two months after legislators gave the government permission to borrow EC$13 million (One Ec dollar =US$0.37 cents) to go toward the completion of the EC$700 million project, which has missed annual completion deadlines since 2011.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has said that the airport will be completed and operational by the end of this year.

However, the parliamentary opposition has dismissed that timeline as intended to fool voters ahead of general elections, expected by year-end.

Eustace told a town hall meeting of his main opposition New Democratic

Arnhim Eustace Party (NDP) in Mayreau Saturday night about the latest move by the government to secure more funds for the airport project.

“You might not know that Monday morning when the Parliament opens, the Prime Minister is bringing another bill … for US$16 million for the airport,” he said, expressing concerns about the government’s handling of the airport project, which has been a central plank of the 2005 and 2010 general elections.

“We don’t have an account, we are not being told about the amount of money that is being spent so far and those who have not yet been paid who the government owe,” he said, suggesting also that he does not have all the details about the latest loan.

“We haven’t even seen the document because we left St. Vincent Friday to come down to go to the Grenadines.

The document came after we left … but I know some of what is in it, because my secretary called me and I told her to read out for me certain things so I can have an idea,” he said.

“That’s a lot of money.

There are 61 families whose lands were taken away since 2008 who have not yet get paid for their lands. Sixty-one families. That’s millions of dollars,” he said.

“So what I want is an account of all that is taking place because you can’t just approve loan after loan after loan without getting a proper record of what has been spent.”

Eustace, however, did not say if opposition lawmakers will support the loan.

Unite for Change boosts effort to fight crime ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) – Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, has been revving up the Unite for Change campaign, particularly in the rural parishes, in which he has been calling for a more united effort in the fight against crime.

He emphasised that the approach has to be frontal and steadfast, where the criminals will realise that there is no safe haven from which to operate.

At a recent handing over ceremony for the Ocho Rios closed circuit television surveillance system, Bunting noted that even with the most effective of strategies, the security forces cannot work in isolation.

“It will take a united effort

Peter Bunting from the citizens of this country…from communities across the island, to help in the fight against crime,” he explained.

“This will take a whole s o c i e t y a p p r o a c h . We welcome the support from the community leaders, from the families, from the church. This is something we must all tackle together as a nation. This is what

Unite for Change is all about,” the minister said.

Taking the message into the western parishes over the past months, particularly St James, Trelawny, Hanover and We s t m o r e l a n d , Bunting has been telling community leaders that they have to take the fight to the criminals, listing the lottery scam as the leading ill facing the region.

Launched on December 5, 2013, by the Ministry of National Security, the Unite for Change Initiative is a national movement and public awareness campaign, aimed at “empowering each citizen to take back Jamaica from the clutches of criminal elements.”

According to Bunting, it is also designed to “rekindle hope among Jamaicans and convince law-abiding citizens that they are not helpless, but can overcome the fear that has immobilised them, by working together as a united front against crime.”

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood.

Monday September 21, 2015

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All Blacks survive scare to beat Man Utd go second as Pumas, Samoa and Wales also win Liverpool lose more ground LONDON (Reuters) The biggest crowd to ever watch a Rugby World Cup match were treated to a classic on Sunday as Argentina pushed New Zealand all the way before the holders’ class eventually earned them a 2616 win in front of almost 90,000 fans at Wembley.

A day after Japan has stunned South Africa, another huge upset looked a possibility as Argentina, who had never beaten the All Blacks, led the team who have never lost a World Cup pool game, until the 56th minute only for the favorites’ mounting pressure to pay off with two tries.

Earlier Samoa ensured there would not be another shock in Brighton, the scene of Japan’s heroics, as they beat the United States 25-16, while Wales demolished Uruguay 54-9 in Cardiff but suffered yet more injuries in the process.

It initially looked to be plain sailing for New Zealand as three Dan Carter penalties had them 9-0 up but Argentine showed a real appetite for the battle and turned things round to lead 13-12 at halftime after a Guido Petti try. The All Blacks looked rattled and lost captain Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith to the sin-bin.

Another penalty stretched the lead but it was mostly one-way traffic in the second half and the Puma defense was finally breached

by Aaron Smith and replacement forward Sam Cane.

“I guess that’s what you

expect first up,” said McCaw. “I thought that second half was a lot more clinical.

“We’ll have to make a few improvements but that’s the nature of rugby.”

The 89,019 attendance eclipsed the previous best of 82,957 who watched England beat Australia in the 2003 final in Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

“It’s a magic place to play here at Wembley, it’s one of the great grounds to play at,” added McCaw, who was winning his 143rd cap.

Brighton was still buzzing a day after Japan’s sensational victory over South Africa and with Pool B now wide open, Samoa did what they needed to do to get past the U.S. There were two tries apiece but the Americans paid a heavy price for indiscipline as Tusi Pisi slotted four penalties and Michael Stanley added another to ensure Samoa’s deserved victory to leave them level at the top with Japan on four points.

Wales wasted little time in Cardiff as they secured their bonus point before halftime with four tries — including three for center Cory Allen.

Wales, fielding several second-string players, scored eight in all, with Samson Lee, Hallam Amos, Gareth Davies (two) and Justin Tipuric also crossing.

However, having suffered a series of injury setbacks in the build-up to the tournament, there was concern in the Welsh camp after Allen, fullback Liam Williams and prop Paul James

all went off injured a week before their Twickenham clash with England.

Uruguay coach Pablo Lemoine and his United States counterpart Mike Tolkin both said their players had been lifted by Japan’s victory over the Springboks.

“It shows that teams are on the rise at our level,” said Tolkin.

“It’s great for the game overall, I think it’s fantastic for the fans, for the sport,” he added, echoing the reaction from around the world — South Africa apart, where the headline “SA shamed by minnows Japan” was fairly representative of the country’s media verdict.

France’s worst fears were confirmed when a scan revealed that winger Yoann Huget will take no further part in the tournament after injuring knee ligaments in Saturday night’s win over Italy.

Huget, who missed the 2011 World Cup after a doping violation, will be replaced by Remy Grosso.

The first citing of the tournament was also announced on Sunday, with Fiji flanker Dominiko Waqaniburotu in the dock on Monday for a tip tackle during his side’s defeat by England.

After a breathless eight games in the opening three days, there is a break in the action until Wednesday, when there are three more, as Scotland, no doubt somewhat nervously, take on Japan, Australia play Fiji and France face Romania.

New Zealand’s Aaron Smith in action.

(Action Images via Reuters / Paul ChildsLivepic)

Anthony Martial celebrates scoring the second goal for Manchester United.

(Action Images via Reuters / Tony O’BrienLivepic) LONDON (Reuters) Manchester City supporters ended a bad week by finding old enemy Manchester United closing to within two points of them at the top of the Premier League after a 3-2 victory at Southampton on Sunday.

A week ago City were five points clear of their neighbours, having not even conceded a goal in five matches, and the bookmakers were slashing their title odds.

Then after a hugely disappointing home defeat by Juventus in the Champions League they were shocked by West Ham United’s 2-1 victory at the Etihad that ended a 100 percent league record.

United rubbed salt into east Manchester wounds when they resisted Southampton’s late rally thanks to some fine saves from goalkeeper David de Gea, who had seemed certain to leave in the recent transfer window.

Instead a deal with Real Madrid broke down on the last day of the window, when United also brought in Anthony Martial from AS Monaco as the world’s most expensive teenage signing at 36.3 million pounds ($56.39 million).

Having scored as a substitute on his Premier League debut against Liverpool, he added two more goals at Southampton, both expertly taken.

Graziano Pelle put Southampton ahead in the 13th minute. Martial equalised 10 minutes before half-time with United’s first shot on target, although Juan Mata should have been given

offside, and the 19 year-old Frenchman put United in front following a dreadful back pass by Southampton’s Japanese defender Maya Yoshida.

Mata added United’s third midway through the second half before De Gea denied Jose Fonte and Pelle gave his team late hope by heading in Sadio Mane’s cross.

ALREADY SPECIAL “I have to make a lot of compliments to my players,” United’s manager Louis van Gaal told reporters.

“Anthony Martial is already special because we paid a lot of money for him. A lot of people are thinking he is a great star but he is a boy of 19.”

Defeat put Southampton fifth from bottom with one win from six games and left manager Ronald Koeman rueing Yoshida’s error.

“We lost by ourselves,” he told Sky Sports. “The first 30 minutes we played perfect.”

Liverpool’s hopes of joining the title chase look forlorn after promoted Norwich City held them 1-1 at Anfield.

Despite having few chances in a dull first half, the home side went ahead with a goal by Danny Ings, only

three minutes after he appeared as a half-time substitute for Christian Benteke.

But Norwich’s central defender Russell Martin scored his third goal of the season to equalise after a mistake by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet at a corner.

Liverpool had started the game in the bottom six and a single point lifted them only two places to 13th, seven points behind the leaders.

“It was important that we got some flow in our game and our intensity in the second half was much better,” manager Brendan Rodgers told the BBC. “In terms of numbers it’s not so good but for me it’s all about the performance.”

In the early match Son Heung-min scored on his home Premier League debut for Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to continue their climb up the table to ninth place.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was delighted with Son, who joined the London club from Bayer Leverkusen for 22.0 million pounds ($34.18 million) last month.

“His performance was fantastic and the energy he showed was amazing,” the Argentine told reporters.

Position Team

Played GD

Points

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

15 13 12 12 10 9 9 9 9 9

Man City Man Utd West Ham Leicester Arsenal Everton Swansea Crystal Palace Tottenham Watford

10 4 6 4 0 3 2 1 1 0

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BCCI president Dalmiya dies in hospital ESPNcricinfo - Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI president, died on Sunday night at the BM Birla hospital in Kolkata, where he had been admitted after suffering a heart attack on Thursday. He was 75 and had faced concerns around his health since starting his second term as president in March.

Dalmiya had been admitted to hospital after complaining of chest pain on Thursday and had to have an angiography. He was reported to be stable but remained in critical care for the next two days. The hospital statement said his condition had become unstable on Sunday morning and he died at 8.45 pm.

Dalmiya’s body will be taken to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) headquarters at Eden Gardens on Monday afternoon for the public to pay their respects.

A long-serving cricket administrator, Dalmiya had since 1979 worked his way from the CAB to president of the ICC and twice headed the BCCI. He is widely credited with being one of two BCCI officials responsible for India’s emergence as world cricket’s financial powerhouse and the tributes pouring in from across the globe bore witness to the breadth of his relationships.

“As a visionary and a father figure of Indian cricket, Mr. Dalmiya worked towards the development of the game of cricket in India. The cricketing fraternity will miss him dearly,” said BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur.

“Mr. Dalmiya played a significant part in positioning Indian cricket at the global level and the astute administrator in him, guided Indian cricket to greater heights. His untiring efforts will be remembered for generations to come and his contribution to Indian cricket will remain unparalleled.”

He had initially made a name in the construction business, which he took over from his father at the age of 20, and joined the BCCI in 1979. Along with the then BCCI president NKP Salve and IS Bindra, Dalmiya was the force behind bringing the World Cup to India and Pakistan in 1987, the first time the tournament was staged outside England. It was during Dalmiya and Bindra’s tenures in the BCCI that the television rights for matches played in India were first sold to private television channels.

After the successful conduct of the 1996 World Cup, Dalmiya was elected ICC

Jagmohan Dalmiya (AFP) president in 1997 and served in the role until 2000, after which he was elected BCCI president for the first time in 2001. In an acrimonious BCCI election in 2004, Dalmiya’s casting vote helped his candidate Ranbir Singh Mahendra get elected as president; but a year later, Dalmiya was beaten in a BCCI election for the first time in over two decades, by Sharad Pawar. His opponents at the time went after him - Dalmiya was banned from BCCI meetings, and an FIR was filed against him - but Dalmiya bounced back to win the CAB presidential elections in July 2006.

Five months later the BCCI expelled him on charges of embezzling funds from the 1996 World Cup and he was forced to step down as CAB chief. After a long legal battle, he was allowed to contest the CAB elections again and he won the presidency in 2008.

For the next five years, Dalmiya stayed in charge at the CAB but his influence was diminished at the BCCI level. In 2013, however, when N Srinivasan stepped aside temporarily from discharging his duties as BCCI president, the board turned to Dalmiya to run its affairs in the interim.

With the influence of Srinivasan waning because of the corruption and spot-fixing scandals in the IPL under his watch and the board mired in legal trouble, Dalmiya was unanimously elected the BCCI president for a second term in March 2015. His health was already a concern by that time, though, and he had to be assisted at several board meetings. The last BCCI meeting Dalmiya attended was a working committee meeting in Kolkata on August 28, which he adjourned sine die because of confusion over whether Srinivasan was eligible to attend.

Monday September 21, 2015

Stag Elite League

Monedderlust fell mighty GDF 3-2; Fruta Conquerors needle Buxton United

By Franklin Wilson Home team Monedderlust, backed by a vociferous band of supporters, created the biggest upset yet of the inaugural Stag Elite League when day two action was contested at the #5 Ground, West Coast, Berbice on Saturday night.

Playing with passion, grit and a sense of wanting to be, Monedderlust erased a 2-0 deficit to cut down the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) 3-2 in an exciting feature game; the opening clash between Fruta Conquerors and Buxton United saw the former squeezing to a 1-0 win.

But it was the main attraction that had the fans on their feet for the entire showdown between two sides that know quite a bit of each other having engaged in a number of practice games over time.

Performing on the biggest platform for league football in Guyana was always going to bring out the best in both sides as pride and bragging rights are at stake in this eight team competition. However, it was the GDF that took charge of proceedings from the first whistle as they controlled play with their usual fast and energetic brand of football.

Monedderlust, coached by former National Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Braithwaite started very slowly and while they were still getting into competitive groove, GDF, by the 22nd were already 2-0 up.

Tyrone Lewis handed the Army the lead 13 minutes on while the nippy Delwin Fraser matched his teammate’s goal in the 22nd minute as the GDF held the ascendency. It was looking good for the City based team but

Monedderlust goal scorers from left, Kevin Sullivan, Kevin Cottey and Travis Henry.

Monedderlust, a side that somehow loves to battle from behind kept matching the pace of the GDF boys.

It was long after the second goal by the GDF that the home side reduced the advantage even though they were gifted a goal by the opposition. Twenty-nine minutes into the game, and as a result of the tables turning, pressure wise, GDF’s Kevin Sullivan did the unthinkable when he blasted the ball into his own nets much to the delight of Monedderlust and yes, the fans who swarmed the ground in celebration.

GDF 2, Monedderlust 1.

Soon after the GDF made their first substitution when right back Jeffrey Perreira who was finding it difficult to deal with the pace of the Monedderlust forwards made way for Aubrey Greene in the 35th minute.

The half time whistle soon sounded and both teams welcomed the 15 minute respite to recalculate and re-

strategise.

On resumption, no one would have been able to predict the final outcome of the match as the home side totally wrested the advantage and initiative from the GDF who could not deal with the pace of Travis Thom and Kevin Cottoy. Equally solid at the back was National Under23 player, Kevin Layne Jnr. Monedderlust displayed a high level of fitness and the will to conqueror as they never allowed the GDF players to intimidate them.

The home team drew level seven minutes after the break when Captain Travis Henry nailed his shot past GDF custodian Oswald Cornette; again sending his teammates and the fans into wild celebrations in the 52nd minute.

And the celebrations did not end there as two minutes later, Monedderlust took the lead for the first time and as it turned out, the winning goal which came off the boot of the

little tormentor, Kevin Cottoy.

The momentum was now with Monedderlust and they did well even as the GDF fought like true soldiers to get back on even terms, but that did not happen. While the Army utilised their full complement of subs as they sought the equalizer, Monedderlust only made two which enabled them to hold on for a memorable win and a perfect start to what will be intense football in the ensuing months.

The opening game was not as hectic as the feature but nonetheless Fruta Conquerors were able to keep the focus and take away full points. Golden Jaguar Eon Alleyne it was who saved the day for the Tucville based unit with a well-directed right foot volley in the first minute of added on time (90+1); on an assist from National Under-23 player, Jermaine Junor.

Matches will continue on Wednesday at GFC.

Fruta Conquerors Eon Alleyne (ball at feet) being challenged by this Buxton player in their SEL match at #5 ground.

Monday September 21, 2015

Kaieteur News

15th NAPF / FESUPO Pan-American Powerlifting Championships - Equipped

Britany Mack, Rudolph Blackman are golden; Marino Jeffrey, Andrea Smith also shine Britany Mack, who became Guyana’s first ever female Sub-Junior competitor on the international stage, ensured her name will forever be etched in the history books with some scintillating lifts at the 15th NAPF / FESUPO Pan-American Powerlifting Championships in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.

Also shining for the Golden Arrowhead were Rudolph Blackman who was also golden in his performances, while Marino Jeffrey and Andrea Smith continued from where they left off in the Raw segment of the championships with more medals in the Equipped.

Britany Mack competing in the 52kg Sub-Junior class was crowned the Overall Pan American and South American champion. In dominating her peers, Mack took Overall silver in the Squat (107.5kg), Benchpress(42.5kg) and Deadlift (120kg) in the South American segment of the championships while bronze was achieved in the Pan American.

Rudolph Blackman captured gold in both segments of the championships contesting the 83kg Junior category.

Blackman had a best Squat of 275kg, Bench Pressed 155kg with a Deadlift of 275kg. He also copped Overall silver in the Pan American and South

American Open class; Pan Am/South American Deadlift gold with silver in both the Bench Press and Squat.

According to reports out of Brazil, Blackman could have done much better but suffered from the big stage jitters.

Marino Jeffrey, campaigning in the 93kg division did a best Squat of 275kg, Bench Pressed 165kg and Deadlift 240kg which allowed him to win the Overall South American silver as well as Bench Press while taking Pan Am and South American bronze.

Andrea Smith, competing in the female 57kg category achieved a best Squat of 120kg, Bench Press 115kg and Deadlift 152.5kg which earned her bronze medals in all three lifts as well as the Overall Pan Am and South American bronze medals.

RAW RESULTS Jeffrey captured gold in the South American (Overall) while also taking Overall Pan American bronze. Battling in the 93kg class, Jeffrey achieved a Squat of 222.5kg, Bench Press 100kg and a Deadlift of 227.5 for a Total of 549.5kg.

Dr. Osmand Mack took South American Overall bronze in the 73kg class with a Total of 580kg (Squat 202.5kg; Bench Press 137.5kg; Deadlift 240kg).

Rudolph Blackman (right) and Marino Jeffrey display their medals.

Smith on debut at this level achieved South American Overall bronze whilst also achieving Personal Best (PB) lifts in the Bench Press and Deadlift.

Smith had an Overall Total of

315kg, all bronze medal performances.

Smith set a new Bench Press PB of 57.5kg and Deadlift PB of 147.5kg whilst doing 110kg in the Squat.

(Franklin Wilson)

Page 33

Forde repossesses Courts 10k title - Josiah-Tanner rules the roost Cleveland Forde put in a scintillating performance yesterday morning to repossess the Courts 10km Road Race title he surrendered last year in the male category when he did not compete in the race owed to the virus Chikungunya.

The event that started and ended in front of Courts’ Main Street Branch reportedly had its largest turnout of over 150 entrants in the history of the event, owed mainly to the continued marketing efforts of the Courts team.

Forde finished the race in 32:45, cruising to a comfortable victory ahead of Cleveland Thomas, who finished in 32:58. Thomas won his first major 10km title in the absence of Forde last year. Winston Missenger was third in 33:01 and Kelvin Johnson fourth in 33:17.

Nathaniel Giddings (34:01) rounded out the top five finishers among the men.

The top five finishers along with junior distance athlete, Matthew McKenzie quickly broke away from the pack on the upward journey around the Russian Embassy.

Thomas, Missenger and McKenzie seemed intent on disrupting the plans of Forde, who looked at ease with their efforts.

It did not work, and around the Guyana Defence Force, Camp Ayanganna on the way back to the finish line, Thomas led with Johnson, Forde and Missenger trailing in a bunch.

Thomas and Forde left the group at Camp and Lamaha Streets before Forde, who expressed after the race that he was struggling with his hamstring, changed gears as usual at New Market and Main Streets to repossess the Courts 10km title.

In the female category, Euleen Josiah-Tanner ruled the roost to defend her title.

The 40-year old Tanner won in 39:39, after leading from the start. Tanner is the only Guyanese woman, who has dipped under the 40-minute mark this year.

Andrea Foster was second in 42:17, while Alika Morgan, who finished fourth overall for females, was third in the Open category with 44:38. Junior, Shantel Hinds was the third female overall to cross the finish line, but competed in the Junior category.

Alicia Jack was fourth in the Open race (5th overall) in 45:51, while Shion Boyer rounded out the top five female Open athletes in 47:31.

In the junior male category, McKenzie won in 34:36. Odwin Tudor was second in 37:45, while Samuel Lynch was third in 38:36.

Hinds won the Junior Female Category in 44:08 after, as was said earlier, finishing an impressive third overall among females.

Simona Lawrence from the Rupununi was second among the juniors, finishing with a time of 48: 33 while Maria McKenzie was third in a time of 56:48. Llewellyn Gardner won the male masters race, while Cyrlene Phillips won the female category.

At the Presentation Ceremony, held immediately after the event, Courts Country Manager, Clyde De Haas was impressed with the turnout of participants.

“Congratulations to everybody and this type of turnout gives us more inspiration to make this event bigger and better and we are already in talks to see how we can do so,” De Haas informed before congratulating all the various winners.

Several players record...

Britany Mack (2nd right) and Andrew Smith (left) with Dr. Osmand Mack and GAPF Secretary Gordon Spencer (right).

From page 34 Krishendat Ramoo took 3 for 7 off 4 overs.

At Skeldon, the home team won the toss and batted.

They made a respectable 161 all out in 43 of their allotted 47 overs due to a late start. Veteran Sherwin Murray made an attacking 68 and was supported by Trishan Ramdass with 24. Bowling for Upper Corentyne, skipper Lakeram Latchman took 3 for 36 off 10 overs, Devanand Chatterpaul 2 for 24 off 10 overs and Totaram Persaud 2 for 33 off 8 overs. The visitors raced to victory by making 162 for 5 in 35 overs. The skipper returned with the bat to score a responsible 49. Balram Samaroo supported with 28 and former Berbice youth batsman Viendra Gooniah 23. Totaram Rajaram Took 3 for 26 off 5 overs.

The match between neighbors and arch rivals Albion Community Center and Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets was not played because of the unavailability of the Albion ground due to the Berbice Expo. That match will be re-fixed for a later date. The third and final round of the preliminary matches will be played on Sunday September 27.

Page 34

Kaieteur News

GCA/NBS second division 40-over tourney

Monday September 21, 2015

BCB/Tenelec inc 2015 First Division 50-over Cricket

Several players record half Persaud all-round efforts give Everest victory, GNIC, GCC triumph centuries along with two five-wicket hauls to highlight 2nd round 25 (5x4). Irfan Alli bagged 5-

Ashkaya Persaud

Ronaldo Mohamed

By Zaheer Mohamed A fine all-round performance by West Indies U19 player Askhaya Persaud guided Everest CC to 71-run victory over host Malteenoes SC when the Georgetown Cricket Association/ New Building Society second division 40-over tournament continued yesterday.

Persaud slammed four fours and a similar number of sixes in a top score of 48 and shared in a second wicket stand of 57 with Travis Persaud who made 25 as Everest posted 202 all out in 39.3 overs, after they were asked to bat.

Malcolm Hubbard supported with 28 and Richie Looknauth 26 not out as

Shaquille Moseley grabbed 441 and Steven Sankar 2-38.

Joel Alleyne stroked 51 inclusive of four fours and one six, but his dismissal triggered a collapse as MSC were sent packing for 131 in 32 overs in reply.

Kareem Naughton made 30 down the order (3x4,1x6) while Moseley (10) was the only other batsman that reached double figures.

Persaud finished with 4-28 while Kelvin Sheoprasad and Mark Jeffers had two each.

At GNIC, the host defeated St. Stanislaus by 103 runs. GNIC posted 210 all out in 31.2 overs. Ken Alphonso slammed 47 (7x4,1x6), Kurt Lovell 43 (7x4), Paul Thomas 31 (7x4) and Andrew Chung

59. St. Stanislaus were given a rousing start by openers Alli and A. Mc Callum- the pair added 67, but when they were separated, St. Stanislaus lost way and were bowled out for 107 in 24 overs. Alli top scored with 32 (3x4,1x6) and Mc Callum 18 (2x4). Alphonso captured 3-13, Delroy Charles 3-16 and Marcel Mentore 216.

Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) beat Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) by 71 runs yesterday at Bourda.

Ronaldo Ali Mohamed cracked a fluent 70 while Gavin Singh scored 48 as GCC rattled up 223-6 in 40 overs after they decided to bat.

Mohamed and Singh resurrected their team’s innings after they had slipped to 59-3, with a fourth wicket stand of 113.

The right-handed Mohamed struck six fours and one six while Singh hit two fours. Devon Lord chipped in with an unbeaten 29 as Devesh Ramjattan picked up 4-50 from eight overs.

GYO threatened somewhat but were restricted for 162-8 in 40 overs in reply.

Surendra Hiralall led with 48 while Bhaskar Yadram hit 27 not out. Lord claimed 2-25, Singh 2-30 and Stephan Wilson 2-38.

ESPNcricinfo - Viv Richards has supported Jason Holder’s promotion to the West Indies Test captaincy, saying the allrounder had the ability and was not too young for the job.

Richards’ endorsement came days after Brian Lara also approved of the new West Indies captain, who replaced Denesh Ramdin in the job.

“Well, I have heard maybe that some folks are suggesting that he is too young, but it is better to start at that particular age,” Richards told CMC. “And if he gets lucky enough and we are successful, you have a long successful period of your captain being in place rather than the chopping and changing on a regular basis.”

Holder, 23, is West Indies’ second youngest Test captain, and has led the ODI side in 12 matches. He showed resilience by scoring a hundred to draw a Test against England in Antigua, and then made a counter-

attacking 92 against Australia in Jamaica.

“I believe this individual does have the ability,” Richards said. “Certainly, he comes over very well and you hear about the respect factor you get from other members of the dressing room and that is of vital importance because when you have that respect, it is amazing.

“When you look and see what’s around him, when you look and see how he would have gone about his business as a batsman, you can see there is some improvement... but certainly the signs are there and I think maybe it’s not a bad choice.”

While H o l d e r ’s appointment received approval from Lara and R i c h a r d s , f o r m e r We s t Indies batsman Philo Wallace, who like Holder is from Barbados, said it was too early to give him such a responsibility. “ “Jason has a tremendous amount to offer West Indies cricket but we must be careful

that we don’t push him too soon, which I think is what is happening here,” Wallace said. “He has not led Barbados in the PCL (Professional Cricket League) and to give him captaincy in the longer format without the experience is too much at this stage in my opinion.

“When you look at the Barbados set up, Kraigg Brathwaite is the captain of the team in the PCL. He is the captain of the Barbados team in the longer format, Jason plays under him and now he will play under Jason in the Test team. This puts the Barbados Cricket Association in a very interesting position and they will now have to decide whether they continue with Brathwaite as captain or remove him and put Holder.”

Holder’s first series in charge of West Indies in all formats will be the tour of Sri Lanka, where they play two Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is in October and November.

Richards backs Holder as Test captain

Anthony D’Andrade

Joemal LaFleur

Keon Joseph

Shabeer Baksh

Sasenarine Sukdeo

Kwesi Mickle

Classy half centuries from former national youth batsmen Anthony D’Andrade and Joemal LaFleur led Tucber Park, formerly Bermine, to a comfortable eight wicket over Port Mourant in their second round match of the Bobby Deonarine and Tom Gruntzel sponsored Tenelec Inc round robin fifty overs first division cricket competition.

In other matches, a fine all round performance from Kwesi Mickle helped police demolished Bush Lot Rising Star by a massive 159 run margin. Sasenarine Sukdeo returned to form with a fine half century along with a four wicket haul by pacer Suresh Dhanai saw Young Warriors prevailing over the hapless Edinburgh by 117 runs.

National pacer Keon Joseph ripped the batting of Blairmont by taking 5 for 11 off 3 overs to see West Berbice defeating the host by 92 runs. A solid all round performance by skipper Lakeram Latchman saw Upper Corentyne comfortably home again rivals Skeldon.

At Port Mourant, the home team won the toss, batted first and made a respectable 189 all out in with Lloydel Lewis top scoring with 45. He was supported by skipper Arif Chan with 32, Ameer Khan 26 and Berbice

junior pacer Dimitri Cameron 21. Bowling for Tucker Park Joemal LaFleur took 3 for 37 and Kevin Pellew 2 for 43. In reply, the visitors reached home comfortably at 189 for 2 in 37.3 overs. Anthony D’Andrade made 73, Joemal LaFleur 63 and Devon Clements 24 not out.

At Cumberland in East Canje, Police won the toss, batted first and rattled up an imposing 269 all out in 42 out of their allotted 45 overs vs Bush Lot Rising Stars. Young and promising all rounder Kwesi Mickle made 58. He was supported by Brentnol Woolford with 42, Albert Sinclair 35, Norwayne Fredericks 28 and Curt Griffith 27. Bowling for Bush Lot Rising Stars, Troy McKenzie took 3 for 51 off 8 overs.

National under 15 off spinner Nivindra Prashad 3 for 41 off 8 overs and Javed Saywack 2 for 32 off 9 overs provided support. In reply, Bush Lot Rising Stars were shot out for 110. Javed Saywack with 42 and Esric Fordyce 22 provided the only resistance. Bowling for Police, Mickle returned to take 2 wickets. National under 17 all rounder Kevin Sinclair and Albert Sinclair took two wickets each.

At Edinburgh, Young Warriors won the toss and made a challenging 205 all out in 44.4 of their allotted 50

overs. Former Berbice youth batsman Sasenarine Sukhdeo returned to form with a commanding 57.

He was supported by former Berbice senior opener Maxie Dejonge with 31, Waheid Edwards 29 and national under 19 all rounder Kassim Khan 28. Bowling for the host, Shafiq Khan took 3 for 32 off 9 overs and David Denny 2 for 29 off 7.5 overs.

In reply, Edinburgh crumbled to 88 all out in 27.2 overs.

Pacer Suresh Dhanai led the rout with 4 for 23 off 10 overs.

Roydel Phil supported with 3 for 18 off 5 overs and former national youth player Kevin Ramdeen 2 for 1.

Over at Blairmont, the host won the toss and inserted West Berbice who struggled to 151 all out in 34.5 of their allotted 50 overs.

National pacer Keon Joseph top-scored with 32 and was support by another fast bowler, Keyron Fraser with 23 N.O. Shabeer Baksh was almost unplayable with 5 for 43 off 8.5 overs.

Derek Cadogan and Waqar Hassan took two wickets apiece to provide support. In reply, the pace of Joseph was too hot to handle and Blairmont were bundled out for an embarrassing 59 off 14 overs. Joseph ended up with 5 for 11 off 3 overs.

Berbice senior off spinner Continued on page 33