bahamasuncensored.com
MARCH 2009
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Volume 7 © BahamasUncensored.com 2009
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The site is compiled and edited
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the PLP or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
8th March, 2009
15th March, 2009
22nd March, 2009
29th March, 2009
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|
| ASHES ADMINISTERED:
It
is not a public holiday in The Bahamas, but it is in Jamaica and in many
other parts of the Caricom region. Ash Wednesday, the tradition of
smearing ashes on the forehead of the Christian witnesses at mass in the
shape of the cross to commemorate the suffering of Jesus in the wilderness
just before Good Friday’s execution is said to have started in the year
300 A.D. The Anglican and Catholic churches are the ones who follow
the tradition here. The churches were filled with the faithful on
Wednesday 25th February from the early morning to the evening masses.
In some cases, the Catholics and Anglicans have a joint service.
The photo of the week is taken by Peter Ramsay at the St. Francis Xavier’s
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Nassau on Ash Wednesday. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
CLICO GOES BELLY UP
Fred Mitchell, the MP for Fox Hill and the Opposition’s spokesman
on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade issued this brief to The Tribune on
Friday 27th February:
“The question must be asked where is our Prime Minister, Minister
of State for Finance who is also the Minister for Foreign Trade and particularly
the Foreign Minister in this CLICO matter.
“By the public record, the Registrar of Insurance, therefore the
Government knew six to seven months ago that this company was having problems
with capital.
“The CLICO company goes belly up in Trinidad with the result that
the Government of Trinidad and Tobago becomes the owner of the company
on 7th February, which from all accounts is the owner of this company in
Nassau, although a separate legal entity. It appears that the Government
of Trinidad & Tobago is the ultimate owner of this company in the events
that have followed. The Government of The Bahamas allowed the CLICO
company in Nassau to issue a statement assuring the public and their clients
that there was no connection between the problems in Trinidad and Tobago
and those in Nassau, when the government of The Bahamas by its own admission
knew that the company a problem with capital. The government of The
Bahamas did nothing to contradict CLICO’s public statements. Is the
government now complicit in this failure of CLICO in Nassau?
“Why would the Government of The Bahamas not use its good offices
to bring this matter to the attention of the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago since the full faith and credit of the Govt. of Trinidad and Tobago
is behind the parent company?
“There seems to have been shocking negligence on the part of the
Bahamas Government which has put at risk 30,000 clients of CLICO in Nassau.
The questions have to be asked.”
We support the intervention by the shadow minister.
James Smith, who served up until 2007 as the Minister of State for
Finance responsible for the insurance industry had this to say to The Tribune:
“What we know is that right up until last week, everybody was
saying everything was okay, that it was something that wouldn’t affect
here. So somebody was giving a level of comfort to the Bahamian public
that appeared not to be absolutely correct.”
Zhivargo Laing, the now Minister of State responsible for the sector
had this response to Fred Mitchell’s statement on Saturday 28th February:
“If
I speak now then you will pre-empt what may be done, but I’m not going
to comment at the moment, but I expect you will all hear soon enough.”
So now Mr. Laing is suggesting that the government after putting
the company into liquidation, after fooling the Bahamian public that all
was well with the company, after firing 150 employees and putting at risk
the assets of 30,000 policy holders, we must not question what the government
is not doing, their sins of omission, because Mr. Laing and the government
have a secret plan that will be revealed soon enough. This is the
message of a snake oil salesman, a Houdini type character who is telling
us “all will be revealed in the fullness of time.”
Just for the benefit of every other FNM who is a conspirator to what
has happened over the last few months, on the streets, there is the view
that this liquidation was done, not to protect the policy holders, but
to set up the raid of the good assets for another insurance company, namely
Colina Imperial. The view is that you must remember the history of
Mr. Laing and Colina Imperial as borrower and lender, and the wonder is
whether or not Mr. Laing should not recuse himself from any matter involving
this, if it turns out that Colina Imperial is the buyer of these assets.
There are pernicious things being said about this, and if the assets
are sold to Colina Imperial, will we then have a near monopoly in the insurance
business in the country.
Contrary to what the Registrar of Insurance says, a liquidator is
not appointed to protect assets, but to liquidate the company. In
line with that, the liquidator Baker Tilly Gomez, headed by Craig Gomez,
set about their work with routine, neutral efficiency, laying off the staff
and closing the offices so that they could get a handle on the assets.
Whatever happens, the Court will have to decide whether or not it agrees
with the sale of the assets. Zhivargo Laing and the FNM say the same
thing they said in the general election, ‘Trust us’.
Why should anyone trust Hubert Ingraham’s FNM: with unemployment
on the rise, with the growth of the economy going in reverse, with the
revenue of the country headed toward zero, with no lending going on in
town, with no construction going on in town? Why should we trust
him? Hubert Ingraham and the FNM should not be trusted. They
have blown it again with the result that 150 more people are out of work,
and the assets of the policy holders, some 30,000 of them, appear to be
non existent. Perhaps the government itself should be sued by these
policy holders for negligence and get their money from the FNM government.
It is a shame and disgrace what has been allowed to happen.
We hope that the PLP speaks up for the people who are damaged by this.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 28th February 2009 up
to midnight: 141,984.
Number of hits for the month ending Saturday 28th February 2009 up
to midnight: 1,073,980.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 28th February 2009
up to midnight: 2,138,801.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
HUBERT’S
DISASTROUS MID YEAR BUDGET
It is obvious now, if it were not obvious before
that Hubert Ingraham does not have a clue as to what to do in the face
of the worst economy that this country has experienced in two generations.
The proof: Hubert Ingraham’s poor performance when he delivered his mea
culpas to the country in the form of his mid year budget statement on Wednesday
25th February in the House of Assembly. The last time it was this
bad in this country, the year was 1939 just before war was to break out
in Europe. What that means is that there are very few with the living
memory of it being this bad. For them, having seen the fantastic
growth that this country experienced, particularly under the PLP and Sir
Lynden O. Pindling, they know that in the long run it will work itself
out.
The question is, in between now and the long run,
what will happen? How many children will go hungry? How many
men or women will take their lives because they cannot cope? How
many jobs will be lost? How many people will lose their dignity in
the process?
Hubert Ingraham likes to dabble in public relations.
It is one of his many confusions. He confuses public relations with
public policy. He confuses public sector reform with firing people.
His mid year budget was public relations, not public policy. In that
statement (click
here for it) he said that he was committed to reforming the public
sector, but what he had to show for it was that he fired some police, fired
some customs officers, fired some immigration officers and most recently,
fired some people from the power company Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
So, if that is reform, then we know that we are in for nothing.
Yet as Hubert Ingraham spoke his sweet nothings,
his team of “men” and “women”, perhaps jelly backs is more like it, sat
and banged on the table in support. They surely have a lot to be
proud about. They have a lot to be proud about the people who are
waiting on welfare lines and cannot get what has been promised. The
man or woman who is losing that brand new home that they scraped and saved
the down payment for just two or three years ago; well it is good bye to
that home. The mortgage relief programme that was promised does not
exist. No mention of it in his legislative initiatives out of the
midyear budget. Then there was the promise of unemployment insurance.
Where is that? Nothing there.
The Tribune says that the PLP must show its salt
and come up with ideas about what it would do in such a crisis. Why
should the PLP offer anything to Hubert Ingraham who chopped off the hand
of the PLP when it was extended to have a bipartisan approach to the economic
crisis? If we were the PLP, we would simply sit on our hands and
let them stew in their own fat. The PLP issued a statement in response
to the Prime Minister’s mid year budget statement. You may click
here for it.
Bottom line, we are up the doo doo creek without
a paddle, and don’t look for any relief soon from this government.
Remember that slogan they used against the PLP about late again.
Well let us ask you this: how does mid year budget, mid year is 31st December
for the budget, come two months later at the end of February?
THE
CONVENTION, THE LEADERSHIP RACE
Former Prime Minister and now Leader of the Opposition
Perry Christie has been speaking to the press about the party’s arrangements
for its convention and for the leadership of the party in the future.
There was speculation in the press that Mr. Christie had infuriated some
PLP members with the view that there would only be a leadership race for
the post of Deputy Leader which the present Deputy Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt
is to vacate later this year. The press said that the party members
want to have a full race for all positions including that of leader.
The next day Mr. Christie clarified the issue saying
that all posts would be contested but he added that he intended to win,
did not expect to be opposed and would defeat anyone who opposed him.
There was no discussion about the need for a transition, which if you believe
Franklyn Wilson is front and centre in the discussions around town, for
the PLP to consider an alternative to its present leader to take the party
into the next general election.
MITCHELL
ON ARISTIDE AND HAITI
Fred Mitchell was the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas
five years ago today when Jean Bertrand Aristide, the then President of
Haiti, left his country in a swirl of controversy. This week, Mr.
Mitchell has released an account of what happened on that day, answering
a book that he thinks is libellous of him by the Afro American activist
Randall Robinson called ‘The Unbroken Agony’. Mr. Robinson in the
book accuses the then Foreign Minister of being complicit with the American
government in removing Mr. Aristide from power. Here is the piece
by Mr. Mitchell:
HAITI FIVE YEARS AFTER ARISTIDE
By Fred Mitchell M.P.
The telephone in my flat rang on Sunday 29th February 2004. A U.S. official
was on the line: “I just wanted to tell you President Aristide resigned
last night sometime before midnight. He came to us, asked for help
to leave the country. We agreed to help. He is right now on a plane
headed for an undisclosed destination. We are looking for a country
that will take him in but we haven’t found one yet.”
The official asked would The Bahamas would be
willing to accept Mr. Aristide. A Foreign Minister could not decide
this. Was this Mr. Aristide’s wish? Why would the United States not give
him asylum? The official said U.S. law prohibited it.
I called K.D. Knight then Jamaica’s Foreign Minister.
He had spoken to Mr. Aristide on the Saturday 28th February at 4 p.m. There
was no hint of resignation. The Caricom Initiative for Haiti, developed
in The Bahamas and in Kingston, Jamaica in January 2004, following a request
by U.S. President George Bush to Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad
was now finished.
The Black American activist Randall Robinson
who now lives in St. Kitts, in his book on Haiti describes The Bahamas
as “something of a lickspittle for Noriega”. Roger Noriega is the former
Assistant Secretary of State of the United States. The book suggests that
we were complicit in a scheme with the United States to remove Mr. Aristide
from office.
Both assertions are untrue. A month before the
call from the U.S. State Department, our Prime Minister and our Cabinet
had agreed to host a special conference of the Haitian Opposition in Nassau
at The Bahamas’ expense in January 2004 to bridge the gap between them
and their government. The meeting chaired by Jamaica’s P.J. Patterson developed
the Caricom Initiative, a blueprint for confidence building measures between
Mr. Aristide and his domestic opponents.
This meeting was followed by our Prime Minister
as the Caricom envoy meeting with President Aristide and his opponents
in Port au Prince.
For Prime Minister Christie, it carried political
risks. A significant part of the Bahamian electorate did not take kindly
to any engagement with Haiti. The arguments were sound for the Prime Minister
going there as the Caricom envoy. It was to help keep peace in our own
country.
Notwithstanding the political risks, we stood
up for the legitimacy of Mr. Aristide’s election and government.
The Bahamas throughout the crisis in US/ Caricom
relations over Haiti in 2004 never broke the Caricom consensus.
The Bahamas was not complicit in any scheme to
overthrow Haiti’s government. It is interesting that Haiti’s opposition
accused us of exactly the opposite, of in fact propping up Mr. Aristide.
That too was not true.
Poverty drives thousands of illegal migrants
to leave the north of Haiti every year and pass through The Bahamas. Many
stay in The Bahamas to the extent that our country can claim to host more
Caricom nationals than any other Caricom nation. We believed that the legitimate
government of Haiti had been overthrown. We made it clear though that we
had to deal with whomever held the power in Haiti. The alternative was
to risk the stability of our country by being overrun with illegal migrants.
Caricom accepted this.
During the 2004 crisis, The Bahamas and Caricom
sought support from South Africa to help the Haitian police force to restore
order. I appeared at the United Nations with K. D. Knight of Jamaica
just before Mr. Aristide's departure to seek troops from the United Nations
to stop the insurrection. The political opposition in Haiti denounced us.
Mr. Robinson’s book gravely libels our country.
It has been five years since that fateful telephone
call from the U.S. State Department. Elections are to be held soon in Haiti.
It is my hope that the elections will be peaceful and the results respected
by the population. Some people are not hopeful. President Rene Preval has
done a good job in a difficult situation. Not enough is being done by the
international community
The Haitian people however continue to survive,
very much alive. There is a line in The Lion Winter: “…for all we know
being alive is what hope is.”
(Fred Mitchell was The Bahamas’ Foreign Minister 2002-2007. All
rights reserved.)
Photos:
TOP - Meeting of the Haitian Opposition in Nassau 21st January
2004, from left: Fred Mitchell, then Bahamas Foreign Minister, Patrick
Manning, Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago, then Prime Minister Perry
Christie of The Bahamas; then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson of Jamaica;
then Foreign Minister Knowlson Gift of Trinidad and Tobago.
RIGHT: Then Prime Minister Perry Christie of The Bahamas with
then President of Haiti Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti as a Caricom envoy
on 28th January 2004, with Fred Mitchell, then Foreign Minister of The
Bahamas at the right side.
BIS/Peter Ramsay
FINNISH
AMBASSADOR CALLS
The Ambassador for Finland presented his credentials
to the Governor General of The Bahamas Arthur D. Hanna on Thursday 26th
Feb at Government House Nassau. He was hosted by the Governor General
to a state lunch in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent
Symonette. Also present was Shadow Minister Fred Mitchell.
The Governor General congratulated the new Ambassador and said that he
was especially familiar with the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, that history
teaches that the composer’s music was instrumental in shaping the national
independence of Finland from Russia.
BIS photos/ Peter Ramsay
WHAT
IS NATIONAL INSURANCE UP TO?
The headline in the Nassau Guardian of Friday 27th
February said that Wendall Jones the Publisher of the Bahama Journal had
pleaded guilty to not paying some 435,000 dollars of National Insurance
(NIB). It turns out that this was not quite the case. Mr. Jones
pleaded guilty with an explanation, namely that he does not owe what National
Insurance says he woes. That means a not guilty plea should have
been entered. The detail is that he and National Insurance have been
negotiating to settle the amount.
National Insurance has been threatening employers
to pay up or else face criminal action. It is hard to see what criminal
action, that is going to jail or fining someone, is going to do to actually
get the money paid to NIB. After all, that is the point; pay the
NIB money. The next day, The Tribune got into the act and Mr. Jones
explained to them that he did not think it was political. We cannot
see why he would say that. It is political. Because certainly
NIB could have settled it without resort to the criminal courts.
The politicians decided that this is what they are going to do to Mr. Jones;
we have no doubt about that.
The Tribune repeated the same erroneous information
about pleading guilty. In a related story, though, they spoke to
Franklyn Wilson, the Chair of Arawak Homes, who described himself to the
press as a friend of Mr. Jones. He offered in the press to help out
Mr. Jones with the $180,000 he will have to pay up front with the balance
over time. Mr. Jones rejected that saying that he did not need anyone
to fight his battles for him. Further, he was incensed by the notion
that was going around that because of his financial troubles; he had to
sell out his interests to Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was concerned that
these sorts of rumours get started because everyone wants to think that
a black Bahamian businessman is fronting for someone else.
We have no doubt that Mr. Jones will survive.
This is not in any way to condone not paying national insurance.
COMPUTER
CLASSES IN FOX HILL
The Fox Hill Senior Citizens Association led by
Miriam Roker is attending computer classes at the L.W. Young Junior High
School. The classes were organized in connection with the school’s
principal Telford Mullings, the computer teacher and Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell
as a public service. The photos show the seniors during the classes
and MP Mitchell with the Principal, the Computer Teacher and leaders of
the group.
Photos: Miguel Taylor
IN PASSING
Joe Pratt Loses His Leg
Joseph Pratt, the husband of former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia ‘Mother’
Pratt has had his left leg amputated as he fights the ravages of diabetes
and kidney failure. He is said to be resting comfortably. The
doctors are trying to save the right leg.
Ena Mortimer Dies
At the age of 91 Ena Mortimer has died. She was buried in the
Coke Methodist Cemetery in Fox Hill on Friday 27th February. Mrs.
Mortimer left no immediate family save two stepsons, lots of nephews and
nieces and cousins; in particular Lowell Mortimer, the Attorney and most
recent Golden Heart winner. Most of all though, she was lauded by
her Methodist Church leaders led by Rev. Charles Sweeting as one who left
a great legacy of charity and devotion. Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell
attended the service.
Lester Bird May Step Down
The former Prime Minister and now Political Leader of the Opposition
Antigua Labour Party in Antigua has announced that if elected Prime Minister
he may not serve in the post but hand off to his Deputy Leader.
Elections are to be held in Antigua on 12th March. Nomination day
was 25th February.
U.S. Human Rights Report On The Bahamas
Each year at this time, the U.S. State Department issues its review
of the state of human rights in countries around the world, except their
own. Of The Bahamas, it says that while the human rights situation
is generally good, there is anti Haitian prejudice in the society and prejudice
against homosexuals. They say this is social prejudice rather than
prejudice in law. Some day Caricom may have the courage like the
Chinese to write a human rights report on the United States. If such
a report were written this year, for example, it might say, that the human
rights situation improved with the new U.S. President announcing the shut
down of the Guantanamo detention centre run by the U.S. in Cuba.
BEC Confirms Departures
The Bahamas Electricity Corporation confirmed on Thursday 26th February
and published on Friday 27th February that four executives have left BEC
in what they called a restructuring exercise. The executives are
as we said last week Brian Albury, Everett Sweeting and Shelly Cooke.
They added that Da Costa Bethel who was expected to retire next year took
early retirement. The Corporation denied that there was anything
sinister about the departure of the four executives and insisted that it
was part of restructuring. How do you think those guys feel to be
part of a restructuring at 50 years old? The Prime Minister is 62.
The Commissioner of Police is 63.
Atlanta Office
The Director General of Foreign Affairs Joshua Sears has announced
what we said in this column weeks ago that the Atlanta office of a Bahamian
Consul General is to open in March. Kay Forbes Smith, the FNM Senator
is to be the new Consul General. No word on what is to become of
the Honorary Consul for Atlanta Michael Young.
Visa List Revealed
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released the names of countries
the citizens of which will and will not require visas to come to The Bahamas.
It has not yet updated its website on the matter. On the list of
no visas required is Russia as we said last week, but India is not.
India is a greater source of tourism potential from our point of view.
No word either on whether there are any visa abolition agreements with
regard to this that require reciprocity. With the reputation for
thuggery and gangsterism that Russia has, we wonder how they made it off
the list.
Child Abuse On The Increase
The National Council for the Protection of Children revealed that there
were 719 cases of child abuse in New Providence alone in 2008. In
2005, there were 581, 2008, 618 and in 2007, 545. There was a 24
per cent increase 2008 over 2007. Activist Clever Duncombe is now
echoing the call of former Minister Melanie Griffin, now Shadow Minister
and MP for Yamacraw that the government should bring into force the Child
Protection Act
Antigua Seizes Stanford Lands
The Parliament of Antigua was called back into session even though
Parliament was dissolved and elections are set for 12th March. The
Parliament was called to deal with the failure of the Stanford Banking
group after U.S. regulators filed an action in the courts against Allen
Stanford the bank’s owner. The Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said
that the Parliament ought to acquire the properties of Stanford, to prevent
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner from seizing the properties.
There are some 250 acres owned by Stanford. Some 200 people are hired
by the group in Antigua. The bank itself is now run by the Central
Bank of the Eastern Caribbean and is up for sale. The Opposition
headed by Lester Bird who the government has accused of being too close
to Mr. Stanford did not support the resolution.
Rihanna Back With Brown
It is inexplicable. You have a smart and savvy young woman, who
is a big hit around the world. Her name is Rihanna. She must
know the trials and tribulations of Whitney Houston with a thug named Bobby
Brown, who took her down the cocaine road to the point where she was broke
and her music and acting career collapsed. You have all these women
of quality, experts lobbying for legislation to lock up guys who beat up
women. There are laws. There is public education. Yet,
in the name of love, these bright articulate women go back to the thugs
who beat them up. How else to explain the news that after being beat
up, mashed up in the face by an admitted young thug who is 19 years old
also by the name Brown but this time Chris is his first name, Rihanna is
now supposedly back in his arms again, holed up in Sean Coomb's luxury
home in Miami.
HOME
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|
| THE OFFICIAL PHOTO:
It
is a tradition that at some point during the term of the Parliament which
mandate is for five years, a formal photograph is taken of all of the Members
of Parliament then elected and sitting. Usually the photo is taken
just before the end of the term, in fact only weeks before the general
election. For some reason, the Speaker of the House decided that
he would have the picture taken last week, and so on Wednesday 4th March,
the House members such as they were on that day gathered for the official
photo. Peter Ramsay was the official photographer for the occasion
and took the photo. These are the leaders of our country in the year
2009. The members present are as follows from left: Vernae Grant
FNM Eight Mile Rock; Carl Bethel FNM Sea Breeze; Philip ‘Brave’ Davis PLP
Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador; Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt PLP St. Cecelia;
Dr. Bernard Nottage PLP Bain and Grants Town; O.A.T. ‘Tommy’ Turnquest
FNM Mt. Moriah; Earl Deveaux FNM Marathon; Kwasi Thompson FNM Pineridge,
Deputy Speaker; Perry Christie PLP Farm Road and Centreville, Leader of
the Opposition; Hubert Ingraham FNM North Abaco, Prime Minister; Alvin
Smith, FNM North Eleuthera, Speaker; Ken Russell FNM High Rock; Desmond
Bannister FNM Carmichael; Brent Symonette FNM St. Anne’s; Zhivargo Laing
FNM Marco City; Frank Smith PLP St. Thomas More; Branford McCartney FNM
Bamboo Town; BEHIND DR. NOTTAGE from left: Byran Woodside FNM Pinewood;
BEHIND BYRON going left, Phenton Neymour FNM South Beach; Kendal Wright
FNM Clifton; BEHIND KENDAL going from the left Brensil Rolle FNM Garden
Hills; Edison Key FNM South Abaco; Shane Gibson PLP Golden Gates; BETWEEN
KEY AND GIBSON Anthony Moss PLP Exuma; FROM LEFT NEXT TO GIBSON Neko
Grant FNM Lucaya; Malcolm Adderley PLP Elizabeth; Alfred Sears PLP Ft.
Charlotte; Loretta Butler Turner FNM Montagu; Hubert Minnis FNM Killarney;
Sidney Collie FNM Blue Hills; Picewell Forbes PLP South Andros; Oswald
Ingraham PLP South Eleuthera; Fred Mitchell PLP Fox Hill. Seven Members
are missing from the photo. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE CLICO MESS CONTINUES
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham at the start of the House of Assembly
on Monday 2nd March delivered what was supposed to be a comprehensive communication
on the demise of Colonial Life Insurance Company known as CLICO.
Last week, this column reviewed the matter and supported the conclusion
that there was negligence on the part of the government that led to the
demise of CLICO in The Bahamas. Nothing the Prime Minister said in
his statement (click
here for it) changes the position that we took in this column last
week. In fact, his comments made the situation worse by what he omitted
and what he tried to fudge.
Let us remind you of the chronology on this. The Registrar
of Insurance Lennox McCartney told the press that six to seven months before
the company was put into liquidation, his office became concerned about
the statutory capital level of this company and was working with the company
to try to resolve the issue. Count back six to seven months from
February 2009 and that takes you to July 2008.
In the Prime Minister’s statement, he says that it was back in July
2008 when the audited statements came to the attention of the Government
that the problem of the capital levels or more specifically the loans to
related parties was “again highlighted”. So that fits in exactly
with what the Registrar of Insurance said when he said six to seven months
from February. This is important for two reasons because the Prime
Minister and his colleagues are now seeking to blame their defaults on
the PLP that lost power in May 2007. Secondly, the Prime Minister’s
time line shows that they did nothing from July 2008 to December 2008 when
they finally wrote a letter demanding that the matter be brought into regularity.
By that time it was clearly too late. They set a deadline of 9th
January for the company to do so. The company did not do so.
The Company failed to meet with the Registrar and the Minister on 29th
January and thus the Government felt it had to act to put the company into
provisional liquidation.
That is the Prime Minister’s story.
Add to that from the public record, the fact that the company following
the take over of CLICO Trinidad, the ultimate parent company on 7th February
2009 by the government of Trinidad and Tobago; the Company in Nassau issued
a statement to say that all was well with the company in Nassau and that
there was no issue arising with CLICO Bahamas as a result of the take over
in Trinidad and Tobago.
Just like the rest of us, the Registrar of Insurance and the Minister
of State Zhivargo Laing and the Prime Minister must have seen that statement.
They allowed that statement to go unchallenged in the public domain even
though they knew or must have known at that time that the company was in
serious financial and legal problems. This is yet again shocking
negligence on their part. Weeks later, they moved to put the company
into liquidation they say to protect the policy holders.
That reasoning too is nonsense. One has only to look to the
Prime Minister’s statement that lists the assets of the company on the
day of the liquidation. One of them is 14 million dollars in cash.
The question one must ask then is why would a company with 14 million dollars
in cash and with no evidence that there was a demand for cash that exceeded
that amount be put in liquidation? The Prime Minister pleads that
the law does not allow an interim measure such as a receiver/manager.
We do not agree. But even if it did not, just as the Parliament of
Antigua was called in once dissolved to deal with the Stanford Financial
crisis, the Parliament of The Bahamas could have been called in to deal
with emergency legislation to settle the CLICO matter.
Mr. Ingraham has still not answered why his government has not spoken
to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, whose country is now the
ultimate owner of CLICO.
The way this whole thing has been handled smells to high heaven of
a set up to allow the assets of this company to be raided. We believe
that. It also smacks of shocking negligence and the Government must
make full disclosure of issues of insider trading which may have allowed
people to pull their money out before the Court action as well as conflicts
of interests amongst the regulators.
Fred Mitchell, the PLP’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs issued a statement
in connection with this matter. See it reported below. Leader
of the Opposition Perry Christie in his statement to the House on Thursday
5th March called for “full disclosure” on this matter.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 7th March 2009 up to
midnight: 164,961.
Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 7th March 2009
up to midnight: 164,961.
Number of hits for the month of February up to Saturday 28th February
2009 up to midnight: 1,078,377.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 7th March 2009 at
midnight: 2,308,159.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
CHRISTIE
APPOINTS NEW PLP SENATOR
The Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. Perry
G. Christie MP, has today advised his Excellency, the Governor-General,
to appoint Dr. Michael Ronald Darville of Freeport, Grand Bahama, to fill
the vacancy in the Senate created by the recent resignation of Pleasant
Bridgewater.
In welcoming Dr. Darville to the parliamentary ranks
of the PLP, Mr. Christie said “I am delighted that Dr. Darville has accepted
my call for frontline service in the national legislature under the banner
of the Progressive Liberal Party. He is an individual of sterling character
and outstanding accomplishment, most notably in the fields of medicine
and business in Grand Bahama. He steps to the fore at a time in our
country’s life - including, most especially, the life of Grand Bahama -
when individuals of intelligence, proven ability, and social compassion
are required more than ever before. Dr. Darville is such individual”.
Dr. Darville practices medicine in Freeport as a
partner in the Grand Bahama Family Medical Centre. He holds an MBBS
degree in medicine from the University of the West Indies and a degree
in Engineering from the University of Windsor in Canada.
Dr. Darville is 48 years old. He is married
to Susie Darville and they are the parents of two sons.
DREADED
EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME
It began this morning. All clocks at Eastern
Standard Time at 2 a.m. were advanced by one hour; supposedly to shift
an hour of light from the morning to the evenings. This is unnecessary
foolishness. Why don’t they leave the time alone?
PLP
MPS SPEAK OUT IN THE HOUSE
We present this photo panel of the PLP’s House members
as they spoke in the Assembly on Monday 2nd March, Wednesday 4th March
and Thursday 5th March on the mid year budget statement. They were
all on message, pointing out that the mid year budget statement was a waste
of parliamentary time, that it was a public relations exercise and that
the mid year budget did nothing to ease the suffering of the Bahamian people
at this time.
The PLP speakers in the House all called for a mortgage
protection programme for those owners about to lose their homes and for
a package to stimulate work in the economy. They called on the FNM
to accept blame for the state that the economy is in and to try to make
amends to the Bahamian people. The photos are by Peter Ramsay.
Shane Gibson was perhaps the most penetrating of
the group of speakers. He told the Parliament that he had a list
of names of people who got tips to move their money out CLICO and suggested
that there might have been insider trading. Please click
here for Mr. Gibson's full address. That set Zhivargo Laing,
the defensive Minister of State, to stand up and dance up and down demanding
a withdrawal. Mr. Gibson withdrew it at the direction of the Speaker
but the idea is already out there in the public domain. Mr. Gibson
said he would come back to it as soon as he had confirmed that the money
had in fact been withdrawn.
Left to right from top: Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, Leader of the Opposition;
spokesmen Fred Mitchell, Foreign Affairs; Oswald Ingraham, Agriculture;
Vincent Peet, Labour; Alfred Gray, Local Government; Obie Wilchcombe, Tourism;
Bernard Nottage, Health.
BIS/Peter Ramsay
ZHIVARGO
IS SO WRONG
We condemn Zhivargo Laing, the Minister of State for Finance for revealing
the confidential business of employees in Bahamas Telecommunications Company
Ltd (BTC). Mr. Laing (pictured, right) in a desperate but failed
attempt to show that the PLP victimized FNMs, revealed a note with no identifying
marks that he said came from BTC, which purported to show that people were
hired because they were recommended by PLP MPs. He suggested that
Bradley Roberts the PLP former Minister of Works who was the Minister for
BTC was responsible for the note. Mr. Roberts (file photo at left)
denied any such thing.
Mr. Laing in seeking to be clever instead exposed the people in BTC to
risk of ridicule, contempt and to attack within the Corporation as being
political hacks when in fact each is properly qualified for their jobs.
He must be condemned in the strongest language. Here is the full
statement of former Minister Bradley Roberts:
“I have read the front page story in (the 6th
March) edition on the Nassau Guardian wherein it disclosed that Jr. Minister
Zhivargo Laing told Parliament last evening that as Minister responsible
for BTC I gave instructions to hire PLP supporters in 2007.
The Basis for the Jr. Minister’s vicious and unfounded accusation appears
to be a three page typed internal document of BTC which the Jr. Minister
sinisterly conveyed was penned by me that gave specific instructions to
BTC officials to hire persons chosen by my PLP colleagues. I categorically
deny that I gave any such instructions and robustly condemn the Jr. Minister
for his unfounded, unsubstantiated and sick allegations.
“The Board Minutes of BTC will affirm that approval
was given to employ some 100 persons mainly entry level positions following
requests from Senior Managers to which Minister’s approval was given in
2006. The vacancies were advertised internally and externally.
To the best of my knowledge, the selection process was open and transparent
and the successful applicants were qualified.
“Jr. Minister Laing failed to tell Parliament
and the Bahamian people that it was the FNM Government who just before
the 2002 General Elections hired some 200 persons at BTC on six month contract.
I gave approval to regularize these persons without fanfare. Perhaps
the press will ask the Jr. Minister if the process was open and transparent.”
L.B.
JOHNSON DIES
Livingstone B. Johnson CBE, the country’s first Ambassador to the United
States of America and to the United Nations died at home peacefully from
natural causes on Thursday 5th March. Mr. Johnson, pictured in this
1974 photograph from his time as Ambassador to the UN, was 85 at the time
of his death. He is survived by his wife Charmaine and three children.
Mr. Johnson was lauded by former Prime Minister Perry Christie in a statement
issued by the Opposition leader on Friday 6th March. Here is the
complete statement:
“I wish to express my deepest condolences on
behalf of the Progressive Liberal Party to the widow and children of former
Ambassador L.B. Johnson CBE. Mr. Johnson died last night. It
is especially sad to see yet another one of the quiet heroes of The Bahamas
pass away in an era when his sacrifices for our country in the early days
are not sufficiently appreciated.
“Mr. Johnson, when called upon by his country
and by his late friend Sir Lynden O. Pindling, left a lucrative law practice
to become the country’s first Ambassador to the United Nations and to the
United States of America in 1973. He is the only Ambassador to have
served in that dual role in the history of our country. He served
in the Senate of The Bahamas from 1972 to 1973. He was a Stipendiary
and Circuit magistrate from 1970 to 1972. He served on the Judicial
and Legal Services Commission from 1972 to 1973. During my administration,
late in his career, L.B. Johnson served as Chairman of the Bank of the
Bahamas Trust Company. However, it was in the field of diplomacy
that he made his mark for The Bahamas.
“Not only was ‘L.B.’ our first Ambassador to
the United States and to the United Nations, but he served as non-resident
High Commissioner to Jamaica, to Canada, and non-resident Ambassador
to the Philippines and to Mexico. The diplomatic service was an enormous
sacrifice that he made to ensure that The Bahamas could establish itself
as a new nation in the assemblies of the world.
“Our country owes L.B. Johnson a great debt of
gratitude for all that he did. I am assured that in death he will
be afforded the appropriate honours befitting one of the heroes of the
country.”
Photo: Winston D. Munnings
HANNA
MARTIN ON UNEMPLOYMENT
A news release issued by Glenys Hanna Martin, National
Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party on Friday March 6th March, described
the new unemployment figures released by the Department of Statistics as
“staggering and very worrisome in their implications”.
The PLP Chair said “We support in full the Government’s
declared intention to bring about relief by way of unemployment assistance.
“While the Prime Minister has indicated that this
relief will soon become available we urge the Government, to ensure that
it can be accessed as early as April 1st, or earlier, if possible.
“In the immediate interim, so as to minimize suffering
and hardship and until the assistance becomes available, persons out of
work ought to be able to access without hassle or delay, the maximum assistance
available through the agencies of the Government.
“We would also ask the Government to release to
the Public as soon as it is available all of the pertinent details relevant
to this unemployment benefit scheme”.
P.M.
TRIES TO BLAME THE PLP AGAIN
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham speaking in the House
of Assembly as he wrapped up the debate on the mid year budget statement
on Thursday 5th March blamed the PLP for the problems of CLICO. This
is typical of Hubert Ingraham. The matter of CLICO Insurance is entirely
the fault and due to the negligence of Hubert Ingraham’s FNM. In
any event, they have the power to fix it and they have again dropped the
ball, leaving all the policy holders in the lurch. Leaders in the
PLP must learn to respond more forcefully to this kind of nonsense and
not let him get away with it.
When you read this week’s
comment of the week, it is clear what the chronology of this matter
is and who is at fault. The difficulty we have is what profits it
to say whose fault it is? Right now, the policy holders need help
and only the government can give the help and reassurances that they need.
MITCHELL
RESPONDS TO THE AUDITOR’S REPORT
The Tribune ran a headline in the press on Monday 2nd March.
One headline suggested that during Fred Mitchell’s time at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs a million dollars went missing. No such thing
happened. Another headline suggested that there was a visa scam while
he was Minister. Again, there was no such thing. The headlines
were inaccurate and are typical of what happens in the Bahamas press, either
deliberately or by happenstance. Here is Mr. Mitchell's reply to
the stories, released on 2nd March:
“The headline in this morning’s Tribune 2nd March
that a million dollars was missing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as
at 30th June 2007 is inaccurate. The headline does not reflect what
the story itself says. Neither does the Auditor General’s report
say that a million dollars is missing.
“The report points out irregularities in the
procedures which meant that on the day or days over which the audit was
done, certain documentation as not available. It is possible that
the very next day the information was available.
“When you say funds are missing, it gives the
impression that there was theft or malfeasance when there was none, certainly
none that I am aware of. The Auditor General’s report does not suggest
that either.
“The Chief Accounting Officer of the Ministry
is the Permanent Secretary. The Permanent Secretary today is Dr.
Patricia Rodgers. The person who set up the embassy in Cuba where
the Tribune inaccurately says funds were missing was Carlton Wright, the
Under Secretary. Both individuals remain in post today at the Ministry.
They would not be there if a million dollars were missing.
“Further as regards the question of a visa scam
in a related story in the Tribune, there was no visa scam. Not even
the Minister Carl Bethel who made the first spurious allegations could
continue to support that assertion. The Auditor General's comments
were related to processes and these were communicated to the Ministry while
I was there. An independent management audit was conducted at my
insistence. Instructions were given to execute the necessary corrective
measures. All of us were concerned about abuse of the system.
It is well known what my position was on this matter. Following my demitting
office, the present Minister was able to complete the work I started on
this.
“I intend to raise this matter with the Public
Accounts Committee.”
Photo:BIS/Peter Ramsay
RUN
ON FIRST CARIBBEAN
There were lines of people outside the door in Freeport
trying to get their money out. The rumours were so pressing that
First Caribbean had to issue a statement supported by the Central Bank
that their profits were better than ever and that the money in the Bank
was safe and secure. That did not stop the rumours from going around.
We don’t know how or where these rumours get started but they have and
people started a minor panic, running to the bank to get their money out
on Friday 6th March. We think it is unlikely that First Caribbean
will fail since it has the support of parent Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce.
GUYANA
PENSION MONEY
Those who want National Insurance Board (NIB) money
in blue chip stocks can forget it, now that the CLICO fiasco shows the
danger of such a policy. In The Bahamas, National Insurance Funds
were limited to Government registered stock and bonds. There was
no ability to invest in private companies. There was a change in
policy during the PLP’s time that would allow limited investments in the
private stock exchange, in so-called blue chip stock. That would
have been stock that was so sound, it was almost like buying a government
bond. These days it is hard to know what that could be.
The Government of Guyana says that 20 percent of
the investment portfolio of the National Insurance Fund of Guyana was invested
in CLICO Bahamas stock. It probably means that the stock is now worthless
with the liquidation of CLICO underway. So add that with the fact
that the British and American governments are the owners of Lloyds Bank,
Royal Bank of Scotland (Britain) and Citibank (US). It appears that
the whole private sector world has been turned topsy turvy and people will
be loathe to put national funds in a private company again.
THE GOLD
GENERATION
ZNS, the publicly owned broadcasting corporation, now has a policy stuck
up on a sheet of paper on the wall inside their newsroom. There are
to be no statements published from anyone in the PLP except the Chairman
Glenys Hanna Martin and Leader Perry Christie. It is not clear what
the origin of the policy is beyond the fact that it came from a memo from
the Managing Director of the news. It appears that his letter arose
from a letter from some party official. There is a problem.
On the face of it, the policy is meant to bring some order to the disorderly
perception that some PLPs have of the Shadow Cabinet members answering
various queries. The real problem is not that, but a set of loony
tunes who label themselves PLP and who say they speak for the PLP and the
newspapers without checking print it as a fact.
The policy cannot apply to any PLP MP who is free
to speak for himself or herself, and it should not apply to any Shadow
Cabinet member who speaks just as a minister would on a matter within that
shadow minister’s purview. But it is policies like these that have
spun even greater confusion and caused greater silence from the PLP in
the public sphere. Attack after attack comes at the PLP and there
is what appears to be indifferent silence in the face of it. The
press in The Bahamas, already FNM oriented, needs no excuse not to publish
the PLP. The PLP hands it to them on a silver platter with their
silence, and dithering over what to say and what not to say.
The frustration in newsrooms is palpable.
They complain that they can’t get their phone calls answered or returned,
and when they finally get someone, they cannot speak because they have
to check before they can say something. This is the paralysis of
analysis that caused the PLP to end up where it is now: out of the government.
The difficulty, some argue, is that it cannot be resolved because so far
there has been no outlet for its leaders to speak frankly amongst themselves
and allow a full venting of the issues with a set agenda that allows the
design and execution of policy. The approach so far is a divide and
conquer approach, a let’s put this off, let’s avoid this, let’s not take
this risk. The result is that the party appears to be drifting toward
the next election not having changed its losing playbook from 2007.
Nowhere is this more apparent than the refusal to discuss openly the question
of new leadership for the PLP and how this is to be accomplished over time.
What you find happening then is that the press will
soon ignore the edict that only so and so can speak for the party.
It is unworkable and incredibly unwise. Secondly, PLPs themselves
will soon begin to ignore it. It comes off too much as suppressing
opinion and particularly dissenting views. If there is no forum to
vent issues, then the only recourse will be to go to the outside and give
the idea there.
All that was a long explanation to introduce the
most interesting speech of the last week in Parliament, ‘The Gold Generation’.
It was a piece by Picewell Forbes, the newest PLP MP and its youngest,
who seems to have been hiding his light under a bushel. The press
has identified him as a target for Hubert Ingraham’s largesse. They
argue that he has strong financial pressures, which make him vulnerable
to Mr. Ingraham’s blandishments. He has tried his best to dispel
the idea, but propaganda is propaganda.
What we do know following his speech ‘The Gold Generation’
is that Picewell Forbes MP is no dummy. This is a thoughtful guy
and an ambitious man.
It was an intriguing idea, a: “Gold Generation”.
He said he spoke for those who know nothing of majority rule but know that
the Golden Girls (Olympic female medal relay winners in 2000 in Sydney)
could win the Olympics and compete at a world level so why could our country’s
leaders not do so. Touché. Here is the full quote:
“The Gold Generation, that group of Bahamians
who know nothing about majority rule, independence, who all they know about
The Bahamas, is our ability to win gold in track and field and not getting
our act together at the local level. Mr. Speaker they are crying
out for a different Bahamas, a world class Bahamas that not only works
for the Direct Foreign Investor, the Bay Street Boys and the Politician,
his Family and friends, but a Bahamas that works for them as well.”
You may click here for the full address.
To end this piece, there has been a lot of bitterness
within the PLP about the fact that Malcolm Adderley MP PLP Elizabeth has
marginalized himself to the organization and Kenyatta Gibson (formerly
PLP Kennedy, now FNM) has left the organization. No one has bothered
beyond the initial angry reactions to figure out why these people who are
PLP to their bones have ended up shifting the balance toward Mr. Ingraham.
Why is Mr. Ingraham inspiring loyalty and support from the young when to
us he is a boorish, disgusting and nasty fellow? Is there something
that we are not seeing? It cannot simply be greed for money or ambition
for power. Could it be that there is a need that has to be fulfilled
in a whole raft of PLP members that they now do not get, and in the short
term do not see the prospect of getting? Mr. Picewell Forbes, the
MP for South Andros may have started something. Now is the time for
the PLP to act or go down to defeat in 2012.
FRED
MITCHELL IN THE HOUSE
Fred Mitchell in the House of Assembly last week,
speaking on the government's mid year budget made the charge that the FNM
confuses public relations with public policy and public sector reform with
firing people. You may click
here for Mr. Mitchell’s remarks.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay
JOURNALISTIC
ETHICS (COVERING THE PLP)
The Nassau Guardian is owned by Colina Financial
or Colina Imperial or the Colina Group of Companies. The Colina Group
is one of the companies that is lining up to buy the assets of the failed
CLICO Bahamas Insurance Company. The Nassau Guardian wrote in its
editorial, without acknowledging its interest in the matter, that policy
holders should continue to pay their premiums like the Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham said in his statement if they are to protect their interests in
case there is a sale of the policies. That is what you call a conflict
of interest. They should at the very least disclose that their related
company has an interest in the outcome. This is typical of the Bahamian
press.
Inquiring minds were interested to see that the
statements of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his Minister Zhivargo
Laing about the PLP were delivered near to midnight of the evening of Thursday
5th March, yet they were blazed across the front page of the paper.
The story took the FNM’s side hook line and sinker and buried the PLP’s
response deep inside the stories. We wonder if the press in The Bahamas
know what journalistic ethics are or are they so blinded by their anti
PLP hatred that they just don’t get it.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Re: Mitchell on
Aristide and Haiti
I understand Mitchell, I was the victim of a
character assassination tentative by Randall Robinson. Robinson omitted
mentioning that his wife, Hazel Ross-Robinson, not only has an extensive
background working on Capitol Hill, but left the Hill to go to work for
Aristide earning millions of dollars as a lobbyist defending Aristide's
interests in Washington, DC. For more details click here: http://www.haitipolicy.org/Lobbying7.htm
For more on Robinson and me click here: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2007/10/randall-robinson-corrections-and.html
Stanley Lucas, (Haitian)
www.solutionshaiti.blogspot.com
______________________
The Threat to our Financial Services Sector
Our legislators and many Bahamians are well aware
of the “Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act” that was tabled in the United State (US)
Senate on 17th February 2007 by senators Levin, Coleman, and then senator
Obama; this took place during the first session of the 110 Congress. The
bill is designed “to restrict the use of offshore tax havens and abusive
tax shelters to inappropriately avoid Federal Taxation, and for other purposes.”
It targets $100 billion per year in tax revenue losses due to offshore
tax havens and since the US has identified the Bahamas as a tax haven jurisdiction
for tax avoidance, there is a legitimate threat and clear and present danger
to our second largest industry.
Specifically, the bill seeks to achieve the following
among other objectives:
-
Establish presumptions to combat offshore secrecy.
-
Impose tougher requirements on US taxpayers using offshore secrecy jurisdictions.
-
Authorize special measures to stop offshore tax abuses.
-
Strengthen detection of offshore activities.
-
Close offshore trust loopholes by taxing offshore trust income.
-
Strengthen penalties on tax shelter promoters to a maximum of $1 million.
-
Stop tax shelter patents for “inventions designed to minimize, avoid,
defer, or otherwise affect liability for Federal, State, local, or foreign
tax”.
-
Require hedge funds and company formation agents to know their offshore
clients.
Editor, I wish to endorse the recommendations made
by the Honorable Member for Fort Charlotte as articulated during his contribution
to the midyear budget debate on 2nd March 2009.
First, Mr. Sears recommended that the “Government
of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas lobby the United States to stop the
passage of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Bill by the Unites States House of
Representatives and Senate and to educate the Unites States policy makers,
media and public of the true nature of the Bahamian financial industry
and the collective commitment of The Bahamas to fight money laundering
and the financing of terrorism.”
His second recommendation was that the Bahamas
Government should “make an official protest against the practice by agents
of the United States and other OECD member countries who undermine the
legal process in The Bahamas by seeking to induce Bahamian financial institutions
and professions to break the law. If the Government were to protest now,
it would give The Bahamas a tactical advantage or the moral high ground,
rather
than raising them when The Bahamas is on the defensive or the object of
an imminent threat.
“Third, the Government should promote the convening
of a global forum on money laundering and terrorist financing, under the
auspices of the United Nations, leading to the formation of a global treaty.
The purpose of the global forum will be to ensure that offshore jurisdictions,
like The Bahamas, have a voice and place around the table in the prescription
and application of the anti-money laundering and combating the financing
of terrorism on a level playing field.
“Fourth, the Government, in partnership with
the private sector, should invest in a policy research facility, at the
College of The Bahamas, to conduct economic intelligence monitoring of
the global economy and trends, to assess their impact on the financial
services industry in The Bahamas and propose policy options to improve
the competitiveness of the Bahamian jurisdiction as a centre of wealth
management”.
I wish to add that the Bahamas government must
formally protest the apparent illegal tactics of US authorities. They are
not to directly approach any financial institution in the Bahamas, but
to utilize the relevant government authorities in pursuit of cross-jurisdictional
assistance in civil and criminal matters involving US citizens.
Governments are elected by the people to protect
their interests of its people and therefore must be seen to demonstrate
such a commitment and resolve. As the external threat to our second largest
industry intensifies, the government must move proactively, transparently,
and expeditiously to protect our dignity, national sovereignty, and general
way of life.
ELCOTT COLEBY
IN PASSING
Cuban Officials Fired
Carlos Lage, one of the Vice Presidents of Cuba and the Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque have been sacked by the President of Cuba Raul Castro.
The sacking was announced as part of a restructuring of the Cabinet in
Cuba on Monday 2nd March. The speculation is that this is an attempt
by Raul Castro to put his stamp on the government. These two young
men were displaced for older, stalwarts of the revolution. It appears
to take Cuba backwards. The sacking was followed by a statement by
retired Cuban President Fidel Castro that the two men were seduced by the
“honey pot of power”. The two men then wrote identical letters published
in the Cuban official press in which they admitted to making unspecified
mistakes. A commentary on the Caribbean Net News site indicated that
the two men were sacked because they gave rise to certain expectations
amongst foreign powers. The Cuban regime is at best opaque and so
it is difficult to know what happened. The end result though is that
a rising star, a 44-year-old Foreign Minister is now gone from power with
the stroke of a pen. In the short term there does not appear to be
any impact on the Caricom relationship. Here is a translation of
the Minister’s letter of resignation:
Habana, 3rd March 2009
Cro. General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz
President of the Ministers and Cabinet
Colleague General of the Army
Dear Raul:
Since the commencement of the ongoing discussions by the Executive
Committee of our Party, which I participated as a guest, I wish to inform
you of my decision to resign as a member of the cabinet, Deputy of the
National Assembly of Popular Power and as a member of the head committee
of the Communist Party of Cuba.
I fully recognize the errors I have committed which were widely
known in the mentioned meeting. I take complete responsibility for them.
I shall continue to defend with loyalty and decency, a Revolution
whose principles and ideals I will always be committed to.
I reiterate my loyalty to Fidel, you and the Party.
Regards,
Felipe Pérez Roque
Zimbabwe PM’s Wife Killed
Morgan Tsvangirai, the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, lost his wife
in a traffic accident in Zimbabwe as they were on their way to their rural
home on Friday 6th March. Mr. Tsvangirai was hurt and was hospitalized
and later discharged, but his wife died. They were married for 31
years and had six children. He is said to be in a state of shock.
He was visited by Robert Mugabe, his arch rival and President of Zimbabwe
following the news. This is quite a sad and a tragic event in the
life of a figure who has given so much for his country, on the verge of
what appears to be some resolution to his life long struggle, he now is
faced with this personal tragedy. There is as yet no suggestion of
foul play.
Michael Misick Out
Galmore ‘Gilly’ Williams (pictured) is the new head of the Progressive
National Party (PNP) the ruling party in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
He replaces Michael Misick as leader and will probably be named the new
Premier after Mr. Misick steps down on 31st March of this year. Mr.
Williams is a merchant by occupation. His election comes after months
of turmoil and turbulence in the Turks and Caicos government, with a Commission
of Inquiry expected to deliver a damning report on the stewardship of the
Misick administration. Mr. Williams defeated former Deputy Premier
Floyd Hall and Minister of Health Royal Robinson for the job. Good
luck to Mr. Williams. He was elected at a special convention on Saturday
28th February.
Photo:www.tcinetnews.com
Antigua Elections On Wednesday
Elections are to be held in Antigua on Wednesday 12th March.
The election is a rematch between Lester Bird former Prime Minister and
his Antigua Labour Party that took the country to independence under his
father and Baldwin Spencer, the now Prime Minister who defeated Mr. Bird
five years ago. The election campaign is quite bitter. Mr.
Bird has said he may not serve as Prime Minister if they win. The
election campaign is coloured by the seizure by US authorities of the assets
of the largest private sector investor in Antigua Allen Stanford.
Parliament was reconvened after dissolution to compulsorily acquire the
assets of Mr. Stanford as a protection against seizure by US regulators.
Mr. Bird did not agree with the government’s move. It is now further
impacted by the fact that Mr. Bird’s party is objecting to Dame Billie
Miller, the former Foreign Minister of Barbados acting as Head of the Organization
of American States Observer (OAS) team. Mr. Bird said in a letter
to the OAS that Dame Billie is a member of the Barbados Labour Party that
worked with Roy Bouke, the Trinidadian political strategist in the last
Barbados election and Mr. Bouke is helping the present Antiguan government.
The suggestion is that she could not preside as an independent observer.
Heads Of Government To Meet
Caricom Heads of Government will meet in Belize on 11th and 12th March
in their semi annual intercessional. Prime Minister of The Bahamas
Hubert Ingraham is to attend the meeting. No doubt, CLICO will be
amongst the topics to be discussed.
Ingraham Gags Brent
Is there any time when the Minister of Foreign Affairs will speak in
the House? Mr. Symonette, who is the Deputy Prime Minister, has so
far been confined to making jokes on the sidelines and casting sarcastic
and often vituperative remarks from his seat at PLP speakers, but no policy
statements from him ever come. He is the silent Deputy Prime Minister.
Obama And Michaelle
No not that Michelle but the Governor General of Canada, the other
Michaelle. We thought that this was an important power picture of
the changes in the world, two white nations headed by black people.
Here US President Barack Obama is greeted by Michaelle Jean, Governor General
of Canada at the airport in Ottawa during his recent working visit there.
Ms. Jean is a Haitian émigré to Canada.
Internet Photo
Simeon Hall’s Role
Bishop Simeon Hall is a policy holder of CLICO and he has been leading
the charge in opposition it appears to the government he supports with
regard to this CLICO matter. He has provided a forum at his church
the New Covenant to allow policy holders to vent their frustration with
the government’s moves.
Malcolm Makes Photo
Malcolm Adderley (left) takes time out from his recovery from surgery
to join in posing for the official photograph of members of the House of
Assembly, pictured being greeted by MPs Oswald Ingraham, centre and Melanie
Griffin, right.
BIS/Peter Ramsay
Behaviour of The FNM In The House
We are forced to comment again on the behaviour of FNM Members of Parliament.
They appear to have no sympathy for the poor and dispossessed. There
is too much grinning and cackling, led by their leader Hubert Ingraham
who spends much of his time in the House grumbling and carrying on like
a drunken sailor. Their conduct is disgraceful. It is hard
to believe that during all the debates about the suffering that the Bahamian
people are now experiencing that the FNMs took the whole thing as a joke.
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| CHRISTIE RISES UP:
There
was a cartoon in The Nassau Guardian on 13th March by Stan Burnside, which
indicates that his view was that John Marquis helped Perry Christie and
the PLP last week by going over the top with his Insight piece on the late
Sir Lynden O. Pindling. In that piece that appeared on Monday 9th
March, Mr. Marquis who is the Managing Editor of The Tribune, accused the
late Sir Lynden O. Pindling of murdering Chauncey Tynes Jr., a drug mule
who disappeared in the year 1968 on a plane journey that he piloted.
The death had nothing whatever to do with Lynden Pindling, but was based
on the ramblings of Mr. Tynes’ ailing and doting father, Mr. Marquis printed
what Perry Christie called “garbage”. In the end, the people of the
country and the PLP were so incensed that Mr. Burnside believes from his
cartoon that it helped the PLP’s fortunes. We comment on it in greater
detail below, but our photo of the week is definitely of the press conference
called in outrage and dripping in denunciations by the PLP leader surrounded
by his senior team on Wednesday 11th March. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
EILEEN CARRON AND HER SLIMY
EDITOR
That their opinions, views and attitudes are racist there is no
doubt. That is The Tribune’s view: that black people must apologize
for coming to The Bahamas. They come by it naturally because the
father of Eileen Carron the late Sir Etienne Dupuch hated the fact that
he was a black man. We are not talking about some man who was like
the late Sir Roland Symonette or H.M. Taylor, very fair skinned or olive
complexioned with the hair of Caucasians. We are talking about a
man who was a colour darker than Dion Foulkes but who had what we in the
vernacular would call the peasy hair of Africans. There was no question
what he was. That was Etienne Dupuch. He was once described
by Life Magazine as the “ailing half-negro editor” of The Tribune.
Remember now we are only describing a condition. Makes no difference
to us what the colour your skin is, but some people have a thing about
it and Etienne Dupuch and his daughter, The Tribune’s editor are examples
of these types.
If racism is a disease then Etienne Dupuch Sr. was infected by it.
His daughter Eileen Carron has it passed on to her in her genes.
What this means is that like Ivan Johnson at The Punch, they both have
a hatred for anything that is racially black or African in its base.
It does something to their very souls to be associated with it and they
must reject it. It dominates all that they do and say, and it infuses
all of their logic. It is quite well said to be a sickness.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for self-hatred. We the people of
country suffer for their sickness in the name of press freedom.
John Marquis is a hireling. He is an Englishman who could not
make it in his own country. Under the Pindling government, he was
kicked out of The Bahamas for his racist views back in the 1960s but as
soon as the FNM government came back in power, with an Uncle Tom at its
head, Eileen Carron was able to rescue John Marquis from the little English
town in which he lived, floundering in obscurity to become the Managing
Editor of the paper here in Nassau. There is of course in their eyes
no Bahamian who is fit and proper to run the paper so as always, an Englishman
is asked to come and run the establishment.
Mr. Marquis is like all good overseers on plantations, he is
infected with the sickness of racism greater than his boss is. The
most vexing issue for him is that his daughter goes out with a black man
and that is said to be the reason that he intends to leave The Bahamas,
to put an end to that infection.
These are the people that you are dealing with who run the largest
part of the media in the country. What helps them is that each day
thousands of black people, scores of black writers, work for them and buy
their paper, even though the paper's subtext is that there is nothing that
people of African descent can do right, except serve the Caucasian establishment.
So John Marquis who is also not known for his journalistic ethics
has the waters running of the black population of the country. He
writes garbage. They buy the garbage. They now pay 75 cents
a day for this garbage. Each day, there is a guy who writes that
people of your race are no good and worthless, yet you keep going out and
buying the stuff and then you respond with outrage when you read it.
Amazing!
On Monday 9th March, Mr. Marquis wrote a piece which was a piece
of fiction and fantasy that could not be believed. The population
was incensed. He trashed the reputation of Sir Lynden O. Pindling.
Bear in mind this is the man who was kicked out of the country by the Pindling
government but which the last PLP government did not have the strength
to do the same. He based his story on the ramblings of a man named
Chauncey Tynes. He is 88 years old, probably suffering from dementia,
bearing the griefs of years of losing his son, and convinced that what
he is saying is right.
The central theory is that Sir Lynden was a drug dealer for whom
his son was collecting money from the jailed drug trafficker Carlos Ledher
and that somehow Sir Lynden may have been responsible for the disappearance
and probably death. No proof. Just bare assertions.
Even the son of Chauncey Tynes Jr. was in the mix with quotes from
The Tribune, following up the story on Friday 9th March to say that he
was grateful to The Tribune for answering some questions about his father’s
death. He never knew his father, he said. Pray tell what questions
were answered by The Tribune's story? Nothing! The plane is
still missing. His father was never found. There is no connection
between Pindling and the father save the ramblings of the grandfather,
but never let the truth interfere with a good story.
What all of this trash talking by Mr. Marquis seemed to do was to
cause the PLP to rise up and defend itself. The press conference
of 11th March was a good start but it is not enough. There must be
more to debunk and disprove all of the nonsense that is being spun about
the leader who created the modern state. Many people cannot understand
the silence of Sir Lynden’s family in the face of such obvious nonsense.
There ought to be a special place in hell for Eileen Carron.
She has a whole list of undeclared grievances against the PLP that she
will take to her grave. But what is clear is that try as they might,
they cannot kill the PLP. John Marquis will join her in that special
place in hell. There will be no two more deserving people.
Money is the God of The Tribune. The paper sells because they
trash Pindling. It sells because black people, PLPs continue to buy
it. They have the PLPs number. That is why more needs to be
done to deal with The Tribune and The Guardian. But we are all good
at rage. What we are not good on is real action to put an end to
the influence of The Tribune, Eileen Carron, John Marquis and all their
fellow travellers.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 14th March 2009 up to
midnight: 286,361.
Number of hits for the month o March up to Saturday 14th March 2009
up to midnight: 464,836.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 14th March 2009 up
to midnight: 2,608,834.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
TCI CONSTITUTION TO BE SUSPENDED
The British are to enforce a ‘partial suspension’
of the Constitution in the Turks and Caicos Islands for two years, following
the final report of a Commission of Inquiry into alleged government corruption
in the islands.
The British Governor Gordon Wetherell made the announcement
Monday morning. The final Commission of Inquiry report is due on
or before April 30, 2009.
An Order to effect the suspension of the constitution
has reportedly been drafted and according to the Governor, “… would leave
in place important elements of the Constitution such as the fundamental
rights chapter and provisions relating to the Governor, the courts and
the public service, while removing the Cabinet, House of Assembly and references
to ministerial and related powers. Powers and functions currently
exercised by Ministers would be exercised by the Governor acting in his
discretion, including in relation to public finances, legislation and necessary
regulatory reforms…”
An initial two-year suspension is proposed, which
may be shortened or extended, but is likely to be in effect until the next
general elections in 2011.
Said the Governor, “… information obtained in the
first six months of the Commission’s inquiries, when coupled with the evidence
in the public hearings in TCI earlier this year, have provided information
in abundance pointing to a high probability of systemic corruption or other
serious dishonesty. In (the Commissioner’s) view this, together with
‘clear signs of political amorality and immaturity and general administrative
incompetence’, has demonstrated a need for the urgent suspension in whole
or in part of the Constitution, and for other legislative and administrative
reforms and change.”
Michael Misick, the Premier of the Turks and Caicos
Island who has within the last year been accused of raping a tourist and
is involved in a nasty and high profile divorce from his American wife,
was accused by a British Parliamentary Committee of malfeasance in office.
Mr. Misick was defended before the Commission of
Enquiry by Bahamian lawyers Maurice Glinton and Raynard Rigby and by British
Q.C. Edward Fitzgerald. He recently announced that he would resign
as Premier of the country on 31st March.
We had previously warned on this site of the likelihood
of direct rule imposed by London to remedy the situation.
THE
IDES OF MARCH
The Romans had three holidays in the month.
One of them was the Ides. That was the 15th of the month. It
does not directly correspond to today’s date because we are now on a Gregorian
calendar and not the old Roman or Julian calendar. Nevertheless today
is the 15th of March, the Ides. It was made famous as the day of
the assassination of Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare’s version of the
story, Caesar had been warned of the day of his death and as he left for
the Senate where he was to meet his demise he passed the soothsayer who
had warned him and said the following: “THE IDES OF MARCH ARE COME”.
The soothsayer replied: “Ay, Caesar, but not gone”. Caesar was murdered
later that day in the Senate touching off a civil war.
 |
Above: Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns'
- Nassau Guardian
THE
PLP’S STATEMENT AND STRATEGY
What is interesting about the debate that has ensued over the allegations
made by The Tribune’s John Marquis is that it shows the importance of history.
We are still in a position where the people who are telling and writing
the history of the country and indeed the PLP are the enemies of the PLP.
Yet for at least five years from the time the PLP came to power in 2002
and in the two years since they have lost power, its Leader speaks at funerals
to admonish the congregations that until lions have their authors, the
tale of the hunt will be told by the hunter. It is another way to
say that the enemies of the PLP are responsible for writing the history
of the PLP.
The present difficulties are an example of why it
is so important for you to write your own history. The PLP’ statement
by its Leader Perry Christie denounced the writings of John Marquis.
But it has not stopped John Marquis. Indeed, the very next day, they
were back again repeating the claims and saying that what Mr. Christie
said was inconsistent with what he had said twenty five years ago when
he was dismissed as a Minister from the Pindling Cabinet. Again,
who has the record of that but The Tribune? The fact is what they
published is not inconsistent with what Mr. Christie said twenty-five years
ago but they are able to say so without an effective counterpoint.
Right now, there is a book written By Fred Sturrup
that seeks to whitewash the role of the United Bahamian Party and the Bay
Street boys into some kind of benign oligarchy and not as the PLP portrayed
them and what they were in fact, a selfish, racist group that oppressed
the majority black population. One statement then does not make a
plan to deal with this issue. There must be a full frontal assault
on all fronts to counteract the lies that are being told.
Most pernicious of all are the lies being told by
Eileen Carron in her Tribune editorials. In her editorial of Friday
12th March, Eileen Carron claims that in looking at the pictures in the
press, it appeared that the PLPs in the photo did not want to be there
because they did not believe what Mr. Christie was saying. That is
foolishness. What she did not say is that The Tribune was so cowardly,
they did not even show up at the press conference but chose instead to
view it from afar. She has no idea what she is talking about at all.
Lying appears to be part of the greater sickness that has infected her
and her whole newspaper. Her paper is truly what the Bahamas Press
website calls “toilet paper”. It is led by an unethical journalist
who takes advantage of old men in their dotage without checking his sources.
You may click
here for the full statement by PLP Leader Perry Christie.
Photo shows some of the PLPs and Parliamentary Team present for
the news conference condemning John Marquis and The Tribune. From
left: Dr. Bernard Nottage MP, PLP Leader Perry Christie MP, Party
Chairman Glenys Hanna Martin MP, Fred Mitchell MP and Senator Hope Strachan.
NEW
PLP SENATOR IS SWORN IN
The Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie announced
last Sunday the name of the Senator to replace Pleasant Bridgewater.
The announcement came just as we were uploading last week. 48 year-old
Dr. Michael Darville, a Freeport doctor, was presented with his instruments
of appointment at Government House by Governor General Arthur Hanna on
Wednesday 11th March. The next day Thursday 12th March, he took the
oath of office in the Senate and made his first address in the Senate.
Dr. Darville pledged to be a fighter for the people of Grand Bahama whom
he said had been left behind by the present government.
Photos: BIS/Peter Ramsay
THE
CLICO SAGA CONTINUES
True to form, the FNM has spent the last week or
so seeking to blame the PLP for the issues relating to the collapse of
CLICO, the failed Caricom wide insurer. This is being done despite
the clear evidence from their own statements, led by no less a person than
the Prime Minister that they discovered the problems relating to CLICO
on 30th July 2008 when the audited statements of the company were made
available to the Registrar of Insurance. They accept no responsibility
for the fact that they failed to bring into force legislation passed by
the PLP that would have given the Registrar of Insurance power to deal
with matters of this kind.
There was one revelation after the next in The Guardian,
which purported to be doing an investigation. But it was clear that
these were simply well placed leaks by the FNM administration to show that
it was the PLP’s fault. It shows for example that CLICO has the pension
money of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas to the tune of $800,000.
The claim was later substantiated when Calsey Johnson, the former Chairman
of the Board, revealed that he suggested to the trustees that they invest
in CLICO’s annuities and he told the press that he got a commission as
a part time agent of CLICO even while Board Chair. He defended the
investment, saying that there was no conflict of interest.
There was also a placement of some 3.5 million dollars
of monies from the Provident Fund of the national airline Bahamasair.
Meanwhile, the ordinary policy holders are getting more and more agitated
and appear less and less organized. They need to get lawyers and
also need to understand that they have to pay lawyers if they are going
to have a fighting chance of being successful in defending their interests.
The question is whether or not this company should in fact be in liquidation
or whether it is not possible for the company to continue as going concern.
Right now, the FNM is not thinking about the policy holders or their interests,
but simply about making sure that the political blame for this fiasco is
laid at the feet of the PLP. What is the PLP doing to fight it?
Those who wish to be heard have to file an appearance
in the Court by Tuesday 17th March.
ALFRED
SEARS FOUR POINTS
The question of how to defend the assault upon the financial services sector
in The Bahamas has been led by the PLP. The background is the wild
comments made by the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown about shutting
down what he calls “tax havens”. Suddenly, the offshore financial
services sector, where people legitimately park their money in well regulated
centres of finance, have become the boogeyman for everything that is wrong
with the tax collection agencies and other regulators of the United States
and the United Kingdom.
This is all nonsense. They accuse countries
like The Bahamas, Antigua, Barbados and their own jurisdictions like the
Channel Islands, Jersey, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands of allowing people
to evade the taxes of the developed countries. This is all nonsense.
The amount of taxes passing through these jurisdictions is a drop in the
bucket to what has happened in the financial services sectors of the developed
countries. Indeed, the offshore centres have nothing to do with it.
How has Bernie Madoff’s stealing 50 billion dollars
been the fault of offshore centres? How have the staggering losses
in the tens of billions of dollars by Citibank, Lloyd’s Bank and Royal
Bank of Scotland been the fault of the offshore centres? Yet you
have every week, some official of the United States and Great Britain trotting
out this nonsense.
What is clear is that The Bahamas Government is
doing nothing about it. Other countries already have delegations
in the US and in Britain seeking to lobby on the point. These include
the Cayman Islands and Antigua. Nothing from The Bahamas. Alfred
Sears, the PLP’s shadow Attorney General (pictured at right) made four
suggestions on what can be done when he spoke in the House of Assembly
during the debate on the mid year budget. They are:
-
“Firstly, lobbying the United States to stop the
passage of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Bill by the United States House of
Representatives and Senate and to educate the United States policy makers,
media and public of the true nature of the Bahamian financial industry
and the collective commitment of The Bahamas to fight money laundering
and the financing of terrorism.
-
“Secondly, making an official protest against
the practice by agents of the United States and other OECD member countries
who undermine the legal process in The Bahamas by seeking to induce Bahamian
financial institutions and professions to break the law.
-
“Thirdly, the Government should promote
the convening of a global forum on money laundering and terrorist financing,
under the auspices of the United Nations, leading to the formation of a
global treaty.
-
“Fourthly, the Government, in partnership with
the private sector, should invest in a policy research facility, at the
College of The Bahamas, to conduct economic intelligence monitoring of
the global economy and trends, to assess their impact on the financial
services industry in The Bahamas and propose policy options to improve
the competitiveness of the Bahamian jurisdiction as a centre of wealth
management.”
The next day these were rejected by the Minister of
State for Finance Zhivargo Laing as over reacting. This was said
simply because it came from the PLP. But the FNM has no ideas and
the sector is under greater assault than it has ever been, while the FNM
sits and fiddles. The PLP’s James Smith now thinks that perhaps we
ought to explore tax information exchange treaties with other nations to
help solve the problem.
WILCHCOMBE
ISSUES HIS OWN STATEMENT
The following statement was issued by Opposition
spokesman on Tourism Obie Wilchcombe who is also the Member of Parliament
for West End and Bimini in response to the writings of John Marquis in
The Tribune on Monday 9th March about Sir Lynden O. Pindling:
“Whilst I will leave John Marquis to the judgment of history, professional
journalists and the people of the Bahamas I must point out the following.
To repeat unsubstantiated hearsay from Chauncey Tynes Sr. is reckless and
dangerous journalism. None of the hearsay/ fabrication from Chauncey Tynes
Sr. was ever led at three Royal Commissions of Inquiry held in The Bahamas
over the last twenty years. At no time did Chauncey Tynes Sr. offer evidence
at any commission of inquiry. Nor has this hearsay from Chauncey Tynes
Sr. ever been the subject of police investigation.
“John Marquis poisoned pen is led by hate.
The Bahamas is too small a nation to have its space polluted with divisive
malice, and hate. Bahamians who are intimately aware of the history of
The Bahamas and Lynden Pindling have witnessed such episodes of hate directed
at Lynden Pindling by John Marquis one time too many. Sir Lynden has gone
on and cannot respond so we must. Therefore, I welcome his article of Monday
March 9, 2009 for the opportunity it provides for discussing the contribution
of the late and venerable Sir Lynden Pindling.
“Destiny could have chosen anyone, but it
selected Sir Lynden to lead the Bahamas into the era of Independence. In
my view, it could not have chosen more wisely. Sir Lynden is today rightly
acknowledged as the architect, founder and father of the modern democratic
state of the Bahamas.
“Only God is perfect, but among leaders, Sir
Lynden stands as tall as they come, despite his five-foot—seven inch frame.
What I can say without fear of contradiction is that Sir Lynden was no
murderer, no drug dealer and never promoted violence as the Marquis article
hatefully suggests. Sir Lynden’s birthplace is beyond debate. He was born
in The Bahamas and his mother was Viola Pindling.
“The fact that the Bahamas is today a place
where freedom of speech, even of the kind espoused by Mr. Marquis, is enjoyed
is testimony to Sir Lynden’s pursuit of the path of democratic engagement
of all Bahamians. As founder and father of the Bahamian nation, Sir Lynden
laid the planks on which we all walk today and upon which we are called
to build a new storey of prosperity and possibility for current and future
generations. Sir Lynden truly understood the requirements for a modern
state in the western world. He understood early, the value of the tourism
economy for earning revenue in order to look after the interests of the
people of the Bahamas. The PLP’s manifesto on which he campaigned clearly
demonstrates where his heart lay. It lay with the people. He understood,
very well, that the future of our people lay in education, good health,
and jobs beyond the menial, a solid economy and freedom of expression.
He understood that the challenge of geography that scattered our people
across so many islands, posed special demands on political representation.
“Equally, he understood the nature of the
challenge that arose for us from being so close to a world superpower-
both the opportunities and the risks that this presented.
“Those who knew him well would describe him
as a leader gifted with the common touch, who had no greater joy than walking
among his people. He drew his inspiration from the Bahamas and its people
and in building this nation, they drew theirs from him.
“When destiny called, Lynden Pindling responded,
bringing to the task of nation-building everything he possessed. He would
be the first to admit that nothing nor everything went as he had hoped.
Mis-steps and mistakes are inevitable among even the most brilliant and
experience of men and women. But when the life and contribution of Lynden
Pindling are weighed on the scales of history, I think they would tilt
on Sir Lynden’s side because of guiding the Bahamas through the first perilous
days of Independence and in creating the foundation of a modern society
and economy based on the values of a democratic society.
“All Bahamians, from every side of the political
divide, owe Sir Lynden our sincere thanks and respect for having taken
us this far. He has gone and left another generation to take the baton.
We let down his legacy when we throw our pain at the past and fight with
ghosts of our own making. None can dispute that, in serving us, he did
the best that he could do. And more.
“We, too, will be judged by history.”
COMMONWEALTH
DAY IN FOX HILL
Monday 9th March was Commonwealth Day. The
Commonwealth is the 53-nation organization headed by Queen Elizabeth II
that is the morphed version of the British Empire after its collapse with
the independence of India in 1947. Today, it is a voluntary organization
of these nations that stand for support of democratic, pluralistic values,
open and free government. The day is marked in The Bahamas in the
schools as an official observance day.
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill appeared at the Sandilands
Primary School for their Commonwealth Day observance. He spoke about
protecting and nurturing the next generation, the theme for this year’s
Commonwealth Day. The photos are of Mr. Mitchell with head boy Lorenz
Wright and head girl Augustina Ferguson at his side. Mr. Mitchell
asked each student what they wanted to be when they grew up. Ms.
Ferguson wants to be a surgeon and Mr. Wright a graphic artist. He
told them that if they wanted to succeed then they would have to take advantage
of all that was being taught them in the Sandilands Primary School.
Photos: Miguel Taylor
CELEBRATING
WITH YVETTE AND PETER TURNQUEST
Former Senator and the PLP’s candidate in the 2007
election for the Montagu constituency Yvette Turnquest celebrated with
her husband Peter the 27th anniversary of their wedding on Saturday 7th
March at their home in Mr. Vernon. Mr. Turnquest invited Fred Mitchell,
MP for Fox Hill and Ed Bethel, the former Consul General to New York up
to his special smoking room for a view. Also present was the former
PLP MP for Holy Cross Sidney Stubbs. A good time was had by all.
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Turnquest.
GILBERT
MORRIS WRITES
Gilbert Morris (pictured), a Bahamian academic,
is a contributing writer to this column from time to time, who now lives
and works in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Today’s piece is 'The
Fate of Financial Centres: Ours, ourselves to ruin'. Please
click here.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
The following letter is a response to a piece from last week, entitled
'The
Gold Generation'. Please click
here to read that article.
This article I think characterizes clearly what’s
happening in the PLP. The type of incisive and introspective examination
posited therein is definitely needed. My fear is that that opponents
probably have the greater numbers; or if not the numbers the majority of
the decision making power.
As someone observing the PLP and its leadership,
I’m thinking what does it portend for the country when it takes seemingly
forever to appoint a senator to the position left vacant by Ms. Bridgewater?
What are the real issues to be considered for nominating someone to this
position? Does it require that much deliberation and thought?
I may be wrong but it seems extremely long. Is there a mechanism
within the party to question issues such as this?
I think that more than the change of any one
person is needed. There needs to be a wholesale mindset shift.
Then again, I am not a member of the PLP so what do I know.
Name withheld
We are with you, but you should join! - Ed.
_____________
IN PASSING
Eight Fold Jump In Demand For Social Services
Minister of Social Services Dion Foulkes told the Nassau Guardian that
the demand for the support of social services has increased by 800 per
cent in the last year. A sign of the times and the collapse of our
economy under the FNM.
The Children From Palmetto Point
Some children of the Emma Cooper Primary School in Palmetto Point,
Eleuthera visited the Senate of The Bahamas on Thursday 12th March.
Many school groups on break visit Nassau and the sights in the capital
city, which include the Parliament buildings. The Senate happened
to be in session. Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill and Senator Allyson Maynard
Gibson posed with the children and their chaperones for this photo.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
Marvin Dames Fixed Up By The Guardian
The Nassau Guardian’s editorial was fulsome in its praise of Marvin
Dames, the Assistant Commissioner of Police who is now leading the Force
in Grand Bahama. Mr. Dames is new to his post and like everyone who
goes to a new post; he is doing the usual high profile things that show
him to be a good guy. This is not to say that he is not a smart fellow,
but the whole editorial on Thursday 12th March smacked of an FNM put up
job by FNM editor of The Freeport News Oswald Brown to be a self fulfilling
prophecy and to try and sully the reputation of Ellison Greenslade who
should get the job of Commissioner of Police. Mr. Dames also has
a relative who works at the Nassau Guardian in an editorial position.
Should not the newspaper declare its interest?
Ian Strachan Gets In The Mix
We have commented before about the lecturer at the College of The Bahamas
who is just a lost soul. He is now a talk show host at GEMS radio.
We thought that maybe he would give PLPs a better chance on the radio even
though he is an FNM ideologue himself. Now he is making himself look
foolish by entering the debate on the writings of John Marquis on the disappearance
of Chauncey Tynes Jr. the drug pilot who was lost in what was an airplane
trip gone badly wrong. Professor Strachan had to get into something
that is not his business by saying that the PLP’s response was shrill and
that the PLP should engage in a national debate. National debate
on what, foolishness? It is up to people who got a sensible education
as a result of the policies of the PLP to set the record straight instead
of supporting stupidity and obvious falsehood. Shame on you!
Morton Salt To Be Sold Again
The fate of Morton Salt in Inagua, that island’s biggest and only employer
beside the government is once more in the balance. The newspapers
report that Dow Chemicals is selling the company as part of a merger deal
that is going on now, to become effective on 1st April. No word on
what this will mean for the future of the salt operation but it does not
sound too promising from the hedged comments being made in the press.
Ingraham At The Caricom Heads
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham represented The Bahamas at the intercessional
meeting of the Heads of Government of Caricom chaired by Prime Minister
of Belize Dean Barrow on 11th and 12th of March. The collapse of
CLICO was said to be high on the agenda. It would be the first opportunity
for Patrick Manning the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the President
of Guyana Barrett Jagdeo and the Prime Minister of the Bahamas to meet
since the collapse. Despite numerous questions, the Prime Minister
of The Bahamas refuses to say whether or not he has been in touch with
the Prime Minister of Trinidad whose government is the ultimate owner of
CLICO after the take over on 7th February 2009.
Antigua Election Results Are In
The results of the election in Antigua on Thursday 12th March are in
with the UPP administration of Baldwin Spencer retuned with reduced majority.
Of the 17 seats, 10 are to the UPP and 7 are for the Opposition ALP headed
by Lester Bird, the former Prime Minister. Mr. Bird who was defeated
in 2004 by newcomer Errol Cort who then served as Minister of Finance in
the last UPP administration is back in the House. He defeated Mr.
Cort, the once Minister of Finance. It is not known whether Mr. Bird
will stay on as Leader of the Opposition. The election seemed to
split the country right down the middle, what with the collapse of the
financial empire of Allen Stanford as a result of actions by US authorities.
Stanford’s operations were the largest private sector employers in the
island. In Barbuda, the UPP’s ally won by one vote: 474 to 473.
Kendal Nottage Suffers A Stroke
The former Minister of the government under the PLP, Kendal Nottage,
has suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. He is said to be resting in hospital
and being watched carefully by doctors. The stroke was suffered during
a sermon at the Bethel Baptist Church in Nassau last Sunday where Mr. Nottage
is now an associate pastor. Mr. Nottage is the brother of Bain and
grants Town PLP MP Dr. Bernard Nottage.
No Co Op Money In CLICO
Director of Co-Ops Nathaniel Adderley told the press that no money
from the credit unions in The Bahamas had been invested in the failed CLICO
Insurance operations.
The State Of The Senate
If you visit the Senate, you will find that there is shocking negligence
in the building. It is in a state of gross disrepair. The senate
president cannot use her office because it is damaged by water leaking
from the ceiling. It is a national embarrassment. Also no word
on where the photos are of all the Royal Governors of The Bahamas that
used to adorn the Senate’s Committee room.
Where Is The FNM On This?
Why is the FNM so silent on the attack on the reputation of Sir Lynden
O. Pindling? Could it be because Chauncey Tynes Sr. at 88 is a bitter,
doting FNM? Could it also be that they are the ones behind all of
this?
National Economic Summit
Civic activist Lynden Nairn has reported the preliminary results of
his National Economic Summit held in Nassau last week. It appears
that the Summit found that the government’s announced infrastructure works
do not amount to much of a stimulus package. Mr. Nairn told The Guardian:
“We
urge the government to reconsider its capital works generally and its plans
to spend almost $600 million on road construction and upgrade to the airport
specifically. With respect to the construction of the roads, no evidence
has been offered to support the proposition that that is the best use of
public money at this time. That is true especially because it is
hardly likely that the proposed roads will have a material impact on traffic
congestion, certainly not the extent staggered work hours and unification
and drastic improvement of public transportation would.”
He added that stakeholders drawn from tourism, agriculture, financial services
and transportation sectors expressed concerns about whether as much as
$250m in borrowed funds will actually result in anything but very short-term
employment for hundreds. Mr. Nairn said that would fail to address
a more substantive need to better position this economy to face the next
recession and the one after that. He said, “Regrettably, there
is no evidence that the term (stimulus package) is understood in our context.
It is not true that every dollar spent by government, no matter how well
intentioned, is stimulative.” According to Mr. Nairn, the government’s
stimulus plans, while well intentioned, may amount to little more than
make-work projects. They’re likely even to fail at stemming the real
economic pain growing in a country confronted with 13 percent unemployment.
David Kelly Dies
One of the quintessential Bay Street Boys has died. He is David
Kelly, the owner of Kelly’s hardware, now known as Kelly’s Home Centre.
He was never in front line politics but his brother Basil was a representative
for Crooked Island under the old United Bahamian Party (UBP) and another
brother Godfrey served as Minister of Education in the old UBP government.
He died in New York on Thursday 12th March. He was 77 years old.
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| DEFENDING PINDLING’S BIRTH:
Like
many babies born in The Bahamas even today, and like many of the babies
of his day that were born at home in 1930, the founding father of out country
Lynden O. Pindling Senior’s birth was not registered within the regulation
21 days or within two years of his birth in the Registry of Records.
It was not an issue for him until it was time to enter the formal systems
in The Bahamas, some say at the time it was necessary to go away to school.
It was at that point that an Affidavit of Birth was executed. This
is a document that is widely recognized today in the absence of a birth
certificate. Suddenly an issue that was settled in 1947, and again
in 1972 when an FNM politician made it an issue, is in the news again.
The Tribune sought to make it an issue again. They led with a story
on Tuesday 17th March which said that they had new evidence that the late
Sir Lynden O. Pindling was born in Jamaica. That seemed to be enough
to cause the family of the late Sir Lynden to swing into action.
Lynden O. Pindling Jr., whom we all know as Obie issued a letter calling
for John Marquis, the slimy Tribune editor to come to the home of 95 year
old double amputee Doris Grant-Strachan. Providence would have it
that she is still alive. She was one of the bridesmaids at the wedding
of Viola and Arnold Pindling, the late Sir Lynden’s parents. She
was aware of when Mrs. Pindling became pregnant and when the wet nurse
was sent for. Mr. Pindling Sr. was born in Hutchison Street in Nassau
in 1930. She used to push him in his pram as a youngster. That
puts paid to something that was irrelevant anyway and was a lie perpetrated
by a man John Marquis who should be expelled from The Bahamas. Our
photo of the week is by Peter Ramsay at the press conference of Obie Pindling
with Doris Grant Strachan at her home off Soldier Road, Nassau on Wednesday
18th March.. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
HOW HIS MIND WORKS
Last week in this space, we reviewed extensively the work of Eileen
Carron, the Editor of The Tribune and the hired hack that they brought
from England to Nassau to run the paper, who has been trying to make mince
meat of our society by ripping into the history of the struggle for majority
rule in our country and telling one lie after the other.
Paul Moss, the most active of the PLPs in these days, a would be
candidate for office, led a demonstration during the past week in front
of The Tribune with some 100 people to denounce what The Tribune has been
writing about Sir Lynden O. Pindling, the nation’s founding father.
It was a good effort.
The Tribune even lied about that. They said that only 40 people
showed up. Independent counters said that there were at least 100.
Today Sunday 22nd March, the PLP continued with the tributes to Sir
Lynden and the push back on the lies of The Tribune with the appearance
at the mausoleum of Sir Lynden by Dame Marguerite Pindling, his widow,
at 9 a.m. in St. Agnes Cemetery. This was followed by an 11 a.m.
service at Bethel Baptist Church with Timothy Stuart presiding. That’s
the way to do it. Every time The Tribune comes with nonsense and
the enemies of the party come with nonsense, there must be a push back.
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill speaking to his branch on Monday 16th
March described The Tribune as the “forces of darkness”. In other
words, these are the people who would turn the clock back and have The
Bahamas return to the day when everything was “Yes sir boss.” You
must remember that The Tribune was run by a man who believed that the voting
age in the country should be 30 years of age and be property owners.
Today’s 18 year olds would have no say in their country. Yet all
of that is forgotten as they swing to the sounds of One Hundred JAMZ, owned
by the inheritor of Etienne Dupuch. Young Bahamians today are often
oblivious of their history it appears and often contemptuous of being reminded
of it.
The question is, what makes the mind of the Managing Editor of The
Tribune John Marquis tick? We think that it is racism for sure.
We think that it is a misplaced sense of noblesse oblige for sure.
It is misplaced because the last thing that you can attach to him is nobility
of any kind coming from a low down working class background in a little
no nothing town in England. Not that there is anything wrong with
coming from a working class background, he just should not pretend otherwise.
He is simply a strange big fish in a little pond here. Not worthy
of mention in his own society.
We also believe that beside the sickness of racism; he is infected
with a sense of mischievousness. It is the same with Ivan Johnson
who runs The Punch. John Marquis, and we publish his picture so every
Bahamian can see what he looks like and they ought to make known their
contempt of him when they see him in the streets in Nassau by calling him
“racists!” to his face; he and Ivan Johnson have this same lack of respect,
sickness of racism, and malevolent wickedness and mischief making.
They have the learned ability to simply sit down and hatch things up in
their wicked minds to cause mayhem for the sake of mayhem. Nothing
more and nothing less. It does not matter to them what the result
of it is, what hurt it causes, what distress, once it causes mayhem.
It also in a very sick way makes them famous and gives them notoriety.
That above all else John Marquis loves.
The Tribune did not print the total address of Mr. Mitchell in Fox
Hill, about the bribes taken by Etienne Dupuch, the editor of The Tribune
before Eileen Carron, to keep quiet about casino gambling. How a
desperate Etienne Dupuch tried to capitalize on the anti discrimination
resolution in 1956 to win elections but was defeated by the PLP in 1956.
You may click here for the full statement.
We agree that what it all boils down to is this. A short, dark
man with a bad eye, who in the view of the then establishment came from
a know nothing family, rose up as champion of the people and beat them
every time. He was Lynden O. Pindling. He beat them and was
able to walk away standing. He bore no grudges, but he had a string
of victories under his belt that they simply could not deny him and cannot
even in death deny him.
So they are busy trying to make up stories after his death to see
if they can defeat him in his death. Thankfully, there are still
enough of us around to be able to say, it did not go the way that they
are trying to say it went. Through the wonders of television and
the electronic and print media, and the providence of God, we have Doris
Strachan who is able to say that she was there when Sir Lynden was born
in Nassau. That lie had to fall away.
John Marquis, the Managing Editor of The Tribune told another lie
that Fred Mitchell said that Chauncey Tynes was in dementia. When
you read the speech, no such thing was said. Not even John Marquis’
name was called in the piece. Neither was Mr. Tynes. But true
to the mischief making, off went their reporters at the behest of John
Marquis to cause mischief with Chauncey Tynes, who is an old man who we
hope goes eventually to his grave in peace but who will repent for the
lies he has told.
That is what we have at work in our country. Sad but in this
democracy, it takes all types.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 21st March 2009 up to
midnight: 413,757.
Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 21st March 2009
up to midnight: 878,593.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 21st March 2009 up
to midnight: 3,021,791.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY, SIR LYNDEN!
If Lynden O. Pindling, the founding father of the
country had been alive, this would have been his 79th birthday. This
year with his reputation under assault by the political enemies whom he
defeated in his lifetime, scores of PLP supporters joined his widow Dame
Marguerite Pindling at the mausoleum in St. Agnes Cemetery to mark the
occasion of his birth. You may click
here for a video from the ceremony at the mausoleum by Andrew Burrows
of www.myplp.com You may click
here for an audio Tribute To Sir Lynden Pindling, featuring the voice of
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
[Large file, but be patient; it's
worth it. - Ed.]
Photos: Peter Ramsay
HUBERT
INGRAHAM SILENT ON PINDLING
Leslie Miller, the former MP for Blue Hills for
the PLP appeared on the talk show of Ian Strachan last week. He took
the opportunity to blast the host Ian Strachan for his view that their
ought to be a debate about the Pindling legacy after the stories appearing
in the press about Sir Lynden O. Pindling by John Marquis of The Tribune.
He said that Mr. Marquis should be expelled from the country and had a
few other choice views on the subject. One of them with which we
wholeheartedly agree is why Hubert Ingraham the Prime Minister has been
silent in the face of these articles. Is he that much of an Uncle
Tom that he cannot open his mouth to defend the legacy of the man who created
him and made him what he is today? His silence is nothing short of
disgraceful.
2500
PEOPLE TAKE PAY CUT
Ed Fields, Vice President at Kerzner International,
confirmed to the press last week that 2500 people, mainly managers at Atlantis,
Paradise Island have been asked to go on holiday for two weeks without
pay. He did not say when this would take effect and when they would
begin to take the leave. This came as a shock to the country.
It shows that despite all the glowing and false statements by the Minister
of Tourism, the picture is not a good one for tourism. Atlantis is
the engine of the tourism economy in The Bahamas. It has already
laid off 1000 people, ten percent of their work force. They promised
that there would be no further layoffs. But now comes this news,
a clever way to lay people off. You ask them to take voluntary pay
cut to help salvage the company by taking vacation leave but taking no
pay. This is drastic action.
THE
TURKS AND CAICOS PAY A CALL
Outgoing Premier of the Turks and Caicos Michael
Misick visited The Bahamas with a small delegation, which included Premier
designate Gilly Williams on Friday 20th March. While in Nassau, they
met with Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to seek his help in stopping the
British from carrying out the most draconian of actions with regard to
the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands, the suspension of their
democracy.
The interim report of a Commission of Inquiry into
corruption in the Turks and Caicos was released at the beginning of last
week. There was a single commissioner, Sir Robin Auld, who, coincidentally,
was one of five Commissioners of Inquiry into casino gambling in The Bahamas.
Sir Robin’s recommendations were drastic. He recommends that the
constitution of the country as it relates to the Parliament and the Cabinet
should be suspended. He also wants jury trials to be abolished and
crimes are to be tried under the new regime by a Judge alone. The
Judges will be brought in from the United Kingdom. He wants the franchise
when it is returned to be extended to non Turks Islanders. He also
wants the British governor to be able to rule without any legislative check,
along with an advisory council made up of Turks and non Turks Islanders.
The Governor will not be bound not take their advice on any matters.
The Turks and Caicos are part of Caricom.
They are also part of the Commonwealth through Britain, their colonial
overlord. The action of suspending the constitution is antithetical
to the Harare principles and to the Caricom Civil Society Charter.
The Turks government has complained to Caricom and there appears to be
some action afoot to find common ground with the Opposition who also oppose
the move by the British to suspend the constitution. It will be interesting
to see what happens as this unfolds.
L.B.
JOHNSON IS BURIED
Livingstone Basil Johnson was buried in a state
recognized funeral at the Christ Church Cathedral on Friday 20th March.
He survived by his wife Charmaine and his two daughters. He was 85
years old at the time of his death. A son died before him.
The Governor General Arthur D. Hanna led the mourners at the funeral.
He was joined by the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, virtually the entire
Cabinet and Members of the Senate and the House of Assembly.
Former Prime Minister Perry Christie lauded him
as a man who had sacrificed much for his country. He served as Senator
from 1972 to 1973 and then went on for ten years to be the country’s Ambassador
to the United Nations and to the United States. Dame Marguerite Pindling
and her son Obie were also present at the funeral. Mr. Johnson or
‘L.B.’ as he was known was laid to rest in the Woodlawn Cemetery.
BIS photos: Peter Ramsay
CLICO
GOES TO COURT
The first court hearing since the provisional liquidator
Craig Gomez was appointed to wind up the company took place on Wednesday
17th March before Justice Cheryl Albury. The Judge reportedly took
issue with public comments about the outcome of the litigation that are
matters that should be left up to the courts. Questions were also
raised in court about a press report that a payment had been made to a
creditor, First Caribbean Bank. This was denied by the attorney for
the liquidator, but the press insisted that a cheque was actually made
out to First Caribbean, sent to their lawyers in escrow. Then it
was reported that the liquidator has to prepare a report for the Judge.
She will review its content and decide to what extent it will be distributed.
The most shocking news of all, CLICO has not paid
its reinsurers, which could mean that all is lost for policy holders if
the reinsurer takes the position that they will not underwrite CLICO policy
holders. That is a real problem. Most argue that it would be
better to keep this company going rather than wind it up, but the government
for some reason wants to get out of it altogether, arguing that this
in the best interests of the public. The government of Guyana has
supplied Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham with the evidence that they own
an interest in CLICO Bahamas.
The court case resumes on Friday 27th March.
Meanwhile Alfred Sears has published an extensive paper on the CLICO matter.
You may click here for the full paper.
UNEMPLOYMENT
BENEFIT TO COME
When the House of Assembly next meets on Wednesday
25th March, it is expected to pass into law the new Unemployment Benefits
legislation. The proposed act will amend the National Insurance Act
to provide for unemployment insurance and a paid benefit of half the insurable
wage for up to 26 weeks, in two 13-week periods. In order to qualify,
those after 1st July will have to have paid a certain amount of contributions
to National Insurance. It appears that those before that date will
not have to have the minimum contributions but meet other qualifying terms
including that they were working for a certain number of weeks and are
still looking for work after having been laid off.
All wage earners will pay one per cent of their
salary, the insurable wage, to NIB to fund the insurance. In the
first case, the government will take 20 million dollars from the medical
benefits branch of NIB to find the initial payments. While this is
a step in the right direction, it is not enough.
Right now, the top insurable wage is $400.
That means that the top benefit will be $200 per week for 13 weeks subject
to another renewal. People who get tips won’t be helped because they
will only be paid based on the basic insurable wage, which is $150 per
week. That means that most waiters and waitresses if they qualify
will get 75 per week for 13 weeks with a possible other 13 more.
Nothing is being said however about getting credit
going in the country again. Small business owners are in a severe
credit crunch and are unable to get their businesses the credit they need
to buy stock and keep going.
COURTESY
CALL ON BRAZIL
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Progressive
Liberal Party paid a courtesy call on the Ambassador for Brazil to The
Bahamas Tomas Guggenheim at his home called Tanglewood on the Eastern Road.
Brazil is the newest resident mission in The Bahamas. The country
has increasingly been taking a lead role in the hemisphere in helping to
keep the peace. It is also a leader in agriculture and in energy
technology. The photo shows from left to right: Ed Bethel, former
Consul General, New York; Fred Mitchell MP, former Minister of Foreign
Affairs; Ambassador Guggenheim; Philip Smith, former High Commissioner
to Canada; Alma Adams, former Consul General, Miami; attorney Andrew Edwards,
former Progressive Young Liberals Chair and member of the PLP Foreign Affairs
Committee; Viraj Perpall, Chair of the Progressive Young Liberals and Demathio
Forbes, member of the PLP Foreign Affairs Committee. Not pictured
is Committee Member Ryan Pinder.
Photo: Miguel Taylor
POLICE
COMMISSIONER IS CONFIRMED
Now here is a curious jaw dropping thing; without
a peep from the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party Reginald Ferguson
has been confirmed as the Commissioner of Police. It was announced
last Monday 16th March. We think that this is not a good appointment.
It is a slap in the face to the men on the Force who can actually lead
the Force in a new direction.
What we can look forward to instead of progress
toward a modern force is a steady rise in partisanship in favour of the
Free National Movement. You can also look for the police to be engaged
in a witch-hunt to prosecute and persecute PLPs in the country, including
trying to lock up PLP Members of Parliament.
This is not the right move and we condemn the Prime
Minister for making such a bad decision. Can you also imagine after
all the noise about the new police act, the Prime Minister did not even
have the courage to bring the new act into Force? The reason is that
he has appointed a man over 60 to be Commissioner of Police and if he brought
the act into Force, the act says you have to retire at 60. That is
really bright.
BIS photo/Peter Ramsay
DESMOND
BANNISTER ON PINDLING
Very few FNM Members of Parliament have commented on the attack on Sir
Lynden O. Pindling orchestrated by The Tribune and John Marquis.
One of them was Desmond Bannister, the Minister of Sports. He appeared
on the programme of Algernon Allen on Love 97 on Thursday 19th March.
Here is what he had say in his own words:
“Obie Pindling [the son of Sir Lynden] and I
went to high school together and we have been friends for over 30 years
and when I saw that article last week I had to call Obie to tell him how
much I supported him and how much I hated to see his family being dragged
through this now. I think it is absolutely disgusting.
“Secondly, those of us who are in public life
understand that we would face criticism. That is something that we
would take on but we ought to appreciate that we have Bahamians who have
given their lives to this country and Sir Lynden is one of them.
“We should criticize them on issues that are
fair. We should understand that every man is flawed but we also should
appreciate our national heroes and give them the kudos and the praise that
they deserve. No matter what political side they are on.
“We have a small county to build as a people
and notwithstanding political differences, we have to understand that those
people made contributions and that Bahamians should recognize those contributions,
no matter what side of the political divide you are on. And so the
same comes with all of our leaders. We need to build them up, create
their legacy and develop their legacies so that generations to come will
understand it.”
COLEBY
SOUNDS OFF ON CLICO & COP
Regarding the recent CLICO debacle, it remains unclear what steps the government
intends to take to ensure that this kind of debacle does not happen in
the future; provisional liquidation is a reactionary measure and does not
ensure that this kind of collapse would not happen in the future.
FNM In Charge, Why Blame PLP?
All indications are that the FNM's strategy is
to blame this collapse on the PLP, effectively excusing the FNM government
of any responsibility for a catastrophe that happened under their watch
and was within their control to do something about proactively. The leader
of the opposition stated in the media that no application was filed (during
his time as PM) with the Central Bank by CLICO to repatriate funds and
the former Minister of State for Finance also indicated that he was unaware
of any capital repatriation from the Bahamas by CLICO.
Apart from ColinaImperial and Family Guardian
et al expressing some interest in acquiring the assets of CLICO; apart
from the President of Guyana providing evidence of his country's financial
interest in CLICO; apart from the liquidation process; apart from Mr. Gomez
stating publicly that it is too early to determine whether or not the policy
holders will recover any of their investment, what has the government done
to engender public trust and confidence in the quality of their governance
surrounding this crisis? Where is the government's desire to pursue and
protect the public interest in all of this?
Inquiry Needed
By now there should have been an inquiry into
this collapse of CLICO for two reasons: firstly, insurance industry insiders
described CLICO’s collapse as an isolated case and assured the public that
the insurance industry is fundamentally sound. This stated position points
to possible failures in operational processes and procedures, internal
control weaknesses, inadequate supervisory oversight, and possible regulatory
and legislative weaknesses. Secondly, there are 23,191 policy holders involved
with policy liabilities totaling some $44 million, therefore, CLICO’s failure
directly and adversely impacts a significant number of Bahamians. For these
reasons it is in the public interest to investigate this collapse with
a view to determining all causal factors and root causes, and to implement
an action plan to protect against a reoccurrence of this king of debacle
in the future. These steps are necessary to bolster public confidence in
the state’s ability demonstrate accountability through proper regulation,
intervention, and enforcement in any institution or industry where the
public interest and welfare are at stake.
Commissioner's Appointment Disregards Convention
The recent confirmation of Reginald Ferguson
under Article 119 and 120 of the constitution is cause for concern because
of the government’s general disregard for the principles of democracy,
Westminster Conventions, and demonstrated duplicity surrounding this appointment.
Some Bahamians can recall that Dudley Hanna was
Sir Lynden’s choice for Deputy Commissioner of Police. When Sir Lynden
could not secure a concurrence from the then Leader of the Opposition,
Norman Solomon, he respectfully withdrew Dudley Hanna’s name from consideration
and selected a candidate with whom both men could agree. I applaud Sir
Lynden’s reverential respect for the principles of democracy and established
Westminster Conventions. The reasons for Mr. Solomon’s objection were immaterial;
what was material was the fact that Mr. Solomon commanded the political
support of a significant portion of the Bahamian population and the appointment
of a Deputy Commissioner of Police over his objection could potentially
divide and polarize the country. That appointment, therefore, would not
be in the public’s best interest. The opposition is on record as objecting
to this appointment.
Ferguson Condemned by Inquiry
There is also the issue of duplicity and hypocrisy.
The FNM was critical of the covert operation at the LPIA involving baggage
handlers and condemned the PLP government, but praised and rewarded Mr.
Ferguson who was intimately involved in the operation; this is duplicitous.
Mr. Ferguson was condemned by the Lorequin Commission
of Inquiry as mishandling the investigation. The government recently invited
some 14 officers to retire, citing age, operational deficiency, and low
morale as the reasons. Not only was Mr. Ferguson older than all of the
dismissed officers, his competence was called into question by an objective
commission. Further, while he was in charge of crime, the country experienced
the highest rate of murder with 74 in 2000. In the last election campaign,
the present PM said that crime was out of control and this PLP government
was paralyzed to do anything about it. That statement itself is an indictment
of Mr. Ferguson’s performance. Again there is duplicity on the part of
the government.
Nepotism & Cronyism?
The FNM, who loved to accuse the PLP of nepotism
and cronyism, appointed their party chairman’s brother to COP, which has
the appearance of both cronyism and nepotism on the surface.
Finally, the PM sent two senior officers off
for further training because nobody was ‘suitably qualified’ for the post
of Commissioner of Police. After receiving the requisite training, not
only were the most qualified officers denied the position, but Mr. Ferguson,
who was not suitably qualified in 2007, became mysteriously qualified over
the last year. This action too is dubious and duplicitous on the part of
the government.
Elcott Coleby
IN PASSING
Miss Universe
The Miss Universe contest is coming to Nassau at the Atlantis, this
summer. The one-month long pageant and its related activities are
thought to be able to provide a boost for Nassau’s tourism. In particular,
the government hopes that it will keep the doors of the Crystal Palace
open. They earlier announced that they would close their doors for
the months of August and September of this year. While Robert Sands,
the Vice President there, seemed to be reserved when asked if plans had
changed; the scuttlebutt is that there is no change in the plans to close
so far. There has been no up tick in the reservations for that period.
Many people wonder whether anyone pays attention to Miss Universe anymore.
Protest Over New Port
The Government is moving ahead looking neither left nor right as the
property of Bahamians in Vista Marina, the high-income subdivision, is
wrecked because of the plans to build a port on Arawak Cay. They
plan to carry a road right through it. So far the PLP has only hinted
at resistance, but the call needs to be made clearly that the PLP will
scuttle the Port if is it is done by the FNM and that the investment of
business is not safe on Arawak Cay. The time to act is now before
these FNMs and Hubert Ingraham go too far.
Mitchell Speaks About LOP
Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell delivered a stinging attack on Eileen Carron
and her dead father Etienne Dupuch. He called her a bitter old woman
who as she is nearing her death is seeking to attack Sir Lynden for the
defeats he inflicted upon Mrs. Carron and her father during his lifetime.
The statement was delivered at the monthly branch meeting of the Fox Hill
PLP on Monday 16th March. Party Leader Perry Christie, Leader of
Opposition business in the House Bernard Nottage also attended as did Senators
Hope Strachan and Jerome Fitzgerald. You may click
here for the full address.
Photo: Miguel Taylor
PLP Leadership Race
The
PLP’s MP for Cat Island Philip ‘Brave’ Davis has offered additional comments
on his bid for the Deputy leadership of the Party in his own words as told
to Brent Dean of The Nassau Guardian:
“I would hope that as a party and as a group, and as leaders of the
party, we could all sit down and discuss these issues and not have too
much of a divisive approach to filling the vacancies that may exist at
the time of convention.
“What I think might set me apart from all of them is my longevity and
commitment over the many, many years with the party itself - being steady
and the fact that I’m a team player. And I think I'm best able to
unify the party and the country.
“This myth about spending is but a myth. I’m a man of modest
means despite what the pundits might think or say. And I don't think
spending will be the issue. Whether the PLP delegates would vote
for me or not vote for me, I don't think is a question of money.
It’ll be a question of what they think would be best and in the interest
of the party.
“I am aware of the workings of Cabinet and I’ve been around the machinery
of governance sufficiently long enough to understand the workings of a
Cabinet.”
Carifesta At Risk
Minister of State for Culture Charles Maynard says that the Caricom
heads of Government may cancel Carifesta, the Caricom-wide cultural festival
scheduled for The Bahamas in 2010 due to the bad economic conditions in
the region. This would be a mistake. This would be the third
time that the festival was scheduled for The Bahamas and it was cancelled.
The last time the PLP was ready to go but the FNM as part of their stop
review and cancel programme cancelled the Festival.
Coconuts Closes
The popular eatery for PLPs on the west New Providence waterfront was
abruptly put out of business by their landlords the Pikremenos brothers
last week. The restaurant was owned and operated by Eldin Ferguson,
his wife Sharon and their two sons Erin and Eldin Jr. The Fergusons
say that they were forced out so that the Pikremenoses could retake the
location. The Pikremenoses say that the rent was not paid.
The Fergusons were able to show that the rent was paid on or before time.
The point is, another PLP business has eaten the dust. Let us hope
they get a new location soon. It was a good gathering place and watering
hole. They are good people.
Coconuts proprietors Eldin Ferguson III (left and Erin Ferguson
(right) are shown during happier times in the restaurant with MPs Anthony
Moss, centre left and Fred Mitchell, centre right.
Teresa Moxey Ingraham on Pindling
The former Minister for Immigration Teresa Moxey Ingraham has upbraided
The Tribune for what she called a demeaning debate with regard to the birth
of Sir Lynden O. Pindling. The Tribune’s John Marquis has been running
a debate in the press about whether the founder of the country Sir Lynden
was born in The Bahamas and whether his mother was Bahamian. The
former Minister, who is FNM and one of the few to speak up in this controversy,
told The Tribune that it matters not whether he was born here or not.
She believes that the whole debate is demeaning and that The Tribune lowers
itself by precipitating such a debate. Her remarks were printed in
a letter to the Editor published on Saturday 21st March.
Mother Pratt Speaks Up On Her Husband
While Paul Moss, the man who is seeking to succeed her, was busy demonstrating
against The Tribune because of their attack on Sir Lynden, Cynthia ‘Mother’
Pratt held a news conference at her home in the constituency. She
made a report to the country about the state of her own health and that
of her husband Joseph. She apologized to constituents for not seeing
her as often as in the past but said that she has had health challenges
and that her husband is seriously ill with kidney failure and recently
had both legs amputated. She made it clear however that she is still
the representative for St. Cecilia and still the Deputy Leader of the PLP.
PLP photo
David Kelly Buried
The owner of Kelly’s Hardware and one of the last UBP, Bay Street Boy
types was buried following a service at the Chris Church Cathedral on Wednesday
19th March. Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister attended the funeral.
Mr. Kelly was 77 years old at the time of his death. The Kellys were
large benefactors to the Ingraham campaign. He is survived by his
widow Nancy, pictured being greeted at the funeral by the Governor General
Arthur Hanna.
BIS photos: Peter Ramsay
James Knowles Dies
James 'Jimmy' Knowles, former FNM Member of Parliament for Long Island
and Cabinet Minister has died after an illness.
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| FOR KETURAH WRIGHT:
Tuesday
24th March was a special day in the life of the L.W. Young School and that
of the Bain and Wright families. This was the day that Principal
of the School Telford Mullings officially dedicated and named the school’s
lab after the late Principal of the School Keturah Wright nee Bain who
died of breast cancer. Members of the family of the late Mrs. Wright
were there as were representatives of the school board and the faculty
and staff of L.W. Young Junior High and the Principal Mr. Mullings.
They were joined for the occasion by the Member of Parliament for the Fox
Hill constituency Fred Mitchell who spoke about Mrs. Wright and her contribution
to the school and the building up of The Bahamas. You may click
here for his full statement. Our photo of the week is that of
the dedication of the new lab by Rev. Dr. Raymond Neilly along with family
members and MP Mitchell and the Principal Mr. Mullings shortly before the
ribbon was cut to open the new computer lab. Left to right, the front
line: Telford Mullings, Principal; Rev. Emily Demeritte, sister of
Keturah Wright; Rhonda Bain, sister of Keturah Wright; Fred Wright, husband
of Keturah Wright; BJ Deveaux, wife of the Minister of the Environment;
Fred Mitchell MP; Wendell Demeritte, PTA President; Rev. Dr. Raymond Neilly.
Photo: Miguel Taylor. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
THE BRITISH SHOULD RECONSIDER
The Bahamas Government at first said that it would not issue any
statement with regard to the ongoing coup in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The British government has decided to retake the Turks and Caicos Islands
from the local people, put it in the hands of the imperial governor and
he will be advised for a period of two years by a group that may have on
it more work permit holders than Turks and Caicos Islanders. The
order was approved by the British Parliament on the 25th May and it is
expected to come into effect on the 30th April when the final report of
the Commission of Inquiry into governmental corruption in the Turks is
published.
We in this column have followed this matter since the British announced
the commission. The Turks is within our sphere of influence, with
more Turks and Caicos Islanders in this country than there are in the Turks
and Caicos Islands. We have a stake in the development of their country
and this means not just economic development but also political development.
This is the second time in 23 years that the British have stepped
in to set aside the constitution of the Turks and substitute their own
direct rule. They did it last in 1986. In this region, they
stepped in to set aside the government of Cheddi Jagan in Guyana in 1953
and then stepped in to put down a rebellion in St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla.
This then is what colonial powers do.
Now there are those who are apologists for colonialism, some of them
Turks Islanders who live there and who live and write abroad. They
cannot distinguish or more properly will not distinguish between the issues
of criminality and alleged corruption and those of governance. We
are not concerned for these purposes about the former, but we are concerned
about the latter.
What we say is that in Britain if a crisis in governance arose as
a result of issues of corruption, the answer would be to dissolve Parliament
and hold fresh general elections. The question is why is that not
the political solution for the Turks and Caicos Islands?
One answer may be because the Opposition party in the Turks and Caicos
appears to be unready to govern. In other words, there is the fear
that if a general election were held in the Turks tomorrow, the present
PNP government would win. The British do not want that. The
Opposition fears in an election on the ground that they will not be able
to take advantage of any such dissolution by winning at the polls.
This is sad because it means that the country’s political development
is sadly lagging behind its economic development. In the last decade,
there has been significant investment in the Turks and Caicos Islands but
there has not been a concomitant investment in the development of its political
institutions that would lead to a political solution internal to this crisis.
The present crisis in governance where the British now believe they
have to step in and govern directly arose because of the interim report
published by the lone Commissioner appointed to look into the allegations
of corruption against the government (tci-inquiry.org).
His report appears to be coloured by prejudice and may in fact be impeached
by a challenge on the grounds of prejudice and not hearing the other side.
But those matters are technical. The fact is that the issues of corruption
appear to have sabotaged the will of the government to deal fairly with
the processes of economic development. Many of its leaders are found
wanting in their behaviour. The Premier Michael Misick who resigned
at the start of last week was condemned for his behaviour, his spending
habits and condemned by his wife, the American B actress Lisa Raye
from whom he is estranged with divorce proceedings pending.
The whole exercise was sordid. That is what makes it so difficult
to make the case for the region to intervene. The argument is that
the region including The Bahamas would be seen as propping up corruption
and taking the side of Mr. Misick if it sought to stop what the British
intend to do.
We do not support that view at all. The British allowed the
Turks by Deed of Entrustment to become a part of Caricom. As a member
of Caricom, the country and that means Britain as well subscribes to the
Charter of Civil Society. That charter calls for adherence to the
democratic norms of regular elections with a universal franchise.
Britain is also a member of the Commonwealth. All Commonwealth members
subscribe to the Harare Principles, which call for regular elections with
a universal franchise. You cannot on the one hand say that you subscribe
to this and then on the other hand when the first crisis occurs, you suspend
the democratic process and you suspend it without consulting the people
that it is going to affect.
At the very least, two things should happen. No order should
have been drafted or put in place until there was an all-party conference
called for London. The British could then have put the matter to
the parties, all of the concerns and then together they could have crafted
a democratic solution. It appears that one of their concerns was
that Michael Misick should leave the government and the Parliament.
This could have been negotiated.
Secondly, it seems a bit presumptuous on the part of the British
to put in place final measures before the final report was published.
This suggests that it is a foregone conclusion what will happen on the
30th April. It brings into question whether the whole report of the
Commission of Inquiry cannot be challenged on the grounds of fairness.
This is a mess on our doorstep. We think that The Bahamas government
was slow to react to this. Hubert Ingraham and his Foreign Minister
should have been more active seeking to craft a solution to this.
The British are not without blame for the situation either. What
it seems to have wanted is the benefit of being a colonial power without
the burdens associated with it. They have responsibilities to make
sure that there is good governance, not just economic development.
Having seen this happen in 1986, they should have been on their guard about
this. They once again dropped the ball, and now the people of the
Turks and Caicos Islands are the ones who have to suffer because of it.
It is unfortunate that the Opposition party is split on what to do
but one thing it appears on which they all agree on both governing and
Opposition parties is that the proposal by the British to have work permit
holders vote in the Turks Islands is nothing short of the approval by the
British to grab the country from the Turks and Caicos Islanders.
The British must rethink their position.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 28th March, 2009 at midnight:
207,873.
Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 28th March 2009
up to midnight: 1,086,466.
Number of hits for the year 2009 up to Saturday 28th March 2009 up
to midnight: 3,229,664.
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
THE
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
The Bahamas Government came with the enabling legislation
on Wednesday 25th March to facilitate the unemployment benefit that they
promised since the economic crisis began in this country last year.
The bill was adopted with the unanimous support of the House.
PLP members were concerned that the government was
not admitting that they were responsible for the large numbers of unemployed.
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald perhaps gave the most succinct address when he
gave the history of National Insurance and how it was the PLP that brought
the bill and the programme into Force to be able to have National Insurance.
He reminded the country in the Senate on Thursday 27th March that the FNM
opposed National Insurance when it came into being. You may click
here for the full statement.
Dr. Bernard Nottage led off for the PLP in the House
of Assembly. He started off his statement with the cry: “THANK GOD
FOR THE PLP!” The benefit and its details will be debated in a resolution
to be brought to the House on Thursday 2nd April.
Benefit Details
The benefit will be for those who have been unemployed as far back as 2004,
a special measure to take into account the people of Grand Bahama who have
been out of work since the hurricane. It requires that you have been
making national insurance contributions (minimum of 40) and that there
must be a record of three alternatives: 13 weeks in the last 26 weeks,
or 26 weeks in the last year or 26 weeks in the previous contribution year,
which runs from July to June. In this last case, this means that
if someone was unemployed in 2004, they must show at least 40 contributions,
the minimum in any case with at least 26 contributions in the year July
to June 2003-2004.
The officials of National Insurance briefed the
PLP Members of Parliament on the matter on Monday 25th March. They
are pictured in the Peter Ramsay photo.
The benefit will be fifty percent of the insurable
wage for 13 weeks in the first instance but it may be extended to a second
thirteen weeks to a maximum of 26 weeks. It means therefore that
someone making over 400 dollars per week who becomes unemployed, they will
be entitled to fifty percent of 400 dollars or $200 per week for a maximum
of 26 weeks. Tips category workers will not have tips included in
their wage calculations.
What About Small Business?
Fred Mitchell MP speaking in the House of Assembly
expressed concern for the self employed, small businessman who will get
no assistance from this programme and is finding it difficult to get credit
from the banks. He said that credit has dried up for small businesses
around the country and that this was having a negative impact on economic
growth. This was later confirmed by the Prime Minister who did a
flip-flop from his earlier rosy mid year budget presentation.
'Disastrous' Revenue Performance
In his wind up of the debate, Mr. Ingraham said
that the revenue performance of the country was now “disastrous” with the
country some 100 million dollars below where they expected it be and there
was apparently no relief in sight. We feel no pity for him.
He is the author of his own destruction. The programme is to begin
on 20th April and benefits will be paid out to the first persons two weeks
after the first application. The National Insurance officials promise
to deliver the service bearing in mind the dignity of those applying for
the unemployment benefit. The programme will be funded in the first
instance by taking 20 million dollars from the medical benefit fund of
National Insurance will there is a surplus of funds and it is not predicted
to affect the overall health of the Fund. Pension and other benefit
assistance will continue to be paid as usual without any negative affects.
They expect some 11,000 people to apply for assistance. Any greater
demand will be met from the consolidated fund.
The question is, with revenue down by 100 million
dollars, where will the money come from the consolidated fund to pay for
the benefit? Eventually, the unemployment benefit is to be paid for
by a tax of one percent on the insurable wage for the employer and one
percent for the employee. That is not expected to begin before 1st
January.
BIS photo:Peter Ramsay
INDIAN
HIGH COMMISSIONER COMES CALLING
There is a new Indian High Commissioner Mohinder
Grover. He lives in Jamaica but serves The Bahamas. He presented
his letters of Commission to the Governor General Arthur Hanna on Thursday
26th March. Mr. Hanna welcomed the new High Commissioner and recalled
fondly the assistance given by India in assisting The Bahamas in the Committee
of 24 on Decolonization when the PLP led a delegation to the United Nations
in 1964. He said that India was a leader in the Commonwealth and
asked for India’s support for the election of The Bahamas to the UN’s Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC).
India thanked The Bahamas for the support of its
candidate to become Commonwealth Secretary General and asked for the support
of The Bahamas to its election to the United Nations Security Council.
Fred Mitchell Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs attended the lunch
and the ceremony on behalf of the Opposition. The photos show
the luncheon and the toasts.
BIS photos:Peter Ramsay
CLICO UPDATE
The parties appeared in Court on Friday 27th March
on the resumed hearing in the matter of the winding up of CLICO Bahamas,
the insurance company that is trans Caribbean and that has gone belly up
in every jurisdiction in the region. The Bahamian version of the
proceedings went on with the Judge approving the release of the liquidator’s
report. He is Craig Gomez. His lawyer is Sidney Cambridge.
The lawyer for the liquidator wants the liquidation to proceed. He
argued that the company is insolvent, that they have taken steps to get
an order against the guarantor of the missing 57 million dollars in a court
in Trinidad and Tobago where the parent company is. He also said
that a deal has been made with the reinsurers to secure the companies life
insurance business. An action is also being taken in Florida to protect
the assets there.
The life insurance business is continuing to collect
premiums and they are being put in a separate fund.
Most policy holders continue to oppose the liquidation.
They believe that the government should step into protect them from their
losses. One said that only the government can hold the illiquid assets
until the market turns around and they should do that to save the losses
to policy holders. The case is adjourned to 7th April.
JAMES
KNOWLES FORMER MP BURIED
James Knowles, the former MP for Long Island and
Ragged Island, who served in the House of Assembly, was buried in a private
ceremony at St. Anne’s Anglican cemetery on the Eastern Road on Friday
27th March in Fox Hill, New Providence. Mr. Knowles was 66 when he
died from complications from melanoma. He is survived by his wife
and three children.
Mr. Knowles was eulogized in the House of Assembly
on Wednesday 25th March and laid out there in a closed casket on Thursday
26th March. Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie signed the book
of condolences on behalf of the Opposition. There was a state recognized
funeral and all the pomp and pageantry associated with it, including the
presence of the Governor General Arthur Hanna and Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham and even Dame Marguerite Pindling, widow of former Prime Minister
Sir Lynden O. Pindling.
BIS photo: Peter Ramsay
GOVERNMENT
CAPITULATES TO OECD
Hubert Ingraham is a master of double speak.
All month long, his Minister of State has been repeating to the press the
view that The Bahamas would not in their words overreact to the criticism
of the Bahamian critics, amongst them the PLP’s Ryan Pinder that the government
was simply not doing enough to avoid the country being put on another blacklist
following the meeting of the Group of 20 countries (G20) coming up in London
on 2nd April.
This meeting looks likely to blame the offshore
sector including The Bahamas for all their trouble. You have an inexperienced
and under exposed President of the United States Barack Obama talking nonsense
about closing down the offshore sector. You have a desperate British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown who is going to lose anyway, seeking to save
his legacy by shopping the idea of closing the offshore sector around.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) that caused a whole heap of trouble in The Bahamas in the year 2000
is at it again. This time they are demanding that countries sign
tax information exchange treaties (TIEAs) with at least 12 countries. The
Ingraham administration said that they would not; only one, the United
States of America.
Other countries knew this game was up long time
and have happily gone about changing it. But because it was James
Smith, a PLP and Ryan Pinder a PLP that were giving the advice both the
sector here and the government stalled. Now they have capitulated
but they have done so in a stupid way. In the House Mr. Ingraham
simply said that now that they have received a level playing field in the
matter with OECD, they will look at signing various agreements for the
exchange of information.
Ha! Ha! Ha! How stupid do they think we are?
Why not come right out and say it you damn fool. We have to sign
it or else; like everything else that you do. Alfred Sears, who has
been leading the charge of the official PLP on this subject, said that
what the PM proposed in the House was not enough. You may click
here for the full statement by Mr. Sears.
JOE PRATT
DIES
Joseph Pratt, the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation worker and husband
to Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, Deputy Leader of the PLP died after a long battle
with a number of circulation diseases. It was only last week that
Mrs. Pratt announced that her husband had to have both his legs amputated.
Mr. Pratt died at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday 15th March. He was 70
years old at the time of his death.
Mr. Pratt was lauded for his standing by Mrs. Pratt
as her career developed and bloomed. He was a constant presence.
He took care of the children of the family when Mrs. Pratt went off to
school and changed careers. We mourn her loss. Shortly after
he died Perry Christie, Leader of the PLP, accompanied by Dr. Bernard Nottage
MP and Fred Mitchell MP went to the hospital to be at her side. The
Chairman of the Party Glenys Hanna Martin issued the following statement
on behalf of the Progressive Liberal Party:
“The Progressive Liberal Party mourns the
death of the late Joseph Pratt, husband of our Deputy Leader, Cynthia “Mother”
Pratt.
“In his own right, Joseph “Joe” Pratt was
a long standing supporter of deep conviction and most serious commitment
to our Party and its core principles.
“As the husband of our Deputy Leader he has
been unstinting and passionate in his devotion to his wife both privately
and publicly , first when she was elected to Parliament and ultimately,
when she made history by becoming the first woman to hold the office
of Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Commonwealth of
The Bahamas.
“Joe Pratt could always be seen, at her side
or sitting in the Gallery of the House of Assembly whenever she made a
major presentation or on the campaign trail in St Cecilia where they lived
and where his wife is the Parliamentary representative, always supporting
and encouraging her efforts and her work. He was a man of great strength
and unquestioned commitment to our political cause and one who displayed
incredible love for his wife and his family.
“We stand in solidarity with our beloved Deputy
Leader, Cynthia Pratt, during this time of great loss and grief.
“Our prayers are with her, and their children
and their entire family.”
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, accompanied by Ministers
Tommy Turnquest and Dion Foulkes visited Mother Pratt at her home on Saturday
25th March.
BIS Photo: Peter Ramsay
WHERE
IS THE PLP NOW?
Once Joe Pratt died, there was immediate speculation
that maybe with some of the pressure off her, that Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt
would reconsider her decision to step down as Deputy Leader of the PLP
when the next PLP convention slated for October this year takes place.
It is too early to tell, but that did not stop Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, the
MP for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador from announcing that he is
officially in the race for Deputy Leader of the PLP. Mr. Davis was
speaking at the Rotary Club meeting on March. He
said:
“I have now taken the decision that my season
is here, a season when I have a responsibility, indeed a duty to assist
my political organization in whichever way possible to become stronger,
more capable and better positioned to serve the whole country should political
fortune once again come to visit.
“Today, the Progressive Liberal Party has a duly-elected
leader, chosen at the party's last convention. And in the same manner,
we have a duly-elected deputy leader who, even though she has indicated
her choice not to seek reelection, remains the deputy until party nominations
at the convention this Fall.
“When that time comes, I am willing to offer
my services to my party for that post and should I be successful, to do
all within my power to assist my leader, to support my leader and faithfully
to offer the advice which a deputy must give sometimes insisting that a
fresh look is necessary.”
IS
JUSTICE LYONS IN TROUBLE?
The Nassau Guardian’s headline and the photos side
by side seemed to say it most clearly. Justice John Lyons, the holier
than thou shmuck, who attacked Allyson Gibson when she was the Attorney
General, from the bench stands accused. The man who was so clean
that everyone else was corrupt. The man who boasted that he had brought
down the PLP government and threatened to bring down the FNM government,
was not so clean after all. You don’t take our word or it.
Take the word of his fellow Judge Anita Allen, the Senior Justice who said
of her fellow Senior Justice that she did not think that it was appropriate
for the appointment by Justice Lyons of an accountant in a case to do a
forensic audit was justified since the accountant did not have the requisite
training and experience and that the Judge, Justice Lyons was known to
have more than a friendship with the accountant’s relative. She named
the accountant as Daniel Ferguson, the President of the Bahamas Institute
of Chartered Accountants.
The case is now headed to the Court of Appeal, where
one of the litigants is seeking to set aside the ruling of Justice Allen
not to recuse herself from the case. It is from that ruling that
this report comes. That was the substantive application before her.
The party will argue that her ruling was prejudicial and biased and that
she ought to step down from the case. The damage however to Justice
Lyons is done and unfortunately damage is also done to Daniel Ferguson
who has had a hard time with his reputation in the public domain in a number
of instances and he did not need this. The Judge made it a point
it say that he had collected fees of $1,000 per hour, some $50,000 per
week and 2.5 million dollars per year. Knowing how easily this country
is scandalized, that set the cat amongst the pigeons and is most unfortunate.
The name of the relative was not disclosed but like
everything else in The Bahamas, it is a known fact who they were talking
about. The whole story has been circulating in the trashy newspapers
for months since the appointment was made. Basically, the story is
that two unnamed people with fabulous wealth are fighting over the separation
of their business dealings. The fight is very bitter. In order
to get a fair reckoning of who owns what the court appointed an accountant
to deal with the matter. The parties rejected the first appointments
and the Judge who was then Mr. Justice Lyons came into court and said that
if the parties did not agree he would appoint the President of the Bahamas
Institute of Chartered Accountants to the job and if they did not agree
to that, he would walk away from the case. The President of the Accountants
happened to be Mr. Ferguson. There is where the facts appear to differ
depending on whose side it is.
One side argues that they were forced by the Judge
to take the appointment. The other side argues that they were not
and that they agreed and therefore waived any right to object to Mr. Ferguson’s
appointment, because there was full disclosure of the relationship between
the Judge and the relative of the accountant. We will see what Dame
Joan Sawyer has to say about this matter in the Court of Appeal, given
the antagonism of her past rulings both toward Anita Allen and toward Justice
Lyons.
Tennyson Wells, the former MP and former Attorney
General, called immediately for the Judge to be investigated. Under
the terms of the constitution, the Chief Justice can initiate such an investigation
after consultation with the Prime Minister. Sir Burton Hall, Chief
Justice, had no comment to make on the story. We cannot see how such
a public charge by a fellow judge can be ignored by the authorities.
We believe that Justice Lyons should save us all the trouble and carry
his you know what out of this country to, shall we say, North Carolina.
We say good riddance to him.
Image from Nassau Guardian front page 25 March, 2009
FOOD
VOUCHERS NO GOOD?
We have learned that Solomons in Freeport, Grand
Bahama is no longer taking food vouchers issued by the Department of Social
Services. These vouchers are the means by which the government offers
assistance to help people who cannot afford to buy food for themselves.
In the past, our experience is that the only reason
that a company will refuse to accept a voucher of this kind is if the government
has owned them money for some considerable period of time and either refuses
to pay or cannot pay.
So, it seems apparent that the Prime Minister, who
says that he is a friend of the poor, has once again let them down by not
providing the money to support their needs in times of trouble. We
demand an immediate investigation into this matter.
IN PASSING
Speaking Up For Grand Bahama
The new Senator Michael Darville is getting a good reputation as a
fiery speaker. The Grand Bahama public and PLPs generally are pleased
because he has become a clear voice for Grand Bahama, where the FNMs are
silent in a town where they hold all the Parliamentary seats.
File photo: BIS/Peter Ramsay
Wilchcombe Will Testify
The Nassau Guardian reported on Friday 27th March that Obie Wilchcombe,
the MP for West End and Bimini who was arrested in the run up to the charges
against former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater on attempted extortion, is
now to testify as a prosecution witness against his partner in business
former Senator Bridgewater. Another witness for the prosecution already
listed is PLP Senate leader Allyson Gibson. FNMs are saying that
Hubert Ingraham plans to string this trial out close to the elections and
set up a situation where PLPs are attacking one another in the courts and
further muddy the water seeking to make the PLP look sordid and corrupt
just as the people are to go to a vote.
Antigua Elections Certified But…
The Organization of American States election observer team headed by
former Barbados Foreign Minister Dame Billie Miller has certified the elections
in Antigua as free and fair despite some delays at the polls. Not
so fast said Opposition leader Lester Bird. His party has filed six
election petitions against the 12th March result. He also attacked
the Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda for not holding a ceremony
to present him his instrument of appointment as Leader of the Opposition.
She sent it to him in an envelope by hand. He said it took her 15
days to make the appointment. He said this shows that the Governor
General is biased and not acting with independence and objectivity.
Tribute To Keturah Wright
More pictures of the ceremony held to honour the late Keturah Wright
by naming a computer lab in her honour at the L.W. Young Junior High School.
Ingraham To IDB
He is threatening to reveal the expenses of Fred Mitchell MP for his
travel as Minister of Foreign Affairs, so the FNM says, but he is doing
quite a bit of travelling while his Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette
sits on his behind and does nothing here in The Bahamas but shout sarcastic
remarks across the floor. Mr. Ingraham left with his wife and Teresa
Butler his principal advisor and two police aides for the Inter American
Development Bank meeting in Columbia. His Minister of State Zhivargo
Laing will meet him there. The evidence of the departure is by Peter
Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
Western Air Under Investigation
The Civil Aviation Department has announced that it is investigating
Western Air for flying into Exuma without a licence to do so. The
FNM candidate for North Andros in the last election Shandrice Rolle owns
Western Air.
Young Boys Drown In Adelaide
Two young boys went missing last Sunday from the Adelaide Village,
one of the free African Villages in New Providence. The village sent
out the alarm but the police and the Defence force were slow to act.
The two paddled into the sea unsupervised in a small dingy. The waters
turned rough and it capsized and they both drowned. There was a very
sad picture on the front page of the newspapers on Monday 23rd March.
Nassau Guardian photo: Tony Grant
Kendal Nottage Still In Hospital
It appears that Kendal Nottage, the former Minister for the PLP in
the Pindling government, and brother of now MP Dr. Bernard Nottage, is
having a rough time of it. He suffered a stroke on Sunday 15th March
and has not recovered and it appears his recovery is getting to be complicated.
Jackson Ritchie Makes His Case
Jackson Ritchie, the PLP's candidate in the last election for the Clifton
constituency, appears it be in deep trouble with the Customs and Excise
of The Bahamas with his company Global United. They refuse to allow
him to repay over time his debt to them of several million dollars.
He said they are threatening to shut down his operation. No comment
from them. Whatever the issues, we know that if he were FNM, Hubert
Ingraham would have fixed this problem long time. Instead, they are
trying to preach about morality. The government needs its money and
all they need it do is come to a deal and stop playing petty politics.
John Marquis Really Thinks Too Much Of Himself
That he is a corrupt and unethical journalist there is no doubt.
Add to that coward. Mr. Marquis who has been denigrating the reputation
of Sir Lynden O. Pindling agreed to an interview with Jeffrey Lloyd on
the radio for Monday 23rd March. He would not take any questions.
The interview was pre-recorded. He thinks that he is actually doing
a service to The Bahamas. He called the PLP corrupt. He said
that he would not vote for them that he would vote FNM. This is the
Managing Editor of a paper of record talking. Now we see clearly
what the problem is. He is corrupt and unethical and that is that.
He is to leave in May and good riddance to rubbish.
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