bahamasuncensored.com
NOVEMBER 2007
Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 5 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2007
While material on this web site can be used freely by other sections of
the press, as a courtesy, journalists are asked to attribute the source
of their material from this web site.
11th November, 2007
18th November, 2007
25th November, 2007
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|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: It
is remarkable the support that the PLP continues to have in the country.
If you hear the FNM and their media friends tell it, there is not a PLP
left in the country. But there are, and there are people who are
PLP who put in their hours every day and night fighting to get the PLP
returned to office. As you look upon them hard at work, you wonder
what makes them do it? Certainly the prospects of an easy and early
victory over the evil one is a high hill to climb. Certainly the
comments and observations made about the neglect of core PLP supporters
during the time the PLP was in office have some ring of truth. So
what makes them continue to do it? There is obviously some inner
force at work there. One of the best examples of that inner something
is the work of the people of the Fox Hill Branch of the PLP. Last
week, the Branch held a cook out on the Fox Hill parade grounds, selling
fish and steaks and chicken. It was a great success. They worked
together and the people came out to buy and they seemed to have done well
financially. Former Minister of Works Bradley Roberts came out to
join the representative for the Fox Hill constituency at the cookout.
Everyone had a grand time. Our photo of the week then is that of
the Fox Hill branch’s cookout on the Fox Hill parade on Saturday 27th October
2007. The photo is by Dennis Fountain. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A NOT QUITE HURRICANE
DROWNS US
Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister looked like a straggler and
he had other stragglers with him. The only one who looked like he
was supposed to have been there was Tommy Turnquest, the Minister of National
Security. The others looked like someone had forced them out of bed
to be there. We are talking about the press conference held by the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to tell the country where we
were on what has now passed into history as Tropical Storm Noel.
The
press conference took place on what was supposed to have been the worst
day for the storm in New Providence on Thursday 1st November. The
storm had been coming for days. The Government was told by the Met
office that the storm was coming on Wednesday 31st October. As a
consequence on Tuesday 20th October, all government offices were closed
at 12 noon and civil servants were told to go and prepare for the worst.
The banks closed. In New Providence the storm never came. There
was some rainy weather on the Wednesday and the skies were overcast but
no more than on a winter’s day in Nassau when a cold front is coming in.
The House of Assembly met briefly on the Wednesday and then suspended until
Guy Fawkes Day 5th November. The weather was still threatening said
the Met office; only the system had slowed down over Cuba and was not expected
to come until Thursday.
It did blow a bit more on Thursday 1st November but not by much.
There was a fair amount of water but New Providence did not even have the
flooding of heavy summer rain to deal with. The issue was the Family
Islands. The reports kept coming in from Long Island that there was
a disaster on the ground of enormous proportions. The Met office
said that 15 inches of rain had fallen in Long Island. That left
many settlements under water including Deadman's Cay that reported that
homes were flooded and people had to be evacuated to shelters. No
word yet on what the Government was going to do about it.
A similar story could be told about Exuma. The place was simply
drowning in water. Reports are that the Forest in the centre of the
Great Exuma Island was particularly hard hit and the government housing
complex in that area as well was under water. Locals used tractors
and big trucks to help the residents evacuate. Given the fact that
Exuma is a PLP island, it would seem prudent for the PLP to go to the island
as quickly as possible to hold up the flag. We urge the government
to act quickly to get help and relief to those who have been adversely
affected by the storm.
Unfortunately, the story in Exuma is sadder than anywhere else.
A disc jockey at the local radio station in Georgetown, Exuma lost his
life. He is Kevin Milford 32. Mr. Milford from all accounts
was trying to get to work when his truck stalled while going through water.
He decided with another worker to get out of the truck and make his way
by foot. He misstepped. The road fell away into a pond and
with the water level so high, the two could not be distinguished.
The pond was too deep, and he drowned because he could not swim.
It was a shocking and sad day for Exuma.
In many senses, though, The Bahamas dodged a bullet. It could
have been much worse, what with the reports coming out of Haiti and the
Dominican Republic about the loss of life. We extend our condolences
to the governments of those countries on what has transpired. The
question now for us is what lessons can be learned by this event?
It strikes you that The Bahamas is simply lucky with these events.
The closest we came to real catastrophe in natural disasters had to be
the three hurricanes that the country experienced under the PLP.
Fortunately, there was minimal loss of life because of the building code
and because of the precautions that we take in advance of the storm.
It may be that because we are low-lying we don’t have to worry about landslides
and other issues like rivers overflowing their banks. But we keep
saying in some senses we are simply lucky.
For example, do we really have the equipment and the manpower should
there be a real emergency? Our responses seem to be so haphazard,
ramshackle and ill prepared. The Met office in particular has to
do some sharpening up. They just could not seem to get the weather
right and so it appears that the country lost productivity in part because
the weather forecast just was not right.
Then there is the government. There does not seem to be any
protocols about who is actually to lead this in a political sense and when
does that leadership kick in. Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister,
shows up at what was obviously a hastily organized news conference to have
the top civil servants report what is going on in the country. He
acted the part of the resident bully demanding that people tell the press
their names and in one case arguing with the General Manager of the Water
and Sewerage Corporation about whether the water was safe to drink.
The General Manager stood his ground and said he could only vouch for the
water of his Corporation, which was safe to drink. It seems to us
that Prime Ministers are best simply making a general statement to the
country about the need for caution, safety and taking the matter seriously
and then they ought to leave it to the professionals.
What was also curious about the Ingraham press conference, which
was announced as a NEMA press conference, was that NEMA did not have a
word to say. In any event, we got the distinct impression that Mr.
Ingraham and his government want to scupper NEMA. You know it was
started by the PLP so according to the FNM creed it has to go.
We dodged another one. Let us hope that the next time around
that same combination of luck and planning helps us avoid being drowned
by water.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 3rd November 2007 at
midnight: 225,123.
Number of hits for the month of October up to Wednesday 31st October
2007 at midnight: 1,250,056.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Saturday 3rd November 2007
at midnight: 3,487,657. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
Residents in Moss
Town, Exuma shown using a boat during the flooding in the Nassau Guardian
photo above by Felicia Saunders
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
PLP
CONSULTS ON JURIES BILL
The House of Assembly met briefly on Wednesday 31st
October and suspended because a storm was coming. The storm did not
come but MPs went home anyway and it gave the PLP a chance to further consult
various groups on what their view is about the Juries Bill proposed by
the government. No doubt when the House resumes, there will be an
interesting report to the House on what the Government failed to do.
What the Government failed to do was consult.
They simply decided that it was a good idea and went ahead. Alfred
Sears who led the debate for the PLP asked the question where is the evidence
to support the reduction of juries down from 12 to nine? The government
has been unable to answer. No doubt, they don't care. The FNM
will simply ram the legislation down the throats of the public, just as
it did with the National Referendum in 2002.
Hubert Ingraham is not a changed man. We saw
that from the report on
this site last week where he starred as JACKASS OF THE WEEK for his
outstandingly stupid performance in the House the week before.
The Tribune was at it again, lying on the PLP by
saying in an editorial on Friday 2nd November that it was the PLP's fault
that the Juries Bill had been delayed. No such thing. The FNM’s
leader agreed to delay the passage of the Bill. The silly Tribune
and the hacks that run it can’t seem to get it through their thick skulls
that there are some things that the government is responsible for.
Not everything can be blamed on the PLP. The fact is that Hubert
Ingraham decided to delay the Juries Bill. Put it to his account
and not the PLP.
What we do know is that if the Bill becomes law,
you can expect lawyers to immediately go to court, tying up the courts
with even more litigation. If they think the death penalty issue
is a nightmare, wait until they fool with changing juries.
POOR
ZHIVARGO LAING
There was a technical working group meeting for
the Economic Partnership Agreement process in Jamaica last week.
The Bahamas government has been slow to recognize under Hubert Ingraham
and his Minister of State for Foreign Trade Zhivargo Laing that this is
an important process and that they need to attend to the matter.
For weeks now, we have been publicly criticizing
Zhivargo Laing for dropping the ball again on the question of foreign trade.
The first mistake was taking it out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The second mistake was leaving it to Mr. Laing who has repudiated his whole
belief set laid out in a book called WHO MOVED MY CONCH? That book
argued for The Bahamas integrating its economy into the world economy,
only to have Mr. Laing come along and repudiate the whole thing in order
to win votes.
Now Mr. Laing and his government are courting disaster
by their continued adherence to the view that they will not sign onto the
Economic Partnership Agreements, the successors to the Lomé and
Contonou Agreements that allowed duty free access for Bahamian goods into
the European markets on a non reciprocal basis. In order for the
access to continue, the successor agreement must be reciprocal, thus making
it World Trade Organization (WTO) compliant. The Europeans got a
waiver until January 2008 for their former colonies to be able to access
their markets duty free on a non reciprocal basis. Mr. Laing gave
the excuse that they needed eight months to study the agreement.
They then appointed an anti trade individual in the person of John Delaney
to lead the process. But events have gone way past their ability
to cope.
The other Caricom countries and the Dominican Republic,
formed into an organization called Cariforum, have all committed to trying
to get the EPAs done by the deadline of 31st October, even if it means
a market access or good deal in the first instance with the services to
be negotiated later. Mr. Laing has not been going to the meetings,
nor has any public official since the PLP lost office in 2007. The
Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) has been struggling to
find out what the Government’s position is.
The PLP had decided before it left office to sign
on to the EPAs so long as the services offer did not attack the financial
services sector and that a deal could be negotiated to protect certain
core professions. There have been public appeals from the crawfish
industry and from Polymers in Freeport for the government to sign.
Mr. Laing has said no, they will not sign.
Some movement seemed to come this past week in Jamaica
where the government showed up for the first time in a while and their
representatives, at a low level, said that the FNM was not prepared to
sign at this juncture. It also now appears that Mr. Laing will actually
attend the ministerial meeting in Brussels this week, which is designed
to put the finishing touches at the political level. This will be
the first political level attendance since the FNM came to power.
There is as usual a blame game going on. The
FNM under Mr. Laing keeps trying to blame the PLP for their failures.
The fact is all of the work was done for the EPAs under the PLP, headed
by Ambassador Leonard Archer, the Ambassador to Caricom. The FNM
has come along, given it back to the Ministry of Finance, which Ministry
has repudiated almost everything that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sought
to establish. Not surprising of course but Mr. Laing and his Prime
Minister never fails to surprise us. If the FNM does not want to
sign just say so and take responsibility for their own failures.
Just don’t blame the PLP for their failures.
DISINFORMATION
ON FREEPORT HOTELS
Last weekend as Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister,
was officially opening a project that had been approved by the Progressive
Liberal Party, he lobbed some shots across the bow of the PLP which one
week later have not been answered by the PLP. It is inexplicable
how the organization which we support continues to allow this to happen
but happen it does.
Mr. Ingraham announced that he was going to pay
the balance of the money owed to the persons who were fired or lost their
jobs as a result of the Oasis properties, formerly the Princess Hotel and
Casino in Freeport, going out of business. You may remember that
the PLP decided that they would pay severance to all of the employees and
they did but there was a group who did not qualify because they were retained
by the hotel doing security and other maintenance duties. Once they
were fired following the disconnection of the power at the hotel, that
further group was owed severance. This amounts to 1.2 million dollars.
That is what Mr. Ingraham will pay. He will pay it even though the
FNM criticized the PLP for making the first payments.
The employees were full of praise for the FNM but
you will remember how they bitterly griped that the money that they got
was not enough under the PLP. Strange these folk. The FNM’s
leader now wishes to take credit for that as well. He also said though
that the PLP did not collect the taxes owed by the hotel and allowed the
hotel to go out of business without collecting the taxes when the PLP knew
that it was on shaky ground and did nothing about it. This man has
a remarkable cheek. He is simply telling a lie. The fact is
the FNM brought in the Driftwood group that owned the Oasis.
The PLP warned the FNM during his last term not
to give the property over to Driftwood because they had a bad reputation
in Nassau. The FNM did not listen and gave the hotel over to a group
that did not have the financial wherewithal to manage the property and
worse than that seemed to be fly by night operators who were simply taking
the profits and running. They took the opportunity to close the hotel
once they collected the insurance money following the last hurricane in
Freeport.
The PLP tried to work with a bad situation, by allowing
the taxes to be foregone in a vain effort, as it turned out, to keep people
employed. In the end the Driftwood group did not pay the National
Insurance for the people. That was recovered by the PLP. They
did not even pay the monies they were deducting from the salaries of employees
for their mortgages. That was paid ultimately by the Grand Bahama
Port Authority. No word about whether the Port was reimbursed.
But once again we say to Hubert Ingraham don’t seek to blame the PLP put
it down to your own lousy performance.
THE
ELECTION COURT CONTINUES
Ever since Michael Barnett was a little boy, he
wanted to be a lawyer. Those who went to St Augustine’s College in
Nassau could remember him now as he portrayed the American lawyer Clarence
Darrow giving his famous summation to the jury in the Scopes Trial on evolution.
Mr. Barnett is today a lawyer, and thought to be amongst the best.
The only problem is that he represents a bad client, the FNM, and he represents
them in the case where they are seeking to defend the seat that they “won”
in the general election that is being challenged by Allyson Maynard Gibson,
the former Attorney General and Member of Parliament.
Mr. Barnett started his cross examination last week
of the principal witness of the PLP a private investigator. The investigator’s
evidence had shifted the propaganda battle over to the PLP. PLP supporters
are starting to think that, just maybe, there is something here; but Mr.
Barnett attempted to counter that advantage in his cross examination.
He has to, because by the back channel it appears that Hubert Ingraham
had been convinced by his lawyers that the matter would have been dismissed
at the stage of the point in limine (preliminary point); which would have
had all of the investigator’s evidence excluded.
Once the FNM side lost the battle to have the case
dismissed, a whole trial had to take place and the evidence of people voting
where they should not went into the public domain and seems persuasive
and compelling.
At the end of the day the judges Anita Allen and
Jon Isaacs will have to sift through all the evidence, both the evidence
in chief and the cross examination, plus the law, to see whether the PLP
has proved its case. In the meantime, PLPs are going through a see
saw.
Mr. Barnett made it a point to pick on various individuals
who the investigator said he did not find living in Pinewood at specific
addresses and spent some time quizzing the investigator with forensic enthusiasm
on how he went about his work and whether the investigator actually went
to see them at their proposed addresses in Pinewood. The investigator
simply responded that he went to the addresses where he had been advised
that they actually lived and his investigation seemed to confirm that they
no longer lived in Pinewood.
It is not certain where the cross examination takes
the case because what the Court will need to know was that on the date
of the election, was the voter ordinarily resident in the place where they
claim they were entitled to vote.
Whatever happens in Mr. Barnett’s cross examination,
no doubt there is countervailing evidence to support the PLP’s ultimate
contention. PLPs simply have to keep the faith.
IN PASSING
A Serious Mistake Was Made – We apologize
Last week in the early edition of this column we carried a story, which
was withdrawn approximately two and a half hours after it was first posted
at 2 p.m. last Sunday. In that short time the damage was apparently
done. We reported that a well known accountant had died. It
was not true. The error was immediately withdrawn and corrected.
We truly apologize again for the error. We pride ourselves on fact
checking particularly in this era of the internet that has such a wide
reach across the world. We apologize for any embarrassment and distress
caused the family of the individual.
Helen Ebong Is Buried
Permanent Secretary Helen Adderley Ebong of the Ministry of Finance
was laid to rest yesterday Saturday 3rd November following a state recognized
funeral at the Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau. The funeral was
attended by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Members of the
Cabinet, the Leader of the Opposition and other PLP Members of Parliament,
Senators and senior civil servants. This was the first such state
recognized funeral for a Permanent Secretary since the government’s decision
to do so for a sitting Permanent Secretary who dies in office. The
funeral for Mrs. Ebong is at the same level as that for former Parliamentarians.
Mrs. Ebong was 54 years old at the time of her death. She served
in the Public Service since 1978 trained first as an agriculturist.
Mrs. Ebong was the daughter of the late Member of Parliament for the old
City District Cleophas Adderley Sr. and Mrs. Helen Adderley and was the
sister of Cleophas Adderley Jr., who is the Director for the National Youth
Choir. She is survived by her husband Cyril and three children.
The photo of the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues at the service
was taken by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
Bradley Weech Dies Suddenly
Dental Technician Bradley Weech died suddenly on Tuesday 30 October
in Nassau. Amongst his surviving brothers are Ervin Weech, also a
Dental Technician and Anthony ‘Boots’ Weech formerly of Bahamas Telecommunications
Company Limited. We express our condolences to the family.
Memorial Service For Pauline Glasby
A memorial service will be held for Pauline Glasby at the Grace and
Peace Wesleyan Methodist Church Chapel in Nassau off the Winton Highway
on Monday at 7 p.m. Mrs. Glasby, former lecturer at the College of
The Bahamas and former Director of the Renaissance Singers, died in Nassau
on Saturday 20th November after brief illness.
Leader Of The Opposition On TV
Perry Christie, the Leader of the Opposition PLP, will appear this
evening on Jones and Company on Love 97 radio at 5 p.m. and on JCN TV Channel
14 on Cable at 7:30 p.m. The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas
Information Services.
Musharraf Must Go
Former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell speaking in Barbados in September
made the point that the Pakistan should be sanctioned by the Commonwealth
because its seemed clear that its President had misled the Commonwealth
on what he truly was. If there was doubt then when Mr. Mitchell spoke,
there is no doubt now. Mr. Musharraf suspended the constitution of
Pakistan yesterday 3rd November on the pretext that he is saving the country
from extremists. He declared a state of emergency. Pakistan
must be suspended from the Commonwealth because clearly this is a violation
of the Harare Principles on democratic governance. The real reason
he did it was because the courts were about to rule that his election to
office was not valid. Mr. Musharraf is a military dictator.
That much is clear.
Where Is The Money?
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill at the launch of the Royal Bahamas Police
Force History book on Wednesday 24th October saw the Minister of Education,
Youth, Sports and Culture and asked him “Where is the money that the Government
promised to pay for the Fox Hill festival?” Despite the promise of
the Government to pay the money, they have not. This was a public
promise. The story is that the former FNM candidate for Fox Hill
who lost in the general election is blocking its payment. The photo
is by Patrick Hanna of the Bahamas Information Services.
BEC Doubles Prices?
Some people have reported to this site that the Bahamas Electricity
Corporation has doubled its prices for power supply to customers in New
Providence. This should be investigated.
CARTOON
BAHAMAS
ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS
Today we pass on an interesting offer received by
e-mail of Bahamas Antiquarian Books for Sale. The private collector
says "I want these treasures to find a home with people that appreciate
and value the rich culture of the Bahamas". According to the collector,
on offer are:
-
Moseley, M. The Bahamas Handbook. Nassau Guardian.
1926. 238pp + plates and 2 folding maps. 1st ed., very fine in original
cloth. Good history and guide with fine photo illustrations.
Very scarce. Condition: Original binding, v. good.
-
Defries, Amelia. The Fortunate Islands Being Adventures
with the Negro in the Bahamas. London: C. Palmer, 1929. Good account,
if sometimes racist view, of life in the Bahamas in 1920’s. (two copies)
Condition 1: Ex Library copy, v. good. Condition 2: slight spine cover
wears, v. good.
The private collector is selling some of her books and
may be contacted at 395-8325 or e-mail: jadclip@yahoo.com.
Readers should note should be made that no warranties
or endorsement comes from BahamasUncensored.com and arrangements are entirely
at the reader's own risk.
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
The Juries Act (amendment) and Judicial Reform
I thought the print media in particular failed
the general public in their reporting of the PLP’s press conference at
Gambier House on Sunday 28th Oct 2007. I guess to focus on the demand for
an apology from the PM makes for better press and is more sensational.
I am, however, personally disappointed that the media did not delve into
(with greater detail), the five recommendations of the Chief Justice as
it relates to juries; the position of the PLP on the Juries Act (amendment);
and their recommendations to improve the efficiency of the administration
of justice.
The demand for an apology from the PM was one
sentence in a comprehensive press conference that lasted almost two hours
with three presentations and a question and answer period.
Some of the key points raised were: Jurors must
not serve for more than six weeks at a time with a five year break in between
jury duties. The government must pay employers for the time off given to
employees to serve on juries. An employer must be provided with the total
time served by his or her employee and any employer who docks an employee's
pay for jury duty will be prosecuted by law. These are some of the issues
raised by Alfred Sears that I thought the media should have highlighted
in greater detail.
It is important to note that some individuals
charged with a non-capital offences up to the time the amended Juries Act
is signed into law, will fully and reasonably expect a trial by a jury
of twelve of their peers. If those charged are convicted by a jury of nine,
this situation (jury of nine) could be used as reasonable grounds for a
successful appeal. Given the fact that there is a Privy Council ruling
as a frame of reference, lawyers would have a field day in filing appeals
on this technicality. This could increase the backlog of cases and exacerbate
the problems already being faced by the judiciary. I urge all parliamentarians
to take this under advisement when deliberations resume in the honorable
House.
As regards judicial reform, what about restructuring
the financial administration of the Judiciary? This would significantly
improve the judicial physical plant and general working conditions. Through
the direct provision of budgetary allocations and vested authority to the
judiciary, the Chief Justice and the Registrar of the Supreme Court can
facilitate such matters as the procurement of supplies and equipment and
the maintenance and repairs of buildings. Eliminating the Ministry of Works
would be helpful.
The Supreme Court needs to be in one complex,
not four, and a suitable location for both the Supreme Court and the Court
of Appeal needs to be identified and complex constructed post haste. This
will strengthen the security of legal documents, reduce loss of the same
and improve the overall efficiency of the court system.
The independence of the judiciary can be strengthened
by removing judicial staff from under the authority of the Public Service
Commission and establish these persons under the authority of the Judicial
and Legal Service Commission. Further, the executive branch of government
should be removed from the procedure of appointing Magistrates and Judges.
While I applaud the appointment and work of the
Law Reform Commission, a more progressive approach would be the empowerment
of the judicial branch to implement the reforms it deems necessary to make
the administration of justice more efficient, effective, relevant, and
responsive to the needs of a twenty-first century Bahamas. The executive
branch should step back and allow the judiciary to function as an independent
and equal branch of government.
The vexing issue of salaries and conditions of
service of the judges and magistrates must be immediately resolved in the
national interest. The dignity of the judiciary must be enhanced and the
ranking of judges in the national list of precedence must be elevated.
The Prime Minister is who he
is and does what he does, but it is the responsibility of the opposition
and the Great Fourth Estate to place foremost in the minds of the Bahamian
people, the qualities and elements of good governance (or the lack thereof)
and how these qualities and elements manifest themselves through sound
public policies. All gaps, real or perceived, must be necessarily voiced,
exposed, and debated to a satisfactory resolution. I am not convinced that
the Great Fourth Estate took full advantage of the opportunity to challenge
our legislators and stakeholders on this bill with a view to enlightening
the general public on this critical issue of law and justice. I am still
seeing editorials where governments are accused of dragging their feet,
presenting red herrings, and unnecessarily delaying legislation. There
must be a balance between sensation and substance.
I am of the considered view that such a powerful
and influential platform should be used to critically examine public policy,
offer constructive criticism, alternatives and additions, and generally
stimulate intellectual curiosity in the public domain. The politics of
bickering and blaming fails to serve the national good; an intelligent,
lively, and provocative debate on public policy however does.
Elcott Coleby
Previous
Columns
Click on a heading to go to that story; press ctrl + home to return
to the top of the page.
|
| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: The
government of Hubert Ingraham was flouncing all over the place following
the storm Noel that hit The Bahamas. (Click
here for last week’s Comment of The Week). They simply did not
know what to do. The result is that nothing has been done to help
the country recover from the problems of the storm. The Opposition
Leader and former Prime Minister Perry Christie decided to lead a delegation
of his own across the country to some of the worst affected areas.
On Tuesday 6th November, he and colleagues Dr. Bernard Nottage MP, Fred
Mitchell MP, Vincent Peet MP, Shane Gibson MP and Senator Jerome Fitzgerald
visited the islands of Exuma, Cat Island and San Salvador. In Exuma,
Anthony Moss PLP MP led the tour. What they saw was flooding that
the PLP’s official release (click here) described
as unprecedented. Mr. Christie also criticized Mr. Ingraham for not
responding adequately to the crisis. We show some of the pictures
below in a photo essay. Our photo
of the week is that of the former Prime Minister and his colleagues of
the PLP inspecting the storm damage in San Salvador. The photo is
by Dennis Fountain. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
A HOUSE SPEAKER WITHOUT SHAME
Drunk again!
Every weekend
You Drunk again
--Popular
song by Geno D
Ah, what drama there was in the House of Assembly last week.
The PLP took the FNM by surprise. If you recall, the House of Assembly
had suspended on Wednesday 30th October for the second time in as many
House days because Tropical Storm Noel was on its way. The suspension
of the House to Guy Fawkes Day 5th November gave the PLP 9 days to follow
through on its consultations with the public on the Juries Amendment Act.
When the House resumed, it was expected that the House would allow the
PLP to say what it had found in its consultations with civil society.
It is clear that the government did no consultations at all and did not
care to do so. Its’ Attorney General Claire Hepburn is still repeating
the
demonstrably false statement that having juries of nine people will speed
up trials in The Bahamas.
The House started then on Wednesday 30th. The Speaker Alvin
Smith announced that the House would resume with Desmond Bannister, the
Minister of State in the Attorney General’s Office winding up the debate.
At this point, the Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Perry
Christie rose to his feet on a point of order. Mr. Christie had gone
through the transcript of the last substantive session of the House of
Assembly and had discovered the extent to which there had been an abuse
of the rules by the Member of Parliament for North Abaco otherwise known
as the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. If you read the transcript,
it reads like the words of a drunken sailor, someone who was so inebriated
that he simply had lost control. Mr. Christie did not get to make
his point. Instead, he was interrupted by the Speaker Alvin Smith,
who anticipated Mr. Christie’s point of order. He said that he himself
had read the transcript and that he did not see anything wrong with what
the Member for North Abaco had to say.
The net effect of what the Speaker did was to deny Mr. Christie his
right to be heard. He also; and in a more far reaching sense, ruled
that it was permissible to call Members of the House of Assembly “worthless”
and “shameless”. Mr. Ingraham did not use the Standard English “worthless”
but used the Bahamianism “wutless”. That made the insults even worse.
In addition, there is a passage in the transcript in which Mr. Ingraham
indicates that what was given to the former Prime Minister when he lost
office was minor punishment. He said that he should get major punishment.
This is clearly a threat of some kind and Mr. Christie asked, in a democratic
society, what other punishment could Mr. Ingraham be speaking about?
Mr. Christie said that the remark was particularly insulting given the
fact that in this day and age there is a problem with murders in the country
because the young men don’t know when and how to resolve disputes without
regard to violence. And so someone hearing what the Prime Minister
said might try their hand. Mr. Christie has already had two acts
of violence perpetrated around his home since the last election.
The Speaker apparently saw nothing wrong with that either.
Rule 30 (16) of the Rules of the House of Assembly clearly states
that no member should use offensive, abusive or insulting language toward
another member. By any standard, the words uttered by Mr. Ingraham
were offensive, abusive and insulting. They were nasty, and as we
said earlier spoken as if he was in a drunken frenzy.
The rules call for the words to be drawn to the Speaker’s attention
and the Speaker can order them expunged from the record if the member who
spoke them does not withdraw them. The Speaker did not allow that
point of order to be made and instead asked Mr. Bannister to continue with
his summing up. Mr. Bannister could not be heard. The response
from the PLP was furious and the noise that was made, made it impossible
for the regular business of the House to be conducted. The Speaker
put the vote anyway above the noise and then moved toward the adjournment.
As the Speaker’s procession left the House, PLP Members told him
that he was a “wutless” Speaker. It is clear now that “wutless” is
a Parliamentary expression that the word needs to be applied to the Speaker
of the House. His actions show that he is indeed “wutless”.
The matter will not be left there. It will now come up again
in the House when it resumes tomorrow Monday 12th November. The PLP
has framed a substantive motion of no confidence in the Speaker and will
call for him to apologize and resign forthwith. Don’t expect that
to happen but what will happen is that Alvin Smith’s name will be mud throughout
the country when the PLP is finished with him. It is clear that he
does not have the intellectual acumen, the plain backbone for the job that
he has. One has to ask oneself how for $81,000, this man has simply
gone wobbly and listens blindly to the dictates of his political masters.
There is not even a pretence of independence with the FNM pushing instructions
through his ear to him. He has proven to be a good Speaker for the
FNM but he does not protect the rights of the minority. The government
has the majority and so will likely defeat the resolution, but when history
is written it will be clear that the PLP has no confidence in Alvin Smith
not even six months into the game.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 10th November 2007 at
midnight: 243,878.
Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday 10th November
2007 at midnight: 325,323.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Saturday 10th November 2007
at midnight: 3,744,582. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June,
2007]
CONTACT US AT E-MAIL:placid_point@yahoo.com
CHRISTIE
ON FNM ECONOMIC RUIN
PLP leader Perry Christie has called on the FNM
government to stop immediately their “economically ruinous policy of stall,
defer and delay”. In a detailed attack on the government’s economic
performance during its first six months in office, Mr. Christie said that
the FNM administration “should now move to rectify their mistakes with
the economy by facilitating those development proposals which we approved
while in office and others that were left for them in the pipeline.”
The former prime minister blamed the economic woes
on “the reduction in construction related jobs and the many Bahamians victimized
through being terminated by this Free National Movement government.”
He accused the government of pettiness and neglect. “…in their political
lust for discrediting my Administration, Hubert Ingraham and the FNM have
put their focus on petty politics and an agenda of victimization, intimidation
and fear.
“In their pettiness, the FNM government have neglected
and ignored their responsibility to effectively manage the Bahamian economy
for the benefit of the Bahamian people.” Mr. Christie spoke during
a news conference at PLP Headquarters in the Sir Lynden Pindling Centre
at Gambier House. Please click here
for the leader’s full remarks.
WHAT’S
GOVT. DOING ON THE ECONOMY?
If you live in the United States or Great Britain,
the news is very much the economy. There they have an active media
that is truly interested in driving public policy through their mainstream
papers. Not so The Bahamas. We don’t even have a government
that is interested in the economy. They have withdrawn 90 million
dollars of contracts by their own reckoning from the economy of The Bahamas.
Now the economy is slowing down to a crawl with several banks reporting
that there is a liquidity crunch, translation – there is no money to lend
or the money that there is to lend is going to cost you more.
This crunch is beyond the normal run down just before
Christmas that settles down after Christmas. The housing market has
gone soft in the United States. The sub prime mortgage scandals continue
unabated with one big bank after the next announcing record losses or write
offs. In the U.S., their Central Bank has lowered the cost of borrowing
money and in the latest move promised to inject 40 billion dollars into
the economy to avoid a credit crunch. What are we doing here in The
Bahamas but talking the economy down?
The minister of the government is busy boasting
about how they stopped contracts, destabilizing the view of the country
from the outside. It shows in the forecasts with the Central Bank
now lowering the expected growth rate this year from 4.5 per cent under
the PLP to 3 per cent under the FNM. Unemployment is up. Money
is scarce. Yet the government says nothing.
PLP leader Perry Christie spoke to the economy in
a news conference today to say, “This is the first time in the history
of The Bahamas that anyone can recall that the Bahamian economy has actually
slowed down ahead of the U.S. economy.
“The blame for this must rest solely at the feet
of Hubert Ingraham and the FNM Government.”
PHOTO
ESSAY ON THE FLOODS
Pictures tell a thousand words. We show you scenes
of the flood damage in Exuma, in Cat Island and in San Salvador.
The Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie and his colleagues Fred Mitchell,
Bernard Nottage, Bradley Roberts, Shane Gibson and Jerome Fitzgerald went
on a tour of the three islands on Tuesday 6th November. Anthony Moss,
the PLP Member of Parliament for Exuma led the tour in Exuma. The
photos are by Terez Johnson.
ATTORNEY
GENERAL GETS IT WRONG
We thought Claire Hepburn was a sensible woman who
would at least tell the truth to power; would speak sense and not nonsense.
Mrs. Hepburn has been a big disappointment in that department just as her
junior minister Desmond Bannister has been a big disappointment as well.
Neither of them has been down to the courts since they started work in
the positions that they have, those of Attorney General and Minister of
State respectively, yet they have been busy pronouncing on what the problem
is with the courts.
Mrs. Hepburn, quite incredibly, said that the Courts
cannot hear cases on the criminal side because there are two judges out
of the system hearing the Election Court cases. That is simply false.
The Election Court has nothing to do with it. Mrs. Hepburn should tell
the truth; that the department is unable to get cases ready for the Court.
As a matter of fact during the entire month of October, no cases could
be heard in the criminal courts because the Attorney General’s office under
Mrs. Hepburn could not present a case to the Courts for the Judges to hear.
The fault is clearly the AG’s office.
Had they not scrapped her predecessor’s swift justice
initiative, then you would not have been reading this piece today.
But like everything, the FNM is so smart they want to reinvent the wheel.
Dumb is the word you call it. Some would also call them patently
dishonest.
THE
ELECTION COURT UPDATE
The daily newspapers in The Bahamas need to start
hiring writers who understand what is happening in court proceedings and
can report them intelligently and truthfully to the Bahamian public.
The reporting on the election court case of Allyson Gibson against FNM
Byran Woodside has been so mixed up; the public can be forgiven for wondering
what in the heck is going on.
One day it appears that the testimony in chief has
the PLP scoring points and then within a day there is another report saying
that the FNM has scored points or more accurately that the PLP’s witness
did not know what he was saying. The writers themselves seem to be
swayed by the histrionics in the court rather than the substance of what
is happening.
The latest in these “reports” was that of the testimony
of Stafford Coakley, who is a surveyor by profession and happened to be
the surveyor who laid out Pinewood Gardens. Now Mr. Coakley’s testimony
would have been purely technical in nature as in the lines are this and
that and so on. You are either inside the lines or outside the lines.
He was called to show that some people who voted in the Pinewood Constituency
in 2007 were not in Pinewood, not by reason of their own fault but because
that is where mistakenly, they were put by the Parliamentary Commissioner
and his staff.
Mr. Coakley when he took the stand again a little
later had to clarify his evidence. He said that he had not been referring
to his notes when he made his first testimony and in four cases, he had
made errors, which he wanted to clarify. Two people were in fact
outside the lines and two people were inside the lines. That became
a Nassau Guardian headline that Mr. Coakley had recanted his testimony.
In the meantime, the Attorney General Claire Hepburn
was doing her bit to help the FNM’s propaganda for the case. She
claimed most incredulously that the courts were not able to hear criminal
cases because two Judges were tied up in Election Court cases. That
is the biggest piece of misinformation spun by this desperate FNM government
since they came to office. (See
above)
What we can tell you for the information of those
who don’t live in Nassau is that PLPs are captivated by the court case
and everywhere PLP politicians go they are being bombarded by questions
about the case and how the politicians think the chances are. As
they say, it aint over till it’s over, but so far the evidence appears
compelling.
UNIONIZING
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
The chickens are coming home to roost. The
shortsighted attitude of the establishment in The Bahamas, the foolish
position of the FNM when in Opposition on Caricom relations, now means
that the Royal Bank of Canada is packing up to go and leaving The Bahamas,
transferring its Caribbean wide headquarters from The Bahamas to Trinidad
and Tobago.
Why? The fact is Trinidad and Tobago is a
much larger economy than The Bahamas. But more importantly, the RBC
has recently purchased the Trinidadian bank RBBT and the base is simply
larger there. So the Caribbean region for RBC will now be controlled
from Trinidad and Tobago. Just like First Caribbean controls the
destiny of The Bahamas from Barbados. That means that now management
and credit decisions will be made in Trinidad.
Former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell tried to argue
in his time that it was better for The Bahamas to try and align itself
with the Caribbean and make itself stronger within the region to defend
itself against these kinds of decisions. No, we thought that we could
go it alone, and now we suffer.
The matter was raised in the press last week because
the Unions are now at the door of RBC. One of the fears the workers
have is that they will be disadvantaged when RBC downsizes in order to
make the move to Trinidad. Nathaniel Beneby who is the country head
for The Bahamas explained why the move would be made to Trinidad and Tobago.
He will have a lot more explaining to do but you know it is not his fault.
We have only ourselves to blame.
MURDERERS
ON BAIL – THE REAL STORY
The FNM and Hubert Ingraham are so dishonest when
it comes to the use of facts to support their arguments. They are
so desperate to show that it is the PLP’s fault that crime is the way it
is that they simply lie. Most recently they produced a graph which
purports to show that there were 272 people out on bail for serious offences.
These include murder, armed robbery and rape. It shows the figures
very low when it was the FNM’s time but a spike occurred during 2006.
No explanations given for the spike but the real reason is that the Courts
started taking a different position with regard to releasing people on
bail than when the FNM was last in power. Perhaps that why the talkative
Dame Joan Sawyer, President of the Court of Appeal was entering into murky
waters where she should not when she said last week that there should not
be finger pointing over who is responsible for the delays.
IN PASSING
Royal Oasis Is Sold
The Harcourt Group of Ireland announced last week that they have completed
their purchase of the Oasis Hotels in Freeport formerly the Princess Hotels
Resort and Casino. The hotels were closed shortly after the last
hurricane hit Grand Bahama and the electricity was turned off because the
former owners would not pay the power bill. The PLP gave the employees
their severance in the expectation that the monies would be recovered by
the Government. If this purchase works, then the employment situation
will get back up and running. The people of Grand Bahama should thank
the PLP for negotiating this deal.
Jeanne Thompson’s Reading
Retired Justice Jeanne Thompson gave a reading of some of her literary
works at the National Art Gallery on Tuesday 6th November. Justice
Thompson is now practicing law as a consultant to Halsbury Law Chambers
following her retirement in 2007. She became a Justice following
a long stint in private practice but what is perhaps not known today is
that in the 1970s she was a prolific writer. At one time, she even
stopped law and worked as a journalist for the Nassau Guardian. She
authored two radio soaps on a commission from the Ministry of Tourism ‘The
Fergusons of Farm Road’ and ‘Sam Finley’s Sandcastle’. The former
was co-authored with Sonia Mills. She was instrumental in keeping
the movement in theatre alive by writing works like ‘Single Seven’; ‘Magistrate’s
Asue Morning’, ‘Vicious Circle’, ‘Bread, Oil and Standard’ and by acting
in, amongst other plays,
‘Mrs. Reardon Drinks a Little’ and ‘Amen Corner’. Ms. Thompson
read from some of the works that she wrote. She and the late Winston
Saunders were amongst the leaders of the cultural movement in the country
in the early years of independence and leading up to it. She was
joined at the reading by her brother Tommy, who is an executive at the
Ministry of Tourism and her sister Heather who is also an Attorney at Law.
The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
Pauline Glasby’s Funeral
The late Musical Director of the Renaissance Singers Pauline Glasby
was lauded in a memorial tribute to her at the Grace and Peace Wesleyan
Church in Nassau on Thursday 8th November. Amongst those paying tribute
to Mrs. Glasby was former President of the College of The Bahamas Dr. Keva
Bethel and its now President Janyne Hodder. Mrs. Glasby was a teacher
in The Bahamas from 1968 and served at the College of The Bahamas from
its inception to the time of her death. She taught music to many
generations of students including students in the Royal Bahamas Police
Force Band and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Band. She was English
by birth. Amongst the civic leaders attending the service were Fred
Mitchell, MP for Fox Hill and Senator Allyson Maynard Gibson. The
photo of the service is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
Bradley Weech Is Buried
In a moving two and half hour service on Friday 9th November, men and
women from across the generational divide and political party lines gathered
to say farewell to the late Bradley Weech, a dental technologist at the
Princess Margaret Hospital. Mr. Weech was lauded by his friends for
his general all around good nature. Henry Woods, the General Manager
of Bahamasair, was a close friend and gave by far the best tribute to him.
Ian Jupp, former Bahamas Squash champion paid tribute to Mr. Weech’s skills
as a Squash coach. The East Street Gospel Chapel was packed with
family and friends. Mr. Weech was 61 when he died. Former Prime
Minister Perry Christie attended the service, former Ministers Fred Mitchell
and Leslie Miller, MP Malcolm Adderley and former MP Dr. Franklyn Walkine.
Justice Cheryl Albury, a family member was also there.
Commissioner of Police Is Set To Go
The Bahama Journal reported on Thursday 8th November that which we
already know that the Commissioner of Police is set to resign. We
think the resignation will come early as next week. (You may click
here for our previous reports) The Commissioner is set to serve
as High Commissioner to Canada for The Bahamas. Mike Smith, the former
Parliamentary Secretary and Member of Parliament for South Beach, was promised
the job by Mr. Ingraham but Mr. Smith was summoned back to the Office of
Prime Minister and told that he could no longer get the job. Mr.
Smith will have to return to the humdrum of being a radio talk show host.
The Commissioner of Police is being squeezed out to make room for Reginald
Ferguson to become Commissioner over the objections of the Progressive
Liberal Party.
BTC And Nortel Can’t Get It Right?
The Bahamas telephone system is amongst the worst in the world.
BTC despite its being readied for privatization and making enormous profits
simply does not appear to be able to compete in the modern world.
The service for the internet (DSL) is unreliable and intermittent.
The service for the cell phones is incredibly poor, with poor line quality
and a high percentage of dropped calls. BTC does nothing to address
the issue. The word is now that the new Chair of BTC Julian Francis
has taken the position that the supplier of the equipment for BTC long
time supplier Nortel of Canada, may be at fault, together with existing
management. Mr. Francis may be set to clean house. Sources
close to him say that he has decided that if Nortel cannot get it right
with their equipment that they have sold BTC then they have to go.
Valentino and Alana
Valentino Bethel, a banker and Alana Ingraham, the daughter of Consul
General to Miami Alma Adams and a National Progressive Institute executive,
were married at Christ Church Cathedral by His Grace the Archbishop of
the West Indies and Bishop of The Bahamas Drexel Gomez on Saturday 10th
November. It was a glittering nuptial mass. The best man was
Rev. T. G. Morrison of Zion Baptist Church and the homily was delivered
by Rev. Dr. Myles Munroe. Soloists were Billy Butler and Joanne Calendar.
Attending the wedding were Governor General Arthur Hanna and Mrs. Hanna,
former Prime Minister Perry Christie, former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell,
former Minister of Works Bradley Roberts. The couple is shown in
their pre wedding photo.
New U.S. Ambassador
Ned Siegel is the new U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas. He arrived
in The Bahamas on Friday 2nd November. He replaces John Rood who
left The Bahamas in the spring of this year. Mr. Siegel is a Florida businessman.
Remembrance Day
Today is Remembrance Day throughout the Commonwealth. This is
the day that the Armistice Agreement was signed ending the First World
War in Europe. This morning, a solemn service of remembrance was
held at the Christ Church Cathedral, then a service in the Garden of remembrance
behind the Supreme Court in Nassau. We remember all those who were
Bahamian who fell in both World Wars fighting to preserve freedom and democracy
but we remember especially today those four marines who died protecting
the Commonwealth of The Bahamas on 10th May 1980 when their ship the HMBS
Flamingo was sunk by Cuban MIGs.
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
Issues of the day
I refer to an opinion piece written by Mr. Oswald
Brown that was published in the Nassau Guardian on the 9th November 2007
entitled, “PLP refuses to accept defeat.” I perceive that Mr. Brown is
seeking to publicly denigrate the PLP and distract the public from the
failures of the FNM administration with a series of misleading statements
about the PLP.
In his article, Mr. Brown opined, “it has been
slightly more than si
