BahamasUncensored.Com Archive

BRAN IS THE FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH
There is no doubt about it. Everyone was talking about Branville McCartney during the week. He shocked the political world by resigning last Sunday about this time. It is in our view the first public crack in the armour of Hubert Ingraham. Mr. McCartney is the third Minister of Mr. Ingraham’s government to resign. The first was Sidney Collie for his mistake in the local government elections. The second was Carl Bethel who as a Minister of Education bungled the scandal of the molestation of the young boys at the Eight Mile Rock School and was subsequently demoted to Party Chairman. And now Mr. McCartney who says that he felt stagnated in the Cabinet.

Everyone in the political community has known for months that Mr. McCartney was chafing under the bit of Mr. Ingraham. He was more or less openly saying that he could not stand going to work with a man who was such a control freak. It was getting increasingly bitter and difficult. In his public pronouncements, he kept saying that he hoped that he would not be wasting his time in his public life and actions.

No one thought that he would actually do it though. But as he himself said, he has enough money and does not need to hold on to anyone’s coattails in order to survive. He had had enough and so he left. Many people thought that it was a good strategy in that he is staking himself out as a future leader of the FNM.

The day after the resignation, his picture appeared, the one we show above as Photo of The Week with his wife and family. Then there were the headlines in the press that he wanted to be leader of the FNM one day. That was heady stuff.

By midweek though, Mr. McCartney seemed to be getting buyer’s remorse. He said in quite a contradictory way that he was still an FNM and that he thought that Hubert Ingraham was still the best man to lead the country. The word is that Mr. Ingraham's operatives were on the ground seeking to sully Mr. McCartney’s reputation. It would have been better for Mr. McCartney to simply be quiet rather than speak. People now think that he is afraid of Mr. Ingraham.

Whatever the real situation, the facts are Mr. McCartney left Mr. Ingraham’s cabinet and left on bad terms. He now has a fight on his hands to salvage his whole life. Mr. Ingraham will not take this stab in the eye lightly.

On the other side is Perry Christie who thought that he should invite Mr. McCartney to join the PLP. We think he should join the PLP. But we do not think that Mr. Christie is right to say that he would consider not running a candidate if Mr. McCartney decided to run as an independent in Bamboo Town. The PLP must, come hell or high water, run a candidate in Bamboo Town in the next election. Mr. McCartney if he wants to survive must become a PLP. There is no middle ground here.

At week’s end, Mr. McCartney really cheesed off Erin Ferguson with whom he made an appointment on his Citizen’s Review programme. He promised to do the whole programme. He then cancelled without calling to apologize. That did not sit well and Mr. Ferguson savaged him as a result. Click here for the latest version of Mr. Ferguson’s programme ‘Citizen’s Review'.

Branville McCartney is the flavour of the month. He should enjoy the notoriety while he can. It won’t last long and the day of reckoning will come.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 6th March 2010 up to midnight: 84,440.

Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 6th March up to midnight: 35,742.

Number of hits for the month of February up to Sunday 28th February at midnight: 712,961.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 6th March up to midnight: 1,560,550.

GROWING SCANDAL AT MORTGAGE CORPORATION

    PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts is today further exposing a growing scandal at the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. Last Sunday, Mr. Roberts exposed the fact that, without apparent reason, the highest bidder was chosen to perform work at the Corporation. The work given to a firm headed by an unsuccesful FNM candidate in the 2007 election. Click here for last week's story.
    In remarks prepared for release at a news conference Sunday afternoon, today, Mr. Roberts responds to Corporation Chairman Kenyatta Gibson MP, saying "It is very interesting that Mr. Gibson did not address the issue at hand which was the award of a grossly inflated contract to an FNM crony, but rather Kenyatta Gibson preferred to attack the messenger.   He did not deny my claim that this travesty under his chairmanship equates to 'a scandalous abuse of the public purse'. Never once did Mr. Gibson refute that point. Is it because he cannot?
    "Surely Mr. Gibson does not believe that it is "low-minded politics" to bring to the attention of the public the waste of public funds or the abuse of the public bidding process because I exposed Gibson and Chipman for what they truly are, namely persons who colluded to engage in "milking the taxpayer" while also engaging in a conflict of interest in order to personally benefit from public funds. This is shameful and disgraceful.
    "It might seem to be strange that Mr. Gibson would respond in such a bellicose manner but then when one considers that Kenyatta Gibson is also a business partner of Reece Chipman, then Kenyatta Gibson's vociferous responses become more understandable. There can be no denying of the fact that to the extent that Reece Chipman and Kenyatta Gibson are in any sort of partnership raises a legitimate concern about an actual or perceived conflict of interest arising from their common business relationship." You may click here for Mr. Roberts' full statement.

ELECTION COURT DATE SET

    Ryan Pinder, represented by Philip ‘Brave’ Davis appeared in court flanked by scores of PLP supporters. Duane Sands, the FNM respondent in the case, also appeared on Thursday 4th March.
    Now the court will determine whether or not six protest votes will be counted. The PLP believes that the six should be counted, because they were wrongly denied the right to vote on regular white ballots and if they are counted, the PLP will win.
    Not so fast says Duane Sands, represented by Lawyers Tommy Evans QC and his brother Milton. They reserved the right to raise the citizenship of Mr. Pinder in the case. Mr. Pinder renounced his US citizenship on 20th January of this year, just before the nomination day 29th January.
    The Court took possession of the protest ballots on Friday 5th March. The case will begin in earnest on Thursday 11th March. It will be done on affidavit evidence. So the Prime Minister and his business about witnesses swearing on the bible and the demand for security for costs from the PLP all turned out to be a puff of wind.
    The Prime Minister has told his partisans that he expects that there will be a tie at the end of the day and the election will have to be fought over again sometime in mid April. He said that the next time the FNM would not be caught off guard by the PLP. The Court with Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs says they hope to wrap this up by month’s end.
Ryan Pinder (left) and Duane Sands (right) walk to Election Court - Nassau Guardian photos/Tony Grant Jr.

JUDGE CRITICIZES TOMMY TURNQUEST
Court of Appeal Justice Sir George Newman was quite plain speaking in the matter of the appeal filed by Godfrey Sawyer, convicted murderer. The Justice said that Tommy Turnquest the Minister of National Security who had announced that Mr. Sawyer would be hanged and the death warrant read was wrong in principle in making his remarks. Sir George said that the court would grant the extension to appeal out of time for Mr. Sawyer.
An inmate at the prison, Mr. Sawyer had signed the appeal back on 9th November, well within the time, but the prison authorities did not forward the appeal. This caused the Minister to say that Mr. Sawyer had not appealed the conviction and sentence. Sir George said that the Court believed that prison authorities should in future make sure that an inmate’s appeals had been passed on to the court in a timely manner. The Judge made his remarks on Monday 1st March.

MELANIE GRIFFIN SPEAKS FOR THE POOR

The Opposition’s spokesman on Social Services Melanie Griffin spoke in the House of Assembly on Thursday 4th March to the issue of the Bahamas government’s neglect of social services in The Bahamas. You may click here for the full statement by Mrs. Griffin. She tore into the Prime Minister’s budget statement suggesting that it would do nothing to help the poor.

OBIE WILCHCOMBE SCHOOLS THE MINISTER OF TOURISM

The Opposition spokesman on Tourism Obie Wilchcombe issued a statement last week on Tuesday 2nd March raising the alarm about the loss of airlift by American Airlines into Governor’s Harbour as a result of the need for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audit required of the airport. Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool Wallace immediately went into defence mode to say that it was not quite so. But the proof was in the pudding, the press reported that one hotelier in Governor’s Harbour complained that he had lost a major piece of business because the flights were cancelled into the Governor’s Harbour airport. Click here for Mr. Wilchcombe’s statement.

SHORTAGE OF NURSES
The following is a press statement on the shortage of nurses in the Caricom region. Health Minister for The Bahamas Dr. Hubert Minnis spoke to this issue in the House of Assembly on Thursday 4th March. The World Bank has raised the concern, estimating that the unmet demand for nurses in the Caribbean will triple within the next fifteen years. You may click here for the full release.

NEW BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER

Howard Drake is the new High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in The Bahamas. He and his wife Jill will be resident in Jamaica. Mr. Drake came to present his letter of commission to the Prime Minister last week. While in The Bahamas he was hosted to a lunch at Government House by Governor General Arthur Hanna on Thursday 4th March. This was an occasion for all the former Bahamian High Commissioners to London to meet, along with the current Honorary Consul for Britain in The Bahamas Peter Young who used to be High Commissioner for London to Nassau. Opposition Spokesman for Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell also attended the lunch.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay

PLP BRANDS MID-YEAR BUDGET A WASTE OF TIME

The House of Assembly met for three days during the week to debate the Supplementary Estimates and the Prime Minister’s midyear budget statement. The PLP trashed the Prime Minister’s statement calling it a waste of Parliamentary time. PLP Deputy Leader and Cat Island MP Philip 'Brave' Davis said the mid-year budget was not only "a waste of time", but also simply "a public relations exercise to mask the failures of the present Government". You may click here for Mr. Davis' full remarks in the House of Assembly.
BIS photos/Peter Ramsay

HEART GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT DUANE SANDS
R.E. Barnes of the Sir Victor Sassoon Heart Foundation, the organizers of the heart relief charity, told The Tribune in its 2nd March edition that it is concerned about Dr. Duane Sands going into politics and the effect that this will have on the work of the Heart Foundation. The work of the Foundation is cheaper because the two doctors who come in from overseas are joined by Dr. Sands making the exercise much cheaper for the Foundation. With Dr. Sands now venturing into politics, they are concerned that there is no one who can replace him who is Bahamian and living here in The Bahamas. We wonder if Dr. Sands thought of that. This matter was raised in this column. Dr. Sands is needed as a heart surgeon, not as a politician.

THE PRIEST LOSES

You may remember in this space that we carried a story about Archdeacon Etienne Bowleg’s attempt to stay on as Rector of the Anglican Church in Nassau called Holy Trinity. The Rector (file photo, above left) claimed that he was younger than his birth certificate showed by seven years, even though the Anglican Church of which he is part had his certificate of Baptism showing that he was baptized in May of the year of his birth in 1937.
Anyway, he went to Court to stop the church from acting and the court at first gave an interlocutory injunction to stop his removal. When they returned to Court on Wednesday 3rd March, the Judge discharged the injunction. The parson was not truthful to the court either. He forgot to disclose his instrument of appointment from the Bishop which showed that he served at the Bishop’s pleasure. This meant that the Bishop could remove him at any time. The injunction was discharged; the Bishop ordered the locks on the church changed. Hmmmm!
Anglican Bishop Laish Boyd above, centre; and Anglican Archbishop (ret.) Drexel Gomez, above right outside court - Nassau Guardian photos

STAN BURNSIDE’S CARTOON ON ARCHDEACON
This was Stan Burnside’s take (see below) on the removal of the Archdeacon from the post of Rector of Holy Trinity, published in the Nassau Guardian on Friday 5th March.

Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns' Nassau Guardian 03/05/10

SENATOR JEROME ON SAUNDERS BEACH

    Senator Jerome Fitzgerald’s Committee to Save Saunders Beach issued a statement last week condemning the government following evidence of erosion on Saunders Beach. Mr. Fitzgerald said that he warned the government that this would be the effect on the beach as a result of their development plans. Last year, the government announced the redevelopment of the beach, the removal of the old Casuarina trees and the dredging of the Harbour. Mr. Fitzgerald led the public protests, which were ignored by the government. Click here for his statement.
    Not so said the Minister for the Environment Earl Deveaux. He produced pictures that showed that there was also beach erosion at Paradise Island following rough tides. Mr. Fitzgerald rejected Mr. Deveaux’s efforts and issued a follow up statement to urge the Minister to stick to the facts stop trying to pollute the issue with politics.
    Click here for the second statement by Mr. Fitzgerald.
The Committee said that over the space of three days, the beach erosion moved another three feet farther inland, so that at spots, there is now no beach in front of the bulkhead and there was now a four to five foot drop. “I hate to say we told you so, but the Committee to Protect and Preserve the Bahamas for Future Generations did say the beach would be destroyed... Someone must answer for this.” Ryan Pinder, PLP Senator Jerome Fitzgerald and activist Ricardo Smith investigate the erosion on Saunders Beach and the exposed roots from Casuarina trees that were removed from the beach months ago. Nassau Guardian photo/Tony Grant Jr.

Under the auspices of the Fellowship of Churches of Fox Hill, headed by Rev. Dr. J. Carl Rahming and Vice President Rev. Dr. Carrington Pinder, the Fox Hill Community held a special service to pray for the victims of the Haiti earthquake and to make a tangible donation to support the relief effort. The Community raised monies for the Red Cross’s Haitian Relief. The service was held on Wednesday 3rd March at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Fox Hill. The presentation was made to Mrs. Caroline Turnquest, Director General of the Bahamas Red Cross by Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell and the Pastors gathered at the service. Top right, Fox Hill Haitian Bahamian businessman Victor Acreus expresses thanks on behalf of the Haitian Community. Group photo, from left: Mrs. Portia Sands, Fox Hill Urban Renewal; Pastor Warren Anderson, Mt. Carey Union Baptist Church; Mr. Mitchell; Mrs. Turnquest; Pastor Rahming; Pastor Pinder; Rev. Sherelle Saunders, Faith Mission Church of God; Rev. Henry Whyte, Coke Methodist Church; Deacon Theodore Rahming, Mt. Carey Union Baptist Church; Rev, Sabrina Pinder, St. Mark's Native Baptist Church; and Pastor David Johnson, Macedonia Baptist Church.

JOINT POLITICAL MARCH IN TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
There is to be a joint march of the two political parties in the Turks and Caicos Islands on Monday 8th March. The parties headed by former Premier Galmo ‘Gilly’ Williams (Progressive National Party) and Doug Parnell (People’s Democratic Movement) could not come together when they were fighting the British last year to stop them from taking away TCI democracy. What has brought them together now is the appointment of a British Constitutional Commissioner that has decided to recommend that ‘Belongers’ be given the right to vote in TCI when the British return self rule to the TCI next year. This would effectively put an end to the rule of local TCI citizens because the ‘Belongers’ who are foreigners with the right to reside will quickly outnumber them, particularly since the British have the right to give while they are in power today as many foreign people ‘Belonger’ status as they wish. Both parties are said to be concerned about it.

NASSAU GUARDIAN TRASHES MCCARTNEY
    The Nassau Guardian carried this editorial on 4th March asking Branville McCartney to come clean on his resignation:
    It appeared to everyone that after launching out into the deep, Mr. McCartney suddenly got buyer’s remorse for his curse of action. Hubert Ingraham is now clearly out to get him. This Nassau Guardian editorial seemed to us part of the anti Branville campaign. See further story IN PASSING.
    “Since his resignation on Sunday, we remain baffled byBranville McCartney’s varying comments on his departure from the Cabinet. His stated reasons for voluntarily resigning just under three years as a junior minister are unconvincing and contradictory.
    “He claims not to have left for the reasons for which Cabinet members in parliamentary democracies typically leave, such as significant policy differences, finances or ill health. Indeed, he claims to have had no major policy differences and that his finances are healthy. He also appears to be in the best of health. Further, he has voiced his full support for Prime Minister Ingraham and the Free National Movement.
    “Instead, Mr. McCartney says he left because he felt stagnant and underutilized. For someone who has stated his ambition to become prime minister, this is a disappointing and insubstantial rationale, seemingly more driven by personal ambition than the public good.
    “Successful prime ministers are not made overnight. They are lifted by triumph and tempered by defeat. They remember that the roar of the crowd can easily drown out the still voice of conscience within. They know how to marry personal ambition with a broader ambition beyond their own egos.
    “Such wisdom is not learned from books or crafted by public relations exercises. It matures in the practice of politics, the art of persuading voters and colleagues of one's leadership abilities and vision.
    “In this regard, Mr. McCartney has thus far failed to demonstrate that he has the capacity for higher office. He does not seem to be a team player, an essential characteristic for one who desires to be the first among equals in the Cabinet.
    “While he may be good at public relations, many of his contributions to debates in the House of Assembly have been weak and lacking in substance. He has also demonstrated immaturity by acting precipitously on a number of occasions. Surely, he could have made his resignation effective within two weeks or so rather than hastily demitting office. He owed that courtesy to the public and his colleagues.
    “While he has had some successes in immigration matters, he has had some notable missteps. His presence at some round-up and repatriation exercises were occasions for grandstanding. The language he sometimes used on the matter of illegal migration from Haiti bordered on demagoguery.
    “Immigration matters are complex. It will take time to fix an immigration bureaucracy that has historically been woefully inefficient and sometimes corrupted by arrogance and financial malfeasance. Mr. McCartney might have made a more lasting mark by helping to reform this critical area of national security rather than abandoning it after a mere year or so.
    “The hard and often mundane work of governance is not glamorous. But this is where and how superior ministers and eventually prime ministers are made. Good governance and politics are not primarily about public relations and image-making. This is a lesson that has seemingly eluded Mr. McCartney during his approximately three years in Cabinet.
    “If the member of Parliament for Bamboo Town could not distinguish between the hard work of governance and self-promotion, he may lack one of the essential characteristics needed to be prime minister, namely, good judgement.
    “Thus far, we have not been impressed with his judgement or his capacity and readiness for higher office. We wish him well in his future.”

BRAN McCARTNEY’S STATEMENT

    This is the statement issued by former Minister of State Branville McCartney on his resignation from the Cabinet last Sunday, 1st March, 2010:
    “With a profound spirit of service and sacrifice and the unwavering support of my wife and family I entered the political arena to pursue a lifelong ambition. Six years ago I was afforded an opportunity of a lifetime. As leader of The Free National Movement, Tommy Turnquest invited me to join this awesome political machinery.
    “Subsequently, I have been the benefactor of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s political precision and decisiveness. One need look no further than his decision to introduce me to citizens of the Constituency of Bamboo Town as evidence of his unique ability to think, reflect, consider and make the right decision.
    “Earning the confidence of Mr. Ingraham and his selection of me to serve in his Cabinet, first as Minister of State for Tourism and Aviation and then as Minister of State for Immigration, two integral engines which drive the primary state of affairs of this great country, rank in very high priority over my achievements in politics thus far. That the Free National Movement has achieved since its election to a 3rd non consecutive term as the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas gives me hope for what we can and must achieve in the future and I am humbled to have participated so instrumentally to this end. I am indeed proud to be FNM.
    “Much has happened in my political and personal life which has propelled me to the point where I must take this opportunity to inform the nation that in a letter dated 28th February, 2010, I have advised both The Governor General and The Prime Minister of my resignation as Minister of State for Immigration with immediate effect.
    “My decision, to demit office at this time, was well thought out and soberly contemplated over a period of time. It was not an easy decision, but one that needed to be made, because of my determination and resolve that it was and continues to be the right thing to do, not in any way motivated by conventional wisdom, the prevailing consensus or the latest snapshot of public opinion, but right according to my personal convictions. The factors that motivated this run the full gamete of issues and emotions, some more compelling than others. In the forefront are my feelings of stagnation and the inability to fully utilize my political potential at this time.
    “The situation that faces us as a nation today is very serious. Some have suggested that we as a nation are powerless to change the very circumstances we face, and have even gone as far as to suggest that the result of the Elizabeth by-election means that there is no urgent and compelling reason for anyone to act to this end.
    “Through my frequent interaction with the constituents of Bamboo Town and residents of other Constituencies throughout the length and breadth of this nation I have come to appreciate that Bahamians have not given up, but have simply rejected the 20th century ideology of Bahamian politics. With our millennium minds we can see that while our challenges are ageless the answers do not have to be. We do not have to succumb to uncomfortable and illogical catch 22 scenarios.
    “Bahamians are now more open minded and are now showing a higher intolerance or aversion to prejudice in any form. But the one thing that has not changed for us is that regardless of our backgrounds we all know what decency, respect for others and courtesy looks like and how ugly it looks when the standard is breached. Politics is no exception.
    “I personally believe that we disrespect our constituents and our people when we belittle others in order to gain political millage. It is also my belief that our current political system is headed in the wrong direction. I was taught by my parents to gain respect on my own merit and accomplishments, and not by highlighting the weaknesses of others. Respect must be the order of the day no matter your political persuasion.
    “I have already proven myself on many levels and have much to be proud of, but it would be wrong of me to assume that I have proven myself to you without demonstrating the strength and diversity of knowledge you deserve. A goal of my recommitment to my family, Bamboo Town and the entire nation is to utilize my God-given talent to assist in every way possible to propel our country forward so that everyone experiences inclusion.
    “We are facing tough times, but I confidently believe that the nation has been mobilized by Mr. Ingraham and the FNM and rallied for a great national effort. I have learned why this Prime Minister and Leader of the FNM is the most successful leader of our party. And it is because of this that I say, I have no sympathy with and will give no credence or comfort to those who would want to use this resignation to undermine his leadership of the FNM and/or The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
    “I intend to focus on my family. I intend to focus on the Constituency of Bamboo town and give them both the representation and support they need and deserve at this time. My strengths will be invested in making them stronger. My energy and ambition will hopefully lead to greater opportunities for them. There have indeed been some very thrilling high points along the way, one of which I am very proud to share with you today. My wife Lisa, my daughters Kasia and Tai and I have welcomed a new member to our family, Lawrence Khail McCartney. The birth of each of our children has provided us unbounded joy and emotion and a welcome reminder that life is more about the moments than the occasions, and success in life depends on how well you are able to determine and manage the order of your priorities- by the acceleration of some, the abeyance of others and the acceptance that in life nothing comes before its time.
    “To my Bamboo Town Family I will make a further more personal statement to you in the days to come. Until then be assured of my commitment to ensure that you experience a rebirth like none before as my plans for your continued growth and development unfold. I cannot mask my affection for the constituency of Bamboo Town and I am very grateful to Mr. Ingraham and the Free National Movement for bringing us together.
    “Bamboo Town will be ready and the FNM party will continue to lead this great national effort to a fourth election victory with my full, unwavering and steadfast loyalty and support.”
Branville McCartney/file photo

CHRISTIE, SHANE, INVITE BRAN TO PLP

PLP Leader Perry Christie was quoted in the press this week saying that former Minister of State Branville McCartney would be welcomed by the PLP. In this, he was joined by Shane Gibson, the Golden Gates MP who appealed in the House of Assembly to FNMs like Bran McCartney who feel trapped within the FNM, to join the PLP.
Perry Christie, left, file photo; Shane Gibson in the House of Assembly this past week, BIS photo/Peter Ramsay

FRED MITCHELL ANSWERS TOMMY

    The following statement was issued by Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on the public service in response to a claim by Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National Security that there was political interference with promotions in the prison system during Mr. Mitchell’s time in office. Mr. Turnquest spoke on Thursday 4th March in the House of Assembly.
    “I take grave exception to the remarks delivered in the House of Assembly near midnight on Thursday 4th March by the Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest in which he claimed that there was political interference in prison promotions prior to his coming to office. That is a despicable untruth. If this were said outside the House, it would be a grave libel. I challenge him to give any credible evidence that there was political interference. The record will show that the promotions at the prison were at all times guided by the due processes of the Prison Department and the Ministry of National Security in consultation with the Prison Staff Association. The Minister ought to concentrate on getting the job done and stop trying to rewrite history. The fact is that shortly after they came to office, the FNM Administration unfairly withdrew lawfully granted promotions to prison officers under procedures agreed with the Prison Staff Association and the Public Service Commission. Any other story is simply fiction.
    “The Minister’s own previous statements in House of Assembly support this view. It is simply tiresome that almost three years after coming to office, the Minister can only find comfort in propaganda as a substitute for the failures of the FNM administration in the Public Service and other areas of public life in The Bahamas.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll... Castration, a prerequisite!

Does what the law says, mean anything to us Bahamians? Or does it mean only what it says, when what it says just happens to line up with our own narrow-minded political views?
    After all the rancor-back and forth-and all the minute detailed checking, of the more than three thousand ballots cast in the recent polling in the Elizabeth Constituency, an official winner could not legally be declared. Why, you may ask, couldn’t a clear winner be determined, having regard to the fact that after all the regular ballots were counted Sands, of the FNM, received two more votes than the PLP’s Leo Ryan Pinder? Well it is quite simply this, that the law says-and I wish to repeat; the law says-that for a candidate to be determined the winner, he or she must poll more regular votes (white ballots) than his/her opponent’s total number of regular votes(white ballots) and protest votes(yellow ballots) combined. If he/ she doesn’t, then the protest votes for all candidates must be officially added to their regular votes and a judge, in an election court of law, would be required, then, to determine the validity of those protest votes, after which a winner would be declared. This is what the L.A.W provides for (in our wonderful democracy) and Ingraham could cry; he could scream; he could shout at the top of his (angry always) voice; he could jump up and down or piss in his pants (if he wishes) all he wants but he cannot get around what the law says. As he seems to like to say, always; it is what it is and there is nothing he or anybody else can do about it.
    Having regard to the above, and the fact that while Sands received 1501 regular votes to Pinder’s 1499, it should not be forgotten that Pinder, of the PLP, secured an additional five votes which the FNM’s agents protested on election day. Should the courts determine that those protest votes are indeed valid, and that they were indeed cast in Pinder’s favor (both of which we (PLP) fully expect to happen) it would follow then, therefore, that Pinder of the PLP would be declared, by the courts at the end of the day, as having rightful claim to the seat, having received 1499 plus five protest votes, which totals 1504, to Sands’ 1501. Neither the courts, Hubert Ingraham, Tommy Turnquest, Carl Bethel nor the FNM government can circumvent this law, and I thank God almighty that the terms and conditions are written in plain, simple layman’s English language. There shouldn’t be reason for a whole lot of high level legal arguments-by high-priced lawyers as to the meaning of sections 68 & 69 of the Parliamentary Elections Act; chapter 7; for it says, plainly, what it says.
    Sections 68 & 69, of the Parliamentary Elections Act chapter 7, are very clear on the position that the PLP has taken. We are not impressed one bit by the posturing of the Free National Movement; notwithstanding the ignorance that Hubert Ingraham displayed during his press conference last Sunday (21st) in response to the outcome of the elections. He knows very well what the law provides for, in these circumstances, and there is no question in my mind-and it cannot be in anybody else’s, for that matter-that Ingraham and his bewildered, demoralized FNM misfits would have opted to go the same route, as the PLP is doing, had they been in the same, now enviable position. We hear their foolish talk, and we’ve read Ingraham’s statement, in its entirety, about how elections are won on Election Day and not in court rooms, but we didn’t hear him or Carl Bethel or Duane Sands or Tommy Turnquest talking like this or taking this same position, when they challenged Mr. V Alfred Gray on behalf of Johnley Ferguson, in the MICAL constituency after the 2002 general elections. If the FNM has had a change of views, since the Johnley Ferguson challenge (which they lost, by the way), that election courts are useless and unnecessary, then maybe they should opt to repeal the act and get rid of it.
    I am told, by sources within the belly of the FNM, to never mind Ingraham carrying on like one of those wild Inagua Jackasses, that he knows they have lost and that they have already prepared themselves for and resigned themselves to the loss. In the meantime, though, I am told, Ingraham will continue his showboating, posturing and flaming, just to see if he could discourage the PLP from pursuing our day in court. If the FNM cared about the welfare of our country and our electoral processes (which are already in shambles and less than desirable) they would let it go and concede the loss to the PLP and not wait for the courts to rule it so. They are the ones who boasted, loudly, about being Democrats, and Democrats only win or lose elections on Election Day and not in the courts. That is the stated position of big mouth Hubert Ingraham. Well, I can assure him that, we are prepared to go all the way, and to do all it takes, to have those legitimate votes included as part of the official count.
    I say again, that if the government had the best interest of the constituents of Elizabeth as a priority, as they say they do, they would concede the seat to the PLP and save the taxpayers a bundle of money.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
7th March 2010

IN PASSING
Special Sitting Of The Supreme Court

There was a special sitting of the Supreme Court on Friday 5th March to honour fallen Attorneys. L.B. Johnson, the former Ambassador for The Bahamas to the United States was amongst those honoured. Attorney Allyson Gibson (pictured on her feet, above) offered a tribute to the late Mr. Johnson.

Red Cross Fair

The annual Red Cross fair was held on the grounds of Government House on Saturday 6th March. Governor General Arthur Hanna officially opened the fair, which is the oldest amongst the annual fundraisers for the work of the Red Cross in The Bahamas. The Governor General was joined by Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell shown here at the Delta Sorority Candy Booth.
BIS Photo/Peter Ramsay

Fred Mitchell In Exuma
Opposition spokesman on the Public Service Fred Mitchell attended the annual banquet of the Department of Labour and the Occupational Health and Safety Association in Exuma on Friday 5th March along with Anthony Moss, MP for Exuma. Some 20 people were honoured, including former Administrator Everett Hart, former Airport Manager Creswell Morley and former Manager of the Peace and Plenty Charles Fluguer.

Gay Cruise Controversy Again
There is another cruise ship coming to The Bahamas catering to gay clientele. Notwithstanding the widely criticised pictures of Bahamians shouting at tourists when Rosie O’Donnell the US TV star brought the last cruise here, some pastors are at it again; condemning it as the cause for Armageddon. The Pastors issued a statement condemning the cruise. The Pastors opposed to it are identified only as the Bahamas Coalition of Evangelical Pastors. No word on when the cruise will actually come.

Accountants Alarmed At Central Bank Decision
The Bahamas Institute Of Chartered Accountants (BICA) headed by Reece Chipman wants the Central Bank to rethink its position on requiring private banks to publish their profit and loss statements in the public domain. The Institute thinks that this will scare away potential wealth management business in The Bahamas.

Geoff Faquharson In Trouble With Judge
Attorney Geoffrey Faquharson is again in trouble with the Court. On an earlier occasion he was unlawfully detained for contempt by a Magistrate. This time it is more serious. Justice Jon Isaacs refused to allow him to withdraw from representing a client last week. Mr. Faquharson refused to heed the Court’s order and started to pack up his belongings and left the court. The Judge ordered him arrested and cited him for contempt.

Drugs Coming Through The Bahamas
The United States claims in its international narcotics annual report to its legislature that five percent of the cocaine coming into the United States comes in through The Bahamas. Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest said that he was worried about the report’s finding that The Bahamas is now a drug growing country for marijuana. Fred Mitchell, the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs, speaking in the House of Assembly on Monday 1st March said that Caricom countries ought to speak up for themselves against these US reports which paint too broad a brush of the countries in the region.

Dwayne Hanna Dies

Attorney Dwayne Hanna has died. Mr. Hanna, who was a political activist and PLP supporter, was well respected amongst his peers and in the PLP. He was the front-runner for the PLP’s nomination for South Beach. Mr. Hanna died reportedly as a result of medical negligence. It is said that he was having a routine colonoscopy when the bowel was punctured leading to sepsis. Mr. Hanna died the day after the operation on Friday 5th March. Click here for the report on his call to the Bar.

Congratulations To Frank Butler Jr.

Milo Butler & Sons Ltd. has announced that Franklyn Butler is to succeed his father as the President and CEO of the Company. Mr. Butler is 27 years old. Mr. Butler Jr. worked with his father prior to his death on developing the family business. Congratulations to Mr. Butler Jr. It is what Frank Sr. would have wanted.
The late Franklyn Butler Sr (at left), with son Franklyn Butler II - Tribune photo

GG Celebrates 82 Years
Governor General Arthur Hanna is celebrating today his 82nd birthday. Sadly, his wife Beryl who died last year is not with him, but family and friends will join him in a private celebration at Government House later this afternoon.

The Real Reasons Bran McCartney Resigned?
FNM propaganda has been going into overdrive ever since the shock resignation of former Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney last week this time. The essence of the FNM story is that Mr. McCartney was an unreliable partner and was going to be fired anyway. The latest salvo in the war of words was leaked to Love 97 News on Friday 5th March. Their report is that Mr. McCartney had a huge row with the substantive Minister of Immigration Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette. Mr. McCartney stormed out of the Cabinet meeting as a result of the row. The Prime Minister ordered that the doors be locked and Mr. McCartney was subsequently refused re-entry into the Cabinet room. Another story doing the rounds is that Mr. McCartney was asked to sign off on 250 work permits for Jamaicans to work at Sandals in Exuma and refused to do so and took the honourable course instead. Whether this is all true or not is irrelevant, but this is the first time since the FNM came back to office in 2007 that rumours of fights within the camp have surfaced publicly.

Sidney Poitier
The film festival held in honour of Sidney Poitier was said to be smashing success. It was held in Nassau from 23rd February to 25th February. Mr. Poitier himself did a 30-minute interview from his home in California on Friday 25th February with the participants in the seminar by phone. Bottom line, he said that no matter where he went he took the values that he learned in The Bahamas with him.

Fred Mitchell On Foreign Affairs Website

The Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell attacked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for not paying attention to its website. He spoke in the House of Assembly on Monday 1st March. The Ministry answered saying that they were transferring over to the government’s web platform. Mr. Mitchell issued this statement in response:
    “Having read the response of an unidentified official for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Ministry's website (Tribune 5th March), it is clear that the Ministry is lost on the subject of its website development.
    “The Ministry's official offers as the reason that the website is not up to date the fact that they are in the process of transferring to the Government's website platform. It would be a grave mistake for the Ministry to switch its stand-alone website over to being a part of the government's website in the absence of a substantial investment in and upgrade of the present platform of the Bahamas Government's website. The government's website is inadequate because it cannot handle the existing traffic demands. It is slow. The Government's website is down fifty percent of the time and is not properly updated or maintained. This was the reason when I was the Minister; the Ministry chose not to join the government's website. Those problems have still not been resolved.
    “The issue of the platform is one thing but the real issue is the fact that the Ministry's website is content deficient, when it should be content driven. The ‘reason’ that the official offered is an excuse that is almost one year old. The Ministry continues to do a disservice to the country by continuing, for over one year now, to talk about upgrading and transferring a service when there is little evidence to suggest that the Ministry gives a hoot about the public's right to know what, if anything, the Ministry is doing for the Bahamian people.”

Union Elections
The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union have now set an agreed date for elections on 27th April 2010. The Court of Appeal asked when the parties appeared why its previous order was not carried out. Keod Smith, lawyer for the insurgent group, had to withdraw his appeal to the Privy Council, after agreeing he was not authorized to file any such appeal. The parties then met within the precincts of the Court and set a date to the satisfaction of the Court. We expect that Nicole Martin will win again and easily once more.

Bishop Randy Fraser Back In Court
Attorneys for Bishop Rand Fraser are back in court. The Supreme Court is considering whether certain evidence from the prosecution side against Bishop Fraser is admissible. Reportedly, Bishop Fraser's attorneys prepared their case based on disclosures from the prosecution which changed when a witness changed testimony. We wish Bishop Fraser well.

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THE COURT CASE TO SETTLE THE ELECTION
The fight has begun formally in the Courts for the ballot count to be continued and the election result in the ill-fated Elizabeth bye-election to be decided. The election took place on Tuesday 16th February. Democracy is proving to be a complicated business. There are six protest ballots to count. Those votes were cast on yellow ballots. Section 69 of the Parliamentary Elections Act permits an application to count these ballots where the total of those protest ballots and the regular white ballots outnumber those of one’s electoral opponent. Ryan Pinder who got 1499 white ballots to Duane Sands’ 1501 white ballots made the application and was in court to get it underway on Thursday 11th March. He was represented by Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and by Wayne Munroe and Damien Gomez. On the other side was Q.C. Thomas Evans with Milton Evans assisting him.

What should have happened is that the FNM and the government should have come into court on Thursday 11th March and conceded the case. It seems pretty clear on the affidavit evidence that in this case the votes went to the PLP by voters on 16th February who were entitled to vote in the constituency, but who because of an administrative error, were disallowed from voting on regular white ballots. That is what you would have thought, but that is not what happened.

First off the mark on Thursday 11th March was the usual legal tactic of a lawyer who does not have a particularly strong case. You try to strike out your opponent on some technical or procedural grounds. It was not unexpected, the usual professional courtesies being involved. Thomas Evans argued that Mr. Pinder’s petition was defective; that the rules were quite strict and that since various matters had not been pleaded (according to him) and in his view could not be cured by amendment, then the matter had to be struck out. If he had succeeded in that, this would have been the end of the matter.

Fortunately for the PLP, the court did not agree. The Judges seem to have adopted a policy that the voters should not be cheated out of knowing who their elected representative is. After a brief adjournment to take time to consider, the court was unanimous, both Justice Allen and Justice Isaacs. The matter had to proceed. Mr. Evans asked for a stay of the decision so that he could appeal to the Court of Appeal. This was refused. Then he asked for a conservatory order, so that he could go to the Court of Appeal for a review. This was refused.

Most lawyers were surprised at the request for an appeal because the feeling is and the view is that there is no appeal from a decision of an Election Court. That is what the constitution says.

Another surprise; the public had been told that this was supposed to be on affidavit evidence only but first up on Friday 12th March was Errol Bethel, the much reviled Parliamentary Commissioner, who was able to say that in five cases it appeared that the voters were in fact entitled to vote in the Elizabeth constituency. His view was that he would correct the register if the court so ordered after the proceeding. Next up on Monday 15th March is the cross examination of the Commissioner by the FNM side. It will be interesting to see what tack they take in this matter.

Again, we repeat our call for the FNM to concede that they have lost this bye-election in Elizabeth. The Robert Burns poem reminds us that our best laid plans can and often do go awry. We can all save time and money by simply allowing Ryan Pinder to take his seat in the House of Assembly.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th March 2010 up to midnight: 182,208.

Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 13th March 2010 up to midnight: 320,104.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 13th March at midnight: 1,844,912.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
If you don’t know it, the dreaded and stupid change of the time by the Americans has forced us to change our clocks again by one hour forward. Sleepy children now all summer long for parents who have enough trouble getting their children up for school. It began this morning at 2 a.m. and will last until the first weekend in November of this year. When will they stop fooling with the time?

RAHMING ON THE PRISON

    The United States government has issued its annual report on the state of the prison and other human rights issues in The Bahamas. This is part of an exercise every year that we believe gets far too much attention from those who want to play political gotcha with the government. The report said that The Bahamas continues to discriminate against Haitians and homosexuals. It pointed out that the prison continues to have harsh conditions.
    The Nassau Guardian spoke with the Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming. According to Dr. Rahming, he welcomes the report. He thinks that it is a good idea for there to be observations made by outside bodies because it helps the prison improve. This attitude is refreshing compared to the defensive attitude that most agencies have to reports that are critical of what they do.
    Fred Mitchell, who is the Opposition’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs, told the House of Assembly when it last met that there needs to be a report done by Caricom each year about the United States and the conditions with regard to drugs and human rights. Mr. Mitchell discussed the matters further in a fifteen-minute interview on the Jamaican radio programme Nation Wide on Monday 8th March. He said this was not just a matter of seeking to show up the United States, but rather to give information to our own citizens that puts the whole thing in its proper context. The citizens of our own country would know that some of the same things about which the US complains in our society they experience as well.
    One concern most pundits have is the inability of the US to admit that drug demand is driven by the appetite for illegal drugs in the United States. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently admitted this on a visit to Central America.
Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming - file photo

PRIME MINISTER AT CARICOM

    Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham left The Bahamas on Wednesday 10th March for the Inter-sessional of the Caricom Heads of Government Conference is Roseau, Dominica. The Conference is chaired by the Caricom Chairman the Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt. This is the twice yearly heads conference of Caricom. On the agenda were issues relating to Haiti, recovering from the earthquake. The World Bank’s President Robert Zoellick attended to speak with the leaders about the economies of Caricom region.
    We hope that the Prime Minister uses this opportunity to raise the issue of the governance of the Turks and Caicos Islands by the British government and the continued suspension of the democracy of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
    You may click here for the statement of Mr. Zoellick prior to his arrival in Dominica about the objectives of his interface with the leaders.
From left: Edwin Carrington, CARICOM Secretary-General; Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM; Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank at the Twenty-First Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference, 11 March 2010 - Photo courtesy of Dominica Government Information Service

THE GG’S BIRTHDAY PARTY PHOTOS
We are pleased to present additional photos by Peter Ramsay of the birthday party of the Governor General held at Government House on Sunday 7th March. Mr. Hanna turned 82 last Sunday. Friends of Mr. Hanna gathered at the Governor’s official residence to celebrate with him.
Photos/ Peter Ramsay

GETTING OFF THE GRAY LIST
    Minister of State Zhivargo Laing was busy crowing from the rooftops about the removal of The Bahamas from the ‘gray list’ of non-co-operating countries posted by the Organization for Economic co-operation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday 10th March. Countries in the financial services business like The Bahamas had to sign at least 12 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) before the 31st March or they would be blacklisted by the OECD.
    The OECD has been seeking to punish countries like The Bahamas because they believe that the citizens of the OECD countries evade taxes legitimately owed to them by living here and not paying income tax or by hiding the money from them. Now, they have these agreements, which allow them to look into accounts where they suspect that there is evasion of taxes. This is a long way from the year 2007 when The Bahamas government said it would only sign such an agreement with the United States.
    Paul Moss, the PLP activist, was not too pleased about the signing of the agreements. Some seven of them were signed by Mr. Laing with the Nordic countries and another was signed by Brent Symonette, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with Spain in Nassau. Mr. Moss claimed that the pressure will continue from the OECD until and unless the government introduces income tax and enters into double taxation treaties with other countries. Owen Bethel of Montague Securities said it another way. He thought that The Bahamas could not rest on its laurels but should continue to be proactive if the sector is going to survive.

THAT AWFUL BACKLOG OF CASES

    The Senate met during the past week on Wednesday and Thursday 10th and 11th March to debate the Prime Minister’s mid-year budget statement and the supplementary estimates of revenue and expenditure for the country. All PLP senators spoke to the issues. You may click here for the statements of Senators Hope Strachan and Michael Halkitis. Senator Allyson Gibson led for the PLP in the Senate and in a comprehensive presentation, she spoke to the issue of crime and the failure of the FNM to address it. She poured scorn on John Delaney, the Attorney General’s view that he is going to do an audit of cases that are now before the courts. Mrs. Gibson said that she left an audit in place in 2007 when she was Attorney General that would have told him that there were 95,000 cases back in 2007.
    “Successive Attorney Generals have said they have ordered a review of outstanding cases to say which are tenable. I ordered an audit when there were 95,000 outstanding cases in 2007. There are more now. The Attorney General ought to know that his two predecessors in the past 18 months have ordered an audit of outstanding cases. In 2006, I met cases more than 10 years old. This was untenable then and it is untenable now. It is unacceptable for a rape to take 6-10 years to come to trial. He needs to tell Bahamians why the audit is not complete”.
    Click here for Senator Maynard Gibson’s full statement.
Senator Allyson Maynard Gibson (left) in the Senate as Attorney General John Delaney (seated opposite) listens to an objection from FNM Senator Dion Foulkes, standing opposite - BIS photo/Peter Ramsay

A SIGN OF THE TIMES BY OBEDIAH MICHAEL SMITH
The poet Obediah Michael Smith wrote this poem. We thought that it was emblematic of the times in which Bahamians find themselves today in the Hubert Ingraham era. It is the saga of a man eating fortune cookies from the Chinese restaurant that he collected but ignored, but when there is nothing left to eat, you eat the fortune cookies. Some people go to bed in this country, too many go to bed in The Bahamas facing this choice and we do not yet have an answer. The poet Bob Dylan asks: how man times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see? Here is the poem by Bahamian poet Obediah Michael Smith:

56 DEAD IN A YEAR: GLENYS CALLS FOR SEATBELTS

    Shadow Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin MP has called for the enforcement of the seatbelt laws now on the books. In a statement issued Sunday, Mrs. Hanna Martin noted that “over the last 12 months 56 people have died in traffic accidents with half of the victims being under the age of 26 years”.
    “It is the duty of Government to put in place standards which will lessen the risks associated with the use of public roads and to protect life”, she said, “It is a matter of dismay, therefore, that after almost 3 years in office they have yet to bring that law into force. What is even greater cause for dismay is this Government’s apparent lack of aggression in general as it relates to issues surrounding road safety. The approach has been nothing short of lackluster in the face of sustained high levels of fatalities.
    “This carnage on our streets exacts a very high emotional, social and economic toll on our country.
    “We call on the Government to bring a more intense focus to this critical area through its relevant agencies so as to increase awareness and raise standards and to now bring into force the seat-belt legislation including the mandatory use of child restraints.
    “The issue of road safety is one which affects us all… It is not a political issue; we therefore declare that the Opposition is prepared to do whatever is necessary to assist the Government in achieving the objective of creating safer streets and saving lives.”

TURKS AND CAICOS PARTIES HAVE A SUCESSFUL JOINT MARCH

    The Opposition party People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the former governing party Progressive National Movement (PNM) held a joint march in the Turks and Caicos Islands last Monday 8th March. They were concerned about the plans the British have to borrow some 60 million dollars at the expense of the people of the Turks and Caicos. They also want to stop British plans to give the franchise to foreigners, which, when the vote is restored, would lead to a dilution of the power of the native Turks and Caicos Islanders to control their destiny. The march was attended by thousands.
    The British government suspended democracy in the Turks and Caicos Islands last year on 19th August, claiming that the government there was corrupt. At the time, Britain was in the midst of its own corruption scandal. The parties have now launched a petition amongst the citizens against the British designs. Doug Parnell, Leader of the Opposition (PDM) and former Premier Galmo ‘Gilly’ Williams (PNM) are leading the drive.
    In The Bahamas, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell called on the government of The Bahamas to act on the matter. Former Premier Michael Misick (PNM), whose activities precipitated the British move, was quoted in the press in The Bahamas as calling on Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to intervene more aggressively. But Foreign Minister Brent Symonette seemed quite lost on the subject when he claimed that the government’s position is that it will not assist the Turks and Caicos until they get their internal affairs in order. That is not their own policy, since the policy is what Caricom supported at its last heads of government meeting. They agreed that the British should review and revoke the suspension of the democratic organs of the Turks and Calicos Islands.
    You may click here for the petition of the Turks and Caicos Islands and here for the statement of Mr. Mitchell on behalf of the PLP.
TCI joint march photos from www.caribbeannetnews.com

JEROME LAYS OUT THE CASE AGAINST THE FNM

    Facts are stubborn. Senator Jerome Fitzgerald laid out the facts in his presentation to the Senate during the debate on the mid-year budget estimates. Mr. Fitzgerald said that the FNM had the distinction of being the government at each point when the national debt hit the billion dollars marks. He said:
    “On the topic of debt, The FNM government has the distinction of being in office to bring in the one billion dollar debt mark, the two billion dollar debt mark, the three billion dollar debt mark and now the four billion dollar debt mark. In 1991 before the FNM came to office in their first term the national debt was 870 million. That’s right.”
    Click here for Senator Fitzgerald’s full statement delivered in the Senate.
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald in the Senate - file photo

CHRIS BROWN GOLD

In a long-awaited moment of victory, Bahamian standout quarter-miler Chris Brown who hails from Wheymm's Bight, Eleuthera, is shown celebrating after winning gold in the Men's 400m final at the 13th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Saturday, March 13. The world gold medal brings to an end several near misses by Chris who, in the words of one TV commentator was "often the bridesmaid" in international 400-metre competition. Congrats to Chris.
AP photo/Hassan Ammar

THIS WEEK ON CITIZENS REVIEW

This week on TV and Internet pundit Erin Ferguson's Citizens Review TV: Paul Moss, Activist and Lawyer and Adrian Gibson, Tribune Columnist discuss the Issues of the day including the 95,000 Criminal case overload; From the Grey List to the White List and more, followed by Film Maker Travolta Cooper discussing his new film ‘Founding Fathers: Sir Stafford Sands’. This Week’s ‘Citizens Arrest’ is Minister of Works Neko Grant, and Minister of Conflict of Interests Brent Symonette. Click the banner above to visit Citizens Review TV.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Long Island Needs Help!
    This week, an 'Open Letter To The Government of The Bahamas' from a concerned Long Islander, who says
    “Long Island remains off the short list of islands pegged for improvement(s) and necessary infrastructure. Despite this fact, Long Island has always supported the FNM even when it was unpopular to do so.”
    The writer ends by suggesting that, “…the electorate and constituents of Long Island that all and sundry consider these matters before pledging support for any proposed or incumbent representative as the ‘Salt of the Earth People of Long Island’ rightfully demand delivery and not ill-fated promises.

“We trust that this FNM GOVERNMENT has not forgotten the people of Long Island, but yet again, no one realizes that you are hurt unless and until you cry out!”
You may click here for the complete letter. - Ed.

Forrester Carroll... The Rats Are Hoarding The Cheese

The appearance that this government is corrupt to the bone is now widespread and convincing. The impression being conveyed these days is that the FNM sees the handwriting on the wall and like scared little rats, they are all scrambling, against the clock, to hoard as much cheese as they can carry off to their dirty little rat holes before the 2012 general elections. They know that they are on their last mile of the way and, just like in 2002; they are determined to leave not a single cookie in the jar. This FNM government intends to leave the public treasury broke, as they did in 2002, to make sure that the PLP would have a tough time. But we had to clean up their mess in 2002 and we will have to clean up the mess they leave for us in 2012.
    I don't know about you but I am appalled at the kind of scandalous information (about the many scandals involving FNM operatives) finding its way into the PLP Chairman's garbage can these days. What makes my stomach sick, to the core, is that they are not a bit concerned as to whether they are caught making deals at taxpayers' expense or not. They are not even attempting to disguise their dastardly behaviour. Contracts seem to be prearranged and predesigned to accommodate large, built-in kickbacks and the bold rascals don't give a damn if they are found out or not. This is a sad state of affairs we've succumbed too.
    There are a number of very blatant, unexplained scandals in the public domain at the moment, where cabinet ministers and or high ranking FNM Scallywags are accused of being involved - (The National Insurance Board; Bahamas Hotmix; Bahamas Mortgage Corporation; Mona Vie; the Housing Corporation) - too many to list them all here - which were exposed within the last several months by the PLP's, very proactive, team.
    I would wish to spotlight just one of those scandals. The scandal involving a contract awarded to Catsan & Chipman Ltd, for a special audit of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation comes to mind, as one of priority. I encapsulate the facts for our examination. The characters figured in this barefaced scandal are Reece Dean Chipman, the losing FNM candidate in the St. Thomas More constituency in the last general elections and President of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants and Kenyatta Gibson, a political deserter, MP for the Kennedy Constituency and Chairman of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation.
Quotes were submitted by, and received from, seven (7) of the Firms invited to bid, in accordance with the scope of work stipulated in the bid packages provided them, by the Mortgage Corp, as follows;

IN PASSING
US Embassy Announcement On Visas
Beginning March 15, 2010, U.S. Embassy Nassau requests that all non-immigrant visa applicants complete the web-based DS-160 Non-immigrant Visa Electronic Application in order to apply for a non-immigrant visa interview.

These changes are part of our continued effort to provide excellent customer service, streamline the visa process, and decrease wait times. The DS-160 application will replace the DS-156 application and the supplementary DS-157 and DS-158 application forms that are required of certain visa applicants. More than 30 U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide have already successfully switched to the DS-160 form. Applicants scheduled to apply March 15 or later should use the new DS-160 form.

Dame Marguerite’s Book

The widow of the founding Prime Minister of the country, Dame Marguerite Pindling has published her memoirs and will formally launch the book at a reception on 18th March. She presented a copy to the Governor General Arthur Hanna on Wednesday 10th March. This should be an exciting work. It is written with the help of Dr. Gail Saunders, the retired Director General of the Heritage.
Peter Ramsay photo

Crime In Harbour Island
There was a town meeting in Harbour Island called by the police to deal with many issues in this most valued piece of real estate. The natives and the foreign residents are up in arms because of the crime in the area. They want something done about it. Other issues are the continued problems with the power in Harbour Island, which one year after being reported at this site, is still a problem with routine 14-hour power cuts. BEC, the national electricity corporation, seems unable to deal with the issue of supplying power to the island. The real estate in Harbour Island is perhaps the most valuable in the country. The rich are said to be so exasperated about these two issues that it threatens the economy of the island. As usual, the government is silent. Chief Counsellor Darrel Johnson has been leading the fight against this government indifference and incompetence. Chrisfield Johnson, the PLP’s candidate for North Eleuthera of which Harbour Island is a part, wrote a letter to the Nassau Guardian published on Saturday 13th March in which he supported the position that the government is not doing enough to support the engine of the Eleuthera economy that exists in Harbour Island.

Darron Cash Leaves The Bank
Former Senator for the FNM Darron Cash and now one of its party officers has left the security and safety of the official banking world as an employee of First Caribbean to launch out on his own. The press carried an announcement during the week. Sharon Brown, the Bank’s country head, who herself is retiring from the Bank, said that although he and two others were leaving the bank that it was part of the normal attrition, with people leaving from time to time for other opportunities. Mr. Cash also serves as Chairman of the Bahamas Development Bank. This is a man who has not yet put a foot wrong so expect him to do well.

Suicide Cases

The country is concerned about the number of suicides. There have been two in the past two weeks. One, a young woman 18 years old Keisha Thurston (pictured) hanged herself on Sunday 28th February, leaving her grieving parents and fellow students guessing as to why. The other was an employee of Home Furniture, Peter Joseph, who slit his throat on 11th March. Lots of questions about whether the economy has something to do with this. One thing folk must understand is that depression, which can lead to suicide, is a disease that needs to be spotted and treated. It is not like someone simply pops up and kills themselves. But then again, who knows about these things. What we do know is that it is regrettable.

Dwayne Hanna Buried
He would have been the PLP’s candidate for the South Beach constituency, but sadly, he died in Doctor’s Hospital on Friday 5th March. There was a swirl of rumours around the death but no definitive statement has been made except that friends of the hospital refute the story that there was any negligence on their part. Having said that, Mr. Hanna is a terrible loss for the PLP and the country. He was memorialized in tributes on Thursday 12th March at Zion South Beach Church. The funeral was held at the Bahamas Faith Mission Church on Saturday 13th March. A good man is dead. Some 3000 people filled the church hall. Perry Christie, Leader of the Opposition attended as did Philip Davis MP, Deputy leader; Fred Mitchell MP and Minister of State Byran Woodside.

Bahamasair and Ian Mabon
The press reported last week that Bahamasair, the national flag carrier, will not be picking up the Nassau-Kingston run that will be available when Air Jamaica drops out of the market on 12th April. Just a quick reply to the prodigious writer of letters to the newspaper Ian Mabon who claimed in a letter to The Tribune that Opposition spokesman Fred Mitchell was making a droll comment because he sought to encourage Air Jamaica to stay the course. Mr. Mabon was dismissive in his arguments seeing only a commercial motive. Mr. Mabon, of course, does not appreciate the wider economic and policy issues that are beyond a mere commercial motivation. One day, perhaps he will understand, or perhaps appreciate is a better word, the wider issues. Mr. Mitchell’s point is that in a Caribbean that is seeking to become one market, there is a need for transportation links point-to-point in the region without having to pass through foreign (read US) territory, which is full of discomforts and pitfalls. It has nothing to with simply dealing with people who can’t get visas to the US, although that is a problem as well. As for Bahamasair, they had bad news and good news. Their market share is down by 15 percent as result of increased competition in the local market, but they report that their ‘on time’ performance has been 75 percent, which they say is above the industry average.

Recall Of Justices Of The Peace
There are unconfirmed reports that the government of The Bahamas has revoked the appointment of some 61 justices of the peace. The reason is alleged corruption by these Justices Of The Peace, some of whom are accused of demanding that Haitians pay up to $4,000 to authenticate their applications for citizenship. The Attorney General ought to comment if this is so.

Japan On Whaling
We wish to add our voices to the chorus of condemnation of Japan for seeking to overturn the ban on whaling and more egregiously for pressuring Caricom countries to help lift such a ban. The Japanese position is untenable and is to be condemned.

Gun’s Son Dies In A Car Crash
We are saddened to report that consultant to the Ministry of Finance Quinton Curry has lost his son Quinton Jr. Mr. Curry Jr., who was 28, died in a traffic accident in the early hours of the morning on the Fox Hill Road on Saturday 13th March. He was reportedly not wearing a seat belt at the time, was tossed from the car and crushed by it. This is very sad. Our condolences to his mother and father.

Congratulations To Frank Smith
We credit Frank Smith for catching the Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux in a fix. Following Frank Smith's disclosures in the House of Assembly when it last met, Mr. Deveaux had to admit that his Ministry and the Department of the Environmental Health are rife with corruption. Our informants tell us that the trucking programme implemented by the government to allow independent truckers to take away refuse for the cleanup programme was so abused that the programme quickly ran out of money. That is why two million dollars had to be sought by the Minister to replenish the fund. The Prime Minister was so angry when he found out that he simply ordered the programme shut down forthwith without reference to the Minister. The talk is that the Minister is seeking to blame Melanie McKenzie, the Director of the Department of Environmental Health. Her friends say that the Minister and his colleagues kept sending their cronies with trucks and telling her to put them on a contract. She is said to have obliged and the programme simply ran out of money because of the FNM excesses.

Esquire Agency - Communications & PR
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THE PRESS CONFUSES THE PUBLIC ON BYE-ELECTION
It is important in a modern and progressive country to have good information. Part of getting good and reliable information requires a good press. The press in The Bahamas is generally good, but it is not good enough. The problem we have is that there is no one, nobody that wants to push them to do better. They themselves need to put together a press council, which would police their standards and impose sanctions when they do something which is improper.

Our concern here is the way that the court proceedings for the Elizabeth bye-election have been reported. It has simply been a mass of confusion. It is so confused that the public does not really get a sense of what the whole thing is about. It is not that complicated really, but someone in the media should have taken the time to actually try to understand what it was about.

The case is about Ryan Pinder, the PLP’s candidate, completing the counting of the ballots cast on 16th February over one month ago by the registered voters in the Elizabeth constituency. Because the result was so close, when you added the protest votes (those votes cast on yellow ballot papers, not the regular white papers) to the regular votes cast for Mr. Pinder, they outnumbered Dr. Duane Sands’ votes. The law says in that circumstance, only an election court can determine whether those votes on yellow ballots can count.

Having gone to court, there are five votes over which there is an argument. There is no doubt that all five voted for the PLP. The question is whether or not they were entitled to vote in that constituency in that bye-election.

It appears from the arguments that both the PLP and the FNM agree that two of the voters are entitled to be counted.

The PLP argues that all should be counted but seem to concede that really one more (in addition to two both sides agree on) should be counted, with a maybe for the other two.

The Court heard legal arguments and submissions on Wednesday 17th March and Thursday 18th March. The Judges Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs have reserved their rulings until Tuesday 23rd March at 11:30 a.m.

The bottom line is that this matter turns on one vote. If the Judges agree that one vote more should be counted, then Mr. Pinder wins. If not, then it appears that there will be a tie. The law says that once the Court has ordered the Register to be rectified then the count is done, and the result declared.

If it is a tie, then the Returning Officer must declare the result of the election void and schedule a fresh poll for 14 days from his declaration of a void election. That would put a bye-election for Elizabeth for mid April some time. If there is a tie again after that election, then the matter is decided by casting lots, which means they toss a coin and the person who wins the toss, gets the extra vote and wins.

It is quite simple really, but the press of The Bahamas fell down on the job of explaining this simple matter by a set of confusing reports and misleading headlines. Let’s hope they get it right one day.

Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 20th March up to midnight: 147,695.

Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 20th March up to midnight: 509,053.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 20th March at midnight: 2,033,861.

Photo/Bahamas Press - PLP candidate Ryan Pinder (centre) with his legal team, headed by Philip Davis MP and Valentine Grimes

FOUR PLP CANDIDATES ARE NAMED

The Progressive Liberal Party’s National General Council (NGC) has ratified four candidates to run in the next general election. They are Senator Hope Strachan for the Sea Breeze Constituency, Senator Michael Halkitis for the Golden Isles Constituency, Senator Jerome Fitzgerald in the Marathon constituency and Dr. Kendal Major in the Garden Hills constituency.
This is a good move by the PLP, to get its people out into the field early and to give the branches someone around whom to work. The candidates, two of whom had run in previous elections and one of whom is a former Member of Parliament, are shown with Bradley Roberts, PLP Chairman and the Party’s Leader Perry Christie on Thursday 18th March.
Photo: From Facebook/Mario Bannister

NEIL ELLIS’ NEW BOOK

Mt. Tabor’s Bishop Neil C. Ellis was in Atlanta last week for the major launch of his latest book ‘PURSUING THE GLORY’. The book is available in bookstores in the US at $14.95. The launch drew Bahamians from Nassau to Atlanta including GEMS Radio’s Debbie Bartlette, former Senate President Sharon Wilson and MP Picewell Forbes of the PLP.
Photo from Facebook/Neil Ellis

CARL BETHEL’S COMPLAINT

    Portnoy had a complaint. Now Carl Bethel, the FNM Chair, has one too. The Member of Parliament for Sea Breeze like Philip Roth’s character is in a rage because of a story that the down market rag The Punch wrote about him, blaming him for the sexual peccadilloes in the schools that occurred during his time in office. Mr. Bethel took his good time to write a letter seeking to set the record straight against the trashy Punch. Why he would do such a thing in the face of the man Ivan Johnson who writes that paper; who does not care a hoot about the truth. His only truth is selling papers and Mr. Bethel fell into the trap of helping to sell more papers by responding in the way he did. Here is Mr. Bethel in his letter to the editors of the main stream papers:
    “The Punch, in an obvious and sustained campaign of character assassination, continues to propagate outright lies about me. In the Thursday, March 11, edition this pattern of attack has been repeated and expanded…
    “The Punch has continued to misrepresent the achievements of my tenure as Minister of Education. For the record, I was the Minister who conceived of, and set up, the Sexual Complaints Unit in the Ministry of Education, with the hardworking members of my staff, not Minister Desmond Bannister, as was untruthfully claimed in The Punch…
    “The Sexual Complaints Unit was set up at my command when it became clear that the ministry had no institutional mechanism, or capacity, to appropriately and expeditiously investigate all complaints involving alleged sexual misconduct by teachers and support staff in our schools.”
    Well, that will hold The Punch. Except that it did not. Instead, old Ivan Johnson simply came back to say that they had knocked out Carl Bethel and he was now complaining because of the truth of what they said.
    What we don’t understand is why people continue to read that unadulterated guff, a pack of lies and believe the b.s. that is in the paper.
    From the PLP’s side, it is good to see FNMs fighting against one another. Oh, by the way, Carl Bethel says that he is not interested in coming back into the cabinet until such time as the FNM has secured another election victory. We hope he is praying hard because that looks to be a long time from now.
Carl Bethel - file photo

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON MONEY
It is our belief that the crisis that we now face in this country and around the world is one manufactured in part by banks and the financiers who speculate in money. The banks never lose, no matter what happens. They are busy now taking people’s homes away from them, after charging rapacious interest. They are busy harassing people to repay money without seeking to arrange more acceptable terms. We have long considered banking a sophisticated gambling game, the rackets, the numbers with an official face.
One of the more egregious practices in this jurisdiction was holding US dollar or foreign cheques for six weeks to clear, even when the cheques actually cleared within days. Yet, they charge fees to customers who are late that are also rapacious. This article that follows, ‘Our World Balances on a Sea of Debt’, tends to support our views and we share it with you.

NEVILLE WISDOM ON FAILURE IN YOUTH AND SPORTS

It was a comprehensive statement by the former Minister Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom. It recorded a litany of failures in the area of culture and of sports by the present FNM administration. Mr. Wisdom said that the present Minister had not acquitted himself well in his job. He named the cancelling of Carifesta and the cancelling of the National Youth Service programme in Andros as examples. Not so said Charles Maynard the Minister. He said the former Minister was trying to cover up for his weak leadership and failure when he was a minister. Former Minister Wisdom, complete with pictures, said that because of Mr. Maynard’s neglect some $400,000 will have to be expended to fix the Betty Kenning Olympic pool at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre complex. You may click here for Mr. Wisdom’s full statement of 17th March.
Neville Wisdom - file photo

BRENTS SAYS HE AND BRAN GOT ALONG JUST FINE

Well, Brent Symonette, the Foreign Minister (pictured, left), is setting the record straight about the relationship between himself and his erstwhile junior Minister Bran McCartney (pictured, right), who shocked the political world and rocked the FNM’s world by leaving the Ingraham Cabinet. Mr. Symonette told the Bahama Journal, “Mr. McCartney was the minister of state for immigration and his sole responsibility was for immigration. He and I worked very well together. He did an excellent job and was very helpful and productive. A lot of the immigration matters were delegated to him and were very well performed. Overall, the government has done fairly well in dealing with outstanding immigration issues, thanks to Branville McCartney. [He was my] right hand man and I will miss his services.”
That was 15th March in the Bahama Journal. Then on 19th March in the Nassau Guardian, Brent Symonette told the press that Bran McCartney is not going to be replaced any time soon. He said that they are all working in a new way to get all the work done with the new manpower available with Mr. McCartney gone. That means from slow to slower. But knowing how the Bahamian leadership of the financial services sector is held in thrall by Hubert Ingraham, there will nary be a complaint. God bless ‘em!

PLP MEETS CHAMBER ON TRADE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Progressive Liberal Party led by its Leader Perry Christie paid a call upon the leaders of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce at their headquarters on Tuesday 16th March to discuss matters of foreign policy and foreign trade. The photo shows from left: Darron B. Cash, Chamber Board Member; Hank Ferguson, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce consultant; Floyd Armbrister, Exuma Chamber President; Audley Aritis, Bahamas Chamber Board Member; Khaalis Rolle, Chamber President; Perry Christie, PLP Leader; Fred Mitchell MP, Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Trade; Dr. Bernard Nottage MP; Picewell Forbes MP; and Philip Simon, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.
BIS photo/Kristaan Ingraham

WHAT’S WRONG WITH PAUL MOSS’ RESIGNATION?

    You never know what is operating in the minds of men. They do the strangest things and what counts as quite strange was the announcement on 17th March that Paul Moss, the National General Council (NGC) Member for the PLP in the St. Cecelia constituency had resigned from the PLP. ZNS said that the announcement had been made from Zurich, Switzerland. Now that is interesting.
    Mr. Moss was defeated by Perry Christie at the last convention of the PLP in November last year for leader of the party. Mr. Christie got 1158 votes to Mr. Moss’ 23 votes. Mr. Moss, instead of settling in and regrouping, appears to have been nursing bitter wounds. It is an interesting saga. He joined the PLP in May 2007 shortly after the defeat of the PLP after one term in office. By most accounts, he was invited to join by PLP leader Perry Christie and supported in his insurgent effort in the St. Cecelia constituency. A safe PLP seat, then and still occupied by the incumbent Deputy Leader Cynthia Pratt.
    Against Mrs. Pratt’s wishes, it is said, Mr. Moss was supported by PLP Leader Perry Christie to get the nomination in this safe seat and to get the position of NGC member for the constituency. All Mr. Moss then had to do if he wanted a future in the House of Assembly was to sit and wait until Mrs. Pratt demitted office, get elected to the House and work from there. How he got himself into the present twist, where he has no realistic possibility in the near future of getting into the House of Assembly defies imagination, logic and intuition. But only the man in the shoes can say how he got into those shoes. It is the most amazing thing.
    Mr. Moss’ announcement seemed contradictory. Here is what he said: “I advocated that the party should keep all that was good and solid, while identifying, embracing and utilizing new talents with which to build.
    “Almost three years later, that has not happened. Much of the PLP leadership belongs to an earlier generation, where old ideas and old ways of doing things remain, stubbornly, the order of the day. There appears to be no room or patience for fresh, new perspectives. And so my time has come for me to make my exit.”
    Then he says: “I remain strongly committed to the original philosophy of the PLP as espoused by the late, great leader Sir Lynden Pindling; his philosophies and those of the early visionaries are imbedded in my heart. Again, thank you for your support. I wish you good luck and continued success in your endeavor.” But surely, this is a contradiction since the issue is that the old PLP under Sir Lynden is supposedly the reason why the new voter is not voting PLP.
    Another contradiction: surely you cannot argue that Perry Christie and his colleagues now represent the old PLP, when you say that you espouse a new PLP and then support Sir Lynden’s philosophy and way of doing things which is even older than Perry Christie and his colleagues. You go figure this all out. A sea of contradictions. It begs the question asked in ‘The Lion In Winter’: how from where we started did we end up like this? Bradley Roberts, PLP Chairman, responded this way to Mr. Moss’s resignation: “I am satisfied that Paul Moss is not a team player. But if he is able to find refuge and solace wherever he goes, we wish him all the best.”
Paul Moss - file photo

FNM TARGETS JEROME FITZGERALD

    Jerome Fitzgerald who is a Senator and who is now officially the candidate for the PLP in the Marathon seat is the target of an FNM smear campaign. Mr. Fitzgerald has been in the press seeking to save the beach at Saunders Beach. Earl Deveaux, who is the Minister responsible for the environmental mess at Saunders Beach, does not like it. So each time Senator Fitzgerald opens his mouth on the subject, Minister Deveaux is in the press bashing away. You may click here for the latest salvo from Senator Fitzgerald.
    The point is that the beach has eroded and is not suitable for use by the Bahamians who used to use it. The photograph tells the story (see above). But the FNM has been on two tacks. First, there was the gospel according to Candia Dames. The ever intrepid Ms. Dames took it upon herself to go get an expert on the environment named Neil Sealy, who claimed from the beaches of Paradise Island that the erosion on Saunders Beach had nothing to do with the work of dredging recently completed in the Nassau Harbour. The intrepid Ms. Dames then went running off with her fixed agenda to Senator Fitzgerald to ask: “Do you have an expert?” We think Senator Fitzgerald was too gentle with the intrepid Ms. Dames. His answer ought to have been: “I don’t need an expert; I can see with my eyes that the beach is eroded.” What was it that Keats said “Beauty is truth and truth beauty and that is all you need to know on earth” or something like that.
    Not to be outfoxed though, the intrepid Ms. Dames told her reading and listening public Senator Fitzgerald did not have an expert so we guess that means the Minister must be right. Right! After all he is the FNM Minister. The gospel according to Candia Dames.
    Next part of the project for the FNM was to leak a story to The Tribune in which they accused the senator of being involved through his company BK Holdings in a scam to defraud the government of half a million dollars. The Tribune somehow linked this with a contract by a company called SABL Bahamas Ltd., whose principal is Judson Wilmott, a PLP council member. The company was hired to train people, says the Tribune, in solid waste management. The Auditor General's report raised questions about the contract with SABL and the government for half a million. Only thing is it has nothing to do with Jerome Fitzgerald. We think again that the good Senator’s response was too gentle. The Tribune’s story is defamatory of Senator Fitzgerald and not just mischief as his statement says. It ought to be resisted with the vigour of a law suit. Click here for Senator Fitzgerald’s response.
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald - file photo; the erosion at Saunders Beach

FREEPORT GLASS COMPANY TO CLOSE

Zhivargo Laing (pictured, left), the Minister of State and the Prime Minister’s blue eyed boy, likes to quibble. It is part of his smartness. He has got to quibble. The only problem with quibbling is that it is bad for policy. You come off as so impressed with your smartness that people have not a clue what the hell you are saying. That came through so clearly on Wednesday 17th March when the company Fenestration Services (above, right) announced that they were closing their doors in Grand Bahama and laying off 500 workers.
Mr. Laing’s response was that he had not been informed officially. That too is a favourite expression of his. Then he said that the 500 figure was inflated; that it was more like 37. Okay, but even if it is 37, they are going to be out of work. The larger point is that the man who runs the company, an American, says that Grand Bahama and Freeport cannot get industry off the ground if something is not done about its electricity costs. He claimed that the power company’s charges are outrageous and that they owe him money. He said other companies will close because of the cost of power. Mr. Laing did not address that point. So while Mr. Laing quibbles, Freeport’s unemployment grows.

THE ORIGINAL GALANIS COLUMN

The Nassau Guardian refused to publish the column of former PLP MP Philip Galanis (pictured) because he made certain allegations about Reece Chipman, the candidate for the FNM in St. Thomas More in the 2007 general election. We present the full original column. The column was printed in amended form on Thursday 18th March in the Nassau Guardian. It should have originally appeared on Monday 15th March. You may click here for the original column.

DAME MARGUERITE’S BOOK LAUNCH PHOTOS

    We are pleased to present this sample of photos by Peter Ramsay at the book launch of ‘Marguerite, An Autobiography’ by Dr. Gail Saunders.
    Above, from left, Andrew McKinney, the former Chief of Protocol with Dame Marguerite; Minister of Culture Charles Maynard engages with author Dr. Gail Saunders; Fred Mitchell MP with Dame Marguerite.
    Below, Lady Joan Foulkes and Sir Arthur Foulkes , Deputy to the Governor General; Desmond Bannister, Minister of Education; Cypriana McWeeney, former Senator; Barbara and Roland Rose at the back, partially blocked. Mr. Rose took many of the photos during Sir Lynden's lifetime. Son of the Pindlings, the oldest child Attorney Obie Pindling. Ruby Nottage, wife of former Pindling confidant Kendal Nottage and friend of Dame Marguerite. Mrs. Nottage told the gathering that Dame Marguerite taught her how to protect her man.
    Friends of Dame Marguerite: Beverley Wallace Whitfield, first wife of the late Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield; Vernice Moultrie Cooper; and Dame Margeurite’s Rector, Archdeacon I. Ranfurly Brown. Kendal Nottage, former Pindling confidant and cabinet member, recovering from a serious stroke. Elizabeth bye-election candidates Andre Rollins and Ryan Pinder.
    Former MP Valentine Grimes, Senator Jerome Fitzgerald, Ed Bethel, former Consul General New York; Gloria Mortimer, PLP Council Member; former MP Philip Galanis; Sean McWeeney, former Attorney General, who wrote the foreword to the book; Lady Rowena Finlayson and Sir Garret ‘Tiger’ Finlayson.
    Seated, Neil Sealy, environmentalist; Terry North, attorney and brother of the author Dr. Gail Saunders; standing at the back Tonya Galanis, Principal Eugene Dupuch Law School, wife of former MP Philip Galanis; Elaine Williams, owner of Bamboo Shack and La Rose; Michelle Pindling Sands, daughter of Dame Marguerite; Dr. Veronica McIver, Chris Mortimer.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll... The Mellor Boys' Dilemma

The Mellor Brothers did nothing wrong; they simply did what any other potential Bahamian businessmen would do; they applied through the proper government channels, for the required permits, to fish and export their catches. They were granted all the permissions and now those permit approvals have been recanted, leaving the boys holding a more than $2 million bag of headaches - Cartwright, his Ministry of Maritime Affairs and his FNM government screwed up, not the Mellors.
    Paul and David Jr., two of a set of triplets, born to David Sr. and Ann Mellor (now deceased), at the Rand Memorial Hospital here in Freeport, decided that they would, after trying a number of other ventures, pursue their fortunes in the very lucrative Bahamian fishing industry. As entitled young Bahamian nationals they realized their good fortune, as such, and wanted to tap into a phase of the industry that heretofore, despite decades of fishing, remains virtually untapped i.e. the harvesting of the migratory Tuna population.
    They set about preparing themselves for their future enterprise by studying the habits and migratory ways of the Tuna. Their preparation necessitated a lot of travelling, taking them around the world to areas where Tuna is harvested in great numbers. Armed with the knowledge they felt was necessary to make a successful go at the industry, they prepared and submitted their business plan about two years ago, to establish a Pelagic Aquaculture Tuna Fishing Program, to Cabinet Minister Larry Cartwright’s Marine Resources ministry. It should be noted that every detail of every move these boys made, even prior to preparing their business plan I am assured, was co-ordinated on the advice of either Minister Cartwright himself or officials at his ministry. No move was made by these boys without either Larry Cartwright and or his ministry officials, giving them the green light.
    With all the necessary approvals in hand eventually, but before committing the funds necessary for the purchase of the boat (picured below, right) and supplies needed to start up their project, the Mellors contacted Minister Cartwright again from where they were in Italy, just to make sure that there were no last minute hitches/roadblocks which could prevent them from moving ahead with their program. The minister assured them that there were none and that they could proceed to procure their equipment and supplies and proceed home.
    They did and their vessel arrived from Italy. Within days of its arrival, the news spread around town about the fishing method which would be employed by the boys, all hell broke loose. The environmentalists, in and outside the country (a few from the south Florida area) and indeed some fishermen, came out of the woodwork; they all climbed aboard “the beat-up express,” and began pressuring the Government to put a halt to and recant the previous approvals given the boys. After many days of pressure and a town meeting held at Rand Nature Center to discuss the pros and cons of subject matter, the minister succumbed and declared that his government had decided to change the law to regard the purse-seining fishing method of harvesting Tuna, passing through the Bahamian waters for which the boys were granted prior approvals by his ministry, illegal.
    In the boys’ further and subsequent, dialogue (both private and public) with the weak and indecisive minister, following his ministry’s recanting of the approvals, I am told that when asked about what they should do now about the huge upfront investment of $2 million they made contingent on those approvals; the minister’s response, I am told, was ‘you’ll have to eat it I suppose’.
    To the question asked about his ministry’s approvals given previously and now his recanting and or reneging of those approvals, the ministers’ response was that (and we all read it in the papers) the government has a right to change it’s mind and change laws, if it wishes, at anytime. I wish to sidetrack a bit here and ask; doesn’t this sound very much like the FNM government’s policy of “stop; review and cancel;” a policy they adopted on coming to office in May 2007 and which the PLP condemned as counterproductive to the enhancement of investor confidence and the orderly development of the country?

    I would never condone the arbitrary, indiscriminate slaughtering of our marine resources; and I would never agree to the government giving permission to anyone to extract marine resources from our waters, without first ensuring that all precautions are taken to protect our precious inheritance for generations, yet unborn. However in this particular case with the Mellor Boys, the FNM government committed an array of bumbling and compounded their bumbling with more bumbling. I take issue with the knee-jerk way they (FNM government) handled this whole affair. To say that this matter was executed very crudely would be stating it very nicely. No regard was shown for the shattered dreams and ambitions of these young energetic Bahamian entrepreneurs and worse still for the huge investment they were required to inject, as a prerequisite to them starting up their business.
    Isn’t the maritime affairs ministry mandated by statue laws to regulate the fishing industry in the Bahamas? Don’t we have well thought out laws, regulations and guidelines in place, in advance, so as to avoid this kind of knee-jerk, “after–the-fact” nonsense from happening, the way it happened here? Doesn’t the government have an obligation that if they offend and cause citizens harm in any way shape or form, that they are obliged to reimburse that citizen for damages caused and expenses incurred as a consequence of those damages? And is there anyone out there who thinks that it’s alright for a government, which brought to bear all these adverse expensive conditions on these citizens, be permitted just to say to them; ‘you’ll have to eat your investment” and walk away scot free?
    If I were in the Mellor boys’ situation I would sue the minister, sue his ministry and his government for breach of trust; breach of contract and for anything else I can find in the books, including every dime of the funds invested to date and more.
    It cannot be right, or legal, to be granted permission to operate within the existing legal parameters of the laws, governing the fishing industry today, only to have that permission withdrawn tomorrow, simply because of pressure brought to bear on the government from special interest groups. It cannot be right or legal for that same government to say, in effect, that what you were approved to do, two years ago, was not illegal at the time we approved it, however we have changed our minds and have decided that we will make it illegal with certain amendments we intend to make to the act, sometime in the future (we really don’t know when) and so, in the meantime, we will withdraw your preapproved approvals today; and by the way, in case you are wondering, we do have the right, as the government, to change laws whenever it pleases us and make them retroactive, if we feel like it, without any consequences to us. This is hogwash, of course, but this is what was done to Paul and David Mellor, after investing an initial $2 million.
    I condemn this unstable, inept FNM government for the way they handled this whole affair; my guess? This was not Larry Cartwright’s doing; he wouldn’t knowingly hurt anyone and besides he is just too weak a weakling; a scary cat. I know the man well enough and I know his whole family - this was Ingraham’s doing; it has Ingraham’s dictatorial signature all over it and it disgusts me. Sue them, boys!!!
    I’ve read in the papers where the Mellors have given up their fight and have declared that they will pursue their project no further; that, boys, is what Ingraham was counting on - for the matter to just go away. My advice? Still sue them.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
20th March 2010

IN PASSING
Sir Lynden's Birthday
In honour of the birthday of the late Sir Lynden Pindling on Monday 22nd March there will be a service of thanksgiving at the Faith United Church of God on Blue Hill Road beginning at 7:30 p.m.

GG To Leave Office
Speculation is that when the House of Assembly reconvenes following its prorogation on Monday 22nd March, a new Governor General will read the speech from the throne. There is speculation that Arthur Hanna, the present GG, has told the Government he wants to leave and has already come back from London where he gave his farewell message to Queen Elizabeth. Now the race is between Lynn Holowesko, the Senate President or Janet Bostwick, the former FNM MP. Our choice for an FNM would be Arthur Foulkes.

Emerick Knowles Falls Ill
Emerick Knowles QC has reportedly had a heart attack. Mr. Knowles is said to have been in Eleuthera at the Cancer Society's Ride For Hope when he had the heart attack. Sources say that he was flown to Doctors Hospital in Nassau where he remains in a coma. Our best wishes for his return to health.

Union Nominations Again
Nicole Martin and Lionel Morley are the nominees for President of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union for elections that will be held on 27th April, the day in our history that is known as Black Tuesday. The nominations took place on 15th March, the ides of March. Kirk Wilson, the insurgent candidate, who tied up the union in court cases and in two previous contests that were voided by the courts, including winning a court case that led to a raid on the Union’s funds, has apparently chosen not to run. So let’s hope that the sorry episode in the history of the Union is about to come to a close.

What Is Happening With Bahamar?
Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands has told the public by way of the press that they expect the deal with the Chinese on the redevelopment of Cable Beach of Bahamar to go ahead by month’s end. The deal is now being held up by the negotiations with their Chinese financiers. Word is that all the bad blood from the government side is now gone, what with Bahamar helping out Duane Sands in the bye-election in Elizabeth. Hubert Ingraham has forgiven the project’s appearance of supporting the PLP and is now fully committed to it moving forward after trashing it in the House of Assembly as part of his stop, review and cancel programme.

Public Complaints On Road Works
Shirley Street in New Providence has been chewed up to excess and driving that main thoroughfare has been like driving an obstacle course. So much was driver dissatisfaction that Director of Works Gordon Major told The Tribune that he would have to bring the matter to the attention of the utility companies doing the remedial work on lines and pipes and put pressure on them (Tribune 18th March). It must have worked because the road is now largely paved, although seems like a bum job. Too many ripples are in the fresh asphalt.

Banks Are Introducing Direct Debits, Cheque System Working
The head of the clearing house banks in The Bahamas Paul McWeeney says that direct debits payments may soon be available in The Bahamas. This will make it possible for vendors to sell their wares on line without having to use the US Pay Pal system. The Tribune reported this on 18th March. They say that some 10,000 cheque transactions are processed every day by the new electronic cheque clearing system so they know they can do it.

Congrats To Western Air Going Into JA

We are happy that Western Air, the privately owned Bahamian airline, has announced that it will be taking up the slack for the drop out of Air Jamaica when they stop serving The Bahamas on 12th April. Western Air says they will have a daily flight with their 33-seater Saab aircraft. They are in the midst of a four million dollar expansion in Freeport, Grand Bahama as well. In speaking to the issue, Rex Rolle, the proprietor, says they have been trying to get this done for some time but one of the obstacles was the fact that The Bahamas does not have an air services agreement with Jamaica. Mr. Rolle, who is FNM, should talk to Brent Symonette, the FNM Deputy Prime Minister, for the FNM's shameful neglect of Caricom and the fact that if we had signed on to the Caricom air services agreement that would not have been an issue.

No Easter Eggs This Year
The D’Albenas Agency that imports Cadbury eggs into The Bahamas says that they have cancelled their order for eggs this year because Cadbury can’t get the order here in time for Easter. This requires an emergency Cabinet meeting

80 Years Of Wickedness
The Tribune was busy last weekend congratulating Eileen Carron, the Empress of Evil, who sits as the Publisher and owner of that newspaper. She celebrated her 80th birthday on Saturday 13th March. 80 years is quite a long time to be writing wicked untrue things in the press. As far as we are concerned there is nothing to celebrate. It is a time for mourning.

Caricom Notes TCI Problems
The Heads of Government of Caricom issued the following statement at the end of their Summit in Dominica on Friday 12th March with regard to the Turks and Caicos Islands: “The Conference noted with interest the recent development in the Turks and Caicos Islands of the two political parties, the Progressive National Party and the Peoples Democratic Movement, putting aside partisan differences to fight for the common good of the people of their territory. Their concerns relate to the system of direct rule put in place by the British Government which, as CARICOM had cautioned in earlier statements, has disenfranchised the Turks and Caicos Islanders who no longer have a voice in the shaping of the social, political, economic and constitutional destinies of their country. A return to democracy and self rule is required.”

Special Caricom Summit On Crime And Security
The government of Trinidad and Tobago has announced that there will be a special summit on crime and security of all Caricom heads of government in Port-of-Spain sometime in mid April. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Paula Gopee-Scoon said that this was an important matter for all Caricom countries and needed to be addressed at the level of the Heads. She was speaking at the post-Cabinet press conference in Trinidad on Thursday 18th March.

Alarm Over Breast Cancer
There is important information contained in this short note about breast cancer which all Bahamian women ought to read and inwardly digest. It was reported in The Nassau Guardian of Friday 19th March. Dr. John Lunn says that they are about to launch into a long study on breast cancer in The Bahamas. “We're busy trying to shut off bad genes before they do bad things”, said Dr. Lunn. The hope is that early detection will save lives. Thus far, 231 Bahamian women have been tested with breast cancer, from 206 families. Twenty-five percent of the women have tested positive for a breast cancer gene mutation. The researchers say that this is the highest rate of inherited breast cancer recorded in the world. The research is seeking to developing protocols for a large study to determine the frequency of this abnormal gene in the unaffected population of The Bahamas. For the next two years, researchers will be offering free genetic testing to 2,000 women who go for screening mammograms. The Princess Margaret Hospital sees about 80 to 100 new cancer patients each year. Thirty four percent of Bahamian women diagnosed with breast cancer are 44 or younger. This compares to 12 percent of American women under 44. 46.6 percent of those Bahamian women diagnosed have late-stage breast cancer, compared to 12 percent of American women. The average age of women with breast cancer in The Bahamas is 42, while the average age in the United States is 62. The breast cancer research is managed through The Bahamas Breast Cancer Initiative Foundation.

Pastor Defends Attacking Gays
Lyall Bethel, the brother of FNM representative Carl Bethel, says that the media is biased against him and a group of the pastors that stand with him to oppose homosexuality in The Bahamas. He says that they do not get the coverage in their attacks on gays as the Tribune gives to presenting the opposite views. Mr. Bethel was incensed at a recent article in The Tribune about the subject that claimed that they were inciting prejudice in the country. The same group of pastors has also written the Utilities Regulatory Competition Authority (URCA) to say that banning attacks on sexual orientation in The Bahamas should not be included in their code of conduct.

Govt. Still In The Dark Over Sir Jack’s Shares
Minister of State Zhivargo Laing says that the government of The Bahamas is still officially in the dark about the sale of Sir Jack Hayward’s shares in the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The government must be blind as a bat and deaf as we don’t know what. It’s all about in the air that he is selling the shares. Don’t you think Zhivargo Laing should pick up the phone and ask Jack Hayward what gives?

A Pindling Film
The filmmaker Travolta Cooper, fresh from the critical success of his work on the late Stafford Sands is said to be working on a film about the life of the late Sir Lynden, reportedly with the co-operation of the family. If Mr. Cooper bags that one, it will be the most important project of his life and it will be extremely important to get the history right and the balance right for the ages. There is so much revisionism going on in this society that we must all guard against it and stop it.

Dame Marguerite and Empress Farah

“The Queen and I” is a documentary done by an Iranian exile about the widow of the late Shah of Iran Mohammad Pahlavi. The Shah spent some time in The Bahamas in 1979 after he was deposed by the Iranian mullahs. The Empress, in the documentary, said that people describe The Bahamas as paradise but for she and her husband it was hell. The point here is the similarities in the documentary, which was broadcast on the same night as the Jones and Company programme on Dame Marguerite Pindling who has launched her new book. We are not comparing the women or the philosophies and acts or omissions of the regimes of which they were a part, but what was interesting was the similarity of their comments about what it felt like to lose power. Dame Marguerite talked about the fact that when she returned to her own home in 1992, the police officers who were guarding them disrespected her and her husband and did not in fact want to let them into their own private home when they returned home from Andros no longer Prime Minister and Prime Minister's wife. The Empress described how people who were their friends around the world suddenly did not want to be seen with them. At one point, the Americans who they helped when they were in power had them on a plane and held the plane on the ground for hours while they negotiated with the new rulers of Iran for the release of the Americans taken hostage at the US Embassy in Tehran without telling them why they were being held on the ground in the plane. Dame Marguerite told Mr. Jones that she felt it in the air that the PLP would lose in 1992 and so she was prepared for it but there was still a sense of betrayal and it was still a very difficult period. The Iranian filmmaker who herself opposed the Shah’s regime, but later became disillusioned with the revolution, confronted the Empress on the alleged excesses of her husband’s regime. It would be interesting to have a similar face off in The Bahamas. But at the end of both interviews, there were sympathetic portraits of two beautiful, powerful women who to the end are standing by their men and are to be admired for it. The link for more on Empress Farah documentary: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-queen-and-i/synopsis.html

The Ginn Project In West End
Ginn Development senior vice president Al Jones was interviewed by The Freeport News last week. With carefully worded responses, he managed to put a positive spin on Ginn’s progress at Ginn-sur-Mer, the multi-million dollar mega yacht marina and casino project on Grand Bahama. But it seems that the comments are misleading. There is a real problem say the creditors in a series of law suits in the US. Many are questioning whether the project can in fact survive.

Bad News From Canada And The US
Canadian tax laws are being tightened so that setting up a trust overseas under foreign trustees does not work if the control of the trust is in Canada. There is also word that the US will be bringing into force new laws which will further cripple the ability of US citizens to put their money in Bahamian banks.

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

THERE IS A GOD

Nassau is a small town. One of the interesting and more pleasing factors about a small town is that if you can’t find someone, just stand on the main street for 15 minutes or so and that person is likely to pass you by. At least that is the feeling that you get in Nassau.

The scene is the Luciano’s Restaurant on the waterfront. Luciano's is located in the boyhood home of the now Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette. Where he used to play, we now sip pina coladas. Duane Sands, the FNM’s defeated candidate for the Elizabeth bye-election came to Luciano’s just after the court on the 23rd March declared that he had lost the election contest in the Elizabeth constituency. A few minutes later, Marvin Pinder, the father of the victorious candidate for Elizabeth, the PLP’s Ryan Pinder, showed up at Luciano’s for lunch as well. Ryan himself came later. A small town indeed. Victor and vanquished eating in the same place, of the same food.

The most sobering comment in the aftermath of all the shouting came from an FNM supporter who said that “well, we lost and while I am disappointed, at least we are not out in the street shooting and killing one another over it. No bloodshed.” God forbid that something like that should ever happen in Nassau, this small town.

One recalls the line in Martin Scorsese’s film ‘The Age Of Innocence’: “Everyone has always known everyone in New York”. The same could be said for Nassau. The Judges are no doubt related to some of the partisans on both sides. They grew up with them all, no doubt. FNM supporters on Facebook were seeking to impugn the integrity of the decisions of the Judges. A former Torchbearer Chairman suggested on his page that because Anita Allen was married to a former Cabinet Minister who had a falling out with Hubert Ingraham, she ruled against the government. Another post said that she was angry because she was not made Chief Justice. Interesting group, the FNM: anything except accepting that the result was a fair decision arrived at after due consideration of the law.

Another FNM partisan said that the decision would mean that every Haitian in the country could simply walk up to vote in The Bahamas. Not so but that is the talk now from their side.

The Leader of the FNM led the way in seeking to blame everyone but himself for Duane Sands’ loss. He was at it again: “It’s the PLP’s fault”. The problems of the register that the Judges spoke about again, Mr. Ingraham said were the fault of the PLP. Well, we suppose he had to say something.

There are some things that strike you as poignant, perhaps even funny in the midst of these very serious matters. The cell phones that went off during the court proceedings that brought glares from the bench. But cell phones are ubiquitous and they always go off, despite the warnings at the start of official proceedings to turn the cell phones off. Then once the result was clear, people started to leave the court and you can’t leave on that wooden floor without making a whole lot of noise. So the Judges ordered everyone barred from leaving until they were finished.

There was a rumble in the court as it became clear that all of the votes would be accepted and Ryan Pinder had won. This rumble came despite the warning at the start by Justice Anita Allen that there ought to be no outbursts. She said that this was a court of law, after all.

Then there was the lesson in mathematics. Should the costs be allocated between the litigants and in what percentages? Philip Davis for Mr. Pinder at first said sixty per cent. The lawyer for Dr. Sands, Thomas Evans Q.C., said no percent; after all, these proceedings were akin to an inquiry and so there should be no costs. Well, we suppose he had to say that. Then the Crown said it should be fifty percent since, after all, they had conceded two votes and therefore lessened the extent of the proceedings. Then Mr. Davis came back and said it ought to be five sixths or 80-something percent. At that point, the judges adjourned for five minutes to go do their maths. When they came back: 75 percent of the costs are to be paid by the Crown and 25 per cent by Dr. Sands. All rose and that was that.

Then it was God’s time. In the glorious aftermath, as the crowd pushed their way out of the court. God is good, they said. When God is for you, no man can be against you. God, they said, always has a plan, they said. Indeed he does.

Number of hits for the month of March up to Saturday 27th March 2010 up to midnight: 712,387.

Number of hits for the year 2010 up to Saturday 27th March 2010 up to midnight: 2,237,195.

Top: Ryan Pinder emerges victorious from the court, accompanied by Fred Mitchell MP, from The Nassau Guardian;
PLP Leader Perry Christie talks to the press;
The Leader and the Pinder family with attorneys Keod Smith (left), Philip Davis MP (second from left) and Valentine Grimes (right) by Peter Ramsay

HANNA LEAVING AS GOVERNOR GENERAL

Government House has announced that Arthur Hanna is to demit office on 14 April. He is to travel to London to communicate this to the Queen. He has served as Governor General from 1st February 2006. He is the only Governor General in the history of The Bahamas to refuse a knighthood for the post.

ROBERTS - MORTGAGE CORPORATION SAGA

Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts has issued another statement on the "continuing saga" of irregularities in the bidding process at the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. Please click here for Mr. Roberts' latest press statement on the matter.
Photo/www.myplp.com

THE COURT ON ELIZABETH

    Bradley Roberts, Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, issued a statement right after the court made its decision. You may click here for the full statement. Mr. Roberts castigated the FNM for not accepting the will of the people of Elizabeth. The way the case was fought was interesting. Last week, we indicated that the FNM and the government ought to have conceded the case. It was clear from the start what the law was on the point. That is why it was amusing to hear the lawyers for the FNM and the Government argue that they were merely assisting the court in its work (See Comment Of The Week). Yeah right!
    If the lawyers for the FNM and the Government were in fact assisting the court in its work, they ought to have conceded the case and not put the country through the exercise. That is why the arguments that they should not pay costs did not stand up either. There were five votes. As we said last week, two were conceded. Two others were arguable. But we thought that the fifth vote was a lost cause and that is the one which caused the Prime Minister to say the following:
    “We were surprised by the reasoning for the decision of the Election Court. It is outside anything we have known up to now as to the meaning of our law. We will therefore have the Office of the Attorney General undertake a review of the decision so that determinations can be made as to the extent to which any consideration ought to be given to either amending the law or calling upon a higher court to determine the validity of the reasoning issued by the court.
    “It is our purpose and intent to ensure that orderly, fair and predictable elections are held in The Bahamas.”
    The problem the Prime Minister had is with the vote of voter F. This is a voter who was registered in Yamacraw and voted there in 2007, but showed up to vote in Elizabeth and even though she had not transferred into Elizabeth, the Court accepted her vote. The Prime Minister and his FNM friends are exercised about this. But the court’s ruling is not as open ended as it seems.
    The Court said it was not their place to say whether or not the presiding officer was right in allowing the voter to vote.   What was clear, though, the Court said, was that once she was allowed to vote, they ought to determine whether she was qualified and eligible to vote and they found that she was. She lived in the Elizabeth constituency at the material time. You may click here for the full judgment.
    We think that Hubert Ingraham is looking around to see how he can impugn this judgment. But we think that on this one, he and his FNM friends really simply have to suck it up.
Photo/BahamasPress

CHRISTIE - NOT THIS TIME!

    Progressive Liberal Party Leader Perry Christie delivered the keynote address to jubilant throngs at the PLP's victory rally for Ryan Pinder in Elizbeth. Said Mr. Christie, "Today, the voice of the people of Elizabeth was heard in all its fullness for the first time since this saga began...
    "When the Government concentrates the full force and might of its machinery and money onto one single constituency – as the Government did in Elizabeth last month – most people expect them to win. And they always have.
    "But not this time! This time they lost. This time we won!" You may click here for Mr. Christie's full remarks from www.myplp.com.
Photo/www.myplp.com

STAN BURNSIDE’S CARTOON
Stan Burnside, the cartoonist, was as usual able to capture the essence of the political moment when Ryan Pinder was declared the winner in the Elizabeth bye-election by the court on Tuesday 23rd March.

Stan Burnside's 'Sideburns' - Nassau Guardian 24/03/10

PARLIAMENT PROROGUED

Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade announced on Tuesday 23rd March that the House of Assembly had been prorogued. That means that the parliamentary session which began after the last General Election has come to an end. All matters on the agenda, including the controversial bill that would have criminalized sex without consent within a subsisting marriage also died. The Minister Loretta Butler seemed incensed by the decision saying that some people don’t like progress. But she conveniently forgot to remember that the decision about passing the bill is with the government of which she is a part. If they wanted to pass it, they could have. If they want to bring it back, they can. The trouble is the Cabinet; all male except for her, does not agree with the bill, nor support it. She does not need to blame the PLP for that one; the fault is squarely on the FNM of which she is a part.
The photo of the prorogation ritual on the steps of the House of Assembly is by Peter Ramsay. Provost Marshal Ellison Greenslade read the proclamation.

THELMA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Thelma McWeeney is the mother of Sean McWeeney, the former Attorney General; Lady Eugenie Nuttal; William (Billy) McWeeney; Dr. Vincent McWeeney; Mary McWeeney Faturi; Denisia Burnside; Paul McWeeney, the Managing Director of the Bank of The Bahamas and the sister of George Cox, the country’s premier engineer all of whom celebrated Mrs. McWeeney’s 80th birthday on Sunday last 21st March 2010. The party was held at the Balmoral Club. Below, from left; with brother George Cox and son Paul, with Archbishop Patrick Pinder; and sharing the cake with daughters Denny, Mary and Genie.

CYCLING WITH LYNN HOLOWESKO

FNMs were busy celebrating the birthday of the late Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield on 20th March in Freeport. Sir Cecil is considered the father of the FNM. But where was the present leader of the FNM Hubert Ingraham, who came to lead them from the PLP? He was busy riding his bicycle with the UBP’s Lynn Holowesko for a worthy cause in Eleuthera; the fight for cancer. That may of course have been preferable to celebrating the birthday with Cecil Wallace Whitfield FNMs, not our language but that of Carl Bethel, the FNM’s chairman who has described himself as a Cecil Wallace Whitfield FNM. Things that make you go hmmm!
Anyway, nice photo of Lynn and the Prime Minister with Archbishop Patrick Pinder and it was good cause for the Prime Minister to support. The latest bet is that on 10th April, she is to become the Governor General succeeding Arthur Hanna.
Photo/BahamasPress

INGRAHAM APPOINTS MICHAEL PINTARD

    Hubert Ingraham, in apparent defiance of a ruling by the Court that no one subject to the FNM’s party whip ought to fill the post of senator under Article 39 of the constitution, did so anyway by appointing to the Senate Michael Pintard (pictured). If ever there were an FNM stalwart, then Michael Pintard is it. The PLP should not waste a moment in going to court to set aside this appointment.
    Then Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall ruled last year that Article 39 (4) is to represent the balance of the House and that means it cannot be an FNM partisan that fills one of those positions. Anthony Musgrove was made to step down as a result of his being subject to the FNM party’s whip. Michael Pintard is an FNM out and out. That means that he comes squarely within the prohibited category that Sir Burton ruled could not be appointed to the Senate.
    Bradley Roberts PLP Chairman issued a statement immediately denouncing the appointment. He accused Mr. Ingraham of seeking to distract attention from the loss in Elizabeth by making the controversial appointment.

CARL BETHEL NOT TO BE OUTDONE

Carl Bethel, the FNM Chairman demeans himself and lowers his standards when he engages in speaking utter rubbish. Such must be the response of the PLP and this column to the assertions made by Mr. Bethel in response to statements by Bradley Roberts PLP Chairman on the appointment of Michael Pintard to the Senate. Our views are clear on this: Michael Pintard is not the appropriate appointment given the law and the appointment should be set aside. He is an FNM partisan and therefore is not qualified to sit pursuant to the provisions of the constitution, which say that the Prime Minister must appoint someone to reflect the balance of the House. All previous leaders of parties in this country except Hubert Ingraham have taken that to mean whoever the Leader of the Opposition says he wants in the Senate, the Prime Minister concurs. Not so Mr. Ingraham. He wants it all.
Now, Carl Bethel seeks to trivialize the statement of the Chairman of the PLP by coming back with rally talk about Perry Christie being late again. The facts are Mr. Christie opposed this appointment months ago. Hubert Ingraham knew Mr. Christie's position when he wrote the Governor General. The appointment is another example of Hubert Ingraham being bloody minded. All the more reason why the appointment should be blocked in the Courts and Mr. Ingraham should be given his walking ticket. It is simply another example of the FNM’s disgraceful and unlawful behaviour. No amount of rally talk by Carl Bethel can change those immutable facts.
Carl Bethel - file photo

UWI ALUMNI COUNCIL MEETS IN NASSAU

The University of the West Indies held its Alumni Council meeting here in Nassau from Wednesday 24th March to Friday 26th March. Their host was the local chapter headed by A. Missouri Sherman Peter who is also the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Security. The alumns discussed the role of the University and how it can better serve the countries of the region. The Chancellor of the University Sir George Allyene had a dialogue with the alumns at one session.
The photos by Peter Ramsay show Sir George with the members of the council including Mrs. Sherman Peter and honorary member Fred Mitchell MP at a reception at the home of Mrs. Peter on Skyline Drive and the entire executive with the Vice Chancellor at the Paul Farquharson Building at Police Headquarters where the meetings took place.

FRED MITCHELL AT VICTORY RALLY

Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill spoke at the victory rally for the PLP following the bye-election result on Tuesday 23rd March. The rally attracted thousands of PLPs, jubilant about the victory. Mr. Mitchell said that the result should encourage the PLP to continue the discipline that it showed in the bye-election. He urged the party to continue to bring in new ideas and fresh faces. He said to the young people that Ryan Pinder’s success showed that they must fight to get in. He urged them to continue to fight, repeating the Frederick Douglass line: “power concedes nothing without a demand”. Click here for the full address.
Fred Mitchell at PLP Victory Rally/Tribune photo

CALL FOR PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER TO GO
Obie Wilchcombe MP for West End and Bimini told the PLP rally in Grand Bahama on Thursday 25th March at PLP House that Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel must resign. He said that we cannot fight another general election with Mr. Bethel at the head of the process. Mr. Bethel came under fire during the recent Election Court case for the Elizabeth constituency. The Court blamed him for the shambolic state of the register.

FRED MITCHELL ON SMITH’S POINT
Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell has called on the representative for High Rock Ken Russell to cause the government to invest in infrastructure for Smith’s Point, the native settlement just outside of Freeport. Mr. Mitchell said that the infrastructure to support the tourism trade in Smith's Point has been neglected by the FNM government because the people in Smith Point are PLP voters. He said they should not be victimized because they are PLPs. Mr. Mitchell said that he was advised that each week some 500 people who are tourists visit the Smith's Point Fish Fry and that a sea wall needed to be constructed. He said that some 250 pounds of snapper are sold there every week, some 100 pounds of crawfish, yet the Ministry of Tourism does not supply the necessary support for the Smith Point enterprise. Mr. Mitchell urged the government to act to help the Smith Point community survive. He was speaking at the rally held by the PLP on Thursday 25th March in Freeport.

THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR SIR LYNDEN

Monday 22nd March would have been the 80th birthday of the founding Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the FATHER OF THE NATION Lynden O. Pindling. Sir Lynden died on 26th August 2000. His widow Dame Marguerite Pindling, joined by her children Obie, Michelle, Leslie and Monique, held a service of thanksgiving for him at the Faith United Baptist Church on Monday 22nd March. The religious community turned out in full force including Bishop Brice Thompson of the Church of God of Prophecy and Pastor Hugh Roach of the Seventh Day Adventists, The Rev, Patrick Paul, President of the Bahamas Christian Council, Bishop Albert Hepburn and Brother Al McCartney of the Brethren. PLP Leader Perry Christie was joined by his Parliamentary colleagues at the service.

BISHOP ELLIS AT BOOK LAUNCH

Last week, we reported that Bishop Neil C. Ellis launched his new book PURSUING THE GLORY. We thought that we would share with you from that event on Thursday 18th March this engaging photo from the Bishop’s Facebook page of himself and his wife Patrice at the launch. Bishop Ellis will be featured in Jet Magazine in its 12th April edition.

THE VICTORY LAP

The scene outside the courtroom on Tuesday 23rd February was one of absolute jubilation and pure joy. Ryan Pinder, the new kid on the block, was declared the winner by reason of the five protest votes being accepted by the Court as validly cast for the PLP by five Elizabeth voters on 16th February. This photograph, from Jen Dames’ Facebook page shows a typical scene of the jubilation.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Oswald Brown Predicts A Crushing Defeat For The FNM
    In my last OSWALD BROWN WRITES column, which The Nassau Guardian refused to publish and subsequently requested that I retire as editor of The Freeport News, I noted that the Elizabeth bye-election would be a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. The verdict is now in. Unquestionably, Ryan Pinder’s victory, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, is a clear indication that the Bahamian people are fed up with Ingraham’s dictatorial tendencies, and will demonstrate their disgust at the polls in 2012 or whenever the next general elections are held.
    Even if Ingraham decides to retire and not lead the Free National Movement (FNM) in the next general elections, I predict that the FNM will go down to a crushing defeat. That’s primarily because Ingraham has succeeded in emasculating some once promising FNM leaders who had the potential to succeed him. Branville McCartney, who arguably was the best immigration minister to hold that position since the country has been plagued by a serious illegal Haitian immigrant problem, was by far the best choice to take over the leadership of the FNM after Ingraham, but he was left with no choice but to resign several weeks ago if he wanted to maintain the widespread respect he has garnered from the Bahamian people during his still young political career.
    His resignation was no doubt welcomed by some of his colleagues who saw him as a definite threat to their own leadership ambitions, and some of them in fact may have been part of a conspiracy to force him to resign. National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest is still considered to be the front-runner to replace Ingraham, but he still lacks leadership appeal among the vast majority of Bahamians. Of course, Ingraham’s personal choice for his successor is Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing, but almost on a daily basis Laing proves that he is far from ready to lead the FNM, no matter how much Ingraham continues to push him in that direction. Health Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis was once considered to be a promising prospect, but he has allowed his close friendship with Ingraham to cloud his political judgment and has remained silent as Ingraham has controlled the FNM as if it is his personal fiefdom. What all this adds up to is a huge victory for the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in the next general elections, now that they have wisely resolved their leadership dispute and have embarked upon a very sensible exercise of selecting some candidates well in advance of the elections. The four candidates ratified last week certainly are all excellent choices, and if this trend continues, the PLP’s success in the next election is assured.
    One bit of advice that I would offer the PLP is to take full advantage of the racial implications of Ryan Pinder’s victory in Elizabeth, and forever shed its image, in the minds of some, as being a racist party. Ryan Pinder is a white Bahamian, and this unquestionably should be used as a foundation to broaden the party’s appeal among our white brothers and sisters. The truth of the matter is that there were many white Bahamians who abhorred the racist policies of the United Bahamian Party (UPB) when that white minority government ran this country, and in some cases were victims of the oppressive policies of the UPB. The fact that Ryan’s father, Marvin Pinder, once was an elected PLP House of Assembly member and served as a minister in the PLP government is indicative of this fact. Unfortunately, the PLP did not take full advantage of the opportunity that Marvin Pinder provided for it to broaden its appeal to other white Bahamians who shared his views. The Bahamas is too small a country for the racial division that still exists to continue. Ryan Pinder’s victory has provided the PLP with a splendid opportunity to close that gap. It is an opportunity that should not be squandered.
Oswald T. Brown
Freeport, Grand Bahama

Forrester Carroll... The Moody's Agency Assessment

    Due to the continual rising of the Bahamas’ debt-to-GDP ratio; it’s spiraling out of control fiscal deficit and national debt mismanagement, Moody’s rating agency recently declared that the Country’s government has three options left to it, and must of necessity opt to adopt one, two or all three of those options, immediately. Reduce recurrent expenditure; (2) increase existing taxes and or (3) introduce new taxes. None of these possible economic cures are very welcomed news for this clueless government, to say the least, and adhering to the implementation of even one of them would spell further gloom and doom for our economy. An economy which is already in shambles, and which has affected our people, so drastically, to the extent that the misery index of suffering is unimaginable and on a scale never before experienced in the Bahamas.
    In their report, released through Tribune Business on Thursday March 18th, Mr. Gabriel Torres, Moody’s “Investors Service’s senior sovereign credit rating analyst” for the Bahamas declared, in effect, that they were letting the Bahamas off the hook for awhile by not following, as they should do or should have done, Standard & Poor’s lead taken, several months ago when they downgraded the country’s economic outlook to a BBB+ rating. Mr. Torres said that Moody’s took the position to hold off their grading, of the Bahamas’ economic outlook, until after the government puts in place its budget for 2010-2011. He indicated further that they wish to see just what austerity measures the FNM government would be prepared to take in an effort to bring under control the uncontrolled budget deficits and the spiraling out of control national debt.
    Mr. Torres’ expert opinion is that the country’s debt-to-GDP percentage will reach the 47.7% mark by the end of June 2010 (this fiscal period) and will in all probability, he said, rise to around 50% at the end of June 2011. We can grow our way out of this mess, opined Mr. Torres, by increasing our GDP, but that won’t be very easy to do, he opined, given the country’s growth record in recent years. In other words, Moody’s is telling us what we already know, and what the government insist on ignoring, that we are up to our throats in a heap of royal Doo-Doo and it is for the government to clean up its mess. It was they who got us into this mess, so it is they who will have to get us out of it.
    The FNM’s policy attitude toward binding “Agreements” consummated between their predecessor (PLP) in office and foreign Investors, on their coming to office in May 2007, is now reaping the whirlwind of financial woes, for our country and our people, which Perry Christie and the PLP predicted and indeed warned them, vehemently, at the time. I really hate to have to say that we told them so, but we did, in fact, tell them so. We did warn them that their “stop; review and cancel” policy would destroy the confidence of investors presently in the country and those contemplating coming; that it would wreak havoc on our country’s growth and cause our people untold hardship and misery but Hubert Ingraham, in his usual abrasive arrogant manner, would not listen to wisdom. And now he has succeeded in running the Bahamas’ economic bus into the proverbial ditch. Ingraham can thank his lucky stars tonight for one thing, and that is that he is not the North Korean minister of finance, who was recently accused of ruining that country’s (North Korea) economy. North Korea’s High Command regarded the actions, or lack thereof, of their Minister of Finance as a criminal act and after a mock trial, found him guilty and sentenced him to death by firing squad. He paid the ultimate price for screwing up, as they said, the country’s economy. I don’t cite this incident to suggest, in any way shape or form, that we employ (legally) such harsh and extreme measures, but I am suggesting that when ministers in the government are unduly reckless in discharging their constitutional responsibility to the people of the Bahamas and cause to be brought hardships on an innocent populace, so much so that sustained months of suffering become so extremely unbearable that citizens began to take their own lives then there ought to be consequences.
    To reduce recurrent expenditure, which is one of the three bad choices Moody’s has given us as a possible way out of the ditch, civil servants salaries would, of necessity, have to be cut or the numbers of civil servants reduced; government services would have to be scaled back and or some eliminated altogether. If the government chooses option two-that of increasing existing taxes-what existing taxes would or could they increase? They have already overhauled the customs tariff act, resulting in the largest across-the-board, one-time increases in the country’s history, and because of the very bad economic conditions prevailing in the country at the moment, what other taxes could they increase and or introduce which wouldn’t result in numerous small business houses closing their doors and maybe even a few medium to large ones as well? Option three is no better an option than option two, where the bottom line would result in more out of pocket expenditure by households and companies, making it far more difficult for all parties to make ends meet, at the end of the day. I would say that “know-it-all” Hubert Ingraham and “smarty-pants” Zhivargo Laing have their hands full and their work cut out for them, trying to juggle these badly kept books. If you were to ask me, and you didn’t, I would predict (these two months in advance before the next budget debate) that the upcoming national budget presentation and the debate which will follow, will be interesting to observe and a very interesting topic to read about.
    From my reading of Moody’s report on the Bahamas, my opinion of what I decipher, there from, is that the Wall Street credit rating analyst is prepared only to give the FNM government until they present the next national budget for fiscal period 2010-2011, before putting the final touches to their official assessment report on the country. Mr. Torres seems to be saying that he is prepared to take a wait-and-see position right now, but the contents of budget 2010-2011 as to what austere measures the Ingraham government will employ in an effort to achieve the objective of reducing expenditure and bringing the national debt in line, will determine how his final report will read. I ask; will you cut civil servants salaries, Mr. Ingraham? Will you fire more civil servants, Mr. Laing? Or will you increase existing taxes and or introduce new ones? What will it be you two know-it-alls?
    Both these men (Ingraham and Laing) had much criticism for Standard and Poor’s report in 2008, when the facts of our true economic position and the reasons given by S & P, as to how we got where we were and why, were aired in their report resulting in the Bahamas’ downgrade. In effect S & P said it was the FNM’s foolish policy of “stop review and cancel” that caused investors to lose confidence in the integrity of the Bahamian government; resulting in many cancelled projects which either had already started; were about to start and or which were in their final stages of negotiations. Investors who may have had their eyes on the country, as being a secured place for their investments, also changed their minds and went elsewhere, no doubt. A compilation of stopping projects already started; changing the terms and conditions of agreements already signed; speaking insultingly about investors in parliament and generally harassing investors, like what Ingraham did when he ordered the principals of GINN SUR MER, West End Grand Bahama project, into Nassau for further consultation, just after coming to office. This, I am told, made those folk so furious that they wanted to pack up and leave town immediately; but while they didn’t leave they certainly slowed the project to a snail’s pace. All these things contributed and lead to the deterioration of investor confidence and so S & P had simply little choice but to cite those factors as some of the reasons, contributing to the hastening of the destruction of our economy. Have they learned any lessons, from their past bumbling? I doubt it very seriously; but crunch time is around the corner and we will see what decisions the duo makes.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
27th March 2010

IN PASSING
Galanis Is Right On The Media
In his article published in The Nassau Guardian on Monday 22nd March, former Senator Philip Galanis argued in favour of a fair and balanced media. This seems an impossibility in this country. So far, no newspaper has been able to give the desired balance in reporting. Strangely, The Tribune comes closest to it. What is needed is a Press Council to police press behaviour. There is also a need for a public editor in each of the newspapers whose job it is to police the paper’s fairness and balance standards.

John Black Suing On Public Nuisance
A resident of Stapeldon Gardens John Black is reportedly suing the producers of the beer fests on John F. Kennedy Drive in New Providence. He is one of a number of residents who complain that the beer fest, which invites people to come and pay 10 dollars for all the beer they can drink, is a noisy public nuisance. The suit is being brought against Burns House and Butler and Sands, the major liquor merchants in the country. This is an increasingly evident problem throughout New Providence, residential areas where commercial activities encroach on the quality of life. No one appears interested in the public policy to deal with it.

Joy Carey Jibrilu
The Director of Investments for the Bahamas Investment Authority Joy Carey Jibrilu was reportedly airlifted to hospital in Florida on Thursday 25th March. She reportedly went into Doctors Hospital in Nassau for the removal of gall stones and something went horribly awry, which led to the decision to airlift her immediately to Florida. No word on her condition save that it is grave. Mrs. Carey Jibrilu is the daughter of former President of the Methodist in The Bahamas Kenris Carey.

Ingraham At IDB
Hubert Ingraham was out of town for the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) meeting in Cancun, Mexico. He came back home having inked loans for two projects: $1.4 million for a Health Services Strategy and $3.8 million for sustainable energy project

Twenty Million Dollar Facelift Great Sturrup
There was a report that Great Sturrup Cay will get a 20 million dollar facelift by the cruise ship owner that uses the cay for its guests. It sounds like a lot, but from what we can see none of this will make it into the Bahamian economy. Most of it will be done for infrastructural works which means the capital will be used to bring in material from outside the country. The investment then is deceptive in terms of its economic impact. What does it mean, if anything, for the economy?

Moody’s Wants Budget Cuts
The Tribune reported the following on 18th March: “Gabriel Torres, Moody's Investors Service's senior sovereign credit rating analyst for the Bahamas, said this nation's history of relatively prudent fiscal management had won it some time to tackle its public debt problems, with the rating agency "not yet" looking at following Standard & Poor's down the road of a sovereign downgrade despite the debt-to-GDP ratio increasing by 15 percentage points in the last three-four years.
“Moody's, though, was "expecting to revisit the Bahamas in a couple of months' time to see what's going on", and Mr. Torres told Tribune Business it would be difficult for this nation to "grow its way" out of its public finance problems, due to relatively low economic (GDP) growth rates over the past few years.
“This, he implied, meant that the Government would either have to look at austerity measures, such as cuts in recurrent and capital expenditures, or new or increased taxes, to bring the Budget deficit and national debt back into line. Neither measure, or a combination of both, will be lightly felt, and some pain will probably be caused.”

Frank Watson Boulevard

Frank Watson, the former Deputy Prime Minister now has a boulevard named in his honour. Mr. Watson served in parliament from 1982 to 2002. He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 2002. The new road is part of the redevelopment of the coastal road as a result of the Albany development in southwest New Providence. The road was opened by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham Thursday 25th March.
BIS photo/Peter Ramsay

Michael Smith’s Disbarment Upheld
The Court of Appeal struck out the appeal of Michael Smith to be restored to the roll of lawyers in the country. He failed to show up to prosecute the appeal on Thursday 25th March. He was disbarred on 20th May, 2009 for spending clients’ monies held in escrow and failing to return it when ordered to do so.

Prison To Jam Cell Phones
Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming told the Nassau Guardian that he is looking at buying cell phone jamming equipment to stop the use of cell phones by prisoners in the prison. It appears that with the best will in the world the prison can’t stop the smuggling in of cell phones to the prison.

Calling Potential Candidates For Marco City
There was a Facebook call from Vice Chair of Marco City Tristaan Lockhart for those PLPs interested in running for the Marco City seat. The post was quickly taken down. Some younger PLPs objected saying that it made the party look desperate.

SG and ASG Re-Elected Unopposed At OAS
Manuel Insulza and Albert Ramden have both been returned unopposed for second five year terms as Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General respectively for the Organization of American States headquarter in Washington D.C. The body is made up of all 34 states in this hemisphere except Cuba. Caricom supported Mr. Ramden’s candidacy who is from Suriname, a Caricom state.

PLP Candidates Committee
The Candidates Committee of the PLP has been meeting. On Thursday 25th March it met and interviewed candidates for the South Beach constituency. Amongst them were: Attorney and Talk Show host Romauld Ferreira; law student and journalist Viraj Perpall; Attorneys Myles LaRoda and Fayne Thompson

Willie Wong Is Leaving
William Wong is stepping down as President of the Bahamas Real Estate Association according to The Tribune.

BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday To Lowell Mortimer
The well known Attorney-at-Law and philanthropist Lowell Mortimer is celebrating a birthday. Best wishes, Lowell

Happy Birthday To Anthony Kikivarakis
The partner at accounting firm Deloitte, Anthony Kikivarakis celebrates his 60th birthday and 35th wedding anniversary on Monday 29th March. His wife and family held a party for him on Saturday 27th March at his home in Westridge overlooking the city at 93 feet above sea level. It is a great story. From Chapel Street to Westridge. Congratulations to Kiki and his beautiful wife Joy.

Happy Birthday To Peter Ramsay
Very best wishes to Peter Ramsay, the photographic chronicler of the Bahamian life and times. He was 56 on 27th March.

7^thMarch, 2010 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...BRAN IS THE FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH...
GROWING SCANDAL AT MORTGAGE CORP...	ELECTION COURT DATE SET...
JUDGE CRITICIZES TOMMY TURNQUEST...	MELANIE GRIFFIN SPEAKS FOR THE POOR...
OBIE SCHOOLS THE MINISTER OF TOURISM...	SHORTAGE OF NURSES...
NEW BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER...	MID-YEAR BUDGET A WASTE OF TIME...
HEART GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT SANDS...	THE PRIEST LOSES...
STAN BURNSIDE’S ON ARCHDEACON...	SENATOR JEROME ON SAUNDERS BEACH...
FOX HILL GIVES TO RED CROSS FOR HAITI...	JOINT MARCH BY TCI PARTIES...
NASSAU GUARDIAN TRASHES McCARTNEY...	BRAN McCARTNEY'S STATEMENT...
CHRISTIE, SHANE, INVITE BRAN TO PLP...	FRED MITCHELL ANSWERS TOMMY...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...	IN PASSING...


Fred Mitchell Launches 3^rdEdition of 'Great Moments In PLP History...	Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...	Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org	Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...	Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report...	Bahamian Cycling News
	BahamasIssues.com

14^thMarch, 2010 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...THE COURT CASE TO SETTLE THE ELECTION...
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME...	RAHMING ON THE PRISON...
PRIME MINISTER AT CARICOM...	THE GG’S BIRTHDAY PARTY PHOTOS...
GETTING OFF THE GRAY LIST...	THAT AWFUL BACKLOG OF CASES...
A SIGN OF THE TIMES BY OBEDIAH MICHAEL SMITH...	56 DEAD IN A YEAR: GLENYS CALLS FOR SEATBELTS...
TURKS AND CAICOS PARTIES HAVE A SUCESSFUL JOINT MARCH...	JEROME LAYS OUT THE CASE AGAINST THE FNM...
CHRIS BROWN GOLD...	THIS WEEK ON CITIZENS REVIEW...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...	IN PASSING...





Fred Mitchell Launches 3^rdEdition of 'Great Moments In PLP History...	Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...	Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org	Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...	Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report...	Bahamian Cycling News
	BahamasIssues.com

21^stMarch, 2010 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...THE PRESS CONFUSES THE PUBLIC ON BYE-ELECTION...
FOUR PLP CANDIDATES ARE NAMED...	NEIL ELLIS’ NEW BOOK...
CARL BETHEL’S COMPLAINT...	AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON MONEY...
NEVILLE WISDOM ON FAILURE IN YOUTH AND SPORTS...	BRENT SAYS HE AND BRAN GOT ALONG JUST FINE...
PLP MEETS CHAMBER ON TRADE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS...	WHAT’S WRONG WITH PAUL MOSS’ RESIGNATION?...
FNM TARGETS JEROME FITZGERALD...	FREEPORT GLASS COMPANY TO CLOSE...
THE ORIGINAL GALANIS COLUMN...	DAME MARGUERITE’S BOOK LAUNCH PHOTOS...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...	IN PASSING...





Fred Mitchell Launches 3^rdEdition of 'Great Moments In PLP History...	Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...	Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org	Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...	Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report...	Bahamian Cycling News
	BahamasIssues.com

28^thMarch, 2010 *Welcome to bahamasuncensored.com* *How do you do today? It's great to have you as a reader. We have the most incisive political news about and from The Bahamas!* *Please tell all your friends about us.* ...THERE IS A GOD...
HANNA LEAVING AS GOVERNOR GENERAL...	ROBERTS - MORTGAGE CORP. SAGA...
THE COURT ON ELIZABETH...	CHRISTIE - NOT THIS TIME!...
STAN BURNSIDE’S CARTOON...	PARLIAMENT PROROGUED...
THELMA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY...	CYCLING WITH LYNN HOLOWESKO...
INGRAHAM APPOINTS MICHAEL PINTARD...	CARL BETHEL NOT TO BE OUTDONE...
UWI ALUMNI COUNCIL MEETS IN NASSAU...	FRED MITCHELL AT VICTORY RALLY...
CALL FOR ERROL BETHEL TO GO...	FRED MITCHELL ON SMITH'S POINT...
THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR SIR LYNDEN...	BISHOP ELLIS AT BOOK LAUNCH...
THE VICTORY LAP...	LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...
	IN PASSING...


Fred Mitchell Launches 3^rdEdition of 'Great Moments In PLP History...	Fred Mitchell's 56th Birthday Party In Support of the 'Mission Fund'...
The Official Site of the Progressive Liberal Party...	The Official Site of the Free National Movement...
PhilipBraveDavis.com...	Interesting Places...
JeromeFiztgerald.org	Bahamas Government Website
KendredDorsett.com	Reg & Kit's Bahamas Links
FredMitchellUncensored.Com ARCHIVES...	Bahamians On The Web
How & Why The PLP Lost in 2007 - The Greenberg Report...	Bahamian Cycling News
	BahamasIssues.com

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

Volume 8 © BahamasUncensored.com 2010

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