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President Jagdeo congratulates Corbin on retaining PNCR leadership
By Priya Nauth
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has extended congratulations to Mr. Robert Corbin, Leader of the main opposition, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), who has successfully retained the party’s leadership.
This was disclosed by Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger Luncheon, at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
'“President Jagdeo, on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration has extended congratulations to Mr. Robert Corbin on a successful campaign to retain the leadership of the opposition PNCR,” he told reporters.
He said the congratulatory message was sent yesterday to Mr. Corbin.
“The administration anticipates that the renewal of the mandate given to Mr. Corbin in the face of criticism within and without, may indeed allow him to lead the party in a truly patriotic and in a national manner, resisting the appeals of some to “political adventurism and extremism” particularly at this time in the history of Guyana,” the message read.
Old stager Corbin staved off a challenge to his leadership of the main opposition PNCR late Saturday by an official overwhelming margin over his rival and fellow party stalwart Winston Murray.
But persistent claims of fraud and other irregularities in the party elections continue to dog him as he faces the daunting task of mending a seriously fractured party ahead of Local Government elections and general elections in 2011.
While the poll results showed that the Corbin camp’s machinery was well-oiled to ensure he remain in the top post, the obvious dismay among previous and the latest challengers to his leadership could leave him shorn of the support of several senior party stalwarts.
Murray, once a die-hard Corbin backer, picked as the sole challenger in the leadership race, accepted the official results and told reporters he is considering his political future.
Business people and others in the Reform wing of the PNCR last week rallied to Murray’s camp as expectations rose that he may prove formidable enough to unseat the incumbent Corbin.
But their hopes were dashed with the Corbin camp delivering him a wide enough official victory margin which Murray has accepted with equanimity. Corbin polled 614 votes against 223 for Murray.
Corbin, 61, a PNCR stalwart, was elected party chairman in 2000 and retained the role in 2002. He was chosen to lead the party in 2003 following the death of former President Desmond Hoyte.
After the party’s defeat in the 2006 national elections, Corbin's leadership came under scrutiny, although ultimately his two prospective challengers withdrew before a contest could be organised and his leadership was affirmed.
Challenges to Corbin’s leadership of the party led to infighting which intensified late last year after stalwart Mr. James McAllister was removed as a PNCR parliamentarian. This prompted strong protests from senior members, including Mr. Vincent Alexander, Registrar at the University of Guyana, who had previously attempted to challenge Corbin as leader.
In a statement then, the breakaway group, called ‘Team Alexander’, said it can no longer be of service to a party that “merely gives lip service to the ideals that inspired our continued service…”
Alexander resigned as the PNCR representative on the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform, and Ms. Julianne Gaul submitted her resignation from the Regional Development Council of Region Four.
Dr Richard Van West-Charles, former Health Minister and a son-in-law of the late President Forbes Burnham, returned home to challenge Corbin as leader of the party.
His main aim, he told the Chronicle, was to help bring the party his father-in-law founded in the mid-1950s into the principles and values of the 21st century and the challenge to Corbin for the PNCR top post was a central plank in this plan.
Van West-Charles last week withdrew from the race, backing Murray in elections at the party’s 16th Biennial Congress.
He sharply criticised Corbin’s leadership of the party claiming there was a clear “need for a new leader who can motivate party members at all levels to give their best effort.”
He said it was “undeniable that over the last five years our party suffered precipitous diminution which has affected its ability to effectively fulfill its mandate.”
“The steady departure of talented and established leaders from the ranks of the party has now reached crisis proportions and is resulting in disconnect between the party and its constituency. Over this period there have been several changes in the leadership team giving support to the Leader but the problem still persists”, he said.
But he said he was prepared to and “will abide by the decisions of the Congress.”
'“My love and commitment for this party is not limited to an election result”, he offered.
Corbin has been dogged by leadership infighting and charges of rigging party elections with Norton claiming he was last month manoeuvred out of the post as Chairman of the Georgetown district, a charge Corbin has denied.
The Biennial Delegates Congress is the highest decision making forum of the party and the theme was “People’s Victory Through Local Democracy.”
Administration echoes ‘disbelief’
- at horrific crime committed by Coast Guard in Essequibo
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday that the administration has uttered its “disbelief ” regarding the horrific crime committed by Coast Guard ranks in the Essequibo River.
He expressed this during his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
“'The administration echoes the disbelief of the leadership and the ‘rank and file’ of the Joint Services at the news of the horrific crime committed by ranks in the Coast Guard located in the Essequibo River,” he said.
He said the administration contends that the behaviour is “so unacceptable and unbelievable” that the service must commit to “a dedicated intense examination of underlying factors”.
'“The administration has urged a comprehensive investigation and the application of the full force of military and criminal law to those ‘rouge elements’ in the service,” Dr Luncheon assured.
Luncheon also said, “Continued faith in the Joint Services is equally urged, especially as it was being demonstrated with the much readier provision of confidential information about crime, criminals and other wrongdoers.”
“Heightened civic responsibility is one constructive outcome of this criminal act and it should not be overturned by the action of those sworn to protect the people,” he stressed.
Replying to questions by the media, he said a Board of Inquiry has been established.
"From the point of view of the administration, the event itself is thought to be a reflection of something that deteriorated, something that went wrong; and it was picked up in time and the investigation is to pursue such a perspective - what it is that happened that particularly led inexorably to this event,” he said.
The three Guyana Defence Force Coast Guards were slapped with a murder charge last Tuesday when they appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara. (PRIYA NAUTH)
SUGAR INDUSTRY TRIUMPH
BY PARVATI PERSAUD-EDWARDS
The Skeldon Factory in full flow (Mike Charles photos) |
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I have become convinced that the naysayers, doomsayers, and the witch-hunting opposition cabal would like to see failure in this country, if only to be proven right in their optimistic predictions of failure of all this Government’s initiatives to provide the people of this nation with upward mobility in their several spheres of existential dynamics.
Beyond wishful thinking they strategize and create situations to effect and achieve their nefarious agendas, even if they have to use dishonest arguments and outright lies to do so – such as Kaieteur News publishing an old picture of an IFA-funded bridge that was built several years ago and saying that it is a current project which has cost taxpayers $23.3 million.
However, the collective opposition cabal must be gnashing their teeth in frustrated bitterness at the sweet success of the state-of-the art Skeldon factory.
The self-appointed pundits, in order to win votes in the sugar belt, predicted immediate closure of the Demerara estates if the industry was to remain somewhat viable in the wake of the EU’s projected 36% price cuts, several years ago.
The Skeldon Factory in full flow (Mike Charles photos) |
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The Government said no way was that going to happen, because they were going to take steps to ensure that sugar workers were not deprived of their daily bread.
The opposition cabal yet persevered in creating distrust and apprehension in the minds of the Demerara GuySuCo employees, but the Demerara estates remain operational.
However, the prognostications of the politically (and credibility)-challenged pundits continued down the years, with a grand celebration when the first run of the Skeldon estate did not meet up to expectations, necessitating some adjustments, which any fool knows is a likelihood in any major undertaking of this nature.
How chagrined they must have been to see the sugar flowing into the hands of Guyana’s President when he proudly commissioned GuySuCo’s flagship at Skeldon on Saturday 22nd August.
With the threatened price-cuts in the EU sugar protocols looming to derail the viability of the sugar industry in several countries, including ours, the Guyana government was forced to strategize to circumvent economic catastrophe in the industry and the nation, and they came up trumps with a visionary solution – a state-of-the art sugar factory projected to reduce production-cost and increase value-added production.
 The Skeldon Factory in full flow (Mike Charles photos) |
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Several of the sugar-producing countries in the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) union, of which Guyana is a member, were forced to abandon their sugar industries in the wake of the EU price cuts, but Guyana had no option but to reconfigure Guyana’s sugar-producing landscape to create different dynamics of viability, because sugar has been and continues to be our most significant foreign-exchange earner, with a $35B equivalency figure, and one of the largest (if not the largest) employer in the country, with an estimated workforce of 20,000 employees, which does not take into consideration the thousands of persons who are indirect beneficiaries of the industry.
The main opposition, and all the satellite organizations strung on their tails continuously take this Government to task on one contention or another, even fabricating, or exaggerating situations, incidents, and events to discredit government functionaries, including the President.
But the PNC Government, with all the advantages that it once enjoyed, drove the main industries of this country – bauxite, rice, sugar, into near-catatonic state, with no-one except the PPP protesting the cost to the workforce and the negative socio-economic impacts to the nation.
In1989 the PNC was importing beet-sugar from Guatemala (inadequate amounts at that) to meet Guyana’s needs because sugar-production had reached an all-time low (as did every industry in Guyana then).
The PNC government could not even support local consumption, much less meet the needs of our international markets, but the doomsayers, who have suddenly discovered hitherto-dormant social consciences, were silent then.
However, despite the EU price-cuts and the extant variables in the external forces currently playing havoc with our international markets, Guyana now has visionary leadership determined to circumnavigate the marshy grounds of the dynamics threatening the viability, even the survival, of our industrial configurations, and while the witch-doctors and the witch-hunters rattle their bones and chant gibberish to call down the wrath of the demonic forces on the PPP government, the visionary initiatives continue to point Guyana toward an eventual future of prosperity and plenty.
The Skeldon initiative was conceived in 1998 as part of GuySuCo’s strategic review and the commissioning of the US$185 million Skeldon factory marked the culmination of ten years of planning and execution.
The President adumbrated his and the PPPC’s recognition and commitment to modernizing the sugar, bauxite, and rice industries to make them globally competitive. The Skeldon factory is integral to restore sugar to the position of sovereignty it once enjoyed.
But the President, while recognising that this is the largest investment in financial terms in the history of the country, also applauded the larger investment of the workforce input into keeping King Sugar on its throne, albeit at times with a shaky crown, from the days of slavery and indentureship down to current times.
The President adjured Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and other officials to ensure an increase in field production of cane to satisfy the 1.2 million tonnes requirement of the modernized factory. This will eventuate in increased employment opportunities for those willing to invest their efforts in the Government’s continuum of investments into the human capital of the country and restore prosperity in the sugar-producing belt of the nation.
However, this will be a gradual process, entailing co-operative and committed effort in a partnership involving management, the labour force, and the Government, which can only prevail in an environment where trust supersedes all other factors. This vital factor has been eroded to an extent, which has resulted in the demoralization of the workforce.
President Jagdeo posits that Guyana can produce 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually, but this is incumbent on all the enabling variables conjoining to enhance productivity of the industry and to make it operationally cost-effective so as to improve profitability, which will in turn redound to the benefit of everyone, especially the hard-working employees in the sugar industry.
The factory, which has a capacity to produce approximately 120,000 tonnes of raw sugar, will require about 1.2 million tonnes of cane annually if it is to function at optimum levels.
New lands are being cultivated in Manarabisi and at locations near the Skeldon estate and at Moleson Creek to meet the input requirements, which approximates to three times the amount needed by the old sugar mill.
The President stressed the necessity to expand on value-added initiatives with the Demerara Gold brand, along with the other diversification adjuncts to production, which include the conversion of cane into ethanol, generating electricity from bagasse to be supplied to the Berbice grid, among others.
The construction of a $2.4 billion packaging facility has already commenced at Enmore Sugar Estate.
On 20th December 2007 GuySuCo had begun supplying co-generated power to the Berbice grid. The co-generation factory has the capacity to supply 10 MW of electricity daily from one 5.0MW set and two 2.5 MW sets. Power is dispatched to the grid at 13.8k.V for the first phase of export and a 69kV transmission link is being installed to take the full output from Skeldon.
It has been reported that since the start of co-generation in December 2007 the incidence of load-shedding has been significantly reduced.
The President said that among the several challenges facing the sugar industry are the restoration of management capacity and efficiency, the deployment of innovative initiatives to increase the supply of cane, industrial stability, the development of new products with added value, and establishment of downstream industries.
He warned that sugar must pay its way and contribute to the national treasury.
However, sugar workers are disgruntled because they perceive that there is no real effort being made to address their concerns – which include arrogant management personnel who treats workers and their needs with no respect nor consideration, much like in colonial days, and the proclivity of functional superiors to misuse the facilities of the Corporation at great cost to the superstructure and consequential profitability of the entity, and eventually to the average employee in the sugar belt.
The workers are calling for one-on-one discussions with their President, much as they shared with Dr. Jagan in the days of yore.
Guyana is on the move, but for this momentum to be sustained there is need for all the players to be involved in participatory ways, as opposed to the destructive methodologies and strategies used to derail initiatives beneficial to the nation because it would negatively affect the Government and its image by persons with vested interests.
The visionary leadership of the current President and this government is meant to empower Guyanese as a nation, and any attempt to destabilize that upward trend of endeavour and achievement is unpatriotic at best, and treasonous at worst.
The sugar industry is this nation’s patrimony, and it is imperative that we all – every citizen of this land, guard this gift of our forefathers who, as the President said, gave their blood, sweat and tears for it to survive.
Guyana is on the move, but for this momentum to be sustained there is need for all the players to be involved in participatory ways, as opposed to the destructive methodologies and strategies used to derail initiatives beneficial to the nation because it would negatively affect the Government and its image by persons with vested interests.
The visionary leadership of the current President and this government is meant to empower Guyanese as a nation, and any attempt to destabilize that upward trend of endeavour and achievement is unpatriotic at best, and treasonous at worst. The sugar industry is this nation’s patrimony, and it is imperative that we all – every citizen of this land, guard this gift of our forefathers who, as the President said, gave their blood, sweat and tears for it to survive.
The most important correlation between the RPA and GAWU
By Dharamkumar Seeraj, M.P.
General-Secretary of the RPA
The RPA felicitates GAWU on its 19th Congress and bids the champion of the sugar industry fraternal greetings and good wishes as it faces the new and emerging challenges in the industry.
There were many important correlations between the rice and sugar industries, but the primary one is the championship and leadership of the father of the Guyanese nation, Dr Cheddi Jagan.
While the world knows of Dr. Jagan’s unrelenting solidarity with the sugar workers, few knew that he was also simultaneously championing the rice sector, and it has always been under a PPP Government that the rice sector flourished. Dr. Jagan served as president of the fourth elected General Council of the RPA from 1956 – 1959.
But more than this direct association, he has been the guiding force behind the production and developmental dynamics of the rice sector, even while it was under siege by the authoritarian forces, when farmers abandoned their lands in droves because of the oppression which they faced, making rice production a non-viable enterprise.
While sugar production was the driving force determining the decisions taken by the plantocracy to import slaves and indentured servants to British Guiana, it was these bonded people’s determination to survive and thrive that created gigantic industries from these two sectors.
The sugar barons imported paddy from the Carolinas in the USA, which they converted into rice with dehullers installed in the sugar mills as a cheap source of food for their slaves and indentured servants.
But it was runaway African slaves who first planted some paddy stolen from the planters in the backlands of Mahaicony.
Although they were re-captured and their farms were destroyed, they had planted more than rice. They had planted the idea in the minds of the sugar barons to allow slaves to cultivate rice in small quantities to satisfy their own consumption as a more viable and cost-effective option than importation of the product from the distant Carolinas.
However, they (and circumstances) did not allow production for commercial purposes because they did not want a parallel industry which could provide a possible challenge to sugar.
It was the Indian indentured immigrants, accustomed to achieving under the direst situations of privation, who took rice production to a different level, and the development of the rice sector is the most important contributory factor to the financial emancipation of the Indian indentured immigrant. Many thriving rice-farming areas were developed on abandoned sugar plantations.
Dr. Jagan wrote in ‘The West on Trial’: “Another front on which I fought vigorously was that of land reform, rent control and security of tenure. Referring to the Puerto Rican Foraker “500-acre” Act, I suggested that there should be a limit to the holdings of sugar estates, that land leased by the planters but kept idle must be released.” (to be cultivated by freed slaves and indentured servants).
“I proposed a progressive land tax for uncultivated lands, pointing out that this would force the sugar planters and others who held land idle to release them. I recommended blocking the loopholes in the 1945 Rice Farmers Security of Tenure Ordinance which fixed rentals and prevented the eviction of tenants (which protected the sugar barons and other powerful forces and enabled them to retain their hold on arable lands which they were not using); also that lands leased by the sugar planters for rice-growing should come within the purview of this law. I suggested that a similar law be enacted to protect tenants of lands used for growing crops other than rice. But all these attempts failed.”
Dr. Jagan also fought for a comprehensive scheme of water control to facilitate drainage and irrigation.
But Dr. Jagan’s initial efforts, though having little impact on the Colonial Government, were not in vain, because all his ideas fructified in very substantial ways when he first took office as Premier, and then subsequently as Executive President of Guyana in 1992.
The Father of this Nation began his fight for our freedoms in the sugar sector, but every worker in every sector in this country has much to thank him for, not least being the rice industry.
Today, with the opening of the Skeldon sugar factory and related activities, sugar production is taking on a new dimension to confront the global dynamics that are threatening the viability of the sugar industry, but the RPA is convinced that Guyana’s sugar industry will prevail, and that the GAWU would continue to champion the workforce of Guyana’s premier industry for generations to come.
Friday Musings
Rig for hire
By Sharief Khan
PSSSSTTTT! Can you keep a secret? Are you sure? Can I trust you?
All right, here’s the thing. But be very, very careful how you handle this bit of news or you could end up in a hospital bed or even worse.
The People’s National Congress Reform has a rig for hire and some big oil firms are interested.
All right – I know you are shocked, but be very, very careful. You know oil is big, big business and people with rigs can earn big, big money.
And you know you just don’t mess with people smelling big, big money. The smell of cash can drive some people crazy, right?
That’s why the folks in Congress Place in Sophia (PNCR headquarters) were not so happy when a band of `peaceful protesters’ tried to do their thing on the street outside the place this week.
A lot of people could not understand how a small band of PNCR leaders and supporters can be free to protest and sink to dirty name-calling outside the Office of the President and other places in the city and another group had to run for their lives when they tried to parade outside Congress Place.
If one group of people can protest under police protection, why can’t another do the same without having to run for their safety and lives?
It was very, very puzzling until I found out why the folks in Congress Place do not want any outsiders nosing around their base.
It’s the rig that the party has for hire. Trust me – I got it from very, very usually reliable sources who have requested anonymity to protect their safety and lives.
Anyone with a bit of knowledge about Guyana’s political history will know that the PNCR has an unenviable international reputation for its superb rigging machinery. That machinery was so perfected and its operators so clever, that it kept the party going smoothly for almost 30 years.
But then former United States President Jimmy Carter linked up with some forces here who were very suspicious about this superb PNCR rigging thing and after severe pressure in the right places, checks found that there were some serious flaws.
The PNCR leaders found themselves in a dilemma – their rig was serving them well but the party desperately needed vital aid from the West to keep it going. The rig, they found, was not like that Energizer battery in the TV ad that just keeps going and going and going.
The party needed saline and the rig had to undergo changes and it collapsed under the glare of international scrutiny.
The majority of Guyanese cheered lustily at the apparent demise of the PNCR rig in October 1992 and since then the rot seemed to have set in all across Congress Place and other party sanctuaries.
But now it seems that some of the old riggers who survived that sea change were simply biding their time and they are jumping for joy at the victory they produced last weekend.
The headlines in the newspapers didn’t shout it out and the TV stations probably had their reasons for trying to conceal the big news – but the PNCR rig was again in business and it can deliver!
That was heady tidings for the old faithful in Congress Place and they were dancing and jumping while proclaiming `Long live the Rig! The rig is big!’
And as fate would have fit, it was around the same time that the CGX oil company, which believes it has found huge deposits of oil offshore Guyana, announced that it was looking to hire a rig to drill.
That sent the old stagers in Congress Place into a frenzy and in their euphoria they contacted CGX saying their rig was the best in the world – it can deliver whatever the renter wants.
My understanding is that someone told them CGX may be interested and an emissary will visit Congress Place for talks.
They were waiting when the `peaceful protesters’ arrived to try to do their thing. This could jeopardize the big time for the party rig and that made the old stagers mad.
And you know what happened – the band had to flee.
You see why you have to be very, very cautious with this bit of news?
It’s hazardous trying to mess with some people’s rig when it’s their only means of survival.
THE PARROT
Freddie hates de song, “…yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get…”
The Parrot has squawked many a times about the bitterness a “karila-saturated” Freddie would discharge in the waters of the Waterfall paper. Over the years the bitterness turned “sour” (like milk does) and has gotten vile. From bile to vile. Always without a smile, a riled Freddie would miss the point by a mile when his rants are filed and piled in a style like chequered tiles. Here is a man, like “Ruff-fella”, the LeADer of the Alliance For Corbin, who hates Uncle Bharrat administration with more passion that is found in passion fruit.
Why so much hate, Freddie? Because yuh ain’t get a duty-free letter? Because yuh partner didn’t get the UG wuk? Because yuh house wasn’t built by dem guvment boys? Because yuh have to be loyal to dem who build de house? Everybody know de story Freddie. Because yuh “sour” at de boys fuh not doing de things yuh want, yuh bitter. Because yuh bitter, yuh hate. With this, how yuh expect people fuh tek yuh seriously? Yuh ain’t expect dem fuh believe that all dem plenty wrang-up tings and buse-up yuh does throw in de Waterfall is sheer “nancy stories”? No insult intended to Nancy.
Look how everyday yuh “busing”. Freedom sweet eh? Yuh meking up fuh all dem years when Uncle Forbes and Uncle Desi shushed yuh up. Yuh “busing” till yuh forget that Uncle Forbes did banish yuh from yuh homeland. Amnesia Freddie? How yuh forgetting so conveniently? I can’t believe that because you ain’t get a duty-free letter you doing loyal duties to the Place of CONgress and the All Freddie Colleagues party! Ow, is not only lil children does behave so? When dem ain’t get something dem cry and cry and cry and throw tantrums and say “Mummy bad. Daddy bad”. Grandfather would then come and give them what they want. They now sing and sing and sing, “Grandfather good. Grandfather good good”. See the similarities Freddie?
The “grandfathers” who contributed to the construction of your cosy abode are good simply because they contributed. If they didn’t you would have thrown tantrums just like how you are throwing at Uncle Bharrat. So Freddie, when you do these things, writing with bitterness, people know it is not the real story and the real reason why you have become a source of immense bile. The old cliché of “sour grapes” which I don’t like use, just pop out of my head. Oops! Last Tuesday, you come close close to being seditious (fancy word) when you discharged the bitters in the Waterfall. Is Henry from Eve Leary reading these stories? Last Wednesday, yuh sour sour because Uncle Bob from the Place of CONgress ain’t singing your song, “Mo Fyah, slow fyah”.
Why man? Is everybody must do what you want? When they don’t, you vex up and sour up. Because Uncle Bob, (to use your words from Wednesday, August 26, 2009), “…assumed the title of statesman…”, things became different. What you wanted? You wanted Uncle Bob’s followers to march and loot and burn and beat like what happened between 1997-2001? You want Guyana to be continuously gripped by these fears? According to you, because Uncle Bob did differently, he get “…conned…” as was your headline on the date mentioned. Bannas, you is something else. The Parrot wonder when you ain’t GET (if you know what I mean) if you does refer to her as being a “con”, “an elected dictator” “worse than Forbes’ and that a “polygraph” must be taken? Eh?
Boy I can imagine how you hate Dave Martins and the Tradewinds. Not he per say, but his song with the chorus, “…yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get…” The Parrot can imagine you shouting out from yuh house and RAV-4 winda at dem boys selling CDs with music carts when they pass near you and playing “…yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get, yuh can’t get…” Tantrums? Your shoes bill down by Bhena’s must be high with all the stamping when you hear that song. To make things worse, Dave come back to live here, so the song would be heard more often!
Poor Freddie. The old people does seh, “nah worry wid he, he tap side nah right”. “Tings nah regula up deh” to tek a few words from the late Lorrie. So dem music-cart boys will have to be aware of a bitter Freddie when he is close by and they playing the song. The same for his neighbours, music stores, mini-bus and taxis. If they do play it, they would end in the Waterfall drowning in “sour” and “bitters”! Yikes! Squawk! Squawk!
New Guyana Horizons completes US$230,000 Bel Air Nursery School
By Vanessa Narine
Volunteers with New Horizons Guyana during the delivery of furniture to the new Bel Air Nursery School.
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A spanking new building, valued at US$230,000, to house the operations of the Bel Air Nursery School, will be ready for the new school year on Tuesday.
The 30 by 70 foot structure was built by U.S. Air Force civil engineers from New Horizons Guyana, a U.S. organisation that does humanitarian work in partner countries of the United States.
The New Horizons Guyana programme is one designed to strengthen U.S. ties with partner nations in Central and South America, through combined quality-of-life improvement projects.
In Guyana’s case the quality-of-life improvements projects are being done at a total cost of US$9M.
Facilitating these projects are American volunteer soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen participating in the New Horizons Guyana, a U.S. Southern Command exercise, on two week rotations.
The projects undertaken include:
* The renovation of a school building at Timehri on the East Bank Demerara;
* The construction of a health centre at La Penitence;
* Eight medical assistance initiatives that see support at Timehri Primary School and the Diamond Secondary School, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Linden Hospital and Skeldon Hospital; and
* The construction of a school house in Bel Air, Georgetown.
Helping to deliver a donated refrigerator to the new Bel Air Nursery School building. |
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Additionally, the U.S. Marine 4th Civil Affairs Unit, New Horizons Guyana, in conjunction Food for the Poor, furnished the facility.
As part of a continuous partnership between the U.S. and Guyana, Food for the Poor, a non-governmental organisation, donated the items and the U.S. military were responsible for physically moving and loading them into the school yesterday. The donations included new tables, chairs, bookshelves and other essential items.
The concrete facility encompasses a large area, separated by wooden partitions, which will act as the classrooms; two toilets and a bathroom; an office area for the headteacher and a kitchen.
According to one of the volunteers spearheading the project, Chief Master Sergeant Steven Milhollin of the U. S. Air Force Reserves, the project was completed two weeks ahead of schedule.
“We wanted the building to be finished for the new school year so we paced ourselves to meet that deadline,” Milhollin said.
The volunteer stated that while the building will be completed and furnished, the New Horizons team will maintain a presence there since other small projects such as fencing still have to be completed.
He pointed out too that the team of volunteers pooled funds to present the school with a computer and printer.
Additionally Milhollin said that there was a sum between US$150 and US$200 set aside for school supplies and another sum amounting to approximately US$700 that will be handed over to the school.
Milhollin said, “Aside from the funding that was available to construct the school, some of the volunteers decided that they wanted to contribute something more which is why we decided to do a collection to assist in other ways.”
However, aside from the satisfaction of being able to help with the educating the younger ones, the volunteer asserted that the eagerness and happiness of the children were ultimately rewarding.
Amerindian girl, 13, dies after complaining of pain in throat
A thirteen-year-old girl from the Amerindian community Hosororo, North West District, on vacation with relatives at Kurukururu on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, died last Thursday, at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), after being admitted for a pain in her throat.
Dead is Jacqueline James, a student of the North West Government Secondary School. She was the daughter of Ronald James and Jacqueline O’Selmo of Hosororo Hill, located about seven miles from the Regional Administration’s Compound at Mabaruma.
Excited, and with great plans for the August vacation, the teen and her six other brothers and sisters, along with their father, arrived on their maiden visit to the capital city about three weeks ago. But little did they know her life would have been snuffed out before her return home.
The child’s father, Ronald James, said he travelled out of the North West District to seek temporary employment on the Highway, in order to be able to adequately provide the children’s requirements (books and uniforms) for the re-opening of school in September. In the meantime, the children were accommodated at relatives at Kurukururu. Pathetically, his plans were all dashed, for it had only been three days since turning on to his new job, when Jacqueline took sick and died.
It wasn’t easy, breaking the news to his wife and other relatives back home, he admitted, but he eventually did. They took the tragic news badly, and later began building her tomb, since they could not perceive her being buried anywhere else but at home.
With plans for a funeral being nowhere on the mind or in his budget when he left home, and not having earned any money since arriving in Georgetown and Kurukururu, the hapless father’s next big problem was raising approximately $100,000 to have his child’s body kept at a parlour in the city and transported by the Transport and Harbours Department steamer to the North West District for burial at home.
In order for the body to be taken home it had to be done by the once weekly steamer which was due to depart Georgetown yesterday, but he still did not know where the money was coming from. Then in the midst of his predicament, he learnt that the departure of the boat had been pushed back to today.
Realising that it was his last desperate bid, his brother-in-law, Pastor Victor Hernandes of Bumbury Hill, asked God to intercede, and the target was met.
The relatives of the deceased teen would like to thank the Government of Guyana, Mr. Desmond Correia, Mitzi Campbell, Vic Insanally and others for helping make Jacqueline’s return home possible.
Labourer accused of molesting 7-year-old boy
Clifford Benjamin, a 40-year-old labourer of Dredge Creek, Upper Pomeroon River, was yesterday remanded at the Charity Magistrate Court after it was alleged he had sexually molested a seven-year-old boy also of Dredge Creek.
Clifford Benjamin as he was being taken back to prison. |
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Reports reaching Guyana Chronicle state that Mr. Benjamin was working with the lad’s grandmother as a labourer when the alleged act occurred.
The matter was reported to the Charity Police Station and the man was arrested. An examination by the doctor on duty at the Oscar Joseph District Hospital at Charity showed that the boy had been sexually molested. He was attended to and sent home. The accused is married and is the father of four children.
He was remanded to prison and will make his next Court appearance on September 24.
(Brandon Cabose)
21-year-old daughter of businessman abducted
Dookie denies media reports of ransom demand from kidnappers
Up to press time last evening, family members of Roreema Dookie, daughter of businessman Beharry Dookie, who was abducted on Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, on Wednesday night, were hoping to be re-united with their loved one.
The police were still monitoring all telephone calls to the home and the whereabouts of the young woman are still unknown.
The police are mum on the matter, and are only prepared to say they are investigating.
The 21-year-old was reportedly kidnapped around 20:08 hrs Wednesday night shortly after she left classes at the International Business College on Thomas Street, Georgetown.
Beharry Dookie, popularly called ‘Nathoo’, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that he never received a ransom demand for the safe return of his daughter following her abduction on Wednesday night.
“I never receive a call for ransom and I don’t know where the newspapers got that news from,” he angrily stated.
The owner of Nathoo’s Liquor Restaurant and Grocery at Pike and Lamaha Streets in Kitty, whose daughter was abducted from her boyfriend’s car on Thomas Street, said they are presently working collaboratively with the police in monitoring the telephone calls to his home.
Beharry said he just wants his daughter back home where she belongs.
Beharry added that his daughter left home for classes at the International Business College at 5:00 pm Wednesday and when her classes ended at 8:00 pm, she had her boyfriend, Joel Oudkerk, waiting for her there.
It was when she was in his car that she was snatched and bundled into a waiting vehicle by unidentified men who, according to reports, beat Oudkerk until he was semi-conscious.
He has since received medical attention and is assisting the police with investigations.
The gunmen then sped off with Roreema, who had returned to Guyana on Tuesday after a vacation in Canada.
Dookie is enrolled in the Quantitative Methods (Association of Business Education) class and is in the diploma level class at the International Business College.
Strike off at Wales Estate
- GuySuCo, GAWU compromise on payment issue
By Tajeram Mohabir
THE Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) yesterday agreed that workers at the Wales Estate will receive $383 per bed for the clearance of obstacles (grass, bushes and vines) in the field.
GuySuCo had initially proposed to pay the workers $360 for the additional task but the union was holding out that the amount should be $400.
GAWU President Mr. Komal Chand told the Guyana Chronicle that the compromise was reached following a meeting with senior GuySuCo officials, and union representatives of the estate will instruct the workers to resume duties today.
This will be most welcome news for the Corporation, as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Errol Hanoman on Wednesday told this newspaper that he was optimistic that the matter will be resolved by early next week.
Amidst the differences between the workers and GuySuCo, some 13 hectares of cane on the estate were mysteriously set ablaze on Monday night.
Hanoman put the losses at about 65 tonnes of sugar, valued around $5.5M and to date no one was arrested in connection with the fire.
He said despite the setbacks of the fire, as well as the strike which started on Monday, the estate still stands a good chance of getting close to its production target, as harvesting there would take about seven weeks, which is before the rainy season begins.
However, the top GuySuCo official pointed out that this is dependent on how soon the workers resume duties.
Chand said the canes which were burnt were mature and even though there will be some losses, it will be far less than what the CEO had estimated.
He said that the workers will commence work today to get these cane to the factory as further delay will result in a reduction of the sucrose content of the cane.
The estate was temporarily closed following the workers strike. Hanoman said it was not feasible to continue operation given the workers counter-productive action.
He stressed that while the workers have a right to strike, again they breached the grievance procedures.
He contended too that though there are some reasonable GAWU officials, there are others who are irresponsible and these are instigating the workers.
Hanoman, on this score, appealed to these officials to cease their action and look at the broader picture of the industry.
But Chand contended that the strike was justifiable as the workers had been working under poor conditions.
He disclosed that he was informed by the estate management that 49 per cent of its cultivation is in a poor state, and that eight beds of cane can hardly fill a punt, when under normal circumstances, two beds could do this.
This, he said, is a loss to the Corporation. Apart from this, there are other instances where workers work under abnormal conditions.
The Wales Estate management, Chand warned, will have to improve their payment rates to workers in these areas as well, or there will be more strikes.
He underlined too that the union did not contravene the grievance procedures, pointing its action was in accordance with clause 5 (1) of the Recognition and Avoidance and Settlement of Dispute Agreement which states:
“For the purpose of this agreement, a stoppage of work resulting over:
** the price of a task or job which does not have a fixed rate of pay; or
** an abnormal work condition which may result in a hazard to the maintenance of good health
“Shall not be considered a violation of any of the terms of this agreement, but every effort shall be made by both parties to effect a settlement within 48 hours.”
President Bharrat Jagdeo, at a recent forum, has emphasised that workers have a right to full compensation and the Corporation must constantly try to enhance their pay package.
He, however, reiterated that they must understand their roles in ensuring the survival of the industry.
Notably, he stressed, in light of the European Union (EU) price cuts on sugar and other challenges facing the industry.
Mr. Jagdeo urged the workers to be reasonable sometimes, pointing out that they have to look at the financial situation of the industry.
“You can’t break the industry when it is trying to emerge,” he underscored.
Hanoman reiterated the GuySuCo management is always willing to listen and work with the workers in resolving their differences.
Meanwhile, the Corporation has reported that it has exceeded the weekly production target of 10,000 tonnes of sugar at the end of the fifth week of grinding.
The Company said the achievement of 10,110 tonnes of cane for that week is commendable and encouraging.
“Workers of Rose Hall location qualified for the equivalent of the two day’s pay as weekly production incentive, while those of Albion and Blairmont Estates received a day’s pay under the scheme.
“Sugar production for the second crop now exceeds 36,000 tonnes and workers are encouraged to maximise production by making the most of the opportunity days available,” the Corporation stated.
However, the strikes by workers of the Enmore and Wales estates were seen as a hindrance to the achievement of production targets.
Grinding for the second crop commenced at the end of July and is expected to last for 20 weeks. Just over 160,000 tonnes of sugar is targeted.During a major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in April, she noted that climate change is an environmental, health, economic, energy and security issue.
15 Women and Gender Equality Commissioners sworn in
President Jagdeo promises Government’s full support
By Priya Nauth
FIFTEEN persons were sworn in yesterday as members of the Women and Gender Equality Commission with President Bharrat Jagdeo pledging his government’s full support in its efforts.
Taking their oaths in the Credentials Room of the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown before the Head of State were: Ms. Shalimar Ali-Hack, Ms. Vanda Radzik, Ms. Nandranie Coonjah, Ms. Debra Ann Henry, Ms. Bebbi Haliema Khan, Ms. Gaitri Baron, Ms. Indranie Chandarpal, Mr. Peter Persaud (only man), Ms. Gillian Burton, Ms. Renata Chuck-A-Sang, Ms. Ernestine Barker-Logan, Ms. Cheryl Sampson, Ms. Karen Vansluytman-Corbin, Ms. Nicole Rhonda Cole, and Ms. Hymawattie Lagan.
Also, two more members of the National Rights of the Child Commission, Hyacinth Gloria Massay and Marissa Angela Massiah, were sworn in, joining Commissioners Pamela Nauth, Yvonne Fox, Pauline Anthony, Aleema Nasir, Michelle Kalamandeen, Suelle Findlay Williams, Sandra Hooper, Rosemary Benjamin Noble, Vidyaratha Kissoon, Bhanmattie Ram, Kwame McCoy, Shirley Ferguson and Sorajanie Rambaran, who were all sworn in last May.
In accordance with the Constitutional Reform Commission’s mandate, the National Rights of the Child Commission is one of the four entities to be set up with the aim of establishing a Human Rights Commission (HRC).
The HRC, on the verge of becoming established, will comprise a chairperson and the four chairpersons from the National Rights of the Child Commission, the Women’s, The Indigenous, and The Ethnic Relations Commissions (ERC).
President Jagdeo, congratulating the new commissioners and noting the importance of the commissions to the country, said, “We are moving along towards establishing all the rights commissions and they all very critical to the improvement of relations in our country.”
He underscored that the commissions are important “for our people to feel that they all matter” and said that the Women and Gender Equality Commission is an essential part of the set of rights commission established in the constitution.
Observing that most of the members have been considerably involved in fighting for the rights of women in society, he noted, “I think most of us understand that this group is a particularly vulnerable group in our society and that is why we sought to have a commission dedicated to its well being.”
He noted that today, too many women undergo significant difficulties in society, stating, “…I am sure that this commission will help to lead the way in ensuring that these social ills are eliminated.”
He said women need to play their rightful role in society without suffering the ravages of prejudice found in the family and societal levels also.
“I look forward to working with you, you have my government’s full support,” President Jagdeo reassured.
“I am so pleased that the fight to enhance women’s rights in Guyana has never been a political issue,” he said as he encouraged them to try to keep this out of the “political domain” and in its discussions, ensure that their politics, gender and race are not part of the process.
Meanwhile, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, said that fifteen of the new members belong to entities that enjoyed the support of no less than two thirds of the members of the Ninth Parliament.
“The parliamentary approval process, we should know, was long and drawn out but at the end sane heads prevail,” the Cabinet Secretary stated.
The Indigenous Peoples Commission is still outstanding and Dr Luncheon said its constitution must await the end of the parliamentary recess and the recommencement of the Ninth Parliament.
“With the appointment of those three commissions and the existing ERC, the HRC will be constituted, the HPS reminded.
He said for the Chairman, constitutionally, his appointment will be based on the Leader of the Opposition presenting a list to the President from which he will extract his choice.
The Cabinet Secretary said the administration intends to house the four Rights Commissions in the Bidco building in Queenstown, also in the city, subsequent to its rehabilitation.
On $25,000 bail for supplying false information
THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Anira Sealey yesterday appeared before Magistrate Priya Beharry charged with supplying false information to Police against her husband.
Sealey, 33, of 254 Prashad Nagar, pleaded not guilty to the charge and was represented by attorney-at-law Mr. Adrian Thompson.
Particulars of the charge said, on August 27, she gave Sergeant Gibson, a public officer, information about Sergeant Hope which alleged that he threatened to kill her which she knew was false and resulted in Gibson injuring captain Hope, when he would not have done so had he known the true statement of the facts.
Police Sergeant Krishnadat Ramana, prosecuting, did not object to bail for Sealey.
Thompson told the court that when the virtual complainant was assaulting his client at her shop on Orange Walk, someone saw and called in the Police.
He said Sealey did not report the matter originally, but had to remain in police custody for one night.
According to Thompson, his client was charged with supplying false information even though she did not tell the officers that her statement was untrue.
The lawyer added that Captain Hope, who is in the Army’s custody, should have been charged since he assaulted his client.
Sealey was released on $25,000 bail and will return to court on September 28.
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Jamaican student fined $10,000 for disorderly behavior
COBEIN Malcolm Welch, a student, was yesterday ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 when he appeared in court charged with disorderly behaviour at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Welch, a Jamaican national, pleaded guilty to the charge which said, on August 26, at CJIA, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he behaved disorderly.
Welch claimed that when the officer saw his Jamaican passport, she “became excited” and called various officers.
He said he did not mind that the officers were carrying out their routine search on him but he became annoyed after they continued.
According to him, after the officers searched his suitcase and did not find anything, they told him that they were taking him off his flight so that he could be examined at a hospital.
Welch said an officer told him that he had reason to suspect that he was carrying an illegal substance. For this, the defendant said he became annoyed and shouted that he was not ‘pushing’ drugs.
As an alternative to the fine, Welch was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment.
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Remanded on Unlawful wounding, robbery under arms charges
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Kevon Smith yesterday appeared in court charged before two magistrates with unlawful wounding and robbery under arms.
Smith, of ‘C’ Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, first appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton and was not required to plead to the charge.
It is alleged that, on August 23, armed with a potato peeler, he robbed Daneshram Shivnauth of a cell phone valued $30,000.
Smith however pleaded not guilty to the other charge before Magistrate Priya Beharry.
It is alleged that, on August 23, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Shivnauth.
Both matters will be called again on September 3. Meanwhile, he was remanded to prison.
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