Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 7 © BahamasUncensored.com 2009
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE CHOICE OF THE PLP ESTABLISHMENT
The issue of who will lead the PLP in the 2012 General Election
has been joined. The Tribune’s Paul Turnquest has been soliciting
and writing story after story about where the PLP is in terms of its choice
for leadership. The major headline of The Tribune on Thursday 24th
June was a quote attributed to now Party leader Perry Christie ‘I WILL
LEAD THE PLP IN 2012’. With that single headline, all of the equivocation
up to now by Mr. Christie that there was a possibility of transitioning
to new leadership before the next election went out of the window.
The next day there was a story by Paul Turnquest again which said that
Mr. Christie’s so far unknown challengers were unmoved by what he had said.
It is a bit curious how all of this has come about in the past week. It has no doubt been bubbling below the surface for months as the party moves toward its first convention since February 2008. The party at that time with a wink and nod without a contest and without putting the question of the responsibility or the loss in 2007 squarely before delegates reaffirmed Mr. Christie’s leadership. At the time, there seemed the promise that it was too soon to dump the man who had brought the party back into government after ten years, even though he ran in 2007 an unfocused and irresolute campaign. There was an implicit suggestion that after a period of mature reflection, a strategy for transition would be employed.
Words have been spoken about transition but up to last week, no clear strategy had emerged. In fact, what some have argued is that the strategy that has always worked for Mr. Christie is being employed: stall, delay, defer, and fetch to the finish line when it will be too late to do anything about it. The closest talk of transition was again speculative stories in the press, which suggested that once the Deputy Leadership race was decided following Cynthia Pratt’s demitting office, Mr. Christie would look to that person to determine that person’s fitness to succeed him as leader. Now even that slight possibility of a transition has been shut with the completeness of the headline in The Tribune and the added quote that anyone who seeks to run against him is engaging in “an exercise in futility”.
Many PLPs remember the 1997 campaign when Sir Lynden O. Pindling could not be persuaded that he needed to retire and let someone else head the party. He was its best asset and at the same time its worst demerit. The country went with Ingraham in part because the PLP had not shown a new face. That new face was shown in 2002 when Mr. Christie emerged as its leader. Now the PLP faces the same dilemma and many argue it has not drawn any lesson from the 1997 defeat or the 2007 defeat. An electorate, as distinct from your party, in a defeat sometimes seeks to send you a message which (nothing personal) it is important to grasp, that is may be time to try something new. The failure to get that message could lead in the direction of going down in flames again in 2012.
The follow up story in Tribune from the unnamed sources again said it was not a question of whether or not Mr. Christie could be defeated within the PLP but whether or not he can defeat Mr. Ingraham. The story suggested that such an eventuality is counterintuitive in the face of the evidence of an insurgent Hubert Ingraham defeating an incumbent PLP in 2007. And now an insurgent PLP without any financial resources or access to those resources facing an incumbent Hubert Ingraham with not only private resources but with the Government’s machinery behind him.
Mr. Ingraham is using the instruments of the state to pursue PLP oriented businessmen. He is using intimidation of the government machinery to stop every PLP in their tracks, firing PLPs from the service and ensuring that PLP MPs have no resources to fight back. There does not even seem to be a plan in evidence to fight back against this Ingraham strategy.
There comes a point in time in the lives of all politicians when they have to know when it is time to hang up their hat. You can go at a point when people are saying please don’t go, or you could go after an ignominious defeat and people are telling you, in the name of God go now.
Within the PLP, Mr. Christie is greeted with warm applause. Those who are perceived as challengers to his leadership are shouted down and abused. Mr. Christie is therefore right when he said in an earlier interview with The Tribune that it will take courage to run against him. It is unlikely in the face of such venom that anyone will challenge for the leadership at its convention in 2009. But some argue it is always the mark of good leadership to know when enough is enough and seek despite the fear of transition to try something new.
As the PLP’s leaders walked with the FNM following the funeral of the late Milo Butler, there was a chorus of cries “PLP! All the way!” This is indicative to some of the party’s popularity which some argue means that no matter how the party is organized in 2012, with people so fed up with the government, the PLP does not need any other strategy but patience and waiting in order to get back into government.
The Tribune also reports that a survey is being done about the candidates for the Deputy Leadership race. Amongst the questions being asked is whether people would vote for Perry Christie be PLP leader again and whether or not he should step down. It did not say who is sponsoring the survey but it is believed to be one of the candidates in the race. Mr. Turnquest, the writer, puts those down as Dr. B.J. Nottage, Obie Wilchcombe, Cynthia Pratt, Philip Davis and Jerome Fitzgerald.
It is also interesting to many that it is the much reviled Tribune, the mouthpiece of the enemy that is letting PLPs know what is happening in their own party’s future not within the PLP itself or its public relations instruments.
The judgment of the country is now that notwithstanding all that you hear to the contrary, the establishment of the PLP still stands with Perry Christie and that means in 2012, the race looks right now to be round three Hubert Ingraham vs. Perry Christie.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 27th June 2009 up to midnight: 133,234.
Number of hits for the month of June up to Saturday 27th June 2009 at midnight: 597,276.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 27th June 2009 at
midnight: 5,211,096.
SURVEY QUESTIONS
The Tribune published a story on Tuesday 23rd June
in which it said that one of the candidates for the Deputy Leadership Race
of the PLP had initiated a survey of the public on the question of who
they would support for Deputy Leader. Here are some of the questions
the paper said appeared on the survey:
CUBA
DENIES INTERFERENCE
The Tribune reported in its Tuesday edition of the
paper that the Cuban Embassy in Nassau has denied that Cuba has any plan
to sabotage the nurses’ industrial action in The Bahamas by assisting the
government to replace nurses on sickout. The Embassy said that Cuba
does not interfere in the internal affairs of The Bahamas. The Cuban
authorities released the story in response to an article that appeared
in The Punch saying that the Cubans were going to help the Government sabotage
the ongoing industrial action of the nurses. The nurses have been
engaged in industrial action, mainly a sick out to pressure the government
to pay for the health insurance of the nurses. Cleola Hamilton, Nurses
Union president went to court last week to seek to get an injunction lifted
on the grounds that the statements on which the government relied to get
the injunction against the nurses were hearsay (click
here for last week’s story). It appears that Mrs. Hamilton continues
to have the full support of the nurses and certainly this column in her
fight for justice for the nurses.
ALLYSON
GIBSON ADDRESSES THE SENATE
In a wide-ranging Budget address, the Opposition’s
leader in the Senate and the author of the Swift Justice programme attacked
the FNM for incompetence and ineptitude. Mrs. Allyson Gibson laid
out her vision for 2020 in The Bahamas and also how the issue of the backlog
of cases in the courts could be addressed. You may click
here for the full address.
MICHAEL
HALKITIS ON THE DANGERS OF BORROWING
The Senate debate on the budget is complete and
now the budget bills move on to be assented to by the Governor General.
Michael Halkitis speaking in the Senate on the bills on Thursday 25th June
counted up all the borrowing that the Ingraham administration has done
since it came back to office in 2007. The amount is staggering: one
billion dollars if you count the monies they will have to borrow to get
us through the upcoming year. That is simply staggering. You
can read it all by clicking here for the
Senator’s full address.
JEROME
SAYS NO TO REGINALD FERGUSON
Finally, it has been said publicly by a PLP politician,
the choice of Reginald Ferguson for Commissioner of Police was wrong.
Speaking in the Senate on the budget bills on Friday 26th June, Senator
Jerome Fitzgerald attacked the choice of Commissioner of Police.
Mr. Fitzgerald said that the government had sent two young qualified officers
away to Canada for training with the expectation that within a year one
them would succeed to the top job. He said that instead Mr. Ferguson
had been appointed. He argued that its simply makes no sense for
a 64 year old man to be leading the Force. You may click
here for the full address. Mr. Fitzgerald also attacked the government
over the choice of the container port on Arawak Cay saying that the studies
show that the government is choosing the wrong spot.
WATSON
BEGINS INGRAHAM’S CAMPAIGN
Those of us who read this week the comments of Frank
Watson the FNM former Deputy Prime Minister, who is now in charge of the
Airport Authority, must have said here is déjà vu all over
again. You will remember that it was Mr. Watson who cut the legs
out from under Tommy Turnquest when he was leading the FNM prior to Hubert
Ingraham’s return to the FNM in 2006. Mr. Watson was heard on the
Jones and Company radio programme in that year saying that while he liked
Tommy, the fact is Mr. Turnquest was ineffective and simply could not cut
it as leader of the FNM. He began a relentless draft campaign for
Mr. Ingraham to come back. He was successful and Mr. Ingraham came
back and defeated the PLP in 2007.
Now Mr. Waatson is starting the drum beat all over
again. This follows Mr. Ingraham’s own statement in the House when
he was wrapping up the debate on the Budget. Mr. Ingraham, speaking
to Perry Christie told him “I ga be right here the next time”. We
take that to mean that he intends to run again. There was never any
doubt in our minds that this is what he intended to do. He intends
to stay on and on as long as he can manipulate the system to allow it.
Now that Frank Watson in The Tribune of June is saying that there are FNMs
who are praying that Mr. Ingraham stays on for another term, it is official.
WATSON
ON JOBS FOR FNMS
Blaming the PLP for everything is the national pastime
of the FNM. The Tribune spoke to Frank Watson, the former FNM Deputy
Prime Minister and now chairman of the Airport Authority. Mr. Watson
was defending the FNM’s position (according to him) not to grant jobs to
FNM supporters for politics sake. He said that the FNM could not
be like the PLP when it was in office hiring PLPs and putting them into
consultancies. This is incredible. The authors of the consultancies
game was the FNM.
Right now, the FNM government is hiring FNM supporters
at a faster clip in the Department of Environmental Health on contract
than at any other time in our history. These contractors then hire
FNM supporters. This is done just so they can say as Mr. Watson is
now saying that the government is not hiring FNM supporters. Everyone
knows that the FNM are the experts at this. They are also experts
on the ability to lie right in front of your face; and without blinking
an eyelid.
MITCHELL
SET RECORD STRAIGHT ON PRISON
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was clearly incensed by the comments of Tommy
Turnquest, the Minister of National Security with regard to the prison.
The FNM and their propagandists are constantly spinning stories blaming
the PLP for one thing or another that is really the fault of the FNM.
This was the story according to Mr. Mitchell with regard to the Minister’s
comments in the House on the budget debate on the hiring and promotion
of prison officers. Mr. Mitchell who was out of the country at the
time of the Minister’s statement said that he had personally confronted
the Minister on the matter upon his return. Here is what Mr. Mitchell
said in his own words:
“In my absence from the House of Assembly in
the latter stages of the Budget debate, the Minister of National Security
made certain assertions about the PLP and its culpability for the state
of the prison promotions in which the government now finds itself.
In another context, I have described this as myth making. I confronted
the Minister with this personally on Friday 19th June outside the House
of Assembly upon my return to the country to ask him to cease and desist
blaming the PLP for a situation which was entirely FNM created at the prison
and one which we tried to settle before we left office.
“My recollection is that there were three
sets of issues with regard to the prison promotions. The first was
that during the term of Frank Watson, the Minister of National security
and then Deputy Prime Minister, prison officer trainees had their training
cut short by executive order and they were made acting prison officers
due to a shortage of manpower in the prison. When we came to office
in 2002, we met this untenable and unsatisfactory situation. The
Public Service Commission, then headed by an FNM appointee, refused to
confirm the officers because their training was not complete. They
were unable to get the salary that was due to them as officers as a result
of that issue being unresolved.
“We were also faced with a second set of
officers who were recommended for promotions by the Prison Service.
Half of those recommended for promotions were refused promotions by the
FNM appointed Public Service Commission. The reason given was that
they did not fulfil the criterion for promotions laid down by the FNM,
which gave academic qualifications as one way to be promoted; and alternatively,
years of service. The criterion had been agreed with by the Prison
Staff Association. Representations were made by the Prison Superintendent
who said that there was a morale problem at the prison as a result of the
Commission’s actions. The then Chairman of the Commission Teresa
Butler and myself with the then Minister of National Security visited the
prison to speak to the affected officers. It was agreed that a special
course would be designed for all those who had not been promoted and that
those who were successful in that course, all other things being equal,
would be promoted.
“That course was designed and done.
The Prison Staff Association made representations to me as minister of
the public service that several people had been overlooked and requested
inclusion of other people to have an opportunity for promotion. I
agreed and this was facilitated.
“The Minister claimed in the House of Assembly
that the PLP hired prison officers for political reasons and promoted them
for political reasons and by reason of political affiliation. That
is again myth making and I urge him to cease and desist.
“From the PLP’s point of view, the only
unfortunate event about his whole matter was delay. The story of
the delay is one for my memoirs, not for today’s purposes. The FNM
and their partisans will have much to answer for delay and sabotage of
the system. I add the Minister's own statement in the House of Assembly
on this matter at an earlier occasion when he was challenged on these same
assertions. He read into the record the position of the Prison Superintendent
on the much FNM reviled promotions of 1st May 2002.
“According to the Minister’s statement,
the Superintendent received a call from the Chairman of the Public Service
Commission asking him to publish the promotions. He said that the
Superintendent called the Permanent Secretary of National Security for
advice on the matter and was told to proceed to publish the promotions.
The promotions were then published at the prison in the usual way.
How this can then be turned against the officers by the FNM government
to lead to the revocation of the promotions is a mystery and I believe
unlawful. The difficulty is the officers did not have the recourses
to challenge this in the courts.
“Thankfully and despite all the bluster
of the Minister and his continued myth making this sordid chapter is to
be resolved one hopes when the new budget is in place on 1st July.”
MILO
BUTLER JR. IS BURIED
The official funeral service with all of its pomp
and pageantry took place in Nassau at the Anglican Cathedral of Christ
Church on Monday 22nd June. Attending were the Governor General Arthur
Hanna and the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. The preacher was Rev.
Dr. James Moultrie. He is survived by his wife Rose and his children
from two marriages including Milo Butler III.
UBP’S
PETER CHRISTIE ATTACKS PLP’S BRAVE DAVIS
Perry Christie, the PLP’s leader, often says that
until lions have authors, the tale of the hunt is told by the hunter.
That is to say that history depends on who writes it. Philip ‘Brave’
Davis, the MP for Cat Island spoke during the budget debate in the House
of Assembly about the case of Adeline Armbrister of Cat Island. She
is now 86 years old. Mrs. Armbrister was dispossessed of her land
by the late Harold Christie in a celebrated case led by Lynden Pindling,
Cecil Wallace Whitfield and Arthur Hanna, the leaders of the PLP in 1964.
The court found that the land that Mrs. Armbrister
and her fellows were occupying as farmers was not theirs and they were
trespassers and they should move off the land. They did not comply
and were found in contempt and were sent to jail. The matter was
appealed to the Privy Council but the appeal was never heard because the
file went missing. Mr. Davis recalled a resolution by former MP for
Cat Island Oscar Johnson in 1968 calling for justice for the women dispossessed.
He called on the those how now own the land, part of a multi million-dollar
development in Cat Island, to do something for the women who were dispossessed
and their families. Mrs. Armbrister was in the gallery as he spoke.
Now Peter Christie, the nephew of the late Sir Harold
Christie (H.G. Christie Real Estate) has written a letter to defend his
late uncle’s actions. He claims that Mr. Davis got the facts wrong
and that Mr. Davis abused his privilege in the House to defame his uncle.
He said that his Uncle got an order of dispossession because the tenant
farmers refused to pay their rent and refused to leave. He traced
the title to a family in Britain and said that his Uncle’s company had
bought it from that family and the families who farmed the land were to
pay rent in the form of crops. It was only when they refused that
he took actions in the court. Mr. Christie said they did not have
to go to jail; they could have purged their contempt by leaving the land.
This is fascinating stuff and we thank Mr. Davis
for bringing it up. The Courts of the day were wrong. Mr. Christie
was wrong as the island’s representative to do what he did and the Mr.
Christie (Peter) is wrong for his skewed view of history today. It
shows how the UBP and their philosophy and point of view has not changed.
These are the same people who now support the FNM and for whom Hubert Ingraham
works so hard. The letter was published on Wednesday 24th June in
The Tribune.
LIFE
AFTER SIR BURTON HALL
Sir Burton Hall has decided to retire and take up
a position as one of the judges on the international tribunal for justice
in Yugoslavia. The court sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
He succeeds to the position of the previous Caricom judge who is retiring.
Sir Burton who is 62 leaves the Supreme Court bench in August for retirement.
The announcement was made on Thursday 25th June. This will now allow
Hubert Ingraham to further pack the court with his FNM buddies.
The question is who will succeed Sir Burton as chief
justice. The person who should is the Senior Justice Anita Allen,
but given the fact that Mr. Ingraham does not like her husband Algernon,
it is unlikely that he will give it to her. Instead, he is likely hand
it to Claire Hepburn, who used to be his attorney general and one of those
women who supported Mr. Ingraham way back in his Thirds Force days.
Another candidate may be Michael Barnett, the now
Attorney General. Mr. Barnett has long said his ambition was to be
Chief Justice. He would also get a knighthood, which he also wants
as well. That would mean a fitting height to a career that includes
being Bar President, Attorney General and then Chief Justice.
File photo of Sir Burton Hall at the opening of the Supreme Court
MELANIE
GRIFFIN DEMANDS ACTION ON CHILD PROTECTION
Melanie Griffin, MP, Opposition Spokeswoman on Social
Service has issued a news statement calling “absolutely incredible” the
FNM Minister of State inability during the recent budget debate, to put
forward a plan by the Ministry to address the current overwhelming levels
of child abuse in the country today, particularly due to the impact of
the economic recession.
Mrs. Griffin called upon the Minister “to forthwith
put in place the following:
1. National Child Protection Council. The
National Child Protection Council should be mandated and provided with
the necessary resources to increase its programmes to educate the public
about the high incidences of child abuse and what steps they ought to take
to prevent it and report it.
2. Appointment of a Special Task Force.
Realizing that the workload is too much for the current level of staff
in Child Protective Services, the Ministry should activate a Special Task
Force to address the high incidences of reported abuse of children.
While this Task Force be led by Child Protective Services, it should comprise
of retired social workers, social workers who are awaiting employment in
the Ministry, social workers who may be deployed in other government agencies,
social workers who are on study leave at the College of The Bahamas and
elsewhere. It should also include personnel in the Urban Renewal
Offices and other government agencies involved in the care and protection
of children, like the Ministries of Health, Education and the Police.
3. Bahamas Christian Council. Enlist the
assistance of the Bahamas Christian Council and other religious organizations
in reaching into the communities with faith-based initiatives designed
to reach families and arrest this current situation.
4. Business & Other civic organizations.
Enlist the assistance of other business, civic and community-based organizations
and associations as a part of this holistic attack to fight back this current
surge.”
Mrs. Griffin said that we “cannot sit back and
continue to see the kind of reports we are seeing daily in the media about
what is happening with our children and know from the information at our
disposal the incredible levels of abuses against our children and just
continue to narrate the problem. Action must be taken and it must
be taken now.”
IN PASSING
Roman Catholic Diocese Celebrates 50 Years
The Roman Catholic archdiocese is celebrating the Church's Golden Jubilee.
The annoucement of the observance was made at a news conference by Archdeacon
Patrick Pinder and Fr. Glen Nixon, pictured in this Nassau Guardian photo
by Tony. Grant Jr.
Trial Of St. Agnes Rector
The trial of the St. Agnes Rector Archdeacon Ranfurly Brown began in
the Magistrate’s court on Tuesday 23rd June. He is accused of assaulting
a young parishioner. The parishioner testified in courts saying that
the archdeacon slapped her and threw her down and choked her. The
case has been adjourned to September. Archdeacon Brown is represented
by Wayne Munroe. The Defence in cross-examination suggested that
the young girl was engaged in sexual activity in public; fellatio on a
boy and was simply reprimanded by the priest for her misbehaviour.
Stevie S Jailed
The musician Lemuel Smith known as Stevie S was Tuesday 23rd June given
a one-year sentence in jail plus three years of probation for the rape
of a 13-year-old girl. Mr. Smith known for his hit record ‘Hold Your
Head!’ will now have to hold his head indeed. The Crown was not happy
about the sentence given following the guilty plea on 30th April and the
probation report. It is appealing the sentence. Recently, Parliament
increased the penalty for this crime to life imprisonment although Mr.
Smith was charged before the law was changed.
Nurses Fight On
Cleola Hamilton, the Nurses Union President, has rejected the latest
offer of the government on the payment of health insurance for nurses.
Talks are continuing.
Union Leader Guilty Of Contempt
Jon Isaacs, the Supreme Court Justice, was none too happy about an
allegation of bias made by President of the Bahamas Trade Union Congress
John Pinder in response to his ruling in a dispute with the Airport Airline
and Allied Workers Union (AAAWU). He charged the Union leader and
newspaper reporter Kendeno Knowles of the Bahama Journal with contempt
for using the word in a story that appeared on 29th April. Mr. Pinder
was represented by former Cabinet Minister Algernon Allen who apologized
to the court saying that the word biased was used in its colloquial sense
not in the sense of being prejudicial to one side. The Judge would
have none of it and ordered that a public apology in a similar space be
printed duly approved by the Court. He told the reporter that his
craft used words and that words should therefore be carefully used by him.
Court Of Appeal Rules Against Anita Allen
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Anita Allen, the Senior Justice
on the Supreme Court should have recused herself from the case of the Wisefiches.
You may remember the hullabaloo caused when Mrs. Allen refused to step
down and made certain allegations about fellow Justice John Lyons, which
ultimately led to his resignation from the Bench (click here for previous
story).
Edith Turnquest Turns 80
Wife of former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest and daughter
of famed straw vendor Bertha Brown. Edith, Lady Turnquest is celebrating
her 80th birthday on Saturday 27th June. Congratulations. She
is the mother of Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest.
Dame Marguerite At 77
Dame Marguerite Pindling widow of the late Sir Lynden Pindling quietly
celebrated with family and friends her 77th birthday at her home on Skyline
Drive in New Providence on Friday 26th June. With her was her rector Archdeacon
I. Ranfurly Brown. From left in the photograph are Curate, Fr. Bernard
Been, Dame Marguerite, PLP Leader Perry Christie and Archdeacon Brown.
Photo: Peter Ramsay.
Jack Hayward’s Son Locked Out Of His Father’s Property
The son of the Sir Jack Hayward, Rick Hayward, who was leading the
charge to take over the Port totally from the St. Georges, appears to be
in a spot of trouble with his own daddy. The Nassau Guardian reports
that the Grand Bahama Port Authority the ultimate landlord for the Port
Lucaya entertainment complex in Freeport have locked out Mr. Hayward from
several of his businesses in the Port Lucaya complex for non payment of
rent. Now that’s interesting. We wonder who made that decision.
Rick’s father Sir Jack is effectively the owner of the Grand Bahama Port
Authority, the landlord for Port Lucaya.
Bahamas Bar Election Results
Elections for The Bahamas Bar Council were held on Friday 26th June.
Wayne Munroe, the voluble lawyer who has headed the Bar for the past 6
years did not stand for re-election. Some say there is trouble brewing
in quarters close to him that will require his full time. The Bar
is now headed by Ruth Bowe Darville as President with Kathy Johnson Hassan
as Vice President. Joining them on the Council are Sidney Cambridge
returned as Treasurer, and Rachel Culmer as Honorary Secretary with Monique
Gomez and Dwayne Gibson as the two executive council members. By
our count that is three FNMs, two PLPs and one don’t know. The FNMs
have it. You can expect that there will be no commentary from the
Bar on anything relating to the government in the foreseeable future.
FNM No Potential Leaders
Dion Foulkes, Government Leader in the Senate, Carl Bethel and Tommy
Turnquest must be incensed to know that Frank Watson, Hubert Ingraham’s
front man in the campaign for Mr. Ingraham to come back for a fourth term
as Prime Minister does not think any of them have the potential to be leaders
of the FNM. In his discussions in the press over the last week, Mr.
Watson did not mention them as amongst those with the potential.
Brent Symonette made the list but even he, according to Mr. Watson, is
not quite ready. Frank Watson’s list, named on Wednesday 24th June:
Dr. Hubert Minnis, Brent Symonette and Branville McCartney as the front-runners
to succeed Hubert Ingraham.
