bahamasuncensored.com
JANUARY 2008
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 6 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2008
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of
the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source
of their material from this web site.
13th January, 2008
20th January, 2008
27th January, 2008
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: On
Sunday 30th December during the announcements at Christ the King Church
in Freeport, Canon Harry Bain had the congregation rocking with laughter.
He announced the winners of the Junkanoo parade for Boxing Day. The
winner of course was the group One Family (click
here for last week’s photo). But Canon Bain said that did not
disturb him at all. His group, the Saxons, did come second, he said,
but the important thing is that the Valley Boys their archrivals came fourth.
He added as long as the Saxons beat the Valley Boys then that was all right.
Such is the friendly rivalry that endures in The Bahamas at Junkanoo time.
We wonder what Canon Bain said to the congregation this Sunday now that
the Valley Boys are the overall winners of Junkanoo for the New Year’s
Day parade! Oh well! You win some and you lose some. Our photo of
the week is that of the winners for Junkanoo New Year’s Day The Valley
Boys. The photo is by Peter Ramsay. Please visit again at 8
p.m. when we will upload a full photo spread of New Year’s Junkanoo. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE LEVEL OF INTIMIDATION
Each government Minister is allowed to hire a driver. That
driver can either come from the public service or may be hired on contract.
The driver is an important part of the support structure for Ministers
who are often rushing to get to one meeting or another, one function or
another and they can help to make sure that a Minister effectively functions.
The driver gets to know the most intimate details of the person he works
for and has to be confidential and discreet. The driver has to know
how to be there and not be seen, to hear and not hear. It is not
an easy job. The last thing that you want to do then is to antagonize
unnecessarily the people who work for you as drivers.
And yet that is what the Ingraham administration has done.
It has really cheezed them all off. The only thing is they won’t
say anything about it. The problem came to the attention of this
column when a letter written anonymously by a distraught wife was dropped
into the proverbial garbage tin. The wife was writing to Zhivargo
Laing, the Minister of State in charge of the public service. She
was appealing to him to soften his heart. That was a very interesting
way to start a letter to someone who claims to be a born again Christian.
Why was the appeal necessary? The wife says that the Government
has decided that they will stop the overtime pay of all drivers.
Instead, they are to get as a substitute for overtime pay, the lump sum
of $150 per month. When one considers the amount of overtime hours
that drivers have to endure then you can see how unfair this proposition
is. Further, as the wife points out, with the clothing allowances
for drivers being inadequate and the drivers having to be dressed at the
same level as their Ministers, it works an injustice if the level of compensation
for the drivers is not there. Cutting out the overtime will then
substantially cut down on the income of drivers. This should make
them unhappy. Certainly, this particular wife is most unhappy.
The fact is the practice of the $150 lump sum came to an end under
the PLP. The PLP reversed the practice of the FNM in 2002.
The advice from the Attorney General’s office was that it was unlawful.
In fact, the Employment Act, which governs overtime, mandates that the
overtime must be paid and you cannot contract out of the provisions of
the Act. It would be interesting to know on what basis the drivers
are now being deprived of their overtime pay.
What concerns us though is not only the fact of the overtime pay
being discontinued but more importantly the fact that in the face of a
clear injustice, the drivers themselves are not making noise about this.
Our private investigations reveal that because most of the drivers are
necessarily FNMs, being hired since the new government came to power, and
since Hubert Ingraham has sanctioned it being stopped, then they are loathe
to say or do anything about it for fear of offending Mr. Ingraham or damaging
the prospects of the FNM. This, if true, is remarkable that people
would support the FNM even to their own detriment.
It makes you think once again that the people of The Bahamas pulled
a funny manoeuvre on the PLP where they got everything they could possibly
get out of the PLP government, a Prime Minister who was simply accommodating
in his role in Government. They voted him out on the basis that he
was indecisive, yet the new decisive Prime Minister has simply turned out,
as we always knew him to be, a mean man who is depriving them of one thing
or another but they are simply not motivated to protect their own interests.
Even the wife who wrote the letter simply signed the letter “Concerned
wife”. But at least she wrote. It goes again to the view that
women seem to have more “cojones” than the men.
This question perplexes us. The general question of how easily
people seem to have been intimidated by Hubert Ingraham and his government
since the FNM has come to power. You have scores of civil servants,
the drivers being the latest group who have had their rights truncated
and they say nothing but grumble under their breath. The Union leaders
do not seem to rise to the occasion. They are silent in the face
of the abuse, and it gives the impression or reinforces the point that
we made in the run up to the general election that there was a double standard
operating with union leaders and the PLP. They were all loud and
in your face with the PLP but when the great intimidator Hubert Ingraham
came to power, they were quiescent, nothing.
You think of all the categories: the people who were fired and laid
off in violation of their contracts of employment; the people whose contracts
were cancelled by the government; the fact that the government of the FNM
has now allowed to expire the provisions for exemptions for stamp duty
that the PLP put in place for new homeowners up to $250,000. These
are just to name a few. One would have thought that all of these
would resonate with the electorate. But at the end of the day, nothing,
silence. Could it be then that the level of intimidation in the country
is so high that people are simply afraid? It seems counter intuitive
to think that people would not act for and in their best interests.
The PLP continues to fight and fight it must but no fight will be successful
unless there is an underlying public opinion to support it.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 5th January 2007 up to
midnight: 247,203.
Number of hits for the month of December up to Monday 31st December
2007 at midnight: 1,204,385.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Monday 31st December 2007
at midnight: 4,591,097. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
ANOTHER
ELECTION COURT CASE
There is an excited tension in the political air
in The Bahamas as the people, the pundits and the politicians await the
ruling of the Election Court judges Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs on the challenge
of Allyson Maynard Gibson, the former Attorney General who has challenged
the declaration made by the Parliamentary Commissioner that now Minister
of Youth Byran Woodside had won his seat in the House. When the case
adjourned on 27th December last year, the judges would only say that they
hoped to complete their work before the next scheduled case set to begin
on 21st January in Freeport.
Now, the mercurial Fred Smith, the peripatetic political
jack-in-the-box lawyer that he is, wants to give the judges some help by
interrupting their deliberations and causing delay. Mr. Smith has
filed what appears to be a preliminary motion to strike out the petition
of Pleasant Bridgewater altogether. And then he was busy in the newspapers
this week suggesting that some of the people named in Mrs. Bridgewater’s
petition would themselves take action against Miss Bridgewater on the grounds
that they were somehow the objects of discrimination. Mr. Smith claimed
that the people picked out by Miss Bridgewater were picked out because
they had Haitian sounding names.
Of course, we all remember that during the ill fated
debate on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), it was this same
Mr. Smith, a Haitian himself until naturalized as a Bahamian, who sought
to use the spectre of Haitian immigration to frighten Bahamans into opposing
a sensible policy for this country. We hope the courts are wise to
his nonsense.
ALFRED
GRAY RESPONDS
Alfred Gray the Member of Parliament for the MICAL
seat in the House of Assembly has made good on his promise to take legal
action in response to allegations made in the press of The Bahamas, The
Tribune and The Punch about being found in a compromised position in his
car in a church parking lot. Mr. Gray vigourously denied the allegations
from his holiday retreat in Orlando and said that he would take legal action.
The writs were filed on Thursday 3rd January.
Fred Mitchell, MP for Fox Hill and former Minister
of Foreign Affairs through his law firm Gwendolyn House filed the writs
on Mr. Gray’s behalf. Mr. Mitchell convened a press conference at
the law firm of Alfred Gray on Friday 4th January and made the following
statement followed by a brief statement by Mr. Gray:
Mr. Mitchell: “Yesterday, 3rd January,
two writs of summons generally endorsed were filed in the Supreme Court
of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas on behalf of Alfred Gray, the Member
of Parliament for the Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins and Long
Cay (MICAL) seat in the House of Assembly.
“The writs come as a result of certain allegations
made, which Mr. Gray asserts are false, misleading, defamatory and injurious
to his reputation as a Member of Parliament and as a Counsel and Attorney
of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
“Mr. Gray will not take any questions this morning
with regard to the matters now in the purview of the courts. He has
the support of his family, which speaks volumes.
“It is again incumbent upon the press to understand
that in playing its needed role in society, it ought to refrain from repeating
salacious and unchecked allegations, which injure the reputation of individuals
in the eyes of right thinking members of society. It is now for the
courts to adjudicate these matters.
“Mr. Gray will now read a short personal statement,
which he prepared.”
Mr. Gray: “Today I have taken the necessary legal
steps in the Supreme Court, which I full expect will clear my name from
the vicious allegations made against me recently in the media. I
am certain that my enemies have brought me to it, but God will take me
through it.
“This is my final statement on this mater and
I will now allow the legal process to take its course.”
Alfred Gray, seated at left, and Fred Mitchell, seated at right,
are seen addressing the media. Mr. Gray son is seen standing at left.
HAYWARD’S
CONCERN FOR GBI
If the matter were not so serious, you would really laugh. Sir Jack
Hayward who has never cared one wit about the future of Freeport or its
economic or community development, not, at least, that we could discern,
is now going to court, he says, to stop the declaration and payment of
a 12 million dollar dividend to the principals of the Port. These
principals just happen to be Henrietta St. George, the widow of his former
partner and himself Sir Jack Hayward. You will recall that the two
families are involved in a bitter and public battle over who owns the Port
Authority and the direction in which the Port should go. Interventions
by the Government have been to no avail.
The mercurial Fred Smith, who was one day the Port’s
general counsel and the next day the counsel for Lady Henrietta St. George,
got the courts to appoint a receiver at the company. The receiver
has moved to have the dividend declared and wants to distribute it.
Sir Jack says no, according to the press, and is going to court to prevent
it. He says that the money should be spent on the development of
Freeport. That was where we started by saying a big laugh.
The real story is that in the fight with the lawyers, the wealthier partner
is Sir Jack. He hopes that by denying the payment of the dividend
he can starve Henrietta St. George into submission and hereby end the case.
Really now Sir Jack! This thing reads like a Shakespearean comedy;
or is it a tragedy, or is it a farce?
MARQUIS’
SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION
John Marquis, the lousy newspaper editor with the
slimy opinions and interest in smut and low life, is nothing but a shameless
self promoter as it turns out. Having been kicked out of The Bahamas
in the 1960s and booted from one newspaper in The Bahamas before being
picked up by The Tribune, and boasting about how he caused the PLP to lose
the election, he is now the subject of a website called holdthefrontpage.co.uk.
From that website we learn that Mr. Marquis and Neil Hartnell, both British
who work for The Tribune, witnessed the death of a young constable in The
Bahamas, one of the last murders of 2007 which the website describes as
a cops and robbers gunfight.
Typical of the jerk Marquis is, he claims that Nassau
is the best news town outside of a war zone. We say again, he needs
to be kicked out of this country. We thought that maybe there was
hope for Neil Hartnell, the Business News editor who seemed to stay out
of the low life trouble that Marquis is always in, but the website says
that the two of them hang out together so maybe there is no hope for him
either. Marquis is from Northampton and Hartnell is from Cornwall.
We also learn from that website that the FNM administration
has given yet another work permit to the same type who came from Bermuda.
His name is Marcus Day. Day worked on the Royal Gazette which purveys
the equivalent of the same racist opinions in Bermuda that The Tribune
spews forth in Nassau. A pox upon all of them. The story appeared
on 1st January 2008.
THE
TELEPHONE SERVICE
The Indigo Service is the only competition to BTC,
the Bahamian monopolist telephone company, in The Bahamas. BTC has
been giving them a lot of trouble in allowing them to get access to international
communication. It has made Indigo fighting mad because the Public
Utilities Commission had ordered that BTC provide the connections within
42 days of their order made in November. Owner of Indigo Paul Hutton-Ashkenny
was making noise about this fact in the Nassau Guardian of Saturday 5th
January. Indigo is part owned by The Tribune so we would do nothing
to support them but at the same time we have to point out again the poor
service for voice communication and Internet provided by BTC and how there
must be competition to help solve this problem.
PRIVY
COUNCIL IN THE BAHAMAS
The Brits are doing a pretty good job of coming
here and swaying the natives. The Privy Council came to town from
London for the first two weeks of December. It was their second time
in a row. A great time was had by all. You hardly heard anything
about the cases before the ultimate court of the land but there were plenty
of social functions: dinners for the judges and cocktail receptions.
At this rate the Court will never be repatriated to The Bahamas.
ANNUAL
RED MASS
Each year on this first Sunday in the month of January,
the officers of the Supreme Court: the judges the lawyers, the staff join
the community at large in service to ask for the blessing of God for the
work of the Judiciary. This year was no exception. There is
a formal official service held at the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral
on the second Wednesday in the month but the Roman Catholic Church hosts
the Judiciary to a Red Mass with the Archbishop Patrick Pinder celebrating
the mass. Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services was there
this morning and shot this photo of the Judiciary at St. Francis Xavier’s
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Nassau on Sunday 6th January.
MAJORITY
RULE DAY
The PLP will mark the 41st anniversary of the advent
of majority rule in The Bahamas and its coming to power on 10th January
1967 on Thursday 10th January this year. There will be a national
address by Party Leader Perry Christie. Party members will join the
St. John’s Native Baptist Church for their morning service on Sunday 13th
January to mark the occasion. There will be a discussion in the round
about Majority Rule at party Headquarters Gambier House: the history and
where do we go from here live on TV 12 and radio GEMS, Radio Bahamas and
Love 97 on the evening of the 10th January beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald, PLP Vice Chair Irrington 'Minky' Isaacs,
PLP Admin's Andrew Burrows, former Senator Paulette Zonicle and Fred Mitchell
MP are shown in a planning session for the Party's Majority Rule Day observances.
Photo: PLP Media
NEW
YEAR'S JUNKANOO PHOTOS
The mighty Valley Boys returned to form to win the
New Year's Day Junkanoo Parade on Bay Street. Steffan Christie (above
left) is pictured resplendent on the Valley's bell line. The winning
Valley created excitement with music, costumes and even acrobats (see above,
right).
Photos: Peter Ramsay
IN PASSING
Ralph Seligman Q.C. Dies
We announce the death of Ralph Seligman Q.C., former Stipendiary and
Circuit magistrate, and Honorary Consul for Israel to The Bahamas at the
time of his death. He hailed originally from Dublin, Ireland, which
is in the independent southern portion of Ireland. He was 88 at the
time of his death. Although it was initially reported that Mr. Seligman
was a Roman Catholic at the time of his death, he apparently never converted
from his Jewish birthright and in accordance with that custom was buried
within 24 hours of his death in the Jewish cemetery in Nassau. He
is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, Helene. Mr. Seligman
died on Wednesday 26th December, 2007.
Wavell Thompson M.D. Dies
Dr. Wavell Thompson, well known medical doctor and general practitioner
has died. Dr. Thompson was a friend and contemporary of the late
Winston Saunders and a close cousin of former Supreme Court justice Jeanne
Thompson.
The Darrold Miller Case
The case against the former ZNS TV presenter and talk show host has
at last begun in the Magistrate's Court on Friday 4th January. Darrold
Miller is charged with using his position to extract sexual favours from
a female employee. All the salacious details filled the headlines
in The Bahamas on Saturday 5th January. The evidence sounds like
a lot of you say and I say. The problem is the hypocrisy in this
society when everywhere sexuality drips forth and is present in everything,
then we try to pretend and be sanctimonious when someone gets his signals
wrong.
Mr. Miller (left) speaks with his attorney Michael Kemp (centre)
outside the court. Nassau Guardian photo.
Funeral In Bimini
Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister took his Minister of National Security
Tommy Turnquest and Obie Wilchcombe the PLP MP for Bimini with him to attend
the funeral of Dion Rolle who was gunned down by the police and whose
death caused a riot in Bimini as the year closed. Mr. Ingraham did
not have much to say except that he was committed to the rule of law.
Tommy said where you put me. The Member of Parliament Mr. Wilchcombe
thanked the Prime Minister for including him in his delegation. Mr.
Wilchcombe was instrumental in bringing peace to Bimini. A town meeting
is to be hosted by the Government on Wednesday 9th January to review the
events. The Prime Minister is expected to attend.
Photo of Mr. Wilchcombe, former Tourism Minister and MP for Bimini:
Peter Ramsay
Joan Sawyer Rowing Again
Dame Joan Sawyer just can’t help herself, always rowing about something.
The latest outburst came when she opened the Court of Appeal for the year
2008. She was attacking the public for blaming the courts for crime.
Far as we know, know one had blamed the courts for anything except the
Attorney General Claire Hepburn, who claimed and then tried to walk away
from, that the criminal cases in the courts of The Bahamas were being
held up for adjudication because of the Election Court. Dame Joan’s
remarks came on Wednesday 2nd January.
Photo: BIS
Justices Of Appeal To Retire
Dame Joan Sawyer says that there are two vacancies coming up this year
that need to be filled on the Court of Appeal. One is to replace
Justice Emmanuel Osadebay who will soon reach the mandatory age of retirement.
The other is to replace Justice Milton Ganpatsingh who will also reach
the mandatory age. In our view all future justices should come from
The Bahamas. Dame Joan made the remarks after she was finished rowing
about who was responsible for crime (see story above) on Wednesday 2nd
January.
A Note To John Marquis
Here’s a story for you. Since you like smut so much, why not
dig into the smut of a man who was a close friend of the dead husband of
a widow at a nearby island resort in this tropical paradise. Turns
out one year after the man’s death, the so called friend propositioned
the widow. Looks like his credit is no longer good at the resort
and daddy does not want to see him around anymore. Check it out Johnnie
baby!
Junkanoo Clean Up
After a successful Junkanoo performance for the Congos, leader Trevor
Pratt and other members of the Congos gathered to help clean up the area
including their shack on Saturday 5th January. They were joined for
a short time by Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell.
Photo: Fox Hill PLP
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: In
1967, the Progressive Liberal Party first held the reigns of government.
That was 10th January, 1967; 41years ago. Since that time, the country
moved on to Independence. But there are so many who, even in this
year, remember that glorious night when it became clear that there had
been a momentous shift in the political firmament of The Bahamas.
The black majority in the country had finally taken the reigns of government,
following centuries of slavery, and generations of racial oppression and
exclusion. But perhaps Paul Adderley put it best when he said at
the observances in Nassau at Gambier House, PLP Headquarters, that the
real point of the Majority Rule Day story is that the PLP in 1967 changed
The Bahamas and that was something that was good for all Bahamians.
Our photo of the week is a shot by PLP Administration’s Andrew Burrows
at the PLP’s live telecast at Gambier House on Thursday 10th January when
the party marked Majority Rule Day. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE OBAMA STORY
By
the media accounts all of last week, at least up until the New Hampshire
primary on Tuesday 8th January, Barack Obama, the African American who
is trying to become that country’s first black president, had it all wrapped
up, the nomination for the President of the United States of America.
The press was in a thrall following a large and unexpected victory in another
U.S. state the week before. This was to be Obama's time. Hillary
Clinton, the wife of the former U.S. president Bill Clinton who is also
running for President, was said by one newspaper to be “Oh so yesterday!”
This was really heady stuff. Mr. Obama, who is biracial, with
a white mother and black father, was now speaking for the quiet ones who
wanted the divide of racial separation closed in the United States.
At last, said many, there is someone who can speak for us. The polls
were showing that Mr. Obama was going to win in New Hampshire.
And then the gloves came off in New Hampshire. Bill Clinton
who was affectionately known as the “first black president” of the United
States showed his fangs for his wife. He called what Mr. Obama had
been portraying “a fairy tale”. The wife, poor little lady, who was
so aggressive and calculating on the stump just a week before, suddenly
choked up and her eyes welled up in tears. Talk about calculating.
The electorate fell for it, the pundits say. The polls proved to
be wrong. Mr. Obama lost in New Hampshire. The pundits now
say that it is going to be a dogfight to the end.
It is a pity that at a time when it appears that the Democrats can
actually win that the U.S. has to choose between the first woman president
and the first black president. Graham T. Allison, who used to be
the Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government said in 1979 that
before the end of the twentieth century there would be the first black
president and he added before the end of the century there would be the
first woman president. The twentieth century is gone and the U.S.
is still struggling with crossing that barrier. For all the sophistication
of the country, there are still deep and spooky prejudices that haunt the
United States that can prevent either from happening even in the 21st century.
It seems to us that in the choice between race and gender, the United
States will go to its default position and that is either choose a white
man and failing that a white woman but Senator Barack Obama, biracial though
he may be, is still too black to be President of the United States.
Even watching Bill Clinton at work with his wife Hilary, it was almost
as if you could hear just below their breaths, the wish that they could
say that this black man should know his place. It was an eerie and
strange feeling.
W.E.B. Dubois, the great African American author and social scientist
said it in 1903 that the problem of the twentieth century would be that
of the colour line. Indeed, it is still the problem of the 21st century,
even in some surprising places.
This is not of course to discourage the Obama fever, or to discourage
him or those who support him, but we who look from afar must ask the question
when this bugaboo of race will be exorcised from the national polity in
the United States.
We should not be surprised, however, that it is not gone because
of course it still exists here. The PLP in 2008 is petrified to even
mention race as a subject matter because the white minority that was displaced
in 1967 after centuries of oppression and discrimination against their
fellow blacks, now hold tightly to the reigns of political power in the
guise of the Free National Movement. So race is the factor that dare
not speak its name in The Bahamas even though everyone knows it is there.
It is the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.
You have a situation today where the black middle class do not want
even a discussion about it because in the view of many who have made it
to that class, there is an element of a lack of sophistication in being
connected with poorness, blackness and other such themes. The PLP’s
great problem is how in the face of all that was done to create the middle
class they have lost touch with so many in that group and their aspirations.
The party itself seems to be reviled by the very group that it created.
We want Senator Barack Obama to win the presidency. That single
act would catapult the reputation of the United States in the world, that
it has truly accepted its creed that all men are created equal. It
will also give hope to black people in this country that the race to which
they belong is acceptable, since even after majority rule in this country
there appears to be some inner doubts about it. It will mark a new
beginning in a sense. We have no illusions about whether it can happen.
We don’t think it will happen but nothing beats a try.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 12th January 2008 up
to midnight: 301,364.
Number of hits for the month of January up to Saturday 12th January
2008 at midnight: 487,628.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Monday 31st December 2007
at midnight: 4,591,097. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
MURDER
IN THE CITY
As of last night, there were four murders in The
Bahamas. The community seems shocked into being insensitive to each
new horror story. The Church leaders can only come up with short
term palliatives like a prayer service and call for a crime free day.
That does not help much, but at least it is something. The government
is silent. It does nothing.
We need to elaborate on what we believe is a shocking
murder all the same because it took place on Frederick Street in the heart
of Bay Street, the main street of the town. Can you believe the story
that on Monday 7th January, a car pulls up to Frederick Street, and rolls
down the window and shoots into a crowd killing 18 year old C.R. Walker
High School student Deangelo Cargill.
The police say they do not think that the bullet
was intended for Deangelo. So there goes the proof that the Hubert
Ingraham statement that the average citizen is safe and that “at least
they (the criminals) are killing one another” was entirely dumb and stupid.
A young man has lost his life. The government does nothing.
The society wrings its hands. Parents cry out for vengeance.
The police are very talkative. The judges say don’t blame us.
And that is The Bahamas with 79 murders last year, and five unclassified
that may become murders and four already for this year.
MITCHELL
DEFENDS PUBLIC SERVANTS
Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on the
Public Service held a news conference at the House of Assembly on Friday
11th January to call for the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to follow through
on the commitment made by the PLP government to settle various disputes
in the public service. Amongst them were agreements to pay road traffic
officers monies due following their dismissal from the service; to settle
the Abraham Butler claim against the Water and Sewerage Corporation; to
pay the restored pensions of prison officers; to pay the certification
allowances to the operators who work in air traffic control system.
Sitting with Mr. Mitchell were some of the retired
prison officers and Abraham Butler who is suing the government for his
dismissal from the Water and Sewerage Corporation. Zhivargo Laing,
the talkative Minister of State was like a little political parrot when
asked by the newspaper what his response was. He said that they would
do things in their own time. You may click
here for the full statement of Mr. Mitchell. The photo at the
news conference was taken by Dennis Fountain.
MAJORITY
RULE DISCUSSED
The Progressive Liberal Party marked the 41st anniversary
of Majority Rule Day with a TV and radio live broadcast meeting in the
round. PLP supporters gathered and heard Sir Clement T. Maynard former
Deputy Prime Minister and Paul L. Adderley, the former Attorney General,
recall the struggle for majority rule, along with Effie Walkes who is a
heroine of Black Tuesday.
The programme was hosted by Fred Mitchell, MP Fox
Hill and former Foreign Minister and former Senator Paulette Zonicle.
Mr. Mitchell said that Dr. Doris Johnson had to be credited with the view
of the history of majority rule as starting from the Burma Road riots up
to the 10th January 1967. Above, Ambassador Eugene Newry, a founder
of the PLP's historical National Committee for Positive Action, discusses
Majority Rule as hosts Paulette Zonicle and Fred Mitchell look on.
The photos of the event were taken by Andrew Burrows.
BIMINI
TOWN MEETING FLOPS
Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister, is still the
same old biggetty man that we knew. The PLP tried to warn the Bahamian
public that he was not a changed man. Bit by bit it is coming out.
On Wednesday 9th January, Mr. Ingraham as promised
went to Bimini to hold a town meeting to discuss what had happened on 22nd
December over the Christmas - New Year’s holiday in Bimini when a riot
ensued as the result of the death of Deon Rolle who appeared to have been
shot at point blank range by a police officer. In what looked suspiciously
convenient, that Officer Carliston Darling was charged in the courts the
day before Mr. Ingraham's town meeting for manslaughter. This enraged
the family of the dead man.
The dead man's family were upset over the fact that
the police officer appeared to have been given a simple slap on the wrist,
special treatment; allowed to show up in court without handcuffs which
they would have done for any other suspect; was chauffeur driven by the
police to and from the arraignment; the police snuck him into court to
duck the media and then blocked the media from taking his photograph; was
given $10,000 bail and allowed to go. Further, the Police Staff Association
weighed in to say that he should not have been charged at all and that
instead there ought to have been a coroner’s inquest. That is ridiculous.
The police officer should have been treated like any other suspect: you
have the evidence, you charge.
If Mr. Ingraham thought that by charging the police
officer that was going to quiet the criticism, it did not. He seemed
at the meeting more concerned about property and buildings than the life
of the man who died. The residents thought Mr. Ingraham was rude
and curt with them. This is what the Bahamian people voted for in
2007.
PLP
MP BECOMES AN INDEPENDENT
No one quite knows what the thinking behind it could have been, but in
what appeared to be a move both impetuous and contemptuous and in anger,
Kenyatta Gibson PLP MP whose nomination had been so perilously close to
being withdrawn by the PLP last year, turned on his patron Perry Christie,
Leader of the PLP and former Prime Minister. Mr. Gibson announced
on 10th January that he was resigning from the PLP to sit as an independent.
Mr. Christie’s response called
for Mr. Gibson to resign his seat and accused him of political treachery.
Mr. Gibson responded
in a vicious and personal way describing Mr. Christie as reptilian and
demanding that he go as leader of the PLP, saying he was not fit to lead.
This from a man who not even a year ago was on a TV programme singing Mr.
Christie’s praises.
The response from party members was swift and furious.
It appears that Mr. Gibson from the man-on-the-street interviews in the
press and on the radio and television does not enjoy the support of his
constituents with many of them demanding that he resign from the House
and saying a number of uncharitable things about his representation of
the constituency and even accusing other MPs including Mr. Ingraham of
orchestrating it.
Two PLP MPs were caught in the web of criticism,
which motivated Mr. Gibson to issue, yet a third statement on Saturday
12th January in which he denied that he and the two other MPs Obie Wilchcombe
MP and Glenys Hanna Martin MP were engaged in a conspiracy with regard
to Mr. Gibson’s resignation. It is reported that Mr. Wilchcombe made
a statement to the same effect also denying any conspiracy with Mr. Gibson.
People were obviously offended by the use of Mr.
Gibson’s injudicious language toward Mr. Christie no matter what Mr. Gibson
felt personally toward the man who had been his benefactor and protector
throughout his years in the PLP. One PLP described it as “peeing
in the well on the way out the gate”. The feeling is that you ought
to respect the office of the Leader of the Party and that Mr. Gibson should
have given both the leader and his PLP House colleagues an opportunity
to know what he was going to do.
Whatever his private griefs the whole process seems not to have come off
well for the now former PLP MP. There are some who argued that Mr.
Gibson’s act was designed to put further pressure on the PLP's leader to
go but it is hard to see the evidence of that in the responses from party
members.
On 10th January 2008 the night that Mr. Gibson’s
response came, the PLP gathered at Gambier House for a rousing observance
of majority rule and the party gave Mr. Christie a standing ovation.
During his comments at Majority Rule Day, Mr. Christie said:
"The struggle endures. It is ongoing.
It is never finished. Our work is never done. One generation
of leaders passes into another. Some soldiers step forward from the
ranks to take up commanding positions at the front. Some soldiers
slip away. Some fall by the wayside. Some soldiers are seduced
by the promise of life on the other side, so they slip over to sleep with
the enemy. Some soldiers turn out to be craven cowards whose knees
buckle under pressure. Others turn out to be downright traitors."
Please click here for Mr.
Christie's full address.
Mr. Gibson himself may not have appreciated the
error of the act, the irony of it to savage the PLP on the anniversary
of Majority Rule, a day that helped to usher in the good life for the generation
to which he belongs and of which he is a beneficiary. This is a problem
with many young politicians who seem to fall into error in their view of
entitlement without first serving.
The move by Mr. Gibson may in fact have the opposite
effect than what seems to have been intended. Mr. Gibson did not
get the support of other PLP MPs in any of his statements save for one
who has since disavowed any connection. Now Mr. Gibson has left himself
open to all sorts of rumours including the fact that his departure was
motivated by economics.
It is quite sad that someone with such a bright
future could put it in peril by a rash decision. The ink was hardly
dry on the resignation letter when young men and women who are his contemporaries
started calling Mr. Christie asking for the nomination for Kennedy.
The PLP will gather in convention in February.
One source tells us that a resolution is being proposed for the convention
to condemn Mr. Gibson’s remarks and to call for our parliamentarians to
move a private members bill, which would allow the recall of MPs, who cross
the floor in mid term.
IN PASSING
Christie on GEMS Radio Today
Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie is to appear
on the GEMS 105.9FM Sunday public affairs programme ‘Tell It Like It Is’
today, Sunday 13th January at 6 p.m. Programme host Sean McWeeney
is expected to question the former Prime Minister on matters ranging from
his legacy, his leadership, politics and the likelihood of an early election.
The programme is to be simulcast on cable channel 956.
Have We Signed the EPAs?
The Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union and the
African Caribbean and Pacific States were to be signed or come into effect
on 1st January 2008. So far no word from the government of The Bahamas
on whether or not they have actually signed on to the EPAs. The EPAs
are important to protect the markets for crawfish, rum and polystyrene
products exported from The Bahamas to Europe.
Barbados Elections
Barbados’ governing party under Owen Arthur the Barbados Labour Party
is hoping to win a fourth consecutive term on Tuesday 15th January when
general elections will be held in that country. The polls put Owen
Arthur’s party at five percentage points below David Thompson's Democratic
Labour Party. The election is said to be a nail biter and the press
there are predicting that Mr. Arthur will lose the election. Fred
Mitchell MP for Fox Hill and PLP spokesman on Foreign Affairs will be in
Barbados for Tuesday’s election.
Chief Justice’s Turn To Be Upset
Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall has announced that he has made a formal
complaint to the Attorney General Claire Hepburn about comments made on
what was described by him as a popular political website about the election
court. “Is it us, Milord?” He also said that he has made a
complaint against a certain local clergyman for his comments about the
Judiciary as well. The offending comment: “the law of the land is
being played with lawyers and judges playing games with it.” So now
the coercive power of the state is to be used to throttle free speech.
While it is perfectly acceptable that the Courts must seek to ensure that
they are independent and that the integrity of judges is not impugned without
evidence, one wonders whether in the face of all the other challenges the
Judiciary and the Attorney General have, whether this is the best use of
judicial time. The Chief Justice says that the remark is probably
contemptuous. Just by way of history, one ought to remember the famous
quote from Lord Denning: “Justice is not a cloistered virtue”.
The evolving standards of society have long ago made this kind of contempt
of which the Chief Justice now complains obsolete and unnecessary.
Further, there is the famous case that ended up in the Privy Council in
the 19th century where a newspaper editor in The Bahamas was jailed for
contempt and the Privy Council struck it down. Given the extent to
which evolving standards of free speech in the country have come, what
success or utility could there possibly be in the Chief Justice's complaint?
The Attorney General ought to resist this in the public interest.
One may in fact get a conviction but do we really want to be jailing preachers
and website columnists. Oh well!
The Dip In Tourism
Tourism figures were down last year. The fault has been laid
at the feet of the U.S. passport initiative which required all air passengers
coming from The Bahamas back to the U.S. to have a U.S. passport and also
the fact that rooms were out of inventory both in Freeport and in Nassau.
But it seems to us that this is all just a small part of the problem.
Take a walk down the main thoroughfare of the city: one dirty filthy place
with nothing to do or buy and a lot of harassment. The cancellation
of the straw market project was a big mistake because the PLP did it to
start the process of redeveloping the city. Now the FNM must take
responsibility for this failure.
Chamber Head: “Judiciary In Complete Disarray”
We wonder if Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall will now make a complaint
about the comment attributed to Chamber of Commerce President Dionisio
D’Aguilar at the Bahamas Outlook Seminar on Tuesday 8th January.
The Chamber president said in his speech (click here) that the judiciary
was in complete disarray. Get the handcuffs ready for Mr. D’Aguilar.
Free speech may be at risk. But the speech should be read in its
entirety for its frankness and straight down the middle quality.
He talked about the government’s delay in approving the Cable Beach project
at Bahamar, the delay in approvals for the re routing of the road in southwest
New Providence for the Albany project, the lack of an electronic platform
to allow electronic clearing of cheques, and the affect that the murder
on Bay Street had on tourism. Click
here for the full address.
What’s The Story On Desmond Bannister?
Desmond Banister FNM Representative for Carmichael is the Minister
of State in the Attorney General’s office. We wish he would comment
on reports that there is major row brewing in the office between himself
and the Registrar General’s Department. It is causing concerns that
have been registered here.
Correction On Ralph Seligman Q.C.
Last week we received an e-mail for which we are grateful correcting
some bits of bad information re Ralph Seligman, the Q.C. who died in Nassau
late last year. While we ran the corrected text, sometime people
may not see the updated versions of the site and so this week, we run the
corrected version in the first edition:
Ralph Seligman Q.C. Dies
We announce the death of Ralph Seligman Q.C., former Stipendiary
and Circuit magistrate, and Honorary Consul for Israel to The Bahamas at
the time of his death. He hailed originally from Dublin, Ireland,
which is in the independent southern portion of Ireland. He was 88
at the time of his death. Although it was initially reported that
Mr. Seligman was a Roman Catholic at the time of his death, he apparently
never converted from his Jewish birthright and in accordance with that
custom was buried within 24 hours of his death in the Jewish cemetery in
Nassau. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, Helene.
Mr. Seligman died on Wednesday 26th December, 2007.
Dr. Wavell Thompson’s Funeral
A service of remembrance for well known physician Dr. Wavell Thompson
was held at the Ebenezer Methodist Church in Nassau on Wednesday 9th January.
Rev. Reginald Eldon presided. Dr. Thompson was a cousin of former
Justice Jeanne Thompson and was a friend of the late Winston Saunders and
his wife Dr Gail Saunders. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
John Marquis Says It’s a Lie
Last week this column ripped
into the writer of slime over at The Tribune who now claims that he
did not say what it was reported by the British newspaper, in particular
that Nassau was the best news town outside of a war zone. He then
goes on to say that this was just a jocular aside. We don’t believe
him. As for his assertion that The Tribune is the market leader,
he needs to swallow hard and get over the fact that The Tribune is the
market leader in slime and he is its main purveyor. Meanwhile John
Marquis, have you checked up on the
man who propositioned the widow of his friend over at the resort?
Since you like muck, why don’t you go mucking into that and see if you
will last with your employers?
One Million Bucks To COB
Chamber of Commerce President Dionisio D’Aguilar claimed in his speech
to the Outlook Seminar on Tuesday 8th January that the clearinghouse banks
in The Bahamas make collectively some 300 million dollars per year in profits.
The Royal Bank of Canada gave some of that profit away to the College of
The Bahamas: one million dollars of it. The gift is to be used to
create a Corporate Business Centre at COB. The presentation was made
on Thursday 10th January to the President of the College Janyne Hodder
by RBC Regional Vice Chair Ross McDonald. Pictured, from left, at
the January 9, 2008, cheque presentation are as follows: Chairman of COB's
College Council T. Baswell Donaldson; Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham; RBC
Head of Caribbean Banking Ross McDonald; COB President Janyne Hodder; RBC
Vice President and Country Head Nathaniel Beneby and Minister of Education,
Youth, Sports and Culture Carl Bethel. (BIS photo: Eric Rose)
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Fred
Mitchell, the former Foreign Minister and now Opposition Spokesman on Foreign
Affairs, Foreign Trade and the Public Service was in Barbados for the general
election there and witnessed a transition in power from Owen Arthur’s Barbados
Labour Party (BLP) to David Thompson’s Democratic Labour Party (DLP) on
Tuesday 15th January. Mr. Mitchell congratulated Mr. Thompson on
behalf of PLP Leader Perry Christie. He then went on to Trinidad
and Tobago where he paid a courtesy call on Patrick Manning, the Prime
Minister, and presented him with a framed copy of a Peter Ramsay photo
of Mr. Manning's historic address to the first joint session of the Parliament
of The Bahamas ever addressed by a foreign leader. Mr. Manning addressed
the Senate and the House of Assembly of The Bahamas on 29th September 2004
marking 275 years of continuous parliamentary democracy in The Bahamas.
Our photo of the week is Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign
Affairs presenting the framed photo to Prime Minister Manning on Wednesday
16th January in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The photo is by Roy Rique. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
FADE TO BLACK
The
year was 1965 and Cyril Stevenson who had helped to found the PLP could
go no further. He announced just shortly after the Black Tuesday
event when Sir Lynden Pindling threw the Speaker’s mace out of the window
on 27th April 1965 that he would no longer sit as a PLP member but would
sit as an independent. That was a long time ago and who really remembers
it now?
Who remembers that in 1967 there were some irregularities in the
general election of that year in the Crooked Island seat and the seat was
declared vacant shortly after the election. There was a bye election
and the result was a victory for the United Bahamian Party (UBP).
There was a great celebration on the Eastern Parade, the traditional gathering
ground of the now defunct UBP. Basil Kelly appeared dressed in a
UBP cape. Does anyone remember that?
This is not to minimize the present impact of the resignation of
Kenyatta Gibson, the former PLP MP who announced unexpectedly two weeks
ago that he would sit as an independent in the House of Assembly.
It is really to put it into perspective. Hubert Ingraham had to tell
him in the House on Wednesday 16th January that you don’t last long as
an independent. You have to be either fish or fowl. That is
probably the only truthful thing that we agree with said by Hubert Ingraham
this year. Mr. Gibson would do well to remember it. But the
stories told of the past also tell us that after a while, the whole episode
fades to black and no one remembers. The individual becomes a blip
on the history page and the country moves on. There are larger fish
to fry.
The Leader of the PLP probably spoke for most of his colleagues when
he said on Sean McWeeney’s radio show last Sunday around this time that
what Mr. Gibson did was simply inexplicable. To many it made no logical
sense. In the absence of logic, the country, the party and the radio
talk shows are left to speculate.
Some speculation centred on the more voluble PLP on the subject MP
Obie Wilchcombe, former Tourism Minister, who has been in the press explaining
about the need to reach out to Kenyatta Gibson and bring him back into
the fold because if the PLP wins the election court cases, we will need
his vote to form the government. It assumes of course that Mr. Ingraham
would allow such an eventuality, since the conventional wisdom is that
it won’t get that far and a general election will be called.
Given
the history of the Kennedy seat, Mr. Gibson does not have a hope in hell
of winning in a general election. The interventions simply seemed
in one sense to backfire on Mr. Wilchcombe with PLPs accusing him in turns
of master minding the whole Kenyatta thing, of being disloyal to Mr. Christie
and plotting his undoing, to trying by stealth to portray himself as leader
of the PLP. Some argue however that this only temporary pain with
the real benefit for him staked out in the future. Several times during
the week, that MP had to deny all of the above and assert his loyalty to
Mr. Christie. He brushed off the criticism saying that he was not
concerned about it. Mr. Christie has not said what he believes or
whether indeed it matters.
Mr. Gibson himself seemed to have the reaction of wonderment when
he appeared on Wednesday 16th January in the House of Assembly. He
was the centre of attention. All sides were talking about him.
The cameras were clicking for him. There was even a small group of
protestors from the PLP there to denounce him. But at least he was
the centre of attention, his proverbial fifteen minutes of fame, and he
pronounced himself amazed at the reaction to his sudden resignation.
We can believe that!
Some members of the public on talk shows and in the streets have
asked; who is in charge of the PLP? Is it the MP who keeps doing
all the talking? Is it the actual leader of the PLP? Of course,
those progenitors of slime and anti PLP rhetoric at The Tribune were leading
the way. Mr. Christie’s diffuse style is again in danger of leading
the uninformed and the general public in the wrong direction. From
what his history as a leader discloses, he has generally had no agents,
no negotiators and no one is authorized to speak on his behalf or enter
into any negotiations. The press seemed preoccupied with an assertion
that Mr. Christie had authorized such negotiations. Can you imagine
what the distaff side of his household would say to that thought after
the nasty and vile things that were said about him? Some would wish
he would simply say who is in charge and ask his MPs to be quiet and shut
up about it. Although PLP MP Alfred Gray spoke closest to the truth
when he told the press, during a House recess, that it was sad what happened
but the PLP goes on. It is argued that in the absence of Mr. Christie’s
declarations on leadership, nature abhors a vacuum and the old saying applies:
the devil finds work for idle hands to do.
What
then to make of the events following this unexpected and inexplicable resignation?
If the event was meant to make Mr. Christie less secure and isolated in
the PLP, it has not done that. It has made him more secure.
He has now lined up the votes to re-elect himself as leader and even if
there were a hint of a try before, it is not expected that anyone will
run against him in the February convention. Contrary to any assertions
made that there has to be a special convention to elect a leader, anyone
at the upcoming convention can in fact nominate for the post and run against
the leader of the PLP. Mr. Christie himself appeared to anticipate
such a possible eventuality but said that he would fight to stay on.
It appears that Mr. Gibson has isolated himself in the political
framework. But that does not mean that in the near future, as the
election court unfolds he does not become a key player in making the PLP
the government again. In a way, history gives him little choice in
the matter unless he simply wishes to be bloody minded. It would
be a complete betrayal of all that he stood for if on a close result following
the election court decisions, he ended up siding with the UBP. His
conscience, if he has one, must dictate that he cannot side with the UBP.
That would be the worst form of Uncle Tomism, for which history would condemn
him. That would be his Randol Fawkes moment, and like Randol Fawkes
no matter what, he has to side with the PLP.
We end as we began. In the history of these things who will
remember in forty years that this even happened? It will of course
be in the history books but by then it will have long receded in importance
and from memory and will simply have faded to black.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 19th January 2008 up
to midnight: 286,686.
Number of hits for the month of January ending Saturday 19th January
2008 up to midnight: 792,240.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Monday 31st December 2007
at midnight: 4,591,097. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
Photos of Kenyatta
Gibson and of Alfred Gray PLP MP and of PLP Leader Perry Christie on Wednesday
16th January by Peter Ramsay
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
ELECTION
COURT RESULTS
Whatever the result on Monday 21st January of the
scrutiny and recount in the Pinewood election, Allyson Gibson, the now
Senator and former MP and perhaps soon to be MP again, her counsel Philip
‘Brave’ Davis are to be congratulated for a job well done.
Some have suggested that the Parliamentary Commissioner
Errol Bethel should take administrative leave as a result of the decision
by the Election Court judges Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs that 110 votes
were unlawfully on the rolls for the Pinewood election. The view
is that a full investigation ought to be carried out into the circumstances
that permitted such a large number of unlawful registrants. The feeling
also is that this is the tip of the iceberg and that the irregularities
probably carry throughout the entire system, putting the general election
results in doubt.
The fact that there are two intrepid judges who
were able to wade through the thicket of the evidence and come to a sound
conclusion is also a tribute to our justice system which is under so much
stress in other areas.
The next step is that the ballot boxes will be opened
on Monday 21st January. The bad ballots will be identified in front
of the parties and then a recount will take place. Throughout Nassau
on Friday when the court made its announcement people could be seen walking
around in their party colours again. The hopes of the PLP are especially
high on this. If there is a victory for Mrs. Gibson, this will be
unprecedented, turning around a sixty four vote deficit to victory.
We pray that is the result. The victory then poses another challenge.
What does Hubert Ingraham then do? The conventional wisdom is that
we would be facing a general election. The PLP must get ready on
all counts.
An ebullient Mrs. Maynard Gibson is seen leaving the court with
a legal associate in this Peter Ramsay photo.
BRENT
SYMONETTE’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST
It is unfortunate that Brent Symonette, the Deputy
Prime Minister and the FNM don’t seem to know a conflict of interest when
they see one. Hubert Ingraham was busy announcing and announcing
the non successes and the mistrust agenda of the FNM over the past eight
months in his so called address to the nation last week.
Turns out that the government has made a decision
to move the container terminals from Bay Street to Arawak Cay. This
is the advice given by a special committee that Brent Symonette, Minister
of the Government chaired in 2007.
Perry Christie the former Prime minister challenged
Mr. Ingraham on this matter to say that Mr. Symonette was not involved
in a conflict of interest. Mr. Ingraham denied it but it now turns
out that Mr. Symonette is in the midst of a shocking conflict of interest
where he sat in on meetings making the recommendations to the government
while at the same time he was a shareholder in the container terminals
on Bay Street.
THE
SAGA OF DR. RUDY KING
We reported on this site the arrest and detention
in U.S. Federal custody of Rudolph King aka Dr. Rudy King. He has
been charged with seeking to use a fraudulent international draft on the
United States Internal Revenue Service to obtain a fraudulent refund of
2.7 million dollars using the name Klever Rosales.
The press in The Bahamas has since reported that
Mr. King has been released on bail and is now back in Nassau. Now
there are rounds of e-mails going throughout The Bahamas which give a fascinating
history of connections with the government of Dominica, a small Caricom
state that apparently hired Mr. King as a special envoy and then later
released him. You may click
here for that link.
A
BANQUET AND A HANDOVER
The Commissioner of Police Paul Farqhuarson has
now passed officially into history. There was a handing over ceremony
to an Acting Commissioner Reginald Ferguson, the brother of FNM Acting
Chairman Johnley Ferguson.
When you see the political turmoil that ensues now
in Kenya because the police are using live rounds of ammunition to shoot
down unarmed, lawful protestors against the government, you have
to be concerned about a situation where politics may dominate the Force
to the extent that officers would carry out any order because of their
political connections.
Mr. Farqhuarson could have left on a high note.
After all, he accomplished much. However, the banquet that was held
for him on Thursday 17th January was marred by one bit of misinformation.
Mr. Farqhuarson thanked the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, not the former
Prime Minister Perry Christie who was also there, for giving the police
improved health insurance benefits. Now what concerns us is why is
it that public servants often feel the need to ‘curry favour’ as we say
in this country. Why not simply stick to the facts, not embellished
or changed, but just the facts. Perry Christie’s government put in
place the health insurance which was slated to come into being with the
new budget for 2007/2008. In the event, the elections intervened
and Mr. Ingraham simply carried out the decision that was made by the PLP.
What about the facts Mr. Farqhuarson? This really blighted an otherwise
stellar career.
The question is, since Mr. Farqhuarson is going
into the diplomatic world, will he exercise his discretion and job without
fear or favour for all Bahamians in London, where he is to be High Commissioner,
or will his acts be coloured by the fact that Mr. Ingraham gave him this
unexpected appointment? It also seems to us that Mr. Ingraham himself
ought to know better than to call a grown man who has had such a stellar
career “Paul” in the public domain as if he is some little child.
If you read the reports of Mr. Ingraham’s speech at the banquet it was
“Paul this” and “Paul that”. But it just goes to show how our Prime
Minister thinks of him.
INGRAHAM
& THE COURTS
In briefing the media on his recent trip to elections
in Barbados and to meet Prime Minister Manning in Trinidad & Tobago,
MP Fred Mitchell scored Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham for characterising
matters before the election court as a game. "Obviously" said Mr.
Mitchell, "the rules on not commenting on matter currently before the courts
do not apply to the Prime Minister".
While in Barbados, Mr. Mitchell congratulated the
new prime minister David Thompson on behalf of the Progressive Liberal
Party (see story below). He noted that "It is important for the PLP
to ensure that it is abreast of the developments in the region".
Fred Mitchell at Gambier House briefing the media on viewing Barbados
elections and meeting with Trinidad PM in this Nassau Guardian photo by
Eddie Russell III
IN PASSING
Election Result In Barbados
David Thompson is the new Prime Minister of Barbados. Mr. Thompson
won handily with a two thirds majority in Barbados reversing a trend against
his party for thirteen years. His former colleague and previous Leader
of the Opposition Clyde Mascoll lost his seat. This was thought to
be punishment for crossing over to the governing party in midterm and accepting
a ministerial post in the previous Cabinet. Mr. Thompson when he
was Leader of the Opposition in Barbados in 2000 met with former Prime
Minister Perry Christie and then Shadow spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Labour
and Immigration Fred Mitchell at the Barbados Consulate in Miami to discuss
the question of an annual meeting of Leaders of The Opposition paid for
by the governments in the same way that Heads of Government of Caricom
meet.
Elections In Belize
Prime Minister Said Musa will face elections in Belize on 7th February.
While Mr. Musa is confident of victory, it is hard to see how, when his
government virtually fell apart from defections, firings and financial
scandals during the last five years.
The PLP Convention
The Chairman of the PLP Raynard Rigby announced last Sunday 13th January
that the PLP would hold its convention at the Crystal Palace beginning
on 21st February for three days.
Walkout At The Registrar General’s Office
On this site, we asked the question about problems relating to the
Registrar General’s office and Minister of State Desmond Bannister.
The government ignored our question. Their not paying attention led
to a walkout at the Registrar General's office, which was supported by
the President of the Bahamas Public Services Union John Pinder. The
walkout took place on Tuesday 15th January. Next time they will pay
attention to what we say we hope.
Curtis McMillan Dies
Dr. Curtis McMillan, the dentist who ran for office in 1967 and won
becoming a member of the first Majority Rule cabinet in the history of
the country, has died at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife
Thelma and his three children a son Curtis Jr. (Dukie) and two daughters
Shelly. Funeral services will take place at the Hillview Church of
Seventh Day Adventists on Harrold Road on Monday 21st January at 11 a.m.
Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie issued a statement
marking his passing and extending condolences to Dr. McMillan’s wife and
family. Dr. McMillan’s body was reposed in the foyer of the House
of Assembly on Friday 18th January. Peter Ramsay took the photo of
Perry Christie, the PLP’s Leader at the viewing.
George Stewart Passes Away
When you think of the life of George Stewart, you think of the negro spiritual
‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen‘. But he succeeded brilliantly.
George Stewart died on 13th January 2008 at the age of 66. Mr. Stewart
was amongst the first Bahamian graduates of the University of the West
Indies (UWI) to come back home and make his contribution to the building
up of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. He came back home just following
the attainment of majority rule and just before Independence. He
was brilliant and became in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the expert
on the law of the sea.
Mr. Stewart was humiliated by Hubert Ingraham in
1999 when he was summarily dismissed because Mr. Ingraham did not like
a decision taken by the ministry to advise the Swiss government that they
could not deviate from the grounds that the fugitive Werner Rey was extradited
for to Switzerland from The Bahamas. The then Minister Janet Bostwick,
who attended the funeral for Mr. Stewart on Saturday 19th January at Zion
Baptist Church, did not go on record to protect one of her ministry’s best
employees. The rule that confines a state to the ground of the extradition
warrant is called the specialty rule.
When the PLP came to power in 2002, Mr. Stewart
was rehired in the Ministry and began the work of finalizing the boundary
issues with the states that border us; the Turks and Caicos Islands to
the south, Cuba to the west and the United States to the north. That
work was never completed and he takes much of it with him to the grave.
Pericles Maillis, the attorney, a friend of Mr. Stewart, called his life
fruitful and said that he was a real builder of the country about whom
stories should be told in the schools. Also paying tribute was Sir
Clement T. Maynard former Minster of Foreign Affairs. Fred Mitchell,
also former Foreign Minster, also attended. Secretary to the Cabinet
Wendell Major attended the service as well. Left to mourn are his
faithful wife Beth and his three daughters.
Seminar In Freeport On Majority Rule
Fred Mitchell, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and the now Opposition
spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and the Public Service, will
host a seminar on Majority Rule in Freeport beginning Thursday 24th January
and ending on Saturday 26th January. The resource persons for the
seminar will be Sir Clement T. Maynard, former Deputy Prime Minister and
author of the memoir ‘Putting On More Speed’ and former Attorney General
and Minister of Foreign Affairs Paul L. Adderley.
Some Brief Notes
The Ritz Carlton Hotel is finally going to
start on Rose Island just to the east of Paradise Island. This is
one of the projects that the FNM stopped. Now, with unemployment
rising, they are desperately trying to get projects going…
It surprised us that Willie Moss, a former
employee as Senior Counsel of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd. would
allow herself to get embroiled in the dispute over whether Fred Smith
can act as the attorney for the St. Georges in the matter of their dispute
with Sir Jack Hayward. The conflict is apparent on the face of the
record. Mrs. Moss swore an affidavit in the proceedings and in a
tortuously worded document proceeded to try to show that indeed there was
no conflict. The case continues. But Mrs. Moss herself might
be accused of being in a conflict since she is in dispute with her former
employers over her departure from them, the Grand Bahama Port Authority.
on terms that were not acceptable to her…
Earl Deveaux, the Minister of Public Works,
has explained that the straw market is not a priority for the government.
This means that the straw vendors can expect to suffer some more.
This is what we voted for…
Hubert Ingraham has the reputation of running
a stingy government. It has allowed the exemption on stamp duty for
homes under $250,000 to expire claiming that the government is broke.
Al Jarrett, the former Royal Banker, says that under the FNM’s watch the
national debt has gone up to 3.1 billion, some 40 percent of GDP, blowing
the PLP’s IMF acceptable 37 percent of GDP figure. Some homeowners
now have to find additional sums to finish their transactions because they
did not complete their purchases before 31st December 2007.
The Exigency Orders, which were signed to
allow people to rebuild their homes following the October 2007 floods in
the south eastern islands, also do not go far enough say some residents
affected areas. One man complained that he could only get a car exempted
at the actual value of his car, not a replacement value. So for example,
he had a 1995 car worth $1,000 that is all he can get exempted for but
he asked the right question: where can he find a car for $1,000 today?
The man was quoted by the Bahama Journal was a Long Islander. Well,
you get the government you voted for.
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Last
week in The Bahamas, you could have been forgiven if you thought that a
plague was visiting upon former Parliamentarians, what with the deaths
of two of the pioneers of the PLP and the struggle for majority rule leaving
the scene back to back. Dr. Curtis McMillan was buried in an official
funeral on Monday 21st January. Then in quick succession it was announced
that J. Russell Ford had died (click here
for Mr. Ford’s biography). Mr. Ford was not in the first PLP
Cabinet, but in 1968 he won the Inagua and Mayaguana seat as it then was
and served until 1982. He was part of the majority rule generation.
In his latter years, he suffered from prostate cancer and was a poster
boy for cancer survivors, which was a major contribution to the recognition
of the disease in The Bahamas. Mr. Ford was lauded by former Prime
Minister Perry Christie in remarks made in the House of Assembly on Wednesday
23rd January and eulogised by Mr. Christie
at the funeral. The photo taken of the funeral service of J.
Russell Ford former MP at the Christ Church Cathedral on Friday 25th January
is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
HUBERT’S ANGER MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
Dr. David Allen is perhaps the nation’s most famous psychiatrist.
Dr. Timothy McCartney is our most well known psychologist. Take your
pick. Both are experts in anger management. It just so happened
that this week, when the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham behaved like a
perfect jackass from the public stage, ranting and raving about Perry Christie
and the PLP, that David Allen was on television talking about the need
for people to control their anger. He said something that we
thought was interesting, that people who can’t control their anger have
issues that remain unresolved, a thousand little hurts that remain unresolved.
That is why today we recommend to Hubert Ingraham that he either
go to see Dr. Allen or Dr. McCartney. They may be able to help him.
His anger on the face of it is inexplicable. It is like he has some
deep seated fear of Perry Christie that causes him to want to lash out
and strike back. The fact is what he says about Perry Christie has
no effect on Perry Christie, and this must further drive his anger.
Mr. Ingraham in an extraordinary rant on television on Tuesday 22nd January
and later on the public stage at turns called Mr. Christie a dummy,
incompetent, and oh yes he repeated that one about him having to be ashamed
of himself. You name it, anything but a child of God.
For his part, Mr. Christie responded on 23rd January that the one
that ought to be ashamed is Hubert Ingraham himself with his tiresome,
rude language. He said that the country was simply sick and tired
of it. He laughed at Mr. Ingraham’s assertion that the PLP can’t
accept that they have lost; the game is over as Mr. Ingraham put it.
Mr. Ingraham said that the PLP was counting, counting and more counting.
This particular outburst came as result of the PLP’s statement about the
election court result on Monday 21st January, which went against Allyson
Gibson. The PLP called for electoral reform. Mr. Ingraham did
not like that.
Well he won’t like this either. We believe that his FNM is
directly involved n the corruption of the electoral process. We read
with some interest the words of the Acting Parliamentary Commissioner in
the Bahama Journal last week. He said that they did the best they
could and rejected what the judges had said about the electoral process.
Please
click here for the full judgment. Last week in this space, we
called for the Parliamentary Commissioner to be put on administrative leave
and for a full scale investigation to be held into that office and its
practices.
Here is what we have heard happened. FNMs would show up with
the flimsiest of documents to known individuals at the Commissioner’s various
stations, sometimes with only a driver’s licence and they would be registered.
PLPs would come with the same documentation and they would be put through
hoops to get registered. We believe that the FNM knew this, they
colluded in it, and they thoroughly corrupted the electoral process in
2007. What was uncovered in the election court case involving Allyson
Gibson is just the tip of the iceberg.
In our view, this must in part be why the FNM is fighting so hard
to stop the Pleasant Bridgewater case in Marco City in Freeport from going
ahead. There is much more dirt by the FNM to be revealed.
Mr. Ingraham is furious that the PLP just won’t shut up and go away.
He made the assertion at his party’s political rally on Thursday 24th January
that the PLP is no longer the great organization that it once was.
He wouldn’t know, but when he gets slapped down politically by the PLP,
he will know. He was defeated once; he can be defeated again.
Our guess is that Mr. Ingraham is suffering the syndrome of the poor
black boy from the wrong side of the tracks in Abaco. He is bearing
a thousand insults from both blacks and whites about the colour of his
skin, the stature of his body, the way he talks. Yet he has succeeded
beyond all expectations to be the Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
You would think that this would get rid of all these little hurts.
But no, not at all. Instead, it has brought out all the nastiness
and vituperation that we have seen over the past nine months from the public
platform. These outbursts are petty acts of revenge. Mr. Christie,
being light skinned, well spoken, from the upper crust, coloured bourgeoisie
of The Bahamas must be attacked because of that. That is our guess.
So we will do Mr. Ingraham a favour this week. We will offer
to pay for one session with either David Allen or Tim McCartney in anger
management. We don’t know if Tim is still taking patients, but it
may be a better bet since he lives in the States and the setting will be
less open in the States. But it is clear to us that Mr. Ingraham
needs help to control his anger and needs it sooner rather than later.
In the volatile world in The Bahamas in which we live, his is not the best
example for the young.
Perry Christie pointed out that the murder rate is through the roof,
crime spiralling out of control, the economy in the tank, and here is Hubert
Ingraham wasting time on a public platform talking about the PLP.
By one count, Mr. Ingraham called the name of the PLP and Mr. Christie
114 times at their rally last week. This really is a cry for help
from him. We want to help him. Help him, Holy Ghost!
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26th January, 2008 up
to midnight: 296,118.
Number of hits for the month of January up to Saturday 26th January,
2008 at midnight: 1,101,519.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Monday 31st December, 2007
at midnight: 4,591,097. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
ELECTION COURT COUNT ENDS
The Election Court in the Allyson Gibson Pinewood
case has made its ruling and finished the scrutiny. The result Byran
Woodside, the FNM MP and Minister of State won the seat by 49 votes.
This has been quite a roller coaster ride for PLPs, their hopes dashed
by the 2007 general election results, then raised again by the three challenges
to the seats and now dashed again following the court’s findings.
The immediate question is whether or not the court
case helped the PLP. The short answer is yes, it did, in that it
spotted scores of irregularities which if we had not brought the case;
we would not have known the extent to which the election of 2007 was corrupted
by the FNM and their ideologues within the public service.
PLP Leader Perry Christie commended Mrs. Gibson
on the work she did to strengthen the system. He called for a review
of the finding of the court and said that there ought to be reform of the
system following the findings of the Judges in the matter. We add
our words of congratulation to Mrs. Gibson.
Now it’s on to the Marco City seat where Pleasant
Bridgewater hopes to unseat incumbent Zhivargo Laing. Could not happen
to a finer person. There is some pressure to drop the cases because
people feel that now there is no chance of winning the government again
even if all the remaining seats are won. Another view is that all
seats count and it would be a psychological victory if the remaining two
seat challenges are successful. Fred Smith, the mercurial attorney
for the FNM in this matter has launched an application that resumes before
the courts on Monday 28th January to have Ms. Bridgewater’s petition struck
out. We hope that he does not succeed.
PLP
LEADER RESPONDS TO INGRAHAM
The Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie held a new conference
on Wednesday 23rd January to deal with comments made by Hubert Ingraham,
the Prime Minister, about the election court results. The results,
which saw the Court declare Byran Woodside of the FNM the winner of the
Pinewood seat, were announced by the Court on Monday evening 21st January.
Hubert Ingraham called the ZNS reporter in and went
after Perry Christie in a personal way. It was a vicious attack.
Mr. Christie in his press conference rejected the
Ingraham criticisms and made some challenges of his own with regard to
Mr. Ingraham’s mismanagement of the government. Mr. Christie called
for the government to start to approve the projects that were left behind
by the PLP. The redevelopment of the Cable Beach strip in New Providence
awaits the government’s approval to the Bahamar group. This project
can create up to 8,000 jobs for Bahamians, yet the government refuses to
grant the permission necessary for it to start. For example, it is
reported that the government has received a sober report on the state of
the economy. There are building contractors out of work. The
city of Nassau is in a state of disrepair. The government does not
seem to be able to deal with the crime epidemic. Mr. Christie said
that Mr. Ingraham ought to be ashamed of himself.
You may click here
for Mr. Christie’s full remarks.
JOAN
SAWYER ATTACKS THE PLP’S LEADER
How long will the PLP allow the comments - inappropriate ones at that -
of Dame Joan Sawyer, the President of The Bahamas Court of Appeal, to go
unchallenged? We take issue with a few.
First, the Nassau Guardian reported on Thursday
24th January that the Court of Appeal claimed that the government broke
the law when Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles was extradited to Florida in 2006.
Nonsense. The issue of the validity of the extradition was not before
the Court and no arguments were heard on the point. Its comments,
then, were not part of the ratio of the case.
The Court of Appeal has been overturned so many
times by the Privy Council, why should anyone accept that what it says
is right on any point of law that has not been appealed. The comments
were not necessary to the decisions they were called upon to make.
The appeal failed and so the matter should have ended there, but instead,
the gratuitous comments by the Court, which, in our view, endanger the
lives of the ministers involved in the matter. The comments were
irresponsible.
Then on Friday 25th January, Dame Joan reportedly
attacked Perry Christie by name. This was quite extraordinary that
a sitting Judge, a President of the Court of Appeal, no less, attacks by
name a former Prime Minister. What are PLPs to think when they come
before the courts now? And what is she criticizing the former PM
for; because he reportedly defended the right of citizens of The Bahamas
to demonstrate against a decision of the Court of Appeal. If that
is true then there was nothing wrong with his comments.
Then Dame Joan claimed that she had considered locking
up Rev. Dr. William Thompson for contempt because he allegedly called the
Court of Appeal a kangaroo court. Something has got to be seriously
wrong with that. Here is Dame Joan now saying that she was going
to cite for contempt the now former and then President of the Christian
Council. Was it true that he called the Court of Appeal a kangaroo
court? Was not her comment prejudicial to the interests of the Reverend
gentleman? And what redress does he have when she makes a statement
that has an absolute privilege from the bench? The comment is irresponsible.
Then the Guardian reports that she attacked Perry
Christie again by name, this time saying that he told the House that he
got the best legal advice on the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Sidney
Stubbs bankruptcy and that the Court was wrong. Hello! The
Privy Council did say that the Court of Appeal was wrong. But our
general point is that something should be said publicly about this to call
this person down on these irresponsible remarks before we lose all sense
of decorum and PLPs begin to lose even more respect for her and the Court
she sits in. Remarks were made in a case that had nothing whatever
to do with the matters she raised and seemed entirely gratuitous.
MAJORITY
RULE SEMINARS IN FREEPORT
Fred Mitchell, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs
led three days of discussions this past week in Freeport Grand Bahama on
Majority Rule. The seminars were led by resource persons Sir Clement
T. Maynard, the Hon. Paul Adderley and Mr. Mitchell.
The Progressive Liberal Action Network held the
seminars at the Ascension Church Hall over three days from Wednesday 23rd
January to Friday 25th January. The seminars were well attended.
They were convened under the patronage of the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie,
Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party who spoke on the last evening.
The photos of the event which covered a discussion on the events from the
Burma Road riots in 1942 to the 10th January 1967 show Sir Clement Maynard
autographing his new book 'Putting On More Speed' and Messrs. Christie
and Mitchell. More photos below.
SHOCKINGLY
FNM IGNORANT DECISION
The PLP has said that the FNM’s decision not to
renew the first time homeowners tax exemption is “shockingly ignorant”.
A release from the Party said “The Progressive
Liberal Party is appalled by the Prime Minister and the FNM government’s
refusal to extend the tax exemption for first time homeowners on houses
under $250,000. It is a shockingly ignorant decision. It is
proof that the Prime Minister and the FNM government do not understand
our economy or economics generally. Further, it is a reflection of
the FNM’S callous insensitivity toward the average Bahamian.
“The logic that the government needs revenue
or cannot afford tax breaks as an excuse for discontinuing this exemption
is economically flawed. If there are no new houses, there are no
imports of materials, fixtures and fittings. No imports means no
revenue derived from import tax for the Public Treasury. It is not
a difficult concept; it is simple, basic economics.
“At a time when the economy is struggling,
the government’s role is to create an environment that will stimulate economic
growth and any policy of withdrawing incentives that will assist to revive
our present sluggish economy is irresponsible and shows poor judgment.
“When the Prime Minister states, “the number
one thing is jobs and then people will be able to afford to get mortgages”,
there can be no clearer indication that he does not possess the bold and
innovative leadership qualities that our economy needs in the 21st century.
Does he not understand that if there is a reduction in homes being built,
there will be a reduction in available jobs?
“What about the dozens of persons who were
in the process of purchasing a home, but could not complete before December
31st 2008? Either they are now forced to increase their borrowings
by up to $20,000, placing an extreme burden on them, or they have had to
simply walk away because this additional cost has meant they are unable
to qualify to get the same loan for which they had previously qualified.
“How can this be after eight shorts months?
This is especially so when the PLP had intended to increase the exemption
from $250,000 to $400,000. This cannot be the “proven leadership”
that the people voted for on May 2nd. 2007.
“Obviously, the Prime Minister and the
FNM do not share the philosophy and core fundamental value of the PLP that
every Bahamian is entitled to affordable housing. To add insult to
injury the FNM has not built one single home since coming to office in
May 2007.”
RED CROSS
BALL
The annual Red Cross Ball was held this weekend
and photographer Peter Ramsay, shown above with Dame Marguerite Pindling,
provided some photos.
IN PASSING
Sir Clement Ill In Hospital
The former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Clement T. Maynard has been hospitalized.
There is no word on his condition. Sir Clement took ill late on Saturday
26th January 2008.
Drivers - Still No Overtime
Earlier this month, we reported on this site that drivers of government
ministers are up in arms over the decision to stop overtime payments to
them when they drive ministers beyond their normal working hours.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham wants to revert to the system of paying
a lump sum of $150 per month for drivers in lieu of overtime. This
would be unlawful. The latest information is that the Prime Minister
has told all his ministers that they must drive themselves after hours.
So you can see it now, there is an official function at 6 p.m. and ministers
are trying to get there, hustling for a parking spaces like the rest of
us mere mortals. Only in Hubert Ingraham's version of The Bahamas
can this be considered efficient.
Urban Renewal Workers Are Fired in Freeport
It is reported that Barbara Burrows, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry
of Health and Social Development and Melanie Zonicle the Director of Social
Services has told 45 workers in the Urban Renewal offices in Freeport that
they must vacate their present offices in the Department of Housing in
Freeport. They are to be redeployed to different offices as of Monday
28th January. They have been told that the budgetary allocation for
their salaries runs out in June 2008 and that they cannot be assured the
continuation of their jobs. The word around town in Freeport is that
they are to be fired and replaced by workers who will do the same jobs
but will be known FNM supporters.
Janet Turns Down China
We have received information that Janet Bostwick has turned down the
offer of a post as Ambassador to China first reported on this site.
We thought it was a bad idea anyway.
Time For A New Leadership In Finance
The 1992 to 2002 Ingraham administration kept on the existing leadership
of the Ministry of Finance for too log. The PLP administration kept
the existing leadership in position as well and again left that leadership
there for the Ingraham administration to keep in the job again. The
leadership is stymieing change in the ministry and the ministry is falling
behind in best practices. The younger staff in the ministry are asking
is whether or not there are only a chosen few in the whole Bahamas who
can occupy leadership positions in Finance. It is time for the government
to find new leadership and to update and modernize that Ministry which
is living in the dark ages. After a certain time, anyone, no matter
who and how talented should move on and let new people and methods take
over.
Curtis McMillan Funeral
The funeral of the late Dr. Curtis McMillan, former Member of Parliament
and Cabinet Minister in the first PLP government, took place at the Hillside
Seventh Day Adventist Church on the Tonique Darling Highway on Monday 21st
January. The Prime Minister attended and spoke on behalf of the country.
Dr. McMillan served in the House of Assembly for five years. From
1967 to 1972. He left the PLP to form the Free PLP and part of the
Dissident Eight who split from the PLP with the late Sir Cecil Wallace
Whitfield in 1970. He was the first Secretary General of the FNM.
The BIS photo of the funeral procession is by Patrick Hanna.
Tit For Tat Murders
While Hubert Ingraham was busy rallying the FNM in their red shirts
about the PLP and the election court, the country was experiencing another
round of murders. To date there are eight murders for the year, at
this rate 2 per week. A possible self immolation by a Junkanoo group
marshal may be classified as a homicide, but never mind. On Elizabeth
Avenue in the heart of the city, one hundred yards off Bay Street, someone
was murdered on Friday night 25th January. On the afternoon of Saturday
26th January, two more murders, a husband and wife in Pinewood, which murders
it is being said on the street are reportedly connected to the first murder
victim and the crime is thought to be a revenge killing. Instead
of having rallies about the PLP, Hubert Ingraham needs to talk about the
murder rate spiralling out of control.
PLP Deputy Leader Convalescing
Speaker of the House of Assembly Alvin Smith told the House of Assembly
on Wednesday 23rd January that Deputy Leader of the PLP Cynthia Pratt was
unable to attend the House of Assembly session because of deterioration
of the cartilage in her feet, which causes pain. The doctors have
told her not to climb stairs. We wish Mrs. Pratt a speedy recovery.
The Speaker said that Mrs. Pratt believes that the condition is a result
of her early years as an athlete.
Charles Rolle Is Buried
The brother of Donald ‘Nine’ Rolle was the quiet one. But he
was a fierce supporter of the PLP and virtual mayor in Kemp Road.
Known as ‘Do It Right’ or Junior, Charles Rolle died on 10th January, 2008
one day after his birthday at the age of 70. Mr. Rolle was a close
friend of Governor General Arthur Hanna and of former Foreign Minister
Fred Mitchell. Both attended the funeral and spoke at the service
held at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church in Kemp Road on Saturday 26th January.
You may click here for the full remarks of
Mr. Mitchell. Perry Christie the Leader of the PLP also attended
the funeral and spoke as well. He is survived by his brother Donald
‘Nine’ Rolle, his children Wilfred, Deborah and Sarah.
Eric Mitchell Remembered
Eric Mitchell was one of four sons born to Robert and Odessa (nee Weech)
Mitchell of Bain Town. He was an excellent carpenter. He worked
at the prison as a carpenter and retired there. He died in 1985.
Mr. Mitchell and scores of other civilians and prison officers were remembered
in a moving ceremony on a Sunday 20 of January when a Wall of remembrance
with their names inscribed thereon was unveiled. Prison Superintendent
Elliston Rahming and National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest presided.
Shown in this BIS photo by Patrick Hanna are left to right Audra Mitchell,
granddaughter of Mr. Mitchell, Fred Mitchell MP nephew of Mr. Mitchell,
Anwar Mitchell, his grandson and Andre and Audley Mitchell, his sons.
