ARCHIVES FOR JUNE 09 2008
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Following the collapse of the building at Hadfield and Smyth Streets
Residents move to Ruimveldt shelter

Some residents left homeless when the building they occupied on Hadfield and Smyth Streets in the city came crashing down early Saturday morning are now temporarily housed at a shelter administered by the Guyana Relief Council in Ruimveldt.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manickchand, together with Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Mr. Robeson Benn, yesterday paid another visit to the displaced persons at the site of the collapsed building.The building housed some 45 persons, including a number of children.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the scene yesterday, a number of household items including chairs, beds, mattresses, refrigerators were scattered among the rotted boards of the building.

Persons who lived in the house complained that their efforts to find alternative accommodation since the house had been leaning precariously were fruitless.

Simone Kowlessar, a former resident for the past 15 years, said she and others had applied many times for house lots, even producing pictures of the building in an effort to sensitise persons to the harm that could come to them if they continued living there.

They even went in groups as the building worsened. But nothing happened.

Latoya Thompson, a mother of two who is currently carrying another child and who has been living there for the past nine years, stated that it was not a case where they did not want to remove from the building, but there was simply no place for them to go.

Patronella Chismole, a resident there for the past 17 years and Elizabeth Dobsom, who lived there for 22 years, voiced similar concerns yesterday.

When asked how it was possible for the entire building to collapse with no one being injured, Eon Tyson, who is living in close proximity to the fallen building, explained how that happened.

Tyson said he and a number of the residents were celebrating someone’s birthday just outside the building about 2:00 pm that morning when they heard cracking sounds.

Those still in the house were alerted and they ran out. About fifteen minutes later, the building fell.

Tyson claimed that the Major of the City of Georgetown Mr. Hamilton Greene had also visited the scene early yesterday.

He said Greene went to give instructions to the workers clearing away the debris.

Minister Manickchand said all the Ministers involved are doing the best they could to help those persons affected by the incident.

According to Manickchand, the former occupants were assured yesterday that there are temporary shelters that are available for any who had no place to go.

She said that some of them had already moved their belongings to a shelter in Ruimveldt.

Manickchand said the displaced persons were told that whoever wanted to make use of the shelter could have done so.

She said Minister Benn also provided trucks, machinery and man-power to clear the site yesterday.

Manickchand also stated that Benn offered to transport the residents’ belongings to wherever they were heading, apart from the shelters.

She additionally disclosed that some of the affected persons will meet at her office today in an effort to discuss plans for what must be done next.
* the establishment of new implementation mechanism driven by the private sector to ensure efficient implementation of strategies.

‘Fine Man’ eludes Joint Services patrol in Berbice River raid

A Joint Services patrol on Friday shot and killed one of six men they came upon some 300 miles up the Berbice River.

The men included wanted fugitive, Rondell Rawlins, called ‘Fine Man’. The men escaped and left behind a cache of arms and ammunition in a camp at Christmas Falls, Berbice River.

The Joint Service release said there were six portable tents, four hammocks, three mattresses, a mini-stereo system, a DVD player, a cell phone, a hand-held radio set, items of clothing, medical supplies and a Bible, which were abandoned by the gang.

Three FN Rifles, four shotguns, one .32 revolver, two AK 47 magazines, seven FN Rifle magazines, along with 1,159 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition, 143 rounds of 7.62 x 51 ammunition, 10 rounds .38 ammunition, one round .32 ammunition and thirty six 12 gauge cartridges were also found.

Checks have confirmed that the three FN Rifles found were stolen from the Bartica Police Station during the armed attack on that community on February 17, 2008; and the .32 revolver and two of the shotguns have been identified as belonging to miner Chunilall Babulall, whose home at First Avenue, Bartica, was attacked and robbed during that incident, the release said.

The Joint Services ranks also found a diary which they said provided evidence of Rondell Rawlins planning and executing the killings at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, and Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).

A Joint Service press release said the men, headed by wanted fugitive Rondell Rawlins, called ‘Fine Man’, was encountered about 07:00h Friday at Christmas Falls area, about 300 miles up the Berbice River.

The release said the men immediately opened fire on the patrol and a gun battle ensued. In the end, one of the six men was dead. He is yet to be identified.

The other gang members escaped down a slope and into the jungle.

They included Rawlins, Richard Ramcharran called Uncle Willie, Magic and Chung Boy, among others.

The Joint Service added that trails of blood found suggest that others were injured in the encounter with the lawmen.

The operation followed the arrest of several persons and “diligent interrogations and enquiries”, the Joint Services press release said.

The gang members were housed in a location with four buildings in a desolate area in the jungle and had foodstuff to last several weeks in a kitchen with a gas stove, generator and solar energy apparatus.

Additional teams of Joint Services ranks have since joined the operation.

President Jagdeo and British PM Gordon Brown meet this week
-- to discuss financial institutions, governance, and coherence within the UN
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo and other Commonwealth Leaders are to meet this week with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to craft a Commonwealth position on three global issues.

In an invited comment yesterday on what is expected from the meeting, President Jagdeo said issues to be discussed are the reform of international financial institutions, governance in relation to the environment and, system wide coherence in the United Nations.

“I hope that through the interaction with some, a selected group of Heads, we’ll be able to have a position that the Commonwealth can unite around, so that in our lobbying efforts and our efforts to make changes in these areas we can have a more comprehensive, cohesive position,” President Jagdeo said prior to his departure at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

He said this is necessary if a space is to be carved for small developing countries, which make up the bulk of the Commonwealth within the financial institutions. President Jagdeo said these countries need to be treated fairly and there should be adequate financial and other instruments to address their concerns.     

President Jagdeo said the meeting will also see discussion on Guyana’s offer to make the country’s rainforest available to the rest of the world.

“Through the trading of eco-system services, if there is adequate compensation, if there is adequate financial flow to ensure that our people’s development aspirations are not affected, and provided it doesn’t affect our sovereignty over the rainforest, we’re prepared to work out an arrangement with the rest of the world,” the President said.

The President’s discussion on the nation’s rainforest comes after ‘positive word’ was received last month to the offer of using Guyana’s rainforest in the fight against Climate Change, in exchange for monetary compensation.

Such an agreement could mean significant funding for countries like Guyana which still has its rainforest intact.

Guyana is one of four countries with an intact rainforest.
NEWS

Guyana to dramatically expand substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation programmes
HEALTH Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has outlined an aggressive expansion of the treatment and rehabilitation programme for substance abuse in Guyana.

This follows the completion of a workshop to train resource persons in motivational therapy for substance abuse.

The Ministry of Health is presently working with Phoenix Recovery Project and the Salvation Army, two local NGOs, Inter-American Bank for Development, PAHO/WHO and Dalhousie University to establish a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation programme in Guyana. A National Oversight Committee tasked with overseeing the implementation has been established and it will hold its first meeting on Thursday June 12th at the Ministry of Health. The National Oversight Committee will be chaired by Minister Ramsammy.

At a meeting at the Health Ministry Friday, Minister Ramsammy outlined the plans to establish a Centre of Excellence for Treatment and Rehabilitation for Substance Abuse at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. This programme will be launched later this month and will become a regular programme from mid-July this year. The programme will consist of two parts: clinical treatment and motivational therapy. The clinical treatment part will include clinical treatment such as cessation programmes for tobacco and detoxification programmes for alcohol and illicit substances, such as marijuana and cocaine. The motivational therapy programme which is widely utilized with great success in Canada will be offered to clients twice weekly at the GPHC. Variations of the motivational therapy programme have been utilized in many countries, including Guyana, by groups such as Alcohol Anonymous and Narcotic Anonymous.

Minister Ramsammy also revealed that the Centre of Excellence will include a residential programme, but this will only become operational later in the year, as the facility is being constructed at this time. The residential programme will be managed by an NGO and the Ministry of Health is presently holding discussions with these groups. This residential programme will add to existing ones at the Salvation Army and Phoenix Recovery Project. However, the residential programme at the GPHC will include medical attention as an active part of the programme.

The Ministry of Health is also in discussion with the Phoenix Recovery Project which has been conducting rehabilitation programmes at the New Amsterdam and Camp Street Prisons for persons incarcerated with drug-associated crimes on a once-per month basis. The Ministry of Health will take these programmes over and Phoenix Recovery Project will collaborate with the Ministry of Health to have these as weekly programmes beginning July 1.

The Minister revealed that as these programmes become firmly established and the Ministry gains experience, the treatment and rehabilitation programmes will be scaled up and rolled out at the community level across the country. While the clinical treatment part of the programme will necessarily remain in a hospital setting, the motivational therapy part of the programme is possible outside the health sector. In this regard, the Ministry of Health will work with church groups and sports club across the country to establish motivational therapy programmes.

It is expected that programmes will be developed in Linden, New Amsterdam, Suddie and Bartica by the end of 2008 and in Lethem, Mabaruma, Mahdia, Corriverton and Kamarang by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

The programme is to be delivered by a group of clinicians led by Dr. Bhiro Harry and Dr. Maida and by a group of specially trained counsellors who graduated in the 1st phase of the use of motivational therapy recently. The Ministry of Health is developing a semi-distant learning training programme for the purpose of training a group of persons across Guyana who would be responsible for rolling out the rehabilitation programme. This is being done with the assistance of Dalhousie University.

Minister Ramsammy is hoping that the National Oversight Committee to oversee the implementation of the treatment and rehabilitation programme will soon meet with the Chancellor of the Judiciary to discuss the availability of treatment and rehabilitation for persons appearing in court.

The treatment and rehabilitation programme is part of an aggressive response by the Ministry of Health to substance abuse in Guyana. Already massive awareness programmes are underway. Every Wednesday night, the Ministry of Health hosts a radio show called Tales from the Crack, and every Thursday night, a TV programme entitled Changing Course. These are programmes designed to make people aware of the problem.

In addition, the Ministry of Health continues to promote education and awareness through its edutainment programmes conducted in schools and at other public places. Later this month, for example, the Ministry of Health will host an edutainment session in the Mall on Regent Street.

Minister Ramsammy believes that Guyana is a user of substance of abuse, but that it is on a trajectory to become an abuser and eventually an addict. He believes that the situation is one that can be reversed, but this would mean that aggressive actions must be taken now.

Remembered for many things
ARTISTIC Director of the Tenth Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta X), Dr. Paloma Mohamed said Guyana wants to be remembered for many things during the mega event including the country’s geo-physical diversity.

Carifesta X is slated for August 22 to 31, under the theme ‘‘One Caribbean, One Purpose; Our Culture, Our Life’.

Speaking last Friday during the weekly media briefing at the Carifesta X Secretariat on Middle Street, Georgetown, she noted: “We want to be remembered for what we can offer not only in terms of our cultural sphere, because we are one of the most diverse countries in the Caribbean…but what we can also provide in terms of geo-physical diversity because of all the Caribbean countries, we are a mainland country. We are a big country, we are the giant of the Caribbean and we have coastal land, savannahs, mountains and rivers that can fit many of the countries that are coming here,” Dr. Mohamed pointed out.

&We want people to know what we have to offer in terms of industries and tourism,” she also noted.

She said during the festival, visitors will have a chance to see horses from the savannahs, to highlight Rodeo, since Guyana is one of the few countries in the Caribbean that can boast of such activities.

&So basically there are many things we want to be remembered for…we also want to be remembered for what we are trying to say philosophically with this festival, because this festival is not a party as most people have criticized it for being in the past… of course we want energy and enjoyable things, but we want to say that the Caribbean is a place of stars, that we have created in this region many great minds,” she posited.

Dr. Mohamed also said that Guyana wants to showcase the philosophy that has come out of the region which was crystallised in 1972 during the first Carifesta.

She recalled that when the first Carifesta was held in Guyana, many young artistes of the region were here and many want to come back because Guyana is a special place for them.

Also, Dr. Mohamed added that Guyanese have always been remembered for their hospitality and for being well-behaved.

She also informed the media that the music video featuring Lisa Punch is expected to be launched this week, as well as two ads highlighting what is culture and the kind of pride people have in Carifesta.

The Artistic Director also announced that the winners of the Sixth National Secondary School Drama Festival are Sophia Special School, for ‘Massacuraman’, and Gem Youth Theatre Productions, for ‘Shattered Hopes and Dream’.

The winners will go on to represent Guyana at Carifesta X and the Eighth Caribbean Secondary School Drama Festival.

The festival also helped to expand the scope of drama in secondary schools, and to provide the forum through which students can express their thoughts, emotions and talents through drama.

T&T woos local, foreign agri investors
THE Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) government is inviting proposals from suitably experienced and qualified local and foreign investors to design, finance, develop and put into production nine commercial agricultural farms of at least 100 acres each.

Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources of the twin island republic, Mr. Arnold Piggott, Friday made the announcement during his presentation on “The Mega Farm Concept in Trinidad and Tobago” on the final day of the two day Regional Agriculture Investment Forum at the Guyana International Conference Centre (CICC), at Liliendaal on the East Coast Of Demerara.

According to Mr. Piggott, the agriculture sector of T&T has tremendous potential for making a significant impact in trade of goods and services across several sectors, including transportation, printing, packaging, and the hospitality industry, including tourism, hotels and restaurant operations.

He told the forum that his government is encouraged by the interest shown in its agriculture sector and pointed out that the lands for commercial production were formerly used primarily for sugar cane cultivation.

“These lands would be made available through lease and joint venture arrangements with private investors,” the minister disclosed.

He explained that the Trinidad and Tobago government foresees that these farms will have strong links to processing and marketing channels, and will provide some feedstock for the agri-business sector.

This, Mr. Piggott underlined, is one of the principle strategies his government has identified to advance its agriculture sector.

“In support of private investors, the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is committed to providing the required infrastructure, i.e. roads, drainage, public utilities, up to farm gate and the necessary regulatory framework to stimulate private sector investment,” the Trinidad and Tobago Agriculture Minister explained.

He elaborated it is envisioned that the partnership with the private sector will provide on-farm infrastructural development, including irrigation and other facilities.

The minister pointed out that the investors will be responsible for complete financing of the projects and will be required to source their own markets and develop and implement marketing strategies for the sale of all produce in the twin island republic and abroad.

“ To the venture capitalist in our midst today, the commercial bankers, the development bankers, agricultural experts, lobbyists, policy makers, political leaders, the executives of governments, heads and officials of international food and financial agency, I say to you, the time is now to re-assess, re-invent, re-align and re-invest in an agriculture sector which transcends local and regional boundaries,” he implored.

Mr. Piggott noted that other industry sectors that will positively grow because of agriculture expansion are livestock feeds and the plastic industry, all within the manufacturing sector.

Plastic crating, along with other plastic wraps for packaging and protection of agriculture produce, will play a significant role as well he said.

“Investors in various businesses should therefore seize the moment and opportunities for investment and turn what appears to be a looming catastrophic gloom and doom into a massive boom in successful business development as it relates to agriculture and its spin offs,” the minister charged.

He disclosed that there are some 210,000 acres of available lands in Trinidad and Tobago with a farming population of 20,000, 99 per cent of whom operate as individuals.

The minister said that there are 19,000 farm holdings, 80 per cent are less than 10 acres with 73 per cent in crop farming; 11 per cent in livestock ; and 16 per cent in both.

The sector, Mr. Piggott noted, contributes some 0.6 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs some 36,000 persons.

The twin island republic government envisages that by 2020, the sector will be competitive and will possess the capacity to sustain the competitiveness by becoming adaptive, technology focused and market driven to build resilience.

The minister pointed out that the role of the sector is to ensure food security, economic diversification and expansion, support for rural development strategy, support for the national health improvement strategy, and support for tourism and for social development.

Mr. Piggott underscored that his government’s policy framework recognised the food security and international competitive paths as two distinct areas pivotal to development.

He explained that in the food security path, emphasis is placed on ensuring that government provide not less than a certain minimum per cent of the six food groups and there are the capabilities to ramp up domestic production to mitigate challenges.

The international competitive path, the minister noted, is where products must be able to compete internationally, based on their culinary heritage and expertise in the culinary arts, and innovativeness to develop and market a range of new and innovative value-added products, including some from the security path.

Stemming from the international competitive path he disclosed, “the government has identified 10 commodities from which we will be develop a range of high-valued processed food products aimed at the domestic and export markets,”

These include cassava, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, hot and seasoning peppers, paw-paws, coconuts, herbs, rabbits and tilapia.

The minister stressed that this drive is supported by the following policy measure:

* strong financial and institutional support for the private sector agri-business organisations;

* significant increase in the range and access to incentives along the agri-business value chain;

* pragmatic trade policy that opens markets for exports, but not interfering with the country’s food security products consistent with regional and international trade agreement; and

* the establishment of new implementation mechanism driven by the private sector to ensure efficient implementation of strategies.

Robberies in Berbice
A businessman disarmed one of two bandits who tried to rob him on Saturday night while he was about to enter his yard.

Police reported that about 21:00h, two men, one of whom was armed with a handgun, attempted to rob a businessman on the Corentyne, Berbice.

The businessman was about to enter his yard after transacting business when he was confronted by the two bandits who held him at gunpoint and demanded cash, Police said.

But he snatched the firearm from the one who was armed and then both bandits ran away.

The .32 Taurus Revolver and ammunition were handed over to the police who are conducting investigations.

And in a separate incident early yesterday morning, Ganesh Premchand, his wife Omawattie, and Paul Budhoo, a relative, were about to retire about 00:45h yesterday after a get-together at their home at Adelphi, Canje, Berbice, when they were confronted by three armed men.

Police said that the robbers held them at gunpoint and took away a total of US$800, G$40,000 and a quantity of jewellery, and escaped, firing their guns as they did so.

During the incident, Budhoo was dealt several blows about the body with a cutlass.

The police recovered two warheads and several pellets at the scene.

Distribution of genetically improved piglets
The Ministry of Agriculture will be distributing genetically improved piglets as part of its pig improvement programme on Wednesday, June 11, from 14:00hrs, at the Guyana Defence Force Livestock Farm, Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara.

Agriculture Minister Robert M. Persaud will witness the exercise, while pig farmers and senior officers of the ministry will be present.

All interested pig-rearers are invited.

Classic Tuesdays at Castellani House
The trials of modern life and love are explored in a sharp and stylish contemporary French film, Venus Beauty Institute (1999), written and directed by Tonie Marshall, at Castellani House tomorrow at 6pm.

A clutch of leading French actresses, including Nathalie Baye, Bulle Ogier and Audrey Tatou, are beauticians at a Paris salon who come to examine their lives and emotional relationships, sharing and receiving advice and commentary from their friends and clients as the main story unfolds. Baye, playing the lead character of Angèle, begins another casual encounter of her choosing, unexpectedly receiving love and passionate attention from her new partner, which leads her to face some uncomfortable truths and unforeseen complications.

Lead actresses Baye and Bulle Ogier (playing Nadine, the salon owner) have between them worked with recent cinema history’s leading directors including, for Baye, the legendary François Truffaut ( La Nuit Américaine or Day for Night, her major film debut) and Jean-Luc Godard; and for Ogier, among many others, Luis Buñuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie), Jacques Rivette (Celine and Julie go Boating), Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margeurite Duras.

Baye has won four Césars, the leading French film awards, including two for Best Actress, and Best Actress awards at three international film festivals, at Venice in 1999, Seattle in 2000 for Venus Beauty Institute, and San Sebastian, in 2006. In 2002 she played Paula Abagnale, the mother of the Leonardo di Caprio character in ‘Catch Me If You Can.’

Venus Beauty Institute won four Césars in 2000, including those for Best Director and Best Film, and has a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. The public is cordially invited to attend this event, and admission is free.
EDITORIAL

Time to rid the city of derelict buildings
Creaking of a dilapidated building sent scores of men, women and children scampering for safety, leaving all their belongings behind.

The crashing to the ground of the more than one-hundred-year-old wooden building at the corner of Hadfield and Smyth Streets in the city must have been a horrifying experience for the people who lived there.

Guyanese believe that the collapse of the building should send a clear message to City Hall in conjunction with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) of the Ministry of Housing, to dispatch inspectors around Georgetown, and indeed throughout the country, to compile a register of those buildings which are unsafe for human habitation.

One building has collapsed in our garden city. Fortunately none of the more than twenty four persons was injured when the building gave way. There should be no ifs and buts about it. The relevant authorities must act now to have these old and unsafe buildings, some of which are real eyesores, removed before it is too late and lives are lost.

The people are aware that there are some unscrupulous landlords whose principal aim is to collect rent from tenants, although they are knowledgeable of the state of their buildings. Albouystown, another ward in Georgetown, is rife with dilapidated buildings, which, apart from being fire hazards, are unfit for occupancy.

On many occasions we hear that the owners of many of these buildings are out of the country and they are being looked after by care-takers. We believe that if this is the case and buildings are condemned after being checked by the proper authorities, approaches should be made to the court of law to have them dismantled.

We know that many of the people who occupy these buildings live in abject poverty, but they will have to be told about the dangerous risk which sometimes results in loss of lives and serious injuries.

Our heart goes out to those persons whose earthly belongings are buried under the rubble of the collapsed building.

We commend Human Services Minister, Priya Manickchand and Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, who visited the scene of the collapsed building and consoled the occupants stranded on the street in bewilderment.

Guyanese appreciate the visit by the two government Ministers who advised those left homeless accordingly and offered government’s assistance in helping to put them up in shelters for the time being.

Our city especially needs a face-lift, and in the light of CARIFESTA X coming, we believe the time is now for us to start clearing Georgetown of all derelict buildings. Those responsible should act now and do whatever it takes to have all the eyesores removed.

We must do everything in our power to preserve Georgetown to its former glory as the ‘garden city’. We must rid Georgetown of the derelict buildings that bring embarrassment to our beautiful capital city.

We must not wait for another dilapidated building to collapse before taking action.
FEATURES

The Rice Industry of Guyana
Origins and struggles of the golden grain (Part 2)
By Irfaan Ali

The rice which we consume today has a glorious history to be entrenched in the economic and social life in Guyana and the Caribbean. There are many periods when rice cultivation experienced pains, sufferings for wealth creation in the nation. Each era from slavery, indentured immigration, and pre and post independence left indelible traces of exploitation and some measure of prosperity of rice producers.

Many are not aware that the rice industry provided cheap food at subsidized prices for all Guyanese and the Caribbean. By 1956, Guyana was labeled as the bread basket of the Caribbean and today Guyanese rice and agricultural products provides the potential for food security in Caricom.

During the Dutch occupation of Guyana, rice was introduced from Carolina which was at that time a colony of today’s United States of America. In 1782, more seed paddy was imported by the French colonizers from the French colony of Louisiana. It was Governor Gravesande between 1738 and 1772 who entrenched rice cultivation in British Guiana.

The runaway slaves who were called bush Negroes cultivated rice in their secretive hiding places. These African rice growing pioneers grew rice in very large quantities. It is reported that at the back of Mahaicony the Governor then sent a large contingent of officers to destroy the crop. However, in 1813 the colonizers experienced the end of rice importation of rice from the United States. The product still was grown secretively in the colony.

It was only after emancipation in 1834 that the rice industry became an official crop. Honourable W. Russell recorded that in 1848 he saw rice cultivation by the “Timini Africans” in Berbice. Seed paddy in 1853 was officially imported from Georgia which produced a bountiful crop.

The first large cultivation of rice was in the Demerara River at plantation Vive-la-Force. The holding was 150 acres and the labourers were all Negroes. This first large scale cultivation was very successful and this experience precipitated widespread cultivation in several parts of the country in African villages.

It was a monumental task by the African population to establish this industry in the country. They cleared the bushes by simple tools with axes and cutlasses. They emplodered the fields with small dams and did land preparation with hoes. They hand planted the crops and reaped with grass knives. They fetched the crop for processing mostly on their heads and pounded the grains in mortars for the final product. Rice cultivation by Negroes was a major cooperative effort in the country which was the foundation for the early growth of African villages in the country.

During this era the Negro population who pioneered the rice industry made enormous sacrifice and prepared the foundation for the future of the rice industry not only to be self sufficient with food, but to use the industry for capital accumulation to improve the quality of living.

The second phase of rice cultivation was by the free indentured immigrants who were known as coolies from India. The first cultivation was 16 acres at Windsor Forest on the West Coast of Demerara. Cultivation increased subsequently in the Canje River, Abary and Mahaicony by Indians who then became a land owning class.

“The sugar planters at Anna Regina in 1886 leased to Chinese and East Indian sugar workers 20 acres of land.” (Codd & Feterkin, 1933) This was the first drainage and irrigation cultivation in the country which ensured a bountiful crop. This was the beginning of controlled water management which is now the norm in the industry.

As an incentive to keep the indentured labourers on the plantation they were offered land in lieu of return passages, the sugar planters provided about one acre of abandoned sugar lands to the Indian labourers. Throughout the sugar belt the May June rice crop originated. The plots were known as”beds” which had nurseries called “beyari”. When the seedlings were matured, they were uprooted by men and then transplanted by women. This was the first cooperative venture by East Indians who planted and reaped the crop by making “hands’ for about ten united group of sugar workers.

As the Indian were freed of indentureship, many moved to new villages throughout the cost and established diversified agriculture. This was the beginning of the cattle industry, multiple farm production and introduction of the coconut industry on the higher parts of the land which were known as “sand Reefs”. The planters as a further incentive provided communal pastures for cattle rearing.

The first new technology in the rice industry was the introduction of bulls and steers from the cattle industry. Government provided a further incentive to keep the large influx of East Indians who were indentured in British Guiana. The cattle industry provides the animal power for land preparation by using ploughs to prepare the fields for hand planting.

The rice farmers introduced a local manufactured “draga” or a flat bottom boat to transport the seedlings to all areas of the field. This same “draga” was used to transport the hand cut harvested grains in bundles to be processed at the so-called bed head to a” Kharian” or processing ground. Here in the center was planted a forked top paste tree stump onto which about four to six oxen had to make several rounds to separate the grains from the stem. On top of the stump sat a small boy who ensured that the group of oxen moved around non- stop.

Commercial rice cultivation began about 125 years ago. The country in 1886 was still importing about 25,000 tons of rice. . As more East Indians entered the rice industry production increased by 1906 or about 100 years ago when the country became self sufficient in rice which then became a staple diet.

As production became greater than consumption, external markets were found for the product. The first export was to Trinidad; By 1914 Guyana Rice production skyrocketed with the advent of the First World War. Farmers benefited from the high rice prices in the West Indies and the industry experienced further growth. . The rice price dropped to very low levels with competitive rice supplies entering the external markets from the Far East.

The gloom and despair for the first time was in the period from 1914 to the late 1930’s because of the exploitation of middle men in the industry. As the industry grew, rice producers became helpless to sell their produce. Emerging out of this was some Water Street businesses which became agents to export rice such as Bookers Brothers and Sandbach Parker & Co.

The depression in the industry continued during the Second World War started in 1930 and ended in1944. During this period the farmers agitated for stability in prices. As a result of this, the British Guiana. Rice Marketing Board was established as the only buying and selling organisation for the product. After further agitation that the farmers' interests were not fully represented by the representatives of the British colonial government the Act was amended to give rice farmers a majority in the 16 member Board. Rice farmer D. Narine became chairman with PPP stalwarts Bashir Khan, Mooneer Khan and S.M. Lachmansingh were among the Board members.

Shortly thereafter The British Guiana. Rice Producers Association was formed with Vishnu Narine as the First General Secretary and Karamat Ally Mc Doom as president. As a militant organisation this association became the rice farmer’s mouth piece to echo the needs of the industry and the suffering of farmers for rapid transformation.

When Dr. Cheddi Jagan came on the political scene in the late 1940’s, he agitated for the welfare of the working class and actively represented the interests of rice farmers. He was aware of the tremendous historical contribution of Africans and East Indians and saw the vision for the rice industry to be a major industry for the country. The next article will analyse the contribution of Dr. Jagan and the PPP from the end of the Second World War to 1964 towards a vibrant local rice industry.
IN-THE-COURTS

LETTERS

UNENLIGHTENED ENLIGHTENMENT
I REFER to the Sunday Stabroek Editorial of June 8, 2008, where it injected as its running theme the notion that the Office of the President is oblivious to enlightenment. It, however, should be made very clear that this Presidency is not a ceremonial Presidency, and it is not a blotting paper to absorb all manner of criticisms/observations.

And I immediately thought of the European Enlightenment when I stumbled on the Editorial’s use of the term ‘enlightenment’. The European Enlightenment was a time of extraordinary intellectual development and change in philosophical thought; that was a time when ideas and beliefs that had weathered the storms of the ages, were replaced during the Enlightenment. The 17th century philosophers like Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke were linked to the European Enlightenment; their focus was on producing systems of ideas that were rational, and that such ideas should emanate from the real world and be tested in the real world.

Look, the essence of the European Enlightenment was to understand and control the world through reason and empirical research. And so any form of enlightenment, clothed in reason and empiricism, that is presented to any government, should gain widespread acceptance. But do the ideas and beliefs as articulated in this Editorial constitute ‘enlightenment’?

The Editorial alludes to some Freedom of Information (FOI) creature, not yet part of the legislative architecture of this country, as an idea rejected by this Government; and presented as an example of this Government’s reluctance to be enlightened. The FOI creature is certainly not rejected by this Government.

And it is in the spirit of an absentee FOI that this Government has provided to all Guyanese greater access to Government’s records. The effectiveness of new developments, as greater public accessibility to public information, has to be measured and monitored in comparison with what existed before it became instituted; it is only then we would know ‘where we are’ after understanding ‘from whence we came’.

The fact of the matter is that even without the FOI, there is a fair amount of information accessible to the public; but, indeed, some information may not be readily available for strategic reasons.

And look, in the U.S., even with the FOI, there are nine types of record exempt from public disclosure. And so what is enlightening about the proposal to implement the FOI creature in Guyana at this time, given that Government in principle already acknowledges its utility value, and given that accessibility to public information is a clear and present fixture even in the absence of a formal FOI? Therefore, making the case for FOI at this time does not constitute enlightenment; this kind of a one-night stand ‘enlightenment’ fails to satisfy the criteria of rationality and empiricism, as aforementioned. And the critics should publicly state what public information is not readily available at this time in the absence of a formal FOI.

And then we come to the hullabaloo at the launching of the Guyana Times last week at Le Meridien Pegasus. This Editorial and some other sections of the media really tried hard to disseminate a fictional war of words between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Demerara Distillers’ Chairman Mr. Yesu Persaud, and implicitly, to promote a fictional rift between the Private Sector and the Government. Intact today, however, is Guyana’s Competitiveness Strategy, a product of the growing partnership between Government and the Private Sector. And so this kind of biased media dissemination, indeed, does not constitute ‘enlightenment’. This kind of biased dissemination does damage to the society.

There was no war of words. The President merely took the opportunity to adjust a flawed expression that special privileges were conferred on Queens Atlantic Investment Inc. (QAII). And the President then presented some of the investment incentives available for both domestic and foreign investors, noting that was no bias in awarding investment incentives.

The investment inducements cover general across-the-board incentives for investors; special incentives for firms producing non-traditional products for export; sector incentives for agri-business; manufacturing, tourism; fisheries; forestry; mining; housing; aviation; and information communications technology. I would refer those interested in a summary of these investment incentives to Table 3.10 on the Go-Invest Website.

I have always felt that there are those in this society who have a proclivity to create division, albeit a fictional one; this Editorial’s nuances seem to suggest just that.

And so let me refer these people to one of Obama’s comments: “There are those who are preparing to divide us: the spinmasters, the negative ad peddlers. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America – there’s the United States of America.”

Moreover, ‘enlightenment’ may have to car