CARICOM, Commonwealth to monitor Guyana poll
By Rickey Singh
BASSETERRE -- Both the  54-nation Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community signalled yesterday that they would be observing Guyana's forthcoming national elections, expected by mid September this year.

Arrangements are to be finalised pending an official advisory from the government of President Bharrat Jagdeo on the actual date of the elections.

President Jagdeo is absent from the current 27th CARICOM Summit in St Kitts and is being represented by Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally.

Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon briefed CARICOM leaders at a lunch-time working session yesterday on what he later described to the media as "some of the political controversies and challenges" on the elections-readiness arrangements by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

These include an assessment report from his Special Envoy to Guyana, Sir Paul Reeves on preparations for the 2006 elections and related political issues on improved governance.

McKinnon also confirmed that he met briefly on Sunday evening with leader of the Opposition People's National Congress Reform, Robert Corbin, who was on a stopover visit to St Kitts on his way to London.

Corbin has indicated to McKinnon and CARICOM his party's interest in a fact-finding mission to Guyana on concerns over various aspects of GECOM's arrangements for the elections, including sharp differences over the revised voters list.

McKinnon and new CARICOM chairman, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said Corbin's concerns as separately expressed to them, would be taken into consideration in the wider context of further discussions on Guyana.

Monitoring of the Guyana elections will be among issues to be discussed at a retreat by leaders of the community scheduled for today in St Kitts sister isle, Nevis.

Following the restoration of electoral democracy in Guyana in 1992, elections have been monitored by local, regional and international observer missions, including the Commonwealth, CARICOM, Organisation of American States and the Carter Center.

Prime Minister Douglas said that CARICOM would wish to be advised also of the Guyana Government's position on current arrangements for the coming poll in the context of a shared commitment to democratic norms and practices.

Tutornet
-- An incarnation dogged by shady past
By Ruel Johnson
Introducing Euburn Forde
WITH less careful reporting, this article would probably have been headlined “New hope for Guyanese students”.

It would have been a glowing story about how an overseas-based Internet entrepreneur was using modern communication technology to revolutionise the education system in Guyana.

Euburn Richard A. Forde is undoubtedly in possession of a sort of charm. He speaks with a polished accent which one American reporter once mistakenly described as “British”. When Forde speaks into his cell phone, it is in a clear, crisp voice delivered in carefully measured cadence that seems as much for the edification of the casual listener as it is for the person on the other side of the line.

Before this reporter actually met Forde, his young associate, Anthony Snow, referred to him as “probably the best dressed man in Guyana.” The dark pinstripe suit, satin shirt and tie – all complemented by a neat little brief case – that Forde wore to an interview last week supports this assertion; as does an October 1999 article written by Garance Franke-Ruta in the Washington Business Forward.

“Dressed in a white French-cuff shirt,” wrote Franke-Ruta, “with miniature watch-face cufflinks, Forde gives off vibes of both educator and millionaire. He sports gold rings on both hands and wears a large gold Movado watch. He wears his hair short, formal, and ready for the boardroom.”

In the article, the then relatively fledgling journalist spoke to Forde about his fairly new venture called Tutornet, the world’s first online real-time interactive tutoring service, something that was set to revolutionise the distance education market.

“Tutornet is not just a service, but a movement,” Franke-Ruta credited the businessman as saying. This “movement” was intended to match both low and high income students – in the U.S., Australia, the UK, Morocco, and Trinidad and Tobago – with online tutors for a fraction of the price of live tutors and presumably most of the same efficiency. To help the less fortunate students, Forde was to establish his Tutornet Foundation.

“Euburn Richard Forde knows something about distance learning,” wrote Franke-Ruta, “Growing up in pre-independence British Guyana [sic], he found his high school papers sent to the colonial power across the Atlantic each semester to be marked. His college papers, written during a gruelling five-year work-study training programme with British Telecom, were graded at the University of London.”

“Watch your computer screen become an electronic blackboard,” states one Tutornet flyer, “Work with a live teacher who will help you solve tough academic problems in…” A list of subjects follows including Algebra, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, and English Literature.

Forde said that Tutornet access cards are currently being sold at several locations including Nigel’s Supermarket, Quik Access Internet Café, the James Texaco Gas Station on Mandela Avenue, and the Bagotstown office location which he shares with Snow.

The entrepreneur explained that Tutornet was well established in the U.S. and that he was aiming to give Guyanese students the same benefits afforded U.S. students but at a fraction of the cost. Forde explained that he was in the process of making deals with certain Internet cafés to provide instructional services on the use of the Tutornet access card.

“The objective is to provide supplemental education for students from kindergarten through to university,” Forde stated.

TutorNet Dot Con?
The part of the Tutornet story that Forde initially left out in his interaction with this newspaper, however, was that his “movement” was groundbreaking and unprecedented in a far less flattering way.

“A landmark judgment against an Internet company was rendered late yesterday, August 15th in Alexandria, Virginia's U.S. District Court when a jury held corporate officers and entities accountable for fraud and misrepresentation by awarding over $178 million in compensatory and punitive damages to shareholders. The judgment against defendants - TutorNet.com Group, Inc. (TTNP); TutorNet.com, Inc; Euburn Forde, Founder, Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer; and Rajiv Dalal, Co-Founder and at one time Chief Financial Officer - is one of the largest civil awards ever made by a jury in the State of Virginia.”

The above was an excerpt from a BusinessWire article published in August, 2002. Tracing similar articles and documents online helped in putting together a picture of an Internet venture, the implosion of which has been compared to the larger and more highly publicised Enron affair.

"This judgment underscores,” read a statement issued by the lawyers for the plaintiffs, “the fact that Corporate America must do more than create the appearance of shareholder value and tell the truth to investors without gilding the lily. This jury has indicated that corporate integrity and accountability are paramount concerns. Start-up companies and large companies alike need experienced managers and trusted advisors including board members, lawyers and accountants to safeguard their most prized asset - integrity.”

Years after being penalised for “gilding the lily” in the U.S., Euburn Forde and Tutornet seem to have been resurrected in Guyana.

Tutornet Reloaded
The new Tutornet appears to be a shell of the service that Forde purports it to be. The testimonials offered on the website are from unverifiable sources. The closest this reporter could come to verification is a testimonial supposedly from someone with the initials “PC” representing the Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, Maryland. PC sang praises of what Tutornet will do for student education at the school – which actually exists – even though the person says the school began using the programme in early 2000.

Testimonials aside the main question is, however, does Tutornet actually work? During the initial interview with Forde, this newspaper purchased a Tutornet card for $500. During a subsequent visit to our offices, the entrepreneur asked whether this newspaper was able to access the site; the answer was no.

Forde tried the number on the card we gave him but initially did not get through. He stated that the fact that he had personally handwritten the access code at the time of purchasing, he may have made an error. We informed him, however, that it was not the same card, but rather a new one purchased from Nigel’s Supermarket.

Explaining that it was a technical error back in the U.S., he used his own personal ID and password to access the site, downloading a programme and then entering a virtual classroom which showed one other person present.

The conversation that followed was initially stilted and repetitive, indicating either there was a relatively unschooled tutor on the other line or a very uncreative “intelligent” chat programme. At this point, Forde explained that the online tutor was possibly confused since he had logged in as a tutor and that the person was not accustomed to another tutor asking questions. After repeated telephone calls from Forde, the ‘tutor’ actually responded correctly to answer the basic Math question, 3 x 12.

A subsequent attempt to access Tutornet without Forde present actually proved relatively successful with what was no doubt a live person on the other end of the line. We were advised that the person was at the time only answering basic Math problems and not Science and Third Form Math as we requested.

The last time we accessed the website, we stumbled across an interesting exchange, excerpts of which read:

“dandii boru: Hi Emmie
TUTORNET CLASSROOM: hi daddy

....
TUTORNET CLASSROOM: I hear u

TUTORNET CLASSROOM: that's awesome pops

dandii boru: did u hear that

TUTORNET CLASSROOM: I hear u!!!

TUTORNET CLASSROOM: I hear u

...
TUTORNET CLASSROOM: this is neat man! I can actually hear u!

dandii boru: your link is weak, you can select the wireless networks and pick the best

network”
The name “TUTORNET CLASSROOM” is the one used by the ‘tutor’ whenever we logged the student login is “SCHOOL STUDENT”.

If one were to make a judgement call on the situation, the money would be on the fact that the online tutors of Tutornet are in fact one person, probably two, closely associated with the scheme’s administration, working on a voluntary basis. Tutoring, even online tutoring, is expensive and salaries would be a huge overheard in any online tutoring business whose operation needs a relatively low teacher-student ratio. This is something the previous incarnation of Tutornet knew something about.

Netucators unite
The most coherent record of the role of Tutornet’s tutors, the ‘Netucators’ can be found on a now defunct Yahoo.com user group, the Tutornet Peon’s Union Hall group. A user group is a virtual space online on which members can publicly post messages and reply to the messages posted by the other users. This particular user group lasted roughly 10 months and chronicled the woes Tutornet’s netucators had in collecting their salaries.

Message number 2, sent on December 18, 1999 from user ‘mvanhouten’, set the tone for the discussions:

“Welcome fellow tutors! Please disguise your identity if you wish to post on this site (and also do not want the tutornet bosses to know your identity)… I don't want to be the leader, and I don't want tutornet to be able to keep us from exchanging information simply by firing or bribing the "trouble makers”. I invite you all to give your stories about working for tutornet… I for one, had a check bounced on me. I think this is especially insensitive of them to do this in the holiday season. I understand others have had the same problem. This prompted me to create this site.”

The same day, ‘mvanhouten’ posted an excerpt from an “excuse” letter sent to the disgruntled tutors in which a company executive said the tutor, “Please accept my most sincere apologies to you all for not only the delay in sending out the pay checks for the month of August, but also for the lack of information on the reasons for the delay. To reassure all of you, the checks will be mailed today. You should receive them the early part of next week. The reason for the delay is simply that the cash flow that the company is generating is not sufficient to carry all of the liabilities at this time. Having said this, myself and the President are spending almost all of our time to raise investment in the company.”

A little less than a month later, payment had not yet been received, with the tutors getting instead a letter claiming that the Y2K bug had disrupted Tutornet’s mailing records so the cheques had not been sent as scheduled. The sender of that letter, Tutornet executive Jennifer Martin, included a fair amount of abuse of the unpaid tutors for not showing up on time in the online classrooms and thus disrupting the quality of service delivered to customers.

As the year progressed, the discussions widened not only to include the tutors’ woes but the financial situation with Tutornet and moves the company was making to supposedly reverse this situation. This included a reverse merger – the company basically buying itself – which resulted in most shareholders, with the exception of course of Forde and other executives, losing vast sums of money; along with dubious claims of the company’s strategic success, including the partnership with America Online (AOL). As is chronicled in the usergroup posts, Tutornet even paid one unscrupulous company to give it a supposedly authentic “Seal of Approval.” Ironically, it was these very same things that resulted in the fall of the company.

Other issues
Euburn Forde today seems a true believer, a penitent man for whom the debacle that was Tutornet.com was a stumbling block on the way to achieving the dream of setting up a good and proper way of educating the millions of young people for whom adequate access to modern technology is a virtual impossibility.

However, there are many issues which tend to work against this view of the man. The Tutornet access cards, for example, pose many questions. One of the $500 cards bought by this newspaper, according to the Tutornet poster, is only supposed to give about two days worth of access. The investigation into how the tutoring works, as explored earlier in this article, lasted over a period of two weeks using the one card. On the back of the card we find the words “This pre-paid card allows you 30 days of unlimited access to all of Tutornet’s online classrooms.” While “30 days of unlimited access” on a two-day access card might sound like a stroke of good luck, imagine the persons who would have bought the higher denominations and gotten the same virtually non-existent service.

It should be noted also that the platform which Tutornet uses to hosts its online interactive classes is not owned or to any great degree controlled by Forde or his company. Webconference.com is the name for a generic online conferencing programme, whose California-based parent company aims to make the programme “the easiest and most affordable communications platform for conducting high-impact collaborative meetings, seminars and presentations to help you streamline your sales, marketing, training and helpdesk efforts.” For a small fee, subscribers can have access to controlling features of the programme including the stamping of their own logo on it, while retaining, of course, the basic identity of the source company.

When applied to Tutornet, it means that Forde’s “classroom” is simply a rented ‘space’ out of which the owners – WebConference.com – can evict Tutornet once their fee is not paid. More importantly, however, it means that while Euburn Forde does have registered trademark ownership of words like “Tutornet” and “Netucator”, he inexplicably does not possess the patent for the software upon which the bulk of his scheme rests.

What is also notable as well is that Forde is now hosting his “movement” at Tutornet.ws, not Tutornet.com. When it comes to Internet domain names, the letters which follow the dot make all the difference. For example, what are considered the top level domain names all end in “.com”, “.net”, or “.net”. These names usually are the first to pop up in most search engine sites and thus guarantee a greater number of visitors to a particular site. According to several online articles on domain names, the .ws domain name is a last resort mechanism used when a person isn’t able to get their website with one of the top level domain suffixes. While the company which controls the “.ws” extension tries to market as signifying “Web Site”, the letters actually stand for “Western Samoa” – the state to which the prefix was originally assigned before it was sold to a private organisation.

It is inconceivable that Forde will ever get to use Tutornet.com following the scandal associated with the original site; and since he is engaged in a commercial venture (which the “.com” stands for) he cannot use the two other top level domain names “.net” or “.org” which are associated with non-profit ventures.

In closing
Euburn Forde should not be condemned for the mistakes of his past. As he has pointed out in the past, the Internet business is a fairly volatile one, one in which fortunes are lost as quickly as they are made. The Internet bust of the late 1990s was something from which no one – good, bad or ugly – was immune and it may be that Tutornet was one of its many victims.

However, at present, the incarnation of the failed U.S. company which Forde is now currently actively marketing in Guyana is at best an unreliable service based on faulty technology, no proof of the existence of a single certified tutor, a shady past and no real returns on the investment many parents may have already offered.

Tough questions for CARICOM retreat
By Rickey Singh
VENEZUELA'S bid to secure CARICOM's backing for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, problems of human trafficking and regional security challenges are among tough issues to be tackled today by Heads of Government of the 15-member Caribbean Community.

The signals from yesterday's deliberations of the four-day summit pointed to potential overwhelming support in favour of Venezuela which is competing for the seat against the United States-backed Guatemala.

While Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves was openly declaring his government's support for Venezuela, Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas was telling the regional media corps that in the event they do not agree to give "block support", each member state would be free to act on its own -- whether for or against.

This will be one of the sensitive issues for today's deliberations in caucus during a retreat by the community leaders at Nevis, sister isle of St Kitts.

At the request of Belize, the leaders will also address the controversial unilateral rating system of the U.S.A in categorising a member country involved in a problem of human trafficking.

Belizean Prime Minister Said Musa, who is also supportive of Venezuela's bid for the UN Security Council seat, said that there was "no question of our commitment to deal with the problems of human trafficking..."

But he stressed that "a relevant matter" to be addressed, not just by Belize but other CARICOM partners is whether it was "fair and just" for the U.S.A to unilaterally impose a punitive rating system on a sovereign state without taking into consideration "all the objective factors".

Today's discussion on trafficking in men, women and children, across borders, for the sex trade and a source of cheap labour is expected to be linked to a general review of the crime and security challenges facing the community.   

The crime and security discussion will be based on a brief from Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago.

Last evening the leaders were wrapping-up deliberations on operationalising the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) including issues raised by Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit on widening the categories of Caribbean nationals to be qualified for free movement to live and work in any CARICOM state.

The insurance arbitration board
By Maria van Beek, Commissioner of Insurance
THIS article is written with the intention of informing readers of the existence and function of the Insurance Arbitration Board or the IAB.

Unfortunately, this entity is not well known. Unfortunate because it serves an extremely useful purpose – it is an affordable and efficient method of resolving disputes between policyholders and insurance companies or brokers.

While the concept of arbitration is not new, particularly for our well established and litigation-conscious insurance sector, the IAB goes one step further. It is a statutory body and therefore not dependent on the whims of any particular entity.

Quite simply, it exists solely for the purposes of resolving disputes.

Secondly, all disputes are required to be presented to the IAB regardless of the nature of the dispute.

So, unlike normal arbitration where both parties opt for arbitration or the relevant insurance clause in the insurance contract is invoked, usually for the purposes of determining the amount of payment, this covers all disputes and is not optional.

This has proven to be disconcerting for some and a relief for others.

One concern is the IAB usurps the authority of the courts.

In answer, it should be noted that all decisions of the IAB may be appealed to the High Court which is and always will be a higher authority to the IAB. The IAB does, however, provide much needed support to our over-run and under-resourced system of justice.

Just one point will perhaps provide support to this statement.

The IAB has heard 12 cases in 2004 and 2005 and of those that have been resolved (eight by 31st December 2005); the average time taken to provide a decision is six months.

If this is not enough, then perhaps another statistic may prove interesting -- no decision to date has been appealed via the High Court. These eight disputes have been dealt with in an effective and orderly manner without additional burden to the courts and have certainly cost participants less than most court matters would.

Another perhaps more valid concern is that of enforcement.

Decisions made by the IAB are legally binding. If not adhered to by one party, the other party or parties must then fall back to the courts for redress.

Hopefully, those parties that do not adhere to the decision of the IAB and have not lodged an appeal with the courts will be dealt with appropriately by the relevant judicial body.

I recognize it is early days and the IAB’s performance has not yet faced the test of time but this aspect of the legislation is a step in the right direction and is surely deserving of commitment and consideration by all stakeholders.

All the implications have to be addressed also, not least is the likely amendment to most insurance contracts.

For those interested in the formalities, the IAB was formed in 2004 following the commencement of the Insurance Act 1998 on 18th December 2002. Its composition of three members is prescribed in the legislation to include a representative of the Commissioner of Insurance, the insurance brokers and the insurance companies respectively.

The current Board comprises Mrs. Maria van Beek (Commissioner of Insurance), Mr. Hans Barrow (Managing Director, Insurance Brokers – Guyana) and Mr. Howard Cox (Manager, Hand-in-Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company and acting President of the Insurance Association of Guyana).

STANDARDS CORNER
CSME competition needs national quality infrastructure
THE implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) will have a significant impact on the way trade is conducted in the region.

There is no doubt that competition would be the name of the game, and the live wire of such competition is the concept of standards and quality, whether it has to do with products or services.

In a competitive marketplace, customer satisfaction determines the market share for each supplier, and ultimately, it determines which suppliers of products or services survive. Any marketplace with multiple suppliers favours the customer, and customers demand quality products and services that meet accepted standards.

For an organisation to have a competitive advantage over other organisations that offer similar products or services and compete for the same set of prospective customers, it must be able to replicate the products or services it offers to prescribed standards or measurement yardsticks.

Guyanese manufacturers and service providers would be able to compete efficiently, confidently and competently in the CSME. However, there is the desperate need for the establishment of a National Quality Infrastructure in Guyana, and manufacturers must be an integral component of that infrastructure.

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is involved in a range of activities to set up such a National Quality Infrastructure to solidly support manufacturers in the competition which promises to be fierce.

The GNBS is actively providing continuous technical assistance to three separate clusters of public sector agencies, i.e., a range of inspection bodies, testing laboratories and certification authorities, so that they can become accredited to the respective international standards system.

This vital move would create a strongly positive enabling environment by the public sector for the private sector in order to facilitate easy market access.

Work is massively under way by Guyana to assist manufacturers to institute Quality Management Systems into their operations so that they can become certified to the enviable ISO 9001 International Standard System.

Four Guyanese companies have already been certified by external Registrars to this coveted International Standard, i.e., the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Demerara Oxygen Company limited (DOCOL), Edward B. Beharry & Company Limited, and more recently, GUYSUCO.

There are 10 other companies in the pipeline under processing.

The standard development process of Guyana has already been harmonised with the regional one so that the regional standards produced are adopted as national standards, and this would certainly facilitate trade and trading in CARICOM, and by the region in the wider international market.

Sterling efforts are made by Guyana to effectively equip its series of testing and calibration laboratories so that it can provide to the various industries accuracy traceability of the measurement instruments and devices used in the said industries, and laboratories.

Successful trade by a country is hinged on its national measurement system, and Guyana would have this competitive advantage.

Guyana also operates a Standards Mark Scheme for its various industries so that any product which consistently complies with the national standard and operates with a Quality Management System can be permitted to use the National Mark which would facilitate easy market access in the regional and international market.

Overall, what is needed is for Guyanese manufacturers to overcome their reluctance and resistance, and implement a Quality Management System which complies with the ISO 9001 International Standard.

For the smaller enterprises which cannot reach this level, efforts should be made to work towards the National Management System Standard.

Manufacturers have little or no choice in the context of stemming the challenging competition in the CSME.
It is very important to act now.

EU, IDB give grants to boost rice competitiveness
ACTING Agriculture Minister, Mr Harripersaud Nokta has announced that the Government has received a grant of 2.7 million euros (G$5 billion) from the European Union to help bolster the competitiveness of the local rice industry.

He told scores of rice farmers at Anna Regina on Essequibo Coast that the funding was made available after generous consideration, on the basis of good management of the country.

Nokta said part of the sum will be used to establish two large Water Users Associations (WUAs) which would take over and manage the entire drainage and irrigation (D&I) network in rice growing areas on Essequibo Coast.

He explained that the formation of WUAs is in the interest of agricultural production and the EU has given the money because the donor group wants farmers here to charter their own destiny.

Nokta on Saturday said the WUA in the north of the coast will be responsible for managing the system from Charity to Zorg-en-Vlugt and the one in the south from Annandale to Good Hope.

Members and the chairmen of both have already been identified and their entities, from next year, would be responsible for setting and collecting usage tariffs, he stated.

Assistant Project Manager of the Poor Rural Communities Support Services Programme (PRCSSP) in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Mr Abdool Annief said legislation for the WUAs to operate as independent business like bodies was previously passed.

According to him, G$2.4M is also available from an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) grant as start-up, to construct two offices for the WUAs and equip them with computers.

Region Two Chairman, Mr Alli Baksh, who spoke at the forum, too, said the Government is establishing the WUAs to lower operational costs and the idea behind the scheme is to wring economic changes and development in the rice industry.

Project Coordinator of the EU Rice Assistance Project in Guyana, Mr Nigel Dharamlall said rice planters, who will be directly involved in managing the WUAs, should be strong, have vision and foresight for developing the sector.

He emphasised that the industry has to be more competitive as the EU grant is to regenerate it, in terms of efficiency and profitability.

Another speaker, Rice Producers Association (RPA) General Secretary, Mr Dharamkumar Seeraj challenged the farmers to be committed, honest, dedicated and operate in a transparent manner so that the WUAs can be a success story.

A total of 32,500 acres are under rice cultivation in Region Two. (RAJENDRA PRABHULALL)

ERC to investigate discrimination charge at GWI
THE Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has written the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) about alleged discrimination at Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) against one of its employees.

According to a release from the GTUC, employee Ms. Marcel Goppie was allegedly discriminated against because of her race, gender and nationality by one of the Company’s Directors.

The release said that Goppie sent the director a memorandum which said that during discussions between them, she was treated disrespectfully, she was an African Guyanese woman, and she found this degrading.

Management, the release said, barred Goppie from performing her duties and set up a panel to investigate her conduct.

“It is important that this charge of discrimination be investigated by the Ethnic Relations Commission by putting a mechanism in place where all evidence can flow with a view to getting to the truth and making the requisite recommendation,” the release said.

ERC Public Relations Officer Ms. Beverly Alert last week said the letter was received, and as is the case with all other complaints, the matter will be investigated.

GWI Public Relations Officer Mr. Timothy Austin said the company was not prepared to comment on the matter at this time.

ERC to investigate discrimination charge at GWI
THE Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has written the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) about alleged discrimination at Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) against one of its employees.

According to a release from the GTUC, employee Ms. Marcel Goppie was allegedly discriminated against because of her race, gender and nationality by one of the Company’s Directors.

The release said that Goppie sent the director a memorandum which said that during discussions between them, she was treated disrespectfully, she was an African Guyanese woman, and she found this degrading.

Management, the release said, barred Goppie from performing her duties and set up a panel to investigate her conduct.

“It is important that this charge of discrimination be investigated by the Ethnic Relations Commission by putting a mechanism in place where all evidence can flow with a view to getting to the truth and making the requisite recommendation,” the release said.

ERC Public Relations Officer Ms. Beverly Alert last week said the letter was received, and as is the case with all other complaints, the matter will be investigated.

GWI Public Relations Officer Mr. Timothy Austin said the company was not prepared to comment on the matter at this time.

Cabinet outreach under way in Region Four
THE ongoing Cabinet outreaches moved to Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) yesterday when it began on upper East Coast Demerara, with ministerial teams deployed to villages between Mahaica and Bare Root.

One team, comprising Minister of Finance, Mr Saisnarine Kowlessar and Minister within the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ms Bibi Shadick, visited communities including Green Field, Clonbrook and Good Hope, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

The agency said residents of Green Field expressed concern over vehicular traffic on the sea defence since the main access road south of the village deteriorated and they also complained that the recently constructed sea dam at Clonbrook is being severely damaged by cattle.

Another complaint was that access to potable water has been inhibited because several of the main pipes are broken and other worries related to school attendance by children and difficulty with obtaining birth certificates, GINA said.

The exercise will continue today in middle and lower East Coast Demerara, GINA said.

The agency said President Bharrat Jagdeo chaired a Cabinet meeting at State House on July 1, to discuss reports of interactions with residents in various communities of Regions Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), Five (Mahaica/Berbice), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice) during outreaches in those places.

According to GINA, the Head of State was briefed on the issues raised and, subsequently, held discussions with technical officers from different Government departments and agencies, to ascertain the relevant and appropriate actions to be taken.

Guyana accepts COFAP formula for Regional Development Fund   - Ambassador Harper
GUYANA has accepted the formula proposed by the Council on Finance and Planning (COFAP) for the Regional Development Fund (RDF), Ambassador to CARICOM, Ms Elisabeth Harper reported yesterday.

Reporting on discussions at the 27th summit of Heads of Government in St Kitts, she told the Government Information Agency (GINA): “We are only now into the substance of the agenda and the CSME (CARICOM Single Market and Economy was the first issue.”

Harper said Guyana and Jamaica were the only two countries which had to confirm their agreement, because that was outstanding following the COFAP proposition.

In that regard, she said Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally, who is leading the Guyana delegation, also said Guyana hopes that GDP (Gross Domestic Product) would play a key role in the criteria to be agreed for access to RDF resources.

Harper said Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, the CARICOM Head of Government with responsibility for the CSME, was very vocal and supportive in proposing that a country’s GDP should be a factor.

She added, though, that the matter is still being discussed at the forum and the heads have been asked to agree to the RDF being established by December 31, 2006.

GINA noted that the RDF is being advanced to assist disadvantaged countries and is intended to help member states enhance respective production and trade capacities by redressing the growing intra-regional trade imbalance. 

It said talks on pertinent regional issues are continuing and Harper indicated that the agenda is advancing with the CSME being at the top.

Shadick dismisses speculation that outreaches have political motive
MINISTER within the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ms Bibi Shadick yesterday dismissed speculation about political motives being the driving force behind the Cabinet outreaches.

She reiterated, to the Government Information Agency (GINA), that the activities form part of the Administration’s efforts to engage communities in the thrust to intensify growth and development in every village, town and region.

Shadick said the main aim of the current series is to garner feedback from residents in contrast to campaigning which is about influencing the electorate to support a specific political group.

Ministerial delegations headed by President Bharrat Jagdeo have conducted such exercises over the past several weeks to ascertain the concerns of the people and similar ones were conducted last year.

But the Administration is determined to continue with them, Shadick declared.

She added that residents in villages across the regions which Cabinet outreaches spawned have said they appreciate the opportunity afforded them for their voices to be heard.

Region Three youths complete HIV/AIDS workshop
THE Regional Administration in Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands) has reported that 100 youths successfully completed a two-day workshop on prevention, sensitisation and awareness of Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

A press release said it was organised by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund and held at Den Amstel Community Centre, West Coast Demerara.

The release said 75 of the participants were students drawn from various secondary and private schools across Region Three, with the other 25 being school dropouts from different communities.

Regional Chairman, Mr Esau Dookie, who delivered the feature address at the workshop last week, noted that there has been a “tremendous upsurge” in reported cases of people affected and afflicted by the deadly disease.

He said current statistics amplify the magnitude of the situation and exhorted the youths to make wise and healthy choices.

Dookie said fundamental lifestyle changes are critical to the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS and counselling is a good mechanism which can provide information and educate people about the pandemic, the release stated.

Saboteurs again disrupt GT&T services
THE landline and cellular phone services of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) customers in communities along the East Bank Demerara, from McDoom to Linden, were disrupted for several hours yesterday because of saboteurs.

According to a press release from the company, the services of residents in Bartica were also disrupted after fibre cables in the vicinity of D’Aguiar Park, Houston were damaged.

The cable which runs overhead was cut at multiple points at the top of the pole early yesterday morning. The release added that this was done in the clear view of the public, since the perpetrator would have been forced to reach to the top of the pole to sever the cable.

Scheduled tasks for yesterday, including normal day to day repairs to consumer service in several areas, had to be deferred because of the sabotage, GT&T said.

According to the company, the consequences of such actions, including the effects on communicating abilities, particularly in the cases of emergencies and, more importantly, in instances where there are threats to national security, cannot be overemphasized.

The company said it continues to seek the public’s assistance in helping to maintain stability to their service by looking out for persons who disrupt the service.

In addition, the company continues to work with the security forces to ensure the preservation of the infrastructure as long as such occurrences continue.

Cellular phone customers in Georgetown also complained that their service was disrupted for most of the day.

However, GT&T Assistant Public Relations Officer, Mr. Oscar Clarke said the company was unaware of this situation.

Absent commissioners again stall GECOM work
THE work of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was put on hold again yesterday with the non-attendance of two opposition nominated commissions at the statutory meeting.

Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally had to adjourn the meeting to tomorrow after opposition nominated commissioners Mr. Haslyn Parris and Mr. Lloyd Joseph failed to show. GECOM requires a quorum of two-opposition nominated commissioners and two government-nominated commissioners and the Chairman for meetings of the commission to be held.

Parris and Joseph on June 29 announced their withdrawal from the deliberations of the commission and saying they were giving active consideration to resigning.

Among their reasons were that the commission has taken a decision not to approach the court to obtain a definitive interpretation of the law with respect to a residency requirement to vote and that the GECOM Secretariat has failed to propose a method as to how the recently received results of the fingerprint matching exercised conducted by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) are to be utilised to sanitise the Preliminary List of Electors, for which a revised list was posted as of Friday.

If Parris and Joseph fail to show at tomorrow’s meeting, a quorum could be formed with the government-nominated commissioners and the Chairman and GECOM could go ahead with its work towards administering general and regional elections which are constitutionally due by September 3.

Parris and Joseph, along with other opposition nominated Commissioner Mr. Robert Williams first withdrew from GECOM on April 15 over grouses with the leadership style of Surujbally.

Rodrigues for Suriname High Court
GUYANESE ex-cop Paul Rodrigues, one of three Guyanese said to be Roger Khan’s bodyguards who were arrested the same time as their boss by police in Suriname, but are still detained there, is to appear before the Suriname High Court this week.

Rodrigues, according to a Surinamese lawyer, is seeking to have a ban that prevents his lawyer from meeting him, lifted.

Similar moves will also be made on behalf of the two others, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Roberts, said the attorney who yesterday told the Guyana Chronicle via telephone that the Guyanese three are “doing well”.

On Friday, a motion by Suriname lawyer Irwnis Khanai, one of two lawyers retained there to look into Khan’s interest, currently being heard in the court to have Suriname rescind its decision to expel Khan thus allowing U.S. DEA agents to arrest him, will continue

At yesterday’s session, a written response which the court on Friday ordered Prosecutor- General Subhas Punwasi to submit in answer to Khanai’s motion, was done yesterday and the matter was adjourned to Friday when Khanai will respond, also in writing.

He expects the court to rule on the motion either Friday or on Monday.

Khan, Rodrigues, Belfield and Roberts were arrested during a huge drug bust, which Suriname Police said netted 213 kilos of cocaine on June 15 in Paramaribo.

But Khan who Suriname Minister of Justice, Mr Chandrikapersad Santokhi had linked to plots to assassinate key government and judicial officials in that country and was deemed a threat to national and international security, in addition to being investigated for cocaine trafficking, firearm possession and being part of a criminal gang and firearm possession, was in a strange twist expelled from Suriname on Thursday last.

Suriname police who said they had dropped all the charges against Khan, placed him on a Suriname Airways aircraft bound for Trinidad where once he arrived at Piarco Airport minus travel documents was handed over to the U.S. DEA agents who were there awaiting him.

He was then placed on a special jet which was also awaiting Khan’s arrival and spirited off to the U.S., where less than 24 hours after he was arraigned at the Brooklyn Federal Court in New York before Judge Roanne Mann on a charge of “conspiring to import cocaine”.

Khan, who was represented by Miami-based attorney-at-law, John Bergendahl, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to being kept at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Brooklyn and will next appear before U.S. District Judge Dora Lizzette Irizarry, on August 4 at 10:30 h.

Yesterday afternoon, close associates, relatives and friends of the four men who on Sunday began mounting daily protests in support of the men being freed from both the Suriname and U.S. jails, demonstrated outside the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen.

The placard-bearing group included Lisa Lawrie who has a one-year-old daughter, Rebecia, for Khan; Fiona Rodrigues, wife of Rodrigues and mother of two, along with ex-cops Eon `Gangsta’ Smith and Otis Grant.

In previous exercises they demonstrated at the 1763 monument site in Georgetown, the Suriname Embassy, Peter Rose Street, Queenstown and the United States Embassy Young Street, Kingston.

The group is disturbed at CARICOM’s silence over Khan’s alleged “kidnapping” in Trinidad by the U.S., and according to his lawyer Glen Hanoman in an earlier statement what appears to be complicity between Suriname, Trinidad and the U.S.

Lawrie on Monday decried Suriname’s deporting of Khan to the U.S. instead of Guyana through Trinidad as they made persons to believe.

“He is not an American, they have no right to send him to America, he is a Guyanese,” she said, adding that Guyana must also be faulted for not looking after its citizens.

Meanwhile, one of Khan’s local attorneys, Glen Hanoman, says he is baffled by the daily inconsistencies in statements attributed to Surinamese Justice Minister, Chandrikapersad.

Hanoman repeated an earlier report attributed to him in another section of the media about Khan telling a U.S. attorney that he recognised a DEA agent (name given) who kidnapped him.

“Yes, Khan told the attorney who met with him in the U.S. that he when he came around after he was taken from the prison he recognized (name given) as one of the persons he had a meeting with at Ocean View. He (Khan) said to him `Garry u kidnapping me ….’ He also told the attorney that Garry traveled with him to Trinidad and it was Garry who put him on the jet,” Hanoman told the Guyana Chronicle.

Hanoman said Suriname should be asked some hard questions as to why it allowed Garry, an American, entry into the Suriname prison to remove Khan, travel with him on the Suriname Airways flight to Trinidad and then place him on a jet to the U.S.

Back when radio was worth the while
ONE of the key characteristics of this city is its architecture, ranging from the colonial to the immediate post-Independence era.

While some buildings are noted for their beauty, others may be deemed as special because of the historical roles they have played or continue to play; a rare few are notable for both.

The old Guyana Broadcasting Corporation building on High Street was arguably more functional than aesthetically pleasing but it was this functionality upon which its spirit was built.

Over its several decades of existence it has spawned such iconic names like Rafiq Khan, Olga Lopes-Seale, Pat Cameron, Hugh Cholmondeley as well as Ayube Hamid and Ron Robinson who are still in the radio business.

These were the pioneers who made radio what it was then, a medium that catered for those of all ages and with their varying preferences in music and documentaries and drama and what have you.

For many decades, and never mind the newspapers, it was from ZFY and Radio Demerara, and the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation that we got the news.

Singing stars were introduced on the radio, thanks to the late Bertie Chancellor, as he hosted many talent competitions.

Two days ago, the only place that many people today still consider “the radio station” almost burned to the ground, saved only by the timely intervention of the Fire Service.

The landmark that is Broadcasting House deserved more than it is being accorded.

Ideally, it should be restored, and if some entity is housed there, some section of the building should be dedicated to what it was originally, the home of broadcasting in Guyana, where it really got started and where it flourished in our own golden age of radio.

We who have lived through that period are fully aware of the magic of radio, and we know that even with the coming of television and the internet, radio can still hold its own if it functions with imagination and a will to make it succeed.

It is unfortunate that today, radio in Guyana is not functioning with the people in mind.

It hardly caters for all, as it once did.

In its music and programming National Communications Network caters for just a certain section of the people, and the rest are alienated.

Again, we in Guyana are not known for our sense of history, and though we have regretfully neglected Broadcasting House, it is not too late to correct this lapse, and attend to that building, making it what it ought to be, a monument to a bygone era when radio was very much worth the while.

And while we’re at it, what about the Theatre Guild Playhouse in Kingston, a thespian mecca where the performing arts flourished in the closing decades of the last century?

London bound pest controller remanded on trafficking charge
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Orin Louis Boodie, of Lot 39 Dadawana Street, Section ‘K’, Campbellville, Georgetown, who is alleged to have swallowed cocaine pellets, was remanded to prison yesterday on a drug trafficking charge.

Before Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle, the defendant pleaded not guilty to having 398 grammes of the narcotic for the purpose of trafficking on July 1.

Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah said Boodie, a professional pest controller, was an outgoing passenger to London via Barbados and had checked in with Caribbean Star airline at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri about 13:30 h that day.

Boodie was observed to be acting suspiciously in the area of the internal scanner and, subsequently, admitted swallowing 33 cocaine pellets, Massiah said.

At the request of attorney-at-law Mr Mark Waldron, who entered appearance for the Defence and asked for an early hearing, Boodie was ordered to be back in court on July 10.

Woman also charged…
Boyfriend accused of stealing same car twice
A COUPLE accused of stealing the same motor car, 22-year-olds Keishchar Ogle called Keisha, of Lot ‘A’ 41 East La Penitence and Andrew Brown, of Lot 60 Pike Street, Kitty, both Georgetown addresses, appeared in court yesterday.

They were jointly charged with simple larceny and particulars of that offence said, last May 31 at Vryheid’s Lust, they stole PJJ 2592 valued $1,750,000, belonging to Seelochanie Dhanraj.

The two defendants pleaded not guilty to that charge and Brown alone also denied that, between June 25 and 26, at Sparendaam, on East Coast Demerara, as well, he stole the same vehicle.

Police Inspector Maxine Graham, prosecuting, objected to bail for Ogle and Brown, saying that, although the particulars are the same except for the dates, they were of two different incidents.

She told Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle, before whom the defendants were appearing, that the car was stolen, recovered and had been lodged in front of Sparendaam Police Station when Brown stole it again.

Defence Counsel Mark Waldron, who successfully opposed the Police objection, said the only reason Ogle was charged is because the registration and fitness certificates for the vehicle bore her name.

The lawyer said Ogle had gone to the station voluntarily and, when her boyfriend Brown went to inquire about her, he was also detained.

Magistrate Robertson-Ogle set bail for Brown and Ogle at $75,000 each on the joint charge and ordered Brown to post an additional $50,000 in his second case.

The cases were then transferred to Sparendaam Court for August 4.

At Berbice Assizes…
Judge throws out motion to quash murder indictment
JUSTICE Winston Patterson, at the Berbice Assizes, yesterday rejected arguments by Defence Counsel Mursalene Bacchus to quash the murder indictment against Chaseen Amaanulla nicknamed ‘Shazo Boy’.

Bacchus made the submissions in the morning, prior to State Prosecutor Donelle Hartman opening the case for the Prosecution.

Defence Counsel had argued that the committal of the accused, to stand trial for the capital offence, was unlawful.

However, after the judge’s ruling in the afternoon, Hartman told the mixed jury that, although there are no eyewitnesses to the crime, the State is relying on a combination of circumstantial evidence.

The Prosecution is alleging that, on July 29, 2004, the prisoner and the victim, Muneshwar Yaswant called ‘Bachoo’, who both occupied a farmhouse were alive and well when last seen.

The following day, though, Yaswant was found dead on the stairs of their dwelling with incised wounds about his body.

The first witness, Ravendra Persaud said he is a joint owner of 100 acres of land on which animals and domestic birds are reared and had employed Amaanulla whom he knew for six years. He had known Yaswant, the other employee, for three months.

Persaud said both men were cattle hands and, together with another man alias ‘Caterpin’, were occupants of one of two buildings on the ranch.

The witness said occupancy of the other building was either by himself or his father, Rohit Persaud, whenever they visit the location.

The younger Persaud recalled that it was on July 27 or July 28, 2004, that ‘Caterpin’ left for a holiday and before the departure of the latter, in company with his father and ‘Coolie’, they took Yaswant and Amaanulla to the farm.

The witness said he left his father, Yaswant, Amaanulla, ‘Caterpin’ and ‘Coolie’ at the place and went away.

He returned on July 29 to check his stock and take his father back home but gave Amaanulla a large bottle of white rum. Persaud said, when he departed, Yaswant was cooking rice, while Amaanulla was penning animals.

Neither of the two had visible injuries but, the following morning, whilst lying in his hammock under his house at Bloomfield, he saw Amaanulla with a cut on his left hand.

The wounded man reported that unidentified men had invaded the ranch and he was uncertain whether his fellow employee was alive after being severely chopped.

Persaud said he first took the injured man to Port Mourant Hospital, then to Whim Police Station, where he made a report and was accompanied to the crime scene by three policemen.

At the ranch, he observed vehicular tracks on the damp ground but saw no vehicles.

Persaud said the Police searched the building used by the men and recovered two sharp cutlasses and, subsequently, he saw his deceased employee lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

Cross-examined by Bacchus, the witness said he gave a signed, written statement to the Police the evening after he visited the scene and his father did likewise.

Ramchan Samlall, in his evidence, remembered being at Skeldon Hospital mortuary where he collected the body of his brother-in-law after witnessing a post mortem examination on it performed by Dr Nehaul Singh.

Samlall said the corpse was buried on August 3, 2004, at Chesney cemetery.

Rameshwar Chandradat Isaacs told the court he was a lorry driver attached to Guysuco when, on July 30, 2004, he was transporting cane harvesters aback of Tain, Corentyne.

He said, after the passengers disembarked, he was proceeding on the way to Number 125 koker when the accused stopped him and he turned the lorry around.

Isaacs said, when the accused entered the cab, he noticed that his hands were bleeding and he gave him a ride to the main road.
The case is continuing.

Preserve GBC studios
I WAS saddened to hear about the fire damage to the old Guyana Broadcasting Corporation studio on High Street, Georgetown.

Many people may not realise that, prior to 1966, those studios also housed the British Forces Broadcasting Service which carried BBC programmes and programmes that helped to keep the servicemen stationed in the country in touch with their families back home.

One of the programmes each week involved an interview with members of the British army, particularly those with a support role such as the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers armourer, drivers, Royal Corps of Signals radio operators and members of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

I was one of the people interviewed there.
It is a building that certainly has a history and I believe that that history should be available to visitors
DON JOHNSON

Why many stayed away
I SAW a letter in Stabroek News of June 27, 2006 by Mr. Frank Fyffe bemoaning the poor turnout at the Walter Rodney commemoration that was held in John Street, Georgetown.

He was more or less saying that Guyanese workers and people are ungrateful because the activity was poorly attended.

I really object to this and would like to advise Mr. Fyffe to investigate these things before he pronounces.

Last year, on the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Rodney, many Guyanese turned out to the events.

Since then, many changes have taken place that caused people to stay away just one year later.

The absence of the crowd was really reflecting the feeling of betrayal by the masses at the leadership of the WPA.

Who would have thought that Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine would have been on the PNCR platform with Robert Corbin?

That is why many stayed away.
REBECCA CONSTANCE

Ominous signs
I HAVE heard the deafening silence of the NGOs, the “Human Rights” bodies and political parties as it related to the kidnapping of Roger Khan by U.S., Suriname and Trinidad authorities.

Some may shake it off and say he is a criminal. Some may be afraid of the U.S. so they are mum of the affair.

What, however, we must ask, was Khan’s human rights violated? If that is the case then all should raise their voices in protest.

Since the end of the Cold War the U.S. has taken upon itself the role of being the world’s gendarme. They have killed more than 50,000 in Iraq for that country’s oil. They are supporting the Israelis to murder innocent Palestinians daily.

Just recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Bush Administration on the setting up of military tribunals to try people held at the military bases in Guantanamo. Immediately after, they are seeking to find ways to nullify this.

In other parts of the world they have been snatching persons who they suspect of being “terrorists.” They have taken them to various places in the world to torture them.

More recently the New York Times was lambasted for exposing the fact that the Bush regime was violating their rights to privacy.

These are ominous signs! Yesterday the excuse was terrorists; today it is criminals; who next? Remember this is how Hitler started.

Theses unlawful methods will not help, but they will certainly hinder the fight against terrorism and crimes.
Roger Khan’s human rights must be upheld.
R. GANESH

A hero?
ROGER Khan was recently snatched in Trinidad and taken to the U.S. to face charges.

In Guyana, Roger Khan was for many a hero. Many believed him when he said he helped to fight the criminals on the East Coast Demerara. Many believed that he took personal risks to do so.

Why is Roger Khan a hero to so many? After all, most people are decent and do not like crimes, criminals and drugs.

The sad reality is that Roger Khan is regarded as a hero because our security forces have let us down. They are allowing the criminals to run riot whenever they want to do so.

Although the Army is camped in Buxton the criminals casually robbed a business premises in Enterprise and just as casually killed an innocent bystander. This shows that the criminals have no fear of being confronted or apprehended by the security forces.

Some may say that over the past two to three weeks things are quiet. They may attribute this to the fact that the Army is in Buxton. I do not believe that that is the reason.

I am of the opinion that the controllers of these criminals are just holding them on a leash. They do not want too many problems at this time, so that public opinion could turn against the political minds that are behind these crimes.

It also appears that the presence of the security forces has held things down. They know that the image of the Army and Police is so tarnished that they are hoping to give it a shine.

The criminals are still on the loose; they have the weapons that they took from the Army. They have their own agenda as to when they would strike.

They also have the confidence that the Police and Army will not apprehend them.

Do you see why Roger Khan appears as a hero?
What a mess!
A. ADAMS

What standards used?
I READ reports of the GDF’s retreat in all the papers.

I carefully read the address of Brigadier General Edward Collins, Chief of Staff.

In the reports that I have seen the Chief of Staff said that the Army “achieved their strategic objective of rendering the arms (i.e. the missing weapons from the army) useless…” I do not understand how he could have said so without pointing to any hard facts.

How did Collins know that those weapons were not used in the massacre at Agricola/Eccles in March of this year when eight persons were brutally murdered? How did he know that those weapons were not used in the assassination of Minister Satyadeo Sawh, his siblings and security guard?

I am amazed that the Chief of Staff could describe the performance of the GDF in this period as “sterling.” What standards were used to measure the performance(s)?

The evidence shows that the work of the GDF was far from “sterling”; in fact it was poor.

Since the crime wave began the army hardly lifted a hand to help. They were in Burton for months, spent huge amounts of money but did almost nothing. Remember they were in Buxton when the bandits torched the homes of the Chester family and they did absolute nothing to prevent that. They were in Buxton when the gang left their base, went to Rose Hall on the Corentyne, shot up the place, killed several persons and re-entered Buxton.

The army was there all that time and apprehended no one.

In that period several persons complained that crimes were taking place in full view of the military and they did nothing.

The only time they made a response was when the criminals shot a soldier. In more recent times the army was dead silent. They moved only when it was rumoured that taped conversations were about to be released.

It appears that all their searches of Roger Khan and his associates’ premises were not really for the missing weapons. That was the pretext -- the main reason was to find the equipment that recorded the conversations and the tapes.

We also see how much the army and police looked for Roger Khan and anyone associated with him. That enthusiasm was never shown in relation to the criminals in Buxton.

Indeed, it is widely believed that the weapons that went missing from the army are not with Khan but with the gang in Buxton. Maybe the talk about the AKs with Khan is another clumsy attempt to divert attention from the real culprits.

If the army showed half the drive that they displayed against Khan in pursuing the criminals, whose headquarters are in Buxton, the chances of recovering the weapons would be much greater.
A. ADAMS

Flawed statements
WE CAN expect the Government Information Agency (GINA) as duty bound to produce information for public consumption.

However, the least that the public should expect is for them to embrace truth and be wedded to the concept of justice.

The Guyana Chronicle of June 29, 2006 referring to President Bharrat Jagdeo’s visit to the Guyana School of Agriculture reported that:

“The agency (GINA) said it was the first time since its establishment forty three years ago that a Head of State visited etc,” and went on to state that the Principal Ms. Lynette Cunha said the school was the “brain child of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan.”

These are flawed statements.

First the school was opened in September 1963 by the Honourable Brindley Horatio Benn, then Minister of Agriculture, Forest and Lands. The school then catered for 40 students.

In his opening remarks, Minister Benn, also a top PPP Executive said, “Inspiration for the school came partly from papers which were prepared many years ago by Mr. Norman E. Cameron M.A.”

Professor Cameron was present at the function, and the caption in the Chronicle of the following day, with his photograph, noted that, “the school was the brainchild of Norman E. Cameron.”

It is no secret that I remain a great admirer of Dr. Jagan but I don’t recall then, that the PPP hierarchy said the school was the brainchild of Dr. Jagan.

Be that as it may, in our zeal to eulogize one man, we should neither ignore, nor downplay the role of other people. This unhappy trend is becoming evident.

At the ceremony, the school was dedicated to ‘the freedom from hunger campaign’ of the Food and Agricultural Organisation marking a tremendous step forward in agriculture, in the progress of our country.

Mr. Harry Madramootoo MSc, was named the first head and the assistant was Mr. J. Dummett BSc, who at the time was serving in the Rupununi District.

President LFS Burnham visited and toured GSA on more than one occasion. He also visited NARI. This was during the tenure of Mr. Winslow Davidson, the longest serving Principal.

President Hoyte also visited the school.

If it is an honest error, I hereby offer my services to GINA as consultant to their Research Department; this may help them avoid their not too infrequent faux pas.

Until then, let me share the words of Emile Zola in J’eccuse:

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through, it will blow up everything in its way.”
HAMILTON GREEN J.P

Waiting for a phone
I APPLIED for a telephone landline from GT&T about the time that Noah started building his ark.

I was walking by with the application when he asked me how I was doing. He even suggested that Shem, Ham or Japheth take it for me while we discussed upcoming events in great detail, but it was just around the corner on the brick dam and I didn’t want to be a bother.

At the office, the clerk told me that she was not sure of the date when I would get a phone because management had just got wind of an impending flood and she didn’t think the company was willing to make the investment, that as soon as everything dried up, I would be connected for certain.

So after the ark landed on Mount Ararat, I went around to check on the status of my application.

I met a different clerk. She explained quite nicely that they were in the process of upgrading their infrastructure, if I could be patient and that in any case, preference was going to be given to persons living in their own homes evidenced by the possession of land titles.

I told her that Abraham had not come as yet, so it was not possible for me to get one any time soon, to which she kindly promised to help me as best she could.

Some 500 years later, as we were leaving Egypt on our way to the promised land, I asked Aaron to make a beeline to the office while they danced and sang around the golden calf.

There I met a man, obese and full of oil, in attire of the mixed multitude. He showed me my application, that it was approved, only that I needed a letter from Moses stating that I had fulfilled all the Jewish requirements and was guaranteed a plot over Jordan.

In exasperation I explained that I couldn’t have got this far without such impeccable credentials the overwhelming evidence of which was quite clear, but he merely fidgeted about and mumbled about the law being the law and having to discuss it with his supervisor at the next board meeting.

By this time Moses had returned from the mountain and we had to move on from one emergency to another until Caesar decided to register everyone for peace sake, the residency requirement by birth being paramount.

It was only after Pilate was removed from office, however, that I had the chance to visit GT&T again.

The boy behind the desk rapidly pressed a few keys, stared long and hard at his monitor, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Yes, the computer shows the history of your application. Just the signature of the antichrist is needed now. When he comes, you will get your phone for certain.”
MARK A.C. BLAIR

Writing on the wall
A FEW years ago, the infamous businessman Roger Khan and some of his cohorts, were apprehended on the East Coast Demerara by the police in a traffic stop.

Unlicensed guns, ammunition and a laptop were found in their possession. This was during the height of many killings perpetrated against Guyanese civilians.

The laptop was later discovered to have the capabilities of tapping into telephone conversations.

What became of that court case? Khan and his colleagues got off scotch free.

We have a law in Guyana, if you are found with, and, above an amount in weight, of illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana, upon being charged and found guilty, all of your assets will be confiscated by the state.

Since this law has been implemented more than 17 years ago, nobody’s property has ever been confiscated by the state.

Even though Guyana is rated among the top illegal drug transshipment countries in the world, everyone takes the smartest lawyers to defend themselves. You only need a lawyer smarter than the prosecution.

Only fools will believe that upon Khan and his colleagues being deported from Suriname and sent to Guyana, he would have been charged for any crime and sent to jail for any period of time.

Let’s face it, we have corruption rampant everywhere. A few bribes here and there, and Khan would have been allowed to walk freely again.

Our CARICOM Governments realized this very early. For Khan to be tried in our court system is like putting cat to watch milk.

Something WILL go "wrong" for the benefit of Khan.

Already a Surinamese guard is being detained for allegedly taking a large bribe to spring Khan out of jail.

The governments did the best thing possible. They cooperated with America where an arrest warrant was out for him long before he was arrested here.

America is famous for going after drug kingpins. They sent an army into Panama to arrest its military leader, Manuel Noriega. He was involved with money laundering and drug trafficking.

They spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Colombia fighting for the eradication of illegal drugs there.

What fate lies for the other cohorts caught in the sting operation in Suriname? Charge them for their crimes! If they were found in possession of illegal drugs, then that is it. Entering the country illegally maybe another.

Since these people were arrested, and the GDF has taken up residence in Buxton, the shooting spree has subsided.

There will be calls for the release of these wanted men and for the army to exit Buxton so that things can return to its “normal lawlessness“.

The State and its security forces would be very foolish to bend to the whims and fancies of these loud mouths. The time is long overdue for us to take back our country.

Other similar camps should be set up where these criminals operate.

Good show CARICOM. Way to go. No explanation is necessary.

The writing is on the wall.
M. KAZAN

Most inappropriate
IT IS most inappropriate for Mr. Robert Corbin, PNCR and Opposition leader of Guyana to abuse his privilege of being able, as an opposition leader, accorded to him by our President Bharrat Jagdeo, to address Caribbean Heads of Government meetings, a privilege not accorded to other opposition leaders by their Heads of Government, to seek to peddle his opposition partisan rhetoric about their spurious claims and objections to the procedures being adopted and followed by the Guyana Elections Commission {GECOM}, for the upcoming 2006 national elections.

Such an attempt is a serious and unforgivable breach of protocol, as the matter is not even an agenda item, and does not speak well to our Caribbean brothers and sisters of the decorum and standards of our leader of the opposition, who could by his position, one day, become our Head of Government.

I do not think it is too late for him to make amends and express his regrets, and instead use the opportunity to get under the big tent, so to speak, and look at the big picture, and address the real and big issues falling under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, or security aspects of CWC 2007.
JOHN DA SILVA

Poor service
ON JULY 3 we visited Le Meridien Pegasus to have a meal.

A waiter came and took our order. We ordered the food around 14:45 h. We waited.

It seemed a long time before they served us. Eventually the food came – at 15:20 h. Thirty five minutes to serve a table. Great service. And the food was COLD!

Now, we are not asking a lot here. Present us with a waiter when we sit down, give us a drink, take our food order and serve us within a reasonable time - say max 15 minutes. That’s not impossible, especially when the place is almost empty. But – wait to see what happened next…

We complained. We asked to see the Manager. A Mr Randy Lewis finally showed up at 15:37 h – 17 minutes to look after a customer complaint. All the time we were looking at nice (cold) steaks and feeling very hungry.

Mr Lewis was very apologetic. Very apologetic. No, he wouldn’t charge us for the cold steaks. Good. But where’s our food? Well, he would see that a waiter attended us immediately.

Immediately was almost 10 minutes later. We re-ordered. H