Guyana Resource Center

PRESS RELEASE: OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH BY JAMES C. RICHMOND IN NYC !!!!

2006-07-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

James C. Richmond, Poet

www.jamesrichmond.blogspot.com

718-807-8491

PRESS RELEASE

‘ON THE WINDOW OF MY SKIN’
Poetic Expressions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOOK LAUNCH

Poet James C. Richmond in collaboration with JRG Fashion Café, the only restaurant located in the heart of downtown Brooklyn boasting a roof deck patio, presents the launching of his book, ˜On the Window of My Skin” poetic expressions on Thursday, August 3, 2006 at 6pm.

˜On the Window of My Skin” is a stimulating work written by the renowned poet in his inimitable style and clearly demonstrates his ability to fuse western and traditional cultures while fostering greater thematic understanding.

This book certainly hits the mark with both insightful and impassioned offerings and the publication is already being hailed as a winning page-turner. New York’s Caribbean Impact newspaper certainly gives it a thumbs-up, with its comment - ˜Masterful. Richmond displays a deep understanding of poetry that gnaws at the reader, leaving an electrifying tingle. The poet writes with vivid detail and awesome power. He is a literary Powerhouse...”

The launching of the book, ˜On the Window of My Skin” by James C. Richmond on August 3 at JRG will be preceded by a cocktail reception.

You are cordially invited.

JRG Fashion Café
177 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn NY, 11217
(718) 399-7079

Govt. has no interest in listening to anyone unless it is to those who share the same sensibility

2006-07-25T17:16:00.000-04:00

Dear Editor,

The recent events at the Albion Community Centre Ground which saw the AFC's information booth dismantled while the Government Information Agency (GINA) was allowed to not only remain, but allegedly distribute political material in the form of PPP pamphlets indicate two significant details.

First, that the government has not abandoned its use of infantile tactics when it comes to taking on political opponents and secondly, that the government appears to be worried about the “new boys on the block” so much so it seems that they have now elevated their game plan from petty name calling and mud slinging to something far more disconcerting, specifically, preventing freedom of speech.

It is clearly wrong for any government to exert such influence and control over its citizens so as to limit or in this particular instance, block any dissenting view.

We live in an age of democracy where all people, regardless of whatever categories are used to distinguish them, must be allowed to voice their concerns even if they are explicitly contrary to the government in power.

To deny any individual or group this right within a democratic society is a serious violation of one of the most basic and fundamental rights of humanity.

Combine these events with the callous remarks of Minister Shadick and what we have here is a government that has no interest in listening to anyone unless it is to those who share the same sensibility.

What we can infer from their most recent actions and statements is that this government does not represent Guyanese people, but is truly a self-serving entity whose only real interest is in maintaining its firm grasp on the heart of our beloved country, seemingly ready to crush the very life from out of our country.

Clearly, this is a government that believes that it is entitled to perform such outrageous acts because it holds the seat of power yet we say that such arrogance and acts of intolerance are completely unacceptable.

It is evident that all Guyanese must now look in the mirror and realise that they deserve better than to be led by a dictatorial regime that cares more about self-preservation than it does for the average citizen in Guyana who must struggle each day just to survive the abhorrent living conditions throughout the country.

We at the Mittelholzer Foundation (http://www.mittelholzer.org/forum/index.php) say to the government and to Minister Shadick that their code of conduct is completely unacceptable and disgraceful, and this must be kept in mind by all voters on election day.

We say to the voters that now is the time to take back your country and to vote according to the real issues that matter such as crime, poverty and the oppressive conditions you are forced to live under while those in political office pay little or no attention as they seek only to preserve the status quo.

The Mittelholzer Foundation http://www .mittelholzer.org/forum/index.php

(Kaieteur News)

Membership Campaign

2006-07-21T15:58:00.000-04:00

In keeping with the electoral spirit in Guyana we have decided to announce our very own "Mittelholzer Campaign" which we encourage all members and non-members to help us out with. Our campaign is a membership drive with the main objective reaching the number of 500 registered members (membership is free and only takes a few minutes !!) by Friday, September 1, 2006. While I know that is going to be a difficult task, I have complete confidence that we will reach our goal provided we all work together to spread the word about our site as much as possible. We are capable of so much as individuals that there is no doubt in my mind that as a group, we can reach out to people and attain our target of 500 registered members in no time so I urge all of you who are members and non-members to do what you can to help us reach our goal... We have so much potential and can accomplish so much that it is now the time for us to take action by bringing as many people together as possible...We call on all of you to help us as we cannot do this alone so please, do all that you can for this most worthwhile cause...

The Mittelholzer Foundation
http://www.mittelholzer.org/forum/index.php

We received a reply from Mr. Jagan !!

2006-07-13T01:25:00.000-04:00

A very special thank you to Mr. James Richmond (a member of this forum) who helped us to contact Mr. Jagan via email and to Mr. Moran and Mr. Jagan for his courtesy in taking the time and effort to address our questions in an open and straightforward manner.

For the answers please visit:

http://mittelholzer.org/forum/showthread.php?t=582

Columnists Needed !!

2006-07-11T15:13:00.000-04:00

If anyone is interested in gaining invaluable experience as a writer then we would like to offer them a unique opportunity through our forum to publish a column. You are free to write about anything you wish and there is no deadline or timetable to submit your articles. We have invited several local and international newspapers to visit our site so this may be a chance for aspiring writers/reporters to showcase their creative talents and skills.

If you or anyone you know are interested in this exciting opportunity then please let us know at jono@mittelholzer.org

axisDEV Graphics

2006-07-03T02:15:00.000-04:00

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custom design work, just ask

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US nabs Khan

2006-06-30T12:57:00.000-04:00

-Suriname says he was no longer suspect -lawyer alleges rendition, says client drugged, kidnapped by American agents

By Nigel Williams

Friday, June 30th 2006

Roger Khan

Businessman Roger Khan was last night on US soil facing a drug charge after dramatic events in Paramaribo yesterday led to his handing over to American agents and his lawyers charging that he had been drugged and spirited out of Suriname via extraordinary rendition.

Khan had been centre stage of a riveting four-month drama that crisscrossed Guyana, Suriname and the US and ensnared the joint services here.

Justice Minister of Suriname Chrandrikapersad Santokhi confirmed to Suriname journalists last night that Khan was deported and put on a flight to Trinidad and Tobago by Suriname police. He was then handed over to immigration authorities upon arrival in Port Spain who then handed him over to US officials.

Khan was flown out of Johann Pengel International Airport, Paramaribo on a Suriname Airways flight heavily guarded by police escorts three of whom accompanied him to Trinidad. American authorities in Trinidad and Tobago declined to comment on the matter when contacted by this newspaper yesterday.

The deportation of the businessman came days after a Suriname court had granted an extension of his detention in Suriname and also on the eve of the hearing of motion which was filed by his Surinamese attorney, Irwnis Khanai seeking to block his extradition to the USA.

Paramaribo was adamant yesterday that the Guyanese businessman was not extradited, but rather deported from the country after he was no longer a suspect on allegations of drug trafficking, firearms possession and being part of a criminal gang. There was no statement from Washington up to press time last night. Meanwhile, Khan was up to last night in federal custody in New York, his attorney, Glenn Hanoman told Stabroek News. He arrived in the USA around 4 pm yesterday.

The Surinamese declaration that Khan was no longer a suspect in a recent drug bust came as a surprise as Santokhi and other officials had issued strong statements linking Khan to drugs, crime gangs and plots to assassinate Surinamese officials. The officials had also said that Khan would most likely be prosecuted in Suriname.

Observers say the turn of events probably represents a deal between the US and Paramaribo for Khan to be put in the hands of American authorities for his prosecution in New York. Guyana had already indicated it was not pursuing extradition of Khan at this point as it appeared that the charges in Suriname would be more serious. There was no statement yesterday from the Guyana Government on the latest developments. Observers noted that if Khan was to be deported it would have to be to Guyana since he crossed illegally from here and the best route to send him back would be across the Corentyne River on the ferry.

Thomas Walsh, spokesperson for the US Embassy in Paramaribo told a local journalist when contacted on the matter that he could only confirm that the US government had made a request for the provisional arrest of Khan to Suriname for extradition. He said also that there was an international arrest warrant out for Khan whose name was mentioned in a US State Department drug report this year. With regard to Khan's deportation, Walsh said that was a different matter but he hoped that the businessman could be captured by the US on the basis of the international arrest warrant.

Set free

John Jones, Suriname Police spokesman told Stabroek News when contacted that as far as he was aware Khan was set free by the Surinamese authorities after they found that he was no longer a suspect on the allegations they were holding him for. Jones said the only charge they had against Khan was that of being in the country illegally and as such he was deported. According to Jones the businessman was put on a plane around 6 am Suriname time yesterday and flown to Trinidad en route to Georgetown.

The policeman said he could not say whether Khan was picked up by US officials and he did not know whether flying Khan to the US was in the original plan when the Guyanese was deported. Jones said as far as he knew Khan was deported to his homeland Guyana, adding that from what he was told Surinamese police escorted Khan to the airport and ensured he boarded an aircraft. "All I know is that he was deported to Guyana, they released him from jail, put him on a plane and got him out of the country," Jones said.

He could not say whether US law enforcement officials facilitated Khan's deportation and was adamant that the Guyanese businessman was not extradited, but rather deported.

On the issue of the three other Guyanese, Sean Belfield, Lloyd Roberts and Paul Rodrigues, Jones said they along with the other Surinamese who were arrested on the day of the drug bust are still in custody. He said investigations are ongoing and once there is a case against them they would be charged. Khan had appeared in a Suriname court charged with violating the country's narcotics and firearms laws as well as being part of a criminal gang. Jones said all of these charges were dropped and when asked why, he directed this newspaper to the Prosecutor General or the Justice Minister.

According to Hanoman, shortly after midday yesterday Khan made contact with his relatives in Miami after being afforded a telephone call. He told his relatives that he was on his way to New York. Hanoman said Khan departed Suriname on a Suriname Airways flight to Trinidad and Tobago. He was then placed into a private jet which flew to Miami where it made another stop.

"Cowboy" behaviour

Meanwhile, in a strongly worded statement, Hanoman said that the decision of the Surinamese authorities to send Khan by airplane to Trinidad and Tobago was obviously not done to facilitate his deportation to Guyana. According to the lawyer he was advised that around 11 pm on Wednesday, American operatives were allowed into the Santo Boma Prison, where Khan was being held in Suriname. He was then injected with a substance that rendered him unconscious after which he was lifted out of his cell with a hood over his head and flown to Trinidad and Tobago where a private jet awaited him. In addition, Hanoman said his client was shackled with chains and then flown to Miami.

"It is abundantly clear that Surinamese officials aided and abetted this extraordinary rendition of a citizen of a sister Caricom state. It is to be hoped that Caricom, the Guyana government, the international community and other organizations condemn in the strongest possible terms this 'Cowboy" behaviour displayed by both the Suriname and American governments and even possibly the Trinidad and Tobago government," the lawyer remarked. He said by their actions these governments have indicated that they have no respect for the rule of law, for due process, for human rights or sovereignty. Hanoman said Khan had at least three pending matters that he has instituted in the courts in Suriname, including an action to prevent his extradition to the USA, which was scheduled to be heard today. The lawyer said by this latest move, Khan has been effectively prevented from pursuing his legal remedies. "It reflects poorly," the lawyer remarked "on the executive in Suriname and shows the extent that they are prepared to go to usurp judicial and democratic processes."

Further, Hanoman said he was made to understand that in the first place there was no evidence for which Khan could have been charged in Suriname, which just goes to show that Guyanese in Suriname who have not committed any offence may be subjected to all kinds of treatment. The lawyer said it was shocking that Jones has stated that the other three Guyanese will be kept in custody for investigations to continue into the same allegations Khan was subjected to. "If the alleged ringleader was not charged surely it is malicious to keep the other three on the same facts," Hanoman remarked.

Dismiss indictment

Meanwhile, an attorney for Khan yesterday filed a motion in the United States District court requesting the dismissal of a Grand Jury indictment which alleges that the businessman conspired to import cocaine into that country.

Khan was captured along with three of his cohorts two weeks ago in Suriname during a huge drug bust, which netted some 213 kilos of cocaine.

The seven-page motion filed by US attorney-at-law, John E Bergendahl, outlined among other things Khan's previous clashes with the US law as well as his local crime fighting claims.

According to the motion, on or about April 13, 2006 a Federal Grand Jury sitting in the Eastern District of New York, returned a one-count indictment purporting to charge Khan with conspiracy to import five or more kilos of cocaine into the United States between January 2001 and March 2006 in violation of Title 21 United States Code 963 960 and 906.

According to the motion, on or about May 3, 2006 the US government filed an application requesting that that the indictment be unsealed and an order granting the government's application was also entered the same day. The lawyer argues that the US government requested that the indictment be unsealed despite the fact that Khan was not in custody, noting that on the date the indictment was unsealed Khan was residing in his native country Guyana. According to the attorney despite the fact that the indictment has now been unsealed, no request for Khan's extradition has ever been sent to the government of Guyana. He added in his motion that on June 15 Khan was taken into custody by law enforcement officials in Suriname and was held under deplorable conditions violative of his legal and human rights. The attorney said that on June 21, the US government sent a letter through official diplomatic channels to the government of Suriname indicating its intention to seek the extradition and return of Khan to the US to face trial on the indictment.

Possession of firearm

Giving a background of Khan's past brushes with US law, the lawyer said in his motion that during the late 1980's and early 1990's the businessman was living in the USA and attended the Norwich University in Vermont. On or about November 29, 1993 Khan was arrested on a federal criminal complaint and on December 16 of the same year he was charged in a one-count indictment with possession of firearms by a convicted felon in violation of Title 18 United States Code 922. Khan was released on US$1000 cash bond following his initial appearance held on November 30, 1993.

The lawyer noted that following Khan's release on bond he departed to Guyana and never returned to the USA. On March 30, 1994, the lawyer said the US District Court for the district of Vermont issued an arrest warrant for Khan and on October 28, 1994 Khan's bond was ordered forfeited.

Fighting crime

The lawyer said that following Khan's return to Guyana in 1993 or early 1994 he became an enterprising, innovative entrepreneur. He founded and operated a number of successful businesses including, but not limited to, a housing development and Construction Company, a carpet cleaning service, a nightclub and a timber mill.

Over the next decade, the lawyer said Khan prospered and became a well known publicly recognized figure in Georgetown. "On February 23,2002 a number of violent and dangerous convicts escaped from the Camp Street prison in Georgetown. These individuals went on a crime spree of unrivalled proportions and neither government nor the Guyana Police Force was adequately equipped to deal with the crisis," the motion declared. The lawyer noted that during the same period Steve Lesniak, a member of the US diplomatic corps was kidnapped and held hostage and Khan responded to the crisis and the kidnapping by providing financial and logistical support to the government.

"The support Mr Khan provided was invaluable in assisting the authorities in suppressing the crime wave and securing the safe return of Mr Lesniak," the motion noted.

It added that earlier this year Khan consulted with representatives of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on a regular basis in an effort to assist them in investigating the disappearance of a number of AK-47 rifles from a military facility. Khan also in March, the motion said met with American officials at a meeting at Ocean View International Hotel to address ongoing crime and security concerns in Guyana. The US Embassy in Georgetown had admitted that a meeting was indeed held between Khan and officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of the ongoing investigation into Khan's alleged ties with the criminal underworld.

Khan released tapes

The motion further stated that in order to expose, identify and curb corruption and incompetence within the GPF, Khan released a number of tape recorded conversations between various PNCR and Police Commis-sioner, Winston Felix.

The motion said that in retaliation on March 19, 2006 members of the joint services raided a number of businesses owned or operated by Khan and subsequently Felix issued wanted bulletins for Khan and some of his associates even though they were not charged with any crimes. This move by the police had led to Khan's attorneys lodging an application in the High Court of Guyana seeking an order nisi quashing the bulletins.

Additionally, the motion noted that the indictment of Khan generated a substantial amount of publicity in Guyana and the businessman responded to the indictment by making a number of well publicized statements saying that he was not guilty of the charges and suggesting that the charges were not only unfounded, but were merely being used as a vehicle to attempt to destroy and discredit an individual who was strong enough to help prevent the overthrow of the Guyana government, which now has leftist leanings and would not serve the United States' best interest in South America.

The motion went on to state that following Khan's detention in Suriname he was beaten and physically abused by law enforcement officers. He said too that he was denied medical attention and visits by his attorneys.

Calling for the indictment to be dismissed Bergendahl said that the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that 'No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury." To this end the lawyer said the indictment should be dismissed as it is void of any of the constitutional guarantees afforded Khan by the United States Constitution and decision authority from the United States Supreme Court. He argued that the indictment did not say specifically what Khan was charged for.

Stabroek News

Roger Khan in jail until July 30

2006-06-28T13:03:00.000-04:00

Controversial Guyanese businessman Roger Khan, holed up under tight security in a maximum security prison in Suriname after being nabbed there nearly two weeks ago in a sting operation, is to be held there until July 30.

Khan, 35, who the U.S. has branded as a drug trafficker, yesterday made another appearance before an examining magistrate who granted the authorities request to continue detaining him until that time, to allow for a continuation of the investigations surrounding his arrest, according to attorney-at-law Glen Hanoman.

And according to Hanoman, the fact that after 14 days the Suriname authorities have been unable to institute charges means there is no real hard evidence against his client.

Hanoman who refuted previous reports in the media here claiming that Khan had been charged, has confirmed that an earlier order which prevented two Surinamese lawyers, Irwinis Khanai and G. R. Shewcharran, contracted to represent Khan in that country, from seeing him, was lifted Friday last.

As a result, Khan was seen by Khanai that day, and Shewcharran visited him yesterday.

Meanwhile, hearing of a motion filed by the lawyers seeking to usurp any extradition request by the U.S. authorities on the grounds that the indictment proffered has no legal basis, will be heard on Friday, Hanoman added.

As for the move by the U.S. to have the Surinamese extradite Khan to that country on the basis of an indictment which accuses him of conspiring to ship cocaine into the U.S. this year, Hanoman is adamant that no treaty exists between Suriname and the U.S. to extradite him on such an indictment.

Noting that the two countries are seeking to use an 1887 treaty inherited from the Netherlands, Hanoman further pointed out that Article I of the treaty categorically states that the accused to whom the indictment relates must be physically present in the United States at the time the offence was committed.

Additionally, he said, narcotics was not listed under the 1887 treaty and although Suriname ratified the 1988 Vienna Convention on narcotics, it still cannot stand as a basis.

“A convention cannot stand as a basis for an extradition, it has to be done by a bilateral arrangement,” Hanoman posited.

He told the Chronicle too, that in order for Suriname to explore the possibility of extraditing Khan to the U.S., the embassy there must lodge a copy of the indictment, the treaty which exists between the two countries, and a summary of the evidence against Khan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Suriname, but as far as he is aware, this has not been done.

Khan was nabbed along with 11 other suspects, including three other Guyanese, Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues and Lloyd Roberts, in what police there said was the biggest cocaine haul in that country this year.

The operation netted 213 kilograms of cocaine, police said.

Asked about the status of the other three Guyanese, Hanoman said matters relating to them will be raised in court on Friday as well.

Public Diplomacy Officer in the U.S. embassy in Suriname, Thomas Walsh, in a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, had said subsequent to the arrest of Khan who was charged with cocaine trafficking by a New York court earlier this year, and an arrest warrant issued for him, the U.S. filed two requests - a provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition and for his physical extradition.

He said so far the request for provisional arrest has been satisfied, in that the U.S. is aware that Khan is being kept in custody, and the U.S. now awaits the extradition process to continue.

Asked how soon the U.S. expects a response to the second request, Walsh said while he could not say, the U.S. is aware that Suriname will have to conduct its own internal judicial process.

“They (Suriname) know of the U.S. interest, and we have to await an answer,” Walsh added.

During Khan’s first arraignment, the office of the examining magistrate was guarded by members of the Suriname Police SWAT team, armed with high-powered weapons.

The Guyana Government last week told Suriname that it would not “at this time” seek to have Khan and the three other Guyanese held in Suriname extradited to this country to face prosecution here.

The decision was communicated by Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira to her Suriname counterpart, Justice Minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi.

Before his weekly Cabinet meeting Wednesday last, Santokhi told Suriname journalists of the discussion he had with Ms. Teixeira and the decision taken by the Guyana Government which gives Suriname more leeway to consider the formal U.S. request for Khan to be extradited to face drugs charges there.

Teixeira told Santokhi that although Guyanese police are investigating alleged crimes Khan might have committed, it is up to Suriname to prosecute him and his cohorts for offences they might have committed in the Dutch-speaking country.

Khan was believed to have been hiding out in Suriname after the Police here put him on a wanted list in connection with the theft of 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) headquarters in Georgetown.

The U.S. Government earlier this year named Khan among drug traffickers it claimed were gaining a significant foothold in Guyana’s timber industry.

“In 2005, the Guyana Forestry Commission granted a State Forest Exploratory Permit for a large tract of land in Guyana’s interior to Aurelius Inc., a company controlled by known drug trafficker Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan,” the U.S. 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy report stated.

“Such concessions in the remote interior may allow drug traffickers to establish autonomous outposts beyond the reach of Guyanese law enforcement,” the report added.

Local Police on March 29 put out a wanted bulletin for Khan, shortly after his business places in and around Georgetown were raided in joint operations by the Police Force and the GDF.

Police in a press release said Khan, of 133 Rotunda Place, D’Aguiar’s Park, Houston, was wanted in connection with investigations into the discovery of firearms, ammunition, drugs and other illegal items found during the Joint Services operation.

During their operations, GDF troops and police ranks targeted all of Khan’s known businesses in Georgetown – Dreamworks Housing Development in Garnette Street; the Reef Club at 60, Station Street, Kitty, and the Master’s Touch Carpet Cleaners at 2nd Street, Bel Air Village.

They also searched his D’Aguiar’s Park home and deployed a team to Kaow Island in the Essequibo River, where he also owns a sawmilling operation.

Khan in statements issued in the press claimed that the U.S. indictment and anything flowing from it had been motivated by political considerations.

He said he is perceived by persons in the U.S., the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force and the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform as someone “who has the will and a capacity to fight crime and to protect the people of Guyana.”

http://www.guyanachronicle.com/topstory.html#Anchor--------48051

Vermont Fugitive Arrested in South America

2006-06-20T13:56:00.000-04:00

Burlington, Vermont - June 19, 2006

One of Vermont's most-wanted federal fugitives has been arrested as an alleged drug kingpin in South America.

In 1993, Shaheed "Roger" Khan was 22 when he was charged with dealing guns and drugs while a student at Norwich University. He faced federal charges because he had two prior felony drug convictions in his home state of Maryland. He was released on pre-trial bail. But he fled to his birth country of Guyana in South America and became Vermont's most wanted federal fugitive.

Federal authorities say he became the kingpin of a lucrative ring smuggling guns and drugs in Guyana. Khan disappeared a month ago after he and eight others were arrested and released after they allegedly stole 33 AK-47 assault rifles from a police armory in Guyana. Khan remained missing until late last week, when he and four ex-police officers from Guyana were arrested in neighboring Surinam, allegedly in possession of 200 lbs. of cocaine.

U.S. authorities say they had known for some time that Khan was in Guyana, but he was not arrested and returned because Guyana does not honor U.S. extradition requests. It's unclear what will happen now that he has been arrested in Surinam.

Brian Joyce - Channel 3 News
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5051245

http://www.mittelholzer.org/

The Mittelholzer Foundation

2006-06-19T03:39:00.000-04:00

Please check out my latest site and current project "The Mittelholzer Foundation" which I hope will be an online community that both brings people together in productive dialogue and works towards preserving our culture. No site or forum is anything without the support of its visitors and as such, I strongly encourage all of you to come and participate in our forum...

The Following are links to the new site:

The Mittelholzer Foundation main page - http://mittelholzer.org/forum/cmps_index.php

The Mittelholzer Foundation Forum - http://mittelholzer.org/forum/index.php

All are welcome and encouraged to participate !!

Roger Khan linked to Suriname assassination plots

2006-06-19T03:38:00.000-04:00

A SURINAME government minister yesterday linked fugitive Guyanese businessman Shaheed `Roger’ Khan to plots to assassinate key government and judicial officials in the neighbouring country.

Suriname Minister of Justice, Mr. Chandrikapersad Santokhi, told ‘de Ware Tijd’ newspaper the plots were uncovered in the probe by Suriname police into Khan’s prior activities.

He said the planned executions were part of Khan’s business in that country.

The dramatic arrest of Khan, 35, in a sting operation in Suriname Thursday, ended a two-year close watch on a man deemed a threat to the national security of the neighbouring countries, Santokhi said Saturday.

Sources also told `de Ware Tijd’ that among the names on the uncovered `hit list’ was that of Santokhi.

The newspaper said it has also learnt that another of the plots was against a police unit that was involved in the search for ammunition and grenades stolen from a Suriname army base.

The unit had been conducting searches for the missing ammunition and grenades in the Nickerie area, in the border region with Guyana.

According to the newspaper, Suriname Prosecutor-General Subhas Punwasi had informed a news conference after it was discovered that the ammo and grenades had disappeared, that Police teams were assisting in the search to recover them.

Santokhi also said that the United States, which has named him as a drug lord they want, is seeking his extradition to the U.S. and a formal request is to be put to the Suriname authorities this week.

He said the U.S. Embassy in Suriname has been in touch with the authorities in that country on flying Khan to the U.S. which claims he conspired to import drugs there between January 2001 and March 2006.

Santokhi told the newspaper Saturday that Khan has been placed under “maximum security” because officials there fear his network may try to break him out of custody.

According to the minister, Khan had wide criminal influence from his drug operations and was posing a national security threat not only to Guyana but to Suriname.

He said the “criminal activities” of the detained man extended beyond the two neighbouring countries and the Caribbean and international agencies, including those in the U.S., had been looking for him.

Suriname authorities, the minister said, had been following Khan’s moves for two years after they received information about his operations here and in the former Dutch colony.

Santokhi told ‘de Ware Tijd’, anti-drugs and other agencies in Suriname did not have enough to move against Khan until Thursday when they swooped and netted him in the biggest cocaine bust this year in that country.

Khan and three other Guyanese were among 12 people arrested in the operation which netted 213 kilos of cocaine.

The arrests by a joint Police SWAT-team and units of the Narcotics Brigade took place at two locations just outside downtown Paramaribo.

Suriname Prosecutor-General Subhas Punwasi confirmed Friday that Khan was among those arrested.

“From at least one of the other three Guyanese suspects I can confirm that he is an ex-policeman. The two others we believe are either in active police service or in the Guyanese intelligence agencies”, Punwasi told ‘de Ware Tijd’.

According to sources, Paul Rodrigues and Sean Belfield, two ex-Guyanese cops, are among the detainees. The identity of the fourth Guyanese detained is still under investigation since he didn’t have identification papers and allegedly entered Suriname illegally.

Punwasi also confirmed that the swoop Thursday was against a Guyana-Suriname gang which was trafficking cocaine from Guyana to Suriname.

“This is a big case and we are still following some leads. We want to catch all the persons who are involved in this gang”, said Commissioner Mathoera-Hussainali, Head of the Judicial Department of the Suriname Police Force.

The suspects did not resist arrest and more arrests were not ruled out, she said.

Khan was not in hiding in Suriname nor was he there on business, legal or illegal, his attorney, Mr. Vic Puran said Saturday night.

Puran told the Guyana Chronicle the purpose of Khan’s visit to the neighbouring country would be disclosed at a later time, because “if it is now stated it could be misconstrued in view of his current difficulties in Suriname.”

He said Khan’s other attorney, Mr. Glen Hanoman, who travelled to Suriname after his client was arrested Thursday, in the biggest cocaine bust in that country, retained a Surinamese lawyer who had a “supervised conversation” with Khan yesterday.

According to Puran, Khan said he has severely beaten by a dumb bell bar wrapped in wadding and has serious bruises on his ribs and other parts of his body.

Hanoman was denied access to Khan who has not seen a doctor, Puran said.

He added that the other three Guyanese held in the cocaine bust have also been beaten by Surinamese authorities and the four are being kept in separate places.

Puran said Khan told the Surinamese lawyer that he was being beaten in custody because the authorities want to extract a confession to link him to the 213 kilos of cocaine found in the operation.

The U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, unsealed an indictment on May 3 last, which charges that Khan conspired to import cocaine into the U.S. between January 2001 and March 2006.

Police made the arrests and the drug find Thursday at two different locations in the capital Paramaribo.

At the first house in a residential area a few minutes drive from downtown Paramaribo, 109 kilos of cocaine were seized by the police squads. Another 104 kilos of cocaine and an automatic gun were found when the police raided a house in Franchepane Straat, Zorg-en-Hoop, also in Paramaribo.

Initially, six Surinamese nationals and one Guyanese were arrested and the other five were held as the investigation progressed.

Police in Guyana issued wanted bulletins for Khan and Rodrigues and were looking for Khan in connection with the theft of 30 AK-47 rifles from the Guyana Defence Force Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown earlier this year.

Since then Khan and several other persons connected to him were on the run and rumours were that they went into hiding in Suriname.

The U.S. Government earlier this year named Khan among drug traffickers it claimed were gaining a significant foothold in Guyana’s timber industry.

“Such concessions in the remote interior may allow drug traffickers to establish autonomous outposts beyond the reach of Guyanese law enforcement,” the report added.

The U.S. had indicated it was moving to request the extradition of Khan to face charges that he conspired to ship cocaine into the U.S. this year.

“We expect that that will be submitted in due course,” U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Roland Bullen said on May 25.

Attorney for Khan, Mr. Vic Puran had said his client was prepared to face the local courts and to “deal” with an extradition request from the U.S.

Revelations by Khan caused the U.S. to move away from protocol and to divulge interactions its agents had with the businessman.

An official at the U.S. embassy here said the embassy chose to speak of meetings Khan held with agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) only “because Khan is of active law enforcement interest.”

Local Police on March 29 put out a wanted bulletin for Khan, shortly after his business places, in and around Georgetown, were raided in joint operations by the Police Force and the GDF.

Police in a press release said Khan, of 133 Rotunda Place, D’Aguiar’s Park, Houston, is wanted in connection with investigations into the discovery of firearms, ammunition, drugs and other illegal items found during the Joint Services operation.

They also searched his D’Aguiar’s Park home and deployed a team to Kaow Island in the Essequibo River, where he also owns a sawmilling operation.

Khan in statements issued in the press claimed that the grand jury indictment and anything flowing from it had been motivated by political considerations.

At the Guyana 40th Independence anniversary event in Toronto last month, Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixiera told a gathering, “The Americans have called for the extradition of one of the biggest drug lords in our country and as a government we will do everything possible to make sure that narcotics and weapons are removed from infiltrating our society, our communities, our young people.”

She added that the country is also faced by local crime and security problems and they are being tackled by a number of initiatives taken by the government.

Guyana Chronicle

Suriname to try Khan & Co.

2006-06-17T11:42:00.000-04:00

Suriname to try Khan & Co. if offences committed -Prosecutor General

Saturday, June 17th 2006

In the wake of the largest drug bust there this year, Suriname yesterday declared it would try fugitive businessman Roger Khan and others if it was found that they had broken laws.

Sources in Georgetown yesterday said that the United States is also keen to prosecute Khan following his indictment in New York this year on a charge of conspiring to import drugs.

In Thursday's operation in Paramaribo, Khan and three other Guyanese: Paul Rodrigues, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Roberts, and eight Surinamese were held. The police also confiscated 213 kilos of cocaine.

In an interview with the Surinamese newspaper de Ware Tijd (DWT) yesterday, Suriname's Prosecutor-General Subhas Punwasi said "From at least one of the other three Guyanese suspects I can confirm that he is an ex-policeman. The two others we believe are either in active police service or in the Guyanese intelligence agencies". Sources in Georgetown said this is because when the Guyanese men were arrested in Paramaribo, two of them were passed off as if they were still active in Guyana's security and intelligence services.

According to DWT, the Prosecutor-General categorically ruled out an extradition of the Guyanese suspects to either Guyana or the United States if the men had committed offences on Surinamese soil. Wanted bulletins had been issued by the Guyanese police for Khan and Rodrigues.

"If Mr Khan and the other Guyanese detainees have violated Surinamese laws they will be prosecuted by a Surinamese court", said the prosecutor.

DWT said that at this stage it is also unclear if the US will seek extradition from Suriname. Tom Walsh, Charge d'Affaires at the US embassy speaking through Public Relations officer Cliff Djamin said, that formally the embassy wasn't notified yet of Khan's arrest. "So we can't comment whether the United States will seek an extradition or not", said Djamin.

DWT, as reported in yesterday's Stabroek News said the police made the arrest and the drug find at two different locations in the capital Paramaribo. At the first house in a residential area a few minutes drive from downtown, 109 kilos of cocaine were seized by the police. At the second spot that was raided police confiscated 104 kilos cocaine and an automatic weapon. Initially six Surinamese and one Guyanese were apprehended. As the investigation progressed the other five suspects were apprehended. If found guilty the suspects face a jail term of up to 18 years. "This is a major case and we will go for the highest sentence", Punwasi told DWT.

Commissioner Mathoera-Hussainali, Head of the Judicial Department of the Suriname Police Force told DWT that the suspects didn't resist arrest. More arrests were not ruled out, she said. "This is a big case and we are still following some leads. We want to catch all the persons who are involved in this gang", she told DWT. Prosecutor-General Punwasi said a Guyana-Suriname gang was suspected of trafficking cocaine from Guyana to Suriname and those apprehended were believed to be a part of this. He further told DWT that the authorities were following the moves of this organisation for some time "and when the time was right we have hit them". A small quantity of crack-cocaine was also found, Commissioner Mathoera-Hussainali told DWT.

Commissioner Mathoera-Hussainali and the Prosecutor General told DWT that the police were not looking for Khan in particular, but just acted on information the police force had received about drug related activities.

"When we made the bust at the first place, information has led us to the second address. It was at this place that we have arrested Mr Khan and the other Guyanese", said the Prosecutor-General.

Jurisdiction

Meanwhile a US embassy official here who asked not to be named told Stabroek News yesterday that because Khan was arrested in another jurisdiction, the US Embassy in Georgetown would not have much to say on the matter. He however indicated that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington has been in contact with its officers in Suriname on the matter.

The official said the US would no doubt allow the Surinamese authorities to carry out their investigations before any move is made to have Khan extradited to the US.

It is not clear whether local authorities have any keen interest in Khan returning here and up to yesterday officials would only say that they are allowing their Dutch counterparts to carry out their investigations.

Local police had published wanted bulletins for Khan, Rodrigues and two others in March following the discovery of illegal items on their properties during a series of joint services raids. The men had challenged the wanted bulletins through their lawyers. The matter is before the courts.

Noting that the arrest of Khan, Rodrigues and the others was a well-coordinated operation, the embassy official indicated that the US DEA in Suriname might have had a hand in advising the Surinamese authorities on how to move. The official said too that the capture of Khan is as a result of good intelligence gathering and co-ordination, something, which he said was lacking in Guyana.

Meanwhile, a police source in Paramaribo confirmed to Stabroek News that among the persons arrested in the raids was a Surinamese who heads a criminal organisation there. Asked what would be the next step for the men in custody, the source said that authorities will investigate to ascertain whether all four Guyanese are connected to the drugs and weapon find. He said if they are, then they would be prosecuted by Suriname authorities but if not they will be deported to Guyana. The source added that Khan is on Interpol's wanted list.

Contacted for a comment, one of Khan's lawyers, Vic Puran said that he had not been brought up to date with the matter. According to the attorney, his colleague, Glenn Hanoman had travelled to Suriname early yesterday morning, but he had not made contact with him as yet.

Resources

Khan, 35, fled from the US in the late 90's after he was fingered in a gun case. Since 2002 when he was held near a large cache of weapons at Good Hope, Khan has gained notoriety. He recently admitted that he used his own resources to fight crime in 2002-3 and worked closely with the crime fighting section of the police force. Additionally, Khan said that he had employed a network of ex-convicts and members of the disbanded Police Target Special Squad to work as informants and bodyguards for him. Since he was indicted by a US Grand Jury for conspiring to import cocaine into the USA, Khan has been releasing statements apparently to muster public support and to stave off any attempt to hand him over to the US authorities. He has so far criticized the US government, the main opposition, PNCR and the police force and the army. He is also thought to be behind the releasing of taped conversations allegedly between Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix and other persons.

Belfield was a police constable back in 2002 when he Khan and Haroon Yahya were found with the cache of weapons at Good Hope. All three were acquitted in the magistrate's court. Soon after, Belfield was dismissed from the police force, but from all appearances he maintained close ties with key members of the now disbanded Target Special Squad of which he was a key member. Back in February this year he had reported that his five-year-old daughter Tiffany Belfield was kidnapped from the Kingston Nursery School. Commis-sioner of Police, Felix later told reporters that the child's abduction was staged. Since then much has not been said about Belfield but many knew that he was connected with Khan.

Rodrigues, a well known detective during his days in the police force has been affiliated with Khan for a number of years. He was absent from duties for a number of months when police swooped on a house in Bel Air and arrested him and other men with a cache of arms and ammunition. That matter was also taken to the court but the men were all set free. On March 29, the police issued an arrest warrant for him, Khan, Ricardo Rodrigues and Gerald Perreira after raids on their properties unearthed a number of illegal items.

Stabroek News

An alarming number of rape cases in Guyana

2006-06-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

Stabroek News

Dear Editor

In the mist of all the news about the burgeoning criminal industry, the most heinous crime of rape is being committed too often on women in Guyana and the perpetrators are going unpunished. Apart from a few letters and articles, the voluminous cases of rape have virtually gone unnoticed. I must let it be known that I write this letter with outrage and anger and all of Guyana should be outraged too. The time has come when the judicial system, the government, the media, the Guyana police force and opposition parties take responsibility and make punishing these monsters who perpetrate these acts of barbarism upon women and children top priority. It is an uncivilized society that allows these acts to go on unnoticed and unpunished for this long.

While an indicted and fugitive drug lord and his illegally obtained tapes get weeks of media attention, the rape and murder of 16 year old Roshni Partabsingh received one article mention in the various media centers. Is it because this promising 16 year old girl and her suffering family are not as rich as this fugitive, that her brutal rape and murder by the hands of those monsters have not received the same media attention? Is it possible if weeks of media attention were given to her rape and murder, our politicians and citizens would take notice and act?

For the year an estimated 100 cases of rape have been committed on young women in Guyana, according to probation and family welfare officer, Anne Green. The Guyana human rights commission reported a study which shows 9 convictions out of 647 cases in the judicial system for the past five years. Our magistrates, judges and the government should bow their heads in shame. What type of society allows such statistics to prevail? Why this issue has not garnered the attention of the many commentators who fill the pages of the print media and television anchor rooms with divisive issues? While they defend African resistance fighters and drug lords, poor young women are being raped. Why is it that communities and organizations are not taking to the streets demanding justice for these women?

Reported cases of rape increased from 117 in 2000 to 154 in 2004 according to the GHRA study. There have already been in excess of a hundred cases of reported rape for the first haft of this year, and these numbers do not account for the unreported cases which usually are twice the amount in societies where victims feel they have no protection in the administration of justice. In addition, statutory rape, incest and sodomy are on the increase. Young women are molested with impunity in the mini buses, in the bars and wherever and whenever these malicious men feel necessary.

If perpetrators of rape in Guyana are not investigated and brought to justice, if there is no recourse for women then most likely they will not be encouraged to report cases of rape. Women want to know there is legal protection for them. They want to be assured that when they report cases of rape their identities will not be revealed by the media or the police. They do not want their cases to be tried in an open court where their identity is revealed to all. Guyana is a small society and the social stigma attached to rape victims can be suspicious, relentless and unforgiving at times, and this is especially traumatic to young women who form the majority of victims. It is important that rape victims and their families receive the necessary counseling. The welfare department and social services need to be adequately funded and equipped with trained rape specialists and psychologist made available to rape victims. Police officers need to be trained not only in gathering evidence in rape cases but more importantly in sensitivity toward victims. There is need for more crisis centers and women support groups, and financial support made available for them to facilitate their work. The crime of rape can be a life long scar for victims, especial if there is no post counseling.

The Guyana human rights association recommended last year that a special court be set up to deal with rape cases. To date this recommendation has gone unheeded. Is our society so callous and chauvinistic that it does not care about women? There have recently been announcements to set up a business court, when there is hardly any business going on in Guyana but with sexual violence against women escalating, no consideration is given to their plight. The city of New Delhi, India, which has a population of 15 million finds the figure of 300 reported cases of rape alarming in 2003 and found it necessary to setup special courts with women judges and women prosecutors to deal with rape and other sexually related offenses. The thinking is that victims feel more comfortable before women judges. It is indeed true that men can be insensitive towards alleged rape victims, especially in a society like Guyana, with the social stigma attached to rape victims. Guyana with a population of 750,000 and 100 reported cases of rape for the first half of the year operates as business as usual.

There is urgent need for legal reform to deal with rape cases and the perpetrators. Too often the onus is put on women to demonstrate virtue as a requisite to them proving allegations of rape. The focus must be put on the rapist and the culture that produces them. No woman can invite rape upon herself no matter how short the skirt she may wear, and her sexual history.

I urge all Guyanese to take action. The fact that it has not happened to your daughters should not prevent you from being outraged. Women, it is your responsibility to organize yourselves for action. Men these victims can be your sisters, mothers and daughters. I urge overseas based Guyanese support groups to put this issue on their agendas for discussion and action. Women groups in Guyana need the financial support to combat this menace. The time has come for us to take action and protect women in our society.

Yours faithfully

Dennis Wiggins

GECOM can deliver elections

2006-06-16T12:25:00.000-04:00

-- outgoing British High Commissioner

BRITISH High Commissioner Mr. Stephen Hiscock believes the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is capable of and can deliver elections in Guyana, as commissions have successfully done in the past.

“I firmly believe that GECOM can deliver these elections. They have the capability and have the support of a number of international advisers with wide experience of elections in other countries,” Hiscock stressed.

“GECOM have done this before, and despite the logistical nightmare of holding elections in some of the most inaccessible and far-flung corners of the country, they have run them (elections) successfully,” the outgoing British envoy noted Wednesday night.

He yesterday repeated that he is satisfied that GECOM preparations for the upcoming general elections are on course.

During a farewell call on Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, the diplomat also expressed optimism that the voting will go ahead as planned.

Hiscock told the Guyana Chronicle that information received from the Joint International Technical Assessors (JITA) indicates that GECOM is moving ahead according to its schedule.

Addressing a gala reception in Georgetown on Wednesday night to celebrate the official birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, he hoped for an elections campaign where issues of real importance can be discussed.

“I hope that the country can get down to an election campaign where issues of real importance can be discussed, leading to an election day which, in the presence of international and local independent observers, will be regarded as free and fair by all,” he said.

Hiscock also assured that the British government remains fully committed to assisting GECOM in order to help keep the election process firmly on track and to ensure that it is credible to the electorate.

According to him, it is the “credibility of the electoral process that is key” to the successful holding of free, fair and transparent elections.

The British High Commissioner, who retires from the diplomatic service this year after having completed more than 40 years of service and whose tenure as High Commissioner to Guyana ended yesterday, said he is disappointed that he will not be here for the elections.

“The elections will soon be upon us (and) I am disappointed that I will not be here for them but the date of my birthday and retirement meant that that was not to be. Wherever I am, however, I will be following events very closely,” he told President Bharrat Jagdeo and others at the Queen’s birthday party.

He noted that 2006 is indeed a special year for Her Majesty, who turned 80 on April 21 and has now reigned for more than half a century. She is the second longest serving head of state in the world today and is one of the most travelled heads of state in history.

Hiscock also indicated that 2006 is somewhat of a special year for him as he retires from the diplomatic service. He recalled having joined the Foreign Office in 1965 at the time when the Constitutional Conference was being held in London to lay the groundwork for the independence of Guyana.

Since then he has served in Malaysia, Zambia, Pakistan, Korea, and Australia. 𠇋ut it is Guyana that has a special place in my heart,” the British High Commissioner said

“Most of you will know that this is the second time that Dee (wife) and I have served here. We have grown to love the people of this country and very much like Her Majesty and Prince Philip, we have been touched by the kindness and warmth of welcome of the Guyanese people.”

“It is our greatest wish that this country and its people should have the peace and prosperity they so richly deserve,” he told the gathering.

Hiscock said the nine years that he served here have been “full of wonderful and unforgettable memories”. 𠇏rom the very first time that I stood spell-bound watching the Potaro River descend from the Pakaraima mountains in a single fall of over 700 feet at Kaieteur Falls, to the breathtaking beauty as the forest gives way to savannah in the Rupununi. From the expectation and excitement at the swearing in of Dr. Cheddi Jagan in 1992 to the misery and discomfort brought to so many people by the flooding in 2005. All these moments will live in my memory alongside those from the 40 years I have been in the Diplomatic Service.”

Noting that Guyana too is celebrating 40 years since it achieved independence from the United Kingdom, Hiscock told the gathering many have coined the phrase “life begins at 40”, but there is a thoughtful quote from Benjamin Franklin which says that “At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgement”.

“I call on all Guyanese to use that judgement based on forty years of experience in the weeks and months to come – not to judge on the basis of race, but on the basis of what an individual can do for the benefit of the people of Guyana as a whole, and on the basis of policies that can really make a difference to the future development of this wonderful country,” he said.

The British envoy, however, indicated that he is leaving Guyana with a sense of a job not quite finished.

“As I said earlier I would have preferred to remain here at least until the elections had been held and maybe longer to see, amongst other things, the implementation of the constitutional reforms which will be so necessary to build on the democratic foundations which have been established in this country.”

“But leave I must and I commend this beautiful country of Guyana and its people to my successor Fraser Wheeler who I know will enjoy his time here enormously,” he added.

Guyana Chronicle

Roger Khan, others held in Suriname after drug bust

2006-06-16T12:22:00.000-04:00

Friday, June 16th 2006

Roger Khan

In a dramatic turn of events, Suriname police yesterday afternoon arrested fugitive businessman, Shaheed 'Roger' Khan and three ex-policemen, one of whom is wanted by local authorities, as part of a huge drug bust that netted more than 200 kilos of cocaine.

Khan's lawyer, Glenn Hanoman confirmed to Stabroek News last night that the businessman along with, ex-policemen, Paul Rodrigues and Sean Belfield had been held. Stabroek News understands, too, that another man who identified himself as Lloyd was also arrested in the house raid.

According to reports, Suriname police held Khan, Rodrigues, Belfield and another Guyanese who is said to be an ex-policeman in a house with a semi-automatic weapon. Hanoman said in addition to that report he also heard too that the men were held in a drug bust but he could not confirm this himself. Hanoman was not prepared to make any other statement on the arrest of the men.

Local police had issued wanted bulletins for Khan, Rodrigues, Ricardo Rodrigues and Gerald Perreira after raids on their properties had unearthed illegal items.

The men through their lawyers had challenged the bulletins and this is now a subject of court proceedings. A US Grand Jury sitting in Brooklyn, New York recently indicted Khan on the charge of conspiring to import cocaine into the US.

Ever since the bulletins were issued, Khan and the others went into hiding and there was speculation that he had fled to Suriname or Venezuela. He has also been making numerous statements through his lawyers since then claiming that he helped fight crime during the escapee-led crime wave in 2002-3 and was also capable of preventing a coup against the government. These statements appeared to be intended to whip up public support and to stave off any attempt to hand him over to the US authorities. Many also believe that he is behind the releasing of taped conversations allegedly between Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix and other persons. He has also been taking on the joint services, the main opposition, the PNCR and the US government.

Stabroek News was told that the fourth man who gave his name as Lloyd had no travel documents and also identified himself to Surinamese police as Persaud, a spokesperson for the Suriname Police Corps, John Jones told Stabroek News last night from Paramaribo. Jones said that the bust was made in the afternoon and as a result investigators were unable to find out more about the man. He said that by today the suspects would be fully identified.

The de Ware Tijd (DWT) newspaper of Suriname last night also confirmed to Stabroek News that seven persons, including the Guyanese, were arrested and 213 kilos of cocaine were found after police raided two houses in central Paramaribo. DWT said that the raids were conducted after a long period of surveillance. The houses are located in a residential area. The first raid was carried out at 10:30 am, and 109 kilos of cocaine were recovered. Two hours later, police raided another location not too far away and 104 kilos were recovered.

Khan and several other men connected to him have been on the run since the joint service stepped up searches for the missing AK-47 rifles stolen from the Guyana Defence Force storage bond late in February. It was suspected that some of the men had fled to neighbouring Suriname in an effort to avoid being captured.

The US although issuing an arrest warrant for Khan has not made any request for extradition for him to face trial in the US. It is expected that once he is processed in Suriname and extradited to Guyana the US would want to have him turned over to them.

Rodrigues and Belfield, both ex-policemen, have been controversial figures ever since they were dismissed from the force. Belfield back in 2002 was apprehended along with Khan and Haroon Yahya at Good Hope with a cache of high-powered arms and ammunition. They were taken to court, but the matter was dismissed. Rodrigues was also arrested following an arms find and his case was also dismissed in the magistrate's court.

Up to late last night local law enforcers were still to be officially advised of the arrest of the Guyanese quartet.

Stabroek News

Schenectady Mayor Continues To Court Guyanese

2006-06-15T09:34:00.000-04:00

Mayor Brian U. Stratton

Hardbeatnews, NEW YORK, N.Y., Thurs. June 15, 2006: Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton is continuing a campaign started by his predecessor to get Guyanese migrants to move from New York City to his upstate town.

Stratton came to New York City last weekend to try to sell more Guyanese on the advantages of moving to Schenectady. At the Kaieteur Restaurant in Richmond Hill, Queens, Stratton shared his vision of the future of the area with about 35 Guyanese nationals.

Many have already bought into the push from his predecessor, Mayor Albert Jurczynski and moved to the area, taking advantage of lower property costs.

But Stratton, according to the Times Union, says there are more houses to be bought, as property prices are about 80 percent cheaper than in New York City.

Schenectady recently achieved a financial milestone after returning to an investment-grade credit rating by Moody’s Investors Service. Two years ago, Schenectady held the single lowest credit rating of any municipality in New York.

Stratton became mayor in 2004 and said his administration inherited what could only be described as a fiscal train wreck. He said Schenectady’s cumulative deficit was projected at more than $10 million, its credit rating was at rock bottom, and the state comptroller was predicting the city would run out of money in a matter of months.

But he said in 24 months, the projected $10.2 million deficit has been eliminated and they finished 2005 with a combined funds surplus of nearly $5 million.

And he says now its time to court more property owners and residents to the area, no doubt a political and economic move aimed at increasing the city’s property tax rolls. – Hardbeatnews.com

Guyanese women in power and decision making in the forty years of independence (Part 2)

2006-06-15T09:25:00.000-04:00

History This Week

By Cecilia McAlmont

Thursday, June 15th 2006

In the last article the accession of Guyanese women to decision-making positions in the hierarchy of political parties, as Members of Parliament and ministers of Government since political independence was examined. The figures reveal that the numbers of women in all of the above mentioned areas have fluctuated over the period and are not in keeping with Guyana's international, regional and national commitments.

Among the reasons which have constrained more Guyanese women, like women worldwide, from achieving or even aspiring to positions of power and decision-making are the continued dichotomy of women's role: perceived as being in the private arena and men's in the public, lingering vestiges of patriarchy and cultural and religions attitudes. These are compounded by the negative impacts of globalization and structural adjustments on women, the double burden of work exacerbated by lack of relevant training, lack of funds for financing electoral campaigns and lack of support from other women.

In this article women in the local government system, the trade unions, the public service, and on public boards and commissions will be discussed.

Another source from which Members of Parliament are drawn is the local government system.

In 1980, when the regional system was introduced none of the ten regional chairmen was a woman. In 1985, 2 of eight were women; 1992-93, one of 10 was a woman. Since 1998 none of the 10 chairpersons of the Regional Democratic Council have been women. In respect of the Neighourhood Councils in 1998, 3 of 65 chairpersons were women; 1999-2000, 2 of 65; and 2001/2002 4 of 65 were women.

Before 1980, there were two women mayors of the municipality of Georgetown.

After the introduction of the regional system and the increase in municipalities two of five mayors have been women; 1985, 1 of 5; 1992-1998, 1 of 6. Since then

no woman has held the position of Mayor anywhere. There is a clear gender imbalance at all levels of the decision-making process.

Women also have a minor presence in the higher echelons of the Trade Union movement.

Olga Byrne served as President of the Guyana Teachers Union from 1961 to 1963 and 1968 to 1970 while Jean Persico was President from 1980 to 1986. In 1967, frustrated by the continued discrimination in the movement, a group of women Trade Unionists passed a resolution requesting that women be selected in equal numbers as men to attend Education Seminars and that the Women's Advisory Committee (WAC) be represented on the committee of the Critchlow Labour College.

Indeed the WAC, whose first leader was Ms. Vivienne Surrey was not given status as one of the standing committees of the TUC until 1969.

Three decades after that famous resolution a survey was conducted among 18 Trade Unions which showed that there were more men than women in seven of the Trade Unions, while women outnumbered men in 9 of the unions.

However, only 27% of them had women as presidents and in one union no woman had ever served in its hierarchy even though it was then almost fifty years old.

55% of them had women General-Secretaries, while 22% had a woman treasurer. Today women make up the majority in 16 trade unions.

One of these is the Public Service Union. No doubt because of its strength in the public sector which still dominates over 60% of the economy, its leadership continues to be dominated by men. However, a woman has been acting General Secretary for several years, but the appointment smacks more of tokenism than a serious attempt to include representative numbers of women in the union's hierarchy. It is ironic that the GTU with its 66% female membership briefly had a woman as president who has been replaced by a man. On the other hand, the change in certain sections of the work force, like that of the Post Office, from being predominantly men to predominantly women has led to two successive terms for women, as president of the GPTW union. Perhaps part of the reason for the insignificant penetration by women into the hierarchy of the Trade Union movement is that our potential women Trade Union leaders and women members are sending mixed messages. In the aforementioned survey, many of the factors listed at the beginning of this article were cited including the active hostility of men for women who competed for key positions in Trade Unions, and women themselves being less supportive of their female counterparts who competed for positions of leadership. There was also the inference that Guyanese women seem content to sit back and allow men to provide leadership for the Trade Union Movement. The Guyana Teachers Union is certainly going through a period of extreme militancy with constant confrontations with government. Did the 66% female membership of that union recently revert to a man as president because they believe or have been led to believe that only a man can lead them in this period of crisis?

The trends and figures from our public service predict how slim are the chances of many Guyanese women achieving high decision-making positions in government through a career in the civil service. At independence, the discriminatory practices with women not being permitted to enter the service as clerks but only as secretarial staff and women having to leave the service when they married were abolished.

However, thirty years after independence the trends indicated (1996-2000) that men outnumbered women 3:1 in the highest two salary bands. They also outnumbered women in the lowest salary bands.

But in the two highest bands where managers have decision-making power and are better remunerated the trend continues to move away from women i.e. from 1:3 in favour of men in 1996 to 1:5 in 2000. However, women are gaining parity with men in the lowest band. The most important civil servant in any ministry is the Permanent Secretary followed by the Deputy Permanent Secretary.

In Guyana's 2000 CEDAW report it is stated that in 1998/1999, 3 of 11 Permanent Secretaries were women, in 2000, 4 of 15 were women and 2001 to the present 4 of 18 are women. In the case of Deputy Permanent Secretaries between 1998-2000 2 of 14 were women and from 2001 to the present, 3 of 18 are women. Hence, despite the "feminization" of the civil service women might never reach the goal of 50%, much more dominate its highest levels of decision-making.

The composition of Committees and Commissions demonstrate both the continuing trend of male dominance in decision-making positions and female penetration of the hierarchy. The National Awards Committee was set up about the mid 1970's to make recommendations to government as to potential beneficiaries of national awards.

In 2002, only one of the seven members was a woman. At that time both the lone female member and the male secretary to the committee lamented the fact that so few women nominated women for national awards.

Guyanese women are therefore not even utilizing the limited opportunities to showcase influential Guyanese women and so promote them as potential decision-makers.

The Police and Teaching Service Commissions are constitutional bodies set up for hiring, promoting, disciplining, terminating and retiring persons in those professions.

In the Public and Teaching Service female employees are in the majority. Women also make up a significant minority in the police. Since 1998, there has been no woman on either the police or public service commission. Encouragingly, since 1998 the National Commission on the Rights of the Child has had up to 75% female membership. However, it must be remembered that while the decision makers in respect of activities and initiatives might be women, the all important financial resources needed to implement the initiatives rest firmly in the hands of men in the Ministry of Finance who tend to put on the back burner such initiatives unless they are donor sponsored and driven. The Teaching Service Commission since 1998 has had from 40% to 50% female membership but its president is invariably a man.

It is hoped that despite this the women can bring a proper gender perspective to bear on its deliberations. In keeping with its pledge while in opposition to reform the 1980 People's Constitution that it felt had been imposed by an illegitimate government, a Constitution Reform Com-mission (CRC) of 20 persons was set up by the present administration after its second victory at the polls in 1997. It included different stakeholders in the society, the four major political parties PPP/C (5 persons) the PNC (3 persons), The United Force and Working People's Alliance one person each.

Despite the pledges made by both major parties about ending discrimination against women, neither party saw fit to name a woman as a representative.

The only two women originally in the CRC were the representatives of the indigenous population and women's organizations. The two were later joined by one other from the ruling PPP/C after a male member withdrew. The Oversight Committee tasked with converting the submissions into constitutional amendments had no woman.

The conclusion to be drawn is that clearly there seems to be a lack of will on the part of the male-dominated decision-making hierarchy to implement changes which would increase women's numbers in the halls of power, and decision-making which may seriously threaten the bastions of male dominance.

Stabroek News

Tapes row boils over

2006-06-15T09:24:00.000-04:00

Felix court move reckless - Teixeira

Thursday, June 15th 2006

Gail Teixeira

Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira last night condemned Top Cop Winston Felix's move to the courts to block questions by Prime Minister Sam Hinds on controversial tape recordings as "reckless" and undermining his professionalism.

She also excoriated Felix's charge that the government and embattled businessman Roger Khan appear to be on the same wavelength in trying to expel him from office. "I would like to disclose to the Commissioner of Police how erroneous his conclusions are and the height of recklessness he has publicly displayed in making those unworthy claims", Teixeira said in the statement issued at 9 pm.

It was the latest high-voltage contretemps to flow from tape recordings circulated by persons close to drug-accused businessman Khan. The recordings have unleashed a storm of controversy enmeshing Khan, Felix, the PM, Teixeira, the US embassy and the PNCR among others. Teixeira's statement came on the same day she, Felix and other top security officials made a rare visit to the crime-besieged village of Buxton. (See other story on page 11.)

On Tuesday, Felix approached the High Court and sought orders seeking to quash Prime Minister Hinds' decision to send a letter to him on June 2 setting out a host of allegations derived from the tapes and asking him to respond urgently. Lawyers for Felix are also seeking an order prohibiting the PM from proceeding with any investigation for the purpose of whether to advise President Bharrat Jagdeo to appoint a tribunal to investigate his possible removal as Commissioner of Police. (See other story on page 12.)

In his affidavit in support of the motion, Felix made a number of controversial statements including that it "â€¦appears to me that the Government of Guyana has adopted Mr Khan's stated objectives and has purportedly commenced invocation of the constitutional provisions to effect my removal from office". He also alleged that the PM had abdicated his constitutional responsibility through being influenced by unnamed third parties.

Winston Felix

Teixeira fired back last night. In a five-page statement she noted that it was only on June 9 when asked by the media for her opinion on Felix she had said that he was a professional and had given her support in her functions as the Minister of Home Affairs. Referring to his pleadings in court which were reported in yesterday's Stabroek News, Teixeira said "if the Commissioner of Police has nothing to hide and the disclosures on the tapes are all forgeries, surely in the face of mounting public concern he would see merit in not opposing an investigation as laid out in the constitution".

She said many Guyanese have been shocked and affronted by the revelations on the tapes. "So serious were those disclosures such as, shielding criminals, conspiring to divert attention from criminals, aiding and abetting unlawful actions and planting drugs on innocent people, that no one questioned the government's responsible action in seeking external technical and professional advice on the matter".

She declared that what Felix appeared to be overlooking in his court pleadings was that since the release of the first tape in March - allegedly of him and PNCR Vice-Chairman, Basil Williams - "neither by commission or omission has the government sought to constrain the Commissioner of Police and the Joint Services from discharging their statutory functions with regards to law enforcement interventions".

Teixeira added that the joint operations which began after the disappearance of 30 AK-47s from the army's headquarters led to "raids on the properties of persons allegedly involved in narcotics as well as those known to the public and internationally in the narco-trade on March 19. The Commissioner cannot allege or accuse the government of any attempt to interfere in this process".

The government has also not tampered in any way with the joint services battle against armed bandits, hijackers, fuel smugglers and gun runners in their search for the weapons missing from the army or the capturing of the members of the Buxton or other armed gangs, Teixeira contended.

The Home Affairs Minister who also delivered the statement last night on NCN TV argued "in fact, what the Commissioner is fully aware of has been the government's timely and heightened moral, financial and logistical support for him and the Joint Services, in their response to criminal activities".

Moreover, since the release of the tapes, the loss of the GDF weapons and the murder of Minister Satyadeow Sawh and others, the government has funnelled a further $20M to the joint services for intelligence gathering, authorized the deploying of the army in the crime fight and mobilized international aid for the crime investigations, Teixeira said.

Citing his now famous refrain to `hold me accountable' when he was sworn in as Police Commissioner, Teixeira said "Many hard working policemen and women are facing the loss of credibility of their organization, the Guyana Police Force, It is that context that the Commissioner is ignoring".

Upping the pressure on Felix, she noted that the commissioner had not yet responded to Khan's public statements that he (Khan) shared a once "cozy relationship" with the Top Cop.

"On the surface, it seems that the Commissioner has embarked on an unprofessional course of action, seeking to discredit the Prime Minister and the administration while using the courts and other technicalities to stave off an investigation into his conduct".

Teixeira, who replaced the now High Commissioner to India, Ronald Gajraj as Home Affairs Minister around a year ago, posited that by inference and words Felix had "unprofessionally and (precipitately)" petitioned the courts, thereby prejudging the actions of the PM and the President.

"Most unacceptably, he went further to accuse the Prime Minister of abdicating his constitutional responsibilities and taking actions governed by partisan political interests", Teixeira argued.

Without identifying anyone, she said the commissioner's apparent preoccupation with a battle with Khan had nurtured an opportunity "for those who have unmistakable partisan political agendas to lead him to this confrontational and unmitigated attack on the government. He has cast his lot with a partisan political outlook".

The emergence of the tapes has posed two dilemmas for the government which are still unresolved. Are the tapes authentic and can it be proven who the speakers are? And who is behind the tapes, what risks this poses to national security and whether this is not an attempt to discredit the Commissioner and thereby ease the pressure from underworld figures. The first tape was released after several establishments belonging to Khan were raided by the police/army in search of the weapons. In turn, these raids came after Khan had played several of these tapes for officials of the US DEA to hear at the Ocean View Hotel. That meeting had followed the indictment of Khan on a drug charge by a New York Grand Jury. Observers said the Ocean View meet was a bid by Khan to counter any attempt by the Americans to pursue proceedings against him and he therefore decided to play the Felix tapes. The police had also issued wanted bulletins for Khan and three others which are being challenged in court.

There are also credible reports that tapes from the same source exist of Teixeira and Felix and that these could be released at some point.

Felix for his part has maintained that there is no proof that the recordings are authentic and he has said that a key, possibly incriminating segment was spliced to produce the desired result. That conversation is contained on the second tape and makes it seem that there would be an attempt to plant drugs on a theft suspect. It was from that point onwards that the furore mushroomed.

Stabroek News

GECOM says on track for polls

2006-06-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

Thursday, June 15th 2006

The elections commission yesterday said that it was on track to deliver polls by its deadline and it held to the opinion that it was not legally obligated to verify the 2001 voters' list by house to house visits.

"At this time, [the Guyana Elections Commission] is convinced that it will be able to bring off elections as scheduled in the electoral calendar, unless it is thrown off by political interferences," a statement from GECOM said yesterday. The statement was prompted by comments made by WPA co-leader Dr Rupert Roopnaraine at a news conference on Monday.

The statement said both the commission and the secretariat are working towards holding the elections in accordance with the electoral calendar, though it added that this schedule was subject to review with the assistance of the Joint International Technical Assessors.

When it announced that it was no longer able to meet its original deadline of August 4, GECOM submitted a plan for elections by August 31 to President Bharrat Jagdeo. A subsequent review of the plan puts elections at September 12, ten days beyond the new constitutional deadline.

GECOM said Dr Roopnaraine's suggestion that the polling date could be shifted to later than September 12, necessitating a recall of Parliament by way of a declaration of a state of emergency might be true.

"However, we must point out that, whether that were to happen or not, GECOM continues to be guided by the legal provisions associated with preparations for and the holding of elections," the statement said. The commission also said while Dr Roopnaraine and the WPA are interested in the quality of elections rather than when the polls are held (so that the losers would have no reasonable cause for complaint, thereby avoiding the threat of post-elections violence), it remains committed to bringing off elections in a free, fair and transparent manner within the confines of the governing laws.

On the broad question of the sanitisation of the 2001 list, GECOM pointed out that there were various aspects of verification and it outlined six steps. At the first, it noted that the records of persons appearing on the 2001 list were copied to the new database and a comparison was done to ensure that the data was copied intact. Secondly, transactions from the addendum to the 2001 list were also applied to the new database. Thirdly, the text data stored in GECOM's Multiple Identity Document Issuing System (MIDIS) was checked against the records held in the new database. This process produced a list of all three corrections made directly in the MIDIS that are not reflected in the 2001 OLE and this list was reviewed before the corrections were applied to the new database.

Next, GECOM noted that the list of deceased persons (as documented and forwarded to the commission by the General Register Office) was applied to the new database. Additionally, the identity and residency of all electors who notified the commission of a change of address were verified. Lastly, GECOM noted that it had commissioned the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) to conduct a project involving the scanning, capture, storing and cross-referencing of inked fingerprints of the persons listed on the 2001 list in order to detect possible multiple registrations. GECOM noted that a separate methodology was being developed for the elimination of duplicate and multiple registrations.

On the question of house-to-house visits to verify the list GECOM said, "it was never [our] duty (nor is it now) to verify the 2001 OLE by house-to-house verification." It add that there is no law which makes it obligatory for GECOM to conduct any verification of the 2001 OLE, adding that this was made "absolutely clear" in the independent legal opinion the commission solicited from Senior Counsel Ashton Chase.

In response to the claim that there might not have been objections to legitimate electors if a field verification of the 2001 list had been done, GECOM said that even if it had conducted a house to house exercise there is no law to provide for persons who are not found at their registered addresses to be removed from the list. "To do so would be an illegality for which GECOM could be taken before the courts for disenfranchising eligible electors," it noted. GECOM added that in any case, verification could not have prevented objections to legitimate electors.

The GECOM statement also made reference to a contention that elections-related problems were not building confidence in the electoral process. The commission said "unfounded" and "inaccurate" public statements by leaders in society do not and will not contribute to building public confidence in the electoral process. "In fact, such will contribute to undermining public confidence in the commission," it said. "Accordingly, we call upon all stakeholders, especially the leaders in our society, to support GECOM as we move along in preparation for, and the holding of, the upcoming elections... We believe that it is only this that would bring to realisation that 'the losers would have no reasonable cause for complaint, thereby avoiding the threat of post-elections violence," it added.

Stabroek News

`Amerindian communities clamouring for World Cup broadcasts

2006-06-15T09:20:00.000-04:00

Thursday, June 15th 2006

A number of residents of Lower and Upper Pomeroon River, Region One and other hinterland communities have said they are not satisfied with the way the National Communication Network (NCN) is handling broadcasts of World Cup football.

They said it was reported in the media that President Bharrat Jagdeo had intervened and had made funds available to NCN so that the nation could view the matches live but this is not happening in their communities.

They said from all indications only NCN was given the right to broadcast the football and they are questioning why the other TV stations were not given equal rights.Residents from mainly Amerindian communities feel that they have been left out and are calling on Minister Carolyn Rodrigues to make representation on their behalf.

In the Amerindian communities television is the only means of entertainment and information. The residents pointed out that they do not receive signals from NCN but they tune into the station at Charity so some attention should be paid to this matter so they can view the remainder of the World Cup matches.

Stabroek News

Guns stolen from Police station

2006-06-15T09:19:00.000-04:00

FIVE guns and ammunition were yesterday stolen from the Kurupung Police Station in the hinterland while cops normally based there were away from the building, sources said.

Police said they were investigating the suspected larceny of arms and ammunition from the station which occurred at about 07:30 h yesterday. Kurupung is a mining community a few miles from the Pakaraima Mountain range.

Police, in a brief press release, confirmed that four Carbines, a magazine with 15 rounds of .30 ammunition and a 12-gauge shotgun had disappeared but said the circumstances were “not yet clear.”

The Guyana Chronicle understands three Police ranks were posted at the station.

A source said that on Tuesday one cop was reportedly ill while another was in Georgetown yesterday for a case in court.

The lone rank left at the station reportedly responded to a complaint Tuesday night and left.

While he was away, a person or persons unknown entered the station, broke into the strong box containing the weapons and stole the guns and ammunition.

According to the source, the four Carbines were part of a cache of six; the two which were left behind were defective. There were two shotguns also, the defective one being ignored by the perpetrators or perpetrator.

The source also stated that 200 rounds of ammunition were stolen.

An unconfirmed report reaching the Guyana Chronicle was that a former rank, who lives in Buxton, East Coast Demerara, and who had previously been posted at the Kurupung station, was recently seen in the area.

The Police Force said Commissioner Winston Felix visited the station yesterday and an investigating team from Police Headquarters, including crime scene ranks, under the command of a senior officer is in the area investigating.

A joint operation involving ranks of the Guyana Defence Force to recover the firearms and ammunition is being contemplated, the press release said.

This development comes in the wake of the ongoing and so far largely fruitless search by the Joint Services for 30 AK-47 rifles and five handguns stolen from the GDF Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown earlier this year.

Guyana Chronicle

TAPEGATE:

2006-06-15T09:16:00.000-04:00

Felix reckless

-- Teixiera

HOME Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira last night rapped beleaguered Police Commissioner Winston Felix over his move to the court to block a possible probe by a tribunal into explosive tapes of telephone conversations believed to be his.

Ms. Teixeira, who last Friday told reporters Mr. Felix was a professional and had supported her as minister, accused the Commissioner of arriving at “erroneous conclusions” and the “height of recklessness” in making public “unworthy claims”.

In a statement, she argued, “If the Commissioner of Police has nothing to hide and the disclosures on the tapes are all forgeries, surely in the face of mounting public concern he would see merit in not opposing an investigation as laid out in the Constitution.”

Felix moved to the court Tuesday seeking an order to block the Prime Minister from proceeding with steps that could see him appearing before a tribunal to answer serious accusations levelled against him in the leaked tape recordings in the Tapegate affair.

Here is the text of the statement by Teixeira:

“Last Friday June 9, I was asked by the media about my opinion of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix.

I stated that he was a professional and that he had given me support as the Minister of Home Affairs.

I now wish to comment publicly on the publicized pleadings of the Commissioner of Police in his move to the High Court of Guyana to forestall the Prime Minister from discharging his constitutional function to determine whether to advise the President about an investigation into the contents of the tapes, their authenticity and whether those constituted misbehaviour on the part of the Commissioner.

Further, his action is also seeking to prevent the Prime Minister from considering advising the President to launch an investigation into the source of the tapes and its implications for national security.

If the Commissioner of Police has nothing to hide and the disclosures on the tapes are all forgeries, surely in the face of mounting public concern he would see merit in not opposing an investigation as laid out in the Constitution.

The Commissioner of Police has reportedly pleaded that “it appears to me that the Government of Guyana has adopted Khan’s stated objectives and has purportedly commenced invocation of the constitutional provisions to effect my removal from office.”

The Commissioner further stated that, “it appears as if the Government like Khan is intent on removing me from office.”

I would like to disclose to the Commissioner of Police how erroneous his conclusions are and the height of recklessness he has publicly displayed in making those unworthy claims.

In fact, it is indeed true that many Guyanese have been shocked and affronted by the revelations on the tapes. So serious were those disclosures such as shielding criminals, conspiring to divert attention from criminals, aiding and abetting unlawful actions and planting drugs on innocent people, that no one questioned the Government’s responsible action in seeking external technical and professional advice on the matter.

What the Commissioner of Police in his pleadings seems to have conveniently overlooked is that since the release of the first tape in March 2006, neither by commission nor by omission has the Government sought to constrain the Commissioner of Police and the Joint Services from discharging their statutory functions with regards to law enforcement interventions.

The joint operations which began after the loss of the AK 47s from the Army HQ led to the raids on the properties of persons allegedly involved in narcotics as well as those well known to the public and internationally in the narco-trade on March 19. The Commissioner cannot allege or accuse the Government of any attempt to interfere in this process from that time up to today.

Nor has it interfered in any way with their fight against armed bandits, hijackers, backtrackers, fuel smugglers, gun runners, in their search for the weapons stolen from the GDF or the apprehension of members of the Buxton or any other armed gangs.

In fact, what the Commissioner is fully aware of has been the Government’s timely and heightened moral, financial, and logistical support for him and the Joint Services, in their responses to criminal activities.

Since the release of the tapes, the theft of the weapons from the GDF and the horrific assassination of Minister Sawh and family, the Administration had provided to the Joint Services an additional sum of more than $20M for intelligence gathering, authorised the deployment of the GDF from their barracks and enlisted international assistance in the criminal investigations.

Since the airing of the first tape, the Commissioner cannot claim that he has in any way been prevented or encountered any resistance or hostility from the Government in discharging his statutory function.

In fact, it has not been the Administration but the Georgetown Chamber and members from the Private Sector Commission who have been repeating calls for his resignation.

I wish to repeat that if the Commissioner has nothing to hide and the disclosures on the tapes are all forgeries, in the face of mounting public concerns about professionalism and ethical conduct, he would see merit in not opposing an investigation as laid out in the Constitution.

At the time of his assumption of office, the Commissioner called on Guyanese to hold him accountable. Many hardworking policemen and women are facing the loss of credibility of their organisation, the Guyana Police Force.

It is that context that the Commissioner is ignoring.

What the Commissioner has not as yet responded to, is Roger Khan’s public statements about the cozy relationship that he shared with Mr. Khan.

On the surface, it seems that the Commissioner has embarked on an unprofessional course of action, seeking to discredit the Prime Minister and the Administration while using the courts and other technicalities to stave off an investigation into his conduct.

By inference and by words, the Commissioner of Police has unprofessionally and precipitously gone to the courts prejudging the actions to be taken by the Hon. Prime Minister and His Excellency the President on the basis of unsubstantiated and baseless claims against the Government.

Most unacceptably, he went further to accuse the Prime Minister of abdicating his constitutional responsibilities and taking actions governed by partisan political interests. The Commissioner of Police has also rushed to pre-judge the outcome of a tribunal established by the Judicial Service Commission to investigate his behaviour, had these steps been invoked. The Commissioner of Police's move to the High Court and the grounds for his action are reckless and has undermined his professionalism.

His apparent preoccupation with a so-called battle between himself and Roger Khan has created an opportunity for those who have unmistakable partisan political agendas to lead him to this confrontational and unmitigated attack on the Government.

He has cast his lot with a partisan political outlook.”

Guyana Chronicle

WPA prepared to wait on Rodney inquiry

2006-06-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

WPA prepared to wait on Rodney inquiry

- want to avoid politicisation of issue

The Working People's Alliance (WPA) says some progress is being made regarding the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into the killing of its founder, Dr. Walter Rodney.

On the 26th anniversary of the slaying of one of the most vocal opponents of the Burnham regime, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, who now heads the WPA, told a press conference that consultations have been held with local, regional and international persons and organisations, with a view to setting up such a Commission of Inquiry. Roopnarine said the party has been acting on the family's behalf regarding the Inquiry, and that they (the family) would not want to see the issue politicised; as such, it supports the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry well after the election season ends.

The family and party are prepared to wait, even if it takes up to two years after the elections, for the Inquiry to be set up just to avoid “…Dr. Rodney's name and legacy being treated like a political football,” Roopnarine said.

He added that such an Inquiry must not be set up unilaterally, and party member David Hinds pointed to the motion which was passed in the National Assembly as embracing international participation. On the issue of that motion, Dr. Roopnarine said it was unprecedented for a party which brought a motion to the House to abstain from that same motion, as the government's representatives in the House did.

The government was at odds with the opposition over the wording of that motion which, when the government proposed it, called the death of Rodney an assassination.

The opposition, saying such a wording prejudiced any Inquiry on the cause of Rodney's demise, as his death would have already been pronounced on, successfully had the wording of the motion changed to read ‘killing.” The party said there is good reason for celebrating Rodney's lifetime works and his heritage. It said many people in various continents and Caribbean islands see his teachings as beneficial. Yesterday, the WPA made an appeal saying that on the 26th anniversary of the death of Rodney “let us decide, first of all in our own separate minds, that we will develop a new respect for ourselves and a respect for others, especially of other races and of the other gender, and a new respect for children.” Rodney died on June 13, 1980, when an explosive device concealed in a walkie-talkie he was carrying detonated.

Many theories have been forwarded on who planted the device and whom the intellectual authors were, but so far no one has ever been charged.

Former soldier Gregory Smith, who died a few years ago in French Guiana, was seen as having valuable information on the murder of Rodney, but was never brought home to reveal what he knew, despite several promises from the PPP when in opposition that that would be a priority once the seat of government was achieved.

Kaieteur News

People’s power

2006-06-13T13:51:00.000-04:00

TWENTY-SIX years ago, on this day, acclaimed historian and co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance, Dr. Walter Rodney was brutally assassinated by the Forbes Burnham regime.

Unable to curtail the growing multi-racial support of Rodney, seeing their dictatorial rule threatened, the ruling elite plotted the murder of one of Guyana’s brightest lights. On June 13, 1980, a remote activated bomb exploded in the lap of Walter Rodney and extinguished the star that had pointed the way to national liberation and unity.

The brutal murder of Walter Rodney was a defining moment in our country.

His death occurred during one of the most difficult periods in Guyanese history, marked by brutal political repression, suppression of civil rights and liberties and a deteriorating economic situation. His death, condemned by the international community and mourned by his admirers throughout the world, was a mortal blow to the working class.

Rodney had limitless faith in the power of the people. He once said, “The revolution is made by ordinary people, not by angels, made by people from all walks of life, and more particularly by the working class who are in the majority.”

In his abbreviated life - he was only 38 years when he died - and especially in his political involvement in Guyana, he demonstrated just how potent the working class can be when they are united.

Walter Rodney had entered the local political fray at a juncture in our history when social, economic and political conditions were rapidly deteriorating. He electrified crowds at political meetings with his dynamism, incisive wit and intellect.

Under his party’s civil resistance campaign against the Forbes Burnham dictatorship, Guyana for the first time in decades saw genuine working class solidarity and unity across ethnic and racial lines. Rodney’s fiery oratory and the massive multiracial crowds that he attracted offered real hope for the working people and helped to undermine the ruling regime.

Those who felt threatened by his exposure decided that he should be killed, and on June 13, 1980, using an army agent named Gregory Smith, the assassination of Walter Rodney was executed. The cowardly slaying of Rodney exposed the beastly nature of the ruling regime and led to its internal and external isolation. With his passing was also lost the momentum of the civil rebellion movement.

It would, however, take another 12 years after Rodney’s death for Guyana to be restored to the democratic fold of nations with the election of office of the People’s Progressive Party under the leadership of Dr. Cheddi Jagan.

In his first national awards under a democratic Guyana, Dr. Jagan posthumously bestowed the nation’s highest honour, the Order of Excellence on Dr. Walter Rodney, in recognition of his contribution to freedom and democracy in Guyana.

Just over a quarter of a century after his death, the relevance of Rodney remains his contribution to multi-racial politics in Guyana. Not only did he embrace the vision of a united working class mobilised into a revolutionary force, but also his activism demonstrated that this unity could be achieved.

In its heyday, the movement that he led was multi-racial, the first since the nationalist struggles of the fifties.

Rodney demonstrated the possibility that Guyanese could unite across racial lines. He believed that the massive multiracial support that was conjoined to the civil rebellion process was no accident. He saw race as a red herring, intended to divide the Guyanese people. He saw race as inimical to the interests of the people of Guyana.

Rodney urged Guyanese to resist those who would try to maintain us in a mentality that forces us to act injudiciously because we believe that our racial interests are at stake. He urged Guyanese to transcend their racial problems and to work for a society where there is racial justice.

We would do well to take note of his message today when we mark the 26th anniversary of his assassination.

Guyana Chronicle

Emotions high at raped teen’s funeral

2006-06-12T23:41:00.000-04:00

BURIED: Roshni Pertabsingh

ROSHNI Pertabsingh called Indira, the 16-year-old schoolgirl raped and killed last week, was buried Sunday afternoon at PlantationWarren cemetery, Corentyne, Berbice, a few yards from her home.

The burial followed a highly emotional service at Nazarene Church where she read the scripture lesson three days before her brutal slaying.

The girl was a night companion to her elderly neighbour, Budhia, in whose house she was raped and her throat slit.

People close to her said the girl had been a virgin when the murder took place during the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Speakers at the service all agreed that justice must be served and have expressed optimism that whoever perpetrated the hideous crime would be arrested and prosecuted.

The victim’s class teacher, Ms Yonette Pluck told the funeral gathering, which overspilled the church building with persons from all strata of society and different races, that Roshni was a pleasant child.

Pluck said that, because of financial constraints, the Form 5A student was unable to attend school regularly, sometimes two or three times a week, but whenever she did, the teacher would allow her extra time in the library to document the missed lessons.

Like others who paid tribute to the girl, Pluck, too, committed herself to helping the surviving family.

The eulogy was read by Naomi Christie, a fifth former of New Amsterdam Multilateral School, also in Berbice, who highlighted Roshni’s involvement in church-related activities as a member of Nazarene Missionary International and a Sunday school teacher.

Christie recalled that it was just the Sunday before her death that Roshni stood at the pulpit and read that day’s scripture lesson for the children’s day programme.

In addition to her involvement in the Nazarene denomination, Roshni was a member of the President’s Youth Award Programme and participated in two expeditions to Linden and Black Bush Polder, coordinator, Ms Nicola Morris stated.

Roshni received the bronze medal from President Bharrat Jagdeo at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown after the first outing, Morris reported.

She said the other expedition on upper Corentyne earned Roshni a silver medal and that was given to her mother who was overwhelmed with emotion.

There was no vacant seat in the church nor was there a dry eye during the proceedings as mourners openly voiced their opinions about the investigations into the crime.

Earlier, prior to the arrival of the body at the church for the three-hour programme, hundreds of people converged at the home of the murdered girl’s parents to offer words of comfort and sympathy.

However, some in the crowd did not have similar sentiments for the old woman with whom the teenager stayed at nights and the 65-year-old did not respond, only grumbling a few words that were not audible to others, on occasion.

Reverend Bahase Harripaul and Gainlall Hitnarine officiated at the service that included songs and poetry and among those in attendance were Regional Education Officer, Ms Shafiran Bhajan and Headmistress Patterson of Berbice Educational Institute. (JEUNE BAILEY VAN-KERIC)

Guyana Chronicle

More ‘dead’ voters found alive

2006-06-12T23:39:00.000-04:00

-- PPP/C, PNCR trade charges

By Neil Marks
THE 15,000 objections the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has made to names on the provisional electoral roll is a desperate tactic to disenfranchise legitimate voters and delay national elections, the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) charged yesterday.

At a press conference at its Freedom House headquarters in Georgetown, the PPP/C accused the PNCR of deliberately trying to clog the operations of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and delay the holding of the polls due by September 3 so as to get into power through the back door.

The PNCR yesterday said that it used the Claims and Objections (C&O) period in a “systematic and organised way” to identify the names of “thousands” of ineligible names on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE).

However, the PPP/C charged that those very “thousands” of Guyanese “independently or through the assistance of the PPP, have come forward informing GECOM and informing their fellow citizens that they are alive, they exist and want to exercise their legitimate right to vote” in this year’s elections.

Among the names party General Secretary Mr. Donald Ramotar said were objected to by the PNCR were those of Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford, Justice William Ramlall and Mr. Ramesh Maraj, the former President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce.

“Across the country, the ‘dead’ and the ‘non-existent’ have come out to challenge the PNCR and to demonstrate that they are real people, genuine Guyanese who are eligible under the Constitution to vote and who are willing to exercise the right that the Constitution of Guyana guarantees them,” the PPP/C stated.

The PNCR in a press release yesterday took issue with the fact that the PPP/C had obtained the names of those persons it had objected to, suggesting a collusion between the ruling party and some officials of GECOM.

“The PNCR is concerned about what appears to be the undermining of the independence of the Elections Commission. In this regard, the party notes that even before the names of the objectees are published by the commission, the PPP/C is in possession of the yet to be published list of names,” the PNCR stated.

However, the PPP/C lashed back, saying this suggestion was a desperate attempt by the PNCR to extricate itself from the embarrassment of its failed attempt to deny Guyanese the right to vote.

“The PPP/C, the PNCR and other political parties have scrutineers at every Claims and Objections office across the country. It is the duty of every scrutineer to note every transaction being made at these offices and to inform the political party that he or she represents. Thus the PPP does not need any kind of collusion with GECOM to expose this heinous act of the PNCR to disenfranchise voters,” that party argued.

On Saturday, the PPP/C made public the PNCR objections to the children of Cyril Belgrave, a PPP Member of Parliament. The PNCR yesterday said that while the objection was made, it was not made by the PNCR.

However, Ramotar did not buy the PNCR explanation.

“The PNCR has now sought to deny any culpability and insist that they made no objections to the Belgrave children. Around the country, we know in whose names the objections were made. All these activists who acted on behalf of that party have now been abandoned by the PNCR and are now being made scapegoats,” he charged.

“GECOM should clearly see that one of the objectives of the PNCR was to trap GECOM into an unholy alliance to delay the election,” he stated.

The PPP/C stated that the overwhelming response of all those who have come out to demonstrate that they are alive and real should now convince the PNCR that GECOM has compiled a credible list and that the PNCR must be prepared to compete in the 2006 election.

“It is time for the PNCR to put up or shut up,” the PPP stated.

In its press release yesterday, the PNCR accused the PPP/C of pushing “inane propaganda” and defended its objections, claiming it was bringing “evidence to the people as it relates to the existence of thousands of ineligible names that find themselves on the PLE”.

“…the PPP/C is panicking and is resorting to propaganda to prevent the cleansing of the list”, the opposition party charged.

“The PNCR has a vested interest and has said so on many occasions that it will participate in any elections provided there is a clean and acceptable list of electors. It is against this backdrop that the PNCR in a systematic and organised way took the opportunity of the Claims and Objection period to scrutinize the list”, the press release said.

Guyana Chronicle

Guyanese women in power and decision making in the forty years of Independence (Part 1)

2006-06-12T14:17:00.000-04:00

History This Week No.23/2006

By Cecelia McAlmont

Thursday, June 8th 2006

Viola Burnham

Introduction

Marilee Karl (1995) in her work 'Women and Empowerment: Participation and Decision Making' declared:

"There can be no true democracy, no true people's participation in governance and development without the equal participation of women and men in all spheres of life and levels of decision making".

While the section of the platform on Women in Power and Decision Making includes in the beginning the following:

"... Without the active participation of women's perspective at all levels of decision making the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved."

Janet Jagan

Guyana has begun her forty-first year amidst the now familiar tensions and uncertainties of an election year exacerbated by the other tensions and insecurities now plaguing our society. Our country continues its journey into middle age in an environment that is anything but peaceful and where our fragile democracy is on the verge of being shattered. It is therefore pertinent to examine where we would have been if there had been equal participation of women and the inclusion of women's perspective in "all spheres of life and levels of decision-making".

In the next few articles, the reality of Guyanese women's participation in politics, economic and social decision-making will be examined.

Guyana became an independent nation nine years before the celebration of International Women's Year in 1975 and the beginning of the decade for women. We proclaimed a new constitution in which it is stated that women and men have equal rights and the same legal status in all spheres of political, economic and social life and that all forms of discrimination, against women on the basis of their sex are illegal, one year (1979) after CEDAW and, the same year (1980) as the Mid Decade Plan of Action.

Guyana has also ratified the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) in which 12 critical areas of concern, including Women in Power and Decision-Making, were identified. However, the Beijing plus 5 and Beijing plus 10 reviews have indicated little evidence of implementation of the well-defined policy and plan that had been laid out. This failure is one of the reasons why in June 2000 during the five-year review of Beijing, WEDO launched the global campaign 50/50 by 2005 Get the Balance Right. This target of course has not been achieved.

A review of the situation of Guyanese women in political power and decision-making since independence is instructive. The records show that in the PNC during its 26 years in office after independence, women tended to make up about 1/6 of its Central Executive Committee (CEC), the party's highest decision-making forum.

The highest position held by a woman in the top five positions was that of Treasurer and Assistant General Secretary even though for one year, 1967, a woman, Mrs. Urmia Johnson) was Chairman; she also held the position of Treasurer for ten years 1969 - 1979, and the position of Assistant General Secretary for fourteen years 1979-1994.

It must be noted that since the PNC lost the 1992 elections, the number of women in its CEC has increased. In 1998, the CEC was made up of 11 women and 32 men; in 2002 the number was 27 men and 11 women.

This was the situation despite the fact that more women than men attend the party's Biennial Congress. Clearly women do not use their superior voting strength to increase the number of women in the CEC.

There seems to be a similar trend in respect of the present party in government, the PPP/C. During its years in opposition, its female members were also not rewarded with significant numbers on the Party's Central Executive Committee. The only woman who has been consistently elected to that body over the past half a century plus years has been the wife of the co-founder and herself a co-founder of the PPP, Mrs. Janet Jagan. In 1998 and 2000 the composition of its CEC was 15 men and 5 women. That decreased to 2 women and 15 men in 2002. However, in the WPA, the principle of co-leadership tended towards greater decision making power for women.

Women who become Members of Parliament are usually selected from the list of candidates put up by the party. The lists of candidates for the PNC in 1968, 1973, 1992, 1997 and 2001 general elections reveal that the number of women on their list was 6 (11%), 9(17%), 15(23.1%), 17(26.2%) and 29 respectively. It's female Members of Parliament after the last three elections were 6, 6, and 11.

In the case of the PPP, later the PPP/C, the numbers of women on the list were 5(11%), 1(1.81%) 8(12.3%), 13(20%) and 19(29.2%). Their Members of Parliament were 5 after the 1992 and 1997 elections and 8 after the 2001 elections. However, the WPA, which supposedly has a more egalitarian decision-making structure, had one (100%) male representation after the 1992 and 1997 elections and 2(100%) female representatives after the 2001 elections (in association with GAP). While acknowledging the ability of the women who were chosen to represent GAP-WPA in parliament, given the trend, one must wonder whether the party's decision would have been the same had it won six or seven seats and was in a position to hold the balance between the two major political parties. After the enactment of the 1980 constitution there was an overall increase in the number of women in parliament.

However, it is posited that the increase had more to do with the changing international climate, specifically the impact of the United Nations Decade for Women and the later conventions associated with it rather than a deliberate desire to increase the numbers of women in Parliament.

A perusal of the numbers has indicated some correlation between the number of women in the Cabinet and the number of women representing the ruling party in Parliament. The 1985 elections resulted in both the largest percentage (21.4%) of women representing the PNC in Parliament and the highest female participation in Cabinet. One of the four Vice-Presidents was. Mrs. Viola Burnham the wife of the late Executive President, Forbes Burnham. Three of the Ministers and two Parliamentary Secretaries were women, both of whom were later appointed Ministers. After the 1992 and 1997 elections, 2, approximately 15%, of the total number of Ministers in the PPP/C cabinet were women. This number increased to four of 15 after the 2001 elections and remains the same presently. However, in both administrations women have been appointed to Cabinet positions which can be regarded as the logical extensions of their nurturing and caring roles - health, education, culture, consumer affairs, and sports, mobilization, and Women's Affairs.

The most frequent appointment was the Education portfolio. In neither administration has there been a woman as Minister of Finance, Agriculture or Foreign Affairs. However, recently there has been a significant qualitative change in this respect, the appointment of Ms. Gail Teixeira as Minister of Home Affairs. Undoubtedly her appointment was as much to do with her ability vis-a-vis that of the majority of her male counterparts as her fierce loyalty in support and defence of policies of her party in government.

In both administrations there has been a tendency to appoint women as Ministers within a Ministry. This position has marginalized women ministers for the ultimate decision-making power for the allocation of resources rested with the male Ministers and therefore placed limits on the women's ability to influence policy or garner resources to implement programmes to improve the status of women. In fact, even when a woman, Mrs. Janet Jagan succeeded to the highest position in government, as Executive President (1997) and who had played such a pivotal role in helping to raise the political consciousness of the Guyanese woman more than fifty years earlier, it did not translate into increased participation of women in the several levels of power and decision making. This also demonstrates the contention that even when women succeed in occupying high positions in the government, it does not necessarily mean a commitment to improve the lot of women since they have to follow the agenda set by men, the primary decision makers. These men often show little sensitivity for or inclination to understand gender issues and often have little interest in improving either the qualitative or quantitative power of women in power and decision making.

In the next article, other areas of political decision-making - local government, Trade Unions, Public Service, Law, and the Judiciary will be examined and an assessment of the implications of these trends will be made.

Stabroek News

Khan's forestry ambitions stalled

2006-06-12T13:20:00.000-04:00

-in wake of US drug report

Monday, June 12th 2006

In addition to the unsealed indictment in his name from a United States Grand Jury for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into that country, embattled businessman Shaheed 'Roger' Khan is going nowhere fast with the processing of an exploratory permit for his logging company Aurelius Inc.

The permitting process for that company was halted apparently because of the allegations contained in the March US Drug Strategy Report which named Khan as a known drug trafficker and also named Aurelius Inc as being controlled by him.

Up to the end of March this year, Commissioner of Forests James Singh said that Cabinet had not approved a State Forest Exploratory Permit (SFEP) for Aurelius Inc even though the GFC Board had given its all clear. Observers had pointed out that once the board had given the green light it was automatic that the permit would be handed over. This was not the case however.

Several weeks before he was murdered, Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh had said that the matter had to be investigated before the next move could be determined on the issuing of permit. Earlier in that same week, both Singh and Sawh indicated that the permitting process for the company was off the table. They both said that there had been no Cabinet response to the Board on the permit up to that time.

Singh had said in the statement that in 2004 State Forest Areas to be allocated State Forest Exploratory Permits (SFEPs) were publicly advertised and Aurelius Inc applied for the award of one of these permits in accordance with the GFC approved procedures.

Singh had said that the GFC reviewed the application that Aurelius Inc submitted and was satisfied that the application had met all of the necessary technical and financial requirements of the GFC. He said that the GFC Board's Technical Sub-Committee then reviewed the recommendation that the GFC management made and concurred that the company merited the award of an SFEP for the area applied for.

The US Department of State's International Narcotics Strategy Report for 2006 stated: "In 2005, The Guyana Forestry Commission granted a State Forest Exploratory Permit for a large tract of land in Guyana's interior to Aure-lius Inc, a company controlled by Shaheed 'Roger' Khan."

Singh's statement added: "The GFC Board of Directors then endorsed the recommendations of the GFC Board Technical Committee that the company Aurelius Inc be granted an SFEP. Note that the SFEP is for a maximum of three years; during this period, the following has to be completed: a forest inventory, a strategic forest management plan and an environmental and social impact assessment."

Singh said that only on the completion of these would the recommendation be made for the award of a Wood Cutting Lease or a Timber Sales Agreement, dependent on the size of the concession. The Commissioner noted that no commercial harvesting can be done during the allocation of the SFEP.

Singh said that the GFC then made a recommendation to Cabinet for the approval of the award of an SFEP to Aurelius Inc. "This recommendation has not been approved to date," Singh said. "It is therefore erroneous for anyone to state that an SFEP has been granted to Aurelius Inc."

According to documentation seen by Stabroek News, on October 5, 2005 it was agreed to by a majority vote that three companies - including Aurelius - would be awarded SFEPs.

At board meetings subsequent to October 5, 2005 the granting of the permit to the company was discussed and considered to be a fait accompli, this newspaper understands. Concerns were also raised at these meetings about the inadequate due diligence done in relation to the company, in particular as to who owned the shares. It was agreed that in relation to future applications for SFEPs a more rigorous examination of the bona fides of applicants would be done.

Singh said again that the Government is the party that grants all permits and not the Board or the Commissioner. He did acknowledge the fact that the Board recommended that the permit be handed to the company.

The US State Department said that Government's counter-narcotics efforts "are undermined by the lack of adequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, and a weak judicial system."

During early last year, Singh stated that the GFC was not aware of evidence to suggest any drug linkages in the forestry industry. Persons had been writing letters alleging that narco-interests were taking over large companies in the forest industry and that the Government was not doing enough to combat the situation.

Persons also alleged that drug interests now control up to 14% of the country's productive timber resources and considerably more of the sector's productive assets. They believe that by 2011 drug interests may control 20-25% of national forest sector output and 11% of GDP.

Stabroek News

Flooding in Lethem

2006-06-12T00:45:00.000-04:00

Flood waters sweep across Lethem last week in what residents said was the heaviest flooding there since 1989. The water began receding Friday.

Guyana Chronicle

Cabinet Minister deemed non-existent

2006-06-12T00:42:00.000-04:00

-- PPP/C says anger spreading

Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford

THE governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) yesterday reported that Cabinet Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford is among persons deemed non-existent in what it maintains is a campaign by the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) to block thousands of its supporters from voting at the general and regional elections due this year.

Stepping up the charges against the PNCR, the PPP/C said many “aggrieved Guyanese whose names have been objected to on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) are flooding the gates of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Central Freedom House, other party offices and party organisers.”

A team of party leaders has been dispatched to many of these communities where block objections are prevalent, it said in a press release.

“Over the last 24 hours,” said the PPP/C, “many of these persons objected to as either dead or non-existent have showed up in anger at this latest situation by the PNCR to disenfranchise eligible voters at the upcoming elections.”

It reported that the “latest prominent victim of the disenfranchisement campaign is the Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, whom the PNCR claims does not exist.”

The PPP/C said it remains convinced that this latest attempt by the PNCR is to “derail the electoral process, create confusion and frustrate the electorate.”

“In addition, its action is a repeat of a similar tactic in 2001 where 40,000 persons were objected to in a similar manner”, the governing alliance said.

The PPP/C charge came amid more reports that persons who PNCR activists report are dead and whose names should not be on the PVL are turning up alive and well.

In an invited comment Saturday, PNCR General Secretary, Mr. Oscar Clarke said the party’s activists on the ground are “just doing their jobs” during the Claims and Objections period set aside to check the PVL.

Clarke contended that if the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had done its job of verifying the names on the 2001 Official List of Electors (OLE) before merging it with the current PVL, problems like these would not have arisen.

He said the PNCR has always been clamouring for GECOM to do a verification exercise.

“Verification was the way of dealing with all the problems that are now arising,” Clarke told this newspaper by telephone.

The PPP/C on Saturday said that among the list of recent objections to thousands of its supporters on the PLE, are Shellon and Clemsford Belgrave, children of PPP/C Central Committee Member, Cyril Belgrave.

The PPP/C said the Belgraves turned up Saturday at the Church of the Transfiguration in Georgetown for the objection hearing to which they were summoned but the PNCR activists who made the objections did not show up.

It on Saturday also released photographs of 11 persons it said PNCR activists had claimed were dead or non-existent. The 11 persons, the PPP/C said, were alive and well on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the PPP/C is advising those persons who have been objected to and who have received letters from GECOM to appear before the hearings to make sure they attend these hearings to prove they are alive and well.

“This is an important civic duty and failing to show up at hearings may have penalties”, it advised.

It said for further queries, persons can call telephone 225-4280

Several persons from the Essequibo Coast have also been outraged with the PNCR activists on the ground claiming they are dead or cannot be found.

Guyana Chronicle

US advisory warns Guyana-based citizens…

2006-06-11T16:58:00.000-04:00

Drugs could be planted in luggage while travelling out of Guyana

-- Security situation may deteriorate in run-up to elections

The US Embassy has released an advisory which warns travellers out of Guyana to take every precaution when using air travel to the US , as there have been incidences of persons being set up by having drugs planted in their suitcases.

“Travellers to the United States have found narcotics planted in their luggage, both in bags registered under their names and in items they were carrying for others,” the advisory noted. “Travellers should not carry any item they did not purchase and pack themselves, and should take care that no additional bags are registered in their names.”

The advisory, which was recently released, urges US citizens to take prudent personal security measures to deal with the unexpected while in Guyana, as demonstrations, assaults, road blockages, vandalism, looting and confrontations with law enforcement authorities, which occurred following the 2001 elections, may increase in the run-up to the 2006 elections.

The advisory stated that these events have continued on a sporadic and unpredictable basis since the 2001 elections and, although protests in the past have not been directed at US citizens, visitors should nevertheless remain alert.

“When protests occur, avoid areas where crowds have congregated, take commonsense precautions, monitor news broadcasts closely, and maintain a low profile,” the recently advisory stated.

Serious crime, including murder, home invasions, kidnappings and carjackings, continues to be a major problem, the advisory stated.

It rated the occurrence of murder in Guyana as three times higher than the murder rate in the US .

Four American citizens were murdered in Guyana in 2005.

Robberies and thefts occur frequently in Georgetown and New Amsterdam .

The advisory warned that US citizens should avoid stopping in or travelling through the village of Buxton , which lies along the road between Georgetown and New Amsterdam .

The public golf course at Lusignan next to Buxton is also off limits to US Embassy staff. Travellers are advised to use caution travelling to and from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport .

The advisory said pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, assaults and thefts occur in all areas of Georgetown .

The areas adjacent to the seawall and the National Park in Georgetown , although frequented by joggers, have been the scenes of violent crimes ranging from pick-pocketing to armed assaults, including rape. The risk increases significantly after dusk.

Travellers should exercise extra care in visiting these areas.

Pickpockets and thieves also frequent Stabroek and Bourda, the two major markets, and great care should be taken to safeguard personal property.

The advisory said kidnapping for ransom, with random targeting of persons who are viewed as wealthy targets of opportunity, is also a threat.

In April 2003, an American was the victim of a kidnapping and held for a short time until a ransom was paid. The victim appeared to have been randomly selected.

According to the advisory, the response of local law-enforcement authorities to the increase in violent crime has been largely ineffectual; the police are cooperative, but lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.

Touching on medical facilities available in Guyana , the advisory said medical care is available for minor medical conditions. Emergency care and hospitalisation for major medical illnesses or surgery is limited, due to a lack of appropriately trained specialists, below standard in-hospital care, and poor sanitation, the advisory stated.

It added that ambulance service is substandard and may not routinely be available for emergencies.

According to the advisory, a recent Guyanese report on security and safety at Guyana 's resorts stated that, out of the nine major resorts, only two had a written plan in the case of emergencies.

All of the major resorts had deficiencies in safety, including the lack of lifeguards who were easily identifiable, or the complete lack of lifeguards.

Many of the major resorts lacked adequately stocked first aid supplies.

The advisory declared that the rate of traffic accident fatalities in Guyana is 70% higher than in the US .

It noted that the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force is responsible for road safety, but is ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Driving in Guyana is described by the advisory as hazardous because of very poor road surfaces; lack of working traffic lights; farm animals sleeping or wandering on the roads; and poor driving habits, including speeding, reckless driving, tailgating, quick stops without signalling, failure to dim headlights and weaving in and out of traffic.

Mini-buses ply various routes both within and between cities on no fixed schedule.

The advisory noted that minibus drivers have come under severe criticism by the government, press and private citizens for speeding, aggressive and reckless driving, overloading of vehicles, poor vehicle maintenance and repair, and offensive remarks directed at passengers.

Minibuses have been involved in a number of fatal accidents.

Kaieteur News

Father admits leaving hungry child tied to wall

2006-06-11T16:56:00.000-04:00

Police are questioning the father who tied his seven-year-old son to a wall and left him without food for days in a South Sophia shack.

The father was discharged from hospital on Friday, after he was treated for a wound sustained when he tried to kill himself in the Brickdam Police Station lock-ups.

A police source said that during questioning, the father admitted tying up his son, since he claimed that the child was disobedient.

“He seh dat de boy does interfere with he things,” the source said.

According to the source, the father denied leaving the boy without food.

The seven-year-old was rescued by police a week ago, after persons in the area informed them of his plight.

He was taken to the Georgetown Hospital where he was admitted, suffering from starvation and dehydration.

He is reportedly recovering well.

The child's two other siblings managed to escape from the house, after they were forcibly taken from a city orphanage by their father.

The two of them are with their mother, who is on the run after the father threatened to kill her.

The source said that police are monitoring the father's actions closely while investigators are in the process of instituting charges against him.

Kaieteur News

Commonwealth, OAS observers for elections - EU demurs

2006-06-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

Sunday, June 11th 2006

The Commonwealth Secretariat will field an observer group to monitor the upcoming elections.

Commonwealth Secretary General Donald McKinnon, in a letter to Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon, dated May 19, 2006, said an assessment mission had determined that an observer group would be free to pursue its mandate and receive broad support. An assessment mission had been sent to Guyana as a result of an invitation by the government for a Commonwealth observer group.

In his letter, McKinnon expressed concern over the postponement of elections beyond the original constitutional deadline. "I hope that they would be held without further delays," he wrote. Elections are now constitutionally due by September 2, although there is concern over whether there would be enough time to satisfy the post-election constitutional requirements for the establishment of the new government and parliamentary session. This question is among the issues that are currently the subject of a legal action.

Meanwhile, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said on Friday that the Organisation of American States would also field an observer mission for elections, while the European Union (EU) has pledged one million euros (some $25M) to support the holding of the elections. The finances are in lieu of an observer mission. Dr Luncheon told reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday that the administration would respond to the EU's refusal to mount an observer team.

Stabroek News

Govt hands over $78M for city spruce up

2006-06-11T16:28:00.000-04:00

Sunday, June 11th 2006

Government on Friday released some $78M to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), which will be used for a massive sprucing-up of the city and its environs including the clearing of drains and repairing of roads.

Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams, said the money is actually to complete the first phase of a $200M enhancement project for Georgetown and this money would be used for roads and drains.

President Bharrat Jagdeo was on hand to present two excavators to M&CC as part of the $78M. The money will be used to buy materials to repair roads while $1M will be set aside for fuel for equipment owned by the municipality.

Giving an idea as to how the $200M would be spent, Williams said that $150M would be spent on roads and drains while $50M would be spent on beautifying the city and this would be done by effecting repairs to buildings.

He said proposals for the beautifying phase of the project, which would include City Hall, are now being studied by the President and it was expected that work would begin on them soon. Williams again touched on the improper disposal of plastics and foam materials which were continuing to clog city drains. He said the city would once again embark on a public awareness project to persuade persons to desist from such practices.

The deputy mayor said the projects would be executed by the M&CC and the Ministry of Works and it was hoped that phase one would be completed in record time so they could move on to phase two.

President Jagdeo in brief remarks said that the money was in keeping with a promise he had made previously. He also said that the vehicle promised to the accounts staff of the municipality would be made available shortly.

He went on to observe that the government was spending some $700M on the city and its outskirts this year. And while it would be hiring a firm to ensure all projects were done correctly and were completed within the time-frame the President urged that those at City Hall oversee the projects, even those that were outside their mandate and were not being executed by them. He said the boosting of the city would not be just for the Cricket World Cup, but also for the residents.

Stabroek News

Editorial (Stabroek News)

2006-06-11T16:26:00.000-04:00

Autopilot

Sunday, June 11th 2006

For outsiders who are unfamiliar with Guyana it must be a source of great puzzlement as to how this society functions at all. And it does - although only in a kind of a way. There are high-profile murders and other horrendous gun crimes which remain unsolved; various militias roam the land; weapons disappear from a GDF bond and only one is recovered; drugs flow in and out of the country unhindered - the corruption of the nation's institutions and some officials being the spin-off from this; a voice alleged to be that of the Police Commissioner is caught on tape obtained by what are believed to be criminal elements seeking his removal; a man named in a US grand jury indictment for importing cocaine tells the nation from his hiding place - among several other things - that he assisted in dealing with the crime crisis of 2002-03 and is the only person capable of thwarting a coup d'Ã©tat; and the matter of the elections is so uncertain and complicated that the public lost the thread of the story a long time ago.

Could all of this - and more - have really happened in one small country within the space of less than five months? Just who is in charge? Well, the short answer is, no one appears to be; the nation is operating on a form of autopilot. And it is not just the security framework which seems to have all but collapsed, but the social fabric has frayed in less dramatic ways as well. The rules of the road are a distant memory, and residents are assailed in their homes by levels of noise from others which the authorities seem powerless to stop. It doesn't matter that the laws are there on the statute book; it would seem that there is simply no sanction which can be enforced against breaking them. And if anyone wants to take private action by bringing a case in the courts - excepting the new Commercial Court which hasn't been tested as yet - the odds are it will be bogged down for aeons. Without effective sanctions you just don't have a society which functions in the ordinary sense of that term.

It is testimony to the innate discipline of the law-abiding members of the Guyanese citizenry, that they still try to go about their business in the normal way, sending their children to school, appearing for work every morning, discharging their duties as best they can in the case of the most conscientious of them, and at least at some level for those who are less so. Even without the economic strain which so many people have to bear, this is a very stressful country in which to live. No one can look into the future with any confidence even three months ahead, let alone three years, and only a rank optimist would be of the firm conviction that it will all sort itself out, although everyone naturally hopes that it will.

Of course we are told about the various achievements which have occurred under this or that administration, many of which under normal circumstances would undoubtedly be worthy of note. But the truth of the matter is that if you have a brand new house, but live in fear of being attacked by gunmen, then your well-appointed abode will give you little joy; and if a new road passing in front of your new house only serves to facilitate the mobility of criminals, then what should be an advantage ceases to be such. In short, infrastructural achievements mean very little in a context where no one is safe.

It is, of course, the government which is responsible for security, and there is little to add to what was said in last Monday's editorial on this subject, save to observe that while everyone agrees that foreign assistance for the police force is required, except where individual cases are concerned, this is unlikely to materialise on an official country to country basis with the urgency that is called for. Considering the situation in which we find ourselves, the administration could at least explore the possibility of seeking assistance from private foreign sources, as the Dominican Republic has done. The government does not appear to recognize that unless it gets some kind of a grip on the security situation in the not too distant future, then it could conceivably become almost impossible for it to put a brake on the centrifugal forces at work in the state.

And as for the rest of the muddle, the two main political parties could at least make a modest contribution to alleviating tension by ceasing their constant sniping at each other. Certainly, if the PPP/C and PNCR never held another press conference, the odds are it would not be noticed by the mass of the population.

More important, if between GECOM and themselves they cannot come to some rational compromise on the current imbroglio to get an election on the road, then really they should not be addressing the electorate at all, because they will have nothing to say that the voters need to hear.

Everyone is past concerning themselves with what the record of one or another party is; as said above, the fact that Guyana is still functioning in a kind of a way is no thanks to any of them. In our dreams we would like to have a country which is relatively secure, where the laws are enforced and by and large obeyed, and where standards of decency are upheld. As said above too, it is a credit to the people of Guyana that so many of them are still law abiding and decent. What we want is for what applies at the micro-level of the citizen to apply at the macro-level of the state.

Stabroek News

Teen among three held

2006-06-09T14:29:00.000-04:00

Teen among three held

for schoolgirl's murder

Up to press time, police in Berbice were trying to locate the whereabouts of two men from the Number 19 Warren area.

They say that the men may be able to provide information that would help solve the murder of 16-year old Roshni Partabsingh of Number 19 Warren.

Just after midday on Wednesday, police picked three suspects, one of whom is a 16-year-old. The other two are in their 20s. One of the suspects is from Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice. He was said to be in the area hours before the schoolgirl was killed.

The body of the Fifth Form, Berbice Educational Institute student was discovered with the throat slashed some time after 01:00hrs on Wednesday. The victim also appeared to have been raped.

It was customary for the teen to sleep over at her neighbour, 65-year-old Budnia, who lives about three doors away from the girl's parents. The woman and a physically challenged relative occupy the home since her relatives reside abroad.

Budnia, on Wednesday, told the Kaieteur News that she awakened to find a man standing over her. She said that since the place was in darkness, she could not recognise him.

He subsequently tied her up, beat her and took her to the lower flat where he left her with her handicapped relative.

Nothing was stolen during the assault, forcing the authorities to rule out robbery as a motive.

After the sexagenarian managed to free her feet, she made her way across the street to a neighbour who freed her. She then raised an alarm.

The girl's mother, Sunita Partabsingh, said that they were not aware of anything until they heard the neighbour shouting for them.

He told them that bandits were at Budnia's house. When villagers got themselves together and entered the home, no one strange was found. Instead the woman found her daughter lying face down.

Upon inspection she discovered that the girl was dead.

Roshni Partabsingh was the third of five children. The teen's life was cut short just as she was about to complete the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination. Her last two subjects should have been written on June 12 and June 13.

Kaieteur News

PNCR says PPP paying protestors

2006-06-09T14:28:00.000-04:00

- accusation rubbish, silly, baseless - PPP

The People's National Congress (PNC) has accused People's Progressive Party (PPP) activists of paying picketers to protest in front of the Office of the President.

Over the last week, scores of persons have been calling for the resignation of Police Commissioner Winston Felix.

But Information Liaison to the President Robert Persaud in an invited comment dismissed the claim as rubbish, adding that he will not be caught up in responding to every silly, baseless accusation that emanates from Congress Place .

According to Executive Member of the PNC Kadim Khan, PPP activists in the villages of Good Intent, Sisters and Patentia on the West Bank of Demerara were actively involved in the mobilisation of persons to be part of the picketing exercise sponsored by organised crime.

According to him, these persons are being paid $3000 and $4000 for each day they appear on the picket line.

“The PNC now calls on the PPP/C to explain their connections with these picketing exercises which are organised with the intention of promoting the interests of organised crime. The PPP/C must also explain how its support for organised crime can promote the interests of the people of Guyana ,” Khan said.

The PNC also added that the recent letter by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to the Commissioner of Police purporting to be seeking an immediate explanation of the allegations made against him is most worrying.

The party said it is well known that the basis of allegations against the Commissioner of Police is the dubious recordings produced by criminal enterprise. It added that given the fact that today's technology allows for limitless manipulation of recordings, these recordings are not a credible basis for allegations against the Commissioner of Police. Consequently, the Prime Minister's letter must be viewed as an excursion into the dark that can only benefit criminal enterprise, the PNC said.

According to the PNC, it is now public knowledge that at the time of the writing of the letter the government was aware that the FBI had requested the original recording before it could authenticate the voices or the conversation. “This is no doubt a significant development that renders the recording impotent as a basis for anything other than gossip and slander,” Khan opined.

The party posited that the statement by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon that the government could no longer await the response of the FBI is a clear indication that the PPP/C intends to proceed to act against the Commissioner without due process.

It added that the fact that this letter was sent confirms the collaboration between the Bharrat Jagdeo government and the ‘narco enterprise'.

The party says another source for concern is the timing of the Prime Minister's letter.

It noted that the letter was dispatched shortly after the Joint Services had recovered one of the missing AK-47s from persons connected to organised crime, who are involved in acts of terror against Guyanese citizens.

The PNC says it has also confirmed the Joint Services statement that the criminal enterprise is actively recruiting ex-military persons in order to promote further terror and create instability. These developments, the party believes, should have been of grave concern to the PPP/C government.

Khan posited that the fact that the government chose to ignore this most ominous development and instead attempts to weaken the authority of the Commissioner of Police shows clearly that either the PPP government believes that it can benefit from instability and terror created by the criminal enterprise or the PPP is aware of and supports the efforts of organised crime in their fight against the security forces.

Kaieteur News

Big Bollywood Bashment

2006-06-09T12:58:00.000-04:00

DJ Stress Party tomorrow night

Before we say anything else about this weekend’s big event, we have to give some props to our boy DJ Stress. There is no getting away from the fact that Paul Bonar looks like an average guy if you catch him during the day time…but on any given Friday night, this guy gets into one side of a taxi, does a quick change and emerges on the other side as Super DJ.

With his two shows – Rock Zone and the Back in Time Party – held at the recently spruced up Club Sky 7 on Independence Weekend, DJ Stress saved what would otherwise have been a bland and boring three days in GT. This guy is quickly establishing his own brand name in Guyana, putting the “Stress” stamp on a variety of big events from boat cruises to rock and roll parties.

Now this Saturday, DJ Stress’ Bollywood Nite Dance Party is back at the Thirst Park Sports Club from 7pm after an initial postponement last week. There ain’t much to say except that if you like Bollywood, you’ve got to be there…and if even if you are new to the music, you can get no better intro to it than a DJ Stress initiation. Weekend Confidential shall be there.

What’s On
A Mixed Bag
This weekend, you have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. How we long for the days when there were like fifteen events on a single weekend and the joint patrols did their partying at city night spots on Saturday night like everyone else…

What can we say, it’s an election year…
This weekend, Oasis Café – that steaming, hot little coffee shop on Carmichael Street – will be showing us some of the opening games for the FIFA World Cup 2006. Watch those amazing Brazilians – the footballers, not the girls at certain night spots around the city – do their thing well sipping on a nice hot cappuccino. The display by new artist Sharka Lee is still up there and we recommend you check out the particularly enthralling piece in the reading room. Rumour has it that a publicity-shy, British guy is scheduled to display some of his wilful, yet rambling and vibrant watercolours – Van Gogh at Baganara – there in a couple of days. We’ll keep you posted.

We were walking along by the St. George’s Cathedral the other day – during daylight hours we insist on adding – when the name Arly’s caught our eye. On North Road, the second building from King Street, is one of those little unique places that you stumble across every now and then in GT. While you can get your little pastries or creole food there Arly’s specialty is ice-cream, locally made and locally priced but looking and tasting like one of those ridiculously expensive things that gas stations sell. And then the best surprise of all…ice cream cakes. That’s it. Cake, made out of ice cream. Gentlemen, if you think vodka and orange juice was the most efficient IPR, you have never treated your lady to a chocolate ice cream cake from Arly’s. What are you waiting for?

We are always GLAD to give support to SASOD, and we do so with Pride. Now that piece of tasteless punning is over, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination is hosting its second Painting the Spectrum Film Festival here in Georgetown. Tonight at the Sidewalk Café it’s the South Africa Moviethon featuring one feature-length film, Proteus and several shorter films. Just to give you an idea of the type of film that is being shown, just note that the festival opened with Brokeback Mounting (not sure we got the name right) last week. SASOD seems to be keeping the best films, like Better than Chocolate for example, for during the week for reasons we cannot fathom. Month end however, we can look forward to Dinner Party this month end. Special guest speaker is going to be SASOD Patron and Honorary Member, Mr. Roger Williams…or not. Showtime, by the way, is 7 pm.

The Reisha Rush
When we published the profile on Reisha Hariraj last week, we had no idea that we would get the kind of response that we did. Young men from across the country, eager to meet the “lovely, laid-back lass” sent in mail after mail asking us to hook them up with Reisha. We hereby publish the letters of the top three candidates:

Our man, Hugh A. writes:
“I read about Reisha Hariraj and was quite intrigued. Could you send my address to her so that we could get more acquainted?

Thanks,
Sexy Blue eyes”

Wendell B. tells us:
“Hey, Mr. Editor of Weekend Confidential! I am responding to the ad in the papers of Ms Hariraj. I am very interested in going on a date with her, which should give me the chance to get to know her better. My name is Wendell (my friends call me Welchie), I am 17 years old; I am of mixed race. I used to attend Christ Church Secondary School. I would like to go on a date with Ms Hariraj at any time convenient to her. If possible she can contact me on telephone number [provided],or she can give me her number. I am really looking forward to meeting this beauty.

Sincerely yours,
Wendell

And finally, Surendra M. sent us the following:
“Hello, my name is Surendra and I read your article about Ms. Reisha Hariraj last week. I don't usually do these kind of things, but I couldn't help but notice certain qualities that Ms Hariraj and I share alike. Both of us are presently single and are looking for someone. It is my request that you forward this message to Ms. Hariraj along with my e-mail address [provided]. There are no strings attached, please fell free to e-mail me at anytime.”

We have forwarded all messages to Reisha and she’ll take it from there. All we can say guys is good going cause faint heart never won fair lady. Go brave. And if any of you gets anywhere significant, we want some wedding cake.

Confidential Feedback
Tessa On Life, the Universe and Everything
Ever since she lit a bonfire under our behinds because of a lacklustre edition of Weekend Confidential, we have relied on occasional feedback from the real girl herself, Tessa Bacchus to tell us where we got it wrong and where we got it right. Last week’s issue promote Tessa to send us her longest critical missive to date.

Dear Editor,
Regarding “From Ghana with love”. How dare Weekend Confidential publish a person's letter and their picture for kick on such a delicate matter?? Well, she deserved it for thinking that in Guyana candlelight dinners are romantic, and that there's actually a "beach" she can freely walk on without the fear of being robbed and/or sodomised. People just trying to get out of Guyana and she trying to come; it can't be that bad in Ghana. Maybe she's relying on the kindness of a businessman who is filthy rich from some illicit activity. She is cute though…if that's her picture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm disappointed in your profile. She's not even 18 and looking for a man and advertising it. She should be concentrating on making something of herself....it raises my IRE to see young women talking about what kinda man they want. They don't even know themselves. Please make sure all your profiles are over 18; she can't even vote so who cares. Last week’s profile Ms. Dundas was nice; however, that picture was damn unflattering. So she actually agreed to have that published? Maybe someone told her she looked cute or maybe because I'm a woman I don't want to see a woman lying on a bed in that kind of pose, no Brokeback cowgirl here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GT&T website has been lame since forever. Have you ever tried using the online directory to find a number?

Tessa B.
Ed. Response. While the letter writer in “From Ghana with love” actually requested that her picture be used we seriously believe the picture was taken from a magazine, probably “Essence”. And we find your comment on candlelight dinners unfair. Also unfair is your comment about robbery and sodomy on Guyana’s beaches: while robbery on the beaches have remained pretty stable over the past couple of years, random sodomy of romantic strollers has dropped drastically to roughly one-twentieth of 1992 figures.

With regard to the profile, we agree to ensure that person featured in the future are 18 and above; however, you should remember that the Age of Consent is 16. By the way, when you say that young women don’t know themselves – are you, for simple clarification sake, referring to existential or biblical knowledge? With reference to Nevillean’s picture, she had actually sent us another one

And finally you call the Ghana girl cute and then you deny you have any Sapphic tendencies…right.

Guyana Chronicle

Khan, others see plot to pin Waddell murder on them

2006-06-09T12:54:00.000-04:00

Friday, June 9th 2006

The lawyers for four wanted men currently embroiled in a tussle with the law enforcement agencies have said that their clients have advised them that an attorney-at-law law has procured eyewitnesses to state that they were the ones who executed Talk Show Host, Ronald Waddell earlier this year.

The wanted men are: Roger Khan, Paul Rodrigues, Ricardo Rodrigues and Gerald Perreira. Police had issued wanted bulletins for all four men in March but their lawyers have challenged the bulletin in the courts saying that the police had no right to do such a thing. The matter is currently before the courts. Waddell was shot 13 times in his car just as he was about to drive out from his Subryanville home. Up to now police have not charged anyone for the murder, although they had detained and questioned a few men who have connections with the wanted quartet. None of the senior functionaries of the police force could be reached for a comment on the matter yesterday.

The lawyers however forwarded by way of letter, the allegation to the Director of Public Prosecutions (ag) as well as the Attorney General.

According to the letter issued by the Chambers of Hanoman and Associates and signed by Glenn Hanoman and Vic Puran, their clients instructed them to write the two agencies. "Our clients have been reliably informed that an attorney-at-law has procured two witnesses to falsely state that they were witnesses to a murder (Waddell)." The lawyers said that they were further informed that the attorney and a high ranking police official have conspired to cause a report to be made at a police station so that charges of murder could be brought against the quartet. "It is to be noted that this manoeuvre comes days after the Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin called for witnesses to come forward and that private criminal charges be laid against our clients," the attorneys said in their letter. Corbin during a public rally in Linden recently had called on persons whose loved ones were killed during the death squad era to come forward and mount private criminal charges against Khan who admitted that he helped fight crime during the escapee-led crime wave in 2002-3. A source close to Khan had also told this newspaper that the businessman, who has been indicted for conspiring to import cocaine into the USA, used members of the now disbanded Target Special Squad TSS and ex-convicts in his crime fight.

While the police said that they do not know for certain who killed Waddell, speculation was rife at the time of his demise that the killers had some connections to the notorious Phantom Squad.

Freed murder accused, Shawn Hinds, and two relatives of murdered 'hitman' Axel Williams were arrested and locked up for several days over the matter. They were subsequently released on station bail.

Stabroek News

Alleged sex abuse stepfather flees with family

2006-06-09T12:53:00.000-04:00

Friday, June 9th 2006

Welfare officers from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security were prevented from investigating alleged physical and sexual abuse of some girls by their stepfather as the man reportedly got wind of their impending visit and fled with the family, according to Permanent Secretary, Trevor Thomas.

Stabroek News had received a letter from "concerned mothers" at Pearl and Sarah Johanna villages on the East Bank Demerara who alleged that the man has been abusing the girls, aged between 14 and nine, for a number of years.

This newspaper immediately contacted the ministry's welfare department and sent a copy of the letter to the relevant authorities.

According to Thomas, his officers informed him that since receiving the letter they have been visiting the home "day and night" but always found the house tightly locked.

The officers have approached the ranks from the Timehri Police Station for assistance and they have joined the search for the man, the children and their mother.

Thomas told Stabroek News that they received information that the man has a farm up the Demerara River and the police made checks there, but did not find him.

According to the letter, the mothers are "saddened by the slave treatment" meted out to the three girls on a daily basis by the man. They alleged that the stepfather impregnated the eldest girl, aged 14. They said the children's mother knew of the abuse, which has been going on for about four years. She reportedly told the girls that if the man went to jail they would starve. They alleged that the eldest girl did domestic work around the village and when she was paid she purchased clothes for herself and sisters. The mothers said that the youngest roams the village for a little "food here and there," and they are not allowed any friends.

"He would get the mother drunk and have sexual pleasure with the girls one after the other. Sometimes (name given) would hide in the wardrobe to get away from him but that does not stop him. (Name given) the eldest is presently pregnant for him," the mothers said.

The girls are not registered and do not attend school.

"Our hearts go out to these kids. A few years ago some public-spirited person tried to assist after seeing the children being beaten with electric wires in order for the stepfather to do what he wants with them. They were in touch with the welfare officer who advised the Timehri police to arrest the man," the letter said.

They said that the man was arrested but the case was handled "badly" as the girls and the mother were questioned in the same room with the man. The mother had warned the girls that if they talked against him he would kill them and the children were not taken to the doctor and examined.

"We felt that this could have stopped if it was dealt with correctly," the mothers lamented.

Stabroek News

Guyana Tape Gate: FBI Says Tapes Not Original

2006-06-08T10:58:00.000-04:00

Guyana’s Police Commissioner, Winston Felix. (HBN File Photo)

Hardbeatnews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Thurs. June 9, 2006: Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have reportedly claimed they could not authenticate the controversial taped conversations that allegedly occurred between the country’s police commissioner and a member of the main opposition party because the tapes sent to them were not the originals.

That’s the word from Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who made the disclosure during his weekly post-cabinet news conference at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

Luncheon said the disclosure presents “some formidable challenges,” adding, “I think we might as well hang that up (since) I don’t know where you are going to get an original or authentic copy.”

Still the cabinet head said there are other ways of establishing authenticity and more advice on the matter will be sought from other “technical people.”

Commissioner Winston Felix on Tuesday apparently met the government’s deadline for him to respond to the allegations. It is unclear what Felix told Prime Minister Sam Hinds but yesterday Luncheon stated, “There is the view that the request for explanations…could indeed very well be answered with a flat denial (by Felix).”

A copy of portions of the conversations, obtained by HBN, reveal two men, alleged to be Felix and a Peoples National Congress member, chatting about a range of issues including the Agricola and Eccles, East Bank Demerara murder of eight persons, the police response time to the crime, the murder of Shaka Blair, the general election and the discussions of a kidnapping, as well as reactions to criticism by Gerry Gouveia and Norman McLean of the Chamber of Commerce on the police efforts to tackle crime.

The man, presumed to be Felix tells the other to laughter, “These Putagee people talking a lot of sc--- banna.”

Hinds has to advise the President if misbehavior was deemed following which a tribunal has to be appointed to investigate the allegations of misconduct. Felix, though, according to the Guyana Chronicle, is due to go on pre-retirement leave on August 15. – Hardbeatnews.com

Guyanese indicted in US immigration scam

2006-06-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

Thursday, June 8th 2006

Two Guyanese were among thirty people arrested after being indicted by a US court on charges involving a fraudulent immigration document scheme in Queens, New York, United States of America.

The two Guyanese are Narine Jairam, 44, and Tulsi Ramrup, 50. According to a US Attorney Southern District of New York press release the two and the others conspired with Phillip A. Browne, formerly employed by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and Beverly Mozer-Browne to provide false green cards for fees ranging between US$8,000 and US$16,000.

Mozer-Browne owned and operated a business in Queens, New York, called Help Preparers Professional Services (HPPS) which was used as front, the indictment alleged.

Persons seeking the green cards were provided with sham marriage documents in two ways. One was that Mozer-Browne and her co-conspirators paid US citizens to enter into the sham marriages. Or phony documentation was produced stating that a marriage to a US citizen had happened in the past.

Stabroek News

Teenager, raped, killed in bed

2006-06-08T10:35:00.000-04:00

By Jeune Bailey Van-Keric


DEATH BED: Ramesh Sarabjit points to the bed where the teen was slain

A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD girl, a night companion for an elderly female neighbour for years, was yesterday morning brutally raped and her throat slashed by unknown men who invaded the house at Bangal Street, Plantation Warren, Corentyne, Berbice.

Roshni Pertabsingh was writing the Caribbean Secondary Certificate Examinations now under way and had been a companion at nights for her neighbour, Budhia, also known as ‘Dodo Girl’, 65, whose husband has been living for six months a year in the United States.

Neighbours hearing shouts from the house around midnight, said when they got there, they found the student on a bed with her throat slashed. Her underwear had been pulled down to her ankles and there were cuts about her private parts, they said.

They said the attackers bound the hands and feet of the old lady with electrical wire. Budhia said they also gagged her mouth but she managed to work the gag aside and shout for help.

The teen’s mother, Bhojmattie Pertabsingh, said Roshni, about three years ago, began sleeping at Budhia’s home.

She recalled that the neighbour went to their house at about 18:30 h Tuesday for her daughter.

“I did not finish preparing dinner, but she said it was alright as she will give the girl some fried rice”, she said.

According to the mother, Roshni was a bit hesitant in going but she urged her to go as the neighbour was elderly and needed company.

The grieving mother recalled that while sleeping at about 00:30 h yesterday, she was awakened by shouts from other neighbours that invaders were in Budhia’s house.

She said she and her husband went over to the house, four house lots away, where she called for her daughter but got no answer.

She said she went to the upper flat of the two-storeyed building and moving through the home which was in darkness, she got to the bedroom occupied by her daughter.

The mother said that when she reached the bed, she turned her daughter over on her back and felt something cold and sticky, like blood.

Fearing that the girl, her third child, was dead, she rushed downstairs to tell her husband.

Ramesh Sarabjit, a neighbour, said he heard shouts of “Thief! Thief!” at about 23:45 h and armed with a cutlass, went over to the house of Budhia, his uncle’s wife.

He said she was not at home when he got there but the doors were open and he went to a bedroom where he saw the teen lying with her underwear pulled to her ankles. The man said the girl’s throat was slit and there were several chops on her private parts.

Sarabjit said he rushed to the Nazarene Church on the main road where he rung the bell, alerting villagers to the tragedy.

He explained that the villagers had collectively agreed that whenever there was an incident in the village, the church bell must be rung as a warning.

Next door neighbour Onawattie Kalicharran was awakened when Budhia called out to her.

She said she saw that the woman’s hands were bound with electrical wire. According to her, Budhia stated that her mouth had been gagged and her feet were also bound but she managed to loosen herself.

Neighbours felt two persons had entered the house but no forced point of entry had been identified up to late yesterday.

Budhia was not at home when the Guyana Chronicle visited yesterday morning as she had gone to the New Amsterdam Hospital to seek medical attention

Her relatives said it was not known where or how the men entered the house which has protective grill work. This newspaper was also informed that nothing was stolen from the home.

Roshni’s best friend, Sapna Seemangal, also a student of Berbice Educational Institute, told this newspaper that when she received a telephone call yesterday morning, she thought that her friend was playing a prank with her, as she had planned to attend the Guyana School of Agriculture on completing her secondary education, but Roshni was not in agreement.

However, on visiting the home, some four miles away, it was confirmed that her best friend of four years had been killed.

Seemangal said her friend had once confided in her about a relationship which she wanted to end after discovering that the boyfriend had other relationships.

Police have taken Roshni’s personal diary.

Roshni had completed writing six of the eight subjects she had entered for the current exams.

She leaves to mourn four siblings and her parents Madan and Bhojmattie Pertabsingh.

Guyana Chronicle

Guyanese jailed for 19 years

2006-06-08T10:32:00.000-04:00

New York lover killing:
Guyanese jailed for 19 years

By ALEX GINSBERG

NEW YORK POST -- A Brooklyn phone-book deliveryman will do 19 years to life in prison for savagely murdering his girlfriend, a judge ruled (Tuesday) after hearing heartbreaking words from the victim's 9-year-old daughter.

"Dear Judge," the girl wrote in a short statement read by her aunt before sentencing. "My name is Karen Princess Abigail Bailey. I am 9 years old. My mom was beautiful. I miss her very much."

The letter, written in pencil on a plain white sheet of paper, brought tears to the family of Vanessa Bailey. The immigrant from Guyana was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, Henry Jacobs, three weeks after she arrived in the United States.

At the bottom of the page, the girl turned her mother's name into an acronym, using the "N" to stand for "Nice mom and a loving mom," the "E" for "Eats and cooks good" and the "A" for "A loving mom and I will love her forever and ever."

In a closing note, the child added, "Put him away forever."

Jacobs, 38, wearing jeans and a gray sweatshirt, said nothing before receiving sentence. His lawyer, Samuel Karliner, said his client wished he could take back the bloody Oct. 17, 2004, killing inside a Lincoln Road apartment.

"He has always been remorseful for the events of that day," Karliner said.

During the trial last month, Jacobs took the stand, admitting he stabbed his 26-year-old girlfriend for whom he'd spent his life savings to help gain illegal entry to the United States.

But he argued he'd lost his wits and gone into a rage shortly after her arrival in New York when Bailey told him the relationship was over.

"Everything happened in [slow] motion," he told the jury. "I really can't remember."

The tactic generated little sympathy from the victim's loved ones.

"Is this the American dream you brought her here for?" raged aunt Evelyn Bailey in a victim-impact statement. "To be taken back to Guyana in a casket?"

Turning to face Jacobs, she called him an "ugly bastard" and demanded he meet her gaze.

But Jacobs did not.

"You are like a spider that got caught in your own web of lies," she thundered, adding that the family didn't want to hear any apologies from him.

Jurors were unconvinced by the "extreme emotional distress" argument and found him guilty of intentional murder. Justice John Leventhal could have sentenced him to as little as 15 years to life or as long as 25 years to life.

"No matter how many years I can give him, Mr. Jacobs, it's not going to erase the pain from the family's heart," Leventhal said.

"I wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all go away. I can't."

Relatives said they were hoping for the maximum, but nevertheless were at peace with the sentence.

"The judge has made his decision," said Evelyn Bailey. "Whatever decision the judge made, it's alright with me."

Edwin Bailey, the 24-year-old son of Vanessa, was one of two men who heard the commotion and pulled the murderous Jacobs off the helpless woman when she was slain.

Guyana Chronicle

-wife of Roger Khan speaks out

2006-06-07T22:20:00.000-04:00

Persons detained by Joint Services
again without charge

-wife of Roger Khan speaks out

The Joint Services continued its intense campaign yesterday in the search of the missing army weapons in an operation, which saw women and children associated with embattled businessman Roger Khan detained and items carried away.

Reputed wife of Khan , Ashanti Schultz, told Kaieteur News yesterday that her sister, Alana Schultz, and her two-year-old daughter were bundled into a Joint Services vehicle at 07:00hrs. The vehicle raced off to dispatch them at police headquarters, Eve Leary.

The common-law wife of Sean Belfield, Amanda King, was among several persons detained.

Belfield was with Khan along with Haroon Yayah when they were held by the army at Good Hope in 2002 in connection with weapons and sophisticated computer equipment found in a nearby pick-up.

Another woman and two elderly men were among those placed in the lock-ups at Eve Leary last night.

Attorney-at-law representing Khan's interests, Glenn Hanoman, told Kaieteur News last evening that the woman's young son stood tearfully outside the police compound while his mother was being detained and was clearly traumatised.

He said the Joint Services ranks did not show any pity for the lad's situation, and offered no assistance to ensure that he was looked after while his mother was incarcerated.

Hanoman stated that the two elderly men were picked up at a housing scheme at Farm, East Bank Demerara.

One is a security guard in his 60s.

A statement from the Joint Services said that following leads, their operation moved to Dream Works Housing Development at Farm, East Bank Demerara.

At that location, two persons were detained, and a 17-foot ‘go-fast' boat, a Canter truck, and a small safe were seized.

According to the lawyer, a vehicle with a Dream Works sign was taken away by the ranks and the two men, including the security guard, who were on the location at the time.

He said the boat was previously held by the Joint Services and recently released by the courts.

Ashanti Schultz told this newspaper that Khan currently has nothing to do with the housing scheme, having sold off the houses after construction was completed.

She stated he still has some vehicles parked up there.

Hanoman related that a senior police rank at Eve Leary said the persons detained cannot be released, as permission has to be given by Deputy Police Commissioner Henry Greene, who the senior officer said was not feeling well and had gone home for the day.

The lawyer stated that an army rank at Eve Leary said Lieutenant Colonel Gary Best will get in contact with the police about the two elderly men.

Khan issued a brief statement yesterday through his lawyer, expressing apologies to all persons connected to him and his supporters for the harassment they are experiencing, which are caused by the raids being carried by the Joint Services.

“I urge you to remain steadfast against the Joint Services' abuses and to be vigilant to ensure no AK-47s or any illegal items are planted on anyone's premises,” Khan said through his lawyer.

The Joint Services ranks went to Hibiscus Place , a housing scheme at Blankenburg constructed by Khan, and raided several houses there yesterday.

Ashanti Schultz said she received a call early yesterday morning from her sister who lives at Hibiscus Place .

The Joint Services raid was ongoing at the time and the ranks wanted the combination for a safe that was inside her sister's house.

Ashanti Schultz, who owns the safe, said while talking to her sister, she heard the ranks hollering on her and the phone was abruptly hung up.

She said she was later informed that the ranks had left with her sister and two-year-old baby.

She called around to several places frantically trying to locate her sister and was eventually told that she was taken to Eve Leary.

Upon arriving at Eve Leary, Ashanti Schultz was made to open the safe.

The contents were jewelry and cheques seen by the ranks after which the safe was locked and detained.

A cellular phone and a computer belonging to Alana Schultz were also taken into custody by the ranks.

Ashanti Schultz was one of three persons arrested by the Joint Services in March this year at her home in Eccles.

The three are presently before the courts on the charge of illegal possession of ammunition.

Three .22 rounds were allegedly found at the Eccles house during the raid.

Ashanti Schultz said she was humiliated during the raid, as the ranks strip-searched her while saying they were looking for guns and drugs.

Her jeep which was in a workshop at the time was hauled out by the ranks and detained.

Ashanti Schultz said she has since moved out of her Eccles home and has withdrawn her child from school out of fear that they are being targeted.

She and her brother were locked up for three days in March.

Another sister, Rosanna Alert, was later arrested at the home of their cousin, Paul Rodrigues, when the Joint Services subsequently raided his house.

Rodrigues is one of four men, including Khan, for whom the police issued wanted bulletins.

Ashanti Schultz said the police have seized her daughter's Trinidad and Tobago passport, together with those belonging to Alert and herself.

“I don't know why they are harassing us. Everything is Roger, Roger. What has he done? Persons are being robbed and killed every day. Why are they not going behind those criminals?” she questioned.

Hanoman pointed out that no arrest warrant has been issued by the police for Khan nor has he been charged for any offence.

He said it was disturbing to know that the law enforcement agencies are putting so many resources towards harassing one man and those associated with him, when they have nothing which could make up a charge against the person.

He stated that if the police want somebody in connection with a crime, the first step is to issue an arrest warrant.

He pointed out that the wanted bulletins issued a few months ago for Khan and three others were challenged in court and the judge ruled a nisi order deeming them illegal.

The lawyer noted that the wanted bulletins have since been withdrawn.

The Joint Services have been targeting homes and businesses associated with Khan since the operation began in mid-March.

Among the places raided several times were a sawmilling complex in Kaow Island , the offices of Dream Works and Magic Touch Carpet Cleaners, the homes of Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues, Ricardo Rodrigues, and Gerald Pereira, and a house located in D'Aguiar's Park.

Blue Iguana in Alberttown and the Reef in Kitty have also been raided and several times searched, though Khan has no business interests in the establishments.

Kaieteur News

Citizens Bank sues Govt.

2006-06-07T22:19:00.000-04:00

Citizens Bank sues Govt. over
defaulting Bauxite Bonds

In what is being seen as an eminent move, Citizens Bank has moved to the High Court in relation to the Government's default on its US$20M bauxite bonds, which matured on May 17.

The writ, issued on June 1 by Senior Counsel Rex Mc Kay, Senior Counsel Miles Fitzpatrick and Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo, stated that if the amount claimed had been paid within four days further proceedings would have been stayed.

Sources state that this was not done.

According to court documents, Citizens Bank Guyana Inc. identified as the plaintiff in the case is claiming firstly US$21,482,167.62 and secondly 4,001,296.74Euros, being monies due and payable to the plaintiff as the registered legal and beneficial owner of the said bonds.

The bank also claims a 5% per annum rate from May 18, 2006 until fully paid.

The Attorney General, Doodnauth Singh, is the defendant in the case and has to respond in person on Monday June 19. Failure to do so could see judgment being given to the plaintiff.

Citizens Bank is one of many bondholders involved in a sub-participation agreement on bauxite bonds originally issued to creditors of Guyana Mining Enterprise (GUYMINE) in 1994 following the restructuring of the bauxite industry.

Court documents stated that on January 4 this year the Minister of Finance Sasenarine Kowlessar wrote to Alan Parris, the Managing Director of Citizens Bank, admitting that the plaintiff is the registered holder of the sold bonds.

Further, the documents stated that on May 18 this year the plaintiff wrote the Accountant General, Ministry of Finance, Hardutt Autar, indicating to him that the plaintiff will present and surrender the sold bonds for payment.

“Paragraph 3 of our bond Documents specifies that the bonds are redeemable by payment of outstanding principal and interest, payable upon presentation and surrender of the bond at your office. In this connection, please advise us of a convenient time when we may present our bonds and receive payment in regard of our matured bonds,” the letter stated.

Court documents suggest that Autar never responded.

The plaintiff claims that, at a meeting held at the Ministry of Finance on May 4, the Minister of Finance verbally advised officers of the bank that the Government was seeking a minimum of 90% debt relief by arbitrarily applying Paris Club terms to payment of the bonds.

The lawsuit claims that on May 24 officers employed by the plaintiff met with Autar at his office to present and surrender the said bonds and receive payment of the principal and outstanding interest due.

Further, the suit noted that, upon presentation of the said bonds for surrender, Autar told the officers that he was advised not to accept the bonds and refused to make payment of the amount due on any of the bonds that total 15.

Government's decision to use Paris Club terms has not been well received in financial circles.

A financial source said that to use the Paris Club Terms would be flawed, since those debt relief terms apply to national debt where relief is granted country to country.

The government has been mum on how it will go about using the Paris Club Terms, but a source indicated that the Paris Club Terms have broadened relief measures to include debt owing to multilateral agencies like the IMF and the World Bank.

But President of the Banker's Association, Michael Archibald, like fellow experts, believes that the Paris Club Terms could in no way be applicable to a purely commercial bond.

Financial experts agree that the move by the bank to resort to legal proceedings underscores the importance of the bonds, because in many cases Government financial instruments account for a major part of revenues generated by many of the local financial institutions

Archibald told Kaieteur News that many financial institutions are concerned by the Government's apparent inaction in settling the issue expeditiously.

“Anybody that has Government financial instruments would have to be concerned,” Archibald said.

Archibald, who is also the Managing Director of Republic Bank ( Guyana ), told Kaieteur News yesterday that the Government's decision to seek Paris Club Terms on the bonds after they defaulted was not in the original agreement.

He noted that the Government has stuck to its word by honouring the agreement to pay an annual interest on the bonds, and could not understand why they would default when the bonds matured.

Archibald further stated that the Government should have entered into some form of consultation with bondholders as is done with other defaulters.

There are several other bondholders who have remained silent.

Yesterday the Government refused to comment as members of the financial spectrum tried to contact the Minister of Finance Kowlessar to no avail.

Kaieteur News understands that the issue was discussed at yesterday's cabinet meeting, and details could be released today during Dr. Roger Luncheon's post-cabinet media briefing.

Kaieteur News

Commissioner responds to Prime Minister

2006-06-07T22:16:00.000-04:00

Kaieteur News

The Alliance For Change poll

2006-06-07T01:57:00.000-04:00

The Alliance For Change poll

Mixed voters hold balance of power

Washington-based polling firm, Frank Luntz and Associates, conducted a poll last March to garner voters' opinion on the political climate in Guyana , the manner in which national issues have been addressed, and their choice of President for the upcoming general elections among other matters.

This survey was conducted through 1,036 in-person interviews in all parts of Guyana . The interviewers were recruited and trained by Frank Luntz and Associates.

The survey was taken in such a way that it reflects a statistically valid sample of the entire electorate in Guyana .

According to the pollster, were every single voter in the nation to be interviewed, there is a 95 per cent chance that the final results would vary from those in the survey by three points or less one way or the other.

In technical terms, this means that there is a 95 per cent confidence of a statistical margin of error of plus or minus three points.

Below, Kaieteur News publishes a summary of the poll:

Guyana is a country that is tiring of the sharp racial divisions, which have characterized its politics for the past 40 years. With about a quarter of the vote cast by racially ‘mixed' voters and an increasing disenchantment with the leadership of both political parties by their respective ethnic constituencies, the time is ripe for major change and racial healing.

The voters agree that the Alliance For Change (AFC), under the leadership of Raphael Trotman, offers a chance to transcend race and bring the nation together. The high hopes the nation has for the AFC are particularly prevalent in the African-Guyanese community but are present in the Indian neighborhoods as well.

Indeed, the interesting thing about Guyana today is how the mixed voters and the Indian voters have increasingly negative opinions of the PPP/C and how the mixed and Black voters are developing negative attitudes toward the PNCR.

This alienation of the parties from their traditional ethnic voter bases opens the door wide to the AFC.

Can the AFC Win?

While the odds are against AFC actually winning the presidency outright, the chances are excellent that it will command a large enough share of the vote - and therefore of Parliament - to be the crucial balance of power between the two other parties, giving it the pivotal, powerful role in national policy.

The survey indicates that AFC, despite never having run a national campaign, starts out with an excellent vote share. At the moment, Raphael Trotman, as the candidate of the AFC, runs a strong third:

In the votes for president, PPP/C's Bharrat Jagdeo gained 29%, PNCR's Robert Corbin got 26% and Trotman 14%. The undecided voters made up 31%.

The high undecided vote, and the fact that Trotman opens the race with half the vote total of either of his much better known rivals, indicates that his chances for amassing a large vote are excellent.

But even if Trotman just wins the 14% of the vote he is now getting, it would suffice to be the balance of power after the election. With PPP/C's Jagdeo and PNC/R's Corbin running neck and neck, Trotman's vote is obviously in a position to make or break either party. When this strength is reflected in Parliament, it is the key balance of power.

Mixed voters give Trotman his best showing, awarding him one vote in five. His 20% of the mixed vote is right on the heels of the 28% Corbin wins.

In the vote for president among mixed voters, Jagdeo received 15%, Corbin 28% and Trotman 20%. The undecided were 37%.

Again, the large undecided vote among mixed voters indicates a high level of dissatisfaction with Corbin and the PNCR - good news for the AFC.

But Trotman not only gets 20% of the vote among mixed voters, but 19% among Blacks as well.

In the vote for President among Black voters, Jagdeo received 5%, Corbin 50%, and Trotman 19%. The undecided votes stood at 26%.

Even among Indian voters, Trotman shows strength, finishing ahead of Corbin and the PNCR.

This set of voters gave Jagdeo 59%, Corbin 5% and Trotman 8%. The undecided voters were 27%.

To test the viability of the Trotman candidacy and the proposed AFC message, the pollsters read voters two statements, which summarized the AFC position and asked if they agreed or disagreed with it. Afterwards, the pollsters asked the sample again for whom they would vote in light of the information provided in the statement.

The results were quite gratifying for the AFC. Jagdeo dropped from 29% to 26%. Corbin fell from 26% to 25%, and Trotman rose from 14% to 17%.

Among the Black voters, Trotman increased his vote share by three points.

But among Indian voters, while Trotman only rose by one point, Jagdeo fell by six with five points switching to undecided. In a real election, Trotman would be in an excellent position to harvest these votes as they fall off of Jagdeo.

As expected, however, it was among mixed voters that Trotman and the AFC pick up the largest increase in votes, indicative of how well their message appeals to this key voter segment.

So dramatic is the change among mixed voters, that Trotman emerges tied with Corbin for the lead in this electoral segment.

To fathom why AFC is so successful in its appeal, the pollsters said there is need to examine closely the attitudes of the Indian community toward Jagdeo and the PPP/C, and those of the Black community toward the PNCR and Corbin.

Image of the PPP/C and President Jagdeo in the Indian community

President Jagdeo and the PPP/C are highly polarizing. While Indians have a generally favourable opinion of Jagdeo by 86-14, Blacks see him negatively by 43-50. Mixed voters rate him 54% favorable but 43% unfavorable.

But much of the approval Jagdeo gets among mixed and Black voters seems to be reflective of the automatic respect due the president of a country. When asked about the PPP/C, Blacks and mixed voters are decidedly less generous. Blacks give the party a negative rating by a lopsided 26-61 while mixed voters rate it negatively by 33-56.

The most interesting finding of the survey, however, is the extent of ambivalence among Indian voters themselves toward the PPP/C. Only 71 % indicate a favourable view of the party (while 16% see it unfavorably).

But when the pollsters probed deeper into their opinions, they found a large reservoir of discontent in the Indian community with their political leadership, a feeling they have had to repress in order to secure political protection against what the Indians see as the potential racial extremism of the African-Guyanese alternative.

The discontent of about a third of the Indian community with the PPP/C is obvious when the poll asked their opinions of the party:

• 38% of Indians said the PPP/C has “let drug dealers get too much power”

• 43% of Indians felt the PPP/C has not done a good job of fighting drug kingpins

• One quarter of Indians said the PPP/C has been “in power too long”

• 27% of Indian voters say that the PPP/C “does not do a good job addressing the real needs of the Indian community”

• By 50-39, Indian voters say there is “too much corruption in the PPP/C”

• One third of the Indian voters say it would be “better to replace the PPP/C with an ethnically balanced political party.”

So why does the PPP/C continue to have such a strong hold on the votes of the Indian community? Because they are afraid of what would happen if the Black-dominated PNCR were to take power. By 46-39 Indian voters conceded that they want to keep the PPP/C in power “only because they are the way to avoid the repression which we experienced in the 70s and 80s”.

Indian voters do not believe that the PNCR has learned much or grown since the days of repression. Asked if the party has “changed since the 70s and 80s and abandoned its programme of repression of the Indian community, Indian voters said it had not by 26-48.

But the mirror image of this growing doubt among Indian voters about the PPP/C is the increasing dislike of the PNCR among black voters.

Image of the PNCR and Robert Corbin in the Black Community

The most surprising finding of this survey was the increasing disillusionment among African-Guyanese with the PNCR, the party that supposedly represents them and addresses their needs.

Indeed, one-third of African-Guyanese voters said that the PNCR “does not do a good job of meeting the needs of the Black community.”

Twenty-nine percent of Blacks said there was “too much corruption in the PNCR and about half said it would be better to replace the PNCR with “an ethnically balanced party.”

African-Guyanese voters understand that it is a fear of the PNCR that permits the PPP/C to draw a virtually unanimous vote from the Indian community and stay in power. By 48-28, Blacks agreed that Indian voters are “reluctant to support a party that includes African leaders” because of their memories “of the repression of the 70s and 80s. By 74-14 they feel that the PPP/C “plays on these fears and stays in power by getting most of the Indian vote.”

Nor do Black voters believe that the Indian community is being paranoid in its distrust of the PNCR. By 37-39, Black voters say that the PNCR has not really changed since the days of repression and that it has not learned its lesson.

Wise to the way the PPP/C fans fears of what would happen if the PNCR took power, Black voters agree by 45-43 that it would be better to “replace the PNCR with an ethnically balanced and more diverse party.”

The AFC will not find its political base among either Indian or Black voters but among the quarter of all voters who are of mixed ethnicity. These voters, part Indian and part Black, show a strong disenchantment with both the PPP/C and the PNCR, which leaves them vulnerable to the AFC.

(To be continued)

The child that moved some to tears

2006-06-07T01:50:00.000-04:00

Editorial

The child that moved some to tears

The photograph on the front page of the Monday issue of the Kaieteur News was as harrowing as anything could get. There was this child so emaciated that he could very well have been some child in the throes of starvation in one of the drought-affected African countries.

The reports state that the police had been searching for two missing children and having failed to find them, moved on. Then they got another lead about the children and returned to the area. Instead of finding the children, some neighbour directed them to the house in which this emaciated boy was found tied to some object to prevent him from leaving the premises. Further, whoever tied him up also bound his feet.

The report stated that those who found him were moved to tears. Anyone would have been. In fact, all over the city yesterday, the talk was about the cruel parents who could have done such a thing to the child.

One fellow simply could not eat because as he said, every time he looked at his meal he saw this child who was so close to death's door for the want of food and water.

The child might have been too young to pray for death but his agony cannot be experienced by the rest of us who have never had to go for more than a few hours without a meal. We certainly had access to water as we desired. But this child knew both hunger and unbearable thirst.

The police, up to when last we checked, had made no arrest but they were able to ascertain the identity of the child's parents. They have learnt that the mother is running from the father because she fears for her life. There are two other children and it is believed the two children for whom the police mounted a search may have come from that very house. They too are missing.

Further, we have learnt that because of the mother's flight the father may have vented his spleen on this hapless child whose photograph appeared on the front page of the newspaper.

From time immemorial people have been saying that children are our future. There is a song to that effect and indeed, it is the children who will be tomorrow's leaders. To torture a child is nothing more than reducing one potential leader from the future society.

That being said, we need to look at the cruelty that exists in the society. We have spoken about the father who dunked his son's hand into boiling water causing the child to lose all his fingers; the mother who poisoned her two children; the father who gave poison to four of his children before he killed himself and his wife; and those parents who literally beat their small children to death.

The woman who poisoned her children was duly informed by the late President Cheddi Jagan that her crime, while serious, was not serious enough to have her face the ultimate sanction. This, to many, was some sort of tacit support for a vicious killer. It mattered not the situation that drove the woman to such extremes.

We also had the woman who watched her child killed because her paramour did not like the child since he was fathered by another man. What animal could have resorted to such an action? As is the case of the incident reported earlier, we are not aware of the sanction being prepared by the state.

Most people rush to help the unfortunate child, some to the point of seeking police help. We are aware of some adults in society who seek the help of the administration to improve the lot of the children on the streets; we get angry when we see children abused, sometimes to the point of physically attacking the abuser; we cherish our children and we sometimes go without so that they could get.

Many of us try to live our lives through our children and so we take pride when they do well at the various examinations. But each day we are coming to the realisation that some of us are worse than the basest animal and treat our children as though they are something to be discarded.

None of us knows what the mental state of this child would be but we hope that the society deals condignly with the person who tortured him. The decent among us would wish the law to take its course; the others would seek to exact Moses Law.

Kaieteur News

Mother Russia Wins Again

2006-06-07T01:32:00.000-04:00

A ringside seat at the first-ever Mrs. World pageant in Russia!

ST. PETERSBURG -- When the winner of last week's Mrs. World 2006 pageant in the Oktyabrsky Theater was announced, cannons pounded out the climax of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, a cherub descended from the rafters with a diamond encrusted tiara, bursts of confetti shot across the stage, and Hollywood has-been Alan Thicke (the dad in Growing Pains) named the winner. One of the organizers placed the Mrs. World sash on Mrs. Costa Rica, and the other 31 contestants thronged her with congratulations. It was easily the most impressive stage moment of the otherwise threadbare evening.

There was just one problem: Thicke had just announced that Mrs. Costa Rica was the first runner-up, not the winner. Mrs. Russia had won. It'd be tempting to say something was lost in the translation, except it was one of the American organizers that erred.

Even after my four-day Mrs. World Pageant binge in St. Petersburg, it was immediately clear from my front-row seat in the jury box that someone had seriously screwed up. The sash-bearer, an Israeli woman whose sole responsibility was to place the sash on the winner, muffed it. But since the announcement was made in English, half of the contestants and 99 percent of the audience had no idea that it was all wrong, that Mrs. Costa Rica wasn't the real winner. Cheers erupted, tears flowed, the music kept crescendoing, and total chaos erupted. Mrs. Russia rushed off stage to her waiting body guards (she was always followed by two flatheads with earpieces), as shocked by the results as Marcellus in Pulp Fiction when Bruce Willis didn't take the fall. She apparently had good reason to believe that she was a shoe-in.

David Marmel, the American organizer and creative genius behind the Mrs. World pageant, jumped on the stage with an urgent "My Empire is crumbling!" look about him. The Moe Greene/Meyer Lansky look-alike had been at it for 30 years and there'd never been a mix-up like this. So he ran around frantically, intercepted a middle-aged woman climbing onto the stage to give Mrs. Costa Rica flowers, and pushed her down a small stairwell. Literally pushed her. She fell hard and landed on her butt, looking more shocked than hurt.

"Nobody's allowed on stage! Do you hear me, Bob!" he shouted at his Smithers-like assistant, just about the only one in the Oktyabrsky Theater still listening to him. "Nobody on stage!"

Bob positioned himself to intercept any other potential well-wishers, and David, an overtanned Floridian, tried to manage the disaster. By the time he was able to reclaim the tiara from a devastated Mrs. Costa Rica (using Mrs. Bolivia as a translator), the gig was up: more than half of the crowd had left and most of the contestants ripped their sashes off in anger at the total incompetence of the organizers. When they re-filmed the finale award ceremony, there were only 11 contestants of the 30+ left standing on stage behind Mrs. Russia, and runner-up Mrs. Costa Rica was long gone. The confetti was spent, the cherub didn't get repositioned in time for another drop, and the remaining audience was muttering about conspiracies and hurling abuse at the stage. It's hard to imagine how the We (Women's Entertainment) Network, where the competition is scheduled for broadcast starting May 20, will be able to edit it into anything but a complete fiasco.

The Americans were clearly freaked out by the outcome. In the aftermath, Bob shook his head and, referring to the Israeli sash-bearer, said, "That was her only job, that's what we pay her for!" None of them made it to the after-party.

Afterwards, in the bus that was supposed take the Mmes. to the after party at Jet Set, but ended up ferrying almost all of them back to the hotel, the contestants complained to me about just how horribly wrong everything had gone. Until that moment I'd spent too much time drinking and hanging out 'til dawn at Zabava, a strip club on a ship on the Neva, with the Russian organizers to take much notice of the event. I'd had a few insights into the world of Russian event management, but wasn't planning on writing anything about Mrs. World.

That all changed when I learned that, as incompetent as the Russian organizers can be, it was the American side who were the real culprits. The Russians' shenanigans were simply business as usual, the result of too much drinking, disorganization, and the belief that everything's for sale. "The most laudable thing on the Russian side would be if Mrs. Russia hadn't won," Kommersant photo editor and fellow jury member Eddie Opp told me. "Unfortunately, the Russians didn't surprise me." The Americans, on the other hand, were surprisingly crooked scumbags trying to use these unwitting women to make bank.

Their disrespect of Russians was most clear in the way they failed to provide adequate translations for the Russian audience. Since the event was getting filmed for an American audience, they had to give the impression that the audience understood Thicke's stupid one liners. Therefore, he talked extendedly without a pause for translation. It was so wrong that the Russian crowd mutinied, shouting Thicke down until a translator jumped in.

With the translator, unfortunately, things were only marginally better. The co-host, Tanya Gevorkyan, an MTV vee-jay, had a poor command of English and was regularly translating the exact opposite of what Thicke said. Her low point was when two black choreographers were rearranging the contestants' positions and she adlibbed, "Girls, watch your jewels!" To make up for the lack of laughter, during intermission the audience was asked to applaud and fake laughter, which would then be cut into the show during the edit.

To me, the idea of a Mrs. World had a Bible Belt twang to it. When I first arrived in Petersburg last week, I assumed it was a Family Values type competition, emphasizing inner beauty, personality, and women who'd popped out several kids. Most of the representatives of English-speaking countries clearly so too, that this was a beauty contest for women in their 30s who worked hard to stay fit in between their kids soccer games and choral recitals. According to Mrs. New Zealand's husband, she thought taking part in "this pageant when in her 40s and after 8 children would be recognition and appreciation of her life." And Mrs. America was shocked to find out she'd be competing against teenagers. Incredibly hot teenagers. Like the one representing Russia.

In a slimy Hollywood twist, the American producers, who included Jeff Androsky, a producer from a show on the new Fox Reality network Reality Remix, announced that that contest was going to be a reality show just three days before the pageant started. All the preceding contests were just a fodder for the reality show, not competitions they'd be judged on. It was even rumored that he was thrilled after the screw-up, because it'd make for better TV. As it was, the reality TV angle was mimicking Miss America's attempt to stay relevant, which it announced it was going reality TV this year. But, like everything else in this contest, it was done in a Mickey Mouse way.

For example, there was one part where they tried to pressure the women into voting one off their fellow contestants off, although Mrs. Australia told me that the women refused to take part.

This didn't stop the Americans. They simply pretended that the contestants played along. With 11 contestants left, Thicke said that the contestants had voted either Mrs. Ukraine or Mrs. Thailand off -- a lie -- and brought them both to the mike. The suspense was undermined by the fact that Mrs. Ukraine didn't understand him when he asked who would want to vote her off, so she answered in a non sequitur. It got uglier when Mrs. Thailand gave a teary answer that she hadn't signed up for a reality TV show and that everyone was a winner in her eyes. Her words went untranslated for the Russian audience, but the entire hall burst into the loudest cheers of the night. And Mrs. Ukraine got the boot.

One thing the Americans couldn't stop was certain interested Russians' attempts to stack the pageant's jury. Clearly, the Russians had spent enough money that the Americans were willing to compromise on the (now former) tradition that the host country's Mrs. never wins. The Russians nominated five members of the jury (myself included), while the Americans brought only four members. Of the Russian nominations, which included last year's Miss Russia, an Olympic staking champion, Moscow's most famous tailor, Eddie Opp and me, I can only vouch for Eddie's honesty, because I was sitting next to him and saw how he voted. I am pretty sure, though, that the American delegation didn't vote for Mrs. Russia.

The contest itself flawed from the start. Contestants ranged in age from 18 to 40 and had anywhere from zero to eight kids. Mrs. China, an impossibly tall and thin 19-year-old, just got married this January. Mrs. New Zealand has eight kids and crow's feet. While she'd probably out duel Mrs. China in a battle of wits (although I can't be sure, since Mrs. China didn't speak English or Russian), they were in different leagues during the bathing suit competition. In general, the Anglo-Americans tended to be homemakers, the Latinas were rocking the slutty housewife look, and the Slavic and Asian contingents were professional models.

The only rule, it seemed, was that the contestant be married to qualify as a "Mrs." It didn't matter to whom. Mrs. Russia, for example, is married to a 50-year-old biznesmen, Sergei Veremeenko, a former presidential candidate for the Republic of Bashkortostan, a bigwig in Russian Coal and onetime managing director of Russia's fourth biggest bank, Mezhprombank. He's ranked #82 on Oligarch.net's Golden 100 ranking of rich Russians, worth $560 million. He's also a real Casanova, in spite of his funny mustachio and short stature. Just a year and a half ago, in August 2004, Russian Forbes reported that he was simultaneously married to two women (neither of whom was the future Mrs. World). His first wife Alla Vermeneenko, in whose name the biznesmen's stake of Mezhprombank was registered, claimed that they were still officially married. However, during an interview with the magazine, he introduced Marina Smetanova as his wife. Just a year later, he managed to wed a 17-year-old babe.

Things got off to a rough start from the very beginning, when 20 of the 54 contestants (including Mrs. Afghanistan) were denied visas into Russia. Nonetheless, the determined organizers plowed ahead with the abridged contestant list. It wasn't the only time the Russian border gave them trouble -- Mrs. World's $28,000 diamond tiara got held up by customs until literally hours before the contest. In a perhaps prophetic twist, the organizers ordered a second crown made in Moscow, which was delivered a few days prior to the event. Though I'd doubt they'll give it to Mrs. Costa Rica. Mrs. Finland, a curvy model who came in third, received only a commemorative medal that says "St. Petersburg 2006." The husband of Mrs. New Zealand wrote me that his wife had gotten one, too, and said, "I presume they got it at the hotel gift store."

Earlier, I alluded to Russian management. As far as I could tell, this consisted of certain organizers drinking at least one bottle of whiskey a day (per person), and occasionally calling over subordinates and harassing them. Somewhere in the evening of the management's fourth day of a zapoi (binge), I witnessed a typical incident at a lobby restaurant in the Pribaltiyskaya hotel, where everyone in the event was put up. Two totally wasted guys representing the sponsors (I'm leaving out their names and organizations for personal safety reasons) called over one organizer after another and asked in bandit jargon, "Nu, chto, gde denushki? Skolko spizdil?" ("Where's the dough? How much have you pocketed?").

The organizers, who had mountains of work to do dealing with problems in the terribly organized event, were obviously anxious to get back to work. Then, when they left, the two drunk guys went on a tirade about how they could tell that they'd pocketed tons of money because the organizers wouldn't look them in the eyes.

It's expenses like taking care of these guys that make events so expensive here. From my perspective in Zabava (the strip club, which is old Russian for "entertainment"), I watched a few grand tossed around every night. Part of it was an attempt to influence my vote, but that was just a fraction of the money at stake here. Other tables at Zabava were filled with the event's Russian management, and there wasn't a judge to be seen.

As an aside about Zabava, it also attracted plenty of Duma deputies, who were visiting the Tsarist capital for the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Russian Duma. One organizer told me he spent two nights hanging out with deputies there, and on the nights I was there, there were tables full of men in suits who looked like they could easily belong to United Russia.

One deputy evidently let the festivities get the better of him (although I don't know if it was at Zabava), as I found out when leaving my hotel room on the 10th floor on Thursday morning a bit after 11 am. In the hallway, there were three cops and five FSB agents interrogating a weeping woman. I later found out that they were grilling her about Valery Kuzin, a United Russia deputy from the Ust-Ordynsky district in Buryatia whom she'd found dead in his room that morning. Foul play wasn't suspected. I imagine he died of alcohol poisoning, given what I saw at Zabava and elsewhere.

But back to the pageant. However cheap it looked, with decorations that could be bested by most mid-sized high school productions, a lot of money was spent bringing the event to Petersburg. I was too drunk for most of the time to attempt a serious evaluation of what the event cost, but it wasn't monkey change. The rental of the concert hall alone cost $50,000, and I'm sure renting Alan Thicke cost at least as much. The organizers brought over an entire TV crew from the States to film the pageant and put up all 34 ladies at the supposedly 4-star Pribaltiyskaya for two weeks. I assume a million dollars is a minimum.

And it's not like they had any plan to recoup the money. Like most events in Russia, from basketball games to rock concerts, most of the tickets were given away for free. Even so, the theater was probably a third empty.

They saved on other things, though, like water. According to Mrs. New Zealand, during filming, which sometimes took all day, they wouldn't be given so much as a bottle of water. "The ASPCA wouldn't let you treat an animal like that," she told me. "We arrived not knowing Russian and they tell us, 'If you want water, buy it yourselves!'"

Here, as elsewhere, it was the Americans who were to blame. Beersheba, the Israeli who screwed up the sash, and Jeff, the reality TV director, shouted constantly at the women and treated the Mmes. like kids. They were forbidden from approaching David Marmel, but saw enough of him so that Mrs. New Zealand came to the conclusion that he was a slime.

While the women were put up for free, they were responsible for paying their way to Russia themselves and buying their own evening gowns. Mrs. New Zealand's husband told me, "Most would still be poorer if they were given $10,000."

As my fellow jury member Kommersant photo editor Eddie Opp told me in the aftermath, "Something this thing showed me is that American producers have no respect for other cultures, treating the spectators like sheep. I also saw how little respect the Russian organizers had for themselves, trying to fix it without any regard to how it would look from the outside. They earned each other -- it was ugly behavior all around."

The Russian side looked at it much more simply. One organizer, looking exhausted after his drinking binge, told me at the after party, "Results are the main thing, and we got the ones we wanted."

http://www.exile.ru/

TAPEGATE:

2006-06-07T01:27:00.000-04:00

Felix responds

POLICE Commissioner Winston Felix, embroiled in a controversy over bugged audio recordings, yesterday met the government’s deadline for him to respond to allegations being made against him.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who received the requested response from Felix yesterday, was studying the reply.

The Prime Minister wrote Felix Friday bringing to his attention “certain complaints, accusations and/or allegations” being made against him and requested that he respond by yesterday.

The response from Felix came despite the suggestion by the Guyana Police Association (GPA) that the Commissioner should not respond unless the tapes were authenticated.

The association, in a statement Monday, claimed that unless the Government authenticates the tapes before launching an investigation it “may be widely perceived to be an action of Government which favours those who are involved in murder, drug trafficking, gun running, violent crime and other criminal and illegal activities.”

An observer noted it was “automatic” for the GPA to take such a position and pointed out that it did not address the contents of the tapes, in which a voice purportedly that of Felix discusses issues of national security with a member of the opposition, in the first instance, and planting cocaine on a woman, in the second instance.

The GPA said it “is convinced that it would be premature and wrong for the Government to commence any investigations, or for the Commissioner to make any response, until such time as the recordings are authenticated and a validation of actual evidence of impropriety or illegality is established.”

The conversation on the first tape covered the 30 AK-47 rifles stolen from a storage bond in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) headquarters compound in Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown and this evoked laughter between the two men.

That conversation also included a discussion of incidents leading up to the recent Agricola and Eccles, East Bank Demerara massacre of eight persons.

The voice, supposedly that of Felix, posited that the current government wanted an extension of its time in office and a discussion ensued about the power vacuum and other implications were general elections not to be held on time.

In the second tape, the voice allegedly that of the Commissioner reveals plans to plant cocaine on a woman being investigated for robbery and to use the Central Immigration and Passport Office in achieving the scheme.

The letter by the Prime Minister to Felix was intended to ensure that due process is followed and the Commissioner of Police has a fair hearing, sources indicated.

According to Article 211 (4) of the Constitution, the prescribed authority (the Prime Minister or the Chairman of the Police Service Commission) would have to advise the President on the question of an investigation into possible misbehaviour, the sources said.

As per procedure, the President shall then act in accordance with the advice of the Judicial Services Commission on appointing a tribunal. The tribunal shall then enquire into the matter and report its findings to the President.

The President, the sources explained, cannot suspend the Commissioner of Police before the tribunal ends its work, only if the Police Service Commission so advises.

Felix is due to go on pre-retirement leave on August 15, 2006, but can elect to take his leave earlier, the sources indicated.

Guyana Chronicle

Joint Services operations:

2006-06-07T01:25:00.000-04:00

Ex-Army officer detained


SOLDIERS in front of the house in South Ruimveldt, Georgetown from where they detained ex-Army officer Oliver Hinckson, and James Gibson, both of whom were wanted for questioning in the disappearance of high-powered weapons from Army headquarters.

WANTED EX-ARMY officer Oliver Hinckson and another man, James Gibson, were detained yesterday by the Joint Services as the hunt continued for the 30 AK-47 rifles discovered missing from Army headquarters, Camp Ayanganna early this year.

The Joint Services said a .38 pistol and 12 matching rounds, along with 27 12-gauge shotgun cartridges were found in the 115 Aubrey Barker, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown house they were holed up in.
Their arrests came as the Joint Services searched private homes in the housing schemes of embattled businessman Roger Khan, who is wanted by the United States on charges he trafficked cocaine into that country.

The Army’s Military Criminal Investigation Department had issued wanted bulletins for Hinckson and Gibson in March and they were arrested at 115 Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt yesterday afternoon.

They were among nine persons the Joint Services held for questioning yesterday after conducting a series of operations in which several items were seized, including arms and ammunition, vehicles, a boat, a computer and a small safe.

Yesterday’s operations began in the early hours of the morning with a cordon and search at Khan’s Hibiscus Place housing scheme, Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara. At the scheme four persons were detained and a computer and a private motor car seized, the Joint Services stated in a press release.

Following leads the operation moved to Khan’s Dream Works Housing Development at Farm, East Bank Demerara. At that location two persons were detained, and a 17-foot go fast boat, a canter truck, and a small safe were seized, the Joint Services said.

Shortly thereafter a search was conducted at the house Hinckson and Gibson were in, leading to their arrests.

One person was also detained at 35 Guyhoc Park, Greater Georgetown, the Joint Services stated.

The Joint Services expressed its gratitude to members of the public who have provided “invaluable” information in its pursuit of persons for whom wanted bulletins have been issued.

Guyana Chronicle

Guyana still behind minimum standards for elimination of trafficking in persons

2006-06-06T16:36:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, June 6th 2006

Guyana is listed as a country of origin, transit and destination for young women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation, according to the US Department of State's 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report released this month.

The annual report is said to be the primary diplomatic tool through which the US Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against forced labour, sexual exploitation and modern-day slavery.

And it said that the Government of Guyana does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking "however, it is making significant efforts to do so." The report said the Government of Guyana was one of the first in the hemisphere to publish a review and self-assessment of its anti-trafficking efforts. Guyana is still listed as a tier two country.

The report said most reported cases involved internal trafficking of adolescent girls. "Much of this trafficking takes place in remote areas of the interior, or Amerindian girls from the interior trafficked to the coastal areas to engage in prostitution or involuntary domestic servitude," the report said.

It said girls promised employment as domestics, waitresses and bar attendants are trafficked into prostitution and that young Amerindian men are exploited under forced labour conditions in timber camps. "In some instances victims are forcibly abducted," the report said.

It added that Guyanese girls are trafficked to neighbouring countries such as Suriname and Barbados.

The report also pointed out that the Government of Guyana has increased financial support to NGOs that provide victim assistance, expanded the reach of prevention activities and began applying new laws to investigate and arrest suspected traffickers. "The government should expand training efforts to include more rural officials, aggressively prosecute traffickers, and continue working with NGOs to assist victims," the report said.

In terms of prosecution, the report said law enforcement efforts to identify cases improved, but that no traffickers were convicted in 2005. "The country's slow judicial process contributed to the lack of progress in convicting traffickers," the report stated. It said also that Guyana's law enforcement authorities applied Guyana's newly enacted Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act and arrested at least ten persons under the act. The Act requires sentencing ranging from three years to life imprisonment and the confiscation of trafficking-related assets. According to the report, 15 investigations of cases initiated in 2005 and in previous years remained pending in pre-trial status.

"Rural court and law enforcement officers lacked adequate training to identify and deal effectively with trafficking. Technical training and sensitization efforts should be expanded to reach officials in rural areas where trafficking most occurs. Law enforcement officials worked with source and destination countries such as Brazil, Suriname and Barbados to share information on potential trafficking and assist victims. There was no evidence that the government was complicit in trafficking," the report stated.

The US Department of State called the efforts of the Government of Guyana "modest" in terms of victim assistance. "It funded $30,000 of repairs for an NGO-run shelter to supplement the government's limited shelter capabilities and included NGO funding in its 2006 budget," the report said. It added that there were no reports of victims jailed or mistreated by officials and that law enforcement officers referred victims to social workers and a local NGO for assistance. The government also provided medical attention, housing and funds to return victims to their homes, the US State Department said.

Speaking on Guyana's efforts to prevent trafficking in persons, the report said that the government expanded on prior prevention initiatives. "It [government] trained social workers, launched a new awareness campaign through the print and electronic media and met with key religious leaders, business, mining and local government stakeholders," the report said. It added that ten trafficking detection training sessions reached 361 community facilitators around the country and stated that in January the Government of Guyana unveiled a review of its counter-trafficking activities for 2004 and 2005, which recognised that better policing of and outreach to rural communities are still needed.

According to information on the US State Department website, US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice submits the annual "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report" to Congress. This report covers "severe forms of trafficking in persons" defined as: "(a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labour or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."

Stabroek News

Mother disfigured in acid attack by jealous woman

2006-06-06T16:27:00.000-04:00

Stabroek News

By Oluatoyin Alleyne

Monday, June 5th 2006

Joann before the attack

A young mother had her face disfigured on Thursday morning when a jealous ex-lover of her partner threw acid in her face while she was in the house she shared with the man at Bartica.

Joann Lynch, 24, was saved from further injury by her sister who managed to stop the knife-wielding woman in her tracks. The woman managed to escape, after what family members described as a well planned attack, with the help of persons in the area including an inspector's wife who was instrumental in her gaining access to the couple's home by lending her the spare key. The attacker lives in Georgetown and police have been unable to apprehend her since she fled the Fifth Avenue, Bartica location.

Yesterday, Lynch, who is the mother of a four-year-old girl, was in pain in the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) and had difficulty seeing as her eyes have been affected by the corrosive fluid. Family members, including the man at the centre of the issue, surrounded her and broke down in tears constantly as they looked at her disfigured face.

She is expected to leave for Trinidad early this morning in an attempt to save her eyesight.

According to the family members the man left the home at around 4 am last week Thursday for the interior where he works leaving Joann alone at home. She told relatives that she heard a noise and when she looked outside she saw the woman, who she knew, walking outside with a knife in her hand. Shortly after, she heard the door being opened and taking no chances she ran into the bedroom and locked the door. It was the woman who had entered the house with a spare key.

A disfigured Joann

Joann's sister, Yonette Sears, told Stabroek News that her sister called her very early in the morning at her Fourth Avenue home, and asked her to take a taxi and come immediately. She said she arrived shortly after and saw her sister through the louvre window and she directed her to knock on the door.

She said she knocked on the door several times but it remained locked and she then attempted to open it but could not do so. She then heard someone open it from inside and when she entered she saw the attacker sitting on a chair in front of the locked bedroom door with a knife in one hand and a liquid in a brown bottle in the other.

She asked the woman what her problem was and she told her to instruct her sister to come out of the bedroom and she would find out. Sears said she told the attacker she could not call her sister out since she was armed. At that moment Joann thinking she was safe opened the room door. In a split second, the woman jumped up and threw the liquid into her face and then rushed up to her with the knife. But Sears said she held on to her waist and pushed her aside. She and the woman then had a struggle by which time Joann had started to scream in agony. Sears said she looked at her sister and saw her eyes discoloured and the skin from her lips falling to the ground.

In tears at this point, the woman said she took her sister and placed her to sit on a chair and she turned her attention to the attacker but by this time the inspector's wife and another woman restrained her and helped the assailant to escape.

Sears said in her panic she took her sister to their home first where her mother on seeing her helped to get her to the Bartica Hospital. She was later transferred to the city.

The family members are angry that the landlady gave the woman the keys to the house knowing that the woman and the man were no longer together.

The man told Stabroek News that he and Joann had been together for over a year and that he discontinued the relationship with the other woman who is the mother of his two children. He once lived with the woman in the city.

Joann's sisters said the woman would from time to time visit Bartica but their sister never had any physical or verbal confrontation with her since she stayed out of her way. From all reports the woman travelled to Bartica and waited until the man left before borrowing the key and entering the house. After the brutal attack she got a boat and headed to the city.

"Joann is quiet, she don't like no quarrel she does just be quiet, I don't know why she do this to the girl," one relative said.

Joann also has burn injuries on her neck, chest and hands while Yonette also suffered some minor burns on several parts of her body including her face.

The police are investigating.

Stabroek News

This bond default has serious implications for future development

2006-06-06T16:24:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, June 6th 2006

Dear Editor,

It is with dismay that I read Stabroek News' article on the government's default on the US$20m bonds issued to finance restructuring activities of the bauxite company. The default on government issued bonds is a serious matter and should be treated with concern by all Guyanese and businesses alike. Apart from ethical issues, such a default poses a major setback to capital markets in Guyana and to the creditability and credit worthiness of the government in both local and international capital markets.

Additionally this can potentially shatter investors' confidence, not that the government has a very good record in attracting major investors to Guyana, nonetheless, it has serious implications for future development.

Government issued bonds by their nature are supposed to be a secure investment instrument and therefore investors put tremendous confidence in them.

I have argued before that government and corporations in Guyana should utilize the bond market more often to raise capital for financing activities.

Some financial analysts have argued against the principle of government's involvement in the bond market since governments have a tendency to profligate financial market discipline. However if the government defaults on the bauxite bond, no one will trust the bond market in Guyana.

The government's explanation that "it is seeking better terms on the bond....that if it cannot go to full Paris Club terms it must at least approach Paris Club terms," as put forward by Mr. Robert Persaud MBA, is ridiculous at best.

What do Paris Club terms have to do with the capital markets in Guyana? The bond issuer's ability to make coupon and principal repayments as assessed by the market, and the percentage of the principal and coupon payments which holders can expect to recover at maturity does not depend on terms by international financial institutions, not that the Paris Club is an international financial institution, it is an informal group of creditors who by conscience determine or renegotiate the terms of debt owed to them by developing countries, and therefore does not bear on or determine local interest rates in any country, much less capital markets. The inability of the government to repay local debts due in part to external debt which may have come due is a different issue altogether.

The government should have known in advance of its financial debacle and should have at least sought to renegotiate the indenture of the bond rather than to default, especially the repayment period, thus assuring creditors' confidence.

The government of Guyana should have had information on the liquidity of the financial system and what it needs to do to reach its obligation. But to put forward such a poor and bogus argument is incredible and shows the government's lack of seriousness in dealing with financial matters and development and as such proves its incompetence.

The financial market in Guyana should treat this issue seriously and should put pressure on the government to reach the terms of the bond indenture.

The financial markets cannot be held to Paris Club terms since the Paris club is not a legal body and has no legal status. It is merely an ad hoc group with the backing of powerful countries.

Holders of these bonds must make sure that the government fulfils its obligation, if even it requires this matter reaching the courts.

Government cannot be allowed to bully investors. Bonds are a tradable instrument and investors must be assured of the safety of their investment especially when it is in the hands of government.

Yours faithfully,

Dennis Wiggins

Stabroek News

AK-47 found is 'new gun'

2006-06-06T14:36:00.000-04:00

- police to complete ballistics test today

Tuesday, June 6th 2006

The Joint Services have encamped in this incomplete house behind Melanie Damishana. The house is a few metres away from where the army recovered one of its 30 missing AK-47 rifles on Saturday. (Ken Moore photo)

Police ballistics experts said from all indications the army's AK-47 rifle, which was found in a clump of bushes on Saturday at Enterprise is a brand new weapon;, they are still working to ascertain whether it was ever used.

Stabroek News understands that the ballistics test should be completed by today.

And as residents of Enterprise prepare to bury their dead today, chairman of the village said they are not mobilizing against domestic terrorism nor are they linked to any criminal group. They have complained too over the exact location where the weapon was recovered.

A major dispute has erupted over exactly where the weapon was found. As far as the residents of Enterprise are concerned it was not in their village, but in Melanie Damishana. The Joint Ser-vices, in a press release issued on Saturday said: "One of the missing AK-47 rifles was recovered in the Enterprise, ECD area during a Joint Services operation." The release further stated that the operation, which was conducted in Melanie, Enterprise, and Non Pareil, was launched to pursue leads that linked two named suspects to the robbery and fatal shooting incident at Non Pareil and Enterprise last Thursday.

The village chairman, who asked that his name not be mentioned, told Stabroek News that the railway embankment separates Enter-prise, which is on the southern side, from Melanie Damishana to the north.

The humble dwelling of Ramjeet Rampersaud of Enterprise who was gunned down last Thursday by bandits.

Stabroek News was however told that the weapon was actually found in a clump of bushes just on the periphery of Enterprise. Prior to the discovery of the weapon on Saturday, five males and one female were arrested while a generator and a bicycle, allegedly stolen during last Thursday night's robbery were recovered from an abandoned building west of Melanie and north of the railway embankment. The house is just a few metres away from where the weapon was found. Currently, joint services ranks have occupied the abandoned building and during a visit by this newspaper yesterday they were also seen in a few half-finished structures.

Ranks at the scene told this newspaper that since the weapon find they have been posted at the location. Further searches have been conducted in the general area where the rifle was found and also other places.

The joint services had also said that the two suspects they were hunting for on Saturday are known to be linked to a narcotics criminal enterprise that is led by a fugitive from US justice.

Fugitive businessman Roger Shaheed Khan issued a statement on Sunday saying that the joint services were trying to link him to domestic terrorism, which he dismissed.

According to the joint services, investigators are working to establish the accuracy of new information that a group has over the past two weeks embarked on recruitment of persons, most of whom have had law enforcement and military backgrounds. It is felt, the statement went on to say, that the recruitment drive is part of a larger plan to create instability through acts of criminal violence against innocent civilians.

Meanwhile, Enterprise village chairman said his community was very upset with the apparent linking of the village to criminal violence. He said from the reports he received the five men who carried out the robberies in Non Pareil last Thursday and the ones who killed Ramjeet Rampersaud, while he was sitting with his sister near a culvert in Enterprise are gunmen from Bare Root. The chairman mentioned the name of a notorious figure, who was only recently acquitted on a murder charge, as one of the men who killed Rampersaud. "They were other people on a bridge linking Bare Root and Enterprise on the night Ramjeet was killed and they positively identified the figure," the chairman said.

He said he himself knew the figure well and this information has been passed on to the police. The notorious figure hails from Bare Root, but had spent most of his time in recent years in Buxton.

The chairman said Enterprise is trying to keep the peace, although killings such as the one on Thursday has caused tempers to flare.

"We have a vigilante group and that is all, we cannot confront the criminal these days because they have high-powered weapons, but we aren't mobilizing or linking up with anyone," the chairman declared. Asked whether the village would accept assistance from Khan, who admitted that he helped fight crime in 2002-3, the chairman said no, adding that Khan allegedly has links to the underworld and the village was not into that. He said Enterprise had a few men who would go over to Bare Root to buy drugs and he would not rule out the possibility of some of them linking up with criminals there. "We have petty thieves and drugs men in this village too, but I don't know of any who is part of a criminal enterprise," the chairman said.

He told this newspaper that he was certain that the motive for killing Rampersaud was not robbery, but rather to create fear among the Indian communities in the area. "But we must find other means to counter this, rather than picking up guns and going after persons of another ethnic group we have to find solutions and live in peace and love."

However, he added, villagers would not always sit down and be overrun by criminals; at some point residents would stand up and defend themselves. Enterprise, Non Pareil, Annandale and other surrounding communities have become targets for marauding gangs operating out of Buxton and Bare Root over recent years.

Despite promises of protection government has failed to deliver and residents continue to live in fear. The chairman said the government was doing a good job in office, but in the area of security it was failing.

Rampersaud, who was shot in his chest would be cremated today.

Stabroek News

Bandits kill guard in daring robbery at Guyoil Berbice

2006-06-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

- hijack taxi, escape in company car

By Keisha McCammon

Tuesday, June 6th 2006

Abdool Razack, the taxi driver

A security guard was gunned down while on duty at the Guyoil Heathburn Terminal East Bank Berbice yesterday afternoon by armed men who robbed the establishment of a large sum of money before taking off in a company vehicle, which they later abandoned.

Dead is Alan Jordan, 51, of Fyrish Village, Corentyne. In the process, the bandits also grabbed a gun from another guard.

According to reports, two men hired a taxi from New Amsterdam and asked the driver to take them to Edinburgh. While on the way, one of them asked the driver to stop so he could urinate. Once the driver had stopped, near the Glasgow Cemetery, three other men emerged from the burial ground and assaulted the driver.

The driver was then placed in the backseat of the car and one of the bandits drove the car to the Guyoil terminal. They began firing shots as soon as they got there, in the direction of the guard hut. It was at this time, that Jordan, a father of two, was apparently hit. He appeared to have died on the spot.

Meanwhile, the men entered the compound and they forced another guard to hand over his shotgun.

Gary Trim, whose gun the bandits took

They then made their way into the office and grabbed some $300,000, which was in the cash register.

Leaving the taxi and the driver in the compound, the bandits boarded a Guyoil vehicle, in which they made good their escape. The vehicle was later found abandoned in the Glasgow New Housing Scheme.

According to a relative of Jordan, the man had gone home that morning and had returned to work for the three o'clock shift that afternoon. Another security guard had only minutes before handed over to Jordan when the men stormed the place.

Razack Abdool, the taxi driver who the men hired at New Amsterdam, told this newspaper that the two men had requested that he take them to Edinburgh. As they got to the Glasgow burial ground, he said, one of the men asked him to stop because he wanted to "pass some water". As soon as he did, he said, three other men came out of the bushes with a bag and started to beat him up. He added that after a while he did not know what was going on and the men told him to get into the backseat. He protested and they put him into the backseat and beat him some more in his stomach and other places. They then took over the car and drove it to the Guyoil Heathburn Terminal.

He said he heard the sound of gunfire, but was not able to see what took place inside the compound, until persons helped him out of the vehicle when it was all over.

According to Gary Trim, the second security guard on duty, around 3.25 pm yesterday, a customer had arrived with a truck to purchase fuel. He let the truck in and as he was closing the gate, the car pulled up and stopped and the men started shooting. He said he took cover at the side of the guard hut as the men rushed into the compound. He said that as he was pulling out his firearm to return fire, one of the men pointed a gun at him and told him he would be killed. He was then relieved of his firearm and the men made their way into the office located a short distance away from the guard hut. He said the men had large weapons, which appeared to be M-70s.

The Terminal Supervisor at the Guyoil Heathburn Terminal said there were three workers in the office, but once they heard the gunshots they escaped out the backdoor, before the robbers entered. Other employees in the compound, he said, jumped over the fence to get out of harm's way. He added that it appeared the men timed the event since they showed up just as a fuel truck was entering. The entire incident, he said, lasted for about five minutes.

When everyone was able to return they discovered Jordan lying lifeless in the guard hut. His daughter and other relatives who arrived on the scene broke down in tears as his body was being taken away.

The supervisor said the men escaped with $300,000 cash along with a shotgun and a revolver and it appeared that they had shot Jordan through the guard hut window.

Yesterday, members of staff were still in shock and shaken over what had taken place.

Earlier, around 1.10 pm, three men held the Supervisor at the New Amsterdam ferry stelling at gunpoint and robbed the office of $60,000.

It appeared that the men arrived at the Stelling using boats and made good their escape the same way.

The police are investigating both incidents.

Stabroek News

I am targeted for execution - Roger Khan

2006-06-06T00:27:00.000-04:00

Embattled businessman Shaheed ‘Roger' Khan is urging the government to pay closer attention to the modus operandi of the military, which he claims has intensified its campaign against him.

In his most recent statement e-mailed to Kaieteur News by one of his attorneys last night, Khan said that the so-called “Joint Services release” is actually a highly speculative statement that is intended to lead the general public up the garden path to someone they described “as a fugitive from US justice”.

The Joint Service, in a statement on Saturday night following the recovery of an AK-47 assault rifle on East Coast Demerara, had linked two suspects to a narcotics criminal enterprise “led by a fugitive from US justice”.

The Joint Services said that investigators were working to establish the accuracy of new information, suggesting that this group has over the past two weeks embarked on the recruitment of persons, most of whom had law enforcement or military background.

The Joint Services added that it is felt that the recruitment drive is part of a larger plan to create instability through acts of criminal violence against innocent civilians.

“It is clear that from the description that the statement hopes to implicate me in more ways than one,” Khan stated.

“The Joint Services release is neither a release nor does it truly emanate from the Joint Services. It is a GDF statement that does not set any factual or evidential basis for the conclusion that they hope to conjure up for public consumption.”

The businessman noted that the statement is clearly propagandist in nature and it is very telling that the investigators were “working to establish (not verify) the accuracy” of this information while still making bold pronouncements.

“The Joint Services statement dated June 3, 2006 is a desperate attempt by Chief-of-Staff Collins and Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix to link me to acts of domestic terrorism. The insinuations of the Joint Services that I am planning to destabilise my country go against every principle which I stand for,” Khan said.

He stated that because of his fierce stand against the “armed African resistance fighters” and his determination to expose what he described as a conspiracy involving the American Government, PNCR, Guyana Defence Force and the Commissioner of Police, he finds himself under attack from these very entities.

“I have placed my life and that of my family and friends in grave danger in defense of the defenseless; what would I gain from an unstable country? It was because of my intervention in 02/03 that many innocent lives were saved; and again beginning with the meeting with the American Embassy on March 6 th , 2006 when I naively thought that I might solicit the assistance of the Americans to intervene to prevent the further loss of innocent lives.”

According to Khan, first the Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix, issued illegal wanted bulletins and secondly the American Government unjustifiably placed his name in the INCSR 2006 which led to the subsequent indictment in New York .

A New York grand jury has indicted Khan for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States of America .

A wanted bulletin has been issued for his arrest in that country; however no request has been made for his extradition from Guyana .

He described as blatant, Chief-of-Staff Collins's diversion of the investigation into the missing AK-47's towards him and his associates.

Khan said that to make matters worse the leader of the Opposition PNCR, Mr. Robert Corbin is calling for private criminal charges to be brought against him.

“So therefore, the statement by the Joint Services comes as no surprise to me. It reveals the political collusion between Chief-of-Staff Collins and Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix. Why have all these forces united against me?”

He believes that the members of the Joint Services will resort to planting evidence on persons and properties connected to him.

“Anyone who dares to challenge the “conspiracy” will be harassed and become victims of attacks by military ranks, as was done on Sunday, June 04, 2006 on the home of former police, Paul Rodrigues.”

According to the businessman, Rodrigues wrote a letter to the Editor of Kaieteur News and this was published in the Sunday, June 4, 2006 edition, challenging the legality of military operations in the society.

As a result of the publication, Rodrigues's home was searched, again, at 05:00hrs yesterday by military ranks, who demanded to know his whereabouts.

Khan alleged that the ranks threatened the former policeman's wife and children with incarceration.

“No warrant was produced and his wife was told to tell her husband to desist from any further letters to the press,” Khan said.

Police have issued bulletins for Rodrigues and others who they say are wanted for questioning.

The legality of this is being challenged in the courts.

Khan stated that Guyana is in the midst of the creeping stages of a military coup which is sponsored by outside forces.

“The evidence is clear for those of us who want see.”

“All of the operations of the so-called Joint Operations are intended to hunt me down and execute me if found. The wanted bulletin is the precursor to my execution,” Khan said.

Kaieteur News

Child tied up in house, left to die

2006-06-06T00:24:00.000-04:00

Child tied up in house, left to die

• rescuers moved to tears

Police on the East Coast Demerara saved the life of a little boy, who was found tied to the wall of an A Field Sophia shack on Saturday night.

The child, who was visibly malnourished, might have been left without food for more than a week.

Kaieteur news understands that medical personnel at the Georgetown Public Hospital said that had the child not been rescued by yesterday midday, he would have succumbed from starvation.

The police stumbled on the bizarre incident while searching for two children, who were reportedly stolen from an orphanage in the city.

A source told this newspaper that on Saturday, the police were told that a father had taken two of his children from an orphanage without consent, and had locked them in a house in Sophia.

A party of policemen went to the area and searched unsuccessfully for two hours for the children before giving up.

A few hours later, the police received a call from a Sophia resident who had seen them earlier in the area.

“She said, ‘Y'all looking fuh de child wha tie up in de house?' And she gave us a direction,” a police source told Kaieteur News.

The police returned to the community and located a shack which was in complete darkness.

Convinced that they were at the right place, the ranks proceeded to kick open the door. Using flashlights, they soon discovered the child stark naked and tied to a wall.

Kaieteur News understands that some of the ranks were moved to tears at the sight of the malnourished child. Both feet were also tied together.

“He had marks of violence on his body and his head had a (swelling). We took a duster from the line in the yard and wrapped him up and took him away,” the source said.

Persons attempted to feed the child but were advised not to do so.

At the hospital, the child was immediately placed on intravenous drips.

Up to late last night, police were still trying to locate the parents of the child. They could face charges of neglect.

“Neighbours were tight-lipped. You know how people are nowadays,” a source said.

Kaieteur News

Shambles (Editorial from Stabroek News)

2006-06-05T15:19:00.000-04:00

Monday, June 5th 2006

It is hard to find a period in our recent history when everything that mattered seemed to be in a complete shambles. The security situation is a total disaster. A sitting minister has been murdered and weeks later not a suspect has been arrested and neither the police nor the government seems to have an inkling about what to do. When the government appears as paralysed and impotent as it does right now it is time for every citizen to begin to worry about his/her safety. The situation is the same with eight people murdered at Agricola/Eccles and the disappearance of 30 AK-47s from the army's HQ. Now, in recent days, the crime-besieged villages of Enterprise and Annandale have again suffered from murderous attacks by gunmen who have operated with impunity. There has been no response from the security services even though their much vaunted camping operation at the back of Buxton was supposed to yield an end to such attacks and the capture of the elusive gunmen.

On the economic front, the closure for two months of Omai Bauxite Inc because of stiff competition from Chinese ore is a telling sign of the jeopardy that primary commodity producers like Guyana face from the emerging market giants like China and Brazil. There will be no mercy or compassion only heartless and impersonal WTO rules. And if that wasn't enough trauma on top of the loss of sugar revenues beginning this year, the government has shot itself in the foot by defaulting on US$20M worth of bauxite bonds issued by the administration of President Cheddi Jagan in 1994. It is a mind-boggling move that has already done incalculable damage to the creditworthiness of the government and even if the government reversed itself and paid up today, the serious investor will still have major doubts about whether it could be trusted.

Then there is the elections impasse. The Surujbally commission has managed to conjure a crisis of epic proportions because of its inept management of the verification/residency issue. If each member of that Commission had paid serious attention to their mandate and had conducted good faith negotiations on the matter they might have realized two or three years ago that the best solution would have been to approach the courts for an urgent interpretation of the provisions governing the qualification of an elector. Presumably this would have satisfied all sides. The Commission has managed to leave this vital issue hanging just a few months before the scheduled poll with the result that aside from the deep automatic polarization that occurs at elections further tension is being generated at the level of the commission and from the constant salvoes booming from the parties at each other.

The tapes

Into this volatile and dangerous brew has been added the controversy over the tapes allegedly of the Police Commissioner Winston Felix speaking to several persons. The government has now initiated proceedings that could result in the removal of the commissioner from office. There is clearly a groundswell of public opinion that if what was said on the tape was uttered by the police commissioner then he has a lot of explaining to do and that his credibility has been seriously hurt. Moving against him on that basis is therefore unexceptionable.

What is exceedingly troubling is that the campaign against the police commissioner appears to have been choreographed by those close to businessman Roger Khan, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the police and who has since been indicted by the US authorities on a drug charge. To have your top cop weakened and emasculated when he really needed to be in full charge of his force and to be on top of crime is not the most propitious circumstance for the country at this point. But that is what Mr Khan et al have succeeded in accomplishing and the government had better be careful in this dangerous period.

The timeline of the key events leading up to the move against Mr Felix is instructive. On March 1 this year the US State Department issued its annual report on the drugs trade and money laundering in which it named Mr Khan as a known drug trafficker. It appears that sometime after this, in a bid to extricate himself from this dilemma, Mr Khan engaged the US authorities and had a meeting with them. His version of the meet was that he was discussing an alleged conspiracy against the government and the lack of intent on the part of the police in tackling the Buxton criminals. The US says he was met to discuss impending drug proceedings against him. Several of the infamous tapes with the alleged Felix voice were played by Mr Khan at this meeting. It also appears that around this time some of the tapes were also dispatched to senior government officials and Mr Felix and others in the security services became aware of them.

On March 19 this year, the first series of raids against several of Mr Khan's establishments were conducted under the rubric of recovering the missing AK-47s. Up to that point there had been no robust campaign by the joint services to find these weapons even though they had been reported as missing since February 27, three weeks earlier. Surely the most appropriate time to have conducted this operation would have been immediately upon discovering that the weapons had vanished. It would seem that the joint services had discovered that Mr Khan was playing hardball and by circulating tapes with possibly compromising statements by joint services officials he presented a clear and present danger to them. Self-preservation had apparently kicked in for Mr Khan and key officials in the joint services. The day after the first raids against Mr Khan, the first tape supposedly between Mr Felix and Mr Basil Williams was circulated to the media. In the days to come, the country was treated to raid after raid which were characterized as the search for the weapons but which may have been influenced by other factors. It was only on Saturday that an AK-47 was found and this has been claimed as one from the missing batch though presumably more authentication would have to be done. Even if this weone of the weapons, the joint services campaign has not impressed in its mapping and execution of the recovery operation and the reality would be that 29 rifles and five hand guns are still circulating. Moreover, rifles similar to those that went missing have been used in recent attacks and crime remains as out of control as it has been - the minister's murder (April 22) occurring during the period of intense joint services activity.

Days after the raids began the police issued a wanted bulletin for Mr Khan which he immediately challenged and went underground and then the US got into the act by unsealing an indictment against Mr Khan in early May. More tapes followed and as a result of the furore generated by these Mr Felix now faces the threat of removal from office.

In the circumstances, the average Guyanese who is seeking only better security could be excused for feeling that he or she is a mere pawn in a high stakes battle involving a businessman indicted for drugs, security officials seeking to preserve their status and the US promoting its own interests. Crime fighting in this manoeuvring is merely incidental. It should be noted that Mr Khan has only begun to speak of his alleged crime-fighting in 2002/3 now that he faces arrest and extradition. By implication he puts himself on the side of the government and presumably may have recordings and information that may link him with officialdom. Is that what comes next?

How connected and clued the government is to all of this is still unclear. It must know however that it bears primary responsibility for fighting crime and thus far it has failed disastrously. With a weakened police commissioner, rampant crime, underworld machinations and election venom, the only reasonable antidote for the country is professional help for the security forces from outside. There is no time for shilly-shallying and hand-wringing. On their poor performance alone, Mr Felix, his predecessors and several other top functionaries in the security services could have been removed a long time ago. What it has failed to do since 1992 in terms of professionalizing the force and orienting it to properly fight crime the PPP/C government must do in the next few months probably with the help of the private sector and friendly countries such as Canada. It must also ensure that it isn't compromised by the underworld and those who play fast and loose with law and order. No time can be lost even if more tapes are played; especially if more tapes are played.

Stabroek News

Transcript of conversation

2006-06-05T00:55:00.000-04:00

Following is the transcript of the telephone conversations purportedly between Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix, and other persons.

A tape was recently released in which Felix reportedly planned to plant drugs on a traveller.

The person on the tape, who is allegedly Felix, is represented by Voice A in this transcript.

Telephone rings

CONVERSATION 4

VOICE A : Hi, Mike

VOICE B : Yes, chief.

VOICE A: Good. I deh lil better now.

VOICE B: Ok, sir, I get somebody on the line; leh me just put that person off.

VOICE A: Good well, when you done, call me.

VOICE B: Oh, no, no, just hold one sec, please…click…you there, sir?

VOICE A: Mmmm.

VOICE B: Now, the name of this woman is Joycelyn Hinds.

VOICE A: She's any family to da boy?

VOICE B: No, no, no relative.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: She should be between 40-45. She gave two addresses – 72 Prince William Street and 80 Graham's Street. About a week now she removed or she lock up the address. Well, the one she was frequenting was the one at 72 Princess Street . Ahm, remember he say he put his boys to check out and thing.

Voice A: Mmmm

Voice B: The report he got back is that the house lock up all week, she is not there. She got a new address. The cleaner, she got a new address. Ahm, she applied today for leave from Monday, suddenly, and asked the GS to approve it and so on. But the GS … because it was sudden. But we got this yesterday

That she got some man in the Bahamas and they plan to go down to Trinidad fuh Carnival. On Monday. Now that she applied for this leave we don't know if she is travelling tomorrow, if she is travelling Monday, ahm, Friday or anytime over the weekend.

VOICE A: Well, if she apply for leave from Monday, she might very well run tomorrow.

VOICE B: Yes, no, she might very well run tomorrow, indeed.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: Right, so he called me down from Ogle and we sit down and discuss, and I say that I was trying to get on to de chief to discuss the same information to put something in place at the airport.

VOICE A: mmmm

VOICE B: He wants for her to, well the police to search her and even detain her from going

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: And we suspect that she may have with her a substantial amount of money. If that is the case, well then, we know exactly where it came from. But the story is this Secretary… never. She was told that this cleaner must not be in the office alone.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: And she allowed that to happen.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: It mean that we got the information that that happened and she is denying it. Again the boy, a lil boy told a story that he saw this woman alone in the office.

VOICE A: Who that is amm

VOICE B: The cleaner.

VOICE A: Which boy see she?

VOICE B: This Oma, Oma, Oma, driver, what he name? Omadeli or something.

VOICE A: Mmmm, oh, Hinds.

VOICE B: Yes, Hinds. He saw her there and he told that to the leader.

Yes. She never mentioned anything about this lady and anything about this lady, and how this lady….trusted her and so on. And she all right and whatever. Is the next girl, this other girl, … this Towana Green is the one who informed us that this lady going out on Friday. Apparently he didn't tell the secretary anything, and I suspect she might have told that to her mother after we grilled her yesterday, and de mother gave that information to the leader. So, I want to believe now that that thing might have been between the two of them, the two of them, that is the whole feeling.

Now, she called us today, this girl, ammm, “Mr Johnson, you all ain't find the person yet and so on, you all gon find the person soon.”

VOICE A: Who called you?

VOICE B: The Secretary. I gon call you back. When she called back she said she got information that Hinds, not the cleaner, the driver now that he changed three thousand dollars at Swiss House, not Tuesday gone, the Tuesday before.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: Well, we were talking to him then, so but before then we put it to him that you know he pass through America Street…Cause we did some work. Dem boys say that he does pass through regularly.

VOICE A: Mmm

VOICE B: And might have been dealing with dis man Farouk. So he say, no, he don't deal with Farouk, Farouk is anti-government, against the PNC and the people know he wouldn't go there.

He does go to Solomon, he does change at Solomon, he does change at Gobin, and got some one-eye boy somewhere on America Street he does change, so he say he don't change dem kind a …

VOICE A: Well, wheh he getting money from?

VOICE B: Well, he say sometimes the leader does gie he a lil twenty, and he gat relatives abroad who would send a lil sixty and so on. But talking to him, to he an all crying, and say he aint tek no money from the leader and dem kind a thing. I want to know why she called us to tell us that dis boy changed dis money. But we didnt get to find out from her her source of information.

VOICE A: I still want do something pon she husband to.

VOICE B: But she husband, chief, dis thing is between a little circle eh. Dis husband was seen by the same boy one day in a room where they got some stuff, some foodstuff and clothing and so on. She full up a bag and gave him, but they didn't expect him going back deh at the time when he went back deh. And Ahmm…He had dis big bag and whatever; he was seen in off… in Mr Cadbury … Lance office, making telephone call when everybody gone, so de boy does get he way upstairs deh. De boy does get he way upstairs deh.

Wha get me mad with this girl, we talking to this girl, this man called and then she say “the police deh gon want lock me up now” and with this big set of laughing going on on dis phone. You understand! I say is a joke, yu joking about this thing and so on, who called you just now. Is me husband. What did he say to you? Well, leh we see how far deh gon get with this thing. Deh want lock me up, leh we see how far deh gone get. She has every motive, you understand me?

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: The husband is married. His wife in the States, his mother is in the States.

VOICE A: Oh, so that is not she real husband.

VOICE B: No, he got a permanent visa.

VOICE A: The man gon use she, the man tek the money and goh long he way.

VOICE B: He got a permanent visa and he is going next month.

Now… his son, the little boy who has an impediment, is going with him. You understand me.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: So they want money for that operation, ah ask - who is gonna pay fuh the medical expenses and so on. They said the grandmother for the little boy.

VOICE A: Tchhh…..

VOICE B: Then she say the grandmother. Then she gat an unfinished house in Sophia, she building six years now in Sophia. You see if we coulda search and do dis thing like normal policing …

VOICE A: Yea, yea, yea,

VOICE B: We coulda solve this thing ever since.

VOICE A: Mmmm.

VOICE B: When you tell this woman bout lock up she went crying and all this kind a thing. We know that she got the motive …and she and dis cleaner they are friends and she never reveal anything about the cleaner, is the next girl.

So, he is asking that we put something in place at the airport to search her, ahmm, even stop her so we can talk wid her. We haven't spoken to her yet.

VOICE A: (Cough) Mmm

VOICE B: They got a flight at... I was trying to find out in the meantime the schedule of BWEE. I understand they have a flight BWEE in the morning at five something, that goes to Barbados. Then another one leaving for Trinidad around eight-thirty, nine tomorrow and that might be the story for the rest of the week. So I think we should put with all due respect.

VOICE A: Nah, I going pon dah right away.

VOICE B: Well, we want to be up there. We want to be up there. She bought the ticket already, so they would have her on the manifest to show whether she is travelling tomorrow or Friday.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: So I do not know if there is anyway you could get that information out from BWEE desk. I think this chap Stewart who used to be at traffic, his son is the manager at BWEE.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE B: … so I don't know.

VOICE A: I gat to try and get he in the morning. I aint gat he number now.

VOICE B: In the morning.

VOICE A: But wha I gon do I gon call narcotics and put drugs pon she.

VOICE B: Yes, yes.

VOICE A: And leh deh search she, both she hand pieces and she, she, the other check-in pieces.

VOICE B: …. must get ah thing done...But the thing is we want to be up there in case she is caught with any substantial amount of money, we don't want anybody get into it, and she is taken other places, you understand me. So if we know her. If dah happen, well then, we gon get on to you, and you can give the instructions to be escorted by somebody in our company and we know wha we gon do after then.

VOICE A: Mmm

VOICE B: Right and we don't mind if is two o'clock tomorrow morning, Friday morning, whatever.

VOICE A: Well, then you want know the time of the flight.

VOICE B: The time of the flight.

VOICE A: Al right. I gon do some wok on dah. I might get other sources that can wok on dat.

VOICE B: To know exactly what day she ….

VOICE A: Wha and wha flight going tomorrow.

VOICE B: Well, we know wha flight going tomorrow - this one about eight-thirty, nine.

VOICE A: Nah, I gon run through it quickly.

VOICE B: All right.

VOICE A: Ah gon call you back.

VOICE B: Okay then, chief. Thanks.

VOICE A: Mmm

Second telephone conversation purportedly between Commissioner of Police (Voice A) and a female:

(Sound of telephone hanging up)

Silence

Telephone rings

VOICE A: Hello

VOICE C: Hi

VOICE A: Hello

VOICE C: Yes, goodnight.

VOICE A: Goodnight, how are you?

VOICE C: I'm good, what about you?

VOICE A: Trying to be good.

VOICE C: Eh?

VOICE A: Trying to be good.

VOICE C: Eh heh.

VOICE A: How was your week?

VOICE C: I don't know weh we deh now.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE C: The week wasn't bad. I think we get 192 today, but wha-she-name had to talk to them because we had to drop, lucky thing tomorrow is a holiday.

VOICE A: You had to drop everything…

VOICE C: No, we just had the people long..

VOICE A: Wha you say you issued out 192 or you accepted 192.

VOICE C: Issued

VOICE A: Issue 192.

VOICE C: Mmmm

VOICE A: So you had a crowd deh for a long time.

VOICE C: Yeah, da was the thing, but between we don't have a play out ... when Saturday and we go in - decided to remember - we gathering up everything, we were short a lot.

VOICE A: Short a lot ah wha?

VOICE C: The things for the 20 th

VOICE A: The things for the 20 th

VOICE C: Eh hey.

VOICE A: Today is the 21 st

VOICE C: Yes, the things for yesterday.

VOICE A: So wait, dey didnt prepare them.

VOICE C: Leh me tell you. Only God in Heaven knows wha play out deh.

VOICE A: And how Morrison boasting that she deh ahead?

VOICE C: Of course, they come ahead but nobody can tell you what really playing out deh, we cant tell.

VOICE A: So wait, the people came and they couldn't get yesterday.

VOICE C: Correct.

VOICE A: About how many.

VOICE C: Let me see, bout twenty something or something like dat. Wha she name talk to them today and I tell them point blank, a say: fuh me wan wan - like today own, I stay all man …we pay back and recon all… not clear. We woulda stay back and do it. Well, ah see we ahead, we dey at the 24 th.

VOICE A: How?

VOICE C: February, whichin we get the sum already. The woman say dah might be sabotage, it gat to be the sergeant, we got to distribute books and give them – and dah di right..

VOICE A: So, Cummings aint pull she up.

VOICE C: Yes, Cummings talk to them, and say I cant understand this nonsense you all going on wid here. It didn't happen with Morrison. You see by time the woman ready fuh wok Monday…

VOICE A: So, wha you doing now?

VOICE C: Me, I deh on the road.

VOICE A: I deh in here. I want go by this church service.

VOICE C: Where?

VOICE A: Ah, at the square.

VOICE C: The Square of the Revolution.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE C: Who gat church service deh.

VOICE A: …Steward dem invite me so I gon go and sit down lil bit.

VOICE C: I had yuh, am, I did try fuh get you early fuh you get to collect the …travelling.

VOICE A: The travelling is always a worries. It does come in late and then you does have a difficulty getting it to me. All you got to do is give it to Walker. Drop it in Walker hand if you can't get me.

VOICE C: Oh lad, here you start off. Like you want fight?

VOICE A: I ain't want fight. I telling you, you does hug up the thing and want hold it.

VOICE C: Eh, eh, you know why I hugging it up.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE C: Because of the name, that's why I hug it up.

VOICE A: laugh

VOICE C: You laugh you tail. You done wid you promotion thing, or … aint get am?

VOICE A: No, we send off. I gat to do fuh two people, two deputies. I gat to sit down and do it tomorrow or some day.

VOICE C: Oh, oh oh. I gon and thing deh and see what tomorrow may bring.

VOICE A: Mmmm

VOICE C: Eh eh. You aint call fuh me last night? Somebody call, some private call after eleven.

VOICE A: Nah na, that is not me. That is definitely not me.

VOICE C: And by the time I answer, it cut off, but it deh ring ding, I say yo mek yoself a monkey.

VOICE A: Nah, that is not me.

VOICE C: Mmmm

VOICE A: Hear this, see if you could get immigration to search for the records of a lady name Joycelyn Hinds….

VOICE C: Eh heh

VOICE A: …living somewhere in Plaisance, she supposed to be about 40-45 years. Is like lil urgent.

VOICE C: Eh heh

VOICE A: Alright.

VOICE C: Eh heh; I gon do dat tomorrow.

VOICE A: You gat to do it very early.

VOICE C: Eh heh, right.

VOICE A: Later.

VOICE C: All right then. Bye bye.

( Telephone conversation completed)

(Sounds of dialing…new conversation starts)

Telephonist: 48 hours

Voice A : Yeah, please get Ms Morrison to call me in office now.

Telephonist: Okay, sir.

Voice A : Right.

(Conversation ends

Silence… )

Kaieteur News