bahamasuncensored.com
JULY 2010
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames...  Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 8 © BahamasUncensored.com 2010
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The site is compiled and edited in The Bahamas by Russell Dames, with writer Claire Booth

11th July, 2010
18th July, 2010
 
4th July, 2010
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...PAPA PARTYING IN SOUTH AFRICA...

IT’S NOT THE DETECTION WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT... MINISTER LAING IS A LOST SOUL...
AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DEBBIE BARTLETT... CHERYL BETHELL IS AN ARGUMENT THEY CAN’T WIN...
CAR LICENCES GONE UP - DRIVES PUBLIC CRAZY... SIR ARTHUR’S ADDRESS...
A VISIT TO MANGROVE CAY... US INDEPENDENCE DAY...
IN PASSING...
Fred Mitchell Launches 3rd Edition of 'Great Moments In PLP History... Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com... Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com  Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report... Bahamian Cycling News
BahamasIssues.com
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return to the top of the page.


THE QUEEN IN HALIFAX: - There is a big question going about in Canada where the Queen of The Bahamas Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada.  Is it time for the monarchy to go after she leaves the scene?  Don’t count on that being anytime soon since she is in her eighties and her mother lived to be 101.  The point is the lady is wildly popular in Canada, but after she goes many people think that the monarchy must end.  But the point of our photo of the week is not to hanker for monarchy or to get sentimental about a Queen’s visit, but rather the fact that the Lieutenant Governor of  the province of Nova Scotia where the Queen first set down in Canada last week is of Caribbean origin.  She is Mayann Francis and she is the first Afro Canadian to serve in that post.  Canada also has a Haitian Governor General.  Our photo of the week then is Queen Elizabeth II on a state visit to Canada being escorted by her representative in the Province, Mayann Francis of Antiguan and Cuba ancestry (click here for the bio of Mayann Francis).  Photo: Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prince Philip and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, walking on the grounds of Government House before a tree-planting ceremony in Halifax.  The Queen also visited Ottawa for the second part of the royal couple’s nine-day visit to Canada. (AP Picture)

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

PAPA PARTYING IN SOUTH AFRICA
Papa! Papa!  Welcome home.  Papa, the appellation that the tired, bedraggled and worn out Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, now applies to himself is back home after ten days of partying with his Ministers in South Africa as the guest of Sol Kerzner.  He is pictured at right with famous South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  We hope he got a good rest because he is fitting for a good cut ass having landed back in The Bahamas.  While he was away, the country descended further into chaos and debt.  His lieutenants tried their best, but their best just was not good enough.  But never mind; as Papa likes to say: “We gat the money”.  No doubt that is what the trip to South Africa was all about, securing a donation to the FNM for the next election.  The PLP must be kept out at all costs.

The murders have now risen to 47.  At one time there was a murder per day.  More people were laid off from their jobs while Papa was away.  We also found out that Papa awarded a contract to one of his friends and is now backtracking like crazy to say it was not so (see a copy of the Ministry of Works memo and the story below IN PASSING).

Then while Papa was away, his lieutenants were busy trashing the reputation of a Bahamian daughter who works in the Office of the Attorney General.  She did her best, but we guess her best was not good enough for Papa and so one is to come in from the outside to rescue the department in which she works.  The only problem with it is that the evidence shows that the lady who is coming in does not know what she is doing and is not a fit and proper person for the job (see story below).

While Papa was away, someone stole the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.  There was no official statement from the government on the matter just a bunch of smarmy talk from the Minister of State Zhivargo Laing who is just a lost soul.  The fact is the government’s data is missing.  Mr. Laing tried to make excuses for it saying that the website was actually Fred Mitchell’s website.

While Papa was partying in South Africa, the people who have businesses in Baillou Hill Road and Market Street were crying because they were all losing their shirts.  Their businesses are on the verge of closing down because of the reversing of the traffic flow on those roads.  Papa’s government provides no relief.

While Papa was away 250 people were terminated from The Bahamas Government and told go away.  Papa says he can’t afford them, but Papa’s government allocated 20 million dollars to buy an old dock from the Kelly family, one of his main supporters.  Papa’s government shows a clear double standard.  If you are poor you suffer, if you are rich and from Bay Street, he is all for that.

This is not how a Papa should be: kind, compassionate, caring.  This is not what Mr. Ingraham is.  He is mean, spiteful and vindictive.  He has a pathological hatred of the people whom he leads, who, in their innocence, elected him and the FNM to bring us to a better day.  Instead, the people are crying because Papa has heaped taxes upon taxes on them.  There were long lines at the car licensing bureau because it is now more expensive than ever to licence your cars.

This is life under Papa.  Papa, can you see us?  Papa, can you hear us?  We hope the Bahamian people have learned their lesson.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 3rd July 2010 at midnight: 140,397.

Number of hits for the month of June up to Wednesday 30th June 2010 at midnight: 699,703.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 3rd July 2010 up to midnight: 4,683,707. 



CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

IT’S NOT THE DETECTION WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT
    The number of murders in The Bahamas stands sadly at 47.  This means according to Brent Dean of the Nassau Guardian that the number is trending toward a new record in murders for this year, which will mean the country ends up with near 100 murders.  According to Mr. Dean's research published in the Nassau Guardian on Tuesday 29th June, the number of murders in The Bahamas should be some 18 per 100,000 instead of what it is today at 27 per 100,000.  At that rate, there should only be 5 murders per year in The Bahamas.  Given this information, the stark statistics show a country that is violent indeed.
    It is getting to the point where you even have Sir Jack Hayward, the owner of the Grand Bahama Port Authority saying in the press that the violence must be brought under control or the country is going to suffer.  No one is going to want to come to a violent country.
    Not to be outdone, and typical for the head-in-the-sand approach of the Free National Movement government and its ministers, Tourism Minister Vincent Vanderpool Wallace told the press that there was no evidence that the violence in the country was affecting the tourism product.  The people you lose to this phenomenon you will never know; it is something like trying to determine what the opportunity cost is.  It is intangible, but you certainly must know and intuitively so that Jack Hayward must ultimately be right about this.
    Now the matter of the murders was again handled by the Police.  The Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade was quick to do a walkabout in the affected areas, with high profile visits to the people in the areas assuring them that the police have the situation under control.  Such an assurance is good for the cameras, but does it really do anything?  The fact is people still feel unsafe.
    The Commissioner said that the police have been quick to detect the crimes.  That is true, but it is not the detection that is the problem or what we worry about.  The problem is the murders themselves.  There are simply too many of them and they need to stop or to be stopped.  No one seems to have a handle on that.  What is clear is that this is not solely a police matter.  The police may be part of the solution, but it is important for the Commissioner of Police to know that the society does not expect him to solve crime, nor to take that burden on his shoulders, capable though they are.  The man who ought to be front and centre of the crime debate and issue is Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister.  He is front and centre, the one who should be addressing this issue.  Not that we expect him to solve it either, but he is the one to take the leadership of it, and so far his administration is an abject failure on the point.
    You may link here to Mr. Dean’s analysis from the Nassau Guardian of Tuesday 29th June.
 
 

MINISTER LAING IS A LOST SOUL

    Zhivargo Laing is one contentious, quarrelsome fellow.  He just can't help himself, always rowing about something and always, it seems, 100 percent wrong, defending the indefensible.  In the latest foray into the public domain, he was busy rowing about the loss of the government’s information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the address for which is mfabahamas.org.  The website has been a national disgrace since the departure of former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in 2007.
    During the past week, two clever sleuths, Lincoln Bain, the talk show host, and C. Allen Johnson, the IT specialist, engaged in some civil disobedience of the kind that Carl Bethel says is not a good idea.  They bought the domain name of mfabahamas.org for which the Ministry forgot to pay for the princely sum of 2 dollars.
    The other problem is not just the Ministry’s purloined website, but the government’s general website bahamas.gov.bs.  It is hopeless.  It is slow and the platform on which it operates cannot meet the demands that are put on the system.  It is so bad that some officers of the government who have been banned from using other sites have resorted to going home to do their public work because the system of the government is so inadequate.  But Mr. Laing was on the radio on Thursday 1st July defending away, saying that the bit about the government’s website was the truth according to Fred Mitchell and that the government’s website was really a Fred Mitchell creation.
    This is the height of stupidity.  How and why would mfabahamas.org be a Fred Mitchell site and have Brent Symonette, the present Minister's speeches and pictures on the site?  Mr. Mitchell issued a statement on Thursday 1st July calling for heads to roll for the shocking negligence that allowed the government’s information to be stolen from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.  We agree.  You may click here for Mr. Mitchell's full statement.
 
 

AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DEBBIE BARTLETT
CONTRIBUTED:  Gaithersburg MD - The Grigsby Group, LLC and Baron Capital Partners, ("TGG/Baron"), financial services consulting organisations, today announced they have partnered with a team of marketing, media and public relations professionals headed by Deborah Bartlett, president and founder of CEO Network.
    Ms. Bartlett and company will operate from Nassau, Bahamas, working with TGG on behalf of TGG/Baron clients throughout the Caribbean, covering a broad range of financial and economic sectors, in an effort to meet the funding challenges of small businesses and midsize corporations.
    You may click here for the full release.
 
 

CHERYL BETHELL IS AN ARGUMENT THEY CAN’T WIN
    Perhaps, if we make one more reasonable and sensible appeal on this matter before the court actions are filed by Cheryl Grant Bethell in the matter of her appointment to the post of Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, the FNM, its leader and his minions may resile from the foolish and obstinate position that they are taking on the matter of who is to be Director of Public Prosecutions.
    First, the latest events.  The press reported last week that Cheryl Grant Bethell is being forced out of her office without an official letter of appointment.  Mrs. Grant Bethell (below, right) was sent a letter by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission appointing her to the post of Deputy Law Reform Commissioner.  This is not the usual way an appointment is done and she has refused the appointment, which she is allowed to do according to the regulations of the public service.  Notwithstanding that refusal and the basic laws of contract, the Attorney General John Delaney has told her that as of Wednesday 7th July, this week she is to vacate the office.  During the last week, they were not even waiting on that day to come, they were found in her office going through her private papers with the assistance of one of the lawyers in the office and a police officer standing watch.
    So the point now is that it has reached the position where Mrs. Grant Bethell is being physically threatened by the leadership in the Attorney General's office to leave or be moved.  In the meantime, the stories on the web are getting more salacious about where this whole matter is going to head.  What we do not understand is why the FNM is being as obstinate and stupid as they are about this.  Their position is to scorch the earth, to slash and burn so certain it is that they are correct.
    The FNM do not seem to remember the case of Elizabeth Thompson, who now supports them and who was appointed under the PLP to the position of  Registrar General and then was relieved of that post.  She went to court and won the case and the government ended up having to pay out her entire contract in order to get rid of her.  We thought it was bad law then and the removal was certainly justified.  We thought that the decision by then Justice Hugh Small was a bad decision as well, but the fact is the PLP lost the argument.  They lost the argument in court of law and they lost the argument in the court of public opinion, the more important court.  That is the warning that we give these FNM people.
    We see for example John Delaney again in the press on Saturday 3rd July defending the decision to bring in the new Director of Public Prosecutions from Jamaica, Vinette Graham Allen (pictured).  She may well be a good person, we don’t know, but she was trashed for her work in Bermuda where she served before.    You may click here for a report from Bermuda on her performance.  Mr. Delaney said that notwithstanding the bad report from Bermuda, the new DPP was highly recommended and was just what the doctor ordered for shaking up the management of the staff of the office of Director of Public Prosecutions.  We shall see.  All we know is that the FNM is on a losing political wicket on this one.  They cannot win it.  The Bahamian people are against them on this and they need to settle this matter with Mrs. Grant Bethell and go quietly into the good night.  Carl Bethel, Michael Barnett and John Delaney should not let Hubert Ingraham run them up on brakes on this one.  They still have a future. He does not.
 
 

CAR LICENCES GONE UP - DRIVES PUBLIC CRAZY

    There is nothing that bites the public in the behind more than taxes when times are tough.  It is difficult to fathom how a government comes to the conclusion that in a time of austerity, they ought to raise taxes and fees.  Nevertheless, Hubert Ingraham in his wisdom along with his financial advisors has decided to do so and it is having the predictable political effect.  During the past week as the 1st July came upon us, people had to line up to licence their cars.  Those who were born in June and missed the deadline had a problem.  No licence and so the new fees applied.  They howled to the press about the cost and the lack of notice.
    The new rates are based on the weight of the car not on the size of the engine as it was previously.  The lawyer Wayne Munroe offered to give free legal services to anyone who wanted to test the new law asking how could an individual accept what his car weighed without having it checked before he or she paid?  That is a novel one.  Mr. Munroe told the press the response to his offer was overwhelming.  The new fees came into effect on July 1 and are based on the manufacturer’s curb weight of a vehicle.  Vehicles will not be weighed at the inspection site.
    Separated into classes of A, B, and C, the fees will rise from $135 to $150 for vehicles weighing up to 5,000 lbs, $550 for vehicles 5,001 to 15,000 lbs, and $700 for any vehicle more than 15,001 lbs.  The Hyundai Accent, Ford Fiesta, and Dodge Neon weigh less than 3,000 lbs.  Ford’s E150 and Expedition weigh more than 5,000 lbs, as does a Dodge Ram or Durango vehicle.  Larger vehicles like a Hummer H2 or H1 Alpha model could weigh in at more than 7,000 lbs.  Dump trucks and tractors are predominantly vehicles weighing more than 15,000 lbs.
Tribune photo/Felipe Major
 
 

SIR ARTHUR’S ADDRESS

    Last week, we featured photographs of the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes as he spoke on the history of the Catholic Church in The Bahamas.  This week, we present the entire statement by the Governor General, who is a Roman Catholic.  Sir Arthur delivered the lecture on Friday 25th June at the St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Nassau.
 
 

A VISIT TO MANGROVE CAY

    Picewell Forbes, the MP for South Andros, accompanied by Fred Mitchell MP of Fox Hill visited Mangrove Cay, one of the islands in Mr. Forbes’ constituency on Wednesday 1st July to give a donation to a family that lost their home in a fire and to inspect various public works problems in the area.  In the photograph above, MP Forbes and Mr. Mitchell are pictured visiting the home of the fire victims in Mangrove Cay.  We present a photo spread of the visit with photos by Pastor Christopher Smith.  Below in the first row from left: Fred Mitchell MP and Picewell Forbes MP looking at the new landing dock in Mangrove Cay; inspecting the hole at the public dock in Mangrove Cay, which the FNM Government has failed to fix.  In the second row: with Island Administrator Gilbert Kemp; the MPs visit the home of a senior citizen; and in the third row: inspecting boat building in Mangrove Cay; and inspecting the basketball court at the Mangrove Cay High School, which needs repair.




US INDEPENDENCE DAY
    US Ambassador Nicole Avant and her husband Theodore Sarandos hosted the reception for the 234th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America on Thursday 1st July at the residence of the Ambassador called Liberty Overlook in Nassau.  The party draws a huge crowd of people from all walks of life to the Ambassador’s yard and this year was again a smashing success.  Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes represented the Bahamian people at the event, together with Brent Symonette, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mrs. Symonette.  Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, represented the Progressive Liberal Party.
 
 

IN PASSING
John Kenning Dies
John Kenning has died following a long illness.  Mr. Kenning was married to the inheritor of Trevor Kelly's Kelly Lumber Yard's wealth.  Betty Kelly Kenning predeceased him.  He was the manger of Barclays Bank and came originally from the UK.  The couple donated funds for the construciton of the Olympic-size government swimming pool at the Q E. Sports Centre complex and were active in animal rights matters.

Toure Holder To Run RBC In TCI
A Bahamian bank manager with the Royal Bank of Canada is to become the new country head for Royal Bank of Canada in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  Mr. Holder previously served in St. Kitts and Nevis as Country head for RBC.

GBI Port Deal Settled
Sir Jack Hayward insists that the Port deal is settled between himself and the Estate of the Late Edward St. George.  The newspapers were reporting that the Court of Appeal had summoned the parties to hear where the matter now stood before they issued their rulings in the processes before them.  But Sir Jack insisted to the Nassau Guardian that this was all unnecessary because the deal is done.  He told the Guardian’s Candia Dames on 1st July that he and Sarah St. George work side by side in the Port’s offices.  He said that the respective parties in the litigation had each made the lawyers in the matter rich, providing new offices for them in Lyford Cay and in Freeport from the fees they paid to them.  He also added that the growth industry in Freeport was electrical generators.  Presumably this is because of the power failures that are plaguing the city.

Fayne Drops Out
Speculative stories continue in the newspaper about who is running for the PLP.  Brent Dean of the Nassau Guardian said in a story dated 30th June that Fayne Thompson, son of former Permanent Secretary Vylma Thompson Curling has withdrawn from the race for the PLP in South Beach with attorney Myles LaRoda leading the race there with Cleola Hamilton, the Nurse’s Union President also emerging as a potential candidate.  The speculation is also that Dr. Daniel Johnson, son-in-law of the late Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling is leading in the fight for the Carmichael constituency.

A Tit For Tat Murder
Former murder accused Bradley Ferguson was the man gunned down outside a Pinewood Gardens club on Saturday evening.  Mr. Ferguson had recently been released from custody after spending eight years in prison.  He was acquitted earlier this year on appeal for the 6th March 2002 murders of a pregnant Rosemary Bennett-Wright and her son Jakeel Wright of Fox Hill, as well as the attempted murders of Devonna Brown and Omega Fox.  Mr. Ferguson became the 46th murder victim for 2010 when he was shot multitple times around 7:15 p.m. outside the club, which is located on Sequoia Street in Pinewood Gardens.

Just As We Said - Air Jamaica Is Back
Last week we reported that Air Jamaica under its new owners Trinidad and Tobago Government’s Caribbean Airlines had reversed its decision to stop the service between Kingston and Nassau.  As of 1st July, it is official; Air Jamaica is back with the big jet.  This must be a great blow to Western Air with their 33 seater Saab aircraft and 400-dollar round trip airfare.  Western has been developing the route since Air Jamaica dropped out on 1st May and recently added Montego Bay.  But the big bird is now back and it is hard to see how Western will survive with Air Jamaica selling tickets at $145 each way.  Air Jamaica is using the Air Bus  A320, 150-passenger jet which now operates every day but Tuesday and Wednesday, with flights scheduled to leave Montego Bay at 9.35 a.m., depart Kingston at 1.10 p.m. and arrive in Nassau at 1.10 p.m.  The flight will then leave Nassau at 2.10 p.m. and arrive in Kingston at 2.35 p.m. before returning to Montego Bay.

New BUT Executive Council To Come
The entire executive council of the Bahamas Union of Teachers was removed by a no confidence vote in that executive.  We reported that last week.  Not to worry however.  Belinda Wilson, the president, introduced last week the new slate of officers who will run with her and presumably win in fresh elections scheduled for September.  Mrs. Wilson said that the vote of no confidence was necessary because the team could not get along and the only way to get the matters resolved was to clean the slate and start afresh.

COB Student Wins Michael Manley Essay Competition
Congratulations to Christopher Worrell of the College of The Bahamas, the 18-year-old student, who recently won the Michael Manley Essay competition.  The late Mr. Manley was Jamaica’s fourth Prime Minister.  Mr. Worrell won the 7th Michael Manley essay competition for undergraduate Students in tertiary institutions with an essay on self-reliance, equality and democracy as objectives for a just society.  An economics major at the COB, Christopher had only completed one semester when he wrote the winning essay and submitted it in January, eclipsing other entries by sophomore, junior and senior college students from around the Caribbean region.  He was awarded $1,000 and a certificate at a ceremony at the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions in Kingston, Jamaica.  Students who entered the essay competition were asked to discuss a statement made by Mr. Manley - Jamaica's fourth prime minister - in his first book, The Politics of Change: "Self-reliance, equality and democracy are the objectives towards which we must strive. Without these we cannot build a just society."  In his essay, Christopher called Mr. Manley's statement "revolutionary and meaningful."  However he argued that while these objectives may give a guideline that would ideally lead to a just society, humanity's inherent imperfections may make this goal unattainable.  Home-schooled by his parents through Lighthouse Christian Academy, Christopher was overjoyed when he received the recent e-mail indicating that he had won the competition.  "At that moment I stopped reading, I was thoroughly shocked.  I really couldn't believe it.  I thought ‘No way, there has got to be a mistake, because it took them so long to get back to me.’ So I read it again and it confirmed my first interpretation.  I felt like this was an unbelievable accomplishment," he said.  "I thought, 'Out of all the people in the Caribbean and West Indies I won!'  My hard work in research and writing, sacrificing Christmas break had finally paid off," the excited student exclaimed.
Christopher Worrell is pictured with Glynne Manley, Michael Manley s widow in this Tribune photo.

The Floyd Wilmott Contract
The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has been unmasked in a burgeoning scandal in and around the Free National Movement of awarding contracts to selected FNMs without going out to tender.  News reports indicate that Floyd Wilmott, the FNM contractor, who got the eight million dollar deal to build a ward at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, was also awarded a contract for 300,000 dollars to refurbish the official home of the Commissioner of Police.  The press was able to obtain a letter, which showed that Mr. Ingraham directly intervened to give the contract to Mr. Wilmott.  It appears that when the matter was challenged, Mr. Ingraham got cold feet and the matter was put to tender.  Mr. Ingraham claims that it was put to tender because he discovered that the repairs were going to be more than the $50,000, which the Ministry of Works could award without having to go to Cabinet for approval.  No one believes Mr. Ingraham’s story.  Floyd Wilmott is a favourite of his for giving contracts.  Click here for a copy of the Ministry of Works memorandum.

Olga Nash Is Buried

When she died she was 92 years old, having been born in a very different Bahamas in 1917.  Olga Bosfield Nash, the widow of the late H.O. Nash, the teacher, was buried following a service of thanksgiving at her beloved St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church.  The funeral service began with her favourite ‘Christians Awake’ hymn, which she first heard at Christmas midnight mass at St Mary’s when she was 12 years old.  The funeral was a great retrospective and must have been a comfort to her children Garth Nash, who himself is known as H.O. even though he is not named after his father and Arlene Ferguson, the former headmistress of St. John's High School and a consultant on Junkanoo in the country.  Mrs. Ferguson spoke of her mother and the period of 60 years they spent together as the period of Olga.  Her talk about her mum was humorous and touching.  One story she told was how Mrs. Nash pitched in to help the late Jane Bethel run the Bethel Brothers Mortician service.  Times were tough after the late founder Marcus Bethel was lost in an air crash in November 1967.  Mrs. Nash would commiserate with a fellow worker about how there were only two funerals in a particular week.  Her daughter said that Mrs. Nash could be heard saying over the phone “Don’t worry, the Lord will provide.”  The next week, said the daughter, there would be five funerals.  Mrs. Nash could be overheard saying, “I told you so.”  This story brought down the House.
Photo/Peter Ramsay
 

Beating The Retreat
By the time that this column appears next week, if the Lord should tarry, The Bahamas will have celebrated its 37th anniversary as a nation, the 10th July 2010 being that anniversary.  The Royal Bahamas Police Force marks the occasion with the beating of the retreat on Bay Street and this year they did so on Saturday 3rd July.

Carl Treco Buried

Last week, we reported the death of well-known contractor Carl Treco, a faithful member of the Christ Church Cathedral of the Anglican Church in Nassau.  Mr. Treco who died at the age of 86 was buried following a service of thanksgiving at the cathedral on Saturday 3rd July.  The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham attended the funeral.  This was a Long island funeral with representatives attending from every Long Island clan.  He was a major leader of those who hailed from that island who live in Nassau.  The preacher was a Long Island favourite son Archdeacon Keith Cartwright.
BIS photo/Peter Ramsay

We Support Bradley Roberts
There was a speculative story, without a named source by Paul Turnquest in The Tribune Tuesday 29th June.  The story said that a group of PLPs were against the chairmanship of Bradley Roberts and described him in some pretty unflattering terms.  Let us make it clear; we support Bradley Roberts, who has given voice to the PLP where there was none before and put some fire back in the belly.  We think that stories of that kind are simply counterproductive at this point.

Antigua Court Case
The decision of the Court of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean has been reserved in the case of the Prime Minister of Antigua's appeal against the order of an election court to vacate his seat and those of two of his other ministers because of election irregularities.  The respondents, Lester Bird's ALP, have been asked to reply to a question within seven days and then a decision will be rendered.

Caricom Meeting Begins
The Heads of Government of Caricom begin their meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica today

Police Head's Accusations In Jamaica
A former Commissioner of Police has accused the government there of links to Christopher ‘Dudas’ Coke, whose extradition to the US caused a state of emergency to be declared in Jamaica.  The former COP said that when he notified the Minister of national security in Jamaica of the request for extradition, within fifteen minutes Mr. Coke was aware of the request and fled to his redoubt in Jamaica.  This is explosive news.  The Minister is looking at the Official Secrets Act to see if the former COP has violated any laws and has said that the former COP is simply trying to cover up his failure as a Commissioner of Police.



Previous Columns
 
 
11th July, 2010
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.

...THIRTY SEVEN YEARS LATER...

PERRY CHRISTIE'S INDEPENDENCE MESSAGE... FRED MITCHELL CALLS FOR A REPUBLIC OF THE BAHAMAS...
INDEPENDENCE PHOTOS... 'BAREFOOT BANDIT' CAUGHT IN ELEUTHERA...
CHARLES MAYNARD ATTACKS BRAVE DAVIS... OSWALD BROWN AND THE TRIBUNE  IN A WAR...
BRADLEY ROBERTS ON THE STATE OF HEALTH CARE... CATHOLICS CELEBRATE 50 YEARS...
ALEX CHRISTIE SIGNS A CONTRACT... MITCHELL AT US INDEPENDENCE...
CRABS FOR COMPUTERS... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
IN PASSING...
Fred Mitchell Launches 3rd Edition of 'Great Moments In PLP History... Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com... Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com  Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report... Bahamian Cycling News
BahamasIssues.com
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return to the top of the page.


HAPPY 37th BIRTHDAY: - The people of New Providence, friends and visitors gathered at Clifford Park on Friday 9th July to mark the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the independence of The Bahamas.  Each year, the ceremony takes place on the park and throughout the country to mark the occasion of the country’s birth.  The police and other disciplined forces put on a display of martial precision at the Clifford Park site to the thrill of the crowds.  It is also an occasion to show off the culture of the country.  This year, the theme was seeing independence through eyes of young people.  Peter Ramsay’s photo is the photo to mark the occasion for the 37th anniversary of the independence of The Bahamas.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

THIRTY SEVEN YEARS LATER
Many people may not remember how we celebrated the first anniversary of our independence.  After the euphoria of 1973, the great occasion of the actual independence itself, the time went quickly.  It almost seemed that people forgot that it was something that you had to do every year.  It came so quickly upon us and the times were hard.  Full of austerity and government cutbacks.  The signature piece that year was the planting of a citrus tree by the then Prime Minister’s wife now Dame Marguerite Pindling.  We wonder what happened to that tree.

Is the 37th anniversary destined to go down in history with the same ignominy?

It seems to us that the Free National Movement does not take independence seriously as a national celebration.  They treat it very much as an afterthought.  Something we have to do but one of those celebrations in which you engage with the question: do we have to?  Not again!

But the answer is yes, we have to and we have to do it over and over again.  There is a symbolism, authenticity and integrity built into repeating the obvious with a new twist, but with same ideals every year.  It is how the young are trained and it keeps the borders more secure than guns can ever do.  The fact is we are a nation in part because of the consent of the governed, not because we are forced together by military might.

Why else would people who live in Abaco and Grand Bahama who could easily spin off on their own, ‘agree’ to continue to see Nassau as the centre which holds us together?  There is a spirit and a tie that binds, which is cultural, voluntary and is not through coercion or law.

So The Bahamas Government should not treat the independence celebrations as an afterthought.  This year, they claim that the country is in a recession and so the money has been cut all around.  If you ride around the island on which the capital city sits, some of the areas that used to be festooned with decorative bunting and flags, like Fox Hill for example, have none.  There is simply very little evidence that this is the month of the country’s independence.  Just visit Barbados in November when they celebrate the independence of their country and see the contrast and the evidence of the event.

So much about the FNM administration is wanting, but the neglect of our culture, their disregard for the ethos and sprit of the people of The Bahamas is a most egregious wrong on their part.  Recession or not, the anniversary should be taken seriously and planned with precision.

The theme this year is seeing the anniversary through the eyes of the young.  We wonder what they must really think.  Not the practiced addresses that they give on stages about what a wonderful place it is, but against the backdrop of no scholarships, no jobs and the endless talk about how no good they are.  That is the FNM and that is how they treat independence.  What a shame on this 37th birthday.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 10th July 2010 up to midnight: 126,420.

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PERRY CHRISTIE'S INDEPENDENCE MESSAGE

    We present the official message from the Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie MP on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of Independence.  Mr. Christie reflects “on our journey of nationhood with both patriotism and pride …proud that the instrument of Independence has enabled our people to make our own laws, shape our own destiny as a country, and define the Bahamian identity on the global stage.”  You may click here for Mr. Christie’s full message.
 
 

FRED MITCHELL CALLS FOR A REPUBLIC

    We present a signed article by Fred Mitchell MP which first appeared in the special supplement produced by the Progressive Liberal Party to mark the 37th anniversary of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  In the article, Mr. Mitchell’s retrospective ‘PROTECTING THE LEGACY OF SOCIAL MOBILITY’, he calls for the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic of The Bahamas.
    “…Could The Bahamas survive as an independent country?  That was the question of the day.  Instinctively, we believed that the answer was yes.  Time has shown that we were right…
     “What thoughts do the 17 year olders have in their heads about where The Bahamas should be?
     “…the story of Bahamian Independence for me (is) the social mobility which allowed people of poor beginnings to rise up to be at the commanding heights of the economy.”
    You may click here for Mr. Mitchell’s retrospective.
 
 

INDEPENDENCE PHOTOS

    Independence through the eyes of young people was the theme of this year's Independence celebrations.  We present a Peter Ramsay photo essay on the official happenings of Independence 2010.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay





 

'BAREFOOT BANDIT' CAUGHT IN ELEUTHERA
    The Associated Press in a signed article by Bahamian journalist Juan McCartney of the Nassau Guardian reports as follows:
    NASSAU, Bahamas – The teenage "Barefoot Bandit" who allegedly stole cars, boats and airplanes to dodge U.S. law enforcement was nabbed Sunday as he tried to make a water escape then brought handcuffed — and shoeless — to the capital to face justice, abruptly ending his two-year life on the lam.
    Colton Harris-Moore was arrested before dawn in northern Eleuthera, said Sgt. Chrislyn Skippings, a spokeswoman for the Royal Bahamas Police Force. A contingent of high-ranking officers traveled to the island and took the suspect to Nassau, the country's capital, where he faces possible extradition to the United States.
    True to his nickname, the 19-year-old suspect was barefoot as he stepped off the plane. He kept his head down and ignored questions shouted by reporters. Escorted by six police cars and SUVs, the teen had close-shorn hair and wore short camouflage cargo pants, a white long-sleeved shirt and a bulletproof vest. Police blocked traffic on the route to the Central Detective Unit where he was taken for processing.
    Island police had been searching for the wily fugitive since he allegedly crash-landed a stolen plane a week ago on nearby Great Abaco Island, where he was blamed for a string of at least seven break-ins.
    Authorities caught Harris-Moore on a boat near Harbour Island, a small tourist destination just off mainland Eleuthera, said a senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case. He said Harris-Moore initially attempted to flee but police shot out the engine on his boat.
Harris-Moore, who has been running from American law enforcement since escaping from a Washington state halfway house in 2008, gained fame and thousands of fans who admired his ability to evade arrest. He is suspected of stealing cars, boats and at least five planes — including the aircraft he allegedly lifted in Indiana and flew more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the islands off Florida's coast, despite a lack of formal flight training.
    The teen is a skilled outdoorsman who honed his abilities growing up in the woods of Camano Island in Puget Sound about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Seattle.
    Island police picked up his trail in Eleuthera after recovering a 44-foot (13-meter) power boat stolen from a marina on Abaco, 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the north.
Burglary victims in Eleuthera told The Associated Press on Saturday they had little doubt the lanky, 6-foot, 5-inch (1.9-meter) fugitive was on the island.
    Ferry boat captain Freddie Grant said he was returning from Harbour Island on Wednesday evening when he saw a tall, white teenager bathing or swimming in an inlet near the ferry landing. Ferry service employee Stan Pennerman also said he saw Harris-Moore lurking in the woods the same day.
    Neither man thought much of it until they noticed the next morning that somebody had damaged the ignition system on three of their boats.
    A bar at the ferry landing was also burglarized Wednesday night by a thief who cut a screen to break in, dismantled a security light, and moved the television's remote controls, said Denaldo Bain, the 30-year-old manager of Coakley's International Sporting Lounge.
    "He was watching television. He was just chilling," said Bain, who also said he saw the teenager in the inlet.
    Sightings were later reported elsewhere in Eleuthera, including at a bar in Governor's Harbour, 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south, where one witness said Harris-Moore bought drinks for a girl. Others claimed to see him driving a rental car around the island Saturday.
    Harris-Moore's mother, Pam Kohler, has said that he had a troubled childhood. His first conviction, for possession of stolen property, came at age 12. Within a few months of turning 13, he had three more.
    But Kohler also has publicly defended her son, saying the allegations against him are exaggerated. She has told the AP that she hoped he would flee to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States.
    Reached early Sunday at her home on Camano Island in Washington state, she said she'd heard the news about the arrest but had no comment.
Harris-Moore was sentenced to nearly four years in juvenile detention after being caught in an unoccupied home in 2007, but he did well enough there that he was transferred to a group home, where he sneaked out of a window more than two years ago.
    He was dubbed the "Barefoot Bandit" for allegedly going shoeless during some crimes and once allegedly leaving behind chalk footprints as a calling card.
Harris-Moore has nearly 58,000 fans on Facebook, some of whom on Sunday posted disappointed messages or promoted T-Shirts and tote bags with the words "Free Colton!" and "Let Colton Fly!"
Tribune photo of Colton Harris-Moore disembarking aircraft
 
 

CHARLES MAYNARD ATTACKS BRAVE DAVIS

    Charles Maynard who spent nearly 20,000 dollars partying in South Africa with Sol Kerzner and did not hit a lick for the Bahamian people while he was there over the last two weeks was in the press, The Tribune to be exact, making an allegation against the PLP’s Phil Davis.  Mr. Maynard suggested that certain allegations of corrupt behaviour made against him and this father on the web were inspired by Mr. Davis through operatives working for Mr. Davis.  Mr. Davis denied it.
    This is part of the continuing effort by Mr. Maynard as an Ingraham operative to sully the name of the PLP’s Deputy Leader.  Mr. Davis is a lawyer by profession and Mr. Maynard’s first salvo in the House of Assembly was that Mr. Davis was among the lawyers who helped to bog down the process of the courts.  It was a ridiculous assertion and without foundation but off the press went running with it.
    Mr. Maynard thinks that every time he attacks Mr. Davis, the allegations of corruption against him and his father show up on the web and he puts that to Mr. Davis’ account.  Mr. Davis said quite apart from it being untrue and not being his modus operandi generally, Mr. Maynard should ask himself why he feels the need to attack him (Mr. Davis) personally in order to get ahead.  The answer is of course that it pleases his master Hubert Ingraham.  Jump!  How high?
 
 

OSWALD BROWN AND TRIB IN A WAR

    How, in the blessed name of heaven, did bahamasuncensored.com get mixed up in a row between FNMs over who said what?  As strange as that seems that is exactly what happened last week as The Tribune published a letter from Oswald Brown, the FNM Editor who was fired from the Freeport News and is now anti Hubert Ingraham.  We published the letter by Mr. Brown, which criticized Mr. Ingraham for taking a trip to South Africa to party with Sol Kerzner while the country is going to hell in a hand basket.  We appended an editorial note of support, correcting the grammar and syntax from certain comments made on bahamspress.com.
    It turns out that whoever supplied the letter to The Tribune attached the comments from bahamaspress.com without saying that the comments were not those of Mr. Brown.  The Tribune published everything, adding the comments that appeared on bahamaspress.com as a postscript.  Mr. Brown was livid and threatened to sue.  Now the funny part.  The Tribune’s editor Eileen Carron claimed that the letter came from bahamasuncensored.com and that it was Bradley Roberts, the PLP Chairman, who sent the letter to them and appended the postscript.  Mrs. Carron then suggested that Bradley Roberts is now the editor of bahamasuncensored.com.  Congratulations, Mr. Roberts!  Things get funnier and funnier.  Mrs. Carron told Mr. Brown not to waste his time suing The Tribune.  She said that it was better for him to talk to Mr. Roberts.  What would he say to him?  You know the story though; when FNMs and rascals fall out, look out.
 
 

BRADLEY ROBERTS ON THE STATE OF HEALTH CARE

    The Minister of Health Hubert Minnis has said that the facilities for dialysis in the public hospital are operating normally.  He was responding to a press statement by the PLPs Chairman Bradley Roberts on complaints about the facility.  Mr. Roberts issued a statement on 7th   July saying that the facility was understaffed was out of certain medications and was a danger to patients.  You may click here for the full statement.
    Later in the week, Mr. Roberts followed up with a further allegation that the labs at the public hospital were not up to scratch because of shortages in equipment and issues with the air conditioning in the facility.  You may click here for that full statement.
 
 

CATHOLICS CELEBRATE 50 YEARS

    To mark the occasion the establishment of the Diocese of Nassau as a Roman Catholic diocese 50 years ago, Monday 5th July, Roman Catholics gathered under the guidance of their first Bahamian Bishop and Metropolitan Patrick Pinder in a concelebrated mass of thanksgiving at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral.  The Papal Nuncio who lives in Trinidad and Tobago concelebrated the service, as did the Archbishop of Jamaica.  In his homily, Archbishop Pinder paid tribute to his predecessors in the office Leonard Hagarty and Lawrence Burke.  Attending the mass were public officials from the Commonwealth including Dion Foulkes, the Minister of Labour representing the Prime Minister and Frank Smith MP representing Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie.  Fred Mitchell MP and Alfred Sears MP for the PLP also attended along with Loretta Butler Turner, the Minister of State for Social Services as well as Sir Michael Barnett, the Chief Justice.  We present a photo essay by Peter Ramsay, himself a lifelong Roman Catholic.
Peter Ramsay photos





 

ALEX CHRISTIE SIGNS A CONTRACT

    There was joy in heaven and the Christie household, that is of Perry and Bernadette Christie, mother of Alex as she signed her first international recording contract with Isoscope Records on 6th July.  The signing took place in Atlanta, Georgia where the younger Christie has been living for the past year with the active support of her father and the chaperoning of her mother.  Her producer is Dallas Austin.  The hope is that Alex will succeed in the way that Barbadian star Rihanna has succeeded across the world.  We wish her well.
Photo/Andrew Burrows
 
 

MITCHELL AT US INDEPENDENCE

    Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill and the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade attended the ceremony and reception on behalf of the Progressive Liberal Party hosted by US Ambassador Nicole A. Avant on Thursday 1st July held at the US Ambassador’s home Liberty Overlook on Prospect Ridge in New Providence.  The photo shows Mr. Mitchell being greeted by the Ambassador and her husband Ted Sarandos.
BIS photo/Patrick Hanna
 
 

CRABS FOR COMPUTERS
    Gilbert Kemp is the Family Island administrator in Mangrove Cay, appointed pursuant to the Local Government Act.  This means that for all things official, he is the link to the central government for the people of Mangrove Cay.  He has taken up a special mission in that role as administrator seeking to ensure that the children in this area keep up to date with modern life and access to the information that will help them develop.  Andros is an area known for its crabs and as this is crab season, a commodity in demand in New Providence, he has come up with a plan to swap crabs for computers.  The article is contributed from Mangrove Cay:
    The students of the Mangrove Cay, Andros community are pleased to announce the start of "The Crabs for Computers Summer Initiative".  This program, the brainchild of Island Administrator Gilbert Kemp, was designed to help the students of the Mangrove Cay community purchase laptops for themselves.  Mr. Kemp, in speaking about the program, explained the multiple objectives which are expected to assist the local students and community in a very positive way.
    "We are getting the students of Mangrove Cay involved in positive initiatives this summer.  The "Crabs for Computers" program invites every student in the community to participate by going out and catching crabs which will in turn be sold to buy laptops for participating students.
    "We expect that this program will be beneficial as it teaches our children that there is reward in hard work, while at the same time gives them an opportunity to secure one of the most valuable commodities of our time, a personal computer.
    "We are looking to train and prepare our students for the global and technological environment.  We don't want and won't allow the kids of the Mangrove Cay community to be left behind.  It is so refreshing when early in the morning some of the students would come shouting out excitedly,
"Commish, Commish! I have two dozen crabs!"
    We recognize that there are challenges with respect to each household having its own internet supply, so we have arranged to have WiFi hotspots placed around the island so that everyone can connect to the internet with their new laptops at no additional costs to their already financially pressed families.
    "We have a vital need.  We are looking for a hand up, not handouts.  The crabs will be sold at a very competitive rate of $25 per dozen.  The lowest price anywhere!  We will ship them to you, just pick up your box from the boat."
    Mangrove Cay is a quaint island community with no major hotels or large businesses.  The hard working and industrious residents live mainly off of the sea.  They are peaceful and hard-working, a trait that can be seen in the children who each year sell crabs to help support their families.
    All Bahamians with an interest in the advancement of our children and youth are asked to support this venture.  Orders can be placed by calling 225-1837, 225-9041, 225-7263 or 556-9591.
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Allyson Maynard Gibson
…on the death of John Kenning
    The country notes with sadness and a very heavy heart the passing last week of Mr. John Kenning O.B.E., a Bahamian with a big heart and an unquenchable desire for excellence and making a positive difference in people’s lives.
    The Kennings (John and Betty) were well known Bahaman philanthropists. Both were animal lovers and they were largely responsible for the existence of the Bahamas Humane Society as we know it today, a world class organization.  The Kennings were also largely responsible for the construction of the Betty Kenning Aquatic Centre, a world class swim training centre in The Bahamas. The late Mrs. Betty Kenning O.B.E., was an avid swimmer (at world class level in her youth). She had and pursued a vision for young Bahamian swimmers achieving their full potential on the world stage. With much reluctance, she allowed the national aquatic centre to bear her name.
    Mr. John Kenning was a banker par excellence. He was an advisor to many Governments, in which capacity he generously gave his time and talent. He never allowed artificial barriers, such as politics, to interfere with his friendships nor his philanthropic efforts. For as long as he was in the financial services sector, he was determined that The Bahamas should be seen to be a jurisdiction of excellence: a blue chip jurisdiction. In his view, all financial services required a strong retail banking sector. He was a proud “Barclays Man”.
    Mr. John Kenning took pride in his ability to spot, nurture, mentor, invest in and otherwise develop Bahamian talent. Many of the nation’s top bankers and business people are protégées of John Kenning. He was a highly principled and conservative man. Excellence was his watchword.
    Mr. John Kenning felt the need to foster Bahamian entrepreneurship. At a time when banks were oriented to consumer loans for the ordinary Bahamian, he took seriously and examined carefully the business proposals of many ordinary Bahamians who wanted to venture into their own business. Many a story has been told by people who never would have received a business loan, but for the fact that John Kenning “knew his customer”. They, grateful to be afforded the opportunity to pursue their dream, did not let him down. Those businesses, and through them John Kenning, helped to create a significant middle class in The Bahamas.
    Innumerable Bahamians have been the recipients of the Kennings’ quiet generosity, whether from enabling their freight to come to The Bahamas either free or at a substantial discount, receiving a scholarship, receiving building materials either free or at a substantial discount and many other examples. The Kennings gave freely without looking for an earthly reward. Many religious communities have also been recipients of their bigheartedness.
    Many people will recall his personal discipline. He used to run on the Cable Beach strip every morning. He was an avid and very competent golfer. During his wife’s illness, he saw to her every need and desire for as long as he could before he too became ill. He was a loving husband.
    Thank you Mr. John Kenning O.B.E., (born in Ireland) for choosing to make The Bahamas your home and for so richly enhancing the Bahamian tapestry.
    May his soul rest in peace.
Allyson Maynard Gibson

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Elcott Coleby on The Tribune
    I make reference to a recent Tribune article, editorial, and cartoon sketch.  Have the laws of the Bahamas been recently changed to legally empower the opposition to spend money from the public treasury?  I ask this rhetorical question because during the committal stage of the budget in the House, The Hon. Carl Bethel was seen and heard quoting from the constitution to argue that the resolution tabled by the Member from Fox Hill to increase government financial support for the burial of loved ones of the poor was unconstitutional.
    The owner of the Tribune used that newspaper as a platform to imply that Opposition Leader Christie actually had the legal authority to spend the $200,000 allocation for his constituency.  The cartoon sketch in the Tribune showed Christie with a big bag of money on his shoulders, clearly creating the impression that he was legally empowered to spend the money.
     The fact is that only the government can authorize expenditure of public funds and it has to be approved by The Cabinet and executed through the Ministry of Finance, with or without the sanction of the opposition. In the case of the constituency allowance, the MP can only make a request and the government either honors the request, or not. In the case of Centerville and Farm Road, the request made by the MP was not honored by the government (for what ever reason).
     The Tribune article, editorial, and cartoon sketch was interpreted and came across as the FNM government stabbing Christie, them blaming Christie for bleeding. This proverbial shot was decidedly cheap and well below the belt. It was a classic case of not allowing the facts to get in the way of a good salacious story, a good political spin, or a good old fashion political smear, all to accrue some political benefit to the FNM.
    This is unfortunate for a newspaper of note, given the role of the Fourth Estate as the official gate keeper in a free, modern, democratic state such as ours.
Elcott Coleby

------------------------

Forrester Carroll - Living It Up In Sin City…
    Within the last 48 hours six more murders were added to the growing list of 41, recorded for the year thus far, bringing the year-to-date total to 47.  This was the tale-of-the-tape for the week ending 26th June 2010 and all this going on while the man charged with responsibility for the country's national security matters, hob-knobs with Sol Kerzner (sorry; Sir Sol Kerzner) as his guest on a pleasure trip to Sin City in South Africa.  Amidst the heinous acts of gruesome murders occurring in the capitol this past six-day week armed robberies, drug arrests, housebreaking and stealing too numerous to mention, were rampant and the police force, while doing the best they can, of course, seems overwhelmed and helpless to stem the tide of crime generally, in the country.  All this, I say again, happening while the man, charged with responsibility for the country's national security matters, hob-knobs with Sir Solomon Kerzner as his guest on a pleasure, all expense paid, trip to Sin City in South Africa.
    The minister of finance, as well, whose charge and responsibility it is to create and maintain a favourable investment climate, to facilitate job creation, in the country, is also (at this time and has been for a week with another week to go) hob-knobbing with Sol Kerzner as his guest on this aforementioned all expense paid pleasure trip to Sin City in South Africa.  It should be noted that while Hubert and Tommy and Charles and their entourage are living it up in Sin City, the minister for the environment was, on Friday 25th June, issuing pink slips to 250-300 government workers and sending them home with no hope of finding alternative employment any time soon.  In addition, while the minister was carrying out that act, about 100 persons were let go in Freeport, Grand Bahama, from two businesses which closed their doors and another which scaled back their operations by letting 12 of their valuable employees go, citing lack of work for them to do.  I say valuable employees because one of the workers, among the 12 terminated, was employed by the company, fresh out of school, more than 40 years ago; she was a forty year plus, veteran employee.  It truly saddens my heart to see what is happening in the country but especially here in Grand Bahama where career employees, with this many years on jobs, are let go from these companies.  The government, of Hubert Alexander Ingraham, should be ashamed of themselves for what they have done to ordinary struggling Bahamians in this once tranquil and prosperous Bahamaland.
    What are these three cabinet ministers, including the prime minister of the country, doing socializing at the people's expense half way around the world, at a time like this, while Bahamians suffer under the most strenuous of economic conditions created by the great economic architect, Hubert Alexander Ingraham, himself?  Shouldn't they have cancelled this and all other unnecessary trips, and view this crisis as a disaster requiring their constant attention?  Shouldn't they have exercised more common sense and saw that they needed to be more sensitive to the current misery index in the country? Do they care what hardships Bahamians are confronted with on a daily basis (and have been for the last three years that the FNM has been in office) in their homes and on their one or two-day a week jobs, if they are the lucky ones to have a roof over their heads and a two day a week job to go to?  But you know what, after all is said and done?  We are to be blamed and I'll say again for emphasis that, we get the government we deserve and we deserve the leaders we elect.  There was once a choice between the Lord Jesus Christ and Barabbas; we chose Barabbas.
    Newspaper headlines and photographs coming out of Sin City Africa show Ingraham and the boys laughing it up and having a good ole time while murders, armed robberies and other crimes threaten to engulf us, here at home.  The murders, I referred to above, for the most part, were calculated and not random killings; and to have had six of them being committed in six days, tells us a lot as to where the country is in terms of getting this menace under control.  Nothing seems to be working, notwithstanding the best efforts of the commissioner and his police officers.  I must remind my readers that Urban Renewal - (Perry Christie's, that is) - was having a very positive impact on the level of criminal activity in the country, before Ingraham came to office, but for purely silly political reasons he dismantled the program and resorted to the watered down, ineffective, version it is today.  The FNM has turned this extremely effective three-time, international award-winning social outreach program, into merely a shell of its former status and a jobs program where FNM cronies, who are unable to hold down jobs anywhere else in the country, are dumped and paid salaries from the public treasury for just hanging around.
    The impact of Ingraham's 2010-2011 budget is already being felt throughout the country.  The long lines at the road traffic department, both in Freeport and Nassau, on the last two days in June showed just how desperate persons were to save on the outrageously high increases (in some cases around 200-300%) in the licensing of their vehicles before the new rates became effective on 1st July.  I am told that on the very last day (June 30th) there were persons who frantically ran to their banks to withdraw funds and stood in line for hours, when they found out what the increases would be, effective July 1st, to have their vehicles licenses renewed.  Some have opted to license their vehicles as far in advance as two and in some cases three months.  All this going on while Ingraham, Tommy, Charles and their entourage, with their dry martinis in hand and at the expense of the Bahamian tax payers, hob-knob with Sir Sol Kerzner and those dancing African girls in their scanty outfits.  Are these guys for real?  Is this the trusted, caring government you folks elected in 2007?  Is this what you bargained for?  Can these guys, honestly, claim that they really care for Bahamians and what they are going through?  I have my doubts and certainly, I am not convinced.
    They will return this week, we are told; what benefits will they bring from South Africa for the Country?  Will they bring some financial assistance for the increasing numbers of poor and needy among us, or will they bring only the pay off (as told me by a friend) from Sir Sol Kerzner for the Knighthood that Ingraham gave him?  They tell me that Sir Sol paid big bucks for that honour, given him by this Ingraham FNM government, and that this trip, by the boys, was only a part of his show of gratitude for the honour bestowed.
    I am convinced that Ingraham is doing exactly what he did, in 2000, when he realized that it was very likely that he would have lost the 2002 general elections.  He started travelling as much as he could.  He and his entourage attended all events the country was invited to and spent up all the country's resources in his effort (I was convinced at the time) to leave the public treasury completely broke, which he did, for when the PLP took office.  His modus operandi now, I am convinced, is the same as it was in the year 2000; spend what the country doesn't have and leave nothing for the incoming PLP government to work with.
    A prominent lawyer opined to me recently; "But Mr. Carroll," he said, "these guys have two loaded 45 calibre guns at our heads and there is nothing we can do to get rid of them for another two years short of a coup, which is not our style.”  This, I believe, sums it up and best describes the current mindset of the majority of Bahamians, including many traditional FNM supporters.
    We can't wait; we need change.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
9th July 2010
 
 

IN PASSING
Sonny Martin Buried
Farewell to our friend Elon ‘Sonny’ Martin who was buried in his beloved West End following a ceremony at the Anglican Pro Cathedral in Freeport, Grand Bahama on Saturday 10th July.  Mr. Martin is survived by his wife Sheila; children Stephanie, April, Tiffany and Ricardo; a brother Dennis and the Consul General in Atlanta, Kay Smith, a niece.  Speaking at the funeral were Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, former Governor General Arthur Hanna; former Speaker Sir Arlington Butler and his brother Dennis Martin.  Perry Christie PLP Leader and Philip ‘Brave’ Davis Deputy Leader attended as well.

Fred Mitchell In Exuma and Long Island
Each year at this time, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell joins the people of the Exuma constituency and their MP Anthony Moss to celebrate Independence Day.  Mr. Mitchell celebrated again this year on the Regatta Park in Georgetown along with his sister Carla Seymour and her children Carlton Jr. and Celine.  The family then went on to Long island on Sunday 11th July to visit with PLPs in Long Island.

Sir Orville In Car Accident
Former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest and driver are said to be well following a road traffic accident on Friday 2nd July that totalled his car.  He was being driven by his chauffer when someone was overtaking cars and wandered into his lane.  There was a head on crash despite the best efforts of his driver to avoid the crash.

Container Report Investigation Ready
Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes says that the report by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) investigator into the events that led to the death of three people at the Freeport Container Port following a tornado there on 29th March has been presented to the government.  He said that the government is reviewing it findings.  No word on when the report will be made public.  In the meantime, the government is still trying to fire the met officers who they say did not issue a timely a warning to Grand Bahama.  This is to seek to put the blame on them when the real problem is the government's failure to open a met office in Freeport to deal with Grand Bahama's weather issues once the weather station supplied by the Grand Bahama Port Authority closed.

Moody’s Report
Moody’s has maintained the current credit rating for The Bahamas citing the recent moves by the Ingraham administration to cut the deficit and raise taxes.

Indie Irie Performs At Girls Industrial School
The American performer Indie Irie was a special guest of U.S. Ambassador Nicole A Avant for the US Independence Celebrations.  While in Nassau, she took time out to give a special performance with the children at the Girls Industrial School where young women under the age of 18 who are sentenced to jail are housed.

Fox Hill On Independence Day
The people of Fox Hill will mark the occasion of the 37th independence of The Bahamas with a special flag raising ceremony on Saturday 17th July.  The ceremony will be led by Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell on the Fox Hill Parade and is open to the public.  These ceremonies were begun in 2006 at the request of the then Committee for Independence Celebrations headed by the late Winston Saunders who asked local communities to find ways to mark the occasion.

Independence In Miami
The Bahamas will mark the occasion of the Independence of The Bahamas in Florida at the St. Agnes Anglican Church in Overtown, Miami on Sunday 18th July at 3 p.m.  Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, will attend for the Progressive Liberal Party.

Stella Maris Corrects Adrian Gibson
Adrian Gibson, the writer for The Tribune, who is known for his anti PLP columns, wrote a column in which he made certain accusations about Stella Maris, the Long Island hotel.  He said that the resort paid people 100 dollars per week for a full week’s work.  The owners of Stella Maris wrote a letter to the editor of The Tribune in which they denied any such thing.  They said that they were proud of their record of keeping everyone on in a recession and for paying wages in accordance with the wage laws of The Bahamas.  One hundred dollars per week would be in violation of those laws.

Crawfish Must Now Be Certified
Now in order to send crawfish from The Bahamas, it has to be officially certified through a government-approved process that shows it was caught in an ecologically sustainable way and in conformity with the law.  The Fisheries Department has initiated the first of the training programmes for this in Abaco.  The rule now is that unless the certificate accompanies the crawfish, they will not be allowed into the European markets.  Interesting, now that we have free trade access because of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europeans; this certificate on sustainable practices, anon tariff barrier to trade.  The Bahamas exports some 60 million dollars of crawfish to Europe every year.

Babak To Be Investigated
With the collapse of Freeport Concrete and the dismissal of 60 workers in Grand Bahama, some in Freeport are calling for the Securities Commission to investigate the related business practices of Freeport Concrete that had the company renting from its largest shareholder and that shareholder then refusing to put more money into the company so that it could survive.  The main shareholder was Hannes Babak and when called upon to rescue the company, he refused and let it go under, with the company owing him money for rent.

Bahama Rock Looking To Andros
There was a town meeting in Freeport on Thursday 1st July in which the Minister of the Environment and the Members of Parliament for the Grand Bahama Island met with residents of Eight Mile Rock who are fed up with the blasting and cracks that come from Bahama Rock excavating aggregate from the sub soil just the other side of their homes.  Smooth assurances came from the Minister that all is well.  Troy Garvey, the community activist, was not satisfied.  But what is interesting is the talk that as the situation becomes more troublesome in Grand Bahama, Bahama Rock may be looking to move their operations to Andros.  Scouts from the company are said to have made a trip to Andros looking at possible sites to excavate.  Now that would be a disaster, given the sensitive ecological nature and importance of Andros to The Bahamas.

Troy Garvey Leaves The PLP
Troy Garvey, the civic activist from Grand Bahama who made a name for himself as a leader in Eight Mile Rock during the uproar over the allegations of molestation of young boys at the high school there, and who most recently applied for a nomination from the PLP, has left the PLP and is now a member of the National Democratic Party.

Melissa Sears
Melissa Sears whose light shone bright at the PLP convention following the general election in 2007, who was the moving force behind the PLP activist group the PLAN, was a party Vice Chair and was central to the organizing of the Young Liberals in Freeport, appears to be in some difficulty.   You may remember that she resigned her position as Vice Chair with a cryptic note citing personal reasons.  This lead to considerable and salacious speculation in both the mainstream press and on the web.  This column defended her as she was attacked by some PLPs who suggested disloyalty to the PLP.  That storm seemed to pass and it appeared that there was a family split and divorce in the works but things seemed to be, in the circumstances, on even keel.  Last week, however, came the front-page news that she had resigned her job and  from the words of the head of her former insurance firm it appeared that she had been forced out.  The story then begins to get dangerously complicated and is not yet confirmed, but it appears that other difficulties are on the way.

Political Prisoners In Cuba
The Cuban government has relented in the face of criticism of the practice of locking up those who dissent in Cuba.  It has agreed with the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish Foreign Minister to what is reportedly the largest ever release of political prisoners.  This ended the hunger strike of the leading dissident Guillermo Farinas who was said to be getting dangerously ill after 130 days of not eating in protest against the Cuban government’s continued detention of political dissidents that the government there called American mercenaries.

AG Says Law To Change For Elections
If it were not serious, it would be laughable.  John Delaney, the Attorney General, says that he has completed his review of the ruling of the Election Court that decided that Ryan Pinder was duly elected to the House of Assembly based on the protest votes cast.  The Prime Minister had ordered the review because he objected to the votes being handed to  Mr. Pinder by amongst others a voter who was not registered in the constituency and simply turned up to vote because she was resident in the constituency.  The Prime Minster said that they were looking to an appeal to the Privy Council and or changing the laws to clarify the rules on residency.  No mention by the AG in his latest intervention of the Privy Council, which seemed ludicrous on the face of the clear prohibition in the Constitution on any such appeal.  But the AG now says that they will proceed with an attempt to change the law to clarify the residence requirements for electors.

Ingraham Has A Head Problem
Sources within the FNM say that they are becoming increasingly concerned about the erratic behaviour of the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and whether the behaviour may have some clinical implications.  They say that it is difficult to predict what he will do or say from day to day and the government is increasingly being held hostage to his wild mood swings.

Ingraham A No Show At Caricom Meeting
The partying with Sol Kerzner must have been too much for the man.  Back from  ten days of an all expense paid trip to South Africa at the expense of Sol Kerzner, the owner of Atlantis, Mr. Ingraham did not attend the Heads of Government meeting of Caricom in Montego Bay, Jamaica from 4th July to 7th July.  He sent instead his Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette.

Paul Moss Doesn’t Like Entertainment
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was asked by The Tribune to comment on the future of Andre Rollins, the former NDP candidate in the Elizabeth bye-election who is said to be contemplating joining either the PLP or the FNM.  Mr. Rollins has spoken to the leaders of both parties.  Tough spot to be in, but Mr. Mitchell made it clear that he hoped that Mr. Rollins would join the PLP.  He said that he has the look and is a smart guy.  He said that his own view was that third parties are really entertainment for the Bahamian population and the point of anyone in a third party who wants to make a difference is to get into one of the main parties and cut a deal as soon as you can.  He said he gave that advice to Mr. Rollins.  Not to be outdone, Paul Moss, who ran unsuccessfully for leader of the PLP and who managed within the space of three years to move from potential nominee for St. Cecilia to bitter outcast, took umbrage at Mr. Mitchell's statement.  Mr. Moss' response was humourless. He said he wanted to assure Mr. Mitchell that third parties were not entertainment and that he in the NDP would be making a serious challenge to bring about change in The Bahamas.  Of course, since he is the one with the money, he would be a most valued asset to his new party and he ought to be careful about that road he is going down if only for that reason.  No doubt, he is serious, but the point is not whether the people in third parties are serious, it is whether they provide anything more than entertainment for the Bahamian people.  And yet again, by his own statement in the press we were entertained.

Lament And Praise For Lebron James
Lebron James is a basketball player, seven years into his career, having joined the American National Basketball league at the age of 19.  There was a great show on television and in the press about whether or not he would stay on with the team where he has won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the dead rust belt town of Cleveland or move to a more exciting city like Chicago, New York, Miami and try to get on a team with other players who can in combination give him a championship ring.  The Cleveland owner thought that he would stay and told him how much they loved him.  That love turned to  hate on Thursday 8th July when James announced in a one-hour show on ESPN TV, proceeds of which went to the Boys and Girls Club of America, that he was indeed joining two other highfliers taking less money and moving to Miami.  He said it was the best shot to get a championship ring.  His old team’s owner was vicious, calling it a cowardly act.  Nonsense.  Here you have a young man who is breaking up his young body for the entertainment of people.  The owners make millions off him.  If he failed they would dump him like nobody’s business.  He makes a business decision in his best interest and now he is suddenly cowardly.  When his years as a player are done and he is left with all the aches and pains and the salary has dried up, what then?  That is why we have no difficulty with these young athletes loading up on the cash in their early years because when they are finished, they are finished.  Here, though, is what our friend  had to say on her Facebook page: Allyson Kali-Marie Smith - Lebron will go down as one of the greats, no doubt.  But will never go down as one of the greatest.  In the future when they talk about Lebron's legacy it will be impossible w/o mentioning Wade or Bosh.  He is no Jordan.  He is no Kobe.  Never was, never will be.  Who wants to root for a purchased dynasty?  I don't mind if King James destroys his crown, but did he have to take the league down with it?

Sir Michael Rules
Trinity Insurance, the broker and agents out of Freeport, have lost the first round of their battle against Security and General Insurance.  Security and General had seized the assets of the company and the personal assets of the directors of Trinity in a dispute over fees and income.  Sir Michael Barnett has ruled that Trinity owes Security and General 835,000 and that the principals of the company who signed personal guarantees owe $150,000 each.  The case is being appealed.

Signing The CSME
Many will remember the double cross by Hubert Ingraham and the FNM on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).  After assuring the PLP that they supported the policy back in 2005, when the public reacted adversely, they abandoned their position even though the policy clearly was the best for the country.  Things have a way of turning out.  The talk is now that the government has signed a Tax Information Agreement (TIEA) in which The Bahamas is to get the benefit, like Barbados, of a double taxation treaty with Canada. The government was touting this benefit as it signed away for the TIEA with Canada.  Hold on second.  The lawyers in Canada have been checking the fine print with the lawyers in The Bahamas and it turns out that those benefits only accrue if The Bahamas is a part of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).  Duh!

Murder! Murder! Murder!
We are now at 49 murders for the year.  Last one was a prison officer stabbed to death in a row outside a bar in Carmichael Road over the weekend.



Previous Columns
 
 
18th July, 2010
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...INGRAHAM SAYS HE WAS NOT PRIME MINISTER...

BAREFOOT BANDIT OVERDRIVE AND OVERKILL... TURNING UP THE HEAT ON CHERYL BETHELL...
PLP ON BAREFOOT BANDIT... DR. ALLEN ON PERVASIVE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE...
ARNOLD FORBES CHOSEN FOR MT. MORIAH... FOX HILL FLAG DAY FOR INDEPENDENCE...
MITCHELL ON ADVOCATE GENERAL FOR CIVIL SERVICE,,, THE EXUMA CLINIC IN BAD SHAPE...
WILLIAM OF GRANTS TOWN... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
IN PASSING...
Fred Mitchell Launches 3rd Edition of 'Great Moments In PLP History... Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com... Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com  Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report... Bahamian Cycling News
BahamasIssues.com
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THE LONELINESS OF COURAGE: - Cheryl Bethell on her own cut a striking but lonely figure on the porch of the Post Office Building in central Nassau, having been locked out of her office as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and blocked by the police from coming into the office on Wednesday 15th July.  Just the week before, she was working with the police to put people in jail on behalf of the state, now the state had moved against her, led by the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his willing agent John Delaney, the Attorney General.  Mrs. Grant Bethell finally spoke herself to the press and told them that what the government was doing was simply wrong.  You remember the story, the Prime Minister has decided that no Bahamian is good enough to be Director of Public Prosecutions and that Cheryl Grant Bethell had to go.  So go she has with the aid of the police, except that they will now meet in court.  Documents have been drafted and are to be filed to seek by judicial review to quash the decision of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to appoint someone else to the job of Director of Public Prosecutions.  It has been a long time coming, but the battle is to be joined.  Our photo of the week then is that of Cheryl Grant Bethell, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions being shut out of her office and standing on the porch, cutting a lonely but courageous figure in the face of the coercion of the state.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

INGRAHAM SAYS HE WAS NOT PRIME MINISTER
Shakespeare’s Hamlet in one of his soliloquies says this: “Why what an ass am I?”  This could very well apply to the Prime Minister, who continues to make an ass of himself by one asinine statement after the other.  The latest was his attempt again to defend the indefensible, his pleasure trip to South Africa in the middle of the recession, which has rankled the population and has caused people to question his support of the BahaMar project to build a new hotel on Cable Beach.  He granted an exclusive interview with The Tribune in order to defend the policy of stop, review and cancel that has our economy in a twist.

Here is what he said in his own words: “I went to South Africa at my own expense.  My personal expense.  Bought my own ticket.  I did not go to South Africa as Prime Minister of The Bahamas.

“FIFA provided us with accommodation.  Mr. Kerzner’s hotel.  The South African government provided us with all ground transportation while we were in South Africa and appropriate security.  Mr. Kerzner had a private dinner for us at his hotel with his management and the Mayor of Cape Town.  At the dinner, was Desmond Tutu, which was in the newspaper.”

It is possible to rip these statements apart.  Hubert Ingraham, last we checked was the holder of the office of Prime Minister of the Bahamas, that was still so when he went to South Africa.  What foolishness!  He did not travel to South Africa as Prime Minister.  Nonsense.  The office goes where he goes.

He certainly did not think that FIFA invited him there because he was Hubert Ingraham.  He certainly did not think that Sol Kerzner had a private dinner for him because he was Hubert Ingraham.  He certainly did not think that the South African government provided appropriate security because he was Hubert Ingraham.  Presumably, his police bodyguard accompanied him from Nassau.  He certainly did not think that the bodyguard went with him because he was Hubert Ingraham.  All of those were provided because he was the Prime Minister of The Bahamas.

We reported in this column last week that people in Mr. Ingraham’s party are getting quite concerned about him and his erratic behaviour, thinking that this might have some clinical implications.  That is a polite way of saying you know what about him, but the more you look at his decisions, the more you think of the expression those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

In the same interview, Mr. Ingraham said of the BahaMar project when the question was put to him about his statement that BahaMar and Atlantis Phase four could not coexist, it had to be one or the other, and whether he made a deal with Mr. Kerzner in South Africa to scuttle the BahaMar deal: “We have said to them (BahaMar) that we are still supportive of their efforts and they have now told us that they have some financing arrangement with the Chinese government and the Chinese government through its embassy, said that this was so and that they had to have it formally approved by various entities in China and they are working through the process.  We wait for a definitive vote from the Chinese government one way or the other.  We have said that if the Chinese government approves the project then we will take it to the House of Assembly and finalize the arrangement.”

You heard it.  The weeks and months before, Mr. Ingraham was busy talking down the project.  He would not have approved it.  He had no faith in it.  Now he is supportive of it.

That’s fine.  He should support it.  His government ought to approve it.  His government and he ought to show leadership and tell the Bahamian people why it is going to allow 5,000 Chinese to work in The Bahamas to build that project.  That is his job.

So Mr. Prime Minister.  Stop talking nonsense and accept what you are for the remaining months in the job.  Although truth be told, we will all be happy to see the bloody back of you.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 17th July 2010 up to midnight: 153,151.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 17th July 2010 up to midnight: 341,107.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 17th July 2010 up to midnight: 4,991,770. 



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BAREFOOT BANDIT OVERDRIVE AND OVERKILL
    There must have been a set of silly pills taken in The Bahamas over the past week.  There was this frenzy of activity over a young American who was known as the Barefoot Bandit.  The American media descended upon The Bahamas as the young man Colton Harris-Moore was arraigned in a Nassau Court, charged for illegal landing, given a fine of $300 and deported from The Bahamas Tuesday 13th July.  This was done after a full court press by the police to find the man, who came to The Bahamas in a stolen plane, fired shots at the police, broke into establishments in Abaco and in Eleuthera and stole a boat.
    The Bahamas was outraged by the stupidity of its government.  The first one to get into the fray of explanations was the Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade.  The press said that he thought it was best to get the man out of the country to protect the country’s reputation.  Even press people have asked why the Commissioner feels the need to get involved in these things.  Sometimes it’s better to remain silent and this is one of those times.  The government ought to take the heat for the decision, since everyone knows that such a decision could not have been made unless the Government signed off on it.
    Later in the week, Attorney General John Delaney showed up with his blandishments about the practice of allowing the jurisdiction with the greater crimes to prosecute.  On that basis, the government thought that the expeditious handling of the matter and allowing him to leave the country would be best.  Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill at his press conference on Thursday 15th July called this reasoning foolishness.  Mr. Mitchell said at the very least, the man should have been made to pay the costs of the substantial police effort to get him.
    Raynard Rigby, the former PLP chairman, has a contrary view.  He said on his Facebook page that he did not know what all the fuss was about, joining commentator Oswald Brown.  He said that The Bahamas could not prosecute crimes in a timely fashion for Bahamians so the better thing was to get the man out of the country.
    Whatever the arguments for it, they did not go down well with the public, with Mr. Mitchell expressing it this way; the feeling that there is one standard of justice for those who look like us and another for those who do not look like us.  PLP leader Perry Christie joined the argument, calling the decision by the government a national disgrace.  We agree.  It sends a bad signal and it shows how simply out of touch the FNM is with the people they govern.  The reputation of the police has suffered in this and the Commissioner’s as well.  The whole idea of every policeman and his brother downtown on arraignment day as if they were all mugging for shots on American TV.  The country simply came off as a banana republic and the police as the keystone cops.
Nassau Guardian photo/Tony Grant Jr.
 
 

TURNING UP THE HEAT ON CHERYL BETHELL
    Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill said at his news conference on Thursday 15th July that the PLP means at the next session of Parliament to press the Prime Minister on what it is that he knows that are good and valid reasons why Cheryl Grant Bethell should not be the Director of Public Prosecutions.  Mr. Ingraham made the statement when the House last met.
    Mr. Mitchell told the Nassau Guardian that Mrs. Grant Bethell does not fear any disclosure because there is nothing there to disclose.  He said that he believed that the reason why Mrs. Grant Bethell was forced out of her office (see photo of the week) was a pure power play on the part of the government.  He added that he had received information from third parties to warn Mrs. Grant Bethell that if she fought back, she would be destroyed and that what the government was now doing was attempting to destroy Mrs. Grant Bethell.  There is an adage: dig one grave, dig two.
 
 

PLP ON BAREFOOT BANDIT
    PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts issued the following statement on the actions of the government on the so called “Barefoot Bandit” who was released from Bahamian custody on Tuesday 13th July and deported to Florida after being fined a measly 300 dollars for illegal entry:

14th July 2010 For Immediate Release
The PLP congratulates the Royal Bahamas Police Force on the arrest of Mr. Colton Harris-Moore, aka “The Barefoot Bandit”.
    The PLP notes with regret the failure of the Attorney General, The Minister of National Security and others in charge of the administration of justice to indict Mr. Harris-Moore on the numerous serious criminal offences he committed while in The Bahamas.
    No person is above the law. If any young Bahamian male, or any other Bahamian, had been accused of stealing a plane, stealing several motorboats, illegal possession of a firearm, threatening a person with bodily harm, using that illegal firearm or any other firearm, threatening law enforcement officers, resisting arrest, and any of the other offence alleged to have been committed by Mr. Harris-Moore, that young Bahamian man or other Bahamian would have been hauled before the Courts, charged with those serious offences, and prosecuted to the extent of the law. Law abiding citizens and other right thinking people would expect that any one accused of committing those serious criminal offences in The Bahamas would be charged before the Courts in the Bahamas.
    The fact that Mr. Harris-Moore was not charged with these serious offences, but instead was charged with a minor offence and was given what amounted to "a slap on the wrist" indicates to all Bahamians that justice is not equally applied in the Bahamas. This is a national disgrace.
    The PLP condemns the Attorney General and the Minister of National Security for allowing the Bahamian system of justice to be brought into disrepute and for participating and aiding and abetting the mockery of the Bahamian system of justice.
 
 

DR. ALLEN ON PERVASIVE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE
    Politicians in The Bahamas increasingly have a tiger by the tail with regard to winning elections and it appears in obtaining nominations.  It is summed up in the expression: who controls the streets.  It means that increasingly, in order to succeed in politics, you have to have control of a wild bunch of young male miscreants, feeding their drinking and marijuana habits.  The conventional wisdom is that the failure to do that sank Allyson Maynard Gibson in her fight with Byran Woodside for the Pinewood seat in 2007.
    It is a serious issue: no one is interested in issues or how to solve national problems, but in who can order the most drinks and smokes and intimidate their opponent by use of force real or implicit.  Around political camps, increasingly, are hordes of young men who drink themselves into oblivion and are constantly asking to borrow money, in the political lexicon called “taxing the representative”.  This came to mind as Dr. David Allen’s comment appeared in The Tribune on 14th July at a public forum.
    Dr. Allen is not the PLP’s favourite person, since he savaged the Urban Renewal Programme that he helped to build, as soon as the FNM came to power in 2007.  But Dr. Allen said after three years worth of research into the root causes of crime in The Bahamas, there is an “ominous and pervasive culture of violence and destruction” taking over the country.  He was speaking at Bahamas Forum, a public discussion initiative that was launched in co-ordination with Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and Bamboo Town Member of Parliament Branville McCartney week before last.
    The doctor presented findings from his study that included interviews with families of murder victims, students involved in violent disorderly behaviour, chronic drug addicts, public and private psychotherapy groups, confidential interviews with children, and other sample groups.  The story was written by Noelle Nicholls and published on 14th July.
    Dr. Allen said: “We found a powerful sense of anger amongst us Bahamians.  Throughout the three-year study, participants talked about outing, which was the word for killing; poisoning, women particularly, and suicide.
    “A few months ago we had a young girl commit suicide.  We have five of her friends right now who want to do the same thing right now.  Their argument is, ‘Doc, life is in the body.  When there are no good things for you, you can’t wear Nike and designer clothes, you can’t have the right weight, you might as well die.  They believe life is purely in the body.
    “Bahamians act based on destructive anger patterns, instead of constructive anger patterns that are fostered by grieving, forgiveness, gratitude, and compassion, among other factors.  The destructive anger breeds resentment, bitterness, grudgefulness, lack of inhibition and a hardness of heart.
    “Bahamians are saying I don't feel the murders anymore; it’s just what is supposed to happen.  They build a wall in their heart.  Most disturbing is we found a number of young girls who had no compunction about giving their bodies for money.  They pay for their education, but they also pay for their parents’ air conditioning, refrigeration and also their cable.  The point is they had no feeling about it.  They said, ‘Doc that is what you call survival in the Bahamas.’  That was very, very disturbing.
    “Nearly every person who was involved in a serious crime interviewed had some severe abuse, physical or sexual.  We have a chronic child abuse problem in our country…
    “The culture of crime and violence was creating a large network of people suffering from trauma.  The symptoms of this trauma were a deep desire for revenge, insecurity, upside down values.
    “Young men and women join gangs for affirmation, safety, protection, connection and empowerment.  This is a growing phenomenon and a serious one, because the herd instinct psychologically is the most violent aspect of human nature.  For God ’s sake, we have to stop this now.  Property is not respected.  With a gun, what is yours is mine.  As they say in the hood, with a gun, even if you lose a dice game, you still win.
    “In a group of 10 to 15 year olds, they don’t expect to live long, as a result (they think) you do what you can, get as much money and then if you get killed or kill somebody that’s it.  One guy said if I kill somebody, the most I’ll get is six months, then I'll get on bail.  That is 15 year olds talking.  There is a modelling process happening.  And then, of course, they think violence is cool.  It’s power to kick somebody, to stab somebody and see that blood ooze out…
    “Drug trafficking continues creating fear because of executions, empowering drug lords in turf wars.  Even though there does not seem to be an increase in new coke addicts, there is a growing chronic marijuana epidemic among our children from 10 years up…
    “The challenge is for Bahamians to increase our awareness because if we don’t we’ll use the same old ways to do the same old things expecting a different result, and that is the definition of insanity.  We need to find a new way for looking at things, a new way of thinking, because if we don't we will repeat the same old, the same old, the same old.”
 
 

ARNOLD FORBES CHOSEN FOR MT. MORIAH

    On Thursday 15th July, the National General Council of the PLP unanimously approved Arnold Forbes as the PLP’s standard bearer in the Mt. Moriah constituency.  The nomination was moved by Keod Smith, the former MP of the area who was defeated in the 2007 general election by National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.  Mr. Forbes is an attorney who began as a clerk, having been born in Kemp Road and raised in Yellow Elder Gardens.  Mr. Forbes promised to be a supporter of the cause of the downtrodden.  He is pictured shortly after the Council meeting at Gambier House in Farrington Road, New Providence with the party’s leaders.  From left; Chairman Bradley Roberts, Mr. Forbes, Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, Deputy leader and Leader Perry Christie.  Good luck to Mr. Forbes.
 
 

FOX HILL FLAG DAY FOR INDEPENDENCE

    In 2006, the late Winston Saunders, then Chair of the Independence Celebrations Committee, asked for local communities to celebrate independence in their own way.  In Fox Hill, the tradition started of holding a flag day to mark the occasion in Fox Hill.  This year, the Flag Day was held on Saturday 17th July and the people of Fox Hill turned out to mark the occasion, seeing Independence through the eyes of our youth.  The Scout Troop of St. Anselm’s Church did the flag raising, trained by the Royal Bahamas Police Force; two young people gave addresses on the meaning of independence to the young; Charlene’s Angels, a troupe of young dancers performed.  Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill welcomed the guests to the ceremony, recalling that independence was hard won.  Pastor Shirelle Saunders of the Church of God preached the sermon and writer of the pledge Dr. Philip Rahming and Pastors Carl Rahming, David Johnson, Leonard Roberts and Apostle Douglas Cleare also participated in the service.  Afterward there was the cutting of the independence cake by the community leaders and a Junkanoo Rushout by the Original Congoes.
Photos/Tim Clarke












MITCHELL ON ADVOCATE GENERAL FOR CIVIL SERVICE

    Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill and the Opposition’s spokesman on the Public Service held a news conference on Thursday 15th July at the Committee Room of the House of Assembly to promote the idea of the establishment of the office of the Advocate General to deal with labour complaints from public servants.  Mr. Mitchell said that the complaints of abuse of public servants are piling up under the FNM administration and that some mechanism needed to be found if the PLP came back to power to deal with those complaints.  He named the air traffic controllers, retired prison officers and police officers as amongst those who had outstanding complaints.  The Advocate General would exist within the office of the Attorney General and would be able to advise the public service commission on how to settle complaints made by civil servants.  You may click here for the full statement.
Tribune photo/Tim Clarke
 
 

THE EXUMA CLINIC IN BAD SHAPE

    The PLP continues to voice its concern about the health facilities in the country, the latest being a set of photos and commentary from the people of Exuma who are PLP supporters in this article contributed by the Progressive Liberal Party Press
Drastic and Deplorable Conditions in Exuma Clinic
    Our correspondent submitted this disturbing new report on the deterioration of conditions at the George Town Community Clinic on the ground in Exuma.  The Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis is again caught asleep at the wheel.  It was his FNM Government who under its STOP, REVIEW and CANCEL policy cancelled the new Mini Clinic that was already approved by the Christie administration for the people of Exuma.
    All the responses thus far from Dr. Minnis on the critical conditions on our public health system and facilities are all empty excuses and the Bahamian people deserve better than this.  You would recall Dr. Minnis’ statement on the dialysis unit at PMH a few days ago but we can report that the water system at the dialysis unit has malfunctioned four times within the last 36 hours.  Patients on dialysis had to have their treatment suspended.  This is unacceptable and has very serious implications for those who depend on the consistency of this unit for their continued existence.
    One may ask: Does the former FNM Minister of Health Dr. Ronald Knowles’ privately owned dialysis unit on West Bay Street encounter the same issues as those of PMH? Should not standards of PMH dialysis unit be on par with that of the privately owned unit?
    Will the Honourable Dr. Minnis give a definitive commitment to the Bahamian people that the standards at PMH’s dialysis unit will be brought in line with that of the privately owned?
In the photos below; the ceiling leaks in the emergency/treatment room.  Buckets are placed to collect the water which even drips on top of the table where the patient would be treated; there's a broken step at the entrance of the clinic which is very dangerous to the public; and the one-room maternity and one-room ‘Ward’ shares a bathroom, which has been out of order for quite sometime.  Only one out of four bathrooms in the whole clinic works.




 

WILLIAM OF GRANTS TOWN

    The Anglican parish of St. Agnes has been celebrating the feast of William of Grants Town.  This is a local service of thanksgiving for the late parish priest of St. Agnes, Archdeacon William Thompson, who was murdered in the church’s rectory in 2000.  Each year there are special services and a lecture to mark the occasion.  This year, the lecturer was Dr. Errol Miller of Jamaica who spoke about the marginalization of men in the community.  The brother of the late Archdeacon, Bishop Gilbert Thompson, attended the lecture.
Photos/Peter Ramsay
 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bahamas Press writes to correct the record on Oswald Brown footnote (click here last week’s story)
We never printed any footnote on the Oswald Brown letter.  Please correct.
BP

------------------------

Denouncing the treatment of the Barefoot Bandit
[Jeremy Sweeting, a PLP activist and local government councillor in Abaco wrote this letter denouncing the treatment of the Barefoot Bandit, which was published originally on Bradley Robert’s Facebook page. - Ed.]
    I observed in dismay and absolute unbelief of the unfolding events following the arrest of the infamous Colton Harris Moore, a.k.a. "The Barefoot Bandit".
    Like everyone else, after learning the news of his capture over the holiday weekend, my heart with filled with pride and a sense of nationalism, as our Royal Bahamas Police Force officers, sought after and apprehended this wanted teenage criminal.
    I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate and commend the Royal Bahamas Police Force on the apprehension and arrest of the mentioned culprit. Within a week after the bandit’s unwelcomed arrival, ‘our boys’, the RBPF and other undercover crime fighting personnel, accomplished what international law enforcement agencies couldn’t do over a span of two years.
    All of this coming on the heels of our independence celebrations, a time when our patriotism was already turned up a few notches. It was a time to be proud of what our little country had achieved for 37 years, along with this recent plus of the bandit’s well publicized arrest.
    The Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Ellison Greenslade, made public the numerous criminal offenses that the fugitive would face.
    On the day of his arraignment, The Barefoot Bandit was only charged with illegal entry into this country, and fined a minimal $300 dollars, with immediate deportation. That sentence was beyond ridiculous.
    Let’s see, he did enter the country illegally on a stolen aircraft. He broke into several business establishments on Abaco, stealing various items. He stole a boat and fled to Eleuthera. He then stole another vessel in Eleuthera, resisted arrest, and was in possession of an illegal firearm. A 300 dollar fine!!! That amount would not pay the fuel bill that our officers used on their week long search!!! Who will foot the rest of the bill??? ME & YOU!!!...the Bahamian taxpayer!!!
    But beside that fact, what message is this sending to criminals here domestically or abroad? Crime is presently at an all time high, and this sentence is not in any way discouraging these actions of ill repute. Stiff penalties must be handed down to show to criminals that we mean business in fighting this war on crime.
    But I believe this issue of lenience with this fugitive goes much deeper.
    What changed from one day with the Police Commissioner speaking of the offences he was going to be charged with, to the next day with the judge tapping the bandit with a feather?
    Can our courts now be pressured by foreign authorities for swift extradition and if so are these authorities going to foot the bill for the damage incurred by the ‘Barefoot bandit’ to private businesses and individual properties, and also the expense involved in the intense manhunt?
    Why wasn’t the teacher who allegedly molested students in Grand Bahama extradited back to our shores in the same swift manner?
    Criminals far and near whom commit crimes similar to that of the bandit will expect the same sentence and I am sure the lawyers will remind the courts of this incidents. Boat thefts in Abaco have been an issue of grave concern, and are a growing threat to our local tourism industry. In this case, we have an individual caught red-handed, personally stole two vessels and he was not even charged with this serious offence in our courts. If our judiciary would have handed down a charge, along with a serious penalty, this could have been the opportune time to send a strong message to other boat thefts, given the huge publicity in this particular case.
    This was a serious mistake and the repercussions, I am afraid, will not prove positive. To the leaders of both of our political parties: YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!!! This country is on a perilous course, with regard to crime and a series of other pressing issues, and if action is not taken in the not too distant future, we will be in for some tough years ahead.
    Tired and Fed up,
Jeremy Sweeting
Abaco Bahamas

------------------------

Forrester Carroll - …on conflict of interest and Hubert Ingraham appointing his sister-in-law Permanent Secretary:
    In June Hubert Ingraham declared, in parliament, a moratorium on all hiring, all promotions, and the suspension of all increment payments, in the civil service, for the 2010/2011 fiscal year, but in July he promoted Nicole Campbell, his sister-in-law; Is this nepotism or not?  Why in the hell would we, Bahamians, continue to accept and allow this man to get away with killing every one of the rest of us, daily, while he takes good care of his own family members at our expense?
    Taxes paid, by all of us, which go into the consolidated fund, are to be disbursed by the government for the benefit of all of us taxpayers; not just Ingraham’s family members and cronies.  If that were Perry Christie who was caught red handed committing similar acts of nepotism as was done in this case with Hubert Ingraham, the press (especially the Tribune) would have had him for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for at least a week of front page headlines.
    I interpret a “moratorium” as meaning a complete stop to additional spending for a specified period; as meaning making no moves which would cost the public treasury additional spending for that said period and, further, as meaning (and for further emphasis) hold the line on all additional and unnecessary expenditure.  But, obviously, the word has some other meaning to this prime minister.
    I predict, notwithstanding, that by October 1st, when the second quarter of this fiscal period begins, the country will witness another shortfall of at least 10% of the revenue projected and budgeted.  It is bound to happen, given the difficult times and the huge increases in customs duty rates and vehicular licensing, among other things.  I was in conversation, recently, with a heavy equipment operator who informed me that his company has a fleet of 17 dump trucks. He told me that at last year’s licensing period, his business had declined to such an extent that he needed only to renew the licenses of 10 of those 17 vehicles; this year, he said, he will probably need only to renew the licenses of 3 of those 10, as his business has gotten progressively, and far, worse since last year.
    The revenue which Ingraham expects to take in from all the vehicles registered, to date, on the books at road traffic, will not be realized because, I further predict, many thousands of automobile owners will find, when the time comes around for them to license their trucks and cars, that they simply cannot afford to pay the huge increased fees and they will opt (forcibly) to leave the vehicles unregistered until they can find the financial means to do so.  Many will, out of necessity I am quite sure, take their chances in driving their unlicensed vehicles sometimes; in the process creating a dangerous hazard on our streets.
    I am amazed and grieved at the same time at how Ingraham can simply declare that the struggling janitresses who are employed in the government service will not be getting their increments this year and, like the dictator he is, he clarified the point by telling them that they will not be getting this year’s increment ever; “hear me good” he said, “I will not owe you the increment; I said you will not be getting it” said the dictator.  “The government will not owe you anything and that’s that.”  While he was taking these peanuts from those Janitresses, he was, at the same time, promoting his sister-in-law from her position as under secretary at the ministry of works to acting permanent secretary at the ministry of youth, sports & culture, with a huge increase in her salary.
    It seems to me that Ingraham has an unremorseful, ingrained, bad nepotism habit that he practices at will.
    Given the examples of favouritism and nepotism by this FNM Administration, how does Ingraham explain his disgraceful behaviour in his handling of Cheryl Grant-Bethell’s matter? After all those years working, diligently, her way up the ladder to within one promotion from the top position in her department, she is being humiliated and treated like a dog.  To punish her for being the wife of a former cabinet minister in the PLP government (I submit) is a shameful and despicable act, especially after promising her the post.  Ingraham declared in parliament that he had good reason for changing his mind and breaking his promise to her and that a female Jamaican lawyer will now be given the substantive post of DPP in the Attorney General’s office, effective 1st August.
    Mrs. Bethell has now been locked out of her office and relegated to some clerical post, purportedly, to review laws that are already on the books and which might need some fixing, thus clearing the way for this Jamaican female to move in.  What would you call it, if after acting in the substantive post for months, and doing a great job in the position, it is then snatched away from her and given to a foreigner?  And then to add insult to her injury, she was actually locked out of her office without being given the courtesy of some time to clean out her desk.  I suggest that Ingraham, being the spineless, spiteful, selfish grizzly beast that he is, planned her demise all along and went out of his way to humiliate this career civil servant.  Sadly, it will be the taxpayers who will end up obliged to pay the damages that the courts will award her, I submit, for Ingraham’s nonsense.  Ingraham should be made to pay personally for his recklessness.  I would like to see this “house nigger” pay for all the damage he has done to the civil service and the many Bahamian lives he has destroyed.  He is, without a doubt, a very sick individual.
    This man has wrecked the civil service and the country, but rest assured that the time will come - and it ain’t long now - when civil servants and all other voters in this country, in 2012, will exact their vengeance from this lousy Free National Movement Government of Hubert Alexander Ingraham.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
17th July 2010
 
 

IN PASSING
The Carroll Reunion In Long Island
The Carroll family of Long Island, including former Justice Norris Carroll and contributor to this column Forrester Carroll and Freeport based photographer Derek Carroll held their family reunion in Long Island, the home base of the family at Deadman’s Cay over the Independence holiday weekend.

50 Murders
Veronica Knowles is the latest homicide victim in The Bahamas in, of all places, the remote and quiet island of Long Island.  Mrs. Knowles went missing on Monday 12th July.  A search by the population there ensued and her body was found at about 2 a.m. on Tuesday 13th July.  Death came from a blow to her head and she was found naked.  Police are holding someone for the murder.  No word on the motive.  A 51st murder was recorded in Nassau since this was written.

Shenique Miller
It is being reported that the ZNS news anchor has been suspended from working at ZNS because of a story that she ran about abuse at the Elizabeth Estates children’s’ home, which was later retracted by the individuals who gave the story.

Plane Crash In Exuma
Performance Air is one of these young, private carriers that have sprung up in the past five years to ferry passengers across our islands.  They generally serve the Nassau to Andros market and have a reputation for on time performance.  But the planes of many of these private carriers tend to be old, and the pilots who work for them say that they (the pilots and the planes) are often being pushed beyond endurance.  In this case, the plane was put down in water just short of Staniel Cay in Exuma on Thursday 15th July and shortly after takeoff.  These crashes are happening with increasing frequency and the question is raised whether or not the safety of the flying public is being protected.  No one died in this crash but everyone on board; all six were hurt — five Bahamians and one American.  We hate to think of what could happen next time.  We again ask the government to review these matters.

The Ambassador To China
It appears that the Ambassador to China for The Bahamas may have a new assignment, this time in South Africa.  Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are already said to be quietly concerned that the Ambassador spends so much time off post and in Nassau for one thing or the next.  Now comes a report that she paid a courtesy call on officials in South Africa during the recent visit of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his ministers Tommy Turnquest and Charles Maynard to South Africa.  So, is a new posting on the way?

Jiffy Cleaners To Close
Ethric Bowe, the civic activist, carried this as news on Roy Bowe’s Jiffy Cleaners.  Mr. Bowe (Roy) has been a household name in the country from Pindling’s time as a black man who made good.  Sadly, the demise of his business during the FNM demonstrates the oft-made claim that the middle class is being destroyed under the FNM.  Here is what Mr. Ethric Bowe reports:
    “Jiffy Cleaners has been in business for more than 40 years.  It is a Bahamian family-owned business.  Because of the traffic direction change on Blue (Baillou) Hill Rd. Jiffy Cleaners will close.  Not only will the Blue Hill Rd. operation close - All the New Providence operations will close.
    “30 Bahamians will be out of work on Saturday 17th July.  Like Neko Grant says, they can now get help from Social Services to pay their electricity bill, their water bill, their phone bill (?), their mortgages, etc.  We shall see.
    “We go to court over the roads today.  Jiffy Cleaners is one of several enterprises that have closed as a result of the road change.  Does the government care?  Will the press even report it honestly?  Will the press investigate?
    “There is a serious threat to democracy in The Bahamas.  There is a serious threat to the Bahamian ownership class in The Bahamas.  Bahamian jobs and lives are being destroyed daily. Let’s watch how this will be reported.”

Loretta Butler Turner Answers The Critics About Her Size
Loretta Butler Turner was the subject of quite withering commentary on Facebook on her work as a Minister.  It got too personal she thought and she responded at the end of a long thread with these words on 12th July:
    “Fact: I am who and what I am…, BIG, FAT or whatever disparaging descriptives one chooses.
    “It does not truly matter because I possess the self-esteem and dignity to be comfortable and at peace with myself, my friends and my foes.
    “I stand firmly in my beliefs and those components of my personal experiences that heightens and magnifies my life goals and self-actualization.  Vitally important to me is help others in that process.
    “Those who disagree with my politics that is simply too sad that you seek to demean me to achieve an end.  However we do live in a democratic country where each individual has the inherent right to express and associate freely.  We also have the right to serve our beloved country if we feel so inclined and if we are able to capture the support of the electorate; both of which I am privileged to have achieved.
    “To you my detractors remember that you too have that RIGHT.  So rather than attacking my physical appearance come forward and join the front-line to serve your country.  It is easier to be a spectator and commentator from the sidelines.
    “My service to our country is not about me it is about all of us as Bahamians.  I could also choose to live a very privileged life outside the glare and stares of public life, but like those before and those who will follow I have chosen to serve for this season of my life.
    “So to people like you (name deleted), (and the others) whom I’ve known for many years and whom I have also served in my professional life I am truly surprised at your personal attacks in this thread, however c’est la vie…!  Be at PEACE.”

Bran McCartney To Take On Ingraham
Increasingly within the FNM, there is the expectation that Branville McCartney, the Minister of State who resigned his office earlier this year saying that he was frustrated in the Ingraham Cabinet, will challenge Hubert Ingraham at the next FNM convention.  Mr. McCartney is busy ramping up his profile as a backbencher with a visit to the dump to feed the scavengers there being one such example.  Last week, he spoke to Rotary about independence saying that we have not freed our minds of colonial syndrome.  Fellows say that they don’t think he can take Mr. Ingraham out, but he can wound him mortally.  Stay tuned!

Tommy Turnquest An Embarrassment
You should be quiet and be thought a fool rather than open your mouth and have people convinced that you are one.  The Minister of National Security O.A.T. ‘Tommy’ Turnquest was at it again, defending the indefensible - the release of the so-called Barefoot Bandit and attacking his cousin Perry Christie for putting the government’s feet to the fire.  His claim in The Tribune Saturday 17th July was that the PLP’s leader was pandering to racist elements in the PLP.  Pray tell where are those elements?  What we know is that the benefits of the FNM go to a certain group and that group is easily identifiable.  You whistle and we will point to every one of them.  We wonder if that is not pandering to the racist elements in the FNM.  It shows again how these people are so out of touch with the mood in the country.  Another dimension of this issue is why Tommy Turnquest and those in his generation of FNM leadership continue to do Mr. Ingraham’s dirty work.  Here it is, the Leader of the Opposition makes an intervention, only to have a second level official respond.  Personal to Mr. Ingraham: “Never send a boy a job to do  man’s job!”



Previous Columns


25th July, 2010
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...CHERYL GRANT BETHELL’S EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE...

TOMMY THROWS UP HIS HANDS ON CRIME... PLP ON POWER FAILURES...
CONGRATULATIONS TO MAGNUM ROLLE... BRAVE ON THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN...
DEMONSTRATION IN ABACO... CA MARI MAGAZINE LAUNCH...
HANNA MARTIN’S DONATION... WHAT SIR JACK HAYWARD HAD TO SAY...
TOURISM COMPETITION FROM THE US... YOUNG LIBERALS SUPPORT PLP CHOICES...
IS IT PROSTITUTION? EXPERTS DISAGREE... AT THE GOVERNOR GENERAL’S HOUSE...
INDEPENDENCE IN MIAMI - PHOTOS... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
IN PASSING...
Fred Mitchell Launches 3rd Edition of 'Great Moments In PLP History... Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
BradleyBRoberts.com Interesting Places...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...
JeromeFiztgerald.org Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com  Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report... Bahamian Cycling News
  BahamasIssues.com
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return to the top of the page.


BEC BLOWS IT IN ABACO - The people of Abaco are fed up.  They are fed up with the power cuts.  They cannot be called rolling black outs or brown outs.  They cannot be called by that other euphemism load shedding.  They are simply power cuts which leave people pretty must cheezed off, frustrated and all the more so because it is without remedy and without an answer in the short term.  The silence of the officials is deafening in an island where the politicians that run it are all FNM.  Just like the sorry state of Grand Bahama, where the FNM dominates in silence, so too is the fate of Marsh Harbour, Abaco and the surrounding communities.  Here is one of the main engines of our economy, a tourism product second to none and all day long there are black outs, no power, no business.  It is hot.  People are sick and fed up.  Hubert Ingraham, one of their representatives and the man who happens to be Prime Minister, gave the lamest of excuses in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 21st July; the machines ran out of oil causing a breakdown.  Whatever the cause, the fact is BEC is in a mess.  You will see from stories below that there are problems with BEC in Harbour Island and in Farmers Cay, in Abaco and in New Providence.  There is no money to maintain machines.  And so our photo of the week is that of the people of Abaco, demonstrating for power in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.  You watch; nothing is going to happen soon.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

CHERYL GRANT BETHELL’S EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE

Congratulations to Cheryl Grant Bethell for standing up to the beast and striking at its heart.  It is difficult for us to write that because we are not sure that he has a heart.

On Thursday 22nd July, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, who has been in the news on and off for the past month, finally filed an action in the courts that will put the question to the government and cause them to defend the decision that they made with regard to the choice of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

There is one paragraph that we would like to draw to your attention from the supporting affidavit of Mrs. Grant Bethell in the judicial review application that she filed to quash the decision not to appoint her to the job of Director of Public Prosecutions.

You may click here to see how it reads.

This is real hot stuff, dynamite.

The Prime Minister issued a statement in which he denied that he issued a threat and he denied that he offered her an ambassadorial appointment.

We do not believe him.  We believe Mrs. Grant Bethell.  The truth is not in him and he deceives himself.

What more can we say than well done to Mrs. Grant Bethell for the extraordinary courage which she has shown in the case of the most severe provocation.  The action was filed fortuitously on the same day of the anniversary of the death of her husband the late Minister of the government Peter Bethell.  The Prime Minister must now answer for his sins.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 24th July 2010 up to midnight: 109,917.

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 24th July 2010 up to midnight: 451,024.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 24th July 2010 up to midnight: 5,101,687. 



CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

TOMMY TURNQUEST THROWS UP HIS HANDS ON CRIME
    One thing about the FNM, they know how to describe a problem.  We make this observation about them all the time.  They do not know how to solve anything, but boy they can tell you what the problem is.  So it is with crime.  We are now up to murder number 52 for the year, and what is Tommy Turnquest doing about it?  He is after all the Minister of National Security.  He is doing f. a..  But he was in the press last week saying that the reason there is so much murder and crime is because of the drug problem.  Yes, Minister, that may be so, but since you know so much about it, why the hell aren’t you doing something about it?  Get it?  No, obviously you don’t get it.  Shane Gibson always says it.  They are clueless.
 
 

PLP ON POWER FAILURES
    This has been a week of we have had enough of power cuts.  In every corner of the land, from tiny Farmer’s Cay to Harbour Island to Marsh Harbour, Abaco to New Providence, the cry was the same: power cuts.  PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts issued a number of statements during the week that spoke to the hopeless situation in which the Bahamas Electricity Corporation now finds itself.

22nd July
FNM Government Drives BEC to a Disastrous Collapse
    Fred Gottlieb resigned as of December 31st 2009 ten months after making the bold prediction of coming within $1-2 million of their ‘break even’ goal for the BEC’s financial year-end of September 30th, 2009.
    Jr. Minister Phenton Neymour recently told parliament that BEC’s losses for the year ending September 30th 2009 were some 20 million dollars.  There has been no explanation as to why BEC’s losses exploded from $1-2 million to $20 million.  But the tragedy has further escalated.  The new executive chairman Michael Moss, joining in the comedy of errors, noted in Wednesday’s July 21st 2010 Tribune: “The Bahamas Electricity Corporation's (BEC) net loss for its 2009 financial year is likely to “be closer to $30 million”.
    This represents a whopping 50% increase over what the Jr. Minister Phenton “Clueless” Neymour had disclosed less than two months prior and a staggering 1400% increase over the loss projected by former chairman Fred Gottlieb.
    This scenario is currently playing out under the political watch of Hubert Ingraham, Earl Deveaux and Phenton “Clueless” Neymour.  Who will they be so bold to blame for this unbelievable, shocking, disgraceful and colossal mismanagement of a public corporation like BEC.  They have collectively pushed BEC to the brink of a disastrous collapse.
    What is sad about all of this is that they are shameless and arrogant.  The Bahamian taxpayers are now being forced to pay for their collective ineptitude by way of the heavy increase in electricity rates.

23rd July
Farmers Cay without Electricity since yesterday afternoon
    We take no pleasure in bringing to the Public's attention that Farmers Cay has joined the list of Family Islands who are being adversely affected by the failure of BEC to carry out timely maintenance of generators.  Last month one of BEC's generators on Farmers Cay was destroyed by fire.  The sole remaining Generator was not operating up to par.  It has shut down completely yesterday.
    GM Kevin Basden warned the Bahamian Public that BEC was broke and did not have the funds to effect critically needed maintenance of its generators.
    Yesterday in Parliament Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham acknowledged that BEC's Abaco Station ran out of oil, a basic staple item for a power station and as a result, the people of Abaco are bitterly suffering at the hands of the FNM Government and have been doing so for months.
    Will Jr Minister Phenton Neymour and MP Brensil Rolle, native sons of Exuma, come to the rescue of Farmers Cay or will they once again blame the PLP?
 
 

CONGRATULATIONS TO MAGNUM ROLLE
    Once again, the little Bahamas as we like to call ourselves and be known, has a star in the making in the American National Basketball league.  Magnum Rolle of Freeport, Grand Bahama, standing 6 feet and 11 inches tall now joins Michael Thompson, Rick Fox in Basketball as part of the NBA and then there is D’Brickashaw Ferguson who plays football with the New York Jets.  By most accounts, this is a good kid and we wish him well.  The PLP’s Chairman Bradley Roberts joined with many Bahamians in wishing him the best in his career.
    Press Statement by the Progressive Liberal Party - July 22nd 2010: PLP salutes Mangum Rolle on being drafted by the NBA
    The PLP notes with great pride the exceptional accomplishments of Magnum Rolle, a young talented 6’ 11" 225 lbs Basketball player from St. Georges High School Grand Bahama. Magnum was drafted 21st in second round of the recent NBA annual draft by the Oklahoma Thunder, and then immediately traded to the Indiana Pacers.
    The 24-year-old Bahamian played centre for Louisiana Tech and average outstanding numbers during his senior year 2009 -2010.
    We had the privilege of watching Magnum play during a recent NBA Summer Basketball tournament in Orlando, Florida on NBA TV earlier this month.  Not only were all Bahamians watching impressed with his outstanding defensive as well as offensive abilities, but so were the many TV analysts broadcasting the games, his head coach who boasted of his impression of Magnum’s play as well as attitude and knowledge of the game, but most impressive was the comment of team GM and legendary superstar Larry Bird.  Bird who said that he was very impressed with Mr. Rolle from college and wanted him in Indiana; said that the kid has great potential and would be in the NBA All Star one day once he continues to focus and work hard.
    We in the PLP warmly salute Mr. Rolle for this accomplishment, but know that this is just the beginning of bigger and better things to come.  We also wish to congratulate his parents for raising such a decent and focused young Bahamian man.  We wish to congratulate his local high school coach Mr. Sears and the staff of St. Georges High School, and anyone who would have positively influenced his journey in any way.
    Finally, we want to say to all young men in this great Bahama Land, you should all be full of pride, as one of your own has made it to the highest level of professional Basketball. However, you must also realize that Magnum is no different than anyone of you.  He was not born rich, and mighty, rather he had a goal, he had a dream, and he has the belief that God was on his side.  Magnum was dedicated, disciplined, and determined to succeed. You too must inspire to dream that you can be world class, you too must set your own goals for your life, and you to must know that God is on your side all you have to do is try.  We in the PLP believe that every Bahamian has the potential, and the gifts to be world class, and we encourage all our young people to be the best that they can be.
    Go Magnum Go.
 
 

BRAVE DAVIS ON THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN
    Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, the Deputy Leader of the PLP, spoke in the House of Assembly on Thursday 22nd July during the debate on the drug prescription regulations.  The PLP supported the regulations, but there was a qualification.  The drug prescription plan, which uses the National Insurance Board to fund the provision of a set of drugs for people with diabetes, hypertension, breast and prostate cancer and other chronic non-communicable diseases at no cost, falls far short of the need for comprehensive health care.  The PLP supports National Health Insurance.  The FNM says that the country cannot afford it.  So Mr. Ingraham came up with this cobbled up plan to make it seem that he is doing something for the poor and dispossessed.  No one should be fooled.
    Dr. Bernard Nottage, who is the PLP’s spokesman on Health, told of the myriad problems with the scheme.  He said that it is fine to be able to say you will provide the drugs but the problem is the government can give no assurance that the drugs are going to be available at the community clinics when they are demanded.  He said that right now the facilities are from time to time out of the drugs that are needed and demanded.  Dr. Nottage said that the pharmacies and pharmacists have been slow to sign up for the programme because many of them are still not satisfied that they will be paid at a fair rate and on a timely basis.  The Prime Minister had no answer for all of this.
    You may click here for the full statement of PLP Deputy Leader Philip Davis.
 

DEMONSTRATION IN ABACO

    Our photo of the week tells the story in part about the power problem in Marsh Harbour, Abaco and its environs.  Former Works Minister Bradley Roberts who is also Chairman of the PLP was quite active this week in telling the story of the power problems throughout the country in Farmer’s Cay and in New Providence.  The country faces blackout after blackout even as the Bahamas Electricity Corporation is raising the price of power as of 1st August just over five percent.
    We present another picture and a story from a correspondent in Abaco.
    Try as they might ‘blame the PLP’ is not going to work this time.  It is Hubert Ingraham’s fault.  Mr. Roberts (see stories above) said that if Mr. Ingraham had not stopped, reviewed and cancelled the power plant that the PLP had for Abaco when they left office, the power plant would have been opened and functioning by now.  But do you think that the people of Abaco get it; and will they vote for the PLP in the next general election?  Who knows?  The problem is right now they are cussing Mr. Ingraham but ask them to vote PLP and that’s a whole other story.  Now for our Marsh Harbour correspondence:
    As with the rest of The Bahamas our economical survival (in Abaco) depends on TOURISM and because of the inadequacies and mis-mamangement of BEC, we have had NO power 80% of the time for the past 2 months, the result being, the tourists are packing up and running out of here, vowing never TO RETURN.  BETWEEN THE 50 PLUS UNSOLVED FOREIGN & BAHAMIAN BOAT THEFTS FROM LAST YEAR AND NOW THIS YEAR's  BEC'S NON-EXISTENT POWER SUPPLY,  ABACO IS DOOMED.
    This is a very serious situation and we need to be heard by the powers that govern, or should I say lack of governance.
    Parliament has meet this week and NO-ONE even mentioned the problems we are experiencing here in ABACO, INCLUDING BOTH OUR M.P.'s,   THE RT. HON. HUBERT INGRAHAM MP FOR NORTH ABACO AND M.P. FOR SOUTH ABACO, EDISON KEY, and now we are hearing back peddling by the government, and the nerve of the Prime Minister to say on the news he was not aware of the current situation in Abaco.  However,  this is nothing new to Abaco, we experience power outages every summer.  When Bradley Roberts was Minister of Works he had the common sense to plan in advance for these expected outages, by leasing and having back-up generators sent to Abaco.
    I am actually on the phone to the manager of my rental property in Man-O-War Cay, and she has said that she was just told by one of our guests that she will never recommend our property to anyone, because we do not have a backup generator, which would cost $100,000.00 to purchase and install.  To be honest I can't blame the tourist, how many Bahamians would save all year to go on vacation in Disney World, to find out when we got there we would actually be camping out with no Water & NO Power for our weeks vacation?
    Bearing in mind that BEC also announced on the news this week that our power rates will be going up 5%… How could they have the nerve to even think about making such an announcement?
    I could go on and on, the bottom line is that the BEC situation is very serious and needs URGENT attention, and solving, not the Government playing the Blame Game, we are much more intelligent than that.
 
 

CA MARI MAGAZINE LAUNCH

    On 17th July ‘Ca Mari’, a new style magazine was launched.  There was a launch party and lots of pictures on Facebook.  All the beautiful young people were there.  Alas, magazines do not have a good track record in The Bahamas.  Typically, they last for a few editions and then they are in the tank.  Ask Karen Duncombe and Jerome Sawyer.  They are too expensive and the revenue just isn’t there to keep them going.  We would think that there is an additional problem and that is, in these days with the web being able to compete at such a cheap level, is there really room for a magazine.  Well nothing beats a try of course, and no doubt, just like people keep trying in the political arena to form this mythical third party that will slay the existing giants, there will always be young smart and pretty people who will try to start a magazine to end all Bahamian magazines.  If the photos and the design are anything to go by then it is an auspicious start.  Starting is one thing.  Let’s see how it ends up.
 
 

HANNA MARTIN’S DONATION
    Glenys Hanna Martin MP for Englerston has released a statement on her donation of $10,000 towards feeding the hungry:

Statement by Glenys Hanna Martin, Member of Parliament for Englerston at Joint Press Conference with the Englerston Pastoral Association, Friday 16th July, 2010 -
    “Thank you to the members of the Press for their attendance at this press conference.
    “I wish to acknowledge the presence of members of the Englerston Pastoral Association, a membership body of churches of varying denominations with churches across the length and breadth of this constituency which has come together to be a responsive body of Christian faith.
    “The present economic crisis has severely impacted many, many Bahamians with thousands of people across this country losing their jobs and now facing dire circumstances. We are in unfamiliar territory as a people.
    “It is at times like these that we must bind together and create a solid wall of protection for our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable to the ravages of this economic storm.
    “In the Englerston community I have seen firsthand the hardship that has been imposed by this economic disaster on so many people. Many homes are without electricity and families are struggling under very stressful conditions to meet basic needs. I have seen, however, incredible courage and resilience under very distressing circumstances.
    “We have also seen in this community what appears to be a significant increase in violence in particular amongst young people.
    “It is our duty to do all that we can to address these issues and to do so effectively requires us to develop alliances and partnerships and to combine our efforts
    “I am proud to announce that as Member of Parliament of the Englerston constituency I have partnered with the Pastoral Association to create and develop what is intended to be a sustained programme of food distribution throughout the community.
    “In this regard the sum of $10,000 has been donated from constituency funds towards an initial fuelling of this effort and for other outreach programmers currently undertaken by the church.
    “This project is to be a structured, unified and coordinated initiative.
    “In this regard I have additionally liaised with a number of commercial warehouses to seek their assistance in these objectives. The response has been favourable and donations of food have already been committed for immediate distribution.
    “In Englerston we shall be aggressive in our response to the needs of the community during this crisis until some level of normalcy is arrived at.
    “We are undertaking a number of other initiatives which will be disclosed in the near future.
    “I want to thank the Pastoral Association for their leadership at such a time as this and for displaying in real terms the practical significance of the Church.”
 
 

WHAT SIR JACK HAYWARD HAD TO SAY
    Sir Jack Hayward and company, who own one-half of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, are back in court on Monday 26th July to settle the order that the Court of Appeal will give to end the dispute between the St. George faction and the Hayward faction.  The last time we heard from Sir Jack, he was claiming that  the two sides were getting on like a house on fire and that they had to settle the dispute because all they were doing was making the lawyers rich.  Now he is talking again, and as always, you can never predict what the 85-year-old eccentric has to say.  True to form, he came up with some doozies.  The interview was published in The Tribune Business section.
    Sir Jack claimed that although the families had decided to sell their shares in the port and brokers J.P. Morgan are to do the marketing, they could be effectively flogging a dead horse.  The interview went downhill from there.  We find a problem with Sir Jack and his interventions.  He does not accept that he is in any way to blame for what is happening and has happened in Grand Bahama.  It is everyone else’s fault except his own and the petulant behaviour he has exhibited over the years finds its way into his monologues into the press.  That is something we hope he corrects before he meets his maker.  The people of Freeport are suffering in part because of the actions of Sir Jack and the decisions he made, including supporting Hubert Ingraham for Prime Minister.  When the election comes around, let us see whether he gets the point.  It is the same point that we made with regard to the people of Abaco and whether or not in light of their power problems, they will make Hubert Ingraham pay the price and vote PLP.
    Here is what Sir Jack had to say in his own words:
    “[We are likely] to appoint J P Morgan to search for a purchaser for [our] respective 50 per cent stakes in the GBPA. [They are]the front runners…
    “[I] …doubt …whether J P Morgan [will] have much success in the current climate. … [It is]a difficult sell due to numerous factors… [in] The Bahamas [including the ]current crime problem and judicial system woes.
    “… apart from its [government’s] refusal to renew the permit of chairman Hannes Babak, … [the Grand Bahama Port Authority is] now having difficulty in obtaining the necessary documents for the expatriates it had identified to supervise construction of the bridge across the Grand Bahama Waterway.
    “The failure to renew Mr. Babak's work permit has left the GBPA leaderless. [We have] had [to] place numerous projects [Mr. Babak] was working on - liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Freeport, a 90-room hospital, another oil refinery and concrete plant - into limbo following his departure.
    “It's not going to be an easy sell… We haven't at the moment [chosen a broker]. We're considering it, but I think they're flogging a dead horse.
    “They're [J.P. Morgan] the front runners. You're quite right. They've already helped the St Georges sell their power company shares for $41 million. In the brief they had, they visited Freeport, did a lot of work and got a head start by visiting here and looking at the place. They're an excellent firm with a good reputation.
    “J P Morgan would want a finder's fee and retainer to kick start any buyer search… They will have a very difficult time to find the right purchaser...because of everything that is not going on…
    “The ideal purchaser would be someone of the ilk of British merchant banker Roddie Fleming, who together with attorney Geoffrey Richards appeared on the scene with a deal to buy the Hayward family trust's shares at the height of the battle with the St Georges.
    “It's simple. The Flemings were a wonderful deal. They were going to invest huge sums of money, make Freeport a centre for this, that and the other, including a fixed base operation for private aviation.
    “Unfortunately, the recession came and they ran out of money, but what we want to do is find another Fleming to carry the place forward like I did for 55 years, and Edward did for 35 years. Money is not everything. We want to find good successors.
    “We're open. People are coming out of the woodwork, but at the moment there's still the hurdle other purchasers have faced in the past. We have had no one with the money or proper desire to run the place.
    “It's not the money we're looking for. Fleming had the right ideas, but they ran out of money. We want the right people to progress Freeport, Grand Bahama and The Bahamas, but are not finding them at the moment.
    “It's been a baby for me. I've put a life's work into it. I don't want it squandered by a complete phony and fly-by-nights. There are a lot of them wanting to get into an agreement, and then they try and flog it to someone else.
    “Many parties who had previously approached [me] over the GBPA's purchase appeared to be engaged in deal shopping, looking for someone else to come in and fund the purchase once they had secured a preliminary sales agreement with him…
    “I don't think [Temasek, the Singapore sovereign fund] they're out of the picture. What we want to hear from is Temasek themselves, or Singapore.
    “At the moment, we've got plenty of people saying they represent Temasek, but when we ask: 'Can you prove it?', they can't produce a single letter proving who they are."
    “What is devaluing it is the present situation in the Bahamas - crime, the judicial system is in a state. In no particular order, the Grand Bahama Power Company, problems over work permits, the "one a day" murder rate and the judicial system.
    “There was a deal] to sell a Freeport apartment to the family of a secretary who had given him 42 years of service, so her heirs and beneficiaries could benefit, the relevant documents were all set for signing in Florida when someone expressed concern about the state of this nation's legal and judicial system, and that it was becoming another Zimbabwe.
    “That's the kind of attitude that's prevalent in the States; another Zimbabwe…
    “We've been refused Hannes Babak's work permit with no explanation, so at the moment we have no leadership. I don't know what the Government's got against him. We were partners with him or were. He was a very valuable colleague.
    “Mr. Babak has gone a very long way to bringing LNG to Freeport, both for export to Florida and use in Grand Bahama's own power supply, having visited LNG plants in Texas to this end.
    “He had also made progress on construction of a new 90-room hospital in Freeport, plus development of another oil refinery and a concrete plan, the latter in conjunction with a Florida-based firm…
    “We can't promote industry with the high charges and frequent outages," Sir Jack said. "I don't know what we can do. They've got a monopoly, and whether the president and the Port Authority can take them to court, I don't know. We [himself and Mr. St George] sold to a good group in the US.”
 
 

TOURISM COMPETITION FROM THE US
    The press carried a story last week, which shows why The Bahamas and its tourism product is in trouble.  Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool Wallace is a good guy, a smart guy, but tourism has been singularly unsuccessful thus far in the FNM administration.  Whatever it is, there is no vision for tourism and the competition is getting stiffer.  You only have to read the report below which shows that no one is standing still.  That is why it was so foolish of Hubert Ingraham to say that both an Atlantis Phase 4 and the Bahamar project at Cable Beach could not go on at the same time.  The competition is not standing still as the report below by the Nassau Guardian's Inderia Saunders from Miami shows:
    Watch out Bahamas tourism, the U.S. is on its way as President Barack Obama rolls out a new travel initiative that will see the country strengthen its tourism product - a plan not only centred on going after the same target market as The Bahamas, but maybe Bahamian travellers themselves.
    It's a project that could put a dent in Ministry of Tourism's latest efforts to increase domestic tourism.
    And it comes as the U.S. - particularly Florida - aims to offer many of the same sorts of attractions as The Bahamas, supplementing its beaches with a huge expansion in casinos and gambling and with Atlantis-style water parks in the works.
    According to the Senior Advisor and deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Commerce, Rick Wade, the competition is definitely on the way.
    “Our goal obviously is to bring more tourists into the United States and tourism is a major export and an important part of our sector," he told Guardian Business. "We want to expand that to the extent where we can bring more visitors in. We only create more jobs here and that's the ultimate goal of the President's initiative.”
    It's a Travel Promotion Act that requires U.S. officials to promote America as a tourism and travel destination all over the world, with a focus on the international strategy, said Wade. The program is a part of an Obama goal to double exports in the next five years, with that government waiving visa requirements from participating countries to encourage U.S. travel.
    “We want more visitors from other countries to visit the United States,” he added. "That impacts the hotel industry and every other industry in the tourism cycle and that’s good for America.”
    But therein lies the issue: What's good for America - boosting its tourism dollars - is not good for The Bahamas. This country already relies heavily on tourism for revenue and increased competition from one the world's largest power houses may not bode well for an already-struggling tourism product.
    At the moment, Tourism is aggressively going after those domestic travel dollars, with a companion fly-free program centred on showing locals the luxuries of vacationing at home.
    However, the long-standing complaint of The Bahamas just being too expensive to stay at home still stands, with Guardian Business analysts asserting more needed to be done in the way of lowering costs.
    Still, one saving grace for The Bahamas may be that as the U.S. lures international travellers to its destination, this country is still heavily focused on drawing more visitors from North America.
 
 

YOUNG LIBERALS SUPPORT PLP CHOICES
    The Chairman of the Progressive Young Liberals, Aarone Sargent, has issued a statement of congratulations to the PLP for its selection of young candidates to run in the next general election.
    Mr. Sargent spoke of businessman Arnold Forbes and Dr Kendal Major for the constituencies of Mount Moriah and Garden Hills respectively.  He said “the Progressive Young Liberals (PYL) fully support the party's efforts to find talented and motivated young individuals to lead the charge to recapture and resuscitate our ailing country from the hands of the Free National Movement.
    “The Free National Movement's youth arm, the Torchbearers, claim that their party is the trailblazer in paving the way for youth.
    “If one were to take a look at the so-called Torchbearers in Cabinet, none really has substantive say in the development of this country as the government is run by one man, Hubert Ingraham, as stated by him.
    “The collective ideas of youth within the FNM evidently all seem to go to waste as we can see the mess our country is in and the lack of vision thereof.
    “We congratulate the most recent selection of businessman Arnold Forbes for the Mount Moriah constituency.
    “This was an excellent choice, a man of character and youthful vision. We feel that he fits the profile of the visionary modern Member of Parliament that the youthful electorate of the country seeks to support.
    “The Progressive Young Liberals plan to aggressively campaign for all of our candidates, specifically trying to galvanise the support of the younger voter.
    “The youth of the nation will be watching this next general election with keen interest, and will no longer be swayed by the parties and the T-shirts.
    “The youth of this country will be demanding solutions and vibrant initiatives that will affect the development of our country for years to come.
    “We, the youth of the PLP, are a part of that master plan to create a sustainable vision that will dictate.”
 
 

IS IT PROSTITUTION? EXPERTS DISAGREE
    On Friday, 23rd July, 2010, The Tribune carried a story with the headline: Adult men 'exploiting teenage girls'.  In the story, there was a disagreement among the experts on the question of teenage girls who give sex for material things.  Dr. David Allen says it is prostitution.  Dr. Sandra Dean Patterson says that it is not prostitution, but rather transactional sex.  Hmmm!  According to Dr. Patterson, it is not accurate to say teen prostitution is common among Bahamian youths, because teenagers under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex.  She believes that as victims of adult predators, it is key not to blame the teenagers.  Teenage girls being exploited because of their vulnerability: that is what the real problem is.
    “The behaviour that people may see as fresh girls or girls selling their bodies in return for gifts is really symptomatic of their violation early in life. There is an increasing number of girls who are raped, sexually assaulted, molested, forced into sex, which are indicators of this kind of behaviour.”
    In Bahamian law, any male over the age of 14 who has sex with someone under the age of 16 can be charged with statutory rape.  According to the police who investigate these matters, most incidents go unreported.  When reports do come in, it is usually from parents, said a police officer.
    “If we get permission from the parents the child has no say about whether we do a physical examination,” said the officer.
    Police investigations include physical exams, witness testimonies and statements from the victim.  The officer said sometimes teenagers do not want to “incriminate” their partners, but the police often have other means of investigating.
    Dr. Patterson describes prostitution as usually an “organised activity”, involving individuals having sex with a “series of persons in order to make a living”.
    She said: “Persons who are in relationships with one or several persons and using those relationships to fulfil material needs that would be more transactional sex, but that is not prostitution.  In either case, with an underage teen, it is “exploitation”.
    Dr. David Allen seems to have a contrary view. “In Bahamian society, there has been a normalisation of behaviour that is tantamount to “prostitution”, said psychiatrist Dr David Allen, based on his research over the past three years.
 
 

AT THE GOVERNOR GENERAL’S HOUSE

    Ian Strachan, the Assistant Professor of English at the College of The Bahamas, has the political bug.  That much seems clear after years of suppressing it.  Secondly, he is a friend of Peter Ramsay, the photographer.  Mr. Ramsay is among the most well connected Bahamians and associates himself with smart and brilliant people.  Peter Ramsay is also a friend of the Governor General Sir Arthur and Lady Foulkes.  The GG had a lunch for the visiting High Commissioner for Sri Lanka.  To help welcome the new Ambassador, the brilliant Professor Strachan and his wife were on the guest list dressed to the nines and we have that photo of the occasion and then there was the official photo with the Governor General and the High Commissioner.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay
 
 

INDEPENDENCE IN MIAMI - PHOTOS

    The Bahamas marked the occasion of the Independence of The Bahamas in Florida at the St. Agnes Anglican Church in Overtown, Miami on Sunday 18th July at 3 p.m.  Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, attended for the Progressive Liberal Party.
    Above, the clergy is assembled for the celebrations.
    Below, first row from left, Canon Richard Marquis Barry, the rector of St. Agnes Church in Miami, addresses the congregation, Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs with Bahamas Consul General Gladys Johnson Sands and Mr. Sands; Fr. Denrick Rolle, Priest-In-Charge of the Churches in South Andros and Mangrove Cay and a likely successor to Canon Barry at St. Agnes in Miami.  Fr. Rolle was the guest preacher at the Independence anniversary service.
    Second row, from left: Dr. Timothy McCartney, psychologist and lecturer, professor at Nova Southeastern University (photo at left) and Rev. John T. Roker (photo at right) were presented with special awards from the Florida Senate for their contributions to The Bahamas and Bahamians in Florida Senator Diane Wilson with Consul General Gladys Sands; and final row, ladies of the Church.
Photos/Don Parchment





 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A writer complains about the policy of allowing non-Bahamian companies to drill in Abaco:
    It came to my attention yesterday, July 15th 2010, that there is an American drilling company drilling wells on Abaco.  They are currently trying to drill wells at the Wilson City BEC power plant.  I find this quite disturbing as there are many suitably qualified Bahamian drilling companies including mine.  What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that MAN Diesel, the company installing the infrastructure at this plant, has breached a contract with my company and still to date owes me a considerable sum of money.  Further to this, they had another Bahamian drilling company that has since been let go.
    As I stated before there are several other drilling companies throughout the Bahamas capable of performing this work.  However, The American company is not.  I base this statement on the fact that this company "Rowe Drilling" approached me on the above mentioned date in order to procure my equipment to complete the job.  The gentlemen who approached me stated bluntly that the equipment they brought here is not capable of doing the prescribed work.
    Competition in any market place is good.  However, the competition must be fair and all applicable dues should be paid.  As a Bahamian operating a drilling company in the Bahamas I am at a serious disadvantage when it comes to direct foreign competition.  Whenever I import equipment, I must pay government duties (+60%).  I also have pay licensing and inspection fees as well as Bahamian business license fees and national Insurance etc.  These Americans simply place a duty bond on their equipment which they are able to retrieve upon repatriating their equipment.  I however must commit these expenses as the cost of doing business in my own country.  None of the above mentioned fees will ever see their way back into my company’s pockets!
    How as a Bahamian business person am I to survive?  When should we expect decisions made by The Bahamian government will be for the betterment of ALL Bahamians?  What do I tell my numerous employees who haven't been able to make a full week’s wages in over a year?
    We need better!  We need help now!
Jeremy W. Wong
Well Done Drilling Services

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Rick Lowe is the master of divide and conquer and most of all disingenuous to the point of being politically dishonest:
    I was recently involved in a matter whereby a PLP Senator, Jerome Fitzgerald, stated in the Upper Chamber of Parliament that the company I work for "committed an egregious offense against the Stamp Tax" Act.
    In a nutshell, we submitted an entry on May 25, 2010, for goods that arrived on May 24, 2010. The entry was approved on May 25, 2010, according to the Bahamas Customs stamp on it, and the government announced a new tax rate on May 26, 2010.
    On May 27 we paid the approved entry, after getting a manager's check from the bank as usual, and collected the product off the dock. Eighty-three percent of it was subsequently sold.
Almost a month later Mr. Fitzgerald took advantage of his lofty position of power and made his comments described above.
    To make matters worse, Bahamas Customs rescinded their original approval and charged the higher rate of duty based on an antiquated and unjust law that allows them to make changes retroactively.
    The Comptroller of Customs, after initially suggesting we did something unscrupulous, apologized in the press. See the newspaper story here (http://bit.ly/bxxN3g). Fitzgerald was asked to do the same but refused.
    That aside, he attempted to make it a racial issue, seemingly a PLP tradition, by suggesting that so many other Bahamians had to pay the higher rate so how could we get away with what in his view was a crime.
    The real story here though is a pattern by many within the PLP of turning things into racial, or perceived rich man/poor man issues, when they know better. Then they hide behind the libel laws that let them get away with these things in Parliament.
    All this leads me to the substantive point. And that is the PLP's divide and conquer rhetoric.
    They often refer to the control that the "Bay Street Boys" exert over the Nassau Economy, inciting the race issue each time, yet they ignore the islands where PLP hard liners "control" things.
    Take Kemp's Bay, Andros for example.
    I had the opportunity to go pigeon shooting there many years ago and stayed in a motel/apartment complex owned by a Mr. Norwood Rahming. An extremely nice gentleman by the way.
    Needing supplies we went to the food store, also owned by Mr. Rahming.
    Parked nearby were a couple of school buses for Mr. Rahming to fulfill his government contract to ferry school children back and forth.
    Across the street was the gas station and church. Also reportedly a part of the Rahming enterprise.
    Wanting to send packages back to Nassau, we went to the mail boat, and guess what? It too was apparently part of Mr. Rahming's empire.
    In other words, there was very little of the Kemp's Bay economy Mr. Rahming did not control.
    Now was/is the silence of the PLP on issues like this because it is their guy in control, or more specifically, Sir Lynden's point man in the community when he was the MP for the area?
    What is wrong with those with ability and foresight like Mr. Rahming and the "Bay Street Boys" making the most of their talents as long as they do it within the confines of the law of the day?
    The double standards are amazing. And each time I start to believe the PLP could be moving into the modern era of race relations, "honorable" Parliamentarians like Fitzgerald do their divide and conquer routine. It's now very predictable and dated in the 21st Century.
    I keep reminding myself we could be so much better as a country without these cheap attempts to sway voters. I honestly believe this is because there is far too much government.
    Local government has to be made real, where people in their community control their own destiny.
    Laws, whereby a parliamentarian can libel someone without fear of the consequences of his actions must change.
    Laws that allow Bahamas Customs to rescind, or back date approvals already granted in this manner must change.
    Laws that say the private sector cannot charge the higher price if two differing tags are on an item, even though the lower tag might be wrong, must change.
    When a system allows inconsistencies like this, and parliamentarians are allowed to make fictitious charges without merit, is there any wonder people lose respect for each other?
    When a political party suggests they are out for "fairness" and then condone practices like those of Fitzgerald and others, should they be taken seriously?
    They must be careful that those same tactics do not surface within their party. Divide and conquer is a negative precept and is destructive no matter where it is practiced.
Rick Lowe

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Fred Mitchell On Prime Rate:
    I write to you following a a story which appeared in the Nassau Guardian's Business Section on 19th July based on a press conference that I held on Thursday 15th July at the House of Assembly.  I did say that I would ask for a resolution to be placed on the order paper for tomorrow's session.  I thank you for airing what has become a chorus asking for the Central Bank to intervene and lower the prime rate as one public policy option to lower costs.
    I have asked for the matter to be stood down from the order paper with the agreement of my colleagues to allow the debate on the Central Bank Amendment Bill scheduled for tomorrow to be aired which should accomplish the objective of bringing  amongst other things the matter to the attention of the public for airing.  That is my sole objective.  Legislators have their role.  The Central Bank has its role.  In this, we mirror the comments  made about the secrecy of policy considerations by the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States.  The Central Bank can be acclimatized to public opinion.  They are not bound to act according to it but ought to take cognizance of it.
    I insist that it is in the best interest of the Bahamian people for the prime rate to be lowered at this time.
    The Members of Parliament have an obligation to make their views known on this matter.
    The reasons are compelling: it is a move that will lower the cost of government debt; it will lower the cost of privately held debt including for mortgagors of land and homes; it will stimulate demand but in a modest and non-inflationary way.
    I will unfortunately be out of the country during the course of tomorrow's debate but I take the matter of my public role quite seriously and appreciate the space to make the clarification so that there is no suggestion of misleading anyone on this point.
    I reserve the right to  seek to raise the matter again if there is not a sufficient airing of this matter.
Fred Mitchell MP
Fox Hill

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Forrester Carroll takes up the case of the Barefoot American Bandit...
    “Highly irresponsible and disgraceful” were the choice adjectives employed by Tommy Turnquest in describing the response by the leader of the opposition to the government’s handling of the case of the “Barefoot American Bandit.”  Tommy is the disgrace and ought to be ashamed of himself, of his mismanagement of our nation’s national security and our so-called justice system, during his tenure, to date.  If he were listening and taking notes, he would have heard the entire nation crying out for transparency and condemning his government for this obvious lapse in justice.
    The leader of the opposition was quite correct in echoing the nation’s sentiments and condemning this travesty of justice.  If he hadn’t done so, Bahamians, far and wide and across the political landscape, would have been shouting for his head on a platter.  There was no way Mr. Christie could have remained silent and or concur with the government’s irresponsible position in letting this criminal off the hook and not be punished for the crimes he committed within our borders.  If there is a reckless, highly irresponsible and disgraceful jackass in this whole affair, Sir, that jackass is you Tommy Turnquest.
    What, in your view, Mr. Turnquest, should Mr. Christie have done, as Her Majesty’s loyal leader of the opposition?  Ignore your double standards, and agree with you in excusing this American bandit from justice?  Any Bahamian, caught in the same predicament, would have been given a mandatory two-year jail sentence for possession of the unlicensed firearm alone and just think about all the other charges which would have been brought against him.  How do you justify this position Mr. Turnquest?  Bahamians on all the talk shows I’ve tuned in to after the event were wondering how could this be fair or weren’t you listening in on the shows, Mr. Minister?  Before I go further, let me state, emphatically for the record that I don’t believe for one cotton-picking minute that the police commissioner and his police officers have any fault in how this case was decided.  I submit that, notwithstanding their public persona, the police carried out Delaney’s (the attorney general’s) instructions; who was carrying out Tommy Turnquest’s (the minister for national security) instructions who, himself, was carrying out Hubert Ingraham’s (the Uncle Tom) instructions.
    The Nassau Guardian, in its Saturday July 17th editorial, certainly condemned the government’s decision, as well, when it referred to the outcome of the case as the country’s “two-tiered criminal justice system.”
    “The police and government have set a dangerous precedent with the Colton Harris-Moore decision,” opined the editor in prefacing his/her editorial remarks.  The editorial went on; “the police told the public that the 19-year-old American, nicknamed the “Barefoot Bandit”, was found with a firearm and ammunition.  The police said he led them on a chase in a boat that was not his.  The police said he was suspected in several break-ins in Abaco.  Yet, in the Magistrate’s Court, he was only charged with illegal landing, fined $300 and ordered deported.  The outcome of the case suggests that this country has one set of laws and procedures for foreigners, and another for its citizens.”
    Will Tommy accuse the general public of being highly irresponsible and disgraceful as well?  I believe that the editorial defined, precisely, the sentiments of 99% of the Bahamian people.  With all the criminal activity going on in the country nowadays, can the government risk further break down and lack of the citizenry’s confidence in the justice system?  I don’t think so and I wish, in this vein, to ask the national security minister a question; how will the next young black Bahamian, who is caught in possession of an unlicensed firearm, as a first offence, be dealt with?  Will he, also, not be charged and set free as was done in the case of the American Bandit?  These are not silly but pertinent questions which surely follow as a result of this dangerous (as put by the Nassau Guardian editorialist) precedent setting episode.
    There seems to be a streak that runs down the spine of your line of Turnquests’, Tommy, which tends to rationalize in favour of persons of a certain ilk. I remember, very vividly, that it was your close family member (Mr. minister of national security) who couldn’t wait for the FNM to come to power, in 1992, so that he, as the FNM government’s attorney general, could file that ‘nolle’ document in court which essentially squashed the warrant which was put out for the arrest of the Mosko boy who shot that black man to death, on the Eastern Road (I believe it was) and left that little daughter of his, fatherless.  Yes, this thing must run through the spine of that particular Turnquest clan.
    The Guardian’s editorial went on to cite the May 2010 incident, as well, when another Caucasian American boy, in a drunken stupor, was actually charged by the police with no less than eleven offences, including assault of a police officer, throwing racial slurs and threatening to kill the officer.  He was fined a mere $9000, which was hurriedly paid and the boy released. The point being made was to show a pattern, by this administration, of unequal justice; two-tiered justice, if you will.  Will the next young black Bahamian boy, who beats up on a police officer and is charged with a similar offence, get a similar fine and released for being a first time offender, or will he be mutilated and possibly die in prison, at the hands of the system, for his crime?  All these probabilities should be considered, in advance, should it happen to one of our boys, in light of the precedent that has now been set in these two incidents.  “As an evolving democracy we should not aim to offload difficult situations to avoid satisfying our responsibilities; we must do better,” So ended the Nassau Guardian’s editorial.
    In a subsequent editorial, the Guardian - obviously disgusted at Turnquests’ feeble attempt to rebut the statement issued by Christie - called on the national security minister to desist from commenting further on the subject and accept the fact that his government made a terrible booboo.  To quote an excerpt, it said, “…so minister Turnquest needs to move on and accept the fact that this one is not a good wicket.  There will be no political points gained by carrying on with this issue, no matter what the PLP comes up with... this one is a lost cause for the government,” unquote.
    Sir Jack Hayward, (following on the heels of this incident) in an exclusive interview with the Tribune’s business editor Mr. Neil Hartnell, was very candid in explaining some of the reasons for Freeport’s woes.  “Flogging a dead horse” is what he thought their chances would be in procuring a suitable buyer for the assets of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd.  Although, the very notable firm J P Morgan was being considered as the front runner to be engaged by the partners to find a buyer, Sir Jack thought that even their chances of achieving this goal were minimal.  He cited crime and the judicial system as key factors in the devaluation of the company’s attractiveness.  He compared our present situation, in The Bahamas, to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe and he believes that this is how we are viewed in business circles on Wall Street and most credible business centres around the world.  And as much as we might wish to challenge Sir Jack’s analytical business climate skills, with respect to The Bahamas, we could hardly do so, credibly, because he knows of what he speaks.
    Ingraham and his Free National Movement government have brought this once prosperous nation and people to our knees.  Would you have thought that you would ever see the day when the biggest business activity being generated in our country, would come from street-side vendors and their selling of $5; $10; $20 phone cards / Andros crabs and washing of cars?
    This is a disgraceful Administration, dogged by special interest and American government intimidation and servitude.  Some time ago, I had an ardent supporter of the FNM government tell me that, for us Bahamians, sovereignty and independence, when dealing with the United States Government, are myths and besides, he said, sovereignty and independence cannot put bread on our tables.  This is the mindset of these FNM “uncle tom leaders;” that our sovereignty and independence, in their view, aren’t worth the efforts of our forefathers who persevered to achieve for us our own identity.  Their view is that it is alright to allow the United States of America to urinate metaphorically all over us so long as we surrender completely to their will.  Bahamians would do well to remember the identity of that famous numbered confidential informant; he didn’t just sell us out recently, he sold us out a long time ago when he chose to become a renegade minister in Sir Lynden Pindling’s cabinet; when he allowed himself to be duped by the American CIA.  The American CIA, you should know, is worse than the Mafia in that once you are on their payroll, they never let you off.
    For those of you who wish to see me go off the scene and not be heard from ever again; well you will get your partial wish, at least for awhile, for about six weeks, from now, I will be out of your hair; but for my very valuable cherished readers, who look forward with bated breath each week for my next subject for review; well just hang in there for as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in one of his movies; “I’ll be back.”
God Bless.
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
28th July 2010
 
 

IN PASSING
Mitchell & Sears In Caribbean Region Talks
Fred Mitchell and Alfred Sears, both PLP MPs, travelled to Barbados for a two-day informal conference on governance issues in the region hosted by Mia Mottley, Leader of the Opposition in Barbados from Wednesday 21st July to Thursday 22nd July.  Mr. Mitchell then travelled to St. Lucia before returning home.

PLP Delegation In Cuba

PLP MP Ryan Pinder led a delegation of PLPs for meetings in Cuba from Monday 19th July to Friday 23rd July.  Mr. Pinder’s delegation included Randy Rolle, PLP Vice Chair Family Islands; Carlos Smith, PLP Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Elcott Coleby, Member Political Committee and Committee on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.  Members of the delegation are pictured with Cuban officials.

Eugene Dupuch Law Students Lose Their Subsidy
The cutbacks continue under the FNM administration in education.  Having gutted the subsidies to the College of The Bahamas, the government has now without notice withdrawn the subsidy of some $5000 per annum to students at the Bahamas Law campus of the Council of Legal Education Eugene Dupuch Law School.  The school, which was put here at the instance of the FNM government, received a subsidy from the government to pay for all Bahamian students.  That means that each student will now have to find some $5000 in September to continue at the school.  This has left many students in a quandary and are now forced to withdraw from the programme because they simply cannot afford the fees. That's the FNM for you.

Developers Held Up
When the House of Assembly debated the new Subdivisions Bill, the PLP warned the FNM that they did not have the bureaucracy to support the bill.  They went ahead anyway.  Now the implementation of the bill, which was supposed to be 1st July is put off until September.  The Minister, though, neglected to say that there is no Town Planning Committee to be able to make decisions on building applications and permits.  Arawak Homes CEO Fanon Wilson spoke to the press saying that their developments are being held up, no decisions can be made and this at a time when unemployment is rising.  Again, that’s the FNM for you.

Greenslade Defends The Indefensible
Despite the unpopularity of the decision and the warning from these quarters that it is better that the Commissioner of Police stay out of the controversy over the Barefoot Bandit and the bad decision to send him back to the United States with only a slap on the wrist from The Bahamas, the Commissioner Ellison Greenslade was back in the press again defending the decision.  We advise him again to let this go.  It was a bad decision and no amount of talking can change that.  What the consensus though is that there is a lesson to be learned: not to take ownership of certain things or you will get stuck with the problems afterwards.  We think that is a wise lesson for the Commissioner.

Pinnacle Seekers Launch

Congratulations to Toastmaster Jason Springer who has now officially launched the Pinnacle Seekers Toastmasters Club on Friday 23rd July.  This is a new club of upwardly mobile young people led by Mr. Springer whose idea it was to bring them together.  Minister of Housing Ken Russell was a guest of honour as was the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes.

St. Georges Parish Fair 17 July

In the old days, back in the day, St. Georges Fair used to be the dominant social event of the old Valley neighbourhood.  That is why for old times’ sake, when we saw Archdeacon Kingsley Knowles and his parishioners enjoying the day, we thought for old times’ sake we thought for old times’ sake to show you how we used to have fun.

Raynard's Kids Last Day At Summer Camp

The joys of fatherhood. When you look at former PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby’s Facebook page, there is little about politics and more about the bliss of fatherhood.  His son Zayne celebrated his 1st birthday last week and the girls were starring at the summer camp of the One Family Junkanoo group as this picture from his Facebook page shows.

Ratio Of Foreigners To Bahamians In Banking
Here is more evidence that the policy of work permits and Bahamianization seem to be a failure.  Zhivargo Laing who made a complete a… no we will say it this way.  He is just such a know-it-all and does not know when in God’s name to shut the hell up.  Talks too much.  So this is what he told the House of Assembly on Wednesday 21st July as he was debating the new Trust and Banking Regulations Act:
“The proportion of foreigners to Bahamians in the bank and trust sector of financial services in the Bahamas remains virtually the same as it was almost 10 years ago.
“In the year 2000, Central Bank of the Bahamas data showed there were 4,460 employed in the sector (4,223 Bahamians and 237 non-Bahamians) and in 2009 there were 4,905 (4,602 Bahamians and 303 non-Bahamians).
“This equates to five per cent foreign employment in the sector in 2000, rising to six per cent in 2009, or an 8.98 per cent growth in the number of Bahamians compared with a 27.8 per cent growth in the number of non-Bahamians in the nine-year period.”
Don’t you don’t think he ought to be ashamed of himself?

Philip Simon Leaves Chamber Job
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce yesterday announced that Philip Simon will step down from the position of executive director as at August 30, a position he has held for the past eight years. While relinquishing day-to-day management at the Chamber, Philip he will still play a role at the Board of Directors level.  President of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, Khaalis Rolle, said: “Philip Simon brought the Chamber into the 21st century.  When he came onboard, the Chamber was a shell of a building with few functional programs.
“Through his hard work, dedication and tremendous personal sacrifice he is chiefly responsible for modernising the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and giving it the strong voice it enjoys today.  I personally became involved with the Chamber due to Phil's effort, and I have seen the tremendous transformation over the years”.
Mr. Simon is moving to play a more active role in his private business interests, which include a consultancy business and an emerging technology business.

Attorney James Thompson Dies
Well known Attorney James Thompson is dead.  He died on Thursday 22nd July after suffering from cancer.  Mr. Thompson was a well known legal activist, an expert in land quieting actions.  He was born to the late Maxwell Thompson, a founding member of the Citizens Committee, which formed to reverse the decision of the then government to ban the showing of Sidney Poitier’s first film ‘No Way Out’.  Maxell Thompson was the man to whom Sir Randol Fawkes spoke the words “the lips of Esau with the mouth of Jacob”, which led to Sir Randol being charged, then acquitted, of sedition.  Maxwell Thompson later served as a judge but his son never entered public life of any kind.  In his later years, he saw one of his two sons who practice at the bar lose his right to practice over a money scandal.  But he was a good soldier and we wish his family well at this difficult time.



Previous Columns

1st August, 2010
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U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS GO SEE “FRESH” A CLARENCE ROLLE PLAY
RYAN ON FISHING SUPREME COURT OFFICE VANDALIZED
CRABS FOR COMPUTERS LEEVAN SANDS WINS GOLD AT CAC
PHOTO ESSAY ON DUDLEY THOMPSON’S VISIT BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT AND BLUEWATER SETTLE
AN ANALYSIS OF JOHN DELANEY’S BEHAVIOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
TERRAN BROWN IN PASSING...
Fred Mitchell Launches 3rd Edition of 'Great Moments In PLP History... Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party... The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
BradleyBRoberts.com Interesting Places...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...
JeromeFiztgerald.org Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com  Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES... Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report... Bahamian Cycling News
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Dudley Thompson Visits: When he was a whippersnapper in those long off years during the waning days of the British Empire, he was one of the defence lawyers for the Kenyan Founding president Jomo Kenyatta. He came to The Bahamas also in the role of an attorney in the election court cases of Loftus Roker for the PLP in North Andros and for the PLP in its fight against Basil Kelly in Crooked Island in 1967. He later became a Jamaican politician and at one time served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Jamaica. His name: Dudley Thompson and well though he aint a whippersnapper anymore, he is as he said on Thursday 29th July now 93 and a half years old. According to the former Senator from Jamaica, everything works on him except his two knees. From all accounts those who witnessed the lecture on Thursday at the Balmoral Club under the sponsorship of the Boule fraternity, headed in The Bahamas by former Senator Philip Galanis and with the patronage of Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes, Dudley Thompson is as sharp as ever. Our photo of the week shows the official party being greeted by MP Fred Mitchell, the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs (from left Senator Thompson, Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General Arthur Foulkes,Philip Galanis and former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest). The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

INGRAHAM SAYS HE COULD CARE LESS

Perry Christie, the Leader of the Opposition, posed the question to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in the House of Assembly from his seat on Thursday 29th July: “What is the position on Bahamar?” Mr. Christie was talking about the Cable Beach touristic project that threatens to spend several billions of dollars in the Bahamian economy now in the doldrums and with the prospect of 10,000 jobs for Bahamians.
Mr. Ingraham’s reply: “I don’t know and I could care less.”

This is the attitude of a pig. Shameful! But why would we want to talk about shame when Mr. Ingraham is better described as shameless.
In the mean time, the Bahamas Contractors Association headed by Stephen Wrinkle was holding a seminar for some 200 or so contractors who are hoping and praying that the Bahamar deal will come through. They have no work now and there is no prospect of any work, yet you have someone acting like a clown for a Prime Minister saying he does not care whether the deal goes or comes. What a very strange and disgusting characteristic?

The flurry of activity over the past week came after the Chinese Ambassador in The Bahamas notified the government of The Bahamas that the last Ministry in the Chinese government responsible for approvals had signed off on the project so the matter was a go, and that all that remained was the approval of the government of The Bahamas.

But the head of the Bahamas government says: “I don’t know and I could care less.”

By damn!
Number of hits for three week ending Saturday 31st July 2010 up to midnight: 113,407
Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 31st July 2010 up to midnight: 578,922
Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 31st July 2010 up to midnight: 5,229,585


CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com

U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS

Dr. Arturo Valenzuela, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, the top diplomat in the hemisphere for relations in the U.S. State Department on a day to day basis with the region and hemisphere was in The Bahamas for a visit on Monday 26th July as part of a region wide swing. He met with the government, the opposition and with people from civil society including PLP Young Liberals. Dr. Valenzuela stressed the U.S.' commitment to the region and supported the view that there ought to be an effort toward regional cooperation. The photo shows from left U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas Nicole Avant, PLP Deputy Leader Philip “Brave” Davis MP, and the Assistant Secretary, PLP Leader Perry Christie and Fred Mitchell Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs.

RYAN ON FISHING
The following open letter to the fishermen of The Bahamas was issued by Ryan Pinder, a descendant of Spanish Wells, the nation’s fishing capital on 27th July, on the eve of the opening of the crawfish season which is today 1st August.

My Dear Bahamian Fishermen:
August 1st is the opening of the crawfish season and this is my first opportunity as a Member of Parliament to voice my concerns and opinions at the National level for this important day in the life of our Fishermen. After my commitment to my friends and constituents in Elizabeth who are obviously #1 with me, I am committed to the Fishermen and Farmers of our Bahamaland, and who in my opinion have for long been relegated to the bottom rung of the ladder in our economy. You will have on several occasions heard me address your plight and you have my commitment that I will continue to do so. I have addressed your plight with the leadership of my Party, the Progressive Liberal Party, and I have their commitment to take up your plight and pledge to stay with you until your fight is won.
The PLP and I would like to wish all fishermen of the Bahamas a prosperous and safe crawfish season and maiden trip as the crawfish season opens on August 1st. The PLP recognizes the importance of this industry to thousands of Bahamians throughout our archipelago of islands, including Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Abaco, Long Island, Exuma, Andros and many others.

The Progressive Liberal Party wishes to emphatically remind Hubert Ingraham and the FNM that fisheries and the crawfish industry might be the most important industry to many in our family islands, and to our country as a whole. Under this Government, fishermen throughout our family islands have witnessed an explosion in illegal poaching during the off-season by foreign vessels, most noticeably from the Dominican Republic. This is destroying our fisheries industry, from crawfish, grouper, scale fish and conch. We need to be serious about protecting this fragile industry so Bahamian fishermen can have a future in it.

Most notably, however, is the danger that is posed to Bahamians on the water. There were numerous encounters during the summer months by Spanish Wells and Current fishermen with illegal poachers. Some of these instances have turned violent. There are reports that foreign poachers are attacking Bahamian fishermen with explosive devices and spear guns. These encounters have been reported to the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources without adequate response.

In fact, this summer a Spanish Wells fishing vessel had an encounter with illegal poachers from the Dominican Republic, and when they did not receive support from the Bahamian Government, they seized multiple fishing dinghies, hundreds of pounds of illegally caught crawfish and grouper and brought them back to port. It is my understanding that these illegal poachers, who exhibited violent actions against Bahamian fishermen have been returned back to the Dominican Republic without prosecution and likely fishing illegally again in our waters. The danger is that the inaction by this FNM Government will encourage vigilante justice in order for Bahamians to protect their livelihood. This must be prevented as it will only lead to additional violence and possibly loss of life and it can only be prevented by proper and persistent policing of our fishing grounds.

We find it inexplicable and inexcusable that this administration has no answer for the protection of Bahamian fishermen and their fragile industry. We find it inexcusable that concerns are not even addressed. I propose that the Government do the following to ensure the protection of Bahamian fishermen:
1) Routine air patrols originating from South Andros over the southern banks.
2) Marine patrols along the southern most boarder of the Great Bahama Bank and Cay Sal Bank.
3) The separation of The Royal Bahamas Defense Force patrol into two divisions: a) Division for the protection of marine resources; and b) Division for drug interdiction and illegal immigration. This would allow a focus specifically on two different priorities of marine patrol.
4) A designated liaison of The Royal Bahamas Defense Force to interact on a real time basis with Bahamian fishermen at sea.
5) Immediate apprehension and prosecution under Bahamian law of illegal poachers.
6) Publication of a security protocol and procedure for fisherman outlining procedures for reporting poaching violations to better understand where the illegal poachers tend to be.

The Progressive Liberal Party and I would like to wish the fishermen of the Bahamas a safe crawfish season and a bountiful catch.

CRABS FOR COMPUTERS

Well as promised the Crabs For Computers programme came to the R.M. Bailey field in Nassau on Friday 30th July. Family Island Administrator Gilbert Kemp led the way with 30 children coming on the boat with Crabs for sale at 25 dollars per dozen and the people turned out in full force to help the children of Mangrove Cay buy their lap top computers. Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes was there for the occasion and Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill joined them. The event raised $4500 and there is a need for $1500 more. The photo is by Derek Smith of the Bahamas Information Services.

PHOTO ESSAY ON DUDLEY THOMPSON’S VISIT
The photo of the week is that of visit of former Senator Dudley Thompson of Jamaica now 93 and a well know figure in the early life of the PLP in The Bahamas. Senator Thompson was invited to The Bahamas as the special guest of Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and gave a lecture at the Balmoral Club on Thursday 29th July. The photo essay is by Peter Ramsay.


Pictured left to right: Keith Davis Bisx and unidentified female, Dr. Keith Wisdomof Cable Bahamas; Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Wilson.


Pictured left to right: Dr. Barry Russell, MP Sidney Collie, Mr. and Mr.s Patrick Rahming


Pictured: Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Gibson


Pictured left to right: Attorney Damein Gomez, Philip Galnis, Senator Dudley Thompson,Cartoonist Stan Burnside


Pictured left to right: Paul MCweeney, Managing Director Bank of The Bahamas; Godfrey Eneas of Love 97 and Mrs. Eneas; Deputy Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames; Dr. Barry Russell


Pictured left to right: Philip Galanis, Senator Dudely Thompson Dame Marguerite Pindlingand PLP leader Perry Christie.


Pictured left to right: Archbishop Drexel Gomez; Sir Arthur Foulkes Governor General; Sir Orville Turnquest, former Governor General; former National Security Minister Hon. A. Loftus Roker; Philip Brave Davis MP and Deputy Leader of the PLP; Dr. Judson Eneas.


Pictured left to right: Mr. and Mrs Arnold Forbes, Senator Dudley Thompson, Philip Galanis and Mrs. Tonya Galanis, Alpheus "Hawk" Finlayson.


Pictured left to right: Senator Dudley Thompson., Sir Arthur Foulkes, Governor Generaland in a rar public appearance the Hon. A; Loftus Roker, former Minister of National Security and former MP for North Andros.


Pictured left to right: Dr. Judson Eneas, Dame Marguerite Pindling, and TonyaGalanis, Principal Eugene Dupuch Law School.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Chuck Pinder writes from Spanish Wells on the state of the fishing industry:

I have sat back and waited all summer long to hear what this incompetent government is going to do about the illegal fishing by fishermen from the Dominican Republic. All summer long these foreigners which by the way Bahamas is the off season when crawfish spawn and reproduce these Dominicans have RAPED!!!!! In The Southern Bahamas. Numerous fishing boats out fishing for snapper or repairing traps (condos) have had interaction in which gas bombs were thrown and spear guns were held up at Bahamian Fishermen our own have been shot at by these invaders . In May a Spanish Wells fishing boat named the Comfort Zone had a battle with them 30 miles in over the southern banks of the Bahamas 5 Dominicans were captured by them and out of 12 dinghies which were seized by our fishermen 540lbs of crawfish and numerous under sized grouper and hog fish were taken with no clue what the big boat had AND THIS WAS IN MAY!!!!!!

These bastards were picked up by The Royal Bahamas Defense Force and carried to Nassau. And do you know where they are now Bahamas they have already been shipped back to the Dominican Republic and have probably been fishing our banks again before we can. These bastards should still be eating Amber Jack in Fox Hill Prison .This is an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIME AND TIME AGAIN for years we the fishermen of Spanish Wells have passed on information to The Ministry of Fisheries and also The Ministry of Defense .Lately all Crawfish Season long for at least the past two years the sightings of Dominican boats have been increasingly seen all over our southern fishing ground . They are killing our Conch Beds our Grouper and our Crawfish and any other type of bottom fish they can get. To you our Fisheries Department WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!! You create laws that you can’t enforce. Take for example THE Grouper Season , you make laws stopping the Bahamian Fishermen from catching grouper and THE DOMINICANS ARE GETTING ALL THEY WANT EVERY YEAR EVERY SEASON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You listen to a bunch of people from foreign countries telling us that our marine life is in trouble. Well you know they are right but it’s in trouble because we allow foreigners to come into our country rape our marine life and then you start with your statistics telling us about the decline in this marine resource or that marine resource .The only problem we are having with our Marine Resources is that you either think you know it all or people in The Department of Marine Resources just don’t care .Maybe it’s time you start listening to the people that do and that would

be us the hard working fishermen of this country and I say that coming from the island of Spanish Wells where 95% of the income of our island in dependent on fishing and also it’s the same place when you come here for a Fisheries Meeting YOU TELL US THAT WE ARE TO BEST AT WHAT WE DO. And to The Ministry of Defense to the hard working Defense Force Officers that have chosen to serve our country I want to say thank you .But to the good Minister may I remind you that under articles of our Constitution you good Sir is mandated by law to protect the people and to guard our Bahamaland from people that wish to harm us poach our waters and also from people that infiltrate our country illegally. And so far This ADMINISTRATION has Failed MISERABLY. These men and women of our Royal Bahamas Defense Force can’t do their job with the Defense Force Boats parked at PRINCE GEORGE WARF .The Defense Force has to be vigilant and present in these areas, it’s does very little good to call in and have to leave from Nassau they need to be constantly patrolling the southern Bahama bank to get a grip on what’s going on. And to you the Government of the Bahamas as a whole you have done more damage to the fishing industry in this country than any other Administration in the history of our country. Just about every branch of government in this country falls in this category first a few years back BEFORE the recession came you took away our Duty Free Tariffs on parts for our fishing boats we used to pay 7% then you changed that to 10% then you took that away and now we pay 65% on parts thank you F.N.M Government. That was for the Ministry of Finance and now for the Ministry of

Immigration AGAIN there are fishing boats tied up to Potters Cay Dock that are fishing in this country that there crew are Dominicans . A Bahamian Fishing boat came in this summer with over 20 thousand pounds of skinned conchs all the crew was nothing but Dominicans; what a disgrace and you want to know why our conch beds are dying out. You can start your immigration clean up out to Potters Cay Dock. And again thank you F.N.M. Government for allowing this to happen. Wake up BAHAMAS it’s time to clean house as a born and bred Bahamian and proud of it for 43 years and a fishermen for 27 it’s time to rid this country of under the table politics F.N.M’s and P.LP’s alike need to see what we are becoming and that is a country with leaders that if it don’t affect them why bother. We are now being taxed to death by this government that in there last convention said WE GOT THE MONEY .And so I say to you like you asked former Prime Minister Pindling in 1992 WHERE’S THE MONEY ? This government is killing this country by taxing the very people that holds this country together THE MIDDLE CLASS. The poor can’t pay, the rich don’t care and the crooked is going to steal to get what they want, so who suffers THE MIDDLE CLASS. The hard working men and women of this country that struggle to send their children to school ,put food on the table , pay their light and water bill and just try to make ends meet .That who is going to end up suffering the most . And once you break the middle class it’s all over then. Once again thank you F.N.M. Government. I’m a hard working Bahamian Fisherman and I hate to see what our Fishing Industry is becoming , a lost jewel in this great country of ours millions of dollars worth of revenue lost by the Bahamian people stolen by illegal poaching, they come and take what they want when they want and however much they want . And this Administration does little to

nothing about it. It just kills me to think what is this country is coming to when we are not willing to step up and take hold of this serious situation .Along with this situation on the 28th and 29th of July is the U.S. mini lobster season and for years that have fished the North Western Bank . Rouge Bahamian Fishermen have been working in that area well before the season opens and very little is being done. You know Bahamas as you pass Fort Montagu Ramp as a little boy between the ages of 8 and ten years old I stood to the edge of the road holding bunches of fish to sell. .Summer time I would go net hauling with my grandfather Mr. Purcell Pinder a descendent from Spanish Wells who was the first man to start selling fish at Montagu Ramp. My other grandfather Mr. Horace Sands was from Abaco and at that same age every August I would go to Great Guana Cay and go spearing CONDOS and that is where I learned to spear crawfish. Yes Ministry of Fisheries CONDOS being used in the Bahamas OVER 30 YEARS AGO. To my friends and family in Abaco I hope you are reading this in the day or I hope you got a good flash light because I know you don’t have much electricity. Fishing is not just my job it’s in my blood and before I see it spilt for it, it’s high time that the government of this country do something about it. I hope you listening Mr. Christie because I feel sure that if you are listening and are willing to fix what’s broke all I got to say is IT AIN’T LONG NOW!!!!! Former leaders have come and gone. Former Opposition leaders have come and gone in my 43 years all I’ve got to say is I don’t care which party you are for if you don’t do your job IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO GO!!!!!!!! It’s time that we as a country stop playing party politics and keep the government on their toes. In my work place fishermen are suffering and we are suffering because of incompetence. I pray to the Good Lord that we find the people in this country willing to make a stand and say to whatever party enough is enough.

Thank you for your time and may God Bless You and May God Bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Chuck Pinder
Spanish Wells, Bahamas
July 27th 2010

Dr. Lynwood Brown writes about Cable Bahamas:

The Editor of The Punch, Tribune, Nassau Guardian & Bahama Press
Farrington Road
Nassau, Bahamas

RE: Cable Bahamas

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to shine the spotlight on
what I believe to be an unfair practice that has been perpetrated on
the good people of the Bahamas. Cable Bahamas has been operating in
this country for more than a decade now and has enjoyed a monopoly for
its entire time in operation yet it seems to have no compassion for
the people who have made the company such a success. For instance, if
your cable has been disconnected you would have to pay thirty dollars
reconnection. I say that this is outrageous. I watched the customer
service representative touch a few buttons and in a flash reports that
“Okay your cable is back on”….a few strokes on the key board and
shazaam, cable back for THIRTY DOLLARS. This is shameful, especially
now when Bahamian people are struggling. Mr. Government, we ask that
you please do something to assist the Bahamian people.

My second grievance with this company is that prior its arrival, we
have enjoyed ZNS TV13 with very little static (well, that is people in
Nassau) but since Cable Bahamas’ arrival this is no longer the case.
If your cable is disconnected for lack of payment, you will have to
disconnect the cable to watch your national station. I say that this
too is wrong. Cable Bahamas has the ability to selectively block any
channel that it wants, remember B.E.T.? So why is it then, that if an
account has been disconnected that Cable Bahamas doesn’t just block
all other channels except ZNS TV13, allowing the customer to continue
to enjoy watching ZNS. It is almost criminal how the Government allows
a foreign company (well now that BTC, BEC and NIB own major shares in
the company that may not be the case) to take advantage of Bahamian
people is beyond me.

Please HELP Mr. Government.

My final point in this letter is the new digital box, this is the
biggest rip off of them all. In The United States of America, digital
TV was phased in but only to those persons who did not have a digital
television. I recently had to purchase a few of these digital boxes
and now that I have, my already “digital” television is no longer able
to pick up any signals. Wow! But yet the cable company is telling
everyone that one of these boxes is required to watch cable TV. So I
asked the customer service representative what if I sourced my box
elsewhere, she said almost with a chuckle, “and watch Cable Bahamas?
No sir that is not possible”. So my question to Cable Bahamas is: is
the box a requirement or is it just another way to squeeze every last
cent out of the pockets of the Bahamian people?

Mr. Government, we need your assistance in stopping this injustice and
the blatant abuse of the Bahamian people, the people who have elected
you to protect them from this predatory-like behavior. We need action
from you Mr. Government and we need it NOW.

Dr. Lynwood Brown
A concerned Bahamian


Jerome Fitzgerald responds to Rick Lowe:
Just get over it.

Dear editor,

On the 20th July 2010, while I was on vacation, Mr. Rick Lowe, General Manager of the Nassau Motor Company, was kind enough to send me a copy of a letter he had written to you, which I understand was subsequently printed in your daily.

As you will recall on the 25th May 2010 the Prime Minister announced in the House of Assembly that drastic changes to the rate of duty on cars were to come into effect. The Protection of Revenue Act brought those changes with immediate effect thereby catching many Bahamians unaware. On the 26th May while in the Senate debating an unrelated Bill I took that opportunity to state that I understood the law, but thought it was wrong for Bahamians to be faced with what amounted in some cases to a 60% increase customs duty without any notice as I was aware of persons who had cars sitting on the dock and would be affected by this change. I thought in the circumstances it was unjust and wrong and asked the government to allow persons who had cars were either sitting on the dock or in route to pay the old rate of duty. My comments were carried in the Nassau Guardian on the 27th May.

In the same vain during my Budget contribution in the Senate three and a half weeks later on June 21st 2010 I produced a two customs entries with the customs cashiers stamp dated May 27th(2 days after the announced increase) showing that Nassau Motor Company had paid the old rate of duty. Just as I thought it was wrong for the government to increase the rate so drastically without notice I thought it was wrong for one company to pay a lower rate than everyone else. I did not make the law and stated in Parliament that in circumstances as this where there was a significant increase in duty on a particular item I did not agree with it. But that is the law and it applies to me, you and yes Nassau Motor Company. What Mr. Lowe appears unwilling to accept is that the relevant date is the 27th when payment was made and the cashiers stamp appeared on the entry and not the 25th when he claims customs approved the entry.

I gave this information by way of background, but the real purpose of this letter is to address a particular point raised by Mr. Lowe concerning me abusing my Parliamentary privilege by raising this matter in the Senate. I can only assume that Mr. Lowe is saying that had I said what I said inside the Senate outside the Senate Nassau Motor Company would have sued me. During the 3-4 minutes I spent on this topic in the Senate describing what I said above, I also said in closing that “an egregious offence has been committed against the Stamp Act”. This statement appears to have disturbed Mr. Lowe and Nassau Motor Company. I cannot understand why. The fact is that Nassau Motor paid the wrong rate of duty and they were subsequently made to pay the correct amount in accordance with the amendment to the Stamp Act on the 25th May 2010.

I therefore do not and will not apologize or retract what I said and for the sake of clarity, I will not say anything in Parliament I am not prepared to say outside Parliament and I state again; in the matter of Nassau Motor Company and Bahamas Customs that I raised in the Senate on June 21st 2010, an egregious offence had been committed against Stamp Act. I have now said it outside Parliament and Rick Lowe and Nassau Motor are now invited to pursue whatever cause of action they deem prudent. I appreciate his frustration and anger for having to pay the correct amount of duty, but I suggest that he has misplaced his time and energy by focusing on me for carrying out my duty and bringing this matter to the Government’s attention. I hope he will now leave well enough alone and get over it.

With regard to the issue of racism introduced by Mr. Lowe, I will not dignify his comments with a response as I find them most unfortunate in this context.

Senator Jerome Kennedy Fitzgerald.
August 1, 2010.

TERRAN BROWN

Scharad, the photographer and the son of Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Michael Lightbourne has a Facebook page in which he displayed a series of Bahamian artists. Terran is one of them.

GO SEE “FRESH” A CLARENCE ROLLE PLAY

NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR’S TOUR

A photo of the National Youth Choir during their tour of Italy under the direction of Cleophas Adderley.

AN ANALYSIS OF JOHN DELANEY’S BEHAVIOR
Political activists Wallace Rolle and Ricardo Smith invaded the Senate on Thursday 29th July and confronted the Attorney General on the question of the appointment of the Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Grant Bethel. They presented the AG with a letter demanding an explanation for the perfidy of the government on this issue. The AG’s response was that of Mr. High and Mighty. Some of the statements that he gave to the press and our comments. The story was reported by Paul Turnquest in The Tribune of 30th July.

“I have no idea what was included in the letter. I will look at it at some point.

“As a counsel of more than 20 years, I know that once the jurisdiction of a court has been invoked it is not the appropriate thing to be debating matters in a public forum – notwithstanding what I’ve been reading. I have not been served with anything, which I said to them.

“I read in the papers which appear to be extensive purported references to an affidavit which I have never been served with or any other proceedings. But I have to believe the press when they say that an action has been filed, and if that is the case then I must act appropriately not only as a lawyer but as the chief attorney being in my capacity as Attorney General I must obey the appropriate procedure and protocol.

“I am not concerned at all by Mr. Smith or Mr. Rolle’s remarks that I will be in my last days as Attorney General.
“I believe you all know the identities of the individuals and you know that they are persons who are activists or political type persons. So it is obvious that this is being pursued by them in that vein. So I really say nothing about it. I was not very impressed at all by the encounter. So I spoke to them briefly and then quite quickly realised that it was no point in pursuing a discussion with reason.

“I am surprised that such a claim can come from someone who happens to be a lawyer. I was quite surprised that he as a lawyer was unfamiliar with who has the legal authority to be making judicial and legal services appointments. It is not hard to find out who has this authority. It is in the very first legal legislative document, namely the constitution. The Attorney General has no such power. And so he was asking me about my appointments when I have no such power. So I just invited him as a lawyer, as a colleague, I tried to assist and asked him to refresh himself as to law.”

(It is very interesting that the AG takes this approach. It is emblematic of the kind of government of which he is a part. They are like ostriches with their heads in the sand and have complete and utter contempt for the Bahamian people. Here it is there is a raging battle in the news about their appointing a new DPP and he has not taken the time to even send for copies of what has allegedly been filed. He instead seeks to rely on the technical bit about the matter being before he courts so he cannot comment on it. But he was in the press not too long ago defending the decision. That is what makes it quite laughable for him to then claim in response to Wallace Role as a lawyer that he the AG does not make the appointment. So why was he in the press defending it? Such an unctuous man. There comes a point when it is better for some people not to be in public life because they simply do not know how to conduct themselves as public figures. What a shame? He had better get himself briefed on the Cheryl Grant Bethell case and quickly, because he is in for a rough ride.—Editor)

SUPREME COURT OFFICE VANDALIZED
It is not certain what it is all about but from the way the authorities are reacting, it must be something serious. The straights of the story are these: on the night of Tuesday 27th July, someone broke into the Supreme Court office of Justice Jon Isaacs and trashed the place. They reportedly wrote a sign saying the FNM MUST GO. That never made it to the press, but the Attorney General John Delaney in his usual indignant and unctuous style was busy saying how quickly he had reacted to ensure that the security interest of the Judges were taken to heart. The speculation is that someone was trying to send a message to Justice Isaacs after some unfavorable decision. The Police Commissioner Ellsion Greenslade said they were taking measures to beef up security around the courts. The PLP said that this was all the more reason why there should be one Judicial complex, that it would improve the ability to watch over the courts. When Richard Blankenship was the U.S. Ambassador here, he made the observation that in The Bahamas there was a systemic lack of appreciation for security concerns. That is true and this mess with the Supreme Court certainly shows it.

LEEVAN SANDS WINS GOLD AT CAC

And the winner of the gold medal at the XXI Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in the triple jump is The Bahamas own Leevan Sands. Mr. Sands won the medal at the games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

His jump of 17.21m finished ahead of Randy Lewis of Grenada who took silver with a jump of 17.20m, and ahead of Samyr Laine of Haiti who jumped 17.01m. The victory came on Thursday 29th July. The photo is a file photo of Mr. Sands in an earlier jump.

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT AND BLUEWATER SETTLE
The dispute between The Bahamas Government and the Bluewater company that wanted to buy the telephone company BTC from the Bahamas Government has been settled. The PLP left in place a decision to sell BTC for 260 million dollars, a decision which the FNM cancelled and this led to a dispute and an arbitration in London. The government backed down and agreed to settle at the last minute. You may click here for the full statement. The PLP criticized the FNM for passing up a good deal and now after ten years the company is still not privatized. It is inexcusable and they will not get near 260 million for it. They have agreed to pay 1.9 million for the cancellation of the deal with Bluewater. Click here to read the full statement.

IN PASSING
Shane Gibson Is Recovering
PLP MP and former Immigration Minister Shane Gibson is recovering in Florida following surgery to repair a damaged shoulder. Mr. Gibson is an avid golfer.

Kelly Burrows Convalescing
Retired hotelier Kelly Burrows is said to be resting comfortably in Doctors Hospital in New Providence following an operation there last week. We wish him well.

Skullduggery In Lyford Cay
The tongues were wagging all week about the war going on between the billionaire and the millionaire in Lyford Cay the ghetto of rich people who live out on the Western Shore of New Providence. Louis Bacon worth in the billions does not like they say Peter Nygard, the Canadian fashion designer worth in the mere hundreds of millions. Mr. Nygard is considered new money and a bit crude and boorish. He wants to rebuild his tree house and put some 50 million dollars he says back into the property. The Lyford Cay old money that Mr. Bacon represents will have nothing to do with it. They reportedly have the clout with the FNM administration that they supported the last election. Mr. Nygard been accused of running a brothel out on Lyford Cay, renting his former tree house estate to people with wild parties of naked girls and guys swimming in his pool. Some say in an attempt to bring this to heel some sound equipment was imported, a type which is used reportedly by Israeli intelligence and has the affect of cause you to get loose bowels. The police raided Mr. Bacon’s estate reportedly and confiscated the equipment. Representatives of Mr. Bacon said the equipment was harmless. Mr. Nygard’s estate was raided later in the week and equipment was also taken. No word from the police on what the hell they are doing. It looks like Mr. Nygard will not get his permit to rebuild the house that burned down earlier this year or last year. To add to the mystery, there was a man who drowned in Mr. Bacon’s pool who was suspected by the rumour mill of actually burning down Mr. Nygard’s tree house. It gets curiouser and curiouser. Aint the The Bahamas a great place to live.

N.I. B. Increases
The House of Assembly has proposed certain changes to the National Insurance Benefit regulations and to the costs of National Insurance to the beneficiaries. When the new rules come into effect, there will be some increases in pension payments and in the future pension payments indexed to the cost of living. But the wage ceiling for contributions now set at 400 dollars per week is being raised in the first instance to $500 and then to $600 and eventually the actual contribution rate will have to increase if the fund is not going to go broke. The FNM that opposed National Insurance was busy wrapping it in their warm embrace last week in the house saying they are good adoptive parents of the scheme and they are the ones who took the hard decisions. Save and except that it was of course the PLP who brought it into being and who made the decision to revise the rules following the report of its Social Security Commission in April 2005. As usual it was Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest along with the idle Prime Minister who were spinning the propaganda.

Lincoln Bain Marries
His partner on Controversy TV Utah Taylor Rolle had to tell us that the talk show host and TV station owner, what else, general all around activist, Lincoln Bain has reportedly married and according to Mr. Taylor Rolle’s Facebook page is off the market as of Wednesday 28th July. Not a word from Mr. Bain.

Al Jarrett To Appear
Alfred Jarrett Retired Banker and Former Chair of BEC and Bank of Bahamas will appear on Island FM Parliament Street on Sunday August 1st 2010 at 4:00PM. Tune In & Call In and hear Al Jarrett tell it like it is. The Bahamas can and must do better!!

Marsh Harbour Airport Shut Down
Reports said Thursday 29th July the Marsh harbor airport was closed down to U.S. airport traffic by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because the fire equipment had broken down in Marsh Harbour. The Minister Vincent Vanderpool Wallace said he was unaware of the details of the problems. Like Shane Gibson likes to say: Clueless! The report was later denied by Director of Civil Aviation Patrick Rolle.

Randol Dorsett Withdraws
The young lawyer Randol Dorsett who seemed a sure bet to get the nomination for the Pinewood constituency for the PLP in the next general election, has reportedly withdrawn his name for consideration for any seat in the next general election. Mr. Dorsett appears to be on a fast track to better times in his law firm Graham Thompson and Co. The branch was introduced to another prospective candidate Cheryl Buzzard last week. Former representative Alyson Gibson has said she will no longer be involved in public life as a representative leaving the field open. The seat is a marginal seat and in a general election should be within striking distance for the PLP should there be a swing toward the party. Reportedly in the branch meeting held there last Thursday 29th July, one of FNM MP Branville McCartney’s main generals.

Jerome Gomez To Get His Shot
Jerome Gomez, the businessman and financial consultant at Baker Tilly Gomez, looks set to get his shot at a PLP nomination with a possible run for the Kilarney seat in the next general election. Reports say he is the unanimous choice for the branch and the Candidates Committee is looking favorably at him.

Not Guilty In Harl Taylor Case
The verdict in the murder trial of Troyniko McNeil for the death of designer Harl Taylor came to a crashing end on Monday 26th July when after 3 hours of deliberation the jury brought him not guilty by a 9 to 3 verdict. The first trial ended in a hung jury. The three years of the young man’s life on hold have ended. Mr. McNeil’s father who was the murder victim’s business partner and special friend said that he was pleased with the outcome. He said his son was innocent and that he did not like how Mr. Taylor’s mother Beverly reacted to the events. Ms. Taylor was said to be distraught. Given the nature of the evidence, it may be open to Ms. Taylor to sue the accused for civil damages for the death of her son. Mr. Taylor was brutally murdered in his apartments on West Hill Street, New Providence on 18th November 2007.

FNM Page Says Tinker Resigns
Dr. Keith Tinker is the subject of the FNM’s Facebook propaganda machine. They reported that he was forced to resign his post as Executive Head of the Museum and Antiquities Corporation. This had previously been denied by Dr. Tinker.

Mandela Turns 92
Congratulations to Nelson Mandela, the statesman, former President and international icon on turning 92 on 18th July of this year.

The Order Is Signed In GBI
Halleluiah! Hallelujah! Was how the Nassau Guardian characterized the settlement of the final order in the long running and tortuous dispute between the St. George family and Sir Jack Hayward over the assets of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and its group of companies. The order was signed in the Court of Appeal on Monday 26th July bringing to an end the matter. The words came from judge Christopher Blackmun who pronounced the issue closed and added the words Halleluiah! Halleluiah! No word on what this will actually mean for Freeport where the economy is as dead as a doornail.

The New DPP Arrives?
Vinette Graham Allen is to be the new Director of Public Prosecutions for The Bahamas and was scheduled to arrive in The Bahamas for work on 1st August. No word on whether she actually turned up. Political activist Wallace Rolle reportedly spoke to her by telephone to warn her of the fire storm of controversy that she is coming into when she arrives here. Ms. Graham Allen said that she was unaware of the controversy. That is untrue but anyway. Then she was called away from the phone and when she returned she had a new attitude. She said that she was coming and she feared no one and that God is on her side. That is all we need now is a messianic Director of Public Prosecutions. The scuttlebutt on this whole thing is that she is desirable in The Bahamas because the Prime Minister wants to prosecute a PLP MP before the next election and so far all the Bahamian prosecutors have refused to cooperate.

Mitchell To Be On Jones & Co
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill will be the guest on Jones and Company on Sunday at 5 p.m. on Love 97 radio and at 7:30 p.m. on Jones Communications Channel 14. He will speak about Project Bahamas a new proposal to build bi partisan support for the general direction of the Bahamas.

Bermuda Premier Retires

Ewart Brown who led the revolt against two PLP Bermuda Premiers Jennifer Smith and Alex Scott is to leave Parliament before the end of the year. The last sitting of the Bermuda Parliament before the fall opening session took place on Friday 23rd July and at 2 a.m. Mr. Brown who has served in Parliament since 1993 delivered his farewell address. You can link here to that address. The photo is from the Royal Gazette, Bermuda’s daily paper. Click here to read the full statement.

Fox Hill Festival Begins
The 176th annual Fox Hill Festival began on Friday 31st July with the opening speech and ceremony at the Fox Hill Parade in Fox Hill. The Festival was officially opened by Minister of Culture Charles Maynard. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke of the special nature of the event in the history of The Bahamas. The Festival kicks off in earnest with Junkanoo on Monday 2nd August 1 a.m. and later in the day there is an ecumenical service of thanksgiving to mark the emancipation of the slaves on the Fox Hill parade. The Festival ends with Fox Hill Day on Monday August 10th with the Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie making his annual visit to the four churches along with the representative Mr. Mitchell for their party day celebrations.

Bridge Collapse
A late report says that the Bridge in western New Providence near Snady Port has collapsed and several people were hurt and had to be taken to hospital.


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