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Issue No. 3019

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Speaker bemoans infrequent meetings of Parliament Page 2

BM Soat 14-year-old, son shot, fisherman robbed charged Suddie Criminal Assizes opens Businesswoman’s murder

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Brickdam lockups’ repairs “taking too long” – acting P7 Top Cop

UNICEF reports on weakened juvenile system in Guyana P10

Regulatory body denies Lailac Infant Milk still being sold P11 locally

New Town Clerk for Bartica

Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry inspecting the ranks as the Suddie Criminal Assizes opens in Region Two on Tuesday

Several injured in late-night smash-up President, Ministers head to Army Base for Cabinet deliberations

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…security concerns in light of MoTP’s repairs cited

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Govt considering municipal courts P13

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GECOM commences ID Card distribution P13

2 news Speaker bemoans infrequent meetings of Parliament wednesDAY, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

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peaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland believes that the Parliament, inclusive of the many committees – standing and select – can do much more in furthering the welfare of the people of this country if they were to meet more often to deal with the numerous items of business on the agenda.

Dr Scotland made the scathing observation during a special session held with members of the local media corps, the Speaker and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs.

The National Assembly, he reminded, is not fulltime but rather only a parttime assembly, which es-

Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland, flanked by Clerk Sherlock Isaacs and Public Relations Officer Oneika Alphonso, engages media operatives

sentially means that its members have other commitments.

Parliament meets traditionally once per week – on Thursdays, whenever it

does meet.

In bemoaning the infrequency of Parliament,

Duo charged for Port Kaituma murders

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heavy-duty operator and his colleague of Citrus Grove, Port Kaituma, Region One (Barima-Waini) were on Tuesday remanded to prison when they appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on a joint murder charge.

It is alleged that Robberto Miggins and Quacy Benjamin murdered Mario Hussain between October 12 and 13, 2016 at Ten Mile, Port

Kaituma.

The men were also charged for killing Romario Roseau on October 14, 2016, also at Ten Mile Backdam.

Attorney-at-Law Leslie Sobers, who is representing Benjamin, explained to the court that his client had a strong alibi, which he would soon lay before the court. As such, he requested a speedy trial.

The men will make their next court appearance on November 2, 2016.

The murder accused at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts

the Speaker said: “I think there is more work that can be done, even at a glance I could see at least two days (per week).”

Speaking directly to the meetings of the special and standing committees – the forums through which most parliamentary work is done – Dr Scotland expressed the view that they also should be meeting more often.

Ever since the resumption of the sittings of the National Assembly after its annual recess, there has been one session of the full House, while not one of the committees has met.

The Speaker did disclose that there have been preliminary conversations with stakeholders looking to have more regular meetings of the Assembly.

Dr Scotland did seek to point to some of the peculiarities of the Guyana Parliament, underscoring firstly “that our Parliament is a part-time Parliament” which, according to the Speaker, inherently comes with its own consequences.

“It doesn’t matter that you may have work that would take you four days a week, four or five days sometimes, because it’s a part-time Parliament.”

He said the simple fact that Guyana operated a part-time Parliament im-

plied that its members have other matters to attend to, “when they are not in Parliament”.

According to Dr Scotland, it is within this context that one has to view the sittings of the National Assembly.

“Certainly, I can see the committees moving ahead rapidly with their exceptionally heavy workload that they all have,” she said.

He suggested that adding another day for parliamentary sittings could in fact be very beneficial in getting the job done. “…I think one day is not adequate.”

Pressed on his role as Speaker of the National Assembly in seeking to have more regular Committee meetings, Dr Scotland told media operatives “that is a matter which will have to be done, not only by the Speaker but discussed with the chairpersons of the committees too; you have to do that”.

Dr Scotland explained that “it’s not a case where the Speaker hands down decisions”.

“Anything you want in Parliament must have the cooperation of Members of Parliament… anything you want in Parliament affects and must involve the Parliament Office.”

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wednesDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Wednesday, October 26 –14:30h-16:00h Thursday, October 27 – 14:30h-16:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Wednesday, October 26 –14:05h-15:35h Thursday, October 27 – 14:40h-16:10h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY Weather: Early morning sunshine with heavy rain showers throughout the rest of the day, with sunny weather returning in the later afternoon. Clear skies can be expected in the evening with temperatures ranging between 25 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East South-easterly to Easterly ranging from 3.12 metres to 4.47 metres.

High Tide: 01:19h and 13:50h reaching maximum heights of 2.25 metres and 2.33 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 07:18h and 19:45h reaching minimum heights of 0.91 metre and 0.88 metre respectively.

President, Ministers head to Army Base for Cabinet deliberations – security concerns in light of MoTP’s repairs cited

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he Cabinet Council of Ministers this past week relocated the Executive’s highest decision-making forum to the Officers Mess of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown.

Cabinet is chaired

by Head of State David Granger, a former GDF Brigadier who has come in for intense criticism over the past year and a half for his continuous resort to the use of retired military officers to head several Commissions of Inquiry, among other key positions in his administration.

The political Opposition has railed against what it has called the increasing militarisation of Guyana by Granger, a retired high-ranking military officer, now Executive President.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), in a recent public missive, said, “The Granger Administration has a penchant for placing retired and serving military officers in Government agencies and

President David Granger along with several members of his Cabinet

background of the appointments as Chairperson of the numerous Commissions of Inquiry of retired GDF officers, such as Brigadier Bruce Lovell, Retired Colonel Windee Algernon, Major General Joe Singh, Rear Admiral Gary Best and Larry London, Colonel Nazrul Hussain was also appointed to head

petency.

The Administration has also defended the resort to Base Camp Ayanganna for the holding of Cabinet meetings in light of ongoing repairs at the Ministry of the Presidency.

According to a public missive issued on Tuesday by the Government’s Department of Public

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departments and to head Commissions of Inquiry into one incident after another.”

Since the election of May 11, 2015, several GDF officers under the command of Colonel Khemraj Persaud have been seconded to work in the Defence Secretariat at the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP).

The PPP/C’s concerns were sounded against the

the Department of National Events.

A number of Army officers have also been appointed to a number of State Boards and other civilian positions.

The Ministry of the Presidency has since downplayed the use of former military officers, saying that persons are selected for positions based on their com-

Information, under the hand of Director of Public Information, Imran Khan, the decision to use Camp Ayanganna’s facilities is rooted in the security concerns of the Administration.

It was pointed out that the Ministry of the Presidency was currently undertaking urgent repair works in some sections of the main building of the

complex, which has resulted in some rooms, including Cabinet Room, being temporarily unavailable for use.

Defending the use of GDF’s Base Camp Ayanganna, Khan said that a thorough and extensive search was conducted for a suitable space to temporarily host Cabinet meetings, with the main requirements for a temporary alternative venue being privacy and confidentiality, security, document preparation and reproduction, size, cost, accessibility, parking and minimal disruption to traffic and regular business.

According to Khan, in the Administration’s public announcement, “After consideration of a number of options, it was found that the vast majority of these venues did not meet several or some of the most important requirements or were unavailable for the times required.”

The only venue which met the requirements was the Officers Mess at Camp Ayanganna and “this venue is being temporarily used for Cabinet meetings until repair works at the Ministry of the Presidency are complete”.

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guyana-times.com

wednesday, october 26, 2016

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707

Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Being Waste Wise

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t has become apparent and of recent, more glaring that we have become increasingly irresponsible in disposing of our trash, which eventually ends up in our drains and waterways. The voluminous build-up of garbage in communities across the country speaks of a society that is yet to be trained on proper waste disposal. We are guilty of indiscriminate dumping of garbage.

A casual drive around many communities would reveal the shocking truth: in many areas, there are mounds of garbage strewn across the reserves and roadways. As an attempt to conceal the act of indiscriminate dumping, some perpetrators dispose of their trash at night and would go so far as to travel to neighbouring communities and villages to commit the act.

How sad that we have become so callously abusive of our environment. We only think of Mother Nature when calamity or disaster strikes. Every human being should go the extra mile of caring for our one and only Mother Earth.

Many of the smaller communities do not have regular garbage disposal services, and most private collectors would service these areas at least once a week; does this then excuse the action of residents to take their waste elsewhere? There are so many other options for solid waste disposal.

In most developed and developing countries, like Guyana, with increasing population, prosperity and urbanisation, it remains a major challenge for municipalities to collect, recycle, treat and dispose of increasing quantities of solid waste, especially in a changing climate. Everyone is aware of the issues we are facing with solid waste management.

Isn’t it high time we took part in making our society garbage-free? Communities cannot rely solely on our government to clean up the environment. A concerted effort is highly needed.

A cornerstone of sustainable development is the establishment of affordable, effective and truly sustainable waste management practices, we should, therefore, make it a daily habit to help control the floods and other problems caused by the mountains of garbage we throw away. What is lacking is discipline in disposing of our garbage properly.

Quite recently, it was reported that the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the Earth’s atmosphere have surged past an important threshold and may not dip below it for “many generations”. The 400 parts per million (ppm) benchmark was broken globally for the first time in recorded history in 2015. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2016 will likely be the first full year to exceed the mark. The high levels can be partially attributed to a strong El Niño event, while it was reported that human emissions have remained fairly static between 2014 and 2015.

What is alarming is that experts say that the last time CO2 was above 400 ppm was three to five million years ago!

It is time to consider the reality facing the world today, and it is even more crucial to take stock of the individual responsibility for this global situation. It is highly improbable that citizens do not yet know the impacts of climate change and are unaware of current challenges across the globe, with regard to access to potable water, arable lands and in some severe cases, access to food.

The time has long since passed for affirmative action and the hour of reckoning is upon us; the Earth itself is sending a message and it behoves us to change our attitudes and behaviours, it is time we see the importance of becoming waste-wise and take the pledge to make a concerted effort to recycle more, and reduce the waste sent to the landfill. If not today, when would be the perfect time for action?

All citizens should pledge to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle when possible, and Rejoice in the wonderful creation we’ve been given.

Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes and models display "Hott Bags" at the launch of the natural material and fibre bags by Guyanese designer Carol Fraser during the "Coconut Art", a segment of the recently-concluded Guyana Coconut Festival held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown over the weekend (Carl Croker photo)

Information on contract for works at GPL Dear Editor, The media reported that they were seeking information from the IDB and the Ministry of Finance on the award of a contract for works at GPL. A number of persons have expressed frustration in the media on the delays of the awarding of this contract. It appears that the IDB is a party to this seemingly corrupt intention of delaying the award, perhaps with the intention of giving the contract as one of favour to an individual or a company.

The refusal to provide a major newspaper with comments or information on the

contract is an indictment of a major financial institution like the IDB and one can only conclude there is underlying motives at the IDB local office.

It is also rather strange whether it is just coincidental or collusion or corruption that two contracts (both funded by IDB), one for management services and one for design and supervision, were awarded to Canadian companies.

Transparency advocates have on numerous occasions raised the issue of transparency at the IDB office. To date, the IDB has provided no clarification

or information on the matters. The Auditor General, Mr Sharma, has flagged the Government for single sourcing over $130 million of forensic auditors in his 2015 audit report.

Secondly, a team of staff has been hired post 2015 at the Office of Climate Change and are being paid through the Norway funds by the IDB. There has been no public procurement process for the hiring and paying of these staff. The IDB continues to refuse to provide or justify the procurement process used. More recently, the chair of the National Toshao Council (NTC) at the open-

ing of Amerindian Heritage month, made startling revelations of the delays and denial of benefits to our Amerindian brothers and sisters of grant funding being managed by the IDB on a project called the Forest Carbon Facility Project (FCPF).

The public demands an urgent investigation into these corrupt practices by the IDB board, which seems to have been turning a blind eye to the practices at IDB, much to the disappointment of the Guyanese people.

Sincerely, Erica Smith

Tender Board corruption in Region 6 Dear Editor, Kindly publish this letter which seeks to highlight some of the problems affecting the development of Region 6 (East BerbiceCorentyne) and all of which can be sourced to the Tender Board. The Procurement Act 2003 is intended ‘to promote fairness and transparency in the procurement process’, but the Region 6 Tender Board has failed to give effect to the legal provisions provided therein.

The Tender Board has also failed to provide fair and equitable treatment to all suppliers and contractors.

Firstly, despite the fact that the Procurement Act specifies that certain standardized features and requirements relating to the characteristics of the good to be procured, many dietary and other items are

tendered without due diligence to this requirement (Section 13). This has resulted in a potpourri of substandard goods being procured. The Act also makes it clear that contractors who have supplied substandard goods in the past should be disqualified but unfortunately this has never seen the light of day in Region 6.

Secondly, all the members of the Regional Tender Board are political appointees or politicians who grossly lack the perquisite qualifications as expressly stated by the Procurement Act 2003 Section 16 (2).

This subsection states that such persons appointed shall be of ‘unquestioned integrity who have shown capacity in business, the professions, law, audit, finance and administration’. If this Section was taken seriously

then the Region would have had persons who are suitably qualified to foster the economic and social development of this region.

Thirdly, the members of the Evaluation Committee should possess the same qualifications outlined above. But the appointees to this important Committee are all teachers with the technical /professional expertise as outlined in Section 16(2). It must be emphasised that these members must have more competence other than the capability of looking at figures and doing calculations! They must be able to understand the technical aspect as well. The purpose of this Committee is to evaluate the tenders which the Regional Tender Board has received from contractors and sup-

pliers and has submitted to that Committee. This Evaluation Committee will also use the criteria outlined in the tender documents and determine the lowest evaluated tender.

It will then make a recommendation to the Regional Tender Board. What is interesting is that should the Regional Tender Board be in disagreement with the Evaluation Committee’s recommendation, the Evaluation Committee must observe the recommendation of the Regional Tender Board with regards to who is the lowest evaluated bidder. Hence the Regional Tender will always influence the outcome of the final decision (Procurement Act Section 39). This is going back to the politicians.

Continues on page 5

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wednesday, october 26, 2016

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You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate, Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Bail for dangerous criminals is a disservice Crime on the rise in Dear Editor, Following an article published in a section of the media on Monday, titled, “Top Cop feels short-changed by some court decisions on gun crimes”, I must state that all of the points raised by the Acting Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine, as it relates to the court granting bail to serious criminals is a disservice to the Guyana Police Force and to the people of our country.

I do believe that the decision to grant bail to certain criminals makes life very difficult for police officers. It is known that in the courts, the magistrates and judges have discretionary powers. This is not conducive to law and order as criminals have a tendency of escaping the jurisdiction while on bail.

The Chancellor of the Judiciary, working in tandem with the Attorney General and the Ministry of Public Security, needs to create a parameter for bail.

It is noted that granting of bail to these vicious drug lords, as in the case with Dataram, is creating a serious dilemma for law and order, and particularly the Guyana Police Force. Armed robbers involved with conspiracy and

major thefts, go on bail and disguise themselves differently to perpetuate the same kinds of criminality or escape their jurisdiction. Some are even known to switch their ‘modus operandi.’

I wish to use the opportunity to ask that the Guyana Police Force, through the Ministry of Public Security, establish a wanted persons website and Facebook page for dangerous criminals. It should be announced in the media, that such persons charged for various serious crimes have applied for and has been granted bail. The public should be given notice to object as to why bail should be granted to certain individuals. They may send in their objections via email and state the reasons, or post their objections to the Facebook page or website or hand-deliver to the department that manages these cases.

It is my opinion also that the website and Facebook along with advertisements for bandits who have escaped our jurisdiction, should be placed in the media in certain places in Suriname and Brazil, where most of our criminals seem to gravitate towards.

We have seen that the seizure of passports is useless,

as passports can be obtained illegally and fraudulently adjusted.

I am also recommending that an enhanced network of community support be established. In this case, security guards, maybe through GAPSO or the non-GAPSO members, and even watchmen, could be linked in a network as police support. They can be used to filter information to certain dedicated personalities in the various regions as to criminal activities that are being planned or that is taking place or was done in the past.

The people of Guyana must understand that the GPF can only function to the maximum capacity with the cooperation of the citizens of the country.

The undersigned is a police mentalist.

I will always support law and order and the Guyana Police Force in its legal responsibility to protect the citizens of this country and apprehend the criminals with the view to put them behind bars until such time that they cannot be useful in crime again.

I personally believe in hard labour, in which criminals who are sentenced for

Tender Board corruption...

Fourthly, despite the fact that Section 39(6)(a) makes it pellucid that ‘all evaluation criteria for the procurement of goods, works and services in addition to price, will be qualified in monetary terms and the tender will be awarded to the lowest evaluated bid’, There are circumstances where this subsection has been blatantly violated, attesting to cronyism and corruption.

For instance, in the case of the repairs to Whim Branch Road, the Engineer’s estimate was, $4,058,104, but the contractor with the lowest bid of $3,507,720 was not awarded that contract. It was given to another contractor who bid $3,968,364. Another instance is the case of the repairs to Black Bush Public Road to Johanna Three Bridge. The Engineer estimated this work for $6,043,749 and the lowest bid was for $5,446,492, but again the award of the contract was given to the same contractor as before who bid at $5,829,661 and was not the lowest bidder.

These contracts were awarded on July 7, 2016. In both cases the contractor given the con-

tract was the same and the contractor sidelined was the same.

Is this a case of co-incidence?

This is a clear violation of the Procurement Act! In addition to the above, the Procurement Act provides that contractors who were not successful should be notified by the Regional Tender Board as to the reasons why their bids were not successful. This was never done and this constitutes a clear violation of the Procurement Act. This question was raised at the RDC meeting on July 4 but no reason(s) was given by the Chairman of the Tender Board or any of the members who were present.

Fifthly, there is also evidence to support incidents of conflict of interest. This is the type of cronyism and corruption which will destroy progress in the Region. This person, who has never done a contract in his life and submitted false recommendations with regards to work experience, should be disqualified according to the Act. It is no surprise that substandard is the order of the day in Region 6, since anyone with a hammer can be a contractor!

Lastly, there is an urgent need for a forensic audit of the Tender Board in Region 6 to dig into these corrupt practices of the Tender Board. The records of the proceedings, the awards of contracts and the background, experience and qualifications of these contractors should come under microscopic scrutiny. For too long the Regional Tender Board has been allowed to escape with its corruption.

certain vicious crimes, are made to serve hard labour to pay for their security, medicine, meals and miscellaneous charges for whatever else they may need for their upkeep.

I believe this is something that needs to be looked at.

The view is that they cannot sponge their way in jail at the expense of the tax payers.

Further, for persons involved in criminal activities, a major search should be carried out in their lives to identify what properties they own and the monies in the bank, so that the state can cease their assets to pay for their upkeep, most of which they might have earned through illegal activities.

It is time for a serious look at crime and punishment in Guyana.

I believe in maximum sentences for criminality, especially crimes such as armed robbery, fraud, murder, attempted murder, drug dealing, etc, which leaves a serious impact on the lives of our citizens on a daily basis and which corrupt morals, especially of our youths.

Sincerely, Roshan Khan CEO/Founder/Chairman RK’s Security Services

from page 4

These corrupt practices are rapidly eating away at the economic development of this Region! The Government is expending hundreds of millions only to be thrown away by corrupt politicians in the Region.

The Tender Board needs to be sanitised!

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf Regional Councillor, Region 6

Lamaha Gardens Dear Editor, The residents of Lamaha Gardens are deeply concerned over the escalating crime situation that has been plaguing the community over the last few months. It is believed that criminals scout the residential community during the day and mark their targets to hit at night. One alleged criminal moves around with a variety of tools and is believed to be armed.

As recent as three nights ago, Police responded to a call of an attempted break-in at a home in Kamoa Street, but unfortunately were unable to apprehend the suspect.

However, a bag of tools and a bicycle were taken into to custody by the Police.

Video surveillance from several residents show that it is the same person doing the robberies that take place mostly during midnight to wee hours in the morning.

Photos of this person are now showing up in a Bel Air Park break-in or attempted breakin. Ashton Chase is one of the latest victims. Residents have decided to take all necessary action to ensure the sanctity of their once quiet and safe community is restored; they are in the process of engaging the relevant authorities to get support for the action they intent to take.

Sincerely, Raquel Thomas-Caesar

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Foundation

The right dose of screen time for children

- what research tells us about making screen time rules for your children

By Vanessa LoBue, PhD

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efore I became a parent, I had the same self-righteous attitude about my future son that a lot of people have before becoming a parent: There would be absolutely no screen time in my house.

I judged parents at restaurants for cramming an iPad in front of their fiveyear-olds during dinner, and scoffed at my friends for buying a mini-van fully equipped with a TV and DVD player. In 2011, the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) recommended that children under the age of two should not watch any television, and slightly older children should be limited to two hours of screen time per day.

This sounds easy enough if you’re not a parent, but now that I am, the idea of keeping my son from screens altogether just sounds unrealistic; so unrealistic in fact that Friday, the AAP changed their policy. They now recommend that parents keep infants under 18 months of age away from screens as much as possible, unless it is to video chat with grandparents or other relatives.

The AAP’s change of heart likely reflects the reality that screens have become part of our everyday lives and we have to make decisions about when and how to regulate our children’s screen time use.

Although some researchers would disagree, a little bit of screen time is not all that bad, as long as you have the right expectations about what screens are and what

they are not, and about what they can and can’t offer your children. Here’s what research can tell us: Screens are a means by which children can learn if the content is educational. But, this is only true for older children and there is little evidence children under the age of two can learn from screens at all, which is what prompted the AAP’s original noscreen-time-for-babies policy. In fact, there are doubts about whether infants and young children can even understand the content of what they are seeing on screens. So, it’s fine to let your children watch a little bit of PBS Children, as long as you’re not expecting it to teach your babies how to read.

Screens themselves are not actually bad for your children. What I mean is, there is no evidence that the act of watching a TV or playing with an iPad makes children dumber, hurts their vocabulary or reading skills, or makes them fail Maths.

It’s what screen time is replacing that can be detrimental to learning, like if your child is watch-

ing TV instead of playing outside or doing his homework. So if screen time is replacing a potential fight with a sibling during a long car ride, it can be a great tool, but if it’s replacing time when your children can be playing outside with their friends, it’s probably not so great. The bottom line is, active play is always better than using a screen, so if screen time is replacing playtime, maybe it’s time to put the iPad away.

Screens can distract children if they are left on in the background.

There’s research suggesting that background TV distracts children from other activities, like playing with toys or talking to parents. It’s distracting nature also reduces the quality of children’s play. So if your child isn’t specifically sitting down to watch Sesame Street, it’s best to just leave the TV off.

Screens c a n n o t teach your children more than you can.

Although there is some research suggesting that children can learn from screen time or educational television shows, there’s lots of research showing

that children learn much better by interacting with their parents, friends, and teachers, and they learn better from screens by watching it with you.

The content of children’s screen time matters. There is mounting evidence that engaging with media that contains violent content (including both TV and video games) does in fact increase aggressive behaviour in children. With the countless number of educational shows and apps available for children these days, there is no reason why they should be watching adult-directed programming, especially programming that contains violence.

With these ideas in mind, my own rule of thumb for allowable screen time has been to ask myself: What is screen time replacing? Does watching Dora for 20 minutes replace an agitated conversation with a half-awake, unengaged parent who can later function better by having than 20 minutes to herself? Does watching a DVD in the car on a long trip replace an hour and a half of crying? In these cases, I’d say go for it, and don’t feel guilty. But if your children want to spend all their time with screens instead of playing outside, it might be time to make some rules. In fact, the AAP’s new recommendations involve creating a family plan for screen time, so that parents can teach children about appropriate screen time use. (psychologytoday.com)

Procrastination – my unconventional views

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eing a high school student, it’s not ground-breaking news that I procrastinate.

Procrastination has long been demonised as the killer of productivity, the cardinal sin of workers, and basically, an all-round bad guy.

However, consider this, despite the fact Ashley Anthony that I openly own up to procrastination, I still manage to get work done. Some argue that by procrastination we place ourselves under unnecessary stress, and that perhaps it is better to work on everything a little at a time, distributing tasks.

But I argue that, if done right, procrastination actually aids productivity. Most times, when one thinks about being productive, we think about distributing our work over the time that we have, for example, perhaps working 15 minutes each night on an essay for five nights. But, what if, one night, you sit down to write a part of the essay, and nothing flows? Should you keep going just to complete those 15 minutes?

What if on the first day, you wrote 500 words, but on the second day, you wrote a mere 50. Are we really being efficiently productive here? Yes, we are still getting the essay done, but had we waited and written the entire essay when we felt inspired, maybe we could have gotten it done in less time. Here is where procrastination can help efficiency.

Another strategy I like to employ is procrastinating from work, by doing other work. Usually, in our minds, we prioritise our tasks. We know which task is of most importance, and should be completed as soon as possible, but we might not be in the mood to do it.

Rather than go against our own will and force ourselves to complete it, why not do a less important task in the mean time? As a student, that translates into putting off doing a hard Mathematics worksheet, due to a headache, but doing some light reading instead.

Had I tried to do the Maths problems with my headache, I would have taken far longer than I ordinarily would have. So, even though I understood that the problems were of more importance, I also understood that it didn’t make sense to force myself to do something I wasn’t in the mood to do.

Obviously, this is not an excuse to ignore deadlines; it’s just providing a means of getting to the deadlines using less work. Chances are if you don’t feel like doing something, you won’t do it well. Don’t feel guilty about procrastination, just do it right.

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wednesday, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Brickdam lock-ups' repairs “taking too long” – acting Top Cop

The Brickdam Police Station lock-ups pictured here still under rehabilitation

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cting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine is calling on the relevant authorities to fast-track renovation works being done at the Brickdam Police Station lock-ups, which he said have been ongoing for “too long”.

Speaking at a press conference over the weekend, Ramnarine pointed out that the state of the key detention facility continued to be of grave concern for the Police Force. “It’s taking a bit too long. It’s a key facility and should be given the requisite attention or more attention as it needs,” he posited.

According to the acting Top Cop, the Brickdam lock-ups is a “travesty” to law enforcement efforts in A Division (GeorgetownEast Bank Demerara); hence, he is calling for work on the holding facility to be expedited since it affects the work of the Police in that division.

“The burden of shifting serious crimes suspects to other lock-ups on a daily basis is one we have been bearing with tremendous patience over the years.

I wish to take this opportunity to urge the officials concerned to spare no efforts to realise this muchneeded facility in the capital city of Georgetown,” he implored.

According to Ramnarine, there has been much said about the Brickdam lockups over the years, especially the need to make the detention facility more efficient and accommodating to address human rights is-

sues.

However, he added that the prolonged renovation works are inconveniencing the work of the division, since already limited resources are being stretched to accommodate the ongoing works.

“A Division, over the years, has had to deal with and will continue to deal with, because this is the most populous (division), close to 60 per cent of the reports of serious crimes.

And then you have to eke out scarce mobile resources and manpower every day to traverse long distances to detain suspects at other facilities and so on. I don’t have to explain; one would understand the challenges and that the reconfiguration of that lock-up has been dragging on for too long,” the interim Police Commissioner highlighted.

F u r t h e r m o r e , Ramnarine explained that these concerns have been raised with officials, but more efforts needed to be undertaken to have the process expedited, given the importance of the Brickdam lock-ups in the Division.

The condition of the Brickdam lock-ups has come in for much scrutiny and criticisms over the years. This resulted in the Division’s main detention facility undergoing a major overhaul back in 2009, when some $14.4 million was expended to rehabilitate the once smelly and unsightly facility that was once referred to as a ‘dungeon horrible’ by a Commission of Inquiry sev-

eral years prior.

Initially, phase one of the rehabilitation project begun with the signing of a $5.9 million contract, but physical works commenced the following month and continued for a period of 10 weeks.

The scope of works entailed fumigating the lockups environment, demolition and alteration to metal doors, rehabilitation of the existing steel grilles and door framings, rehabilitation of the enquiries area and re-doing of defective concrete works which were followed by a process of plastering.

There was also the demolition of existing plumbing works and restoration of plumbing to each of the 15 cells that were rehabilitated. This phase of the project also included the constructing of a concrete reservoir and concrete trestle, which now supports six new water tanks, and tiling of the floors and walls of the lock-ups.

Subsequently, an additional $8.5 million was secured for the completion of the project in its entirety.

The latter phase included the installation of 15 penal style toilets for each cell at a cost of US$700 each.

There was also the fabrication and installation of 42 metal bunks and rehabilitation of the holding area grille and construction of seating accommodation.

Further, the project entailed the tiling and painting of the enquiries staff area, including toilet and bath, and painting of the general facility.

Businesswoman’s murder

14-year-old, fisherman charged D

ays after confessing to beating a 56-yearold Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD) businesswoman to death, a 14-year-old boy was on Tuesday charged, along with his 24-year-old accomplice, for the murder.

The duo appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court to face the joint charge.

The teenager and his accomplice, Devanand Rampersaud, a fisherman of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, were not required to plead to the indictable charge, which was read to them in-camera by Magistrate Zamilla AllySeepaul.

Rampersaud was remanded to the Camp Street Prison, while the 14-yearold mastermind was sent to the Juvenile Holding Centre in Sophia. They will make their next court appearance on November 14 when the matter will be called at the Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court.

The lifeless body of Bibi Nesha Shairoon, of Lot 6 Novar, Mahaicony, was found by her nephew on October 17 with her hands and feet bound.

The two suspects on Saturday evening reportedly gave a detailed statement to detectives on how they committed the murder. The duo allegedly admitted to beating the woman in her head with a frying pan.

It was reported that after the duo entered the woman’s house, she put up a fight

The two murder accused being escorted out of the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning

and was struck to the head repeatedly with the frying pan. She subsequently fainted.

The 14-year-old boy, who was apparently in tears as he was being escorted out of the courtroom in shackles on Tuesday morning, was reportedly familiar with the woman’s home as he worked with her, cleaning her yard and performing other labour duties. It was reported that on the night of the murder, the teenager told the fisherman that he had a job for them to complete and was taken to the woman’s house.

From reports received, the teenager had gone to the woman’s house earlier in the night and removed several boards to gain access to the home. After reaching the woman’s house between 23:00h and midnight, the teenager crawled into the house through the opening and opened the back door for the other suspect to enter. The woman was report-

edly sitting on a chair in her bedroom and upon realising that she was still awake, the bandits confronted her, demanding money.

Shairoon reportedly handed over a bag containing $300,000 and asked them to spare her life, but they were not satisfied and proceeded to tie her up, but she put up a fight in the process. It was at this point, she was struck to the head with the frying pan. After killing the woman, the duo told investigators, they left the scene and split the loot.

The elder of the two suspects then allegedly returned to Berbice to pay his debt to a drug dealer. The teenager was, however, arrested a few hours after the woman’s body was found with her hands and feet bound and mouth gagged. The second suspect was arrested one day after Police received information about his whereabouts and his possible involvement in the murder.

8 news

wednesdAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Taxi driver’s murder

Police Detective recalls seeing “gaping wound” in victim’s throat

D

etective Corporal Roland Beharry on Tuesday recounted the murder scene of taxi driver Rolston Bernard Henry, who was found bound and gagged with several wounds in the car he operated, which was found at Onion Field, La Bonne Intention (LBI), East Coast Demerara (ECD), back in May 2009.

His recollection was heard by the 12-member jury and Justice Roxanne George in the High Court on Tuesday.

The deceased driver’s National Identification Card and four car seat covers, which had been stolen, were tendered as exhibits.

This followed Justice George’s decision that the trial can proceed after ruling that the evidence tendered in the voir dire (trial with a trial) warranted jury deliberation.

Detective Corporal Beharry’s testimony follows several days of Police witnesses testifying in the voir dire.

The Detective Corporal told

Murdered taxi driver: Rolston Bernard Henry

the court that he was the first officer to arrive on the scene after receiving the report that the murdered taxi driver was found in some bushes, near the LBI Sugar Estate. Beharry recalled that the upper half of Henry’s body was on land face up while the other half was lodged in water. The witness also observed “a gaping wound to his throat, a 7 inch cut below his right ear and another to the left side of his back”.

The Policeman further testified how the taxi driver was bound. The jury heard that an electrical cord was used to tie the deceased man’s hands behind him, while a cloth was tied across his mouth.

“A piece of shine metal object was stuck to his right side; his abdomen, stomach and penis appeared to be burnt,” the witness stated, signalling that the taxi driver may have been tortured. Beharry then added that the dead man was also found clothed only in blue undergarments. It is believed that Henry was murdered between May 2 and 3, 2009.

Beharry, who was the principal investigator of the crime, also witnessed the post-mortem examination of the deceased.

In other jarring revelations, Beharry noted that a number of stolen items, including the car seats, were recovered and later identified by the owner of the PKK 9036 motor car, which the deceased had operated.

The witness also claimed that

he was made privy to a receipt showing purchase of the said car seats.

Under cross-examination

by Defence Counsel Maxwell McKay, Beharry stated that four other persons were held, but later released for the taxi driver’s murder. He admitted that he was not aware just when the accused was shown his caution statement, but learnt that this was done on the evening of May 5, 2009 at the Beterverwagting Police Station, ECD. Beharry also noted that he assisted in searching the crime scene and personally scoured around 15 feet from the murder. However, Attorney McKay challenged the witness as to why a crowd of persons was gathered so close to the crime scene – some four feet away.

“Would you say [the murder scene] was contaminated by persons being so close to the body?” questioned McKay. Detective Corporal Beharry responded in the negative. The trial continues today.

Breaking wind…

Y

…and "emergency" jailing

our Eyewitness has always insisted if we mess around with the "rule of law", we're just dooming ourselves to another fifty years of languishing near Haiti among the basket cases of the world. The "rule of law" is very simple - and was summarized rather pithily by the old folks: what's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.

And applied to the running of our country, if a law applies to one, it should apply to all, including those at the very top of the ladder. Your Eyewitness was forced into this line of thought by the continued obstreperousness of Finance Minister Winston Jordan in relation to his wanton and reckless spending from the Contingencies Fund. The man is so filled with hubris he's just daring the gods to bring him to heel. He insists he's the SOLE arbiter of what qualifies as an "emergency" for him to spend from the Contingencies Fund.

Well among other things like hurling lightning bolts from the skies, nowadays the gods work through the laws of the land. And in this case Jordan's just plain wrong legally on the discretion allowed to a Minister or any member of the Executive. Maybe he should consult his learned colleague Khemraj Ramjattan, the Minister of Public Security, who also just happens to be a lawyer. And who threatened to bring a suit in the courts to throw Jordan's predecessor, Ashni Singh, in jail for allegedly committing the same act for which Jordan stands accused by the Auditor General.

As one eminent Guyanese jurist - Luckhoo - said in a landmark case, the Minister's discretion is "not unfettered". And under the Rule of Law, the courts are the arbiter of what those "fetters" are being that the doctrine of "Judicial Review" is now trite law. And thank god that's so, or else those whom WE have placed in government could "do what they want wid we!" Here Jordan's raiding the Contingencies Fun because of "emergencies" as he defined them.

Some citizen should just file a case in the High Court against Jordan for misspending his hard owned tax money - which the government deducts even before he can see what his sweat earned. And Ramjattan should remind Jordan that once the case is before the Judiciary, British, Commonwealth and our precedence give Judges a huge leeway under the doctrine of "natural justice", to haul his ass off to jail.

Imagine having the gall to pay Larry Singh $65 MILLION in March for a bottom-house bond that couldn't be used till September.

Emergency?? Well they did say they needed it in case of fire at the Diamond warehouse!!

...on generating electricity

When will this confounded nonsense stop?? This barefaced rape of the public treasury to reward fat cats who funded the AFC’s and APNU's campaign, that is. The latest outrage is the announcement that the Wind Farm project to generate electricity has been given the go ahead to sell its electricity to GPL. Now we ordinary citizens would think… what could possibly be wrong about generating electricity from wind? It's good and green, right?

Well, that depends. And when the operator's Lloyd Singh - who Raphael Trotman's of the AFC publicly acknowledged was the businessman who made an "investment" in the AFC's headquarters - we need to look closer at the fine print of the power purchase agreement with GPL. And this is where we can see the "cock". The wind farm's gonna be a "mixed" facility - meaning Lloyd Singh will also have generators that'll use oil - purportedly to even out his supply.

But with our Trade Winds breaking into equal period of lulls as spurts, GPL will be buying mostly fossil fuel generate power.

So with no "green", why all the concessions??

...disrespectful Audit to City Hall

The stench you're smelling is the breaking of wind from the utterance by the Mayor that the Audit of City Hall by the AG for over $300 million in subventions is "disrespectful"!!

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

news

9

wednesday, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

New Town Clerk for Bartica GDF taps into emergency funds B for "Exercise Greenheart" AG report 2015

T

he Guyana Defence Force (GDF) last year hosted a one week ‘Exercise Greenheart’ which was funded using the nation’s emergency fund – the Contingency Fund – an activity that has been cited by the Auditor General since the money was in fact used to purchase beverages, broiler chicks and uniforms – items for which the monies were not granted.

These are among the findings of the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, in his audit of the national accounts for 2015.

According to the Auditor General, during 2015, the GDF benefited from five advances in the sum of $410 million, received from the Contingency Fund during the year and amounts totalling $409.8 million were expended.

Sharma has since found however, that amounts totalling $113.2 million were expended on the purchase of items which were not included in the purpose of the advance, such as the purchase of beverage, utensils, ledger, broiler chicks, swine starter, broiler grower and sewing of uniforms.

The GDF has since responded saying that the items purchased were utilised for Exercise Greenheart, but Sharma has since recommended that the Defence Force utilised funds in respect of Contingency Fund Advances for the purpose they were granted.

The $400 million was approved in June of this year when Finance Minister Winston Jordan supplied the House with financial papers to cover the advances that had been made the previous year for the GDF’s exercise.

During those deliberations, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said the exercise was a national one as the Government sees the defence of Guyana as a national issue and one that involves all Guyanese.

“Whatever resources this House could allocate, it should,” Harmon said at the time.

The Financial Paper sought $120 million for the purchase of kits and equipment for soldiers participating in the exercise and payment for medical services for officers and ranks.

Defending this allocation, Minister Harmon stated at the time that during the exercises, there were increases in the purchase of medical services, provision of medical tents and provisions were made for soldiers who are injured during the exercise.

The Minister of State further said that during such operations, the general rule requires that 10 per cent of the number of ranks on the exercise is catered for in event

of injuries.

The House was informed too that another $120 million was sought for the hiring of aircraft as the Y12 and Skyvan aircraft were inoperable at the time, thus additional funding was necessary to hire air, sea and land transportation in support of the exercise to attain expected results.

According to the Audit, $120 million was allocated from the emergency fund for the purchase of kits and equipment for Exercise Greenheart and continued payment for medical services for our officers and ranks and a total of $119 million was in fact utilised.

The Auditor found too that $99 million of the $100 million received by the GDF was in fact used for dietary supplies to provide adequate feeding of troops for routine and Exercise Greenheart for strength increase.

The report also documents that during the one week exercise, $119 million was spent as payment to contractors for the rental of air, sea and land transportation, while another $59.9 million was expended on “repairs and maintenance of vehicles for continued mobility of the Force.”

The GDF also utilised another $9.9 millionit had received from the emergency fund as “Payment for security light for training area and maintenance of pool for training of officers and ranks.”

Conducted over a period of one week, the exercise, designed as a tactical Close Country warfare training, saw the GDF troops, operating in two Battalions and a Support Company, negotiate their way through dense jungle to achieve their objectives.

One Battalion (the friendlies), commanded by Major Raul Jerrick, inserted themselves into the jungle and advanced tactically with the aim of over running and capturing the Two Battalion (enemy), commanded by Captain Paul Singh.

The “Final Battle” was the simulation of a stealthy, coordinated and well-executed attack, which achieved its objective.

Commander-in-Chief, President, Brigadier (retired) David Granger and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, witnessed the “Final Battle”.

Following the “Final Battle” at the airstrip, the troops massed and marched through the streets of the Bartica township where they were enthusiastically received and showered with praises by thousands of residents, including hundreds of school children who had turned out to see and cheer their brave men and women in uniform.

artica, which was recently granted township status, in Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) has received a newly appointed Town Clerk, Phebe Wallerson, who will serve in the capacity at the municipality. This announcement came from the Public Affairs Division of the Communities Ministry on Tuesday.

While Wallerson said she was indeed “humbled and honoured” to serve her place of her birth, she expressed her readiness to address the volume of challenges currently facing Bartica.

The writer, blogger and poet explained that even though some problems exist, she is optimistic that the growth of her community will be fostered through support from the State.

“I choose to invest in looking towards all of our potential instead, I see so much potential on account of the support and dedication shown to us by Central Government and the David Granger Administration,” the Town Clerk said.

She noted too that she was pleased with the work

ing towards being a unique tourist destination,” the new Town Clerk pointed out. Wallerson holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Biology from the University of Guyana, and that she possesses “administrative experience”, premised on her most recent four years of overseeing the Guyana Red Cross Resilience Project in Bartica, the Ministry of Communities revealed.

Committed to hard work: newly appointed Bartica Town Clerk, Phebe Wallerson

of the Mayor thus far and intends to support the work of the council.

“I pledge to give of my energies and ingenuity as I rely on the wisdom of the law, the goodness of the Bartician spirit and the love I have for the people,” Wallerson declared.

She added that her vision for Bartica is to see the town advancing in “steady strides” towards modernisation. “Having and utilising the full potential of all the resources the town possesses while simultaneously engaging in sustainable environmental practices, I envisage Bartica advanc-

10

guyana-times.com

wednesday, october 26, 2016

News

UNICEF reports on weakened juvenile system in Guyana

T

he United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stated that Guyana’s juvenile justice system has not been “running smoothly” for children, particularly those who are offenders.

In a recently-released country report, UNICEF said the juvenile system in Guyana was not exclusive to children, explaining that there was no separate Judge or Magistrate who would attend to juvenile cases, but, in some instances, a court is temporarily appointed as a “juvenile court”.

Guyana has no special skills training for officers of the Court, such as Prosecutors, Magistrates and Judges working with children, which can lead to lack of understanding of how to address child-related matters and to manage other court officers, such as Prosecutors, lawyers and social workers who may not always be sensitive to the child’s needs, the report added.

Subsequently, it underscored that a lack of human and financial resources has made the juvenile branch unable to execute its mandate, noting also that the unit has no internal capacity to investigate all the crimes that are committed against and by children in Guyana, and “when it tries to cooperate with regional authorities, lack of communication and increased bureaucracy become a bottleneck”.

Lack of coordination

The report further highlighted problems with coordination in the juvenile justice system. “A well-functioning system requires a clear understanding of the systemic structures and strong interagency coordination.

However, this coordination does not work smoothly for children, and key stakeholders in this process voiced their concerns over the weaknesses in the system,” the re-

port outlined.

According to the country report, children may be delayed for extended periods in holding centres and are sometimes sent to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) without a probation report or birth certificate. Some 32 per cent of children are sentenced without a probation report.

“One anecdotal report cites a case where a child was placed before the court on a capital offence and was left for more than three years within the system, which resulted in him facing trial at age 18, the age of an adult.

The child was subsequently tried as an adult,” it related, lobbying for the minimum age for criminal responsibility to be raised to an internationally acceptable level.

technical assistance in the area of juvenile justice from members of the Panel.

It also suggested the provision of adequate diversionary options for children as part of wider reforms in the court system in order to ensure that detention was the last resort, while lobbying for adequate human, technical and financial resources to be allocated to ensuring that children in contact with the law receive free legal advice and representation.

The report stated that children in contact with the law have become a concern in Guyana, with data for the number of such children coming from two different sources: the Juvenile Holding Centre and the NOC. In 2014, there were 214 boys and

“Establish additional juvenile detention and rehabilitation facilities, particularly in … hinterland region, and ensure regular independent monitoring and inspection of all facilities in which children and youth are placed to ensure that Conventioncompliant standards of treatment and care are maintained,” the report said.

Further, it recommended that the system made use, if relevant, of the technical assistance tools developed by the United Nations Inter-agency Panel on Juvenile Justice and its members, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); UNICEF; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as seek

girls in the Juvenile Holding Centre, a number that is slightly higher than the previous year’s figure.

“Out of the 831 children and adolescents admitted in the Juvenile Holding Centre between 2011 and 2014, 70 per cent were boys. Most of the boys were admitted accused of theft (break, enter and larceny). For girls, wandering was the main cause of admission,” it emphasised.

“In September 2015, 84 children and adolescents were residents in the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), 55 per cent of them boys.

Among those who were sentenced, 56 per cent were due to wandering and 33 per cent due to crimes related to theft.

Further, crimes involve assault and possession of narcotics, among others.”

Challenges

The report stated that the most probable and recurrent factor that influences children to commit acts against the law was poverty and lack of economic opportunities.

“The economic situation of some families is a major determinant for some children to steal or commit small nonviolent crimes.”

It also noted that the relationship between parents and children is becoming so problematic, that some parents do not know how to handle their children and the solution found for some is to report boys and girls to the Police as they were wandering.

While there are calls to remove wandering from the statute books, many see it as a precursor to committing various crimes, and for some families, it becomes a solution to fix a problem that parents do not know how to solve.

According to the report, “Impunity and lack of law enforcement create a perception in adolescents that they cannot and do not need to follow the rules, opening spaces for them to commit crimes.”

“When children realise there is little or no form of sanctions for their negative behaviours, they will feel empowered to exercise such negative forms of attitude or behaviours against whom they desire. For instance, interviewees had mentioned anecdotal reports of older children threatening teachers and attacking younger siblings, and even their parents and relatives,” it said. The Government of Guyana has no public rehabilitation facility to provide the relevant care and treatment services to children and adolescents who are affected by drug and alcohol use. The private resident facilities that do exist have a high enrolment cost attached and some families can ill afford to pay because of their economic circumstance.

Goodbye Guyana…

Hello NY!

S

atiricus was filled with emotion… and when that happened, he knew he’d soon be sobbing like a baby.

Fitfully! He and the entire gang were duly gathered at the Back Street Bar for their “farewell” bash for Cappo. To everyone’s surprise he and his wife had gotten visas to the States and decided to leave Guyana for good. The beers had flowed for a while and the tongues, being duly lubricated, were loose and wagging.

“Cappo, old fr’en’, we know things bad in sugar right now,” said Hari, who lived up the street from Cappo, as he hugged Cappo by the shoulders. “But oil gon flow soon you know, and you gon be OK.” “Hari… wha’ rass yuh tell me?” snapped Cappo who was torn inside to leave all his buddies. “Ah 17,000 people ah wuk in sugah. Wha’ kinda jaab abee guh do fram cane fiel’ to ile fiel’?”

“Well even if you don’t get a job on the oil rigs, the money will trickle down and the whole country will get up,” consoled Suresh, the bus driver.

“Well, YOU betta worry den. If yuh right, everybady guh get cyar an’ dem na guh use yuh bus!” grinned Cappo as he elbowed Suresh, who was sitting next to him.

“But Suresh right you know,” said Satiricus finally, as he looked firmly at the table. “Things will get better for everyone. Just hold some strain.”

“Sato, me know yuh believe wha’ yuh seh beca’se yuh vote fuh Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat,” said Cappo quietly.

“But me na need baatle lamp fuh see daytime.”

“Talk plain, na bai,” said Bungie, Cappo’s partner in the cane fields. “Na talk parable, parable!”

“Budday! If dem a t’ief w’en abee na gat not’in’,” replied Cappo, “wha’ dem guh do w’en money start fuh come in?”

“Yes, Sato,” butted in Hari. “Who got mo’ oil than Venezuela and look how they punishing. An don’t talk about Nigeria!”

“OK! chap! Le’ abee stap all dis taak an’ tek wan drink fuh me ole padna Cappo!” said Bungi. “Me hope ‘e guh sen’ me wan small piece w’en ‘e deh in ‘Merica!!”

“Let’s all drink to that!” said Suresh, clinking bottles all around.

Satiricus didn’t risk saying anything.

wednesDAY, october 26, 2016

guyana-times.com

11

News

Regulatory body denies Lailac Infant Milk still being sold locally

G

overnment AnalystFood and Drug Department (GAFDD) Director Marlan Cole has denied that the Lailac Infant Milk is still on the market, stating there is a more rigid integrated system to monitor and confiscate substandard food imports.

A source has disclosed that the Customs Department responsible for ports of entry has been clearing large amounts of substandard infant milk at different wharfs.

Representatives from the Customs Department have indicated that they could not clear any food, drugs or cosmetics without the consent of the GA-FDD. However, Cole, at a seminar on Tuesday for cus-

market. He stated that the Food and Drug Department had addressed the issue of substandard items being cleared at the wharfs some 15 to 12 months ago.

“If a document doesn’t have a full grade inspection stamp and it goes to the wharf, then it doesn’t get released. We have been working in collaboration with the Customs Unit and a decision was taken to state that every entry of food must only be released from the wharf if it has a release stamp by the Department and I believe to some measure, that initiative has been enforced,” Cole said, adding that their only constraint was limited human resources to be dispatched to the various ports of entry.

Customs Officers at the Food and Drug seminar

toms officers working at various ports of entry, stated that there should not be any Lailac Infant Milk on the

“We want to ensure that most, if not all, of the things coming off the wharf be granted approval by the

GA-FDD Director Marlan Cole

Food and Drug Department,” he said. Notably, Cole mentioned that only 200 out of 600 importers are registered with the GA-FDD. Therefore, he stated that the purpose of the seminar is to sensitise officers on the function and responsibility of the Food and Drug Department and other regulatory mechanisms with the aim of safeguarding the health and well-being of the consumers.

Cole stated that Food and Drug inspectors have the authority to check any shipment and/or confiscate the items.

“We can enter, examine and demand information…this is not something that has recently been plotted out, but it is there in the laws of Guyana,” he explained.

The GA-FDD had challenged the quality of the infant milk imported by the International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) under the trade name,

Lailac. The Department had contended that the milk produced by a French company does not actually include milk that could be considered infant milk.

The presence of vegetable oils that is used to replace milk fat was one controversial issue. The Department had said that it has no information on the vegetable oil used in the imported milk and the Materials Management Unit of the Public Health Ministry had complained about defective batches of the LAILAC milk.

However, the IPA is refuting the allegation that it is importing substandard milk. Nevertheless, Cole on Tuesday stated that any food product entering Guyana should be subjected to regulatory oversight in that the product should be sold in the country that is manufacturing it. This was not the case with the infant milk being imported from France and sold on the local Guyanese market.

Cole stated that customs officers should start demanding to see the free sales certificate or the health certificate for imported products. “You have to ensure that you have the prescribed documentation,” the GA-FDD Director said, adding that importers, on the other hand, should have a storage bond.

Meanwhile, he highlight-

ed that there were many counterfeit perfumes and cologne on the market, for which “after two sprays and half an hour gone, the scent gone”.

“If we want to stop substandard market of cosmetics, we have to demand the certificates,” he said.

He stressed that if any exporter knowingly sells substandard products to importers, that importer can report that company to the World Trade Organisation, which would not only cause damage to the company’s reputation but also to the country’s reputation.

12 news

wednesDay, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Suddie Criminal Assizes opens T

he October 2016 Assizes of the Suddie High Court in Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) opened on Tuesday, with the usual impressive parade of Police Officers from G Division (Essequibo Coast).

The ceremonial opening was staged in front of the Richard Faikal Police Training College at Suddie.

The parade consisted of a 27-member contingent,

who all marched with much optimism and energy despite the rainy conditions.

The salute was taken by Justice Priya SewnarineBeharry, who will be presiding over the October Criminal Assizes of the Suddie High Court. The parade was escorted by G Division Commander Khali Pareshram and assisted by Officer Gordon.

During the parade, the ranks, who were decked out

A

The criminal session opened with Justice Priya SewnarineBeharry inspecting the ranks

Ranks from G Division during the parade

BM Soat son shot, robbed

in their uniforms, wowed the crowd, leaving them cheering at the end of the parade.

The Police contingent marched off from the college environs back to the Public Road and to the Suddie Station compound.

Thirty-nine cases are expected to be tried before the judge and the jury panel during the October

Assizes, with persons to be tried for 13 murders, one case of causing grievous bodily harm, three attempts to commit murder, 11 cases of rape of a child under 16 years of age, seven rape cases and four sexual activity with family members’ cases.

Jurors were selected from various villages throughout the coast.

city businessman was late Tuesday afternoon robbed and shot at his office on Croal Street, Georgetown by bandits who seemed to have laying in wait for him outside.

Guyana Times understands that 29-yearold Rameez Mohammed, whose father owns BM Soat Auto Sales on Croal Street, Georgetown, was approached by bandits, robbed and then shot. The two men, who were on a motorcycle, reportedly took away a bag with an undisclosed sum of cash.

At the business place on Tuesday, the security guard, Granville Gill, told Guyana Times that he was upstairs standing at the door of the office after Mohammed had descended the stairs.

“We were standing on the landing there closing off and his mother was at the back coming. So I keep the grill open for her to pass out. Same time we hear “BLAM!”, and I just kicked back the grill,” Gill said, as he along with another colleague immediately rushed to see what was

Rameez Mohammed

happening. They then found Mohammed crouched on the ground, while the two men jumped on the motorcycle and rode away.

The security guard said he could not see the face of the men, since the one who was riding the motorcycle had his face fully covered with a helmet and his accomplice was wearing a cap and turned his face when they rode off.

Mohammed was picked up and rushed to a private hospital in the city. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Labour Department fighting for workers – Scott

Minister within the Social Protection Ministry, Keith Scott

T

he Social Protection Ministry, through the Department of Labour, has closed 23 labour related complaints, 10 of these through the courts.

This is for the period October 14-20, 2016.

Of the remaining 270 complaints, 26 have received part payment, 143 are pending matters, 82 are before the courts and 19 are being prepared for the courts.

The Department of Labour was able to secure payment of $664,000 owed to workers as either wages earned or severance pay.

Minister within the Social Protection Ministry, Keith Scott, said there were 293 complaints that were brought forward from the period before October 14.

Nine new complaints were received during the period under consideration, a

Government Information Agency release stated.

Scott said he is satisfied with what the Department has accomplished so far for workers. “We are on the ball and we have been successful in taking employers to court, but not only taking them to court but recovering monies that are due to workers,” the Minister said.

Scott said the department is aware of the labour transgressions that take place in the busy commercial area of Regent Street.

He said that labour officers have met with store employers and employees to address these matters.

According to the Minister, employers who are guilty of transgressing labour laws are now seeking out of court settlements with the wronged employees.

Scott said that the Labour Tripartite Committee, comprising the Government, Private Sector and trade unions, is meeting regularly and discussions have started on the need to revise the Labour Act. “Most likely in 2017, you will be seeing a fresh set of laws that will be bought more in line with national and international practice,” Scott said.

The Minister noted that his Ministry and the Labour Department will continue to fight for workers’ rights and ensure that they enjoy the good life which “his Government promised”.

news

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WEDNEsday, OCTOBER 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Government considering GECOM commences ID Card distribution municipal courts T T he Government is considering setting up municipal courts countrywide to deal with violations of municipal laws.

This is according to Communities Minister Ronald Balkan, who made the announcement while speaking to Councillors in Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) over the weekend. He said the need for the courts is being made by various organisations.

According to Bulkan, repeated calls for municipal courts have been made by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council and the Private Sector so that delinquent taxpayers and other violators can be dealt with expeditiously.

Speaking with the Region Two Councillors, Bulkan explained that since engaging the Georgetown City Council and holding similar engagements with other councils across the country, the Administration is considering setting up municipal courts as a mechanism to address these and other disregard for the authority of municipal councils and non-adherence to regulations.

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan addressing Councillors in Region Two

“It is coming through clear, in all our engagement with all our local Government organs, that we would need a dedicated court to be able to address infractions and violations at the local (government) level,” the Minister said.

Bulkan noted that unless there is an effective and functioning mechanism, the councils would not be able to meaningfully address and arrest activities which do not help the functioning of the councils.

According to Bulkan, councils have been complaining not only of their inability to rake in outstanding monies owed by delinquent taxpayers, but issues such as illegal roadside vending and illegal building construction have

also been affecting their revenue bases and impeding their effective functioning.

The issue of roadside vending was one raised during the meeting with the Region Two Councillors. Bulkan told the Councillors that municipal courts would help in bringing resolution, in an expeditious and efficient manner, to the issues.

A municipal court is a court whose jurisdiction is limited to a specific municipality. These courts preside only over cases and offences that take place within their jurisdiction. They provide a forum for the fair and impartial resolution of alleged violations as established by the town ordinance code.

he Guyana Elections C o m m i s s i o n (GECOM) has commenced its distribution of National Identification Cards for persons who were recently registered after the conclusion of its eighth Cycle of Continuous Registration.

According to a statement issued by the Commission, such persons are advised to collect their new ID cards from the Registration Office that is responsible for their respective areas of residence. GECOM further

urged that persons do this over should at all times be at the earliest time possible. able to show a valid National Every registered ID Card if so requested.

Guyanese aged 14 years or

OSWI team performs 2 corneal transplant surgeries

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team of visiting ophthalmologists from the Caribbean who are in Guyana for the preparation of the 28th Annual Conference of the Ophthalmological Society of the West Indies (OSWI) recently conducted two corneal transplants on patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Eye Clinic.

The Hospital and the Public Health Ministry have been hosting the visiting team of doctors from Trinidad and Barbados since October 19. Tuesday was their last day in the country as they concluded their preparatory activities for the conference, which will be hosted in Guyana from July

5-8, 2017.

OSWI is a professional society of ophthalmologists from across the Caribbean and usually rotate its annual meetings between the various member countries. This is the first time Guyana will be hosting this conference.

During the visit, the team volunteered to perform surgeries at Georgetown Public Hospital’s Eye Clinic and saw some 50 patients.

Among the procedures performed were six silicone oil removals, fourteen cataract surgeries and two diabetic laser procedures, along with the two corneal transplants.

The corneas used were donated to the Caribbean Eye

Institute by the Lions Eye Bank of Texas.

The visiting team consisted of Dr Nigel Barker, OSWI President from Barbados; and from Trinidad and the Caribbean Eye Institute, Dr Deo Singh, Dr Sonja Johnston, Dr Terrence Allan and Dr Rishi Sharma, along with two nurses and Sasha Hossein from the Secretariat of OSWI. The team also participated in a World Sight Day Continuing Medical Education (CME) Session for eye-care professionals, general practitioners and students last Sunday at the Herdmanston Lodge, Queenstown.

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guyana-times.com

wednesday, october 26, 2016

News

Govt exploring options for former Barama concessions T

he Natural Resources Ministry is exploring ways through which it could utilise the forest concessions given up by the Barama Company Limited.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said Government has begun a review “to determine whether we can use the concession as is, as a carbon sink and earn from it, or whether we can give it out.”

He said the Ministry and the Guyana Forestry Commission are still to meet with stakeholders to determine the way forward on what to do with the concession. “There are some interests shown. (we are to decide whether to) give it out entirely to one group or

whether we can make parts of it available to smaller loggers,” the Minister explained.

Barama announced last week that it would not be renewing its 1.6 million hectares forest concession agreement with the Government which expired on October 15. However, the company indicated that it would continue its value added forestry production which includes sawmilling, plywood manufacturing and veneering.

Trotman said there is an opportunity for small loggers to supply the company’s factories. “We’re still to get into discussions with them where this will go. It may be an opportunity for small-

er loggers to supply Barama with the logs so that their production continues and other people get a better bite of the cherry,” Trotman said.

Meanwhile, companies in the forestry sector have been taking steps to ensure that

value is added to forest products. There has been a concerted effort by Government to ensure added value to forest products locally. “(Companies) have been taking steps bringing in mills, maybe not the best mills but the fact is that they

are making moves and we’re supporting them because we see there’s an intention to add value to their production lines and we’re supporting that,” Trotman said.

The Iwokrama Sawmill came in for praise from the Minister for its work in add-

ing value to forest products.

“They are doing good work in terms of not just producing logs or exporting logs but lumber that is specifically sawed or planed and prepared for export markets,” Trotman said.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) facilitates training of stakeholders in key aspects of value added manufacturing. The GFC is also exploring skills training and capacity building in sawmilling to encourage added value to forest products.

Additionally, the GFC is working with the Forest Products Development and Marketing Council of Guyana to seek additional markets for these products.

Tenant’s brother-in-law remanded for Herstelling murder

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22-year-old man, who is said to be the brother-in-law of a tenant residing in the lower flat of the Herstelling property where Abdool Ameer Subrati was shot during a robbery, made his appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on a charge of murder Devon Chacon was charged with the murder of 43-year-old Subrati, who was shot at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on October 20, 2016.

Chacon appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

The accused, who was represented by Attorney Folio Richards, was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which was read to him.

The court heard that

Murder accused: Devon Chacon

on the day in question, five armed men stormed the home of the dead man’s relative, around 02:00h and pounced on them. The bandits, who were armed with handguns, escaped with an undisclosed sum of cash and three cellular phones among other items.

Subrati, of Peters Hall,

EBD, was shot to the back of his neck. Investigations revealed that the bullet made its way to his spine and punctured his lung in the process.

The injured man was picked up and rushed to the Diamond hospital, and was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He succumbed some time after midday on Thursday. According to reports, Subrati’s brother and his family came into the country two days earlier and as such, he, along with others, would usually keep their company at the Lot 320 Third Street, Herstelling residence.

The accused is scheduled to make his next court appearance on November 21, 2016.

wednesday, october 26, 2016

guyana-times.com

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News

Several injured in late-night smash-up R

Russia unveils "Satan 2" missile powerful enough to "wipe out UK, France or Texas"

ussia has released the first image of its new nuclear missile, a weapon so powerful that it could wipe out nearly all of the United Kingdom or France.

The RS-28 Sarmat thermonuclear-armed ballistic missile was commissioned in 2011 and is expected to come into service in 2018.

The first images of the massive missile were declassified on Sunday and have now been published for the first time.

S

everal persons were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital following a two-vehicle collision on Tuesday night.

According to eyewitnesses, the accident, involving a Route 48 minibus and a private car, occurred around 20:35h. The minibus, bearing registration plate BTT 4214 and registered to a South Sophia resident, was heading west along Regent Street, while the car, registered as PEE

The mangled remains of the car that was involed in the accident on Tuesday night

The minibus that was struck by the car

8062, was heading north along Albert Street when the two collided at the junction of the two streets in the Lacytown area.

When Guyana Times arrived at the scene, it was evident that the im-

pact was forceful due to the amount of debris left on the roadway, including shattered glass, children’s toys and footwear, along with the mangled vehicles which were rendered immovable.

The driver of the packed

minibus, who was identified as Gordon (only name given) was one of those rushed to the Hospital to receive medical attention.

A passenger from the back of the bus, who seemingly lost a significant amount of blood due to injuries sustained to the head, was also rushed to the Hospital.

According to a driver who wished to remain anonymous, the car struck the bus in the centre of its left side, which caused the vehicle to flip several times. It is still to be decided if alcohol and speeding played a role in the crash as Police are still investigating.

It was also disclosed that the bus had crashed three times prior to this occasion.

It has been dubbed “Satan 2”, as it will replace the RS-36M, the 1970sera weapon referred to by NATO as the Satan missile. Sputnik, the Russian government-controlled news agency, reported in May that the missile could destroy an area “the size of Texas or France”.

Russian media report that the missile will weigh up to 10 tons with the capacity to carry up to 10 tons of nuclear cargo. With that type of payload, it

could deliver a blast some 2000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Russia reportedly tested a hypersonic warhead in April that is apparently intended for use on the Satan 2 missiles. The warhead is designed to be impossible to intercept because it does not move on a set trajectory.

The Satan 2 will also be much faster than its predecessor. (Excerpt from The Telegraph)

Islamic State claims attack on Pakistan Police academy, 59 dead

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ilitant group Islamic State said on Tuesday that fighters loyal to its movement attacked a police training college in Quetta in southwest Pakistan in a raid that officials said killed 59 people and wounded more than 100.

Pakistani authorities have blamed another militant group, Lashkar-eJhangvi (LeJ), for the lateMonday siege, though the Islamic State claim included photographs of three alleged attackers.

Hundreds of trainees

were stationed at the college on the city outskirts when masked gunmen stormed in.

Some cadets were taken hostage during the raid, which lasted nearly five hours.

Most of the dead were cadets.

“They just barged in and started firing point-blank.

We started screaming and running around in the barracks,” one Police cadet who survived told media. Other cadets spoke of jumping out of windows and cowering under beds as the attackers hunted them down.

Video footage from inside

one of the barracks showed blackened walls and rows of charred beds. Islamic State’s Amaq news agency published the claim of responsibility, saying three IS fighters “used machine guns and grenades, then blew up their explosive vests in the crowd.” Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Home Minister of the province of Baluchistan, whose capital is Quetta, said the gunmen attacked a dormitory where cadets rested and slept. “Two attackers blew themselves up, while a third was shot in the head by security men,” he said. (Excerpt from

Reuters)

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wednesDay, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Region 2 RDC condemns action Ramsammy’s Ruminations The Auditor General of Essequibo businessman is collateral damage

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chaotic situation erupted on Monday at the Charity Market waterfront in Region Two (Pomeroon–Supenaam) when vendors who turned out to work were prevented from doing so by a businessman.

The vendors were reportedly stopped by security staff attached to the business, who were allegedly armed with guns and barricades. They were then told by the security personnel that they could not vend there, an order passed down from the businessman.

Chaos erupted as the news quickly spread. Many vendors were disappointed as they had journeyed long distances to earn their money. Many of them were inconvenienced and were forced to wrap up business earlier than usual.

Given the situation, the distraught vendors informed Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt,

held with representatives of the vendors and the businessman.

According to the Regional Chairman, the regional officials recommended that the businessman remove the

River.

The businessman was also advised to follow procedure by making an application to the Sea Defence Board if he was interested in using the portion of land.

Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt

who immediately intervened and led a team from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) which comprised the Regional Vice Chairperson, Nandranie Coonjah; Director of the Sea Defence Board and Chairperson of the CharityUrasara Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Arnold Adams, and Beatrice Parkes to the location.

An inspection was conducted and a meeting was

Affected vendors standing in front of the waterway pondering their next move

barricades and allow the vendors to continue conducting their business. He noted too that vendors were urged to keep the passageway to the river dam clear to allow access to the Pomeroon

The Regional Chairman stated that the RDC of Region Two strongly rejected the action taken by the businessman which prevented vendors from earning a living.

Drinking spree murder accused 19-year-old to face judge, jury committed to stand trial in L High Court

akeram Shankar, the man who allegedly stabbed his friend to death during a drinking spree, was on Tuesday committed to stand trial at the High Court by Magistrate Leron Daly, after she declared a prima facie case was made out against him.

Magistrate Daly, while handing down her ruling, pointed out that the prosecution has provided substantial evidence against the defendant, who failed to negate the prosecution’s case.

The charge against the defendant stated that between May 8 and May 9, 2016 at Timehri, East Bank Demerara, the 25-year-old of Lot 17 Fire Station Road,

Murder accused: Lakeram Shankar

Timehri, murdered Kawall Persaud.

Shankar was not required to plead to the indictable charge. He was represented by Attorney-at-Law Satesh Kissoon.

The court heard that on the day in question, the two

men were consuming alcohol at a popular shop in the area, but as it grew late in the evening, the proprietor closed for business. The two men, however, remained seated on a bench, where they continued the drinking spree.

According to reports, the men were heard arguing and as neighbours looked out, they saw the suspect, Shankar, a security guard, stabbing the now dead man.

Persaud reportedly received a stab wound to his abdomen which caused him to collapse.

The injured man was taken to the Diamond hospital and was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Murder accused: Nicholas Hercules

N

icholas Hercules, called “Bucko”, 19, was committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of his relative, 22-year-old Carlos Solomon by Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.

The accused first appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore to answer to the capital charge which stated that on April 1, 2015 at Princes Street, Georgetown, he murdered Solomon called “Roy”.

On Monday, Magistrate Latchman stated that she has found that there was sufficient evidence for the accused to face trial before a judge and jury.

However, the accused continue to plead his innocence, stating that “I’m innocent of this charge”.

The matter will be called at the next criminal assizes.

The court heard that on the day in question, Hercules pulled out a knife and dealt Solomon a stab to his armpit.

Solomon was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he later succumbed to the injury sustained.

in Guyana’s creeping dictatorship

L

ast week, sadly and frighteningly, I cautioned Guyana’s democracy is still alive, but it is very, very sick and on lifesupport. The pregnant signs of dictatorship in Guyana are unmistaken, and those whose voices are necessary to quash the emergence go mute. Martin Luther King eloquently stated: Darkness cannot drive out darkness, Dr Leslie Ramsammy only light can do that. Silence of good people is all it takes to fertilise the emergence of tyrants and dictatorships. In less than two years since taking control of the government, the APNU/AFC has ruthlessly shown its stripes and exposed its lineage to the DNA and genes of Forbes Burnham and the People’s National Congress.

David Granger and his cabinet are vigorously embracing Burnham’s blueprint of party paramountcy and dictatorship, and the Auditor General’s (AG) office is an unnecessary stumbling block. It is imperative for the government to silence and castrate the AG and his office because power corrupts, and absolute power absolutely corrupts. The APNU/AFC, therefore, has embarked on its strategy to intimidate and harass the AG. When the Minister of Finance accused the AG of being disrespectful, it was a dog whistle warning to the AG to be part of the team or pay a heavy price. This is what happens as dictatorship emerges and reminds us that the worse abuse is the abuse of power.

Corruption is a major weapon for tyrants and dictators, and corruption is the biggest business in any dictatorship.

We can learn from other countries, but we actually can learn from ourselves. When dictatorship ruled in Guyana under the People’s National Congress between 1964 and 1992, corruption was king. During all that time, the People’s National Congress ensured that the AG and his office were marginalised, diminished and castrated. In fact, the most significantly effective instrument slowing, reducing and uprooting corruption and financial malfeasance in government is by the work of the AG that can systematically, rigorously and ruthlessly audit the financial records of government. This includes procurement practices and use of ALL TAXPAYERS MONEY. The People’s National Congress took determined measures to weaken and disrupt the work of the AG’s office. For most of the People’s National Congress’ time in government, there were no AG reports. When the first democratically elected government was installed in October 1992, there was no opening balance sheet because there were no audits that were completed throughout the 1980s.

The Public Accounts Committee in Parliament throughout the 1980s had no work to do since there were no auditor general’s report to scrutinize. Lest we forget, the Minister of Finance then was Carl Greenidge, our present Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Corruption and questionable transactions in government are occurring everyday in Guyana under the APNU/AFC government and its state entities. The APNU/AFC rode their hyperbolic allegations of corruption by the PPP Government effectively to win elections in May 2015, albeit with a little help from GECOM and some rigging. The infamous medical warehouse deal, the parking meter fiasco, the pesticide contract, the wind energy contract, the absolute shameless procurement practices at GWI and GPL are only some of the transactions that shamelessly rip-off the Guyanese people, but these represent just the tip of the iceberg. In less than two years, the APNU/AFC has accumulated more financial and procurement scandals that outpace corruption for any decade in Guyana’s political history. The APNU/AFC argues that rewarding their donors and friends is normal in politics.

It is not normal in politics; it is normal in dictatorships.

The PPP recognised the indispensable role of the auditor general in Guyana’s democracy. For this reason the PPP provided for greater independence of the AG by a constitutional change for the AG to become an entity of parliament and report directly to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, rather than to the Minister of Finance. Throughout the PPP’s term of office, the AG’s report proved uncomfortable to the government as it questioned many transactions. Such tension is normal, but also important for transparency and accountability. The PPP used the Treasury Report to Parliament to show how they took into consideration the concerns of the AG. They never harassed the AG. In his first report, under an APNU/AFC administration, APNU/AFC has unambiguously declared war against the auditor general. People wanted a change; they got it, but they never expected that the result would lead to creeping dictatorship and so quickly! (Send comments to doc_ram@hotmail.com)

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news

wednesday, october 26, 2016 | guyana-times.com

Key areas discussed during Prince Harry to be agriculture meeting in Mexico in Guyana on Dec 2

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Agriculture Minister Noel Holder (3rd from right in front row) and other regional representatives during the first day of the meeting

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griculture Minister Noel Holder has returned from Merida, Mexico where he attended a series of high-level meetings on agriculture in Mexico and Caribbean countries.

Among the areas on which emphasis was placed were animal and plant health, safety and quality challenges and joint venture recognition within the Caribbean, productivity enhancement and agriculture, livestock and fisheries sustainability, strengthening South-South Cooperation within Caribbean Regions and geospatial information for early warning and decision making, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

Additionally, participants were given the opportunity to discuss ways in which these nations can promote closer collaborations with other countries in the Caribbean in order to fa-

cilitate trade of agricultural produce.

Discussions on initiatives and coordination of intra and inter-sectoral actions at the regional, sub-regional and national levels by adopting and exchanging information on policies developed by participating countries were given top priority as Ministers and Secretaries saw the need to improve in this regard.

During the course of the week, efforts were made to formulate an integrated comprehensive approach to three outlined sustainable development dimensions.

These included economic, social and environmental approaches.

Minister Holder, in an invited comment, said that meetings of this nature provide opportunities to facilitate an exchange of experiences and best practices in phytosanitary regulations, spatial data for decision

making and the improvement of productivity and sustainability of agriculture in the Region.

“The Government’s agricultural trajectory outlines the nexus between food security and nutrition security in its eco-system and emphasises the need for good governance among all sectors and actors involved by implementing policies, which will, in turn, further develop Guyana’s food and nutrition security,” Minister Holder said.

The meetings served as a means to further advance and facilitate the sharing of expertise among Caribbean countries in strategic food industry areas, setting the ground work for two regional technical cooperation projects, which will be implemented in the short term, gathering the inputs of key players in the agricultural industry.

he British High Commission on Tuesday disclosed that the dates have been confirmed for the much anticipated royal visit of England’s Prince Harry at the beginning of December.

According to the statement from the High Commission’s office, Prince Harry is scheduled to arrive in Guyana on December 2 and is expected to spend some time in the hinterland before departing on December 4.

The statement quoted a Kensington Palace spokesperson saying, “His Royal Highness will take in some of the natural sights of the hinterland, as well as witnessing how eco-tourism and a focus on conservation have changed the lives of the people in this area.”

Additionally, the younger of Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ sons will also be partaking in various activities in Georgetown planned for his visit. The British High Commission promises further details on the Royal visit in the near future.

According to the Kensington Palace statement, Prince Harry will be touring the Caribbean on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen; and is slated to visit Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St

Prince Harry to arrive Guyana on December 2

in

Vincent and the Grenadines Grenada and Barbados before wrapping up his tour in Guyana, which will be the longest visit in any of the countries during this tour.

The fifth-in-line to the throne will visit the Caribbean between Sunday, November 20 and Sunday, December 4; which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Independence for Guyana and Barbados, as well as the 35th anniversary of Independence for Antigua and Barbuda.

“This visit will allow Prince Harry to experience more of the unique and individual cultures and traditions of these special Commonwealth Realms and countries. His Royal Highness is grateful to have the chance to visit nations that play such important

roles in the Commonwealth, and have extended such warmth to his family for many years,” the Kensington Palace release noted.

Apart from Barbados, which he visited in 2010, this will be Prince Harry’s first official visit to the other Caribbean countries.

The two-day visit by Prince Harry comes more than a decade after his father, Prince Charles, visited Guyana in 2004. The Prince of Wales was also over a decade the Patron of the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC).

On Her Majesty's behalf, Prince Harry during his two-week tour of the Region will unveil a number of dedications to The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, a forestry project which invites Commonwealth countries to dedicate Indigenous forest to be preserved in perpetuity for future generations.

Prince Harry’s schedule for his Caribbean tour is as follows: Antigua and Barbuda – November 2021; St Kitts and Nevis – November 22-23; St Lucia – November 23-25; St Vincent and the Grenadines – November 26; Travel day – November 27; Grenada – November 28; Barbados – November 29-December 1, and Guyana – December 2-4.

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guyana-times.com

wednesday, october 26, 2016

ARCHIE

If you look for a moneymaking opportunity, you will (March 21- find one. A new job, contract April 19) or skill will lead to a higher income. An unexpected gift or windfall is apparent.

ARIES

Get cracking. A hands-on TAURUS approach to whatever you do (April 20- will help you gain respect and May 20) give you the control you need to finish what you start and reap the rewards.

dilbert

You need to be more careGEMINI ful when dealing with your (May 21responsibilities and matters June 20) that might affect your income. Put your money in a safe place and focus on positive personal changes.

You don’t have to do everything all at once. Set up a (June 21- practical schedule and stick July 22) to it. Your tenacity and hard work will pay off and impress onlookers.

CANCER

Peanuts

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Take care of your health, wealth and emotional wellbeing. The changes you want to make will meet with opposition from someone who is jealous of you.

Emotions will be difficult VIRGO to control and are best dealt (Aug. 23Sept. 22) with carefully. Acting on an assumption will only make matters worse. Talk to someone you trust for insight and guidance.

Calvin and Hobbes

LIBRA Keep your thoughts to (Sept. 23- yourself. Situations will rapOct. 23) idly get blown out of proportion if you are too quick to complain or criticize. Focus on yourself, not on trying to change others.

WORD GAME

SUDOKU

Consider the consequencSCORPIO es of an imminent decision be(Oct. 24fore moving forward. A couple Nov. 22) of changes on your part will make it easier to bypass opposition. Proceed with compassion and intelligence.

Be cautious when dealing SAGITTARIUS with others. Counter anyone (Nov. 23- trying to interfere in your perDec. 21) sonal life. Make plans secretively and wait until the last moment to divulge your next move.

solution for Last Published Puzzle

An unexpected offer will CAPRICORN have its pluses and minuses.

(Dec. 22Don’t toss aside your strategy Jan. 19) for someone else’s wild idea.

Put some effort behind your dream.

Don’t think about change AQUARIUS when you can make it hap(Jan. 20pen. You have what it takes Feb. 19) to control whatever situation you face. Seize the moment and proceed full speed ahead.

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” is not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed. To contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe, write to Word Game, Kathleen Saxe, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Copyright 2015, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS

PISCES Your dedication to and (Feb. 20- involvement in events that March 20) can change history or influence your lifestyle will be appreciated and rewarded. A partnership looks promising.

Negotiate and move forward.

wednesday, OCTOBER 26, 2016

GCB/National Secondary School Cricket League 2016...

Friendship Secondary through to East Bank final

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….. Zeeburg, School of Nations and East Ruimveldt also record victory

riendship Secondary marched into East Bank district final on the back of a commanding win over defending East Bank champions Camille’s Institute as play continued on Monday in the 2016 edition of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ National Secondary School Cricket League (NSSCL).

Played at the Everest Cricket Club ground, Camille’s Institute batted first but Levi Maggie’s effort with the ball limited them to 103 all out off 21.3 overs. John Pulley contributed 26 as the only batsman to offer any resistance as Maggie returned figures of 4/18 making sure his team did not have too big a target to chase. Also among the wickets for Friendship was Orlando Ghisiawan 2/14 and Jonathan Jagdeo had 2/17, who took two wickets each.

In reply, the confident Friendship team chased their target with relative ease as they finished on 104/4 in 22.3 overs with Jeremiah Benjamin leading the way with 36. Lallbachan Arjune supported well with 20. Davendra Sankarsingh took two of the wickets to fall bowling for a dejected Camille Institute outfit.

Over on the West Coast of Demerara, Zeeburg registered a comprehensive nine wicket victory over Stewartville as the West Coast Demerara zone of the NSSCL got underway last Friday. Batting first,

Andre Seepersaud

Orlando Ghisiawan

the hapless Stewartville Secondary batsmen limped to 54 all out in 11.5 overs.

Bowling for Zeeburg, Andre Seepersaud took 4/10 while Nathan Bradford had 2/14.

Zeeburg then eased their way to 57 for the loss of one wicket with Parmanand Prabhudyal scoring an unbeaten 35.

At GNIC, School of Nations won a close match against Richard Ishmael Secondary. Batting first after they won the toss, School of Nations made 135 before they were dismissed in the 24th over. Mark Ramsammy top scored with 67 while

Christopher Baljeet contributed 20. Bowling for Richard Ishmael, Bryan Bowen took 4/21, Brandon Ramnarine had 2/18 and Juspice Jones claimed 2/18.

Richard Ishmael then faltered in their run chase as they fell short by five runs although they only batted 18.3 overs. Extras contributed 43 runs of the total. Bowling for School of Nations, Christopher Baljeet had impressive figures of 4/5 while Ramsammy returned with the ball to take 2/10.

At GCC, East Ruimveldt Secondary beat North Ruimveldt Secondary in a low scoring affair. North Ruimveldt, who were asked to take first strike after losing the toss were dismissed for a meagre 54 in 14.2 overs. Shaquille Dunn was the only batsman to reach double figures scoring 10.

Bowling for East Ruimveldt, Rhasidi Benjamin had 3/5, Brian Fredericks took 3/4 and Manwar Khan claimed 2/14. East Ruimveldt lost six wickets in the process of scoring the required 55 runs.

Dequan Bamfield made a responsible 33 not out to see his team to victory.

Matches continue today in Georgetown with Christ Church Secondary battling School of Nations at GCC in the North Zone semi-final while defending champions, Chase Academy face off against St. John’s College at DCC in the other North Zone semi-final.

Bermuda crash to 132-run defeat

A

five-wicket haul from pace bowler Ammar Khalid sent Bermuda crashing to a 132-run defeat against Canada at the National Sports Centre on Sunday.

Khalid’s handful of wickets for just seven runs saw Bermuda crumble from 31 for 3 to 34 all out. They were chasing 166 for 8 made by Canada in a match reduced to 40 overs because of overnight rain.

Tre Manders top scored with 15 in a match where six Bermudan batsmen failed to score during an inning that only lasted 17.4 overs.

Bermuda were also forced to use a substitute batsman – Stephen Bremar

- for Terryn Fray who dislocated a finger while fielding during Canada’s inning.

Stephen Bremar was allowed to bat in his place.

Earlier, Srimantha Wijeratne top scored with 39 and was supported by Navneet Dhaliwal who scored 32 even though Canada could only manage scoring at four runs an over.

Saad Zafar also contrib-

uted with an unbeaten 29 as did opener Durand Soraine who made a useful 27.

Kamau Leverock, Greg Maybury and Cejay Outerbridge each picked up two wickets for Bermuda, who were preparing for the ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament which starts in Los Angeles this week.( Sportsmax)

19

WI A draw 1st blood

W

est Indies A’s bowlers combined to pick up a 165-run win in the first unofficial ODI against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla. The win was set up by their new-ball pair of Ronsford Beaton and Delorn Johnson, whose early strikes broke the back of Sri Lanka’s chase of 268. Offspinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar then accelerated Sri Lanka A’s slide with wickets of the middle and lower order; he finished with career-best figures of 4 for 29 as Sri Lanka A were bowled out for 102.

After electing to bat, West Indies A compiled 267 over two days, as rain intervened to push the match into a reserve day, just 12.5 overs into the innings. The innings was built around three important contributions. Opening batsman Kyle Hope set up the platform by holding his end amid frequent strikes. He topscored with 81. West Indies A captain Jason Mohammed and Rovman Powell provided the late thrust with halfcenturies.

West Indies A began the reserve day on 69 for 2. Hope resumed on 28, with Andre Fletcher, on 7, for company. The two added another 42 for the third wicket, before Fletcher fell to the left-arm spin of Milinda Siriwardana. Hope added 63 with Mohammed for the fourth wicket before being bowled by Amila Aponso, the left-arm spinner. By that time, he had got to his second half-century and his List A career-best score. Powell then joined Mohammed and slammed 55 off just 35 balls, hitting

three fours and as many sixes. Both Mohammed and Powell fell in the last over, but their efforts had helped West Indies A slap 93 in the last 10 overs.

Beaton and Johnson took the first four wickets within seven overs of the chase to leave Sri Lanka A reeling at 26 for 4. Jaggesar entered the wickets column when he broke a 23-run fifth-wicket stand - the highest Sri Lanka A could put together - by dismissing Minod Bhanuka. He added the

scalps of Chartih Aslanka and Dasun Shanaka to his name as the slide continued. Shehan Jayasuriya topscored with 24 at No. 8, but that was of little significance to the result.

Beaton finished with 3 for 26 in 6.3 overs - his best in List A - and Johnson finished with 2 for 19 in four overs. The second match takes place in Kurunegala on Thursday, before the series concludes with the third and final game on Sunday in Colombo. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD West Indies A innings (50 overs maximum) CAK Walton† c Milantha b Rajitha 16 KA Hope b Aponso 81 AB Fudadin c Shanaka b Aponso 14 ADS Fletcher c Shanaka b Siriwardana 26 JN Mohammed* c Asalanka b Fernando 58 R Powell c Siriwardana b Fernando 55 KR Mayers not out 1 V Permaul not out 1 Extras (lb-1, w-9, nb-5) 15 Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 267 Did not batJL Jaggesar, DE Johnson, RR Beaton Fall of wickets 1-40 (Walton, 4.5 ov), 2-63 (Fudadin, 7.6 ov), 3-111 (Fletcher, 25.3 ov), 4-174 (Hope, 39.5 ov), 5-263 (Mohammed, 49.2 ov), 6-265 (Powell, 49.4 ov) Bowling: CAK Rajitha 7-0-54-1 (nb-1, w-1), B Fernando 7-0-452 (w-2), MA Aponso 10-0-442 (w-1), MD Shanaka 5-0-21-0 (w-1), DSNFG Jayasuriya 9-0-450 (w-2), TAM Siriwardana 101-47-1 (w-1), KIC Asalanka 2-010-0

UG succeeds...

Sri Lanka A innings (target: 268 runs from 50 overs) DS Weerakkody c †Walton b Johnson 3 MD Gunathilaka c Hope b Beaton 20 BKEL Milantha c †Walton b Johnson 2 M Bhanuka† c & b Jaggesar 15 TAM Siriwardana* c Fletcher b Beaton 0 KIC Asalanka c Mayers b Jaggesar 17 MD Shanaka st †Walton b Jaggesar 10 DSNFG Jayasuriya c Mayers b Beaton 24 B Fernando b Jaggesar 0 MA Aponso lbw b Permaul 5 CAK Rajitha not out 1 Extras (b-1, w-4) 5 102 Total (all out; 32.3 overs) Fall of wickets 1-5 (Weerakkody, 1.2 ov), 2-26 (Milantha, 5.4 ov), 3-26 (Gunathilaka, 6.1 ov), 4-26 (Siriwardana, 6.4 ov), 5-49 (Bhanuka, 14.3 ov), 6-64 (Asalanka, 18.3 ov), 7-75 (Shanaka, 22.4 ov), 8-75 (Fernando, 22.5 ov), 9-84 (Aponso, 27.6 ov), 10-102 (Jayasuriya, 32.3 ov) Bowling: RR Beaton 6.3-1-26-3 (w-2), DE Johnson 4-0-19-2, KR Mayers 7-2-19-0, JL Jaggesar 102-29-4 (w-1), V Permaul 5-1-8-1

continued from page 20

All-rounder Ray Newton blazed a cameo 32 (4x4 2x6) and Michael Shalim contributed a handy 24 not out (2x4 1x6) as UG closed on an above par 233-5.

MYO began their innings in disastrous fashion and found themselves precariously placed at 32-5 due to the hostile bowling by Pacer Newton and the wily off-spin of Dennis Heywood.

In the end they were all out for 87 from 15.1 overs.

Heywood finished with 4-24 from seven overs while Newton had 3-22 off five overs and Akeem Blackman finished with 2-13 from three overs. Extras contributed a whopping 27. Fadil Hack (14) and Imran Ally (10) were Dennis Heywood Jr the only batsmen to reach double figures as UG won by a monumental 146 runs.

The win closed UG campaign for this year’s edition of the tournament on a good note. However, they will not advance after losing three games, winning three. They defeated Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), MYO and Ace Warriors while they went down to Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC), Transport Sports Club (TSC) and Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC). Their game with Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) was washed out.

20

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

wednesday, october 26, 2016

CI, Zeeburg crowned West Side T20 champions

C

ornelia Ida and Zeeburg registered big wins against their opponents on Sunday to win the West Demerara Cricket Association (WDCA) T20 titles.

Played at Joe Vieira Park, Cornelia Ida hammered Wales in the morning match while later in the day Zeeburg defeated All Youths Sports Club.

In a match reduced to 15 overs per side due to a wet pitch from overnight rain, Cornelia Ida batted first to score a mammoth total of 187-1. Former national junior all-rounder Ashkaya Persaud, who has

been in ripp i n g form of late was severe on Wales’ bowlers hitting eight

Anthony D’Andrade

sixes and three fours in an unbeaten top score of 79 while Richie Looknauth also hit the same amount of boundaries in 77.

Omesh Danram was the lone success for Wales with the ball as he claimed 1-29 from two expensive overs.

In reply Wales faded for a paltry 38 all out in eight overs, with Dhanraj Singh (16) the only batsman to make it to double figures.

Looknauth and Persaud returned to cause havoc with the ball, ending with fig-

Not under my watch ures of 3-12 and 2-7 respectively. Shameer Khan was also good for the winners with figures of 2-2.

Cornelia Ida won the match by 149 compliments of invaluable all-round efforts from Looknauth and Persaud but it was the former, who was honoured with the player of the match award.

In the second match after being sent in, Zeeburg accepted the good deal to tally 195-7 after 20 overs.

Anthony D’Andrade was the principal scorer with 60 while Amrit Rai and Safraz Karim contributed 45 and 31 respectively.

Kelvin Leitch 3-32 from four overs and Imtiaz Ghanie 2-30 from four overs were the chief bowlers for All Youths.

In pursuit of 196 for victory, All Youths were restricted to 167 all out in 19.1 overs, with Ghanie smashing 43 and Sanjay Persaud chipping in with 33. Yutesh Dhanpaul and Mark Jeffers collected three wickets apiece.

Director of Sport Christopher Jones

– Director Jones

Raul Leal was declared the overall winner in 2015 in a time of 10 hours, three minutes and 31 seconds

D

irector of Sport, Christopher Jones has stated clearly that absolutely no athletes will be sleeping in schools whilst encamped ahead of the national Three-Stage Cycling meet slated for November 5 and 6.

Jones had made this statement prior to the conclusion of the Inter-Guiana Games on Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Mandela Avenue.

The Director of Sport indicated that this had started when he took over leadership and will never return to such lows under his watch.

“When I came into office cyclists were sleeping in schools on benches and on the floors but what we did last year was all these athletes were accommodated in hotels.” Jones explained.

The Director of Sport said that there is a special gratification in seeing the athletes comfortable and pointed out that there will be similar accommodations for the riders as well as adequate security in the upcoming national Three-Stage cycling meet on November 5 and 6.

“I really and truly don’t see it as anything grandiose, but the complete opposite that you could have an athlete sleep on a bench, it is ridiculous.” Jones added “moving forward any athlete as it relates to accommodation could not be in sleeping in a school, at least not under my watch.”

As it relates to security for the riders, the Director of Sport highlighted that there was already discussions with the Guyana Police Force after facing challenges of this nature last year and in many other races but is expected to be different.

“We have indicated the importance of having police outriders and we will have to stress the importance of having the roads closed off and cleared because of the danger it poses to the cyclist.” Jones noted.

Jones also pointed out that the National Sports Commission is doing everything in its power to support the Three-Stage race, as Vice President of the Guyana Cycling Federation; Paul Choo-wee-nam indicated that the NSC has provided $400,000 for the meet and the preparations are going well so far.

The riders will start off from Carifesta Avenue on Saturday, November 5 and go up the East Coast to Mahaicony and back before embarking on a time trial of three and a half miles on the same day to Plaisance and back to Carifesta Avenue where the race began.

The following day the riders will be taking part in a 30 lap race around the Outer circuit of the National Park.

In the previous Five-Stage races, the first leg takes place in East Berbice, the second leg is from Rosignol to Georgetown, the third leg is on the road ways of West Demerara while the fourth stage is in Essequibo and the closing stage is from to Linden Georgetown. Team Gillette Evolution’s Raul Leal is the defending champion.

GCA/New Building Society 2nd Division

UG succeeds in final match

U

niversity of Guyana (UG) completely outplayed host Muslim Youth Organization (M.Y.O) as action continued in the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)/ New Building Society (NBS) sponsored 40 Overs second division competition over the weekend.

In a game reduced to 31 overs per side due to an unprepared wicket, UG won the toss and decided to take first use of the wicket. They were off to a terrific start led by former Guyana u-15 batsman Leon Williams,

Leon Williams

Melroy Stephenson

who stroked his third GCA hundred 105 (16x4) and wicketkeeper batsman and Captain Melroy Stephenson who scored 48 (4x4 1x6).

The right and left hand

combination of Williams and Stephenson forged a 136 run opening partnership to lay a platform for the students. continues on page 19

21

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Albion stumble to final A

fter being three wickets for no run and then 17/6, Albion CC lead by fast bowling all rounder Josiah Dhani with a mature innings of 88 not out gained first innings points from Blairmont Cricket Club in their semi final clash last weekend at the Albion Sports Complex in the BCB/NY Business Group under 19 cricket for teams in Berbice.

Albion won the toss and asked Blairmont to take first strike. They lost their first wicket, national under 15 all rounder Seon Glasgow (Jnr) at 7. However, national youth opener Javid Karim was joined by Samuel Jailall and together they put on 62 for the second wicket before Jailall fell for 23. Thereafter, there was a steady procession to the pavilion with Blairmont ending on 120 all out. Left handed Karim topscored with 36 and got support from Samuel Jailall 23 and D Persaud 22.

Bowling for the home team, national junior left arm spinner Kelvin Umrao took 4 for 27 and got support from another national youth left arm spinner Joshua Harrichand with 3 for 27 and off spinner Karan Arjpaul 2 for 22.

In reply, Albion found the going tuff and lost three wickets without any run on the board. They slipped further to 17 for 6 before Dhani joined forces with Anthony February to form “operation recovery”.

Together

Kelvin Umroa they put on 75 runs for the seventh wicket before losing the latter for 38. Dhani stood firm at the other end and rallied with the tail to end on a mature unbeaten 88. Former national under 15 left arm pacer Steven Kalimudeen made 18 as

the crease, Blairmont ended on 69 for 6 when the match was called off. Karim again topscored with 30. Omrao took 3 for 16 to end with match figures of 7 for 43.

Albion will now clash with the winner of the other semifinal between Rose Hall Town Pepsi and Young Warriors which will be replayed as a limited over game on Wednesday at Albion Sports Complex.

That match was scheduled for last weekend at the Cumberland ground but due to a freak storm, both days were washed out.

The final is fixed for Albion Sports Complex on October 28 and 29 and all the members of the New York based group that sponsored the competition are expected to be here to witness the match.

The Berbice Cricket Board takes this opportunity to thank Albion Cricket Club for their influence to get the New York Business Group to assist young cricketers in Berbice. The board also expressed tier gratitude to the media for the extensive coverage.

Albion completed their innings at 187 all out.

Bowling for the visitors, Karim took 2 for 26 and pacer Keyon Gangoo 2 for 38.

In their second turn at

Cut and Load avenge last year’s defeat to win title

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swashbuckling knock of 80 not out by Captain of Number 72 Cut & Load Daveanand Chatterpul helped the home team to make easy work of Skeldon to win the TWINS (Bayo) Beer Garden/UCCA Under 19, 50 overs cricket competition for teams on the Upper Corentyne last.

Playing on the Number 72 ground on Sunday, Chatterpaul struck 8x4’s and 5x6’s in a 31 ball innings to take the home team over the line in only 23.3 overs.

Chatterpaul received good support from opening batsman Abdr Ajai who cracked 49 with nine fours at the top of the order.

Set 205 for victory,

Bayo presenting the Man-of-the-Match trophy to Daveanand Chatterpul

Number 72 Cut and Load reached the target for the loss of 4 wickets.

After winning the toss and inviting the defending champions; Skeldon to take first strike on a wicket which had moisture from a slight early morning shower, medium pacer H. Persaud made early inroads as the top order failed to apply themselves.

Skeldon found themselves tottering at 33 for 5 at one stage before Z. Gordon (46) and S. Chaitnarine (34) put some respectability to the score. Gordon struck 3x6 and 2x4 to see Skeldon reach 149 for 9. A last wicket partnership between R. Gordon (27) batting at number 10 and A. Ault (26) batting at

number 11, saw Skeldon get pass the 200 mark.

Z. Gordon was the top bowler with 5 for 13 off of four overs. He received good support from M. Bahamlir (2-41) and Z. Snow (2-28).

At the presentation ceremony, the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association thanked the sponsor who they said approached the association and asked to sponsor the competition for youths in an effort to contribute towards the development of youth cricketer.

‘Bayo’ told the small gathering that he was pleased with the way the competition went and promised further support for the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association.

22

WI B

GUYANA-TIMES.COM

wednesday, october 26, 2016

to another series defeat

owling nearly unchanged from the start of the day’s play, Yasir Shah produced a legspin masterclass on a flat, slow fifth-day pitch to bowl Pakistan to a 133-run win in Abu Dhabi. There was no alarming turn available to Yasir, and hardly any instances of uncertain bounce; he had to draw on all his stamina, skill and intelligence to pick up his eighth five-wicket haul and second ten-wicket match haul in 18 Tests. Yasir bowled 21 of Pakistan’s 46 overs on day five as they bowled West Indies out for 322, chasing an improbable 456, an hour and 15 minutes after lunch.

Yasir took all three wickets that fell in the morning session, teasing out Roston Chase in the tenth over of the morning and using the second new ball to dismiss Jermaine Blackwood, who fell five short of a hundred, and Jason Holder.

Shai Hope and Devendra Bishoo made Pakistan wait with an eighth-wicket stand of 45, before Yasir and Zulfiqar Babar took out the last three wickets in the space of four overs.

West Indies began the fifth day with Blackwood and Chase at the crease. The pair had been the overnight batsmen when they drew the Jamaica Test against India in August. It took until the tenth over of the day for Yasir to break their partnership, which added 63 runs in 26.4 overs.

– Pakistan 2-0 up with a Test to play

who had lived on the edge on the fourth day, had looked far more assured on the fifth morning, not trying anything extravagant but putting away the smallest lapse in length, such as when he drove Sohail Khan twice to the cover boundary in the first over with the new ball.

Then, in the penultimate over of the session, the tendency for the new ball to skid brought Yasir his fifth wicket. Holder, going on to the back foot to work him through the leg side, couldn’t bring his bat down quick enough. He hesitated too long before deciding to review umpire Richard Illingworth’s lbw decision, which was just as well because the ball was pitching in line and had straightened just enough to hit a good chunk of leg stump.

Hope played Yasir impressively during his innings of 41, his inside-out drives a standout feature, and it was Zulfiqar who eventually dismissed him. Looking to defend off the back foot, he was undone by one that turned more than expected, and Younis Khan fell to his left to take a sharp low catch. Yasir then grabbed his sixth, bowling the left-handed Miguel Cummins when he played inside the line of a legbreak, before Zulfiqar wrapped up victory, slowing it down and getting Devendra Bishoo to miscue a slog-sweep to MisbahPakistan Captain Misbah-ul-Haq celebrates winning his 10th ul-Haq running from midwicket to square series victory, the most by an Asian captain leg. (ESPNcricinfo)

vered from the path of defence, except on the rare occasion when Yasir lost his length, such as when he pulled him for four late on the fourth evening. Yasir plugged away on a good length, but kept varying his lines to Chase. One instance of this came in the fourth over of the morning, when he floated one up outside off after sending down a series of balls around leg stump. Chase had kept his front pad resolutely out of the way while defending the leg-stump balls. Now, he failed to get his front foot across to drive, and sliced the ball uppishly towards backward point.

In his next over, Chase left two balls on a similar line wide of off. Then, finally, Yasir found the perfect line, pitching on off and middle, forcing Chase to play, and the perfect pace, slow enough to make him reach out, to find his edge.

By the 18th over of the morning the 80th of West Indies’ innings - Yasir was into his 26th straight over since the fourth evening, and seemed to be tiring, serving up a long-hop that Blackwood West Indies Captain Jason Holder is out LBW to Man of the Match Yasir Shah pulled for four. But Misbah-ul-Haq kept him on, even though he took the second Chase only scored 20, but served a vital function by resist- new ball as soon as it was due, and stuck with him even after ing Yasir, facing 54 of the 80 balls he delivered during the an expensive first over with it, when Shai Hope put him away course of the stand. Unlike his team-mates, he seldom wa- for two authoritative boundaries through the off side.

Yasir rewarded Misbah’s faith, getting the ball to skid on as Blackwood came forward to defend, looking for turn, and brushed his pads before clattering the stumps. Blackwood,

SCOREBOARD Pakistan 1st Innings 452 West Indies 1st Innings 224 Pakistan 2nd innings 227/2 dec West Indies 2nd innings (target: 456 runs) (171/4 overnight) KC Brathwaite lbw b Mohammad Nawaz 67 LR Johnson b Yasir Shah 9 DM Bravo c Mohammad Nawaz b Rahat Ali 13 MN Samuels c & b Yasir Shah 23 J Blackwood b Yasir Shah 95 RL Chase c †Sarfraz Ahmed 20 b Yasir Shah SD Hope† c Younis Khan b Zulfiqar Babar 41 JO Holder* lbw b Yasir Shah 16 D Bishoo c Misbah-ul-Haq

b Zulfiqar Babar 26 ML Cummins b Yasir Shah 0 ST Gabriel not out 7 5 Extras (b-4, lb-1) Total (all out; 108 overs) 322 Fall of wickets 1-28 (Johnson, 7.5 ov), 2-63 (Bravo, 18.6 ov), 3-112 (Samuels, 41.3 ov), 4-124 (Brathwaite, 44.4 ov), 5-187 (Chase, 71.2 ov), 6-244 (Blackwood, 83.6 ov), 7-266 (Holder, 89.4 ov), 8-311 (Hope, 103.6 ov), 9-312 (Cummins, 104.5 ov), 10-322 (Bishoo, 107.6 ov) Bowling: Sohail Khan 143-44-0, Rahat Ali 23-2-691, Yasir Shah 39-5-124-6, Zulfiqar Babar 22-5-51-2, Mohammad Nawaz 10-0-29-1

guyana-times.com

wednesday, october 26, 2016

23

Payless Variety cycle St Lucia Zouks race turns on Hero Caribbean Premier League

Saturday

get new owner

Winners row! Payless Variety Store 2015 winners pose for a photo with their prizes at the end of the 4th Payless 11-race cycle meet

T St Lucia Zouks had a fantastic run in CPL 2016

T

he Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) are hosting a special Media Conference on Thursday October 27 in Soho House, London at 10:00h (UK time) sharp to announce the new owner of the St. Lucia Zouks franchise.

Chief Executive Officer of the Hero Caribbean Premier League, Damien O’Donohoe, will be joined by the new Zouks owner as well as Zouks captain Daren Sammy and coach Stuart Williams.

Hero Caribbean Premier League encourage you to follow the media conference via the live stream on the CPL’s Facebook Live channel.

At the end of the official media conference there will be one on one media opportunities with key figures in the Zouks camp including owner, coach and captain.

The St Lucia Zouks enjoyed their best CPL season in 2016 where they ended the preliminary stage of the tournament in third position, their best showing in

the competition’s four year history.

Jamaica Tallawahs won the tournament for the second time when they beat the Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets at Warner Park, St Kitts in August, 2016. In the inaugural year, the Tallawahs also defeated the Amazon Warriors in the final while the Barbados Tridents won the second edition and the Trinbago Knight Riders (formerly Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel) won the 2015 title.

he fifth edition of the Payless Variety Store-sponsored 11-race cycle programme will pedal off on the Inner Circuit of the National Park, Thomas Lands beginning at 9:00h.

National Cycling Coach Hassam Mohamed will be coordinating the event which is billed for this Saturday (October 29) and will feature rigid competition in the 35-lap featured Schoolboys, novices and Invitational cyclists’ race.

The country’s top wheelsmen are likely to turn out in their numbers as they look to dethrone last year’s winner, WS United rider, Andrew Hicks in the featured race. The likes

of Team Cocos’ top peddlers, golden boy Hamza Eastman, Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey, Stephano Husbands and past winner Junior Niles as well as Continental Wheelers’ Gerron Williams, Orville Hinds (Team Evolution), Raul Leal among others.

Hicks would have raced to the trophy in a time of one hour, 26 minutes and seven seconds.

Last year Ronaldo Narine won the three-lap race for boys and girls 1214 years of age. Second was Adeli Hodge. In the fivelap race for veterans under 50 years of age was won by Eon `Dumb Boy’ Jackson.

Second was Jaikaran Sukhai and finishing third

was Shameer Baksh, while John Niles won the twolap race for BMX boys 6-9 years old ahead of Shane Sue-Han and Antoine Van Denburgh respectively.

Sieon Chee won the twolap race for BMX boys 9-12 years old ahead of Zab James and Sue-Han respectively, while Hodge won the three-lap race for the 12-14 age group.

The five-lap race for mountain bikers was won

by Seon Budhan. Second was Nicholas Alphonso. A representative of Payless Variety Store will be on hand to witness the day’s proceedings as well as make the presentation of prizes to the respective winners.

wednesday, october 26, 2016

Pg 22

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

WI crash to another WI A draw series defeat 1st blood Pg 19

– Pakistan 2-0 up with a Test to play Jermaine Blackwood missed out on a century after he was bowled by Yasir Shah on the final day of the second Test

Ronsford Beaton picked up three wickets

CI, Zeeburg crowned West Side T20 champions

Pg 20

The victorious CI team after their match at the Joe Vieira Park

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