BahamasUncensored.Com Archive

GIVING UP ON PARLIAMENT
When Fred Mitchell spoke on the enabling legislation for National Insurance on Wednesday 25th March, he used the word “deconstruct”. That word, a term from psychology, is apt because it is perhaps what the PLP needs to do at each occasion after a House of Assembly session. It is about trying to find out what causes this crew that is in power to tick. How does this crew that takes everything for a joke; that is dismissive of every serious thought; that spends its time not on policy but seeking to smear its opponent, make it to the head of the political class.

In his analysis, Mr. Mitchell spoke about the fact that Hubert Ingraham moves when he is confronted with a crisis. He takes a stand against a matter. He says that he will never adopt a particular policy. He makes ideological attacks and then personal attacks. Then when faced with a crisis, he pulls back, changes course, and without so much as a by your leave, he adopts the exact opposite of the position that he opposed. He embraces the new position as his own, and talks as if it was never something he opposed, and that it was always the PLP’s fault that it never happened.

Such is the course that was followed with the National Insurance Unemployment benefit legislation. Here is a man who heads a party that opposed National Insurance. He was a PLP when he carried out the mandate of National Insurance. Yet he took over a party that is fundamentally opposed to all taxes on business people and opposed to all social security safety nets. To hear them all speak last week, you would have thought that National Insurance was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that they were the inventors of it. In this, they were led by the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

The course of action just described is one way of behaviour. But during the debate on the actual resolution to bring into force the benefit of unemployment insurance itself, they took another tack. The funeral of the father of Neko C. Grant I, yes that is the way he describes himself, took place on Friday 3rd April in Freeport. The FNM Members of Parliament were anxious to get to the funeral. So the House of Assembly that normally meets on a Wednesday and that was delayed to a Thursday because the Prime Minister had to travel, yes travel to Columbia for an Inter American Development bank meeting, adjourned early on Thursday because a funeral was taking place on the Friday.

Suddenly during the debate on this important piece of legislation, there was silence from the other side. The PLP noticed that it was talking to itself. The FNM simply decided that they would have nothing else to say. So a debate that was scheduled for two days was suddenly truncated to one day and that was the end of that.

The day did not start right. First you had that same Neko C. Grant I getting up and making the allegation that Alfred Gray MP for Mayaguana, Inagua, Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay, misled the House by suggesting that Mr. Grant who is the Minister of Works is refusing to allow him to use the money for his constituency allowance to complete community centres in his constituency. The Speaker blocked all efforts by the Leader of Opposition business to defend Mr. Gray in his absence, and when Mr. Gray came along to defend himself, he was again blocked by the Speaker.

The rule is simple. If a member is attacked by another member with a serious charge like misleading the House, then that member at the first opportunity has the right to get up and defend himself. No such rule goes in the Hubert Ingraham/ Alvin Smith version of the House of Assembly.

These examples amongst others are the sign of a new game in town. It is clear that there is little respect for the House of Assembly and what it does or produces. There is certainly no room for input by the Opposition. When legislation or resolutions are presented to the House, there is supposed to be a debate. The very nature of a debate is that there are two points of view being set forth. There is supposed to be the cut and thrust of debate. No such luck in the Hubert Ingraham/Alvin Smith version of the House of Assembly.

The question then is, why is the House of Assembly useful for the PLP? We argue that notwithstanding the clear dereliction of duty by the FNM, the PLP has the responsibility to use the forum of the people to espouse the views of the PLP and to help frame the debate. You cannot have a situation where the PLP joins in dismissing the House of Assembly as irrelevant and unimportant. The forum must be used.

The fact is there are tens of thousands of supporters of the PLP who are looking to the PLP members to make the points, to keep pounding away. Some of our supporters thought that there was not sufficient attention paid to telling the FNM, reminding the country that if they had not stopped reviewed and cancelled, they would not have ended up in this situation where there is so much unemployment in The Bahamas today.

We think they are right. The PLP can do more. But it is a difficult job. The country is in national funk, the political equivalent of the doldrums, and that is why deconstructing is an important exercise for the PLP. Its leader would do well to make an honest to God effort to get his troops together in a period of seclusion and reflection in order to deconstruct and plot the way forward.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4th April 2009 up to midnight: 155,795.

Number of hits for the month of March up to Tuesday 31st March 2009 up to midnight: 1,165,009.

Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 4th April 2009 up to midnight: 77,252.

Number of hits for the year 2009 up Saturday 4th April 2009 up to midnight: 3,385,459.

PALM SUNDAY
Today is Palm Sunday in the Christian calendar. This is the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus Christ who according to Christians came to die to save the world begins the week of his Passion. He rides into Jerusalem triumphant on a donkey and a few days later is put to an ignominious death by crucifixion. The Roman method of execution has since become a potent symbol of salvation in the Christian tradition. Mainly Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in The Bahamas had processions in the streets and distributed palms as a reminder of the day. Easter Sunday, the highest feast day in the church’s calendar comes next Sunday. There is a long holiday weekend coming up in The Bahamas with both Friday of this week and Monday of next week being public holidays.

OECD MISDIRECTED
    In very many ways, you want a scream from the top of the collective lungs of the Bahamian people to naysayers like Brian Moree, formerly of the Financial Consultative Forum under the PLP. Why scream? What would you say? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced on Thursday 2nd April, a gray list of countries that included The Bahamas that have committed to certain norms of transparency and accountability on tax exchange but who have not fully implemented the agreements. The only country of the Caribbean who is on the list of the well behaved is Barbados. You want to scream because Brian Moree and others led the charge for isolationism and xenophobia scuttling the strategy of the PLP to prepare this country for the integration into the world economy.
    People like Brian Moree thought that you could have The Bahamas live forever in a bubble. Now he is in the newspaper saying how we have to be proactive and how we have to change and yada, yada, yada. It is simply pathetic. You want to scream: “How bloody stupid! We told you so.” It is the same thing you want to scream at the government of The Bahamas. The FNM was part of that same isolationist mantra. The net result is that the developed world meeting in London with others who have large economies in a group called the G20 have decided in their words that “bank secrecy is over”. They have decided that there will be sanctions against any country that does not co-operate on passing information about tax matters.
    What was interesting to us is a small line in the story by the BBC on the matter that the bit about tax information change has nothing to do with the financial meltdown in the developed world. They did that all by themselves. In other words, they could not control the corruption and greed in their own societies but now they are using this as an opportunity to crack down, and crack down hard on the small countries that make money off legitimate tax competition. It is sickening. It is pathetic. Barack Obama, an inexperienced US president, joined by a desperate Gordon Brown from Britain and you have the makings of a disaster for small countries like The Bahamas.
    Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, told the House of Assembly as he read the announcement into the record of the House on Thursday 2nd April that the nation has now to retool its financial services product.

PRIVY COUNCIL’S WASTED TRIP

    The final court of appeal for The Bahamas is the Privy Council. It is really the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords, the final court of appeal for the British but like many of these peculiar British institutions, they wear another hat when there are appeals from the former colonies like The Bahamas and Jamaica.
    The Bahamas is 35 years out from Independence; Jamaica is 47 years out and they both still with other countries in the region support the Privy Council sitting in London as the final arbiters of the laws of their countries. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which all Caricom countries now pay for, sits in Trinidad as a substitute but is used only by Barbados and Guyana. Even biggetty Jamaica does not have the courage to cut the ties that bind, after all the declarations of nationalism that abound throughout the region. We still want the British to arbitrate our laws, to grant us knighthoods and we still swear allegiance to the Queen.
    Such is the reach of colonialism, that at a function the other day when Loretta Butler Turner, the now Representative for Montagu in the House, feted the former Members of Parliament for her constituency to a dinner, former Senate President Henry Bostwick complained that he of all of the former representatives did not have a knighthood. Kendal Isaacs, now dead, had one. Geoffrey Johnstone has one and so does William Allen but not Janet Botswick’s husband Henry. Again you see the reach of this colonial business.
    Nevertheless, the court came to Nassau to sit for the third time said the public relations announcement out of London. It sat for the first time out of London in December 2006. The exercise costs nearly a million dollars or more. This time they came for only a week as at 30th March. They heard four cases, only one from The Bahamas. They were pictured inspecting the guard of honour in front of the Supreme Court. They held a seminar where they apparently choked some lawyers by reminding them that even if they found a case that helps the other side, they have a duty to disclose it, even if they distinguish the case. Challenged by one lawyer as to whether in the adversarial system, there was some grey area; the lawyer was told no this was an absolute rule, no in between.
    There was also a banquet where the head of the Court of Appeal Dame Joan Sawyer here in Nassau was calm enough to show up in her black mandarin jacket to sit down to dinner with the Lords and Ladies. The Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall and his wife were resplendent in their gear. The knights of The Bahamas were all there like Sir Orville Turnquest in their glory. The PLP’s leader Perry Christie and the now Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham with the Governor General Arthur Hanna all were there. A fine time was had by all. But we cannot help but feel that the trip of the Privy Councillors to The Bahamas was one wasted trip, a lot of money spent that the poor could have had; instead it was spent by the Government on accomplishing we know not what.
Above, senior Law Lord of the Privy Council is shown at dinner with Lady Camille Hall, wife of the Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall. Below, more photos of the formal dinner on Thursday 2nd April by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.

FREEPORT REGROUPING

    The last man standing from the interim regime at the Grand Bahama Port Authority has fallen on his sword. Erik Christensen resigned some time ago with some words that he had done his duty to save the company. Translation, he was out because Sir Jack Hayward is back in charge of his company. Now Felix Stubbs, the Bahamian, who served as Chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, has fallen on his sword and given up the chairmanship of the Grand Bahama Port Authority itself. He is replaced by the irrepressible Hannes Baback, hated and feared in Grand Bahama, almost irrationally so. Translation, Sir Jack Hayward is back in charge of his company.
    Sir Jack always insisted that it was his money, that the late Edward St. George and he had an agreement to share the profits but the company was 75 per cent his and 25 per cent Edward’s. The court agreed with the St. George Estate led by the widow Henrietta that it was 50/50, but at the end of the day it is Sir Jack who had the money. All the court actions have been stripped away and he is back running the company again.
    Henrietta St. George is said to be so fed up with Freeport that her friends think that she may never come back. Hannes Baback who has promised to revitalize the city of Freeport announced that some 3 million dollars is to be spent to refurbish the centre of Freeport. One letter writer described this as putting lipstick on a pig. He said that the city needs more than a facelift. There needs to be some fundamentals addressed. We agree. One man who has managed to navigate through all of the changing scenes of this life and who is our hero is Sir Albert Miller. He led the company during the turmoil, the darkest days, advised the owners what was in their best interest, left when he thought it was too much and has survived to help keep things going even today. More to come!
File photos, from left: Hannes Babak, Sir Albert Miller, Sir Jack Hayward

OBAMA AND CUBA
    Perhaps the US President Barack Obama is suffering from the same thing that the PLP under Perry Christie suffered from. There were too many holdouts from the old FNM regime left in place and they sabotaged the efforts of the PLP causing them to lose office after five years. Mr. Obama now has ambassadors in place who are saying that despite what the leaders of the countries that make up the Organization of American States (OAS) have to say on the subject, he does not want to talk about Cuba.
    The OAS Secretary General Miguel Insulza has gone so far as to say that Cuba ought to be readmitted as a full member of the councils of the OAS. Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, has said that Cuba must be at the front of the discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning who is the leader of the Summit says that Cuba is on everyone’s lips. So why is the spokesman for the President of the United States saying that this is something the Americans do not want to discuss? You ask yourself why, despite all the common sense that the new President has, he would let himself continue in this foolish talk and the foolish trap of saying that Cuba cannot be part of the discussion. We think it is these holdovers that are giving his policies a bad name.
    If Mr. Obama wants the summit to succeed, Cuba needs to be on the table. But it does not have to dominate because there are more important issues for the sub region Caricom, like the foolish decision of the United States to back the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) policy to strangle the offshore financial centres like The Bahamas. No one has a real sense of what Mr. Obama’s policy is going to be toward the Caricom region, but the way it is shaping up is that despite his popularity in the region as the first black President, almost universal support from the region, he is still an American President. The Caricom region is an afterthought. He is a product of the politics of the Midwest and growing up in Hawaii. That means that the Caricom region means little to him except as a place for vacations and where 18,000 companies fit into one building as he said during the campaign denouncing the Cayman Islands.
    Where ignorance is bliss, it is truly folly to be wise. Mr. Obama now has the Republican establishment outflanking him on Cuba policy with Senator Richard Lugar former Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, now saying that the new President must reach out to Cuba. Translation, for The Bahamas, change is on the way with Cuban policy. We should not get caught flat footed again on these issues. You may click here to see two internet stories on the issue: 'Cuba will not be discussed at Trinidad Summit' and 'Key US senator urges Obama to reach out to Cuba'.

THE BISHOP IS RECOVERING

Laish Boyd, the new Anglican Bishop, still riding high from his enthronement at 47 years old got some serious news. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The disease is quite prevalent in The Bahamas and is the leading cause of cancer deaths amongst men in The Bahamas. About a third of men will find themselves diagnosed with prostate cancer. Most doctors recommend for young men the Bishop’s age, taking out the prostate. Sidney Poitier, the award winning Bahamian actor had his prostate taken out 13 years ago and remains cancer free. The Bishop elected that method and is now at home resting comfortably. The operation was done last Sunday. He is expected to be back at work in six weeks. Best wishes to the Bishop.

JOSEPH PRATT'S FUNERAL PHOTOS

Joseph Pratt, the husband of the former Deputy Prime Minister and now Deputy Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt was buried on Saturday 4th April in the Woodlawn cemetery after a service at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Baillou Hill Road. We share a few photos by Peter Ramsay.

IN PASSING
The Emperor Is Free
Kenton Dion ‘Emperor’ Knowles is today a free man. He was wanted, hunted down as armed and dangerous and then apprehended in an apartment with his girlfriend after one year in hiding for the murder of his nephew. Mr. Knowles was set free by Magistrate Linda Virgill last week saying that the Crown had not adduced sufficient evidence for the matter to be stood over for trial in the Supreme Court. It appears that all the witnesses said that Mr. Knowles arrived after the shooting took place in August 2007. As she discharged him, the Magistrate told him that his conscience should be his guide.

So Is Senator Ted Stevens Of Alaska
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator up to last November is to be a free man. He was convicted last year in a high profile trial in which he was accused of corruption. He lost his re-election bid to the Senate. That loss helped to cement the Obama revolution in the U.S. Congress. Now they say the prosecutors, in violation of the rules, did not turn over exculpatory evidence to the defence. The Judge found the prosecutors in contempt and the matter is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department. End result, even though they still say he did it, he is to be set free if the Judge agrees with the motion to dismiss the action when it comes up in Court on Tuesday 7th April. What a thing. How do you get your life back now at 85?

Dillette Passes Chartered Accountant Exam

Adam Dillette of Freeport, Grand Bahama and Nassau has successfully passed the Uniform Evaluation (UFE) to become a Chartered Accountant on his first attempt. Prior to graduating from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and his successful completion of the Chartered Accountancy Programme in Canada, Mr. Dillette’s early education was in the Anglican School System at Discovery Primary School, Freeport Anglican High School and then at the College of The Bahamas. He is shown being congratulated at the formal convocation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nova Scotia, 14th February, 2009 by its President, Leo Gallant, FCA, CFP. Mr. Dillette, the elder son of Al and Kathryn Dillette, is a senior auditor with the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP in Halifax, Nova Scotia and plans a return to The Bahamas.

Update On Turks And Caicos Islands
There has been no movement to bring the Opposition Turks and Caicos Islands parties closer to the governing party’s position. In fact, the opposite has happened with the intervention of the British into the affairs of the Turks and Caicos being welcomed by the Opposition. No word on the Caricom efforts in the matter. Parliament in the Turks is to reconvene on the 14th April to take some legislative actions but it may all be in vain if the British go ahead with their plan to wipe out Parliament by 30th April.

Sex Abuse Story An FNM Scandal
Carl Bethel, the Minister of Education is under heavy pressure from the PLP on the abuse of children scandal at the Eight Mile Rock School. Even though ZNS refused to carry the PLP chair’s statement on the issue last week, the public was incensed, forcing Mr. Bethel to call a press conference to say that the Ministry had in fact acted with dispatch on the reports of abuse. He blamed the press for wrecking his original investigation into it and causing the teacher to flee, even though the Ministry allowed the teacher to sit in Nassau on the pay roll while the reports of abuse were clear and compelling. It appears that one 16-year-old youngster who committed suicide in Grand Bahama did so as a result of the abuse while in the school. Another parent reported that she had to stop her son from doing so. Then there is a female teacher who is interdicted because of a relationship with a young schoolboy, and another male teacher who is interdicted from the same school on an abuse allegation. Mr. Bethel perhaps misspoke when he said that because the children are hungry this makes them vulnerable to sexual abuse. Say what?!

Mitchell speaking at Government High School

Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was the guest speaker at the 11th grade civics class at the Government High School in Nassau on Tuesday 31st March. He spoke about the history of Parliament and how you get elected to office. Mitchell is pictured at left with Civics Teacher Ms. Lewis, whom he taught in Politics & Government at the College of The Bahamas; and at right with the Government High School Civics class.
Photos: Miguel Taylor

Former Torchbearer Officer Charged
Bradley McPhee, former President of the Torchbearers, is apparently in big trouble. The Nassau Guardian reported in its Saturday 4th April edition that he has been charged with illegal landing. He is a pilot with Western Air. The allegation is that he and another pilot were on a scheduled trip from Port-au-Prince to Nassau but they landed instead in Moss Town, Exuma and let off the passengers there without clearing them through immigration. He is out on $10,000 bail.

National Youth Choir
The 15th annual performance of the National Youth choir took place during the week at the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts. Great concert, under the direction of Cleophas Adderley Jr. The repertoire included an eclectic mix of the classical and the local. Stand out performance was that of Dancing in the Streets, the old Mamas and Papas standard. Congratulations!

The Ultimate Power Couple

Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are the ultimate power couple. The two set off on a progress across Europe at the start of last week. They went to London for the 2nd April G20 summit. They met the Queen, the 83-year-old Monarch who has met 10 of his predecessor Presidents of the United States. Gasps ensued when dear Michelle was hugged by the Queen and she hugged back. The Queen said to her “let’s stay in touch”. Carla Sarkozy, fashion model and singer and the French President’s wife and Michelle hit it off in France, with different fashion statements and intellectual heft. Not bad for a couple of African descent who in the social ladder of the western world would have been at the bottom not even a generation ago. We present the a photo of the two as they arrived in London on their first official journey overseas.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times

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INGRAHAM, WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE?
Hubert Ingraham’s Scribe column was at it again last week. We have to say it. If this column is a Fred Mitchell column, then the Scribe is surely a Hubert Ingraham column. Or let’s put it another way, this column is no more a Fred Mitchell column than the Scribe in The Punch is a Hubert Ingraham column. But the Scribe column is interesting about what it says about the Leader of the FNM and his preoccupations.

The Scribe column of Monday 6th April in the down market Punch was replete with the usual attacks on the PLP, an attack in fact on Perry Christie. The constant theme, a mantra if you will, of Hubert Ingraham appears in the column from time to time. The columnist asserts that Perry Christie is the best thing for the PLP. It believes that he is the only one who can preserve a civil polity in The Bahamas, which means essentially that there ought to be no criticism of the FNM during this period. The central thesis is the only one that will not rule in this “Pax Ingrahamiana” is Fred Mitchell who continues unabated to attack Hubert Ingraham with a seriousness that the columnist, the Scribe, the purveyor of the views of Hubert Ingraham does not like.

Do not be surprised then, if one day, some soldiers are standing around, and hear the cry of the master: “Whatever will we do about Mitchell?” Or put another way: “Who will rid me of this bothersome Member of Parliament?” Do not be surprised at the results.

We described it earlier as a preoccupation. Hubert Ingraham has several pet hatreds. One of them is Fred Mitchell. So it is not surprising that the column of the Scribe is replete with references to this column, how Fred Mitchell uses the column to attack Hubert Ingraham, and that Perry Christie had better control Fred Mitchell or there will be the most dire consequences for the PLP.

It is the call to inaction. The FNM’s leader is good at rage. He is good at getting up and lulling the PLP to sleep with his talk of bipartisanship and how the elections are over and how the PLP should accept that it lost, and how the PLP should accept that the FNM is the government. The PLP of course knows only too well that they lost the 2007 election. They also know only too well that Hubert Ingraham is once again the Prime Minister of this our beloved country. The question is what are they going to do about it?

The evidence of Mr. Ingraham’s footprint on this country is there for all to see. We recount it: CLICO goes under and people are unemployed. Atlantis lays off 1500 people and they are unemployed. The National Insurance Board tells us that the five thousand school leavers from last year don’t yet have jobs and this crew this year have very little prospect of a job, and that the unemployment benefit will not benefit the group who do not have a job from last year and who will not get a job this year. They have not paid nor will they be able to pay national insurance payments so they cannot qualify for the benefit.

The reports are dire about the ability of people in the country to buy food and to keep themselves and their children in school and in a home. The situation has put so much economic pressure on the home that most people simply do not know what to do.

So we know who is in charge of The Bahamas. Who is in charge is a mean man, who says he comes from the poor but the evidence is that he cares not a wit about the poor. What he cares about is the money that he gets in his coffers from the business community. It makes him do strange but predictable things.

For example, Mr. Ingraham is about to ruin one of the last public beaches on the island of New Providence by building a road through and over it, and by extending Arawak Cay, the artificial island in the harbour, some 1000 feet west into the harbour which will disturb the tidal flow and cause massive erosion of sand from Saunders Beach. This is a decision of a friend of the poor. It means as you will see in a related piece below that this Easter Monday may be the last Easter Monday that the public will be able to enjoy a peaceful and relatively pollution free experience on that beach.

There must be dissenting voices. That is how an Opposition spends its time or ought to spend its time, dissenting and plotting and scheming to get rid of the government, not pandering in silence or co-operating at every turn.

The country expects that the PLP will take that stand and every day, throw a punch at Hubert Ingraham for the way that he runs this country. The man has taken a perfectly good economy and wrecked it. He has no idea how to rescue it. But he is busy spending public monies to make sure that his FNM cronies are flush with money in their pockets. There is no public accountability for all of this.

In the mean time, the purveyor for the Hubert Ingraham column is busy every week in the down market Punch worrying about what Fred Mitchell is doing and whether or not Fred Mitchell is associated with this column. It is as if the man who runs our country has nothing better to do.

One thing Mr. Ingraham might do is to explain to the public what happened to his boat in Abaco, why and how it was stolen and how it was used in the commission of a crime. That would make a useful story. But no, we expect that we will hear nothing further on that.

Instead, we expect that every week, there will continue to be in that low life paper called The Punch, story after story about a man who Hubert Ingraham says has no power, and no influence. There will be story after story about why Perry Christie can’t make Fred Mitchell behave. We would think Hubert Ingraham has better things to do with his time. One of them ought to be trying to ensure that his legacy of Uncle Tomism does not get rooted into the population before he fades into black.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11th April 2009 up to midnight: 156,100.

Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 11th April 2009 up to midnight: 233,352.

Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 11th April 2009 up to midnight: 3,541,559.

IT’S EASTER TIME
At 6 o'clock this morning at St. Matthew’s Church, the oldest continuously occupied church structure in The Bahamas, the faithful gathered to celebrate the resurrection. Led by their rector the Rev. Dr. James Moultrie, they began in the darkness of just before dawn. The church windows are opaque and coloured. They let in just enough light. The service begins in candle light and the natural light opens up the church in Easter brightness as the sun rises. It is said to be a sight to behold and a feeling to witness. Yes, it is Easter time in The Bahamas. The churches are full. The collection plate is at its fullest. Christ, who for Christians is the saviour of the world is risen! Happy Easter!

SAUNDERS BEACH THREAT
    On Easter Monday, Bahamians traditionally begin the swimming season. Suddenly the water is not too cold to swim in any more. The seashore as a recreational centre is getting increasingly crowded. Former Prime Minister Perry Christie often tells the story of how he would travel around the island of New Providence on public holidays to see how the shoreline was being used by the public. It seemed clear to him while he was Prime Minister that we were running out of public beach space. The PLP under Mr. Christie decided to try and buy back the beaches for the Bahamian people. That programme has stopped under the stop review and cancel government of the Free National Movement.
    But you would think that these mean spirited and uncaring FNM people would leave it there. Instead, they propose to take it into reverse. Saunders Beach, which ironically enough is said to be owned by the Brent Symonette clan and is reportedly leased to the government, is now to be put under threat of destruction. Why? The government proposes to put a 1000 feet extension on to the western end of Arawak Cay and then put a causeway from Arawak Cay to a new roundabout created just to the west of the Shell Gas Station on West Bay Street. This will mean huge tidal shifts wiping away the sand from Saunders Beach, and then the question of noise, traffic and other pollution as they build a causeway and then a roundabout right smack through the high-end neighbourhood that borders Saunders Beach.
    So far, the public has not reacted. This is largely because the government has conducted its plans in secret unlike the issue of Clifton, which they did publicly when they were last in office. It so incensed the people of the country that the FNM lost office on the backs of the Clifton revolt. The FNM is not going to do it that way this time. There will be little public consultation on the destruction of Saunders Beach. They hope to act before the public gets wind of it.
    We say that the PLP has a role to play in stopping this. We cannot understand why the PLP has not yet told the country that if this plan to put the port on Arawak Cay goes ahead, it will be reversed by the PLP. We sound the alarm here, to those churches who used the serene and clean waters of Saunders Beach to mark the start of Easter in our country today, this may be your last Easter to do so. Next year under the FNM, Saunders Beach will be gone.

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL VISIT

John Conyers, a Congressman from the 14th District of Michigan and Chair of the Judicial Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, led a small delegation from the U.S Congress to Nassau which included Jan Schakowsky of Chicago and Donna Christenson of the U.S. Virgin Islands. While here they met with The Bahamas government headed by Hubert Ingraham and with Foreign Minister Brent Symonette, National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest and Attorney General Michael Barnett. They visited the site of the Exuma base of the US/Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands operation called OPBAT. That is the lead base in the fight against drugs in The Bahamas.
The U.S. Charge Tim Brown put on a dinner for the visiting delegation. Amongst those attending were former Prime Minister Perry Christie and former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell.

A VISIT TO MARIO’S PALACE

We present more photos of the tour of Mario’s Palace by the members of the PLP led by PLP Party Leader Perry Christie MP. Above, the group views of the private bowling lanes available for guests at the entertainment centre who wish to bowl completely separate from the general public.

LOFTUS ROKER SPEAKS OUT ON MARQUIS

There are some Uncle Toms in the country who are busy celebrating because John Marquis dissed the late Sir Lynden Pindling, but there are some other people who served with Sir Lynden who have found their voices and are now rising to his defence.
    The defence came because of an article written by an English hack who works for Eileen Carron at The Tribune as its managing editor. He is leaving The Bahamas, not a moment too soon but as he goes out of the door, he seeks to do maximum damage by denigrating and demeaning the memory of the country’s national hero Sir Lynden O. Pindling. He does not care about his own reputation as an unethical journalist. He works for employers with a history of corrupt journalistic practices but never mind, he is interested only in trashing what Bahamians have built up even though it has given him a very good living. As he goes out the door, he is ducking and dodging and asking for police protection. Oh well!
    Loftus Roker, the former Minister of National Security in the Pindling government called a press conference to voice his views on the matter. He said about Chauncey Tynes, the author of the misinformation purveyed by Mr. Marquis in his infamous article; that Mr. Tynes must be suffering from dementia or lying. That is a line that Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill advanced when he addressed his branch.
    Said Mr. Roker and we agree at his press conference on Thursday 9th April: “I am here because I regard the article and what followed was an attempt by this gentleman who is the Managing Editor of The Tribune to belittle Bahamians and The Bahamas in the eyes of the world… I am sort of taken aback that Hubert Ingraham, as head of the Government of the Bahamas did not see fit to ask this gentleman to kindly leave The Bahamas because I would think that he has outlived his welcome here. (See Pierre Dupuch response below) He has outlived it because he came here as a guest of this country and [because of] what he is attempting to do with not only Sir Lynden Pindling but with The Bahamas.”
    Mr. Roker was the Minister of National Security and developed a reputation for toughness during his time, expelling hundreds of illegal immigrants out of the country. Stan Burnside the cartoonist remembered the era and set up a good cartoon of Mr. Roker confronting Mr. Marquis.
Tribune photo:Tim Clarke

CLICO NOW IN LIQUIDATION
    Justice Cheryl Albury has now consigned to the history books CLICO Bahamas. When the court resumed on Tuesday 7th April, she accepted the evidence of the Registrar of Insurance and that of the Provisional Liquidator that CLICO could not be saved, could not pay its bills and had to go.
    Damien Gomez, the counsel for Allyson Gibson and several other policyholders of CLICO put up a valiant fight, arguing that the Liquidator did not show that the company was not solvent and that there was more information needed before an order of liquidation should be effected.
    It appears that a number of other claimants including representatives for the Bahamasair Provident Fund all seemed to support the liquidation. So the company now goes under and the scramble is to share up assets so that some people will get something. Not likely, but good luck to them anyway!

BRENT SYMONETTE MASTER OF THE DEAL

    According the front man for Hubert Ingraham in the down market rag The Punch’s column The Scribe, to criticize Brent Symonette is to be racist. At least it is racist when Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs, criticizes Brent Symonette if you follow the logic of that most illogical writer. This is Brent Symonette the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose interest is not foreign affairs at all but local deals. He is to be sanitized and protected from public criticism while he grows richer while in office at the expense of the Bahamian people. The logic of Mr. Ingraham’s front man in the column is that Brent Symonette whose job as Foreign Minister is to travel around the world beating bushes and making the case for The Bahamas does not have to travel because he has plenty of money and simply does not need to do so.
    Mr. Symonette declared a net worth of $58 million dollars at the last general election. That means on two counts then, there must be no public criticism of Brent Symonette as Minister of Foreign Affairs. This is a Foreign Affairs minister that does not even speak in the House for Assembly save only to send some sarcastic barb across the floor. He is white, so according to Mr. Ingraham we must be quiet. And because he is rich, we must be doubly quiet, because everyone knows presumably that rich people do not cheat the government out of funds and do no wrong. It reminds you of the story of Jimmy Hoffa appearing before a Senate Committee looking into the Teamster’s union in the U.S. and taking on Robert Kennedy, the former Attorney General and son of Joseph Kennedy. Mr. Hoffa was accused of being immoral by Bobby Kennedy whereupon Mr. Hoffa had to be restrained from striking him. He shouted out that no son of a bootlegger was going to lecture him of morality. The same could easily be said in The Bahamas of he who now serves in high office.
    The fact is the evidence is firm on the ground. The Minister of Foreign Affairs does not do the job he is supposed to do for the Bahamian people. He is in Nassau too much. We ask what is he doing here in Nassau. The evidence is that in Nassau, he sat on and chaired a Committee that had the responsibility for choosing the new area for the port to move from Bay Street in Nassau. Mr. Symonette is a land owner in the now port of Nassau and so stands to gain by the decisions the government makes in that matter. Mr. Symonette’s family shipping interests have gained since he came to office. Mr. Symonette’s road company has gained since coming to office. Not bad for the Foreign Minister who stays at home and does not speak. Being Foreign Minister pays.
    Donald Trump wrote a book about the art of the deal. Mr. Symonette it appears learned it well. He is the son of the United Bahamian Party Premier whose colleagues and himself were experts at lining their pockets while serving in government offices. Now two generations later, an Uncle Tom is at the helm of the country and lecturing a representative of the people on why we should be quiet and accept what Bay Street is doing to us simply because of the colour of their skin and the fact that they are rich. What is that about history repeating itself?
Brent Symonette: file photo

ST. GEORGES REJECT THE OFFER

It was 37 percent: take it or leave it from Jack Hayward to his former partner’s widow Henrietta St. George. That was what The Tribune said was offered by Sir Jack Hayward to Henrietta St. George to settle the dispute about the ownership of the Port. The St. Georges told Sir Jack to take a hike. They have a decision in a Bahamian court that they are fifty fifty owners so why should they compromise on this. Sir Jack of course is hoping to starve them out because he has more money than them. So the saga continues with a new court battle now to be conducted in the Cayman Islands where the holding company is situated. We shall see.
Meanwhile Philip Galanis, the former Member of Parliament for the PLP and former Senator, savaged the return of Hannes Baback to the Chairmanship of the Port. Click here for the full column that appeared in the Nassau Guardian on Monday 6th April.
File photos: Lady Henrietta St. George, Hannes Babak, Philip Galanis

MITCHELL ON THE EPA

    Last week, Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill and the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, issued a statement calling on the Government to explain what was going on with regard to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and The Bahamas and Europe. Mr. Mitchell then called a press conference on the matter on Monday 6th April when Mr. Laing refused to be totally frank with the public on the matter. The word on the street was that the whole agreement was in jeopardy because the Government’s services offer had been rejected by the Europeans.
    Minister of State Zhivargo Laing tried to quiet the storm but the fact is he was caught out on it. Mr. Mitchell at the end of the week issued the statement summarizing the PLP’s position on the matter:
    “The statements by Minister of State Zhivargo Laing on the Economic Partnership Agreement in his press conference of 7th April were neither full nor frank. In his anger at being caught out for not concluding this agreement, he seeks again to confuse.
    “These are the facts that we know and which the PLP asserts:
    “The PLP left in place a completed goods offer and a drafts services offer when it lost office in May 2007.
    “The FNM as part of their stop, review and cancel programme did not consider the EPA a priority.
    “The PLP forced them to take up the matter when it was pointed out to the FNM in October 2007 that if the FNM did not sign the EPA, we stood to lose as a country access of our crawfish to the European market. This would have affected some 20,000 fishermen in The Bahamas.
    “If the FNM does not get an agreement from both the European Union and its Cariforum partners to extend the deadline for the services offer beyond the 15th April, 2009 the whole agreement will fall away and the crawfish of The Bahamas will be denied access to Europe putting at risk 20,000 jobs.
    “We now understand that the minister is no longer going to travel to Brussels. He is sending a technical team only. Does this show sufficient seriousness given what is at stake?
    “The PLP calls on the government to act expeditiously to ensure that the crawfish industry is protected by concluding the full agreement.”
Nassau Guardian photo:Tony Grant

CUSTOMS OFFICERS PROTEST

Hubert Ingraham is at it again. He is the Minister responsible for Customs and the Minister responsible for Finance. On 6th April, forty or more customs officers were handed letters at the Department telling them that they would not be considered for promotions and that their careers had come to a dead end. One man was so stunned in Freeport, Grand Bahama that he took to his bed. This is more of the same behaviour that was visited upon the police at its senior ranks last year when the Prime Minister cleaned out the Force of now Commissioner Reginald Ferguson’s enemies to make way for the appointment of Mr. Ferguson as Commissioner of Police. This one is a mass cleaning of house.
The Customs officers led by Ralph Munroe who defeated the government before in a high profile case took to the press to explain that they would not take the matter sitting down. Fred Mitchell MP and former Public Service Minister was there at the press conference to explain that he thought that the proper procedures were not followed in the matter. The government is looking for trouble now. Following is the full statement by Ralph Munroe on behalf of the aggrieved customs officers:
“We meet this morning outside our place of employment to register our strong objection to an exercise that will see many of us who have worked diligently on the job from receiving promotions in the department.
“On Monday 6th April, as many as 40 of us and perhaps more were summoned to the Office of the Comptroller of Customs and handed a letter, which reads as, follows:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
"Inexperienced"
    You keep referring to Barack Obama as an "inexperienced" US President, but pray tell, which President of the United States was "experienced" when he first came to power?
    Certainly, George Washington was "inexperienced"!! The United States was a brand new country and he was the first President, with no precedent to guide him.
    Certainly Abraham Lincoln was "inexperienced" in running the United States since he had not held the position before.
    The same applies for the others, Truman, Munroe, Polk, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, McKinley, and "the whole shooting match", as my Dad would say.
     Bear in mind that this matter was brought up during the two-year-long presidential campaign that Obama took part in, and was thoroughly aired; and in the end the American people voted for him, and I daresay it was because they realized that ALL the candidates were inexperienced, since none had been Prsident before..
     So, we would expect that responsible journalists would simply drop this matter, of a first-time President being "inexperienced" not only because it is a petty charge that holds no water but also because it serves now only to destroy the credibility of the journalist that continues to tout it.
     Closer, at home, Pindling was "inexperienced" when he came to power in 1967. Hubert Ingraham was "inexperienced" when he came to power in 1992. Perry Christie was "inexperienced" when he came to power in 2002.
    And farther afield, was not Nelson Mandela "inexperienced" when he became the first black president of South Africa? Was not Mugabe "inexperienced" when he came out of the bushes to become tyrant of Zimbabwe?
    We could go on...
Name Withheld

Apologies On Obama - The letter writer roundly criticizes this column for calling US President Barack Obama “inexperienced”. Click here for the reference. The point was being made that part of the reason Mr. Obama had no appreciation for the world of the offshore sector was because of his growing up in Hawaii and cutting his teeth in the U.S. Midwest. The writer obviously thinks we misspoke and that it was not a good thing to say about the popular U.S. President. It was not meant as anything more than a truism, although given the context of the word as it is used today, it is seen as a pejorative. Inexperience does not necessarily translate into lack of ability. That is the point we wish to make here. The two are quite separate. He is quite an able man and he has our support but not uncritically so. He is after all the President of the United States and our interests and those of the U.S. will sometimes be different.
Ed.

IN PASSING
Fox Hill Lenten Tea

The Fox Hill Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party held its annual Lenten Tea, on Palm Sunday this year at the Eastwood Park. Member of Parliament Fred Mitchell is shown congratulating some of the organisers of the Tea and its accompanying fashion show. The fashion show was organised and contributed by FASHION WITH CLASS on Robinson Road opposite Curtis Memorial Mortuary. The owners are sisters Katonia Neely and Keisha Douglas. They are They are pictured at right standing with Fred Mitchell in the middle. At left with Mr. Mitchell are Mistress of Ceremony Claudette 'Cookie' Allens and Charlene Marshall, Chair of the Fox Hill PLP Branch. Please click here for more photographs.

Lyons Reacts To Anita Allen
We thought that sooner rather than later the unfortunate judge John Lyons, who should now be gone from our country, would have an answer to the slamming attack on his judgment by Senior Justice Anita Allen. You may click here for the previous story. The report is that when one of the legal firms involved in the case before Justice Allen showed up last week before him, he described them as turning up in his court with their “fangs dripping with blood from his public execution.” He has quite a high opinion of himself.

The Ethics Of Bahamian Journalists
ZNS is the usual and worst offender notwithstanding that a well-trained journalist is at the helm. But the practice has now infected the Nassau Guardian. It appears that if you are not a particular political favourite of the writers at ZNS and the editors of The Guardian that what they do is use the press release sent out by PLPs to put the government on notice. So you send a press release to them and instead of carrying the press release, they call up the government minister, put the question to him and then print his response without any reference at all to the press release of the PLP. As we said, we thought that this was a practice confined to ZNS but now it seems to have spread to the Nassau Guardian.

Turks Island Used For Renditions Team R & R
We have learned (unconfirmed) that the British government during the term of former President of the U.S. George Bush allowed the Turks and Caicos Islands to be used as a transfer point for their rendition exercises, that is, a place where the planes taking the prisoners of the so called war on terror would stop to fuel up. No one has ever seen any of the people on board but some of the pilots who would stop on their way back from the U.S. base at Guantanamo would stop back for rest and relaxation courtesy of the British government and they would talk about what they were doing and who was on board.

10th April 1968
Friday 10th April 2009 was forty-one years since the real coming of majority rule. The day passed quietly and uneventfully. It was on 10th April 1968, having decided after the death of Uriah McPhee that he Lynden O. Pindling would call a general election not a bye election, that the PLP won a massive majority in the House of Assembly virtually wiping out the now defunct United Bahamian Party (UBP) that had governed the country as an all white oligarchy up to 1967. This gave the impetus for the further changes that were to come, including lowering the voting age to 18 and moving the country to full internal self government and finally to independence.

Pierre Dupuch
He appeared on the radio on Wednesday 8th April with another former MP Algernon Allen who is the host. Mr. Allen spoke to Mr. Dupuch about racism. Mr. Dupuch opined that he did not think that the late Sir Stafford Sands was a racist. He thought the PLP made a mistake in taking his face off the 10-dollar bill because he was a racist. Mr. Dupuch said that Sir Stafford was simply a man of his time but he thought that he was a great man. We disagree. We think that his face was taken off the money for the right reasons and was the right decision. As for John Marquis, Mr. Dupuch also thought that Mr. Marquis should not be kicked out of the country because of what he said about Sir Lynden O Pindling (See story on Loftus Roker's comment). He argued, what happened to the value of freedom of speech? We agree with that in principle, but we want John Marquis out of the country.

Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return to the top of the page.

THE PLP WAS RIGHT ON CUBA

If the PLP were truly public relations savvy, it would be crowing from the rooftops about the change in policy of the United States of America on Cuba. They should be telling silly old Hubert Ingraham and his myopic party that they told him so. The FNM is not only myopic, they are single-mindedly blind to the fact and reality that The Bahamas lives not in an isolated bubble but in a wider hemisphere that will be integrating in ways slow and fast over the near and the long term.

The FNM opposed the establishment of an embassy in Havana, Cuba. Their leader Hubert Ingraham with his usual ungracious behaviour went to Cuba in December last at the Caricom/Cuba summit of Heads of Government and took time out from his busy schedule to insult the Cuban government. He said that he thought that the embassy should not have gone in Cuba but he would keep it open anyway because he did not want to insult the Cuban government. So much for comity.

The reason the FNM did not want it there was disguised in the rhetoric of cost but the real reason was they believed that it would offend the Americans. They tried to sell to the Bahamian people the idea that what the PLP was doing by establishing the embassy was offensive to the Americans, even though spokesman after spokesman for the U.S. including the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who came here to say it, told the country that what The Bahamas did in terms of its relations with Cuba was not a matter for them.

But the axiom of the FNM is, yes you know it, let’s not let the truth interfere with a good story. The good story was to frighten the Bahamian public into believing that the PLP was putting at risk the U.S. relationship and in particular, the pre clearance facility in Nassau and in Freeport. They knew it was not true but it would help garner those votes, not advance the best interests of the country. But the FNM is simple minded in that regard. In a choice between party and country, party and its interests come first.

The PLP made the argument that Cuba was one of its closest neighbours, with one Bahamian island as close as 20 miles away from Cuba. The Bahamian capital city Nassau is one and half hours give or take a few minutes away from Havana, the capital of Cuba. As neighbours, it was the responsible thing to do to have good relations at the political and economic level. The fights between Cuba and the United States were not the fights of The Bahamas, and certainly not a national security threat to The Bahamas.

Thankfully, the PLP persevered in the best interests of the Bahamian people. What the PLP said is that the United States would one day solve its problems with Cuba and when they did, they would change their policies unceremoniously without so much as a by your leave. The Americans have now changed their policy. You could see it coming as soon as the new President took office.

In recent weeks, the pressure from the U.S. Congress to change the travel ban of Americans going to Cuba, and the visit of the Black Caucus to Cuba, signalled that change was in the air. Following the visit with Fidel Castro with the Black Caucus two weeks ago, the signals went to the White House that change could come. President Barack Obama decided last week to lift all travel restrictions for Cuban family members as far as second cousins. He then said that Cuba should send a signal to the United States about what it intended to do. That signal came on Friday 17th April when Cuban President Raul Castro indicated that he was open for discussions all issues including political prisoners. Everything he said.

That was enough for Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State visiting with Lionel Fernandez the President of the Dominican Republic. She said that the U.S. was studying the remarks. Later on that same Friday 17th April the President himself speaking at the opening of the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago signalled that a new era was coming, one not of U.S. dominance but U.S. partnership.

So there you have it, change is coming from the U.S. side. No one from the U.S. has asked the Prime Minister of The Bahamas if he would mind the change. The change is coming whether he likes it or not. The Bahamas has to enjoy or suffer the consequences.

Thank God then that the PLP decided to raise the level of political and economic contacts with Cuba. It protects the country well into the future. They have established a sound and good relationship in the country and can build on that relationship.

Tourism Director General Vernice Walkine gave a good answer when she told people that Cuban tourism is not a challenge to The Bahamas. We agree. This is again just another bugaboo set off by the FNM partisans to frighten people unnecessarily. There will be no adverse consequences for The Bahamas in the new U.S. / Cuba relationship. We think that the U.S. President is correct to scrap all the silly policies of the last 50 years and to create a new policy without an embargo and with Cuba fully in the Organization of American States without pre conditions.

In this regard, we think that the statement of Manuel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States is correct. Cuban should be readmitted to the Councils of the OAS.

Now for the Cuba side, we hope that the excuse of the embargo will be gone and that this will mean that the intellectual capital of their people will be harnessed to make Cuba the rich country that it should be. There are no excuses once that is set aside. We do not accept that the embargo was in fact the cause but it was useful to support a policy that did not allow the complete freedom of its people. That must now begin to change and change quickly so that Cuba can integrate fully into the hemisphere with all the usual democratic values.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 19th April 2009 up to midnight: 144,335.

Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 19th April 2009 up to midnight: 377,687.

Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 19th April 2009 up to midnight: 3,685,894.

US President Barack Obama with leaders of the Americas including Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham during the official photo at the Summit of the Americas on Saturday, April 18, 2009 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

MITCHELL VISITS THE PASSPORT OFFICES

    Passports are back in the news again. This time it is the same old story. Brent Symonette, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has taken his eyes off the ball. Former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell and now Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs was in Freeport on Tuesday 14th April and he paid a site visit to the Passport Office in Grand Bahama. The situation is appalling. He quickly made a statement about the matter for the press. He made a distinction between the staff and the Minister. He said that the Minister ought to come down and see for himself how people were being treated. Some people had been in line since six that morning and had not been served.
    The problem is that the office in Freeport is too small. The FNM stopped the construction of a new building for the Passport Office in Freeport. Now they say it’s on again. There is a need for an additional printing centre in Freeport and there is a need for additional staff for data entry. The Minister refused to address any of that instead he sought to blame the PLP.
    Meanwhile in Nassau, the situation was even worse. With children out of school for the spring break, parents rushed to bring their children to enrol for a new passport so that they did not have to catch the summer rush and the delays then. They were in for a big surprise: lines stretching into never never land and chaos. Fred Mitchell again called on the Minister to act. You may click here for his full statement. Our photos show Mr. Mitchell and the crowds at the Passport Office in Nassau on Friday 16th April.
Freeport photo (b&w) Freeport News/Jenneva Russell Nassau photos (colour)/Miguel Taylor

SYMONETTE’S NON RESPONSE ON PASSPORTS

    Brent Symonette, the deal maker of the House of Assembly, is an interesting man. He was under pressure all of last week from the public and from the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell because the Passport Office was quite simply a mess. His answer was to blame the PLP. He said that when Fred Mitchell signed the agreement for the passport machines when he was the Minister, Mr. Mitchell should have known that the machines available would not be enough. Incredible! Here is a fellow who has been foreign minister for two years and he is still blaming the PLP. His argument is of course nonsense.
    The fact is the PLP was advised that the one issuing or printing centre was in the best interest of security. But nothing is etched in stone. What would be productive and useful for the minister, instead of blaming the PLP is to take his behind down to the Passport Office in Freeport and in Nassau and have a look at how the system actually works and see what he can do to solve the problem.
    The situation is degrading. People have to stand in long lines in the sun, without water and sanitary facilities. Mr. Symonette lamely told the press in answer to Mr. Mitchell’s second press conference in Nassau, that the government is doing the best they can and people should exercise patience. That unfortunately is not good enough. It again demonstrates the general lack of care that the FNM has for the Bahamian people, the ones who voted for them.

MALAYSIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER VISITS

On Thursday 16th April, the Malaysian High Commissioner resident in Havana, Cuba made a call on the Governor General to present his letters of Commission from the King of Malaysia. The new High Commissioner to The Bahamas is a career diplomat and last served at the United Nations for his country. The two leaders Governor General Arthur D. Hanna and the High Commissioner pledged to continue to work toward improved ties between the two countries. The High Commissioner said he was impressed by The Bahamas.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay

FREEPORT NUMBERS RAIDS UNPOPULAR

    It appears that every time a new police officer takes over in Freeport or for that matter every time there is a new commissioner for The Bahamas, the police are instructed to raid the numbers houses. That is what the illegal gaming operations are called in The Bahamas. The fact that the law is unenforceable does not stop the police from acting in vain. No recent convictions have been recorded.
    The fact that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says that he does not think that it can be stopped but he won’t legalize it does not stop the police. The fact that it’s a recession and that the only thing many people these days have to hang on is the lucky hit every once in a while for their one or two dollar investment per day. It is not a science or an art but a combination of both, playing the numbers. People choose the numbers from dream books that convert their dreams into numbers. They play in combinations of numbers around the dates of birth and the age of family members and friends. There is no combination of numbers that will not be used to effect some luck at the numbers houses. No longer are people writing down numbers on slips of paper and throwing a ball but the houses are sophisticated operations, all computerized with credit arrangements on line and the numbers come from the Chicago or other US lotteries. No trickery then. It pays off handsomely: eight to one in some instances.
    The new Assistant Commissioner of Police in Freeport Marvin Dames (pictured) made the same mistake when he went into Freeport thinking that he could bring the numbers houses to heel. People are so cynical, they did not think that it was simply an act of law enforcement but instead they wondered what police wanted to exact from the numbers men. The raids, which netted a small group of people who are charged and will probably get clean away, ended up angering the community in Grand Bahama. They are really upset with the police in Freeport and Mr. Dames has made himself extremely unpopular because of it. He himself made a statement saying that he could not understand why people were talking about the arrests of numbers men when the arrests really netted people for more serious offences like drugs and firearms.
    Clearly there is a public relations problem when the apologist for the FNM Oswald Brown gets into the act. Writing in his column of Friday 16th April in the Freeport News Mr. Brown explained that, despite the unpopularity of Mr. Dames for what he had done, people should realize that he was only doing his job. We will see if he does his job again or whether he had gotten the point that he should understand the difference between what he can change and what he cannot.

VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN OUR COUNTRY

    The Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson (pictured) was quick to call a news conference following a spate of murders that jacked the murder count for The Bahamas up to a whopping 21 at this point in the year. The slaughter continues and there seems to be no solution in sight. The country is numb toward crime. Mr. Ferguson assured the community that there was no need to be alarmed. He said that the murders were random and that they were not connected and so on that score there was no need to worry. That is cold comfort to the loved ones of those murder victims.
    It is quite sad that the country does not seem safe. The problem we have is that while the murders may be confined to one area or to one socio-economic group, it is only a matter of time before it spreads to another group and other neighbourhoods. During the same week that the slaughter continued, the murderers of Keith Carey, the former gas station owner, were convicted. Two for the lesser robbery charges but the man who pulled the trigger for murder and the Crown has said they want the death penalty for him when he is sentenced on 29th April.
    What is coming down the road given the state of the young Bahamian male is more frightening than what we now have. We have a group of irrational wild people in their middle teens who are set free on weekends and on nights to rage across the land without any discipline or social skills. The website bahamapress.com linked to a youtube production of a scene on a Bahamian beach on Easter Monday. This is not the scene that the tourist would see or expect in The Bahamas. It is supposed to be a carefree, quiet and socially acceptable place. The reality is a frighteningly wild scene of The Bahamas and unfortunately it appears that this is what we have to brace for much more violence in the future if we do not act to get on top of this.

GORDON BROWN CONTINUES TO PRESSURE

    The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured) has written a letter to the leaders of all the British Dependent territories to tell them that they had better get with it or face the consequences on the issue of their status as tax havens. He said that he fully supports the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and their black listing and gray listing of countries who do not comply with the standards.
    The Bahamas, like Cayman Islands (a British colony), is on a gray list of those who agree with the new standards but have not yet decided to sign with at least 12 countries tax information exchange treaties (TIEAs). Mr. Brown told the leaders of the countries for whom he has foreign affairs responsibilities that they have until the General Assembly at the United Nations in September to get their houses in order or face sanctions.
    Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham of The Bahamas leading the Bahamian delegation to the Summit Of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago has said that the financial services sector is of prime interest to him at the meeting he will have with Barack Obama, the President of the United States. Perhaps he can get the point to Mr. Obama that the offshore sector helps the United States and does not harm it both because it provides capital for the U.S. economy and because it helps secure the Caribbean economies which do not then become a drain on the United States. If Mr. Obama is truly interested in a partnership, he will listen to the Caricom leaders.

HOUSE SPEAKER DOES IT AGAIN TO THE PLP

    We have asked this question many times on this site. What is the PLP going to do with this Speaker of the House of Assembly? His attitude is as thick as molasses, concrete block if you please. You may click here for a Mitchell Report on the Speaker that was done late last year. The PLP has to figure out what they are going to do with Mr. Speaker. He is an embarrassment to all Eleuthera from whence he hails and to The Bahamas generally. He is a figure that is not known for his fairness. There is nothing that the FNM opposes to the detriment of the PLP that he will not support in the House of Assembly.
    Last week on Wednesday 15th April the Speaker along with Tommy Turnquest, the Leader of the House proceeded to shut down the debate on the amendment to the Housing Act. The act was designed to raise the ceiling of government low cost loans for housing from 100,000 to 250,000. Bernard Nottage, the leader of Opposition business in the House was about to speak when Tommy Turnquest, aided and abetted by the Speaker, shut down the debate. The reason why? He was offended by the fact that Frank Smith MP made the case against Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham for advising people to continue to pay their premiums to CLICO even though CLICO has now been put into liquidation.
    Mr. Smith kept saying that the Prime Minister had misled the Bahamian policy holders on paying their premiums to CLICO when he knew that CLICO was going under and they would have no coverage. He kept asking what the government was going to do to protect the policyholders. Mr. Turnquest got angry and closed down the debate. The Speaker aided him in it. This is not the first time and it happens with too much frequency. This stymies the debate in the House. The PLP must deal with the Speaker of the House and put a stop to this rank bias.

JEROME SLAMS GOVT ON PORT ISSUE

    Senator Jerome Fitzgerald is one of a number of intrepid third generation PLP leaders who are leading the charge against the FNM. He led the fight against the appointment of Reginald Ferguson’s Commissioner of Police but did not get the backing of the party. He is now leading the fight against the container port being moved to Arawak Cay.
    It is a mad decision by the FNM to move the container port to Arawak Cay. It will result in ruining Saunders Beach, one of the last remaining public beaches in New Providence and wreck the upscale neighbourhoods of Vista Marina and Highland Park. Major roads will traverse these two subdivisions and lead to a container assembly point on Gladstone Road. You can imagine the traffic, noise and congestion.
    The port is also to be handed over to a group of Bahamian investors all of whom are the families of Bay Street. Mr. Ingraham is once again handing the economy over to the Bay Street boys and their families. In making the case against the port moving, Senator Jerome Fitzgerald spoke to Rotary on Thursday 16th April. He called the proposed move by the government a big mistake. We agree. Let us hope that this time, the PLP does not let him down and leave the good Senator dangling in the wind. Click here for his full statement.
Bahama Journal file photo

ROBERTS SLAMS FNM GOVERNMENT

In an address Sunday before the Progressive Liberal Party Women's Branch, former Member of Parliament Bradley Roberts slammed the FNM Government, saying "Hubert Ingraham and his FNM Gang have failed miserably in their solemn commiment to make life better for all Bahamians."
You may click here for Mr. Roberts' full address.
File photo

VENDOR KILLED IN HIT AND RUN
    The entire Fox Hill Village is saddened by the untimely and tragic passing of newspaper vendor Humphrey Gerard Jackman in what appears to have been in a hit and run traffic collision in the early hours of Thursday 16th April. Fred Mitchell, Fox Hill MP, issued a statement:
    "Mr. Jackman also known as Troy and Michael Jackson was a well known, familiar and beloved figure in the Village. He sold newspapers at the foot of my constituency office. He did not deserve to die such an ignominious and inhumane death. The person or persons responsible should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and should turn themselves in to the authorities.
    "I am sickened that someone would do that to another human being. It revived the memory of my late housekeeper who was similarly struck down while walking home from church and simply left to die on the side of the street. What kind of people would do such a thing? What have we become. It is not too late for the person to do the right thing.
    "A reward should be offered to assist the police in their investigations and my office will seek to work with the family and the police as the investigation proceeds to see what can be done assist to bring justice in this sad situation. On behalf of all Fox Hill residents, I offer condolences to the family of the late Mr. Jackman."

IN PASSING
St. George’s Day
The feast of St. George will be celebrated on Thursday 23rd April. That means on Sunday next all roads lead to St. George’s Anglican Church in the Valley for its patronal festival. St. George’s Anglican Parish is marking its 60th year as a parish church.

Leila Greene Retires

Leila Greene, Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Governor General has retired from the Public Service. Mrs. Greene’s last day on the job was Thursday 16th April, when she attended a reception for the visiting Malaysian envoy (see above). She is now on pre retirement leave.

The Customs Battle Continues
Last week, we reported that the Government had sent out letters to 40 customs officers in New Providence to tell them that their careers were at an end in the public service. No further promotions. They have called upon Fred Mitchell MP and former Public Service Minister for assistance. Following the publicity about the event, Hubert Ingraham, the Public Service Minister called the Department of Public Service and told them that they needed to speed up the promotions before the officers got a chance to act in the Courts. There is also word that 60 additional letters of supercession have been prepared and will be sent out to officers this week.

CLICO Staff All Fired
The Nassau Guardian reported in its Thursday 16th April edition that all remaining staff of the CLICO insurance company put in liquidation by the Government have been fired. No word on whether any of them will be paid, nor any indication of the fate of any of CLICO’s other creditors.

Industrial Action At ZNS
There was industrial action at ZNS, the publicly owned broadcasting corporation in The Bahamas on Thursday 16th April. The problem: no pay showed up in the employee’s accounts on pay day. That was solved and things returned to normal.

Complaints About Michael Moss As ZNS Chairman
Reporters at ZNS say that things have never been worse with the rank political interference in their doing their every day job. One of the main offenders is Michael Moss, the Chairman of the Corporation that runs ZNS. Mr. Moss has not had a full time job since he left the management job at Jamaica’s power company. He reportedly makes himself busy by seeking to micromanage ZNS in particular ZNS news, reportedly even to the point of calling up reporters and chewing them out if the slant of their stories is not in favour of the FNM. He should be extremely careful if this is so. More importantly, he should stop it.

Jackson Ritchie Unfairly Treated
Jackson Ritchie, the candidate in 2007 for the PLP in the Clifton constituency, has been involved in a full court press to save his customs brokerage company from going under. He has been in the press almost every day attacking the government for seeking to collect monies that his company owes but which he says is being sought after in a way no other company is being attacked. He thinks that the very survival of his company is at stake for the nearly five million dollars in fees the company owes. He thinks that it is because he is PLP and has been seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Some people think that the PLP ought to come to his defence. But there is little the official PLP can do except to ensure that fairness obtains and not cherry picking by a vicious FNM administration that means singling out Mr. Ritchie’s company for special treatment while letting FNM owned companies get clean away. The press keeps accusing Perry Christie as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of knowing that Mr. Ritchie had these problems when he was chosen as a candidate. There is no evidence of it and in fact, people in the know deny that Mr. Christie or his Minister of State James Smith had any such knowledge of it.

Rionda Godet No Longer At Paradise Island
Labour lawyer Rionda Godet for the Atlantis company is no longer with the company. No word on why she is no longer there. She is married to Dion Godet, the Marketing Manager of One Hundred Jamz radio station.

Pleasant Bridgewater Appearance
The Crown is proceeding with its case against former senator Pleasant Bridgewater who was charged with attempting to extort John Travolta the American actor whose son died in The Bahamas. She appeared in court on Thursday 16th April to receive the Crown's voluntary bill of indictment and to receive the evidence that they have. The next appearence is her arraignment on Tuesday 28th April when the matter will presumably be set down for trial.

Few People Show Up For Unemployment Benefit
The government, the National Insurance Broad and the Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes all thought that they would have deluge of applicants for the unemployment benefit passed hurriedly into law by the government. No dice. Hardly anyone showed up over the Easter holiday week. People are wondering why? Some say it is because the application process is too complicated and not private enough. Many people believe that for all the complications and grief, it is too much and they can hustle two hundred dollars a week, which is the maximum benefit that they can get. The FNM will no doubt say that it is because the economy is not as bad as it seems. They are as usual in cloud cuckoo land.

Six Way Fight For Union Presidency
The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union is about to go to elections for the presidency. There are six people vying for the job.

The Anglican Priest Is Charged
Archdeacon Ranfurly Brown of the Anglican Church of St. Agnes has been charged with assault of a 15 year old. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. The charge allegedly stems from an incident at the church picnic last year when he reprimanded a church member.

Livingstone Marshall Funeral
Livingstone Marshall, father of environmentalist Dr. Livingstone Marshall, was buried in Exuma on Saturday 18th April following a brief illness. He is survived by his wife Shirley and seven children. Attending the funeral were Anthony Moss MP for Exuma and Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill on behalf of Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie.

Bahamians In South Africa

Dr. A. E. Ricardo Hamilton, a Bahamian Surgical Trainee who is completing his final year of surgical training at the University of the Witwatersrand since going to Johannesburg in 2004, pictured at left, has written this site and others: “Just sharing my excitement of now having more Bahamian doctors travel to South Africa to engage in medical post-graduate training. South Africa is unique in providing unparalleled exposure to vast varieties of third-world pathologies in a first-world training environment.” In the picture are Dr. Hamilton; new comers Dr. Valron Grimes-Tinubu and Dr. Olu Tinubu, who are commencing respective training in Anaesthesiology and General Surgery this April 2009 also at the University of the Witwatersrand; and Dr. Rana Greene (right) who has been studying Ophthalmology at the University of Pretoria since October 2008. Also in South Africa is Dr. Ashaini Knowles (not pictured), who has been training in General Surgery at the University of Cape Town since April 2007.

Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return to the top of the page.

JEROME SETS THE CAT AMONGST THE PIGEONS

There is no more talked about subject in the PLP than the question of who will lead the party into the next general election. Perry Christie, its leader will be 70 years old by the time of the next general election. In a country enamoured of a youth culture, some argue that it will be too much, at the next election he will have served 37 years in Parliament, all but two of them as an elected official and five years as Prime Minister. Our view; age is not so much a factor but relevance to the time is. Questions have been raised about that as well, and that is more fundamental. No matter what age, if you are relevant to the times then age can be overcome.

The PLP is an organization, perhaps like most Bahamian organizations, that is uncomfortable about talk of transitions. In our personal lives, most of us won’t write a will because we believe that it is going to cause us to die more quickly. Too many politicians do not properly plan their exits from the scene. In 1997, Sir Lynden O. Pindling, at once the PLP’s most potent symbol but also its most troubling, led the party into one of its worst defeats because the public was saying that his time was up and enough was enough. But there was a comfort with Sir Lynden and he could not bring himself to leave. No one could defeat him. He stayed and the party went down to defeat, which then prompted him to leave. Many PLPs raise the same arguments today as they look toward 2012.

On the other hand, though, it is argued that Perry Christie is the only one in stature, experience and reputation that can galvanize the PLP and can meet Hubert Ingraham in the field and defeat him. There are loud voices who say that Mr. Christie has to lead the PLP into the next general election or the PLP will lose. What is also clear is that the PLP establishment still supports him and sees no need to change him.

Being an Opposition party is not easy in this time when the party is dead broke and with no obvious plans for its future. Worse, there appears to be no inclination to have a frank internal talk about a transition, the need for one and how it is going to be carried out if it is deemed necessary.

The necessity for some kind of change would seem to be obvious. The question is whether or not it can be organized without a bloody all out battle, which then leaves the organization so drained that it cannot fight the external enemy. This much now seems clear. A change of leader can only happen without a knock down internecine fight if the present leader is convinced that it is in the best interests of the party for him to step down and allow someone else to lead, and to put his support behind that new person. An organization that is bitterly divided over a leadership fight can be crippled. The half that loses will not support the half that wins. If Mr. Christie is perceived to have been unfairly treated, his supporters will sit on their hands when the election comes.

Nowhere is this more difficult than in the Parliamentary group. There you have the most ambitious of the men and women in the party and the closest and most obvious of successors. The choice for them is between being frank about the future or hiding their light under a bushel so that they are not perceived to be assassins but hoping that some change will come that can lead them to defeating Hubert Ingraham.

Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill who has been named as one who is interested and could do the job told the country at the start of the year that at a minimum he wanted the PLP to adopt an agenda for change. The PLP should adopt as a national objective The Bahamas becoming a developed country by the year 2020. He also warned that the change was not going to be neat, that it was going to be untidy and that there would be a lot of hurt feelings in the process. He believed that at the end of the day, it would all come out well despite the untidiness but that change must come. He said to the young people of the PLP the words of Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand”. He advised them if you want power, you must seize it.

But Mr. Mitchell’s is most often perceived by the old PLP establishment as either someone who is too direct or too radical for the future. Yet time and again, what he has said for and about the PLP turns out to be the truth.

So no obvious formal organized discussions are taking place in private about transition or about an agenda for change. There is no obvious plan for planning the way forward. In the absence of such an organized discussion or plan, the discussion will inevitably spill into the public domain.

Mr. Christie himself has been hinting at a transition plan of sorts where a Deputy Leader will be elected in the fall after Cynthia Pratt’s announced departure from the post. But people are nervous that even that will not come about since the rumours, not spiked, that with her husband’s death, she may step back from her promise to leave. Mr. Christie’s plan is that the person who is chosen as Deputy this fall will then be the person looked at for the leadership position of the party. That scientific polling will be done to examine the suitability of all Deputy candidates for leadership. There is no formal agreement on this as the way forward however.

Last week Jerome Fitzgerald, who is a Senator appointed by Perry Christie to the Senate, set the cat amongst the pigeons by saying that it would be a mistake for both Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie to run again in the next general election. He said that he supported Mr. Christie for the leadership at present and any transition would need to treat Mr. Christie with respect. Senator Fitzgerald’s words are reported in their entirety below.

There was a great deal of hurt and anger about it. Some calling for his head. Others started to cuss him. But many others praised him for his courage for saying what many are saying behind the back of Mr. Christie. Many no doubt ran to the leader (another feature of the political culture) with expressions of fealty and support and plotting and scheming about Senator Fitzgerald and his future.

The trouble is, of course, that Senator Fitzgerald is one of the faces of the future of the PLP, whether they like it or not; a face and a choice of Mr. Christie himself. That does not stop him from being removed, but it would be difficult, especially for a leader who has waxed eloquent about the need not to cannibalise the next generation. Hubert Ingraham was busy telling his party that he would have had Senator Fitzgerald’s resignation by the next morning. Johnley Ferguson, the FNM’s chairman, started the ball rolling by saying that Mr. Fitzgerald should be fired.

Mr. Fitzgerald fired back that Mr. Ferguson should butt out and look to the problems that the FNM have created in the Bahamian economy. Of course, if the PLP were unwise enough to follow what Mr. Ferguson said and fire Senator Fitzgerald, the FNM would then argue “…See what we told you? The PLP does not allow freedom of expression. There is no room for young people in that party.”

Add to the mix Raynard Rigby (pictured in glasses at right), the former chairman of the PLP, who said in a statement to the Nassau Guardian on Tuesday 21st April that the PLP had not done anything to carry out the reforms recommended to the party following the election of 2007. That was met by a response from Party Deputy Chair Ken Dorsett (also pictured at right) who said that Mr. Rigby did not follow protocol in making his assessment public.

The fact is this kind of discussion in public is going to get more intense, open and frank, in the absence of an internal procedure to talk about change and execute reforms on the way forward and one that is considered authentic and not a flam. Some hurt feelings are already present. But the discussion is rumbling around and around and round about what to do if the PLP is to win in the future. That real issue must be addressed, addressed soon and in a systematic, orderly and direct fashion. Time is running and with young, energetic and ambitious candidates willing to take on the lion in winter, the PLP should steady itself for more of the kind of action and comment that we saw last week.

The essence of the Lion in Winter the 1968 movie is a king at 50, at the top of his game, but whose sons are plotting and scheming for his throne. They are the kind of princes I like, the king says. “I’ve plotted and schemed all my life. It is the only way to be alive, and king and 50 all at once.”

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 25th April 2009 up to midnight: 154,114.

Number of hits for the month of April up to Saturday 25th April 2009 up to midnight: 531,801.

Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 25th April 2009 up to midnight: 3,840,008.

Bahama Journal photo of Senator Fitzgerald (left) and media host Wendall Jones: Tamara McKenzie; file photos Raynard Rigby, Kendred Dorsett

BUSINESSMAN SHOT AND WHY

On Thursday 23rd April, the newspaper headlines in The Bahamas told the story of how the day before, Hywell Jones (pictured), a UK citizen living in The Bahamas was shot execution style in the head by someone who was waiting for him the parking lot of the Compass Point Resort. The perpetrator was able to change his clothes and make a clean getaway. The tongues started wagging. What was the motive? Most seem to think that this has nothing to do with a random murder or opportunistic robbery or in fact a robbery at all. The speculation is that there are some sordid aspects of the man's personal life that have come back to bite him. Up to the time of this article, he was still clinging on for dear life. Whatever the case no one should be shot down in our country in this or any other style.

SENATOR JEROME FITZGERALD IN HIS OWN WORDS

    Today’s Comment of the Week, refers to the words spoken by PLP Senator Jerome Fitzgerald (pictured in this file photo) about the leadership of the country and or the party. The words were spoken on a programme hosted by Wendall Jones at the studios of Love 97 on Issues of the Day on Monday 20th April. The words reverberated around the country, particularly in political circles, particularly the view that it would a mistake if PLP Leader Perry Christie or Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham ran again for office. Here is what he said in his own words:
    “My reason for saying so is that I do not think that the general public and the turnout for the election would be as strong as we have seen it in the past. Bahamians, as you talk to them more and more, the problem that is emerging is that many of them are being discouraged and disenfranchised by politics and politicians.
    “The point I am making to you, [and I understand your point], is that I think that moving forward it would be a mistake for Mr. Ingraham or for Mr. Christie to put themselves forward to run in the next elections. I think as far as the Bahamian public is concerned, that would be something that moving forward, would not be in their best interest.
    “They have served their time and have served the country extremely well and have done so with a degree of courage and commitment and sacrifice, probably well beyond what was expected of them.
    “The point has now come where I think the parties themselves, the FNM and the PLP, have to look within themselves to decide whether or not the public will accept them in moving forward.
    “I do not believe that there should be a change in the leadership of the PLP at this present time. I think any change in leadership should be organized, it should be structured and it should be respectful to the present leader Perry Christie.
    “The point is with the leaders, if you look at it today, we are using the same old remedies that we used for old problems and for new challenges today.
    “I am interested in doing whatever I need to do to propel the country forward. I am a member of the Progressive Liberal Party, I believe largely in the values and philosophies on which the PLP is based and that is the reason why I am a part of it.
    “I made the decision that now is the time to get involved and I am doing that. I am doing work in the Marathon constituency now and at the end of the day if I see that the position becomes available and I think that it is in the best interest of the party and I have sufficient support, then it is something that I would consider.
    “We are moving to the point where we are now in an area where we are talking about global leaders and them making decisions that impact us globally and Barack Obama has embodied that to a great extent… we have to encourage more people in my view, more younger people, who are of the mindset to get involved in politics.”

NASSAU GUARDIAN’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST
    In an earlier edition of this column, we spoke about the ethics of newspapers and the press in The Bahamas. The example we gave is the situation where PLP politicians make a press statement and almost before the words hit the printed page, the FNM has the opportunity to respond and the PLP’s press statement is never used. We spoke also of the example of a relative of a policeman who used their position on a newspaper to promote the policeman’s career in a by headlined story and who saw nothing wrong with it.
    Last week the press was at it again, this time they were promoting the career of a police officer again related to one of its editors. The question is whether or not there is any recognition of what a conflict of interest is. For the press, the same press who are so fond of accusing politicians of acting in conflict of interest positions, it is where your duty to the public conflicts with your private interests. The same principles apply to newspapers. Even though a newspaper is owned by a private entity, if a newspaper is to maintain its integrity and its news is to be dependable, it should strive to be truthful and not have its editorial content be influenced by its private beliefs when it comes to reporting.
    The press gets a bye this time with regard to its editorial in defence of the policeman simply because this was its editorial opinion and not its reporting. However, the point must be made, that conflict of interest is an issue for the press. Reporters and editors must not seek to protect their FNM friends from public scrutiny and inquiry, nor stop intrepid reporters who seek to do so. Already the report is that one reporter was forced out over the very issue of the corruption of the reporting process. An investigation is reportedly underway by the owners.

QUESTIONS ON NEWSPAPER VENDOR’S DEATH

    They called him Michael Jackson because he dressed like him as a youngster, admired him and danced like him. He was also called Trod but his given names were Humphrey Gerard. He was of the family of Jackman. He died after being knocked down from his bicycle at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday 15th April. Last week we reported the statement of Fred Mitchell the MP for Fox Hill about the death of this beloved newspaper vendor from Fox Hill.
    No one has been found. No one has owned up to the hit or run accident. Some family members say that the police have evidence of an Equinox, a kind of Jeep. They are also said to have a sketch of some kind but nothing in the way of hard evidence. The person has walked away scot-free save for his conscience, if he has one. Mr. Jackman was 47 years old and autistic. Yet he conducted his life in a business like fashion every day with a run to collect the newspapers, which he set up for sale at the Fox Hill roundabout.
    The police have asked for anyone who has any information to come forward about the case. There are also questions being asked though about the treatment that he received at the Princess Margaret Hospital where he was taken to be treated. Some are saying that he lay on his dying bed the entire day without treatment. If that is the case, then a request should be made of the Minister of Health for a complete inquiry into the treatment that he received in the hospital or the lack thereof.

THE TRIBUNE’S SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION
The headline said that The Tribune, despite the world trends and the depression generally in the marketplace, had increased its circulation to the public by 7 per cent. We do not believe the stats that they show. We believe that newspaper circulation in this country is declining and this includes The Tribune. It is also shameless self-promotion. If it is true in this country, the statistic is only the bubble before the collapse, like the cod fishery stocks in the North Sea, which just before their total collapse showed a marked increase in the harvest of fish. The Tribune should not be fooled and we do not believe that they fool themselves. They know the game is up. They have now invested in a web site for the first time. They realize that this is the direction in which the newspaper business is going. The prediction is that the New York Times newspaper will collapse this year under the weight of debt and poor circulation figures. This is a troubling time for newspapers. That is all the more reason why the press in this country should concentrate on matters of integrity and being right down the middle. The paper that will survive is the one that keeps on the straight and narrow.

FOX HILL BRANCH ‘HEALTHY LIFESTYLE’ MEETING

Dr. Greg Carey was the special guest speaker at the Fox Hill branch of the PLP’s monthly meeting on Wednesday 22nd April at the Sandilands Primary School. Branch Chair Charlene Marshall planned the meeting. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill attended the meeting. Dr. Carey spoke about keeping healthy and living a healthy lifestyle. Afterwards, attendees were able to have their blood pressure checked by trained nurses.
Photos: Miguel Taylor

FERGUSON IS WRONG ON CRIME REMARKS
We suppose it is what a Police Commissioner is supposed to do, to try to calm the fears of the population. But frankly, the remarks reported in the Nassau Guardian on 18th April came off as just a little self-serving and maybe even foolish and ill advised. Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson said after six murders in six days in The Bahamas that the public should not be alarmed about them. He said that while the level of murders was unacceptable, the police have the matter under control. Perhaps they do but the words that he gave were small comfort in a circumstance where it appeared that every morning you woke up in The Bahamas to find that there was yet another homicide. There are far too many murders in the country. They appear to be without a pattern and they raise increasingly the fear that you can simply be walking on the street and be shot down. No amount of soothing words by the Commissioner of Police can change that fact.

INGRAHAM IN THE OBAMA EMBRACE

You really want to call this man a hypocrite with a capital ‘H’. You will remember that Hubert Ingraham did not think that Barack Obama could win the presidency of the United States. Uncle Toms seldom think that it could happen. In fact, shortly before the elections in the United States, our Prime Minister flew with Tommy Turnquest, his Minister of National Security, to West Palm Beach where he introduced Mr. Turnquest as his successor to John McCain, the Republican nominee for President, promising The Bahamas to the McCain camp. That is why it was so laughable to see the photo of Hubert Ingraham grinning from ear to ear as he posed for the cameras down in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad at the Summit of the Americas. So with Ingraham, all you need to do is win and you have his love and affection. Power is the only fact.
BIS photo: Sharon Turner

IN PASSING
Crown Land
Paul Turnquest, the journalist, is doing some good investigative work at The Tribune. He revealed in two back-to-back stories last week that there is a scandal that needs to be uncovered about crown land and its distribution in The Bahamas by the Ingraham administration. It turns out that parcels of land in the Forbes Hill, Exuma beach area were sold by Mr. Ingraham for prices just over one thousand dollars and then a few years after sold for half a million dollars. It turns out that the people who got the land were relatives and friends of Director of Lands and Surveys Tex Turnquest. When the Director was questioned about it by Mr. Turnquest, he was indignant and said that it was Mr. Ingraham who made the decision, not him; and in any event, his relatives were entitled to land like anyone else. The story should continue because there are reports of Permanent Secretaries and other government officials who have gotten land from the Ingraham administration including one former public official who got a cay off Exuma and land in Long Island for leaving the PLP and helping with the campaign in one of the islands.

Tennyson Wells’ Subdivision
Former Cabinet Minister Tennyson Wells and a group of investors have opened an upscale development near Lyford Cay called Lyford Hills.

The Exuma Regatta
Another one for the history books. The Annual Family Island Regatta juts finished its 56th edition. The winner of the A class sailing in Elizabeth Harbour: TIDA WAVE.

Pudding Point, Exuma
George A. Smith, the former representative for the Exuma constituency, is still a busy man for Exuma. Mr. Smith is busy promoting the deep-water container port for Exuma at Pudding Point, a spot on the island of Barre Tarre, as opposed to the Naval Base at George Town. He said that the now Elizabeth Harbour should be renamed for the late Rolly Gray, the skipper of the famed Tida Wave who was the master of the harbour in the Family Island Regatta.

Laing On EPA Offer
Minister of State Zhivargo Laing has said that he is confident that the services offer by The Bahamas to the European Union will be accepted. He was speaking on the radio programme issues of the day with former Cabinet Minister Algernon Allen who is a radio talk show host.

The British Postpone On TCI But Keep Moving
The British Governor Gordon Wetherell has announced that at the request of the lone Commissioner on the British Appointed Commission of Inquiry looking into corruption in the British owned Turks and Caicos Islands, the deadline for reporting is extended from 20th April to 31st March. The Commissioner needed more time to do his work. The Governor said that this did not mean that the British had changed their minds about suspending the constitution; it simply meant that instead of doing so on 30th April it will come off on 31st May or before, some time in May.

Carla Seymour’s Birthday

Carla Seymour, nee Mitchell and the sister of Fred Mitchell the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill celebrates a birthday today. Let’s see… last year she and husband Carlton Seymour threw had that big party when her sister Marva came home from New York and she turned… so this year, she must be… Happy Birthday, Carla!

5^th April, 2009 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...GIVING UP ON PARLIAMENT...
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12^th April, 2009 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...INGRAHAM, WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE?...
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John Carey / PLP Carmichael	FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP

19^th April, 2009 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...THE PLP WAS RIGHT ON CUBA...
MITCHELL VISITS THE PASSPORT OFFICES...	SYMONETTE’S NON RESPONSE ON PASSPORTS...
MALAYSIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER VISITS...	FREEPORT NUMBERS RAIDS UNPOPULAR...
VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN OUR COUNTRY...	GORDON BROWN CONTINUES TO PRESSURE...
HOUSE SPEAKER DOES IT AGAIN TO THE PLP...	JEROME SLAMS GOVT ON PORT ISSUE...
ROBERTS SLAMS FNM GOVERNMENT...	VENDOR KILLED IN HIT AND RUN...
	IN PASSING...







The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web...	Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town	Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte	Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw	Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael	FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP

26^th April, 2009 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...JEROME SETS THE CAT AMONGST THE PIGEONS...
BUSINESSMAN SHOT AND WHY...	SENATOR JEROME FITZGERALD IN HIS OWN WORDS...
NASSAU GUARDIAN’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST...	QUESTIONS ON NEWSPAPER VENDOR’S DEATH...
THE TRIBUNE’S SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION...	FOX HILL PLP BRANCH ‘HEALTHY LIFESTYLE’ MEETING...
FERGUSON IS WRONG ON CRIME REMARKS...	INGRAHAM IN THE OBAMA EMBRACE...
	IN PASSING...








The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PLPs On The Web...	Interesting Places...
Bradley Roberts / PLP Grants Town	Bahamas Government Website
Neville Wisdom / PLP Delaporte	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
Alfred Sears / PLP Fort Charlotte	Bahamians On The Web
Melanie Griffin / PLP Yamacraw	Bahamian Cycling News
John Carey / PLP Carmichael	FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...
Grand Bahama PLP

Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.

Volume 7 © BahamasUncensored.com 2009

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