Moontown

Garth Wattley Providence

Captain Chris Gayle is ’coming on’ and should take his place at the head of the West Indies team for their final Group D encounter against England here at the Guyana National Stadium from 1.30 p.m. today.

Victory over Paul Collingwood’s Englishmen will ensure the home side top the group. However, defeat is unlikely to mean elimination if Ireland upset England in their final group match tomorrow, the Windies’ 70-run victory over the Irish giving them a healthy net run rate.

In the first match today, however, victory will be essential for Sri Lanka when they play Zimbabwe from 9.30 this morning.

Their narrow opening day defeat to New Zealand has left the Sri Lankans with no room for error against a Zimbabwe team good enough to shock Australia in a warm-up match last week.

England also enjoyed a successful warm-up campaign, defeating both South Africa by five wickets and Bangladesh by seven in their two matches. So they will at least enter this afternoon’s clash confident about beating an unpredictable West Indies side.

Efficient: West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul runs in to bowl as technical advisor Jimmy Adams looks on during the team’s training session at Guyana National Stadium yesterday morning. The Windies will take on England in their second ICC World 20/20 Group D match from 1.30 p.m. today at the same venue. See Pages 59, 62 and 63. -Photo courtesy: Philip Spooner/WICB

’They’ve got quite a few match-winners–Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who has certainly improved as a cricketer,’ Collingwood acknowledged yesterday.

’They always have that confidence and attitude to let their talent take over…and, of course, this game is all about confidence.’

But he also backed his side–one he reckons is a more powerful unit  than the side knocked out by the Windies in the last  World T20–to play with belief.

’We’ve got to play under pressure now,’ he said. ’But I think all three dimensions of the game look pretty solid.

’Our bowling was fantastic the other day against South Africa. We’re pretty confident we can go through to the next stage.’

Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen will form the backbone of England’s batting. But they will also be counting on South Africa-born openers  Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb and former Ireland middle order batsman Eoin Morgan to come to the party.

The home team should at least be able to choose the side they want.

Gayle, left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and pacer Jerome Taylor all practised yesterday. And while Gayle said Benn had to be assessed later, he said Taylor ’has been looking good’ and is now eligible for selection.

Of his own gluteus maximus strain, he added: ’I had a hit today and it felt okay…I think I’ll be okay, I think I’ll be playing.’

Management will have a tough decision to make about whether to include both Taylor and Benn given how efficiently the bowling unit, led by Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, acquitted themselves against Ireland.

Where significant improvement is still needed is in the batting.

Gayle described the performance in the opening game by the Dwayne Bravo-led team as, ’a decent job’.

He said of Bravo: ’I thought he handled himself really well out there and he got the support of the guys.’

What Gayle will really want today is to say the same about the batting of Bravo and some of his other senior players who left it to Darren Sammy late in the order to get the total to a reasonable 138 against Ireland.

As the warm-up match against New Zealand last Wednesday showed once more, the batsmen are not getting the job done against the higher-ranked teams.

Should the Windies get to bat first, Gayle will be comfortable if his bowlers have a total of about 140-150 to defend on a pitch that is likely to be similarly slow in nature to the one used on Friday.

Chasing or defending, however, Gayle expects a battle.

’We’re looking forward to (the) England game. We know these conditions good enough now to actually overcome England…

’We have (had) some good, competitive battles against each other, so it should be really competitive and something everyone should look forward to.’

TEAMS:

West Indies from: Chris Gayle (Capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Andre Fletcher, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul, Wavell Hinds, Jerome Taylor

England from: Paul Collingwood (Capt), Michael Lumb, Craig Kieswetter, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Michael Yardy, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Ajmal Shahzad, James Tredwell. (Trinidad Express)

Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

FORMER government minister Dr Keith Rowley’s devotion to the People’s National Movement (PNM) is an example that there are no principles in politics today, leader of the Congress of the People (COP) Winston Dookeran said yesterday.

Dookeran was speaking at a mass rally at Mid Centre Mall, Chaguanas, where all the candidates of the United National Congress coalition were presented.

He said: ’There are apparently no principles in politics today. How could Mr Rowley speak unconditionally on Mr Manning’s platform with the denial of all the principles he’s purported to have stood for. Can you trust politicians under the current dispensation?’

Dookeran made the statement apparently unaware that Rowley, who was carded to speak at the PNM’s mass rally yesterday in Port of Spain, did not do so when he was presented as the candidate for Diego Martin West at Woodford Square.

Dookeran said the Manning regime had collapsed and the election on May 24 was the last opportunity to install a new government.

Anil Roberts Dabadie/O’Meara

Dookeran and the leaders who form the People’s Partnership addressed the crowd and pledged their determination to work together.

Political leader of NJAC Makandal Daaga reminded the people of the history to achieve independence and urged them to embrace change.

He said there was a lot of pain and suffering in the land as he saw the poverty and conditions under which some people lived.

He called for the nation to support UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, stressing that under her leadership there will be progress.

Chairman of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) Errol McLeod said the PNM ran scared after they saw the Opposition forces join together.

He claimed bribes were being given in the form of houses and money to win votes.

He promised that, under the new government, the cost of housing would be significantly reduced and reassured that CEPEP would be kept in place.

Leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) Ashworth Jack said the time had come for Tobago to be treated equally.

He said the PNM promised the Scarborough Hospital, which has not yet been delivered and today people have to be flown to Trinidad to be treated for serious injuries.

Jack said that people in Tobago were being victimised for supporting the TOP.

He said a woman lost her job after a TOP flag was seen on her vehicle.

Jack urged the people, including supporters of the PNM, to think about their children and future generations.

’Let us put Trinidad and Tobago first…we will work together to build this country as equal partners. That is my solemn vow and if I have to die doing it, that will be done,’ he said. (Trinidad Express)

The quake was felt in areas around Port of Spain and Chaguanas and measured 3.9 in magnitude.

Dr Joan Latchman of the Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, said preliminary investigations showed that the quake occurred 70 kilometres northwest of Port of Spain.

The quake, which had its epicentre 94 kilometres deep, was north of the Paria Pallencia, just off the coast of Venezuela and took place at 5.21 p.m. yesterday.

There were no reports of damage or injuries. (Trinidad Express)

Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

Speaking to supporters at the People’s Partnership’s rally at Mid-Centre Mall, Chaguanas, yesterday, where its slate of candidates was announced, Persad-Bissessar reminded her audience that two and a half years ago she opened up her heart and soul and vowed that she would continue serving, although she was rejected for the leadership at that time.

’I have become the woman you wanted me to be,’ she thundered, adding ’today that day has come…I have paid the price, you can bend but you can never break me because it only serves to make me more determined to achieve my final goal and I have come back even stronger, not a novice any longer because you the people, you have deepened the conviction in my soul’.

In a speech that lasted more than an hour, Persad-Bissessar said the mudslinging and attacks would not distract her from her purpose.

’You know I have been down there on the floor with my back against the wall…and so no one is never going to keep us down again, no one! Because you know why, under the People’s Partnership, we will rise!’ she said, as the crowd cheered in response. Although she has not spoken to UNC former leader Basdeo Panday since defeating him at the January 24 internal election, Persad-Bissessar recognised his worth and importance to the party.

’I will not forget the founding father of the UNC, we say thank you Basdeo Panday for bringing us to this point, thank you Basdeo Panday. You have brought us to this point, you have taken us along the journey and now we, this team, have to go forward on this journey to rescue T&T, thank you for bringing us to this point.’

united front: UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Congress of the People leader Winston Dookeran during the rally at Mid Centre Mall yesterday.-Photo: Dexter Philip

She apologised to the people for mistakes of the past but assured them that lessons have been learnt and the focus was now on a better future.

Persad-Bissessar also paid

tribute to the leaders of the People’s Partnership coalition as well as Percy Villafana, the man who has became famous after blocking Prime Minister Patrick Manning with the now popular ’Do So’ sign from entering his residence.

She re-assured the people that the coalition will not collapse.

’My opponents want you to believe we will collapse…I say to you today that I will do everything within my power to make this partnership last. I will do everything and I will not be alone because I will be helped by everyone of the leaders on this platform,’ she said.

She said the mission of the people’s partnership was to change the country’s destiny and chart a new way forward.

She added that under the coalition, every creed and race will be included and the people will be priority.

’We will rise out of the oppression and the tyranny of the Manning regime and we will rise out of the killing fields our country has gone into,’ said Persad-Bissessar.

She did not spare Manning: ’Mr Manning I want to say to you, your legacy is a legacy of failure to Trinidad and Tobago, you have failed our people, the political crisis arising out of the UDeCOTT scandal has undermined the relationship between the government and our people.’

Persad-Bissessar pledged to return that trust under the UNC coalition.

’Our immediate task will be to introduce greater transparency and accountability into Government…no more UDeCOTT, no more NAPA, no more Calder Harts, the only heart the People’s Partnership will have is the people’s heart’ she said.

Persad-Bissessar also touched on areas of a development framework of a new Government saying that the economy will be transformed, there would be greater food security, crime and personal security wIll be improved, the energy industry will be strengthened and above all the people will be first priority. (Trinidad Express)

Ria TaittPolitical Editor

The shaking of the political firmament in Trinidad and Tobago by the United National Congress (UNC) in Mid Centre Mall in Central, to the People’s National Movement (PNM) in Woodford Square in the North, was matched by nature’s physical tremor measuring 3.9.

As Percy Villafana shook up the UNC rally with the roar of approval from an enthusiastic crowd imitating his trade-mark cross sign, Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley was similarly shaking up the PNM crowd as he picked up the balisier flower and waved it vigorously to tumultuous applause, before shaking hands with Manning, after being presented as a candidate.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning also attempted to create his own tremor with a speech containing several election giveaways. He announced pension increases to $2,500 for 45,000 senior citizens as well as an increase in the minimum pension payable to retired public servants to $2,500, the removal of property tax for all citizens receiving public assistance, disability grant, senior citizen’s grants and conditional cash transfer card.

And the Prime Minister said Government was also reviewing the property tax to see how retirees getting $60,000 and less could be relieved of the burden.

“This my dear friends is a ’love thing’ PNM style,” Manning told the Woodford Square crowd, reverting to the slogan of the 2007 election.

“We shall increase the stipend for short-term employment paid to graduates from $3,000 to $4,000 and from $5,000 to $6,000 per month. Yuh see ’love thing’ PNM style?” Manning said. The UNC also has election giveaways - they promise to abolish property tax and increase pension to $3,000.

At yesterday rally all of the party’s 41 candidates were presented. But Rowley, who was down on the programme to speak, declined the invitation to do so, sources said.

They indicated that he is expected to speak on Thursday at a meeting in his constituency.

Manning drew firepower from an unlikely source - UNC founder Basdeo Panday. He quoted Panday’s commenting on the UNC decision to reject all Pandays as candidates: “If they (the UNC) are so vindictive now, if they get into power, what will they do to those who did not vote for them?” Said Manning: “That is a warning to all of you my dear friends.”

Manning said while UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar might win a Miss Amity, she would get naught for Prime Minister. Referring to the selection of former High Court judge Herbert Volney as a candidate, Manning asked “what other misjudgments and misdemeanours we can expect from her as Prime Minister. “Will she further threaten our democracy; seek to coerce the judiciary to rule in favour of her party and her supporters? Is our international reputation already tarnished by this sordid affair? Are international investors today already rethinking their position of investing in Trinidad and Tobago?”

“Mrs Persad-Bissessar…does not understand what it is to be a Prime Minister…You must be beaten on the anvil of experience and forged in the cauldron of struggle. Being malleable, easy to be manipulated by her puppeteers, Jack Warner and Suruj Rambachan, easy like Sunday morning, are not qualities which the people of Trinidad and Tobago are looking for in a Prime Ministerial candidate.”

Manning said the UNC attacked the “fundamental and irreplaceable principle of our democracy” - the independence of the judiciary. He said Volney and a senior magistrate jumped from their positions as “impartial protectors of the law and dispensers of justice straight into the partisan political fray”.”And they are trying to deceive the people by trying to make a case that no political discussions or negotiations were taking place while this gentleman was presiding in the courts of the land. Yuh talk about lie? That is lie!” Manning declared. “This points to real danger ahead for our democracy if this election goes the wrong way,” he added.

Saying that the PNM had heard of integrity questions surrounding the UNC St Joseph candidate, Manning asked whether Volney was appointed a judge in the Bahamas and was the appointment revoked and why. “We demand to know,” he declared.

Manning said Persad-Bissessar could not pretend that everything was “honky-dory, speaking platitudinous nonsense, praising the former judge for his sacrifice as though he is some kind of hero to be emulated. He is not a hero in any way,” the Prime Minister thundered.

Manning said the Opposition lacked any vision or plan for the development of the country. Detailing PNM’s programmes in every area of development, he said: “They (the opposition) are fighting an entire election on only one thing on their mind. Manning must go, they say. But I told them before and I will tell them again, ’Manning not going anywhere except right back to Manning’. (Trinidad Express)

Senior medical officer Elizabeth Ferdinand says while the Cuban eye care programme was initially introduced as a one-year operation, it had been extended because of the number of people needing eye surgery.

THE CUBAN EYE SURGERY PROJECT is on hold, with 500 plus Barbadians left awaiting word.

At a special service yesterday at St Mary’s Anglican Church, attended by two dozen or more beneficiaries of Operation Miracle, Senior Medical Officer Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand revealed that Barbados was not in a position to deliver in “a timely fashion”.

Ferdinand said the aeroplane designated to transport Barbadians to Cuba for surgery was being used to assist Haiti. She added, however, that in the last 14 months, up to January, 354 Barbadians had received specialist eye care in Havana.

The health officer explained: “We had to suspend the flights last year when we had the H1N1 epidemic . . . and then in January due to the earthquake in Haiti. The aeroplane is being used to shuttle people back and forth between Haiti and Cuba.

Temporarily on hold

“So [Operation Miracle] is temporarily on hold. We are waiting, but we can’t say when we will have the transport, and we can’t say how long that will take,” she stated.

Cuba’s Ambassador to Barbados Pedro Garcia Roque told the DAILY NATION he did not think [Barbadians] would have to wait another six months to have their operations done.

“Hopefully, in a few months we will be able to resume the flights,” he said.

Ferdinand noted that while the Cuban eye care programme was initially introduced as a one-year operation, it had to be extended because of the number of people who needed surgery - and the care came, she added, at little or no cost to patients.

She said that since the introduction of Operation Miracle, there were over 2 000 “new cases” and of those examined 211 were found to have had glaucoma.

Old and new cases

“Some were old cases and some were new. There were 2 796 new cases and 1 335 repeats. So during the operational period, 1 261 patients were found to have cataract, and [there were] 257 cases of retina problem. There were two vision-impairing cases.”

The first batch of beneficiaries went to Cuba on January 10, 2009. Since then there were eight other batches, each for an average stay of three weeks. Some patients had the operation on one eye; others on both.

Ferdinand said there were over 500 more patients waiting to benefit from the programme, with even more people calling to set up appointments. The Senior Medical Officer urged Barbadians not to call the clinic, but wait until officials gave information on the Cuban plane’s availability.

Operation Miracle is a joint collaborative effort between the Cuban and Barbadian governments. (MM) (Nation News)

AN ANGLICAN PRIEST wants the credit union movement to help deal with what he sees as two social sins afflicting this island.

Reverend Jeffrey Gibson, rector of the St Leonard’s Anglican Church, identified these two areas as “the growing sense of individualism and the rampant spirit of consumerism which have been spreading quite rapidly in our midst”.

He highlighted the concerns during his sermon at the service to mark the start of celebrations by the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited which is observing its 40th anniversary.

Reverend Gibson told the congregation, which comprised officials, staff, workers and other credit union members that the cooperative spirit could help us as a people to put love into action.

“We are living in an era of blatant individualism . . . this situation tends to run counter to the cooperative spirit as one can easily lose sight of being one’s brother or sister’s keeper.

“We must together work to build the spirit of mutual support and solidarity in the community and to be on the lookout for the most vulnerable among us . . .,” he added.

The St Leonard’s rector noted that the spirit of consumerism had given the impression that ownership and/or the consumption of the latest product is the hallmark of the modern successful life.

Warning

However, he warned that because of slick marketing and advertising some people succumbed to the message and rather than building wealth accumulated debt.

“The cooperative movement, to my mind has a significant role to play in educating its members and the public in making choices about spending. This is so in general, but more now in these difficult economic times, where it is even more relevant.

“I think that it is even more crucial for there to be leadership from the cooperative movement in keeping with your sense of belonging to each other,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by a founding member of the credit union, Sir Harcourt Lewis, who in a brief address called on the credit union to work with the National Union of Public Workers in establishing its proposed facility to help fight spiralling food prices. (Nation News)

(ES)

STIR FRIED SALT FISH AND RICE; RICE AND PEAS

SWEET POTATO PIE; MACARONI PIE

GRILLED POTATOES; BAKED CHICKEN

BAKED PORK CHOPS; FRIED SNAPPER

FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED STEAK FISH

BBQ SPARERIBS; BBQ PIG TAIL

SEA CAT; LAMB STEW

FISH GRAVY; STEAMED VEGETABLES

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW