Region Five residents advised to treat water
- in light of recent flooding in area
IN light of the recent flooding in the West Berbice area, residents have been advised to desist from having contact with flood waters and to start taking measures to treat water being used for domestic purposes either by boiling or by adding bleach.

Minister in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, said the Ministry has been closely monitoring the situation in affected areas namely Ithaca, Blairmont, Shieldstown and Rosignol.

“Robust response has been mounted by sending into the area the Regional Health Officer and her Regional Environmental Health Officer to do an evaluation,” the minister disclosed.

Dr. Ramsaran said special rapid response clinics have commenced in affected areas. Recently, a clinic was held in Shieldstown while another will be held in Blairmont at the Neighbourhood Democratic Council office and at the Primary School at Ithaca. These clinics start at 08:00hrs.

In addition to the clinics, additional resources have been dispatched to the area.

“Ten flood kits, that is, kits of drugs and medication specially designed to fight flood related illnesses have been dispatched to the area. This is in addition to the already existing supplies there,” Dr. Ramsaran assured.

He added that the Ministry is paying keen attention to occurrences of water borne diseases since pit latrines in the area have been affected. Residents in these areas rear cattle, poultry and other livestock.

The Minister said flood waters might be contaminated by the waste from animals which can cause certain diseases that lead to diarrhoea, fever, and vomiting which in turn can lead to dehydration.

“Dehydration in the extremes of age, the very young or old can be very dangerous,” he said.

Dr. Ramsaran noted that there is no cause for alarm since there is adequate medication in the area.

He added that the Ministry is also monitoring any changes in the pattern of fever, diarrhoea and vomiting being reported.

“There have been no reports and because of the quick response and the deployment of medical teams with additional medication and staff to the areas we do not expect any particular spike in these diseases,” Dr. Ramsaran said.

The Ministry of Health is urging parents and other adults in the community to insist that children keep away from flood waters as much as possible.

Informational flyers on proper treatment of water and dealing with potential water borne diseases have been distributed.

The rapid response clinics set up in affected areas will last until the Ministry is certain that the threat of disease or the threat to public health is over.

The recent flooding was caused by heavy rainfall in parts of Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and the negligence of a koker attendant, who was immediately dismissed, after he left open a sluice door at D’Edward.

A hotline has been set up by the Ministry for the public to make contact. The numbers are: 692-5317, or 227-1316 or 225-1638. (GINA)

LAUNCH OF T&T FOUNDATION FOR POLITICS
- ex-Barbados PM to speak on CARICOM's futureAnalysis by
RICKEY SINGH
THE POLITICIAN who has headed three consecutive governments in Barbados, during which period he was quite active in laying the foundation for the establishment of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), will this evening address a public event in Trinidad and Tobago on a very challenging topic: "The Future of the Caribbean: Where Are We Going?"

Owen Arthur, an economist, whose three-term Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration suffered a crushing 20-10-defeat at last January's general election to Prime Minister David Thompson's Democratic Labour Party (DLP), has been invited to deliver the 'Keynote Address' at today's inauguration of "The Foundation for Politics and Leadership".

The Foundation is an initiative of the Congress of the People (COP) party, headed by former Governor of the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank, Winston Dookeran. According to a promotional brochure, it is committed to function as a "new direction forum" to help "make politics and leadership work for the people".

It is viewed as a laudable objective by a party that was spawned from a major split in 2006 of the main opposition United National Congress (UNC) under the leadership of the charismatic and unpredictable Basdeo Panday.

COP opted to contest last November's parliamentary election after about 13 months in existence. It came in third place with 148,041 of the votes (approximately 23 percent) but failed to win a single seat for the 41-member House of Representatives under the first-past-the-post electoral system.

At present, COP continues to experience much mooring difficulties in the turbulent political waters of multi-party democracy in Trinidad and Tobago, reputedly CARICOM's most wealthy economy and, on the downside, second only to Jamaica for a notorious crime epidemic.

Both the Foundation's promised "new direction" for making politics and leadership "work for the people" (who else?) and the subject of Owen Arthur's address, are quite challenging.

The cynics may wish to temper judgement on the Foundation to give COP's Dookeran some space to establish its legitimacy and, for now, properly assess the analysis to come from this evening's presentation by the former Barbados Prime Minister.

The immediate challenge the Foundation faces is how to overcome the perception of it being more than just an extension of its sponsor (COP), as a forum to generate ideas that are to be more fully developed in the months ahead through a proposed "School for Politics" and a "Centre for Creative Leadership".

The problem to be considered is not whether the Foundation, and its 'school' and 'centre' to come, can prove useful fresh initiatives to help overcome today's deep-rooted cynicism/distrust with party politics and governance and the resulting corroding influences that affect vital institutions-- like parliament, the judiciary and law enforcement and established values. These, incidentally, are not peculiarities of just Trinidad and Tobago in our region today.

Rather, it is the extent to which the Foundation will be enabled by its architects and founders to function with integrity in fulfillment of stated objectives to seriously address some of the challenges confronting the development of small nation states.

In Trinidad and Tobago's current political climate it would require much goodwill and independent thought to allow the Foundation to blossom and ripen as something that may yet defy its detractors who may simply view it as an initiative that satisfies the academic passion of COP's Dookeran, a recognised academic who has drifted, over the years, into the harsh world of party politics.

Owen Arthur
For his part, Owen Arthur, who has acquired a healthy reputation at regional and international fora for the quality of his analyses, the perspectives he brings to challenging issues of our time, must expect that more than this evening's audience at the launch of the Foundation will be eager to learn what new thinking he has to offer on "the future of the Caribbean" and "where are we going".

His own body of critics may be more teasing about how his party stumbled and fell from power amid widespread claims of "sound economic management" than the challenges he intends to point to for CARICOM in the current depressing atmosphere of a global food crisis and spiralling cost of living.

Arthur can hardly be unaware of a growing sense of cynicism about CARICOM's delivery capacity on decisions unanimously taken but yet to be fulfilled. In this context, it would be interesting to learn, for example, what he has to say about the status quo of readiness-arrangements for the CSME. It is known that he has a particular concern for CARICOM to evolve a new strategy for regional food security.

Thompson, his successor as Prime Minister and current portfolio holder among CARICOM Heads of Government for the CSME, is reported to be anxious to have an audit of the implementation processes, consistent with the agreed objective to achieve a seamless regional economy by 2015.

Dookeran, the principal mover behind this evening's inauguration event, is himself listed to deal with the interesting topic: "Crisis Economy: Is our Economy Heading for a Fall"?

His presentation is expected to focus on the state of the national economy, one where the agricultural sector has virtually collapsed amid the wealth fuelled by a dominant energy sector.

GPHC assures…
Proper procedure followed in burial of unclaimed bodies
GEORGETOWN Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday responded to an article, published in Kaieteur News of Friday, May 30, under the caption ‘West Demerara residents complain against mass burial – say bodies in shallow graves, dogs eventually feast’.

The response, in a press release, assured residents of Best Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara, that the proper procedure was followed in the recent burial of unclaimed bodies, body parts and laboratory waste at Best Cemetery.

“Therefore, there should be no disturbance or discomfort of any sort to the residents in that area,” the release maintained.

GPHC said the publication claimed residents expressed concern that the bodies were not buried deep enough and would, eventually, be dug up by dogs.

But GPHC said it sought the permission of the Klien/ Pouderoyen/ Best Neighbourhood Democratic Council and paid the requisite fees to the local authority for the burials.

GPHC said a contractor was hired to dig the eight graves to accommodate the burials.

The release added: “These graves were dug to the required six feet and the unclaimed bodies, body parts and laboratory waste were individually wrapped in plastic and placed in eight wooden coffins and transported to the cemetery from the GPHC mortuary.”

It said all items to be disposed of were removed from the GPHC refrigerators and transported immediately for burial.

GPHC said it should also be stated that the arrangements, to have the unclaimed bodies buried, were done at a great financial cost to it.

Samaroo calls for garden, farm competitions
VICE-CHAIRMAN of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Mr. Vishnu Samaroo, has called on the organisers to introduce a garden or farm competition to highlight the ‘grow more’ campaign during Carifesta X.

Speaking at the introduction of the Regional Carifesta Planning Committee on Monday, at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, he said many visitors coming to Guyana will be interested in seeing farming and gardening, in light of the global food shortage.

GPL makes timely donation to UG
GUYANA Power & Light (GPL) yesterday donated five complete computer systems to the University of Guyana (UG) Faculty of Information Technology.

The Divisional Director of Information Technology GPL, Mr. Renford Homer, presenting one of the computer system to the Head of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UG, Ms. Verlyn Klass, while the Public Relations Officer (ag), Mr. Richard Francois looks on.

GPL Divisional Director of Information Technology, Mr. Renford Homer said the donation was made possible through the utility’s continuous support for education.

He said GPL has recognised the many resource challenges that usually face UG and pledged to continue boosting the education system in Guyana.

Ms. Verlyn Klass, Head of Department in the UG Faculty of Electrical Engineering, said the GPL contribution is timely because the beneficiary is presently in the process of establishing a laboratory.

Anthony names Region Two Carifesta X Planning Committee
MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, formally named a Regional Carifesta X Planning Committee in Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) yesterday morning.

Regional Chairman, Mr. Alli Baksh and Vice-Chairman, Mr. Vishnu Samaroo will head the group, Anthony announced in the Regional Boardroom, at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.

The introduction was done in the presence of scores of students from Charity Secondary School, Essequibo Technical Institute, Government officers and two senior members of the Guyana Police Force in ‘G’ Division.

Dr. Anthony said the committee is very important, because it is part of the General Planning Committee for Carifesta X and, as Region Two will host one of the activities, hard work has to be undertaken to show the best in the region to visitors.

He exhorted the Regional Administration to get communities along the coast cleaned up and bright for Carifesta X.

Anthony also reiterated that all Guyanese must cooperate as a team to host the mega event, so it can be very memorable.

Chief Executive Officer of the Carifesta Secretariat, Mr. Nigel Dharamlall, remarked that the show was coming back home to Guyana after 36 years and will include innovations like public art projects and ‘edutainment’.

At GBTI business forum…
CRNM official details possible benefits from EPA
NEW windows of opportunity now exist for the Guyanese private sector under the just concluded Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to be formally signed next month, between the European Union (EU) and CARIFORUM, comprising CARICOM countries and the Dominican Republic.

According to Mr. Lincoln Price, Private Sector Liaison with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), the openings are in the areas of organic foods, architecture, jungle location shoots for films and creative industry.

He detailed the possible benefits from the pact Monday afternoon in a presentation titled ‘Transformation in the Private Sector’ at a business forum hosted by Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI), at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown.

In the audience were members of the business community, amongst them producers and exporters, representatives of regulatory agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), cultural artistes and academics.

Price said it is important to prepare for the expected challenges that will emerge, not only under the EPA, but in future negotiations.

He said it is of importance that the private sector in Guyana be cognisant of available ventures, some immediately.

Price said an interesting development in Spain is that architects from that country are building European-style hotels in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic but have difficulty understanding the codes and modalities of the Caribbean and how to treat with termites.

It is in that situation the opportunity exists for joint ventures between Spanish architects and those in the Caribbean with the understanding of the permission and planning systems to help in the construction of the hotels, the CRNM functionary explained.

He made another observation that, in Stockholm, Sweden, joint enterprises can also be established in fisheries, as it has been acknowledged there that more flexibility is required in purchasing value added fish products in the Caribbean.

Price said, in particular, the ready to eat fish meal is quite a deal in Stockholm and, while it appears to be an untouched market in Guyana, it is, nevertheless, something that can be addressed as a future possibility.

He said Europeans have also described Guyana as a good location for natural jungle location films and related projects that necessitate such shoots are another possible development.

Price said, for organic foods, markets are all across Europe, including for mangoes and papaws but strict standards have to be met, farm inspections among them.

There is also a demand for organic tamarind in The Netherlands and the creative industries there could offer employment in dance, theatre, book publishing and music.

Price described the EPA as a work towards progress and have details of expectations under the EPA from which EU countries would now be able to export more products, duty free, to Guyana and provide greater protection for investment and services to the benefit of both Guyana and Europe.

He said the EPA seeks to address difficulties in accessing development financing from EU through the Regional Development Fund, a tool the EU would use to retail funds to the Caribbean, so that the development pace can be accelerated.

Price said budgetary support is also a component of the EPA and it could address problems with short term business in relation to travel to EU destinations.

He said ‘FP7’, a framework scheme of over 50 billion euros and comprising firms involved in eco-innovation, too, can facilitate funding for Guyanese eco-tourism with European partnership and he encouraged local businesses to utilise it.

Price said the documentation needed for the EPA is no different from the Contonou Agreement requirements but extreme care must be taken in the compilation.

He said the Rules of Origin, although stipulating that a product must be wholly produced, it does not exclude lumber from Guyana or other CARIFORUM States and more developing countries.

However, those rules are to be reviewed at the end of five years and the one dealing with sugar in three years time.

Price also said business leaders should take advantage of planned trade shows and missions, as in Europe alone, more than 2,000 exhibitions are scheduled and EU financing could be accessed for 30 persons from CARIFORUM to attend at Brussels, Belgium in September.

With respect to one more business summit, billed for Trinidad and Tobago in November, finance could be provided for the attendance of 100 persons, he stated.

For the purpose, it is necessary to liaise with such organisations as the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) and professional associations can negotiate for the recognition of skills certificates to be accepted in Europe, Price advised. (Wendella Davidson)

GGMC recruiting more rangers
- to contain illegal practices
GUYANA Geology and Mines Commissioner (GGMC), William Woolford, has announced plans to increase the number of rangers in the small and medium scale gold and diamond mining operations.

The purpose is to contain illegal practices, he told a recent press briefing in the GGMC Library on Brickdam, Georgetown.

Mr. Woolford disclosed that, recently, eight persons were recruited and a number of others, who are currently being trained at the University of Guyana (UG), will join the existing staff at the end of their training.

He spoke in the presence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has portfolio responsibility for mining and acknowledged the need for GGMC to augment its monitoring capacity.

“We do need to increase the number of our mines and assistant mines officers,” Mr. Hinds confirmed.

Woolford pointed out that 40 additional rangers are needed but said GGMC now has 33 in its employ, who are supported by an environmental division that has a distinct complement which will respond to the industry’s expansion.

He said GGMC insists on responsible mining and, to date, dozens of miners have been charged, among them 60 from Quartz Hill alone, in Omai backdam.

However, they have since settled their charges out of court.

Woolford disclosed, too, that several persons from North West District in Region One (Barima/Waini); Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) were issued warnings and others had their equipment confiscated.

Additionally, he said GGMC has dealt with officers who did not adhere to its standard operations procedures and revealed that four of them are under investigation for possible corruption following the dismissal of some who were found guilty

Indians have come a long way from colonial, post-colonial periods
By Priya Nauth
EXECUTIVE of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) - Guyana Chapter, Dr Prem Misir, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, has expressed the view that Indians have come a long way in the public service from their lowest hierarchical status in the colonial period and during the People’s National Congress (PNC) ruling era.

He made this remark during a lecture entitled ‘Indians in the first Diaspora’ to mark the 170th anniversary of the Arrival of Indians in Guyana last month at the Hotel Tower, Rupununi Room, Georgetown.

Dr Misir said that during arrival month, Guyanese can celebrate Indian consciousness, Indian resilience, ethnic diversity and ethnic alliances which can only add to the meaning and value of multi- culturalism.

“One of the things I think we sometimes forget when we discuss Indian affairs in any country, especially multi-ethnic countries, we sometimes do not acknowledge sufficiently the bonding and the ethnic alliances that have happened with other ethnic groups in the society,” he noted.

He said Guyana’s history is punctuated with substantial ethnic alliances but unfortunately people tend to focus a lot more on the ethnic differences and conflicts.

“It is important to understand that indentureship would not have happened in this country if we did not have the abolition of slavery, sometimes we forget that the ending of slavery created the ingredients for indentureship,” Dr. Misir said.

The GOPIO executive member added that the abolition of slavery happened largely because of many revolts in different countries.

“And together with the anti-slavery movement and fluctuating causes and so on, all of these together created the ingredient for the abolition of slavery in 1834,” he noted.

“We know today that Indians came in 1838 but I think what is important too is that why did the Indians come here. They did not come here because there was a shortage of labour contrary to some kinds of view point that we have seen, the Indians and the Portuguese and the other indentures came here as a result of the demands that were made by the Africans for higher wages and other better conditions for work,” he pointed out.

He said there were 80,000 Africans to man the sugar plantations and the white planters thought they could recruit cheaper labour.

“Today the Guyana-India connection spans a 170 years but by the time indentureship ended in 1917 - 238,960 Indians came to Guyana and under the indentureship, the Indians were required to serve five years uninterrupted as labourers, after this period Indians were given the choice of either remaining in Guyana or returning to India and those Indians who served two contracts that is ten years received 50 percent or half of the return fare to India,” he underlined.

He said the indentureship system placed Indians under the total charge of Plantation Managers who had complete control over their lives.

“I think it is also important to point out that a lot of people think that Indians are very quiet people but I think if you look at the Indians in the Diaspora and different parts of the world, we have always seen resistance…but resistance for the sake of bringing some kind of functionality for the betterment of not only the Indian population but for the other populations as well,” Dr Misir observed.

He asserted that the Indians consistent resistance to the White Planters was the key element to maintain their cultural identity as well.

However, he added that between 1886 and 1888, the Indians staged 73 strikes and received 65, 084 convictions for labour contract violation.

The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana said that there was enormous bonding in the beginning between the Indians and the Africans.

“…when the Africans were already freed and the Indians came off the ship, a lot of Africans saw the dire or harsh treatment meted out to the Indians and a lot of matters were taken to court. This was captured by Walter Rodney in his book ‘A history of the Guyanese working people’ and many of these Africans who were freed went into court to testify in favour of the Indians against the White Planters,” he stated.

“This does not get captured too much in our history because we tend to focus too much on differences, one of the ways in dealing and getting better race relation is that we need to focus a lot more on similarity so I think it is important to point out that that was one kind of bonding that we saw,” he alluded.

He exhorted that this country is replete with a great deal of ethnic alliances over the years in the fight against colonialism.

“It is important to acknowledge that those things did happen as well but we need to balance them out because this is a multi-ethnic society and we need to understand that we did have ethnic alliances and bonding,” he urged.

What happened to Indians after indentureship?
Dr Misir said that many Indians remained on the sugar plantations and generally in agriculture.

However, he said that quite a few migrated into the public service, mainly the more middle class Indians who were able to move from rural areas into the urban centres.

“I don’t know how many of you realise that a lot of Africans came here after slavery was abolished as indentured servants just as we did in, 1841, those things have important implications for bonding and ethnic alliances, in the colonial era the whites dominated the society by definition, with African and Indians being at the bottom of the social ladder,” he noted.

“And in 1925, they were at the lowest hierarchical status within the public servants. This was not because of some problems between Indians and Africans it was simply a matter of who was living in the urban areas historically and many Africans after slavery was abolished moved to the urban centres in Georgetown and New Amsterdam, Berbice, and the public service jobs were mainly in the urban centres, so automatically they were the one who first were recruited into those areas. The Indians came but in a more gradual way,” he explained.

He said that the frequent People’s Progressive Party (PPP) criticism on the ethnic imbalance in the public service and the security forces in 1950-60 led to an investigation by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and one of the ICJ recommendations was that Indians should be recruited at a greater rate than Africans until an acceptable ethnic balance was reached.

“The PNC government during its 28 years in office failed to correct this imbalance,” he noted.

“I think for historical reasons we still see a large number of Africans in the public service, there are not there because of racial reasons, there are historical reasons for the large number of Africans and I believe that was the case during the PNC 28 years but what we found during those years was that there was no effort being made to correct the ethnic imbalance,” he observed.

However, he noted that in the PNC era, both Indians and African working class had similar fates.

What is the position today?
“Today, I think there is a greater movement of figures in a more positive or progressive direction…among ministers, you have a little over half who are Indians, Africans about a quarter and other ethnic group 21 percent,” he attested.

“Today a great deal of efforts are being made to correct it, in the ministries in the 1970s only a small number of Indians occupied senior administrative positions and in 1973 for instance there was only one Indian permanent Secretary and two in 1975,” he noted.

But, he said during the PNC era there was almost a fair equality between Africans and Indians in the accounts area which position remains intact today.

“Africans clearly dominated positions of divisional departmental head including regional development officers and so on, some of these have to do with historical reasons,” Dr Misir said.

“The fact that a lot of Indians were not given prominence would suggest to me that they were political reasons for that,” he noted.

He said today, there is a fair amount of mixture of ethnicity at the higher level of this government and the post of Permanent Secretary is almost equitably distributed between both Indians and Africans.

“That has not been so at any point in the PNC 28 years, Africans controlled all other senior, executive and administrative positions including Deputy Permanent Secretary and other senior personnel officers, he highlighted.

“If you look at a random sample of 15 state boards in 2006, you see an almost equitable distribution of ethnicity prevail,” he said.

STANDARDS CORNER
STANDARDS HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN OUR DEVELOPMENT
Can u imagine if the shape, size, material specification, fittings etc. of products and equipment were not to be standardised? What if there were no Code of Practice or guidelines to ensure reliable services and workmanship in the design, assembly, installation etc. to govern industries? Well the answer is simple. There will be chaos.

But the introduction of standards has played a major role in ensuring that there’s order and has also provided solutions to the many problems that arise in today’s manufacturing and service entities.

Standards are voluntary rules and guidelines which help to promote safer, healthier and environmentally sound products. They also provide improved quality, reliability, easier access to, and greater choice in goods and services. Moreover, they lower costs and provide greater competition and hence lower prices for consumers. They are also vital for the development of the national economy and play a pivotal role in streamlining the operations of the economic sectors of a nation, especially in developing countries.

Because developing countries generally have scare resources, they need to invest them wisely to help build stronger economies and to avoid making costly mistakes which can result in companies absorbing costs due to penalties for delivering poor quality products or failure to meet deadlines for orders. The implementation of standardisation can arrest these problems.

The effective use of standards avoids the wastage of resources by reducing the need to reinvent the wheel. For example, if an international standard for a particular product or service already exists, the local standard body can either have it adopted or adapted where necessary. This saves both time and costs and the monies can be utilised elsewhere.

The use of standards also helps in safeguarding public health and safety by establishing a base of requirements for application to local or imported products in these regulated areas. They also provide internationally accepted specifications that can be applied to the development, manufacturing and marketing of local goods and services, thus raising the health bills are reduced and added to this, there’s accessibility to regional and wor