Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 5 © BahamasUncensored.Com 2007
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| PHOTO OF THE WEEK: The Progressive Liberal Party led a demonstration on Wednesday 3rd October to protest the continued victimization of Bahamians who have been working in the public service. Some 1000 persons have been laid off between the public and the private sectors since the FNM came to power. Hubert Ingraham was so agitated over it after he was booed coming into the public square to get to the House of Assembly on Wednesday 3rd October that he got up with all the disingenuousness that he could inspire to say that if anyone was victimized he would make amends and correct it. Do not hold your breath. But the demonstration was successful in making the point that the PLP will not remain silent in the face of the victimization and that its Members of Parliament are willing to stand up and be counted with those who are being victimized. Our photo of the week shows PLPs waiting for the start of the PLP's demonstration in the public square on Wednesday 3rd October. Click here for a full spread of photos by PLP Media / Andrew Burrows. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
But where are the clowns
Quick send in the clowns
Don’t Bother they’re here
Stephen Sondheim
In A Little Night Music
Sometimes the Bahamian people have to wonder if their newly elected leaders are not drunk. If not drunk with strong spirits, then drunk with power. You cannot help but feel that this is really a group of self important, pumped up clowns who have inherited the governance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Who could not come to that reasonable and rational conclusion after watching the conduct of the FNM in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 3rd October 2007?
One telling example is the respect or rather the lack of respect that they showed for their own Minister of Health. That Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis is generally thought to be a bright individual but on Wednesday 3rd October showed himself to be completely unsuited for the cut and thrust of political life by not being able to make a clear and cogent case as to why he cannot collect the garbage in New Providence on time. And while he was running on with his long story in the House about why he can’t collect the garbage on time, his leader Hubert Ingraham was making fun of him and speaking in a loud voice, so loud that Mr. Minnis could not be heard over the din from the FNM.
The PLP of course was delighted at Dr. Minnis’ fix. He could not be heard by his own side. All the PLP had asked through its Member of Parliament for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell was when was Dr. Minnis going to collect the garbage? He talked about zones being created, how the PLP did not get it right, how the government needed new trucks, but he could say everything about anything but when the garbage will be collected.
It is also clear that Hubert Ingraham has a crazed look in his eyes. He is like a man possessed of some kind of spirit which we do not understand. It clouds his judgment. It makes him show off himself in the House. Here he is Prime Minister of a little country with just about a billion dollars in revenue and he is acting like he is the chief of some corporation of world wide impact that allows him to act as the lord of all he surveys. He is coming off like a petty tyrant in a tin pot dictatorship or like one of those banana republics that used to be the butt of jokes back in the 1970s. It is really pathetic that the government of this country has been handed over to these infidels, immature people who have no sense of themselves, their place in the world or of reason. Just so full of themselves.
They don’t even understand the rules that they and their representatives agreed to last year. The Prime Minister now claims that he was not a part of the agreement on the rules. He keeps throwing the rules of the House in the face of the PLP as if they are some treaty which was unilaterally imposed and designed to muzzle the Opposition and now the PLP not knowing that has to live with it. The fact is the rules were voted upon two years ago by both sides and agreed. Brent Symonette, now the Deputy Prime Minister, signed the report and the matter was adopted by the unanimous consent of the House. The rules were designed to make the conduct of the House business more efficient. Thus the limitation on speaking times, for example.
The Member of Parliament for Fox Hill had to point out to the Government that where there were printed questions on the order paper there was no need for them to read the answers. The idea is that a Member of Parliament could find out something from the government without wasting the time of the Government and the House on hearing oral answers. The Speaker did not understand it. Brent Symonette who signed the rules did not understand it, and the Prime Minister was worse. He simply wanted the answers read so that he could get whatever propaganda advantage he thought he could get then did not even listen to his own minister speak. He was busy talking at the top of his voice the entire time.
The public then is entitled to know how much more of this foolishness from Mr. Ingraham we have to put up with. The performance by the FNM in the House is so pathetic and childish that you almost want to pass a resolution or at least offer the chance of its passage by the House banning the FNM government from drinking any clear substances. It is that bad; something must be very wrong. This must be a government under plenty of pressure that comes back to the House and cannot keep a coherent strategy in place. Always pretending to be sweetness and light and being just the opposite. It is like the asp in your bosom. You know it is only a matter of time when they will strike.
So this week as we review the events of the past week, we use the
opportunity to expose a number of the flaws in the conduct of the government.
But we want also to help the PLP keep on its toes on this matter.
As the election court cases come closer to beginning, the first of which
comes to the court on 15th October, we want the PLP to become more aggressive,
and not give any quarter in the House or on the streets. There is
the real prospect that these people drunk with power and mad for revenge
as they are will call a snap election and the PLP must not be caught flat
footed. At the very least we have to maintain our ground, not lose
an inch to the FNM.
WHAT
DID THEY DO IN THE SUMMER?
You would have thought that when the FNM left the
Parliament at the summer break full of their new found power and enthusiasm
they would have spent the summer doing some real work, and getting their
legislative agenda up to scratch. The FNM and their leader Hubert
Ingraham came back to Parliament on Wednesday 3rd October with an agenda
of nothing. They came back with about 20 appropriations bills that
have to do with tidying up the budget from last year, saying that the PLP
used contingency warrants to support expenditure without the requisite
legislative authority. This then is to try once again to sully the
name of the PLP and to try to show black people as crooks. It is
vintage Hubert Ingraham, the actions of a slave.
The FNM laid the agreements signed under the PLP
on the table. No problem there because the PLP had revealed what
was in the agreements anyway. The FNM also used the opportunity to
read from a discredited audit report by the Crown Agents on the work of
the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Education to suggest that 75
per cent of the high value contracts of the Ministry of Works were negotiated
contracts. Yet again trying to show that something crooked went on.
There is nothing there. The report is not worth the paper it is written
on.
The fact is the FNM has just given out by their
own reckoning 17 million dollars worth of contracts without taking them
out to bid. In the face of the unremitting hostility of the public
service, the only way to get things done is to cut through the bureaucracy
and get the contracts done. The FNM can say whatever they like; they
can search up and down but there was no corruption under the PLP.
The contracts were priced correctly. The work was done and all the
contractors performed to their specifications. That’s all that we
need to know.
Can you imagine that the FNM called the House into
session at 10 a.m., showing off about their penchant for time, and then
promptly suspending the House for one hour while they waited for the documents
to come from the Cabinet office because they were not ready to go ahead?
This after a whole summer of promising to come with legislation and a detailed
programme. What a bunch of louses.
THE
FREEPORT PEACE OFFERING
The St. George Family and their lawyer Fred Smith
appeared at a press conference in Freeport on Tuesday 2nd October.
These included the son of the late Edward St. George and the widow of Edward
St. George Lady Henrietta St. George. They made the case for a settlement
saying that they would wish the litigation to end and for there to be some
sort of agreement to end the argument between Sir Jack Hayward, their father
and husband's late partner who claims to own 75 per cent of the company
as opposed to the 50 per cent that most people thought he owned.
A court in The Bahamas has since ruled that it is indeed fifty per cent
but Sir Jack is still litigating the matter. He has given a power
of attorney to the Fleming Group and they are prosecuting the matter on
his behalf it appears.
It is not clear what the St. Georges hope to achieve
by the press conference and the olive branch because it does not appear
to the general public that the Hayward side is acting logically and rationally
in this matter. Nevertheless there is a feeling in Freeport that
this needs to come to an end and that the best solution would be an agreed
solution that would get the dispute out of the headlines and the front
pages of the papers and into the board rooms where money can once again
be made. Even though the company has been moving along smoothly in
a management sense under the receivers that were court appointed, potential
investors are concerned that in the long term this is not a good partnership
to enter when making an investment in Freeport because it is difficult
to say who you are actually entering a partnership with.
PLP DEMONSTRATION
Please click
here for a full photo essay on www.myplp.com of the PLP demonstrating against
the victimization of PLPS who were fired from the public service since
the PLP came to office. The demonstration was led by former Prime
Minister Perry Christie and took place on 3rd October 2007.
WARNING
FOR JOHN PINDER
We have not heard from the Trade Union Congress
President Obie Ferguson for some time. This is the lesser known labour
organization that is at odds with the larger National Congress of Trade
Unions, now headed by John Pinder who is the President of the Bahamas Public
Services Union. Mr. Pinder took the extraordinary step of agreeing
with the Government to fire the workers in the public service. The
PLP criticized Mr. Pinder for doing so but Obie Ferguson is the first union
leader to publicly take issue with Mr. Pinder for his position. We
think this is the right step and a courageous step. It is clear that
Mr. Pinder needs to be replaced as the head of the union of public servants.
How can a union leader support the dismissal of workers? Incredible!
Here is what Mr. Ferguson had to say in his own words as printed in the
Bahama Journal of 6th October:
“You [a union leader] should buy into it if it
is in the interest of your membership, first and foremost, and ultimately
the country on the whole. So if the government says we’re going to terminate
50 workers, the trade union movement should not be supporting that.
“Your [union leader’s] job is to try to preserve
jobs for your people. It does not mean that the government may not have
a legitimate reason for terminating them but as a trade union leader you
have a duty to meet with the government and try to work some deal that
will be mutually beneficial, A to your government and B to your members."
“There are going to be times when we’re going
to have to make certain concessions with the government. But we ought not
to be publicly saying ‘I support 50 persons getting fired’.
“That’s almost like me agreeing with Baha Mar
[if they say] they want to let go of 50 persons. I would not do that, but
what I would do is meet with them, listen to what they have to say; [then]
I would try to hammer out a deal that would be mutually beneficial to my
membership and hopefully to the company.
“People’s livelihoods are all hooked onto a job.
A job gives you dignity, respect, a sense of belonging and a sense of being.
“I do not support that kind of situation because
it’s not in the interest of the workers and it’s not in the interest of
the country. Fewer jobs mean less purchase of products and less movement
of people. It has serious social and economic impact on a family."
INGRAHAM
PROMOTES THIS WEBSITE
Hubert Ingraham - we have to say it - is like a
crazed man. On Wednesday 3rd October he came to the House with a
copy of this website bahamasuncensored.com to show it to the PLP MPs in
the House. He shouted across the floor that the former PM should
read what it said and then called the clerk of the House to copy it and
circulate it to the PLP's front bench.
The piece that Hubert Ingraham circulated was from
last week and entitled “THE STATE
OF THE PARTY”. Through his Minister of Health's presentation,
he kept reading from the piece; of course leaving out that the piece describing
himself and his colleagues as the infidels that they are. Godless
heathen! No respect for man nor beast.
Quite frankly, Mr. Ingraham's tactics are childish
and silly. He is like an imp without a job. His conduct is
unbecoming of a Prime Minister and he is to be condemned for it.
The House is there for serious business not for tomfoolery. He should
read this in the House and circulate it as well.
SYMONETTE
BOMBS AT THE UN
You should go to www.un.org and then to the webcast
and then to the archives for the General Assembly for the afternoon session
of 2nd October. Brent Symonette had his debut as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs at the United Nations and he bombed. He could not
read one sentence without making a mistake. It was like he had never
seen the script or the words before in is life. It was simply an
embarrassing performance. Don’t take our word for it; check it yourself.
The only bright spot is at least he who considers himself a white man paid
tribute to the UN for making the 200th anniversary of the transatlantic
slave trade, and acknowledged that there are people of African ancestry
who suffered from slavery in The Bahamas. Maybe there is hope for
him yet. Africans are amongst his ancestors as well though not yet
publicly acknowledged.
BAHAMIANS
IN NEW YORK STIFFED BY FNM
The Bahamian Diaspora in New York must be sorely
disappointed. They all met with Brent Symonette, the new Minister
of Foreign Affairs and took him on a tour of the building Bahamas House
in Harlem at 137th street. The Government of the PLP had agreed on
a formula to save the building for the Bahamian Association in New York.
Mr. Symonette met with them and promised that he would do his best to persuade
his colleagues to get it finished. Not so and he did not have the
courtesy to call them up and tell them in advance. Mr. Symonette
said in the House that the government did not propose to go any further
in the matter.
The court jester who passes for a Prime Minister
no sooner had Mr. Symonette sat down shouted out that he did not have time
to waste money on foolishness. That is how the Bahamians were dissed
in New York. Mr. Symonette later explained to the press that the
Government did not want to spend money on a project that they would not
own. If Mr. Symonette had read the files he would know that the trust
deed that supports the ownership of the building prohibits the sale of
the property. The PLP agreed to take a 99 year lease on the property.
The Association would develop it and the flats in the building would be
for the use of The Bahamas government. The Association would have
offices in the building and would pay a rent to The Bahamas government
for the use of the space. This is again another short sighted decision
of this government and an insult to Bahamians everywhere.
DROPPING
THE BALL ON TRADE
The Heads of Government of the Cariforum which is
the Caricom countries plus the Dominican Republic met in Montego Bay, Jamaica
on the 4th and 5th Of October to discuss the fast approaching deadline
for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements that are to be the
successors to the Contonou Agreement. The Contonou Agreement and
its predecessor Lome were the agreements that regulated the access to markets
and trade issues between the European Union and the African Caribbean and
Pacific markets. The Bahamas is a part of the agreement and it allows
Bacardi Rum and crawfish in the main to access European markets duty free.
If there is no successor to it by 1st January 2008 those preferences fall
away. What has to replace it is a WTO compliant agreement that will
allow reciprocal access to trade and markets.
The devil is in the details. Much of the work
has been done but there remains the divisive issue of market access
and the funds for development that are largely funds to cushion the blow
in the changes from the present system to the new systems. The Bahamas
under the FNM has already announced that it needs eight months to make
a decision. This is largely because the FNM has dropped the ball.
Again they came to office without paying attention to what was going on.
It is not even announced whether anyone from The Bahamas attended the meeting.
The Chamber and the business community have largely been silent on this
matter.
MITCHELL:
GARBAGE COLLECTION A DISGRACE
A trip around the island of New Providence will
reveal how filthy are Nassau as a city and the island it sits on.
There is garbage casually thrown on every street, sidewalk, and grassy
area. The parks are uncut and unkempt. This is the worse the
island has looked in five years. No cleaning is getting done anywhere
it appears. The matter was brought forcefully to the attention of
the House on Wednesday 3rd October by Member of Parliament for Fox Hill
Fred Mitchell. The Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis responded
by giving excuses about the lack of garbage trucks, talking about the PLP,
everything except when the garbage was going to be collected. The
PLP MPs started to chant: “When will you collect the garbage?” The
garbage is still not collected in some areas of New Providence. The
fact is that even with the lack of trucks under the PLP the garbage was
being collected. You may click here for
the full statement of the MP for Fox Hill. The series of photos
show Mr. Mitchell at work in the House of Assembly. They are by Peter
Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
MOTHER
BOWE'S HOT DOG STAND
Hubert Ingraham on 3rd October in the House of Assembly
said that if the PLP can identify anyone who was victimized then he would
correct it. He should take note of this victim. Our Grand Bahama
correspondent reports:
We bring to the attention of The Bahamas a matter
that is most troubling. Since the general elections of May 2nd, where
the FNM won the elections, there seems to be a consistent attempt to remove
from the body politic anyone perceived to be PLP.
One example is where it all started in Grand
Bahama with the removal of Mrs. Bowe’s Hot Dog and water Stand. Prior
to the elections, a Hot Dog Stand was stationed at the Government Complex
in the City of Freeport. That Stand is no more because Mrs. Bowe is perceived
to be a supporter of the PLP and removed to a less trafficked area, hence
the business is now closed and bread taken out of the mouth of a Senior
Citizen who is first and foremost a Bahamian Citizen. We say that putting
“Mother Bowe” out of business is yet another example of how vicious and
unchecked power rules the Community of Freeport and victimization runs
rampant…
These are the same hot dog and water stands that
you see on the mall near the US White House or in downtown in Miami.
We demand and decency dictates that the Ingraham
Administration restore “Mother Bowe” back to this very spot and anything
other than that would be perceived as yet another subtle attempt by this
Administration (removing “Mother Bowe” from a high trafficked area to a
low trafficked area) to simply put Mother Bowe out of business.
IN PASSING
Mitchell Greets Belgium Ambassador
On Thursday 4th October, the new Belgian Ambassador to The Bahamas
presented his credentials to the Deputy to the Governor General Sir Arthur
Foulkes in the absence of Governor General Arthur Hanna. The Ambassador
is resident in Washington. Former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell
attended the luncheon and met the Ambassador. It is hoped that Belgium
will continue to push for the visa free access of Bahamians to the European
Union. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
Immigration Card Shortage
American Airlines is telling its passengers that it has run out of
immigration cards. They are telling passengers that the The Bahamas
government has run out because someone forgot to order a supply.
Turns out it is partially true because when you reach the arrivals hall
in Nassau, immigration officers are standing up rationing immigration cards.
We ought to hear from the Minister.
Ken Russell - A Miserable Man
After the performance of Ken Russell in the House of Assembly on Wednesday
3rd October, we have decided that this is a man who is not even fit to
be called the Jackass of The Week in this column. We said last week
that he is miserable, even having won the government. What it appears
is that the now Minister of National Insurance and Housing is Hubert Ingraham's
alter ego. Mr. Ingraham is the ventriloquist and Ken is the dummy.
Mr. Ingraham gets to pretend that he is a nice man and Ken gets to say
all the nasty things that Mr. Ingraham wants to say. Nasty is now
Ken's middle name.
Ozzie Brown Declare Your Citizenship
It has come to our attention that Oswald Brown, the FNM ideologue who
runs the Freeport News, the Fred Mitchell hater who is infected with an
almost mental sickness like preoccupation with Fred Mitchell, may have
acquired U.S. citizenship while living in the United States when he claims
he could not find work in The Bahamas. If he has, he ought to declare
whether he has done so, and whether it follows that he has renounced his
Bahamian citizenship. Enquiring minds want to know.
Straw Vendors — We’re Not Moving
Straw Vendors at the Nassau Straw Market who are suffering under the
indignity of a leaky tent since the market burned down in 2001 are more
adamant than ever that they will not be moving. The Government of
the FNM cancelled the building of the straw market and wants the vendors
to move off Bay Street and go to the Prince George Dock. Doing the
Minister of Works, the problematic Earl Deveaux a favour, they went to
inspect the building and they were incensed by what they saw. One
straw vendor described the site as not fit for animals. The latest
is Earl Deveaux is saying that he wants the old straw market site to become
a green space in the city. It is interesting how some nut cases reach
the halls of a parliament. We are sure he would argue that he Earl
Deveaux is not one but sometimes you wonder. The Bay Street community
that supports the FNM is silent but have been quietly encouraging the vendors
to keep going because the lifeblood of their business depends on the continued
existence of the straw market.
Was FNM Right To Comment On Election Case?
Many lawyers are asking the question whether or not there should not
be some official sanction of the FNM for making a comment on a case that
is still active before the Courts. The FNM was busy crowing in the
streets and on their website about how the PLP was not allowed to amend
its petition in the Pinewood case. The ruling was announced two weeks
ago. This was purely a procedural issue. The FNM gave the country
the impression that because of that ruling, a limited one, the case itself
was lost. This clearly flies in the face of the rule on commenting
on matters that are sub judice. Someone ought to bring this to the
attention of the court so that the FNM and its lawyers may be appropriately
sanctioned.
Newspaper Sales Falling
Newspaper vendors in New Providence have been reporting falling sales
of both The Tribune and The Nassau Guardian since they announced a merger
of the two newspapers in the late summer. Some PLP MPs have called
for a boycott of the papers since then and it has been having some affect
it appears. The PLP ought to officially organize a boycott of all
of the papers. We are asking PLPs who read this site not to buy The
Tribune or The Nassau Guardian or The Punch.
No National Heroes Day
The PLP passed legislation before it left office to create a National
Heroes Day on the second Monday in October. The act has not been
brought into Force. With the day fast approaching it appears that
this is yet another act of stop, review and cancel by the FNM. They
do not intend to bring it into Force. A crazed Hubert Ingraham in
the House of Assembly on Wednesday 3rd October started shouting from his
seat when the Member of Parliament for Fox Hill Fred Mitchell tabled the
Parliamentary question on it that if the PLP didn’t do it in office then
he wasn’t going to do it. This is yet another act of bad faith on
the part of the FNM.
No To Deputy Police Chief
The PLP ought to make public and officially make public its total disagreement
with the appointment of Reginald Ferguson as the Deputy Commissioner of
Police. Despite the fact that the Leader of the Opposition Perry
Christie reportedly wrote the Prime Minister to put on record the PLP’s
disagreement with the choice of Mr. Ferguson, the Prime Minister Hubert
Ingraham has gone ahead with the appointment. This is an unprecedented
slap in the face to the official Opposition PLP and its supporters.
And it shows that the FNM is intent on imposing those who have been accused
of being political ideologues and operatives in the Force possibly compromising
its independence and the integrity of the Force. Reginald Ferguson
is the brother of the FNM Chairman Johnley Ferguson. He is 61 years
old and has served on the Force for 40 years or more. Others in that
age and service category have been asked to leave the Force largely because
they are suspected of being PLP.
Dorothy Miller Awarded
Dorothy Miller, retired as a nurse from the public service and was
offically awarded her pin for long service at a special awards ceremony
held by the Department of Public Service at the Police Conference Centre
Police Headquarters in East Street, Nassau on Saturday 6th October. The
award was presented by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. The photo is by
Peter Ramsay.
Happy Birthday To Fred Mitchell
Members of the Fox Hill Branch of the PLP treated their Member of Parliament
Fred Mitchell to a special service at the St. Mark’s Baptist Church on
Romer Street where Rev. Dr. Carrington Pinder presides to mark his 54th
birthday on Friday 5th October. Present also were his sister Carla
Seymour (nee Mitchell) his godmother Setella Cox and his cousins Leslie
Benoit (nee Wilson) and Dorothea Knowles (nee Lightbourne). The occasion
also raised $3000 for the building fund of the Fox Hill Community Centre.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
I’ll huff
And I’ll puff
And I’ll blow your House down
--- From a story told to us when we were small
There is no question that the present leaders of the country are a national disgrace. One of them is in a clear conflict of interest position. Another has lied to Parliament with regard to why a contract was not offered to an FNM supporter during the time the PLP was in office. Some of them can barely read. Their social graces are certainly lacking. But one thing you can say about them is that they are full of themselves. You have never seen a more puffed up, pumped up lot, with so little to work with and so little to be puffed up and pumped up about.
There
are two that we would like to review this day. Loretta Butler Turner
is the granddaughter of a former Governor General of The Bahamas.
Sir Milo was a PLP and led the people's march toward freedom from 1938
on to 1973. How his granddaughter ended up being with the crew that
hates black people is quite a story and one that she will have to tell
the country one day. But the surprise is her demeanour in Parliament.
As the final statement was being delivered by the PLP's spokesman on Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell on Wednesday 10th October in the House, she gathered
up her belongings after minutes of grumbling and insults under her breath
and stormed out of the House of Assembly. The demonstration showed
how insensitive the FNM are of the opinions of others, and this view of
entitlement which they have brought to government, that they know all the
answers and that only their opinion or point of view counts. Let
them huff and puff all they want, it won’t stop the PLP from saying and
doing what it must to save this country from their perfidy.
Then
there is Zhivargo Laing, the Government’s expert on trade. On Wednesday
in the House of Assembly, former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell said it
was a mistake for Zhivargo Laing and the FNM not to sign the Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPA) with the European Union as it removes some of the pressure
on the country to modernize its economy. You may click
here for full address.
In the same address which caused poor Loretta to walk out Mr. Mitchell pointed out to the House that Mr. Laing had to repudiate all his talk of free trade in his book 'Who Moved My Conch?' It is a sad day to see someone who had such promise disintegrate into a grumbling, mumbling intolerant young man who seems to have lost all the hope and promise that others of note had in him. He is quite simply a lost soul. Trying hard to be Hubert Ingraham or his man-in-waiting but not quite getting there. Throughout the proceedings of the House, there was a running monologue of attempts to be clever, grumblings under the breath as others were speaking in the House. This is yet another sign of the intolerance of the FNM.
Of course, the FNM comes by it honestly. You have their Deputy Leader Brent Symonette who left serving in a previous FNM government because of a conflict of interest. He sits again in the Cabinet. He is yet again putting himself in a position to be accused of a conflict of interest. He too comes by it naturally since his father before him and the UBP government that his father represented and to which Mr. Symonette is the successor today were masters of conflict of interest.
Then there is Mr. Mean; Ken Russell who would put even his close relatives out of their homes it appears if they are PLP.
The Leader of the Free National Movement Hubert Ingraham leads the way in vindictiveness. His government is busy firing people from the public service, and putting his FNM people in place. The reports are that after years of complaining about ZNS, the TV and radio station has become more partisan than ever, with decisions being made by its editors on a purely partisan basis. Two FNMs have been hired away from the private media to make sure that the FNM’s message is told over the corporation’s airwaves.
What
is striking about this whole new crew that the FNM has running the country
is their basic insecurities about themselves. From the young to the
old, there is such a vicious and patent dislike of everything that is PLP,
when in fact the PLP has handed them a country that was doing well.
All they had to do was to accept the gift they got and keep it going.
In the few short months that they have been power, they have managed to
run the economy down, fire masses of Bahamians from the public service,
cancel contracts of Bahamians that were PLP, give contracts without bids
to those who are FNM. This is tribalism at its worst.
It is important for the Bahamian people to know what it is they are dealing with. These are very insecure people. They have come to office thinking that they are entitled to what they have gotten. Many of them have been rejected by the PLP and are out to prove that somehow they are smarter than the people in the PLP. The fact that no one in the PLP claims to be smarter than anyone else but simply try to do a job escapes even the most basic FNM. So every time then they get in the House of Assembly, the FNM have to try to show how very smart they are. Instead of doing that they show exactly the opposite.
It comes out when Mrs. Butler Turner tries to show how she is better than Melanie Griffin as the Minister responsible for Social Services. At one point, she was so exasperated she told Mrs. Griffin: “I’m in charge now honey!” That is not quite ministerial language. Yet every day in the short term, we are faced with this kind of brutal governance. It is simply sad and it is certainly embarrassing that a whole country stands at ransom to the insecurities of the FNM and its Members of Parliament.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th October 2007 up to midnight: 285,068.
Number of hits for the month of October up to Saturday 13th October 2007 up to midnight: 461,706.
Number of hits for the year 2007 up to Saturday 13th October 2007 at midnight: 3,603,530. [Does not reflect hits prior to 30th June, 2007]
DAME
MARGUERITE PINDLING HOSPITALIZED
We have learned with sadness and concern that the
widow of the founding Prime Minister of The Bahamas Sir Lynden O. Pindling,
Dame Marguerite Pindling was hospitalized on Thursday 11th October at the
Prince Margaret Hospital. She was later admitted to intensive care
for further observation. The Nassau Guardian quotes spokesman Dr.
Conville Brown as saying that Dame Marguerite is suffering from "acute
pancreatitis". We ask all to pray.
Peter Ramsay photo
BAHAMAS
HOUSE FIASCO
The FNM has no feel for the Bahamian people at all.
They have no interest in our cultural heritage, no understanding of what,
at the base, it means to build a nation. They seem to be all gears
and wheels, hills and dales, facts and figures, buildings and accounts.
People factor very little in the actual day to day running of the life
of the FNM. That is a comment that you can apply across the board
in so many of the decisions made by the FNM within the ill-fated months
that they have been back in office. They also lie to the public with
a straight face.
Bahamas House was purchased by the Nassau Bahamas
Association in 1946. The building is located at 137th Street in Harlem
in Manhattan, New York. The building in its unimproved condition
is now worth about $650,000. The neighbourhood is being gentrified
and in its improved condition the building would be worth about two million
dollars. The PLP agreed to help the Bahamian Association in New York
save the asset, keep it in Bahamian hands, providing two apartments for
The Government of The Bahamas, exhibition space for the consulate and offices
for the Association. The FNM has now reneged on that agreement.
On Monday 8th October, the PLP held a news conference
in which it outlined the PLPs position on the matter, slamming the FNM
for not supporting the heritage of the Bahamian people. William Dames,
the head of the Association, told the Bahama Journal that they would now
have to press on and get the funds from the private sector but he very
much regretted that the Government did not proceed with the programme that
had been agreed. You may click
here for the full statement by the PLP delivered by Fred Mitchell, PLP
Spokesman on Foreign Affairs, together with Alfred Sears MP Ft. Charlotte
and Melanie Griffin MP Yamacraw.
BAHAMAS
HONORARY CONSUL IN JAPAN DIES
Soichi Yamada, the Honorary Consul for The Bahamas
in Japan died in Tokyo on Thursday 11th October after a brief illness.
Mr. Yamada served The Bahamas with distinction in Japan. He came
to The Bahamas as head of a trust that owned ships and whose ships were
on The Bahamas Registry. He was a real friend of The Bahamas and
will be sadly missed by friends and colleagues of his in The Bahamas including
those at Dockendale Shipping and the Clipper Group, Attorney Lowell Mortimer
and the staff of his firm.
A number of Bahamians and others connected with
The Bahamas will be in Tokyo for the funeral which takes place today including
Mr. Mortimer, Executive Director Ken McClean of the Bahamas Maritime Authority,
Mrs. Bernadette Christie, the wife of former Prime Minister Perry Christie,
and former Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell. We express our condolences
to his family. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Another
son predeceased him just this year.
BRENT
IN A CONFLICT OF INTEREST!
Wednesday 10th October was question time for the
Opposition. It is on that day that the Opposition gets to ask oral
questions of the Government for 30 minutes. Near the end of the question
time Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie got up to put a question to
Brent Symonette, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Christie reminded the House that the Prime Minister had advised the
House at its sitting in July that Mr. Symonette would not be sitting on
the Committee that is responsible for advising the Government on the establishment
of a new container port. That Mr. Symonette would be involved with
his business expertise in helping with the redevelopment of the city of
Nassau but not with regard to whether or not a new container port ought
to be created in the south of New Providence.
Rumours have already started to surface that the
report is coming up negatively as far as moving the Port is concerned.
This is no surprise to the PLP since it was clear that the redevelopment
of Nassau would have to mean getting rid of the unsightly containers from
Bay Street. Mr. Symonette is a shareholder in one of the container
companies that presently use Bay Street. That group does not want
the container facilities to move.
It is clear then that Mr. Symonette would be in
a conflict of interest position as an owner of the port and should not
in anyway be involved in the decisions with regard to the Port. Yet
House Leader Tommy Turnquest confirmed that Brent Symonette continues to
attend the meetings. Mr. Turnquest said that this does not mean that
the process will not be transparent since the matter has to come to Cabinet
and at that time Mr. Symonette can recuse himself. Recuse himself
after he has already influenced the report to confirm what is good for
his business interest of course. And these are the people who call
the PLP corrupt.
File photo
EARL
DEVEAUX’S CREDIBILITY PROBLEM
You have never met a more sanctimonious individual than Earl Deveaux.
The man is so sanctimonious he is insufferable. You would have thought
he would get the point by now from the many people who have told him to
sit down and be quiet and stop lecturing people about manners. The
problem with his penchant for manners is that the FNM of which he is a
part is most unmannerly.
Mr. Deveaux is the Minister of Works and he has
a real problem with his credibility. Mr. Deveaux read into the records
of the House of Assembly the names of contractors that the FNM has given
contracts to repair and build schools without bids or tenders being made.
This is the very same thing he was criticizing the PLP for doing.
One of those contractors was Mal Jack Construction.
Mal Jack Construction was not given contracts under
the PLP because the professionals at the Ministry of Works advised the
Minister that the company did shoddy work and never completed its projects.
That same advice was given to Mr. Deveaux. Mr. Deveaux after much
hemming and hawing in the House admitted it. That means he ignored
the advice and gave the contract to the company because its principal is
an FNM supporter. Yet Mr. Deveaux was in the press saying that the
PLP did not give the contract to Mal Jack because he was FNM. That
is hypocrisy of the worst order. Perry Christie, the Leader put the
question to him and he could only admit it in the face of withering demands
from the PLP to tell the truth. Mr. Manners?
File photo
GOVERNMENT
RENEGES ON FOX HILL COMMITMENT
The FNM lies with a straight face. Just before
the summer recess, the Leader of the House Tommy Turnquest and the Deputy
Prime Minister Brent Symonette both said that the Government would match
the funds given to the Fox Hill Festival by the previous administration.
The government has failed to do so, notwithstanding the additional promise
made by Culture Minister Carl Bethel in the House of Assembly on 3rd October.
His promises have been useless and there are outstanding bills to be paid.
The rumour now is that the candidate who ran for
the FNM in Fox Hill has been running interference. The government
must pay as it said it would. The Member of Parliament for Fox Hill
Fred Mitchell laid the accounts on the table of the House on Wednesday
10th October for the public to see.
NO
NATIONAL HEROES DAY
The PLP passed an law before it left office to make
the second Monday in October National Heroes Day. The day that we
now mark as Discovery Day or Columbus Day was to pass into history this
year. It did not. True to form the FNM has refused to bring
the act into Force. It is disgraceful. The public has been
calling for the change to be made. Reverend Fr. Sebastian Campbell
who has led a decade long campaign to bring the holiday into being is sorely
disappointed. We are as well.
It is important that the FNM make the announcement
that next year they intend to bring the legislation into Force. Fred
Mitchell, the former Foreign Minister was the founding member of the National
Heroes Day Committee. One of the original members was Loretta Butter
Turner who now serves as a Minister in the government in the FNM.
It is a sign of her political impotence that she is unable to get the government
of which she is a part to bring the legislation into force. The press
quoted Charles Maynard, the Minister responsible for Culture as saying
that there are additional regulations that need to be drafted before the
act can come into Force. Let’s get them done Charlsie.
AFRICAN
DIASPORA CONFERENCE
No! Not Hubert Ingraham. You could hardly
believe your ears. There was Hubert Ingraham, the head of the anti
black party in The Bahamas, paying tribute to the African Heritage of The
Bahamas. Mr. Ingraham was opening the third African Heritage Diaspora
Trail Conference, a conference founded by the government of Bermuda headed
by Dr. Ewart Brown. Dr. Brown leads the PLP in Bermuda, the Progressive
Labour Party. The PLP in Bermuda was formed with the assistance of
the PLP in The Bahamas.
The Conference brought together leaders of African
descent from across the world. We hope that the irony of the conference
being hosted by an FNM government did not miss the visitors from the outside.
Derek Smith from the Bahamas Information Services was their and took this
photo of Opposition Foreign Affairs Spokesman Fred Mitchell and US Civil
Rights hero Andrew Young. The Conference took place from Thursday
11th October to Saturday 13th October.
ATHLETES
PRAISED IN THE HOUSE
The winning Team Bahamas at the World Championships at Osaka,
Japan were in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 10th October. The
team which included Donald Thomas (gold medal winner) and the men’s relay
team Avard Moncur, Levan Sands, Chris Brown, Derrick Atkins (silver in
the 100 as well) together with the women of the team and some of the stars
from yesteryear like Pauline Davis Thompson heard tributes from the Members
of Parliament about their exploits and the appreciation which their country
has for them.
Interesting to note that several members of the
national team have a parent from the Caribbean including Haiti. This
is a contrast to the xenophobia exhibited by Bahamians including some of
those same legislators on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
Interesting to note also that on the same day that they were lauding Bahamians
and praising these young people to high heaven, the FNM had reneged on
a commitment to help Bahamians save their property in New York City (click
here for that story). The same FNM government was refusing to
bring into force legislation that would create a National Heroes Day as
a national holiday. But you know the FNM; anything for publicity.
Congratulations to the team though. Congratulations
also to Pauline Davis Thompson who is likely to get a gold medal out of
the Sydney 2000 Olympics as a result of the disqualification of Marion
Jones who was initially awarded the gold in 2000. The American sprinter,
who last week admitted that she took steroids to assist her in her victory,
turned in all of her Olympic medals last week. We note further that
the poor athletes deserved the praise no doubt, but the Members of Parliament
spoke from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with these young men in their suits and the
women in their Sunday go to meeting dresses sitting on those hard seats
in the House gallery in great discomfort. That is one of the reasons
why rules were passed to limit the debates and make the whole process more
efficient.
Peter Ramsay, the BIS photographer was in the House
of Assembly and put together these engaging photos of some of the young
men on the team as they listened to the tributes.
ROBERTS
SCORES FNM HYPOCRISY ON MOW
As we went to upload last week, former Minister
of Works Bradley Roberts issued a furious and comprehensive response to
efforts by the FNM's minister to justify the cancellation of contract with
the Ministry of Works. Mr. Roberts said Earl Deveaux not only failed
to justify the government's cancellation of contracts, which had been legally
entered into by a duly elected government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas;
but did "manage to spotlight his own hypocrisy and his cowardice and weakness,
in short, why he cannot be trusted". Please click here for a full
report of the Bradley Roberts news conference from www.myplp.com.
Today, Sunday 14th October at 5 PM, Mr. Bradley
Roberts is scheduled to appear on the Love 97 public affairs programme,
'Jones and Co' with host Wendall Jones and his panel to discuss the truth
behind the recent Audit Report of the MOW tabled in the House as well other
issues of national concern. You may click
here listen to the show in real time over the 'Net.
Photo / PLP Media
Hubert Owes Sears An Apology
Ken Russell must not have been in the room when Hubert Ingraham let
fly some nasty remarks from his mouth. Mr. Ingraham said when annoyed
at something Alfred Sears (pictured in this file photo) the PLP Member
for Ft. Charlotte said on Wednesday 11th October that at least he did not
go to reform school. Carl Bethel, the FNM Minister of Education,
who should really stay out of big people’s business, chimed in that Mr.
Sears had been to reform school (today called Simpson Penn) three times,
holding up his fingers. Mr. Sears responded that when he was in reform
school Mr. Ingraham was going to “night school”. “Night School” is
the colloquialism that Bahamians use to describe the evening classes attended
by people who could not finish their education or who need remedial academic
work as adults. The Ingraham supporters were upset when then Senator
Damien Gomez said during the last Ingraham administration that Mr. Ingraham
had gone to “night school” comparing him unfavourably with those with a
college education. There was a hue and cry by the FNM supporters.
We think that Mr. Ingraham's reference to the reform school is a nasty,
below the belt, low blow comment. He said it at a time when boys
from a remedial education programme were sitting in the gallery of the
House of Assembly. Presumably their Prime Minister's disdain for
such programmes will inspire them to do better. Ken Russell, the
FNM Minister, who usually says the nasty things was nowhere insight.
He could have been useful that day and saved Mr. Ingraham from this stupid
remark.
Bermuda Elections
Premier Dr. Ewart Brown was giving nothing away while he was in Nassau
for the African Diaspora Conference. Elections are scheduled for
Bermuda this year. The PLP will be looking
