Weekend Mirror 14-15 April 2018

14-15 April, 2018 / Vol. 10 No. 17 / Price: $100

Internet: http: //www.mirrornewsgy.com / e-mail: weekendmirror@gmail.com

Charges against Singh, Brassington “frivolous” - Jagdeo

- SOCU could not even find a ‘national statute’ to base charges on

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he trend of the Coalition Government to push “frivolous charges” against former government officials when it is under pressure for corruption has been exposed again today with charges being filed by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) against former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and former NICIL Head, Winston Brassington.

This is according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, who addressed the matter on April 12, 2018 at a news conference held at his Church Street office. He said, “Ashni Singh and Brassington were not charged for stealing money, or for being found with big bank account they cannot explain…not bribery….they were charged for misconduct in public office contrary to common law….for procedural breaches…. they (SOCU) couldn’t even find a national statue to charge them under.”

According to him, if charges for procedural breaches are the new order of the day, the entire

APNU+AFC Coalition Government Cabinet would be jailed, given the current state of affairs.

Asked about the future and the possibility of pursing charges, the Opposition Leader said, “We will look for infractions of the law, but not frivolous matters…we won’t have time to waste on frivolous issues…we will have investigations by impartial people…where there is misappropriation of assets those people will face the music….no public servant who is forced to do anything illegal if they keep records of being threatened to do these illegal things,” he declared, adding that attention is being paid particularly to the Ministries of Natural Resources and Public Infrastructure.

Jagdeo noted too that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is a seasoned political party and will not be intimidated.

CHARGES Singh and Brassington faced three joint

charges today. They were arraigned in absentia today.

The charges were read before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

The first joint charge alleged that in 2008 while Singh was the Minister of Finance and Chairman of NICIL, he sold Scady Business Corporation a tract of land that is 4.7000 acres, lettered RU and XXX, being a portion of Plantation Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara which is the property of Guyana for the sum of $150M while knowing that the property was valued at $340M when valued by Rodrigues Architects’ asset valuation officer.

The second joint charge alleged that while Singh was Minister of Finance and Chairman of NICIL, on December 28, 2009 by way of agreement of sale and purchase he acted recklessly when he sold to National Hardware Guyana Limited a tract of land, plot letter LP, a (Turn to page 3)

SEE INSIDE

The PNC/APNU:

Masters of Distortion and Deception PAGE 3

PPP stands solidly with rice farmers in the face of threat of legal proceedings

by Gov’t PAGE 7

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo updating Guyanese in Toronto on latest developments in Guyana

Exxon-Guyana oil deal:

Guyana got shafted – IMF PAGE 2

The Return Of The ‘Green Monsters’ PAGE 9

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Exxon-Guyana oil deal:

Guyana got shafted – IMF E

xxon Mobil Corp. got such a “favorable” deal from Guyana, home to the biggest new deepwater oil play, that the tiny South American country should rewrite its tax laws, the International Monetary Fund said.

In short the financial institution is saying Guyana got shafted.

While Guyana should honor the existing deal, future contracts should ensure the state gets a higher portion of crude proceeds, the fund said in a report seen

by Bloomberg News. The country, South America’s third poorest with an average per capita income of around $4,000, has little experience of dealing with multinational behemoths such as Exxon.

Terms of the 2016 contract “are relatively favorable to investors by international standards,” the IMF said in a report prepared for Guyanese officials. “Existing production sharing agreements appear to enjoy royalty rates well below of what is observed internationally.”

IMF officials have visited

the nation multiple times over the past nine months as they help improve its legal, fiscal and regulatory frameworks before Exxon commences oil production in 2020. Guyana, whose entire population of 770,000 is about half the size of Philadelphia, has become one of Exxon’s five key global projects for the next decade due to the sheer size of its oil endowment.

“Government take is generally lower in frontier plays than in established areas as governments need to incentivize companies to undertake high-risk exploration,” Exxon said in a statement, citing a Wood Mackenzie Ltd. study that found Guyana in the middle range of the 148 jurisdictions evaluated.

With companies such as Total SA, Tullow Oil Plc and Repsol SA also exploring for oil in Guyana’s waters, time is of the essence. “The government could consider issuing a temporary moratorium on new licensing until a new fiscal regime is in place,” the IMF said.

Exxon’s total acreage in

Guyanese waters covers 11.5 million acres, equivalent to about 2,000 leases in the U.S. sector of the Gulf of Mexico.

Exxon leads a partnership group that includes Hess Corp. and China’s Cnooc Ltd. The IMF declined to comment beyond the report.

wasn’t regarded as promising oil territory by most of the industry. “It is not unusual to see more favorable fiscal terms for early investments in the extractive industries,” the IMF said in its report, which was delivered to Guyanese leaders in November.

$700 MILLION Expectations are high.

Government revenues from Exxon’s first project, which involves pumping less than 15 percent of the crude found to date, are expected to peak at $700 million a year by the late 2020s, equivalent to the country’s tax take in 2016.

The government has no plans to change the Exxon contract, Mineral Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said by email. The terms cover the Stabroek Block where Exxon struck oil through its Liza-1 well in 2015. However, the government will have different terms for future contracts, Trotman said.

Exxon’s deal was procured partly because it entered the country in 1999, when the Guyanese coastline

RESOURCE CURSE To reap the benefits of oil, Guyana faces a familiar challenge: gaining as much revenue as possible without deterring investment. Politicians say they want to set up a sovereign wealth fund and avoid the resource curse — the phenomenon whereby discovery of a valuable commodity stunts growth in other sectors of an economy, fueling corruption, conflict and currency swings that ultimately strand most of the population in poverty.

Either way, oil is poised to profoundly change Guyana, a country the size of Kansas that was colonized by the Dutch and British before obtaining independence in 1966. Its economy currently relies on agriculture and gold

mining.

With first oil due in 2020, just five years after it was discovered, the government has much to do, the IMF said in the report. Exxon’s deal with Guyana gave it the lowest average effective tax rate among nine projects in countries that include Norway, Brazil, Peru and Trinidad & Tobago.

COST DEDUCTIONS Open Oil, a Berlin-based company that advocates contract transparency, also found Guyana’s share of the Stabroek was low compared with both established and early-stage producing countries. Guyana will receive 52 percent of positive cash flow over the life of Exxon’s initial project, compared with between 63 percent and 72 percent for developments in Liberia, Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal and Papua New Guinea, it said in a March report.

The Exxon contract, which was published on a government website last year, provides Guyana with a 2

percent royalty on sales and 50 percent of profitable oil, once costs are repaid. Exxon and its partners can only deduct three-quarters of their costs each year, giving the government some cash in the first years of the project.

The IMF report recommends that Guyana: • employ a more progressive tax regime so that the government receives a higher share of profits as projects earn more • consider eliminating interest expenses from the project’s costs to avoid “abusive use of debt” • introduce tighter ring fences to avoid costs being shared around multiple fields • bulk up its regulatory capability “We intend on implementing as many of the recommendations as possible,” Trotman, the minister, said.

In so far as the Exxon-led group’s contract is concerned, “the government has no intention of revisiting it at this time. For future contracts we certainly will be having updated terms.”

Jordan mortgages Guyana’s future with US$1B loan

…in absence of solid plan money and take as much as they can prior to losing in 2020

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inister of Finance, Winston Jordan and the coalition David Granger led government has just plunged Guyana into the deepest depths of debt ever experienced by this 50 year old nation and has in fact now mortgaged the future of this country and its peoples for generations to come.

This coming on the heels of pawning the Nation’s assets to borrow 30B for Guysuco!

Jordan in addressed the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Tunisia, this week, made the announcement in passing—in brief as, almost as a footnote.

One would have expected that contracting the single largest ever loan portfolio taken on in Guyana’s history would have attracted widespread media attention and fanfare by the Granger administration.

This was not done, since Granger, Jordan and the

APNU+AFC acolytes are fully aware of a plan by this administration to embark on a spending spree in the coming two years—years in which there will be two elections held, Local Government Elections in 2019 and Regional and General Elections in 2020.

Guyana’s total loan portfolio is already close US$1.7B. Minister Jordan in briefly touching on this ‘water-shed’ transaction told the Bank’s Executives—at the end of his long winded presentation misrepresenting Guyana’s economic status quo—financial and technical assistance, of about US$900M (US$0.9B) has been approved for Guyana.

This money, he said, will be used for “economic infrastructure, rural development and trade and competitiveness.”

The Finance Minister in confirming receipt of this— the single largest debt port-

folio ever contracted by this country—made no mention of a single transformative project warranting this size of a level of loan.

The road to Brazil perhaps, a deep-water harbour, the new demerara river crossing, a brand new international airport in Lethem, a railway or road system from Linden to Lethem, hydro-power, all plans put forth by the PPP Administration to be done between 2015 to 2020—nothing, the Minister of Finance was silent on this front.

To give perspective to the size of the loan, consider that the state-of-the-art Skeldon Sugar Factory was just about US$100+M. The new Cheddi Jagan International Airport currently in the final stages of construction is US$150M in which they cut the Jetways from 8 to just a mere 2 that should have reduced the cost. The Berbice River Bridge constructed less a

decade ago was completed at US$40M. The Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project—a project that would have revolutionized this country was projected to cost US$800M. The David Granger government railed against this project saying taking on such a high loan and raising the legislative debt ceiling guarantees for government was excessive and would have been a burden on this nation for ages to come, only to realize now with the cost of fuel and GPL projected upgrades exceeding 400M, the stupidity of halting Amalia project will put the nation years behind.

It is clear. The David Granger and the Guyana Government has now begun to borrow enormous sums of money based on a promise of oil revenues.

Every advisor, including the Leader of the Political Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, has consistently warned this administration against con-

tracting unsustainable loans based on the promise of an extremely volatile export— crude.

There is no other reason the Islamic Development Bank would front Guyana US$900M—a country administration with a proven track record of the inability to spend far less in a given year—now, to spend on a work programme to be completed between this year and 2020, seems far-fetched.

The Minister said it in his single reference of Guyana’s oil industry to the bank’s executives, when he identified, “building a robust oil and gas industry” among the country’s key strategic objectives for sustained economic growth.

The Islamic Development must have known, the country’s export earnings have been on the decline and the country’s debt portfolio is at already alarming levels.

Our Foreign reserves are at an all-time low.

The Islamic Development Bank, though developmental in nature, is not handing to Guyana Zakaat or Charity and this money will have to be repaid with the interest rate and other conditions unknown at this point.

The very people that took 28 years to destroy this country’s economic base, racking up a debt to 900 per cent more than its earning in the process, have now embarked on the same thing and this time are doing worse is less time. The predicted UTURN to the 1980 is almost completed.

David Granger and the APNU+AFC administration have now mortgaged the future of generations to come with the albatross of debt again around the necks of even the unborn Guyanese boy or girl.

There can only be on reason, the APNU+AFC intends to take as much as they can prior to losing power in 2020.

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

My View

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he propagandists of the PNC/APNU and AFC never fail to amaze me. They have mastered the art of deception and in manipulating public opinions. For some time now, they have been distorting reality in order to clean up the tarnished image of the PNC/APNU. They have succeeded in contributing to the removal of the PPP/C administration.

Their lies and distortions impacted heavily on people’s minds.

For instance, they crusaded on the theme of corruption. They painted the PPP/C government as being corrupt.

They did so without producing any and/or very little concrete evidence. Indeed, they kept repeating the lies so often that they began to believe the lies themselves.

After the APNU/AFC came to office, they conducted about fifty forensic audits.

They used auditors who took very hostile public positions against the PPP/C while in office. They spent hundreds of millions on that exercise.

These ‘audits’ came up with almost nothing to prove the APNU/AFC’s accusations of corruption.

However, they have not stopped. They are continuing this dishonesty.

The latest example of

By Donald Ramotar Former President

this is the editorial of the ‘Kaieteur News’ of Tuesday, April 10, 2018. Here is what it said in part; “…It is true that the government inherited a poor economy from the last administration.”

This is a blatant lie.

Under the PPP/C administration, the country’s economy experienced real growth from 1993 to 1997, and then continuously from 2006 to 2014.

The period 2006 to 2014 was remarkable, because during that time, the world economy was experiencing great crises. Banks were closing in Europe and North America - areas where Guyana does most of its foreign trade.

The achievements in the last three years of the PPP/C administration were even more impressive when we take into consideration the efforts of the APNU and AFC to sabotage the economy of the country.

Recall that they voted against the Amaila Falls Hydro Electricity Project, which would have allowed us to industrialize and grow even faster, they voted against the Specialty Hospital, which would have allowed us to develop health tourism. They voted against the Anti-Money Laundering Bill - their

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The PNC/APNU: Masters of Distortion and Deception intention here was to put our financial institutions in danger.

Both the APNU and AFC voted against the new airport project and were instigating squatters to obstruct that project by refusing to move to allow for a longer runway.

They attacked the Marriot Hotel Project viciously.

That caused a big investor in the entertainment business from Hong Kong to walk away from investing in the Marriot Entertainment sector.

Despite all of that, our economy grew at almost 5% per annum.

Let me state that in 1992 when the PPP/Civic took office, our GDP was US$274 million. In 2014, it had grown to US$3.1 billion.

The per capita income at the end of 1991, the last year of the PNC regime, was just US$304. By the time the PPP/C left office, it was US$4,000.

In 1992, our country was bankrupt. We were then being described as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).

Carl Greenidge, the former Minister of Finance of the PNC regime, in a sworn affidavit said the following; “…By 1989, Guyana’s external debt to gross domestic product ratio was ap-

proximately 925%, with approximately US$1.9 billion in debts, including US$1.4 billion in arrears…. In 1990, the external debt to export ratio 951% between 1986 and 1990, Guyana’s average annual debt service payments were 153% of fiscal revenues.”

This meant we were actually borrowing to pay debts.

He went on the say that; “During the mid-1980s, the Government had fallen into such serious arrears that lending from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)… was cut off… its cessation resulted in further deterioration of the economy, creating an economic crisis so severe that, if not remedied… would have resulted in complete collapse from which recovery would be impossible.”

Let me add that by 1992, the debt had gone to US$2.1 billion.

Clearly, it was the PPP/C that remedied the situation and saved Guyana. When we left office, Guyana was being described by international economic institutions as being an Upper Middle Income Developing country.

The progress in every area was noticeable. In education, we moved from

the bottom in the region to topping the Caribbean. Our health services had grown greatly, resulting in increased life expectancy and we had almost eliminated HIV/AIDS and malaria. (Those diseases were killing many people when the PPP/C assumed office).

Our housing programme was the envy of the region.

During the first five years of the PPP/C in office, we had constructed more than five thousand new homes. In the last three years, housing construction was higher than any other three-year period in independent Guyana.

These are the evidence of progress under the PPP/C that the APNU/PNC propagandists want to erase from people’s minds.

The editorial also tried to blame both the PNC/APNU and PPP for problems in the country. It stated that “…They have been equal contributors to political missteps, gross inefficiency and political violence.”

It went on to add; “Though the PPP will not confess to this, there is evidence to show that it is guiltier of this than the present government.”

This can only be described as a bald face lie. In fact, it is a case of blaming the victim when reference is

Charges against Singh, Brassington... portion of Area LPP of Plantation Liliendaal, Pattensen and Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, that is 103.88 acres, property of Guyana for $598.659.398, VAT exclusive without having a valuation of the property from a competent valuation officer.

The third joint charge alleged, Singh and Brassington were jointly charged for the sale of land to Multi- Cinema Guyana. The charge stated that on May 14 2011, while Singh was the Minister of Finance and Brassington was the Chairman of NICIL, they sold a tract of land of 10.002 acres, letter A-A being a portion of Plantation

Turkeyen situated on the East Coast Demerara and property of Guyana for the sum of $185.037.000 without procuring a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.

According to Jagdeo, the case of National Hardware, the sale was subject to public tender. “If you go to the newspapers, you will see it was advertised for almost two months” he said. The case of Multi- Cinema Guyana, Jagdeo added, was similar, given that this sale was also subject to public tender. The third, he added, was no different.

“There were Cabinet decisions on these matters…

Brassington or Ashni Singh could not execute these decisions just like that…they followed procedure and received the approval of Cabinet…these are decisions of the Cabinet and I can justify every one of them….we maximised use of those assets (on which charges are based)…

Ashni Singh and Brassington did not steal money,” Jagdeo stressed.

PRIVATISATION REPORT Jagdeo noted that all three of the land sales in question were reviewed in the Privatisation Report, which covered all operations of the

Privatisation Unit from 1993 to 2011. The report was made public and tabled in the National Assembly.

He said, “The document showed every transaction we did through the privatisation unit…all three transactions were in the report….try to find a document like this pre-1992…we don’t even know…we don’t even have records….even things that happened three years ago, D’urban Park, we don’t have records there. “…there was nothing to hide about the transactions (for which Singh and Brassington are charged) because there was nothing illegal that

made to the PPP. Where is the evidence?

None is being put forward. They just make statements and repeat the lies.

Any student of Guyanese politics will know that it is the APNU/PNC that uses race and violence as tools of their particular brand of politics.

Indeed, the PNC/APNU’s violence and thuggery have been so intense that anyone outside of the PPP commenting on this seems to be defending themselves from the PNC/APNU violence by creating this false equivalency.

No matter how hard the distorters of our history try, the facts are there for all to see. The PPP has always been the builders; the APNU/ PNC have always been the destroyers. This was so in the 1960s and again during 1992-2005.

The manner in which they are governing this country clearly shows they are once again on the path of further destruction. Our debt is growing, so too is unemployment and racial and political discrimination is very pronounced.

The propagandists of the regime will continue to denigrate themselves because the nature of this regime cannot change.

(From page 1)

was done….I know that Ashni and Brassington have more integrity in their little finger than many of these ministers have in their whole body, from head to toe.”

‘RED MEAT’ FOR SUPPORTERS The Opposition Leader noted that in addition to being under public pressure for various acts of corruption, etc., it is also clear that the latest charges are an attempt to throw “red meat” to some strong government supporters, given the rhetoric about massive corruption under the former PPP/C government, which

was peddled on the campaign trail.

“Where are the billions we supposedly stole….in three years all you can find are procedural errors and we don’t think they are even errors,” he said.

Jagdeo charged that given the state of affairs, the APNU+AFC Coalition government is the “most corrupt” administration Guyana has seen. “This is the most corrupt government in Guyana…they are charging for procedural errors,” he said.

All considered, the Opposition Leader dismissed the charges are baseless.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

EDITORIAL

The deaf is Who is in the dated box? in control - a response to Mr Earl John

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he APNU/AFC coalition is becoming more and more isolated from the population and at the same time it is growing more authoritarian.

In this situation, the government is doing what is pleases without pausing to listen to what others have to say. It seems as though a set of deaf persons are in control of the state.

The most they say to the public is for the nation to forget this or that issue and move on. Yet, soon afterwards even greater bungling takes place and the same attitude prevails.

Since taking office, the coalition has been making serious mistakes in the management of the country’s affairs and in spite of widespread criticisms it continues on its merry ways.

No government in the history of Guyana has been involved in so many scandals and corrupt practices, yet there has been no reconsideration of its positions.

The examples are bountiful. One that stands out is the rental of a building to store drugs. The owner of the building turned out to be a financier of the coalition. While the building was found not to be used and unfit for drug storage, the government has been paying some $25 million per month and continues to pay until now, although it promised to stop the scandalous situation.

There are many more outrageous acts like this, such as the construction of the multi-billion dollar Durban Park. The project smacked of corruption from the start. There was no public tendering and it seems that until this day, the government itself does not know how much money was wasted on this project. Until today, the government has refused to give a proper account on this expenditure.

Billions upon billions are being wasted. This is happening at a time when thousands are being dismissed, businesses are contracting, money laundering is on the upsurge, the cost of living is skyrocketing, the drug trade is booming, smuggling is on the increase, the crime situation is getting out of hand, and there is no pause by the regime to review its actions to bring a stop to this alarming situation.

More recently, the wayward ways of the government have been very much in evidence in dealing with the discovery of oil in Guyana. It has bungled everything so far. The signing of a contract between the US oil company Exxon and the government has turned out to be disastrous. Guyana lost out big time in bringing in revenues to the country. Many critics are bold enough to suggest that it was a total sell out of the country. The International Monetary Fund said as much and cautioned that future deals must be put on hold until better tax, including tax laws, are revamped to benefit Guyana.

In the first instance the government sent a set of nincompoops to negotiate a deal with one of the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world. The sector seemed to have been managed by a group of ministers who have proven to be incompetent and are only looking out for themselves.

Like Columbus, President Granger has now realized that the necessary competence to manage an oil sector does not reside in government circles and would be hunting overseas to find experts.

However, no one believes that this will make any different. This government has employed so many experts, at fantastic salaries, and yet the country cannot get its bearing, there is no national plan and the ship of state is sailing into the horizon.

This government listens to no one. Bringing experts would be waste of time.

What are they going to do?

Measure how much crude is being pumped?

What should have been done in the first place was to take on board the nation and consult with all and sundry since this is a major breakthrough for Guyana. Oil holds out prospects for a bright future. But the Granger coalition went ahead alone and today, instead of rejoicing, Guyana now wonders whether oil is going to be a curse.

Dear Editor,

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he GAWU recognized that Mr Earl John in a letter appearing in the April 06, 2018 Stabroek News responded to some aspects of the contentions our Union raised in its letter that appeared in the April 05, 2018 Stabroek News and Kaieteur News and the April 06, 2018 Guyana Chronicle. Mr John it seems is upset, for whatever reason, for our Union’s consistent defence of the sugar workers who have been treated in a most disdainful manner in recent times.

While Mr John contends that our Union is in a “dated box”, we wonder whether the author mis-spoke, or is conveniently forgetful. Our Union has been in the forefront representing changes to move the sugar industry away from its current configuration to one which is more realistic and viable. Our suggestions on this score have also been shared by many individuals and organisations, including GuySuCo of which he was a senior executive. It is difficult then to see how we are dated. Nevertheless, we saw from GuySuCo, under its pre-

vious leadership, moves to take the Corporation down the same failed path of other crops diversification. It is clear as day to see those who stand in the “dated box” as Mr John puts it.

The letter writer then urges the Union to pursue “…appropriate strategies to bring balance back to workers’ lives”. But this is what we are doing, and have been doing, as we represent the re-opening of the estates identified for closure by the past GuySuCo leaders, and press that workers’ rights be respected. Separately it is generally known, unless one lives under a rock, we went as far as engaging the Administration and sharing with them our views on what could be done to make workers lives a bit easier.

On the question of the health services provided by the sugar industry, we urge the writer to re-read, carefully, our letter, as we never had any claim to fame that the health services were granted during our presence in the sugar industry. We simply contend that those health services, like so many other things workers enjoy today, came not out of the benevolence of the owner-class but through the

reality of the workers struggle, which is clearly inscribed in the history of this country.

Mr John then speaks about the implication of providing health services on GuySuCo’s cost of production. The Sugar CoI which the author has referred to on several previous occasions, at page 42, advised that the Corporation’s Health Care costs totalled $300M in 2014. That sum is less than half of what went to the Corporation’s big-boys at the top-echelon, who number just a few, in 2016.

We must admit that we agree with Mr John when he said we must move “…onto a pitch that we can practice playing forward as a team”. Whilst our Union always embraced and showed a strong desire to move in that direction it is indeed unfortunate such lofty goals could not have been realized when he was at the helm. Nevertheless, we look forward to moving in this direction, belated as it may be.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine General Secretary GAWU

The PPP will never fall prey to the PNC’s divide and conquer asinine plan Dear Editor,

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n his letter published on April 4, 2018, Lalman Ramsundar, seeks to respond to Albert Allen’s letter and he criticizes Albert Allen for a “convoluted letter that attacks the capability of the PPP” to win the 2020 General and Regional Elections. Yet, Lalman Ramsundar, in a contorted argument is clearly seeking to diminish the likelihood of a PPP victory come 2020 by sowing confusion and lies.

Like many PNC apologists before, he conveys the impression of discord within the PPP, and, like even sections of the APNU/AFC controlled media, Bharrat Jagdeo has been made the ‘fall guy’.

Lalman Ramsundar ignores the PPP’s decades of democratic practice, as well as recent public assertions by both the General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP that the Central Committee will decide on the next presidential candidate.

In response to the many public comments in the media by members and supporters of the APNU/AFC Coalition Government that there are serious

fissures in the governing body, Lalman Ramsundar tries to divert attention by pitting two leaders, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and Dr. Frank Anthony, against each other.

He tries to weave a web of deception and lies, but the facts illustrate how vacuous and desperate his objectives are. Lalman Ramsundar claims that Frank Anthony secured 98 votes fewer than Bharrat Jagdeo at the PPP 2016 Congress because of interference. In fact, Gail Teixeira, whom he attacked, gained the third highest votes at the same Congress. If this was the result, I wonder if he went up against Bharrat Jagdeo in a one-on-one vote, what would have been the result.

To further bolster his argument, Lalman Ramsundar, claims that Frank Anthony should have been the General Secretary of the PPP. However, Frank Anthony lost the bid for the General Secretary position by a significant number.

He even trailed behind SEVEN other party leaders when the vote was taken on the composition of the PPP’s Executive Committee. He came in behind Anil Nandlall, Clement Rohee,

Roger Luncheon, Gail Teixeira, Zulfikar Mustapha and Donald Ramotar.

Clearly, the evidence decimates these spurious claims.

The hyprocrisy of Lalman Ramsundar is exposed when he claims that all this is done in the interest of ‘defending’ the PPP’s ability to secure a 2020 victory.

Editor, I am sure that no leader in the PPP would support the contentions expressed by Lalman Ramsundar, or be associated with any attempt to divide the PPP. Why? The reason is simple.

No leader of any Party would support attempts to sow discord in the Party leadership, for his/her own gain. The result would be a divided Party, weakened to win elections in 2020. Is that what Ramsundar is really aiming at?

In light of this, Ramsundar’s objectives, like the PNC and other detractors before him, want a divided PPP and the continuation of the PNC-controlled APNU/AFC Coalition in Government after 2020.

The PPP will never allow this nor will the voters.

Baldeo Mathura

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Bulkan seems reluctant to submit to constitutional checks and balances Dear Editor,

AFC Officials pimped young models to Linden businessman Dear Editor,

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hat was allowed to happen at Linden businessman and lumber yard owner, Rory Chetram’s home at Amelias Ward must be revisited with a view of finding justice for the victims whose only crime was to willingly participate in the Linden Town Week Pageant 2018.

If readers are not disgusted and sickened by what transpired not only at the home of a known pervert, Mr Chetram but also the sordid account of coercion, threats, bribery and the silencing of a key witness who had gone to the police because of the traumatic experience she was made to endure, then we as Lindeners and Guyanese as a whole have not only lost our moral compass but our collective souls.

Three aspiring and young females vying to win the town week pageantry were taken to Mr Chetram’s home to seek sponsorship.

This happened some time in March. They were taken to that house at Amelias Ward by Alliance for Change ( AFC) Regional Chairman, Mr Vladmir Glasgow and trainer Ms Shequita Talbot aka Randacy Haynes. They were taken to that house with permission from AFC Councillor Devin Sears, who has responsibility for the overall coordinating of Linden Town Week 2018.

The young aspiring Linden models were treated to alcoholic beverages and a game of ‘truth and dare’. The first model was dared to accompany a much older Chetram to the upstairs quarters of his huge home. She was greeted with a porn movie and Chetram’s sexual overtures. She rejected him and returned to the gathering informing them that she wished to leave immediately. The two other models after hearing her outcry insisted they should leave also.

AFC Councillor, Mr Vladimir Glasgow and their trainer Ms Talbot made light of the issue but offered to take the two models home while advising the third, Vanessa to stay. Vanessa insisted she wanted to leave but they left her behind promising to return to get her shortly. Vanessa encountered and endured a most degrading form of sexual advance; a naked Mr Chetram approaching her demanding a sexual favour of performing an act of masturbation on him. She refused and locked herself in his bathroom and made a commotion that caused Chetram to panic. He ran outside somewhere on his balcony shouting over her screams that she tried to rob him.

Vanessa realising he was outside, opened the door and escaped. She was traumatised not only by his nakedness but the gun lying in full view on a table in his lair.

Mr Glasgow and Ms Talbot visited her home shortly after the incident trying to pacify her while attempting to buy her silence.

She tore up the cheque of sponsorship which was in the tune of $25, 000 and another cheque for $5000 as payment for the ‘truth and dare’ game. She further angrily demanded that they leave. Vanessa gave a statement to the police on that same night. She also

confided in the coordinator of the pageant, Ms Crystal Lam as to what had transpired.

She told Ms Lam the whole truth.

By the following day, Mr Glasgow had put his powerful influence into full gear and Ms Lam was threatened. Vannessa was reminded that she had a previous scandal to her name and no one would believe her. She was told that if the story got out a lot of powerful people would be hurt and he Glasgow will not allow that to happen. Vanessa was forced to accept a one hundred thousand dollars settlement from Mr Chetram and made to sign a confidentiality agreement never to speak on the matter thereafter.

A few days ago, Mr Glasgow was hauled before the AFC Executives in Georgetown and apparently a decision was made to sweep the issue under the carpet lest the Opposition is given ammunition to compromise them.

Tonight, I managed, over a five hour period to interview coordinator of the Pageant Crystal Lam, trainer, Shequita Talbot, AFC town councillor, Devin Sears and deputy Mayor, Wainewright Bethune. I contacted Mayor Waneka Arrindell who was not available and texted to say she was judging an event. She was kind enough to ask that I should text her my concerns.

The Mayor and Town Council, accordingly to Deputy Mayor, Mr Bethune has launched an independent investigation into the matter but have confessed that they were advised by all parties involved that the matter was settled. A meeting was held last night with Ms Lam and Ms Talbot. The meetings were separate and Ms Talbot intimated to me that the Mayor had asked to no longer speak on the matter since it was settled and she should now focus on her future as a Miss World contestant. The meeting during that same evening with Ms Lam revealed that she would resign if she were not given a contract and required payment for her work to date.

She expected the contract to be sealed by noon today. It was not and Ms Lam is asking to be paid for her services and that she no longer wishes to continue coordinating the pageant.

Deputy Mayor Mr Bethune is of the view that this matter should be made public so that the truth can come out. My last call, before writing here, was to Ms Talbot. She said she received a call from Mayor Arrindell asking if anyone had called her today concerning the issue. She replied in the affirmative and was asked by Her Worship who had called her.

She told the mayor that she was not at liberty to disclose that information. The Mayor of Linden reminded her to remain silent.

Sexual abuse is a very serious issue and must never be seen to be swept under the carpet. The Linden Town Week Pageant should be halted and an investigation be reopened into this disgraceful, sordid and unacceptable development. Ms Talbot spoke to me amidst tears, tonight and recounted the calls she received threatening her to remain quiet or else.

Norman Browne

I

happened to have read the well-articulated letter by Norman Whittaker in another section of the media captioned “The Government employing manipulative tactics to suppress work of Local Government Commission” and am in full agreement with the general tenor of the letter. Using Whittaker’s word, out of the “bowels” of our Constitution, Article 78 to be exact, the people through their representatives saw it fit to establish a Local Government Commission, not as a rubber stamp constitutional body, but as one that functions and carries out its role as per the wishes of the people.

The problem in my opinion appears to be a President, through his politics creates the Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan, who seems reluctant to submit to a constitutional system of checks and balances. These are the characteristics of a creeping dictatorship. This was exactly how Burnham started out until he moves to the point of rigging elections to keep himself in office by a process of selection, rather than election. Is this what President Granger is attempting to do today? To subvert the work of the Local Government system until they all become subservient to his diktat?

The work of the Minister has outlived its relevance constitutionally once the Commission was appointed in October 2017. Thus, I struggle to comprehend the level of political insecurity of President Granger. After all, the Chairman of the Commission is a die-hard People’s National Congress man, Mortimer Mingo, who I believe is quite capable of doing his master’s political bidding.

Why can’t President Granger respect our Constitution that mandates the Commission

“to deal with, as it deems fit, all matters relating to the regulation and staffing of the Local Government organs”. Why six months after their appointment, we have a situation where Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, a political creature of President Granger, is undemocratically usurping the role of the Commission?

The people in their wisdom did not authorise a singular political creature to be in charge of our Local Government system, so how dare Granger overturn their decision?

Why this inconsistency from President Granger? Isn’t he the one who unfailingly claims that he is a staunch adherent to the Guyana Constitution so why is he breaking the rules today? Or is it a case of do as I say but do not do as I do? These acts of gross hypocrisy from President Granger must be exposed and opposed and he must know that there is no room at the top for untruthfulness, non-transparency and deception.

The question of the empowerment in accordance with the Constitution of the Local Government Commission is of all importance now that we are set for a December 2018 Local Government Elections. Guyana has had enough of these stale minds and demands a boldness of spirit from President Granger that will allow a thousand new flowers to bloom by allowing the system to function according to the wishes of the people. What President Granger and Minister Bulkan are practicing is akin to that of pouring new wine into old skins and leaves a bitter taste of democracy Burnham style, where only the wishes of the “Kabaka” mattered.

Regards, Sasenarine Singh

Not a caring Government Dear Editor,

T

he unemployment rate in Guyana is staggering and climbing everyday. In the three years of this APNU+AFC coalition, the government has demonstrated its inability to grow the economy and to create jobs, especially for young people in the rural areas.

About two months ago, a 58-year old resident of Tempie, Marlin Kwok, invested over $400,000 to construct a car-wash bay for her 19-year old grandson, Joshua Johnson to keep him gainfully employed. She was concerned of the high usage of drugs by youths in the neighboring No. 30 Village, and was determined to give her grandson an opportunity to make something meaningful with his life. She viewed her investment as a means of creating employment for him and other youths in the village of Tempie. The wash bay employs three, with others on a part-time basic when things get busy on the week-ends. But this is about to end.

Last Sunday, Region 5 APNU Regional Councillor, Dillon Crawford, hand-delivered a letter signed by his wife, Oneca Sam, the Overseer of the Tempie/Seafield NDC, advising of the imminent closure of this car-wash bay if it is not “demolished” within 48 hours.

In an interview I had with Ms Marlin Kwok, she claims that several members of the Tempie/Seafield NDC, including the Chairman, Frank Wilson, had prior knowledge of the wash bay at the time of construction and could have stopped her then, rather than waiting until she

had spent over $400,000 to complete the project. The area is concreted with a wooden ramp. There is no building associated with the car-wash.

Over 12 years ago, Ms Kwok built a small wooden road-side shack on the same reserve, where she has been selling fruits and vegetables since. She was never given notice to move by the previous administration, and wonders if her livelihood will now be taken away by the APNU+AFC she voted for in 2015.

Admittedly, Ms Kwok is well aware that both her fruit shack and her grandson’s car-wash bay are illegally constructed on government’s reserve. However, there is much need for both these services in the Tempie area, and the need to encourage more young entrepreneurs to help reduce the unemployment rate.

In addition, there is no plan by government that I am aware of, to utilize this piece of waste land in the foreseeable future. There are no neighbours closeby to complain, and the water used by the car-wash is disposed of properly without causing floods. So why not leave them alone? These people are just trying to survive and make an honest living during the hard times we’re facing as a nation.

And any attempt to “demolish” this wash bay will not only deny them a chance of achieving the “good life” the government touts about, but this heartless act would send a strong message to their own supporters that the APNU+AFC government is not caring at all.

HARRY GILL, PPP/C Member of Parliament

6

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Confusion reigns in Govt: Jordan, Holder say GuySuCo not their responsibility

C

onfusion in the Government is yet again evident as Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan contradicts a Cabinet colleague by claiming that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was never his responsibility.

His comments contradict statements made by the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder who pointedly told reporters sometime back that he is no longer responsible for the affairs of GuySuCo. Holder made the remarks in much frustration when he was asked questions pertaining to the industry. “GuySuCo has been removed from the ambit of Agriculture to the Minister of Finance, I don’t want to speak out of term,” Holder said.

The Agriculture Minister indicated that the estates that were closed as well as those that were kept alive were no longer his responsibility.

President of the Guyana General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand had told Citizens’ Report that Minister Holder told him not to picket his

Ministry as GuySuCo is now under the control of the Finance Ministry.

Even the government’s public relations machinery reported that GuySuCo is no longer under the Agriculture Ministry’s purview.

But, Jordon told reporters on Monday that GuySuCo is not his responsibility, that it never was.“The Ministry of Finance has tremendous responsibilities; we don’t need an extra one to be quite honest with you.”

Jordan explained that the Finance Ministry is only lending support to the Sugar Company during this time of transition.

The closed estates are under the remit of the Special Purpose Unit of the National Industrial Commercial and Investments Limited (NICIL). This Unit is responsible for managing the divestment of GuySuCo’s assets.

In invited comments, Opposition Parliamentarian, Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall raised some concerns over this arrangement. He

explained that the SPU is not only encumbering the assets of GuySuCo, but will be disposing by way of sale on a wide scale manner both the moveable and immovable remaining assets.

“I have already pointed out that the entire asset base of GuySuCo has been transferred to the SPU and therefore, alienated beyond the reach of GuySuCo’s creditors. This is both unfair and exploitative!” he stated.

Nandlall explained that GuySuCo owes billions to workers as severance as well as to contractors for goods and services sold and delivered. In addition, he said GuySuCo guaranteed loans to commercial banks on behalf of privates cane farmers.

Nandlall warned that if the proposed actions of the SPU are not challenged quickly, all the assets of GuySuCo will either be encumbered or alienated and the workers and creditors will be left without any assets to enforce any judgment which they may obtain against GuySuCo.

It was a joint statement Dear Editor,

L

etters by Coretta McDonald (‘No one was authorised to issue a joint statement on GuySuCo by FITUG and GTUC’ SN, April 11) and Eon Andrews (‘GTUC executive had no knowledge of joint statement with FITUG’ CG, April 11) refer.

A time-honoured principle of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) is that where there exist differences on issues, rules, roles, etc, internal efforts are first made to reconcile these. The trade union operates by universally accepted principles.

The same standard Eon Andrews, GTUC Vice-President, is suggesting was breached in the release of the GTUC/FITUG joint statement should have guided his decision to write on this matter in the public domain without consultation with the executive membership.

The trade union has always advocated the implementation and respect for due process in the workplace by management, in its leadership, and in the management of society. As an organisation and part of its leadership it is dangerous and counterproductive to be advocating and demanding standards for workers, employers, government, etc, and to be operating differently.

The same standards the trade union expects, advocates and demands we must be able to practise at our highest level of decision-making.

The principle of solidarity where a trade union gives support to fellow trade unions, workers and all, on matters of universal principles and the rule of law is sacrosanct and cuts across the board, irrespective of who is involved. The GTUC and FITUG met on Friday, 7th April at the GTUC Boardroom where a range of issues were discussed and agreed upon. Included in those were the May Day March and Rally, and the sugar industry vis-à-vis the state of these workers and their affected communities.

The GTUC’s delegation comprised Coretta McDonald (President), Lincoln Lewis (General Secretary), Sherwood Clarke (Executive Council Member), Eon Andrews (Vice-President), Vanessa Phillips (Executive Council Member), and Collis Nicholson (Vice-President). The FITUG’s delegation comprised Seepaul Narine

(Vice-President), Nagasar (General Secretary), Haslin Singh (Executive Council Member) and Thomas (Executive Council Member).

On the sugar issue it was agreed that the GTUC and FITUG should issue a joint statement supporting the sugar unions’ (GAWU and NAACIE) position that the Guyana Sugar Corporation(GuySuCo) remain under the administration of the Ministry of Finance. The reason for this and GTUC’s support being, that the unions have reported that notwithstanding challenges, there has been engagement between the Special Project Unit management and them.

The GTUC recognises the importance of Article 149C of the Guyana Constitution that requires an inclusionary approach in the management and decision-making processes on matters that impact the welfare of the trade union, hence the support, for it augurs well in shared decision-making and ownership for decisions taken.

The GTUC/FITUG statement released to the media by FITUG, which was agreed to by the parties, was prepared by both federations. As General Secretary of the GTUC, which is the executive head of the organisation, that statement was seen by me before release and in principle the content supported, given that it reflected what was discussed and agreed on at the meeting.

Further, it did not represent a departure from any of the universally acceptable principles the trade union stands for.

On the notion that authorisation for release of this statement had to come from the President, the GTUC has never been managed in this manner nor does the structure so dictate. The executive responsibility of the GTUC is that of the General Secretary, and in the instance under focus after the delegation had agreed on the matters under discussion and the issuance of a joint statement, the responsibility for execution of the latter is that of the General Secretary. The GTUC President would too be apprised of this according to time-honoured principles and best practices.

Notes of the instant meeting were taken by both parties and can be corroborated.

Yours faithfully, Lincoln Lewis, General Secretary, GTUC

This Govt has no moral decency Dear Editor,

I

t was hard to miss from the bold headlines splashed across several newspapers on April 06, 2018 that our Government has, from all appearances, borrowed US$900M from the Islamic Development Bank. This, as far as I can recollect, is the largest loan ever contracted by any Government in our country’s history. What’s even worst is that the Administration hadn’t any moral decency to inform the Guyanese people, who are responsible for repaying the borrowed sum with interest, that it was contracting such a large loan. It is the latest in the borrowing spree that the Government has been engaged

in and one cannot help but wonder if we have now eclipsed our foreign debt ceiling.

Even more obnoxious, for me, is the scant, almost absent, detail provided in what the monies secured will be spent on.

Wouldn’t it have been wise to use the sum borrowed to construct the Amaila Falls Hydropower Plant which, from its income, could have re-paid the loan? Nevertheless, every Guyanese man, woman and child has another burden to fetch on their already overburdened backs. Welcome to the ‘Good Life’!

Yours sincerely Patricia Persaud

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

PPP stands solidly with rice farmers in the face of threat of legal proceedings by Gov’t

T

he People’s Progressive Party (PPP), in a statement this afternoon, strongly condemned the actions of the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agriculture Developmental Authority Scheme (MMA/ ADA) to issue notices to rice farmers threatening legal actions if the increased land rents and drainage charges are not paid.

According to the PPP, “It is common knowledge that this Government destroyed the lucrative Venezuelan market for rice, within a few months after assuming office. To date, they have been unable to find a suitable substitute. They then imposed VAT on agricultural equipment, accessories and various items needed for the rice industry that were all VAT free, under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Administration.”

Further, the party reminded of the unlawful and unconstitutional actions of the Government “The President revoked over 50 agricultural leases issued by the PPP/C Government to rice farmers in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agriculture Developmental Authority Scheme (MMA/ ADA), without affording these farmers a hearing and for no apparent reason, other than that these leases were granted by the PPP/C Government.

We represented these farmers in the High Court, which Ruled that the President revocation of these leases was unlawful and unconstitutional.”

“Not content with the destruction that they have done so far, the MMA/ADA, upon instructions of this Govern-

ment, increased land rents from $1,000 per acre to $7,000 per acre and drainage and irrigation charges from $2,500 to $8,000.

A few days ago, the MMA/ ADA issued hundreds of notices to rice farmers informing them that unless they pay these exorbitant increases in land rents and drainage charges, legal proceedings would be instituted against them.”, the PPP went on to say.

Notably, the PPP reiterated that they will stand strongly with the rice farmers on this issue and defend them in the courts if necessary. Further, the party called upon the Government to immediately scrap the increase in land rents and drainage charges and to withdraw the notices sent forthwith.

Below is the full statement from the PPP: The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing assault being perpetrated against our rice farmers, more particularly, those in Region 5.

It is common knowledge that this Government destroyed the lucrative Venezuelan market for rice, within a few months after assuming office. To date, they have been unable to find a suitable substitute. They then imposed VAT on agricultural equipment, accessories and various items needed for the rice industry that were all VAT free, under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Administration.

The President revoked over 50 agricultural leases issued by the PPP/C Government to rice farmers in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agriculture Developmental Authority

Scheme (MMA/ADA), without affording these farmers a hearing and for no apparent reason, other than that these leases were granted by the PPP/C Government. We represented these farmers in the High Court, which Ruled that the President revocation of these leases was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Not content with the destruction that they have done so far, the MMA/ADA, upon instructions of this Government, increased land rents from $1,000 per acre to $7,000 per acre and drainage and irrigation charges from $2,500 to $8,000.

A few days ago, the MMA/ ADA issued hundreds of notices to rice farmers informing them that unless they pay these exorbitant increases in land rents and drainage charges, legal proceedings would be instituted against them.

Many rice farmers say that were they to pay these new charges, they would have to stop cultivating because they simply cannot afford to sustain such high increase in expenditure at this point in time. Rather than assist the rice industry, as we have demanded the Government to do, they are driving more nails into the coffin of the industry. To now threaten the rice farmers with litigation is simply callous and unconscionable.

We will stand, resolutely, with our rice farmers on this issue and defend them in the courts if necessary.

We call upon the Government to, immediately, scrap the increase in land rents and drainage charges and to withdraw the notices sent forthwith.

7

‘No place for corruption within security agencies’ – UK Diplomat I nvestigators from lead security agencies in the fight against corruption today commenced a twoweek Financial Investigation and Anti-Corruption training, which is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom through the Special Adviser attached to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Dr Sam Sittlington.

The training will focus mainly on fraud, bribery and corruption. Week one will concentrate on investigative methods for fraud and week two will focus on occurrences of bribery.

British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn in his remarks, charged the participants to operate at the highest standards in order to gain the trust of the public.

“There is no place for corruption within security agencies in Guyana. If officials or individuals cannot work with honesty and

integrity, then they should be…prosecuted and imprisoned as necessary.

“If people don’t like the sound of that, then frankly – tough – security agencies cannot expect respect and cooperation from the public if they themselves are not willing to operate within and be subject to the law.

All of you can and must set the examples for everyone to follow,” the British diplomat said.

The training will be conducted by two UK experts with a combined 60 years experience in anti-money laundering and fraud investigations.

The two weeks of activities are targeting 14 SOCU investigators, nine officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), two Customs Anti-Narcotics (CANU) Investigators, an officer from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and four persons from the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA).

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams in his remarks, spoke about the Government’s war against corruption in all forms.

“Government has been doing its part by conducting anti-corruption and sensitization seminars in the various administrative regions of the country, which have had a significant impact on cases of misappropriation of state assets.

“I can venture without any fear of successful contradiction that since we entered into government, we have not experienced any case of the scale of those we inherited and revealed by those forensic audits.”

According to the Attorney General, corruption must be exposed and the anti-corruption laws must be enforced.

Also attending the event were Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and Police Commissioner (ag), David Ramnarine.

Over 500 hampers shared out to affected sugar workers in Berbice

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he East Berbice Sugar Workers’ Relief Committee, today, planned and hosted an activity in Skeldon, Berbice, which saw over 500 Hampers being distributed to sugar workers and their families.

Before today’s activity, volunteers visited the homes of over 1,800 dismissed sugar workers from the Skeldon Sugar Factory to identify their needs, with an aim to bring urgent relief to them and their families.

Those who recieved hampers came from various surrounding villages, such as: #66 Village, #76 Village, LinePath, Crabwood Creek, Queenstown, Kingston, Princeton, #55 Village, #56 Village and #65 Village Donations were given by several businesses and private individuals.

The event began with prayers from religious leaders of the main faiths and with brief remarks from

Bishop Juan Edghill and Mr. Adrian Anamayah, who gave the vote of thanks.

Today’s activities supplements an active feeding program conducted by this committee, which provides hot meals to schools and adults in the affected communities.

The Committee plans to bring some form of solidarity to all 1,800 sugar workers who were made redundant by the APNU/ AFC Government.

Another successful activity held by the Guyana Learning Institute, Supervisory Management class, Group 1, Batch 7, hosted a symposium on Suicide at the Cheddi Jagan Research Center on Sunday APRIL 8, 2018. Congrats to Group 1 of Batch 7 and all who participated in this well planned and executed activity.

Special Thanks to the Shri Prakash Chand Gossai Vidya Foundation for providing the facilitators for this symposium.

8

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Local Government and You!

Corruption, self-indulgence and callous governance M

uch evidence exists of the increasing dysfunctionality being encouraged and created by the Coalition Government in the Local Government system. The weakening of governance systems is now ever present across the length and breadth of Guyana and comes as a sacrifice of the cohesive and developmental gains that could have been achieved.

This column justifiably condemns and will continue the exposure of the wicked intent of the Government’s partisan, disruptive and clearly unproductive agenda. Regrettably, the government’s approach is glaringly visible through their deliberate, callous and presumptuous circumvention of the roles of legitimately elected Councils in our Local Authority Areas (LAAs).

This government’s excesses of power, obviously, negatively impact and contradict good governance practices. The results are far reaching and linked to certain permanent social deterioration. Certain constitu-

tional elements guard against these excesses, such as the meaningful functioning of a semi or fully autonomous Local Government Commission (LGC).

Since the delayed establishment of the LGC in October 2017, the nation has not heard much from the Commission itself. It leaves one to wonder about the approach to what the LGC needs to be doing. Clearly, the Commission needs to make citizens aware of its difficulties and move to remedy the emerged alarming incidences under its mandate.

The general media have candidly made the public aware of the numerous reported violations and breaches of financial and other regulations by Government-empowered Regional Executive Officers and Town Clerks.

More so, government officials have been either silent or shamelessly attempting to cover up the blatant acts of misappropriation and mal-administration by these officers. Fraud and more fraud is taking place in the

Local Authority Areas and apparently nothing is being done to prevent this lightning fast growing epidemic.

The associated pervasiveness of the foregoing will never benefit residents of communities and citizens in general. They are also not uncommon when the rules are applied in a partisan manner, and being conveniently bent in favor of a particular political party or for a selected few. As expected, the situation is fueling greed and its associate impediments, as agents of the state embark on a get rich quick syndrome, rather than ensure acceptable and proper governance.

The weakening of the local government system in light of the government’s approach cannot be denied.

Only recently, Councilors from the Linden Regional Democratic Council joined the bandwagon of public commentators against the excesses.

While it is recognized that they are perhaps crying crocodile tears as an almost singular PNC-led council, it

is very clear that nepotism is rampant. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and cousins all People’s National Congress supporters are fully involved in the works of the work committee. The Committee in turn is facilitative of millions of dollars being paid out to Party ‘thugs’ for works that were never done.

More serious is the fact that so-called contractors, who are known PNC ’thugs’, are being allocated contracts that they are unable to complete. Region 10 (Linden) is experceing the highest turn-over of Regional Executive Officers and Town Clerks. Recently, the once ‘discarded’ Mayor of Linden, Orin Gordon, was appointed Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region 10. This appointment did not have the blessings of the LGC and is a blatant disregard by the Ministry of Communities in not allowing the LGC to do its work.

Further, the members of the Region 10 Regional Works Committee are accused of soliciting money

from the public and persons expressing interest in bidding for contracts. Many are of the view that what happened with the Chairman of the Works Committee in Region 4, will likely to occur in Region 10. People will go berserk as Party ‘hawks’ are demanding money from citizens without compassion.

Meanwhile, the ‘King and the Queen’ of the Georgetown Municipality, have become tourists of immense extravagance, while mismanaging the City’s finances. They were only recently reported to be ‘pampin scene’ at an international airport in North America, when they were embarrassingly reduced to the realization that they are merely ordinary Guyanese citizens.

Minister Joseph Harmon must not turn a blind eye to the unsatisfactory Parking Meter issue because the general public certainly will not.

GCCI against return of parking meters

he Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and IndusRadio stations, GNBA Head clash over payments T try (GCCI) is planning to

T

wo leading radio stations have denied owing monies to the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) but the Agency’s Chairman Leslie Sobers is maintaining that at least one of the broadcasters still has millions in outstanding payments.

The Kaieteur News reported in its April 10, 2018 edition that the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN) 98.1 Hot FM and Hits and Jams Radio 94.1 Boom FM will be taken off air very soon over its failure to pay the Broadcasting Authority millions of dollars in backed-up fees.

NCN and HJ Entertainment have, however, issued statements denying the reports and they also called for an apology from the controversial news outlet.

According to the radio stations, they are up to date on all of its fees owed to the GNBA for last year.

But Sobers told News

Room during a telephone interview today that up to Friday last, HJ Entertainment was listed as noncompliant. Sobers said the radio station may have brought themselves in compliance with the GNBA either on Saturday or Monday and so the list of “compliant broadcasters” he gave to the Kaieteur News was not updated.

In fact, he explained that though HJ is now regarded as “compliant”, the radio station still owes the State millions.

“HJ signed an agreement to clear the backlog, it’s not like these are really nice goody-goody guys. They owe us, they owe the nation money and don’t even want to pay the money, we had to be behind them, we had to come up with these coercive methods and then they come in and pay a 50% and pay the rest over months,” Sobers explained.

HJ in its statement today said, “our financial obliga-

tions to the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) are currently up to date on all 2017 fees owed for 94.1 Boom FM, and as far as we know we are not listed ‘among stations to be taken off air very soon’.”

Regarding NCN, the GNBA Head said his records show that the entity is on the compliant list for television stations but not for radio stations. Sobers said he will have to check the records and clarify their status regarding radio compliance.

NCN in its statement in response to the Kaieteur News headline story said, “We take our financial obligations to the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) very seriously and are currently up-to-date on all 2017 fees owed to the GNBA for all three of our radio stations.”

Meanwhile, Sobers pointed out that some radio broadcasters are only “compliant” with regards to the

payment of their fees. He said in the case of HJ Entertainment, the radio station is still noncompliant when it comes to other aspects of its operations.

“HJ is known for having questionable content, infractions, there are other obligations they are supposed to honour in accordance to the law they have fallen short of that I have not turned my attention to as yet, we are trying to deal with the money part first and then when we sort that out we are going to deal with the content and other obligations,” Sobers said.

He explained that, “these broadcasters are making millions all the years, all the programmes that they taking down from the internet, pirating other people contents and selling it back to the Guyanese nation with no serious overheads and then don’t want to pay and then now we coming against them, they are crying out.”

It is public knowledge that before the ‘Gang of Four’ left this country to finalize the Parking Meter deal, they had a meeting with the ‘bosses’ at the Office of the President, including the General Secretary of the PNC. This Parking Meter business is a PNC thing to exploit the people of Georgetown and must and will be opposed vehemently.

The Public Accounts Committee has also recommended that all corrupt Regional Executive Officers and Engineers must be booted out of the system.

It is clear that corruption in Ministries and State departments are getting worse and the APNU/AFC Coalition Government is doing nothing to deter same.

This situation must be corrected immediately!

(The column is produced

by Neil Kumar, Mr. S & Mr. A)

review the amended parking meter by-laws and make its concerns known to the City Council and the Government.

At a press conference hosted by members of the GCCI and the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) today, both parties expressed the belief that before the project is re-introduced, there needs to be a proper feasibility study which will determine costs and other factors.

The amended parking meter by-laws were approved on April 4, 2018 by a majority vote by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, just over one year since it was suspended with immediate effect by the Government.

The GCCI President said the body will review the amended by-laws within the 14 days provided and will send its objections to the Council and Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.

GCCI’s President, Deodat Indar related that during the time which the project was implemented, businesses suffer 30 to 70 percent losses. “That kind of number, in terms of reduction in sales, hurts businesses. We

as a chamber are representing businesses and are concerned when that happens,” he noted.

MAPM organizer, Marcel Gaskin noted that the council by making amendments is attempting to fix a flawed process. He noted that the movement’s position remains much the same.

“We are against the manner in which these parking meters were implemented, against the manner in which they were foisted upon the citizens –with disastrous consequences,” he said.

Gaskin told the media that the movement is prepared to mount large protests as it did last year if the project is again implemented.

Another member of the GCCI, Nicholas Boyer pointed out that businesses suffer the most from the paid parking in the city as a decrease in customers leads to a decrease in revenue.

In March 2017, upon suspending the project, the Government had asked the council to review the contract with Smart City Solutions which had caused widespread protests over lack of transparency. This led to a renegotiated project and amended by-laws which have to be signed into effect by the Government.

Unruly

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

9

The

Horse The Return Of The ‘Green Monsters’

By: Mohabir Anil Nandlall, MP Attorney-at-Law

I

t was Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America (USA), who once famously remarked, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” The West has since long considered these words as capturing the quintessence of modern electoral democratic governance.

At the 2017 Local Government Elections, the citizens of Georgetown voted overwhelmingly for the List of Candidates presented by the APNU/AFC. Within one year of those elections, the City Council, through its Chief Executive Officer, the Town Clerk, announced that parking meters would be installed in the city of Georgetown. Not a word of this major project and the first of its kind was ever mentioned to the electorate during the campaign of the Local Government Elections.

In fact, the constituents of Georgetown were promised no increases in rates nor taxes and no new charges or fees of any kind at City Hall.

Prior to the announcement of the implementation of the parking meter project, no attempt whatsoever was made to consult with the citizenry or to solicit their views in any manner whatsoever on this important matter.

I distinctly recall that on the eve of their departure to Mexico to negotiate the parking meter contract, the team from the City Council, comprising of the Mayor, the Town Clerk and Councillor, Oscar Clarke, former General Secretary of the PNC, made a courtesy call on the President at the Ministry of Presidency and presumably briefed him on the details of their intended trip. It therefore means that from the very inception, the Government knew of this project and gave it its blessings. Every attempt made, thereafter, to distance itself from this project and to con-

vey the impression that the City Council was acting on its own violation and without the support of the Government, vulgar hypocrisy and shameless political dishonesty.

THE PRESIDENT Shortly after that team returned to Guyana, there was a public announcement that a parking meter contract was signed. This was done without the matter being discussed at all by or at the Council. Several requests by Councillors for a copy of the contract were denied. Multiple requests to merely read the contract were stoutly rejected. These requests included those made by several APNU/AFC Councillors. When the Councillors were eventually permitted to read the contract, they had to do so under the watchful eye of armed security! Imagine the Georgetown City Council, as a collective, is part of and bound by a contract that was neither discussed, nor moreover approved, nor even read by the Council as a collective. If this is not the height of authoritarianism and political dictatorship then I do not know what is.

By this time, public dissent against the contract had risen to soaring heights and they were weekly massive protests, around the precincts of City Hall by thousands of citizens, including top leaders in the business community and civil society. The PPP, while expressing its unyielding support, deliberately stayed away from these protest actions so as to give civil society and the citizenry an opportunity to express their angst. Additionally, there was no need to offer political fodder to the Government.

In order to save face, the Government attempted to, duplicitously, distance itself from the contract. However, to pull off these machinations, requires skill and competence.

Both are woefully lacking in this Government. Characteristically, they committed a grave faux pas, when Cabinet decided to review the contract and sent it to the Attorney

General for his advice. No serious objection was taken by the Government to the contract. Therefore, the Government stamped the project with its imprimatur, a second time. By this time, the public outrage against the contract was fever pitch. The then Deputy Mayor, Sherrod Duncan, became a causality of this imbroglio. He was forced to resign as Deputy Mayor. Not surprisingly, his senior leaders in the Government refused to stand by his side. They threw him to the proverbial wolves. They have since devoured him. He lost his voice since.

MINISTER JOSEPH HARMON Public spirited citizens started to play a more active role. They approached the Courts and a series of Orders were granted preventing the implementation of this contract. One Judge even quashed the by-laws under which the parking meter project was being implemented. Eventually, the City Council was forced to back down on this project.

Georgetown breathed a sigh of relief. It was commonly felt that good sense prevailed and that we finally rid ourselves and our capital city of the ‘green monster’, as it was popularly labelled.

Lo and behold, after a few months of lull, the monster was resurrected. The parking meter raised its ugly head once again. This time around, Minister Joseph Harmon told the press that “the City Council must be allowed to govern”. The Government, again, has given the parking meter project its tacit approval for the third time. The PNC is an autocratic party. The PNC Councillors control the City Council by a huge majority.

The City Council will never implement a project that does not enjoy the support and approval of the PNC. Make no mistake, the parking meter is a PNC project. There is a rumour that the PNC will financially benefit from this project, directly. The rumour is that this is a side-arrange-

ment and Oscar Clarke is to overseer this kick back.

Readers would recall that the AFC was emphatic in opposition to this project in the first incarnation of the project. It is common knowledge that the AFC leaders in the Council were beaten into submission and put in their places. As I pointed above, Duncan was hounded out as Deputy Mayor. Lionel Jaikarran was shamelessly prevented from even participating in the elections for Deputy Mayor. Being now reduced to an invertebrate, the AFC has become mum on the parking meter issue. The fees have been reduced, but the citizens are no closer to supporting this project.

VOCIFEROUS TINY MINORITY Amended by-laws have

been sent to Minister Ronald Bulkan for his approval and onward transmission.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Movement Against Parking Meter (MAPM) have publicly signalled their intentions to challenge these by-laws. As far as I am aware, they are still pending court proceedings against the parking meter project.

In the face of all of this, the Council is moving ahead.

There appears to be no regards, whatsoever, for the citizens’ views on this matter.

The City Council and the Government are demonstrating, most clearly, that the views and the voices of the people do not matter to them.

It is our way or no way.

The approach in relation to the parking meter con-

tract is symptomatic of its approach in so many other sectors. The oil and gas sector stands out. Every stakeholder’s organization and public commentator, including those who passionately support this government, have condemned this contract. The government’s reaction is aptly captured in the words of Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, who arrogantly asserted “we are not concerned with a vociferous tiny minority” – a statement reeking of autocracy.

This government has drifted so far away from that contemplated by President Abraham Lincoln that they have simply lost sight of it. As for the green monsters, I hope the residents of Georgetown continue to resist this horrendous imposition. I remain steadfast with them.

Scrap parking meter deal Dear Editor

I

t seems almost a done deal that the infamous parking meters will be re-introduced in the city of Georgetown. The way is already cleared with the pronouncement by Minister of State Joseph Harmon that the Government will not unnecessarily intervene in the affairs of the Council.

This has effectively tied the hands of the Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan regarding any possible intervention as was earlier the case.

The Alliance for Change for its part, have practically capitulated by directing the absence of their Councillors at a crucial meeting to vote on the issue. The only dissenting votes emanated from the two PPP councillors who, despite their best efforts were unable to influence the vote.

The fact of the matter is that notwithstanding the seeming reluctance by central government to openly endorse the parking meters, the voting pattern in the Council contains all the elements of an orchestrated and centrally-directed plan to have the decision railroaded despite resistance from a wide cross-section of citizens of Georgetown and, for that matter, the country as a whole.

Apart from the unacceptable terms and conditions of the contract which remains highly skewed in favour of the contractor, the imposition of marking meters will certainly impose new burdens on the working people and the business

community which is already reeling from the impact of a sluggish economy and reduced consumer spending. In the final analysis, however, it is the ordinary people who will be forced to carry the burden of the parking meters fee structure by way of higher consumer prices and transportation costs.

Georgetown is not ready for the installation of parking meters. The per capita income and spending power of Guyanese is by far too low to justify an additional financial burden. Additionally, the road infrastructure remains largely under-developed even by regional standards and with no organized and structured parking allotments.

But at an even more fundamental level, it seems that the views and concerns of citizens are of little or no significance as far as the city lords and the current political administration are concerned.

The court challenge to the parking meter still remains inconclusive but this was not enough to prevent the APNU-dominated Council from their unbridled haste to have the decision implemented.

It is not too late to scrap the parking meter project in its entirety. All that is required is the political will to so do by those who walk the corridors of power.

The way things look, this may be asking for too much, but in my view it is the only sensible thing to do.

Hydar Ally

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Education officials meet GPL needs complete overhaul, Amaila Falls Hydro-Power Project with Mae’s administration on planned fee increases in order to rebound – MP Ali

F

ormer Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali says that the Government should seek to invest in building a cleaner and more efficient energy system that will trickle down to the benefit of consumers, which will have a long lasting effect instead of pumping millions of dollars in the Guyana Power and Light Company which is still facing a myriad of complex issues that have compromised the entity’s reliability and overall financial performance.

Ali said that any attempt to give GPL any bail out or millions more of taxpayers monies must be guided by a more strategic and robust programme that could be worked out to reduce its burdensome technical and non-technical losses. He nonetheless stressed the GPL’s need to pursue cleaner and more renewable forms of energy as he touted the shelved Amaila Falls Hydro-Power Project as the best option for getting the company to deliver more stable and reliable electricity thereby bringing an end to the constant power outages and load shedding.

Ali also contended that the matter involving GPL now seeking US$110 million to assist with an overhaul of their system, points to the bad decision made by Government to abandon the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.

“The Amaila Falls Hydro Project was a long-term solu-

tion to our energy requirement in a sustainable and cost-effective manner. By today we would have been enjoying power from Amaila Falls, we would have been enjoying it at much less or far less the cost that consumers are paying today,” he opined.

However, Ali said the coalition Government abandoned that very project without any plans as to how they will sustain the energy climate for the country. The former Minister said the main objective right now should be to looking at a long-term solution to the country’s energy problem, to ensure that energy is also generated in a sustainable, cost-effective manner and one that will bring benefit to the consumer.

“Pumping money into GPL will not allow it, but the Government should therefore rethink its strategy and rethink its position on the Amaila Falls Hydro Project… Any investment should be able to equip us of our capability for energy to be generated in a sustainable way,” he opined.

One of the greatest challenges facing this sector is the growing demand on the system. However, the current capacity has not grown to meet that demand. “They’ve also seen a retrograde in terms of reliability of power and if you look at for example what is going on with blackouts and so on, it is far worse today than when we

had the contract with Wärtsillä,” he added.

The Government had moved away from the Wärtsillä support mechanism with the promise that black out will be a thing of the past and the system would have been far more efficient. However, the Opposition MP pointed out that the system today is far more inefficient and a lot of maintenance is due. Also, the cost of energy has not gone down and the supply cannot meet the demand.

Importantly also, Ali said based on the marked reduction in fuel between 2014 and 2016, this could have resulted in a surplus position of GPL. He said if this is the case, the power company needs to say how much that surplus was for each year and what they did with the surplus.

“Because when the price for fuel came down there was no adjustment to the cost of electricity to the consumer,” he recalled.

The Opposition has long called for the reintroduction of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project for a number of important reasons.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said not only does the scrapping of the project threaten the forest pact agreement with the Kingdom of Norway, which could cause the country to lose out on another US$3 billion in savings, but it could assist Guyana to combat climate change.

Granger heads to UK without plan to address greenheart ban

P

resident David Granger will be travelling to the United Kingdom (UK) to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London this weekend but he has no plan to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss the issue of Britain’s ban on greenheart exports from Guyana.

The ban on greenheart exports to the UK remains a major concern as it is affecting dozens of companies locally. The ban was placed in May 2015, shortly after

the APNU+AFC assumed office. It was imposed by the UK Environment Agency and close to two years later, the government has made little progressing in getting it lifted.

When asked today, President Granger said there are no plans to discuss this issue while he is in the UK. “There has been no formal arrangement,” he said even though he was briefed on this issue only yesterday at Cabinet.

Granger said the Guy-

ana Forestry Commission (GFC) briefed Cabinet on the matter but he did not get into details as he was being rushed off the floor by his public relations officer.

Reports indicate that the embargo saw a dramatic drop in exports to the UK, moving from US$3.2M in 2014 to US$1M in 2015.

The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) blamed the incorrect labelling of Guyana’s forest management practices by activists for the ban.

T

he Ministry of Education on last week met with the management of Mae’s private School to discuss the proposed 42% hike in school fees.

According to a statement from the Ministry, the two sides “had a fruitful discourse with a view of arriving at a resolution that is acceptable to the school and parents of children at the early possible time.”

On Monday, parents protest the Mae’s Subryanville, Georgetown location over the increase of $15,000 and called for an urgent en-

gagement with the administration of the school or the government’s intervention.

The team, the Ministry said was represented by Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson, Legal Officer Kellyanne Payne-Hercules, National Parent Teachers Association Coordinator Nadia Hollingsworth and Private School Coordinator Doodmattie Singh on the Ministry’s side.

Representing Mae’s were Lucinda Mc Curdy, Administration (Ag), Megan Archer, Director-Primary and Shaundell Beck-

les- Deputy Director- Primary.

The two sides have agreed to have another interface on the way forward, the Ministry said.

The fee for the playgroup was moved from $35,000 to $50,000, Lower Nursery from $45,000 to $60,000, while the primary level Grades 1 – 4 fee was increased from $60,000 to $75,000; and Grade 6 from $70,000 to $80,000.

The parents had vowed to continue protesting until something is done.

Govt fails to clamp down on Money Laundering – US Report

T

he David Granger-led A Partnership For National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) government that it has been boasting about being able to put the most stringent anti-money laundering laws in place, along with the necessary mechanism to fight the international crime, but the US State Department in a recent report, label Guyana as a “Major Money Laundering” jurisdictions for 2017.

According to the United States State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Guyana remains lacking in its anti-money laundering fight.

“Guyana’s geographic location makes it attractive for transnational organized crime groups, including human and drug trafficking organizations. It continues to be a transit country for South American cocaine destined for Europe, the United States, Canada, West Africa, and the Caribbean,” the report stated. The INCRS report highlighted the primary sources of laundered funds as narcotics trafficking and corruption.

“However, the laundering of proceeds from other illicit activities, such as human trafficking, contraband, illegal natural resource extraction, and tax evasion, is

substantial. Common money laundering typologies include the use of fictitious agreements of sale for non-existing precious minerals to support large cash deposits at financial institutions; cross-border transport of small volumes of precious metals, declared as scrap or broken jewelry to avoid scrutiny by the relevant officials and the payment of relevant taxes and duties; TBML using gold; and the use of middle and senior-aged cash couriers for the cross-border transport of large sums of U.S. dollars,” the report said.

It outlined that International experts recommended Guyana adequately criminalize money laundering; to establish a fully operational and effectively functioning Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), institute effective measures for customer due diligence and enhanced financial transparency; and establish adequate STR requirements.

“To correct noted deficiencies, Guyana passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Regulations 2015; issued the Guidelines on Targeted Financial Sanctions 2015; and completed amendments to the AMLCFT Act in 2015 and 2016. Guyana’s AML regime also extends to legal persons and provides

for enhanced due diligence for PEPs,” it stated The US State Department said that the effectiveness of the agencies set up to investigate money laundering is limited, as they lack adequate human resources, training to ensure successful prosecutions, and a strong interagency network, adding that they ” lack of cooperation by the business community also hinders Guyana’s AML efforts.”

There is also a recommendation that the country raise awareness and understanding of AML laws and implementation procedures, through training and the publication of guidelines, within the judicial system and in agencies with the authority to investigate financial crimes. STR requirements, wire transfers, and customer due diligence regulations should be strengthened and additional resources extended to the FIU and Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

Following a similar US State Department report in 2017, Attorney General Basil Willaims had claimed that the country made significant progress and was in a good position to fight money laundering. However, his claims have been rubbished by this recent report which listed Guyana among top money laundering nations.

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

COMMENTARY

11

By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

We have to do better – Universal Healthcare is a right L

ast week the staff, including doctors and nurses, of the Linden Hospital engaged in a sit-in to protest the lack of medicines and supplies.

This week the staff at the Skeldon Hospital, similarly, are protesting the lack of medicines and supplies. The shortages of supplies being highlighted by these unprecedented actions by the medical staff of these two institutions are not unique to them and have been reported in public hospitals and health centers throughout the country for the last three years. Sadly, medicine and medical supplies shortages have become chronic in the public health sector. I cannot recall such staff protests while I was Minister of Health for twelve years and in the public health system for twenty years.

The most recent sit-ins - last week and this week sandwiched the observation

of World Health Day, April 7th. This World Health Day, the Ministry of Public Health held elaborate celebrations and made commitments of access to universal health for the citizens everywhere in Guyana. It is a laudable goal. But the government must also realize that universal healthcare is unachievable unless we can ensure that medicines and medical supplies are available in the public sector. Citizens have a right to healthcare and that right means that when people come to the hospitals and health centers they can access medicines and other medical supplies. There is no quality care without safe and available medicines.

In this regards, the Ministry of Public Health has failed the people. Medicine shortages are a prominent feature of poor governance since APNU+AFC assumed

office in May 2015. We have heard repeatedly the excuses for the last three years and have endured many broken promises that the situation will change. The people have been told by the Ministers of Health in and out of Parliament that the APNU+AFC administration is reforming the procurement system for medicines and supplies, implementing a new warehouse system and a new distribution system. Minister Norton promised a more efficient, more effective, more reliable procurement and distribution system several times in 2015 and 2016. Minister Lawrence promised in 2017 and 2018, more than a few times, a first class system. These promises have been like a broken record. Yet the situation keeps deteriorating.

Other than staff sit-ins, the health sector has also highlighted the shortages in

other troubling ways. We have had several incidences where operating rooms have been closed and surgery suspended because basic surgical supplies have been in short supply. Eye operations have been suspended in Port Mourant for almost three years now. In several hospitals, including the Georgetown Public Hospital, x-ray machines have been out of operation and patients referred to the private sector. Routinely now, patients must purchase their own medicines. Vaccine coverage has dropped each year since 2015 and several vaccines have been in short supply.

Supplies such as contraceptives and laboratory supplies are often in short supply.

Blood bag shortages have also plagued the sector.

In the meantime vast sums of money are being expended, supposedly to

procure, store and distribute medicines. In fact, in January and February 2017 alone, APNU+AFC paid out more than $2.1B for contracts to supply medicines, contracts that abrogated all the procurement laws of Guyana.

The 2018 medicine budget for the public sector continues the increased allocation since 2015. The question is where are the medicines?

Rubbing salt into the wound, the government is spending almost $175M on renting a house as a warehouse in Georgetown, one that is barely used to store non-medicine supplies. Adding even more insult to the injury of medicine shortage, APNU+AFC engages in questionable transactions such as the more than $600M medicine contract with Ansa McCal at a cost almost three times the normal cost.

It is good we celebrate

World Health Day with our sisters and brothers across the world and reaffirm our commitment to Universal health Care. But we must recognize that there is tangible erosion of the quality of health care in Guyana. Universal Health Care is a laudable goal and the Ministers are on the right path when they promise they are working assiduously to achieve it. Yet the persistence of medicine shortages make the goal elusive. In fact, these ministers inherited a health system that made considerable progress towards UHC and that had an equitable and reliable supply chain for medicines.

In addition, UHC is a goal of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals which Guyana signed on to in 2015. After three years, APNU+AFC has only succeeded in making people think UHC is increasingly an elusive goal.

PSC throws support behind controversial Govt looking for experts to staff Department of Energy Carnival Casino A T he Private Sector Commission (PSC) is urging the Government to move ahead with the process of granting a casino licence to the controversial Carnival Casino at the Sleepin Hotel complex.

During a visit to the establishment today, Chairman of the PSC, Eddie Boyer noted that the business will encourage other persons to invest in Guyana.

But Proprietor of the Carnival Casino, located on Church Street, Georgetown, Clifton Bacchus expressed his frustration that his business, after two years, cannot begin operation.

Following a meeting with the PSC officials today, he noted that the last document requested by the Gaming Authority was renewed financial statement.

This he said was submitted approximately one month ago.

“I am frustrated that is after two years, we not moving forward even though the machines are in place, everything in place, two years pass and nothing is happening with the license and I am very frustrated,” Bacchus told the media.

Meanwhile, Boyer told reporters that the establishment will employ a number of Guyanese, adding that employment is one of the major focuses of the private sector.

“We’re speaking about local content, this is local content, let us get it rolling. We need to make sure that all of these things are working, that this man’s investment is paying back

and things are happening.

Can’t see investment die like this,” the PSC Chairman said.

This view was also shared by Trade and Investment Chair of the PSC, Deodat Indar who noted that the prospering of such investments will encourage other investors to contribute to the economy.

“If we’re going to tell investors come invest in Guyana, we must lead by example. I also understand that there is an MoU between this Sleep-in Hotel, Casino and the Government and we always speak about the sanctity of contracts and government and we expect that that is adhered to and respected,” Indar said.

Completed in 2016, the hospitality and gaming facility; Carnival Casino, cost some US$20 million.

The applications for a casino licence was denied

by the Gaming Authority because Bacchus failed to provide proof of “its financial soundness and capability,” which was critical for approval.

The Proprietor has since been putting together additional paperwork requested. Bacchus had said he submitted documents to the Gaming Authority that establish the source of his financing including loans from local commercial banks secured by mortgages, along with monies from an overseas investor secured by loan agreements and mortgages.

Bacchus, who has been in the local hotel industry for over 15 years, has already employed and trained some 300 Guyanese to staff the new branch.

But since its opening is in limbo, those persons were forced to seek alternative employment.

fter signing a bad deal with Exxon Mobil, the government now accepts that it has no experienced people in the oil and gas filed and will be searching worldwide for the best experts and professionals to staff the Department of Energy in the Ministry of the Presidency (MotP).

Given that the country is new to the oil and gas sector, President David Granger last week admitted that the pool of local experts in the field is limited and so staffing to the new department will be a challenge.

“It is bound to be a challenge because this is an international industry. We are aiming at a world-class industry so we have to get the best persons.

We obviously have to attract the best people from around ht world. We are not attempting to avoid that responsibility,” the Guyanese Head-of-State told reporters at an event hosted at State House this morning.

The President office has taken over responsibility for the oil sector.

A few months ago, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman announced that it a Department of Energy will be established and will have oversight for all matters relating to the development of the country’s emerging petroleum sector.

This would mean that the Ministry of Natural Resources would no longer have responsibility for the sector and that the Minister of State Joseph Harmon would now be the country’s point-person in this field.

Minister Trotman is said to be heading a task-force to work out the logistics in setting up the Department of Energy.

The task force comprises the Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, and Minister of Public Telecommunications Cathy Hughes as well as the Minister of State.

President Granger said he hopes to provide another update on the establishment of the new unit next month.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Moment in history Message from His Excellency Dr Cheddi Jagan President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in honour of Energy Week 1994

E

nergy is one of the most vital physical needs of humanity. In our world, people’s access to sources of energy is a crucial factor in the development of nations.

The industrial revolution was a very important juncture in world history, because of the decisive manner in which it allowed some countries to advance and caused others to fall into varying states of dependency. In this division, those who controlled the traditional sources of energy became dominant.

Guyana, like so many other developing countries has been a victim of this dependence which was intensified by centuries of colonial bondage. We have not been able to strike oil, although being in the geographical neighbourhood of three significant oil producers. Yet at the same time, our consumption habits are generally oil (petroleum) based.

Electricity in every home and factory is an assumed service crucial to essential processes as well as for devices for comfort and luxury.

And most of the electricity we generate is oil based.

Our transportation services - motor cycles, cars, buses, trucks, boats or aeroplanes are also oil based. So too are our instruments of production whether in manufacturing, construction or agriculture.

The result is that Guyana consumes annually petroleum products imported at a cost of over US$60 million. When we take our fuel bill and add it to our debt payments we arrive at the impossible situation where

imports eat up most of our export earnings.

While serious attempts are being made to reduce drastically our debt and to increase our exports, drastic reduction in our oil import bill must be vigorously pursued if we are to improve significantly our country.

For Government, this is a top priority. A team of top officials in the energy sector worked for several months on a complete review of the energy sector and made recommendations for a new thrust in the satisfaction of Guyana’s energy needs. I am happy to say that Cabinet has recently approved of a national energy plan which places emphasis on a rapid shift towards the utilisation of renewable sources of en-

ergy.

Indeed, steps have already been taken in this direction. Discussions are going on with potential investors for the development of a major hydropower station and for the utilisation of bagasse at sugar estates to produce electricity. When completed, these projects will make a meaningful contribution to the reduction of our dependence on imported fuel.

Meanwhile, efforts are also being made to develop mini and micro hydropower stations and small units on locations at rice mills and sawmills to utilise their industrial waste to generate electricity.

Government is also prepared to support efforts by

the business community to develop all feasible ventures for the utilisation of renewable sources of energy. Solar power and wide power can be put to a wide range of uses. The initial capital cost is often a discouragement although the long term benefits are compensatory.

The Institute of Applied Science and Technology and the Energy Authority have been given the task of identifying simple and low cost devices and to popularise them among all Guyanese.

The lending institutions are expected to play their part also in helping interested customers to acquire such devices.

Renewable sources of energy are not only a source of balance of payments im-

provement, but also are more environmentally friendly than the use of fossil fuels.

There is therefore an added incentive for us to pursue very seriously these alternative forms.

A few days ago, when I opened the 5th Caricom Regional Science, Technology and Mathematics Fair, I saw several very innovative displays by the students, some of whom are still in primary school. These included very simple arrangements for the use of alternative sources of energy. I hope that the IAST and entrepreneurs can use this inspiration from our younger generations to duplicate their efforts on a commercial scale.

Another lesson from the students of the Caribbean

was the need to save on energy. Energy conservation is the other major plank of our national energy policy.

Too much energy is being wasted on a daily basis. In homes and offices, unnecessary lights, air conditioners, fans, etc. not only increase the individual expenditure but also pushes up the national fuel bill. The same goes for transportation. Because of the huge increase in the number of buses and taxis on our roads, there is a large under-utilisation of individual vehicles.

We must not do things because we can personally afford to do so even if there is massive waste. We must think of the plight of the less fortunate and the country at large. Energy saved means dollars saved; dollars saved means greater and faster development.

Government is doing all it can to make the lives of Guyanese more comfortable.

And this includes the improvement of our electricity service. You will recall the miserable situation my government inherited. Special efforts have been made to upgrade this service. Repairs have been done and new units have been put in place.

Isolated areas have or are about to receive electricity.

We want to satisfy all of the nation’s needs. We do not have the means of doing so immediately. But we can reduce the wait by saving on material financial resources.

I urge you on World energy Day, 1994 to safeguard and encourage the gains we are making.

Use energy wisely!

Corruption: REO handpicks driver for top position, free housing

A

heavy duty driver attached to the Region Five Administration was handpicked by the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Ovid Morrison for a top position and he is now benefiting from free housing and utilities.

The driver’s name is Frank Wilson and the REO and his staff were on Monday unable to inform the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of when he started working with the region.

While being employed as

the substantive “heavy duty driver”, Wilson was given permission by the REO to perform the functions of a Transport Officer to certify and sign off payments for maintenance works done to vehicles and for fuel and spares purchases.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities, Emile McGarrell told PAC that he was not comfortable with the fact that the driver is authorizing and signing off payments for his own vehicles.

REO Morrison said the region had written the Department of Public Service to fill the position of a substantive Transport Officer and in January 2016, a response was provided instructing that the vacancy is “widely” advertised.

However, Morrison told the PAC that this was not done as he felt that the heavy duty driver was performing the functions of the Transport Officer effectively and so he recommended that Wilson is hired.

Morrison said he informed the Public Service Department that an interview was conducted with Wilson and permission was granted in January 2018 for him to be employed. A oneyear contract was signed with Wilson on February 15, 2018.

PAC Member Juan Edghill inquired how Wilson was interviewed when there were no postings of the vacancy and the REO said he wanted the driver to take up the position because he felt

he was doing a good job.

But PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali contended that the process of advertising is to ensure there is “efficiency, accountability, fairness and transparency”.

“Part of the reasoning behind putting the posting is to ensure every single person has equal access and opportunity,” Ali said.

It is unclear how long the driver has been employed with the region before he began to perform the duties of the Transport Officer.

Based on questioning, the REO admitted that the same heavy duty driver is among nineteen persons who are benefiting from free housing at the expense of the State.

According to the Auditor General Report, the staff are occupying the regional living quarters even though they were not entitled to such benefits.

In addition to free housing, the officers were given furniture and the utilities were paid by the State.

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

13

GS visits Toronto

14

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Hamper distribution in Berbice to sugar workers

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

15

Laluni sports gear distribution

16

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

International financial groups distance selves from Rusal …over 500 Guyanese workers in limbo

A

lthough the Russian Government has announced plans to provide Rusal with short-term liquidity and other assistance owing to the US sanctions it is now faced with, several international financial groups have distanced themselves from the shares, bonds and metal of the aluminium giant.

Reuters has reported that shares of the company will be deleted from global equity and debt indexes while its metal will not be allowed on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the CME Group. The company will also be deleted from FTSE Russell’s equity indexes effective from the open on April 13.

Rusal will also be excluded on April 30 from

JPMorgan’s CEMBI index group of emerging market corporate bonds. Also, Bloomberg users in Europe have stopped displaying share prices of Rusal, EN+ Group and Swiss pumpmaker Sulzer, all of which are subject to the sanctions, Reuters also reported.

Rusal’s shares on the Hong Kong index have slumped by half since the sanctions were imposed on Friday and they gave up another 1.9 per cent on Wednesday.

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev claimed that the new sanctions were an attempt to capture global markets for US companies.

On the local front, however, Government said it was monitoring develop-

ments relating to the sanctions. Rusal is one of the largest aluminium producers in the world and has operations in Guyana in the form of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), employing over 500 persons, whose jobs could be in limbo as a result of the crash the company is facing on the international market.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge said on Wednesday that it would not be easy to give an immediate analysis of the situation, but the developments were being monitored. He said the Administration was concerned as to any adverse consequences the situation may have on employment of locals.

“But at this point in

Action Plan for the Sustainable Development of Guyana Below are some aspects of the PSC’s Action Plan submitted to the government for consideration:

time, I don’t think that either we or the company would be in a position to say ‘this is what will happen tomorrow’ as a consequence. It (the situation) will evolve,” the Minister stated.

Shocked Guyana Times spoke with a few of Rusal’s employees, who chose to remain anonymous, to see how they were affected by the issue of the sanctions.

An employee said ships could not enter at the moment, but operations were normal apart from the loading of the barges.

The employee said workers were shocked to learn of the issue as they thought the company would be shut down. However, it was explained that employees were told by management at a meeting on Wednesday that the company should not be affected by the sanctions, but was awaiting word from the parent company which should be forthcoming by April 15.

“They say is just some things got to put in place and back, we back in operation (loading of barges).

Everybody just working

as per normal. Ships can’t come in, so it ain’t make no sense loading the barges here…if they load the stuff and leave it there with stuff inside, the company that Rusal hire would have to pay more money. When the barge is empty, they pay less money. So they just cease the operations from loading barges. By the 15th, we’re supposed to get a word to start back the operation,” employees said.

They added that in the meantime, mining was still ongoing in Aroaima. “We still hoping that by the 15th we could start back in operation. If not, I think the whole country would suffer, because we have about 700 workers here and in the Berbice River, we don’t have anything else to do.

Five hundred workers can’t do farming. It would be great pressure on us so we’re hoping, but in the meantime we could try to prepare.”

The employee said this should serve as an eye opener for the company to ensure necessary plans were in place. Another employee attached to the company explained that while workers

were currently working as per normal with the 12-hour shift, the company that usually shipped bauxite from Rusal to New Amsterdam took back the barges so that aspect of work was presently at a standstill.

Workers further explained that suppliers were refusing to do business with the company at the moment owing to the sanctions.

“Right now things ain’t looking too nice,” one employee said. The employee also complained about the working conditions at the company, noting that local employees were still being ill-treated, especially those attached to the Union. “If they can pay us off and go back to wherever they come from, it would be good for me,” the worker said.

The US Treasury on April 6 announced sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, saying they were profiting from a Russian State engaged in “malign activities” around the world. These included Oleg Deripaska, Rusal, and his newly-created holding company EN+ Group.

(Guyana Times)

Bulkan drags along PNC’s Region Four Chair to meet Region Three NDCs …ignores democratically-elected Region Three Chairman

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he bullyism and utter disregard for the independence of local authority has once again raised its head in the person of PNC’s Ronald Bulkan, who currently serves as Minister of Community after he has shown disregard for the elected officials of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), including the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Elected Regional Chairman, Julius Faeber and drag along an RDC chairperson from another region to meet with Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) in that region, Region Three RDC officials have said.

Bulkan, according to RDC officials, did not invite the Region Three Chairman

to be part of his delegation to meet with the NDCs, but opted for Genevive Allen, the Chairperson of Region Four who delivered the charge to the NDC officials.

A Region Three RDC official has condemend the actions of Bulkan, noting that it was a complete disrespect to Feaber and the other elected RDC Counillors.

“This is what you call total disregard for elected officials, how could any sensible minister, more so a minister who preaches about allowing local democratic organs to function independently and respect, will choose to drag along the chair of region fopur to talk to NDCs in another region and totally ignore the democratically-elected chair of that region?” the

official asked.

The official went on to describe Bulkan’s actions are “sheer bullyism”.

The official further stated that this seems to be the new trend of Bulkan and other Government Ministers in the Regions that they have not been able to win a majority. The APNU/AFC won a meager three of the 10 Administrative Regions in the 2015 General and Regional Elections and barely muster about 1/3 of the votes in the last local government elections.

With local government elections due this year, many believe that the PNC-led APNU/AFC Government is seeking to bully its way by pushing its officials in areas that the party lacks support.

Corner

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Economic

Dr. Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA, (Economic Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition)

Granger, Jordan caught sleeping again …sugar workers must eye Govt. response to bauxite (Rusal) woes

G

uyana’s Finance Minister and its President have once again been caught sleeping at the economic wheel that is the driver of this country’s wealth. This time falling prey to the spinoff effects of the Trump Administration’s sanctions against Russia that will ultimately lead to the direct loss of hundreds of jobs and even more losses in the our

foreign exchange earnings.

But the move against Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to freeze all of its US assets will no doubt have crippling effect on Rusal and by implication its Guyana operations.

While the full extent of the effect of the sanctions on Rusal and its impact on Guyana are still to be determined, the development has

once again exposed a weakness in the David Granger administration to accurately forecast international developments and put in place mitigation strategies.

Recall the ban on cat-fish (Gillbacka) from Guyana.

The US administration had informed Guyanese authorities of the impending ban months before its implementation. Not only did the Guy-

17 ana government not inform fisher-folks of the coming ban, but at best it ignored the situation - consequently many more now already talking of closing down their operations as a result of the loss of the profitable markets.

Two more striking examples come to mind, the ban on the import of Guyana’s lumber into the United Kingdom and the loss of the Venezuela rice contract, which Granger's administration knew was coming to an end, but did not pursue a new deal.

Time and again, David Granger's administration and his weak finance Minister Winston Jordan not only misled the nation on their dealings, but are ‘caught with their pants down’ when the signs of impending hardships can clearly be seen.

News of the financial demise of the Russian-owned company has generated debate and interest across the world, but in Guyana the administration has remained silent.

The Union representing workers to its credit has at least publicly stated it is analyzing the situation and the impact on its more than 500 workers.

With export earnings on

the decline ever since taking office, the Administration - after imposing 200 new taxes on the population has now resorted to contract massive loans and go on a public relations campaign to mislead the nation that new money is flowing into Guyana, which it is, but all debt, no revenues. With no new revenues coming into our nation, at some point soon, we will go into a tail spin and more so, see our exchange rates skyrocket.

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has now gone to the Islamic Development Bank and secured what he calls a resource envelope—tantamount to a loan - but in the absence of any specific plans by the administration it is clear that the Government is resorting to debt to run the country.

He only backpedaled after the Opposition Leader, Bharat Jagdeo, myself and others called him out.

The hope by Granger is that oil revenues will be coming soon and this will bail out Guyana from its debt but based on any independent review of the PSA with Exxon Mobil, there is no transformational levels of revenues to be had from Guyana’s oil in the near future. Even international

analysts are cautioning us on the deal.

David Granger and his cohorts have now done what Forbes Burnham and the PNC took 28 years to do in just about three years.

Guyana’s foreign exchange earnings continue to give slimmer and slimmer returns each year, the foreign reserves is now being used/ abused and now even more jobs to be lost.

A bailout of Rusal and a Government take-over of the Berbice Operations is not out of the question, but will no doubt become an additional strain on the economy.

Will the David Granger government bail out the Guyana bauxite industry traditionally seen as supportive of the PNC - or like the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), complain that the load is too great to bear and shut the industry down?

If the PPP administration had not revived the Bauxite industry that the PNC ruined, the price would have been paid long time ago.

Businesses in Guyana and no doubt the sugar workers will be critically looking to see what action the David Granger administration will take in the bauxite industry, if any.

The PPP vision and recent public/private investment initiatives

By Eddi Rodney

O

ver the past fortnight, two critical credit capital and public private sectorial agreements or proposals have become part of local discussion, and even tended to temporarily sidebar the ongoing Exxon Mobil/GoG Oil and Gas exploration agreement.

The most recent is the Development Plan elaborated by the major stakeholders in the Private Sector Commission (PSC), that was handed over to Minister Joseph Harmon on April 5 2018.

LOCAL INITIATIVES CONVERGE WITH THE SOCIAL DEMANDS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH The PSC initiative practically brings into sharper focus a private sector investment and partnership tendency that concentrates on the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).

This programme aims at achieving sustainable growth in every sector of Guyana’s national economy within the guidelines and set goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 (as in SN September 20 2017).

In real terms, as PSC chairman Mr. Eddi Boyer noted recently, the PSC has

“great hopes” in the engagement with the government process, specifically on issues regarding extractive, as well as services sectors. It is these sectors that Minister Jordan has identified (i.e. gold, diamonds, seafood and tourism), as having the short term premium for growth The PSC chairman also noted the prospects for oil and gas.

Boyer has also observed that any public/private partnership could result in the reverse (at some level) of the brain drain and ultimately create employment.

In this regard, it ought to be recalled that successive PPP/C Administrations earmarked large capitalisation revenues towards the infrastructural transformation of Guyana, and there has been a steady expansion in the construction sector, including macro projects such as the improvement of wharfage and dockside facilities.

Indeed, were it not for the negative attitude of the PNC/ APNU, the Amaila Falls Energy Project, at this stage, would have advanced much further towards sustainable development in Energy.

It also should be borne in mind that the experience with the APNU-AFC Business Minister Mr. Dominic Gaskin has not served to

encourage investors, mainly due to the absence of a cohesive strategy.

In reality, it could be due to this situation that there has been a more proactive response from both the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA). These two principal stakeholders, together with the Guyana Gold Miners Association have converged to effect a relative advocacy for public/ private collaboration (see SN Business page, April 5 2018. The time may be right for public/private sector summit).

THE FIRST STAGE PPP/C INITIATIVE FOR TRADE DIVERSIFICATION It would also be instructive to not underestimate the reluctance of the APNU-AFC administration to heed sound business advice, notably and most significant with regard to the closure of sugar producing estates in Demerara and Berbice.

The other development that progressive Guyanese would not have failed to notice is the announcement of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) plan to provide Guyana with US$900M as part of an agreement for

the three-year, (2018-2029) period.

Local economists, including Donald Ramotar, Peter Ramsaroop, as well as Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo would over the short term have cause to discuss the various aspects of this important package.

However, it is worth observing that it was Dr. Cheddi Jagan as early as the 1993 United Nations General Assembly who called for a New Dialogue between the Industrialised North and the underdeveloped South (or the Advanced capitalist states and the peripheral non Industrialised States).

Jagan, it is known, was successful in lobbying several developing countries in the era of the post/Lome, post G--77 and World Trade Organisation (WTO) ‘division’ of International Trade.

His position was that the mainly non-oil producing states required Special Assistance to enable sustainable development in the process of putting forward his Guyana Plan

Dr. Jagan gained the support of a number of Middle East States, whose foreign policy included the strategic issue of Solidarity with the People of Palestine Jagan also was admired for his plans to Transform Guyana into the Breadbasket of the Region.

During November 1996, he visited Kuwait, Syria Ba’at Republic, Bahrain and Qatar.

Dr. Jagan was not unfamiliar with the trade policies of the major or majority share members of the Islamic Development Bank .

His vision was to develop working relationships with these Islamic Bank territories, particularly at the institutional levels of the

UNFAO (United Nations Food & Agricultural Organisation), and equally important perhaps the UNESCO. He assigned M. George Hallaq, then Guyana’s special Middle East representative to lobby for this country’s inclusion in decision making forum addressing Trade Policy Reform (eg the Doha Round).

His vision was not limited to economic relations but was more broad based to include special scholarships and exchange of technologies Against this historical background the 2018 Islamic Development Bank Agreement ought to be evaluated.

The reality, moving forward, supports the view of this country developing into a Middle Income Country by 2025 or thereabouts, but that can only benefit all the Guyanese people on condition that ethnic insecurity is addressed and criminal networks effectively dismantled. The focus on a nonracial multi ethnic pathway must be consistent and uninterrupted.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

THE HINTERLAND CONNECTION

THE MACUSHI - PART 1

By Jagnarine Somwar

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istorically, the Macushi are also known as the Macusi, Macussi, Makushi, Makusi, Makuxi, Teueia, and Teweya people.

The Macushi (Portuguese: Macuxi) are an indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela. A 2001 census of the tribe recorded 19,000 in Brazil, 9500 in Guyana and 83 in Venezuela. Their religious practice was mostly, and continue be Roman Catholicism.

T h i s n a t i o n w a s d escribed by Richard Schomburgh as one of the most beautiful tribes in Guyana; they were uniquely skilled in the preparation of the deadly ‘curare’ poison, which they brew, to use on the tips of their arrows.

In Guyana they live in the Northern Rupununi Savannahs, and were especially noted for their love of order.

Macushi people speak the Macushi language, a Macushi-Kapon language, which is part of the Carib language family. Some in Brazil also speak Portuguese, while some in Venezuela speak Spanish, and some in Guyana speak English. The Macushi language is written in the Latin script, and the New Testament was translated into the language in 1996.

They live in villages linked together by tracks and paths, with houses built round a central courtyard.

When married, the Macushi couple lives in the wife's

family's village and the father-in-law is of great importance in Macushi kinship, however over the years this traditional way of life has changed to the extent that its practices are not been seen as significant.

Macushi oral history describes them as descendants of the sun's children, who created fire, as well as diseases, and they also believe they discovered Washacá, the Tree of Life.

The Macushi believe in the life principle – stkaton – and they believe it comes from the sun.

Cuthbert Cary-Elwes, a Jesuit missionary settled among the Macushi of the Rupununi Region in 1909, learned the language and stayed with them for more than 23 years.

During the 18th century, non-native people occupied Macushi territory, establishing mission villages and farms and forced the Macushi people to relocate.

The Brazilian Government has set up schools, as well as hospitals for the Macushi and since 2005 they are campaigning for land rights to be recognized throughout Brazil. Some individuals from the Macushi tribe are very well educated. In the trial for the land rights, Joênia Batista de Carvalho Wapichna was the first lawyer with indigenous roots to give a speech in the STF (Superior Tribunal Federal).

Present day, the opportunities for those that applied themselves diligently are not being rewarded as were in the days under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government. One

Headteacher of Machusi lineage from a remote village in Region 9 mentioned that the lack of modern teaching aids is a source of concern.

"We have no internet and no computers, so we are at a disadvantage. It makes me feel guilty at national assessment time... we just don't have the resources," he said. "Even the newspapers we get here can be a week late," he added.

Moco-Moco in Region 9, once a sleepy conglomeration of traditional thatched-roof homes of almost 450 Macushi people was home to the Hydro Electric Project that had to be ceased because the penstock (a sluice for

controlling or directing the flow of water) was damaged by a devastating landslide, in July 2003, resulting in a cessation of operations. In this part of the Rupununi Savannah, scarlet macaws squawk from palm trees and tapir, deer and paca - which villagers still hunt using bows and arrows - roam wild. Cassava crops, a staple food for millennia, fringe the settlement, which is linked to the nearest town by a long road dotted with potholes. On either side, giant termite mounds hold sway over the windswept plains like silent sentries.

This is simply the Macushi’s territory and environment.

The Macushi and all

other Amerindian tribes may have been the first people to inhabit Guyana and they still make up more than one 10th of the Guyanese population. But they are also among the country's most marginalized.

Sparse infrastructure and employment opportunities are obvious side-effects of life in isolated locations. Some say they are discriminated against as well. Others describe a loss of identity, as a rich culture dating back 11,000 years is gradually eroding.

On top of that, there are increased threats to Amerindians' agrarian lifestyle from climate change, and encroachment on their historical land from the mining

industry, a bulwark of Guyana's economy.

Thomas George, a former "Toshao” of Moco-Moco, says the lack of jobs drives "young brain-boxes" to the city, diminishing the community's strength and changing weather patterns pose a constant threat to agriculture. "When we expect sun we get rain, and when we expect rain we get sun.

That affects food supplies," Mr. George said."If the season changes and the floods come, it all goes down the drain."

Indigenous cuisine is something of a dying art as are traditional crafts and even dialect. A recently-opened youth centre aims to teach young Amerindians about their heritage, with classes on everything from the Macushi language to cooking pepperpot "The school follows the national curriculum and that doesn't cater much for indigenous culture," a teacher said.

"It's up to teachers to find our own ways of integrating culture into it."

The struggle of the Macushi people has been continuous since the APNU+AFC Coalition took Government in 2015 but because of their principal position and endurance they are prevailing under the difficult conditions, for survival. Their optimism of a prosperous and progressive future for their people lies in the PPP taking back power in 2020.They are aware and acknowledge without fear that their support for the PPP has brought the wrath of this present dictatorial regime on them.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Wasteful, corrupt borrowing is Union analysing effect on Guyana’s bauxite workers at Rusal – Lewis now the hallmark of Granger A Administration – Jagdeo

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s new emerge that the A Partnership for National Unity /Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) government is moving to borrow in excess $220B, Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has declared that the manner in which the David Granger government is bowering is wreaked of corruption and excessiveness.

Jagdeo’s comments were relative to a recent disclosure that the government has borrowed in excess of $220B from external partners via a GuySuCo bond and an Islamic Bank loan in a matter of days, an amount that is almost equivalent to Guyana’s external debt when the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) left office in 2015.

“Borrowing without feasibility studies and spending haphazardly with no vision or plan, particularly in the wasteful and corrupt manner that is now the hallmark of the Granger-led Administration will not solve the economic malaise that we face, but lead to pawning the wellbeing of current and future generations of Guyanese,” Jagdeo said in a brief statement.

The former president and

finance minister said that the massive growth in the size of the national budgets, primarily on consumption, could not be financed by the hefty increase in taxation; so this hopelessly misguided APNU government had to resort to large scale borrowing. ” This failed approach to national economic management was tried in the past.

It led to a bankrupt country and resulted in devastating consequences for our people. I am sure everyone would recall that the external debt was over 900 per cent of GDP in 1992, which was reduced to 36 per cent of GDP in 2015. They plan to double it again within give years,” the Opposition Leader stated.

He promised to further address the matter upon return from an overseas engagement.

However, the Ministry of Finance denied Guyana borrowed any money from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and claimed that the country could potentially tap into a total of US$900 million in loans and grants “Guyana has not received any loans from the

Islamic Development Bank,” the Finance Ministry said, adding that, “Contrary to that conclusion, the IsDB has a resource envelope of US900M that is potentially available from which the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana can borrow.”

However the state-owned and government-controlled Guyana Chronicle newspaper reported Finance Minister Winston Jordan reported to the 43rd Annual Meeting of the IsDB Group in Tunisiaaying that The Islamic Development Bank in 2017 fielded a work programme in Guyana for a three year period – commencing 2018- in which financial and technical assistance to the tune of US$900M will be directed into the country’s key development areas, including economic infrastructure, rural development, human development and trade and competitiveness.

There were reports in several sections of the media in recent days regarding the US$900M loan, however, it was only after Jagdeo exposed the heavy-handed borrowing on Saturday, that the ministry sought to deny the loan.

PSC submits development strategy to Govt on how to run the country

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n the absence of any clealy defined development strategy from the government the Private Sector Commission, last week, officially submitted a document to the APNU+AFC with tons of tips on what needs to be done to ensure the country and the business community thrives.

The government has been severely criticized for not heeding calls to provide a plan for the economic and social development of the country.

The plan by the private sector is wide-ranging and they covered issues such as Economic Stability, Export Markets/Trade, Competition and Consumer Protection Policy, Taxation Policy, Export Promotion and Facil-

itation, Access to Finance, Human Capital Development, Business Development Services, Infrastructure, Energy, Bureaucratic Procedures, Land and Property Markets, Sector Policies, Contract Manufacturing/ Services Exports, Business and Eco-Tourism and Governance & Legal Architecture.

According to the PSC, if these issues are addressed, it can lead to the development of Guyana entirely.

The PSC was particularly peeved about the tax regime under the APNU+AFC administration as most of its recommendations on this matter are to reverse decisions made within the last two years.

These include to review VAT on Water and Electricity, review of Corporate Tax, review of Personal Income Tax and review of measure imposed to transfer Zero-Rated items to exempt – a decision which imposed taxes on basic products and services.

The PSC is also advising the government to work assiduously to improve public spending.

The plan asks government to address this country’s brain drain even as it puts measures in place to assess the strengths and weakness of the current policy framework for the retention and attraction of skills and to identify policy options for improving skill retention and attraction.

s Rusal’s stocks continue to crash on the world market, President of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU) Lincoln Lewis said the Union is in the process of analysing the effects of the United States sanctions against Russian business tycoon Oleg Deripaska, who is the main owner of the EN+ conglomerate, which is the co-owner of Rusal.

Rusal is one of the largest aluminum producers in the world and has operations in Guyana in the form of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), employing over 500 persons. The Government is yet to officially make a statement about the implications of the imposed sanctions on the future of the bauxite industry and efforts to contact Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman proved futile.

On Tuesday, when Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge was asked to comment on the matter, he said he had no comment thus far on the matter.

According to reports, the sanctions against Rusal have caused aluminum prices to surge since the sanctions freeze all of the company’s assets under the US jurisdiction. Additionally, the trading price for benchmark aluminum on the London Metal Exchange hit its highest level in more than a month. Reuters reported that as of Monday Rusal’s shares plunged as much as 41.8 per cent as the implications of the sanctions are being realised.

Deripaska has also been charged in US special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation regarding Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.

In light of all this information, Lewis told Guyana Times that after he got wind of the sanctions, a meeting was called to discuss the implications but they had to rely on just reports, hence the discussions came to a standstill.

“Because we just had media reports, we were not able to have a fruitful meeting so this morning (Tuesday) we wrote to the United States Embassy asking for a copy of the order so that we have all the information and we can analyse the situation,” he said.

“We may get the order sometime during the week but at the end of the week, we will be able to say what the impact would be on the bauxite industry and the people involved in it,” Lewis added.

Meanwhile, a senior management official at BCGI said they are yet to receive information from their Moscow headquarters about the implications of the sanction on the local sector. The manager said they are monitoring the situation since Friday, but thus far, operations are progressing normally.

The US Treasury Department in a statement on Friday announced the sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies they either owned or controlled and 17 senior Government officials, who Washington said were profiting from the Russian Government’s engagement in “a range of malign activities” around the world.

“Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their Government’s destabilising activities,” the US statement added.

The Treasury Department warned that US entities would be “generally prohibited” from dealings with the persons and firms on the sanctions list, while added that companies outside the United States could face sanctions for “knowingly facilitating significant transactions for or on behalf of” the sanctioned entities.

A report published by Reuters on Friday said the US Government’s decision to include Deripaska on its sanctions blacklist will reverberate around the world because his business empire has a global footprint and counts major multinationals as partners.

Deripaska, estimated by Forbes magazine, is to have a net worth of $6.7 billion, is the main owner of the conglomerate EN+, which in turn is the co-owner of some of the world’s biggest metals producers, Rusal and Nornickel.

According to the international news agency, Deripaska’s inclusion on the US sanctions list could potentially create complications too for companies with which he does business; they include German car giant Volkswagen and commodities trader Glencore.

Rusal, Reuters reported, had said it regretted its inclusion on the US sanctions list, adding that its advisors were studying the situation. Hong Kong-listed Rusal is one of the world’s biggest aluminum producers. It says exports to the United States account for over 10 per cent of its output.

Rusal owns assets in Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, Guyana, and Guinea.

It owns a stake in Australian QAL, the world’s top alumina refinery.

Private Sector wants sugar refinery, distillery

T

he Private Sector Commission (PSC) has formally proposed that the Government pursue the establishment of a sugar refinery and a distillery in an effort to keep the industry viable.

Last week, the PSC submitted an Action Plan for the

Sustainable Development of Guyana to the Government.

The plan covers a myriad of issues facing the local business sector.

Regarding the sugar sector, the PSC said the privatization and diversification of the sugar industry should see ethanol production from

sugarcane.

The PSC also said there is a need for cogeneration and the development of new products such as Demerara Gold for value-addition.

Further, the Commission recommended the expansion of the operations at the Blairmont Sugar Estate.

20

Released convict back in jail for armed robbery

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Bandits caught in stolen car after attempted robbery

S

ome two months following his release from prison after he served an 18-month sentence, 24-year-old Patrick Goodluck is back in jail again for armed robbery.

The young man of North Sophia appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court where he pleaded not guilty to being armed with a knife and robbing Felicity Carmichael of $273,000 worth in items on February 25, 2018, at Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

According to a police report, Goodluck held the woman at knifepoint and demanded that she hand over her money and other valuables. He escaped on foot; a report was made to the police, Goodluck was arrested and positively identified by the victim.

Police Prosecutor, Simon Payne objected to bail based on the fact that he is a repeat

Three of the masked armed men attempt to break the businessman’s door

S offender. Bail was denied and he was remanded to prison until May 2, 2018.

In 2016, Goodluck was jailed after being found guilty of attempted robbery.

AFC official named in Linden Town week pageant sexual assault allegations

T

he Alliance For Change (AFC) says it is aware of a social media post regarding an alleged incident which took place in Linden some time ago and in which a member of the party’s Region 10 Regional Management Committee has been named.

A brief statement from the AFC noted that the party leadership has communicated with the named member and the party will launch its own investigation into the matter and act in accordance with the findings.

“The AFC reiterates its strong revulsion of any mistreatment of females and will take appropriate action should any misconduct in this, or any other regard, be proven.”

Meanwhile, the Linden Mayor and Town Council is refuting claims that it attempted to sweep under the carpet an allegation of sexual misconduct made by one of the delegates for the upcoming Linden Town Week Pageant.

“Contrary to stated opinion, the Mayor did not in any way attempt to trivialise the issue or to sweep anything under the carpet…this allegation is a malicious, fallacious attempt to deliberately smudge the Office of the Mayor,” the council said.

In a widely shared social media post, it is alleged that a businessman from Amelia’s Ward, Linden, during March 2018 made sexual advances towards the delegates when they were at his premises to seek sponsorship.

The post alleged that the town council which is responsible for the pageant is trying to cover up the matter, and officials are trying to buy or threaten the victims into silence.

In a statement on Monday, the Council said the matter is under investigation.

“Aiding or abetting any activity or set of activities and behaviours that are demeaning to women or any other individual or group of individuals is incompatible with the council’s ideals,” the

statement said.

The council noted that no staff is permitted to divulge unverified information on the matter since “it is strictly a matter of procedure, especially in sensitive cases like this one, that the Council conducts its independent investigation of the issue so that when a report is published, it is with information that we would have gathered for verification.”

It confirmed that the investigation revealed that an incident occurred on March 3rd, 2018 and the said matter was settled between the parties involved on March 6th, 2018. The matter was on March 16th taken to the Mayor who was told that it is with the police, the council said.

The council alleged that it was later told on Sunday, April 1st, 2018, that the matter was not settled but the Mayor was later informed that the young woman does not wish to further the issue.

Linden town week is set to begin on April 22 and finish on May 01.

ix men were caught in a stolen Toyota Premio during a roadblock at Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD), moments after they attempted to rob a poultry farmer at Supply, EBD on Tuesday evening.

Those in custody include a 30-year-old taxi driver from Sisters Village, West Bank Demerara; a 33-year-old trader of Charlotte Street, Bourda; a 31-year-old fish vendor of Albouystown; a 39-year-old taxi driver of Parfaite Harmonie, WBD; a 27-year-old of South Ruimveldt, Georgetown and a 30-year-old trader of Independence Boulevard, Albouystown.

The suspected bandits were intercepted in motor-car HC 4543, in which police found a sledgehammer, two

pairs of unused latex gloves, $1,420 in cash, trade plates marked ‘Akbar 2’, a red haversack; two Glock 9 mm pistols and 11 rounds of ammunition, a black Beretta pistol with 11 rounds and one .32 Taurus pistol, with six live rounds.

These items were found on the floor of the car by the police. Upon examination, the police observed that the number PVV 6204 was engraved on the windscreen and lights of the car.

At around 20:00hrs, a 27-year-old man turned up at the Grove Police Station and identified the car as belonging to his grandmother. The man told the police that the car was hijacked on March 25, 2018, at Princes Street, while he was working taxi.

Prior to the arrest of the six men, a Chinese businessman who operates a poultry farm, reported to police that he was at home with his two sons when at around 19:10hrs, he heard someone breaking down his eastern door.

The businessman said he then saw four men inside his yard, raised an alarm and the men escaped in a silver grey Premio motor car number – HC 4543, which was parked on the southern side of his home.

This information was filtered to the police and the roadblock was immediately set up.

The businessman’s home is equipped with several CCTV cameras and captured four masked, armed bandits attempting to break the door.

Two years jail for Stabroek Market robberies

A

34-year-old miner, Devon Holder, was on Tuesday sentenced to two years imprisonment each on two counts of robbery, which was committed in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, Georgetown.

The sentence was imposed by Magistrate Anneth Singh and will run concurrently.

Holder of Onderneeming, West Bank Demerara confessed that on January 9, 2018, at Stabroek Mar-

ket, he stole a chain valued $530,000 from Rafeek Mohammed.

According to reports, Holder was caught on CCTV camera stealing the chain and when confronted, he confessed and agreed to take the police to the place where he hid the item.

Holder also admitted to the armed robbery committed against Pamela Gibson of a gold chain worth $100,000 with the use of personal violence on April

5, 2018, at Stabroek Market.

According to reports, Gibson was shopping in the market area when Holder held a knife to her neck and relieved her of the chain.

He then took the chain to a goldsmith in the Alexander Village area, which was later retrieved.

Before imposing the 4-year sentence, the Magistrate took into consideration that Holder is a repeat offender and is often before the court on similar charges.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Goldsmith lands in Court for knowingly purchasing stolen gold chain A

goldsmith was strongly reprimanded by Magistrate Annette Singh at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday after he allegedly knowingly purchased a stolen gold chain.

Deonarine Nagoo of Alexander Village, Georgetown denied that on April 5 at First Street, Alexander Village, he knowingly purchased a chain, property of Komella Gibson, which was feloniously obtained.

According to the Police

Prosecutor’s facts, the defendant accepted the chain valued $100,000 for a mere $38,000.

However, Nagoo told the Court that he was unaware that the item was stolen and indicated that he was ready and willing to return same to the Virtual Complainant (VC).

The gold chain was shown to Gibson which she identified to be her’s and it was then handed over to her.

Magistrate Singh repri-

manded Nagoo explaining to him that he must have known that the chain was stolen, being a gold smith.

She told him that he was just as guilty as the person who stole the chain and “encourage these bad people to continue to do what they are doing”.

The VC however, after receiving her chain, moved to have the matter dismissed.

After given a sworn statement, Nagoo was told that he was free to go.

Lusignan inmate escapes custody while cleaning Prison officer’s yard

A

convicted prisoner identified as Deryck Oudkerk on Sunday escaped from the home of a prison officer in Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara after he and two others were sent there to provide labour services.

Director of Prisons (acting) Gladwin Samuels, confirmed the escape and stated that Oudkerk, who was sentenced in January of this year to 18 months in prison after he confessed to larceny, was serving his

time at the Lusignan prison.

23-year-old Oudkerk, of Upper Watooka Linden, who worked as a gold miner, had plead guilty to stealing a fuel pump, starter, six pails of diesel and a quantity of groceries valued $245,000, property of Sherwin Bernard at St. Elizabeth Mission and was jailed.

According to the Samuels, based on the report he received, Oudkerk was “cutting bushes with two other prisoners and was discovered missing just af-

ter 16:30 hours” on Sunday.

He noted that the Prison officer, of whose yard the inmates were cleaning, was the only officer supervising them.

Persons with information that can lead to the arrest of Deryck Oudkerk are asked to contact the Guyana Police Force on telephone numbers 226-4585, 2252700, 225-0593, 225-6411, 229-2750, 229-2019, 2682222, 268-2328, 268-2329, 911 or the nearest police station.

Elderly man remanded to prison for threatening to kill President

A

64-year-old man of Triumph, East Coast Demerara (ECD) appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann Mclennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, charged with threatening the life of the country’s Head of State, President David Granger.

Motilall Balkarran denied that March 20, 2018, he made a call to the 911 system at the Brickdam Police Station and threatened to kill President Granger by placing a bomb at his office at the Ministry of Presidency in Georgetown to cause public terror.

It is further alleged that

he made use of threatening language by calling the 911 telephone line and threatened to kill the president.

The elderly man denied both charges.

His lawyer, Tiffany Jef-

fery applied for bail on the grounds that there are multiple people living in her client’s home and that the police do not have any voice recognition systems in place to pinpoint her client as the perpetrator.

However, Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield objected to bail based on the seriousness of the charge.

The Chief Magistrate remanded Balkarran to prison in the interest of public safety. The case was adjourned to April 16, 2018, and transferred to the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court.

Armed bandits rob Diamond businesswoman, taxi driver

P

olice are now hunting two men who allegedly assaulted and robbed a 20-year-old shop owner in Diamond, East Bank Demerara on Monday morning, while pretending to be customers.

The victim has been identified as Fazeena Bacchus, also known as “Peaches” of Section “B”, Block “X” Diamond, East Bank Demerara.

The young woman recalled that the incident took place at around 10:00hrs, while she was home alone.

According to Bacchus, one of the bandits called at her shop with an empty five gallon water bottle in his hand. He explained that he wanted to purchase a bottle of water.

“The first one came to buy a five gallon bottle of water…So I asked him if I could look at the bottle [he brought]…When I looked at it, the bottle had a set of dents and so on [so I couldn’t accept it] So I told him he has to throw out the water and he said alright, so I gave him a big funnel [to use],” Bacchus said.

While the man was in the process of throwing the water out, the suspect reportedly called at the shop.

“The other guy now, he come from the other direction and he asked me for a big drink and he gave me $500…I bring the coke and

so, and I give him. So I give him back $220 from the $500. So he gave me back $100 and tell me if I could give he a lighter, and give he the change in cigarette [and I did]…then he give me back a next $100 and tell me he want a hundred dollar mint,” the young woman recounted.

She said that it was as she was about to hand over the mints that the other perpetrator –who had finished throwing out the water- grabbed her and pulled her into the grill which separated her from the customers.

The other suspect reportedly unlatched the door and Bacchus was pushed inside of her shop.

After realising what was happening, the young lady said that she began to scream, resulting in one of the bandits reportedly pushing a gun into her mouth, while ordering that she be quiet.

As she complied, the perpetrators, while reportedly

assaulting her, pushed her further into the home she shared with her husband, where they began to demand her cash and valuables.

The bandits then removed approximately $340,000 in cash from Bacchus’ bedroom, before pushing her to the ground and running back to the shop, where they reportedly stole over $200,000 in earnings and a mobile phone.

As they fled the scene, and upon noticing that neighbours had come out to investigate Bacchus’ screams, the suspects reportedly pounced on a taxi driver –who resided next door- and robbed him of an undisclosed sum of cash and valuables.

They also reportedly chased another neighbour up the streets, while screaming to each other “shoot him.”

Luckily, the Diamond resident managed to hide in a nearby yard.

The bandits then fled the area.

Zinc thief jailed for stealing water pump

A

man who was previously fined for stealing a zinc sheet from the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Sports Complex building found himself before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yet again; this time charged for stealing a water pump.

Andrew Arjune, 30, admitted to stealing the water pump valued $200,000 property of Doonauth Lalta from the Kitty Seawall on April 5 2018 when the charge was read to him

by City Magistrate Judy Latchman.

According to Police

Prosecutor, Arvin Moore, the defendant was seen by Police ranks walking along Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, with the pump on his shoulder and as a result he was stopped and questioned.

Further investigations carried out revealed that the pump was stolen from a contractor doing work at Vlissengen Road.

The man was called in and the pump was positively identified as well as the defendant.

As such Arjune was told of the offence, arrested and later charged with the crime.

After reminding Magistrate Latchman that he was previously charged, the defendant proceeded to beg for mercy.

In the previous charge, Arjune had also admitted to stealing the galvanized zinc on February 28 2018 at Thomas Lands, Georgetown. He received a $30,000 fine for that offence.

In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Latchman told the defendant that he needs to see that his actions are wrong.

She then sentenced him to spend the next 18 months in prison.

FITUG says free Lula!

22

T

he Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) joins with several international trade union bodies such as the ITUC, the ITF and the WFTU, as well as the Central Workers of Brazil (CTB) and the peace-loving and progressive-minded peoples of the world to express our strongest condemnation over what we contend is a politically-inspired decision by the Brazilian Courts to incarcerate the country’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The FITUG, is strongly of the view, that this manifestation is part of the orchestrated campaign to target and sordidly bring down one of the most outstanding and respected leaders of our continent.

It is incredulous, and for us unbelievable, that Lula, who commands such great respect and much admiration by not only millions of his countrymen and women but the downtrodden and democratic forces across the world, has been brazenly hounded by the economic interests, both local and foreign, several sections of the media and the

backward section of the military establishment to achieve their economic and political aims which they cannot secure from the ballot box. The FITUG sees these attempts as an ignoble attempt to tarnish and besmirch the proud legacy of President Lula who’s Government and Party implemented policies which lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty, provided land to the landless and improved his country’s image on the world stage.

We need to recall that the historic developments in South America whereby an anti-imperialist and pro-socialist movement emerged in the early years of the 21st century, and that by the year 2012 several outstanding progressive nationalist leaders had been elected to Government by the South American masses throughout the region: Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; Evo Morales in Bolivia; Rafael Correa in Ecuador; Nestor and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina; Fernando Lugo Mendez in Paraguay; Lula in Brazil; Jose “Pepe” Mujica in Uruguay; Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua; and Michelle

Bachelet in Chile and, of course, our own Cheddi Jagan in Guyana. These victories, in several ways, supplemented Fidel Castro’s revolutionary Cuba, which had been carrying the banner of socialism in the Americas and the Caribbean since 1959!

For our region, this was a truly historic development and constituted the high point of the centuries-long historic struggle of the masses of working-class and impoverished South Americans to transform the unequal, elitist, oppressive, capitalistic and oligarchical societies that had been foisted upon them ever since the Spanish, British and other forces colonized the region centuries ago.

Here then was a tremendous breakthrough in the progressive, working-class movement to develop new, just, equal and inclusive South American societies.

And the impressive results were there for all to see in the millions of people who were lifted out of poverty and the hundreds of new socially uplifting programs and institutions that were birthed in virtually all of the countries

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

in question, but especially in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

But of course, the powerful traditional South American oligarchical classes and institutions – and their state collaborators – did not simply fade away! Rather, they, in partnership with the international forces that seek world hegemony, have carried out a vicious and unprincipled counter-offensive in which they have deployed every conceivable weapon – ranging from economic sabotage, to trumped up corruption and impeachment charges – against the South American progressive, anti-imperialist leaders and their governmental administrations.

The tragic outline of this treasonous political, economic and judicial insurgency campaign against the South American progressive and revolutionary forces is as follows: 1. 2002 – the abortive coup of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the consistent harassment of him and his government; 2. 2012 – the impeach-

ment of Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo Mendez on ridiculous charges of “insecurity” and “nepotism”; 3. 2016 – the impeachment of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff on ludicrous charges of so-called “administrative misconduct” and “disregard for the federal budget” which is described as a ‘coup’ and which was extended to continue efforts to prevent Lula from contesting the up-coming Brazilian elections; 4. 2016 – the effort by the extreme rightist forces within the opposition in Venezuela to launch impeachment and recall processes against President Nicolas Maduro; 5. 2017 – the prosecution of Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner on a trumped up charge of “trying to defraud the government”; and 6. 2017 – the prosecution and conviction of Lula on an equally trumped up charge of accepting a bribe when he was president of Brazil, and so on.

And it should be emphasized that the witch hunts against both Lula and Cristina Kirchner are also “preemptive strikes” that are politically

rooted and aimed at denying them to be candidates in their country’s elections which they are favoured to win!

We fully comprehend that in this “war” which is being waged against the nationalist and other progressive forces of South America and the Caribbean that a variety of legal and constitutional processes are being twisted out of shape, bastardized and prostituted and used for illicit political purposes.

With this in mind, we hereby denounce the egregious injustice that has been inflicted on Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva! We wish him, the officers and members of the Workers Party of Brazil, and the masses of working-class Brazilians to know that we are in solidarity with them in this struggle.

We call upon all nations and governments that have a commitment to decency and justice to raise their voices and publicly demand that Lula be freed and that he be permitted to compete in the upcoming presidential election in Brazil. (FITUG Release)

It is time to end hopscotching approach to the sugar industry – Labour Movement

T

he Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), like many Guyanese and even those beyond our country’s shores, have been following very closely the developments in the sugar industry in recent times. As is now well-known some 7,000 workers have lost their jobs following the closure of Skeldon, Rose Hall, East Demerara and Wales Estates in the last two (2) years. Despite repeated calls and sincere advice not to proceed in this direction, the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo), under its previous leadership, proceeded with what could only be described as a disastrous policy that has severely undermined the social fabric in several sugar communities and has hovering clouds of despair over thousands of ordinary Guyanese.

Against that background, FITUG/GTUC were extremely dismayed to learn that attempts are being made, or possibly a process has been put in motion, to reverse a decision to transfer responsibility for the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) from the Ministry of Finance and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) back to the Ministry of Agriculture. Our organisations must pointedly say that it cannot support such a move recognizing the clear failure of its past leadership. Our nation has seen sugar production declining by over 40 per cent between 2015 and 2017 in spite of the support provided by the State; at the same time, the workers and their representative organisations have been treated in a most distasteful and disdainful manner and have seen several hard won benefits simply taken away;

and we cannot forget the massive failure of the resuscitated and short-lived GuySuCo other crops division which despite millions being expended has not gotten off the ground and former cane fields converted for seed paddy at Wales are slowly being overtaken by bushes and vines.

Certainly the sugar industry, which is so important for many reasons, cannot afford to be placed back in the hands of those who provided such ruinous leadership. Our bodies sincerely contend and strongly believe that moving in such a direction will only serve to inflict further harm on the sugar industry which is now nearly four (4) centuries old – the oldest economic endeavour in our country.

This is not in the interest of the Guyanese people, especially the tens of thousands who depend on the industry’s operations. Such a reality, we

hold, will bring about irreplaceable harm to our country and set back our progress and development.

While we are aware of allegations that NICIL hasn’t had the proudest of records, we, at the same time, note attempts being made to resume operations at the three (3) recently closed estates.

FITUG/GTUC while pleased with this development also cannot fail to express our concern over the contractualisation of the 1,000 workers who, reportedly, have been re-employed. Though we understand this is a temporary arrangement, we at the same time, cannot turn a Nelson’s Eye to the expansion of such informal employment relations in our country. Our bodies call on those contractors to ensure that workers NIS payments are honoured and, that as we celebrate Occupational Safety and Health month,

the re-employed workers receive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). We also look forward to other rights which are either guaranteed through our local laws and international conventions being upheld.

The FITUG/GTUC also is aware of the recent $30B financing secured to improve the viability of the remaining GuySuCo estates. We welcome this initiative and look forward to learning about the plans to realize the viability objective which is necessary and needed in these times.

While our bodies believe that a workable plan must involve the workers and their organizations who are critical in reaching the desired ends and goals. We believe the present direction the new leadership is taking the sugar estates is one whereby many lost jobs would re-emerge. In such circumstances, the stakeholders would unavoidably be

involved in the thrust to make the industry sustainable.

The large decline of the industry in 2016 and 2017 has caused us to lose hope and faith in the old management team that did everything to alienate the workers and their Unions. Their programme was one of the denying workers and citizens a loaf of bread whereas the current team is, seemingly, demonstrating its desire to maintain the scope of the industry.

At this time, the FITUG and the GTUC cannot lend a supporting voice to the intrigues playing out in the corridors of power regarding the sugar industry. Moving back, it is generally recognized, is not usually a step in the right direction. Our organisations strongly uphold that it is time to end the hopscotching approach to the sugar industry in the interest of all concerned. (TUC-FITUG Statement)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Saudi Arabia hosts its first ever women's cycle race

Syria 'chemical attack': France's President Macron 'has proof' BBC -- France's President Emmanuel Macron says he has "proof" that the Syrian government attacked the town of Douma with chemical weapons last weekend.

He said he would decide "in due course" whether to respond with air strikes.

Western states are thought to be preparing for missile strikes in response to the alleged attack.

In Russia, Syria's main military ally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged against "any steps

which could lead to an escalation of tensions".

US President Donald Trump, who said on

cial mission of Archbishop Charles Scicluna that 'all the stories gathered in them speak in a stark way about many crucified lives and I confess that it causes me pain and shame'.

Monsignor Scicluna visited Chile as prosecutor of the Vatican to investigate into bishop of Osorno Juan

Barros, accused of complicity with ousted priest Fernando Karadima for pedophilia and sexual abuse.

But already in Chile, in a visit that was halted by health problems, he also gathered heartbreaking testimonies of people sexually abused at the Marist college.

Israel attacks targets in Gaza Strip (Prensa Latina) Israeli tanks shelled on Thursday shelled several points in the eastern part of Gaza City, allegedly belonging to the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Local sources detailed that the five projectiles fired were directed at structures located near the neighborhoods of Al Shujaiyyeh and towards agricultural lands in the neighborhood of Al Zaytoun.

According to the spokesman of the Health Ministry of Gaza, Al Qedra, a Palestinian was slightly injured by the explosions, so he was transferred to Al Shefaa's hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a state-

ment that the attack was carried out in response to the explosion of an explosive device that detonated near an Israeli military engineering team along the border.

By confirming the attack, the IDF assured that they blame Hamas for 'any incident that takes place in-

ised by Be Active, a group bringing together women cyclists and local authorities.

In a statement to local media, race organiser Nadima Abu al-Enein said she was surprised by the number of cyclists in attendance.

"The large participant turnout prompted the organizing committee to increase the allowed number of participants from 30 to

47 girls," she said. "However, the committee was still forced to exclude numerous others who hoped to participate."

Ms Abu al-Enein set up her bicycle club in 2017, using social media to recruit fellow Saudi female cycling enthusiasts and raise the awareness around cycling for both Saudi women and the wider population.

Wednesday that missiles were "coming", has now tweeted that he "never said when".

Pope Francis acknowledges errors in cases of sexual abuse in Chile (Prensa Latina) Pope Francis acknowledged that ''serious errors of assessment and perception'' took place in handling cases of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in Chile.

In a letter sent to the Chilean Episcopal Conference, Pope Francis said that errors took place due to 'lack of truthful and balanced information', an issue that damaged his visit to Chile in January.

He apologized to all those he offended and said that he would like to do it personally in the coming weeks during the meetings he will hold with representatives of the people interviewed.

He said after reading the reports made by the spe-

BBC -- Female riders have taken part in Saudi Arabia's first women's cycling race, surprising many people in the conservative nation and across social media.

Saudi women cyclists were able to compete in a race held in the city of Jeddah on Tuesday.

Forty-seven women competed in the 10-kilometre race, which was organ-

side and outside the Strip.'

Tension in Gaza has increased over the past two weeks, following Israeli repression of peaceful marches carried out by tens of thousands of Palestinians on Friday, March 30th and April 6th, which claimed the lives of 30 civilians and injured over 1,500 people.

US Coast Guard repatriates 50 Haitian migrants T he US Coast Guard Cutter Resolute crew repatriated 50 Haitian migrants on Tuesday to the Haitian Coast Guard.

The repatriation is a result of an interdiction conducted by both the US Coast Guard and Cuban Border Guard, in which a vessel was intercepted with 127 Haitian migrants.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Reliance located an overloaded 70-foot sail freighter on Saturday approximately 20 miles off the northeast coast of Cuba.

The Reliance crew launched their Over-the-Horizon small boat to assist the migrant vessel taking on water. The smallboat crew transferred

50 Haitian migrants to the cutter.

The other 77 migrants refused lifejackets and the vessel entered Cuban territorial waters. The Cuban Border Guard took custody of the remaining 77 migrants for further disposition.

“This case is one of many inherently dangerous voyages interdicted this year in the unforgiving waters of the Caribbean Sea and Florida Straits,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jeremy Montes, 7th District duty enforcement officer. “These ventures are ill advised because they place the people aboard in grave risk of injury or death due to the unsafe loading of the vessel and lack of adequate lifesaving

equipment. The Coast Guard and our partner agencies continually monitor the maritime border of the US to deter, detect and rescue migrants who embark on illegal and life threatening voyages.”

Once aboard Coast Guard cutters, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and medical attention.

Approximately 1,334 Haitian migrants have attempted to migrate illegally to the US via the maritime environment since October 1 compared to 1,869 Haitian migrants in fiscal year 2017.

These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Luck becomes real when we empower our minds D o you sometimes find yourself fantasizing about being lucky?

Those particularly large Lotto Jackpots seem to get many people excited about purchasing tickets and fantasizing about what they would do if they were to win the largest lottery sum ever. In truth, at the start of such a lottery, we are all equally potential winners, even though the odds are definitely long shots, and we can better our odds by purchasing more tickets. However I do not think we are equally lucky, and the way we feel about luck proves it.

Many people find luck elusive and capricious, and it is true that while some people seem to be naturally lucky, others seem to have no connection at all!

And what about those people who consider themselves unlucky!

In my opinion, luck is much more than just a cosmic whim. I feel our relationship to luck is strongly aligned with our own attitude toward it. Furthermore, the choices we make can actually go a long way into creating our own luck.

For example, some of the luckiest people actually create good luck by looking at problems and stumbling blocks as opportunities. These people just do not give up when things look bleak or walls seem insurmountable.

It is true that when trying to tackle a problem, there is always the possibility you won’t overcome it. That said, if you quit before you even give it a good try, you are most likely eliminating any chances at generating good luck in your favor.

My feeling, my good Readers, is that being aware of the pros and cons of opportunities that come your way is a very important part of creating your own good luck.

Maybe you are familiar with the lyrics, "You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them." A good card player knows when to stay in the game and when to fold his cards. Often what we mistake as luck, can be simply the fact of having experience and using good judgment. People we may perceive as lucky could just know how to pay attention and do their research. In this way, they have become good at judging when to move forward and when to step back, thus improving their luck.

Many people we think of as lucky are just very good at accessing a situation and then preparing for success and they are also not afraid of hard work. Preparing for success also affects how often one enjoys what we perceive as good luck. If you want to become an actor, you take acting classes, have head shots made and look for a good agent. So do not sit around passively waiting for luck to your way, be proactive. Prepare yourself by working toward your goals. Then when an opportunity comes, you will be ready to shine.

Comrades, if you want to dance more often with Lady Luck, take luck into your own hands. Make up your mind and go after what you want. That is how you make good luck happen.

Have a wonderful week, my comrades and friends, and be sure to go out and enjoy the North East Winds blowing across Guyana!

Happy 68th Anniversary to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Remember to purchase and read your copy of the Mirror Newspaper and tune to Freedom Radio, streaming on 91.1 FM in GT and its environs, 90.7 in Essequibo and 90.5 in Berbice. Streaming online freedomradio 91.com. Follow us on Facebook at freedomradiogy.

(G. Persaud)

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Children’s Corner

25

The Hospitality of the Pigeon

O

nce upon a time, there lived two pigeons. They were husband and wife.

They spend their day looking for food. In the evening they would come and rest on their favorite tree in the forest.

One evening, the wife returned home early. A usual she was waiting for her husband, when suddenly it started raining. She strated to worry. “Where are you, my dear? You never get so late,” she whispered to herself.

Just then she saw a bird-catcher coming towards her. In a cage he had a pigeon. It was her husband.

“OH no, what shall I do now” I wish I can help my

husband,” she said. She desperately tried to distract the bird-catcher by flapping her wings, but all in vain.

Soon, it stopped raining.

“Brrr! It is so cold,” said the bird-catcher. His clothes were wet. He decided to sit under the same tree where the two pigeons lived.

The poor wife sat by her husband’s cage. And she started to cry. The husband said. “Do not feel sad, dear.

We now have a guest. This man is shivering and hungry.

He needs your help.” Hearing this, the wife flew around getting dry twigs. She made a fire for the bird-catcher. Then she looked at the

bird-catcher and said, “You are our guest, since I have no food to offer, I will jump into this fire. In few minutes I will become an edible item for you. You can eat me.”

By now, the bird-catcher was overwhelmed by the hospitality of the humble pigeon couple. He at once stopped the wife jumping into the fire.

He opened the cage and set the husband free.

“I have been cruel and selfish. I will never trap any bird in my net again,” said the bird-catcher and went away. The two pigeons were happy to be reunited.

Name: ............................................................................................................................................

Address: ........................................................................................................................................ ......................................................................................... Tel. No: ................................................

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Commonwealth Games 2018: Doris Boyce/Jefford Relay Festival qualifies for Triple Jump final It was again joy and heart-break for some of members of the National Table Tennis team at the XXI Commonwealth Games being held in Australia.

The promising duo of Shemar Britton and Priscilla Greaves saw the pendulum swing both ways in the Mixed Doubles. They defeated Vanuatu’s Priscilla Tommy and Ham Lulu 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, & 11-6) in the round-of-64, however, in the round-of-32 they lost to Singapore’s Shao Poh and Lin Ye in straight sets (4-11, 2-11 & 5-11).

Trenace Lowe and Christopher Franklin went down to the host’s Trent Carter and Tracy Feng 4-11, 8-11 and 9-11 in the mixed doubles.

Today, Lowe partners with Natalie Cummings to play Singapore’s Tianwei Feng / Mengyu Yu. Franklin partnering with Britton for their round-of-32 tie against India’s Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty 6-11, 5-11 & 7-11. Cummings and Nigel Bryan suffered a similar faith to Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheann Chung and Dexter St. Louis (10-12, 4-11 & 5-11).

BADMINTON After steamrolling Saint Helena’s Vernon Smeed in the Round of 64 of the Men’s singles, Badminton star Narayan Ramdhani who is based in Canada on a scholarship lost to a Canadian.

Jason Ho-Shue won 2-0 as the games went 21-7 and

21-10 and lasted just ten minutes in the round-of-32 category.

ATHLETICS Olympian Troy Doris with a leap of 16.33m qualified for the Triple Jump final on Saturday after finishing second to Dominica’s Yordanys Garcia who leaped 16.75m on Wednesday evening. Heading into the event, Doris stood a strong chance of making the final cut and possibly medalling given he had a Season Best of 16.80m.

RIFLE SHOOTING In the sport of fullbore

shooting even a flawless day can see you down the grid and this was exactly the scenario with Guyanese Lennox Braithwaite who did not drop a single point on day one of the Queen’s Prize Individual Finals.

The leading Caribbean marksman, shot possible at the 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges 35:2, 35:5, 35:3 for a total of 105:10 and even with such a performance ended the day in 8th place as seven other shooters also fired possible at each of the ranges but had more Vs. Braithwaite’s partner in the Pairs competition where

Guyana ended 11th of the sixteen competing nations and the top Caribbean country, Ransford Goodluck dropped 4 points and will go into today’s second day in the 25th place.

At the three ranges, Goodluck posted scores of 33:4, 34:0, 34:2 for a total of 101:6. In the top spot is Australia’s Jim Bailey (105:15) followed by New Zealand’s John Snowden (105:14) and Brian Carter (105:14) in 2nd and 3rd, David Luckman of England (105:13), Ben Emms of Australia (105:13), Jersey’s Barry Le Cheminant (105:12), Parag Patel of England (105:12) just ahead of Braithwaite.

Young Barbadian shooter Jason Wood is 23rd (102:4) two spots ahead of Goodluck.

Jamaican Denis Nelson is 26th (99:6), Delborn Joseph of Trinidad and Tobago is next (98:7), Barbadian Richard Arthur (96:1) in 28th, Jamaican David Rickman (95:2) 30th, T&T’s Michael Perez (94:5) 31st with the Antigua and Barbuda duo of Desroy Maile (92:3) and Edworth Benjamin (85:4) in the 32nd and 33rd positions.

Braithwaite would be aiming to replicate Wednesday’s performance today while Goodluck will seek to emulate his countryman when they aim from the same 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges. Tomorrow would be a practice day and dress rehearsal for Saturday’s final two ranges, 900 and 1000.

“Topgun” cops C-Class gold Guyana’s most active Smallbore shooter on the international stage Harold ‘Topgun’ Hopkinson has continued to fly the Golden Arrowhead with great success having won gold in the ‘C’ Class at the Grenada Gun and Rifle Association (GGRA), IPSC Level 2 Open Pistol Championship held in the Spice Isle on Sunday.

The 63 year-old Hopkinson who is also the International Practical Shooting Con-

federation (IPSC) Regional Director informed that the competition against younger shooters was intense but he was able to maintain accuracy during the seven stage shoot to come out with ‘C’ Class gold.

Hopkinson’s winning weapon was his 9mm/CZ Shadow 2 which was used for the first time in Grenada last year June when he won the ‘B’ Class of their Second Annual Six Stage, Level 2 IPSC competition.

“It was a very competitive shoot and despite a few blunders on my part I was able to prevail over the younger physical shooters. I relied on my accuracy, they were faster but I was more accurate.”

Competitors from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the host national also participated. The Stages competed were Keep Moving, Rapid Fire, Reverse Classifier 41, Swing Meets Swinger, CLC 65, Cradle to Heaven and For-

est Monkey 11.

Hopkinson who competed in March in the Open Division at the Amazon Level 3 Shoot held in Suriname will next compete at the Tobago IPSC All Steel competition.

He is extending gratitude to acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine DSM, Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia A.A and Tricia Fiedkou of Connections Travel.

returns April 22

Chairman of the Boyce & Jefford Committee Colin Boyce (centre) is flanked by his organizer Edison Jefford (right) and Technical Director Mark Scott at the launch of the Boyce and Jefford Relay Festival and Family Fun day III, Windjammers Hotel

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n April 22, the Police Sports Club Ground will be the main attraction as the Boyce and Jefford Relay Festival and Family Fun day enters its third year with Track and Field, Cycling, Dominoes, Cricket and Football.

The event was officially launched on Wednesday at the Windjammer Hotel, Poolside where brief remarks were made by Chairmen of the Boyce/Jefford Committee, Colin Boyce and Edison Jefford and Technical Director Mark Scott.

According to Jefford, the fixture has evolved into the premier relay festival and family fun-day in Guyana and has gained significant contributions from other groups like Hits and Jams Entertainment which stages a similar event.

Meanwhile, aside from the relay races, which are the main attraction, the day’s activities will be complemented with two cycle races, domino competitions and football and cricket matches.

It was also disclosed that this year’s event will see the

addition of a 4x800m relay race. This event will add to the other eight already on the card.

The sum of $30,000 will go to winning team, $20,000 for the first runners-up and $10,000 for third place.

The cycle races will also carry prizes of $50,000 each with a breakdown of $25,000. $15,000 and $10,000 for the top three. The two races will be a male Devil Takes The Hindmost and a female 2000m.

The new attraction will be the amputee race, which already has competitors signaling their intent to compete.

There will be a “Kid Zone” with bouncy castles, trampolines, face painting and other attractions. Three gate prizes from $20,000 in cash and household items will also be up for grabs. In total, there will be in excess of $1.3 million; up from $1M last year to be won.

Gates open from 10:30h and admission is listed at $500 for adults and $200 for children. Gate prizes are also up for grabs.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 APRIL, 2018

Sport View

by Neil Kumar

IPL 2018: Spectacular performances by the world’s finest Cricket Glorious Cricket! he Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, the biggest sport event in the world, is off to an amazing start.

KL Rahul’s 14 –ball devastating fifty is undoubtedly the fastest in the history of IPL. Rahul ‘s magnificent innings for Kings XI Punjab against Dehli Daredevils in Mohali is the fastest, being better than that of Yusuf Pathan’s 15-ball effort for Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in 2014.

The fastest fifties in T/20 cricket came from just 12 deliveries. Yuvraj Singh set the record for India against England in Durban during the inaugural World T/20 in 2007.

In that innings, he smashed Stuart Broad six sixes in an over. However, Christopher Gayle equalled the 12-ball record playing for Melbourne Renegades against Adelaide Strikers in Melbourne‘s Docklands Stadium, during the 2015-16 Big Bash.

The 2018 IPL is most interesting, as for the first four matches the teams batting second are winning. However, it is clear that the teams batting first can and must score more runs. Playing on these lightning fast out-field and with all the batting innovations, team scrutineers must look at ways and means to put winning total on the score-card. Batsmen will have to score runs heavily during the first six overs. And

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the batting line-up will have to be more flexible. Teams must have good ‘pinch-hitters’ who can open up at any time and score runs.

As for the bowling, the bowlers are expected to be able to bowl an immaculate line and length. Dwayne Bravo is certainly a model bowler.

He is not the quickest, but he is the most effective bowler in the IPL. Skipper Dhoni can rely on him to bowl the last overs. Bravo’s variation and ability to study and bowl at the batsmen is indeed interesting and effective.

The IPL also gave rise to magnificent fielding. Howev-

er, it is also astute captaincy that is enabling teams to do their best. Good fielding can save twenty to thirty runs in an innings, which can be crucial and contribute to a team winning a match.

After the IPL, all roads will lead to the Caribbean for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). With the hurricane season so imminent for the same period, all eyes will be looking on team selection and the smart and clever captaincy. Without naming players, the IPL is opening up our eyes and expectations are sky-high for the ‘biggest sport’ in the Caribbean.

“It’s time to deliver a title” for Guyana - Tanveer

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eft-arm seamer Sohail Tanveer has been retained by the Guyana Amazon Warriors for this year’s Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

This will be the Pakistan all-rounder’s third season with the franchise after he was selected in the US$160,000 salary bracket. Tanveer, also an explosive batsman, says he is looking forward to his third year with the team.

“I played the last two seasons with them and I enjoyed my time with them,” he said.

“We have got good communication and good relationships with the management and the owner. We don’t have big names in the team – even last year we didn’t have big names – but the reason we do well is that we jell very well and play as a team.”

The Amazon Warriors have come close to winning the Hero CPL, making the knockout stages in each of the previous five editions of the tournament, including three appearances in the final. Tanveer feels the team have not handled pressure situations well enough in the last two years, which has prevented them from going all the way.

“My feeling is maybe we panic when it comes to crucial stages,” conceded the all-rounder. “Maybe because we don’t have enough experience in our dugout in terms of our playing XI. Yes, we don’t

have big names but we play as a team. But on the other hand, with lack of experience, that’s what happens sometimes.

Players get under pressure.

“I still remember a game against Trinidad [when] we dropped too many catches – otherwise we would have won that game. In 2016, we were cruising until the final. We were playing great cricket, but in the final again I think it was panic or a lack of experience. But I think we have the capability and we will try to win it this time somehow. We have to try to give something to Guyana.”

Tanveer finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2017 tournament, and his five wickets for just three runs against Barbados was the best bowling performance of last year’s event. He says everything just clicked for him that night at the Kensington Oval.

“Well, to be honest, at the early part of the tournament I was struggling a bit with my back,” he recalled. “I didn’t do well in Florida and the first couple of games but I knew I had the ability. I have done it in the past many times, so I was waiting for my moment.

“As a bowler or a batsman, when you are out of form you only need one good innings or spell. That’s what happened. It was the game before, when we played against Barbados in Guyana – that was the turning moment when

I got some confidence back.

My back injury was sorted, I was running in well, got three or four wickets and I scored some runs [too]. I think that was the turning point for me and for my team because at that time we had only one win out of five and we had to win the last four games out of five.

“Coming back to the Barbados game, the day before I looked at the pitch and there was a greyish look. That means the moisture was there and I told my teammates that tomorrow is going to be my day. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be 5/3 but I knew the ball would do something.

When it’s swinging I know I have that strength to do well against any batsman.

“I played alongside Eoin Morgan at the T10 tournament. He mentioned to me that if you bowled this ball to any left-hand batsman you will get him out nine times out of ten. That was one of the days that comes hardly once or twice in your life – when everything goes well.”

A window for the sixth edition has been finalised, with the tournament to take place between August 8 and September 16.

The opening matches will take place in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Providence is also expected to host an additional two matches towards the back-end of the five-week tournament.

Govt launches scathing attacks against Indigenous leaders …accuses vocal NTC members of disrespecting President’s Office …says leaders are too demanding, refusing to toe the political line

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he Government of Guyana on Wednesday accused the country’s independent National Toshaos Council (NTC) of disrespecting President David Granger as it launched a scathing attack on several vocal Indigenous representatives who were not towing the line but exposing

serious malpractices of the current A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change Government.

In a scathing attack on the NTC and its Vice President, Lennox Shuman, the Indigenous People’s Affairs Ministry on Wednesday accused the Council of being

confrontational, demanding and disrespectful in their writings to President David Granger.

The Ministry said it has observed a trend of public posturing by NTC executives and Shuman in particular, stating that the NTC executive has so far not distanced

itself from what they described as rather divisive, disingenuous and sometimes incoherent statements being made by these officials.

“Simultaneous with calls for meetings with His Excellency President David Granger, Lennox Shuman, and Vice Chairman of the NTC issued a call for mass public protest against the Government by our Indigenous citizenry. The Ministry will allow the Guyanese public to judge Shuman’s intentions,” a statement said.

Further to that, the Ministry said it is aware of countless complaints of alleged disrespectful and inhumane treatment of the residents of St Cuthbert’s Mission by Shuman.

“The horrifying stories told by residents of this 129-year-old village of proud, mostly Lokonos, range from threats of dispossessing them of lands for disobeying Shuman to referring

to residents as “refugees” as well as forcibly expelling church leaders from the village,” it claimed.

According to the statement, residents paint a picture of Shuman being a “leviathan Toshoa.” This, the Ministry said, is inconsistent with known and revered traditional leadership, love and respect for others. The Ministry described the NTC Vice Chairman as a “failed leader” who is now being rejected by his village.

“The Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs rejects the Shuman-led attack against Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples. The Ministry believes that the upcoming village elections provide a vehicle for the resolution of all of these issues by the people themselves…,” it added.

Now that the current NTC executive is nearing the end of its three-year term in office, the Ministry reminded that the Council is yet to explain to its membership and the Ministry why it continues to resist the legislative obligation of accounting for the finances placed at its

disposal.

“This current NTC executive has never ceased to condemn the $16 million subvention provided it by Government… It is a statutory obligation of the NTC’s executive committee to prepare and present ‘annual reports’ of its financial operations, a requirement which it has never satisfied,” it explained.

Meanwhile, the Ministry also accused the Chairman and Vice Chairman for not addressed ‘opposition political interference’ into the affairs of the NTC. While claiming that it was not unexpected, the Ministry said it remains clear that the ill effects of political domination will take some more time to undo.

When contacted for a comment on Wednesday, Shuman said he was in his village and could not comment on the matter unless he reads the statement in its entirety. The NTC Vice Chairman said he would also like to be given sometime to ‘digest’ what was written about him. He said he may respond Friday.

Govt says more $$$ needed for border case

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uspicions of financial mismanagement are high following the announcement

by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge that the APNU+AFC may need more than US$15M to cover the legal expenses regarding the Guyana/Venezuela case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“The fifteen million may not be adequate,” he said at a press conference, yesterday.

Greenidge told media operatives that the government still does not know how much money it will need, not even an average cost.

He assured though that none of the US$18M signing bonus, which is in a special account at the Bank of Guyana, has been touched.

Government planned to use US$15M for legal fees and US$3M for training.

Greenidge said Government will use the US$15M

on a annual basis, with the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan going to the National Assembly every year to lay a supplementary paper to utilize parts of the US$15M. The monies requested will be transferred to the Consolidated Fund and then released.

Based on Greenidge’s explanations, when the US$15M is used up and if the Government needs more money for the legal fees, it will then have to source more funds either from another donor or directly from the Consolidated Fund.

Government was severely criticised for hiding from the nation the fact that it received a US$18M signing bonus from ExxonMobil. The secrecy and the blatant lies on this issue raised major concerns of corruption. The Finance Minister had outright denied that Government asked for or received a signing bonus

from ExxonMobil and the government was only forced to come clean on the matter after the media published evidence to prove that the monies were received.

Another issue is that the funds were placed in a bank account at the Bank of Guyana, instead of in the Consolidated Fund. The Financial Management and Accountability Act mandates that all Government revenues be placed in the Consolidated Fund. There is a provision for a separate account to be created but this required the Finance Minister to approach the National Assembly – a process he did not follow.

The announcement now that the US$15M may not be enough raises concerns about the transparency in the spending of the money and if indeed all will be used for the border case before the World Court.

PUBLISHED BY NEW GUYANA Co. Ltd., 8 Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana. Tel: 226-2473, 226-5875 Fax: 226-2472