Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Woman executed, husband, three others wounded - 19-yr-old held with sub-machine gun A 33-year old businesswoman was shot dead and her husband and two others injured by heavily armed gunmen as they sat in Mambo’s Beer Garden on Barr Street, Kitty, shortly after midnight yesterday.

Shelliza Basir-Lall, also called Shelly Lall of Charity, Essequibo, was reportedly shot at least four times as she sat with her husband and about six other people at a table. She died while receiving treatment at the Balwant Singh Hospital.

Her husband, Raymond Lall, 36, who runs a trucking company and operates a speedboat service, was shot five times. He underwent surgery at a private hospital in the city. Sources said that he was shot in the leg and his injuries are not life threatening.

Two of Lall’s employees were also injured. They were identified as Parmanad Persaud of Mon Repos, ECD and Babatunde Nedd of Parika, West Coast Demerara, who is said to be in a critical condition.

An eyewitness recalled seeing at least two gunmen enter the premises and head straight for the table where the couple and others were sitting. Then gunshots erupted, sending patrons diving for cover.

“They walk in and go straight to the table…next thing I hear was gunshots,” the eyewitness said.

After the gunfire ceased, the patron saw four persons lying on the floor. He said that woman appeared to be motionless while her husband was moaning.

The eyewitness was unable to say whether the gunmen fled on foot or by vehicle.

The murder scene

Executed wife: Shelliza Basir-Lall

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GRA apologises to Professionals The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has apologized for the notice published over the weekend which had listed a number of persons that had been granted their Professional Practice Certificates under the Tax Act but omitted scores that had earlier received their certificates.

The earlier list was published in the Official Gazette in March last.

“The Guyana Revenue Authority expresses its regrets and apology for any inconvenience or embarrassment caused by the miscommunication contained in today’s (yesterday’s) Notice.”

The earlier list gazetted in March includes Accountants Christopher Ram, Rakesh Latchana, Rakesh Mc Rae, George Vaughn, Harryram Parmesar, Courtney Ward and Clifton Hinds among others.

The Medical Practitioners issued with certificates and published in March this year include Sivindra Na Mangru, Chetram Budhu, Idelisa Persaud, Ruth Quaicoe, Karen Persram and Shoba Gobin among others.

Lawyers issued with certificates earlier in the year and omitted from the most recent list published by the GRA include Sanjeev Datadin, Robin Hunte, Sase Gunraj, Paul Fredericks,

Rohan Chandan and Leslyn Charles among others.

In light of the GRA clarification, it is clear that some of the names mentioned in yesterday’s edition such as Shadow Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams; Joseph Harmon; Debbie Backer and James Bond along with Bar Association President, Ronald BurchSmith; Nigel Hughes; Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall; Hukumchand; Bernard De Santos; Moses Nagamootoo; Roger Yearwood; Glen Hanoman and Peter Hugh might have been mistakenly labeled as tax cheats.

Guyexpo 2013…

“I ain’t get to see what they escape with. I was too busy trying to get to safety,” the man said. The police were summoned and the injured were taken to hospital, where Ms. Lall succumbed shortly after.

Police are checking for possible motives for the execution-style attack.

Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell revealed that investigators have detained a 19-year-old Sophia resident, who was nabbed at a roadblock with a bag containing a sub-machine gun and ten 9mm rounds. The Commissioner said that investigators who scoured the scene also recovered 14 spent shells along with 11 warheads which could have been used in a 9mm submachine gun. But Brumell could not say for certain that the businessman and his wife were the intended targets.

“They were at least six other people at the table, so I can’t say for sure that they were the target,” Brumell said.

This newspaper was also told that the owner of the hangout spot was arrested since he was not licenced to sell alcohol.

A close relative of the Lalls told Kaieteur News that the couple would normally travel to Georgetown to conduct business. The relative explained that the two would spend about a day or less in Georgetown before travelling back to Essequibo.

“They would not spend long in Georgetown …like a day or less, so whoever shot them had to know their whereabouts,” the relative stated. The relative said that they could not think of a reason why anyone would want to harm the couple.

Relatives of Persaud said that they were informed of the shooting by a relative of the dead woman.

This latest hit adds to the increasingly worrying spectre of execution style killings so far this year, creating fear that the country is in the midst of a crime wave.

Guyana could learn from foreign exhibitors - Planning committee Co-Chairman Although the number of international exhibitors has more than doubled from last year ’s GuyExpo, CoChairman Planning Committee is insisting that GuyExpo “is still we own”.

Derrick Cummings, who has co-chaired Guyana’s premiere trade fair and exposition for the past six years, told Kaieteur News that GuyExpo is beyond an annual exhibition. He explained that the day before GuyExpo opens, a business and investment forum will be held, which will allow local and international companies to discuss ways in which links can be made and developed.

“To think that the people are coming here to sell only is not true. What they are coming for, is to display their products and perhaps invest, and have joint ventures with the local companies,” Cummings said.

He stressed that such links are necessary, since we (businesses in Guyana) need the international technology.

Cummings also said that some companies are here mainly to be a part of the business forum, and will not be exhibiting products at GuyExpo.

“That shows how important people see Guyana as an investment market.

There must be something that people are seeing because for example, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is sending their top investment government

people. Other agencies are also coming to be a part of the forum, and also see if they can make linkages to match with local businesses…so we must see the foreigners in a wider context than just people coming to exhibit,” Cummings said.

He noted too that there will be time allotted for international exhibitors to buy from local booths at GuyExpo.

“A few hours before we open the gates every day, there will be ‘Buyers Time’, where foreigners can have their chance to buy something from the local companies.”

When asked about whether the international companies will have the chance to dominate the local market, Cummings said that “of course they will want to

Co-Chairman of GuyExpo’s Planning Committee, Derrick Cummings sell what they can sell, and look at markets, but we ain’t got no kind of a big market for people to feel that here is a place that they can market a lot of things, because our (Continued on page 25)

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Kaieteur News

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

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

Editorial

Above the law Guyana seems to be a country that is reluctant to use the law even if application of the law is necessary. Such has been the case that the society believes that there is one law for the poor and another for the wealthy or those who are connected to people in authority.

There has been talk that the police did solve the Monica Reece murder but the then Police Commissioner ducked the evidence because the prime suspect was the son of a friend. To this day, the official position is that the Monica Reece murder was never solved but policemen involved would insist that they solved the murder.

Similarly, there are people who admitted to committing a crime but the police simply botched the evidence. One case involved the shooting of a watchman at a highway resort.

There were witnesses who later recanted.

Now we have another situation. Tax laws are inflexible but they are quite clear. Every individual who earns must pay taxes. There are limits to who begins to pay but once the earning exceeds the minimum wage, taxes must be paid.

Failure to pay taxes is a criminal offence. It is also criminal to pay less than the stipulated amount. Public Servants cannot escape the tax net because the employer is the government. Deductions are made automatically.

However, people in the Private Sector and the self-employed can actually cheat.

Being a cash-oriented society, Guyana provides ample opportunity for people to dodge taxes. Even in the most developed society, the authorities cannot track payments.

Businesses simply do not charge a tax—in Guyana it is a Value Added Tax—so the purchases, once they are made in liquid cash, are cheaper than what they should be if they are priced in the normal way.

Each year, taxpayers are required to file personal income tax returns. The private employer or the self-employed are expected to indicate their earnings as well as their tax deductibles. The self-employed include the Accountants, the Doctors and the Lawyers. When the government moved to introduce a law to catch the self-employed, there was an objection from the professionals.

The law suggested that there be a minimum amount that the Lawyers, Doctors and Accountants must pay. The lawyers objected and moved to the courts. The Bill was passed in the National Assembly but the lawyers were up in arms. They marched in the streets, and they took the matter to the political platform.

There were arguments that the government was seeking to dictate who should be licensed to practice. But the law does nothing of the sort. So we have the Guyana Revenue Authority listing those who actually paid their taxes or filed their personal income tax returns.

Interestingly, some of the big earners have not paid their taxes. The lowly worker who earns above the minimum wage must pay taxes used to develop the country. The situation is that the poor must support the wealthy.

But this is something that the government has encouraged. Over the years, it has refused to pursue the rich who hide taxes and businesses. The government has repeatedly said that it has gone into business places that actually use two books, one for the genuine transactions and one for the government to peruse.

The Lawyers and Doctors make millions of dollars per month but they pay the least taxes. One Lawyer actually paid $100,000 in taxes for an entire year in 2010 when a person working for $100,000 a month would have paid that amount of tax in a year.

We now notice that the high priced lawyers have not even paid their taxes. One of them was paid US$5 million for services rendered but even that was not touched by the taxman. Some of these lawyers would not see a client unless that client can pay at least $10 million.

We must now wait and see if the Guyana Revenue Authority has the gumption to press charges. In the United States none escaped the Internal Revenue Department.

Millionaires have gone to jail for dodging taxes.

Here we have tax dodgers and we must now wait and see if the government would be afraid to act against them.

Monday September 30, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

The GRA does not have the authority to say who must practice their profession in Guyana DEAR EDITOR, I have noticed that the Guyana Revenue Authority advertised in the local press that only certain professionals are authorized to charge fees for their services.

These authorized professionals must be issued with a Tax Practice Certificate from the GRA in accordance with Section 39 of the Tax Act Chapter 80:01.

This Act must be repealed or removed as early as

possible because the GRA does not have the authority to say who must practice their profession in Guyana. The GRA is not a Licensing Authority in Guyana for any profession.

The Licensing Authorities such as the Guyana Bar Association, The Guyana Medical Council, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana etc. are the ones who must determine who must practice their professions in Guyana.

If you are not a member in good standing with one of these bodies, you are not entitled to practice your profession.

The GRA role is to collect taxes and ensure tax returns are filed and not to dictate who must practice their profession in Guyana. Let the relevant professional bodies determine who must practice their professions in Guyana.

Professionals are already paying a yearly licensing fee

to their regulatory bodies, so why pay another fee to GRA for the same purpose?

Why should practice certificates be applied to only lawyers, accountants, dentists and doctors, what about other professionals such as private school teachers, plumbers, carpenters, taxi drivers, mechanics etc.

Balwant Persaud, CPA Certified Public Accountant/Immigration Consultant

If Mr. Brathwaite can produce documents that can indict Jagdeo, I would be willing to help expose such evidence DEAR EDITOR, To be compared to the fictitious character, Don Quixote is not as bad as Barrington Braithwaite suggests by the sensational caption of his letter, “Harry Gill, the obsolete Don Quixote” (Kaieteur News, Sept 29). For even today, the views of an obsolete Don Quixote are as noble as the character’s intent when he first appeared in the 1605 novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

I left Guyana in 1976, a dark and ugly period in our history that the likes of Barrington Brathwaite and David Granger would preferred buried and not known to the younger generation. This was the era of the infamous “kick down the door bandits” when most Guyanese lived in fear, and the reign of the racist criminal David Hill (aka Rabbi Edward Washington), whose House of Israel members served as ruthless thugs for the Forbes Burnham’s PNC government.

These PNC loyalists were reputed for breaking up political meetings of the PPP and WPA, and beating up political activists in the process.

Here is how the wellrespected Guyanese patriot, Eusi Kwayana described the lawlessness that existed then with the approval of the PNC government, “A Squad of uniformed policemen, including Rabbi Washington’s men dressed in police uniform and carrying no regulation numbers, attacked the meeting which they claimed was illegal. It was a total assault with batons on the crowd of peaceful citizens by a crowd of well armed policemen of the Tactical Service Unit (Riot Squad)…Scores of people were beaten by the police.

They were on fire with venom not noticed before. This was due to the House of Israel.”

A month earlier, Catholic Priest, Father Drake, was stabbed to death by these PNC thugs in July of 1979.

I left Guyana because it

became intolerable to survive in a depressed country where long lines to buy a loaf of bread, a pint of cooking oil and a roll of toilet paper was typical in those days.

And now, I have returned because I see my homeland filled with opportunities for those who want to work. I see a government working hard to bring prosperity for all Guyanese regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity or religious beliefs.

And I write because I see the injustice of a destructive Joint Opposition that is bent on retarding progress at all cost for selfish and political gains.

Throughout his rantings, Barrington Brathwaite has yet to identify one solitary project that Opposition Leader David Granger has brought to any of his constituencies. And please do not insult my intelligence by insinuating that it is government’s responsibility only to do so.

A vindictive administration can punish constituencies who voted for the opposition, and reward only those who put them in office. We’ve seen this behavior during the PNC reign when lots of villages in Berbice and Essequibo had no electricity or potable water, and a citizen had to produce a PNC Party Card to get a job in the public sector.

But today, we have a government that keeps trying to provide equal opportunities for all, despite relentless, mostly unwarranted attacks on their credibility and motives.

A government that is constantly under attack for projects initiated by a long gone Jagdeo Administration.

Mr. Braithwaite suggested in his letter that I “tell this nation why Barrat Jagdeo should not be at the Hague on charges of presiding over numerous extra judicial murders, some randomly committed by Norco-organised crime Militias and rogue police empowered by his Government.” I will respond this way: If Barrington Brathwaite, members of the opposition,

members of the media of any member of the public have any documentation, hard evidence, facts that cannot be disputed in a court of law, that could indict the former President, I would be willing to facilitate the exposure of such evidence. But it must be documented facts, not allegations, not hear-say evidence, not “I believe he did that because I read an article in the newspapers”, and certainly not gossip designed to destroy a man’s character. The same goes for Winston Brassington.

My personal opinion of Bharrat Jagdeo holds him in high esteem. He is almost single-handedly responsible for making the tough decisions that took Guyana from a state of near bankruptcy to the economic prosperity we see today. His management style and choice of words may have been abrasive to some, but none can honestly deny that Guyana and Guyanese have prospered under his Administration.

But back to David Granger.

Smart politicians in the opposition the world over, work

with governments to get things done for their communities and the people they represent.

Schools, bridges, hospitals and factories have all been built in communities friendly to the opposition in many countries, because their elected representatives were able to broker deals with the ruling party that are beneficial to both. But with Granger shooting down every initiative the government comes up with, PNC/APNU supporters can thank their lucky stars that the PPP/C is not a vindictive government.

As I’ve said before, issues like Local Government Bills, the Procurement Commission and the Office of Ombudsman are important constitutional matters, but that does not put food on the table and money in the pockets of the working class.

Most Guyanese are concerned with getting good paying jobs; free quality healthcare and education, and a safe environment to live and raise a family. David Granger would be wise to keep this in mind.

Harry Gill

In support of Professor Daizal Samad DEAR EDITOR, I write on behalf of Berbice Cricketers, especially current and former test players. I write about the situation at the University of Guyana Berbice Campus. The Director, Professor Daizal Samad has resigned. This places our Campus at serious risk of falling.

We know Dr. Samad as someone that helps all young and experienced cricketers.

When we want someone to talk to, he is there. We do not have to make appointments.

We stop by the Campus, and we see him almost immediately. No one in this country does that.

Every time there is a cricket competition, he comes forward with trophies and prizes. But he also helps the

young cricketers with gears, often using his own money.

This man never asks us for anything in return.

Only a few weeks ago, Dr. Samad was instrumental in getting one of our great Berbice prospects to go to Canada to play top league cricket. This was done quietly in an amazingly short time.

We express full support and ask Berbicians to insist that this honorable gentleman return to us and continue to develop sports and education in Berbice.

We cricketers cannot imagine us all sitting back and seeing such a man and such a scholar leave. Mr. President, you need to act.

Mahendra Nagamottoo Test Cricketer Whim, Corentyne

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Letters... Where your views make the news

The dawn of a new Guyana will change the primitive mentality of the Police Force DEAR EDITOR, We are utterly concerned at allegations of police, especially those at CID, allegedly beating and torturing persons accused of murder, armed robbery and other crimes. This is a very primitive and simplistic way for the police to obtain evidence or to force someone to sign statements acknowledging that they had committed a crime even though they did not. This should not happen in a modern Guyana and Rohee, the Minister of Home Affairs should be held accountable.

Oops, did we say “a modern Guyana!”

The members of the CID who allegedly commit those barbaric acts on individuals without any solid evidence are indecent and are even worse than the wildest animals. This goes to show that some superiors in the force are willing to do anything to prove that they are efficient in solving crime.

This is further from the truth because almost everyone knows that the Police Force is a highly incompetent, ineffective, disorganized and corrupt institution. The police are constantly violating the human rights of Guyanese and this will be reported to the United Nations Human Rights Commission as soon as possible.

Instead of beating,

torturing and imprisoning innocent Guyanese, the primitive and unprofessional Guyana Police Force should concentrate their efforts to find the killers of the former Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh, Monica Reece, Seema Mangar and the more than four hundred extra judicial murders that occurred between 2002 and 2006.

They should concentrate their efforts on how to respect the rights of citizens and stop their barefaced practice of shaking down people for bribes.

Is this a professional and competent police force? We call on the Commissioner of Police to revisit the Seema Mangar’s case and charge the person(s) involved so that her mother, relatives and friends can have some closure.

Too many murders have gone unsolved in Guyana and for Rohee and Luncheon to say that the opposition is responsible for the crime wave in Guyana is downright foolish. Rohee has failed the people of Guyana and should have been fired for his poor, inept and deficient leadership.

But Ramotar is besieged by the Jagdeoites and dare not attempt to fire Rohee or else his head will be on the platter and he knows it. This is why he could not discipline Rohee after the “no

confidence motion” against him or even attempt to reprimand any of Jagdeo’s ministers in his cabinet.. In terms of solving crime in Guyana, Ramotar, Luncheon, Rohee and Brumell are like the blind leading the blind.

There are too many bad eggs in the force that will do anything, including issuing trump-up charges against innocent citizens just to extract bribes from them. This is the naked truth and neither Rohee nor Brummell has established a policy to eradicate such gross misconduct. The police force needs major reform, and proper and professional training.

But change is coming with APNU’s PRO-GUYANA movement whose goal is to promote unity, among the races, reduce crime, eradicate poverty, create jobs for the youths, end racial discrimination, and make university education available to all.

APNU’s PRO-GUYANA movement is premised on the factual belief of respect for individual human rights and freedom and equality for all under the law.

It is a new direction for a nation that is stuck in blatant corrupt practices, racial politics, nepotism, poverty, disunity and police brutality.

Dr. Asquith Rose and Chandra Deolall, Esq.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

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

ILLEGAL IMPOUNDING OF INNOCENT ANIMALS?

DEAR EDITOR, Following a week of peace and quiet in the Rupununi, I returned to the noise and turmoil of Georgetown. I was saddened by the story (Kaieteur News, Sept 19, 2013) about the cattle farmer, Sookdeo Singh (Port Mourant)who reported of being brutally attacked and beaten by eight stray catchers.

He said he was following all the rules (walking with his animals and using RED FLAG to cross roads, etc.) when suddenly a white car pulled up and eight stray catchers,

armed with cutlass, emerged from their vehicle, threw his bicycle aside and started beating and firing chops at him, cuffing and kicking him in the stomach and back.

The thing that strikes me as being out of the ordinary in this case is the white car, the eight cutlasses, carry and the increase in the level of brutality displayed in this ongoing battle between animal owners and “the authorities”.

While that is sad, my main concern is with the mistreatment of the 16 head of cattle that were ‘taken hostage’ and are being held at the Albion Police Station Pound.

My particular concern is for the lactating cows, and even more so for the small calves alone at home “crying out for their mothers”. It was reported that one has already died and the cattle owner is being prevented from feeding and watering her animals at the compound.

This battle between animal owners and rice and vegetable farmers,

homeowners, and the general public, has been ongoing for decades but it is obviously getting worse as agriculture expands, vacant lots turn into h o u s i n g developments, railroad embankments become parking lots and grasslands bec o m e e v e r more scarce.

In the meantime, animals (cattle, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and baby calves) are made to suffer from the non-solution of impounding strays and, now it seems, even impounding animals on their way home and accompanied by their owners.

Last year I had the opportunity to volunteer at a police pound and help animals in distress over a period of 11 months. During that period, I saw several impounded animals die for lack of attention and/or vet services.

I observed that personnel hired to cut and carry grass for animals were more often employed doing other tasks so that animals often went

without feed and water and many times were tied up inhumanely in the sun or in filth.

I am convinced that the impounding of strays and “non-strays” is not a solution to the problem but only a temporary fix. In fact, it creates more problems and adds to the suffering of innocent animals.

If there was such a thing as an “animal court” in Guyana, would any competent magistrate find these 16 head of cattle walking home to Port Mourant guilty of a crime? Of course not, they were only doing what animals have been trained to do by “man”.

So then, why should animals suffer just because “man” cannot come up with a real solution to the real problem of animals on our roadways?

“We domesticate animals for our benefit; that means we owe them some respect.

Nature is cruel but we don’t have to be.” Mrs. Temple Grandin Syeada Manbodh

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Doctor critical after accident Dr. Sattaur’s badly mangled car.

Prominent Berbice doctor, Phyzul Sattaur, 70, of Lot 6 Coburg Street, New Amsterdam was up to late last night in a critical condition in

the hospital after he was involved in a vehicular accident while driving his car along the Number 19 Highway last evening.

According to reports, Sattaur was driving a Mark II, PJJ 6228, making his way home from a cricket match at the Albion Cricket Ground

when he slammed into the back of a lorry, GPP 251, which was heading in the same direction.

The Doctor was rushed to the Emergency Room at the New Amsterdam Hospital by a friend after which family and other friends were quickly notified.

“His brains showing out…one of his eyes coming out,” stated a friend who was standing by the ICU door of the hospital when this newspaper went there last night.

“He can’t make it,” said another.

Efforts to transport Dr. Sattaur for further medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital were abandoned since his condition was at its worst. Up to press time (after 22:00 hrs) Sattaur was still in a very critical condition at the ICU. Earlier in the evening, senior colleagues in the

medical fraternity including Dr. Yacoob and Dr. Narinedatt Sukhnanan were seen consoling his wife, Dholly.

Other friends, including the doctor’s clerk were also at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Kaieteur News learnt that Sattaur telephoned his wife around 18:30 hrs telling her that he had left the Cricket match and was heading home. He never arrived.

When Kaieteur News arrived at the scene of the accident, pieces of the car were scattered all over the road, along with blood stains.

The truck was parked a short

distance from the point of impact.

The driver of the truck, Mordecai Ramsundar of Number Two Village, East Canje was still visibly shaken from the accident.

He stated that he was driving at the regular speed when he heard a loud impact at the rear of the truck.

“Me just hear ‘bram’!” he said. “The impact pushed me in a corner,” he added.

Dr. Sattaur has four children: Sharrin, Lana, Michelle and his son, Andre.

He was educated in Warsaw, Poland in the 1970’s.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Monday September 30, 2013

Martin Carter once wrote a collection of poems which he entitled “Jail me quickly”.

Many Guyanese are now shouting, ‘Jail them quickly” in relation to those persons who are guilty of wrongdoing under the guise of publicprivate partnerships.

Public-private partnerships (PPP) have unfortunately in Guyana become a vehicle for the movement of state resources and assets to private companies and private individuals many of whom are cronies of a section of the ruling elite.

Using PPP to enrich friends and cronies is not what these partnerships were

Kaieteur News

intended to achieve and represents a criminalizing of their functions.

The International Financial Corporation of the World Bank notes three important functions of PPP. The first of these is to “improve the delivery of services and the operations of infrastructure by tapping into the expertise and efficiency of the Private Sector.” Secondly, it is “to mobilize private capital to speed up the delivery of infrastructure.”

Thirdly, it is intended to ensure more efficient use of resources by improving the identification of risks and their allocation while

Dem boys seh

Uncle Sam must tek way dem lawyer visa People does cuss how Georgetown dirty and how City Hall ain’t doing nutten, suh Georgetown tun de garbage city.

De government claim how de Council does collect money from de people who live in Georgetown but people now finding out that dem rich ones not paying taxes and is only de poor people who supporting dem big ones.

When de Council try to carry dem big ones to court dem same big ones does run to dem lawyer. Lawyers are tricky people, dem know de law but now it tun out that dem lawyer not paying taxes and that is why dem does run to represent all who suing because City Hall carrying dem to court fuh taxes.

Dem boys seh that is de government encourage this.

When de Council try fuh raise de taxes de government seh no. Dem big doctors and lawyers now decide that dem ain’t gun pay taxes to de government.

Well dem ain’t gun get wuk from certain people who know that dem dont pay dem taxes. And Uncle Sam should tek note. That country don’t like people who don’t pay dem taxes.

Dem boys now want Uncle Sam to tek back de visa from dem who don’t pay dem taxes. Of course, dem is de same people who woulda pay Uncle Sam but de country wheh dem live is another story.

Dem boys who want to get legal representation gun bring in dem own lawyer; and when dem sick dem gun bring in dem own doctor. Dem want Uncle Sam to help punish tax dodgers.

Keep dem out of you country because dem is dishonest people. Uncle Sam does deport dishonest people; it must do de same to dem lawyers and doctors who ain’t paying taxes.

And Khurshid got to tek action. He can’t depend pun people fuh do he wuk. And if he ain’t tek action dem boys gun decide to hold back dem taxes. Khurshid got to shame dem who don’t pay. Nuff of dem does sit in parliament. Shame dem.

Talk half and push Khurshid fuh collect de money that dem lawyers owe.

maintaining affordable tariffs.

Nowhere in the numerous discussions about PPP is there any mention that PPP should be a mechanism to move resources from the Public Sector to the Private Sector.

The World Bank itself advises that one of the first questions that need to be asked before moving towards a PPP for any project is whether it is necessary for such an arrangement.

Was it necessary, for example, for there to be a PPP for the Berbice River Bridge?

After all, the government put up 90% of the funds and the Private Sector a mere 10%.

The government could have more than afforded the extra 10%.

But as is now being made public, certain entities were engaged as private investors in this project to the tune of 10% of the total investment.

They were handed total control of the Board. In

addition, the government, which took public funds to build the bridge, turned around and waived all the dividends due to the government on this investment. This is like saying to the 10% shareholders, “you take all the profits.” This is not just recklessness.

Yesterday, there was a report in the newspaper about an Accounts Clerk at a government corporation who was said to have siphoned off about three million dollars of the corporation’s funds.

The Clerk is said to be under investigation and is likely to either be charged or forced to pay back the money or both. This clerk is being accused of embezzlement of public funds.

But how different is what that clerk is accused of doing from those who take state assets and transfer it to the Private Sector through waivers of dividends and through forfeiting of control

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of assets which are 90% owned by the State? How different is that?

Now consider this: You are building a hotel under a PPP arrangement. You go ahead and commence construction of the hotel even though there is no financial closure on the financing of the hotel. You spend four billion dollars of public resources and still there is no financial closure.

And then having gone ahead and expended so much money, you turn around and indicate that you will grant to a private investor, which will invest 13% of the overall investment, a 67% shareholding.

That is you are granting to this investor a controlling interest. If the hotel, as anticipated goes bust, what happens is that the four billion dollars will not be recovered in a forced sale and the 8% investor, whose identity is being kept a closely guarded

secret, will walk away with four billion dollars in taxpayers’ assets. What do you call that!

Is that Public Private Partnership or is it Public to Private Pick-Pocketing?

In any other part of the world, the government who undertook such scandalous deals would have had to resign forthwith. Yet the present administration has the brazenness to try to defend this arrangement as catalyzing development.

There is a need for forensic investigators to be called in immediately to probe this fiasco that has taken place in relation to Public Private Partnerships. When the investigation is completed, those indicted of wrongdoing should be jailed and jailed quickly.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Deeds Registry to be digitized - Anil Nandlall

By Kiana Wilburg The Deeds Registry which is responsible for maintaining public records and documents pertaining to real estate deeds, including Transports and Powers of Attorney etc, is currently undergoing extreme transformations.

This is according to Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who also holds Ministerial portfolio over the Registry.

At the recent launching of Guyana’s first credit bureau, “CreditInfo (Guyana) Inc.” the Minister told the audience that all transactions done at the Deeds Registry will be digitized in an effort to enhance accessibility to the information.

“We are starting with it in phases and the first phase will capture documents and transactions between 2004 to 2013. Of course this will be an ongoing exercise as we have nearly 100 years of documents and transactions to digitize, so this will be a process that will take time.

However, the Registry stands committed towards working with the Bureau to ensure that it delivers and satisfies its mandate.”

This change, he said, is just one of the many that will be taking place at the Registry.

Nandlall said that while the credit bureau will be an engine that will propel the economic growth of the country, the government will also be committed towards creating the environment that will be conducive towards that kind of development.

The Minister explained that the Deeds Registry is an important institution that the bureau will depend upon to carry out its daily functions.

“The registry is moving from the status of being a department of government to being a semi autonomous agent with functional and financial autonomy and being independent in its operations.”

“We have also passed a law in this regard, which is the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority Act and the functions now that are to be discharged by the Registry are enumerated. A

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood

Attorney General Anil Nandlall Board will also be established, which will manage the affairs of the Registry, which will ultimately remove it from being under the control of Central Government.”

He disclosed that the Board will comprise members of the Private Sector, agents from the government and members of the legal profession.

The Attorney General said that the functions of the Registry itself are going to be separated both physically and in its written responsibility.

“Today those functions are performed largely by a single unit comprising common staff and there is going to be a physical separation from the staff, and matters that are core deeds matters; for example the conveyance, Powers of Attorney, registration and transaction, are matters that are going to be handled separately whilst matters of a commercial matter are going to be handled by a separate grouping of staff. In fact, the name of the new entity is called the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority.”

“There will also be another division that will deal specifically with commercial oriented transactions. The whole purpose of these modifications is to ensure that there is greater efficiency in the delivery of services and more significantly and more relevant to the credit bureau, is having the adequate capacity, mechanism and apparatus to ensure that the documents, records, and transactions done at the Registry are stored properly and are retrievable in an efficient and expedient manner and this is important to the interdependence role that the Credit Company will have with the Registry.”

At the government level, Nandlall mentioned that they are also working on a Deeds Transaction Bill, which will also impact positively on the operations of the credit agency.

Page 12

Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Brassington’s disregard for public revenues demands strong sanctions Winston Brassington’s disregard for the public revenues of the country and the cavalier manner in which he went about it, should not go without strong sanction.

This is the firm view held

by Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, in his latest analysis of the structure of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) and the role played by Brassington.

According to Ram, whose complete analysis appears on his website chrisram.net, “It is clearly overdue that Brassington should be summoned before the relevant authorities to answer for his flagrant disregard of the law.”

The National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL), which is headed by Brassington, owns 70 per cent of the shares in the Berbice Bridge but to date has waived more than half a billion dollars in dividends.

PAY UP Ram has since demanded that the Bridge Company must be made to pay the accumulated dividend of more than half a billion dollars payable to the Government.

He said that this must be done “since neither Brassington, nor indeed no one else, has any authority to waive those dividends.”

Ram in his latest writings on the Berbice Bridge fiasco said that Brassington’s creative financial exploits have been on full display during the parliamentary

NICIL Head Winston Brassington

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

recess and as such, when it resumes, “it is incumbent on the parliamentary opposition to act to protect the public revenues of the country.”

Ram suggested that “If it (Opposition) allows Brassington to continue this lawlessness then we as a country must stop the pretence that we have financial laws and cease speaking ever again of accountability.”

He said that “the financing structure for the Bridge Company is one of Brassington’s works of art.

Even before the Bridge was built, many persons had challenged his projections as being far too optimistic….It took no more than a few short years before it became reality that notwithstanding the most generous menu of tax concessions granted to any entity before Atlantic Hotel Inc., and the several

hundreds of millions spent by the government to make the project work, the financial structure of the Bridge Company was weak.”

GOVT. STANDS TO LOSE “My fear is that not only will every effort be made by Brassington to have the country continue to give up its entitlement to preference dividends of $104 million annually but that the Government may lose most, if not all of the $950M invested in preference shares.”

He said too that the NIS also stands to lose out on its $80M in equity and possibly some portion of the approximately $1.5B in its loan investment in the company.”

“Interestingly, this type of financial arrangement is not

dissimilar from the model Brassington proposes for the Atlantic Hotel Inc., the multibillion dollar Government Company of which he is the sole Director.”

Ram said that with its high borrowings, the danger of lacking available cash for the Bridge Company, are never too far from the surface.

INSOLVENCY He said that according to the 2010 financial statements, corporate bonds totaling some $3.5B and owed by the bridge, will become payable this year, while a second tranche of $2.5B will be payable in 2017.

This report was submitted

by Brassington. Ram said however, that the 2011

be repaid in 10 semi-annual installments, starting next year.

With respect to the second tranche of repayment, Ram said that the 2011 statement, now speaks of a revised date of 2018 and that the repayment will now be in eight semi-annual equal installments commencing in 2018 and concluding in 2021.

According to Ram, even if one was to take the 2011 statement as accurate, then the company would have up to next year to find at least $610M to make payments on the first tranche of the corporate bonds, as well as find another $100M to repay other loans which will become repayable at that time.

“…if the Opposition allows Brassington to continue this lawlessness then we as a country must stop the pretence that we have financial laws and cease speaking ever again of accountability,” - Chris Ram financial statements, also submitted by Brassington, “tell something completely different.”

According to Ram, the 2011 statement speaks of the first tranche of payments being June 30, 2014 and will

He said “if the company is unable to meet those obligations, it would find itself facing what is called cash-flow insolvency.”

This essentially means that come next year, the Berbice Bridge Company

Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram could very well be unable to make its payments.

JAGDEO FAILED TO DELIVER ON PROMISES According to Ram, “despite all the concessions, waivers and a monopoly that excludes pedestrians and cyclists from crossing the Bridge, and, despite the highest known toll charges in the world, the company continues to face financial challenges.”

Ram said that the Bridge has spectacularly failed to deliver the promises made by former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Brassington, about reasonable tolls, profitability and the payment of preference dividends annually. He said that at present, the waiver of the dividends gives the bridge the pretext of it being viable.

Miners want foreign currency payment from Gold Board The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) has expressed concerns about the unavailability of foreign currency payment facility and its impact on the Gold Mining Industry.

A press release from the body explained that the association has observed

with concern the rise of the cost of the US dollar to approximately Guy$212 for one US dollar and wished to re-emphasize its call for the Guyana Gold Board to make partial payments in foreign currency available to miners.

According to the release, President of the GGDMA, Patrick Harding had indicated that several members had voiced their concerns over the consequences of Guyana defaulting on the Anti-Money Laundering legislation and the apparent sloth of the government to consider their request for foreign currency payments.

The release noted that several miners depend heavily of foreign currency to import parts, machinery and raw materials used in the extraction of mineral resources and are worried that an apparent drought of currency will stall development of their mining operations. The association said that it had repeated its

call for the availability of foreign currency among several other issues, during a recent meeting with President Donald Ramotar.

“While we are committed to reaching a national target of over 460,000 ounces, we cannot do this without the resources and these include essential machinery and spares that are bought overseas with foreign currency,” Harding said.

He also noted that despite the drop in the price of gold on the world market, miners have remained steadfast in their production and their commitment to achieving the record declaration of gold for the year 2013. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Robert Persaud had said that since the AntiMoney Laundering Act has been stalled in the National Assembly, investors and miners are fearful of Guyana being “blacklisted”.

According to Persaud, Attorney General Anil

Nandlall has since pointed out that there is uncertainty as to how the legislation will affect the mining industry.

Persaud noted that the investors and miners are fearful that the blacklisting will affect financial transactions between the local and international banks.

This, Persaud said, is an enormous concern to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the Minister also made mention that Guyana’s gold declaration for the 2013 period up to September 24 stands at 353,000 ounces, compared to 313,000 ounces for the same period last year.

Persaud however said that the fluctuating prices of gold will be monitored closely by the ministry.

Persaud told reporters that due to the fact that there is a high demand for gold in India and China, the Ministry will now be looking at ways to extend their markets to the Asian countries.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 15

Smoke gets in your eyes You’ve come a long way, baby! This was the slogan used by the Virginia Slims brand of cigarettes introduced by the Philip Morris company in 1968. In a way, the world has come a long way since then – cigarette smokers are now increasingly under attack by the medical profession and a tax in most countries. As comedian Kinky Friedman said, “You have to work at it if you want to be a good smoker. Especially today with the entire non-smoking world constantly harassing you.”

However, in 2008, another slogan came to mind during a media interview with the U.S. President-designate, Barack Obama, by former NBC anchorman, Tom Brokaw.

Obama admitted that despite his pledge to stop smoking he still indulged.

Immediately the media pounced on this for two reasons – one was the lack of self control and secondly the inability to keep a promise. If he can’t walk the talk now, what would happen when he moves from the frying pan into the pressure cooker?

They suggested that the “Change That We Can Believe In” clearly did not apply to Obama and his cigarettes. He might have meant to stop smoking, but as I have learned from hard and bitter experience, it is not easy to do and you have to be fanatic about it.

If the knowledge that smoking is dangerous to your health is enough to cause you to kick the habit, there might be no smokers at all.

From the first racking cough, you know it is bad for you. If that is not enough, there are all kinds of warnings, not merely on the cigarette packs, but from the experience of other people. There is a lot of advice out there and a lot of quips. The best way to stop smoking cigarettes is to marry a woman who objects to it.

People who quit smoking cigarettes have the same problem as newcomers to a nudist camp, they don’t know what to do with their hands.

Cigarettes are killers that travel in packs. Worrying about smoking can be beneficial - it takes your mind off lung cancer. You pay

twice for your cigarettes, once when you get them and second when they get you.

The mortality rate of smokers and non-smokers is 100%: the only difference is the timing.

Tobacco is a nauseating plant consumed by only two creatures, a large green worm and man: the worm doesn’t know any better.

Yet, none of these help.

You have to want to stop smoking so badly that you can withstand the pain of separation. The research on smoking shows that people who stop for any length of time are better prospects for totally kicking the habit than those who have never taken a break from the drug.

Smoking is a behavioral problem that cannot be solved by knowledge alone.

It is much more complex than saying to a smoker that cancer cures smoking or repeating the line, “I offered Dawn a cigarette. She refused.

‘No thanks,’ she said, ‘I’ve already got cancer’.”

Smoking is the most insidious of vices.

It becomes part of your selfimage. To disengage from it

you have to remodel your mind and your idea of who you are and what you stand for. It is why some smokers cling so stubbornly to the habit, defying reason and any attempts at rebuke, remonstration and social isolation. Writer Russell Hoban captured this brilliantly, “But when I don’t smoke I scarcely feel as if I’m living. I don’t feel as if I’m living unless I’m killing myself.” The night I decided to stop smoking I found myself in a gambling club at 4:00 a.m. out of cigarettes and desperate enough to try to smoke discarded butts from the ash tray. I realised that the person who was doing that was not the real me as I envisaged or imagined myself – proud, independent and free. This was almost 32 years ago and I have now come full circle. I am allergic to cigarette smoke. Yet, the image of me that pervaded in my smoking days and was part of the mystique, has been so deeply burnt into my subconscious that I still sometimes dream myself with a cigarette in my hand.

I can sympathise strongly with people like Obama. None of us can ever imagine the pressure he was under at that time. Having won one election the pressure to win the next one compounds the stress. The more stress the more you smoke and the more you smoke the less you are able to quit.

Under serious stress, we all resort to our comfort zones.

Fortunately for me, smoking, drinking and gambling no longer do it for me. I head for the curry queue and Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory both just as deadly even though they are less polluting and smell better. If Obama sneaks off for a nicotine fix, it is his comfort zone. Even though he should stop, the decision is not an easy one to enforce, especially while the episodes and situations that provoke smoking as a reaction to stress keep getting more intense and

demanding.

Speaking of comfort zones, people can have a lot of fun without smoking, eating, drinking or gambling.

A young couple had been married for a couple of weeks, and the man was always after his wife to quit smoking. One afternoon, she lit up after some love-making, and he said, “You really ought to quit.” Tired of his nagging, she replied, “I really enjoy a good cigarette after sex.” He responded, “But they stunt your growth.” She asked if he ever smoked, and he replied that he never had. Smiling, she looked him up and down, especially down, and asked, “So, what’s your excuse?” *Tony Deyal was last seen commenting on the adventures of people trying nicotine patches. One man badly burnt his arms trying to light them and another put them over his eyes so that he can’t find his cigarettes.

Basic medication Public security is a matter for those absent at GPHC’s Eye appointed to ensure the safety of Guyanese Clinic - Dr. Norton Opposition Leader David Granger said that the matter Medical staffers at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Eye Clinic are threatening to down tools if the necessary items required for them to do their daily jobs are not provided.

This was expressed by the hospital’s Ophthalmologist, Dr. George Norton who added that there is a belief that only when the media gets involved then officials at the health institution tends to fulfill their mandate towards patients and staffers at the facility.

The seemingly frustrated Norton posited that, on many occasions doctors and nurses turn up at their work stations to do the job they are being paid to do but the necessary items required for them to work are not available.

“We don’t have simple things like gauze (cotton strips) to dress wounds,” Dr. Norton stressed.

He added that sometime last week, a baby was brought to the city hospital from Corentyne, Berbice and needed antibiotics but none was available.

“Imagine, this baby came all the way from Berbice and couldn’t get antibiotics.

What are we doing?” the Ophthalmologist questioned.

Norton said that there is

Dr. George Norton a major shortage of critical drugs at the facility such as pain killers.

“If you want to examine the eyes, you have to dilate the pupils but we don’t have the drug needed to dilate the pupil.”

He stressed that in May last, he wrote a letter to the hospital’s Administrator, informing him that by the end of June, there would be a need for some basic eye medication in the Eye Clinic. “I resent the letter sometime in June last and there was no response.

June passed and we ran out of medication. We only got them sometime in this month and the main part of the order was missing.”

This newspaper tried un (Continued on page 25)

of public safety does not rest solely with the people of Guyana; it is a matter for those who were appointed to ensure the safety of Guyanese. Granger was responding in an invited comment to this newspaper on the advice given by Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell when he met with members of the West Coast Demerara community of Meter-Meer-Zorg, following a spate of criminal activities that took place there within a matter of days.

Brumell had urged the residents not to hide and remain fearful, but to defend their families and the merchandise that they had worked so hard to attain. He urged too that licensed firearm holders should also look out for their neighbours, adding that reports can be made against licensed firearm holders who might refuse to intervene in a matter despite their neighbour being in danger.

Granger told Kaieteur News that he is not keen on the idea of citizens putting themselves in harm’s way.

The Opposition Leader said that there are many mechanisms that the government refuses to put in place to manage the escalation of crime and to strengthen the agencies tasked with fighting it.

- Opposition Leader

He said that, “Public security has become a serious problem over the years because the People Progressive Party’s (PPP) administration does not show any interest in reforming the Guyana Police Force along the lines that it has been advised. We’ve had about a dozen interventions by the British government and which cumulated to the security reform action plan which the Guyana government refuses to implement. We’ve had a security situation where the National Drugs Strategy master plan has not been implemented.”

Granger continued that another intervention was a report of the Disciplined Forces Commission; but that too has not been implemented.

“The government refuses to take reasonable steps to prevent crime and that is why it is so rampant. So the matter raised by the Commissioner of Police completely misses the mark because what is needed is proper Ministerial direction, the implementation of proper security sector reform plans, the implementation of drugs strategy master plan, the retraining of police officers, and the re-equipping of the Police Force.”

Granger said that unless the government takes meaningful steps towards ensuring the safety of citizens, security will always be a matter of grave concern.

A little over two weeks ago, the son of a high ranking member of the Central Islamic Organisation Guyana (CIOG) was gunned down by a gang of criminals during a robbery at his home at Meten-MeerZorg. A few days later, persons believed to be from the said gang of criminals were involved in a shootout with policemen, resulting in the death of one of the gang members.

They were allegedly planning another robbery in the community. The gang was however said to be dismantled and several persons are currently before the court charged with murder.

This turn of events had left the usually quiet, farming community in a state of shock and overwhelming fear; to which the Top Cop felt he should make an appearance to tell community members

Opposition Leader David Granger personally that they were once again safe and the police had not abandoned them.

But apart from that assurance, the Top Cop told the West Coast residents they should fight back and that they should “take back their communities from these criminals.”

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood

Page 16

Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Local Govt. Ministry axes solid waste contractor in Berbice

By Leon Suseran Months after awarding a multi- million dollar contract, the Ministry of Local Government has terminated the services of Concept Solid Waste Disposal in Berbice.

Concept was awarded a multi-million dollar contract with the Region Six Administration to collect garbage from Number 1 Road to Kildonan on the Corentyne.

Region 6 Chairman, Mr. David Armogan, stated that the “experiment” with that company was not what the government expected and “as a result, we have had cause to terminate the contract.”

Kaieteur News understands that the termination was due to the contractor not having the right equipment for the job.

Earlier this week, Advance Solutions was awarded the contract at a simple signing ceremony which was held at the Region Six RDC Boardroom in Vryman’s Erven.

The ceremony was attended by RDC officials as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Local Gov’t Ministry, Colin Croal. The new contractor also has the job for garbage collection and disposal from Number 1 Road to Mara along the East Bank of Berbice, giving that company the task of collecting and disposing of most of the garbage and solid waste in Region 6.

Armogan stated that from all indications, “we have confidence that Concept will

...new contract signed do a good job, now that his boundaries have been extended and we hope that this, in some way, will go in the direction, which is the privatization of solid waste disposal.”

He noted that the entire idea of privatizing the task in Berbice has given the administration “headache” over the past couple of months, “with problem after problem” occurring, especially with the contractors.

Also, some Berbicians are very reluctant to get on board with the new system and do not want to pay $300 per barrel of garbage per week.

Permanent Secretary Colin Croal declared that the awarding of contracts for solid waste disposal to private contractors is something that will spread throughout the country.

“This is something that is happening across the Regions and it will start very soon in Region Four,” since there is another arrangement for garbage disposal at the Haags Bosch Site. When that project comes to an end very shortly, the residents in Region Four will have to pay a fee.

According to Croal, “exciting times are ahead for Guyana” in terms of solid waste disposal as well as recycling.

Government, he stated, is

A mini health check is the first step to donating blood

at the stage where a Recycling Contractor has been identified. Currently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is being drafted between the contractor and the Ministries of Local Gov’t and Natural Resources which will proceed to Cabinet for approval. “This is intended to deal with, by and large initially Region Four and we hope that it will expand further.”

Croal is expectant that the Solid Waste Management Bill, currently in the Chambers of the Attorney General, will be completed by the last quarter of this year.

“It’s in its finalization stage and it should be ready…”

That Bill, he stated, is concomitant with the other programs government has in place for garbage disposal “to ensure that we have the mechanisms in place to deal with people breaching the regulations and law—and with that, stiffer penalties for dealing with persons who know the rules and know what is required (with littering).”

He pleaded with residents of Region Six to “come on board” and reminded citizens that the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and Municipalities no longer have the task to collect garbage, “while they will still have a responsibility for public spaces and institutions.”

The Ministry is also working to allocate newer landfill sites at the moment in Berbice.

CEO of Concept Mr. Zaheer Osman preparing to sign the contract.

Granger lauds TVET programmes as a means of tackling youth unemployment Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Brig. David Granger has applauded the steps taken by the Education Ministry to implement more significantly the Technical and Vocational Education Training initiative (TVET), while citing the need for more to be done.

TVET is a module of learning that focuses on acquiring knowledge that has more to do with practical work-related skills, with the impetus of trying to improve on the productivity of persons looking to diversify within the realm on hands on learning.

In a recent interview with this newspaper the Opposition Leader said “I applaud the measures being taken in Technical and Vocational Educational Training, TVET, as it’s called.

We have to look at that.

During the (election) campaign, I called for more agricultural institutes. Every Region should have an

Leader of APNU Brig. David Granger agricultural institute because every Region is agriculture based and particularly for the Hinterland residents they need to be trained in skills which could keep them employed in their Regions” The focus on the initiative comes at a time when unemployment in Guyana is at an inclining 21 per cent,

Kidnapped son of Wakenaam couple found dead in Venezuela The 17-year old son of a Guyanese couple living in neighbouring Venezuela was on Monday found dead a day after he was kidnapped by Spanish speaking gunmen, who had demanded a hefty ransom for his safe return.

Jonathan Mohammed, whose parents are formally from Caledonia Village on the Essequibo Island of Wakenaam, was kidnapped on September 22, a short distance from the Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela home he shared with his parents.

A source in Wakenaam told Kaieteur News that the body of Mohamed, who was born in Venezuela, was discovered on Monday night in a drain.

He was reportedly shot several times in his head and upper body.

This was after the kidnappers became impatient after Mohamed’s family could not raise the Guy$15M ransom.

Mohamed, who was the great grandson of “Bai Bai” of Wakenaam was cremated in Venezuela last Saturday.

with a sultry air of tension prevailing among youths not having avenues for employment.

Granger said that the crux of the matter concerning youth employment has to be dealt with from the education perspective.

“The education system needs to be placed on a firmer footing to make sure that more students complete Primary and Secondary Schools.

Right now the dropout level is so high and many of the dropouts are semiliterate and semi numerate, so in fact, they are not capable of getting jobs or getting employed in certain types of jobs, so we need to fix the education system first.”

To further supplement the education system Granger cited the need to look “at a series of economic enterprises such as agroprocessing, which can help them to process the agricultural produce to value added products. So there is a nexus between TVET and agricultural education and employment. I believe that is one of the means that could be employed.”

Education Minister Priya Manickchand speaking on TVET, outlined what she anticipates from the offering at the secondary level. These include students having a deep interest in pursuing further studies, students certified as being competent, students being able to continue their studies in the institutions built to facilitate TVET, and that they leave certified and competent at that level, and are absorbed into the workforce of the country so that they can contribute to Guyana’s continued development.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 17

Page 18

Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

NICIL’s investment in Marriott to wait 10 years for any repayment

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Institute of Academic Supremacy East Street forms 1-5. Adult CXC classes: Maths, English A, Science & Business- Call:226-8468/ 690-5008 Hooked on Phonics classes for children and adult classes- Call:694-0689

LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964

TOUR SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad.

Call: 660-5257, 647-1773

Suriname return trip 12-16 October. Shopping site-seeing lots of fun- Call:644-0185/ 639-2663/227-8290/665-5171

…but unnamed private investor to be repaid from year one - Report Guyana will not be receiving a dollar on its investment in the Marriott Hotel, until the 10th year of its operations.

This is documented in the feasibility study done for the project by Miami based, HVS Consulting and Valuation.

The hotel is designed to be a debt and equity project, with a US$12M investment securing ownership of the project and will in turn be responsible for US$46.5M in loans.

Money from the accounts of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment (NICIL) was used to invest in the Marriott Hotel Project, as well as a loan, totaling US$19.5M. This is made up of a US15.5M loan and an investment of US$4M. The US$4M invested by NICIL gives it 33 per cent ownership, according to Winston Brassington.

The unnamed private investor that is slated to put

US$8M into the project will own 67 per cent of the hotel and will receive returns on their money from the first year of the hotel’s operation.

Only recently was it also disclosed that the management fee that will have to be paid to Marriott International will not be publicly disclosed.

To date, just under US$20M has been spent on the Georgetown Marriott Hotel, all of it coming from NICIL. Atlantic Hotel Inc, the Special Purpose Vehicle created to build and own the Marriott Hotel with AHI is still to execute financial closure for some US$39M of the required US$58.5M for the completion of the hotel but Brassington has downplayed any notion that this would not happen.

According to the AHI Chairman, “When we started the project, we knew that we were still missing the equity investor.”

Enterprise resident without electricity months after paying off GPL An Enterprise, East Coast Demerara resident is livid that the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated, (GPL) has withheld electricity from his

Lot 388 Ninth Street NonPariel, residence for several months, despite him paying all the required fees.

Sohodra Persaud explained that GPL disconnected the power supply from the property in June, but never reconnected it, even after the outstanding and necessary charges were paid.

“GPL had a raid for illegal connections and so in early June and them de tek off de light and say dem back bill me for $199,000 cause dem sey that people like dem de thiefing current from me meter. I been in and pay off $143,000 at June month end and I can’t get light till now and got tenants living in de place. When I go into dem, dem say how de post rotten dem can’t climb pon it fuh reconnect de current.”

It is the same pole that the GPL workers climbed to disconnect his electricity.

Persaud said that he is at his wits ends with the power company over the prolonged issue.

After many failed attempts to have the problem rectified, Persaud is hoping to get the attention of the relevant persons within the power company, via this publication so that his power supply could be reinstalled.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

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One 8000 Ford tractor & one Ford 450 2005 Towing truckCall:689-1864 Guru, 694-5599 Floyd

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1 CAT standby 3306, 194 KVA 3 phase 60 cycleCall:641-8472

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New ATVs: Introductory price $1,450,000 (Duty Free)Call:691-0234 New 2013 Isuzu: D-Max single & double cabsCall:691-0234 PROPERTY FOR SALE House size 32’x24’ unfinished, land 80’x40’.

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sale-

Pit Bull puppies for sale, parents from TrinidadCall:624-7991 Pitbulls 16 weeks old $25,000- contact 619-1570/ Beckles Lumber yard Hifi Sound Connection: Car Audio, Pro Audio, complete sound system powered boxes- Call:610-1230/6735828

2006 UNREGISTERED PREMIO FULLY LOADED $2.8M. 2003 UNREGISTERED SPACIO BODY KIT, FULLY LOADED $2.25MCALL:642-7295/617-2891

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Some credit availableCall:269-0432/686-0323 1 Jailing Scooter CF74 first owner- Call:268-3468/ 6667908 Sand truck for sale- Call:6861616 or 255-0690 One Toyota Minibus BJJ series, price $650,000 negotiable- Call:682-9003/ 621-0161 Mitsubishi Galant $1.1MCall:645-3605 1 Low Bed (hauler & trailer), 1 Freight Liner Hauler, 1-48ft trailer- Call:613-6979 New model 212, AC, alarm & 15" rims. Excellent conditionCall:667-9013 Smart Choice Auto: Premio, Allion, IST, Runx, FielderCall:652-3820/665-4529 1 Spacio ‘P’ series. 1 owner, excellent condition, Price reasonable & 1 AT212 $1.150 neg.- Call:652-0709/268-3572 1 Toyota Allion PNN seriesCall:225-0709 Best 2007 Nissan Titan flair, trunk cover, 22" mags, air brush $3.5M- call:674-9593 AT192, 212, Allion, Premio, Audi, BNN RZ mini buses, AT170, Marino. Cash or terms- Call:680-3154 One RZ minibus for saleCall:601-2144 1 White 2004 Premio 38,000km, PPP series, chrome rims, music set & all accessories $3.2M neg- Call:661-6793 (Owner migrating) ALYEA’S AUTO SALE: PREMIO 2002/2003, AXIO 2008. ALL PRICES ARE NEG. 40 CROAL STREET STABROEK- TEL:2317284/622-3823

Page 19

WANTED One experience hairdresser to work at P&P Beauty Salon, Eccles. Contact: 645-3010, 639-7672, 619-0007.

One male cook to work in Interior- Call:666-6836 Experienced Dispatcher, contract cars & drivers- Call: 613-0419.

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Page 20

Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Iran’s foreign minister says nuclear Capitol quiet as federal enrichment is not negotiable government shutdown nears

WA S H I N G T O N (Reuters) - Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday the country’s right to peaceful nuclear enrichment was not negotiable in talks with the United States but it does not need to enrich uranium to military-grade levels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran was willing to open its nuclear facilities to international inspections but the United States must end economic sanctions as part of any deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaking in the midst of an intensified effort to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, Zarif said he could see a “real chance” for agreement with the United States.

“Negotiations are on the table to discuss various aspects of Iran’s enrichment program. Our right to enrich is non-negotiable,” Zarif told ABC’s “This Week” program.

Iran consistently has

defended its right to enrich uranium as part of a civilian nuclear energy and medicine program, but the United States and its allies have sought an end to highergrade uranium enrichment that could be a step away from the production of weaponsgrade material.

“We do not need militarygrade uranium. That’s a certainty and we will not move in that direction,” Zarif said. “Having an Iran that does not have nuclear weapons, is not just your goal, it’s first and foremost our goal.”

U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone on Friday in the highest-level contact between the two countries in three decades.

It was the culmination of a recent, dramatic shift in tone between Iran and the United States, which cut diplomatic relations a year after the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Obama has said for years he was willing to have direct contact with Iran while also stressing that all options including military strikes were on the table to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.

But Zarif said Iran was willing to have its facilities visited by international inspectors to prove it was not seeking a nuclear bomb.

“If the United States is ready to recognize Iran’s rights, to respect Iran’s rights and move from that perspective, then we have a real chance,” Zarif said. “ We a r e w i l l i n g t o engage in negotiations.

The United States also needs to do things very rapidly. One is to dismantle its illegal sanctions against Iran,” he said.

Zarif said there has been 34 years of “mutual distrust” between Iran and the United States but both sides should begin removing some of that distrust through talks.

(Reuters) - With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet yesterday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding.

The Republicancontrolled House of Representatives early yesterday passed a measure that ties government funding to a one-year delay of President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare restructuring law. Senate Democrats have vowed to quash it.

If a stop-gap spending bill for the new fiscal year is not passed before midnight today, government agencies and programs deemed nonessential will begin closing their doors for the first time in 17 years.

In a sign that lawmakers increasingly view that as inevitable, the House unanimously approved a bill to ensure that U.S. soldiers would be paid no matter what happened.

The high-stakes chess match in Congress will resume today when the Democratic-controlled Senate reconvenes at 2 p.m.

(1800 GMT). Senate Democrats will then attempt to strip two Republican amendments from the spending bill: the one that delays the 2010 healthcare law known as Obamacare and another to repeal a medical device tax that would help pay for the program.

They would then send a bill with a simple extension of government spending back to the House, putting the legislative hot potato back in Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s lap as the shutdown looms.

“Tomorrow, the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these measures,” said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “At that point, Republicans will be faced with the same choice they have always faced: put the Senate’s clean funding bill on the floor and let it pass with bipartisan votes, or force a Republican government shutdown.”

The funding standoff is a harbinger of the next big political battle: a far-more consequential bill to raise the federal government’s borrowing authority. Failure to raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by mid-October would

President Barack Obama force the United States to default on some payment obligations - an event that could cripple its economy and send shockwaves around the globe.

And yet, neither side wants to be the one to cast the final vote that would lead to a shutdown. Polls consistently show the American public is tired of political showdowns and opposed to a shutdown.

There were no signs from Congress or the White House of last-minute negotiations to resolve the standoff. Instead, Democrats and Republicans spent their energies trying to pin blame on the other side for failing to avoid a calamity.

No lawmakers were seen in or around the Capitol during daylight hours yesterday until late afternoon when 16 House Republican members held a news conference on the Senate steps to call on Reid to pass the funding and “Obamacare” delay measure.

“I personally believe that Senator Reid and the president, for political purposes, want to shut down the government. It’s a scorched earth policy,” said Representative Tim Griffin, a Republican from Arkansas.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer shot back that the Republican tactics were a “subterfuge” to avoid blame for a shutdown. “So instead of continued gameplaying, we urge Speaker Boehner to reconvene the House, pass a clean CR (continuing resolution) and move on,” he said in a statement.

Boehner and Reid have taken a low profile as the d e a d l i n e d r a w s c l o s e r, leaving on-camera appearances to deputies and often speaking through their press staffs.

One of Boehner’s deputies, Representative Kevin McCarthy, said if the Senate stripped the funding

bill of the “Obamacare” provisions, House Republicans would simply return it with other changes to the healthcare law.

“It will be additions that Senate Democrats said they can support,” McCarthy told “Fox News Sunday,” without specifying these “other options.”

The repeal of the medical device tax did win some Democratic support in the House early on Sunday.

Obama has threatened to veto any bill that delays his healthcare program.

The funding impasse is the culmination of more than three years of failed conservative efforts to repeal “Obamacare,” a program aimed at extending health insurance to millions of those without coverage.

Republicans argue that the healthcare law, key parts of which are set to launch on October 1, is a massive and unnecessary government intrusion into medicine that will cause premiums to skyrocket and damage the economy.

And if the battle over “Obamacare” pushes up to the mid-October deadline to raise the debt ceiling, U.S. stocks may suffer. When gridlock threatened a debt default in 2011, the Dow Jones industrials fell about 2,100 points from July 21 to August 9, with the market needing two more months to regain its footing.

Under a government shutdown, more than a million federal employees would be furloughed from their jobs, with the impact depending on the duration of a shutdown.

The current timetable could leave Boehner with the most difficult decision of his career: whether to approve a clean continuing resolution the Senate will likely send it Monday afternoon or allow the government to shut down for the first time since late 1995.

In a government shutdown, spending for functions considered essential, related to national security or public safety, would continue along with benefit programs such as Medicare health insurance and Social Security retirement benefits for seniors.

But civilian federal employees - from people who process forms and handle regulatory matters to workers at national parks and museums in Washington would be temporarily out of work.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 21

India, Pakistan leaders say they want better ties but reach no concrete agreements (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed day to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said.

Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border.

India emerged from the meeting of more than an hour calling the talks “useful” while Pakistan called the atmosphere “very positive.”

They both expressed a desire to improve ties but agreed that “peace and tranquillity across the LOC (Line of Control) is a precondition,” Indian

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (left) shakes hands with India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the United Nations General Assembly at the New York Palace hotel in New York yesterday. national security adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters in New York.

“We need to address the issues that we face today and then we hope to move it

Boko Haram kills 40 students in Nigeria college dorm Damaturu (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram gunmen yesterday opened fire in a college dormitory in northeast Nigeria as the students slept, killing 40, in the latest massacre blamed on the Islamist insurgents.

All of the dead were students of the College of Agriculture in the town of Gujba in Yobe state, the area governor said in a statement.

The early morning attack was carried out by “Boko Haram terrorists who went into the school and opened fire on students” while they were sleeping, the military spokesman in Yobe, Lazarus Eli, told AFP. Salamanu Ibrahim, a 23year-old student at the college, said dozens of gunmen took part in the killing, bursting into dorm rooms and firing indiscriminately in the dark.

“The attackers went berserk,” he told AFP in Yobe’s capital Damaturu, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) away, where he fled along with hundreds of other students. “They were fully armed with sophisticated rifles, and improvised explosives,” and razed several college buildings after leaving the dorms, he said.

The office of Yobe Governor Ibrahim Gaidam put the death toll at 40, with four others injured.

In a previously scheduled television interview, President Goodluck Jonathan said he

instructed Nigeria’s security chiefs “to look at different ways of handling” the insurgency hours after learning of the latest bloodshed.

He also voiced exasperation at the targeting of students in the interview broadcast on several networks, saying: “Why did they kill them? ... You can ask and ask.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called the slaughter “horrific”. Yobe has seen a spate of attacks on schools and universities, all blamed on Boko Haram, an extremist group that has killed hundreds in its four-year insurgency.

The name Boko Haram, loosely translated, means “Western education is forbidden”, and the group has become notorious for slaughtering students.

In July in the town of Mamudo in Yobe, Islamists threw explosives and sprayed gunfire into dormitories in the middle of the night, killing 41 students.

MILITARYOFFENSIVE CRITICISED The military has described the recent school attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming that they lack the capacity to strike anything but soft targets.

Defence officials have said that an offensive launched against Boko

Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered its fighters across remote parts of the northeast, the insurgents’ traditional stronghold.

While many of the recent attacks have occurred in more remote areas, often targeting defenceless civilians, the unchecked killing has cast doubt on the success of the military campaign.

“Although there is increase in troop movement and... more military hardware in the northeast, people were yet to see the kind of action on the ground that effectively nips criminal and terrorist activities in the bud,” the Yobe governor’s statement said.

Scores have been killed this month, including in the northeastern town of Benisheik, where at least 142 people were slaughtered by Boko Haram fighters who came disguised as soldiers, set up checkpoints and fired on motorists and bystanders.

Some of the recent violence has targeted vigilante groups that have formed to help the military.

The northeast remains under a state of emergency imposed on May 14.

The phone network has been switched off in much of the northeast since the emergency measures were declared, a move the military said would help prevent the Islamists from coordinating attacks.

forward,” he said.

Pakistan’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters the New York meeting set the stage for future cooperation even though they did not reach specific agreements.

“The most significant

aspect of the meeting was that the leaders expressed their commitment to ... better relations between the two countries,” he told reporters at a separate New York briefing.

“Both sides wish to see a better India-Pakistan relationship than we have today,” said Menon.

A series of fatal clashes along the so-called Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan have killed at least eight soldiers from both countries in less than two months. The South Asia Terrorism Portal, a website that tracks the violence, says this year’s toll is 44 members of the security forces, up from 17 for all of last year.

In their speeches to the U.N. General Assembly, both leaders said they wanted to improve relations between their countries, which have fought three wars since becoming independent from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

But Singh told the

assembly on Saturday that neighbouring Pakistan is the “epicentre of terrorism in our region,” and in talks with Sharif he urged Pakistan to address Indian complaints that Pakistan is the source of cross-border attacks, Menon said.

India has long accused Pakistan of supporting the militants fighting Indian rule in an insurgency in its part of Muslim-majority Kashmir since 1989. Pakistan denies this.

“Terrorism is as much a concern of Pakistan as it is of India,” Pakistan’s Jalil said.

The two prime ministers agreed to instruct military officials to work together to develop a mechanism to stop ceasefire violations, Menom and Jalil said.

Asked whether he thought Pakistan can bring calm to the frontier in Kashmir, Menom said: “The only proof will be in the months to come.”

The two leaders accepted invitations to visit each other ’s countries, but no dates were set, Menon added.

Page 22

Kaieteur News

Assad says Syria will respect U.N. chemical weapons accords - Italian TV (Reuters) - Syria will respect United Nations accords on chemical weapons, President Bashar al-Assad told Italian television station RaiNews24 yesterday.

“We joined the international agreement against the acquisition and use of chemical weapons even before this resolution was passed,” he said when asked if Syria would comply with Friday’s U.N. resolution.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday that demands the eradication of Syria’s chemical weapons but does not threaten automatic punitive action against Assad’s government if it does not comply.

“The central part of it is based on what we ourselves wanted. So it is not about a resolution, in reality it is our own intention,” he said, according to the Italian translation of his remarks.

“In 2003, the U.N. Security Council proposed liberating this entire region from these arms and declaring

Bashar al-Assad the Middle East a region free of chemical weapons. So it is obvious, we have to respect these conditions, it is part of our history,” he said. “We have to respect all treaties we sign.”

The U.S.-Russia deal averted punitive U.S. military action against Assad’s government, which Washington blamed for the August 21 sarin nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds. The Syrian government and its ally Russia blamed antigovernment rebels for the attack.

Monday September 30, 2013

OSBOURNE TO COURT VOTERS WITH TOUGH WELFARE RULES (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne will propose tougher new welfare rules and a reduction in taxes today in a bid to win over voters grappling with declining spending power ahead of the 2015 election, while promising to sustain an economic recovery.

Speaking to Conservative Party activists at the penultimate conference before the election, Osborne will argue that though Britain’s $2.5 trillion (1.54 trillion pounds) economy is recovering and he is optimistic about the global economy there can be no complacency.

“We can make the recovery a lasting one. But it won’t happen by itself - many risks remain. We have to deal with our debts and see our plan through. If the recovery is sustained then families will start to feel better off.”

Osborne’s pitch is designed to counter the opposition Labour Party’s charge that Prime Minister David Cameron has presided

over a cost of living crisis, and is designed to appeal to working Britons who, according to polls, feel the country’s annual 200 billion pound welfare system is too generous.

He will say he wants to end what he will call “a something for nothing” culture by obliging Britain’s 200,000 long-term unemployed to undertake certain activities or face losing a portion of their welfare handout.

The move, unveiled along with the slogan “For Hardworking People,’ is likely to resurrect a long-running political row that critics say engenders divisive politics.

Casting the Conservatives as the party of lower taxes, cheaper mortgages and economic prudence, Osborne, who has staked his reputation on reducing the largest peacetime budget deficit left by the 1997-2010 Labour governments, will warn that higher living standards will not be instantly improved.

“Family finances will not be transformed overnight,” Osborne will say according to remarks released by his

George Osborne office ahead of time. “What I offer is an economic plan for hardworking people. That will create jobs. Keep mortgage rates low. Let people keep more of their income tax-free.”

While a recent poll shows Ed Miliband’s Labour Party leads the Conservatives by 11 percentage points overall, voters still consider Cameron the politician they trust with Britain’s economy, the world’s sixth largest.

The gamble Cameron and Osborne are making is that the recovery combined with a plan to guarantee the mortgages of homebuyers and potential tax cuts could hand them victory in the election in May 2015.

Osborne, who will cast Labour as the party of profligacy, will force some 200,000 long-term unemployed people to do community service or search for a job daily if they want to receive state-funded unemployment benefits from April.

“For the first time, all long term unemployed people who are capable of work will be required to do something in return for their benefits to help them find work,” Osborne will say.

The ‘Help to Work’ programme will cost 300 million pounds and be financed by savings to be announced later in the year.

By tinkering with a welfare system that swallows over a third of his budget, Osborne hopes to win over working voters who polls show support changes to welfare.

Labour says the Conservative-led coalition government has failed millions of ordinary families who are poorer now in real terms than at the 2010 election, while some investors have cautioned that Cameron risks inflating a property bubble with his mortgage guarantee plans.

Jesse Jackson determined to free U.S. hostage despite Colombian veto HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said yesterday he will continue to work for the release of a U.S. army veteran kidnapped by Colombian FARC rebels in June, despite the Colombian government’s rejection of his mediation.

Jackson, who arrived in Cuba on Friday to talk with Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) commanders who are here for peace talks with the Colombian government, said he was told Afghanistan war veteran Kevin Scott Sutay was free to leave if the logistics were in place to get him out of the jungle.

The FARC had requested on Saturday that Jackson assist with the freeing of Sutay. They say they are holding the former Marine as a prisoner of war and accuse him of being a mercenary.

Also on Saturday, Jackson said Sutay’s release was imminent, drawing a quick response on twitter from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

“Only the Red Cross will be authorized to facilitate the handover of the North American kidnapped by the

Jesse Jackson FARC,” Santos said in the tweet. “We will not allow a media spectacle.”

Jackson retorted yesterday that the U.S. government supported his efforts and that he hoped the Colombian president “can evaluate the importance of retrieving an American veteran,” adding that he still intended to go to Colombia in a matter of days to retrieve Sutay.

The civil rights activist said the Marine’s release would draw media attention with or without his mediation.

The FARC kidnapped Sutay as he trekked through jungle in southeastern Colombia despite warnings

from the police to abandon the trip through what it said was a “red zone” of guerrilla activity.

Before reaching Colombia, Sutay is thought to have been backpacking through several Central and South American countries.

The FARC appeared ready to release Sutay in July until Santos rejected its initial request that a leftist politician, Piedad Cordoba, oversee the release. It has made no further offer to free him until now.

Jackson appealed to the FARC to release Sutay when he was in Colombia 10 days ago to attend an international conference of Afrodescendent mayors and government officials, saying it would boost the peace talks with the government.

The two sides have been in negotiations hosted by Cuba since last November that aim to end a five-decade conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people.

The FARC began as a communist-inspired peasant army fighting to reduce inequality and redistribute land. Its numbers have been halved in the last decade by a U.S.-backed offensive.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Opposition party concerned about LIAT’s service CASTRIES, St.Lucia CMC - The main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) has expressed concern about the service provided by the regional carrier LIAT. UWP Leader Allen Chastanet says the operations of LIAT are critical to the tourism industry and the overall business market of St Lucia, notwithstanding, the dependency on LIAT for the delivery of professional and efficient service.

“Despite the fact that LIAT operates as a monopoly, the airline continues to burden regional governments financially and has consistently fallen short from the required standards which the market demands,” said Chastanet , a former Tourism Minister .

He observed that St Lucians have over-extended their patience and tolerance with LIAT without the commensurate improvements from the airline in its services.

“We are suspicious that decreased flights and increasing fares to St. Lucia by the airline is a deliberate attempt at coercing the

Allen Chastanet government to meet their demands.

The United Workers Party is concerned that the government of St Lucia may be yielding to the existing pressures and may have decided to invest millions of dollars in the beleaguered airline,” he added.

The UWP Leader, cautioned the government against plans to invest millions in LIAT. “We wish to caution the administration to exercise prudence in ensuring that the use of tax-

payers monies should only be applied towards financially successful ventures. At this stage we are not convinced that investment in LIAT is a sound venture.”

According to Chastanet, “the aviation industry is too critical to the St. Lucian and Caribbean economies; it requires a more competitive environment which will enable the input of fresh ideas and initiatives to ensure survival and growth of the region.

“We must be prepared to put in place new minds and persons with a sound understanding of the industry.” Chastanet also issued a call for the heads of government of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) to review the tenure of the chairman of Caricom Aviation and Transportation SubCommittee.

The UWP political leader supports the calls from around the region for both the current chairman of LIAT and chairman of CARICOM Aviation and Transportation Sub-Committee to tender their resignations.

Puerto Rican psychiatrist arrested on child exploitation, sex trafficking charges SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - CMC – The United States Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agency says a Puerto Rican psychiatrist has been arrested for transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and sex trafficking of a minor.On Saturday, the ICE said the arrest was made by its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, working jointly with Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force officers.

HSI special agents arrested Gerardo V. NavarroRodriguez at his medical office in Caguas, Puerto Rico after an investigation revealed he allegedly “induced, coerced and enticed at least one 17-yearold male to engage in commercial sexual acts.”

The investigation was spurred by a referral from the Puerto Rico Police Department, ICE said.

According to the criminal complaint, NavarroRodriguez was a psychiatrist working for APS Healthcare Puerto Rico. APS is a private corporation contracted by the

Puerto Rican government and is the sole provider of mental health services under The Puerto Rico Health Reform, “Mi Salud.”

In his position as a psychiatrist for APS, Dr. Navarro-Rodriguez provided, among other things, psychiatric therapy sessions to children and adolescent victims of sexual abuse.

From about October 2011 through May, a male minor identified as John Doe was a patient of Dr. NavarroRodriguez.

The criminal complaint

alleges that, during this period, the doctor committed lewd acts and sexual assault against the victim on several occasions.

If convicted, NavarroRodriguez faces between 10 years and life in prison.

The investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.

Page 23

CAL manager suspended Trinidad Express - State carrier Caribbean Airlines has suspended one of its managers as an investigation continues into wha t h a s been described as a milliondollar fraud involving the use of bogus credit cards which has already cost CAL more than $12 million in losses.

Sources familiar with the airline’s operations say due to CAL not adequately addressing validation measures for local and European credit cards, scammers have managed to evade detection by CAL officials and have managed to get refunds from sales activities with the airline.

Sources say from January 2012 to June 2013, CAL has lost more than US$1,721,792 in chargeback claims.

Following a forensic investigation by CAL’s internal auditing department and Ernst and Young, a senior accounting manager at the airline was suspended last week for two weeks.

The suspension took effect from last week Monday and the manager has been

Million-dollar fraud investigation continues mandated to provide the interim CAL board led by Chairman Phillip Marshall with a comprehensive report about the transactions which led to CAL’s losses.

Contacted for a comment, CAL head, corporate communications, Clint Williams confirmed last week that a member of the finance department “has been recently suspended”.

But he insisted that it was not in connection with the ongoing investigations into credit card irregularities.

Williams told Sunday Express that it would be highly improper to comment on the status of any specific employee.

Questioned as to how much CAL has lost prior to January 2012 to the present because of the credit card issues, Williams said the credit card irregularities referred to past abuses by external parties that were

currently under audit and investigation.

“As such it would be improper to comment further while the investigation is ongoing,” Williams said.

He added that following detection of the illegal acts, CAL “has since introduced fraud prevention tools that have already significantly reduced the incidence of such activities”.

The airline is also working alongside several agencies in a bid to suffocate the scammers.

The fraudulent activities sources say involve European, Jamaican and Nigerian nationals.

Sources say the scam involved the booking of airline tickets via credit card.

“Calls to (CAL call) centres come in after 6 p.m., when banks are closed and there is no way of verifying the information on the cards,” the source said.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

St Vincent to intensify reparations efforts against Europe early next year NEW YORK - CMC – St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says he plans to intensify efforts in addressing the issue of Reparations for Native Genocide and Slavery when he assumes the chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) early in the new year.

“When I take over the chairmanship of CARICOM in January I hope to get letters to Europe,” Gonsalves, who is here for the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Debate, told a standing-room-only town hall meeting in Brooklyn late Saturday.

“We’re going for reparations because of statesponsored genocide and state-sponsored slavery”, he added.

“Europe, by engaging us in this matter, can make us more free,” he continued.

“We need reparations, but we

need available resources.”

The Vincentian leader, who has been taking the lead in CARICOM on the issue, said efforts at seeking reparations from Europe are “not a conversation about protests.

“This is a serious conversation to see what is the legacy,” he said. “I’m not a little boy holding up a placard. I’m the Prime Minister of an independent country.”

Gonsalves warned that, as the reparations issue gains ground, European governments and their “agencies” are already “finding means to divide the Reparations Movement,” adding that “Reparations is for all of us.”

He noted that when former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide first raised the issue of reparations, in the early 2000s, from France, “the French Government organized for Aristide to – let

me put it nicely – to go into voluntary exile.”

Gonsalves said some European governments and diplomats have stated that the reparations matter should not be adopted by governments but by the people.”But I represent the people, I speak for them,” Gonsalves retorted.

“Reparations are to repair the consequences,” he added. “The British carried out and killed 80 percent of the Callinago (St Vincent and the Grenadines’ indigenous people).

“We’re looking at the legacy – the problems in education, in health,” he continued. “In the Caribbean, people of African descent have higher incident of diabetes and high blood pressure than elsewhere. How come in West Africa you don’t have that?”

Gonsalves said his country’s hosting of the recent, first-ever Regional

Conference on Reparations for Native Genocide and Slavery was the first step in the Caribbean’s quest to “address and redress a psychic, historical, socioeconomic, and developmental wound that is, for CARICOM, 14 nations wide and 400 years deep.

“The genocidal oppression and suffering of my country’s indigenous Callinago, the Garifuna, and enchained Africans have been rightly adjudged to have been a horrendous crime against humanity,” he told the UN General Assembly last week.

“Accordingly, the collective voice of our Caribbean civilisation ought justly to ring out for reparations for native genocide and African slavery from the successor states of the European countries, which committed organised state-sponsored native genocide and African enslavement.

The awful legacy of these crimes against humanity – a legacy which exists today in our Caribbean – ought to be repaired for the developmental benefit of our Caribbean societies and all our peoples,” he added.

“The historic wrongs of native genocide and African slavery, and their continuing contemporary consequences, must be righted, must berepaired, in the interest of our people’s humanization,” he continued. Gonsalves urged European nations to

“partner in a focused, especial way with” the Caribbean in executing this “repairing.”

“Thus, the demand for reparations is the responsibility not only of the descendants, in today’s Caribbean, of the Callinago, the Garifuna, the Amerindian, and the African. It is undoubtedly an agenda for all of us to advance, to promote, to concretise, and to execute,” he said.

The Vincentian leader said the struggle for reparations represents, immediately, a defining issue for the Caribbean in this 21st century, stating that it promises to make both Europe and the Caribbean “more free, more human, more good-neighbourly.”

Recently, CARICOM decided to place the quest for reparations at the centre of its developmental agenda.

St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas told the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly that he was joining with CARICOM Member States in supporting the case for reparation associated with the atrocities of slavery.

Douglas said that though the repercussions of slavery “on the lives of those of our ancestors cannot be quantified, we are convinced that the deleterious effects which, even now, are translated into much hardship and poverty for the descendents of our ancestors, must be resolved.”

While speaking on the

Dr. Ralph Gonsalves erection of a memorial at the UN in honor of the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller also said she was supportive of the call for an international discussion on the issue but in a “nonconfrontational manner.”

“We fully support the initiative for a declaration of a Decade for Persons of African Descent,” she declared.

Jose Francisco Avila, the Honduran-born chairman of the Bronx, New York-based Garifuna Coalition, USA, Inc., who attended the town hall meeting with Prime Minister Gonsalves, said he looks forward to working with the CARICOM Reparations Commission, along with Garifuna representatives from the Diaspora, “in seeking justice for the crime of genocide committed against our ancestors by the British.

Barbados: Synthetic DNA to help track down criminals Barbados Nation - The Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) will soon be utilizing synthetic DNA to help track down criminals.

This will be in a partnership between local distributor Comprehensive Security Solutions Inc and

British company Selectamark Security Systems plc.

S a t u r d a y, t h e t wo entities, alongside Digicel Barbados, officially launched SelectaDNA at the headquarters of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry,

Deighton Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael.

SelectaDNA is an advanced forensic marking system in a gel form.

It consists of coding which can only be see n under ultraviolet light and with a microscope.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 25

PNC pays tribute to fallen Guyana could learn from...

World War II veteran Herbert Esmond Harper, a Guyanese World War Two veteran, died last Friday at the age of 90.

Harper was a veteran of the Royal Air Force – RAF – which he joined at the age of 21 years in January 1944. He was part of a distinguished contingent of volunteers from British Guiana that included former Chancellor of the Judiciary Victor Crane, Chief Justice of Kenya Cecil Miller, Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Brigadier Clarence Price and Attorney-

at-Law Cleveland Hamilton, all of whom have predeceased him.

After the war ended in 1945, he remained in the RAF and served in Singapore, Germany and Malta. He retired in March 1969 and returned to live and work in Guyana shortly afterwards.

Mr. Harper served in Guyana as the General Manager of the Guyana Radio and Electronics Company – GRECO – then a part of Guyana Stores Ltd. He was also deputy Mayor of

Georgetown and a businessman.

He was the brother of the late First Lady of Guyana, Mrs. Viola Burnham.

The Central Executive Committee of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) pays tribute to the hero at his passing.

“The PNCR expresses its sadness on the death of Herbert Esmond Harper and extends its sympathy to Mr. Harper’s widow, children, siblings and other relatives.”

Monday September 30, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Your energy is positively bursting out of you today, shining bright light and positivity on everyone you will encounter. To make the best use of all of this contagious enthusiasm, dive into projects or adventures that involve a lot of other people - the more diverse the group is, the better! ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Whatever advice you give today will have more importance for its recipient than you might think it would, so be careful about how adamant you are that they follow it. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): If you're trying to solidify a relationship with someone, try picking a fight with them today! It may sound nuts, but sometimes a conflict can create a stronger bond. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): It's wonderful to be giving and generous with other people, but your extravagant spirit could be getting out of control right now. Could it be putting your bank account in jeopardy? ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): Being modest is all well and good, but it must be the first thing you toss aside today when you see an opportunity to get what you want.

Whether it's some face time with the boss or that certain cutie's phone number, you can't be shy. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): Beware of the people who boast about their achievements today. You don't brag about how great you are, because you choose to let your actions and behavior speak for you. ********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): If every little detail of

your life hasn't been lining up quite as neatly as you would have wanted, have no fear!

Take heart in the fact that you see the bigger picture -- you know that by making small but consistent efforts to keep things on track, you can eventually get to where you need to be. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): It might not be your first choice to work with a partner today, but you should put your best foot forward and try to have a good attitude. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): CToday, you need to revel in all of your greatness -- especially if you are going through a phase when you don't feel so great. Take a minute early in the day to remember all of the successes you've achieved and all of the challenges you have overcome. .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): This is a good day to have some fun. There aren't any real business problems plaguing you, and your schedule is wide open, right now. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18): There are clues being tossed about you today, but it won't take long for you to complete the picture and solve the mystery. Try not to laugh when ev e r y o n e around you is still scratching their head while you're finished up early and off doing something more enjoyable. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Does your wallet need to go on a diet, or is it starving all on its own?

Money issues can create a huge amount of stress in your life, but you can get away from them, at least for twenty four hours.

(From page 3) population small.”

Chinese have a knack for selling their items at a very cheap cost, and the majority of the international exhibitors will be coming from China. A whopping 14 companies will be occupying 25 booths in the International Pavilion.

However, Cummings assured that the international companies will not be bringing anything that is manufactured locally.

“There will also be local businesses selling imported products; so in that regard, the consumers are the ones who will be benefiting. But no, the Chinese or the other international companies are not bringing anything that is being manufactured here in

Guyana,” Cummings said.

He explained also that companies coming to sell will not be granted duty free concessions on their products.

GuyExpo 2013 will be held from October 3rd October 6, under the theme ‘Advancing Productivity through Innovation, Modernization, and Expansion.’

Although GuyExpo was initially about exhibiting Guyana’s prestigious agriculture, it has evolved to the extent where agriculture is now given less precedence.

Cummings explained that this is so since Agriculture has a number of other specifically dedicated forums such as Agriculture Week and others.

He added though, that agro-processing is a priority at this year’s GuyExpo, noting that it is the hope of the Planning Committee that Guyana will benefit from the technology of the other countries, in developing the agro-processing sector, especially in the much critical area of packaging and labeling.

Come next month, the Sophia Exhibition Centre will come alive with displays of Technology, Manufacturing, Services, Tourism, Games, Confectionery, Furniture, Arts and Craft, Processed Food, Clothing, Costume Jewellery, Fashion and Design, Food and Beverage, Franchise, Horticulture, Photography and International Companies.

Basic medication...

(From page 15) successfully to contact the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Khan for a comment but this proved futile.

This newspaper also tried to contact Director of Medical Services Dr Sheik Amir, who was Acting CEO of the hospital and this was also unsuccessful.

“A Chinese doctor went to New York and bought his own equipment to do his work. That is what we have to do now,” Norton said.

He explained that last Thursday, he along with a patient and his nurses were preparing to do an eye surgery when they were told that there were no surgical scrubbing brushes.

“The scrubbing brush is what you use to wash your hands before you begin operating on the eyes. The eyes are sensitive and once it gets an infection, you can get blind,” Norton said, adding that after he raised the issue with the authorities, a box of surgical scrubbing brushes appeared in the theatre but it was found that it had expired since August.

“We can’t play with someone’s eyes, and these items should be provided. We have to make do but what happens is, if you make do, you will have to continue to make do,” the eye doctor stressed.

Norton is of the opinion that those responsible at the hospital wait for the drugs to finish before they make an order.

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Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Lions vs. Otago, CLT20, Jaipur

1st South American Youth Games

Otago win after tie in Super Over

Guyana end with 9 medals

ESPNcricinfo - Two heroes of the night turned villains then turned heroes again, but Lions’ Quinton de Kock made the last couple of mistakes to facilitate an incredible tie in the Super Over. James Neesham’s Otago emerged winners because they had one boundary more than the Lions did.

De Kock could easily have ended on the winning side. He turned a scratchy innings into a superlative hundred to take the stumbling Lions to 167, and then kept decently for the majority of the chase as Otago struggled. Neesham kept Otago in with big hitting towards the end, even against Sohail Tanvir’s wily bowling. After Neesham’s 25ball 52, it came down to two required off the last ball.

Tanvir beat the bat, but a fumble from de Kock allowed Otago the bye to push the game into the Super Over.

Tanvir responded superbly to the call of the hour, bowling accurate yorkers, but Brendon McCullum charged him to take a yorker on the full and send it over long-off for six to take Otago to a fighting 13.

Neesham’s response with the ball wasn’t as good: he kept bowling wide-length balls, and conceded 10 to de Kock off the first two balls. Jean Symes, though, slogged with just three required off three, and holed out.

Now was de Kock’s turn to falter. He played a drive off the fifth ball hard to deep point, but didn’t run hard enough, and was in no position to capitalise on the fumble in the deep. A couple there would have all but sealed the result in Lions’ favour, but now they had a new batsman needing two to win off the last ball because a tie just wouldn’t do. Dwaine Pretorious hit a low full toss to deep midwicket, de Kock began to come back for the second, realised halfway that he wouldn’t be able to make it, and turned back.

Brendon McCullum’s throw was accurate, and Pretorious was run out.

De Kock remained unbeaten on the night - in the main match and in the Super Over - but when Twenty20 got to its cruelest - number of boundaries splitting sides that finished even twice - he froze.

That the match even reached the Super Over was due in no small measure to Neesham. He helped Otago smash 64 off the last five off overs, starting with a six that

was a cross between a ramp and a paddle off Lonwabo Tsotsobe in the bowler’s final over - the 17th of the match.

Neesham struck two more sixes through square-leg, both flicks, off Tanvir and Hardus Viljoen, and he slammed a straight six off Tanvir in the final over. But the Pakistan fast bowler kept Neil Wagner quiet off the last three balls. Tanvir gave away 10 runs in that over and the bye that de Kock missed off the last ball set up the Super Over.

De Kock was Lions’ hero when they batted, hitting his second T20 century as well as the second hundred of the tournament. De Kock’s hundred was also the sixth overall ton in the Champions League.

The opener batted with a sensibility that hardly comes about in Twenty20 matches.

He added 44 for the first wicket with Rassie van der Dussen and another 29 in a second-wicket stand with Temba Bavuma. The Lions, however, floundered after that stand, losing two quick wickets, including that of Alviro Petersen, who was given leg-before off Nick Beard for a first-ball duck.

But the Lions recovered well in the next six overs. Jean Symes and de Kock added 76 runs in 6.1 overs, with de Kock completing his fifty in the 15th over. He had a reprieve in the same over, when Beard misjudged a catch at deep square leg off Nathan McCullum’s bowling and de Kock made that chance count. Between the 15th and 18th overs, the pair picked up 13, 21, 18 and 11, pushing the total past the 150-run mark. De Kock switched modes and took charge of the hitting, making sure none of the Otago bowlers had a hold on him. He helped Lions add 70 runs in the last five overs and completed a century, off just 60 balls, in the final over. His 109 off 63 balls included 10 fours and five sixes.

Otago’s chase of a competitive total was stunted

by Tsotsobe, who bowled three excellent overs spread over the innings. His first three overs produced the crucial wickets of Brendon McCullum and Ryan ten Doeschate and he conceded only 12 runs.

Scores: Lions 167 for 4 (De Kock 109) tied with Otago 167 for 7 (Neesham 52*, Tahir 2-28).

Result: Scores level after Super Over; Otago won on boundary count.

Foster cops 8x100m Mixed Multi Nat. gold; Yaw sprints to 200m bronze

By Franklin Wilson in Peru Guyana closed out participation at the inaugural South American Youth Games (1SAYG) in Peru in classical fashion with Andrea Foster capturing this nations first and only gold medal in the Mixed (4 Male & 4 Female) Multi National 8x100m Relay.

Prior to that race, Jason Yaw captured his second bronze of the Games in the 200m (22.14s) final which was won by Panama’s Arturo Deliser (21.62) who also captured the 100m gold.

Venezuela’s Josneyber Ramirez took silver in 21.93.

Weightlifter, Sheriah Melville, the other athlete in action yesterday competed in the +63 category but did not do as was expected ending with a total of 113kgs, she Snatched 53 and Clean & Jerked 60. Melville failed her first lift in the Snatch (47kg), while she also failed her final two in the Clean & Jerk (65kg). Winning this category was Columbia’s Yeinny Geles with a total of 203kgs.

On Saturday evening, the lone male weightlifter, Darren Williams achieved Personal Best lifts in a performance that drew compliments from Coach, Sean Cozier.

But much focus was on the track athletes on yesterday’s final day, especially Yaw. The lanky sprinter did not disappoint his Coach Julian Edmonds nor his countrymen and women who were rooting for him.

It was always going to be a tough race for Yaw, who fought off an upset stomach on Saturday after the 400m bronze to take on the field and qualify for the 200m final in that semi a short while after.

From the gun, the feeling was that Yaw, who had promised the day before to end with a bang, was on target. He paced himself admirably during the race, dipping to the line at the end to secure the bronze medal much to the delight of Coach Edmonds who could have been heard in the stands urging his athlete on.

After the race, Yaw said that he was very pleased with his performance despite not being 100% and taking on conditions that himself and fellow athletes are not used to. He noted that the competition was very good and the experience gained is fantastic for him in the future.

The 16-year-old, Deliser, it was ascertained, trained

Jason Yaw

Displaying fine technique in the Clean & Jerk, Darren Williams sets a PB of 60kg with world sprint champion Jamaican Usain Bolt and is expected to return to that Caribbean Island next month for another stint. Even at 16, Deliser looks an accomplished athlete; given a similar opportunity (s), Yaw too, can become one of the best in the Caribbean, South America and further afield.

Three days of exciting action on the track culminated with the 8x100m Mixed Multi National Male and Female Relay. The Guyanese trio was placed on different teams but it was 1500m and 3000m athlete, Andrea Foster who was going to come out with the gold medal.

The race was done with the males starting at the usual 100m starting line while the females faced them at the finish line. The athletes had to touch hands before continuing what turned out to be an exciting duel.

Foster’s team was triumphant in the end and she noted that even though the language barrier was a challenge in understanding each other, victory was common among her team mates and of course, “sweet”.

Darren Williams pleased his Coach Saean Cozier with Final Medal count Gold Silver 1 1

his performance on Saturday evening. The 15-year-old Williams, like fellow weightlifters Denoila Bristol and Sheriah Melville, had just about six weeks to learn the fine arts of the sport which has been in the doldrums for sometime in Guyana.

And like Bristol, Williams achieved Personal Best lifts in his first competition at any level. Contesting the 69kg category which attracted six other seasoned competitors, Williams who ended 7th, had a best Snatch of 50kg, while in the Clean and Jerk he accomplished 60kg.

He attempted 63kg on his final attempt but failed. Coach Cozier did not hold back his joy with Williams’ performance noting that he had to work overtime for the lad to reach this juncture.

“I had to work hard with Williams who has come a far way in six short weeks. He has really shown great improvement with the required techniques. This lad will get stronger and do very well. I applaud him, Bristol and Melville who are the new faces of the sport which is on the rebound.”

Team Guyana is expected home today.

Bronze 7

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Kaieteur News

Kipsang smashes marathon record in Berlin win

Wilson Kipsang of Kenya poses with medal after victory. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz (Reuters) - Kenyan Wilson Kipsang made the most of the notoriously flat and fast Berlin streets to smash the marathon world record by 15 seconds en route to taking the title yesterday.

The 31-year-old Kipsang clocked a time of two hours, three minutes and 23 seconds to better the previous mark set two years ago in the same race by compatriot Patrick Makau, who was forced to pull out through injury two weeks ago.

Kipsang, who won the 2012 London Marathon and also took bronze at the Olympics, produced a storming finish to leave compatriot Eliud Kipchoge a distant second almost a minute behind. “I’m very happy that I have won and broken the world record,” Kipsang said in a televised interview after the race.

“I was really inspired by Paul Tergat when he broke the world record here 10 years ago and I’m very happy that I was

in a position to break the record on the same course.”

Kenyan Tergat’s time of 2:04:55 at the 2003 Berlin Marathon was the first to be ratified as a world record by governing body the IAAF, who previously recognized fastest marathon times as world bests.

Makau’s mark had looked safe as the leading bunch dropped more than 20 seconds off the pace after 30 kilometers but they clawed back the deficit over the next five kilometers.

With the group whittled down to three runners, Kipsang made his decisive move at the 37 km mark and held off former 5,000 meters world champion Kipchoge before pulling well clear in the final two kilometers on the fastest of the big city courses.

Kipchoge’s time of 2:04:05 was a personal best with Geoffrey Kipsang third in 2:06:26.

FASTER STILL It was the ninth world record at the race - which

celebrated its 40th running on Sunday - and fifth by the men in the last decade.

Despite running under cool and sunny skies, Kipsang said calmer conditions could have produced an ever quicker time.

“If I prepare very well and stay in shape then maybe,” he said when asked if he could better the mark. “Today there was a lot of wind... but if the wind would have been a little bit then it (the time) would come down.”

Nevertheless, the victory boosted Kipsang’s chances of winning the world marathon majors series which awards points during a twoyear cycle from finishing positions in the Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York marathons.

He will move up to second behind Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede in the race to win a cut of the million dollar jackpot split between the men’s and women’s winners.

In the women’s race, Kenya’s Florence Kiplagat took the title after she overcame a duel with compatriot Sharon Cherop, who faded to finish 45 seconds back.

Kiplagat repeated her 2011 success in Berlin with another strong run but her time of 2:21:13 was six minutes shy of the women’s world record set by Briton Paula Radcliffe a decade ago.

Germany’s Irina Mikitenko was third in 2:24:54, breaking the world masters record for over 40s.

Demerara, Berbice play to thrilling...

From page 31 the new balls.

Demerara began in a frenzy and were striking at over seven runs per over when Chrisendat Ramoo took over from Joseph after the fourth over. He immediately got success with Griffith19 (3x4) going for a big shot was well taken on the deep midwicket boundary at 38-1.

Clements came on to replace Hooper and he also got success with Bacchus also being well taken in the deep for 20(2x4) at 40-2.

Rajendra Chandreka and Barrington tried to steady the ship, but Barrington soon perished for 3 at 53-3 in the ninth over.

Barnwell immediately showed his intention as he lifted the first delivery he faced from Ramoo for six.

On the back of his outstanding bowling

performing in the last game, West Indies leg spinner Devendra Bishoo was introduced into the attacked and had Chandreka brilliantly stumped by Anthony Bramble for 13(1x4) with the score on 64, but Barnwell responded by lifting Bishoo effortlessly out of the ground for a towering six.

The pair of Barnwell and Jacobs briefly threatened to take the initiative before Barnwell 18(2x6) off 13 balls was deceived by Bishoo and skied a catch to mid-off at 895. With 44 needed from 30 deliveries Bishoo switched ends and caused some problems as Jacobs, who made 33(1x6, 3x4) off 19 deliveries, was removed with 27 needed from 12 balls.

Eight came off the first two deliveries bowled by Hooper, before Christian (6) and Zahir Mohammed (7)

then departed. Shauquille Williams hit a six but then perished for 10 at 138-9.

With 13 needed off the last over bowled by Joseph and the last pair of Wintz and Stoll at the crease and the home must have been brimming with cofidence. It came down to six runs from three deliveries and then five from two balls.

With two needed of the last delivery to tie the game, Foo fumbled an on drive from Stoll allowing the batsmen two runs to spark wild celebrations from the Demerara camp.

A dejected Berbice team departed the battle field knowing they had snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory to stun the home team supporters. Bishoo was named the man of the match for the second consecutive time. (Samuel Whyte)

Monday September 30, 2013

GSCL Inc12\12 tourney

Regal, Wolf Warriors declared joint champs after rain ruins final

Joint winners, captain of the Regal XI Mohamed Ayube (left) and Wolf Warriors skipper Amit Rai display the first place trophy in the presence of GSCL’s Lance Hinds (left) and Ian John.

By Zaheer Mohamed Regal XI and Wolf Warriors were declared joint champions of the second Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc (GSCL Inc) 12\12 tournament after rain prevented any play in the final yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club.

Both teams registered comfortable victories in their respective semifinal matches played earlier at the said venue in front of a large and colourful crowd which was entertained by the Tassa drums and loud music.

Regal defeated defending champions Memorex by 42 runs in their semifinal game.

Regal batted first and were guided to a respectable 134-6 off their allotted overs mainly through a half century knock

by Patrick Rooplall. Rooplall stroked one four and six sixes in a fine 53, while Richard Latiff provided support with 27 (3x4, 1x6); John Perry claimed 3-37.

Purposeful bowling and tidy fielding by Regal

restricted Memorex to 92-8 in 12 overs in reply. Alvin Ramdass made 36 (4x4, 2x6), while Roy Jafferally scored 26 (2x6). Balram Roopnarine picked up 3-15 and Ricky Sargeant 2-17 for the winners.

In the second semifinal, Wolf Warriors overcame Trophy Stall by 5 wickets.

Trophy Stall took first strike and managed 95 before they were bowled out in 11 overs.

Surendra Ramnauth and Surajpaul Deosarran were their leading batsman with 25 and 22 respectively. Vishnu Tannechandra was the pick of the bowlers with 4-13; Narine Bailey had 3-18 and Diaram Persaud 2-12.

Wolf Warriors responded 95 in 10.2 overs with skipper Amit Rai top scoring with 39 (3x4,3x6) while Mohamed Karim chipped in with 25 (2x6) and Safraz Karim 15 (1x6).

Regal and Wolf Warriors shared the first prize of a trophy and $600,000. In an invited comment vice president of the GSCL Ian John thanked the Everest

Cricket Club, sponsors and crowd for their support. He said that they were unable to give out the other prizes because the final was rained out but the prizes will be transferred to the next GSCL competition.

The tournament was sponsored by Memorex Enterprise of Berbice, Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall Bourda Market, 5 Star Minerals of Bartica, L&J Shopping Zone (Linden), Romain Car Care and Detail Centre, Chung’s Global Enterprise, Star Part Rentals, Good Wood Racing Service, Global Marketing Agency, Chunilall Baboolall Mining (Bartica), Hopkinson Mining (Bartica), Dale Scott Gas Station (Bartica), M R D Khan (Bartica), Mike’s Copy Centre, Elegant Jewellery and Pawn Shop, Better Value Realty, Fabulous Homes Realty, Aagman Indian Cuisine Restaurant, Kings Jewellery World, Everest Cricket Club, Digimax and Regal Stationery and Computer Centre.

Royals vs. Scorchers, CLT20, Jaipur

Royals saunter into semi-finals ESPNcricinfo - Rajasthan Royals breezed into the Champions League semi-final with a nine-wicket win over Perth Scorchers that rarely looked an even contest, and preserved their unbeaten streak in Jaipur this year. The result also knocks Scorchers out of contention for the semi-finals, meaning no Australian sides remain in the hunt.

Kevon Cooper was the primary architect of Scorchers’ collapse, settling into a fine rhythm early to deliver a number of humming yorkers, two of which yielded scalps. He took four wickets in total and conceded 18 from his four overs, while Pravin Tambe’s canny legspin removed batsmen at the other end. Both he and James Faulkner finished with two wickets apiece.

With only 121 to chase down, Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane stroked attractive half-centuries to remain unbeaten at the close.

Liam Davis hit 13 runs off the second over of the match, but that was as good as Scorchers’ evening got, as they embarked on a slide that began gradually at first, before reaching its hapless crescendo in the middle overs. Davis and opening partner Ashton Agar departed inside the Powerplay, and though Voges promised a bright innings with three early legside boundaries, the batsmen at the other end could not muster sustained competence.

Simon Katich was the recipient of Pravin Tambe’s largesse, when a return catch was dropped in the eighth over, but the batsman could make no use of his second life. Two balls later, he ran past a googly.

Scores: Rajasthan Royals 121 for 1 (Rahane 62*, Samson 50*) beat Perth Scorchers 120 (Cooper 4-18) by nine wickets.

Monday September 30, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 29

Page 30

Kaieteur News

Monday September 30, 2013

WICB awards Regional Leon Belony retains form to capture GASP Open Scrabble C/ships Super50 to T&T WICB Media - Kingston, Jamaica – The West Indies Cricket Board yesterday announced that the Regional Super50 Tournament has been awarded to Trinidad and Tobago for three years.

This follows a commitment from the government of Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Tourism to play a major role in the execution of the tournament during the three year period – 2014 to 2016.

The tournament will feature eight teams and will be televised live throughout the Caribbean.

The 2014 edition of the tournament will be played from January 30th to February 16th in Trinidad and Tobago with two matches to be played in Tobago. All the other matches will be day/

night matches.

President of the WICB, Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron said he was delighted to have critical support of the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We are delighted and thankful to have the commitment of the government of Trinidad and Tobago for the Regional Super50. This partnership forms a template for future collaboration with governments and corporate Caribbean for sponsorship to the mutual benefit of both parties,” President Cameron said.

“This is very significant as it demonstrates two things, (i) that the Super50 is an attractive product and (ii) that there is growing confidence in West Indies cricket and the

WICB in the way we are managing the game,” President Cameron explained.

“It is massively exciting that all matches will be televised and fans will be able to follow the action in real time across the region,” Mr. Cameron said.

“The other important component is that this partnership will certainly help to strengthen our regional 50 over cricket and we expect that that will redound to the benefit of the West Indies One Day International team,” Mr. Cameron added.

There will be free movement of players within the region and the WICB is exploring the possibility of having international players being integrated into the teams.

Dottin hits form ahead of series opener

Deandra Dottin

Jamaica Gleaner Kingston, Jamaica - Deandra Dottin warmed up for West Indies home series against New Zealand with an impressive display at Sabina Park Saturday.

Batting at No. 4 for Merissa Aguilleira’s XI against Stafanie Taylor’s XI, Dottin reached 42 off 48 deliveries when the rain stopped play in midafternoon. Dottin hit two fours and two sixes, one which flew

over long on off Jamaica Under-17 male bowler Javelle Glenn who had figures of two overs for 33 runs.

Kyshona Knight, who put on 89 with Dottin for the third wicket, made an unbeaten 24.

Openers June Ogle, 21, and Natasha McLean, 20, were also among the runs for Aguilleira’s XI. Five players from Jamaica’s Under-17 male squad were brought in to add to the 17-member West Indies

Hadi’s 1st division cricket

Final day washed out at GDF The entire second and final day of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Hadi’s Cup first division cricket match between GNIC and GDF was washed out at the GDF ground due to heavy rain in the City.

When bad light stopped play on the first day GNIC were 40-1 in reply to GDF’s 136.

Meanwhile, play in all other GCA fixtures were also affected by the adverse weather in Georgetown.

Women’s squad.

Earlier, Kycia Knight, 22, and Juliana Nero, 24, put on 62 runs to give Taylor’s XI a good start. Taylor added 19 also at the top of the innings, but her team slipped to 109 for six as six wickets fell for 47 runs.

EXCITEMENT Subrina Munroe added some excitement towards the end of the innings by scoring 21 not out.

Anisa Mohammed 2-27 off 11 overs and Shanel Daley one for 20, also off 11 overs, were the most successful bowlers. Jamaica Under-17 player Ryan Bennett took 3-22.

Final scores: Stephanie Taylor’s XI 161-8 off 55 overs; Aguilleira’s XI 142 for 2 off 35 overs.

Sherwin Campbell, head coach of West Indies Women’s team, described the day as “decent”.

“The players got enough out of the day. They had a good opportunity to bowl and bat out in the middle,” he added while noting they will practice again today at the same venue.

The West Indies Women’s team is preparing for a three-match ODI Series against New Zealand on October 6, 8 and 10 to which entry to Sabina Park is free to the public.

Another warm-up match will be played tomorrow at Sabina Park to be followed by an official practice game against the Jamaica Under-17 boys’ team on Wednesday at Up Park Camp.

Michael and Deonarine in the money

Leon Belony is flanked by Orlando Michael to his right and Devraj Deonarine, moments after the championship ended.

Leon Belony retained a rich vein of form and amassed 6 points and a positive spread of 767 to triumph over a competitive field when the final tile was moved in the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) open championship at the Malteenoes Sports yesterday afternoon.

Orlando Michael scored 5 points and a positive spread of 245 to herald a return to the podium and sealed off the second place after a prolonged hiatus, while Devraj Deonarine also made a grand return to the podium after winning 3 games and accruing a positive spread of 327.

Once again, the players underlined their competitiveness when it was noted that 4 of them finished the tournament on 3 points

and had to be separated by dint of their spreads.

Belony stamped his authority from the very first game when he defeated Deonarine by a spread of 76.

Kamta Ramnarine put up a valiant fight and had Belony on the ropes on several occasions but the latter player employed wits and cunning to edge home by 4 points.

Thereafter, Belony took care of Wayne Cave (203), Robert Williams (125), Michael (210) and Michael Benjamin (147) to cap an excellent day on the board.

Michael rebounded from the loss to Belony to triumph over Williams (174), Cave (81), Julian Skeete (37), Michael Benjamin (77) and Deonarine (86). The latter player also lost to Kamta Ramnarine (42) but defeated Grace Hercules (42), Julian Skeete (212) and

Tevin Skeete (167).

Meanwhile, national Champion, Abigail McDonald graced the tournament but did not participate. However, she is currently honing her skills in preparation for national duties at the World Scrabble Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, December 3rd - 8th next. The executive of GASP is keen to have the National Champion represent Guyana and have planned a fund raiser, a Bar-B-Que and Lime at the Malteenoes Sports Club on Saturday November 16 next.

Tickets are currently available from any of the members and can be had for $1000.

The players will next convene on October 15 next for the Eid Ul Azha Open Tournament at the same venue.

T&T edge Guyana for a second...

From page 31 minutes. Guyana struggled with only 10 players on the pitch and the momentum of the match swung in Uruguay’s favour as they capitalized on the numerical advantage by scoring two goals to earn a 3-0 lead.

It was a different game when the Captain returned as the Guyanese now tiring from chasing the wellrehearsed Uruguayan side needed to play aggressive hockey to reduce the deficit, Guyana pressed forward but the vulnerability created at the back succumbed to the pace of the Uruguayan attack which took advantage and scored three additional goals in the second half to win by 6-0.

Coach Philip Fernandes

indicated his disappointment in the final placement, but acknowledged that it was always going to be a tough task to defeat teams that are ranked much higher than Guyana.

Fernandes indicated that the team could still have pride in the fact that they qualified in the top eight teams of the 26 nations in the Pan American Federation.

He also indicated that those in attendance remarked at Guyana’s vast improvement despite not having an artificial pitch on which to train and this also attracted the attention o f M r. L e a n d r o N e g r e , President of the International Hockey Federation who promised

to do all possible to address this deficiency.

Mr. Negre indicated in a conversation with the Guyanese hockey President that, while he could not promise full funding for an artificial pitch, some funding could be made available and would be forwarding the required conditions for Guyana to qualify for such assistance.

Argentina defeated the USA by 1-0 in the final, while Canada took third place over Chile. Mexico scored a surprise victory over Uruguay for 5th& 6th places followed by Trinidad and then Guyana. Argentina will represent the Americas at next year’s women’s hockey World Cup as a result of their victory.