Courtesy: Indo Caribbean World
Issue of October 02
By Sharief Khan
Georgetown - Guyana is thinking about setting up its own full-fledged law school if graduates from the University of Guyana (UG) continue to face hassles getting into Caribbean law centres run by the University of the West Indies (UWI).
So said President Dr. Cheddi Jagan last week after widespread national anger at the latest impasse dogging UG law graduates seeking admission to the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad.
About 20 students who completed the LLB degree course at UG travelled to Trinidad last month expecting easy entrance to Hugh Wooding for the two-year program required for lawyers to practise in the Caribbean.
But they ran into a brick wall in a repeat of the difficulties faced by UG students last year in getting into Hugh Wooding. This had triggered off an intensive Guyana government lobby, led by Dr. Jagan, to get the 1996 group accepted.
Sources close to the behind-the-scenes negotiations said this week the Guyana lobby had paid off, and the UG bunch will be able to attend classes and enjoy full-time student status at Hugh Wooding until the end of the month.
"Their status will be as if they are properly registered until Caricom Attorneys General and Legal Affairs Ministers meet at the end of next month," one source said.
Other sources said this break in the impasse over the UG students getting into Hugh Wooding came following meetings in Barbados last week involving Caricom Secretary General, Dr. Edwin Carrington, the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education (CLE), Guyanese Senior Counsel, Ashton Chase, and top brass at UWI.
This followed initiatives by Dr. Jagan and some of his Cabinet ministers last week. Dr. Jagan pledged to stay personally involved until the situation was cleared.
The sources said Chase went to Barbados at the request of the Guyana government after the Caricom Chairman and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Lester Bird, and Carrington, both met in Antigua on the issue.
During a September 24 Cabinet meeting which discussed the UG students' impasse for more than three hours, Dr. Jagan telephoned Carrington and Bird on the matter, pressing the case for the graduates to gain admission to Hugh Wooding.
Dr. Jagan also faxed Sir Alister McIntyre, Vice Chancellor of UWI, to further push the case for the UG students.
In Barbados, Chase and Carrington met the principals of Hugh Wooding and the Normal Manley Law Schools in Jamaica and the Dean of the Law Faculty in Barbados, Professor Anthony Burgess, the sources said.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Cave Hill campus, Sir Keith Hunte, who had brokered a mechanism for the entry of UG law graduates after the 1995 batch ran into admission difficulties, was also expected to have been in the meeting.
As a result of those talks, officials have decided that the UG students would be allowed in after several agreed-to procedural steps are completed this week, one source said.
The sources said the CLE is expected to meet on the situation immediately after the Attorneys General and Legal Affairs Ministers session at the end of this month.
On September 24 Cabinet gave top priority to the UG law graduates case.
Burgess had ruled the UG 1996 law graduates ineligible for entry to Hugh Wooding on the grounds that the UG law degree is not equivalent to that given by the Cave Hill Law Faculty.
Clearance by the law faculty is necessary for non-UWI entrants to Hugh Wooding or the Norman Manley Law School, both under the control of the CLE.
Entry clearance for the 1995 batch came only after several high-level behind-the-scene meetings in which Chase and several Guyana government ministers were key players.
After the quandary last year, UG graduates were to have been asked to take an aptitude or proficiency test before being admitted to Hugh Wooding, under the mechanism put up by Sir Keith, officials said.
No such test was set up or offered to the 1996 UG law graduates, but Burgess ruled the non-equivalency of the UG degree made them unfit for admission.
Acting Attorney General, Charles Ramson, has placed the blame squarely at the steps of the UG administration.
Ramson last week declared: "There's really no reason for this kind of impasse because the long-term mechanism has been in place - there was agreement that an external exam must be set for every non-UWI graduate for entry to Hugh Wooding or the Norman Manley Law School.
"This mechanism was floated in January this year and was agreed on between UG and the UWI Law Faculty, and it was to have been put in place as early as possible."
Officials connected to the UG law program said they are not to be blamed for the situation.
Dr. Jagan, at a press conference on September 27, reiterated Guyana will move to set up its own law school if the controversy surrounding the admission of UG law graduates to UWI centres persists.
He told reporters "we will ensure that their aim to qualify as attorneys-at-law will not be frustrated as Guyana is badly in need of a greater complement of practitioners. If they continue to persist that they will not accept our students, Guyana will solve the problem by getting the practicals done right here," he said.
Georgetown - The Good and Green for Georgetown (GGG) members of the City Council are upset at stories about a Brazilian goat that appeared in the Guyana Chronicle - so much so that the newspaper's reporter assigned to City Hall faces expulsion over the issue.
Frederico the Goat was unknown in Guyana until its mysterious death was reported last month.
Frederico had been standing in for mayor in the northeastern Brazilian town of Pilar. Newspapers in Brazil said he had been leading in opinion surveys since his owner, Petrucio Maia, launched the animal on the campaign trail as a protest candidate in this month's municipal elections.
The rise and fall of the animal triggered an editorial in the Chronicle, and was referred to in the cartoon in a Sunday issue - none of which found favour with the GGG, according to one of its City Councillors, Robert Williams.
As a result, he last week declared the Chronicle reporter should be expelled from covering City Council meetings if the newspaper's reports are "inappropriate."
The ghost of Frederico surfaced at the council's statutory meeting when Williams brought up the newspaper's reference to the animal.
Williams called on City Hall Public Relations Officer, Royston King, to draw the references to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief of the Chronicle and the board of directors of the company.
Claiming that the newspaper misrepresents the council, Williams said if the officer did not get a satisfactory response from the Editor-in-Chief and the Board, the council should notify the press association, or seek to expel the newspaper's representative from meetings.
People's Progressive Party/Civic Councillor, Fitzgerald Agard, said Williams had raised the matter at an inappropriate time, and it should have been dealt with under another section of the agenda.
In Brazil, Maia told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper he thought his goat had been poisoned by a political rival.
"He had a lot of foam in his mouth," he said.
Inhabitants of Pilar had driven in a convoy of 50 vehicles through town in support of Frederico's candidacy, and newspapers said the election bandwagon was shot at.
The Chronicle's pieces had suggested some Georgetown citizens were considering following the Pilar goat lead. The City Council wrote a lengthy letter to the Chronicle on the issue which the newspaper published.
The editor's note to the letter said it was sad that the complainants had failed to appreciate high satire, and that those accusing the newspaper of unjustified attacks on the Council had been in the previous government which had done little to improve Georgetown in its 28 years in power.
Georgetown - The busting of suspected cocaine smuggling rings in Canada and New York has revealed further links with drug runners in Guyana, officials here said.
This information came in the wake of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) busting a gang in Toronto last week.
Earlier this year the RCMP played a major role here in smashing a cocaine smuggling ring with Colombian connections.
Out of the seven persons arrested in the seizure of (Can) $6.3 million worth of cocaine in a probe of an international ring based in Colombia, at least one is known to Guyana police.
A 27-year-old Guyanese man, Mark Browne, from Brampton, Ontario, was among the seven taken into custody. A senior Guyana Police officer said he is known to officials here.
The seizure of 21 kilos of cocaine came after an eight-month investigation which involved police in Guyana, Barbados, St. Lucia, and New York.
An RCMP spokesperson was reported as saying Colombian cocaine was shipped to Guyana and then trans-shipped to Toronto through Caribbean countries.
Several couriers attempting to smuggle cocaine strapped 'hot pants-style' under tights and other women's underwear, have been intercepted by Guyana narcotics agents at the Timehri International Airport while trying to board New York flights.
These drug mules have not been cooperating with local police in identifying the big fish in the trade, preferring instead to serve the light sentences of up to five years in jail when they appear before magistrates.
One Canadian woman courier held at Timehri this year claimed she was making the run because of a sick child. She received a minimum three-year term from a city magistrate.
RCMP agents have been working here with local narcotics officers since late last year in an operation to try and check Colombian cocaine shipments to Canada.
A police statement earlier this year said a joint anti-narcotics investigation, the first of its kind here, targets drug organisations in Canada and Guyana.
These rings have been shipping cocaine from Colombia to Guyana through Brazil and Venezuela, and smuggling the drug to Canada, police said.
Bramhanand Nandalall, also known as Bramhanand Rambriche, as well as Brammer and Bramo, and Cambio dealer, Farouk Razack, are among a group of suspected cocaine traffickers who were flushed out in the joint Guyana-Canada operation.
RCMP undercover and other agents have testified at the preliminary hearing in which Razack and several others have been committed to stand trial in the high Court, where they face between five years to life sentences if found guilty.
Nandalall, who vanished almost four years ago, surfaced for a swift court appearance in Georgetown last week.
Chief Magistrate K. Juman-Yassin had issued a warrant for his arrest after Nandalall failed to show with the others charged indictably in the drug running case in May this year.
But without reporting to police, he mysteriously showed up with a lawyer before Principal Magistrate Paul Fung-A-Fat two weeks ago, was granted (G) $1 million bail, dodged newspaper photographers with the aid of strategically-placed henchmen, and was then whisked away in a waiting car.
Five Guyanese suspected drug smugglers arrested in a Brooklyn, New York sweep last week, are also known to the police here, sources said.
"We have them on record," a senior official told the Chronicle, but said they had never been caught with cocaine caches.
Federal agents rounded up the five in simultaneous raids on apartments in Brooklyn in the early morning of September 24, the New York Daily News reported.
The five who have prior arrest records in New York were refused bail. They are Andre Sobers, Wayne Butters, Ellis Marshall, Gary Williams, and Roy Ferguson.
Authorities said Sobers and Butters were identified as managers of a drug ring by five cocaine couriers who turned informants.
Marshall and Williams allegedly recruited couriers, and Ferguson allegedly met the 'mules' in Guyana and gave them drugs to take to New York, the newspaper said.
The group is accused of shipping cocaine from Guyana into New York through Kennedy Airport in false bottoms in carry-on luggage.
Narcotics agents here in August uncovered cocaine stashed in the false bottoms of suitcases tagged for passengers on a flight to New York.
Following this, Trevor Ching-A-Sue, 17, was jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty in a case that upset police. The indictable charge (under which suspects face trial in the High Court and possible life sentences) was surprisingly changed to a summary indictment with a maximum five-year jail term.
Ching-A-Sue's mother, who was also charged, pleaded not guilty and was freed.
Co-accused Roderick Lake is now on trial in the magistrate's court, and another suspect, William Mittleholzer, is still at large. The charges were for drug trafficking.
Georgetown - Phone sex has catapulted Guyana into the international limelight and the government is displeased.
The government's displeasure comes in the wake of a story in the Washington Post that revealed the Guyana Telegraph and Telephone (GT&T) company, a subsidiary of the Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) firm based in the US Virgin Islands and incorporated in Delaware, is a major player in international phone sex rings. The Post's report was published on September 23.
Last week Guyana's President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, told the firm responsible for what he said is an unflattering portrait of the country that if it does not mend its wicked ways, it could be booted out.
Dr. Jagan also threatened to call in interested investors from the US to buy out GT&T if the firm continues its phone sex international traffic.
According to the Post, GT&T this year "could take in nearly (US) $100 million from its burgeoning trade in specialised information services, such as telephone sex, as diallers in the United States and other countries place international calls to X-rated services in Guyana."
In response, the telephone giant adopted a tough stance following the Post's phone sex exposé, arguing its international sex traffic had made overseas calls cheaper for its Guyanese customers.
But last week Dr. Jagan would have none of that kind of talk either, and declared GT&T is not operating with any degree of morality.
"There is a lot of nonsense going on in this country, and this is one example of a company which we don't want in Guyana... Why are they (resorting) to audiotext? They have in the agreement made with the last government a guaranteed return of 15 percent... but it seems as if they want super profits, not just 15 percent," Dr. Jagan said.
Audiotext covers dozens of service providers (including sex talk rings) in the US and elsewhere that look for offshore places, such as Guyana, to handle calls. It provides other services such as horoscopes and information on sports.
Dr. Jagan noted that the phone company's 35-year contract clinched in a deal with the previous government can be broken by Parliament. However, he indicated his government did not want to do that.
"We want this company to behave like a company which has a social conscience, which wants to serve the people of this country and not to behave as if it is out to do what the hell it likes. That's what's happening," he declared.
"I am telling you this company is not the kind of company that we need in Guyana. We don't want to break the contract... because if we do that, you're going to hear that this government doesn't believe in private enterprise and (is) taking over a company which was privatised by the last government," he added.
"But there's a limit," he argued, pointing out that Guyanese are suffering because of a lack of telephones.
He added: "If it goes on like this, I would invite four or five companies from the United States to come and take them over, buy them out, because we cannot go on like this. It's affecting our development in this country. Telecommunications today is a very important item of development."
Trade Minister, Michael Shree Chan, who holds the portfolio for the telephone company, said there are companies in the US which have expressed interest in GT&T. However, he denied the government is putting pressure on the phone company because of these other overseas interests.
"I can tell you categorically it's not the intention of the Guyana government to pressure the GT&T because of another company. It is our intention, though, to ensure that the company honours its obligations to the nation," Shree Chan said.
He added GT&T makes (G) $4.7 billion over the 15 percent rate of return.
Asked what steps the government can take to stop the dirty calls trade, he said there "many things" which governments can do.
"In some countries, governments sometimes take away companies. It is not our intention to take away any company, but it is our expectation that companies operate within the confines of morality."
The government has said the firm should concentrate on meeting its contractual obligations of expanding domestic and business telephone connections, rather than hooking into the phone sex rings.
Audiotext as part of the GT&T revenue earning base first surfaced in 1993. The government had then raised its concerns, Shree Chan said, but the company explained this was not illegal, and they were providing a service.
He added a "lot of other elements" are included in GT&T audiotext traffic, including the provision of horoscopes and sports material.
"We need to determine exactly how much offensive audiotext contribute to the earnings of the company," Shree Chan said, adding that the reported (US) $100 million GT&T can earn this year from the practice is not going into the government's coffers.
The government cannot even be certain if the money passes through Guyana's banking system, he noted.
"These are areas we've got to explore and seek clarification," he said.
The GT&T has linked withdrawal of the audiotext with a 65.8 percent increase in telephone rates.
"While there seemed to be some moral objections to audiotext a few years ago, by last year, the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) was insisting that the audiotext revenue be used to maintain and subsidise the local telephone service," GT&T Deputy General Manager, Communications, Terry Holder, told the Guyana Chronicle in response to the Post's article.
ATN paid $16.5 million for its 80 percent of the State-owned Guyana Telephone Corporation in 1991.
The government has retained 20 percent and has two directors on the company's board.
The Post's story was headlined 'Money flows into poor countries on X-rated phone lines' with a sub-headline, 'Lucrative phone sex export industry provides a lift for Guyana's economy.'
The Post said sex line companies often are small operations seeking more hospitable hosts as developed countries ban the services domestically, or, as in the case of the US, enact rules regulating these.
According to the Post's account, GT&T is among the top providers in the sex call listings. In current issues of the Washington City paper, "of 15 ads listing international numbers to dial for live 'chats' with people who simulate sex acts over the phone, eight route callers to Guyana's 592 exchange," the Post said.
"Of six international phone sex numbers in the September issue of Washingtonian magazine, four go to Guyana," it added.
The Post said Americans who dial up numbers to talk sex with strangers may be reaching halfway around the world, often without realizing it.
"This has sent hundreds of millions of dollars flowing out of the United States and other industrial countries, experts said, and into faceless phone sex operations in places such as Guyana, the Philippines, Poland, the Netherlands Antilles island, and the tiny African country of Sao Tome. For the smaller countries these telephone services have become an important source of foreign exchange."
Georgetown - President Dr. Cheddi Jagan last week called on nationals to help in the war against crime as the government moved to put an anti-crime strategy into place.
Speaking at a press conference, Dr. Jagan said he was not at liberty to divulge the tactics, but expected all law-abiding citizens to give the necessary support, cooperation and encouragement to make the anti-crime effort a success.
Recently there has been a marked increase in violent robberies by armed criminals, a consequence of which saw the authorities in Canada issuing a travel advisory warning Canadians that the incidence of crime in Guyana is high.
Guyana's government has since approved the establishment of a joint Police/Army task force to contain the escalation of violent crimes.
"Organised crime is a serious matter and I have made it known to all those involved in law enforcement and security of the people and their welfare, that as President of the Republic, I will spare no effort to give whatever support to deal condignly with those who have chosen to live on the dark side of the law," Dr. Jagan said.
"I also want to take this opportunity to call on all citizens of the country to help us to take back the streets, sea walls, parks, shopping areas, etc., from these criminals. We must and we shall stop them. They are giving us a bad name and are hampering the development of the country," he said.
Dr. Jagan said he appreciated the fact that backwardness and poverty are causes for crime, and stated that the government had embarked on a program of social justice, which will, in time, deal with the social ills inherited from the past.
"We have to press on with this task and create security and freedom from fear," he stressed. He added that while it is the duty of the law enforcement agencies to deal with organized criminal groups, there are other transgressions of the law, and the hangover from the old culture of indiscipline which must be given serious attention.
"Our roads are still unsafe. The noise nuisance continues. Open-air discos abound, disturbing hard-working people and students. People litter the streets with careless abandon. Vulgar language and indecent exposure are seen and heard all over the place," he said.
He also noted that vandalism and the theft of public property was "still pervasive," as well as squatting, tax evasion and bribery, and other areas, "traits" which were "inimical to the values we cherish as a nation."
Investors getting ready for local privatisation moves
Georgetown - More than a dozen investors interested in bidding for shares or assets of six major State companies in Guyana have registered with the Privatisation Unit, an official said last week.
Executive Secretary of the body, Winston Brassington, said the process for privatising the firms, which could fetch a market value of (G) $11.8 billion, is "progressing on schedule."
Brassington added that "keen" interest has so far been shown in the insurance and livestock feed business, namely, the Guyana Cooperative Insurance Scheme and Guyana Stock Feeds Limited.
The other firms on the market are the National Edible Oil Company, Guyana National Printers Limited, Guyana Stores Limited, and the National Bank of Industry and Commerce Limited.
The interested parties must submit business setting out the aims for the use of the enterprise in question, the nature and extent of the planned modernisation and rehabilitation, investment and financing projections for at least five years, a marketing plan and employment provisions.
Under the rules, interested investors shall register with the unit, complete and sign with their name and address the Form of Tender, submit references and credentials, legal status and copies of audited accounts and annual reports, if applicable, for the last two years.
Georgetown - Electricity generation is likely to be much better by the end of December this year, but officials are saying they need (US) $15 million to improve transmission and distribution.
Chairman of the Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC), Ronald Alli, last week said the money is required to fix transmission and distribution in the main Demerara system. If found, he said, "there will be and can be some degree of stability" of the existing supply.
Alli told reporters the system which carries some 60 percent of the power base of the GEC, is in dire need of repairs, and until this is done, there will be interruptions.
The government is looking for a strategic partner to co-manage the problem-hit corporation through a privatisation/investment program.
But President Dr. Cheddi Jagan has stated the authorities will not wait until that comes on stream in the 1997 first quarter, and will have to find the $15 million to start the rehabilitation immediately.
"(This) means we are to get (from) somewhere $6 million to start right now, not even to wait until (the) partner comes in," he said at a press conference held recently.
"We want to assure you, we are trying to do everything possible, not only to get enough generating capacity, but to correct the distribution. This government is trying its best to solve this problem and we hope this nightmare will be finished within a very short time," he said.
The sector needs an overall $30 million for the rehabilitation, and to buy new equipment, which will be provided through the privatisation program.
Georgetown - National registration is moving ahead in preparation for general polls scheduled here next year.
So far some 455,384 persons, 9.13 percent of the projected 496,000 target, have been registered.
Photography commenced last week in hinterland districts and is expected to start soon in other areas along the country's coast.
The exercise, which started in June this year, is being conducted by the National Registration Centre (NRC) and computerisation of the data has already started.
The photographic phase was delayed by the late arrival of a shipment of cameras. A programme has been planned to accelerate the process.
According to regulations, every citizen resident in Guyana and who would be 14 years old or older on December 31, 1996, should be registered.
Commonwealth citizens resident in Guyana for at least one year also have to be enlisted on the national register, which is being created in accordance with the laws of Guyana.
The exercise is being manned by 1,746 personnel operating through the 1,760 registration units specially set up by the NRC. It is being observed by 4,806 scrutineers.
The voters roll for the elections will be culled from the revised national register and special voter identification cards are expected to be produced.
Georgetown - Guyana's Amerindian community is expected to benefit from three large projects for which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has allocated $7 million.
UNESCO said the funds will be disbursed for an education development project, a cultural ecology scheme, and a conference on Amerindian Perspectives in Culture and Environment.
A Guyana Chronicle report said the education project, which will get $2.2 million, is aimed at establishing multi-faceted curricula for primary and secondary schools.
These will be tailored to meet the particular socio-economic needs of Amerindian communities and circumstances, and are linked to specific improvement programs.
The project is also geared at developing confidence among Amerindian nationals to maintain integrity and promote sustainability as an indigenous group of people.
Another objective is preserving the local Amerindian dialects through language development programs in primary and secondary schools.
Georgetown - Pilots on the Guyana Airways Corporation's (GAC) international route are back at work after a three-day sick-out over a pay dispute.
The Guyana Chronicle reported last week that the pilots and management were to continue discussions on the issue.
The sick-out grounded the airline's Georgetown\Curacao\New York flights last week, and affected transferring passengers. They were moved to BWIA.
According to GAC General Manager, Fazal Khan, the pilots are calling for (US) $6,000 flight pay, plus a basic salary and a reasonable pension scheme. This will take their monthly earnings to (G) $900,000.
GAC's best offer was $7,500 per hour flight pay and the salary which would take the monthly earnings to about $600,000.
President Dr. Cheddi Jagan deemed the pilots' action as "disgusting" and "unpatriotic." It has undermined the credibility of the service, he said. He called on them to consider the national interest.
However, the pilots have said Dr. Jagan's comments must have stemmed from misinformation and misrepresentation. They have said they have been bargaining for a reasonable package which is within the norms of the industry and GAC's ability to pay.
Georgetown - The Bank of Guyana is expected to issue new (G) $500 and $20 notes with enhanced security features.
The notes will carry a "windowed security thread" and "novel numbering."
The thread will appear on the surface of the paper at regular intervals so that the metallic sheen may be seen. The complete thread is only visible when viewed against the light.
Novel numbering refers to the use of progressively larger digits in adjacent positions.
The bank said the features are just part of the continuing process of currency reform it has initiated.
Both will be applied to the $500 note, while the $20 bills will only feature novel numbering. Other attributes will remain the same.
The new notes will circulate with the existing ones.
Georgetown - Tourism Minister Michael Shree Chan has said a Canadian travel advisory issued here recently is unfortunate, particularly in the light that the government has taken several steps to arrest the crime situation.
Shree Chan's comments came at a special meeting held recently to discuss the matter.
The advisory, which said the incidence of crime in Guyana was high, was issued by the Consular Operations and Emergency Services Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Canada.
Shree Chan said the government recognises that the fight against crime must involve all Guyanese and should not be limited to the security forces.
"Towards this end, one notes the formation of anti-crime committees in various communities, and the police have increased their ranks and created a rapid response mechanism within the limitations of their financial and human resources," he said.
He added that travel advisories by governments to their nationals are not new. However, he said he was not aware that any like the latest had been issued by the Canadians in the past when criminal action had been even more serious, including the notorious kick-down-the-door attacks in which victims were raped and killed.
Georgetown - A police outpost is to be established at the Kaieteur National Park as the government moves to preserve the environmental integrity of the area.
The Trade, Tourism and Industry Ministry has reported a recommendation to set up the post, with help from the private sector.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission will also take the necessary action to close the area to preserve its environmental integrity, according to decisions made at a recent meeting.
Officials have also decided to have rules and regulations governing the behaviour of visitors to the park circulated to all relevant agencies.
These will be enforced by the Tourism Association of Guyana (TAG).
The Ministry, with TAG's help, is to construct the necessary rules and regulations for the licensing of tour operators.
It was also recommended that TAG advise the National Parks Commission on a communication network system, and that the board be set up which is provided for in the Kaieteur National Park Act.
Georgetown - Colgate-Palmolive (Guyana) Limited has opened a (US) $1 million plant at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, and is expected to serve several markets in the Caribbean.
The company's head office is also located at the site, which previously housed a section of the Guyana Refrigerators Limited.
Some 30 more persons from the area have been employed, expanding the staff to 60, General Manager, Edmund Khanoo said at the formal opening ceremony.
The plant, geared to produce 500 tonnes a year, will be supplying markets in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, and the Leeward and Windward Islands.
Khanoo said the establishment signals the firm's interest in investing in Guyana, noting that it had a 40 percent increase in sales and a doubling of its profits.
He added that Colgate-Palmolive products are being sold in 203 countries, and have been in Guyana for more than 40 years.
The operations here moved from a value of $2 million in 1994 to $7.5 million at present.
The company will continue to operate as long as it is economically viable and politically stable, Khanoo said. He added that the acquisition of the new premises shows its commitment to Guyana.
Georgetown - The Guyana Gold Board expects to complete mechanisms to allow dealers to buy and export gold soon.
General Managers, Satkumar Hemraj, has indicated the Board will finish finalising the mechanisms on how the process will work "very shortly."
It will then accept applications from dealers who wish to purchase and export.
The board has put a hold on the submission of the requests in order to plan the implementation of the scheme, announced by the government recently.
Hemraj said the board has been apprising the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association of the broader aspects of the framework under which the process will be managed.
The arrangement is a step closer towards de-monopolising the gold buying system, and would initially see 12 dealers being licensed for a period of one year with a review after six months.
The offer is only open to Guyanese nationals because of the experimental and limited nature of the exercise.
Georgetown - The local business community is offering to help the police, financially or otherwise, to combat the escalating crime situation in the country.
Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Manniram Prashad, said the offer was officially made to Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis, during a recent meeting.
The PSC is concerned about the alarming crime situation and daily reports in the media of gun-related and violent robberies.
Prashad added that the PSC appreciates the fact that the Guyana Police Force is under-staffed, underpaid, and poorly equipped.
"The private sector is concerned that investment, both local and foreign, will be severely impeded by crime. Our fledgling tourism industry will never take off if crime continues at the present rate," he said.
"The very fabric of democracy will be threatened and undermined if serious action is not taken immediately to combat the... situation," Prashad said.
He stressed that the private sector is willing to consolidate with the police to tackle the problem, and what is needed at this stage is more cooperation and interaction between the police and members of the public.
The PSC also felt the recent travel advisory issued by the Canadian authorities, which stated that the incidence of crime here is high, should have been discussed with the Police Commissioner before its release.
Georgetown - The Agriculture Ministry has taken a series of steps to curb the influx of the mealy bug into Guyana.
Monitoring the movement of plant material (import/export) is one of the first measures aimed at controlling the spread, a ministry report stated last week.
The report said members of the security forces, especially those stationed along the borders and at ports of entry, will be educated about the measures. An ongoing public awareness campaign is also taking place.
The government has targeted produce from Caribbean countries for extensive checks and strict quarantine, and similar action is to be taken with imports from other countries.
The mealy bug is a threat throughout the region because of the high volume of inter-country trade in fresh produce. When there is severe infestation, plants can almost be inundated with the snowy cover which prevents many pesticides from being effective.
Infested leaves are often overwhelmed with a soggy black fungus known as blight.
Georgetown - A Canadian registered charity is expected to launch a massive five-year education/awareness campaign in Guyana shortly.
Operation Blessing Guyana (OBG) will launch the 'Cry of AIDS' project at the Embassy Club in Georgetown this week.
The venture is aimed at curbing the rapid spread of the disease here. Volunteers will be trained as care givers for the infected under the first phase, which will begin on October 6 and last six days.
The second aspect includes the establishment of committees in major towns and villages, and an office by year end.
A live-in hospice is expected to be opened during the second year of the project and several community organisations are to be involved.
OBG President, Emanuel Mendonca, and a team of Canadian trainers are due here for the launching.
Georgetown - The Analyst Food and Drugs Department has signalled it would enforce a series of regulations to curb smuggling of prescription drugs into Guyana.
It has warned importers that under Number 68 of the Food and Drugs Regulations 1977, no person, other than a practitioner, licensed drug manufacturer, or importer whose business is under personal control of a pharmacist, or the Government Analyst, shall import a Third Schedule drug.
Director of Foods and Drugs, Marilyn Collins, said the department depends to a large extent on the Customs and Excise Department to refuse entry of medication which has not been sanctioned by it.
But Guyana has open borders where smuggling can be carried out easily, without detection, she added.
Opinion
By Peter Jailall
Each night, at the stroke of ten, a neighbour's donkey brays like a sentinel calling out the hour. It then continues throughout the night, making ruction every 20 minutes, going into action with the precision of a grandfather clock that chimes at given intervals.
Each rendition by this contented animal would catalyse a chorus of accompanying barks by the neighbourhood's many dogs, both owned and ownerless. In the background, a crapaud or two will inquire about the possibility of rain, and the crickets will reply in the affirmative.
Then comes 'fo'day marnin'', which is hailed by the lusty crowing of cocks at around 5.30 a.m.
And as has been done for more than 150 years, the estate whistle will pierce the morning with its mournful cry, issuing a wake-up call which can be heard for miles and miles around in the emerging Guyana morning.
At 5.30 a.m., the Indian hour, old songs from the Indian memory album will begin to play loud and clear for all to hear.
These are some of the morning and night sounds one can hear at Enmore Estate. Indeed, the rhythm of the estate is set by the whistle and the Indian hour.
My son, born and raised in Canada, asks an innocent question.
"Dad, what gives these people the right to inflict their choice of music on me?"
As an outsider, my son does not "get it." He will never understand that the 'whistle' and the 'Indian hour' have directed estate peoples' lives for many, many years.
My son, from 'outside', was not around when radios and juke boxes were few. In those days people used to play their radios loud, sharing the music and the news with those who could not afford to buy radios. It was a community service.
Today, we all have radios, and the people do not complain because they are accustomed to the loudness of the music which has grown on them.
Loud music is a feature of the Guyanese landscape. On mini-buses, on ferry boats, in rumshops, and on Water Street in Georgetown.
Along Water Street Mike peddles his mobile music shop with all the latest road marches and reggae songs. The music lover has a choice to listen and buy.
At Enmore Estate, on weekends, they pump up the volume from Friday night until Sunday night, playing a variety of music - Indian songs, English love songs from the 1960s, Chutney songs Sundar-Popo-style, reggae, and Jim Reeves sentimental, religious, and love songs.
This rich mix of different cultures may indeed disturb listeners from "outside" but there is hope here, as the importation of music from different cultures is a positive reflection of how multicultural and multi-religious life has become on the estates and in the whole country.
Unlike the night sounds, the day has its own human voices.
At 6 a.m. the sugar workers chat outside on their way to work; they are talking about pay and working conditions.
Then at 9 a.m. the milkman comes, announcing his presence with the shout: "Milk! Milk! Milk!" After this comes the fishmonger with his fresh catch of shrimps and fish. He calls out: "Fishhh! Fishhh! Get your fresh fishhh this siddde!"
He is followed by the greens and fruit vendors who come round with their freshly-picked 'bora,' 'boulangen,' mangoes, and oranges.
Sometimes a broom seller makes the rounds, advertising an offer at (G) $60 each. Here there is no worry about repairing expensive vacuum cleaners; if it's anything, the worry is about replacing the bio-degradable brooms made from the stems of leaves from coconut trees.
Then at 6 p.m. the bread-lady makes her entrance with her freshly-baked, rich-smelling, and appetizing foods. "Bread! Bread! Bread! Get your fresh bread this side!"
And when there is a death in the estate, a bell crier comes around announcing the sad news: "Mr. Persaud, from Newtown, Enmore, is dead. Funeral at 4 p.m. on Sunday."
Put all of these sounds together, the voices of men and beasts, the sounds of commerce, culture, love, renewal, and dying, and one gets a picture of what life really is, and continues to be, in rural Guyana. It's a picture of folks enjoying a simple existence, far removed from the gadgets of these modern days, and living a full life despite the quick-march of fast, technological feet outside.
Fresh food comes to their doorsteps. Within those doors there are hardly any fridges, microwaves, the electric and electronic gadgetry that make up today's kitchens and homes. And yet as the evening descends, the warm glow within is suffused with the smell of roti and curry being prepared, and a sense of closeness, of family.
Sometimes when I wake up here in Toronto and hear all the machinery humming, I long to return to the sounds of a donkey expressing satisfaction with its station in life, and to the Indian hour, in the closely-knit lives of the thriving community at Enmore Estate.
By Dwarka Lakhan
As Guyana's People's Progressive Party/Civic government enters the final year of its current term in office, a review of its record of achievement over the past four years reveals a scenario of substantially more successes than failures.
Sentiments towards the government are mostly positive, although it is not unusual to experience a sense of deja vu from specific segments of the population or certain individuals with unrealistic expectations.
If statistical evidence alone is used as a measure of the PPP/Civic's success, then the government would certainly pass with flying colours. The country's GDP has grown by an average of over seven percent so far, thanks to stimulative government policies and an environment more benign to a democratically-elected government versus the previous one that illegitimately installed itself in power. Guyana's rate of growth is among the highest in the developing world.
Improved revenue collection and allocation, foreign exchange stability, declining debt, reform of the financial sector, improving balance of payments, falling imports and controlled inflation, are all attributable to favourable government policies since the PPP/Civic assumed office.
During the first half of this year, inflation was estimated at 3.2 percent, well under the 1996 target of eight percent. Unemployment has dropped to a historically low 12 percent, while public servants' and teachers' salaries have increased by 120 percent and 150 percent respectively over the past four years. Last year alone local and foreigners invested a sum exceeding US $130 million in the country.
Last May, Guyana enjoyed a write-off of (US) $500 million of its debt owing to Paris Club creditors, but outstanding public and public guaranteed external debt at the end of June 1996 still amounted to a staggering $2.01 billion, making Guyana one of the most indebted countries in the world on a per capita basis. Domestic public debt is presently at about 35 percent of GDP.
Interest and amortization payments on public debt remains at over $50 million annually since the Paris Club write-off does not impact on current repayments. It is anticipated that falling interest rates, both domestically and globally, will give the government some relief on interest payments in the near term. Over the longer term, the benefits of the write-off will kick in, benefiting the economy.
All key economic sectors - including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, industrial, and service - have grown substantially, and the fundamentals to support continued growth are either already existing or currently being put in place. The government has undertaken a number of initiatives to ensure the sustainability of the productive process, but repairing an infrastructure destroyed by a quarter of a century of People's National Congress mismanagement is a formidable task and often leaves the impression that the government is falling short of expectations.
Agriculture, which is the country's most important sector, has benefitted from an overall improvement in drainage and irrigation facilities, although massive floods earlier this year exposed gaps in the government's water control strategy.
Acreage under cultivation has also increased significantly and production has been diversified into non-traditional crops for both domestic consumption and the export market. For example, acreage under rice cultivation alone increased by over 150 percent since 1990.
Sugar production has fluctuated but has generally trended upwards. In 1994, the PPP/Civic halved the sugar levy to the advantage of the industry. The government is in the process of building almost 1,000 miles of farm-to-market access roads for the benefit of farmers across the country.
Mining activity has picked up and gold production is targeted for major expansion when new concessions being explored come into production. The bauxite industry, which struggled during the first three years of PPP/Civic rule, made significant gains earlier this year on higher world prices for bauxite and improved marketing capabilities.
The exploitation of the country's forests continued at a rapid pace under the PPP/Civic, amid controversy of environmental degradation. Intensified gold mining has also resulted in similar concerns and the Omai cyanide spill will not be quickly forgotten.
However, an Environmental Protection Bill is now in force and an associated agency has commenced operations. The world is watching the destruction of Guyana's environment and its protection bill must have real "teeth" to be effective.
On the social front, a (G) $1.2 billion poverty alleviation programme was established to reduce the hardships faced by lower income earners. Poor school children now receive uniforms and food supplements while pregnant and nursing women enjoy improved localized health care services.
As well, there is greater emphasis on community training and assistance for women and other underprivileged people. Old age pensions have been doubled and the means test has been eliminated to facilitate the ease of seniors receiving their pensions.
Despite the goodwill extended by the government, there has been criticisms of the effectiveness of the government's program on the pervasive poverty problem in a new "money" economy in Guyana.
A national school rehabilitation programme has to date constructed and repaired 165 schools, and teacher training has been intensified to address the falling standards of education in the country. There are indications of improvements in examination results but success to levels seen 20 years ago is still evasive.
According to a teacher who recently migrated to Canada, "teachers are more concerned with their own survival and are no longer as diligent as they used to be. They lack the competitive spirit to produce top quality students." The deterioration in education standards stems mainly from the fact that during the PNC years it was not necessary to have any qualifications to become a teacher. Party membership or connections to the PNC were sufficient.
A number of other successful programs have been initiated by the PPP/Civic since it has been in office. Significant improvements have been made in the health care sector and the Georgetown hospital now boasts a state-of-the-art ambulatory and diagnostic centre.
The rehabilitation of the country's water supply is currently underway with the World Bank financing the replacement of 2,500 miles of pipelines and the installation of 165 water pumps. The government is also concentrating on road construction and maintenance across the country and has earmarked $1 billion for its road rehabilitation program.
Electricity supply is also being improved with foreign help, and according to a government release "the blackout nightmare of the past should end by December."
Undoubtedly, the PPP/Civic has made significant strides since 1992. Many doubts exist as to whether the economy can sustain current growth rates over another five-year period.
However, it would not be surprising if this is achieved as a result of accommodative but defined investment policies and a greater focus on developing non-traditional industries which have a local input base. As well, targeting the development of an industrial base linked to traditional industries, would also be an appropriate strategy in support of sustainable development.
The political environment in Guyana is still riddled with racial undertones and those who deny the existence of this problem are simply choosing to ignore reality. As the PPP/Civic heads into an election year it would be worthwhile for it to know its supporters, or otherwise a revitalized Guyana could once again head down the path of mendicancy.
By Bernard Heydorn
The Caribbean is known not only for its sunny climate but also for its street people: colourful characters who paraded daily through town and country, providing spontaneous street theatre.
Whether driven to the streets by mental, emotional or social derailment, or "dropping out and turning on" by free choice, they remain indelible in memory, symbolic of the life and times.
Like the politicians of the day, street characters had the ability to attract attention, but unlike the politicians, they were mostly harmless.
In Georgetown, names like Bertie Vaughn, Law and Order, Cato, Pussy in the Moonlight, Pele, Mad John, Saul, Walker the British, Cow Manure, Oscar the Paper Man, Tunis, Daddy Ben, Mary Bruck Iron, Bicycle Jack and others, were stand-outs during the golden age of theatre of the absurd (1930-1960), providing year round side shows, a character for every reason and season.
In the light of today's more sensitive and caring view of who these people were, as we look back, we see them as victims of underprivilege in an undeveloped part of the world; then (and as is even the case today), their illnesses, be it mental or physical, their idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, were crying out for the healing hands some can only afford today.
However, back then, it was interesting to note that many of them found a place to rest at night, be it the Palms, Dharmsala, a Mental Home, a back room or underneath a shop bridge.
Among them was Mad John, a man who walked up and down Regent Street in Georgetown, beating up on himself, complaining "a woman tek all meh money!" Mad John seemed to possess a split personality, 'He' and 'Himself.'
'He' and 'Himself' were always fighting, but never producing a clear winner. One day 'He' would be on top and 'Himself' would retreat from blows, and on another, the tide would turn and 'Himself' would be top dog.
This state of affairs continued until one morning 'Himself' caught 'He' half-asleep on Camp Street by the Blue Light store, and like a dog chasing its tail, gave chase and delivered a solid knock-out punch!
From that day one, people said Mad John never slept properly, being constantly on guard against another sneak attack by the other side!
Christmas in Georgetown was noted as much for Cow Manure as for its ginger beer. Cow Manure was an East Indian man who sold cow manure as fertilizer from a basket on his head, and who was perpetually drunk. He belted out his favourite Christmas carol, "While shepherds wash their flocks and socks at night, all seated on the ground" to all and sundry, slurring the words and composing his own as he walked the streets.
Another well-known character was Saul, a man for all seasons, who dressed for every occasion in a manner that depicted the daily news.
His outfits and placards gave a running commentary to the events of the day. If a condemned murderer was being hanged at the jail in Camp Street, Saul was first to show and tell! He was also the first to use the saying, "Why get sober if you have to get drunk all over again?" During a cricket Test Match, Saul ran around the ground at Bourda dressed like a cricketer with paper gloves and cardboard pads, bringing the game to a halt and getting more attention than the Governor!
Another Bourda character was Daddy Ben, whom the M.C.C. press called Daddy Bell. Daddy Ben had a permanent bird-ticket up a tall tree at Bourda, on the eastern side of the ground by GFC during a Test Match. From that vantage point, whenever he got bored or he wanted a wicket to fall, he would ring a big bell loudly. And sure enough, wickets would start to tumble to the amusement of the crowd, and to the amazement of the players!
Then there was Oscar the blind paper man, a Black man who walked up and down the streets of Georgetown before dawn and cock crow, shouting the headlines and selling newspapers, "Argasy! Argasy!" Although he was blind, he knew his coins well, and anyone who tried to cheat him wold be cussed out.
Horse racing at Durban Park would not be complete without the appearance of Pele, an East Indian man who walked around dressed up in a suit and smoking two cigarettes at a time! He also gave a running commentary on the races and every other subject imaginable.
Pussy in the Moonlight, alias Pussy Foot, was a bearded Portuguese man who wore a jacket and plaid shirt. He sold sweepstake tickets in-between drinks, and was reputed to live in Albouystown with many children, some of whom walked around with him. School children were sometimes cruel to him, taunting him with the verse, "Pussy in the moonlight/Pussy in the dew/Pussy never come home/Till half past
four."
Another Portuguese character was Tunis, a strong, hard-drinking man whose favourite haunt was the Red Coconut Tree rumshop at Cummings and Second Street. Tunis apparently went to jail for stabbing a policeman. He was better known for playing a mouth organ with one hand while doing something unmentionable with the other.
An icon among Georgetown characters would be Bertie Vaughn, a Black man. Bertie apparently came from a 'good' family, and was a school teacher. It is said he was a candidate for the Guyana Scholar before "too much 'studiation' sent him off his pins."
From then on, his station in life was to sit on a parapet by the main Post Office, shaving his head and other parts of his anatomy clean, clean, with a broken "grass bottle." In-between picking a sore in his scalp and begging, he also drank iodine, miraculously without poisoning himself, having built up a tolerance over the years.
And if he begged for a six cents piece and you gave him a bit (an eight cents piece), he would return it saying, "Ah want six cents." At one time he had a Raleigh bicycle, replacing the bell with a horn, saying, "School children gun listen to the horn!" Later, for no apparent reason, he ran the bicycle into the Demerara River.
Walker The British was a mixed race (mulatto) man who sold sweepstake tickets around Water Street. He was always armed with two bricks. Apparently he came from an educated family, and then like Bertie Vaughn, "went round the bend." He was an ardent supporter of British superiority, shouting "British yuh fool! Highest hair and colour!" People would taunt him with racist slurs, at which he would retaliated with his two bricks, sometimes drawing blood from his tormentors. He slept at the Palms, letting himself out daily to do his rounds.
Another Post Office character was Telegraph George, who once worked at the Post Office as a telegraph messenger before he "went off." After that he could be found making signs with his fingers, looking at the heavens, saying, "Ah gun talk to God!"
One character I had some fear of as a schoolboy was Cato, a somewhat deranged Black man who wore short pants and rags and often exposed himself to bystanders while asking for money, saying, "Ah want a penny tuh buy a panty fuh meh sister." Cato also had a weakness for rubber, devouring pencil erasers and chewing on the rubber seals of bottles.
Once on an indecency exposure charge in court, he saw Forbes Burnham and shouted, "Uncle Forbes, get up an' talk fuh meh maan. Yu gun leh dis coolie magistrate Khan do dis tuh meh!" Apparently this was one of the rare occasions when Burnham was at a loss for words.
And who can ever forget Law and Order, a Black man who staged an execution in his push cart everyday, every hour on the hour. During the executions of his rag doll, he gave an address on the evils of crime and the benefits of the British Empire, of law and order. He was always sole judge, jury, and executioner.
Curious crowds always gathered around Law and Order at Bourda Market and the Public Buildings, where he was a regular show-stopper. Law and Order and his push cart also marched proudly in the Armistice Day parade on November 11 each year, getting loud applause, and holding his own with the veterans of many campaigns!
One of my favourite characters was Bicycle Jack, a museum on wheels! Bicycle Jack was a Black man who rode a bicycle all day long in the Georgetown sun, with every object imaginable attached to the bike - clips, wires, bells, horns, lights, decorations, flags, the most prominent being the Union Jack; home-made toys, and spinning windmills, to name a few! The wheels were also gaily decorated, all in all, a sight to behold. His only problem was when rain fell, he had to pedal fast to find shelter.
There were other characters too, like Bubble Up, the white woman with "big foot," who cursed like hell, and Mary Bruck Iron, a prostitute who had established a reputation for "brucking iron" in Tiger Bay. Be it Monkey, Sharkey, Live Wire, Dribbly Joe or the legendary "bag men" used by parents to develop fear in children, street characters were always around.
Sometimes in retrospect, I wonder if the colonial powers allowed these characters to roam free, in order to provide distraction for the local people, while they exploited the country.
Drop me a line if you have memories of Caribbean street characters.
Indo Caribbean World
312 Brownridge Drive, Thornhill.
Ontario. Canada. L4J 5X1
Telephone: 905-738-5005; Fax: 905-738-3927.
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Publisher: Harry Ramkhelawan
Editor: Romeo Kaseram