The country’s Charge d’ Affaires in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kurtulus Aykan met President Donald Ramotar on Monday on his first visit to Guyana for talks relating to his country’s program of cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean among other areas.

Guyana has gained the interest of the Turkish private sector for social responsibility projects in the area of road infrastructure, and health and education, Mr. Aykan told the Government Information Agency (GINA).

“Health is a very much important theme nowadays especially in Turkey, the countries surrounding Turkey and especially in Latin America. There is always a health problem. It’s the primary need of the population,” Mr. Aykan said.

Also as Turkey seeks membership to the United Nations Security Council in 2016 and its candidature for Expo 2020 in Izmir, the country’s third largest city, Mr. Aykan said his country will be counting on Guyana’s patronage.

His working visit to Guyana includes meetings with ministers of the Government, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.
The delegation accompanying Mr. Aykan also in today’s meeting with President Ramotar included executives of the Princess Hotel, whose owner is a Turkish native.

He said that while the country has made significant progress in putting a dent in crime, with a 40 per cent reduction in homicides over the last three years, the Government is determined to employ measures for further reductions.

“We have an increased emphasis around prevention. There is hope, we have made progress, and we are determined to continue to make progress, and we want to engage the entire society in this mission, whether in the Diaspora, or locally. We take this on as a societal issue,” he stated.

Mr. Bunting was addressing a session at the 5th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference on Sunday, June 17, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James.

He informed that the Ministry is engaging the umbrella group of churches to reach out to targeted groups, and persons from service clubs are mentoring young people in juvenile correctional facilities, many of whom, he noted, have never had a positive role model in their lives.

“We have one group that is working with persons at the Tower Street Correctional Centre that is helping them and teaching them life skills and anger management. We have a group in Manchester that has trained first responders in domestic violence, while many faith-based groups and some of our conscious entertainers partner with us,” he noted further.

He informed that 500 young people are benefitting from an on-the-job internship programme with the engineering regiment of the army, where they are engaged in construction projects, and the number will be increased to 2,000 per year.

“They spend a year; they are not soldiers. They work in developing construction skills; they work in developing hurricane relief homes after Hurricane Sandy. They are doing legitimate construction projects. Transformation takes place with the young people,” Minister Bunting said.

Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington, who responded to concerns about praedial larceny, implored farmers to “stay with cases before the courts”.

He stated that many cases involving agriculture theft cannot result in imprisonment or fines, as some farmers refuse to attend court.

He also called on farmers to get registered with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), noting that when they register, it is easier for the police to track and identify stolen produce.

Commissioner Ellington informed that many police stations are open for farmers to do the registration.

Contact: Garfield L. Angus

He met President Donald Ramotar on June 17 in the company of a team from the University of Central Lancashire to continue the longstanding partnership that has been existing with the University of Guyana.
Other members of the visiting team included Dean of the School of Built and Natural Environment Professor Akintola Akintoye, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Guyana Dr Emanuel Cummings, and Guyanese Professor Jaipaul Singh at the University of Central Lancashire.

Forensics was on the list of exciting developments in the local economy, discussed during the meeting with the President.

Guyana’s Forensic laboratory is scheduled for completion very soon. Equipment that will outfit the facility is already in the country and staff selected.

Late last year a US$1.69M contract was signed for the supply of scientific equipment for the laboratory that is located in the vicinity of the University of Guyana close to Dennis Street, Sophia.
The Inter – American Development Bank is a partner with the Guyana Government on the $700M facility and several others under the Citizen Security Program (CSP) like the recently commissioned Police Training Center.

It is touted to be the best in the Caribbean and the solution to the challenges faced by the police force in investigating and solving murder cases.

At the commissioning of the Police Training Center on Monday, President Ramotar expressed the hope that the new forensic lab will influence expeditiousness and bring closure to criminal cases, much to the satisfaction of families whose members have fallen victim to crimes.

He described it as part of government’s efforts over the years to recapitalize the force with the necessary resources.

The Minister, who made the disclosure while contributing to the 2013/14 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 5, said the funds were expended through the Sports Development Foundation (SDF).

Of the sum, she said $57 million was given as grants to government sport agencies; another $121.9 million for infrastructure projects, including funds sourced from the Constituency Development Fund ($8.73 million) and the European Union ($79.1 million) and an additional $24.2 million for athletes’ welfare.

She added that a number of multipurpose courts, playfields, and fencing of facilities were also completed last year, at a cost of approximately $79 million by the SDF, under the (EU) fund for areas defined as sugar dependent.

“Several other such projects are underway, many of which will be completed in this fiscal year,” the Minister informed.

Additionally, the Sports Minister noted that the SDF paid out subventions totalling some $200.4 million to 42 national associations to support development programmes, administrative expenses, training of athletes and administrators, and for participation in national and international competitions.

This, she said, represented a contribution of approximately 25 per cent of the budgets submitted by the national associations.

Mrs. Neita Headley said the SDF continues to be critical to the development of sport and the provision of funding to all associations in Jamaica.

“Our continued success in sport relies heavily on the financing provided by (this agency),” she pointed out.

The SDF, which is funded from 40 per cent of the cess on lottery revenues, was developed in 1995 as an independent body to contribute to the development of sports in Jamaica.

Contact: Athaliah Reynolds-Baker

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony today joined members of the Enmore Shiv Mandir, in observance of the 65th death anniversary of the of the five martyrs who were killed on June 14, 1948 during a massive strike demanding higher wages and improved living conditions on the sugar estates.

“I’m privileged to join in the reflection of the lives of the five sugar workers…..it is no doubt that this event is one of the most historic moments in Guyana,” Prime Minister Hinds said, as he reflected on the death and contributions of the sugar workers.

Prime Minister Hinds said that at that time the sugar workers were involved in a struggle and the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan had struggled and ensured that the people’s voices were heard at the national level. He said today, Guyanese can live better lives.

He also spoke of the many challenges in the sugar industry, and encouraged the people to work together to overcome those challenges. Prime Minister Hinds also charged the gathering to live in unity, and honor the sacrifices of their forefathers.

On the morning of June 16, hundreds of sugar workers gathered outside the Enmore Sugar Factory for a protest and picketing exercise. They attempted to enter the factory compound, but were pushed back by members of the police force who opened fire and five of them were killed and many injured.
Minister Anthony said that often times persons focus on those who died but forget about the many that were injured.

“We need to go back into our history and understand the struggles of our forefathers…. if we do not keep our history alive we will forget what happened,” he charged those gathered.

Minister Anthony said that indentured rebellion also occurred in areas such as Rose Hall, Ruimveldt, Non Pariel, Leonora and Essequibo; however, he said the Enmore Martyrs’ incident was different, and it changed the dynamics of the nation.

A monument was also erected in honor of the five Martyrs and every year homage is paid to them. Minister Anthony said that this year, the Ministry will be looking at the maintenance of the site.

A variation order valued $15.7M has been signed for repair work to recommence on the Kumaka-San Jose Bridge with changes in the project specification.

Region One’s Regional Executive Officer (REO) Nigel Fisher signed the document with Deodat Singh in the presence of Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Norman Whittaker, and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill over the weekend. The Ministers were both in the region conducting separate outreaches to communities.

In 2012, Singh was awarded a contract valued $28M for the rehabilitation of the bridge which facilitates crossing for hundreds of residents and non-residents plying the Moruca sub-region however, following concerns over flaws in the earlier engineering design, and the material used the work, was stopped.

Work on the bridge will re-commence in two weeks, as the given time will cater for the mobilization of resources and materials inclusive of green heartfrom Georgetown for the project.
This bridge is expected to be completed by August 22, as the new contract has a six – week duration.

The existing narrow walkway of the bridge which lies between Kamwatta and Parakeese will be expanded to create a better linkage between those communities, allowing the movement of light vehicles.

“We absolutely condemn the use of children to fetch fire wood to use as energy to cook,” she said during a press conference at the ministry’s Brickdam office to respond to the claims published in the June 5 edition of the Kaieteur News. The article depicted pictures of students from the Kato Primary school in Region 8 carrying logs to be used for the hot-meals program, and spoke about the unhealthy manner in which the food items was being stored.

The Minister explained that the community, in a signed document, agreed there would be times when the parents would be asked to contribute firewood for cooking, however at no time should children be asked to fetch firewood, water or engage in any related activity that is deemed as exploitation.

“At no time should children be called upon to engage in non-curricular activities during school hours,” Minister Manickchand emphasized. She added that during the supervisory and monitoring visits to the school such an issue was never brought to the attention of the Education Ministry.

Minister Manickchand pointed out that based on the preliminary investigation, the Ministry made contact with the school’s head teacher – Karen Abrahams who confirmed that the incident in question did occur when another person was left in charge of the school while she (the HM) was on leave. “Seems to us it would have been an isolated incident,” she said.

The Minister indicated that as a follow-up to the preliminary investigation, a team from the Ministry is expected to travel to Region 8 before June 14 so as to ensure that the community based school feeding program adheres to the rules and regulations which preside over it.

“The Ministry of Education views this as a serious matter and investigations have not only begun here, but across the country to ensure that this is indeed an isolated incident as we believe it is,” Minister Manickchand declared.

With regards to the reports of the inadequacy of the school’s kitchen, the Minister noted that it can be deemed humble, but not insanitary as stated in the Kaieteur News. “That is an indictment to an entire community and it does not reflect our records,” the Minister noted. The community had spent $250,000 to build kitchen. Additionally, the Community Health Workers are expected to visit the kitchen facilities to ensure that the surroundings are in keeping with Ministry of Health Standards.

In recognising the need to meet with the Region 8 Officials, the Minister indicated that the RDC Councillor who made the report is supposed to be fully responsible for the school feeding program. “He’s expected to be one of the stakeholders…so anything that is going wrong here, he really needs to spank himself first,” she said.

The Minister explained that the school receives a sum of $474,059 on a monthly basis to provide meals for 137 children; contrary to what the Kaieteur News article states. The school has 32 students at the nursery level, while the primary and secondary departments accommodate 88 and 17 pupils, respectively. While the program targets primary school children, if there are secondary level students and nursery classes in the school building as in this case, they are also to be served with a meal.

Kato Primary School, sub region one, Region Eight is one of 92 schools in Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9 benefiting from the Community based school feeding program funded by the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education.

Minister Manickchand highlighted that the funds provided to the school by the government is intended to pay for all food supplies utilized for the preparation of meals for students present at school, stipend for cook, payment for fuel used in the preparation of meals (this includes gas, kerosene oil, coal and/or firewood), purchase of detergents and cleaning agents used in the school’s kitchen, and payment of all expenditures associated with the provision of daily meals and this includes transportation.

Providing meals to Guyana’s children is high of the government’s agenda hence the allocation of more than $1.2B to the program in 2013.
During the interaction with the media, the Minister explained that for a school to be part of the program, it would have to submit a proposal signed by key persons such as the Village Chairman/Toshao, Head Teacher and Treasurer. Secondly the school must have had a kitchen that meets the standards of the Ministry of Health (MOH), for instance there must be no thatched roof, have a wooden or concrete floor, must have an entrance and an exit (to ensure that raw food is not mixed with cooked food) and a source of potable water. The cooks were trained and certified as food handlers by MOH.
At the school level, this program is managed by a management committee comprising persons from the school and the community, including the headteacher, toshao. This committee’s members were also trained in project management and, with some guidance and supervision from the Department of Education, and the Ministry of Education, they are responsible for the day to day running of the feeding program.

Initially this program was funded through the Education For All-Fast Track Initiative, EFA-FTI, of the Ministry of Education but with the conclusion of this program in December 2012, the Government of Guyana through the Ministry took over the responsibility for the said feeding program and is providing funds at the same rate as before.

The building legislation will empower the Government to prevent construction in disaster-risk areas and will also include compulsory evacuation where there is imminent danger.

The Prime Minister, who was addressing the National Disaster Committee meeting at Jamaica House on Wednesday, June 5, said it is critical that the statute is in place soon, so that there can be some order in the way people build and where they build.

“We cannot have people building everywhere and anywhere and then put pressure on the Government,” Mrs. Simpson Miller said.

“We need to push this one (the building legislation) as fast as we can, and identify with the local authorities, the ‘No Building’ Zone. We need to do this. I think this is critical because too many persons are getting away with building anywhere,” Mrs. Simpson Miller said.

She urged the local government authorities to take greater interest in ensuring that persons adhere to the building codes.

“The local authorities do have a responsibility and should ensure that you adhere to the laws of the country in terms of the building codes, but we need to come up with something official now that will prevent anyone from trying to go on a gully bank or somewhere near a gully to build anything at all,” she stated.

Mrs. Simpson Miller pointed out that it is the most vulnerable in the society, who are always the worst affected in times of disaster. She instructed the Ministries of Labour and Social Security and Local Government to devise a plan to deal with these persons, including those living on the streets.

The Prime Minister also commended the various ministries, agencies and entities such as the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), for their quick response after Hurricane Sandy and urged them to maintain a state of preparedness during the 2013 season.

Acting Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, pointed out that between 2000 and 2012, the country suffered some $14 billion in losses due to disaster, which is approximately 2.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He informed that the effect of Hurricane Sandy on the country amounted to $9.7 billion in total damage.

“This has shown the need to place significant effort on disaster preparedness mechanisms and to really look at the fact that disaster is tied to development and that no country can progress in terms of socio and economic growth, if we constantly have to have repairs and recovery whenever we are hit by a system. This underpins the need to improve mitigation measures if we are to have a safe, productive and growing economy,” Mr. Thompson said.

He reported that the ODPEM has established a Disaster Risk Reduction Committee that is examining legislation to deal with the no build zones. The agency is also looking at building disaster resilience at the community level to strengthen the national response.

Mr. Thompson also informed that there have been island-wide assessments of shelters; 44 micro mitigation projects implemented; and an upgrade of the telecommunications capability with the launch of the National Emergency Affiliated Radio Systems, where 100 persons have been trained in the use of emergency radios as part of the agency’s preparedness.

The meeting of the National Disaster Committee, which came at the start of the 2013 Hurricane Season, included reports from several other agencies and Ministries including the: Meteorological Service; Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing; Ministry of Labour and Social Security; National Works Agency; Ministry of Health; Jamaica Fire Brigade; National Solid Waste Management Authority and Jamaica Red Cross.

Flag carrier status will see CAL providing direct flights between Georgetown and New York and Georgetown and Toronto. In December 2012, the government bestowed such a privilege on the airline following the launch of its inaugural non-stop flight from Guyana to Canada.

The investment being made seeks to ensure improvements in airline operations out of Guyana, and complements the anticipated CJIA expansion to the terminal and runway. While there have been ups and downs, CAL has always been a stable partner in ensuring Guyana maintains its links with the Diaspora in North America and Canada where many Guyanese reside.

During today’s post-Cabinet press briefing Dr. Luncheon was asked about the attraction of other airlines, and he explained that those efforts are on-going.
“You must be aware of our successes although I must admit that they have not been as sustained as we would have liked them to be… but those efforts continue, but the most recent initiative in granting the flag carrier status, this was the one that the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) recommended and Cabinet endorsed,” he said.

Dr. Luncheon was also asked about the prospects of Fly Jamaica operating out of Guyana, and he noted that this has not yet been brought to the attention of the Cabinet and may be due to some regulatory procedures still to be completed.

He believes that a process is applicable when these entities seek government’s approval to operate in Guyana, and it is not instantaneous and there is no prescribed time from the date of application to when a decision is made. Dr. Luncheon explained that interested persons have to apply and Cabinet being the final decision maker.

Further, the recommendation is almost always to go ahead and approve/ endorse the grant of the approval. If GCAA is not supportive it never comes to Cabinet.

When asked if that only applies to the international passenger carriers, Dr. Luncheon responded that it pertains to any aircraft operating in Guyana.

With regards to issues/concerns raised by the Aircraft Owners Association surrounding the recent crash of an aircraft into a Plaisance home, Dr. Luncheon indicated that the letter the Association sent to President Donald Ramotar may very well see an engagement between the two.

This was disclosed by Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, during his contribution to the 2013/14 Budget Debate on Thursday, April 24m in Gordon House.

“We will begin E-Learning II, with the Schools Tablet Computer Programme. Under that pro­gramme, every single student and teacher at 30 schools – five early childhood institutions, 10 primary schools, five junior high schools and 10 high schools across the country, will be given a tablet computer free of cost, amounting to 20,000 tablets,” the Minster said.

He said that the schools selected to participate in the pilot are among those that have been assessed and found to be under-performing academically by the Ministry of Education.

Minister Paulwell informed that a team comprising representatives of his Ministry, the Ministry of Edu­cation, the E-Learning Ja­maica Company and the Universal Service Fund (USF) would be undertaking the pilot project, which he asserted “will fundamentally change the way we approach education in Jamaica”.

“The joint team is currently designing the project’s key performance indicators and other criti­cal factors, and the Minister of Education will give further details in his Sectoral presentation. This year-long pilot project will provide essential data we need to expand the tablet programme throughout the entire education system,” he said.

The tablets, Minister Paulwell noted, will be Wi-Fi and 3G enabled, and will come pre-loaded with approved age-ap­propriate games and apps, Ministry of Education prescribed texts, and all the software required for students up to Grade 12 to complete their School Based Assessments (SBA).

“Notably, the devices will have security features that will allow them to be tracked if stolen, and to block access to content that is harmful to children,” the Minister said, adding that each school will be made into a wire­less hotspot, offering free access to broadband Internet for students and the wider community.

In the rollout of the full programme, there will be a nominal charge for the devices, which will be waived for students enrolled in the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), and for disabled students.

“Technology allows us to break down the old traditional barriers to accessing learning resourc­es, and this administration is going to pilot the removal of all those barriers, to allow every Jamaican child an equal shot at achieving his or her goals,” he the Minister stated.

By Alecia Smith-Edwards, JIS Reporter