Wire up
-- GPL urges residents in unserved areas
By Chamanlall Naipaul
GUYANA Power and Light (GPL) company is urging residents in the areas to be electrified under the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme (UAEP) to wire their houses and obtain certificates of inspection for the installation, as construction work in the identified regions is scheduled to begin next month.

Implementation Manager with responsibility for the UAEP, Carlton De Haijle said the “project is at the crossroads”, and apart from wiring homes, residents should ensure that they pay up their consumer capital contributions of $10,000 as early as possible.

He told a news conference last Friday that GPL is in the final stages of identifying contractors and construction work is scheduled to begin simultaneously in all the regions targeted under the UAEP.

According to Mr De Haijle 30,000 households are targeted under the UAEP across Regions Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), Four (Demerara/Mahaica), Five (Mahaica/Berbice), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice), and implementation will be carried out in two phases.

During the current first phase which is scheduled for completion at the end of next year, 12,000 households are targeted and the cost is estimated at US$7.3M of which GPL is providing US$2M and the government US$5.3M.

He reported that 96% detailed technical designs for the UAEP have been completed and US$1.5M in offshore and onshore electrical distribution goods have been so far received to begin construction work, while another US$1.9M in materials is expected to arrive within the next two-and-a-half months.

In addition, six areas in four regions were selected from the UAEP list as pilot areas for field construction by GPL staff prior to the beginning of the substantive programme in order to identify any implementation coordination issues with other stakeholders, utilities and road works entities, De Haijle said.

He noted that the pilot project achieved its objective and was completed during last month with circuits successfully tested.

The areas where the pilot project was implemented included Henrietta/Richmond in Region Two, Zeelugt South and Patentia in Region Three, Goedverwagting South in Region Four and Bath in Region Five.

The cost of the UAEP is US$34.4M and GPL is responsible for the implementation aspect referred to as the investment component which involves the construction of the electricity infrastructure and the connection of eligible consumers to the expanded grid, De Haijle said.

He added that this component will cost about US$28.3M.

The UEAP was officially launched in December last year and is being funded through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

At the launching ceremony IDB Representative here, Mr Sergio Varas Olea noted that an efficient electricity system is an important service to citizens and provides the enabling environment for the private sector to invest and create wealth and employment.

According to him, studies have shown that an inefficient network can reduce Gross Domestic Output (GDP) by three to five per cent which would impact negatively on society, lessening the prospect for population growth and an improved quality of life.

He noted that countries with a normal electricity supply maintain losses of about 15% but if very efficient would suffer less loss at around eight per cent.

Mr Olea observed that a reduction in losses could be utilised in positive ways, and suggested a rebalancing of tariffs, reducing charges to consumers, investing to improve the quality and stability of the system and the avoidance of frequent blackouts as well as cushion the impact of increases of oil price.

On Essequibo Coast…
Repair started on another Devonshire Castle seawall breach
ANOTHER section of the Devonshire Castle sea defence has collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean and repair work is in progress there.

It is reported that 60 feet of the concrete structure fell into the water because the foundation has been eroded.

Former member of the Sea Defence Board, Mr Pooran Persaud told the Chronicle that several reports about the erosion were made to the Emergency Sea Defence Office at Anna Regina, also on Essequibo Coast, but nothing was done to prevent the most recent breach.

He said, following the seawall collapse, the earthen dam embankment began to erode quickly, and he made contact with the Regional Chairman, Mr Alli Baksh, who immediately instructed engineers to visit the site and start work to seal the crack.

Persaud said the sea defence along Devonshire Castle foreshore is very vulnerable to severe high tides and thousands of acres of rice cultivation and residential areas can be flooded if the fragile wall is destroyed.

He said maintenance should commence immediately to avoid further damage.

Meanwhile, the government recently spent millions of dollars to seal another part of the wall at Devonshire Castle.

Police alerted on electricity selling scam
GUYANA Power and Light (GPL) yesterday reported that it has alerted the police to an electricity selling scam in a housing scheme on the East Bank Demerara.

The company in a press release said it has not authorised any person(s) to collect money for electricity connections or to install any such connections in the New Diamond Housing Scheme.

“GPL has been informed that a group of unknown persons purporting to be representing the Garden of Eden Station, has been visiting the Diamond Housing Scheme, especially the section between Fifth and Thirteenth Streets in the Low Income Scheme and soliciting monies from residents for electrical connections”, the release said.

GPL said stressed that has not authorised anyone to install electrical connections in that area, all existing connections to the company’s network are illegal and will be removed immediately.

The matter has since been reported to the police and persons who resist the removal of the illegal connections could face criminal prosecution, it advised.

It noted that electricity will be soon supplied to New Diamond Housing Scheme since GPL, the Central Housing and Planning Authority and the Ministry of Housing and Water are in the final stages of defining the plan for construction of the distribution network.

GPL said the network design is already completed and overseas orders for the necessary materials are about to be placed and residents will be advised of the time when they should approach GPL either individually or collectively for connection.

The company is also urging residents to desist from installing illegal connections for their safety and to protect the distribution network in the area.

GUYANA’S PRISTINE BEAUTY CAPTIVATES GATHERING IN NEW YORK
– Nadir launches “A Taste of Guyana” to promote tourism
From Bina Mahabir
NEW YORK: The enraptured looks, coupled with the pride with which they took in the spectacularly breathtaking scenes being rolled on a huge screen was evident of a people who live far away from their birth country, but whose hearts are still back home.

Guyana is their motherland, yet many marvelled at the natural wonders of a land they themselves have not yet explored.

The event was the launching of “A Taste of Guyana” to showcase the South American country’s beautiful flora and fauna to the Western world to promote tourism. It was held at Club Tobago, situated at 147-02, Jamaica Avenue in New York last Thursday and was kicked off promptly at 5:00 p.m.

The Guyana Tourism Authority and Universal Airlines co-sponsored the evening programme which was quite a relaxing, but very informative affair. Colourful brochures and flyers featuring some of the country’s most spectacular sites, such as the majestic 741-feet Kaieteur Falls, which is the world’s longest single drop waterfall, the Orinduik Falls, the enigmatic Savannahs, exotic birds and animals, were distributed to the gathering of about 100.

Also, Roraima Tours provided itineraries on organised trips, like the Arrowpoint Day and Night Trips, a “Guyana 7 Days/6 Nights Tour” costing US $1,000 (excluding airfare) and the famous Kaieteur/Orinduik Falls trips.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manzoor Nadir delivered a detailed account of Guyana’s potential as a striving tourist hotspot for current and prospective visitors to the country. He said his aim is to carve a niche in the North American and European tourism market.

Towards that end, his ministry will aggressively market the country’s still untamed beauty to the outside world. The bottom line is to attract as many visitors as possible and to create a vibrant tourism industry. Guyana, he said, has the potential to become one of the world’s greatest wonders.

The minister talked about the “bumper tourism year” Guyana experienced last year. He mentioned events such as “Easter, sports, family and village reunions and GuyExpo 2K4”, among others, as major tourist attractions that pull people back home.

He stated that one of the goals of his ministry is to lure more foreigners to the country. To achieve this objective, his ministry will work vigorously with all concerned parties, such as the Tourism & Hospitality Association of Guyana and Universal Airlines, to establish Guyana’s mark on the world arena as a land that offers tranquillity, beauty, adventure, fun, exquisite cuisine and cultural diversity.

Most importantly, the hallmark of Guyanese as a people is known to be their hospitality, human warmth and friendliness – three of the country’s most needed assets to attract visitors, he said.

Minister Nadir also outlined his ministry’s plans for the overall enhancement of the country’s landscape and improvement of the infrastructural system conducive to making visitors’ stay in Guyana a pleasurable and memorable one.

“Guyana is establishing its name as the new and exciting destination of choice,” stated the minister, adding that this year “is programmed to be even busier as Guyana begins its countdown to the sports tourism blockbuster year of 2007 when thousands of cricket fans, players and officials arrive in Guyana for the CWC 2007 cricket matches.”

Mike Charles Production did a fabulous job capturing the magnificent natural wonders of Guyana and packaging them on DVDs, titled “Yours to Discover” for a minimum cost of US$15.

Many present at the event agreed that the media material on the DVD was digitally enhanced in such a high-tech fashion that it could easily pass a Hollywood inspection. The beautiful scenes depicted on the DVD oozed out the feeling of a Guyana retaining her natural wonders but at the same time, engaging the techniques of the cutting-edge technology to improve living conditions.

The panellists at the head table included Minister Nadir, Rajendra Bissessar and Mike Charles from the Guyana delegation, officials from Universal Airlines, Dr Rudy Jadupath and others.

The team of officials fielded questions from the media and the general audience on Guyana’s tourism drive.

Many overseas-based Guyanese complimented the team for showcasing the country’s beauty to the outside world and raised concerns about critical issues such as the general security in the country, crime rates, improved facilities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, comfortable hotels and inns for visitors to stay.

The man who put this all together is Chaitram Singh, Sales Manager at Universal Airlines, headquartered in Queens, New York.

The evening got better when a beautiful icing cake was brought in to toast the event. The cake was designed by Roxanne of Unique Professional Creation Inc., in Queens. The food and drinks were provided by Kaieteur Restaurant and Sybil’s Restaurant and Bakery.

Thereafter, the gathering was treated to a lively cultural presentation that reflected a true West Indian heritage. The programme consisted of scintillating Indian folk dancing, a skit, songs, poems, African drumming and folk songs.

Participants included the famous Guyanese-born entertainer Rick Dalgetty, talented dancers from Marilyn Bhose-Shaw’s Nritya Kalekendra Academy of Indian Dance and Art and Jeggae Hoppie, among others.

The curtain was finally drawn around 10:00 p.m. to an evening of rich Guyanese flavour which many savoured.

School of the Nations launching Nations University
SCHOOL of the Nations, in Parade Street, Kingston, Georgetown, has announced that it will launch Nations University at the same location next week.

Founder of the parent institution, Dr Brian O’Toole told the Chronicle yesterday that the new arm will offer academic support and tuition to students registered for University of London external programmes from September this year.

He said University of London Director of International Affairs, Ms Susan Gidman is coming here for the launching and to meet Guyanese interested in pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes.

O’Toole said the original plan was for Gidman to stay just one day but the University of London is so encouraged by the “dramatic response” it has received that she will remain three days for the same purpose.

He said, for the June 16 inauguration at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, also in the city, Gidman will give an outline of the programmes.

According to him, 100 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees are available and Nations University will offer 40 at the undergraduate level in Business, Accounting, Development, Economics, International Relations, Law and Sociology and 36 postgraduate courses in Agricultural Economics, Management and Applied Educational Leadership.

In addition, another course being offered is for the International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers which aims to assess candidates’ competence in a range of learning and development activities in educational establishments, training organisations and companies, O’Toole said.

He explained that, based on the expressed demand, Nations University will conduct programmes that can be completed in three years, or longer, if students choose, with examinations being held in May/June every year.

The three-year process costs G$1.2M but can be paid by instalments, O’Toole said, adding that prospective students can apply directly to University of London and, once accepted, would be enrolled on support programmes.

O’Toole said, through University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, as well, School of the Nations has, for the past five years, been offering international diplomas in Information and Communication, Technology, Business, Travel and Tourism to teachers and trainers.

New GMC in dynamic move to boost farmers’ exports
A GINA FEATURE
(GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AGENCY) - The Government has given continued focus to the repositioning of agriculture to rest on two strategic pillars of global competitiveness of agriculture products and balanced development of rural areas.

Over the years, it has been urging farmers to diversify their agricultural production to include non-traditional crops. Results in this area have been encouraging, as several farmers have started exporting non-traditional crops to countries within the Caribbean region and extra-regionally.

To assist farmers and exporters, the government established the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC), to provide opportunities for them to produce higher quality products and increase their production levels. Today, many farmers are relying on the NGMC to market their products.

The NGMC Managing Director, Nizam Hassan and officials of the Guyana Office for Investment (GOINVEST) will be in Toronto, Canada to showcase Guyana’s non-traditional products. The team will be at L’AMOREAUX Community Centre, Toronto from June 24-26.

The NGMC provides the linkage between overseas and local exporters. Once a request comes in for farm produce, the organisation seeks the producers and links them with the buyers.

Currently, Guyana is exporting to several Caribbean countries and North America, among others. The Managing Director of NGMC, Nizam Hassan said during the first quarter of this year, NGMC promoted Guyanese fresh and processed non-traditional agricultural produce through the organisation’s participation in the Guyana Trade and Investment Exhibition held in St. Lucia. Officials in St. Lucia were impressed with the products and subsequently; the two countries signed a protocol relating to the trade of fresh produce between Guyana and St. Lucia. This will initially allow pineapples, watermelons and pumpkins to be exported to St. Lucia.

Guyanese exporters and St. Lucian importers are currently negotiating prices for commodities and trade is expected to commence shortly.

Farmers and exporters are also enjoying an export facility provided by the NGMC at Sophia whereby products are packaged for export.

The agency is continuing to assist exporters of food products to North America with registration with the United States (US) Food & Drug Administration and Bio- terrorism registration. Seventy-nine persons have been assisted in this area.

Farmers are also benefiting from technical assistance and training. Many farmers welcome this, as they learn how to produce a higher quality product to meet the demand and requirements of the overseas markets.

The NGMC also provides training in the area of post-harvest handling. Farmers are taught about efficient handling procedures to avoid damage.

From January to March 2005, 756 tonnes of produce were exported both by sea and air. The major importing countries regionally for Guyana’s non-traditional crops are Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda.

The major importing countries extra-regionally are Canada, France, United States of America and the United Kingdom.

More farmers are now showing interest in exporting and coming forward to seek information.

Guyana’s products had the greatest demand in France last year with that market taking some 1,214 tonnes of produce. It was followed by the United States with approximately 345.9 tonnes and Canada with 274 tonnes. Cyprus took over 100 tonnes.
The government only recently processed 6,000 land leases and last month, Minister Satyadeow Sawh was in the Mahaicony Creek to hand out titles for land leases. The farmers will be involved mainly in cash crops and other ventures to push Guyana’s new agricultural thrust.

Managing Director of Biso Investment Company, an exporter of Guyana’s non-traditional crops, Bisram Singh said that the government continues to provide opportunities for farmers to better themselves and their enterprises.

He said he exports approximately 60,000 pounds of mixed agricultural produce each month. Most of his products are exported to Barbados, with a small amount going to Antigua.

Singh said with the signing of the protocol between Guyana and St. Lucia, the demand for agriculture produce would increase in the coming months.

He added that farmers would have to produce more and would also be obligated to maintain quality to meet the requirements of the export market. This will allow more persons to enter into farming and create further employment opportunities.

Deodat Doodnauth of Deodat Doodnauth Company exports to Toronto, Canada. He has access to 40 per cent of the Toronto market that supplies to West Indian stores.

Mangoes, wiri wiri pepper, bora and saime are the main exports. Gooseberry and thyme are sent in smaller quantities. Doodnauth feels that small farmers should be helped with loans to expand their ventures.

He also said exporters need to meet farmers on a regular basis to educate them on issues of supply and demand.

Senior citizens outreach programme moves to Regions Two and Three
(GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AGENCY) -- Senior citizens have been accessing the services of the Social Workers’ outreach programme which was launched last week by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security.

The programme commenced in Georgetown, which has approximately 8,000 pensioners.

Since the programme started, a number of senior citizens turned up at the locations to enquire about pension books, public assistance and other problems affecting them.

The programme aimed at improving the delivery of the government’s services to the elderly, has now moved to Regions Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands). Shortly, social workers will be at several locations in the two regions.

According to the Chief Social Worker, Deendayal Singh, the Social Workers will discuss matters affecting senior citizens including Old Age Pension, Public Assistance, and waiver of water tariff and abuse of the elderly.
The schedules for the regions are as follows:

The government, through the ministry, has over the years been stepping up its efforts to improve the lives of senior citizens. It has provided for easier access to old age pensions, public assistance and other services offered to the elderly.
It will continue to implement other measures to further improve their lives.

Indian MPs visit important step
-- Speaker of National Assembly
SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr Ralph Ramkarran says the recent visit here by the Indian parliamentary delegation is an important step in expanding and building relations between the National Assembly of Guyana and parliaments of other countries.

He told the Chronicle that while the visit was a goodwill one and therefore business matters were not formally dealt with, there was an exchange of opinions on how the parliaments of India and Guyana could strengthen their collaboration.

In this regard, the Speaker said an invitation was extended by the Indian delegation to the National Assembly of Guyana for Members of Parliament to visit the Indian Parliament to acquaint themselves with its workings.

Asked if the invitation would be taken up, the Speaker replied that it is likely to be considered but suggested that availability of finance could pose a difficulty.

He recalled too that staff of the National Assembly in the past received parliamentary training in India, and this is one of the areas of cooperation that should be continued in the future.

During last week a 13-member parliamentary delegation from India, headed by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad paid a two-day visit here.

The delegation met President Bharrat Jagadeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Reepu Daman Persaud, the Speaker, and Leader of the Opposition and the People’s National Congress Reform, Robert Corbin.

St Joseph Hospital volunteer group draws raffle
ST JOSEPH Mercy Hospital Auxiliary, a volunteer group which helps raise funds for poor patients at that institution, last Friday drew a raffle it sponsored and and presented the winners with their prizes.

At the presentation, in the nursing school situated in the same Lot 130 Parade Street, Kingston, Georgetown compound, the sponsors gave out, among other things, a television set, a microwave cooker, compact disc (CD) player, two cellular phones and a bicycle,

Bryden and Fernandes and U-Mobile, COURTS Guyana Limited, Farfan and Mendes Limited, Omai Peanut Butter Company and Modern Optical Service were the prize donors.
The raffle is staged annually.

June 14 is World Blood Donor Day
JUNE 14 has been designated World Blood Donor Day by the World Health Assembly and the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) has planned a programme of activities to observe the day here.

Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told a news conference yesterday that the milestone date was selected to honour the man who first discovered that blood could be grouped into various types.

Karl Landsteiner, who was born on June 14, discovered the blood groups which enabled the medical profession to use blood to treat the sick.

The minister said that through the World Health Assembly, each of the 172 countries which have agreed to make the designation will have to plan and execute activities to highlight the significance of that day.

He said the ministry in partnership with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has several programmes to educate the public on the importance of healthy blood supply in the health care system.

These include a ministerial visit to several regions in Guyana where he will attempt to sensitise the regional officials and business community to the blood donation cause so that residents in those areas will in turn be encouraged to make voluntary donations to the NBTS.

Dr Ramsammy said the NBTS already has a strong partnership with several other organisations, including the Guyana Red Cross and the Rotary Club and hoped that these would expand to allow the public to become fully aware of the importance of blood donation.

To this end, he expressed regret that because of medical complications he cannot give blood but said he would encourage members of his staff to do so.

He said too, that the NBTS would like to see more voluntary donors contributing to the blood supply since this would ensure availability of safe blood.

Currently, only 20 per cent of the blood donation to the NBTS is voluntary while the remainder usually comes from the family and friends of sick persons in need of blood.

Medical Director at the NBTS Dr Clement Mc Ewan added that donors are special persons who give a piece of themselves for the wellbeing of sick persons, particularly voluntary donors who often do so for a total stranger with little or no incentive. He said that there are small incentives, including t-shirts and couple's dinners, which are given to donors at the end of the year.

"Guyana, like the rest of the developing world, faces a chronic shortage of safe blood", he noted.

However, the country is far ahead of others as the percentage of the needs of the NBTS has risen from five per cent in 1993 to 20 per cent today, he said.

Guyana Red Cross representative Mrs Dorothy Fraser said the effort is supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Red Cross and the International Federation of Blood Donors.

She said the Guyana Red Cross tries to educate young people so that the number of voluntary donors would increase with their support.

She noted that the Guyana Red Cross hopes to have blood donation workshops every month to educate the public and garner more support for the blood drive. (TIMICA FORRESTER)

Rains could affect rice crop
-- industry sources
UNSEASONAL rainfall is likely to cause a shortfall in paddy production in West Berbice for the autumn crop.

Industry sources say rains have created waterlogged conditions in cultivation areas thereby making essential land preparation activities by machines difficult.

“At the moment, most access dams are in bad shape,” a source said.

He added that many farmers who manage to traverse soggy access dams and reach cultivation plots, find that the tractors are getting stuck or bogged down in the fields due to similar conditions in the fields.

Another complicating factor are some plots of huge wheel ruts made by combine harvesters during harvesting of the last crop.

Sources added that many rice farmers had been late in land preparation also because of late payments from millers for paddy sold at the end of the last crop.

To date, and with mid-June as the recommended deadline for sowing, only about 1,500 out of the usual West Berbice cultivation of 40,000 acres is under paddy.

Sources said that West Berbice farmers who are committed to planting the autumn crop are likely to speed up cultivation activities in the next three weeks in order to be able to sow by mid-July latest.

Sowing will definitely close after this date, since sowing afterwards will result in the plants reaching maturity in the middle of the usual November-December rains – a time when losses of grain due to lodging of plants can occur and harvesting, transporting and drying of paddy will be extremely difficult.

Sources predict that actual West Berbice acreage for the crop may close in the vicinity of 30,000 acres at the most particularly because of the current late start.

Ferry commuters call for better contract arrangement
STUDENTS and other commuters on the Berbice Ferry who use monthly “Contracts” to cross daily are calling on the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) to implement a more efficient arrangement for their sale at month ends.

Commuters complain that many times these “Contracts” are only available for purchase two to three days into the new month which means that they have to buy tickets in the meanwhile.

“They do not allow you to pass for free while you are waiting on them for `Contracts’. This additional cost in is tough on everyone particularly on parents who have children who attend school on the other side of the river,” one disturbed parent said.

Commuters pointed out that the cost of the “Contract” for school children for example is $150 per month.

With late availability of the document even for two or three days in the new month parents are forced to spend $160 to $240 in addition to what they have to pay for the “Contract” itself when it becomes available.

Affected commuters are suggesting that the T&HD should make an arrangement to sell “Contracts” on the last day of each month or allow travellers to use their old ‘Contracts” until the new ones are available.

“What is happening is not fair. It is tough on everyone to have to bear this extra cost because of inefficiency of the system,” a spokesman said.

MV Torani back on Berbice River crossing
THE operations of the Berbice Ferry have been reported much improved with the resumption of the MV Torani on the crossing last weekend.

A source at the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) said that the large vessel replaced the pontoon the MB Baramanni and already is a source of relief to many commuters, particularly vehicle drivers, because of its larger carrying capacity.

The source added that the MV Torani will work along with the MV Makouria until further notice.

The MV Torani had been taken off Berbice River run in February last for annual docking.

Last month, after repairs and refurbishing had been completed, the engine of the vessel had caught afire while it was on temporary assignment on the Essequibo River crossing.

Sources said yesterday that the damaged engine had been repaired and the vessel had been released last Friday, after being deemed fit for resumption of service.

The pontoon MB Baramanni had over the past three months been ferrying commuters while being pushed by a barge, an arrangement which resulted in the crossing by this vessel being painfully slow and reportedly very stressful for many commuters.

On Reservations and Referendums
A RECENT editorial cartoon drawn by the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, Matt Davies of the New York daily The Journal News, shows a beret-clad figure (the archetypal caricature of the Frenchman) descending a snow-capped peak, mere feet away from the summit.

The peak bears the label “EU Constitution” and the flag that Frenchman tosses behind him as he strides decisively downhill is marked “Ratification”. The thought bubble reads, simply, “Never mind.”

A week ago, French voters made history when they resoundingly rejected ratification of the European Union Constitution: 55 per cent “Non”, to 45 per cent “Oui”. With a voter turnout of around 70 per cent, this means that the majority of French people didn’t feel that their destiny belonged with the continent. The results – after hard campaigning by the French government for quite the opposite outcome – means not only that one of the founding members of the Union will not be part of a constitutional EU; more than that the future of the entire European integration process has now been rendered uncertain. With the Netherlands very likely to follow suit in its pending referendum, the EU might as well go back to constitutional drawing (or drafting) board.

CARICOM leaders – Caribbean Single Market just on the horizon – need not worry about such things like referendums that go not quite as they expect. Or do they?

Mention of it is still anathema but, the short-lived (1958-1962) Federation of the West Indies remains a haunting spectre in what twists of fate – like the French referendum for example – could yet still prove to be a house of cards. For those with long enough memories, this collapse of this first attempt at Caribbean integration came after Jamaica under Norman Manley, held a referendum (yes a referendum) on political secession from the Federation. The result was similar to the French “Non”; 54 per cent.

Recently, the Bahamas expressed “reservations” regarding the monetary union and free movement of persons (FMP) aspects of Caribbean Single Market and Economy resulting in a brouhaha that no doubt had CARICOM’s diplomatic engine running at full tilt. The situation was further exacerbated when a CARICOM official was quoted as saying that the Bahamas could not harbour reservations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, much to the chagrin of the Bahamian government. The situation was only quelled – or, more aptly, abated – when CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington wrote Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell, saying in a letter dated May 13, 2005 that:

“The Government of The Bahamas has repeatedly expressed its reservations to the Community about monetary union and the free movement of persons under the CSME, as it affects The Bahamas; a position accepted by the Member States of the Community.” (Mr Mitchell, incidentally, has taken up the position of Chairman for CARICOM’s Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) only recently.)

Borges tells us that “destiny takes pleasure in repetition, variants, symmetries.” If anything, the Bahamian Reservations, the French Rejection, and the Phantom of the West Indian Federation, should serve as reminders (not necessarily auguries) of the fragile state of our disparate union.

The Caribbean Single Market may be just around the corner, but the Single Economy – a far more contentious system – is scheduled to come onboard in 2008. By then, the Caribbean people would have had two years to figure out whether they like the taste of deeper integration in their mouths or not. Come 2008, whether officially sanctioned or not, there are going to be referendums. We should be hard at work ensuring that the “Oui” votes come out supreme.

PERSPECTIVES
A SINGLE CULTURAL IDENTITY?
NOT THE WAY TO GO
BY PREM MISIR
INTEGRATING different people into a single cultural identity seems wanting. Given the presence of many different ethnics in a society, a national and regional unity that comes out of one identity for all is false. This creation of a single identity would then become a cultural loss to each ethnic group. Perhaps, this is not what Caribbean people want.

The colonial attitude
It’s instructive to note that in the 1930s Indians in Jamaica rejected the colonial Moyne Commission’s injunction to become absorbed into the Creole culture. The Moyne Commission had pressed for the emergence of a single identity on the Island.

Naipaul in a keynote speech at a conference held at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, drew attention to a European colonial administrator who complained about the local people not coming together.
Naipaul criticized this colonialist's perceptions that see the local people as having no distinctive qualities, and that all of them can be compartmentalized into one cultural non-distinguishing brownish mass. Naipaul rejects this colonialist's assertion as "It concedes humanity, it concedes a past, a particularity, and a pride, only to one particular group. It concedes these things only to one people - the administrator's people - and it denies them to everyone else."

The European colonialist's conception of national unity was the compartmentalization of all the locals into one group with one cultural identity, resocializing them to show deference to Anglo-culture and to subscribe to American and Anglo-conformity.

Regional identity equals multiple identities
Last week, France and Netherlands dumped the treaty on the European Union Constitution, so much for regional integration!! All 25 members have to accept this treaty through referendums in their countries. Ireland, Portugal, and Britain recently hinted that they may defer their referendums. Polls show that Denmark may reject the treaty on the EU constitution.

What we must note, too, is the EU comprises 25 member countries, each of which has its own cultural identity, and members accept that the EU has multiple cultural identities. These 25 or more ethnic identities will coexist as the EU Parliament shapes their economic future. But this ‘shaping’ only will be legitimized so long as it does not impinge upon the value systems of members.

Pluralism
Then, of course, we have the multicultural scenario in the U.S. Does the U.S. have a singular American cultural identity? Each ethnic group has a legitimate cultural classification. For instance, the U.S. has Asian-American culture, African American culture, Jewish-American culture, Italian-American culture, Native- American culture, etc.

Each ethnic group freely practices its culture and there is no attempt to create one cultural identity for all Americans. Pluralism, a philosophy that encourages the coexistence of many cultures, is at work.

No need for forced assimilation
The slave trade and the indenture scheme brought new ethnic identities and cultures to the colonial and post-colonial Caribbean. However, amid all the ‘mixing’ conceptions of Creolization, Ethnogenesis, Inter-ethnic Fusion, Mettisage, and Hybridity, it is the Creole culture today that usually is synonymous with the Caribbean identity. Creole is the underlying culture that continues to shape Caribbean institutions. And this Creole has Eurocentric roots.

The fact of the matter is that Creole “has now become widely used to apply to the essentially Caribbean nature of the cultural identity that developed at the interstices between the cultures of Africa and Europe,” according to Shepherd. But do we need a dominant culture in the Caribbean?

However, some African communities oppose the Creole identity because they believe that it covers up the Africanness of the Caribbean, and they may have even dumped the Afro-Creole concept that Burton advances. Africans have a right to develop their African culture and not become assimilated into a Creole culture that is predominantly Eurocentric.

Indians, according to Patricia Mohammed, also oppose the Creole identity, seeing it as amounting to a cultural loss for the Indian community. Indians have a right to advance their Indian identity and not become assimilated to a Creole persona.

No ethnic group should be forced or cajoled into assimilating another’s culture. Indians perceive their culture to be pure and autonomous, that is, untouched by Creolization. They, therefore, feel a need to protect and gain recognition for their culture. Some Indian communities have established this cultural protection through cleavage and closure.

Coolitude, not really
Carter and Torabully’s Coolitude is another ethnic identity theory that is now presented as having greater credence than Creolization, Ethnogenesis, Inter-ethnic Fusion, Mettisage, and Hybridity. However, Shepherd uncertain about the role of Coolitude asks, “…Can it really realize its objective of mediating the creolization process in the post-colonial era so that it becomes more inclusionary and integrated into Caribbean art, poetry, literature, history etc?; for, according to Carter and Torabully, ‘coolitude’ involves rediscovering the ‘coolie’ memory and adopting a more complex attitude to culture, showing how Indian culture can adapt to a plural landscape; how Indian culture can be inserted into a culture that is essentially a Euro-African mix.” Cultural loss will ensue with insertion into another’s culture.

And this is precisely the problem: the attempt to construct a singular cultural identity as the dominant culture, through historical and existing policy applications of Creole culture. The proposed rhetoric of Coolitude also may be the subject of future cultural experiments to attain this singular cultural identity in places like the Caribbean.

Easing ethnic tensions
The problem of ethnic dominance, however, is that it not only sustains an ethnic hierarchy, but works toward diluting minority cultures in the quest for achieving national unity. And this watering down of other people’s cultures is a must for ethnic dominance. This situation produces cultural hegemony against all minority cultures.

But people will resist any attempt at weakening their culture. And cultural dilution and cultural hegemony are twin evils for inciting ethnic tensions in any multiethnic society.

The search for national unity is a must, but its achievement must not be premised on cultural compromise. In a multiethnic scenario, national unity is not equal to a single cultural identity.

The Bahamas and the CSME:
Lessons from the EU
By Sir Ronald Sanders
(The writer is a former Caribbean diplomat, now business executive, who publishes widely on Small States in the global community)
WHILE the European Union (EU) went through referenda in two countries last week that explicitly rejected a treaty to establish an EU Constitution, there has been open agitation in the Bahamas against entering the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The arguments in France and The Netherlands against an EU Constitution were echoed in the Bahamas amongst those who oppose its entry to the CSME.

These arguments boil down to three fears: an influx of immigrants; the power of regional institutions over member countries; and the loss of domestic control of national currencies.

While the arguments are being raised, researched and debated openly in the Bahamas, they exist in other Caribbean countries as well though not to the same extent.

In part, this is because, with the exception of Belize, the other Caribbean countries have a longer and deeper association with each other through the West Indies Federation, CARIFTA and then CARICOM, the University of the West Indies, a common West Indian cricket team, and, of course, greater ease of travel and, consequently, more contact at several levels of their societies.

In the case of the Bahamas and Belize, the primary contact has been at the level of government and inter-governmental organisations.

This lack of familiarity at the level of the wider community contributes to suspicion and unease over arrangements to draw these states closer to the rest of the Caribbean.

In the EU, the first two fears – immigration and the power of regional institutions – seemed to have had the greatest effect on the vote in the referenda in France and The Netherlands that led to the ‘no’ vote.

There was concern that people from the poorer – and more recent - member states of the EU would flood into the richer countries to compete for jobs. Anti-immigration lobbies whipped up worries that their countries will be overrun by immigrants.

Those who oppose Bahamas entering the CSME also use the immigrant argument. They claim that the Bahamas would find that other Caribbean persons would enter the Bahamas and compete in the establishment and running of companies. The suggestion is that this would mean an influx of Caribbean ‘foreigners’ to compete with Bahamians.

Of course, in the case of the CSME, the free movement of labour has not been agreed even though the literature on the subject, including news items, talks about the free movement of labour alongside the free movement of goods, services and capital.

So far, there has been agreement only on a limited number of categories under which labour could move. These relate to entertainers, media workers and to University graduates in reciprocal arrangements between member states.

But, even if free movement of labour were to be agreed, account has to be taken of the fact that wealthier countries with the capacity to take advantage of a single market in goods or services will benefit at the expense of others. It is only fair, therefore, that where opportunities open for absorbing dislocated labour from other countries in the CSME on a structured and systematic basis, this should happen.

With regard to the establishment and running of companies, this is a necessary part of the CSME, but it should cause the least concern in the Bahamas.

Very few Caribbean companies would be able to establish and run companies in the Bahamas. They simply do not have the capital or the expertise. Those companies that do have such capital and expertise should be welcomed by the Bahamas for they will be small in number, and will add to the wealth of the economy.

Indeed, Bahamian companies – given their greater financial and trained human resources than, say, similar companies in the smaller Leeward and Windward islands – would be better able to establish and run companies in other Caribbean countries than the other way around. CSME may, therefore, prove to be a greater opportunity for visionary and enterprising Bahamian companies to expand into the region than it is for Caribbean companies to set up in the Bahamas.

Further, Bahamian banks could make investments in Caribbean markets that could prove very lucrative. Certainly, the experience of aggressive financial institutions, such as RBTT and Republic Bank in Trinidad and Tobago, has demonstrated that the Caribbean is a profitable market in which to invest surplus dollars successfully.

In the EU, the power of the EU Commission and other institutions over member countries troubled important political groupings. For instance, farmers in France were upset with the EU decision to lower subsidies for some production. This decision, of course, arose out of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling and would have been applied to France whether or not it was a member of the EU, but it was convenient to blame the EU.

With regard to institutions, the debate in the Bahamas seems to focus on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and its jurisdiction there.

Again, it seems that there is little for Bahamians to fear on this score. Many of the CARICOM countries will proceed with the CCJ only as the court of original jurisdiction in relation to disputes that affect the CARICOM treaty and its protocols, including the CSME. In this regard, the Bahamas would be no different from other CARICOM countries in retaining the Privy Council as their final court of appeal for all other matters.

In most Caribbean countries, a referendum will have to be held – and the people will have to speak – if the CCJ is to replace the Privy Council as the final court of appeal. In any event, there does not appear to be any consideration by any significant group in the Bahamas, including the government, to abandon the Privy Council.

On the final point of a common currency, the effect of the Euro on individual European countries was a minor factor in the ‘no’ vote in the referenda in France and the Netherlands on the EU Constitution. But, it would be a big concern in Britain if the government there decided to go ahead with a referendum that was planned for early next year.

Big business in Britain support joining the single currency; it is public sentiment and the anti-European movements that reject it.

But, the Euro currency in the EU has functioned alongside the British pound in an exchange rate mechanism demonstrating that it is quite possible for two or more currencies to operate within a single market.

A single currency issue is not a requirement now of the CSME and is, therefore, an unnecessary fear in the debate in the Bahamas.

On balance, it would appear that joining the CSME poses no threat to the Bahamas, but could provide many opportunities if its commercial and financial community oriented their thinking to see CARICOM as a market for the Bahamian services industry.

This is not to underplay the genuine concerns that exist among very distinguished and highly capable persons in the Bahamas. CARICOM governments and the Secretariat should treat their concerns with seriousness, and address them. If not, the risk is to lose the Bahamas to the Caribbean community and this would be no good for the Bahamian people or the people of CARICOM as a whole. Both would be weakened.

Other CARICOM countries could help to keep the Bahamas within the fold by two things: supporting and strengthening the valiant efforts of the Bahamian government to educate the Bahamian society about the CSME, and, more importantly, by offering it special partnership arrangements with the CSME until the great number of Bahamians recognise the benefits of full participation.
(Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com)

One charged with May 22 carjacking
POLICE have charged a 25-year-old man with the May 22 carjacking at Houston, East Bank Demerara.

The robbery under arms defendant, Conroy Monohorlall, of Lot 299 Fourth Street, Alexander Village, Georgetown, appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan yesterday and was put on $75,000 bail until July 11.

Monohorlall pleaded not guilty to the offence, particulars of which said he robbed taxi driver Stevenson Khadaroo of a $1.3M motor car and $11,000 cash, both belonging to Devon Charran.

Police said the defendant and an accomplice hired Khadaroo to take them to Grove, also on East Bank Demerara, but ordered the latter to stop at Houston, where the gunpoint heist took place.
The robbers drove away in the vehicle.

North West District drug defendant remanded
KENRICK Benn (no address given) was remanded to prison yesterday when he pleaded not guilty to trafficking in a narcotic before Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan.

Particulars of the offence said the defendant had 20 grammes of cannabis (marijuana) for the purpose last week Friday.

Benn was arrested after Police on patrol along School Road, Port Kaituma, North West District, saw him acting suspiciously and retrieved a bag he had discarded with the prohibited drug inside.
The case will be called again on August 2.

Groundwork already laid
WE CANNOT ignore the information, intelligence and signs that there may be a plan to distrust or derail the 2006 elections through violence.

We have already had our experiences with the 1992, the 1997 {especially}, and again with the 2001 elections.

The rumblings are already being heard, with the different difficulties that are being raised by the main opposition PNCR in the holding of the 2006 elections and we have to pay serious attention as they have already laid the groundwork.

There is a corps of armed and dangerous criminals, well-trained, well-resourced with logistical support who are mobile and who have communication networks.

We have to make sure that our security forces are well-prepared and alive to this threat and this necessity for acting now rather than later, to break up such groups and render them ineffective.
JOYCE SUTTON

Making a difference
ACTIONS taken by such groups as the Community Development Committee {CDC} of the Charity Extension Scheme are to be commended.

This group has undertaken a number of positive activities such as holding workshops to tackle trafficking in persons, drug and sex abuse as well as doing sewing, tibisiri art and craft, cake decorating, catering, and making cassava bread and pepper sauce.

In addition to all this, they are involved in self help works such as cleaning canals, parapets and road shoulders.

It is very encouraging to read of such voluntary activities by this group and undoubtedly there are many others throughout the country, making a difference.

This shows the positive outlook of many people who are willing to act rather than just complaining and waiting on the government to do everything.

Such activities will have positive impacts on the society and especially the youth.
SAMANTHA REID

Maintain the war
THE war on garbage continues apace with the distribution of more garbage receptacles for some schools and mini-buses.

I have always felt that one of the main ways to fight littering is to provide more receptacles at all convenient spots first, to provide commuters, pedestrians and others with more receptacles throughout the city, townships and other population centres.

The more this is done, we will see a cleaner environment sooner rather than later. Besides mini-buses, all private vehicles should have a receptacle, if only it is a black plastic bag, which is so convenient to use.
So let us continue our efforts to clean up our surroundings.
JERRY RAMPERSAUD

Timeless reality
MR ALFRED Bhulai says, “Surely God can determine the measurement of a day of the time He made and later appoint the sun to keep it”.

How can Mr Bhulai’s God do this without the sun, the device He “appointed” to measure time when God’s own time is always unbounded and a thousand years to Him is as one solar day or vice versa? God has a timeless reality.

Mr Bhulai still hasn’t defended his initial assertion that the creation myth in Genesis is actual fact. He asserts, as if making an extrapolation, that God can measure a day without the sun, but there is no rational proof in his statement, just supposition and conjecture.

The divine fallacy, or the argument from incredulity, is a type of non sequitur which goes something like this: I can't figure this out, so God must have done it. Or, this is amazing; therefore, God did it.

Or, I can't think of any other explanation; therefore, God did it. Or, this is just too weird; so, God is behind it. Or, I can’t measure the first three days of creation so God must have measured it.

Like many argumentative bad moves, once the structure of the argument is made clear its weaknesses become obvious.

I wonder if Mr Bhulai can enlighten us as to whether his God can create a stone that is too heavy for Him to lift. Or, can Mr Bhulai’s God make a square circle?

Mr Bhulai’s answer, if it is straight (a big if) will demonstrate the difference between fact and fantasy, between faith and reason, between reality and fiction.

It will also show why religious faith, if it needs respect to serve a spiritual purpose, should desist from challenging scientific reason.

In saying that God has the freedom and power to do that which is logically impossible (like making a solar day last for a thousand years), you are saying that discussions about God cannot be constrained by the basic principles of rationality. This would seem to make rational debates about God impossible except in the light of faith.

Unfortunately, Mr Bhulai would never admit that he is using the letter pages to espouse his religious faith. He insists on covering his faith with the cloak of science, no doubt to whitewash ancient discredited myths with the respectability of modern-day knowledge.

Judging from the responses in the newspapers I would say he is not being very successful. Your readers are not easily hoodwinked and Mr Bhulai is increasingly becoming testy as no one is buying his story that he can mesh his faith and reason into a coherent and rational reality. I found his remark that I show the peculiarities of an “inmate of the mental institution” very strange, ironic even.

Coincidentally, I found the Chronicle editorial of Friday June 3rd most entertaining. No doubt the writer has guaranteed himself a place in the hereafter.
Good luck with that!
JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Personal point guard
YOUR editorial of Friday June 3rd must have been written `tongue in cheek’.

But then again, maybe not. You realised that Mr. Alfred Bhulai had `his God’ on his side.

Astutely, you did not say that Bhulai was on God’s side (but rather you said that God is on Bhulai’s side). Indeed, if one follows the letters column it would appear that Bhulai uses God as a prop to a side that is very much just Bhulai’s.

Bhulai seems to possess a unique `side’ and uses a God as his personal `point guard’.

Bhulai makes a premise and then carefully selects parts of the Bible to justify them. And when these are exposed and debunked he blithely moves on without a second thought.

For instance he has never returned to his grand statement that Muslims will be in heaven. This piece of heresy was denied by a leading Christian contributor in the letters column, Mr Emile Mervin.

Another writer had also challenged this plus Bhulai’s other statement that the Christian and Muslim Gods are one. Mr Bhulai chose not to re-examine these points.

He loudly claimed that there are `accurately’ recorded forecasts in the Bible. Naturally, he declined to elaborate on these forecasts when asked.

Bhulai says the Catholic Pope is infallible, not in all things but only in matters of faith. Do you see the trap he is trying to set?

Once you insist that the Pope is not wrong in endorsing biological evolution Bhulai will then say simply that evolution is not science but rather just another article of faith surrounding creation.

In other words, because the Pope is infallible only on matters of faith, if you take his position on biological evolution as inerrant then you are in effect saying evolution is an issue of religious faith.

You have to have your wits around you to realise that the Pope endorses the physical, biological evolution of the human body, while still maintaining that the mind and spirit are divinely created. Fundamentalists who insist that Eve was made with Adam’s rib and so work strenuously to discredit evolution will keep this little fact hidden.

Unlike his Holiness Pope John Paul II they cannot discern the difference between body and spirit and will continue to foolishly attack credible science. Like the Chronicle editorial, some will continue to take them seriously.

Many writers like M. Hackett, Lutchman Gossai, Vijai Singh and Justin DeFreitas among others have laid bare Bhulai’s attempts at obfuscation and rationalisation but your editorial describes his writing as having “confidence and serenity.” Justin DeFreitas’ logic which decimates Bhulai’s fantastical rhetoric with surgical precision you describe as “vicious”!

Bhulai was asked some months ago about the measurement of the first three days of creation. After several lengthy letters he finally came up with: “Surely God can determine the measurement of a day of the time He made and later appoint the Sun to keep it”. But really who knows?

Bhulai is asking us to accept this as a matter of faith not fact. He is speculating about God’s activities. He should have the discipline to say that he is preaching faith and not talking science as science would never accept a supposition as fact.

One writer said this debate is becoming “deliberately obscure and evasive”. Your editorial describes the same sentiment as Bhulai parrying “with the lance of his faith.”

I share your regret that DeFreitas seems to have given up on debunking nonsense but considering the above I can understand his reluctance.
DAVID SEEGOBIN

Better garbage disposal method needed
I WOUKD like to use this opportunity to urge the public to dispose their garbage properly.

As I was coming to work this morning I noticed residents on the

East Coast Demerara dumping their garbage on their parapets.

Haven’t we learnt our lesson from the January floods?

It is us Guyanese who have contributed in making the floods dangerous by dumping our garbage improperly.

I am also disturbed about the fact that residents are dumping garbage in the main drainage canals in their villages.

I was watching the television sometime last week when I saw Minister of Housing and Water, Shaik Baksh visited several villages on the East Coast and it was very bad to see that in Vryheid’s Lust North garbage was blocking the main drainage canal.

The residents were calling on the government to have a truck to go into the area to remove the garbage. What nonsense?

The Regional Administration and the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils should oversee garbage disposal.
B. CHARLES

Collective effort needed to stop cheating
THE recent CSEC examination leakage and its continuity over the years has caused much concern.

It is my hope that this does not occur again next year.

However, to ensure that this cheating business stops, I think a collective effort should be made by all. Where have all the moral and honest persons in the society gone?

I, for one, certainly hope that the leak was not done for political purposes. If this is so, it is a most disgusting and shameful thing for Opposition politicians to do to score political points.