$417M
PNC denied existence of Gregory Smith – Kwayana QC to receive facelift
EU willing to fund study of opportunity cost of eliminating Caricom East, West Demerara commuters fume over traffic snafu Bayney Karran is Guyana’s Ambassador to Costa Rica
The public denial by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in June 1980, that murder accused Gregory “Cyril Johnson” Smith was a serving member of the institution, was an attempt by the security force to discredit the evidence given by the sole eyewitness to Dr Walter Rodney’s alleged assassination, Donald Rodney.
Donald’s testimony was that Smith had given his older brother a brown plastic bag with a walkie-talkie device. When his brother opened the bag, the device, which was later proven to have had a bomb hidden inside, exploded.
This was established on the fourth day of the second session of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry which continued on Friday at the Supreme Court Library building, before Barbadian Queen’s Council, Sir Richard Cheltenham; Jamaican Queens’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels- Brown; and Trinidad-based Guyanese Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam.
The declaration was made when legal representative for Donald Rodney, Trinidadian Keith Scotland, cross-examined Eusi Kwayana. Kwayana, who has been giving evidence since the commencement of the second session of the inquiry on Tuesday, said it was indeed a “large campaign” by the Government to discredit the evidence of Donald Rodney.
Surveillance devices
Scotland purported that the GDF, headed by Major General (retired) Norman McClean had denied that Smith existed and that he was an active member, who reportedly had surveillance devices linked to the army base in Timheri, present in his home. This contention received the affirmative from Kwayana.
It was noted too that Pamela Beharry had indicated that she on several occasions accompanied Smith’s wife Gwendolyn
Further, had it not been for the positive identification of Smith by Pamela Beharry and the photograph of him clad in uniform published by the Catholic Standard Newspaper, Donald Rodney’s statement may not have been accepted.
“As it turned out though, the records speak for themselves, Pamela Beharry and Gwendolyn Jones identified Smith as a Sergeant in the Army,” Scotland said. Kwayana commented: “Ms Pamela’s appearance was dramatic and for the Working People’s Alliance, a source of great encouragement.” Kwayana said Beharry had seen a notice in the newspaper placed there by the Police, seeking person’s assistance in locating or identifying Gregory Smith.
Scotland said that while the Government had denied Smith’s existence, another force under its stewardship, the Guyana Police Force, had a few days later entered Smith’s home and removed surveillance electronic equipment.
Scotland, during his cross-examination of
Kwayana, had sought to establish that the state agency, headed by Commanderin-Chief, Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, was in total control of the GDF. He had suggested too that the Head of State at that time may have influenced the security force to make the refutation.
Scotland put into evidence several statements, including a copy of Guyana’s Independence Constitution, which was active between 1966 and October 1980. He said based on the Constitution, the Head of State was constitutionally bound to make certain appointments, including that of the Director of Public Prosecution. It was that agency that laid a charge against Donald Rodney soon after his brother’s death.
Scotland also examined Smith’s departure from the city, a few hours after the explosion. Based on information received, Smith had travelled to Kwakwani, a
village up the Berbice River with his wife and children. He established too that Smith, being an ordinary Guyanese, would have been unable to transport himself out of the city and more so the country, which he later did when he was whisked away to French Guiana.
“Did Sergeant Smith on his own, as a Sergeant in the Army from your knowledge, have the weight to do all that was done to orchestrate his departure out of Guyana?” Scotland asked Kwayana. He responded “Not at all, by no means. By no means could Sergeant commandeer a plane. He would not as a Sergeant of the Army have the authority to commandeer a plane,” Kwayana said.
Higher hand Scotland further questioned, “Will it be safe to say then, that that manner of exit speaks of involvement of a higher hand, a higher echelon?”. “Yes”, Kwayana responded.
Asked about Donald Rodney, Kwayana said that before 1980, he had known him for just under a year. He noted that Rodney was a simple and candid individual who did not “speak much”. He said Donald was at the time employed by the Works Ministry as a Quantity Surveyor, and was not an active participant in the WPA.
After Dr Rodney’s death, Kwayana revealed that Donald was placed before the court. It was in his defence that he said that Smith had given his brother the bomb that killed him.
According to Kwayana, Donald had informed that he, neither his brother, Dr Rodney was aware that the device received contained a bomb.
Editor: Nigel Williams
Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134
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The world is mourning the loss of famed poet, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou who was found dead in her university apartment Wednesday morning.
For many who have been following her life and her extensive work in various fields, there could never be enough words to describe what her death means, not only to Americans, but citizens all over the world. Her work and her life story in general have inspired millions to not only better themselves but to help others achieve their own dreams and overcome their own adversities.
Described as a Global Renaissance Woman, Maya Angelou was one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Born on April 4, 1928, in St Louis, Missouri, Angelou was raised in St Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.
As a teenager, Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labour School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook; however, her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take centre stage.
During her years abroad, Angelou read and studied voraciously, mastering several languages. While in Ghana, she met with Malcolm X and, in 1964, returned to America to help him build his new Organisation of African American Unity. Soon after Malcolm X’s assassination, Dr Martin Luther King Jr asked Angelou to serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King’s assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated.
With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which later received international acclaim and enormous popular success. The list of her published verse, non-fiction, and fiction now includes more than 30 bestselling titles.
A trailblazer in film and television, Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film “Georgia, Georgia”. Her script, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Angelou has received over 50 honorary degrees and up until her death, she was a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
Angelou’s words and actions will continue to stir our souls, energise our bodies, liberate our minds, and heal our hearts. When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Angelou wrote that “No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn”.
Paying tribute, US President Barack Obama hailed her as “one of the brightest lights of our time – a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman”.
Obama was quoted as saying that a childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking –“but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.” He also presented her with the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Angelou also received the Presidential Medal for the Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008. And in 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama had the opportunity to present her with the Literary Arts Award at the BET Honours ceremony in Washington, DC.
In the words of the US First Lady; “Maya Angelou teaches us that it’s not enough merely to seek greatness for ourselves. We must help others discover the greatness within themselves. We need to reach down and reach out, and give back, and lift others the way Maya has lifted us.”
Dear Editor, Essentially, the West Indies Cricket Board’s main role is to provide youth and senior cricket teams (males and females) for International Cricket council (ICC) tournaments.
These teams must consist of players who are carefully selected, nurtured and developed into cohesive units that can successfully compete.
The fact that the West Indies Cricket Team comprises players from six territorial boards coming together presents a major challenge unlike any other current cricketing body, and therefore requires special skills to effectively achieve the desired objective.
Unfortunately, it is evident that the current WICB lacks the skills required to carry out its mandate. The board has displayed a remarkable inability to take our cricket forward. It is time for the WICB Directors to accept their limitations, swallow their pride and come down from their lofty pedestals to the “grassroots”. Yes, “the grassroots” is where the resurrection of our cricket must begin, both at the administrative and playing levels.
To begin with, there must be a thorough investigation of the administration and cricket development programmes within each territorial board to ascertain the quality and quantity of work being done, before any programme could be designed and proposals initiated at the WICB level.
In its attempt to address the need for restoring West Indies (WI) cricket to its former glory, the WICB enlisted the services of Mr Richard Pybus as Director of Cricket. Unfortunately, his job description and salary have not been made public, but in my view, it must be attractive enough to appeal to this consummate professional.
While I have nothing against Mr Pybus, I am concerned that whatever advertisement was made for the position, not a single West Indian was found to be suitable. Not Clive Lloyd, Deryck Murray, Roger Harper, Darren Ganga, Vivan Richards, Andy Roberts, Brian Lara nor any of the multitude of capable
illustrious West Indians.
It is difficult to understand any foreigner coming into the WI to solve our cricket problems when everyone in the WI (except the WICB) knows what these problems are and their solutions. The appointment of Mr Pybus is an insult to the WI populace and the many competent personalities who have played or participated administratively in the development of our cricket in the past.
It insults the recommendations contained in the Patterson Report, the Wilkins’ Report and the numerous opinions/recommendations of our cricketing icons such as Clive Llyod, Deryck Murray, Tony Cozier, Colin Croft, Sir Andy Roberts and other reputable journalists/commentators/players. It is very strange that the WICB expects the young players to emulate our great players when the board itself deliberately ostracises them.
So in reviewing Mr Pybus’ report, it was observed that he has been employed since November 2013 and has already produced a report without any known visit to Guyana or any of the other five territories that make up the WICB. It leaves one to wonder on the source and accuracy of his information.
It is, therefore, not surprising that his report falls terribly short of expectations, with proposals that are certainly not new, while ignoring the following important areas.
* The role proper governance has to play in the development process, which requires comprehensive analyses of the 18-member Board of Directors of WICB, its secretariat and operations unit along with the respective sub-committees and the efficiency of the territorial boards’ stewardship.
Proper governance has been the single most important failure of the WICB although the board had the benefit of the Patterson and Wilkin Reports, along with recommendations from the likes of Clive Lloyd and other notable WI great professionals – all of these recommendation were largely ignored by a group that is more concerned with preserving their status
and not resolving our cricket problems. They have betrayed our game.
* The WICB doles out funds to territorial boards for development of cricket without receiving any proper development plan whatsoever. In addition, there is no monitoring mechanism which ensures that the funds disbursed are properly utilised within a properly integrated coaching or management training programme.
* Guyana’s cricket has been in turmoil for over four years as a consequence of administrative lawlessness, lack of accountability and no cricket development plan in place. As a consequence, there is no Guyanese in the WI Team, and an entire U-15 team from the area administered by a favoured West Indian director has been bowled out in a Demerara Cricket Board fixture for 13 runs (all extras), not a single run was scored by any of the youngsters.
This must be interpreted in terms of where our cricket future is heading, especially when Guyana has been a major contributor to WI Cricket Team in the past. The WICB as far as I am aware has never attempted to even act as a mediator to resolve the issues facing Guyana Cricket, while our current Guyana representatives at the WICB, Anand Sanasie, Raj Singh, Drubahadur, Anand Kalladeen and Clifford Reis seem either incapable or unconcerned about Guyana’s Cricket as long as they maintain their status quo as Directors/representatives.
Below are examples of similar cricket woes in other territories:
* Leeward Islands – that produced such illustrious players as Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Curtly Ambrose, Sir Andy Roberts, Sir Richie Richardson, the Benjamins, Ridley Jacobs, Eldine Baptiste, etc – have been struggling to produce players for any WI team. They have not been participating in any WICB Ladies’ Tournaments (in defiance of ICC rules) without any evidence of either assistance or sanctions from the WICB.
* Windward Cricket is also struggling with the wom-
en continuing to participate in the WICB Regional Ladies Tournament as individual countries, that is, Grenada, St Lucia, etc, instead of a Windwards Ladies Team. This effectively dilutes the quality of our regional tournament. Indeed Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica are all struggling to upgrade their female cricket teams, not because of a lack of talent, but simply because there is no proper integrated development plan in place for the ladies to work within.
* Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad have also been experiencing problems with their male and female cricket, in both the administrative and technical areas.
* The academy/HPC (whatever it is called) has been an abject failure since it is badly structured, with no satellite feeder academy at the territorial board level, no known criteria for selecting attendees, generally unknown facilitators and no arrangement for attendees when they return home after their stint is concluded to put into practice what they learned. It has been largely ineffective and failed, in my view, to provide within its structure:
a) A process for emerging players and
b) Rehabilitative opportunity for out-of-form Senior or Junior WI Players.
The following are among the many youngsters whose cricket careers suffered from the inadequacy of a facility that was intended to enhance their development – Brandon Bess, Ronsford Beaton, Rajendra Chandrika, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Kemar Roach, Adrian Barath, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Shane Shillingford and Lendl Simmonds.
* The CPL which has tremendously revived spectator attendance at cricket matches throughout the region, has indeed been a welcome breath of fresh air, although in my opinion, the WICB directorate lost out on a great opportunity to rake in development funds instead of a mere annual rental.
continueD on page 5
Dear Editor,
This reply is in reference to Mr Barrington Braithwaite’s attack on India published in another section of the press on May 20 on scholarships given to Guyanese; my response was not published by that very same paper.
India has been very generous with its educational and other assistance to Guyana. Any attempt to criticise a kind India for aiding a poor Guyana is what Guyanese would call “nimakharamism”. Such ingratitude could offend the Indian Government leading to a reduction in aid.
In general, the Indian Government has offered scholarships directly through the Guyana Government and at times, directly to individuals (with the Guyana Government having no discretion on awardees). During the period of the dictatorship, 1965 to 1992, few Indians, Chinese, Amerindians and Portuguese were recipients of Indian scholarships.
The agents of the dictatorship decided on the recipients, and nonsupporters of the PNC dictatorship were victimised. Myself and other Guyanese complained to Indian officials about discrimination meted out
to Indo-Guyanese. Indian officials responded that they were helpless to alter the situation, because the Guyana Government makes the recommendations and the Indian Government had to abide by them.
Following complaints from Indians, India offered another line of scholarships to Guyanese through which several Indians were selected to study in India. We lobbied the Indian Government to increase the number of scholarships given directly to applicants, while not reducing those falling under the control of the Guyana Government.
In fact, both types were increased. This has led to many Indians being recipients of scholarships to study in the land of their fore-parents. Following the restoration of democracy, it has been an even playing field with Guyanese of all ethnicities being chosen to study for free in India.
When myself and other IndoGuyanese got an opportunity to meet Indian officials (and we met Manmohan Singh as well as his predecessor Atal Vajpayee), we made the case for increased assistance to Guyana. Since 2000, financial assis-
Their meek acquiescence to the disbandment of our Regional T20 does nothing to help the preparation of our aspiring youngsters for CPL, particularly since from all appearances the foreign players will dominate, and soon we may see – for example – a Guyana team with no Guyanese. The regional T20 tournament should be reinstated to offer the opportunity for our youngsters to compete and develop their talents thereby providing a feeder of players for the CPL and onwards.
Indeed Mr Pybus’ reference to extended regional tournaments and professional leagues is nothing new, and while some recommendations seem to be coming from other countries practices, many in my opinion will not be applicable in the West Indies at this time.
Mr Pybus’ report seems to address the symptoms not the cause, so if his terms of reference do not include an analysis of the cause of WI cricket ongoing debacle, then his tenure would be useless and his efforts will go the way of the many previous reports. The favoured recommendation will be accepted and others abandoned, while WI cricket finds renewed depths of degradation.
He must go to the root cause, and that is, the WI Cricket Board which has, reneged on its responsibility, to supervise its constituents properly. Territorial boards must be managed by competent, capable officials of unblemished character who are capable of executing the plans, programmes and objectives of the WICB with a vision that comes from a love, knowledge, fair play and commitment to cricket.
Criteria for Directors to the WICB must include a proven track record of playing or properly administering cricket at least within their area, or professional/technical competence in a particular relevant field.
If this situation is not immediately addressed; our cricket will never improve:
* Our women cricketers will
tance, under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and scholarships to Guyana have increased with Guyanese of all ethnicities being beneficiaries.
In general, donor countries determine the criteria for participation in a scholarship programme. An Embassy or a Consulate is a sovereign unit of a nation and in a host country can stipulate conditions for an academic scholarship. One cannot dictate to a country its criteria for giving foreign aid.
In the US, for example, Government sponsors certain programmes and often stresses minorities will be given preference for certain programmes. In some countries, including the US, ethnicity as a criterion is not actually stated, but applicants from a particular ethnicity are given preference.
In Guyana, for example, it was well-established and institutionalised that while the ethnicity criteria was not publicly stated as a condition for selection for a programme or a ranking job, during the period of the dictatorship, preference was given to applicants of a particular race. Can Braithwaite tell us how many Portuguese, Chinese, Amerindians and Indians were selected for scholar-
From page 4
soon falter from the limited success they have been enjoying, which in my opinion could have been immeasurably improved if they were better prepared at the territory board level.
a) The WICB must ensure that they play a longer regional tournament of quality with both Leewards and Windward Islands providing a ladies team for the regional tournament.
b) The WICB must ensure that territorial members organise more female cricket tournaments within their cricket development programmes, with an adequate remuneration package in place.
c) There must be the reintroduction of the junior ladies cricket tournament at the domestic (territorial levels) and the Regional (WICB) level. This has been abandoned approximately seven years ago.
d) That the current and future WI female teams must benefit from specialised technical attention since it is obvious, that, notwithstanding their enthusiasm and desire to input all their efforts, there is too much reliance on Stepheney Taylor and Deandra Dottin to win with their batting.
Other capable players must be trained in the ability to score from technically correct applications, while the bowling, fielding and general cricketing knowledge must be improved.
In concluding I wish to reiterate that for WI cricket to resurge to the top, we need to begin with the product “the Cricket” from the grassroots. It is evident that the WICB and Mr Pybus feel that the beginning and the end of WI cricket rest only with the performance of the WI senior team and seem totally unconcerned of what happens in the respective territories, leading up to WI selection.
In this regard:
* The territorial boards that wean the product (the cricketers) must be investigated to ascertain that they are capable of working in sync with international best practices and the plan/objectives of the WICB,
especially with regard to the administrative, financial and technical development aspects.
* The WICB must be investigated to ascertain the quality and integrity of its directors with regard to their suitability and capability to take our cricket forward, for while they may be good in other work areas, it must be substantiated that they are good enough for the promotion, administration and development of cricket.
It is the only way forward especially in light of the newfound anticipated wealth to be garnered from the controversial new ICC proposals, and the fact that the WICB’s careless incompetence in managing its members’ efficiency is largely responsible for the decadence that depicts WI cricket today. I predict that the ICC’s new proposals will influence strong consideration for the establishment of a new competitive international cricket order, among both disgruntled and prospective members.
So, let’s stop blaming the cricketers who are terribly underprepared and the selectors who could only select from the players produced, and place the
ships or Government training for academic advancement?
India gives the most scholarships to Guyanese of all countries. India also gives the most scholarships to students in Africa; I studied in India and I travelled to India dozens of times encountering African students on Indian campuses studying as guests of the Indian Government.
I also met numerous students from South America, Central America and Mexico in India – thanks to the generosity of the Indian Government. Guyanese have also received scholarships to study in China and I met quite a number of South Americans and Africans in Beijing when I was there briefly as a visiting student during my doctoral studies in 1985 and in subsequent visits to China.
Both the Chinese and Indian governments have been kind to foreigners with their educational assistance. I visited African countries several times and I did not encounter foreign students studying on scholarships. But I was told a few Guyanese did study in Africa. I did meet a Guyanese girl studying on a scholarship in Fiji when I gave a talk at USP two years ago.
blame where it belongs – at the WICB.
The fact is that not a single territory within the WICB has been operating at its optimum, given the natural talent that abounds within and the funds which we know are available. It follows, therefore, that if the territories which make up the WICB are inefficient then the
Can Braithwaite tell us how many scholarships were given to Guyana by African countries and of those scholarships how many of the recipients were Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, and Amerindian Guyanese?
Thousands of Guyanese have studied in India for free and hundreds more paid a nominal fee. Many Afro-Guyanese, Mixed Guyanese and Amerindians studied in India and I encountered quite a few. And they are most grateful for the opportunity to advance their education in India for free, an opportunity not afforded them in African countries.
Unlike Braithwaite, I wish to convey gratitude and appreciation to India and to the Chinese governments for being so kind to us. I urge the Indian Government to please increase the number of scholarships given to Guyanese.
Thank you, Indian High Commission, for your generosity. I wish the countries of Africa can emulate India and China by providing financial assistance to Guyana.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
WICB must be inefficient, and therein lies the problem and if Mr Pybus intends to solve it, he must address the cause and not the symptoms. Mr Pybus must be thorough, candid and realistic in his analyses/recommendations. If his stint is to be successful, he must interface with all stakeholders in each territorial board’s jurisdiction to un-
derstand the real issues since paying homage to the WICB cannot help WI cricket return to the glory days.
Respectfully,
Claude Raphael Former GCB Executive Member Former
WICB Director
BY JAMES LEHMAN
Every child feels like they don’t fit in at some point. Even adults feel that way occasionally: we all experience being “alone in a room full of people.” With children, the need to be part of a group is instinctual; it’s survival. They want to fit in and be like everyone else because it gives them a sense of safety and security. So when your child tells you they don’t fit in, they’re also saying, “I don’t feel safe.” The anxiety comes from thoughts of, “I’m different; I’m vulnerable.” And sadly, other children tend to focus on children who are different and can be very cruel.
When your child is getting picked on for being different, know that it’s excruciatingly painful for him or her. But you also need to realise as a parent that you can’t fix it; there’s nothing that you can say or do that’s going to take that pain away – so stop looking for the magic answer. Instead, start working with your child to give them the skills they need to solve the problem they’re facing right now.
Your child is going to make the problem huge, so you have to be the one to say, “Yeah, that’s tough,” and then bring it down to its right size.
“But what if my child really doesn’t fit in?” – Children with learning or behavioural disabilities
When your child doesn’t fit in with his peer group for some emotional, behavioural or physical reason, I think you have to find an organised way as a parent to work with them step by step, to show them how to manage their daily lives.
One thing to consider is that many learning disabilities often don’t manifest themselves
and is working hard to hide it. The learning disability might not be discovered until years later, but it has always affected that child.
Look at it this way: if you have a learning disability that causes you to get letters or numbers backwards, what do you think it’s going to do to your understanding of relationships, friendships, trust or responsibility? Do you think you’re going to get all those things straight, and it’s just the
until your child starts school, although the issues have been there since birth. So when a child gets to kindergarten or first grade, you might see that he has trouble reading, doing mathematics or processing social situations. In reality, that disability has been there all along – it’s just surfacing in a different, more concrete way. By the time that child has been diagnosed, he’s probably already developed a very cautious way of looking at the world; he already feels different
numbers that are backwards?
This is a much more complex problem than people think.
So if you tell a child with special needs who feels like he doesn’t fit in, “C’mon, you’re just like the other children. Don’t let it bother you,” that’s not really a helpful answer. Instead, it’s a message to your child that they have control over whether or not they have a disability, or the power to decide how it affects them. He’s going to walk away feeling like there’s something wrong with
him, and he’s going to say to himself, “Nobody understands me, I really am different.” While children may often learn how to manage the effects their learning disabilities have on them, it usually takes a lot of work and effort on everybody’s part – parents, teachers and the children themselves – to make that happen.
Personally, I felt different as a child. I was adopted, I had learning and behavioural disabilities, I felt like I didn’t fit in, and children teased me. But I learned over time how to be comfortable inside my own skin. It was more difficult back then because parents did not have the skills and education they have today. They didn’t understand the importance of teaching children how to solve problems and they didn’t know how to coach their children to build on their skill base. Simply put, in those days, parents didn’t have the resources to teach their children not be victims, regardless of their vulnerabilities.
Your job when your child is feeling different: Use the teaching, coaching and limitsetting roles
So what is your role as a parent in this situation? One job is to balance reassurance with coaching. When talking to your child, remind them that a lot of other children have gone through the same thing and made it through okay. Give them some perspective on the issue, the knowledge that this is not the end of the world. Also, in your own mind, don’t let it be the end of the world. (Empowering Parents)
Technology and children: Five things every parent should know
(Continued from friday)
The Internet can be a wonderful place, but it’s also an intensely public one, meaning you should approach it with the same reservations as any open forum. Moreover, no matter how much more intimate social networks like Facebook and Google+ seem, it’s important to remember: As with popular online video games (or any other space where we’re defined by virtual personas), everyone is, to some extent, playing a character. Note that many perfectly normal and healthy relationships can be formed online. But it never hurts to stay paranoid. To this extent, never give out personal information such as names, addresses, birthdays or telephone numbers, or reveal when you’ll be out of town – even if just
expressing excitement over your fabulous upcoming Spring Break vacation. Likewise, use such services’ built-in tools and custom privacy settings to limit access to photos or video of yourself only to approved viewers. If nothing else, it’ll save some embarrassment when college recruiters or prospective employers eventually come looking. Create and enforce house rules Helping children understand the difference between right and wrong starts with open and honest discussion. Begin by setting house rules which all family members agree on governing appropriate content, when it’s suitable to use high-tech devices (and in what context) and during which occasions – that is, dinner – access is prohibited. Experts also agree that setting time limits on screen time is crucial for healthy development. While the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends no more than one to two hours daily, feel free to tinker slightly, offering more or less time as a reward or punishment for good or bad behaviour. Some families even treat the use of high-tech devices as a privilege, incentivising positive habits by offering children screen time in exchange for doing chores, earning good grades or helping out around the house. Under all scenarios, children should always feel comfortable approaching you with questions, whether regarding why rules exist and punishments were enforced, or concerning questionable content they encountered while using high-tech apps or devices.
Long story short: Technology can be an immensely beneficial and uplifting part of children’s lives. But to realise its full potential, you’ve got to prepare them to meet its ups and downs, and –most importantly – commit to cruising right there alongside them on the rollercoaster ride.
(techsavvymag.com)
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) has expressed concern at the effects of the prolonged drop in gold prices on the international market. The Association has noted that the emphasis should be on improving recovery methods as one of the ways of cushioning the effects of the price drop on the local industry.
Gold has hovered around US$1300 an ounce for much of the past month, as the simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine stoked investor appetite for the safe haven asset. But on Friday, gold futures fell, capping the biggest weekly drop since September, after a US equity rally and signs of easing tensions in Ukraine curbed demand for the precious metal.
Gold dropped below US$1250 during the day to a 16-week low and posted the fifth straight daily decline, the longest slump since April 1; the most actively traded contract, gold for August delivery, fell US$2.60, or 0.2 per cent, to end the day at US$1257.10.
Embrace improved mining technology – Harding
GGDMA President Patrick Harding told Guyana Times that the GGDMA and the GGMC needed to work together to assist miners to improve their recovery methods using non-mercury technology especially since the price for gold has dipped. Harding was also not optimistic that gold prices would improve in
the near future, which further emphasised his point about improving mining technology.
“In the case of the drop in gold prices, the cost of production remains high for miners and it is important that miners seek to improve their gold recovery methods. The GGMC needs to continue to bring in improved technology for gold recovery in mining and to test them before making them available to the miners.”
Harding said some miners have been embracing new technology, and encouraged more miners to go in that direction.
GGMC system frustrating – Simona Broomes
However, Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) President Simona Broomes, while acknowledging that the dip in global gold prices was negatively impacting members, believes the ‘slow pace’ of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) in executing its duties was more of a concern.
“All of the women have concerns as the expense to run operations remains the same, but more of a problem is the unprofessional way in which the GGMC handles matters pertaining to women miners. Every simple problem takes weeks and months to be resolved. The system is frustrating,” Broomes told Guyana Times
The GWMO President further stated that there is still the feeling that women min-
ers do not belong to the industry and their alleged mistreatment at the hands of GGMC officials reflects this. “Till now they feel that women miners don’t have the knowledge, so they (GGMC) can come and do as they feel; sometimes just stopping operations unjustly and causing members to lose a lot of production time and money.”
Broomes alleged that there is a member whose operation has been held up close to a year as investigations are yet to be concluded. “I have written to GGMC about this matter and have gotten no response. Imagine you try to follow the law, but instead you are met with disrespect. The system at GGMC is worse than the drop in gold prices.”
Highlighting another alleged issue with GGMC and the disadvantages women face in the mining industry, Broomes said a member of GWMO had a “legacy of mining properties” handed down to her and because there was some misunderstanding over where she was mining, the man who claimed to own the land allegedly “washed down the woman’s sluice box” and took her production. She said the GGMC was allegedly called in and it was found that the woman was, in fact, mining on her claim; however, the issue is yet to be resolved and the member’s production returned.
“GGMC needs to improve its system. They sometimes say that they are dealing with backlogged issues, so to me, it seems that the industry has outgrown GGMC and there needs to be an urgent revamping.”
Broomes said she is awaiting the return of Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud, to meet with him to discuss the immediate concerns of the GWMO. “I have been seeking an appointment with him and wish to let him know about our problems. We women belong in this industry and we are here to survive and we will be heard even if it means going to the courts.”
Gand
Company
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bharat Dindyal said the utility will be plugging some US60 million, a quantum investment, to fight loss reduction.
Speaking at the company’s Developmental Programme Agenda at its first 2014 Public Meeting held at Duke Lodge, Duke Street, Kingston, Dindyal disclosed that the funding will come through loans and grants from the International Development Bank (IDB) and the European Union (EU).
The CEO said part of the funds will be acquired through a loan process and at a one per cent interest rate.
This initiative, Dindyal related, would significantly cut loss reduction to eight per cent, with five per cent being technical losses and the remaining three per cent being non-technical losses.
“I know it’s ambitious,
but we can achieve it,” said Dindyal, pointing out that the project of its kind is the largest in this part of the hemisphere.
Dindyal pointed out that the funds will be obtained in the latter part of 2014.
It was explained that the power company continues to operate with huge losses due to discrepancies, with Region Four accounting for more than 73 per cent of the grand total.
According to Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Technical Areas), Colin Welch, the utility continues to be significantly affected by illegal connections and illegal streetlights, which in a large part contribute to the losses faced by the company.
Illegal connections
He explained that in 2013, the company suffered a total of $565,300,000 in losses as a result of tampering by consumers, but remained positive that with the implementation of the
Smart Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters, this illegality will be controlled.
Welch pointed out that 5610 illegal connections were removed in 2013, with 2266 persons arrested. He related that 3640 illegal streetlights were removed by the company in 2013, accounting for $23.3 million in losses.
The street lights, Welch explained, are a responsibility of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council, but is shunned by most of them.
When questions were raised as to why the conviction rates were low in comparison to the arrest rates, the Deputy CEO explained that there were a large percentage of persons before the court on charges for stealing electricity.
He said that a majority of the cases were dismissed for want of prosecution, which is attributed to the lack of witnesses when the cases are called in courts.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with the court system here,” Dindyal added. Also in the area of loss reduction, it was related that the power company will soon be cracking down on commercial and residential businesses pilfering electricity.
According to Dindyal, the recently installed AMI meters have been feeding the company with real time data on how much power is being used by the consumer.
“Those business that open at 08:00h in the morning and energy consumption drops to zero, we know,” said Dindyal, adding that many persons will be facing the court when GPL turns up at their homes and establishments with the “damning data” collected by the smart meters.
CGX Energy Inc has fulfilled a commitment it made to make available the sum of G$1.2M for a Guyanese student to attend the 2014 Summer Student Programme for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE).
The programme is held at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus,
Barbados. Cecil Cox, along with Benedict Sukra, and Lawrence Faria, were accepted into the region’s elite Science programme.
SPISE is a four-week residential summer programme for Caribbean highschool students who are gifted in Science and engineering. In the programme, students are immersed in
university-level calculus, physics, biochemistry, entrepreneurship, Mandarin, one-Caribbean studies, and hands-on projects in robotics and electronics and computer programming
In picture above, Queen’s College student, Cecil Cox, who topped the Caribbean in the Sciences in 2013, receives the cheque from CGX
Manager Tarachandra Khelawan in the presence of Queen’s College Headmistress Jackie Benn and National Science Coordinator Petal Jettoo.
Amisunderstanding over Chinese food which led to a fight and alleged gun play landed Jameel Howard of Hadfield Street, Georgetown before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.
The charge states that on May 21, at Hadfield Street, Howard assaulted Jermaine France after the two had a misunderstanding and a fight ensued after which the defendant discharged a firearm in the direction of the Complainant.
The defendant pleaded guilty and was represented by Attorney Paul Fung-AFat, who insisted that his client was never in possession of any firearm on the said night and that no evidence of a gun was provided to the court.
Prosecutor Bharrat Mangru objected to bail on the grounds of the seriousness and prevalence of the matter.
Bail was refused and the defendant is to reappear at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on June 13.
As the campaign against electricity theft intensifies, Donna Trotts of Lot 58 Eccles Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, on Friday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry charged with having an illegal electrical connection in her home.
The charge states that on May 27, the defendant was found with the illegal connection running to her house and had been stealing electricity for quite some time from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc.
The defendant, who is a cook at Gravity Lounge, pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on self-bail. She is to reappear at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on June 16.
...of Henry Jeffrey
There is a certain crassness to the political discourse in Guyana. It can range from a Moses Nagamootoo regaling his Honourable Parliamentary colleagues as to how he told his grandson to “shut yuh so-and-so mouth” to a Henry Jeffrey describing Prime Minister Sam Hinds as suffering from “cognitive delusion”. Jeffrey disagrees with PM Hinds’ “prescriptions” for extending Cheddi Jagan’s “pragmatic” proposals for national unity. Jeffrey promises to tell us about those “prescriptions’ in his next column. But in the meantime, dubs them “preposterous”. Now we have no problem with all of this. But when Jeffrey dubs his column –“The Prime Minister: A case of cognitive delusion”, he’s crossed the line.
Saying PM Hinds suffers from “cognitive delusion”, he is signalling that the gentleman has a mental disorder. And we believe this is reprehensible. In his column, Jeffrey also disagreed with his ideological soulmate Ralph Ramkarran on the latter’s assessment of “the current political leadership”.
But he didn’t say Ramkarran suffers from “cognitive delusion”? No sireee!!! Not even that the ex-Speaker’s suggestion was “preposterous”. Ralph Ramkarran also described a certain political outcome as “inevitable” – but this too wasn’t seen as a symptom of “cognitive delusion”. A hundred and fifty years after Marx’s announcement of “historical laws in human affairs where proven to be just so much hot air (not to mention the taking of untold millions of lives to encourage “inevitable” outcomes), Ramkarran’s blind faith doesn’t warrant a “preposterous”?
So why the different treatment? Can’t be because Ramkarran has a higher status than Hinds. Can’t be that he’s acquainted only with Ramkarran. The only reason for Jeffrey’s eye pass of PM Hinds is he’s livid Hinds is still Prime Minister while he was thrown out on his ear as a Minister. Even though they were both brought in as “Civic” by Dr Jagan. He reveals this when he categorises Hinds’ description of Jagan’s unity efforts as reflecting his “essential gratefulness to the PPP/C for choosing him as its prime ministerial candidate”.
Aaaah...when Jeffrey was chosen as one Minister or another in the PPP/C, he was so principled!!! The wanker was so diligent with his brown-nosing, he could barely get time to exhale. Inhale he did – with his nose way up everyone’s posterior. Look how he went on his knees begging Jagdeo to be posted to Suriname – when he was kicked out!
PM Hinds has exemplified what the essence of “collective responsibility” is all about. When the group makes the decision, back it. If you don’t agree – quit! Don’t wait till you’ve been given a bum’s rush, like Jeffrey, to snipe at your betters from the outside.
...on AML/CTF
If there’s anyone out there who’s in agreement with the Opposition’s recalcitrance on the AML/CTF Bill, then they’re qualified to join Henry Jeffrey’s “cognitive delusion” club. Imagine a set of politicians who can say with a straight face, the only reason they won’t sign the Bill is they want to extract a quid pro quo from the Government!!!
So what if all the country’s financial transactions ground to a halt – or at best, snail’s pace? So what if remittances slow down? Then, Guyana’s only dependent totally on imports and exports! We could always eat our rice and wash it down with rum. If you want to know what’s ahead...just look at Cuba. Only one nation has imposed sanctions on Cuba at this time – the USA. But as far as its economy is concerned, it’s still back in the Stone Age. Imagine what’ll be our situation a decade down the road.
The only way Guyanese can prove they’re not “cognitively delusional” is to vote these wankers out next time!!
...on Rodney’s assassination
Eusi Kwayana conclusively dismissed the ramblings of the lunatic fringe (they’re to the left of the “cognitively delusional”) that the PPP was somehow involved in the great man’s killing. There’s some sanity remaining.
The Education Ministry has launched an investigation into reports of irregularities in the conduct of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) at a Region One school, which has affected the school’s results at the assessments.
The Ministry in a release said it is actively considering various options and will make interventions where its paramount consideration will be what is in the best interest of the affected students.
The Ministry said it is committed to updating the public with additional information at the conclusion of
its investigation. In recent years, the Ministry established a number of quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that examinations and their subsequent results are of the highest integrity.
In fact, it was these measures that allowed the Ministry to identify this problem in the affected area and school. No other irregularities were found in any of the other schools in Guyana.
“The Ministry wishes to assure all stakeholders and members of the public that this irregularity will not be allowed to affect either the in-
tegrity or the timely release of the NGSA results,” the release said.
The Ministry had earlier announced that the marking of all NGSA scripts has been completed and the results are currently being processed.
The Ministry in a Facebook post had said it is hoping to release the results by June 27.
Last year, for the first time, the results were released earlier than usual, as was promised by subject Minister Priya Manickchand.
“With a view of streamlining the efficient delivery of results, this year the students,
parents, and school administrations knew the date by which results would be out before the commencement of the NGSA.
“This is the second consecutive year that the Ministry will be releasing the NGSA results promptly as indicated, through the continued enhancement of the overall quality management processes of the examination, the Ministry said.
The NGSA was held on April 16 and 17 at centres across Guyana.
NGSA results are set to be released nationwide on or before Friday June 27.
Students, teachers, headteacher, and administrative staff of Guyana’s leading secondary school, Queen’s College (QC) will be the beneficiaries of several forthcoming enhancements.
The enhancements are expected to significantly modify the overall function, appearance and learning environment of the school.
This week, the executive body of the Parent Teacher Association, Board of Governors, headteacher, and Administrative Department of Queens College met with Education Minister Priya Manickchand to discuss these issues.
At the meeting, QC representatives raised a number of issues. Among the list of issues mentioned were the insufficient numbers of teachers and furniture for staff, labs and classrooms.
Minister Manickchand committed to addressing these concerns fully and has also committed to, as far as possi-
ble, make every effort to ensure that the school has the requisite number of teachers and furnishings needed.
The Minister, however, has asked the school in collaboration with the PTA to compile a comprehensive list of vacancies and furnishings needed.
She has also committed to addressing as far as resources would allow, several other requests made by the school, which included repairs and painting to the buildings; improved plumbing to certain buildings; electrical works;
restoration to the school’s play field; and expansion works to include cafeteria and rooms that will be used for various events and club meetings.
“Queens College is one of many schools listed for rehabilitation works and overall enhancement interventions this year as the Ministry continues to improve the delivery of education across the country.
“The meeting is a fulfilment of the Ministry’s promise that any rehabilitation works will see the community being informed of the scope
of the works with the view to having quality outputs,” the release said.
Queens College is known to produce some of Guyana’s and the region’s best scientists, lawyers, engineers, teachers, economists and persons in other professions.
Recently, three students from the school – Cecil Cox, who topped the Caribbean in the Sciences in 2013; Benedict Sukra, and Lawrence Faria – were accepted into the region’s elite programme for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE) at the University of the West Indies.
SPISE is a four-week residential summer programme for Caribbean highschool students who are gifted in Science and engineering. In the programme, students are immersed in university-level calculus, physics, biochemistry, entrepreneurship, Mandarin, one-Caribbean studies, and hands-on projects in robotics and electronics and computer programming.
These days it look like every ting at de s.ity council brukkin up. De other day de Mayor-fuh-Life bruk up a council meeting. From Green Ham to de other Green to Roy Stone, no body ain’t buildin any ting. Is all about brukkin up. Even dem councillors now join de bruk up party.
Whenever Green Ham plan to hold a meetin, Sober brukkin it up. Whenever Sober plan to hold a meetin, Green Ham, de other Green, and Roy Stone brukkin it up. And when three people bruk up some ting, that’s a lotta brukkin up.
A reporter had pass and hear Green Ham, de other Green and Roy Stone singin “Bruk-It-Down” de same day when a meetin was supposed to tek place earlier this week. But de reporter thought it was a party.
He thought wid all de fightin, it was strange enough fuh de s.ity council to have a party. Is only when he go inside he realise that it was a party fuh only three people. It was de bruk-it-down committee of Green Ham, de other Green, and Roy Stone.
De reporter go back to he editor and seh he never know Green Case coulda bruk-it-down so low, especially wid someone like Green Ham who does behave like he always on a high horse. So de Newsroom wasn’t sure if that was lowly behaviour or high-risk behaviour.
Even de Town Hall buildin now brukkin up. Green Ham had to bring in overseas consultants to look at de bruk down buildin. When de consultants done look at de wuk, dem seh wid all that bruk-it-down inside, is no wonder de buildin brukkin up too. Eventually de consultants talk bout de bruk-up mentality of de brukit-down trio.
Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie! But de reporter went back and talk to a councillor and he find out that is a long time now Green Ham does bruk down tings at de s.ity council, or wheh ever he go. It get so bad that de Mayor-fuh-Life he self lookin bruk up these days.
Trinidad and Tobago Sustainable Development Minister and Caribbean Development Bank Executive, Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie on Thursday issued a resounding call for members of the local private sector to participate in the America’s Competitiveness Forum (ACF).
The CAF opens in the twin-island republic on October 8. The Trinidadian Minister related that this is the first time that the global business investor conference is being held in an Englishspeaking Caribbean country.
He said that the fact that the forum is being held in Trinidad gives Caricom an opportunity to showcase itself.
Dr Tiwarie contended that the private sector body should take advantage of the impending opportunity and use it as a way to access investors and export market since there will be a wide variety of opportunities available to businessmen.
He said the forum will place the spotlight on several areas that are of pivotal importance to the private sector, including management, marketing, production and innovation.
He noted that the theme for the forum is “The Human Imagination at Work: Driving Competitiveness, Powering Innovation”, contending that there is a lack of “private sector involvement in innovation”.
Dr Tiwarie, who serves as Inter-American Competitiveness Network Chair Pro Tempore 2014, said: “The human imagination... needs to be stimulated and nurtured in order to build competitive capacity. Exploring this concept further will expand the innovative capacity of the Americas and open new opportunities for us to share and grow from each other’s experiences.”
On that note, the Caribbean Development Bank Governor stressed that there is a need for the Caribbean private sector to address the issue of competitiveness.
In this regard, he pointed out that there is a need for energy costs to be lowered.
“Much more needs to be done in production and we must address the question of competitiveness,” Dr Tiwarie said.
He pointed out that lower production costs would aid
the private sector in the area of competitiveness.
Need for cheap energy
It was noted that one pivotal aspect that would essentially lower production costs, and aid in the fight to be competitive would be lower energy costs.
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President, Dr Warren Smith said the region must unlock the opportunities for competitiveness and growth by looking at ways to lowering the high energy costs.
Dr Smith contended that the region’s inability to achieve high rates of economic growth is due to lack of competitiveness, which is linked to the high cost of electricity.
According to an enterprise survey conducted by the World Bank in 2010, at least 30 per cent of Caribbean firms identified electricity costs as a major constraint to doing business.
“The combination of high diesel and heavy fuel oil costs and the inherent inefficiency of diesel technology, which accounts for the majority of the generation in Borrowing Member Counties (BMCs), are the principal contributors to these high electricity prices. Further, these fuel prices are subject to the volatility of international oil markets, which are highly responsive to shifts in geo-politics,” Dr Smith explained.
This problem, he said, is further compounded by small market size and the absence of economies of scale in the generation of electricity; with many of the generation facilities gradually approaching the end of their useful lives. As a result, these facilities do not benefit from the efficiencies inherent in the new technologies built into generators of more recent vintage.
Month of Shabaan 1435
The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) has announced that the Month of Shabaan 1435 AH commenced on Friday.
According to a release, Shabe-Baraat (15th night of Shabaan) will be commemorated on the evening of June 12.
“We will be looking for the Ramadaan crescent on the evening of June 27,” the release said.
Shaaban is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar. This is the month of ‘separation’, so called because the pagan Arabs used to disperse in search of water. On the 15th night of this month falls the Shab-iBarat: ‘The Night of Records’; some people think that on this night the Prophet Muhammad told his followers that Allah re-
cords all the deeds that the humans have to perform for the next year.
Digicel was honoured to be associated with The David Rose School for the Handicapped by way of sponsorship.
On May 22, the students of the David Rose School executed the opening sequence for the annual skip-a-ton. Digicel’s contribution made it possible for the school to participate in the skip-a-ton for the very first time.
According to hearing impaired lecturer at the school, Janel Bishop, it was very entertaining for the students to be part of the competition.
“They were accustomed to sitting and watching the festivity, but to actually be part of the activity was very exciting, some of
the students are still dancing. We would like to thank Digicel for making it possible for us to participate in this event.”
Digicel supports the promotion of physical activity in students since it stimulates growth and leads to improved physical and emotional health.
Digicel Group Limited is a leading global communications provider with operations in 31 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. After 12 years of operation, total investment to date stands at over US$4.5 billion worldwide. The company is renowned for delivering best value, best service
and best network. Digicel is incorporated in Bermuda and its markets comprise: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Nauru, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Vanuatu. Digicel also has coverage in St Martin and St Barts in the Caribbean.
In a new move to jointly address the HIV epidemic and improve the lives of people living with the virus, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and partner organisations have established new targets for expanding diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment (ART) and reducing patients’ viral loads by the year 2020.
The new targets –dubbed “90-90-90” – were adopted during the First Latin American and Caribbean Forum on the HIV Continuum of Care, which is being held this week in Mexico City. The forum was organised by a coalition of partners including Mexico’s Health Secretariat, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO).
Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and partner organisations have established new targets for expanding diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment (ART) and reducing patients’ viral loads by the year 2020
treatment early.”
In 2012, some 1.8 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean were living with HIV, and some 98,000 people became newly-infected, according to UNAIDS estimates.
Target seeks to increase the proportion of people with HIV who know their diagnosis to 90 per cent
New PAHO/WHO estimates for 2013 suggest that 70 per cent of people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean know they are infected. This is an average based on data from countries that account for 62 per cent of the region’s HIV epidemic.
Expanding testing
PAHO/WHO’s HIV, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Unit Chief Massino Ghidinelli said the new targets are a step forward in controlling the HIV/ AIDS epidemic.
“If we want more people to be on treatment and to achieve undetectable viral loads, they have to know their diagnosis and begin
“Expanding early diagnosis and treatment combines the clinical benefits of early treatment for patients with benefits to the population of preventing transmission,” UNAIDS for Latin America Regional Director César Nuñez said.
However, in some countries, fewer than half know their HIV diagnosis. Expanding testing – by increasing the availability of tests and involving communities and civil society in the effort – will lead to more people with HIV seeking the treatment they need.
The European Union (EU) is willing to fund a study that would explore the opportunity costs of not having a Caribbean Community (Caricom) in place.
Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the EU to Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories, Ewout Sandker made the announcement on Monday during the HighLevel Advocacy Forum on Statistics in Grenada.
As he underlined the importance of a solid data foundation for development in general, and regional integration in particular, Sandker posed some questions to the forum and made reference to the path the EU took integration.
He told the gathering of senior government officials, statisticians, and representatives of international organisations, that in the 1980s, the EU conducted a study that calculated the
opportunity cost of not having a fully integrated market in Europe.
The results, he related, were “quite amazing”. They were an “enormous push” to regional integration and provided a good opportunity for mobilising the private sector in Europe which saw the benefits they were not getting by not having a fully integrated market, he said.
“Something like that could be done in the Caribbean as well, and we would be happy to provide funding for such a study (of) the cost of not having Caricom,” Sandker said.
Financial support
Over the past decade, the EU has been providing support to the community to strengthen regional statistics and to improve its use in policy-making.
About €4 million of the €57 million Ninth European Development Fund (EDF) cycle to the community was allotted to produce and disseminate economic statis-
tics, to harmonise statistical structures across the region and to train staff to use the economic statistics to monitor the regional integration process.
The EU and the Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) deepened support to the field of statistics under the 10th EDF to build on earlier achievements and to fill the gaps that remained. From the €18 million allocated to the CSME under the 10th EDF, about €2 million was allocated to strengthen the intra-regional systems to produce and disseminate timely, high quality, harmonised statistics to monitor the CSME. The funding, Sandker said, was used to monitor regional integration, further develop merchandise trade statistics and to boost social and environmental statistics, among other areas.
Statistical monitoring of the integration movement, he said, was particularly close to his heart.
“I’ve been working on it the first time I was in Guyana with the Caricom Secretariat and I believe that monitoring of both compliance of regional integration commitments at the national level, and secondly, the impact of regional integration activities and processes are absolutely key to the success of the regional integration enterprise.
“If you can’t measure it; if you don’t now, the compliance at national levels with different areas of integration, how can you allocate resources in a sensible way? If you don’t know, you cannot prioritise. If you don’t know what is the impact of the regional integration process, how can you argue that it is a good thing? How can you argue that you should go further and deeper?” he queried.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has welcomed the recent announcement of the investors in the Marriott Project, contending that the disclosure is timely and reflective of the Government’s commitment to being transparent.
The release of the investor details follows numerous prior releases made by the Government including releases by the Finance Minister since 2012 that included the construction contract, tax agreement and lease agreements.
This was followed last year with Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI) releasing additional information, including major sections of the feasibility study produced
by internationally-recognised HVS International that detailed the total investment and the sources, along with the financial returns. Government has also responded to various parliamentary questions and fully participated in various debates (both in Parliament and publicly) on the project.
Support
The PPP said the Marriott Project is one of Guyana’s transformational projects that has received support from many quarters, including the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Tourism Association of Guyana (TAG).
President Donald Ramotar and Opposition Leader David Granger are scheduled to meet on Monday at the Office of the President to discuss the fate of the AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.
The political leaders agreed to meet hours after the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) referred Guyana to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for blacklisting.
The Opposition Leader made this disclosure on Friday, stating that the parties’ legal minds, Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Shadow Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams are also expected to meet to analyse the demands that have been placed on the table.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) is calling for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) while the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is demanding that the Local Government Bill that was rejected by the President receive his assent.
But while admitting that the demands will come up for discussion during the negotiating process, Granger did not indicate clearly whether APNU would be willing to strike a compromise. “In my view, our request is quite reasonable,” he told reporters when questioned on the issue of compromise.
President Ramotar is calling for an unconditional approval of the Anti-Money
Opposition Leader David Granger
Laundering Bill, but this is a request both APNU and AFC are not prepared to meet.
“He is telling the Opposition to pass whatever is on the table unconditionally, and it is a complete rejection for what AFC is asking for and what APNU is asking for, we have conditions…The President is calling on the Opposition to pass what is on the table unconditionally, but it is not going to happen!” Granger said.
National issue
The Opposition Leader said too that there is no need for further intervention by the regional leaders as he referenced the issue of mediation, explaining that the issue that faces Guyana is a “national issue” and should be solved not by The Bahamas or Trinidad and Tobago, but by the national leaders.
“We can solve the problem by Monday night,” he said.
It was explained that the current problem that faces Guyana can be ad-
dressed through “inclusionary democracy”. According to Granger, it is time the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) abandon its “winner-takes-all” attitude to governance.
“APNU calls on the major sections of society – including the Government, Opposition parties, trade unions, private sector and civil society – to renew their quest for consensus on a broad national means of harnessing the talents of a broader constituency, fostering the conditions for social cooperation and economic development and deepening the democratic process.”
On Thursday, the CFATF said Guyana remains a country with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies due to its non-compliance with the developed Action Plan. As a result, Guyana is now considered a risk to the international financial system and members are now encouraged to implement further countermeasures to protect their financial interests.
CFATF members are being encouraged to enhance their due diligence measures, introduce enhanced reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; refuse the establishment of subsidiaries or branches or representative offices in Guyana. Additionally, it was clearly stated that countries should minimise their business relationships or financial transactions with Guyana and even persons within the country.
Opposition Leader
David Granger is contending that keys questions surrounding the death of political activist and co-founder of the Working People Alliance (WPA), Dr Walter Rodney are yet to be answered.
At the time, Granger was addressing the media at his Hadfield Street Office, Georgetown on the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of Dr Rodney. Granger opined that thus far, witnesses have provided the Commission with “hear say” details, noting that the truth is yet to be unveiled.
“I have never heard from any of the witnesses about how the device came to be designed and manufactured? How Dr Rodney came to be in possession with it? How he accepted an instruction to go and test an ordinary
walkie-talkie in the dead of the night by the Georgetown Prison and none of the people who would have given evidence seem to have answered these questions?” Granger said as he defended his position. According to him, many of the witnesses gave extensive details on the political climate at the time and challenges they would have faced due to their association with the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), while omitting information on the circumstances supporting the death of the politician.
Granger made it clear that the People’s National Congress (PNC) is not afraid to face the truth, stressing that the Commissioners should not draw their conclusions on “hear say details” but should seek the
The Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) fever has started in Guyana with the recruitment of cheerleaders to entertain Guyanese cricket fanatics and ultimately the world.
A three-day workshop concluded on Friday at the Pegasus Hotel at which more than 25 young, beautiful and energetic young ladies worked extremely hard with the hope of being selected to be a part of the cheerleading squad.
Gyrating to sweet soca music under the direction of Pixie Ducourdray out of Trinidad and Tobago, the participants were definitely having a grand time. Ducourdray told Guyana Times that she was impressed with the tremendous talents of the Guyanese girls.
This is the first of a series of training that she was contracted to conduct throughout the region, leading up to the commencement of the second LCPL tournament. She added that over the past three days, the participants showcased determination, charm and discipline.
“These girls are raw talent and I have enjoyed working with them over the past three days… I know they are full of potential and when
I am gone, they will be in good hands… Clive Prowell will work with them twice a week to get the routine in order,” she related.
Co-trainer Rehanna Ramdhani, also of Trinidad, was also impressed with the qualities of participants. She noted that though it was three days of hard work, the participants did not put up resistance.
Meanwhile, Digicel’s Public Relations Officer Vidya Sanichara said the company is happy to be one of the sponsors of the LCPL for the second time around. She said that LCPL gives unlimited excitement in the region and her compa-
ny is looking forward to the same as was seen last year.
With respect to the workshop, she also said that Digicel Guyana is committed to having the best cheerleaders at the matches involving Guyana. She recalled that in 2013, cheerleaders from other countries were used in Guyana and thought it was time to correct the situation.
The final selection of the cheerleading team was done on Friday evening and those selected will participate in additional training under the stewardship of Clive Prowell, twice a week at the Classique Dance Company Studio, Hadfield Street.
Ttruth. However, Granger has thus far shunned calls to appear before the Commission.
WPA Co-founder Eusi Kwayana has been testifying for the past three days. According to him, the PNC led by Linden Forbes Burnham, set the stage for Dr Rodney’s murder.
The politician was killed on June 13, 1980 in the vicinity of the Camp Street Prison. He was sitting in his brother’s vehicle when an explosive device that was concealed in a walkie-talkie radio exploded in his lap.
On June 13, 2013, the Government following a direct request from the Rodney Family announced the approval of the establishment of an International Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Dr Rodney.
he Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) has issued wanted bulletins for two men in connection with the discovery of four kilograms of cocaine in a cargo of fruits and vegetables that left Guyana on Thursday.
The drug was intercepted in Trinidad and Tobago.
The wanted men are Caleb Habeed Caesar, 31, of Lot 130 Garnett Street, Newtown, Kitty,
Georgetown and Philip Carlos Jermin Lovell, 38, of Lot 60 Guyhoc Gardens, Georgetown.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the men is asked to contact CANU’s headquarters on telephone number 227-3507.
According to information received, the cocaine left Guyana on board a Caribbean Airlines flight destined for the US on Thursday afternoon.
It was during a rou-
tine check at the Piarco International Airport, the cocaine was detected by customs officials.
It is not clear how the cocaine passed security at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), but an investigation has been launched by Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) and the Police Narcotic Branch (PNB). Of recent, drug traffickers have been using innovative ways to traffic cocaine out of Guyana. There have been instances where cocaine was found in pastries, cabbage, achar, among ochroes and pineapples.
Most recently, over six pounds of the illegal drug was intercepted at the CJIA in frozen fish.
Despite the challenges, drug enforcement units have been on top of their game and have managed to intercept illegal drugs from leaving the CJIA, resulting in a number of persons being prosecuted.
A23-year-old woman accused of beating another woman for allegedly owing her money was arraigned on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. Althea Andrews, who was unrepresented by legal counsel, pleaded guilty to the charge of assault.
The court was told that on May 8, at Albouystown, Andrews assaulted Onika Thom. The fight ensued after the defendant asked the Virtual Complainant for money owed to her. The VC refused to pay the debt, which annoyed the defendant, who dealt her several kicks and punches to her body, which caused serious harm.
The construction worker was granted $100,000 bail, which was subsequently reduced to $60,000 after the defendant’s mother pleaded with the Magistrate for more reasonable bail. The defendant is to return to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on June 20.
The Housing and Water Ministry’s Community Roads Improvement Programme
(CRIP) has been a huge success and has provided a better quality of roads and easier access for thousands of individuals to their communities across the country.
Following on this success, the Ministry on Friday signed contracts with five construction companies for the second phase of the project, which will see an additional $417 million being invested.
The signing of the contracts which was done at the Ministry’s Boardroom came about after these companies were deemed the most suitable for the job following a public tender which was opened on April 29.
The rehabilitation process would also cater for safety features such as speed humps, and reshaping of the drains and road corners to avoid accidents by careless road users.
Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali, who was present at the event, expressed his joy of being able to “move forward with this phase of the project”. He noted that this money will be used for the rehabilitation of 24 roads in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. This intervention will directly benefit 15,685 people.
He added that the Ministry has been doing work on numerous roads in new housing schemes; however, this project will target the old schemes as these need maintenance too.
The Minister also noted that some of these projects are expected to be completed in a three-month timeframe, but by September, all of the work should conclude. In addition to this, the Minister told the contractors that the Ministry will not be accepting any excuse if the deadlines are missed. He high-
lighted the fact that if the deadlines are not met, liquidated charges will be placed on the companies.
The change in the weather pattern should have also been catered for during the bidding process because this is usually the number one excuse for failing to meet deadlines. These projects will be supervised by authorised personnel in the various communities.
Minister Ali also pointed out that 15 out of these 24 roads are main access roads in commu-
The blockade of Cuba, the alleged attacks against Venezuela by the United States, and the crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory focus the foreign ministers’’ meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, started here today.
The Cuban delegation will present again the case of the US economic blockade rejected dozens of times by the United Nations, while Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua will expose Washington’s alleged attacks against the constitutional Government of President Nicolas Maduro.
In the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Foreign Minister Riyadh Malki said he will analyse in this capital the case of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel under the decree of administrative detention, on hunger strike 36 days ago.
Known as pre-summit, the meeting precedes by one year the celebration of the top event, scheduled for next year in Caracas, Venezuela, which will assume the rotating presidency of the body. The presidency period has
extended to three years and Iran has been in charge since September 2012.
The ministerial meeting, to which Bolivian President Evo Morales is attending as a guest, held from Monday the usual previous event of experts and ambassadors, responsible for analysing the agenda that will be presented to the foreign ministers attending the forum for its approval, according to unwritten rules of the group.
The Bolivian city of Santa Cruz will be the stage on June 14-15 of a meet-
ing of the Group of 77 plus China, on occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation, with 133 members, most of them from NAM.
With 120 members, and no written regulations, although its members should comply with certain criteria and can express their reservations about its final statements, to be adopted by consensus, the NAM has been revitalised in recent years, encouraged by the emergence of a unipolar world, controlled by Western powers. (Prensa Latina)
Commuters on the West Bank and West Coast Demerara were on Friday morning severely affected following a major traffic build up on both sides of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB).
nities such as Windsor Forest, Belladrum, Number 64 Villages, Footpath, and Enterprise, among others.
The companies contracted for the project are Barden Construction, Guy America Construction, KP Jagdeo, H Nauth and Sons and Erin Lall Civil Works.
Over 250 roads have thus far been rehabilitated under the CRIP initiative at a cost of $2.4 billion through funding by the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Development bank (CDB).
The reason for the buildup was due to a vehicular accident on the bridge. Information reaching Guyana Times stated that a tractor was towing another vehicle when it veered into the path of a truck that was heading in the opposite direction.
Officials at the DHB confirmed the accident, but did not divulge additional information, other than the situation was fixed. This was however not the case, since passengers plying the route were stalled for hours. The hold up started at 07:00h.
It was until after 09:00h, the traffic started to move in a desirable manner. The
congestion saw Police ranks in their number diverting traffic on the East Bank Demerara, using the newly-implemented three-lane traffic regulation to the city. Traffic build up has been no new scenario on the East Bank since it is an everyday challenge for commuters. The traffic buildup on any normal day would start at Diamond, East Bank Demerara and ends at Huston. Many commuters have been complaining bitterly about the situation, but nothing seems to be done.
They are calling on the Guyana Police Force Traffic Department to look into situation. A Police source said the situation has gained the attention of the Force and it is being examined carefully, and hopefully a viable solution would be forthcoming soon.
saturday, may 31, 2014
Seasoned diplomat Bayney Karran was on Wednesday accepted as Guyana’s Ambassador to the Republic of Costa Rica after presenting his credentials to President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera at the historic Yellow House in San Jose.
The ceremony was conducted in the presence of Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sanz.
Ambassador Karran informed the Costa Rican President that his accreditation was an indication of the importance which Guyana attaches to the regional integration process. He indicated that Guyana and Costa
Rica have much scope for bilateral cooperation due to their shared interests in areas such as low carbon development, eco-tourism and conservation.
The Ambassador also pointed to Guyana’s growing links with the countries of Latin America and noted the opportunities for Guyana and Costa Rica to advance common positions within multilateral organisations in the hemisphere.
President Rivera, who assumed office three weeks ago, underscored his commitment to enhancing the relationship between Guyana and Costa Rica bilaterally as well as
through regional and hemispheric bodies such as the Organisation of American States (OAS); Association of Caribbean States (ACS); and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for which Costa Rica now holds the chairmanship. He spoke of the need for the two countries to cooperate in order to strengthen regional multilateral organisations.
Ambassador Karran’s accreditation to Costa Rica is on a non-resident basis. He will continue to serve as Guyana’s Ambassador to the US and Permanent Representative to the OAS in Washington, DC.
Target two seeks to increase the proportion of people receiving antiretroviral treatment to 90 per cent
Some 725,000 people with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment in Latin America and the Caribbean as of December 2012, and preliminary PAHO/WHO estimates suggest this number increased to more than 800,000 by December 2013.
Treatment coverage rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are higher than in any other low- and middle-income region. However, WHO’s newest HIV guidelines recommend earlier initiation of treatment (when one’s CD4 cell count falls to 500 cells/mm³ or less), which has increased the number of people who meet the criteria for receiving treatment. Applying the new criteria to
2012 data would reduce the region’s coverage rate to 43 per cent.
Expanding treatment would contribute to better health for people with HIV, reduce cases of AIDS and prevent new infections. Toward this end, countries agreed to revise their models of care to make treatment more accessible.
Target three aims to increase the proportion of people under treatment who have an undetectable viral load.
PAHO/WHO data indicate that some 66 per cent of people with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean had suppressed viral loads in 2013. Reaching the 90 per cent target will require improved patient adherence to treatment.
Suppressed viral load is
from page 12
critical for controlling the harmful effects of HIV infection on people’s health and also significantly reduces the risk of infecting others.
To promote adherence and keep patients under treatment, HIV health care must be decentralised to levels that allow greater interaction with the community.
Countries also agreed on a fourth target: reducing delayed diagnosis. As of 2013, half of countries providing data reported that at least a third of people with HIV were at an advanced stage of immunological disease at the time of their diagnosis. This situation has been improving, however, with late diagnoses declining from 40 per cent to 35 per cent between 2012 and 2013, reflecting expanded HIV testing in a number of countries.
“The project has only been deemed controversial due to the few parties opposed to the project – the Pegasus Hotel owner who is known to be a key supporter of the AFC, certain leaders of the TUC that are strong supporters of APNU, the AFC and APNU and certain media outfits aligned to the Opposition. Comments by these Opposition groups have ranged from incitement to xenophobia. References in various media outfits to ‘this controversial project’ are referring to the controversy created by their own publication of positions of those few interests opposed to the project,” the release said.
The PPP also said it welcomes the announcement by Republic Bank that the US$27 million in debt financing for the project has been syndicated and close to completion.
The party noted the announcement that an affiliated company of the majority investor will be providing additional financing for the outfitting of the entertainment complex (at least US$4 million). Pointing out that it will be operating the entertainment complex and guaranteeing to AHI, returns projected in the HVS Feasibility Study.
“Finally, the quality of the investor is reflected in their substantial participation in
Caribbean Community (Caricom) sugar producing countries are seeking to adopt a unified position as it relates to the future development of the industry as well as their relationship with Europe.
A three-day meeting of the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) is slated for Jamaica on Tuesday with issues relating to the soon to be introduced changes in the European Union (EU) Sugar Regime, among the main agenda items.
The ISO 45th Council Session in Montego Bay is being held under the theme: ‘Positioning for the new market frontiers’, and
is expected to be attended by more than 60 delegates from the Caricom grouping.
Jamaican Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said delegates would also discuss the number of problems, including the cost of production, now confronting the sugar industry.
He said Caricom will be particularly interested in the discussion on the sugar regime.
“We are looking at getting a unified Caricom position, especially among the sugar stakeholders, as to the region’s approach to the future development of the industry, the relation-
ship with the EU and how, as a group, Caricom fits into the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) organisation. The conference is really about putting together plans as to how we lobby,” he said.
“The change in the EU sugar regime, which, comes into effect in two years time, will pose tremendous challenges for sugar-producing nations such as Jamaica, so we need to be proactive and unified in our approach.
“We will also focus heavily on the cost associated with the production of sugar, because if you look at the trend in prices, sugar producing nations are now being forced to take a critical look at the viability of the industry,” he added.
Clarke said that the meeting will also discuss health related issues within the industry.
“There is this lobby regarding the harm that can be done to humans through the consumption of sugar. We are now being forced to take an aggressive position to educate members of the public of the health benefits.
“This will be done through support from our scientists who have been charged with the task of putting those fears to rest through research information,” he said. (Caribbean360)
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon on Wednesday reported that Cabinet gave its approval for several contracts to be undertaken by the Education, Agriculture and Public Works Ministries. See below contracts awarded.
Education Ministry
-Science and technology sector
Education Ministry
Procurement of consultancy service for a feasibility study for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for the study of Biodiversity
US$96,300
Procurement of new motor vehicles $58.3M
Public Works Ministry Consultancy services for the Schools Road Safety Education Programme
£252,107
Agriculture Ministry Supply of shade materials and irrigation equipment for NAREI $72.3M
Agriculture Ministry
Construction of living quarters for NAREI staff at Hosororo, Region One
Public Works Ministry Tender for supervisory firm for the West Coast Demerara, CDB Road Improvement Project, Vreed-en-Hoop- to Parika
Housing and Water Ministry
from page 13
a number of companies traded on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with one being valued at US$1 billion. It will be noted, that apart from the listed companies, the investors also have other substantial investments that are not listed. The PPP recognises that the investor have been approved by Marriott and Republic Bank following completion of their due diligence.
“The PPP joins in welcoming all of the investors in this project to Guyana, particularly, Mr Chan and Mr Han of Ace Square Investments Limited,” the release concluded.
$20.1M
US$2.1M
Supply and delivery of 10,000 water meter boxes $54M
United States Ambassador, D Brent Hardt on Sunday will officially launch the next chapter of “Guyana Shines: Keep Guyana Beautiful”, to be followed by a clean-up exercise.
A Government of Guyana representative from the Natural Resources and the Environment Ministry will also make brief remarks. Together with the non-
governmental organisations, youths for Guyana, and private sector partners, including ExxonMobil, Republic Bank, Caribbean Container, Inc, and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “Keep Guyana Beautiful” forms a new and innovative chapter of the US Embassy’s Guyana Shines environmental awareness, education and action project. Guyana Shines has been
active throughout Guyana over the past two years in encouraging and mobilising members of Guyanese communities and schoolchildren to maintain a clean environment and address the serious littering challenge through education and action.
The launching will be held at G Bent Street (off Brickdam Road) in Wortmanville, Georgetown
Crime Chief Leslie James on Friday confirmed that two persons were arrested for the kidnapping of Baby Yuvesh Bistonauth, but they were released on Thursday after the mother of the kidnapped child did not make a positive identification.
The now 17-day baby, of Number 60 Village, Corentyne, was abducted by a woman, who identified herself as Bibi Khan (likely a false name) from the Surinamese border town of Nickerie on his ninth day. Police have since contacted their counterparts in Suriname who have been on the lookout for the woman, described as average built, average weight and brown in complexion.
The Crime Chief stressed that the Police will continue their investigations with the hope of finding the child as well as the kidnapper.
Sandra McLean, also known as “Pinky”, the mother of the missing baby, said she is confused and does not know where to look for her missing child. “It is like searching for a needle in a haystack,” she said.
However, McLean, who cannot travel to Nickerie because she does not have a Guyanese Passport, is optimistic that her son is alive. Eight days have passed without a trace of the child, but his parents are not losing hope.
The abductor lured McLean, who she had befriended – telling her that she had a special interest in the baby – to Rose Hall Town, Corentyne and eventually to Port Mourant Market under the guise of buying stuff for the baby’s Ninth Day celebration. At the market, she put a carefully orchestrated plan into play and made good her escape with the baby. At the time, she was wearing a black Kemar most likely to disguise herself, a red shortsleeved shirt, a knee-length blue skirt, and glasses.
Wrong Bibi Khans
Meanwhile, the two women arrested by Police, Bibi Shanaz Khan and Bibi Ameena Hussain Khan, said all Bibi Khans will be suspects and thus called on the Guyana Police Force to investigate the matter thoroughly before making any arrest. Bibi Khan is a common name in Guyana.
The two women are strongly contemplating desisting from wearing their Kemars in light of the suspect’s description. The women were arrested on Wednesday on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD).
Bibi Shanaz Khan, 39, of Lot 14 Zeeburg, WCD
Although the file on the Colwyn Harding matter is back with the Guyana Police Force, Crime Chief Leslie James is asking for the public’s patience as Police are in the final stages of addressing the issue.
Kidnapped: Yuvesh Bistonauth
was arrested on her way to the Masjid at Met-enMeerzorg, and was taken to the Leonora Police Station where she was interrogated by Police ranks. She was then told of the allegation and was subsequently taken to the Den Amstel Police Station where she spent the night.
On Thursday afternoon, she was released from custody and warned against leaving the country. Speaking with Guyana Times , she stated that it was after she was taken into custody that she realised that a baby was kidnapped from Berbice.
Khan said she felt unclean after sleeping in the prison cell at Den Amstel, but the Police were very professional.
However, Bibi Ameena Husain Khan said her experience was quite different. She told Guyana Times that she was arrested on Wednesday as she walked out of the Guyana Post Office Corporation where she had gone to collect a package from her brother.
She was then taken to Police Headquarters Eve Leary where she was grilled and subsequently to the East La Penitence Police Station where she spent the night. She was released on Thursday afternoon. She said she was horribly treated by the Police ranks who accused her of lying and holding back information about the baby.
The woman added that she has never been to Suriname and cannot believe that she was accused of kidnapping a baby when taking care of hers is a challenge, since she is a single parent. She was asked to return to Police Headquarters on Monday.
The baby’s mother expressed profound sadness over the arrest of the two women, but stated that the only things she remembered about her son’s kidnapper were the name she gave, the fact she wore Muslim garb and was from Nickerie.
The Crime Chief noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack has made her recommendations and so has Chairman of the Police Complaint’s Authority, former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Cecil Kennard, but the Police will now have to analyse those and make a decision.
James reiterated that while the public would want to see closure on the matter, the Police did not want to take an incomplete file before the courts. He assured Guyana Times that a decision was imminent.
Initially, Justice Kennard recommended criminal charges against two of the Police Officers accused of raping the 23-year-old Harding with a baton and beating him unconscious in November while
investigating an allegation of theft, and disciplinary action against the others for the use of excessive force.
He had indicated that there was no evidence of Harding being baton raped, but his report noted that Harding’s medical files were not submitted. Harding made the allegations while he was hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital in January, but doctors there diagnosed him with a severe case of hernia.
Subsequently, an independent medical examination revealed that a foreign object was inserted into Harding’s
anus. The case took on political overtones, with Harding’s lawyer being Alliance For Change Chairman Nigel Hughes, and suggestions of false claims and political grandstanding swirled in the face of public outrage.
Lawsuit
Harding recently sued the Government of Guyana for $80.4 million in damages for torture and breach of his constitutional rights.
The young man is further claiming more than $100,000 each for breach of his fundamental rights to protection from inhuman treatment, arbitrary search of his person, and personal liberty.
Another $100,000 in damages is being claimed for torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in violation of Guyana’s Constitution and the Convention Against Torture. He is also asking for $100,000 for alleged assault and battery committed on him by two Police Constables, whom he named in his court document, between November 14 and 22 at Timehri.
Harding was charged with assaulting a Police officer and was remanded to prison after he could not raise his bail money; however, he took ill while at the penitentiary and was hospitalised, which led to the publicising of the matter.
In the writ, he is demanding from the State $80 million in damages caused after his fundamental right to protection from torture and/ or inhumane and degrading treatment, as guaranteed by the Constitution, was breached.
By Bernice Bede Osol
Someone is feeling let down. Show more affection, and you will get the same in return. It’s important to see both sides of a situation if you want to resolve issues.
20Feb. 19) (Dec. 22Jan. 19)
Concentrate on taking better care of your health, and you will replace lethargy and exhaustion with enthusiasm and accomplishment. Overindulgence will cause uncertainty. Balance is required.
20-March 20)
It will be easy to coax others into helping you out. You can increase your chances of success by airing your ideas to a larger group of people.
21-April 19)
Stop complaining and start doing. Accept any differences you have with others and keep moving forward. The only person you can improve is you, so leave your grievances at home.
(April 20-May 20)
You’ll be stressed over inconsequential matters. If you share your thoughts with a good friend, the suggestions offered will help you find solutions to your problems.
(May 21June 20)
An uncertain future will require you to broaden your options regarding your work and personal life. There is no need to remain in a situation that is stifling or unrewarding.
(June 21July 22)
Put some space between you and anything that is creating stress. Indulge in things that make you happy. You will feel recharged and better equipped to deal with problems.
(July 23Aug. 22)
Invite some friends over to your house. Take time to enjoy one another’s company in an open and pleasant setting. Leave work-related matters on the doorstep and keep the conversation light.
(Aug. 23Sept. 22)
A beneficial partnership could come your way as the result of a short trip. Your plans will be met with enthusiasm and some constructive criticism will give you a new outlook.
23Oct. 23)
Expect to face a difference of opinion at home. Emotions will heat up if you are not willing to bend. Don’t say something that you will live to regret.
(Oct. 24Nov. 22)
You can overcome any barriers. Don’t allow insecurity to slow down your progress. You have what it takes to be successful, so pick up the pace.
(Nov. 23Dec. 21)
You may be called on to fulfill a promise that you have yet to honour. Don’t try to back out. You made the commitment, so it’s up to you to see it through.
Several other high ranking players have confirmed their participation in the Guyana Festival cricket match between a Master’s team and the President’s XI, to be held at the National Stadium, Providence, on August 4.
Players joining the teams include Derek Kallicharran, former first-class cricketer, and his brother Alvin Kallicharran, the former West Indian batsman. Also confirming their participation are former Test players batsman Faoud Bacchus, leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, batsman Travis Dowlin, left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell and off-spinner Clyde Butts.
This event will be held on the second day of the Festival, which will run from August 8-10. Other activities planned for that day
includes a football match.
According to a release from the organisers, “All Guyanese across the world share the passion for cricket which is prevalent throughout the English-speaking Caribbean; football, basketball, boxing, and table tennis also are played while squash has also gained a following. The country’s lush landscape and abundant fauna provide many outdoor activities, aside from sporting activities, including fishing and hunting, bird-watching, hiking and rafting, and while each has a following the Guyana Festival seeks to celebrate all aspects of Guyanese culture, including sports.”
The release went on to state, “These Festival Games are just a component of the activities planned for the three days of the
Guyana Festival being held under the theme ‘Sound, Soul and Taste’; this inaugural event comprises a mixture of the country’s traditional music, dance, food, arts and sports.”
Apart from the players mentioned above, several other players have confirmed their availability for the game, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Lennox Cush, Clive Lloyd, Narsingh Deonarine, Veerasammy Permaul and Trevon Griffith.
Agenda
The much-anticipated event was launched on April 2 at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. On day one, there will be an air show, followed by an international concert with drumming and
As part of efforts to fulfill its corporate mandate, NEW GPC INC, under its ‘Amazon Warriors Energy Drink’, on Friday aligned itself with the Buddy’s Pool Hall ‘On Cue’Pool Competition, which is set for June 22.
Speaking at a simple presentation ceremony at the Buddy’s Pool Hall on Sheriff Street, Georgetown, Marketing Associate of NEW GPC Livasti Bhooplall highlighted the company’s pleasure at being able to support not just the development of pools, but youth development.
“We are very much enthusiastic about pools and sports in general and are pleased to be associated with this
event. We hope we can set the pace for others to follow with regard to sports and its development of youth in Guyana, so that it can be given its just recognition,” Bhooplall said. She added, “Amazon Warriors Energy Drink will continue to be involved in sports and its development and it’s evident with the sponsorship of this event. We are injecting much hype and energy into the event with our very own Amazon Warriors Energy Drink, which is proven to increase concentration and overall performance.”
Managing Director of Buddy’s, Ryan Shivraj, in accepting NEW GPC’s sponsorship, lauded the entity
lots of food.
Day three will see the electrifying National Cookoff with food from every corner and every culture of Guyana represented at the Guyana National Stadium. There will also be a Generation Next concert with local artistes such as Adrian Dutchin, Jumo Primo, and Vanilla.
On every evening of the Festival there will be Coney Island rides for the entire family, an arts and craft exhibition and sale, and a wide variety of food and drinks on sale.
Festival passports will be available to commemorate the event, and will contain discount coupons from the sponsors; autographs from Clive Lloyd, Dave Martins and other stars, as well as President Donald Ramotar.
for its investment in the competition, and sports in general.
He also stated that all the logistical arrangements have been falling into place, and an intense competition is expected. The King of the competition will ride away with a Jialing Motorcycle and trophy. Second place attracts a cash prize of $60,000, a Plum Tablet and trophy; third place is worth $40,000, a Plum X260 phone and trophy; while the fourth place is valued at $25,000 and trophy. Registration is $2000 and each player to register will be the recipient of a free T-Shirt. (Rajiv Bisnauth)
National cycling coach
Hassan Mohamed will resume his programme of activities on the weekend of June 14-15 with the staging of two of his annual races.
First up will be the 14th annual P&P Insurance Brokers and Consultants Limited’s 11-race programme at the inner circuit of the National Park. That event is set to start at 09:00 hours and will see various categories of riders in action, competing for trophies and prime prizes.
The feature race- the 35-lap School Boys and Invitational- will attract the country’s leading senior riders and rising stars looking to upstage defending champion Paul deNobrega, who won last year’s event in a time of one hour, 21 minutes, 0.9 seconds (01h: 21m: 0.9s).
Apart from deNobrega, those slated to face the starting line are Marlon “Fishy” Williams, Robin Persaud, Raynauth Jeffrey, Albert Philander, Orville Hinds and Michael Anthony among others.
The other category winners last year were Jeban Crawford (Juveniles), Junior Niles (Veteran Under-50), Stephano Husbands (Mountain Bike) and Romello Crawford (1214 Boys and Girls ).
On the following dayJune 15, the riders will switch focus to the West Demerara roadways for the 15th annual Father’s Day 50-mile race sponsored
by Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil), through its Castrol brand of products.
Race official Joseph Britton will send the cyclists off at 08:00 hours from the Wales Police Station. They will then proceed to Bushy Park, Parika, before returning to the Demerara Harbour Bridge entrance at Schoonard for the finish. The Veteran, Mountain Bike and Female riders will start at Wales, but will turn at the Uitvlugt Community Centre on the upward journey before finishing at Schoonard.
Apart from prizes for the top six finishers, the first three juniors, veterans, females and mountain bikers will also be rewarded, while there will be eight prime prizes on offer.
Team Coco’s (Guyana) rider Raynauth Jeffrey is the defending champion, having won last year’s race in a time of one hour, 55 minutes, 31 seconds (01h: 55m: 31s).
Shaquille Agard (Junior), Talim Shaw (Veteran), Clyde Jacob (Mountain Bike) and Hazina Barret (Female) were the other category winners last year.
Meanwhile, Mohamed told this publication on Friday that riders should be prepared for a busy second half of 2014 as a packed programme of races has been finalised. According to Mohamed, he is determined to surpass the number of activies he hosted in 2013.
(Avenash Ramzan)
Chennai Super Kings were making a chase of 227 look absurdly simple. Suresh Raina seemed to be batting in a trance that was slowing down time, and slowing down cricket-ball physics, as if he were a character in a dodgy, CGI-heavy action film. Raina was making Virender Sehwag’s 58-ball 122 from earlier in the day look like an everyday sort of innings.
Super Kings were 1002 after six overs. It was the highest Powerplay score in Twenty20 cricket. Raina was batting on 87 off 25 balls. The asking rate, which had been 11.35 at the start of the chase, was now 9.07.
It looked as if only a runout could end Raina’s eerie innings. And this was exactly what happened, following a smart piece of captaincy and an even smarter piece of fielding, both from George Bailey. Having brought on Karanveer Singh, the legspinner, and having brought the field in to deny Brendon McCullum the easy single, Bailey himself was called on to capitalise on the batsman’s over-eagerness to bring Raina back on strike. Bailey sprinted hard to his left, picked up the ball, transferred it to his throwing hand, and released a hard, flat throw, all this on the turn.
The direct hit caught Raina well short. The throw broke the wicket, and broke
the spell that Raina had cast over the game. The magnitude of the target dawned anew on Super Kings, and the magnitude of the total they were defending injected fresh belief into the Kings XI players. Having scored 100 in the first six overs, Super Kings could only manage 102 off the last 14, and even a customary last-ball six from MS Dhoni could no’t prevent defeat by 24 runs. Raina found himself in the middle in the first over of the chase, after Mitchell Johnson had sent back Faf du Plessis with a short ball that had gotten big on him. As soon as he arrived, Raina seemed to be batting
in a bubble. He tore into Sandeep Sharma in the second over, shredding him for three fours and a six through and over his favourite extracover and midwicket areas. Three fours and three sixes - the pick of them a pull over deep backward square leg off Johnson - followed in the next three overs, taking Raina to 55 off 18. He had reached his fifty in 16 balls, and become the second-quickest to the mark in the IPL, but he hadn’t even slipped into top gear. That happened in the sixth over, in which the unfortunate Parvinder Awana went for 33, in a sequence that read 6, 6, 4, 4, 4 (no ball), 4,
4. It was crisp hitting all the way through, but two shots stood out: a six hit straight over the bowler’s head, effortlessly, with a perfectly straight bat and minimal follow-through, and a flick off his toes that screamed past midwicket for four.
That, though, was to be it for Raina, who didn’t face a single ball outside the Powerplay, thanks in part to Bailey, thanks in part to his own insistence in running that risky single despite McCullum’s hesitation. And that was to be it for Super Kings as well. Raina had tore up a massive chunk of their target in no time, but their remaining batsmen simply could not get going.
They also made a couple of tactical decisions that were, in hindsight, questionable: Ravindra Jadeja and David Hussey walked in ahead of Dhoni, who finally came in with 87 required from 47 balls, with too little firepower left in the dugout. The task proved well beyond an out-of-sorts Dhoni in the end.
Before Raina pushed it to the background, the evening had been lit up by Virender Sehwag’s second IPL century. Coming towards the close of a season in which he has steadily gathered form, the Sehwag who burst upon the Wankhede came very close to resembling the Sehwag of his peak years, merciless on the smallest amount of width, disdainful against the spin-
Sunil Narine’s decision to stay with Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL final on Sunday will result in him not being considered for next month’s Test series against New Zealand. Narine had been given a June 1 deadline by the WICB to join the training camp ahead of the Tests which start on June 8. Most other West Indians in the IPL have been able to meet that deadline, but with Knight Riders making the final, Narine’s stay in the IPL has been extended.
Richard Pybus, the WICB director of cricket, said the new “West Indies First” policy required players to make themselves available for team’s preparatory camps. “The onus of the WICB is to protect the integrity of international cricket at all times. International cricket, and specifically Test cricket, is priority and requires dedicated preparation which is integral to team success,” he said. “The WICB policy requires players to commit to sufficient preparation leading in to a series as part of a culture of excellence.”
Without Narine, West Indies would be short of a key bowler who has made his reputation principally in the shorter versions of the game (he is ranked No.3 in ODIs and No.2 in T20 Internationals by the ICC), but who has 18 of his 21 Test wickets against New Zealand, in two matches in the Caribbean in 2012 and one in New Zealand
Sunil Narine can’t make the WICB’s June 1 deadline to join a training camp for the New Zealand
last December. Off-spinner Shane Shillingford, returning from his second clearance following suspension for an illegal delivery, and left-arm spin-
ner Sulieman Benn, who played the last of his 17 Tests almost three-and-a-half years ago, are the other spinners in the squad. (Cricinfo)
ners, and equally capable of stinging power and cheeky placement. His spectacles might have lent him an avuncular air at the crease, but he was as alert to the possibility of a quick single as he used to be in his Testmatch opening partnerships with Gautam Gambhir four or five years ago.
With Super Kings’ bowlers feeding him a juicy, backof-a-length diet interspersed with full-tosses (they bowled 17 in all), Sehwag raced along at a strike rate of over 200, outshining all of his teammates in the process. Manan Vohra only scored 34
Punjab T20 innings (20 overs maximum)
V Sehwag c du Plessis b Nehra 122
M Vohra c Raina b Pandey 34
GJ Maxwell c Raina b Ashwin 13
DA Miller run out (†Dhoni) 38
GJ Bailey* b Nehra 1
WP Saha† c Smith b Sharma 6
MG Johnson not out 1
Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-8, nb-1) 11 Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 226 Fall of wickets: 1-110 (Vohra, 10.4 ov), 2-148 (Maxwell, 12.6 ov), 3-211 (Sehwag, 18.1 ov), 4-218 (Bailey, 18.6 ov), 5-225 (Miller, 19.3 ov), 6-226 (Saha, 19.6 ov)
Bowling: A Nehra 4-0-51-2 (2-w), IC Pandey 4-0-35-1 (1nb), MM Sharma 4-0-46-1 (1w), R Ashwin 4-0-44-1 (4-w), RA Jadeja 4-0-48-0 (1-w)
out of an opening stand of 110, Glenn Maxwell 13 out of a second-wicket stand of 38 and David Miller 31 out of a third-wicket partnership of 63.
When du Plessis took a difficult diving effort at extra cover to send back Sehwag, Kings XI were 211-3 with 11 balls to go. It was the third time in three matches this season that they had crossed 200 against Super Kings. For the third time, their batting firepower set them up for a comfortable victory. For six unreal overs, though, their total looked glaringly inadequate. (Cricinfo)
Chennai T20 innings (target: 227 runs from 20 overs)
DR Smith b Sandeep Sharma 7 F du Plessis c Bailey b Johnson 0 SK Raina run out (Bailey) 87 BB McCullum run out (Maxwell/† Saha) 11 RA Jadeja c Johnson b Awana 27 DJ Hussey c Sehwag b Awana 1 MS Dhoni*† not out 42 R Ashwin st †Saha b Patel 10 MM Sharma not out 1 Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-6, nb-2) 16 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 202 Fall of wickets: 1-1 (du Plessis, 0.2 ov), 2-67 (Smith, 4.6 ov), 3-100 (Raina, 6.1 ov), 4-140 (McCullum, 11.6 ov), 5-140 (Jadeja, 12.1 ov), 6-142 (Hussey,
59-2 (1-nb), Karanveer Singh 4-0-32-0 (1-w), GJ Maxwell 1-04-0, AR Patel 4-0-23-1 (1-w)
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both had to work hard for their wins in the third round of the French Open. Second seed Djokovic dropped a set against Marin Cilic for only the third time in nine meetings, but came away with a 6-3 6-2 6-7 (7-2) 6-4 win.
Fourth seed Federer, whose only Paris title came in 2009, beat Dmitry Tursunov 7-5 6-7 (9-7) 6-2 6-4. In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova eased through with a 6-0 6-0 win over world number 75 Paula Ormaechea.
The Russian, seeded seven,
will now play 19th seed Australian Sam Stosur, who caused a minor upset with a 6-4 6-4 win over Dominika Cibulkova. In the men’s draw, Federer will next face Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, who defeated Czech Radek Stepanek in three sets, while Djokovic will play 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after he swept past Pole Jerzy Janowicz in three sets.
And sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who beat Argentine Roberto Bautista Agut in four sets on Friday, faces John Isner of the United States for a place in the quarter-finals. (BBC Sport)
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Cyclists in Berbice will compete in a 40-mile road race on Sunday organised by Flying Ace Cycle Club.
The event, which starts at 8:30h will see the cyclists leaving their mark from in front of the Outar Motor Rewinding Establishment, Number 2 East Canje, Berbice, proceed to Bush Lot on the Corentyne, before turning back to finish in front of the First Impression Hotel at Hampshire, Corentyne, Berbice.
Prizes will be awarded to the first eight finishers and the first female rider to cross the finish line.
There will also be eight prime point prizes up for grabs. According to race coordinator Randolph Roberts, the females will race over a shorter distance.
The race will be used as a warm up for the annual Aqua Mist Cycle event sponsored Banks DIH Limited slated for the June 8.
Cyclists from both the FACC and Trojan Cycle clubs are expected to renew battle with the likes of Andrea ‘Padlock’ Green, Ray Millington, the Crawford cousins Romallo and Jebon, Elijah Brijadder, Andrew Hicks, Wasim Hassnu, Audrel Ross, Edmond Francis, Keith Griffith, Gary Benjamin, Turhan Harris and Syborne Fernandes among others.
The Rafman Ali 15/15 round robin softball tournament is slated to commence on Sunday with matches at Everest Cricket Club and Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) grounds respectively.
The competition will be played in two categories namely the Open and Over40 and is being sanctioned by the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc.
At Everest in the Open category, Wolf’s Warriors will play Challengers at 09:00h and Farm XI at 11:30h on pitch two, Princess Hotel will bat-
tle Farm XI at 09:00hs and Brickery at 11:30h on pitch three, Trophy Stall will take on Brickery at 09:00h and Speed Boat at 11:00h on pitch one, while Jaguar will face Speed Boat at 14:00h on pitch two.
At CPCE, Trophy Stall B will challenge Jaguar at 09:00h on pitch one and Accomplishment at 11:30h on pitch three, Sunil XI will entertain Challenger at 11:30h on pitch one.
Accomplishment will match skills with Line Top at 14:00h on pitch one, Tradesman will face Line Top at 09:00h and Sunil XI at 14:00h on pitch three.
In the Over-40 division, Sunday Masters will clash with Uitvlugt at 14:00h and Success will battle Enterprise at 13:00h on pitch two. The Open segment will be of 15 overs duration and the Over-40 will last for 20 overs.
Teams are asked to provide the supreme balls. The winning team in the Open division will pocket a trophy and $100,000 and the runner up a trophy and $50,000, while the first place side in the Over 40 segment will received a trophy and $75,000 and the runner up a trophy and $50,000.
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By Treiston Joseph
Guyana’s most recognized and arguably most successful athlete Aliann Pompey made a visit to her homeland and sat down with Guyana Times Sport for an exclusive interview, speaking about life after retirement and the possible ways of developing Athletics in Guyana while sharing her insight into developing an Olympian.
GTS: What was the purpose of the visit home?
AP: I took some time off from work and used the opportunity to come home and unwind.
GTS: Now that you are retired do you think you could have given more to track and field and what is life like for you after track and field?
AP: I have retired since after London, I had the good fortune of spending the last decade and a half competing in the sport and I thought it was the right time. I’m excited to move on to the next chapter of my life. I work full time now as the Director of Operations for a foundation in New York City. On a personal level I do some volunteering and coaching.
GTS: Have you thought of a role to play in athletics in Guyana or way maybe to give back to the athletes?
AP: I’m still very connected to athletics in Guyana, I was at the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) qualifiers on Sunday and the AAG (Athletics Association of Guyana) has asked me to be the North America Regional manager, I would like to have an impact and be a resource to all Guyanese athletes and I’m trying to figure out the best way to do that.
I know what my needs were as an athlete and I hope there are ways to address that so we don’t encounter the same mistakes that were made then.
GTS: Can you highlight these mistakes and possible ways to avoid them?
AP: Generally speaking we will not have an Olympic champion handed to us, they have to be developed and supported. I look at some of the athletes now and I promise you I see some that are more talented than I was at that age. I have had an excellent work ethic and people who believed enough to provide some of the necessary resources.
There is still a gap between the willing and necessary resources.
I keep saying there has to be substantial incentives. A Jamaican athlete knows that if they train hard, run a certain time, certain things will be taken care of financially, when I refer to mistakes that’s one of the biggest ones. How do you ask an athlete to make the ultimate sacrifice and when someone has achieved what they aimed to do, they get nothing? I’m not saying hand out cash to everyone who runs but there should be metrics to figure out whose worthy of support.
GTS: In your short time home thus far have you had a chance to interact with any of the athletes and what was vibe about athletics like?
AP: I had a chance to join Loriann Adams, Guyana’s multi Carifta gold medalist and Arizona state stand out, we talked to the athletes about setting goals, diligence and self control... they asked specific questions about training, recovery and injury prevention and I learnt some of what they do as part of their training.
They do a lot less drills than I’ve done, maybe that’s something to look at, I’ve spoken about doing a clinic maybe once a year and I think I will proceed with that and I think also having people like Winston George, Stephan James, Jevina Straker and Alita Moore share their experiences would be valuable.
GTS: Looking at the crop of athletes in Guyana and even abroad what do you think it will take to make an Olympic champion.
AP: Rio is two years away and there is an excellent pool of talent, we can’t wait until then to put a team together… GOA (Guyana Olympic Association) was gracious enough to send me to a conference about a year and a half
ago, the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee was talking about their success in London and they started putting things in place eight years before the 2012 games.
There isn’t a need to create a plan from scratch select one and adopt it… almost every Caribbean country has a successful programme, their input, quality of athletes are not better, there development is.
GTS: So where does the private sector factor in to aiding such a process and the type of role they should play in the development of sport?
AP: I don’t see it so much as role as it is an opportunity, the success of these athletes becomes your business’ success… you have star promoting your product but care needs to be taken if athletes want to compete in college.
GTS: So what types of opportunities are there for athletes from this part of the world?
AP: I’m a high proponent of education, I think if an athlete wants to, they can use their legs to pay for a degree but schools in the US don’t give out scholarships just because you’re fast, you have to be a good student.
Last time I was here I left several SAT test preparation and study manuals at Olympic house; these are at the disposal for every athlete and not just track athletes.
GTS: A lot of people have mentioned the role of the government in sport, many have shared their views whether it is praise of the government or not, what are your views on the government and their role in sport?
AP: I am a big fan of systems; a system needs to be in place to not only benefit athletes but to help them develop. Bahamas has a subvention programme for their athletes, USATF (United States of America Track and Field) has work programmes for theirs, Jamaica has the lotto… successful athletic programmes have a system in place.
GTS: So what’s next for Aliann Pompey?
AP: I’ve been toying with the idea of moving back to Guyana, a Friend and I are in the process of staring an athletic clothing company, we’re doing the feasibility studies now and it should be launched by year end if it goes well.
For the first time in Guyana’s history under the banner of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), Berbice will be travelling to Linden to meet their mining town counterparts at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court for their Inter-Association encounter later this evening.
The Berbice under-19 team will face off against the Linden under-19 team in pre-game encounter before the two main games.
The Georgetown women
will look to upset the Linden ladies who have already beaten the city girls in their first encounter of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Berbice men will hope to upset the Linden lads who have been a force to reckon with despite splitting two games against Georgetown.
The run and gun style of the Georgetown players ran wild on the players from the Ancient County who suffered a 116-42 drubbing for the Georgetown team.
Defending champions Zeeburg retained the annual Barakat Brothers/Odyssey Transport T20 cricket title with a resounding six-wicket over Leonora in the final on Independence Day (Monday) at the Meten-Meer-Zorg West Centre ground.
When action started at noon, Leonora won the toss and batted first, making 141-8 from the allotted 20 overs. Leonora found the going tough earlier on, crawling to 39-2 after 10 overs, despite a 30-ball 25 from opener Imtiaz Hack, after which rain stopped play for about three hours.
When the action restarted, Guyana Under-15 player Malcolm Hubbert entertained the fair-sized crowd with three fours and two sixes in a vital 41 off 34 balls. He was supported by Cornelius Dhanashrie (21 runs, 3x6s) and Wazim Singh (15*). Bowling for Zeeburg, Timur Mohamed and Amrit Jairam picked up 2-18 and 2-22 respectively.
In reply, Zeeburg slipped to 56-3 by the ninth over before skipper Mandalall Doodnarine smashed a belligerent 57 not out from just 23 balls to lead the victory charge. He hammered four sixes and six fours and was backed up by Yetest Dhanpaul, who made 34 (2x6s, 1x4). Zeeburg achieved victory at 147-4 in 14 overs.
101-8 from the allotted 15 overs with Richard Baker making 26, Kemraj Ramsundar (16) and Avinash Dhaniram (17), while Ganesh Narine picked up 2-15, Timur Mohamed 2-4 and Balbinder Shivpersaud 2-16.
they were ahead on net run rate, and by virtue qualified for the final. Hack crowned a superb all-round performance, hitting an unbeaten 58, inclusive of four sixes and three boundaries.
However, Berbice will face a different style of offence from Linden who usually bullies their way in the post with their big men down low who can also make the outlet pass.
Berbice will have to bring their ‘A’ game against the Linden side who has already been crowned champs of the tournament via point differential in the games with their city rivals.
Action at the Mackenzie hard court will tip off from 18:00h.
Bowling for Leonora, Hemandra Kowlessar grabbed 2-16. For the victory, Zeeburg pocketed $200,000 and a trophy, while Leonora had to settle for the $75,000 runner-up incentive and a trophy.
Prior to the final, the semi-finals were played on Sunday with Zeeburg beating Uitvlugt Invaders by six wickets and Leonora winning on run-rate in a rain-affected game against MetenMeer-Zorg.
In the first semi-final, Uitvlugt Invaders posted
Narine then hit 46 (3x4s, 1x6) and Yetesh Dhanpaul slammed 43 off 18 balls (4x6s, 3x4s) to lead Zeeburg into the final, reaching 107-5 in 13.4 overs. Harry Bissoondial was the leading bowler for Uitvlugt Invaders with 3-9 from three overs.
Semi-final two, which was also a 15-over affair, saw Meten-Meer Zorg making 115-9 with Zahir Haniff (33), Kevon Boodie (21) and Ricardo Adams (14) being the leading scorers.
Imtiaz Hack grabbed 3-15 for Leonora, who responded with 87-4 in 11 overs when bad light ended the game, at which point
At the presentation ceremony which followed, Zeeburg captain Mandalall Doodnarine was named Man-of-the-Match in the final; Avinash Dhaniram of Uitvlugt Invaders received a trophy for being the best emerging player; Kellawan Tulkan racked up the most runs in the competition and Ricardo Adams of MetenMeer-Zorg was rewarded for scoring the fastest half-century in the competition (78 off 21 balls, including 10 sixes) against Vergenoegen. The compeition was sponsored exclusively by Barakat Brothers/Odyssey Transport and organised by the West Demerara United Cricket Association.
Preliminary round action in this year’s fourth annual Mackeson ‘Keep Your Five Alive’ Futsal tournament which is being played under the theme ‘Your Five, Your Style, Your Stout, Mackeson Keep Your Five Alive’, will kick off tonight at the Albouystown hard court from 20:00 hours.
Five more matches will be contested tonight, from which the winners will move into next Saturday’s round of 16 clashes, which are scheduled for the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) tarmac.
Tonight’s opening action will pit the hard working Alexander Village going up against Vryhied’s Lust Champs in the opening encounter, followed by Upsetters of West Ruimveldt taking on King Street Ballers.
The third game will be an East Coast versus Georgetown affair, when Melanie, who had a creditable showing in the East Coast Guinness Greatest of the Streets competition in which one of their teams took home the top prize and another place third, face Rasville, who will be coming to upstage their more illustrious opponents.
Charlestown and North East LaPenitence will square off in the fourth fixture for the night, before Albouystown and Laing Avenue renew their rivalry in the final game. Already, defending champions Sparta Boss, Sophia, Albouystown ‘B’, Broad Street, La Parfaite Harmonie, Back Circle, Tiger Bay ‘A’, Leopold Street, Texas and West Front Road have all booked their spots in the next round.
The tournament’s coordinator Kevin Adonis is charging all teams including defending champions Sparta Boss to keep fit, since the tournament will be played on a knockout basis, even as he warned the regular teams in Georgetown to expect some strong challenges from their out-of-town based opponents.
“This year, I have decided to include teams such as Victoria,
Vryheid’s Lust, Plaisance, Beterverwagting, Melanie and La Parfaite Harmonie, just to name a few, in the line-up and as you are aware some of the East Coastbased teams are coming off the back of a similar tournament.
“This means they are coming fit and has already present a strong challenge to the other teams, so I am calling on the teams to be fit in order to ‘Keep Your Five Alive’,”
said Adonis, who emphasised on winning in order for teams to continue playing as there will be no second opportunities.
Teams are asked to note carefully, that only those players who have been registered will be allowed to compete, with no alterations being allowed during the course of the tournament, only in the case of injury which must occur during the playing of the competition.
“In addition to the tournament, there will be an Axe halftime show compliments of that product’s main distributor in Guyana, DeSinco Trading, which is being dubbed the ‘Take and Shoot’ competition, for which fabulous prizes will be up for grabs, along with the regular Mackeson giveaways,” said Adonis.
Apart from Ansa McAl and DeSinco Trading, some other sponsors of the tournament, which has three playing days remaining after tonight, are: Colours Boutique, Clairan’s Boutique, Clear Water, Star Party Rentals, White Castle Fish Shop, and HJTV and its 94.1 Boom FM, just to name a few.
Even as a cloud of doubt continues to hover over the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) members after supposed legitimate elections on January 25 last year, the body has placed on record its strongest objections to the recent announcement of an elections purported to be that of the Upper Demerara Cricket Association (UDCA).
A release on behalf of the board stated that, more than once, the DCB had warned the authors of this ill fated Cricket Administration Bill that the passage of the Bill in its present form will not solve the problems that have engulfed cricket administration ever since January 2011 when a few disgruntled persons branched off and held an illegal and parallel AGM of the DCB.
Further, the release indicated that the DCB has always maintained that the crux of this entire manufactured controversy lies in the thorough investigation of the events leading up to this parallel AGM.
The DCB had videotaped the Executive Committee Meeting that was held in January 2011 that fixed the date and venue for its 2011 AGM, and this evidence was publicly aired on national television.
Failing to adhere to these rudimentary aspects of natural justice will only create more confusion and controversy, which seems to be the hallmark of this grouping of disgruntled administrators.
More so, there is a legal action and interlocutory injunction that currently exists against the perpetrators of this action, namely Bissoondyal Singh and Roger
Harper, which is still pending in our judicial system and needs to be allowed to have its natural progression throughout that process.
The DCB is also aware that UDCA also has an injunction against that body, the release concluded.
Bradley Fredericks was elected president of the UDCA when the body held its Annual General Meeting on April 27 last.
On the other hand, the DCB, for the past four years,
has been blanketed in one court case after the other, resulting in factions led by businessmen Bissoondyal Singh and Raj Singh.
Eventually, a court ruling in the High Court prohibited both factions from acting on behalf of the entity after both factions held separate elections back in January of 2010.
Surprisingly, the Raj Singh faction of the DCB subsequently held elections, but more than a year later it is unclear who were the persons
elected to hold positions on the board.
The ECCB and GCA were not part of the DCB elections. Hours before the elections another injunction was served against the Raj Singh faction.
The injunction was granted to plaintiffs Roger Harper and Davteerth Anandjit and the defendants named in the court document were Rajendra Singh, Lalta Digamber, Anand Sanasie, Alfred Mentore, Anand Kalladeen, Ravindranauth
Persaud, Ronald Sarjoo, Nazimul Drepaul, Colin Europe, Ray Persaud, Krishnchand Mangal, Chetram Singh, Lionel Jaikaran, Ramsey Ali, Fizul Bacchus, Dru Bahadur, Troy Mendonca, Terrence Holder and Rayon Griffith.
The interim injunction restrains the defendants “by themselves, their servants and or agents acting collectively or individually…from convening or causing to be convened or holding an Annual
General Meeting of the DCB on January 25, 2013 or any other date for the purpose of the election of office bearers to the Executive Committee of the DCB for the period 2013 to 2015 term of office”.
The elections may have been held so as to ensure that there was some amount of validity to Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections and that there would had have been a quorum to facilitate the local governing body’s elections.
Digicel recently offered support to one of its ambassadors as he embarks on training ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Phenomenal cyclist Alanzo Greaves was presented with a cheque to help offset his expenses on his current trip to the United States of America, where he will be involved in training, as well as a few races.
Communications Manager of the Digicel, Vidya Sanichara, said her company is pleased to support not just Greaves, but sport in general.
“The importance of sports cannot be over stressed; Digicel Guyana sees sports as providing positive opportunities for youths in
Guyana,” she said in a statement.
In 2013, Greaves placed third in the Digicel Breast Cancer awareness race; fourth in the Indepedence Three-Stage; second in the Ride for Life Five-Stage and second in the Guyana Cycling Federation’s National Championships. Greaves has participated in several local competitions, including the Independence Three-Stage in 2009, which he won. He also won the National Championship and the Ride for Life Five Stage in 2007- two of his greatest accomplishments as a young rider.
Earlier this year, he also placed fourth at the 32nd annual Independence Three-Stage.
