"Don’t beat up on our teachers," Bynoe tells PTA meeting

Yarrowkabra was designated for sand mining

PSC wants swift set-up of procurement, integrity bodies

APNU questions postponement of parliamentary sitting

Guyana ripe with investment opportunities

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Vacationer dies mysteriously in Charlestown

13 lawmen being trained by FBI in TT

DPP orders second suspect in Cleto’s murder released

Private contractor takes over management of NA waste

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16 hit with vomiting, diarrhoea after eating pickled gooseberry

– Lands and Surveys commissioner

– Ali tells Florida forum

Doorga Persaud

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Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali with a number of delegates at the forum in Florida

2saturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

news

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) on Friday called on

the government and the parliamentary parties to convene an extra-parlia-mentary meeting to move swiftly to address the es-tablishment and opera-tionalisation of the public procurement and integrity commissions.

The issue about the set-ting up of these two consti-tutional bodies has been a subject of much public de-bate in recent times. In a statement, the PSC said in February this year, it

wrote President Donald Ramotar expressing its serious concerns over the growing perception of cor-ruption in the country.

The commission re-ferred Ramotar, in par-ticular, to the Public Procurement Commission, Integrity Commission and Financial Intelligence Unit and urged that the presi-dent take the necessary ac-tion to have these institu-tions fully operationalised.

“These are matters of grave public and nation-al interest, but, unfortu-nately, we are not as yet

being heard. The commis-sion believes that the time has come for an end to the procrastination on these matters. The time has long passed for the government and the political opposition to respect and put the na-tional interest before their political agenda and give effect to the constitution-al commitment they have made to the electorate and the nation on the setting up of these commissions,” the statement said.

The body noted that it is precisely this procras-tination which has led to

Guyana and the well-being of its people being placed at grave risk by the delay of the National Assembly in passing the Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has made the setting up of the Public Procurement Commission a precondition to the par-ty supporting the pas-sage of the anti-money laundering bill; while A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) said it has

submitted its nominees for the commission.

On Monday, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) said govern-ment remains open to dis-cussing with the opposi-tion the setting up of the commission.

Speaking at the party’s news conference, PPP/C executive member and Housing Minister Irfaan Ali said while the opposition is concerned about the estab-lishment of the commis-sion, it must take into ac-count President Ramotar’s position on the matter. He said the party by itself has given its support to ensur-ing that the commission is established. According to him, the president has in-vited the opposition and his door is always open.

Minister Ali said the concerns of the president are many, given the current situation in Parliament. He referred to when the gov-ernment held a majority in the National Assembly, stating that chairmanship of almost all of the standing

committees in Parliament was rotated between the government and the oppo-sition.

“Look at the situation now; you have a special se-lect committee for a partic-ular sector and the minis-ter is not even the chair of that committee. They took all the chairmanships and are taking the majority in the committee,” he said.

Ali argued that the oppo-sition has been bullying its way into managing almost everything, in Parliament and outside of that, creat-ing chaos about things that will help to bring about change. He said the oppo-sition continues to display double standards.

The minister said the PPP/C remains committed to ensuring that the pro-curement commission is set up as soon as possible, with the support of the op-position. The Procurement Act of Guyana stipulates the role of the commission, but the establishment of the commission has been in discussion for almost 10 years.

PSC Chairman Ronald Webster Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali

PSC wants swift set-up of procurement, integrity bodies – urges extra-parliamentary meeting to discuss issues

The Human Services and Social Security Ministry in collabora-

tion with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the School Retention and Child Labour Prevention Programme, on Friday host-ed a closing ceremony for its SCREAM Training.

The ceremony was held at the Dora Secondary

School auditorium, Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway. Reflecting on the achievements of the project over the training period, Human Services Ministry Permanent Secretary Lorene Baird said the train-ing is designed to mould the future generation, as she noted that “Today’s children are tomorrow’s future”.

The programme is in-tended to prevent child la-bour through literacy and numeracy programmes, parenting workshops and psychosocial support. “Disciplined and educat-ed children are more likely to make better individuals which lead to improvements in family units and commu-nities and consequently con-tribute to the success of the nation,” Baird pointed out.

She noted that govern-ment is committed to foster-ing a regulatory and legal framework which provides a safe environment for the de-velopment of children.

The School Retention and Child Labour Prevention Programme, she noted, is one such initiative that will continue until July this year. According to teachers, trainers and coordinators, the programme has realised significant results, includ-

ing improved attendance, enhanced performance and positive behavioural change.

The programme was taught to the children through the use of art, which they used to form a collage to display what they have learnt through the training.

Education Ministry, Allied Arts Unit, Visual Arts Coordinator Rawle Franklin said the collage captures the horrors of child labour.

“When we look at what children would have ex-pressed, we’re seeing from the orientation that we would’ve given them on what is child labour and how to collaborate their thoughts based on the theme ‘No to child labour’; when we see that, we realise that these children know what is child labour,” Franklin posited.

Meanwhile, Allied Arts Unit Coordinator Desire Ogle said art is an interest-ing means in which children can learn to be academically involved through creativity. They were educated through art and drama.

Kuru Kuru Primary School Headmistress Marilyn Williams and Dora Secondary School Headmaster Garfield Morris expressed gratitude to the ministry for the pro-gramme, noting that it au-gurs well for the children and the overall performance of children. The training is held in partnership with com-munity members, PTA mem-bers and counsellors to stem the source of child labour in Guyana.

The A Partnership for National Unity on Friday questioned

why government has asked for a postponement of next Tuesday’s sitting of the National Assembly to June 13.

The Parliament Office in a release Friday afternoon said that the sitting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, May 28, has been postponed to Thursday, June 13.

In a terse statement, APNU said the party whips had agreed that the next sit-

ting of the National Assembly would be on Thursday, May 30. However, the leader of government business, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds an-nounced that the sitting would be on Tuesday, May 28.

However, by a letter, dat-ed Friday 24th May 2013, from Mr Clement Rohee on

behalf of the prime minis-ter and leader of government business, to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the government is now, by way of a most ingenuous reason, re-questing that the next sitting of the National Assembly be held on Thursday 13th June 2013.

bridge openings

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The Berbice River Bridge will be closed tovehicular traffic on Saturday, May 25, from 16:40h to 18:10h.

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Saturday, May 25, from 14:00h to 15:30h.

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Prime Minister Samuel Hinds

Countrywide: Thundery showers are expected during the day, with clear skies in the evening over coastal regions and near inland locations. Temperatures are expected to range between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East north-easterly at 3.57 to 3.12 metres per second.

High Tide: 04:19h and 16:50h reaching maximum heights of 2.88 metres and 2.74 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 10:22h and 22:38h reaching minimum heights of 0.31 metre and 0.50 metre respectively.

APNU questions postponement of parliamentary sitting

Workshop to prevent child labour closes

Primary and secondary school students who participated in the prevention of child labour workshop

Students’ artwork depicting what they have learnt about child labour

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saturday, may 25, 2013

Editorial

Editor: Nigel WilliamsTel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921,

226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown

Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

I have seen alligators and turtles together in ponds before, but never like this! I was at Bluebill Pond in Harris Neck NWR when I saw what I thought was an alligator sunning itself on a stump. As I got closer I realised that it was actually perched on the back of a turtle! I wish I had been there to witness how this surprising esprit de corps had came to pass! (Mary Ellen Urbanski/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest) (The Atlantic)

Dear Editor,Guyana was able to

impress the Norwegian Ambassador to Guyana, whose recent visit ended with a strong confirmation of what the mangrove proj-ect is all about and how well executed it is. We must not take for granted this proj-ect, even at the physical lev-el. It should be noted that there have been many failed mangrove restoration proj-ects over the years, invari-ably wasting both time and money.

One case study from

North Sulawesi, Indonesia shows that the government planted the same disused shrimp pond area five times over a period of eight years. Seedlings were planted without regard to ecological requirements and resultant-ly died within a year after each planting.

Nonetheless, proj-ect money was continually made available for re-plant-ing without addressing the cause of the failure. So it is more than the mere physi-cal, and repeated failure, without proper analysis did

not deter the Indonesians. The ambassador had ex-

pressed an interest in vis-iting the reserve to meet the women producers who make up the Mangrove Reserve Women Producers (MRWP) group, now oper-ating as a cooperative along the East Coast Demerara. The ambassador toured the Mangrove Reserve and met the women involved in the production of agri-products in mangrove-forested areas.

Restoration and reha-bilitation of existing or for-mer mangrove forest areas

is extremely important to-day. In fact, given the im-portance of mangrove forest ecosystems, and the current threat to these coastal for-ests, this is an unavoidable imperative. Actual plant-ing of mangroves must be carefully managed, as man-groves annually produce hundreds or thousands of seeds or seedlings per tree. But these have to be con-trolled via proper hydrologic conditions.

Yours faithfully,Lennox Joseph

Our very erudite and hard-working Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh just delivered to the Caribbean Development Bank, a stirring defence of the

proposition that the Caribbean must “diversify or perish”. Over the years we have had several other economic strategies suggested to us by the global financial organisations, ranging from the vent for surplus and capital deficit through the import substitution programme and finally the one we are finally enmeshed within – neoliberalism. Unless we factor in the impact of the ideological premises, our local efforts can be subverted to our cost.

The present crisis in the developed economies, which has crippled the Caribbean tourism industry, is rooted in the neoliberal economic paradigm that has guided economic policy since the late 1970s. Before this, after World War II, the economies of the U.S., Western Europe, Japan and Brazil, among others, were characterised by a “virtuous circle” Keynesian model built on full employment and wage growth tied to productivity growth. Productivity growth drove wage growth, which in turn fuelled demand growth and created full employment. That provided an incentive for investment, which drove further productivity growth and supported higher wages. Guyana, of course, chose to buck the above economic model that was followed by most of the Caribbean countries and devised the disastrous “cooperative socialist” model.

After 1980, the virtuous circle Keynesian model was replaced by a neoliberal growth model that severed the link between wages and productivity growth and created a new economic dynamic. Before 1980, wages were the engine of U.S. demand growth. After 1980, debt and asset price inflation became the engine. The new model was rooted in neoliberal economics and can be described as a neoliberal policy box that fences workers in and pressures them from all sides. Corporate globalisation put workers in international competition via global production networks supported by free trade agreements and capital mobility. The “small” government agenda attacked the legitimacy of government and pushed for deregulation regardless of dangers. The labour market flexibility agenda abandoned the goal of full employments and consequently created employment insecurity.

This model was implemented on a global basis, in both North and South, which multiplied its impact. The Washington Consensus which was enforced in Latin America, including Guyana (1989), Africa, and former communist countries by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank by making financial assistance conditional on adopting neoliberal policies. The new model created a growing “demand gap” by gradually undermining the income and demand generation process. The role of finance was to fill that gap. Within the U.S., deregulation, financial innovation, and speculation enabled finance to fill the demand gap by lending to consumers and spurring asset price inflation. U.S. consumers in turn filled the global demand gap. Luckily this has not fully developed in the Caribbean as yet, with some notable exceptions.

The policymakers in Guyana and the Caribbean have to be very careful as to what their policy response to the different perspectives will be. They could take the strong neoliberal position and further deregulate financial and labour markets; deepen central bank independence and the commitment to low inflation; and further limiting government via fiscal austerity. A watered down response might be to tighten financial regulation, but continue with all other aspects of the existing neoliberal policy paradigm. That means continued support for corporate globalisation, labour market flexibility, low inflation targeting, and fiscal austerity.

A more radical approach would be to overthrow the neoliberal paradigm and replace it with a “structural Keynesian” paradigm that repacks the policy box and restores the link between wage and productivity growth. The goal would be to ensure that corporations and financial markets are regulated so that they are made to serve the broader public interest. That requires replacing corporate globalisation with managed globalisation, such as capital controls; restoring commitment to full employment; replacing the neoliberal anti-government agenda with a social democratic government agenda; and replacing the neoliberal labour market flexibility with a solidarity based labour market agenda.

Nested paradigms

Dear Editor,The Chief Executive

Officer of Mario’s, Terrence Campbell, exposed Freddie Kissoon as a stranger to the truth, as is his wont (see May 23 edition of the Kaieteur News) to under-mine confidence in the res-taurant sector. When will this columnist ever tell the truth?

Apparently, Kissoon did not expect Campbell to respond to him. So he fig-ured he would get away

with his boldfaced lies and was shocked that Campbell exposed these lies.

Kissoon (in the Kaieteur News on May 21) suggest-ed that the staff at Mario’s didn’t have name tags. But Campbell disputed this as-sertion and Kissoon did not rebut Campbell’s claim.

Kissoon suggested that he did not get a refund for an incomplete delivery of pizza but Campbell said Kissoon was compensat-ed above and beyond what

he paid. In his response, Kissoon did not dispute Campbell’s claim.

Kissoon misled read-ers by not telling them he was insulting and aggres-sive to Mario’s staff, accus-ing them of drug traffick-ing and money laundering, among other things. Now he admits he was “aggres-sive”, calling names and making unreasonable de-mands.

Kissoon challenged Campbell to a bet saying

he would put up his daily column as the wager.

Kissoon lost numerous similar bets to myself, Joey Jagan, Annan Boodram, Ravi Dev, Albert Ramdin, and others, and he still has not given up his column. The man needs the column to pen fabrications for a living, as he has attained mandatory retirement at the University of Guyana.

Yours truly,Vishnu Bisram

Freddie exposed again

Dear Editor,Whenever I follow spell-

ing competitions, I am al-ways intrigued. English spelling is not that easy to master. In every single lan-guage, there are many cas-es of incongruence between orthography and phonology, that is, there is not a one-

on-one correlation between letters of the alphabet and the sound they represent.

At the last spelling com-petition, the Amelia’s Ward Primary School was award-ed first place in the Linden Town Week (LTW) primary schools’ spelling bee com-petition, which was held

at Lichas Hall, in collabo-ration with the Region 10 Department of Education.

A total of 110 words were circulated among the schools. However the stu-dents were not given the op-portunity to view them be-fore the competition.

As a teaching tool, and

one with fun, I am wonder-ing why teachers, especially at the younger level, do not use more spelling games. We should encourage the use of crossword puzzles as well.

Yours sincerely,Linden Willoughby

The mangrove project is most impressive

Spelling competitions should be encouraged

5guyanatimesgy.com saturday, may 25, 2013

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or news@guyanatimesgy.com

Dear Editor,Anything to do with ille-

gal firearms must be dealt with severely. This is how police work must be. I am against sitting and waiting for things to happen. Most people in a neighbourhood know who the criminal el-ements are. All they need to do is to get the police in-volved.

At times, it is difficult,

even impossible, to pin ev-idence on criminals, even though their wrong doing is most obvious. So if pre-emptive moves, such as searching for weapons are routinely engaged in, there will be a big difference.

For sure, it will put the potential law breaker on the defensive. The crimi-nal elements cannot out-number good people, so if

there is some kind of good-will cooperation, the long and steady arm of the law can do the rest.

Many times there will be political interpretations to police raids. However, it should be noted that most times in the recent past it was the voice of nation eroders who spoke on be-half of criminals.

I cannot see anything

right in youngsters gang-ing up at street corners and especially in the dark hours. Our police men and women must be serious about their sworn promise to protect. I call for more raids and searches. The general populace will be in support.

Yours sincerely,Rishi Mangal

Dear Editor,I love anything that en-

hances intellect, and espe-cially that which deals with words and language as a whole. In fact, universities in France will soon move to-ward offering classes in the English language. So it is time for us here, who are not naturally immersed into our national language, English, to really hone in on some language work.

I see that this is so, whether by default or not, as some of the country’s top Scrabble players will take to

the East Coast of Demerara on Monday to participate in a Scrabble tournament. Scrabble is not just about words – it has a mathemat-ical aspect. Scrabble takes for granted a person’s lexi-cal storehouse, that is, that person’s library of words that he/she can or must con-jure up at the right moment. It calls for some quick think-

ing. However, in cases of be-ing able to create more than one word, it is the value of letters, their points as such, that can determine actual winners.

On the day of competi-tion, there is room for any-one from any age category to participate. I advise those who think that they are word inclined to make a go for it. It is fun, and all losers still get to gain a few new words. Hopefully, there will be more Scrabble competi-tions countrywide.

Respectfully,Zamir Baksh

Dear Editor,A 20-year old man

had to appear before the magistrate, as he was charged with stealing a cellular phone. Ask any-one with a fairly expen-sive phone, and that person will explain the fear of moving around with the gadget. Some crook is always eyeing up to snatch the equip-ment, sell it for a small raise and run around and

keep doing the same. The thing must be investigat-ed from a different angle.

We all know that there are many hot stuff cellphones on the r o a d , and go-ing for next to n o t h -ing too. I have asked many people how

much they paid for their phones and where they got them. I

get the shock – sometimes, a $50,000 phone is sold off for

$15,000. Well the

snatcher got it for free. I blame the

buyers too, as they could have reported the mat-ter.

The sellers would have then had to explain from where and whom he got the phones.

Imagine if our police should do this kind of thing on a very frequent basis, how much of a change the society will experience.

Yours faithfully,Tricia Sukhai

Dear Editor,I am very pleased with

recent movements in the arts in Guyana, especially when it comes to actual per-forming arts. A while back, the director of the National School of Dance was encour-aging parents to enrol their children in the school, as it was one sure way to keep them out of trouble. This is definitely so and in a sense, it is just like sports. However, with dancing, it can become a very personal thing and be totally independent of any-one or anything, say a com-petition or so.

I see a lot of keep fit pro-grammes on television. I hope that parents would encourage their children to participate more in dancing, since it is of immense value, and this we need to be in-formed about.

I quickly ask readers to ponder the following, as re-gards dancing: social value – interacting with other peo-ple; cultural value – explor-ing various traditions; emo-tional value – expressing self; recreational value – do-ing it for pure pleasure; and physical value – as a form of keeping fit. A healthy all-round person is naturally

strong in academics most times.

Years ago I saw the movie, “Jewel Thief”, and I was stunned. The dance by Vyjayanthimala was most breathtaking. That perfor-mance alone can be used to stimulate support for be-ginners where dancing is concerned. It had every-thing: flexibility – which is an important part of being healthy; strength – defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force against resis-tance; and endurance – as dance is physical exercise and exercise increases en-durance. Maybe it is time to sell the gymnasium idea with a good dose of trained dancing.

An International Dance Day was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) partner non-governmental organisation. The day is cel-ebrated on April 29 every year.

Yours truly,Veron Hinds

Dear Editor,Right on the heels of a

week of special emphasis on road safety, I am reading the aftermath of a weekend of carnage on the road in-volving several deaths and injured persons.

What is a parked trailer doing on the road? I see this all the time. Between Mon Repos to Good Hope, East Coast Demerara and head-ing east, there is always a precariously parked trail-er on the left hand side of the Railway Embankment

Road. Old discarded vehicles

are now assembling rap-idly on the public road, just before the Lusignan Community Centre, left hand side as you head to-wards Georgetown. If we are serious and are keep-ing informed, via the press, these two areas should be cleared.

As for the latter case, I shudder at possibilities – crooks can hide in these vehicles and waylay peo-ple. If an accident should

take place there, then it is worsened by the secondary damage and injuries these wrecks can cause.

The other thing is that people do not lose control per se. The loss of control when driving has reasons – too fast, bad vision, may-be some hidden obstacle, or the glare from on-coming bright lights, driving un-der the influence, paying at-tention to getting the music right-selection and volume, and maybe more. The fact remains that accidents can be avoided to a large degree.

It is time we all got to-gether and change the road culture here in Guyana. The traffic police should be on an intense and prolonged cam-paign – seek to nab drivers who are using the bright beams; track down vehi-cles that are blaring away loud music; visit and stake out drinking spots; and lead the traffic in peak hours and when the weather is hostile to easy driving. These things are so easy to do.

Yours faithfully,Thomas Heyliger

More police searches will help curb illegal activities

The police need to solve cellphone thefts

The value of dancing

More carnage on the roads Scrabble competitions should be encouraged

6 guyanatimesgy.com

Page Foundationsaturday, may 25, 2013

Keeping in touchWhile many children have close relationships with at least one grandparent or set of grandparents, this doesn’t necessarily happen. Children may have only limited contact with their grandparents for a variety of different practical and financial reasons.

* Geographical distance may make it hard for children to have regular and meaning-ful contact with their grand-parents if they live a long way away in this country or in an-other country.

* A grandparent may be frail, with emotional and physical needs of their own.

* Both parents, or the lone parent, may be working flat out to pay the rent or mort-gage, with little time, space or money for keeping up regular contact.

* The grandparents may be at the peak of their own ca-reers, with little time or ener-gy to devote to grandchildren or childcare.

* Conflict within the fam-ily or a rift between family members, may limit contact and affect how children view their grandparents.

Grandparents are re-ally important for the chil-dren themselves. Through their relationship with their grandparents, a child can feel another level of support and care. For children of any age, it makes all the differ-ence if somebody has time for them.

A child can gain not just a reliable and interested caregiv-er and babysitter, but someone who is their confidante and friend. Children who get extra attention from grandparents (or people who act as grand- parents to them) are likely to

do better at school.

A bridge to the outside worldGrandparents can create

a bridge for children to move between life at home with their parents and the outside world.

* Growing children who visit their grandparents may discover that time away from home can be safe, interesting and enjoyable – not just a last resort in times of trouble.

* In adolescence, close re-lationships with older adults who are at a step removed from the dramas of the imme-diate family can help to de-fuse the tensions that have built up.

A link to other worldsChildren may enjoy shar-

ing the particular skills, in-terests and ideas offered by grandparents that are differ-ent from their parents.

Grandfathers may have a special interest which neither of the parents share. If he talks to his unmotivated teen-age grandson about what he missed by leaving school at 16, he may have far more impact than an anxious parent. Grandparents might be able to offer a sense of history to their grandchild – for ex-ample, bringing the ‘swinging six-ties’ to life or talking about life ‘back home’.

Young peo-ple who spend time with their grandparents and step-grandparents learn how to adapt to different ways of doing things. They can learn the val-

ues of respect and care for old-er people.

Understanding family relationships

Knowing their grandpar-ents can help children to see their own parents in a new light. Seeing their own par-ent as a child to somebody can help children to understand how relationships change over time and to develop a sense of themselves.

They may have heard their parents expressing mixed feelings about their grandparents and criticising them. But they can see that, in spite of that, their parents and their grandparents love and care for one another.

Learning about ageing and bereavement

Children learn about the reality of getting old from their grandparents. They may observe and share their own parents’ experience of having the parents who used to be the carers now needing

care themselves.For many chil-

dren their first e x p e r i e n c e of death

i s

when a grandparent or great- grandparent dies. Though painful and upsetting, this is an important and valuable ex-perience.

The extended familyWithin some cultures, it is

traditional for grandparents to play a central role in the lives of their grandchildren. In some circumstances they may feel that they have to take this on. In this situation, the child’s main emotional at-tachment may well be to their grandmother.

It is not unusual for grandchildren to stay with their grandparents while their parents work or travel overseas to establish them-selves in another country, or for grandchildren to be sent to the grandparents ‘back home’ while the parents try to make their way.

The children’s response to this experience this will de-pend on many things, includ-ing:

* the nature of their at-tachment to their parents and their grandparents

* how well the arrange-ment is explained to them

* the quality of the re-lationship they devel-op with their grand-parents. When it works well, the whole family gains from

the experience. However, com-

p l e x e m o -

tions are likely to

arise. For ex-ample, when

some children a r e

‘sent away’ and others stay with their parents, or children are reunited with their par-ents at a particular stage of development. Imagine what it must it be like for a 12-year- old who joins the family in England from a home overseas with her grandparents. She has to adjust to a new country, a new school, possibly a new language, parents she hasn’t seen for a long time, and may-be even a new younger brother or sister she’s never met before – quite apart from being sepa-rated from her beloved grand-mother ‘back home’.

Grandparents as parentsSome grandparents find

themselves acting as parents for the second time around. If a mother is not in a posi-tion to look after her own chil-dren, the grandparents may find themselves taking fuller responsibility, possibly with a heavy heart. If the only alter-native is to see their grandchil-dren taken into care, grand-parents may feel that they have no choice.

Each of these situations carries with it a highly charged story, which will have emo-tional repercussions for the children as well as the grand-parents. It may mean there has been a crisis in the family such as illness, abuse, neglect, or death.

Grandparents who find themselves in this situa-tion may love and care for their grandchildren deeply. Nevertheless, they are likely to find it an uphill struggle to summon up the emotional as well as the physical ener-gy required to be good ‘par-ents’ in this situation, and may feel resentful and pres-sured. (www.understandingchildhood.net)

BY KAREN HOLLOWELL

Your children are fortu-nate if they have a pos-itive relationship with

their grandparents. In most cases, your children can go to them for advice, a sympathet-ic ear and unconditional affec-tion. It’s important that you teach your children to respect their grandparents. From a young age, children need to know that elders are due their respect, especially those in their family. Additionally, knowing how to respect au-thority figures will help chil-dren later in school and in their careers.

Step oneExplain the importance

of grandparents. Tell your children that grandparents are a part of their history and can tell them stories about great-grandparents and other relatives. Help them under-stand that grandparents are not just old people who don’t understand children. Remind them that their grandpar-ents were children once and have experienced many of the same things and can be a good source of help when they need it.

Step twoTeach your child

the meaning of respect. Children may think of grand-parents as either benevolent people who will always give them what they want or grim, old-fashioned critics who have to be endured during occasion-al visits. Hopefully, their re-lationship is meaningful and loving. However, you need to teach your child that respect means “to honour.” This in-cludes considering others be-fore themselves, submitting and treating people courte-ously. Children can show re-spect even if their grandpar-ents don’t fit their ideal image.

Step threeShow respect yourself.

Even if your own relationship with your parents has been strained, respecting them is an important example to set for your children. It helps them realise that even if they don’t always agree with their grandparents, they should still respect them because of their position in the family. This may even improve the relationship between you and your children.

Step fourEncourage communica-

tion between your children and their grandparents. If you live near each other, fre-quent visits are an option. Fortunately, however, even long distances don’t have to be a barrier to a quality relation-ship. Besides the traditional letters, there are emails, texts and online instant messages. Preschool-age children will need your assistance, but old-er children and teens will soon become technologically adept. (www.everydaylife.globalpost.com)

How to teach your children to respect their grandparents

(Continued from friday)

7saturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

news

An overseas-based Guyanese collapsed and died mysterious-

ly at his lover’s residence at Adelaide and Princes streets, Charlestown on Friday af-ter complaining of difficulty breathing.

The dead man was iden-tified as Matthew Small, 45, of the United Kingdom and formerly of Agricola, Greater Georgetown. According to in-formation received, the man experienced breathing prob-lems around 15:00h and died a few minutes later. Reputed in-laws of the man bitterly com-plained that despite several calls to 911, to solicit medical attention they were instructed to phone the police.

One woman, whose name was given as Alicia, ex-plained that Small was con-suming alcohol earlier in the day and went to bed to get some rest and soon after he started to pant for breath. She added that none of the persons who were at home at the time has any medical knowledge, so they were not sure what to do.

In tears, the frustrat-ed and grieving woman slammed the system in Guyana, claiming that 911 should have rendered as-sistance when called upon. The police were contacted and turned up at the house to find Small dead on the bed. They were told that no medical personnel were around and that the body will have to be taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where doctors would make a pronouncement.

The police believe that the man may have commit-ted suicide but are not ruling out foul play. Some persons thought that he might have succumbed because he took medication (a few tablets) be-fore consuming a few bottles of Guinness.

A friend of the dead man explained that they were drinking on Friday morning, but he had to leave for work. Upon returning home, he re-ceived the dreadful news. He went on to say that Small had been drinking heav-ily for the past two days. “I even stop he from drink-ing more… He de want send me to buy rum this morning

(Friday), but I tell he that he had enough but he get some other person and send them to buy,” he added.

Relatives suspect foul play

Relatives of the dead man are holding out that foul play was involved. A niece of the man, Tunisia Crum-ewing said she attempted to con-tact her uncle on a number of occasions, but did not get through.

She said that she grew more worried after she called the landline number of the place he was staying to no avail. “I decided that after work, today (Friday), I would have checked him out, but at about three o’clock, I re-ceived a call saying that my uncle had difficulties breath-ing and died soon after,” she explained.

She added that her un-cle reportedly found out that his lover was having an af-fair with another man and he started to ‘take it on’. Small’s niece explained that her uncle arrived in Guyana on April 26 and was due to return sometime later this month. His wife, as well as his two daughters and a son, also live overseas.

Guyana Times also un-derstands that woman with whom he was having an af-fair is also married and her husband lives in the United Kingdom. The man’s body was taken to the Lyken Funeral Home to await a post-mortem examination. Apart from his immedi-ate family, Small leaves to mourn his four siblings.

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T)

last week made a mon-etary contribution to the Region Six Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Programme for an initiative aimed at empowering the women of Berbice.

In a release, Port Mourant

CBR Centre Chairman Mark Adams said the organisation caters for the “disabled, hand-icapped and people with spe-cial needs”. “The centre of-fers educational programmes, care and general upliftment of their social welfare and personal well-being.”

The centre has been serv-ing the Region Six commu-

nity for more than 20 years and this year the focus is on women with disabilities and those with children living with disabilities and other special needs. With the sup-port from GT&T, the Region Six CBR will embark on a craft programme for its fe-male members.

Meanwhile, GT&T

has also supported ef-forts of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana to participate in the “Annual Islamic Cultural Event” to be held in Trinidad in August. The Guyana team is expected to comprise a to-tal of 40 persons: qaseeda singers, quranic reciters, judges and officials.

Dead: Matthew Small

Vacationer dies mysteriously in Charlestown

GT&T makes donation to CIOG, rehab centre

GT&T Public Relations Officer Allison Parker presents the cheque to Port Mourant CBR Centre Chairman Mark Adams

GT&T Public Relations Officer Nadia De Abreu presents a cheque to CIOG executive member Zakir Khan

The Local Government Ministry will be approaching the

National Procurement and Tender Administration Board shortly to com-mence the tendering pro-cess for rehabilitation and construction works on the Kumaka San Jose Bridge in Moruca.

This is following an in-vestigation which was launched by the ministry based on complaints re-ceived from residents and political activists on the state of the bridge.

Necessary steps are al-ready being taken to rec-tify issues associated with the construction of the San Jose Bridge in Region One.

Permanent Secretary Colin Croal made this an-nouncement at a press con-ference held on Thursday at the ministry’s Kingston, Georgetown office. He said the contractor who was awarded the project has since tendered his resigna-tion.

“Subsequent to those complaints that were made by residents and even pol-iticians, we sent in anoth-er regional engineer who would have prepared his report and at the same time, it became of interest to the Office of the Auditor General and they also did

an investigation and sub-mitted a report to us,” he stated.

He said the major con-cerns which came out of the investigation were the need for rehabilitation, construction and revet-ment works

“The approach that will be taken will focus on the fact that one end of where the bridge is being con-structed is swampy and given the rainy period, it is now a major issue,” he stat-ed.

Croal said Cabinet has given a no-objection for the proposal which was submitted by the ministry to replace the current re-vetment that had already

commenced.The investigations con-

clude that there were er-rors with the technical works for both the design and revetment.

“An analysis from the report showed the lengths of the piles recommended which were too short and revetment of the current design is not correct and will not be able to support the bridge,” he explained.

The permanent secre-tary has assured that the materials that were pur-chased since the contract was awarded in 2012 would not be wasted.

He said the residents have indicated that the wood and other materi-

als will be used to under-take other project within the sub-region. The minis-try had previously received a number of complaints about the $28.5 million project in the Region One (Barima/Waini), sub-re-gion.

According to him, a stop order was placed on the works being done there and an independent engineer-ing team went to visit, af-ter which a report was pro-vided to the ministry and it was studied. Croal said it has been reported that the bridge rails were rough and an examination of the bill of quantities indicated that the use of dress wood was required.

Plans in train to rehabilitate San Jose Bridge

8newssaturday, may 25, 2013| guyanatimesgy.com

Eyew tness

...rehabilitating Burnham

Well, well, well! Look who just jumped into the “Give Forbes Burnham the Tambo” project: Kean Gibson. That’s right. The wild-eyed fascist who’s convinced

that those sly and devious Guyanese Hindus who make up the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) are genetically programmed to hate African Guyanese. You got that right again. The multiracial President Donald Ramotar, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, and others are all Hindus.

Gibson has a sinecure to teach at University of the West Indies (UWI) Barbados Cave Hill Campus and is part of a blog that’s rabidly anti-Guyanese Indian. They’d like to drive them into the (Caribbean) Sea. She doesn’t distinguish between Hindus, Muslim and Christian Indians in her hate campaign. But then, if their fatal defect is genetic...changing their beliefs doesn’t do anything for them, does it?

Anyhow Gibson takes on Professor David Johnson from the City University of New York (CUNY), who’d merely pointed out to Jeffrey Thomas, a journeyman Burnhamite minister, that South Africa doesn’t have the one-man rule he might’ve been used to under Burnham. As such, President Jacob Zuma had to respond to internal pressures to rescind the award to Burnham. For an award to Burnham, Professor Johnson suggested, partisans of Burnham might do better if they approach the “Equatorial Guinea; its president’s style of governance will warm the heart of the late Burnham.” Equatorial Guinea, of course, is ruled by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who declared he’s “the country’s god” and has “all power over men and things”. Sounds familiar?

And Gibson’s point to counter Johnson’s? Well, that individuals she considers “dictators” – Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indonesia’s Kusno Sukarno – were also recipients of the Tambo Award. Is this lady for real? Who in the global “South” haven’t honoured these fathers of non-alignment? Has she forgotten there are even busts of them in front of our St George’s Cathedral? Please...now that the promise of Bandung is finally being realised through BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Arica) – where South Africa has a seat at the table – even more praises to Sukarno and Nasser.

Gibson appoints herself a one-woman commission of inquiry (CoI) and declares conclusively and dismissively: “First the excuse was that Burnham murdered Dr Walter Rodney. That does not hold water.” Well now that’s settled, let’s move on!! She finds the idea that Dr Rodney might be honoured by South Africa for being “liked”, risible.

Lady, did you hear about the “pen” and the “sword”? It isn’t just about being “liked”. Dr Rodney’s work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa liberated more than South Africa. Ask, say, his student Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda.

...bruised egosWe’re enjoying the catfight going on between the so-

called “Writing Fraternity”. See? We’ve capitalised the name to give them official recognition. It’s a lot better than worrying about what’s going on (or, what’s not going on) in Parliament. The actions of the politicians, unfortunately, are real in their consequences for us working stiffs. We’ll now have to sign over our firstborn, to collect our remittance from foreign.

The fall out from this catfight? At worse some bruised egos. And with the evident size of these fellas’ egos, they could withstand not just some bruises but some serious excisions without suffering any damage. For us? Some well deserved diversion. Anyway, this slacker Ruel Johnson replies to the bitch-slap delivered by Professor David Dabydeen and accepts that all the former’s points were on the mark. The professor did buy him a laptop; did get him a workshop which he couldn’t fulfil all the requirements; and so on and so forth.

But what caught our eye was his parting shot: he is going to be among the “arbiters” of change in Guyana.

Knowing this slacker, he can’t even be the arbiter of his pocket change!!!

...gluttonyOur kudos to the Muckraker’s Freddie Kissoon. After 20

years of writing about his sponging of meals from everybody and their uncles...he claims he refused a free pizza from Mario’s. WOW!!! That’s quite an accomplishment for a fella who’s never met a meal he didn’t like.

The cycle of…

A labourer was charged with intent to commit a felony

when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.

Elroy Edwards, 20, of Craig, East Bank Demerara pleaded guilty to the charge, which stated that on May 23, he broke

and entered the dwelling of Carol Joseph, with in-tent to commit a felony.

According to the facts, on the day in question the defendant went into the virtual complainant’s yard around 18:30h but left after the VC chased him out. Joseph, along with her children, went to bed around 08:30h, and was awakened by a noise

in her house. She got up and went to the bed-room where her children were asleep only to find Edwards with his hand around her eight-year-old daughter’s waist. Joseph raised an alarm and Edwards made his escape. Investigations were car-ried out and he was later arrested.

The defendant in his

defence stated that he was high and did not know what he was doing.

Prosecutor Ramsahoye Rambajue objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the offence and nature of the crime.

The chief magistrate remanded Edwards to prison and he will be re-turning to court on May 29.

A man was charged with unlawful and malicious damage to

property when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Friday.

Dextroy Smart, of Lot 17 Leopold Street, Georgetown, pleaded guilty to the charge, which states that on April 23, he

damaged a Guyana Police Force vehicle.

According to the facts of the case, the police were on traffic duty when the de-fendant was seen touting, so they arrested, and told him of the offence. While in the vehicle, he resisted ar-rest and tried to escape by kicking the window out.

The defendant, how-

ever, alleged that he was picked up and while in the police vehicle, the officers became aggressive, dealing him several blows across his body.

During the scuffle, he rammed into the window of the vehicle which subse-quently broke.

The prosecutor objected to bail, stating that if the

defendant was granted his pre-trial liberty, he would not return to court.

The chief magistrate entered a not guilty plea on the defendant’s behalf and overruled the prosecution’s objection.

Smart was granted bail in the sum of $100,000 and he is to return to court 10 on May 30.

A man charged with robbery appeared be-fore Chief Magistrate

Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.

Seon Davis, of Durban Street, Lodge, pleaded not guilty to the charge, which states that on May 20 at Stabroek, Georgetown he stole one Republic of Guyana passport valued $15,000, two perfumes valued $4000, one Alcatel phone valued $20,000 and other articles worth a to-tal of $83,500, property of Sandra Deopersaud.

According to Prosecutor Ramsahoye Rambajue, around 20:15h on the day in question, the virtual com-plainant (VC) was walking west of the Stabroek Market with a haversack containing the articles. The defendant then sprayed a substance in her face, which caused a burning sensation and made good his escape with the arti-cles mentioned in the charge. Based on information, the po-lice subsequently arrested and charged the defendant.

Davis was remanded by the chief magistrate and is scheduled to return to court on May 30 for report and fixtures.

‘I was high and did not know what I was doing’ – felony accused says

Tout shattered police vehicle’s window – court hears

Armed robbery accused remanded

9saturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

news

The town of New Amsterdam in Berbice will by the end of June

become beneficiaries of afford-able and reliable waste dis-posal services through private contractors.

According to Region Six Chairman David Armorgon, the people of Region Six will gladly accept the initiative with open arms given the cur-rent situation of the waste dis-posal surrounding the region. He noted that the move to take the waste management in New Amsterdam to the private sec-tor is a smart one by the gov-ernment because the munici-pality is failing in this area. However, Armorgon stated that he hopes that the con-tractors stick to the regulated prices for the disposal of waste because some businesses are complaining that the price for collection is high.

Speaking with Guyana Times, Advanced Environment Solutions Managing Director Zaheer Osman stated that the company has been given the greenlight for the disposal of solid waste around the New Amsterdam area. He noted that the contract was signed between his company, the Local Government Ministry and the regional democratic councils.He noted that there was also a 10-year lease on the land that was issued for the dumping of the garbage. The company will begin its work on the landfill site during the first week of June. Osman also not-ed that the residents will ben-

efit from a mere $300 per bar-rel of residential waste, while the commercial prices will vary on volume and frequency of pick-ups. According to Osman, Advanced Environment Solutions will not only be deemed as a waste manage-ment disposal company, but will also seek in the near future to venture out to recycling and waste separation. “Advanced Environmental Solutions will soon be implementing a segre-gation process when the waste arrives at the landfill. This pro-cess will take place at a sort-ing station and will involve the removing of plastic, glass, Styrofoam and electronic com-ponents from the waste. The biodegradable waste will be sent on to the landfill while the non-biodegradable items will then be recycled,” said Osman.

The Local Government Ministry had earlier in 2012 moved to open landfills outside of Region Four toward man-aging and addressing the cul-ture of solid waste disposal in the regions. To date, the min-istry has identified and award-ed contracts for the develop-ment and management of all the identified sites, excluding the one in Region Eight which is still to be awarded following the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the site. In the past, the New Amsterdam Town Council usually expends some $3 million on the collec-tion and disposal of garbage per annum.

The budgeted figure is ap-proximately $8 million, but

due to poor rate and tax col-lection, this sum cannot be realised. However, according to concerned resident James Allen, the non-payment of tax-es by many also contributes to the limited manpower, since property tax collection is the main source of income for the council. It was noted by resi-dents that in the entire mu-nicipality, there are limited la-bourers and drivers and with low remuneration packages, the rate of absenteeism is high, and the garbage collection and disposal are affected. Another factor in the solid waste bat-tle is malfunctioning vehicles. The tractor/trailers, which are used for the collection and dis-posal of garbage are years old and experience several me-chanical problems. A survey which was spearheaded by the New Amsterdam Action Group (NAAG) sometime ago revealed that New Amsterdam produces 12 tonnes of solid waste daily. The tractor/trail-ers available at any given time can only remove 50 per cent of the entire amount.

As Guyana celebrates its 47th Independence anniversary, as is cus-

tomary, a minister of the gov-ernment will be in attendance in each region as the Golden Arrow Head is hoisted to mark the occasion.

This was reiterat-ed by Local Government and Regional Development Minister Ganga Persaud on Thursday at a news confer-ence. Two weeks earlier, head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon made simi-lar announcements.

Minister Persaud will be in Region One, Matarkai sub-district, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee in Region Two, Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall in Region Three, Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford in Region Four and Human Services and Social Security Minister Jenifer Webster in Region Five.

There will be two cele-brations in Region Six: one in Corriverton and the other in New Amsterdam. Labour

Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul will be in attendance at Corriverton and advisor on community de-velopment, Odinga Lumumba will be at New Amsterdam.

Junior Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker will be in Region Seven, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn in Region Eight, and Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira in Region Nine. Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill will attend the celebra-tion in Kwakwani, Region 10.

“This year, as we seek to once again emphasise and reflect on the journey which was started some 47 years ago, that journey to an in-dependent nation, I am cer-tain that we will do so with pride, because as a country, we have really come a very far way… our achievements and the astronomical leaps that we would have made as a nation can be recorded as far beyond our expectations,” Minister Persaud stated. Guyana achieved indepen-dence status on May 26, 1966 from Great Britain.

The Local Government and Regional De-velopment Ministry

is closely monitoring the regions’ implementation of the projects and policies covered under the 2013 na-tional budget, according to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Collin Croal.

Speaking at a press con-ference on Thursday at the ministry’s Kingston office, Croal said the ministry will be scrutinising to ensure the regions’ adhere to the proj-ects timelines.

“We are monitoring our regions, in terms of the im-plementation to ensure that we stick to our timelines, be-cause we are cognisant that we are approaching the mid-dle of the year already, so the window period for imple-mentation is reducing, and hence we are ensuring that our regional executive offi-cers, the accounting officers of the regions, in a timely manner ensure that they at the regional tender board, ensure that those awards

are done quickly,” he said.Cabinet has mandated

that the ministry, as well the regions, is required to have by May 31 all their proj-ects being tendered to be ad-vertised for award in June. Croal said that as a result, the regions have commenced advertisement for their cap-ital, as well as their current projects, particularly as it relates to maintenance pro-

grammes.He said that to date, for

Region One, 60 per cent of their capital and as of this week 60 per cent of their current projects have been advertised. Region Two has advertised 100 per cent of its capital and 45 per cent of its current projects; Region Three, 65 per cent of its capital and 50 per cent of its current projects; Region Four 100 per cent of its capi-tal and 70 per cent of its cur-rent projects; Region Five, 50 per cent of its capital and 70 per cent of its current projects; Region Six, 90 per cent of its capital and 50 per cent of its current projects; Region Seven, 85 per cent of its capital and 70 per cent of its current projects; Region Eight, 80 per cent of its cap-ital and as of tomorrow, 60 per cent of its current proj-ects; Region Nine, 80 per cent of its capital and 50 per cent of its current projects; and Region 10, 65 per cent of its capital and 45 per cent of its current projects.

Local Government Ministry closely monitoring regions’ budgets

Private contractor takes over management of NA waste

Cabinet to fan out to spread independence message

Local Government Ministry Permanent Secretary Collin Croal

10 saturday, may 25, 2013 guyanatimesgy.com

News

Long before Freddie Kissmansoon was a book thief, he was a bummer. And long before he was a Man Kisser, he was a bummer. Now

that de man is a kisser and bummer, he would even kiss fuh whatever he bummin.

A former UG student who was in one of Freddie Kissmansoon class seh de Man Kisser used to always be bummin sumting from somebody whenever he was on de campus, and even whenever he was in de classroom babblin like he teachin.

De student admit that she never see de Man Kisser drink and smoke, so she never see he bum anybody fuh a beer or a cigarette. But de Man Kisser used to go up in de canteen to sit down and pretend as though he readin a book at lunch time when everybody else eatin.

De Man Kisser always had late afternoon classes to lecture, but he used to be in the canteen sharp at lunchtime. That was when all de students who didn’t finish dem assignments does go up and buy de Man Kisser sumting fuh eat. One of dem seh de Man Kisser belly never full because he never refuse any ting yet!

Since de Man Kisser resign after he get fired from UG, he can’t go back to de campus and go to de canteen anymore. But he does still go and bum at dem shops along UG road where some of de students does go fuh lunch. That is why de Man Kisser had always want house and land near UG.

Now that de Man Kisser goin to Mario’s he realise that de people there don’t tek no bummin…so he gotta pay fuh what he want. De other day he want a bigger pizza and he didn’t want to pay. When he couldn’t get what he want, he cuss up everybody.

Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie! But de Man Kisser gon want another big pizza again and so he beggin de owner Mr Camp Bell fuh go back again!

Freddie want a bigger pizza

Council for Technical, Vocational and Education Training

(TVET) Director Sydney Walters said the relevant local institutions must pre-pare for an imminent audit required by Caricom before year-end.

At a recent TVET workshop hosted by the Education Ministry and organised by the coun-cil, Walters noted that the qualification of the insti-tutions would satisfy one of the requirements for the free movement of arti-sans as a condition of the Caricom Single Market and Economy.

Walters disclosed that the national policy on tech-nical, vocational and educa-tion training requires that the council take the lead in ensuring that strategies and programmes are successful-ly implemented that will enable Guyana to be recog-nised by Caricom as eligi-ble to award the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).

According to Walters, to achieve this status, there are several requirements to be satisfied including the establishment of a National Training Agency under leg-islation achieved in Guyana in 2004.

He said there must be in place the use of regional occupational standards for the development of the cur-riculum of each institution involved in the process of implementing competency-

based programmes for rec-ognition to award the CVQ.

This, he said, requires the mandatory use of ap-proved regional occupation-al standards and is a cru-cial requirement that must be endorsed by local TVET organisations.

Walters also advised on the establishment of an assessment strategy and training of evaluators to conduct assessment includ-ing internal evaluators, in-ternal verifiers and exter-nal verifiers.

According to the direc-tor, TVET organisations must also ensure the train-ing of instructors and lec-turers to deliver compe-tency-based modularised training programmes.

Training Training institutions

must also have in place training for administrators and line-management func-

tionaries to monitor the de-livery process.

“If competency-based programmes are to be de-livered efficiently and ef-fectively, then line manage-ment functionaries must have a clear understanding of their role on a day-to-day basis and practice clinical supervision,” Walters high-lighted.

He added that the ac-quisition of adequate fa-cilities to deliver the prac-tical programmes has also been a subject of discussion for quite some time. He urged organisational heads to match their current in-ventory with the facili-ty standards for the vari-ous occupational areas and development, and imple-ment a certification strat-egy for both the national and Caribbean Vocation Qualification.

Guyana’s recognition by Caricom also hinges on the development and imple-mentation of a system for the storing and retrieval of records and the develop-ment and implementation of a strategy for the effec-tive monitoring and evalu-ation of the system.

“Some persons are cur-rently working on the pro-jects to record students’ performance on a daily ba-sis. These 10 areas of con-cern are critical to us as we move towards gaining recognition to award the CVQ.”

Walters revealed that the council for TVET over

the last three years has ad-dressed these procedures by preparing post-second-ary institutions under the Education Ministry so that Guyana is recognised to award the CVQ.

Other institutions in both the private and pub-lic sectors, including the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and the Kuru Kuru College are also being prepared for recogni-tion to award the CVQ.

Walters pointed out that among the documents that are being used in the implementation of the pro-cedures to be recognised to award the CVQ is the man-ual on quality assurance criteria and the guidelines for the CVQ as published by the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA).

The TVET director not-ed that the council has al-ready conducted audits at all post-secondary institu-tion that will be audited by CANTA later this year.

“Consequently, we are working with all the train-ing institution to satisfy the facility standards re-quirements as far as prac-tical before the audit,” Walters said.

The workshop on quali-ty assurance requirements for the delivery of the CVQ is timely and serves to re-mind institutions of their responsibility and the need to discharge those responsi-bilities efficiently and effec-tively.

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) has advised that the

service disruption affect-ing customers of Cummings Park, reported in the Thursday, May 23 edition of the Kaieteur News, result-ed from emergency main-tenance at the Cummings Lodge Well Station, which commenced last week.

Emergency maintenance at the Cummings Lodge Well Station also resulted in reduced levels of service

in Sophia (A to E fields), Liliendaal and Turkeyen. The company said it had is-sued an advisory last week, via all available sources of media, informing custom-ers of the emergency work and the subsequent conse-quences.

“Guyana Water Incorporated apologises for this service disruption and wishes to assure all affected customers that normal ser-vice will be restored in the swiftest manner possible.”

Sydney Walters

TVET institutions to prepare for Caricom audit

Thirteen Guyanese law enforcement officials are attending a series

of training courses spanning from May 13 to June 28 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Police Academy.

According to a U.S. em-bassy statement, in these courses, participants devel-oped their skills relating to criminal gang and organised crime investigations, intelli-gence gathering for law en-forcement and crime scene investigations.

This was the first time

Guyana has sent students to the Trinidad-based academy. Instructors from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) con-ducted the training course. U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, D Brent Hardt toured the TTPS Police Academy and met with the first group of Guyanese law enforcement officials participating in the training as part of a recent visit to Trinidad and Tobago. The ambassador expressed appreciation to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Academy leadership for facilitating Guyana’s participation in the

training.The ambassador pointed

out that the expansion of re-gional training programmes and regional centres of excel-lence is a primary goal of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) – the ongo-ing security partnership be-tween the Caribbean and the United States. Such train-ing allows for more capacity building training to be deliv-ered at lower cost.

More importantly, it helps build personal connec-tions among Caribbean law enforcement agencies that are essential to combating

transnational criminal activ-ity. The ambassador told par-ticipants that “criminals op-erate across borders, and law enforcement agencies must be equally nimble if they are to remain effective in combat-ing criminal activity.”

CBSI partners agreed on the importance of expanding regional training and devel-oping regional centres of ex-cellence. This FBI-provided training reflects the U.S. commitment to implement the CBSI and develop re-gion’s capacity to enhance training in a broad range of areas for law enforcement of-ficials throughout the region. This partnership exemplifies the regional cooperation that is at the heart of the CBSI’s success and sustainability.

The CBSI partnership with the Caribbean was launched by U.S. President Barack Obama at the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009 and is a cornerstone of an integrated, multilateral hemispheric security strat-egy that seeks to enhance citizen security, promote so-cial justice, and combat illicit trafficking.

13 lawmen being trained by FBI in TT

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, D Brent Hardt poses with some of the local lawmen attending the course

Emergency maintenance leaves Cummings Park residents without water

11newssaturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) pres-ident Colin Bynoe

is calling on the Education Ministry to put systems in place so that teachers who fall victims of abuse by stu-dents and parents are given some form of counselling to keep them motivated.

He said the union is not only there to defend the rights of teachers. “Our goal is to work hand in glove with the Ministry of Education in order to bring about the type of motivation need-ed in schools in Guyana.” According the GTU presi-dent, the time has come for the union to back teachers who are being abused at the hands of parents.

He added that there was once a time when parents would approach teachers seeking to have the teacher write a letter for the parent. That has long changed with the improvement of the ed-ucational system in Guyana since the early 1990s. “We are not asking the parents in the community to go to teachers and ask them to write a letter, but that the folks in the community must respect the teachers so much so that they will not go into the schools and beat up on our teachers.”

Bynoe said that he is looking forward for the ta-bling of legislation which

will make such offences car-ry a mandatory jail term. Bynoe noted that abused teachers are on many oc-casions traumatised and is calling on the ministry to work hand-in-hand with the GTU in motivating not just those teachers, but all in the system. The GTU president was at the time addressing a group of PTA representa-tives in New Amsterdam on Thursday. In recent times, several teachers have been assaulted at the hands of parents, some even at the hands of students.

Recently, a teacher was assaulted at the Vrymans Ervin Secondary School by the parent of a student. While the teacher had to

receive medical attention at the New Amsterdam Hospital, the matter was not recorded in the school’s log book.

President Donald Ramotar earlier this month said government is consid-ering raising the penalty for students who beat teach-ers, with mandatory jail time and hefty fines being two of the options. Ramotar made the comments while interacting with teachers at the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) headquarters on Labour Day. The teach-ers had raised a number of issues with the president, among them being the meth-ods to deal with the grow-ing levels of indiscipline in

the nation’s schools, and the growing debate about corpo-ral punishment.

The teachers, in refer-ring to the recent incident at a Linden school which left a teacher hospitalised with a cracked skull and sever-al students suspended, ex-pressed the need for stiff-er penalties to be applied to students, particularly those who hit or attack staffers. A few even called for the jail-ing of students who attacked teachers and for their par-ents to be fined or otherwise penalised, as is done in other countries.

Some with decades of experience added that un-less proper alternatives are found for corporal punish-

ment, then it must remain in the school system. After listening to their concerns, Ramotar in response said the government will do its utmost to see a return of dis-cipline and order to the na-tion’s schools. “We have to raise the penalty, we haven’t decided as yet, but we are considering many things, mandatory jail, raising the fines etc. People should not be hitting teachers.” He also urged teachers to do their part and always give of their best, when on duty. In a re-cent interview, GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald had called on the Education Ministry to address the high level of indiscipline among students in schools across

Guyana. McDonald told Guyana Times that there have been a number of inci-dents recently where teach-ers suffered injuries.

GTU President Colin Bynoe

“Don’t beat up on our teachers,” Bynoe tells PTA meeting

The University of Guyana Centre for Communication Stu-

dies (UGCCS) will be host-ing a journalism training workshop from Tuesday, May 28 to June 1, at Moray House Trust. The workshop is being held in collabora-tion with Ohio University’s Institute for International Journalism in the Scripps College of Communication and the United States embassy, Georgetown, under the theme “Democracy, Journalism, and Responsibility: Expectations for an Informed Society”.

According to a U.S. em-bassy release, two distin-guished former foreign cor-respondents will facilitate the workshop, which will focus on investigative re-porting, political communi-cation, political campaigns and democratisation and advocacy journalism and so-cial responsibility.

The worship will feature presentations from Ohio University, Institute for International Journalism Director Dr Yusuf Kalyango and Andy Alexander, a for-mer Ombudsman of the Washington Post with ex-tensive international jour-nalism experience.

University of Guyana, Deputy Vice Chancellor Phillip Da Silva and U.S. Ambassador to Guyana D Brent Hardt will lead the launch of the workshop.

U.S. embassy, UG hosting journalism workshop

The Caribbean Com-munity (Caricom) has been challenged

to begin fostering creativi-ty and innovation from the earliest levels of education as a deliberate strategy for the sustainable develop-ment of the region.

At the opening cere-mony of the 24th meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) that focus-es on education and cul-ture, speakers honed in on the necessity of such a strategy to mould the ideal Caribbean citizen.

The tone of the meet-ing themed “Fostering in-novation through educa-tion and culture” was set by Trinidad and Tobago's Tertiary Education and Training Minister Fazal Karim, Guyana's Culture, Youth and

Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony and Caricom Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Colin Granderson.

The common thread of their presentations was the crucial role that educa-tion and culture could play in encouraging innovation, and the necessity for a new skill sets for competitive-ness and development.

Key componentsFor Minister Karim,

whose address was made via video, what was clear was that “in the increasing-ly complex global environ-ment in which we operate with economic, social and environmental challenges, the only sustainable path to development is grounded in our ability to be creative, innovative and competi-tive, implying commitment to knowledge development to all its spheres”. Among the key components he identified in the quest to-wards competitiveness was a greater focus on entre-preneurship, an examina-tion of the educational and pedagogic techniques to as-certain whether it was rel-evant in the current digital milieu, and the develop-ment of “muscles” within national education systems for creative and innovative thinking.

In his remarks, Ambassador Granderson said the region’s capacity to achieve the levels of com-petitiveness required for success in the global econ-omy, was, in large mea-sure, dependent on its ca-pacity for innovation in all spheres.

“Capacity for inno-vation is fuelled by cre-ativity. Fostering cre-ativity from the earliest stages must therefore be a deliberate strategy of our human resource de-velopment systems,” said Ambassador Granderson. The COHSOD, he said, would turn the spotlight on this imperative which was recognised by the con-ference of heads of govern-ment of Caricom in 1997. That meeting devoted a special session to education and human resource devel-opment and outlined the vi-sion of the ideal Caribbean citizen.

Ideal Caribbean person The ideal Caribbean

citizen is someone who, among other things: is im-bued with a respect for human life since it is the foundation on which all the other desired values must rest; is emotionally secure with a high level of self-confidence and self-esteem; sees ethnic, religious and other diversity as a source of potential strength and richness; and is aware of

the importance of living in harmony with the environ-ment.

That person should also have a strong appreciation of family and kinship val-ues, community cohesion, and moral issues includ-ing responsibility for and accountability to self and community; an informed respect for the cultural her-itage; demonstrate multi-ple literacies, independent and critical thinking, ques-tions the beliefs and prac-tices of past and present and bring this to bear on the innovative application of science and technology to problem solving; demon-strate a positive work eth-ic; value and display the creative imagination in its various manifestations and nurture its development in the economic and entrepre-neurial spheres in all oth-er areas of life; develop the capacity to create and take advantage of opportunities to control, improve, main-tain and promote physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being and contribute to the health and welfare of the community and coun-try. In addition, the ide-al Caribbean person nour-ishes in him/herself and in others, the fullest develop-ment of each person’s po-tential without gender ste-reotyping and embraces differences and similari-ties between females and males as a source of mutu-al strength.

RelevanceAmbassador Granderson

pointed out that the two-day COHSOD meeting would re-visit and review that vision to determine its relevance and the extent to which ed-ucation and cultural poli-cies, strategies and actions had been geared to address-ing the achievement of that goal and offer new directions to deal with emerging chal-lenges and imperatives.

Dr Anthony acknowl-edged the need for the com-munity’s education sys-tem to promote innovation and creativity. The region, he stressed, needed to ad-dress the relevant skill sets for the knowledge economy to prevent marginalisation or exclusion in the current times. Another dimension to the creation of the ideal Caribbean citizen on which Dr Anthony touched was the promotion of healthy life-styles. He called for more ac-tion on non-communicable diseases and sexually trans-mitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, even as he recog-nised that dwindling donor resources could undermine previous efforts. The open-ing ceremony was chaired by Human and Social Development Directorate, Officer-in-Charge Myrna Bernard.

12saturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

news

Early promotion of creativity a necessity – COHSOD hears Secretary for Multi-

dimensional Security of the Organisation

of American States (OAS), Adam Blackwell on Thursday concluded the 53rd regular session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) with a call for par-ticipants to seize the oppor-tunity provided by the newly delivered report on the drug problem in the Americas and “contribute to the de-bate and discussion” on the subject.

The CICAD meeting fo-cused on analysing the re-port prepared by the hemi-spheric organisation, which was presented to the OAS Permanent Council on Monday. Ambassador Blackwell asked partici-pants at the meeting, and in general, the governments of the hemisphere, to make an effort to ensure that the report forms the basis for a discussion of ideas that con-

cludes with a definition of policies that are truly effec-tive in addressing the prob-lem.

The secretary for Multidimensional Security urged those present “to read the report and provide com-ments and suggestions. We are always open to contri-butions to ensure that this report adds to the debate and discussion”. The drug problem in the region “is a very human issue”, said Blackwell, who drew atten-tion to the fact that the next opportunity for discussion will be at the upcoming OAS General Assembly to be held in Antigua Guatemala, from June 4 to 6.

The report on the drug problem in the Americas was delivered, by the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, to the Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday, May 17. The document is composed of two parts: the

Analytical Report, which ex-plains the reasons that lead society to worry about drug consumption and to try to control its effects on human health and the Scenarios Report, an examination of the paths that the phenom-enon could take in the com-ing years in the region.

For his part, the CICAD Chair and Costa Rica Public Security Minister Mario Zamora Cordero closed the session by stating that “more judges, more prose-cutors and more police will mean more people arrested but not fewer crimes com-mitted. In this report, we have the key to how to ad-dress the issue of violence associated with drug use”. On the closing day of the 53rd session, participants approved the draft CICAD annual report for 2012, and it was agreed that the next session will take place from December 10 to 12 in Bogota, Colombia.

CICAD meeting on OAS drug report concludes

13newssaturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

Fisher Primary School on the Essequibo Coast has emerged as

the winner of the National Reading Competition host-ed by the Demerara Lions Club in collaboration with the National Centre for Education Resource Development.

The Fisher Primary School, which is locat-ed at Golden Fleece on the Essequibo Coast, won the National Reading Competition after defeat-ing Two Miles Primary of Bartica, Region Seven by five points. The final was held on Friday at the Region Two, Department of Education, Learning Resource Centre.

The school managed to make it to the final leg of the competition held under the theme “Enhancing liter-acy through oral language”. Fisher Primary School grabbed the best school prize with the overall best read-er being Begum Somyah Baksh. Baksh won the hearts of the judges when she read a comprehension passage, spelt two words and answered questions per-taining to the comprehen-sion. The students who en-tered the competition from the various schools were re-quired to read a passage, spell two words and answer questions based on the pas-sage.

Meanwhile, when stu-dents of Two Miles Primary School took the stage, Milly Reid read her passage very eloquently and answered most of her questions. Her spelling words were nervous and property.

However, at the end of the competition, the Chief Judge Parikhan Ram, an English specialist at NCERD, said the two schools came in very close with Fisher Primary scoring 58 points and Two Miles 53 points. He dubbed the competition as very suc-cessful, but noted that pro-

nunciation of words and proper eye contact are ar-eas which must be improved. Ram called on teachers of the various schools to spend more time with the children and help to develop compre-hension skills.

Partnership

First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar, who graced the fi-nal, called on businesses to partner with education stakeholders in promoting literacy in Guyana through sponsoring similar competi-tions in the future. The first lady, who said she was im-pressed with the competition and the number of schools participated, highlighted the importance of reading in one’s life.

Ramotar commended the efforts of the Demerara Lions group in promoting literacy across the region as well as boosting children’s confidence level. She said it is her desire for the read-ing competition to become an annual feature which will give students the opportuni-ty to build their confidence.

She encouraged those students and teachers pres-ent at the competition to read

and read more. Ramotar em-phasised that reading is im-portant and should be prac-tised daily. The first lady advised students to read be-yond studies and to develop

a love for reading. She not-ed that there is nothing “old fashioned” about reading and urged children to devel-op a passion for such.

The schools that par-ticipated in the read-ing competition were Two Miles Primary, Holy Name Primary, Batavia Primary, Agatash Primary, Itabali Primary, Karau Primary, Kartaba Primary, Makouria Primary, River Primary, Huist Diren Primary, Queenstown Primary, Limas Primary, 8th May Primary, Fisher Primary and Better Hope Primary. An impromp-tu speech competition was held also with participat-ing secondary schools being Johanna Cecilia, Aurora, Cotton Field, 8th May and Charity.

Johanna Cecilia copped the best prize for the im-promptu speech with stu-dent Shellon Mitchell be-ing the overall winner. Also

in attendance were Region Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud along with offi-cers from the Region Two

Education Department. The Demerara Lions group op-erates under the motto “To serve selflessly”.

Fisher Primary School wins National Reading Competition

First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar with the teacher and students of the Fisher Primary School which emerged winner of the reading competition

First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar with pupils of Two Miles Primary School, the second-place winner of the reading competition

By: IndrawattIe natram

14newssaturday, May 25, 2013| guyanatiMesgy.coM

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) said it has

received numerous com-plaints from motorists complaining about alleged short measurement of gas purchased at gas stations. However, the agency said its own investigations have proven that no such fraud might be taking place.

In a release, the GNBS said divers have been claim-ing that they received less fuel from some service sta-tions when compared with others for a specified sum of money paid. Investigations conducted by the GNBS at service stations against which complaints were made revealed that all the fuel pumps were verified and were within the ac-cepted tolerance. Further, the security seals placed on the meters by the GNBS to prevent tampering were checked and found to be in-tact.

“… the GNBS is confi-dent that the fuel dispensed by these fuel pumps is accu-rate and therefore the inac-curacy of the pumps is not the factor that is responsi-ble for the short measure-ments drivers claimed to have received.”

However, based on fur-ther investigation carried out by the GNBS, it is high-ly probable that the varia-

tion in amount of fuel pro-vided to drivers is directly linked to the variation in the “price per litre” of fuel sold by gas stations. The higher the “price per li-tre” a “lesser quantity” of fuel would be supplied for a specified sum of money, and vise versa.

“For example, if gaso-line is sold at $200 per li-tre at one gas station and a driver purchases $1000, he would receive five litres; but if he purchases from a station that sells the same product at $250 per litre, he will only get four litres. Please note that the GNBS has no control over the price at which products are sold.”

The agency said motor-ists should pay attention to the price per litre which is displayed on all fuel pumps or on pricelists at gas sta-tions where purchases are made.

“The GNBS recommends that petroleum products be purchased by volume in-stead of money value to avoid any misconception. The GNBS will continue to conduct the verification of all fuel pumps countrywide to maintain accuracy, which will ensure that drivers get exactly what they pay for and proprietors do not loose due to the over-delivery of their petroleum products.”

By Michael younge

Lands and Surveys C o m m i s s i o n e r Doorga Persaud

said Yarrowkabra on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway is one of the areas that were designated as being feasible for sand mining operations a long time ago.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Friday after-noon, Persaud explained that the Lands and Survey Commission had determined that the area was suitable for this type of activity, us-ing a number of methodol-ogies outlined in the rules and laws governing op-erations. Persaud main-tained that any move by BK International to establish sand mining operations in the Yarrowkabra area could not be seen as unlawful or out of the ordinary.

Sand miningHe stated that previous-

ly, there was even the estab-lishment of a glass factory in the area, specifically be-cause it would need sand and the other resources available in the vicinity to conduct its operations. “The land there was available for sand min-ing,” insisted Persaud during the interview.

Asked to what extent was the agency involved in the granting of permis-sion for BK International to establish the sand mine, Persaud said the commis-sion confirmed the availabil-

ity of the land for such pur-poses, but the rest was left to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).

Persaud also disclosed that the licensing and oth-er arrangement for the use of the land and other such matters would have fallen under the responsibility of GGMC. He urged persons to familiarise themselves with the rules governing the us-age of the land in question at Yarrowkabra.

Persaud’s comments came on the heels of a demonstra-tion orchestrated by Bulkan’s Timbers Limited, a company which has been unreasonably resisting the attempts by BK International to commence operations in the community, despite the fact that permis-sion was granted by all of the relevant legal and statutory bodies.

The Environmental Assessment Board (EAB), through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Monday stated that there is no need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be done on the BK International pro-posed sand mine.

According the EAB Chairman Veetal Rajkumar, the decision was made only after in-depth deliberations and assessment of all the in-formation provided by both parties. “We have considered all the operational aspects and arguments from both parties and though the board thought there were some is-

sues to be addressed, there was not enough justification to embark on an EIA,” said Rajkumar.

EvaluationHe noted that when the

decision was taken the scale of the mining operation and consultations with the GGMC and the EPA were considered.

The EAB has said it was aware of the issues that will arise with the operation, but there are ways of mitigating such, given the small scale of the mining activity planned by BK International. Despite this, Bulkan’s Timbers has continued to pursue protest actions.

The EPA noted that de-spite the recommendation made by the EAB, the entire process will still have to be followed, and it is not auto-matic that permission will be given to BK International for the operation of a sand min-ing pit.

“We have received the rec-ommendations of the EAB, but the process still has to go through its entirety and it is not automatic. So far, the EPA will still have to meet and consider all the docu-ments,” said Environmental Health Division Director Geeta Singh.

BK International has ful-ly acknowledged that ad-verse effects such as dust nuisance, noise, vibrations, and water pollution are pos-sible.

AssuranceHowever, the company

has assured that these im-pacts can be mitigated and addressed through various means, including periodic watering of the site, by en-suring that the trucks used are covered with traps to pre-vent dust, and limiting the speed of the vehicles to and from the site.

BK International has also said that construction of baf-fle mounds, mufflers, and controlled working hours will allow for smooth operations and zero impact on the com-munity. As it relates to water pollution, the company noted that there is no major water course adjacent to the pro-posed site and fuel will not be stored on site, nor will there be any placement of piles within 10 metres of any near-by water source. The compa-ny emphasised that the sand mine will contribute directly to the infrastructural devel-opment of the country and the nearby community.

The EPA received the pro-posal on May 18, 2012 from BK International to operate a small-scale mining opera-tion and the EPA conducted the necessary physical evalu-ation of the site. It was noted during the hearing that due to the small scale of the pro-ject, an EIA is not necessary. The ownership of Bulkan’s Timbers is reportedly closely linked to Ronald Bulkan, an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament.

By SaMuel Sukhnandan

The National Associ-ation of Agricultural, Commercial and

Industrial Employees (NAACIE) is again calling for the removal of Guyana Power and Light Chief Executive Officer Bharat Dindyal, after he failed to deliver on his promise to pay employees their back pay this week.

NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph told Guyana Times on Friday that it was about time that Dindyal remove himself from the manage-ment of GPL, based on the number of failed promises he has made and his mis-management of the compa-ny.

“I support all calls for him to be removed from GPL.... Actually, I am call-ing for the same removal and that is not, because I want him to lose anything. What I want is the compa-ny to gain and the nation to gain from his separation from the company,” Joseph stated.

The NAACIE executive said he was not informed about the decision to have workers paid by this week, but read that the CEO

made this promise through media reports.

Joseph said in light of this, he enquired from GPL’s Human Resources and Finance Department about the issue and was in-formed that it was highly impossible for workers to receive their back pay this week. Joseph argued that this is not the first time that the CEO has promised something that never came into effect, especially since his statements are made without consultation with the board of directors of the company.

Several workers ex-pressed their disappoint-ment with the move made

by the CEO, saying that they are hoping that it could be addressed.

He explained that the other GPL executives also questioned the reason for the CEO’s statement, since they too were aware that no arrangements were put in place to have workers re-ceive their retroactive pay-ment.

Arrangements will be put into place

CEO Dindyal when con-tacted told Guyana Times via a telephone interview that while workers will not receive their back pay this week, arrangements will be put into place to have them

receive it by next week. He acknowledged that the workers were not paid, and said he will address the is-sue. When asked wheth-er this is a definitive deci-sion, so workers will not be met with the same situation next week, Dindyal said that “GPL has never had a problem paying and work-ers will be paid”.

Joseph accused the CEO of making decisions based on his own personal views, saying “GPL is not Dindyal…. He is an employ-ee of GPL”. The NAACIE general secretary believes that the CEO is not aware of this and said he must understand this important fact.

He also referred to com-ments made by Dindyal in the past that he will make workers redundant. Joseph in disputing this said that workers cannot be made re-dundant, but only jobs can. He noted if that were to happen, then GPL would have had to send home staff and pay them off for their services.

Proper investigationHe emphaised that “the

time is long gone for prop-er investigation into GPL and its CEO and Dindyal

should not be allowed to do the things he does”. While NAACIE did not receive re-ports on this issue, Joseph has decided that if work-ers are not paid as prom-ised, then they will take ac-tion. He said the union has always been kept in the dark and if this continues, it will only encourage bad management and strikes, among other things, that will hinder progress and de-velopment for both staff and the power company.

Additionally, Joseph said that the board of di-rectors and the govern-ment should be blamed for Dindyal’s action, because they are the ones responsi-ble for putting him there. According to him, the CEO has also requested an in-crease in his salary, even as he works for a substan-tial amount and is aware of the financial issues the company is currently ex-periencing. Joseph noted that the matter should be taken seriously and work-ers who were promised their retroactive payment should not be fooled into thinking they will receive it soon, rather they should be given a definitive time when they could access their monies.

Some time needed to process the payments

One senior employee of GPL’s finance department who wishes to remain anon-ymous said that the CEO should not go about mak-ing such promises, when he knows that it would be impossible to have employ-ees paid the monies owed to them based on the arbitra-tion ruling. The employee noted that quite a lot of em-ployees are to benefit from the retroactive payment, so it will take some time to process the payments. The staffer also believes that it will be impossible for work-ers to be paid next week, unless the finance depart-ment put in extra time.

An arbitration panel re-cently awarded a maximum of six per cent in salary in-creases for workers at GPL, ending a protracted bitter dispute between the pow-er company and the union. The arbitration tribunal said the power company’s grade one workers will re-ceive an increase of six per cent, while the other catego-ries will receive an increase of 5.5 per cent retroactive to January 2012.

GPL retro payout put off to next week − NAACIE frets over delay, wants CEO sacked

NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph

GPL CEO Bharat Dindyal

Yarrowkabra was designated for sand mining – Lands and Surveys commissioner

Drivers complain about short measurement of gas

15News

guyanatimesgy.com saturday, may 25, 2013

Th r e e - m o n t h - o l d Elayna Nigrelli has re-defined what it means

to be a miracle baby. She was born while her mother was technically dead.

In February, Erica Nigrelli was teaching at a high school in Missouri City, Texas, when she walked into a co-worker’s classroom.

Nigrelli said she felt faint, placed her hands on a table to steady herself and then passed out.

Three teachers immedi-ately grabbed a defibrillator and also began performing CPR. Children in the class-

room ran out, yelling for help. Nigrelli’s husband, Nathan, also a teacher, was just two doors down. He rushed into the room. “Erica was lying on the floor, she was foaming and making gurgling sounds and just staring up,” he told CNN affiliate KPRC.

He called 911.“My wife is pregnant,” he

said, his breath heavy with panic. “She’s having a sei-zure! The baby’s due in three weeks!” “Oh my God!” the 911 operator exclaimed.

By the time paramedics rushed the 32-year-old to the hospital, doctors could not

find a pulse. Her heart had stopped. Doctors delivered the baby by emergency ce-sarean section. Technically, it was a post-mortem deliv-ery because Erica’s heart was not beating. But then some-thing remarkable happened. The doctors turned to Erica, and soon her heart started beating again. Over the next five days, she remained in a medically induced coma, she told CNN, and doctors diag-nosed her with a heart defect she did not know she had − hypertrophic cardiomyopa-thy. (Excerpt from CNN)

Mom dies, gives birth, then recovers Taliban militants launched a large-scale attack involving the

United Nations in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, sparking a five-hour battle with security forces.

A plume of smoke hung

over Kabul after the at-tack was launched, with the sound of .50 caliber heavy machine guns, rocket-pro-pelled grenades and sniper fire clearly audible through-out the city centre as night fell.

An Afghan police offi-

cer was killed and 10 other people were wounded dur-ing the attack, which be-gan at 14:00h (1130 GMT) with a suicide car bomb out-side a compound used by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Afghan police said.

While the IOM is not part of the United Nations, it is affiliated with it in Afghanistan.

The attack came eight days after six American sol-diers and civilians and nine Afghans were killed in a sui-cide car bombing in Kabul.

The Taliban, fighting to expel Western forces and establish Islamist rule in Afghanistan, claimed re-sponsibility for Friday’s at-tack, saying a “rest house” used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been attacked. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Taliban attack international compound in Afghan capital

A wounded Afghan policeman (C) is helped away from the site of an explosion in Kabul, May 24

Opposition Leader and Diego Martin West Member of Parliament

(MP) Dr Keith Rowley faces possible expulsion from the House of Representatives over allegations that he this week misled the parliament, Government Chief Whip Dr Roodal Moonilal said on Wednesday.

Rowley was referred to the parliament’s disciplin-ary committee, called the Privileges Committee, on Wednesday night by Speaker Wade Mark who found that a first instance case of con-tempt of the House had been made out against him and

he referred the matter to the committee for consideration and report.

That ruling came af-ter Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar raised a matter of contempt against Rowley.

She said the documents circulated by Rowley on Monday in Parliament – pur-porting to be emails suggest-ing offences including a con-spiracy to murder – were obviously fake.

“An examination of the documents reveal that they contain numerous obvious er-rors, inconsistencies and ma-jor discrepancies which sug-

gest that it is a wholly sham document, created for the sole purpose of causing mischief and to maliciously lay false accusations against members of the government,” Persad-Bissessar charged.

She said Rowley had, “de-liberately and willfully mis-led this House; and recklessly abused the privilege of free-dom of speech in this House thereby bringing this House into public ridicule and odi-um.”

The issue will now fall be-fore the Privileges Committee where Rowley faces a range of possible sanctions, including suspension and expulsion. (Excerpt from Trinidad and Tobago Today)

TT: Dr Rowley faces possibleexpulsion from House ofRepresentatives

Sixteen children of the Sophia Care Centre were struck with

bouts of vomiting and diar-rhoea after eating pickled gooseberry.

On Friday morning, sev-eral of the students were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital to undergo treatment at the accident and emergency unit.

According to officials at the hospital, the 16 chil-dren were being treated and three of them are likely to

be admitted for overnight observation, so as to ensure that their state of health was back to normal.

One source at the Sophia Care Centre related that on Thursday, May 23, one of the students brought in some gooseberries with salt and pepper and shared it with several of the other students. The same evening at dinner they were treated to bake and salt fish, along with their usual tea, in an attempt to help assist with

the stomach aches that some of the children report-ed that they were experi-encing. However, Friday morning some of the stu-dents began vomiting and several others reported that they too felt similar stom-ach pains.

They were taken to the Sophia Health Centre where the nurses treated and observed them, and the students were subsequent-ly sent to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

16 hit with vomiting, diarrhoea after eating pickled gooseberry

A 60-year-old for-mer member of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen

and murder accused, who re-ceived two presidential par-dons, was killed in a car accident on Wednesday af-ternoon. According to po-lice reports, shortly after midday, Kirkland Paul, of Malabar, Arima, was cross-ing the Priority Bus Route

(PBR), near Caura Junction, when he was struck by a car travelling east. Police said Paul was seriously injured in the crash and later was pro-nounced dead on the scene by a district medical officer (DMO). Investigators said the accident happened me-tres away from a zebra cross-ing at the junction.

The driver of the car was

questioned by police but was not detained. Assistant Superintendant of Police Hosein of the Northern Division is probing Paul’s death. In 1975, Paul and Andy Thomas (Abdullah Omowale) were convicted of the murder of PC Austin Sankar, who was shot dead at Crystal Stream, Diego Martin. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

TT man with two pardons killed in car accident

saturday, may 25, 201316 guyanatimesgy.com

Last: 15307.17 Changes: -80.41 % Change: -0.52

Open: 15388.04 High: 15542.40 Low: 15265.96% YTD: +16.81 52Wk Hi: 14887.51 52 Wk Lo: 12035.09

Market statisticsCambio Rates

Bank of Guyana

Cur Buying SellingGBP $310.58 $344.58CAN $161.50 $181.42 USD $198.42 $205.58

Gold Prices – Guyana Gold BoardFixed as at January 7, 2013 Calculated at 94% purity

U.S. $1645.25

Cambio $202.17

Gross $312,663

Net $290,776

Selling $322,632

Live Spot Gold USD Per Once

Bid/Ask $1369.70 $1370.70

Low/High $1354.00 $1416.00

Change -6.30 -0.46

Indicators US$ per barrel Change %

Crude Oil $102.60 +0.12

Price USD per Ounce Change %

Silver $22.27 -0.16

Platinum $1465.00 +4.00

Indicators as on May 23, 2013

London Gold FixMay 23 AM PMUSD 1385.25 1408.50GBP 917.75 930.44EUR 1071.43 1084.88May 17 AM PMUSD 1376.75 1368.75GBP 903.62 901.50EUR 1069.15 1068.00

Europe

Asia

Middle East

Yahoo joins growing list of bidders for Hulu

AfricaCaribbeanDeveloping and managing the mineral wealth of Zimbabwe for tomorrow

North America

JNBS touts ‘financial bridge’ in London

Germany reports sluggish first-quarter growth of 0.1 per cent

As the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) kicked off cel-

ebrations in the UK to mark 25 years of operations there, General Manager Earl Jarrett has affirmed that the organi-sation has remained true to its original mission of build-ing a financial bridge between Jamaicans in England and Jamaica, and creating chan-nels to address the need, both locally and overseas, for sav-ings and investments.

This strategy, he said,

has driven the growth of the organisation to its present position as one of the larg-est Jamaican entities oper-ating in Europe. The JNBS Representative Offices and JN Money Transfer (UK) serve over 30,000 people, pro-cesses over two million trans-actions per year and employs approximately 100 workers in Britain.

Jarrett was speaking at the church service held at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, which

launched JNBS UK’s series of 25th anniversary celebratory activities. He noted that the 25 years of doing business in the UK had not been without challenges.

“In the 1990s, JNBS was in the front row of the worst eco-nomic crisis in the Jamaican financial sector,” he reflect-ed, adding that the success of the company was due in large measure to the indomitable spirit and continued commit-ment of Jamaicans in the UK diaspora. (Jamaica Observer)

Yahoo Inc has submit-ted a formal proposal to buy Hulu, joining

a growing list of bidders for the video service owned by News Corp and Walt Disney Co, two sources with knowl-edge of the bid told Reuters on Friday.

Yahoo just this week an-nounced a US$1.1 billion ac-quisition of blogging ser-vice Tumblr. It now joins rival bidders for Hulu, includ-

ing Time Warner Cable Inc, DirecTV, former News Corp president Peter Chernin and Guggenheim Digital Media, sources have said.

It is unclear how much the Internet company bid. Sources have said Chernin is bidding US$500 million, ex-cluding an additional sum to cover Hulu’s debt and pro-gramming commitments. But a source close to the bidding told Reuters his offer was too

low, that Hulu could be worth as much as US$1 billion to US$2 billion.

Time Warner Cable’s bid was fashioned as an equity investment, another person said, as the cable operator hopes to set up a joint venture with other cable companies to operate Hulu.

Yahoo did not respond to requests for comment. Its shares closed up 1.2 per cent at US$26.33. (Reuters)

Rosy China growth forecasts fade on further signs of slowdown

Germany’s economy barely grew in the first quarter of 2013 as ex-

ports and investment shrank, figures show. But higher do-mestic consumption – thanks to rising wages – helped offset the declines in foreign trade and capital investment, rais-ing hopes it will help drive a sustained recovery.

Gross domestic product rose 0.1 per cent from the pre-vious quarter, but contracted 1.4 per cent compared with

a year earlier. The figure showed the economy narrow-ly avoided falling into a reces-sion.

In the previous quarter, Germany’s annual econom-ic output shrank by 0.7 per cent. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. In the latest GDP data, which confirmed a preliminary esti-mate, only household spend-ing was positive, growing 0.8 per cent. Imports fell by 2.1

per cent and exports dropped 1.8 per cent, “Germany’s con-sumers ride to the rescue,” said Christian Schulz, sen-ior economist at Berenberg Bank.

“In 2013, Germany will have to rely largely on domes-tic demand for growth. With consumption showing signs of strength and some bounce-back in investment after the long winter, the outlook for domestic demand is brighten-ing,” he said. (BBC News)

As evidence mounts that China’s economy is los-ing momentum, econ-

omists are fast abandoning their rosy recovery forecasts and bracing for what could be the country’s slowest growth rate in 23 years.

In the space of five months, analysts have swung from confidently predicting a mod-est pick-up in the world’s sec-ond-biggest economy to pon-dering the chance that China will miss its own 7.5 per cent

growth target this year.Concerns that Beijing’s

growth target may be un-der threat came to the fore on Thursday, when a prelim-inary survey of Chinese fac-tories showed manufacturing activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May after both new domestic and export orders fell.

“Yes, the 7.5 per cent tar-get is under threat,” said Ken Peng, an economist at BNP Paribas in Beijing. “China

does not have a recession, but there will not be a recovery.” Unlike previous years when any wobble in the Chinese growth engine was countered with heavy government in-tervention to stabilise activ-ity, economists are count-ing on things being different this time. There will be no big-bang stimulus like the 4 trillion yuan (US$652 bil-lion) package unveiled after the 2008/09 financial crisis to spur growth, analysts say. (Reuters)

Business concept – amortisation

Investors' guideLow-cost business start-ups

Accounting: Preferred term for the apportionment (charging or writing off) of the cost of an intangible asset as an operational cost over the asset’s estimated useful life. It is identical to depreciation, the preferred term for tangible assets. The purpose of both terms is to (a) reflect reduction in the book value of the asset due to usage and/or obsolescence, (b) spread a large expenditure proportionately over a fixed period.

(Part three)

The mining sector in Africa constitutes one of the largest industries

in the world. Africa is the sec-ond biggest continent, with 30 million km² of land, which implies large quantities of re-sources. For many African countries, mineral explora-tion and production constitute significant parts of their econ-omies and remain keys to eco-nomic growth.

The continent is richly en-dowed with mineral reserves

and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite, cobalt, industrial di-amond, phosphate rock, plat-inum-group metals (PGM), vermiculite, and zirconium. Gold mining is Africa’s main mining resource.

However, in spite of this rich mineralisation African countries are still wallowing in poverty. The primary prob-lem has been the racist and colonial natural resource laws in Africa which empower the

investor at the expense of the citizenry who are the bona fide owners of the resource.

Based on this flawed framework most of the min-ing deals and activities on the continent have been opaque and detrimental to Africans. Corruption by both public sec-tor and private sector players has compounded the malaise. Secondly, mining in Africa has been largely extractive without beneficiation or value addition. (allAfrica)

Landscaping and lawn care

Taking care of your yard is a chore that takes a lot of time and is dependent on the weather. It might rain on the days you have time to do work in the yard, and be sunny when you’re too busy to set foot outside. Many families use basic lawn care services. All you need to get started are a mower and a vehicle to transport it. You don’t have to start out with the massive truck and

the riding lawnmower; you could easily mow another yard by folding up your push mower and putting it in the trunk of your car.

Freelancing your best skill

The best – and easiest – way to start a company with low investment costs is to take a skill you are great at and that is valuable in the marketplace, and to sell it to those in need of the skill. You might freelance your

ability to write articles, to build websites, or to teach music lessons. Having spe-cific skills limits your com-petition and increases your chances of charging a liva-ble rate. How many expert French horn players live in your city? A lot fewer than the number of people that can watch children or mow yards. The more specific and unique your skills, the eas-ier time you will find dif-ferentiating yourself in the marketplace. (Business Dictionary)

GDP growth in Qatar is expected to reach seven per cent this

year, Fitch Ratings has said in a new report. The rating agency said public sector would drive credit growth related to the US$95 billion of planned infrastructure spending between 2011 and 2016.

Fitch added that it ex-pects Qatari banks to re-main well capitalised. Most benefit from high Tier 1 ra-tios assisted by capital injec-tions by the Qatari authori-ties.

“Large capital buffers

provide capacity for loan growth and for absorbing unexpected losses,” it said in the report.

Fitch also said it expects healthy profitability and margins to continue in 2013. However, margins are in-creasingly being pressured

due to the low interest rate environment and competi-tion, it added.

“Spreads for govern-ment-related lending may provide narrower margins than private sector lending, and banks are looking to higher-yielding business op-portunities such as project-related contracting activi-ties,” Fitch said.

It added that the prima-ry concern for asset quality is rapid credit growth, al-though strong government-related borrowing and fi-nances offset some concerns. (Arabianbusiness)

Qatar GDP growth set to reach seven per cent in 2013 − Fitch

17saturday, may 25, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

NEWS

Scores of business ex-ecutives, investors, and other trade offi-

cials converged in Miami, Florida to be part of the Caribbean Trade Centre’s “Invest Guyana” Forum held on Thursday, with acting Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali telling them that Guyana is ripe with count-less investment and unex-plored market opportuni-ties.

Ali, who was the fea-ture speaker at the event, explained that Guyana re-mains one of the strongest economies in the Caribbean and Latin America, boast-ing on average a 4.5 per cent annual growth rate between 2007 and 2012, along with stable fiscal and macroeconomic policies. The minister stated that the Guyanese economy has outshone others in sever-al areas, specifically in the creation of a conductive la-bour, trade, business as well as corporate environ-ment. He emphasised that notwithstanding the rapid expansion of the economy, government has been able to maintain single-digit in-flation rates as well as sta-ble exchange rates through carefully crafted and im-plemented macro-economic policies.

Fiscal incentivesAli argued that the

country has been deemed one of the most attractive investment locations be-cause of a myriad of mea-sures inclusive of its fiscal incentives, access to re-gional and international markets, adequate and ex-panding infrastructure, as well as the availability of a wide range of natural re-sources.

“Given the buoyancy of the domestic economy and conducive macroeconomic environment, it is not sur-prising that the country has attracted unprecedent-ed foreign direct invest-ment totalling US$1326.4 million between 2006 and 2012,” said Ali. “Domestic investment also expand-ed exponentially over the same period, as reflected by the growth in credit to the private sector which increased from G$30.6 bil-lion in 2006 to $82.6 billion during 2012.”

He said the fiscal in-centives available in the country are aimed at at-tracting investment in the manufacturing, ag-riculture, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), tourism, and oil and gas sectors, while highlighting that in-vestors can see themselves benefiting from zero cus-

toms duty and consump-tion tax on most plant ma-chinery and equipment, zero customs duty and con-sumption tax on raw and packaging materials used in the production of goods by manufacturers and small businesses, and un-limited carryover of losses from previous years.

Minister Ali told the Florida forum that invest-ments can also have access to specific incentives and benefits in various sectors depending on the venture they wish to undertake, listing the fisheries, forest-ry, tourism, mining, hous-ing, ICT, and agri business as examples. He said the consumption tax waivers and tax holidays are also part of the country’s in-vestment regime.

Market accessIn terms of accessing

markets and the availabil-ity of cheap inputs, Ali said Guyana has easy access to markets in Latin American and Caribbean – 33 coun-tries with a collective pop-ulation of 580 million in-dividuals. He said the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimat-ed at US$ 4.9 trillion (at current prices), while its annual merchandise trade bill is approximately US$ 1.6 trillion – six per cent of the world’s total merchan-dise trade.

By participating in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME); bi-lateral and regional trade agreements with countries such as Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and other countries, the country receives prefer-ential treatment from the U.S., Canada and European Union (EU), Ali noted. Approximately 75 per cent of Guyana’s ex-ports receive duty-free treatment, with a signifi-cant proportion of the re-mainder enjoying reduced

duties, explained the min-ister.

Market opportunitiesThe minister told the

forum that even as some countries in the world con-tinue to fight for competi-tive market access, Guyana still has a wealth of unex-plored opportunities which investors should seek to maximise. He assured that billions of dollars could be garnered by businessmen with the right concepts and attitudes towards maxi-mising profits.

Some US$2.5 billion in unexplored export poten-tial exists for Caricom’s private sector in Cuba. Over US$7.2 billion of un-tapped trade still exists for Caricom exporters in the Dominican Republic –in areas such as the gold, iron, steel, plastics, salt and perfume industries.

Almost US$8 billion in untapped export business exists in Costa Rica for Caricom exporters. More than US$13 billion in un-tapped export business ex-ists in Canada in sectors such as ships and boats, beverages, sugar, fertilis-ers and rice, while the un-tapped export potential in the U.S. market was some US$ 5.6 billion.

Doing business

Minister Ali said the cost of doing business in Guyana is also relatively low, while citing a recent report from the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation, which dubbed the prices for domestic electricity in Guyana was the fourth lowest in the Caribbean.

He also shared details about Guyana’s move to construct the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, which would be the flagship of its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), while ex-plaining that with its com-missioning and function-

ality, the cost of business would be reduced dramat-ically. He also reported that Guyana has one of the lowest wage rates in the Caribbean and Latin America, with a workforce that is highly literate and trainable.

Infrastructure expansion“Over the past two de-

cades the government in-vested significant sums to upgrade the country’s in-frastructure, given its rec-ognition that key infra-structure, such as roads and facilities, are neces-sary for supporting the business sector. There are also numerous plans to modernise and expand the country’s infrastructure in order to enhance the abil-ity of businesses to ac-cess markets in South and North America,” he said.

He noted that an im-portant component of this plan is the paving of the Linden-Lethem road, which will facilitate inte-gration and sustainable development of the hinter-land, and will stimulate trade with Brazil by pro-viding a suitable road link between Boa Vista and Guyana’s Atlantic Coast.

Minister Ali stated that the improvement of the existing port facilities in Georgetown and the de-velopment of a deepwater port would cater for future international shipping re-quirements and to pro-vide connections between the Brazilian state of Roraima and internation-al markets. He also spoke of the planned expan-sion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, which would enhance the export of goods.

“The government is also currently involved in de-veloping two new indus-

trial estates to cater for manufacturing activities, such as food-processing, furniture manufacturing, metal fabrication, phar-maceuticals, chemicals, wood-processing, cement and block-making, elec-tronics, electronic printing. Businesses will be able to access these facilities at G$1 per square foot or ap-proximately US$0.004 per square foot,” he said.

Guyana Times under-stands that they will also benefit from investment concessions for materials, vehicles, plant and ma-chinery. Further, one of these estates will be locat-ed in Lethem and would be an attractive hub for busi-nesses which are interest-ed in gaining access to the Brazilian market.

Action planMinister Ali said that

notwithstanding the re-markable progress made by the country in terms of encouraging investments over the past two decades, the government, in its ef-fort to stimulate growth in all the major sectors, has developed a comprehensive action plan aimed at im-proving the business and institutional environment.

“This plan consists of more than 60 competitive-ness and efficiency-en-hancing reforms and will be implemented in a co-ordinated manner across 10 targeted policy areas,” he said. These include re-forms on starting a busi-ness, dealing with con-struction permits/licences, getting electricity, regis-tering property, getting credit and protecting in-vestors. The minister said some of these measures merely requires stream-lining or modernising ex-isting procedures, while

others involve the adop-tion of new pieces of leg-islation that are currently being drafted to cope with the new technology-driven global economy.

The action plan, which will be implemented over two to three years, is aimed at ensuring that Guyana be regarded as a top re-former by the World Bank. Once selected as a top re-former, this would consoli-date the existing attention Guyana is receiving from foreign investors, as well as signal to potential in-vestors Guyana’s robust-ness as an emerging des-tination for business and investment.

Currently, in terms of the competitive advantage of local companies com-pared with the rest of the world, Guyana is ranked 44, compared with a rank-ing of 51 for Jamaica, 112 for Suriname, and 128 for Trinidad and Tobago based on the Global Competitiveness Report 2013.

Government has also re-cently launched the Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) Development and Building Alternative Livelihood for Vulnerable Groups proj-ect to assist with collat-eral guarantees, interest subsidies, grants, and tech-nical and management skills training. While this scheme is intended to assist small enterprises generally, it also provides for business-es in the priority sectors.

The forum, which fo-cused on trade opportuni-ties, was held in partner-ship with the Consulate of Guyana in Miami. More than 150 business execu-tives attended the event. Corporate sponsors includ-ed Seafreight Agencies, Laparkan Shipping and Caribbean Airlines.

Guyana ripe with investment opportunities – Ali tells Florida forum By Michael younge

Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali listens to a delegate at the forum

Several secondary schools in Linden are set to benefit from a

number of motivating edu-cational programmes under the Mackenzie National Service, coordinated by Calvin Mackenzie.

The Christianburg Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) is already on-board with the new initia-tive, which according to Mackenzie, will equip the youths with basic guidanc-es which will help them to function efficiently and ef-fectively in today’s society.

He said the project is currently in its initial stage and the entire communi-ty is expected to benefit over time since the aim is to take the initiative to all

secondary schools through-out Linden. He said the in-formation that students re-ceive will teach them to be focused on their goals, how to be disciplined, dedicated, motivated and committed, which will in turn assist them in playing an integral role in the community.

“The project that I am embarking on deals with restoring morals back to society, and as such, this is the point of importance that I’m working with,” he noted. CWSS headteach-er Cleveland Thomas said the initiative is a good one since it teaches life skills that students will benefit from.

“This programme is a very good one as students

will be exposed to some amount of information that would help them in their walk through the school. I fully endorse the pro-gramme and I think that all schools should be a part of this particular venture because it would help in the long run,” he said.

Mackenzie said the pro-gramme which commenced on May 13 will see him working along with stu-dents until all necessary goals are accomplished. The students are also pro-vided with meals, and as such, Mackenzie not-ed that he is appealing to corporate entities within the community to assist in making the initiative a continuous one.

Community programme launched to help Linden youths

thursDAY, mArch 11, 2010 | guYAnAtimesgY.com

18sAturDAY, mAY 25, 2013 guyanatimesgy.com

Peanuts

Calvin and Hobbes

AQUARIUS

CANCER CAPRICORN(June 21-July 22)

(Jan. 20- Feb. 19)

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

LEO(July 23-Aug. 22)

(Feb. 20-March

20)

PISCES VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

ARIES

(March 21-April 19)

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20)

SCORPIO(Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

GEMINI(May 21-June 20)

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

By Bernice Bede Osol

arCHie

SUDOKU

Friday's solution

dilbert

You should quickly take advantage of a pleas-ant social surprise. This particular opportunity presents itself far too in-frequently to be ignored.

Conditions in gener-al look to be quite hope-ful. Maintain an optimis-tic outlook at all times, even when it appears you are stuck in a rut. Things could change quickly.

Some of your best ideas are likely to come when you are off by yourself, free from all distractions. If you are in need of some fresh thoughts, try solitude.

Discard your present procedures if they haven’t been working and imple-ment a fresh approach. Be resourceful, and obstacles will melt away.

A spur-of-the-moment invitation could lead to a rather interesting en-counter. At least consider the offer, because chanc-es are it’ll never happen again.

Don’t hesitate to use your ingenuity and re-sourcefulness to advance your financial and career situations. Things are breaking in your favour.

Some unexpected changes could enable you to finalise a situation that has been difficult to re-solve. If an opening should occur, move swiftly.

You have your own unique way of handling certain things. Use it to-day, regardless of how strange or unusual it may seem to others.

You’ll quickly realise that your mind is working better than your muscles at present. Stick to mat-ters that require brain, not brawn.

There is a good chance you could become involved in an unorthodox commer-cial matter. Its unusual nature will yield a hefty profit.

Your financial trends are on the upswing. Chances are you find some good ways to both make and save money.

Unusual benefits are likely to be derived from a rare partnership arrange-ment. Each of you is like-ly to have what the other wants.

TOUR

19YELLOW PAGESsaturday, may 25, 2013

WANTED

cAR RENTAl

Journey Inn Apartments & car rental. Rooms & car to rent from $3000 Premio, Vitz. Phone: 689-6668, 639-4452.

May 25 TH -27 tours Suriname, Boa Vista-Brazil ,Trinidad & Tobago Kaietuer Falls phone:264-2851, email: fallsviewtours@yahoo.com, www.fallsviewtoursgy.com

spiRiTUAliTy

Hanuman astrology to get solution, education, love ,marriage, health, business, visa, children, job, reuni-fy of family, we also removal of evil forces ,destroyed black magic , witch craft, voodoo , obeyah and gives life long protection. Phone: 677-1646, 663-9239, at Parika.

Suriname astrology palmist and djuka healer, the most powerful spiritualist in the world, are you suffering from the following prob-lems-(any religions) love, marriage, family, health, business, husband and wife relationship, property, court, children, promotion, visa, pregnancy, education, depression, job, sexual, jealousy, enemy, mon-ey, drinking, also you can have all evil forces destroyed such as black magic, witchcraft, voodoo, obeyah, etc, and give powerful protection. Private and confidential. Phone: 601-5947.

Dutch Spiritual work. Unite lovers, get rid of evil, enhance prosperity, good luck baths and charm bowu guards etc. Phone: 220-0708, 612-6417, 687-5653

Divinations and cleansing of spiri-tual problems of all kinds. Powerful Ifá and Khemetian spiritual guards, pendants, crystals, and rune stones to help you overcome problems with love, relationships, legal, sex-ual, pregnancy, business, sickness, jobs, enemies, work, money and many more. Call 10:00-16:00h on: +592-690-1824. Email: anew-life@live.com

VEHiclEs FOR sAlE

One Toyota mini bus for sale. Front slightly damaged. Working condition. $700,000 neg. Tel: 220-0708, 687-5653

JUST ARRIVED: TOP QUALITY RECONDITIONED VEHICLES; TOYOTA PREMIO; TOYOTA SPACIO; TOYOTA RUNX; TOYOTA VITZ (NEW SHAPE); TOYOTA NOAH; SUZUKI SWIFT; MERCEDES BENZ C200 COMPRESSOR; BMW 318I; CALDINA WAGON; COROLLA AE100 WAGON; LAND CRUISER (FULLY LOADED); MAZDA PROCEED; 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUP; TOYOTA HILUX 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUP 3RZ & 5L; MITSUBISHI CANTER TRUCKS; 3; 3.5; TONS OPEN TRAY; 3 TONS WITH TAILGATE HOIST; 2 TONS 4WD; 3 TONS DUMP TRUCK. PREORDER YOUR UNITS EARLY AND GET THE BEST PRICES. FULL AFTER SALES SERVICE AND FINANCING AVAILABLE. DEO MARAJ AUTO SALES, 2 CHIMNEY ROAD, CHATEAU MARGOT, ECD. 624-0762 , 220-5177. A NAME AND A SERVICE YOU CAN TRUST.

Toyota 212 in excellent condition $1.2m neg. Phone: 661-3525.

sERVicEs

Setting up of point sales services, for only $12,000. Phone: 669-9342

Cheap earth , delivery to spot ECD & EBD. Phone: 627-9977, 698-0182.

KHEMRAJ & SON (LANDSCAPING & PLANT NURSERY) Lot 77 Independence St, La Grange, WBD. 18 months bearing period, mould for sale, plants for sale, grafted or-ange & lime trees, treating & trim-ming of plants, drainage system for land, maintenance of land, weeding & cutting trees, also clearing of land. TEL: 627-5969 & 664-1021

Setting up of point of sale services, for only $12,000 phone:669-9342

Healthworld Holistic Centre: Psychotherapy available for all types of behavioral, anger and rela-tionship issues. Depression, suicid-al, and other emotional problems, phobias, paranoia, low self-esteem, substance abuse, loss of sexual ap-petite and arousal, insomnia, ad-dictions, and learning disorders. Call 9AM – 4PM. Tel #: +592-621-0552.By appointments only. Email:healthworldhc@gmail.com.

news

Are you selling your land in Parfaite Harmonie? Phone: 675-7292

ROCKSTAR TOP SALES PRODUCERS-we want you, earning potential $40,000 to $100,000 monthly ad-ditional income, how about selling products and services that every business needs, while growing your career, phone: 225-7560, email: cmentore@mstibz.com Office: 23 North Road, Bourda, Georgetown. Join a winning team.

One female cook for interior. Phone: 612-2125

EDUcATiON

AccOMMODATiON

Furnished rooms and apart-ments; 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apart-ments- long & short term rental. Affordable rates Call: 227-2199, 227-2186, 227-2189

Dentures provided in 72 hours from as low as $4500. Contact Dr B Stuart, 209B Charlotte Street, Lacytown. Tel: 225-5034

pROpERTy FOR sAlE

Along the public road , with one complete metal workshop on 5.5 acres land suitable for any type of business, for more information. Phone: 335-3347.

DENTisTRy

FlOWERs

Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (op-posite St George’s Cathedral). Tel: 227-3553/225-3315

FOR SALE

Clean garden earth 7 builders waste also bobcat rental, excavating, clearing and leveling phone: 616-0617 or 663-3285.

Cummins currency counters , used by banks wordwide and in Guyana specifically programmed to detect counterfeit Guyana currency, world imports, sales & service phone: 227-4983.

Da Silva’s Optical. For Your Eyes Only, Look Better See Better. Phillip A Da Silva OD, Shannon L Da Silva OD, Natalie Da Silva OD. 248 South Road, Bourda. Phone: 227-3529, Linden: 444-6376, Corriverton: 339-3536, Meten-Meer-Zorg: 275-0322, Grand Cayman Islands: (345) 943-1515 for the perfect trendy touch.

OpTiciAN

Professional Key Shop, 125 Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Phone: 225-3923, mobile: 621-3249. We cut any type of key, ser-vice and repair all types of locks. Get your extra key today.

KEy cUTTiNg

iMMigRATiON

Immigration & Visa Services We handle all

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Electronic course- practical, begin-ning June 3, limited space avail-able, Abdu l Electronics. Phone: 226-6551.

WHERE CAN YOU GET A BOOK FOR $40? THE MASSIVE BOOKSALE, NOW ON AT BOOKLAND, ABOVE MATTS RECORD BAR (226-2874). BOOKLAND, ON A SAL MISSION “ TO GET BOOKS IN EVERY HOUSHOLD”.

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, Silver, Fully Equipped. Excellent Condition. Tel: 624-5838 Regan Anthony

Rodrigues, 34, also known as

“Grey Boy” of River View Ruimveldt, Georgetown, who was arrested for the murder of Police Corporal Romain Cleto, was on Friday released from police custody.

Rodrigues was arrested on Monday last and the file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions Bibi Shalimar Ali-Hack, who on Friday afternoon in-structed that the man be released based on lack of evidence.

Guyana Times under-stands that there were some loose ends and there was no substantial evi-dence to warrant a charge for the murder of the police corporal.

Rodrigues was reported-ly identified during a recent identification parade held at the police headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown by an eyewitness.

The recommendation by the DPP now leaves doubts in the minds of the pub-lic that the police are sure who really killed the po-lice rank. On Monday last, Shaka Chase, 26, of East Ruimveldt was arraigned with the murder of the dead police corporal.

From the inception, he had maintained his inno-cence and claimed that he was tortured, thus him signing a confession state-ment. At the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday, his lawyers Nigel Hughes and James Bond made a submission before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who ordered that the file be sent to the DPP for legal advice.

The file returned on Thursday with the recom-mendation for the mur-dered accused to be released with immediate effect and more so, instructed that all

charges be dropped against the suspect. Chase was re-leased on Thursday.

Now that both prime suspects were released, it is not sure who will be charged with the mur-der of the policeman. Nevertheless, investigators are continuing their probe into the murder.

Cleto was shot and killed on Avenue of the Republic and Regent Road, Georgetown, after a police mobile patrol came under fire by occupants of a white car. Two other police ranks were injured and hospital-ised, but were subsequent-ly discharged.

The CCTV footage from the Bank of Baroda proved futile since the camer-as were pointing towards Regent Street. Several patrons who were at the Upscale Restaurant were arrested, but were later re-leased.

This publication under-stands that minutes after the police rank was shot and killed, his locker in the Brickdam Police Station was ransacked and a num-ber of the man’s personal belongings were missing. This issue has not been ad-dressed by the police force since it was dubbed myste-rious.

DPP orders second suspect in Cleto’s murder released

Health Ministry Per-manent Secretary Leslie Cadogan

has disclosed that the country is facing challeng-es and gaps with respect to meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Five − maternal health and mortality.

He was the time speak-ing at a maternal and child health stakehold-ers’ meeting, hosted by the Health Ministry on Friday, at Grand Costal Inn, Georgetown, under the theme “A promise renewed for safe motherhood”.

Cadogan said despite this, Guyana has made sig-nificant strides in address-ing child morality and health care. He stated that rapid decline in child and infant mortality over the years have been achieved through the government’s implementation of sever-al key initiatives, making reference to the integrated management strategy, im-munisation programme, new vaccines being intro-duced against pneumococ-cal disease and rotavirus diarrhoea.

He noted that it is also due to the boost in health-care workers, add-ing that, “we have intro-

duced the residency pro-gramme in paediatrics at the Georgetown Public Hospital for our young doc-tors in Guyana, trained health-care workers in ne-onatal resuscitation and have opened up intensive care units in two of our main hospitals.”

Moving his attention to issues of maternal mortal-ity and health-care, he said Guyana has seen a decline in deaths, but not at the rate it would have expect-ed to reach its targets for 2015. He highlighted that some of the challenges of maternal health-care are specialised obstetric care in terms of human resourc-es, remoteness of such communities to access care on a timely basis and en-

hancement of the commu-nity to support and advo-cate for early enrolment in antenatal care.

He said the minis-try has also undertaken a number of initiatives to ad-dress this issue. “We are continuing to train health workers in emergency ob-stetric care programmes with the collaboration of our UN agencies… we have introduced two ma-ternity waiting homes so mothers who live in remote areas can stay close to the hospital.”

Meanwhile, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Guyana and Suriname representative Dr Suleiman Braimoh said despite the challenges be-ing faced with the support of its partners, Guyana will meet the goal. The objective of the workshop was to provide the basis for partnerships and consulta-tion with organisations in order for the country to re-duce maternal and infant mortality with the aim of meeting goal five. It was also held to address how Guyana can improve the quality of health-care of-fered to women and chil-dren in the country.

Police Corporal Romain Cleto

Guyana ‘up against it’ to meet MDG Five – Health Ministry official

Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Leslie Cadogan

saturday, May 25, 2013 guyanatiMesgy.coM20

Half-volleys hit straight to hand. A fielder found per-

fectly with a long hop. Crazy wide balls. A dropped catch to finally lose the match. Another night in the life of IPL.

After which Mumbai Indians made it to the finals. Chennai Super Kings have already made it to the fi-nal. Chasing 166, which was thanks to Lasith Malinga’s profligate last over, Mumbai were on their way with Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare strolling through, but a spate of poor shots made for some late drama on Friday.

Mumbai were 70 for 0 after nine overs when Tare played a chip straight down long-on’s throat. It was not an attempt at hitting a six. It was not an attempt to keep the ball along the ground. Nor was it a mis-hit. He was caught comfortably at long-on. While Smith con-tinued to bat solidly, Dinesh Karthik cut a short and wide delivery straight to point. Mumbai were now 125 for 2 at the start of the 15th over, and Rohit Shamra was soon to make it 128 for 3 with a slog down the wrong line.

In the 17th over, Smith timed a half-volley a bit too well and found deep midwicket to fall for 62 off 44. In the next over, the 18th, Pollard did the same, and this walk had now be-come treacherous. Ambati Rayudu was the last of the recognised batsmen, and he responded with a six to cow corner to make it 16 off 10 balls. Two balls later, keep-ing with the spirit of the match, Rayudu mishit a full toss, Brad Hodge ran in from deep square leg, got under it, but dropped it.

In the last over, Shane Watson, who had had an ordinary time with the ball thus far, produced a mo-ment of inspiration, an ac-curate legcutter to knock back Rayudu’s off stump. With six required off four balls, and two new batsmen at the wicket, it was game on again. Rishi Dhawan, the young Himachal Pradesh allrounder, produced the other moment of inspira-tion, ramping a length ball over short fine leg.

Dhawan was one of the inspirational men for Mumbai with the ball. Brought in to replace Munaf

Patel, who was ordinary when replacing the injured Dhawal Kulkarni, bowled ahead of Malinga, and kept it quiet. Harbhajan Singh came on and broke the sizeable but slowish open-ing stand when he bowled Ajinkya Rahane behind his legs. Harbhajan found a way to stay in the match. Of the six wickets that fell, he ei-ther took or caught five.

The biggest of those wickets was Watson, who top-edged him to square leg. Royals kept losing wick-ets until Dishant Yagnik gave them a total to defend with an innovative 31 off 17. Unsettled by that, Malinga bowled two sets of big wides and conceded 18 runs in the last over. That was not to be the last bit of ordinary crick-et on the night. (Cricinfo)

Gurunath Meiyappan

Mumbai in final after tense finish

SCORE BOARDRajasthan Royals innings R Dravid* c Sharma b Harbhajan Singh 43A Rahane b Harbhajan Singh 21S Watson c Sharma b Harbhajan Singh 6S Samson c Harbhajan Singh b Malinga 0S Binny c Harbhajan Singh b Pollard 27B Hodge not out 19K Cooper c Smith b Pollard 4D Yagnik† not out 31Extras: (lb 4, w 8, nb 2) 14Total: (6 wkts, 20 overs) 165Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-60, 3-64, 4-87, 5-104, 6-108Bowling: M Johnson 3-0-23-0, R Dhawan 4-0-30-0, P Ojha 4-0-36-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-23-3, L Malinga

4-0-43-1, K Pollard 1-0-6-2

Mumbai Indians innings D Smith c Samson b Binny 62A Tare c Samson b Cooper 35K Karthik† c Rahane b Cooper 22R Sharma* b Trivedi 2K Pollard c Cooper b Faulkner 11A Rayudu b Watson 17Harbhajan Singh not out 6R Dhawan not out 4Extras: (lb 6, w 4) 10Total: (6 wkts, 19.5 overs) 169Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-125, 3-128, 4-132, 5-141, 6-160Bowling: V Malik 4-0-26-0, J Faulkner 4-0-36-1, S Watson 2.5-0-34-1, S Trivedi 4-0-23-1, K Cooper 4-0-33-2, S Binny 1-0-11-1

Gurunath Meiyappan, a top official of the Chennai Super

Kings franchise and son-in-law of the BCCI president N Srinivasan, has been for-mally arrested by Mumbai Police on charges of cheat-ing, forgery and fraud.

The development, late on Friday night, is the most serious setback to the IPL in its six-year history and has serious implications for the BCCI as well given the names involved.

As of early Saturday morning there was no news of an emergency BCCI meeting but it is expected that events will move fast through the day, to discuss the issue of leadership – though Srinivasan insist-ed he would not step down – and also Chennai Super Kings’ participation in the IPL final on Sunday.

Gurunath had been sum-moned to Mumbai for ques-tioning over betting and links to bookies and flew in on Friday evening.

“We have interrogat-ed Mr Gurunath after he arrived here at the crime branch headquarters,” Himanshu Roy, the joint commissioner of Mumbai Police, said. “We have gone through questioning with him in detail and after due deliberation, we have ar-rived at the conclusion there is evidence of involvement in offence we are investigating

and therefore he has been placed under arrest. He will be produced in court within 24 hours as per law.”

Reports suggest Gurunath’s interrogation in Mumbai will continue through Friday night, and he will also be confront-ed with Virender “Vindoo” Dara Singh, the actor ar-rested earlier this week for alleged contact with book-ies. Police investigations suggested that Vindoo and Gurunath were in frequent telephonic contact. Vindoo was also seen in the CSK box at IPL matches.

Gurunath’s lawyer PS

Raman said: “We are explor-ing all legal possibilities. We are waiting for the remand report before reading the charges against him.”

Srinivasan had not com-mented in public since the reports first emerged on Wednesday that his son-in-law was linked to the IPL scandal, but after the arrest he maintained he would not resign as BCCI president. “I have done nothing wrong,” he told NDTV. “I am not re-signing, the board is largely supportive of me.”

Gurunath’s connection to Super Kings was the subject of dispute through the day. He was the public face of the franchise, his Twitter han-dle said he was the “team principal”, he was seen as Super Kings’ representative at auctions and at IPL own-ers’ meetings. Yet on Friday evening India Cements, the owners of the franchise and of which Srinivasan is the managing director, said Gurunath was only an hon-orary member of the team management.

The implications of Gurunath’s arrest involve both Super Kings, who have qualified for the final to be played on May 26, and Srinivasan.

His arrest brings into question Super Kings’ par-ticipation in the final – un-der IPL rules, the BCCI-IPL can terminate a franchise agreement “with immediate

effect if: c) The Franchise, any Franchise Group Company and/or any owner acts in any way which has a material adverse effect upon the reputation or stand-ing of the League, BCCI-IPL, BCCI, the Franchise, the team (or any other team in the League) and/ or the game of cricket.”

More importantly, and with wider implication, Srinivasan’s position within the BCCI is likely to be un-der serious threat – not only because Meiyappan hap-pens to be his son-in-law but because Srinivasan heads India Cements, who are owners of the Super Kings. The conflict of interest that arises from Srinivasan’s dual position as BCCI pres-ident and de facto owner of an IPL franchise now has a serious immediate implica-tion: he will, as board pres-ident, have to oversee any disciplinary action against either Gurunath or the fran-chise.

An IPL insider clarified that Meiyappan’s change of designation was not likely to have any impact on the ac-tion that needs to be taken. “The moment you’re a team management member, irre-spective of the designation, the anti-corruption code ap-plies to you. And nobody can deny the fact that he is a part of the ownership group and team management.” (Cricinfo)

Gurunath Meiyappan arrested in Mumbai

Atlanta, GA – Georgia Women Cricket Association (GWCA)

on Friday announced that Stafanie Taylor, the West Indies’ hard-hitting bats-woman will be the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Women’s Cricket Ambassador at the 3rd Annual Atlanta Women’s T20 Tournament.

Taylor’s presence at the tournament is being made possible through the kind courtesy of Atlantis Cricket Club – New York.

The American Cricket Federation (ACF) is the ti-tle sponsor of the USACA approved tournament be-ing staged this Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-26) in Atlanta, GA. The four participating teams are de-fending champions Atlantis, Atlantic Region Lady Eagles, a Cayman Islands Women’s club XI, and host team Atlanta Pearls.

Ms Taylor is the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2012 ODI Women’s Cricketer of the Year. The 22-year-old made her ODI debut for the West Indies against Ireland in 2008 at age 17. In 64 ODI appear-ances, she has scored 2444 runs at an average of 43.64, including four centuries and sixteen 50s, while in 44 T20s she has amassed 1161 runs at an average of 33.17 per appearance. The all-rounder has also captured 80 ODI and 48 T20 wickets, in 64 and 44 matches respectively.

According to tournament organiser, Petal Samuels, “GWCA is delighted to have Ms Taylor at the tourna-

ment. I have no doubt that her participation will be a plus for all the competing teams and the tournament, and it will serve to help de-velop women’s cricket in the USA. I am inviting wom-en and men to come out to see Ms Taylor in action on Saturday, May 25 at Creel Park, 2775 Creel Road, College Park, Georgia.”

The WICB, as a kind gesture, has graciously agreed to Taylor’s partici-pation in the tournament and as its Women’s Cricket Ambassador. Earlier this year the Jamaica-born bats-woman unleashed a re-markable 171 off 137 balls against Sri Lanka women in Mumbai, India, as the West Indies women crushed their Sri Lankan counterparts by a whopping 209 run margin.

In an invited comment, Taylor who is currently va-cationing in the USA said that she was looking for-ward to the tournament and doing whatever is possible to help women’s cricket grow in this part of the world. (First published on Dream Cricket)

Stafanie Taylor

taylor to appear at atlanta t20

Persistent rain washed out the first day of the second Test between

England and New Zealand at Headingley.

On a wet and windy day, rain delayed the scheduled start and although there were sunny intervals be-tween the showers, they never lasted long enough for the outfield to be drained.

Play was abandoned for the day shortly before 16:00 BST. With an improved fore-cast for the weekend, the match should now start at 11:00 BST on Saturday.

It was the first time since 1980 that the entire first day of a Headingley Test had been lost to the weath-er. England lead the two-match series 1-0 after a 170-run victory in the opening Test at Lord’s.

Alastair Cook’s men are playing their final Test be-fore the Ashes series against Australia, with several play-ers looking to cement their places. The positions of opener Nick Compton and batsman Jonny Bairstow are both under scrutiny, while pace bowler Steven

Finn is under pressure from Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan. New Zealand have been forced into a reshuffle by in-juries to wicketkeeper BJ Watling and spinner Bruce Martin.

Veteran left-arm spin-ner Daniel Vettori failed a fitness Test on an Achilles injury, meaning the Black Caps will field a four-man seam attack, with Doug Bracewell replacing Martin.

Skipper Brendon McCullum will keep wick-et and bat at number sev-en, one place below batsman Martin Guptill, who comes in for Watling.

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn (or Tim Bresnan), James Anderson.

New Zealand: Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult. (BBC Sport)

Rain washes out day one at Headingley

Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp believes the

all-German Champions League final at Wembley will be a “special” occasion.

Klopp’s team face Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich today.

The match will be the first time two German clubs have contested the fi-nal of either the European Cup or Champions League.

“This is a special game. It is the perfect place against the perfect oppo-nent,” said Klopp.

“If this is my only fi-nal and I die in 60 years, it won’t have been so bad.”

Dortmund midfield-er Mario Gotze, who will miss the final with a groin injury, is to join Bayern this summer but Klopp has backed his club to deal with their best players moving on.

Japan internation-al Shinji Kagawa left Dortmund for Manchester United in June 2012 for an initial fee of around £12 metre, while Gotze will go to Bayern for 37 metre eu-ros (£31.5 metre).

Klopp, 45, said:

“Football is a religion in Dortmund. Bayern may have won a lot of fans and a lot of trophies because of the incredible number of good decisions they have made, but now there is another story. Along has come another club that is pretty good as well.

“We do have money to get good players. But there are other clubs who can spend more money. We have to take a different po-sition.”

That is because in 2005, just eight years after their only Champions League success, Dortmund almost went bankrupt, a situation Klopp knows will not be al-lowed to happen again.

“The club could have ended as a fiasco,” he said. “The stadium might have been turned into a monu-ment. Instead, it has risen from the ashes.”

After being drawn in what was regarded as the toughest group in the Champions League, along-side the Spanish, English and Dutch champions, Klopp’s men progressed as group winners, leav-ing Real Madrid in second spot, relegating Ajax to the Europa League and knock-ing Manchester City out of European competition al-together.

Dortmund beat Shakhtar Donetsk and Malaga in the knock-out stages before Robert Lewandowski inspired their victory over Real Madrid in the semi-finals, his four goals in the first leg giving them an unas-sailable advantage.

Bayern’s Thomas Mueller accepts his side will face strong opposition, but is confident his team can win the Champions League a year after los-ing last season’s final on penalties to Chelsea. The Bavarians also lost in the 2010 final, 2-0 to Inter Milan.

“Borussia are a com-plete team,” said Mueller.

“That is harder to deal with than a group of individual players, even though their individuals are also very good.

“But I don’t believe we

have any weaknesses. We have played a lot of games, scored a great deal of goals and not conceded many. I have a really good feeling.”

Bayern progressed

from a group also featur-ing Valencia, Bate Borisov and Lille before ousting Arsenal on away goals in the round of 16.

They then beat

Juventus and Barcelona by a combined 11-0 aggre-gate score, netting seven without reply against the Spanish champions alone. (BBC Sport)

21guyanatimesgy.comsaturday, may 25, 2013

St John’s, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board

on Friday announced Confident Group as the West Indies Team Sponsor for the ICC Champions Trophy in England next month and ICC World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh.

Confident Group, is an Indian conglomerate, head-quartered in Bangalore with interests in infra-structure, hospitality, avi-ation, entertainment, ed-ucation and health care. Confident Group is the largest owner and operator

of hotels in Bangalore.“We welcome Confident

Group as our team sponsor for these two mega world cricketing events. The West Indies Team, having won the World Twenty20 in 2012 is one of the most attractive teams for a sponsor to be associated with in international crick-et at the moment and we are delighted to have the Confident Group on board for the Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20 in 2014 when the West Indies will defend our ti-tle,” WICB Chief Executive Officer Michael Muirhead

said.“This association of the

West Indies Team with an-other major Asian compa-ny is significant from the point of view that we are able to attract some of the most high profile compa-nies from a dynamic and wide-ranging cricket mar-ket to our portfolio and it

is a demonstration of the confidence of the corporate sector in West Indies crick-et which remains a strong brand on the global cricket stage,” Muirhead added.

Dr Roy CJ, chairman and managing director, Confident Group said “As a group, we see and believe that there exists tremen-

dous value in being associ-ated with a talented, high profile and lively team like the West Indies. We will be partnering with them as the lead sponsor of the team for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy and the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. The West Indian team boasts of cricketing leg-ends from time immemo-rial and the confidence the current team exudes is surely something that en-ergises us as a brand as well. Cricket has under-gone a sea change over the years and the sheer reach of the game forms a perfect

fit in our business expan-sion plans as well.”

Tuhin Mishra, vice president, sales and mar-keting of Total Sports Asia (which facilitated the sponsorship) said: “It has been an honour and privi-lege to work with the West Indies Cricket Board and Confident Group. This is yet another landmark deal from TSA’s stable and the very first for any Indian brand like Confident Group who is reaching out to a global audience through West Indies cricket spon-sorship.“ (WICB)

Confident Group is West Indies team CT sponsor

champions League: dortmund boss Klopp relishing Bayern clash

Jurgen Klopp

saturday, May 25, 2013 guyanatiMesgy.coM22

BR I D G E T O W N , BARBADOS –Details of the up-

coming Caribbean Premier League player draft, the names of the remaining in-ternational players and the West Indies elite players and the CPL television ads was just some of the informa-tion revealed in a press con-ference held in Barbados by CPL officials on Friday.

The event was streamed live around the world on the tournament’s website, and attended by the West Indies Cricket team who are in a camp ahead of the Champions Trophy League.

With presentations made by CPL Operations Manager, Carlisle Powell, Kieran Foley, Digicel Group marketing operations di-rector, CPL Commercial Director Jamie Stewart and CPL Event Director Rhonda Kelly, members of the me-dia were told that the player draft will take place on June 5 in Jamaica, and the draft process was clarified.

Powell explained that each team will have a se-lection committee consist-ing of the head coach, assis-tant coach, the West Indies Franchise Player and the International Franchise Player, and that together these four members of the

team selection committee will plan and formalise their strategy and picks for each round going into the official draft.

Attendees also learned that there are three pools of players – A, B and C – who will be a part of the draft. Pool A players are those who have played inter-national cricket, and are con-sidered top players based on their current form while Pool B players are cricketers who play mostly regional cricket although they may have also played at the international level. Pool C consists of de-veloping, talented under-23 players from across the re-gion.

Powell announced the West Indies Pool A players as Andre Russell, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards, Johnson Charles, Kemar Roach, Kieran Powell, Lendl Simmons, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Tino Best.

The International Pool A players are con-firmed to be Aaron Finch (Aus), Albie Morkel (South Africa), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Dirk Nannes (Aus), Luke Pomersbach (Aus), Shakib al Hasan (Ban), Shaun Marsh (Aus), Shoaib Malik (Pak),

Steven Smith (Aus), Tamim Iqbal (Ban), Umar Akmal (Pak) and Vernon Philander (South Africa).

International Pool B play-ers will be Elton Chigumbura of Zimbabwe, Davy Jacobs (South Africa), Justin Kemp (South Africa), James Franklin (NZ), Mark Guptil (NZ) and Kevin O’Brien (IRL) while the West Indies Pools B and C are some 200 players strong, and listed on the CPL T20 website (www.cplt20.com).

“We have secured a broad selection of cricket talent that we feel will appeal to cricket fans everywhere,” said Jamie Stewart, CPL commercial di-rector. “The variety of play-ers, from the experienced and well-established to the

rising star on the cricket scene should make the inau-gural CPL an exciting tour-nament that showcases the best of the best.”

CPL Event Director Rhonda Kelly announced that the marketing and ad-vertising campaign would begin in earnest across the region, inviting everyone to come and play in July and August. A number of teas-er ads were shown to the au-dience which were met with applause.

Digicel’s Kieran Foley says that as CPL’s major sponsor, the company is pull-ing out all the stops to cre-ate major buzz and excite-ment around the CPL T20 tournament, and have made a significant investment in

a marketing campaign that will include advertising, pub-lic relations and promotional activities.

“We have lots of compe-titions and promotions to bring the fans as close as possible to the CPL T20 ex-perience,” said Foley. “We will be complementing CPL’s marketing efforts by bring-ing Carnival T20 to the host markets and adding to the in-stadium spectacular with the best of music, dancing and entertainment that the Caribbean has to offer.”

Digicel will also be pro-viding prizes by way of promotions on its Digicel Cricket website www.digicel-cricket.com and tying in with the CPL website, Foley shared. Fans can win the chance to present the CPL Man of the Match award or participate in the coin toss. They will also be able to text to win the CPL Party Pass with smart phones and limo transfers to the stadi-um; win a trip to the CPL finals; participate in the “Name the Mascot” compe-tition on CPL’s social media channels; and win a meet and greet with the stars of CPL.

Powell also took the op-portunity to update the me-dia on his recent visits with the six cricket boards, the

venue owners and operators and the ministers of sports and tourism in each country.

“I have had an opportuni-ty to tour each venue to as-sess what each facility has to offer and what will be need-ed from a CPL standpoint to meet our goals and objec-tives for the tournament,” explained Powell. “I feel confident now that all of the cricket boards are better in-formed and more aware of all our preparations. The foun-dation for a solid working re-lationship has been estab-lished and I know I can call on each of them to assist us with the operations and lo-gistics in their respective countries.”

Powell said that CPL is also working with the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association to secure region-al umpires who will work alongside a group of interna-tional umpires. The majori-ty of umpires will be from the region, which Powell says is a testament to the calibre of cricket knowledge and talent that is present in the West Indies.

Kelly says that the team names, the assignments of franchise players to fran-chise countries and the re-sults of the player draft will all be announced soon. (WICB)

Franchise players Marlon Samuels and Herschelle Gibbs

CPL announces player draft details

World number two Rory McIlroy and defending

champion Luke Donald missed the cut at the PGA Championship in cold, wet conditions at Wentworth.

Donald, seeking a third successive PGA title, start-ed at six-over and dropped three shots in his first three holes before ending on plus six after a 72.

World number two McIlroy finished five-over after a 75 and Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter also failed to qualify.

Francesco Molinari leads by one shot at six under af-ter seven birdies in a 68.

Lee Westwood is three shots off the pace with a one-under-par 71.

Westwood dropped shots at the first two holes but birdied two of the three par-fives on the back nine, and was joined at minus three by Open champion Ernie Els, who masterminded the course alterations in 2010.

The 43-year-old South African, winner of sev-en Match Play titles at Wentworth but never this event, carded seven birdies and four bogeys in an event-ful 69.

McIlroy, who was three-under after 12 holes in the opening round before drop-ping shots at five of the last six holes, mixed five bogeys and three birdies on the

front nine in round two. The 24-year-old has had

an inconsistent start to the year, missing the cut in his first tournament in Abu Dhabi, losing his opening match at the WGC Match Play and walking off the course midway through the Honda Classic citing wis-dom tooth pain.

His recent form has been more encouraging, with four top-10 finishes in his last six events on the PGA Tour in the United States, including a second place at the Texas Open last month.

But he drove out of bounds to double bogey the 17th, before closing with a birdie.

“It was tough to really make any ground,” said the Northern Irishman. “It was a grind and I didn’t play par-ticularly well, I didn’t give

myself many chances.” Donald, who has had

two top-four finishes in six events on the US PGA Tour this season, said: “When I missed fairways, I missed the green and then I wasn’t getting up and down.”

The former world num-ber one, now ranked sixth, added: “My problems were just kind of compounding.

“Not one part of my game is really firing at the mo-ment.

“It’s not like I am a mil-lion miles away. It’s about doing the things Luke Donald usually does well - being tidy around the greens and making the putts when I need to.

“I’m not too worried. It’s never nice to miss the cut here, a place I’ve played well, but failure is a much bigger motivation for me than successes.”

There was better news for another Ryder Cup play-er, Justin Rose, who got up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the last and finish with a 74 for a two-over halfway total.

The last two European Ryder Cup captains, Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal, plus the next one Paul McGinley, also qualified for the week-end on two-over.

The cut for the final two rounds is projected to fall at two-over 146.

McIlroy and Donald miss PGA Championship cut

Rory McIlroy

CAVE HILL, Barbados – West Indies wicket-keep-

er Denesh Ramdin says he is looking to get the most out of the preparation period as he and team-mates get ready for the ICC Champions Trophy next month.

The 28-year-old, who has kept wicket for the Windies in 97 One-Dayers since his debut in 2005, believes it is vitally important that the team uses the build-up time wisely as they bid to win the Champions Trophy for the second time.

The team is a camp which started on Monday and will end on Friday. They will depart from Barbados on Saturday and have another camp in Cardiff, Wales from May 25 to June 2 as they try to get acclimatised to the for-eign conditions.

“A tour to England or a tournament in England ...it is always important to get there early to get used to the condi-tions. The weather is always unpredictable. You have to go there early and get accus-tomed to the outdoor condi-tions. Two and a half weeks is good time to get ready. We have two matches before our first match of the competition so that will be very good for us,” Ramdin said.

“We have two new balls now [in One-Day Internationals], not just one. It’s very challenging in England at this time of the

year so having the right kind of preparation is great and should do the team a world of good.”

The ICC Champions Trophy will feature eight teams: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The tournament will be played across three venues – Cardiff Wales Stadium, Edgbaston and The Oval – from June 6-23.

The Windies have been drawn in Group B alongside the Indians, the Pakistanis and the South Africans. They open against Pakistan on Friday, June 7 at the Oval and return to the famous venue on Tuesday, June 11 to take on India. The final prelimi-nary match will be against the Proteas on Friday, June 14 in Cardiff.

“Hopefully we can get that in this tournament and get the chemistry right. The first game is very important. Once we can overcome in that game, it will give us some form of confidence,” Ramdin said.

“Pakistan is a team, you know, where anything can happen on the day with those guys. India is one of the best teams in the world along with Australia and South Africa. Those teams are playing re-ally good one day cricket but with the conditions you nev-er know.

“If you win the toss and

put in a team, it’s two new balls that you’re using now so if you pick up four or five wickets in the first 20 overs you can set up a match...we have a good bowling unit as well.”

Ramdin outlined that he has been working overtime in his batting and glovework with Assistant Coaches Toby Radford and Andre Coley.

“I was making some mis-takes with my technique but I have worked to correct that. I have been looking at footage and I have worked with the coaches. Going to England, I have done well there, so I will look to get it right,” he said.

He backed the team to be ready for 50-over format.

“The guys are professional cricketers and they have the ability to make that transi-tion – the Chris Gayles, the Dwayne Bravos, the Kieron Pollards, those guys – they can sit down and bat and play long innings,” Ramdin added.

“They’ve been doing well in the IPL so that will be good for their confidence going into England. I’m sure they’ve done well in England before so it’s just about gelling to-gether and the batters bat-ting long in the middle.

“Fifty overs are a lot of balls so we’re not going to bash it around. We have a strong middle and lower or-der so if we get a good start with Gayle and the other guys at the top of the order we can capitalise lower down.” (WICB)

Ramdin happy with “valuablepreparation” ahead of Champions Trophy

23guyanatimesgy.comsaturday, may 25, 2013

After two days of com-petition Dorado Speed Swim Club has

dominated the long course Independence swimming championship at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal.

The club has only lost three events since the championships started on Thursday. On Friday Dorado continued their dominance as Naomi King won the 200m individual medley (IM) in a time of 4:19.00s.

Nathon Hackett of Silver Shark took the final event of day, winning the 100m breaststroke ahead of Dorado’s Daniel Scott in a time of 1:37.79s while Scott finished with a time of 1:44.38s.

Sarah King returned to her winning ways on day two, topping Nurse in the 100m 11-12 age group breaststroke event in a time of 1:59.56s; Nurse finished with a time of 2:07.41s.

Athena Gaskin then won the 15-17 100m breaststroke easily asince there were no other competitors, caus-ing her to compete with the boys. She recorded a time of 1:35.44s. Gaskin also won the 200m IM on Friday to cap off a treble of wins with a time of 3:02.00s.

Meanwhile, on day one saw N King dominated in the 9–10 age category, easily win-ning the 200m in 3:43.44s to defeat club mates Deborah Scott and Donna Carter who clocked times of 3:59.34s and 4:08.22s respectively for the sweep.

Further, King won the

50m backstroke easily in 49.91s to top her teammates Carter and Scott who fin-ished with times of 54.47s and 57.19s respectively for yet another Dorado top three sweep.

S King, Naomi’s older sis-ter, delivered for Dorado in the 11-12 category, winning

her 200m freestyle event in 3:09.25s to top Amy Grant of Silver Shark who finished second in 3:10.62s.

However, Grant exact-ed some revenge by winning the 11-12 50m backstroke in a time of 44.63s while S King fell to third in a time of 50.46s. Alyssa Nurse was sec-

ond from Dorado in a time of 47.71s.

In the 15-17 category, Gaskin won the 200m free-style event easily in 2:36.38s while Hannibal Gaskin took the male 50m backstroke event in 34.35s. The compe-tition continues today from 15:00h at the same venue.

Dorado dominate independence swimming championships on opening days

Athena Gaskin Part of the action on day one of the national swimming championships

The fourth annu-al Guyanese style Safeway Security Pro-

Am pairs’ golf tournament will tee off on Sunday with some of the country’s lead-ing players and several bud-

ding golf enthusiasts com-peting for top prizes at the Lusignan Golf Course, East Coast Demerara.

Last year’s winning pair, Banking Executive Brian Hackett and Parliamentarian

David Patterson, is expected to be in action once again, while Safeway Security Chief Executive Officer and sponsor of the tournament, Eon Caesar, will be teaming up with seasoned golfer, Ian Gouveia.

Business Executive Ramesh Dookhoo is reported to be returning to the course after a long absence and will be teaming up with his son.

Chatterpaul Deo, Lugisnan Golf Club captain, said that the “professionals” are the members of the club, while the “amateurs” are their guests.

The other club mem-bers lined up to compete are William Walker, Kassim Khan, Fazil Haniff, Imran Khan, Joaan Deo, Vijay Deo, Orlando Deo, Wesslin Matti,

Patrick Prashad, Troy Codogan, Mike Gayadin, Gavin Todd, Alfred Mentore, Brian Glasford, Lakeram Ramsundar, Carlos Adams, Alfred Semple, Mike

Mangal, Kishan Bacchus, Dr Ram Singh, Maurice Solomon and “Mighty Raja.”

Caesar said that there will be very attractive golf prizes to encourage players

to return to the course after Sunday’s exciting event. The tournament will be played over nine holes and tee off is at 09:00h.

Brian Hackett

Pro-Am golf tournament set for Sunday

David Patterson

British triple jump-er Phillips Idowu is to return to competi-

tion at Saturday’s Diamond League meeting in New York.

It will be the first time the 34-year-old has compet-ed since being eliminated from the men’s triple jump competition at London 2012.

The 2009 triple jump world champion will face world and Olympic champi-on Christian Taylor at the Icahn Stadium.

Fellow Briton Christine Ohuruogu will also compete alongside reigning Olympic 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross.

The competition will be GB pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale’s first test since winning the European Indoor Championships as

she comes up against world indoor record-holder and reigning Olympic champion Jennifer Suhr, and reign-ing world champion Fabiana Murer.

Eilish McColgan makes her first steeplechase ap-

pearance of the season, while Andrew Osagie faces world record-holder David Rudisha in the 800m.

Reigning world 100m champion Carmelita Jeter goes up against United States compatriot Tianna Madison and Trinidad and Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste.

Meanwhile, American 100m record holder Tyson Gay, whose 9.86 seconds is the fastest time in the world this year, will face Jamaican two-time Olympic gold med-allist Nesta Carter.

Gay, who says that he hopes to compete through to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, said: “I’m looking forward to running great. “I believe if I take care of my body the next few years are going to be good to me.” (BBC Sport)

Idowu to return at New York Diamond League

Phillips Idowu

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, Tel: 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230, 223-7231, Editor - 225-5128 Fax: 227-0685 SALES AND MARKETING: - sales@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.

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

Mumbai Indians 169-6 (Smith 62) beat Rajasthan Royals 165-6 (Dravid 43, Harbhajan 3-23) by 4 wickets

saturday, May 25, 2013

P21

INSIDE TODAY'S SPORTS

Champions League: Dortmund boss Klopp relishing Bayern clash

Director of Sport Neil Kumar receives Banks DIH donation to the independence half marathon from Lakerani Sukram in the presence of Banks DIH staff and officials of the NSC

Banks DIH supports independence half-marathon Banks DIH Limited

teamed up with the National Sports

Commission (NSC) and the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) as a co-sponsor of the Independence Day half-marathon road race billed for Sunday from Jerrick’s Funeral Home, Paradise, East Coast Demerara, to Main Street, Georgetown.

The local beverage giants presented Powerade sports drink and Aqua Mist Water to the organisers of the race during a presentation cere-mony at Banks DIH Special Events outlet, Durban Street on Thursday.

Neil Kumar, Director of Sport, who received the beverages from Banks DIH representative, Lakerani Sukram, expressed grati-tude to the beverage com-

pany for contributing to the race which will attract over 100 athletes.

Mortimer Stewart, Banks DIH Outdoor Event Manager, Gervy C Harry, Administrative offic-er of the National Sports Commission, Banks DIH employees Jusset McDonald and Niranjan De Abreu were also present at the handing over ceremony.

The race will start at 05:30 hours in front of Jerrick’s Funeral Home at Paradise Village and will proceed along the East Coast public road to finish in front of the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry office on Main Street. The race is organised by the AAG, the Sport Ministry and the NSC and is being held to coincide with Guyana’s 47th inde-pendence celebrations.

Mumbai in final after tense finish

Half-volleys hit straight to hand. A fielder found per-

fectly with a long hop. Crazy wide balls. A dropped catch to finally lose the match. Another night in the life of IPL.

After which Mumbai Indians made it to the fi-nals. Chennai Super Kings

have already made it to the final. Chasing 166, which was thanks to Lasith Malinga’s profligate last over, Mumbai were on their way with Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare strolling through, but a spate of poor shots made for some late drama on Friday.

See full Story on page 20

Dwayne Smith scored 62 off 44 (BCCI)

After two days of competition Dorado Speed Swim Club has dominated the long course Independence swimming championship at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal.

The club has only lost three events since the championships started on Thursday.On Friday Dorado continued their dominance as Naomi King won the 200m individ-

ual medley (IM) in a time of 4:19.00s.Nathon Hackett of Silver Shark took the final event of day, winning the 100m breast-

stroke ahead of Dorado’s Daniel Scott in a time of 1:37.79s while Scott finished with a time of 1:44.38s.

Sarah King returned to her winning ways on day two, topping Nurse in the 100m 11-12 age group breaststroke event in a time of 1:59.56s; Nurse finished with a time of 2:07.41s.

Athena Gaskin then won the 15-17 100m breaststroke easily asince there were no other competitors, causing her to compete with the boys. She recorded a time of 1:35.44s.

Gaskin also won the 200m IM on Friday to cap off a treble of wins with a time of 3:02.00s.

Meanwhile, on day one saw N King dominated in the 9–10 age category, easily win-ning the 200m in 3:43.44s to defeat club mates Deborah Scott and Donna Carter who clocked times of 3:59.34s and 4:08.22s respectively for the sweep.

Further, King won the 50m backstroke easily in 49.91s to top her teammates Carter and Scott who finished with times of 54.47s and 57.19s respectively for yet another Dorado top three sweep.

S King, Naomi’s older sister, delivered for Dorado in the 11-12 category, winning her 200m freestyle event in 3:09.25s to top Amy Grant of Silver Shark who finished second in 3:10.62s.

However, Grant exacted some revenge by winning the 11-12 50m backstroke in a time of 44.63s while S. King fell to third in a time of 50.46s. Alyssa Nurse was second from Dorado in a time of 47.71s.

In the 15-17 category, Gaskin won the 200m freestyle event easily in 2:36.38s while Hannibal Gaskin took the male 50m backstroke event in 34.35s.

The competition continues today from 15:00h at the same venue.Caption: saved as swimming2Caption: Part of the action on Day one of the national swimming championships.

Saved as swimmingCaption: Athena Gaskin saved as Athena Gaskin

Dorado dominate independence swimming championships on opening days

Nathon Hackett swims his way to victory in the 100 metres breaststroke event on day two of the Independence Day championships (Treiston Joseph photo)

See story on page 23