Headless body found
Relatives believe it’s Kalamadeen
Police following several leads
POLICE are said to be pursuing ‘several leads’ following the shocking discovery early yesterday morning of a headless body believed to be that of businessman Mohamed Farouk Kalamadeen.

Hours after the discovery of the body at Cowan Street, Kingston, relatives of the businessman paid for his “death announcement” to be placed in the newspapers and started to make funeral arrangements – a clear sign that they had accepted that the body found was that of Kalamadeen.

However, Ms. Bibi Shadick, a relative, said that DNA samples of the body had been taken to Eureka labs in the city for confirmation of the identity of the body. A post mortem is due to be conducted tomorrow morning, she said in an invited comment.

While the body has been found, mystery now surrounds what has happened to Kalamadeen’s head, as it was not found where his body was.

The body – found a stone’s throw away from the headquarters of the Guyana Police Force - was reportedly clad with the same blue garments and boots Kalamadeen was wearing when he went missing on April 2, 2008.

Kalamadeen, 54, left his home at Barrington Apartment, D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara, at around 06:00 h on April 2, 2008 to go on his daily jog but was never seen or heard from again.

The businessman, who once helped run the popular Kalamadeen’s Supermarket in Alberttown, Georgetown, had left Guyana for the United States but returned and established a vehicle repair outlet, Jiffi Lubes, at Light Street and North Road in the city.

The Police were summoned at the site of the daybreak discovery of the body and soon a large, curious crowd gathered.

It is believed that the businessman was killed elsewhere and his remains dumped at the spot during the early hours of the yesterday morning, minus its head.

The man’s family maintained that he did not have any problems with anyone as far as they were aware. They said there had been no demand for a ransom.

Kalamadeen is survived by his wife Nariman, children Irfaan and Faraz.

A funeral service, according to Muslim rites, has been set for tomorrow at the Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO), Woolford Avenue, Georgetown.

Meanwhile, the police, in a brief statement last night, said: “At about 06:00 h today (yesterday) the headless body of a man was found on Cowan Street, Kingston. The body was clad in a red jersey and black pants and was barefooted.

By its general appearance, the body was later identified to be that of Farouk Kalamadeen by his son Irfan Kalamadeen. Farouk Kalamadeen had been reported missing on Wednesday, April 02, 2008, after he had left for his morning exercise and had not returned home.

Investigations are in progress.”

Drive-by shots hit East La Penitence Police Station
By Michel Outridge
A DRIVE-BY shooting, shortly before midnight Tuesday, left bullet holes on the East La Penitence Police Station, at Mandela Avenue and Arapaima Street, Georgetown.

But, fortunately, the gunfire, concentrated in the eastern and western walls of the building, injured no one.

Reports said occupants in an unidentified vehicle opened fire in the latest attack on the Police, which stirred concern among ranks who declared they were lucky to have survived, considering the number of rounds discharged.

“We were really caught off guard and it surprised us who worked that shift. It has left me shocked,” said one policeman.

Some female ranks, who were on duty at the time, scurried for cover and a few burst into tears after realising their situation.

The Police, in a statement last night, said that about 23:45 h Tuesday night, “armed men in a motor vehicle drove along Arapaima Street and discharged rounds at the East La Penitence Police Station, damaging three glass windows on the lower flat and the walls on the western and southern side of the upper flat of the building.”

The Police confirmed that no rank was injured in the attack.

The ranks on duty claimed that the attack took place very quickly and by the time they had taken cover with a view to responding, the firing had stopped.

“They could not say by what means the attack had taken place and no information was immediately available in relation to the mode

of the attack and the perpetrators,” the Police statement said.

It added that several police patrols responded and after diligent enquiries were able to ascertain some time later that the station was attacked by persons in a motor vehicle.

The Police also indicated that the “informants had conflicting information on the type and colour of the vehicle”.

Twenty three 7.62 x 39 spent shells have been recovered at the scene as investigations continue.

Meanwhile, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters yesterday afternoon that if the aim of the gunmen was to “sap the will” of the Joint Services, this is “doomed to failure” given the enthusiasm coming out of the recent officer’s conferences of the Police and the Army.

Last January 26, a guard hut on Young Street, at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, also in the city, was fired on by a group of unidentified men in a passing motor car, ahead of the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara massacre, in which 12 persons, including five children, were murdered in the first of two terrorist attacks this year.

That was followed by the killing of three policemen at Bartica Police Station, in February, when gunmen stormed the precinct and also carried away arms and ammunition.

Nine other persons were killed in the mining community that night.

East Coast fatal accident…
TRUCK DRIVER CHARGED
By Shirley Thomas and Priya Nauth
THE driver of the motor lorry that was involved in the horrific accident at Bee Hive Public Road on Monday night, which resulted in the death of three persons, was charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

According to a police statement last night, thirty-four-year-old Shameer Hassan Ali, of Annandale, also East Coast Demerara, appeared yesterday before Magistrate Shondell Isaacs at the Cove and John Magistrate Court and was refused bail and remanded to prison until May 6.

The tragedy occurred when the sand truck, GGG 6513, reportedly attempted to avoid stray cows on the roadway and crashed into a minibus, BJJ 1601, transporting passengers from Georgetown to Mahaica.

As a result of the impact, the owner of the bus, Desmond Datterdeen called ‘Brother’, 40; passengers Mohamed Akbar Mohammad called ‘Akbar’, 54; and Marissa Assaye, 26, of Lot 20 Hand-en-veldt, all lost their lives on the spot.

Thirteen other passengers of the bus received injuries.

Meanwhile, five of the survivors of the crash remained warded at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday, all still in serious condition.

Twenty-six year old Rawle Wood of Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica who suffered a fractured skull with bleeding of the brain, remains unconscious and is on life support systems in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

She is unable to sit up and is lying motionless in bed in the Female Ward C1.

Jacqueline who is experiencing severe pains, also has difficulty communicating verbally, and appears to be slipping in and out of consciousness.

Also in the Female Ward C1, are 18-year-old Tamika Hermonstine, of Hand-en-Veldt Mahaica and Abiola Seraphin, 20, a teacher of Cane Grove Primary School.

Hermonstine suffered severe head injuries and multiple cuts about the head and face.

Even though fully conscious yesterday, the 18-year-old student of the Carnegie School of Home Economics was only communicating minimally with family members and friends at her bedside yesterday.

Her cousin Monica Jones and friend Claire Mc Almont who are both members of the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade were at her bedside and took turns in feeding her soup, for which she showed appreciation as tears continually kept flowing from her badly battered and shut eyes.

Several family members, including her mother, Elizabeth, friends and other villagers, consumed with grief, shuttled around the three beds, each trying to be of some sort of help, while trying to demonstrate strength and courage as they looked at their loved ones in great pain and suffering.

The fifth patient – Julian Wilson, 33, of 76 Belmonte Mahaica, is warded in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).

He is being treated for a fractured shoulder and multiple injuries to the head.

Wilson yesterday appeared to be in a stable condition, but not out of danger. His condition was being closely monitored by doctors at the hospital.

The father of one, with a second expected soon, is employed as an Investigator with the Beharry Group of Companies in Georgetown, and was returning home from work when the mishap occurred.

Meanwhile, a couple also injured in the accident – Kojo Cole, a former member of the armed services, along with his wife Lorese, is at another health facility in the city.

The Guyana Chronicle received no official update on their condition, but following the accident on Monday night, saw and spoke with Lorese who suffered head injuries and multiple cuts about the face and other parts of the body.

Bleeding from the head, face and mouth, she was unable to communicate verbally, and wrote her husband’s and her name and address for this newspaper.

Lorese and Kojo Cole; Eldica Lewis 27, and Dwayne Lewis 17, of River View, Lancaster Village; and Ramanand Sankar 26, of Dundee Village, Mahaicony are among several other survivors of the accident whom were either admitted to other hospitals or treated at the GPHC and sent home.

Government calls on GECOM to seek help with house-to-house registration
By Neil Marks
THE government yesterday called for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to seek external intervention to resolve complaints about the ongoing house-to-house registration process.

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said GECOM needs to seek the views of the government and other stakeholders to resolve “fundamental” issues, saying it may even mean “going to Parliament”.

Dr Luncheon said the government was concerned about the pace of the registration activities and its implication on costs. In addition, he said the government was also concerned about the confusion surrounding the identification documents and its impact on registration as some persons have refused to get registered because of the problems.

The government’s concerns come on the heels of stinging criticism against GECOM by the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

The PPP Wednesday said GECOM would not be able to meet its July 4 deadline for the completion of the registration exercise, given the current rate both of the actual house-to-house registration and related activities at the Commission’s head office in Georgetown.

In the editing department, PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar said GECOM has 65 members of staff, and according to details it has, one member of staff has only been editing information for just about 13 persons per day. The PPP made this conclusion after learning that in 96 days (from January 9 to April 13) only 78, 684 edits took place.

“We believe that this is absolutely (unacceptable),” Ramotar said at a press conference at his party’s Freedom House headquarters.

Ramotar painted an even grimmer situation regarding the encoding process. In this department, the PPP claims, GECOM has 100 workers, but so far only 38, 331 transactions took place in the 87 days since the process started on January 18.

This means that the encoders were doing 441 transactions per day, or in other words, each encoder was doing less than five transactions per day.

“Clearly, at this rate, GECOM will not be ready to hold Local Government elections this year or even next year…GECOM may be ready in time for the general elections in 2011,” Ramotar lashed out.

“The (PPP) finds this situation totally unacceptable. Taking into consideration the amount of resources that is being put into GECOM, the Guyanese people have a right to expect much better from this institution,” he added.

The party also complained about the actual registration process.

At mid-April, the projected number of persons remaining to be registered was 252,132, and these fall in areas where the cases are more complicated, Mr. Ramotar said.

He noted that from houses visited, some 34, 891 persons did not have birth certificates, while another 4, 117 had incorrect documents.

In addition, many persons who have been registered in the past using baptism certificates or some other method that GECOM had agreed to are now refusing to be registered because it will mean that they would have to undergo a name change. Mr. Ramotar said these include women who are divorced, and they amount to 1, 713.

The registration exercise, which started on January 7 and for which GECOM had set July 4 as the closing date, is intended to produce a National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB) which could be used as the basis for the preparation of Electoral Lists commonly acceptable by all stakeholders.

President laments yet another fragmented Labour Day
- expresses optimism ‘we will ride out this crisis and emerge stronger’
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jageo has described the forte of the Guyanese working class as the resilience that makes them overcome difficult circumstances.

And this will allow Guyanese to ride out the current crisis and emerge stronger as a nation, he said in his May Day message.

However, the Head of State expressed regret that another May Day has come around and the labour movement is still fragmented.

He said that the problems now facing the nation’s workers calls for new forms of solidarity, and observed that a strong trade union movement is vital to defending the interests of workers.

Following is the text of the President’s message:
“I extend best wishes to all workers on this the occasion of May Day 2008. I also extend greetings to all the trade unions in the country. May Day gives due recognition to the workers and their representative organizations, who, through their unceasing and tireless efforts have, throughout our history, humanized our physical, economic, political and social landscape.

The forte of workers has always been their resilience and especially their ability to surmount difficult circumstances. The Guyanese working class has on many occasions in our history confronted great adversity. Through their remarkable resourcefulness and their amazing capacity to be innovative, the working class have defied the prophets of doom and overcome testing times.

May Day 2008 finds us in such times. This May Day finds workers around the world confronted by a global food and energy crisis which has adversely impacted on their cost of living. I am, however, confident that with the measures that my government is implementing, and those which are currently evolving, and with the support and understanding of our workers, we have the capacity to ensure that the gains achieved by you over the years are not eroded, and that in time, we will ride out this crisis and emerge stronger as a nation.  

The challenges that we now face call for new forms of solidarity, not the type that encourages confrontation and division, not the type that pits workers against employers but rather innovative forms of cooperation in which labour, employers and the government work together to find solutions to ameliorate the effects of the global food and energy crises.  

Against this background, it is indeed unfortunate that yet another May Day finds the labour movement fragmented.  This is unfortunate, and I urge that greater efforts be made to ensure that the causes of the divisions are addressed, since a strong labour movement is critical to defending the interests of the working class. 

Despite the lack of unity, I am hopeful that the labour movement will make a concerted effort to work together with all stakeholders in furthering the interests of the working class and work towards the development of Guyana. 

Once again, Happy May Day!

Solidarity Forever!”

FITUG May Day rally billed for National Park
THE second May Day march and rally organised by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions’ of Guyana (FITUG) will culminate at the National Park, Georgetown today at 10: 00 hours under the theme ‘Fighting for workers’ economic and social advancement’.