October 18, 2016

Archives for April 4, 2016

Guyana Amazon Warriors congratulates West Indies on their victories

The owners, management and members of the Guyana Amazon Warriors team in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) would like to offer its heartiest congratulations to the West Indies Men’s team on their heart stopping, spectacular ultimate victory in the ICC World Cup T20 2016 Tournament. That several players on the team were members of Guyana Amazon Warriors over its past two seasons makes the team’s success even more satisfying. In winning the trophy for an unprecedented second time, the West Indies T-20 team has demonstrated it can proudly maintain the tradition of its illustrious predecessors.
We also extend just as effusive congratulations to the West Indies Women’s team for emerging victorious in their ICC T20 World Cup Tournament in the same trademark West Indian style of passionate cricket.
Finally, we would be remiss not to cite the win of the West Indies under 19 in their ICC T20 World Cup Tournament for leading the way to ignite the spark of West Indian cricketing victories in 2016. As both the Senior Men’s and Women’s teams took pains to mention at every stage of their triumphant tournaments, the victory of the youths inspired and challenged them to follow suit. Several of the players in the Under 19 team were also members of the Guyana Amazon Warriors as part of our commitment to nurturing and developing West Indies Cricket.
Once again we of the Guyana Amazon Warriors salute our three winning teams for bringing our Caribbean nation together as only Cricket can. (Amazon Warriors Release)

ICC T20 World Cup… Brathwaite’s power, Samuels master-class lead Windies to 2nd title

Write off West Indies cricket at your peril. Less than four months in, 2016 is already a year of great celebration and renewal for cricket in the Caribbean. West Indies won the Under-19 World Cup. West Indies won the Women’s World T20. And now West Indies have won the World T20. In doing so, Darren Sammy’s men have become the first team to win two World T20 tournaments, having also triumphed in Sri Lanka in 2012.

Those are the facts. The how is all the more extraordinary. Set 156 to beat England and win the championship, West Indies found themselves needing 19 off the last over, to be bowled by Ben Stokes. Marlon Samuels, who had steered the chase, was on 85. But he was at the wrong end. This was all down to Carlos Brathwaite, the allrounder who emerged on the Test tour of Australia just a few months ago.

Six. Six. Six. Six. Job done with two balls to spare. The first one was a poor ball from Stokes, down leg, clubbed over deep backward square. Then a length ball slammed down the ground over long-on. Then over long-off. One run needed. Push a single? Why bother when you have the power, like Brathwaite, to crunch another six over the leg side. The West Indies players streamed onto the field in jubilation. They had not only done it. They had done it in style.

And all this from a team that, in the weeks before this tournament, was stuck in another pay dispute with their board. But that is for another day. This day was about what happened on the field, and West Indies dominated the first over of the match and the last over of the match. England, along the way, had their own ups and downs, but by taking wickets throughout the chase gave themselves a strong chance of claiming their second World T20 title.

But if Brathwaite destroyed them at the end, Samuels was the one who chipped away at them through most of the innings. Samuels walked to the crease in the second over of the chase, when England had surprised West Indies by using Joe Root with the new ball, and he duly claimed Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle in his first over. Samuels had a mountain of work to do, and he did it, just as he had in 2012.

Samuels is an enigmatic cricketer, one who seems to spend long periods in hibernation. During those times he looks like a Don’t Care Bear. But when he awakes, he is capable of anything, as he showed during the World T20 final in 2012, when his 78 from 56 balls set up the West Indies victory over Sri Lanka. Here when he came out of his hibernation, he was a Kung Fu Panda, clubbing England’s bowlers and kicking them into the dust.

And he did it with limited support. England’s bowling was good. David Willey picked up 3 for 20, Liam Plunkett was hard to get away, Adil Rashid cost less than six an over. Dwayne Bravo managed 25 off 27 balls but besides him, Samuels and Brathwaite were the only ones to reach double figures. Brathwaite’s final score was 34 from 10 balls, not out. Notably, Root did not bowl an over after taking 2 for 9 in his first.

West Indies found themselves needing 45 off the last four overs, then 38 off the last three, and 27 off the last two. But Eoin Morgan had left himself with Stokes and Root as his only bowling options, and Stokes could not hit the mark. Chasing had again proved successful for West Indies, who did not lose a toss in this tournament and bowled first every time.

You could sense the relief for Darren Sammy, then, when he won the toss for the 10th successive time in T20 internationals, and sent England in. Ball one, Samuel Badree skidded it past the bat of Jason Roy, who was struck on the pad. Not out, sliding down leg. Ball two, Badree skidded it past the bat of Roy and onto the stumps. Roy had starred with 78 in England’s semi-final win over New Zealand, but this was going to be a rather different sort of innings.

When Alex Hales flicked Andre Russell to short fine leg in the next over, it felt like an anti-climax was brewing. So too when Morgan, perplexed by Badree’s wrong’un, edged to Gayle at slip to leave the total at 23 for 3 in the fifth over. But Badree bowled out, his figures of 2 for 16 impressive, and suddenly it was more of a contest.

Root was outstanding in the face of wickets falling around him. He struck seven boundaries and all were from classy, traditional cricket strokes, mostly along the ground, through the gaps. When eventually he innovated, he immolated. On 54 from 36, he fell when he tried to paddle Brathwaite over short fine leg, but in that position Sulieman Benn dived forward to take a sharp catch low to the ground.

West Indies’ fielding was universally outstanding. No catches were dropped, and some of those taken were far from straightforward. Badree, Brathwaite and Russell were all hard to get away. Bravo found three wickets, including those of Stokes and Moeen Ali in the space of three balls. But the fifth bowler – a combination of Benn and Sammy – leaked heavily.

Benn’s three overs cost 40 runs and Jos Buttler clubbed him for a pair of consecutive sixes in his 36 off 22 balls, and Sammy bowled just one over for 14. Sammy finds himself in the strange position of having captained West Indies to one of their greatest triumphs in recent years, but in doing so having almost done himself out of a job. He made only eight runs in this tournament and bowled three overs for 31 runs. In three games he neither batted nor bowled.

But frankly, who cares? Sammy is a dual World T20-winning captain. His men have done what no others in cricket have done. And they have given the Caribbean region a hat-trick of triumphs in 2016. What a year for West Indies. (Cricinfo)

Looking forward to the productive, non-corruptive works of Bartica council

Dear Editor,
The Bartica United Youth Development Group (BUYDG) will like to congregate Gifford Marshall, who was the only nominee that was elected Mayor and Kamal Persaud, who was also the only nominee, duly elected Deputy Mayor the BUYDG also congratulate the councillors.
For the first time Bartica has a Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Bartica recently gained township status.
The BUYDG encourages the Mayer, Deputy Mayer and all the councillors to work to the best of their ability in the interest of Bartica in a productive and non-corruptive manner so that Bartica can move from where it is to a very high level. BUYDG believes Bartica has a long way to go as it relates to general development.
Bartica and Region Seven in general, should have been the most developed community in Guyana since the Region is one of the highest and main tax contributor that contributes 50% of the revenue that goes to the treasury of Guyana.
As such money should not just be generated and produced from the resources of Region Seven and go out of Bartica to develop the other regions in Guyana but a lot of the money generated in Bartica should be used to enhance greater development in Region Seven.
The residents of Bartica voted on March 18, 2016 for general development, transparency and proper accountability, etc. The APNU+AFC Government just as it did in the General and Regional Elections again won the majority of votes cast by the resident, as such the BUYDG will be holding all of the persons elected accountable in Bartica/Region7. Not forgetting that the same persons elected took an Oath to serve the resident of Bartica.
The BUYDG’s great hope is that the Mayor and Councillors will address the concerns of residents on the spot, and will not operate by remote control that is used by central government since they won under the umbrella of APUN+AFC.

Yours faithfully,
Micah Williams
General President
Bartica United Youth Development Group

There is an urgent need for forensic audit at City Hall

Dear Editor,
It was with utter disillusionment I watched an interview being given by Oscar Clarke to the Press after the Georgetown City Council was sworn-in.

My first disenchantment was due to the fact that he was back in the Council after all these years and not just back in the Council, but once more in the Finance Committee along with one of his cohorts who was in the same committee before, and now holding the very principal role as the Finance Chairman.

My second dissatisfaction came with his very sardonic response to a question from a reporter about the essential need for the urgent conducting of a comprehensive forensic audit of the entire Georgetown Municipality. He intimated that there was hardly a need for such, and that the Council was already carrying out its own audit.

Just in case Clarke and his new Finance Committee does not get it, the citizenry from their public outcry are not interested in a superficial, in-house sham of an inspection. Any such attempt to self-police would be like putting the proverbial cat to watch milk. What is needed is an all-inclusive, forensic financial and human resource audit to be effected by a competent and qualified external agency.

Just as Clarke’s party has commissioned a series of rigorous audits on state agencies, national projects and funds which were deemed to be tainted by some form of corruption, there is need for a serious audit of the Georgetown City Council to be effected by special teams comprised of highly qualified and competent officials, skilled in these sorts of exercises.

These recent audits which have purportedly found reckless wastage at the Government Information Agency, breaches of protocols and the absence of proper procurement procedures at GuyOil, and the astonishing scales of corruption within the departments of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) would be dwarfed by what goes on at City Hall in terms of both structural and non-structural corruption, including graft with well-known acts of bribery, illicit kickbacks, embezzlement, and theft of public funds, nepotism with the Council being ‘a big family affair’, and the ostensible expenditure, which is actually wasteful and directed toward private benefits.

My third discontent with Clarke during the interview, was his display of conceit and disregard for the protesting workers whom he claimed do not know, and to be uninformed of their issues. It was Clarke’s duty to enquire from the workers of the nature of their problems and to summon the Council’s Chief Financial and Administrative Officers to be briefed and to have the matter resolved.
This course of action would be in keeping with the declaration by the Minister of Communities when he noted at the very swearing-in of the Councillors, that their new posts presented an opportunity for them to serve the residents of their respective constituencies as well as the City of Georgetown.

Sincerely,
Amber Valentine

Freddie incorrectly attributes Hamilton’s (Locke) quote

Dear Editor,

Freddie Kissoon misleads readers that he is “Mr know all.” He once again errs (what else is new) — incorrectly attributed “the masses are asses” quote to the Portuguese dominated United Force (UF) founder leader, Peter D’Aguiar. Freddie is consistently erring and as such is advised to avoid name droppings to give credibility to his writings that are replete with inaccuracies.
It was the great (Bermudian) White American Alexander Hamilton, during the constitutional debate (1780s), who uttered the words that have been repeatedly quoted ad nauseam by so many intellectuals and politicians.
Hamilton made the case for the adoption of American “electoral college” in the constitution (still in existence) to choose the President because, as he argued, the (uneducated) masses (the masses are asses) would not select the best person to be the president of the United States. Hamilton’s position was supported by other founding fathers who felt the people electing the President should be “educated”.
Had Freddie studied (American) history (instead of philosophy for which he claims he obtained two degrees in Guyanese history – an unprecedented achievement), he would not have made this simple faux pas. To err is human but Freddie has a penchant for mocking people who make simple errors in writings. So he needs to be corrected, but the paper where his column appeared did not publish the correction.
The masses are asses quote was also linked to the great Enlightenment British thinker John Locke who influenced the thought of the American founding fathers. It is not clear if the original quote was Locke’s. There were also plays and books with title of same quote. Freddie claims he studied Philosophy – he should know about the natural rights theorist John Locke (a great political thinker, philosopher).
Suffice it to say D’Aguiar did not invent the quote if indeed he referred to Guyanese masses “as asses” for not voting for him and the UF. Freddie presented no evidence to support his claim that D’Aguiar uttered such words.
It is to be noted that Guyanese society has always been ethnically polarised. As a student of political sociology and a specialist on ethnicity, it is incomprehensible why Indians and Africans would vote for a Portuguese-based party or a Portuguese leader when there were the charismatic Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan, not that the latter two were any better than D’Aguiar in terms of developmental policies.
Freddie needs to study history and stop fooling people that by studying Philosophy you can get two degrees in Guyanese History — impossible from any university even in Philosophy, he gets it wrong.
Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

Effective communication is an essential component of political, professional success

Dear Editor,

Some of us love it, some of us hate it. The rules of the English language are brimming with intricacies, inconsistencies, and obscurities, and therefore it is critical that politicians, who are public speakers, master the technicalities of our native language and not get confused with their homonyms and mixed up with their pronouns. Watching the television interview done by the new Mayor of Georgetown, after their first meeting concluded, I must admit disappointment with her lack of fluency and the fact that her grammar was really far from flawless. It is simply impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator. From our earliest days in the classroom we are trained to focus on enunciation, vocabulary, presence, delivery, grammar, syntax and the like.While I don’t mean to belittle Her Worship, these things are important to learn. The ability to use the Queen’s English separates the truly great communicators from those who muddle through their interactions with others. As Mayor she will be required to spend the overwhelming majority of her time each day in some type of an interpersonal situation. Effective communication is an essential component of political and professional success, whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organisational, or international level. The best communicators are great listeners and astute in their observations.   Best of Luck!

Sincerely
Sean Moniz

Ignoring GPF’s ethnic representation

Ever since the struggle for independence, the nexus of ethnic violence and the composition of the Disciplined Forces, had been identified as a key problematic in the creation of a viable state.

The international scholar Cynthia Enloe, who taught at UG during the seventies, wrote in her seminal text, “Ethnic Conflict and Political Development: “The resolution of inter-ethnic conflict demands that armies and police forces be examined not as neutral instruments that cope with problems, but as potential causes of the problems as well.”

During the Constitutional changes approved by Parliament in 2000 – consequent to the post-1997 election violence, the nexus was identified as necessary to be addressed in Article 197 A (5):

“Disciplined forces commissions may be constituted by the National Assembly from time to time, as may be necessary, with power to examine any matter relating to the public welfare, public safety, public order, defence or security, including the structure and composition of the disciplined forces and make recommendations generally with a view to promoting their greater efficiency, and giving effect to the need in the public interest that the composition of the disciplined forces take account of the ethnic constituents of the population.”

President Bharat Jagdeo in accordance with the National Assembly’s Resolution No 21 of 2003 of 16 May 2003 did constitute and appoint a Disciplined Forces Commission which, inter alia called for an inquiry into, “The methods and processes of achieving greater ethnic balance” in the Disciplined Forces.

The members were Ian Chang, Justice of Appeal as Chairman, Charles Ramson; Anil Nandlall; David Granger and Maggie Beirne. Ms Beirne resigned from the Commission and, on January 14, 2004, Professor Harold Lutchman was appointed in her place.

Presented to Parliament May 17, 2004, their Report was sent to a Special Committee that was supposed to resubmit its recommendations in “four months” but was only finally approved unanimously on June 10 2010. Of its 164 recommendations, 71 concerned the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

The recommendation on manpower mandated the Force to achieve greater ethnic diversity by setting recruitment targets rather than quotas. To achieve this, ethnically-diverse recruitment teams were to be employed as “openly and extensively as possible”.
The identical directive was given to the Guyana Defence Force, and resulted in the following directive in their “Recruitment Outreach Guidelines” 1006.

  1. Particular focus was to be placed on recruitment in Indo-Guyanese communities, but not at the exclusion of other ethnic groups.
    c. Public information is to be adequately disseminated in order to remove negative misperceptions about the recruitment policy. The public information campaign should highlight the inclusionary ethnic recruitment and retention policy of the GDF, in terms of:
    (1) the need for greater Indo-Guyanese representation in the interest of achieving ethnic balance.
    (2) respect and regard for diverse religious practices.

    Unfortunately we can find no comparable directives in the GPF’s recruitment guidelines but from the optics of the last batches of recruits, the directive towards representative recruitment patterns has not been adopted by the almost one-year old APNU/AFC government. Very early on their Cabinet approved an increase in Police manpower from 3,410 to 4,956 – an increase of 1500+ but at no time did they mention the Constitutional and Statutory mandated “ethnic parity”.

    Last week, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan claimed the GPF was now at 4500 strength and still needed 2000 persons to reach its “maximum capacity”. The Minister obviously had his figures skewed since the GPF can only process 660 recruits annually and there had been no Cabinet announcement that the GPF’s strength would in effect be more than doubled.

    But he also was silent on the mandate for the country to achieve an ethnically representative GPF. President Granger, who was a member of the DFC that made the recommendation, should intervene to insist the ethnic recruitment targets be implemented.

Future LGEs will be held on time – Bulkan

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan has made a vow that never again would Guyanese have to wait a lengthy time before Local Government Election is held.

It was moments after the new Mayor and City Council were sworn-in at the Georgetown Municipality last Friday that Bulkan made the statement.

He was very pleased with the accomplishment of the day, nothing that the new team has much work to do.

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan speaking with the media

Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan speaking with the media

“To this we should say, never again we should have such a long period of time elapsing between elections. Like I say in every confidence, as long as the APNU+AFC coalition is in office, these elections will be held when they are due; and that is every three years… It is a pledge and commitment that is being given by President Granger”.

According to him, the swearing-in of the two new leaders along with the fresh 30-member council represents a rehabilitation of a “damaged system”, which existed for over two decades.

On March 18 last, the historic Local Government Elections were held.

While the turnout was not as expected, Government said it was pleased that persons chose to exercise their franchise in this regard.

The run-up to the election saw a number of individuals and groups, along with the major political parties carrying out some rigorous campaigns, for what each said was a move to restore local communities for those who dwell there.

Some persons expressed the view that many Guyanese who were eligible to vote were completely unaware of the importance of the elections and consequently did not to cast their ballot.

The low voter turnout was compounded by reports indicating that substantial amounts of voters were denied the opportunity to vote.

Meanwhile, the results updated on the Election Commission’s website showed the PPP reining in a total 123,564 votes, some 24,894 more than the coalition Government which gained 98,670. The results were made available Tuesday evening, some four days after the election.

The results showed Government retaining significant support in municipalities within Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, Bartica, Mabaruma, and Lethem.

Communities such as Rose Hall and Corriverton in Corentyne, Berbice and Anna Regina in Essequibo went to the Opposition.

Out of the 507,584 eligible voters in LGE, 239,070 persons or 47 per cent voted. Out of the total votes cast, 2744 were invalid.

Jamaican busted with 1kg cocaine in shoe soles

A Jamaican is now in Police custody awaiting court appearance after he was busted with one kilogram of cocaine at Friendship Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara.

According to information, on April 2 ranks from the Police Anti-Narcotics Unit conducted a search on a house at Friendship Squatting Area during which one kilogram of cocaine, which had been compressed in the form of shoe soles, was discovered. The Jamaican national at the house was arrested.

Although cases of cocaine busts have not been frequent this year, there have been several convictions of persons found in possession of the narcotic.

Just last month, Bothram Garnette, a Berbician, was sentenced to five years along with a $36 million fine after he was found guilty of possession of the illicit substance for the purpose of trafficking.

AFC silent on accusations of race-baiting by Trotman

 

-Ramjattan refused to comment; “write what you want”- Patterson
The leadership of the Alliance For Change (AFC), one of the political parties in the coalition government is mum as accusations of race baiting by its co-founder and Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman surfaced.
Political commentator and ardent supporter of the AFC Freddie Kissoon accused Trotman of allegedly playing the race card during a public meeting in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), during the lead-up to just-concluded Local Government Elections.

President David Granger

President David Granger

Recording    

 Kissoon alleges he is in possession of a tape with Trotman appealing to race while campaigning in Region 7.
According to Kissoon, Trotman’s speech was “hate-filled” and it “manifested the cruelties and sadism of old political culture.”Kissoon expressed that Trotman “does not belong to the future of politics in this tragic land and that goose bumps emerged on my body when Trotman went into his demagogic rage of ethnic loyalty.” Kissoon called on AFC to ensure disciplinary actions are taken against Trotman. Kissoon said he submitted a copy of the tape to the party but when contacted on Saturday, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan refused to comment on the matter.   “I don’t do any interviews with >>>Guyana Times,<<<” Ramjattan declared, and hung up his mobile phone. Also contacted was AFC general secretary and Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson who also refused to comment on the matter stating, “no comment, you could write what you like.”Meanwhile political commentator and former government minister Dr Henry Jeffery when asked his opinion on the issue, said he would first like to receive a transcript of the tape before commenting.However he stated that, “if what he (Kissoon) said the tape said and it’s correct, it is somewhat damning.”

Prodigal son returns
Kissoon noted too that in the tape, which was made available by a senior member of the Team Legacy political party, Trotman indicated that he has rejoined the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).“He openly told the crowds that although he was a part of the AFC, he never left the struggle and that the Prodigal Son has returned,” Kissoon highlighted. He added that Trotman said that a decade ago while he was launching the AFC with Ramjattan, Trotman evidently had a meeting in Nassau, The Bahamas with David Granger (now President), where they hatched a plan to reinstall the People’s National Congress (PNC) in office by ousting the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).“He then told the crowd that 10 years ago, he and David Granger met in Nassau (The Bahamas) and Granger laid out a plan for Guyana. On the day in 2015 when the election results were made known, Trotman indicated that Mr Granger called him and said to him, ‘Raphael, this is Nassau.’

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman

AFC Executive Member Khemraj Ramjattan

AFC Executive Member Khemraj Ramjattan

Trotman left the crowds in suspension because he thinks that it is President Granger that should be the first one to reveal what the two of them dialogued on 10 years ago in The Bahamas.
“I don’t have a clue what it is but whatever it is, I would suggest you listen to the tape, and when you hear Raphael Trotman speaking at that Bartica LGE public meeting, then what was spoken and planned in The Bahamas 10 years ago has to be frightening, because Trotman doesn’t come across as a powerful politician that will shape a progressive future for Guyana,” Kissoon added.  Team Legacy chairman Ewart Williams when contacted, distanced his party from the recording and the views expressed by Kissoon.

According to Williams, whoever provided Kissoon with the copy of the tape clearly did so in his own personal capacity and not on behalf of Team Legacy.