Alleged child kidnapper may be disguised as woman
THE alleged kidnapper of two children who has been on the run for a year in Europe and other countries and has been traced here, is believed to be disguised as a woman as he moves around with the two boys, investigators said yesterday.

Dr. Jacques H. Smits, the specialist Criminologist and `child tracker' now in Guyana with the mother of the two abducted children, Ms. Aneta Joanna Szadkowska, 30, said they yesterday continued the search in Corriverton in Berbice in the eastern part of Guyana before moving to Linden, some 60 miles south of Georgetown in the afternoon.

Smits, who is being helped in the search by detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department here, told the Chronicle that Immigration authorities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and on the borders have been alerted about the abduction of the children and are on the lookout for the alleged kidnapper Herman Roelf Ploeger.

Ploger, 34, a Dutch national, allegedly fled the Netherlands a year ago with his two children even though he lost parental custody on four separate occasions during a bitter divorce in his country's court system, Smits told the Chronicle.

He yesterday said he has been advised that Ploger has been changing his modus operandi, disguising himself as he moves around.

Smits said the kidnapper is believed to be posing as a woman to avoid detection.

The criminologist said that news of the abduction has spread with the front page story in last Sunday's Chronicle and "people everywhere we have been have told us that they read about it in the newspaper."

After no firm leads in Corriverton yesterday, Smits said they travelled to the bauxite mining of Linden yesterday to brief Police there on the case.

He said he has been assured that Police are on the lookout for the alleged abductor and the two boys at the airport and on the borders with Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela.

The abduction case has attracted the attention of the mainstream media in the Netherlands and law enforcement agencies in several countries, he said.

Smits, who has been on the case for some nine months now, said he has conducted investigations and searches in countries such as Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy for Ploeger who is wanted by the Dutch Police, by the Venezuelan law enforcement agency and by Interpol (the international Police organisation) worldwide for "international child abduction".

The kidnapped children are Timotheus Witold Ploeger who was born at Enschende, Netherlands on December 27, 1997 and Pascal Roelf Ploeger, born at Assen, Netherlands on June 16, 1999. Their parents, Szadkowska (a Polish national) and Ploeger were married on October 3, 1997 in the Netherlands where they settled and lived together for about three years, Smits said.

They officially divorced on September 12, 2000 with the court awarding Szadkowska custody of the two children on four separate occasions, the last time by the Supreme Court in Holland, he said.

Szadkowska told the Chronicle that her ex-husband lost custody of the kids all four times.

The last time Szadkowska saw her two children was on June 24, 2001 when Ploeger kidnapped and disappeared with the kids.

Smits said he eventually tracked the wanted man to Margarita, a tourist island off the Venezuela coast in September last year. Ploeger, however, managed to escape with the kids after he allegedly "paid off" some people there.

Smits said that while in Margarita Island, Ploeger reportedly told the children - and others he met on the island - that their mother (Szadkowska) died of cancer last year.

"This is not true. The mother is in perfect health and wants her children back more than anything," Smits told the Chronicle in the presence of Szadkowska, who is not as fluent in English as she is in Dutch and Polish.

Ploeger was born in Winschoten, Netherlands on August 6, 1968. His passport number is N88022744 and his Social Security Number is 110933084, Smits said.

He, however, noted that Ploeger may be using "forged and falsified documents" for travelling.

According to Smits, intelligence reports gathered so far indicate that Ploeger fled Margarita Island and went to Caracas, Venezuela where he stayed a while. He subsequently took a flight from Caracas and arrived in Guyana on November 28 last year with the two children.

Smits said Ploeger was spotted in Guyana last Wednesday. "We don't know the exact house but we know the area," he told the Chronicle.

"Everybody can run from me but not hide," the Criminologist asserted Sunday with some degree of confidence.

Fire damages LBI temple
AN EARLY morning fire yesterday damaged the LBI Hindu Temple on the East Coast Demerara in a suspected arson attack, causing an estimated $3 - $4M in losses.

Secretary of the Temple, Mr. Jandu Singh said arson was believed to be the cause of the blaze, which residents of LBI (La Bonne Intention) said started at about 03:30 hrs near the southern door of the building.

Even though the Fire Brigade from Georgetown arrived at the scene some 20 minutes after, firemen were able to stop the flames from destroying the entire structure.

One resident, who lives near the temple, said she was awakened by a crackling sound and thought it was coming from her house. She said that on checking, she noticed fire in the temple and immediately called the GUYSUCO (Guyana Sugar Corporation) Fire Brigade. However, they said their fire tender was not in service.

Residents formed a bucket brigade in efforts to save the building, but could not do much because the blaze had begun spreading to the roof, making it difficult for them to continue fighting it. The flames were eventually put out by the brigade from Georgetown.

Singh said about 125 worshippers usually attend service at the temple on Sunday mornings and it is customary that all instruments, including diyas and incense, that are lit during the service would be put out before they left.

He said under those circumstances, it would not be possible for a fire to start in the building, unless it was lit by someone.

Some members of the temple pointed out that in the rubble, items were far removed from their original positions, suggesting that they were tampered with before the fire.

The Havan-kund, used for fire sacrifice and supported by a wooden base, remained in its position. But the base was far removed, one member pointed out.

The cash donation collection box was also opened and found in a section of the temple away from where it was placed, the member added.

At the time of the fire, other items in the building included sheets, a quantity of books and utensils used for conducting services at the temple.

Singh said the fire will affect temple operations, but there are plans to do temporary repairs to a section of the roof and part of the interior of the building so that services could continue.

He said the members will be seeking donations and planning fund raising activities to cover the cost of restoring the building.
The Guyana Fire Service is investigating. - (JAIME HALL)

Phone company boss tries to defend loan block
By Mark Ramotar
MR. CORNELIUS Prior, Chairman of ATN, which owns 80 per cent of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), yesterday sought to defend the phone company's controversial position of trying to block an important Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan here.

He argued that this position of the phone company was not "blackmail" nor "acting in bad faith" as President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister Sam Hinds have asserted, but rather protecting its contractual monopoly rights and its shareholders both in Guyana and the United States.

"We have to use every means possible...(and) we are not embarrassed to say we are looking at protecting our interests. We have to defend our rights. We want to ensure fair competition and defend our rights negotiated in 1991," Prior stated at a news conference he hosted yesterday at GT&T headquarters in Georgetown.

Mr. Hinds last week said he is "astonished" that Prior would attempt to persuade the IDB against approving support for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project for Guyana. The ICT project is intended to benefit thousands of ordinary Guyanese and Mr. Hinds indicated that he was surprised because ATN was in an advanced stage of negotiations with the Government of Guyana for an "amicable settlement to end the company's monopoly over the telecommunication sector to introduce competition". (See page eight).

President Jagdeo also accused GT&T of trying to "blackmail" ordinary Guyanese people by protesting the Government's efforts to get a US$18M loan from the IDB approved. The loan is intended to be used to expand and modernise Guyana's Information Technology sector and approval has been held up because of protest by the phone company.

In a statement, the Prime Minister said he found it "utterly disbelieveable" that the ATN (Atlantic Telecommunications Network) Chairman would, in effect, "go behind the back of his own negotiating team to undermine the negotiations in an extraordinary display of bad faith by attempting to prevent IDB support for a vital telecommunications development which would bring Guyana into the 21st century and is a national priority of government".

The Government began negotiations with ATN on February 28 last "in good faith and on the explicit understanding that the representatives of both the Government and ATN/GT&T were fully authorised to discuss and settle the issues on the table, all of which were already public knowledge as a result of a Consultation Paper on the Reform of the Guyana Telecommunication Sector, which was widely circulated and publicly discussed in August/September 2001," Mr. Hinds said.

"We are not blackmailing the Government. We are still here to negotiate (and this) idea that we are not willing to negotiate is nonsense," Prior argued yesterday. He called for all the issues to be laid on the table and for these to be actively discussed between the phone company and the Guyana Government.

"We are interested in this (ITC) loan and this project (but) we are concerned that the Government wants to set up a new network for the Internet which will compete with GT&T," Prior said.

According to him, ATN has invested more than US$150M in Guyana so far, including the some 55,000 cell lines currently in use here and it is in this regard that GT&T is trying to protect its investments and shareholders from competition

"We are very anxious to negotiate a rate of settlement...and we are astounded that the Government is astounded," Prior said, adding that GT&T "can live with a monopoly or we can live without it".

"We are extremely concerned that the Government seems to be wanting this loan to set up a separate and competing network to GT&T. There is about US$5M out of this (US$18M) project that seems to be rather unclear but it seems to be towards building a new network for internet and we are saying why build a network? Why not use the network that is already there? Why not use the GT&T network?"

Prior also indicated that there is a lack of investor confidence in Guyana due to an unstable economic and political climate. This, however, contrasted with a statement by GT&T in a full page advertisement in this newspaper on Sunday in which the phone company stated: "We have faith in Guyana's future".

"We're willing to negotiate the introduction of competition notwithstanding the fact that our contractual rights is a monopoly...," Prior said. He noted that the two teams from the Government and GT&T met and had discussions in Trinidad where agreement was reached on some issues.

"We are trying to understand what is going on in the Government but it is surely not that we have failed to negotiate in good faith. It is surely not that we are hiding and it is surely not that we are blackmailing the Government."

Prior said it was obvious that the two teams came up with forms of agreements and "those negotiations stopped dead in their tracks when the negotiating team from Guyana came back home."

In response to a question, he said GT&T paid some US$5M to ATN as `advisory fees' for last year but was not sure of the figure over the past 10 years.

The Chronicle understands that the advisory fees, which are different to management fees, paid to ATN by GT&T since 1991 total some US$80M.

Everton also backs merger of bauxite operations
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo and a Government team yesterday heard that a so-called workers proposal to take over the Berbice Mining Enterprise (BERMINE) operations at Kwakwani, Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice) and Everton, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) was a ploy to gain the Government's attention.

The revelation came at a meeting with workers of the Region Six mining site where employees came out in support of a merger of the bauxite operations on the Berbice River.

A worker at the Everton operation, Mr. Cleveland Jacobs, told the President that he was part of the workers group that had orchestrated the proposal under the leadership of union representative and Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary, Mr. Lincoln Lewis, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

The documentation initially proposed to take over 70 per cent of the State-owned entity while the Government retained 30 per cent. This so-called workers group said the proposal would not see job losses, but the success of the BERMINE companies.

The proposal also indicated that the group had secured a "strategic investor." To date this has not been confirmed, as the group cannot name any individual or company that is willing to take over BERMINE. The proposal was subsequently revised and called for the Government to consider a 40 per cent takeover by workers with the same conditions attached, GINA said.

The workers at Kwakwani last week rejected this proposal, saying they were not even consulted before its formulation.

Yesterday, many Everton employees said they feel the same way but a few said they were consulted about the proposal, which according to Jacobs was put forward after the workers protested the Government's consideration of a proposal to sell its 50 per cent share in the Aroaima Bauxite Company (ABC) to Alcoa of the United States. Alcoa at that time owned 50 per cent of ABC, GINA noted.

Jacobs said the workers did not want the company to go to Alcoa because that would have been "a giveaway to foreigners" and instead they proposed to run the bauxite company themselves with the aim of stalling Government action on Alcoa's proposal.

Expressing shock at this declaration, President Jagdeo said this action had sidetracked the Government's focus from the real problems in the industry to a point of an "engineered crisis."

"On February 14, I received a proposal. Now I am hearing that this was all a crafted ploy...This is serious; a group of people just toyed with the workers' future and wasted the time of some top Government officials", he said.

According to the President, much time was spent on trying to find solutions to the many constraints facing the industry. He said the proposal, which was not orchestrated in the workers' interest and the future of the bauxite industry, was a political proposal and had wasted his Cabinet's time, as every week Cabinet was forced to discuss some issue adversely affecting the industry.

He said to think that people would make such selfish choices "is very disturbing". The result was that the proposal erased the Government's focus from the key issues of the merger as the way forward, GINA said.

However, the President said the proposals were entertained by the Government because his Administration wanted to be democratic and give the workers a chance to be heard.

"I did not want to delay things, but it became very political...They accused us of being racial and giving away the company...They infuse race into the issue because they know it can whip up emotions," Mr. Jagdeo said.

The Head of State said the only proper solution to the problem is the merger and the only way through which BERMINE can be sustained. Although there will be some level of job reduction, at least "bauxite mining on the Berbice River will continue," President Jagdeo asserted.

However, should the workers refuse the merger option, the Government is willing to hand over the company to them if they can name the "strategic investor", he said.

This option when voiced by the President was greeted with loud disapproval and the merger was backed by the Everton community.

Two five-person committees have been formed to next week discuss with the Government the future of the industry and severance pay, GINA said.

Scheme for which GT&T has opposed IDB funding:
ICT project can expand economic growth
INTEGRATION of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project into the local economy can be the most effective mechanism to increase productivity, generate employment, expand economic growth, develop human resource potential, and strengthen national unity.

According to officials, the ICT Project through well targeted intervention will:

- create an environment conducive to investment by providing the legal and regulatory reforms in areas such as privacy and protection of intellectual property rights.

- Increase public sector efficiency and transparency by granting citizens access to public services by making them online (E-government).

- Enable low-income individuals to gain access to the opportunities that the internet provides, e.g. communication, research, job opportunities, education advancement.

- Promote E-exports such as outsourcing and data processing thus providing for a vibrant ICT sector.

- Encourage economic diversification and create new jobs, particularly for the young, e.g. computer repair, web site development, software design and development, networking.

- Establish network connectivity at affordable costs and reliable speeds

Officials note that there is currently very limited access to the Internet by citizens, particularly in areas outside Georgetown, primarily due to lack of communication infrastructure in the rural areas.

The objective of the Community Outreach Component of the project is to enable low-income people to gain access to the opportunities that the Internet opens up for communicating, learning, identifying employment, providing income generating activities and improving welfare.

In order to achieve this objective, the programme will promote the establishment of self-sustaining information and delivery entities at the community level (telecentres). Through these telecentres low-income communities will have access to ICT without having to own a computer. The programme will also provide investment funding to help small businesses and NGO's establish telecentres at the service of the public at large, either through direct access or as computer internet training centres.

These ICT centres will offer computer-assisted service such as training, desktop publishing, data input, research etc. To kick-start the process financing will be available to establish these telecentres in post offices, secondary schools, health facilities, and other higher learning institutions throughout the country, the officials say.

Additional grant funding will be available to help expand telecentre service to secondary schools by providing teacher training and practice vouchers to secondary school teachers to acquire and practise fundamental computer and internet skills.

School Service Subsidies will be provided to enable telecentres located in the vicinity of secondary schools to serve a dual purpose of helping schools carry out their academic programme during off-peak periods and serve the communities at large during the evening.

Officials say the Government recognises the need to promote community development and as such grant funding will be available to help finance social economic and ICT export development initiatives that improve the welfare of communities through the use of ICT. Small matching grants will be awarded to NGO's, grassroots organisations and community groups to foster effective use of ICT's to alleviate poverty and support community development.

Possible projects include: training of youth in web page making/computer repair for well defined markets, long distance learning, community radio, development of local community projects.

PROMOTION OF ICT SERVICE EXPORTS
The Government through the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) has been pursuing a strategy of encouraging foreign and domestic firms to establish outsourcing operations for ICT services in the country. These operations range from call centres to fairly sophisticated programming operations. This component would support the preparation of strategy and action plan to encourage firms to establish operations in the country.

According to the officials, these initiatives will generate employment for the youth, will encourage the entrepreneurs to invest in viable business alternatives thus contributing to the growing service sector.

Training our youth for tomorrow's challenges cannot be overlooked or else we risk being left behind, the officials note. The youths of today are our future and we must harness the energy and enthusiasm that our students and young professionals have and provide them with the opportunity to contribute to the nation's development, they say.

All project components require a variety of training and educational support that will be geared towards people with very different backgrounds, qualifications and demands. The objective of this cross cutting activity will be to provide demand training and educational services in order to support the advancement of the IT Sector.

Training opportunities are as follows:

- The University of Guyana is the only tertiary institution in the country and as such support will be provided to ensure all graduates are computer literate and have the capacity to develop the human capital expertise needed by a modern information society.

- At the community level training in the areas of social and community welfare, i.e. development of local information systems that will help to provide valuable information to the people e.g. promote the development of local community projects that will generate the enthusiasm that is needed to transform the sector.

- In Government, the training approach to be adopted is one where it will build on the skills needed for general work use, routine management and further evolution into a vibrant and productive public sector.

- ICT awareness campaign will be launched to encourage the public to embrace the new technologies that will become available.

E-GOVERNMENT
The purpose of this component is to transform the operations of government making it more efficient and effective and to develop an image of the government as a service organisation, transparent and responsible to the citizens, the officials say.

The project will promote the notion of Government-online where ICT will be used judiciously to improve communication between Government agencies, and between Government and citizens and businesses. To accomplish this task, key agencies will be connected via a communication network thus facilitating an intranet to be set up for the Government.

A government web site will be designed with links to ministry web pages, so there will be one portal for information flow to the public. Most widely used forms and instructions will be made available online thereby significantly increasing the value of this content and reducing the transaction cost to the public at the same time lowering the cost of production.

In key agencies automated processes and databases will be developed using simple solutions that can be developed and maintained locally at low cost. Some of the key agencies to benefit are; the General Registrar's Office, Guyana Revenue Authority, Traffic department of the Guyana Police Force, Ministry of Health. Also the Post Office Corporation will become a point of access to permit citizens to obtain government forms and to request services such as birth certificates.

Universal access is essential to closing the digital divide and the only means of narrowing this divide is by ensuring that each and every citizen can access the information highway at affordable rates. But there are important constraints Guyana is faced with, including the high price of dialup communications and high costs of leased international circuits, which make these services almost prohibitive to the public, not to mention the poor infrastructure available to support widespread access to all citizens.

The officials say that despite this the Government is committed to providing reliable communication services to its citizens at international competitive rates.

The project will establish a high speed Internet based network that will be accessible through key government sponsored sites at affordable rates. The network will connect key government agencies, learning institutions such as the Cyril Potter College of Education and the University of Guyana, secondary schools, post offices, health facilities, regional offices and telecenters that will be established throughout the length and breadth of the country.

However it will have the capacity to expand to other agencies thus developing into a national backbone, according to the officials.

Guyana well-placed to host major local government talks
By Neil Marks
THE Caribbean Conference on Decentralisation and Local Government in the Commonwealth Caribbean opens today at the Ocean View Convention Centre, East Coast Demerara.

Guyana is in a good position to host the four-day conference, Mr. Michael Murphy, Country Director of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), said yesterday.

This is given the ongoing discussions in Guyana on local government reform, which the NDI supports, he said.

Through dialogue between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte, a bi-partisan committee on local government reform was also set up.

Addressing reporters at a pre-conference news briefing, President of the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities (CALA), Mr. Larel Thomas said that Caribbean actors in local government have good reason to look to Guyana as playing a leadership role in local government reform.

The conference was planned at a time when a number of Caribbean countries are reforming or actively considering reforming their local government systems.

Some 100 delegates of government ministers, local government practitioners and officials from Guyana, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago will be attending the meeting.

It aims at developing guidelines that will foster the local government decentralisation process in the Caribbean. Other objectives are to discuss practical experiences and issues of local government decentralisation in the Caribbean and to examine and discuss benefits of trends in and challenges to it.

Speaking to reporters at the National Library, Thomas said that for far too long local authorities have had to depend on "hand-outs" from Central Government.

In Guyana, local authorities or Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and town councils benefit from an annual government subvention.

Thomas said that local governments should be able to generate their own finance and run their own business independent of Central Government.

His point was well supported by Guyana Association of Local Authorities (GALA), President, Mr. Llewellyn John, who said that a financially independent local government system will result in greater efficiency.

Two public forums have been arranged during the period of the conference. The first entitled, `Advantages and Disadvantages of Local Government Decentralisation', will be held tomorrow at 19:00 hrs at City Hall.

The other public forum entitled, `Local Government Decentralisation and Citizen Participation', is scheduled for the same time and venue on Thursday.

The resource persons for the conference are drawn from the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies and the University of California, Los Angeles, U.S. and will include members of the local bi-partisan committee on local government reform.

Minister within the Ministry of Local Government, Mr. Clinton Collymore is scheduled to open the conference today.

Planting of rice crop under way in Wakenaam
THE current heavy rainfall has not significantly affected planting of the rice crop in Wakenaam.

Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands) Chairman, Mr. Esau Dookhie who recently visited the island told the Chronicle that most of the traditional rice lands have been cultivated for the current crop.

He explained that the rains have not had serious effects because excess water drains off easily from the island.

The Regional Chairman, however, observed some existing problems pertaining to drainage, sea defence and roads.

He noted the seawall at Meer Zorg has collapsed making the sluice there inoperable, while at Kaledonia (east) the sluice is defective. Consequently, he has approached the National Drainage and Irrigation Board for assistance to rectify the defects, he said.

Some parts of the seawall at Zeelandia are in a weak state and need rebuilding, Dookhie said, adding that requests to the relevant agencies will be made to have these problems addressed in the shortest possible time.

The Regional Chairman said three sections of the roads are in a bad state, and need urgent repairs - at Maria's Pleasure, Sans Souci/Noitgedacht and Zeelandia.

Dookhie also pointed out that the new building to house the Essequibo Islands Secondary School has been completed much to the satisfaction of residents in Wakenaam.

Boost for computer literacy drive in schools, teachers college
THE drive towards computer literacy in the education system received a boost yesterday with the clinching of a $48.4M agreement for the supply of computers to the 12 pilot schools under the Secondary School Reform Programme (SSRP) and the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

The contract for the supply of the equipment was signed between the Ministry of Education and the computer firm CCS.

SSRP Director, Dr. Kenneth Hunte, said at the signing that the procurement of the equipment is part of the programme to ensure computer literacy among both students and teachers.

New graduating teachers of CPCE will now become computer literate and have the skills to fit into the curriculum, Hunte explained, adding that the acquiring of the computers is just a beginning and will be expanded in due course.

Under the arrangement, the 12 pilot schools will have four work stations each while CPCE will be equipped with 16 work stations.

Apart from hardware and software, ancillary equipment will be supplied under the contract with CCS, whose Chairman, Mr. Deo Persaud assured that the equipment is the "latest on the market."

Hunte said the SSRP Management Information Systems Unit (MIS) will coordinate and carry out the required training for use of the equipment in the schools and at CPCE.

The SSRP is a US$20M World Bank funded project geared towards the Education Ministry's objective of ensuring universal access to secondary education.

The experiences and findings under the 12 pilot schools will be used in the implementation of universal secondary education in Guyana, officials said. (CHAMANLALL NAIPAUL)

Ex-soldier held with gun, ammo
AN EX-SOLDIER said to have been an associate of dead fugitive Compton Cambridge and the five Mash Day prison escapees, was nabbed in a car with two others at around 04:30 hrs yesterday at a joint Army/Police checkpoint at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.

Anthony Charles, 38, also called `Cussom', for whom the Police say there were several arrest warrants for a series of offences, was at the time travelling with a female companion in motor car HA 6523 driven by another male, officials said.

According to an Army source, Charles was enlisted in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on March 3, 1980, but absconded in the mid-80s.

Cambridge with whom Charles is being linked, died on June 6 during an armed confrontation with Police at Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara.

At the time of his death he was wanted by Police for a series of murders, including that of Detective Sergeant Harry Kooseram, and armed robberies.

We are very concerned, however, that this subsidiary of a U.S. firm would attempt to use its corporate muscle to block a loan to the Guyana government from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The Guyanese President, Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, has described the behaviour of GT&T and its parent, Atlantic Telecommunications Network (ATN) as "blackmail". Some, we are sure, would say worse.

The problem, it seems, turns on whether GT&T, in law, has a monopoly on providing telecommunications services in Guyana.

The company insists that it does.

The government says it does not.

So the Guyanese government intends to use a US$18 million loan from the IDB to expand the country's telecommunications infrastructure. GT&T argues that this would impinge on its expansion plans and cost it money.

We make two points in this matter.

The first is that we find it difficult to understand why in this period of global embrace of the primacy of the market, an American company would press in this manner to maintain a monopoly. Competition, after all, is the prevailing orthodoxy.

Indeed, throughout the region, telecommunications monopolies are not only being challenged, but in some cases, as happened in Jamaica, there has been orderly negotiation of the end to the monopoly.

Maybe, as was the case with Cable & Wireless in Hong Kong, the state may have to compensate the company for the unused portion of a monopolistic licence, but it has become increasingly clear that in this information age with rapid growth in technology, monopoly control of telecommunications systems is not in the best interest of national economies.

If negotiations fail there is, in our region, access to law. For whatever the weaknesses and imperfections in the judicial systems of the English-speaking Caribbean, the region's governments have shown respect for the courts.

It is an avenue that we do not believe the Guyanese government has shut off to GT&T.

Which brings us to our second point.

We find it absolutely abhorrent that a company would seek to use international political levers to close off loans to a host country. It smacks of arrogance and disrespect for national sovereignty and assumes a notion of the region as so many basket cases susceptible to a little muscle from on high.

Mr Jagdeo, we believe, in this regard, is properly indignant. We, too, are.
(Reprinted from the Jamaica Observer, Friday June 21, 2002)

Residents of Buxton were also afforded some time with the President in his office and again the citizens were somewhat comforted by the status relative to the shooting of their former resident Shaka Blair. They were told that the inquest into the fatality was now in the hands of the district authority.

Further to the above the President visited the bauxite town of Kwakwani on Thursday, June 20, 2002. Despite the propaganda being peddled by the main opposition party, the administration led by the President is steadfastly keeping on course in looking after the interests of the people.
Freddie Ramsook

Desire to achieve successs frankly missing
Apart from the fact that I have always held the view on the estranged dialogue between President Bharrat Jagdeo and the minority leader Hoyte, as compellingly tenuous, it must be noted that the increasing currency in the realisation of the cause of failure is due to the insincere approach of the minority leader to the talks. Guyanese should not therefore place much confidence on the importance in the value of the touted dialogue, a genuine desire to achieve success is quite frankly absent.

The pragmatism of this scenario becomes obvious when you consider that the policy of “bringing down the government” and “making the country ungovernable” is currently picking up momentum. The seditiousness of the nature of the PNC/R public meeting recently held during which speaker after speaker, called for bringing down the government and worse, is clearly demonstrative of sinister intent.

I will be most upset if the appropriate authority neglects to take corrective action.
David de Groot

Re-alignment needed, not jump start
F. Hamley Case in his letter in Stabroek News of 24th June, 2002 headed

“Only a strong economy can save Guyana” expresses the view among other things that “a significant percentage of the crime taking place in Guyana today falls into the category of economic crime.” He is also of the view that “as long as large numbers of Guyanese are unable to satisfy their basic physiological needs and those of their families some will resort to crime.”

I think and perhaps many will agree that Case is trying to make out a weak case in the sense that when he is talking about “economic Crime” the kind of crime we are having in Guyana today is not what Case is trying to portray of people trying to satisfy basic physiological needs but of crime which is obviously highly organised and financed with highly trained personnel, adequate equipment such as bullet proof vests and high- powered weapons, as well as many other weapons of lower calibers; crimes that are heavily financed and organised as “business ventures” and which are expected to provide satisfactory ROI returns, certainly not to provide basic physiological needs.

Case says that the Government needs to jump-start the economy “and needs to enlist the help of the PNC/R and other stake-holders, and one can only feel after reading Case’s other letters that he is just trying to be humorous again as when he told us previously of the disguise he uses in Barbados {gray wig and spectacles} to try and look like Hoyte as much as possible to ensure the best welcome and treatment.

None of us will forget that it was Cases’s leader Desmond Hoyte and party the PNC/R which have done all they could and continue to do so, to discourage investors from coming to this country by their frequent and violent street protests and direct warnings as well, by their puerile refusals to accept the results of free and fair elections and their heinous pre-election platform that they had investors all lined up with hundreds of millions of US dollars to invest in Guyana “but only if the PNC/R won the elections.”

What were these people going to invest in and to what did the PNC/R commit itself in such an unusual agreement between investors and an opposition party?

Maybe Mr. Case, what we need here is not so much to jump-start the economy as to re-align and balance the opposition into becoming an intelligent and responsible one.
John Da Silva

The sky is the limit
A great many people have become political commentators and analysts, such as Mr. Tony Vieira.

Of course this is possible in these days of democracy and freedom of expression since democracy and freedom were restored with the coming into office of the PPP/Civic. It seems that even this sudden and welcome change is not satisfying some people as they are creating a whole host of difficulties and problems and demands for the most fundamental changes in the shortest possible time which almost overnight will make Guyana into a Paradise on earth.

Tony Vieira is now telling us that the President and the Executive branch have enormous control over the Legislative and the Judiciary branches. Although this is not so and Vieira cannot establish it, he goes on to make even two more statements which also cannot be supported and are out of touch with reality, that is that there is no democracy and that Guyana is a dictatorship.

How far out of touch with reality can one really get? To me it seems that with people like Tony Vieira, the sky is the limit.
Patricia Cummings,

Success depends on quality of cooperation
The letter from Ms. Juliet Dukhi GC June 21, 2002 has again brought to the fore the uncooperativeness of the opposition political parties in the pursuit of the criminal elements now committing all sorts of vicious crimes on the general populace.

It has already been established that the government has put in place measures to combat the activities anticipated to be adopted by the criminals but indeed so much more can be achieved if the necessary cooperation is extended by the wider community including the politicians.

To apportion blame on the President is not supported by the attention being extended to the unfortunate and difficult spate of criminal acts. The administration regards this matter as a high priority activity, but the success being enjoyed by the criminals is due to the assistance being rendered by certain sections of the community.

This fight is not a fight for the government alone, all of us are involved and the success will depend on the quality of cooperation given.
Roger Alexander

No investments-the lack of?
In recent times, much has been said through the print and electronic media by anti-Government critics about the lack of investment, both local and foreign in Guyana. The latest appeared in the letters’ column of the Stabroek News 23 and 24 June, 2002, under the caption, “Only a strong economy can save Guyana, and No job creation strategy will ever be as effective as the creation of jobs.”

As a young Guyanese, I am concerned about this status of play especially as it relates to job creation.

“Only a strong economy can save Guyana now and to create that government needs to enlist the help of the PNC/R, the other opposition parties, the private sector, civil society, religious leaders, the Amerindian communities, the Guyanese communities resident overseas and our diplomatic service.” (S/N letter June 24).

I quite agree with this, 100% per cent.

The question however is, how can the PPP/C Government enlist the help of the PNC/R to create a strong economy when the objective of this Opposition Party is to make the country ungovernable, thus further weakening the economy and frightening away perspective foreign investors?

This tenuous situation has created an “unprofitable investment” climate, producing unsustainable job creation.

However, it must be pointed out here that investment does not only come from foreign sources, such as Barama/Omai and GT&T. Investment can also be local and is being injected locally. Bounty’s $45M meat center, Bonny’s Supermarket, Nigel’s Supermarket, Sachi’s, Dairy Bar, DIDCO and Dantzig Pasteurization Mini-Milk Plant, just to name a few that come to mind.

Are the investments made by the Chinese in the defunct Sanata Textiles Mill and the establishment of the Green House Farm or the opening-up of Universal Airlines and Caribbean Star, not foreign? Have jobs not been created?
Nicole Abrams

How much credence can you put in this man?
People don’t seem to appreciate the freedom and democracy they enjoy today in the country although they lose no opportunity to exercise it to its fullest.

Since 1992, we now have a total of twenty-three Television stations some of which freely spread the most vicious and racial propaganda and demand the right to do so as they claim that this is a democracy and they also have the right to freedom of expression.

Take the new kid on the block, Tony Vieira who freely and regularly attacks the PPP/Civic government day after day on his newscasts and in his commentaries. But in his most recent commentary he makes two statements which are most untrue - that we are not a democracy and that we are a dictatorship.

How can people listening to him whether Guyanese or foreigners reconcile his ability to freely express himself against the government and still claim that we not only have no democracy but that we are a dictatorship?

He talks about the PNC’s 1980 Constitution and he is now free to do so and he threatens how he will behave but why didn’t he tell Burnham, who was his good friend and who used to consult him at times. If he is now projecting himself as a people’s champion and he is so courageous why didn’t he tell the Kabaka himself when he had the chance. What is the point in giving his analyses now and telling us at the same time that we don’t have democracy and that we are a dictatorship.

How much credence can you put in what this man has to say?
Roy Persaud,

Kaye's letter welcomed
In some ways, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is pleased by the letter by Jeffrey Kaye, published in SN, June 21, 2002. His letter gave the Ministry a sense of his acute lack of awareness of the numerous cases of exploitation that come to the ministry on a nearly daily basis.

There are instances when the Minister intervenes herself, especially in situations of sexual abuse, an issue about which she has spoken of on National television and the newspapers carried some of these concerns, the most recent being in the Kaieteur News. Almost all of the cases that are brought to the Ministry's attention are dealt with through a joint effort by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security and the police.

As Mr. Kaye outlines in his letter, the Ministry has met with the same challenges regarding girls leaving their communities and being exploited on the costal belt. Volunteer groups have met with the same challenges. This situation is not new to the Ministry and it would be really grateful if Mr. Kaye's concern and sincerity would bring him to the Ministry to discus some of his suggestions to remedy the situation.

The Ministry and more particularly the Minister continue to engage discussions with Labour, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the concessionaries regarding their code of practice with regard to Amerindians. Villages like Kabakaburi, St. Monica's, Moraikabai, Matthew's Ridge will remember the Minister's intervention in bad deals that were made with concessionaries and miners, bad contracts signed and labour problems arose.

The many cases of uterine cancer reported and resulting in death have caused the promotion of research, which is due to commence shortly.

Of course, if Mr. Kaye is Guyanese, he will know of Amerindian Heritage Month and the various ways in which attempts are made at enhancing and preserving Amerindian culture. Amerindian languages, music, herbal and spiritual cures, and dishes are all a big part of the culture that is appreciated and preserved. Each year there is a month of activities in celebration of Amerindian Heritage. These activities take place in all of the regions as well as in Georgetown.

Amerindian art, craft, sculpture, embroidery work are also displayed and sold and advertised in the Caribbean and further a field. Most of these attempts are based on the everyday lifestyle of peoples of Amerindian communities and so give value and meaning to what is celebrated.

The ministry regrets not having a contact number for Mr. Kaye and therefore encourages him to contact the Ministry at the Office of the President on New Garden Street and South Road.
N. Gomes

Ball in government's court
Unless Compton Singh is an attorney who prefers not to cite a specific part of Guyana's criminal laws that says prosecutors, in an effort to ensure justice, cannot manipulate the laws without an actual infringement, I do not see any legal contention in his letter "Wild imputations" (Guyana Chronicle, June 24) that recommends him as qualified to readily dismiss my stated belief that HPS, Dr. Roger Luncheon attempted to insult our intelligence with his explanation about there being a 'legal snag' in extraditing Gregory Smith to
commence investigations into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney.

In my letter, I did use a recent American case reference involving a
pro-life activist who allegedly killed an abortion doctor and fled to France, knowing that if and when his whereabouts were determined, France would not extradite him because of its tough anti death penalty stance.

In America, what this alleged killer did amounted to premeditated action, befitting a capital murder charge that automatically qualifies for the death penalty. However, in order to ensure justice is served, American officials had to choose to assure France they will not apply the death penalty in this special circumstances case. It is now likely that all the alleged assailant will get is life imprisonment without parole, if he pleads guilty or gets convicted, and all because prosecutors could have manipulated the law. By the way, so fresh is this case, it has not yet been tried.

I also have read on several occasions where suspects or those caught
red-handed violating criminal laws entered into plea bargains with
prosecutors for lighter sentences if they cooperated in pertinent
investigations. Their crimes, by law, dictated that they should receive a certain kind of punishment, but because of cooperating their punishment was reduced. Does it not mean the law is flexible?

A few years ago in America, a mafia turn coat confessed to killing others at the behest of his boss, and wound up in a witness protection programme for spilling the beans on his boss who died a couple of weeks ago in prison. The turn coat, by law, deserved the death penalty, yet it was up to the prosecutors to manipulate the law to achieve a greater objective: convicting the mafia boss, who got life imprisonment without parole.

In New York State, where the Governor signed the death penalty back into effect several years ago, there have been strong death penalty cases since, yet prosecutors seem to be settling for life imprisonment without parole. The politics aside, how can they do that if the law itself does not allow for such flexibility?

So, to Mr. Singh, my grounds for stating Dr. Luncheon has attempted to insult our intelligence with the 'legal snag' line is based on case
precedence that allowed prosecutors to be flexible with the death penalty law. If Guyana's prosecutors cannot manipulate the law like their American counterparts, particularly because of the way the laws are written in Guyana, then the 'legal snag' should be changed to 'case closed on the Walter Rodney assassination.'

Otherwise, what is holding up government from unravelling the snag? If
there is any administration that could help the Rodney clan find closure on their tragic loss, it is the PPP/Civic. There is no way the family can count on the PNC/R if it ever gets back in power, so the ball is in the present government's court.
Emile Mervin,

Kiwis crush Windies by 204 runs
… record first Test victory in the Caribbean
(By Frederick Halley, in association with Mike’s Pharmacy)
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - New Zealand recorded their first victory over the West Indies in the Caribbean, winning their 12th encounter in convincing fashion by a massive 204 runs with a day to spare at the Kensington Oval here yesterday to take a 1-0 unassailable lead in the two-match Cable & Wireless series.

Set the mammoth task of recording the highest ever total, 474, to win a Test match, the West Indies catapulted for 269, losing their last six wickets for 65 runs in the face of some hostile bowling from fast bowler Shane Bond who finished with career-best figures of five for 78 and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori who grabbed three for 53.

Final scores: New Zealand 337 and 243; West Indies 107 and 269.

Opener Chris Gayle and world record-holder Brian Lara lashed entertaining innings of 73 each but got little support from the both the top and lower-order in yet another inept batting display by the Windies.

Gayle, who took some 29 balls before clipping Bond to mid-off for two, and Wavell Hinds gave the homesters some hope after resuming at the overnight position of five without loss with Hinds in particular playing a number of fluent drives, especially through the off-side.

Hinds was quickly into his strides, hitting Daryl Tuffey through mid-off and through the covers with fine timing while Gayle, who was circumspect at the start, opened up by spanking Ian Butler for 10 in his first over, including a forcing back-foot drive which sped through the covers with rapid pace.

The introduction of spin had immediate effect with the wily Vettori inducing Hinds to a bat-pad catch at forward short-leg, Mark Richardson accepting the straightforward chance. Hinds’ 37 runs included six fours in 87 minutes off 65 balls.

Enter Ramnaresh Sarwan. Bond bowls a short ball and the 22-year attempts a similar pull shot that caused his demise in the first innings when he skied a catch to Vettori at short mid-wicket. This time he succeeds in keeping the ball down as the sprinkling of spectators went into sighs in relief.

Unmindful of this, Sarwan hooks the next delivery for four while Gayle upped the tempo with three fours, the last one bringing up his sixth half-century in Tests.

At lunch, the West Indies were 107 for one, having scored 102 in the session for the loss of Hinds, with Gayle on 50 and Sarwan 10.

Sarwan greeted Bond’s first delivery after lunch with a majestic cover drive and with Gayle continuing to flow the second-wicket partnership flourished.

Tragedy, in the form of another injudicious and ill-advised hook shot from Sarwan, however struck with the score on 133.

Having done their homework admirably, the New Zealanders lured Sarwan (18) into taking the bait as he repeated the same shot that caused his demise in the first innings.

With the addition of nine runs, Gayle was trapped lbw to Bond as he pushed forward hesitantly to the aggressive Bond, his 73 laced with 12 fours in 172 minutes off 131 balls.

Skipper Hooper never looked settled despite playing a beautiful on-drive off Tuffey. Chasing a wide delivery outside the off-stump off the same bowler, Hooper edged it to his opposite, Stephen Fleming, at slip to leave the West Indies on 179 for four.

Lara, as he did in the first innings, was clearly showing signs of returning to form following his elbow injury and by tea was on 27, his best scoring strokes being square-driven boundaries off Butler and Vettori and an extra cover drive off Tuffey. The now reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul was 14 not out and hopes of West Indies at least taking the game into the final day still remained.

Adding three to his teatime score, Chanderpaul was completely deceived in the flight by Vettori as he advanced to drive the left-arm spinner. He only succeeded in edging the delivery to Fleming at slip as the homesters slipped deeper into trouble at 204 for five.

It was soon 216 for six, as like Sarwan, wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs (six) went in similar fashion to his first innings dismissal, pulling a short ball to mid-wicket where Nathan Astle ran back to take a marvellous catch.

In “no man’s land”, Lara tried desperately to shield the lower-order while providing the last bit of entertainment for the fans.

The left-hander spanked Vettori through mid-on and swept him for another boundary before reaching 50 with a six over long-off. He lost the over-ambitious Darren Powell, caught at slip by Astle, essaying a big drive at 226 and after adding a useful 30 with Pedro Collins, forced Fleming to claim the second new ball.

The move paid handsome dividends as Collins was trapped lbw with the first ball.

Lara added four more fours, two off Tuffey and two off Bond before the latter had the last laugh, yorking him with a slower delivery. His 73 included 11 fours and six in 190 minutes off 131 balls.

Mervyn Dillon, whose participation in the Test, raised eyebrows about his prior fitness, was dismissed off the first ball he faced, edging a catch to Lou Vincent in the slip cordon.

New Zealand’s captain Fleming was fittingly adjudged man-of-the-match for his fine 130 in his team’s first innings.

Apart from winning their first Test match in the West Indies on their fourth tour to the Caribbean, the Black Caps also increased their overall winnings to seven as compared to the Windies’ 10 with the other 14 ending in draws.

The second and final Test starts at the Queen’s Park in Grenada on Friday. It will also be the first time that the “Spice Island” will be hosting a Test match.

NEW Zealand 1st innings 337 (S. Fleming 130, R. Hart 57 not out; D. Powell two for 41, M. Dillon two for 73, P. Collins two for 80)
West Indies 1st innings 107 (S. Chanderpaul 35 not out: D. Vettori four for 27, I. Butler three for 26, S. Bond two for 34)

NEW Zealand 2nd innings 243 (N. Astle 77, P. Collins six for 76, A. Sanford two for 68)

West Indies 2nd innings

C. Gayle lbw Bond 73

W. Hinds c Richardson b Vettori 37

R Sarwan c Vettori b Bond 18

B. Lara b Bond 73

C. Hooper c Fleming b Tuffey 16

S. Chanderpaul c Fleming b Vettori 17

R. Jacobs c Astle b Vettori 6

D. Powell c Astle b Butler 2

P. Collins lbw Bond 8

A. Sanford not out 0

M. Dillon c Vincent b Bond 0

Extras: (b-5, lb-11, nb-1, w-2) 19

Total: (all out, 83 overs) 269

Fall of wickets: 68, 133, 142, 179,204, 216, 222, 252, 269, 269.

Bowling: Bond 21-7-78-5, Tuffey 15-5-43-1(w-2), Butler 14-0-58-1(nb-1), Vettori 19-3-53-3, Astle 5-4-4-0, Harris 9-3-17-0.

Ballentyne, Benjamin share top honours
WITH the defence of the Go Guyana Run title not materialising, Pamenos Ballentyne of St Vincent & the Grenadines proved he still ruled Guyana’s road races, triumphing in the annual Black & Prowell 10-kilometre race on Sunday.

Ballentyne completed the race in 32:45.55 minutes, nearly two minutes ahead of youth runner Cleveland Forde who finished in 34:26.87 minutes.

Lionel D’Andrade ran in third, nearly two minutes behind Forde, in 36:24.36 minutes, while Kelvin Johnson was fourth.

According to organiser Leslie Black, Ballentyne graced the event because he wanted to help nurture the 17-year-old Forde whom he ran with in two other meets.

Ballentyne won the Go Guyana Run marathon last year and was returning this year to defend his crown but the event was called off following disturbances in Buxton where the course of the race passed.

On the distaff side, Carla Benjamin clocked 47:02.77 minutes to win the Female Open, ahead of Jennifer Chichester who finished in 47:13.40 minutes. Nikesha Blair was third.

In the 5-kilometre course, Christopher Joseph and Stacey Smith triumphed in the 17-20 years division, while Quintin Hanover and Kenisha Lashley were the winners in the 13-17 years division, and Anthony Bowman and Leanna Doris finished first in the 11-13 years division.

Only women entered the 35-40 years division, with Simone Baburam running in first. Only men competed in the higher age divisions.

Former Go Guyana Run marathon champion, Lennox Jacobs, won the 40-45 years division, while Llewellyn Gardner placed first in the 45-50 years division.

Seasoned campaigner Maurice Fagundes claimed the 55-60 years division and Winston Sanders, the Over-60 division.

The road race is staged each year in memory of Seon Black and his aunt Viola Black who died after they were hit by a speeding vehicle, and stalwart athlete Harry Prowell who passed away last year.

GABF name provisional squad for Caricom c’ships
THE Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) on Sunday named a 13-member provisional squad of male players to represent Guyana at this year's Caricom basketball championships in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The final male and female teams were to be named yesterday by the governing body for the biennial championships, which start next Saturday and runs through to July 7 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Two rookies in Seton Hall University college player guard Desmond Herod and forward Sean Baird made the list.

The other members of the squad which is to be broken down into twelve are: veteran Lugard Mohan, Andrew Ifill, Bruce Davis, Steve Neils (Jnr), Lorenzo Withrite, Lancelot Loncke, Derrick Boyd, Darren Ainsworth, Pierre Goddette, Seon Powell.

Selection was based on the five-game series, organised by the GABF and sponsored by Empire Trust for the biennial visit of the Washington DC Jammers.

The visitors first played line-ups from the two leading sub-associations, Georgetown and Linden. From performances in those two games, a local President’s XII side was selected for a three-game series against the Jammers.

The National squad, comprising both overseas-based and local players, was selected by a panel, based on performances in the series.

DC Jammers win three-match series
WASHINGTON DC Jammers swept away the three-game series against the local President's XII, winning Game Three 88-83 on Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The game was typical of the series, which started with victory for the Jammers. The visitors were up by 11 points after the first quarter, leading 22-11 and at half time 45-34.

At the end of the third quarter, the game was still in favour of the Jammers who led 68-54, but they were caught in the fourth and were behind before Steve Nurse netted a free throw to push them into the lead once more 78-77.

The President's XII then made their move as Ifill went inside to score and Rudy James netted from the stripe for a two-point advantage 80-78 with 3:12 to go in the last quarter.

For the locals Terrence James then hit one free throw to tie the scores at 83 with 1:30 to go. Then the President's XII lost their way as was seen during the match-ups. The eventual score did not reflect the real competitive nature of the teams in battle.

At the same time it mirrored the lack of focus on the part of the home-based team and their breakdown in defence when in position to make their most vital move.

They eventually lost 88-83 as the series were wrapped up for the Jammers.

The top scorers for the Jammers were Derrick Boyd with 25 points, Dexter Martin 18, Seon Powell 13 and Steve Nurse 11. For the President's XII, Lugard Mohan and Andrew Ifill each got 19 points and Desmond Herod supported with 15. (Joe Chapman)

National squad whip Berbice 5-1
By Isaiah Chappelle
WITH a youthful side, the National football squad opened the CONCACAF Gold Cup preparations with a 5-1 thrashing of Berbice in the Ancient County team’s backyard, Burnham Park, New Amsterdam Sunday.

The hard-working midfielder Kayode McKinnon and winger Romel Forde hit doubles for the Nationals, with Delon Glen scoring one, while Marvin Johnson pulled one back for Berbice.

Coach Cornel Millington told Chronicle Sport: “They performed well. Before you would find one man wanting to beat three persons, but now they are passing the ball around. The passing was real superb.”

The coach said the focus of the training now was for players getting to know each other, knowing the capabilities of each person and playing as a unit, while awaiting the overseas players to strengthen the squad.

But several of senior players called were noticeably absent in the 14-man squad that travelled to New Amsterdam. In fact, the goalkeeper was National Under-17 selectee Fidel Smith.

Millington disclosed that Marlon Hendricks knew of the match but did not turn up, while Osmond Jeune was in the midst of examinations and Richard Reynolds was in Suriname.

The line-up also included young Walter Moore of the Georgetown Football Club who was not even named in any of the National youth squad. He came off the bench to replace striker Gregory Richardson.

But the young players overwhelmed the Berbice side, evidently not missing seasoned campaigner Glen who was given marching orders when the match was just 18 minutes old.

The Nationals attacked the southern goal from the first run down just after the kick-off whistle. It was good run on the left wing, followed by a nice pass to Richardson who was alone but failed to shoot and the defence recovered.

Within a minute, the Nationals were in the net off the boot of Glen, following a raid down the centre and the goalkeeper rushing forward. Glen took the shot from top of the box to an empty goal.

But six mintues later, Johnson, top goalscorer in the Ashton Taylor Memorial Under-21 championships, broke away from just past the halfway line leaving the defence behind. He shot on the run from the right edge of the box, beating the goalkeeper to the last post.

Berbice forced the first corner eleven minutes into the game, while the Nationals followed suit, ten minutes later.

Glen was ejected during a raid on the right wing, a foul was blown against him for holding, then he did the unforgivable - he belched out foul language at the referee who immediately reached in his hose and flashed the red card.

Forde scored the third goal in the 37th minute, after first receiving the ball in a seemingly offside position at centre, just on the penalty box line. The Nationals led 2-1 at halftime.

Berbice injected their first set of fresh legs, 12 minutes after the resumption, while the National substituted Richardson with Moore, ten minutes later.

McKinnon hit a super goal in the 75th minute. He received a back pass from the right edge of the box, and from 25 metres out, hammered the ball to goal. The ball crashed on the bottom of the crossbar and rocked the net.

Shortly after, Berbice reorganised their strike line and began pressuring the Nationals, forcing several corners. From one taken at the left, the ball zoomed to goal from a superb headshot ten metres away. Goalkeeper Smith dived to stop the ball and the defence cleared the ball.

The Nationals ended the game with two quick goals in the closing minutes, the first by Forde who broke away and took on the goalkeeper, beating him to finish. Then McKinnon completed an attack down the century, shooting during a mix-up that followed in the box.

Every weekend the Nationals will be in action. This weekend, they meet an East Coast Demerara line-up most likely at the Beterverwagting/Triumph Community Centre ground.

Grenada Under-20 football team’s visit in limbo
GRENADA’S Under-20 football team’s visit to Guyana is probably off, with the Guyana Football Federation receiving no further word of the tour.

Earlier this month, the GFF announced that the Grenadians would arrive on June 23, last Sunday, to play two matches, one against the National Under-20 team and another against the National Under-17 squad.

The GFF said it was part of its “forward thrust” for football development and Guyana’s delegation to the FIFA Congress in Seoul confirmed the matches with the Grenada Football Association.

Enquiring of the tour yesterday, Chronicle Sport was informed by Lawrence Griffith of the GFF office, that Grenada had requested that the visit be postponed to June 29 because that country’s senior National team had a game on Sunday.

Griffith said the GFF asked that the request be put in writing, confirming the new date but no reply was arrived to date.

“It seems the visit is off,” Griffith said.

Table tennis team wing out for Pan-Am, U.S. open tourneys
A TABLE tennis team winged out today for two international meets - the Pan-Am Youth and U.S. Open championships that serve off tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Players for the junior championships are Jonathan Sankar, Raymond Baksh, Orin Hickerson, Christopher Franklin, Paul Meusa and Robert Bostwick, Jody Ann Blake, Michelle John and La Toya Howes.

Sankar, Baksh, Hickerson, Blake and John will also participate in the U.S. Open, along with Andrew Daly and overseas-based Idi Lewis and Paul David.

The officials are National coach Sydney Christophe, assistant Linden Johnson and manager Johnette Gonsalves.

Christophe and four of the players, who will represent Guyana in the Caribbean junior championships billed for Puerto Rico in August, were partly assisted with expenses by the Guyana Table Tennis Association. They will be participating in an international camp after the Pan-Am championships.

North American Airlines slashed the airfares by half, with other assistance coming from the Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Finance, Bounty Farms Limited and Transport & Harbours Limited.

Meanwhile, another team was selected to compete in the South American championships billed for Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 1- 11.

The players are Matthew Khan, Franklin, Sankar, Blake and Vida Moore, with Christophe as manager/coach.

Sankar, Franklin, Blake and Moore will attend a special training camp after that championship, then Chrisophe, Sankar and Blake will proceed straight to Puerto Rico for the Junior Caribbean championships.

Hooper, Harper urge not to be to harsh on Sarwan
By Ezra Stuart
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - In the face of heated criticism about the manner in which middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan was twice dismissed in the first Test against New Zealand, West Indies’ captain Carl Hooper and coach Roger Harper have urged members of the media not to be too harsh in condemning the young, gifted Guyanese.

Sarwan, who celebrated his 22nd birthday during the match that the Black Caps won by 204 runs, was out for a first-ball duck and 18 in the second innings, to ill-advised cross-batted pulled shots from innocuous short deliveries.

“Well, I don’t want to make a big case for Sarwan or pinpoint (Ridley) Jacobs. I think we all played loose shots and got out,” Hooper said in a post-match news conference.

“The last time I saw Ramnaresh out this way was against South Africa. I think since then he has disciplined himself and has been batting well all summer,” Hooper noted.

“I think we got to be careful not to be harsh on these players.

Ramnaresh is a young player. He is only 22. This is the first time he would’ve had this amount of cricket behind him and obviously, you begin to see a little bit of cracks,” Hooper reasoned.

“So the important thing is not to be too critical. I think you’ve got to give them time. Like I said, this is a learning process for a lot of people.

This is what the itinerary will look for the next few years. We will be playing a lot of cricket and I’m sure we’ll learn from this,” Hooper contended.

An emotional Harper also stoutly defended Sarwan, pointing to the receding five-Test series against India when he amassed 317 runs with four half-centuries at an average of 45.28.

“I think when players are failing over a long period of time, they are often given a bit of a rest, that is exactly the situation,” Harper said.

“I think that at times, we have to remember this. I think we have very poor memories as West Indians,” declared Harper.

“I mean stitting and listening to people sometimes commenting on Brian Lara for example who in his last series, averaged a hundred-odd and yet we are saying all sort of things,” Harper pointed out.

“Here is a young fellow (Sarwan), who we think has the world at his feet, is now growing in the game, and who averaged close to fifty in his last Test series. He made two horrible errors in this game, no doubt about that but I think we are a little drastic at times,” Harper remarked.

“I think our measures sometimes that we asked for are too drastic.

Sure, we are going to be critical of Sarwan because that is not what the team demanded at the time but I think dropping Sarwan, won’t be the right way to go. That’s my personal opinion,” Harper said.

“… Surely, we have to look at the mistakes each of us as players made in this game and be very critical of ourselves and try and make sure that we don’t make those mistakes again which is a process we all go through after each day’s play,” Harper added.

Germany players urged to seize chance of a lifetime
By Patrick Vignal
SOGWIPO, South Korea, (Reuters) - Germany coach Rudi Voeller has urged his players to seize the chance of a lifetime when they take on South Korea today for a place in the final of the World Cup.

``Playing, surrounded with such passion, can only happen once and the players might make the most of what will be an unforgettable moment,'' Voeller said yesterday. It will be an intriguing quarter-final clash between the revived triple world champions and the seemingly unstoppable co-hosts.

``We know what to expect because we watched them play and television has been showing their goals endlessly,'' added the former World Cup-winning striker.

He has experienced many highlights but has been amazed by the incredible run of Germany's next opponents.

``The players must be ready for a totally new experience against a team who never stop going forward and who will run until they drop. They will swarm on us like bees.''

On the brink of their seventh final, Germany would have been highly favoured to cruise past South Korea under any other circumstances but their coach insisted the traditional heavyweights were clearly the underdogs this time.

``We are not the favourites and that takes some of the pressure off,'' said Voeller.

His men started the finals in style but struggled to move past Paraguay and the United States in their two previous outings.

``Our last games were tough partly because we were playing teams who were under-rated by most observers and we were expected to win. It's a different situation now.''

The Germans, who have emerged from their deepest crisis with perfect timing, are a match away from the big one for the 10th time but Voeller said they would miss out on the Yokohama final, where they would face either Brazil or Turkey, if they could not step up a gear.

HAMANN DOUBTFUL
``It is obvious that we have to raise the level of our game,'' he said after seeing the red tide of South Korea drown Portugal, Italy and Spain.

Voeller had only one major worry in valued midfielder Dietmar Hamann, who twisted a ligament in his right knee in the dying moments of Friday's quarter-final victory over the United States.

``We will not make a final decision until shortly before the game,'' Voeller said about the Liverpool player as his team were about to leave their camp on the holiday island of Cheju to fly to Seoul, where today's battle will be staged.

The fact that Miroslav Klose, the tournament's joint top scorer with five goals failed to hit the back of the net in his side's last two games did not really concern Voeller, who knows all about great strikers' problems.

``Miro (Miroslav) knows that you can't always score but from what I've seen in training over the last few days I have reasons to believe that he will be as dangerous as ever,'' he said.

The Germany coach was full of praise for his defence, who have conceded only one goal so far and hold one of the keys to today's showdown.

Not only superb goalkeeping from captain Oliver Kahn should be credited for an impressive defensive record, said Voeller, who named Thomas Linke and Christoph Metzelder as two of Germany's outstanding players.

Voeller, who was an unused substitute when Germany survived a scare for a 3-2 win over South Korea in their only previous encounter in the first round of the 1994 World Cup, remained cautious when asked if he realised what was at stake.

``Of course we're all thinking about the final but it's too early to talk about it,'' he said.

``First, we have an extremely tough game to play which we must enter with the right frame of mind. Then we will see if the dream goes on.''

Four South Koreans in FIFA All-star short-list
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Four players of South Korea's surprise World Cup side, which against all expectations has reached the semifinals, have been picked by a FIFA panel of experts in a 33-strong short-list for its all-star team of the tournament.

Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored the golden goal winner in the shock second-round 2-1 victory over Italy, is included along with captain and defender Hong Myung-bo, midfielder Yoo Sang-chul and goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae.

The feared Brazilian three R's -- Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo -- are also included along with German's five-goal striker Miroslav Klose who takes on South Korea today in Seoul in the first semifinal.

Turkey, who contest a semifinal with favourites Brazil tomorrow in Saitama, have keeper Rustu Recber, defender Alpay Ozalan and striker Hasan Sas included.

The Japanese midfield pairing of Hidetoshi Nakata and Junichi Inamoto were also in the 33 but surprisingly, England's impressive defender Rio Ferdinand failed to win a place.

Pele, who won the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962 and 1970 with Brazil, will announce the final all-star World Cup team on June 28 in Yokohama, two days before the final in the same Japanese city.

The 10-strong panel of coaches is headed by respected coach Jozef Venglos who coached the former Czechoslovakia at the 1990 finals in Italy.

FIFA All-Star Team shortlist:

Goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn (Germany), Marcos (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Rustu Recber (Turkey), Lee-Woon-jae (South Korea).

Defenders: Cafu (Brazil), Roberto Carlos (Brazil), Sol Campbell (England), Hong Myung-bo (South Korea), Alpay Ozalan (Turkey), Fernando Hierro (Spain), Johan Mjallby (Sweden).

Midfielders: David Beckham (England), Junichi Inamoto (Japan), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan), Pape Malick Diop (Senegal), Claudio Reyna (U.S.), Michael Ballack (Germany), Yoo Sang-chul (South Korea), Marc Wilmots (Belgium).

Forwards: Rivaldo (Brazil), Ronaldo (Brazil), Ronaldinho (Brazil), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal), Ahn Jung-hwan (South Korea), Landon Donovan (U.S.), Raul (Spain), Hasan Sas (Turkey), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Christian Vieri (Italy), Henrik Larsson (Sweden), Michael Owen (England), Jon Dahl Tomasson (Denmark).

Brazil v Turkey, only fifth re-match
YOKOHAMA, Japan, (Reuters) - The Brazil v Turkey World Cup semifinal tomorrow will be only the fifth time ever in the latter stages of the finals that two teams who met in the group stage have faced each other again.

Brazil, who beat Turkey 2-1 in Group C, may not be reassured to know that no team beat the other twice in the four previous rematches.

Curiously, Brazil were involved in two of the four rematches. In 1962 they drew 0-0 with Czechoslovakia in their group before beating the same opponents 3-1 in the final.

The most recent occasion was in 1994 when Brazil and Sweden drew 1-1 in their group before Brazil won 1-0 in the semifinals.

The most extraordinary rematch happened in 1954 when favourites Hungary thrashed Germany 8-3 in the group but lost 3-2 to the same team in the final, despite taking a 2-0 lead.

In 1982 Italy and Poland played out a goalless group draw but Italy won the semifinal re-match 2-0.

There is one good omen for both Brazil and Turkey this time. The team that has won the second meeting has always gone on to lift the World Cup.

There have been nine other occasions when teams have met each other twice at the same finals but all were either replays or group play-offs.