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Chanderpaul, Adams star in exciting opening round – Demerara, Essequibo secure wins Oct 14, 2024 Sports 2024 GCB Senior Men’s Super50 Inter-County Tournament… Kaieteur Sports –  The opening round of the GCB Senior Men’s Super50 Inter-county tournament bowled off yesterday with comprehensive wins for Demerara and Essequibo, following some exquisite performances from the likes of Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Ricardo Adams. MVP Ricardo Adams tormented the opposition with the ball before returning with the bat Demerara beat GCB XI by 105 runs Opener Chanderpaul and middle-order batsman Akshaya Persaud led Demerara to a comprehensive win over the GCB XI yesterday at Bourda. The Windies Test opener stroked 103 with 6 fours as he got himself into form, with Persaud chipping in nicely with an aggressive 79 off 52 with five fours and six sixes, taking Demerara to 258-9. Fast-bowlers Carlos Larose (4-41) Johnathan Van Lange (2-51) led the GCB XI bowling, before their side slipped to 153 all out during the chase. Brandon Jaikaran (25), Ushardeva Balgobin (27), Johnathan Rampersaud (26) and a late knock of 51 not out by Kwesi Mickle failed to carry the GCB XI over the ropes. Demerara’s trio of spinners in Devon Lord (3-21), Richie Looknauth (2-19) and Steven Sankar (2-41) kept Demerara in the game, sharing six key wickets on their way to assisting a huge win. Essequibo defeat Berbice by 4 wickets Over at Pomona Ground in Essequibo, Berbice posted 203 all out despite a string of scores from; Rampertab Ramnauth (38), Kevin Sinclair (39), Veerasammy Permaul (30), Tomani Caesar (20) and Junior Sinclair (14). All-rounder Ricardo Adams had a brilliant game, snapping up 5-25 with fast-bowler Ronsford Beaton grabbing 2-46. Defending 200 was never easy against a star-studded Essequibo batting unit, set up  by Kemol Savory (34) while half-centuries from Anthony Adams and a returning Ricardo, eased Essequibo to a win. Ricardo smacked 5 sixes and two fours in his 60 off 47, while his namesake Anthony also stroked 60 with 8 fours and a maximum, thus negating Berbice pacer Clinton Pestano, who returned 3-29. Action continues October 15 with another exciting second round, with Berbice playing Demerara at Bourda, while Essequibo and GCB XI battle at Lusignan Ground. Related Similar Articles

Cache of activities planned for New Amsterdam’s 133rd anniversary Oct 14, 2024 Sports Kaieteur Sports –  The New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council (NAMTC) is this year celebrating its 133 years in existence and a hoard of activities including sports have been planned to observe the occasion. New Amsterdam, which got township status September 1, 1891, is the oldest town in Guyana. Its first Mayor was Britain Neil Ross Mc Kinnon, a Barrister of Law. The present Mayor is Wainwright McIntosh, an Education Officer. This year’s activity was launched on the 22nd of August. The town week is expected to run from October 17th to November 3rd. The theme this year is ‘Embrace History and Unity”. To start things off a church service was held at the Bethel Prayer and Praise Ministries. At the end of the service members of the church gifted the staff of the NAMTC an anniversary cake. Several sporting activities are slated to highlight the Town’s 133rd Anniversary celebrations. Including street football, basketball, bird whistling competition, cricket, drama festival, Mayor’s Cycling road race, steel band competition, bingo, Spelling Bee, domino Competition, debate, impromptu speech, singing competition, mathematics Olympiad, dancing competition, walk race and concerts. A variety of other activities are also on the agenda including River tours, business exhibition and job fair, all back and all blue affairs, market day, cooler fete and breakfast morning. The celebrations are expected to culminate with a fair and sound clash on Friday, November 1, at the Bermine Ground. The usual street fair and Lime is slated for Saturday, November 2, along Main Street while a family fun day is slated for Sunday, November 3, at the Esplanade Park. New Amsterdam, which is located about five miles on the Eastern Bank of the Berbice River, is situated at the confluence of the Berbice and Canje Rivers. It became a town exactly 100 years before it became a Municipality. About 1733, the name New Amsterdam was given to a little village that sprang up around Fort Nassau about 56 miles up the Berbice River. In 1785 it was decided to abandon Fort Nassau and move to the neighbourhood of Fort St. Andries lower down the river at the confluence of the Berbice River and its tributary the Canje River, the site of present-day New Amsterdam. It was built by the Dutch in 1740 before being taken over by the British in 1803. New Amsterdam covers about 13.7 square kilometers and has an estimated population of approximately 50,000 persons. New Amsterdam was established as the seat of Government for Berbice Between 1785 to 1790. In 1812 a special Department of Works, the Winkel Department, was set up to deal with all repair works required by the residents. The workmen were originally slaves who were given their freedom in 1831. The Town Hall of Tudor’s architecture was built with a tower, of approximately 75 feet. This tower was dismantled in 2012. Related Similar Articles

‘An opposition without a credible vision’ Oct 14, 2024 Letters Dear Editor When I was requested to critique the presenters of the Burnham Foundation’s Elvin McDavid Symposium on ‘How can an Electoral System for Guyana engineer a system of Governance that`s responsive to the Plurality of the Guyanese Society?’ it brought to mind that even when the People’s National Congress (PNC) was in its heyday, Elvin McDavid was among those who sought to place Guyana on the correct trajectory towards nationhood and thus, particularly at this period when the need for this kind of intervention has again come to the fore, the Burnham Foundation should be commended for remembering his contributions. In January 1976, Forbes Burnham announced that the People’s National Congress (PNC) was being guided by the principles of Marxism/Leninism, and later that year, as the principal research officer of the party, I was summoned by General Secretary of the PNC and Minister of National Development Dr. Ptolemy Reid and told that the PNC and PPP had decided to jointly hold a series of meetings around the country and that I should look around for someone to represent the PNC. I found the late Dr. Perry Mars, but he later withdrew.  In the meantime, it became known that Cheddi Jagan himself would be representing the PPP and Dr. Reid insisted that I should represent the PNC. As a child, my mother took us to public political meetings in Beterverwagting where Jagan, Burnham, Kwayana, etc. spoke and those images suddenly resurfaced. I did not think myself up to the task of publicly defending the PNC against Jagan and so I objected, but Reid insisted that he would not have asked me to do something I could not do and that in any case, I was a part of the clique -Elvin McDavid, Malcolm Parris, etc. of his ministry’s Department of Planning and Research –that was encouraging this kind of thing. Cheddi and I held two meetings at Bishops High School and Beterverwagting Government School and if I remember correctly these led to Burnham and Jagan, for the first time since the 1950s split of the PPP, sharing a platform on Mayday of 1976. But apparently the coalition discourse later broke down over whether girls should have to go to the Guyana National Service. What follows in bullet points are largely my take from the Burnham Foundation symposium. The problems to be solved: The separation of powers – the fundamental principle of democratic government that underpins government accountability -is absent in Guyana. Political accountability is further diminished because two large ethnic groups and parties constitute and have control over 80% of the voting population. Decades of quarrels and clashes based on claims and counterclaims of ethnic discrimination have cost much loss of life and property. The resulting systems of governance have been autocratic and suboptimal. The national/international rights of racial/ethnic groups to their own independent associations are being blatantly violated in efforts to compel their political support. Indigenous people – about 12% of the population – are the poorest and are being surreptitiously deprived of their own independent organisations and representation. The electoral system and voters list are severely flawed and have resulted in institutionalized elections manipulation. Suggested solutions: In relation to accountability and the separation of powers: sever the links by which ethnic political parties control the government that controls the parliament and have tremendous influence over the judiciary. The rights of ethnic groups to their own associations must be entrenched and the executive authority of the state must be curtailed by direct power-sharing, veto, supermajorities, devolution, enhanced civil society enhancements, etc. The legislature, judiciary, elections authority and other independent public commissions and committees must be made independent of the government in spirit and deed. To aid this process official appointments and the behaviour of the entire government, opposition and all public bodies must pass the test of an independent, preferably non-resident, ethical ombudsman. Collective bargaining in the public sector should be properly entrenched to, for example, put an end to the present autocratic government handouts that do not properly or collegiately address the long-term interest of public servants. There should be an annual ethnic audit and review that considers disparities, opportunities, obstacles, etc. and recommend the changes necessary to improve the situation in a timely manner. Affirmative measures such as procurement ‘supplier diversity’ are only one element of this holistic approach to ethnic equity. There should be about 50instead of the present 25 directly elected members of parliament elected by their own names and responsible to their constituencies that have recall authority. If possible, the parliamentary top-up list should be open. Those of indigenous ethnicity should makeup not less than 12% of the Members of Parliament. If 50% of them belonging to the governing and opposition parties together, should vote that any executive action runs counter to their interest, the matter should be delayed for three months and returned to the relevant bodies for reconsideration. Local democracy should be based on the principle of subsidiarity – nothing should be done at a higher level that can be done well or better at a lower level – and strict rules should be made to prevent the involvement of central government into local affairs. A specific percentage (15% for example) of the national budget shall be constitutionally set aside for regional and local authorities and distributed based upon an agreed upon equitable formula. The national budgeting and national elections management processes should be based upon best international practices and national consensus. A completely new voters list should be prepared before the next election and a new one should be mandatory every time it is requested by a party or parties representing 33% of the seats in the National Assembly. Time is not a problem: in 2012 Ghana with a population of 25 million and 275 parliamentary constituencies, completed an entire electorate reregistration using biometric markers (ten fingerprints) in a six-week period. New voter identification cards were issued featuring head shots and the reregistration identified 8,000 double registrations of which 6,000 were judged intentional. (http://cpd.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/golden-rev-submitted.pdf). Guyana’s PR system is extremely representative: the ‘joiner list’ that helps to make all votes of value should be properly institutionalized. Obstacles to the participation of small parties should be reconsidered and where practicable removed. Conclusion: One could come to inclusive shared governance, which was the basis for our intervention in the 1970s, from a moral standpoint i.e. viewing it as a good but not a necessary objective if Guyana is to have any hope of becoming a democratic prosperous nation. I suspect that this belief still underpins the motive of many of those who profess inclusivity today. Thus, instead of its being constitutionally directed, the PPP will have us believe that democratic inclusive governance can be based upon ad hoc arbitrary interventions of the political class such as at present proliferate under its rulership. Also, sad to say that while the entire political opposition promised to be on its best behaviour if it wins government, it is yet to sell a credible vision of why it should be believed in a context where governments are largely unaccountable. What is to stop it from behaving worse than the PPP: particularly since the latter claims that its behaviour is patterned upon what the opposition did during its most recent foray in Government? Inclusivity of the type Guyana requires is not simply a moral position that can be dispensed with; it is a necessity. Note too that in most, if not all, of its dimensions, political success is best assured when the public takes hold of a worthy vision of tomorrow. Regards Dr Henry Jeffrey Related Similar Articles

E-biker crushed by truck Oct 13, 2024 News An unidentified man was on Sunday afternoon crushed by a truck while riding and electric bike along the East Bank Demerara (EBD) Public Road. Police said the accident took place around 14:03 hrs. at Bagotstown. The truck and the electric biker were reportedly heading in the same direction towards Georgetown. Just before crossing over in the vicinity of Car Care Enterprise (auto dealership), the truck reportedly knocked the bike from behind. The biker fell of his bike and ended getting crushed by the truck. An Ambulance called but the medical crew onboard pronounced him dead at the scene. His body was subsequently taken to the Memorial gardens Funeral home. Meanwhile, the truck driver has been taken into custody to assist with investigations. (Truck cruhses man on E-bike at Bagotstown) Related Similar Articles

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The 2024 Pan American U23 Squash Championships concluded on Saturday evening in Bucaramanga, Colombia. This event was the only qualifying competition for squash at...