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Guyana has made best interventions on food prices
- IICA CARICOM Representative
By Tajeram Mohabir
INTER-AMERICAN Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Representative assigned to CARICOM, Dr. Vincent Little, said Monday that, Guyana’s interventions to address the rise in food prices has been the best in the region.

He made the pronouncement during a presentation on ‘Perspectives on the Regional Food Situation and the Jagdeo Initiative’ at Tower Hotel, on Main Street, Georgetown.

The occasion was the IICA’s annual accountability seminar where Little pointed out that the region’s food crisis is due to a number of complex simultaneous challenges, such as globalisation and trade liberalisation, climate change and escalating oil and energy prices.

These occurrences raised concerns on the food and nutrition situation of the region’s poor and inflation and has already caused social unrest in some countries, he said.

The IICA expert disclosed that the problem is not temporary and is likely to result in a trade off between food and energy security.

Little lauded the most recent measures implemented by the local Administration to arrest the position, including a five per cent increase in pay for Government workers, retroactive to last January; an additional $4,000 tax free allowance for those earning below $50,000 monthly; the selling of 200,000 packets of flour weighing one kilogramme each at a reduced price; and the distribution of $20M worth of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to increase food production.

In addition, in order to stimulate a medium term supply response, a ‘Grow More’ campaign has been initiated countrywide.

Little said those interventions will ensure macro-economic stability but suggested a temporary budget may be required to adequately address the issue.

Touching on the Jagdeo Initiative, he said the region has been in a state of repeated crises, due to vulnerabilities in severe adverse weather conditions, trade, domestic policies and institutional differences.

He said some symptoms of the problem can be linked to the region’s poor track record in implementing policies and plans, agriculture buckling under pressure from trade reforms, national disasters, policy differences and the inability of the region’s agriculture system to ensure food security and reduce its growing import food bill.

Little argued that a different approach is needed in the context of new, changing international development and environmental conditions.

However, he acknowledged that CARICOM Heads of Government have undertaken efforts to reposition agriculture, both in their own rights and as part of the CARICOM Single Market Economy (CSME).

The Jagdeo Initiative envisioned that the following goals will be met by 2015:

* agriculture will make a substantial contribution to economic and social development;

* there will be a transparent regulatory framework at the national and regional level that attracts and facilitates overall investment;

* there will be significant transformation in processes and products, as well as stimulation of innovativeness and entrepreneurship and

* the region will achieve an acceptable and stable level of food security.

Some of the Government’s earlier interventions to help citizens deal with the current food price situation included the removal of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on basic food items, zero-rating the Excise Tax on diesel, and reducing the price on gasoline.

There has also been strict monitoring of rice to ensure an adequate supply for the local market and non-restriction on the importation of flour to stabilise prices and attract quality flour in the domestic market.

Guyana’s first kidney transplant set for July
GUYANA will have its first kidney transplant done locally on July 12, 2008, marking yet another important milestone for the health sector.

Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has revealed that the surgery will be done at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) by a team of surgeons from New York, who will be aided by local medical staff.

The first patient will be a young person from Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. His mother is the kidney donor for his transplant.

According to the minister, this latest step forward will hopefully reduce people having to travel abroad to take care of renal failure (kidney failure).

He noted that many kidney problems result from diabetes and patients in the past did not have an option locally once it was determined that dialysis could not work.

“We have a dialysis centre here, but dialysis is a stop gap. It does not work for some people and they need transplant,” he explained.

Dr. Ramsammy noted that this new development augurs well for progress in the local health sector. On this note he also disclosed that two additional dialysis centres will be opened within the next year.

“Before the end of 2008 we will have the second dialysis centre open its doors in Guyana and if all goes well, a third by mid 2009,” he said.

The idea of transplanting organs is not new. It can be found in myths of the ancient Greeks and was referred to by even older civilizations. But until the middle of the twentieth century it remained largely impossible, a piece of myth, or fantasy, or science fiction. Skin and eyes were among the first successful transplants. But the larger, more complex, and imbedded organs posed countless problems. The kidney was the first such organ to be successfully transplanted.

Since humans naturally have two kidneys, but can live with just one, the kidney lent itself well to the process. (Of the major organs, the kidney is still the one of most often transplanted.) The first attempts in the early 1950s, as in all transplant cases, were made when the only other alternative for the patient was death. These early patients briefly raised hopes by starting a good recovery, but then succumbed. The future of transplant surgery began to look very bleak.

Meanwhile, Peter Medawar in Great Britain had been researching the topic of rejection, which he had observed in skin grafts as a wartime surgeon. He found that graft recipients would form antibodies against the graft, unless they had been exposed to similar foreign tissue early in life. (He used chickens for his research subjects.) Medawar's work showed that the body's rejection of foreign tissue was indeed an immune response. He and another researcher received the 1960 Nobel Prize for this discovery.

But in 1954 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, a special kidney transplant case would succeed and teach medicine a great deal by confirming Medawar's results. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins, but Richard was dying of kidney disease. Ronald donated one of his kidneys, and it was successfully transplanted into Richard. Because they were identical twins, the organ did not appear foreign to Richard's body, which did not reject it.

There were ethical problems in this new procedure that bothered some doctors: To cure one patient, they had to harm another healthy person (by taking out a kidney). But this was the least of their stumbling blocks. How could they trick the body into not rejecting the new, healthy kidney that it needed? X-rays were tried, bombarding the patient's entire body. The immune system was indeed knocked out, but in many cases the radiation killed the patient. In 1959, two more doctors in Boston discovered that certain drugs could suppress the immune system as effectively as radiation, but without the side effects of X-rays. One of these drugs was Imuran, originally formulated to fight leukemia. In addition, in 1960, Peter Medawar introduced a way of typing tissue, just as blood typing had been discovered in 1900. By 1962, tissue typing and immune suppression with drugs was used for the first time in a human kidney transplant. Between 1954 and 1973, about 10,000 kidney transplants were performed.

A more effective immunosuppressant, cyclosporine, has been discovered. Cyclosporine, generally introduced in the 1980s, was a breakthrough in preventing rejection and opened a new era in transplant surgery. In 1986 alone, for example, nearly 9,000 kidney transplants were performed in the United States, with a greater than 85 percent survival rate for the first year.

Police Service Commission Chairman sworn-in before President
DENNIS Balkissoon Morgan Mudlier was yesterday sworn-in before President Bharrat Jagdeo as Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) in the presence of members of the Guyana Police Force, the Commission, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, his family and friends and members of the media, at the Office of the President, Georgetown.

It can be recalled that Mr. Morgan was sworn-in last year as a member of the Commission which was set up to deal with appointments and other matters relating to the Force.

It was expected at that time that the members of the Commission: Harold Martin, Franchot Duncan Clarke and Morgan - would have served for a three-year period.

The Commission had last year also included another member, Ivan Crandon, who subsequently passed away.

Following his swearing-in yesterday, Mr. Morgan said he will be contacting other members of the Commission as soon as he could, to meet with them and to assess the status of various matters to be looked into by the Commission in order to prioritise them.

Morgan noted that it is his third appointment as Chairman of the body and pointed to some of the issues that may require the Commission’s attention such as promotions, appeals for redress, acting appointments and retirements. (GINA)

One dead, four injured in separate road accidents
SAMUEL Bobb, 67, died while receiving treatment at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) Monday night, following a traffic accident.

Bobb, of Middle Street, Pouderoyen, was towing his seven-year-old grandson on a bicycle along Schoonord Public Road, also at West Bank Demerara, when they were hit by a motor vehicle.

But the boy suffered only minor injuries and was treated and sent away from the same institution.

Meanwhile, four minibus passengers were badly hurt yesterday afternoon in an accident on Belfield Public Road.

Roxanne Correga, 32, of Lot 1 Belfield, Travis Gilbert, 23, of Lot 6 Clonbrook and Ivan Walton, 58, of Lot 4 Ann’s Grove, all on East Coast Demerara and Chinelle Pilleau, 23, of Lot 15 D’Urban Backlands, Georgetown, were admitted patients at the GPH.

Correga is in a critical condition with severe injuries to both hands; Gilbert suffered injuries to his right eye and left forearm; Walton has head injuries and Pilleau was injured in her back.

Reports said, about 15:22h, the minibus attempted to overtake a truck but its driver lost control and it toppled several times.

CARIFESTA Secretariat launches Child Art Competition
‘Representations of their private speech and thoughts’
By Raschid Osman
The Caribbean Festival of Creative Arts (CARIFESTA) Secretariat yesterday launched its Child Art Competition at the Patentia Secondary School on the West Bank, Demerara, before a gathering of children from schools at Patentia and Wales, with Culture and Sport Minister Frank Anthony urging each one of them to submit entries to the competition which closes May 31.

This is the first time CARIFESTA is sponsoring a competition for children, Minister Anthony noted, and participating states have been urged to stage similar competitions, with a view to bringing all the winning entries together for an exhibition here during the festival later this year.

In his presentation as to why a child art competition, Mr. Philbert Gajadhar, Chairman Visual Arts Committee at the Secretariat, observed that while one often dismisses child art as mere scribbles, the works children produce are really representations of their private speech and thoughts, a revealing of their personalities, all this in the lines and colours they commit to paper and cloth and whatever medium.

With this the child offers a part of himself, and tells us how he feels and thinks.

The competition is being run in three categories, 8 to 11, 12 to 14 and 15-22, with first, second and third prizes to be awarded in each category.

A further expression of the art of Guyana’s children will be allowed in a 100 meter mural to be painted on the Georgetown seawall, a public artwork that is expected to be there years after CARIFESTA X had come and gone.

UNICEF’s Sub-Regional Advisor Mr.Geoffrey Ijumba was also at the launch, and he outlined his organization’s participation in the festival.

This includes sponsoring prizes for the art competition, both locally and regionally; hosting the CARIFESTA Youth Village, with digital playground workshops for children, with tutoring in the production of one-minute videos, and the presentation of these using beamers and big screens during the festival; the seawall mural, along with painting a designated space at the UNICEF office on Brickdam and on the fence outside the building; and the launching of a Caribbean youth website.

Mr. Ijumba said that participating in CARIFESTA X is not just fulfilling a mandate.

“ Rather, we see it more as a privilege to be able to afford Guyana’s children the opportunity to participate in history, in a festival that speaks of so many things --- our culture, our life, our purpose – our very existence as a nation and as a region”, he said.

The children at the Patentia school were also given a pep talk by Minister in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Desrey Fox, who recalled with nostalgia her leading Guyana’s 100 strong contingent to the CARIFESTA in Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, and the tremendous participation they all enjoyed.

She recalls the great interest in Guyana’s cuisine among participants and visitors to the big bash, and pointed out, with understandable satisfaction, that the Guyanese dish which proved to be most popular in the twin-island republic was pepper-pot.

She is certain that once again Guyanese dishes will be a big thing at CARIFESTA X and expressed confidence that the Carnegie School of Home Economics will be more than equal to the task of promoting our Guyanese menu.

The exhibition mounted for the launch featured interesting murals and tie-dye pieces and craft items, all in lively colour, with concepts and lines belying the tender age of those who fashioned them.
With all this Mr. Gajadhar was quite pleased.
NEWS

Minister Rohee demands evidence from Corbin on shooting statement
- that Police were ordered to shoot at protesting crowd  
MINISTER of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, has lashed out at People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader Robert Corbin’s statement, that the reason for transferring Police officers to interior locations recently was because they refused to take orders to shoot into the protest held on May 8.

The Home Affairs Minister, speaking to the media at the Office of the President yesterday, said he (Mr. Corbin) must provide the Minister of Home Affairs with the evidence.

“I cannot see how anyone in their proper senses would instruct policemen to shoot into a crowd indiscriminately. I cannot imagine a situation like that so why would Mr. Corbin concoct a scenario like this and where is the credible information?”

He said, “I, as the Minister of Home Affairs challenge Mr. Corbin here and now to provide this information that he has, that the police were given instructions to shoot into that crowd...If he doesn’t, again it would be seen as a highly irresponsible and inflammable statement.”

Corbin in an article in yesterday’s Kaieteur News said that police ranks were transferred for refusing to shoot at protestors last Thursday pointing out that it was a political directive.

He emphasised the move was a grave development which could have serious repercussions for morale and discipline in the Police Force.

Rohee, however, explained that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has a policy where they deal with such matters internally and there is where the decision was taken and emphasised that it was not a political directive.

“I cannot say what happens internally but the Police obviously have their own assessment that takes place. There were instructions given that barriers are not to be breached and orders that the marches are kept in the designated route.”

The Minister added, “These are not political directions. The Minister of Home Affairs doesn’t pick up a phone and say I spotted this person, transfer him.”

Meanwhile, the GPF in a statement yesterday, called the statement by the PNCR Leader “unfortunate and misleading” and one aimed at demoralising the hard working police ranks and at discrediting the Force.

The Force said it categorically states that at no time before or during the PNCR’s march on Thursday last, was any officer or other rank of the Force given any political directive by the ruling political administration to fire tear gas at or shoot persons taking part in the march.

MMA repossession, reallocation of state lands moves one step further
THE repossession and reallocation of State Lands in the Mahaica/Mahaicony Abary (MMA) Project Area (Abary/Berbice) and MARDS in the Mahaicony area for this year is now being moved a step further in order to complete the exercises for the coming autumn crop.

Commencing last Monday the Authority will be reviewing the responses by persons to the Public Notices placed in the Newspapers for the different areas, and send reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Office of the President for final instructions and approvals, a release from MMA said.

“The order of review will follow the order of the original publication of the notices/warnings which started a month ago.”

“The Authority is again warning persons, especially those who rent lands from others, not to go into occupation of these lands unless they are in receipt of written approval to do so.”

“They are further advised that neither the Office of the President, nor the Ministry of Agriculture, nor the MMA Authority, will be responsible for any losses or inconvenience they may suffer as a result of their unauthorized and illegal occupation of any of these lands.”

“The Authority is also advising those persons who have filed Expressions of Interest to be allocated plots being repossessed that this step of the process is slated to start sometime during next week.

“Further, Expressions of Interest will continue to be received and the Authority is encouraging Expressions from persons residing in the same villages where the plots are located. Expressions are also welcomed from independent young families who have no access to lands. A form is available at the Authority’s Head Office for those who are desirous of expressing interest into the lands,” the release said.

The MMA Authority added that over the past weeks it has been giving notices and issuing warnings to persons who have been exercising control over various tracts of State Lands within the MMA Project Area (Abary/Berbice) and MARDS in the Mahaicony/Abary area, but have not been paying the necessary drainage and irrigation charges.

“This is in spite of the fact that about seventy-five percent (75%) of these lands are rented out by these ‘quasi’ landlords to other farmers who have been cultivating and paying exorbitant rents to those in control,” the release said.

In addition, the MMA Authority charged that in more than ninety percent (90%) of these cases there are no leases and many persons have been controlling multiple tracts using the names of relatives and others in order to hide the true position.

“Also, many of these people for whom rents are collected on their behalf are living overseas but they continue to exercise control over these State Lands.”

“This exercise to repossess and reallocate started a year ago and the debts that have accumulated are mostly between 2000 to 2007 when the rates were reduced and farmers were responsible for the maintenance of the system, the Authority having reconciled the accounts at the end of 1999, giving substantial write-offs.”

“From January 2008 the Authority has resumed responsibility for the secondary system and is vigorously enforcing rate collection in order to maintain the system after the rehabilitation exercise currently underway,” the release stated.

Rohee clears air on detention of young men
- emphasised disapproval of allegations of harassment by ranks  
THE recent detention of several young men by members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) at the Brickdam station in the City was “mainly for questioning”, according to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Rohee explained that based on the Crime Observatory Unit within the Ministry of Home Affairs, which falls under the Citizens’ Security Programme (CSP), it was observed during a survey that in certain communities from which the said young men were picked up, crime was steadily increasing.

“Based on the data that we have been receiving that there has been an increase in crimes in these areas and the Police obviously in an effort to address the situation, would act in a way which they feel in their judgment to be the best way of rounding-up suspects.”

The minister further explained, “Questioning them and then eventually releasing them because I would presume that that would be the modus operandi of the Police behind those actions.”

When asked by a media operative whether there would be an investigation into allegations made by some of the young men that Police ranks physically harassed them with hammers, Minister Rohee said he does not condone this.

“That is unacceptable behaviour. I mean if these people were rounded-up and taken into questioning, where do hammer and those things come in? I don’t support that…If someone lodges a formal complaint, obviously it will have to be investigated but I don’t support that at all. It’s almost being inhumane to do that,” he told reporters.

Guyana is a signatory to the UN Declaration on Human Rights and there is also an active Human Rights Association in Guyana.

Two gunmen rob teen of $250,000
TWO bandits on a motorcycle robbed an 18-year-old clerical assistant, attached to International Health Care (IHC), of $250,000 at gunpoint yesterday morning.

The victim, Premchand Somwaru, of Unity, East Coast Demerara, had withdrawn the money from two city banks for his employer, Mr. Phillip Paruag, whose business place is located at Lot 112 Albert Street, Alberttown, Georgetown.

The IHC proprietor told the Guyana Chronicle that, about 11:00 h, his employee was at the corner of Waterloo and Church Streets, returning with the cash in a bag when he was confronted by the robbers.

Paruag said Somwaru was riding his bicycle and the pillion rider on a Honda CG motorbike, CD 1113, pressed a gun to his chest and relieved him of the cash.

The businessman said Somwaru, realising his situation, did not resist the attack and the robbers sped off.

“The robbery has left my employee tramautised and very afraid. But, even though my business suffered a loss, I am quite grateful he was not harmed in anyway,” Paruag said.

He said it was the first time, since opening his establishment 15 years ago, that he has had such an experience.

A report was made to the Brickdam Police station. (Michel Outridge)

More land going under the plough in Pomeroon
FARMERS at Wakapoa, in lower Pomeroon River, are putting about 60 acres of virgin land under the plough.

Chairman of the Local Government and Hinterland Sub-Committee of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Mr. Pooran Persaud, made the disclosure at the statutory meeting yesterday.

He said the Amerindian community has heeded the call, by Government, to grow more food and aims to make it self-sufficient.

Meanwhile, Regional Chairman, Mr. Alli Baksh is encouraging Essequibians to plant kitchen gardens and help cushion the effects of the high cost of food items.

He said the Regional Administration has its focus on agriculture and the Government’s aim is have more land in the region cultivated.

Baksh said the Cozier Scheme is under the microscope and Government will soon reactivate the sluice there and desilt the channel to improve drainage.

He said a farm to market road is also being proposed for Cozier. (Rajendra Prabhulall)

Samaroo reports on rice harvesting, cultivation
VICE-CHAIRMAN of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Mr. Vishnu Samaroo, told the statutory meeting of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) yesterday that 50 per cent of an estimated 32,500 acres have been sown for the Autumn crop rice cultivation.

He said the acreage to be put under the plough will surpass the projected target because lands that had been idle for years are now being cultivated with rice.

Samaroo said, while harvesting is still in progress at North Essequibo Coast, rice millers are going to D7, D8 and D9 areas aback of Better Success for daily negotiations of the paddy price.

In Region Two…
Bethany gets $14M health centre
THE Government, through the Regional Administration of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) has constructed a $14M health centre in the Amerindian community of Bethany, along Supenaam Creek.

Chairman of the Local Government and Hinterland Sub-Committee of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Mr. Pooran Persaud, told councillors at their statutory meeting yesterday that the new edifice will boost the delivery of health care service.

NBTS receives 176 units of blood at Cornelia Ida
-- highest in a single voluntary donation
By Priya Nauth
THE National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) and the Sewa Guyana and the Saraswati Vidya Niketan, Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, last Sunday on Mother’s Day, obtained the highest amount of blood in a single voluntary blood donation exercise in Guyana, recruiting 176 units of blood.

The entities successfully met the challenge to recruit 170 units at a voluntary blood donation drive to mark the 170th anniversary of the Arrival of East Indians to Guyana.

Head of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan, Swami Aksharananda explained that the group thought that 170 units was a good target to mark the 170th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in Guyana and motivated persons to come out and donate.

He noted that this is not the first time the organisation took part in this kind of initiative.

Also, Swami Aksharananda pointed out, that the majority of donors are women who utilised most of the blood for various reasons.

“…and we are quite happy that the women came out,” he acknowledged.

“We believe that as a religious organisation this is one of the ways that we can make a contribution to the society …that religion does not consist of prayer and worship only but the work of this nature can also be consider as a form of worship,” he attested.

“While there are other groups that will be focusing on song and dance events, we believe that this is a very tangible way that we can make a major contribution and we can show that something can be done to uplift the society,” the Swami observed.

Blood Donors Recruitment Officer, Ms. Shameeza Mangal reiterated that the aim was to match the anniversary of the arrival of Indians to Guyana.

She took the opportunity to thank the Sewa Guyana and noted that the body has been an excellent collaborator in recruiting and mobilizing donors.

Mangal emphasised that to facilitate the large donation exercise, staff from New Amsterdam Hospital in Berbice, Suddie Hospital in Essequibo, West Demerara Regional Hospital, Diamond and Leonora Diagnostic Centres and the Cuban medical team assisted the National Blood Transfusion Service staff to carry out the process.

“It is all the efforts that were put into it… that made it a success,” she noted.

Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy was at hand to encourage and support donors as they came to participate in the exercise.

The Ministry of Health and NBTS are working towards achieving 100 per cent regular volunteerism and move to the position where every unit of blood comes from persons who would have volunteered and eliminate the family donor as studies around the world have shown that voluntarily donated blood is the safest.

The NBTS has attracted the support of several governmental, non-governmental and religious organizations through its blood drive exercises.

Giving blood allows individuals to know their blood count level, pressure, group, weight and pulse as well as the opportunity to produce new cells, receive a certificate of donation when giving voluntarily and using the certificate in an emergency.

UK support for environmental education in primary schools
THE British High Commission said it recently handed over to the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity (University of Guyana), some 600 guidebooks to help teachers plan lessons on wetland education and the importance of these systems to Guyana, the region and the world.

The guidebook places emphasis on understanding the relationships between people and the environment using wetlands as an example, the Commission said in a statement yesterday.

Teachers will be able to use them to involve students in identifying links between human activities taking place in wetlands such as burning and waste disposal, and natural wetland processes such as water cycle and food chains.

The lessons have been developed along four key themes; wetlands, pollution, fire, and biodiversity loss and extinction.

The guidebooks were reviewed by the Ministry of Education through the National Centre for Educational Research Development (NCERD) and will supplement the current primary school curriculum in the areas of science, social studies, English language and mathematics.

They were prepared with input from the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity (University of Guyana); Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (UK), Royal Holloway University of London, The Open University and NCERD.

The books will be used by teachers of Grades Five and Six and while priority is on schools in hinterland communities particularly those in North Rupununi (Region Nine) it is hoped that the books will be distributed to all primary schools.

A pilot study was conducted at two primary schools in the North Rupununi (Surama and Aranaputa) during the initial stages of development of the material.

The books are to be given to the Ministry of Education, which will in turn distribute to schools and a more extensive pilot study will be conducted to assess the impact of the materials at the targeted grades.

This may lead to further updates to the materials and/or a decision to implement at other levels, possibly Secondary School, the British High Commission suggested.
It noted that the books were printed locally.

GUYSUCO records a UN first with SSMP
GUYSUCO (Guyana Sugar Corporation) announced Monday that its Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project (SSMP), on May 4, became the first project in this country to be registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)

A press release said the factory is listed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

The release pointed out that the Kyoto Protocol is an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilise green house gas (GHG) concentrations at a level which will avoid adverse climate change.

It disclosed that registration under the CDM allows GUYSUCO to sell Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) that result from the generation of electrical energy produced from bagasse fuel.

Bagasse is the fibrous residue that remains after the extraction of sucrose from sugar cane and, as a biomass, it represents a renewable energy source, the release explained.

It said a generation of electricity from bagasse displaces fossil fuels that would otherwise be used for the purpose and the overall effect is a reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide which is a GHG that contributes to global warming.

The statement added that the first CERs will be generated there when the SSMP begins operation in the second half of 2008.

Other CDM projects in the Caribbean are in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, GUYSUCO said.

STANDARDS CORNER
THE Role of Standards in the Development of the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Sector
THE Guyana National Bureau of Standards in keeping with its mandate to develop national standards has formulated a number of standards for the fresh fruits and vegetable sector in order to improve the quality of products available for local consumption as well as exportation. Some of these are: Specification for grades of banana, pineapple, watermelons, cassava, eddoes, plantains, hot peppers etc. These standards have been harmonized with international standards, mainly Codex standards, to facilitate acceptance of Guyana’s products in international markets. The GNBS has formulated three more standards which will further enhance the operations in this sector. These are:

1. Code of Practice for packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables.

This Code of practice specifies hygienic practices for the production and packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables. It addresses microbial, physical and chemical hazards, as these relate to good agricultural and manufacturing practices.

2. Guidelines for the production, processing, labelling and marketing of organically produced foods.

These guidelines set out the principles of organic production at farm, preparation, storage, transport, labelling and marketing stages; and provide an indication of accepted, permissible inputs for soil fertilizing and conditioning; plant pest and disease control; food additives and processing aids.

3. Guidelines for Good management practices for micro and small enterprises.

The guidelines in this standard set out the principles for implementing a Quality Management System, Environmental Management System and an Occupational health and safety Management System in all small enterprises including, the fresh fruits and vegetable sector.

When farmers utilize available standards there will be a further increase in the demand for local fruits and vegetables on the international market; which will require expansion in their level of production, hence a significant increase in revenue.

Further, it is compulsory that Guyana as an exporting country of fresh fruits and vegetables comply with the international quality and safety standards promulgated by international standards institutions under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary measures (SPS).

For further information: contact the Guyana National Bureau of Standards at Exhibition Site, Sophia or call on Telephone Nos: 219-0062, 219-0065, 219-0066
EDITORIAL

We must work towards preserving our Garden City
Some of us in Guyana have the propensity of allowing situations to virtually reach unmanageable proportions before making moves to have them corrected. Such a situation surfaced earlier this week when officialdom clearly signalled their intention, to bring some semblance of order in the transportation sector by introducing new parking arrangements for mini-buses and hire cars in Georgetown.

But as expected, minibus operators have demonstrated their reluctance in accepting the new arrangements, and this has thrown the operation into a state of confusion as commuters were frantically shuttling from point to point to find their respective route buses to take them home after work.

It is inherent in some people to take things for granted, and because the bus operators were allowed to operate from their previous parks without any challenge from the authorities, they believe they have the ‘goodwill’ to the various parks in the city from where they operate.

However, the Guyanese people, especially the commuting public view the intervention by Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn as a good one, and express the hope that an end would be put to the ‘bus park nonsense’ once and for all.

The people allude to the fact that the city has been under a virtual siege by the minibus operators, and stringent measures must be taken to end this siege and bring about some degree of order. They point to the fact that the former parks were lucrative hunting grounds for criminals who wait especially at peak hours to pounce on unsuspecting preys, robbing them of money, jewellery and other valuables.

This cleaning up and bringing order in our city streets is a move in the right direction. Our authorities are working feverishly to make Guyana one of the major tourist destinations in the Caribbean. But if we do not bring order in our transportation system, this would serve as a deterrent to tourist arrivals and the hard work by the authorities in this direction would have been defeated.

A lot of work needs to be done west of the High Court to the Stabroek Market area where most of the bus and hire car parks are located. It is no secret that while we have a relatively small city, it is being consumed by the large number of vehicles every day and this helps only to compound the problem of congestion and confusion which daily reign in the city.

Perhaps for starters, the authorities could look at the possibility (all be it in the long term) of resiting the Central Fire Station, which at the moment in very inconveniently located alongside the Stabroek Market. If this is done, some people say, this could possibly solve the entire bus park problem in the city.

People are also talking about the possibility of constructing double-decker parks (to save land space) which could also help in solving the parking congestion dilemma which haunts the city. Perhaps government and city officials could look into these two suggestions, which might be useful in solving this growing problem in the city.

We are happy that Minister Benn has taken a hands-on approach to bring about order on the streets in the city.

The people acknowledge Minister Benn’s intervention and express agreement with his remarks: “ We have been working on the issue of making the minibus and other parking locations more efficient. This would be a short-term intervention over the next month or so to get properly organized.”

We hope that the Minister’s intervention would help to solve or bring relief to the problem of congestion at the bus parks, and as the situation warrants, from time to time appropriate measures would be put in place to avoid any further congestion.

Both minibus operators and commuters should cooperate with the new order, and by so doing help preserve Georgetown as the Garden City.
FEATURES

Barbados ‘Daily Nation’ flays CARICOM on Zimbabwe
By Rickey Singh
THE Caribbean Community has come in for strong criticisms from the Barbados ‘Daily Nation' for what the newspaper has dismissed as a "very weak statement" on the political crisis in Zimbabwe under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe.

In its editorial, which followed last week's meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations, the Nation stated:

There is also the awareness that CARICOM runs the risk in undermining its own integrity by its continuing failure to raise a strong moral voice, free from double-speak, against the acts of a government that make a travesty of democracy and rule of law - as in the current case of Zimbabwe under Mugabe's leadership’
"AT the just-concluded eleventh meeting of its Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) in Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) released a two-paragraph "Statement on Zimbabwe".

It raises more questions than any intended message of significance on the political crisis in that African state following its highly controversial March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections.

In fact, the statement's only relevance at this time is that it coincided with a decision by the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, to participate, with "deep reservations", in a coming second run-off presidential election against incumbent President Robert Mugabe - the man at the centre of the crisis that has brought to its knees a once flourishing economy and proud nation. 

Amid the ongoing political violence highlighting a campaign of gross human rights violations against supporters of the MDC, which has finally been confirmed as having won the recent parliamentary election but, controversially, said to have narrowly loss the required votes to avoid a presidential run-off, CARICOM has now lamented in its May 9 statement: 

"There continues to be great uncertainty about the electoral process which has not only been tainted by inordinate delays and grave irregularities, underlined by observers, but which is now further marred by reports of threats, intimidation and violence against opponents..."

However well intended, the statement could cynically be dismissed by those who expected better, that CARICOM's Foreign Ministers seem to have suddenly awakened from a deep slumber and rushed to be engaged with one of the major political tragedies of Africa.

"Great uncertainties of the electoral process"?  "Reports of threats, intimidation and violence against opponents"?  What a "discovery" by these Foreign Ministers of CARICOM!!     

If the Community's Foreign Ministers expect to be applauded for their "expressed grave concern", then it suggests a surprising level of unawareness on their part of the mood of the mass of Caribbean nationals about the human tragedies in Zimbabwe while they engage in a very disappointing words-game that point to a surprising timidity to tell it like it is to Robert Mugabe.

We are aware of the limitations of a regional movement like CARICOM to influence a resolution of significance to the Zimbabwean crisis.

However, there is also the awareness that CARICOM runs the risk in undermining its own integrity by its continuing failure to raise a strong moral voice, free from double-speak, against the acts of a government that make a travesty of democracy and rule of law - as in the current case of Zimbabwe under Mugabe's leadership."
IN-THE-COURTS

Woman jailed for ‘bush rum’ possession
RAMDAI Singh called ‘Rosie’, who was nabbed by Police with a large quantity of ‘bush rum’ (an illegal alcoholic brew) at her Anna Regina New Housing Scheme home, has been sentenced to one month imprisonment.

Magistrate Faith McGusty imposed the custodial punishment on the prisoner at Anna Regina Court, also on Essequibo Coast, last Tuesday.

Singh was convicted of being in possession of the illicit liquor.

It was alleged that many people, mostly men, would visit th